Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Technophilia: 15 ways to get more out of Pandora - Lifehacker

Technophilia: 15 ways to get more out of Pandora - Lifehacker:

"There's just so much you can do with music discovery engine Pandora: create your own personalized radio stations, find new, original music and share your stations with friends, just to list a few. But listening to Pandora can be a drag on your system, and its song recommendations can go off the rails if you're not careful. This week I've got 15 ways to get better music - and better performance - out of Pandora."

For anyone who investigated Pandora, here's a nice article from LifeHacker (a great site btw) about getting the most out of Pandora's box.

Iraq War Coalition Fatalities

Iraq War Coalition Fatalities

A very scary flash animation. Simple but frightening none the less. It shows the locations of the deaths occurring in Iraq in warfare since '02.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Pandora Internet Radio - Find New Music, Listen to Free Web Radio

Pandora Internet Radio - Find New Music, Listen to Free Web Radio: "Can you help me discover more music that I'll like?

Those questions often evolved into great conversations. Each friend told us their favorite artists and songs, explored the music we suggested, gave us feedback, and we in turn made new suggestions. Everybody started joking that we were now their personal DJs.

We created Pandora so that we can have that same kind of conversation with you."

Me-
You know what the weird thing is? It kind of works! It's not really worthy of full time listening, it makes mistakes, but it is great for some simple exploration... only I wish I could search by genre.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Size Matters

Hmmm... I've gotten more than one report that my blog may be too thin. I was starting to get an inkling in that regard myself...

Well then, I think I will be reconsidering this. I'll either expand the current blog, or build a new template based on a full-width Google template. Either way, I want to give the Google template a chance. If you think you would rather see the full-width style, let me know.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Cleaning Up My Act

Ok... here's blogger template, take one.

I know it may seem like a step backward to put my blog on a standard template, but I felt that what I was writing needed to be presented clearly. This template seemed to promote readability and was very easy on the eyes so I hope that will make up for the lack of art. Update! Bloggers templates are very flexible. As you can see I have added more graphics and it is easier than I had anticipated!

So I hope you appreciate my new-found cleanliness.

That said, I will continue to prettify this template until I have something I like. But I am happy to have Blogger's widget system intact and with permalinks! So link to me all you want :).

I'm going to start a small series about taking your daily tasks online. It's more useful, important, and convenient than you may think. Stay tuned.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Explore a little better:


Because I do not have a Mac yet, and because I do not think there is a quality replacement for Windows Explorer when it comes to browsing your computer (there is an effort being made to turn Firefox into a file browser as well... getting very close), I've learned to make do.

One thing that can be frustrating with WE (Windows Explorer) is jumping from folder to folder. Someone showed me that you can utilize the favorites menu for this. If you remove the Internet Bookmarks (which you don't need if you are using FireFox) then you can use it exclusivley for marking your folders.

Just click "View> Explorer Bar> Favorites" then just click "add" whenever you are in a folder that you want easy access to.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

I feel a change in the wind...

Well, it finally happened. I am through with my Windows PC (at least one of them). I've made up my mind not to put it off any longer. I'm getting a Mac.

Not only that, but I'm going to get a Mac of the same specs to prove that Apple products (at least computers) are NOT more expensive. My target, right now is the 17" iMac with 2gb of ram and an Intel Core Duo 2, for under $1,000. That's including the ever-so-sweet Apple display built into it. In fact, it's possible that I may be able to snag the 20" version in this price range. Whoohoo!


In all honesty, I'm not putting any blind faith in the Apple products. If I can 't be more productive on it, I'll be doing the eBay thing again quicker than you can say, "there he goes again!" But I've done my homework and I see no reason this would happen, especially with Parallels. (Yes that's Mac OSX RUNNING Windows Vista... sorry Gates, you're going to have to do better than that!)
I also plan in altering my blog... maybe drastically. Mainly because I don't have permalinks and that bugs me. But I may go with giving a standard Blogger template a complete overhaul so I can take advantage of the functionality. Also, with the Mac purchase, you can expect an increase in video posts :).

In other news, I'm making my first bit of income since my departure from my previous job as a web designer/master. Not a lot yet, but I am excited! My new business is almost ready to be launched as well, so stay tuned for that!

My Grandma's open heart surgery will occupy a good portion of my February, but I plan to be productive while I'm down there supporting her and the rest of my family.

We've implemented our new diet (a whole food diet designed to kill the fungus in our bodies) as well as a new bodyweight exercise regiment. I'll let you know how it goes...

I'm picking back up in the music department as well. My voice still stinks, but I am already hearing a difference thanks to the diet. It really took a hit this Holiday season thanks to the ridiculous amounts of sugared foods I consumed.

All in all, I feel like everything is moving forward right now... and that's a very good feeling.

Friday, January 05, 2007

Dogpile!

Ever get confused over what "search engine" to use. First Google was the best, now everyone likes Yahoo!... or are we back to Google?

NO MORE!

This little search engine resembles the structure of Google but gives you compiled results of Google, Yahoo!, MSN, and Ask.com!


Next time someone asks you which search engine you think is best... just tell them you're above all that nonsense :).

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Every once in a while.


Ok, I haven't posted since last year, so here's a quickie (sorry, not a video post!).

2006 is over and 2007 is already rolling at high speed! With a new business launch, diet, exercise regime, personal projects, and more potential traveling in the time ahead, my weeks aren't looking all that dull.

Because I know you secretly desire them, here are Garrett's words of wisdom for 2007:

  • Avoid Windows Vista: Critics agree that Vista just isn't worth it at the price of admittance. PC Magazine suggests sticking with XP unless you can afford the $350 upgrade... which you shouldn't need unless you are a gamer. Only if you buy a new computer should you have Vista since it will now become the default OS for most computers. If you are buying a new computer, however, you really ought to get a Mac...

  • Subscribe to Green Coffee: Really! Green Coffee is good for you! It's brewed by everyone's favorite Sojourner, black as can be... no watered down coffee here. It's actually proved much more tasty than I originally anticipated.

  • Go Parallel: Have you already taken the plunge (or close to it) in moving to Mac or Linux? Grab the excellent Parallels Desktop to run Windows as well! Without restarting your computer even. Unethical? Definitely. Useful? Regretfully. Get it.

  • Get a Fedora: No really, they are cool. Of course, so is this fedora...
And there you have it. I'm sure your year will yield wildly fruitful results if you follow the four proven steps above.