I am a Pleo stalker July 16, 2007
Posted by Tara in : New Products , add a comment
In talking with a friend of mine the other day I discovered a great toy that apparently has a growing sub- culture all its own. In her own words she is “stalking the toy”, so I had to dive in and see what its all about. The toy is called PLEO and it is “autonomous robotic life form” based on a one week old Camarasaurus dinosaur (a lizzard from the late Jurassic period)Â
Watch it now on Netflix July 7, 2007
Posted by Bryan in : New Products, News , add a commentNetflix has launched a new feature that allows members to watch full-length videos online.
After logging into your account click on the “Watch Now” tab. Pick a video, click “Play”, and you’ll be prompted to download a player.
Not all of their catalog is available. Right now the selection consists of mostly older movies and TV series, but this is still good news for people who like to watch videos online or who feed video to their TV via their computer. The number of hours you can watch is determined by your Netflix plan.
Bad news for a good portion of the internet though, the service currently requires Windows and Internet Explorer (i.e. no old school Apple or Firefox).
Digg Hack: Making your site look bigger than it is with DiggClick June 26, 2007
Posted by Bryan in : Hacks, Tips , 3 commentsHere’s a simple trick that will amuse your friends and make it look like your site has gone from a few readers a month to a web sensation overnight. (more…)
The Second Life generation June 25, 2007
Posted by Bryan in : Opinion, Other Stuff , 2 commentsMy wife and I were discussing Second Life yesterday (as I’m sure all geek couples do), and she noted that unless you have a certain level of programming ability there’s not much you can do in SL besides walk around and chat.
If you’ve visited Second Life you’ve probably experienced this, too. Second Life is a pretty intimidating (and boring) place when you don’t know what’s going on. When everyone around you knows how to manipulate the environment and you don’t, you’re at a significant functional disadvantage. (more…)
Back up that hard drive, Part 2 June 22, 2007
Posted by Beth in : How-to, Tips , add a commentThese are statements I’ve heard on the job that I never want any of you to have to utter:
“I thought I was backing up regularly, but when my computer crashed and we tried to upload the backup files, nothing was there!!”
“Yeah, I back up. How often? Every 6 months or so.”
“I sent my computer to [insert computer company name] for a keyboard fix and they had to replace my motherboard and OMG WHERE ARE MY FILES???”
“Back up? What does that mean, back up?”
You shouldn’t be thinking about backing up for the first time when your computer crashes. By then, it may be too late. Get in the habit of regularly backing up while your computer is still in good health, and you’ll be glad you did if it ever fails. (more…)
Back up that hard drive, Part 1 June 21, 2007
Posted by Tara in : Tips , add a commentI was sitting at my desk yesterday, typing away, when I heard a shriek from the cube next to me. My co-worker had been experiencing a problems with her computer all morning long; it was performing much slower than normal. She said she had thought about backing up her hard drive and then BAM! Her computer crashed and everything was lost. She said it was the closest she had come to crying at work, EVER, and I understand where she is coming from. Many of the resources that I use to do my job on a daily basis are on my hard drive. Templates, reports, important contact information (this is why I am a strong supporter of web-basted contact managers). (more…)
Hardware Cooling’s Supra Notebook Cooler June 20, 2007
Posted by Bryan in : Reviews , add a comment
Have you ever had your laptop get so hot that it’s uncomfortable to type on? Ever had that happen when it was actually on your lap? This happens to me quite a bit and I know it can’t be a good thing. Fortunately I’ve got a solution to offer you: the Supra Notebook Cooler from HardwareCooling.com. (more…)
Fix your database CSV report woes using Excel June 19, 2007
Posted by Beth in : How-to, Microsoft, Tips , add a commentThis article refers to Excel 2003, but should apply to most other versions as well.
I work for a large company that uses a vast mainframe system to track data. We’ve got programmers who’ve written fabulous scripts, so that we can just go click a button, make a couple of choices, and BAM - there’s a CSV file with the data we need to analyze. Problem is, the data is often not in a very useful format. The names are all upper case, first name and last name are in the same cell, phone numbers are regarded as generic numbers and are dropping zeros, etc. What a lot of people at my company don’t know, and that I try to help them learn, is that Excel has functionality specifically to help you work around these problems. (more…)
Why Pandora.com rocks June 17, 2007
Posted by Bryan in : Opinion, Reviews , 1 comment so farEditors note: It’s not all sunflowers and “Kumbaya” at Texxors.com. Last week Tara wrote an article on the Pandora internet music service that some of our other editors disagreed with. In the interest of equal time, here are their thoughts on why Pandora rocks.
If Texxors.com seems schizophrenic at times, it’s because we’ve got several different author’s writing for the site. As you might expect, these authors don’t always agree on the best products or approaches. You saw this a little bit in Jeff and Liz’s different takes on how to stay virus free online and you’re going to see it again in this response to Tara’s recent article on Pandora.com. In the interest of presenting multiple opinions and giving our readers as much information as possible, these are the reasons I and a few others affiliated with the site think that Pandora rocks.
(more…)
Last minute Father’s Day gift: Make magazine June 16, 2007
Posted by Bryan in : Other Stuff, Reviews, Tips , add a commentYou can’t say we haven’t helped you out this Father’s Day. We arranged for huge discounts on the MySoldius solar charger, gave you a list of cool but inexpensive tech gifts, and we’ve even got a suggestion for you last minute shoppers: Make: magazine. (more…)
