Vote

The citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan dip their fingers in ink, mark their ballots, and hold up the ink stains on their fingers as a show of support for the democratic process.

Here we tap touch screen terminals and get a sticker to show we voted. I hit the early voting booth today and this is my symbolic gesture - it's not ink, but it sorta means the same thing. Here's hoping that the world is a better place in 4 years.

American Burrito

Was looking at the cooking directions on the side of a bag of frozen burritos and noticed a "deep fry" option. Inspiration. Microwave long enough to kinda thaw a bit, deep fry, bed of lettuce with some shredded cheese, cover in some salsa, and enjoy. Not as good as the mexican restaurant, but allot better than just zap-n-eat.

Computing tips - for what it's worth...

A friend was having problems with his Windows XP computer the other day, and I suggested that he boot into safe mode and doing a "System Restore" to his computer, restoring it to a time before it started acting funny. With this in mind, I thought I would post a few things that might help others to keep their Windows computer from getting messed up in the first place.

I use Firefox as my web browser of choice. There are many reasons for this - but the main one is that I feel it is much more SECURE than Internet Explorer. Many computer viruses, malware, and spyware are much more easily propagated via IE than Mozilla - mainly because IE allows much more powerful code to run - code that can be embedded into web pages and loaded without your knowledge. It also has other features that make browsing more enjoyable, such as Add-ons that increase functionality - you can browse whats available at Firefox Add-ons

Antivirus - run one and update it frequently (auto-update is a good thing!) At home we use AVG Free - used it exclusively for YEARS and liked it. Another is Avast Free. Avast seems a little lighter on system resources, so might work better for slower/older computers, but both seem to do a good job. Using Avast on the laptop and am very happy with it. It will also help to keep the aforementioned nastiness from infecting your computer.

From there, you can load up SpywareBlaster (helps block spyware BEFORE it is loaded), Spybot Search & Destroy (blocks spyware AND scans your system to locate and remove things that may already be on your computer).

Windows XP and higher has a software firewall that keeps other computers on the internet from accessing your computer. Activate it, or use another firewall - Zone Alarm Free (on the left) is one that comes up a bunch, and there are others as well as Security Suites that combine firewall, antivirus, and adware/malware protection in one.

And lastly - common sense. Scan your computer with the programs listed above, scan things you download BEFORE YOU RUN THEM, download things only from sites with GOOD reputation (keep away from WAREZ sites and the like).

BTW - online email, such as Gmail SCAN your mail before you even see it - not 100%, but every little bit helps (plus you can access online mail from ANYWHERE with internet access).

These things work for me and I hope they will help you, too.

Happy computing!

Laptops - The New TV

UPDATE - The OC on Hulu only has about half the first season. That kinda sucks. The WB Network stepped up and balanced the bad with the good - they have all of Season 2 ( here is the first episode, The OC - 2-1 - The Distance) up. Would have been nice to see the rest of season 1 - maybe there is a rerun somewhere. I heard about another video service called Joost, but I haven't messed with it, yet.

On the programs front - my favorite image viewer/editor, Irfan View, has an awesome export for the web feature that gives you side by side views of the original image and then you can adjust the properties till you balance out the image versus file size. Love that!

And cheap koolaid/flavorade/whatever is GREAT!

Thumbdrives and Beer

First - this is the boy holding the penny that Nintendo fished out of his Wii. Allegedly, one of my grandchildren gave my boy a penny via the Wii's drive slot, but unless the penny was dusted for prints and/or DNA and a positive id made on the perp I'm going to call it an unsolved case. The Wii now works fine and it was handled by Nintendo at no cost, so things are good. :)

From there, I have been messing with my laptop - I commented to a friend that I hated the touchpad. I use a mouse as it is MUCH easier for me (Microsoft cordless optical mouse - and the battery lasts LONG time). Unfortunately, when I type my thumb hits the touchpad at times, and then it repositions the cursor and I wind up typing into what I already typed. He said he disabled his - I looked at settings and found where I could "disable while typing". Cool! Using it now and so far things seem as they should.

I also messed with Portable Apps on my thumbdrive. Kinda neat - the suite offers an app launcher and many programs (Firefox, AbiWord, etc...) that might be handy if they were wholly contained on a thumbdrive. I messed and like, but still, nothing like working from the hard drive. Neat to play with, though.

Playing with the GBAMP some - using it with the GBA Micro is tough on the eyes! I used to think that was a fallacy, but lately I concur... small screens will make you go blind.

Watching The OC on Hulu - they have the first season there, and it is by the same guys who are doing Chuck. Teens - one who is poor and in trouble gets "rescued" by some rich family and has to figure out how to fit in. Yatta yatta yatta...

Bloom

I posted earlier about Pandora Radio - I like the Ambient stations and regularly listen while doing mundane shit such as the dishes or whatnot via my iPod Touch. I saw a post at Gizmodo that was pumping an iPod app by Ambient Music Maestro Brian Eno called Bloom that allows you to make and interact with an Ambient sound generator by tapping the screen - or not - it'll make Ambient jams without your interaction, too. Ambient jams when I don't have wifi to stream them. Cool! Nailed it for $3.99 and am enjoying immensely!

===>>Adding after original post:

I dislike the way Apple has made it so you cannot use sound apps OTHER THAN THEIR OWN MUSIC PROGRAMS as a background to other activities, such as web surfing or reading via Stanza while listening to something. I can run a playlist via the iPod's built-in Music program and surf to my heart's content (and you can even sorta control it by double-tapping the button - it will bring up a small controller and allow you to adjust volume or skip or whatever), but if I use Pandora or Bloom or whatever it will shut off when you close it to open anything else.

Oh - and if you let Bloom generate it's own music, you can conserve battery by killing the screen via the power button.

Hulu

Enjoying some Hulu today - watched all 3 hours of The Longest Day. What a movie! Interestingly, Hulu seems to remember your last position on a flick, as I reloaded the page to nail the screencap I have posted and it picked up at the close credits where I left off. Nice. They also have more movies than I thought - I usually troll the TV area.

Hulu - Full TV Shows

Hulu - Full Movies

I might see if they have that one on iTunes, as it is a keeper.

I got some new speakers for the laptop - only $25 - Altec Lansing BX1121's - two speakers and a subwoofer. Much better sound than the laptop's built in speakers.

Pandora Radio

I am ripping some awesome iPod Touch Apps - the latest being Pandora Radio. You have to get an account, but after, you can create web-based streaming radio stations of the music you like. Pick an artist, thumb up or down, and eventually you will be all thumbs up and listening to much music that you like. I am currently playing with a Nickel Creek station now - Nickel Creek, Allison Krause and yatta yatta... one big bluegrass nosh, all streaming for the direct injection port of my earbud connection. This thing is getting cooler all the time!

I also nailed the AP News app - it has come a long way. I want a news app, and I keep trying the different ones, but they either are really buggy or give you like a sentence or whatnot, and I am looking for something a bit more informative. I wish the NY Times app would get it's stuff together - I have loaded it many times over, hoping for an update that would make it more stable, but to no avail. I just want a news app that will snag news and hold it for when I am not around wifi.

I'd have a pic, but I am trying to get my digital universe realigned, and cameras are another step in the up and coming digital panacea I am trying to create.