There are some problems with video on the web today. The numerous video formats make things difficult for both content creators and viewers. Different video formats require different plugins, and therefore content creators are forced to choose a format and hope people will be able to play it.
For now, Adobe Flash is the closest web video comes to having one single unified standard, but unfortunately it has its own set of problems. More… »
A wiki is a type of website that anyone can edit, with Wikipedia being the most popular example. Anyone can run their own wiki and use it however they’d like for whatever purpose they desire. They’re incredibly useful for collaborating with audiences large and small, and don’t need to be long term websites. How you use a wiki is completely up to you. More… »
In my iTunes library and on my iPod, I have two thirty-minute playlists. One is called “Energize” and contains songs ordered by increasing speed. The other, “Rest,” is ordered by decreasing speed and helps me fall asleep. These playlist are automatically created by my computer and are constantly changing. My computer does this using the BPM (beats per minute) field in the iTunes metadata. Normally, this requires manually determining and entering that information by hand for each song, but there’s a much, much easier and less time consuming way. More… »
If you’re new to the Mac, welcome. I hope you enjoy it, and I’d like to point you to some resources to help you get started. Apple, of course, provides some help itself. The Mac comes with a useful but often forgotten Help menu. Apple provides a support site, AppleCare phone number, and genius bars at their retail stores where you can go to ask questions. Then, of course, there’s Google. Let’s move beyond those, though. More… »
RSS feeds have changed the way many use the web. People don’t go to content; content comes to them. Instead of manually checking individual websites for updates that might not have been made, they check just one place- their feed reader- and see new stories from all of their favorite websites. Feed readers are often used as an alternative to visiting the actual web site, but they don’t have to be. If you like the update notifications of RSS but prefer to visit the actual web page, there’s an app for that.
Folding@home is a way to easily contribute for free to the search for cures to Alzheimer’s disease and even many cancers. All you have to do is let Stanford University’s free program run in the background on your computer (Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD) or Sony PlayStation3. I recommend that you give it a try if you haven’t already. More details after the jump. More… »
As you may know, Facebook has added custom profile URLs that are by default based on your real name. Your choice is understandably permanent, but that has at least one unintended consequence. At least in the United States, women usually change their last name when they get married, but they won’t be able to change their Facebook profile URL accordingly. That could be particularly bad in the event of a divorce, if a woman chose to revert her real name.
iTunes’ shuffle gives songs that were played 100 times the same chance of being played as songs that have never been played at all. Learn how to get a more balanced shuffle, while avoiding unwanted content, such as out-of-season holiday music. Unlike adjustments made to iTunes smart shuffle slider, this method will also apply to your iPod. More… »
Does the idea of blocking online advertisements appeal to you? Many solutions exist, such as the AdBlock Plus extension for Firefox, CSS-based ad-blocking, and Privoxy. What you may not be familiar with, however, is using a router to block ads. Imagine: ad-blocking for an entire network, for all browsers and all operating systems, without any additional configuration on the clients. This includes devices which might not otherwise have a way to block ads, and it can be made even nicer by having the router automatically update its ad-blocking rules. All you need is the Tomato firmware on a compatible router and this guide. More… »
Keith Tyndall hired me to write a thorough review of a simple phone- the LG CG225 Tracfone- for his website after having read my posts on HowardForums.