Sunday, August 31, 2008
It's not enough that you watch the political party conventions on TV, read the political coverage in newspapers, and the reactions in blogs. Some people are not reacting on blogs, they are reacting on Twitter. But how do you follow all of that raw political discourse, and do you even want to?Stephen Taylor, a Canadian blogger and political analyst, has hacked together govtweets, an easy of tracking live conversations that occur via twitter on the topic of the Democratic and Republican Presidential tickets for 2008. Instead of tracking conversation generators, govtweets tracks specific content that is being discussed by anyone on twitter. If you find a political twitterer particularly interesting, govtweets can help you discover them too. So Govtweets is nothing more than a snapshot of the national conversation, but it is still fascinating to watch it unfold.
Here are some recent Govtweets (newly announced Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin seems to be dominating the conversation):
An Alaskan's Perspective on Sarah Palin: A down-to-earth description of Sarah Palin's time as Alaska's Gover.. http://tinyurl.com/6h7h69
August 31st - 4:52:47 am PST
GOP Alaska State Senator: Palin Not Ready to Be Gov/VP: "She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be p.. http://tinyurl.com/5gp6mk
August 31st - 4:52:43 am PST
Who scrubbed Wikipedia's entry for Sarah Palin just before nom announcement? http://tinyurl.com/6n9dnk
August 31st - 4:51:41 am PST
Labels: communication, politics, social network
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Oh don't even think I haven't used many a converter in my time. Truth is I am constantly looking for a better one and I am fed up with media converters who claim to be the best when they are NOT. Of course when I read that Blaze Media Pro was a power house I immediately rolled my eyes, scoffed and began my trip down doubt and trial lane.
FINALLY I can say I was wrong and now I have a program I can stick with and even encourage other people to use.
Blame Media Pro is a video converter and an audio converter, but it is also a DVD ripper. Video files can also be created from still frame images and/or other videos. That feature is particularly helpful when you're putzing around and trying to put something fun together for YouTube. Which I have been known to do from time to time, lol. (Yes, it even has a tool to extract the audio from video files.)
Unlike many other software programs out there this one has an extensive list of supported conversions for audio files. Every extension you can think of is supported. Formats supported for audio conversion include CD, MP3, WAV, WMA, OGG, MPEG-4, AIFF, M4A, AAC, AC3, FLAC, and ALAC, and two-way conversions among MPEG-1, MPEG-2, AVI, WMV, ASF, Flash (SWF and FLV), iPod, PSP, 3GP, and MOV are available for video. MPEG options are available for VCD, SVCD, and DVD compliant output.
Above all though I think the best feature is the video compression. I mean this not only converts, but it also compresses the file which then makes burning easier. And since this is the professional version there are even ways to edit video, including deleting frames which is sometimes the only thing I need to do.
Needless to say this is finally a conversion and ripper software that stands up to its name while also killing the competition hands down. Blaze Media Pro.
Labels: compression, converter, software, video
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Rule of thumb on calculating the day of the week...In any calendar year, the dates 4/4, 6/6, 8/8, 10/10, and 12/12 (April 4th, June 6th, August 8th, October 10th, December 12th) all fall on the same week day. So does the last day in February. In 2008, these will all occur on Friday.
But in the saddest news ever to grace my geeky, music loving ears...Pandora made a bold political statement on Friday, saying they'd likely shut down rather than continue to pay exorbitant fees to play music to listeners of its massively popular service.
"We're approaching a pull-the-plug kind of decision," said Tim Westergren, who founded Pandora. "This is like a last stand for webcasting."
"We're losing money as it is," said Westergren, a former acoustic rocker. "The moment we think this problem in Washington is not going to get solved, we have to pull the plug because all we're doing is wasting money."
Matt Nathanson, a singer-songwriter who has recorded for both major and independent record labels, said he is worried that the demands placed on Internet radio could "choke" the industry before it gets its footing.
"Net radio is good for musicians like me, and I think most musicians are like me," he said. "The promotion it provides is far more important than the revenue."
Well, this makes me want to cry. Pandora is all I listen to at work. I love it and have been an advocate for helping it stay alive. Westergreen sends out e-mails for help from listeners and I have always done what I can to save internet radio. I applaud his efforts and I hope he and his company can rise above this mess.
Labels: pandora, rules of thumb
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
It helps that she also loves being organized, making lists and sorting things out. She's that girl, you know, that personality. She panics if she doesn't know what is in her spice containers.
It doesn't surprise me when I see her sticking labels on other people's food items in the refrigerator at work. Or on my doggy bag before we leave lunch. When she breaks out the color labels I might have to step in, haha.
There are times when I find labeling helpful as well. When Braeden was in his infant car seat I stuck a label on it which stated he has an IgA deficiency and asthma, in case we were ever in an accident.
When it comes to the DYMO label maker it is very helpful in creating sticky labels to use while studying. You don't have to dog ear the page or highlight everywhere if you can stick a label which then hangs out a bit marking the section you want to remember.
Or for those of you with young children you can print off labels with their name and put them in their books or on the bottom of their toys. This way you'll be sure to get their items back if they suddenly go missing. =o)
The DYMO label makers can cost under $30 and can be used nearly everywhere for nearly any purpose. And if you want to be even more frugal, the DYMO's LetraTag labels are removable and reusable.
Labels: label maker, stickers
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Would you want an LED backlit television screen with TOUCH pad capabilities?I would be freaking out when it comes to dusting and removing finger smudges so definitely not a good thing for me to have. =o)
US-based OSD Displays has announced a 3.5-inch transmissive QVGA TFT LCD panel with white LED backlight and integrated resistive touchscreen. OSD Displays managed to squeeze in a brightness level of 240cd/m2 and a contrast ratio of 350:1 while displaying 16.7 million colors in your face.
Read more at Ubergizmo >>
Labels: solar panel, touchscreen, tv
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