How to Hook up A Receiver January 5, 2008
Posted by Joe in : Technobabble , add a comment
In shameless self promotion, I direct your attention to my new website HowToHookItUp.
This particular How-To gives you the low down on hooking up a home theatre receiver. It goes in depth describing each type of input, laying out your setup, and connecting the cables. Check out How to Hook up a Receiver today!
Warner Brothers Drops Support of HD DVD January 4, 2008
Posted by Joe in : Technobabble , add a commentIts unfortunate, but this may just be the end of HD DVD.
Today, Warner Brothers announced it will discontinue support for HD DVD after May of this year. From then on out, Warner will only put out Blu-Ray and regular DVD movies.
You can read more about it from the Warner Brothers press release indicating the move to Blu-Ray exclusively.
HD DVD still has Paramount and Universal, two huge players, but they support both HD DVD and Blu-Ray. I was really hoping HD DVD would pull through, but it doesn’t look good.
TomTom One XL is Garbage December 31, 2007
Posted by Joe in : Technobabble , add a commentSomeone I know recently bought themselves a TomTom One XL GPS. I’ve never owned a TomTom device, so I went about researching them online.
The One XL unit in particular seemed to receive your typical reviews with some ups and downs. Overall, it looked like a solid unit, and at a price of $200, I figured it was a good buy.
Oops.
HowToHookItUp.com goes Live December 19, 2007
Posted by Joe in : Announcements, Technobabble , add a commentIt may not have 99% of its content yet, but I just had to post about it! :-p
I’ve been working day and night to get this pet project going and its finally coming along. If you’ve ever dreamt of a website that walked you through all the steps required in hooking up and configuring your home theatre (as well as your computer), than look no further. HowToHookItUp.com delivers all this and more.
Don’t need a service like that? Think back to before you were a home theatre know-it-all. How awesome would this site have been? I think that’s the sort of response a lot of people are going to be giving from using this site - awesome.
The site will soon be content-bombed with a plethora of guides, pictures, diagrams, and other useful information (like a 100+ word glossary with easy to understand definitions). Check it out now and start contributing to the forum!
Hook Up Your Life!
My Experience Using Windows Vista December 15, 2007
Posted by Joe in : Technobabble , add a commentI’m going to write a large post soon about Windows Vista. I recently purchased a new machine with the following specs:
View your website in any browser March 22, 2007
Posted by Joe in : Technobabble , add a commentWhile I’ve been designing the website for Connections Made Easy, I’ve been particular about making sure most browsers render the site correctly. In fact, most do, minus one glaring submission: Internet Explorer 6.
I only know this from viewing the site on a friend’s computer. I don’t have IE6 anymore (upgraded to IE7) and I don’t plan on using virtual machines or going through the arduous task of installing IE6 next to IE7 (no thanks). It seems IE6 decided to move my pages to the left instead of keeping them center, and it also smudged my menu items closer together. All in all, its not so bad, but since most of the PC services market is probably still using IE6, I’m going to have to go out of my way to make it perfect.
In this situation, I found Browsershots to be extremely useful. As a free, web-based service, you just type in the URL of your site (either your domain or include the page for specific pages) and select which browsers and settings to use. You can select virtually ANY browser across Linux, Windows, and Mac platforms. You can also pick and choose color depth, resolution, and more. In the end, you’re placed in a queue and after 15-60 minutes you’ll be able to refresh the page and see screenshots from the various browsers of your page. The service is a little quirky (sometimes you don’t get all the screenshots) and can be very slow (your site might expire before you even get the screenshots, so be sure to increase the Wait Time).
All in all, Browsershots is a great service, especially since its free. But if you’re like me and you need the shots back on the spot, try url2image. I haven’t actually tried it yet but I’d imagine it is fast since you’re paying for it. Its pretty cheap - you can get 2 screenshots for $1 or 100 for $20. I can’t imagine using more than 100 and for $20, it saves a heck of a lot of time. I’ll try it out and update this post when I do.
Now you have no excuse to ignore cross-browser compatibility ever again!
Razer Pro|Solutions Mouse May 26, 2006
Posted by Joe in : Technobabble , add a commentI recently purchased a Razer Pro mouse when it popped up on Woot one day for $25. Not a bad price. I had heard of the mouse before but wasn’t too sure if it was for me or not. But for $25? Why not…
When the mouse came a few days later, I quickly bumped my Razer Diamondback off the desk and put it in the neat little pouch that it had came with. I unwrapped my Razer Pro mouse, plugged it in, and got to testing. Physically, it looked great; a white shell with blue LED light emitting in just the right places. It felt the same as the Diamondback and weighed about the same.
Performance wise, the mouse is a winner. Its so precise it couldn’t be better! Although similar to the Diamondback, the Pro’s optical sensor is always on, making sure you have the absolute fastest response time possible.
Will update this post with some pics and detailed comparisons of the two mice soon. Of course I’ll still be buying a Razer Copperhead, which is the same as the Pro but with more buttons, adjustable weight, cooler looks, and 2000dpi.
Update, as promised. Click to continue… (more…)
