My Blog
New Years Resolutions
Happy New Year everyone! Im all for making new years resolutions. But I remember someone once said, "I dont make new years resolutions because Im just going to break them anyways". Now what kind of attitude is that? New Years resolutions is the same as making goals. Are you telling me that you dont have any goals for the new year? Are you absolutely content with the way things are now and have nothing to change or to accomplish? Rubbish.
Everyone needs a reboot once in a while and what better time than the new year. Just like a computer that has been constantly used and abused, what better way to put everything back in order than with a simple reboot.
Here are some tips on making New Years resolutions.
- Make them specific and tangible. The more detailed the better.
- Lose weight - BAD
- Run on the treadmill for 30 minutes at the 24 hour fitness near my house on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after work. - GOOD
- Write them down somewhere. Write it on a 3x5 card or put it on your phone or email it to yourself, just dont keep them in your head. Put it some place where you know you will visit or see often. If you complete or achieve a goal, then check or cross it off your list. Only then will you see how gratifying that is.
- Share your new years resolution with someone on email or facebook or blog or on the phone or better yet...in person. Once you do that, it will keep you accountable because nobody wants to be perceived as a liar. Also, those people can hold you accountable.
- Just do it. Do it now. Dont think or hesitate. What are you waiting for...next year? The new year has already begun. Go now!
- Complete any unfinished resolutions from last year. Choose that one task that you put off that entire year.
- Clean out your email inbox. Limit your inbox to have only 1 page of email.
- Clean your house. Start with a single room, then move on to the rest.
- Clean our your closet. Get a goodwill bag and get rid of all the clothes that you are never going to wear.
- Create a work out plan and schedule to lose weight.
- Too busy? Hire someone to help you and let them worry about it. ie. Gardener, House Keeper, Nanny, Mechanic, Handyman.
- Plan a vacation. You deserve it.
- Learn a new recipe.
- Start a blog.
- Create a website.
- Clean up your computer. Get rid of all of the icons on your desktop. Reorganize your media
1.01.2009 ::
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Windows Automatic Restart
Dear Microsoft,
I understand that there are many security issues with Windows. I understand that because of the security issues, you have auto installed the necessary patches to plug up those security holes. I understand that in order for those patches to take effect, it requires Windows to restart.
But please, please dont force an automatic Windows restart without my permission. Please dont give me a 5 minute countdown every 5 minutes. Sometimes, I need to go to the bathroom for 5 minutes and I dont want all of my open programs to end abruptly. I have already allowed you to download and install the updates automatically and whenever you want, so what more do you want from me? Nevermind, go ahead! Take control of my computer. Install whatever you want. Reboot my computer whenever you want. I dont care anymore. You use it.
But at least consider this. How about putting a tiny button on the 5 minute countdown dialog box that says, "Do not restart and do not remind me anymore. I solemnly swear that I will restart my computer the next chance I get".
Your extremely annoyed user,
Roger
Labels: annoyances, computer, thoughts
10.27.2008 ::
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Web 4.0
Here is my prediction of the Internet in the future.Internet Software (Web 2.0)
Today we are seeing a huge growth in rich internet applications. The web no longer consists of pages for just viewing. Instead, we are seeing pages that interact with the user, communicate with other services, and process information. So I call it, "Internet Software". Many businesses are creating and selling Internet Software instead of the traditional shrink wrapped software that you install on a home computer. For example, Microsoft creates software such as Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. But Google has created an almost identical set of software on the web called Google Docs. Why is software moving to the web?
- Inexpensive - No manufacturing or shipping costs. Hosting/traffic fees are insignifcant.
- Easy Upgrades/Fixes - Updating Internet Software can be quick and easy. For example, let's say there is a huge security bug in the product. For Internet Software, you just have to perform the fix to the 1 application. As soon as that is done, the millions of people who use the application will be instantly using the fixed version . For shrink wrapped software, millions of customers would have take the initiative and seek (download) out the fix (patch). And we all know how often companies try to force those updates onto us with their annoying updaters that secretly run in the background of our computers.
- Reach - Practically anyone can use Internet Software regardless of OS or platform.
Bye Bye Computers
Say goodbye to computers as they will be replaced by "terminals". I can envision just a thin touchscreen LCD display. That's it. All it does is connect to the Internet wirelessly. And of course, there will be other portable terminals as well ie. cell phone, tablets, etc. I wanted to point out that these "windows" to the Internet will not need much processing power whatsoever. They just need to be capable of displaying the Internet. So where does all of the processing and heavy lifting take place? The Cloud of course.
The Cloud
Remember Internet Software? So all software will be running on the Internet by now. All processing will be performed and handled by the Internet servers. So what else does that mean? That means that you wont be spending your money on a computer with the latest Intel CPU processor chip along with gigs of RAM and a high end graphics card. Instead, you will be purchasing to rent/own an Internet computer (dedicated or shared) that will process all of your Internet Software applications. So the more you spend, the faster processing speed you will get or the more server space to store files/information or the more Internet Software applications you get. So just think of it like buying a computer that is not physically placed at your home, but instead exists somewhere in Internet Cloud. Your terminal will be able to connect to your Internet computer so that you'll be able to perform or execute commands.
A good example of the Cloud is Apple's MobileMe. With this online service, you can store and manage your contacts, calendars, email, and files in one central place. After you set everything up, it can automatically synchronize with any of your devices such as your PC, Mac, or iPhone. So the Cloud stores everything and pushes the information to your devices. The concept of the Cloud pushing information to your device is a very important concept. All the work is done via the Cloud instead of your device. Your device just acts like a receiver.
Terminals
We are already seeing the trend today from the largest manufacturers like Apple, Dell, and Lenovo. They are creating mini laptops aka. "netbooks" and computers which dont have much horsepower but good enough to surf the internet on the go.
Dell Inspiron Mini 9
Lenovo Idea S10
Apple MacBook Air
Dell Studio Hybrid
Mac Mini
Apple iPhone
Labels: computer, internet, thoughts
10.07.2008 ::
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Why Sony Sucks
That's it. I've had it with Sony. My handycam camcorder that I've had just over a year broke this week. The LCD screen wont turn on. The reviews were great when the camcorder came out, but a year and a half later people submitted bad reviews because the LCD would stop functioning after a year and a half. Out of the 13 reviews on this site, HALF of them mentioned the same exact problem I had. And guess how long the Sony warranty is? Yes...1 year. So now Im yet again stuck with a Sony camcorder that doesnt work and would cost $200 to fix. Oh, did I mention this is my second Sony camcorder? My first one broke too. I cant transfer any video from it to your computer. I bought lots of Sony stuff because of my Sony credit card. That's where they got me. I was addicted to racking up all those Sony points by purchasing with my Sony Card.
After buying and redeeming my Sony points for Sony products I learned a couple of things about Sony.
- Quality stinks - How many of you have Sony products that broke or dont perform well? On the outside Sony products look really cool and sleek. But its very cheap on the inside.
- Proprietary - Sony loves to have their own proprietary interfaces and equipment. They have the Sony memory stick which only their camcorders, cameras, and TVs use. They have an iLink cable, which is suppose to be just a firewire cable. They have Blueray discs that they are trying to promote. It's always Sony, Sony, Sony. But they do this on purpose, so that it forces you to buy more Sony products.
- Sexy - I have to give it up to Sony, their products are sexy. They probably spend 90% on looks and marketing while the rest of the 10% goes into the actual product.
- Screens - I decided that Im on a Sony boycott. I will never buy any Sony product again...unless it's an LCD TV :) Why the exception? The one thing that Sony has always done well is making TV's. Their laptop, computer, and LCD TV screens are the clearest, sharpest, and best in the market.
My final word of advice. Dont buy Sony unless you are buying a LCD TV, but be ready to shell out twice as much $$$.
Have you had a bad Sony experience? Feel free to comment (vent) on your experience.Labels: electronics, reviews, thoughts
9.12.2007 ::
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Email Etiquette
Would you email out your home address to complete strangers? No? Okay, how about your friend's and/or family's home addresses?Treat your email address info in a manner similar to your home address info. Do you want people stalking you at your home? Well in the same way, when you give out other people's email addresses, spammers and other bad people will stalk you.
One might say, "I dont give out other peoples' email addresses." Well...have you ever emailed a bunch of people and put all of their email addresses in the TO: field? If so, then yes you have done it. Everyone reading that email can see all the email addresses in plain view. One might then say, "Are you telling me I cant use the TO: field when sending to multiple email addresses?" YES...and sometimes no.
Check out the following scenario:
- You want to send out a deal or coupon to a bunch of people. The people you want to send to are a mixture of friends, family, coworkers, etc. And they all do not know each other. What do you do?
A. Put all of the email addresses in the TO: field. That way, your coworkers can see your auntie's and uncle's email addresses and vice versa. Also, when one of the persons on the email list does a "reply to all", everyone gets to see his/her response. Yay, now we can have a whole discussion on the deal with strangers. Instead of getting that one single email, now we have listen to everyone's responses and there is no way to stop it. Also, one of your coworkers decides that this is such a good deal, that Im going to FOWARD the email to his/her other coworkers, friends, and family. Wohoo. Now everyone's email addresses are being sent to more total strangers because when you foward an email that have email addresses in the TO: field, those email addresses are completely visible in the body of the email.
B. Put all of the email address in the BCC: field. That way, all email addresses are hidden and when people reply, the response will only be sent to the original sender. Since the content of the email is treated more like an FYI rather than an actual discussion.
Hopefully, you would choose B. So when is it appropriate to place multiple email address in the TO: field? It's appropriate when you actually want to start or have a discussion amongst everyone on that list whether it be planning an outting together or discussing last night's episode of 24. Hopefully, everyone on that list knows each other and are of the same group type. ie. Friends, Family, Coworkers.
Now this brings me to mailing lists which is one of the major culprits. You create this massive list of 100 emails and save it as a group email list. You email this list weekly to give updates on your rantings or whatever topic. Here are my suggestions.
- Respect and protect peoples' email address info. Therefore, when you send out your emails, please do not put their email addresses in the TO: field. Use the BCC: field.
- Realize that you have assumed that they would like your weekly update emails. Im sure 99% of the people you send it to probably dont mind your emails. However, there could be that 1% like me who would prefer not to receive or read the emails. Then I would be forced to either manually delete your email every week or create a filter that automatically moves your email to the trash can. Whoa, that sounds harsh. Sorry, but I dont want to deal with more work than I have to when reading email. I have enough work reading other unwanted email or dealing with spam. Actually, surprisingly, I dont get much spam especially when using gmail. But that's another discussion. Anyways, its similar to signing up for an account on a shopping website. When I sign up, I always uncheck the "sign up for our newsletter" checkbox. But there are some sites, that dont have this and automatically sign you up for their newsletter and such. Therefore, just because you are signing up for an account, they assume that you want their newsletter. Bad boy! You've heard of the saying "Every man is assumed innocent until proven guilty." Now I'd like my saying heard "Every man is assumed opted out until he opts in." You hear that spammers? You hear that junk mail? You hear that telemarketers? You hear that shopping web sites? Dont send me anything, unless I have requested it. I dont give you permission to send me stuff.
Sorry for digressing. Back to mailing lists. I am not blaming you guys for anything because no one has ever told you or taught you how you should use mailing lists. And apprarently there arent any mailing list managing websites out there. I just did a google search and there isnt much out there except for coollist.com. I havent tried it and it looks like its currently not even working. Hmmm...Maybe I should create one?
So I guess I dont really have a solution yet when it comes setting up an easy mailing list. Since I have website hosting, they usually have mailing list managers, but they are not that simple to set up. But in theory, let me explain how mailing lists should work.
Add all of the people you want onto a mailing list that you create. Yes, in otherwords, subscribe them to the mailing list without even telling them. Dont worry, it should be okay, since its a gesture that you are just inviting them to this mailing list knowing that they can always opt out. No harm done. When subscribing them, members should receive a message detailing why you are adding them and include a link to unsubscribe to the list. You are really suppose to let them subscribe to it themselves, but its really hard to get people to opt into things. The most important part is the ease and the anonymity of opting out. People dont want to hurt your feelings by sending you an email that says, "Please remove me from this mailing list." So all of the emails that are sent to the mailing list should have a remove me link on the bottom of the message.
As I was finishing up writing this post, I ran into this interesting article on email. Notice how it reconfirms what I said above. Cool!
3.02.2007 ::
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Simplicity Is Highly Overrated
I ran across Don Norman's article called "Simplicity Is Highly Overrated". It's exactly how I feel about today's products. Most of today's products contain way too many features and are therefore too complicated. I mean how many of the features do we really use? Dont get me wrong, I love features too. But when features start getting in the way of simplicity, that's where I draw the line.Im a very simple person. I like things simple. I like things that make my life more simple. However, it seems that most of things that are suppose to make my life more simple actually does quite the opposite. Im mostly referring to technology and the internet. Seems like we are working more for them, then they are for us.
And that's where my blog comes in. My goal is to find technologies and websites that actually make our lives simpler. Im a lazy person and I want technology to do most of my work instead of the other way around.
So there you have it. I will blog about cool/useful web sites and write reviews on computers/electronics/services. I will tell you what I love and what I hate without holding back. And occasionally, I will post some crazy bargain deals as well as some not too personal stories of my life.
Labels: thoughts
1.08.2007 ::
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Why the Button Fly?
I swear that the last 5 pair of pants I bought were button fly. WHY?! I hate button fly. What's wrong with the zipper? It is suppose to be more "fashionable"? You cant even see it. I googled this topic and I found an interesting blog about it that I totally agree with (see below). I dont know anyone who would prefer button fly vs. zipper. If you do, please let me know. Otherwise, I think we should get rid of the button fly.As I was putting on a fairly new pair of pants today, I wondered why the clothing company had decided to use a button fly instead of a zipper fly. Three of my four newest pairs of pants have button flies on them, and while I like the pants for other reasons, I can't stand having to button them up. What exactly do people find so compelling about button flies, anyway?
The way I see it, zippers have several advantages:
They are easier to use: Grab the tab and pull vs. find the slot, hold the button just right, insert the button through the slot, repeat.
They are quicker: They take less than a second to use, compared to five or more fumbling seconds with the button fly.
They are less visible: One simple flap easily covers the zipper, as opposed to a second flap that bulks up the fly area and can be seen from the right side.
Now, I suppose some may view the third bullet point as an advantage for the button fly, but I'm guessing most are with me on that one.
So why would anyone prefer button flies? Do they last longer? Are they less likely to come undone? Are they part of a larger trend toward 19th-century style?
Can somebody enlighten me on this one? If anyone out there prefers the button fly, please post a comment explaining your rationale.
Check out the comments on this post, they are hilarious.
Labels: thoughts
12.07.2006 ::
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Thanks. No.
Have you ever received an email from a friend or family member and really dont care too much for the contents of the email? Are you on a mailing list that someone that you know put you on without your permission? How do you tell a person, especially a family member or friend not to send you anymore weekly jokes or stuff that you dont really flooding your inbox?Nowadays, I think we all need to be educated on email and internet ettiquette. Have you seen what teenagers are posting on their blogs lately? But that's another story. I want to talk mainly about emails that you dont want to receive.
There really isnt a way to tell the person that I dont want to receive your emails without offend them. So most people just ignore the emails or set up a filter. I found a "nice" letter that might help a little.
So let's turn things around. What if you want to send out email to a bunch of people that you think might be interested in what you have to send?
Bad - You send emails out to them, without any capability to unsubscribe or subscribe.
Good - You make sure that people can unsubscribe to the mailing list anonymously.
Better - You tell them that you want to send out stuff to you, and if they want to receive it, they'll have to subscribe to the mailing list.
So in otherwords, use a list server to manage your mailing lists. There are plenty of free ones out there. Please repect others privacy.
5.24.2006 ::
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Closing Stores...
Wow. Lots of major stores are closing. Good guys recently closed. ToysRUS is closing. The cashier lady told me the closest one will be in Santa Rosa. I just heard Radio Shack is closing. And Mervyns be closing some stores too.Geez, Target and BestBuy must be killing off all the competition.
But really... when was the last time you bought something at Radio Shack or Good Guys? I think the last thing I bought at Radio shack was batteries.
2.17.2006 ::
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Mac vs. Windows
I bought an imac G5 last year mainly to do videos. But I just sold it last week. I gave Mac a chance, but it just didnt cut it for me. Dont get me wrong though. The machine itself is nice. Putting an entire desktop into an LCD screen is pretty amazing. So when it comes to hardware, I think Mac wins. They must spend lots of R&D. But when it comes to software and operating system, windows wins. So now Im set up to do videos on my PC after getting a firewire card. Im going to post more videos of caden, but now I need to find a good video hosting site. Still researching that. Ill let you know.
Labels: thoughts
1.23.2006 ::
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19 inch laptop!?
Is it me or are laptops getting bigger and bigger? I dont understand why people get large laptops. It kinda defeats the whole purpose of laptops which is portability (unless you use it as a desktop replacement). So Samsung is coming out with a new 19in laptop which weighs about 10 pounds. Who wants to carry around a 10 pound laptop? Anyways, the cool thing is that the screen detaches and presto..you have an lcd.
10.25.2005 ::
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Interesting...
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer waht oredr the ltteers are in a wrod, the olny ioptmrant tnihg is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a ttaol mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by iletsf, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Naet huh?
Labels: thoughts
11.13.2003 ::
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