August 03, 2005
July 20, 2005
Google on the Moon
Following on the heels of Google Maps, Google has launched Google Moon to commemorate the anniversary of the first manned Moon landing. Unfortunately, unlike Google Maps, there are no driving directions available.
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Google Moon
June 30, 2005
Podcast du Jour
Yesterday, I mentioned the upgrade to iTunes to feature podcasting. I found Accident Hash, a great podcast that features podsafe music. Podsafe music is free of many of the restrictions of commercial music released by the major record labels. Typically, podcasters are only able to play 30 second clips of commercial music. Since the record labels do not hold the copyright, entire songs may be shared. This is a great way for unsigned artists to get the word out about their music and find an audience.
I first heard about this through Adam Curry's Podfinder podcast. If you're looking for good music that doesn't sound like everything else on the radio check it out. What's the worst that could happen? It's free. If you like it, pick up a CD or buy a few tracks at the iTunes Music Store.
June 29, 2005
iTunes Update
Apple has upgraded iTunes to version 4.9. The biggest news of the upgrade is podcast support. Overall, this is a huge boost for podcasting. However, the iTunes implementation is not without its own quirks. It does not support BitTorrent. Perhaps Apple is one of the few players who could get away with podcasting without using BitTorrent, given their relationship with Akamai.
There is also an interesting quirk about how podcasts are used in playlists. Podcasts are listed in the left panel of iTunes like Library and Radio. The files downloaded through podcast subscriptions are not added to the library. This means that the files will not show up when using smart playlists. One of my favorite smart playlist is podcasts from the last ten days that I have not heard. In order to use this playlist, I have to add the files to the library manually. Hopefully Apple will address this shortcoming soon.
June 09, 2005
Test your internet connection speed
Many broadband providers are upgrading their access speeds. Check out your speed at dslreports.org.
June 08, 2005
This couldn't be a prank...it's too elaborate
I came across an article discussing how California is considering banning all textbooks over 200 pages. At first, I thought that this story was a delayed April Fool's joke, but I found it on the California Legislature web site. What I can't believe is that this legislation has already passed on house of the legislature. Don't worry, there will be references to direct students to web sites for more information.
June 07, 2005
NPR Dashboard Widget
If you have a copy of Tiger, you may want to check out a Dashboard Widget for access to NPR on your desktop.
June 06, 2005
Intel Inside
Apple has announced that it will be transitioning to Intel based processors over the next two years. This announcement came at the Worldwide Developers Conference today in San Francisco. You can watch the Keynote online.
May 24, 2005
Podcast Support in iTunes
iTunes will soon support podcasts, without the need of a helper application like iPodder. This sounds like good news for iTunes users, but maybe not such good news for the iPodder community.
May 23, 2005
Box Office Records Broken
Contrary to expectations, Star Wars broke several box office records. The midnight show was very successful. Sales for the four day weekend were also record breaking. Some of the reviewers are pointing out that this is not enough to compensate for an otherwise sagging movie industry, but it's only one movie!
May 19, 2005
RSS Feed
Some people (you know who you are) have asked for an RSS feed of this site. It has in fact been there the entire time. If you are having trouble accessing it, try
feed://www.adamweller.com/atom.xml
Let me know if you have any problems.
May 12, 2005
TWiT
If you ever watched TechTV or its predecessor ZDTV, you might be interested in this WEEK in TECH. It's a podcast from some of the former cast of The Screen Savers (among other shows).
May 11, 2005
Insert Mandatory Star Wars Article Here
In the spirit of the upcoming Star Wars Episode III, I found a link to a CliffNotes version of Episode I, as performed by chimps. If you were hoping for a more serious take about the impact of the new Star Wars film on the economy, you can read about it at the New York Post.
May 03, 2005
Better Playlists for iTunes and iPods
I really enjoy having all of my music on my computer, but I found that I had so much, it wasn't really easy to get a good variety. iTunes has the Party Shuffle option, but my library is so diverse that truly random doesn't work for me. There's a great article on making better playlists. It's sort of like ClearChannel, but you can hear more than two dozen songs.
April 27, 2005
I can digg it
I am really getting into digg.com. You can check out my profile to see the stories that interest me. Please let me know if you enjoy digg and create a profile of your own.
April 24, 2005
Revenge of The Screen Savers
I used to watch The Screen Savers on TechTV. You'll notice that neither one of those have hyperlinks. The Screen Savers moved to G4TechTV when the two cable channels "merged". The quotes are necessary, because the merger was about on par with the merger of Chrysler and Daimler Benz to form DaimlerChrysler. Now, the former cast of The Screen Savers strike back at Leo LaPorte's website. The cast are getting back together every week to talk about tech news and any other topics that may come up. Hopefully, they can keep this up!
April 23, 2005
Can you digg it?
April 21, 2005
Adobe/Macromedia merger - PR unspun
There is a very novel take on the Adobe Macromedia merger at Daring Fireball.
March 20, 2005
Google Maps
Google Maps is a viable alternative to Mapquest. Google's new service has basic mapping features, as well as directions. The most interesting feature is that you can scroll without clicking on buttons at the edge of the map. It's as simple as dragging the map around in the window. Check it out! You just might like it.
March 15, 2005
Knuth on NPR
Yesterday, there was an interesting story about Donald Knuth on NPR. It's a chance to hear about the best place to put your trash can in a kitchen, relations between Betsy Ross and the Golden Ratio, and thoughts on theology from one of the founders of computer science.
March 08, 2005
Harry Potter Cover Art
The cover for the upcoming Harry Potter book was announced today. Currently, the book is scheduled to be released July 16. You can pre-order at amazon.com or at your local Borders.
February 08, 2005
World's Smallest RAID?
I don't know if this is a record, but someone turned the iPod Shuffle into a RAID. Fitting an array of drives into the size of a few packs of gum is a neat trick, even if it might not be the most practical solution.
January 24, 2005
Cool New Cell Phone
My mom used to complain about cell phones being too small. I don't think that she would have a problem with this one being too small.
November 17, 2004
Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese
At first when I heard this story, I didn't beleive it. A woman is selling a a grilled cheese sandwich on eBay that she claims has the image of the Virgin Mary. (.pdf file in case eBay pulls item). Some of the truly amazing tidbits are the details. The woman claims that the sandwich is 10 years old.
Of course a whole cottage industry has popped up on eBay ranging from watercolor recreations to do-it-yourself kits. I'll certainly let you pass judgment yourself, but it is certainly interesting in any event.
Rich Beavers
I heard of this crazy story first on the radio, but this photo is almost beyond belief. Apparently a group of beavers embedded thousands of dollars in their dam.
November 07, 2004
Star Wars - Final Call
The last installment of the Star Wars comparison articles is out now. Chris Gould has done an amazing job with the series of articles. The screenshots are amazing. I guess the only thing left to wonder is how much more Star Wars will change before it is released again.
November 06, 2004
Black Eyed Peas - Again
I have talked about this before, but I couldn't help bringing it up again. It was one thing when the Black Eyed Peas changed the lyrics of their music for a short bit on an NBA playoff promo, but now the new lyrics are all over the radio. Any thoughts from anyone else?
November 05, 2004
Star Wars - Take Two
The same site that posted the Star Wars: Episode IV comparison now also has an Empire Strikes Back edition. Hopefully, the site won't be too bogged down. The comparison photos alone are worth a look.
October 17, 2004
Who shot first?
DVD Answers has a thorough comparison of the Star Wars DVD release to previous incarnations. Worth a quick read. The screenshots alone show how much movie making magic has matured.
Whether or not Han shot first will not be resolved here, but is of course discussed.
August 15, 2004
Video Games
I found an interesting article about Sonic the Hedgehog. I know that I grew up playing more than my share of video games. Sonic was certainly part of that. For those of you who played games a few years back, it's definitely worth a read.
June 19, 2004
Updated links
Okay. Some people have issues with my site, so I have added extra links in the column on the right. Anyway, I will try to keep this up to date.
June 06, 2004
I'll take things that suck for $400 Alex
OK, so my old vacuum died a painful death. It had to be replaced. One thing that I learned in the process was that vacuums are much more expensive than I would like them to be.
Continue reading "I'll take things that suck for $400 Alex" »
April 21, 2004
Just a few Post-Its®
And I thought Filly like to Post-It® people's offices. She hasn't seen anything yet!
Here's one shot from Interactive tools, but there are many more at the site.
April 20, 2004
EcoHouse
It may just be a Malaysian engineering project, but the EcoHouse shows the power of fuel cells, photovoltaic cells, and most importantly creative design.
April 19, 2004
DaVinci Code
Joy of Tech has a cartoon about The DaVinci Code. Just remember, there's always the movie.
April 18, 2004
Interesting Way to Get Your News
Marumushi.com has introduced newsmap. It is described as "an application that visually reflects the constantly changing landscape of the Google News news aggregator." Definitely worth a look.