The Ramblings of Jon

Jane Yellowrock Series by Faith Hunter

2011-05-02T18:29:00.000-07:00

Series: Jane Yellowrock Series
Author: Faith Hunter
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_Hunter

Book 1: Skinwalker
Book 2: Blood Cross
Book 3: Mercy Blade
Book 4: Raven Cursed (Upcoming)

Glimpse into the books ….......
(Source: Amazon.com)

Jane Yellowrock is a supernatural skinwalker--one sharing her body with the soul of a mountain lion. When the rogue-vampire hunter is hired to hunt down a particularly nasty vamp, Jane is drawn into the steamy New Orleans vampire society where she learns the ins-and-outs of the "sane" vampire culture, more about her own Cherokee heritage, and we are drawn into a rousing, fast-paced thriller.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE NOTE: THE GLIMPSE INTO BOOKS Section was not written by me. I do not claim credit for these reviews/product descriptions. (Sources are linked). Images are also borrowed from Amazon.com and are linked to the site. I am not affiliated with Amazon.com. Please do not use this blog as the source of information for these products. Give source credit to the mentioned individuals and linked information.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mercy Thompson Series by Patricia Briggs

2011-05-02T18:24:00.000-07:00

Series: Mercy Thompson Series
Author: Patricia Briggs
Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patricia_Briggs

Book 1: Moon Called
Book 2: Blood Bound
Book 3: Iron Kissed
Book 4: Bone Crossed
Book 5: Silver Borne
Book 6: River Marked
Book 7: (TBA)

Glimpse into the books ….......
(Source: Amazon.com)
“A sorcerer-turned-vampire wreaks havoc on Washington's Tri-Cities, causing death, destruction and a paranormal faceoff in the second of Briggs's series featuring Mercy Thompson, a mechanic and "walker": one who can turn into a coyote at will. After attempts by the paranormal community to destroy the malevolent sorcerer fail, Mercy finds herself pulled into the fray: though her werewolf and vampire friends are stronger than she, it turns out that Mercy's abilities make her the only one in town who can save them all. While she discovers the truth about her powers, she also learns more about her past, and the werewolves who raised her. Though the romantic subplot-involving two rival werewolves, Alpha wolf Adam and Mercy's roommate Samuel-fizzles, Briggs has a refreshing knack for imbuing her characters (even non-humans) with lived-in human qualities. When it gets going, this paranormal adventure story is engaging, but a flabby first-person narrative stunts the suspense. “
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PLEASE NOTE: THE GLIMPSE INTO BOOKS Section was not written by me. I do not claim credit for these reviews/product descriptions. (Sources are linked). Images are also borrowed from Amazon.com and are linked to the site. I am not affiliated with Amazon.com. Please do not use this blog as the source of information for these products. Give source credit to the mentioned individuals and linked information.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Its been awhile

2011-04-19T18:45:00.000-07:00

I started my blog awhile back without any success on getting readers. Life took some turns where I became very busy and on most nights just lost the will to write anything. Happens when you don't have comments or views. I would like to write some more at least once a week. It remains to be seen if I will stick with it, as I have the attention span of a goldfish. Anyway hope you like my ramblings. Check the conspiracy theories I have ;)

My conspiracy theory for the Day

2011-04-19T18:43:00.000-07:00

Ok so this may sound nuts to some people. The browser company Firefox came out with its brand new version 4.0 a short time ago. They boast speed boosts, a cleaner engine, and more support for HTML 5. This may be true, but here is where my conspiracy theory comes in. Did they purposely slow down the old browser so people switch to the new version. Some may say this is crazy. Think about it though. You want to boost your popularity and get in the news so you want your new version to explode in number of downloads. You have to do this as soon as possible, because less and less people pay attention after the initial month. (Well until they say UPDATE YOUR BROWSER NOW OR I AM GOING TO CUT OFF YOUR WANKER, after-all it is over 1 year old which is ancient in computer terms). So would I be that far off my rocker, am I tipping the rocker over with my craziness or do you think this is possible.? I know my version has slowed down at least 20%. How much has yours slowed...(if your still using IE8 or lower your retarded)

Previous Blogs from My MySpace

2010-05-15T19:13:00.001-07:00

Alternative Software
I've decided to give anyone who reads my blog the alternative open source programs that I use in place of the usual programs one might use. Here you go this is the list of items I use in place of the mainstream. Well some of them have become mainstream like firefox.

Alternatives to IE

Firefox: http://www.mozilla.com/products/download.html?product=firefox-3.0.7&os=win⟨=en-US
Opera: http://www.opera.com/download/get.pl?id=32022&thanks=true⊂=true
Chrome: http://www.google.com/chrome/eula.html

Alternative to iTunes

SharePod: http://www.getsharepod.com/screenshots/

Alternative Messenger. Now I use one messenger to connect to all my accounts. AOL, Google Talk, and Yahoo.

Pidgin (Formaly Gain): http://downloads.sourceforge.net/pidgin/pidgin-2.5.5.exe
Trillian: http://www.download.com/Trillian/3000-2150-10047473.html?part=dl-trillian&subj=dl&tag=button

Email. Now most people use programs that are on the web now such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc but if you still like your email client on your computer here is an alternative to outlook express.

ThunderBird: http://www.mozillamessaging.com/thunderbird/download/?product=thunderbird-2.0.0.21&os=win⟨=en-US
Eudora: http://www.eudora.com/download/
Pegasus: http://www.pmail.com/downloads.htm

Just for the hell of it here is yet another social network site that is up and coming.
http://www.hi5.com/

If you want tv from the internet check out....

Hulu: http://www.hulu.com
TV.com: http://www.tv.com (Still being re-worked but they are going to try to keep up with hulu)

Ok that is it for now. I'm sure I will ad to this sometime... if anyone has any ideas or suggestions on what they like to see added feel free to let me know.

7:49 PM

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

I think I might be a geek.....

Believe it or not I just might be a geek. Yes me. If you see my apartment you will realize that I am a bit of an electronic/gaming/computer nerd.

Lets start with my computer desk. First there is a shelf (well an old drawer I converted to a shelf ;) ) that has my camera dock, vonage router, dsl modem, 8 port switch, and a wireless/4port router (which is wireless n compatible). Its a mini light show of yellow and blue.

Next we have a laptop that is around 6 years old. It is running XP pro at the moment, but I'm thinking about converting it to Ubuntu Linux once I migrate the info I need off of it.

I have two USB hubs connected to each other so I don't have to unplug anything. It has all the plugs in the hubs. This way I can run everything from my laptop. There is also an external DVD/CD burner. I got this so I could burn from both a desktop and laptop. It burns dvd-r double layer also. My keyboard and mouse are wireless. (Time for new one though this one is getting rather worn) I have an extra cable out of the switch too so I can hook in my work laptop when I need to. The monitor is a 20in LCD screen.

I also have a desktop that my cousin gave me, which I put linux on. There is a dead desktop that I tried to build but for some reason it won't cycle power. Everyone I talk to says motherboard or power supply. I've replaced the motherboard but have yet to replace the power supply. Lets hope thats it because I want to convert that one to a file server.

Then comes the new computer that should be arriving anytime this week. I got another monitor with it so I can go dual screen. It is going to be a beast. It unfortunately has Vista home edition on it but I can deal with that. It should run any new games out there. It has 1.5 terrabyte main hard drive, 750 Gb secondary hard drive, 8 Gb of RAM, 1 GB of video ram, 10/100/1000 network card, blu ray/dvd burner, dvd burner with lightscribe, and is liquid cooled.

There is also a few dead parts or un-used parts in various places of my apartment. The laundry/utility room has a skeleton case of my old dell desktop, some power cords, networking cords, usb cables, etc. A room upstairs has a CRT monitor. The one closet has a few keyboards, old software, and mice. That is the tell tale sign of my geek status I would say. Parts everywhere.

Now its not just computers. I have a gaming system addiction too. I have sitting in my living room area, a xbox, gamecube, wii, and xbox 360 and yes they are all hooked up to a 40in lcd screen. In the closet is an old nintendo, sony playstation and a junked out xbox (damn that soddered joint). Also in various closets are old games for the nintendo, super nintendo, sega, xbox, playstation and sega cd. (If i
have an itch to play an old game now I use an emulator and rom on my computer.....he he he e)

Then their are the movies. A 5 disk dvd player with a simple but nice surround sound and probably over 200+ dvds. I also have a netflix account in which i stream movies to my xbox 360 account or computer and also get a disk in mail. Needless to say with all this I don't watch much of the "regular" tv programing. If i do it is often online that I watch a show.... such as heroes and chuck. Now that I have looked at hulu.com i might have another avenue to look for tv shows and movies. I have one thing to say about this... time to upgrade my internet
connection speed ;) .

Oh and I have recently purchased 3 Cat 6 (which don't exist according to aradio shack sales rep in corry) cables to replace the Cat 5e cables. At this time they don't have a great benefit over the cat 5e but they will in the future. They should handle video and audio better than cat 5e.

I'm pricing KMV switches for dual screens, why you ask. Well so I can have all computer on and just hit a button and have the switch to my dual monitors. Dah.... Pricing long cables that don't have signal loss to hook my 40in lcd up to the computer also. Once again a reason to upgrade internet speed for those streaming videos.

So I admit it.... here goes.... My name is Jon... and I'm a geek. (now is time for everyone to say HI JON)

Previous Blog to my MySpace

2010-05-15T19:12:00.001-07:00

Shadows
I reside in the shadow, only rising when I choose. Once my job is done i sink back in. Nobody noticing. One day I will fail to rise. The question is will anyone notice.

A previous blog from my MySpace

2010-05-15T19:11:00.001-07:00

So you think men are the only ones concerned about appearance.
So you think men are the only ones concerned about appearance.

I was watching a reality tv show.... because yeah know that is all that is flippin on now days. It is about Dating in the dark. Three people pick the girl/guy they want to date in the dark room based on sent (they smell their clothes) then are given who pyscologists and experts match them to, etc. They go on the "dates" in a dark room. (where supposably they can't see anything) . They then go on multiple dates and pick the guy they like. They also get (at least in these two episodes) have a sketch artist draw a portrait based on what they think they look like. After its all done they get to see them in the light. One at a time of course so they don't see the reaction of the person. After they decide if they are going to meet them on the "balcony" to keep dating.

Guess what. In these episodes the WOMEN were much more judgement on the apperance of the guy than the guys were on the apperance of the women. The guys were also more accurate on getting the apperance of the women during the sketches than the women. Does this prove guys don't care about looks. NO. Because we do. Say what you will but guys do care about looks and we often admit it. However women do not. I simply think women are just as concerned as guys. Society makes it that way now days. The show is in no way concrete proof, but it is interesting to see.

...... what constitutes physical attraction is another question.

Women also think that guys want women to be thin yada yada yada. It is not entirely true. Men are attracted physically to a women who 1. Has the appearance of taking care of herself and 2. Is well proportioned. What that means is if a women is a size 16 but she is well proportioned (aka she has curves) many (normal) guys would find her attractive.

Here is an interesting quote from one study
"Contrary to popular assumptions men are not bothered much about the size of the breasts or back when it comes to looking for a life mate. These factors are pretty much not important."

A list from another study

1.) Smile of a woman (You can't control this one, well not naturally ; ) )
2.) Feminine and delicate Nature (Some degree of control, but not without changing who you are)
3.) A woman's voice (You can't control this one)
4.) Sense of humor (Some degree of control, but not without changing who you are)
5.) Un-materialistic attitude (You can control this one but with the women I know it must be hard ; ) )
6.) Strong personality (Strong is fine but not argumenative on everything ; ) )
7.) The eyes (Don't have much control over this)
8.) The Woman's Hair (Can control, but not a big factor)
9.) Physical Structure (Look it ranks 9th AND states physical structure)
10.) Comfortable and Confident (This one I think should be higher)

Hmm .... look at this list. To me it states.... be who you are, don't worry about appearance to the point of obsessiveness.

http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com.au/in-the-news/images/img-ad-campaign.jpg ..... ahh this one shows what is considered physical structure, or proportionate.

So yes we look at the physical part for attraction. It is often up front attraction. The intial attraction. Personality is what keeps us there (well after the college years anyway ; ) ).

Why did I blog about this. I have no clue .... I was bored.

Ok Women start yelling at me now..... ; )

TinkerNut

2010-02-28T20:30:00.001-08:00

Tinkernut.com... check it out. Has some fun stuff on it.

Netflix....

2010-02-28T20:29:00.000-08:00

Although I like Netflix it is bordering on getting lame. It does not add enough new material. Once my kids are finished watching there seasons of looney nick and disney shows I believe I will be canceling it for a little while. I could cancel it for a year and renew and I would have enough to watch for a month. The amount of good movies they have is subpar at best. They need to get more quality movies and more of them.

Some PC World Links...

2010-02-28T20:27:00.000-08:00

http://www.pcworld.com/article/189178/fantastic_freebies_by_category.html?tk=rss_news

http://www.pcworld.com/article/188971/best_free_windows_customization_tools.html?tk=rss_news

http://www.pcworld.com/article/189082/best_free_web_and_social_networking_tools.html?tk=rss_news

http://www.pcworld.com/article/189227/best_free_stuff.html?tk=rss_news

http://www.pcworld.com/article/188980/best_free_productivity_tools.html?tk=rss_news

http://www.pcworld.com/article/188981/best_free_timesavers.html?tk=rss_news

The Free TV Journey: Part 1 Advantages and Disadvantages

2009-10-15T09:31:00.000-07:00

I blogged about how I was cutting my monthly bills down by cutting my cable service. Well here is an update on how that is going.

1. Experiment with Digital Antenna

This was a no go. Since Digital does not go near as far I could not receive any local channels. So that $36 premium antenna, well it is getting returned. Damn FCC said "hey lets screw over all those people in rural areas with this digital thing"

2. Internet Streaming

This is going well. It has some advantages and disadvantages, but hey its free or mostly free. Some people may have to buy equipment for this if they don't want to watch it on their computer monitor.

A. Advantages

-Its Free with few intrusive ads

-Availability. You can watch it anytime you want. No more I got to stay up for that show, or I can't do that thing because I'm addicted to my show and I must watch it even if it makes me miss hanging with friends. Well to a degree. Most sites only keep the past 5 episodes. So you can miss one if you don't go to watch it for 6 or so weeks after it aired.

-No more channel surfing. Well this is kind of both an advantage and disadvantage. You don't flip through channels. However, I got myself psychological used to the remote. It took me a bit not to think about flipping through channels and actually messed with my head for awhile.

B. Disadvantages

-Sometimes it does not stream well with speed packages. You may have to upgrade a little here. This will cost you more, but not as much as the cable/satellite service. So you still save money. (Unless you go to FiOS, that has killer speeds but starts in the range of the other services, and I can tell you that you don't save that much with the sole called bundled packages)

-Picture Quality. It can be blotchy, and sometimes the audio does not match the picture. This also could be helped by an increased speed.

-Branded TV. This really is not a disadvantage per say but it is branded with logos. At least Hulu is. However it does not take long to not even notice these branded logos.

-No more channel surfing

-Connection to a tv for those that

C. My Opinion So Far....

So far this has worked out. It does take some time to get used to it. You need to get used to the picture quality, the streaming delays, and the simple change psychologically. If you watch on your computer screen you need to be used to a smaller screen. However I use an old laptop streaming low speed broadband to my 40" LCD tv. This setup works. You will come across some quality issues but so far it has not been to bad. Hulu and the Network channels work fine. Netflix from its compression does have a bad image quality.

What I recommend is to send it to your tv if you have one capable of it. (You can make old ones capable with adapters but it will effect quality) Most LCD, LED's have a VGA port. Keep in mind that is just for audio. You still need computers speakers. If you have an HDMI capable video card then you are in luck. It transfers both audio and video. However you will likely have to change a setting on your computer to make it do so. More on setup, adapters later in part 2.

I recommend a min speed of 1MB Download and 768k upload for your broadband. To let you know though I am running it on a 768/128 so it is possible at lower speeds. If you are into more quality then a 3MG/768k could be a good investment without breaking the bank. (Depending on the company)

This method has saved me 2 months of service. In one year at my cheap cable service fee of 30 a month saves 360 a year. If you pay 45 it would save 540, 60 would save 720 a year. Add also that you are maximizing your dollar for your internet service, getting more out of what you are already paying for.

I have also found some shows I wouldn't normally have watched that I found are decent shows. So in a way it has got me watching more which is bad, however when I finally get my elliptical it might not be so bad. I can then do that while I watch shows. I need something to keep me entertained while I do it. So I don't get bored. The bad could turn into a good.

Well I'm out for now. I will blog some soon on the adapters, etc, that you can get or should get and other setup options in part 2. Peace out....

Verizon: They SUCK...

2009-10-14T16:42:00.000-07:00

Okay .. so I go to upgrade my service to a higher speed. I do this online, thinking hey I can get the online price. Well apparently they don't know what they are doing.

First I get home and use the internet for 5 to 10 minutes. Worked fine. I go to get on later at around 8. It didn't work. I was like hmm.... ok lets reboot the modem. Nothing happens. Ok lets see if my password change had anything to do with it. So I change my password on the connection in the modem... still nothing. So I reset the modem... nothing.

I then call tech support. She runs a line test. Seems to be fine. She does something else on her end that she did not tell me till the end of the call. She has me go through the motions of turning off the modem, etc. Ok yeah it works. She tells me it was on their end. So not 2 minutes after I hang up, the internet light turns red. Ok I'm thinking .... now what.

I call back. The new tech guy looks at the ticket from before so he knows I have an account. He asks me to verify all my info, in which I did. He then goes to run a line test. "Well sir I see this account does not exist anymore" .... I was like what.... I just talked to a tech like 15 minutes ago. (Was on hold for 10-12 min after the light turned red). He states he does not know what happened and that I would have to create a new account but the sales office was not open at that time so I would have to call back. I said I am not calling back tomorrow. I told him to contact the sales office himself and get it fixed. I should not have to deal with this and they had to make it right. A little harsh I know but it ticked me off that my account just disappears.

Ok so I get a call back today. The account is back up. So I ask why the service was placed back to the original speed. He states they are in the process of upgrading and it will be done soon. I then ask why it was not upgraded when they turned it back on. Well aparently their "system" took my account off and did not upgrade it. They had to put another request in, also it tried upgrading a different account. I was like ok, can you put me through to sales to see if this order is going to be completed.

So now I'm on hold again... for about 10 min. He assures me that it is in and requested. So I get a call later. Its verizon. Its a tech support guy. He asks if I got my internet up and running.... I'm thinking what the heck. Didn't I just tell the other person that but it was not upgraded. I asked him what he showed my package as. He stated the upgraded one. So I tell him I am not getting that speed because I am in the modem and it tells me the old speed. He ran a line test. And sure enough.... it was the old speed. He then calls over to the sales department. This one tells him that it should be done with.... um then why did the sales guy I talked to say it was not completed yet. HELLO. Now this tech guy says. Ok I will take care of this and I will call you when it is complete, so you don't have to call us back.

So that is my story. The Verizon "Experience" for me at least has never been a pleasent one. To bad I have no other option for my high speed interenet. I would be gone from Verizon in a heartbeat....

We eat some crazy shit.....

2009-10-14T15:33:00.001-07:00

http://eatthis.menshealth.com/slide/worst-meal-america

Take a look at the link above.... now wonder we are all fat....
Add less activity levels and the food from that link we should be all clogged up.

10 Reasons .....

2009-10-13T11:37:00.001-07:00

Bad Analysis: 10 reasons people make stupid decisions
http://badanalysis.blogspot.com/2006/10/10-reasons-your-co-workers-make-stupid.html

10 Reasons To Choose Linux in a Bad Economy
http://www.daniweb.com/news/post976148.html

10 Reasons Why Child Beauty Pageants Are Bad For Girls
http://jezebel.com/5356953/10-reasons-why-child-beauty-pageants-are-bad-for-girls/gallery/

Top 10 reasons why teens aren't that bad « Is This Mike On?
http://mikehenneke.mvourtown.com/2009/09/18/top-10-reasons-why-teens-arent-that-bad/

10 Reasons Why Smoking Is Bad | eHow.com
http://www.ehow.com/list_5481530_reasons-smoking-bad.html

The Top 10 Arguments Against DRM
http://www.learnoutloud.com/content/blog/archives/2006/11/the_top_10_argu.html

Bad Job Interview? 10 Reasons You Didn't Get the Job Offer
http://www.workcoachcafe.com/2009/04/20/10-reasons-you-didnt-get-the-job/

Top 10 reasons to take a bad photograph
http://www.nikondigital.org/pages/articles/top10_badphoto.htm

10 Reasons Sugar is Bad
http://www.formerfatguy.com/weblog/2007/09/10-reasons-sugar-is-bad.asp

Top 10 Reasons Why The BMI Is Bogus
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106268439

The 10 Real Reasons Why Geeks Make Better Lovers
http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/commentary/sexdrive/2007/04/sexdrive_0406

The Quest to Maximize what I'm paying for..... aka Trimming the Fat

2009-09-08T11:13:00.000-07:00

In my quest to slash costs I turned off my cable, canceled my web hosting service, and cut my VoIP landline from Vonage. Although I did not have any trouble with any of them I simply wanted to see where I could cut costs and maximize the services I already had.

Why did I cut my cable?

The price of my cable was not the issue. My local cable company is non-profit and the cost for 50 channels was only $30. Not bad really, but it was one area where I am experimenting.

I believe I can maximize my internet service more by connecting the computer to the LCD TV I have and watching shows from the network websites (ABC, NBC, etc), Hulu, and stream netflix to it. This will allow me to get more out of what I'm paying for internet and also cut my monthly budget by $30. (More to come on this later, I will let you know how it is shaping up)

Why did I cut my Landline?

The VoIP service I had, Vonage, was not a bad service and I generally did not have trouble with it (as always however just google it and you will find horror stories on the service). For the services offered definately beat out the other phone carriers (cough cough Verizon, AT&T, etc) in price. However for the readers that don't know me... well you can never get me by phone and I also have a cell. Now I was using like 2 percent of the minutes on my cell phone. So in order to maximize this service I cut my landline. One thing that also went into this was the fact that the cell is more convient and can be used when I'm not home. If it were simply cost I would have cut the cell phone as it costs more, however the convience and fact I have 4 young children made the cell phone the phone of choice. Once again this saves me a little money and maximizes the dollars spent on the cell phone service.

Why cut my web host?

This was only $10 a month. However it is also just a hobby, one which at this time in my life I don't have much time for, so I simply cut it out of my budget. I would not have cut it if they made enough money to pay for themselves... but the slackers would not rank well. (Search engine optimization)

Well there you have it that is what my quest has brought so far. Now I just need to quit eating out as much and start being nit-picky on what I buy. By the way my goal is to trim off $100, so far I'm at $70.

I'm on a flippin roll.... or am I rolling

2009-09-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

Today I have been a force to be reckoned with at work. I have gotten 8 quotes to customers, entered an order, meanwhile being given a crash training session on a customer I will be taking next week because their agent is out on vacation. Yeah sometimes I am just good at what I do. Then again that is only my opinion.

Any a hoo ... I also got some other stuff done on my lunch break. I'm just a busy bee today.

The Subscription/Rental Nation

2009-09-01T16:07:00.000-07:00

More and more things are becoming available as rental or subscription services. If this is a good thing or not still has its debatable points.

We are seeing an increase in services like this in recent years. Almost everybody knows about netflix. Yeah that is where a lot of it started. (At least for me in my mind) And really if you are a movie fanatic it is a service that pans out well for you. Pending you actually watch and return the movies you can definately get your monies worth. That is also the kicker though. You are paying the fee each month no matter what. So if you only get one movie that month you paid $10 for that movie. So it has its possitives and negatives. Where netflix I think is getting it right is the offering of instant streaming to your computer and other devices. That is most helpful for those who are even to lazy to return it by mail (which is my case sometimes.... after a long day I just don't feel like taking it to the post office... excuse yes, but it happens). I believe netflix is one of the good ones out there. The service isn't ridiculously priced and it also has instant streaming (although the selection could be better but I think it will be with time.) If you keep the movie for a long time though you basically paid enough in the long run to buy it.

You also have one for video games. I have not tried Gamefly out but it is very similiar to Netflix. With Microsoft being the pieces of crap they are (thats another blog) I don't think I will be trying this any time soon, but likely will in the future. It just won't be the near future. This can be useful because instead of buying that 60 game you can rent it and see if you like it. If you do not... well then you saved yourself some money and can move on to preview another title.

The you have games that charge a fee to play. Subscription games most notably world of warcraft. It is a good game. However I don't believe this one is worth $15 a month. There are many reasons I have this opinion, but I will name a few here. One is you still have to pay $60 for the game and then pay for each expansion. They should not do that if they are going to charge you each month. It should be a free download. Next reason is they could at least have a program that if you have been a loyal customer for a few years you get the expansion for free. Or maybe buy the original get the expansions for free. All in all this subscription does not offer much reward. At least with Netflix and Gamefly you can get a lot of return on your hard earned money. This well basically you are making the folks at blizzard rich and making other companies say hey we should do that too. I believe that in the end would kill the gaming world.

You also have software companies doing it. Many antivirus companies have doing it for years. $50 a year for that years updates. Not to bad. But I don't like it. Basically because they scare people into thinking they need all this security when all they do is email and surf the internet. Sorry a free version is good enough if that is all you do on your computer. They get a lot of money off of the paranoid people in my opinion.

There is talk the next version of Microsoft office may go to the subscription based type of service. I don't like this but it can be helpful in some ways. They then would be responsible for the security keeping it updated, etc. Falling back on them and not the user. Which if you know anything about the general computer user ... well they aren't good at mainting much of anything on their computer (sorry didn't mean to hurt anyones feelings but its true) However I still don't like it. I think microsoft needs to lower their office software 50% across the board. Also if they do this service they should not charge for the software. Or if they do it should not be much.

Now for what got me on this rant. An article in Fortune Magazine about Zipcar. This service is basically like a rental car service, however it has a lot more draw to it. I heard about this about 3 years ago but did not pay much heed to it. Now perhaps the caption "The Netflix for Cars" got me reading about it. It made me realize how we are starting to go to rental/subscription based business models. It made me think about possitives and negatives about this type of model. One of the possitives about Zipcar is that you do not have car insurance. Thats right you can forgo that $200 to $1000 dollar a year annoyance. Now zipcar charges an hourly rate and you have to pay close attention to the terms of service etc. (like you must not smoke in the cars.... fine for me cause I am not a smoker) Others are starting to take notice of zipcar. Hertz is offering one called connect and there is a non profit one I believe called iGo. One downfall is these models if I'm not mistaken only work well in compacted areas, aka big cities. Don't think it would make a lot of money in small towns. You never know though but I believe it will remain that way. Another benefit is that you are sharing the car. In theory that might cut down on pollution, etc. It will also cut down on the amount of cars sold.... we know how that effects things. Just ask Detroit.

My question to you is what do you think about the move to these subscription based business models? Good or bad, and why?

The Star Wars Universe

2009-08-27T07:55:00.000-07:00

Star Wars in my opinion is one of the best Sci-Fi story lines created. Many people only look at the movies and such. That is only a small part of the story line. There are many more stories, back stories, and future stories (taking place after Luke defeats Vader).

Take this site for example. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Wookieepedia_featured_articles
This site has a lot of back stories etc.

http://www.starwars.com/vault/databank/
http://starwars.yahoo.com/characters

Star Wars also has a d20 role playing game....
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=starwars
http://swrpg.wikispaces.com/Character+Sheets

The story line is much more developed than just the movies that are available. Not all of it is approved by Lucus but it makes for a long in depth story.

Low Cost Web Tools

2009-08-26T06:35:00.000-07:00

Free (or Mostly Free) Web Tools
Version 1.0.0
Jon Upton

Added on 4-16-2009
All these are courtesy of PCWorld Magazine. May 2009. (All I've done is summarize and categorize)
http://www.pcworld.com/
Article: The Best Free Stuff You've Never Heard Of
Authors: Preston Gralla and Adam Pash

I do not claim to have used any of these sites. If anyone here has please feel free to let everyone know how you feel about them.

Streamlined Social Networking

Digsby - http://www.digsby.com
Aggregating your online social life. Wraps social networking, IM, and email into one package.

NutshellMail - http://www.nutshellmail.com
Consolidates messages from Facebook, Twitter and secondary email

Ping.fm - http://www.ping.fm
Allows status updates to multiple sites.

Pipl - http://www.pipl.com
Search that scours the net for everything from that person. Reverse look-up by username, email.

Spokeo - http://www.spokeo.com
Searches social networks to "keep tabs" (a.k.a spy) on what people have been doing on those sites.

TweetDeck - http://www.tweetdeck.com
Tweeter on steroids

Google Latitude - allows you to "monitor" (a.k.a spy) on the location of your friends, family.

Engineer A Better PC Experience

Wubi Ubuntu Installer - Easily installs Ubuntu linux on your PC as a Dual boot Option.

RocketDock - Adds a Mac Like dock to a Windows PC to provide quick access to commonly used apps

StartUpLite - Streamlines your PC's startup function with just a few mouse clicks

360Desktop - Structures your desktop as a 360 degree band that provides lots of space

Ultimate Windows Tweaker - Contains 150 ways to tweak Windows Vista through one interface

Vista Services Optimizer - Kills unneeded services running in the background in Vista.

Business Apps

OpenOffice.org - http://www.openoffice.org.
Full service office suite. Excellent free option in place of Microsoft Office

Flowgram - http://www.flowgram.com
Web based multimedia presentations

Gubb - www.gubb.net
Tracks to-dos, projects, phone calls and more

Primo Online - http://www.online.primopdf.com
Create PDF files without software

Remember the Milk - http://www.rememberthemilk.com
Reminder service compatible with many clients such as Gmail, Blackberry, IPhone, etc

Google Docs - http://docs.google.com
(This one not in article I added it, and it is what this was typed up on)
Web based office suite. Allows access to documents as long as you have Internet and browser. Easily share documents.

Security (http://find.pcworld.com/62671)

Avast Home Edition - http://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html
One of the best free virus scanners out there. (This program I do use and recommend to all the casual computer users out there, great protection for free)

AttackTrace - http://find.pcworld.com/62670
Service that lets you see if your site has been hacked

Comodo Easy VPN Home
Create Secure peer to peer networks over the Internet for sharing information, etc.

EULAlyzer
Looks for hidden terms that may be a license for spyware.

Online Armor Personal Firewall
Firewall service that is easy to use and has some good features for being free.

a-Squared HiJackFree
Anti Spyware Program to use as a secondary tool to your main one

SpywareBlaster
This program works a little differently than others and trys to prevent spyware before it happens. Blocks some Active X and tracking cookies

Super AntiSpyware
Good program overall but does not offer real time protection.

Clever Ways to Connect, Smart Phones, and Mobile Apps
(http://find.pcworld.com/62678) (http://find.pcworld.com/62683)

Google Labs Tools - http://find.pcworld.com/62677

Affixa
Sets Web Based emails as your default program for email.

Deferred Sender - http://www.deferredsender.com
Um... this one tricks the time stamp basically and lets you say what time it was sent. Say you don't want your boss to know you finished that project at 3 a.m.

Postbox
Organizes messages and attachments

Skype 4.0
A lot of people know about skype so I'm not sure why its here but it allows you voice over IP. Can be cheap way to contact family, boss, etc if on business trip overseas.

TrapCall - http://www.trapcall.com
Sick of those Unknown numbers on your phone.... well trapcall can help

Shazam - http://find.pcworld.com/62672
Analyzes song to tell you the name, offers link to buy

Box.net
File storage management for iPhone

Evernote
Sync your creation to the web and desktop

Google Mobile
Seach engine for the mobile device. Android and iPhone versions support voice search

Pageonce
Like your personal assistant. Tracks things such as checking balance, minutes left on mobile service, etc. Blackberry version is a 2 week free trial.

Remote
iPhone app that lets your phone.... well become a remote.

CheckPlease
iPhone app that splits the bill for you.

Open Table (http://find.pcworld.com/62676)
Finds restaurants and can make reservations

Yelp
Has a browser version but now there is an app for the iPhone. Find restaurants, read reviews, etc.

Google Sync
Sync google mail and calendar with your phone

Dropbox - (http://find.pcworld.com/62689)
Simple file sync between computer and web

LastPass - (http://find.pcworld.com/62689)
Password manager

PortableApps.com Suite - (http://find.pcworld.com/62689)
Open Source Apps that can run directly from a thumb drive. OpenOffice, Pidgin, etc

Qipit - http://www.quipit.com
Take picture send to site and it will make it a pdf

Slydial - http://www.slydial.com
Service that allows for call to go straight to voicemail, in case you want to leave a message rather than talk to the person

Tatango - http://www.tatango.com
Allows you to send email or message to voicemail to a group of people

TripChill - http://tripchill.com
Forward airline itinerary email to this smart service gives back real time alerts by email or text message

System Utilities (http://find.pcworld.com/62679)

Advanced SystemCare Free
Powerful tool to keep system clean and running speedily

Clipboard Help and Spell
Clipboard on steroids, offers more tools than regular clipboard on windows. (Note: Installs Yahoo toolbar, so uncheck box at time of install or registration if you don't want it.)

Recuva
Recovery software (Note: Installs Yahoo toolbar, so uncheck box at time of install or registration if you don't want it.)

ScreenToaster - http://www.screentoaster.com
Records what your doing on your screen. Can be helpful if you are trying to show someone how to do something and they are not there.

DeFraggler
Defragmentation program that is faster and has more capabilities than windows built in disk defragmentation tool.

Drive Manager
Identifies drives and shows type, capacity, etc. SMART Enabled drives you can see things like temperature, model and serial number.

Photos, Videos, and Music
(http://find.pcworld.com/62684) (http://find.pcworld.com/62681) (http://find.pcworld.com/62682)

PhotoPerfect Express
Point and click editing of photos

Jing
Easily get Screenshots and video screencasts with this service

PhotoFunia - http://www.photofunia.com
Google service that lets you put your face on things

Skitch - http://www.skitch.com
Annotate images either from screenshots or photos you drag in

Sumo Paint - http://www.sumopaint.com
Web Based photo editor

DVD Flick
DVD Burning Program

Embedr - http://www.embedr.com
Creates embeddable video playlists

HandBrake
Converts DVD to PC and mobile friendly versions

KickYouTube - kickyoutube.com
Converts youtube videos on the fly so you can save to your pc or run from your portable device

RerunCheck - http://www.reruncheck.com
Checks if the shows you are currently watching are re-runs or new ones

Splicd - http://www.splicd.com
Link directly to the part of the video you want people to see.... say the funny part at 5:20 of the video

TV.com - http//www.tv.com
CBS owned t.v programming can viewed here. They are ramping up to try to compete with Hulu.com

Wowbrary - http://www.wowbrary.org
Monitors your list of favorite books, cds and dvds to let you know when they are released.

XBMC
Robust media player originally designed for the XBOX. It can run on Linux, Mac OS X, Windows and XBOX.

Songbird - http://www.getsongbird.com
Open Source downloadable media player

MixTape.me - http://www.mixtape.me
Create, listen to, and share playlists

Mojo
Share your iTunes Library

PimpMyNews - http://www.pimpmynews.com
Converts blogs to podcast for reading on the go

RockBox
Firmware to rejuvinate the soal of that old mp3 player

SharePod
Alternate to iTunes for your your iPod management. (I have used this one it like it 300000% more than iTunes management of the iPod)

TuneUp
Cleans up your messy metadata from iTunes. MAC or PC

Productivity & Scheduling

Windows Live Sync - http://sync.live.com
Install on pc's you want folders synced on and it will sync them when you log on.

Drop.io - http://www.drop.io
Create a folder, drop files in, and allow sharing to people you want to see it.

5min - http://www.5min.com
The do it yourselfer's dream, 5 minute how to videos

GreenPrint World - (http://find.pcworld.com/62685)
Scans pages for wated items such as pages with one line of text. Can take out un-needed images etc. Also can track how much paper and money you saved by using this service

LiveMesh - http://www.mesh.com
Sync files remotely, control devices, etc. Can be confusing but powerful once you get used to it.

PrintWhatYouLike - http://www.printwhatyoulike.com
Anther green paper saving tool

SkyDrive - http://skydrive.live.com
Microsoft service similiar to Drop.io above

Zemanta - (http://find.pcworld.com/62686)
Firefox add on to help juice up your blogs

Zoho Mail - http://mail.zoho.com
Web based email program. Often overlooked because of the mainstream ones such as yahoo mail, hotmail, and gmail.

Zumbox - http://www.zumbox.com
Get offers etc that you normally get by post office mail (snail mail) delivered to your email. (Participating businesses)

Google Calendar Sync (http://find.pcworld.com/62687)
This service will sync your google calendar and your outlook calendar

FreeConference - http://www.freeconference.com
Schedule and make conference calls

MyHours.com - http://www.myhours.com
This one is for the sales person or consultants out there (although others may find a way to use it). Track Billable hours and create useful reports and timesheets

Zoho Planner - http://planner.zoho.com
Track appointments, to do lists, etc.

Browser Add-ons and Such (http://find.pcworld.com/62694)

List.it - (http://find.pcworld.com/62680)
Notepad type utility for you to jot your notes down on. FireFox 3 add-on

FeedsPlus
IE add-on. Allows you to read all your news feeds in one location.

FireFTP
FireFox add on that lets you FTP right within the browser

Google Preview
FireFox add on that lets you view thumnails of google pages

IE7Pro
IE add on that anyone who uses IE should have

Minimap Sidebar
Drag a physical address to this bar and you can see a map without leaving the site - Firefox add-on

Video DownloadHelper
Come across video you want save, this Firefox add-on will download the clip for later viewing

Qitera - http://www.qitera.com
Save web site contents and share with others

Glue - http://www.getglue.com
Firefox add-on that lets you see what people think of the website as you surf the web

KidZui - (http://find.pcworld.com/62691)
Child oriented browser helping to create a safe exploring environment

Zigtag - http://www.zigtag.com
Tag favorite pages and share your tagged list with others

Politics - The art of Stupidity

2009-08-26T05:43:00.000-07:00

To say I am getting fed up with our political process is an understatement. Both sides of the spectrum are acting rediculious about the health care reform. Nothing will come of it because they are all to busy trying to prove that democrat wrong or that republican wrong. Instead of actually sitting down and working through it they decided to make a public fight to get people to go for one party or the other. It is increasingly becoming a problem in my opinion. I am almost certain that none of them tell the truth about what is being planned etc. They smear everything till it is a fiction book.

The American people simply need to vote every single one of them out and place them with new blood who are willing to work together rather than bicker because they are labeled a republican or democrat.

The Younger Generation

2009-08-26T05:37:00.000-07:00

There is always a "younger" generation that we don't seem to understand why they do the things they do. We often forget what we did when we were younger, how we didn't always listen to the sage advice of that old timer, despite having survived some harsh times. The younger genereation not always understanding what "the big deal" is and the old timers not understanding what they are doing. This seems to be the case no matter what generation goes before and after. They each complain about the other.

I heard on the radio this older lady say that kids are stupid now days. I don't agree with this. They simply have different views, different ideas, and whole set of different issues than this lady had in her time. To say they are stupid is completely inaccurate. In many ways they are just as smart. It is likely that many of these stupid young people could run all over this lady when it comes to the use of technology. Sure they can't spell cat, but they can use the spell check. This lady most likely has to look around for the spell check button. Technology in some case may be the reason kids can't spell, it could have something to do with the hurt in reading actual books. It doesn't mean they don't read. Its just likely read online. With the addition of E-Readers I am betting more will read. Simply because it is a format they are now accustom to.

To say they are stupid is wrong. They simple are growing up in a different time with societal changes that the old timers were not a part of, this will cause differences. This also goes for younger people. The grandparent offering sage advice might actually know what they are talking about, give them credit too.