Friday, June 24, 2005

Dial-A-Dork Podcast Extra

Show notes for the Podcast Extra for June 24, 2005.

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Death notice at ArsTechnica

The "father" of the integrated circuit passed away. None of us would be enjoying technology as much without this critical advancement.

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

No worries, Matty...

it could've been worse.

Altoids contest

The Altoids folks are having a contest to see who can put the most interesting thing in an Altoids tin. It doesn't have to be a technical project such as a USB battery pack. It can be anything you want. Including a tiny diorama.

Monday, June 20, 2005

For all you iPod haxxors out there...

You have to check out this project to install Linux on the iPod.

iPodLinux complete with Installer.

I saw this as a note on PvPOnline. As Scott Kurtz says: "I would love to be able to adjust the audio quality of my ipod voice recordings. Espeically since I'll be trying to record interviews next weekend at Heroes Con in NC."

In my opinion, with all that space on an iPod, I'd love the option to be able to change the bit-rates of recordings and such.

Sunday, June 19, 2005

For the web hackers out there

I was poking through my list of RSS Feeds the other day, and stumbled upon something new (to me). I have the House Of Blues in Cleveland's event list there. Boy, I wish the other venues in town would put together a similar service, because scanning web pages for the info (vs. RSS) is a pain (if you want to do it, tho, here are the ones I often check Beachland, Grog, Odeon, Agora).

Anyway, the RSS feed had a little link for each event: "Add to my calendar". Well, I was curious and clicked, and boom! I use Outlook (2000? 2003?), so I can't vouch for other MS or non-MS apps, but Outlook popped right up with the event info in there, and I could set a reminder for how long before the show I wanted to get a pop-up. Nice! Well, I explored some more, and this article seems pretty definitive, if anyone out there is looking to publish event info.

I think that along with podcasting this really shows the power of RSS feeds. Not too useful on their own, but with their structure it's easy to combine feed technology with other programs and various media. Hot.

Friday, June 17, 2005

Dial-A-Dork Podcast Extra

Show notes for the Podcast Extra for June 16, 2005.

Thursday, June 16, 2005

The Summer Solstice is upon us...

And Chipotle is servin up the free stuff!

If you don't know what a Solstice is, check the wikipedia.

Celebrate Summer with Seconds
Burrito joint offers free food with purchase on the summer solstice

The summer solstice, occurring on June 21, is the longest day of the year for countries in the Northern hemisphere and officially marks the first day of summer in the United States. In other cultures, the summer solstice is also known as “midsummer” and holds mystical importance.
In ancient times, for example, people believed that at midsummer plants had miraculous and healing powers and picked them on this special night.

Cut to the present at Chipotle Mexican Grill locations throughout America and the summer solstice will be even more special. This June 21, burritos, tacos, bols and salads have the power to score the customer an additional burrito. When you purchase a meal on Tuesday, June 21, save the receipt and bring it in before Sunday, June 26, to receive a second burrito (or taco, bol or salad) – free.

Use your freebie to enjoy one of Chipotle’s signature burritos made with harvest fresh lettuce, vine ripened tomatoes, delicately seasoned fajita vegetables, succulent pinto or black beans, roasted corn salsa and hand-mashed guacamole made with Grade-A Hass avocadoes. Hunter/gatherers may adorn their fresh vegetables with natural beef or chicken seasoned with chipotle’s signature adobo rub or marinade, or natural pork carnitas seasoned with fresh thyme, bay leaves, juniper berries and freshly cracked black pepper.

With a variety of fresh ingredients and distinctive flavors at all Chipotle locations, and an ordering system that ensures what you eat is made to your own exacting standards, it’s sure to brighten your day.

The summer solstice special is available at the 14 Northeastern Ohio area Chipotle locations. To find your neighborhood burrito joint, visit www.chipotle.com.

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Free Anti-virus software

For all you people out there who are unwilling to pay to renew your Norton or McAfee Anti-virus, get out and download ClamAV. And don't forget to download updated virus definitions, all the programs will do this automatically by default, and run regular virus scans.

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Not necessarily nerdy but...

Everyone should check out Freecycle. From the website: "The Freecycle Network™ is made up of many individual groups across the globe. It's a grassroots movement of people who are giving (& getting) stuff for free in their own towns. Each local group is run by a local volunteer moderator (them's good people). Membership is free. To sign up, find your community by clicking on the region on the right. It will generate an automatic e-mail which, when sent, will sign you up for your local group and send you a response with instructions on how it works. Or, go directly to the Web site for your local group by clicking on your community's link on the left. Can't find a group near you? You might want to consider starting one (click on "Start a Group" for instructions). Have fun!"

I got a lawnmower from the ClevelandFreecylce group and regularly see lots of useful stuff for offer.

Open Source office applications

As we discussed on the show last night, Open Source applications are a great way to reduce costs while maintaining office functionality. Small and large businesses alike can benefit from the work done by the development team for OpenOffice, alternatively if you are more comfortable with a larger companies product that is still much cheaper than Microsoft's, consider StarOffice by Sun Microsystems. The differences between the two products are minor, especially for the average office user. While support is included in StarOffice's price, Sun Microsystems also provides support for OpenOffice. Check out the FAQ (frequently asked questions) for OpenOffice, to determine if it is right for you. You can also see a comparison document done by the Open Source Development and Documentation Project.

Open Source

SourceForge is the repository of open source projects. The Table of Equivalents lists Windows applications and their open source replacements. A classic article about open source is The Cathedral and the Bazaar.

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

List

The much maligned list from PCWorld.

Blasphemous tables!

Tables are so 90's, CSS positioning is the hip thing with the kids today. Check out csszengarden.com to get your learning on.

Touch-ups

The Dial-A-Dork weblog now has an atom feed (see the link at the right) and the archives are now publishing to the correct spot, so those links should work now, too.

DIY Parts

DIY Parts is where you can give/get/trade old hardware.

Thursday, June 02, 2005

Another definition of blog.

Technorati's Blogging Basics gives a good overview of blogging.

Sorry for being Sorry

I think we are wayyyyy too apologetic on this board, so I am NOT sorry that there is a delay in posting the mp3...

:)

Sorry for the delay

I hope to have Monday's Dial-a-Dork episode posted sometime tonight...