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Google Videos on Your TV

September 19, 2006 in Technology with 0 Comments



I saw this over at ilounge. The iTV will be a cool new streaming media device for your tv. You will be able to view photos, music, and movies from your computer or the Internet. This thing is pretty slick, but it won’t be out for a few months.


Newsweek reports that Apple is in talks with Google to offer videos from the search giant’s online video service on Apple’s forthcoming iTV media device. In addition to streaming videos, photos and music, the iTV will also be able to stream content from the web, such as movie trailers, according to Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ demo of the device. “Is it possible that when iTV ships next year, you may also be able to choose a menu item called Google Video, and then zip through the best of the thousands of user-submitted videos on the search giant’s service? Google’s consumer product chief, Marissa Mayer, tells me that indeed, the two companies are engaged in talks,” reports Newsweek’s Steven Levy. It should be noted that Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently joined Apple’s board of directors.

New Ipods

September 12, 2006 in Technology with 0 Comments

Check out the new ipods at Apple’s website. A 30gig and 80gig video ipod and new nanos in different colors with 2,4, and 8 gig models. I was hoping for video playback in the nanos, but we just got pretty colors in an aluminum case with longer battery life.

Itunes received some new stuff as well. Most notably movies, in 640×480 resolution. And is anyone else happy that Itunes 7 finally downloads album art to files that you rip. Even Windows Media Player has done that for years! I like the look of the new Itunes as well.

And finally iTV, a cheap way to hook up all your pictures, movies, and music to your home theater. I need to read up on it a little, it looks like people will be disappointed if all the downloaded movies max out at 640 x 480 resolution. That’s lower than dvd’s. Anyway, cool stuff as always.

Church Yesterday

September 11, 2006 in Church Related, Technology with 0 Comments

We were back at Cornerstone yesterday. I got to do the welcome and announcements and body life part of the service. I’m pretty comfortable in front of large groups when I’m teaching, but I really don’t like doing announcements. I’m just not a people person.

Of course, there were a few minor technical difficulties. Our long video snake to the projector didn’t work. That means a solder joint probably broke in the connector. I fixed it once last year, but it was a serious pain in the #%$. Anyway, I think Satan has a special legion of demons that live in cables and computers. We managed to use a short cable, but I had to sit behind the screen to run the projector. I felt like the wizard in the Wizard of Oz. And then, I hit a bug in our worship presentation software, Easyworship. It has been a great program for us. It’s easy to use and very powerful. I like MediaShout, but Easyworship blows it away for ease of use. But yesterday, I hit a bug right when Galen was in the middle of a long Scripture passage. I’ll report it and see what happens. Galen did have a good message on our freedom from the bondage of sin. So hopefully, the technology wasn’t a distraction

Anyway, church was a little low on attendance yesterday. Not sure quite why, but we have been up and down a lot lately. We have some pretty important meetings this week about the structure and direction of our church. Some serious stuff to decide, but good.

Finally, A NEW Computer

August 23, 2006 in Technology with 0 Comments

It’s been a while since we bought our last computer at home. Actually about 6 years. So I finally took the plunge and bought a new one. Now for those of you who know me, you know that I fix everyone else’s computers all the time, but I really never spend any money on my own. It helps that I have a pretty cool laptop for work. I have been watching the discount coupon site GotApex and I found this deal on Monday. A new Compaq computer for $399 shipped free from CompUSA. AMD 64 3800+, 1 Gig of Ram, 250 Gig Hard Drive with a Dual Layer DVD, and GeForce Graphics. It’s in the mail, so any day now, I’ll get to play with a new computer. This things blows my last computer away and its $1400 cheaper.

Here in order are all the computers I have owned. I have to reminisce a little about these old ones. They have served me well.

  1. Atari 800XL: I learned to type and program in basic on this ancient thing. It had 64 Kb of Ram (notice I said KB, not MB) and a cartridge slot. I even had the cassette tape recorder that hooked up to it and acted as a disk drive. Eventually, they started making a 5 1/4″ floppy drive that I used with it. I think my mom finally sold it at a yard sale a few years ago.
  2. A Portable Computer: This computer was a 286, 10Mhz computer with a 7″ monochrome screen. It weighed about 40 pounds. It had a 20 Meg Hard Drive and a floppy drive built in.
  3. When I started college (in 1991), I got a Gateway 486. This thing was sweet at the time and it cost over $2500. It had a huge 40 Meg Hard Drive and a CGA Graphics Card. We had to run CAD programs for engineering, so all my buddies were always coming over to my dorm to use my computer. It also came with Windows 2.0, which really sucked at the time. I mainly used Wordperfect 5.1 and Lotus 1-2-3.
  4. After I graduated and got married, we bought another Gateway. This time it was Pentium 166 MMX. It had a 4 Gig hard drive and a 3 1/2″ floppy.
  5. Back in 2000, we bought a gaming computer from Hypersonic. It was an Athlon 1200 with Geforce 2 Graphics and a 40 Gig Hard Drive.
  6. And finally now, this Compaq with a 250 Gig Hard Drive (which is 5000 times bigger than the first hard drive I had)

A Sweet New Cell Phone Concept

August 23, 2006 in Technology with 0 Comments

I saw this over at ilounge. Take a look at this phone by Synaptics. They make the click wheel for the ipod and the touchpads for laptops. This is a new concept they are working on. A touchscreen phone/music player with no buttons. You just tap on the screen. This might even be close to the design of the next video ipod. Imagine a click wheel integrated into the screen, now that would be sweet.

Middle School Lawsuit Over an Ipod

August 18, 2006 in Technology, Youth Ministry with 2 Comments

It’s been all over the tech news about a middle school girl who had her ipod stolen while at school. The parents are suing her friend who had borrowed it. The new American way, if anything happens bad, then sue. Don’t you think this is the type of thing that could be worked out between two friends. What do you think? Should it have gone to court? BTW, a top of the line new 4Gig Nano is only $249.

The dispute started with the two Still Middle School friends sharing an iPod – a portable device that plays music – and has resulted in a lawsuit with Stephanie, 14, as the defendant. On June 6, the last day of eighth-grade at Still Middle School, Shannon lent Stephanie her iPod Nano. Shannon’s mother, Melanie McCarthy of Aurora, said her daughter had saved money from Christmas and birthday gifts to purchase the $300 iPod in late May. The day it was stolen was the first time she had brought it to school, McCarthy said.
McCarthy said her daughter left the classroom to use the bathroom and when she returned, the iPod was gone. Stephanie, who had also left the room, told her friend that she had placed the iPod on top of Shannon’s desk. McCarthy named Stephanie in a lawsuit filed in DuPage County on Aug. 4. The suit seeks $350 for the iPod and $125 in court costs. Stephanie’s father, Stephen Eick of Naperville, said his daughter didn’t do anything wrong.

Nike+ actually works

August 16, 2006 in Technology with 0 Comments

I went running today to calibrate my new Nike+ ipod Sensor. Since I didn’t buy the Nike shoes with the built in sensor hole, I had to rig up a way to hold the sensor on my shoelaces. I ordered a cool Velcro/nylon pouch from Marware, but while I am waiting, I had to rig up my own. It consisted of a Velcro cord wrap and a few nylon cable ties. Believe or not, it actually worked! I ran through my usual running trail and when I got to the one mile mark, my ipod showed that I had run 0.97 miles. I can live with 97% accuracy. It should be even closer the next time I run since I calibrated it to my running style. It even has the sultry female voice come on and tell you how fast you are running and how far you have been. This might actually encourage me to get back in shape. It’s been 15 years (and about 60 pounds) since I used to run 50 miles a week. I’m hurting all over right now, and I only went 2 miles. Sometimes, it sucks to get old.

New Changes

August 16, 2006 in Technology with 0 Comments

After posting yesterday about the new beta version of blogger, I got a chance to update my blog to it today. Check out the new sidebars and the new labels. If you just want to see a certain topic, you can click on the label and see all posts that relate to it. I also need some new colors for the page. Any ideas??? Cool ….

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