Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

A List Apart Survey 2008

I took the survey this year and if you build websites, you should too:

I took the survey 2008

 

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008

CNET’s Digital Home DIY

I was just on CNET’s DIgital Home DIY site and found lots of useful tips and How-to’s. Each Digital Home DIY project starts off with solid reasons why you would want that specific technology in your house — so it’s not just technology for technology’s sake. They list the gear you need to get going, followed by step-by-step video instructions on how to execute your project. Visit CNET and check it out for yourself.

 

Tuesday, July 29th, 2008

Here’s the Del.icio.us tag cloud in Wordle

 

Monday, July 28th, 2008

Test: Del.icio.us tags

 

Sunday, July 27th, 2008

Flickr

The photo sharing site Flickr.com has quickly become one of my favorites recently. Sure, I’ve talked about sites like Flickr and Picassa in the past but for some reason I seem to be getting a lot more out of it lately.

Flickr is much more than just a website to post your vacation snap shots . . . though it is great for that. Flickr also hosts a growing community of photo-lovers, camera enthusiasts, Photoshop pros and generally creative, outgoing people. Whether you’re a Flickr old-schooler or just getting your toes wet, here are some tips to help you get the most out of your photo sharing experience.

Uploading Tools
Flickr provide a range of uploading tools available for both Windows and Macintosh that will help you get your photos on Flickr.

If you’d rather not install any software, you can use a web form to upload your images via the upload page. To use this form, look in the navigation menu at the top of the page under “You.”

Those not enamored with desktop apps or Flickr’s upload page should have a look at the Firefox Universal Uploader plug-in which creates a two-pane window in your browser and allows you to easily move files from your hard drive to any of the four supported photo sites. Similar functionality is available from the free Firefox add-on FotoFox.

Mobile and E-Mail
Users are not limited to using a computer when it comes to Flickr. You can easily send photos straight from your camera-phone or email your photos to your Flickr account. Once you’ve signed up for an account, you’ll be given your own unique email address that you can use to add your photos to your Flickr photostream or to upload photos to your Flickr photostream AND automatically post them to your blog. You’ll have to configure this in your upload settings first, but setup is easy and straight forward.

Different Ways to Share
Other than the wide variety of widgets that are available for blogs, your MySpace page, Facebook profile, Dashboard or desktop, there are other more conventional ways to show off your Flickr photos.

Using services offered by Yahoo’s business partners, you can print your images or create business cards from your photos. You can also create hardbound books, make t-shirts, calendars, buttons, bumper stickers, ties—the possibilities are nearly limitless. In fact, Zazzle can put your images on just about any surface.

Get Out and Have Fun
Flickr is a popular photo-sharing and hosting service. It supports an active and engaged community where people share and explore each other’s photos. You can share and host hundreds of your own pictures on Flickr without paying a dime. There’s also a pro service that gets you unlimited storage and sharing for about $2 a month, making it one of the cheapest hosting sites around. So get out there and take lots of pictures, post them online, and make some books and t-shirts.

 

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

Harmony One Additional Details

Full-color touch screen
To give you one-touch access to your entertainment, Logitech designed the Harmony One remote with a 2.2-inch touch-screen interface. The Harmony One remote’s touch-screen design is seamlessly integrated into the hardware. Once you choose the activity you want, the Harmony One remote’s hard buttons are enabled with all the relevant functionality. And, because the touch screen is built with innovative technology, the touch screen is more responsive and more durable than other touch-screen technologies.

Buttons
The remote’s button layout organizes buttons into four zones. Each button is sculpted for tactile recognition; the backlighted buttons combine three attributes: button height, shape and texture. This design allows your fingers to navigate the remote control without having to look down — even in the dark. The result lets you spend more time watching entertainment, and less time looking at the remote control.

Rechargeable
Replacing alkaline batteries every few months isn’t necessary with the Harmony One. The included recharging station helps ensure the unit is always powered up, and easy to find.

 

Saturday, May 31st, 2008

Ask Joe/Harmony One

The previous post was an article I wrote for the Erickson Tribune discussing the Harmony One Universal Remote from Logitech. Because of the space limitations in the paper I had to leave out some features and details. I will be posting that additional information in a day or two here on my blog. Check back soon for more.

 

Monday, May 12th, 2008

Harmony One

I have found a gadget that works as advertised and I love it. It is the Harmony® One Advanced Universal Remote control. If you’re anything like me you have three or four remote controls on the coffee table and you’re the only one who knows how they all work. I’ve grown tired of having to explain which remote does what, and which input setting all of the components need to be set to. So I was excited when I was invited by BzzAgent.com to test the Logitech Harmony — I was told that it was easy to program and it really controlled everything . . . but I had my doubts.

Past experience
In the past I haven’t had much confidence in Universal Remotes. Typically I’d end up spending a lot of time trying to input codes, waiting for buttons to flash, and trying various combinations over and over until things worked. Even then when the programming was complete, I’ve never had the experience of having the remote control do everything I tried to program it to do. Sure, I’d end up with a remote that was able to control some features, but never all features. Typically my remote might turn on my TV and control my DVD player but as soon as I tried to raise the volume on my stereo to control the surround sound, the remote would opt to control TV volume — which I had disabled due to me running sound through the surround sound receiver. My experience with the Harmony One was exactly as advertised.

One-touch, activity-based control
The Harmony One remote provides one-touch, activity-based control. This means when you complete the set up, you’ll only need to press one button to perform any task. For example, if I press the “Watch a DVD” button on the touch screen, the Harmony One remote powers on the TV, DVD player, stereo receiver, sets inputs and even starts the movie. Did I mention there was a touch screen? This is the one feature that really makes everything work — because there is a touch screen there is never a button that is missing from the remote. Every feature from every component will always be able to be added.

Guided online setup, live support
Most Universal Remotes include a printed booklet with codes for specifying which TV, DVD player, set-top box, or other device the user is trying to control. For popular brands, there can be a dozen or more codes to try before you stumble on the right one. And then you have to press strange combinations of buttons to enter the device code. This process isn’t very user-friendly.

The Logitech Harmony solves this challenge with its guided online setup. Create a Harmony account on a computer connected to the Internet and you’ll be guided through the setup process. You specify the exact make and model of every component and, once the remote is connected to the computer, the control codes for those specific devices are automatically downloaded to the remote from the Harmony Device Database.

It’s easy . . . Really
While all of this sounds like it could be complicated — I found set up to be simple and easy. It was so simple that I didn’t need to open the instruction book once. There is a small printed getting started guide that came with the remote which had a few steps in it telling me what to expect. After reviewing the guide I let the wizards in the software take me through the whole process.

I found that the Logitech software had uncluttered screens, used non-technical language, had helpful tips, and progress indicators to let me know where I was in the process. It was simple enough so that even the most techno-phobic consumers would be capable of setting up their remote quickly right out of the box.

If you just take a few moments before you get started to write down all of the manufacturers’ model numbers of the components you own, you’ll be in great shape. And, if any questions arise the Harmony Customer Support call center is staffed by friendly, knowledgeable people who are ready to provide answers.

The suggested retail price of the Logitech Harmony One advanced universal remote is $249.99 (U.S.).

 

Saturday, April 26th, 2008

Moving On

My time at Planit has come to end and I appreciate all that it has afforded me, but after careful consideration, I have decided to accept a new and exciting opportunity at Crosby Marketing. I wish all the best for Planit and much continued success in the future.

I hate goodbyes and I never know what to say — it’s not a situation I deal with very well, so it wasn’t easy for me to leave. As I departed from the orange hallways of Planit I took some time to reflect on my time there. I’ve learned a lot and had some great experiences over the past couple of years. I had the opportunity to work with some great clients and awesome employees.

Planit is filled with a lot of special people — especially the interactive team. Yes, special. Not special in the same way all of the kids who ride the short bus are special . . . well maybe some of them are. Anyway, I think they’re special in a way that makes them uniquely talented. It has been my pleasure to lead that team. I know that none of them are afraid to take chances and I hope that they continue to push the limits of their creativity and make everyone sit up and take notice.

Stay tuned for more about my new position at Crosby. I start on Cinco de Mayo. Arriba!

 

Monday, April 14th, 2008

Polaroid Nostalgia

I miss the days when I had a Polaroid camera. It was so much fun snapping off images and sharing them instantly. Yes, I hear you…I know we have many options today for instantly snapping off images and sharing them; however, most of these options don’t include instantly sharing an actual photograph printed on paper.

I ran across an article today in the NY Times and Polaroid wants to conjure up those golden analog days of vast sales and instant gratification — this time with images captured by digital cameras and camera phones. It sounds like a cool idea to me and I can’t wait to share instant photographs again. Read about it at the NY Times.

 

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