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Monday - February 28, 2005

Oscar Fashion

We watched the first half of the Academy Awards last night, and we saved the rest on the TiVo. Since I don't know who won the major categories, I will simply give my picks for the best dressed women on the Red Carpet.

1. Salma Hayek2. Catalina Sandino Moreno
3. Halle Berry4. Natalie Portman
5. Kate Winslet6. Emmy Rossum


Sorry ladies, I didn't rate the men, except I will give my picks for worst dressed:

1. Johnny Depp2. Sean "P. Diddy" Combs

Posted by jcraven at 8:19 AM | Movies & Music | Television

Friday - February 25, 2005

FireFox 1.01 update released

Download the new version here. Mostly contains security fixes. I have successfully installed the update, without any problems. All of my extensions continue to work as planned.

Posted by jcraven at 7:07 AM | Tech

Thursday - February 24, 2005

Nifty Google feature

Google has added a new feature that I think is fantastic.

Simply type movie: and then your ZIP code or the movie you want to see. Example query on ZIP or movie.

As always, google is coming up with new, great ideas. For a list of other operators, check here.

Posted by jcraven at 11:24 AM | Tech

TiVo + Apple?

Reuters is reporting that Apple may be interested in buying TiVo! Full details can be found here.

I think this could be a good move. TiVo has great brand-name recognition, and is a great product, but has been losing money for a while. I think both Apple and TiVo users have that 'fanatic' mentality about their systems and corporate philosophies should overlap well. Imagine some sort of iPod/TiVo/Mac mini integration. If it works with cablecard, I may be forced to go back to TimeWarner......

Posted by jcraven at 9:51 AM | Tech

Wednesday - February 23, 2005

New iPods

Apple introduced a new 6GB iPod mini and two new iPod photo models (30GB or 60GB). I like the new colors for the mini, and the photo is now slimmer. They also finally introduced the iPod Camera Connector (avail in March) which allows you to transfer your digital pictures directly to the iPod from the camera.

Wonder how long before Gratis updates their sites? Free iPod and Free Photo iPod

Posted by jcraven at 8:53 AM | Tech

Tuesday - February 22, 2005

FreeGiftWorld impressions

Back in November, I signed up for a promotion with freegiftworld.com. It was for a free GameCube game (I chose Pikmin 2). I finally received the item yesterday, but I had to keep bugging them about it. First, they didn't show which offer I participated in. Then after that, I had to 'convince' them that I completed the offer. Then once I finally qualified, I still never received the item. I had to email support again to ask where it was, and then they promptly shipped it.

The good news, it was technically free, and their support were very prompt and curteous when replying. The bad news, it was probably more aggravation than it was worth. I guess they hope you'll just forget about it, and they won't have to provide the gift.

Overall, I'd probably recommend the Gratis sites over freegiftworld. (Free iPod nano, Free iPod, Free xbox 360, Free Mac mini, Free iPod shuffle or Free PSPs). I received my iPod only a month after first signing up for their program. Details here.

NOTE: I have received iPod #2 and a photo iPod which makes 3. I have pictures here.

The email address I contacted was supportfgw@freegiftworld.com

Posted by jcraven at 9:26 AM | Comments (38) | Deals

Monday - February 21, 2005

Paris hacked?

Reports across the web today give details regarding Paris Hilton's T-Mobile Sidekick being hacked. The hackers acquired her address book, notes, and about 2 dozen pictures which include her half nude while kissing an un-identified woman. Details can be found here and the address book can be found here. The address book includes some interesting folks including Fred Durst, Kid Rock, and Christina Aguilera.

Posted by jcraven at 12:12 PM | Tech

Thursday - February 17, 2005

Go Dolphins!

The highlight of the year for the Dolphins can be found in the 2005 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. Check out the link here. (Maybe not safe for work)

Posted by jcraven at 9:48 AM | Comments (1) | Sports

Wednesday - February 16, 2005

It's official

The NHL has cancelled the 2004-2005 season. This just sucks. Click the image for the full story.

Posted by jcraven at 1:05 PM | Sports

Tuesday - February 15, 2005

Spread FireFox

I've added a permanent link to download FireFox at the bottom of the page.

Get Firefox!

Great software, and a great active community of developers.

Posted by jcraven at 8:18 AM | Tech

Monday - February 14, 2005

Nintendo + Palm ?

Interesting article about Nintendo's V-Pocket suite. Nintendo is probably trying to beat Sony to the punch with their upcoming PDA features......

Posted by jcraven at 2:13 PM | Tech | Video Games

Sunday - February 13, 2005

iPod integration

I've finished Phase 1 of integrating my iPod with my factory GM radio. I installed the P.I.E. GM12-AUX adapter from Discount Car Stereo.

Important note for anybody with a non-XM radio:
The GM12-AUXv2 has in internal jumper (J2) that must be configured according to your application:
1. For radios with "BAND" button, jumper must be in "XM" position. (Uses "BAND" button to access AUX 1 or 2).. NOTE: Same audio source will play regardless of AUX1 or 2.
2. For radio without "BAND" button, jumper must be in "CHANGER" position. (Uses "CD/AUX" button to access changer mode or Auxiliary input)

The first time I tried the install, I didn't read the instructions, and it didn't work because I didn't switch the jumper position. The adapter is mostly plug and play except for two power wires that you have to attach. I used two Low-Voltage Tap-Ins from Radio Shack to connect the wires to B3 (Dark green) and the ground wires from the factory radio.

I ran the RCA cables through the center console so the install is totally hidden. Now, all I just have to hit the "AUX" button on my radio, and can listen to the ipod. Phase II will be providing a power solution for the iPod. I have Belkin's F8V7058-APL adapter on order.

And as always, you can still get a Free iPod or Free iPod shuffle

Posted by jcraven at 1:28 PM | Tech

Friday - February 11, 2005

Greensboro is cool!?!

Dave Winer recently wrote an article about the blogging community in Greensboro. Click here.

Dave is one of the key figures behind RSS 2.0 format and founder of UserLand software. Here's more info on RSS.

Posted by jcraven at 11:16 AM | Misc

MT-Blacklist rocks

It's been a little over a week since I installed MT-Blacklist, and so far I would say it's been successful. A couple stray spam messages got through, but overall it's doing a good job. Current stats:

Comment spams blocked: 37
Comment spams moderated: 5

Weet!

Posted by jcraven at 8:44 AM | Tech

Thursday - February 10, 2005

Welcome Google

As you may have noticed, I've added some advertising to my site from Google. Hopefully they're not too obtrusive. Please post any feedback regarding the ads in the comments of this post......

Feel free to click through a link or two to help out the site.

Posted by jcraven at 8:05 AM | Tech

Wednesday - February 9, 2005

Halo the movie?

Entertainment magazine Variety is reporting that Microsoft has quietly done a million-dollar deal with Alex Garland, author of The Beach and the screenplay for 28 Days Later, to adapt the Halo games into one film.

Full story

Probably can't be any worse than the Resident Evil movies...... But I don't really see any Oscar nominations coming either.

Posted by jcraven at 9:39 AM | Movies & Music

Monday - February 7, 2005

Better luck next year

The Eagles weren't able to dethrone the defending champs. Not a huge surprise, but the game was closer than most had anticipated. They had some questionable play calling near the end and didn't properly manage the clock.

The commercials were fairly tame, the best (in order) were:

Ameriquest: Cat Killer
Diet Pepsi: P. Diddy Truck Trend
Frito Lay: MC Hammer Makes a Comeback
GoDaddy.com: Strapless - (The 2 minute 'internet version' can be found here)
Also, Subway's set of 'Toasted' commercials get an honorable mention.

Too bad there isn't any hockey to watch. Guess I'll have to look forward to next August when football starts up again......

Posted by jcraven at 8:35 AM | Comments (2) | Sports

Sunday - February 6, 2005

Super Bowl Sunday

Go Eagles!

Posted by jcraven at 4:20 PM | Comments (1) | Sports

Thursday - February 3, 2005

Congrats!

TR and Amy had a baby boy named Taylor yesterday..... weighing in at 6 Pounds 7 ounces.

Congratulations, and good luck.

Posted by jcraven at 10:23 AM | Misc

Damn spammers

OK, so I got tired of deleting Trackback spam from my blog today. I finally installed MT-Blacklist. Installation was pretty straightforward. We'll see how well it works............

Posted by jcraven at 9:16 AM | Tech

Tuesday - February 1, 2005

Linksys NSLU2

I've had a Linksys NSLU2 laying around the house for several months. Basically it allows you to plug in a USB hard drive, and it shares it out over the network. It also has some really cool hacking potential since it runs an embedded version of Linux.

Over the weekend, I decided I wanted to get rid of my old Linux box, and set this box up in it's place. I bought an external enclosure (Coolmax CD-310-U2) and dropped in an unused 30GB hard drive I had in the closet. The standard setup worked great. It formatted the drive, and my Mac and PC had no issues reading/writing files via SMB.

Easy enough, so I decided to try out some of the hacks for it. Most of the information came from the NSLU2 Linux page located here. I installed the Unslung 3.17 beta software successfully. After that was up and running, I installed some basic packages including OpenSSH, bash, sudo, lsof, and vsftpd. A full list of available packages can be found here.

To do list:
1) Get passive FTP working properly
2) Install iTunes server and possibly TiVo HMO server.

All in all, a pretty interesting diversion for a couple hours.

Posted by jcraven at 11:29 AM | Tech