Cool Tools

Remote Desktop

Have you ever wanted to check something on your home computer from work? Ever needed to mail yourself a file on your home computer? Has anyone in your family needed help with something on their computer and you had to walk them through it on the phone? If so, you will benefit from using the Remote Desktop feature in Windows XP Professional.

Basically, it allows you to use any computer remotely. You will see everything on the remote computer as if it were right in front of you. I’ve been a long time user of VNC (which is similar to remote desktop but works across multiple operating systems), so I had never used Remote Desktop until yesterday and I’m pleased with how well it works for a number of reasons. It works so well I forget sometimes I’m working remotely. The screen can be maximized to take up your entire screen and if you unstick the little remote desktop menu there’s no way anyone can tell your connected to a remote computer. You will need to have high-speed internet access otherwise the connection will be frustratingly slow.

Continue reading →

Take my word for it: Razors

Let’s talk about something easily overlooked… shaving. As upwardly mobile primates, we somehow decided along the way that we needed hair removal to maintain an illusion of youth and smoothness. This has been a hassle ever since.

For the past couple of years, I’ve been a daily shaver with few exceptions. I usually even shave on the weekends to prevent the brown and red stubble that looks like wheat smut coating the lower half of my face. Let’s face it, most men don’t look so hot with facial hair. The special few might, but I’m not one of them.

So, after using the Gillette Mach3 for several years I switched to the Schick Quattro, probably because I figured four blades were better than three. For the last couple of weeks I had to start using the Mach3 again because I ran out of blades for the Quattro. Now, I actually prefer it to the Quattro for a couple of reasons. First of all, I like the way the Mach3 head swivels and the angle of the razor itself. Also, it’s light. I feel more like I’m pulling it lightly across my face whereas the Quattro feels heavy and awkward.

Here’s something that annoys the crap out of me. Why are razorblades so damn expensive? This is not some technology handed down by alien benefactors. It’s 3-4 sharp pieces of metal wedged into a plastic bar. Why does this cost 12$ for 8 blades?

While I’m on the subject I’ve also found a shaving cream I’m very happy with. It’s made by Aveeno. It helps you get a better shave and makes your skin feel nice and smooth. It’s bonus that it gives your face a nice oatmeal smell.

Pirate Radio

Here’s a good tutorial on how to convert your iPod into a pirate radio station.

Cool Tools / Media / Music — Comments Off

Minor change

I’ve made a minor change to the website as I am wont to do. This only affects people who use RSS/Atom/XML feeds to view the site. Instead of publishing small excerpts from the entries in the XML feeds, I’m publishing the entire entries (minus the comments) as feeds. This way, if you’re like me and you do most of your regular surfing via RSS reader you never need to visit the actual website. You can just pull the feeds down into your reader and check regularly for changes. Using feeds is good idea for a number of reasons. It’s quicker, lower profile, more efficient, and you’re getting the essential data of the blog rather than everything else that comes with it.

Cool Tools / Software / Internet — Comments Off

Some tools I use

Daemon Tools is the perfect application for CD/DVD emulation. Basically, when you download anything in bin/cue disc image formats you can use Daemon Tools to mount these images as virtual drives. Let’s say you want to download a demo on CD. Most such things are packaged in bin/cue. With Daemon Tools you use the bin/cue files as if you had actually burned them to a CD.
Azureus, a java-based client for bittorrent.
DU Meter Measure how much data you transfer. This is good if your ISP has upload/download limits.

Cool Tools — Comments Off

Office supplies

I love these Tops Stinger legal pads almost as much as I love Super Sticky Post-It notes.

Cool Tools — Comments Off

RSS Feeds

I’m the king of missing important details, so I noticed a while back that the RSS feeds for LNS were not working then I promptly forgot this. Today I noticed it again and it took me all of two seconds to fix. The point is, the feeds are working now, which means you can just view the feeds without coming to the main page of the site.

To that end here are some cool RSS/XML tools that might help you.:

Convert eBay searches into feeds with RSSAuction.com
Create a calendar and share with friends in RSS
Sage News Aggregator extension (plugin) for Firefox

Cool Tools / Software / Internet — 1 Comment

Targus mini-mice

I went to Office Depot on my lunch break yesterday and found a good deal on a Targus mini optical mouse for my laptop. It’s petite and winds up into this little button-shaped, spring-loaded coil dealy. It even comes with its own velvety bag for protection in your laptop bag. I like it a lot, a lot better than using the touchpad on the laptop. After using it for a while when you switch back to your desktop mouse it feels like you’re pushing a giant brick around. You can pick them up at Office Depot for $9.99 after rebate. The retail is $19.99 with an instant rebate of $5 and a mail-in rebate of $5. That’s the best deal I’ve seen anywhere.

Cool Tools — Comments Off

Satellite radio

I have always liked listening to talk radio programs and music while I work and drive so getting satellite radio was a no brainer. Most broadcast radio sucks hard, even KUT, the local public radio affiliate, pisses me off. There was some indecision as to whether to get Sirius or XM Radio, but in the end XM Radio seemed to be the better choice for me. In many ways they are very similar. Sirius supposedly has marginally better sound quality due to the fact that they run the talk programs in lower bandwidth so they can boost the quality of the music programs. They also provide more sports radio options, which is not something I care about. The reasons I went for XM Radio are pretty simple. XM has 1 million subscribers versus Sirius with 200-300 thousand or so. Even though satellite radio is relatively new this tells me that XM is more serious about attracting subscribers. Also, an XM subscription is $9.99 a month whereas Sirius is $12.99 a month. And for the most superficial reason, I liked the SkyFi receiver better than any of the Sirius products. I can use it in my car and at home and it will connect to any powered speaker source like your computer speakers. My 5-piece computer speakers have dual input connections so I can listen to my computer and XM radio at the same time.

At home these days, I’m watching zero television. There’s just nothing on I want to see and it wastes too much time with too little benefit. While you watch television you usually have to pay attention with your eyes and ears. This makes it difficult to do much if any sustained activity. Instead I’ll just listen to the radio while I putz around the house.

There are no commercials on any of the XM music channels. Who knows if this will last, but it’s awesome. The variety is also really nice. Imagine radio stations where you can actually hear The Smiths, REM, and many other things that never make it to the radio. You can view the complete channel listing here. My favorite channels on XM are:

Hank’s Place (vintage country) I like old country tunes. They’re sentimental and often exquisitely morose.
Fred (classic and classic brit alternative) This is where you hear the Morrissey and Depeche Mode.
Ask! This is expert-type call-in radio where people call in for advice, etc. My favorite host is Bruce Williams, who is very wise especially when it comes to financial and legal advice.

Here’s an interesting piece of software I saw mentioned on Gizmodo. It basically converts XM radio content from your XM Satellite Radio XM PCR computer device to mp3.

Cool Tools / Technology — 3 Comments

Gmail notifier extension for Firefox

This little add-on for Firefox will check your gmail account and notify you via the browser window in two places. Then you just click the icon to login to gmail. Find out more about it here.

Cool Tools / Software / Internet — Comments Off

Cool Tools

the old stuff