Recent Articles
Pandora.com – Internet radio done right
Jan 30, 2010 Technology, Things I like 2 Comments
Have you ever wished that you could own your very own radio station? Just imagine, you could program the station to play only the kind of music you love best. Hear a song you don’t like? Since it’s your radio station you can instruct the “DJ” to never play that song again – ever! Like a song but you’ve heard it one time too many lately? Simply tell the “DJ” not to play it again for a month. What’s more, would you like to be able to listen to your station virtually anywhere in the world on your PC or smartphone? Guess what? Now you can!
Well, you won’t really own a physical radio station, but you can “own” the next best thing. A wonderful service named Pandora lets you create your very own Internet radio station where you pick the music genre, the performers and the songs that you want to hear! In fact, you can create several radio stations, each of which plays a different genre of music. Say for instance today you really feel like listening to some Bluegrass. Just “turn on” your Bluegrass station. But if you wake up tomorrow wanting to hear some Classic Rock, just “turn on” your Classic Rock station. Want to hear some gospel on Sunday morning? Well, you get the picture…
I first heard about Pandora while listening to a weekend talk radio show that I tune in to on occasion. The host was describing the site to a caller, and it sounded rather interesting so I made a mental note of the URL (I was driving at the time). Then I promptly forgot about it. But a few weeks later the URL popped back into my head so I clicked over to Pandora to check it out. Within five minutes I was completely hooked.
You can check out Pandora for yourself at www.Pandora.com. The service is absolutely free, and signing up takes all of about 20 seconds. Within two minutes you can have your first radio station set up and playing your favorite music over your PC or smartphone!
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Obama’s swipe at the Supreme Court
Jan 30, 2010 My thoughts on... Leave a comment
The U.S. Constitution requires every sitting President of the United States to deliver an annual address to the Congress and the American people expressing his opinion about the current “State of the Union”. Over the centuries these addresses have changed from little more than a two page written “letter” to a full-blown speech delivered in person to both houses of Congress, the President’s cabinet, the members of the Supreme Court and the American people (via live television).
Presidents of all political persuasions have followed a certain protocol for delivering the State of the Union address throughout our nation’s history, and that protocol demands that the President not directly attack or scold either of the other two branches of government in the speech. Well, that protocol has now been thrown out the window by President Obama and his leftist speechwriters.
During this week’s SOTU address, the President looked squarely at the members of the U.S. Supreme Court who were seated before him and scolded them as a group for making a long-awaited decision that he happens to disagree with in a high profile campaign finance case. For the first time in history, a U.S. President has openly disparaged a Supreme Court decision live, and in front of much of the entire world. Even Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor who actually dissented in the decision clearly appeared to be revulsed by the shameless attack.
Unfortunately this isn’t the first “first” of Mr. Obama’s Presidency, and it is unlikely to be the last. But as damaging as his policies have been for our country, the most atrocious “first” of all is the way he has completely trashed the sense of decorum and mutual respect that used to be exhibited in formal speeches regarding the other two branches of our government.
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Buffalo Technology first to ship USB 3.0 hard drives
Jan 21, 2010 Technology Leave a comment
Last September I wrote a post announcing the impending arrival of devices using the new USB 3.0 communication interface standard, and now they are finally starting to hit the market. First out of the gate is Buffalo Technology, which has just announced the release of a brand new line of USB 3.0 hard drives.
Buffalo’s initial USB 3.0 offerings include drives with capacities of 1 TB, 1.5TB and 2TB. These drives are backward compatible with USB 2.0 which means you can buy and use the drives now and upgrade to a PC supporting USB 3.0 later. But to streamline the switch to the new protocol ( and sell more 3.0 drives quickly), Buffalo is also releasing a 2-port USB 3.0 PCI card for upgrading older PC’s to the new standard.
Other companies also have USB 3.0 products in the pipeline, so look for plenty of the faster devices to hit store shelves in the near future.
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How to save money while shopping online
Jan 20, 2010 Things I like Leave a comment
Coupons have been a powerful weapon in the arsenal of bargain hunters for a long, long time, and with the economy the way it is today people from all walks of life are scouring the net for free coupons that are redeemable at online stores.
In the context of our nation’s history, online shopping is a relatively new concept. But as with the brick and mortar retail industry that preceded it, the number of web-based stores and the popularity of buying online has now grown to the point where virtually all of us have made at least one online purchase during our lifetime. And many of us have already discovered the power of online coupons as well.
Promo codes can be found for pretty much anything these days. For example, there are Las Vegas coupons that make taking that hard-earned vacation a bit more affordable, as well as restaurant coupons that can help us stay on budget when we go out for a great meal after we get there!
The power of the Internet has taken much of the grunt work out of shopping for the things we need and want, and free online coupons and promo codes make the task a lot more fun and affordable.
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Why the Democrats took a thrashing in Massachusetts
Jan 20, 2010 My thoughts on... 3 Comments
Well, he did it. In yesterday’s special election, Republican State Senator Scott Brown easily knocked off the heir apparent to the U.S. Senate seat that had previously been held by a member of the iconic Kennedy family for the better part of six decades – in the most heavily Democratic state in the union no less.
Senator-elect Brown ran a brilliant, hard charging campaign while his lackluster opponent gave the commonwealth and the nation a primer in how to lose an election in the most efficient manner possible. But while the gap in the quality and competence of the two candidates was wider than Boston Harbor, the real reasons for Brown’s amazing victory lie in the nation’s capitol, not in Massachusetts.
For a year now the Democrats have held unfettered power in Washington with their overwhelming majority in the House of Representatives and filibuster-proof 60 votes in the Senate. But what did they do with that power? Try to ram a monstrosity of a health care bill down the collective throat of the American people even as they were screaming at the top of their lungs that it was an unwelcome government intrusion into one-sixth of the entire U.S. economy.
President Obama and the Democrats in Congress made the grave mistake of interpreting their massive victory in the 2008 elections as a mandate for a radical shift to the left. It was nothing of the sort. When the electorate sent the Republicans packing in 2008 it was a clear repudiation of the massive spending and mis-management they had presided over during the Bush years, not a stand against conservative policies. In response to this false mandate, the Dems shifted so far to the left that they ended up in Siberia.
The Democrats chose to ignore the ever-louder warnings of the masses while spending their entire bank of political capital on health care and a highly unpopular and extremely ineffective “stimulus package” instead of concentrating on improving the economy and getting the unemployed back to work. Bill Clinton hit the nail on the head when he famously said “It’s the economy, stupid“, but somehow that lesson was lost on his Democratic successor.
Even worse, Obama made the inexplicable decision to try virtually all the terrorists we capture in the act of trying to kill us in Federal Court instead of in military tribunals where they so obviously belong. Now, instead of being forced to sing like canaries about their accomplices and future attacks, they are read their Miranda rights and provided with lawyers at our expense. We the people don’t appreciate that one bit!
The irony of all this is that Mr. Brown’s virtual landslide win yesterday is actually a gift from God for the Democrats. Why? Because it provides them with an ear-piercing wake-up call to change their ill conceived ways before it’s too late for them to salvage any amount of respectability and power whatsoever come November.
This year’s Congressional elections are going to be horrendous for Democratic candidates regardless of whether they wise up or not, but if they keep trudging down the same road that just cost them what was arguably the “safest” seat in the entire Senate, they just might be in for an electoral bloodbath. After all, a party with unfettered power can quickly learn that the American voter holds the ultimate veto power.
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Video hosting for business
Jan 20, 2010 Technology Leave a comment
The Internet has become one of the fastest growing vehicles for online marketing and sales, and the proliferation of video clips on the web makes it extremely easy for companies to get their messages across to consumers. The explosive growth of online video has many companies scrambling to find a high quality, yet affordable video hosting service.
Sites such as one offering Best Buy Coupons make it easy for consumers to get great deals on the things they want and need, and by placing short, informative videos on their sales pages companies can assist prospective buyers with making an informed choice when choosing a product to purchase. If “a picture is worth a thousand words”, a video is worth a million!
If you’re searching for a simple and affordable way to use video on your website, Viddler online video for business is a great place to start. Video is the online marketing tool of our day. Give it a try and you just might be amazed at how it boosts your bottom line!
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The funniest political ad I have ever seen
Jan 17, 2010 Things I like 1 Comment
If you’re like me, you probably enjoy watching political advertisements about as much as mowing your lawn with a butter knife. But here is one you simply have to watch if you like laughing out load…
This is a parody ad put together by ”BostonTalks” radio station (96.9 on the FM dial if you happen to live in the Boston area). Great stuff!
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Tucker Carlson launches The Daily Caller
Jan 14, 2010 Things I like Leave a comment
Long-time conservative commentator Tucker Carlson has launched a new political blog entitled The Daily Caller, a venue where like-minded conservative thinkers can opine on the news of the day and we regular Americans can find numerous links to stories and columns of great interest on other sites. Sort of an aggregator of news written in a traditional voice, The Daily Caller has already become one of my first Internet “stops” each morning.
Although the site was only launched a few days ago, it has already attracted a huge number of powerhouse conservative writers and contributors. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I urge you to click on over to The Daily Caller and give it a try!
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