Download Youtube and other video

The web site:
http://vixy.net/

Will allow you to download video from sites and save them in another format for later viewing.
Pretty nifty stuff

Internet Geek TV - TWIT TV

Back in 1999, There was a cable channel called "TechTV".
Tech TV was by far the best techie channel and shows ever created.

Then Comcast came along and Crushed it in 2004, as a matter of fact I was watching the channel at 2 am when it turned off, unexpectedly, never to be seen again. The shows merged into channel G4 are total fluff.

The main person on Tech TV was Leo Laporte. He now has a internet based "tv" type channel available at:
http://live.twit.tv/

They have a calendar posting their show schedule by clicking here.
This is my primary TV viewing now, on my secondary monitor.
Yea, geek.

The tech they use is through a site called stickAM, where ANYONE can create their own chat/video broadcasts for others to join.

UPDATE 1/7/9 Read more at this article by clicking here.

For your Viewing pleasure, is TWIT TV embedded link below

NEW computer deals!

Laptop 14" screen, 2 GB RAM, Dual Core 2 GHZ, Windows Vista $399 - NO REBATES
10.1" Wide screen Notebook, 1GB RAM, 120GB web cam, Windows XP Home $289.99 + $13 Shipping
15.4" Wide screen DELL Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8GHz 2GB RAM, dual layer DVD burner, Windows Vista Basic, $499
Intel Dual-Core T3200 2GHz processor, 15.4" wide screen, 3GB RAM, 250GB, 802.11g/n wireless, Windows Vista Home $599.99

Hate talking to a computer phone system?

If you hate talking to computer phone system, this web site will be one of your favorites.

The web site "gethuman" lists many top USA based companies showing what keys you must press to BYPASS their voice computer system.

http://gethuman.com/

Christmas Sale Info

I'll update this through this week, some current great prices:
TV
32” LCD TV (only 720P) for $350 (Rebates + 40 bucks shipping, 390)
32" LCD TV (720-) for 420 with shipping, no rebates


Computer Monitor
22" LCD 1680x1050 5ms response for 140
24” 1920x1200 with 5ms response for 250

Social Networking and Internet based news

The web has evolved into an online community where people share pictures, movies, thoughts (blogs), and opinions through various web sites.

Youtube is the site for sharing videos, allowing users to embed video streaming into their own web sites hosted by youtube.
Flickr is "the" site for sharing pictures.
Digg is "the" site for people scouring the web with worthy news to share, and voting for articles to surface for us to read.
Pandora and last.fm are both popular sites for streaming music to you by using tailored playlists.

I found a site that agregates all the popular buzz sites information to one page, for at-a-glance to see what the daily buzz is on the net for you to read, called popurls.

Whether your "hip" with the latest web buzz or not, check out popurls, you'll be glad you did.

After Black Friday Deals

Laptop
Click here for current Laptop deals
Acer 13" Laptop, Windows Vista, DVD, $399
MSI 10" Laptop, windows XP, $330
HP 15" Windows Vista Laptop, $499.99 w/mail-in rebate (Black Friday Laptop better processor, still good for price)
HP 15" Windows Vista Laptop, $599.00 with free shipping (no rebate)
Lenovo (IBM laptop maker) laptops from 400-550 (GREAT sale)
7" Laptop with Windows XP for $250 - TINY screen, TINY hard drive, and a crappy CPU to boot, but it is only 250 (ATOM cpu better)

PC Desktop
Click here for PC Desktop deals
Dell desktop windows vista $299 (no monitor, sale through Christmas)
Dell dekstop Windows Vista 349 (better processor, more RAM & Disk)
Dell Windows Vista Intel Dual Core 2GHz Desktop PC with 20" LCD - $396 shipped
Dell refurbished one XPS for $517 (pretty good deal for all-in-one pc)


TV
Current TV deals (click here)
32" 720p (NOT 1080P) TV $380
32" 720p LCD tv w/ipod dock $400
32" Screen 1080P for $590

Printer
Brother all in one printer wireless printer $80 (shipping delayed)
All in one wireless printer/fax/scanner/phone brother - $149

Kid Toys
Click here for wide variety of kid toys on sale

Black Friday Deals 2008

This year I'll post links to Black Friday deals, and highlight items that are well priced, but I will NOT post deals that are very limited quantities.
Black Friday Sales
DealNews - listing of all web sites deals
http://gizmodo.com/tag/black-friday/
Dell deals
Amazon Black Friday deals

laptop/desktop
Current Laptop deals
*NOTE: for dells, when possible pay to upgrade lcd screen
9" laptop linux great for web browsing, (not windows) - $250
9" laptop windows xp home 1gb ram, 160 gb hd $329
10" laptop linux 1gb ram, 40 gb ssd $399 6 hour battery life
15" HP laptop windows vista $499
15" dell laptop windows vista - $349 (hp better laptop)
Acer desktop windows vista $299
Dell desktop windows vista $299
Dell desktop with 22" screen $460

computer accessories/monitors
24" LCD computer monitor 1080p (1900x1200) - $200
22" lcd monitor for $129

other electronics
All in one wireless printer/fax/scanner/phone brother - $149
Garmin nuvi 360 navigator $169
Wii bundle for 399. price ok, but it is in stock
42" lcd tv - NOTE highest resolution 720p (about 1/2 as sharp as 1080p) $499

top of the line technical specification lcd tvs
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16889102208
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16889102198
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16889102201

Digital Music & Audio Books

There are many forms of Music available on the internet, below are some of my favorites:

Download Music for phone or PC
Buy or download FREE Mp3's without DRM from Amazon (click here)
Of course, iTunes music store by Apple (click here)

Audio Books
Download DRM Audio books for a wide variety of devices at Audible.com (I use this all the time)
Royalty FREE legal book downloads at:
http://librivox.org/
http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/categories/1

Online Radio Stations
My favorite: Personalize your own radio station. Pandora plays music based on your preferences
Online Radio stations by AOL
Last.FM - Music recommended by users (social networking)

Satellite Radio
If you own XMRadio for your car, listen online for free!
If you own Sirius radio for your car, listen online for free!

Buy CD's
You can't beat Amazon for selection and prices

Local Radio stations
Locate local radio stations, listen online

100 year record set for lack of Sun Spots in August

We talk so much about what Man does on earth, and debate what, if any effects we have on the environment/world. Global Warming, Pollution, mercury poisoning, etc.

Man's effect on the world is but small potatoes compared to what the cosmos can do to earth.
Lack of SunSpot activity has historically brought on Ice Age effects to earth.
And in August, the sun had no Sun Spots (possibly 1/2 a sun spot), first time in 100 years.
If this trend continues, rather than being worried the earth is too hot, it will be too cold!
How ironic then it is our pollution may help us fight cooling, if the sun's lack of spots becomes common place.

http://www.dailytech.com/Sun+Makes+History+First+Spotless+Month+in+a+Century/article12823.htm

Top 100 Web Sites on the internet

If you got a few hours to kill, it's extremely fun to walk through all 100 top web sites named by PC Magazine.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2328651,00.asp

I am a big fan of Google Gmail, Calendar, Documents, Reader, and many more.
I can't go through all 100 and weed it down to my top 25, go through and read for yourself.

A few great ones:
Addicting Games
Project Gutenburg (Free downloadable books)
Yelp - Reviews by the people, restaurants & more
Trulia - Great Real Estate research site (trends, foreclosures, for sale)
Page on Technology in PC Mag is a must walk through

Art, Pictures, Wallpaper

With my 22" LCD monitor I like to have nice desktop wallpaper to greet me everyday.
There are many sites you can get pictures from, but be careful! Many sites offer wallpaper programs that are used for malicious reasons and could result in virus infection and stealing your identity.

Of course, my list of web sites have none of these issues and are completely safe. :)

First, For MicroSoft XP users, you can download and install a program called "Wallpaper Changer" to automatically change your wallpaper background every x minutes. I have mine set to 30:

Next, browse sites and download images until you puke!
NOTE: I recommend always getting max resolution for your screen, even above what your monitor can handle. The screen changer will resize downward to fit. In the future, when you upgrade your computer, your images will have the additional detail needed.

Free High Resolution Wallpaper (link set to widescreen)
Digital Blasphemy, computer art
Blog entry on collection of wallpaper images

Great pics, all shapes, sizes, topics and many can be used for wallpaper
DeviantArt
Nasa Picture Library

I don't like Flickr, but its popular, not able to find pictures by size easily
http://www.flickr.com/

Second American Revolution Video

Not exactly a fun, neutral topic for this blog.
But I found the video interesting, made me think, figure I'd share.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKFKGrmsBDk
Kinda rings of my theme in my financial blog, but not about finance, more of a macro rant on America's direction.

In any event, I don't agree with everything the video states, but good to watch to think.

Online Game I play

A few friends of mine play Quake 3 Arena every Wednesday night at 9:30pm to 11pm
If your interested, contact me, I can give you the disks you need to play.
For more information, visit our Wiki by clicking here

Soon there will be a NEW Quake called "Quake Live".
It will be Free (nice price) and playable through your web browser.
For more information click here
We may or may not switch to the new version when available.

Watch TV on your Laptop or PC

There are three basic devices to allow you to watch TV on your PC.

Direct Cable converter attached to a specific computer.
Pro's
Cheap
Does not "take over" existing cable box or DVR (it is a tuner)
Con's
Attached to the actual cable wire and to a specific PC.
Cannot view remotely (out of the house) and cannot use on a laptop and move around the house
Cannot watch encrypted channels (such as HBO)
Example devices:
Click for example USB Controlled defice (laptop/Desktop) 80 buck range
Click for example Card put inside your desktop (not compatible with laptop) 30 buck range

Networked Video

This device will allow ANY PC on your network to watch Cable TV. (130 bucks)
Click for example Device, 130 to 170 bucks

Pro's
Can operate on any PC and on mobile laptop.
Does NOT take over your DVR, Cable box, etc, the device has it's own TV Tuner.
Con's
Not able to view video outside your home.
Does NOT allow you to see content on your DVR and cannot view encrypted channels like HBO.

PlaceShifting Video

This device allows you to remotely control a DVR, Cable Box, DVD, VHS, etc from anywhere in the world
(Obviously DVD/VHS need local access to put tape/DVD in player)

Pro's
Can operate on any PC, anywhere in the world
Does allow you to see DVR content, encrypted channels, etc.
High Definition Video
Can even watch TV on certain cell phones!
Eventually allowed to remotely control through other TV's (click)
Con's
Required to take over an existing DVR or Cable box, this can cause conflicts with other people in the house.

Click for example device, cost about 180 to 200 bucks

Breakthrough in Facial Computerization

This company uses computers to analyze movements of actors to create virtual people.
Take a look, amazing.
http://www.awntv.com/videos/image-metrics-emily-project

Emily is a computer generated image, NOT actually a person image (except at very end)

Places to get Information on the internet

General News stories
Digg - News that is voted "worthy" by readers bubbles to the top of the homepage of Digg
http://digg.com/

Slashdot - Moderated news that is determined "worthy" by selected readers (similiar to Digg, but centralized control)
http://slashdot.org/

Google News - from world sources, organized and headlines based upon number of reporting agencies
http://news.google.com/

McClatchy - Old school newspaper online, with more depth than average reprint news
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/

Engadget - Like gadgets? Keep up with latest Gadget news
http://www.engadget.com/

Wikipedia - Need facts or definitions? THE place for "defining" words, phrases, people, and places
http://www.wikipedia.org/

Online Stores with good prices

NewEgg.com - Best place to buy Computer Equipment and Electronics
http://www.newegg.com/

MonoPrice - By far cheapest place to purchase cables
http://www.monoprice.com/

MediaOutlet - Cheap place to get blank CD, DVD's, etc.
http://www.allmediaoutlet.com/

VitaCost - Cheap place to buy vitamins
http://www.vitacost.com/

Audio Books - I love this place! Download onto computer, ipod, whatever.
http://www.audible.com/

Ebay - Always good to check Ebay for current pricing
http://www.ebay.com/

Amazon - Can't beat Amazon for prices on many items
http://www.amazon.com/

Finding good deals on the internet

There are a few sites I have found over the years that have been exceptional for finding good deals on items.

Dealnews.com - By far my favorite site to check everyday.
http://dealnews.com/

Woot.com - Lists One item per day (typically) at typically lowest price on the internet.
http://www.woot.com/

WOW Coupons - Before going to the store, print out a coupon and save!
http://www.wow-coupons.com/all-printable-retail-coupons.php

Deal Coupon - OnLine Coupon codes and print out coupons
http://dealnews.com/coupons/

Find best deals on travel using travel zoo super search across multiple sites
http://supersearch.travelzoo.com/

Top 20 deals on TravelZoo
http://top20.travelzoo.com/

Welcome to Internet NotePad

Anything of "note" that I come across I will blog here.
Anything from where to get a good deal on an item, to cool video, new game, whatever.