Jan 25, 2008 
Of all things technology related that I enjoy researching, reading and just in general getting excited for, this is one I am very pumped about. Huge strides in bandwidth, internet cost structures, and mobile computing will take place due to this singular event.
Browsing the archives for the Tech category
No Comments Popular Mechanics released a list last month of 25 skills they believe every man should know. They are as follows (full list and article available here) :
1. Patch a radiator hose
2. Protect your computer
3. Rescue a boater who has capsized
4. Frame a wall
5. Retouch digital photos
6. Back up a trailer
7. Build a campfire
8. Fix a dead outlet
9. Navigate with a map and compass
10. Use a torque wrench
11. Sharpen a knife
12. Perform CPR
13. Fillet a fish
14. Maneuver a car out of a skid
15. Get a car unstuck
16. Back up data
17. Paint a room
18. Mix concrete
19. Clean a bolt-action rifle
20. Change oil and filter
21. Hook up an HDTV
22. Bleed brakes
23. Paddle a canoe
24. Fix a bike flat
25. Extend your wireless network
Looking through it I knew a lot of them, but not all. To spare my manliness I won’t specify each one, but I will tell you the following:
- 18 of the 25 I have performed before
- 23 of the 25 I’m pretty sure I know how to do without instruction
- 2 of the 25 I would not know how to do, but being a man would attempt without caution and probably end up either hurting myself or someone, or destroying something.
The article was later updated to describe how to carry out all of the skills listed. Some of their solutions were more quick fixes and low level skill knowledge, which I guess is all that you would need in most situations. I found it very interesting (and I guess was kind of the point of the article) that there are at least 5 items on that list that deal with technology. I guess I never realized all my computer tinkering and tech interest was increasing my manliness. Now if only blogging was on the list.
How many of these skills do you know how to do?
About this time tomorrow, Kate and I will be flying out to San Francisco for a little over a week. We’ve both been looking forward to this trip very much. It will be Kate’s first time meeting all my family that lives there, and we have a ton of tourist spots that we plan on visiting. It has been an interesting time researching what we want to do, where we want to go, and basically how to break up our time. Nowadays, there are tons of websites that are dedicated to city reviews of things to do, places to eat, etc. and San Fracisco gets TONS of input from users. Sites like citysearch, expedia, yelp, trip advisor and even google maps are much more populated with information that Columbus is. Sidenote – speaking of google maps, they just added a pretty cool feature today that will be useful for us getting around in S.F. You can now drag the directions they give if you want to take a different route or customize your trip to make a stop at a certain location. But all these internet user filled communities with hundreds of comments on the local attractions, kind of makes me wish I lived in a more technological savvy town.
I’ll be sure to post highlights of the trip when I get back.
Just a couple of links to keep some content going on this site.
First up, google never ceises to amaze. They have now added a new functionality to their google maps that allows you to view certain cities at street level. As if you were standing at a specific spot! Check it out. It’s pretty neat. I’ve found myself wandering the streets of NY or San Fransisco, even finding my relatives homes. Currently it only works in 4 or 5 major cities, but they have contracted out a company to do a lot more.
Everyone remembers some of the cool computer interface stuff that the movie Minority Report displayed, giving us a glimpse at what life would be like 50 years in the future. Well some of those ideas are already coming to life with Microsoft Surface. Just look at some of the possibilities that they show in their demo videos. Unfortunately this technology is still very expensive, but I can see this showing up in the next couple of years in hotels, bars, casinos and restaurants, and then eventually in our homes. I really like how some of the jukebox and photo manipulation works. Imagine some of the gaming possibilities!
On a more serious note, it has been a pretty rough month for two of my friends who I’ve known for a long time. Its kind of weird that 2 very real situations have effected people my age, but it just shows how fragile life really is.
Ben, I’ve known from when I lived in California and we kinda re-met once we discovered the vast world that is the internet. He has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and is currently undergoing chemo treatment. You can check out his progress and prayer requests over on his blog. Please keep him in your prayers.
Another friend from High School, Ryan Butcher, was in a very serious ATV accident. He is doing a lot better than originally expected, but is still in serious care. Please pray for him as well.
My summer schedule has already started, and I was looking at my calendar the other day and realized I only have 1 weekend where I don’t have anything scheduled all the way through August. Its going to be a pretty busy summer, but I’ll try to keep posting here at least once a month.
As I mentioned in my last post, I went and saw 300 2 weeks ago. As expected, it totally rocked. It was everything I was expecting and more. If you’re into that type of movie, you need to go see it.
Also 2 weeks ago I made a rather big decision that I somewhat referred to in a previous post. I decided to return my Vizio Plasma TV to Costco. Over the course of its life, the fan noise coming from the back of the television had grown to annoy me quite a bit. Vizio would have sent out a tech to fix it, if I was still within their 1 year warranty (which at this point I was not). I decided it wasn’t worth the agony and I should just return it. Costco’s policy is that if you are not 100% happy with your purchase, they’ll take back the product at any time. No questions asked. They are currently in the process of adjusting that policy so it cannot be abused, but I was able to return mine for a full refund of the price I paid. After I had gotten around the hurdle of finding a method of transportation for the TV (Thanks Matt’s parents) I took it to Costco and had a check made out to me in just 15 minutes. I was amazed how easy it was. Props to Costco.
So next came the task of figuring out a replacement. I could have bought the same thing for significantly less, but Costco did not carry it anymore. Actually Costco carried very few options that I was interested in. So after doing much research earlier in the week, I made my way to BestBuy to purchase a much nicer than my Vizio, Pioneer 5070HD. In the end, I didn’t pay any more than I did for the Vizio that I had bought 18 months prior, and I ended up with a top o the line Plasma with a ton of new features. Unfortunately I don’t have the great guarantee that Costco offers, but since I could now make the purchase on my credit card, Visa will extend the manufactures warranty up to 2 years which suits me fine. The last nice thing that fell into place was that a week after I purchased my TV from BestBuy, the price dropped by a few hundred dollars and I was able to take my receipt in and get a price match. Sweet!
For those of you who have never been to our sweet guy pad and seen my setup, I’ve been using a modded Xbox for over 2 years to serve as a media center in my living room. It has been an awesome little device and I love it. The one downside that is becoming more and more apparent is that it is limited by the weak 733MHz processor that resides within the Xbox itself. With such little power, HD content does not play nice. So, I’ve been seeking an alternative. Up until recently I only had a few options. I could install/build a HomeTheaterPC that would sit in my living room. That was too expensive and time consuming. I could extend my current personal PC setup to the living room using very long cables, which I’m still looking into, but the architecture for such a project leaves me a little baffled still. Or the simplest solution (which I’m currently using) is to sync my Xbox360 with my Media Center PC. This is working OK for now, but I’m limited on the types of content I can play (wmv, dvrms or mpeg). I can’t play x264, xvid, avi or mkv like the XBMC can. So I’ve always wanted more. After reading some recent news, I’m hoping my thirst for complete HD content may soon be quenched. Rumors are floating around that the AppleTV is easily hackable and can play HD content with no problem. This would totally rock. A lot of people are wondering if Apple did this intentionally, basically create a geek box that easily hackable (you can’t do it outright or else risk pissing off the RIAA and MPAA). I don’t know if this is the case or not, but if the community is able to do what some people are hoping, this could be very cool news. The other idea is that the PS3 might be able to run some flavor of Linux that could allow for a decent media center frontend. We’ll see where all this goes. But I am very excited that something new will be taking the place of streaming my HD content to the living room in the next few months.
Tonight, Nick, Newbs and I are driving up to Detroit to see one of my favorite band Explosions in the Sky. I think I’ve mentioned them a few times on here, but if you still haven’t given them a listen, you NEED to.
Oh yea, Go BUCKS! Final Four baby!!
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