Where's my Movie Data?? - Media Management

I know it's been a while since I posted on here, but I have been busy checking out and learning all kinds of things. My biggest time suck lately has been a combination of Windows 7 (Win7) with its Windows Media Center (WMC), Windows Home Server (WHS), and XBOX 360 as a media "extender" of sorts. There are lots of pieces to Win7 and WHS that I have been spending time learning, but I'm going to mainly focus on media content for this post. Future posts will discuss the other, more geeky, features and functions of these two operating systems.

As you may have read in a previous post of mine, I purchased a Roku and have loved that device for playing back Netflix content. However, Netflix's library for instant play is pretty limited, so I wanted something more. I was able to talk my wife into letting me get a 2nd XBOX 360 to place in the living room (the 1st one is in the family room) as a replacement for the DVD player, Roku and then even adds gaming. She bought into it because it let her get the current DVD player for her bedroom and my daughter get the Roku (the other biggest user besides me) for her bedroom.

iPhone: Mobile Air Mouse - On Sale

**UPDATE** - Forget about the Air Mouse, Logitech release a killer app that includes mouse functionality as well as a keyboard, and it's FREE! Grab it here.

iPhone : Mobile Air Mouse: **Currently (as of 9:20am EDT 8/7/09) on sale for $2.99**
"Instantly transform your iPhone or iPod touch into an air mouse, trackpad, and wireless remote for your computer! Sit back and surf the web, browse your photo library or control your music player from the comfort of your couch. Our air mouse uses the built in accelerometer to translate your hand motions into mouse movements on your screen. It can also operate as a trackpad, allowing you to control your computer with a single finger.

Cloud Computing Conundrum

I am listening to the "Cranky Geeks" podcast #174 on 7/8/09 (here's the iTunes link to the MP3 audio only edition... they also have video podcasts as well), and they started to discuss the potential disaster of having your info in "the cloud", as well as the fact that you don't "own" your information in a sense, or at least that these services have access to your information (no matter what the privacy agreement states). One of their comments was that Google has more private/personal information than the NSA.

For the disaster part, they discussed the threat of someone targeting these "mega-hubs" where these datacenters and backbones are located, and the effect this would have on the country. I think there is some validity to this, but I feel like there is a decent amount of redundancy and fault-tolerance in this day and age. I see their point though. If you lose your internet connection, how do you retrieve your data?? If the company you have this data with folds, where does it go??

Because of my mobility and want for having my information everywhere AND always in sync (so one device doesn't have the latest copy when I'm not at that device but need that data), I have started to try and move ALL of my computing data into the cloud with services that

IndyCar - Finally Refreshing

Just watching the last IndyCar race on my DVR at Watkins Glen… how refreshing to see these cars have to turn more than left!!

I started watching IndyCar only this year. At first I was truly upset to find them only running on ovals ( I thought they would mimick F1, but on US territory)… I just don't find that much fascination in oval racing, but it was still a bit better than Nascar. I guess it stems from my affinity for motorcycle racing which has ALWAYS been about right AND left turns.

I got into Formula One racing this year as well, as I've found more time to watch recorded TV. I've always benn a *fan* of F1 racing, but couldn't fit it in my schedule. This year has been awesome with Jenaon Button!! Both my son and I try to watch every race(from our DVR).

So, to finally see IndyCar having to race both right and left… it was very refreshing. I like it a LOT!!


-- Post From My iPhone via Blogpress

Moving Notebooks to the "cloud"... trying to do this with Evernote

***UPDATES AT THE BOTTOM OF POST***

I have been an Evernote user for a little over a year now, but I never really used it to its full potential. This may have been in part due to the fact that I had a BlackBerry for a while and there was no Evernote application for the BlackBerry (there is now of course). I recently bought an iPhone, and there is a pretty solid Evernote client for the iPhone. I also have been feeling the need lately for better organizing and mobilizing (is that even a word? - looked it up... it's a word, but not the definition I am using here) my notes. I suppose I have simply used email in the recent past, but that's not a great solution and is too cluttered (in my opinion), so searches tend to have a lot of junk I'm not interested in sifting through and wastes time. I have also used Microsoft OneNote for some things, but it's SOOO limited to a PC (or Windows Mobile device which I don't own any longer... and even that mobile app is lame for mobile notes access IMO). My main concern, similar to my Task Management Solution concerns, is that the solution needs to be ubiquitous and work on all of my devices... which dictates some form of web-based backend and syncing.

Evernote seems to fit that bill, and since I have an account and notes already in it, I am deciding to experiment more with it and see if I can make it work better for me. I am trying to

TomTom for iPhone en route | Software | iPhone Central | Macworld

TomTom for iPhone en route | Software | iPhone Central | Macworld:

"There are also logistical issues. For example, because the iPhone doesn’t support background processes, any navigation app must shut down during phone calls, making real-time tracking difficult—something that doesn’t happen on a dedicated GPS unit, even one that includes telephony features."

This is the biggest drawback I've had with ANY phone based GPS application. I had the Verizon VZ Navigator on one of my phones in the past, and while it was a great GPS app, if you took a call or were on a call, GPS no workie. One time, I was on a conference call and wasn't familiar with where to exit on my trip. A while later I realized I MUST have missed my turn and had to hang up on the call and wait nearly 7 minutes for the GPS to reinitialize and find my location to then tell me that I essentially went 30 minutes out of my way... extending my trip by 1 HOUR!!! Ugh! I will never forget that mistake, and since have purchased a Navigon 2100max stand-alone GPS. The Navigon is truly awesome (none are perfect as far as I'm concerned) and has some incredible features. However, Navigon is pulling out of the US for both sales and map updates at some point in the not-too-distant future. They will be honoring the remaining subscriptions for map updates from their customers, but then that's it. What does this mean??? I'm not entirely sure, but I'm guessing I still have about 3 years of (up to date) life left in my GPS. Past that I have no idea, but technology changes pretty fast anyway and something better may come along by then.

For now, I will be staying away from any phone based GPS system/app. I think the Tom Tom package looks promising... but if it still means taking a call stops the function of GPS telling you where to turn, I don't want any parts of it.

Going Greener (Electric Push Mower)

My gas-powered push lawn mower started to give me problems recently. I got it for free from my in-laws a while back and it's served me well (nice and light). The wheel adjustments were a BEAR though, sometimes requiring a hammer to adjust some of the wheels. The throttle seemed to have some issues as well, but it worked at any rate. Recently it ran out of gas, sputtering to a stop (normal) and I went to refill it. I accidentally over filled the gas tank by a little, and when I started it up, it was sputtering... almost identical to when it runs out of gas. My guess is something (dirt, whatever) was in the gas tank and got into the line or carb and is blocking the flow of gas. I tried slightly to see if I could track down the problem, but had no luck.

My wife and I have wanted to get away from a gas powered lawn mower for some time now, and even went as far as increasing the landscaping in our front lawn to minimize the use of the lawn mower. So I saw this as an opportunity to possibly go greener (I was also thinking of getting the gas powered mower fixed). I started to look around to see what a new mower might cost in case it was not much more to buy new instead of getting it fixed. I saw electric mowers for hundreds of dollars (like $350+) and kind of wished we could get one, but just couldn't see putting out that kind of money. Then, I happened upon this Task Force Electric Push Mower at Lowe's for only $208!! So, I asked my wife, "What would you be willing to pay to go to an electric mower?" She started off saying we couldn't afford it... it would be great, but we just couldn't afford it. So I repeated the question with, "What would be your top $ we could afford?" She said, "$200." I said, "SOLD!" She couldn't believe it, and I couldn't either. So I went and bought it, and I have to say