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I used to think that the songs in the "NOW" collections were exactly the same as the originals. Guess that's true if it's the safe ones they play on the radio with the bad words missing. But in the Now That's What I Call Censorship Music 26, even the word "Damn" is missing from the Sean Kingston song called Beautiful Girls. Not that I care much of the song but they left the part in there about being suicidal so... I dunno.
Ever since Time Warner took over Adelphia Cable in my area, my Internet Connection hasn't been the same. And I don't mean for the better. I could elaborate, but this post here kinda sums it up. I've tried everything I can think of and still can't get rid of the every other "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage" message. Seems I'm not alone.
One of the things on my recent list of "To-Do" items was to buy some terminators for my home theater speaker cables. Originally I was hoping to get a hold of the Adapta-tip connectors from Acoustic Research. Then I could attach either spade, pin, or banana style tips. But alas I couldn't find them in a local store. After much hesitation I caved and bought 5 packages of Monster Cable QuickLock banana connectors. These worked out great since they don't require crimping. After you insert the speaker wire you fan out the copper and screw down the top portion and it's done! Not cheap at $20 x 5 ($100.00), but it delivers the sound!!!
Whenever my travels involve flying, I like to take along my Nintendo DS. My all time favorite shoot-em-up game is Space Invaders. It kinda takes me back to those days when I went through a $10 roll of quarters at the Arcade playing it. These days I also enjoy a more quiet game, Sudoku, included with the Brain Age2 software. Since I had nothing but time on a recent flight, I learned how to play and fell in love with it. That's because it's fun, challenging, and makes the time go by very fast getting to the destination!
When I work on consumer electronics, especially a computer, something requires connecting to a power source at some point. Usually it happens to be in a location that if it doesn't work it's a pain to take out. That's why I like this kit which I found at Fry's Electronics. It's titled UNIVERSAL TEST LEADS (12 TIP COMBO) #SA15 from Philmore in Rockford, IL. The tips screw into the wires on both ends! It even contains molex and alligator-clip tips. Very useful to have indeed.
Maybe I'm the only one, but I think it's strange that Microsoft doesn't offer their email app Outlook 2007 in the Office 2007 Professional Suite. Instead it's offered in the Standard version. My email apps of choice are Thunderbird and Gmail, but still. MS does offer a TRIAL version of each office here.
Ever since the days of @HOME, my high-speed Internet access has been via cable modem. And so far there's always been a Motorola Surfboard modem to catch that ride. But at times it's been a major pain when for several days the ISP (Meep-Meep!) has something go down and the modem lights aren't all lit solid. One way to keep tabs on things is by checking your signal levels. In particular, look for a Downstream Power Level of between -15 and +15 with around 7 dBmV being ideal. Higher or lower than this range might be a problem. Check here for more info.
What was that famous line? In the SpiderMan 2 movie, Dr. Otto Octavius remarks "The power of the Sun - in the palm of my hand!". In this scene there are laser beams that ignite a fusion reaction, probably from the all the bass coming from my Klipsch subs. Seriously, after mein Klipsch SW-12 went kaputt (broke), I bought two Klipsch Synergy Sub-10. It really made a appreciable difference in having two instead of one.
If you live in a house, and have several rooms with TVs, having a Dymo LabelWriter 400 Turbo can be handy. Of all the projects I attempted this weekend, this one finished nice and easy. The cable box now has a list on the inside lid showing what connections are which. As a precaution, I also put some extra-wide shipping tape over the label to protect against the elements. Maybe next time around it's the electrical box for labeling...
During Thanksgiving weekend I got for free DVDCopy5 (interVideo) as part of a special deal from Fry's Electronics. I could care less that it says it copies DVDs, but would have loved it if it would create a 3GP video for my cellphone. Well, since my phone is a Samsung D807, I guess not. Nero 8 cannot do this either. I've only had success with Roxio Toast 8 (MAC) and QuickTime 5 PRO.
The best results came from QuickTime 5 PRO using a pass-thru mode but when newer versions came out, I couldn't afford to go PRO just for cellphone videos!
