Lewies Blog

I was starting to look into the MP3 lyric tag functionality. There are a few editors and players out there that let you embed the lyrics of your audio into MP3 files. You can also embed images to be played at specified timestamps.

Has anyone heard of this and is this popular at all? It appears that winamp does not support lyrics with its default installation. I had to download a plugin to get support for it.

I find that adding lyrics to audio files may be great for indexing and search engines. I’ve done a few tests with some past audio files that I recorded over the phone and was able to synchronize the lyrics to be highlighted at specified timestamps in the audio files.

Here are some tools that I found.

• Winamp Lyrics3 Plugin - both player and editor
• LyricFX - winamp lyric player (Lyrics3v1, Lyrics3v2 and ID3v2.x)
• Vivid Lyrics - winamp/windows media player/editor
• Helium Music Manager - really deluxe audio file editor.

I’ve been hearing a lot about this podcasting for a while. I would like to do it myself, but I want to have something other then what I blog about every day. I want something with a “theme”. My current blog (this one) doesn’t have a theme. Anything goes …

The trouble with themes is that I need to be able to consistently get information on a daily basis (or close to it). I would prefer it to be interesting and unique. I would also like to have a good understanding of what it is that I’m talking about. I would also love to be able to talk off of the top of my head without writing a script first.

Well folks - I think that I have finally figured it out. For the past few months, half of the answer has been staring at me every time I load up my blog. My idea would be to just wake up in the morning and record my interpretation of my dreams into a digital voice recorder. I would then convert and upload an MP3 audio file to my blog for all to listen to. I’ve tried doing audio postings over the phone, and it is just not that convienient.

My dreams are pretty vivid and interesting to me. A lot of people say they don’t dream, or that they dream in black and white, or that it is like a slide show. Mine are a full immersion of animated interactive colored worlds with hidden (and not so hidden) meanings behind everything. I feel like I’m there. So for the few people that don’t have dreams - it may interest them to come and listen to my podcast audio blog. I may even attract a few psychologists. Maybe I could get a special guest to come on as a dream interpreter sometimes.

So recently I have been wandering around stores looking at digital voice recorders. I’ve even gone on-line to Amazon and eBay to do some research. They seem to range between $30 and $100, but can go up to $300 and higher for more features. I’m looking for specific features.

1. Digitally record audio
2. Ability to transfer audio to my computer
3. Audio file in common format that I can convert to MP3
4. Small
5. Store at least one hour of audio

I think I found the model I want. I found a Griffin iTalk Voice Recorder for iPod. This little gadget goes for $30.39 ($18.99+ used and new) and fits on the top of your iPod. It turns my iPod into a voice/memo recorder. It also has a jack if I want to add my own microphone. Unfortunately, many reviews on Amazon.com are bad ones for this hardware. Mostly dealing with freezing and not recording until many repeated attempts.

Another item I have been looking at is the Olympus W-10 Digital Voice Recorder with Built-in Digital Camera. It sells for $99.99 on Amazon, but it starts out refurbished for $39.87. It comes with a bunch of other stuff that I don’t need like a low quality digital camera.

For $30.39, it might be worth a try with the iTalk due to the convenience factor. I usually get lucky with items reviewed like this. It seems to work for half the people without a problem. Now there is one small problem, and this is where I talk about it staring at me in my face every day. My blog template advertises that you can get a free iPod if you get 5 friends to help you out.

So guess what? I need just one more friend. Just one more friend needs to sign up and I’ll begin the process of getting my free iPod delivered to my doorstep. After that, I can start an additional blog for my podcasting dreams. How would you like to hear me whisper my deepest fears and greatest accomplishments to you each day?

So here is my shameless plug. Please help me reach my dream and obtain a free iPod. In return, I’ll expose my dreams for you and any interested (and non-interested) individual to listen to. There is more to this now then just getting a free MP3 player.

Sweet Dreams.

I’ve made quite a few templates on my own in the past. They can really be a pain - especially if you are trying to make a tableless template that is valid XHTML. An extra challenge is to make a 3 column tableless template.

Tonight, I just came across a tool (Firdamatic) that helps anyone create simple 2-column and 3-column templates on the fly by just filling out a form. Here is a description from the site itself:

Firdamatic is an online tableless layout generator that allows you to create and customize layouts easily only by completing forms, making creating skins for your Firdamatic-based layout a breeze. This is just a taste of what to come at the new Book of Styles site. Doesn’t it make you wish I’d hurry and finish re-developing the site? Well, I will, eventually. Meanwhile, just enjoy this simple toy. Oh by the way, if you need a custom tableless design for your weblog, I’m for hire! Contact me for a quote.

And here is a sample of a template I created:




One thing I do not like is that you can’t get a good understanding of how your colors look until you generate the template. Other then that - this looks like it could be very useful for anyone who doesn’t want to spend too much time going through the trouble of making advanced templates like these.

Last week, I talked about my ear wax problems (My ear stopped working again). To my surprise, I got a ton of comments about this. I couldn’t believe that people would spend so much time reading about my ear wax. (It was a pretty long post).

Anyhow, it appears that Google AdSense has detected keywords relating to this and displayed the following advertisements to me when I viewed my blog today:

Ear Candles

Wholesale-Beeswax, Paraffin, Herb
Prices low as .60 w/free shipping

You Can Make Ear Candles

Beautiful 12″ ear candles in minute
Save hundreds of dollars - have fun

I was a little shocked. I had never heard of ear candles. The fact that two different ads showed up confirmed that this wasn’t just a joke. For a moment, I was reading one of the sites and was trying to figure out if they make the candles out of real ear wax.

Here is an explanation from one of the sites:

An ear candle, sometimes called an ear cone, is a long hollow tube tapered to a hand-finished tip that fits comfortably into the ear. The large end of the candle is lit and the smoke created spirals down through the ear canal. The warmth of the smoke gently dislodges foreign debris, softens old ear wax and helps evaporate excess moisture. This is believed to relieve earache pain, provide relief from the pressure in the sinuses and allow the ear to naturally push out the ear wax.

Talk about weird stuff. This reminds me of something you would see on Repley’s believe it or not. It is strange, unusual, interesting, odd, and just plain weird.

Does anyone remember the 80’s? Back then, a lot of cool video effects were being discovered by bands who were then discovering how to reach fans at home by showing music videos on MTV. Back then, just about anything would be played on that cable channel.

Anyhow, I’ve been seeing this video circulating on the internet a lot. It appears that Zlasko “Zlad” Vladcik is a parody of the 80’s. The Electonik Supersonik video is hosted on a travelguide website about Molvania. The website advertsing a travel guide to Molvania (A land untouched by modern dentistry) is a parody in itself.

Just the lyrics alone are funny as can be. He sounds like he has a Russian accent and hasn’t learned how to speak English fluently. In the 80’s, a few bands sounded like they just picked the first thing that came out of there heads and went with that. This guy pretty much does the same thing. Those lyrics are really out there.

Hey baby, wake up from your asleep.
We have arrived on to the future and the whole world is become…

Electronik, supersonik. Supersonik, electronik.

Hey baby, ride with me away.
We doesn’t have much time.
My blue jeans is tight,
So on to my love rocket climb.
Inside tank of fuel is not fuel but love,
Above us, there is nothing above
But the stars above.
All systems gone, prepare for downcount!
5!
4!
3!
1!
Offblast!

Fly away in my space rocket.
You no need put money in my pocket.
The door is closed I just lock it.
(Hah!) I put my spark plug in your socket (Hah! Ha ha hah!)

The sun in sky is bright like fire!
You and me gets higher and higher.
Heart of communication fire!
Only thing can stop us is flat tire.

(Hah! Hah! Ha ha hah!)

Hey love crusader, I want to be your space invader.
For you I will descend the deepest moon crater.
I is most stronger than darth vapor.
Obey me, I is your new dictator.

For you is Venus, I am Mars.
With you I is more richer than all the czars.
Make a wishes on a shooting stars, then for you I will play on my cosmic guitars!

Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your beltseats.
We has commenced our descent.
I trust you enjoy this flight as much as you enjoy this accent.

Now, back on earth, is time for down splash.
Into sea of eternal glory my spaceship crash.
People have arrived for to cheer me from near and far.
And as I gloat, I open door and shout:
“I am world’s biggest washed-up superstar!”
(Supersonik, electronik)

As for sure as the sun rises in the west, of all the singers and poets on earth, I am the bestest.
Come, let me put ring of jupiter on your finger.
Then, like a smell around you, I will forever linger.

Okay, is time for end, no more will I sang.
Let me take you back in time, I want for you to experience big bang.
Long live space race, long live Molvania.

Related links:

• Molvania disqualified from Eurovision!
• Zlasko “Zlad” Vladcik Performing Elektronik - Supersonik
• Zlad - Electronik - Supersonik Lyrics
• Map of Movania
• Fansite with MP3

I found another little generator tool that is fun to play with. It’s called The Evil Clown Generator. I had lots of fun with this one. This guy even looks a little like me.

The controls are a little hard to play with. You pretty much generate everything randomly. Have fun.

My brother called and woke me up. He was in the area and wanted to know if he could come over. I replied “Sure”. I went to the living room and slept by the door until he came knocking.

After BS’ing for a while, he shows me the new car that he just purchased. Man … This thing was nice. I think he said he spent $23,000 on it.

We went over to CompUSA and looked around. I found a pack of 10 DVD’s with slimline cases and picked them up for under $6.00.

He wants a DVD burner, but he is picky about the color. He wants silver, but the only thing that comes in silver is from SONY. Krozy doesn’t trust Sony because they have a vested interest with media or something.

I personally don’t have a problem with Sony. Actually, I think of quality when I hear the name. I just purchased an external Double Layer DVD burner (DRX-720UL) from them just this past week. Man, that thing is faster them my old DVD burner.

We went over to the HDTVs and were impressed with the most expensive ones. I looked at some projectors that supported HDTV. The price was really low compared to the regular TV’s. Krozy pointed out that the lumens are pretty low and that the eyes can’t adjust to the projector as well as a regular TV. So we passed them up and continued looking around.

We headed on over to Burger King and then went on over to the movies afterwards. We watched Robots. There were hardly any sexual innuendos that most children’s movies have these days. It was actually a cute and innocent movie for a change. I had fun watching it.

My brother came back to the house and for the next few hours, we played Grand Theft Auto San Andreas and ate spaghetti. I found a pimp mobile at a mansion next to the VINEWOOD letters. These huge letters appear on the top of a hill and remind me of Hollywood.

Pimping is really cool. You start to rack up some big money when you pick up the girls from there customers. We ran into a problem with the fourth pickup in that a customer didn’t want to pay up. We were able to chase him down and kill him and collect some cash, but a police officer busted us before we could pick up the girl. It was horrible. This girl would run after us with the police officer, so we couldn’t pick her up without getting into trouble.

Krozy tells me that San Andreas isn’t available for XBOX and won’t be until the beginning of June. That seems to be a long ways away. I want it for the PC because I prefer the higher resolutions. It’s hard to see markers on the map when looking at a television. He also mentioned that the XBOX2 is going to be revealed at E3 this year. That’s great news. I hear that the PS3 will also be revealed at E3. If XBOX2 is going to be released this Christmas, then I hope that the PS3 will be released close to that time as well.

Every now and then my real mom sends me an email. It’s either jokes, a referral program, or for some political cause. These things are like spam. It’s not like a “Hello” or a “How are you doin?”. It’s the only contact that I have with her.

So what can I do? This is my mom. I don’t want to say stop, because that is like cutting off all contact what so ever. For now, I have decided that I would reply to everyone on the message and initiate conversation with her.

Here are a few emails that I sent back at her (and a few of her closest friends).

Hi Mom. How is it going?

Subject: Fw: Good Luck
Check out http://www.milesource.com/join/join.php3?referrer=goofyfroggy

Lewis E. Moten III
http://lewismoten.blogspot.com
lewismoten@gmail.com
———————————–
Get your own free iPod
http://www.freeipods.com/default.aspx?referer=9016083

Pretty funny stuff

Sex is like math…

U have to add a bed,

minus the clothes,

divide the legs,

and hope not 2 multiply.

send 2 10 friends and u will have great sex 4 a yr

Lewis E. Moten III
http://lewismoten.blogspot.com
lewismoten@gmail.com
———————————–
Get your own free iPod
http://www.freeipods.com/default.aspx?referer=9016083

Well, the emails still keep comming without any complaints. At least I am spreading the word of my blog and my iPod program to some new people.

Every now and then I start working on different types of software. I guess I fall into an odd cycle where I get really depressed and not wanting to do much, and then I get in this really creative and intense cycle where I just can’t stop coding and multitasking.

Anyhow, I went back to working with the Atom API again and found that the Blogger.com folks have changed it again! All of my old code would no longer work. After messing around for a few hours, I found that I can retrieve my posts by using Basic Authentication for my credentials rather then WSSE (Web Services Security).

From what I gather, they recently went to supporting SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) with WSSE. To be backwards compatible, they downgraded the non SSL connections to Basic Authentication. Ack! Basic authentication is not secure at all. It is very easy for me to decode someone’s password using that. I tried connecting over SSL, but the remote server would keep closing my connection.

I used to go to the Blogger Developers Area regularly, but it was rarely ever updated. Periods of 2 to 9 months would go by before a new post appears.

Well, it appears there is a different blog area for developers that I just discovered through the Buzz site by follwing the DEVELOPERS link at the bottom of the template. This place is updated frequently (about once a week) now. I’m also finding a lot of “real” documentation compared to what had been available before.

Let’s see if the Atom API will actually get some features added (such as the ability to fetch more then the first 10 entries).

Update: Just to show how unsecure this new basic authentication scheme is, let me provide you with a sample. With basic authentication, I can not link directly to a post.

http://username:password@www.blogger.com/atom/8179070/111302718644502407

Replacing the username and password near the beginning of that link, I was able to view it with a regular web browser. Posting to that same page would create a new entry. Using the “PUT” method instead would update that entry.

If you are lost, don’t worry. Just to keep it simple, the security is lacking …

Have you ever found something that you were not supposed to find? A while back ago, my sister in-law left the house. She left a CD case with me and told me to give it to my mother in-law when she came to visit. These two were going to miss each other that day and I was the middle man. The additional information that she gave me was that mom was dying to listen to the album for a long time.

The album was unfamiliar and looked pretty cool (Acroma: orbitals). I wasn’t sure if it was mine or not (Yes, I have that many CD’s that I don’t know what I have). I decided to back the CD up to my hard drive in case mom lost the CD. Rite away I noticed that the album was taped up on both sides. I got a knife from the kitchen and cut through the tape. I flipped the case open and discovered something that I shouldn’t have. I quickly taped it back up hoping that mom didn’t walk in the door at any minute.

I’m not going to go into what it was that I found, but man … I almost felt like I was being setup. Let’s look at the facts

• Mom has been wanting to listen to the album for a long time
• It was supposed to be a really good album
• The album looked cool to me
• I am often backing up my CD collection

Fortunately, it turned out that it wasn’t a test of my character to see if I would sneak into things. I honestly thought I was going to find a CD in there. I mean … It’s a CD case. I guess the tape was a bit odd, but I figured maybe the case was broken.

Update: For everyone that keeps wondering about it, I guess I should fess up. I will not go into detail, but it looked like some herbs. Mom has a lot of crazy concoctions that she likes to use them for.