Lewies Blog

So I got home today and noticed a small black box on my desk. I like how everything is so stylish and compact about this little product. I didn’t realize how small the iPod really was. This thing is not only small, but hardly weighs anything as well.

I tried to rotate the click-wheel but found that it doesn’t move. After turning it on, I found that it somehow senses that you are sliding your fingers around it. I started exploring what was on it and found that I could import my contacts, notes, and calendar entries.

I also noticed some games. The two most popular were breakthrough and solitaire. This thing is starting to remind me of a PDA. I searched the net to see if I could find more games, but the only thing available is text-based hyperlinked adventure games. Nothing like the animated graphics that I see on the existing games.

All the while, I was wishing that they had at least installed a demo song of some kind that I could listen to while I waited for the batteries to charge. I started installing the software that came with it and it asked me to connect the iPod to the computer. I gave in and hooked it up to my computer rather then letting the batteries charging fully.

After getting everything setup, the iPod downloaded everything in my media library. I then start learning how to import MP3’s and eventually figure out how to import entire playlists. iTunes complained that my iPod wasn’t large enough to hold everything, so it created a playlist specifically for George. George is the name that I gave to my iPod.

iTunes forgets where files are if they are on the network. I had to go into the options and tell it to copy everything locally. It is taking such a long time to get everything copied now.

I’m considering scanning the album covers to my CD’s or just the CD’s themselves. Due to the fact that my iPod is only a 3rd generation, it doesn’t support displaying album art. I may just forget about it. Anyhow, it is a very large task to undertake and I still haven’t finished categorizing all of the MP3s to begin with.

Other then that, there isn’t much to say about the iPod. It is charging quietly and will soon be full of songs.

I was looking at iTunes and started thinking that some of these albums are going to be a hard sell if you have the ability to purchase the good songs on there own. I have noticed that some songs are available only with the purchase of an album. I guess that is how they get your money. Bjork has an album with some commentary between songs that I am thinking about getting. $10 is cheap for an album after all.

I think artists are going to be a little hard pressed to make sure more of there songs are of better quality. In the past, I’ve had to purchase entire albums even though I only wanted a few songs. Most of the other songs on the album turned out to be utter garbage.

Anyhow, I have dragged this post on long enough. Later folks.

Tags: Black Box, Style, Stylish, Compact, Product, iPod, Free, Free iPod, iTunes, PDA, Games, Demo, Batteries, Charging, Media Library, Connect, MP3, Playlists, M3U, George, Network, Importing, Copying, Scanning, Cover Art, CD, 3rd Generation, Categorizing, Sell, Albums, Bjork, Cheap, Artists, Hard Pressed, Quality, MP3 Player, Audio Player

Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god!!! Can you believe it? It has come! The iPod offer wasn’t a scam after all. Angel only asks that I don’t kill anyone with it.

Tags: iPod, Free, Arrival, Scam, Mail, UPS, Package, Free iPod

Pressed for space? A company called Gumstix has created a tiny computer running on the linux kernal that is the size of a pack of bubble yum gum. It’s amazing. The computers are geared towards robotic development, but hey - you could use them for anything really.

Prices range from $129 to $204. Now that is a cheap computer! There are two CPU speeds rite now as 200 MHz and 400 MHz. It comes with 64 MB SDRAM too. The higher priced models come with a Bluetooth Module.

I guess you can’t do much with 400 MHz these days outside of robotics or sensory equipment. This makes me wish that I knew something about robotics. Check out this picture with four of these things linked together:

Tags: Waysmalls, Basix, Gumstix, Wireless, Robotics, USB, Linux, Kernal, Bluetooth, Computers, Minicomputer, Microcomputer, Small, Gum

I’ve been podcasting with my dreamy audio blog for a little while now. I’ve been using a variety of software, hardware and services to get these audio files on the internetnet. I’ve been bouncing around so much that I’m started to break down. I would go ahead and develop the software myself, but the project is just too big for me.

Recording Audio

I used to record onto my digital voice recorder and upload those files directly to my podcasting publisher. I’ve recently invested in a headset and discovered that the quality surpasses the digital recorder like mad. The digital recorder is now used only for taking quick notes to remember what I should say later.

Now that I’m recording directly to my computer, I have a wide choice of software, but I just can’t seem to find anything that suits me. I found out about Audacity wich lets me edit files that I’ve already recorded. It’s cool, but I still needed more. I started using an old version of Acid that I purchased a few years ago and used some loops to make a nice intro. Well, that was nice.

Still, I can’t help but think that something is missing here. To throw many files together into one is a bit of a hassel using this software. Things like audio clips of bands, a few sound effects maybe, and perhaps some fading. Sure, I can do it with what I have, but it feels like a real hassel to get it done. It would be nice to add audio effects (such as a belch) as I am recording it.

Meta Data

Many audio files have the ability to store many kinds of information. To start off, you can save the title, author, copyrite notice, and even an image of the cover art. I would like to go as far as saving lyrics, comments, and tags that can help link the audio to similar files.

Building Feeds

An RSS feed builder should be able to parse all of the content that it needs for each item from the audio files. The only thing that really needs to be added is the title, description, and link to the website that the feed is related to. The feed builder should be able to look at a directory on my local machine and grab the 10 most recent podcasts based off of the date created. A handy utility could be available to change the date that the files were created.

Publishing

I would love to keep this simple. Just publish my audio files and podcast feeds over to my website using FTP. I’ve got some software that does this, but it is very limiting with what the RSS information contains. Also, the publishing tool should be able to delete old MP3 files. The reason being is that space can be quite limiting (as well as bandwidth). This could give a few folks a good reason to purchase a CD of the past years podcasts since they are no longer available.

Blogging

Along with publishing podcast feeds and audio files, it would be nice to have the comments, album art, etc. published to blogging services such as Blogger.com or LiveJournal. It would be easier to keep the feed and the blog synchronized with each other.

Expansion

In the end, the program should allow end-users to add there own plug-ins and such. Things like pinging seperate services, publishing to different blogs, how a particular audio file is parsed for metadata. Publishing over FTP, sFTP, Web Services, sending to email subscribers, etc. Perhaps it could build other feeds besides RSS.

Well, that is my little rant for the day. If anyone knows of some software that can pull some of these technologies together, I would be grateful to hear about it.

Tags: Podcasting, Wishlist, Ideas, Wish, Podcast, Podware, Software, Hardware, Services, Audio, Recording, Sounds, Digital Voice Recorder, Voice, Audacity, Acit, Sound Editing, Audio Clips, Sound Effects, Loops, Metadata, Parsing, Feeds, RSS, FTP, Blogging, Subscribers, CD, Synchronized, Rant, Idea

I’m just really down over the bombings this morning. I don’t know what drives these Islamic terrorists to do these things. Yes, I realize that not all Islamics are like this, but these finatics have got me upset. Every action deserves an equal and opposite reaction. Don’t they realize that they are only bringing things back on themselves? What is the purpose of there attacks? What are they trying to achieve?

Just listening to the BBC of the casualties of people dieing and being injured is just barbaric. People are being amputated and bandaged. I detest these attacks. And the time for the attacks - rite during the G8 summit. How ignorant are these terrorists?

Tags: Terrorism, Terrorist, Bombings, London, UK, G8, BBC, News, Security, Homeland Security, Attacks, Dead, Murder, Islam Terrorists, Islamic Terrorists, Islam, Islamic

I’ve been working on some ideas for my Lewies Dreamy Audio blog. I did some experimenting and figured out how to do resizable graphic borders using cascading stylesheets. This really helps me out very much. Rather then having a bunch of squared off corners, I can now get a little bit more creative.

I’ll be updating the template on my audio blog in the next few days. For now, you can try it out here by choosing “Dreamer” from the list of templates.

Tags: Ideas, Audio, Dreams, Blog, Stylesheets, Templates, Skins, CSS, Graphics, Creative, Dreamer, Audio Blog

Everything is happening so quickly now that I have my referrals. My free iPod order has been shipped. I get warm fuzzy feelings just thinking about it. Can you believe it? It seems like this little program is finally paying off.

Tags: Free iPod, iPod, Free, Shipping, Order, Happy, Warm, Fuzzy, Feelings

Why can’t these guys ever give up? The only reason I need 2 GB of space for my email is because of stupid people like this.

From_the desk of: Raila Odinga
Road & Public Works Minisitry
(Nairobi - Kenya)
Date: 5th July. 2005
Dear Sir/Madan

Madan?

Re: Confidential Business Transaction

I never sent out a message entitled “Confidential Business Transaction” - and why isn’t this in the subject of the message? Instead it is “GOOD DAY”. What is up with that?

I am Raila Odinga, the present Minister of Road and Public Works of Federal Rebuplic of Kenya.

If it isn’t from Nigeria, then this must be official! Why did you add “Federal” in your contrys name?

Your dossier was obtained from Kenya/America Chambers of Commerce in quest for a trustworthy individual/company for a confidential business transaction.

What better way to keep things confidential then sending them to my free gmail account! Strange, but I was not able to find any information regarding an American Chamber of Commerce for Kenya, but I was able to find plenty of others.

Since I was appointed a Mininster in the above mentioned Ministry, I have accumulated the total sum of US$6.5M (Six Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars only) from over-invoiced awarded contracts by the Mininstry, which is now deposited with a Fudiciary Agent Code account in Europe.

I can understand what US$6.5 means without you spelling it out. If an awarded contract is over-invoiced, then I suggest that you let the government spend those funds. It is there money after all. Why can’t you use banks in Kenya? Something smells fishy.

Be informed that my account details will be provided to you upon the confirmation of your preparedness, which you can as well verify online.

And we all know how I can confirm my preparedness, don’t we?

However, Mwai Kikaki, the President of Kenya has ordered an inquiry into corruption as a graft scandal engulfs his Government. Therefore, I am soliciting your assistance for the transfer of this fund from my present account to your account, pending my retirement.

Kenya? Corrupt? No way! You can’t even spell your presidents name rite? How stupid are you? You work in government with the man and you can’t look at his official memos to spell Mwai Kibaki?

The reason for the above is that the code of conduct bureau in my country does not allows a civil servant to operate a foreign based account or own any large capital investment.

With good reason I bet. Notice a phrase here “code of conduct bureau”. Nigerea has such a bureau, but I can not find anything regarding Kenya as having one.

Be reminded that an account with zero credit balance can serve the purpose of this transaction.

Especially if you are only using it to deposit money from one account to mine and then transferring the funds to another account of yours.

Furthermore, to show my preparedness to work with you, I have earmarked 15% of the total sum for you since you are providing the coverage for the funds; while the remaining 85% shall be for me since I shall bear the costs of all expenditures until the fund in question finally gets into your account.

Let’s just bring it up to an even million. It is odd how Mr. Bernardo Casillas doesn’t get any part of this. But then again, I bet he has been taking money off of the top since he first started assisting you.

For the security of this transaction, I want all communication regarding this transaction to be between you and my personal assistant Mr. Bernardo Casillas, who is currently in London, United Kingdom, and his contact numbers are as stated below:

Oops, I think the whole world knows about it now. In fact, I think we have all known about it for a few years now.

Tel/Fax: 44-704-301-7039
Email: casillas2005@maktoob.com

It appears that assistant is using a free email account. That is really fishy for someone to be working in government to be using. And look at that Maktoob website. It is in both English and Arabic. You may want to take a deeper look into what is going on there and why he prefers this means of communication.

Thank you for your anticipated cooperation while awaiting your urgent response.
Yours Faithfully,
Raila Odinga
(Minister of RPWM)
Cc:Mr. Bernardo Casillas.

Tags: Nigeria, Spam, Bernardo Casillas, Kenya, Raila Odinga, Road & Public Works Ministry, Nairobi, Scam, Minister, Bank, Account, Mwai Kikaki, Mwai Kibaki, Transaction, Confidential, Business, Corruption, Scandal, Retirement, Money, Get Rich Quick, London, United Kingdom, Maktoob, Reply

Back in March, I found out about a Free Personal Audio News Service. I took a survey and was told that I might be part of a select few in the DC area to test out the new service. Also, I could qualify for a free MP3 player.

Guess what? I just got an email two hours ago inviting me to confirm my test group participation for NewsworthyAudio. Woo hoo! I had to fill out a few more survey questions and then the last question asked me if I had gotten an MP3 player since the last time I took the poll. I clicked the big “NO” button.

They presented me with a message that gave me a warm fuzzy feeling.

Tags: Free, MP3, Free MP3 Player, NewsworthyAudio, News, Newsworthy, Newsworthy Audio, Service, Test Group, Test

I saw a post about knowledge and skills over at Niche Info Blogging. Perhaps I can pull a little bit of this information out of myself.

1. Who am I?

1. Lewis Moten
2. Male
3. Married to Angel
4. Pet Lover
5. One brother, two sisters
6. I know computers

1. Whitemarsh, Maryland
2. Westminister
3. Delray, West Virginia
4. Fort Ashby, West Virigina
5. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
6. Moorefield, West Virginia

1. Friendship
2. Learn new things
3. Support old technologies
4. Keep things simple
5. To get someting done, you need to take the first step. Keep at it, no matter how stupid you feel or others make you feel. Eventually, you’ll get good at it.

1. Create blog related software
2. Financial Stability
3. To travel all 50 states in the United States

1. I like

1. Ice cream
2. Gadgets
3. Cats and Gerbils
4. Movies
5. Being calm

1. Asparagus
2. Being late on bills
3. Uncontrollable situations
4. Loud music
5. People smoking near me

1. Northern Virginia Community College - Computer Information Systems
2. Art Institute of Pittsburgh - Industrial Design Technology
3. Frankfort High School
4. Keyser Votech - Carpentry
5. Eastern Vocational Technical High School
6. Perry hall middle school
7. Chapel hill elementary
8. Gunpowder elementary
9. Hardford hills elementary
10. Whiteoak elementary

1. McDonnalds Cashier
2. Subway Cashier, Prep, Closing, Cleaning
3. Revco Stockboy
4. Baltimore Country Summer Jobs Programs - clean parks and streets
5. Burger King Cashier
6. Ruby Tuesdays Prep
7. Global Management Systems, Inc. (GMSI) Technical Writer, Software Developer
8. digitalNATION Programmer
9. Epstein & Associates Developer
10. Maxim Group Consultant/Developer
11. Computer Sciences Corporation Senior Member of Technical Staff

1. Programming

1. Databases

1. Websites
2. Desktop Applications

1. Tips
2. Software
3. Recomendations
4. Reviews

1. Programming
2. Networking
3. Gadgets

Well, I guess that is a good start. The guy starts to mention making money with info blogging. I haven’t gotten a dime yet. Most of it is for fun or my own benefit as an extension to my memory capacity. I guess the problem is that I haven’t been trying to get any money from blogging.

Tags: Soul, Inventory, Blogging, Questions, Answers, Information, Who am I, Who, Where, What, Values, Prinples, Life, Vision, Mission, Goals, Likes, Dislikes, Education, Background, Work, Experience, Skills, Feel Good, Give, Advice