I recently found this great new music player for Pandora. Pandora is an online music player, go here for more details.

The only problem is that you have to run it in your web browser, well, not anymore. A new app has been created, and here’s a little note from it’s creator, Luke:

Here’s a little app I created to fix that problem:

Pandora Player

Pandora Player will put pandora in it’s own application, so you can keep it aside from your regular browsing experience.

Windows only at this stage – the mac versions a little buggy and the linux version hasn’t been tested.

Haven’t tried it in Vista, just XP.

So please, feel free to redistribute!

This chart is the share price of Apple Inc. in blue (right scale) and Microsoft Corp. in red (left scale), traditionally rival IT companies, over the past six months.

As you can see, there was a temporary boom in Apple shares when the iPhone was released. It soon went back to normal, but continued to steadily rise after that.

Also, ever since the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft’s stock price has pretty much crashed.

Throughout the history of the two companies, both prices have been increasing at quite similar rates. That is, until about a month ago – the 27th of February.

Microsoft’s price has decreased quite substantially since then, and continues to fall, while Apple’s price has rocketed. That’s not taking into account the new version of Mac OS X (Apple’s operating system) which is expected to be released in June – an announcement that many analysts expect to cause another price boom.

Could this be a sign of things to come?

Luke is teaching my cousin, JP how to write a web page. I’m picking a few things up as I go. Here’s some in this document: css-and-html.doc.

Lately I’ve been getting into using my iPod as a USB flash drive. The thing I like about using it is that it’s got so much room on it. I have a 30 gig iPod, and only use like 15 gig on music. But I figure that even if I had only one gig spare on it it would be bigger then any flash drive I’ve ever owned.

So maybe you’re wondering how it all works, well, here I’ll tell you.

The first thing you need to do is open iTunes (make sure if you iPod is Windows formatted you’re connected to a Windows computer, and the same for Mac). Select your iPod on the left hand side, and it’s one of the options down the bottom on the first page that displays.

Now your iPod will open in your OS just like any other external device- a USB flash drive, or an external CD/DVD player, etc. For Windows users: My Computer -> T-Pod (or whatever YOUR iPod is called), For Linux and Mac users, you know what you’re doing. It’s pretty self explanatory.

It should just appear on your desktop when you connect it. For most iPods iTunes will open when you plug it in. Exit out as this isn’t needed to use your iPod as a flash drive.

Now it is open as a folder on your computer. There are a few folders in there- don’t mess with them, just ignore them. Just put your documents into the iPod (not worrying about the other folders) and then you can unplug it (the safe way of course) and connect it to wherever you want to transfer your information to.

You DON’T need iTunes on a computer to make this work. So you can use it on any computer, no worries. It WON’T wreck the songs that you have on your iPod, they’re all saved in a different spot and working by themselves. Just save your files into the first part of the iPod that comes up.

So that’s the basic way to use your iPod as a flash drive.

I use to have such trouble sleeping. I still do sometimes. But when I feel like it’s hard to get to sleep, now I pzzizz. Pzzizz you say, what the hell is that?! Well, it’s a program that you buy that really does help you get to sleep.

What does it sound like? Well, it there is this guy who talks to you in with a soothing voice, he tells you things about sleep, and sleeping, and relaxing and what you should be doing and just rambles on about nothing really. But if you want to hear it for yourself, then you should just get it.

You can put it on your ipod, burn it to disc, whatever. It’s really great.

There are two options- sleep, or nap. Sleep will just run out after an hour (you’ll be well asleep by then, trust me), and the nap one just give you a five minute nap. FIVE MINUTES, that’s nothing! I hear you say. Well never fear, because Pzzizz actually lets you choose how long your nap is, not just five minutes, but I find that five minutes is all I need to be put gently to sleep, or at least in a deep state of relaxation and be fully rejuvinised and ready to take on my day again.

I know you must think that I have strange mind reading powers by now, but trust me, I can also hear you asking me if it gets boring listening to the same thing every time. Well the answer is yes, I imagine it would, but you see, the thing is that you don’t actually listen to the same thing twice. These little babies can create over 1 billion different combinations. It’s all random, so you won’t hear the exact same thing again!

Anyway, it’s a really neat little product, and it would be super cool if I got paid for advertising it like this, but I don’t. :-( I just wanted to let you guys in on the little Pzzizz secret and also take the opportunity to remind you that I have not abandoned you just because I haven’t updated this blog in a few days. I am actually busy blogging nearly every day, it’s just that I have three of them.

http://87purpleelephants.com/blog is this blog,

http://87purpleelephants.com/teachingtalia is my teaching blog,

and http://87purpleelephants.com/taliaslife is my personal blog. Between the three of them I am updating every day, so don’t hold it against me, just check them out as well.

Hope you have a good week!

I have a Canon EOS 300V SLR camera. It’s a pretty nifty little thing and it’s provided me, and the people who I drag along with me, on some great times. It was the first ‘big thing’ I ever bought when I started working. That was nearly 5 years ago now, but it doesn’t seem that long. Time flies when my camera and I are having fun.

The other day my little Canon EOS 300V died. :-(

It had lived a long life and died from what I suspect was natural causes. One day the screen just went funny and wouldn’t display. It would still take pictures, but I had no idea of the aperture, shutter speed or lighting conditions as none of the internal lights were working either. I put it on auto and used it none the less, I put in new batteries to try and revive it, but nothing seemed to help. One day it just wouldn’t even take a photo, and I knew that the time had come to pack it up and start saving for a new one.

My next SLR will be the digital version of that camera. I like Canon. I had a one year warranty and it lasted 5, that’s pretty good. I have made the $800 that it cost me many times over by now, and while the digital version is still about $1000, by the time that I can afford it with my many other expenses now, it will be well below! I’ll stick with Canon as their a known brand and that way I know that all my lens etc. fit! :-P

So rest in peace my little Canon EOS 300V. Many you have a better life now in camera heaven, taking pictures of the things that YOU want to take now, instead of me.

So I’ve spent a bit of time telling people that Firefox is the best. Here’s a short list of the pros and cons of Firefox.

PROS

• Tabs. It’s the one thing that I think made all the difference with my conversion to Firefox. The one reason that my fiancé, who was not even my boyfriend in at the time, downloaded Firefox without asking was because he couldn’t stand being on the internet at my house without tabs. It’s fair enough, once you’ve had tabs and have experienced them there’s no going back. The freedom to look at so many links and not have your toolbar at the bottom cluttered is such a great feeling.
• It’s Open Source. This doesn’t mean a lot to most people, so let me explain. Open source means that the source is open- anyone can access it and therefore create ‘add-ons’ or ‘extensions’ that enhance your user experience. Things are sometimes easier with an example so: I have a del.icio.us add on. That means that now I have a little ‘icon’ type thing next to the new tab, new window icons. When I click on it it is linked to my delicious and a new window appears and I put in the information I need to tag that site to my del.icio.us account. Other examples are Stumble Upon, Payperpost… you can get blogging add ons, flicker add ons, other social book marking add ons, get did of those adds and put spell checker on! There are hundreds of them out there and so surely something that you’re looking for.
• Recovery. The first con is that Firefox crashes sometimes. The reason I still use Firefox even though there’s the potential to loose all the windows I’m looking at? Recovery. When I click on Firefox to start it back up now that it’s crashed it will ask me if I’d like to restore my previous session or start a new one. If I click restore then it’s all good and I can carry on. This is really handy when your computer freezes or something like that and you have to click the on/off button to restart it.
• Quick Start Favourites. A toolbar that’s just dedicated to your favourites that you use all the time. I put myspace, facebook, my emails, my banks, folders full or news sites, my blogs, and dictonary.com up there. It makes it really easy to get to what I need.
• It’s well supported. Firefox is now one of the larger and better known internet browsers and is slowly becoming more and more popular. Because of this most websites are able to be viewed well in Firfox. This is not always the case with all internet browsers.
• Google Search Bar. The google searchbar embedded into Firfox is really, really handy. It’s also great because you change it to a range of different search sites, in fact, nearly any. And then you can just press the down arrow and change to search from whichever ones you’ve set up! I use it alot to switch between searching on google and google images.

CONS

• Crash. The latest version of firefox tends to crash a bit. It just randomly stops for no good reason. I’m sure that the developers are working on this, but in the mean time it’s just something you live with. The third point in the pros section is that when your Firefox does crash, you can easily recover your open windows.
• Clutter. With all those great Add-ons and things it’s a shame, but you tend to get clutter. It’s easy to get lots of extra toolbars and buttons to click and do things with. Just be warry of this and learn to delete the ones that you don’t use very much.

My brother, Rhys is a great poet. He wrote this poem entitled Wings made out of “if only’s” sewn together. My fiancé, Luke, then read the poem through the voice recognition in Vista and got an interesting result! Below is Rhys’ poem, and then under that is two Vista interpreations of it!

Wings made out of “if only’s” sewn together

Wings spring like tulips from my back.
My shoulder blades have just the right amount of rain and sunshine.
The Wings wave and cause the distilled air to rush around my face in panic.
“Were shall we hang?” they whisper.
I am pulled away on a spider web of where I will be.
The world is a shiny red bauble, hanging from a tall green universe.
Christmas tree.
The stars out here taste like tank water, the best kind.
Space is black tie, and us lucky ones dance like curtains.
Swishing backwards and forwards, very royal.
Sleep has a gravitational effect on the soul.
One always wakes up in a bed made of memories.
Wings get stored in the wardrobe/past, “where shall we hang?”
Rhys wrote these words.

Vista Interpretation One:

When spring workshop next format back.
My shoulder blades were just the right MM of rain and sunshine.
The wings wave and caused a the silver hair to rush around my face in panic.
Where shall we hang?  They whisper.
I am called away on a spider web of for I will be.
The world is a shiny red for four, hanging from the tall green uniforms.
Christmas tree.
The stars at his taste like tank water, the best kind.
Spaces of black tie, – 41 stone slate caverns.
Searching backwards and forwards, very well.
Sleep as a gravitational effect on us all.
When always works office in have been made of memories.
Links get stored in the wardrobe slashed past, where shall we have?
Rees heard these words.

 Vista Interpretation Two:

When spring works next, four months back,
My shoulder blades with just the right amount of rain and sunshine,
The wings of when cause her silver hair to rush around my face in panic.
Where shall we hang?  They whisper.
I have been called away on a spider web before it will be.
The world is a shiny red 44, hanging from tall green uniforms.
Christmas tree.
Stars like his taste like tank water, the best kind.
Spaces for black ties, and 41 stone slate caverns.
Searching backwards and forwards, very well.
Sleep has a gravitational effect on us all.
On as always works the office, they have been made of memories.
Links are stored in the wardrobe. Such a past – where shall we have it?
Recent are these words.

I’d like everyone to welcome our guest blogger for the day, Luke. He’s just had Vista installed on his computer at work and has noted down some tips for those of you who are just starting out with Vista.

Vista Tips:

To disable superfluous visual effects, like windows fading in and out:

Press Start and choose Control Panel. Click the Ease of Access option, then choose Optimize Visual Display, then enable the ‘Turn off all unnecessary animations’ option, toward the bottom.

To disable constant authorisation requests and screen dimming:

Press Start and choose Control Panel. Click the User Accounts option, then choose User Accounts again. Click ‘Turn User Account Control On or Off’ and continue past the prompt. Untick the ‘Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer’ option and press Okay. You’ll need to restart.

To disable ’security’ nagging:

You’ll notice this for the first time after you’ve restarted with UAC disabled. To disable the nag in the Notification Area,  Press Start and choose Control Panel. Click Security, then Security Center. Next, click the ‘Change the way Security Center alerts me’ link, in the left hand column. In the window that’s displayed, choose the ‘Don’t notify me and don’t display the icon (not recommended)’ option.

To access 3D application switching:

Hold down the windows key and press tab. Continue to press tab to cycle through the applications. Alternatively, you can use the scroll wheel on your mouse. Hold down the shift key as well, and it will go backwards.

To disable the confusing window transparency:

Press Start and choose Control Panel. Choose Appearance and Personalization, then choose the Personalization option. Click ‘Window Colour and Appearance’, then disable the ‘Enable Transparency’ option.

To resize those super-large desktop icons:

Left click on a blank area of the desktop, then hold down the control button down while using the scroll wheel on your mouse to scroll up or down.

To disable the sidebar and the widg… I mean, gadgets:

Right click the Sidebar and choose Properties. Disable the ‘Start Sidebar when Windows starts’ option, and press Okay. Right click on the Sidebar again and choose Close Sidebar. Right click on the icon which will appear in your notification area (beside the time in the bottom right hand corner of the screen) and choose Exit.

Disable window previews in the Task Bar:

Right click a blank area of the Task Bar and choose Properties. Disable the ‘Show window previews (thumbnails)’ option, and press OK.

To disable the ugly shortcut image in the corner of your desktop icons:

Press the windows-r shortcut to display the Run menu. Type ‘regedit’ (without quotes) and press OK. Open HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, then scroll down to the lnkfile folder. Left click on it. Delete the Is Shortcut item, then restart your computer.

I like technology and I like rainbows, so here’s a technology rainbow.

Red: Computer. This is where it all starts, what you need to get going, and what, in a way, defines the type of tech lover you are. I use what I was given. It’s old and it’s a little slow at times, but it does the job and looks alright. It’s a stationary laptop, which basically just means that it’s so old that it doesn’t have wireless and also so old that the battery only last 5 minutes- if that. This says that I am a geek but only new so I haven’t done much to my computer yet bar speed it up and install Ubuntu.

…

That’s not really what it says, but that’s the truth ;-) .

Yellow: I don’t know what goes in yellow… so I thought that you guys could come up with something. Just type it into the comment box.

Pink: Peripherals. Pink, like the icing on the cake! Everyone needs them (a keyboard, mouse etc.) but sometimes you can get really fancy ones. Special keyboards etc. I use a common mouse- two buttons and a stroller in the middle that clicks. I know it’s all common and what not nowadays, but back when I got it was a pretty new thing.

Green: Conserve Energy. This article, Power, is full or great info on how computers have changed to become more energy efficient. It’s an interesting read.

Purple: People. There are so many different types of people who use technology. EVERYONE uses technology, because a can opener is technology, but computers and the internet and stuff is still pretty common. Anyway, so there’s geeks, nerds, noobs, all your different types of users, people who are social internet users (myspace and msn only), work internet users, or study internet users.

What am I? I am a geek, but new to it, so I’m still learning lots and experimenting.

Orange: OS (Operating System). There are a stack to choose from. People say that Windows is the most popular, but it’s not. The most people use it, sure, like 95% of people with computers use Windows, BUT they don’t use it because they like it, they use it because that’s what they were given, because they don’t know any better, MOST of the time that is. I know that there are cases where you have to use Windows, and also I know my friend Michael chooses to use Windows, but my point is that the majority of people use Windows because they don’t even really realise that there are other options. I use Ubuntu, a distribution of Linux. My fiancé is a Mac user, an Apple fanatic, and just an all round nice guy. So OSX is his system, and Ubuntu is my compromise between XP which I use to use and OSX that he uses (I can’t afford an Apple computer, and I would dual boot it with Ubuntu now if I had one anyway).

Blue: Tech Words. Yep, as with anything, there’s a lingo. I’m still not completely up on it, but I do know a few things. When you get into linux as well there is even MORE stuff to learn. Thank you google for always being there for me!!