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The Gadget of the Week: The Slingbox

Posted on September 30, 2005 at 12:15 AM

Most of us are probably familiar with the concept of Time-shifting television, which first arose back in the 70s with the advent of the VCR (remember betamax?). Some twenty odd years later, the VCR has become almost obsolete by it's predecessor, the ever popular Digital Video Recorder (DVR). Now we have the Slingbox, which takes television watching to an entirely different level. Place-shifting!

What the Slingbox does is it allows you to control your home TV or DVR and watch them from any location in which you have access to a broadband Internet connection. A definite must have for those TV addicted, DVR loving, travelers amongst us.

Though not being a road weary traveler myself, I do know what it's like to sit in a hotel room many miles from home, forced to watch whatever crappy local programming the hotel provides. With the Slingbox and a Windows XP based computer (mac software coming soon), the only thing missing from your home television viewing experience is the crappy lazy boy you sit in. You know what I'm talking about, the one with the spring that pokes you in the ass every time you shift your weight. Yeah, that one.

Walt Mossberg, the Wall Street Journal tech guru, gives a more in-depth look at the Slingbox when he demo'd one last June. He gives a rave review of the device noting some of it's only drawbacks being:

• Only one person at a time can remotely connect to it.


• If you're using it out on the road, and someone at home is using the TV connected to the Slingbox, a long distance battle over what to watch may ensue.

Click here to review the Slingbox on Amazon.com.

Posted by joeschmidt at 12:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | post to del.icio.us

Sending Emails into the Future

Posted on September 29, 2005 at 01:03 AM

FutureMe is a free service that lets you send an email to someone on a future date that you specify. This is a great way for anyone who wants to be reminded of things happening in the future via email. You could use FutureMe for sending yourself reminders of up coming events a day or two before it happens, or send an email greeting to that friend whose birthday you always seem to forget months before their actual birth date.

But what if the person I send a future message to changes their email address?

Easy, FutureMe lets you create an account for all the future emails you send out. This account logs all the future emails you send and allows you to modify the addressee email address in case it changes. So in my case, if Google goes out of business in the next 30 years I can easily go into my FutureMe account and enter my new email address.

To test this, I wanted to send an email to myself on my 100th birthday. Basically, a simple message to remind me to change my diaper, brag about how nice it was to be able to control my bladder, and to congratulate myself on the 5,000th post to this blog. However, since the service only allows you to send an email 30 years into the future I had to settle on sending myself an email for my 60th birthday. Be sure to check back in 30 years to see the wisdom I shared with my future self.

Posted by joeschmidt at 01:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | post to del.icio.us

Happy seventh birthday google

Posted on September 27, 2005 at 01:12 AM

So, if Google was:

• human: it would be in the 2nd grade.


• a dog: it would be 41 in human years.


• married: it would have the seven year itch

Thanks Google. Without you I'd still be using altavista and mapquest.

Side note: Over on Google's Blog there is a post on how they have increased the size of their search index to three times that of one of their competitors [*cough* *cough*, Yahoo] to commemorate Google's seventh birthday.

Currently, Yahoo lists their search index at 20 billion pages. Does that mean Google has went from searching 8 billion pages to 60 billion pages? Hard to say, but I doubt we will ever see Google's search index size appearing on their home page again.

Over on the New York TImes, My Uncle Eric discusses the Google v. Yahoo size controversy. He tells users to "taste test" which engine produces the best results. I found that a site called twingine, which does a side by side search of both Yahoo and Google, works quite nicely for this.

My guess is that if Google says it's index is 1000 times that of it's initial index, I'd guess that their current search index is approx. 24-25 billion pages.

Posted by joeschmidt at 01:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | post to del.icio.us

A site update

You may not have noticed, but I've made a few minor adjustments concerning the archives of this blog. Since I've never had a section to categorize my posts or a search feature to help the reader find old posts, I thought I would create an archive page that lists chronologically each post all the way down to my very first post. You'll find the archive link on the right sidebar.

Each post listed on the archive page displays the date in which the post was published, how many comments were left, and the total number of words contained within each post. Now I know you've got nothing better to do with your time and are dying to bust out the calculator and add them all up. But I'll save you the trouble. This blog is currently just over 30,000 words and counting.

I also compacted the monthly archives into a drop down menu to minimize the amount of space it takes up on the page. I've always felt having posts grouped into monthly archives was a bit of a waste, since the page for each month tends to stretch pretty far down the page. So for now the monthly archives will remain, thanks to it's new and improved smaller footprint.

Cosmetically the page still looks the same, though sometime by the end of this year I will have designed an entire new look for this site. I've always been somewhat pleased with the way the site looks, it's just that the entire site was designed in a 4 hour time period (from 12am - 4am on January 28th, 2005) just minutes before I submitted my first post. The new redesign will incorporate a look that will hopefully improve readability by utilizing a better color scheme, eye pleasing typography, and a more functional layout.

The redesign will also coincide with this blog moving to a new web host. My current host fatcow has been sufficient up to this point, but I need a host that allows more control over how the site functions. I also find Fatcow's stats to be somewhat lacking as I routinely have to download my log files in order to properly analyze the traffic for this site. I found that Media Temple offers exactly what I'm looking for and am pleased to announce it will soon be the new home of JoeSchmidt.com.

Though don't feel bad fatcow. "It's not you, it's me". Really.

Posted by joeschmidt at 12:44 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | post to del.icio.us

How many holes does a ritz cracker have?

Posted on September 23, 2005 at 12:59 AM

Filed from the Department of Useless Information here at JoeSchmidt.com

Being the repository of useless information that I am, I was shocked that I didn't know the answer to this question. You see, the entire staff of this blog went to dinner at Cheeburger Cheeburger this evening. For those of you not familiar with this establishment, it is a fifties-esque, sock hoppin, pink neon, greasy spoon type of joint. Basically, heart attack on a plate type fare. And as a bonus, if are reckless enough to eat their famed 1 pound burger they will take your picture and slap it up on the wall. Each restaurant has a shrine on the wall dedicated to all of their mullet wearing, Wal-mart shopping patrons who've accomplished this noble feat.

So after we order our food, our waitress comes back over and announces she has a trivia question for us. If we get it right then she'll give us a free t-shirt. Now I'm thinking she doesn't look a day over 17, so I'm guessing this trivia question will be something like "what is Ashton Kutcher's middle name" or "what did Britney Spears and K-fed name their redneck love child?" You know, something of that nature.

So the question she gave us was, How many holes does a ritz cracker have?

A relatively simple question I thought. The average person has probably stuffed hundreds of these crackers in their mouth over the course of a lifetime. But who really stops to count the tiny, minuscule holes cut in the top? Not this blog. Well, at least until now...

She then leaves to give us a few minutes to ponder. Though it didn't really matter because no one had a clue what the answer was. And besides, winning a Cheeburger Cheeburger shirt wasn't exactly a goal I was striving to achieve.

She comes back and asks for our answers. Dumbfounded, we answered 16 and 12. Not very good guesses on our part, but like I said we, it was a moot point.

Buzzzzzzzzz.... Sorry. The correct answer is seven.

What? No parting gifts?

So let's sum up the useless information you gleamed from this post:

A ritz cracker has seven holes. (FYI: a saltine cracker has thirteen holes)

Britney and K-Fed's redneck love child is named Sean Preston.

Ashton Kutcher's middle name is actually, Ashton. (trick question)

Posted by joeschmidt at 12:59 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | post to del.icio.us

You should see what the other guy looks like

Posted on September 13, 2005 at 12:23 PM

The head of our legal department received his first stitches this past weekend during a freak shark attack off the coast of Belize. The incident occurred while he was scuba diving in a part of the barrier reef there known as The Great Blue Hole. While observing the naturual beauty of this underwater wonder he was confronted by an agitated shark approximately 10 feet in length. As shown in the picture above, this small cut was the only injury he sustained in the attack, as he escaped relatively unharmed. Needless to say the same cannot be said for the shark.

All of us here at JoeSchmidt.com wish him a speedy recover.

Posted by joeschmidt at 12:23 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | post to del.icio.us

Digging a hole to China via Google Maps

Have you ever wanted to dig a hole to China but were intimidated by jeers from your Mother and the almost 8,000 miles of earth, rock, hot magma you'd have to endure on your journey? Do no fret, because your dreams are one step closer to reality with this handy Google Maps hack that shows you where you'd end up if you dug straight through center of the Earth.

Turns out, if I dug a hole in my backyard I would end up in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Australia. So even if I survived the 8000 mile dig through the center of the Earth I would have definitely drowned once I got to the other side. As far as I can tell, if you were to dig a hole to China the only possible place you could even attempt this from would be either Chile or Argentina.

Side note: You've got to love the site's disclaimer (poor use of English aside):

Atention! This site is not responsible for bank, house or any establishment assaults occured by holes maded by our users.

Happy digging!

Posted by joeschmidt at 07:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack | post to del.icio.us

A million dollar idea

The million dollar home page is the genesis of soon-to-be University of England student Alex Tew. He is selling 10x10 pixel blocks for $1 a pixel, or for you math geniuses out there, $100 a block. The money he raises from the site will be used to fund his education, support his parents, and buy expensive, long lasting, non-disintegrating socks.

While I think this is a great idea, I'm sure you're money would be better spent in other forms of online advertising like Google's Adwords. Though the site promises to be up for at least 5 years, I think you may find that if it ever reaches full capacity, your 10x10 image will disappear in a sea of pixels. And I imagine downloading 10,000 images to view one page will take a considerable amount of time even for the hardiest of broadband connections. My guess is that most of the money he earns will go to paying the bandwidth bill of his site.

At the time this blog went to press, he has made $8,700, which of course is $8700 more than blog has ever made. It will be interesting to see how far it goes.

Not to be out done, another site has popped up for you penny pinching pixel scrooges out there who think $100 for a 10x10 pixel block is a tad expensive. You might find that the million penny homepage is more your style. A copycat site of the million dollar homepage, this site operates under the same general idea of it's predecessor but offers pixels for a penny a piece. I hope this guy got some hell of deal on internet bandwidth, if not this mensa may end up owing money if his site ever takes off.

And finally, to give both sites a run for their money, we have the zero dollar homepage (caution: slow loading page), where anyone can upload their image and point it to the URL of their choosing free of charge. Look for this site to become inundated with spam, porn and other nefarious internet links.

Coming soon to an internet near you, the billion dollar homepage. Will the lunacy ever end?

Posted by joeschmidt at 12:13 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack | post to del.icio.us

An iTunes Feature Request: Create a new user recommendation/reward system

Posted on September 08, 2005 at 12:55 AM

Update: reader Simon pointed out that Apple already has a user affliate program, which I neglected to discuss. What I am proposing would be a better alternative to that program. See my comments below.

With the slew of Apple branded iPod equipment now available to the consumer and an enormous on-line music store, there is no denying that Apple has an absolute juggernaut on their hands. As some of you may already know, Steve Jobs held a music event in San Francisco yesterday in which he revealed a bevy of new products. Some of the highlights include: a more refined version of iTunes, the iPod nano, and the Motorola ROKR phone which is the first mobile phone to have iTunes built in.

Now having just finished viewing the stream of that event, I couldn't help but be amazed by the staggering statistics Steve Jobs revealed:

• 500 million songs downloaded.


• 10 million user accounts.


• 2 million songs in the iTunes library.

Jobs also estimated that iTunes is the worlds 2nd largest online story behind only Amazon.com. But what is the one thing that Amazon.com has that iTunes doesn't? A good system that rewards it's users for recommending products to others within that on-line community.

For example, I have an associates account with Amazon.com. This allows me to create links to movies, music, and other products on Amazon.com and list them on this blog. If you were to buy something I've listed, I would then get a percentage of that sale. The thing is, I've never purchased any of the music I've listed on my blog via Amazon.com. But, up to this point, Amazon.com is the only on-line retailer that lets it's users benefit by promoting products on their own website. (see comments) Amazon excels in creating a community of people recommending products to others. So a logical step for Apple would be to create a similar user referral system for the loyal iTunes user.

Sounds simple, Right? So how would it work?

Every iTunes user, when logged on with their iTunes account, would be able to create a custom URL that contains a unique user account ID linking to a song or album in the iTunes library. When a visitor to their website clicks on this link, it would open iTunes on their computer and take them directly to that song or album. If that visitor then buys the song, the iTunes user who recommended it would get credited for that purchase. After an iTunes user amasses a certain number of these credits, that user would get free music. As an example, for every 10 songs purchased based on your recommendation you would receive one free song.

iTunes already has the ability to create URLs that link to music, here's an example of how the link works:

Criteria - Prevent the World

If you have iTunes loaded on your computer and you clicked on the above link you should notice that it took your directly to this song (first time you click on an iTunes link it will ask you whether or not you have iTunes on your computer). Now under the proposed reward system, if you enjoyed the song enough to buy it, I would get credit for that purchase based on my recommendation.

Other features that could be included could be publishing links based on:

• Your top rated songs


• Most listened to songs from your iPod


• iMixes you've published to the iTunes Music store


• 10 most popular songs from the iTunes Music store

I'm not a professional software programmer, I only play one on this blog, but I would imagine this would be an easy system for Apple to implement. A system that would not only benefit Apple, but also their loyal users.

Posted by joeschmidt at 12:55 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | post to del.icio.us

Need a temporary email address? Just DodgeIt?

Posted on September 02, 2005 at 12:18 AM

Junk email addresses are the P.O. boxes of the online world. It's a place where you have people send you stuff without actually telling them too much about your actual location, or in this case your personal email account. Which is probably one reason why free email services like Hotmail exist. They give you the freedom to create as many email accounts as you need to use for whatever reason. But how many email addresses and corresponding passwords can one person remember?

Case in point, lets say you want to signup for a newsletter, a website, or a certain program in which they always want you to enter your email address so they can send you some super secret code. But during the signup process you're creeped out by the amount of personal info they require you to fill out. You know, stuff like your salary, age, race, whether you wear boxers or briefs, mother's maiden name, etc... Of course this all being under the guise that they promise to never ever ever ever ever ever sell your info or use it for evil purposes. Yeah, right.

DodgeIt is the answer to your anonymous email blues. What this does is allow you to create a disposable email account, so the next time you want to sign up for something on the web, but don't want them hounding you with newsletter spam or selling your info to third parties, just use a disposable DodgeIt email address.

The process is simple.

To create a disposable dodgeit email address, pick any name (ex. snuffleupagus) and add it to @dodgeit.com. Use this email address the next time you have to fill out a registration form. When you want to retrieve your email, go to DodgeIt, enter the name you selected and click check mail. Your email will be waiting.

DodgeIt also allows you to check this disposable email account via an RSS feed which will deliver your email right to your news aggregator. The only drawback is that this service is for receiving email only, so you won't be able to reply using this disposable email account. And remember all email is deleted after 7 days, so if you get something you want to keep be sure to save it to your computer.

Happy dodging!

Posted by joeschmidt at 12:18 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | post to del.icio.us