Living With Technology — www.ddmcd.com

This time I couldn't get to the Web via the Linksys card on my ancient Dell laptop communicating with the Westell DSL modem. Actually, I couldn't get it to the DSL modem using an Ethernet cable, either.

Sep 19
Sep 19 Are Home Media Networks Getting Out of Control?

I remember years ago when, after we bought our first big TV and a shiny new surround sound and DVD system for the living room, there was just enough incompatibility built into the system components that members of my family would come to me and ask me to “turn on the TV so I can watch the evening news.”

Aug 26
Aug 26 No A La Carte Cable Ordering

Cable

I pay more than $90 per month for cable service. I have a gazillion channels, including multiple HBO, and I have three digital set top boxes. One of the side benefit is the constantly-streaming digital music channels, which I use a lot.

Aug 15
Aug 15 Mandarin Audiocassettes for an iPod

Audio

When we took Number One Daughter to Freshmen Orientation at Virginia Tech, we stopped by the bookstore to pick up some of her books.

Jul 29
Jul 29 Keeping Up With Custom News Feeds

On my FireFox browser (version 1.0.6) I have switched from “Sage” to “Wizz RSS” as my newsfeed aggregator. Wizz lets me easily manage multiple news feeds including the major categorization of feeds into “public” (managed by Wizz) and private (which I set up and maintain myself).

Jun 2
Jun 2 Using Wireless While On The Road

I like wireless. I remember the bad old days of carrying around local CompuServe dial-in numbers from city to city so I could dial in to email from hotels with strange phone switches. Things have definitely improved.

May 20
May 20 The World Is Not Flat

Travel

That's my conclusion after spending time in Sevilla and Barcelona over the past two weeks.

May 4
May 4 I Was Wrong About iTunes

Audio, Music, iTunes

I've complained before about iTunes seeming preference for locking in file formats. I have loaded many of my CD's into iTunes and have also purchased some music from the iTunes store.

Apr 21
Apr 21 You Can't Do Everything Online

E-commerce

My heart sank when I saw what my wife had brought home from her mother's house - an electric treadmill that hadn't been used in years. Its base was broken and it must have weighed 150 pounds.

Apr 8
Apr 8 Why I Don't Use Bookstores Much Anymore

E-commerce

I read a lot and buy a couple of books a month. But I seldom use bookstores anymore. I was reminded graphically of the reason why last night.

Mar 28
Mar 28 Plaza de Cuba at Night

We sent our daughter for Spring vacation this year to visit her brother. He is studying at the University in Sevilla, Spain.

Mar 3
Mar 3 My DSL Modem Failed

I woke up Wednesday morning to find that none of my networked computers had Internet access. After numerous reboots and headscratching, I called Verizon Online technical support. I then proceeded to spend over three hours on the phone tracking down and repairing the problem.

Feb 24
Feb 24 Classical Music Bites the Dust

Audio, Music

When I heard that WETA, a public radio station in the Washington DC market, was going to drop classical music for more talk radio, I was ... profoundly disinterested.

Feb 20
Feb 20 Cruising the Solar System

I am still amazed that, sitting here in Alexandria Virginia at my computer with web access, I can freely download and display photgraphs taken millions of miles away of objects I used to watch as a child through a tiny reflecting telecope in my backyard while my father looked on.

Feb 19
Feb 19 iTunes and the BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH

iTunes

I came downstairs to my basement office Monday morning and saw what a Windows user is most fearful of -- the Blue Screen of Death. Something had happened during the night to cause a massive failure on my Dell Latitude D505 laptop.

Feb 17
Feb 17 "Nude Vampire Pictures" Search

One of the interesting things about this blog host (Squarespace) is that it is very easy to track visits to the site. Logging in as an administrator for your site you can check logs and statistics including what searches brought people to the site.

Feb 12
Feb 12 iTunes and Classical Music

iTunes

I've had several weeks of experience now using iTunes to manage some of my music. I've found that "composer" and "artist" information are often switched or even wrong, and that individual movement names for symphnies or concertos may show up in the "performer" field.

Jan 21
Jan 21 Music for the Dead?

iTunes

Back in the 90's, having switched to CD's from LP's, I invested heavily in "smooth jazz" before I realized how much better "real jazz" is. Nowadays I avoid "smooth jazz" stations on the radio and their limited playlists (sometimes I think they add only one or two new songs every year). Now I stick mostly to jazz, latin jazz, latin pop, movie soundtracks, and classical.

Jan 19
Jan 19 iTunes and FRANK SINATRA