Jimiz.net – Jim Becher on the web

I was watching some CES news and ran across a new gadget that I would like to purchase. It looks like I’ll have to wait till March for this one.  Only $50 dollars.   It is called feedair.

http://www.feedair.com

I have tried in the past to use the Ambient orb to get something like feedair to work.  Weather forecasts, information, etc…   I think I even wanted something like pointcast to be delivered to my TV.   I can’t wait to see what I cn program to be delivered on this.

This new year I plan on blogging more.   For one reason, it is a good stress relief.   The other reasons revolve that I like to do it.    

To make the process easier I plan on utilizing Windows live writer.  The reason for using live writer is the simple ease of use and great layout functions it allows.   I currently use WordPress as my blog engine.  It is fantastic and I can’t say enough about this blog engine.  However, I find that writing in the small text window is difficult when attempting to add  a lot of content.  

Live Writer is basically a scaled down word processor.   It works seamlessly with WordPress and give you the ability to do offline writing.   I have used it in the past but did not make blogging that much of a priority. 

Here is a great overview of live writer from PCworld

http://www.pcworld.com/article/211388/windows_live_writer_makes_beautiful_blogseven_when_youre_offline.html

In more recent weeks I have noticed a trend of blogs to start using livewriter as the editor.  You can see the increase from builtwith.com trends

See this chart of how it has increased usage.

Headphones while biking

Since my last post I have been getting email and real life comments from people about using headphones while biking. So far my back of the napkin calculation is that it’s 60/40. 60% of those I talk to say it’s OK, and 40% are concerned.

It is all over the map in regards why people are either for or against. I’ve found that the majority of people who are worried about using headphones while biking are mainly concerned about the ability to hear or notice the surrounding environment. The ones who are set about using headphones are always cautious to say that it should not be too loud. Though I have not heard anyone say what "too loud" is.

Overall, anyone who discusses this with me is always concerned about safety. I was reading my favorite bike magazine (urbanvelo.com) and came across this link to bicycling magazine to an article called "Is it safe to ware headphones while cycling."
http://bicycling.com/blogs/ramblingman/2011/12/21/is-it-safe-to-wear-headphones-while-cycling/

The article is by Neil Bezdek. He does a good job discussing the topic in regards to other items like hearing issues, distractions, the pure feeling of a long ride, and the temptation to compare this with wearing a helmet. I found the article is similar to some of the conversations I have had about headphones and biking. What really struck me were the comments.

Take some time and read through everyone’s responses. Again, I was shocked at how similar the responses were to the discussions I have had regarding this topic.

So what is your opinion or thoughts? Do you use headphones while cycling? Only on the bike path, not on the streets?

I love technology. I love how the process of doing tedious tasks can be simplified. I can remember when creating an favicon was a true task. You had to download some type of app that would transform your image to a PNG then do some maniuplation to make it the right size.

Today there are some great sites that take your image (almost any size) and generate a favicon.

• http://www.favicon.cc/
• http://www.html-kit.com/favicon/
• http://tools.dynamicdrive.com/favicon/

If you are creating an iphone or ipad app you can also create an image online. Here is a pretty good site for doing so. http://www.midnightmobility.com/iphone-icon/

I thank those who run the above sites and how they have made my life easier. Happy icon generating.

It is amazing how reliant you get on internet access. Over the weekend a few things happened with our family and the need to communicate and send messages. I realized that I have become dependent on being able to either just pick up a phone or have some type of communication.

Because of the location where we were the cell signal is weak. If you go outside you are ok, however in a rainstorm it is a bit difficult to go outside and have a conversation.

In the end I was able to get the wifi back up (we get wifi from a very long distance repeater – high wind can cause some interference). Used a few tools to forward calls and in the end my favorite google voice to make a few calls.

The difficult part was anticipation of not having WiFi and missing the worldcup games on Saturday. (Thank you ESPN3)

I take technology for granted. As much as I would love to say that I could get along fine without some forms of technology I would struggle.