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Thu, 13 Jul 2006

PodShow+: Uniting Innovative Content Producers with Hungry Listeners
posted by Chip Witt

You can't be involved with technology without having your eyes open for innovation. Innovative ideas are what make free markets so great, and keep competition in-pace with consumer desires. As organizations muscle their way into the competition for your attention through marketing blitz and main media saturation, a new forum has arisen for niche market consumers to find a message (or messages) most suited to them and their needs through all the noise: PodShow+.

"TheSHOW", as Adam Curry calls it, is many things for many people. It is a web-based aggregator and search engine for podcast listeners to find new content, be it informative talk radio style shows, or new music that is flying under the radar of mainstream outlets. It is a marketing vehicle for podcasters to get their "message" out to listeners. It is an alternative to signing with big recording companies for musicians and song writers, allowing them to use the Internet more easily to find an audience for their creations while they retain ownership rights. Finally, PodShow+ is a social networking tool combining all of these disparate groups, allowing them to work collaboratively to redefine media as we have come to know it.

"Dig me" at My Little Piece of TheSHOW!

CW

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Thu, 02 Mar 2006

FAQs About My Treo 650
posted by Chip Witt

Back in June 2005 I moved from a nice, but functionally limited Nokia 6820 to a Treo 650 as my cellular phone and messaging device. This, depending on what I was trying to do, has been both the best and worst decision I could have possibly made, and continues to result in some occassional hardship. When I make this comment to those inquiring about the gadgetry I'm currently using it usually makes some eyebrows raise, and immediately many questions are asked about what I mean by it.

Since many people are considering the move to an all-in-one mobile device, I thought I'd give a brief overview of the good and bad of my decision last year, as well as highlight some of cool software I've found to make my journey with the Treo better, safer, and...since it is often the most important part, cooler.

See more ...

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Tue, 19 Jul 2005

2 machines, 2 screens, 1 keyboard and mouse = Synergy
posted by Chip Witt

There is nothing more ergonomically and functionally annoying than to have to use two machines sitting next to each other, and having to switch between keyboards and mice to control them. Inevitably you forget for a second, and try to move the cursor or type on one machine with the mouse or keyboard for the other machine.

The perfect solution is to use a single mouse and keyboard to control the environment of both machines as if they were a dual-screened single system (i.e. moving off of one screen transitions the mouse and keyboard focus to the other screen). Over the years many solutions have been developed and adapted. Hardware solutions (KVMs) can be expensive, so software is often easier to implement on a budget. One piece of software most Unix-types are already familiar with is x2vnc. While x2vnc is quite nice and functional, it lacks flexibility, and ease of use for the average user. I recently came across Synergy, a much faster, multi-platform (Windows 95 through XP, Mac OS X, and Unix...including Linux) application that allows one to share keyboard and mouse between multiple machines (you aren't limited to just two) with incredible ease.

I am currently using Synergy between a Gentoo Linux box and a Windows XP machine at work, and I cannot tell the difference between this setup, and the previous dual-screen, single system setup I was using on my Windows system previously. It's that fast!

Have fun!

CW

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Fri, 28 May 2004

Looking for blogging software?
posted by Chip Witt

It seems everywhere you turn on the Net, you're finding more and more people publishing Weblogs (a.k.a. blogs). I've even fallen into the habit, as it can be a relaxing way to keep track of thoughts, goings on, etc. If you've seen what blogging is all about, and you likey...it may be time for you to start shopping for your own blogging platform.

Last week there was a posting on Slashdot celebrating what appears to be the first consolodated listing of blog software features for the discerning shopper. The list can be found here: http://www.asymptomatic.net/blogbreakdown.htm.

Nice to see Blosxom, my blogger of choice, made the list!

Happy posting!

CW

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Tue, 06 Apr 2004

Screen-capture movies article highlights cool utils...
posted by Chip Witt

It seems that almost everytime I turn around, I am amazed all over again by the flexibility of OpenSource tools. This time I happened across an article published on O'Reilly's ONLamp.com site called "Making Screen-Capture Movies". It detailed an innovative use of ImageMagick, the X utility, xwininfo, and bash to create movies and/or animated gifs for documenting processes. Although none of the steps shown in the article are earth-shattering, they are a wonderful example of how much power one has at the desktop for undertaking the difficult job of supporting end-users of computer systems. Power, I must admit, even I sometimes take for granted.

To add the topper on this, the discussions in the forum at the conclusion of the article brought to light current uses of vncrec and transcode to create continuous motion screen-capture movies with included audio. I've begun playing, so look for some "documentaries" to begin showing up on my sites soon.

Cheers,

CW

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Tue, 30 Mar 2004

Weblog functions again!
posted by Chip Witt

When we migrated the wittzend.com domain to a new server, we were able to get everything working again...except the Addendat weblog application. Old posts still displayed from the static HTML, but the interface by which new posts were added ceased to function. Maddening, but not a priority.

I was finally afforded the time to see the problem as an opportunity. I had been personally searching for a robust, reliable, preferrably themeable weblog interface that could be shared by the entire Witt'z End Team. There are many options out there, but most are based on PHP, or require a backend database...not that there's anything wrong with that. I just wanted something a little more simple on the backend, and just can't help that I love Perl more than PHP (shows my age, I know).

Enter Blosxom (pronounced "Blossom") to save the day! Posts are stored in a flat file hierarchy, editable with a plain text editor (like Vim), and infinitely configurable with themes and various plugins. I was even able to use the `touch -t` trick to preserve all the dates on my old posts (of which there were only a couple, but it is still cool).

Now, I can get back to blogging my life. ;)

Cheers,

CW

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