Music for the holiday. See Santa take a swim.

Holiday sites that make me laugh

Last year I was all about elf yourself. This year large corporations (including the one I work for) have deemed this an inappropriate use of Internet resources and added it to the block list. Apparently humor is bad for business. Or morale. Or something.

Here is another I found entertaining.



And this called make-a-flake. Of course I failed at my first two tries to cut. (must connect the cuts to the outside.)

And if you want to watch Christmas videos - there is this site I couldn't believe how many classics were available, including Rudolph.

USB or not USB - that is my question

Now that I do podcasting, using Skype, I needed to upgrade my microphone. One of my soundcards can be really unreliable when using the microphone port, so I thought I would try USB.

USB is handy - but it is easier to manipulate two separate ports. Fortunately, I don't have to choose. I got the Logitech folding earphones that have a converter from USB to standard microphone/earphone jacks.

My new phone is not an iPHone - Chocolate 3

In all the excitement about the iPhone, there were several other phones that came out this week. One is my new phone, the LG Chocolate 3, aka LG VX8650.

My venerable LG VX8100, one of the best phones ever, was started to fade. Text messages did not work. Imagine the frustration of your phone beeping to say "You have a text message" and not be able to read it. Grrr! The camera took pictures occasionally, but made it look like it was bright sun on a cloudy day. (Not a good look)

I went into Verizon thinking I would buy the LG Dare, the Verizon latest version of a touch phone. I hated the touch screen. You have to look at the screen to use, and screen, like the iPhone, was not nearly sensitve enough to meet my standards. (My standard - work the first time I touch the screen, not the 2nd or 3rd) So I thought I would consider the Voyager. It did not have the cool advanced camera of the Dare, but the keys worked well, and there were keys to move the cursor around the screen instead of fat-fingered pointing. And it was big and only came in ugly black.

So on decision day, coincidentally the same weekend the iPhone dropped, I went into my Verizon store and found LG Chocolate 3. It was a gorgeous aqua, it was slimmer than my current phone with a bigger screen. The salesperson assured me it was feature rich, and she was right.

• 
  a better camera (3 levels of resoltution, 2 MP instead of 1.3)
• 
  ability to do video capture for as long as I had storage for (instead of 15 sec)
• 
  click wheel to control the music player on the front
• 
  support for external micro-SD with storage up to 8 gig
• 
  3.5 mm jack instead of that 2.5 that only works on phone headsets. This means I can use any set of earphones to listen to my music. This is HUGE!
• 
  a faster camera (instead of waiting 5 sec for a picture)
• 
  an FM transmitter so you can hear radio
• 
  Bluetooth stereo
• 
  USB charging (one LESS adapter to pack)
• 
  Crop images in the phone
• 
  flip phone instead of an annoying slider - which kept me away from Chocolate before
  

So when it came down to it, I opted for the sleek design of the
Chocolate cubed over a bloated Voyager or expensive iPhone. My phone has to be small enough to go everywhere, and serve as my backup camera and Internet connection. And I love a pretty phone. Funny, the male geeks on Gizmodo were not rocking the color.

Why I will not buy an iPod - part 2

There is a new gadget coming called Castgrabber that might be my replacement for the annoyance of iTunes.

Apparently, you hook it up to your computer once, and use the software to tell it which podcasts you want. From then on, you put your MP3 player in the dock and it will have your podcasts downloaded automatically, and charges your MP3 player. It has to stay plugged into your router with an Ethernet cable.

It looks handy. And it does NOT work on Mac.

All Things Pink

Like any teleconferencing professional, I spend a lot of time with a Bluetooth headset in my ear. I may look like Seven of Nine on Star Trek Voyager, but I can't give up the convenience. When commuting on bike on in the car, I can't have a phone in my hands.

Then I found out about this Plantronics 950. Love the pink, and the gold is a great neutral that coordinates with most of my jewelry. The picture even show the headset in a jewelry box. The classic lines make the headset blend right in.

The features include a great noise-cancelling capability (see note about commute) and it is very lightweight. It will connect to two phones, so I don't have to carry a headpiece for my work phone, and my personal phone. I immediately put it in my Amazon cart.

Now I just need to decide between the gold and the pink.

Yakitome

Here's link to something nifty. This site converts documents into an audio recording.

http://www.yakitome.com/