Awake on Autopilot: 2010

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Goodbye iPod Hello ZuneHD

I’ve never “loved” my iPod in all honesty. Not because I am one of those “OMG Apple is Evil HATE HATE HATE!” type of people but more of the “I want something different but my car syncs with the iPod from the factory so I guess I will keep it” type of person.

So when it got cold this winter and my iPod would literally freeze after 5 minutes in my car while I scrapped ice off the windows and stopped playing I got fed up with it and got a ZuneHD 32GB player.
Honestly I do miss the easy integration into my car’s stereo but I bought the old Zune Car Pack from Amazon for $10 buck (with shipping) and it works. As perfect as the iPod integration when it functioned? No, but good enough to listen to on my long drives to and from work.

The bonus is that I can use the Zune at work easier as it’s battery life is better. My old iPod would never last more than 1.5 hours with out charging it. The Zune has lasted me 4 days of 8+ hours of work per day on one charge so far. Additionally the Zune is also a FM HD radio tuner (no AM sadly) which unless you had the iPod touch and open Wi-Fi at work to stream music you can’t do.

I’m not saying anyone should ditch there iPods for the ZuneHD but if you are in the market for a new MP3 player, it may be worth it to check it out.

P.S. You should at least get the Zune software and create a Zune account if you really like to listen to music. The Smart DJ feature is worth the $14.95/month fee on it's own. You get 10 free MP3 down loads per month and based on your preferences by their like/dislike tracking of each song it you can listen to music you don't even own that match what you do own. Go here for a brief overview of Smart DJ and how it basically works.

del.icio.us Tags: Zune,ZuneHD,Zune HD,MP3 Player,iPod

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Computer Security Is Important

This should be a no brainer but if you are not running a virus scanner or any type of protection against harmful things you can get from surfing the internet then shame on you!
If you think you have to buy expensive software to be best protected think again. Microsoft has free anti-virus/malware software called Microsoft Security Essentials. It is one of the best free or purchased protection software out there you can get as a Windows user.
Recently it has been updated and reviews of it are even better than ever. So go get it.
Reviews of MSE2: CNet, Download Squad, Most I Want, Softpedia, PC Magazine
P.S. While it is true that MSE will not protect against everything you should also have the following installed to help protect your computer (all free!):
Spybot - Search & Destroy
Ad-Aware Free
CCleaner

Tags: antimalware,antivirus,malware,Microsoft Security Essentials,MicrosoftSecurityEssentials,mse,mse2,trojan,virus

Friday, December 10, 2010

The Tale Of the Littlest Jedi: Bullied Girl Gets Star Wars Love

Just a quick link to a story about Geeks coming together to support a girl that got bullied for liking Star Wars.

The Tale Of the Littlest Jedi: Bullied Girl Gets Star Wars Love

Friday, December 3, 2010

Mozilla adopts two real, live firefoxes, broadcasts live stream...

Awweee… I almost want one.

Mozilla adopts two real, live firefoxes, broadcasts live stream...

Haloweb Ltd | Web Application Design

Ok I was reading an Article on TechCrunch and in the responses I saw a link to Haloweb Ltd.

So I took a peek at them and liked what I saw.

If you are running a small business and are someone technically inclined and in need of a project tracker, a quick website where you control the content, and better invoicing for you business but do not have the time to either build it your self or sit down and plan out having someone customize a solution for your needs I would highly suggest looking at the Haloweb line of products.

They are a UK based company but they host their solutions here in the US on RackSpace.

Haloweb Ltd | Web Application Design