Back to Wiring issues again

I once again am interested in pulling CAT5 through my house.  I have the cable.  I have the little connectors.  I have the crimper. 

I do not have the knowledge.

I'd like to pull at least eight cable runs:

• Two in each of my two upstairs bedrooms
• One for my Tivo in the living room
• One for  a desktop in my kitchen that will become  a server
• One for my work laptop
• One for my wife's laptop

I'd like to set up a server in the basement that has all my music on it and put a machine that runs ITunes or whatever off that server for each of my kids rooms.  In addition, they could write papers and print them out on the printer that will be connected to the machine in the kitchen upstairs.  The two laptops, while both are wireless, would be greatly enhanced by being able to use wired connections.  My TIVO box is currently wireless.  But it frequently has issues connected to my wireless router which is on the other side of the house.

I have a sixteen port switch that I purchased dirt cheap a couple years ago from a Cheap Stingy Bargains sale.  So I'm set there.

I have looked at the ethernet over electrical pieces that you can purchase to be able to use a close electrical outlet.  But they appear to be:

• Slow
• Incredibly expensive

I see that Scott Hanselman is going through much the same exercise, although he works from home (don't I wish) and he is building new, whereas I am retrofitting an older home.

 

Thoughts?

 

Technorati Tags: Scott Hanselman , CAT5 , Ethernet , Wireless , Home Network

Nothing is good on TV. Usually

I don't find a lot of TV shows anymore that are worth watching.  NFL Football, college basketball, softball, etc.

News - Nope. 
Sitcoms  - Nope.

There are a few shows I don't miss, thanks to TIVO - 24, Chuck (which I realize is kinda stupid, but it's mildly humorous), and Iron Chef (original).

 

I found another show which I really like.  On Food Network.  Ace of Cakes.  You need to watch this show.  It's pretty good and pretty humorous all at the same time.

Technorati Tags: TV, Ace of Cakes, 24

Sometimes, size matters

I recently bought a 70-200 F4 L lens for my camera.  Before I bought it, I rented an identical copy from www.lensrentals.com .  I highly recommend them.

I checked the site tonight and they are now selling these shirts .  If you are unfamiliar with Canon professional series lens, the 'L' series, they are white.

Shown on the shirt art the 300 F2.8L, 400 F2.8L and the 500 F4L lenses.  Each larger than the other.

Great shirt.  I might have to buy one. :)

Technorati Tags: Lensrentals.com, rental lenses

Ridding my automobile of a radio in lieu of an IPod device?

Anybody know if it is possible to take out the head unit of an automobile and replace it with a connector that plugs directly into the sound system that I could attach to a Zune or an IPod?

 

I rarely listen the radio anymore, using the radio to interface with my music player via a Belkin unit.  But, it's not perfect, it cuts out sometimes when someone around me has their satellite radio up too loud, or if I'm in a bad signal area.  It uses a radio frequency to communicate with the stereo.

I was hoping to just be able to remove the whole head unit and directly plug my music player into the existing sound system in the car.  But I've been unable to find any information about performing such a feat.

 

Anyone know of a way to do this?  Leave me a comment.

 

Thanks!

 

Technorati Tags: Car Audio, IPod, Zune, Belkin

Proprietary USB connector manufacturers should fail. Miserably...

I love devices that use regular USB connectors for power.  It makes it easy for me to pull a regular USB cable out and charge something by plugging it into my laptop.

Recently, my cell phone died and I had to get a new one.  I got a Cingular 3125.  It's a Windows Mobile 5 phone and it is fantastic.  Great battery life.  Great voice dialing capability with a good Bluetooth Headset.

But it has a proprietary USB connector.  It uses an elongated flattened USB connector.  Not a regular USB cable.

 

Wouldn't you know it, I lost the cable that came with the phone to connect to my computer for syncing with Outlook.  It also charged the phone, which was (like I said before) convenient.

I haven't tried to find a replacement cable yet.  I'm sure it's going to cost me a pretty penny to replace it.

 

Anybody have an extra Cingular 3125 sync cable they'd sell me cheap?  I promise to take better care of it than the last one.  Email me

Technorati Tags: Cingular 3125, 3125, A&T, Sync, USB

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Windows Sounds - Why not?

I'm a big fan of using various sounds for various events in Windows.  Well, mostly I guess only for email.

 

For a long time, I used a Captain Kirk saying "Mr. Scott, give me full power...." which was a parody I believe from SNL.  It was long.  It was good, but at the time, I working in a cube zoo and the people around me didn't appreciate it as much as I thought they would.

Then, for a while, I had various sounds for various people.  If I got an email from my boss, it said "Work, Work Work.  Back to Work.  Everybody!" in a cartoon voice.  For one of my coworkers, I had "Ding Dong the witch is dead" from Wizard of Oz.

Again, these didn't get a great response, but they kept me entertained.  That's always a plus.

 

I now have one I use most of the time.  But I have my laptop on mute most of the time.  But I had it off mute the other night because I was at home and waiting for some email.  It's another Wizard of Oz sound "The Great and Power Oz has Spoken".

My youngest daughter heard it and though that it had said "The Great Wall has spoken".

 

I thought it was humorous....

Jott - You need to try this service

Occasionally, when I'm out and about, I need to write down a note, or make note of a book title to see if I can get at the library (yes, I'm cheap like that, I'd rather borrow a book than buy it) or a website I want to look at later, or something.

95% of the time, I get distracted by the time I get to the place I'm going and have forgotten about it.  Probably ADD.  I don't know.

 

Anyway, I found this fantastic free (for now) service called Jott  .  You sign up with the service, set up groups of people you want to either have emails sent to, or text messages sent to, or a combination.  Then, you are given a phone number to call and you can tell it which group you wish to send the Jott to.  It transcribes the message and sends it to your designated group in the form that you asked to have it sent.

For example, I have a group setup called 'Work' where I can call and say ' I'm running late, traffic is really bad this morning' and it will send an email to the folks in my office to let them know I'm running late.

You can also call and say 'Myself' and it will send the Jott just to you, however you've defined on the service.

 

It's free.  You need to check it out if you are forgetful like me.

Technorati Tags: Jott, Web 2.0, Useful Service