Kendall's Online blog

Friday, January 27, 2006

Wikipedia - The free online Encyclopedia

Wikipedia as defined by Wikipedia itself is a multilingual web-based free content encyclopedia. It is written jointly by volunteers and allows most articles to be changed by anyone with access to the internet and any web browser. What also makes it cool is that within each article you can actually bookmark words to their own page within Wikipedia. It started ion early 2001 and has more than 3.2 million articles contributed by close to 850 thousand users and its content is free to anyone on the internet in fact when I want to check up different topics, I actually search with the word and append Wikipedia in the search field and that way it shows up the Wikipedia link first.
It grew large primarily because a lot of users contributed to it but that is also its Achilles heel as users can actually change content at will and some of the information may actually be misleading. There is even a case of the founder of podcasting where he actually edited the history of podcasting to suit himself and downplaying the role of other individuals in the history of podcasting, they were able to trace the alterations to him since Wikipedia tracks the IP address of any the computers where edits are made from. There is also the more recent case of a close ally to the Kennedy family who was accused of being involved in the killing. The person who posted the article had to apologize and even resigned his position where he was working.
Wikipedia actually reduces the learning curve for people who need to know the meaning of stuff quickly or need a refresher. You have almost every thing there from mathematics, computers to music and art. In fact my roommate a few days ago was able to convince a friedn about that he knew more about her favourite artist than herself by providing more detailed information about the artist than she herself before confessing that he got all the facts from Wikipedia. I wonder if in the future kids will actually know the feeling of actually looking at a hard copy encyclopedia where you have to decode which volume holds the word you are looking for more information and you have to turn the pages of the volume a number of times before actually checking the information but we are in the information age and fast information retrieval is king.

P.S. My podcast was accepted and posted for free on Apple iTunes

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Podcasting with audioblogger.com (2)

Audioblogger allows you to post a recording directly to your blog from a telephone or mobile phone. In other to make a recording you set up an account and you are assigned a telephone number which you dial and enter your pin (which you selected when you setup the account) and you start talking on whatever you want posted or you could acutally set up a conference call between more than one or more individual. It even allows you review or re-record the conversation.
When you are done you hit the # key and it is posted directly to your blog. The cool thing is you dont have to worry about hosting the resulting mp3 file as it is hosted by audioblogger.com

Podcasting with audioblogger.com

this is an audio post - click to play

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Two or more tech heads are better than one

In other to make this project of providing followers of this blog with the latest information in the technology world and also provide technology and Information security tips I have invited a number of other people to make contributions to my blog. If you also feel you want to be part of this project as a publisher feel free to email me @ info@kendall-online.com and I am also willing to trade links with anyone who has a website and for everyone else feel free to make comments from time to time or give us pointers on what you would like to see or have more information on.
Also view my authors blog @ toks-online.blogspot.com and febeke-okafor.com

Setting up an online TV or radio station at no cost ...secret is Streaming Media

I really want to watch the African cup of nations but unfortunately no station in the west coast of Canada is showing it. So my blog entry today describes how to stream media across the internet.
It is so simple to and it is also free provided you have the right hardware and install the free Windows Media Encoder from Microsoft http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/9series/encoder/default.aspx .

Hardware required:
For audio: A sound card.......comes with every computer these days
For video:
- A webcam if you wan to stream your webcam output or
- A TV tuner card if you want to stream whatever you watching on TV
If you just want to stream a file then you don’t need any additional hardware.
Instruction:
Run Windows Media encoder
From the 1st screen select “Broadcast a live event” and Click “OK”

In the next screen select your sound card (usually the default audio device) and either your webcam or Tv tuner as your video device and press “Next”

Next select “Pull from the encoder”

In the next screen select a free port either by clicking “find free port”. Please note the port and if you are behind a firewall or router open the port to allow incoming connections.

Also note the “URL for internet connections” because that is the URL address people wanting to view your online station would have to enter in File-> Open URL in Windows Media Player to view your online TV or radio station.
If you don’t know what your public IP address is go to http://www.whatismyip.com/ to check it.
Click next through the next few screens and when you are ready to go live Click Start Encoding in the toolbar


To stream a fie click Properties on the toolbar and select “Sources from file” and browse to the file location before clicking “Start Encoding”.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

24 hours with 2.4 GHz......no pun intended - Wi-fi (802.11b/g) Bluetooth. Its wireless world out here

It just occurred to me that my life actually revolves around the free ISM 2.4 GHz frequency band. At home I have a D-link 802.11g (a.k.a Wi-fi) router which I use to split my internet connection. The router enables me to use my Pocket PC which I use to browse the internet when I feel too lazy to walk to my desktop which also has a 802.11g wireless card in it. I also use the Pocket PC as a wireless media player and stream my entire Media player (using Windows Media encoder) connection to my Sony hi-fi system and as I already said in a previous blog entry I actually blog from my pocket pc. My home wireless network also allows me to sync my pocket pc with my desktop over wi-fi. I also stream my Cable connection so I can watch TV using my pocket pc ( or any where I am) and stream my webcam output so I can check who is in my room if I want to find out whats going from the living room or my room mates room.
My desktop pc has a Bluetooth USB adapter and hence I also share the desktop internet connection to my Nokia 3650 phone (yeah I know its an old phone but its got all I need) It runs Symbian OS so I can download tons of mobile application on it. So I down loaded Opera ( a mobile internet browser) and I can browse the internet over bluetooth since my bluetooth adapter + pc combo acts as a Bluetooth access point and so I can share my pictures and videos from my phone quickly much better that using good old line-of-sight infrared. I also downloaded the bemused player which allows you to control your Windows Media player or Win amp wirelessly. So from anywhere in my house I can select a playlist on my media player and play any mp3 in my library. The coolest part of bemused is also the fact you can use it to control power point, so I use my phone for presentation too to advance through the slides when delivering presentations. I saved myself $60 + tax I would have sent on the Keyspan presentation remote control http://www.keyspan.com/products/usb/presentationremote/ I also have control freak on my phone. Control freak actually does the same thing as Bemused player but also has an additional function that you enables you view your desktop screen on your phone and so I can actually be anywhere in my house and view whats being displayed on my monitor and even run any program on my desktop computer.I use VOIP to make my calls (Primus $29.99 unlimited calls to anywhere in US and Canada http://www.primus.ca/ if you sign up don't forget to include my phone number in the referral box 250-412-4594 for the tell-a-friend thingy) and my VOIP router allows me to connect a regular telephone handset to it but as you might already have guessed I use a 2.4 GHz cordless phone (in fact the newer ones run on 5.x GHz and hence have better range)
I drive everywhere in lil' Victoria and in other to get around quickly. I have a Bluetooth GPS receiver. I love to hear my pocket pc speak with its computer generated voice and help me navigate to any destination in North America.. I connect the Bluetooth GPS receiver wireless to my pocket pc and after getting a satellite fix with the 16 GPS satellite out in space . I then run Mapopolis http://www.mapopolis.com/ on my pocket pc and type in my destination and this gives me detailed turn-by-turn instructions and even warns me when I am going too fast. As you would also expect I have a Bluetooth headset which I connect to my Bluetooth enabled cell phone before hitting the road.
University of Victoria is one of the first schools to implement university-wide free wi-fi (how sweet it would be to city wide wi-fi in Victoria or whatever city I end up in when I am done with school). All those cities with city - wide wi-fi are so lucky and I have no love for all telcos and cable companies that are preventing it from spreading everywhere in North America. As soon as I get to school I can connect free-of charge to the internet although the signal strength varies from point to point across campus. You can still get fairly good reception. In my lab we have an Apple air-port so that we don't have to rely on the school wi-fi network since reception inside building is pretty bad (Faculty of Engineering too has its own wireless networks but u know the stronger the signal the better esp. if u want to use Skype http://www.skype.com/ for pocket pc (I use my pocket pc for Wi-VOIP calssl and save tons of money..
My Dell axim pocket pc is the best handheld or portable device in the world and it was a gift from a friend and I got it off eBay http://www.ebay.com/ (I have sold 8 items on eBay now in 3 days my feedback score is now double digits with a yellow star : ) and I got it as gift from a really special person. It even has VGA-out so I can connect it to a monitor or projector. I connect to the Apple air-port in my lab when I want to VNC http://www.realvnc.com/ to my home computer or sync with my desktop or watch television being streamed from my Hauppauge TV tuner card installed on my desktop http://www.hauppauge.com/. I also synchronize my pocket pc with Activesync over the internet to get the latest news using Avantgo http://www.avantgo.com/ , get my latest podcasts from iTunes on my desktop, or synchronize my calendar in Microsoft outlook or just check my emails. My dell axim x50v pocket pc. http://reviews.cnet.com/Dell_Axim_X50v/4505-3127_7-31138229.html runs Windows Mobile 2003 and I would only upgrade when push email is fully implemented in the new Windows Mobile 5.0 then it would obviously be a blackberry killer http://www.blackberry.com/. I also get my RSS feeds on my pocket pc, in fact if you subscribe to RSS feeds on my blog you would be updated each time I post a new entry.
So from Bluetooth access point and wi-fi network in my home to Bluetooth GPS and headset in my car and University wide - wi-fi at school. I never actually spend a day without being surrounded by devices using 2.4 GHz. I really hope there isn't any downside to being exposed to such Electromagnetic waves but we are in the wireless age or how else can I explain why - I can't listen to a regular CD and have to stream my mp3's from desktop to my pocket pc and then to my Sony hi-fi system- I can't sit at my desktop and use the mouse to select my playlist or play and pause Windows Media player- I can't use a USB cable to transfer my pictures from my cell phone- I can't publish to my blog from my desktop and hence never have to use my dell axim pocket pc- I can't print directions from mapquest http://www.mapquest.com/ before driving to my destination or better still get a paper map- I can't use a regular handsfree with a cord with my cellphone when driving- I can' t use a good old telephone with cords- Sit at my desktop and run my programs instead of using VNC with my pocket pc or control freak with my phone from less than 3 feet away. (Carly says that how far my bed is from my computer, infact we agreed if I spin around 180 degrees on my chair I really don't have to do any work to get from my bed to my computer).
I am beta testing my Click2Call web site that would give anyone who post comments on my blog free calls to the US and Canada. I would let you all know when it is up and running and I have a new domain http://www.techcasting.net/ Thanks for everyone that has supported me so far. Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Podcasting and RSS

Most of you own ipods and use it to listen to mp3 but u will benefit more from it if you listen to podcast http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting so my tech tip for today is a list of my favorite podcasts I have subscribed to and I guess u will also enjoy it too :
1. This week in Technology with Leo Laporte
2. Security Now! http://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm
3. CNN News update http://www.cnn.com
4. CBS News 60 Minutes Podcast

So make good use of all the free space you have an add value to yourselfIf you are more of a person that reads instead of passive listening then use either your My Yahoo to subscribe to RSS 2.0 feeds http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS or any news aggregator that way you dont have to keep checking your favourite websites you view and you can just get only information that has changed since the last time you viewed it. RSS stands for Really simple syndication so its "Really Simple" to use.

Security Tip:
If you own a wireless router and it currently not secured with WEP or WPA. Please I cannot stress how important it is to actually secure your wireless network. I even actually would discourage using WEP as it is so easy to crack it. WPA has also been cracked but it takes a longer time and moreover it is easier to implement since it uses regular password.
Also for passwords from WEP and WPA the guys from Security Now! podcast have a webpage https://www.grc.com/passwords that generates random passwords for you that are cryptographically strong Posted by Picasa

Monday, January 16, 2006

Picassa from google.....A windows photo viewer killer

If you havent downloaded Picasa http://picasa.google.com/index.html you need to because it organizes all your pictures on your computer and since its from google...you can be rest assured that it searches and indexes your computer very fast and can even monitor certain folders and add pictures automatically and it allowqs you post pcitures directly to blogger.com Posted by Picasa

Blogging from my pocket pc in real time

I woke up at 9.19am dats after hitting the snooze button a couple of times b4 actually turning off my alarm clock. Awell its monday morning . On any other day I wake up @ 5am......to be continued

Why have I decided to get with it - blogging that is

Well this is the last stretch of my Masters of Applied Science in Computer Engineering program at the University of Victoria. I will also podcast ( if you want to listen to my crappy voice) my thoughts through out the period. So if you haven't gotten an ipod you can still use iTunes for pc or this link http://www.jakeludington.com/archives/000405.html shows how you can subscribe to podcast and listen to them with Windows Media Player. And I am going to be blogging from my Dell Axim X50V so if you are contemplating getting a portable device get a pocket pc (dell axim or hp ipaq preferrably). Its the best thing you will purchase in a while and its worth every buck you spent on it.
Yeah and before I say bye if you want invites for Windows Live messenger http://www.ideas.live.com the next generation IM I purchased an invite off ebay.
Have a great day.