Zoho and Web 2.0

This blog has pretty much sat dormant since Winter, but of course, the same week I plan to start using it again, is the week my school joins the list of those who block blogger and Google Docs. But I'm one step ahead, and can still enjoy the benefits of Zoho.com.

I haven't gotten through much of it yet, but I'm finding www.go2web20.net to be quite a entertaining time killer. So far the app with the most potential is firefly, however I've had limited success with it working on my Ubuntu machine at school. If it works, it would be great for a webquest-type activity in class.

Also interesting (although I didn't find it on go2web20) is blurb.com. Think cafepress.com for books. One of their recommendations is to create books based on blog entries. Perhaps this will be in hard copy someday.

Blog post about Zoho

Google Docs is a well-known "cloud application" that serves as a suite that can be accessed anytime, anywhere (like having everything saved onto a flash drive, but without ever having to worry about it going through the wash). Only problem is that a few sneaky students figured out that it can also be used as a web proxy to get around school restricted sites, so now it too is getting put on the blocked list. While my school isn't quite there yet, I'm sure it's only a matter of time, so I decided to invest myself in a different application bundle, zoho.com. And as an added bonus, you can supposedly type in Zoho, and have it post right to a blog. That's really the only reason why I typed this - to see if it would post. So if you're still reading this, you're a bigger sucker than I thought.

This post is really just an excuse to show off a neat site I found. Animoto.com auto generates an image slideshow similar to what can be done in Windows PhotoStory. Kind of fun to play with.

Ubuntu

I've decided to conduct a little experiment. I'm a big fan of Open Source applications, and wanted to see if I could furnish a computer with nothing but free/OS software. And if I was going to do it right, I figured I should just ditch Windows all together (since, of course, any Windows operating system costs an ass load). I have an old laptop that had been running Windows XP; I found an Open Source program that completely erased the hard drive and I installed Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is a completely free operating system that is supposed to rival any Windows system. It can be a bit more cumbersome, especially when trying to install programs. But it looks neat, and is supposed to be much more reliable than Windows. We'll see... I'm on it right now, and all is spiffy.

I'm a dad!

Pandora VS FineTune

Okay. I really was planning on reviewing my new He-man DVD, but I got sick the night after my last post, so much was pushed to the wayside. I'm feeling better now, and my ADD has moved me to bigger and better ideas (the adventures of Orco and Man-At-Arms will have to wait).

I'm a big fan of free music streaming sites. They're a great way to kill time at work and find a few new bands in the process. There's two that I use:

www.pandora.com

No, it's not a porn site. You begin by typing in the name of a band or specific song. Pandora then generates a random playlist that it thinks you will like based on whatever you entered. Each song played can be given a thumbs up or thumbs down. Somehow the Pandora genie takes your vote into account when choosing the next song. The idea is that the more you vote on songs, the more specific your playlist becomes.

Pros:

• Surprisingly, it's pretty accurate. I've had my account for over a year now, and I rarely get the errant song.
• Super easy to use. Once you log into your account you need do is turn on your speakers.
• Pandora has a huge library of songs. All genres, includes rare and live tracks.

Cons

• Pandora isn't perfect - it's good at figuring out what genre you may like, but you still get bands that rub. For example, I have to constantly give thumbs downs to the likes of Sum 41 and Fall Out Boy.
• Users are given the option to skip through songs, which is good (see above), but you can only use this feature so many times per hour. Which is bad.

www.finetune.com

I'm pretty new to this one. It's the same basic idea as Pandora, but much more specific. Instead of entering one song and letting it figure out the rest, users begin by generating a playlist of 45 songs. Think of it as an online mix tape. From there you can add as many more songs as you'd like.

Pros

• No Sum 41 or Blink 182.
• This seems to work better for more eclectic tastes in music since Pandora's song-generating algorithm focuses heavily on genre.

Cons

• You can only have 3 songs per band on your playlist. It makes sense - they don't want people just adding an entire album and playing it over and over. But still.
• I've had some trouble finding songs on Finetune. There's a ton of bands, but not always the entire catalog of songs, so it can be hit or miss.
• Again, you can only skip so many songs in your playlist at a time. This isn't too big of deal since all the songs were specifically placed there.

He-Man, The Beginning

I found this http://www.amazon.com/He-Man-Masters-Universe-Episode-Collectors/dp/B0009HBPHQ in the bargin bin at Walmart. It's a double disk claiming to be comprised of the 10 greatest He-Man episodes ever made. We'll see about that.

Be prepared for a sweet DVD review.