Chad Burkins

Video Voice Mail !

burkinsc — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 13:00:39 +0000

Yup, my wife, Meghan Malloy is on the road for 6 weeks. Out in Phoenix working on a production of a play called “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” by Sarah Ruhl. She’s having an absolutely terrific time ! But as you might imagine, it’s hard to stay connected when she’s gone for so long.

One of my favorite tools to stay in touch is EyeJot. The best way to describe it is Video Voice Mail. You register for free account, then you can record a video message. Free accounts allow for 5 minute messages, which is plenty. When you’re done, you just plug in an email address. It then sends a link to Meg. When she clicks it, up pops my video message to her. Super Easy ! There’s just no substitute for seeing her and hearing her voice, and this works pretty darn well !

As for recording the message, there are two easy ways to get that done. You can go to EyeJot website, and use your computer combined with a webcam. Assuming you have a webcam already setup, pretty easy. If you’re an iPhone person, it gets even easier ! Just go to their iTunes page download their app. Because the iPhone 4 has a built-in camera on the front, just click, record, and go. Works wherever you’re at !

(been using this one for a while, but wouldn’t recommend it until they published their iPhone app. Makes it super useful for me)

What’s in a Browser ?

burkinsc — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:00:50 +0000

These days, an awful lot ! Heck, almost our entire computer experience is inside a web browser now. I’ve tried out quite a few, but of course, the big three are : Internet Explorer (IE), Firefox, and Chrome.

I’ve avoided Internet Explorer over the years, mostly because the pace of innovation was too slow for my taste. But, that’s changed over the past two years, most likely because Microsoft is keenly aware of the strong competition. So, if you prefer your life to be super simple, I think it’s fair to say that IE is a decent choice, and no doubt that most websites are designed to work with IE first.

If you’re a bit more curious about the leading edge of browser development, you best keep your eyes on Firefox and Chrome. I keep drifting towards Chrome to check it out, but invariably drift back to Firefox since it has a *much* larger market share, and tends to keep innovation somewhat rapid as well. So, guess I’ll settle on the fact that Firefox is definitely my mainstay browser. Just wish they’d come up with a better way to search my bookmarks quickly.

(You might think it’s a pain to switch browsers often, but quite the contrary. With good tools like X-Marks bookmark synchronization, it’s quite easy. More on that later…)

Finally, a decent Bluetooth Headset

burkinsc — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 13:00:31 +0000

Bluetooth headsets are one of those things that seem incredibly promising, but always end up annoying me. Every couple years, I buy a new one, and invariably, three weeks later, I stop using it. My most recent purchase was a Plantronics Voyager Pro HD. And guess what : 8 weeks later, I’m still using it ! I think we’ve got a winner here.

Here’s what I love :

When I turn it on, it tells me in plain English how much talk time is remaining
It only routes calls to the headset when it’s on your head (this is done through the magic of a built-in proximity sensor)
It’s nicely integrated with the iPhone, even has a built-in battery remaining display (for the headset) at the top of the phone !
It uses a standard micro-USB connection for charging, which means I have a reasonbly good chance of finding a charger in my bag
6 hours of talk time, 5 days of standby (you don’t have to charge the damn thing everyday, unlike my beloved iPhone)
Noise-cancelling while driving is pretty darned good
It can also stream music from my phone, or more importantly for me, podcasts

If you’ve been desperately hoping for a decent Bluetooth headset, this guy is worth your time.

Finally, Microsoft owns up to Antivirus

burkinsc — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 22:00:58 +0000

Antivirus Software is one of the most important pieces of software on your computer. It keeps you safe and carefree while surfing around the big ‘ol web. With that said, it should do it’s job quietly, quickly, and with very little fanfare. For years, my Antivirus software of choice was Norton Antivirus. All other things being equal, I prefer free software, but in this case, there just wasn’t a great free alternative. Norton AV was reasonably priced, about $30 per year. Finally, got tired of paying for Norton AV. So, did my research, and switched over to the free version of Free AVG. For years, did a reasonably good job on my home machine. If not for the new contender, I’d still be using it. But there’s a new kid in town, it’s great, and it’s free : Microsoft Security Essentials.

Yeah, I’m surprised too. It’s free, it runs fast, it’s lightweight, gets great reviews, and it’s from Microsoft. I love it. Been running it on my main machine for about 6 months, and recently started installing it on the family’s machines too. Good stuff.

(If you switch over to MSE, be sure to uninstall all the other AV software on your machine. Having multiple AV’s running doesn’t do you any good, and slows down your machine)

Back to Blogging

burkinsc — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:18:35 +0000

I’ve decided to get back to blogging. Couple of reasons. First, I’m hoping to share a bit of computer enthusiasm with my family. And second, my Dad is considering a move from Website to Blogging with his church website. So … Continue reading →