Link to Amazon

It’s the 50 Inch Panasonic VIERA 3D TV  (TC-P50GT25)
This baby is the not just the best 3d TV, it’s the best 2d TV on the market. With Amazon selling it at almost half off don’t pass this one up!   Here’s a link to it on Amazon.

Canon EOS Rebel t2i

Canon EOS Rebel T2i. It’s also known as the Canon EOS 550D. This would be the camera I’d use for situations that would require a quality camera. If I want to take some portrates of my nices, I’d grab this camera pair it with a 50mm Lens and start shooting. With it’s full HD recording at 30fps I could use this to capture some stunning video. There are so many things I want to do with this camera. Here’s a link to the Canon EOS Rebel T2i on Amazon.

Canon PowerShot SD980IS ELPH

When it comes to everyday candid snapshots I’ve always been a fan of Canon’s ELPH line. (I’ve personaly owned 3 of them) There new lineup is as impressive as ever. The Canon PowerShot SD980IS is especally impressive. The back even has a touch screen! It also has 720 HD video recording! Here’s a link to the Canon PowerShot SD980IS ELPH on Amazon.

Flip Mino HD 8GB

When the Canon Elf has 720 recording you might wonder why I’d have a Flip as well. The answer is simple. Simplicity. This is a video camera that you will actually use. If you want to capture a funny moment of your toddler, this is the camera you’ll reach for. If you want to attach a camera to your RC Plane, this is the camera to grab. No wonder they have sold over 1 million of these cameras! Here’s a link to the Flip Mino HD 8GB on Amazon.

Feel free to buy me one of each.

It’s got 18 Megapixel CMOS Sensor.
It’s got a Live viewfinder.
It’s got Full 1920 x 1080 HD Video Recording
It’s got support for SDXC SDHC and SD Memory cards.
It’s got a good price tag!

If you’re reading this, you’re thinking about buying one. STOP thinking and just buy it!

I’ll make it real easy for you. Below you’ll find links to buy either the Body only, or a Kit which will give you a Lens for you new camera. Amazon always has the best price! Buy one for yourself, or buy two and give me one!

P.S. If you buy me one, I’ll be your friend forever!

When clicking Projects you can read about a bunch of my projects including my latest, Ken’s Today Screen. I hope to add all of my previous projects eventually. I’d like to add a new one each week until I’ve got all of the up.

As for Ken’s Today Screen, you can now download it and use it for FREE!!  Go take a look and let me what you think.

Check out my latest project:

***This is the old version. Click here to see the new version ***

It’s a simple and powerful “Today Screen” replacement for Windows Mobile. I wrote it in C# using the Compact Framework. In this project I implemented a few firsts for me, including finger gestures and animation. I’m very happy with the outcome. I also spent many hours on the Graphic Design of all of the icons and buttons. (Graphic Design ain’t my thing!) This program is far better than the original Today Screen in terms of ease of use. I can now quickly get to the things I use most often. I may post the source or the exe if people are interested.  Let me know.

***This is the old version. Click here to see the new version ***

Here are some of the features.

1. The Home Screen. Here you can get to your most used programs.

2. You can change the programs by right clicking on them.   (I made extra images that are installed with the exe, including a Calender Icon as well as a few others.)

3. The Contact Screen. Here you can call your top friends by just clicking on their face!

4. You can delete a contact’s shortcut by right clicking on the contact and clicking delete. To add a contact just click on the plus icon and choose a contact.

5. There are actually 16 saved shortcuts. If you make a finger gesture dragging from the bottom to top, you can see two more rows of contacts.
6. You can use finger gestures to change tabs as well as clicking on the tabs. To move by gesturing, drag from the right to the left to move to the next tab.  Drag from the left to the right to move back.
7. Ken’s Today screen shows more notifications than the default notification bar does.  Ken’s Today screen has: Email, text message, missed calls, voicemail, bluetooth connection, wifi connection, network, network strength, phone speaker, and battery power.

8. When there is music playing, the name of the artist, track, and album scroll across the screen under the time as a marquee.

9. In the settings tab you can change the phone to automatically turn the speaker phone on. Also you can change what happens when clicking on the time.

That’s it!

***This is the old version. Click here to see the new version ***

Introducing the Nike Plus Mini WordPress Plugin.

After creating a Nike Plus Mini avatar in the Nike+ website, this plugin will add a widget to your sidebar showing your mini avatar.

There are customizable settings for size and background color.

All it needs is your Nike+ screen name.

Installing:

1.  Download the zip file Nike+ Mini WordPress Plugin.
2.  Unzip it and upload the folder wp-nikeplusmini to your website’s /wp-content/plugins/ folder.
3.  In your WordPress dashboard, click Plugins and activate WP-NikePlusMini.

4.  Now go to Design->Widgets

5.  Add WP-Nike-Plus-Mini to a sidebar

6.  Click Edit

7.  Edit the Options and click Change. Be sure to add your Nike+ Screen Name.

8.  Save the changes and your done!

Disclaimer:

This is my first WordPress plugin and use of php.  If you try this plugin, let me know what you think in the comments.

I hate tag clouds… They look so unorganized and messy. But I don’t hate them as much anymore. And that’s because of WP-Cumulush. WP-Cumulush is a WordPress plugin by Roy Tanck that creates a flash based tag cloud.  This one moves in 3D and looks really nice.  I like it because the UI is seamless and instantly knowable.  Just hover your cursor around to make it move.  It really is brilliant.  Try it out on the side —–>

Installing and setting up WP-Cumulush:

1.  Download WP-Cumulush from here.

2.  Unzip the zip file and upload the folder “wp-cumulush” to your “/wp-content/plugins/” folder.

3.  Sign into your blog’s admin and click on Plugins

4.  Activate the Plugin

5.  In your dashboard, go to Design and then Widgets

6.  Add the Widget “wp-cumulush” to a sidebar

7.  Click Edit to get to the Options Menu

8.  Change the options to suit your blog

9.  Don’t forget to save the changes!

Hints:

I found that it was better to have the plugin wider than high, so that the tags would not be cut off.

An easy way to make the tag cloud look seemless is to check “Background transparency” in the options.

In the Settings section of the dashboard you will find the same options for wp-cumulush that are shown above.  Those don’t seem to work.

After writing an article last week on Controlling your Computer from your Windows Mobile Phone, I was looking for fun things I could do with my computer from my phone.  I went out of town over the weekend and while gone I realized I could turn on my computer’s webcam and view it from my phone!

Here’s what you’ll need:

1. A Windows Mobile Phone
2. Computer with webcam (Vista, XP, Mac, or Linux)
3. A second computer with webcam (Optional)
4. Read: Controlling your Computer from your Windows Mobile Phone

Check out the results!

After connecting to my computer I first opened the Logitech software that came with my webcam:

Next I zoomed-out to view the webcam:

Here I zoomed-in on the webcam:

(Oh no!!  Someone must have broken in to mess up my bed!  )

The last thing I did was kind of cool.  I opened up Remote Desktop to connect my computer to the family’s computer in the living room.  Then I turned on that webcam as well.  This gave me two cameras:

(The family room camera was pointed down at the chair, not up at the room.)

Over all I’d say this is a great solution to check-up on your home when you’re away!

Here’s what you need:

1. A Windows Mobile Phone
2. A VNC Server on your computer.  I use Ultra VNC.
3. Hamachi on your computer
4. Hamachi on your phone
5. RealVNC Viewer on your phone

Here’s how to set it up:

1.  Download and Install all of the programs.

2.  Start Hamachi on your computer.

3.  Either join an existing network or create a new one.

4.  Start Ultra VNC Server on your computer. (Choose a password.)

5.  Start Hamachi on your phone.

6.  Join the network your computer is on.

7.  Copy the IP address of the computer you are trying to connect to.

8.  Start RealVNC Viewer on your phone.

9.  Paste the IP address of the computer you are trying to connect to.

10.  Enter your password.

11.  Enjoy!

Check out the results!

I thought I’d try a real world test.  Imagine you are out when you get a call from your boss requesting a pdf file saved on your computer.  Or say you’re at a friends house and want to show off a picture you took that’s saved on your computer at home.  I’m going to attempt to connect to my home computer from my phone and send an email with an attachment.

Once connected using the steps above, I could see my computer screen from my phone:

Next I activated my Virtual Desktop (DeskSpace) to switch to an empty desktop:

I chose my Grand Canyon Desktop:

Next I zoomed-in to get a better view of the start menu:

Here I clicked on the Start Button:

After first opening Firefox, I opened Google Chrome.  (FireFox opened on another monitor.  There seems to be no multi-monitor support.)

I zoomed-in to sign in:

Here I zoomed all the way in.  It has great picture quality zoomed-in.  Now I’m adding an attachment to the email:

Lastly I’m sending the email:

I’m pretty impressed with this!  There are many good uses for this type of software.  It’s great for tech support on the go, or for getting to files when you’re away.  One thing to think about is that it was pretty slow using the edge network.  With Wi-Fi it worked at a reasonable pace and I’m assuming 3G would work fine as well.  Cool stuff!

Some people think Vista’s Flip 3D was developed as a response to Mac OS X’s Exposé. Exposé shrinks all of the windows and moves them so that each window is visible. This method uses the entire screen and does not hide any windows. In my opinion this is much more useful.

After building a new computer, I was looking for programs to make the most of my new rig. I stumbled upon a YouTube video showing an Exposé clone for Windows. After researching and trying a few Exposé clones, I decided to write up a review comparing the three best. The three I’m reviewing are: TopDesk by Otaku Software, My Exposé by Simon Ferquel, and Switcher by Bao Nguyen.

Here is what these programs must sort:

TopDesk

Check it out:

TopDesk has three modes:
Grid:

Spatial:

Flip:

TopDesk can be used with any version of Windows XP or Windows Vista.  TopDesk has many options to customize.  You can change the settings to increase performance, or to conserve computer resources.     Overall the program runs smoothly on my setup even with its most demanding settings.  TopDesk has multi-monitor support, although it did have trouble drawing my background on my left monitor. This can be seen in the screen shot above.

The Good:

1. TopDesk has three modes of operation.
2. TopDesk is the only one of the three being reviewed that can be used on XP and Vista Basic.
3. TopDesk has many options for customization and resource management.

The Bad:

1. TopDesk is a resource hog!  At it’s highest setting it cruses along using 300-500MB of RAM all the time!
2. TopDesk doesn’t run using Vista’s Aero.  This means it doesn’t have “Live Thumbnails.”
3. TopDesk costs 20 bucks!

Final Verdict:

TopDesk’s cons out-weigh its pros.  Unless you have XP or Vista Basic, I’d pass this one up.

My Exposé

Check it out:

My Exposé has one mode of operation:

My Exposé is an open source (free) Exposé Clone.  It’s extremely simple with one mode of operation.  It is built on Vista’s Aero interface.  This means any videos will be playing even as the windows are animating.  It runs very smoothly.  My Exposé does has a couple of problems.  In fact, it wouldn’t even run on my current setup.  First it won’t run on 64-bit versions of Vista.  Second it won’t work with a multi-monitor setup that has a secondary monitor on the left of the primary monitor. It took editing of the source and recompiling before I could get it to run.  Once working it worked very satisfactory.

The Good:

1. My Exposé runs on Vista’s Aero Interface.
2. My Exposé is open source. (Great for developers like me!)
3. My Exposé is extremely simple and looks great.
4. My Exposé uses much less resources.  It runs with about 50MB of RAM.

The Bad:

1. My Exposé has some fatal issues that need addressing.
2. My Exposé isn’t as customizable as the others.
3. My Exposé doesn’t run on XP or Vista Basic.

Final Verdict:

My Exposé is worth a download if you want a good simple Exposé clone.  Be warned that it won’t run if you’re using 64bit Vista or using certain multi-monitor setups.

Switcher

Check it out:

Switcher has three modes:
Tile:

Dock:

Grid:

Switcher is an awesome freeware program.  It has three modes of operation.  The one mode that might need a bit of explaining is Dock view.  Dock view throws all of the windows to the top of the screen.  As you hover over each window, the window expands and fills the main area.  Like My Exposé, Switcher uses Vista’s Aero interface giving live thumbnails to each window.  Switcher is the only one of the three that works well with multi-monitors.  Like TopDesk there are many settings to play around with. One great feature is the ability to search for windows.  Once Switcher is activated, you can just start typing.  As you type, windows that do not match fade and shrink, while windows that do match grow.

The Good:

1. Switcher uses Vista’s Aero Interface
2. Switcher uses the least resources.  Only 10MB of RAM!
3. Switcher has a search feature.
4. Switcher has many options to play with.
5. Switcher has Multi-Monitor support.
6. Switcher’s Dock view is a nice addition.
7. Switcher is free!

The Bad:

1. None of Switcher’s modes layout the windows as well as My Exposé
2. Switcher doesn’t run on XP or Vista Basic.

Final Verdict:

Switcher uses the least resources while having the most features and coolest modes.  It’s definitely my pick for best Exposé clone.