Welcome To Kenneth Brandon.com!

Here you'll find my blog as well as links to my other sites.

Nike Plus Mini WordPress Plugin

October 23, 2008 – 1:31 am

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.

By Kenneth | Posted in Howto & FYI, Projects, WordPress Setup | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (6)

A Cool Tag Cloud?!

October 22, 2008 – 10:13 am

Tag Clouds

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.

By Kenneth | Posted in Howto & FYI | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Home Security from your Phone for Free!!

October 17, 2008 – 12:31 am

View your Computer’s webcam from your phone for free!

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!  :-P )


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!

By Kenneth | Posted in Howto & FYI | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (2)

Controlling your Computer from your Windows Mobile Phone

October 8, 2008 – 2:27 am

I found some cool software that lets me control my computer from my phone!  It displays my computer’s screen on my phone’s screen.  It’s pretty simple to use and easy to setup.  Best of all… It’s free!

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!

By Kenneth | Posted in Howto & FYI | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (8)