Friday, December 30, 2011
Friday, December 23, 2011
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Friday, December 9, 2011
Friday, December 2, 2011
Review Of The Logitech Revue
You can get the Logitech Revue for pretty cheep on Amazon. When it the product was first released in 2010 the cost was $300. Mark Hachman has written a few interesting articles about the Revue for PC magazine including Logitech CEO calls Google TV Box A 'Mistake of Implementation'. In my opinion the concept is definitely a winning idea. The problem seems to be delayed consumer adoption of this concept.
In response to the PC Magazine article above, I think people have a very strong association between TV in their home and cable/satellite service. Now here comes the invention of Smart TV's, Smart Blu-Ray's, Smart Phones and Smart Streaming Boxes like the Roku, AppleTV and Logitech Revue. It's almost as if there are too many choices and too many options so people just stick with cable or satellite for the most part.
Whenever I attempt to explain the differences between streaming boxes to a non-tech-minded person their eye's glaze over. Let's be honest, it's confusing. That's the problem right there. If people don't understand what they are getting when they buy a streaming box they are likely to return it when they take it home, plug it in, and discover it doesn't carry cable channels.
Couple the functionality confusion with an awful user interface and it's going to be a slow process of getting the average non-tech-geek to adopt. Some of these so-called "smart" devices are painful to navigate with. I do want to give the Revue credit for having a full size keyboard and great navigation. Many similar devices do not have user friendly navigation and data entry. One bad experience trying to login to facebook with a crappy "smart" TV might be enough to keep people satisfied with a cable box.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Friday, November 11, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
Friday, October 21, 2011
Friday, October 14, 2011
How To Make Popcorn
This is one of my all time favorite snacks. My wife and I are popcorn fanatics so we make this recipe all the time. I even got a 12.5 pound bag of popcorn kernels for Christmas one year. The recipe is very simple and really doesn't require any measurements. I have found that the flavor of cooking popcorn this way is much better when compared to microwaved popcorn.
Popular Cooking Videos:
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
How To Install CHDK
Click Here to read about CHDK and find out if code has been developed for your camera model and firmware version.
BEWARE! this video is rated "G" for Geek and may contain scenes that are too nerdy for the average picture taker. I hope this video helps you, as there are not many well produced video tutorials on CHDK out there yet.
I'd love your feedback. Let me know if you encounter any problems as you follow along and I will respond to your comments and messages. You might want to try heading over to the CHDK Community on G+ to see what others are doing with the software and ask questions there too. Good luck!
Friday, September 9, 2011
Friday, September 2, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
How To Get Free HDTV
I am a cord cutter. The only TV channels I watch are delivered to my home for free over the air. I made this video because I talk to people every week that are unaware of this money saving alternative to cable & satellite. To make this work all you need is an antenna, ATSC Digital Tuner and an HDTV.
In this video the ATSC digital tuner happens to be built into a DVD player. However, today many new HDTV's have ATSC tuners built into them. For example this 90" HDTV by Sharp comes with a tuner so all you need to do is connect an antenna directly to the TV.
Depending on where you live in the United States your channel selection will vary. Over the air channels are broadcast digitally in high definition from your local TV stations. If you're thinking about trying this in your home, I would recommend looking up the available channels in your area first. AntennaWeb.org is a helpful resource that allows you to see what channels you can get based on location.
What's A Cord Cutter?
Technically I still have a "cord" coming into my home delivering a high speed internet connection. But when you hear the term "cord cutter" it is usually referring to canceling cable TV service in order to save money. Now-a-days there is an abundance of free media available for streaming online. Do you really need to pay for cable?
How To Slow Cook Ribs
You're missing out if you have not experienced the satisfaction of slow cooking ribs. Any man can stand behind a grill and flip burgers. If your ready to take things to the next level you might consider grilling up a couple racks of pork ribs. "But where do I begin?", you say. I'm glad you asked. This video covers the basics of slow cooking with charcoal. I have listed out some important grilling tips below for first timers. There are also many benefits of cooking Bacon on a grill, but that's another story.
With slow cooking indirect heat is the key factor. This can be accomplished by placing a tray of water under the grill and next to the charcoal. The ribs need to be placed on the grill so that they are directly over the water and not over the pile of charcoal. This allows the ribs to be cooked with indirect heat. The vent on top of the grill should be directly over the ribs to get a good heat and smoke flow. Make sure the air intake vent is clear and not clogged with ash.
Below you will find some of the key points I learned while observing the art of slow cooking for the first time. Choosing a rub and a BBQ sauce is another important part of the process. Many people make there own homemade rubs since store bought rubs tend to be very salty. Choice of BBQ sauce is also a very personal decision. Most people would agree you can't go wrong starting out with Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce.
Charcoal Grilling Tips:
- Avoid the use of lighter fluid because it adds unwanted flavor to the meat.
- Start the fire with paper crumpled in the bottom of a charcoal chimney.
- Soak some hickory wood chips in water and add them periodically for good smokey flavor.
- If you're looking, you ain't cooking! Don't open the lid too much and make the rookie mistake of letting all the heat out every 10 minutes.
- Clean the grilling surface with a brush or cleaning stone. I've even heard of people using potatoes. (We forgot to clean the grill in this video, oops)
- Clean out the air intake vent underneath the grill. It tends to get clogged with ash over time.
How To Make An Ant Trap
This is an easy way to make an ant trap with household ingredients. I've used it a couple times now and it always seems to make the ants disappear after a few days. All you need is peanut butter and Borax.
Flip Ultra HD Power Button Not Working
Well it turns out my dad is an electronic troubleshooting genius, more on that later. Fixing my Flip and creating a video about it motivated me to start a how-to channel. I had been thinking about starting up some kind of YouTube channel for a while but I hadn't figured out exactly what to do.
At the time (April 2011) this was my only functioning video camera so when the power button broke I got desperate and posted this low quality video describing the malfunction. I was hoping someone out there would see what happened and offer a solution with a comment or video response.
In the mean time my dad offered to take a look at the broken camera. Taking the Flip apart to diagnose the problem was a bit of a delicate procedure, but I had nothing to lose. After about 30 seconds of examining the circuit board inside my dad realized the problem was a loose electronic component that had broken off. After a little soldering the camera was functioning properly again.
Here is the solution video I made: Flip Ultra HD Power Button Fix. After going through the process of creating my first tutorial I decided to dedicate my channel to how-to videos.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
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