HowTo on the Web

"I want to - a page of utilities that help you do stuff you want to on the web"

I started a HowTo page, but this one is better. Lots of interesting stuff that is a little hard to characterize. And multiple ways of doing each of these things. Impressive.

SlingBox

I have just installed a SlingBox in my home. SlingBox a device that is as difficult to describe why you need it as the TiVo was. When you see it, you understand. You connect a SlingBox to one of the several outputs of an audio/video device, in this case, my TiVo. In addition you connect the SlingBox to your local area network, as well as an infared blaster which you place in front of the infrared receiver on the audio/video device.

Inside the SlingBox there is hardware to digitize the audio/video output of the connected device, send the digitized stream over the ethernet to a PC running a client that can decode the stream, and simulate the remote control for the connected device by using the infrared blaster in response to buttons pushed on the user interface presented on the PC client.

In addition, to accessing the stream from a PC on the local ethernet, it is possible to connect to the device from anywhere in the world over the Internet.

It was very easy to install and worked perfectly the first time I tried it out. The net result is that anyone I authorize (including me) can watch programs recorded on my TiVo as well as control the TiVo using the TiVo interface from anywhere in the world. Impressive device. Here are some screen shots of what I see on my PC.

Bella

Bella

My sister Jane is a wonderful person: warm, loving and a nut about animals -- not to the point of certifiable (yet), but crazy about dogs and cats. So, although I was a bit surprised, I wasn't astonished when she called me one day and said "Harry, I just purchased a minature longhaired dauschound for us -- we will own her 50-50."

Now, over the years, various of my comrads have have taken certain strategies to get Marsha into doggies, but this was pretty unusual and I commend Jane for her going at the problem head on.

Last Tuesday night, I met Jane and Bella at Jane's son Andy's in Framingham and Jane handed me Bella and her support equipment. We have all been having a wonderful time with her this past week and I know it is going to be hard to give her back on October 10th when I said we would return her. More pictures...

Thailand and Cambodia 2005

Marsha and I are leaving tomorrow on a three week trip to Thailand and Cambodia. We are attending the wedding of our nephew Andrew in Bangkok next week. Then we travel north to Chiang Mai for a week and then to Siem Reap, Cambodia to see the Angkor temples. This is a whole new experience for both of us, having never traveled to Asia as tourists (I went to China on a 7 day whirlwind business to Hong Kong and Shanghai in 2000). In addition to our standard real-time travelog, this trip we are trying something new: Travels with Harry and Marsha, an audio podcast. I have my iPod equipped with an iTalk microphone and we plan to record the sounds of our trip along with Marsha's excellent commentary -- I'll also be contributing, but I sound a little too dull to call it excellent.

We can't wait to leave - which explains why I am up at 4:30 in the morning typing this! But, I can rationalize that I am just getting a jumpstart on the 12 hour timezone difference...

Lexington Digital

I have started a new web site, Lexington Digital (www.lexdig.com) whose focus is my professional activities. I decided on the name because it captured both where I do my work and the focus of my work. Although the tag line is "Innovative uses of computers and networks for small businesses and non-profits", I am interested in projects of any size where I can add value. The web site describes a lot of things I have been working on and can now do for others, large and small, on a contractual basis.

Colorado 2005: Mountain Madness

In January, my friend Tom Fortmann sent me an announcement about a bicycle trip titled "Mountain Madness". He was thinking of taking this trip and at the end of his message said, said somewhat whimsically, "Are you interested in coming along and driving the SAG van?" After an instant, I responded saying "Sure, why not?" So, I contacted Scott Effner and offered to drive the van. Scott greeted my offer with pleasure because it meant that he and the other riders wouldn't have to take turns driving the van. Thus, my start in experiencing an amazing group of people and their even more amazing trip in Colorado, traveling 1200 miles in 14 days over 12 passes, with an accumulated climb of 82,000 feet.

This was an experience I won't forget.

Linda Peterson Fine Art

A friend of mine from my morning coffee group at Peets asked me if I could help with her web site. Linda (Peterson) Pollen paints wonderful watercolors and has a large body of work that has not had a good web presence. I helped Linda organize her work, make digital scans of 35mm slide photographs of her paintings, and develop a web site, Linda Peterson Fine Art that is suitable for displaying her work as well as interacting with viewers of the web site using simple mechanisms that result an eCommerce-lite web presence. Nothing too fancy. I am happy with how the site turned out and am interested in working with other artists to give their works the exposure a graphical web site can give. If you are an artist and interested in me developing something like this for your work, please contact me at harry@forsdick.com

Florida 2005
In Mid-February, Marsha and I started out on a 6 week adventure down the East Coast to Florida and back. We visited Jamestown, Yorktown, Williamsburg, Savannah, St Augustine, Daytona, Miami, The Everglades, Fort Myers for Red Sox spring training, Cedar Keys, Atlanta, Charlotte, Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway, Staunton VA, Philadelphia and finally Lexington.

We had a great time, and took a lot of pictures. Marsha and I have created a web site that cronicles our trip in words, maps, and pictures.

design*sponge

Nice blog for people interested in design. More importantly, I've got to come up with some light-weight way of recording interesting blogs and web sites.