Monthly Archive for March, 2006

System Tray Audio Device Switcher

Published on March 30, 2006 in reviews and tech. 17 Comments

I actively use both a Bluetooth headset (a Logitech® Mobile Pro™) and a Rode NT1 microphone on my computer. The headset I use for making and taking Skype calls and listening to podcasts at home, while the microphone I use for narrating video tutorials and recording podcasts. The problem is, switching between these audio sources is a minor pain (which becomes a major pain through repitition), requiring a trip to the Control Panel every time.

Thankfully, I’ve found this free utility called, in various places, System Tray Audio Device Switcher, SysADS, SADS, and System Tray Audio Device Manager. It lives in my Windows system tray and allows me to select my playback and recording device with just a couple of clicks. The program hasn’t been updated since its release in 2003, but it works on Windows XP SP2 just fine (I’m not holding my breath that it’ll work quite so well in Vista, however).

Continue reading ‘System Tray Audio Device Switcher’

Spam Subject Line #84

Published on March 27, 2006 in funny, geekdom and snippets. 0 Comments

Actual spam subject line:

A $1000 iPod and 80 pounds of fat? Yes.

(0)

Stupid Travel Mistake #62

Published on March 23, 2006 in personal. 1 Comment

Lost LuggageA little travel tip, just between you and me: when flying to a wedding, make sure you know what city it’s in before you book your plane ticket.

My good friend Amy is getting married in June. As one of the, oh, two people I know in Sydney, I just assumed it was being held there. I’m sure she told me it was in Brisbane more than once, but do I ever listen? No. I do not.

Needless to say my blood ran a bit cold when I found out I was stuck with two return tickets to Sydney of the “changes will cost you one limb apiece” variety, and no particular reason to be there. Don’t get me wrong: Sydney’s a perfectly nice place, but with Amy away getting married in Brisbane and all, Jess and I were headed for a rather awkward visit with my only other friend in town.

Thankfully, the nice man at Qantas was willing to waive the amputation fee because I had “fouled up so completely” (his words) in my attempt at booking a flight online. I couldn’t convince him to let me cancel the booking completely, however, which is a shame because Virgin Blue‘s prices to Brisbane are a lot cheaper at the moment, and wouldn’t have forced us to leave Brisbane at 6:50AM the day after the reception.

Photo by Joel Barhamand.

3D Cutaway Illustration

Published on March 22, 2006 in snippets and tech. 1 Comment

This makes me want to go on a cruise. (via Boing Boing)(1)

What is #46

Published on March 22, 2006 in geekdom and snippets. 0 Comments

The English language by word frequency, with a slick Flash UI. (via Pito)(0)

Flickr is starting to suck

Published on March 20, 2006 in geekdom, rants and tech. 1 Comment

I’ll admit I haven’t jumped whole hog into the whole Flickr thing. I do have a Pro account, and yet most of my photos are still in my private gallery.

One of the main reasons, I think, is that, while I enjoy the whole idea of Flickr—a world of photographs naturally organized by keywords and shared (or not) between communities of like-minded people—a lot of the actual implementation kinda sucks. Oh sure, I was dazzled along with the rest when their AJAX-powered interface first came on the scene, with slick edit-in-place functionality and plenty of taggy goodness to explore. But whenever I actually want to do something with Flickr, the site quickly begins to get in my way.

Continue reading ‘Flickr is starting to suck’

Heart Turds

Published on March 14, 2006 in cute and funny. 3 Comments

Candy HeartsI found a candy heart left over from Valentine’s Day on the floor today. It used to say “HEART THROB”, but the ravages of time have had their way.

How quickly true love turns to “HEART TURDS”.

Photo by Tongue Tyed.

Bush on Global Warming

Published on March 13, 2006 in funny and snippets. 0 Comments

From last November’s Earth To America (and the bottom of my inbox—sorry Marty!), Will Ferrell does a hilarious send-up of George Bush.(0)

Free WiFi in Ottawa?

Published on March 13, 2006 in Canada and tech. 3 Comments

Just got off the phone with mom and dad, who have just bought their first post-retirement home in Ottawa. Mom happened to mention she was connected to the Internet via a free wireless Internet service that was apparently available to all Ottawa residents. My envy quickly turned to skepticism, however, when she mentioned the SSID (network name) of the service she was connecting to was “netgear2″.

NETGEAR is of course a well-known manufacturer of network hardware, including wireless routers. I suspect that neighbours of my parents’ simply have their home network (and associated Internet connection) sitting wide open without any security. If that’s their informed choice, then great. If not, well I hope it’s an old router, because there’s no reason current wireless networking hardware should allow inexperienced users to expose their networks like this.

Mom, if you wanted to be a good neighbour, you could probably stroll around the block with your laptop and get a good idea of which house was hosting the network you are connecting to based on signal strength. A note in the mailbox advising the occupants to configure their network more securely would certainly qualify as your good turn for the day.

Chuck Norris Update

Published on March 13, 2006 in funny, geekdom and snippets. 0 Comments

The man himself reads his favourite Chuck Norris facts.(0)