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Tropicana Commercial: Arctic Sun - Brighter mornings for brighter days

Posted Sun, 2010-02-28 22:42 by Shawn

While watching the Winter Olympics, we saw a charming commercial where Tropicana brought "sunlight" to Inuvik amidst a long and dark winter night.


Pachelbel Rant

Posted Sat, 2009-12-19 10:43 by Shawn

One of my favourite comedy bits; this is great. "A comedian rants about how much it sucks to play Pachelbel's Canon in D on a cello. Recorded live at Penn State, this piece by comedian/musician Rob Paravonian has been a favorite on the Dr. Demento Show."


Remembrance Day Memories - World War II

Posted Mon, 2009-11-09 20:49 by Shawn

War-time memories from World War II as told by my grandfather, Veteran George Rouse. This video was recorded in 2006 at the Corn Hill United Baptist Church in New Brunswick for their annual Remembrance Day service. George recounts his wartime injuries, including how he was shot in the shoulder and walked a mile to the First Aid station for treatment.



The second video was recorded in 2007 at the Corn Hill Community Hall in New Brunswick for their annual Remembrance Day service. George recounts the importance of letters from home while at war. At the end, George is presented with a gift of appreciation from the congregation. The 103-year old church burnt down in a fire 7 weeks before the video was taken (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/ story/2007/09/18/nb-oldchurchburns.html) . The congregation fashioned a stained glass cross from one of the windows that couldn't be saved.



The "Laughing Babies" video

Posted Mon, 2009-10-12 10:10 by Shawn

By now, you've likely seen this video if you spend any amount of time on Facebook or Twitter. I decided to blog it here as well, so I know where it is when I need a smile.


Bell and Telus will sell iPhone on HSPA in November

Posted Tue, 2009-10-06 06:40 by Shawn

I've been waiting for this news for a looooong time. Bell and Telus are both launching the Apple iPhone 3GS on their new 21 Mbps HSPA network in November. It's safe to say that this is definitely my next smartphone.







Source: The Globe and Mail


Listen to live local radio on your BlackBerry with Moodio

Posted Sun, 2009-09-27 19:39 by Shawn

I felt a bit left out lately when CBC introduced a new iPhone application, which lets iPhone owners listen to live CBC Radio. It works great for iPod Touch too, but only if you are in range of an open Wi-fi access point. For users like me who own a BlackBerry, no love (for now, I heard a rumour that an app is coming soon).

Not satisfied with that answer, I scoured the web looking for a BlackBerry app that could play the live CBC radio ASX/ASF streams. After hours of searching, I couldn't find any app (either free or commercial) that filled the bill. But, I did finally get pointed towards a web site called Moodio.fm.

Moodio's web site says:

"Moodio brings web radio to your mobile phone. It allows you to listen to any live audiostream on your mobile phone using your phone's own internal media player. No additional mobile software is required. By simply adding your favourite radio stations to your personal "My Stations" list, you are making them available on your mobile.
1. Create an account.
2. Add your favourite radio stations to your "My Stations" list.
3. Browse to m.moodio.fm on your mobile phone, log in and pick the radio station from your list that matches your mood. Try it now, it's free. Enjoy!"



The Moodio.fm site.


"Well, this sounds too easy", I'm thinking, "and even if this works there's no way they'd have my stations on there." Well, I'm glad to say I was wrong. It's super-easy, works great and it had my local CBC station in Saint John! I followed the instructions and created an account. Then, I navigated to a screen where I picked my stations. I picked my CBC Saint John feed, and 97.3 The Wave.



I found my two favourite local stations amongst the vast selection in no time at all.


I switched to my BlackBerry, and using the BlackBerry Browser I surfed to the mobile site specified by Moodio - m.moodio.fm. I logged in using the credentials that I set up on the web, and I was presented with my radio choices.


   
The Moodio mobile site, before and after login.


I clicked on the link for "CBC Radio One Saint John", and the BlackBerry Media Player opens. The next part a bit odd - you hear a ringing sound, like you are calling someone on the phone. This is Moodio's quirky way of telling you that you are connecting (yes, seriously). No worries, it's harmless. Within a few seconds, you'll start to hear your local radio station streaming live.



BlackBerry Media Player streaming live, local radio from CBC in Saint John.


Presto! Local radio on your BlackBerry. One word of caution: Take heed of this warning on the Moodio site:
Listening to Moodio means you will be downloading a lot of (audio) data. If you don't have a "flat fee" or "unlimited download" subscription with your mobile operator, this can become very expensive!


“'There Must Be a Reason': Osama, Saddam, and Inferred Justification"

Posted Wed, 2009-09-02 06:27 by Shawn

A great article appeared in the Twitter-feed recently, which discussed the question of why some Americans believed there was a link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11.

"(T)he situation of going to war is a powerful situational heuristic that allows voters to conclude that there is something about their world that justifies going to war. We argue that some citizens believe leaders would not take an action as drastic as war if it were not justified. They then develop affective ties to this conclusion and seek information that confirms it while dismissing information that contradicts it, producing the correlation between information and belief. These social psychological processes were an important feature of the misperception of a link between Saddam and 9/11. The belief in this link was so resilient because it made sense of the administration’s decision to go to war against Iraq."

Read the full article at http://sociology.buffalo.edu/documents/hoffmansocinquiryarticle_000.pdf


Windows Updates not working

Posted Sat, 2008-10-18 14:23 by Shawn

After a recent reimage, I kept getting this message every time I tried to do a Windows Update - "A problem on your computer is preventing updates from being downloaded or installed".  After just a little bit of googling, I found the answer.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943144

Register the Wups2.dll file in Windows

To register the Wups2.dll file in Windows, follow these steps:

1.    Stop the Automatic Updates service. To do this, follow these steps:

  • Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
  • At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER: net stop wuauserv

2.    Register the Wups2.dll file. To do this, follow these steps:

  • At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER: regsvr32 %windir%\system32\wups2.dll
  • Click OK on each verification message that you receive.

3.    Start the Automatic Updates service. To do this, type the following command at the command prompt, and then press ENTER: net start wuauserv

4.    Exit the command prompt. To do this type exit, and then press ENTER.


Large Hadron Rap

Posted Sat, 2008-09-06 23:23 by Shawn

9 Cool (and Useful) Mods for iPods and iTunes

Posted Fri, 2008-03-28 09:48 by Shawn

"Your iPod is more like a miniature computer than you might think. After all, it has a screen, keys, storage, and an operating system. And just as with any PC, you can add new features, overhaul the OS, update the interface, and personalize it to your heart's content.

"While you're at it, why not fill it with content from the Internet and with movies ripped from your own DVDs? And hey, why shouldn't you be able to copy your tunes off the player anytime you want? You can do all of that and more with these cool iPod hacks. They're free, harmless (meaning that you can reverse or undo any of them without hosing your player), and guaranteed to help you get more fun and function out of your iPod. (We'll identify which generations of iPod each hack works with.)"

http://www.pcworld.com/article/142300/9_cool_and_useful_mods_for_ipods_and_itunes.html

read more | digg story




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