What Did We Learn From Weinergate?

Weiner's Weiner Tweet

First, why is it that 'political' talk shows are more of gossip shows than anything else? Okay, I got that out, now I'll set aside any political views and my disdain for today's 'journalism' and go straight to another 'common sense' security run down. People will do funny things when it comes to sex. We've seen it over and over again, especially now that everything has a camera and a WIFI connection.   

People should not be sending this kind of personal data across any connection unless you are okay with it being seen by everyone. Even when it's a wife texting photo's to her husband who's overseas, it can be intercepted, hacked, or just found and spread. Remember the woman from Oregon last year who did exactly that? If that's the kind of thing spices up your relationship, fine, but keep it at home. As soon as something is sent across the internet pipes, it's vulnerable for an unwanted audience. Once your skin pics are out there, they will stay out there. 

Also, don't trust anyone with this kind of media. Maybe a married couple can trust one another with mutual self shot content in a safe setting. But do not trust the girl you just met at the bar last Friday, don't even trust the 'Mr. Right' who you've known for six months. They might not even be malicious, but they could be stupid or lazy and let a malicious individual get access inadvertently. 

The only way to ensure your personal life stays personal is to never set your self up. Just don't do it. Possibly Weiner just wanted to let everyone see his ripped chest? Not bad, bro.

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Connecting Your iPhone/iPod to Your Old Kenwood Stereo in the Car

If you have a perfectly sound, older Kenwood car stereo that doesn't have a USB input you can easily connect your iPhone or iPod via the 13 PIN C-Bus auxiliary input with one simple cable. You will have to pull the stereo out from your deck and locate the AUX input. It is round and like it's name states, has 13 pins. 

The picture on the right shows exactly what AUX input you need to have. If this picture matches your stereo's now you can purchase the cable. This cable streams audio when your Kenwood is set to AUX input. It will also charge your iPhone while it works! 

Below is the exact cable to connect the Kenwood stereo to your iPhone from Amazon.

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HP Tablet: Touchpad Coming July 1st

HP announced that it's tablet, the Touchpad, will be available July 1st to the U.S. market. It will run on the same platform as the HP phones, WebOS. The Touchpad will be ready to synch with WebOS phones out of the box with the ability to even receive and answer a text message sent to your phone. 

The price will start at $500 for a 16GB version and $600 for a 32GB version. The screen is just under ten inches and will be powered by a 1.2GHz dual core snap dragon processor. HP is bragging about having a simpler interface than other tablets on the market, even the iPad. Apps will layer and stack when multitasking. Messaging from all apps will be in one messaging center, meaning a text and an IM will appear in the same area. 

It looks like the concepts could take some time getting used to but could truly work more fluidly when all put together. The coolest feature? Tapping your WebOS phone to the Touchpad will transfer data between the two over the air. The problem? Who has a WebOS phone in a world dominated by Android and Apple? Who wants to learn a new system when we've gotten used to the Apple and Android platforms? The Touchpad looks to be a highly functioning device that could push HP's brand into a competitive market but will mostly likely have disappointing sales no matter how good the product is.

   

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In a World Without Facebook

I was a late subscriber to Facebook, sadly I was reluctant to leave the comfortable, spam infested, and heavily glitter picture riddled MySpace. When I made the switch I saw why everyone else thought it was so much better than MySpace. No spam, no random people, no 'friend trains.' I added as many people as I could think of and left Tom's spam-zombie wasteland.

I didn't post many of my pictures, I didn't write much that was relevant to my life. I used it as a forum to write stupid one liners and gripe about dumb things. Right away I realized many people used Facebook for the most trivial things imaginable. 'I'm sick.' 'My boss is gay.' 'I'm tired.' For whatever reason I checked my iPhone Facebook app over a dozen times a day.

What a huge waste of time. Most of my Facebook friends were people I would never voluntary talk to in a real life situation. Why would I want to see that they always feel 'sick and tired, I wish I didn't have to work.' I rarely read anything meaningful or posted something other than a sarcastic joke. 

I deleted my personal Facebook just a couple days ago and find myself being much more disciplined. I'm getting more done and not eating up minutes at a time looking at horridly uninteresting status updates. Do yourself a favor and delete your Facebook page. That being said, if you can't come to delete your page, make sure to 'like' the blog. 

   

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Moving Forward to iCloud & Other Cloud Services

Cloud computing is not a brand new concept, but with Microsoft advertising it's cloud services and now the announcement of Apple's iCloud, it's new to mainstream, everyday computer users. Cloud computing is just a fluffy term for storing your data on an online service, that can be accessed by multiple devices. You don't use your own hard drive space and you don't have to transfer files or synchronize devices. I've been using Dropbox for a year or so now. I save music that I produce to it so that it's instantly available on any of my devices such as my desktop, laptop, and iPhone. 

As we move into a new era where more and more people will be using cloud, possibly doing away with local hard drives all together, there are security concerns. Your data will not be stored in your home on a specific piece of hardware. You wont know where the server is that has your data on it. Don't read into this too much, the cloud is awesome. Cloud computing should and will go forward. Consumers just need to be aware of how this works and how to protect yourself.

Cloud security is good, but even with good security a hacker who really wants something can get anything, just ask Sony. As mainstream, large scale, cloud computing is in it's infancy I'd suggest very basic security measures: don't store passwords or account information, don't store financial information, and don't store your nude bathroom mirror pictures. How many days after iCloud is released will it take for someone's personal nude photos to get hacked and posted all over 4chan? 

Have some basic common sense using the cloud services offered by various companies and enjoy the amazing benefits of what cloud computing has to offer.  

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Review: Top 10 Podcasts That Make Radio Obsolete

Howard Stern is long gone and your local after drive DJ is nowhere to be found. Your smartphone or iPod is ready to be connected to your car stereo, but what should you be listening to? Easy. Here is a quick top 10 of podcasts that offer better content than most radio shows ever did. 

10. Doug Loves Movies

The lovable stoner of 'Super High Me' and the shortly aired 'Benson Interuption' has been doing his film podcast for a couple years. It is recorded in front of a live audience at the UCB theater. His guests include comics, actors, and others from media. It's a loose discussion of pop culture with silly jokes and almost always includes a round of the 'Leonard Maltin' game. 

9. Fitzdog Radio

Greg Fitzsimmons is a long time stand up comedian and frequent guest of the Howard Stern show not only has his own satellite radio show but a podcast. He seems to have borrowed the Stern style of asking personal and embarrassing questions but does it in a natural way with more humility. He has a very honest show where he is not afraid to talk about his own life and gets guests to open up to him. Fitzsimmons is quick witted and can create a quality joke out of thin air.

8. Christopher Titus 

Another veteran of the stand up circuit and star of the canceled Fox television series 'Titus.' Titus, Bombshell Rae, and Stuntman Tommy go throw the silliness of what the news has to offer and rip it down in a humorous and frustrated way. Titus and Rae will set aside the jokes to analyze many topics and have a truthful discussion. The show never seems to lean politically one way or another and speaks from the every-man's point of view.  

7. Cort & Fatboy

Two nerdy and hilarious FM radio personalities from the Portland, OR market. They lost their show when the radio station was bought and changed over. (The station only lasted a year after the change.) After they were fired they jumped to the podcast format easily as they offered all their radio shows as a podcast format anyway. They discuss pop culture, technology, and all things nerdy. Fatboy is a quick witted humorist and Cort drives the show along while bringing his ability to crack a timely joke as well. 

6. Nerdist

Chris Hardwick is a stand up comedian and has hosted too many shows since the 90's too even listed. He podcasts with fellow comedian Jonah Ray, and Matt Mira. They discuss all things nerd between hilarious banter among themselves. 

5. Talking Shit w/ Jim & Eddie

Stand up comic derelicts Eddie Ifft and Australian born Jim Jeffries berate their friend/assistant Jason Auer. They usually have a guest from the comedy world and do exactly what their title says, talk shit. From disturbing stories to horrifying antics while they record, the show is entertaining, hilarious, and will make you take a shower when you're finished.   

4. Marc Maron WTF

Marc Maron is another veteran of stand up comedy. He has numerous late night appearances under his belt and hosted a radio show on the now defunct Air America. His podcast is not so political and focuses more on very intimate, intense, and witty one on one interviews with people from all over the spectrum. He got a lot of buzz when he did some controversial interviews with polarizing characters such as Robin Williams, Dane Cook, and Carlos Mencia. Maron has the ability to make guests cry, give it a listen. 

3. Comedy Bang Bang

It might take you a few minutes to understand what the hell is going on when listening to Comedy Bang Bang hosted by Scott Aukerman. Formerly named Comedy Death Ray the show started out live at the UCB theater. It has been renamed but contains all the same silliness. It's an improv comedy show that includes guests and characters from comedy. It's over an hour of complete hilarious nonsense.  

2. Joe Rogan

Rogan, yet another stand up comedian who's career spans almost two decades, UFC commentator, and Fear Factor host. He records a funny, thought provoking, and truth seeking podcast. Guests include comics, actors, and video game makers among many other fields. Rogan and guests discuss benefits of some drugs, living healthy and fully, and big picture concepts such as the beginning of man. No topic is too big or too trivial. No topic is safe from a joke. A great long-form podcast that has developed a large following.

1. Adam Carolla

The Podfather, Adam Carolla, was fired from his old radio job when the station flipped formats. Instead of going back to another station which he easily could have he said 'f' you to the man and made his own online podcast network. He showed other comedians that a podcast could produce higher quality content than many radio shows and that with quality and consistency a large following would come. He now has advertising, employees, co-hosts, and even sound effects. The Carolla show is the standard for what podcasts can be. His show also took over the Guinness World Record for most downloaded podcast.

   

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Late Review: Halo Reach Finally Becomes Unplayable

I'll try to be quick on how Bungie ruined my favorite game series of all time. When the very first Halo came out for the original Xbox it was the only non-sports, non-racing game I purchased. It's system link multiplayer reminded me of playing Quake for PC online in the late 90's. I was never a big gamer but the perfection Bungie had achieved in Halo had me hooked. Since then I've bought every sequel on the release date and have been disappointed. 

Halo 3 felt like the series was righting itself after the hugely dissatisfying Halo 2. Halo Reach looked like the game that would finally fix all the broken pieces and be the perfect game before Bungie gave up the Halo name to Microsoft Studios. It was not that at all. Reach feels like a lazy cop out. 

About a month after playing the game I was voice banned. The ban lasted what seemed to be just over month. There is no definite criteria released on how you get a voice ban, on how long it lasts, and how to avoid getting banned again. I'm in my third voice ban since late last year and it has been almost two months of not being able to communicate with teammates. I'm aware I talk trash and even berate my own team when they play horribly. It's a game with a mature rating, people over 18 years old can handle the 'f' word. If they can't, then they can mute me. But alas, I'm just banned from voice for everyone.  

The load out options made the game very frustrating. Armor lock ruins the game experience, you think your in an old school run and gun battle and as you think you're taking your last head shot to win the battle and they bust out an armor lock. The only defense mechanism against armor lock is to throw your controller at the middle of your TV so you can't play anymore. The load out options work much better as in game 'pick-ups.' That way everyone isn't running around with special items. 

Reach was obviously geared towards the super nerd group, MLG. Major League Gaming. These neck-beards like their game made a certain way and Bungie listened. The problem is there are way more casual gamers than 'pro' gamers. Updated play lists include sections specifically made for MLG, which created another issue. Anyone who thinks they are good want to test their skills against MLG, those who play casually stay in the old playlists. What you get is a huge separation of skill levels. Big Team games are a cluster-fuck of low skill players who don't understand simple strategies, more often than not half the team doesn't understand how to capture the flag. 

Don't want to play with bad players? Jump to MLG favored playlists, here if you don't have 12 a hours a day to dedicate to honing your skills you will be that guy with two kills a game. Not very fun. 

I used to throw away hours a day to Halo 3, it would take a lot to get boring. Halo Reach just isn't fun though. I'm just about done with the game. It's good news that Microsoft is taking over the series. Even better news is that Halo CE is being re-released on the Reach engine. I'll write more on the Halo CE release as information comes in. Bye-bye Bungie, you once were great but have overstayed your welcome.

      

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Does Dropshipping on eBay Work in 2011?

A few years ago I was able to casually make an extra couple hundred dollars a month dropshipping on eBay. I invested very little time and didn't put a penny of my own money towards it. I stopped because I didn't need the money and didn't want to stay on top of my account.

Dropshipping is a reselling method used mostly by individuals. It allows you to sell a product for a profit with out ever buying it upfront or stocking it. Most dropshippers use eBay as their retail venue. The system is pretty simple and usually requires no investment or membership charges. The supplier sells an item at wholesale and has a picture and description available online. The retailer then copies the picture and description and lists them on eBay for a higher price than wholesale. When the item is purchased the retailer uses the money received from the buyer to purchase from the supplier and fills an order to send the item to the buyers address.

I tried to come back this year to sell again and make more money this time. It did not work out as planned. eBay's fees have increased again since my hiatus making it close to impossible to mark up items at a profit and stay competitive no matter what supplier you have. 

eBay has been cracking down and ridding the marketplace of unethical sellers, which is great, but bad buyers did seem to have had a magnetic attraction to bad sellers. With bad sellers out of the way bad buyers still exist and were showing up in many of my auctions. They bid, win, and don't pay. Which is a huge loss of time. They leave negative feedback for things clearly stated in the description. A negative feedback is debilitating to a new seller.  

The worst experience I had was with PayPal. As soon as I started they put my funds on a 21 day hold. Meaning I could no longer pay the supplier directly with the buyers money. This was unexpected but I did have my own funds to move transactions along. It was a pain to wait three weeks to have access to my own money, but it was workable. After I solved that issue my account was 'temporarily locked' until I re-verified my address and bank account. This seemed completely unnecessary as I had verified my account just weeks earlier. This resulted in 48 hours of not being able to send or receive money, at a time where I was selling just over ten items a day. That was once again solved and I went about business as usual.

Less than two weeks after the initial lockout I was once again locked out and told to verify more personal information. I was enraged, but proceeded. Twenty four hours later I was met with a message saying I was a 'high risk' seller and PayPal had made the decision to close my account completely. My funds are still on hold in the closed PayPal account. I cannot access them for 180 days. 

It has been a horrible experience this time around. I looked around the web and found many people have been pushed away from doing business on eBay. Even buyers have left the auction site because as eBay's selling fees continue to rise, sellers cannot sell cheaply and make a profit. eBay has been a nightmare this year for me. I will never go back. Think twice before thinking you can run a home business from their site. 

      

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iPhone 5 Release Date Pushed Back

We're still waiting to get word when the iPhone 5, or more likely to be named iPhone 4S, will be revealed. Insiders are claiming they've heard production on components will not begin until as late as September 2011. No statement has been made as to whether the Japan earthquake is a factor in this, but many speculate this is the case.

What new features will the iPhone 5/4S have? Probably not anything revolutionary. Apple will obviously upgrade performance components. I'd expect to see a dual core processor, more RAM, graphics acceleration, and higher quality front and back cameras. Rumors are that Apple will do away with the blocky, square style of the iPhone 4 and go back to a rounder, smoother style like the former generations that were favored by most users. By the time it comes out it should be true 4G capable to keep up with competition. 

Really the biggest difference I assume we'll see is a larger screen. Not that the phone will be much larger, but the actual touch screen real estate will cover more surface area leaving a smaller border around the screen. There are some rumors that the 'home' button will be left off. Not sure how that would function or if it's worth the trouble.

The best reason to turn in the iPhone 4 to get the iPhone 5 in the upcoming months? 'Grip of death' should be fixed. I can't be personally too excited for the iPhone 5, seeing as I haven't even 'upgraded' to the iPhone 4. I just don't see any problems with my 3GS compared to what's to come. That being said, I'm sure I'll get an iPhone 5, but much after the lines have cleared.

   

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Adam Carolla: Guinness World Record

Yesterday Adam Carolla announced on his podcast, The Adam Carolla Show, and on Jimmy Kimmel Live that his show had broken the Guinness world record for most downloaded podcast. The achievement had been previously held by Ricky Gervais.

Carolla was let go from his morning show on KLSX based in Los Angeles after the station was reformatted. Carolla quickly turned around and started recording podcasts from his home. In the first year Carolla's podcast had more than 50 million downloads. Since then the show has evolved into a full fledged internet radio station. In 2009 iTunes selected The Adam Carolla Show as the best Audio Podcast.

Carolla's Appearance on JKL (ABC)




The RSS for TACS can be found here: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheAdamCarollaPodcast

   

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Use Your iPhone in Your Car For Everything

Why are you still listening to the same boring, tired, censored, over-sponsored talk shows and the same looped 40 pop songs when your smart phone can replace everything? Your favorite DJ has been fired. Your favorite music station has switched to another top 40 station. It's time to turn your back on an industry that turned it's back on you. You workout, clean, and hang out with ear buds in while you stream Pandora internet radio. So why haven't you switched your driving routine?

It's actually very simple to connect your smart phone to your car stereo, as long as you have a data signal from your carrier. Most new stereos have a USB connection, which is what smart phones use to charge or transfer data. By connecting your phone you can not only listen to files downloaded on your phone but stream media from apps that taking are over radio.

• Pandora: A free app that streams music related to any artist you select.
• LastFM: Much like Pandora but has a monthly fee.
• Slacker Radio: Like Pandora but has more ads in between.
• Stitcher: Streams podcast, you can search and favorite many podcasts.

When I purchased my iPhone I actually had an older stereo that did not have a USB port built in. So now what? There are a couple options to work around this. The cheapest and easiest way is to buy an FM transmitter. These will connect via USB and then send a signal over an FM radio signal. You can then tune into the signal you've selected and listen to your phone. The drawback of this method is a lower quality sound, and you always charge your phone through these devices.

Many older stereos that don't have USB do have a manufacturer specific port in the back of the stereo for AUX input for different devices such as multiple disc changers. Remember those? I found with Kenwoods that they made a cable that plugged into the port and into an iPhone/iPod. I found the model and searched for it on eBay. The cable only cost a few dollars and works great! It charges the phone while streaming media.

I didn't want my phone just rolling around on the floor so the next accessory I purchased for it was a windshield mount. Again, this item was found on eBay for just over $10 and has been stably secured to my window for over a year. 

The end result was a fully functional and very cool looking set up.

   

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Review: Media Monkey vs iTunes Software

I don't transfer many files to my iPhone anymore, I haven't in months. With great apps like Stitcher, which streams user selected podcasts, or Pandora, which streams user created 'radio' stations. For some reason I downloaded the newest Rick Ross album 'Teflon Don." I get it downloaded, double click the iTunes icon on my desktop, and watch that resource hog software bogging my system down instantly. After a minute of watching the software loading slower than anything else I have I find that I cannot transfer the tracks I've selected to my iPhone. A Google search could have found an answer but I decided iTunes didn't deserve to be brought back to a full life on my desktop. 

Media Monkey had been my main media library before acquiring an iPhone last year. The only reason I ever downloaded iTunes was because I assumed it would 'play nice' with the iPhone. Without looking up if the iPhone is compatible with Media Monkey I downloaded the lightly sized file and had it installed within a couple minutes. It recognized my iPhone instantly and let me transfer any file I wanted to right away. The phone read all the files I transfered to it's library and I was set.

Media Monkey offers all of the features that iTunes does plus some. The best thing about the software is that it is a small file (less than 8 megabytes) in comparison to the monstrous 80 megabyte iTunes package. Media Monkey fires up on my dual core system in a couple seconds and uses very little system resources to stay running. It organizes all media the same way you'd be used to on iTunes or Windows Media Player. It has community plugins, skins, themes, and more. It's a fully functional, fully customizable, quick and organized piece of FREE software. There is a 'gold' $20 version, personally I don't see what I'm missing in the freeware version.

Features:

• Manage Your Music
• Sync
• Record & Convert
• Identify Tracks
• Tag
• Organize & Rename
• Playlists
• Burn
• Podcast Catcher
• Play
• Party
• Visualize
• Reports and Statistics
•    Customize

Media Monkey beats Windows Media Player and iTunes in functionality, I'd suggest replacing you're library software with this on any system. There is Linux version as well. 

Check the website: Media Monkey

Download it directly: Cnet Download

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Is NBC Scared of the Internet

I can only name a handful of shows now-a-days just because there are so many that are just not good. There are a few that are unique, interesting, and actually very well done. Those few I try to follow quite closely, I don't spend much time watching TV so I crave the select few good shows. The other day I signed up for a free trial of Hulu Plus on the Xbox 360. Sorry PlayStation users, who knows when your network will be back up. I signed up for that trial of Hulu specifically to watch Community on NBC. 

To my surprise while the NBC channel on Hulu had quite a few shows available it seems they don't have the big current hits streaming on demand. I can somewhat understand this, they are holding on to what they can of the terrestrial market and want to drive people to watch live programming versus lesser paying online streaming media. Then I noticed a green "Web Only" button above the Community header. I was quickly annoyed. Web only? I am on the web! What do they think this Xbox is connected through? 

I switched over to my home theater PC which is connected to the exact same TV and fired up Community. Half way through the show I realized I didn't sign into Hulu. I was watching the same free content available to everyone. So I can watch Community on the free web version but it's not offered via a paid premium service? Of course Hulu isn't making the decision, the networks are contractually limiting the licensing of these shows, but what is the decision making process here?

Hulu Plus is available on gaming systems, smartphones, and tablets. I imagine the networks believe by limiting shows licensing  to an extent they can hold onto some of the live television viewers where most of the money is made. I wonder if they realize more and more people are connecting computers via HDMI directly to their HDTV's?

Almost all networks, even deep cable, stream most if not all of their shows on their websites now. The networks seem to be trying to use the internet but it feels like they're falling short. I don't see how broadcast and cable television will exist in 10-20 years. The old, out of touch, men running these companies need to realize the company that fully utilizes the internet first will transition easiest.
     

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