Joe Beda’s EightyPercent.Net

I’ve wanted to try this for a while – a little ludwig goes a long way: HP DVD Movie Writer – and so finally bought one and tried it out.

Net impression – I am a little disappointed. This is basically a usb-attached dvd burner with some bundled software. It has a few features to automate the transfer of a vhs tape to dvd – notably a bundled set of video in ports. But I was under the impression that a PC was hardly needed to transfer VHS tapes to DVD – the hp site says “Transfer your home video to long-lasting DVDs … all without additional hardware or software.” and “Transfer, edit and preserve your home video ? even print DVD case covers ? with one easy-to-use device.” and “automatic, unattended conversion of your home movies”.

Well that is all a little over the top. The device is non-functional without an attached PC driving it. And you have to interact a lot with the “Wizard” to get it to capture your tapes. And I am pretty sure you need at least two other devices – a pc and a printer – to print the dvd case covers. The bundled software is the normal set of bundled shlock you will find with a PC or dvd burner these days. Perhaps slightly more automated but the same basic crud.

Now, it did create playable DVDs which is something, this can be hard to do. I didn’t create a single coaster. So I guess it got some things right. But nowhere near as automated and trouble-free as implied.

The Jeff Pulver Blog: Best Site for Consumer Broadband Communications: DSL Reports – Jeff points to the VOIP forum on DSL reports, great source of details on consumer VOIP services.

This time of year I really appreciate QFC’s support of the needy – they make it incredibly easy to pick up a prepackaged $5 or $10 bag of groceries for the local foodbank. Every time I am in the store I grab one of these bags, it is a great and easy way to provide some help.

I’m curious to know what I can do with my Cisco ATA Voip interface box provided by Vonage. Shawn Djernes has a little how-to on getting to the web interface, tho I am worried that Vonage has password-protected it. Here’s a hack from last year that might let me in, I don’t know what firmware I have tho. Anyone have any recos on how to look into the box?

Update: some more good links over on dslreports like this guide to configuring the cisco ata186.

Well dang, none of these work, because they are all specific to version 2.14 or lower of the firmware and i am on version 2.16. Still digging…

Update: the cisco site has some more documentation on…seems like maybe i should try accessing the device thru the IVR and perhaps opening up the device for web config.

As rich mentions, Office Student and Teacher Edition is the way to go for home use of Office. $149 list, permission to install on 3 machines. So $50 a machine, and what do you get? Well the most visible improvement I see is outlook – outlook 2003 with newsgator is a pretty good way to read all my rss feeds.

Having Reshaped Broadway, Disney Readies a Second Act – I will make a special trip to New York to see a good Mary Poppins musical. That movie was HUGE when I grew up – Dick Van Dyke was brilliant in it.

Winds of Change.NET: How To Support The Troops – great set of links.

bubblegeneration - strategy, business models and technology – found via slashdot.

Amazon.com: Books: The Time Traveler’s Wife (Today Show Book Club #15) – wow, wow, wow! This is a great book. The story of a life-long relationship between a man suffering from random time travel events and his wife, and the effects that this situation has on their relationship. Just a wonderful story – great characters, a beautiful relationship. While time travel is a part of the story, the book doesn’t go over old time-travel ground but rather focuses on the relationship and how it evolves and develops. A great holiday gift.

Details on upcoming Shuttle SN85g4’s, CPU ID utility, DVD ripping, Hyperthreading, … the guy is a blogging machine!

XIII: Confidential…and it requires 2.5G for a full install. This seems like a new high for a single title, at least in my experience. All of a sudden an 80G drive doesn’t seem that big…

Needed some escapist reading and picked up The Road to Armageddon by Larry Collins based on a reco I read somewhere. What a piece of junk. Absolutely no style in his writing whatsoever. Nothing evocative at all. Uni-dimensional characters. Incredibly slow start. The pace picks up a little and I managed to get through the book but basically a piece of crap. Oh and a right-wing apologist theme all the way through; I am a little right of center myself but this was transparent and just plain painful to read. Even the binding on this book is crappy, like it came from a vanity press, not a commercial publisher.