Posted By RichC on March 5, 2009
Powerenz.com makes a very portable set of solar panels that looks to provide a great way to charge or power low wattage electrical devices while away from conventional power sources. The flexible panels can be easily toted in a bag or backpack and will provide up to 180 watts of power. They can also be linked together to provide up to 300 continuous watts, with the downside being the cost — $3000.
Posted By RichC on March 4, 2009
YourFonts.com makes it easy to create a personalized font based on your own handwriting. I created one in about 15 minutes, including the scanning and uploading — very cool.
After printing out the PDF template , I used a fine tip ‘Sharpie‘ to scribble in the letters and numbers as the very easy instructions describe. I didn’t bother to do the ‘included’ second page, but those who need accented letters and special characters might want to take the time to do that.
I then scanned the form at 300dpi using the scanner on my multi-purpose fax machine and uploaded it to the YourFonts site. (make sure the scanned page is no less than 1000 px — lousy quality — or no more than 5000 px — better quality.) The next step is to upload the scan, preview the font on their site and finally download the .TTF file to be placed in your font folder on your Mac or PC. It couldn’t be simpler.
Below is an image of a full page (8.5×11) word document using the font I created, click for the larger version.
It is easy to selecting your font in any program on your computers and is ideal for personalized letters and envelopes you type have a personal flare. This might be a great way to address Christmas cards or to use for some special invitations, but one need to know that if you email a document, they will need to have your font ‘unless’ you embed a copy into the doc. (don’t use it for emails since the end user will most likely not have your personal font installed)
I’m looking forward to showing this to my daughter knowing she will love creating her own decorative fonts for free!
Posted By RichC on March 3, 2009
I’ll keep this post short since my mood is the same; the markets tried to find a reason to bounce after loosing 299 point on the DJIA yesterday, but traders and investors would have none of it. The averages did cross yesterday’s ‘ugly’ close a couple time throughout trading on Tuesday, but in the end few were comfortable holding onto positions. Today’s loss was a little over a 1/2% seeing the DJIA down 37.27 to 6726.02 making it the lowest in 13 years.
I promise to post something positive tomorrow!
Posted By RichC on March 3, 2009
Testing new Twitter polling tool by twtpoll.com. (thanks for the link @stoweboyd)
Posted By RichC on March 2, 2009
Here’s a bright thought: if, scratch that, when … the economy rebounds, it most likely will rise quickly from the shocking lows we are currently seeing. The dark side is that this selloff doesn’t seem to be finding a bottom and there aren’t many confident traders ready buy stocks again.
Today’s news from AIG that they lost $61.66 Billion in the last quarter not only put them in the history booksas the company with the largest quarterly loss ever, but also drove investors to sell their already pummled stocks. So much so as to drive the Dow Jones Industrial average well beneath the 7000 market to 6763 at the close of trading.
Posted By RichC on March 2, 2009
In my circle of diesel loving friends I have rarely heard that people have difficulty in deciding between the well equipped 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI or 2009 Toyota Prius, but that isn’t always the case for those listening to all the media hype praising hybrid cars. In case you are one of the few looking to buy a new car (hmm?), do yourself a favor and drive a new ‘clean diesel’ vehicle before believing your only options are traditional gas powered cars or hybrids.
Edmunds.com has an interesting video comparison between the 2009 VW Jetta TDI and Toyota Prius and is well worth seeing. My advice is that if you want to ‘go green’or just squeeze a few more miles out of a gallon of fuel, give the new clean diesel vehicles a good look and drive — it will be time well spent. BTW, the Volkswagen TDI Cup racing series will be running biodiesel for the entire 2009 season! (CinciTDI link)
(I’m using this post to test embed a higher quality YouTube video clip — notes below)
How-To hint:
I’ve posted previously on how to add the “&fmt=18” code behind the YouTube URL in the address bar, but unfortunately that will not work when embedding a video to a blog post. But, there is a way to add and append &ap=%2526fmt%3D18 to the end of video clip’s URL specified in “param value” and “embed src” offer by YouTube’s embed feature. It seems to work well and definitely improves the quality of content used in posts.
I also like changing the normal 425 px wide default embed size to a 480 or 485 px in order to go full column wide. Remember that the “normal” lower quality YouTube video comes from a 320 px wide original clip and is “blown up to a” 480px embed which certainly doesn’t enhance the image quality. By sing the HQ clip code you’l already be using the 480 px wide version of the video and so why would you want to embed it at anything smaller than 480 px? Give it a try.
Posted By RichC on March 1, 2009
I had a Skype conversation with Cali Lewis (aka: Geekbeat.TV) and her business experts on Saturday for a pilot for a new podcast called WealthNation, I think? She invited me to ask a couple business questions pertaining to liability protection utilizing a corporation or LLC and a follow up on product patent protection. Unfortunately I’m not sure I’m any farther ahead in the new PrepForSun.com (prep4sun.com) venture, but they gave me another opinion.
I’m still somewhat uncomfortable with the expense and risk:
I’ll be sure to update when the new WealthNation podcast is introduced, but for now here is the CaliLive.TV pre-broadcast.
Posted By RichC on February 28, 2009
For those who enjoy surfing I’m embedding a couple enjoyable clips from the Volcum House Show on O’ahu, Hawaii. The first clip has some great surfing footage and tour of a three story home overlooking the big winter waves to the west of Hale’iwa (Sunset Beach & Waimia Bay) and to the east of Kaena Point — western most tip of O’ahu’s famous north shore. (Kaena Point is the un-verified location of the biggest faced waves … 60-80 feet!).
Sunset Beach looking west toward Kaena Point, O’ahu
The second clip is an interview on Volcom‘s StoneYourTV with long time surfer local ‘fuggly dude’ Dave Wassel (watch the latest show with him hunting wild pig) and it offers a glimpse of the surfing life … as well as someone who lives and works in O’ahu as a lifeguard and home caretaker.
Posted By RichC on February 27, 2009
On Friday afternoon President Obama spoke to the troops at Camp Lejeune North Carolina and laid out his plans for the promised troop withdrawal and timetable from Iraq. (WSJ) His plan is to scale back the current 142,000 troop force which is now in Iraq by the latter half of 2010. The date specific for the combat mission to end is “by August 31, 2010” with a plan to have the balance force of 35,000 – 50,000 support soldiers out by the end of 2011. The President was well receive by the Marines under his command, but never quite as loud as when he promised an increase in military pay (below).
The President’s plan of an 18 month withdrawal was quicker than the Pentagon advised by 6 months, but longer than most Democrats in congress wanted. The compromise was received positively by most Republicans who point to the reduction in violence as a sign that the democracy in Iraq is succeeding and that the ultimate mission will be successful for both the citizens of that country and a victory for freedom. All in all, President Obama may be bridging the gap between the conservatives and the liberals on this issue and gaining the confidence of those who serve directly under his command — the dedicated men and women of the United States Military.
Posted By RichC on February 27, 2009
It is looking more and more like President Obama is more in tune with a 19 month troop withdrawal plan favored by the Pentagon which keeps a significant ‘support’ presence in Iraq. I listened to my Representative John Boehner this morning (also enjoyed his speech at CPAC) and it sounds like the President’s position is more in line with conservative Republicans on this issue rather than the liberal Democrats, including the House and Senate leaders Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. Obama’s decision should come later this morning.
