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Weather Underground offers a free 1 year premem membership. Use the directions below to redeem. I have had account with Weather Underground for years, I can tell you the only other sites I check for weather is on Google or iPhone via Yahoo. Love WeatherUnderground! Weather Underground 1-Year Premium Membership Should you have an account already, login to your account and go to settings. Once there enter the renewal code above in the membership screen. |
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Seems as though the Droid Razr by Motorola will be released tomorrow. For an iOS user I was wondering if anyone has considered this purchase or would even be interested? According to the Droid Razr advertisement by Verizon: quote: So how about it? Personally if I were under the Android system I would defiantly hold out for the Ice Cream Sandwich release of phones. (which was just released 3 to 5 days ago) Are you under contract? Does any one even care about this release? |
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For me, finding a decent pair of jeans at a reasonable price is hard to come by. While I was at my parents house this past winter I decided I would take a trip to Wal-Mart as my recent pair of jeans wore a hole in the knee. I really just needed something for the stay, as I have other jeans (Levi's) at home. I was looking for a pair of jeans $20 or less that would just get me through the week. Well I found a hidden gem at Wal-Mart, which were a pair of Wrangler Jeans. The jeans cost me $14.99 + Tax and have been worth every penny. The Fit I am not much for tight fitting jeans, so the pair or wranglers I bought were Boot Cut, Relaxed Fit. They fit great, from the moment I tried them on and even today, they fit great. For the price I could not pass up a pair of jeans that fit that well. I never really considered Wal-Mart to buy my jeans, as I have had other clothing (and shoe) related items I bought from Wal-Mart that just wore out within a week. But I am glad I did not hesitate to buy these Wrangler Jeans. The Style Not being a stylish guy, I just like jeans that fit and do not have the "pre holed" designer holes in them (why would I want holes already in my jeans when I wear holes in them myself?). I am more of a simple man who likes a lighter color jean with no fancy design. Wal-mart had a few varieties for me to choose a darker color or a lighter. Although, I really liked both designs, in the end I decided to stick with the lighter color, as it seemed to suit me more. The Wear and Tear Well 9 months or so later, I am proud to say that my Wrangler jeans from Wal-Mart are still in tact, holeless and going strong. I tend to wear my clothes into the ground and can be very hard. However, these Wrangler Jeans that I bought from Wal-Mart have lived up to the challenge and still holding up. So the next time you are in the market for a new pair of Jeans, and do not want to spend an arm and a leg on a pair that will only last maybe a year of normal usage, I would suggest going and checking out Wal-Mart's Wrangler jeans, who knows, you may find that you been over spending on Jeans this whole time! |
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Mood: popular Music: wrangler, wal-mart, good, style, hard, great, pair, jeans, excellent, strong, sturdy, cheap, affordable, cost, effective |
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Amazon is offering free Amazon Prime a $79.00 for free for 12 months. So what does this mean to you? Well, it means you can take advantage of: 1. Free 2 day shipping with Amazon on qualified prime items 2. Free access to Prime Instant Videos which allows you unlimited instant streaming of thousands of movies, and TV Shows. For those of you who use to have a .EDU address I would recommend going to the website in which you graduated from or use to attend and try to retrieve it. It took me about 15 minutes to re-familiarize myself with the new interface of my college, but now I have access to my old .EDU account. .EDU accounts can get you other discounts like discounts on hardware, software, tickets, and books. Do yourself a favour an take 15 minutes to go and find yours. Use the link below to get your free prime account External links Join Amazon Student for Discount 
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Ever since I got my HP Touchpad I have been trying to find different uses for it. Today I successfully set up my HP Touchpad to stream Movies, Shows and Audio over my SAMBA share. This is thanks to the guys over at Pre-Central who figured out the Ubuntu Chroot environment. As the first step, you should head over there and work on installing the Chroot environment (I setup the Debian because I prefer that, but either or works). Mounting the SAMBA Share After the Chroot environment has been installed, go ahead and load it up in Xectuah. Once in you should be in the root directory by default. I made a directory called "Media". Notice the captiol M, since Linux is case sensitive, this will create that directory. There is already a "media" directory, but that tends to be used for other items. I find it best to just do the capital M instead of messing with that directory. After you have the directory created, you will need to map your SAMBA share. (Note: Windows 7 Shares are different and may not work / need tweaking. I do not have a Windows box, so I will not be posting the directions on doing that). To map the samba share it is a simple command: mount -t cifs //SERVERIPORHOSTNAME/Share /Media -o username=user,password=pass Make sure to replace the "Share" with the actual name of the share and set the username/password if you need to. Once that is done, pop out of the card (do not close it). Go into Preware and install TouchPlayer. Open up TouchPlayer and Browse for Media. By default it should open under /media/internals we need to go up one directory and enter into ext3fs. Once in there enter the debian or ubuntu chroot folder (whichever you setup). And then enter the "Media" directory, and as long as the share connected you should be able to stream any file on your server just fine! I have not tried any 720p or 1080p content but it works great for my 480p videos and shows. And there you have it. You can now easily stream your network media to your Touchpad. I have not tried this from a remote location yet, but I plan to setup an SSHFS or OpenVPN and try to connect to my home network and see how that streams. I figure it will be fine as long as the network can handle it. As always I will report my findings. Update: I tried a 720p Video I had, and it is streaming, it is a little choppy, but it does stream. If I come across a 1080p file and try it, I will report how that runs. Update 2: I have also found that using SSHFS yields a lot better performance over Samba. So if you have a linux File Server setup with SSH, this is deinfately the way to go. Even better, using the SSHFS remotely over a 1Mbit connection streams the 480p content perfectly. So it has the upside of being able to stream from almost anywhere! |
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Mood: angsty Music: hp, touchpad, ubuntu, debian, network, media, stream, streaming, chroot, how to, setup, linux, web os, touchplayer, preware, precentral, tutorial, samba, share |
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Belkin is running a great promotion as of Friday offering 50% off of all products with no minimum purchase until September 30th. If you enjoy Belkin products and shop online, Belkin.com is cutting their prices on all products found on their website. So if you like all accessories for things such iPod's, iPhones, iPad's, tablets, cases, cables, chargers, KVM switches, it's all available! Who wants to get in on some USB hubs?! FYI stay away from their routers. They are not so hot, your better off with a D-Link or Cisco router. Use Promo Code: FB50 |
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During the HP Touchpad firesale, I was one of the lucky people to pick up a 32GB HP Touchpad for $149. For the price you really cannot beat it, especially since the estimated cost of just the Touchpad hardware is $300. Now that I have my Touchpad, I really am not into paying an insane price for an HP specific case / keyboard. So I ventured over to Amazon.com to see what other items were being sold for the iPad 1 (since the iPad 1 has comparable dimensions). I came across a case / bluetooth keyboard set that was $38 shipped and it finally came! Getting the Keyboard to Work The real point of this blog is to help others pair a Bluetooth Keyboard (of any time whether it be from Dell, Microsoft or Apple) to the HP Touchpad. The process threw me off guard because most Bluetooth keyboards pairs ask you to type a key on the keyboard itself instead of asking for a pair key. This threw me through a loop. I searched all I could to figure out how I could get the keyboard to pair, fearing that I would have to bog down and return this nice case and buy an HP specific setup, until I decided to try something that I did not even think would work and to my surprise it worked. The Process Edit: Thanks to anonymous comment, it was found that a 1 numerical code is all you need. The process is simple. When you pair the Bluetooth Keyboard to the touchpad it will ask for a passkey, enter any 1 numerical code (I just used 1). After you do that, and the icons are spinning and it says, "Pairing" enter the same passcode used on the Bluetooth keyboard Edit: and then press the enter key on the keyboard (thanks to anonymous for correcting that). Voila, you now have your Apple, Microsoft or Dell type Bluetooth keyboard working with the HP Touchpad. Now you can use your Touchpad for other items much easier! Yay, it worked! I was so excited to get this working, and relieved that I did not have to go through an RMA process and spend more money for an HP Specific Bluetooth keyboard. Hopefully you find this entry useful and easy to follow. If you have any other tips, please let me know. EDIT: For those wondering about how the HP Touchpad fits into this iPad case, the fit is nearly perfect. Nothing is blocked all buttons and ports are available and the screen fits everything. It is a little tight at first, but either or it works great! |
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Mood: forsaken Music: connect, connecting, connection, ipad, tablet, touchpad, hp, 32gb, pairing, bluetooth, keyboard, pairing, howto, cheap, price, apple, dell, microsoft, work, specific, tip |
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Donate to Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes. I donated for my friend Melissa Cagle, so can you.quote: Donate here San Antonio Donate to Step Out Walk to Stop Diabetes |
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For the past 5 years I have been battling an auto-immune disease that attacks the Thyroid, called Hashimoto's disease. Since I am not an expert by any means on Thyroid diseases, I will let you do the research on that, but the basic gist is my auto-immune system attacks my which causes my T3 and T4 levels (also recorded as TSH levels) to be low and causes a ton of side affects to my body, such as weight gain, numbness, hair loss, fatigue, and many other symptoms. I found my thyroid problem when I was having Body Numbness back in 2006 and forced a doctor to check my Thyroid levels, as my genetic line has had a history of Thyroid problems. Low and behold, my TSH levels were dangerously low. Well 5 years later, I am doing better, still not my old self, but that could be for a number of reasons, including the Thyroid. But what I really want to talk about is my experiences with the different Thyroid Medication I have been on for the past 5 years and how they made me feel, so lets get to it! Levothyroxin On Levothyroxin, which was the original thyroid medicine I started taking, I was feeling great. It took about 3 years to fine tune it and the .88 dose was where it was at. Well it figures that right after we get the Thyroid medicine fine tuned, and I am actually feeling normal and like myself for the first time in years, they stop making the medicine. I had maybe 3 months of joy until my prescription for the drug Levothyroxin could not be filled anymore due to it not being produced. This was extremely depressing for me, as I felt great on Levothyroxin. Well it figures. I guess talking with my Doctor it is not uncommon for non-brand names to stop producing a pill on the whim, either due to the economy or not enough demand for the product. Now I needed to find a new brand to help get my thyroid under control. Thinking that I would go with a major brand name, I decided to try Synthroid next. Brand Name Synthroid Perhaps the most popular thyroid drug of choice is Brand name Synthroid. I started Synthroid after my Levothyroxin was no longer being produced. The first 3 months on Synthroid was hell. Since we were switching prescriptions my Doctor wanted me to come back in 3 months. Well I was glad that we had an appointment so close (its usually 6 months to 1 year checkups). On Synthroid, the best way to describe how I felt was I just wanted to rip off my skin and crawl out of it. It was pain to just get up by 8:00am let alone stay awake all day and then finally trying to have the energy to do anything outside of sleeping / sitting on the couch. Synthroid did not bode well with me, and perhaps if I had stayed with it for a bit longer my body would have adjusted, but to me it was not worth the time to try. Once my Doctor found out how I had been feeling he immediately gave me a few options of medicines to choose from and I chose Levoxyl. He said it would be the next closest thing to Levothyroxin so I decided to try it. Levoxyl I am currently on .75 Levoxyl and I can say that I may not feel the best all the time, and I still have problems with fatigue and getting up in the morning, but it does feel a ton better than Synthroid did. I am pleased with Levoxyl, although it took about 2 years to get the dosage tweaked. Since I was still feeling tired I wanted to try something different, so my last checkup in May I asked to be put on Cytomel, it is a T3 synthetic thyroid drug. The Cytomel is suppose to give you a quick energy boost, unlike the T4 which can take weeks or even months to start taking affect, Cytomel is generally instant. Well unfortunately for me, Cytomel really has not made much of a difference for me and I am probably going to go off of Cytomel after my next checkup. However, my Levoxyl is still working decent, if I could just get more energy I would be extremely happy. That left me doing a bit of research, as I know my vitamin levels are below normal I decided to look into what vitamins may help with my Thyroid levels. Vitamins I am Currently Taking for Thyroid Taking Vitamins on Thyroid, in general are fine (consult your Doctor) as long as they are 4 hours before or after you take your Thyroid pill. I have heard from friends and from online forums that there are a few Vitamins that can help your thyroid and give you a bit of an energy boost. From that I gathered that taking Selenium, Vitamin B, Vitamin E and Vitamin D, can all play an essential role in assisting with giving you more energy and removing "the fog". I have been on my Vitamin Regime for the past 2 months and I can say it has definitely helped. I do think clearer, I have a bit more energy and the best part is I think more rationally. For $45 every 90 days that is a small price to pay for feeling better. I plan on talking to my Doctor more about this next visit and maybe get a prescription written for some of the vitamins, so my FSA account can cover it. If you do have a Hypothyroid and need more energy or help clearing the fog, I would suggest talking to your Doctor about those vitamins, as they may help you. The End Well ending it up, I have had my ups and downs over the past 5 years. I am finally on something that seems to be working somewhat decent. I am still about 20-30lbs overweight and trying to lose that. With the extra energy I am getting I am starting to hike each weekend 9+ miles, and hopefully that will help kick start my weight loss. The vitamins do seem to help, its not like a night / day change, but I do notice a difference in my mood and my energy. Hopefully this can help you a bit if you do have a Thyroid problem. |
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Mood: uninspired Music: hypothyroid, thyroid, graves, disease, synthroid, levothyroid, levoxyl, expert, issues, hashimoto, immune, numbness, body, levels, tsh, problems, solution, immune, help |
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Having received a Google Music Beta invite and finding out that Google Music Beta supports linux, I decided to venture down the path of getting Google Music Beta to run on my headless Linux Server as a daemon. In an attempt to not have to copy my music off of my RAID Array just to upload it to Google. Luckily this process was actually really easy. My server is Debian based, so the instructions are for a Debian based Linux server (Ubuntu distros should work as well). The first thing to do is to download Google Music Beta Linux version. There is a .deb or .rpm, since this is for a Debian based distro I opted for the .deb. I have heard rumors that in order to get the Linux download file, you need to have a Linux User Agent setup in your browser. If you are not using Linux, google your browser and how to change the User Agent. I have provided an Agent string that should work: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.0.4) Gecko/2008102920 Firefox/3.0.4 (Splashtop-v1.0.5.0) Let me know of any problems with it and I will find another one. Installing the Google Music Beta Manager The first step will be to obviously install Google Music Beta Manager, this will require a few pre-requisites on the Server. Since my system is headless the main package that needed to be installed was X11 (I already had X11 installed for other items I do on my headless linux server). If you do not have X11 installed, the process may take some time to install, so be patient with it. Next I ssh'ed in to install few extra packages that are required by Google Music Manager Beta. Running a: sudo apt-get install libqtgui4 libqt4-network libvorbisfile3 xdg-utils should install the packages required. Once those are installed, cd to where you downloaded the Google Music Beta Manager to on the server (I used wget to download the .deb) and since I have a 32 bit system, I grabbed that version, here is a link (this may break at anytime and could change, so I would suggest getting the link from Google Music Beta's site.: wget http://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-musicmanager-beta_current_i386.deb. Now that the file is on my server and the pre-requisites have been installed, it is time to install Google Music Manager Beta! Luckily this is pretty simple: sudo dpkg -i google-musicmanager-beta_current_i386.deb (again that may change if you are on x64 or a different distro so use that file name instead). Now Google Music Manager is installed, but how will we access the interface on the headless? Accessing Google Music Manager Beta on Headless Of course, if you do not want to run Google Music Manager Beta as a daemon (running the background) then all you have to do is setup X11 forwarding over SSH and you can stop reading here (ssh -X servername), however, if you want to leave it running as a daemon like process, we have to get a bit more creative than that. First up let's install the pre-requisites for this part. sudo apt-get install xvfb Xvfb is a VNC server, which we can setup on a headless linux as a display and run the Google Music Manager Beta inside of it. Once that is installed, we will want to create a bash script, the script is very simple: Edit: Thanks to anonymous, I updated this with a cool option so you do not have to vnc in and enter your password! Thanks again! #!/bin/bash export DISPLAY=:2 Xvfb :2 -screen 0 1024x768x16 & google-musicmanager -p mypassword & x11vnc -display :2 -bg -nopw -listen localhost -xkb I named the file googlemusic.sh. After that I did a chmod +x googlemusic.sh to make it executable. Once that has been done, I simple did a ./googlemusic.sh When this runs you will see a lot of output on the screen, do not worry about it. Press enter and you should be back at the command line. A ps aux | grep google should tell you if google-musicmanager is running. Edited instructions, given the -p command line option. Notes After doing this myself I learned a couple items. Edited instructions, given the -p command line option. Finished That is pretty much it. Hopefully Google offers a Command Line Interface mode or daemon option in the future for the Music Manager in Linux, that would be awesome and extremely helpful. If Google does not well at least the method I described above should work just fine. If you have any tips, problems, etc please let me know, I am all about improving the article and getting a better performance for myself as well. For now, enjoy your Google Music Manager Beta running on a headless Linux server! |
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Mood: carefree Music: google, music, beta, manager, linux, headless, daemon, automatic, run, vnc, server, command, line, cli, x11, xserver, x windows, setup, howto, tutorial |
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A few months ago I was in dire need of a way to backup my server, effortlessly and efficiently, as a down server does not generate any income! Since the server is running headless (meaning no monitor attached to it and it had no X Server), the backup software needed to support Linux headless. A friend of mine turned me onto CrashPlan Backup Software, I was intrigued and did a bit of research. The research turned up great results and CrashPlan appeared to be the backup solution that my server required. I decided try the 30-day trial of CrashPlan Pro, as I wanted a Central Backup for my files. Setting up CrashPlan on Linux was pretty effortless (at least for me), just had to download the binary file from CrashPlan and run it on my server. The next step was a bit more difficult, accessing the CrashPlan interface to setup the backups on my Headless Server. Although it took some reading with trials and errors, once I figured it out, I have never second guessed the $5/month I spend on CrashPlan Pro to make sure my server stays backed up. In fact CrashPlan has saved me a few times from stupid mistakes. Setting up CrashPlan Pro on a Headless Linux Server The CrashPlan Backup Software setup on a Linux Headless server was actually pretty simple. Once the backup program software has been installed you need to install CrashPlan Software on your personal computer, as the method to access CrashPlan remotely requires an SSH Tunnel over a port, which will give access to the CrashPlan daemon running on your server. If you have ever setup SSH Tunnel's it is a fairly straight forward process. Basically you will take a local port on your own computer, setup the CrashPlan on your computer to use that port, which then connects to port on the server that the server's CrashPlan backup software is running on. However, before we can tunnel the port we need to make a change to the %CrashPlanInstallDIR%/conf/ui.properties file. Go ahead and open that file up (remember to change the first portion in %'s to be the actual path) and we need to edit the portion that says: #servicePort=4243. Remove the # sign from that line, and then change the port to what you feel like. Just make sure the port is above 1000. I just changed the 4243 to be 4244. The final step is creating a simple SSH Tunnel: ssh -L 4244:localhost:4243 %YourRemoteServerInfo% The 4243 port is the port that the CrashPlan daemon is running on at the server, so be sure to modify that if you setup CrashPlan to run on a different port. Now just open up CrashPlan Backup Software locally and it should be pointing to your server, and you can now setup the backups how you want! Restoring Files from CrashPlan Pro Backup Unfortunately, I have had to restore a few files, even a database from the CrashPlan Pro Backup my server does. This was actually a very easy system to use, if you are using the Software with the port Tunneled, you can have it restore the backup right to your server. However, I was not using the CrashPlan Backup Software over a Tunnel and needed to restore a file (as I was on a different computer). The CrashPlan Web Interface, although lacking a bit in functionality, provided me the means to download the file to my local computer, where I was able to SCP (Secure Copy) the file to my server and have it restored within minutes. The Web Interface saved me a huge hassle of trying to find a good backup of the file, which would have taken hours. Fortunately, CrashPlan also versions the file. So even if the backup has overwritten the latest file, you can still go back to clean version of the file by date! A major advantage for when you accidentally copy the wrong file over and overwrite the good file. Needless to say, this made me happy and completely justified the money I spent on the CrashPlan Pro backup! Want a Means to Backup Amongst Friends? CrashPlan offers it Backup Software free of charge. What comes with the free version of CrashPlan? Well you can easily setup a cluster with your friends and backup to them, and vice versa. CrashPlan allows you to do backups from Computer -> Computer effortlessly and easily. This feature is extremely handy, especially for families, where their data is not necessarily important enough to do a Central Backup, but want it backed up remotely else where. You just install the software on your families computer and your computer, and viola, you can easily synchronize files between the two (pictures and such) and everyone can have a backup of everyone else's data in case of a fire, flood, hardware crash, or any other type of disaster you can think of. I am extremely impressed that CrashPlan allows you to use their software, free of charge, to backup to other people, friends and family. As well as being a reasonable price for a Central Backup of your highly important data. Overall If you cannot tell yet, I am extremely satisfied with CrashPlan's Backup Software and Backup Solution as a whole. It puts my mind at ease, in case of any hardware failures, human mishaps or even natural disasters, knowing that I can easily get my data back and restored. The CrashPlan service has many benefits, one is perhaps a "Send us a harddrive we will copy your data and send it back" system, it costs quite a bit of money to do, but if you need your data back as soon as possible, this option eases your mind a bit more, as you can get your data back up and running in a matter of a day (if overnighted) vs multiple days of file transfers. The multiple options of retrieving and uploading data the CrashPlan offers, mixed in with being able to backup to friends and family, really sets CrashPlan apart from most backup software and to me puts CrashPlan as a must have in my book. |
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Mood: obscene Music: cheap, backup, remote, friends, computer, pc, server, linux, headless, effortless, easy, tunnel, ssh, crash, plan, crashplan, remote, easy, web, web interface, storage, setup, help, central, central backup, software, solution, review, simple, low cost, co |
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 I have 3 kids, 2 of them that would love to have an iPad and 1 that still sees in shapes. (newborn). I was thinking to myself today...what would be an ideal case for them?What would make me as an iPad owner feel ad-ease if they were to drop it or spill something on it. I came across 3 products by 3 separate companies that I feel would make the cut, but in no way have I tried any of there products. I have requested to all 3 companies a review unit, but I await a response. (contacted today) 1. iPad Case that can with stand a fall or drop. 2. iPad Case that can with stand a spill from milk, juice, or any other type of liquid 3. iPad Case that is at the same time still safe for a child. Ok so is this asking for to much? Personally I thought it was, and it would shock me to think that if any of these products could with stand number 2. Well here we go, here are 3 iPad Case and Holders for Kids that I can suggest, but not recommend since I have not tried them myself. 1. iGuy Standing Cover for iPad and iPad 2 Fun, free-standing kid-friendly iPad and iPad 2 case Lightweight foam protection with plenty of personality Fits both iPad and iPad 2 2. Trident Kraken Hybrid Case for iPad iPad Unsurpassed Level of Protection Ergonomically Designed for Comfortable Hold Anti-Scratch, Anti-Glare, Anti-Moisture Clear PET Screen Protector Anti-Dust Design with Dust and Silicone Covers for All Openings 3. Otterbox iPad 2 Defender Case OtterBox APL2-IPAD2 accommodates Apple iPad 2 INNER LAYER: Hi-impact polycarbonate shell, OUTER LAYER: Durable silicone skin Access for docking accessories through integrated dock door, Inner coring in silicone absorbs additional impact Memory foam pads cradle the iPad inside case and provide additional shock absorption Integrated shield fits on both back and front of case. Shield stand provides two angles for easy viewing and typing. If I had to choose from the 3 it would have to be the Otterbox. Only because I have seen an iPhone encased in one, and run over by a SUV, but right now it is hard for me to make a recommendation since I have not tried any of them. Has anyone else? |
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Ready to Dance? Well neither was I, until at my parents house for Christmas, my sister brought Just Dance 2 for the Wii. Well, I still cannot dance, but I did have a blast at trying! Just Dance 2 for the Wii Nintendo Entertainment System is a great game to getting you up off the couch and moving with even a bit of a cardio workout if you let yourself get into Just Dance 2. The variety of songs are not the best, but Just Dance 2 does have some fun songs and decent dance songs. So let's take a deeper look at Just Dance 2! Is Just Dance 2 a Workout? Well this all just depends on you. If you let yourself go and dance for 30minutes +, yea it can be a heck of a workout, I know I work up a sweat! How great of a cardio workout is it, I am not sure. I do not think I ever really lost any weight with it, but it was fun. I could play Just Dance 2 for hours, and I did, many nights. The game has a high replay value, in my opinion, because the game is fun, and I always wanted to try and beat my high scores. Just Dance 2 also has a "Just Sweat" feature, where there is a weekly plan for you to do, and all you have to do is get enough "Sweat Points" for the day to hit your mark each week, to promote doing a workout each day. The sweat meter is judged by how much the remote shakes, so it is easy to trick the system, but if you are doing it, why trick it? Well let's move on to the music. Decent Music Variety Just Dance 2 has a pretty decent dance music variety. From the Outkast's Hey Ya! to the Jackson 5's I want you back, to my Favorite, Rasputin they all are a blast. Although were a few songs that I did not really care for, like "Big Girl you are Beautiful" or "Cosmic Girl", mainly because it was for me to get into the groove with those songs, but over all most of the songs are easy to get into and have fun with. The Wii Store offers a free song, Fireworks. My wife seems to love this song, again another song I could not really get into, but now anytime we hear the song somewhere, shes gotta start bustin' out the Wii dance moves. Overall this has been a fun game for the whole family. A Great Game Overall, I feel that Just Dance 2 was a great game. It had a great re-play factor and is even funner in a big group where you have "Dance off" competitions and try to stay in the game as long as possible. It allows you to be creative and to have a great family game to play, even my 10 year old niece had a blast and my 1.5 year old daughter even got into Rasputin (I guess that shows how much I played Just Dance 2). I have been very happy with Just Dance 2, and if you are looking for something a bit more fun and exciting for the grown ups on the Wii, that has a great replay value and will have your family laughing and dancing, you cannot go wrong with Just Dance 2! |
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Mood: dangerous Music: wii, nintendo, game, review, just, dance, just dance, just dance 2, two, 2, fun, laughing, blast, workout, cardio, sweat, challenging, family, friends, dance off, competition, exciting, songs, replay, factor, great |
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Looking to do complete backups of my computer systems at home, I ventured into buying a new Hard Drive for Storage. I wanted a simple harddrive, that was external, built tough, and would hold up for the long haul. Since Newegg.com generally has the best deals for anything computer related, in my opinion, I checked Newegg first. I came across many different brands, and the brand that struck my eye was one I had not seen before, Cavalry. Cavalry had a 1TB External Harddrive for $80 plus a $20 Mail-in Rebate. Of course a $60 1TB external drive really peaked my interest, since the last backup drive I bought was a 500GB Fantom and it I/O'ed on me the week previous so I decided to buy the Cavalry Harddrive from Newegg. A year later, I can say that I am still extremely happy with my Cavalry drive.  eSata Card To my surprise that Cavalry 1 TeraByte drive came with an eSata PCI card, included in the price. The inclusion of the eSata card was awesome, as I did not have an eSata port on my old Pentium 4 PC, which only has 1 x AGP and 4 x PCI. The PCI eSata card works flawlessly, and the speeds are great, especially since it is running over PCI. Backing up from the wired network was giving me about 40MB/s which I was ecstatic about. The performance of the included eSata card went beyond my expectations, as many of the competitor drives, such as Western Digital and Seagate, were way more expensive and either did not have an eSata port or come with the eSata card. The Harddrive Itself The Cavalry Harddrive has been awesome. I do S.M.A.R.T. checks on it every week or so and it is still running awesome. The drive does get a little hot, but for a 7200 RPM harddrive transferring at decent speeds, I do not blame it. The spin-up time on the drive is nearly instant, since it is just a backup drive, the spin-up time is not hugely important, but nice all the same, since I set the idle timeout at 30 minutes (again because it is a backup drive, I only backup nightly). For the past year, knock on wood, I have not had the drive do any type of clicking, no errors, and the SMART check comes back clean weekly. I am extremely happy, as with harddrives you never know if you are going to have a drive that works for a week or a year or 10 years, I am hoping this is a 10-year drive. I have never opened the case, so I do not know what brand of HDD it is rocking, but whatever it is, the drive is awesome. Overall Satisfaction I am extremely satisfied with the price of the drive, and the performance. I was worried there for a while, because Cavalry was a brand I had never used before, for such a cheap drive. I am glad I decided to give the harddrive a try, as I have never once regretted buying that drive, even a year later. This is my new trustworthy drive, although I do backup remotely as well. So if you are looking for a new harddrive, I would definitely look into Cavalry, I have been extremely happy with my Cavalry Storage harddrive purchase! |
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Mood: empathetic Music: cavalry, storage, harddrive, hard, drive, harddisk, disk, terabyte, tera, esata, value, price, awesome, speeds, pci, esata, 7200, RPM, grand, backup, backups, fast, quick, speed, reliable |
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 Hi guys I don't usually or ever post game glitches on my blog, but since this has happened to me twice in one day for the past few weeks I figured it's worth it. I do apologize to my readers if this is off topic on what I usually publish. On God Finger on the iPad, there is currently a Free Gold Glitch. I experienced this when I was playing the game, and zoomed outside of my planet by using the pinch and zoom out. When you do some, you will get certain planets. (not really planets) That stated" 1. Free Awe 2. Free Gold I noticed so long as that you are playing the game you can always go back to these and replenish your awe or gold infinitely. My problem is doing this back to back. For example of the Free Awe & Gold Rust Glitch 1. When I zoom out to other planets and I notice Free Awe. I click on it, view the advertisement and get refreshed back to where I was...but when... 2. I then click on the gold planet that states free bold. Click on it, and view the advertisement I get refreshed out and soon view my planet with everything maxed out with all gold turned to rust! Seriously, everyone on my planet is either exhausted at 0 or on the verge of being exhausted! Keep in mind that all gold that was coming to you is now presented and not rusted. I replenished all buildings with Awe, did the steps above 1 - 2 and boom. RUST! So with that in mind, do not get greedy! If you go for the awe planet, do so...but do not go for gold. If you do, you will experience your people maxed out and your incoming gold to rust. External Links - GodFinger All-StarsBy ngmoco, Inc. - Add me to Game Center and Plus+ |
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 Calling all Google Plus users out of San Antonio, lets all share our knowledge and have some fun in San Antonio! Lets create a San Antonio Google Plus Group! I think if we all contibute we can have a great way to meet new people with interests just like us, plus its a great way to explore and share on Google Plus. Here is a way I think we can get started. 1. Login to Google Plus 2. Add me to your Google Plus Circle 3. I have created a Spark called San Antonio Google Plus Group add yourself there as well. Should you have any trouble, simply post a comment or if you like, add your name so that we can easily search for you and add you to a circle. |
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 The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is currently available for pre-order and has been announced to be released on June 8. Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 will have a 16GB Tab at $499.00 and a 32GB Tab for $599.00. Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is said to pack incredible speeds into a super-sleek, ultra-slim package. The Galaxy Tab is said to be 8.6 millimeters, and will be running Google's Android 3.1 Honeycomb. Other features include: • Ultra-slim 8.6 mm thick • Dual-core 1 Ghz Processor • Android™ Honeycomb Platform • Brilliant 10.1" HD screen Google, Android and Android Market are trademarks of Google inc. 4G LTE is a trademark of ETSI. |
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I have recently occurred a rare $15/year Low End BuyVM Virtual Private Server (VPS) from BuyVM.net (aka Frantech). I say these are rare as when BuyVM has stock, usually within 15minutes their stock is depleted. I got extremely lucky with my purchase. I have been very pleased with BuyVM's support, their staff and most of all the VPS Server. Cheap VPN My 128MB $15 per year BuyVM box is used for a Vitrual Private Network (VPN) tunnel for my Phone. I like having the secure tunnel for my phone, especially when you are doing banking transactions etc. The extra layer of security through the VPS puts my mind a bit more at ease. I have used dedicated VPN servers in the past and never had any luck. Earlier this year I was looking into VPS's to create a test site and saw that BuyVM advertised the use of VPN tunnelling, this totally intrigued me, so I signed up for their mailing list and bought one 3 months later (yes I was waiting for 3 months!). For a $15 per year VPN Server, this box is doing everything I want! Irssi and GNU Screen Please! To say that I only use the box for a VPN would be lying. I love IRC and I love to keep chat in context without having to join / part all the time. Luckily Linux has Screen and Irssi. This allows me to leave my IRC connections on all the time (well as long as the VPS box stays online), and removes all the annoying parts / joins that usually show on IRC servers. I can access the IRC from my Android HTC EVO with Irssi Connect Bot, so I have IRC at home easily and anywhere with my phone. Perhaps my second favorite part of my BuyVM Box. Canadian IP Another bonus to BuyVM is that Frantech is a Canadian company. The servers are not based in Canada, as they are located in Fremont, California. But Frantech does offer Candian IP's. Having a VPN to another country is extremely handy, as it can avoid country set filters like seen in Europe. This allows you to see the full web, in case some sites are blocked, from your home connection! Browsing "anonymously" is something that I love and now I always do. The other awesome part is, if I just want to browse and not have my full connection over VPN I can using SSH Tunnelling. Having all these options for security and privacy is great. Overall Over all I am extremely happy with my BuyVM.net Box. The Frantech staff is awesome and fun to chat with in IRC and they are extremely helpful and speedy at resolving issues. I have had some downtime, which for the most part was not Frantech's fault. At one point I was going on 40days uptime, then my VPS rebooted for some reason and was restarted, unfortunately. However, since this VPS is not used for any major websites of mine, and I generally just use my BuyVM VPS for SSH Tunnelling, VPN and Irssi / Screen (for IRC) I got a steal of a deal for $15 per year. I do not think I will ever let go of this box, just too great of a deal. Thank you Frantech for offering great and cost-friendly services! |
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Mood: marvelous Music: low, end, vps, low end, virtual, private, server, vpn, ssh, tunnel, security, privacy, box, frantech, awesome, friendly, service, excellent, review, stock, lucky, $15, per, year, irssi, screen |
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A friend of mine recently launched a site with the latest trend called, E-Cigs, an Electronic cigarette, in an effort to help people quit smoking. Moving forward E-Cigs are the future of cigarettes! Electronic Cigarettes are starting to become more and more popular as regular cigarettes are becoming more expensive, not to mention extremely unhealthy. In fact millions of people are switching over so why not you? No tar, no smell, smoke inside... With this new trend of ‘smokeless cigarettes’ there are a multitude of different brands. So how do you find the right one for you? Top Ecigs Reveiws site offers trustworthy & quality reviews of the top brands to help you decide which e-cig is right for you. What is an electronic cigarette? Electronic Cigarettes typically come in 2 pieces; a battery and cartridge. The batteries last depending on what brand you chose and cartridges are usually the equivalent of a pack of cigarettes. Most companies will offer a wide variety of flavors, from traditional to coke flavored and nicotine strengths, from 0mg to 24mg, so you can match the electronic cigarette taste exactly to your favorite real cigarette. At Top E-Cigs Review they offer Discount codes Up-to-date specials and promotions (including e-mail and RSS subscriptions) Trustworthy reviews to help you find the right e-cig Tips & Tricks to help you clean and modify your e-cig. So why not quit smoking real cigarettes today and give an E-cigarette a try! |
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Mood: rude Music: electronic, cigarette, e-cig, ecig, reviews, review, top, list, directory, accurate, exactly, favorite, real specials, promotions, discounts, battery, power, tips, stop, smoking, quit, smoking |
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A few weeks ago my sister and her family decided they wanted to visit Thanksgiving Point, UT with us on our way home from a family Reunion. Since we had nothing better to do and had never been to Thanksgiving Point, and of course would be in the area, we decided to tag along. Due to a mis-calculation of my Garmin GPS Unit, my family ended up being a couple hours late. So when we arrived, my sister and I decided to go to the Children Discovery Garden Center, so our little kids (around 2) could have some fun. Well the kids had fun, but to what cost?  The Construction I do know that construction is just a temporary deal, but it was very annoying going there, as none of the street signs matched the map provided by Thanksgiving Point. This made the stress level to just visit a place very high. Taking many wrong turns, again due to the street signs not matching up, we finally arrived at the Children Discovery Garden, and to our disappointment, it really was not worth the trip. Not Worth the Cost In my opinion, the Children Discovery Garden Center of Thanksgiving Point, Utah, was not worth the money. It cost us $6.00 per adult, the kids, because they were under two, were free. For $12, we got to see sub-par items. Basically it was a quick 15-30 minute stroll around the area with a ship fountain type wading area. There really was not much to see and I expected a bit more for the price. I was very disappointed and not impressed at all for the cost. I understand that items do cost money, but for the $12 with maybe 30minutes of stuff to look at, this was just a major disappointment. Overall Over all there was much more to Thanksgiving Point then we visited. We just visited the Children Discovery Garden Center, trying to be thrifty. Unfortunately, we felt it was not worth the money paid. If I wanted to just walk around somewhere, I could have got a nice walk around a part with a lake, for my kid to wade in, instead of paying $12 for a walk around...well not much. It really seemed more like an Outdoor lab type setup for field trips over a family garden center. Although we had a decent time, it did not feel like the cost outweighed the experience. Given so, I cannot recommend the Thanksgiving Point, UT Children Discovery Garden center, unfortunately. Please do not let this dissuade you from trying the other areas, my sister said she had fun at the dinosaur museum. If you think I am wrong, well more props to you. This was just my feelings on the exhibit and I felt it could have had more, or at least cost $1-$2 less, for what the Thanksgiving Point Children Discovery Garden Center offered. |
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Mood: disillusioned Music: children, discovery, garden, center, thanksgiving, point, review, fun, cost, price, pricey, worth, money, kids, child, construction, stress, stressful, family, visit |
