Archive for December, 2005

12-31-2005

Tracking Exercise with Gmaps Pedometer

Amanda and I have made getting in shape one of our top priorities for the coming year. To get started, we’ve been taking walks every other day, over the holiday break. We often walk the 4.5 mile loop around Town Lake, but it’s sometimes easier to walk to different places around town to take care of errands instead. The Gmaps Pedometer has proved a handy tool for tracking the distance of our errand walks.

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Posted by Matt in Austin, health, tech | No Comments »

12-23-2005

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX9 Manual

Amanda and I bought a new digital camera recently. It’s a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX9 and, so far, we both like it a lot. I’m still trying to figure out all the features and settings, so I wanted to find an electronic version of the manual. It took quite a bit of searching, but I finally found the manual on Panasonic’s Australian site. So, in case anyone else might be searching for it, here’s a link to the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX9 manual.

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Posted by Matt in photography, tech | 4 Comments »

12-23-2005

Word Count Toolbar in Microsoft Word

I went to Book People tonight to check out the magazine section and spent some time browsing a copy of Writer’s Digest. The Freelancer’s Workshop column was about tips on hitting the required word count when writing articles. One of the tips mentioned frequently checking the word count as you go along. It’s an obvious tip, but it got me thinking that there might be an easier way to accomplish this task.

When I got home, I tried to find a Microsoft Word macro that might keep a constant tally of the current word count. I didn’t find a macro, but I did find that Word has a Word Count toolbar. The toolbar isn’t as automatic as I’d like—you have to click the “Recount” button or hit Alt-C to refresh the count—but it is at least one step shorter than using the Word Count option on the Tools menu.

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Posted by Matt in communication, tech, writing | 1 Comment »

12-16-2005

Visiting St. John, U.S.V.I.


Sunset & Moonrise from St. John

Amanda and I are having a great time visiting my mom on St. John. We went to the beach our first two days here, first to Cinnamon Bay and then to Francis Bay. Today was a bit rainy, so we relaxed at the house for most of the day.

I took this photo from the deck of my mom’s house a couple of nights ago. Right now, it’s after 11pm, but I’m sitting out on the deck and I can still make out the silhouettes of the islands because the moon is so bright.

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Posted by Matt in photography, travel | No Comments »

12-09-2005

3 Great Xbox 360 Commercials/Short Films

I caught a commercial today for the Xbox 360 that showed some great jump roping. When I searched for a copy of it online to send to a friend, I ran across two other great commercials from the same “Jump In” campaign. The first is a huge water balloon fight and the second is a comical John Woo style showdown. If you can ignore the tag line at the end, they’re great short films.

UPDATE: I recently realized that I can embed the videos here. The showdown video is my favorite, so here it is. . .

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Posted by Matt in communication, creativity, movies | No Comments »

12-07-2005

3 Tools for Creating Your Own Passport Photos

Today I ran across a website that will help you create a passport photograph from a digital photo you upload. The site is called ePassportPhoto and, for the time being at least, it appears to be free.

If you’d rather do the work yourself, a site called OnTheGoSoft offers a $10 shareware program called called Passport Photo. Or there’s an online tutorial for making your own passport photos using Photoshop.

I haven’t had to get a new passport in a while, but I do sometimes need I.D. photos when traveling, especially for things like rail and subway passes. Between the tools above and all the online photo printing options, I’ll be making some I.D. photos to take on my next overseas trip.

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Posted by Matt in photography, tech, travel | 2 Comments »

12-05-2005

The Economics of Qwerty Versus Dvorak Keyboards

In the vein of Freakonomics, Reason Magazine has a great myth busting article on the debate over Qwerty vs. Dvorak keyboards.

The QWERTY keyboard cannot be said to constitute evidence of any systematic tendency for markets to err. Very simply, no competing keyboard has offered enough advantage to warrant a change. The story of Dvorak’s superiority is a myth or, perhaps more properly, a hoax.

What made the article interesting to me is how much related information it ties in—science, economics, academics, and more.

While on the subject of articles I enjoyed reading, the Freakonomics website has a copy of the “What the Bagel Man Saw” article, which is also included as part of the book. If you haven’t already read the book, the article will give you a taste of its thought provoking writing.

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Posted by Matt in business, general, reading, tech | 2 Comments »

12-04-2005

Multiple WordPress Blogs Using One Database

Thanks to some help from the WordPress Codex wiki, I managed to get a second installation of WordPress running using a single database. That means that Amanda now has her own blog, KantGirl.org. The name is a reference to one of her favorite movies, Tank Girl.

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Posted by Matt in tech | No Comments »