Assuming makes...

I assumed everyone used Craigslist when finding an apartment, or selling their T.V., or looking for a gardener. However, I have spoken with several people at work and other such places, and was amazed at the number of people who have yet to discover Craigslist. Therefore, I see it as my duty to point it out to all 3 of my readers so they may pass it along. Craigslist is basically a free online classified ad site that is broken down by major cities and countries around the world. Just last week, the List started breaking up the US states into more regional categories. For example, I live in Colorado, and it used to only be Denver, now they added Ft. Collins, Co. Springs, and the Rocky Mountains (mountain towns..). This is a new convenient feauture. Use Craigslist for everything. Great place to find a job, post your resume, find a date, whatever you can think of and it's all free. It's like Ebay without the enormous hassle of Ebay.

Beware: Lot of hoaxes and spammers posting on craigslist. The site is good at pulling them when discovered, but not an easy task. Just stay away from stupid overnight riches schemes, and my kid was kidnapped and I need bus money to Duluth...

Happy Birthday Kevin!

While I should be reviewing Paris Hilton's new stellar album that will no doubt pass Sgt. Pepper's on the all-time greatest albums list; I will dedicate this one to the piano man himself, my brother Kevin. Billy Joel has just released a new live album, 12 Gardens Live, appropriately recorded at Madison Square Garden in NYC. With 32 tracks, this live album captures Joel's greatest hits and some more obscure songs. I have given it a full listen, and it is well done. It is not the best live mix I have ever heard, but Billy is rockin on many tracks, and his voice is as good as ever. Although he claimed that he was quitting the pretentious rock scene to focus on classical, I still haven't seen the classical masterpiece yet, so 12 Gardens, will have to do. While not a huge fan of Billy's personality, one cannot deny his talent, and this album will keep the older generation happy. I can't give Joel too much flack for his short-lived retirement as some of the greats have done the same, and who cares. No complaints when M.J. came back wearin the '45' and Jay-Z is back; but they're much cooler than Billy Joel. Anyway, 12 Gardens is Billy Joel at his usual self, and happy 30th Kevin.

Worth the Effort...

In our busy life, who has time to backup their computer, and how do we do it? Well, ask yourself, if my computer was stolen, or crashed, or infected beyond repair, what could I not live without? For me, my most valuable assets on my computer are music and photos. I have spent years building my music collection, and now most of it is on my computer. Picasa has an easy backup tool that compresses your photos and can burn them to CD; a couple hundred photos made it to 2 cd's for me.

For itunes, One Digital Life has a good article on the step by step process of burning your entire library to either dvd or cd. In 'edit' then 'preferences' (or Ctrl + comma), go to advanced tab, burning, and check 'Data CD.' Data cd's compact the digital files, and copy them exactly as the music is stored, so when you restore the music is intact. Unfortunately, I do not have a dvd burner, so I must backup all to cd's which is time-consuming, but not nearly as time-consuming as rebuilding an entire music collection. DVD's also can hold an enormous amount of data. To give you an example, my itunes library has approximately 5,000 songs. A dvd might take 5 discs to backup the entire collection. On cd, I'm looking at roughly 25 cd's, as the data burning puts on about 175 songs per cd. That's not bad if you consider burning a regular cd can get you 20 songs if you're lucky. While 25 cd's seems like a bulky number, blank cd's are about $.15 apiece these days, and think of how devastated you'd be if you lost your entire music library. Spend a couple of hours and you'll be thankful later.

One more tip: itunes will allow you to create smart playlists which will keep track of new songs that you add after you do the initial backup; that way you don't have to figure out where you left off, and can make future backups easily. Also, One Digital Life makes another good point to make a cd backup of the "itunes Library Folder", as well as the "itunes Library Folder.xml" located on your hard drive, so all of your original playlists and settings can be restored instantly.

South Beach Style

Because my full attention has been shifted to the struggling Yankees still hanging on despite an array of serious pitching and injury problems; I neglected to congratulate the Miami Heat for their championship the other night. Dwayne Wade is a stud, and even Shaq knows that he was riding on Wade's coat tails all year. Their series win over a tough Mavericks team was impressive, but does not hold a candle to their post-game celebration. When the Heat got off the plane in Miami early in the morning, Coach Riley noted that the team (around 15 or so) went through 22 bottles of Cristal on the flight alone. The picture on the left of Shaq and D Wade is in the lockerroom (pre-flight), and they already look wasted. How much booze do you think it takes Shaq to catch a buzz? He is feeling no pain here. Congrats to the Heat, and I want to congratulate myself as my prediction was right on the money for once. Sorry Mr. Cuban, I'm usually wrong.

O.G.

The review you have all been waiting for. Yes, it's the new Ice Cube album, Laugh Now, Cry Later. The original gangsta from NWA fame; the same band that made Compton a household name in the burbs. Cube is back and the sound is right where he left off before he brought us Craig and Smokey on the front porch. They say retro is back, and Cube had to show the new rappers how the old guys did it when it all began. If you need a refreshing blast to the past, Cube's new album will not disappoint. Peace.

Picassa Web Album

Well, I received my invite to Picasa Web Albums, and have given it a quick test-run. First, you must download Picasa 2 which quickly updates the older Picasa version. The layout is basically the same, with a little more flair, and a Web Album button that allows for uploading to your personal site. I uploaded 30 pictures at one time, and then 24 the next, and it was pretty easy (about 8 minutes). Slowed my computer a bit, but not bad. With Flickr, I can only email about 10 at a time, and they don't always take on the first try. Here are the test-run pix, or click the link on my right sidebar. While I have not thoroughly explored the features, it appears to be pretty basic and simple. Not nearly as sophisticated as Flickr or as many options, but the ease with Picasa, which I love, makes it just fine. I'm not leaving Flickr anytime soon, but I'll give it a whirl. I'm sure it will be available to all soon.

The Forbidden Fruit

The poor Apple. Easily one of the tastiest of fruits, but none more controversial. Garden of Eden? The Beatles? Itunes? Get my point? All powerful symbols in history, all characterized by the apple, and all in the heat of debate.

The Beatles began the civil war among apples back in the 70's when they sued Apple for their logo and trademark issues. The Beatles, also represented by the mighty apple, declared a fruit war that continued until this year, when the courts ruled that Apple Computer has not violated any infringements, and a treaty has been signed. Now, Itunes is wooing The Beatles to put their music on Itunes. Irony or greed?

Then the whining French started another boycott on the apple trying to free the fruit so that it can be enjoyed on cheap MP3 players by all. Itunes is too restrictive, and the French threatened to boycott. Go ahead and good luck. The French triggered the revolution to the States, where boycotters in Boston (very Catholic by the way), protested Apple stores, claiming that Itunes has no right to encrypt purchased music so that it can only be played on an Ipod. Well guess what, you're wrong, and it is only jealousy of a good thing that people are complaining so much.

Apple is dominating the digital music market for one reason; their products are the best. Sure, Ipods are pricey and the accessories are ridiculously priced, but we need them, just like our cellphones. We're addicted to those all-powerful gadgets and need someone to blame for tempting us with the power of the apple. Has any of the people boycotting Apple stores ever used a Creative Mp3 player, or whatever Microsoft promotes? How about Windows Media Player? WMP is the most idiotic and frustrating excuse for a music player, and so are the devices.

Solution: Stop fighting the apple, and create something better. Simple. Until then, suck it up and remain a slave to the Ipod, until something superior comes along.