Author: Mike Pihlman

  • Switch to Renewable Energy

    Switch to Renewable Energy

      There has been some action in the news in the past week, or so, concerning the use, and switch to, renewable energy. Although this is not an area I normally cover, I am VERY interested in the environment (and very concerned about global warming). I would like to see us change the way we…

  • Telecommuting and the Tracy Virtual Office

    UPDATE 8/14/08: Well, after spending the money, I only had 3 people express an interest in the TVO…I have had to drop the idea for lack of interest. Either many people already telecommute (Yeah!) or they are content to spend money, gas, and time on the road. ++++++ Today, July 14, 2008, we (my wife…

  • Fun with oovoo

    Who says you can’t have fun collaborating? ooVoo has a bunch of web cam effects that you can download to spice up your meetings. These are a lot of fun to play with. Unfortunately, my favorite does not work very well at all….that is the replacement of my background with a picture of a lake…

  • Glance Review

    UPDATE July 2023: The pics are gone, I have no idea where they went, but, consider this blog a HISTORY lesson on the beginnings of web conferencing. 🙂 Rating: 4 WaterTowers In previous blog entries I have reviewed full-featured web conferencing applications. Initially, I had classified Glance in that class. What I found out is…

  • Google SketchUp

    The other day I found a link to Google SketchUp. I downloaded it and started to draw. The picture above is a crude representation of what you can do with SketchUp. I am not an artist, and it shows. However, if you are, and spend the time, there are some very powerful tools in SketchUP…

  • Sony will Stream Movies Direct to Your TV

    Reading my past blogs on this subject, you know I believe that streaming movies via the Internet will take it’s toll on such old favorites as DVD’s, Blu-Ray, and Blockbuster / Netflix. Now buried deep in the middle of this article is an announcement by Sony that it will start an Internet streaming service for…

  • Tech for Teachers – Podcasting Classes

    Update July 2023: A history lesson on podcasting! Enjoy. If you do not know what podcasting is, here is a very cool introduction: The world is changing. Streaming (podcasting included) technology has already proven itself at some Universities where students who may have missed class, or need to refresh their memory can watch a video…

  • 3G and cell phone video – an application

    If you are faint of heart or easily offended…please turn to another page. For the rest of you, this story in Time (remember this is not YeOldeTechy’s story, I am just passing along information) is interesting. But I believe it is more interesting after you hear my short story about this particular topic. Interesting Story…

  • Apple IPod Transfer — A quick test

    Just trying something….this was Kristen’s idea to see if we could download the contents of the Apple IPod to a “random” computer. Can we? Let’s give it a try…. The first thing we did was plug in Kristen’s old IPod (she now has a brand spanking new IPod Classic 80 gig so she can fit…

  • Western Digital My Book 1 TeraByte Drive

    For Fathers Day I received a couple of books (Sue Grafton’s “K” and “L”) a really cool sign for my yard (Free Weeds: Pick Your Own), and a badly needed expansion of our computer storage capacity: a Western Digital “My Book” 1 terabyte external hard drive with USB 2.0. To me, it is amazing that…