Ron Wiebe Accidental Admin

Finding a new WordPress MP3 player

// November 30th, 2011 // No Comments » // Audio and Recording, Computer / IT, Gadgets, Live Sound

I’m looking for a new wordpress MP3 Player.  Excuse this post while I try various players to see what I like.

My Camera Gear Weighs as Much as Three Babies

// October 8th, 2011 // No Comments » // Gadgets, Hardware, Photography

Recently I finally took the plunge and get a full frame DSLR camera.  I do a fair amount of low-light indoor photography, as well as small crops from my images.  For this my old Canon XSi just wasn’t cutting it anymore.  I did my research and opted for a Canon 5D MKii. This is a great camera, but the only lens I had for this was a 50mm F1.8 prime, the rest of my stuff has EFS mounts.

I love taking wide angle shots, so I ended up finding an open box Tokina 16-28mm f2.8 on Amazon for $750.  I had fun with this, but I got the itch for a a telephoto lens with image stabilization to counteract my shaky hands.  After a good deal of deliberation and a cost miscalculation on ebay, I won an auction for a used Canon 70-200mm f2.8 L lens.  The price hurt, but this lens is a piece of art, and solid as a brick (and as heavy as a brick too).

With this gear, I found that I got a lot more acceptable results, but I had not counted on the weight of this set up.  Equipment lists and weight below:

Canon 5D MKii: 1.78lbs

Canon 70-200 f2.8 lens: 3.24lbs

Tokina 16-28 F2.8: 2.8lbs

Canon 50mm f1.8: 0.23lbs

Canon Speedlite 430EX II: 0.73lbs

Custom SLR Split Strap: .35 lbs

Vangaurd Uprise 38 Bag: 3.6lbs

That right there already 12.73lbs!!! Most photogs would consider this a very spartan setup.  And that is not counting batteries, cleaning supplies, chargers, flashlight, or miscellanea.  Also, any time I travel I throw my laptop (7.5 lbs with power adapter) and tripod head (1.8lbs) in there as well for a total weight of 22-24 lbs. That might not sound like a lot, but think of it in term of babies – the average north american baby is 7.5lbs, so my gear (minus the tripod) weighs in at 3 babies!!!  Just to take pictures!

Moral of the story:  Camera’s are super heavy – especially for couch toned geeks.  Unless you are really serious, stick with point and shoot cameras, which take excellent pictures are a fraction of a pound.  Be aware that photography is an addiction that will lighten your wallet and break your back.

Data Service Provider for Google SEO Company

// August 11th, 2011 // 2 Comments » // Computer / IT, Hints and Tips

One of my clients forwarded me the following voicemail that they had gotten, wondering if it would be a good idea:

Hi,
This is Aaron, data service provider for Google. Wanted to give you a call because we have a pretty awesome opportunity for you there in your marketplace. We have some openings on the front page of Google, Yahoo, and Bing; so I wanted to touch base with you to see if there was any interest as far as getting your website and your buisiness on the first page of these search engines. You can reach me toll free – the number is 866-976-5477, we’d be happy to answer any questions you have.

Call me as soon as you can if you are interested, because we do only have a few spots open. Again this is for the first page of Google, Yahoo, and Bing there in your margin.

This is the shadiest method of SEO (search engine optimization) marketing I’ve encountered to date, but it is kind of true. All he is really saying is that he will get you on the front page of ad sense adds (in the margin), and that he is a Google data service provider. “Google Data Service Provider” has to be the vaugest term of description I have ever seen. I guess I would qualify for that as well, if you came to this site through Google, I provided them with the service of this data – a bit of a streatch, but it is technically correct.

As to getting on the front page of Google, save your mony and by your adds direct through Google’s sales divition. It takes a little elbow grease, but I guarentee that you will get the same results for less than what “Aaron” is going to provide for you.

#1 rule of thumb. Never trust a business that will not disclose it’s name.
#2 Never trust an IT based company that does not have a website – especially and SEO company. If they can’t keep themselves on top of web searches, how are they going to keep you there?

Dell Precision Tear Down Gallery

// July 28th, 2011 // No Comments » // Computer / IT, Hardware

I’ve noticed that a lot of my hits are coming from my post regarding upgrading the RAM/memory of a Dell Precision M6500.  I though some of you might like to see the set of pictures I took while doing that upgrade as well as adding a second hard drive. So below you will find my collection of pictures of a M6500 in various stages of dis-assembly.

No photos available right now.

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Dell Precision M6500 only has 2 dimms

// July 15th, 2011 // 2 Comments » // Computer / IT, Hardware, Hints and Tips

Recently I purchased a Dell Precision M6500 the had 2GB memory pre-installed.  I’m not sure why a machine of this level of performance would ship with such a paltry amount of ram, but I needed more than that. I did a bit of research online, and when to my go-to source for memory information – crucial.com.  The website stated that this machine had 4 memory slots, so I purchased two additional sticks of 1GB memory (32 bit operating system). To my dismay, I found that, at least on i5 systems, the slots underneath the keyboard are missing. I attached a picture of the spot where the slots should be below. So next time you ask yourself, “How many memory slots are in a M6500?”, look carefully, because chances are that there are only two available.

The USB Oscilloscope and More

// July 15th, 2011 // No Comments » // Gadgets, Hardware

For some time I have been wanting an oscilloscope for some of the projects I am involved in, but they were always too bulky, and frankly, a little intimidating. Today I ran across this little gizmo called CEE, and it looks like it will be a whole lot better than what I was looking for, at a fraction of the price of even a used oscilloscope. Check it out if you like.

Fix Broken Taskbar Icons in Windows 7

// July 11th, 2011 // 1 Comment » // Computer / IT, Hints and Tips

This is something I have pulled my hair out about for some time, so I thought I would share it here. Kudos to the original author, I can’t take credit for this one.

From www.waveofweb.com

Recently I removed all my my personal settings and did a clean re-install of Firefox 4 in my Windows 7 laptop. But then when I started Windows 7 again Firefox icon got missing. Instead it was showing a broken icon for Firefox on my Taskbar, Desktop and in Start Menu.

After some Googling I found the problem and its solution. You have to rebuild Windows 7 Icon Cache for that.

Follow the following steps to do that:

• Close all currently open folders.
• Use CTRL+SHIFT+ESC to launch Task Manager.
• In Process tab find explorer.exe and right click on it and then select End Process.
• Then click on the End Process button on the confirmation window.
• Now from Task Manger go to File>New Task (Run…) and type cmd.exe and click OK.
• In the command prompt enter below commands one by one

CD /d %userprofile%\AppData\Local
DEL IconCache.db /a
EXIT 

• Then again go to Task Manger>File>New Task (Run…).
• Type explorer.exe and select OK.

That’s all. Your Firefox icon should come back to you now

Kunaki Shipping Tiers

// May 24th, 2011 // No Comments » // Audio and Recording, Hints and Tips, Live Sound

I tend to use Kunaki.com whenever I have a simple CD or disc duplication order.  They have quick turn a rounds, and unbeatable pricing – though I do get a fair few broken cases when I chose DVD-style packaging.  As most of my projects are on a very tight budget, it is important that I purchase using the cheapest possible method.  Here is the breakdown of how to get the cheapest shipping from kunaki using their standard shipping tiers.  This will show you the best quantities to order if you are purchasing under 500 discs.  Best choices are shown in bold letters, along with shipping costs per disc.  I cut off the rest of the table as higher qtys were less cost effective if the total number of CDs wanted was less than 500.  I did not calculate beyond that, as I never need any more than that.

How John Became a Man and Bandcamp.com

// February 25th, 2011 // No Comments » // Audio and Recording, Free Geek Tools, Hints and Tips

This is an audiobook I recorded about a year ago.  The player I am using comes from bandcamp.com.  This is primarily a test to see how well their flash player integrates with WordPress – though you are welcome to buy a copy if you happen to like it.  Bandcamp offers free audio hosting in exchange for a percentage of your sales.  For this reason there is a limit to the number of free downloads you can offer.  If your free downloads exceed the amount the allow, you, as the artist/label, can purchase additional free download credits for about $.03ea to cover Bandcamp’s hosting fees.

It appears to be a pretty nice setup, there are several players available, and the colors are customizable.  The only change I would make is the option to make the background transparent – but I guess most people do not have a gradient background on their blog…

Remote Surveillance on the Cheap

// February 25th, 2011 // 1 Comment » // Construction, Hints and Tips

I recently had a co-worker approach me with a problem – he had a jobsite three hours away that needed to be checked on periodically 24/7.  There was no existing internet, and he was hoping he did not have to send a man out to the site every couple hours to ensure that everything was still OK.  The aim was to spend as little as possible, as the equipment probably would not be needed again.

Video and audio was needed as the monitoring was primarily used to ensure that a large diesel sewage pump was running.  Audio would let us know if the pump was running, video would let us know if the pit was overflowing… blech.

The solution provided consisted of the following:
Foscam FI8918W
Cradlepoint MBR1000
Sprint Wireless Broadband Card (USB)

After activating the sprint card on my laptop, I plugged it into the router to ensure that the internet was functioning.  It was.  I entered the admin interface of the router and disabled the additi