The Raging Tech

As the Meat Turns

Yesterday, my friend made the comment that the Food Network in HD (high definition) is like pornography for fat guys. While that’s a pretty graphic comparison, it’s actually pretty accurate.

The Food Network is one of the reasons I got into cooking things from scratch (when I have time, and clean dishes). Ever since we got the HD package from Dish Network last Summer, it’s been heaven. You just don’t know what food is until you’ve watched Boy Meets Grill or Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on a 55″ High Definition TV screen. You can just be sitting around, not even hungry, and that channel will make you salivate.

Last night we were watching Boy Meets Grill and the picture was so crystal clear, I thought I was going to drool all over the tangerine-glazed grilled chicken Bobby Flay was turning on the grill. It was amazing. If you don’t have HD yet, you should go get a set that supports it and a dish or cable package with Food Network HD.

Get a Grip on Your Website Statistics

Not every one of us are fortunate enough or have the technological aptitude to be able to run a sophisticated web statistics powerhouse to generate prolific reports on the usage of our web site by our site visitors.

If you aren’t into Feedburner or Google Analytics, or maybe your site doesn’t allow you to modify it in the way necessary to utilize those free tools, you might consider just a basic web page counter or myspace counters to display the number of visitors to your page or profile. A lot of people aren’t even interested in the other statistics - a head count of page views is enough to let them know they aren’t publishing in vain.

If you’re like me, though, your web site statistics drive more than just your ego - it’s like a competition. For me, my site stats and page rank are a drive to the top of the blogging world. It makes me want to write more and more relevant content because I know folks like you are including me in their daily reading. And it’s also those folks I want to apologize to for the slow week and a half it’s been. I’m picking up speed again and you should have things to enjoy throughout the day once more. Thanks for reading and sticking with me.

Sexy Geek Toys: Apple Macbook Air Ad

So, even though I’m only mildly impressed with the specs and it seems more gimmick than gadget, the Macbook Air which Apple announced at MacWorld Expo 2008 last week just looks incredibly sexy (in a geeky sort of way). I didn’t quite have a way to wrap my mind around its thinness before seeing the commercial on TV. I had seen it in pictures and heard them say it’s thin enough to fit inside a manila envelope, but for some reason still didn’t grasp it’s awesomeness.

So here it is, for your viewing perusal, the television ad for the new Macbook Air from Apple:

The Point Blank Critic

My friend just recently decided to start his own review blog called The Point Blank Critic. He’s really into trying new kinds of beer, Apple (Mac) computers and products, music, movies, video games, and technology in general. He also happens to be a pretty good cook, and one of my best friends. These last two interests are not necessarily cause-and-effect, but being a good cook is a nice bonus to have in a friend.

For his first blog post, he’s started what he says will be a regular event: Free Drink Friday - where he hopes to review a different beer weekly. The goal: to save people from horrible, cheap, piss-water beer. He does not claim to be a beer snob; The Point Blank Critic will be reviewing national brands as well as local breweries and microbreweries. From what I know of him, there’s more good reviews in store. Be sure and bookmark The Point Blank Critic at PointBlankCritic.com.

Free Rental Promo Codes for Red Box Movies

A couple days ago, I wrote about getting a free rental from a Red Box movie rental machine using a promo code I got when I signed up and gave them my e-mail. Those codes can be used once per credit card, so if you had a credit card and say, a check card with a credit card company logo on it, you could use that code twice.

But wait, that’s not the only way to get free rentals. A quick Google search will reveal that there are several sites out there that have promo codes listed for Red Box. However, the most comprehensive site I’ve found so far is InsideRedBox.com. They have a comprehensive list of codes that are categorized by states confirmed that the codes work in, along with the ability to report a code, and if you register on the site, you can even track the codes you’ve already used.

This past week I can personally verify that I was able to use the multiple credit card tip and the codes to rent 6 movies without paying a dime. If you have a Red Box machine in your area, check it out!

Get Help With Your Home Theater

If you either received or bought for yourself a new home theater system this past Christmas and still haven’t hooked it up, maybe it’s time you got some help. Nowadays, you have DVD, surround sound, speaker wires, video game systems, DVR, satellite or cable boxes, cd-changers, and sometimes phone or internet connections to your television. There are many cables and converters and input/output switches involved, and can get really confusing even for people who know what they’re doing.

I remember helping a friend who just wanted to use his TV and DVD/VCR player with sound coming out to a small stereo he owned. Getting the inputs straight was kind of crazy, but we managed to get it all working. Fast-Tek offers not only IT-related solutions for your home or business, but also can help you with your home theater installation. Give them a call or check out their website today to receive fast, professional, high-quality service on-site at your residence or place of business.

MacWorld 2008: AppleTV Software Upgrade

With the announcement of the AppleTV upgrade to allow for iTunes movie rentals also came some exciting news: a complete redesign of the user interface. Another issue some people are up-in-arms about is the fact that the HD movie rentals will only be available for the AppleTV. Which is fine with me - standard definition looks great on my widescreen LCD monitor.

The new user interface keeps all the major features on one screen without a lot of scrolling. Apple has made over 50 million YouTube videos available for viewing now.  Overall, the new UI has the slick hotness of OS X Leopard’s Front Row program.

Oh, and as for the movie rentals: Apparently the deal is you get 30 days to begin watching your rental. Then, you will have 24 hours within that time period to watch it as many times as you’d like. Some sources are saying you won’t be able to copy these rentals to your iPod or iPhone, but I think they’re confusing that with just the HD rentals which, as I said earlier, are only available on the AppleTV. Also, the price on the AppleTV is dropping down to $229 - making it a very affordable network-connected media center.