Technology

I ran across PayLoadz earlier this afternoon from a link that showed up on one of the sites I frequent and thought it was pretty cool. With quite a few of the Movabletype plugins that I have purchased over the last couple of months, they normally use PayPal or Google checkout for payment and then the files themselves are stored locally on whatever server is handy. That can be an issue if you need for people to download a product at any time. Payloadz offers download storage room for just about anything that can be stored digitally and their system works with PayPal as well as Google Checkout. Here’s a press release from PayLoadz Downloable Goods eCommerce:

I mentioned the other day that I have been looking for a new monitor that will fit in the rolltop desk that I have for my computer now. Believe it or not but I think I found the one I want at Wal-Mart. Resolution is 720p and I should be able to hook up the HDMI with the right cables and adapters. I’m looking forward to being able to close my desk when the PC is not in use. The 19″ LCD I have been using is too big for it, and it is starting to go out. I can’t turn the monitor off for fear of it not coming back on again now. It tool forever for me to get working again the last time it was turned off.

A couple of my blogs are located at an entirely different web host than most of my sites. I decided earlier in the year when I was having so many problems here that I didn’t want to open a new web site at the same location, so I went looking for a new web hosting choice. I talked to several other people about why they choose to use their web hosts and I also looked through several different services such as Web Hosting Choice.

Right from the front page at Web Hosting Choice you can do a search based on monthly cost, setup fees, amount of disk space and bandwidth. They also have recommended hosts along with links and what is available, links to reseller web hosting, a full directory with information on the different plans that are available as well as other information.

It looks like they have quite a few web hosts listed but none of the ones that I use happen to be in the list. As the site grows and matures I am pretty sure they will continue to add to the list.

Each web host, beside the information provided above also allows for user ratings so that you can look with confidence at what people are using for their sites and what type of rating that they give their own host. That was important to me when I was searching simple because I wanted to make sure that people were happy with their web host prior to moving a couple of my domains.

Although most of the equipment in the house uses a wired connection I do have a wireless router. My phone and the wife’s iPaq are both WiFi and when the Marine is at home his laptop uses it, as well as my brother’s. I usually just leave it open and don’t worry about security. As long as my neighbors aren’t on much and don’t use too much of my bandwidth I haven’t really worried about it but lately my connection has been pretty laggy.

I logged into my router tonight and discovered seven fucking devices connected. There are only two computers hooked up in the house getting an IP address, as well as our two handhelds. I set it back to using WEP and rebooted the damn thing. Guess they are going to have to find their own Internet connection now. What a PITA.

Since I picked up the new cell phone I can’t just use the GetItNow apps bundled with most of the Verizon phones to pick up my games and ringtones anymore. Even when I was using them I would still download quite a few off of the Internet and transfer using Bitpim or a program like that.

Now I just use Windows Explorer and copy them over to my ringtones folder. The i760 uses true polyphonic ringtones that I can either record myself in mp3 format or that I have purchased off of the Internet at places like MSN Emotions Ringtones. I prefer the free ringtones myself. They have all kinds of different sounds for phones including Hip Hop Ringtones that don’t really interest me, Dance ringtones, Country, Rock and quite a few funny ones as well as theme Ringtones from movies and television.

They also have the option to listen to them on the site so that you know exactly what you are getting before you download. Like most of the Ringtone places on the Internet it is subscription based and will get charged to your monthly cellphone bill so that you have the option to cancel it by sending a text message.

One of the things I have noticed about my new phone is that when I leave for work I have to make sure and turn WiFi off as well as Bluetooth if I’m not using GPS. I don’t use a Bluetooth headset so that becomes unnecessary  unless I am going somewhere I haven’t been before. Samsung supplies a normal battery as well as an extended lithium battery for the i760 and it’s a good darn thing but even with the extended battery, as I discovered last week, if WiFi and Bluetooth are both left on all day it can seriously drain the thing. I finally started carrying the extra normal battery with me just in case.

When I rebuild my HTPC after the first of the year (I’ve had to put it off until then) I think I am going to try and run everything so that most of it is in the basement. My network router is down there anyway so all I really need to do is to run a bit of fiber cable from the living room into the basement and then pick up a couple of wireless doodads as well. Either that or I will try and get the smallest case I can find and then start using more USB TV tuners than I have in the past. There are some pretty nice ones out there. Mainly I just don’t want all of the wiring and a big old PC case sitting next to the entertainment center. We have doors on it that close so that it just looks like a big cabinet and having a PC sit beside it is somewhat counterproductive.

Although I have several (quite a few actually) old cell phones stashed in my desk drawer, some of them broken, I can’t seem to bring myself to throw them out (how’s THAT for a run on sentence by golly?!). My local Verizon dealer has a bin where I can take them and dump them but that’s 20 miles away and I just never seem to find the free time to just go get rid of them. Apparently I’m not the only one because something like 100 million cell phones are retired each year according to CellForCash, who offers us a way to recycle cell phones and actually pays cash for them. Very sweet. There is quite a bit of useful information over at their site. Here is the latest press release from CellForCash.

This Post was Sponsored by CellForCash.com