Tag: mic

Brand Thunder Holiday Browser Theme Contest Results

On By Michel McDonaldIn Daily Blog2 Comments

On November 29th 2011 I wrote a sponsored blog post for Izea’s Social Spark to advertise for Brand Thunder, which is a cool website where you can create browser themes for Internet Explorer and Firefox.  One of the requirements was that I create a holiday browser theme and enter in their contest to win an iPad2.

On December 17th 2011 I found out that my browser theme was good enough to be in the top 5 browser themes eligible to win an iPad2.  I asked for votes here on my blog, and on Facebook and Twitter.  I wasn’t as successful as the 3rd and 4th holiday browser themes because not enough people voted for me, so I lost.

Well, I didn’t really lose, I was still in the top 5 so I consider that to be successful enough.  Because I was in the top 5, I won a $25 gift card for Amazon.com, and tonight I bought a new webcam for my desktop.

The webcam that I have on my desktop is a Flexic@m which at one time was acceptable, but it’s such a horrible webcam that I no longer want to use it.  I would much rather have this Microsoft LifeCam HD-3000 because it is HD 16:9 and it has a mic.  I would like to be able to call my aunts and friends with Skype, but I can’t because I don’t have a mic.  I can use the built-in webcam on my Chromebook, but it doesn’t do Skype.

I would also like to be able to do time-lapse videos to put on YouTube.  I have a time-lapse video of my Scooby Doo Chia Pet, which is not that great because of the horrible webcam.  Tonight I tried making a time-lapse video of my lava lamp, but the webcam is so horrible that you can’t see the beautiful colors of the lava. That was my motivation for choosing to buy a new webcam.

This webcam was only $24 and it was available for free shipping if I paid $25.  In order for me to get the free shipping, I had to buy something else, so I chose to buy a $5 4GB USB memory stick.  I needed a new memory stick anyway so this is perfect.  The USB memory stick I have now is only 1GB and it’s almost full, so I had planned on upgrading anyway. What I’d like to do is take all of my photos off of the 1GB stick, and put them on the 4GB stick.  I can use the 1GB stick for my book as a backup.

I wasn’t expecting to win the iPad2, and frankly I didn’t think my holiday browser theme was as good as the other ones, so I’m happy for the person who did win because they certainly deserved it.  Even though an iPad2 would have been cool, I’m happy to have a new webcam and USB memory stick.  So thank you Brand Thunder for the Amazon $25 gift card, I really do appreciate it.

*This post is not a paid advertisement for Izea‘s Social Spark or Brand Thunder.

How My Gay Pride Jello Did

On By Michel McDonaldIn gay prideLeave a comment

Last night was the Christmas Potluck dinner with PFLAG of Bakersfield.  I was so excited to bring in my Gay Pride Jello mold and nervous at the same time because I have never made one before.  I took it out of the mold at the house for this picture but then put it back in to go to the church.  We got there and flipped it out onto the plate and all was good until people started cutting into it.  The layers didn’t stick so they started coming apart.  Oh the humiliation!

Apparently nobody really gave two shits about the fact that they didn’t stick because there wasn’t that much left on the plate when we left.

We have never been to a pot luck together that didn’t involve his family reunions so Darrin was pretty bored.  I figured he would have gotten up and started mingling with people, I mean, he does that all the time so I was shocked when he picked this venue to become shy.  I on the other hand am always overly shy and never even look at anyone much less get up and walk around.  I do when I know people but I barely knew any of them.  The only way to do that is to continue to join in these events so I can get to know them better.

I did meet a few people who ended up becoming friends on Facebook with me.  One of them just so happens to share the same name with my first boyfriend, although I’m pretty sure it’s not him because my first boyfriend was deaf and this guy isn’t.  Unless there was a cure I didn’t hear about.

During one of the PFLAG announcements, the guy who had the Mic, named Ike who commented at our table how our names are Mike and Ike… you know, like the candy?, anyway he was naming names and telling people who they were yadda yadda yadda and he came to me and I was like whoa dude, I’m nobody yet lol.  But he mentioned me because we were new there and I made a comment to him at our table about how I never even knew Bakersfield had such a huge gay population.

Anyway, I had fun and I hope to be invited to more events.  Whether I will be able to go is another matter.

Gmail Video Chat with CR-48

On By Michel McDonaldIn CR-48Leave a comment

I got my CR-48 in December the first week they were shipping them and I didn’t really mess with the video chat until Christmas day when a friend of mine got a webcam for Christmas.  We tried it but my mic didn’t work so she couldn’t hear me.  When we came home from San Diego after Christmas we tried it again but my mic still didn’t work.

I’ve been so frustrated that the mic didn’t work and that I had no volume control but realizing I wasn’t testing the laptop but the operating system I started to come to the realization that it might never work.

Whenever Google would do an update on the Chrome OS I would check the mic settings and it never worked, that is until yesterday when they did their update.  I immediately checked the mic settings and not only did the mic work but so does my volume control.  Finally!

I emailed that same friend about trying again and she finally got on Gmail today so I sent her an IM directly from the Gmail site using Gmail chat.  I started the video chat but her video didn’t work at all.  I thought, well let’s go to Facebook using the Social Plus extension.  That didn’t work either so we went back to Gmail but I waited for her to engage me this time.  I don’t know what she did but it worked and we talked for about 45 minutes I would say.

It was a success!  It was as good if not better than using Skype.  Since I’m on a cloud based computer I can’t install Skype so Gmail chat is the next best thing.

The only strange thing about it was that when she held something up to her webcam it looked like a mirrored image to her but it looked normal to me.  I held up a package of something and it was a mirrored image to me but she saw it normal.  It was a little strange but if you think about it, we’re sort of like looking in a mirror, she can see me as if I were on the other side of the glass and vice versa.  A bit weird but that’s fine, I’ll take what I can get.

I’m just really excited that I can video chat lol.

CR-48 Upgrade Today

On By Michel McDonaldIn CR-48Leave a comment

Earlier today I was sitting here doing a survey on e-rewards on my CR-48 netbook and I look over at the wrench and see that it has a little dot on it.  That dot lets me know there is an upgrade.  I go ahead and let it upgrade which means I lose the survey (which was boring me anyway, no loss) and it reboots.

After it loads back up I immediately check my Gmail settings which I always do when there is an update so I can check to see if the mic is working yet.  Finally it works!  Not only does the mic work but the volume control works as well.  FINALLY!

So now when a friend wants to video chat with me either in Facebook or Gmail I can.  I was able to video chat before, I could hear them but they couldn’t hear me so now they can and I’m so happy.

Although, I sent an email to a friend of mine who has wanted to video chat with me and every time she asks I say no.  She has yet to return my email the whole day and now it’s after midnight so it’s too late cause she’s 3 hours ahead of me so she’s in bed lol.  Maybe tomorrow.

I know the mic works because I opened the Aviary audio editor and recorded my voice and it worked.  It wasn’t as loud as I would have liked for it to be but I’m sure they’re working on mic volume control.

Another thing I tried was Runescape and they still have yet to upgrade the missing plug-in for that game.  Oh and I hope they open a file structure soon too.   :p

I know, I’m like a child with this thing lol.

Cool Cell Phone Concept

On By Michel McDonaldIn TechLeave a comment

I wanted to share this.  I found this on the Dvice.com website from SyFy channel.  Here is the link:

WindowPhone concept points to future of touch cell phones
I think that’s really neat.  It’s a new cell phone concept that is a clear see through phone.  When it’s raining outside you see rain drops on the display.  When it’s snowing your display looks fogged up as if it has frost on it.  When it’s a nice sunny day then you get a clear see through display.  When you want to text you blow on the display then you can write the numbers/letters with your finger and it translates your writing into text to call someone or to type a text message.  Tuvie demonstrates that.

Ok now you might be asking yourself, Mike, how does this power up if you can see through it?  I got your answer.  Nanotechnology.  Here is a flexible transparent battery that charges up in 1 minute.  Yes, I said 1 minute.  Ok you got me Mike, so, what about all the rest of the parts of the phone?  Well, do you see the top of the phone that’s black that you can’t see through?  Perhaps that has the nano processor and all that jazz in there?  Who knows.  Or maybe if they can make a flexible transparent battery then they can make everything else flexible and transparent.

I think the display is LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or perhaps its color e-ink so it probably doesn’t use any battery power.

Ok so what about a speaker and a mic Mike?  I don’t know lol I didn’t design this.  Perhaps it is bluetooth ready so all you need is the bluetooth or maybe it comes with the bluetooth ear piece.

All I know is that I probably won’t be able to afford one.  I still use the Nokia 3390 from 2002 lol.

Land of the Lost Movie

On By Michel McDonaldIn MoviesLeave a comment

We went to see Land of the Lost today at the movies.  Yeah I know it’s been out for awhile but I can’t just go to every movie premiere.  What do you think I’m made of money?

Ok so I loved it because I watched the show when I was a kid on Kroft Super Stars in the 70’s.  I was rather disappointed that they did change a few things but I think they did it to add some spice to it.  Although I did find it rather disturbing that Rick Marshall was kissing Holly because in the original 70’s show Holly was his daughter.

I did love the woman who played Holly, she was in Pushing Daisies so I already knew I was going to like the movie because she was in it.

Chaka was hilarious getting to second base with Holly lol.  And him getting high with the guys and almost making out with Rick Marshall was hilarious.

As we were leaving the theater all I heard from people behind me was “boy that was the dumbest movie I’ve ever seen” and “oh my god that was so stupid”.  Sorry, I don’t know what to say but I liked it lol.  I have a sense of humor and some people just don’t and they probably weren’t that into the show in the 70’s so they just didn’t get it.

I mean, come on, the acting in this movie was 20 times better than the original series so you gotta give the movie some credit.  Not to mention the fact that they used real dinosaurs, I mean come on, you know that the T-rex is a prima donna.

Wait, one sec…. what’s that?  You say it was CGI?  What?  But I thought…

Oh eh hem… was this mic on that whole time?  Um what I meant to say was the CGI graphics in this movie was amazing.  They must’ve gotten the same people who did Jurassic Park and Walking with Dinosaurs to do the CGI.

Well anyway, I thought it was good so poopoo on anyone who doesn’t like it.

The Next PSP

On By Michel McDonaldIn PSPLeave a comment

Sony ready to unveil it’s PSP Go at E3 tomorrow | Dvice

PSP Go Video Game, E3 09: Conference Footage 2

Ok so here we go, they have a new PSP out which is their 4th gen called PSP Go.  This PSP is smaller, same widescreen but it flips up so you can use the control buttons below the screen instead of on the sides of it.  It then closes so you can watch movies or TV shows or even use it as an mp3 player and not have any buttons pressed while it’s in your bag.

The PSP Go has a 16GB flash memory as well as a Memory Stick Micro slot which is a different name from the one that is currently in the PSP which is Memory Stick Duo so no you can’t use the one that you already use in your current PSP.  They took away the UMD slot so all those games that you bought you can’t use anymore.  You have to buy all your games via the PlayStation store online.

It also has Bluetooth Support.  I don’t know what that means for the PSP though.  When I think of Bluetooth I think of a cell phone earpiece.  What does Bluetooth mean for a PSP Go?

On the video (which is the 2nd link above) at the E3 the guy talks about how people like to buy the actual physical product.  There will be a new media manager for PC so I’m guessing that maybe you plug your PSP 2 or 3 into your computer via the USB and it probably converts the UMD into files that you then upload to your PSP Go.  But that is just what I think that means, I don’t know for sure.  Who knows, but he did mention something about being able to buy the UMD even though you can’t use it in this thing.

I don’t know about this one.  I like my PSP 2000.  I didn’t upgrade it to the PSP 3000 when that came out because the only upgrade it had was a mic on the front so you don’t need a headset to call people with Skype and it had a more matte finish on the screen so you don’t get glare from lights or the sun.  With a $250 price tag I’m still not convinced that I need to upgrade to the PSP Go.

I kinda prefer having a UMD and being able to put it in the UMD slot when I want to play a game which of course means searching for the game I want but that’s perfectly fine by me.  I don’t know if I want to fill my 16GB flash memory with games then have to use a memory stick to add more.  Call me old fashioned lol.

EverQuest for PSP

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PSPLeave a comment

Untold Legends which I got today at Game Stop is very similar to EverQuest.  So I finally got the PSP’s answer to EQ.  I read that Sony wanted to create a version of EQ for the PSP but they couldn’t or something like that but they made Untold Legends.  It is very similar to EQ.  There are quests and merchants and you go up to people and talk to them and you got people following you and helping you fight.

Although nothing beats being able to chat with people but there is a multiplayer mode via lan or adhoc.  I don’t know how it works with the Lan though.  Maybe you gotta be chatting on the phone lol.  Who knows.  Or maybe you can use the headset with the mic.  With Adhoc you are sitting in the same room as the person you are playing with.

But I don’t know anyone with a PSP so it doesn’t matter.  I will always have to choose single player lol.

Bike Light

On By Michel McDonaldIn CyclingLeave a comment

I think it was the day before yesterday or something but I noticed that the light generator wasn’t touching the tire when you flip the switch and so I fixed it and then checked out the lights to make sure they were ok by pushing the peddles.  I noticed that the back red light was working fine but the headlight wasn’t working at all.  I flipped the bike upside down and pushed the peddles with my hand to make the back tire turn and the light was just not coming on.

I took the light fixture off the bike and took it apart to see if the light bulb was just out and when I went to turn it to remove it the glass part came off and the metal was just not unscrewing at all.  I’m pretty sure it’s because the light set that I bought was old, it was made in 1991.  I searched high and low trying to find a new bulb, I went to Albertson’s, no go.  I went to Walgreens, not there.  I figured that maybe an auto parts store might have them because they have little tiny lights too but alas the car lights were the same size but no threads.  The guy at the counter told me to try Home Depot or Floyd’s hardware store.

I decided that since I can’t use my bike anyway I might as well wait until I can to worry about it.  But then I noticed a Halloween tap light sitting in a drawer and noticed that the light bulb looked the same.  I unscrewed the 3 screws on the bottom and was able to unscrew the bulb and sure enough, the exact same light bulb.

I brought it to the bike area (this was yesterday) and screwed it in and flipped the bike over and plugged the wire into the generator and pushed on the peddles but unfortunately it didn’t turn the light on.  I put it back in the tap light and put some batteries in there and tapped it and it turned on just fine.

I went searching in a computer drawer with old computer stuff and found some old mic’s from when I got my first computer and never used the mic’s and was all ready to strip the wires to use it but it was late at night and I couldn’t find my scissors so I waited until today.  This morning after Darrin went to church I got up and went out there and my scissors were by the bike so I got all the stuff ready and sat down on the stool out there.  I tried it one more time with the wire that came with the light set but this time I stripped the wire that touches the light to see if it was just messed up there but no go.  I then thought, well what if the light has to be on the bracket on the bike frame so I just placed it on there and turned the peddles and sure enough the light came on.

At this point I’m not quite sure if it’s just sheer stupidity or if my ADD is really that bad lol.  At any rate I’m glad I finally figured it out and got one more problem out of the way so I can get back on with my life.

Skype for PSP

On By Michel McDonaldIn PSPLeave a comment

About a month or so ago Sony added Skype to their Sony PlayStation Portable but you have to buy the headset with the microphone and the remote control. Of course not long after that they created the combination for sale. Before you could only buy the headphones with mic by itself and then you’d have to additionally buy the regular headphones (minus the mic) with the remote control. You need the remote control for it to work.

I have started thinking about how maybe it is a good thing because if you have a cell phone and have unlimited calls that’s fine but I don’t. I have a pre-paid cell phone and so my calls cost .40 cents per minute. It’s especially frustrating when I am roaming. I think I should be able to call out for free on a cell phone like everyone else. Of course with Skype it is only free if you call other Skype users, otherwise you can buy time which is like 500 or 600 minutes for $10 which isn’t bad or you can pay $2.95 a month for unlimited calls (which is about 10,000 calls per month, they added that in there).

But you have to be in a wi-fi hotspot to be able to take advantage of that. I don’t know what T-Mobile has for you to use though. I was given a 6 month free wi-fi hotspot thing with the purchase of the PSP which I have not used yet because I don’t take it with me everywhere I go. I’m thinking that maybe the $10 phone card is a good idea cause I probably wouldn’t use it all the time and that 5 or 600 minutes wouldn’t expire after a month, you keep the minutes until you’ve used them up.

As soon as I get the money I’m going to think about getting the headset with mic from Game Stop and then setting an account up for me. I think it’s a good deal. And I want to see what T-Mobile does for PSP users per month.