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Ten Interesting Internet Facts

February 26, 2011 — Mrs. Mecomber

Saw this video at Kim Komando’s site. Very interesting! Did you know any of this? Do you remember any of these things? I think I remember that very first banner ad!

Posted in chatty. Tags: facts, history, Internet, video. Comments Off »

Even the Kitchen Sink

January 21, 2011 — Mrs. Mecomber

We renovated our kitchen last summer. WHAT a job. We did everything ourselves. The cost of professional labor around here is terrible. I don’t know how people afford it. I could easily have spent $65,000 on my kitchen by hiring out. Much, much too expensive– it’s more than I paid for the house!

So we did everything ourselves, including the new wiring, plumbing, and heating system. The kids and I also installed our new kitchen sink. I tried to order as many materials as I could online, as the store here charge a lot, plus there’s the nearly 10% sales tax on everything in Upstate NY. Ouch. But we did it! I even ordered my wood countertops online! Those were fun to haul to the house. :S

Anyway, we opted for a cast iron sink, but maybe next time I’ll go with a stainless steel sink. I love the white enamel of the cast iron, but the material stains, chips, and gets scruffed up. It’s pretty scruffy right now. I dislike the coldness of stainless steel sinks, but they are so durable. And at Shop Sinks and Faucets, they are extremely affordable. They offer same day shipping, too!

While I don’t plan on re-doing the kitchen any time soon, we do have to redo the bathrooms, and would like to make a utility sink area in the basement. Thank God for the Internet!

Posted in chatty, websites. Comments Off »

The Dearth of Good Themes

January 10, 2011 — Mrs. Mecomber

I think I’ve tried half a dozen themes on this blog in 12 months. Sorry, friends. I just cannot seem to find the *perfect* theme. Maybe I am too picky??

One of the reasons I switched from Blogger to WordPress was because of the wonderful themes in WordPress. Lots of high-quality themes abounded, many of them free. And over the past year or two of blogging, the WP themes have really upped the ante for tremendously beautiful and versatile themes. New themes have javascript, sliders, gorgeous visual effects and virtual toolbox effects. I love these kinds of themes. But many of the old themes, while still good, seem outdated now. And I a mo not finding many new themes that have the slick new features and are free. It seems that the era of beautiful free themes is over?

Anyway, I have purchased two themes from WooThemes. ~~I’m going to try the BusyBee theme here~~. [didn't look good, so I'm sticking with current theme until I can find a better one]. I dislike the bland gray, black, blue, or white themes, and that seems to be all we’re getting spoonfed these days.

Dear theme designers– Please make themes in colors, BRIGHT colors. I’m tired of the gray and black and blue themes. Thanks.

Posted in chatty, templates. Tags: themes, Wordpress. 1 Comment »

1975 Was Gonna Be Such a Great Year…

November 25, 2010 — Mrs. Mecomber

These photos are pretty funny! They are from a 1962 book prophecying the technological advances of 1975. I guess 1962 was a very optimistic year (even though they’d just outlawed public praying in schools), as they had NO IDEA of the impending oil crisis that would essentially shut down innovation with the cardigan malaise. My kitchen was redone in the 1970s, and nothing good came out of it! lol….

Seeing how people of the past viewed the future is rather fun. While they had a curiosity about future and how pervasive technology would become in our lives (and that has been only recently, within the past 10 years or so, really), some of the inventions and their thinking is humorous. Did they realize how successful Sony Electronics or Microsoft would become, hm?

The next photo is of a living room entertainment center, replete with phonograph, oo lala! Haha, just wait until the HDMI cable splitter comes along and changes everything in living room entertainment!

By the way, I actually had furniture similar to this kind of style! *shudder* I got it from the curb, lol. It’s a cold, sterile design, I think– harshly geometric furniture in yellow plastics and spindly chrome legs. Ugh! How could anyone like this style?! LOL!!

This is a “Cardiac Pacer” and is worn by heart patients.

Um, really?

This contraption is an ultrasonic dishwasher. It would produce sound waves at very high frequencies, which would rattle the dirt off… and call every dog within a 30-mile radius….

This is cool. But very optimistic. I went to school in the late 1980s, and we didn’t even have individual computers back then. In my senior year, the entire school received 10 computers to share amongst 100 students. I wrote my term paper on it, but the print looked like something that HAL spit out. Today, I suppose schools are packed to the hilt with technology, everything from HDMI splitters to wide-screen TVs and Green Rooms…

Technology has certainly changed our lives! I am grateful, however, for missing out on the entertainment center and the ultrasonic dishwasher. What do you think?

Images courtesy of the dbostrom collection at Flickr.

Posted in chatty, technology. Tags: technology. Comments Off »

The Eye in the Sky

August 2, 2010 — Mrs. Mecomber

GPS is mind-boggling to me. In case you have been living in a hole for the past 10 years, GPS stands for “Global Positional Satelllite.” It was once the stuff of science fiction. And even when it started to twinkle on the sidelines about 20 years ago, only the most sophisticated vehicles sported GPS. I remember a relative of mine who had purchased one of the first cars equipped with GPS. It was so primitive compared to today’s technology! But back then, it was crem de la crem of car technology.

Image from Wikipedia.

I rented a car a few months ago, and the thing came equipped with GPS sat nav. It’s becoming more standard. That’s what amazes me, the fact that it is becoming so standardized. I have mixed feelings. Sure, a car loaded with Garmin sat nav on the dash is very, very convenient (especially for those of us who have a propensity to get lost *cough cough*), but the abuses are present, too. I am uncomfortable with the great big eye in the sky watching everywhere I go. I’m not saying that I have anything to be concerned about (what a big thrill it must be to watch me go to Walmart and back every week, big whoop), but it’s the principle of the thing. Still, I have a little GPS sat nav software program in my iPod, and it definitely came in handy when I was in Manhattan.

What do you think? I love technology, I think it’s cool! But, as with everything, it’s prone to be abused. Do you think the benefits outweigh the cons?

Learn more about sat navs and GPS gadgets at http://www.satnav-expert.co.uk.

Posted in chatty, gadgets, surveillance, technology. Tags: GPS, sat nav, vehicles. 2 Comments »

Webcam and Video Messaging Comes of Age

July 2, 2010 — Mrs. Mecomber

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of faceVsion Technology USA. All opinions are 100% mine.

This is pretty cool. It’s the
FV touchcam N1. I’ve never been very fond of webcams, generally speaking, until I traveled without the kids and husband recently. The webcam became a very important tool– everyone missed the mom while I was away! The webcam helped ease the homesickness. And it also gave the kids the opportunity to look into my “travel” world and see everything around me. I’ve also utilized Skype for a few business and educational exploits, too. So I guess I am slowly making more use of the webcam and “video conferencing” more frequently as my career develops.

Unfortunately, the webcam and the software with it has been horribly slow. Most webcams that are labeled as “high definition” (HD) are pitifully inadequate. The images are blurry, the sounds jerky. The cam I used while traveling stuttered a lot, and the connection was very slow. So when I heard about faceVsion, I was interested.

Basically,the faceVsion TouchCam N1 is a superior, high-quality webcam with touch capabilities and extremely high-definition quality, allowing your webcam video to stream up to 720p. There’s a very good video on the website that showcases the webcam– nice!

The faceVsion webcam has an H.264 hardware encoder built in Touchcam N1, which enables true HD quality. So it’s great for travel and business use. There’s also something called the FV ExpressCombo that offers an express card so you can use the HD webcam even if you have a slower, less-powered CPU computer. Looks nice!

Webcams are not that expensive. If you use them a lot, or need one for business, spend a couple of extra bucks and get something NICE. There’s a faceVision on line store that has more information and products. The faceVsion TouchCam N1 is certified for Skype. It’s an easy, plug-and-play cam small enough for any laptop or desktop or monitor, and big enough in quality to really make you go wow. Cool!