Pandora Radio Dashboard Widget

I listen to Pandora radio while working. Quite a bit actually. It is a bit problematic to listen to Pandora while working given that it seems to need to be on top of all open applications to actually play.

Enter web clips in Safari. While Safari seems to struggle with AJAX elements within a web page (which is a source of frustration!), it gets two thumbs up for this great feature.  By clicking the scissors icon to the left of the address bar, I can highlight a specific part of any web page that I’d like to have access to on my dashboard. Take these steps to highlight the section of your Pandora Radio Player on the pandora.com home page. Once the Pandora player is on your dashboard, make sure you uncheck the “Only play audio in Dashboard” checkbox! That’s it. Happy “background” listening.

The first auction didn’t go so well. The first buyer didn’t respond to any of my emails and when I tried to call him I got a message saying that the subscriber wasn’t recieving any calls. So let’s try again!

If you are interested in checking out the actual eBay auction, feel free!

Last night was a long night.

I need Windows for only two things now (though I’m open to coming up with a few more things if possible).

1. Internet Explorer - while I really dislike this browser I’m stuck with it. Quickbooks Online, which is great for business accounting, only works in IE. And most of the world uses IE for their daily internet surfing - as a web developer, that means I have to attempt to write valid CSS for IE. Yuck. If I want to test my sites . . . I need Windows.
2. Linksys Wireless Routers - want to configure your Linksys wireless router? You guessed it . . . you need Internet Explorer. I guess that means I really only need Windows for one thing.

On Tuesday morning (July 22, 2008) I went to my local Apple store to see if they could fix or replace my first generation iPhone due to some camera issues I was having. I went online and set up a Genius Bar appointment for 10:20 a.m. After waiting for about 20 minutes it was my turn to be serviced.

The guy I was working with took my phone, took a picture, and then said he needed to step into the back to check things out. He came out a few minutes later and said that he had never seen this problem before. The internal circuit board that held the camera was loose causing the lens to wobble which, in turn, caused the images to lack focus.

They ended up replacing it with a brand new iPhone. This was good news and exactly what I was hoping would happen. I went into the store planning to sell my iPhone on eBay and use the proceeds to purchase two iPhone 3G’s so that both Shari and I could have one.

I’ll give more details in a follow up post in a few days, but for now I wanted to post a link to an eBay Auction for my first gen iPhone. I am also using this post as an excuse to get some high resolution photos into the hands of those who are interested in purchasing the iPhone as the resolution of the photos on eBay is terrible.

Happy Bidding!

I’ve had an iPhone for six months now. Not once have I regretted that purchase. Until now. It’s the latest upgrade to the OS. It’s killing me how useful this thing has become - and how hard it is to put it down. That’s the problem. My advice? Don’t buy an iPhone - they are far to useful.

Do you have a Wii? What are you waiting for?

The HiscasTV podcast is finally off the ground! The website is also functional, though it still needs work. We need to add content to a number of pages, especially the sponsor page as we are beginning to receive requests from local businesses to be segment and show sponsors.

I’m proud of the students and their work on this project. You can listen to the podcast online or subscribe via iTunes.

These homework videos have been more fun for me to make than they’ve been for my students to watch. There is more of this goofy stuff over at mrlyman.com

My seventh and eighth grade World History class has been collaborating with me on a history podcast. We set up some professional mics, stands, and a mixer that was attached to my computer. Then I used Apple’s Garage Band to capture the dialogue and I’ve been editing it. Keep your eye here for follow up announcements on the progress we are making on this project.