TQT: Queue YouTube to a Specific Time…

Ever have a long YouTube video that you want to share with others, but the good part is at the end? Well here is a nice little fix for you.

Since I gave my iPad the boot last week, I thought it was only fitting to demonstrate this technique with a Blendtec video of an iPad getting bent in half, shoved in an industrial blender, and pulverized into a powder.

The link for the video usually looks like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAl28d6tbko

If you click that link, you will end up watching entire 1 minute and 40 second clip. It’s very entertaining and you should definitely watch it.

If you want to get straight to the good stuff, you would want to start the video at the 55 second mark. You can easily have YouTube do that for you by adding the following to the end of the link:

#t=0m55s

You can modify the 0 and the 55 to whatever you want. The final link will then look like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAl28d6tbko#t=0m55s

Bam! iPad demolished!

If you want to watch another cool video starring The Digitante In Action!, check out the video below. If it doesn’t show up, click here to watch it at the YouTube site.

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/JC5Qyqy7Pyg&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b

Top Posts for 2009…

By far, the most popular feature on The Digitante was Friday Night Links. It’s probably my favorite post each week as well.

However, I want to give a run-down of the most popular individual posts at The Digitante. Without further ado, let’s get to the list.

1. Note Taking with Facebook – Getting picked up on Lifehacker certainly helped out on this post as it came in at around 600 visitors. It also stirred a bit of controversy as you can see from the comment section of the Lifehacker post. Mostly there were concerns with how Facebook handles privacy, but read on if you want to know how to deal with the privacy issue.
2. Sprint Store vs. Best Buy – When I initially wrote this post, it was a toss up as to who I would buy my next phone from. After continuing to consider the question and having some person experiences with both, I think I’ve landed firmly on the side of Best Buy. Sprint need to pull their head out of the sand and start offering an instant rebate. There is no way they can keep making people wait 8-10 weeks for their $100 check. People are just too price sensitive.
3. Meet The Digitante – Who would have known that everyone would be so interested in who I was and how I got to be where I am. I certainly would not have known it. I am glad I wrote this post because it gave me a chance to figure out who I am. Alright, inspirational speech time is over.
4. Build a Simple PC for $300 – If there was one thing I could do every day for the rest of my life, it would be to order parts and build computers all day long. The fact that I got to share that with everyone was really cool. I am currently designing a PC for a friend that will be used in a recording studio and another that will be used by me as a media center PC. I can’t wait to document that as well.
5. Empty a Water Bottle Quickly – Another hands-on, doing type of post. I am hoping to do some more instructional videos like this. I need to get a better camera for shooting video though.
6. Gifts for Your Techie – This isn’t necessarily one post, but all the gift guides were a hit. I’m hoping to do a little more on gift giving next year and hopefully start a bit earlier (Pre-Thanksgiving) so you have plenty of time to shop.
7. Facebook Privacy – If you use Facebook, this is a must-read post and I would highly recommend you spend 5-10 minutes and check out your privacy settings. I found some very disturbing things, especially regarding the amount of information that could be shared about me by others. I made sure to disable others’ ability to share vulnerable information of mine.
8. Mr. B Picks Up a Pre – This was actually the second in the In Action! series by The Digitante. Mr B was also kind enough to let you all know how The Digitante did. The first was Mr. G’s New TV, so be sure to read that one as well. If you have a tech need fulfilled and you want to be the next installment of In Action!, be sure to contact me and let me know.
9. A Bad Apple Spoils the Bunch – Apple rubbed me the wrong way for the last time. I’ve spent the last 3 months iTunes free and I’m loving it. I wrote about DoubleTwist which recently added the AmazonMP3 store to its interface. I wasn’t totally happy with DoubleTwist though. I’ve got foobar2000 installed currently and I’ve used it a little, but not enough to write about it. Also, Songbird recently added a slew of new features so I need to check that out as well.
10. Upgrade Your Wireless Router – This was a more technical article, but was perhaps the most doable for some setting up their first wireless router. I can’t recommend Tomato and the WRT54GL enough. If you are in the market for a new wireless router, this is the only way to go.

Let me know if you had any favorite posts from this year. What do you want to see more of in the next year? Toss it in the comments section!

Mr. B's Follow-up Testimonial

So if you’ve been reading The Digitante for awhile now, I’ve seen the In Action! feature that I write. Essentially, its just me helping people out with their tech stuff.

My first foray into documenting my consultations was with Mr. G who needed a new television. Not to long afterward, I helped Mr. B get a new cell phone. I asked Mr. B if he would right a little blurb about his experience and he just emailed it over to me last week. Here’s his story:

A little bit of background: I don’t think I have ever paid > $50 for a phone. I always went with the free or close to free phones and had never paid attention to the features of the phone. My thoughts have always been, ‘Can I make and receive calls?’ and wanted it not too be too big and bulky. I also had a history of breaking my phones one way or another, and by history, I mean, every phone I have had has broken, usually by me dropping it repeatedly (on accident of course).

Fast forward to a few months ago. My phone’s battery was getting to the point where it wouldn’t last a day without having to charge it up, and when my parents got an iPhone, that made me realize that I was behind in the times. I saw all the cool features that a smart phone could do and I wanted one.

I was all for listening to the commercials pumping the largest network and some CEO saying how their service was better, etc. For a second opinion, I turned to The Digitante. When I first asked him a few questions about the cell phone game, his eyes lit up like a 5 year old on Christmas. I guess cell phone shopping is one of his passions.

The Digitante asked me what all I wanted in a phone, what I thought was important, what I would use it for, how many minutes I use, etc. He told me all about the networks and data speeds, different phones, cost of plans for each carrier to make sure I was optimized for my individual needs. He explained the features of each phone, the drawbacks, battery life, etc.

The Digitante told me about upcoming phones from Sprint that would be released in the next 6 months, the HTC Hero and a new BlackBerry without the rollerball, which was one of the reasons I didn’t like the BlackBerry. I ended up going with the Pre, as you could see.

My parents have an iPhone, my sister and roommate have the Pre. I work with a bunch of people that have the BlackBerries, and really liked the interface of the touchscreens better. My decision was pretty much between leaving Sprint, which I had been with for 6 years and going to AT&T for the iPhone, or sticking with Sprint and going with the Pre.

After 6 years of no problems with Sprint’s network or customer service, I was leaning toward them due to this, and their significantly lower cost of the plans vs. an iPhone.

The Digitante went with me to pick it out at Best Buy from his suggestion of having an instant rebate vs. going to the Sprint Store and having a mail-in rebate.

A few months after my purchase, I have no buyer’s remorse and I love the Pre. It does everything I need it to do and really utilizes everything I need for personal and work.

I am glad I had The Digitante along with me, not only to help me pick out a phone, but for someone that I could trust would help me get the right phone for me and my uses, rather than the commercials that appeal to the masses.

Thank you, Digitante

PS: Help me pick out a Blu Ray player that streams Netflix… or some other thing that will do the same. And for next spring, I want to hook up outdoor speakers that I can connect to my XM, possibly through my current receiver.

Well, sounds like I’ve already got some more work lined up from Mr. B.

If you would like some help with your gadgets, I offer some nice discounts on my services if you let me document it and give me a quick blurb for my site. If you are interest, feel free to contact me by email, phone, or you can leave a comment below.

Gifts for Your Techie: $400-1,000…

So far, I’ve covered gift ideas under $100 and gift ideas from $100 to $399 for the gadget lover in your life. We’re continuing on with gifts in the range from $400 to $1,000. Here you start getting into purchases that you make once every 5 years or so. These ideas are also a bit more dynamic, especially laptops and desktop computers, since manufacturers will have the same basic model, but will add larger hard disk drives and more RAM on almost a weekly basis as costs for those items drop. However, these suggestions should give you a nice starting point and will prep us for tomorrow’s post – Sky’s the Limit (aka gifts over $1,000).

Here we go:

• Nikon D5000 Digital SLR Camera – I actually own the previous generation to this camera and will totally vouch for it. I bought it to capture our little girls growing up and thus far it has done admirably, considering we have a couple of thousand pictures we’ve taken in about a year. The biggest advancement since we purchased our model is the addition of HD movie recording.

  

• Toshiba Satellite – The biggest selling point on this laptop is its battery life. It tips the scale (according to Toshiba anyway) at over 9 hours of battery life. More realistically, with WiFi on, working with programs, and keeping the screen at a reasonable brightness, you might get closer to 6 hours, but that is still better than any laptop I’ve ever owned by about 3-4 hours.

  

• Panasonic VIERA 42-Inch Plasma HDTV – If you have browsed around this site, I hope you have checked out the In Action! section. A couple of months ago, I helped my buddy, Mr. G, pick out a brand new plasma HDTV. This is the TV that he ended up getting. He was just telling my the other night that he is so happy with it and everybody comments on how good it looks. Panasonic plasmas are pretty much the best TVs you can buy right now. Don’t let anyone tell you that LCD is better; its just not true.

  

Have any great suggestions of your own? Have an opinion on a camera, laptop, or TV in the $400-1,000 range? Feel a need to lash out at the world on a technology blog? Then leave a comment below.

In Action!: Empty a Water Bottle Quickly

Tonight I created and uploaded my first YouTube video. Soon I’m going to write a post about YouTube, but for tonight, you can check out my video that I uploaded.

It is an instructional How-To video on how to empty a water bottle or jug quickly. Let me know what you think in the comments!

In Action!: Build a Simple PC for $300…

A new Digitante In Action! post is available tonight. I built a nice little computer for a client and documented the entire process. Get over there and check it out.

Build a Simple PC for $300…

If you want a little computer like this, you can feel free to use the Google Voice widget over to the right to contact me or you can email me by heading to the About page.

Friday Night Links (10/16/2009)…

I’ve got some awesome stuff in the queue for next week with some more of The Digitante In Action! I built a computer for a client over the weekend and I am going to write up a How To on building a computer. The one I built can handle most tasks aside from graphics intensive applications such as games and HD movie making. The parts cost $270 plus another $100 if you want Windows 7 on it. We’ll cover more of the details on Monday.

Now let’s meander through the land o’ links:

• BudgetSketch (http://thedig.in/3i) – The video talks about how most financial software (Mint for example) does a great job of telling what your money had been doing, however, it doesn’t do so well at planning where your money will go in the future. BudgetSketch does just that: plan your future spending so you know where you will stand at all times. And with a cost of FREE, the you won’t have to pencil BudgetSketch into your budget.
• NFL Sunday Night Football (http://thedig.in/3j) – This was by far the most excited about a link that I have been in awhile. You can watch the game on your computer in case you are away from your television. But it isn’t just the game, there are DVR features (rewind, pause), multiple camera angles (and the cameras keep rolling on commercials), and check up on the stats via the sidebar. I might actually start watching Sunday Night Football via the web instead of on the TV.
• Penny Stove (http://thedig.in/3k) – Ever been trapped in the woods with only denatured and a beer can? Me neither, but don’t let that stop you from building this cool little stove to cook some bacon, some rice, your forearm, what ever you have on you! I have a feeling I might be playing with a little bit of fire this weekend.
• Fiber-Optic Starscape (http://thedig.in/3l) – If the thought of being trapped out in the woods with only denatured alcohol and a beer can frightens you, you could try camping out under a starlit sky that you created yourself. The article mentions that it is very time consuming but I have a feeling that you could save a great deal of time by putting up random stars instead of mapping out the actual sky. But then again, I am a slacker.

Mr. B gets a Palm Pre…

As I mentioned the other night, Mr. B and I went to pick him out a new phone. You can check out that post over in the In Action! section above or just click the link above.

Just the day before we went to pick out his phone, Mrs. Digitante had gotten a new phone as well. Their experiences could not have been more different:

• Mrs. Digitante ended up going with a BlackBerry Tour, the newest BlackBerry Sprint offers. Mr. B ended up going with the Palm Pre which touts a brand new WebOS operating system which replaced the aging PalmOS.
• Mrs. Digitante purchased her phone at a Sprint corporate store. Mr. B purchased his at Best Buy. There were some stark differences between the two establishments. I’m going to be posting a fully rundown of the differences, both good and bad of purchasing through a Sprint store and Best Buy.

In the meantime, check out In Action!

Tomorrow: Mr. B gets a Pre!

More In Action! with The Digitante as we chronicle Mr. B’s journey to Best Buy for a new phone. Look for that tomorrow!

Friday Night Links (8/14/2009)…

Before we jump to the links, I went with my buddy Mr. B to help him navigate the crazy world of cell phones. He has had his same phone for a while and was due for new customer pricing on a new one. He ended up getting the Palm Pre and I documented the whole thing for a new installment of In Action! with The Digitante.

The most exciting part of the trip was chatting with the Sprint rep (Kelly, I think?). I complained about the fact that I can’t tether my phone and she gave us an insider tip: the Palm Pre is getting a soft keyboard (on-screen keyboard) tomorrow, as far as she has heard. She said it will be free as well. This is big news considering that someone was so diligently hacking away to make one themselves.

Alright, on to the links:

• Build an air hockey table – For less than $100? Sign me up. A crappy table is $400 and a good one is over $1,000, so this is a heck of a deal.
• Battery monitoring – I’ve mentioned before, the shortest lifespan component on a computer is usually going to be the battery. Charging and discharging is really hard on a laptop’s battery and BatteryCare gives you the heads up on how worn out it is. Tons of features here, so pick it up if you have a laptop.
• iPhone deposits – USAA Bank (for military, ex-military, and army brats) will allow you to take a picture of your check to be cashed, upload it, and deposit it in your account. All you have to do is tear the check up! My credit union definitely needs this.
• Spotify – Spotify is a streaming music aggregation service. I haven’t checked it out yet, but the review is pretty comprehensive and I want to it out as it seems very intriguing.

Update: it appears that Spotify is currently available outside the US but is only available in the US by private invitation. I’ll update later if I find out more information.