NASA image-capturing technology...impressive.

In case you were wondering applications for the best job in the world are due February 22nd. So get cranking and make sure you submit your stuff.
Last night, I spent an hour getting my favicon up, which for me is an hour too long. Thanks to two separate posts by Peter I was able to get it up. So notice it...appreciate it...and repeat after me: 'awwwwwh'. Nice, very nice.
Anyway what really caught my attention was this.
It's a picture of the inauguration taken with a NASA image-capturing technology that was developed to take wide-angle Hi-Def pictures on Mars. The inauguration picture was taken with a robotic camera at 1,474 mega pixel (295 times the standard 5 mega pixel camera). It's madness.
I got this patriotic site sent to me today in an email. I kinda wondered how they were able coordinate all those artists singing and playing at different places. Regardless, it made me put my hand over my heart.
Yeah. So that's all I got for you...now for me...I have about a 12 foot stack of books waiting for me on my desk. My professors claim it's homework, we students call it torture.

iPhone iNfo

I do worship the ground my iPhone walks on. I admit it freely. There are only some minor things that I would change about it though. Video capturing capability (without having to jailbreak it), longer lasting battery, being able to use flash, receiving picture text messages through text instead of having to go online and type in some ginormous code, not hanging up on people when I put in the headphones/mouthpiece, and having a zoom feature for the camera would be some of the things I would change about it. But like I said it's only minor. Another issue that I've noticed as of late and with the onset of cold weather is that you can't wear gloves when using your iPhone. Well, I should say you couldn't. 4Sight Products Inc. have created $40 gloves to wear when working the magic on your iPhone, much to a lot of people's relief.
As I was perusing the web a couple of days ago I realized a lot of people wanted to block text messaging completely on their iPhone. There is a method to do so, despite many people's complaints of there not being one. So I posted it on twitter and now am informing you like my duty calls me to do.
I peruse the web mostly through my iPhone these days, but reading stuff on the web via 'Jemima' hurts my eyes, so I throw on my nerdy glasses. I don't know why I told you that, it's not really relevant to what I'm about to say...but anyway Wired.com has compiled, in my humble, personal opinion the best top list of iPhone apps. Sadly, I have not downloaded the top 1st app, but it's on my list of things to do.
I overuse smiley faces, a lot sometimes. And to all those overused smiley faces...
I dedicate this next video to you.

Tips to format your computer

Aii-yii. It's 36 degrees right now and I live in Florida. Doesn't that sound like an oxymoron? It does to me. Well I didn't come on here to complain about the weather (no, I complain about it on Twitter)..I came on here to inform you that last week I formatted my computer. By myself. Yeah I know I alread told you I formatted my Windows XP computer. My purpose now is to help those poor souls who are going to take on that feat all by themselves. May heaven be with you my child. Anyway lets get right down to it.
First you should know; It will take you all day, especially if this is your first time. So make sure you have the time to be able to do it.
Secondly read this post (mine) and this one and this one before you wipe out your computer. And print all of those up so you have something to refer back to.
Thirdly, have an external harddrive to back up everything, pictures, music, documents, online antivirus software (that is if you got it online) etc.
Backup and restore all your Windows drivers on that external harddrive, also save the installation for whichever program you used to back up all your drivers (I used DriverMax, it's easy to use). So if you downloaded DriverMax, save that installation file on your harddrive, cause once you wipe your computer you won't be able to connect to the internet to download and install DriverMax (or whatever other program you choose).
I recommend watching this, it gives you a selection of driver backups and how to use them.

Alright next, find out exactly what you have inside your computer's little head. You can print out what software, drivers, installers, you have from your Device Manager but I recommend downloading and using Belarc Advisor in addition to printing out what you have on your Device Manager. It will basically audit your computer. A very nice feature. So print out those two things, you might be needing these papers later so don't do anything without them.
Now make sure you have all your discs, to reinstall your software (ie. A Windows XP installation CD with a valid Product Key, Drivers CD). These CD's should have come with your computer. If not....well find a way to get them. Also make sure you have your software CD's (ie Microsoft Office, Photoshop CS3) with your valid serial keys.
And lastly......make sure you have an extra laptop....see if you can borrow a friend's. Cause once you start wiping it you can't get back online and look up something that you have a question about. So it would be a good idea to have another computer to do that with.
Got all that? Okay good. Time to start over.
Insert the Windows installation disk into your CD drive, shut down your PC.
Then, boot from CD which bascially means when it's starting up, you should see a black screen before your blue Windows logon screen. When you see that black screen punch F12 or F2 (depending on your computer).
Follow the Windows installation. I would go into more detail but the site that I referred you to at the beginng of this post did such a nice job...that I'm gonna refer you to that. Now this is going to take forever. So go see a movie..actually go see 2 movies...yes, it will take that long if not longer. Mine took 4 and a half hours.
After that's done though...bam! Say hello to your new Windows! :)
Now it may be a lil outta whack...screen might be messed up, icons too big/small, whatever...that's cause you don't have the drivers to make it run normal and pretty like.
So install any missing drivers. Chnaces are though you won't have all of them (at least I didn't). Now remember that DriverMax I had you download? Well, install it on your computer and import all the drivers you had exported to your harddrive before you formatted.
Next, install a anti-virus protection. Pronto. I highly, gigantically, recommend you do it before you go online.
If your anti-virus was on a CD go ahead and upload it. If you downloaded it online....well make sure you download it on to your external harddrive before you wipe it, so that you can download it on to your computer from your external harddrive.
Now, go online and update Windows. Be sure to install any software updates you need and make sure your firewall is up and you are protected.
And you're done! Let me know how it works out for you :)

One widget to rule them all..

I needed to add widgets to my blog to point people to where I'm at on the web. So I strolled over to various sites to look at their widgets and was not really liking the huge variety that I saw...I mean I like the widgets..but each site that I was on had various sizes, colors, etc...they seemed so mish-mashed when I tested them out. And I realized that someone needs to create one widget that can pull from any/each site that you want and neatly organize it for the audience's review. So I found widgetbox.com and that's what I have on my website....but, I'm still not happy with it...it has advertisements on it...and I can't add widgets to it...notice technorati is not on it...hulu's not on it...the widgetbox.com only gave me a limited selection, and that makes me unhappy.
But it was the best I could find for the current moment. I can't see myself sticking with it for very long, but I shall settle for it now. Because if I know the web, like I think I do, something better will come out. I'm counting on it.
Anyway you gotta watch this video it's so sweet.

Edit your photo's

I am a crazy photo editor....I just love to do it and Picnik is the other half of my picture editing heart. I used it today and I love it. Just love it. Oh, not only is it a pretty sweet online photo editor...it's free.
Anyhow....so this is starting to go around the block and back again a couple of times...so I thought I would share it with you. Pretty funny.

Procrastination at it's finest..

So yes....I changed my layout. Are you really surprised? Psh. You shouldn't be.
I didn't really like the other one. It wasn't spacious like this one is. I like my blogs to be spacious. Leaves me feeling like I have lots of room to write. Anyway, I have a 6 page paper that is due in a day and a half and that I should be banging away on but instead I shall regal you of things I have seen and discovered.
Ever heard of Geocaching? I had never heard of it and oh my word it's insane. So word for word this is what they say it is 'a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices.' Literally. People hide things around the world and you can go look for them and find them. I looked for caches here in G'ville and the list was endless. I really had no idea so many people were doing this...but it does sound fun. For right now you need a GPS device to help you find these caches but they are working on an app for the iPhone...so you wouldn't need to lug your GPS around. (sigh) Another reason to have an iPhone.
Okay so I live in Florida....growing up in Ft. Lauderdale I never associated Florida with the word cold, but this morning it was 28 degrees! There was snow on the ground! Ok, so maybe not snow; it was a large amount of frost covering a large part of the road I was going by. I would have taken a picture of it, cause I had my camera with me, but in a classic Michelle Epic Fail moment, I forgot my memory card. Fail.
I have more to write about but this paper is blocking almost every thought that comes to mind.
I best get working on it....

Isn't it too much?

I know that sites have to update themselves to stay on the cutting edge...I know this...but when 4 times a month iTunes wants me to update, Facebook switches links around so that I have to go looking for them, Youtube changes their uploading setup, and when Gmail changes the colors of my inbox...and then they do this all in the same day...I kinda cringe. When is updating too much? I say it's too much when it's not making an improvement to their site. iTunes: I have updated and updated, it doesn't seem to change much with each update. Facebook: the links were fine, why did you change them, was it not aesthetically pleasing? Youtube: why did you change the uploading setup? the uploading setup you have now uploads the same as the other one. Gmail: colors? really?
Really guys, you just frustrate people like me. I don't want to have to download, update, restart my computer, figure out what I'm doing, look for what I need, that's all very time consuming (not to mention annoying).
I discovered Scribd today with this guy's help I shall be forever grateful. I had to upload PDF files online and I wasn't entirely sure how to do it. I also found out you can convert Word documents into PDF files for free. How nice and convenient.
Anything else? I think not.

Puppies!!

Okay so I was talking with a friend and she sends me this link that I just had to share with you..
http://cdn1.ustream.tv/swf/4/viewer.45.swf?cid=317016
it's a live feed...and they are so cute...I could eat 'em.
Anyway, enjoy. :)

The world voted..

Yep the world voted on America's elections...
check out who they voted for.
http://www.iftheworldcouldvote.com/

Daydreaming..

Yeah it happened, not but two days ago. What am I gonna do?! :P

Anyway, what the heck is up with iTunes? They released another update of iTunes...it's annoying and absorbing my bandwidth and my precious time.
C'mon guys the point is to stay on top of technology not to inundate us with it...

Anyway song of the day:

Happy Valentine's Day...now go couch surf

Another 30 minutes to go till this day is officially over. 29 now. I always find it so amusing, when it's a holiday or semi-holiday, Google will spice up their logo. Sends me into a fit of giggles.I saw in a Jewish paper that they have at my school ("The Shipel") their is a website called Couchsurfing.com. You probably have already assumed what this is and you would probably be right. You can go anywhere in the world to visit and have a place to crash. So you can be dirt poor and still travel. Pretty amazing. They have feedback from people who have already done it and so far it's seems to be pretty good.
Also heard some good and not so good things about the MacBook Air. Apparently it is well designed but has zero battery life. It lasts just a little over 2 hours left to itself. Yeesh, not good. I would definitely not like to be in the position of having to allow my laptop to be babysat by an electric outlet. Not my thing...but otherwise it looks sharp and performs well.
I thought there was one other thing I had to share but I can't recall it at the present time. If I remember I'll jump back on here and tell you allllll about it.

What is the Nike+?

Amazing. The Nike+iPod Sport Kit is a $30 accessory connecting your shoe and your iPod wirelessly (some call it an overpriced pedometer). Runners place a small sensor under their shoe insole and connect a receiver to their iPod nano, to track statistics during and after a workout. Your workout progress and statistics such as pace, total time, and total distance are updated on-screen and with audio cues through your headphones. After a run, sync your iPod nano and upload to Nike to track your progress and challenges over time and compare with friends. Not too bad right? Wait it gets better.

You then can connect to the Nike+ website and track your running statistics and improvement. You can share your training information with others, and setup virtual races with friends to compare your times over the same course. Way cool. I've already registered with Nike+ and let me say the experience has been rewarding. I don't have the gadgets yet, but once I do I will be going places! I encourage any runner to go to the site and check it out. At the very least look at the tutorials. It's pretty stinkin' awesome. The only thing is that (of course) Nike will encourage you to buy (roughly about) $90 Nike+ shoes to sport a little space under your sole to keep the wireless accessory. However, I found a site that shows how to cut your own little space out of your Asics. Not sure you'll want to go tearing up your shoes, but if you're devoted to a specific brand (as I am) then you might not mind. I also should probably mention that Lacelid.com makes a plastic piece that ties right into the laces and holds the sensor just for that purpose. They aren't very expensive, I think only about $7, but if you are running rough terrain I'm not sure you would feel very comfortable going this option. I would still run regardless of all this technology, but this, this just makes it even better. :)

Also if all this Nike+ yak has made you want to start conquering the road I highly recommend you read this guys blog post on "5 Tips for New Runners". Very helpful.

The Disappearing Car Door Act!

I'm not sure if this is an improvement for the world or just a plain waste of time. I'll get back to you on my thoughts for that one.

You know that Invisible Man book? Well the idea behind it just might become a reality. Most likely after I die. (everything cool takes so long to materialize)

Oh yeah, I was reading this earlier this morning...in the mood for some griping? KentuckyGurl is well known for her griping. The only frustrating thing about her blog is that she needs Google AdSense! With all that traffic, make some money gurl!