Stuck on Tech

With every passing day, we become more reliant on services found within the Internet; also known as cloud computing. It’s very common to have your e-mail through Google, Microsoft or Yahoo. Social sites, like Facebook and Twitter, thrive on the terabytes of personal information store online. The Internet is full of sites used to share pictures and video.  Even document editing and management can be done online. No matter how much hype is placed on these buzz word backed services, no one cares more for your data than you do. Read the rest of this entry »

The Netflix video streaming feature has become a key method in the way my family and I consume multimedia content. Our Xbox Live Gold membership is primarily used to play Netflix on my Xbox 360. Recent media device purchases have been influenced by whether if the device has embedded Netflix support.

A key feature of Netflix video streaming is the familiar look and feel across various devices. Additionally, videos can be started on one device, stopped and concluded on another device. There is one feature Netflix video streaming lacks: the ability to organize streamable content into user specified categories… video libraries. Read the rest of this entry »

Earlier this year, I wrote about a wonderful bookmark syncing service called Xmarks. Since then, I’ve seen many friends and co-workers create an account with Xmarks. I was saddened last week when i heard that Xmarks had decided to discontinue its service. Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to Stuck on Tech! After being hosted at Wortmann Support (http://support.wortmannfamily.com), I finally decided to give this blog it’s own domain.

It’s amazing how much time was needed to:

• Pick a new domain
• Pick a new WordPress Theme
• Customize the Theme

Picking a domain is far from easy. I would spend countless hours coming up with various domain names. Luckily, my amazing wife was there to help me weed through the domain names and pluck out the gems. She also did an amazing job helping me narrow down the WordPress Themes I’d pulled down and started to work with.

So, there you have it. It’s up and running. As with any new site launch, there are bound to be quirks. Also, I have quite a few more ideas on how I want to expand on the design. However, if you find any quirks, posts that didn’t transfer over properly or have suggestions, please, leave a comment.

Enjoy!

For the longest time, I walked around with three devices. I had my trusty Motorola V710 cell phone, a SanDisk Sansa mp3 player (a m200 then a c240) and a Palm Zire 31 PDA. For more than 5 years, I was quite content.

After 5 faithful years of service, my cell phone started to show its age and its unwillingness to work reliably with my cell phone service, Verizon Wireless. Being that I’d made my cell phone last as long as it did, my wife and I decided to move to smart phones.

I upgraded to the HTC Touch Pro2 and I convinced my wife she should get the Motorola Droid. Within two weeks of our purchase, I’d traded my HTC in for a Motorola Droid of my own. I’m an avid Windows user and I’ve worked with a few Windows Mobile devices. But the features in the Droid were too compelling.

It’s been four months and I couldn’t be happier. Read the rest of this entry »

I may not be old enough to remember the birth of the Internet, but I have been around long enough to see its introduction and growth outside in the workplace and family household. A lot has changed since the time my family first connected to the Internet. Internet connection speeds are 200 times faster. Web pages have grown from text with gray background to rich multimedia experiences. We live in a world where steaming audio is no longer a theory; we are surrounded by streaming HD video. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been using computers for a long time. Being an enthusiast, I’ve put my electronics through the paces… intentionally and unintentionally. The most common task has been reinstalling the operating system.  I’ve got the process down to a fine art.

Of all the tasks that a re-installation entails, the one that caused me the most friction was restoring my bookmarks. Our family uses multiple browsers, on multiple computers. While losing them wouldn’t be the end of the world, it’d mean the loss of a database of information that’s taken years to build.

This lead to my discovery of Xmarks (formally known as Foxmarks).  Of all the features that Xmarks has to offer, these stood out:

1. Xmarks is easy to use
2. Xmarks works with multiple browsers
3. Xmarks syncs bookmarks between computers (using SSL)
4. Xmarks allows me to access my bookmarks online Read the rest of this entry »

Every month, most Microsoft Windows users receive a small prompting. It may be in a small yellow shield in the System Tray (part of the Taskbar) or a prompt to restart the computer. This is only a reminder of the bugs and errors that Microsoft is constantly fixing; also known as patches. Read the rest of this entry »

A few weeks ago, Hulu.com made its move from being privately tested to open to the public. Hulu.com is a video site. Video sites come and go on a daily basis. What makes this one special?

Hulu.com is the combine efforts of various television networks and movie studios to compete with the YouTube and YouTube look-a-likes. One of the major struggles between major networks and video content sites is the control of copyrighted content. People want to be able to post clips and mash ups of their favorite shows whereas networks want to make money from their copyrighted material. If the networks can’t control the content, how can they monetize on the material? Read the rest of this entry »

Over the decades, the perception of the individual has shifted. This can be seen in the technologies that we use. For instance, in the past, more people relied on mass transit systems to get around. This meant that people were at the mercy of the schedule and routes of mass transit. If we shift the same thought to media, radio was the commonly accepted way to listen to music. However in that category, if you wanted to listen to a specific song, you needed to wait until it was played.

In this modern age, we’ve learned how to adapt technology to provide us with comfort and ease of movement. Personal cars allow us to go from point A to point B at our own leisure. The introduction of personalized CDs, iPods and MP3 players allow us to listen to what we want, when we want.

The bottom line is that the world where we were small and insignificant is gone. We no longer revolve around our world, it revolves around us. Read the rest of this entry »