SlingBox for Christmas!!

My wife surprised me with a Slingbox for Christmas! Slingbox is basically a video encoder which includes a cable/broadcast TV tuner and an ethernet port. It will accept video from a security camera or the built-in tuner and send the video out over the internet. What's REALLY cool about Slingbox is the fact that you can watch TV from anywhere in the world! You can change channels or even select video from your security camera. Want to see the horses while on vacation? Just set up your security camera to point at their pasture and connect the video from the camera to your Slingbox. The Slingbox application runs on your laptop ...or whatever...and you simply log in over the internet to your Slingbox and viola! You have LIVE video to your computer! Or...you can watch the local 10 'clock news for your home town while you are vacationing in France! Very cool.

Got Skype?

I downloaded and tried out this cool program called "Skype". The Skype program lets you talk to anyone in the world with audio *better* than your typical landline telephone!! In fact the audio is excellent. You'll need a microphone and some headphones. I just use my iPod headphones since they are small light and easy to wear. Go to www.skype.com and try out their "Beta" version that includes video conferencing. You can even originate calls to the standard switched telephone system if you are willing to pay a little money. To talk free to anyone in the world your partner on the other end must also download Skype. That's it. Very cool and much better quality than your crummy cell phone!

National Freezeurbuttoff Week

Man...it got COLD last night. We woke up to 22 degrees F out here at
the MicroRanch. Horsey water trough was frozen, cat bowls frozen, and the
roof of the ranch house was completely covered in ice. Fortunately all
three horseys were wearing their blankets last night. No raccoons in the
trap....I think we got 'em all..Finally. I skated into work late but made
it with no problems.