Very cool Chrome extension to show Pandora song in chrome notifications.

Very cool Chrome extension to show Pandora song in chrome notifications.

Embedded Link

Pandora Desktop Notification - Chrome Web Store
Pop-up notifications for Pandora's HTML application using Webkit's HTML5 desktop notification API

Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.

mmmmmmmmmm Coffee!

Some days it is just so good.

"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it." - C.S. Lewis

Time to try and be original.

Weekend is near. What will you make of it?

Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.

Hashtags: how do they work?

Reshared post from +Johnathan Chung

Hashtags: how do they work?

I've seen many comment threads with people wondering how to get hashtags to link to their own search query when they aren't typed inline (i.e., when they are at the start of a new line and not within the middle of a sentence).

All hashtags need to be preceded by a space, including when placed at the start of a new line. Otherwise, they won't work. Google is aware of this bug, and they are working on it :)

Hashtags also won't work with text markup because the dash, asterisk, and underscore required to stylize the text with strikethrough, bold, or italics negate the leading space. You can't include spaces within hashtags (i.e., you can't make two separate words), but you can include underscores & dashes to connect those words if need be. Special characters like "&" will also break the tag.

I personally prefer to use all lowercase letters in tags unless there is some ambiguity with letters running together, in which case I like to use capital letters to distinguish words (called "CamelCase").

Here are some examples:

#test << No space in front of the pound sign.
#test << Typed with a space in front of the pound sign.
#test << Hashtag is negated because of the asterisk in front of the hashtag required to make the text bold.
(#test) << Hashtag negated because there is a non-space character before the pound sign.
#compound-words-with-dashes
#compound_words_with_underscores

Currently, there is no difference in results when searching for "#test" versus "test" (without the pound sign), but Google+ Chief Architect, Yonatan Zunger, says this functionality will change in the future.

How you choose to use hashtags is a completely separate issue. I've found that they can be quite helpful while still remaining non-intrusive when used sparingly. Too many hashtags can make passages difficult to read. I personally like to use 1-4 of them as "keywords" listed at the end of a post, but once again, how you use it is completely up to you.


#hashtags #howto

Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.

Got to get my Weird Al on this morning.

Got to get my Weird Al on this morning.

Embedded Link

'Weird Al' Yankovic Radio
'Weird Al' Yankovic Radio. Play Station. Undo like. Share. Created by Mike Norton. September 3, 2010. Description: Artist Seeds. Sort by Artist Date. 'Weird Al' Yankovic. 09-03-2010. T...

Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.

#photoaday #selfy (Ill use that hashtag even though I HATE that term :p )

#photoaday #selfy (Ill use that hashtag even though I HATE that term :p )
The Years

Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.

Livecast Easter Project - Part 1

I have a project to get ready for as Easter rolls around this year. We joined the great group of believers at River Valley Community Church in Yuba City a few months ago.  River Valley is on top of using tech in the every day workings of the church, and are on fire for the Lord.  What a great mix.

Easter services will be held outside in our parking lot.  The biggest concern for us in Northern California revolves around the weather.  On many years in the past rain, or even snow, has made an outdoor service uncomfortable to say the least. In preparation for this years possible deluge we are preparing a way to stream the service into an overfill room.  Our Easter service is also a great excuse for us to launch our live service streaming project.

I will be posting some updates and links to software and resources as the project moves forward.  Please feel free to post in the comments and tips or suggestions as well as questions.  This is a living, breathing project.

Software

VidBlaster We will be using VidBlaster for our multi camera switching software. You are able to use it in demo mode before you decide to purchase it. I like this option.  Many churches/ministries never get a chance to try a software or hardware package before making purchase.  This can lead to paying way to much for way to little or in some cases WAY TO MUCH.

Flash Media Live Encoder 3.2 Live Encoder is the behind the scenes bread and butter app.  It takes the feed from VidBlaster and encodes it on the fly for streaming out to a Video sharing site or other serving solution.

The Video Editing Computer

I am installing both of these apps on a dual core HP Pavilion laptop.  Not the strongest computer but has plenty of guts to get the job done.

We will be hooking up 2 cameras to the laptop.  A consumer grade camcorder and a MS Webcam both capable of shooting 720 video.

--

Right now I am going to use the same setup I used for streaming Redeemed Point.  Everything was self contained on the laptop.  I streamed the video to UStream.  The issue I am trying to get away from at the moment is the advertisements that cover full screen during streaming with sites like Ustream or Livestream.  Trying to do this on a shoestring budget prohibits the pro account upgrades on these accounts.  The possibility of using a second computer to act as a live server is another option I am working on.  Still up in the air on which way to go.  I am trying to get this done quickly and do it right.

The next installment will go over the configuration of the software as well as tips on how to connect everything. Subscribe to the RSS feed or my twitter account for updates.

LotRO Mod Spotlight No1 - LotRO Hud

Turbine has opened up LUA scripting for its popular game Lord of the Rings Online which is set to go F2P on the 10th of September.  The community has already steeped up and started creating some great mods for the game.  I will be spotlighting several mods over the next few weeks and we begin with;

LotRO Hud - http://forums.lotro.com/showthread.php?t=341291