We’ve been without cable TV since moving into our new house at the beginning of July. Even with the fall season in full swing we have yet to miss an episode of all the shows we watch. This is all thanks to a new PC that I recently bought from newegg.com. It has everything needed to easily be configured for a home theater PC except for a tuner which I solved with this little device and a rabbit ears antenna that I borrowed from my father-in-law.

The TV signal that I get with the antenna is incredible HD quality from all the local channels (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, etc.) as well as some PBS type channels. With Windows 7’s built-in Media Center every computer is equipped to be a DVR. Plus Media Center automatically downloads program guides online and full season recordings can easily be set up too.

Since this is only a single tuner configuration versus the dual tuner that many cable system DVR’s have, we simply watch any conflicting shows from that networks website. Nearly every show in our list has full episodes available online for streaming. We also have ESPN3 through our current Internet service provider so we can stream all sorts of sports too.

My friend Phil was the one who introduced me to the idea and he has been doing it since the beginning of the year. I’ve yet to find any major drawback to this setup. If you are even moderately tech savvy this setup shouldn’t be hard to do yourself.

For the past month or two something strange has been happening with links to my blog on Facebook.  At times when I (and others) would click on a link on my profile expecting to be taken to a blog entry on my website, the link would instead go to some malware like website.  At the time I was contributing this to some error on Facebook’s part, since when I would visit the same link from my twitter postings it would work without problem.  Then yesterday I realized that links to my blog from google were having the same kind of behavior.  It was at this time that I realized that something must truly be wrong on my website.

I first googled the URL’s that my links were being redirected to and realized that this has happened to others before and that hackers are exploiting vulnerabilities in both PHP and WordPress (my blogging engine).  My search results gave me some code to search for in the files of my website, and I did find one occurrence of the hack in my wp-config.php file.  Even after I cleaned that up I realized that the redirecting was still happening.  I spend the next couple of hours trying to figure out where the code was malicious code was being hidden.  After verifying that my theme wasn’t the problem, I concluded that it must be one of the plugins that I am using.

So I went through each plugin, one at a time, disabling it and seeing if the redirects went away.  Finally I found the plugin that had been corrupted and it was the awesome WP Super Cache.  To fix the issue I simply deleted the plugin and all of its files from my site and then re-added it.  Once this was complete, links to my site from search engines and from Facebook are working once again!  I’ve changed my site passwords just in case that was somehow used.  I hope that is the end of this vicious attack on my site.

Space shuttle Discovery launched about an hour ago on its final mission before retirement.  The shuttle is now on its way to the International Space Station and once complete there will only be two more shuttle missions before the entire fleet is retired.  In addition to the six member crew, this shuttle is carrying the first humanoid robot in space, Robonaut2, along with various pieces for the Space Station.  It is always cool to watch these launches, and now only two remain, scheduled for April 19 and June 28.

Over the weekend, I took advantage of having to move my computer desk at home to try a DIY cable organizing method I first read about on lifehacker.com.  Basically, the article describes how you can suspend a rain gutter under your desk to help aid in cable management.  To start I drove over to Home Depot and found a 10′ section of vinyl gutter for around $5.  I only needed less than 6’ but this was the closest thing they had.  Also they had it in either white or brown.  I choose brown to help blend in my with the desk.  The article from before used hooks to suspend the gutter from the matching hangers, but since my desk has a back on it, I just decided to use the hangers as you normally would by inserting screws through them and into the back of the desk.  I used three hangers for my 5’8″ section of gutter.  I also bought the matching end caps, but if I were to do it again I may just leave those out. 

Before From Above

Closeup Of Before

Yikes! That is a tangled mess of cables. You can now understand why I was trying to find something to organize them all and get them up off the ground. I thought about ordering two or three baskets from IKEA, but figured a DIY project would be cheaper.  It definitely was cheap, the hangers couldn’t have been much more than a dollar each, so add that to the gutter and some screws and we are talking less than $10.  I also managed to take the cable modem and wireless router that were on top of the desk before and hide them down under with the cables, freeing up even more space on the desk.  If you look close you can see the gutter already installed in the second photo above. 

After From Above

Closeup Of After

Wow, what a difference it really did make.  I might still have a mess of cables, but at least it is up off of the ground.  The biggest thing cluttering up the gutters are the two power strips I need to power everything (two computers, two monitors, printer, scanner, cable modem, router, speakers, and lamp).  I don’t know if a couple of PowerSquids would help or make it worse, but it is something to consider in the future.  Overall I am very happy with how this little project turned out.

At the start of this winter I started searching for a pair of gloves that would work with my iPhone’s touchscreen.  I found these gloves at that time, but had since forgotten about them.  That was until they showed up in the mail recently, a late arriving Christmas gift from Kim’s family.  I guess they were lost in the mail somewhere, but I was glad to finally have them with the cold temperatures we have had in Denver.  And after a few days of use I have overall mixed feelings.

The gloves do work with the touchscreen but they require much more force from my fingers that without.  Also only the thumb, pointer, and middle fingers of each hand are equipped with the special thread that is clearly visible on the tips of each of these fingers.  Earlier this morning the finger that I have used the most, the middle finger on my right hand, was working very easily, almost as easy as my naked finger.  However, I just tried it again and it seems to have reverted back to earlier.  I don’t know if it is the invisibleSHIELD that I have installed, but the performance is less than I was hoping.  In addition, the gloves are not very thick, so on very cold days (like this morning) I find myself stuck with my hands in my pockets still.

On the positive side, I do like the look of the gloves.  In fact I have a couple of others pairs that look just like them.  I noted earlier that the special thread is visible on the finger tips, but you actually have to look pretty closely for it.  It seems to blend in really well with the gray color of the gloves when viewed at most distances.  Also, they are only $20, so they are pretty easy-going on the wallet, which is one reason I figured they would be worth a try.

Recently I heard of a local company (in Boulder) that is making similar gloves, but they have the special thread woven throughout the entire glove.  Agloves don’t appear to be any thicker than the ones I already have, but perhaps they offer better performance with the touchscreen.  I will likely give them a try the next time I need a new pair of gloves.

After using Windows 7 for six months, I can definitely declare it the best version of Windows to date.  I’m using the 64-bit version on my work laptop and I have really grown to love it.  Not only is it really fast, some of the new features are so good I can’t imagine how I got work done without them.  The biggest is being able to drag a window to the side of the screen, where it will then automatically occupy that half of the screen.  Using this feature it is a piece of cake to make two windows open side by side.  It is no replacement for dual monitors, but it definitely gets the job done when needed.

I have also grown to like the grouped taskbar.  This was a little harder to get adjust to at first, but when you start opening tons of windows, it is nice to have similar ones grouped so you can easily find what you are looking for.  I haven’t loaded Windows 7 on to any of my computers at home, but it’s only a matter of time before I bite that bullet.  I’d really like to see if it performs much better than Windows XP on the old box that I’m using for my webserver.  I will likely try that out in the near future.  Otherwise it may be time for a new server, as this one seems to be dragging more and more.

We are finally watching HDTV at home!  Well almost.  I finally broke down and bought a new TV over the weekend.  It’s a 40″ Samsung LCD, which is pretty much the largest that we can currently fit in our house.  So far I am really enjoying it, and Kim is too, surprsingly.  She wasn’t too sure of the expensive purchase at the time, but she really has grown to love the large picture, improved quality, and especially how well it fits into our room.  The reason I say we are almost watching HDTV is because I don’t have the HDMI cables yet, but I ordered them today from MonoPrice.com, at the recommendation of my friends.  My favorite part of it all is that I bought it for $150 under the suggested retail price.  Thank you price matching!

On Saturday I had another fairly decent experience at this year’s WordCamp, which took place in Boulder.  I was a little disappointed in the lack of knowledge gained from last year’s WordCamp, and the same is true again for this year.  The one session that I looked forward to the most, was definitely the most informational and in my opinion the best of the entire day.  This was titled Caching in WordPress and was presented by Chris Scott and Sean O’Shaughnessy from Voce Communications.  The information presented by these two easily beat out all other presenters at the conference combined.  The only other session that was even close was WordPress Development by Alex King and Shawn Parker of Crowd Favorite, which featured on the fly sidebar widget development from a crowd suggested list of features.

I pretty much stuck to the more technical sessions the entire day.  I thought that the SEO Techniques session was pretty much common knowledge, or at least stuff that I was already fairly aware of.  However the room was packed for this session, so I guess others may not be as knowledgeable.  If nothing else, the session was very entertaining.  The DIY Usability Testing session was also entertaining.  Steve Martin from Clever Cubed was the presenter and though the crowd was a little smaller than earlier presentations, the information provided was focused and intelligent.  I don’t think it applies to my work very much, but there were a small number of people in attendance that were very interested in the subject.

Finally I sat in on Jane Wells’ presentation on What’s Next for WordPress.  She is the user experience lead for WordPress and is very knowledgeable on all things WordPress.  Though she didn’t talk much about what’s actually next for WordPress, she did highlight new features from the recently released version 3.0 as well as answer question after question from the audience.  Before the presentation I wasn’t aware of the new menu functionality in this release of WordPress and that is something that I definitely plan to utilize in the future.  Otherwise, her presentation was good and she helped many in the crowd with all kinds of varying problems.

With all of that said, it is really hard to beat the cheap price of admission ($45) that included a $10 gift certificate to local venues for lunch as well as a nice t-shirt.  After these tickets were sold out, the organizers announced $25 tickets that didn’t include lunch or a shirt, and I wish they would have offered that from the beginning.  I don’t really need anymore t-shirts in my closet.

This weekend I will be attending my second WordCamp.  You may recall that I attended WordCamp in Denver last year, and though afterward I wasn’t sure if I would attend another, I decided to give it another try this year.  I figured that even though I wasn’t completely satisfied last year that it deserved another chance, especially since last year was the first ever in the area.  I’m hoping to learn a little more about WordPress, but also hope to be entertained by some of the presentations like last year, and even do a little networking.  Currently I’m planning to attend the following sessions: Caching in WordPress, WordPress Development, and DIY Usability Testing.  I’m also considering Design Panel and SEO Techniques, which are at the same time, and leaning towards What’s Next for WordPress over From URL to SQL to HTML.  Unfortunately it doesn’t look like Matt Mullenweg, the founding developer of WordPress, will be there this year.  His presentation last year was very memorable.

I previously reported that I hadn’t found any issues with the new iOS4 on my iPhone 3GS, but I have recently discovered an issue.  Emails that are generated from applications other than the email app do not automatically send.  Instead they sit in the outbox and I have to go in and manually send each of them from there.  This is not how email behaved before the upgrade.  I finally found a post on the Apple Support forums but there has yet to be a successful solution posted.  This isn’t a serious bug, just a minor inconvenience, but I do hope it is fixed soon.