Pandora Christmas

As I write this, I'm listening to Christmas music on Pandora. It turns out to be a very good way to listen to a good variety of Christmas music you don't own by artists you may or may not have been exposed to. I'm listening to a station called Folk Holidays. There are a number of Christmas or holiday stations. This one has a lot of acoustic guitar instrumentals but also has music with vocals. Right now James Taylor is singing "Go Tell It on the Mountain".

If you're not familiar with the way Pandora works, you can pick one of the predefined stations or simply pick an artist or song that you like. If you pick an artist or a song, it will build a station around that artist or song, playing songs that it thinks you will like. These songs are similar to what you originally picked based on a large number of properties about those songs. As it plays the songs you can give each one a thumbs-up or thumbs-down and it will learn more precisely what you like and what you don't. It's actually quite amazing and is a great way to discover artists you aren't familiar with.

The only bad thing about Pandora is that you have to listen to it on your computer...or on an iPhone.

Another Important Reason to Switch to OpenDNS

Back in June of this year, I wrote a post called Filtering the Right Way Using OpenDNS. Now there is another important reason for switching to OpenDNS, protection against a big security hole in the internet. If you don't know what I'm talking about please read my original post.

Facebook Turning Useful

I signed up for a Facebook account maybe a year or so ago. To be honest, I mainly did it to look at how I might integrate some software I've started developing into Facebook's applications, especially since Facebook has so many users. I wouldn't visit it often, since much of it seemed silly to me, such as virtually "throwing sheep" at someone or giving virtual gifts. (If you are a Facebook user that enjoys these things, please forgive me. I'm just being honest.)

Facebook had its usefulness, too, however: It could be used as a communication tool to a group of people, people shared photos, etc. These were actually practical uses that I could appreciate but I still only went to Facebook on those occasions that someone I knew wanted to connect with a friend request.

The practical use of it has jumped up an order of magnitude however recently. For about the last week and a half, there has been an explosion of connections I've made with old friends from college. These were friends that I've lost touch with over the years but were "impactful" (as my pastor would say) at a time when I was a new Christian. Many of these were the kinds of friends you could just pick up talking with after years of not seeing and it be as though time hadn't passed. So, I'm seeing the usefulness of Facebook now.

...and I just figured out how to get this blog incorporated into my Facebook profile with "Flog".

Google Apps

Our family was at my wife's brother's house in South Carolina this weekend. He and his wife have been using AOL for all of their e-mail. Like many AOL customers, they were not happy. The AOL interface was slow and, in my opinion very klunky. I showed them Gmail, which is what Laura and I use. I love Gmail. It is very easy to use and has spam filtering that is simply amazing in its accuracy.

I initially thought I would get them set up on Gmail. However, my brother-in-law has his own landscaping business and had no web site of its own. I have read a good bit about Google Apps but haven't actually used it and it seemed like a good fit for solving their e-mail problems and providing a simple web site for the business. I went to the Google Apps site and it was very easy to set up. Setting up a web page was as simple as using some very simple WYSIWYG tools, much like using a word processor. Also, it gives you unlimited users, each with 6 GB of e-mail (and their fantastic spam filtering). Instead of johndeaux@gmail.com, you can have an e-mail addresses like johndeaux@cajunbasketweavers.com (in addition to having your own www.cajunbasketweavers.com web page). It even gives you the ability to create word processing documents and spreadsheet online that users can all collaborate on. All of this was free except for the yearly domain registration (so that you can register cajunbasketweavers.com, for example). Google walked you through setting up, which was a very simple process. The domain costs only $10 per year.

How is it free? It's free the same way that Gmail is free. There are very non-obnoxious text ads next to each e-mail, based on the content of the e-mail.

For personal use, I highly recommend Gmail. If you are running a small business and need some simple to create web pages, Google Apps is an excellent choice that is simple to use and simple to set up.

Filtering the Web the Right Way with OpenDNS

I currently have a subscription to the BSafe Online Filter, which is there to keep the bad stuff that's on the internet from getting to our family's computer. The downside of it is that it costs $49.95 per year for one computer and it on only works on Microsoft Windows. I have been planning, when I have time, to revive an old computer by installing Ubuntu Linux on it (which is free and will make it seem like new). However, I hadn't found a good way to secure it from the bad stuff, until recently.

A guy at work recently told me about OpenDNS, a free Domain Name System that also has free filtering ability, where you can choose what categories of bad stuff you want to filter. If you are not familiar, a Domain Name System (DNS) is the thing that turns a URL (the internet address for a web site) into an IP address (which is a series of four or six one-to-three-digit numbers, each separated by periods). Your Internet Service Provider has already set up a DNS for you to use but you can actually choose to use a different one.

One major difference between OpenDNS and other Domain Name Systems is that is very reliable. Some Internet Service Providers have less reliable Domain Name Systems, meaning that sometimes you may not be able to get to any web sites, check e-mail, etc. Another major difference with OpenDNS is that you can set up an account that has filtering, much like what BSafe Online Filter does. However, it has some major advantages over BSafe Online Filter:

1. There is no software to install, with possibly one minor exception.*
   
2. If you have a wireless router, you can configure it to use OpenDNS, meaning that every computer or internet-connected device (PDA's, iPhones, gaming consoles, etc.) use the filter. It doesn't matter what operating system you are using, either. It can be Windows (any variety), Mac OS, Linux, Palm OS, etc.
3. You can configure what categories of bad stuff you want to block on the OpenDNS web site.
4. It was very easy to set up. You pick your router from the list (which has pictures) and it gives you exact instructions. The instructions even have screen shots.
5. It blocks phishing sites. Phishing sites are phony web sites that pose as real web sites such as your bank's web site to get your user ID and password. With your user ID and password to a web site, bad people attempt to steal your identity and/or your money.
6. You can set up custom messages for the blocking pages (e.g., "Daddy doesn't want you to go to this web site."). You can even upload a custom picture that will show, such as yourself looking sternly at whoever is using the computer.
7. It is much less hackable than software installed on my computer because it requires someone to know the user ID and password of your router. This is less important now but as the kids get older and more computer-savvy...
   

* To use the filtering, you may need to install something called the OpenDNS Updater on one computer. It uses the IP address of your internet connection (i.e., your router) to know to use your account settings to filter stuff. Since most Internet Service Provider's assign you a different one each time you log on to the internet, you will need to say "yes" when it asks you if you want to install the OpenDNS Updater. You only need to do this on one computer. One other thing that is not so obvious, is that you will need to check the box on Set Up a Dynamic IP page. If you know you have a static IP address, you can skip all of this. If you don't know, don't skip installing OpenDNS Updater.

Update: There is a good review of OpenDNS by PC Magazine that demonstrates it.

Google Real Estate Search

If only there had been a Google Real Estate Search a few months ago...