Author: Dr. Bill

Learn to Build a Portable Raspberry Pi (Part 1)

Learn to Build a Portable Raspberry Pi (Part 2)

I want to share with you one of my favorite podcasts! It’s absolutely awesome for the geek in all of us, and that would be “The Ben Heck Show!” Ben Heckendorn’s “Ben Heck Show” is awesome! And, I can definitely appreciate the fact that he abbreviates his last name to “Heck”… it does make for an interesting show name! But, at any rate, this show is awesome! This particular set of shows: Part One and Part Two… I wanted to share with you because it shows how he is has taken the Raspberry Pi and he’s turned it into a small, handheld portable… which is right down my alley since also do the netcast called the “Hand Held Hack!” So check it out! I’m also cross posting it over on the “Hand Held Hack” website, and I think it’s going to be an awesome show for you to see so that you will see what’s possible with some of the tools that Ben has!

So, the new trailer is out for the Steve Jobs biographical movie that’s just called “Jobs,” and I have a link to the YouTube video right above this article. I have mixed feelings about the movie; I think it’s possibly going to be good. And, what little I’ve seen, based on the trailer, seems to indicate that Ashton Kutcher may actually get to act, which is unusual in and of itself! But, I will withhold judgment on it until after it comes out. I don’t know if I’ll see at the theater; I may wait and watch it on Bluray, or on Netflix, that will depend on my state of mind when it comes out, but it does look interesting!

Yep. Today. Welcome to summer, welcome to the longest Friday at work for the whole year. You’re welcome.

Do you use Handbrake? Do you code video for the Roku, even Plex on the Roku? Well, here you go! Presets for Handbrake that are highly optimized for your Roku!

Rokoding – Video Encoding for the Roku!

“With the release of Handbrake 0.9.9, I give you the much requested Rokoding Preset Pack. This is a set of six presets you can load into Handbrake and use to encode your video for the Roku. The presets utilize the new ‘Optimize Video’ options introduced in Handbrake 0.9.9. I tested them for a few months and I feel they produce better results than my witten instructions for past versions of Handbrake. I will be updating the written instructions over the next few weeks to reflect the new presets and add instructions for PGS subs.”

How about a whole suite of free software this week?!

Lupo PenSuite (v2013.04)

“The free collection of portable software for everyone!

Lupo PenSuite is a completely free suite of portable programs and games. This Suite is designed to simplify the user’s life, by collecting the best suites and portable applications available on the Web.

Optimized to be loaded on a USB flash drive and brought always with you, this Suite works perfectly well on any other device. It includes over 160 highly selected portable programs and games (7-Zip, Audacity, CCleaner, eMule, FileZilla, Firefox, GIMP, Instantbird, IrfanView, Notepad++, Opera, SumatraPDF, Thunderbird, µTorrent, VLC and many more).

You can also easily customize your suite adding portable apps from our broad software database. All you need in one package.

• all-in-one for every needs
• completely free and portable
• translated in 28 languages
• no spyware, adware or viruses
• easy to use and to personalize
• over 160 programs and games included
• thousands of programs and games available”

So, as you may, or may not, have realized, the Dr. Bill.TV netcast is coming up on it’s 300th episode! How cool is that? So, as usual for these big events, we have a new contest! Drumroll please! This new contest will be for a brand-new, in the box, shrink-wrapped, BoxeeTV! Yes, you heard that right, you can have your very own, free BoxeeTV by winning this contest! And, sadly, Phred cannot enter, as an employee of Dr. Bill Bailey.NET. But then, neither can I! So, there you go.

And now, you may ask, how do I enter? It’s simple. All you have to do is send an e-mail with the subject line “Dr. Bill contest,” now remember, an e-mail to this address: DrBill@Dr.BillBailey.NET with the subject line: “Dr. Bill contest.” That will enter you into the drawing. There’s no need to send multiple e-mails. One e-mail will do.

So, send those e-mails in and tell your friends, “You can win a BoxeeTV from Dr. Bill!” And, be sure tune in for the 300th episode to find out who wins!

So, this week we also had WWDC, an Apple event, in which they introduced a lot of new Apple-y things like a new version of iOS, and the new MacBook Air. But perhaps the most controversial introduction was the new Mac Pro… It is small. Very small. And, not very expandable in the normal sense of the word. In fact, it looks like a black, rounded off, 9 inch tall trashcan! Not exactly what the Apple fan boys wanted to see!

In fact, many have said, that the new Mac Pro doesn’t lend itself to being “professional at all.” If you want to add additional hard drives you have to do it with the new Thunderbolt 2 ports, externally. You can’t add it internally because there’s just no room in a 9 inch tall trashcan. Hello, Apple? What were you thinking here? Oh okay, it looks cool, and I like that, and, I like the way the memory clicks in on the sides once you lift up the outer shell of the trashcan. Oh, and, it has a cool handle that you can carry it with. But, the old Mac Pro was large, heavy, and very, very expandable. Pretty much what you would expect to find in a “professional workstation.” Some have even said that this new Mac Pro was really designed for the “prosumer” market and not for the professional market. We’ll see how it sells, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. (Other than the fact that it does look really cool.)

This week in the news it was announced that the Internet radio service, Pandora, had purchased a terrestrial radio station. Now, some of you may know that I’ve been in radio for a lot of years. As my gray hair might attest! In fact, I started on radio in 1976. And, I enjoy keeping up with the radio industry and the “ins and outs” of the introduction of new technologies into radio. One of the things that radio stations have to deal with is the licensing of music that they play. Most stations pay a BMI license which covers the songs that they air. This license is a business expense, but it’s not unreasonable. However, the structuring of this license is outrageous for online, or Internet-based, radio stations. So, Pandora has had to pay extravagant fees for the music that they air, unlike regular, terrestrial, radio stations. Is this fair? No, I don’t think so!

Which is why this week Pandora bought a terrestrial radio station! Clear Channel Communications owns a lot of terrestrial radio stations and they only have to pay the regular BMI license fees, even though they also do Internet broadcasting. So, in what could be considered a great “hack of the system,” Pandora bought a terrestrial radio station in order to pay terrestrial radio licensing fees for their music! How cool is that? Now, will they get away with it? I’m not sure. But while some are complaining, I say they’re working within the system! And at the same time alleviating and injustice to Internet radio stations. Or, at least making a statement about it. Because other Internet radio stations will continue to have to pay the exorbitant fees that are being charged for no other reason than that they are stations that air music on the Internet!

So if it works, I say, more power to them! And if it doesn’t, then I say, good try, Pandora! Either way this inequity of fees needs to be addressed… Just my two cents.