A new recipe I think you guys might like. Chicken and Waffles, and as you can see above, it’s in video form and starring Stella! We created the video for a contest being held by one of our favorite stores, Fresh & Easy, thinking it would be fun and give me an excuse to use the new camera (more about that later) for video.

I’m super pleased with how it turned out. Turns out, Fresh & Easy like it too. That contest we entered? We are a finalist with this video. All finalists win something, but we have a shot at the grand prize of $1,000 worth of groceries!

Did you like it? Are you on Facebook? Would be awesome if you gave us a vote! You can do that here. Ours is the entry, bottom right.

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After you finish nerding out to this 300 step Rube Goldberg machine, watch it one more time.

See the shake? See how it makes you crazy because it’s out of focus and shaking? When you create video or photos, do you have similiar feelings when viewing your creations? Your old pal db have a keen fix for you. Easy and can be relatively inexpensive and will improve everything that you do with a camera.

Use a tripod. Here is a good one to start with. It’s less than $30 and will work with any camera. If you need this for your iPhone, check out the Glif to give it a place to connect to a tripod. I swear by mine and think you will do.

Sure, we all want to feel and try to look like a professional photographer, dancing around the room snapping away as if our subject was a top super model and we are making mad bank from our photos. Truth be told, we aren’t professional photographers (yet), aren’t shooting super models with $10k worth of gear. We are taking pictures and videos of our kids, food and ourselves riding bikes.

When I take photos and video, I really like them to be clear, in focus and as shake free as possible. That’s why I use a tripod. Also, when shooting with a tripod, you will find that those shots in rooms that have less than ideal light will come out nicer, no matter what camera you are shooting with. No need to get into the nerdery of why, just know that a tripod makes things better.

Stop taking crappy video and photos. Motion blur is only cool when you are photographing F1 cars, not when you are trying to snap the kids and Grandma in front of the Christmas tree. Get a tripod and use it.

For those times when you don’t have a tripod handy, here are some of my favorite tricks to keep the shots steady.

• Find a solid flat surface and use the camera timer
• Hold the camera very tight while leaning up against a wall
• Keep your elbows in
• Get string and a eyehook. Yes, this works
• Try a monopod

Doesn’t matter if you are using an old point and shoot or a brand new fancy DSLR, a tripod will make your photos better.

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Premium themes, to stand apart, have taken to have quite a few moving pieces. Home page sliders, lots of widget areas and features that can be very specific to a particular industry or activity. I always sell WordPress by letting users know if they can use MS Office, they can use WordPress. Until you start getting into premium themes.

All of the moving pieces that got you to drop down your $35 can really make things complicated. Many times they add non-standard features to your WordPress installation that are difficult to find, poorly documented (if at all) or both. Feature rich is cool, but do you really need all of that?

I consider myself an expert in WordPress. But even I have had a difficult time with more than a few premium themes. Trying to figure out what the logo size is supposed to be because it’s not documented or the docs are out of date, or what short codes do what since they never include samples or trying to figure out how the home page slider works. There have been instances where, in the time it took me to figure out a custom theme, I could have built one from scratch that would have better suited my clients need.

Premium themes are a great way to get a WordPress site up and running quickly and inexpensively, and unlike others that work with WordPress, I don’t mind them. Especially if it’s one that is well documented and has a feature set that is perfect for my clients usage. I do mind when the docs are poor, outdated and incomplete. If you ever see an extra charge for setup, that’s why.

Yet another reason to check with the person that you have hired to setup your site first. They will most likely be able to point you in the direction of a theme author they are familiar with and creates themes with the features you need.

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Effectively immediately, all new http://t.co/okQcgFk8 Wordpress customers will have to host with @site5 or @wpengine.Thank you.

April 5, 2012 9:56 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@dbwilldo

db

One of the services that I’ve been offering lately is setup and installation (and a little training) of premium WordPress themes. It’s cheaper than getting a custom site built and the results are usually pretty nice. Not without issues however.

Among the issues are selecting a host for your spiffy new site. Your first instinct is to go cheap, to help keep your start up costs low. I get that. You also aren’t a nerd or live on the internet as much as I do. While you think you are being smooth by getting a web host prior to contacting me, you are actually doing more harm than good.

Keeping in mind that I charge by the hour for anything above and beyond a basic setup/install, it’s best to come to me for a recommendation about a hosting service. If you aren’t using me, you should always go to your person about which host to use. We all have our favorites and know how their systems work. It allows us to rapidly get your site up and running, saving you money and us headache of learning yet another new host.

I have 2 hosts that I recommend as listed in the above tweet. To keep costs low, I prefer Site 5. For $120 for 2 years, you get some of the most reliable hosting that I have ever used. I’ve been using Site5 since 2004 and they have been very reliable for every site that I host with, including White Roof Radio, which Site5 serves over 50,000 mp3 files per month for, all without breaking a sweat.

If you have a little more breathing room in your budget, then dedicated WordPress hosting is definitely a great idea. For that I like WP Engine. Super fast WordPress with great support. You will need someone to help you get started most likely, and they don’t offer anything beyond WordPress hosting (like email), so you will still need that service, but they rock for WordPress.

The big point being when it comes time for you to start a new website and you don’t have a person, making that step 1. Once you have retained someone to help you build your site, allow them to make recommendations for hosting and other related services that you may or may not need. It will save you time, money and aggravation.

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That is for Dollar Shave Club. Of course I signed up, you should too. Especially if you are tired of spending $20 for razor blades. But that’s not what brings us here today.

This video is pretty aggresive. In-your-face and all that. Some might even say ballsy. Definitely plays to the customer they are shooting for I think. If you followed the link above to the website and read some of the copy, you’ll notice it’s consistent with the video (or vice-versa). Edgy, ballsy, in-your-face and a little snarky.

Some day I would like to work on something like this. I’ve got an idea floating around in my head to work on as a test for one of my personal projects. I’d like to run a program like this for real. Besides the fact that it would be a blast to do, I would be curious to see if it works and if I could actually pull it off.

I think I could. Who wants to find out?

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For those curious, a MacBook Air will drive 45" LCD panel at full 1080p. And sound through HDMI.Cord cutting? I haz it #cordcutting

March 10, 2012 7:54 pm via Tweetbot for iOSReplyRetweetFavorite

@dbwilldo

db

Rolling into week 2 4 of not having cable TV. I don’t miss it even a little and I haven’t heard any complaints about it not being there from my housemates. And, at this point, I would grade the experience a solid C. A solid C that I just increased to a B+.

The biggest hurdle so far as been the Adobe Flash Player on older Apple hardware. Trying to use a first gen Intel Macbook as a home theater PC (HTPC), as it turns out, doesn’t work that great. The CPU gets hammered, there isn’t enough graphics power and it’s a little low on memory. Any video playback was poor, especially any web based video. Just not enough horsepower to get the job done.

Enter the Macbook Air. There are a pair of them in the house of the 13″ screen variety. Small, light and wicked fast. And, as it turns out, quite the video playback machine! With the correct cable connected, it will drive the 45″ LCD television in our system, at 1080p, no sweat! Even when I tried Hulu and Youtube, playback was smooth, the sound was perfect and the video output was clear and crisp. On HD Youtube videos, they look as good, if not better, than cable even did.

The next step is to streamline the setup and make it easier to operate. Currently using Plex to manage our content that is stored on an external USB drive, but Plex is installed on the machine the drive is not attached too. Makes performance a bit rough sometimes, especially when a computer goes to sleep.

Also rough when using the Macbook Air is the lack of a remote. You kids out there probably don’t remember, but there was a time when televisions did not have color screens or remote controls. Actually, that’s not 100% correct. The kids were the remote controls when Mom or Dad wanted the channel changed. TV watching was almost an aerobic activity!

This system will be a work in progress until it’s not. Ideally I would like to add a Mac Mini or build my own home theater PC running any number of linux distro’s. The trick would be to make it quiet and small enough to fit in my home entertainment system, and not run at a bazillion degrees.

Stay tuned.

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A Sunday Food Adventure

Like I mentioned above, it’s been busy. I was in California, then a weekend of nerd stuff capped by a grilled cheese throw-down (yes, it was as awesome as it sounds) and just non stop work. Even this weekend I had mad chores to do, but they did result in a very clean garage.

We decided an adventure was in order. We tossed around a few ideas and decided to do something that I haven’t done but was still relatively close to home. We made a trip out to Queen Creek Olive Mill for lunch and to see what’s what.

Turns out this is a pretty awesome place! First of all, they produce all of the olive oils sold in the store and used in the restaurant. Straight oil, infused oil, specialty oil. Not only that, but as you can imagine, they also do more than a few things with olives including pickled and stuff with things you would have never thought about before.

Besides the store and cafe, they also have a huge picnic area! Today it was populated by people enjoying a local wine and having their lunch. Or just sitting out and enjoying another beautiful Arizona winter day. I also found out they are working toward using the space for hosting weddings in the very near future, and it’s a perfect fit for that.

The only item we brought home was a 4 pack of cupcakes (made with thier infused olive oils, of course) and a few photos. Oh, and Stella made me fetch a letterbox prize for her since it was buried under some scary rocks.

Pretty great way to end a pretty good weekend. Enjoy the photos below and if you ever need something to do on a Sunday in Arizona, a trip out to Queen Creek might be just what you need!

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Since it is open source, anyone that uses it should feel compelled to somehow give something back to the WordPress community. Many people think that you need to spend time squashing bugs in the core code, or developing sweet plugins and themes. Sure, those all work, but I’m not really good at either of those things.

What am I good at? Training, implementing and thinking so far out of the box you can barely see the box. That’s what I do to give back and part of the reason why I volunteer at my local Wordcamp in the Rockstar Bar. That’s just a fancy term to say that if you have a question about WordPress or a problem with your WordPress or you are looking to have a discussion about WordPress, this is the place with nerds that are available to help you out. And this year I did.

• I helped troubleshoot a widget problem.
• I helped set up a contact form that worked
• I showed someone how to properly configure their WordPress settings
• I helped someone hash out a way to provide piano lessons online.

Overall, it was a pretty great day of WordPress and I’m glad I was able to take the time to participate. As an added bonus, because I showed up, I received a free-for-life account at WP Engine, a premium, WordPress-only, web host. Expect a full review of that in the coming weeks.

If you have to use WordPress, are curious about WordPress or looking for a place to meet other WordPress users to swap stories and tips, I highly recommend hitting up a Wordcamp near you.

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Dear @RadioShack,You embarrass me. No means no.Get stuffed.

February 18, 2012 11:06 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@dbwilldo

db

I was in need of a power accessory for my car. Sure I could have gone anywhere, but to save me driving all over town, I decided to hit up my local Radio Shack store. They had the parts that I needed, a power adapter splitter and a USB power adapter, which I took up to the counter after ‘the manager’ helped me find them. He rang me up and asked for my phone number, which has been common practice at Radio Shack stores for a few years now.

Number given, somehow my customer information had mysteriously vanished from their system. Odd since I’ve been in that system for as long as I can remember. He asks for my name, again, my phone number, again, and my home address. I give him all of this, but then he asks for my email address. To which I say no.

Instantly he goes on the defensive.

I say no.

He continues his offensive.

I continue to say no.

He continues his offensive even more.

I interrupt him, rudely, and tell him in my dad voice No.

Which makes him almost cry. So, against my better judgement, I let him continue with his bullshit reason for needing my email address. He swore to me, crossed his heart and hoped to die to me, that he left the ‘checkbox’ unchecked that should keep me off the ‘please send me Radio Shack Spam’ list.

He lied. Not even 24 hours after I made my purchase did I get my first ‘welcome to the club’ email from Radio Shack. I was not happy, as you can imagine. Do I decided to let them know about it via the very well hidden email form. And this blog post. And the above Twitter post.

Remember gang, no means no.

Do what you can to avoid Radio Shack at all costs. They are rude. They are unprofessional. They aren’t terribly knowledgeable about anything on their shelves beyond what’s written on the packaging and I’m pretty sure that when their employees aren’t on the phone with their friends while on duty, that they are in the back doing unspeakable things to kittens and old people.

Well, maybe not that last part. But don’t shop with them. Really. But if you do, give them an enemy’s email address. Trust me on that, you’ll be glad you did.

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If a new photo gets posted to Instagram then post it to Flickr using the data from the Instagram post and these tags that I specify.

While the possibilities aren’t endless, they are pretty close. And I’m finding uses for this everyday. There is a good chance that you are reading this because you saw a link on my Facebook page. My nerd machine did that. If you ever see my profile photo change on FB, you will also see it to change on Twitter. My nerd machine did that, too. It works with Instagram, Gmail, Google Reader, Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr, RSS, LastFM, Evernote and more! If you can think it, it can probably do it.

Best part to all of this is that it’s free! And, since it awesome and free, I’m going to make it known right now that the second they offer a pro version that I can pay for to make sure that it sticks around for as long as possible I’m in.

The first time you log into ifttt.com you might be overwhelmed. Not a problem because it’s also social! Other nerds have shared their “recipes” within the site to give you an idea of what it can do and give you some to get you started.

Worth checking out and worth giving your time too, ifttt.com is made from pure awesome and unicorn tears. You should try it out because I’m sure it will become your new favorite thing as well.

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