Foxborough always does a great job remembering the men and women who died while serving this great country. It’s a always a privilege to cover this event for the community.
Author: Michael Webber
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Memorial Day Weekend
This has been a wonderful weekend, starting with a birthday party for my oldest son. Today I finally had an opportunity to play around with the RaspberryPi I purchased a while back. Both my sons helped set it up. We were able successfully browse the internet with the Pi, just amazing such a small and low-cost device can do so much.
I also was able to get out for a run and pulled off 13.3 miles. Then our family went on a boat tour of the Blackstone River.
Now we’re enjoying the cool air outside, cooking on the grill. A busy weekend for sure, but relaxing and enjoyable at the same time.
Tomorrow is Memorial Day and I always look forward covering the Foxborough Parade for Foxboro Cable Access. A sacred day set aside to ensure we all take a moment to remember the men and women who died while serving this great country.
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FIX: GoToMyPC Keyboard Character Strange Behavior Mac-to-Mac
I ran into this issue today and thought I would share the fix.
PROBLEM:
When connecting to a Mac, from another Mac using GoToMyPC I was experiencing very strange keyboard issues. Â Symbols and alt charters appear, some keys we not work at all.
The screenshot on the right shows an example of the special characters that would appear while typing.
SOLUTION:
TextExpander was the culprit! Â Quit/Close the TextExpander Application and you should be all set.
If that does not work, some forums have suggested closing TextExpander, then leave the GoToMyPC session and Start a new GoToMyPC session.
TextExpander is a wonderful program that saves me time everyday. Â Here’s a description from the Text Expanded Website:
TextExpander saves your fingers and your keyboard, expanding custom keyboard shortcuts into frequently-used text and pictures…
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Weekend Reads
Keeping informed and following industry trends is important and also part of the excitement of this industry.  There’s so many resources and smart people sharing knowledge and information.  Here are some articles and blog posts that peaked my interest over the past week.  Grab a coffee and comfortable chair sometime this weekend:
Goodbye BNC, Hello 8P8C | TV Technology by Craig Norris
The inevitable replacement for your old faithful BNC/coax combo is the cheap but rather unsatisfying plastic 8P8C connector on dual unshielded twisted pair (UTP).
NBC Wins Prime-Time TV Ratings (in 18-to-49) for First Time in a Decade | AdAge.com
It’s the first time NBC has finished above fourth place since the 2003-2004 season. It has never managed to recreate the powerful Thursday night comedy block that once was home to series such as “The Cosby Show.”
AMC Series Will Debut on Tumblr Before TV | AdAge.com by Jeanine Poggi
AMCÂ will premiere its new drama, “Halt and Catch Fire,” on Tumblr ahead of its TV debut.
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GoPro Phantom
Watching and learning from New England Tech instructor Matt Morin as he pilots his Phantom GoPro rig around the college campus this morning. The stand on the left is hold up an LCD monitor with a wireless link to the GoPro.
Weather is great today, although there were some decent wind gusts. Â I was impressed with how well the on-board GPSÂ and stabilization system handled the erratic wind.
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Ask Bill Keegan Set
Today I spent a few hours getting ready for a new production that will be starting up here at Foxboro Cable Access.  Town Manager Bill Keegan will record his first “Ask Bill Keegan” show on Tuesday.  Here is set version 1.0, which is comprised of existing set decor items, chairs, etc.  So this is a no-budget setup.
The window in  the background looks into a conference room, I hope to somehow incorporate this into the set better…maybe with some lighting in the conference room, not sure what yet…
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Studio Tour of Twit.tv
Recently TWiT.tv posted a studio tour of their facilities in Petaluma, CA. TWiT is a podcast network founded by technology broadcaster and author Leo Laporte. I’ve followed the network closely over the past few years and often watch their live video feed at live.twit.tv.
The network keeps this feed live, with mics open during the production of all their podcasts including pre-show preparations and discussions. In my view this is the big differentiator for the network and often it’s big attraction for tech people. You can often follow along as real people work through the process of media making.
I use the network to stay informed with the latest in tech, but I’m also very interested to watch how they go about producing content. TWiT is always experimenting and evolving their productions and technology.
Here’s the Studio Tour…you may also want to check out the Google Street view tour INSIDE Twit. Neat Stuff!
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FreeNAS, Twit.tv Exposes Me to Anouther Great Tool
Not sure why I’ve not heard about FreeNAS before, but this looks great! I’m definitely going to spend some time learning more.
Wonder if this could be a good, low-cost solution for storing archived video files, raw footage, and other large production files.
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How to Speed Up the Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD
Here are two tips for speeding up a Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD smartphone. If you’re like me and want the quick solution, scroll down to Tip #1 and get started.
Little background, I purchased my Razr Maxx HD about two years now and I’ve become increasingly frustrated with it’s responsiveness. Everything about the phone became sluggish and for a long time I just dealt with it. I’m also a runner and use the phone to track my progress using the GPS tracking app RunKeeper. Last week the GPS accuracy was way off, the phone would struggle to find a GPS signal and once found, it would fade in and out. The whole situation finally drove me crazy enough that I spent some time looking for ways to speed up the phone, preferably WITHOUT performing a factory reset.
Everyone uses their phones differently, for me I’m less concerned about the “fancy” stuff, such as widgets and live wallpaper. I also don’t play games with my phone, although my kids have been known to install them on occasion. I just want a phone that runs my apps efficiently.
After searching the interwebs for some time I found two solutions which dramatically improved the phone speed. While you could certainly do the same search and likely find the same solutions, I thought I would share what worked for me and hopefully save you time.
These tips assume you have already tried the “easy stuff”:
- Remove Unused Applications
- Avoid Using Widgets & Live Wallpaper
- Cleanup & Delete Photos/Videos from Gallery
I would also suggest you stay away from task killer apps and other management apps in an attempt to speed up your phone. It’s just not necessary and becomes just one more app running in the background. Generally, I think these apps are a bad idea.
TIP #1 CLEAR/WIPE THE CACHE PARTITION
This process significantly increased the speed of my phone. If you only do one thing, try this!
Step by step instructions are available on the Verizon Support website, which I’ve included below.
Warning Performing a wipe cache partition removes any temporary files that may be causing an issue with the device. All personal files and settings are not affected by this option.
1. Power the device off.
Note Press the Power button then select Power off.- Note If the device doesn’t respond to input, press and hold the Volume Up/Down then press and hold Power button. When the device screen goes blank, release the Power button while continuing to hold Volume Up/Down then proceed with step 3.
2. Press and hold the Volume Up/Down then press the Power button.
3. When presented with the Boot Mode Selection Menu, release all buttons.
4. Press Volume Down to select Recovery then press Volume Up.
5. From the Droid triage screen:- Press and hold Volume down.
- Press and release Volume up.
- Release Volume down.
6. Select wipe cache partition then press the Power button.
- Note Use Volume keys to navigate options.
7. Select reboot system now then press the Power button.
- Note Use Volume keys to navigate options.
TIP #2 TURN OFF ANIMATIONS
This action will remove the fades and animations that ease the transition between apps and screens. While it makes your phone experience “look” better, it comes at the expense of speed and processor time. I found turning the animation features off helped.
Go to Settings -> Developer Options -> Animation Scale
You’ll want to turn on Developer Options with the toggle at the top of the screen. Once enabled, scroll down and turn off the following:
If you have any other suggestions, please share in the comment section below. Hope this helps!