May 23, 2008 at 3:05 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Yeah, we have been inactive for a while; however, there is an explanation. Perhaps the biggest reason is school, which mainly holds true for me. I have been swamped with stuff to do so I can finish on time/early. I really want to finish early so I have about a week to do some stuff on here before I leave for a week, although I will probably be able to get on while I am gone. But that and some website programming and maintenance have kinda kept us slow for the past few weeks. We do plan on getting everything done by the end of next week, so we will have the next week to just have fun and stuff! So within the next few weeks, expect some videos from both me and Kyle, the forum re-opening, lots more blog posts, and much more. For everybody’s convenience, I will post my schedule for when I wont be here so you guys know I am not dead. Now that I got that explained, in almost completely unrelated news, its is appreciated if you tell everybody you can about us, promote us, and do whatever you can to help us grow! It may not seem like we have done whatever we can, but we do do a lot everyday to keep Orange-Clip running. For example, I work to pay for the hosting and stuff. And also expect more than just technology. I am broaden a bit once in a while to appeal to more people. But there WILL be technology, no doubt! Anyways, if you read this, you are awesome because you have stuck with us, or are digging way back to the beginning, haha. So thanks guys.
April 3, 2008 at 8:03 pm · Filed under Computers, Errors, Life, Online
Finally I am switching over to a decent ISP, getting cable, and getting calling features (such as Caller ID) which everybody has had for years! We decided (actually I did) that AT&T Uverse was the best way to go. It had the best channel selection for the price, and has internet options at a fair rate. On top of that we got phone service, which includes some features I haven’t ever had at my house, but everybody I know has had them for years. So let me explain each part of it.
TV - Put simply, we haven’t had any TV service for 5-6 years. We have been surviving off broadcast TV, meaning local channels only. And it has been tolerable, but annoying (when somebody asks “Did you catch that epsiode of Myth Busters last night?” and the only answer you can give them is “No, I don’t have TV service,” it is quite embarassing. But I finally convinced my parents we need it, so I finally can watch all those good shows.
Internet - Many of you probably know that I had a ridiculously slow internet connection. It was 512k, and to my knowledge, they don’t even sell that anymore. But with AT&T, we are getting 3 mbps for the same price (yes, we were getting ripped off for quite a while). And I convinced my parents we need that aswell, however, my dad thinks there won’t be much difference, but what does he know.
Phone - This is currently the only service I currently have from AT&T, until everything else gets connected. And I am pleased with it. I have caller ID, which is a great feature, and call waiting which shows me who is calling when I am on the phone with somebody else, along with many other features. It is great. The only complaint I have is that we got the cheap package because we mainly use cell phones, so that doesn’t include anything besided local calling. So we had to add a long distance option on it so we could call other places, but its only $1 a month and then like $.05 a minute. The problem the poses is any number that isn’t local (as far as I know) shows up as unavailable. But not many people call from different states, or outside the local area, for that matter. The longest distance call that I received was from my dad’s work 45 minutes away.
All in all, it is dissappointing it isn’t all connected yet, but I have a feeling I will be happy in the end.
April 3, 2008 at 7:43 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Not all over, of course! Just at my house. We are changing ISPs (Internet Service Provider) to get a better connection and cable. We are going over to AT&T, I will explain why in another post, possibly after this. Anyways, back on topic! So we had the guy come over to switch the phone line to AT&T because we got phone service too, and the internet and cable run off the phone line. After it was switched, the Uverse (I will explain in my AT&T post) guys were supposed to come and hook up the TVs and internet, but that didn’t work out.
According to the person I talked to, there was a “technical difficulty,” which, in this case, meant they got our address wrong. First off, I don’t find that very technical and second, if one guy made it fine, how do they others screw it up??? So it was rescheduled to the next day (Tuesday), but there would be nobody home that is 18+, so then Thursday, but then another difficulty was encountered! This one was technical, actually. It involved the phone lines leading to our house; they couldn’t support the data for the TV, so they had to be switched.
Well, that is getting taken care of, to my knowledge, and we are getting everything installed on Sunday. And to think this was going to be an easy switch…
March 9, 2008 at 1:56 am · Filed under Computers, Errors
Every night, I plug my laptop into my TV and play the sound through my speakers in my room and watch a movie and listen to music (it is awesome, I have a 42″ TV and soon I will have surround sound). I leave that on all night and just fall asleep and just be done with it. But, last night, an update was installed for IE 8, and my computer restarted (I was asleep when this happened). I woke up this morning and went on my laptop and the screen was black…I was like “this isn’t normal….,” so I clicked around and eventually I clicked on my account and it loaded (not my normal account, just an extra one I have for some reason…) and the resolution was all messed up, but I just logged off and went in my normal account. So I load my account, and some of my settings aren’t the same….Then I go to Windows Media Player to start up some music, and I have to go through the initial setup prompt, but when I select my options and tell it to install, it just goes back to normal, like nothing was wrong.
At this point, I was just confused. So I look around some more, and everything is intact, thankfully. But this just made me remember how important it is to backup!! Even though I didn’t have to install a backup, it makes me feel good that I always have a backup waiting for me. Things like this happen! Kyle had a problem similar, where an update was installed and it wiped his documents, leaving programs untouched. Sadly, he didn’t have a backup. So, be smart, and backup often!! It can be as simple as just copying all your files to an external drive, or having a program do it for you. Just remember, it is better to be safe than sorry.
March 9, 2008 at 1:48 am · Filed under AEF, Life, Online, School, Virtual, Web, advanced, develop, electron
I thought you guys might want to know what my life is like. It is pretty simple and not too great, tbh. I mean, it is a good life, but, school-wise, it sucks. So here is what a typical day is like, and my school, explained. I took this from a post I just wrote on the AEF board, in the developers area, so if something sounds weird, it wasn’t originally designed for this audience.
Basically, I can get up whenever I want, but my parents want me to get up before 8:30. I usually get up at around 10. Then I go to the kitchen and grab some oreos and milk. Go down to the office and work on my computer for a while, then eat lunch, then work on school, then do other crap, and eat dinner.
That is my day structure.
But to explain online school a bit more:
It is also known as virtual school. It is done through different online things, but my school uses blackboard (http://www.blackboard.com). And from there, I can go in to each class, and complete work and stuff. I have the book for classes and other resources, but I have to teach myself from that. In a regular school, you have the book and stuff, but you actually have a teacher to help you. In online school, we have teachers, but they don’t really do anything. They get paid to just manage the class, which requires updating content (about a 1 hour job per year) and holding a 1 hour “meeting” each year. This meeting is done through eluminate (http://www.eluminate.com) and it is like a phone call, but with screen sharing (for the teacher only). And of course we can email the teachers, but half the time they don’t respond.
And the website…Well, the email is terrible. It is completely done in JS and I constantly get errors. Half the time it won’t send messages and I can’t attach anything bigger than 1 MB. So the email system is shit. And their website (http://go2iq.com) is crap. Even though they redesigned it, it still sucks. It is very uninformative (imo) and is terribly designed… And then where the course work is. WOW, it is bad. I mean, just using blackboard for assignments is ok. We used it in my old school once in a while for english work. But using it for all your school work sucks! Sometimes tests don’t submit and it doesn’t save so you have to redo it. Or you session times out so you lose your work. Or you can’t submit some work… It is complete bullshit.
In summary, the whole school system should not be funded by the government. It is a complete waste of tax dollars and if it was my choice would be out lawed because of inefficiency. It is super hard to teach yourself something that you don’t know. Even though there are teachers, it is still terrible as they don’t help much. My parents thought it would be a good idea because I got bad grades for part of my 9th grade year, and they think it is the future of schooling, but there is something about school that is desperately needed - social interaction. Something that is hard to get from staying home all day while your friends are in school… Like I said, if it were my choice, virtual schools would be out lawed. But if had could make those decisions, a lot of things would be outlawed, and the world may be a better place, but politics are too fucked up that it is impossible to do anything truly good for mankind. If you think about it, the world is screwed. But that is a different topic for a different time.
March 7, 2008 at 1:20 am · Filed under AEF, Blog, advanced, develop, electron, forum, stream, theme, version, webcam
I finally finished all my blog themes. I kept finding ones I liked and then modified them, then found another one I liked, and so on. But I finally have one I love, and if I get bored of it, I can always use one of the others that I made :-P. So now I am going to focus on the forum theme - finally - and get it finished and submitted into a theme contest for AEF (Advanced Electron Forums), which is the forum software I use, and hopefully win premium membership at one of the developer’s sites.
One more thing, you guys probably didn’t know, but I actually somewhat develop with AEF, I am a themer. In other words, I make themes and help with the default theme when we are developing a new version. We always want to keep it fresh and stay away from the IPB look that we currently have. But, yea, I though you guys may want to know that.
So watch out for future forum updates because now I am going to be spending a bit more time on there. And then when I get my webcam, I will start streaming for you guys.
March 6, 2008 at 7:16 pm · Filed under Keyboard, Mouse, Uncategorized, computer, logitech, new
Today I just got my Logitech diNovo Media Desktop keyboard and mouse combo. In short, I love it. It took about 5 minutes to setup. Seriously, the unboxing of it took more time than setup!! The design is slick and the number pad is awesome! I would definitely say the number pad is my favorite part. It has three modes; number pad mode, navigation mode, and calculator mode. Keep in mind this is all in a device that is no bigger than my hand. The media controls are superb, and all the shortcuts the keyboard offers make it stand out above all other keyboards I have ever used.
The mouse is very comfortable, and has multiple buttons to accomplish different tasks. At default, the buttons on the side go back and forward (like the back and forward buttons in the web browser) and the buttons before and after the scroll wheel scroll. Then, there is the button for Flip3D, but can also be used in XP if you have the powertoy that switches between windows. If you don’t like the default actions, just open up their software, SetPoint, and change it!
The only thing that could be better is making the keyboard rechargeable. It uses 4 AA batteries, which could be replaced by 1 Li-Ion battery. However, I believe the new version (I will be getting it in a week for my laptop) is rechargable.
So, in total, this was a great purchase. I thoroughly love it! I recommend it to all. I bought mine off ebay for 61 bucks, 13.95 shipping. And seeing as they are 159.99 new, I consider that a good deal (keep in mind I have the old version, and the new version which is laser is 199.99). So check ebay before you dish out 159.99-199.99 for it. I have found 1 scratch and 1 area where the color is faded on the whole setup, and for half price, I kind of expected that.
March 4, 2008 at 4:02 am · Filed under Suggestions
Well, I want to get a Mac. I have been meaning to get another one, but I haven’t gotten around to it. I want the Mac Mini to connect to my TV in my room and use as the computer that the webcam will be connected to. So this way seems like a good option, but maybe it isn’t the best way to go. This is where you guys come in! What do you think I should do, get a Mac Mini or something else? Also, what webcam would you recommend (I am looking at the Logitech Orbit AF and QuickCam Pro for notebooks)? After all, this is all for you, so you should have a say in it.
March 4, 2008 at 3:52 am · Filed under Uncategorized
Me and Kyle finally decided that we should get a blog. It is probably easier for me to explain everything out of the confines of the forum. The forum was basically started first. It was for support, but we realized that there were tons of other support sites out there, so we had to expand a bit. So we started a live feed and IRC chat to pretty much do/talk about whatever. And then we decided to expand more, to cover more things and attract more people, so we each started a blog (I think, as of now, Kyle is still setting his up :-P).
In our blogs, we will talk about pretty much anything. It is just what is going on. The main theme of the website is tech, and more towards tech support in the forum, so a lot of it will be based on tech. But occasionally there will be other stuff added. Just look around and get comfy!
Thanks for supporting us!
-Rutger
