Dennis P. Osorio’s Blog
Technology, E-Activism, and Other Items of Interest
August 8, 2008 at 11:44 am · Filed under linux software
You’re thinking about moving to Linux, or you recently have done so, and you’re wondering, “what is the Linux or open source alternative to xxx software I loved when I used Windows?” This has got to be one of the most common questions for Linux users.
A lot of this software has dominated our ways of thinking that it’s hard for some to imagine a world without Microsoft Word, Outlook, MovieMaker, Adobe Reader, iTunes, or whatever.
Well, here are two great resources for open source software. Break free of the old ways of thinking and explore these two helpful sites. Much of the software listed is also available for Windows and Mac users.
http://www.linuxalt.com/
http://www.osalt.com/
July 28, 2008 at 5:20 pm · Filed under Remote Access
While I was assisting a friend and client with the setup of his new email account, I was frustrated that I couldn’t simply access his computer remotely. “Whoa, hold on there”, he said. “Go to LogMeIn.com”
I was skeptical because I was using a computer running Linux and sometimes weird web apps don’t play nicely with me.
No worries, everything worked like a charm. I entered his email and password, and pow!, I was controlling his computer. It was a bit creepy, he later said, as he watched me control his mouse, keyboard - his whole computer. I quickly set up his Thunderbird email client so as to send and receive using his new email address.
Read the rest of this entry »
July 18, 2008 at 6:00 pm · Filed under blogging, e-activist tools
So, uh, I’m new to this whole blogging thing. But, I recently attended a “Blogger Summit” hosted by Center for Civic Policy. Below are some of the tips (style, soliciting comments, strategy) I picked up from folks who know a lot more about this than me.
Read the rest of this entry »
July 13, 2008 at 1:15 am · Filed under e-activist tools
At 1000 Friends of New Mexico, I experimented with two free solutions that should be of interest to folks wanting to initiate sign-on letters or petitions to legislators.
First, we created a letter using CitizenSpeak that we wanted our members and supporters to sign on to.
Then, it was a matter of getting the word out.
Read the rest of this entry »
April 19, 2008 at 8:14 pm · Filed under website spoofing
Here’s a great example of web activism.
Upset with absurd attempts by the coal industry to clean up it’s image (rather than it’s smokestacks), the National Resource Defense Council created a spoof website. Who’s to say that you have to take corporate disinformation lying down?
The original is found here: http://www.americaspower.org/ (boo! hiss!)
The spoof is found here: http://www.americascoalpower.org/blog.html (how awesome is this?)
April 19, 2008 at 7:49 pm · Filed under linux software
Ubuntu, for those of you who may not know, is a flavor of Linux. There is no one single Linux, but a zillion varieties. Ubuntu is one of the most popular distributions (if not the most popular). For the fearful Windows users out there, let me tell you: it’s graphical, it has windows, and it is not like using DOS. (Although it can be if you want). Read the rest of this entry »
April 19, 2008 at 7:38 pm · Filed under music
This is my latest obsession for free music consumption. Zamzar.com is a free online service that does file conversions. Like doc to pdf, jpg to png, flac to mp3. You get the picture. Well, they now do videos from YouTube and Google Video.
Why is this cool? Let’s say you like a song (from the public domain, of course), but not enough to go get an album. You’ll probably be able to find it on YouTube. You can listen to it and grab the url. Go to Zamzar.com. Enter the url. Ask that it convert the video to mp3. Boom! There you go. You can now listen to it on your mp3 player.
April 19, 2008 at 7:35 pm · Filed under music
Here´s a cool free service. Free, streaming radio available online. Why is this cool? Well, they have a ton of music for starts. What you do is pick an artist or a song that you like. This creates a “station”. Then, it will find artists kind of like the one you started off with. As if Prince and all similar artists had a dedicated radio station. In fact, it´s kind of interesting to read the description of what you´ve entered. I entered Patrice Rushen and received a description of harmonies and vamping.
You can create a ton of stations. You can even shuffle among them all. When a song comes on, you can give it the thumbs up or the thumbs down. This will refine the station to your tastes.
There´s ample opportunity to click on a link for a commercial transaction if you desire. This is easily ignored too, so it´s not like you´re bombarded with advertisements. This is, I´ve found, a nice way to hear music I wouldn´t have heard otherwise.
It all appears to be Flash-based. I haven´t found any urls for the music, so I haven´t made any attempts to download it.
April 19, 2008 at 7:28 pm · Filed under the built environment
Here is a walkability index. Find out how you rate.
It´s about leaving your home and having access to goods and services without having to rely on a car. It´s about density. And community. And connectivity. Diversity. Public spaces.
It´s about challenging the dominant paradigm fed to you by the auto and real estate industries.
April 19, 2008 at 7:14 pm · Filed under spreadsheets (Excel or Calc)
Here´s the scenario: you have two related datasets. Let´s say one is a list of name with phone numbers, and the other is a list of names and email addresses. The two datasets have a unique id in common (like a Social Security number). You should be able to merge the two, right? You´d be surprised at how difficult some folks find this. Well, I´m here to tell you, it´s surprisingly easy. Read the rest of this entry »
Next entries »
