Have you ever come across a tune or audio file on the internet that has a noticeable hum throughout the entire track.  In the past expensive audio software tools were needed to remove such sounds and improve overall quality but today this can be done easily with Audacity.  The following is a quick podcast I created on using Audacity to remove background noise.

Overall Audacity is an excellent sound recorder/editor that should be installed on anyone system.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/

Here is a the LAME MP3 encoder as well (Mac Version)

libmp3lame.dylib MAC OSX universal

Thanks to a comment below from Jeorg – I am updating this post with their suggestion of simply visiting http://www.youtube-mp3.org/ . One step – works well Thanks for the tip.

Read Below for a longer more complicated method

Recently a teacher brought to me a You-tube video and wanted to extract just the audio track.   This is pretty easy to do using keepvid.com (or video download helper plugin for firefox) and Apple’s Garageband.

Here is a 10 Step Tutorial below or you can Watch my quick Podcast on the process:

1.  Find the Youtube Video

2.  Copy the URL for the youtube video that you want the audio for.

3.  Go to http://www.keepvid.com

4.  Paste the YouTube Url into the URL spot on the keepvid’s webpage.  Looks like this below.

5.  Look at the the download links and if possible select the MP4 version.

6.  With the file saved on somewhere (Desktop is a good spot)  – now open Garageband.

7.  Create a new Garageband Vocal project and then drag the video MP4 file into Garaband.  It will create a new track that looks like this.

8.  Now simply highlight the audio track in Garageband and then select EDIT | COPY.

9  Click on FILE | NEW PROJECT and again select VOCALS. (Don’t need to save old project)

10.  On the New Project click EDIT | PASTE.  You will see only the audio appears.  Now turn off any effects over on the right hand side then click on SHARE | EXPORT song and you are done -

I recommend Exporting the song as a MP3 for the greatest compatibility among other programs and players.

Change to MP3 where it says Compress using

Here is a cool plug-in I came across that makes embedding an external web page into a Wordpress post or page simple. The Plugin is called Iframe Embedder and can be downloaded through Wordpress admin console or from here.  This plugin works with the latest version of wordpress 2.9.2 and is pretty easy to use.

Below I have a link to an external site.  Below this link using the Iframe Embedder plugin I have embedded this page -audio, flash and all into this post.

http://s8s3eks.edu.glogster.com/glogburnin-up/

To embed this content into the A Blog post you must activate the Iframe Embedder plugin and then in the post use the following syntax: You can adjust the numbers at the end to fit your specific blog theme.

Here is the syntax above working below but using our district website.  Notice that you can use the links on the page and it contains the website inside the frame.

*NOTE  Firefox 3.6 is still a little buggy – using Iframe works with Firefox 3.7 Alpha, Firefox 3.5.x, IE Explorer 6,7,8 and Safari.  Also works with the Beta Release of 3.6.1 which means this is just a temporary issue with Firefox

It is important to not get too carried away with embedding external webpages as this is not really a best practice in most cases.  But still this is a nice simplified way to add an external site when appropriate directly to you web site.

Here is a quick Podcast on Installing the Iframe Embedder and using it in a post.

Podcast Iframe Embedder and Wordpress

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts

Probably the best overall aspect of using Wordpress is its seemingly never ending library of plugins.  In a school setting with primarily Mac’s one easy way to capture Video (with Audio) is to use the program Photobooth – easy to use – fun for students and staff.  To post and embed one of these videos into Wordpress is simple using the plug-in WordTube or the Add Video button.  WordTube works with the latest version of Wordpress as of the time of this writing (2.9.2) and easily accepts movies from Photobooth.  You can download version 2.2.2 directly from Here – or better yet add it through Wordpress directly – see Podcast Below.

First off the advantage to using WordTube is that you can resize a movie, embed it directly in a wordpress post/page and use a built in player to start and stop.  If you use the built in Add movie button in wordpress you will save time but the movie will open in a different windows and will appear only as a link in your post.

Here is a Podcast on how to get WordTube, convert – upload – and embed a movie from photobooth nicely into A wordpress Page.

Here content created from a teachers Macbook in Photobooth uploaded to Wordpress.  Here is a sample movie from Photobooth Embedded into Wordpress using the WordTube Plugin.  (I also embedded my screen podcast using this plugin as well).

I came across a great plugin for Wordpress today that simply makes your website look good and work easily on an Iphone.  The theme is called WPTouch and it is free and setup is almost effortless.

You can download the Plugin from the admin console of your wordpress, and simply click Activate.

After activating the Plugin – Here is a screenshot from an Iphone.

The Plugin Preserves media content and images, and overall makes reading and navigating the website pleasant from an Iphone.

You can read more about the plugin from the authors website here.

If you are not happy with the default settings, you will find under the wordpress settings WP-Touch panel – almost all themes icons, colors are customizable.

Having managed a number of Windows 2003 Servers and optimizing various Windows Desktops you will quickly see the built in disk defragment tool is lacking in speed and efficiency.  Especially in the server environment the built in defrag tool simply fails to defrag a large variety of formats, backup sets, log files, etc.  Having tried a multiple products over the years, idefraggler, Ultra Defragmenter, my defrag, contig, and Auslogics Disk Defrag – it is clear that the latest version of Ausologics Disk Defrag  is ahead of the competition.

The latest revision of this free utility tops that of many of its commercial competitors.  This is the safest, quickest and most overall effective disk defragging software available – free.  Although Disk Defragging is not a common day to day activity – it is nice to have a utility that can accomplish this task in minutes rather than hours.

I would recommend this tool for anyone running Windows Operating systems Windows XP, Vista, or Server 2003.  If you are already running Windows 7 or Server 2008 I would stick with the built in utilities as Windows has done an excellent job upgrading the scheduling and functionality of this utility in their latest iterations of the Windows OS.

Download Below or from CNET

disk-defrag-setup

When it comes to online documents, collaboration and storage most people probably think Google Docs right away. Without taking anything away from Google and its excellent selection of free services – I want to mention another cloud based system that offer better functionality in many respects.

One of the biggest complaints I have heard about Google Docs is its inability to import complex documents and its lack of features as a word processor. If you have shared these concerns I would suggest you check out Zoho.com. Zoho is very similar in functionality to Google Docs but just comes with a more full featured word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation applications.

In addition to offering full functional clones of Excel, Word and Powerpoint – Zoho offers a variety of online tools making it probably the most overall complete package in terms of providing a full suite of productivity tools online.

Zoho is a free service for individual use – Interestingly it has been rumored that Google is considering buying Zoho as a way of upgrading its current services.

With the eminent release of Office 2010 online – Zoho might find itself lost among the major players.  Still will an obvious technological advantage over Google Docs I would not be surprised to see the Zoho logo become a large G for Google.  (Easy way to catch up if Microsoft Online System is better)

Here is a screen shot of Zoho loaded running its Writer Application.  Notice the tabs across the tab – much better set of editing and formatting features than Google Docs.

The other day I received and email about a broken intercom system at Southwest Elementary.  I was curious about this system because in the email was a picture of the system which made it appear to be an old early pentium or perhaps 486 based PC.

As you can see from the photo the device is clearly in a PC chasis but is it a PC?

On site taking a closer look it appears that the system is somewhat of a hybrid.  It uses a standard PC power supply although BIOS is customized to run through on board modules and the program is run by ROM chips attached to a circuit board powered by a molex connector instead of a traditional hard drive.  Probably a good idea that this machine does not use a hard drive since with being powered on almost 24/7 this part would have failed much earlier.

Inside the machine are a series of peripheral expansion cards ISA slots – a quick look at the board confirms this machine to be running an386 or i486 with ISA expansion ports.  (I remember my first soundblaster card used the 8 bit ISA slot and my second computer 486 used the ISA 16 with a Soundblaster Pro 16.

On the site I could here a Pop sound from the power supply when it was attempted to power-on, on closer inspection I could see a blown capacitator inside.  Considering the machine has been running for years not stop without a break I am not surprised this old 250 watt power supply finally died.

Luckily I store lots and lots of parts at the High School and simply swapped out this part with a newer 350 Watt P4 power supply (obviously not using the P4 extension) and connected it to the motherboard and to one circuit board via a molex connector – and wha laaa the machine came to life and is working.

This is a picture of the old power supply – standard ATX 250 watt power supply.

Replaced it with a ATX 20 pin + 4 pin 350 watt supply (leaving the extra 4 pin not attached)

Here is shot of the back where the custom extension ISA peripherals attach at the back.  Not really much of a point to this entry other than I still find myself fascinated by the endless combination of PC components used in any number of devices.  Since my first computer was a 286 12 mhz machine with 512 kb of ram (yes half of 1 mb) I like it when I encounter legacy hardware that still works great.

Recently I came across a Lenov0 Y710 gaming version laptop with a broken keyboard. A quick look at the machine and I could see that this keyboard was held in place by 4 screws and a by some clips. Unlike other IBM thinkpad and Lenovo models this model(Y710) and the (Y510) do not have replacement keyboard parts available for purchase. The approved way to have this keyboard replaced is to send it to Lenova who will replace it for around 150-170$.

Looking at similar Lenovo models it turns out that although they don’t officially sell this replacement keyboard – another Lenovo keyboard is identical and works great.

To replace this keyboard look for a keyboard with a part number 39T7417.  Strangely if ask Lenovo they state that this keyboard is not compatible – when in reality it is identical and works great.

I found this part from laptopexperts.com and from buy.com http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=212000765&listingid=51020421

Order Details:
————————————————————————
Quantity: 1
Item: Laptop Keyboard
(39T7417)
Unit Price: $35.10
Total Price: $35.10
————————————————————————
sub total: $35.10
shipping: $12.24
————————————————————————
total: $47.34

As you can see from my order receipt that 47.34 looks a lot better than 150-170$ from Lenovo, plus you don’t have to ship anything in and do not have to wait 2 weeks.

Keyboard is a perfect match.

Recently, actually very recently as in last night and today I noticed that the DNS servers for my home service provider were down(ISP Mediacom).  Mediacom does a good job with internet service in this area but they have had a little trouble from time to time.   After a couple of quick network tests I determined that the problem is with my ISP’s DNS servers.  This is not the first time I have noticed that their DNS servers have been comprimised so I decided to look for an alternative solution.  For most users simply wait and your ISP will promptly fix this issues but for those of you who are a little more hyper like myself and want a fix that will work without calling tech support, read on.

First off for those reading this who are not familiar with the functions of a DNS server (Domain Name Servers) here it is in a nutshell.

Computers like numbers and not names, therefore when you tell your computer to visit www.yahoo.com a DNS server translates this name into a number (IP Address) which your computer likes.

Okay so maybe I overly simplified a bit but this at least gives the basic premise.

So if you can visit Yahoo by clicking on this  http://www.yahoo.com then your DNS servers are working perfectly.

If you cannot visit Yahoo by the using a domain name but can visit by using this link http://69.147.114.224 then you have a DNS issue.

Google now offers free dns servers that work regardless of you ISP (in most cases) and are fast and efficient.  Also they are easy to remember

Google Free DNS Servers

8.8.8.8

8.8.4.4

To fix a pesky home internet connection or for another useful tool to help troubleshoot overall Network (Specifically DNS server issues) it is nice to have these free servers available.

If you suspect that you may have trouble with DNS, simply edit your Network Configuration leaving DHCP intact but clicking the box to fill out manually DNS servers.

Here is how it may look on a windows machine:

Or better yet simply change your DNS settings on your home wireless router and all computer connecting to it will use the new DNS server.

Look for the WAN connection under your wireless routers setup utility.

If you are a network administrator and maintain your own DNS and DHCP services, having google’s DNS servers listed as a secondary or even thrid option in DHCP is also a good way to provide a little extra if something ever goes amiss.