How do I sign up here?

Just LOG IN. You only need to use your existing Facebook, Google, Yahoo or OpenID account. (I will attempt to get access to other sites to use their credentials as well.)

If you are signed in to one of these services, just click on the LOG IN button (on the right). You will then see a page similar to the one in the graphic here. Click on the button for the account you are using (like Facebook or Yahoo) and then ALLOW the connection.

If you are not currently logged in to one of these services, clicking on a button will open a dialog requesting your username & password for that service. This process uses secure servers so your info will not be open for snoopers to see.

In just a few seconds, you will be “magically” registered & logged in to our service.

Please try this service and let me know what you think!

Buying a new HD TV?

Do NOT pay outrageous prices for the cables to hook it up!

If you visit Best Buy or some other electronics stores, you will likely find HDMI cables for your High Definition TV. But at a very expensive price! The sales person may even tell you that if you get the very best quality cables, you will get the best quality video. That is not entirely untrue – except that the same is true  for the much cheaper versions of the HDMI cables as well!

Rick Broida of CNet News asked, “Are [all HDMI cables] created equal?” And then answered, “No, but there’s ample scientific and anecdotal evidence that dirt-cheap generic cables perform just as well as their pricey big-name counterparts (cough *Monster* cough). Don’t get suckered into buying the latter.” His article, “Get a 6-foot HDMI cable for $3.19 shipped” provides links to such deals on Amazon.

Gary Merson is MSNBC’s “HD Guru” and he has published an article “Buyer beware: Misleading HDMI cable labels suggest needless upgrades.” He subtitled the piece “Cable makers and dealers make money exploiting the ignorance of TV buyers.”

In Merson’s article, he makes the following statement:

AudioQuest has a line of  “High Speed” HDMI cables; its packaging states that it “delivers 100 percent of the data required for 120Hz, 240Hz, 600Hz  displays.” It costs up to a whopping $229.99 for its 6-1/2-foot Carbon model (sold online from Bestbuy.com). The BB website states “High speed 1080p/120Hz/4K” — there are no 4K consumer video signals.

Merson then explains that there are only two grades of HDMI cable: Standard & High Speed. All of the extra wording about 120Hz or 1080p or even 4K is just advertising. There are no HDMI specifications for these things and therefore they mean nothing.

Merson continues…

By comparison you can purchase a 6-1/2-foot “High Speed” HDMI cable from Amazon for as little as  $3.99. It is a “High Speed” rated cable that will pass any HD signal (including 3-D) to any HDTV. Keep in mind a signal carried over an HDMI cable is all digital, meaning any properly functioning cable will provide a perfect picture. There is absolutely no picture quality advantage of purchasing a cable that is rated higher than the HDMI “High Speed” standard of a 10.2 Gbps!

That means that if you buy a “High-Speed” HDMI cable for $3.99 at Amazon or for if you go to a high-end video store and pay $229.99, the picture on your TV will be the SAME. As long as you buy the “High Speed” cable, you will get the same video performance.

Buyer beware!

Looking for comments!

Leave a comment – even if you only say, “Hi.”

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To make commenting easier, I have installed the IntenseDebate (ID) Comment system on this site. The ID system will allow you to leave a comment as a guest (however, your comment must be approved by a moderator). But, you can also sign in to the ID system using your Twitter, Facebook, OpenID, Yahoo accounts. However, the BEST plan is to do a ONE-TIME registration with IntenseDebate at their website:http://intensedebate.com/ .

Once you have replied to their email, you will be fully registered with ID and from then on, you can post comments on thousands of websites all over. Since the installation of the ID comments system, registration is no longer necessary or useful on any of my sites (except for those individuals who contribute articles). Indeed, it is no longer possible to self-register on most of my sites. As a related issue, I have deleted all “subscriber” accounts on my websites. Blessings, Ray

Telephone service has come a LONG way!

For over six months, I have used the Ooma Hub as my primary phone service. When I switched from AT&T DSL to Charter Cable as my ISP, a problem with the service gave me cause for concern. I began to question the Ooma device.

However, I was wrong. As a result of the incident, I discovered several things about Ooma that reinforced my already positive opinion of the service. I waited for two months

1. They warrant their hardware for one year
2. They offer excellent support (but you must PRESS for escalated support)
3. Their product is rock solid

The problem that I experienced eventually was resolved by reconfiguring my network – Neither Ooma nor the ISP were at fault. However, when I asked, Ooma sent me a second Hub at no cost – under the warranty.

The end result is that I STILL see Ooma as the best VOIP alternative! Now the price of the Ooma Hub (which I use and recommend) is down to $220. However, the price of their Premier Service (which you may also want to consider) is up to $120 per year. Still an excellent price when the cost is extended over a two year period.

Although my previous reviews of Ooma have all been positive, I must admit that I am now having some issues.

Ooma vs Vonage

Recently, I started experiencing a rather unusual problem with my phone. All incoming calls appear to work properly. However, SOME outgoing calls would not present my voice to the called party. I could hear them fine but they could not hear me. At first, it appeared to be on ALL of my outgoing calls but recently, some outgoing calls work fine.

I called Ooma last Wednesday about it and went through the normal trouble shooting steps with their agent. After about 20 minutes, the agent agreed that the problem would have to be “escalated to the next level.” He informed me that someone would be calling me within the “next 24 to 48 hours” to resolve my problem. The call NEVER CAME.

I had minor surgery on Thursday and was not up to calling on Friday but I saw no missed called from Ooma on my cell or home phone numbers. Then, it was the weekend and I figured that the “next level” support staff probably worked a regular work week so I waited until Monday of this week to call. After going through a LONG queue, I was finally connected to a first level technician who was again unable to resolve the issue and repeated the comments of the previous tech that the issue would have to be escalated and “someone will call you within the next 24-48 hours.”

After an extended DEMAND on my part that I wanted to speak with the “next level” now – not 24-48 hours later, I was connected to someone else (not sure if they were on the “next level” or not). They were not able to resolve the issue either and, after a couple hours of bickering between us, the last I heard was… “someone will call you within the next 24-48 hours.”

It has now been close to 48 hours and the call has not yet come and I do not expect it to come. However, Ooma did send me an email today asking me to respond to a survey of my level of satisfaction with their service. I answered it appropriately (grin).

So… Although there is still much to love about the Ooma, their technical “service” DEFINITELY could use some improvement.

Update (approximately 50 hours after the previous call): Carol (from Ooma) called today. (She is the first person who appeared to have English as their first language.) Much more conciliatory tone. She really seems to want to fix my issue. No clear answers but Carol is sending a new Ooma device to determine if that is the problem. More to come….

Considering that Vonage has reduced their prices (for the first six months) and offers free world calling in their bundle, you might want to consider them. The price of Ooma “Premier” service is now $120 per year and you buy the equipment ($250 for the Telo or $220 for the Hub). Total price for two years is just over $2o per month. Vonage offers MORE services for a total two year price of around $450 – or just under $20 per month.

After Ooma exchanged my Hub (for free – under warranty), the problem is still present. The issue then somehow a “network” problem. A secondary issue involves the fact that I recently changed ISP from AT&T DSL to Charter (cable) Internet Service.

After contacting Charter about the issue, they have begun some tests on my line. I will report my impressions about Charter in a separate review.

Ray

Use your Google Calendar on your WordPress Blog

In this article, we will show you how to import your Google Calendar into your WordPress Blog. In  the previous article, you copied data from the settings page of your Google Calendar into a document file. You will now use that data to create the Calendar Page and/or Widget for your blog.

The process involves using a PlugIn to WordPress. The “AmR iCal Events List” plugin does the magic. So, here are the steps to use it:

1. The first thing is to install & activate the AmR iCal plugin
2. Visit the Settings page for the plugin & add any needed info. The only item that normally needs to be changed is the “date localization” – I recommend the “none” option. Press “Update” to save any changes.
3. Visit the Appearance / Widgets page & drag the AmR iCal Widget to the desired sidebar of your theme.
4. Add a Title for the Widget and then SAVE.
5. Visit the home page of your site and assure that the sample events are displayed properly.
6. Revisit the Widget’s Settings & erase the link in the URL field then PASTE the “ICS Address” into the field (The address is found in the document that you saved at the previous article – or from the  Google Calendar Settings.) Be sure to SAVE the widget settings.
7. Return to the home page for your site and assure that YOUR calendar’s events are displayed.
8. You may also add a second calendar by placing it’s ICS address (url) in the field after your own calendar’s url. (Suggestion: include the calendar of your host community.)

That will complete the widget’s function! Enjoy. You can edit the manner that the events are displayed by making slight changes to the configuration. Visit the plugin homepage for instructions.

You may wish to include a PAGE on your site to provide a bigger and more complete display of your events.

1. Visit your site’s dashboard & click on Pages / Add New
2. In the Title field, enter your name for the page. E.g, “Events”
3. In the window, type the open square bracket character and the letters “iCal” followed by a space and the “ICS address” used in the widget above. Add another space and the text, “days=100 events=10" and the close square bracket.
4. The final text entered in the window will look something like:

[ iCal http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/btlcog@gmail.com/public/basic.ics days=100 events=10 ]

(Delete the space after the open bracket and before the close bracket. This is the data for the BLCOG calendar.)

1. Continue from step 4 above, you must revisit the settings for the AmR Widget (Appearance / Widgets) and enter the name of your page (from step 2 above) into the “Calendar Page URL” field. NOTE: only enter the name of the page (e.g., “Events”) and not the entire URL.
2. Save the widget and close
3. Visit your home page and your new “Events” page should be available. Click on it to assure that it works.

As with the Widget, you can edit the manner that the events are displayed by making slight changes to the configuration. Visit the plugin homepage for instructions.

Finally, we can create another page on your blog that displays the calendar much the same as the online Google Calendar page. Here are the steps to do that.

(NOTICE: With the newest version of WordPress, this function does not seem to work. Whenever you press “Save Draft” or “Publish” button, the code disappears and the page will not be displayed. I will return to this article when I find a resolution to the problem. In the mean time, if it works for you, enjoy. If not, just delete the page.)

1. Sign in to the dashboard of your blog & click on PAGE / Create New
2. Enter the Title for the page… e.g.,  Calendar
3. In the editor, click on the HTML tab
4. Copy the “Imbed Code” from the saved document & paste it into the window
5. Click on the VISUAL tab & you should see your Google Calendar in the window
6. Click “Publish” and you are finished.

You should see the page listed when you visit the home page of your site. Click on the Calendar page and it should display.

If your church or organization has a Google Calendar then you need to take it to the next level

The next step is to share your calendar with the people who need to know about the events. Here are the steps to sharing your calendar:

1. Sign in to your calendar.
2. Click on the “Settings” link in the upper right of the page
3. Click on the “Calendars” tab
4. Under the “Sharing” heading, click on the “Share This Calendar“
5. Click on “Make This Calendar Public” and press SAVE  (I told you to get a Gmail account specifically for your organization)
6. Answer YES to the query about “Are you sure?”
7. Under the “Calendar” tab again, click on the email address for your calendar
8. Open a blank text document to paste info into.
9. Copy the address in the “Calendar Name” field and paste it into the document and save the document.
10. Under the “Calendar Details” enter your calendar’s information into the fields if you wish to change anything.
11. In the “Embed This Calender” block, copy the code from the field at the right side and paste it into the document and save again. This code can be included in the HTML code of a web page to display the current calendar.
12. In the “Calendar Address” block, Click on the “ICAL” button and copy the address that is displayed then paste it into your document and save once again.
13. Press the “SAVE” button at the bottom of the page to save any changes made to the page.
14. You may now sign out of your calendar.

Secure the text document that you created. You will use that information to share you calendar.

The GOOGLE CALENDAR reminds us of upcoming events

Google’s online calendar application is free, full-featured and it allows a lot of flexibility in scheduling. You can schedule a 5-minute event if you want. You can schedule recurring events (annual, monthly, weekly and even odd recurrences. You can create an event that occurs monthly, on the same day of the month or, on the same day of the week each month!

Google also allows you to invite others to an event and notes when they RSVP (or don’t). It will send alerts to your email or send a text to your cellphone.

The calendar is also in a format that allows it to be shared with others (you can select whether an event is to be private or shared). You can combine your calendar with other calendars (such as national holidays or another worker or organization). You can even allow others to create or edit events on your calendar if you want. It also syncs with most newer smartphones. This allows you to add or change events even when you are away from your computer.

That is a great combination for a church or business that has a problem with maintaining a central calendar and avoiding scheduling conflicts. It is especially valuable to organizations who want to publish their upcoming events on their web site.

So, how do I create a Google Calendar? If you do not already have a Google account SPECIFICALLY FOR YOUR CHURCH OR ORGANIZATION, then visit Google and get started… HERE. Note, you can sign up for a Google account using your existing (non-gmail) email address but I STRONGLY urge you to sign up for a GMAIL account in the name of your organization. It will provide many additional services.

After you have created an account, sign in at google.com/calendar and the site will walk you through the basics. Be sure to visit the SETTINGS link (upper right corner of the page) and review all of the options available to you.

Then go to the next article in this series…

Create an automatically updating EVENTS CALENDAR on your website!

One of the really cool features of some sites is that they have an events list in their sidebar. Such as the one at the BeyondLimitsCOG.com site.

How do you do it?  Is it hard to create or maintain? Good questions! Read on…

Actually, it is pretty easy. And, once set up, you or someone you trust, will only need to add an event on your online (Google) calendar. Then the system will AUTOMATICALLY update your website and display the appropriate events as they come due. Recurring events that you have created (birthdays, anniversaries, etc) will automatically appear at the appropriate time– without any intervention from anyone! And, you can add additional calendars from others to combine with your calendar.

If you have a self-hosted (single or multi-user) WordPress website, then let me tell you how to do it.

1. Create a Google Calendar
2. Share the Calendar with ics
3. Import the Calendar into your WP Blog

Each of these functions is a little complicated so I will create a SERIES of posts (this is the first) to explain how to accomplish each step. As I create each step, I will link the article to the points above.

I spent today rebuilding this site on a new “home.” Although it still looks pretty much as it did, there are a lot of backend changes that hopefully will speed up the site a bit.

I hope you find the new site inviting and easy to use. Please leave a comment and tell me what you think.

• I like/dislike the colors & balance on the site
• I like/dislike the functions of the site
• I find  the site easy/difficult to use
• Now, I cannot __________________
• I liked the old site better/worse
• Or any other comments

I am also concerned about any problems that I may have introduced in the conversion.

• Dead or misdirected links (cannot find what you asked for)
• Missing  functions (something that  you could do previously but not now)
• Articles that are no longer applicable (talking about something that is no longer correct on the site – maybe a step-by-step instruction concerning the {now changed} menu system)
• Anything that is just incorrect now (probably was thought to be accurate when written but is clearly wrong now)

If you find any of these errors, please post a comment and tell me the Title of the article and what is wrong.

Today,  on the Bishop’s Facebook Page,  we had a question about playing the game applications available on Facebook:

Windows Vista Home Premium
AMD Phenom 9850 Quad Core Processor 2.50 GHz
8.00 GB RAM

Hope that’s enough info

I know the Bishop probably dislikes the Facebook games; however, I enjoy them. My question is this: When I play the games (farmville, cafe world) my processor will become louder and you can hear it running. This really frustrates my husband and he thinks it is a problem with my computer.

I need to know is this normal? Or should I call for service.

Thank you!

Yes, I do [believe that is the problem] and since it only happens when the games have a lot of activity, I figured that was why.

It has happened sometimes when the anti-virus is running an in-depth scan.  Phil is worried it is going to blow up.  I have protection with the geek squad where they come to your house, so I am going to call them just to make sure.

I really don’t play any other online games and don’t want to because of viruses, so I am not going to try that.

Thanks for your help.