Windows Explorer slowdown on video files

I've been getting some frustrating behavior from (File) Explorer in Windows XP while working on a video project. Selecting an AVI file spikes the CPU and locks the file for 30 seconds or more. If it's a corrupt AVI file, my computer can hang for several minutes. I finally tracked down a way to disable whatever preview or statistics Explorer is building. I'm not sure what else it impacts, but so far it's been great. Now I can move and delete video clips without an aggravating pause.

To remove media preview, run: regsvr32 /u shmedia.dll
To restore media preview, run: regsvr32 shmedia.dll

Frrriendfeed

Friendfeed changed their logo to honor International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Arrrrsome!

Removed Adsense

I removed Google Adsense ads from this blog. They didn't perform at all anyways, but Google was usually confused about what this blog is about so I'd get almost random ads.

The ads that put me over the edge were all the Vietnamese "dating" site ads that appeared on my post about Kim Phuc. As funny as it was to see a "Meet hot Vietnamese girls" ad there, it just wasn't right. So I ripped them out.

NOS Energy Drink

I love the packaging on this energy drink. I don't think I could ever drink it, but it's an awesome brand license. There's supposedly an aluminum bottle package available too but I haven't been able to find it in stores.

For those of you that didn't grow up around classic muscle cars or the whiny little things kids drive today, NOS is Nitrous Oxide Systems. NOS builds nitrous oxide systems for race cars. It's that little red button you see in movies that makes the car suddenly go even faster and blue flames shoot out of the exhaust pipe. NOS built a brand image with their blue bottles and orange logo that's so recognizable that it's now licensed to other products.

Georgia Tech Football Free Streaming Audio

I tracked down a reasonable radio station (South 107) that streams Georgia Tech football games live. The stream even works on my Sprint Palm Centro so I can listen almost anywhere.

Update 11/1: Some links are still working, but nobody seems to be streaming Georgia Tech-Florida State today. Maybe it's a Georgia law that Georgia Tech can't be on the radio on the day of the Florida-Georgia game.

mms://nick11f.surfernetwork.com/wtsh

Some Georgia Tech apparel.

If that doesn't work, maybe Live 101.9 FM will.
http://live1019.com:8000/live.m3u

WREK may carry the game live too, or you might get a 60 minute set of Chinese drums:
http://slack.wrek.gatech.edu:8000/wrek_live-128kb.m3u

http://webclust1.liquidcompass.cc/sos4stnrd/audio_player.php?id=WQXI
http://www.790thezone.com/multimedia/listenlive.aspx

Mix Tape USB Drive

This Digital Mix Tape is awesome. It's just a small USB drive wrapped in a cassette tape packaging. The idea is that you put together a MP3 mix for someone just like us really old people used to do on cassette tapes. You could even make your own from old cassettes and all those small USB drives you end up with.

It's also a good piece of marketing. I could easily see someone using this idea for a mailer. (Via RetroThing)

The Story of the Fail Whale

If you use Twitter at all, you've see the Fail Whale. Recently I came across the story behind the now famous image and an interview with the original artist, Yiying Lu. You can now even order a tshirt or a onesie with the image.