So we have already seen how Evan writes and manages this blog.  Let me show you some of the inner workings on my side of this enterprise.  First off, I would like to say that I was really excited when Evan asked to help him write for his blog.  We had semi-jokingly talked about it before, but I was really glad that he had taken the jump and started it.  Follow the jump to see what I use to put together a post.

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Ok, so there have been some requests as to what goes on behind the scenes of this little blog Luofei and I like to call home. I’ll go into some blog history, how I write a blog entry, what programs I use, maybe a little about how we use Wordpress and whatnot. If any of this sounds interesting then read on.

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By far the cheapest headphones Ultimate Ears makes, these in-ear headphones are designed for kids and have their volume output hardware limited.  Despite the decreased output, these headphones still produce the stellar sound quality you would expect from a pair of Ultmate Ears.  At only $40, the Loud Enough’s make sense for anyone looking for a relatively inexpensive pair of quality earbuds.  They are available in three colors (mint, blueberry, and plum) and come with a variety of silicone ear tips and a carrying case.  The blueberry color is probably the best call for adults who do not want to look too childish wearing their Loud Enough earphones.

CampTune from Paragon Software Group promises to do one thing and one thing only: resize your Boot Camp partitions without erasing the data on either.  Right now, CampTune is in beta so it is free to brave souls out there.  Paragon will start charging for it once the code leaves pre-release.  CampTune is actually a Linux LiveCD, so you must burn the iso file that you download to a CD and boot off it.  When I tried CampTune on my own computer, it failed to resize my partitions and kicked back an error.  Luckily it did not corrupt anything on my hard drive.  For failing to do the one thing it promised, CampTune will be stuck with the shame of being the first product to be given the Just Plain Tech Seal of Disapproval.  Let us hope Paragon makes their product actually work before they start charging for it.

One of Google’s lesser known tools, I have found Google Notebook to be very helpful to me in school.  It installs as an extension on Firefox for Windows, Mac, and Linux.  Additionally, it is available as a plugin for Internet Explorer 6.  Unofortunately, there is no support for Internet Explorer 7, Safari, or other browsers.  The point of Google Notebook is that you can save websites, or highlight selections of text, or select an image to save to a central Google server.  There you can organize your web clipping into notebooks, append notes onto those clips, or write notes down on the whole notebook in general.  Because all this information is stored online, I can access this data from any computer with an internet connection.  Google Notebook has proven to be an invaluable tool for researching school papers and writing articles for this website.  Students would do themselves a favor by trying out Google Notebook this school year.

So recently I finagled my way into an invite to the private beta of JamLegend and gave it a try. If you don’t know what it is think Guitar Hero, free, online, and no guitar. I don’t really think this free web service is anything to go crazy about but it has potential. Read on to find out more (including Luofei’s thoughts).

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Last week, I mentioned how there was a beta version of Adium that suported Facebook chat.  Well, that version is beta no more.  In addition to the support for Facebook, there is also a redesigned Contact Inspector (it used to be called Get Info), a Contact List search box is newly available, and there are many performance and compatibility updates.  Current Adium users can just go to “Check for Updates…” and get the newest version directly.  Of course, you can always download it from the Adium website.  This new version is an improvement over the old version with no downsides, therefore I have no reservations giving it our new Seal of Approval.

Pandora is a great free web service that lets you create your own radio stations based on either your favorite songs or artists. It’s great for finding new music that you’ll love because it’s based on the Music Genome Project which uses some fancy math to organize music, meaning if you like one song, it’ll tell you another that you’ll probably like too. If you have an iPhone, you might want to give the Pandora app a try, considering its one of the best iPhone apps out there. Make a free account and give it a shot and I’m sure you’ll be using it all the time.

I like Google, along with most of the software it  has rolled out over the years. One of the gems Google has released is Picasa2, a free fully featured photo organizer. Its the best photo organizer I’ve used on Windows, that’s why it’s the first program to receive our brand new seal of approval, this does not mean previously reviewed programs are not as good, but we just came up with the seal. Read on after the break to find out more about Picasa2.

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Remember the Milk is a free online task manager, great for people who have tons to do but can’t remember half of it. I like to use it when I get a good idea for an article, as long as I’m somewhere with Internet access I can add to my to-do list or just read it to make sure I haven’t forgotten something. Read more after the break.

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