Unleash your iTunes Library

Every TV in my house has a jukebox connected to it that can access all my Video/Music/Photos sitting on iTunes or my photo folder on my main computer... for only $97 per TV.

The solution is simple and incredibly convenient.  It keeps you from losing DVDs (or getting them damaged by little hands), and unlocks your iTunes and iPhoto media to be shown on all your TVs.  All your purchased movies and songs, all the photos you've taken over the years, are all available to view on your TV wirelessly.  All your media is available to you in a simple interface designed specifically for the TV.  It's called the AppleTV, and it works with both Mac and Windows machines.

Additional perks, you can connect to your Netflix streaming account, watch You Tube, and rent High Def movies from Apple!

It's inexpensive, it's easy, it's convenient... I'm never looking back.

Click here to read about the AppleTV

My Current Challenge - Storage Expansion

After a few years, you'll discover your iTunes library begins to bloat.  My iTunes library sits on an internal drive on my Mac Pro which I leave on full-time.  It serves up the media to the Apple TVs in the house from a central database.  My collection has really grown over the years... 

• 33,471 songs
• 612 movies
• 1351 TV Show Episodes

The collection has just outgrown my 2TB internal drive, so I have been looking for a solution that is inexpensive but offers HUGE storage capacity.  There are many expensive solutions out there, but they are designed for business use.  I'm looking for a price that the average tech-oriented household can afford.  Western Digital just came out with an external 6 TB drive (SIX!) that will give me a few more years of growth of my iTunes file store.  It's priced at a fraction of the business-oriented solutions.

The Western Digital My Book Studio Edition II - works on both Mac and Windows.

I purchased two of the drives... one for the data store, and one as a slave back-up (computer back-up discussion coming soon... don't lose everything!).  The drives are on back-order, so it seems they're pretty popular.  I'll update everyone as I install, migrate my iTunes library to the new drive, and learn my lessons the hard way.  

Where to Get The Gear

Interested?  Click the links below to see where I've found the best pricing:

Western Digital 6TB Drive

Apple TV

I've been doing a ton of research, looking for the ideal point-n-shoot that will give me what I want:
- High megapixel 
- Good build quality
- 1080p filming at 30fps and 60fps
- Filming that plays nicely with iMovie (sorry Panasonic)
- Small, compact, sturdy
- Good manual controls

Nikon just came out with a new camera, the P300 that fits the bill PERFECTLY.  It's getting rave reviews, and it fits all my specifications.

$329.00... but you get what you pay for!

Nikon Coolpix P300

Now that's fast!

(download)

Click here to download:

IMG_1996.MOV (2.99 MB)

Sent from my iPhone

This keeps the marriage happy.

(download)

Click here to download:

IMG_1998.MOV (2.3 MB)

I've been trying for 10 years to make my home office "paperless."  After being disappointed with expensive scanner purchases over the years, I finally (kind of) accomplished it by schlepping all my documents to the office where we have a big, industrial quality scanner, but it's been less-than-optimal... so a good chunk of my home office has had piles of paper laying around... sort of a half-paperless existence... not....... quite..... there.  UNTIL TODAY.

I got this new scanner at home to scan documents (bills, receipts, taxes, manuals), and FINALLY found something that can make all my filing go paperless.  The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 is spectacular... you'll be able to clear the clutter in no time flat.  It now takes a prominent place on my desk.  In one afternoon, I've been able to PLOW through a major chunk of loose files and receipts in my office.... WOW.

The scanner will (all in one pass) 

•   scan the front and back of the document

•   auto sense color or black and white

•   auto align and crop

•   convert to PDF

•   drop into a folder on your computer

For those of us who have been looking for a nice, clean document scanner to "go digital," at home, this is it.  It's the holy grail of going paperless that I've been looking for over the last decade that I have aimed for a paperless office.  I phoned my Dad, a fastidious organizer, and DEMANDED he buy one.  This will make your life SO MUCH EASIER.

FOR WINDOWS – Fujitsu S1500

FOR MACINTOSH – Fujitsu S1500M

Want to step it up a notch?  Go online to Dropbox.  This FREE service (2.5 GB online storage) will allow you to have THE FILES AVAILABLE ON YOUR IPAD, IPHONE. Create an account and download the application.  Then drop all your scans into the dropbox.  Now you can download the application for your iPad, iPhone, and office computer, and have all your files available wherever you are... it totally rocks!