Ennui Blog

Welcome back!

I recently created this list on Listphile. Listphile is an awesome tool that lets you create lists out of anything interesting.

Check it out!

After a few days of set-up, I’m ready to announce my latest project: Sci-fi Conlist.info. Sci-fi Conlist will be a directory and calendar of every sci-fi, anime, comic book, fantasy and gaming convention I can find.

There isn’t really a good site out there listing all the sci-fi conventions going on in the USA. There’s one site that has the information, but it’s stuck in the 1990’s.

What differentiates Scificonlist.info from the competition is that there is an RSS feed, so you can be notified of the latest genre conventions when they’re added to the database.

Another excellent feature of the site is a calendar that gives you a month by month overview of the conventions happening at all times. You can also view conventions broken down by state or type.

It’s a great little tool. The database isn’t very full right now as I’m still adding conventions to it. But like WebinarCentral.net, there is a submission form that allows anyone to submit their genre convention for free.

Stop by and let me know what you think.

Abunza is a scam.

There I said it.

What the hell is Abunza, you ask?

Well, it’s the latest get rich quick, pyramid scheme making it’s way around the various social media networks. It’s not really clear what Abunza exactly is, all I know it that the followers of the cult are so convinced that it works that they are dangerous.

Abunza is some crackpot scheme involving selling bilingual advertising on the internet (you have to buy their expensive software to do this). But that’s the secondary purpose of the whole operation. They make money by reeling people in. If you sucker people into joining the scheme, you get a commission, then a commission of everyone they bring in and so on; assuring that those at the top of the pyramid are the ones making the big money.

You’ll hear tall tales about struggling moms who have made it big working from home, doing seemingly very little. I fail to see how she makes any money online when her website insults my sensibilities. Looking at it simply makes my eyes hurt.

The worst part about these MLM schemers is that they’ve discovered the internet, an endless pool of idiots waiting to buy into the latest get rich quick schemes. These scammers are out in force on social networking sites, marketing their wares (or lack of them), taking full advantage of Web 2.0 mediums. They’re especially prevalent on Twitter.

They put themselves everywhere so they can insert themselves into your life. They even provide their cell phone numbers in public places so they are easily accessible. Also, be wary of websites telling you not to join Abunza because it’s a scam and they have a better online business opportunity. I’m shocked that Google is still allowing these operation on Blogger and Adwords. They won’t be for long.

People believe in these programs like religion but I’ll be the first to tell them: You’ve been had. And if your at the upper levels of the pyramid, you’re using people and it’s wrong.

Times are tough right now and people are desperate for ways to make money, these scams thrive on this desire in tough times. Don’t get caught up in them. Avoid Abunza like the plague.

I’ve been developing another site for the past few weeks and it’s now ready to go live. I present the Essay Outliner.

Free Essay Outliner is a simple tool that will help anyone outline a standard five paragraph essay. All you need to do is input the data in the form such as: main thesis, idea 1, idea 2… etc and then a script will compile the data and present sentence by sentence instructions on how to write your essay.

This is a very simple, yet invaluable tool that I wish I had while going through cool. It’s perfect for young students whom are still trying to understand how to structure an essay or for seasoned college students who don’t have time to do the legwork. This could conceivably help you outline blog articles as well. The possibilities are endless.

I hope to develop more sophisticated tools based on this concept (such as a term paper outliner) in the future, but for now, this tool does the job simply: outline an essay.

Check out the Free Essay Outline Tool Today!

I’m going to be getting my hands on a rather large 38″ TV this week and my wife and I have resolved to turn it into a home theater. The only problem is that the TV is from circa 1998. The picture is great and the TV works great but it doesn’t have any of the new fancy connectors such as HDMI or Component Video.

I’ve been jonesing for an Apple TV. It would work well with my Mac and my existing collection of Apple videos and the network integration is seamless. The only problem is that an Apple TV requires HDMI or Component inputs in order to work. The only solution I can find it to buy an expensive ($130) Composite Video to Component video converter. You can pick up an Apple TV for about $200 reburbed, but combined with the required converter (which may not work) it pushes the cost up significantly. So much, that I’m now considering going the extra mile and getting a Mac Mini.

A Mac mini would provide pretty much the same functionality as an Apple TV. It comes with Front Row for viewing videos and DVD’s. It has a built in DVD player and if we wanted to, we could surf the net, giving our house a valuable second computer. However, Mac Mini’s can be pricey, about $400+. The benefits are clear though, you can hook up a Mac Mini using old school analog hookups. Not only that, we can get a TV tuner for the Mac Mini and use at a free PVR.

Previously, I had hooked up my Aluminum iMac to our other analog TV using an adapter and 50 feet of S-Video cable. The solution worked pretty good. The picture was nice and the sound was excellent. The only problem was that the 50 foot S-Video cables were very fragile and would break after very little use. It was a very unreliable connection that we had to abandon.

Western Digital has just released a product that may do the job I want. It’s the WD TV, it’s a set top box that allows you to hook up your external hard drive to your TV and watch video with a Front Row like interface. This may be the solution we need and it only costs $100 and it will work with ancient connectors. It also supports a myriad of media formats, which is perfect for my video collection.

I’m open to any other TV set top box solution for watching videos from my computer on my TV. I’d like to spend as little as possible and have access to my huge collection of video on my home network.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Here’s a video demonstrating the WDTV: