McFadden Place » Web 2.0

My new Pandora station … Rock Country Mix

Michael McFadden — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:34:59 +0000

Music typically plays a good role in my day. When cranking through work in the morning I enjoy my Motivational station (soundtracks like Braveheart, Gettysburg, Borne Identity, etc) then often times I’ll switch it up to a Indie / Soft Rock station (Indigo Girls, etc). Recently I created two new stations:

(1) Rock/Country Mix – I added Johnny Cash, U2, and Bruce Springsteen. It’s been great. Just a few minutes ago I heard Cats in the Cradle by Johnny Cash followed by a song by Allison Krause and Union Station.

(2) Indie/Christian Mix – I added Katie Herzig and Andrew Peterson and Jars of Clay. The mix of songs played are great.

If you’re not familiar with Pandora then it’s time check it out. You can create stations based on artists, songs, albums and then it plays other like-music. It’s especially helpful for people like me that are not on the leading edge of what’s happening with music. Pandora helps me find new artists and songs.

Web optimization – Pingdom

Michael McFadden — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:13:20 +0000

This post is not as exciting as pictures of Campbell but it does highlight a pretty cool tool anyone can use to test the speed of a web page. Go to http://tools.pingdom.com

How it works

The Full Page Test loads a complete HTML page including all objects (images, CSS, JavaScripts, RSS, Flash and frames/iframes). It mimics the way a page is loaded in a web browser.

The load time of all objects is shown visually with time bars.

You can view the list of objects either in load order or as a hierarchy. The hierarchy view allows you to see which objects are linked to in for example a CSS file.

Every test also shows general statistics about the loaded page such as the total number of objects, total load time, and size including all objects.

Note: This version doesn’t load objects included in JavaScripts. We have also put a limit on the number and size of the objects that are loaded (to prevent the tool from downloading movies, for example).

This Full Page Test was inspired by the OctaGate SiteTimer. We liked what they did and wanted to take the idea one step further.

Pingdom – The Uptime Company

Visit Pingdom Tools and test your website.

Pomona High School class of 96 entreprenuer

Michael McFadden — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:31:06 +0000

Check it out. Eric Schell (PHS ’96) has recently launched IndieGoGo.com, an “online social marketplace connecting filmmakers and fans to make independent film happen”. Eric and I played on the golf team back in the day. Since then Eric has been roaming the world and now has settled down (sort of) in Berekely and founded a company with two other friends. Most recently they were featured on TheAlarmClock, and Eric’s partner, Slava gave a great interview.

Anniversary Bike Ride in Santa Barbara

Michael McFadden — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 21:37:00 +0000

We had a great trip to Santa Barbara for our anniversary. We took a beautiful bike ride up Mountain Drive and then up the coast. You can see our route on this new tool/site I found : Sanoodi (not sure what the name means but it’s pretty cool).

Source: http://www.sanoodi.com

Name: SB Bike Ride
Activity: Cycling
Location: Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Total Time (h:m:s): 01:00:00
Moving speed (mph): 15.8 (avg.) 16.9 (max.)
Distance (miles): 15.8
Elevation Gain: 800 ft

In addition to our outdoor adventure we spent some time navigating around the town. It happened to be the final weekend of the SB international film festival. We saw Al Gore and Forrest Whitaker that weekend. Even though we didn’t plan the weekend around the film festival we dicided we better not miss out… we watched a great documentary called Darius Goest West. I think Kelly is going to write a little more on the film and the impact it had on use later this month. In the meantime, check out the site (link above).

Resource for bloggers

Michael McFadden — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 00:48:00 +0000

Check out problogger for some useful tips on blogging. The tips range from design to promotion, voice to affiliate programs. If you blog, this site is worth reading and subscribing to the RSS feed.

Make Money Online with ProBlogger Blog Tips

Enjoy.

How far did you walk/run?

Michael McFadden — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 06:52:00 +0000

So Kelly and I have been trying walk/run/bike more this year. Well, let me rephrase that, Kelly has a great track record of taking walks and runs. I have a slightly more vacant excercise chart. However, in the last month I have 4 runs, 1 bike ride, and several walks. We’ll see if I can keep it up. If you’re wondering what kind of walks/runs/bike rides are going on check out the links below. I think you’ll enjoy the program.

The walk/run route around Balboa Island is 2.6185 miles.
ht tp://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=655635

My first bike ride of 2007 was about 9.0527 miles.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=655800

How did we know the exact mileage? Check out the website http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/ and find out for yourself.

Free 411 Calls

Michael McFadden — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 18:22:00 +0000

For those in the US, add this number to your speed dial

1-800-Free-411 (1-800-373-3411)

That’s right, free information calls. No more $2 charges on your phone bills. You do have to listen to a 10-15 second advert but it’s worth it.

Check ‘em out at www.free411.com

PS You probably don’t want to call 1-800-411-Free (it’s an adult phone site).