Chris Pirillo » dvd

Snow White Blu-ray/DVD Combo for only $4.99

coupons — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 10:39:41 +0000

Snow White Blu-ray/DVD Combo for only $4.99 is a post from Chris Pirillo

Amazon has the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo + BD Live for $19.99. Use coupon code SNOWHITE (note there is only one W) to save $10, then send in the $5 rebate from Hefty (which does require you to purchase one package of Hefty cups, plates or baggies) and you’ve got a classic movie on Blu-ray and DVD for under $5.

Not really a big fan of Snow White myself, but $4.99 for a Blu-ray DVD combo is a pretty good deal. If you know of any other deals like this let us know about them at coupongnome@lockergnome.com

Where to Get Blu-ray DVD Movies for Cheap

Chris — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 19:53:25 +0000

Where to Get Blu-ray DVD Movies for Cheap is a post from Chris Pirillo

The Amazon Movies & TV Team is offering several special sales in the month of March. First is a Blu-ray sale with over 300 Blu-ray as Low as $13.99 while supplies last. This is a great opportunity for you to build your Blu-ray library from their selection of titles – including Iron Man, Transformers and Wall-E.

Next is a chance for you to save up to $60 off James Bond on Blu-ray while supplies last.
Finally, they have their Big DVD Sale with hundreds of DVDs as Low as $6.49 while supplies last.

There are further pre-order bargains on Quantum of Solace [Blu-ray], Slumdog Millionaire [Blu-ray] and Bolt [Blu-ray]. Also explore Amazon’s huge selection of over 1,500 Blu-ray titles, with everyday savings up to 40%.

Now all I need is a Blu-ray player!

Planet Earth DVD Sets Starting at $29.99

coupons — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:55:36 +0000

Planet Earth DVD Sets Starting at $29.99 is a post from Chris Pirillo

Discovery Channel Store has a great ONE DAY deal on the Planet Earth DVD Sets:

Discovery Channel Store – Planet Earth DVD Set only $29.99 (standard) or $34.99 (blu-ray) + Free Standard Shipping & Gift w/ $50 Purchase
Posted on 1/13/09 and Expires on 1/13/09

More Discovery Channel Store Coupons:

Discovery Channel Store - 20% off Purchase + Free Shipping w/ $100 Purchase using coupon code DISCOVER20 - Posted on 11/23/09 and Expires on 11/25/09
Discovery Channel Store - Free Shipping w/ $75 Purchase using coupon code FREESHIP - Posted on 10/21/09 and Expires on 12/31/15
Discovery Channel Store - $5 off $25 using coupon code EML2009 - Posted on 10/21/09 and Expires on 12/10/09
Discovery Channel Store - Discovery Sky & Land Telescope only $159.95 - Posted on 1/3/08 and Expires on 12/31/15
Discovery Channel Store - Gift Certificates (emailed to recipient) - Posted on 12/24/06 and Expires on 12/31/15

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Are You Still Using a VCR for VHS Tapes?

Chris — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 08:35:36 +0000

Are You Still Using a VCR for VHS Tapes? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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So what do all the cool kids want for Christmas this year? They want a VCR, of course! It’s such a hot product, since it’s been running for awhile. A VCR can play VHS tapes, you know! Thank goodness I finally have a VCR of my own! I have here the new Ion USB VCR from the folks at ThinkGeek!

EZ VHS Converter software lets you burn your videos to DVD, watch on your PSP, iPod or laptop computer. Exported MPEG4 video is compatible with select mobile phones and portable multimedia devices. Connect your VHS, VHS-C, or 8MM camcorder to the front panel jacks to backup your camcorder videos. When you’re finished archiving your videos to your computer, VCR 2 PC is the perfect VHS player for any room in the house. Some of the main features include:

Connects to Windows XP and Vista machines via USB 2.0 port.
Capture video at resolutions up to 720 x 480 (NTSC) or 720 x 576 (PAL).
Sends video uncompressed over the USB cable.
Burn Video to DVD Export video to iPod or PSP format.
Plug and play USB computer connection Standard RCA and composite outputs for connection to any TV or home theater system.
Standard RCA inputs for connecting video cameras.
Auto-tracking, variable speed slow motion, playback, and rewind.
Soft-touch, backlit buttons.

The Ion VCR is an excellent device. How else can you turn any of your old VHS movies into something you can watch on today’s technology? It’s so easy to use! If you’re planning to get a VCR anyway, make sure you pick this up to turn your VHS tapes into something more useful.

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Planet Earth DVD Set Blu-Ray Edition only $34.99 + Free Shipping

coupons — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 19:14:53 +0000

Planet Earth DVD Set Blu-Ray Edition only $34.99 + Free Shipping is a post from Chris Pirillo

Discovery Channel Store has a great one day deal on the Planet Earth DVD Set Blu-Ray Edition. They’re selling it for over $7 less than the standard DVD edition:

Discovery Channel Store – $65 off Planet Earth Blu-Ray, only $34.99 + Free Standard Shipping
Posted on 12/15/08 and Expires on 12/15/08

More Discovery Channel Store Coupons:

Discovery Channel Store - 20% off Purchase + Free Shipping w/ $100 Purchase using coupon code DISCOVER20 - Posted on 11/23/09 and Expires on 11/25/09
Discovery Channel Store - Free Shipping w/ $75 Purchase using coupon code FREESHIP - Posted on 10/21/09 and Expires on 12/31/15
Discovery Channel Store - $5 off $25 using coupon code EML2009 - Posted on 10/21/09 and Expires on 12/10/09
Discovery Channel Store - Discovery Sky & Land Telescope only $159.95 - Posted on 1/3/08 and Expires on 12/31/15
Discovery Channel Store - Gift Certificates (emailed to recipient) - Posted on 12/24/06 and Expires on 12/31/15

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What was the First / Last Movie you saw in a Theater?

Chris — Thu, 22 May 2008 04:56:00 +0000

What was the First / Last Movie you saw in a Theater? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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What was the first movie you ever saw in a movie theater? For me, I remember watching The Rescuers at a drive-in when I was a kid. I’ve been going to movie theaters all my life, even still today. Even though I have excellent home equipment to watch from the comfort of my couch, there’s still a place for the movie theater. There needs to be some changes, yes. And the cost? Don’t get me started there.

I talked to my chat room, and asked them what their thoughts are as to what movie theaters need to be like for the future. Here is what they came up with:

Free food! We know that’s how they make their money, but maybe they can come up with other ways to make money. I mean seriously. Bring on the popcorn dripping butter! Why not trying free popcorn or soda night?
Discount licensing. Imagine if you went to a movie and you take your stub… and use it to buy that DVD, or be able to download it. Your ticket would entitle to you to a discount.
Aroma and audience ambiance That would likely get me to go to the theater for that kind of experience.
Force-feedback seats. How cool would that be? The only feedback I get on my seat is when I move it around. Bringing the movie off the screen and into the audience is something that would be really cool.
Interaction! Let the audience choose their own ending. The audience could create a noise level or push a button to choose how they would like to see the movie end.

Excellent Movie-Related Deals!

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Roxio Toast 9: Burn, Watch, Listen, Share

Chris — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:28:08 +0000

Roxio Toast 9: Burn, Watch, Listen, Share is a post from Chris Pirillo

Whether you’ve never used Toast in the past, or looking for more features than previous versions… you’ll be happy to read all about Roxio Toast 9, which is being released later today. I have always been a fan of this software. After reading through all of the new things they’ve incorporated, as well as the improvements, I’ll definitely be upgrading soon. Toast 9 sets the standard, again – now by extending the hi-def burning options to HD DVD and Blu-ray media. Whatever your projects involve… data, music, photo or video… you’ll finish more quickly and reliably thanks to the new Toast 9.

Get the most from your digital media and Mac OS X, with Toast 9. Extending your options to Blu-ray and HD DVD media, it sets the standard yet again for burning on the Mac and includes a host of new features. Compress, copy and convert video to watch on popular mobile devices. Trim unwanted segments. Capture streaming audio from any source, even automatically add title, artist and other tags – then enjoy it on your iPod. Burn or play your favorite TV shows on your iPhone or PSP. It’s everything you need to Toast your digital life!

“What’s New” in Toast 9

Batch DVD-Video saves you time, by letting you use multiple DVD-Video folders for a Fit-to-DVD compression or conversion.
Video cropping and trimming features let you easily remove unwanted video segments before you burn your disc, or move to your portable player.
Create High Definition Blu-Ray, HD DVD or standard DVD discs of your HD camcorder footage, slide shows or other HD video content.
Watch your recorded TiVo or EyeTV shows via the Internet, or stream video from your Mac to your iPhone or Internet-connected PC or Mac!
Unique audio fingerprinting technology identifies untagged music files and adds name, artist, album and other file information. No more “Track 01″!
Capture streaming audio from ANY source, including the Internet, to build a library of audio tracks.
Preview video quality for selected encoding settings in seconds
Pause video conversions to regain control of your Mac and resume when convenient
Preserve DVD chapters in video converted for your iPod – no need to rewind or fast forward

What’s “Improved” in Toast 9

You can now burn up to 30 GB on a single HD DVD disc, or up to 50 GB on a single Blu-Ray Disc. Archive up to 12,500 songs, 50,000 pictures, or many hours of video.
Span files of any size across multiple discs… including HD DVD. Then, restore and read them on either a Mac or PC.
Automatically catalog and track the contents of your discs. You can easily locate any file on any disc… even when they aren’t in the drive.
File recovery for damaged discs
New menu styles and custom DVD menu backgrounds
Broad device support includes video conversion for Xbox 360, BlackBerry devices, and more
Dynamic DJ-style crossfades, transitions, audio processing, and Roxio Jam pro-quality mastering tools
Vinyl LP and tape conversion to CD, DVD, iPod and more
Create 100% full quality photo archive discs with slideshows that play automatically on a Mac or PC
Quickly create personalized disc labels for printing or LightScribe laser etching

With so many new and improved features… what are you waiting for?

Are You Ready for Blu-Ray DVD?

Chris — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 07:26:00 +0000

Are You Ready for Blu-Ray DVD? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Now that the Format War is over (for now at least), I realize I will have to buy myself a Blu-Ray drive one of these days. When I do buy one, it will be an external USB drive, so I can take it with me from one machine to another in my house. I’m not in a rush, however. One of our Community members sent in the following top five list, of reasons to not rush out to buy a Blu-Ray drive.

The best Blu-Ray player currently on the market is a game console. I am not criticizing the PS3s video capabilities. It has been said by many that it’s one of the best Blu-Ray players out there. I just feel like there is something wrong with this picture. I mean, you are going to create a new video format and the best player for that format is a device that was not even designed with video playback as its primary function? Don’t get me wrong. I love the idea that consoles are more than just gaming machines. Something just feels wrong about it being the BEST Blu-Ray player. I don’t know why I feel that way, I just do. Plus… I would rather have a dedicated player.
Video availability. This will probably become less of an issue in the coming months now that HD-DVD is dead. I understand that there are great movies out there for the Blu-Ray… however they are not numerous enough yet to warrant the investment.
Evolving standard. This is where I will contradict myself a little. If you must purchase a Blu-Ray player today, PLEASE get the PS3. I say this because almost all the current Blu-R,ay players are somewhat obsolete. The great majority of players out there are v.1.0, while the newer players are v. 1.1. Later this year Sony will introduce v. 2.0 for their Blu-Ray players. I may be wrong about this, but while most players will allow you to upgrade the firmware… none are wi-fi capable. The ps3 is already wi-fi capable (so there is no need to route a broadband wire) and Sony has been excellent when it comes to expanding the capabilities of the PS3.
Price. I am not willing to pay the current prices for a Blu-Ray player. When it comes down to about $200 or so, I will entertain the thought. For now, I will assume a wait and see position.
DVD. I just can’t find a compelling reason to let go of my dvd player. Yes, I know Blu-Ray looks better, but is it honestly that much better? DVD had a clear advantage over VHS, but can the same be said for Blu-Ray over DVD? I also don’t feel like it has a “killer app” or a must-have feature. Some people used the lack of WOW feature as their main reason not to move to Vista… and I honestly believe the same could be said about the Blu-Ray format.

After this was posted, I received the following email and wanted to share it in this post.

You said to chime in as to why we chose one format over the other, and here is my 2 cents. I myself chose Blu-Ray because I am a big fan of Sonys game consoles (yes, a playstation man thru and thru). From a gamers stand point, being able to put much more information per disc, was going to allow Sony (at least in my mind) to smoke the competition with the potential of their gaming consoles graphics and gameplay. I don’t have an HDTV (trust me, i’m workin on it) so HD movies didn’t tickle my fancy. I stayed away from the movie player scene. This is probably the most basic answer you’d hear for people who are pro Blu-Ray, but I figured I might as well tune in. Oh, and as a side note, the potential for Blu-Ray far exceeds the gaming and movie scene. The potential for just storage or large amounts of information as a hard copy backup for corporations or just the general users… Blu-Ray can be written in quad layers for 100gigs of information.

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Xbox DVD

Chris — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:41:07 +0000

Xbox DVD is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I have 4 Xbox 360s, for the simple reason that I can share media throughout the house, or be able to play games wherever I am. I was lucky to win these a few years ago. I received an email from someone saying that they are considering selling their Xbox 360 to buy a PS3. What?!

The email was very thought-provoking. The writer states that he is thinking of switching because Blu-Ray is the winner in the format war. He has a feeling that a larger effort will go into raising PS3s power in the console world. Also, of course, we have the Virtual World coming this Spring. PlayStation Home is a virtual community of PS3 owners living together in both public and private environments. Users will be able to login, chat with both text and speech and play casual games together such as pool, bowling and even embedded arcade machines. And when the old stand-bys grow stale, users can invite one another into other PlayStation Network titles outside of PlayStation Home. Every user will have their own virtual apartment to decorate with furniture, their trophies from various games and content from their own PS3s.

The writer ends the email by asking me which console has the brighter future.

If you already have a handful of Xbox 360 games, why would you sell the console because another player already has a Blu-Ray drive? What’s going to stop Microsoft from developing a Blu-Ray USB drive? Nothing… that’s what. Just because there will be no new content on HD-DVD… doesn’t mean it’s completely dead and unusable. My prediction is that Microsoft will indeed come out with a Blu-Ray USB drive very soon, to bring the Xbox up to speed with the PS3 in that regard. Don’t sell your console just because of this. This has literally only come down the past few weeks. Give Microsoft a chance to develop something for the Xbox.

If you LIKE the PS3, and its options, better than the Xbox… then good on you. Buy the PS3 console. But why would you go to all that trouble just for new physical media? Trust me when I say Microsoft and other companies WILL catch up to the Blu-Ray craze. Don’t count them out yet.

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How to Create a DVD for Free

Chris — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 04:55:26 +0000

How to Create a DVD for Free is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Recently, I needed to burn a DVD of an old video to send to SpikeTV. I tried using the Vista DVD Authoring tool. It built it easily, but wouldn’t burn. So of course, I needed an alternative. Even though I ended up making the DVD using iDVD (part of Leopard iLife in OS X), I still wanted to find a free alternative for Windows. I threw it out to my chat room, to see what they use.

Someone suggested I try Dvd Styler. It’s an open source program for both Windows and Linux. DVDStyler is a cross-platform DVD authoring application that makes possible for video enthusiasts to create professional-looking DVDs. The main DVDStyler features are:

you can drag and drop MPEG files directly
you can create NTSC/PAL menus
you can import image file for background
you can place text and images anywhere on the menu screen
you can change font/color
you can put buttons, change font and colors
you can copy and paste any menu object
you can set chapters for each movie
you can change post command for each movie

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Copy Your Old Tapes to a DVD

Chris — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 21:30:38 +0000

Copy Your Old Tapes to a DVD is a post from Chris Pirillo

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http://live.pirillo.com/ – Last night, I picked up the new Sony VRD-MC5. This little device is amazing. It takes the complexity of configuring software to record things to DVD and completely wipes it out. Now, you can convert pretty much anything into DVD format with ease!

The new Sony VRD-MC5 is just awesome. It can’t get any easier than this, folks. You can plug in a number of different devices, such as a VCR, cam corder, USB drive, even your TiVo shows! Plug one in to the Sony, pop in a blank DVD, and let it do the work for you. No software, nothing to install or configure. Sony does the work for you! You can even take still photos and turn them into a DVD slide show… which is great to send to relatives who may live far away, and are missing you.

For around $220.00, this little device is definitely worth its weight in gold.

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High Definition DVD Wars

Chris — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 00:18:59 +0000

High Definition DVD Wars is a post from Chris Pirillo

I’m trying to stay out of this argument. I’ve only seen a few HD-DVDs in person, and… the differences between a high definition DVD and a “regular” DVD are largely imperceptible. At least, according to my eyes. Well, until a single playback option is ubiquitous, it simply doesn’t matter. Consider these two recent news articles from PC World. One is a hardware-centric solution:

LG stated it was considering a dual-format player at the CeBIT show last March, but the company has been quiet about its progress until now. The company is the first to formally announce a dual-format player; prior to this, Ricoh and NEC had both announced they had developed components that could read both Blu-ray and HD DVD media, but neither had announced actual products. Samsung had also made rumblings about coming out with a dual-format player, but the company backtracked on those reports early last year.

The second is a media-centric solution called Total HD:

The disc includes the same specs offered by each format separately–for example, either a 25GB or 50GB Blu-ray movie on one side, and a 15GB or 30GB HD DVD movie on the other. The intention, according to Warner, is to keep the feature sets of both versions intact so that the viewer will get the same experience whether they watch the Blu-ray version or the HD DVD version. But this means that content creators must design content that doesn’t exceed the capabilities of either format.

Both of these options sound great to me – and I applaud both LG and Warner for respectively stepping up to the plate.

Don’t Download This Album

Chris — Wed, 27 Sep 2006 05:10:27 +0000

Don’t Download This Album is a post from Chris Pirillo

I’m not a professional music critic – and don’t pretend to be. However, I’ve gotta tell you that “Straight Outta Lynwood” [SOL] is one of the best albums that “Weird Al” Yankovic has produced to date. Yes, I’m biased – having been a fan of the band ever since the seventh grade. His originals finally, in many ways, outshine his parodies. SOL nails the melodies and harmonies, as expected.

SOL is a bargain at $15: “DualDisc includes PCM Stereo, 5.1 Surround and instrumental mixes of the entire album (with on-screen lyrics option), plus a 9-minute behind-the-scenes documentary and 6 brand new music videos.” I bet you wish your favorite artists did this, too. If there’s anything that’s going to keep physical media alive, it’s jam-packing titles with every bonus imaginable. A few weeks ago, Al unleashed the half-sactioned “You’re Pitiful” online. It isn’t included on the album, though the original artist gave Al permission to do so:

Yankovic recorded the song to be included on his Straight Outta Lynwood album after, according to Yankovic, having been given the James Blunt’s blessing to parody the song. However, following its recording, the artist’s record company, Atlantic Records, allegedly told Yankovic that he could not include the song.

Even after having publicly stated that the band doesn’t make much money from digital purchases (through iTunes or otherwise), Yankovic still treats his fans fairly – he knows that we’ll all buy whatever he creates. In fact, I’ve been known to buy his albums for friends – just because I think that as a serious and smart musician, “Weird Al” is underrated. His musical genius is fully exercised in a few SOL tracks – which won’t leave you SOL.

White and Nerdy: Computer geeks should love these lyrics twice as much as they did “It’s All About the Pentiums” – with references to Wikipedia and MySpace included. Even if you don’t like “rap,” you’re going to love these lyrics. And honestly, which one of us isn’t white and nerdy?! I think I have a new personal theme song. Great way to start the album. Even Ponzi LOL’ed a few times when she first heard it. Five stars.
Pancreas: Out of all the songs on SOL, this one is probably my favorite. It begins a capella, flowing and weaving in a classic “Beach Boys” sound. I’m not sure I’d consider this a complete style parody, though I wouldn’t have been surprised to hear something similar on a TMBG album – which is probably why I love this track so much. If you don’t find yourself strangely attracted to the final refrains, there’s something seriously wrong with you. “Insulin, Glucagon, Coming from the islets of Langerhans.” I can’t get it out of my head. Er, pancreas – if you will. Five stars.
Canadian Idiot: For the second parody on SOL, we have a parody of Green Day’s “American Idiot.” Much like in “Lasagna” and “Pretty Fly for a Rabbi,” Al is finding gold in stereotypes. It’s a fun song, though I must admit that I find myself enjoying the R&B parodies more than punk/rock music these days. Still, I’m not anxious to skip to the next track – if only because the original song is catchy to begin with. If you don’t know anything about Canadian culture, you probably won’t be impressed by this tune (but I bet your Canadian friends will be). Four stars.
I’ll Sue Ya: Speaking to the trend of crazy lawsuits appearing in the headlines every other week, Al gives us a “Kid Rock” style emulation – littered with popular brand names and outlandish experiences with them. I’ve never been attracted to “angsty” music, but this beat is to my liking (far more than an earlier “Young, Dumb, and Ugly”). If there’s a low point on the album, I’d say this is it – unless you happen to be a fan of the genre. Despite my indifference, I don’t consider it to be a “skip track.” I wholly expect these lyrics to show up in a future email joke thread – and please don’t take that as a suggestion. Three stars.
Polkarama!: I look forward to the polkas on every album, always believing they’re not long enough. This accordion-heavy montage does not disappoint. While I couldn’t necessarily name every polkafied artist strewn throughout, I was definitely familiar with every lifted lyric. I think his combination and range of styles (R&B, Rock, Alternative) speaks to Yankovic’s continued range expansion and broad appeal. If you’re not into a wide range of pop music, you might not appreciate Polkarama! half as much. It’s not my favorite polka (as I appreciate his classics more than the newer ones). However, it’ll certainly satiate my polkanerve until the next one bounces in. Four stars.
Virus Alert: Another Yankovic classic has been born – very upbeat, very addictive, original, and extremely replayable. If I played this tune back-to-back with “Hardware Store,” it’d make for a smart mix. Al’s falsetto feels natural and really fits inside this composition – with the lyrics being equally as amazing as the music itself. I find myself hitting the rewind button for this one – and not just because it’s about technology. I’m blown away by the song’s entire structure, particularly during “If you even get infected. turn off your computer, and make sure it powers down..” Can’t help but sing along. Too much fun. Five stars.
Confessions Part III: You might remember Confessions part I & II, so this is. what you’d never expect from a third one. Usher probably should have stopped with one, but I’m glad that Al made it a soul-bearing hat trick. The original song was ripe for satire – strong enough to support a parody. We’ve all been in love, and we’ve all done wacky (read: inexplicable) things in those relationships. Of course, I don’t know if any of you like to dress up like Shirley Temple and beat yourselves with a hockey stick – but you should enjoy the open confessional nonetheless. Four stars.
Weasel Stomping Day: Oh. My. God. This is Dr. Seuss in Bizzaro World! Close your eyes and try to imagine this one, folks. Not sure why Al references mayonnaise for the second time on the same album, but. that’s not the point. What sound does a weasel make when it’s stomped? There’s no safer way of finding out, I can assure you. The song is festive, but leaves the listener with a gigantic question: just exactly when is Weasel Stomping Day? I’d personally like to nominate July 27th if it hasn’t already been suggested. Let’s all celebrate! Five stars.
Close But No Cigar: Another Yankovic original – and likely his best non-parody relationship-centric song to date. “And I loved her even more than Marlon Brando loved soufflâ€š.” “And I was crazy like Manson about her…” “She got me all choked up like Mama Cass.” – Dennis Miller would be proud. The music, in and of itself, has an addictive pop quality to it. Then again, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. I really like it, but I don’t think I love it. Four stars.
Do I Creep You Out: I make it a point to watch the first few episodes of every American Idol season. Taylor Hicks kinda looks like Jeff Barr to me, though. I enjoy a good ballad every once in a while, so this serves my ears well. It’s over in less than three minutes, which is fine by me. My guess is that this track served as a substitute for the Blunt parody, though. I wanna lip sync this at my wedding reception – if only for shock value. Four stars.
Trapped in the Drive-Thru: You can always count on one extended track on a Weird Al album. This time, it was a pointed parody of a pointless R. Kelly rambling. In many ways, Yankovic did a better job with it! I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that some of these lyrics were based on actual events in Al’s life. I can tell you that Ponzi and I had the “Olive Garden” argument recently. Art imitates life. Although, Ponzi sold my bunny slippers on eBay last week. Five stars.
Don’t Download This Song: Yes, it’s what you think. Imagine if “We Are The World” was dedicated to the plight of the millionaire musician. The anthem is long overdue. You might have seen the video when it was uploaded to the Internet a few weeks ago. Aptly, you couldn’t easily download the encoded video. Listen to the very end – he screams “Ya cheap bastard!” Heh. The physical media was quite affordable, actually – filled to the edge with value. Four stars.
You’re Pitiful (Unreleased): He starts singing early, but that flub wasn’t edited out before the song was released and distributed to fans (in an unofficial capacity, as mentioned earlier). It’s too bad Atlantic had a stick up their ass about not including this in SOL, because it would have fit in well. Since I don’t listen to much popular music these days, I wasn’t tired of the “You’re Beautiful” sound by the time I heard this track. Xbox geeks will love the Halo 2 reference, but I still crack up every time I hear “farty pants.” Five stars.

Ponzi listens to artists like Chamillionaire, R. Kelly, and Usher all the time – so hip hop music regularly flows through our halls at home. It’s because of this that I find SOL so interesting and fun. Had my tastes not been influenced by my fiance’s choice of music, I don’t know how I’d feel about the album.

The included videos are somewhat fun; “Weasel Stomping Day” (Robot Chicken) and “Close But No Cigar” (Kricfalusi!) really hit it out of the park. I’m disappointed that “White and Nerdy” didn’t make the DualDisc, though – I was hoping to watch a higher quality version of it. If the visual extras don’t win you over, then perhaps the instrumental tracks and 5.1 surround sound recordings will. SOL is an absolute bargain at $15.

Perhaps other artists should start copying Al – filling their physical albums to the brim with value. Wouldn’t that be a hoot?

How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

Using GoToAssist is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party.

Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

You need these network tools, no matter which operating systems and networks you have to support. SolarWinds ipMonitor: Affordable Network Monitoring for SMBs. Get turnkey network, server and application availability monitoring with SolarWinds ipMonitor v9.0. This easy-to-use, reliable solution for SMBs delivers out-of-the-box availability monitoring so you always know exactly what's up with Active Directory, DNS, Exchange, FTP, Web, IMAP, MS SQL Server, and SMTP. Download your free trial today. Or, try their totally free tools! And, through 2/29, save 20% when you purchase ipMonitor 9.0.

Get Your Own Web Site

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

Starting at just $3.99/month, web hosting from GoDaddy includes 99.9% uptime, 24/7 support and free access to GoDaddy Hosting Connection, THE place to install over 30 FREE applications sure to help you get the most from your hosting plan and Web site. Enter code CP2 at checkout, and save an additional 10% on any order.

Plus, as a friend of Chris Pirillo, enter code CHRIS7, that's C-H-R-I-S and the number 7, when you check out, and save an additional 10% on any order. Get your piece of the internet at GoDaddy.com.

VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

This feed is fueled by Lockergnome Online Shopping and Coupon Codes

Before you shop next time, see if we have a coupon first.