christopherhord

Archive for the ‘General’ Category

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Welcome Back to My Blog!

In Blog, General, Media, Music, Social Networking, Society, Technology on July 23, 2023 at 3:57 pm

Thanks for reading! I’m excited to be back blogging again, and I’ve been busy working on new projects that I can’t wait to share with you.

What to Expect
This blog caters to those who produce digital content, such as social media, websites, blogs, audio, and video. Additionally, tech enthusiasts and anyone interested in exploring new software and gadgets will find plenty of intriguing content here.

Upcoming Projects
Creativity: Explore software, hardware, and other creative tools to enhance your digital media projects. We’ll also discuss theories and concepts of creativity, applying them to our workflows.
Marketing: Self-promotion can be challenging, but we’ll delve into effective strategies for sharing your work and ideas with others.
Tech Tips: Discover hidden features and time-saving tricks in various tools and software, presented in easy-to-follow tips and occasional full-blown reviews.
Accessibility: Emphasizing the importance of making content accessible to everyone, ensuring your vision reaches a broader audience.

My Projects
I’ve released several music projects and am now actively promoting them. Additionally, I’m excited about upcoming ventures, including a Lovecraftian-themed opera – my most ambitious work to date. I’ll share insights into the tools and technology driving these projects.

Join the Conversation!
I value your input and ideas. Please leave a comment with your questions or suggestions. If you know someone who’d enjoy these topics, share this blog with them. Let’s make this space as useful as possible to as many people as we can.

Thank you for being a part of this journey!

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Life with iLife on the iPad

In General, Mac, Technology on June 9, 2012 at 12:25 pm

As mentioned in my previous post, some months back, I recently began using some of Apple’s app version of their iLife software suite. I was writing software guides based on GarageBand, iMovie and iPhoto, on both the iPhone and iPad.

iPad

New iPad arrives

While I’m not an iPhone user, I own an iPod touch, which is roughly equivalent and certainly filled my needs. The publisher was kind enough to furnish me with a loaner iPad 3, with 64 GB of storage — top of the line. Here’s the view as I excitedly began the unboxing.

I can certainly say that my time with the iPad has made me quite an adherent. I don’t know if I’ll actually purchase one. Most of what I do is writing and the iPad is, honestly, kind of terrible for that. I’d much rather have a generously-sized, tactile keyboard. But some of the media creation and editing tasks it can do are nothing short of awesome.

Now that I’ve had a chance to work with some of these apps, I have a few tips and tricks to share. So I plan to post a few to this blog in the hopes that they can help others, as they become familiar with these apps, on both the iPad and iPhone. Until then, if you’ve already got the apps, have fun!

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A new resolution for a new year

In Arts, General, Media, Music, Programming, Publishing, Technology, Uncategorized on January 22, 2012 at 8:01 pm

Made It Through Christmas Again

My Christmas song launched in december

Part of my resolution is simply to blog more, of course, and this post starts that ball rolling easily enough. But there’s more than that — I need to exploit this blog a little more to promote some of my projects. I always feel a little self-conscious about promoting my projects but I’ve got enough interesting items going on right now that I want to start getting information out there.

I am currently working a contract with a Prominent Internet Retailer but I don’t think I can say much about that. Too bad, because the project was pretty ground-breaking in nature. I think I will ask around and see what I can reasonably discuss, but that’s for a future post.

Probably the most colorful item I’ve managed to accomplish recently is my Christmas song. In November, Applce made a version of their Garage Band for iPad for the iPhone and iPod touch. I was very excited by this news, because all the reviews I read had me convinced the app would be useful to me.

I’ll write more details in a future post but, suffice it to say, I love this app. Just while I was learning how to use the app, I was easily able to create a little demo of a Christmas song I had written during the holiday season, the year before. Thus, Made It Through Christmas Again was born. I used digital distributor CD Baby and the title went on sale at Amazon, iTunes and the like just before the holiday. All my profits are going to the Make A Wish Foundation.

I’m writing a couple of e-books and editing another. Also, possibly programming a couple of iPhone apps.

These are long term projects, so this is just an overview. There’ll be updates in the near future.


Will your Internet break on June 8th?

In General, Hardware, Internet, Society, Technology on June 7, 2011 at 9:27 pm

Tomorrow, June 8th, is World IPv6 Day and you’ll probably be able to connect to the Internet with no problems, but you may experience unusual or unexpected issues using the ‘net. Here’s what’s going on and why.

World IPv6 Day is June 8th

World IPv6 Day June 8th!

The “IPv6” we’re talking about here is a number which is assigned to any device — like a computer or printer — that uses the Internet. If you look up information from your network or Internet service provider (ISP), somewhere in that information, you’ve probably seen an address like “172.16.254.1”. That is your IP address (and that example shows the old format, an IPv4 address). This format provides enough variations to allow about 4,294,967,296 addresses (says Wikipedia).

The only problem is that the internet has become the victim of its own success. So many devices are connected to the Internet that those 4,294,967,296 addresses will be used up this year. Therefore, many website owners and network operators are switching to a new system called IPv6. Instead of the 32-bit binary number IPv4 , IPv6 will use a 128-bit number. You don’t have to be a math whiz to figure out this is going to make oodles of new addresses available (oodles, being the technical term).

Most Internet users will not notice a difference. Your home ISP or your office network is probably being updated to provide this functionality. In addition, only a handful of the Internet’s largest sites (such as Yahoo and Google) are rolling out IPv6 tomorrow (and they’ll still have regular IPv4 servers available). If you have a standalone device, such as a wireless, Internet-capable printer, you may have to download updates to the machine. If you run your own network servers, hopefully you’re already aware of this issue. If not, get more information from the Internet Society here.

If you’d like to test your connection, you can do so at this IPv6 test site.

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10th Annual Olympia Comics Festival tomorrow!

In Arts, General, Media, Society on May 20, 2011 at 8:56 am

The 10th Annual Olympia Comifcs Festival

This year's poster

File this post under “better late than never” but you still have time! This Saturday, May 21, you can attend the 10th annual Olympia Comics Festival — and here’s why you should. I love to see the growing emphasis on growing and eating local food. I think most people are on-board with the concept that it is important to shop locally, when you can (local comics shop Danger Room, is a key sponsor, btw). And Olympia is an region that values a local art scene — and comics are an important part of that.

The main events run in downtown Olympia from 11 am to 6 pm. The morning session runs from 11 am to 1 pm at the Capitol Theater (206 5th Ave. SW, Olympia, WA) with spotlight sessions on honored guest artists. From 1:30-6 pm, Olympia Center (222 Columbia St. NW, Olympia, WA) hosts free seminars, workshops, discussions and vendors.

This year’s guests of honor are Paul Chadwick (http://www.paulchadwick.net/), Megan Kelso (http://www.girlhero.com/), and Larry Gonick (http://www.larrygonick.com/). Chadwick has won multiple Eisner Awards, a top honor in the field. Gonick became a New York Times best-selling author with titles such as The Cartoon History of the Universe — melding of academic history and playful illustrations. Kelso has won two Ignatz Awards and received a Xeric Foundation grant for her self-published Girlhero.

Now that comics’ influence has spread to movies, TV, books, videogames and more, I don’t think we really have to make the case for them as an art form anymore. But the stage is still dominated by the big superhero publishers and the handful of indies that have managed to secure reliable distribution networks. Local comics are more than that.

The spirit of the ‘zine lives in the modern indie comics scene and many communities boast an active host of artists. Not every community boasts Chelsea Baker. Local artist and comics doyenne, Chelsea is a guiding force behind the festival. That’s not to denigrate the many tireless volunteers who have been involved — although Chelsea is the first person to give me cause to use the word doyenne in an article.

On Saturday night be sure to check out the guests of honor signing at Danger Room Comics (201 4th Ave. W, Olympia, WA). Additionally, A showing of comic art debuts at The Northern art gallery (321 4th Ave. NE) Saturday night and runs through the third week of June.

For more information visit www.olympiacomicsfestival.org.

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Who wants to be poet laureate of Tacoma? You know you do!

In Arts, General, Government, Media on February 9, 2011 at 8:30 pm

The Tacoma Arts Commission is now accepting applications for the 4th annual Tacoma Poet Laureate program.

The individual selected as Tacoma Poet Laureate will hold the position for two years, from May

Tacoma logo

Hint: It rhymes with "aroma"

2011 to April 2013, and will receive a $2,000 stipend for providing a minimum of two free poetry related workshops each year, reciting his/her original work at various public events, participating in Art at Work: Tacoma Arts Month in November and helping produce the 2013 Tacoma Poet Laureate ceremony to announce the next Poet Laureate.

Applicants must reside in Tacoma, be a practicing poet who is dedicated to producing work on a regular basis and at least 18 years of age. Other eligibility requirements apply; see the application for full details.

The Tacoma Poet Laureate program was founded in 2008 by Urban Grace Church as a way of focusing attention on Tacoma ’s literary talent by organizing and hosting public readings and workshops in local schools and at community events. The program transitioned to the City of Tacoma’s Arts Program in 2011.

The application deadline is Feb. 22, 2011. Information about the Tacoma Poet Laureate program and the application are available on the Tacoma Arts Commission website at http://www.tacomaculture.org/arts/PoetLaureate.asp. Requests for hard copy applications can be directed to Cultural Arts Specialist Naomi Strom-Avila at nstrom-avila@cityoftacoma.org or (253) 591-5191.

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Biomass Bloviations

In General, Government, Media, Society, Technology on February 1, 2011 at 9:07 pm

There has recently been a fair amount of controversy in my city — Olympia, WA — concerning the topic of Biomass Gasification. The Evergreen State College (TESC) has forged ahead with plans to build a biomass gasification plant on campus, while much larger, commercial operations are slated in nearby Shelton and Port Angeles. I learned a little about this topic doing research for a local newspaper so I figured I’d share.

Briefly put, biomass is organic stuff like wood which is broken down for energy. Only, instead of burning, the biomass is heated to very high temperatures in an oxygen-starved environment. The biomass can be heated past its burning point and broken down to release a gas that works much like natural gas, to hear some tell it.

There is still the issue that biomass still release a fair amount of particulate matter. It’s vastly cleaner than smokestacks from a wood fire, but residents are still concerned about air quality and the environment.

This week, two notices caught my eye. Tomorrow, TESC Office of Sustainability is hosting an open house on the topic. Everyone is invited to “stop in to a campus community information session on biomass gasification this Wednesday evening. We will have an open house format to allow people to drop in at any point. We will be sharing information about why we are considering this technology, as well as details about the technology itself, and some of the results from our feasibility study so far.” The open house is Weds. Feb. 2, 4-6 pm, Seminar II, A1105.

The scond is from local activists who are fighting newly introduced state legislation — Senate bill 5228 and House bill 1081. Michelle Morris, Director of Concerned Citizens of Thurston County writes, “These two bills were introduced to two weeks ago to strip county commissioners and other county planners of their authority over biomass facilities and,  if passed, they will usurp the Thurston County biomass moratorium.”

The group announced a phone call and letter writing campaign from concerned voters. For more information, visit Concerned Citizens of Thurston County.

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Do not be alarmed. This is only a test.

In General, Mac, Social Networking, Technology on January 31, 2011 at 8:39 pm

One of my major goals this year is to streamline my production workflow on my computer. Another is to better unite some facets of my online identity. It looks like my blog is going to be a part of that. I’m just testing a WordPress.com feature to flag my Twitter account when I blog a new post. If you see it, why not post something to say hello at the blog or follow me on Twitter?

I’ve recently added a new desktop Mac to the studio so it should be a fun time, catching up with new technology and otherwise having fun with toys. There will definitely be some reviews.

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Well, well, well

In General on September 1, 2010 at 5:29 pm

Progress here got delayed. I picked up a couple of nice contracts but they kept me plenty busy for a while. I have about three other contracts in discussion now, so I’m going to try to do a little updating on the site while I can.

Fortunately, in the interim, I had a little time to read up on the documentation of WordPress.com. I had used a full WordPress installation on a hosted site I ran before, and I’ve been a little uncertain about what functionality to expect here. Now that I’ve got a better idea, I’m starting to add a few features to the site.

I’ve also been thinking about content and organization. Later, I may look into design but that’s a ways off.

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Hello world!

In General on June 7, 2010 at 4:17 am

Seems like an apropos title for the first entry for this journal.

This blog is a place to collect some of my writings on media and technology.

I am a writer and editor with more than 30 years of experience as a journalist, technical writer and business writer. I’ve worked for various newspapers and magazines, on the radio and online.

I am also a recent graduate in computer programming. One of the areas that particularly interests me is the juncture between media and technology.

In this blog, I will be covering topics that relate to these interests. Thanks for reading and welcome aboard!