Skype Me

We are trying to use Skype. Unfortunately there does seem to be some echo present by the party calling us. I did have a long distance call to Vienna where they said they did not hear an echo. Maybe there is hope.

I had previously bought a Sony Ericcson HBH-30 headset. The main reason for selecting it was because it did not look so geeky. It's very sleek, but that is because the battery is in the earpiece. However, it doesn't fit so well, so I don't know if I would really ever use it for a headset for my mobile phone.

Anyway, in the meantime, the uConnect device has also arrived. It seems to work very well, so I can hook up any phone to my PC. Most important, I can even hook up a cordless phone. The quality seems to be very good (except for the annoying echo part which is not related to the uConnect device).

Anyway, I have tried adjusting some Windows settings to try to minimize the echo. I have not used it all that much, so it is difficult to say how well it is working. I was wondering that since Skype is based on Europe, I wonder if the connections in other parts of the world including US are not as good.

More ReplayTV

OK, I have not bought any more ReplayTV machines (yet). I guess 6 is enough for one household, although I plan to give one to my mom.

However, we did experience a second hard drive failure from one of the Western Digital drives. This makes two hardware failures for WD. I think I am going to have to go to Seagate with their 5-year warranties.

Anyway, so I transferred one of the hard drives to the ReplayTV unit in the Media Room. It was the one which had the HD failure. In addition, the tuner had stopped working when we had an electrical storm.

I then put in a 400 GB hard drive in the other unit, which previously had the HD which was moved to replace the failed HD.

Cleaning up my act!

I have been cleaning up the hard drive on my backup machine. I freed approximately 50-60 GB just by eliminating duplicate backups. I'll need to clean it some more, although, I'll do it through software instead of trying to manually identify duplicate files.

I have been setting up the MediaPC to be able to be the server for TV Japan media.

NetVista:

• Movabletype web server
• Skype primary client for incoming calls (maybe this should be my work PC)
  

MediaPC:

• FTP
• Backup/archive
• Media/Orb server
• TV Japan media server
  
• DVArchive web server

In addition, I did receive Sling Box and have set it up currently for TV Japan. It seems like it is possible to set up multiple Sling Boxes with a home network. Anyway, I still need to verify connection works from outside the home network.

Google search

Trying to get Kyokorin's Japanese Tutor website to be able to appear in Google based on the search: japanese tutor flower mound

Japanese Tutor in Flower Mound
Japanese Tutor in Flower Mound

These currently do not appear in Google. This confuses me a bit as to how to get blogger entries (which is part of Google) to appear in a Google search. Some blogger entries do get found, but I would imagine a majority do not.

By the way, just wondering if the blogs using Google ads are ones which are able to be found by Google. Hmmm... OK, so much for that theory. My mom's blog is found by Google and it only has two entries and has not been updated in a while. Hmmmm... Actually, that doesn't disprove my theory completely. As a postscript, I did find that Yokogolfer was listed in Bloglisting.com. I wonder if that is why it was found in Google.

Google does find Craig's List, so we posted an ad there.

Yahoo actually does find Kyokorin's web page, although the result was sometimes different when logged onto a Yahoo account or not.

Yahoo also finds the Yahoo Directory entry as well, although when logged onto a Yahoo account, it would only show the updated pages from the directory.

MSN Search actually finds the http://www.japanese-tutor.com page although only if using "japanese tutor" flower mound as the search criteria.

As an update...

Google results in:

1. Craig's list

When searching on learn japanese flower mound, Craig's list comes in at #5.

Yahoo now finds blogspot even when logged onto a Yahoo account, and the order is:

1. Blogspot
2. Yahoo directory
3. Craig's list

When searching on learn japanese flower mound, the order is:

1. Yahoo directory
2. Blogspot

In MSN Search does not seem to find any of the pages. However, using japanese tutor "flower mound" results in the Comcast home page being #1.

And searching on "japanese tutor" flower mound results in:

1. Blogspot
2. Comcast home page
3. Yahoo directory
4. Craig's list

Updated from November 3:

For japanese tutor flower mound,Google finds:

1. Craig's list
2. del.icio.us (but link does not take you to proper listing)
3. KBCafe tag search
   

By the way, japanese-tutor seems to be a site recognized by Google (per site:japanese-tutor.com) but nothing seems to be indexed.

Yahoo finds:

1. Blogspot
2. Craig's list
3. Yahoo directory
4. Japanese-tutor.com

MSN finds nothing.

For learn japanese flower mound, Google finds:

• Craig's list (as #5)

Yahoo finds:

1. Blogspot
2. Japanese-tutor.com (as #4)

MSN finds nothing. However searching for "japanese tutor" flower mound results in:

1. Blogspot
2. Comcast
3. Japanese-tutor.com
   
4. Geocities directory
5. Craig's list (as #7)

Updated from November 4:

Yeehaw! (I am from Texas.) Google now finds Japanese-tutor.com... on second page, but it is a start. In addition, searching for learn japanese flower mound does not result in a hit, so I have changed the title from "Japanese tutor in..." to "Learn Japanese in..."

Some tips for a trip to Japan (Tokyo)

Here are some suggestions of places to see in Tokyo:

• Akihabara
  
  Akihabara is the famous electronics district in Japan. However, these days, it is often cheaper to buy things in the US, even for Japanese products, but it is still interesting to go and see. Some products are not available in the US and often you will see products available in Japan earlier than in the US. Stores will often close by 8 pm, so even though Tokyo seems to be open 24x7, not so in Akihabara.
  
  http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3003.html
  
  
• Asakusa
  
  There is a famous temple in Asakusa called Sensoji temple. The gate in front of the temple is just as famous. Upon walking past the gate on the way to the shrine, there are many little shops which sell traditional Japanese items. However, as one Japanese person told me, one should go to the temple to pray first.
  
  http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3001.html
  
  
• Odaiba
  
  Attractions in Odaiba include several shopping and entertainment centers, theme parks, museums and the futuristic architecture and city planning. We saw Asimo (Honda's robot) at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation.
  
  http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3008.html
  
  
• Shibuya
  
  Shibuya is a good place for people watching. There is one intersection where you will see wall-to-wall people crossing in all different directions. Sometimes there are bands playing there as well.
  
  http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3007.html
  
  
• Harajuku
  
  Harajuku is also a good place for people watching. There is one street (alley) which has quite a few stores there. To try to generalize the type of people you may see in Harajuku, this is where you would see teenagers dressed like punks (like punk rockers) or hippies.
  
  http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3006.html
  
  
• Shinjuku
  
  Shinjuku is one of the business districts in Tokyo. Some of the Tokyo metropolitan government office buildings are there. The main attraction here are the 50-story skyscrapers.
  
  http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3011.html
  
  
• Ameyoko
  
  Ameyoko is an alley where you'll see some discount bargaining. This is interesting just to see the atmosphere, as I don't think too many tourists will be doing grocery shopping in Tokyo. However, there are many other things to buy than groceries. This is also a good place for inexpensive sushi or dishes with raw fish over rice.
  
  http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3012.html
  

Some tips for a trip to Japan (Kyoto)

Here are some suggestions of places to see in Tokyo:

• Kinkakuji
  
  Kinkakuji is the famous golden temple in Kyoto.
  
  http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3908.html
  
  
• Ginkakuji
  
  Ginkakuji is known as the Silver Pavillion... but guess what? It's not covered in silver. Go figure!
  
  http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3907.html
  
  
• Kiyomizudera
  
  Kiyomizudera is one of my favorite temples. It is famous for its large terrace. It is quite a walk up to the temple, but there are a lot of traditional looking shops along the way. There is one courtyard where if you can walk from one large stone to the other without looking, then that means you will find true love. Unfortunately, I was never able to successfully do it. Hmmmm... Anyway, it's probably easy to find that courtyard, just look for the people walking around with their eyes closed. Be sure not to walk too far or you'll walk off the terrace and plummet to sure death. This has been known to discourage some people from trying it. There is also three waterfalls where you can drink from. Drinking water from each waterfall is supposed health, longevity, and success in studies. Guess which one I didn't drink from???
  
  http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3901.html
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiyomizu-dera
  
  
• Heian Shrine
  
  Heian Shrine is unique for its use of bright red colors.
  
  http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3904.html
  
  
• Ryoanji
  
  Ryoanji is a template famous for its rock garden.
  
  http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3909.html
  
  
• Arashiyama
  
  Arashiyama is a pleasant area outside of Kyoto, perhaps most famous for its bridge.
  
  http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3912.html
  
  
• Nijo Castle
  
  I am not much of a castle person, but this is a famous castle in Kyoto. Nijo Castle (Nijojo) was built by Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Edo Shogunate, as the Kyoto residence for himself and his successors.
  http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3918.html
  

There are many templates around Kyoto, which is why Kyoto is such an interesting place. However, Kyoto is also a very crowded city, like many other Japanese cities. Trying to get around the city can be very slow, especially if you are stuck in traffic. At any rate, the above is only a sample. Refer to the link below for more site-seeing spots in Kyoto.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2158.html