Devir Kahan

???, HD, The Glitch

// May 12th, 2010 // No Comments » // Community, General, Health, Life, Vlogs, iPad

My Inbox: This Time Filled With Cameras, Tweets, and Intros

// February 16th, 2010 // No Comments » // Blog, Business, Community, Computer, Education, Electronics, Emails, General, Hardware, How To, Information, Internet, Software, Tech, TechKnowledgey

Who liked my impression of “The Count” from Sesame Street? Either way, it is time once more to take a look into My Inbox! This is the segment here on TechKnowledgey where I answer some user submitted questions publicly for the benefit of all you TechKnowledgists. If you have any questions email them to me at mail@devirkahan.com – I respond to every email, but if you’re lucky, you may also see it on the next ‘My Inbox’ segment too! I try to answer questions I get frequently, or ones that I think all you TechKnowledgists will benefit from or enjoy, for everyone to see.

I would also like to formerly introduce my good friend Avi who has been helping me with TechKnowledgey since day one. So, welcome Avi, and thank you for reading the questions! This time they range from cameras, all the way to twitter!

Questions answered in this episode:

1. What camera do I use to record my YouTube videos?
2. How to set up a WordPress blog without a domain.
3. How to make weekly Twitter posts.
4. How I made my TechKnowledgey intro.
5. What web-host do I use?

My web-host: http://alsonetworks.com

The Laptop Fever Problem

// February 11th, 2010 // No Comments » // Blog, Business, Community, Computer, Education, Electronics, Gadgets, Giveaway, Hardware, Reviews, Tech, TechKnowledgey

On this episode of TechKnowledgey I talk about a problem everyone with laptops has: The Laptop Fever Problem. What I mean to say by that is laptops are just not meant to get too hot, the problem is that everyday use causes them to heat up. Every laptop has this problem, and this can significantly reduce the life of your notebook computer.

So what’s a TechKnowledgist to do? Well, you can go out and buy yourself a cooling pad, but I have anumber of problems with these. For one, they are bulky and expensive. Worst of all, they don’t go with you when your laptop is out of the house! When you need it most you don’t have any sort of cooling! I have searched a while for a solution, and I believe I have found it. Enter, Laptop Lifts, from http://laptoplifts.com/. This is what I truly believe to be, even more so than all those cooling pads, the solution to the Laptop Fever Problem is.

They are small rubber strips that you attach to the bottom of your laptop allowing airflow beneath it. This way the built in fans in your notebook can move the hot air away and circulate in new, cooler air. Plus, think about it – they add no bulk and are always with you. Unlike the cooling pads, they don’t just bandaid the problem by blowing cool air at the laptop, they fix the problem! They create circulation which is exactly what you want! Plus, they’re cheap at only about 10 bucks on Amazon.

I have been using Laptop Lifts now for a few days, and after a little bit of getting used to, I love them! They have significantly reduced the temperature of my laptop by close to 10 degrees! A big thank you to Chris Adams for sending me along a set to review and use in this episode of TechKnowledgey! He also sent along a second set for me to give away to one of you! Details on that in a future video, though…

In the meantime, what are you waiting for?! Go out and get yourself a pair! I’m telling you your laptop needs it and you won’t regret buying these!

There are 277 Of You Now – Let’s Make That 1,000

// January 10th, 2010 // No Comments » // Community, Giveaway, Video

I currently have 277 subscribers on YouTube, and I just wanted to take the time to say thank you to all of you. I also have devised a scheme to get me to becoming a YouTube partner. You can do it by just getting at least ONE other person to subscribe, and tell them to do the same.

Think about it – I could upload videos longer than 10 minutes. There would be much bigger giveaways (I’m talking iPod Nano, Flip Video). How awesome would it be if I were a YouTube partner?

It’s in your hands now, so get going! Fly my subscribers! Fly! (Yes, that is a figure of speech. Please do not take literally ;).)

My Inbox! This Time Filled With: My Hair, Dual Monitors, and WicketPixie

// January 4th, 2010 // No Comments » // Blog, Community, Electronics, Emails, Hardware, How To, Information, Internet, Tech

As you all should know by now, I love answering your questions. I remember when I had all the questions and how much I just wanted easy answers. Well, this is not to say that I no longer have any questions, but this is to say that I started an ongoing video series called “My Inbox”!

I get many questions through email (or other places that end up in my inbox like YouTube and so on), and the answers to many of them can really benefit the community. That’s why I will be answering a selection of the questions I receive on YouTube for everyone!

Sometimes I will just reply with the answer because I don’t think it needs to be in an episode. Other times I will reply with an answer and say that I will talk more about it in the next episode of “My Inbox”. Other times still, it just may be too much information for an email and I will only be able to talk about it in a video. Whatever the case though, the questions will always be answered!

Questions answered in this episode:

1. How do I get my hair to look the way it does?
2. How did I make my old blue logo?
3. Is it possible to get WicketPixie on Blogger?
4. How can you customize the WicketPixie theme like I did?
5. How can you set up dual monitors (with only one VGA port)?
6. Will I ever talk, and give my opinions about, the news and so on?

I look forward to getting and answering many more questions in the future. The only way I can do that is if you send them, so keep them coming! My email address is mail@devirkahan.com, and My Inbox is always open.

I Can Now Survive Every Day Of 2010

// December 25th, 2009 // No Comments » // Education, Fun, Games, Health, Holidays, How To, Information, Life

Happy Holidays everyone! I thought I would share with you yet another small little gift that I received. It actually has nothing to do with tech, but is still awesome! It’s a day by day peel off calendar from the creators of the game ‘Worst Case Scenario”.

Everyday it has another tidbit of information about surviving some crazy situations, handy first aid info, facts about incidents, or short stories of survival feats. It’s rather nice, and while it won’t replace iCal on my Mac, with 2010 just around the corner, peel off calendars are still a great thing for everyone to have around! You can of course get your own at any Barnes & Nobles store. That’s where I got mine, but feel free to search around for a better deal too!

Help With WordPress Themes

// December 10th, 2009 // No Comments » // Blog, Emails, How To, Tech

The other day I got an email from Anthony asking me about my WordPress theme. Anthony said that he did not know much about WordPress, but just wanted me to give him a quick rundown about my theme.

Hi. My name is Anthony. I recently saw your Chris Pirillo screencast. You
were very funny in that video, so I decided to check out your channel. I
subscribed (ynkno13) and I checked out your website. I see you are using the
WicketPixie theme. I am a WordPress N00b, and I was wondering how you add
themes to WordPress? Do you have to download some software or is the editor
online. Also does the Wibiya toolbar come with it?

Thanks
- Anthony Guidetti

Well, thank you for your compliment and the subscription. I really appreciate it.

Now, here is the deal; the theme I am running is indeed WicketPixie. Now, WicketPixie was created by Chris Pirillo (he himself did not code it, but it is his theme). Since then, the community has developed newer versions, improving upon the first. WicketPixie is currently in version 1.2. Recently, I jumped on to the wagon of WicketPixie developers and started working on version 2.0 along with a recently acquired friend of mine, Eddie Ringle. Eddie is a lot more versed in code than I am, and he is actually doing most of the work. I myself, though, am doing a bit of the design, ad placement, error pages, and other smaller things like that. 2.0 is nearing it’s final stages and should be released sometime in 2010. I’m really excited about it, and it has a ton of awesome new features, and a much newer, cleaner look. I will, of course, talk more about it when it gets closer to being released.

Anthony also asked how to install a theme. The answer is actually fairly simple; WordPress.org has a huge selection of themes in their online database. You can browse that and download any theme that you would like. As it happens, there are a number of themes that are not in the database. Take for instance WicketPixie – you can’t download WicketPixie from WordPress’s database. You can only get it where Chris decided to host it – on Oholo. And that is the route that some theme developers choose. Some developers would prefer to host their theme on their own site, and not on WordPress’s. No matter where you download the theme from though, you will find that what you have downloaded is a folder, inside of which are all of the files that tell WordPress how to display your theme on your site. You will need to upload this folder to your ‘/themes’ folder inside of your ‘/wp-content’ folder, which would be found in your site’s root directory (sometimes though, it will be in a separate folder in the root directory if you want the WordPress blog to be located at a sub directory).

If you really don’t know much at all about FTP (server files) or code at all, then what I just explained may seem a little complicated. If that is the case, I would recommend starting out on WordPress.com (different from WordPress.org) where you can register a free blog, and change themes without any code, or need of uploading files. When you register your blog, it will look something like ‘blogname.wordpress.com’, but you can pay to get rid of the ‘.wordpress’ part and register your domain so it will be just ‘blogname.com’ like most sites. WordPress.com is an easy to use, simpler way to use WordPress for those that don’t want to deal with the hassle of code and such – and believe me – it’s a hassle.

If you did understand what I explained about uploading folders, then go ahead and find and enable a theme that you like that way. And, yes, you do need to actually enable the theme from your WordPress Admin page.

Either route you choose to take, you’ll have yourself a nice looking blog. I hope I helped and I would love to see what your site looks like once you have set it up, so be sure to let me know when it’s done.

As to the Wibiya toolbar, no – it doesn’t come with WicketPixie. You need to request an invitation (it’s in Beta), but I got one within a day or two after I requested one, so it’s not that big a deal. I will say this though: We are working on an awesome footer for WicketPixie 2.0, so you won’t necessarily need the toolbar then, although it will always be personal preference.

My email address is mail@devirkahan.com, so if any of you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, just drop me a line. With any luck, you’ll see your question answered right here on my blog. And if not, I’ll be sure to answer you just through email. Whatever the case though – my inbox is always open.