It took quite a bit of time reading reviews, testing solutions, and looking at my budget before I decided what route to take. Take a look.

Microphone: Rode NTG-2

I mentioned this mic before in my audio tests, but the reason that I went with the Røde NTG-2 is because it was sub-$300 and battery or phantom powered. The battery part is important if you aren’t using a recording device that supports phantom power.

When there wasn’t critical dialogue or great sound, I would just plug the mic directly into the camera with an XLR to 1/8″ (with a line-in-transformer). This provided decent enough audio if I wasn’t being picky (and I wanted to try to pull some of the extra noise out in post).

Audio Capture: Zoom H4n

For capturing the audio, I decided to go with the Zoom H4n. You can find a ton of reviews online and quite a few endorsements from professionals (like Philip Bloom). I was impressed with the features that came with the $300 price tag. The unit provides phantom power, 96Khz 24-bit recording, SD card memory, and rather easy to use controls.

I found the unit really easy to use. For the most part, I’ve been using it as part of a one-man documentary-style setting. I have a little case that holds the recorder that I can attach to my belt and plug in the shotgun mic, which is mounted to the camera using the hotshoe shockmount. The audio that is recorded on the camera is used as reference material for syncing up the audio later. I found it to be an easy setup to use to get pretty darn good audio.

Samples

Okay, so I don’t have time to find samples right now, but I’ll include them later. I promise.

Recently, I was given the book The Facebook Era by Clara Shih. The book brings to light the power of using Facebook as a business tool, not just a personal social network platform. It’s pretty impressive the ways business are using Facebook. I had no idea.

Even beyond the business-minded tips, it reminded me of the power of staying connected with people. We base so many of our decisions on referrals and suggestions from the people we are connected to somehow. By withdrawing from our connections and relationships with others, we are handicapping our success in life.

How does online social networking impact your life & decisions?

Recently, I’ve had my eye on a new iMac. They are about a million times faster than my old computer, bigger screen real estate, and they are just sexy. And their price tags start at a whopping $1200.

Despite my deep longing, if not need, I can’t justify $1200 on a new computer right now. Most people are in the same boat right now with the economy as bad as it is and not many people feel completely secure in their jobs. So buying a new computer drops down on the priority list.

Well, if you still long for a new computer, there is a great way to cut down on the cost: buy refurbished. A refurbished computer is one that was returned due to some sort of malfunction, fixed and given a clean bill of health, and then resold for a reduced price.

In the Apple Store online, there is a section specifically for refurbished Macs. I’ve seen a $1500 iMac for $1050. That’s a stinkin’ stellar deal! The only catch is that you can’t customize the machine’s add-ons and you never can be certain what sorts of refurbished machines they will have available. So, unless you are really picky about your needs or are looking for something specific in a hurry, this is the way to buy a new (practically) Mac.

That’s what I’m gonna do for my next computer.

There are some great features included in this version. Top Sites is a visual bookmark implementation that suggests websites that you frequently visits. It also updates and includes a live preview and an graphic to let you know that the site has new content since last visited. Another feature that I really like is the Tabs-On-Top (as I call it). It saves screen real estate by putting the tabs where the window title was instead of below your bookmark toolbar.

Aside from some of the neat features taken from other browsers (Top Sites = Opera’s Speed Dial, Tabs-On-Top = Chrome’s tabs) that I love, Safari 4 is stinkin’ fast! It absolutely blows my Firefox 3 setup away. It’s not one of those “it’s faster on paper, but you can’t tell” things. Once you open it up, you’ll be able to tell the difference.

If you want some non-Apple stats on Safari 4, Mac Rumors posted an article with some tips and tricks as well as a link to speed test that CNet did.

Back in 2005, Google was paying good money to people who referred Friefox + Google Toolbar downloads. With their help, Mozilla‘s Firefox gained a lot of attention and downloads. It became the major competition to Microsoft’s IE. However, now the non-profit Mozilla will be up against the big-money of Microsoft AND Google.

Only time will tell how the browser war will pan out. I just hope IE looses a few points.