Photo courtesy of

I would like to start out today by setting the record straight. I’m not some big deal blogger that churns out real groundbreaking posts that continually make their way around the internet. For those, you’d have to talk to Aaron, he’s the head honcho that’s actually been recognized by one of the big time blogs. If you found this post and you are just starting out as a blogger, or are struggling for ideas, then I’m just like you.

Today marks the end of the 2nd full month that I’ve had a post every single day. I’ll be the first to admit that not all of those were great posts, but when you are starting out, you can’t expect to strike gold with every post. It’s about getting into the habit of blogging. With experience comes more worthwhile posts, and eventually, it all comes together… I’m still waiting for the whole ‘coming together’ moment with my own writing!

After the jump I’ll give you my top 10 tips for beginning bloggers, some relate to blog post ideas, some I’m still working on myself, but hopefully you find a point or two to help you get started with your own blog. I’ll also include some links to some other great resources that I’ve used.

Before we jump in, I’d like to point out that this is in no particular order, just the order I thought of them. With that out of the way, let’s get going!

1. Find a team to work with: I’ve always been interesting in blogging, but I would have never undertaken the task on my own. Working as a team will enable each person to focus on a day or two out of the week so that your site is constantly producing new articles to grab people’s attention.
2. Write about what you love: I had to really take this one to heart. I was a part of Hijinks when we first launched, but I didn’t feel like I fit in with what Fred and Aaron were writing. I struggled to find content to write about, and since it wasn’t something I cared about, I had no ambition to keep working at it and I quit. This is also why, since I’ve come back, my topics have ranged across so many different subjects even though we call ourselves a tech blog. Constantly coming up with new content is never easy, so you have to be sure it’s something that grabs your interest.
3. Continually think about blogging: This was the main reason I created the ‘Saturday Shenanigans‘ and ‘T.W.I.S.T.‘ articles. I frequently peruse ESPN and a few entertainment sites, having these articles to fill each week allowed me to constantly ask myself, ‘is this a story that people would find interesting? Should I include this in my weekly articles?’ Always keeping those questions in mind allows me to come back to the drawing board over and over, helping me to have more opportunities to write.
4. Create a weekly topic or two: This goes along with #3. You want to have a weekly day to post (which can be whatever you want), but adding a weekly topic will keep you honest on your ‘days off’.
5. Don’t worry about being perfect: The old saying ‘you can’t learn to swim before you jump into the pool’ applies here. If I decided to only post about stuff that everyone will enjoy, I’d never post. I try to cover a wide array of topics. I’m a regular guy with regular interests, there’s other people out there just like me… they might find some of my stuff interesting. Except for a select few cases, there are people out there just like you, you just have to hope they can find your stuff.
6. Get involved with your regular sites: I’ve used sites like Listal and Rotten Tomatoes for a long time, but for the longest time I just used them, I wasn’t involved with them. Since I’ve picked up blogging again, I’ve begun to post the reviews that I’m writing here on those other sites, with links back to Hijinks. Who knows who might find your work, and what avenue they’ll take to get there. Get yourself out there.
7. Don’t wait till the last minute: After selecting your day to post, don’t wait until the night before, or the day of, to put your post together. I usually write my blogs a week or two early. Of course, if something comes up that is of more timely importance, I can bump an article back. This also helps if you have a team because your teammates know that you are active, and know what you’re blogging about.
8. Don’t be afraid to try new things: If you usually focus more on reviews, like me, don’t be afraid to try to venture into some How-To tutorial style of posts, or maybe a top 10 post, like this one! Mix it up a bit, it will keep you from being bored or getting stuck in a rut.
9. Gather a bunch of information on a certain topic and centralize it: A good example of this would be my recent NFC and AFC quick hit posts. I took information that already existed in various locations around the ‘inter-webs’ and put it together in one spot. Any time you are searching for information and find that you have to look in a number of places, that’s a great chance for you to fill a need… before anybody else!
10. Have Fun: What’s the point of blogging if you can’t  have fun while doing it. When you write, really include your personality into your posts. If you try to sound super sophisticated and proper when in reality you aren’t, it’s going to come across very fake, and nobody wants to read that.

And last but not least, here’s a few articles I found helpful, some cover the same material, but with a different viewpoint, which I found helpful.

What do you use for inspiration for your blogs or maybe you have some tips for beginners out there? We’d love to hear what you have to say in the comments.

Problogger.net: 20 Types of Blog Posts – Battling Bloggers Block
McLinkyblog.com: Twenty Fantastic Blog Post Ideas To Fuel Your Creativity
TheFutureBuzz.com: 45 Blog Post Ideas That Always Generate Buzz
DailyBlogTips.com: Blog Project: 30 Traffic Generation Tips
Seth’s Blog: How to get traffic for your blog
Ihelpyoublog.com: 101 Great Posting Ideas That Will Make Your Blog Sizzle

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This morning I noticed this new icon from Chris Carlozzi floating around on Twitter, which looks pretty sweet.

So I downloaded it and converted it to a .rsrc file so you can replace your iTunes icon with it on OS X.

You can download the .rsrc file as a .zip here. After it’s downloaded, extract the icon file and right click on it a select Get Info.

Next, navigate to your Applications folder and right click on the iTunes icon and select Get Info.

You should now have both Info windows next to each other. In the iTunes 10.rsrc window, click once on the small icon in the upper left hand corner (should now be highlighted). Then press Command+C.

In the iTunes Info window, click once on the icon in the upper left hand corner and press Command+V. You should now see the same icon in both windows.

Close out the open windows and start iTunes, and you should see the new icon in your dock. Enjoy!

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I’d still like to break 40GBs in a month, just to stick to AT&T, but I’m not going out of my way to make that happen.

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Enter Secunia PSI. This is a free (for personal use) program put out by the Secunia company. They specialize in finding exploits and providing monitoring software.  PSI (Personal Security Inspector) is a tool that scans the programs on your hard drive and then does version checks against its vast list of known exploits.  It then notifies you of older versions and tells you where you need to go to fix them. The program is great for finding those programs you rarely use and forget about when updating.

The program is smart. For Microsoft websites it knows to open them in Internet Explorer so the download tools will work. It also allows you to rescan specific programs after you update them instead of spending time to rescan your entire drive.  It also offers the ability to ignore a specific program if for instance you need the older version for a custom tool to work.  It will run in the background and notify you when new updates are available or new known exploits exist.   It also offers an advanced mode which offers more features and details.  In advanced mode PSI will tell you about products you have installed that are no longer supported by their vendors and any known exploits that exist in them.

Secunia also offers a product called OSI (Online Security Inspector) which is a great tool as well. It is similar to PSI but does not require you to install anything. However, it does require Java to run in the browser.  While not as thorough as PSI, it’s similar in operation and usage.

In conclusion, this is a great tool that is very thorough and easy enough to use that every user should have this in their tool box and run it as part of a biweekly security audit.  It really helps to inform users of out of date software that could leave their computer vulnerable. While PSI is targeted for personal use, they offer a corporate version that is a paid version. Its functionality is similar but it also offers many more features.

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For me, the new iPod touch is the most interesting. Retina display, front and rear facing cameras, HD video recording, A4 chip. All the things you’d expect after the iPhone 4, but it’s nice to see that Apple actually include all those updates in one refresh. 8GB model is $229, 32GB for $299, 64GB for $399.

I don’t really care about the Shuffle, but I do think it’s interesting that Steve had to concede and bring buttons back to please the users. New 2GB version of the Shuffle is $49.

Nano looks pretty slick, loses the video camera and click-wheel and moves to a nice square touchscreen and adds a clip on the back. 8GB for $149, 16GB for $179.

iOS 4.1 is dropping next week for the iPhone / iPod touch bringing HDR camera mode, Game Center, TV show rentals, and general bug fixes to the table. But better yet, iOS 4.2 hits in November for iPhone / iPad / iPod touch with wireless printing being the big feature of interest to me.

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We talked last week about a tweet by Deadpool creator Rob Liefield:

Warner Bros. just trying to protect their investment. They don’t want Ryan Reynolds playing Deadpool AND Green Lantern. Interesting 2 watch

Well it sounds like whatever hurdles they were encountering have been cleared. He recently posed this to his twitter account:

Woke up this a.m. to GREAT Deadpool movie news! Full steam ahead baby…

More updates after the break.

The Fantastic Four reboot seems to be taking shape. The Thing is going to be CGI for this one, so the casting is simply voice related, but it sounds like Bruce Willis could be on the short list for that role, and there’s been rumors about True Blood’s Stephen Moyer being on the wish list as Doctor Doom. There are 3 directors in contention to take over this film, each offers interesting possibilities if they get chosen. Here’s the list of rumors:

*No casting notices have been released by the studio; none of the actors mentioned below can or will be officially attached to the project until the studio signs a director.

Fantastic Four Reborn
- Production to begin in May 2011, for a summer 2012 theatrical release.
- The team’s origin (and transformation) will take place during the opening credits of the film (similar to the Incredible Hulk).
Possible Directors: David Yates, Joe Carnahan, James McTeigue
Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic: Adrien Brody, Jonathan Rhys Meyers (courtesy of Rob Keyes at ScreenRant)
Sue Storm/Invisible Woman: Alice Eve, Amber Heard
Johnny Storm/Human Torch: Kevin Pennington
Victor Von Doom/Doctor Doom: Stephen Moyer

There’s an interesting article about Mark Ruffalo talking about why he decided to be the next Bruce Banner. The most interesting quote was this:

“I probably wouldn’t have done this movie in the past. But because of what Robert Downey Jr. had done and where the genre has gone since then, I did it.”

Speaking of interesting interviews, Joss Whedon was in Australia recently to discuss storytelling at the Melbourne Writers Festival and discussed The Avengers.

“This is a gig I’ve waited my whole life to do.”

“I feel connected to this movie in that it’s about a gruop of broken people. And if you look at my work, it’s very clear that that’s the sort of thing that appeals to me.”

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Disclaimer: Rooting your device is risky.  It may void the manufacturer’s warranty, and may ruin your device – even if done properly.  Hijinks, Inc. and myself take no responsibility for any damages that may occur by doing so.

Motorola Droid (2.1 or 2.2 FRG01B), Motorola Droid X ( 2.1), Google Nexus One (2.2)

• If you have one of these devices, there are several ways to root.  This first option is very easy, but does cost at least $0.99 for the app.  You can pay for an app called “EasyRoot” that is a one-click app that will root your device.  It works very well, but requires a PayPal purchase and downloading an app from outside the Android Market.
• Link to EasyRoot Site
• Difficulty: 1 out of 5
• Risk of bricking: 1 out of 5 (Droid/Nexus One), 2 out of 5 (Droid X)

Motorola Droid (running any Android OS version)

• If you don’t want to pay for an app to root your Droid, and have access to a Windows PC, you can follow a different set of steps to root your device and install a custom recovery.  These steps are a bit more involved, but will work even if you have the second Android 2.2 update (FRG22D).  MotoCache1 from Droidforums.net wrote up an awesome how-to on the forum.
• Link to how-to
• Difficulty: 4 out of 5
• Risk of bricking: 1 out of 5

HTC Droid Eris, HTC Droid Incredible, Sprint EVO 4G, HTC Desire (2.1 Only)

• The unrevoked team had developed an app for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS that will root and install a custom recovery on any of these devices (running Android 2.1 only).  The program is very polished and makes it pretty painless to root these devices.  You simply turn on USB Debugging (Settings -> Applications -> Development), plug your phone into your computer, and start the app.
• Link to Downloads
• Details Page
• Difficulty: 2 out of 5
• Risk of bricking: 1 out of 5

Sprint EVO 4G (2.2)

• If your EVO is already running Android 2.2, the current rooting procedure is pretty complicated, but doable if you have some patience and are willing to risk it, here’s the link to the steps.  You will need a  Windows PC and will have to install the Android SDK.   Hopefully someone will build an easier process (I would imagine unrevoked will be doing so) before too long.
• Link to forum
• Difficulty: 5 out of 5
• Risk of bricking: unknown but at least moderate

Motorola Droid 2

• The Droid 2 has been rooted, but the process is not simple, and fairly risky at this point, since there is no full firmware flash available if something goes wrong.  Most of the devices above have ways to be restored to stock if they crash, but the Droid 2 doesn’t yet.  Definitely proceed at your own risk here.  Sebastian Krahmer managed to discover this process, and like the EVO running 2.2, requires installing the Android SDK on a Windows machine.
• Link to forum
• Difficulty: 5 out of 5
• Risk of bricking: probably 5 out of 5

UPDATE: HTC Droid Eris (2.1) – if unrevoked doesn’t work

• So I tried rooting my wife’s Droid Eris using unrevoked, but couldn’t get it to connect to the program.  I found a very simple replacement process that works like a charm.  It’s a program you download to your phone and it roots it and installs a recovery from within the app.  I can confirm that it works perfectly.
• Link to forum
• Difficulty: 2 out of 5
• Risk of bricking: 2 out of 5

As you can see, the rooting process varies widely among the major devices, going from very simple to extremely complicated.  If you’ve got a Motorola Droid or one of the HTC devices, there’s almost no reason not to root.  The process is easy, and opens up opportunities to remove useless system apps and do things like wireless tethering.

If I’m missing your device, leave me a comment and I’ll see what I can dig up and add to this post.  If you’ve found a better/easier way to root one of these devices, leave a comment as well.  I’d also love to hear if you tried any of these methods and how it worked for you.  Happy Rooting!

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Sunday Night (New episodes start Sept. 26)
Family Guy – 8pm on Fox
Dexter – 9pm on Showtime
Bored To Death – 10pm on HBO
Eastbound And Down – 10:30pm on HBO

Quick Notes: I haven’t watched Family Guy on a real regular basis for awhile, but it’s one I catch every now and then, usually good for a few laughs. Dexter is one of the few serious shows I watch, and it’s really good. If you haven’t been watching this show go put it in your Netflix queue now, the first 2 seasons are available to stream. Bored To Death really only hooked me because of my desire to see everything Zach Galifianakis is in, but it actually got pretty good as the season went along last year. And then we’ve got Eastbound and Down, which hasn’t been on for a few years, but stars Danny Mcbride as a former MLB star having a hard time letting go of his fame… the first season was great, I hope they can reconnect and make another good run.

The rest of the week after the jump.

Monday Night (New episodes start Sept. 20)
How I Met Your Mother – 8pm on CBS
Rules of Engagement – 8:30pm on CBS
Chuck – 8pm on NBC
Castle – 10pm on ABC

Quick Notes: How I Met Your Mother has been pretty solid, up until last year. I felt it was very hit and miss last season… hopefully they get it together and get back to what made it so great. Rules of Engagement is one of my favorite shows on television, Patrick Warburton’s character is almost exactly like me. This is it’s first year without being a mid-season replacement, so hopefully it will catch on. Chuck has been on the edge of cancellation for a few years, but the show just keeps getting better and better, please watch it so that they don’t get rid of it! Castle is all about Nathan Fillion, you just have to love him.

Tuesday Night
No Ordinary Family – 8pm on ABC (New episodes start Sept. 28)
Running Wilde – 9:30pm on Fox (New episodes start Sept. 21)

Quick Notes: These are both new shows that I’m at least vaguely interested in. I don’t know that I’ll continue past a couple episodes, but they are on my list of new shows to watch. I’ll let you know what I think of them once they get a few episodes in.

Wednesday Night
Modern Family – 9pm on ABC (New episodes start Sept. 22)
The Ultimate Fighter – 10pm on Spike (New episodes start Sept. 15)
Friday Night Lights – TBA on DirecTV
Terriers – 10pm on FX (New episodes start Sept. 8th)

Quick Notes: Modern Family is without a doubt my favorite new show from last season. In fact, it vaulted into my top 10 favorites of all time. The Ultimate Fighter is the only reality show I watch, and it’s more about the upcoming MMA talent than all the stupid reality garbage that comes along with it. Friday Night Lights… I gotta admit, I’m a football coach and I only watch this show to help feed my football addiction during the off-season. Terriers is another show I’m going to try out, you’ll probably hear about it in about a month.

Thursday Night (New episodes start Sept. 23)
Bones – 8pm on Fox
Community – 8pm on NBC
30 Rock – 8:30pm on NBC
The Office – 9pm on NBC
Outsourced – 9:30pm on NBC
The Big Bang Theory – 8pm on CBS
$#*! My Dad Says – 8:30pm on CBS
It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia – 10pm on FX (New episodes start Sept. 16)
The League – 10:30pm on FX (New episodes start Sept. 16)

Quick Notes: Thursday night is sitcom night. Parks and Rec has been moved to a midseason replacement, so I’m going to try out this new show, Outsourced. Don’t have real high hopes for it, but I love the other 3 shows NBC is pairing it with, so I figure it’s at least worth a try. Community would have been my favorite show of last season if not for Modern Family, really looking forward to it’s 2nd season. The Office was really down last year, if they have another year like that, I hope they just let it go with Steve Carell, but hopefully they rebound. 30 Rock is one of the most off the wall shows I’ve ever seen, and every time I think it’s lost a step, it blows me away again. There’s nothing else on TV even remotely like it.

Friday Night
Smallville – 8pm on CW (New episodes start Sept. 24)

Quick Notes: I always wanted to watch Smallville when it was starting out, but never remembered, and then it got terrible for 3-4 years and I lost interest. The last few years have been pretty good though, so I went back and watched the rest of it. Looks like this show is heading for a very solid ending.

Saturday Night
Saturday Night Live – 11:30pm on NBC (New episodes start Sept. 25)

Quick Notes: They had a lot of really bad hosts on SNL last season. I’m hoping Will Ferrell and Justin Timberlake come back to host at some point this year (and maybe Christopher Walken? Oh, and Betty White too!) The show really varied in strength based on who was hosting. I’m hoping for a few changes to the supporting cast though, and I have reasonably high hopes for this season.

Midseason Replacements
The Cape – on NBC
Parks And Recreation – on NBC
Mr. Sunshine – on ABC

Quick Notes: Parks and Rec was pretty good last season, so I’m hoping this move to midseason isn’t a sign of it’s fading out. The Cape could be pretty cool if it’s done right, or it could be totally lame like Heroes and bomb out. Mr. Sunshine only interests me because of Matthew Perry, so we’ll see how long that one keeps me interested.

What shows are you excited about watching? Based on my list, are there any shows that you’d suggest I try out? They can be new series or even just your favorite show back on the air. Maybe you are curious when your favorite show starts, check out this awesome list from TheFutonCritic, I also recommend you look over their fall block schedule. Let me know what you think!

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ACC Champ
Miami, FL (12-2)
Virginia Tech (11-3)

Thoughts: Whoever comes out of the ACC is going to have a number of losses. Miami has 5 very tough games this season, 3 of which are at home, so I doubt they’ll only lose 2 games this season. However, I expect them to make another big step towards that return to prominence. I could see Miami taking this conference if things go their way (or even North Carolina for that matter), but I like Virginia Tech out of the ACC. They have the week 1 clash with Boise State, but can basically coast all the way until weeks 9-11, when they play Georgia Tech at home and then on the road at North Carolina and Miami, FL. How they fare in that 3 week stretch will determine their season. My guess is they split those 4 games and then lose either in the ACC Championship or in their bowl game.

The rest of my picks after the break.

Big 12 Champ
Nebraska (13-1)
Oklahoma (12-2)

Thoughts: Being a lifelong Nebraska fan, the fan in me hates to disagree with the computer pick. Even ESPN is picking Nebraska to go 11-1! But the realist in me thinks that Nebraska isn’t a National Championship contender this season. The fact that anybody outside of the state thinks they might be shows how good of a coaching job Bo Pelini has done since he took the program over a few years ago. I think Nebraska might drop 1 game against a good opponent (either Washington or Texas) and maybe another one against a team they should beat (possibly Missouri or at Texas A&M). Still, finishing the regular season with 2 losses might have them atop the North and they can still have a shot to win the Big 12 title in their last season. This is the first time since 2001 that I feel Nebraska actually has a chance to win every game they’ll play this year.

Oklahoma has big games against Florida State and Texas, but should win the rest of their games on their way to the league championship. I really think it will be a close game between Nebraska and Oklahoma if they can both make it past their hurdles.

Big East
Rutgers (10-3)
West Virginia (10-3)

Thoughts: Sure, West Virginia hasn’t been the same since Rich Rod left a few years ago (and let’s not even start with how Rich Rod hasn’t been the same since taking over Michigan!), but I think they still have enough talent to put together a solid run this season. Let’s be honest, this is the Big East we are talking about, they don’t deserve a BCS bid, and they don’t deserve any more coverage in this article.

Big 10
Ohio State (12-1)
Ohio State (11-2)

Thoughts: I think Iowa will surprise a lot of people this year in the Big 10, but I just don’t see them having the firepower to take down the mighty Buckeyes. Home games against Miami, FL and Penn State combined with the road games against Iowa and Wisconsin will be the biggest tests Ohio State faces this season. I think they probably get tripped up in 1 or 2 of those games.

Mountain West
TCU (12-1)
TCU (13-0)

Thoughts: As is usually the case, the Mountain West has 1 or 2 good teams (Utah and TCU) and the team that wins their matchup takes the league. This year Utah isn’t great, and they’ve already got their eye on the allure of the Pac-10 in 2011, so TCU will easily make their way through their league play and bowl game, but won’t get high enough in the standings to play in the BCS Championship.

Pac-10
Washington (11-2)
Oregon (11-2)

Thoughts: The Pac-10 this season could come down to a handful of teams.  This is a conference with improving teams from top to bottom, so the wins are very tough to come by. The conference champion could easily finish with 3 losses. Oregon always finds a way to field a potent offense, and they play in one of the most intimidating stadiums for opposing teams, I like them to put together enough wins to take the conference.

SEC
Alabama (14-0)
Alabama (12-2)

Thoughts: Alabama brings back last year’s Heisman winner, and a solid starting QB, but they lose many of the best players from last season’s suffocating defense. They’ve also got a brutal schedule, I just don’t seem them making it through unscathed. Keep an eye on Arkansas this season, they could really surprise some people.

National Champ
Alabama over Ohio State
Boise State over Oklahoma

Thoughts: Come on, you gotta think outside of the box, right? Boise State has been so close, for so many years, they are due. This pick could totally be derailed in the 1st week though as Boise faces Virginia Tech for their opening game. But if the boys in blue can make it by the Hokies, it should be smooth sailing the rest of the way.

Heisman Winner
Greg McElroy, QB, Alabama
Ryan Mallett, QB, Arkansas

Thoughts: Like I said, keep an eye on Arkansas this season, and Mallett is the biggest reason why.

P.S. I changed up a few of my picks simply because the game and I ended up with the same thing in almost every case, and what’s the fun in that?

How do you think I did? How do you see this season turning out? Let’s hear your picks in the comments.

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