Hmm – maybe I should do a website a month – I’ll try to get back to every Wednesday – but sometimes time just slips away from me.  I should also post some other content – but my greatest thoughts seem to come when I’m not a near a computer and when I’m near a computer I don’t feel like posting!

This week’s website is The Hunger Site This website is a very simple site to visit.  You simply visit it, click where it says “Click Here to Give – It’s Free”, and they’ll donate money to help feed the hungry.  They raise their money in two ways, one is by selling ads that appear after you click and the other is through items they sell in their store.  You can click once each day.  Although your small little click might not be much – over the course of a year and with everyone’s clicks – it can really make a difference.  For example in 2008 over 4,000 tons of food were able to be purchased with the funds raised.  So add it to your bookmarks and visit every day to help out.

Also, while you are there, check out the sister sites of The Hunger Site which all operate the same way for different causes.  The other sites are The Breast Cancer Site (funding mamograms), The Child Health Site, The Literacy Site (providing books), The Rain Forest Site, and The Animal Resuce Site.

So instead of pointless clicking on your computer – your clicking can now make a difference!

This week’s Website Wednesday site is Print What You Like.  This site allows you to take any website and get rid of items on it you don’t want to print.  It works quite simply.  You go to the Print What You Like page and put the URL of the page you want to print into the box and click “Start!”.  This then brings up your web page on the screen with some controls on the left.  The general idea is you click on items you don’t want to print and then click “Remove”.  The page updates to show what the page now looks like.  There are other options to help refine what you have selected, or you can just select the items you want printed and “Isolate” them.  Once you have the page how you want it you can print it or save it to HTML or a PDF file.  One word of caution – one time I used this and the text on the page didn’t wrap properly and it got cut off when it printed out – so just double check your output to make sure it has what you expect on it.

Pending only the signature of the president, the mandatory end of analog OTA TV (except for translator and low-power stations) has been delayed until June 12.  In my opinion this is a bad move on the part of our government.  Mainly because this delay only delays the date that analog broadcasts must stop, it still allows stations to turn off analog anytime between now and then.  Some stations have already turned off analog, others will turn it off 2/17/09 anyways, and others will turn it off between now and June 12.  Also, some stations are not currently on their final DTV frequency and still need to switch to that frequency.  This means there is no orderly switching of frequencies now and consumers will need to rescan their digital equipment more often and who knows what days this will need to be done to find their DTV stations.  This also impacts some stations’ coverage area (including WKAR) who are not broadcasting on their final frequency and/or power levels and can’t reach all their analog viewers.  WKAR can’t switch to their final frequency until other stations in the area complete their transition.  Big, big mess in my opinion – but then again – government does what they do best!

As always, if you have questions about the DTV transition, please let me know.