Bens Blog

Kai performs the solo acoustic version of Neon, by John Mayer.

For those of you who play guitar - you will appreciate how hard this song is to play. (Well its hard for me).
For those of you who don’t - just enjoy.

PS: Want to Learn Guitar Quickly and Easily? Click Here!

Gee I like the music these guys do.

This time they have taken apart Apologize by One Republic.

PS: Want to learn the Piano Quicky and Easily? Click Here!

After being introduced to the GTD methodology (http://www.davidco.com/what_is_gtd.php) of time management - I am hooked. Jasonk (www.bluedevel.com) introduced me to this idea several months back.
I’ve tried many different ways of managing time but none really seemed to work for me. GTD really works wonders for me. I won’t explain the whole thing here - but if you have issues with project motivation, getting interrupted, not completing goals, stress about completing projects….etc - you must give this methodology a try (even if you do a paper based version).

While using the GTD methodology I have used a few online sofware tools such as Vitalist and while most were not bad each implementation seems to have key parts missing that I would really like - such as Calandar, Team Management and fluid workflows. As such, Jasonk and I are in the process of developing our own web based software - as well as a set of training materials with GTD best practices so you can most effectively use the software.

If you are interested in learning the GTD process - I would highly recommend reading the book “The Art of Stress Free Productivity” by David Allen. This will teach you everything you need to know to apply the GTD process. Sure you can bumble along with the software and hope to get it to work for you - but the trick is to apply the methodology correctly. The software is a tool only.

If you are interested in being a tester for this software - we would love to hear from you.
Drop us an email ben AT fearofpudding.com or jasonk AT bluedevel.com

Hi All,

My motivational desktop wallpapers site is getting close to release.
This site includes high resolution desktop wallpapers containing inspirational images and quotes from many of the great leaders of our time.

Here is a taste:

I’ll let you all know when the site is live.

If you have a quote you would like to see made into a wallpaper drop me an email ben AT fearofpudding.com (@ removed for spam reasons)

UPDATE: Calendars with the backgrounds on them are now available. Check them out here

The Site is Now Live! Click Here

While migrating a Ruby on Rails application to a new server I found my application throwing an unitialized ActionMailer error on server start.

./script/../config/../config/environment.rb:29:NameError

uninitialized constant ActionMailer

I thought this was strange - as the ActionMailer gem was installed fine.

The original system was running fcgi through Apache and on this server I was using Mongrel server.

I found a solution here:

http://highearthorbit.com/uninitialized-constant-actionmailer/

Turns out the ActionMailer server settings need to be outside the block

Rails::Initializer.run do |config|

..it fixed the problem for me.

Every now and then I do a general youtube search for acoustic covers. This one was on the first page. I had never heard of Paramore (http://www.paramore.net/)before. I was very impressed with Hayley’s vocal tone and control. Its great to see artists that can perform well live. If you like this - check out the full version - it’s even more impressive.

PS: Want to learn Guitar Quickly and Easily? Click Here!

Boyce Avenue (http://www.myspace.com/boyceavenue) cut back the highly produced Lovestoned by Justin Timberlake.

Gotta love the sound of the guitar in this.

PS: Want to learn Guitar Quickly and Easily? Click Here!

This category lists the audio CD’s / DVD’s / online music that I have found and enjoy (or hated).

I listen to pretty much anything as long as the production is good.

I use youtube alot to find new music and this category will also list some clips that I really enjoyed.  I won’t bore you with music videos - this stuff will be generally acoustic versions - and good ones at that.

Hi There and welcome to my blog.

This is a new blog I have recently started to become a central repository
of the information I have found useful on the net.

It will also cover some of my personal entrepreneurial endeavours into online business and also home theatre and hi-fi speaker manufacturing.