The old About Joe page has been the same for nearly six years and really needed to be updated. Instead, that menu link now opens a new window/tab with my Google Profile. There is not as much personal information, but it looks a lot better.

I am also considering moving my main photo gallery from this site to the Google Profile area. There are also some picture albums on Windows Live that may be moved there. This is all an attempt to centralize and simplify resources and maintenance tasks. These will also tie in with the Google+ social network when it is open to the public.

I have also delete the Nokia E63 blog on Blogger. In it's place on the GL Menu is a link to my QRZ.com page.

Starting today I've put a Opt-In form for the GL Newsletter in the sidebar on your right. Anyone who would like to receive this free informational newsletter may sign up now.

There is no regular scheduled mailings for these newsletters. They are sent as they become available. You will not be unindated with emails either. No more than two in a week will be mailed out... if that many.

The emails are in HTML format or text for those who don't get html emails. These Newsletters are for information concerning services offered by Joe. That is Computer Repair/Consulting and General/Skilled Labor in season. The emails will also contain promotional discounts and special deals.

GL Customers are also recommended to visit the GL Customer's Blog for helpful tip and important notifications. You can get there from the Blogs menu, above.

I have a new html email service which I will be using to send Customer Emails... and maybe others as time goes by. I've already sent out two to my established customers and will be adding a opt-in link on this page sometime soon.

I do not plan to innundate folks with junk mail. The emails I send out will be pertinent to Granite Labor promotions or valuable tips to my customers. Besides, it cost me for each email I send out. Each email has a link that can be used to opt out. However, if you are one of my customers, I would continue to recieve them.

As a loyal Granite Labor visitor you get a first look at the new Joe's Granite Labor business card. Actually, you get it before I do because they haven't arrived yet.

To see and/or print it in all its glory, select it from the Information menu or the Quicklinks menu. The file is the original PDF that the printer uses.

I have rewritten the video section of the GL Media page. There are no longer any of the small Flash local media players. Instead, all videos are link from the GL YouTube Channel. Now you can watch videos in full screen without leaving the site. Most of the existing videos from the YT channel are available here, and some not publicly available on the YT channel, can be seen here.

Gone are the public domain movies. Since there were only a few of these and they are readily available on the Internet, it did make sense to keep them here.

More videos will be forth coming. Hopefully the quality will be better because the GraniteLabor YouTube Channel no longer has time restrains. In fact, former videos that were split into multiple parts have been re-compiled and uploaded as single files.

There is a new menu item in the "Features" menu: PJLarson.NET. There is also a button on your right in the "QuickLinks" menu. These are links to the new Web LOGS, and extension of the Granite Labor site.

I haven't advertised this until now, but the url pjlarson.net has been around for a few months as I was setting it up. I set it up using the Joomla platform, which is quite extensive, however it did not meet my needs.

I've just recently changed to the Blogger platform. It is much more simple and doesn't take a lot of maintenance. I've created three Blogs so far. The PJLarson.NET address will take you to the Home Blog which has the same name. All other blogs can be accessed with the menu at the top of each page.

Each blog has it's own address, but I've linked the PJLarson.NET address as a redirect to the first blog for convenience. Another reason is that I own the url and I needed to put it to use for something.

The blogs so far are as follows:

1. PJLarson.Net - Home Blog - My own person postings... could be anything.
2. My Customers - This is a blog for my customers with tips and short tutorials.
3. Nokia E63/Palm - This is for articles/tips for these devices which I own and am quite familiar with.

More may be added in the future, but that is it for now. Check it out and bookmark PJLarson.NET or any of the blogs. Stop by and comment on articles, etc. Keep in mind that I've just started. Time will be needed to add good content.

You can now access over 1,500 old-time radio episodes on the Granite Labor Mobile site. I wrote the Mobile OTR Browser from the ground up and it is as good a program as can be written for mobile devices.

The Mobile OTR Browser is tied in with the OTR database on the main site. This is a first for the mobile site. The old browser only had a few programs available and they were hard-coded. Now you have access to the whole library and it's just about as easy to navigate as the OTR Browser on the main site.

What does this mean? Well, you can now listen to these great old episodes anywhere with your smart phone, pda, tablet, or whatever. You can also use a desktop, however, I would recommend using the main GL site with a desktop computer.

The long over due update to the Granite Labor Mobile Site is here! It's a whole new site all together. And now you can interact with the Mobile site and community from this site with your desktop computer. Read on...

The new Mobile site's Homepage has a feed of the main GL site's Homepage (this page) so it is always in sync and up-to-date. The Mobile site is standards compliant and has a Mobile mode and Desktop mode. It senses weather you are visiting with a mobile device or a desktop computer, and renders the page accordingly. You can see a sample of desktop mode and interact with the Mobile site and community by going to the Memulator on the main site. The link is available in the "Features" menu and there is a new QuickLlink button for it on your right.

The new Mobile site will be under construction during October, but is fully functional and open to the public now. The Memulator, short for Mobile Emulator, holds more than just the emulator. With it you can join the GL Mobile community, upload your picture and create your Mobile Profile, accessible here on the main site and on the Mobile site at the same time.

The new site has many advantages over the old site. The old site was stand alone and did not get updated very often. The new Mobile site has active feeds which update automatically. The Contact form in the new site has been tested and now works. It was down on the old site for a while.

The old Mobile site had an Old Time Radio section, but the limited amount of episodes was hard-coded, and thus hardly ever updated. I will be writing a new script to interact with the main site OTR database to provide a similar experience in OTR that you get on the regular site. Thus you can listen to these great old shows with your mobile devices, as well as on the main site.

The new site also has other features and a new logo, which you can check out rather than me writing about it here. All in all, the new GraniteLabor website is a great improvement for mobile users and should prove to be very handy.

As with the old site, you can get to it with: http://mobi.granitelabor.com/ or http://winksite.mobi/granitelabor/mobile or with links on the Homepage of the main site, or you can visit the Memulator on the main site.

I have rewritten the Video Help page. Now you can get descriptions of each of the videos by rolling over their title. All videos on this page are hosted on YouTube. The players are built into the page and you can watch in full screen-like any other YouTube video.

I have also added a new Help Video: Irfanview Batch Conversions. This video tutorial will show you how to re-size a bunch of picture files all at one time, using the popular freeware program Irfanview. Irfanview is available in the Downloads Library, along with a download with all the available Plugins for the program. More Help videos will be on the way.

I have also tweaked the styling of the user interface for the whole site. Tabs look better and PgHelp windows look better and are a lot easier to read.

Soon I will be rewriting the main video page to work like this page. The Picture page is also going to drastically change. Lots going on here at Granite Labor. Enjoy!

There are 60 new episodes of Abbott and Costello in the Old Time Radio (OTR) section of the GL Media Center!

Other news: I am working on adding the User Ratings and Descriptions for the New OTR Episode Browser. I am having some problems with conflicting Javascript, so it may take a while.

I've also cleaned up a lot of code on the main pages and some may load a fraction faster. I plan on creating CSS Sprites for the Home page; menus etc., to cut down on HTTP requests which will translate to faster page loading. All in good time.

UPDATE: I have written a Player for the OldTime Radon Episode Browser Console. Now you can play your selected episodes at will. I've also done some additional style formatting. It's ready for prime-time now!

It's been a long time coming, but it's here now. An Episode browser that really works. I have been wanting to rewrite this browser for a couple of years and have finally done it, in the last few days. You can get to it on the Radio Tab of the GL Media page or here is a direct link.

Browse the whole OTR library. There are many differences compared to the old Episode Browser. The old one only allowed you to browse the episodes in a single Program Group. The new one lets you select Program Groups on-the-fly and all updates are done without reloading the page, thanks to ajax. This browser looks better than the old and you can play episodes directly from it.

It's easy to use and you can bookmark the Browser page to go right to it, or you can get there via the GL Menu; GL Media>Old Time Radio then select a Program Group to start browsing from the drop-down list. Once in the Episode Browser, you can select from any of the 50+ Program Groups and then select one of the Episodes in that group to view its details and/or listen to it and/or download the MP3 file.

The only thing I haven't got to yet is writing the routines to add a user rating or description for the episodes. Users can use Feedback to submit these for now. See PgHelp on the epBrowser page for more info.

I have removed the option on the GL Media>Old Time Radio section for searching for an Episode By ID because it is not really needed any more, as you can search in the new browser.

Send Feedback! Let me know what you think of the New Episode Browser and what you think can make it even better!

I rewrote the Javascript and CSS for the Main Menu. It will now work better with older browsers or even browsers with javascript disabled, however, I would keep javascript turned on for this site. However, for best results use: IE7+, Firefox 3+, latest Safari, latest Chrome, or latest Opera Internet browsers. Always keep your browser updated to the latest version.

The problem, especially with IE 6, is the look of the menus. If the menus on this site look out of line, chance are you need to get the latest version of your Internet Browser. They are all free so why not? It will also help keep your computer more secure.

What browser do I use? That would be Mozilla Firefox 3.6.x It's a good one. This site usually looks better on a Standards Compliant browser such as Firefox. Menus look much better using Firefox, especially while hovering over them as corners are rounded.

I've spent all day rejuvenating the Dragnet program groups on the OTR Media page. There are 128 brand new old-time radio episodes, and the old episodes have been reconfigured in more intuitive program groups.

Previously, there were 3 groups of Dragnet episodes: Dragnet 1, Dragnet 2 and Dragnet 3. Not very descriptive. Now the program groups have changed to: Dragnet 1949-51, Dragnet 1952-53 and Dragnet 1954-55. The proper episodes are in each of these group depending on their air date. Not only that, but there are a lot more episodes!

One Note I should mention. I had to reconfigure the database. In doing so I had to re-index the unique episode ID's. Anyone who uses the Episode ID's to search for episodes, should be aware that they have changed. To the casual visitor this point is moot.

Did you know that the Granite Labor website has 1,537 old-time radio episodes in 50 program groups? With an average of 28 minute play time for each episode, that is about 717 hours of listening time! It would take you about a month of listening 24 hours per day to hear them all.

One last thing: It takes an enormous amount of time to provide the Old-Time Radio service for you. Many sites with a similar service charge you big bucks, here it is free. If you enjoy listening to these old programs, please consider donating a couple of bucks in the "Tip Jar" to help cover some of the cost of site upkeep. It is secure and you can use a Credit Card or your Paypal account. Your donation will go to good use and is much appreciated.

I've added 64 new Amos And Andy episodes in the Old Time Radio Section. They ard divided between three groups as follows:

• Amos and Andy 1943 - 12 episodes
• Amos and Andy 1946-47 - 19 episodes
• Amos and Andy 1953-54 - 33 episodes

I have close to 300 Dragnet episodes I will be adding soon.

The Information, GL Media and Contact menus all have items which open specific tabs on certain pages. These menu items, when selected, would open the page only on the default tab. I've fixed that. When the page is open, the tab corresponding to your menu choice will now open.

On the Contacts page, I have replaced the Cell Phone tab with the Phone Now tab. Emails cannot be sent to my cell phone anymore, but this new feature allows anyone to call my voice devices (Cell, Skype, Voice mail, etc.) for free from anywhere in the US or Canada.

To use it, you simply enter your name and the phone number that you want Google to call you. When submitted, you will immediately get a call at that number and Google will connect you with one of my voice devices. If none of them pick up, you will be sent to my Voice Mail where you can leave a message.

There is a new menu option in the "Features" menu: "GL Products". That's right a store right here on Granite Labor where you can buy high quality low-cost Granite Labor branded products!

There are some real cool shirts in there now and more products will be added presently. So check back often. Products that you purchase from the GL Store help to support development and maintenance for the site.

These are quality products that are shipped quickly and can be purchased securely. See the "Pg Help" on the GL Store page for more information. IE6 users may have problems viewing this page. I will add a direct link soon, so those users can go directly to the store. Or better yet, update your browser to the latest supported version!

I've added a new feature on music list pages. When you roll your mouse over the picture of an album, an AJAX powered window will popup with a numbered list of all the tracks in that album or playlist.

The GL music player is real small and only shows you the song/track that is currently playing. The tracks have never been listed on the music list pages until now.
Now, when you roll over the album image, AJAX calls a php page on the server which in turn looks up the tracks for that album/playlist from the database and magically sends it to you in the form of a pleasant looking window. Just mouse out to close it and look at the next album you are interested in. What innovation, eh?