Last night I went back to Sweet Caroline’s with some friends. My friend Grechen’s friend was having a birthday get together there so a bunch of people went. Like last weekend, it was allot of fun. This time I didn’t drink as much, but it was a good show.
scott
My Link Of The Day
I spend more time than I care to admit on the Microsoft Life Cycle Support site today. I was doing research on when all of our Microsoft software goes end of support. As much as this is a pain in the ass, I do have to give Microsoft credit for actually having a searchable site for this stuff.
The Drobo
My friend John told me about this neat external drive unit a few months ago called the Drobo. I took a look at the web page and was instantly curious. My only issues were the price and how they actually got RAID like data protection. After some reading I was comfortable with the units functionality but the cost was still a factor. The dam thing is $499 for just an empty chassis. My problem is the Drobo could solve many of my storage issues. I currently have no less than 8 external drives in my home computer setup. This doesn’t count my portable drive I have VM’s on that i shuttle back and forth to work, and the external units (that are mine) at work. Most of them are 250 gig drives. I have slowly been consolidating when I buy newer bigger drives. The problem is I am getting more and more drive space but I have no good backup for all this data. The really important stuff is replicated to a backup drive, but the stuff that would be a pain in the ass to replace but too costly to replicate is still a problem.
That was until Tuesday. I finally broke down and spent some of my tax return money and got a Drobo and some drives. Even with its cost, the benefit of having some true disaster recovery ability at home was too much to pass up. So far I am very happy with the unit. I will slowly add 2 additional 1TB drives over the next few months. I started out with 2 1TB drives in the unit. That gives me 1TB of usable space. What is good about the Drobo is that it gives you RAID1 or 5 like protection but allows you more flexibility when upgrading drives.
My Birthday Weekend
Wow, I need a vacation to recover from this weekend. Last Sunday was my birthday. If you know the calendar at all you would also know that Monday was St. Patrick’s day. With both events so close craziness ensues. I went out every night from Thursday through Monday. Thursday & Friday I went out with people from work. We went to a bar or two and drank. It is always fun to unwind with them.
Saturday I went with Gretchen & Jayson to a Piano Bar. They have been a few times but it was my first time to this one, Sweet Caroline’s. It was fun. I always loved the dueling piano bar in the New York, New York hotel in Las Vegas, and the one in Pat O’Brien’s on Burbon Street. I had a fun time, even though I drank much more than I had planned.
Sunday night my parents took me to the Waterfront Crab House in Long Island City for my birthday diner. It was good. I had king crab legs, and finished off my mom’s crab cakes. It was good food and I had a good time.
Monday I meet up with Douge, Yan, and a few others for a few drinks on St. Patrick’s day. I didn’t stay out too late since I was really tired from the long weekend of being out, but it was fun meeting up for a little while.
Can I Find The Right Phone? Part 4, The Palm Treo 750
The latest device I am trying is the Treo 750. Well technically the Centro was the last phone that I bought, since I had the 750 before the Centro, but I still have the 750 where the Centro is returned already. I haven’t tried a Windows Mobile phone since I tried the HP iPaq 6515 back in 2006. I was hesitant to try the Windows Mobile Treo since I had such a bad experience with the iPaq, but I heard decent things about the Windows Mobile 6 OS, I liked the form factor of the Treo 750, and frankly I was running out of alternatives.
Can I Find The Right Phone? Part 3, The Palm Centro
Due to the Nokia E61i’s poor performance with its core organizer functions I recently began to look at alternatives. I sold my Nokia 6120 Classic and N810 Tablet since I found I didn’t use them that much. With that money I bought a Palm Centro from AT&T. I was hoping that the newer Centro would not have the same bugs as the older Treo 680. It was still buggy when I installed the software I typically use. The screen and keyboard on the Centro were too small for me. A screen smaller than a 680 is just not usable for me. I also got spoiled with the nice large screen of the E61i. I wasn’t even a fan of the plastic white case of the Centro, so I returned it yesterday after work. It was worth a try, but the Centro experience didn’t get me anywhere.
Can I Find The Right Phone? Part 2, The Nokia E61i
I have been using the Nokia E61i for a few months now and I like allot of features of the phone, but its shortcomings are starting to bother me allot. Where the Treo 680 would freeze for a few seconds every once in a while, the E61i’s biggest problem is just slow all the time. Launching applications or moving through screens is noticeably slower than on the Palm OS, Windows Mobile, or Blackberry. The E61i is very stable. I almost never have to restart the phone. In fact it was almost 2 months after I got it when the phone froze on me. I think the problem was related to something I installed that was a Beta. I removed it and have been fine since then. The other issues I have with the E61i is it’s PIM functionality. More specifically its tasks program is horrible. The phone doesn’t support categories, the search functions are all but useless, and it takes me around 5 times longer to enter a task on the E61i than it did on my Treo 680. Because there is no category support for the PIM (Personal Information Manager) Software, I cannot easily filter calls with calling groups out of the Address Book. I also have to edit every single calendar entry I make on the phone to put it in the correct calendar on my computer. The lack of a touch screen bothers me, but is a minor issue compared with all my other issues. I haven’t found a good email program, but I limp by with what comes pre-installed. What is good about the E61i is it has no issues syncing with my Mac, especially over bluetooth. It works flawlessly with Bluephone Elite, the phone control software I use on my Mac. It also has great internet functionality especially since it has built in Wifi. Bluetooth also works flawlessly. I paired my Motorola Bluetooth Headset to the phone with no problems. I am able to turn on the headset and it always finds the phone and works. I stopped using Bluetooth headsets on my Treo because it wouldn’t work all the time and I would lose calls because I tried picking them up with the headset.
To sum it up the E61i is a nice reliable phone with a decent selection of software, but its basic functionality is lacking and the phone is just slow. If I could fix most of my issues with the tasks program I might be able to overlook the other issues I have with the Nokia’s Symbian S60 software.
Can I Find The Right Phone? Part 1
Since October I have had a minor problem left unresolved. I have been unsuccessfully searching for a wireless phone I could use every day. I have written previously about how my Treo 680 had been causing me too many problems so I was on the outs as my day to day mobile. The issue is I haven’t been able to find a suitable replacement. As much as I jump from phone to phone (I do about 1 a year and maybe toy with an alternative one during that time but never switch over to it) over the years, I have been sticking to Palm based Treo’s relatively consistently. I did go from a Treo 270 on T-Mobile to a Treo 600, then to a Treo 650. From there I went to the Treo 700 on Verizon. When I left my last company I switched my number to a Treo 680 on AT&T. It has been several years using the Palm OS on Treo phones. As I have said in the past it has been a love / hate relationship.
So even though it sounds kind of silly I am stuck on what phone to use day to day. I guess it is such a big deal because I use it for allot more than making calls. In fact I use it for other stuff more than I use it as a phone. I check my mail on it. Read the news on the way to work. I keep track of my expenses on it. I use it as a calendar, and more importantly I track all the tasks I need to accomplish on it. I use it to track notes, and I take notes with it more than I use pen and paper. If I am in a meeting playing with my phone, it is because I am actually taking notes or updating tasks related to what we are talking about on it. There is tons more things I use it for, but that is enough for you to get the point. Because of all my requirements I am a bit picky.
The Palm OS on my Treo 680 did everything I needed it to. It just would freeze up for no reason I could identify (maybe due to loss of cell signal but if it was that it is a retarded problem) and would crash or reboot at least once a day. Recently I also had huge issues syncing my Treo to my Macbook. The Missing Sync is a great product, and I have used it for years but since they updated the Palm version it has been buggy. I have had to reset the data on the phone dozens of times due to corrupt data or the software simply crashing on syncing some conduits, especially my task lists. So I can have everything I want, but deal with problems all the time. It kind of feels like WIndows, but I solved that problem by getting a Mac.
Lazy Vacation
I am on vacation again this week. I had a week of days off that I didn’t take from last year that I would lose if I didn’t take it soon, so I decided to just take the week off and relax. That means allot of watching what is on my Tivo, lying on the couch and online shopping! So far so good!
To Skype or Not to Skype
As I said in a post a about a week or so ago, I have made a decision not to renew my .mac subscription and instead I went back to my traditional hosting provider, even if I don’t use it that much. I do use it enough to warrant a traditional provider that gives me flexibility. Another technological decision has also been on my mind as of late. This one involves VOIP phone providers.
I currently have a Broadvoice VOIP account. I have had one since I moved into my apartment in Manhattan in 2003. I have my number setup on a Cisco 7940 IP Phone. I think the service and the phone are fantastic. I haven’t had many reasons to complain, but I just don’t use the service that much. On the other hand I also have a Skype In number, and until recently I had Skype Unlimited. Now I am paying month to month for Skype Pro. The problem is I don’t use both services enough to justify the expense of one, let alone both. I have a mobile phone that is my primary number, and I don’t even go over my monthly minutes on that. It is smart to have a VOIP phone since it is really cheap. I want one just in case I have issues with the mobile, but like I said I don’t use either of them that much.
To cut costs I have been thinking about dropping either Broadvoice or Skype. The problem is both services have their pro’s and con’s. Skype is actually cheaper per year and if I started using it more the cost is also fixed since I get unlimited inbound and outbound calls on the plans I have. Broadvoice has a few nifty features Skype does not but I don’t use it enough to make it worth my while. What Broadvoice does have in its advantage is that I can use my Cisco 7940 phone with it. That phone is great. It has a good speakerphone, and I have a really good headset for it. The Skype cordless phone I have has a good speaker, but no headset. I can use a headset with Skype if I use my computer, but there is no way to change from headset, to handset, to speaker on the same call if I use the computer. As weird as that sounds, it happens more than you would think.
My final option is to do what I have done for years in the past before VOIP. That is drop all other phones and just use my mobile. All the major wireless carriers announced unlimited phone plans this week, so that is a very viable option right now. What to do…