Technology

Bluetooth, Powerbook, And A T610 = Awesome

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I have had a new Sony Ericsson T610 for a little over a week now. Actually I am on my second one. The first one’s camera stopped working on day 2, so T-Mobile gave me a new one. So far this one seems fine.

This phone is nice, but the best feature is the bluetooth. I can sync with my Powerbook while the phone is in my bag. No more entering contact information into the phone. I know I could have (and have) done this on other phones, but the sync software on the pc and the usb or ir methods sucked. This is a breeze. Setup on the powerbook was easy too. I also got GPRS dial up to work. Now I can use my T610 as a modem anywhere I get good signal while using my Powerbook. I was just checking my mail on the rail road. The phone was still in my bag. Now that is technology that works.

The only kink is that the GPRS is slow, and on the train the signal is sometimes spotty. When I get good signal the connection rocks.

OS X & It’s BSD Root

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Every time I talk to a hard core computer guy (or girl) and tell them I am into Mac’s now, they say “cool, have you done anything with the terminal?” Or something like that. Meaning have I used the BSD commands in it? Until today, not really. I finally had a project I wanted to do, and it required me to play with config files. I wanted to do something with Samba that would allow me to share other files besides my home folder on the network. I played around and got Swat to work. Swat is a web GUI based configurator for Samba. I know I could have just edited the smb.conf file, but I wanted to play with swat also.

Next up is playing with apatche a bit, and maybe try moveable type on a Mac. it has been done, and a mac is after all built on BSD!!!

Saturday Recovery

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Saturday I took it easy. I was semi recovering from Friday, and I had stuff I wanted to do around the house.

Even though I wanted to keep my desk area clear of extra cables, I broke out the KVM so I could build a new desktop machine. I had two in the closet. I had my Dad’s old Dell Dimension XPS 600r, and my old P-4 800 that I still had lying around. The P-4 is a better box, but I had problems with it the last time I was building a computer. I couldn’t remember what was up with it, but I still cannot get an OS to build on it. I ended up using my Dad’s old dell to put Suse 9.0 on it. I want to start using Linux again at home. My website still runs on a Windows 2003 server, but I don’t feel like a real tech guy if I let Gus host my blog on his moveable type setup. I at least want to try and get the system to work. If I don’t use it, I am cool with that.

Other than that I did some quick grocery shopping. I love fresh direct, but sometimes you want small stuff that doesn’t make using the service worth while. Also they don’t have everything so I still have to goto the grocery store every so often. I do need to make another fresh direct order this week. I am running out of food at home.

Bluetooth Gear

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I talk allot about the technology gear that I use. To me recently, the holey grail of technology gadgets is wireless interaction between devices. Ussually that means Wifi. Wifi is out there and it works great, when it works. For me the big thing is getting good Bluetooth devices that work well together. I have been trying for this goal for over 2 years.

I had a good setup with my T68i and my motorola bluetooth headset about a year or so ago. The problem was that I broke the headset one day when I dropped my backpack. The T68i, with headset and my Powerbook made an unbeatable combination. Now I have a T610, a different powerbook, and I plan on getting another bluetooth headset. Hopefully everything will work as advertised and I will have a complete portable wireless setup. Is it a pipe dream? Maybe, but I am going to try to get it to work.

As I mentioned earlier today the next step for this solution is to get GPRS to work on my Powerbook via the T610 over bluetooth. If I get it to work, I may even suck it up and buy a new PCMCIA Bluetooth card for my thinkpad. I have a Xircom Realport2 Bluetooth card, but it doesn’t have resident XP drivers, and I am finding it doesn’t work 100% correctly. The cards have come down in price so I will see how much they are.

This blog entry was written while listening to Bent from the album “Beneath These Fireworks” by Matt Nathanson

Powerbook Ram Boost

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After using my new 12″ 1Ghz Powerbook for a while I realized that I can’t live with the on board 256megs of ram. I tried since it isn’t my main computer and I use it for light work most of the time. I realized that when I use it in the office (even though it is my personal computer) I need the extra ram boost. I went out and got a 512 meg upgrade giving me a total of 768megs of ram.

So far the boost in ram is working. I haven’t seen the powerbook lag when opening a program.

I also got another mini DVI to VGA adapter just in case I want to use the laptop at home on my flat panel.

This blog entry was written while listening to Father of Mine – ACOUSTIC from the album “So Much for the Afterglow” by Everclear

Sony Ericsson T610

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My new T-Mobile phone is a new Sony Ericsson T610. It is supposed to be the upgrade to the T68i that I had. I actually still have the T68, but I am never happy with the signal strength I get on it. T-Mobile discounted the phone by %50 with a mail in rebate so I took it. I will wait till they offer the Motorola V600 and the price comes down.

So far my reviews of this phone are limited. The screen is nice. It is bright and crisp. The buttons are small and annoying like the T68i, but I can deal with that. I only used it for 2 minutes on the phone so I am not sure about voice quality or volume.

Bluetooth looks good on it. I was able to setup and pair the phone with my Powerbook in 2 minutes. I don’t know how that will work with my Thinkpad. I like that the new bluetooth devices don’t need you to specify that you want to make them discoverable. That is good for setup, but bad for security. Also nice is the fact that I don’t have a big bright blue light that is always on when bluetooth is on. My T68i did that. It was really annoying. All I have is an icon on the top of the phone screen telling me I have bluetooth on. That is all I need.

iSync with bluetooth was easy also. I dumped my entire phone book to the phone in 3 minutes. I didn’t even take out the Sony Ericsson software for the PC since I can do that all on my Mac with no special software. Have I mentioned I love my Powerbook?

Downloading or uploading pictures was a snap also. Just told my Powerbook to browse folders on bluetooth devices and up came my phones memory. I downloaded the two photos I took yesterday.

What I was unable to do was setup my powerbook to use the T610 as a GPRS modem via bluetooth. I found a few sites on the internet that explain how to do it. I downloaded some modem scripts, but have still not been able to get it to work. I only worked on it for like 15 minutes last night before I needed to get to bed. I had an early train to catch today.

I got bluetooth GPRS to work on my old Powerbook and my T68i using AT&T Wireless last year. I should be able to get it working with the T610. I just need to work on it. Kind of pissed that I couldn’t get it working before my trip. I could be using it right now on the train. Instead I get to clear my head and update my blog!

This blog entry was written while listening to Angry from the album “Mad Season” by Matchbox Twenty

Mobile Technology

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I tell everyone I used to hate traveling for work. That is partially true. In the end I dreaded the trips, the waits in the airport, getting lost in po-dunk towns in rental cars, etc. In the beginning I loved traveling. I think I did too much too quick. Also I did this during a period of the worst air traffic delays in the history of US air travel. I also flew out of the most delayed airport in the US. An airport that the FAA said accounted for 25-30% of all delays at the time, Laguardia airport (LGA).

This entry is not about my love or dislike of travel, that I can save for many entries later. What I am thinking about is the cool technology you can use or rely on when traveling.

Studies are coming out now saying more and more people are “cutting the cord” or becoming wireless phone only households. I have been using my cell as my primary (or only) home phone since 1998. Earlier than that I lived at home with my parents and they did have an extra line, even though I never used it.

When traveling you can use the coolest tools that keep you in touch or working. The stuff out now is even better than what I was able to use when I traveled regularly 3 years ago. Wow, it has been 3 years since I did that.

When I was on the road I relied on a laptop (Compaq Presario 1875 or something with an AMD K6-2 180mhz processor, then a number of Micron 15″ TFT laptops, and eventually a Dell latitude CPx). The laptops I have now kick the ass of the ones I had then. My thinkpad T-40 I use for work is literally half the thickness of the micron’s I used and 3-4 times more powerful. The battery lasts like 4 hours. If I got 90 minutes on the micron or 60+ on the Compaq I was happy. Even my tiny Powerbook gets better battery life than the old desktop replacements.

My cell phone back then was several flavors of the Nokia 6160, Motorola Timeport, or later on a Nokia 8890. The service actually was as good as it is now. T-Mobile’s coverage has gotten better, but I used to go everywhere with my AT&T Tri-mode TDMA Nokia’s. The phone was big but worked all over. From Canada, to Portland Oregon, to Portland Maine. The difference is I am paying about half the price I paid back in 1999 for about the same amount of minutes or even more minutes now.

The other difference with cell phones are that my Treo 600 is a handheld and a phone. I also get wireless internet access on it. For me between 1998 and 2001 that was impossible for me. now I can get email on my phone or use another phone with bluetooth to get mail on my laptop. I didn’t even have a blackberry then. I would have killed for a blackberry when I traveled. I take it for granted now.

The WiFi hotspots would be awesome to have had when I traveled. I used to use Laptop Lane at some airports back then, but they weren’t everywhere.

VPN software and Exchange 2003 with RDP over HTTPS would have been awesome. Either would have been awesome. At Datastream we had to use outlook from outside the firewall using AT&T Global net dial up. It was so slow. Now it would be trivial and fast to use, especially with high speed internet in some hotels now. When I went to vegas last winter I plugged my Powerbook (then a 15″ TiPowerbook) into the network jack in the hotel and I was able to VPN back to work. It came in handy when Keith needed something when I was out. That is the coolness I am talking about. Technology that just works when you are on the road.

If I was still traveling I would probably look at the bluetooth GPS receivers they have out now. Connect it to my iPack 1945 and know where I am. It would be killer.

What is also funny is that more and more people are using gadgets on the road. Besides the pain in the ass people on cell phones everywhere (writing this as someone’s phone goes off on the train). I mean laptops PDA’s, and other neat stuff. Around me right now on the train is 4 ladies with huge laptops doing work. One has to be my mom’s age. 4 years ago that wouldn’t be going on. When I am on the train to kingston I always see several people with blackberry’s or Pocket PC’s & Palms of several varieties. Then there are the iPods. They are everywhere. Note to self need new iPod for train trips like this. must replace sold one ASAP.

I just find these observations amusing. Why, because all this stuff that I see I have been doing for years. That is no big deal, but I always used to get made fun of by some of my friends about doing it. Then like clock work 6 months later they would be doing the same thing. I don’t consider myself a trendsetter but some technology stuff I get right away because I think it will work for me. I was that way with the first bluetooth phones. I got it and used it to connect to my PC and use a bluetooth headset. Turns out that it didn’t work very well, but it worked and I used it for months.

Enough of my observations. I am off to stretch my legs on the train for a while and maybe take some pictures with my Treo and post them to my MoBlog!!!

This blog entry was written while listening to Higher from the album “Human Clay” by Creed And Superman from the album “America Town” by Five for Fighting

I Got Rid Of Verizon Wireless

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Finally after months of waiting and/or plain old laziness I have gotten rid of my Verizon Wireless account. I have had 2 wireless accounts for years. I have had T-Mobile (Voicestream) and Verizon Wireless since September 2001. I have been using my T-Mobile phone exclusively since December 1. I am always concerned about good reception and didn’t want to get rid of my Verizon account without being comfortable that T-Mobile worked everywhere I needed it to. I haven’t needed to use my Verizon phone since December so it is a good sign that I can get rid of the extra expense. Since by now it was almost the same price to leave the account active and let the contract run out vs. canceling it and paying the termination fee, I just canceled the account so I don’t have the recurring payment.

What I did was port my old verizon number over to T-Mobile. I setup a family share plan so I can have my 2 numbers. I am truly a tech geek because of my reasoning for this. I want my PalmOne Treo 600 for my primary phone. I love that phone. But I want a bluetooth phone that I can use as a wireless modem for my laptop, and I also want some other bluetooth accessories such as the wireless headset. With a family plan I can share minutes between two phones. The price between this new plan and the plan I had was only like $10. To me it was worth the charge to have the flexibility to play around with the second phone.

Today is a good test of the new phone also. I am off to Kingston. it is north of NYC and phone signal isn’t always that good everywhere.

Ebay Sale’s

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My 10 Gig iPod has been sold on eBay. I am taking it to work today to ship to its new owner. I wanted to get a new one with a bigger drive, but I didn’t realize they don’t sell the 30 gig one’s anymore. 40 Gig is more than I need, and it costs more than I want to pay. I may just hold onto the money and wait and see what comes out next.

I also sold my Treo 270. That went out at the beginning of the week. I go through cycles of selling things on eBay. Looks like I am in one now. I am going through my apartment looking for stuff I don’t use or want to upgrade. So far I am happy with most of my stuff and don’t want to part with it. Of course I really didn’t want to part with my iPod but I kept running out of space on it.

Planning

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Yesterday we began to enact our departments 3 month project plan. All development projects for the next few months are out on the table so everyone knows what is going on.

Yesterday was another one of those days where half the day was spent in meetings. I did a lot of break fix stuff yesterday. I was not able to move along any major projects (that I can remember now).

It was busy. I didn’t even get to work on my new desktop machine. My HP Evo 330 that I use as my desktop computer at work was having hard drive issues. It keep rebooting and saying it can’t find one. I would have to play with the cables and it would start to work again. I didn’t have time to deal with that so I took a HP Evo 310 something and fixed it up. On tuesday I put a 200 gig drive in it, along with the 80 gig one that was there I now have plenty of space to put VMWare virtual machines. I also pulled out the burner from my 330 and put that in it too. The 510 is a decent machine now. I use this desktop mainly as a VMWare machine. I load it up with ton’s of virtual machines and I can switch between them when needed. I also sometimes use it as a backup box to my laptop. Mainly it is for VMWare. And you know how much I like VMWare:)