Tony's Links

Garbage collection

Unless you follow me on Twitter, you probably haven't heard a lot from me so I thought I'd take a few minutes and bring you current.

• I purchased a Panasonic KX-TG9343T cordless phone. It's a DECT 6.0 phone and supports the Open GAP standard (see the DECT Wikipedia reference) which should mean that it can operate as a handset in ANY DECT phone system.
• I'm looking into the snom m3 wireless VoIP phone. I'm staying away from 802.11 phonesets for the time being as I've heard they can be quite flakey and quirky. But it should be possible for my Panasonic handset to be an extension on the snom. We'll see when I get around to purchasing the snom.
• I'm looking into new mobile phones, the Nokia N96 being my current favorite non-Windows Mobile phone. For Windows Mobile, the new HTC Touch Diamond is looking really sweet and fast but the MWg Atom Life Windows Mobile 6 Edition is also looking really nice and quite a bit cheaper. No GPS on the MWg Atom Life, whereas both the N96 and the Touch Diamond have one.
• My old border router died. Fortunately, I bought an Airlink101 AR680W 300N Wireless Router a while back so I had new hardware on-hand. It took a few hours to configure it but it's working like a charm.
• I've tried about a dozen new betas and invitation-only sites to the point that I'm pretty much social-networked out. My favorite remains Twitter with FriendFeed running a close second.
• Twitterfeed is a good supporting site for Twitter in that it gets an abbreviated form of new blog entries that I create into Twitter.
• I've pretty much switched over to Digsby as my universal IM client. It allows me to login to the same service with multiple usernames and also allows me to login to my Twitter account and post new tweets.
• I'm running the Firefox 3 Portable App beta and am REALLY happy with it!
• And, to close before I completely bore you to death, I picked up Airlink101's newest Wireless Night Vision Network Camera and installed it. Sweet! Support full-motion video and "snapshots" by going to http://your-ip/cgi/jpg/image.cgi.

Take responsibility for your information stream

Yesterday I inxtalled CentOS on once of my laptops alongside WinXP. No big deal, it was a simple procedure, I just overlaid my old Fedora installation with it. But, as it was going on, I realized that I could no longer call to mind exactly how I would get myself out of any one of a hundred jams I could get myself into should something go wrong. Me, an avid techhound! What the heck happened to me? I work in the tech sector and have for years, I read all the blogs and do my best to stay current with trends and new technologies. So, I began looking at what I read on a daily basis. I looked through the RSS feeds and the folks I follow on Twitter ... and that's where I stopped. I'm reading so much, I don't have time to DO anymore!

So, what do I cut out? Well, that's another problem. I'm reading product reviews written by people who don't really USE the product they're reviewing. They give it a quick once-over and call it a review and seem to be in such a big hurry to get the review out that they don't do anything useful with it nor give give me any real useful information about it (you know who you are). And I'm reading more from people who produce the technological equivalent of celebrity gossip. You know what I mean -- they go to lunch with the technological glitterati and get email from insiders about upcoming "big things" and then dribble it out over the course of a day (and you know who you are). Does that help me in any way? No, not really, it just serves to distract me from the technological heart of things.

What did I conclude from this? It comes in two parts. I wish they were profound but they're not. They're not even new ... far from it! Ready? Here they are:

1) I need to be take more responsibility for what I read. I must weed out the useful from the not-useful. Lots of things catch my interest but will it help me?

2) The industry is generally directed by the loudest mouths, not necessarily the most knowledgeable.

That's all. Rant over.

Scooped again!

TechCrunch has just announced that WashingtonPost.com will be carrying their stories. That's great news for TechCrunch. Like a lot of newspapers, our own local newsrag, The San Jose Mercury News, is struggling. Why didn't they think of it? Or, for that matter, why didn't the (sometimes more tech savvy) San Francisco Chronicle? It's sad when the local newspapers of Silly-con Valley don't know enough to make use of local resources and talent. I hear lots of companies make noise about "eating their own dogfood". Rather than whine about loss of advertising revenue, downsize staff and shave paper and ink costs, wouldn't it make sense to take advantage of what's going on in your own locality? Grrrrrr ...

Yahoo vs. Skype vs. SIP

It's not news (anymore) that Yahoo's outsoucing their Yahoo Voice service to JaJah. What's news (to me) is that their dial-out service costs $0.01/minute for calls to the US and just under $30 for a dial-in number on an annual subscription ($2.49/month). Sounds like a good deal, right?

Skype's pay-as-you-go rate for calls to US numbers is $0.021/minute and $30/year for a dial-in number on an annual subscription.

Yahoo's USA per-minute rate is less than HALF what Skype charges on a per-minute basis. No-brainer, right? Wrong! Skype offers a monthly rate for unlimited calls to US numbers: $2.95. Yahoo doesn't offer an unlimited plan ... at least not that I could find.

I'm still paying less than that for my VoicePulse Connect service. If Skype opened their service to SIP without the need for translators and bridges like HipSip and Voxeo (see an explanation of how to make this work here), I'd jump.

Wireless VoIP phones

No, not 802.11 -- apparently those aren't all they're cracked up to be. No, I'm talking about DECT wireless VoIP phones.

Currently I've got a run-of-the-mill POTS phone plugged in to my Linksys SPA3102. That particular device can accept a PSTN line so I've got my landline plugged into it, too, allowing me to take and make VoIP calls and PSTN calls over my analog handset. This setup, while cheap, loses a lot of the advanced functionality afforded by VoIP.

Enter wireless VoIP handsets. Thanks to a few friends over at Twitter (@GarrettSmith and @VoIPSupply), I've found a couple that look promising. The snom m3 is my favorite but I'm hoping that Siemens will bring their C470 IP over to the United States soon. I'm looking for more information about the Polycom IP200W but, so far, nothing concrete has materialized.

Kindle's back in stock

Amazon's Kindle is back in stock and has been for a week or so. A nice personal-type of unboxing is available here (complete with wife and baby) at Josh Bancroft's Tiny Screenfuls.

I have a hard time laying out $400 for a grey-scale device but I think that's just a rationalization on my part. For $400 you get portable reading of LOTS of titles that are stored in the device or (pretty much) immediately downloadable from Amazon. Books and publications are relatively cheap so, all in all, if you're a reader, it's probably worth it.

Keyboarders, repeat after me: Win-B, Win-TAB

I work fast and don't want to be slowed down by moving from keyboard to mouse and back when I don't have to. Sure, there are situations where a mouse is the only way but, for me, those are really few and far between. If you're similarly inclined AND a Windows user, these tips are for you.

Windows + B will move focus to the system tray. Once there you can move between tray icons with the arrow keys. When you've highlighted the one you want, press the context menu key or Shift-F10 to open its context menu then use the arrow keys to navigate that menu. If you just want to execute the default action for that icon, hit Enter instead of the context menu key.

Windows + TAB will bring focus to the taskbar then you navigate from one app to another with the arrow keys. While there, Control + TAB will navigate among the system tray, Desktop, quick-launch bar and the task bar. At each focus point, the arrow keys will move you among the various items in that area. Again, the context menu key/Shift-F10 will open the context menu for each of those items. Enter, instead of the context menu key, will execute the default action, which usually opens the application.

After a few days with the MOTOROKR T505

I have to say I love it ... for $80. I wouldn't love it for $120 but I'd still like it a lot.

OK, details. My Motorola MOTOROKR T505 arrived this past Wednesday. $80, about, at this Newegg page.

I guess I should start with a short description. It's a Bluetooth speakphone with a built-in speaker. But the cool thing is it's got an FM transmitter, too, so it can send audio to the radio in your car. Why is that cool, you ask? Because it also does A2DP which means you can stream audio (read: music) to it and it'll forward that to your radio. And that's the main reason I was after something like it. I looked at other items like it, too. The Parrot PMK5800 is nice and powered (you plug it into your cigaratte lighter or whatever they call the power outlet in your car nowadays). There's got to be a problem with that, though, because that puts the microphone waaayyyyy below eye-level and, in my case, below the air conditioning outlets which would probably mean voice pickup wouldn't be as good. I also think that modern cars have their FM antenna in the window or the roof and that means reception's more difficult, too. The Venturi Mini has more features, including the ability to broadcast callerid to the radio using RDS, but, again, it plugs into a power outlet which puts it below my air conditioning vents.

So, I went with the Motorola unit. Call quality is excellent! I've got a Jabra BT8010 headset which also does A2DP and friends have told me that the Motorola speakerphone is clearer and rejects spurious sounds much better. Of course when I have calls piped through the stereo, I have no trouble hearing them, either.

The real question is how's the music? The volume's a little low and it's a little heavy on the bass for me but the separation is good and the fidelity is great. And I like the sound better than my BT8010. YMMV -- your ears may be better than mine, your car may be quieter or, well, who knows. But I like it. And I'm keeping it.

If you want more technical detail, download the Quick Start Guide from here. I've tried all the features except factory reset and they all work as advertised. But email or tweet me if you want more details.

Twitter's had it!

An update to my own weblog entry from a few days ago. Comcast has an official presence on Twitter now. @ComcastCares is there and he's listening. More than that, he's helping!

So, now that the suits know we're here, where do we go next?

Buddy has left the premises

Zoombak sells 2 devices in the US, both based on GPS and both incredibly simple: they keep track of things. Right now they're a tad expensive so you probably won't be tracking your keys with them but that day is coming! For the time being, you can attach one to your dog's collar to keep track of his location and the other you can put in your car for, well, the same reasons. Yes, there's a monthly charge but if you want it, you'll pay.

Why am I telling you about this? Well, for one, it's an interesting application of the technology but mainly it's because I think we're on the cusp of something big. We haven't seen a game-changer yet but one is coming, trust me. I don't know if it's technology (e.g. a new chip) or a new application of an existing technology but between Bluetooth-enabled devices, GPS and cellular technology, all the ingredients are there for a phenomenal location-aware service. We've already got LimeJuice (see this TechCrunch artcle) and they're not the first entry to that market.

So, heads-up!

Convert an PDF to a DOC? An MP3 to an AAC?

Zamzar is an onine service that converts files from one format to another. PDF to DOC or HTML, MP3 to WMA or AAC, BMP to JPG or TIFF, VOB to MOV or MPG, RAR to CAB or ZIP. Free version comes in two forms: registered user or not. Not registered users upload files and get a link back in email (that you provide when you upload the file) to download the converted file. Registered users can maintain multiple files on the site. Then there's the paid accounts. But try out the free, unregistered service first.

Device naming with the 2.6.20 kernel

Well, really, it's the result of updates to LibATA. Man, I really haven't been keeping up my Linux knowledge. Anyway, I happened across this post about it and it's worth reading if you have any confusion about how disks are named. A hint: all SCSI and ATA (PATA and SATA) are now /dev/sd* and ATAPI devices like CD and DVD drives are /dev/sr*

Comcast issues? Tweet about it!

Who woulda guessed that there's Comcast guy monitoring twitter? Sure enough, @wscottw3 is there. How'd I find out about it? Well, it turns out that @techcrunch was having problems with his connection. He tweeted about it and @chrispirillo replied that he should ping the guy. Go on, take a look at the tweets (here, here and here, for instance) as well as this Techcrunch blog post, I'll wait ...

And, to top it off, @wscottw's got some good posts in his weblog like this one which talks about getting started on Twitter including a short list of who to start following.

One more thing: if you are having problems with Comcast, either tweet @wscottw3 or use this form to send an email to Rick Germano, SVP of Customer Operations at Comcast. And, yes, I got that link from several of @wscottw's tweets.

And, in case you're too shy to ask, I'm tsum over on twitter.

Interesting and useful twittercasts

@HouseFloor is a twitter feed from the floor of the House of Representatives. @RedsoxCast is a twittercase of Red Sox games.

Xobni is supposed to help you organize your Outlook Inbox

I happened across Xobni today (Inbox, backwards ... ain't that cute!) It's an interesting idea and it looks like they've been around for quite a while in one form or another (their weblog goes back to April 17 of 2006). It's still an invitation-only beta but it looks like invitations aren't all that difficult to get. There's a little discussion of them in EmailDiscussions.com.

No, I haven't tried it and I'm not sure I'll have the time soon so if anyone has any experiences with them, please let me know.

Photoshop Express is up

Adobe's opened shop on their Photoshop Express site and, if you can't guess what it is, think Photoshop Elements on the web with 2GB of storage for free. You can publish your galleries/photos for others to see. They have links to Facebook, PhotoBucket and Picasa so you can get to the photos you've stored there. Haven't seen a way to upload photos from your phone or email photos to the service yet but I imagine they'll add that feature. And you don't have to actually sign up for an account if you don't want as they've got a try-me feature.

Turn Your 3G Phone Into A Hotspot

This Yahoo! news story says that TapRoot Systems has (will have?) some new software called "WalkingHotSpot". I haven't found anything on TapRoot's website yet but the article says it'll support Windows Mobile and Symbian 60 phones. The demo version, which is to be free to individuals, supports one WiFi connection at a time. Keep your eye on this, especially if you keep forgetting your USB cable like I do.

VoicePulse update -- I'm pleased

I started with VoicePulse Connect on January 10. As of today, I've used 972 minutes (a little over 16 hours). It's cost me a grand total of $10.64 or a little over a penny per minute. Service and call quality has been excellent and I haven't had to mess with my router for about 2 months.

If you're interested in the details or more about how to set it up for yourself, drop me a note. You know how to reach me -- tony at this domain.

Twitter bots

Many of you already know that twitter's an interesting site. Me, I'm still learning. Sure, there are lots of interesting folks out there but there are some also interesting and useful bots. One I just discovered, well a pair actually, are qr and rq. Together they manage a list of personal variables for you. Follow them, send a direct message to qr with the name of your variable and its value and you can get it back by sending a direct message to rq.

There's also timer which will send you a message after the specified interval has expired, and rtm which is the Twitter persona/interface to Remember The Milk.

If you know of any other interesting or useful bots, let me know.

Comcast and Plaxo: Comcast Universal Address Book

I'm a subscriber to Comcast's High Speed Internet service and I just got an email telling me that Comcast and Plaxo have joined forces to provide the Comcast Universal Address Book. I don't have much more information other than it's free to HSI customers and it's Plaxo's Premium service that goes for $49.95/year.

I've looked into Plaxo's services before and their premium service provides synchronization services across multiple computers, multiple email clients (Outlook, Thunderbird, etc.), LinkedIn, mobile phone and more. All in all, it looks like it's a win although I'll be tieing myself to Comcast. When I have a chance to look into it a bit more, I'll post more.