Random musings of a geek...

Creating Your Own eBooks

2005-06-03T10:57:00.000-07:00

I know there are a number of pretty good solutions out there for creating your own eBooks, but today I stumbled across a solution that seems better than most. A post over on BargainPDA.com turned me on to a solution called "Publish eBook" which is a simple solution for creating fairly rich ebooks for the eReader application. I have converted the first chapter of my first book (yeah...one day) and it worked really well. It has a lot of nice features like supporting inline images (simple ones) and hyperlinking quite well. It certainly deserves a look if you're interested in writing your own docs, converting reference manuals, or whatever.

Maybe one day I'll post the above mentioned chapter I threw together and get some geeks to review it and tell me if they would keep reading more or "put the book down"...

The Palm LifeDrive

2005-05-24T22:18:00.000-07:00

Just in case you subscribe to this feed without subscribing to the TinyScreenfuls feed, you should hop on over there and read a little about my impressions of the Palm LifeDrive. Here is the direct link to the post.

Staples EasyRebate

2005-05-24T08:54:00.000-07:00

I just got done filing an "Easyrebate" for an item I purchased at Staples last night. For those who have never used this new offering, instead of having to mail copies of the rebate form, receipt, and UPC to the retailer, you just log into a web page and enter the unique numbers on your receipt. Voila...no stamps, no copies, no hastle!

What an interesting process. Instead of having paying an army of data entry personnel somewhere, why not let the customer enter the data for you? I think that Staples might be on to something here. It saves them money and it was easier for me than having to snail mail a hard copy of everything to them. I like the concept if it can simplify the process of getting a rebate. I'll post something here when I actually see the cash.

BTW, I bought a SanDisk Cruzer Micro and I'll write up my impressions at another time.

I Think I’ll Write My Congressman :^)

2005-05-20T10:07:00.000-07:00

I think I’m a pretty even-keeled person in general. There are not that many things that I get terribly passionate about – well, outside of the world of technology, that’s true anyway. This morning it happened though.

I opened a reference document from a company that my employer does tens of millions of dollars worth of business with every year. That document was hands down the ugliest professional literature I have ever seen. There was no attempt at formatting of any kind and the sections of the document all ran together into one nasty stream of literary trash. But to rub salt into the wound, the entire document was written in Times New Roman – undeniably the world’s ugliest font (courier comes in a close second).

It is really time to move beyond that ugly typeface! Why do word processing developers still make that the default font for all new documents? It gives rise to ugly documents from people who are too lazy to change the font to something that is actually pleasant to read. Since I don’t think I can convince Microsoft or Word Perfect to change the default, I’ve decided to write to my congressman and ask him to sponsor a bill to outlaw Times New Roman. What do you think, would you vote for it if it came up on the November ballot?

Loving My Creative Zen Micro

2005-05-18T15:24:00.000-07:00

A little over a week ago, I made a post over on Tinyscreenfuls.com about my "new" Creative Zen Micro. My comments at the time were positive, and I just have to say that I am loving this device! Monday night at Costco I took a few minutes to play with the iPod Photo they had there and it only confirmed my impressions. The interface to the Zen was more intuitive to me than the iPod's.

What prompted this post is that earlier today I was doing a little fumbling around eBay and noticed that you can pick up a 4GB Hitachi microdrive pretty darn cheap. I got to thinking that as much as I love the Creative, that it would be nice if I could eliminate a device from my arsenal. As a test, I dropped a few MP3 files onto my Dell Axim X50v and listened to them while working today. As good as the sound quality is on the Axim, there is a constant hiss in the background when you play media files that I am sure would lead me to an early death. The sound quality of the Creative may have spoiled me for life...as a matter of fact, I might have to invest in a pair or really nice Sennheiser headphones.

My original post over on Tinyscreenfuls was really just a first impressions review. I will have to do a follow-up with more detail some time fairly soon.

Addicted to Batteries

2005-05-17T16:22:00.000-07:00

Alright, it’s time to come clean: I have an addiction to batteries. I am often completely obsessed with batteries and battery life. The usage model for most gadgets I own is dictated by the battery life of the device. For example, I would love to do more surfing from my Dell Axim X50v, but I don’t because I am afraid of running the battery down. My laptop is often used on A/C power because I don’t want the battery to get too low. I am admittedly a sick man.

You want to know the really sick part? My concern really kicks in if the battery gets below about 60%. Why 60% you might ask? Well, what if I am suddenly called out of the house for a national emergency and don’t have enough battery power on my cell phone to have that 4 hour conference call between me, the President of the U.S. and the Secretary-General of the UN? I can’t explain it, it doesn’t make sense, but for some strange reason, I’m afraid of running out of battery power somewhere.

So, if you know about some 10-step program for batteryaholics, please let me know. Until then, if you’re interested in a cool, free utility your battery power in the forefront of your Pocket PC focus, there’s a great app called Powerstatus that you can get from PocketGear or PocketPCFreewares. :^)

Been Gone For a While

2005-05-17T16:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I’ve been out of the loop for a while. I’ve been terribly busy finishing up my graduate degree at the University of Portland and trying to otherwise manage my life. I have been dedicating all of my geek writing to the Tinyscreenfuls blog for the last couple of months (which hasn’t been much - sorry Josh!). Well, now that I have graduated and am trying to get caught back up on other interests in life, I will be writing more here at Random Musings. I am going to continue to keep posting on Tinyscreenfuls, but I’ve got a lot to say that’s not completely consistent with the theme of that site.

So, I’m back in the saddle and will be posting my observations and other “random musings” here and more serious reviews and such over at Tinyscreenfuls.

Phone trees...

2005-03-07T11:49:00.000-08:00

There exists a necessary evil in our society that you experience any time you call for service on just about anything. From issues as diverse as questions about your cell phone plan to changing your primary care provider, when you call customer service, you NEVER get to speak to a person right away. We all know this and most of us have just grown to accept the reality of the situation. There is something new coming in this space that I absolutely cannot stand though!

The current generation of phone trees that are voice driven are a step in the wrong direction. They are offered as a high-tech, friendly new way to interface with the system (as if we were too lazy in our society to even push the button now), but the technology is just not there yet. My single largest frustration is that they pick up on too much of the background noise. I tried to call our cell phone provider the other day while my wife was driving with a car full of kids - that was a joke! It kept telling me, "OK, I can help you..." even when I started telling it, "Apparently not!"

What they really need to do is build in an ability to detect when users get to the point that they are yelling, "WOULD EVERYONE SHUT UP SO THAT I CAN GET SOME #$&^*! HELP?" and transfer you straight to a person - now that would be useful!

I know that phone trees aren't going to go away, but they need to be carefully designed. I swear that Cingular employees have never called their own customer service - if they had, surely they would revise that menu!

New SOP for listening to podcasts

2005-03-04T14:28:00.000-08:00

If you own a Pocket PC and listen to podcasts, there is something you’ve got to try. In our world of too much to do in not enough time, I have found a way to decrease the time it takes me to listen to podcasts. Here’s what I’m doing: I’ve installed betaplayer on my Pocket PC and download the MP3 file for the podcast I am interested in to my SD card. In betaplayer, I go into the “Options” menu and adjust the playback speed to 120% or 150% (as high as I can go and still follow the conversation).

It’s an awful lot like listening to Mickey Mouse do a podcast, but when I crank the speed up to 150%, I can listen to a 40 minute podcast in about 27 minutes! I have learned to look past the funny voices and now that I have been doing this for a while, the standard playback speed sounds way too slow!

So give it a try and let me know what you think…

Note: If you listen to podcasts from your PC (which I occasionally do as background noise while I work), Windows Media Player 10 has variable playback speed capability and will allow you to do the same thing.

Digital paper - cool stuff!

2005-03-04T11:34:00.000-08:00

Last night at school, we had a guest lecturer from a local tech company (sorry to be vague, but I don’t know how much he was supposed to tell us). He is a sales account manager for a lot of very big hotel chains. I had the chance to talk to him about technology and what he has to offer the hotels.

One of his products they are currently pushing is digital paper. He said they make for great conference room agendas and maps because they can be updated frequently via wireless and consume no power once they have been updated. He said they hope to eventually have a small sheet hanging next to the door in every room that gets customized for each guest. It would say something like, “Welcome back to the Portland Marriott Mr. Jarvis, you have one message waiting for you at the front desk and the concierge has booked the limo you requested.” Or something like that! :^)

Cool stuff and it’s finally more than a rumor on Engadget.

What's in your recycling bin?

2005-03-04T11:14:00.000-08:00

I just cleaned out the recycling bin on my laptop and reclaimed 5 Gigs of disk space! The scary thing was that it wasn't like there were any really big files or directories - it was tons of small stuff! I know that I never go check the contents of the bin and in the past I have been amazed by how much gets in there, but that's a lot of space. How 'bout you...how much is in your recycling bin?

Poor customer service

2005-02-28T09:41:00.000-08:00

I wrote last time about having had a pretty good experience with Lakeridge Software. I thought that today I would write to even up the good support verses bad support score. For the life of me, I cannot get Dinarsoft (the company who makes MemMaid) to reply to my emails. Since I switched to my Dell, my old registration code for their software won't work. I will make a third request to their support today, but I am getting more than a little annoyed at their poor service.

They have a thing or two they could learn from Lakeridge! It seem's like Josh's Cluetrain (not his personal theory, but he's a great advocate) has left the station without a representative from Dinarsoft onboard.

A twisted thought...

2005-02-25T23:45:00.000-08:00

There was a great web page and tool announced earlier this week that will generate a really cool graphical link for your Gmail account. I was on their web site when I had a really diabolical thought: what a great way to harvest valid email addresses! Now l am not saying that this developer is harvesting - as a matter of fact, I think it is a cool way to give back to the community...but just think what someone with ulterior motives could do with a friendly “service” like this!

A positive support experience...

2005-02-25T17:10:00.000-08:00

I have been trying to make a conscious effort not to make my blog become too Pocket PC-centric. Since that’s the gadget of the week though, it’s tough! :^)

Today I had a good experience (well, it turned out good) with some tech support that I wanted to share with the blogosphere. I was having a lot of problems getting Wisbar Advance to install correctly on my Pocket PC. No matter what I tried, I could not get the application to install anywhere but in my Built-in Storage. I finally resorted to sending an email to their support email address out of sure frustration. Much to my surprise, I had a response within 5 minutes - and it wasn’t even a canned response!

The response to my question was MUCH faster than I expected and Chris came across like one of the good ol’ boys. He asked me good questions over a series of email messages without implying I didn’t know what I was doing (which I know from years of tech support can be a tough thing to do sometimes). It was nice to work with someone who took support seriously. I wish that every tech support request was this positive, but I’ve had more than my share of bad experiences with HP, T-mobile, and more! Kudos to you Lakeridge Software!

A twisted thought...

2005-02-25T14:04:00.000-08:00

On ActiveSync

2005-02-22T09:11:00.000-08:00

Just one of those days to stop and think about things I’m thankful for…

Microsoft ActiveSync has been receiving kudos from me over the last week. There are those times when it doesn’t work so well and times when it does and I guess I am in the heart of the good times now. When I first got my new Dell, I downloaded version 3.8, but I had a number of issues with file conversion (specifically for Word documents). I received a lot of errors about not being able the converter not working and as a result, the files wouldn’t sync.

When I had my lock-up last week and needed to rebuild my device, I decided to step down to the 3.7.x version of the software and ever since, syncing has been seamless. Documents and PIM data are always up to date and changes are reflected on my PDA the moment they are committed on my PC. It is a nice change back from the days of having to manually sync my Palm by hitting the HotSync button. I think that MS has got a better solution for PDA syncing than Palm.

SMT5600 is more like a PC than a phone

2005-02-18T17:18:00.000-08:00

One of the things I like about the Audiovox is that it isnt just a black box like most all phones. What do I mean by that? Well, let me explain...
Most cell phones are just an appliance. They make and receive calls best and manage to do a few other things like check POP mail or browse WAP sites. Even in today's world of camera phones and the like, the expandability and customization of most phones is really limited. Sure, on my 3650, I can decide if I want the background to be blue or green, but on the Smart Phone platform, expandabitity is limited only by developers imagination.
Now I know there are SDK's available for Symbian and lots of phones can run Java apps, but they are nothing like the apps that can be developed for the Windows mobile platform. I am not a crazed Microsoft supporter, but I am all for using what works best and in my opinion, MS has got this space nailed! Out of the box, I can sync easily with my PC, listen to MP3 files, surf the internet (with a fairly good browser), pull down email at regular intervals, chat with friends, personalize my phone until the cores come home, and much more!
In summary, I am one of those people who won't run a device the way it came out of the box and I have been pleased with the flexibility of the Audiovox!

SMT5600 is more like a PC than a phone

2005-02-18T17:05:00.000-08:00

One of the things I like about the Audiovox is that it isnt just a black box like most all phones. What do I mean by that? Well, let me explain...

Most cell phones are just an appliance. They make and receive calls best and manage to do a few other things like check POP mail or browse WAP sites. Even in today's world of camera phones and the like, the expandability and customization of most phones is really limited. Sure, on my 3650, I can decide if I want the background to be blue or green, but on the Smart Phone platform, expandabitity is limited only by developers imagination.

Now I know there are SDK's available for Symbian and lots of phones can run Java apps, but they are nothing like the apps that can be developed for the Windows mobile platform. I am not a crazed Microsoft supporter, but I am all for using what works best and in my opinion, MS has got this space nailed! Out of the box, I can sync easily with my PC, listen to MP3 files, surf the internet (with a fairly good browser), pull down email at regular intervals, chat with friends, personalize my phone until the cores come home, and much more!

In summary, I am one of those people who won't run a device the way it came out of the box and I have been pleased with the flexibility of the Audiovox!

Back in the saddle

2005-02-17T23:26:00.000-08:00

So, l searched the web for ideas about what might have caused the problem with my Dell. The only thing I could find was a posting on Aximsite that suggested I check to make sure the battery was fully seated - no dice! I performed a hard reset, built everything up from ground zero, and now things are back to normal...but this time I made a backup of my default build!!!

Doh!

2005-02-17T13:24:00.000-08:00

I think it’s so ironic that just this morning I was thinking that my Dell has been the most stable Pocket PC I have ever owned and during lunch today I received the following error message:

A memory error has been detected. Press [the contacts button] to correct the error. If the system does not boot, press [Power]+[Reset] to clear all data in the memory and reboot the system.

Pressing the contacts button does not work, so I get to rebuild my handheld. Oh joy!

I love my new Axim X50v, but...

2005-02-16T16:46:00.000-08:00

There always seem to be those features to an otherwise great product that make you wonder what was going in the engineer's mind who designed it. The Dell has a couple of those, but the one I want to share with the world today is recharging over USB. It's great that the Dell has this functionality [kinda].

I can't figure out why the charging completely stops when the device powers on. Why doesn't it try and trickle charge while it's in use? I had hoped that the USB cable would at least maintain the existing charge, but I have been disappointed. If you keep your Axim plugged in to the USB sync cable and powered on, the battery slowly drains. What I haven't yet established is if the battery drains at the same rate it would if the cable weren't even plugged in. Maybe some testing is in order.

Hmm...I would like to talk to the person (or team) at Dell that made that decision.

I have been in PDA heaven!

2005-02-13T22:05:00.000-08:00

So, at the encouragement of others, I decided to make the insane drive down to the UPS distribution center and pick up my PDA on Friday. I am very glad I did!

The Dell X50v is so nice! The VGA screen is absolutely amazing, the wireless connectivity is nice, performance is good, and the battery life isn’t as bad as I feared it would be. I have been very satisfied with my purchase to this point – it was worth every penny I pad for it!

I have spent the weekend getting applications installed that I used before my switch to Palm and getting everything tweaked the way I want it. Starting tomorrow, I’ll literally be putting it to work where I consider the weekend’s effort more play than work.

I will try and write up more of my experiences with the device and post them here.

World's Smallest 8GB Flash Drive

2005-02-11T16:07:00.000-08:00

I think that this 8 Gig USB drive is a great idea. I would love to see the day when I can carry all of my personal files around with me everywhere I go. When I can have all of my data with me at school, work, home, or wherever I go, I will be a happy camper. I know this isn't the only way we can achieve this goal...you could easily carry everything on the hard drive of your iPod and services exist to allow access to your home PC over the internet...but they aren't as convenient as a USB drive! Even taking your laptop everywhere isn't as convenient as carrying everything in your pocket!

I already carry a USB drive, but my 512 MB unit is not enough for all of my data and I find myself having to judiciously decide what resides on it. Eight gigs is a really good step in the right direction though! That's enough space to carry all of my documents and a pretty good collection of multimedia content as well.

Sure, there are more than a couple of problems like loss, theft, security and other concerns, but I personally think we will see the portable media storage market grow stronger over time. Time will be the real test.

Sometimes I think I'm so pathetic

2005-02-11T15:48:00.000-08:00

I was pleasently surprised that my Dell x50v shipment (that went out via 3-5 day UPS Ground) arrived at my house in 2 days! The bad news: I wasn't there to sign for it. The problem is that I live 22 miles (thanks to Google Maps) from the UPS customer center where the package is. The real pathetic thing: I can't wait until Monday to get the package and have decided to drive down to the facility in rush hour traffic after work.

It doesn't make logical sense, I know that, but when was the last time that you were able to make a logical decision about something as emotional as a BRAND NEW HANDHELD???

So later tonight, I should be able to spend some time playing with my new PocketPC - I'm about as giddy as a kid in a candy store. Now if someone would just buy my Palm on eBay!!!

Maybe I need professional help!

2005-02-08T11:07:00.000-08:00

Well, I've come full circle on my PDA dilemma over the last 3 months (see posts from September and October). At the expense of my wife saying, "I told you so!" I have listed my Tungsten T3 on Ebay. As much as I have LOVED the stability of the device, the slide-out screen with GREAT resolution, fantastic battery life, and really simple synchronizing, I miss much of the multimedia experience of the Pocket PC platform. I guess old habits just die hard! :^)

This is the fastest I have ever turned around a PDA. I usually hang on to them about a year before I feel the itch, but this time around has been different. And you can absolutely guarantee that my wife is going to insist that I hang on to whatever I replace the T3 with for a decade or more! I would be curious how long the reading audience out there goes between PDA refreshes - how long can you hold on to a PDA before you have to replace it?

Audiovox SMT5600 Windows SmartPhone Review

2005-02-08T09:20:00.000-08:00

This morning, I caught a review of the Audiovox I have been using over at Bargain PDA. I usually like their reviews and this one is no exception. I would agree with much of what they say, but do have some points that I differ on. I will be writing these up over on tinyscreenfuls.com and will post to this page when I do.

Test Driving the Audiovox SMT5600

2005-02-07T16:16:00.000-08:00

I just posted my initial thoughts on the Audiovox SMT5600 over at tinyscreenfuls.com so go on over there and check it out. I'll share just my conclusion here as a teaser:

The general impression is favorable, but I am starting to wonder if a smart phone is for me or not. I will talk about this as well as breaking out many of the items listed above in future posts, so stay tuned…

Bought something low-tech over the weekend

2005-02-07T10:44:00.000-08:00

As part of a counter-revolution to my typical digital drive, I purchased something this week that doesn't understand binary!

I haven't worn a watch in quite a while, but I recently came to the realization that I was constantly digging my phone out of my pocket or my PDA out of my bag just to find out what time it is. My frustration with having to do that finally culminated in a decision to buy a watch...but which one of 10 billion options? Josh recently purchased a Fossil MSN Direct watch - which is certainly the geekiest option…but I decided to choose something from the complete opposite end of the Fossil spectrum.

Although the watch I chose is not a purely mechanical (wind-up) watch, it's the first I have bought in probably 15 years that didn't include an LCD. It’s almost funny to think that there are actually moving gears inside! It can’t do email, remind me of appointments, connect to the internet, or even recharge – it only tells time. How 17th century! :^)

I've got George Jetson syndrome!

2005-02-07T08:20:00.000-08:00

Last night in the kitchen, I looked down to find blood on the countertop. A quick investigation found out that I had cut the end of my middle finger. It didn’t even hurt at the time, but it’s amazing how much a very small little cut in your finger can effect your ability to type well. We are such a keyboard society - I find it so completely ironic that we used to laugh at George Jetson’s finger problems on the old cartoon.

Later today I hope to post my first impressions about the Audiovox SMT5600…so stay tuned (my finger doesn’t impact the use of the phone since it’s all about thumbs!) :^)

Trying out a smart phone

2005-02-04T13:33:00.000-08:00

Josh from www.tinyscreenfuls.com has graciously loaned of his Audiovox SMT5600 for a while to give the Smart Phone platform a test drive. I will have a review of the device once I have been able to form an opinion. My first impression: this is the coolest phone I have ever used!

I'm open to any suggestions of must-have software or can't-live-without features!

Who cares what I think? - The Office Weblog

2005-02-03T13:19:00.000-08:00

Who cares what I think? - The Office Weblog - office.weblogsinc.com

What a great write-up! I couldn't agree with Marc more on this one. I have silently read his blog for quite a while now, but this post is worth commenting on. It is a concise rebuttal to an argument that absolutely drives me nuts!

Maybe I worked too long in IT and listened to one too many heated arguments about the supremacy of Linux over Windows (or vice-versa, depending on audience). From now on, maybe I'll just point people in Marc's direction!

Thanks Marc!

Cleaning up podcasts

2005-02-01T21:15:00.000-08:00

The other day, I pulled down a couple of podcasts to listen to on the way down to school. One I have listened to a number of times in the past and the other was a recommendation from a friend. My experience made me want to petition publishers to consider cleaning things up some. Now in all fairness, I am one of the most conservative people on the planet, but I personally do not want to listen to someone rolling and smoking their marijuana or describing their intimate encounters in their podcast.

I would love to be able to listen to podcasts with my wife (or even kids) in the car, but I don't ever feel like I can. One of the podcasts I listened to made me squirm (just before I deleted it from my Muvo) and I was alone in my truck. I just don't think that's necessary and I'm not alone on this either. A good friend of mine who is more politically open-minded said that he too was downloading some podcasts that he would never listen to in mixed company (and has stopped listening to a couple of shows altogether).

The other thing I have noticed is that guys who do podcasts seem to slip even further down the path of vulgarity when they are joined by other guys. Adam Curry and Dave Winer seem to exhibit this behavior - together, they use far more colorful language than either of them do on their own. I think it's too bad because they are very intelligent people with some great ideas, but speaking like they do doesn't help convey that message.

Now I'm not calling for a rating system, censorship, or anything else, but what I am saying is that I have stopped listening to some fairly interesting programs because they can't keep it clean. I'll vote with my feet and listen to programs that are less offensive to me, but it's too bad that it's not going to include some of the most popular titles in the RSS world.

Isn't technology great???

2005-02-01T21:11:00.000-08:00

I have been feeling so lousy lately that I have done very little that doesn't facilitate the sustaining of life. I haven't posted here in several weeks. Yesterday I went to the doctor finally to find out that I have a sinus infection. I am hoping that the drugs will relieve my misery soon.

What does this have to do with technology? Well, I have found that I can get quite a bit lying in my [almost] death bed. Centrino technology is a wonderful thing that will allow you to still die and get some work done from home while doing it...thanks Intel! In all seriousness, it has been good to be able to use my laptop wherever I am comfortable.

Reverence for gadgets

2004-12-17T14:21:00.000-08:00

This morning while I was getting for work, I got to thinking about the gadgets that so many of us take for granted every day. I was thinking about ENIAC and how tremendously large that system was for how little it did (by today's standards). We now carry orders of magnitude more computing ability in our smartphones than this first computer packed into more than 30 tons of wiring and vacuum tubes. ENIAC’s designers would probably not believe the modern computing achievements.

I work for a firm that develops computing silicon. We pack millions of transistors into an area the size of a penny. How can you not sit back and feel bewildered about this ability? We're talking about stuff that's so small you can't see it with a normal microscope - isn't that amazing? The development that has taken place over the last 100 years has been absolutely amazing. Just think about what technology was like a century ago:

Experiencing state of the art communication meant you received a telegraph
Higher octane fuel for your transportation meant oats instead of hay
Engineering faster computing meant creating a slide rule that experienced less friction
Word processing meant arranging the movable type in the one press in town

So what’s the point? Stop and think about your gadgets and what they do for you and do something nice for them. Get crazy and clean all of those fingerprints off your PDA or splurge and buy a set of Duracells for your GPS. In all seriousness, we’ve got it pretty good…every once in a while it’s good to sit back and remember that when we’re complaining because we’re only getting download speeds of 150 KB/s.

MSN Desktop Search problems

2004-12-14T11:29:00.000-08:00

I downloaded the MSN Desktop Search tool yesterday, but got pretty frustrated because I couldn’t get it to index my email. I use Outlook as my default email client, but the search options would not allow me to select Outlook (it had selected Outlook Express and wouldn’t let go).

Josh helped me get around my problem by suggesting that I change the default mail client on my start menu and switch it back. At first, I questioned this because I had tried this solution yesterday through the Internet Options in the Control Panel. After a moment, I came to the realization that I had nothing to lose, so I followed his advice and it worked. So, if you find yourself in the same dilemma, here’s what you do to fix it:

Right-click on your “Start Button” and choose “Properties”
Make sure you are on the “Start Menu” tab and click on the “Customize...” button
In the drop-down menu for the E-mail app at the bottom of the window, change your client to “Outlook Express”
Click “OK” to close the window and “OK” on the next window to close everything.
Repeat steps 1-3, but this time, select “Microsoft Office Outlook” for your email client
Tell Microsoft Desktop Search to “Index Now”
Voila - that’s it…now search your email!

Happy searching!

Mobile computing applications

2004-12-01T16:36:00.000-08:00

I have noticed a monumental difference in the software available on the Palm platform compared to the PocketPC. I think this difference is best summarized by noting that Palm has the breadth and PocketPC has the depth in the software solution space.

I have to say that I have been impressed with the variety of apps available for my Palm. I get the impression that there are more Palm developers out there, but that the platform doesn't easily lend itself to feature rich applications. Perhaps the most obvious application that illustrates this limitation is Adobe Reader for Palm. This has got to be one of the most disappointing downloads on the internet. The presentation, features, and usability are all light years behind the same title for PocketPC. I personally think this is probably due to Palm’s concern over providing backward compatibility with previous models. Sure, you can find some little app that will track your pets' birthdays that will work on your brand new T5 and your neighbor's ten year old Palm Professional, but chances are it is going to look horrible on both.

On your PocketPC however, it will be harder to find those cool little obscure apps (and they're more likely to be shareware than freeware) but what is available is often more appealing and feature-rich. For example, if you want to expand the basic PIM functionality on your PDA, you may look at Pocket Informant for the PocketPC or Agendus for the Palm. Having used both, I can say that Pocket Informant has more functionality and considerably more eye candy than it's Palm equivalent. There are exceptions of course. For example, there is a fantastic freeware calculator for the Palm called Easy Calc that I absolutely love. I searched high and low for an equivalent application in my price range for my PocketPC and never found anything that was even close. My general observation has been that exceptions aside, PocketPC applications are generally more appealing.

All of this having been said, I am not ready to declare a champion either way. The jury is definitely still out on the issue, and I will try to post more on this subject at another time.

Laptop design requirements

2004-11-24T09:41:00.000-08:00

I have discovered that I have a design requirement for laptops that I was unaware of. At work, they had to swap out my laptop due to power management issues I was having with my previous unit. The replacement is exactly the same except for one thing - the keyboard. This new keyboard is the loudest keyboard I have typed on in a long time! It makes it very difficult to work in meetings or other places where you want to be quiet.

Each keypress is loud. It's probably not as loud as I think it is, but it feels like I am trying to sneak up on someone in the forest by riding an elephant. Maybe if I would listen in meetings instead of send email and write blog posts, I wouldn't have this guilty conscience! :) As it is, I feel about as stealthy as a bank robber using a bright-yellow school bus for a getaway vehicle.

Getting GMail on my T3

2004-11-17T15:51:00.000-08:00

I think one of the things that my Palm is best at is reading text. I read tons of e-books, web pages, email, and other content on it all the time. I was excited when I read that GMail was going to make their email POP accessible, but I ran into a bump trying to get it going on my T3 today.

The configuration is very straight forward with the configuration information that Google provides except for the fact that Versamail will not support STARTTLS (or SSL) for SMTP connections. The workaround: use a different provider for SMTP access that uses ESMTP for authentication (or none at all if your email provider does not use authentication). No one ever said that you have to use the same provider for your outgoing mail and mail recipients don't know any different either. It works perfectly and looks like it came from my gmail address.

I don't know if anyone else out there is going to have issues getting it configured, but just in case someone does a Google search for "receiving gmail on Palm T3" maybe this post will help some. I'll answer any specifics via email if it ever comes up.

It is time to clean house!

2004-11-17T09:55:00.000-08:00

Man, I sat down in front of a PC at school last night that was lightening fast! It responded to commands almost instantly and applications opened in the blink of an eye! When I completed the tasks I initially set out to do, I went to the system stats to see what was under the hood of this speed demon. I couldn't believe that it was only a 2 gig system with 512MB of RAM.

The only real difference between this system and mine at home is how little is installed on it. It has MS office installed and almost nothing else. It made me realize how encumbered my system at home has become after a couple of years worth of installs and uninstalls of the software interest of the week on it. This experience has really stirred my desire to rebuild my system (something that I periodically succumb to).

That fresh build performance is calling my name and I can't ignore it! The countdown has begun to rebuild and you can bet that the time to rebuild will be measured in days now, not weeks or months.

How about you, how often do you purge your system?

Contemplating an MP3 player

2004-11-16T16:37:00.000-08:00

Many may disagree with me, but I think that MP3 players fall safely within the geeky category. Agreeably, some are more geeky than others, but even though they have been adopted by the masses, I still think they're geeky.

I have held off on buying one about as long as I think I can. In the search, I think I have narrowed the choice down to just a few. I want something large enough to carry my whole MP3 collection (which isn't all that big), but also want to be able to use it as something of a portable hard drive. The leading options are the Apple iPod (20 GB version) and a new-found interest, the iAUDIO M3 by JetAudio.

The M3 is a pretty cool device that would allow me to record NPR's Car Talk on Saturday mornings (since both my wife and my children beg me to listen to something else) and then listen to it later in the week. It would also allow me to listen to local radio stations without burning my employer's network bandwidth. It's certainly not as standard as the iPod is though (didn't think I'd ever say that about an Apple product!).

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

If you have an opinion, I would take it...

Palm T3 battery life

2004-11-16T16:28:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend I experienced what I thought was better-than-average battery life from my T3 that I wanted to share. The last time before the weekend that I charged my Palm was on Thursday (since my cradle was at work and I worked from home on Friday). I used the device as I always do (powered on about two hours a day) over the weekend. I was surprised that on Monday morning, the battery was still showing 40% - not bad for what turned out to be 4 days of use.

Another thing that surprised me is that it recharged back to 100% in about 40 minutes during my first meeting of the day on Monday. The reason why I wanted to share is that the recharge time made me realize that this performance was noticeably better than my iPaq 2215. Both the discharge and recharge times were superior to my T3's predecessor.

It doesn't take much to get some geeks excited!

True mobile computing

2004-11-11T09:42:00.000-08:00

This has got to be one of the coolest setups I have ever seen!

This is so close to my vision of true mobile computing that it is
frightening! I think that this type of solution is truly the computing
platform of the future. You can work from anywhere you are with full
processing capability. About all I can say is that I am terribly jealous -
way to go JK!

CF Hard drives?

2004-11-11T09:20:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I read that compactflash manufacturers have now hit the 8GB storage milestone. It got me to thinking again that one day solid-state media may find itself installed in laptops in place of hard drives. As an IT professional, I found that hard drives are by far the most common failure in laptops...that wouldn't be so with solid state media. In addition to greater durability, there may even be power benefits to using solid-state media for storage as well. The one thing I am really not sure about is that solid-state media is rumored to have a limited number of write cycles (????).

I know there are performance issues with digital media being slower than typical hard drives, but I think that one day we will see that problem overcome. It's already conceivable that you could use RAID with these smaller existing CF cards to stripe data and increase performance. I wouldn't mind having a laptop without any moving parts, how 'bout you?

Some thoughts on platform

2004-11-10T09:44:00.000-08:00

I have been enjoying a new sense of platform independence lately. With the use of my USB storage device as my primary drive for current documents, I find that I am able to work on documents on many different computers (part of the time on my home PC, some on my work laptop, and some on computers at school). It dawned on me last night that not only am I working on different hardware, but also different platforms and doing it fairly seamlessly. For example, I did part of my work last night on a Mac at school when I am primarily a Windows person...but Word, Adobe Reader, and Internet Explorer didn't care about that!

I am excited to see software developers make the effort to make applications cross-platform friendly. I personally envision a day when not just your data, but your applications will also follow you around on a portable device of yet-to-be-determined form. If your word processor was installed to your portable device, not only could you work on documents anywhere, but you'd get to keep your familiar toolbar layout and other personal preferences. At that point, the hardware each person uses may become even less of an issue than it is today. I could be completely wrong here, but I think that mobile computing is really still in its infancy.

If today I can work on my IBM laptop, home-brewed desktop system, school-provided HP PC's and Macintosh G4's, and my Palm PDA...what great stuff is coming in the future? I am not sure, but am excited to find out!

Some thoughts on OpenOffice

2004-11-05T21:26:00.000-08:00

In an earlier post, I said that I am more inclined to use a product based on its merits than on it's brand. As a testament to that claim, I have been finding myself using OpenOffice more and more lately. It is a good product that does a number of things very nicely. Now don't get me wrong, I love Microsoft Office and consider myself a very good salesman for the product, but it is not a perfect product.

There are a number of things I like about OpenOffice, but let me give just one example of something it does very well. For school, right now I am doing a lot of article writing of pieces that are getting posted on a web page I don't control. To insure that my work remains my work, I wanted to publish PDF files. I am not personally aware of any way to save a Word document in PDF format, but OpenOffice has a "publish to PDF" button on the toolbar. The resulting file maintains formatting almost perfectly.

There is a LOT of room for improvement for OpenOffice, but rest assured that this geek will be keeping an eye on it.

Feeling giddy about being blue

2004-11-03T07:28:00.000-08:00

Bluetooth has been one of those technologies that I have really wanted to embrace, but couldn’t find much of a use for it. Well, that issue has been resolved and I am glad to say that Bluetooth is treating me very well. I spent several hours trying to get things configured so that I could surf the web wirelessly at home with my Palm via Bluetooth and finally came off victorious! I can now surf the web via GPRS (through Bluetooth) when I am away from home and via Internet Connection Sharing (through Bluetooth) when I am home.

Connectivity is better than I feared it would be. Our home is pretty small and the Bluetooth coverage is just about perfect for connectivity without worrying about whether my neighbors or some wardriver are stealing my internet connection (which I have never been too paranoid about anyway). It works through the walls as well as upstairs and down. Only when I combine the floor with multiple walls between my USB Bluetooth dongle and my PDA do I lose the signal. It seems just as fast as 802.11b was on my iPAQ.

Now that I have it working, I think this is a great technology that is under-utilized. The whole notion of a PAN (Personal Area Network) has taken on new interest for me. Not only can I share my internet connection with my PDA, but I can sync over the same medium and the possibilities beyond that are exciting. I thought that the car PC’s (previous post) Bluetooth connectivity through GPRS was a great implementation of this technology. There really are a lot of uses for a low-power, close-range network connection. I guess now I need to buy a new Bluetooth mouse, keyboard, headphones . . .

Car PC - way cool!

2004-10-24T22:31:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I saw one of the coolest geeky things I have ever seen at J.P.'s Car PC Weblog.

There is something about the concept of having a PC in your car that is interesting to me. I was actually thinking about this concept a few months ago (that it would be nice to be able to have GPS and at least part of my MP3 collection in particular). It would also be cool to let the kids play their computer games on the road. We have been thinking about adding a DVD system to our family van anyway - instead of spending $400 on an entertainment system, why not put that money toward a car PC?

Well, to be completely honest, I thought that some of those stripped down pictures of J.P.'s Jeep made me a little nervous. I think that my wife would kill me if I started taking interior panels off our Odyssey.

Enough with the holy wars already!

2004-10-19T22:59:00.000-07:00

I’ve been using my Palm for just more than two weeks now and I am pleased to say that I am enjoying it quite a bit. I have largely adjusted to the small nuances that bugged me at first and have found an actual increase in my productivity with the Palm. I find it very interesting that Microsoft’s support for their own office documents is so weak in the Pocket PC world (or even more surprising that there have been no real changes to the applications since they were first released). That’s another post though.

Thinking about the switch-over has returned me to a long-standing question about the technology holy wars that so many people propagate. I have worked in the IT industry for years and if I hear even one more Windows vs. UNIX vs. Macintosh discussion, I will probably just fall over dead on the spot. Then there’s MS Word vs. WordPerfect or Intel vs. AMD or Pocket PC vs. Palm. I have even heard people debate firewire vs. USB 2.0. Is there no end? Let’s get over it people!

I have said for a long time that there is no point in arguing who is right, but only what is right. In the world of computing, my simple rule is, “If it works for you…use it.” Well, truth be told, my real rule is probably something more like, “If it’s new…I will wish I had it” – but I digress. Just because I prefer using a PC doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t consider Macs (I actually enjoy using one every once in a while down at school). In reality, the computing world has never been this cross-platform friendly. Go ahead and try to name a word processing program that won’t allow you to save in RTF…I dare you!

Nobody has a perfect product. They all have their own strengths and weaknesses. Use what works best for you and leave the next user to their own opinion. Just remember that not everyone thinks that your Zarus PDA running Linux that you connect to your OS 2 system to download OpenOffice documents is cool.

There you have it – my two cents on the technology holy wars…what’s yours?

No respect!

2004-10-01T07:55:00.000-07:00

I would say that most of my geeky interests go unappreciated at home. Sure, there have been those days when the GPS really came through or I was able to pull up great uncle Bedford's sister-in-law's phone number while we were on vacation, but most things are endured instead of appreciated in our home. Add blogging to that latter list as of last night.

I showed my wife this blog and gave her the 10 second explanation about what a blog is. Her only reaction..."That's weird."

Well, it is a little strange, but in a cool kind of way. It's one of those ''why...because I can kind of things" that just may stick for one.

What about you? What does your significant other think about your blog?

So now what?

2004-09-30T09:22:00.000-07:00

l spent about a half-hour last night at Office Depot looking at the Palm T3. Now l am as desperately confused as ever! I have 3 major observations about the device:

First, that screen is an absolute work of art! It is bright, clear, and nicely sized. It can make even the smallest font render beautifully! I really think I would like the whole slider concept...I don't think you need the full resolution all of the time. Score one for Palm!

Second, data entry on Palm devices is sub-standard (except for devices with built in keyboards of course). I used Graffiti for years, but now l don't Know how I survived it. The one letter at a time madness is enough to kill a person! Transcriber on the Pocket PC is way better. Having to hammer out one letter at a time (as compared to writing in my native cursive script) may be a show stopper. Score one for Pocket PC.

Third, the version of Documents To Go that comes on the T3 doesn't do it for me. The functionality of Excel is even more limited than Pocket Excel on the Pocket PC and Word has less functionality than WordPad on your PC. Sure, you can upgrade to the next version and get the functionality that I want for a mere $30, but I could also buy Textmaker for a PPC device during their next sale. Score no points for either platform for lousy Office interoperability (how many millions of people want to have the same functionality I am looking for?).

So, the score is 1 to 1. I am going to continue to think publicly though. To be continued…

Conclusion

2004-09-29T15:45:00.000-07:00

You know, I totally expected the cons to outweigh the pros by a long shot (not nearly as balanced as they turned out to be). I think that my issues are just things I am pretty passionate about. Honestly, there is also the issue of just wanting a change. My conclusion: after much deliberation, my PDA is on Ebay in preparation for the next phase of it's life. I have turned my attention to it's successor. The question has become, "What do I replace it with?"

All l know at this point is that I REALLY doubt it is going to be an HP. I'm thinking either Dell or Palm. What's your opinion?

2215 Con's

2004-09-29T15:43:00.000-07:00

Things that have been a problem with my particular (?) 2215:

My experience has lead me to believe that HP support is a joke. They were not willing to help me with problems that came up in the weeks that followed my warranty expiration (unlike Honda who covered our van 1,300 miles out from under the warranty even when it cost them a LOT more than it would have cost HP to replace my side grips). I have had to send in my unit multiple times for the same problems (and so has a friend). Their instant chat support online is terrible and support agents have been unfriendly more than once.
One of my premier complaints with this handheld is that the directional pad is WAY too sensitive. I read a lot of ebooks on my device and if I had a dollar for every time I jumped two or three pages instead of the one I intended, I would be able to feed all of my geeky needs with the proceeds.
The side grips are defective on this device HP knows it. They have published documentation about installing the replacement grips and a video on their web page for how to remove the defective ones. So many people have had this problem that third party vendors offer replacements. When you call in under warranty, they have a whole kit they send you (with grips, battery door, and CF slot plug), but if you're not under warranty they charge you $25. Grrrr...
Stability with my particular unit has been a problem. This is very likely a combination of the software that I have installed, but I am not completely sure about that. Even after a hard reset and nothing but Calligrapher installed, my device still locks up periodically.
Again, if I had a dollar for every time I have soft reset my device, I would... I think it is really pathetic that you can't rely on this PDA for an alarm clock due to the fact that it doesn't always wake up for alarms. This is just one of many bugs in the hardware/OS combination that has frustrated me.
The paint has chipped off my unit in a couple of spots (like right next to the power button) and the unit is only 14 months old. I really don't think that should happen at this point in the handheld's life.
I really miss a side button for scrolling. I know it is a personal preference thing, but handhelds I have owned in the past have had it and I have learned that I value that as an option. It just makes reading on the device so much easier.

2215 Pro's

2004-09-29T14:42:00.000-07:00

Let me start with a disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the next few posts are my opinion only. My experience with HP and this unit may be atypical, but it’s all I have to work from. Your mileage may vary.

Here are the things I have enjoyed most about the iPAQ 2215:

I have used the CF expandability quite a bit. I frequently use memory, wireless, and GPS all through the CF expansion port. With the dropping price of SD memory and trend for new devices to have 802.11 and Bluetooth, this physical expandability is becoming less important.
The stylus is better than a lot of PDA’s (like the goofy popsicle stick style from the HP 548).
The battery life is pretty good (not like the old Palm III days of weeks of usage on a pair of AAA batteries, but pretty good for a modern, high-powered PDA). Plus, the fact that the battery is removable is a bonus.
Bluetooth connectivity through my Nokia phone has been very nice. I have been able to surf the web and get myself out of a pinch in a couple of instances.
I like that I have been able to use some of my older accessories from my 3955 (like the travel charger and the travel sync cable).
There are lots of third party accessories available for the device.
The unit is fairly compact and even wearing it on my belt isn’t too bad…geeky, but not too uncomfortable.
The display on this handheld is better than many of its generation. It is bright, clear, and the variable brightness functionality (having more than just 3 brightness settings) has been nice.
Processing power has always been totally adequate.

So stay tuned for the list of my gripes about the handheld. I will take a while to make sure that I am fair and don’t let a negative attribute or two overrun my rationality.

Time to pull the ol' switcheroo

2004-09-29T13:23:00.000-07:00

I will begin by saying that I am a self-proclaimed geek and that the tone of things is about to lean that way pretty hard. I am the type of person who would be an early adapter of every technology out there if my pocket book would support me in my obsession. It’s sad, but true.

I’m no stranger to the PDA world. I have owned more than my share of handheld computers including the original Palm Pilot Professional, a Palm III, an HP 620lx, an HP 548, an iPAQ 3650, an iPAQ 3955, and an iPAQ 2215. This has been no cheap undertaking and is something my good wife is surprisingly supportive of. I’m just afraid the replacement rate is quickening pace – but don’t tell my wife!

Well, I have been feeling the itch lately to get rid of my PDA and replace it with something new. Since making that decision, I have become obsessed with handheld computing solutions. My old unit is just not doing it for me any more. You know how when you’ve started to notice something bad about an item that you would love to replace that it opens a virtual flood of complaints? It has infected my mind and overrun my concentration. I have read review after review and have no conclusion except that my 2215 is going to have to go away.

I thought I would post an entry or two about the pros and cons of the iPAQ 2215. In all fairness, I will post the pros first and the cons second since this really has been a good unit that I have enjoyed a good deal.

So a next post should be on its way soon extolling the virtues of the 2215.

Been MIA for a while

2004-07-01T10:35:00.000-07:00

Alright, I’ve been out of the loop for a while. Someone has introduced me to a distraction that has taken me away from my geekiness. I purchased a Digital Rebel from a friend and tinkering around with it has become my latest distraction. I’m excusing myself, however, because it still runs on one’s and zero’s and I’ve always claimed that as the requirement for my interest in anything.

It’s kind of sad that I didn’t check in to www.pocketpcthoughts.com and www.pocketpctools.com until after 10:00 this morning! :^)

On the other hand, I had caught up on www.dpreview.com, www.fredmiranda.com, and www.digitalmediathoughts.com well before then.

Truth be known, I have been into photography for a very long time. I just haven’t had a capable camera in some time. It’s fun to get back into the world of photography without having to spend a fortune on developing and wait for the results. The question now becomes whether this is going to be a passing interest or will it last?

First post

2004-06-11T13:01:00.000-07:00

Well, I let my friend Josh talk me into starting my own blog. I am still trying to figure out exactly what I will blog here. I'm thinking it will end up being a random collection of musings of mine...or maybe my personal soapbox. I am never short on opinion. We'll see where it goes!