Creating Your Own eBooks

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

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

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 :^)

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

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

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

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...

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

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!

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?

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

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...

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...

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...

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!

On ActiveSync

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

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

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

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!

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...

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!

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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???

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.