Tempted by Tech

While at work today, I received a call from my wife. She was calling to tell me that Amazons deal of the day was a GPS. She wanted to know if she should buy it for me. I couldn't believe my ears. My first instinct is to say go for it. But deep down I knew I really new that I didn't need one more electronic toy. So as tempting as it was to hear my spouse want to spend money on a tech gadget for me, I tapped into as much will power as a man could muster up and said no. For now when I need directions I'll just have to rely on what man has from the beginning of time, the sweet voice of my wife telling me to turn left in .2 miles.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

Junk or treasure

Occasionally in my business I have clients that have equipment that is so old, that they ask me to get rid of it. The most recent acquisition was a rack of old audio equipment. Before I saw what equipment they had, I envisioned equipment that I would value and have a use for. I was a bit disappointed when I took my first look and could tell the the gear almost predated my existence. I remember thinking to myself, now I know why they wanted me to dispose of it. Being a recovering electronics pack rat, I let the gear sit around for 6 month and then decided to list it on eBay. To my surprise there is quite a market for this stuff especially internationally. With that I'll end with the time honored quote: "One man's old dusty vintage electronics is another man's pay pal deposit".

Getting Schooled on eBay

This past weekend I listed two items on eBay. It has been a few years since I've sold anything on eBay. My wife is the master of eBay in our house and so I usually elicit her help in selling stuff. This time I decided to go solo, which was a big mistake. I used their quick format for listing the items. By using this method, I did not put in the typical jargon about restrictions on where I ship to. The first item sold for the buy it now price to someone in London. So now I'm trying to figure out the cheapest way to ship a Wii game internationally. This has become quite a hassle. Instead of shipping from my house, I now have to go to the post office and fill out customs forms. I like to think that have most things mastered when it comes to tech, but alas I must concede my crown to my wife when it comes to eBay.

The Joy of Backing up

Before upgrading my PC to Windows 7, I decided to try an online backup service. What I did not realize is the time commitment involved with uploading all of my data. It's been about 7 days and I only have about 60% of my data backed up. The reason behind trying this method of service is that I'm not diligent enough to backup data on my own regularly and I value the importance of having an off site copy of my important data. There's 4 days left on my free trial of the backup service. That should be just enough to upload the final bits. Oh how I wish someone would create an indestructible, high capacity, high speed, non-stealable hard drive.

Care for a mint

Being the geek that I am, I decided to download and try a version of Linux called Mint. It's a free open source operating system optimized for media. Overall it seams to be a solid OS. I don't foresee myself using Mint on a regular basis. But if I need a PC for web browsing and other standard computer aplications, I would consider using Mint. I recommend a copy of Mint on a bootable CD in case Windows starts having issues. This allows you to run Mint from the CD drive to troubleshoot problems. The OS also has links to a number of applications that you can download for free. So go ahead and unleash your inner geek and give Mint a try. It will make your breath smell good also.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

Social Media No no's

I've been thinking lately of the down side of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, and how they should not be used. For the most part I love using these using these sites and really enjoy seeing what is happening in the lives of people I both know and don't know. I also feel the pros of this technology. outweigh the cons. But I have also recently seen these sites used in unhealthy ways. So I've adopted a few rules I feel are proper etiquette for my online persona.
Rule # 1: Never engage in a personal dispute using social media. No one needs to see you have an online fight.
Rule # 2: Don't combine your account with your significant other. Everyone on the receiving is always wondering which of the two people composed the post. (e.g. Bob & Susie Smith: great time shopping with my girlfriend today).
Rule # 3: Do post things that are either interesting, monumental, witty, cool, or informative.
By the way my profile has recently been posting items that I didn't post. Not sure if I should have a rule about letting the wife post for me or not. I must be big time now, to have people do my posting for me. Or maybe I'm just to busy following the latest celeb tweets.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

To Wii or not to Wii

For a while now I've been contemplating purchasing a Nintendo Wii. This weekend, I finally got permission from the wife to buy one, along with the Wii Fit Plus. My justification is that I need to exercise more with a method that will keep me motivated. I personally hate most forms of exercising and was looking for a way to make it more entertaining. We have a treadmill in the corner of our living room that I've been sporadically using. Walking on the treadmill is just plain boring. For the short time that I have tried the Wii, I have had fun exercising. It hasn't only been fun for me, but entertaining for the whole family. My wife and son enjoy watching me make a fool out of myself trying the different exercises. My son has even tried getting into the action. He's not bad for a three year old.

Computer Control Via iPhone & iPod Touch

I found an app for my iPod touch that let's me remotely connect, view, and control my work laptop. I'm not quite sure what kind of use I'll have for it, but I don't care. Just the fact that I can do it is way cool. If interested check out RDP Lite in the app store.

Office anywhere

My work finally got my laptop set up with a VPN (virtual private network) that actually works. My job requires me to spend a lot of time at clients sites rather than at my office. Before I had a reliable VPN I would have to go into the office to get specific task done. Now my computer gives me access to everything I need. The tricky part is making the mental adjustment of doing work in the field that I used to only do in the office.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

Internet killed the record company

I recently saw a Twitter post by Moby promoting his latest album on www.twt.fm it's a site that allows musicians promote their music. Now more than ever technology gives musicians the ability to get their music heard. Sites like this may drive the final nails long into the record companies coffins. It has been far too long that record companies have profited off talented artists while the talent receives next to nothing. If you're trying to make it in the music business, tap into the power of tech to make yourself known.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

iPod blue tooth

During a break today, I decided to try to connect my blue tooth headset to my iPod touch. I was pretty surprised that it worked and that I was able to listen to music through it. Now when coworkers come by I can pretend that I'm on the phone when I'm actually just listening to a podcast. Sometimes I just love technology. Now if I could just get the microphone to work over blue tooth.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

Windows 7 Finally

After countless hours of downloading and troubleshooting, I finally got Windows 7 installed and working. I ended up installing it on my dad's 5 year old Dell laptop. At first use, I really like it. Of course I'm one of the few who actually likes Vista. One of the features that I think has the most potential is the Gadgets on the desktop. This to me seems like a way to make the computer desktop function more like an Iphone. Hopefully no lawsuits will be filed. The only unfortunate thing is that Microsoft only offered the $50 upgrade for a limited time and I missed it. I'm hoping that they offer it one more time.

The digital mixing conversion

A few weeks ago I had my first opportunity to mix sound on my church's new digital mixing console. The DigiDesign SC48 is quite a powerful tool and a much needed upgrade from our old analog console. The console has so many tools that it's easy to get overwhelmed with options. It took quite a bit more mental energy for me to get used to this new tool. Included is a video I took of the board in a demo mode. I added some ambient music that I composed many years ago for your listening pleasure.

Dumping my Bluetooth headset

This Tuesday morning, I found myself at the hospital to get some testing done on my 8 week old daughter. She had been sick all weekend and she did not have any of the typical symptoms. The testing took 3 hours, so to pass the time I went to seek out a snack. The cafe had individual bundt cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes . Since it was still breakfast time, I decided to be healthy and buy the cinnamon swirl flavor instead of chocolate. On my way out, I discovered some trash in my sweatshirt pocket. I reached in and threw the trash along with my Bluetooth headset away. I should of known something was up, because just as I was about to exit the cafe, an alarm went off. The alarm triggered the doors to automaticly close. I was thinking, "Shouldn't we evacuate the building?" But everyone was just sitting around like normal. The cashier pushed the door open for me and said that I could go ahead back upstairs. Once back upstairs I found a staff person blocking my way back. Once we got the all clear, I returned to my wife and daughter. This is when I realized that my headset was missing. So, I made my way back to the cafe and pulled out my phone to see if I could sync to my headset. Sure enough I was able to pick up the signal. Now came the fun of digging through the trash to find it. Thanks to the help of my wife we were able to retrieve the headset. It's a good thing I did get the headset back, because it just happened to be the day our local law inforcement had their hands free crackdown day. They issued over 600 tickets for driving while holding the phone. Oh and my daughter tests came back normal and she seems to be healthy.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

Rethinking a career in installing (digital) wallpaper

A customer of mine showed me this video of the future of home TVs. Forget about LCD's vs. Plasmas. Here's a TV that's the size of your entire wall. By the way, it's not just a TV but an entire multimedia, interactive, touch sensitive, display with the thickness of a piece of paper. Even though it won't be available for quite some time, I want one now. The only problem I see with it is that you have to get up from the couch to use it.

New laptop and getting organized

I finally convinced my boss that I needed a new laptop for work. It arrived this last week and is wonderful. The new laptop is a Lenovo and has a keyboard where all of the keys actually work. My previous laptop was a Toshiba that I inherited from a co-worker that was fired. So by the time I received it, it was already pretty worn in. At the time it was a great improvement from my Compaq brick. I got some good use out of the Toshiba for about 3 years. But it had started to become so sluggish and I was starting to get regular BSD's (blue screen of death). I was becoming concerned that the hard drive was getting ready to die. In the tech world they say it's not a matter of if a hard drive will crash but when. From the first time I opened the Lenovo I was quite impressed as to how fast it booted up and how fast applications would open up. Not wanting to clutter up this new laptop, I decided I need to work on my computer organization. I'm really bad at managing electronic files, programs, and e-mail. My computer desktop looks as messy as my real desktop, which goes hand in hand with my messy office and car trunk. So to help me with my organization, I downloaded an audio book from audible.com called Getting Things Done. We'll see if this finally helps me.

Palm Pre and Itunes

Last week Apple released a new version of Itunes that blocks direct access from the Palm Pre. This is such a stupid thing for Apple to do. I guess Apple feels the need to discriminate what platform is used to buy music from their store. What is next, is Apple going to block Windows users from Itunes? I guess Steve Jobs is back in full force. He must still be pretty bent about the Iphone team leaving Apple to go work for Palm and develop the Pre. It's things like this that make me want to go out and purchase a Palm Pre just to stick it to Apple.

Wifi on the open road

On my way to work the other day I ended up behind a bus in traffic. There was a sign on the bus that said it had Wifi access. This is the second time I ended up behind a bus advertising this. Both times I felt compelled to pull out my Ipod touch to see if I could get a connection. I know, probably not the brightest thing I could be doing while driving. The first time I was not able to pick up a signal, the second time I did. Unfortunatly they had enabled security on the router and I did not have the password. It's probably a good thing that I was not able to connect. I can already picture the senario now of me explaining to the police officer that the reason that I was tailgating the bus was to get internet access. Of course then I would become a case study for Californians to pass another law to ban the use of Wifi on buses.

Video calls on your TV

In the Mercury News today there is an article that talks about How Cisco is heavily investing in developing a way to video conference through your TV. It appears by their projections that they expect this technology to be used in the home as commonly as a phone. It makes me wonder, are we ready for a world where we're seen by whoever we are talking to? It's estimated that 60% of communication is non verbal, but through body language. What will I do now when a telemarketer calls me and sees that I'm not the mean person I pretend to be when I typically say "not interested" and quickly hang up? As a caution, if you end up adopting video calls into your home, please disable the auto answer feature.

Two things that drive me crazy

Today I had to deal with two different electronic manufacturers that had major flaws in their firmware. The first was an audio conference product that has been on the market for about a year. The product has an interface built into it that I Incorporated into one of my designs. When I went to program the device, the interface was disabled in the software. I called the manufacturer and they informed me that this feature will not be available until the end of the year. The second was a video conferencing unit that has been around for about 3 years. The most recent firmware that they released managed to disable the main control port on the device. This left one of our clients with a system that no longer works. I know that everyone has bugs in their software, but if your going to manufacture professional equipment vital to corporate communications you should be a little more cautious in releasing software ready for implementation.

I want my ABC

Last week the switch to digital TV finally happened. I thought that I was fully prepared for the change. I convinced my wife to let me buy a 46" LCD TV along with a digital outdoor antenna. I'm too cheap to pay the $5 a month to Dish Network to get local channels that are available for free over the air. Before the DTV transition, everything worked great. I got all the major networks digital broadcast over my antenna. I was kind of shocked to find post transition I am no longer able to get ABC. What is up with that? I did everything on my end to be prepared. Come to find out our local ABC affiliate that broadcasts to about a mere 1,000,000 viewers has not yet upgraded their antenna for the transition. The antenna they used for their analog broadcast was the same one for their digital broadcast. This happens to be the antenna that they turned off on DTV day. While ABC does have an antenna broadcasting in digital, the signal just isn't strong enough to reach most of Silicon Valley. They are in the process of upgrading. My only hope is that they get this resolved before the next season of Lost. I'm one of those few people that still likes to watch TV in real time.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

Tweeting My Girl's Birth

This last Sunday my wife gave birth to our daughter Claire. It was an amazing experience and mother & daughter are doing great. This birth was quite a different experience than the birth of my son. One major difference was the way I was able to keep friends and family updated moment by moment through Facebook and Twitter. It started with me posting a few updates once we got to the hospital. After about the third post people were cheering us on. My wife asked me, "You're not going to post everything are you?". I said back to her, "I can't stop now, they're rooting for us." After letting her read peoples comments, she decided to give in to my posting frenzy. It turned out to be really exciting having an online community sharing the experience with us. So, I decided to share the feed here on my blog. Realize that it reads from bottom to top. Enjoy.


Jeff: Thanks for everyone's support. I'll post pictures tomorrow. Goodnight. June 14 at 11:13pm
Michelle: Jeff...that is so awesome! I enjoyed you posting so frequently during her labor...I hope your wife felt the same :) What a beautiful blessing to have a sweet little girl! Can't wait to see pictures...congrats to your family! June 14 at 10:39pm
Jeff: 8.3 lbs 21.5" long. June 14 at 10:38pm
You and Shakeh Angelo like this.
Shakeh Angelo likes this.
Carole at 10:38pm June 14 Big girl! no wonder
Shakeh Angelo at 1:36am June 15 Congrats on #2! Yay!
Mark at 5:14am June 15 Solid...praise God! How's Cristin?
Jeff Yea!! Welcome baby Claire!!!
June 14 at 10:33pm You and Carole like this.
Carole likes this.
Carrie at 10:34pm June 14 it is YAY!!!!
Michelle at 10:50pm June 14 Congratulations Jeff...from Pat and Michelle
Charlie at 11:12pm June 14 Hooray!!!!
Jeff More pushing!!!
June 14 at 10:29pm You like this.
Jeff Spotlight on. Waiting for Claire to make her entrance! She'll be here real soon. Promise!
June 14 at 10:24pm You and Carole like this.
Carole likes this.
Cassandra at 10:27pm June 14 Yeah!!!
Stacy at 10:29pm June 14 I love the play by play. ;) Go Claire go!
Jeff Still waiting. This is one stubborn girl.
June 14 at 10:18pm You like this.
Jeff 14 at 9:42pm
Carrie at 9:59pm June 14 oy! come on claire!!!!
Carole at 10:01pm June 14 oy vay!
Carrie at 10:04pm June 14 seriously!!!!
Jeff Pushing!!!
Carole at 9:30pm June 14 push, push!!!
Lynsey at 9:34pm June 14 ooohhh good! i can't wait to hear the good news!
Cassandra at 9:41pm June 14 How exciting!!!
Jeff Doctors here!!!
Charlie at 9:28pm June 14 anticipation!
Jeff Bearing down! June 14 at 9:26pm
Jeff 8 centimeters!!! Doctors on the way in. June 14 at 9:14pm
Carole at 9:15pm June 14 hang in there! Waiting to hear! Love you!
Cassandra at 9:18pm June 14 Yeah!!!
Jeff It won't be long now. Everyone: push her out, shove her out, way out! June 14 at 8:54pm
Erin at 8:56pm June 14 You can do it Cristin! We love you guys!!!
Anne at 9:08pm June 14 Go Cristin go, push her out, shove her out, waaaaaaay out!!!!!
Charlie at 9:10pm June 14 I keep refreshing my home page to find out the latest from you, Jeff!
Jeff We have water breakage.
June 14 at 8:31pm Erin at 8:34pm June 14 woo hoo!
Anne at 8:36pm June 14 sounds like things are moving along. Praying it goes super smoothly and everyone is healthy!
Stacy at 8:47pm June 14 yay!
Jeff iContraction is a great iPhone App for tracking contractions.June 14 at 7:31pm You like this.
Charlie at 7:33pm June 14 oh my goodness.
Carole at 7:46pm June 14 how's she dong?
Jeff at 7:49pm June 14 She's doing great!
Jeff RT @c: @avman26 are you going to tweet the whole birth??? you are cracking me up!! I'll tweet as much as Cristin will let me.
Jeff 5 centimeters! Wohoo June 14 at 5:49pm
You and Carole like this.
Carole likes this.
Erin at 6:33pm June 14 Finally!! We're praying she comes quick!
Steve at 6:57pm June 14 Good luck hope all is going well !!
Charlie at 7:26pm June 14 go baby go!
Jeff We're at the hospital!!
June 14 at 5:34pm
You and Carrie like this.
Carrie likes this.
Carrie at 5:40pm June 14 YAY!!

Apple iphone available on Sprint and Verizon

Apple's developers conference is this week and they just announced the new version of the iPhone. Unfortunately, the phone is still only available on AT&T's network. This is an ongoing pet peeve of mine. I believe that all phones should be available on all cell networks. I have finally become a fan of an Apple product with the iPod touch and cannot get the iPhone because I'm locked into a contract with Sprint. Whenever I get frustrated with technology limits, I try to find a work around. So yes there is now a way to have an iPhone with Sprint or Verizon. Wel,l sort of...
Both Sprint and Verizon offer a data plan with a new device called a MIFI 2200. This device combines 3G cell network technology with wifi. It allows you to connect up to 5 wifi devices to it. It's battery operated and slim enough to fit in your pocket. The battery lasts 4 hours, but you can extend it to about 14 with a 3rd party battery. Combine the MIFI 2200 with an iPod touch using the Skype app and you now have an iPhone (minus the camera) on a cell network other than AT&T. Now if we can just get the cell companies get rid of their ridiculous 5GB data limits.

Downloading Woe's

I recently decided to download Windows 7 Release Candidate to see what the buzz was about. Since the download is only a measly 3 gigabytes, I decided to let it download overnight. The first attempt got to 99% and then failed. Second attempt, ditto. For the third attempt, I tried using FireFox instead of Internet Explorer 8. I got to 97% and it seemed to stall. I then tried downloading the last 3% from IE8. Success! You would think the company that makes IE and Windows could figure out how to make the one be able to download the other. I still haven't gotten around to installing Windows 7. I'm still recovering from post traumatic download disorder.

What's that for again?

This past Saturday I found a bag, from my phone company, with a book in it, on my doorstep. I brought it inside to ask my wife if she wanted to keep it. After I took a quick look at the size of it, my wife threw it in the recycling trash bin. We have not used a phonebook in years. I found myself wondering why does the phone company still go to the trouble of publishing and delivering phonebooks? I'd gladly let them reduce the price of my basic local only phone service in exchange for not wasting a tree. Yes, I still have a land line, I'm old school that way. For some reason I get annoyed when people call me on it. One of the things that caught my eye with the phonebook is how much it has shrunk in size. especially the yellow pages. This it the first time I remember the yellow pages being smaller than the white pages. Now for the confession: Saturday evening came and it was getting close to bedtime. My wife and I kept hearing the intermittent chirp of a car alarm across the street from our house. We did not recognize the car and did not know which neighbor to bother to ask if they knew who the owner was. Wanting to get some sleep, I decided to call the police non emergency number. Our computer was already shut down for the night, so I found myself fishing the phonebook out of the trash to look the number up. I called and quickly found that you have to use a land line to dial 311. The police arrived and found the owner. I ripped the page out and put the rest of the phonebook back in the trash. Thank you AT&T.

Technoholics Anonymous

I recently have been pondering weather we as a society have become increasingly addicted to technology. This idea has been spurred by recent observations of tech around me. I have a son that is almost 3 and he loves to play with my Ipod touch. I have downloaded about 10 preschool apps along with a couple of preschool videos. My son has enjoyed all of the apps that I have downloaded for him, but he has also become curious about the other apps I have. He has recently discovered the app Tap Tap Revenge 2 and loves the Stroke 9 song Tap Tap DomiNation. Somehow he has picked up on the words tap tap and he says "play tap tap". He has also become enamored with the Star Wars light saber app. His fascination with these apps have made me worry that he's too young to be into these types of things and that he'll turn into a video game addict. Also, when he asks to use my Ipod, he calls it a Mypod. Hey, I thought I was a part of the "me" generation. It's pretty scary to watch him navigate through the Ipod. He has figured out how to do pretty much everything except sending e-mail. Check that, I apologize if anyone on my contact list has gotten e-mails with the following text: apowiehjnadshfasfj. I still have yet to teach him how to use spell check.

We use technology so much in our daily lives, that we now don't know what to do when it's not available. On my way home from work (I was coming from a construction meeting from a local fruit based company), the guy sitting next me was multitasking between his 2 Iphones and his Ibook. I'll overlook his addiction since he works for the company that makes those products. I also heard a story about the long term affects of Hurricane Ike in Texas. This June, Texas is about to experience a mini baby boom. Hurricane Ike caused power outages in certain areas of Texas for a number of days. I guess since people were not able to use their everyday tech, well... you can connect the dots. Let's just say there will be about twice as many babies born during the first part of June in the region.
So whats the solution? I'm not sure, but maybe we need to start support groups to help wean ourselves off of tech. A sort of 12 step program for geeks. Step one: Admit you have a problem....
With that I'll leave you with a link to a YouTube video about Facebook. http://rhettandlink.com/videos/#facebook-song

To much information

Over the past week our country has been bombarded with news about the swine flu. Oops, I meant H1N1. I don't want to offend any swine. On one hand I agree that we need to know about virus outbreaks than can become pandemics, but I also feel the media got a little carried away on swine flu updates. I understand how a virus can spread so fast with the globalization of our world, but the virus I'm more concerned with is the media frenzy of both information and misinformation. All of this media over saturation is enough to make you sick. Not once did I hear the mainstream media report about the hundreds of normal flu related deaths each day in our country during each flu season.
Over the weekend, I caught a cold from my son. At one point, I felt bad enough to look up the swine flu symptoms to make sure I didn't have it. Luckily I don't, but I still can't explain my craving for bacon. I'm feeling better now, but am not looking forward to the next headline of bad news to send the world into another information pandemic. "Just in an outbreak has been reported of dolphin flu spreading across west coast beaches".

Liquid HD

I recently found out about an upcoming technology that promises to simplify the interconnectivity, control, and distribution of home electronics. It's called Liquid HD (http://www.liquidhd.com/) and is being developed by a local company called Silicon Image. Now I know some of you are hoping that this is a box that liquefies any electronic device that you are frustrated with. While others may think it's marketing hype for a high definition energy drink. (the term high definition is becoming way too overused). What it actually is, is a technology that connects various electronic devices, such as TVs, DVD players, and game consoles together through a network. Once connected, any device can be used anywhere on the network. An example would be that you could use you kids' Nintendo Wii ,which may be located in their bedroom, on the living room TV, while someone else uses the living room satellite receiver to watch TV on the built-in screen on the outside of the refrigerator door. Also, remote control signals travel through the network to control whatever device is being used. If this technology works it should make every one's lives easier. I just wish I knew it was available before I spent a couple of days crawling under the house running cables from my computer to my TV.

Hospital wifi and child birth

Tonight my wife and I went on a hospital tour to prepare for our second child. I was glad to hear the woman leading the tour highlight the fact that the hospital does have wifi. I bring this up because a lot seems to have changed as far as peoples' views regarding technology involved with momentous events in life. Three years ago I was on a hospital tour before the birth of my son. On this tour I asked if the hospital had wifi. I was instantly scorned by everyone else on the tour, except for my wonderful wife. The other people on the tour thought,"How dare you think of even touching a computer at any point during the three to four day hospital stay for child birth!" For some reason this backward thinking group didn't see how technology can help them instantly share this moment with friends and family. So I was relieved that the tour guide highlighted the wifi access and was amazed that this time no one batted an eye. As for me I brought my iPod to test the access at the hospital. This time around I have even more tools like Twitter and Facebook to share this incredible event.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

To twit or not to twit

After taking a week off to celebrate my wife's birthday, I'm pondering the relevance of Twitter. About a month ago I decided to join twitter out of curiosity. Initially I did not see the point or understand the premise of Twitter. After all I reluctantly joined the Facebook cult and have since indoctrinated others to join. Twitter is just one of those things you have to try to understand. My best definition is a social networking, micro-blogging site, that allows you to follow anyone else who is on Twitter including actors, sports figures, musicians, politicians, and companies. At first it feels a little strange having a window into the daily lives of famous people. You find yourself thinking, "Should I really know what this actor had for lunch or that they just used the bathroom?" For the most part the people I follow have pretty witty post and that makes them seem a little more normal. Some tech savvy people I know have even figured out how to link their post to go to all of the social networking sites that they are a part of. In the city where I live, Twitter recently saved the life of a woman contemplating suicide. She posted a tweet to actress Demi Moore about what she was considering. Luckily people were able to intervene and she got the help she needed. So go on give Twitter a try.

As a side note, last week I made a phone call using my iPod through Skype. I just think that is so cool. Geeky, but still cool.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

Flying Cars and Wireless Power

Since I was young I always thought it would be cool to have a flying car like on the Jetsons. When I became a long distance commuter, I realized it should be a necessity. Sometimes when I'm stopped in traffic, I imagine pushing a button to take off and fly over the other commuters. So far I've had to settle for the next best thing: driving my Civic hybrid with carpool stickers in the carpool lane as a solo driver. Well it now looks like the dawn of the flying car is finally upon us. Here's a link showing a prototype of a flying car. Check it out.

Flying car now a reality?

The other futuristic invention I'm excited about is wireless power (even though the concept has been around since 1820). I work with a lot of various wireless products in my field. My colleagues and I often joke about having wireless power. This joke stems from clients requesting us to put electronic devices in areas where there is no power and no easy way to have it installed. There are now a number of companies working on real wireless power. The process they use is called induction. Which basically is using magnetic fields. Here's the wiki if you want the scientific explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_induction
Our society is ever increasing the amount of electronic gizmo's that either need to be plugged in to work or plugged in to be recharged. On a daily basis I need to recharge my ipod, blue tooth headset, and two cell phones. Imagine not having to ever plug these devices in. Just set them near the electromagnetic field and they recharge. Or imagine having a blender in the kitchen without a power cord. You just set the blender in the field and it works. Check out the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwkKkLDhAJ0
Now I just need to figure out how to install conveyor belts into my house and find a place to purchase a robot maid named Rosie.

Control your house from anywhere.

One of the manufacturers (www.crestron.com) that I regulary work with makes equipment that allows you to automate your house. With their equipment you can control all sorts of devices such as your entertainment system, lights, security system, thermostat, and even your hot tub. Their equipment also has the ability to be accessed remotely through the Internet. But the really exciting news is that they recently released an app for the iPhone and iPod touch. So if you have their equipment integrated into your house, you can now monitor and control it from anywhere. Now if you forget to turn off the heater when you go out of town, you can just pull out your phone and turn it off. Or if your kids are at home watching TV instead of doing their homework, you can turn it off while you're at work. I think their equipment is quickly going from a want to a need for me. I don't care who you are, but having something like this is very cool.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

Video connector nightmare

Yesterday I sat through a manufacturer training. The bulk of the class dealt with the latest technology and how it will impact the way I design systems. What use to be fairly straight forward for me has now become complex. So I thought I'd take a minute to describe the nightmare of various video connectors we have to now deal with in plain speak. I'll stick to consumer connections and fore go the pro ones for now.
Analog:
F-connector: the connector on the end of the cable coming out of the wall for your cable.
Yellow RCA- composite video: the connector you use to use for your VCR.
S-video aka 4 pin mini din: this is a step up in quality from composite, but the connector always falls out of the device.
Red, green, & blue 3 RCA - component video: this is the connection you should use for older DVD players. The standards and resolutions are too vast to list in this post.
VGA: This is the multi-pin connector on most laptops, computers, and displays.

Digital:
DVI: This is on newer computers and displays. Unfortunately there are 3 versions of this connector and they aren't all compatible.
HDMI: This is what my wife calls the "flat connector". It is found on all new HDTV's and DVD players. This has enough standards to fill a book.
Display Port: Thank you Apple and Dell for adapting yet another connector.

Has this gotten confusing yet? I hope this deciphers the video connector mess.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

Plasma vs. LCD

In the line of work that I'm in, I always get asked the question: which is better Plasma or LCD? Both display technologies have their pluses and minuses. Plasma screens typically re-create motion better, cost less, and have a wider off axis viewing angle. The down side is burn in and power consumption. My friend Jon says that "Plasma" means that its alive and any technology that's alive must be worth buying. LCD screens are thinner, weigh less, use less power, and display static images in incredible detail. Some LCD's have trouble with fast motion but the latest models have made great strides in eliminating the problem. For my taste I bought a Sharp Aquos 46" LCD TV. I chose this make and model for a number of reasons and am very happy for my choice. Part of the decision is that I'm pretty confident that in the next year or two Plasma displays will no longer be manufactured. So the question is no longer: Plasma or LCD? it's LCD or OLED? OLED??? - Organic Light Emitting Diode is the latest in display technology. Sony just released their first 40" display using this technology. The display is as thick as three credit cards and only takes one to purchase. It's also organic, so it must be good for you. I've included a link for those interested: www.sonystyle.com/oled . More manufacturers will soon be releasing OLED displays soon and the price will eventually drop to a reasonable price.

Exponential Technology

I saw these videos (posted at left) recently and am amazed at how quickly technology changes. With the rapid change, I'm reminded of a tech joke: that in order to keep up with the latest computers, you must buy a new machine every day. These videos also make me think about the future and the control of information. I believe that whoever controls the information controls the world. So this makes me wonder if in the future wars will be fought without weapons but with computers, and instead of fighting over the various typical reasons, the fight will be over information and who controls it. My final thought is are we on the verge of building machines that are too smart? Good luck on keeping up with the latest technology.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpEnFwiqdx8

Video conferencing everywhere

Part of my job allows me to work with the latest video conferencing technology. This allows me to sometimes see what the tech future holds. In the next couple of years video conferencing will be everywhere. From cell phones, to computers, to TV's, you will not just hear who you're talking to on a call, but you will also see them. While I'm a strong advocate for enhanced communication through video interaction, I've begun to think of the negative implications. For one, it will be harder to call in faking that your sick. Instead of your boss saying you don't sound sick, he'll say you don't look sick. Second, with video conferencing on cell phones, the government will have to pass a new law banning video calls while driving. And finally, no more using the phone while using the bathroom. Not that I've ever done this. So get ready to smile because soon you will be seen and heard by those that you remotely communicate with.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

Digital TV Transition

Today was supposed to be the day that analog TV went bye bye. But thanks to our new president, procrastinators now have until June. Sort of. Broadcasters were given the option to turn off their analog signals today. Four stations where I live actually did turn their analog transmitters off today. Luckily for me, I was able to use the transition as an excuse to convince my wife that we needed a new flat screen TV. We have satellite service for cable stations, but I'm way to cheap to spend the five dollars a month for local channels. I was able to argue that it was a much better investment to buy a $1400 46" LCD TV and a $30 antenna instead of keeping our old analog 27" TV and buying a $60 digital to analog converter box ($10 after the government rebate). I'm still not quite sure how I won that argument. I guess I'm just lucky to have a tech savvy wife who understands the economy of tech coolness versus the economy of dollars and cents.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

Is Printed Media About To Die?

A few months ago my wife and I were discussing weather or not to cancel getting our local news paper delivered. We enjoy getting the paper, but were frustrated with a number of things. Our newspaper got bought out by a company in Colorado. The new owners fired half of the staff, cut the newspaper size in half, and starting to raise rates. Another frustration was that when ever we went out town, we would cancel the delivery for the dates we were gone. Our carrier would continue to deliver the paper while we were away, making a huge pile in the driveway. One other concern we had was the amount of paper being wasted and what impact this has on the environment. But even though we had frustrations, I was not ready to depart from getting the news.

After much discussion I convinced my wife to try an online subscription to the newspaper. She was very skeptical. Our paper offers a 6 month online subscription for about the same amount we were paying for one month of hard copy delivery. They offer the full paper viewable in a web browser. Receiving the newspaper in electronic format has been a wonderful change for both of us. For one, we can now view the paper wherever we have a computer with an Internet connection. It really clicked for my wife when we spent Christmas with my parents. They live up in the mountains and what they receive as a paper equals about one small section of our paper. It was great to keep tabs on our local news while being away. Another change for me is that I find myself reading more of the paper than before. I often got annoyed trying to flip the large pages of a conventional paper. It's just never been a user friendly medium to work with. So instead of reading just the front and back of each section, I now at least flip through every page. I also no longer have to go out into the cold and crawl under the car to receive my news. I just log on from the warmth of my desk chair.

Another point that I have on the subject is that there are now various electronic devices that you can download books to read. I have an uncle who is a principal of a new private high school. Instead of spending money on hard copy books, he had the students buy the Sony e-book device. The students now download any books that they need to read for school. Also the ipod touch and iphone have a number of books that can be downloaded. My last thought to add is we've already seen music and movies get assimilated to digital down-loadable format as a perfered method for the masses. So, will print follow suit?

The Evolution of Storage Mediums

The other day I was reorganizing my closet and came across some old tapes. My son was in the room with me picking up anything and everything that I removed from the closet. He is very curious and likes to play with my tech junk. I started to think of all of the different types of storage mediums I have dealt with through my life and began to realize how different my son's life will be. My son often asks, "whats that?" when he picks up an object. When he picked up an audio cassette and asked what it was, I thought, should I tell him what it is? My mind then began compiling a list of all the various formats that he will never use. So in no particular order, here's a trip down memory lane of audio, video, and data formats that I have used but no longer do:

1. Records - I always hated this format because it wasn't portable and you had to do tricks like putting a penny on the needle to keep a scratched record from skipping.
2. 8 track tapes - I remember listening to John Denver and Olivia Newton John in our motor home on family trips. I just could never find the rewind button on the player.
3. Cassette Tapes - I went through at least 3 Walkmans. This format introduced me to the dark side of boot legging. Too bad I no longer have a player to listen to noisy recordings made from the radio.
4. CD's - Ahh digital music. Actually I'm old fashioned and still buy CD's and then rip them to my ipod. I like to have a hard copy.
5. DAT (digital audio tape) - I mainly used this in the studio.
6. DCC - A rival to DAT that quickly died.
7. Mini Disc - A smaller recordable low quality CD in a case developed by Sony. Why? The world may never know.
8. DVD Audio - Surround sound music. I was hoping this format would take off and replace CD's. But instead the world decided they wanted portability at the sacrifice of quality.
9. SACD - Sony's attempt once again to create their own format to compete with DVD Audio.
10. Beta max - A higher quality than VHS but more bulky.
11. VHS - My wife and I have purged most of our video tapes. I still keep a tape for testing. Man these are hard to watch compared to DVD's.
12. S-VHS - A better version of VHS. I still have a player collecting dust in my closet.
13. Laser Disc - Imagine having to turn you DVD over half way through the movie.
14. 5.25 floppy disc - I have no words.
15. 3.5 floppy disc - Ahh so much better than 5.25. I can even put them in my pocked and not damage it.
16. ZIP disc - So much storage, yet still a bit bulky.

Now I know I've missed some formats, but this is just off the top of my head. Feel free to add any that I may have missed in the comments link. I hope this has been an entertaining walk down memory lane. I also look forward to future storage mediums and how it will affect our daily lives.

Washing Wifi Cards

Over the past four years, I've gone through a number of wifi cards for my laptop. I believe that I'm currently on my 5th one. I typically buy the cheapest one available at Fry's, usually in the $20 range. The first 3 would constantly overheat and die. My fourth card died when the protruding end broke off. The reason the end snapped off was my fault. I jammed my laptop into my bag with the card still plugged in on a cross country flight. I was on my way to attend an industry certification class. The class ends with a 10 hour test in which I needed to use my laptop to be online wirelessly. So the night before the test I went to the local mall to hit up Radio Shack for a new card. The cheapest one they had was a Netgear WG511T for around $50. I initially hated paying that much, but I had to have it for the test. The wifi card works great and has never overheated. But there is another reason I recommend the Netgear card over the cheap ones. One morning I needed to send a work email first thing when I woke up. After I sent the email, I removed the card from the laptop. I did not want this card to break like my last one. When I removed the card, I put it in the pocket of my sweats. I then proceeded to take a shower and get ready for work. As you can guess my sweats ended up in the laundry and it happened to be the day my wife did laundry. About midday I got a call from my wife telling me that she found the card in the washing machine. My initial thought was that the card would never work again. I let the card sit for a few days to make sure it was completely dry. To my surprise, I plugged it in and it worked perfectly and has been working ever since. The card also has that freshly laundered smell. Now I just have to decide what electronic device to send through the spin cycle next. My laptop is looking kind of grungy. As a side note, I'm back to my old habit of leaving the card plugged when I put my laptop in my bag.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

The digital camera that saved my marriage

About 5 years ago my wife and I decided to buy our first digital camera. If I remember correctly the camera was a birthday present for my wife. Whenever I buy a new gadget, I want to get the most bang for my buck. So I spent some time researching different cameras and ended up getting a Minolta Dimage Z1. I believe we spent between $200 to $300 on it. This model is in between a point and shoot and a SLR. The camera has 10x optical zoom and 3.2 mega pixels, which was a lot at the time. We thought this camera was great at first. I think we overlooked the issues with this camera just because it was digital. The more we used this camera the more we hated it. Approximately a third of our pictures would not turn out. When we would preview images on the 1.5 inch screen they would look fine. We would then transfer the pictures to the computer only to find out that the image was blurry. The other thing we hated about this camera was how bulky it is. The bulkiness would cause us to not want to take it places. Every time my wife would use the camera, I would hear about how bad it was. The scene is reminiscent of early "John and Kate Plus Eight" episodes where Kate is yelling "I hate this camera!" From what I could tell, it looks like they may have the same camera. Thus this electronic device was starting to be a tension point in our marriage. Every time we would use it, we would talk about buying a new one.

So, this Christmas, I once again began researching digital cameras. Not having much money to spend on new gadgets, I limited my search to cameras under $150. I narrowed my search down to four different cameras and went to Best Buy one evening to try them out (this was the same night I lost my blue tooth headset). That night I walked out with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS3. I picked this amazing camera for $109. I actually ended up spending about $60 after some BB rewards and a much appreciated $50 gift card from the in-laws. This camera is incredible. My wife and I find ourselves taking pictures all the time now. The camera is easy to use, super compact, and takes great pictures. It also has some unique preset scene modes like food, baby, and pet. It makes you want to take a picture of your food just to see what the mode will do! At last things are good once again on the home front when it comes to taking pictures.

As a side note it also makes a decent video camera. This past week I went with my wife to her ultrasound appt. to find out our baby's gender. The previous night she had asked me to grab a DVD to record the ultrasound on. I forgot. We realized this while sitting in the doctor's office waiting room. I had to come up with something, she still hasn't forgiven me for accidental taping over our son's ultrasound. I remembered this camera had a video mode, so I decided to try it. The video turned out really good, especially considering we were in a pitch black room with only a computer screen on. By the way we're having a girl.

Touch Screens

I've seen the future and it will be filled with touch screens. Currently I'm writing this post from an iPod touch. The inspiration for this prediction is not the news that every cellphone manufacturer under the sun has just released a touch screen phone, but my 2 year old son Ethan. I often let him play with my iPod touch. He knows how to turn it on and start the app. he wants to use. Over the last week he decided that all electronic screens should be touch screens. I have found him both at my laptop and desktop touching the screen trying to get it to respond. He was not just putting his grubby paws on the screen like most kids, but deliberately tapping on icons to see what would happen. So with this in mind, I find it baffling that highly educated people struggle with using touch screens. Part of my job is to work with programmers to create custom touch screens to control audio and video conference systems. We try to create the user interface so that anyone can use it without training. I often get requests from clients for quick start guides. I recently had a client request a step by step description on how to make a phone call using the touch screen. The screen looks like a telephone keypad with a button labeled DIAL and another labeled HANG UP. My point is, if my 2 year old can figure out how to use a touch screen, do I really need to create instructions on how to make a phone call from one? Touch screens are going to be more and more of a part of our daily lives, so let's embrace them. By the way, I don't remember having any instructions for the iPod touch.

Blue tooth Headset

This post is not a review, but a rant over my frustration with my blue tooth headset this past week. I have a Jabra BT8040 blue tooth headset for my cell phone. I bought this one because it was the cheapest quality one that can work with two cell phones at a time (multi point). Yes, I carry two cell phones, one for work and one for personal use. Last Tuesday I went to Best Buy to buy a new digital camera. I'll write about how cool that is later. I put my headset in my coat pocket and went on my way to feed my tech addiction. When I returned home, I discovered that my headset was no longer in my pocket. I spent the entire week searching everywhere trying to find my electronic earring. Yes, I know I look like a dork when I use it, but I have lost the ability to hold a phone to my ear. By Sunday, I had given up hope of finding the headset and resorted to researching the latest BT's available. After my son's nap we went on a walk up the street to Fry's Electronics. They had a sale on a print server that I couldn't pass up. While browsing the geek's paradise, I saw that they had one BT8040 sitting on the bottom shelf for $10.00 less than what I paid for the one that I lost. I decided to resist and not make an impulse buy. I attribute this decision to not wanting to deal with the Fry's employee manning the wireless row. I swear that he is Harry Tang from the first season of Chuck. He was telling everyone to buy Motorola because they sound better. Anyways, I get home and tell my wife about not buying the BT and she told me that I should have bought it. So I drove back to Fry's, snuck past Harry Tang, grabbed the BT, and made my purchase. When I got home, I charged the battery, updated the firmware, and paired it with both phones. This morning when I got to work, my wife called to ask if I had my new headset. Of course I did, I'm addicted to the thing and wasn't going to make the mistake of loosing it again. The reason she called is that she had just found the one that I lost sitting in a plant outside our front door. So I guess this means that I'll have to get two more cell phones and now have a matching pair of electronic earrings.

First post

Following the example of my Wife, I decided to try blogging also. My goal is to try to post something related to technology once a week. I'm not the most diligent and organized person, but there is always hope to change.