Tag: technology

A cornucopia of things

Seattle
We are in Seattle (Lake City) at least until mid-July. We fled Texas to escape the heat. Jen found us a housesitting job.

Weather in Seattle is wonderful! It’s cold in the morning (60s) and warms up into the 70s during the day. There are no mosquitoes. The doors and windows of the house are open all day (and night). I can be out in the sun for hours and not get burnt. I burn in less than 40 minutes of Texas sun.

Honda Odyssey
We drove our new minivan up to Seattle. It is a 2004 Honda Odyssey. We got it last month with 26,000 miles. It is like new. It is so anti-Jetta. The Jetta is small, the Odyssey is not. The Jetta is frugal (35mph), the Odyssey is not (24). The Jetta begs to race down the backside of mountains at 120mph, the Odyssey says, “grow up, speed racer.” The Jetta is cute, the Odyssey is…is…practical. 534

The Jetta: Let’s DRIVE!
Odyssey: Let’s ride.

The Jetta: Go, Go, Go! Faster, faster, I can do it!
Odyssey: Hey, look at the pretty mountains and the cool morning air that I have conditioned to exactly 72° for your riding comfort. Would you like a massage with your soft cushy seats?

After driving 400 miles:
The Jetta: Stop? Why? I can go for 200 more miles on this tank!
Odyssey: I’m thirsty. Don’t you have to pee or something?

After looking at the pile of stuff to take for 6 weeks:
The Jetta: Where?
Odyssey: Is that it?

Things that would not have fit in the Jetta: 20″ iMac, crate full of rock climbing and camping gear, portable office (phones, routers, power adapters, etc), a really big bag of Kayla toys. It really was quite dramatic. We filled up the Odyssey with everything we wanted to bring and was still below the bottom of the windows.

Contrast that with our two weeks in Michigan over new years. The Jetta was packed to the gills with the roof rack on top and not an inch to spare anywhere.

Junior 2.0
We had Junior’s big ultrasound yesterday. Junior appears to be very healthy. In fact, Junior is quite vigorous, refusing to hold still for the ultrasound technician. She claimed never to have seen such an active fetus. There were a couple images she simply could not get because Junior refused to hold still. After 15 minutes trying to get a particular shot, in frustration she held the probe still and said, “Look at this, I’m holding this still and he is just going and going!”

Junior’s mommy was not the least bit surprised. Kayla was an active baby and we had nicknamed her “Dances in Womb.” Junior is hyperactive and seldom pauses. Junior is more like “Spastic Bounces Off Walls.” His activity level is almost constant. Many things about this pregnancy are different than the last, but of course, every pregnancy is different. The nausea that abated in the second trimester last time has not. Other little things are different. We had our suspicions.

As the technician probed, daddy and Kayla watched. I asked, “Did I just see what I thought I saw?” The technician slid a knowing grin and continued. She paused, and froze the screen. There it was again, and this time she caught it before Junior swam away. Junior is sporting the goods.

Workin’ for the man
The day after we arrived in Seattle, I got the phones set up and then they rang. A certain mega-sized monopolistic computer software corporation (MSMCSC) based in Redmond, Washington wanted my assistance. Oddly, they had no idea I was only a few miles away. So, I am finishing up a one week consulting project with, guess who?

Intel iMac -vs- dual G5 performance continued.

I recently cleaned up an old video project that has been awaiting attention for almost a year. It was pretty simple footage and required only a few snips, clips and fades in iMovie to be considered “done.” While waiting for my shiny new iMac Core Duo to render the fades, a memory surfaced.

When using the dual G5 systems to edit video, the system would render fades and transitions in only a second or two. In fact, on long segments where lots of fades and transitions were necessary, think of a Ken Burns movie full of photos, the dual G5 could render them as fast as I could drop them into the pasteboard. It was difficult to “stack” a few renders to keep the dual G5 busy.

Fast forward to yesterday as I waited Continue reading “Intel iMac -vs- dual G5 performance continued.”

For Sale: G5 PowerMac Dual 1.8, SD, 160GB+900GB RAID, 1GB

It’s likely heading for eBay soon, but not before I offer it to friends and family. The system bone stock is worth about $1,200 on eBay. Compare to a new dual 2.0 which is currently $2,000. With all the extra drive space and RAM, it should fetch about $1,600. If you don’t need 900GB of storage, I can pull the disks and cut the price. Photos are available here. The eBay ad follows.

If you are looking to buy a dual G5, I assume that you already know all about them so I won’t repeat the obvious.

This system includes EVERYTHING that shipped with it from the factory. Box, keyboard, mouse, USB extender, vga adapter, airport antennae, unopened manuals, software recovery DVD, power cord, and modem cable.

What is different about my G5 from other dual 1.8s:

1. Single owner – purchased new, a copy of the sales receipt is included.
2. Perfect eBay feedback – Bid with confidence!
3. Applecare – purchased with CPU, good through 12/9/06.
4. 1GB of RAM.
5. Stock 160GB drive + 900GB!
5.1. (3) top of the line 300GB DiamondMax 10 drives in a CCD RAID.
6. Fast-Ethernet PCI card (adds second ethernet port)
7. SeriTek 4 port SATA PCI-X card
8. Lots of valuable extras!

That’s right, $600 worth of hard drives, a 4 port SATA card ( $125), and the G5 Drive Bracket (http://www.g5drivebracket.com/) are used to pack a few more disks in there and make a killer file server. If 900+160GB is not enough for you, install a few larger drives and have even more space! Voila, one big box that works great as a workstation with gobs o’disk or use it for network attached storage (NAS).

Other Installed Software:
Continue reading “For Sale: G5 PowerMac Dual 1.8, SD, 160GB+900GB RAID, 1GB”

Brain upgrade

Are you looking for a way to learn without moving off to Universityville?
Do you thirst for knowledge but haven’t the coin to pay college?
Do you want to learn but do not care about the sheepskin?
Do you need more structured learning than reading a book (ie, Audible.com)?

The solution has arrived. Turn off your TV, get all the brain pacifying music off that iPod and load it up with college courses for FREE! That’s right, college courses and complete lectures are now available, free of charge to anybody and everybody.

If you want to be educated, head on over to UC Berkeley
If you want theololy, head over over to Biblical Training.org

There are other free resources on the internet but most are worth what you pay for them. The two sites I just cited are both real colleges courses taught by honest accredited college professors. UC Berkeley’s content is obvious. Biblical Training is an excellent resource put together by Bill Mounce, the fellow who wrote the Greek textbook we learn from at DTS. He has collected courses from seminaries who voluntarily make their courses available.

This is a welcome trend and I preduct we will be seeing more of this in the future. Of course, learning from these courses will not earn you a degree but they will certainly enrich your mind.

To refurb, or not to refurb?

Today I have been asked again about the purchase of reburbished computers. Since I have answered this question in emails before, I have summarized those emails and published it here for the edification of others.

I have had mixed results with refurb gear. I had one arrive DOA and other with intermittent hardware failures that required sending it back. My “get a good one the first time” success rate is around 50%. I feel that whether or not a person should buy a refurb boils down to several key factors.

1. In exchange for saving some cash, you are taking the risk that your system is not going to arrive in “new” condition. This could include the inconvenience of sending it back and getting another one, costing you a week or two extra where you do not have use of the new computer. Further, it is possible that your computer has an intermittent hardware fault that passes Q.A. testing but still causes sporadic problems for you.

2. Technical savvy. If you are not familiar with how the computer should be working, then it could be faulty without you knowing it. For this reason, I do not advise new or less technically savvy computer users to get a refurbished computer.

3. If this will be another computer and you will not “need” it immediately, then you can risk getting a less than perfect computer the first time. The annoyance of sending it back and getting another one sent to you may not be as significant as $200.

I’m technologically savvy enough to know if there is something wrong with the hardware. I also have plenty of “extra” computing hardware so if a new computer arrives DOA, it is a slight inconvenience. However, I still almost always buy new. By exercising patience, I can usually score a system for enough of a discount that a reburb is no longer attractively priced.

IntelliMac

On the very day the Mac Book Pro was announced, I placed my order. In fact, the order was placed within 5 minutes of the Apple Store being re-enabled (it’s typically disabled during such events). I was very excited to get it but all the orders got bumped back so I decided to cancel it and get a 20″ iMac Core Duo since it was available right away. On Tuesday I returned from school to find it sitting next to my desk.

If you have never bought a new Mac, then you might not appreciate the care and elegance with which Apple packages their computers. I’ve done it so many times that I expect it and hardly noticed the nice, well designed packaging. I had work to get done so I ripped it open, yanked out the goodies, and settled into hard core work playtime.

Other/DSC_5871.JPG

After setting up the iMac on my desk, it created a significant problem. I already had the 20″ and 23″ Cinema Displays hooked up to the G5 dual and they commanded a large portion of my desk. Adding yet another 20″ display consumed what was left. To relieve the crowding problem, I have moved the 20″ into our bedroom for watching movies when connected to the laptop. That will work until it or the 23″ gets sold on eBay.

My intent for this system is to replace one of my dual G5 systems which I can then sell on eBay. The reason it may achieve that goal is Continue reading “IntelliMac”

Presentation Devices for Mac OS X

One of my esteemed professors needs a remote for use in class. Actually, a couple of my professors are in need of a decent remote for their presentations in class. So, I did some searching around and found a couple good options, listed in order of recommendation.

Choice #1: Kensington Wireless Presentation Remote

Kensington Wireless Presentation Remote Control with Laser Pointer

All features of the Kensington are known to work reliably with Mac OS X. Simply click the link and it’ll take you to item at the Amazon.com store. If you order by clicking the link, they’ll even give me a little referral credit.

Choice #2: Logitech 2.4GHz Cordless Presenter

Logitech 2.4 GHz Cordless Presenter

Samsung A900 (Blade)

It is long past time to get a new cell phone and plan. My contract with Sprint has long since expired so I’ve been researching the options. I have several criteria I consider essential for my cell phone service:

  • National Coverage – It must work while traveling
  • Home Coverage – Good reception at my house (duh)
  • Bluetooth/USB sync – Import/Sync address book from PC to phone
  • Modem/Data – tether to laptop for everywhere internet access

The national coverage and data access are mandatory for me because of my consulting business. I offer a service to my clients and guarantee them a 1 hour response. Thus, my phone must provide me with the ability to get internet access from nearly anywhere. That narrows down my list of potential service providers to Sprint, Cingular, and Verizon.

Beyond the choice of providers is the matter of phones. I had been using a Sanyo 8100 for years. I am able to tether to it using a USB cable and sync my address book to it via BitPim. It is not pretty or elegant, but it works. I have two problems with that solution. The phone is HUGE in my pocket so I hate carrying it, and it drops calls with great regularity. It needs to be replaced.

Last year I tried out a PM-325, also from Sprint. It was a slick little phone but Sprint crippled the Bluetooth support so that it only worked with headsets. USB tethering was also borked (I can’t remember why) so I returned it a week later and have been waiting for a better phone to appear since. (Note: Sprint later released a firmware update that enabled Bluetooth tethering)

Last month I wandered into a Cingular store and bought a Motorola Razr v3. I used it for a few days. The phone has a great feature list. I immediately synced my address book to it (yay) and tethered my laptop to it via Bluetooth. Yay again. However, after I started making phone calls with it, I noticed that the voice clarity and coverage at my house stank. I frequently had to ask the other person to repeat what they said. The clarity of calls on Sprint really has spoiled me.

The other problem with the Razr is speed. The net access is really, really slow compared to Sprint’s Vision. The lag is so high that interactive connections (ie, SSH which I absolutely must have) are painful to use. I thought perhaps it was simply a network issue but I was in Wal-Mart one day. I needed to look up something on the web so I pulled up the browser and spent 10 minutes trying to get to the page I wanted to see. I realized that I could have driven home, looked it up on my computer and driven back before I found what I needed using the phones (wap) browser.

I concluded that the Razr was not really an upgrade from my aged 8100 so I returned it. Since then I’ve gotten two incorrect (way overbilled) invoices from Cingular. I called them and the kind customer service lady promised to correct the bill. It’s been almost two months and I still haven’t gotten a correct invoice from them. That’s not exactly a great enticement for me to ever try them again.

Finally, on Dec 30th, I called Sprint again and they made me a sweet deal to renew my contract. I got a Samsung A900 phone for $100 shipped. It has gotten excellent reviews from all over and it supports ED-VO, Sprint’s new high speed mobile access, which includes support for streaming TV to your phone. The promise of high speed on my phone and the ultra-thin profile were nice additions to the other requirements of mine that this phone met.

When we got home from Michigan, it was waiting for me. I activated it and have been happily playing with it ever since. Bluetooth tethering to my laptop works great. I was able to import most of my address book entries (it only supports 500). Network access is really, really quick. In fact, unlike the Razr, everything about this phone is quick. Menus come up pretty quickly, the web browser launches quickly, Google maps load quickly, and movies download quickly.

The camera phone is good, nearly as good as phone sized cameras get. It plays MP3’s just fine but only holds a few of them. I haven’t figured out how to get GPS data from it to my laptop yet. I did install Google’s Local for mobile phones. It is way cool. In all, I’m extremely pleased and this phone was well worth the wait. It’s highly recommended.