Land of Oz

Memories

ScienceDaily: They [Alex Zettl and colleagues]note that William the Conqueror's Doomsday Book, written on vellum in 1086 AD, has survived 900 years. However, the medium used for a digital version of the book, encoded in 1986, failed within 20 years.

This is for those folks (and that seems most) who can't wait to transfer all their memories to RAM, ROM or to some other digital acronym. All those precious family photos and movies that you've patiently put on tape or disk aren't going to be there all that long. In my old house we found newspapers dated from 1918 that were still mostly perfectly readable. Even with a few nail holes and tears where they were creased didn't keep me from reading about the front line in Europe.

On the other hand, I've noticed some of the CDs that I used to archive some college work on only 10 years ago, have failed. There's no holes, they haven't been stored in temperature extremes or in the weather, but have been neatly stored in CD containers in the dark. Granted, they weren't the special archival quality disks available, but then who does use those?

I have regretted the loss of some early computer programs I wrote. A couple of games to be exact. As late as a few years ago, I did have a cassette with one of them. However, how common is a TRS-80 Model 1 with cassette to read them these days. Five and a quarter inch disks are virtually non-existent these days when once they used to be as common as three-and-a-half inch disks - which themselves are becoming quite scarce.

On the other hand, I have a photo of my grandparents wedding (very early 20th century) that is as sharp as the day it was processed. What about your kid's photos on VHS or DVD? Do you think anyone will be able to see them in twenty years?

Labels: computers, tech

Space - the Final Frontier

I've just read that Indian plans on spending 100 billion rupees ($2 billion) in an effort to launch a man-carrying space capsule. That now makes two countries - China and India - who are reinventing the wheel. A two or three man space capsule isn't expanding the frontiers of space, it's only exploring the same place people went over 40 years ago.

Space exploration can't be a national process. It's too expensive and space is too big. Why spend billions redoing something that's already been done. That's kind of like Turkey sending a ship west across the Atlantic to see if there's land someplace out there.

How about getting together and making an international plan for manned space exploration. Three countries have already independently proven you can orbit a can with two or three folks sitting inside. Move on. What we need is a cheap and reuseable launch vehicle to launch either personnel or cargo into orbit and beyond.

Labels: government, tech

Best Buy

Caution - anti-rant here. Commercial endorsement possible. As much as I complain about lousy service, I figure it's only right that I mention good service. We recently bought a Nikon L18 camera at Best Buy, which in itself is kind of interesting. (It lists for $130 and we thought about it, it went down to $120 and I seriously considered it, then it was $100 and I bought it - and it's back up to $130 now.)

This weekend I tried the macro option to take some photos of some toys I'm building. While in macro mode, it made a grinding noise while it tried to focus. I tried a few times and it continued. Now I really, really hate to return stuff so I almost decided to keep it as is. But, I finally decided to do the exchange thing back at Best Buy.

I go to the Customer Service counter and stand in line (it is Xmas shopping season after all) and read my Palm Z22 (bought at Best Buy) while I wait. Finally I get to the register and the woman checks it out, confirms the noise and calls back to the camera department to let them know I'll be back there for an exchange. Wow - no muss, no fuss. Of course when I did arrive at the camera department the woman working there was absolutely clueless about what I was trying to do. Luckily someone else showed up and let her know what to do (get me a new camera).

A few minutes later I was heading out the door with a new camera and a smile. I have to admit that Best Buy has been absolutely great about returns so far. I really hate to return stuff, but Best Buy as been really nice about it. From this broken camera to a good, but unwanted iPod, they accepted things with no fees and no hassles. I know I rant about the noise in the store and the ofttimes clueslessness of their employees, but their return process is first rate.

Labels: rave, tech

Idiot Drivers

Yesterday a friend of mine told me about an early morning (1 a.m.) accident near his house out in the boondocks. It seems he was getting ready for bed when he noticed flashing lights outside. It turned out to be the emergency response to a tanker truck in a ditch. His worry was that the truck might have been carrying hazardous materials.

It turns out the truck was hauling "nitrogen-based products" that weren't hazardous. Hmmm, ever heard of TNT? Anyway, I looked in the next day's paper for information about the accident and found a couple of column inches on it. Seems the idiot driver , Leonard Paszek from South Bend, Ind. turned where his GPS told him to turn instead of looking at the road and turning where he should have turned! Just how lazy must you be when you don't even want to look out the window when making a turn on a dark country road? I don't care how good GPS gets, I'm still going to want to confirm I'm driving on a road with my own low-tech eyes.

Labels: driving, tech

Science

A recent BBC article talked about how sloths actually sleep less in the wild than scientists thought after observing them in captivity. It seems they caught the sloths, hooked them up to a machine that monitored their brain waves and released them. After a few days, they recaptured them and checked the brain wave monitor. Their conclusion was that the sloths slept less in the wild.

Here's another conclusion. Sloths sleep less after being captured and hooked up to a brain wave monitoring machine. I know I would.

Labels: misc, tech

Television Digital Converter Box

When I was trying to find out about these things, I ran into so much misinformation, it was very confusing. Finally, I decided to just buy one and see what happened.

As you may or may not have heard, there's going to be a change in the way television is being broadcast in February of 2009. Technically, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the government office on all things radio and TV, has mandated that all TV stations switch from broadcasting an analog encoded signal to a digital signal. This means that all TVs that receive only analog signals won't work anymore. Since the government is tasked with provided at least some "free" TV, they have decided to offer folks a $40 coupon that people can use to buy a converter box that will allow them to use their old TVs to receive the new digital channels. Here's some questions and answers about the process:

Are all TVs affected?
Nope. Only older TVs are. Maybe three to four years old or older. Many newer TVs already have the circuitry inside to receive digital signals. If, like me, you have an older TV using a rabbit ear antenna to watch local TV, you'll probably need the box. According the government web site:

If you purchased a new TV set since 2004, your chances of having a built-in digital tuner improve dramatically. Starting in 2004, many of the TV sets sold at popular electronics stores feature digital tuners that will work after February 17, 2009. But it’s not a sure thing. Even some of the newer TV sets are purely display monitors that lack the internal circuitry needed to pick up digital broadcasts.

Do I need a converter box if I get cable or satellite TV?
Nope. That conversion is already done for you by company providing the signal.

Do I need a new antenna?
Probably not. If your current TV can get local UHF channels - generally channels above 13 - you won't need a new antenna. I have a $25 set of amplified rabbit ears from Radio Shack that work just fine with my digital box.

Does this converter box give me digital high definition TV?
Yes and no. You do get a digital signal, and if the station transmits a high definition signal, you can see it, but it won't be a "real" high definition picture. In my case, highdef shows appear in a letterbox format (has black bars above and below the picture). Since I have an old-fashioned "normal" TV the picture quality won't show the detail available with a real highdef TV. The picture is there, but it looks pretty much like it did with the regular antenna.

What was your experience like?
1. I bought an Insignia converter box for $59.95 from Best Buy. I had no trouble using the $40 coupon (they just deducted $40) so my cost was $19.95 plus tax. The $40 coupon by the way looks like a credit card, not a piece of paper.

2. It can be hooked up two ways. Either running the antenna lead into the box and then another cable from the box to the TV antenna input, or you can run a separate left and right audio and composite video signal from the converter box to your TV. I have a DVD player in my system, so in my case, I ran the antenna lead from my rabbit ears (they sit on top of the TV on a wooden stand) to the converter box, three leads (L&R audio and video) to my DVD player, then three leads from the DVD player to the TV. Using the separate leads supposedly gives a clear picture than using the RF signal.

3. I followed the instruction book, turned everything on and the little box soon automatically searched for channels. I went from five channels to 15. Most station have multiple programs broadcast on their one channel. For example, channel 19 (PBS) has four channels (19.1, 19.2, 19.3, 19.4). The reason for this is digital broadcast signals are more efficient and allow more information to be transmitted over the same signal. Thus, you get four digital programs where only one analog program was before.

What problems did you have?
Nothing really. Don't forget to RTFM. (A polite acronym meaning Read the Flipping Manual) I forgot to peel the plastic wrapper off the included remote battery at first so the remote wasn't working. I also had to shuffle around my video stuff, because I had been using the RF input from the antenna directly to a VHS player so the VHS player was acting as my TV tuner. Now I use the converter box for the tuner that feeds into the DVD player before being routed to the TV.

Was it worth it?
Most definitely. For $20 I went from four and a half TV channels (66 was usually unwatchable) to 15 crystal clear channels (OK - there's some occasional breakup, but not bad). And my PBS channel has great programming on the extra channels. Very cool.

How do I get the $40 card?
Go to https://www.dtv2009.gov/ and sign up. And don't be suspicious/worried that the government is giving you something for nothing. They sold off some extra channels that the conversion freed up and made billions that they can waste on other programs. On the other hand, the $40 rebate program is only costing the government millions.

Labels: government, tech

Simplify

I've been noticing that most tech items are built with more options and features than most people could even discover in their lifetime, let alone use regularly. It makes you wonder how much R&D time and effort is spent on developing those features that most people don't use. And in contrast, how much better could the basic functions be if that time was spent on them. Here's just a couple of examples.

Word Processors. I'm a professional writer and probably don't use 80% of what most processors, like Word have in them. Since being forced to switch to Word 2007, I can't even find most of those features anymore. I just checked and my Word has roughly 200 fonts listed in a dropdown. Most of them border on the unreadable. How many do you think I use regularly? Maybe three or four? One of the guys in our office seems to have just discovered his font pulldown and consequently, I now get nearly unreadable content from him a couple of time a week. Usually, I ctrl+a the doc, then select Times to print or Verdana for screen use. I also get docs that try to use every formatting option in the package - usually with disastrous results.

Video. My video tastes are pretty simple. I have rabbit ears to watch the four networks and PBS, and a DVD and VCR player. So basically, I turn it on, select a channel, and adjust the volume. For the DVD or VCR I will check the time on boring movies and sometimes fastforward or reverse. The above describes 98% of my video actions. Do you know what sits on my coffee table just to let me do that? Four remotes with about 100 buttons on each. And even though I've spent the last thirty years fiddling with computers, radios, televisions and other high-tech devices, I still don't have a clue about what three-quarters of those 400 buttons do. I understand there are remotes for home theaters now that run Windows and the installer has to give you a class just so you can turn on your TV. What's wrong with on/off, play/rewind, louder/quieter, and which channel. Instead of spending all that R&D on features I'll never use, how about designing a system that knows that when I click ON, I want everything on. And if I have a DVD in the player, when I click PLAY, the DVD, not the VHS tape or the stereo or my neighbor's garage door should do its thing automatically.

Phone. I have a remote phone at home with twenty or so buttons on it, most of which don't make a lot of sense to me. If someone calls me, I have to press TALK, even though I'm going to listen. When I type in the phone number, I also have to press TALK, even though I'm dialing, not talking. And even though the info screen lights up, the buttons don't, so I have to turn on the lights just so I can figure out which button I need to press to dial a number. And with all its buttons and power, it won't stop some cretin from calling in at eight in the morning to sell me a septic tank cleaner or some such bullshit.

See, even I can manage to turn a simple rant about simplifying into a multiparagraph complicated document that covers far more than it needs to. Oh, one more thing about word processors. In the preceding line I originally spelled manage, with an extra r as in manager . And though that makes absolutely no sense at all, the $400 word processor's spell checker didn't catch it. Due eye make me gravel downloading?

Labels: computers, gripes, tech

Warming/Cooling

I just read an article in a conservative web site that notes that snow cover for the northern north American continent is higher than any times since the sixties. Naturally, the article implies that because of that, global warming must be wrong. Here's my take on that. Honestly, I don't know. I've seen a lot that supports human-powered global warming, but there's also a lot of evidence that the climate is highly variable historically, and even more so pre-historically. I've also read some articles that climate warming can (and will) suddenly collapse into a major freeze.

Now, having no scientific evidence for any of the above, I can see how a global warming period could increase snowfall in the northern climes. First, if the average temperature of winter is 25 degrees (rough non-scientific Fahrenheit degrees for my 45 degree latitude) a five degree climate warming is still going to give an average temperature under freezing. That means the snow won't melt when it hits the ground. On the other hand, like now, it means the Great Lakes probably won't completely freeze over. This gives you more water to evaporate, which means more water in the air, which since it's below freezing, means more snow. And the more snow, the more the sunlight is reflected away, thus making it colder and keeping more snow. I don't know for sure, but I'm thinking it's not impossible for the dark lake waters to absorb a bit more heat than the glaringly white snow and ice, which would tend to raise the temperature of the water a bit more, leading to more evaporation, etc.

This mechanism by the way, is what in some stories I've read, triggers the next ice age. The wide-spread highly reflective snow covers more ground, causing more heat to be reflected back, lowering average temperatures, causing more snow to cover more ground, etc. Eventually there's enough snow covered ground for the reflective infrared heat to be bounced back so that summer never quite makes it. Boom, an ice age in a season. Who knows?

Labels: tech

22 Years

If you've seen this before, you might know I went through an arduous time of trying to get an OLPC laptop. I finally got it and it is pretty cool. What is amazing is that it is around 22 years since I bought my first laptop. That was a TRS (Radio Shack) Model 100, a computer that is pretty much recognized as the first successful laptop. I bought my Model 100 back in early 1986 and here it is, 2008 and I'm buying another. It's interesting to see how they compare.

It's interesting in that the sizes are pretty close. The weight is almost the same while the OLPC is significantly smaller. However, that makes a big drawback for the keyboard. That is one place the Model 100 shines. The OLPC wins hands-down for software with browsers, text editors, programming, games and more. Battery-wise, the Model 100 also wins. It used to run for a week or two on just 4 AA batteries.

I've been using the OLPC for about a week now and am getting a little more familiar with it. I finally got it to connect with my Apple Extreme wireless yesterday and have been able to connect using Macdonalds and Barnes and Nobles wireless. I think the OLPC guys have really come up with a pretty cool little system for kids to learn on. Good job.

Labels: computers, tech

Help? Line

Have you called a help line lately? Companies efforts to use computer voice recognition for their customer support just plain sucks - is that clear enough? I suppose it's OK if you happen to be asking about one of their choices, but for whatever reason, I rarely do. So that means Ihave to listen to tons of crappy messages about stuff I have no interest in.

And then when I finally do get a question I can answer, the computer doesn't understand. How many times have you heard, "I don't understand that, can you repeat it please?" at which time I repeat my phrase and the computer repeats its phrase. I slowly and clearly speak midwestern English with no speech impediment and little or no accent. You'd think the stupid computer would understand that.

And you know what really pisses me off? After all that fighting with menus and computers and you finally get a human, their accent is so thick you can barely understand them! I really don't have any strong prejudices against people who speak with a strong accent unless I can't understand them. I had a couple of university professors who spoke with such strong accents that I often had no idea what they were talking about. I've had the same experience with more than one customer service rep.

Come on companies, get it together. Get rid of the speech non-recognition software and at least go to keyboard controlled menus.If you have to out-source your calling center to some exotic country,please make sure the folks you hire can speak understandable English if needed. How about making a first choice menu for language preference.

Now, do you agree? Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't understand that, could you repeat that please?

Labels: computers, gripes, tech

Envelopes

Why can't businesses supply envelopes that fit the item they want mailed? Or if they can't supply an envelop at least make their product fit existing envelopes. One example is our water bill. For years, it came as an oversized postcard type of bill with a tear off portion to return with the check. The tear off portion was too large to fit into a normal envelope, so that you had to fold over about 1/2" of it to fit.

Then there's a lot of places that offer membership cards about the size of a business card - note, I said about. You'd think if anything, they'd make them just a smidgen smaller. Nope. The American Legion card is made about 3/16" larger than a business card. The buy X number and get free something is a good candidate for this size oddity as well. There's a coffee shop nearby that has a buy 20 get one free card that is just bigger than a business card - and there's a theatre here that has one just as odd sized.

Today I had to mail out a rather large packet of paperwork of whose instructions required the mailing of said packet in the supplied envelope. First off, the paperwork I had to fill out was legal size, and you guessed it, the envelope was standard sized. And the packet of paper I had, legal sized and otherwise, was about a 1/2" thick. So I had this big ol' pack of paper and nothing to send it in. Staples only sells legal sized envelopes in boxes of a hundred or so. Target didn't even carry any. I finally bought some kraft paper and packing tape and made my own. Think about it. In this day and age, I'm back to constructing envelopes like it was 1842 with paper and paste.

Labels: gripes, tech

Stupid Cop Shows

For the most part I can take the inaccuracies of TV shows in stride. There are several things though, that really get to me. This came to mind after reading a story where a doctor is walking dog in the woods, sees some red spots on the ground and then touches them and tastes, "hoping for the taste of berries."

This is like the cops shows where the cop finds a plastic bag with white powder, sticks it with his knife, and then tastes it, saying "yep, it's coke." Which is really good for him, because it could have just as easily been rat poison, lye, strychnine or some other powder that would lay him low rather then get him high. There's also a certain CSI guy who as much as I admire his character, tends to do this with unknown substances.

The next thing are surveillance tapes. You know the kind, they have a frame from a dark basement parking lot and after enlarging it can read the numbers off the perps (my cop talk-type writing) driver's license or name on her name tag. That night on the 11p.m. news you'll see a picture made of various shades of gray with a barely human appearing splotch in it and they'll ask you if you can identify this person. Most of the time you can't even tell it's a person.

Then there's fingerprints. OK, this bugs me, but I really don't know if it's realistic; I'm just guessing here. They get a teensy scrap of a fingerprint on the wall and within 10 seconds, they "have a perfect match" for some person "in the system." I really doubt it's that fast or simple.

Labels: crime, gripes, tech

Made In China

This isn't so much a bash China post, but more in the way of asking a question post. Now, as much as ever, China manufacturing seems to be taking some pretty good hits. Lead in this and antifreeze in that and stuff falling apart before its time is all over the news. It got me to wondering though if China makes anything at all of good quality.

When I was young "Made in Japan" was synonymous with junk. Remember the tale about a village in Japan renamed Usa, so they could say stuff was "Made in Usa?" Now of course, it's completely different with Lexus, Toyota and Yamaha well respected. But even back then, there was stuff in Japan with quality. Nikon has always seemed a good brand, and of course Samurai swords are mythic in their quality. And it didn't take long for Japanese electronics to rise to the top of both quality and value.

But now you have China. Is there anything that China makes that might be considered better than average, let alone desirable? Have you ever heard someone say, "ooh, that Chinese whatever sure is some good stuff!"

Now while I will admit that not everything made in China is complete junk, if given the choice of a powered drill made in Korea, Canada or China, China won't be my first choice - even if it's cheapest. On the other hand, I also know that a powered drill with a "Made in Canada" label can be built completely with parts from China as long as the labour to build it is over 50% of the value. I just wonder how long it will take before people are comparing Chinese goods of some sort (even if only one or two items) with high quality and desirability.

Labels: gripes, tech

Size?

"...because the new Nano has a much larger screen (two inches diagonal). With 320-by-240 pixels crammed into that space..."

"Much larger screen?" Please. Two inch - diagonal no less - is notthing that I would add "larger" to, unless maybe I was working in a microbiology lab. I think "not as small" would be much more accurate. And there's a lot of reviewers talking about how nice a picture it is??? We have something like a 28" CRT TV at home and I wouldn't consider it large - let alone much larger than anything.

I guess it must be my middle-aged senses screaming for help, but a 2" screen isn't something I'd like to watch a TV show on, let alone a movie. Poor Genie wouldn't have to worry about her belly button shocking Middle America on something like that. I have dust-bunnies in the TV room that would eat a 2" screen for lunch. I really find it hard to believe that there is any kind of market for videos on something that small. Even youtube.com stuff is pushing the limits for me. How can you really enjoy looking at something that is smaller than most pictures in my wallet?

By the way, I think the quote came from a NYTimes article.

Labels: computers, gripes, tech

Weather Forecasters?

Here are two news articles that came up in my yahoo.com home page today.

Forecasters see less active hurricane season

Atlantic hurricane season will be above-normal: experts

Any bets as to who will be correct?

Labels: tech

Noise

Here's an article about people complaining about noise. While mostly about the noise from an iPod's earphones, it also touches on iPod listeners singing along with their iPod. The following quote is what really got to me:

"Did anyone ever complain about the noise coming from a Walkman or a CD player?" he [Leander Kahney, managing editor of Wired magazine's Web site] said. "Unless you're in a quiet environment, you're really gonna have to strain to hear any kind of noise from somebody else's iPod."

Our world, he said, has become freakishly quiet. "It's not noise pollution — it's noise absence. And I find it almost more disturbing and upsetting than I did loud noise. It's sort of unnatural."

Where on earth does this guy live? I live in what I've considered a relatively quiet residential neighborhood, but it is still filled with loud speeding vehicles with bad exhausts, cars with audio units that you can hear blocks away with that annoying boing-rattle of cheap bass speaker units. Not to mention year-round and round-the-clock sirens, helicopters and fireworks. There's the one idiot neighbor who warms his loud car up every cold morning at 7:15 - 7:30 a.m. and another one who never fails to honk his horn, not once of course, for his ride pickup at 6 a.m. And did I mention the next door neighbor with their garage band and the house on the other side of the block that like to entertain the entire block with their musical racket? For awhile, people in the next block were calling the police to complain about the noise level from the house next door to me. Thankfully, one of house inhabitants got hauled off in an ambulance last year (disposition unknown) and it's been relatively (only loud a couple times a month at 2 a.m. now) quiet ever since.

I sit in my cubicle at work and listen to the ever-present growl of the air handling system, loud chattering employees in the next aisle and people holding conference calls with her speaker phone two cubicles away. And when the growl of the air conditioning dies, as it too often does, the apparent level of chatter and noise goes up a couple more notches.

I guess Wired magazine must have some special high-tech quiet zone that Mr. Kahney lives in, because I sure haven't noticed it. Yes, today there isn't the clump of horses hooves, or the rattle of milk cans in the morning and the train tracks a block away were removed several years ago. The growls of bears and howls of wolves have also gone away as well as the steam boats on the river and the clang of the street car three blocks away. But somehow, I don't think they added up to one addled adolescent with a 300 watt stereo system and 15 inch speakers in their car.

Labels: apple, driving, gripes, tech

Mighty Mouse

No, not the muscular little rodent with the operatic voice, but Apple's hand-operated pointing device. To me, the mouse has always been one of Apple's weak points. I can remember trying to operate the round mouse. I couldn't get used to not have something to reference with a direction.

So we get this new iMac and it comes with something called Mighty Mouse - which is named after the cartoon dude. To me, there's two big disadvantages to it. One is the teeny scrolling ball on the top - which conversely is also one of the best points. The problem is that it seems very easy to get dirty and not so easy to get clean. This weekend the mouse scroll ball started to work erratically if at all. This after only six weeks or so of use. Now, I'm not the neatest guy around, in fact, I'm pretty messy, but clean, but I don't expect a mouse to get gummed up after only six months of use. To clean it, you have to press hard and rub it upside down on a moistened (I used some lens cleaner) paper towel. I'm wondering if this is going to be a monthly occurrence?

The other problem is that the side buttons are too sensitive and don't seem to give any feedback. All to often, Exposé pops up when I use the mouse. While Exposé is pretty cool, I don't need it that often. I don't seem to be pushing the side keys, but I'm obviously doing it. I wish they'd be buttons that actually clicked or seem to move instead of just working.

And while I'm on this subject, I'd like to be able to reprogram the home and end key to beginning and end of line - I'm sure there's a way, I just haven't found it yet. And once again, I'd like to say how much I miss my right-click sendto option.

Labels: apple, computers, tech

Wireless & Updates

This weekend my DSL (in fact my entire landline phone line) went down. It turned out the exterior wires were "weather worn" according to ATT and needed to be replaced. My phone was out from around noon on Sunday until noon on Monday.

At first I didn't know the phone line was down, literally down. I had no online access, so after recycling modems and hubs and computer trying to get DSL back up, I finally checked the phones and discovered that problem and made my call to ATT repair. Anyway, when I turned on my computer I noticed a wireless network called linksys that wasn't password protected. It seems someone in the neighborhood has a wireless network set up and used the default settings and no password. That got me wondering about my own wireless network and how to make sure I really did set encryption like I thought I did once I got back online.

There is a program called Airport Utility that sets up the Airport Extreme base station I have. I found it, launched it and it said it was too old to use. I went to apple.com and looked for 5.1 and couldn't find it. I did find an airport extreme update package and downloaded it and tried to install it, but it also said the utility was too old to update. I finally thought of the disk that came with the base station and sure enough, that had the 5.1 version on it. I installed it, then ran the update package again and it all seemed to be running - did I mention these were the kind of updates where you have to reboot after loading? This time the airport utility I downloaded (2007-001) was something for graphite and didn't work, so I needed to go back and download and install a different one. So after a couple of reboots and reloads, etc. I start the Airport Utility and it tells me my base station needs a firmware update - sigh. So finally after downloading and installing a bunch of stuff - not all of it the right stuff - I can finally check my base station - and yes, it was password protected.

Labels: apple, computers, tech

History

One of my favorite shows on TV is back for its summer season, History Detectives. Its about some researchers who meet someone with an artifact (has ranged from cannons to belt buckles to 3D projection screens) and they try to find out the real history of that artifact. It's really interesting.

This week they talked with some lady with a story (and medallion) about her great grandfather who supposedly had received a medal made of metal from the Liberty Bell. It turns out that it was probably true, but that wasn't what struck me. What struck me was when the lady showed the researcher a photo of her ancestor. It got me to thinking that I'll be lucky to be able to look at photos I took a few years ago.

I've ranted about this before, but the digital age is really going to hurt history. I still use my original digital camera, a Toshiba PDR-M1. It takes nice photos but the storage it uses is just about obsolete. It uses a SmartCard with a 3.5" floppy adapter. I've started the change over to a Mac and the Mac has neither a 3.5" floppy, nor is there any software available to support the adapter if I added a drive.

In this case, I can still access the old photos since I kept them backed up on CDs - but for how long? First, the CDs will degrade to the point where I can't read them. Second, eventually there won't be CD readers to be had, and if you doubt that, try to find an 8-track player, a reel-to-reel recorder or a 5.25" floppy drive these days. All of which I've used for archival storage in the past. (OK, in my case it was an Exatron Stringy Floppy instead of the 8-track, but you get my drift.)

I was also thinking about when my cubicle neighbor brought in photos - digitally taken and ink jet printed - of his new kid. Those prints may last a few years and hopefully, he'll keep his digital storage updated. But where his folks can pull a photo out of an old shoe box and look it and remember, in 40 years he'll be lucky to have an old computer still around that will read those photos he took.

How well are your digital mementos stored?

Labels: oldies, tech

Apple vrs. Atari

Yes, Atari. Today I called Apple tech support about my hard drive problem and after many minutes of following directions, we came to the conclusion that the hard drive was indeed busted. By the way, today I learned what "recycle the power management system" means. After I asked for clarification, I found out it meant to unplug the computer!

So I make an appointment online (using my Windows computer by the way) with the Apple Genius bar in Troy, Michigan. Eighty-six point two miles later I'm at the Somerset Mall looking for a parking place. They plugged in the computer and guess what - the hard drive is toast. So, in 7 - 10 days (and another 172.4 round trip) I should have my iMac back.

And where does Atari come in? Back around 1987 I bought my first hard drive. A Supra 20 MB drive for around $300 (I looked at a 500GB Lacie designer external drive at the Apple store for about the same price). After about 8-9 years it took several minutes to warm up and start but still run. That's the worse problem I've ever had with a hard drive since 1989 until my 5 week old Apple iMac.

Labels: apple, computers, oldies, tech

Wired Cool

My geekness comes out again. I've been reading Wired magazine for years and years and while I think it's become a bit too business orientated and has gotten away from its "wired" roots, it's still good. And of course this month's cover was the best. A couple of months ago Wired had a deal were the first 5000 respondees would get a personalized issue sent to them - ta da!

Labels: tech

Apple vrs. Windows

This isn't a Mac vrs. PC rant this time, this time it's Apple alone. We ordered a Macbook to go along with our iMac earlier this month. It was originally supposed to be shipped June 20 or so, but no later than June 26. June 26 I finally call Apple and they say, yes, it's going to be shipped June 26. The next morning, June 27, I get an email saying it won't be delivered until July 19 or so - some kind of unmentionable problem. A little later I get a survey from Apple asking about how the call the night before to the liars at Apple went - you can guess what my response was.

So, today I get another email saying the Macbook was shipped today and should be here around July 6. Go figure. I come home around 8pm and lo and behold, my iMac is froze. Nothing works - the desktop can be seen but no cursor, no keyboard, no nothing. I turn it off - having to shut off the power to do so and turn it back on. Nothing except a flashing folder with a question mark in it. And of course nothing in the teeny-tiny manual Apple includes mentions that error.

I turn it back off, disconnect everything, try to turn it on a few times with the same result. I get the OS X reload disk and insert it and nothing happens. I dig through some manuals and find out the hold the C down while restarting will start from CD. It does and a little more reading tells me about a disk utility on the start up disk. I try that and the only disk it shows is the DVD - no hard drive listed. Time to turn it off again. Do you know how hard it is to get a DVD out of an ailing Mac?!

I'm figuring I have a dead hard drive, on a computer less than 6 weeks old. I call the 800 Apple number and find they are only in business from 6 - 6 PT. I'll have to try tomorrow which is Saturday and I can't find any listing for their days of operation. Needless to say, I'm not a real happy camper right now. If there's no phone guy tomorrow, I'll try scheduling an appointment at the nearest Apple store, which is about 2 hours away. To top things off, it's iPhone weekend, so I'm sure the stores will be packed with iPhone wannabees. Rats!! Curses Apple!

Oh, by the way, I'm doing this post on my old Windows machine.

Labels: apple, computers, gripes, tech

North Korea

Now I'm not saying that lights are everything, but look at this fairly recent image of a section of Asia. The whole NASA image is here by the way. Look at the border between North and South Korea. I always find looking at that amazing. Other than the glow coming from Kim Jong Il's widescreen TV, the country north of the DMZ (arrowed) is dark - as in lights out. Look at what is south of the DMZ. The greatest percentage of broadband users are sitting there with their lights on. Cranking out Samsung phones and DVD players. The poor folks in the north don't even have enough light to see that they don't have any food to eat. Also check out Taiwan and Japan and see what vibrant and flourishing countries can look like.

Labels: freedom, government, tech

Mac vrs. Windows

Here's a few more observations about the Mac/Windows tales. Updates - one of these days this weekend when I logged on, I had a notice about updates. One for iTunes and one for part of OS X. Something like 50MB or so. And about the stability of the platform. I'm using 10.4.9 and as I understand it, the dot numerals aren't all that compatible with each other. For example, when Apple goes from 10.4.9 to 10.5, there's going to be some major changes. Like from Win 95 to Win 98 or XP to Vista. I guess there's also some pretty in 10.3.9 from previous versions as well. Even to things as simple as keyboard shortcuts.

Right-clicking. I really miss the Windows right-click and what you could do with it. I'm sure there's some esoteric keyboard combination in OS X that replicates it, but I haven't found it yet. Close, but not the same. With the Win right-click I can send the file to other programs - text to NoteTab, gifs to irfanview etc. One thing I was unable to do yesterday was to right-click on a fake URL link in a phishing email and then copy the underlying actual URL to the clipboard. I tried ctrl-click to get the menu, but when I copied the shortcut, it was the fake one and not the link it actually connected to. For instance, copy this link http://apple.com/ and see where it really goes before trying it.

I finally discovered the magnetic remote holder on the right side of the screen. I'm not too crazy about having magnetic fields near my computer table - yes, a lot of that is 5.25/3.5" disk paranoia, but I'm still not too crazy about it. That's probably why the magnet is also so weak - doesn't seem to keep a very secure grip on the remote.

We did fix the jumping cursor problem. I found it mentioned in some forum online. It seems that the "mighty mouse" isn't too happy creeping about on strongly contrasting mousepads. I replaced the black and white pad (ironically Dell - Apple didn't supply one) with a piece of neutral gray-blue matt paper and the cursor has settled down nicely. Which makes me wonder about the market for decorated mousepads and iMacs.

And speaking of "mighty mouse," I'm not too happy with the side buttons. They don't seem to have any kind of tactile feedback when used. I can't seem to get the hang of pressing one without pressing both.

Labels: apple, computers, tech

Retro

I just ran across a pretty cool (and expensive) web site the other day. Retro Thing. It's a web site about old and cool stuff. What really caught my eye was something called the Radiomann Tube Radio Kit. For those of you who don't know, a tube is a hot glass thing that burns your fingers and amplifies signals. It's similar to a very retro transistor or one little part of a retro integrated circuit.

I can remember taking a handful of tubes out of our black and white television and hauling them down to the drugstore where a very cool tube tester console sat. We'd put the tubes in the appropriate socket and set a knob or two and watch the tube glow. I think there was a meter that would then show whether the tube was bad, poor or good. You'd replace the bad ones with a new one - they had them in the bottom of the console and take them back home and replace it. Surprisingly enough this often did fix the TV problem.

Anyway, I saw this radio kit and Hammacher Schlemmer had them on sale for $60. Half price. Oh well, out came the credit card and soon I had an order acknowledgement back in email. That was Monday night and this afternoon, the package was on my porch floor!

I'm a little surprised as to the quality of this thing. The case is maybe 1/2" nicely finished cherry with neatly mounted components on the top. It's not so much a kit as it is an experiment platform. The only parts you need to assemble is to plug one of two coils and the tube. Everything is already put together. It does need 8 AA batteries - after all, you need to heat that tube up - but other than that it's ready to go. The manual is thin, but high quality glossy color. It's written in Germany, translated in America and printed in China. I'm still trying to find the country of origin for the radio kit itself.

Very cool and I'm looking forward to plugging it in, adding an antenna and listen into Fibber McGee and Molly or maybe the Green Hornet.

Labels: oldies, tech

Jargon 2

Remember that long distance customer service fiasco I talked about last week? It's still ongoing. The last email I received said that they had to disconnect the long distance service - that the long distance service I no longer have by the way - and it would take a month. A month to flick a switch! Anyway, this week I get another email saying the case was closed. Cool - they found the switch in less than a month.

I answered saying that after all that I still didn't know how to get my refund. I got a somewhat snippy email back saying I was told it would take them a month to turn off the long distance and until them to leave them alone. Not in so many words mind you, but that was the message I got.

I just don't understand why they couldn't have said, "We need to cancel our record of your long distance service with us which will take 30 days to clear the system. After which we will issue a check for your refund." Isn't that amazing? No jargon, no BS, just let me know what's going on in words I can understand.

Labels: gripes, tech

Jargon

I recently changed from one long distance company (call it Z) to another (call it A). For some reason the automated payment on Z double-payed my bill so that I have a minus $80 in it. That's ($80) in accountant speak. I sent an email to company Z asking how to get a refund of what they now owe me and I get the following explanation:

It is a stand alone long distance line which is still provisioned in the switch, which will require a disconnect order. However, I don't see that we support the local service on that line, so as long as you have change the pic code with your current carrier that provides local service on the line, you should be ok to place a disconnect.

The problem is that I understand very little of what that meant. For instance, where's "the switch" (where my phone is connected?), what does it mean that it's "provisioned" (actually I think this means it's there?), who sends a "disconnect order" and what's a "pic" (really no idea here).

After telling the rep that I had no idea of what that meant, here's the answer:

"If you have already changed your long distance pic code with [company A] to another carrier besides
[company z], then you shouldn't have any interruption in your ability to dial long distance. Please confirm if you would like to place a full disconnect on this account."

I still don't know where to find the "pic code." After considerable digging, I found out it means "Primary InterLata Carrier" which is the code for the long distance carrier - but I still don't know where to change it.

So what I think he meant was: "We can't refund your money until you cancel company Z's account, which you need to specifically tell us to do."

The reason for switching is that company Z gave me a special offer that would/did cost me $0.36 a minute to call Taiwan, and company A's offer is for $0.07 minutes and $5 a month. Since the last bill was over 100 minutes, I think it makes sense to change. And of course, nothing is mentioned about my initial question which was how do I go about getting a refund.

Labels: gripes, tech

Apple vrs. Windows

Here's a few more comments about our Mac/XP experiment. In general, I'm pretty happy with the switch. So far, the Mac has seemed to be pretty stable and well behaved. A lot of the annoyances I have now are just learning pains. Like going from ctrl to the Apple command key, and the Home and End versus cmd key right arrow/cmd key left arrow.

There is a lot made of the updating that is ongoing with Windows. I should note that when I started my Mac, there was about 300MB of updates that were waiting to be downloaded. And that within a couple weeks of being refurbished by Apple.

I bought the Airport Extreme hub and have that hooked up. The LAN part works fine. I have the old XP machine hooked into it and have Internet connectivity, but the XP still loses its connection now and then. I'm trying to get the XP to recognize the printer and USB external drive connected to the hub, but haven't managed that yet. And since we haven't got our MacBook yet, I've been unable to check out the wireless functions either. At least I have my Windows Agent usegroup program to play with again. I tried several Mac versions of a newsgroup reader and have to find one that seems as easy as Agent is.

My Palm IIIxe is another story. I downloaded the Palm Desktop software from Palm and it was a mess. It stuck files all over the Mac - and didn't work besides. After further online research about it, I found I'm not the only with problems and unhappy feelings about it. Since I basically use the Palm IIIxe as an ebook reader and address book, I'll go back to using it with the XP machine. BTW, the reason I still prefer the IIIxe is that it uses AAA cells and they last weeks at a time and are readily available and I don't have to worry about charging up every couple days.

Rather than use the trialware MS Office sitting on my Mac, I downloaded NeoOffice and installed it. I've only tried it with a couple of Word docs and Excel spreadsheets, but so far it's been fine with everything I tried.

The keyboard USB ports caused their first problem. We bought a 1GB USB drive and when I plugged it into the keyboard I got an error message saying it needed to go into a powered port. I guess that (and the USB1.1 format) is the price of keeping the keyboard simple (and saving money on it).

As much as I hate admit it, we did go ahead and install MS Messenger on the Mac. The main user of Messenger is a heavy use and is much more familiar with Messenger instead of Adium. It seemed to work OK for me, but then I don't do much with it. The problem is probably similar to my ctrl/cmd key habits.

And I miss sending stuff to my text editor with a right click. I think there's something similar using one of Mac's many-many keyboard combinations; probably ctrl+cmd+shift+S or something. Which is about one more key than I have fingers for.

Labels: apple, computers, tech

Windows vrs. Apple

OK folks, we took the plunge this weekend and switched from a Dell running Windows XP to a Macintosh running, well, OS X. Here's a short rundown after a weekend of Mac. Bear in mind, I'm a long time computer user who first bought a Model 1 back around 1980, then to Model 4P (with CPM no less), finally to an Atari 1040ST and eventually to a run of PCs with various versions of DOS and finally ended up at Windows XP. There have been sporadic forays into Mac land, primarily from four years of college. So, after all that, here's my initial comments.

The AT&T installation program that came with my DSL modem crashed once and when it worked, wouldn't show images. I used it just a couple of weeks earlier on my XP machine so had some idea of what was going on. It took about three installations/removals before it suddenly hooked up with about a 5.1MB connection. (By crash, I mean it showed what looked like a memory dump in a window and asked if I wanted to send the report to Apple - which I did, but obviously since it was DLS software crashing I wasn't internet connected to do so.)

I hate the fact you have to resize windows only at the bottom corner. I really miss dragging a window on any side/corner to resize.

The installation of new software is a little confusing in its simplicity. I like having only one or two icons to drag around to install, but always end up worrying with what to do with the detritus left on the desktop. The graphic books I looked at mostly dealt with commercial installations and not one I found got into downloaded stuff. I finally some info about installing programs into the applications folder for all users and what to do with the left over zips and dmgs. I ended up deleting my first two or three installation attempts and redoing them.

And while icons are cool, it would be nice for a bit of text explaining the cutesy cartoons showing the application icon being moved to the applications folder. It seems every application that uses this gimmick tries to see just how unique it can make the iconic directions. Cute, but not really informative for us newbies.

Command versus control key is a bit maddening. I also need to find Apple's equivalent to the "send to" right click. Another thing I need to study is the wide, and I do mean wide, range of keyboard shortcuts.

Speaking of clicks, the "mighty mouse?" tends to send its cursor flying off to one side of the screen or another with irritating frequency. Another little glitch I need to look into.

I'm a usenet freak and love to download stuff (files; images (yes, some are those images), books, music, OTR shows, etc.). I have been using an older version of Agent on XP, but have yet to find something similar on Mac - but I'm looking and have a couple more candidates to try tonight.

I like the keyboard USB ports, but wonder why they are USB1.1 instead of the USB2.0 in back of the screen.

I never have liked having to rely on software Floppy/CD/DVD ejection and would really like to have a real button to push. I haven't looked to see if the iMac has a hole for a paper clip yet.

The fat and skinny Apple commercial. Sorry, Mac, but you do have your share of trial crap installed as well. I've run across MS Office, AppleWorks and a couple of others so far. And while all that iLife iStuff is cool, a simple, working, word processor would be neat to have installed.

Tonight I'll try moving some OTR MP3 files and .PDB books and see how that all works with my ancient iRiver MP3 player and even more ancient Palm IIIxe. I did notice there's Palm software for the Mac available at palm.com so maybe there's hope there.

Stay tuned for more.

Labels: apple, computers, tech

Teeny TVs

My age is catching up to me. I can in no way, shape or form imagine trying to watch TV on something this small. Not only that, but the luddite that I am (even considering the PCs, laptops, video games, cell phones, MP3 players, and PDAs I use every day) a lot of today's culture has passed me by.

I usually watch the first 15 - 20 minutes of Jay Leno, and found that in the last couple of months that I've been paying attention, I don't even recognize the music acts that play on that show.

Saturday Night Live - which at one time I would throughly enjoy the likes of Chevy Chase, John Belushi and Jan Curtin - has passed me by and now leaves me befuddled and confused.

I seem to be totally immune to the "pleasures" of reality shows and couldn't name two American Idle participants to save my ass. And I have no desire to swap my wife, my house or my nanny.

My ancient MP3 player - all 256MB of it - plays mostly radio shows from the 30s and 40s and probably couldn't fit an iTune video, let alone play it.

I have a pair of raggedy rabbit ears (which I just found out are coming back into style) sitting on top of my cableless and dishless TV.

I find a coffee table top full of remotes (we had to buy a new table just to fit the remotes) neither exciting or useful. Sometimes I just wish I could walk up to my TV and turn the channel.

My teeny-little cell phone spends almost as much time lost as it does found. I remember when the phone had its own table and was tethered to the wall so it didn't get lost. And don't bother sending me a text message on it, because a snail mail letter will probably arrive before I figure out how to read the text message you just sent.

Labels: oldies, tech

Video iPod

Hype can be deceiving. OK, while I'm not the hippest digital guru around, I am fairly handy tossing around computer files. I know the difference between a .gif and a .bmp and an .mp3 and know that to the point that I'm aware a gif will compress in dramatically different percentages depending on if it has vertical or horizontal stripes.

In spite of all that, the Apple video iPod was a bit too much to deal with. It's become quite obvious that Apple wants you to buy from iTunes - pure and simple. I probably should have done more research on all this, but didn't. We wanted a video iPod to view, not surprisingly, videos. It seems however, and it's not all that much emphasized, that an iPod (and iTunes) is very picky about what it will display. Basically it want's its own version of an .mp3 or .mov format. In fact, iTunes won't even recognize other formats.

The main thing we wanted to watch was some videos in .rmvb format. To get this into an iPod, you need to buy (freeware is seemingly non-existent for this process) a video conversion program. You then have to convert from .rmvb (or rm, or basically anything other than QT or mov) to mp4. This isn't instantaneous. On my computer, granted, it's older, but still pentium based with 512MB, it took about 40 minutes to convert a 40 minute video. Granted the software would let you batch convert, perhaps overnight, but still... Now I could load it into iTunes, but surprisingly, not into the iPod.

Now you have to use iTunes to convert the .mp4 into iPod format which takes another 40 minutes (I think longer, but left the computer to go shopping). And of course after all that you're still viewing this video on a screen which would be hard pressed to display some stamps full size. (But I'll agree the size issue is my personal problem).

Would a Mac have made the process a lot easier? Perhaps, but from what I can guess, you'll still be converting conversions to let the iPod deal with what it wants. Of course the easiest course, both legally and logistically, is to just buy from iTunes. But why should I have to re-buy videos I already own just to watch them at my convenience. I know this is whole different kettle of fish, but one that isn't going away.

The bottom line was that after a week of me and my wife fiddling with and reading about the iPod, we gave up. The folks at Best Buy were great with our return giving us no hassle and no stress. We ended up buying a Zenith DVD portable player we noticed on our way out for $80 and it's working just fine.

Labels: apple, computers, gripes, tech

Apple vrs. Microsoft

I've been reading an article/book. "In the Beginning was the Command Line" by Neal Stephenson. It's copy written 1999 and seems to be pretty ubiquitous online, but it brought up a very interesting point about the two adversaries that I'd never thought of before.

When you look at the two companies objectively, especially several years ago when Apple was the thing, you find that they're actually the exact opposite of what most advertising leads you to believe. Especially Apple advertising. Apple has always come across as this easy-going, happy-go-lucky iconoclast who just wants you to do things your way. The very opposite of the "big brother" mentality of Microsoft. In actuality, this is completely wrong. Think about it.

If you have Apple software, what can you run it on - Apple and only Apple. Yes, there have been a couple of Apple-like upstarts - Franklin comes to mind - but they were quickly mashed into the ground. Hardware's been the same way. If you wanted something for your Apple, it came from Apple. Yes, they came in goofy colors and melted down shapes, but they were still Apple. On the other hand, what can you run Microsoft on? Just about anything. Dell, e-Machines, Alienware, Compaq, HP, Toshiba, Samsung, and assorted no-names to numerous to even mention. Need a part for your Microsoft running machine? Same thing. I can go to Best Buy - and now even the local drug store - and buy something that will fit in my Microsoft running machine - and more often than not it'll run.

So through the miracle of advertising we have a company that lets you run just about anything from anybody built anywhere on their software as the evil Big Brother stifling creativity while the other company that makes your run their software on their machines using additions that only they approve the hippy-dippy, free-love feel-good company of turtlenecks and half-eaten fruits.

Labels: apple, computers, tech

Just How Stupid

and lazy are we getting? Here's recent news story headline, "Apple Releases Software to Set IPod Volume." If you haven't heard, some cretin masquerading as a human is suing Apple because the Ipod can play music too loud. Notice the "can play" part of my statement. It seems that he is complaining that because the Apple Ipod can be played loud it must be played loud. I heard he bit off his volume control finger while listening to Yanni, but I can't confirm that.

I know this may be a leap for many people, but the Ipod has a volume control. OK, I haven't actually used one, but there's strong rumors that it's possible to adjust the volume of the player manually. Even the Apple web site has hints to that effect. Next thing you know people will be suing tobacco companies because they claim they didn't know smoking was bad.

On a similar note, the Beatles music company called Apple is suing the Apple computer company called Apple over the name Apple. It seems that the Beatles' Apple, not to be confused with VW's Beetle or Johnny Appleseed's apple, had an agreement with the computer Apple that the computer Apple wouldn't delve into music under the Apple name, like the Beatle Apple does. Not that I'd even known there was a Beatles' Apple. It seems the Beatle Apple came into being about seven years before the Computer Apple, but quite a bit after the Johnny Appleseed Apple, but interestingly the same year as the VW Beetle. At this time it's unknown if Fiona Apple, Apple Vacations , Washington State Apple Commission, Apple Valley, California or Apple Hill Growers plan to joint the lawsuit.

Labels: apple, gripes, tech

1984 & Mac

Remember a long time ago when Apple hammered away at Big Brother? When Apple tried to target itself as one who fought for the little guy? Whew - are those days gone. Think about this year so far. Apple put the legal hammer to a few web sites that were reporting (too accurately it seems) on upcoming Apple stuff. And of course the courts backed Apple and said that Web reporters don't get no stinking protection.

Now Apple's going after the printed word. Seems like some author had some words about Jobs that Apple has taken affront at. I have no idea what this is all about since I'm not a big Apple fan, and haven't followed this much. While Apple has had a lot of neat stuff in their development, I've always felt they were too pricey. I remember back when I bought my first computer - a TRS-80 Model 1. I priced the Apples and they were way much pricier. The color availability wasn't enough to counter the 40 character screen - especially at the price they wanted. Remember this was back when my Model 1 with 16K of RAM and a cassette player for bulk memory was almost $900. Which brings up another deja vu moment of my first printer - a Quick Printer II that printed 32 characters across on aluminum foil and could be had for the cheap price of $250.

Anyway, it seems that Apple is making sure that -- well, I'm not really sure what Apple is making sure of. I plug along now with a Dell PC and an iRiver MP3 player and don't seem to be missing much by not having an Apple - computer, music player or otherwise.

2fers: TRS-80 Model 1 and Dell

Labels: apple, computers, oldies, tech