Misc-Tech on jasoncrowther.com

Off to the Recycler

Mon, 27 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I always think I have uses for decommissioned cell phones, but they just pile up in a storage bin tucked away in a closet. Ok, lets send these guys back the great bit beyond.

Progress

Mon, 26 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The last time I needed to mass convert some music files was about 10 years ago when moving some bootlegs off of optical media onto a network drive. Ripping a CDs worth of lossless SHN files to WAV took a few minutes; then re-encoding the same to FLAC took another few minutes.

Finally crossed something off my to do list.

Sun, 23 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Freed up some space in the bedroom and put our old living TV on the wall. I wouldn’t try to chin up off the mount, but it was plenty strong to hold a TV though. The wire hanging down offends my OCD sense a bit, but I’ll just get over it.

PSA Trolling

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Be nice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAq3RYFbTIA

Um, maybe not?

Thu, 07 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

I was considering replacing my aged computer speakers. So I went to amazon and searched for Computer Speakers and sorted by rating. The first hit in the list turns out to be folks selling the speakers that I was looking to replace used. Pretty skeptical that folks will pay $100 or more for 15 year old speakers that were only $75 new.

The Joys of Printing

Sat, 02 Jan 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Wanted to print out 10 photos. Here’s the workflow:

Import pictures from camera into Photos app.
Cull out the photos to print.
Fix up brightness for printing.
Crop for printing.
Print.
Reset router because a non-related Kindle hangs router.
Print.
Printer outputs 5 pictures and reports out of Yellow ink.
Change Yellow cartridge.
Print.
Printer outputs 3 pictures and reports out of Cyan ink.
Change Cyan cartridge.
Print.
Printer outputs 1 picture and reports out of Magenta ink.
Change Magenta cartridge.
Print.
Printer outputs final photo.

Why do I brother printing anything?

Scanner Pro by Readdle

Tue, 23 Jun 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Not an app I use every day, but it really hits the spot when I do need it. Its about 99% less hassle than using my real world scanner and about 90% faster to boot; worth every penny.

How a Bug in My Ruby Code Cost Code School $13,000

Tue, 16 Jun 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Yikes!

Important lessons and takeaways learned from a mistake in our Ruby code that proved costly for Code School.

Source: How a Bug in My Ruby Code Cost Code School $13,000

smth

Wed, 27 May 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Send Me to Heaven, for the days when your cell phone won’t stop ringing.

Source: smth

Apple Watch Teardown - iFixit

Wed, 29 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Mercy me, that’s a lot of stuff jammed into that tiny package. After not wearing a watch routinely for a few years now, I not tripping over myself to get one.

Yep, I'm a hacker

Sun, 15 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000

So, recently I started putting together a home music server. I got all the basics up without too much hassle, but didn’t get around actually installing music collection.

After getting back to it, I quickly figured out that the raspberry pi doesn’t put out enough current on its USB ports to drive a 2.5" spinning drive (as manifested by the drive not spinning up and just making a weak clicking noise.) I started looking around for a powered USB hub, but couldn’t find anything cheap enough in town.

Music server on the cheap

Tue, 03 Mar 2015 00:00:00 +0000

I used to keep all my music on my mac, but after downsizing to a smaller (but zillion times faster) SSD drive, I can’t seem to jam everything in any more. So, I’ve been using a portable 500Gb USB drive to keep my music. Gets the job done, but even though its small, its hassle to haul around.

Review: A New Laptop from Dell Makes the MacBook Air Look Huge

Fri, 13 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000

Review: A New Laptop from Dell Makes the MacBook Air Look Huge.

Wow, that’s pretty nice actually. Unfortunately, its not Dell priced. For about the same amount of money, I’d probably stick to Apple.

Hmm, standing up working goodness.

Tue, 08 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Yes, please!

MacMall | Ergotron WorkFit-A, Sit-Stand Workstation - for Apple 24-414-227.

Best Aprils Gag I Saw for 2014...

Wed, 02 Apr 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Yeah, only software developer nerds will get it…

Apache Subversion to Migrate to Git.

Yikes!

Fri, 07 Feb 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Was pretty sure somebody would try this… Modern TV built into a space age case. Pass.

Newegg.com - Seiki 22" Class 1080p 60Hz Retro Design LED TV - SE22FR01.

Your iPhone replaces the roomful of equipment found in this 1991 Radio Shack ad

Tue, 28 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Yes, the future is now. I love old Radio Shack ads.

Your iPhone replaces the roomful of equipment found in this 1991 Radio Shack ad | TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog.

Vizio Wins 4K at CES With 120-Inch TV, $999 Model

Fri, 10 Jan 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Vizio Wins 4K at CES With 120-Inch TV, $999 Model.

Yeah, that’s 120" 4k TV and a 50" 4k TV for $999. Not a 120" 4k TV for $999.

Guess it had to had to happen some time...

Mon, 16 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Vim.js - JavaScript port of Vim.

Yep, vim, in your browser. I only messed around with it briefly, but it seemed competent enough to cover the basics. via

Frighteningly Awesome

Sun, 08 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Adam from the Mythbusters demos his sweet mechanical spider.

"Apple Picking" crime wave

Fri, 06 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Maybe I should start wearing a watch again.

“Apple Picking” crime wave targets watch-less iPhone owners | TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog.

Windows 8.1 overtakes Mac OS X 10.9 among desktop OS users

Mon, 02 Dec 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Oh, and Windows XP still has a 31% market share. Ugh.

Windows 8.1 overtakes Mac OS X 10.9 among desktop OS users | Microsoft - CNET News.

How Not to Run a Website

Wed, 20 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Step 1, store passwords in plaintext.

Hack of Cupid Media dating website exposes 42 million plaintext passwords | Ars Technica.

Really? in 2013, someone still does that?

via

Blast from the Past

Fri, 15 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Remember when laptops didn’t have built in Wifi?

Here’s my iPhone 4s next to my buddy’s relic Wifi pc-card…

When I Fix a Bug Nobody Else Can Figure Out

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Yep, that about covers it. Loads of other great content on that site too.

Front End Dev Reactions — When I Fix a Bug Nobody Else Can Figure Out.

New FAA Guidelines Permit More Device Use

Sat, 02 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

New FAA Guidelines Permit More Device Use, All The Way From Take-Off To Landing | TechCrunch.

Woo hoo! Now you don’t have to pack that paper book just for take off and landing. via

Dell offers fix for Latitude 6430u laptop computers that smell like cat urine

Fri, 01 Nov 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Dell offers fix for Latitude 6430u laptop computers that smell like cat urine | syracuse.com.

Thankfully, my Macbook doesn’t smell like cat urine. Just everything else in my office at home. Mental note, relocate the litter box.

In Other News, the Sky is Blue...

Thu, 31 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Microsoft to Windows XP users: your operating system is a major security risk | Microsoft Windows - InfoWorld.

If you’re still using Windows XP, please give Ubuntu a try. You’ll likely curse a little less and will spend less time (and money) keeping your computer from eating itself.

Another Stop on Road to VIM Mastery

Thu, 10 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

command-t

Quick file searching. Similar to Fast Open in Komodo. Installation is slightly annoying (needs ruby and ruby-dev to configure, and c compiler to build.)

Next Stop on Road to VIM mastery

Thu, 10 Oct 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Nerdcommenter

Language specific block comments. Oh, yeah, that’s much better.

Grant Imahara on Twit.tv Triangulation

Thu, 26 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Fun chat with Grant Imahara from Mythbusters on his life, education, and career.

Daft Punk Covered on Mario Paint Composer

Tue, 03 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Kinda makes my head hurt.

via

Ok, can't resist.

Tue, 03 Sep 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Turns out there’s a lot more Mario Paint Composer covers. Here’s some Skrillex.

Mini classic Macintosh

Wed, 28 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Silly, but fun!

Mini classic Macintosh created with Raspberry Pi, runs System 6 video.

The CODE Keyboard

Wed, 28 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Coding Horror: The CODE Keyboard.

Interesting. Wish there was a way I could test drive it.

vagrantpress

Sat, 10 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been putting off some look and feel updates to my blog for a while; Mainly, because I’m too time constrained (and/or lazy) to set up a development environment to mess around with.

15 Impressive Mac Decals

Fri, 09 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

15 Impressive Mac Decals You Can Actually Buy.

What happens if you phone is stolen and theif doesn't wipe it?

Wed, 07 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

hilarity…

life of a stranger who stole my phone:.

via

Mac 101: The history of the Command key "pretzel" | TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Thu, 01 Aug 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Mac 101: The history of the Command key “pretzel” | TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog.

Times are Changing

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

So, last week I went my everyday ATM and notice that they swapped out the hardware. The previous generation had the cool feature that allows you to feed in printed checks (like payroll, etc) without an envelope and it OCRs it to get the amount automatically.

iPod touches for sale

Sun, 09 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

FYI, I’ve got a couple of iPod touches for sale on eBay at the moment if anybody is into that kind of thing. Have at them:

Update: 2013-06-09 10:11pm. 3rd generation version sold just 3.5 hours after listing.

Timing

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

The Mrs recently told me she wanted to throw her computer out the window. She does most of her day to day computer stuff on an iPad, but uses a trusty (and a little crusty) Dell Laptop with Ubuntu for her word processing needs. The laptop was still chugging along nicely, but the Unity interface in Ubuntu was giving her fits.

What the Dell?

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

So, my friends <2 year old Dell laptop recently cashed itself in. Smell of toasted electronics and pretty much dead to the world. Speculated that it was a power problem and that data was probably still OK on the harddisk.

Party in My Pocket

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

I think my phone is ill. Typed in a text message, sent it, put the phone back to sleep, and slipped it back into my pocket. 2 minutes later, the vibrate function starts going off continuously. Hmm, no new messages, no incoming calls, no other notifications. Nothing would stop it, short of reboot. Argh.

Google Street View Hyperlapse

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Google Street View H yperlapse | Labs | Teehan+Lax.

Stitching to together Google StreetView images into a movies. Loved the 3d effects with the clouds.

via

Lego Paper Airplane Machine

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

File that under fun stuff you can do with about $2,000 worth of Legos. via

Petition | Google: Keep Google Reader Running

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Petition | Google: Keep Google Reader Running | Change.org.

Lets tell Google that Reader is worth keeping.

Whoa, Google Reader Getting the Axe

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Google Reader Axed, Shutting Down July 1st | OMG! Chrome!.

Wow, that’s a surprise. I’m one of those loyal users in the declining user base. Guess all good things must come to an end.

Usain Bolt Headphones?

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

So, track star Usain Bolt has his own high end headphones? Lets just stop the madness now.

Ubuntu Tablet Preview

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Its no iPad just yet, but pretty impressive out of the gate.

color.hailpixel.com - awesome color picker

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

color.hailpixel.com · Swatch you doing?.

I think this will be my new color experiment tool. via

Google engineers found over half the bugs in Microsoft's latest security update

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Google engineers found over half the bugs in Microsoft’s latest security update | The Verge.

Interesting read.

What is someone going to stop doing when they start using your product?

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

What is someone going to stop doing when they start using your product? by Jason Fried of 37signals.

A different way to see things.

Surface RT

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

If you really want a Microsoft Surface, get the RT; but only if you want gotta have something Surface.

WAT, a classic...

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Came through my feed again, and still makes me giggle…

https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/wat

The reinvention of Dell

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Dude, you’re getting a $50 computer: The reinvention of Dell | Fox News.

Interesting. Not sure I like the approach better than Ubuntu’s take it with you strategy to just have a dock for your phone on your desk.

FiOS Still Rocks

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Recently my DVR has been acting up. Its been working 100% fine, but I’ve been hearing the tell tale signs of hard drive or fan failure. Last night, in the middle of the night, it was the white noise was loud enough to wake me up (I was in bed, the DVR is downstairs!) I unplugged it and went back to sleep.

Streetview inside Google Data Centers

Sat, 02 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Pretty cool. Beyond the normal data center porn, I also liked when a disk fails, they erase it then crush it.

Trip Down Memory Lane

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

For Amusement Only: the life and death of the American arcade | The Verge.

Man, I spent a frightening amount of money on video games as a kid. I remember dedicated family friendly arcades like Time Out, Park Place, and Cyberstation (which I even worked at briefly.)

The tablet that turns itself lumpy

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

BBC News - CES 2013: The tablet that turns itself lumpy.

By lumpy, they mean buttons that grow out of the normally flat touch screen. Interesting stuff.

5-inch, quad-core 1080p Android phone

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Sony launches the 5-inch, quad-core Xperia Z into the battle for best 1080p Android phone | The Verge.

Usually android phones aren’t nearly as sexy as iPhones, but this phone comes close. All that tech and waterproof to 1 meter? Whoa.

Not the Legos I had when I was a kid...

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Upcoming Lego Mindstorms EV3 to include iOS support | TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog.

Want!

iPhone: what's Next?

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Pretty slick mockup of a completely transparent iPhone. Also shows behind the scenes making of. Fun stuff!

SSD Pricing Progress

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

When I upgraded the hard drive in my Mac earlier about 3 months ago, the same drive was $100 more than the current price. They also had 520Mb SSD for around $400 that looked super nice.

iPhone Etiquette - filing away for future reference

Tue, 01 Jan 2013 00:00:00 +0000

iPhone etiquette from Janelle Hofmann - Business Insider.

Definitely keep this on the ready for the day when my kids become cell phone eligible.

Printing Mystery

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

So, I’ve had a trusty (and slightly crusty at this point) Brother inkjet MFC around the house for a few years now. Print quality is good enough (both text and photo), scanning works well enough, and its usable from Windows, Ubuntu, and OSX over the network.

Getting an Early Start

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Getting an Early Start - Cheezburger.

and yes, that is a real book. I should pick up a copy for the kids.

11 Funniest Texts of 2012

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

‘Damn You Auto Correct’ Unveils 11 Funniest Texts of 2012.

Some how, these never get old. Oh, great, now I have to check in on Autocowrecks.

Pogo Plug Pro File Server for Sale

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Pogo Plug Pro File Server | eBay.

Works fine, just doesn’t fit my needs.

Redeem iTunes gift cards with your Mac's camera

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Redeem iTunes gift cards with iTunes 11 and your Mac’s camera | TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog.

Slick!

What's All the Fuss About Evernote?

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

What’s All the Fuss About Evernote? Should I Be Using It?.

As a recent convert to the Evernote fold I found some more good tricks in there. Not sure about the GTD strategy though.

Fixing 2 Factor Authentication for Google Talk in Pidgin

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

After noticing that my contact list in Pidgin was a lot shorter than usual, I figured out that I wasn’t connecting to Google Talk anymore.

Some where along the line, I forgot to update my Pidgin account settings for 2 factor authentication . Wasn’t super clear how to do that, but SuperUser set me straight:

...on Legacy Code

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Three Panel Soul » Archive » on Legacy Code.

Yep, that’s about right. (via)

The Magic Skittle Sorter - Cheezburger

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

The Magic Skittle Sorter.

Ah, memories. I remember back to high school, in my Principles of Engineering class, where we tried to build a similar device for sorting marbles using FischerTechnik kits. They had a serial PC interface that was programmed with GW-Basic.

SQL Fiddle?

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

SQL Fiddle.

Interesting. I’ve known about jsfiddle for a while. Didn’t know there was an SQL equivalent. Wow! it even lets you pick between different database engines (Mysql, Oracle, Postgresql, and even SQL Server.)

Why Did SquareSpace’s CEO Haul Diesel Up 17 Flights of Stairs?

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Why Did SquareSpace’s CEO Haul Diesel Up 17 Flights of Stairs? Anything Less Would be ‘Lame’.

In a related note, I was still getting responses to support emails withing 30 minutes during the crisis. Yeah, those Squarespace guys are pretty damn awesome.

GNU Wget

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000

GNU Wget.

Needed to quick download a copy of a website. Quick google led me to wget, which makes the operation a simple one liner.

Unfortunately, its not part of OSX command line tool kit any more. No problem, let me just download it and compile. Oh look, Mountain Lion uninstalled the command line compiler tools like make. Grumble.

Storm Tracker

Sun, 28 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Hurricane Tracker: View the 2012 storms - Weather | NBC News.

A cool interactive tracker for Hurricane Sandy as it lines up a path through central New York over the next few days.

Browsers as Guns

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Geek Humor - Google+.

Yep, that’s pretty accurate.

The Times, They are a Change'n

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Not really. Helping cellmate set up new PC laptop with Windows 7. Internet Explorer crashes on first run. Pure awesome.

Also, the process for activating a student edition of an Adobe product is about 100 steps longer than it really should be.

Dreamhost, we're sorry we over billed you...

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

…to the tune of $7.5 million dollars. Guess that explains why I had a ginormous charge (~$158) from Dreamhost on my credit card statement this month. (mental note, guess I need to get some more referrals!) Being the software business I frequently have nightmares about fat fingered moments like the one that cause the snafu. Ouch.

Handy New Firefox Plugin

Wed, 20 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Meet PermaTabs, a little hack that allows you to have tabs that can’t be closed. After installing it, just right click on the tab and turn on the Permanent Tab option. It also persists across sessions, so next time you fire up Firefox, it brings back your permanent tabs automagically. Sweet, now I won’t keep accidentally closing my Google Calendar 100 times a day.

MSDN Developer Event

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Yes, I’ve visited the dark side; I needed to see how the other half lives. I get invitations from Microsoft all the time to attend their Developer Events. The location (Carousel Mall) and pricing (free) made yesterday’s event too good to pass up.

Project FC5 Update: 0 for 2

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Last night, I had two tasks for my FC5 project:

Get a Parallels VM machine for Windows XP rolling.Seemed to kick off OK after having to remember how to use Parallels’ VM setup utility. A false start or two later, and the XP installed seemed to start fine. It did all the normal setup stuff, got right to the point where it starts up for the first time and blam Parallels craps out with a kernel panic.

Harddrive Replacement

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Monday, I took a day off to concentrate on some chores that never seem to make it off my to do list. On of which was replacing the OS harddrive in my primary PC at home before its impending failure. Starting with a brand new 120Gb ide drive, I figured it would be best to do a dual boot between XP and Fedora Core 5. So, I started by installing XP and allocating it 30Gb. 4 hours and later (suffering throught sp2 + all updates since) and 10 (no kidding!) reboots later, it was ready to roll.

More Fun with FC5

Wed, 18 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0000

I’d love to ditch XP completely, but I still have a few things that I need windows for. My master plan is to run FC5 as the primary OS and use XP in a Parallels virtual machine. I’ve messed around with Parallels before on ancient history PC hardware (400MHz PIII, 384Mb) and found it pretty impressive. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will be pretty snappy on my newer (but not brand new…) 2.8Ghz 1Gb machine.

Windows Vista RC2

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0000

On my daily run through digg, I spotted that the Windows Vista RC2 was now available to everyone (formerly it was available only to folks who signed up for the beta testing program.) I remembered that it was easy enough to get the installer, but you needed to have an install key to keep it running for more than 15 days. A few posts down on the dig page, some one provided a link that got you an install key with your live.com id (aka your Windows Passport.)

Yar, Busy Busy Busy

Sun, 01 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Haven’t had time to sit down and do any writing lately, between work, exercise, visiting relatives, and some side projects.

Exercise-wise (man, that’s a nice domain. nuts, its already taken.) I’ve been trying out some new stuff. Turns out I messed myself up a bit in the final stretch at the ARC Run half marathon. I think it was either the last 90 degree left or 50 foot pea gravel pit that did me in. Not sure exactly what I did. But had some pain shooting up and down my leg for a few days. I couldn’t localize it down to foot, ankle, calf, or knee specifically. It seemed to hurt in different places at different times.

Windows XP sp2 is here...

Tue, 24 Aug 2004 00:00:00 +0000

If you’ve been getting xp auto updates, it will start to download itself automagically in the background. Supposedly, this is supposed to not interfere with general operations, but it ground my desktop here to a halt during the process. The download is 75Mb to 225Mb depending how up to update your machine is already (takes about an hour or so on a broadband connected idle machine).

Doom 3 Speed Up

Thu, 19 Aug 2004 00:00:00 +0000

After trying Doom 3 on my new Dell, with an almost twice as fast CPU (2.8Ghz), 25% more memory (1Gb), and a fresh Windows XP install, I was pretty disappointed with the performance. It was playable, unlike my old PC, 1.5Ghz and 768Mb of RAM, but still very choppy at the lowest resolution and graphics quality settings.

What the Dell?

Tue, 17 Aug 2004 00:00:00 +0000

My new Dell Dimension 4600 (2.8Ghz P4) desktop showed up yesterday. Picking up the shipping box, I was pleasantly surprised that the case is much lighter (a bonus when I need to shlep it from my office to the car, two blocks away.) Unfortunately, upon opening the box I was disappointed to see a regular style case, as opposed to the slick tool free cases that I’ve become used to from Dell. Guess its not too big a deal, since I don’t open up my case all that often.

FTTP coming soon?

Tue, 20 Jul 2004 00:00:00 +0000

News.com has an article about FTTP, aka Fiber-to-the-premises, coming soon from Verizon. Other than the benefits of potential speedup (they plan to offer 5Mb, 15Mb, and 30Mb pipes), they might add some healthy competition for Time Warner Cable’s Road Runner broadband cable. The extra speed would be nice, but I’d rather slice $10 to $15 dollars off my monthly Road Runner bill.

Nokia phones rock!

Fri, 04 Jun 2004 00:00:00 +0000

When I was shopping for a new cell phone recently, I was really lusting after a Handspring Treo 600. But, it at $500, it was pretty much out of my cell phone budget. So, I thought I’d have to settle for a Nokia 6225i.

Minor Vonage Update

Thu, 03 Jun 2004 00:00:00 +0000

When you transfer your existing phone number to Vonage, you need to fax them a Letter of Authorization (LOA) and copy of the first page of your current phone bill. Easy enough. So, dropped the pages in the fax and keyed in their number.

Vonage Digital Phone

Tue, 01 Jun 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Since I don’t have nearly enough projects going at the moment, I thought I’d throw another into the mix; switching my verizon phone line to a Vonage digital setup. My cable modem provider, Time Warner Roadrunner, recently launched their own digital phone service, but they only offer one $39/month unlimited plan; that’s a little overkill for me. Vonage had a 500 minute plan for $15/month that was more my speed. BestBuy had a deal on the Vonage start up kit ($29.99 after rebate), so I gave in.

Yeah, that's the ticket.

Wed, 26 May 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Duh, timezone is relative to server timezone, not local. Guess my host is somewhere in the central timezone.

Hmm, that’s kinda funny. I never even thought about where the host was located before. Ah, the magic of the internet age, I don’t need care about where it is!