New Phone - LG Dare

After a year or more of "riding" my Verizon account, after our two-year contract expired, I started poking around, looking at phone upgrade options, to utilize the "free phone (or discount) with two-year renewal" offer. After a month of him-hawing (tech term), I chose the LG Dare, equipping it with the 500 min-month outgoing (free incoming) text package and the unlimited Internet usage. I really dig this phone. I could yap about it, as is my way, but instead I'll just point you to the two links that ultimately swayed me.

Dare Demo from Verizon: http://estore.vzwshop.com/dare/

Dare Review at CNET: http://reviews.cnet.com/cell-phones/lg-dare-verizon-wireless/4505-6454_7-33070218.html?tag=prod.txt.1

Frustration (but ultimately successful) Registering my Starbucks Card for AT&T WiFi Access

Being a Starbucks freak, I decided to register a Starbucks card, online, to utilize the Rewards Program's benefit of a) free 2 hours/day WiFi access, and b) unlimited coffee refills. I registered a card, at home, and weeks later actually decided to use it. This is my story...

It was a frightenly sunny and hot day. I closed my moon roof and windows, cranking the A/C, making sure to open them all, when I'd pull into parking lots, so I would appear green-friendly, to any passing eco villians. It was my weekly "night out", and I was ready to read a novel and do a little "netting", at my favorite Starbucks.

I bought a cup of joe, with my Starbucks card, and booted the old, decrepit, some-memory-is-dead laptop, and connected to the AT&T site. It asked me for my Starbucks.com login information. 'Hmm..,' thought I. 'I don't think I have one.' I checked my RoboForm (secure identity software) logs. Nope. I don't have one.' I went to the Starbucks web site, and the link to check card balances was clearly visible...but there was no sign of a signon prompt. [Note that AT&T, at a Starbucks, will let one get to the Starbucks site, the AT&T site, and the T-Mobile site, but that's it.] I checked my card's balance and all was well with the card.

I created a Starbucks.com login, then tried to register the card, to the account. It said that the card was already registered. Ughh! I poked around, on both the AT&T and Starbucks sites, and there was no help as to how to handle this situation. So, I read through all the FAQ's, at Starbucks, and found there was a way to transfer the balance, of one's card, to another card; one has to do it live, at Starbucks. 'Uh huh, Baby! Woo!'. I took the card to the register, got a new card, and had the barista transfer the balance. I then logged into the Starbucks site (having found the page to do that via a link from the AT&T site, because I could not find it at Starbucks site itself), and then used the 'Add a card' option, at Starbucks, to add my new card. I then went to the AT&T WiFi login page, entered my Starbucks.com login information (although there was no visual indication there that this process would work), and presto, I was on the Internet.

And by "Presto" I mean afer over an hour of screwing around.

Long live rock. Oh yeah, and rock has nothing to do with this experience.

I have now become the "crazy, bothersome regular" who accosts folks, who have the same problem (known by their cussing), and help them with the issue. Yet another way for me to control events, so I kinda dig it.

GPS Systems - Quick Tips for Buying and Finding Reviews

A friend of mine got to use a GPS for the first time, while traveling, and fell in love with the Garmin.  She is interested in buying a unit, so I sent her a few tips.  Thought I'd post them here, to keep up with my previous GPS-related postings here.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dan Reams
Subject: Re: GPS Systems

One more thing!  If you see a unit you like, please either a) ask me about it, and I'll research what folks say about it, or b) check out the user reviews -- available at both places mentioned below -- and see what they say.  Also, there is no better online review site than www.cnet.com (http://reviews.cnet.com/gps/?tag=cnetfd.dir ) for seeing short little 1 or 2 minute movies reviewing electronics.  I have used them for this for at least a decade.  You can also compare units side by side.  If you're interested in GPS units, you can easily lose yourself in rapture, at CNet, for a good 45 minutes, just clicking around watching the little movies.

On Fri, Apr 11, 2008, Dan Reams wrote:

Buy.com usually has good deals.  See http://www.buy.com/cat/portable-gps/17017.html .  TigerDirect also usually has good deals.  See http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_tlc.asp?CatId=2372&name=GPS-Navigation .

Whatever you do, buy your item online!  You'll save anywhere from $30 - $80 dollars, even with shipping, over buying it at a box store.

I own the Garmin c340.  I love it, but it doesn't seem to have the latest maps available, at least, it doesn't come with the latest maps.  I think I can add them in, but I have to check.  However, its features are top notch, in that it has the very best GPS feature -- announcing road names.  Oddly, this feature is not on all GPS units.  You want the device to say, "In 200 feet, turn right on Franklin Ave.", versus "In 200 feet, turn right."  Why?  Because in an area where there are lots of little streets and parked cars, you don't want to have to look at your unit.  So, whatever you buy, get that feature.

Other features, of some GPS units, include

• Bluetooth capability, to act as a speaker phone using your cell phone.  Personally, I think it's a dumb feature; that is, using a speakerphone, in a car, is a nightmare to the person on the other end of the call.  I much prefer using my Bluetooth ear piece instead.
• A chip slot so you can play your MP3's through it.  Again, a very stupid feature.  Why play music through a GPS' little tinny sounding speakers when one has a car stereo system with nice speakers?  I just don't get it.
  

Indexing Network Drives - Yet Another Option - Nero (of all things)

The history of my fetish regarding wanting to search, via indices, my network drives, has lead me on quite the merry roads over the years.

LookOut was cool, but it was absorbed into Microsoft and then emasculated.

Google Desktop is okay, but it will not search network drives...period.  Too many odd errors.

I had basically steeled myself to accept that I would not be searching, via indexed search, my network drives.  Then I bought a new DVD burner, with a copy of Nero 7.  Nero installed a search indexer, pretty much like Google Desktop, but it indexes network drives like a dream.  I instructed it to ignore my local drives -- I'll let Google Desktop continue to do that -- and I point it only at the network stuff.  Very slick.

Don't bother with a proprietary DC Charger for our Mobile Devices - Use a USB equipped DC Y-Adapter Instead

I wanted to buy a DC (car) charger for my Microsoft ZUNE media player, but the only ones I can find, in retail stores, also include an FM transmitter, and they run from the upper thirties to the lower fifties, in dollars. Instead, I went to Wal*Mart and bought a DC Y-Adapter plug that also includes a USB port. So now, I can charge (or run) any USB device, assuming I have the device's USB cable with me. It's a cheaper solution, than buying a proprietary charger designed for just one species of device, and you get to charge any device you wish.

They also make Inverters of about the same size, but I already have an inverter and I didn't want to double-up. Besides, the Y-Adaptor is convenient anyway, as I can run my GPS, charge my cell phone, and power my Zune all via the one device.

The price: $9.99.

Side Notes:

Ø An Inverter changes DC power over to AC power, providing a standard "wall outlet(s)" for one's AC device(s). Inverters are rated in Watts, which directly relate to how many gizmos you can power with a given Inverter. A 140-watt model, with one wall outlet and one USB port can be seen here (assuming the link has not retired as you read this from the future). Most such devices list the sorts of devices you can power with them, and mostly, they are honest about it. Me, I just do the math: Look on your devices (or their manuals), for how many Watts (or if you're lucky, peak-Watts) they use. Add up all the Watts you'll need, and buy your inverter accordingly, rounding up enough for wiggle room. Example: You add up your needs and you find that your devices, in the aggregate, should use 148 Watts. Don't buy a 150 W inverter, in that scenario. Instead, buy a 200 W unit. Wiggle room.

Ø I didn't want an FM transmitter because I haven't had good luck with them, in my car, so I instead use a cassette adaptor; my car stereo has both CD and cassette, and I'll certainly never put a cassette in there, so I might as well use it as a port for my media devices.

Ø My ZUNE's "Travel Kit" came with an extra USB cable, so I readily have one with me, which means I do not have to take the one, off my PC, that I use for syncing. Oddly, the travel kit did not come with a DC adaptor…but it did come with an AC adaptor. This makes it nice for getting somewhere, not traveling to one's destination. Thus I think they should rename it "ZUNE Destination Kit".

I'm feeding my HDTV with DISH Network

I opted for DISH Network to feed the HDTV. Why? It pretty much came down to three factors.

Summary

1. The DVR/Tuner is the superior unit on the market today, with regard to DVR storage space and HD quality.

2. The one DVR is accessible via two rooms.

3. They offer a lot of HD channels with their intermediate (America’s Top 200) package.

Now let’s break it down.

Details

1. The DVR that comes with the package [currently] is the ViP722, which also serves as the satellite tuner. (Link to the full PDF is here: http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/our_products/dvr_receivers/index.shtml ).

a. PRO: It stores up to 350 hours of Standard Definition and 55 hours of HD content.

b. PRO: It can be made to be shared between two TV’s. I have used this feature and it works great.

c. PRO: Does have the ability to archive to external hard drive via USB. I have not played with this yet, although I may plop in my 4GB USB flash drive and see if that would work (for a small show, of course).

d. PRO: Can record two shows simultaneously. In such a case both TV’s would be locked into either watching the show, being recorded [on the associated tuner that the TV is using], or watching DVR content. Or they could go read a book or watch a DVD. J

e. CON: Cannot store shows into custom categories, which is something I have done for over four years on my ReplayTV DVR.

f. CON: No apparent way to access the device via the home LAN, to copy shows to PC’s. However, my need to do this, now that I have a DVR of such high storage capacity, is drastically reduced from my old ReplayTV days.

g. CON: No apparent Internet access to schedule shows remotely.

h. CON: Clunky channel guide that really should allow one to categorize or at least search for channels. I find myself having to go to the laminated hard copy channel listing to find channels, which is not fun if the lights are off. Perhaps I’ll get used to it.

2. The one unit can be shared, by two TV’s, in this fashion: TV1 is physically connected to the 722 via a cable (in my case it’s via HDMI to my HDTV). TV2 is connected, via the home coaxial network. Said coax was re-routed, by the installation guy, such that only the TV hanging on the other end, of that cable (via routing) can access the tuner’s coax output. TV2 then has an RF (radio) remote control that reaches out, to the tuner, and orders up the feeds. Note that no other TV in the house is on the same coax network any more, due to the point-to-point cabling change the installer made.

a. PRO: Sharing DVR content between two rooms is easy. I’ve started watching a show, on TV1, moved to TV2 and resumed from my previous stop-point, then moved back to TV1.

b. PRO: Sharing “live” TV between two rooms is simple. There’s a dual-mode, allowing the dual-tuner 722 to serve up two different live shows simultaneously, to two rooms. There is a single mode that allows TV1 to have picture-in-picture (and thus TV2 would “slave” off the 2^nd tuner’s signal, simply acting as a remote monitor to whatever TV1 is watching on the 2^nd tuner). It’s pretty easy to grasp the logic if one plays with it a while.

c. CON: What is not immediately apparent, when ordering the package online, is that the unit can only serve ONE HDTV and one Standard TV – not two HDTV’s. That is to say, the “Standard TV” could be an HDTV, but it would only receive a Standard TV signal.

d. CON: Although I pay $5 extra, per month, for my local channels, these channels are not the High Def versions of the channels. Buyer beware! DISH Network does not currently offer HD local channels, but I hear they are working on that. [I had to jury rig an antenna, which is another story….]

e. CON: Over-the-air tuned channels are only accessible via TV1; they are not passed through to TV2. This is a very minor ‘CON’ though, since the only possible over-the-air channels to tune are HD channels, and there is no need to pass HD versions of local channels through, to a Standard TV (TV2), via coax, when that TV is already receiving the Standard versions of those channels.

3. My ‘America’s Top 200’ package has a lot of HD sports channels, but many are devoted to sports that may not be playing at the time one goes browsing. Still, there’s enough there to hold my interest.

a. PRO: I have one HBO HD and one Cinemax HD channel free for three months. I may become addicted, which of course is their whole point in giving me free months free (an old drug dealer trick). Several other movie channels are included in the 200 package, such as Universal HD, TNT, and a few others.

Synopsis

Overall, I am pleased with the service. I still have to work out a few bugs:

· My HDMI connection to the TV keeps flickering. The unit only transmits in 1080i, and my TV has up to 1080p capabilities. This should not be a problem; the TV properly detects the signal as being 1080i and makes the adjustment. I’ll trouble-shoot it by dumbing my upconvert DVD player down to 1080i and see if I get a flicker there. Then I’ll swap the two HDMI cables and try it all over again. Then I’ll call DISH, who will probably refer me to my TV’s manual (okay, I’m mildly cynical). Until then, I’ll watch my TV with <gasp> component (RGB) video cables.

· I have to figure out a better HD antenna. The one I bought at Menards is horrible. The one I made out of a white-rubber coated speaker wire and a coax antenna adaptor works great, but the wife doesn’t like it hanging on the wall. Wives…. Yep, you guys know what I’m talkin’ about.

· When setting a recording of a show, I cannot figure out how to force the future recording to use a specific tuner. Why would I want to? Well, let’s say I want to record a show that is on during the time that my family all gathers to watch a specific show, on TV1. If Tuner1 is busy recording a show, TV1 cannot watch a live show on another channel. How to specify a tuner – or how automatic tuner selection, for recordings, works – may well be in the manual or available online, but I’ve not yet had time to look. I will though.

HDTV is on the way

Oh my. I bought my first HDTV and it’ll be here soon. What to wear? I’m so nervous. It’s my first time. Gotta make sure my hair is done. Is my breath okay? I’ll peek out the window…stop pacing! I hope it likes what I feed it. No HD signal yet; it’ll just have to munch on upconverted DVD’s. I hope it doesn’t expect me to put-out a full HD package from Time-Warner! Maybe after a few sessions I’ll consider letting it have a DirectTV football package, but I don’t want it to think I’m easy.

I’ll look out the window again. Gosh! Is it standing me up?