For being the kind of story that makes me say, “Bah!”, Wuthering Heights makes the naughty list.
I’ve just suffered through the 1939 film edition of this Gothic romance, and the only further thing I have to say is this: “Bring on Jane Austen.”
I’m in the midst of replacing a 2-line Siemens Gigaset 8825 with a 1-line Panasonic KX-TG1063 and an XLink BTTN Bluetooth Gateway.
The Gigaset has been a great phone. The base unit is in my office, and we have satellite phones positioned around the house. It’s been configured to ring only base unit for line one (my office number) and to ring all handsets for line 2 (our home number). The only issue that we’ve had with it is that the microwave interferes with reception of the wireless handhelds.
However, the LCD screen has been gradually degrading, such that now only the bottom two-thirds of any phone number is shown, and the answering machine has recently stopped working altogether. Interestingly, it gives you (the caller) the impression that it is working, but it isn’t.
I’ve opted to replace it with a 1-line phone, and will probably request that the phone company disconnect my office line. Thus, the Panasonic purchase. I opted for a phone with a handset so that my Plantronics headset can still be used with it.
Since I’ll use my cell phone as my primary business line, I looked for a base phone unit that would connect to the cell phone via bluetooth. There are some available, however, the various options didn’t meet my other requirements. So, instead, I’ve opted to try an add-on unit (the XLink) that will pair the cell phone with the base unit, allowing the cell phone to be used from any handset. It should work well for incoming calls, though outgoing calls may still require that the phone be “on” and “unlocked”. Another advantage of the XLink is that it will let me see what home service is like with a cell phone instead of a land line.
So, is it an upgrade, or not? I’m going from two land lines and one cell line to one land line and one cell line, but am connecting the cell line to the phone system so that it behaves (mostly) like a land line when within range of the base. I think I’ll like it. Economically, it will take 6 months or so to hit the break-even point, where the savings from removing the second land line will pay for the new equipment. After that, there will be monthly savings. So, it seems to be an economic upgrade.
Practically, even though I’m switching from two land lines to just one, I think it will work just fine. So, I might not call it an upgrade, but it isn’t a step backwards either.
But geekly, it’s a huge upgrade!
For helping me obtain a new health insurance policy that provides better coverage than my current policy for 40% of the cost, Rick is added to my Nice List.
If you live in the Cedar Rapids area and would like to contact Rick for assistance with your health insurance or investment needs, contact me privately and I’ll send you his last name and phone number.
Here’s a site that is both useful and fun. Check it out: http://tinyurl.com/yek7ymx
Yesterday, Apple announced the iPad, which is projected to ship in the US in March (WiFi version) and April (WiFi + 3G version). My status as an iPhone developer doesn’t get me any super-secret inside information. Apple didn’t rush a review copy to me. I don’t know if the three Laridian iPhone apps are among the “most” of the 140,000 apps that will “just work” on the iPad. (However, I expect them to work just fine.)
So, just like most of you, my faithful readers, I’ve only seen the information at the Apple Web site, watched the video, and read some reviews and opinions from other Web sites, such as:
Some of these articles and article commenters seem to get it, such as the author of How Will the Apple Tablet iPad Change Our Kids’ Lives?. However, I’ve been surprised how many are not getting what seems so clear to me.
This quote from Wired’s Would You Buy an iPad? Wired Readers Weigh In article reveals the confusion.
Though Apple’s Steve Jobs introduced the iPad as a device that would occupy the world between smartphones and laptops, potential customers aren’t convinced. A full 71 percent of 934 readers polled said they won’t buy an iPad, because they are happy with their smartphone and notebook.
To understand the iPad, you have to first understand what it isn’t. Steve Jobs makes that clear in the above quote. The iPad isn’t a phone. The iPad isn’t a laptop. That is, the iPad isn’t expected to do all of the things that you might do with your phone or your laptop. Yet, 71% of the poll respondents “won’t buy an iPad, because they are happy with their smartphone and notebook.” These 71% don’t understand what the iPad isn’t.
So, if the iPad is not a phone or laptop, what is it? From the Apple video, it’s pretty clear: the iPad is a mobile media machine.
Sure, you can install the iPad version of Pages and write a term paper on it, but that’s not the primary purpose. So, comparing it to a laptop isn’t reasonable.
But comparing it to my iPod and Kindle is. And, based on what I’ve seen and read so far, the iPad is looking pretty good. Yes, it costs twice as much (or more), but look at all of the extra stuff that it can do!
Here are some of the common complaints or concerns that I’ve seen.
The iPad has been “announced” for a full day now. I haven’t seen one in person. But, based upon what I have seen and read, I think it looks very promising as an upgrade to my Kindle.
For helping me resolve a oh-so-typical Windows problems, Process Explorer is added to my Nice List.
Today, my Windows XP PC seemed both sluggish and to be running hotter than normal. The task manager was consistently showing my processor running at 100%, and revealed that one of the svchost processes was the culprit.
In the past, I’ve found such issues to be related to an update that some program (often from Adobe) wanted to perform. Upon removing the useless items from the startup with msconfig, the problem was usually resolved. (Adobe applications have a bad habit of inserting themselves back into the startup list on a regular basis.) Not so today.
Unfortunately, the Windows XP task manager will identify that svchost is consuming the processor, it doesn’t identify which of the many processes that are running is the problem.
However, Process Explorer does.
Once I downloaded and ran this nifty tool, within mere moments I was able to identify the service was started with this command line:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe -k HPService
A google search then identified this further as “HP Network Devices Support”, a service that monitors network printers for changing IP addresses. Since my network printers have fixed IP addresses, I don’t need this service. It was then a “simple” matter to turn the service from “automatic” to “manual”.
And now, voila, my PC is cooling off and running better again, and I can get back to what I really wanted to do today.
My friend Brian turns 40 tomorrow.
Using math that isn’t entirely clear to me, Brian is celebrating his 40th birthday in 2010 with an 80’s themed birthday party. Guests are supposed to talk like we talked in the 80’s and dress like we dressed in the 80’s.
This is a problem.
You see, I’m pretty sure I wear the same things now that I wore in the 80’s (though there’s a small possibility that what I wear now is in an ever-so-slightly larger size than I wore then). Yes, I’m pretty sure that I wore blue jeans, knit shirts, mirrored sunglasses and tennis shoes back in the 80’s, just as I do now. I did wear a ball cap a bit more often back then, so maybe that’s the addition to my wardrobe that will make it “80’s”.
Or perhaps you can help me with this dilemma?
For taking the time to write a letter to Macworld’s editor to promulgate the ability to use the spacebar to page up and down in the Safari Web browser, Link33 is added to my Nice List.
While it is a rare thing for some one to take time to write the editor of a newspaper or magazine, it is an even rarer things for some one to not only take the time, but also to write something worth reading.
Well done, Link33.
For dropping the Retail Comic Strip to add a new strip, Dustin, the Cedar Rapids Gazette is added to my Naughty List.
I certainly don’t object to running new comics. However, rather than dropping the witty Retail to make room, the Gazette has ample other choices.
For instance, any of the following strips, listed in no particular order, are imminently replaceable.
Removing these would leave ample room to keep some quality established comics and still introduce us to some new strips.
