jkOnTheRun

Coffee break- working in the sun

I just hung up from a conference call with Kevin and one other person that was pretty cool.  Firstly, I was sitting outside the local coffee shop in the bright sun with just an umbrella providing a bit of shade.  Secondly, the conference call was conducted flawlessly with my BlackBerry and Bluetooth headset that worked very well.  And thirdly, I was using the Lenovo IdeaPad U110 to keep up with the topics discussed and while the screen was dim due to the bright sun it was still usable  It's nice to work in the sun.  :)  I should mention that we have something very cool coming up right after the Dragon contest ends next week.  Very cool indeed.  :)

Coffee break- the IdeaPad U110 in action

I finally have a few minutes to kick back in the coffee shop and share a few thoughts about the Lenovo IdeaPad U110 notebook.  Today I brought just the U110 with me in the Lenovo-provided slipcase and as I carried it around with me it struck me repeatedly that it was hard to believe there was a full laptop in the case.  It is just so thin and light, even with the 7-cell battery attached.  I arrived in the SBUX and handed the closed slipcase to my buddy who was working away on his HP Mini-Note and didn't say a word.  I watched in amusement as he unzipped the case, peaked inside and then a confused look came over his face.  He asked what the red thing was in the case as it hadn't hit him that it could be a notebook computer.  He pulled it out of the case, saw the Lenovo logo on the lid and said- well, I can't repeat what he said as this is a family blog.

I spent the next 15 minutes getting no work done whatsoever as he examined the U110 from every angle, played with the keyboard, oohed and ahhed at every little thing.  I finally got it back from him and tried to work for the next half hour as he kept going on and on about every cool feature on the notebook.  His reaction has been very similar to just about everyone I've shown the IdeaPad to and with good reason.  It is hard to believe it is not only a full-function notebook PC but such a powerful performer to boot.  It is actually liberating to open this puppy up and start working and keep thinking how it's faster than all the other mobile PCs I have used.  By a wide margin.

I find the U110 to be very comfortable to use for extended periods of time.  The keyboard is quite nice for touch typing and the wrist rest is just the right size for my hands.  I keep finding little touches that continually make my work easier the longer I use it, like the dedicated page up/down keys at the front of the keyboard.  The scroll area on the trackpad works better than most I've used and I find myself foregoing an external mouse and using that which is rare for me.  Lenovo has always designed the ThinkPad with an eye toward usability and they've definitely brought that experience to the IdeaPad.  I find I can use it for quite a while and then realize that I haven't even thought about the tool I was using, just about getting my work done.  That is just priceless.  I'll be sharing more thoughts including a complete review soon.  If you haven't seen my video of the IdeaPad then go watch that.

Coffee break- Mac-ing in the Starbucks on the HP

No question that a Mac made by HP that fits in my tiny gear bag is just too cool for words.  I only have a 17" MacBook Pro and while I occasionally bring it to the local SBUX it's not something I carry around too much.  It is so bloomin' cool to be able to bring the 8.9" HP Mini-Note and still work with the Mac OS at the SBUX.  Severiously.

Coffee Break- first Mini-Note in the wild

So I'm sitting in Starbucks working on the HP Mini-Note and look what I saw walk in the door:

It's already started with the Mini in the wild.  :)  BTW, his is the $749 model same as the one I'm using on the left.

Funny thing is when I was snapping this picture of the two Minis and my friend and I were talking all about it another guy watching came up and asked us if the Via processor was stout enough to handle the Mini.  After a minute he introduced himself as an employee of Via, who I didn't even know had an office in town, and he was excited about the Via being chosen by HP.  Isaiah will be available in limited quantities in June he said.

Starbucks and AT&T- so long T-Mobile hotspots

The new Starbucks near me still has no hotspot, it's a new store so they are waiting for AT&T to install the equipment due to the coffee chain's desertion from the T-Mobile camp.  Other Starbucks stores in my area are all still running T-Mobile hotspots but managers have been told that soon the switchover to AT&T will take place. I have been dutifully paying T-Mobile for unlimited hotspot service for years but now that I have to consciously think about which store I am going to visit so I know whether I'll find T-Mobile or AT&T has gotten me to thinking which is always dangerous.  I have the T-Mobile hotspot service but the only places I've ever used them is in Starbucks shops.  Once they complete the switchover to AT&T I will no longer need the T-Mobile service and I'll cancel it.  Will anyone in the US need the T-Mobile service once the Starbucks switchover is complete?

I don't want to get AT&T hotspot service necessarily either.  I am seriously thinking of getting Boingo which has roaming agreements with hundreds of providers including AT&T.  Rather than pay AT&T for access to only their hotspots I'd rather pay roughly the same monthly fee to get access to all the AT&T hotspots plus all the others that Boingo can access.  If you have T-Mobile hotspot service now what are you going to do when Starbucks turns off that switch?

Golf Break - EV-DO isn't prevalent in the Poconos yet

While James is toiling away in a Starbucks, I decided to get an early round of golf in this morning. Don't scold me just yet because there's a mobile tech method behind my madness. Barb and I bought property in the Pocono Mountains a few years back. The hope was that we could eventually save up to build a vacation home and then work or retire there after the kids go off to college. Or when we kick them out... that part's still up in the air.

So I drove 100 miles to our property early this morning because there's a beautiful golf course on the premises. The round is over and I'm at the proverbial 19th hole. That's the clubhouse in the pic above as I came up the 18th. Truth be told, the round was over just a few holes in as my golf game leaves much to be desired. And where was the crowd as I marched up the final hole?!?

In any case, I was hoping to find some EV-DO coverage up here so I did some testing. I brought the Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium and it takes up less space than the sandwich I just ordered. I grabbed my Apple Bluetooth keyboard as well and it's working great with the Q1UP. The EV-DO though... that's a NO-GO. I'm connected to Verizon's National Access, so I can obviously get connected, but it's painful. The download speed has topped out around 340 Kbps with the upload about half that. Hopefully, by the time we save up for a house (or win the lottery), Verizon Wireless will get some EV-DO up this way.

The funniest part is all of the people that stop by to ask me if that's really a computer on the table. UMPCs haven't hit these parts yet either although I'm doing my share: the person that bought my Q1P actually lives up this way too. Plus he's a custom home builder in this area so we might do business again someday. Small world!

Coffee break- jamming to Ray Charles

I'm still in the coffee shop and they are playing some vintage Ray Charles music.  What a phenomenal talent Ray was and I find myself impressed anew every time I listen to his music.  I wish I could have met him.

Blogging with the HP Mini-Note- what's up with Laptop Mag?

I'm happily working away in the local coffee shop using the device that very well may be my next purchase:

I was doing some web research for an article I'm writing and ran across this:

Our readers beg to differ, Laptop!  They are good folks though.  :)

Vista SP1 is out for the HP Mini-Note

So I'm working away in the coffee shop and Windows Update just flagged that an update is available for the HP Mini-Note.  I popped WU open to see what it was and believe it or not it is Vista SP1.  I'll install it tonight and see if it makes any difference.  It's only 65 - 438 MB according to Windows Update.  :)

Coffee break- writing with the Fujitsu P1620

It's still a great day to be out and about so after having some lunch and getting some things done at the house I had to head back out to the Starbucks I found this morning.  OK, I'll admit that it is largely an excuse to be out cruising with the top down in this perfect convertible weather.  This time I decided to get a good comparison of working with the Fujitsu P1620 in the same conditions I experienced with the HP Mini-Note this morning so the Fuji is what I brought with me this time.  I've been working for an hour and I can easily say that while I can touch type fine on the small Fuji keyboard it is nowhere near as comfortable nor as fast as the Mini's keyboard.  It is a tad narrower than the Mini keyboard and it is definitely harder to type with it as a result.  I am using the V740 modem with the Verizon EVDO network and I do like that the Fuji PC Card slot is on the left of the unit which keeps the modem out of my way while mousing.  The Fuji is a great performer with its Core 2 Duo processor and 2 GB of memory but for typical web work and writing it provides largely the same experience as the work session earlier with the Mini.  This point is significant when you remember that the Mini is 1/3 the price of this Fuji.

Writing with the HP Mini-Note: perfect writer's notebook

It is an absolutely gorgeous day in Houston and I decided this morning to check out a brand new Starbucks near me.  This is one of those new-fangled standalone stores that are springing up all over and it just opened so off I went to see how it will be for getting some writing done.  It is a very well designed store and has lots of light and tables for working and I can tell I'll be spending a fair bit of time in here in the future.  I needed to get some serious writing done as I'm working on a feature article for a print magazine and I brought the HP Mini-Note with me to see how it works for "real" writing.

Very well it turns out.  The keyboard is great for lots of typing with it's near full size and the extended battery I'm using provides just the right amount of ergonomic tilt to the device for comfort.  It is a real joy to have a "real" notebook this size that lets me get web research done at the same time I am writing an article.  The Mini is multi-tasking well and it may be the perfect writer's notebook for all of the reasons I have mentioned.  It has an advantage over other mobile devices that came in very handy this morning as I was surprised to find that this Starbucks is so new that the T-Mobile Hotspot is not working yet.  Imagine my horror when I set up to work and realized there is no connectivity here!  No problem for the Mini however as I just popped my Verizon v740 ExpressCard modem into the slot on the Mini and connected right up.  I have been working away for over an hour as a result and it is a wonderful feeling to know that this device can handle anything I throw at it to get my work done.

I do have a minor gripe about the design of the Mini-Note though.  The ExpressCard 54 slot is on the front right side of the device and when I am using an external mouse like the Bluetooth mouse I am using today the modem sticks out a bit in the way.  Not a big deal but a minor gripe for sure, I find it better on mobile devices when the modem plugs into the back of the left side which gets it totally out of the way.  In any event I am extremely happy with the performance of the Mini here today and I find it so full-featured that I can just concentrate on my work and not the device itself.  That is priceless.

Coffee break- ordering an HP Mini in the coffee shop

I'm sitting in Starbucks and one of my buddies is on the phone right now ordering an HP Mini from HP.  He's been enamored of them since seeing the one I have been using here and today he is pushing the button.  Interestingly, he wants HP to preinstall Microsoft Office which they are going to do and since he's buying Office with the Mini he gets a free GB of memory.  The rep told him that there are two memory slots on the Mini and that he gets an extra GB of memory to augment the 2 GB in the unit he's ordering.  I don't know if that sounds right to me, is there even room in there for two slots?  In any event he's stoked to be buying a Mini and admits the relatively low price is why he's "impulse buying" one.

Coffee break - EV-DO Rev. A and Hulu play nicely together

I don't know why I haven't tried this before but I finally got around to using Hulu with my EV-DO Rev. A modem on the UMPC. I realize that Hulu isn't straming super high-quality media, but it's more than good enough for watching content. What about on the run, though?

My concern was that the video would have hiccups over 3G, but I've scored a coup: I'm able to watch Firefly and I snagged a comfy chair at the Starbucks. I just might celebrate with a second cup of coffee, even though I haven't done that since watching the movie "Airplane!"

Coffee break- kids need more sugar in their diet

I am sitting here in my local Starbucks, ducking while typing as there are four (4) kids running around the front of the store throwing things at each other (and me in the process).  They are totally wired and bouncing off the walls, tables, chairs and anything else that gets in their way.  It's like watching a YouTube video on super fast speed.  It will soon settle down though as Mom is in the line getting their drinks.  Here she comes now with four of those creme drinks made out of sugar.  That's just what they need.  :)  OUCH!  Not fast enough on the duck.

Apple- build a really small notebook and they will come

Yesterday I made a stop in my local Starbucks to finish my review of the HTC Shift.  I sat down at the group computer table as I often do and got ready to work.  There were two guys there already working away, one on a MacBook and the other on a MacBook Pro.  I pulled the Fujitsu P1620 out of my bag and opened it up on the table in notebook configuration to get some writing done.  The first Mac guy looked over and exclaimed excitedly that the Fuji was "the smallest laptop I've ever seen".  I told him no, this one is and pulled out the HTC Shift from my bag.  As soon as he saw the keyboard was too small for touch typing he turned his attention back to the Fuji.  I showed him how it worked and how the screen swiveled around to slate mode and he gushed for ten minutes about it.  He instantly scoped in on the keyboard and how it was small enough to keep the size of the device down yet still allow touch typing. 

The second guy was watching this with great interest and started asking questions about it.  Neither guy was put off by the $2,000+ price of the Fuji, I guess Apple's higher prices have them conditioned to expect to pay for what you get.  I started writing using the Fuji as both guys went back to work but noticed they kept glancing at the Fuji with a sparkle in their eyes.  Both guys eventually chimed in that if Apple built something in that size they would buy it no questions asked.  Apple, you listening?

Coffee break- no lost time with the right gear

Today's coffee break is not really a coffee break in the purest sense as there is no beverage involved.  This morning I decided to be a nice guy and take my wife's car into Jiffy Lube and have her oil changed and tires rotated.  I'm just a nice guy like that.  Mobile guy that I am I know that things often don't work as planned so I tossed the Fujitsu P1620 into the Man Bag, yes the Man Bag, and headed to what should have been a half hour chore.  Things often happen unexpectedly and this was one of those times as the mechanics at Jiffy Lube couldn't remove the oil drain plug as the last place that did an oil change apparently stripped it.  They tried for an hour, I'll give them that but to no avail.  I decided I needed to take the car to a real mechanic who could get the stripped plug out of there so I headed a mile away.

The second shop said they could certainly get the plug out and perform the same oil change and tire rotation so I set them in motion and settled into the waiting room.  I was already over an hour into my half hour chore and it was likely going to be another hour given the task at hand.  No problem for me as I pulled out the Fuji and popped the v740 modem into the PC Card slot and got to work.  It was quite comfortable in the waiting room and I got a lot done, although getting our latest video posted was not one of those things since YouTube was still processing away at the video.  I was able to keep an eye on that process though and I got everything ready to go in case it ever got finished processing.  While I was working away I was struck once again how I often capture what would otherwise be lost time in situations like this and it's due solely to how mobile my gear is.  If the P1620 wasn't so darn small I probably wouldn't have brought it with me for a "half hour" chore like I set out to do.  It's great being so mobile.

Right now I am sitting in the comfy Man Chair in front of my TV watching March Madness basketball and working away with the Fuji in my hands.  The dog Oreo is curled up around my neck on the back of my chair and it couldn't get any better than this.  I love mobile tech.

When the geek shifts

I neglected to mention that a week ago I took the bride to Verizon as it was time to replace her aging RaZR phone and she got the LG Voyager.  You remember the advance look I gave you (and 200,000 others) of the Voyager and how cool the phone is.  She remembered too and it was the Voyager or nothing and I have to tell you she is absolutely loving both the touch screen, web browsing and the flip-up keyboard.  Every time I see her in front of the TV now she has the Voyager in her hands and is happily texting someone.

Today we went to the local coffee shop and while sitting there drinking my beverage of choice I noticed we had experienced a total geek paradigm shift.  I had no gadget in my hands, was just happily sipping my drink and enjoying the ambiance.  My bride on the other hand was sitting there with the Voyager in her hands and was happily reading and replying to her GMail using the keyboard.  Talk about a 180 shift!  :)

Coffee break- HP PC Card Mouse is quite the cat's meow

I told you recently about the exciting MoGo Mouse and how it failed to live up to its reputation.  I also mentioned that I ordered an HP-branded version of that mouse to see how it works and it arrived this afternoon. I just spent a couple of hours using it in the local coffee shop after charging and pairing it and it fit my needs wonderfully.  The convenience of storing and charging this flat Bluetooth mouse in the PC Card slot cannot be overstated for me as it allows me to carry the Fujitsu P1620 in my tiny Waterfield Designs SleeveCase and still have a mouse with me when I need one.  The mouse feels quite natural while using it which surprises me since it's so flat but that's a tribute to the design.  The two buttons work very well and it pairs instantly when the kickstand is opened.  If only it had a tiny scroll wheel or something, otherwise I am quite happy with this mouse.  It was only $30 at Amazon too.

I should point out that the same folks who make the MoGo also make the HP version, in fact other than the color it looks the same as the MoGo.  I heard from the CEO of the company that makes the MoGo after I reported about how the original unit was defective and to their credit they are sending a replacement for it shortly.  I'll try it and compare it to the HP I have now and report back on that.  I don't need two mice the same so maybe we can give one away to a lucky reader?  Stay tuned.

Coffee break- another inker sighted!

Coffee break- the Mogo Mouse rocks

Yesterday I was sitting in the local SBUX working away on the P1620 in notebook mode, happily working with my Stowaway Bluetooth Travel Mouse I have used for a long time.  The Stowaway Mouse works well for me with two exceptions- it's a little clunky to fit in very flat bags like my Waterfield Designs SleeveCase and it always seems to run out of batteries when I don't have any replacements in my bag.  While I sitting there working I noticed the gentleman sitting across from me was using one of those flat innovative Mogo Mice.  I have been intrigued by the Mogo since it was released a good while ago but never had a chance to play with one to see if it would work well being so flat.  His version was actually an HP branded version of the Mogo but it was the same otherwise.  If you haven't seen the Mogo Mouse it is flat with a pop-up prop that is used to make the mouse usable on a flat surface.  It folds flat and stores in the PC Card slot for both transport and it charges the Bluetooth mouse while it's in the slot.  I was quite surprised to find that it works so well and the owner couldn't say enough good things about it.  I tried it for a bit and I must say it felt good in the hand and worked as well as I have heard.  Needless to say I now have one on the way and will show you how well it works when I have it.  It will solve both of the problems I have with the Stowaway so I expect it will be a great addition to my mobile kit.  I got the PC Card version to fit in the P1620 slot but they have a couple of ExpressCard models too.

Coffee break- inking on the P1620

Internet to speed up for three hours today thanks to Starbucks

Got some heavy downloading to do? I recommend kicking off those file transfers tonight at 5:30pm EST local time since every Starbucks in America will shut down for three hours. That means no Internet usage in the 7,100 Starbucks locations, which in reality is probably not even a blip on the world's network. The closing is scheduled for in-store employee training, although part of me wonders if every store is getting a local copy of the iTunes store on a server. Just saying. ;)

Folks can always go to Dunkin Donuts for coffee since they're taking advantage of the downtime with a $0.99 coffee promotion. Smart move... now if they just had WiFi... Hey, this might be our first "coffee break" post about a true coffee break!

Coffee break- what's being used in SBUX

So I'm sitting in SBUX and here's what I can  see being used:

15" MacBook Pro (with iPhone & Mighty Mouse)

17" HP notebook

15" Dell notebook

Almost every time I come to a coffee shop I see at least one 17" laptop. What's up with that?

Coffee break- another HTC Advantage in use

I have to admit that as much as I love using my HTC Advantage I rarely see them out in the real world very often.  Today is one such day as a gentleman pulled one out and started checking his email and surfing the web in Starbucks.  He says he absolutely loves it and it has revolutionized the way he works as he rarely carries a notebook PC with him anymore to run his business, he does it all on the Advantage.  He also had of all things a tc1100 in his bag.  What a guy!

Is an SSD worth $900?

I ran into one of the other regular customers here in the local Starbucks and he had something interesting to share.  He has used an HP tc4200 Tablet PC for over a year although he admits he only uses it as a Tablet PC on flights where slate mode is the only usage form he has room for.  He did say that recently he ordered a 64 GB SSD for the 2710p and put it in his tc4200 and it rocks.  He says the performance gain and extra battery life he gets is worth the $900 he paid for the SSD drive.  That may not be the way a lot of people would see it but he said it was one of the best purchases he has made for his mobile tech gear.  He can't wait until SSDs are offered in "all laptops".

VirtuaWin adds up to 255 desktops to Win 95, 98, 2000, XP

Want to expand your desktop with several virtual desktops? You could go with Microsoft's own Virtual Desktop Manager PowerToy, but it's geared for XP and it only offers four "spaces" to work in. (Sorry Mac fans, I had to use that word)

If you're looking for that same functionality but with more potential desktops or you're running an older version of Windows, you might want to check VirtuaWin, an open source virtual desktop app. VirtuaWin works on practically every version of Windows up to XP and offers you a brain-overloading 255 desktops on your single machine. I struggle to maintain a single desktop, so I'll leave this to those with more neural pathways than me. I suspect I have a case of ADDD: Attention Desktop Deficit Disorder. In all seriousness, an approach like this can help expand the small screen of a UMPC, even if it's only virtually. You can set up a desktop for productivity apps, one for messaging, one for media, etc...

(via Download Squad)

Coffee break- using the Mac outside

It is a stunning day here in Houston, about 73 degrees, brilliant blue sky, few clouds and a very light breeze.  For that reason I am sitting outside a Starbucks, not my normal one rather one with a big outdoor patio area.  I am happily working away on the MacBook Pro that I received back from Apple yesterday.  So far I am happy that I haven't had a single issue like the one that has sent the MBP in for repair twice.  The MBP is working snappily and happily and I am getting caught up on the work that has been sadly lagging behind while the MBP was not working well enough for me to get after it.  I brought the MBP to the Starbucks, something I don't usually do since it's so big (17 inches) so that I could bang away on it and make sure it's working the way it should.  What has surprised me is that even though it is so large since it's so thin it is very comfortable to work outside on the little table.  It's nice having it back and I am right now as happy as a geek could be, outdoors and typing away on this awesome keyboard.  Life is good.  :)

Coffee break- don't have teleconference meetings in coffee shops

So I'm sitting in the comfy chair in Starbucks, happily working on my HP 2710p Tablet PC in slate mode. Just taking care of business as I often do, albeit under the care of decaf.  Silting at the big table about 4 feet from me are 5 executives who work for a large company I won't name here, although it's clear from the conversation which company they represent.  What they have probably forgotten but what is abundantly clear to me is even though they are sitting in the coffee shop they are in fact representing their company.  The loud exuberant conversation is easily followed by me and everyone else in the Starbucks so they do in fact represent their company.  They are talking about some pretty significant happenings in their company, happenings that I'll bet the powers that be don't want to share with the likes of me.  Especially since I am sitting here writing busily on my Tablet PC and while I wouldn't do so I could be taking down everything I hear and putting it directly to the web.  Hell, truth be told I could be recording the entire conversation on my Tablet and they'd be no more the wiser.

To make matters worse they have a teleconference call with their boss using one of the women's Treos in speakerphone mode for the call.  A 15 minute discussion about their dealings with Microsoft takes place and some interesting things are discussed, mostly by the manager on the other end of the call.  This is something that I personally would never consider doing, having a public teleconference in a setting like this.  I can't believe that no one at this table expressed any misgivings about doing this and the boss on the phone didn't ask where they were.  It had to be obvious from the background noise that they were in public so the discussion that ensued should never have taken place.  I know that Microsoft would be very ticked off if they knew this.  And no, I have no intention spilling what I heard even though it was in public.  I have no desire to get anyone fired for being stupid.  They are still here BTW, discussing the ramifications of the information shared with them on the call.  Sheesh.

Coffee break- does Time Machine restore disk errors?

This is my first coffee break in quite a while and before you chide me it's a decaf coffee break at the local Starbucks.  It's good to sit in here for a bit and see what moves me.  Today is going much better than last night as my MobileTechRoundup buds will no doubt attest.  See last night the three of us sat down in our respective time zones to record a new episode of the podcast as we usually do.  All three of us record the podcast on our respective MacBook Pros and usually everything goes hunky dory.  I'm afraid that wasn't the case last night and my co-hosts are probably not very happy with me right now.  Of course, it's not my fault.  :)

Multi-tasking

 

Live from Vegas Airport.  Not what multi-tasking means.

Coffee break- up at the crack of dawn

It's only 5:30 am here in Vegas but my body clock says it's much later and has rudely thrown me out of bed.  I am sipping instant coffee made from the hot water spigot in the bathroom, yum.  It's better than nothing, though, as the nearest real coffee at this hour is about half a mile away.  The sacrifices we make for you guys.

Coffee break- geeking with T Lewis

I've written about meeting with T Lewis before, I like to do that every time he is in town and this past weekend he and I sat down in the local Starbucks and had a great chat for 2.5 hours.  T and I are surprisingly alike in our approach to mobile tech and the things that interest us although we work entirely differently.  T was excited because he ordered a Lenovo x61 Tablet PC that should be waiting for him when he got back home.  He's going to love the Lenovo knowing what he likes and I can't wait to hear how he is liking that baby when he uses it a while.  He ordered it with XP instead of Vista because in his artistic endeavors he uses legacy programs that need XP and he can't live without them.  Maybe we can talk him into sharing how a top cartoonist uses a Tablet PC to create his masterpieces.

T also has a Motion LS800 which I didn't know and he loves the small form factor for the portability it provides, although the relatively low resolution (800x600) can be frustrating at times.  It's a shame that Motion has phased out the LS800, the only sub-12 inch slate available.  Fujitsu has a 10-inch slate but I've never heard from anyone who's actually seen or used one.  Maybe T should look at that one.

The two of us happily geeked out and were so absorbed in our discussion that the time flew so quickly we were both surprised how long we had been sitting there.  T got the chance to play with the HP 2710p, the OQO Model 02, the HTC Advantage and the Nokia N800.  I could tell the Advantage surprised him like it does most people with how versatile it is given it's just a Windows Mobile device.  He also liked the OQO because of the active digitizer, although the small screen size would impact heavy OneNote usage.  It's like taking a lot of notes on a bunch of index cards.

It was a great visit and I was very happy to see T again.  Hopefully this is something we can repeat with greater frequency although that's difficult living so far apart.  Keep on hedging dude and thanks for the Over the Hedge book!  My whole family was in stitches that night sharing the comics.  :)

Coffee break- time to switch to VMWare Fusion?

Last Friday I had the good fortune to meet with jkOTR reader Jason Johnson who was in town for a wedding.  Jason is a great guy who lives in Kentucky and he and I met in my local Starbucks to geek out and give Jason an excuse to get away from the wedding preparations for a few hours.  It was good to meet Jason and as usual in these meetings not only Jason got to see some gadgets but I learned something new too.  Jason got to see the HP 2710p Tablet PC which he was impressed with, along with the Nokia N800 and the HTC Advantage.  The Advantage impressed Jason a lot like it does most everyone who sees one for the first time.  I couldn't show him the new Nokia N810 because I don't have one yet but I had just upgraded the N800 to the newly available OS2008.

It was an enjoyable session and I learned something new that has me questioning whether I should be looking at VMWare Fusion to run Vista on my MacBook Pro.  When I got the MBP I installed Parallels Desktop along with Vista Ultimate and it served me well for months.  When I upgraded to Leopard I started having major problems with Parallels and I attempted to uninstall it but it required a special method to remove it that I didn't find out about until after I tried to get rid of it normally.  My uneducated removal attempt left me with a system that I need to rebuild from scratch to totally remove all remnants of Parallels and I have been holding off performing that until I had compelling reason to do so.

This is in my mind to do now as Jason pulled out his 15-inch MacBook Pro running Leopard and I played with it a little.  Jason's MBP has 2 GB of memory and he was running VMWare Fusion and Vista on it.  I was very impressed how seamlessly he switched from Leopard to Vista using Fusion as the transition happened almost instantaneously and as I watched him toggle back and forth it occurred to me that he had the MBP asleep in his gear bag (a very nice InCase backpack) with both Leopard and Vista running.  The transition was so smooth and Vista was running so fast that I figured he had a lot of memory allocated to Fusion and Vista.  Imagine my surprise when we checked and found that Fusion had only 768 MB allocated to Vista and yet it still was running so well.  It made me start thinking about getting Vista running on my MBP again yet with Fusion this time.  This will require me to reinstall Leopard from scratch, a clean install this time to reformat the hard drive.  That means I'll need to restore all my data and programs but I'm willing to do that.  It will be a good opportunity to test Leopard's Time Machine which should work I think.  Has anyone rebuilt a system from scratch and restored it with Time Machine?  I'm thinking to install Vista with Boot Camp which I believe Fusion will use too so I only have to install Vista once and yet be able to use it as a dual boot system or with Fusion to share OSes.

It was good to meet you Jason and have a happy holiday season.  I believe he's driving back to Kentucky right now so safe travels.

Coffee break- jkOnTheRun in Albuquerque

You probably are aware that Kevin and I are currently in Albuquerque to attend the memorial service for our mutual friend Marc Orchant.  We flew in yesterday and in fact met up in Dallas to meet the flight into New Mexico for the service.  One of the best used devices I brought with me for the trip is the HTC Advantage which has played many roles.  The first role it's played is that of a camera for snapping a few pictures.  Here's one of Kevin in his most natural pose at the Dallas airport:

As you can see the Advantage takes photos that are good enough for memory capture.

This morning we both headed out to the local Starbucks prior to heading to the service and Kevin brought out his Samsung Q1 to do some web work.  Here's how Kevin looks with his Q1 hard at work (sorry for the sunbeam that snuck in, the Albuquerque sun was quite strong this morning):

That integrated stand on the Q1 sure works nice. The Advantage has also filled in nicely as the GPS for finding our way around since neither Kevin nor I had been to Albuquerque before.  The Advantage integrated GPS with the TeleNav service performed flawlessly for us.   It has been great getting to spend some time with my buddy Kevin even under such trying circumstances.  As you can see we have been geeks even here in the southwest.  :)

Coffee break- meet me in Starbucks today

I will be in the Starbucks at Hwy 249 & Jones road this afternoon at 1- 1:30 pm.  I will have the Amazon Kindle, Verizon Voyager, iPod Touch and the HP 2710p for anyone who wishes to see one of those up close and personal.  I won't be there long but should be there around the time mentioned.  See you there@

Coffee break with the Eee - offline YouTube videos on Linux

I had to run out to pick up a *gasp* paper book that just came out so I'm sitting in the Barnes & Noble Cafe with a grande and an Eee. While standing line to pay for the new hardcover book, I realized that my Eee was actually smaller, lighter and thinner than the book I was purchasing. With my 3G USB modem in my pocket, I've got my connectivity and therefore everything I need to blog, work online and relax. This is turning into a flexible, little Linux blogging platform.

I thought about my connectivity and of course, without that I'd be limited to whatever I have locally on the device. One item I wanted to watch was Tyler's review of the Eee, so I could plan his next mobile tech video escapade. With connectivity, I can just jump over to the YouTube video direct, but what about without a connection... and on Linux to boot?

Not a problem if you plan ahead and hop over to www.keepvid.com. This website will convert or download on-line video from any one of around 30 video sites. Yesterday, I entered the URL of Tyler's YouTube video and downloaded a flash .flv file of it on the Eee. Couple that with VLC, which plays the majority of file formats on multiple platforms, and your device can view on-line videos, "offline". Yes, you do need connectivity to initially get files to your mobile device, but if you know you won't have connectivity, this can provide hours of simulated on-line entertainment.

Coffee break- jamming with a new iPod Touch

You read that right, today I picked up a new iPod Touch to replace my old school iPod.  This isn't that big a surprise, I've said more than once that I liked everything about the iPhone except the phone.  The last thing I need is another phone but I have been impressed with the touch experience that Apple has produced on the iPhone and now the iPod Touch.  I intend to do a video of the new iPod soon but for now I am sitting in the local coffee shop listening to great tunes (Marc Cohn) on the iPod and I want to share my initial impressions of the new iPod.

Coffee break- what happened to Thanksgiving?

I am at a Starbucks where I stopped on my way to my first meeting and was shocked to find that overnight the decoration theme changed from Halloween to Christmas. Everything is just too red in here for my taste. I was hoping for some nice burnt orange fall theme first. Ahh, commercialism.

Don't forget the Starbucks free Song of the Day

I know I have mentioned the iTunes free Song of the Day(SOD) when you visit Starbucks coffee shops but not everybody loves SBUX like I do.  You should be aware that the Song of the Day is a cool freebie though and a great way to get exposed to artists that you aren't familiar with.  Maybe you don't want to go into Starbucks each day just to get one free song, I understand that, but maybe this will convince you to go once.  Yesterday I dropped into my local shop and while I don't go every day I go often enough that I've downloaded quite a few free songs.  What I found in the shop, and now have confirmed that a lot of the locations are doing the same thing, is a basket with all the extra SOD cards.  Two minutes in the basket while waiting for my drink and even though I go frequently and have a lot of songs already I found six cards for songs I have missed.  There's no limit to the number of songs you can download with the proper codes (on the back of the cards) so I grabbed them and downloaded all of them.  It might be worth a visit to your local Starbucks to see if they have such a basket with dozens of free songs in them, at least if you use iTunes.

Coffee break- first Leopard MacBook in the wild

I am in one of the neighborhood coffee shops working happily when a young guy comes in and sits in front of me.  He has a thin leather organizer in his hands that he unzips and exposes a new MacBook Pro.  The case is designed so he can use the MBP without removing it and it's cool how it works, it didn't even look like a computer in his hands while closed.  It's the Crumpler Hymn 15" case.  The other cool thing about this is it's the first Mac I've seen in public running Leopard, it turns out the guy just bought it the day after the Leopard launch and it was pre-installed.  Cool.  :)

UPDATE:  I forgot to mention how impressed this kid and his friend were with the utility of the HP 2710p Tablet PC I was using in slate mode.  It didn't take a long demo for him to get very excited and his comment was not surprising- "I wish Apple would make a Tablet".  :)

Coffee break: lattes are $4 but tech support is free

I'm working on one of my secret projects at the Quakertown Starbucks this afternoon; one of these days I'll have to spill the secrets. Of course, that's better than the coffee I saw spilled earlier that was oh-so-close to somebody else's laptop. Coffee is of course expensive here, but today the tech support was free. Not for me, I was the tech-supporter.

See, a few weeks back I hit my high school twentieth reunion and had a blast. So much so, that I decided to start a Facebook group for my class of 281 peers. About 10% have joined this group in the first week and it's evident that not everyone is computer- or web-savvy. Not a problem and I'm here to help; after all, these were some of my closest friends! All I'm saying is that somebody owes me a coffee because I just talked her though uploading a Flickr photo to Facebook so that she's no longer a "question mark" in our group. ;)

By the way: most of my classmates had no idea of what Facebook is. I think there were about half a dozen that were already on it, but we can't let the youngsters have all the fun. Besides, it's been a great way to catch up with folks I haven't seen in 20 years.

When Starbucks runs dry

There are three things certain in life, death, taxes and there will always be coffee in Starbucks. At least until today. I stopped earlier in my local SBUX and ordered my usual caffeinated beverage and the barista started frothing the milk. She stopped mid-steam and said "Shoot! We are totally out of espresso beans so I can't make your drink." The sound of my jaw hitting the floor was echoed by the two patrons who had ordered after me and who must be really out of luck. Fortunately for us one of the baristas was on the ball and grabbed a pound package of beans for sale and filled the grinder. We were all happily sipping in short order, although our stable world had now been shaken. It turned out the manager had forgotten to have them get the big backs of beans they would need and locked the store room before leaving for a while.

BTW, this post was done on the HTC Advantage. Hooahh!

Coffee break- when WiFi can't be free

I like working in coffee houses as you know, they provide a nice atmosphere for writing and good java at the same time.  These are the two most important factors for me in my choice of where to go with my business but another good factor is free WiFi.  Outside of the for-pay T-Mobile hotspots like those in Starbucks most local coffee houses offer free WiFi to help them be competitive.  It's great for those of us who like to drop in, have a good brew and do some web work.  One of the local coffee houses, whom I won't mention by name because I don't want to give them grief, doesn't offer WiFi, either free or for pay.  I still go there as I have my ever-present EV-DO but others I've spoken to about this shop do not go there because they need WiFi.

I found it strange that they don't offer WiFi so in a recent email exchange with the owner I asked why they don't offer WiFi of any kind.  His answer really surprised me as it would never occur to me that such a situation could exist.  He admitted that providing free WiFi for customers is now very cheap and something that he'd like to do but he can't.  See, his shop is in a very small local strip center with limited parking and his landlord prohibits the offering of WiFi of any kind as it encourages patrons to stay longer than usual and tie up parking spaces.  It's actually in his lease that he can't offer WiFi as it is important to have rapid turnover for the parking spaces for the center.  This totally surprised me and made me realize that it's tough to be a small businessman in such a competitive field so next time you visit such a shop don't jump on the owner, they may not have a choice to forego the WiFi.

Coffee break - the Vye S37 is no grande

I've got lunch scheduled with a former colleague today at noon so I hit the road early to camp out for some java and tunes at a Starbucks nearby the meeting place. I hadn't used my HSDPA modem with the Vye yet and since I cancelled my T-Mobile voice and Hotspot account, I figured now was a good time. Of course the HSDPA bandwidth is rockin' faster than the music here, but having the modem in the Vye's USB port really gives a great appreciation for the small size of this device. I didn't bring my good camera today, so these are just shots with the iPhone; it's also pretty dim in here due to much needed rain, but you still get a good perspective. I'm still getting used to the small keyboard, but giving it a fair shake as promised. I see a noticable improvement in my typing speeds just a day after my first impressions, which is good. I don't like where the right Shift button is; I keep hitting Page Up instead, but I'll adjust. Oh, I should also note that I see very little difference in the power drain when using the 3G modem. Notebook Hardware Control shows it to be averaging around 12 W, which is less than 10% from the 11 W I was seeing with WiFi.

Coffee break- in the 'Bucks in Mandalay Bay

Yes, life is good today as I am sitting in the Starbucks in the Mandalay Bay in sunny Las Vegas, sipping a beverage and noting some fun things.  First of all, Starbucks in the casinos in Vegas do not do WiFi like their brethren elsewhere, so anyone planning a Vegas trip and expecting easy to find WiFi should make other plans.  Lucky for me my EVDO is lightning fast here and I don't miss the WiFi at all, when I even go online which is not often.  Hey, it's Vegas! 

My room has Internet access available but after wasting too much time I determined that it isn't working.  Rather than get hotel tech support involved (usually a frightening prospect) I am just sticking with the EVDO which is also very good in the room.  Unfortunately this does create one problem as my wife wants to do some blogging from her Tablet and silly me I didn't bring my PC Card adapter for the ExpressCard modem I use.  That means no native EVDO for her so what I did was set my Verizon dial-up connection to be shared.  I still can't get her online because I guess I need to set up an ad-hoc wireless network so she can share it.  Anybody know an easy way to share a dial-up connection in Vista?  It used to be drop-dead simple in XP but I'm not having any luck with it (of course I've been playing more than trying).

Speaking of my better half I just got a text message saying she won $400!  Gotta go.

Coffee break from the retreat

Beautiful day, sitting in the retreat listening to James with wireless headphones and enjoying the day.  Watching squirrels drink from the pool and cardinals run around on the ground. All while checking RSS feeds.

Coffee Break- working fast and efficient

Today is drop-dead gorgeous in Houston, Texas.  It is 72 degrees with a cloudless blue sky and perfect convertible weather.  I am fortunate to be sitting in my local Starbucks outside on the terrace and it is the perfect day for some outside work.  I am using the HP 2710p with the brightness at 75% and can see the screen perfectly for those who are asking about the outdoor usage possibility of the 2710p.  When I first arrived at the coffee shop I got my triple-venti-sugarfree-vanilla-dry-cappuccino as usual and sat down in one of the comfy chairs inside.  I pulled the 2710p out of my backpack and in 3 seconds was happily working in slate mode using the pen.  I did this for a while when it hit me I should be sitting outside on such a nice day so I went into Sleep mode (2 seconds), put the Tablet in my bag and moved outside.

Coffee break - inking on the HP 2710p

A lot of readers are asking me how inking is on the HP 2710p Tablet PC as some users are complaining about inking (pen) problems on theirs.

I am so happy with the ink experience that I had to ink this post. No problems at all!