jkOnTheRun

Is EVDO down in Houston?

The last few days I have been having the most trouble with my Verizon EVDO connectivity and it's driving me batty.  I try to connect to the Verizon network and am immediately greeted by this error:

I get this error twice every time and hit the Connect button each time and on the third time (always the third) I get duly logged onto the network.  It shows an EVDO Rev. A connection in the status bar but as soon as I try to go somewhere it drops to NationAccess which is only 1xRtt speed:

It chugs along at this blazing speed until the connection will go Dormant, usually meaning I have to disconnect and reconnect.  It's happening to me all over Houston and using the v740 modem in three different devices.  It's so bad that right now I am tethered to the AT&T network through the HTC Advantage using the Windows Mobile Internet Sharing over Bluetooth:

Is anybody else in Houston having trouble with Verizon lately or is it time to get my modem looked at?

8 mobile tech tools and tips for a tough economy

Having my father get laid off from his state government job a few weeks back has kept me busy. He's not what I'd call tech-savvy, although he's learning along the way. So I've spent quite a bit of time with him over the last two weeks: setting him up with one of our extra notebook computers, getting fast Internet service, and sorting out plans for the future. It hit me that right now there's quite a number of folks in the same boat as the economy has been in a slump for the past eight months or so. Long time readers and fellow geeks can probably bypass the rest of this post, but I've gathered some mobile tech tools and tips for the more mainstream consumers in our audience. All of these are the direct result of helping my Dad get organized and empowered...

Track gas mileage via Web or Twitter with FuelFrog

When we first bought our 2006 Hylander Hybrid, I was keeping an Excel spreadsheet of the gas prices, gallons we consumed and miles per gallon on the vehicle. I've long since stopped doing that, although I do have the first year's worth of data. It's sad to see how much the prices have jumped, but I don't need to show you a spreadsheet and convince of you that.

One of the reasons I stopped tracking that data was because it wasn't an efficient process, i.e.: at the time, I couldn't quickly and easily enter the data at the point of purchase. Enter FuelFrog, which is a web-based application that has the same functionality as my Excel method. You enter data right on the web and FuelFrog will save, graph and trend it for you. Even better: FuelFrog takes advantage of the Twitter API, so a quick text message of your data serves as the data entry point. If you go that route, just use the following format for your SMS: @fuelfrog miles price gallons-MPG. Too bad a GPS with WiFi couldn't capture that data from my car and automagially send up to the Internets for me. How about it, Dash folks?

(via ReadWriteWeb)

Latest Parallels version supports Vista SP1, XP SP3 on your Mac

Ever since I went on a "native application" kick with the introduction of Leopard on the MacBook Pro, I don't think I've booted into Vista or XP on the device. Yikes! I suspect that more of you are getting better use out of your Parallels license than I am and now you can take the service pack plunge. The latest update to Parallels, version 3.0.5600, now supports both SP1 for Vista and SP3 for Windows XP. Some additional bug fixes include Shared Folder improvements (like using a removable drive for them) and addressing extremely high CPU usage, something that I saw a little too often when I was last using the virtualization software. This upgrade is free for folks that have a licensed version of Parallels Desktop for Mac. Hey look: it's My Pictures and My Pictures above!

(via TUAW)

jkOnTheRun HP HDX Dragon contest- we have a winner!

Wow, time flies when you're having fun and we certainly have had our fill of fun running the 31 Days of the Dragon contest here on jkOnTheRun.  Entries shut down last night at midnight and we have scoured through all of them and can now announce the big winner!  Kevin and I knew that with the 11 questions we required to be correctly answered that the ultimate winner would end up being the one who was closest to the official number of comments and posts that had been logged as of the contest kickoff time and we sure got that right.  We are happy to announce that Stefano Arduino is the big winner of the HP and BuzzCorps supplied HP HDX Dragon prize bundle for answering the 9 questions correctly and then coming amazingly close to the correct number of posts and comments.  It is obvious that Stefano spent quite some time counting posts and comments for his entry.  We are waiting for Stefano to get back to us with confirmation but we believe from his email address that he is in France.

For the record, here are the correct answers to the 11 questions that comprised the contest:

1. What are James' and Kevin's ages as of today?  52 & 38
2. How many times has James been to Paris?   11
3. What is the name of the young lady besides Barbara who lives in Kevin's house?  Sydney
4. What is special about Kevin's SUV?   Hybrid
5. Kevin and James both use the same camera for video reviews.  Name it.  Canon Elura 100
6. What sports car does Kevin drive and what year model is it?  1991 Corvette
7. What is James' current ride and what year model is it? 2001 Volvo C70 convertible
8. What famous music star did James open for in a concert years ago?   Donovan
9. How many comments have been left on jkOnTheRun as of right now?  29,278
10. How many posts have been published on jkOnTheRun as of right now?   7,918
11. The producer/ director of what famous movie once left a comment on jkOTR?   Andrew Davis, Independence Day

Stefano has won the following prize bundle worth well north of $4,500:

• HP HDX Dragon
• Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit)
• Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor X9000 (2.80GHz, 6MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
• 20.1" diagonal WUXGA High-Definition HP Ultra Brightview Widescreen (1920x1200) 1080p
• 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS
• HP Imprint Finish (Dragon)
• Fingerprint Reader
• Webcam
• Microphone
• Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection and Bluetooth
• 500GB 5400RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (250GB x 2)
• Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW Double Layer
• Integrated HP HDTV Hybrid TV Tuner
• 4 Altec Lansing speakers with HP Triple Bass Reflex subwoofer
• 9 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

Software titles included in the prize bundle:

• Microsoft Office Ultimate
  
• Corel PaintShop Pro X2
• Corel Painter Essentials
• Corel Ulead Video Studio Plus  11.5
• Symantec Norton Internet Security

Entertainment titles include in the prize bundle:

• Viva Piñata
• Microsoft Flight Sim plus Flight Sim Expansion Pack
• Gears of War

Blu-Ray movies included:

• Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl
• Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest
• Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End

Congratulations Stefano and don't waste time getting back to us so we can get your exciting prize on the way to you muy pronto!

Microsoft Live services arriving on a BlackBerry near you

Research in Motion continues to make a push from the enterprise to consumer markets. In what's likely not a coincidence, the same day that RIM announces their new BlackBerry Bold, they also have a Microsoft deal to shout about. RIM and Microsoft have partnered to bring Windows Live services to the BlackBerry line: Windows Live Messenger and better integration of Windows Live Hotmail hit the handhelds by summer. Hotmail users will leverage the BlackBerry network's "push" technology for real-time mail and they'll also have the option of a separate or integrated Inbox for Hotmail. I prefer having one single Inbox to manage, but that's just me; it's nice to see that BlackBerry owners using Hotmail will get an option.

Asus Eee PC 900 available today as expected, around $560

Here in the U.S., online retailers are offering the Asus Eee PC 900 as expected today. Buy.com shows the device available at $565.99 with free shipping: this is the Linux-based model with 20 GB of flash storage. Small Laptops and Notebooks indicates the device status is "sold out" at NewEgg and OnSale, and it appears the same is true for Amazon. They show the device status as "not yet released" although they will accept a pre-order at $549.99 and free shipping. Once they have the device in stock, it will be on its way to you.

Having bought and extensively used the prior Asus Eee PC, I think the larger display and the higher resolution are well worth a premium, as is the extra storage and memory. I'm still not sold on low- to mid-performance sub-notebooks with a rising price trend, but clearly it's a personal preference on requirements and budget. Many folks will be happy with the new 900-series Eee PC, but my gut still says that Asus will sell far more of the 700-series over the long haul.

RIM gets Bold with new BlackBerry and $150m developer fund

After months of rumors, RIM has come clean with their latest and greatest device. The BlackBerry 9000 as it were is officially announced as the BlackBerry Bold. There's no question, this is the most advanced and feature-packed 'Berry to date: tri-band HSDPA, GPS, WiFi, a 624 MHz processor, 2-megapixel camera, 1 GB of storage memory, a microSD/SDHC slot and a 480 x 320 screen. Of course, the famous BlackBerry QWERTY keyboard and trackball are there as well. All in all, this is quite a powerful device from RIM that will be available this summer; no price as of yet. Taking a cue from the iPhone SDK program, RIM has also set up a $150 million developer fund for mobile application developers. Maybe I need to blog less and learn to develop more... ;)

James has enjoyed his BlackBerry for the past year, but I have yet to experience one of the newer models, so I may need to get my hands on this when it hits the stores. It will be interesting to compare the Bold to the anticipated 3G iPhone, no?

jkOnTheRun video- Lenovo IdeaPad U110 webcam recording

Rob Bushway of GottaBeMobile recently published a video demonstrating the use of the Lenovo IdeaPad U110 for recording video.  Rob aptly demonstrated that his video recorded with the included Lenovo EasyCapture webcam utility had intermittent audio/ video sync problems, an experience that mirrors my own.  I always use ArcSoft Webcam Companion to record video on laptop webcams which has always worked well for me and this video is an example I recorded on my Lenovo IdeaPad's webcam using the ArcSoft utility.  Have a look and see what you think.  The ArcSoft utility produces a MPG video file that I took into Windows Movie Maker to produce a WMV file which I find works better with YouTube.

MobileTechRoundup 133: early morning mayhem

CLICK HERE to download the file and listen directly.
MoTR 133 is 35 minutes long and is a 32.1 MB file in MP3 format.

INTRO: Based on “Time v2.1″ by Meta Sektion, additional mixing by James Kendrick.
HOSTS: James Kendrick (Houston), Matthew Miller (Seattle) and Kevin C. Tofel (Philadelphia)

TOPICS:

Matt's Celio REDFLY has arrived.
So did a Nokia N82 and BH-903 Bluetooth heads. Hear Matt's first thoughts.
New made-up word: "incretion". It's the opposite of "reduction" in the mobile tech world. ;)
Lenovo's IdeaPad U110 is meeting James's mobile needs.
So which Vista power management scheme offers the highest performance? Balanced, Power Saver or High Performance? You'd be surprised...
WiMAX in the U.S. gets a financial investment, but widespread implementation looks to be moved back.
Happy Mother's Day!

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jkOnTheRun Dragon contest entries end today

Don't forget that our HP HDX Dragon contest entries shut off at midnight EDT tonight so if you haven't entered yet your time is running short.  We've received a lot of entries and will be announcing the winner of the most awesome prize package ever compliments of HP and BuzzCorps.

A belated farewell Dan Fogelberg

Back in December of last year the music world lost one of the greatest songwriters and performers of my time and I have been remiss in paying my farewell respects.  Dan Fogelberg died of cancer at the young age of 56 and I want to touch on how the music of this great musician touched my life in ways I can barely describe.  Dan burst on the scene in the early 70's, a time of my life when I as an aspiring musician was striving to define my art and thus very impressionable.  Mr. Fogelberg wrote what I consider some of the most personal and touching music that holds up even today.  While his music styling was very beautiful the lyrics of his songs were such that they touched my soul very deeply over the years and I consider it a lamentable fact that I never met him.

I am sure that some of my feelings for Fogelberg's music lie in the fact that my young voice was straining for a vehicle and his music provided that in many different ways.  I am no doubt biased by the fact that my young singing voice was very similar to Dan's making his music a favorite of mine to perform back in the day but if you sit down even today and listen to the messages that are shared in his songs I am confident you will be moved as I still am.  Those of you who are too young to be familiar with Dan's music have probably heard some of his greatest songs and not realized it.  His "Same Old Lang Syne" that is played every year at New Year's is classic and his "Run for the Roses" that is still played each year for the Kentucky Derby here in the US both demonstrate how his lyrics can capture an event in unyielding clarity that we all can empathize with.  The tribute to his father, "Leader of the Band" is one of the most moving songs you will ever hear if you truly listen to the lyrics of this hit.

I had the good fortune to see Fogelberg every chance I could and his performances were always such that you found him to be even better live than on his recordings.  His ability to pour the essence of himself in each of his performances resulted in his songs touching each and every one listening in a way unique to each one.  He was one of those rare songwriters who could conjure up a mirage through his music that listeners can experience deeply.  You only have to listen to his epic "The Reach" to understand what I mean by that.  So farewell Mr. Dan Fogelberg.  I thank you immensely for letting me share your music that has touched my life in such positive ways.

Dan Fogelberg official web site (caution, music will play when opened)

31 Days of the Dragon starts later at Digital Home Thoughts

I thought I was just missing it but the folks at Digital Home Thoughts scheduled to start their HP HDX Dragon giveaway today let us know that they will get started later today. They had a server move that took longer than anticipated so they're hard at work trying to get their contest post out there so you know how to enter.  Keep checking over their later for the information you need to get qualified for that super $4,500 prize bundle supplied by HP and BuzzCorps.  The first site (AbsoluteVista) gave their Dragon package away yesterday to lucky winner Derek Hunter and Ars Technica should give theirs away today so keep checking to see if your entry was the lucky one.  Our Dragon package will be awarded on Monday so check back here to see who won.

Reminder- turn off power management on core system components

I use so many mobile PCs that I am always paying close attention to how fast devices resume from Sleep or Hibernation.  A common scenario for me finds me in a remote location, pulling a device out of my bag and hitting the power button to resume from Sleep mode.  I use a Bluetooth mouse and 3G modem (ExpressCard) a lot in such locations and one of the factors that impacts how quickly I can get to work is how long it takes a given system to recognize the mouse and modem upon resumption from Sleep.  Yesterday it hit me that the Lenovo IdeaPad U110 I have been using for a couple of weeks was taking too long to recognize the Bluetooth mouse meaning I was having to wait for that before I could get to work. 

I remembered a post I wrote a while back about making sure that touch digitizers don't get shut off by the Windows power management by turning that feature off in the Device Manager and I made a visit there on the U110.  Sure enough, the Bluetooth radio had power management enabled by default meaning that Windows was turning it off when it went into a low power mode on battery and this was affecting how quickly it found the mouse to get me working again.  It had to turn on the Bluetooth radio, find the mouse and then connect to it every time I resumed from Sleep mode.  A simple ticking off of the power management option for the radio remedied that situation and now my mouse is there right away when I resume and try to get to work.  I visited the same setting for the EVDO modem and sure enough power management was enabled for that too.  I also turned it off there and now when I resume from Sleep mode I am working in just a second or two.  It makes a big difference when you sleep and resume a lot during the day so don't forget to check the Device Manager for all the internal components on your mobile PC that seem to take a while to get back going again when you wake your device up.

CorePlayer Mobile adds support for Flash files

If you carry digital media files on your Windows Mobile or Palm handheld, there's a pretty good chance that you either have or have looked at CorePlayer Mobile at some point. You'll want to take another look, or a first look, because the long-time media player just added support for Adobe Flash. That doesn't mean you can view Flash-based vids in your mobile browser, but you can view .FLV files in the newest CorePlayer version, which is 1.2.4. It's $24.95 for a WinMo or Palm OS license, but most folks I know feel that it's well worth the purchase price. You can view the entire changelog right here; I see that all supported Symbian devices get a YouTube Browser with this version as well.

(via Palm Infocenter)