jkOnTheRun

Philly muni-WiFi close to shutting down

Philadelphia looks to soon join the ranks of Houston and San Francisco as muni-WiFi provider Earthlink is close to shutting down the network.  It seems that municipal WiFi networks are too expensive to set up and run profitably what was to be the largest such network at the time Earthlink took it on they have stopped accepting new customers.  The network is only 80% complete and they have stopped construction on the remaining portion of the network and it definitely looks like they will shut it down at some point.  Perhaps Earthlink is smelling the pungent odor of WiMAX rollout across the country?

(via CNET)

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?

Genius Bar visit day- that's never a good thing

I guess I was missing the experience of visiting the local Genius Bar so my MacBook Pro decided to push me in that direction today.  Actually my problems began late last night as the MBP hung up and wouldn't recover.  I had to kill it via the Power button and when I tried to restart it got the familiar "3 beeps of RAM death".  I have experienced those beeps a few times in the past and just like before they meant my MBP was not going to cooperate and boot up.  After far too much time last night fussing with it I finally got the system to safe boot up and stay running long enough for me to run TechTools Deluxe which is available to AppleCare customers.

This good utility ran a whole bunch of diagnostics and determined that the 3 beeps were telling the truth, I had bad RAM.  It was by this time very late last night so I went to bed with the intention of jumping headfirst into the problem this morning.  I did just that too and it was like jumping headfirst into the shallow end and smashing my head on the bottom of the pool.

The MacBook still wouldn't boot up so I turned it over and removed both RAM cards (1 GB & 2 GB) and swapped slots.  I put it back together and hit the power button while holding my breath.  It got the gray boot screen without the 3 beeps of RAM death which was a step forward but after a while at that screen the device would just shut itself off.  Time to make an appointment with my local Genius and this afternoon off I went.

The Genius Bar experience itself is still very refreshing, good attention from the staff who actually listen to what I have to say and then act on it.  He plugged in his magic disk drive with Leopard on it and booted it up quickly, only to determine that the MBP was not able to mount the internal disk drive which was causing the boot failure.  He did some diagnostics which told him the only option was to erase the drive and reinstall Leopard to see if the drive was OK.  He did this over the next 20 minutes with me watching everything.  I wasn't concerned with his wiping the drive clean since I have been dutifully keeping the system backed up with Time Machine to my Buffalo 500 GB external firewire drive.  Silly me.

When the install finished his diagnostics showed that everything with the system was A-OK, RAM good, disk drive good, all was good.  I took the system home with the plan of restoring the Time Machine backup and getting back to work.  Silly me.  I plugged the external backup drive into the firewire port and watched the disk access light go berserk flashing.  After 5 minutes the flashing stopped, only for me to see that the drive was not mounted by Leopard.  Uh oh.  I ran Disk Utility in OS X which I was glad to see could actually see the drive was connected even though it wasn't mounted properly.  This let me run the repair option which took 10 minutes only to end in failure.  The log isn't very detailed but it tells me that the disk cannot be repaired so here I am now, no way to restore the only full backup I have and save all my data.  I will be very impacted by this failure of first the internal drive and then the external backup drive at the same time.  I'm still desperately trying to get the drive to a point where I can at least mount it in the hopes that I can keep it mounted long enough to restore my system, or at least as much of it as I can.  It doesn't look good for the home team, Casey's count is 0-2 and it doesn't look good.

I hate "no laptop in training classes"

I was tied up all day today in a mandatory training class and it was one of those that allow no laptops to be used during the class.  This particular trainer was the first I've seen that extended that to Tablet PCs so I was not allowed to take notes in ink on my Tablet.  I understand why they don't want folks to have the distraction of using a laptop during the class but I showed him how I take notes and explained that I do it this way so I can search those notes in the future to get my hands on important information gleaned from the class.  I got a firm "no" so the Tablet stayed nestled in my closed gear bag.  The only result was I took no notes as I don't like paper for that.  Sheesh.  Maybe he's heard of stealth blogging.  :)

HP Mini-Note meets Windows XP

Last night I decided to see for myself how well the HP Mini-Note runs under Windows XP.  I did a clean install of Windows XP Pro and got my core applications installed.  Today I'm going to give it a test spin and see how much faster (if any) the Mini runs under XP.  Note that I didn't find it ran particularly slow most of the time under Vista Business but I suspect overall it should be snappier under XP.  It was relatively easy to install XP as I found good instructions on the web from those who have found all the HP drivers needed for XP even though HP hasn't released any officially yet.  I had to snap this photo from the install as it seemed eerily prophetic, those XP developers no doubt predicted what was yet to come in Vista:

No OneNote fix for Vista 64-bit- say what?

You may have seen me venting over Microsoft's ridiculous failure to supply a 64-bit virtual printer driver for OneNote's great "Send to OneNote 2007" feature.  This is the feature that is a must-have for me as I routinely print documents directly into OneNote 2007 for reference.  The HP tx2051 Tablet PC that I am evaluating came with 64-bit Vista Ultimate installed and this is how I discovered that the Send to OneNote feature does not work (nor install) on the 64-bit version of either WinXP or Vista.  The GottaBeMobile guys were also surprised to hear this and this week since they were at the MVP Summit on the Microsoft campus they asked the Redmond folks if they are going to release a 64-bit driver for this feature:

64-bit support for the Send-To printer will not be coming until OneNote 14 releases to the public. There are no plans to address this with a patch or service pack. So, if you rely upon the Send-To feature in OneNote, I'd recommend sticking with or going back to 32-bit Vista.

So the answer is clear, if this feature is a must for you then don't even consider 64-bit Windows because Microsoft not only doesn't have your back but they've painted a big, red target on it.

Seagate sues STEC, SSD maker, for patent infringement

We told you it was only a matter of time before Seagate made good on its threat to take SSD makers to court over alleged patent infringements.  The hard drive maker sued SSD maker STEC on Monday claiming STEC was violating four patents that Seagate holds pertaining to storage technology.  STEC has claimed they will defend themselves vigorously of course.  This it very bad news as Seagate will cast a pall over the rise of SSDs which we feel are the next wave in storage technology.  Consumers lose big time if companies like Seagate are successful in shutting down, or driving up the cost of SSDs that are beginning to ramp up for mobile devices.  Somebody slap Seagate please.

(via CNET)

Microsoft- recent Vista update hoses some USB devices

In the "color me embarrassed" department PC Magazine is reporting that a recent Vista update is wreaking havoc with some user's USB devices.  Microsoft has admitted the update created a problem and that they are working to address it. 

"We are aware of concerns that a recent Microsoft update may be causing problems with USB devices," according to a Microsoft spokeswoman. "We are investigating the matter and at this time do not have any additional information to share."

Some users are not affected while others are now having trouble with USB devices like keyboards and mice since the update last week.  This is shedding light on my recent Vista disk thrashing problems when I resume from sleep mode, at least I think so.

I detailed how my Fujitsu P1620 began exhibiting problems with resuming from sleep recently and today I experienced the exact same problem on my HP 2710p.  Both computers had run fine until recently and I was wracking my brain to come up with something that might have changed recently that could cause this type of problem.  I believe this bad update from Microsoft may very well be the cause because USB issues can easily cause difficulty with devices that are docked when they resume from standby (sleep).  Even though no obvious USB device is not working when this happens there are integrated components that are USB based, like the PC Card EVDO modem that was in play on the Fujitsu when the problem started.  I don't have definitive proof that this update has indeed caused this problem on multiple computers but the timing of both the problems and the update are very close.

Vista disk thrashing eats my lunch

This morning began like many other days.  I grabbed the Fujitsu P1620 out of the dock.  I put it dutifully to sleep which took only 3 seconds and then threw it in my gear bag.  I headed across town and walked into my morning meeting and sat down.  At 9:10 the meeting got underway and I hit the power button on the Fujitsu to wake it up from its slumber and to get to work.  The disk thrashed for almost 20 MINUTES before the Fuji was ready to be used and I missed taking notes for the first part of my meeting.  The hard disk indicator light was on solid for that 20 minutes and the system was not usable for that time.  It took 10 minutes before the fingerprint reader was asking for me to swipe in which I did and another 10 minutes while Vista Business resumed to a point that the system was responsive.  This is the first time I've experienced this on the Fuji but not the first time I've seen it on other systems.  Vista is so bad on mobile systems and it's time for something to be done.  I'll likely have to edit the registry and turn off pieces of Vista to get around this.  Sheesh.

Vista 64-bit: Apple 1, Microsoft 0

I am sitting here with an incredulous look on my face because that's the way I feel.  Today I have been working on the evaluation of the HP tx2000 notebook which is running 64-bit Vista Ultimate due to the AMD processors.  Everything has worked fine so far with the exception of two niggling things that have driven me crazy.  I now know the two problems have the same root cause and it is the 64-bit version of Vista.

First up, I installed OneNote 2007, my main Tablet PC application and since the tx2000 is a Tablet I had to get it working.  It installed fine but I noticed after that there was no Send to OneNote virtual printer installed like there should be.  I've seen that before so I uninstalled OneNote 2007, rebooted and reinstalled it.  Nope.  No virtual printer again.  Now I use this virtual printer so much on my Tablets that is is always set as my default printer so I can easily print things right into OneNote so not having this is a big deal to me.  I did some minor investigation but didn't turn up anything so I moved on to my second issue of the day.

My Canon printer is plugged directly into my Airport Extreme router so that everyone on my home network can print to it.  The only caveat is that Windows-based PCs on the network have to have the Apple utility Bonjour installed which handles the network printer.  I have used this for months and it works great on every PC in the home but it didn't work with the tx2000.  Bonjour installed fine and once running it saw the Canon printer but couldn't actually talk to it.  I did a bunch of different things but nothing worked so I couldn't print from the HP.  It turns out it's related to the OneNote problem above.

I turned back to finding a solution to the Send to OneNote missing printer and another Google search turned up something very surprising.  First of all the answer to my problem was found, you'll laugh about this, right here on jkOnTheRun.  It seems that Kevin posted a few months back that the Send to OneNote printer will not install on 64-bit Windows, neither XP nor Vista.  What?  It's a Microsoft operating system and OneNote is a Microsoft application so that can't be right!  Au contraire!  According to this MS employee the problem is that the Microsoft Office Document Imaging tools don't work on 64-bit Windows so the Send to OneNote printer won't work (nor install) either.  You've got to be kidding me!  According to Microsoft, better sit down before you read this:

CAUSE

This behavior occurs because the Microsoft Office Document   Image Writer printer driver is not installed on a computer that is running a   64-bit operating system.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

So I'm not only screwed but this was Microsoft's intent according to that statement!  The saddest part is the recommendation by the above employee:

In the meantime if you really need this feature it is recommended that you run x86 and sorry for the inconvenience.

So forego our latest and greatest OS and go back to 32-bit because our own software doesn't work with it by design.

This 64-bit failure got me to thinking about the Apple Bonjour problem so I went back to the Apple site where I downloaded the free utility and found that lo and behold there is a 64-bit Windows version of Bonjour produced by Apple.  I installed it and immediately was able to print to my Canon printer!  So Apple 1, Microsoft 0 with 64-bit Windows support!  Actually I think Microsoft's score should be a negative value.  I'm going to go punch a wall, back later.

Time Machine to AirPort Disk: good luck with that says Apple

If I had a real, working time machine, I think I'd go back to when Apple announced some of the exciting, new features of Mac OS X Leopard. Back then I seem to recall that the new Time Machine feature was touted as working on USB drives tethered to AirPort Extreme Base Stations as well as USB storage connected directly to a Mac. Not long after the announcements and hoopla died down, that little tidbit about AirPort Disks disappeared. What could a consumer do... go back in time to see if the details were actually changed?

Hit the gas pedal and zoom up to 88mph in your DeLorean and fast forward to present day. With the last round of updates to the AirPort Extreme back in March, Airport Disks were suddenly working with Time Machine and all was right with the temporal time-lines. Or was it?

Census Bureau proposing to scrap handheld plan, going back to paper

We do the official census here in the U.S. every 10 years so there's plenty of off-cycle time for improvements. One of the plans for 2010 is about to be scrapped if the Census Bureau has it's way. In 2006, the Bureau awarded a contracts for over half-a-million handheld computers to help collect data from folks that didn't send in their paperwork. Sounded like a great use of mobile tech, but now the Bureau plans to abandon the idea.

As I read the story though (warning: 15-year IT background surfacing) it seems to be more of a failure to manage the technology project rather than a failure of the technology itself.

"Since awarding the contract, the project has experienced constant setbacks, including changing system requirements that led to increased costs and missed deadlines."

Reading further into the article, it appears that 400 new or changed technical requirements were delivered to the project team earlier this year, after a May 2007 test identified "development and scoping problems". You can have the best technology in the world, but I've always said it doesn't mean a thing if it doesn't meet the project requirements. Sadly, the cost of not going with the handhelds and reverting back to paper forms will add another $2.2 and $3 billion although some of those costs aren't related directly to the handhelds. The Bureau still plans to use them for address verification, so don't expect to find 525,000 handhelds on the cheap at a liquidation house. Thanks for the tip, Roger!

Trapster: real-time speed trap info from your phone

Just caught this video demo of Trapster: a free socially-fed speed trap service for your phone. Speed trap data is only good for a little while, so real-time is the scenario here. Using your phone, you report speed traps and red-light camera locations using very few keystrokes: "pound-1", for example. The data is fed into a Google Map and when your GPS-enabled phone (and presumably you) approaches a reported trap, you'll get an audio warning so you don't get nailed by the fuzz. Interesting concept and it has a Digg-like atmosphere to it: Trapster claims to learn the reliability of users over time. Hmm... might not want to sign up with your real name then.

Perhaps I had too much coffee today, but Trapster just gave me a Web 2.0 idea. What if we combined it with Twitter only we signaled a "pound-1" or "pound-2" from a rest-room? Real time data... public rest-rooms... we can call it "Crapster". Ah, yes... this is why I never have a second cup of coffee at home...

(via CNN)

When trojans invade the PC kingdom

Today has not gone the way I envisioned it, not by a long shot.  It started innocently enough with me grabbing the Fujitsu P1620 out of the dock to get some work done in slate mode while watching the morning news.  It went downhill quickly from there.  The first thing I was confronted with was a dialog box from OneCare that told me it had detected a trojan on my system.  A trojan is one of those malware programs that invades your system by looking like something else and then sets about doing untold harm to your Windows box.  Fortunately for me I had OneCare duly protecting my system and it spotted the trojan right away.  I have no idea how it got into my system as I am very careful about things like that but if it's clever enough I guess it can get in anyway.  I am happy with the way OneCare protects my systems and much more so now that it's stopped this trojan in its tracks.

OneCare asked me if I wanted to clean the trojan off my system and I of course said yes.  I neglected to write down exactly what trojan it had detected but no matter.  OneCare proceeded to clean the offender off my system, a process that took about 10 minutes.  It must have invaded quite a bit of territory in my PC kingdom.  When the cleansing was comnplete OneCare restarted the Fuji and that's when the fun times started.

LA to tax VoIP

In the "won't they ever learn" category the city of Los Angeles intends to levy a 9% tax on VoIP service.  The last I heard there is a federal moratorium on taxing Internet-based services so I wonder if this is even legal.  It's headed for the courts for sure I'll bet.  This measure passed when city officials snuck it onto the ballot and voters approved it with no information about it.  While public safety was cited as the need for the tax the measure does not allocate the additional taxes gathered from telephone bills for that purpose.  Politics as usual in other words.  In case you were worried about them telemarketers get a 50% break on taxes as part of the measure passed.  Only in California.

(Heartland Institute via VoIP Watch)

Pop-up of the day: XP virus scanner... for my Mac

I'm routinely running both Safari and Firefox on my MacBook Pro; it comes in handy when making site design changes so I can test on different browsers. Thought it amusing that this pop-up appeared a few minutes ago. You'd think that by now the malware / virus-scanner / waste-my-time campaigns would be smart enough to market to the appropriate potential user base. Why would I need an XP Virus Scanner for my Mac?!?

What's even more amusing is that when you click Cancel, it takes you to a product web page that shows a progress meter at the top. The meter is just humming along and various Windows .exe, .dll, and other file types are appearing under the meter as if it's actually finding these things on my "PC" and scanning them for viruses. Yeah... you folks keep scanning, 'k? Now that I'm done laughing, we return you to your regularly scheduled mobile tech programming.

Apple to Windows users- install Safari no matter what we say

Apple has taken a lot of grief for pushing Safari onto unsuspecting iTunes and Qucktime users on the Windows platform and Neowin points to something today that makes that whole situation pretty comical.  It seems the Safari End User License Agreement (EULA) prohibits the installation of Safari on any non-Apple hardware. 

Apple's Safari license says that users are permitted to install the browser on no more than "a single Apple-labeled computer at a time." This means that if you install Safari for Windows on a Windows PC, you're violating the license.
 
According to Jonathan Kramer, a tech-minded attorney with the Kramer Telecom Law Firm, you aren't in any legal danger if you install Safari for Windows on a Windows PC. Apple can't enforce a contract clause that doesn't make sense. "We call this an impossibility issue," Kramer told us. "You can't enforce a term that's impossible."

 

TabletKiosk joins Dell and Motion in accused patent infringement club

Typhoon Touch is making a business out of suing Tablet makers for alleged patent infringements and today have sued TabletKiosk, Electrovaya and Xplore Technologies for touch screen patent infringements.  Typhoon Touch had previously sued Dell and Motion Computing for the same violations and so far only Motion has settled the suit. 

Typhoon specifically cites Xplore's iX104C series of tablet PCs, Electrovaya's Scribbler SC4000 tablet, and four of TabletKiosk's ruggedized tablets. Typhoon, a Seattle-based firm that creates and acquires patents, has only licensed its patents on portable touch-screen computers to Nova Mobility. The two companies have asked the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas for unspecified damages and an injunction on the sales of the computers Typhoon says are in violation of its patents.

Of course none of the companies named can comment on the active lawsuits.  I was surprised to hear that Motion had been accused of violating these touch screen patents as I didn't think they even made touch screen tablets as their multi-touch version of the L1700 was canceled before it ever shipped.

(via CNET)

Seagate to SSD makers- if you get popular we'll sue

Solid state disks (SSDs) have the opportunity to revolutionize computing technology, especially mobile tech.  The lack of moving parts and the speed of data transfer can make any device a speed demon.  Throw in the elimination of heat that conventional moving hard disks generate and SSDs present a win-win proposition.  The only reason that SSDs haven't already had a mass adoption is the high price compared to spinning hard drives but we've been saying for some time that as higher numbers are reached that will change and in fact we've already seen SSDs drop in price, although not nearly low enough.

This week word has been leaking out that hard drive maker Seagate is threatening to sue SSD makers should sales numbers increase to the point that SSD sales start impacting Seagate's hard drive sales.  Seagate, along with rival Western Digital, have many patents that were awarded to cover hard drive technology and according to Seagate they can be applied to SSDs too.  They've indicated that should sales of SSDs become bothersome for them then they will sue to exercise their rights under the patents they hold.  In other words, you build a better solution that is totally different than ours and we'll go after you if we feel threatened.

A friend of mine works for Western Digital and I've had numerous conversations with him regarding how I think they should be nervous about SSDs because they are such a better solution for consumers.  His response has always implied that Western Digital is not concerned about them because they have a plan.  I am now wondering if that plan is similar to Seagate's and they simply intend to sue SSDs out of existence should the need arise.  I hope not, shutting down this great technology would be a tremendous blow to us as consumers.

Where's my spare UMPC battery?

As if it's not agonizing enough to wait for mobile tech deliveries, it's even worse when someone else gets what you've been waiting for. Tomorrow, I'm expecting FedEx to deliver the 2 GB RAM module I ordered, while my spare 6-cell battery for the Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium was delivered by the USPS today. Only one problem: I never received it!

According to the tracking info, it was delivered this morning at 10:17 am, which is about the right time for the postman to drive through the sticks where I live. We have all of our regular mail (ironically all junk today) but no 6-cell battery. Hopefully, it just appeared in someone else's mailbox here since I doubt the cows that live nearby have need of it. The methane they produce should power 10 UMPCs based on the morning "aroma" that enlightens our senses. Got any delivery horror stories to make me feel better while I sort this out?

Sony adds $50 "no crapware" tax to computers

This is just pitiful. As if "crapware", the extra apps that you'll likely never use, isn't enough of a nuisance, Sony is now charging $49.95 for the honor of removing said "crapware" from some Sony PCs before shipping. This is ridiculous and I personally think the company should be embarrassed to offer such a deal. If you don't pay for the "Fresh Start" option, you'll get your device loaded up with junk that's easy to remove, but a real time waster. I realize that from a business perspective, device manufacturers gain revenue with the crapware partner programs, but why should the consumer pay a sin-tax for the business decisions of the manufacturer? What do you think: outrageous decision or smart business?

Skype video on the Q1U-P is tricky to set up. Here's how.

This is interesting and I'm guessing it probably applies to the Q1 Ultra units as well as the Q1U Premium. The device has two cameras: one on the front and one on the back. I just installed Skype in preparation to test a video call with James later today. When I went into the Skype options for Video and tested the webcam, it was using the higher quality, rear-facing camera. No worries I figure, I'll just use the drop-down menu to choose the other camera. I did just that, but Skype was still looking over it's shoulder as opposed to looking me in the eye. Hmmm.....

An expectant geek's least favorite word

Can you spot the word I'm talking about? This one ranks up there with other words and phrases like "delayed", "discontinued", "out of stock", and "sold out". (What others am I missing?) From the tracking deets, it looks like a certain package sat for a full day, which pushes back any unboxing experience into tomorrow. Hurry home, Samwise! Everyone in the The UMPC Shire awaits!

UPS teases me about my Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium

That's just SO not right. I know the Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium shipped yesterday and I paid for 2nd Day Air service. That means I should have the device as early as tomorrow, but I thought it also meant I'd be able to track it today. You know, like hit my browser refresh button a few hundred times today just for the chance to see one, maybe two location updates. I may get the device tomorrow, but I think I'm getting ripped off today. It's all part of the experience UPS! Or am I the only one who does this? ;)

Update: Oh UPS. Still no tracking data and now you have the nerve to ring my doorbell... with an unexpected package for Barb?!? Evil. Pure evil.

Are "no laptop" meetings hitting where you work?

Jeremy Zawodny has an interesting blog post about the rise of "no laptop" meetings due to the abuse of the laptop in some companies.  The thought is that since most laptop users are not paying attention then the muckity-mucks ban them to force concentration on the meeting discussion.  I could see this work but I have to admit that the use of laptops in meetings is almost non-existent in my work so it's not a problem.  I have attended a few meetings where laptop usage was discouraged but once I showed them how I take notes on my Tablet PC all were assured I was paying attention.  Hopefully they'll never see my posts on "stealth blogging" in boring meetings.  :)  I can see that meetings can be derailed if everyone is using a laptop and typing away the whole time but I believe there is a better way to force meetings to be better run for everyone.  That's the "no chair" rule.  I guarantee you that meetings will be better focused and shorter if everyone is standing, laptop or no.

Ernie the Attorney- loves the Tablet PC but can't use one in court

Ernie the Attorney has one of the greatest blogs around, his coverage of Hurricane Katrina from New Orleans was first-rate journalism.  Ernie really is an attorney and he's blogged that recently his girlfriend loaned him a Tablet PC to use in his work.  His observations won't surprise anyone who has used a Tablet PC:

(1) a Tablet has a completely different social dynamic than a traditional laptop because people don't perceive it as a computer; unless you stand behind someone using a Tablet you easily assume that they are just writing on a pad of paper; (2) the Tablet is more comfortable to use; but if you type reasonably well you will still prefer to use a keyboard; (3) the Tablet is more natural to use at a lectern or in a conference, as long as principle #2 isn't a factor; (4) even though it's a niche product I would absolutely use a Tablet in certain situations, except for one thing: (5) Tablet PCs run Windows which means they don't wake up quickly, or reliably.

Ernie's observations of the Tablet used in social settings are right on the money but unfortunately #5 is the deal breaker. 

Just as I was starting to use the Tablet a lot I found that it would sometimes get slow or become unresponsive; this happened once or twice at semi-critical times. I dutifully rebooted, and didn't suffer too much. But the thought lingered: I could never rely on the Tablet during a hearing or trial, or any situation where I was in front of a judge. It's one thing to reboot during a deposition, but it would be completely unacceptable to tell a judge to "hang on, your honor, while I reboot my computer."

So, I've stopped using the Tablet completely. I have several lawyer friends who have tried the Tablet, and one or two are still using it. Perhaps they haven't had the problems that I have had, so I know it's possible the Tablet could be a useful tool for a litigator. But not for me.

This is sad but I understand Ernie's position.  It's true that not every Tablet PC suffers from these problems a lot but like Ernie experienced in certain situations it only has to happen once at a critical time and it's a huge problem.  It's too bad that we still see these problems at all but as one who uses a Tablet PC heavily (every day) I understand his position.  To Ernie's credit he sees the advantages that a Tablet PC bring to an attorney and still loves to use it in depositions or other settings when a stoppage wouldn't risk a contempt of court charge.

Howard Forums may get shut down- help prevent it

One of the scariest things that can happen to a site owner has happened to Howard Forums, one of the best sources of information about mobile phones on the planet.  It is a highly lamentable situation that all of us who run public web sites are faced with whether we realize it or not.  Just a few weeks back Kevin and I were faced with a similar situation when we were notified by YouTube that someone had reported (falsely) that one of our original video reviews violated copyright and YouTube took the video down.  We prevailed as we should when we contested it and proved to YouTube that the video in question was in fact one we shot ourselves of ourselves and YouTube put the video back up.  It demonstrated to us how a simple statement by someone can falsely cause something like this to be taken down and in this case it is guilty until proven innocent, which we did successfully.

Howard Chui has reported through a mailing list we belong to that MobiTV is trying to take Howard Forums down for something that one of the forum members has posted in a comment.  It seems that MobiTV did something stupid and set up URLs that their customers can access from mobile phones to access (paid) streaming video content.  The problem is that MobiTV was very lazy and didn't secure those URLs with any kind of login, instead depending on no one sharing the URLs with non-customers.  Of course a Howard Forum member posted the URLs and MobiTV sent a takedown letter to Howard to remove the posts.  Howard (well within his rights) refused to remove the comments since it is not reasonable to expect him to police every single comment that gets posted on the forums which can be hundreds or thousands every day.  MobiTV then did something totally unreasonable and has notified the site host that Howard Forums are violating their copyright and is trying to get the site shut down by the host.  This is looking like it might happen according to Howard and we might lose this great source of information with this false claim that a URL is copyrighted material.  We can't let that happen as a web URL can't be copyrighted and in this case all MobiTV has to do is make those restricted URLs secured via a login just like thousands of other sites and services do.

Let's come to Howard's aid and Digg the story so it gets as much attention as possible to help prevent this unlawful takedown of Howard Forums.  It could happen to any of our web sites and this must be stopped right now.

Crocs for your cellphone?

Sorry, I just never got into the Crocs craze. Maybe it's because I've mangled my feet with one too many a marathon, who knows. I do however, like to protect my precious cell phone, so these phone cases made by Crocs caught my eye. I'm sure the bright colors had something to do with it too. Looks like a release in the UK in the beginning of May. $15 will wrap your cell in luxurious leather smelly rubber. You'll get eight colors to choose from; unfortunately none of them will blend into the background, so your cell will be front and center when it comes to grabbing attention.

When technology fails

Yesterday I had a terrible technology morning when a piece of my mobile tech failed and left me high and dry.  I had begun like many mornings by heading in to Big Oil Co. just after 6 am and setting up the Fujitsu P1620 in the office like usual.  This consists of plugging the little beast in to the adapter, turning on the Bluetooth mouse for wireless pointing, and popping the v740 modem into the Fuji for constant connectivity.  This setup works perfectly for me as it keeps me online and connected while sitting at my desk, ready to unplug and head out to any meetings I may need to attend. 

All started as predicted and I quickly got set up and ready for work and all was good.  It didn't stay that way for long though, and that's when my troubles began. 

Mogo Mouse is the No-Go Mouse for me

The Mogo Mouse I told you about arrived this afternoon and after a 1 hour charging session I gave it a whirl, something I should have done before fully charging it.  It seems the unit I received is defective as the left mouse button only works intermittently.  The right button works as expected and even makes a very soft clicking noise but the left button doesn't work well at all. After working with it for ten minutes to see if I could loosen the left button up to work properly the kickstand that props the mouse up for use starting collapsing every time I went to use it.  The entire device feels very shoddily put together so it is going back where it came from.  This really surprised me after trying the HP-branded one in the coffee shop the other day so I probably just got a bad one.  Not wanting to repeat this experience tonight I ordered an HP version of the mouse like the one I tried so here's hoping this one will work as expected.  I have to say the form factor is very cool and putting the mouse into the PC Card slot for charging is very handy as it sits flush with the side of the Fuji.  The HP-branded mouse was only $30 at Amazon so it's worth my time to give a new one a try.  I'm not saying that all Mogo Mice will be made like the one I received but it does give me pause given everything that was wrong with it.

RIM files patent for sliding QWERTY keyboard

You may have thought you'd seen phones with slide-out QWERTY keyboards before but RIM is saying it ain't so.  Their recent filing “Hybrid Portrait-Landscape Handheld Device With Trackball Navigation and Qwerty Hideaway Keyboard” says once you put a trackball on that device it's a whole new beast.  Your tax dollars at work.

(via Blackberry Cool)

Need a 4-port USB hub when you're OnTheRun?

After seeing this hub on Gizmodo, we realized that our manufacturer really goofed. I'm not sure what happened because they got most of our order right: OnTheRun logo man, check. Two USB and two mini-USB ports, check. Weight of only 71-grams, check. Low price of $12, check. Orange colored to match our logo, ch-..... uh... oh crap. Maybe the second batch will come out right!

(via Sumocat's Scribbles)

Fujitsu to JK- honest the P1620 will ship to you, some day

I just spent another 20 minutes on the phone with Fujitsu to try and determine if they even know where my P1620 is.  The answer in a nutshell- they think they know.  They think it's still in Japan in the factory and they are being told it will ship on the 29th of February.  To catch up with the story this is the original ship date I was quoted back on Feb. 6th when I ordered the P1620 along with an extra A/C adapter.  The adapter shipped on the 19th and delivered to me two days later.

The confusion started at that point because online it showed that the P1620 shipped at the same time but of course was never delivered.  Because of the confusion I have called Fujitsu every day since then and each time talked with a different very nice representative who expressed their own confusion.  I have been told three different ship dates which have all passed with no shipment leaving Japan.  The representative today called Japan to get the real story, not the one about the leap year giving their system fits, and here's the latest story from Fujitsu Japan.

The computer is still showing that it will ship on Feb. 29th, this Friday, meaning I won't have it until next week, fully two weeks after they originally showed they had shipped it.  You have to understand that after posting an estimated ship date of Feb. 29th I was notified by email that the estimated ship date was moved up to Feb. 19th, the date that the adapter actually shipped.  Japan is now saying the ship date is back to the 29th as it was originally.  Confused yet?  I sure am.  The rep today, Reyna, says that she is sure the P1620 will ship before the 29th, maybe even tomorrow, and she will personally call me to tell me when it ships.  I asked her why I should believe that since I've gotten conflicting and inaccurate information every single time I've spoken with someone.  She understood but still is sure it will ship prior to the 29th even though that is what Japan has told her.  Some day I'll get it, honest.

Yes I am a gadgetaholic

My name is James and I am a gadgetaholic.  There I feel better having said that but I doubt there is anyone who would doubt this for a moment.  How big of a gadgetaholic? Here is a list of gadgets I have used over just the past few years, at least the ones I can remember:

• HP 100LX
• Sharp Wizard
• Franklin REX
• HP Jornada 820
• Sharp Zaurus SL-C3000
• Casio E-125 Pocket PC
• Palm xv5 w/ OmniSky cellular modem (first anywhere)
• Toshiba e-805 (first VGA Pocket PC)
• Sony u71
• Sony u750
• HP tc1100
• Fujitsu P1610
• Lenovo x61t
• HP tx1000
• HP 2710p
• MacBook Pro 17"
• OQO Model 01+
• iPod Touch
• Sprint Mogul
• HTC xv6700
• HTC Advantage
• Nokia n800
• Nokia n70
• Nokia N93
• Nokia N95-1
• Nokia N81
• Samsung Q1 SSD (first device with SSD)
• Amazon Kindle
• Zune
• BlackBerry 8830

And my all-time favorite for innovation with the slide-out mouse- the HP Omnibook.  I can't find any information about this online but it was one of the first Windows-based ultra-portables.  See the mouse in the photo.

The cost of health technology

This post is totally off-topic and is purely an opportunity to vent a little bit  I am a Type 2 diabetic and I control my glucose level with a combination of oral medication and insulin that I inject 3 times daily.  I use a FreeStyle glucose monitor 3 - 5 times a day to keep an eye on my glucose level so I know when and how much to inject of the insulin.  I have only had this FreeStyle monitor for a month and I am very pleased with how well it works.  You just pop the little test strip into the bottom of the monitor and touch it to a tiny dot of blood and in about 10 seconds the monitor spits out your blood glucose level.  It's painless and easy.  The test strips can only be used once so a supply of 100 strips lasts me about a month.

Yesterday I went into my pharmacy as my first 100 test strips had almost all been used and I needed to get some more.  The look on my face must have been priceless as the cashier rang up my test strips as she asked me if everything was all right.  You see, these 100 test strips rang up at $102 which shocked me.  I mean I was totally unprepared for these little things costing so darn much.  That's over a dollar each and while I am sure the technology is sophisticated and all that this high cost still just floors me.  You have to realize that diabetics have to use these things multiple times a day for their entire life so this cost is staggering when you look at it that way.   Oh I paid my $102 and took my test strips home and I'll continue to do so but it doesn't make the expense any more tolerable.

Spam of the day: from the "other" IRS

I'm still looking into my Gmail issue and scanned through the Spam folder when I caught the above note from the "Iternal" Revenue Service, which of course is better than the "Eternal" Revenue Service. Maybe this is a measure to save government funds? You know, use less bandwidth by skipping letters or something? And why is that my important mail isn't getting through timely, but the Spam is still piling up? Go figure. ;)

The death of the Silverthorne-based MID is highly exaggerated

I'm almost at a loss for words, which for a daily writer is a rarity. I was reading a most informative article about Intel's Silverthorne CPU over at Ars Technica and things were going along swimmingly. I learned more about the chip architecture, the fact that it's 64-bit, and it will have a new low-power sleep state called C6. All good stuff. And then I got to the end, which is apparently a conclusion based on hands-on time with some prototype MIDs using the Silverthorne chip:

"Ultimately, Silverthorne could be compelling for the Asus Eee PC form factor, and at 2GHz there's an outside possibility that it might find a home in a MacBook Air that's relatively underpowered, but has great battery life. But the MID form factor, at least in its Silverthorne combination, is dead on arrival. So Silverthorne is just the start of something, and to ARM, MIPS, and the other established chipmakers who currently own the embedded space, it's Intel's way of saying "game on." (emphasis mine)

So that's it then? The promise of Menlow devices was all a pipe dream? Perhaps these lower powered chips won't well handle a size-XXL operating system like Microsoft Windows Vista (or maybe they will), but to summarily dismiss them based on a prototype is just senseless to me. The main reason I haven't replaced my Samsung Q1P UMPC is because I haven't seen any truly compelling devices that can replace it for my needs and requirements. I thought that a Menlow device, especially one running a "lighter" OS could change that, but if Ars is to be believed, I've apparently wasted my time waiting for nothing. Somehow, I think not. Agree, disagree or (more likely) too soon to tell?

iGo discontinues Stowaway keyboard

Kevin and I both have been using the venerable iGo Stowaway Bluetooth keyboard for years due to its full-sized keys provided in a folding form that will fit in a shirt pocket.  We haven't found a better performing keyboard for the mobile set so it is extremely disappointing to hear that iGo is discontinuing the Stowaway and dropping it from its product line.  According to iGo they want to focus on their main product line, the iGo power adapters so they will drop the keyboard like a hot potato.  If you have been considering a mobile keyboard without compromises you'd better act fast to find one (affiliate link) before inventories begin drying up.

(Pocket PC Magazine via GottaBeMobile)

Office 2008 for Mac finally installed- Microsoft blew it

Yesterday I got my MacBook Pro back from having a new hard drive installed and last night I spent my time getting the system back up to speed.  Of course the hard drive had none of my stuff on it but Apple went ahead and installed Leopard on it since my old drive was running Leopard.  The first time I booted it and ran through the setup process it gave me an option to restore my system from a Time Machine backup so that is what I did.  In 38 minutes it had restored 51 GB of my data and applications and my system rebooted.  It came up just like it was before the old drive went dead and the process was painless.  Well done, Apple.

There was a system update while my MBP was in the shop so it installed when the system rebooted and when that was complete I decided to plug in my iPod Touch to get it synced back to the MBP.  I had synced it to the HP running Vista when the MBP was having problems and I wanted to get it syncing back to the Mac where I wanted it to.  I plugged it in and of course iTunes goes through the "do you want to sync with this computer" routine but the cool thing is it popped up a dialog box that said there was purchased music on the iPod that was not in the Mac's iTunes library.  It gave me an option to transfer it from the iPod to the Mac which was cool.  Apparently there must have been a song or two purchased on the HP that never made it to the Mac so the iPod actually became the conduit between the two.  Good to know.

Once I was comfortable that the system was stable and working just like it should I decided to install the Office 2008 upgrade that I have been sitting on for a week.  I have been anxious to get my hands on the new version and see how it works so it was now time to give it a whirl.  The upgrade process took 10 minutes after which it offered to blow away the old version so I said OK to that and let it do it.  I fired up Word first to see how it looked and definitely like the ribbon interface on the new version.  I then spent some time with Excel and PowerPoint too.  The ribbon interface is much better than the old one but will take some time to get used to, just like it did in Windows.

I saved my most used program of the suite for last, Entourage.  I had been hoping for some big improvements to Entourage to make it more Outlook-like.  Some people don't like Outlook but I do so the more Entourage works like it the better for me.  I am disappointed that not much has changed on the surface.  It is different for sure but the interface is very much the same as in the older version.  There are some new icons and the ribbon is a bit better but it's superficial.  The new My Day applet is OK and could be useful.

The main thing I was hoping Microsoft had fixed in the new version of Entourage is the ability to sync Tasks and Notes with Exchange Server.  No, no, no, no!  The new version doesn't either.  What is up with this?  Both Entourage and Exchange Server are both Microsoft products.  Why won't Entourage reflect my tasks and notes that are on the server?  How useless is a PIM that won't track tasks?  Very useless, once again.  You blew it, Microsoft.

My VZW data plan is unlimited again, right?

I'd like to think that my BroadbandAccess (EV-DO) data plan with Verizon Wireless is unlimited again, but I know it isn't. How do I know that? I know it because I follow the mobile technology industry and as much I'd hope everyone found it as fascinating as I did, the reality is that most consumers really don't care about it as much as I do. Don't worry, I forgive them. ;)

Those who do follow it know that VZW was advertising "unlimited" data plans and then put some carefully worded soft-caps (at 5 GB a month) in their Terms of Service. Gone are the mentions of unlimited data in marketing materials due to the policy buried in the TOS. Yes, I fully believe that a TOS should be respected, but the fact is, not everyone reads them. People do read their bills though... well, probably not word for word, but the bill has a much higher and recurring focus than a TOS. That's why I was surprised to see an "unlimited monthly kilobyte" allowance printed prominently at the top left of my billing details.

Unless this means that I truly do have an unlimited amount of monthly bandwidth on my plan, I'm asking that someone at VZW look into this further. If the plan is limited by the TOS, consumers shouldn't see the misleading phrase "unlimited monthly kilobyte" printed anywhere on the bill. If I'm wrong and the soft-cap has been lifted, then the phrase should stay. It's really that simple to be transparent and truthful... isn't it?

CES exhibitor "things to not do next year" suggestions

Having spent this week dealing with the hustle and bustle that is the CES I have constructed a short "don't do" list for exhibitors who wish to make good impressions on visitors:

1. Don't do one on one briefings by rote.  Be adaptive when talking to just one person who has specific questions.
2. Make your booth easily accessible.  Don't create narrow paths that can't be navigated when the crowd is large.  This is the CES, the crowd WILL be large.
3. Don't put your wares under weird lighting.  If you must have your goods secured under a closed display do not put weird lighting that makes taking good photos impossible (that means you, Intel).
4. Don't put a bunch of your new cool product in partner's booths and then not put one in your own (that's for Aigo).
5. Do not invite us to private briefings, send a car to take us off-site, and then make us sign an NDA that means we can't talk about what is covered for THREE MONTHS (yes Palm, you know who I am talking about).

Is the EV-DO all used up in Las Vegas?

Well, this is about the worst thing that can happen to a mobile professional. Looks like Verizon Wireless needs to add somes new cell towers to Las Vegas... at least during CES week. I'm posting this from the Press Room of the Sands using their WiFi. Uh-oh... this is making a long, bad day even worse.

James and I are heading over to Ceasar's Palace in a few for the Digital Experience show in a few. And I need a bite to eat...

I made it! To Kansas City, that is...

So much for my direct flight to Las Vegas and CES. I'm sitting on a Boeing 757 and although I can't see the "speedometer", it's a safe bet we're traveling at zero miles per hour. Yup, we're sitting at the gate in... wait for it... Kansas City! I'll be adding this location to my personalized "Been there and tested EV-DO" map.

Turns out that some bad wind conditions in Las Vegas this morning grounded bunches of planes so there's quite a backup going on there. We left Philadelphia on time but the airline is concerned about our fuel level in the case of having to circle Vegas, so we turned down Pit Road here in KC. This isn't a 12.7 second pit stop just to top off the tank either; no word on how long we'll be here but I'm hoping under an hour. If it is, there's an off-chance I'll make the Keynote where Bill Gates is speaking. If not, well... maybe I'll actually get some work done!

Speaking of work, CES isn't just about walking the floor. There are tons of press releases and announcements of things you'd miss if you just kept wandering the show. That means ample RSS reading continues and I'm really coming to appreciate using Google Reader and my iPhone. The combination allows near-instant access to scan feeds and mark them for later review in practically any situation. The added benefit is that I don't have to pull out the Samsung Q1P or the Asus Eee PC and "waste" their battery just for quick info consumption. The iPhone battery paired with EDGE acceess makes for a tremendously effective RSS reader using Google. OK, gotta run... we're taking up a collection for the gas bill.

Phone "hides" your location with fake background noise

C'mon, you can admit it. You've spoken to someone on your cell phone and slightly fibbed about where you were. It's OK, we're all friends here. [Of course, if you've done this to me personally, I'm promptly removing you from my Facebook friends list.]

So... did you ever get caught? Would it have helped to have some background noise to support your untruth? Gigabyte seems to think so since they put a "Wise Talk" feature in the Gsmart i350 Windows Mobile handset. Take your pick from "airport", "concert", or "meeting room" locations for the lie of your choice. Just make sure you use the right location of course. It wouldn't do at all for you to blow someone off while you're "at a concert" and the background noise sounds like a jet on the tarmac. I guess you could try the ol' "No dear, it's the Jefferson Airplane reunion tour" line, but who would believe that?

(via Windows for Devices)

Another Vista failure

Well here we are at the end of the year and my work set up in my home office has been honed to work like a fine machine.  The way I work in my office is I have the MacBook Pro on the desk to the left.  It is hooked up to an external monitor for two screen goodness and everything works flawlessly.  On the desk to the right (in an L shape) is the HP 2710p sitting in its expansion bay, screen open to allow me to switch back and forth between the Mac and the HP as needed.  This system has worked flawlessly for me until three days ago.

Wired's top ten heartbreaking gadgets- say what?

It's the end of the year and there is no shortage of Top Ten lists all over the web.  You certainly don't have to look very hard to find them on all the major tech web sites.  Wired Magazine has published an interesting list of the Top 10 Heartbreaking Gadgets of 2007.  This list looks at some gadgets, sometimes the technology behind them instead of a gadget itself, and lists the most disappointing ones, at least to the authors.  Some of the gadgets they list would certainly make any disappointing gadgets list such as the Palm Foleo, a device aimed at crea