Posted By RichC on May 21, 2009
I’m taking advantage of the ‘hopefully’ short window between my son’s return from college and summer employment. I’ve put him to work edging a few landscape mounds and spreading our mulch. Hmm … what else needs to be done?
😀
Oh … and although he doesn’t read this … Happy Birthday to my brother Ron.
Posted By RichC on May 20, 2009
Now that we all know that the Palm Pre will be available for consumers on June 6th, where is the best place to buy it?
One would think that heading to the Pre’s exclusive carrier Sprint, but you might be wrong. According to an Engadget post, Best Buy intends to sell the long awaited smartphone for the $199 promoted price without making buyers pay $299 requiring mail in rebate forms and waiting who knows how long to receive the $100 check.
Posted By RichC on May 20, 2009
It is long past due that I mention that a friend’s second coffee shop location for Coffee Beans & Brew in Monroe, Ohio location is open for business. Steve’s first CBB is on Yankee Road near the Cincinnati-Dayton Road intersection in Liberty Township has been one of my favorite coffee houses and I’ve been anxious to see the new location since I’ve been looking at the drawings and discussing the plans with him for over a year.
I’m sure most of the flavored coffees and fancy cappuccinos are fine, but I enjoy regular coffee or the full flavored Kauai coffee beans to brew at home. The local favorite seems to be Buckeye Brew which I mix with Swiss Water Decaf about half and half so I can have a second 16 oz cup … although find that the homemade milkshakes and fruit smoothies hard to resist in the summer. The atmosphere is warm and inviting and is a great place to meet friends and clients, but perhaps the most appealing feature at the moment is that neither location is terribly crowded. It does make it a convenient and quite place to connect to WiFi or just finish up morning or end of the day paperwork. Both locations are spotless and have friendly staff; for those who prefer a drive thru, the Monroe location has one and is only a short mile to I-75. Stop by and say hello to Steve … or look around for me.
Posted By RichC on May 19, 2009
I don’t want to sound like an advertisement for Capital One, but from my minimal research, there is a clear difference in plastic for those traveling overseas — or more appropriately, those needing to make purchases while traveling overseas.
Since I’ll be in Europe this summer and noticed a recent article in the Wall Street Journal about credit card companies charging added fees for overseas travel, I called all of my existing credit cards to see if this was true. Visa, Mastercard and Discover cards were indeed charging from 2 – 3% foreign exchange rates fees for overseas purchases (purchases in Euros, etc). I even asked Advanta, Chase, Bank of America, Discovercard, Citibank and our local Fifth Third bank if they offered a credit card designed for travelers that did not incur this 2 – 3% fee … none did or at least the customer service reps didn’t know of them.
My next call was to Capital One and within 15 minutes I was approved for a equal if not better Capital One Platinum card that pays a cash back bonus of 2% on gas and groceries and 1% on other purchases, a 0% rate till May 2010 on balances and a transfer offer for existing balances. Since I had just paid for a travel reservation with my Citibank card I opted to transfer this to the new card giving me a 3 week loan of $10,000 (I intended to pay the balance off the first of June but will now stretch it until later in June). The big selling point is that while using the Capital One card overseas I will not be charge the 3% fee on each of my foreign transactions and unless I missed something … there is currently a clear difference in credit cards for overseas travelers. I hope this holds through summer. (EDIT: also here’s a follow up WSJ blog post)
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Posted By RichC on May 18, 2009
I’ve been lax in posting a follow up to my new to me tech gadget since I really haven’t had the chance to use it much until last week, nevertheless, here is my take on the D-Link DPU-50U. I’ve been using the Skype to phones USB device lightly for a few weeks now and will give a brief update on how it works and how I like it.
The interface connects to the USB port of an existing Windows computer and permits the use of an existing home phone to both receive and send calls over the Internet — Skype service. I’ve installed my $18.99 purchase from Buy.com (minus a $10.00 rebate) on an aging P3 Windows 2000 computer that serves as my print and fax server. A few years ago I did use it for Skype so that my Mac and Windows notebook computer would be free from cords and conference call duties, but recently haven’t liked being tethered to my PC by wired headset (a requirement for Skype conference call for the sanity of fellow listeners).
The installation was quick and easy utilizing a mini-cd and a resident taskbar program that interfaces the USB device with Skype. The DPU-50U required 110VAC power and plugs in between your phone and the wall phone jack. In my installation I’ve plugged the base station for my Motorola 5.8 GHz wireless phones (photo above) of which I have three extensions throughout the house.
After running the install, I rebooted my computer and accessed the software through the taskbar icon. The three tabs — General, Call Forwarding and Call Recorder — are used to change the default keystrokes that use the phone to control Skype calls and other feature such as turning the recording features on or off.
Receiving calls is simple as the phone rings normally and the Call ID feature (if available) shows the Skype callers ID on the phone display. Upon answering the call was as clear on my broadband connected Skype service as a phone call, although I did detect the slight delay that occasionally is noticed using some VOIP connections.
Calling out using the DPH-50U is a bit more challenging as the speeddial numbers need to be program on your contact list of Skype callers. Once saved, I used the default ## to switch from a normal phone system dial tone to the Skype dial tone. Then entered the speed dial number followed by the * key to complete the call over Skype. The ring works the same as if you were calling using a computer BUT there isn’t a way barring looking at your computer screen to know if your contact is available or not to receive calls. One hint is to be sure to “end” or hang up the call when finished.
All in all it worked very well for me when connecting to Skype conference calls. I was able to use the wireless Motorola phones with a 2.5 mm headset while muting my microphone and move freely away from my computer. The advanage of always on and a ringing phone on my belt made waiting for a Skype call easy and by forwarding my ‘work’ Skype to my home Skype account (DPH-50U) I was able to take all calls at home.
The only problem I had in using the device was while trying to use a lessor quality DSL connection at a hotel while calling home. (kept dropping the calls) I suspect this was the hotel side connection but it was annoying for my wife using the Skype phone. As for savings, this device is perfect for people talking overseas regularly using Skype. The call cost being zero would make this an excellent $8.99 purchase (after the $10 rebate). With the all inclusive Long Distance available in the U.S. nowadays, I’m not sure it all that critical … unless Skype is used regularly for conference calling. (also … no video with this device)
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Posted By RichC on May 17, 2009
My Experimental Aircraft Association Chapter (EAA284) met at a new shop of one of our members today for our May meeting. We had a chance to both work on projects for our chapters ‘rentable kitchen’ and to learn a bit about welding. We enjoyed a beautiful day in Waynesville, Ohio while discussing the summer flying season (and events) in Dick Elliot’s new outbuilding. He has equipment that would be the envy of most experimental airplane builders and the skills to go along with them (lacking for yours truly).
The goal of today’s meeting was to replace the wood rolling griddle stands with sturdier one made from welded steel. Unfortunately I departed early so I’m unsure just how much was accomplished, but would like to than Dick for all the preparation and hospitality. Thanks.
Posted By RichC on May 17, 2009
Interestingly those people who knew and were aware of the conditions that lead to the economic meltdown still fell prey to being swallowed by wanting more than they could afford. In a brutally honest New York Times article, Edmund Andrews shares his story.
If there was anybody who should have avoided the mortgage catastrophe, it was I. As an economics reporter for The New York Times, I have been the paper’s chief eyes and ears on the Federal Reserve for the past six years. I watched Alan Greenspan and his successor, Ben S. Bernanke, at close range. I wrote several early-warning articles in 2004 about the spike in go-go mortgages. Before that, I had a hand in covering the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the Russia meltdown in 1998 and the dot-com collapse in 2000. I know a lot about the curveballs that the economy can throw at us.
But in 2004, I joined millions of otherwise-sane Americans in what we now know was a catastrophic binge on overpriced real estate and reckless mortgages. Nobody duped or hypnotized me. Like so many others — borrowers, lenders and the Wall Street dealmakers behind them — I just thought I could beat the odds. We all had our reasons. The brokers and dealmakers were scoring huge commissions. Ordinary homebuyers were stretching to get into first houses, or bigger houses, or better neighborhoods. Some were greedy, some were desperate and some were deceived.
Mr. Andrews starts a new family with a second wife, he buys too much house and stretched his budget in an attempt to cover alimony. He gets a no-doc mortgage, maxes out his credit cards and is eventually unable to make ends meet.
Unfortunately the only option that Mr. Andrews sees, is his new found buddy Bob, the mortgage broker. He pins his hope that “Bob” can help him out of his money problems by consolidating his debt into a new, even bigger adjustable rate mortgage that could potentially hit rates of 11.5%:
I felt foolish, ashamed and angry as I confessed to Bob [mortgage broker]. Why had I been trying to live a lifestyle that I couldn’t afford? Why had I tried to keep up the image of a conventional suburban family man, when nothing about my situation was conventional? How could I have glossed over the fact that we had been spending about $3,000 more than we were earning, month after month after month?How could a person who wrote about economics for a living fall into the kind of credit-card trap that consumer groups had warned about for years?
…
The paperwork was so confusing that I was never exactly sure who was paying what. I hazily understood that I was paying most of the fees, one way or another, but I couldn’t figure out how, and I couldn’t see any better alternatives. After it was all over, I figured we had paid about $5,800 in fees to Bob’s mortgage company and the settlement company, on top of the sales commission that came out in higher interest rates every month.
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Posted By RichC on May 17, 2009
So you want to understand Twitter? Here’s an excellent interview.
VIDEO REMOVED
An Internet friend of mine was on a panel of new media experts earlier this month with The Agenda with Steve Paiken. Mathew Ingram from The Globe & Mail, Jay Rosen from NYU journalism professor, David Cohn Spot.us founder, and The Twitter Book co-author Sarah Milstein were interviewed along with Amber MacArthur.
Posted By RichC on May 16, 2009
Enter now for your chance to win a Palm Pre from Sprint. The newest Palm smartphone could change the iPhone dominated playing field if the product operates as expected … but the hurdle is set pretty high. Nevertheless, by entering your email address (stick with your junk mail address) and phone number before May 18th and you may be one of two winners to win in a Sprint drawing on May 26th. The fine print claims that the two winners will receive the package valued at $1800, which includes the Touchstone wireless charging station and full year of Sprint’s Simply Everything plan which values at $99/month.
By the way … I’ve entered … but only once.
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Posted By RichC on May 15, 2009
Note to self — don’t get excited just yet as the Palm Pre is NOT in the Sprint inventory. But seeing it being unboxed doesn’t help the anticipation factor.