My Desultory Blog

Posted By RichC on June 12, 2007

Although the Palm OS Slingplayer on my Treo 700p has been near flawless, SlingMedia has dutifully fixed a couple things and offered users a new 30 day free trial called SlingPlayer Mobile for Palm OS BETA2. (available as of last night) I installed it directly to my PDA over the Sprint network on the Treo’s included Internet browser (Blazer); it took about 15 seconds to download and another 45 seconds to install and start. This is a great product for the Treo and impressive beta to boot. I’ve posted previously on this product.

Category: Cellphone, Software | No Comments »
Tags: beta, palmos, palmtreo, sling, slingbox, slingplayer

Posted By RichC on June 11, 2007

In 2008 all new vehicle sold in the U.S. will get updated, but familiar, labels on their windows. The method finalized in December of 2006 updates testing procedures and is long overdue. For those comparing 2007 and 2008 models the changes will cause a bit of confusion since for many vehicles the window numbers will be lower reflecting more accurate estimates. The EPA offers information on this change and a site listing all vehicles will be available at FuelEconomy.gov. The television news magazine Motorweek has a short segment on this change. (see video below)

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Posted By RichC on June 10, 2007

Well that actual word to finish this lyric is “beautiful,” but I either ran out of room or didn’t want to offend anyone. Nevertheless it was too nice to be pecking at the computer and instead I spent the weekend outside. I did a little (in the ‘full meaning of the word’) work in the yard yesterday and also cleaned the front porch. I realized just how much maintenance I will need to do after I finally got the dirty off the furniture, rail, brick, front door and cement. It’s going to need more than some patching and paint … yikes. (I also removed the second bird’s nest of the season)
My son also arrived back home today from a week with his “Young Life” friends at Saranac Village and Lake. Christian camps have sure changed from my day … I don’t think he could have had a better time? It is great to hear the impact being made on ‘young lives’ by the efforts of all in involved in offering answers to our youth and sharing the relevance of Jesus Christ in modern life. I couldn’t be more impressed with the organization and encouragement they offer to my son; what a fun but impactful time. BTW … Happy Birthday Taylor.
🙂

“The Weather Is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful”
— Jimmy Buffett
He worked hard all year just wanted a few weeks alone
But his old lady’s into modeling,
She can’t stay away from the phone
Besides she bitches about the mosquitoes
She says “Down there there is nothing to do”
Her goddamn phone never stops ringing
He’ll try the service in a day maybe two

Well, he’s on his third drink before the
wheels of the plane leave the ground
Making points with the stewardess
climbing over Long Island Sound
She’s also spending some time on the island
Too much city madness gives her the blues
They make a date to go dancing and dining
Seems neither has that much to lose

The weather is here I wish you were beautiful
My thoughts aren’t too clear but don’t run away
My girlfriend’s a bore, my job is too dutiful
Hell, nobody’s perfect would you like to play
I feel together today

Well now that was just the start of
a well-deserved over due binge
Meanwhile back in the city certain
people are starting to cringe
His lawyers are calling his parents
His girlfriend doesn’t know what to think
His partners are studying their options
He’s just singing and ordering drinks

The weather is here I wish you were beautiful
The skies are too clear life’s easy today
The beer is too cold, the daiquiri’s too fruitful
There’s no place like home when it’s this far away
I don’t care what they say

He’s going back to New York pack it up
and let everyone know
It was something that he should have done
such a long time ago
Still time to start a new life in the palm trees
Billy Clyde wasn’t insane
And it doesn’t work out there’ll never be any doubt
That the pleasure was worth all the pain

The weather is here I wish you were beautiful
The skies are too clear, life is easy today
The beer is too cold, the daiquiri’s too fruitful
There’s no place like home when it’s this far away
I need time for to play
Time for to play

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Posted By RichC on June 9, 2007

For those of you dealing with email spam, you know what a challenge it is to keep it under control. Thankfully there are many excellent ‘add ons’ to email clients or web based email services to help keep this under control. (ie. Google’s web-based GMAIL does a pretty good job) If you have a blog, the problem of ‘spam comments’ is no less of an issue. I’m currently using a WordPress plug-in (installed in October of 2006) that has relieved me of a significant chore; I only hope Akismet hasn’t flagged many legitimate comments as spam? (I never look at what it catches) Nevertheless it interesting to see the ‘counter’ climb.

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Posted By RichC on June 8, 2007

Launch time for NASA’s Space Shuttle ‘Atlantis’ STS-117 is scheduled for 7:38 p.m. EDT tonight (Friday). I’m taking a few minutes while closing out my day to listen to NASA live on the web and am amazed at what one can learn by listening to the conversations and commentary.
At 4:20 this afternoon the astronauts left the crew quarters after putting on their suits and headed toward Launch Pad 39A and their Shuttle. Mission STS-117 is the 21st to the International Space Station. Rick Sturckow will command the mission and Lee Archambault will serve as Atlantis’ pilot. Mission Specialists Patrick Forrester, James Reilly, Steven Swanson, John Olivas and Flight Engineer Clayton Anderson round out the crew to deliver the S3/S4 starboard truss segments, batteries and another pair of solar arrays to the space station. Anderson will replace Expedition 15 Flight Engineer Sunita Williams on station and Williams will return to Earth aboard Atlantis.

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Tags: nasa, shuttle, space

Posted By RichC on June 7, 2007

First … “Happy Birthday Nora” … a regular reader of my daily ramblings … and wonderful friend to my daughter. (perhaps I’m a day late, but wrote it late on June 7th.)

Second, the Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2007 that Nora is participating in as part of her engineering project at Santa Clara University is nearing … 3 month and 7 days according to the website; how’s the house coming along? (read earlier post here)

Third, I’m tired from an out of town trip, brain dead for reasons unknown and am staring at my computer’s wallpaper; the sailboat “Timeless” … which is a privately owned Freedom 35 that my wife and I decided was ‘our boat’ back in the mid-1990’s … and still is today. We regularly made a family pilgrimage to Annapolis every October to attended the best Sail Boat show in the nation, and each year came to the same conclusion — if we couldn’t afford a custom built sailboat, we wanted a Freedom 35. As the years passed, it has been move from ‘dream’ status to semi-realistic ‘goal’ status. I only hope it comes before I’m too old to enjoy it?

Click for a larger view

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Posted By RichC on June 6, 2007

It’s been an interesting 36 hours after a year of waiting for the Palm Treo 700p Version 1.10-SPNT maintenance release. The MR was announced by Palm earlier this year and followed on the heals of the 700p’s successor, the Treo 755p … but due to installation issues has been temporarily suspended. Thankfully update went fine on my Palm Treo 700p.
I downloaded the maintenance release from Palm (when it was still available) and proceeded to follow the Vista OS to Treo 700p procedure. After downloading the ZIP file (I’ve archived it here — right-click/save-as), I formated a fresh SD card and copied the entire PALM directory to the card. Some have suggested that having a ‘stock’ programmed Treo is helpful? … I didn’t. Who knows which programs can cause a problem, as some people are reporting there Treo going into a reset loop. Also, be sure you have 35 – 50 minutes for the update and that the Treo is in it cradle with power and USB to your computer.

Once you insert the SD card into the Treo 700p, all is on autopilot. Just watch and let it go through the series of screens along with multiple resets. The 9 step instructions have been removed from the Palm site while they work on problems. Fortunately for me, the software updated everything automatically as I watch the progress. Be patient … it take a while.

The final step is to resync all your data back to the phone. Be prepared to lose some registration codes if you have purchased software. Several system related setting as well as my SlingPlayer channels and icons all disappeared. I’m still not back to where I like it, but it give me a chance to reset a few things.

First day of Testing:
Today was my first day on the road traveling after the MR. I’m somewhat disappointed as a few items weren’t really fixed as I had thought. First, the ‘bluetooth’ fix is definitely better than before because a loss of BT headset connection no longer requires a reset. Unfortunately, the connection between my Jawbone earpiece and the Palm frequently drops, but it does find itself again. Example … I was driving for about 4 hours today and watched (and listened — 3 tones in my Jawbone BT earpiece) as the reconnection happen again and again. I lost count because it disconnected and reconnected so many times. Eventually I pulled the earpiece out as the tones were driving me crazy. While hanging in place on the “hook” I watched the screen come on, the bluetooth icon flicker solid blue, then clear and reconnect. No doubt the tones were continuing in the earpiece. Screen would go off after the appropriate number of seconds and then do it all over again in a couple minutes. I’m not sure about battery drain, but it sure bugged me to hear the tones over and over as the device was found again and again. Yes its and improvement, but …
Someone asked if there was a sound improvement? I asked a couple people how I sounded on the phone while driving and they said that they knew I was on a cellphone but that the voice was clear … “maybe a little tinny.” I posted another “after the MR” test in the right sidebar for those interested in listening, but I can’t brag enough about the Jawbone Bluetooth headset. (I should get a commission!)
😀

Application Switching: I didn’t notice any improvement in application switching times and in fact noticed that with Versamail 3.5.4 (email client on the Palm OS) the delay between emails and scrolling is worse? It might be something else besides the maintenance release causing the slow response — its pretty bad. (almost unusable)

I also had one crash and automatic reset today; I chose not to hang up from a phone call (press end or touch BT headset button) but instead let the other person hang up and allow the phone disconnect by itself. About 10 seconds after the other phone hung up, the Treo 700p rebooted itself. There are still improvements to be made.

On a positive note, not that it has anything to do with the MR, I had the fastest Sprint Rev A USB tethered Internet speeds on my drive to Northeast Ohio today. See the Internet Frog Speed test below below.

Stay tuned … Palm has some serious work to do, let hope they are working on a MR2?

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Posted By RichC on June 5, 2007

I enjoy the “JibJab” animated humor, and have since the political video clips a few years ago. I’ve been critical of current ‘news’ programming (although still watch them) detailing the every move of celebrities … dead and alive … I thought this one was apropos. Enjoy.

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Posted By RichC on June 4, 2007

As Terry Pluto for the Akron Beacon puts it, “The NBA has a new king!” LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers is the new face of the NBA, according to Reggie Miller of the Indiana Pacers. The Cavaliers beat the Detroit Pistons in game six on Saturday night to head into the NBA Finals to move on as Eastern Conference champions. It could not have been done without 22 year old superstar LeBron James, who commented that the fans in Cleveland deserved this trophy. Its been a long time. (click for larger photo)

But as Pluto goes on to say … It’s not just about LeBron. It really is about winning. Yes, in Game 5 at the Palace of Auburn Hills, it was nearly All-LeBron, all the time as he scored the Cavs’ final 25 points, and 29-of-30. But the real LeBron was in Game 6, when he told rookie Daniel Gibson: “Detroit is going to double-team me, triple-team before I cross halfcourt. So get that gun and get it locked and loaded, and just shoot it. Don’t second-guess yourself.” That’s the kind of blessing a veteran Michael Jordan gave to guards such as John Paxson and Steve Kerr in big playoff games. Here’s a 22-year-old James telling it to a 21-year-old rookie, who averaged only 4.5 points this season. And there was Gibson, torching the Pistons for 31 points — on only nine field goal field-goal attempts.

You might never see a box-score line quite like that again: 7-of-9 from the field, 5-of-5 on 3-pointers, 12-of-15 at the foul line. The little 6-foot-1 guard even had six rebounds. You look at James’ shooting and see 3-of-11 from the field, which doesn’t appear to be much of game. While James was in his Michael Jordan mode in Game 5 (48 points) at Detroit, he flipped the Magic Johnson switch for Game 6. He empowered his teammates, passing off for eight assists. He went inside for 14 rebounds and drove to the basket, continually drawing fouls and making 14-of-19 free throws and scoring 20 points. He didn’t make a field goal until four minutes into the third quarter. Didn’t matter, he was leading his team without shooting.

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Posted By RichC on June 3, 2007

Storms moved through our area on Sunday afternoon bringing more than an inch of rain and knocking out power. The lightning was significant around our house and according to the local news sent firefighters to three location in Butler county. After a couple close calls we heard the firetrucks behind our property and realized that a neighborhood next to our had a house on fire. The newer home at 8212 Cora Bells Court had been hit; thankfully the residents were able to escape when the fire started in the attic. My son took a few photo on his cell phone which showed flames leaping from the roof and upper windows and talked to the neighbors who complained that it took way too long for firetrucks to show up? The photo above was taken later on Sunday evening.

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