Bluetooth Headsets
Posted by mjpete on May 13, 2010
I’ve been wanting to get a blue tooth stereo headset to complement the Droid. I really like the sound quality the Droid has, but hated the dangling wires that came with the ear buds. Wired headsets were worse, because they would slide off my head when I was in a middle of an activity.
Last month for my birthday the kids bought me the Motorola S9 headsets. I have to say it was a great birthday present. They work great, they sound great and they are very light weight. There are three buttons on each side of the headphones to control music play, volume and to answer incoming calls.
When I go jogging, biking or hiking, the head set stays firmly in place. Ever try jogging with ear buds? Forget it, they were constantly falling out. These headphones stay in place. If your looking for a new toy to add to your Droid, this headset is definitely worth the money.
Droid Apps
Posted by mjpete on Mar 15, 2010
After two months of using the Droid, I thought I would review the apps that I find the most helpful and fun. First and foremost it is a phone, I’m very happy with the quality of calls and the quality of the built-in speaker. I configured the contacts app when I first got the phone and haven’t thought twice about it. The voice dial app took a little bit of trial and error to find the right phrases to use to quickly get the phone numbers to come up. Of course the voice dial app provides all sorts of examples to help you quickly figure it out, but that would require reading on my part. RTFM – No Way! The messaging and email apps are used through out the day. Occasionally (once per week) I find the email app will stop communicating with Comcast. The quick solution is the Advance Task Killer app. This app will kill off processes running in the background that are consuming battery life while offering nothing in return. As it kills off these background processes, it also causes the email app to fully reload the next time I open it. This is an ok temporary solution until an update is available for the email app. The other two apps I have residing on the middle screen is the Facebook app and The Weather Channel. The Weather Channel app is a must have. I’ve got five different cities entered so with three taps on the screen I can have the current weather for anyone of the cities. One more tap and I have the 10 day forecast.
On my left screen I have music and imusic app to help organize my playlists. I find that I use the built in music app for playback. I also have Google Sky. This app allows you to hold up your phone to see what stars you are looking at. I like to take the Google Sky app at night and point it to the ground to show the kids where the Sun is currently. I also have Astro, which provides a file manager type of screen to access the memory card. I would have thought an app like Astro would have been included as a base app to manage the data on the phone. To round out the left screen I also installed 10001 Cocktails. Of course the database doesn’t include 100001 cocktails, but it has the majority of mixed drinks and cocktails one would order. Now why would I have this app when I always just rely on the bartender? I don’t know, but it is a fun app to have.
On the right hand screen I have the app Where. This is a pretty cool app, but I find I don’t use it as much as I thought I would have. I also have my prime decision making tool, “Magic Eight-ball” app installed. The original Magic Eight-ball was undoubtedly the best decision support tool and arguably the most accurate decision support tool ever made. I also have a quirky tech app called tricorder. This app provides you with information like your current GPS location, the nearest cell tower and all the wifi access points that are reachable. It also analysis the surrounding sound levels. Usefulness of this app – none. Fun factor – priceless. I also have Newspaper on the right hand screen. This app allows me to pull up news from several dozen different newspapers from around the country.
The one app that I thought had great potential, but never lived up to it….Key Ring. This app allows you to scan all those annoying customer shopping cards. In theory you are suppose to be able to bring the card up and just scan the phone. In reality the food store scanners don’t like the back lit glass screens.
The one piece of functionality that I don’t use – the camera. It takes ok pictures, but whenever the need arises for taking photos, usually I have one of the digital cameras handy.
Grrrr – I was klutzy this weekend
Posted by mjpete on Mar 8, 2009
Saturday it was beautiful here on the Jersey Shore. The temp was in the 70’s with blue sky. I decided to work on the one Jetski. I still have the engine apart because of the cracked water jacket. I have two new water jackets with the exhaust manifold all ready to go on. Cylinders are all honed. I cut the rave exhaust valves to clear the pistons. Everything was all set.
As I was setting the water jackets on the lower half of the engine, I let one piston slip and hit the exhaust baffle. Boop went a piece of the ring on the one piston. Damn. Now I’m waiting until March 20th when the new rings should arrive. After the incident I decided to replace all the rings in the engine.
After I messed up the piston ring, I decided to replace the VTS motor. This is a small electric motor that raises and lowers the angle of the jet pump. The old motor had died and the case was corroded. It was easy to replace. Now I have to wait to finish getting the engine back together before I can test the VTS motor.
I fully expect to have both machines back into the water before this month is over. I’m just very frustrated with myself for being a damn klutz.
The Home Network
Posted by mjpete on Mar 8, 2009
Lately I’ve been on a kick upgrading the computers in the house. Most of the machines are dual Xeons with 4Gb or 8Gb of ram. I just added a 1.5Tb drive to one machine that was running out of space. It had a 40gb drive in it and it was full. I went through looking to dump what ever I could, but it only amounted to a few Gb free.
I also had to add a 8-port switch. I have a 16-port switch downstairs where I have the server gear, but I need more ports in the den. I’m wondering if it was a good idea to go with the 8-port switch and not the 16-port switch. At the time the store I was in only had the 8-port switch and I didn’t feel like driving around.
The one purchase that I made that has just proven itself to be so valuable was a D-Link print server. It can handle up to 4 printers. I know, it was a simply thing to add, but what a difference to be able to print from anywhere. I’ve got the laser printer and the Epson photo printer attach to it. The only bummer is that I have to go into the den to turn the printers on if I want to print. A lot of the times I’m in the family room with the laptop and have to walk to the other end of the house. Yes, on occasion I get lazy and yell for one of the kids to turn on the printer or retrieve the printouts for me.
The one box that I haven’t upgrade is the Apple G4. I did add some ram to bump it to 4Gb. That box has found some new life with my daughter. She likes to play her games on it. She likes the idea of having a machine that is basically only used by her.
That leads me to another thought. I am amazed at the kids. I have XP, Vista, Mac OS X and Fedora Linux in the house on various machines. Majority of the boxes run Linux, from Fedora Core 5 to Fedora 10. But it doesn’t matter to them. They jump from box to box without thinking about the operating system. Most adults I know have issues running a single operating system. Not them. Its seamless to them. I cant help but wonder what the technology will be like when they are adults and start having difficulty adopting to it.
White House Website
Posted by mjpete on Jan 22, 2009
Have to say I am impressed with the new White House website. Each president has control over the website. In the past this site has not been a significant source of information on what is occurring within our government. The new website that President Obama has put up is very informative. The new administration is utilizing technology to really provide transparency. The full legislative agenda is on the site along with any executive orders and proclamations. You can also see all the appointments he has made. In the past I would not have know where to go to begin to find this information.
To provide full disclosure, I did not vote for President Obama. I felt that he didn’t have enough experience to provide the leadership we needed. Over the past few months, I have to admit, he has won me over.
Check out the new site. It’s a very pleasant surprise.
A Quote to Reflect Upon……
Posted by mjpete on Oct 13, 2008
The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, and the public debt should be reduced. The arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled. And the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest we become bankrupt.
Cicero, 63 B.C.
Time Warp
Posted by mjpete on May 20, 2008
First off – I can not believe almost 2 months has gone by since my last post!!
The month of April was busy and the month of May is looking to be just as bad. Oh, wait, next week is the end of May. It real has been as bad a April!!
A lot has happened in the past 2 months. Dave & I completed the Troop trailer and we’ve taken it on 2 camping trips. Both camping trips were a success. Cathy & I decided the 98′ Honda Accord was near the end of its life. So with 259K miles on it and before it began to wear out mechanically, we traded it in for a Honda Ridgeline. I’ve had the new car for three weeks and love it. This past weekend was the second spring camping trip with the scouts. I ended up towing the troop trailer with the Ridgeline. Absolutely no issues, it was great.
I’ve got photos of the different trips with the Scouts. As I get them posted, I’ll included them in a few posts and try to catch back up!!
As far as diving goes, I haven’t even had time to look at my gear. Forget about actually getting into the water. Hopefully, maybe within the next week or two I’ll coax Mark into a quick dive……
