Turned off my server

As I've previously written, I started making the move to turn off some of the services running on my server. Last week, I managed to move the last service (SlimServer) running on my server somewhere else; in this case to my AppleTV which is quieter and more energy efficient than my monster server. So, last Monday, I sent an init 0 to the server and turned it off. I then moved my UPS to my office. It is such a relief to no longer have to make sure my server is running; while I do have some services running on my virtual private server, I don't have to worry about it physically being up. In addition, by not using my server as a router, I don't have to worry about restarting my server and having it affect my internet connection.

Things have been humming along and Google for Domains is working out quite well. With GoDaddy handling DNS and email forwarding on some domains, I don't see a need for me to turn on my server. It has been a great experiment and has taught me a lot; I first brought a dedicated server online something like 8 years ago!

Radio Hanukkah == Radio Not-Christmas

The other day I heard an ad (yes, an ad) on XM for Radio Hanukkah. Cool, I thought, and tried to tune it in. After a few false starts (I kept getting a message that I wasn't authorized to play the stream and then online streaming stopped completely), I was able to tune it in. We started listening to it while lighting the candles and thought it was cool to have Hanukkah tunes, but unfortunately there isn't enough Hanukkah music to fill a full station. XM Radio has decided to play all music that is Jewish, like "Going to Israel", "Eliyahu Hanavi", etc.

There are some pretty funny songs like a Hanukkah song to the tune of an Outkast song. I haven't heard Adam Sandler's Hanukkah songs, yet; they're always a crack up.

Oh well, at least I don't have to listen to endless repeats of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

GPS Search continued

So today I saw that Staples had the Navigon 2100 for $149 and I had a 12% off coupon bringing it to 132. So, I decided to give it a try as it is a bit cheaper than the Garmin units. I was surprised that Staples had it, so I bought it. It came with free lifetime traffic alerts which was a pleasant surprise. After using it for about 5 minutes, I've decided that the unit is a piece of crap. First off, I crashed it by ejecting the SD card, second the navigation is awkward, third the unit is very slow when tapping anything, fourth, the POI database with over a million POIs is quite small. It couldn't find the local Costco that has been there 7 years. Overall, I was quite disappointed with this and will be taking the unit back tomorrow.

However, it reaffirms my research that the nüvi is the unit to get. I should have taken it as a warning that the Navigon website lists that it is running Windows CE. Frankly I don't care what it runs as long as it runs well. It has a 400 MHz processor in it and it seemed slow as molasses in January (of course, somewhere cold).

Oh well, I'll just bite the bullet and buy the nüvi.

In search of a new GPS unit

About a week and a half ago, I pulled out my trusty Garmin iQue 3600 to find out the exit for a mall to check out some sunglasses. Well, I managed to not seat the unit properly in the cradle in my car, so it reset itself and wiped out the contents of its memory. That's the major problem with older Palm OS based devices (one reason I recommended that Qualcomm not use the Palm OS for the pdQ smartphone; losing all your data when the battery dies really sucks). I got royally annoyed at the device and since have been on a quest for a new (modern) portable GPS unit to replace it.

On black Friday, I dragged my wife to the store in hopes of getting a cheap unit. Of course, that didn't work out. So, I've been doing my research on devices. Most GPS units sold come with a suction cup mount that adheres to the windshield. As I was looking at Costco's website, I discovered that these types of mounts are illegal in California. Yes, I realize that most people either don't know about it or don't care. I, however, do my best to adhere to the law. In that light, it appears that the Garmin devices are the only ones that have an optional bean bag portable mount (my iQue has this). So, I've narrowed down my search to either the nüvi 260 or the nüvi 360 with the bean bag mount.

However, I don't need a GPS unit at the moment. My father dropped his iQue 3600 and it no longer charges, so I offered him mine as I don't use the Palm functionality like he does; he won't pay me for it (I'm a nice son, aren't I?), so a new GPS unit will cost me over $300. Most of the time we go somewhere new, we drive my wife's car which has a built in navigation system, so maybe I'll just wait until after the new year when maybe there will be rebates or reduced prices.