• Aug 8, 2012

    Review: Winegard FlatWave Antenna

    Many years ago, I had no desire to get cable TV, so I suffered with various antennas trying to tune in a picture. Of course, I never had a great signal and was always fiddling with the antenna to watch TV. At some point, I got tired of this game and subscribed to local basic cable which was the over-the-air channels, but delivered to a cable. My hassles of trying to get a clear picture were over. However, this convenience cost me about $15 per month.

    When the digital TV transition happened, I started thinking about antennas again. I'd either get channels or not; there would be no more fuzzy pictures. A few times, I was tempted to get an antenna, but due to where we lived, I would have had to mount the antenna on the roof or in the attic and that required effort!

    Now that we moved, it's been on the back of my mind to try again. A few weeks ago, I saw the Winegard FlatWave Antenna at Costco, so I decided to give it a try.

    When I got it home, I plugged it in, scanned the channels and it picked up all the channels we watched. I was completely amazed as I just put it on the window and it wasn't line of sight to any broadcast tower. I was all set to cancel cable when I decided to actually watch TV and see the performance. The picture was crystal clear, but instead of a fuzzy picture, we saw the picture stutter and drop frames. I tried to adjust the antenna and finally gave up. The antenna (or maybe a more powerful antenna) has a lot of promise now that we have all digital signals.

    I can't fault the antenna as I simply placed it in a westerly facing window. According to AntennaWeb, I should have aimed the antenna northwest and southwest to get the channels I want. (I suspect that since the signals were basically opposite, I received some signal.)

    So when we move and purchase a house, I'm going to look into an attic antenna or an outdoor antenna; I suspect I would need a large one given the decent results with this very small antenna.

    Pros

    • Small footprint.
    • Easily to install.
    • Long cable.
    • Low price.

    Cons

    • Design of antenna may only work in some situations.

    Summary

    If you only watch the basic channels, giving this antenna a try is worth your time. However, I'd purchase it from some place that has a return policy. Your mileage is going to vary based on physical location.

  • Aug 3, 2012

    Good people still exist

    With our modern world where there is so much hustle and bustle, at times it seems like people don't slow down or take the time to help others. A few weeks ago, a group of people restored my faith in people helping people.

    I was driving to Costco early one evening when I came upon the traffic light before Costco where I saw a car turned on its side. I didn't see any emergency lights, so I knew that the accident happened a few minutes ago (average response time in San Diego is not great, but is still less than 10 minutes). I pulled over, got out of my car and went over to see what I could do to help. Already, there were at least 5 men holding up the car and trying to get the last passenger out (the 3 other occupants from the overturned car were out and the 4 from the other vehicle were also out). I made sure that someone was calling 911 and started to assess the situation (just as a side note, always make sure that someone has called and don't assume that in a group anyone will do it). A number of other people came over to try to free the last passenger by using a baseball bat to pry open the door; luckily the passenger was able crawl out on her own. At the same time, other people were making sure that the 7 people already out had something to eat, drink and weren't injured.

    Once the woman was out of the car, someone had already setup a folding chair for her and she sat down. I went to my car and got my first aid bag and with the assistance of another good samaritan, I bandaged the wound on the woman. A woman came over and said she was a nurse offering to help and another man was in the intersection (the 2 cars were in the middle of the intersection) starting to direct traffic around the accident.

    By the time police and fire arrived, the bystanders had started to disperse. It was almost amazing to see so many bystanders come together and help complete strangers. While I don't want accidents to happen, I hope that as many caring and selfless people come out and assist.

  • Aug 3, 2012

    Can't believe everything you read

    Two years ago, I wrote about open source saying it wasn't always the answer. I was recently reminded of this when I was searching for a good networking stack for use in an application. While we have a killer (in my opinion) stack that I enjoy using at work in a bunch of our applications, it isn't open source and therefore I can't use it. I looked at a bunch of iOS networking stacks and found some too complex, some no longer supported, and some that were good candidates.

    After reading the explanation of each one carefully, I came to the conclusion, that one of them completely made up at least part of his explanation on why his stack was better than the rest. The author claimed that the maximum number of simultaneous TCP connections over a 3G connection was 2. This I find incredibly hard to believe. Palm OS had a limit of 1 connection (I believe) and that was eons ago. Could 3G be so bad that we only doubled this? Could/would 3G carriers enforce this? I was unable to find any material supporting what the author said.

    I've been working with cellular data for over 15 years and have never heard of this kind of limit on any device; there are, of course, bottlenecks when you try to open too many connections and certain OSes have limits to the number of connections.

    While the networking stack looked interesting, I immediately stopped reading and completely discounted it. The author's story sounded compelling, but as far as I can tell is a complete work of fiction.

    I did end up using a very simple network stack that a colleague had developed on his own time; it doesn't do everything I'd like, but it meets my immediate needs.

  • Aug 3, 2012

    Review: Brenthaven Metrolite XP XF Backpack

    I've been pretty cheap when buying laptop bags over the years never spending more than $35 on a bag and usually getting one at Fry's or even Ross. That is, until recently.

    My previous laptop bag was a Belkin Backpack and held up pretty well for several years. In the last few months, I noticed that the material on the handle was starting to come off. Considering I don't use the backpack all that often (I only use when I travel and I go on less than 10 trips a year), I was a bit disappointed. So I started a cursory search for a new bag. Nothing really caught my eye and it wasn't high on my priority list.

    On my last return trip from Portland, I went through the usual pat down at security (I always opt out of the full body scanners due to lack of concrete, non-biased evidence about them) and when the TSA officer grabbed my stuff, he piled my container with my shoes and junk on top of the container with my laptop. This had been done before, so I wasn't concerned. After my groping, I mean, pat down, I put my shoes on, emptied the top bucket and when I picked up my backpack it felt kind of like. It was only then that I noticed I hadn't lifted up the bucket and grabbed my laptop. While it wasn't a truly close call, it was enough for me to speed up my search for a bag that would allow me to leave my laptop in it; I had read about butterfly style/X-ray friendly bags so that is what I wanted to so I didn't almost make that mistake again.

    The choices for this type of backpack were pretty minimal, so I kept searching and comparing styles and weights of backpacks. I came across the Brenthaven MetroLite BP XF Backpack. I had always considered Brenthaven backpacks expensive as I had only previously spent up to about $35 on a bag. I found the backpack on Amazon for $70 and ordered it. I was very excited to get it (don't ask me why a backpack got me excited as I have no idea). The backpack arrived and I loaded it up with my standard gear. It seemed a little tight, but I realized that was because my last bag was pretty much a pit where I just shoved stuff. My standard gear consists of a 15" MacBook Pro, an iPad, a power supply, an Energizer XP18000 external battery, some iPhone cables, a cable for the battery, iPhone and iPad charger, noise canceling headphones, and an extra pair of headphones (with microphone). It is a lot of stuff, but I always have what I need for any trip.

    Now that everything was in the bag, I was ready to travel. I just got back from another trip to Portland were I used the backpack and didn't have to take my laptop out at both ends of the trip; I just unzipped the center zippers, unfolded the bag and put it on the conveyer belt. Perfect, it worked as designed.

    I did a little bit of walking in Portland to get to the office and my hotel and the backpack was quite comfortable despite the 2.6 lbs for the backpack, 6 lbs for the laptop, and then whatever the rest of the components weighed.

    So far, I'm quite pleased with the backpack. It is carrying all that I need, was easy to use at the airport, and was pretty comfortable. With the Brenthaven guarantee for life, this could be the last bag I purchase. I am extremely pleased with the backpack and should have spent the extra money on it a long time ago.

    Pros

    • X-Ray friendly.
    • Adequate storage for power supply, iPad, charger, etc.
    • Lots of padding for a 15" MacBook Pro.
    • Comfortable straps.
    • Lifetime guarantee.
    • Non-fabric covered handle won't wear down.

    Cons

    • A little heavy. The weight without gear is 2.6 lbs; I would like to have had it around 2 lbs. The extra zippers and some of the pockets add a little weight.
    • Slightly more expensive than the run of the mill backpack.

    Summary

    I'm not sure why I waited so long to spend a few extra dollars to get a quality product. I am, however, happy that I waited for a version that makes it easier to go through security at an airport as that is one of the reasons I put my laptop in a backpack. There is lots of padding and enough storage to hold all my gear. If you like backpacks and travel even a few times a year, I'd definitely consider this bag. Luckily there weren't more choices out there or I may not have found such a good back (I would have been cheap and not spent the money on it).