Tag: Technology

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Useless case protector

Since the Samsung Reclaim isn’t a flip phone and the screen risks getting scratched in my wife’s purse, she wanted a case. I saw that Sprint had a plastic case that clips onto the Reclaim to protect it. I didn’t order it right away because the price went up from the time I looked at it and the time I was going to purchase which basically meant that I could get it cheaper at the Sprint store with my Sprint Premier discount. I was at the store today and tried out the case; the sales person was nice enough to clip it onto my phone.

While the case fit tight and protected the phone, it didn’t protect the screen! So, it protected the back cover and the sides that no one really cares about. It appears that someone forgot that the Reclaim doesn’t have a touchscreen so having a hole for the screen is a bit pointless.

My wife is using the case from the Pre I have for work and it fits well, but having a clear case to protect it would probably work better in the long run. Anyone know of this type of case for the Reclaim?

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Review: Samsung Reclaim

Last week, I finally bit the bullet and got new cell phones for my wife and me. (The batteries weren’t holding charges and I’ve been unable to get replacement batteries that hold a charge.) I was very cautious to pick phones that wouldn’t affect my plan, so that pretty much ruled out phones such as the Pre or HTC Hero. As I liked the slider on the Pre I have for work, I decided on the Samsung Reclaim for our new phones (we already had unlimited data for both our phones; unlimited data being EVDO Rev. 0 data).

Some may think that this is a step down for me as I’ve had a smartphone pretty much all the time since I first got a Treo 180 on Cingular. Every smartphone I’ve had has been for work and paid for by a client or by work. In addition, I swore off smartphones as my primary phone since the Treo 300 when its battery drained itself on a number of occasions due to OS crashes.

In any case, I’ve had my Reclaim for about a week and my wife has had hers for a day. The primary use of a phone for me is to make phone calls and the Reclaim does that fairly well. I paired the phone with the Bluetooth car kits in both our cars (both car kits are aftermarket, one is a Parrot CK3100 and the other is a Raytel Tellphone 4200) and it works well. As a phone, so far it lives up to what I need.

Battery life is a major concern for me and even playing around with it throughout the day, the battery hasn’t completely drained, so in that regard, it is looking good.

While the phone isn’t a smartphone, its email and web browsing capabilities are quite respectable. Email can’t show HTML, but I don’t see that being a bad thing. I was able to setup my Gmail account quickly and reading email isn’t half bad. The keyboard is small, but usable. If you don’t have big fingers, you can text and compose email with very few mistakes.

Pros

  • Speaker independent voice recognition. (Only some smartphones have this which is surprising as my 3 year old Motorola RAZR had it.)
  • Battery life appears to be good.
  • Keyboard is usable despite it’s small size.
  • Decent email client.
  • Good value for the money (phone was free with a 2 year contract renewal; I just had to pay taxes on it).
  • Very compact size.
  • Easy to navigate using one hand.

Cons

  • I’m unable to use Google Maps even though there is an icon for it; I’m getting a SAX error when I download the handler. I’ll need to contact Sprint about this.
  • Sending a bunch of contacts over Bluetooth from my Mac resulted in 1 entry, so I had to send them one at a time and I’m not quite done with this.
  • Sending contacts from my wife’s RAZR to the Reclaim failed when it got to an entry with a / in it. I’m not sure if this was on the sending or receiving end, but I tend to blame the receiver as it gave the failure message.
  • Email can’t display HTML messages.
  • Web browser isn’t a full browser.
  • Only a limited number of J2ME applications can be loaded onto the phone and most aren’t very exciting.
  • The Sprint network can’t do voice and data at the same time; it’s a minor inconvenience.
  • Dialing phone numbers that aren’t contacts is a little harder than on the RAZR.
  • Contacts and calendar don’t sync with Google where I store all my info.

Summary

While I’ve only had this phone a short time, I don’t plan on returning it. It looks like it is going to more than adequately meet my needs. It is a basic messaging phone that I think can meet the needs of many users. Many of the features of a smartphone will go unused and paying extra for features that you don’t need doesn’t appeal to me.

If you’re on Sprint and looking to replace a phone, the Reclaim is a good phone. The “green” aspect may appeal to some, but to me, it’s just a gimmick. My wife has never had any type of messaging phone and is really enjoying the phone. While she wanted a BlackBerry, I couldn’t justify adding the BlackBerry plan and then text messaging on top of that. For her needs, this phone is comparable to the BlackBerry.

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Affording cell phone service

Recently I replaced my cell phone and my wife’s phone with new ones. As I was doing so, I was quite careful about not getting a phone that would require me to change my cell phone plan. Many of the new phones (at least on Sprint), can’t be activated on the plan I have. My plan is over 7 years old; I got it when I first got my Handspring Treo 300. This plan originally cost $85/month which included unlimited data, unlimited picture mail, unlimited SMS, 2000 anytime minutes, free mobile to mobile (on Sprint), and a second line. Since then, I’ve been able to get some additional discounts on it and I’ve added 2 lines to the plan (for my parents). Now I pay about $90/month including taxes for the 4 lines (unlimited data and SMS is only on the primary line).

Let’s compare this plan to what it would cost for an iPhone plan on AT&T. A 2100 minute plan for 2 lines costs $109.99 + $9.99 for each additional line. Data for the iPhone is $30/month and unlimited messaging is $20/month. So to get a comparable iPhone plan for me and standard phones for my family, it would cost me $180/month + taxes which is more than twice what I currently pay.

If we just look at individuals, we’re talking about $39.99 for 450 minutes + $30 data + $20 for messaging. That is $90/month + taxes for a single line!

It turns out that I’ve basically written about this before, but aimed at teenagers.

Maybe I’m just cheap, but I can’t justify spending more on cell phone service. This might change later on, but for now, I’ll stick with what I have. If I was more mobile and didn’t work from home, maybe I could justify the added cost, but my cell phone needs are pretty basic. It’s kind of funny saying that as I work for a company that provides wireless data solutions to companies!

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Review: Ooma

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the promise of Ooma. I received the Ooma box soon after I wrote that and tested it. While the installation wasn’t hard, my first night I played with it, I ended up packing it up and almost writing it off. My biggest problem with how I hooked up the Ooma box was that I put it in front of my router as was recommend; that created a double NAT such that I had one internal network running inside of another internal network. For most people, this might not be a problem, but double NAT sometimes causes problems with VPN connections, iChat video sessions, and connecting back to my internal network using software such as EyeTV’s iPhone application.

So after the first failed attempt, I decided to give it another try the next day. This time, I just plugged the box into my switch. I have no idea if the Airport base stations support QOS, but my initial tests showed that downloading files didn’t affect voice quality. After my initial tests, I decided to call forward our home phone to the Ooma number, re-route some wires to have our cordless phones connected to the Ooma and I was off and running. The first time my wife tried to use the phone, she said that there was music on the line; I think my son had pressed one of the buttons and called voicemail. After I assured my wife it was fine, she made a call or two. While I was bathing my son, I heard my wife making a call and saying “can you hear me?” and basically apologizing because “her husband was doing something with the phone”.

After my son went to bed, I immediately disconnected the box, unforwarded the phone, packed up the system and prepared to return it. My wife said there was an echo on the line and she said there was a delay; both common issues with VOIP systems. So, my Ooma experiment was a complete failure.

Pros

  • Lots of features.
  • Low cost.

Cons

  • Poor voice quality.
  • Yearly cost for basic service has gone up due to changes in terms of service.
  • Unsure of viability of company.
  • Company ethics may be questionable; initially the company used “peer-to-peer” telephone which used your phone line for other people’s phone calls to save on termination costs. They have since stopped that practice.

Summary

Ooma and other VOIP systems have great promise and while I’d like to think that I’m willing to experiment with technology, messing with telephone service is bordering on crazy for me. Others that have used VOIP services and are pleased with them may like Ooma. For me, going from a landline to a VOIP system for my home phone just isn’t going to happen now. I’ll keep trying to get a cheaper phone service, but now isn’t the time to pull the plug on the old reliable phone company.

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The magic geek box

My boss loves Velcro and has Velcro straps around every wire and has taken things to the extreme by creating a Velcro board that he sticks all his cables to and sticks it in his briefcase. While this looked a bit geeky, he always has the cable he needs. While I liked this idea, I thought that a closed case would be the better way to go so that the stuff wouldn’t fall out when the board is pulled out.

I picked up a small “ArtBin” box at Dick Blick art supply then used Gorilla Glue to glue the non-fuzzy side (I can never remember if that is the hook or loop side) Velcro (OK, maybe it wasn’t Velcro brand) to the inside of the sides of the box. So now I can put all my cables and supplies in the box and have it neatly organized. I may look like a complete geek pulling out this box, but on my last 6 trips, I think I’ve used almost everything in the box. Here’s what I have:

This box is getting a little heavy, but it has been so handy to have all the pieces right at my fingertips. Some of my colleagues have looked at me funny when I’ve pulled out the box, but I know that they’re jealous!

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Too good to be true?

Recently I’ve seen a number of reviews for Ooma phone service and how you pay a one time fee and get free phone calling (in the US) forever (or until the company goes out of business). I’ve been looking at our $53 per month AT&T landline bill and keep wondering what we’re getting for it. I’ve said for a long time that I wasn’t going to go VOIP because of poor call quality and potentially unreliable 911 service. Well, with more and more people going VOIP, the 911 issue has pretty much gone away. Public safety answering points know how to deal with VOIP. The only question with 911 is if broadband goes out and/or power goes out. A UPS handles the power issue. As for voice quality, the reviews for Ooma have been largely good.

I went ahead and ordering the Ooma Telo from Costco,.com but quickly cancelled my order. I’ve done a bit of reading and if you get the older model, the Oooma core, you won’t be charged the $12 recovery fee each year after the first year. Also, it’s unclear to me what features got pulled out of the core and put into their premier ($99/year going to $120/year at the end of the year) service. Their premier features look intriguing and $120/year is a whole lot less than the $600+/year that I pay now, so who knows if I’ll go for that. Our phone needs are pretty basic, so the pay once and never pay again service may work for us.

I went back to Costco.com and ordered the older Ooma and we’ll see what happens. Since I’m getting it from Costco, if I don’t like it, it goes back. It doesn’t appear to be part of the 90 day return policy, so I can take advantage of Costco’s generous return policy.

Am I going to be able to recover my money in less than 6 months and give up a landline? I’m not sure, but it is definitely worth a try. Since I have call forwarding on my phone, I can just forward the calls to the Ooma number and give it a test drive. If it works, I’ll port my home number to Ooma. If it doesn’t, I turn off call forwarding and return the Ooma. (Based on my history with landline phone companies, AT&T will jack up the price in the near future leaving me with few options; I switched from MCI when the rate kept going up and up and up.

Anyone used Ooma? Does it work as well as it is advertised?

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Something Microsoft does right

I’ve never been a Microsoft fan and really haven’t had positive things to say about their software. There are lots of people that are as against Macs as I am against Windows. Today, I attended a Microsoft event where Microsoft was showcasing Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 and Exchange 2010. I decided to go as most of the companies I interact with are Microsoft shops and it was about time for me to learn about the “dark side”.

I went to the track on Exchange 2010. As the presenter started talking about Exchange, my view on Microsoft (at least Exchange) really changed. Microsoft has implemented so many things that companies need and made it easy to use (at least it looks that way).

The presenter was touting how well Outlook Web App worked in Safari and Firefox which is pretty cool. In addition, administration roles are sorely missing from other products I’ve used so that you can give a junior administrator certain privileges. Also, archiving and discovery is completely integrated. All of this, of course, comes at a price, but it knocks the socks off anything that Apple has put out. If Apple has any chance of competing in the enterprise space, it really needs to examine Exchange. I like the open source underpinnings of OS X server, but slapping together open source apps doesn’t make a server solution.

If I had people to run my servers and a vast budget, I’d definitely consider Exchange :-). Hmmm, maybe my head cold is clouding my judgment.

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Sad (tech) day at the Gruby house

We’ve been using a Mac Mini as a media center for a little while now and haven’t used the TiVo in weeks. So, today, I decided to unplug the TiVo. The TiVo has been our friend for over 5 years and has undergone a few surgeries to swap out the hard drive.

When I unplugged the TiVo, I said to my wife, “notice how quiet it is?”. She hadn’t noticed the noise as it has been background noise for so long. The hard drive in it and the fan were quite noisy. The difference is absolutely amazing in terms how quiet it is now in our TV room.

While the TiVo has served us well, it is looking like my Mac Mini with EyeTV is going to fit the bill for our TV watching needs. The solution is not perfect, but it is working well.

RIP, TiVO.

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Another fight with OS X Server

It seems that every few weeks, I have another fight with OS X server. I still run Leopard Server as most of our Xserves are PPC and won’t run Snow Leopard, so these issues may have been addressed. I was moving our wiki and our sites from one server to another and that’s where the fun started. It appeared that the setting for where the wiki would be located wouldn’t stick. There appeared to be an issue with LDAP.

When I was touching the Web settings, I saw error messages in the log like was reported here

May 27 20:17:22 server servermgrd52: servermgr_web: htcleancache disabled
May 27 20:17:22 server servermgrd52: *** -WPWebServices updateWebServices:withVirtualHosts:withSession:: Couldn't update the WebServices record in /LDAPv3/127.0.0.1. Reason: Unable to set value(s) for dsAttrTypeNative:apple-serviceinfo in record $.
May 27 20:17:22 server servermgrd52: servermgr_web: Failure saving group services update: (null)
May 27 20:17:22 server servermgrd52: servermgr_web: Multi instance key 'SSLLog' has a single value=''!
May 27 20:17:22: --- last message repeated 2 times ---

(I was so frustrated, I didn’t copy the error messages, so what you see above is from the link referenced above.)

I gave up on this the other day and hacked on LDAP to get things working, but today I had to revisit it. I was starting to wind down my work day today when I had a stroke of genius; the error message referenced a host that I thought I had changed (I thought that when the LDAP server was setup, forward and reverse DNS were setup as those are critical to Open Directory working). I remembered one reference to the old hostname in Workgroup Manager. I went in Workgroup Manager, clicked on the computer tab, selected the old hostname, and changed the name to the real name, saved the entry, restarted servermgrd and presto, the error went away! Yeah!

I might give Snow Leopard server a test drive, but as long as Apple wraps command line tools up with a GUI, there are going to be problems. There is no way that they can handle all possible issues

If this solution helps you and saves you time (I think I spent a full day fighting with this), please purchase something through the Amazon link.

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Review: Squeezebox Duet

I’ve been a big fan of the Squeezebox music systems for a number of years since I installed a music system in our house. I had 2 of the Squeezebox Classic boxes (before the cool redesign). Last year I saw a special on a Squeezebox Duet, so I splurged and bought it.

We didn’t need the box and had controlled all our music using the web interface to the Squeezebox software, so this box was quite gimicky. One of the things that this gave us was a 3rd source to our music system so that we could easily switch between our son’s music and our music. We didn’t use the controller much and it sat on my desk for most of the last year.

In the last few months, our son has wanted to listen to more music and changes what he wants to hear quickly. This has made the controller not just ideal, but almost necessary. The frequent upgrades to the software have really refined the interface and it lets us control all 3 music sources running off the Squeezebox software.

If you don’t already have a music server or aren’t willing to leave a computer on all the time to run the Squeezebox software, the Squeezebox Duet is pretty useless. In addition, if you don’t have a distributed music system, it may also have limited utility. The system is a bit hard to grasp for non-techies, but once I showed my mother-in-law how it worked (and how our music system works in general), she basically wanted a system like it.

Pros

  • Easy to use.
  • Bright screen.
  • Controls other Squeezebox units.

Cons

  • Pricey. List price of about $350 is not for the faint of heart.
  • Squeezebox software requires a computer to be on most, if not all, of the time.
  • Not all that useful without a distributed audio system which makes it even pricier.
  • Battery life is not great, so we leave it in the charger most of the time.

Summary

You’re probably saying that I usually give high marks to things that I review. Well, you’re kind of right. I usually do a lot of research before my purchases, so I’m not disappointed. The Squeezebox Duet falls into the same category (initially it didn’t). If you have a music setup like mine, this device is almost a must have. It’s price is a bit of a stumbling block, but if you factor it into the cost of a full house music system, it is much easier to justify.

Note

While not directly related to the Duet, each time I upgrade the Squeezebox software, I have to wait for some nice person to update the XMRadio Plugin. While Logitech (they bought Slim Devices) directly supports Sirius, use XMRadio subscribers rely on third parties. I wish that Logitech would work with XM to directly support the plugin. XM and Sirius are now the same company, so it seems that there is precedent for online streaming.