UPDATE:
I've been officially added to the Pocket-PC webring! I've also applied for the Home Automation
webring as well! Prety cool stuff. I've also written a new reference document detailing
how to convert .MP3s to .WAV files using WinAmp 2.7 for buring to audio CD's. I had to
write this for someone, so I figured I'd add it to the site :). You can find it
here!
The saga continues...
My Casio E-125 page has been added to the PocketGear Pocket PC WebRing!Awesome! I just got the E-mail, so it's probably not listed yet, but it will be soon!I've added the webring navigator near the bottom of the page so you can access other greatPocket PC sites!
Looking at my hitcounter stats, looks like my new GPS/MP3 pagehas been getting TONS of hits! I love it! I love you guys!
BTW, I've ordered a leather case from E&B cases, and I found a 128MB CF memory card for saleon WinCE city that I ordered. Both should be here tomorrow! I can't wait! Will let you knowhow both of them work tomorrow or Wednesday!
When this wave cools down I get back to my traditional bitching & whining on current events onthese What's New pages :). If you've got something you want to say about the site, whether youlike it or hate, E-Mail me!!!.
I've added more to my Casio E-125 page. I've tried out a fewmore software titles. In addition, I've finally made up my mind as to the kind of case I wanted.At first I thought I wanted something like the Rhinoskin Titanium for the ultimate protection,but in the past few days I've been using it alot, and just don't that that will cut it, dueto the fact that I'd probably have it out of the case so much. So I've settled on the E&B Slipper C100 W/Belt Clip.Another case I was looking at was the Extreme Body Suit, but it's made in Japan, and I don'tknow how much it would cost to ship it here :). In any case, I've FedExed it here, and it shouldbe here by Tuesday! I will update the page as my experiences with it progress!
I've added a new section about my Casio E-125.My experiences, what works for me, and what doesn't work. Hopefully this can help others out who are awaiting more info on this newer Pocket-PC.
I've received one of the final pieces of my new 'carputer system, the DC car adapter for theCasio. Some time soon I'm going to get it in there and get some newer pictures for everyone.I'm still in love with it, but am really wishing for a larger memory card :). 6 or 7 MP3son a 32MB card just isn't hacking it as well as I thought it would *grin*!
I've also added two more cars to my Cars page.
Been quite a while since I've updated my Linkz section. So, I've updated it.I've added a Space Section, a Pocket-PC Section, a GPS section, and a Home Automation section! Enjoy!
Also, I've got another toy for my Casio E-125, a Socket Comm. CF adapter which enables me to get on theInternet via my cell phone! I love it. Now, it's only 14.4K, but at least it's access!!! Itworks great even with crappy reception.
Sometime here I'm gonna create a sub-section about my Casio E-125 and the stuff I'm doing with it. Some time!
A quick word about Iraq. Iraq who? You want a surcharge on your gas? Who are you again? Hmm...
I received my DeLorme Solus Pro software & WinCE GPS cable last night! It's the greatest!And to my surprise, my PDA will play MP3s at the same time it's tracking GPS!!! Wow! I loveit so much, I created anew MP3/GPS page to supplement my old one on the carz page... and finally, I'veadded some PDA picks to my 97 Monte Page...
In any case, it's worth a look, albeit a lil' expensive. But it's portable!
Except for the fact that we still don't know who our president is, thispast week was better overall, I think.
For one thing, the construction is over, for the most part. I can nowdrive on the highways and get from point A to points B, C, D, E, F, etc...without having to worry about which part of the freakin' highway isgoing to slow me down. This simple fact of life makes me happy :).
Another thing is I had the most amazing experience at Best Buy on Monday.I had to pick up a new 17" monitor for someone at work. So I called aheadto verify that they had them in stock. The guy told me they had at least7 on the shelf. So I drove across town (this was where I was suprisedthat the construction was finally over... of course it was still pouringrain, though), and went to Best Buy. But when I got there, the guy toldme he didn't have any in stock. I tried to keep cool, and told him I called in earlier and that someone said they had them. He checked again,but they did not. However, this is where things got weird. He musthave been the same guy that I talked to on the phone, because he offeredme another monitor (that they had in-stock), for the same price! I wasamazed! So, I took my monitor, checked out, and was on my merry way.Best Buy escaped without a scratch... this time :).
Then on Friday night I was back in Best Buy to get a cell phone chargerfor my girlfriend's cell phone. Although they didn't have the charger,I noticed they did have a rack with some cool PDA accessories (why PDAaccessories you ask! I'll get to that in a minute!). Didn'thave much for WinCE devices, though, mostly for Palm's, but in any case,I thought that was cool. In addition, I remembered that I had a 20%of coupon for blank media from Best Buy. I walked out of there with200 Memorex blank CD's (2 100 CD-R spindles) for $80! Holy shit!
I would've thought that Best Buy customer service would have beencompletely aweful around the holiday's, but from my experiences thisweek, things went well. Of course, over the next month that maychange :).
I got a new toy this week, a PDA. I broke down and bought a Casio Cassiopeia E-125.I love it! It's got 32MB on-board RAM, a built-in speaker and microphone, a serial port (which can also act as USB (but only for hooking into computers,not into cool things like digital cameras :) )), and a CF (Compact Flash) slot.I also bought a 32MB CF Memory card, to store MP3s on :). The 32MBcard was nearly $100. I wish I could have gotten the $180 64MB card :).But it's pretty cool. The card has a PCMCIA adapter so I can take theCF card and plug it into my laptop to transfer files. In addition, theunit comes with a USB cradle, so I can hook it into a computer to synchronize information like my calendar and contact list (which I didnot have done in an orderly fashion until I got this thing :) ). Inaddition, the unit comes with software so I can download certain webpages into the unit (when it is cradled), for viewing when it's notconnected. What can this be used for? Lots! Right now I've set it up so that whenever I cradle it (and I'm on the Internet), it downloadsthe latest weather for my area, as well as movie showtimes (got this idea from a guy who works at the store I bought it from). So that isvery, very cool. The contact list/calendar/task list should help improve my lack of organizational skills :).
The PDA is loaded with Microsoft Windows CE 3.0. Now, I'd much ratherlike this to be Linux, but until the features improve on the PDA Linuxversions, I'm not going to switch just quite yet.
It comes bundled with some nice PIM (Personal Information Management)software like the afore mentioned calendar/contact/task list. It alsocomes with a Media Player for playing MP3s. As for games, it's limitedto solitaire. Of course, after checking on the Internet, there are TONSof cool software for Win CE, so that makes it that much better. As forMP3s, 32MB isn't a whole lot. But when I think about it, I only listento about 5 or 7 songs at a time anyway when I'm in the car or on thego. When I get tired of those songs, I simple put new ones in. SinceI've already got a CD-based MP3 player in my car, this unit justcomplements that. I'll probably use the PDA to play the majority ofthe music, but switch to the CD-based MPROM unit if I want more of a selection. One of the nice things about the unit is, it can play songsin the background while you're doing other things! Cool!
Input on the unit isn't as bad as I thought it would be. The LCD onit is a touch screen, and obviously there is no keyboard (although onecan be purchased for it). Input is done via a plastic stylus. It's got a picture of a keyboard that can be brought up on demand, and, forme, it wasn't that hard to get used to it. In addition it's got somegood writing recognition utilities, too. However, I do favor thekeyboard for input.
Now for more accessories. I've ordered DeLorme's Solus Pro mapping/GPSsoftware for my PDA! One of the selling points of the unit is thatI can hook up my existing DeLorme Earthmate GPS receiver to the unit.Now, DeLorme has a free version of Solus Pro (Solus Basic), but it'svery limited on features, and does not allow for GPS navigation. So,I'm very much waiting in anticipation for my software & cables toarrive post-haste :).
Another accessory on my shopping list is a cell-phone adapter cableto hook it into my Sprint PCS phone. The guy I bought it from gave mea beautiful demo of it hooked up into his Sprint PCS cell phone. Heplugged it into the bottom data port on the phone (the adapter cablehooks into the PDA via a CF card inserted into the top), and dialed uphis ISP. Now, this is not a WAP server he dialed into, it was hisnormal ISP! This is great! I don't have to pay Sprint PCS any rediculous WAP charges! In any case, he dialed in, and off we went.Of course, if you're looking for speed, look somewhere else, thisbaby tops off at 14.4K :). But the PDA's browser (Pocket InternetExplorer - Eeeewwwww...) was able to conect to any normal website(including www.joethielen.com :) ). Now, again, keep in mind that the display size isn't huge, so most pages don't look all that great.But it's not intended for heavy web browsing anyway. What it'll bereally nice for is e-mail on the go.
Way back in Jan/Feb when I took a vacation to Florida I remember sitting next to the pool, and writing my boss a 'Ha ha, I'm on thebeach and you're not' E-mail using the WAP services on my Sprint PCSphone. It really sucked, and took nearly 15 minutes to send a twoline e-mail message. With this PDA hooked into the phone, I canprobably do the same thing in two minutes or less. And when he gaveme the demo, he didn't even have one bar of service displaying on thephone, and still it went at 14.4K! I loved it. And now I can't waitfor mine to arrive.
In my car a couple of nights before I bought this new toy I got oneof those cell-phone holders that hooks up to the windshield viasuction cups. Now, with a little modification (for size), that samething can be adjusted to fit this PDA. So I'm going to go out andbuy another one just for the PDA, and I'll be able to have my cellphone and PDA side by side :).
Of course, the 'cool shit' factor comes into play here. Check thisout. When I get my GPS adapter/software & cell phone adapter, Ican jury rig a system where I can program the PDA to send my currentGPS location (lat/long) via the internet, and have a webpage displayingmy current location! Now, there are some privacy issues with that,but it is possible :). In any case, it's certainly amazing how farthese things are coming!!!
The only qualm I have with the unit is that although the unit claimsto support USB, I can't hook up my Intel PC Camera into it. It'd benice to be able to walk around on vacation and take pictures withit. They do sell a CF camera adapter which looks very cool, but itcosts around $250!!! That will have to wait!
Here are some pics:
I'm not going to rant here very much right now. You know what's going on.
Nobody knows what's going on. This just goes to prove that the entire system is FUCKED UP.
You know it, I know it. Now for our sake, let's hope it changes.
On A Brighter Note... I've assembled some images from my travels around our country (and others)and placed them here.
That's right... today is Friday... and this is your welcome to the weekend!
You know, sometimes life throws you a curveball. In this case, a good one.
Last Tuesday was Halloween. :) And for me, it was a time of great inspiration.
For kicks I left work early, and my girlfriend and I saw the Blair Witch Project sequel. I thought it was great. I absolutely love the direction movies are heading. They're getting away from the straight action/adventure scene, and heading into the 'mind-fuck' dimension. Moviesthat fuck with your head and actually make you think. And by the time you leave the theater, youdon't know which way is up!
So after the movie we went to Meijers to find a pinball game for the Playstation. Don't ask :).In any case, Meijer's had Playstation games for like $10 each! They were obviously trying to make room for the newer (more expensive) Playstation 2 games. We went nuts and picked out like 3 games.
To get to the point, when we went to check out, I saw something that just fucking stunned me. Now, I live in the Toledo, OH metropolitain area. It's not exactly a technological heaven, andthat's a fact (we barely have DSL yet :) ). But here in front of me were 'cashier-less' check-outstands. Again, for all of my bitching, the world has yet suprised twice in one week.
For those not in the know, these checkouts are totally computerized. You take your items (in mycase, three playstation games), and swipe the UPC barcode one at a time across the barcode reader.The screen will display what you've got, and it's price. You put the item in the bag (which hasa scale at the bottom to make sure you're not shoving 'other' things in there :) ), and then proceedon with the next item. Now, as always, my first experience was horrible, but after consulting withthe staff, it turned out to be a great experience. So, I checked-out my Playstation titles, swiped my credit card (which is actually linked to my checking account), and bada-boom... I grabbed the receiptand walked out.
No fucking human asking me if I want an extended warranty. No fucking human asking me if I wantto sign up for XYZ credit card. Just an automated machine doing what it was programmed to do...provide customer service.
Forgive me if I sound anti-social. But I truly think this is a step toward the future that I frequently speak of.
In any case, it was an inspirational night. I think we're coming soo close... but yet I realize(just look at the elections) that we're soo far away...
Well, Friday night and Saturday were so boring that my brother, his girlfriend, my girlfriend and Ijumped in the car Saturday night and drove to Chicago! ROAD TRIP!
I have no idea what time we got there. We left at about 11PM or so, but with different time zonesand daylight savings time changing all at the same time, it just totally freaked me out :). LuckilyI had my Sprint PCS phone, and it gave the correct time no matter where I was.
We stayed overnight at the Holidy Inn near Chicago O'Hare express airport (didn't get enjoy it,tho... we got there are 2AM or 3AM or something, and wanted to get up early to enjoy the city... but paid damn near $125 after taxes and shit for the room!).
Chicago is a big ass city. Not just in land size, but the buildings! Absolutely amazing. Butthe freeway was total hell :). Don't know how you guys do it on a daily basis.
In any case, I must have taken over 200 pictures with my trusty USB video camera. But the stupidthing wouldn't take any live videos... only snapshots. Really pissed me off :). In any case, here's a select few:
It was fun :).
Slashdot has a good meta-articleabout the launch of the first humans to live on the International Space Station. It says that as of tomorrow, there may always be a human being in space from now on. Now, I know there have been men on the Russian space station Mir, but this is an international effort. Not just Russians, not just Americans, but human beings, rather. It is certainly a time to celebrate, and definately a piece of history in the making!Through all my bitching, I'm glad to see a glimmer of hope in such a cloud of hopelessness!
Here's to the future of humanity in space!
Lately I've been able to return to my DVD habit :). On Tuesday Pitch Black came out.It says 'Unrated Directors Cut', but I only noticed a few things on it that I didn'tthink were in the movie. I didn't see much to make it 'unrated' though :).
In any case, I was strolling throughReel.com when I noticed some great titles tobe availble in the next two months...
Comedy Central's South Park have two new DVD's reportedly coming out on DVD on November 7th: The Chef Experience and Christmas in South Park!!!
HBO's The Sopranos first season is reportedly coming on DVD on December 12th!!!
A couple of other things to note... according to news articles,some of the people on the Russian Submarine that may have 'accidentially' shot itself may have lived for quite a while down there, in thedark, before running out of air. Holy shit! That's not the way I'd wish to go, that's for damned sure...It's fucked up.
Good thing I've got lot's of CDs & statellite TV. I watched the news on one of the local stations the other day and every othercommercial was fucking about the elections. I could barely stand it for half an hour... I don't even know how people can stand itall day long... but then again, most people aren't lazy and probably don't watch TV all day *GRIN* :).
Speaking of fucking ironic... the other night I watched the move Deterrence on Pay-Per-View. If you haven't seen it,it's pretty fucking cool. In the end we (the USA) drops a NUCLEAR BOMB on Baghdad, Iraq. There is a huge supriseat the end (not that I've already given something away or nothing). In any case, I woke up the next morning and sure enought I noticed a news article that was stating that US forces in the Gulf were on high alert after the incident in Yemen. Holy Shit!I thought I was still asleep or something. Crazy :).
I've been procrastinating for quite some time now. Trying to figure out if I even wanted tovote for any of the fuckers up for erection.
In any case, I was up in the Casino Windsoron Tuesday night with my girlfriend. There was nothing on that wonderful Canadian cable,so I settled on CNN watching the presidential debate (No, you heard right... I wasin Canada, and I was watching the US presidential debate).
Needless to say I was totally fucking disgusted. Made me just absolutely sick. And it reminded methat I forgot to register to vote. Now, I wasn't going to vote for either of these fucks, especiallyBush (or Gore). So I checkedwith a friend who is somewhat knowledgeable about the situation, and he said that I could writesomeone in if I didn't feel like voting for the two morons. I still don't know who I would havewritten in, but it would have been eitherRichard Stallman(a.k.a. RMS, GNU, FSF)or Linus Torvalds (a.k.a. Linux).
It's getting pretty damned close to election, so I checked on Rock The Voteto get some info. Found Ohio, and the deadline for registering was October 10th.
Oh fucking well.
Yes, that's a very apathetic statement. And I know it. But I have put some thought into it.You see, even if I did not procrastinate and did register on time, I would have written someonein. I would not have gone mainstream and fucked myself by voting for Bush (or Gore). Now, I realizeI have more choices on the ballet, but they fall in to the same category that Richard Stallman andLinux Torvalds fall into... even if I do vote for them, there is no way in fucking hell (let alone the United States of America) that they would make it to office. There are usually twocandidates for office, and on very rare occasions, there are three. But the lasttime I looked there were no presidents elected outside of the two major political parties in the last hundred or so years.
Please do not get me wrong. I'm appreciative of the fact that people died for my right to vote.I understand that, and I respect that. But what I don't respect is the fact that today's campaignsystem is so fucked up that if you're notindependently wealthy, then youhave an EXREMELY LOW statistical chance of winning a presidential election! You can't afford totravel across fifty states and campaign. You can't afford to buy spots of TV during Seinfeldor The Simpsons.
You can try, however. And there are thosewho are, and I sincerely applaud them! But good luck... it's just not going to happen.
Why Not?. Because of campaign issues and the almighty Electoral College.
And don't even get me started on election politics. There are so many things that get overlookedduring election years just because the candidate doesn't want to do the wrong thing and fuckup his or her chances of getting elected. It's really wrong, and it needs to go away.
Of course, in the past 8 years every child has nowlearned what a blowjob is,and what cigars can be used for...but what the hell!Hail to the king!
So please, do me a favor. If you're actually voting on the second Tuesday in November, then pleasego out and do it for yourself. Don't do it because you feel obligated to. Don't vote for one of thetop two just because you think you have to. You don't! Do it for yourself, and vote for who youthink will be right person for this country, and will do the country right. This is the UnitedStates of America god fucking damn it! You're free to choose who you wish. And if you aren't votingbecause of procrastination or lack of desire, then that is certainly your choice too!!! Don't ever letsomeone put you down because you didn't vote. Not voting is the same thing as standing up in a crowdand being the only one who is waving your hand saying "Excuse me, but something is fucked up here!".
A company known and (mostly) loved in and the Linux community has been acting very strangelately. Red Hat... one of the biggest Linux distributions. I've used Red Hat since thebeginning of my Linux experience (although lately I've been using Mandrake).
But Red Hat has been acting really weird lately.
It started with the release of RedHat 6.2. Had a major bug (with Squid, I believe). But thecame out and released the info, along with how to fix it. Fine, everyone's allowed to screw up (once and a while :), I suppose), and they came right out with it.
But Red Hat 7 is reportedly just ugly. Now I haven't used it, but there's talk that it's gottons of bugs. Starting to sound like Windows releases...
Fine, Red Hat's integer releases are kind of known for that. But then I read a story onSlashdot today where Red Hat is claiming to be the inventor of the Open Source Revolution.Hmmm... what the fuck is up with this? They've certainly advanced it a bit, but starting itis just out of the question.
What worries me is this is starting to sound sooo much like Microsoft. Releases fullof bugs and tons of PR bullshit. Microsoft started innovation? Redhat started the revolution?I sure hope the history books aren't looking, or else we're all fucked...
In short, Red Hat, you da man, IMHO. But take a break for a while, alright? Don't needany delusions of grandeur here...!
After reading this articlefrom the New Scientist (which I found on Slashdot), the only thing I could say was "Holy Shit".
I mean, are we really that close to a home synthesizer like something straight offof Star Trek??? Holy shit!
The article says that right now they can make solid objects using a single material (i.e. plastic, metal, etc...),or they can make some more complex objects with multiple runs of different materials. Some examples they use areif you loose your glasses, you can have a new pair synthesized in your own home!!!! Holy Shit!
And they said they're working on it so that one machine can spit out a complicated design (i.e. using more than one differentkind of material). Holy fucking shit!
This just totally freaks me out. For years things like this have been previously thought to be limited to the realmof science fiction. It was thought that nanotechnology would be needed to make this necessary. And maybe it will be tomake some super-complicated things (i.e. computer microchips), but for now, this is here man! It's going to quite a whilebefore you get a super-duper transmogrifier *grin* in your own home, but they will be ready for use at your local store!!!Need I say it???? OK... Holy Shit!
I mean this isn't something to be taken lightly! This is straight out of the novels of William Gibson, or Neal Stephenson. It's a huge fucking achievement. And assuming there are no breaking off points for thetechnology, this is something to marvel at.
I've been bitching for a while that we're at the new century/millennium. I've been bitching thatwe're not supposed to be where we should be at, technologically. But now I'm starting to think different.I mean, lately the buzz has been fucking huge around nanotechnology. And they're going to town with this science,and that's no shit. They're going to be able to kill all the fucking cancer in you by releasing thousands of these littlemicro-robots into your body! All kinds crazy stuff... clogged arteries, bad hearts... and so much more that itis absolutely impossible to think about. Holy Shit!
But, as with all things, there is are caveats. As members of this technological society, we musttake a step back every once and a while, and make sure what we're doing is both moral and ethical.We have to ask ourselves, "Should we do this???" for everything we do. Now, for the purposesof saving lifes as stated before the answer should be a resounding "YES". But all these technologies can be used for other purposes.
Imagine some guy in Iraq getting hold of an experiemental synthesizer that can produce nuclear weapons by thefucking boatload. In the immortal words of Dr. Mackey, "That's Bad, M'Kay?".
So, a few words of wonder, and a few of caution. Marvel at what we can do, but at the same time,make sure that it is used for the advancement of the human race, not it's degeneration.