Tuesday, February 28, 2006

MotoPebl

I just received the MOTOPebl or better know as the Motorola Pebl. Seems these days Motorala has issues with spell checker. Good thing for them I do kind of like this phone.

I tend to not read manuals because most humans (especially men) do not read the manual first thing. I want to see how easy it is to figure out the phone. Getting it open was even a chore. They I gave the phone to my wife to look at. She immediately slid the cover down and the spring loaded top half of the clam shell flipped up and to life. Nice discovery. I like this feature. It gets a little cumbersome the bigger the hands you have but if you can hang on to it, then it really is a clever way to open this phone up. I nearly tossed it across the room the first time I opened it this way. The spring is pretty good so if you don't have a good hold, you will drop it.

It is a sleek unit and nice on the eyes. Some will have issues with the outside screen but I don't mind it. It is different and that plays into the phone. The phone has three buttons on the outside. One is for ringer volume, one is for the camera and one is for the voice activated menu.

The voice activated menu is what sold me on this device. Push the button and up comes a menu of the different options you can speak. These options are: Name Dial, Digit Dial, Camera, Voicemail, Redial and Received Calls. It really works slick and recognizes your voice astonishingly well. I rattled off my phone number into the device in less than 2 seconds and it heard every number correctly and even read it back to me. Sweet!

The camera is pretty standard with a 4x optical zoom. It won't get you a close up of the White House or anything but it works ok. The camera also does video. Nothing special.


The keypad is nice and easy to use. Each number has a raised....squiggly? It works. Not sure what else to say about that...so I won't.

The screen is also nice and clear but pretty MotoStandard. Nothing, again, that stands out.

Games. It comes with two Java powered games. A Bejeweled demo (very short demo) and another called skipping stones (of course-get it? Pebl?). Skipping stones is Chinese Checkers. That's it. Chinese stinking Checkers. Oh well.

With it's polyphonic ringtones, games, design, voice activation and ability to download 15 second clips of your favorite 80's tunes, you just can't go wrong. The phone is not for everyone but it does break the candybar mold. Heck, in two years when the MotoFlea comes out, you can take the Pebl to the local pond and see how many skips you get out of it before it sinks to the bottom to be with all its friends. See image below:

Can you find the Pebl in Motorolas PeblPond? Ick, give me a MotoBreak.

Oh ya, and I forgot to mention. Those 15 second rad clips from the 80's (or whoever else you decide to download) are $1.99 EACH. The whole song on iTunes is only $.99. What is that deal!?

I give it 4 out of 5...Pebls of course!

Sunday, February 26, 2006

2006 Olympics - Final Thoughts

The 2006 winter Olympics are here and gone. Although there was a lot of talk about how so many people dislike watching a repeat at night, what else would you have NBC do? Sure, they could show it live and everything you want to watch could not be covered and it would be on at 1pm. I work...do you work? 2010 in Vancouver will be different. Now the 7pm ice skating will be at 9pm and people will holler that it is to late for them. Ick.

I really hope Nike thought there money was well spent on The Bodemeister. What a crock. I have never been skiing a day in my life and I bet I could get drunk, stay out all night, walk a mountain and then fall down it at 70mph. I am thinking that would be easy. Where is my million Nike? Invest in the little guy for once. At least you know what you will get with me.

I enjoyed the ice skating this year (women's, not men's...but really, is there a difference?). I did like watching the individual women's final with Sasha Cohen and Shizuka Arakawa. Shizika really deserved that gold. Sasha falling twice and still getting silver made me wonder. How do they score this stuff?
The only pairs skating I watched was Belbin and Agosto. Tanith...where the heck is she from? She speaks better english than I do. Who cares. She is hot. He looks a little constipated but maybe that's normal?

The made up sport came through for the US again this year. Snowboarding. Ok, it is not as made up as curling but c'mon. The Flying Tomato? This kid is straight off the ZigZag box. Yes, he is good at what he does. There is no doubt about it. The boy can fly. I believe there were a total of 7 medals earned by the US Snowboard Clan (USSC). Good for them. Now they have some money for munchies when they return to their home hill.
Hannah? Whatcha been doing behind the bunny hill? Pass the Fritos.


Here is what I have to say about hockey...

Now the Bi-athletes...they are the mac! They ski like mad, stop, shoot out the equivalent of Bob Costas' eye from some ungodly distance (5 times), if they miss, they ski the naughty track for as many times as they missed, then they continue. I say, hang back until everyone is in front of you, then rifle them all down. You can take your time, miss all the targets you want and coast to the Gold, Silver and Bronze. If they refuse to give the Silver and Bronze to you, then rifle them too. You can rule the Olympics. Get the snowboarding medals while you still have some ammo left.

I do enjoy the Olympics. They are fun to watch and it is fun to root for the home team. These kids spend a lot of time training and they deserve the shot. What I do not understand though is how Germany got more medals than anyone. I don't think NBC covered one event where Germany came out on top. They received all there medals in Biathalon, now I see why they weren't covered. **Snore**

See you in 2010 - Vancouver. Land of the Canuck and home of the "eh".


Vancouver Olympic Home Page.

Gophers are WCHA Champions

With their 4-0 win last night over the last place Seawolves, the Gophers capture the WCHA outright for the first time since the 91-92 season. Riding on the back of Ryan Potulny (Hobey Baker candidate) and his hat trick, the Gophers held the Seawolves to 10 shots on goal on the way to their 4-0 win.

Next weekends Duluth series will be fun but no longer has any bearing on the WCHA outcome. It is now time to rest up for the WCHA playoffs where it looks like the Gophers will again face off against the Seawolves.

Way to go GOPHERS!!

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Maddox at Large

Maddox is one of those gentleman (and I use the term loosely) that has an opinion on everything. His rantings can be funny but he does have, how shall I say, a potty mouth. You can read about all his opinions here.

This site is not for the faint of heart but it can be funny.

If you want to see the "I am better than your kids" art, click here. Yes, he rips on little kid refrigerator pictures so if you cannot handle it, then this is not for you. Don't click.

Consent to Kill - Vince Flynn

This is the second Vince Flynn book I have read (Memorial Day being the first) and I enjoyed every minute of it. I actually listed too it on my iPod Mini with a download from Audible.com.
Mitch Rapp is a wonderful character that keeps the intensity of the book at all time highs. I found myself telling the bad guys "Well, now you have done it. Rapp is going to take you apart." Then I would actually laugh out loud while driving up 35E at five o'clock in the morning. Well, at least it was dark and no one could see me.
I would suggest this book to anyone who enjoys a good thriller. This one is tops in my book (no pun intended). READ IT NOW!

U of M at Alaska Anchorage

The Gophers find themselves all alone atop the WCHA with their win last night at Alaska Anchorage. The Gophers pulled out a win in the 3rd period to go up 4-3 over the Seawolves. The two square up again tonight with Hobey Baker candidate Ryan Potulny looking to put some more points under his belt on his trek for the Hobey Baker Award.

The projected NCAA Championship bracket is also out. You can see it here. It has the #1 Gophers playing #16 Alabama-Huntsville and Denver is out because of last nights loss to North Dakota (in Denver)!

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Cingular 8125 Pocket PC

The Cingular 8125 Pocket PC is an up and coming device...for some. I have heard a lot of mixed reviews on this device but one thing is for sure: You either love it or you hate it.

Hate may be a strong word. I am partial to the device. It has some nice features but it also has some features that drive me up the perverbial Pocket PC wall.

The Camera: 1.3 mega-pixel camera. When you face it out to take a picture it actually looks like a small digital camera. The camera also has some nice template features built in. You can frame your subject in a Man of the Year magazine, a heart or just some other neat frames they include. I got bored with it after a few pictures. I think the younger crowd will like this. They will also like the vanity mirror that for some reason has caught on. Unless you have a head the size of a meatball, this vanity mirror will do no good.

The Sliding QWERTY Keyboard: Nicely sized (even for the larger thumbed of us) and easy to type on. Slides out way to easy though. When I attempt to take pictures the keyboard comes flying out. The Blackberry users are accustomed to using one hand with their device, this really requires two at all times. If I flip the device to the camera using both hands I have no kamikaze keyboard issues.

Touch Screen and Windows Mobile Software: This is fine. Nothing special. If anyone has used a Smart Phone in the past, it is the same. The stylus navigates (again, takes two hands and no I am not complaining because I want to use it in the car) through the Windows Mobile 5.0 Smart Phone Edition software in a responsive manner. I easily gained access to all the Smart Phone had to offer. However, I would like to see a link to Internet Exporer on the main page.

I really knew I was dealing with a Microsoft OS when, on the second day I tested it, the device froze on me. Tears of joy welled in my eyes as I re-booted the phone. I knew I was home. Thank you Microsoft. Like McDonalds, a Big Mac is a Big Mac no matter where you eat it, just as it is with Microsoft operating systems. **Sniff**

Connection Speed: Poor. I expected better with competitors like Verizon coming through with their high speed VCast. The surfing was painful (equivilant to a 56.6 modem...ick. That was so 2 years ago). I gave up trying to find Olympic Hockey scores while feeding my face at the Rain Forest Cafe in the Mall of America. Great coverage, crappy speed. They need to get this on the EDGE network as soon as they can.

Button Placement: Ok at best. It is really much to easy to hit the camera button, the connections button and the volume control. Nine times out of ten when I pull the device from the holster (ohh, sounds dirty) I end up looking at the volume control on the screen.

More to come including WiFi access and E-mail.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Gophers vs. Pioneers

Gophers swept at home again this weekend over the #7 Denver Pioneers.
Friday night was a very close game and a well fought battle with the Gophers winning 3-2. Why did Denver change goalies between nights? Gophers took the second night 5-1 and Denver was never in the game at all. Better for us I guess.

With two weeks left and four games up for grabs in the 2005-2006 regular season, the Gophers are going to need to keep their current pace. Next Friday the Gophs travel to Alaska...ugh...which means no TV. Stupid Alaska. Since we can't drill for oil and the Gophers are not on TV we may as well give them back to the Russians. Not really. I like Alaska, they are generally more miserable than we are in the winter.

After that I have tickets to the Friday March 3rd game against MN-Duluth. This should be a fun weekend too. They are a great rivalry. Minnesota needs to win all these games to keep their lead on the WCHA. They are 2 points up on Wisconsin and 3 points up on Denver right now so every game will count! GO GOPHERS!

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Firefox-Performancing

I just installed Firefox at home. I really have not used it much but I really like the add-on for blogging called Performancing. It really works nice. Click the icon and up pops the editor on the bottom half of your screen. Very convienient if you come across something on the web that you just need to spew about. Cannot add a picture though unless attached to a website. Maybe there is a fix for this somewhere.

Olympics - Terror on the Ice

I just got done watching the first ever Snowboard Cross. What these crazy young Americans will invent to have another chance at a gold medal. 4 guys/gals racing down a hill at breakneck speed, elbowing, biting, slapping each other around. I like it.

The really crazy event is Skeleton. If Luge wasn't bad enough, now there is a similar sport at similar speeds where the competitor lays on their stomach and stares straight ahead at their impending doom. I think I can see why it is called Skeleton. That is all that is left after the ice tears all the meat off you at 85mph. The atheltes are either the bravest people in the world or the dumbest. Since they are Americans, they must be the bravest. All the others are dumb.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Curious George

This was a very nice movie for kids from 2-6 years old. Every once in a while though I would catch a whiff of something that was not popcorn or candy...hmmm. George was very cute (as you could tell by listening to the moms in the audience coo over every little cute monkey face he made) and I thought Will Farell and Drew Barrymore did a nice job. I found myself chuckling more than my 2 year old. There was nothing scary in this movie at all (although a 4 year old girl next to me covered her eyes the entire time) and it kept almost every kids attention throughout.
This will definetly be a DVD purchase for this household when it is released.
I give it 4 monkeys!

Curious George

Tomorrow "the boy" and I are going to see Curious George: the movie, the monkey, the mayhem. That is not the real name of the movie but it should be. With Will Farrel, Drew Barrymore and a host of others it should be a good time for me and the 2 year old human version of Curious George. I will let y'all know how it goes.
For MP I will throw some popcorn at the people in front of me and then blame "the boy".

Saturday, February 11, 2006

U of M Gopher Hockey vs Michigan Tech Game 2


Game two turned out to be a bit more even when Minnesota walked onto the ice attempting the sweep of the Huskies tonight. Minnesota skated to a 2-2 tie with Michigan Tech on the backs of sound goaltending on both sides.
Next week is Denver...GO GOPHERS!

U of M Gopher Hockey vs Michigan Tech Game 1

Gophers downed the lowly Huskies last night by a score of 7-4. I TIVO'd it so I just finished watching. The Gophers look great coming into the final stretch of the season and are ranked #1! The goalies stunk though. More pucks went in goal than water can go through fishnet. The two teams play again today at 4pm central time but...alas...it is not on TV.

Next week (which I have tickets for) the Gophers match up against the Denver Pioneers. Denver is 17-10-2 on the season and are ranked #9 in the country. This should be a good weekend of hockey! GO GOPHERS!!

Friday, February 10, 2006

Quick plug for GoDaddy



I have always had very good luck with GoDaddy. Their customer service is great, it is easy to make domain name purchases and setting up websites or blogs is made quite simple.

Tonight I ordered a domain name and a QuickBlog. I was not sure what I would get with the QuickBlog so I tested it out. It is a wizard based blog builder and pretty simple to use. I wanted more access to my HTML code and QuickBlog does not offer this access. I called customer service and asked to cancel the service ($2.95/month-better pricing if you choose more months) and with no questions asked they walked me through it and credited my PayPal account. They offer a ton of services at a fair to cheap price and I will continue to use them.

Thursday, February 09, 2006

2006 Winter Olympics-Torino Italy


The winter olympics are finally here. The opening ceremonies, which I will be watching, are tomorrow night. Click here to see visit the official winter games site.



Here is the schedule for the Olympics! I am so excited!!
Blank Blue=Day Event is Held
F=Final

I will also be keeping track of how many medals the USA brings home. That way I know how bad we are kicking the A$$ of the rest of the world!

USA!
USA!
USA!

I wonder if there will be an Iranian bobsled team? Guess we will see.

Have fun and stop back!

Cingular Slvr L7 by Motorola


Cingular has just released the Motorola Slvr L7 cellular phone. This phone offers all sort of new ideas that its clamshell cousin (the Razr V3) does not have. It is very sleek in its candy bar form but a little to tall for my liking.

It has built in bluetooth, integrated iTunes, a very nice display and a speakerphone. Use your headphones versus the speakerphone (lay it face down to hear it best) when listening to the iTunes. You will hate yourself in the morning if you don't. iTunes does have limitations such as a 100 song limit and it won't play the songs wireless over the bluetooth but what do you expect? It is not an iPod. The Slvr is thinner and has so many different options they really do not compare.

The built in iTunes will play when you return to the main screen of the Slvr. You just need to tell it that "yes, this is really what I want to do". When a call comes in, the music is automatically paused. A nice feature. When the call ends, you need to tell it to Play again. Not a big deal, but automatic Play might have been cooler.

MEdia Net is Cingulars Internet Browser, text message, picture swapping and ring tones central hub. You can purchase one of two plans. MEdia Basic is $9.99 and comes with 200 text messages, 40 multimedia messages and 1MB of MEdia Net. There is also a MEdia Works version which is $20 a month. This version is 1000 text messages, unlimited Multimedia messages and 5MB MEdia Net. You can see the full information here. I tried the Internet on this phone and it sped along at a nice pace. I have no complaints. I have no interest in text messaging anyone or downloading ring tones. I am sure they both work fine.

The call and audio quality coming from the Slvr are very good but for some reason Motorola scrimped on the camera quality. In a time when rival cell phone companies are doing all they can to bump up the megapixels, Motorola comes up with a low resolution VGA camera. What's that deal? Oh well, I guess you cannot have it all in one phone. I guess pictures taken in lockerrooms just won't be as clear with this phone. I am guessing it won't be all that popular with the voyeurs and the perverts. My blog...I say what I want. :)

I am quickly realizing that this is not a good phone for big hands. I dropped it 3 times in a span of about3 minutes. It tends to slide right out from between your fingers. It also gathers fingerprints like a 4 year old girl picks flowers. Argh, the fingerprints are impossible to wipe off. The numbers on the keypad are also close together, so again, the bigger hands have a tougher time dialing.

**Quick Note: It is barely thinner than the RAZR and is taller. Go with the RAZR**

Some have complained about no FM or stereo speakes? What? Where would you stuff all this? You add these two components and you may as well strap a 1985 giant silver boom box to your head. It sells for an MSRP of $199 but wait 3 months and I am sure you will get it free with a phone plan.

SanDisk Ultra II Plus USB


The SanDisk Ultra ® II Plus USB is a very clever device. I finally received this 1GB version (I waited about 3 months) a couple of days ago. What is really inovative about this device is how the USB connection is built in. You just flip it out and put it in any normal USB port on a PC, laptop or hub. This is great for the digital camera buff who takes lots of pics and wants to keep his camera pack light.


The downside is this is quite small and therefore quite flimsy. You will need to be very careful as it would be quite easy to snap off the USB connection.
It can also be lost quite easily. It is about the size of a postage stamp. You can find this (probably backordered) for an MSRP of $134.99 but I believe I found mine for around $105.

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

RCA 32" LCD HDTV Monitor

Ahhh, LCD! My personal favorite. Now, the RCA L32W11 is a fine machine. When I first ordered this machine I thought it may be a bit plain. I was wrong. This TV is actually very streamlined and with its all black front is very sexy in any room.

I installed this very machine in an executive office setting and it has proved to be very well appreciated. So much in fact that I received a call the next day from another executive requesting the same setup in their office.

Dimensions on the RCA 32" LCD are 23.6"H x 36.1"W x 9.4"D and weighs in at 48.5 lbs. LIGHT!! I held onto to it while a colleague positioned some of the wires behind the device. The machine has many inputs for audio and video. It can only support one PC (unless you split the signal-which does work very well) through an RGB input. There is a DVI input but it is strictly used for a DVD or other media input.

**Story Time**

When I purchased this machine I was under the impression that one could run two computers on the one device. It has a DVI and a RGB port so naturally, two computers. The LCD arrived and I unboxed it and installed it (wall mount attached to a Gateway Media Center PC and the second computer is a Lenovo X41 tablet). I attached the DVI and the RGB cables. The DVI was running to the Gateway computer. The DVI was not working. In the manual (which you receive after you order the LCD) it states that the DVI is not meant to be used with a computer. Ok...does that mean it will not work or RCA will not support it? I called Tech Support for RCA (supposedly 2nd level) and talked to a person (in this case it was a woman - please note...the fact that I mentioned it was a woman has no bearing on this story...to this point) who at first was very willing to help.

I first asked her if the DVI would work with a PC to see what reaction I would receive. She put me on hold to check with someone else. Was there a third tier support? Hmmm. She came back on the line and said "no, this model TV will not support a PC on the DVI". So, I asked "Can you tell me what makes this DVI so different from the 10 other DVI compatible TV's in my building that I have hooked up to PC's. She pointed to my manual to tell me that "It states in the manual that the DVI is not meant to be used with a PC". Ok, I think I understand that since I read it to her in the first place. So again I ask "But I need to know why, what makes it different"? Again she says "Sir, it clearly states in your manual that the DVI is not meant to be used with a PC." Ok, I think I am getting this now. I don't think she knows the answer to my question. It is just a hunch. So, one more time I ask "Yes, I can see that in the manual but nowhere in the manual or on the website or anywhere else does it say why I cannot use it". I am sure you can guess what is coming...

"Sir..It clearly states in the manual..." OH MY GOD. So that was the end of that call. I did find out later on that this DVI probably only supports a DVD or some other media component. My in-house media support person told me this. And I called the company who built this. Who is the dope now?

**Story Time Over**

All in all this is a very nice machine. Bright, good looking and with tons of inputs in the back including component video/audio, DVI (with DVI audio in), VGA (with VGA audio in) VID1, VID2, VID 3, ANT and S-Video to round it out. It retails with an MSRP of $1599 but I have found it online for around $1450. Enjoy! This is a beautiful LCD for any room or office in the house.

Logitech LX7 Wireless Mouse

The Logitech LX7 wireless mouse is a top of the line wireless mouse. It is sleek and stylish and has great response.

Along with the standard forward and back buttons it also sports side to side scrolling via the scroll wheel and Tilt Wheel Plus Zoom™.

I like this device for all the above reasons but most of all I like this device for two reasons. One is the invisible laser. This can be tricky the first time you see it (in a manner of speaking) because we are all accustomed to seeing that bright red laser. Well, no more. You can actually stare into this one and not burn your retinas out. This invisible laser also saves on battery power. Logitech says 8 months but I have not had it that long so I cannot really say. Logitech also boasts the mouse will go longer than 8 months if you use the optional power button on the bottom. Again, something we will need to wait and see on.

The receiver (which you see to the left) is very compact and works nicely with either desktops or laptop computers.

I do like the overall feel and function to this mouse. I have purchased it for some of the people I support and they have also responded positively to the device. I would say you are very safe in purchasing this mouse. For a MSRP of $39.99 you really cannot go wrong.

Whats Your Story?

Ok. First things first...
I am plugging my wifes company. She has a company called What's Your Story and the website (which I created) can be found at www.mystoryondvd.com. Her and her business partner really do a great job of creating family dvd's. Check it out. There are some examples of dvd's they have put together in the past.

First Post

Welcome to my blog...I guess I started this because I want to review and critique everything I come across. A lot of it will be technology (as this is what I do for a job) but I surmise there will be many other things I will vent about or praise. I am also hoping others will drop in with their views on the products, stores or whatever is on the plate at that time.
There is always a time and place to vent and I am not good at doing it on the spot. Restaraunts, for example, are places where I usually let poor service go. Not always, but sometimes. Crappy tech support ticks me off too. I am sure there will be plenty of posts on this subject.
Anyway...thanks for visiting and may the blog be with you. Stupid...I know.