I weighed all the numbers and researched all the sites and came to the conclusion that the only thing the X10 had over the Nexus One was the price tag.   From what one site was guessing the SE offering was going to be pretty pricey.  Plus, SE has done a lot to customize their interface but I think they are over doing it a tad.  It looks cool, sure but every video I watched showed the interface to be laggy and/or buggy.  And while I’m sure it was still very early in their development cycle it still put me off.

The Nexus One had all the features I wanted in a modern package, using a new modern OS with all the amenities at what I figure is a reasonable price.  Plus, it’s built by Google who employ developers and engineers who are just as geeky as I am, so I was pretty sure it would be good.  I wasn’t disappointed.

I can honestly say this is the best device I have ever had.   I love it.   I ordered the phone the day it was released, and had it in my hands 2 days later thanks to Google’s free over night FedEx shipping, complete with my custom engraving on the back..   Engraving meant that I wouldn’t be able to return it if I didn’t like it, so that was a bit of a concern while I was ordering it but if I knew then what I know now it would have been an easy choice.   At the time I was thinking that getting one without a way to return it was risky..

The price was good.  I decided to get the $179 version instead of buying the unlocked one.  I may regret that later as typically I always get unlocked.. but the more I looked at it there was no point to getting it unlocked as it only really supported the 3G frequencies of one network.  So.. $179 it was..   Not a bad price at all when you consider isuppli estimates the phone cost google roughly $174.15 to make it in the first place.

Honestly, in all this I think Google’s biggest mistake is not having some place where people can put their hands on a device.   I’m told customer support is pretty lacking too unfortunately..  I’m pretty sure that google simple wasn’t prepared for the demand..  But really they need to go ahead and get this device into the hands of stores.. Let people pick it up!   Most likely you’ve gotten all the early adopters you’re going to get, now is the time to shuffle it out to the stores so the masses can get a hold of it.

I think if the hold outs just got the device in their hands they’d see that the device itself is rock solid.  I love how everything just works.  Little things that were an issue with the iphone (granted it’s a gen one iphone) this phone doesn’t have.   Everything just works.

Streaming Music from a site of my choosing ( http://di.fm highly recommended ) ?  Yeah that works..  Streaming music that requires an authentication?  Yeah that works..  Straight to your A2DP stereo bluetooth headset?  yeah that works..  Put the phone down and leave it for 2 hours while you’re doing something else.. come back and just poke play on your headset to resume?  Yeah.. that works too..   Been listening to some vocal trance the whole time I wrote this, and I’ve been wandering around the house a bit too..

None of that worked on my iphone.   And the bluetooth antenna rocks btw.. my iphone to headset pairing was weak and kinda crappy.. Not here — the pairing is good and I have yet to have static or noise creep in unlike on the iphone.

Just more examples of how good the hardware is.  I think google really was trying to build the cadillac of phones.    When ordering, I was concerned about the make of the product — I was worried it would be flimsy or weak in some ways but its not at all.  The hardware feels solid though it does suffer the same “greasy screen” issues that all modern phones suffer.  I will say this for the iphone, it felt solid.  This phone feels the same way.  It’s a teeny-tiny bit larger than the iphone so it doesn’t fit in the belt case I like.. damn it.. heh but the weight is about the same.

The new OLED screen is amazing.  Sitting next to my iPhone at with the N1 at half brightness, its much brighter than the iphone.  In fact it makes the iphones screen look dull by comparison.

I think android 2.1 works great, I have yet to run into any problems..  I have read that some people have found bugs but I haven’t seen any..  Maybe I don’t know what to look for.. I dunno.

The call quality is good and more importantly the audio levels are high enough I can hear in a noisy room.  One of my main complaints with my iphone was that if there was ANY ambient noise I simply couldn’t hear someone on the phone, and the speaker phone was a joke.  The speaker phone on the Nexus still isn’t as loud as I would like, but its far better than the iphone.    My Nokia Communicator had a GREAT speakerphone.. clearly phone makers need to contact the nokia folks and find out how its done..

Like I keep saying.. it just works.. yay!

Issues as I see them so far;

Googles grand plan is to change the face of the cell phone industry by offering a device that can doesn’t limit you to a carrier.  Amen Brother.   But then they tether it to T-Mobile?  I can’t help but think that this was a mistake.   In my opinion the number 1 killer of the iPhone was AT&T.  Here in the Austin area the network is so saturated that it doesn’t work.  AT&T simply wasn’t ready to handle the influx of customers that the iPhone generated.  T-Mobile (formerly VoiceStream) will suffer the same problem if the Nexus is even remotely as popular as the iphone was when it hit the market.

I know they are releasing other versions of the phone to other carriers, but how does that change what we have today?  You’re still locked to a network.   More over, even if you purchased the unlocked version of the phone you’re still tied to one network due to 3G frequencies ..etc..  For example;  Right now this phone won’t work with AT&T’s 3G network. Period.

We shall see..

It’s still a new offering and I was a day one adopter so I don’t know if this is a fair criticism on my part, but there are ZERO accessories for this sucker.  I know give it a month.. but still.  I want a stand.. some carrying case options.. some screen protection options..etc..

What the hell is the point of the track ball?   I’m worried about the track ball popping out or in some way breaking.. It’s the only part of the phone that concerns me because it kinda sticks out.    And it really seems to serve no purpose..   Again it’s something that folks can use so we will likely see games that use it soon.

I just had another complaint pop into and out of my head before I could write it down and now I can’t remember what it was.. damn it..

It’s not perfect.. but it’s a wonderful device.

I hate the question “Is it the iphone killer”.. that’s just a retarded question.. It’s a damn good device, hows that?  I think for googles first try, its awesome and worth every penny.

As of this writing the price of gold is at $1120 an ounce which is an all time high.  That alone should be your first indication that;  Now is not the time to buy gold!

The price of Gold is where it’s at right now because of the economy and because gold sellers are driving the cost up through fear.  They want you to go buy their gold so that they make money.  Period.  They don’t give a crap about the economy, your we being or future or any of the other BS they try to sling on the commercials.  Stated simply, they are in the business of making money and they are trying to do so at your expense.

The only “winner” when you buy gold at these prices are the companies selling the gold as they will make out like bandits having sold gold to you at over a thousand dollars an ounce. You wont be saving money, instead you’ll be giving your money to these unscrupulous companies who are doing their best through fear to drive the price as high as it can go before it crashes.  And it will crash.  Let me explain why;

See.. Gold is a commodity and a standard.  As such, it’s value never really changes.  What changes is the dollars value in relation to the gold.. So when you see golds value go up, what you’re actually seeing is the dollar go down.  When you have say 10 ounces of gold worth $3000, and suddenly that prices shoots to $10000 what you’re actually seeing is the value of the dollar shoot down.  10 ounces of gold is still just 10 ounces of gold.

When the dollar strengthens again (as it always does) you’ll see the price of gold go back down to something more reasonable.  This is why I say gold WILL crash..  that means that the folks who purchased gold at $1120 an ounce will take it on the chin..

I’m not saying that you should never buy gold.. Actually I think gold can be a good thing to buy, but only when the dollar is very strong (and thus the price of gold is lower).

Electric Violin

So I had said previously that my musical talent ended pretty much at the ability to play the radio, and that I hated that..  I wrote that entry back in July of ‘08 and I still hate it..

I have been looking around for ideas of what to play and am still undecided.. I have a nice piano so my investment there at this point would be only time, but I am not interested in it — it still doesn’t inspire me..  I still like the idea of the Chapman stick but the cost is just unreasonable and frankly the alternative is not as pretty (yes that matters) not to mention they have horrible business tactics which I don’t appreciate..

I thought about getting a guitar and may still do that as there’s a ton of info out there for free as well as an awesome assortment of equipment.. So baring anything else.. I’ll do that.. I can get a guitar on the cheap and I have 4 or 5 friends that have offered to loan me an instrument..

Having said that, of late a coworker of mine has gotten me interested in learning the violin or viola..   Plus I have done a lot of looking online and I have to admit they look fun..  The concept of an electric violin appeals to me.. hehe

I think I like the sound of the viola more than that of the violin but it seems to me that everything out there is aimed more at teaching you the violin, and then you convert that knowledge to the viola or the cello..  As I understand it the knowledge transfers quit easily and I wouldn’t be surprised if way back in history “Violin” translates to “small Viola”.. heh

What’s really funny is I like the idea of an electric violin the most.. Primarily because I know its something that I could build..  I know.. whacky.. but I’m a damn good carpenter and frankly they don’t look hard to build..  I have watched quite a few videos of them being made and to be honest, the only thing I need is the measurements..

Not sure how the sound is picked up though — it appears to be a crystal in the bridge which makes sense, since unlike an electric guitar there are no metal strings.. Beyond that making sure strings are correctly isolated and that the measurements are sound it seems easy..

I’m not going to rush out of build one of course.. I mean if you can’t play it what’s the point..

I have purchased several books and am reading up on the violin though as I think it’s something I’d like to start doing.. I have wasted enough of my life sans music, it’s time to start picking something up..  I found a place here in town that rents very nice violins for as low as $20-$30 a month and they have a looong list of instructors..

I have told the wife of the plans and she seemed opened to it..  Good thing too as I’m sure for a while its going to sound like I’m torturing a cat to death..  I also have looked into various forms of “muffles” for violins so that I don’t drive her completely insane..

More reading and video watching though to try to make sure it’s what I want to do..

On a side note;  I have watched a lot of YouTube video’s recently of people playing all manner of instruments and I’m just stunned and amazed at the varitey of talent there is out in the world..

Some of you are fantastic!  Some.. not so much.. heh..  Gotta take the good with the bad I suppose..

But it just amazes me the number of people who record themselves performing their art for others to watch and even critique.. (though to be honest you’re better off just closing the “text comments” and never ever reading them again.. It’s also stunning how completely rude people are considering folks are opening themselves up to constructive comments, not unhelpful bad-mouthing by someone who couldn’t even perform to the level they are bashing.)

Kelly Iverson (“The Lady”) and Mark Allen (“Doc Parsons”) are a fantastic example of people who love what they do and do it for our enjoyment.. they also show nicely that a well played guitar sounds wonderful with a well played violin.. Thanks guys, well done..

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Some of the instruments are .. uh.. odd.. to say the least.. For example, the following is a nyckelharpa and a hurdy gurdy duo — Stick around for the whole thing:

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Wasn’t that great?!  I mean two instruments that absolutely fill the space with sound.. I’m not sure another instrument would fit in there.. heh

I had never heard of a Nyckelharpa before but apparently it’s a traditional Swedish instrument from the 14th century.. Very cool.. There are a lot of youtube videos of people playing them and they are neat..  The hurdy gurdy is I have heard before in person and you really can’t appreciate it until you feel the buzz.. It’s a wildly expressive instrument.. It’s very cool that people not only still play these but are darn good at it..

There are a lot more examples too of folks willing to put themselves out there.. Kudos to you all.. Aint the internet cool.. =)

dead to me

I have used 1and1.com as my web service provider for a good long time now..  They have treated me well  enough and I am pretty happy with them with regards to their hardware.. Their servers are rock solid, you get exactly what you pay for and they don’t price gouge you..  I have had one of their linux root boxes now for going on 3 years and have always been fairly happy with it..

Recently I have wanted to do some stuff that required a windows server, and now what with the closure of the Fan Films Forum I no longer have to worry about 100% up time.. So I’m decided to go ahead and take this opportunity to convert my server over from the fedoracore 6 linux box to a windows 2008 server box..  Yay..  Good times..

The other nice thing is that by making this change I’ll be reducing my monthly cost by about $40.. Yay for money saving..

I’ll let you know how this goes.. There may be some down time but likely not very much..

Update #1:

Okay I have the windows server up and running..  I’m using IIS instead of Apache (cause its windows) and it’s a little slower, BUT I think its likely due to the machines network infrastructure and not the difference between IIS and Apache.  This website loads in 1.5 seconds under my new server as opposed to 0.8 seconds under the old one.    Pings to this server hit at 50ms were as pings to the old one hit at 30ms.   Frankly, it’s a minor difference and I’m not worried about it..  If it becomes an issue I’ll complain to my host..

I’m still in the process of moving things over.. so for the time being everything lives in two places..

With this change I think I’m going to be focusing on “randomstringofwords.com” again.. Meaning, that will be the primary URL not “rsow.com”.. Both will work of course, but no one but me knows what RSOW stands for so it sorta loses something..

I’m also going to ditch the INFO part.. Previously I had planned to have all manner of different URLS.

Update #2:

So I have to admit I’m extremely disappointed with 1and1..  I have had some questions about the windows server package they sold me that they basically told me they wouldn’t answer.. “It’s not our job” was the response I got more often than not..

This sort of thing exemplified the issues I have always had with 1and1.. if you had a support issue you were boned..  Their hardware was good but I can get iron anywhere.. its the support of that iron that should be what they are selling..

It took me a long time to sort out my issues and get everything working, only to find out the machine they gave me only had 1 gig of memory..  (not enough for what ANYONE would need)..   I asked for another stick of memory to be put in the box and the answer was “No.” ..  Not “We’re sorry but.. “,  Not “So sorry for the inconvenience but.. “.. but NO..

I asked them to help me open SSH to the box and they were boggled.  They couldn’t understand why I would want SSH open to a windows box, but once I explained it and got htem to realize i twas worth doing they explained that it wasn’t their place to help me administer my box.   Wow..  really?   He also told me that SSH was insecure and that’s the reason it wasn’t open by default after I pointed out that FTP and Telnet by default was open..

Wait.. what?!  SSH isn’t secure?  It stands for “Secure Shell”..  Hell passwords are sent in the clear in FTP and Telnet..  Unreal..

I also pointed out that the windows box was twice as slow as my linux box and that the subnet really seemed flooded as my ping to the box was twice as high as it was to my linux box..  No comment from them on that.. in fact he kind of ignored that comment..

Ultimately I had to just cancel the new windows box.  It just couldn’t perform anywhere near where I would have needed it or where i tshould have considering the price..

Here’s the best part;

I was trying to cancel my account while heading to lunch with some coworkers..  I called them up and had a conversation with the billing department that amazed everyone in the car, and caused them to burst out laughing at a couple points.

I gave them my user ID, and then my contract ID after which he asked for my admin password.  Uh.. you want the password I type in?  That’s an automatically generated password that yall gave me.. I can’t change it.. You should know it..  But fine.. I gave it to him 3 or 4 times and it just wasnt going through..   He said well I can send it to you again..  wait. .what?  You are going to email me the password and then I’m to read it back to you?  What the fuck is the point of that?

I told him that hey why don’t we just go by the credit card you have on file.. since that’s in my pocket and all..  He said, no no that’s not secure..  That could be phished for.. What the fuck dude.. I have given you my customer ID a unique 10 digit number, my contract ID a unique 12 digit number, my name and what not.. etc.. and you’re going to email me the password I have to give you to continue..

It stands to reason that if I have the two ID’s I got them from the email account in the first damn place.. how is that more secure?!   unreal..

So yeah.. I eventually go that one closed and started looking for a new host..

My co-worker chad suggested hostgator.com as a replacement host..  So far I’m extremely impressed.. I got the reseller account so I could have control over giving friends and family accounts and websites too..  So far everything is great..  The best part is the speed.. it’s easily more than double the speed of my linux box..

At the very bottom of this page you should see something that says ## of queries in ### seconds.   Well on my old linux box it was usually 0.8 seconds, on my windows box it was 1.6 seconds..   That’s just the time it took to generate the data.. The actual load time from my linux box could be as much as 7 seconds..

Look at it now.. what is it?   That’s how much faster it is..  For me it says 0.38 seconds which translates to roughly 2.3 seconds of load time..  For the exact same page..

That’s nice.. speed is good.. I dunno what their hardware or pipe is but hostgator has good stuff..  Far better than 1and1..   Also hostgator uses Cpanel which in my mind beats the hell out of Plesk..

Either way.. Gonna keep working with it and will let you know how much better it is as I figure it out..  Right now I’m happier and will be moving all my old stuff off 1and1 completely in short order..

LightScribe Label Example

Back in 2004 Hewlett-Packard engineer Daryl Anderson had the notion that if you can burn data on to a disc, why couldn’t use use that same technology to burn the label?  And thus the LightScribe burner was born..

I had always wanted to pick one of these suckers up and never got around to it because I already had a CD/DVD +/- burner and didn’t need a new one..  I couldn’t reason the cost of getting a second burner when I didn’t really use the one I had all that often..

Well about 4 months ago my old burner went off into the weeds and never came back, enabling me to buy a Lightscribe external burner and bid all my labeling woe’s goodbye! Sorta..

I don’t want to claim the label burning idea as my own, but I have to admit I had the same idea several times after many an hour of trying to get some form of “pretty” label into my CD’s without completely throwing them out of balance..   And I am opt’ing to review the technology as a whole, not an individual burner..  They will all work about the same..

So, with that I have to say the burner itself is excellent.. I have had zero dead discs (discs that just fail for no reason during the burn process) and it is pretty darn fast at burning the disk data..  My old burner would have dead discs all the time and was slow as hell by comparison..  This is likely just due to the new 16x burner being a generation (or two?) newer than my old one..

So.. the long and short of it is, when it comes to burning your data — it works just fine.  But that’s not the real reason I purchased it.. I want a device that can burn labels so that I don’t have to use stickers, a special printer or even (god forbid) a sharpie..

Stickers tend to throw the disc out of balance which at modern high drive speeds can be a bad thing.. Special printers can be pricey (though the new ones that print right on the disc do a nice job) and the require inks, and in some cases label stickers..  And if I have to resort to a sharpie no one will know what is on the darn disc cause my hand writing is horrible..

So this is where the technology is supposed to really shine and it does to a point but I have some complaints..

Firstly, let me say it’s awesome being able to photoshop up some labels and just burn them to the disc..  The Lightscribe folks have even put together a software package that allows you to cobble together labels from preexisting templates, with lots and lots of other templates downloadable off their website..

That’s nice..

But (complaint #1) it’s ungodly slow..  It takes something like 6 minutes to burn an ISO with this 16x burner? I don’t know the exact time but it’s pretty darn fast.. It then takes about 35 minutes to burn the label..  Why does it take so long?

That wouldn’t be too bad if it weren’t for the fact that (complaint #2) the label is extremely light or faded and hard to read.  Folks on one forum I browsed were joking that we have to wait for the “DarkScribe” burner to come out before the labels will be easy to read..  Frankly the contrast ratio is extremely poor..  For the amount of time it took, it should produce a much sharper image than it does.. Apparently this is something new to the 16x discs and the old 8x discs didn’t do this..

Also, I haven’t tested this yet but I’m told all you have to do is burn the label multiple times in order for it to be easier to read.. that means though that you have to suffer that 35 minute label burn several times.. Bleh..  Apparently around the center of each disc there is a barcode that allows the drive to know the precise rotational position of the disc, enabling multiple burns..

And finally, (complaint #3) apparently you have to take special storage precautions with the discs or else the labels will fade..  Seriously?!

I don’t know how bad the fading can get as the labels seem somewhat faded right out of the burner..  I think any amount of fading would render the label unreadable in fairly short order..

So.. there you have it.. I love the technology but the fact that it’s Slow as hell, Faded unless burned multiple times, and Can fade further seems like some pretty stiff drawbacks..

Suddenly the printer that can print directly on the disc, in color no less, seems like a better option..   (Yeah lightscribe can’t do color)..  One thing I was surprised by was the cost of the media..  Lightscribe discs used to be a lot more expensive than regular CD/DVD’s.. that isn’t the case any longer.. So yay for that..

All in all I’m happy with the purchase and would recommend the burner, but you have to understand that you will need to burn the label a couple times to get a good looking label with any contrast to it..

Skaven

I have been a Skaven player since the early 1990’s.  They were the second fantasy army I got into after Orcs & Goblins.  Once I found the blessing of the horned rat however, my love of all things green didn’t last very long..   The Skaven were here to stay!  I love these little guys.. Primarily because back then they were as damaging and deadly to themselves as they were to anyone else..

Later revisions of the Skaven codex very much removed a good portion of the wild and whacky from the army entirely and they sort of became boring.. I stuck with them through all these years but eventually ventured into Tomb Kings just to try something new..  Well with the new Skaven, I’m back baby..

And my opponents are doomed!

Or, well I might be doomed.. It all depends on the dice I suppose..   Either way it promises to be fun!

I really like where they are going with the army.. I mean I know the army is bound to be more powerful than the current armies are simply because it’s the latest army..   That’s just the way of things.. Games Workshop is a company in the business to make money and the way to do that is to make the lastest revision just a smidge better than previous ones so folks will flock to it.. But having said that, I like that they army is back to being quite self destructive..

New Doomwheel

Firstly, they have added the doomwheel back to the roster.. Something they completely omitted from the last book entirely.. Not only did they bring it back in the new book but they released a new model for it and its great!

I still have my old doomwheel model on the shelf where its sat for the last 10 years or so not getting played.. and when I read that the new book would have a doomwheel I blew off the dust getting it ready for play..  Then I saw the new model.. Holy crap.. Yeah okay.. back on the shelf you go.. I’m getting the new on and painting it.. (See image)

Plus it’s all plastic!  Yay!

I remember the day when the metal models were all way more detailed than anything they could come up with in plastic, but those days are long gone.. Give me plastic all the way..  Well it appears GW has heard our pleas and is intending to release all new models for the Skaven..   They have already put out a number of them, with a few more in the wings to come out.

Plus the codex has a bunch of new units that they will have to produce models for sooner or later so I expect even more..

Stormvermin Before and After

The new stormvermin plastic kit is fantastic.. Gone are the days of having to purchase a buttload of individually packed blisters at$15 each just to have a 20 model unit.. The new stormvermin box comes with everything you need to have a fully functional unit of 20 models..

They paint up nicely and the dip method works perfectly on Skaven.  Click the before and after picture to see what I’m talking about.  That model was painted in about 15 minutes.. I did what I can only call a slap/dash job of painting him with basic colors and then performed the magical “dip” at which point he came out looking great.

Add to the mix the WAY over the top new characters and warmachines and you have one powerful army..  I look forward to building a force to play with..  The only down side is it looks like I will have to repurpose all my old models as they aren’t what I would build now..  The up side is, I now have more slaves than I know what to do with..

SE Xperia X10

On June 27th, 2007 (shortly after I got married) the iPhone came out.. I sort of waffled back and forth as to whether or not to get the iPhone or the N95..  The decision was very much made for me when they announced the SDK for the iPhone back in January of 2008, and I got one a day or two later..  I found out that the iPhone wasn’t all hype and that I seriously made the right choice.. The N95 is a good device but now that I have handled both, I can say that the iPhone was superior in the one way that mattered the most;  the interface.

I continue to use just about all of the features of my iPhone on a daily basis and can honestly say it’s one of the most useful tools I have ever owned..  I have loved this device.. When the 3G iPhone came out I briefly had some unfaithful thoughts and considered upgrading but to be honest I just didn’t feel the improvements were enough to warrant the cost even though it was only $200..  I passed..   Then the 3Gs came out and again, I didn’t see the advantage.. Sure a few extra go faster stripes, but just not that big of an improvement..  Pass again..

With each iteration of the OS, they continue to upgrade the first generation device in lock step with the later generations which I felt was a really good thing to do.  I personally believe that you should never, ever cripple your hardware through software.   If a device can do a thing, it should be allowed to do a thing..  And it appeared they weren’t crippling their older device just so you would upgrade… Until it became apparent that they were doing just that..

The irony of course is that Apple is sort of known for doing exactly that and yet I still bought in..   The iPhone has been wonderful and will likely continue to be wonderful as a device, but the more I use it and the deeper I get into the user experience as well as the developers experience the more I realize that there are a lot of limitations in place.  Some of those were put there by Apple intentionally to get you to upgrade to the latest revision of the hardware..  And that’s shitty..

I recently purchased a very nice bluetooth stereo headset with the intention of using them with my phone..  However Apple has disabled the A2DP bluetooth profile on the first generation iPhone..  Just ’cause..   The phone certainly can do it, it’s a software profile not a hardware difference but they decided do turn that feature off.   They also didn’t enable MMS for the first generation iPhone even though I’m pretty sure we were promised that along with everyone else.. again that simply sucks..  Don’t even get me started on the “new” voice activation shit the new 3Gs can do and that my p910a could do 5 years ago..   I can say that this sort of thing has made me pretty angry at Apple..

I am also somewhat annoyed with AT&T of late as their network is completely and totally hozed.  A buddy of mine that works for AT&T said their network in the Austin area is something like 400% saturated and yet are forced (by the consumer) to continue to add new features like the recently added MMS stuff..  3G is great if the network actually has bandwidth..  When my phone first came out the Edge network (2G) worked fine.. sure it was a tad slow but it worked… NOW it doesn’t work at all because they have throttled it down to nothing trying to eek out more 3G bandwidth to support the customer demand..   So while previously my wife with her 3G iPhone would load a webpage in 30 seconds that would take me a minute to load, now her phone can sometimes load it in a minute and mine times out every time.. So effectively my iPhone’s network is gone.. (Depends largely on the time of day.. )

I had told my wife that I was going to get the next version of the iPhone.. whatever came after the 3Gs.. I told her that the 3Gs was tempting but wasn’t quite better enough to warrant the cost and that I normally hang on to a device for 2 or so years before upgrading anyway..  So whatever Apple came out with next would do me..  I assumed at the time I said this that Apple would continue to actually support my device in the form of upgrades..  Now I’m less sure of this..

In my mind they have intentionally crippled the first generation iPhone such that I can’t use stereo bluetooth, MMS or the new Voice activation stuff even though the hardware supports it..   And that’s shitty..  And all so I would rush out and purchase the latest hardware..  (Which I couldn’t do anyway in the case of the 3G because I was contractually obligated to AT&T..)

So.. Now I’m forced to consider alternatives..  Or rather not forced, but am shopping for alternatives because Apple & AT&T has pissed me off..  Their business tactics smack of greed and I just don’t like that..

And while my iPhone still very much works and for the most part still does everything I need, I would like to get a new phone simply for the newer abilities that are out there..   The problem was the iPhone (even the original one) set the bar extremely high..  The interface just wins.. The application store system works very nicely and is a huge win for both developers and customers alike..  The native applications all work extremely well, are user friendly and functional.. etc.. it’s gonna be tough finding something that works as well and has the features and functionality of even my crippled phone..

Or so I thought..  I had looked into quite a few different devices, most of them were either the latest Symbian or Android style phones.. None of them really did what I wanted.. the form factor was just all wrong in most cases..  They had unnecessary things like slider keyboards or just uncomfortable shapes, or they weren’t enough of a convergence device..

Then a co-worker pointed out the Xperia X10 by Sony Ericsson.   Wow..  It’s not out yet, but the specs are available online and I must say I’m impressed..  I have a fairly high opinion of the SE line of devices.. The p910a was a great device for its day.. I really had zero complaints about it and think back on it fondly..

In my opinion, the quality of the iPhone where the physical device is concerned is pretty high.. It doesn’t feel flimsy for easily breakable even though the whole front of it is glass.. It has a nice weight to it and it’s comfortable to hold..  The only thing I don’t like physically about the iPhone is the volume is really low by comparison to some of my other phones (the Nokia Communicator I owned was so loud I had to hold it away from my head..)

I’m seriously hoping that the the Xperia phone matches the iPhone for physical quality..  If it does then it’s a shoe in for my next device..  ALL of the spec’s for this device beat my first generation iPhone by a landslide..  Plus it appears to have the same touch screen style interface and it’s an “Android” with 1ghz processor?!   Christ it’s a phone that’s more powerful than my first two IBM PCs combined..

The biggest complaint most folks have is that it doesn’t have a keyboard..  Are you fucking kidding me?  I just don’t understand that..  I used to think a keyboard would be nice until I had a device that had one and never used it..  Once I got used to the iPhone style of on screen keyboard I was done with physical keys..  Touch screen is where it’s at folks..  Real keyboards in a device this size are simply not practical nor are they useful…

The real big complaint is that this phone will likely cost around $800… or more…

Either way I think this phone is it.. It’s still a ways out yet though.. it’s slated to be released in “the first half of 2010″ which knowing SE will be the very last day of that time frame or pushed back later.. heh

I’m also not entirely sure about the UI code named “Rachel” by Sony Ericsson..

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Looks good to me!  It’s getting bashed by a lot of folks for some reason though.. I think it’s very pretty and seems fully functional.. *shrug*  I dunno why people hate it so much.. I guess change is scary.. They may just want the row after row of icons and nothing else..

The other complaint is that it’s being shipped with android 1.6 instead of 2.0 which people can’t understand.. I think that decision has a lot to do with the development cycle.. The phone has likely been in development for a while now and its currently written on 1.6.. When does 2.0 come out?   They would have to completely rewrite to get 2.0 crammed in there at the last second before the phone was due to be released..  I think by writing it on 1.6 they get the software down pat and can then release the 2.0 version in a upgrade down the road..   Quality folks.. they want the OS to work the first time around..

I can appreciate that..  I’d take a stable 1.6 over a buggy 2.0 package anyday..

Anyway.. that’s it.. This thing looks hot.. Here is another video of the music player and photo viewer.. Looks great..

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I’ll keep you posted.

Sony DR-BT21G

In 1994 Jaap Haartsen and Sven Mattisson has a stroke of genius when they invented the personal area networking (PAN) protocol known today as Bluetooth for Ericsson phones.   By the year 2000 it was pretty widely known that Bluetooth was something hot!  A lot of major companies jumped on to the Bluetooth Special Interests Group with the intent of developing some really neat technology..  And ever since I heard about the protocol I immediately though, “they need headphones that use those!!”..

Well set the way forward machine to 2009 and I FINALLY have a set of stereo headphones that use the Bluetooth protocol!  Yay!   I know they have actually been out for over a year but it took me this long to find a pair that I thought would be worth having, AND I had a device that would actually support it.

I have at home a Mac Mini (which I love) that supports all the various Bluetooh profiles and can fully support these headsets, and I have an iphone which I thought could too..   I use these headphones with my Mac Mini to listen to all my streaming music as well as my Ventrilo machine when I’m playing games..  It works very well..  Upon discovery of the device the Mini installed 2 new sound devices for output, and one sound device for input.

Apparently these have to have a “headset” device and a “headphones” device depending on how you use them..   In headset mode you get mono audio output, and the mic (cleverly disguised as a hole) works too..  In headphones mode the mic doesn’t work.  At first I wanted to complain about this.. I mean you either get mono with mic or stereo, but no stereo with mic?!

Then it occurred to me that the only time I would use the mic would be with my phone (more on that in a second) or when talking in Vent. or Teamspeak… neither of which would use stereo anyway..  So stereo headphones AND a mic would be pointless..

The battery life seems good too.. The box says it’s rated for 11 hours of either headphone or headset(+mic) use and 100 hours of standby time..  I can’t talk to the standby time as I tend to charge things pretty often, but I believe the 11 hours of headphone time..  I have yet to actually run out of juice while using them so.. *shrug*

All in all I like them.. I think they were a good purchase and I would recommend them.. They are light and comfortable and fold up nicely when you want to store them..

Pairing is simple and works well, though I had an odd issue the first time I paired with my Mac.. For whatever reason I had to reboot my mac to get anything to work post pairing.. I think that was more due to the fact that my mac hadn’t been rebooted in like 4 months hehe.. It was starting to act wonky and I have all manner of stuff running on there so this was likely me, not the headphones..   Also it appears that “Teamspeex” doesn’t fully support these, though Ventrilo and everything else works perfectly.

My only real complaint about them is that they must have a wall charger instead of just a USB charger..  This is a really.. really minor complaint and I hesitate to even mention it..  I just thought it was odd that it had a wall charger instead of a computer one.. but it occurs that a lot of folks may never actually use this device with a PC, but rather entirely with a IPod like device or their phone..  At which point they are still near a computer..  *shrug* still its minor..

The other complaint I have has nothing to do with this device, but rather my iPhone.   I have the first generation iPhone and it can’t suppport the A2DP connection required to listen to music.. Which pisses me off..   Not because it can’t do it, but because it totally can do it and Apple has it turned off for the original phones in order to get you to upgrade to the newer iPhones.. (If you have a 3G or 3Gs it works fine)

Good job Sony..

Halloween Costumes

The annual Halloween bash that my friend and his wife put on was a success!   Every year my friend Calvin and his wife go NUTS with Halloween..  They dress the house up, have hordes of food for guests, skads of candy for the kids and even have smoke machines strategically placed to set the atmosphere..    I have to admit, I’m liking it..

I was never a big fan of Halloween as a kid though.. I just didn’t really get into it..   That’s not to say I didn’t like dressing up and looting all the neighbors for chocolaty goodness though..  It was just the holiday itself..  Just for whatever reason, I didn’t get into it..

I think that the main reason was because I didn’t get the “fun” of the costumes..   It was something I did as a kid, but didn’t really get the why of it..  As I have grown older I have thrown caution completely to the wind and will dress as anything..  I simply don’t care about being embarrassed or looking silly..  Infact, I have come to the conclusion that that’s the point!   One day a year you get to do whatever!! Have fun with it..

This year I told Melissa I wanted to do a couples theme.. Something we could do together that was fun.. (okay I insisted it be a couples theme, but she came up with the idea.. ) We looked for a while and settled on a Little Red Riding-hood / Big Bad Wolf  duo..   We searched the web and assembled the costume bits and I think it came out pretty nicely if I do say so myself..  (Click the image for a slightly larger view..)

At the party every year they have a raffle / vote for who had the best costume.. I have to say I thought Melissa was a shoe-in.. She won last year in her “cave woman” costume (Which I’m sure I have a picture of somewhere.. ) and her little red riding-hood getup was great! (read: HOT!  She’s so pretty.. =)  I thought she was going to win again for sure..   Though Karens co-worker Janet was there in a Dorthy costume that looked awesome too.. Complete with a real live Toto dog… named Kujo! hahah  The dog was awesome..

So I was more than a little stunned by getting the most votes..  The “Wolf in grandmothers clothing” was a hit!   Yay me! heh  It was fun.. Everyone sat around chatting and playing rockband, eating and passing out candy to whomever haunted the door..  It was a good night..  We had a lot of fun..

Maybe there’s something to this Halloween thing.. =)    Now to start planning my costume for next year!

Razer Mamba

Update (Nov 1, 2009) :: After all is said and done, I have the mouse back from Razer and it is working as I think it should.   It doesn’t do the sleep-death thing it was doing previously which implies to me that the old firmware was horribly buggy and the newer firmware is required for sure..  That was the number one issue previously and it appears to be resolved..   The Razer management team that I dealt with were nothing but professional and courteous though I am still concerned about the “standard” support they are providing as those folks didn’t give anywhere near the level of support that I got directly from the president and his main man (of course)..  My over all opinion on the device itself has gone from “avoid at all costs” to, “okay its not bad so long as you get the most recent version”.  I still find myself occasionally using the G7 which I still find telling but I am not sworn off Razer products as I was previously..  And no they didn’t pay me or make me say these things..

Now on to the original post ::  I was pretty frustrated and angry when I initially wrote this.  The tone is a lot harsher than it should be and for that I apologize, but the message is still basically what I want it to be..

As I have said previously, I’m a pretty hard core Logitech fan.  I use a lot of their hardware, and am always very happy with it..  I have used several Logitech mice in my day (corded and cordless) and up until fairly recently was using a Logitech G7.   The G7 is one of their cordless gaming mice and I have used it for a while.   I really like it, it’s a wonderful mouse and I highly recommend it.  My only complaint being that I wish it had 2 thumb buttons instead of one.. that was it.. my only complaint..  I managed to break the mouse wheel on mine though due to my own stupidity and being a bit rough with it, so it was time to replace it..

A buddy of mine has a Razer mouse and loves it, so when I was at the store and saw the Ferrari of the Razer mouse line; the Mamba wireless gaming mouse — I went ahead and picked it up..

At $129.99 I expected this thing to perform like no other..  In fact, at twice the cost of my Logitech G7, I expected it to perform twice as well..  It came in a really nice box, with a lot of high and mighty claims on the box so I was thinking I had a winner..

Let me be clear here – this mouse is the biggest piece of shit, I have ever.. and I mean.. EVER used..

I have been struggling and fighting with it for a while now, it’s beyond the time for me to take it back or I would.   I’m going to compare it to the Logitech G7, which I now know to be a superior mouse in every way except possibly the three listed below which has nothing to do with how I use the mouse;

• Packaging: The Razer folks took some queues from Apple on this one, the unboxing of the mouse is actually really impressive.  They use very high quality packaging.  Nice job.  I mean the packaging was so nice, I still have it all..(that’s not normally for me.. I usually toss the box asap)
• Dual Modes: The mouse can be used both in cordless or corded modes.  That’s a nice innovation and frankly I think all mice should adopt this.  Again.. Nice job guys.. I seriously like this and hope all mice do this in the future.. Quick! Patent it!
• 5600 DPI: The mouse has a very high resolution so I’ll throw this in as a plus but I never used it.. Frankly 5600 is way too high to be useful in my FPS games.. It’s twitchy as hell..  I usually used one click up from default.. (not sure what that resolution actually is)

Yeah.. that’s really it.. I’m trying to think of other nice things to say but I just can’t think of anything..  I have used this mouse from day one as a wireless replacement for my G7 and I expected it to perform as such.. Boy was I wrong;

• Battery Life: Their packaging states clearly that this mouse has a battery life of approximately 14 hours of continuous gaming or 72 hours of normal gaming usage.  Horse shit!  I mean it doesn’t even come remotely close to 72 hours of ANY kind of use.. 72 hours of sitting on the desk and it’s dead..  it doesn’t come close to 14 hours either..  If I get 8 hours of just “work use” I’d be happy..  14 hours of continuous gaming use?!  Bullshit..  This is just a marketing lie..  There is also only the one battery, and the only way to charge it is to put the mouse on the stand.   Fail.The G7 comes with two batteries, and you charge them via a charging station thats plugged into a USB port..  One G7 battery lasts a full day of constant gaming..  I would have to change the battery every day, but it takes a second to eject the old, and insert the new and have the old one fully charged again in no time.   Win.
• Sleepy Mouse:  I have never had a mouse go to sleep as often nor as quickly as this one does.  If you stop using it for 30 seconds (or less sometims), it goes to sleep.   It then takes up to 30 seconds for it to recover, IF IT RECOVERS AT ALL!So you get up to go to the restroom.. Yeah mouse goes to sleep..  Getting a quick drink from the kitchen?  Yeah sleep mode..

  Most of the time when the mouse came out of its self imposed torpor the buttons would work but the laser optic wouldn’t — so you couldn’t move the cursor.   I would be forced to turn the mouse off via the switch on the bottom, then turn it back on and hope it woke up.  Sometimes it would.. sometimes it wouldn’t..  Fail.

  This was an extremely common occurance too, it really made me wonder if I had a broken mouse..The G7 never sleeps.. or if it is sleeping it wakes up the absolute instant you move it.. Win.

• Responsiveness: Their claim to fame on the box is that the Mamba has a 1ms response time!!!  Further stating that other mice have 2ms and others have 8ms.. *gasp*Again.. Marketing shit.  Frankly the response times of this mouse mean nothing..   I am not sure exactly how long it takes my eyes to observe a targer, decide to react, tell my hand to move and my finger to click, and my muscles to actually perform that action..  but I’m pretty sure the difference of 1 or 2 milliseconds wont make a difference.

  More over, due to internet latency all that speedy mouse shit is completely lost in the noise of the intertubes..Further more, due to the sleep issue from above and the fact that it would take up to 30 seconds to recover half the time the mouse seemed incredibly unresponsive..  Epic Fail.

  Again, the G7 which might be one of those “other” mice and have a 8ms poll .. Bit it always performs perfectly.  And using it I still come in first on CoD Multiplayer more times than not.  Win.

Mouse Suicide!

I can go on.. The form factor took me a little getting used to but it wasn’t bad..  The clicks sound good and feel good, and the mouse wheel is okay if a little “mushy”.. (personal preference)  But its performance as a mouse left me wanting..  A lot.. And often..  The simple fact is the Mamba is extremely unreliable and quirky.. It may work fine as a corded mouse, but as a cordless it’s almost worthless..

On one of the forums I visit they suggested I update the firmware of the mouse to see if that helps..  So I did:  At which point my Mamba committed suicide.

Yeah not kidding.  (Firstly; why the hell does my mouse have a firmware?!  It’s a mouse!! )  I installed their firmware update software, followed their instructions to the letter.. And for my trouble got a paper weight.   The firmware updater erased the mouses brain completely, started its bootloader process then stopped working..  Now it doesn’t even work as a mouse and nothing I do will fix it..  The best part is, there is no hardware reset.

Seriously?! I mean I thought it was telling before that I was forced to leave my broken G7 on my desk for when the Mamba decided to go off into the weeds, but now its completely shit the bed and I’m forced to use the G7 entirely..

I can’t tell you how unhappy this makes me.. I’m so entirely and completely dissatisfied with this piece of hardware.. I’m seriously considering boxing it up and just sending it back to them with a letter to their president..  If this is the quality of their hardware, I will never ever buy a Razer product again.. Ever..  More over I will tell people of my experiences with it.. Ala this blog post, my forums and others..

At this point as my last ditch effort I have created a ticket with their technical support in the hopes that I get some help, but I’m willing to bet I wont get a response.   I also plan to call them tomorrow and see if I can get this straightened out.. I’m sure there is some way to reset the darn thing and I just don’t know how..   But again my hopes aren’t high..  I also seriously doubt the firmware update will fix the other issues this mouse seems to be plagued with..

I really wish I could write this as a personal letter to Robert “Razerguy” Krakoff..  He’s the president and co-founder of Razer and I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t make excuses for the experiences I have had..  So.. Mr. Krakoff, this is to you..

Your company  missed the mark by a mile on this one..  Now lets see what your customer service department does..  This can still be a complete win for your company if you do the right thing here..  Good customer service can still save my opinion of you, but at this point I’m frustrated with the Mamba to the point of not wanting it any more..

I’ll keep ya’ll posted.

Day 2 — Razer Phone Technical Support — (888) 697-2037

Razer email support did reply within the 24 hour period.. The response seemed somewhat canned but did ask relevant questions so it was just a way to start the ball rolling..  I wanted faster results so I decided to call..

It took me ages to find the damn phone number..   It isn’t on their website at all.. I had to get it off a forum where someone else did a bunch of research to get it..

Bob answered the call and asked me my name… I told him and at the same time told him that I thought this mouse was a hunk of junk and it was also extremely frustrating and hard to find a phone number for them..

He then mumbled ” ‘ats by design ” prior to asking at normal volume; “What phone number can you be reached at if we get disconnected..”

I stopped him and said “Wait, did you just say thats by design?”  He said “no no I asked for a phone number to reach you at..”.. what a tool.. I’m not deaf..

I’m using a stereo headset to make the call so I can hear you in both ears with perfect clarity..  I know what you said..   You should never say something like that to a customer, even if its true — which apparently it is..

Bob seemed nice enough if maybe a little snarky.. But as a Razer T1 Support monkey, I could tell he was just browsing the web looking for solutions and was out of his depth..

At one point he had me completely remove the drivers for it, then had me try to update the driver via the device control panel, to the driver installer.. Not the driver itself, but to the installer..   I told him that this wouldn’t work and why — he seemed completely confused and put me on hold..

I got put on hold 3 times over the course of the call, each hold period got progressively longer while he researched solutions.. (read the internet, or went to ask someone..etc..  I know how our support monkeys work..)

Later in the call I casually asked “So do you guys get a lot of support calls?”  He said “No not really.. “  I said, “Thats cause the phone number is so hard to find.. thats by design right?” to which he stated.. “Thats right! Its what we hope for…”

… Sure.. why bother supporting your products…  I can’t believe you admitted that..  Saying things like that to a customer can get you fired..

Bob of T1 support knew nothing about this product or how to support it other than what he could read.. After 35 minutes on the phone with him he admitted that “he might actually have to escalate this call to T2″..  Stressing the word actually, as if he was shocked.. I wasn’t..

In my own testing of the product prior to calling I did more trouble shooting and research than he did ..

At 42 minutes he came back and asked “Does the mouse light up?”  .. No it doesn’t.. The lights stopped working the instant the bootloader firmware update failed.. I’m pretty sure I mentioned that early in the call, but maybe not.. I was thinking it if nothing else..

To which he said; “Okay we are done.. we have to get you a new mouse!”  I’m thinking, Yeah.. I knew this yesterday.. I certainly knew it 45 minutes ago..

So now I’m supposed to wait for RMA notice in the email..

Day 2 + 45 minutes — Razer Email Technical Support — RMA’ing this thing

So I got the email pretty much as soon as I hung up the phone..  I have filled it out and returned it..  One thing they wanted was proof of purchase.. well.. I have the thing don’t I?  I have all the packaging too..

I stated on the phone that I didn’t have that so I’m going to assume for the time being that it will be okay..

So far I’m not blown away by customer support here..  It was painful to find and the person I found wasn’t all that helpful..

Lets see if they will RMA it without proof of purchase..

Day 2 + 3 hours — Razer RMA Process

Fail.  It appears they are refusing to RMA this defective piece of crap without proof of purchase.   I have the product in its full packaging, with the Fry’s Electronics label on the front.. but I don’t have a receipt thus they are saying:

1. They can’t verify that the product was purchased from an authorized seller of Razer products.
2. Can’t verify that it wasn’t previously “used”, it isn’t “counterfeit”, and not “gray market goods”.
3. Can’t verify that the product isn’t “defective”.
4. Can’t verify that the unit is still within the warranty period.

Wow..

1.  The product was purchased from Fry’s Electronics in Austin Texas.  I still have the packaging, and at this point I have put the mouse back in the box entirely..  There is a label on the front that is the Fry’s label.. I’m pretty sure their authorized to sell Razer products cause they have a lot of it..  So this is a BS excuse.

2.  I gave you the serial number of the product in the RMA request.  With that you should know if the product has been previously used, or if its counterfeit.. You should also know to which country the product was initially shipped..  Again.. BS.

3.  I can 100% guarantee you the product is defective.. Your software made it so..  That’s the whole point of this attempted RMA..

4.  Your website states that the Razer Mamba has a warranty of 2 years.  Since it was unveiled to the world at CES in Jan of 2009, I’m pretty sure we are still win the warranty period..

This was a canned response letter and is very likely the first thing they do..   Deny first..

Never mind that their product is BROKEN DUE TO THEIR SOFTWARE..  Yeah you heard me.. THEY BROKE IT.. Their update software killed my product, but its my fault and I’m just out the money and now the mouse..

So apparently the only thing I did wrong was to buy a Razer product..

I could be coming away saying; “Wow, I didn’t really like the mouse but their customer support was excellent.. they treated me really well and took care of me.. I’d do business with them again..”

Or, I could be coming away saying; “Wow.. what a bunch of asshats.. I will never ..ever.. ever.. buy from them again.. and now I’m going to tell everyone I know not to.. ”

Based entirely on the experience I’m having, its clear to me they want me to do the second..

More as it happens..