Monthly Archives: September 2006

External Antenna for my Treo 700p

Posted on September 30, 2006 | 3 comments

Antennabooster700PSo I’ve got my Treo 700p hooked up to my PowerBook and I use it as a wireless modem. It works great when I get good reception, this leads to the questions how do I get a faster (stronger) signal. Someone recommended this “Freedom Antenna” external antenna . Which works great!!! It snaps into an antenna connectior on the back of the phone and it’s ready to go! It’s got suction cups to stick it to a window and a little pedestal to set it on a table (so far I haven’t gotten any better reception when sticking it to a window). It probably increases my plain old phone signal too…

Download speed is generally excellent! Somethings it’s only great, but it’s never crappy (if it’s slow I just turn the antenna a little and it generally gets way better). It was pricey, $69.99, but I see it’s $10 lower now. It only took a few days to ship, I wish I had purchased it before my trip up north…

Th only thing this thing needs is some kind of carrying case, I’m afraid of screwing up the wired connections for it. FYI, they make it for the other Treos and other kinds of wireless phone devices (see below).

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Magic Quarter Trick(?)

Posted on September 30, 2006 | 1 comment

So have you seen the guy do the Magic Quarter Trick?
I don’t post many YouTube type things but this one needed to be shared…

From Don’t Forward.

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A gorgeous day today in Upper Michigan

Posted on September 26, 2006 | 1 comment

So it was a great day outside today. I’m up visiting relatives in Lake Leelanau and the weather has been mediocre but today it was just great! I went bike riding with my uncle on some path and then I ran around and went to a winery (Leelanau Cellars) I like.

Then I drove around a bit and got some lunch and ice cream. And then I just drove around and enjoyed the scenery with the top down. It’s been semi-rainy and mostly cloudy since Friday. So it’s been a pleasure today!

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Pangea’s Pizza

Posted on September 26, 2006 | 3 comments

So I had some of the best Coca-Cola* yesterday at Pangea’s Pizza in Traverse City. It was just extra tasty, I’m not sure why. And not only was it served in fancy old Coca-Cola glasses it was served by the charming Rachel** who attended to all my cuisine related needs. That, a slice of pepperoni pizza, some on-line access and I was all set. I was hoping for more dead animals on my pizza but I would have had to order a whole pizza.

I mentioned WiFi availability earlier today: I could see a few local access points from inside the restaurant (none of which I think were Pangea’s) but eventually I’d lose the signal, the same if I hooked up with my cell phone. Not sure why. Probably something with all the pleasantness radiating from Rachel was interfering with my digital*** reception.

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Posted in food + drink

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Up North needs more WiFi!!!

Posted on September 26, 2006 | Leave a comment

So I’m up north in Michigan at Lake Leelanau / Sutton’s Bay (top left of the Lower Peninsula). I’ve been around here and Traverse city the past few days. I’ve noticed the smaller towns are more often than not to have WiFi you pay for. Lot of free places in Traverse City but I can connect my cell phone to my PowerBook and get pretty good speed (EVDO), but it the rest of the area I’m roaming. I noticed a few were inexpensive to pay for, but I think they’d be better if you were in that town for a week (or the summer) and it’d be great deal. I did notice one of the networks gave me five free minutes, which was enough to sync my mail and check a few web pages.

The big bonus is my Aunt’s brother lives less than a mile away and I can stop by his driveway to sync my mail (getting new mail and sending mail that I composed off-line) and post any blog entries I’ve written off-line with my blog client (Ecto). It’s definitely not hi-tech but I’m surviving….

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Pass code to open any car with a digital keypad

Posted on September 25, 2006 | 1 comment

I’ve noticed those digital locks on car doors only have five buttons but are numbered from one to ten (two numbers per key). So of course someone has done the math on this. There are 3125 combinations (5 key choices to the power of number of key presses which is generally 5 [5 to the 5th]). So they’ve calculated the 3129 digit sequence to open any car. You should only have to type in the whole sequence if the very last 5 digits are the combination. You could get lucky in the first hundred or two…

I read this here but I think I found it at Don’t Forward.

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Recharge your AA Batteries via USB

Posted on September 24, 2006 | Leave a comment

Usbcell AAPowerbook Charging Usbcell-72DpiA UK company called USBcell is selling AA batteries that can be recharged via your computer’s USB port. How cool is that? For me it’s perfect. For one, I never go anywhere without my laptop so if some of my devices (sound machine, speakers, flashlight, PDA keyboard, sound canceling headphones) need a recharge I’d be all set!
The problem is they are only for sale in the UK and at 12.99 pounds for a pair ($24.70) they are still a little pricey. But I need a pair! They aren’t even on e-bay yet…

Moixa MXAA02 USBCell AA Rechargeable USB Cell Batteries 4 Pack Kit MoixaIn the future they plan to have cell phones, cameras, 9v and AAA USB rechargeable devices.

UPDATE: The sell these USBcell batterieson Amazon now.

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Atlantis and the ISS

Posted on September 24, 2006 | Leave a comment

AtlantisissHere’s a very cool photo of the ISS and Atlantis passing each other last week. In this picture they’re about 200 meters about (that’s about 650 feet). Be sure to click the link and scroll down to the larger very impressive picture (that’s the sun in the background).

Found at Don’t Forward.

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