I didn't know Robert Scoble could sing!

This is a great parody of "Rock Band" sung to the tune of "Roxanne".

Found at nehatiwari.com after catching her segment on PopSiren. A Revision3.com production.

Technorati Tags: Music Video, puppy, Robert Scoble, Rock Band, Roxanne, The Police

Visacalc changed my life...

Visacalc, I think it's one of those products that changed the world. I'm certain that it changed mine...

For those that don't remember it - Visacalc was the first really popular spreadsheet program (maybe the first), it was before Lotus 123 and Microsoft Excel (it was probably be fore the was a Microsoft). It ran on Apple and Atari home computers (probably TRS-80 computers too). There were some other spreadsheets out there (anyone?) but I'd say that Visacalc was one of the first easily accessible ones. It put really powerful calculations into the hand of anyone allowing them to do a variety of "what if?" scenarios. I'd say that what 99% of what the average people does with spreadsheets these days do not exceed the capabilities of Visacalc from almost 30 years ago (other than graphing).

How did VIsacalc change my life? Jack Parish, the owner of The Doll Hospital and Toy Soldier Shop (a hobby and toy shop two blocks and five houses from my house), was shown Visacalc. I think he bought a computer that day and shortly their-after starting carrying the Atari 800 and 400 computers at his store. He knew they were the things to come, he didn't know all the details but he knew...

So some of us kids started hanging out at the store more and we probably sold as many computers as the sales people. A few months later Jack offered me a job, they were going to start giving away training as his value added benefit to shopping at the store. I was going selling computers and teaching computer classes, teaching classes to kids and adults. My one condition was that I get a computer ASAP, they took a chunk out of my check every week until it was paid off, I got an Atari 800 with a cassette(!) tape drive.

This really did change everything for me. I learned and played and learned. I liked it more than other hobbies because it was fixable, correctable and once you got something done and it was perfect, it ran perfect every-time.

There were a limited number of computer stores in the area and if you owned a computer you eventually visited all the stores, I pretty much met everyone in the Detroit area who had an Atari computer and those people were contacts for me in the future.

So it wasn't really using Visicalc that change my life, just that fact that it existed and started a series of events that got me my first computer. I still would have gotten into computers but it probably would have been a little later in life, having that computer then opened up some doors that I wouldn't have found otherwise and some of those doors would have closed before I found them (as computer businesses tended to do).

Technorati Tags: spreadsheets, Visacalc

The Future of Television

So the future of television is certainly changing. The networks haven't completely caught on yet, but they will. In a day when users can download higher quality video than they currently receive, get shows from parts of the world that aren't available and have the advantage of having no ads and are free (please note this means stolen). We can also buy many of these videos from the iTunes store or Amazon UnBox for $1.99 an episode (iTunes has some at 99 cents for an episode and sometimes get that cheap if you subscribe for season). I know "legal" is not what people think when they hear the word BitTorrent, but BitTorrent.com even sells shows legally these days.

If I could subscribe to a lot of the shows I enjoy for 99 cents an episode and have them automatically download to my AppleTV, TiVo, iPod or other device I'd never have anything more than basic cable. I'm sure this goes for a lot of people. Everything needed (except the mentality) to do this currently exists. The networks and producers of these shows need to somehow start embracing this model before it gets even easier for people to get (steal) these shows for free.

Or charge me significantly less and let me trade the produces some statistical information about myself and let them insert in advertising relevant to me. Give me geeky ads, movie and TV show previews that I like, music that I like. Advertise events and concerts that are taking place where I live. I don't need diaper ads, tampons, bad credit information, refinancing, ads for cars that cost $50,000+, ways to give up smoking. With the right information instead of advertising a new bed which I may have just purchased, they can advertise new pillows or new sheets (and mark in their files to start giving me new bed advertisements in another 5 years) that I might actually purchase.

Even better, let me give "them" lots of information about me, which I'll update a few times a month with information about what I've purchased or I'm shopping for (who in my life has a birthday coming up) or where I'm traveling to. And they can actually pay me to watch television! I'm not looking for a lot of money but just something to make it worth giving them info (besides, think of how much you'd save on cable if it was free!). Maybe some hotel discount coupons when I mention a vacation, or a coupon for Best Buy when they know I'm looking for a new video camera.

Technorati Tags: Amazon Unbox, Apple TV, AppleTV, BitTorrent, future of television, TiVo, Unbox, video distribution

Gmail Paper

So this is a great idea, some have e-mail (gMail) accounts but don't have printers. They access at internet cafes, off their cell phone or at work (where it's not appropriate to print personal mail). But how do you get a hardcopy of your messages? This was a problem the first week or two when my Mom got her computer, she didn't have any way to print.

Solution: gMail paper. You click the "paper archive" button and they'll mail you copies of the messages. "You can read it, sort it, search it, touch it. Or even move it to the trash—the real trash. (Recycling is encouraged)". Of course it's free, it's from Google but I don't see how they can afford the postage, they say that "The cost of postage is offset with the help of relevant, targeted, unobtrusive advertisements, which will appear on the back of your Gmail Paper prints". Here's the FAQs. Obviously I haven't seen printouts yet (I wish they had some in the FAQ) but I'll be ordering a few samples later and I'll post what they look like (although printing an e-mail, then scanning it back in to post it electronically seems a little absurd).

Technorati Tags: free, Google

What is a Network?

So my Mom asks me what her network is, I tell her the name of it but she wants to know what it is. We talked for a bit but she's not liking any of my (wonderful) analogies. Plus the fact that she's wireless now means I can't just say it's the wire...

The closest on a home scale I could come up with was her phone network. She's got the phone wires just like the computer wires and a cordless phone in the house. It's not weird that she doesn't understand the computer network, it's weird that she thinks she understands the phone network...

It's funny the questions people ask when they use technology that they never asked before (I don't mean just my Mom, I'm picking on millions of people here). There are just so many computer similarities with phones, cable tv, and plumbing but people just never seem wonder about it; but when they get a computer they want an answer. I'm thinking that when she's over my house next she'll see all the other wireless networks (in my neighborhood) in her list and that'll help (at least the why of why it has a name). I was sure to leave out the fact that her phone now goes over the cable with the internet and the television channels.

One of the communications issues was to her “network” was a computer word so it just didn't apply when I tried to talk about the network of highways and roads (or the phone network). I'll make sure I have some visual aids next time (and wave my arms around while I talk, that always helps).

And it turns out her community education computer class was canceled. Not enough people signed up...

The Future of Television

The TV industry needs to catch up with reality and the Internet (the 'net is real). They've tried a few things like elling shows on iTunes (for $1.99 an episode!) and other sites and free downloads at their websites (really it's sitting at your computer and watching).

Here's the thing, people (not me) can download it faster and cheaper from the 'net. Oh yeah, it's higher quality and there isn't any ads (but illegal). Over at MiniNova they list an approximation of downloaders (there are dozens of sites like this, some are private). Here's some numbers (and info):

External Antenna for my Treo 700p

So 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).

Geeky Info - I'm generally getting 450-580 kbps on the download speed tests. Sometimes more (up to 700 kbps, but I got low 800s once), sometimes less but still greater than 300 kbps. It helps upload a little but not much.

Heres the thing: It helps best in low signal situations. If you've got a great signal, it doesn't help much. But if you've got a great signal, why would you buy it?

Originally I tried using the phone as a modem via bluetooth (intermittent connections at best) but I decided running with it wired was the best solution. So I tried a program called USBmodem which supports USB connections (and bluetooth, but still not as well as wired). I think the 700p is still pretty buggy with the bluetooth.

They have separate models for the Treo 700w, 650, 600, and 700wx (but I'm guessing they're all the same adaptor cable). I see they also have it for sale with: Merlin S620 and S720; Novaltel v620 and v640; Audiovox PPC6700 and PPC6600; Samsung SCH-i730; Verizon XV6700; Sprint PPC-6601.

Free Word Processing and Spreadsheets

So speaking of free products for your computer there is Open Source (this means free) Word Processing, Spreadsheet and Presentation sotware called OpenOffice and it's no where near as daunting to install as Linux is. OpenOffice is available for Windows and Linux the latest Alpha of the Macintosh version was just released yesterday. The Macintosh version is called NeoOffice 2.0 Alpha 4 (for OS X 10.3 or better) (Alpha means it's still in testing).

By default it's in English but 53 other language packs are available. It's still an Alpha release (testing) but you can still get version 1.22 (but 1.22 doesn't work on the Intel Macs). There is an actual version of generic Open Office for Mac but it requires X11 installed (which makes the process way more complicated) and it's not as seamless IMHO. I've used this and recommend it to most of my Mac friends.

Computers for $25

So I made it in the local newspaper with a (bad) photo and an article about how we're selling the old computers in our school district for $25. Which I thought would be great since we've about 200 to get rid of. But then the phone starting ringing yesterday. The Detroit News wanted some details on it (I haven't seen today's paper to check that yet) and Fox2 News called too.

It's kinda cool that I made Fox2 News at 5:30 (not to be confused with Fox2 News at 5, Fox2 News at 6, Fox2 News at 10, Fox2 News at 10 rerun at 2 am or Fox2 News at 5am which runs until 9am and I haven't watched yet) where I got a short video/sound bite and video of stacks of computers but the problem is I'm afraid I might get more than 200 computer sales, plus Fox2 didn't mention the times and the sale today doesn't start until 1 PM. That'll be the hardest problem is people showing up early.

Maybe it will be fine but it's just hard to tell and it's always better to be prepared for the worst. It's Wednesday and Thursday too so maybe we won't have to run it those days. If you're interested in one just come give me the secret blogger handshake and I'll try and hook you up...

Yahoo! GO TV

With Yahoo's new Yahoo! Go service you can watch previews, flickr feeds, yahoo photos, download music and burn it to a cd. Of course it'll play any of those files from the hard drive (or CD/DVD) and with a supported video card you can record television in a TiVo like fashion.

Unfortunately, Yahoo! generally chokes with a good idea before they get it done, but this is a great one so let's see how they do. Especially since they are doing this just after TiVo has canceled their lifetime subscription and is now charging monthly rates only....

So someone finally tried to cheat me.

Today after coming back from the temple of Horus some guys are trying to sell us some water. They offered it at a decent price (one dollar) but after a few seconds I got them to give me two for that price :)

Here's the cheating part - after about five seconds he chases after two of us and tries to tell me I didn't give him a dollar and he's holding up one Egyptian pound. Now this is possible that I gave him the wrong thing and then I realize would have never gotten one foot away if it was the wrong amount and I'm telling him no (but in the back of my mind there is a little doubt still). Then I notice it's not an Egyptian pound it's a 25 pesters note (one-fourth of a pound) and I know I didn't have any (I'm not sure I've ever even seen any) since they're so cheap I would have saved them as a souvenir, the doubt went away and I had to yell at him to get away.

So we were heading over to take a picture of something that I saw as we were heading to them temple. And we've got some guy following us saying “excude me” and “pssst” so we're totally ignoring him, it's proably the same guy or someone else trying to sell us something but he was pretty persistant. Finally Lea realized it was someone from the ship so we let him catch up. It turns out the ship was supposed to leave immediately. I knew this and forgot all about it, I would have still gone to take the picture but I would have told someone.

Remember the good old days...

So I've got cheap dial-up in my room in Luxor but I'm only connecting at 7200 bps!!!! It's pretty painful but it's only $2 an hour and I don't have to leave the room (I think that's a plus as long as I time things right). I probably won't be updating a lot of photos though...

OS X on a Wintel machine

So now that we have Windows on a Macintosh? Why not OS X on a Wintel machine (a stereotypical windows machine). How many people might buy it whil ewaiting for vista?

Domain Names $2.99

It's back again but only once per customer. Once again, Yahoo is having a killer deal with new domain name registrations. Only $2.99 for a year!! Get your name, your kid's name or business name before someone snatches it up. Usually it's $9.95 but quite often you can get it on special for $4.95.

Unlike previous deals you can only get one year at this price. And you don't have to use Yahoo for anything else (most web servers let you host your domain name anywhere). Back in the old days of the 'net, it was $50 a year with a two year minimum (I'm not kidding). I've been using this for a few domains since the last deal and I haven't had any problems.

Free Anti-Virus Software

One free year eTrust Anti-Virus for Windows. Download it now before the deal goes away...

Gary Says: “We use this at my school district on about 1,000 computers. And it works great for us!”

I'm sure it's legit, it's just a “the first one is free”...

Apple MacBook Pro

So I really want need the new MacBook Pro. The Specs are very impressive and it's gat a great tag line.

“What's an intel chip doing in a Mac?
A whole lot more than it ever did in a PC...”
- Apple.com

Gift Certificates

So I know you're thinking the winter holidays when I say gift certificates but really that's not it. I'm thinking of my birthday which was ten weeks ago and that I finally just ended up spending the last of my gift certificates. And yes, I know that was ten weeks ago, but I didn't want to waste them.

Yesterday I spend the last few at Best Buy for memory for my computers. After moving some around between a few I ended up doubling the memory in the one and increasing the other by 50%. I thought it was going to work out a little better than that (I thought the one had more memory slots) but you can still tell the difference on both of them.

I think most of the gift cards were for Technology or Books or Target (plus I had a few duplicate items that needed to be exchanged). Things I bought with the gift cards were:

If I were to win the lottery...

So if I managed to hit the lottery and get a few hundred million I'm thinking I'd want to share it with my readers. To prove you're a reader I'd have to have some kind of requirement like you've posted a comment in the last six months or something like that; that's beside the point but it might be a reason to start commenting. I only get a few hundred commenters every six months so what's a few thousand bucks per commenter if I just got a couple hundred million?

So here's the sharing part: Assuming I offer you your dream laptop what would you pick (it must exist, you can't make up a non-existant machine) and why? I don't need model numbers, I'm just wondering what features you've want/need and what you'd use it for. In good faith, this would need to be a laptop for you to keep and use, not sell.

Of course, this would also include a year of paid subscription to one of the wireless networks like T-mobile (Border's and such), WayPort (McDonalds and Aiports) or some service I'm not aware of (you did put WiFi in your dream machine didn't you?). Which service would you want/use the most?

Domain Names $2.99

Once again, Yahoo is having a killer deal with domain name registration. Only $2.99 a year and they let you register for up to five years! Get your name, your kid's name or business name before someone snatches it up. Usually it's $9.95 but quite often you can get it on special for $4.95.

Usually cheap prices like this only let you do a year at a time. And you don't have to use Yahoo for anything else, most web servers let you host your domain name anywhere. Back in the old days of the 'net, it was $50 a year (I'm not kidding).

I've been using this for a few domains since the last deal and I haven't had any problems. I'm off to get a few more...

Insecure Windows

So the Security Awareness blogger (and who founded The Security Awareness Company) finally got fed up with the insecurity of Windows and switched to a Mac. I read that he switched his whole company over... There are followup posts in the blog (start at the bottom and work your way back uo).

From Dean's World.

A request for the Macintosh readers (or writers)

Since I've got a high-speed internet connection I've always got programs (processes) in the background that are downloading (syncing) files (iSync, iDisk, podcasts) for me. This is great except when I've got a slow connection. Slow generally means a cable hooked to my cell phone or dial-in or sometimes it just means an extra slow connection.

Here's the problem: I just want to connect via some slow method for a minute and the computer wants to start downloading stuff via iSync, iDisk, podcasts and probably something else I can't think of. All I want to do is very quickly check my mail or the movie listings and it starts synchronizing megabytes of data which is really detrimental as to why I logged on. I need a way to easily turn this stuff off temporarily. I see several ways to do this:

Free Gmail accounts

If you've been wanting a Gmail account (1 GB of storage), I've got accounts to give out, it's your last chance to try and get yourname@gmail.com (they're slowly opening it up to the public). No charge. No cost.

A new super high-tech device!

Note: I see they've cleaned this up a lot (as of April 16, 2005). I might have saved a PDF but that might have been between my last backup and a hard drive crash.

What a bunch of junk...

I can't believe how much stuff I have. A lot of it is old computer/stereo stuff that was a fortune that I can't bear to part with because (A) it was expensive when I got it or (B) what if someone I know needs a spare part for that model someday (in the far future) or (C) someday I might want a bunch of this stuff for the Gary LaPointe Computer Museum (actually if I ever have my own company or consulting firm the lobby/waiting room will be a computer museum of sorts).

Needless to say I cleaned/sorted the spare bedroom and storage area (under the stairs) and threw away a lot of stuff. Grabbed a few things to give a away and put a bunch of stuff in the garbage. The storage room is done, the spare bedroom will never be done but at least you can move around in there (and all the holiday stuff is down and in the farthest corner).

Also this weekend I fixed my car headlight which should have been an easy job (but took forever) and got a friend hooked on the best drug out there, TiVo! She'll never give it up!!!

Next weekend will be sorting/cleaning my home office (now that I've made room in the other rooms to move that junk to).

Technical Difficulties

Sorry for any technical difficulties in viewing the last 24 hours.
PS - Don't change scripts/code late at night!

A laptop at home is safe, but that's not what laptops are built for...

I swear every week I get a few more dents in this thing. It's work's and even if I went through one of these things a year they'd get their money's worth from all the little things I get done a home and weekends 'cause I take it everywhere.

I just went to change the battery and found another dent which made it hard to get the battery out. I de-dented it but it's just one more thing. FYI it's a 12 inch Apple Powerbook G4. And I wouldn't trade it for anything but a faster smaller one. You can keep that 17 inch one, it's too much to lug around. I do miss the plastic case of my old iBook, this does feel like it's going to slip out of my hands (no that's not the cause of any of the dents). Most of them just show up, kinda like that odd bruise on your shin/elbow/etc. that you don't know how it got there. I just want this one to last at least until the 1.5 GHz ones come out...

"A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for." That's the original quote, but can you tell me who it's from from?

 Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper . Crazy, geeky, cool Navy Admiral. Passed away in 92. She's got lots of quotes I find attributed to her, but I never knew they were all hers... PLEASE Leave comments (or trackbacks/pings)
Posted by Gary on Tuesday at 10:24 PM on September 21, 2004.
Related categories: apple, computers, quotes

Get your gMail

If anyone needs a garyMail Google gMail account, leave me a comment and I'll hook you up. I've got 6... 5... 4...

UPDATE: Late Feb 2005 - I have more (lots) invites...

FutureBoy! The game...

A new adventure game, coming out for just about every platform (Windows, Macintosh, Linux/X11, BeOS, Palm OS and Pocket PC). Be sure to check out the site and the trailer.

A new 17 inch iPod?!?!????????

Buy G5 iMac

Starting with a 1.6GHz G5 and 80GB drive with a 17 inch display (it goes up to 1.8 GHz, 160GB drive and a 20 inch display).

. The official Apple page is http://apple.com/imac/ .

Did I mention I need one (or two) of these...

We Have Dial Up

So I'm in a hotel for an all day meeting. I ask at the hotel if they have a WiFi connection or a room where I can access the Internet. The reply -- "We have dial-up". Like's it's something they have, when in reality it's something they don't have. She just didn't get it...

The problem with this is compounded by the fact that the new Mac OS X 10.3.5 update (from two days ago) broke the ability to connect my cell phone to dial out. I feel totally cut off from the world...

E-mail Broke Better

Something has had been up with my e-mail the last few (Friday, Aug 6th-Tuesday, Aug 10th) days. If you sent anything important the last few days (or even not important) please resend it if you haven't gotten a response (or at least don't complain).

Technical support makes me crazy sometimes... If they read the problem the first time it'd really help solve the issue. I list the ten things I know they'll ask, I bold the bizzaro answers that should point them in the right direction and I feel like they turn around and ask me to try the ten things I already told them the results.

Grace Hopper

Quote of the Day (from my today info on the lower right of my page).

A ship in port is safe, but that's not what ships are built for.

Grace Murray Hopper

The other thing that she's attributed with (which I'm more certain she actually said) is:

The nice thing about standards is that there are so many of them to choose from.

Wednesday Whatevers

Don't laugh at this...

Twenty years ago (maybe even fifteen) this would have been heaven. Imagine... Seven MB of removable storage...

I remember somewhere around that time some had hook a ten MB drive up to an Atari computer (via the joystick ports), I'm sure that was a $2,000.00 box at the time. We've come a long way since then. I've ten times that on my keychain and it's a heck of a lot faster and smaller!

Your computer - Weekend Wonderings

From Weekend Wonderings

Wednesday Whatevers

What is the biggest problem in today's society? 1) People need to Smile more! 2) I'm going to give a semi-political answer to this (and yet avoid the war). The government confusing governing with personal matters/morals. They also need to give more money to education! The reason they don't is tied a little into the first statement. The government doesn't get money doesn't get money from corporations, they get taxes; politicians get money from corporations.

How does algebra relate to daily life? How doesn't it? How do I know if it's a better deal to get a six-pack of 20 oz. Coke or a dozen cans for the same price? How can I figure out how long it's going to take to pay off that car? Or if I have enough to get 5 candy bars or 6? Algebra is daily life!

What do you use the computer for most? Lately reading and writing blogs. Other wise looking up movies, sales, a little e-mail, digital photos and such, listening to music and more. I use it at work all the time for research, providing information to others, e-mail, word processing, spreadsheets, powerpoint, training, scanning, etc.

From Wednesday Whatevers

WiFi at Panera!

If you didn't know it already many of the Panera resturant/stores now have free WiFi!

Guess where I am right now?!?

Two Things

A few years ago, I was chatting with a stranger in a bar. When I told him I was an economist, he said, "Ah. So… what are the Two Things about economics?"
"Huh?" I cleverly replied.
"You know, the Two Things. For every subject, there are really only two things you really need to know. Everything else is the application of those two things, or just not important."
"Oh," I said. "Okay, here are the Two Things about economics. One: Incentives matter. Two: There’s no such thing as a free lunch."

For computers I'd say:

1. Reboot if it acts up.
   
2. Backup your files.

To save readers some money I'll include two bonus items:

3. Don't buy the best unless you have cash to burn (or really intense games to play).
   
4. Make sure it's got a good return policy (unless you know it's exactly what you want).

Your Job - Friday Five

1. What do you do for a living? I'm the Director of Technology for a school district, which means if it plugs in (unless it cooks food or heats/cools the building) it's the problem of my department.
2. What do you like most about your job? Getting people excited about using tech in their day. Getting some tool put together for someone to use that makes their life easier.
3. What do you like least about your job? When I tell someone "I don't know" and they reword the question a dozen different ways because the seem to thin I don't. Telling someone the right answer ("I do know") and them not believing that it is the way to go.
4. When you have a bad day at work it's usually because _____... There just isn't enough time to get everything fixed.
5. What other career(s) are you interested in? I love seeing the kids at school. I'd love to just do day care but I don't think that would a good job to help me with my technology habit. Dream job would be to teach kindergarten in the morning and advance computers at the high school in the afternoon or be an astronaut.

5=Time*Money squared - Friday Five

If time and money were infinite, what are the five things you'd love to learn how to do?
1. Learn how to raise a child (via doing it).
2. Travel into outer space.
3. Write a book.
4. Program my own computer operating system.
5. Learn to Paint.

Which of these do you think you'll do anyway, no matter what the economic and temporal restraints are?
1. Raise a child.
2. Write a book.
3. Travel to outer space (if they ever open up public travel.)

I'm not sure if this is my 'regular' Friday Five or a different one. It's delayed since I couldn't find it on Friday.

The Paper Cradles are Here!

Remember a few days ago I mentioned the downloadable paper (cardboard) cradles for the Clie's? Well, here is an example of one!