New Hardware and Soft-"wear"

The Phone

It's been about two or three weeks since FedEx brought me my new cell-phone.

After much research and indecision, I went with the Samsung A727 Cell Phone model.

One of the biggest factors was this review at a great review site infoSync.

I've held off making any comments until I have really had a chance to put it through it's paces.

Likes:

• no more flips, it's a candy-bar format
• very slim, but still feels like I have a phone in my hand
• pictures are very clear
• call-quality is very, very good
• reception is very, very good
• menu system is fairly intuitive
• standby battery life, not too shabby
• messaging is pretty easy, despite the small
• although it is in a case, the rubberized exterior does feel nice.

Dislikes:

• although the screen is bright, it's "room-bright" but almost impossible to see in direct sunlight
• no "voice-calling" like my old Nokia.  I REALLY miss that in traffic
• after taking a photo, it's not intuitive to quickly "save" or "delete" then snap another
• the camera software application takes a bit of time to load going into/out of it
• it can be a bit challenging finding the applications (notepad/tasklist) so I am still digging out the manual from time to time
• DST didn't adjust automatically today.

Keyboard/Mouse Combo

While away on living on the laptop last week, I realized that I had one big issue.  It was very hard to do data-entry with the number keys on the keyboard and awkward to use the embedded 10-key buttons using the function key.

I quickly resolved to pick up a 10-key USB pad for just such occasions once I got back.  I was also wanting to get a second Logitech LX7 Cordless Optical Mouse for work.  I've been carrying my original back-n-forth between work for the past few months.  So once I got in I stopped in the local "Good Purchase" store.

Pricing out the options left me looking at about a $100 outlay for the both. Ouch.

So while considering the options, I noticed that Logitech had a LX 710 Laser wireless keyboard/mouse combo for about $60.  Hmm. Same (almost) LX 7 mouse, wireless keyboard with pleasant key response.  It does have a 10-key pad.....along with the keyboard.

So I got it instead.

Interestingly, I didn't have to install any software on my system as I already had Logitech's SetPoint software up and going with my current LX 7 mouse.  The keyboard and new mouse just worked.  I was surprised to see that it sees each mouse differently.  I don't know if that is tied to the receiver or not. I had to reprogram SetPoint for my scroll-click action settings.  If I turn both mice on, only the new one works. I guess that makes sense if you were sharing wireless mice in a group setting, don't want everyone interfering with each other.  I'm sure this will be an interesting subject to pursue when I have more time.

I'm leaving the new set at home for use on our laptops (or to carry with me with my work laptop on an extended stay) and using the old LX7 at work.  Despite being the same model, the undersides are a bit different with the original having more of a "slot" for the laser optics than the new one which just has a little round and flat surface where the optical rests. It does seem a bit more "jumpy" on the same mousing surface (a super-slick plastic chopping mat) than my original one. The old one also has more of a polished surface feel and the new one is more "rubberized" which is fine, but not as pleasant to the touch.

Modders-Inc - Logitech LX 710 Cordless Desktop Review

Benchmark Reviews:  Logitech LX 710 Cordless Desktop Review

Ideas on this printer?

In our printing life, we have only had two printers; an Epson 640 and Epson 740. That's it.

I'm quite tired of listening to the "fussing" from the girls about how crappy the 740 is now. Looks good for me for daily family printing needs, but I can sense a loosing battle.

The 740 is attached via USB to our desktop system.  I could use a shared printer networking solution, but it's really a bit of a hassle, and I would have to leave the desktop on all-day for access.

As it stands now, when we are using the laptops, we just save the document on USB and then transfer it to the desktop to print (or email-it).

So I'm looking for a Ethernet-capable printer.

After much looking, I've been fairly captivated by the HP Photosmart C6280 model.  It can print photo-quality images from 5x7 photo paper cards, direct-prints from digital memory cards, has a scanner, and carries an Ethernet port so could be used as a true "shared" printer.  And at pricing in the $150-200 range, seems like a good bargain.

However, the reviews seem a bit luke-warm.  And experience at work tells me that many of these HP devices install a slew of auto-start ware on your pc in order to use all the features effectively.  I would think that might be mitigated in the network installation manner, but I'm still cautious.

Any opinions?  Any other recommendations for a new Ethernet able color inkjet printer? 

Usage would be for school reports, printing of odd items off the net to note, the occasional photo-grade digital photo.

Bling

My watch-strap to the cherished Citizen Eco-Drive watch broke. Yeah, I know. How do you break a rubberized watch-band? I don't know but I managed to do it.  I did patch it together with some "Gorilla Glue" for a month, but the repair failed.

What I didn't consider at purchase is that the body has a custom style that renders all standard bands useless to swap-out.  I did some searching on the Net but couldn't ever find a perfect match and some of the sites I did find looked a bit "dodgy."  So I took it back to the jeweler where I purchased it and had it sent in for repair.  Probably will end up being worth more for the rubber bands than it would be to buy a new one....but I do love it.

In the meantime I am back with my super-bling Seiko 7T32 Sports 100 chronograph.  It is a big and heavy "bracelet" style watch with gold and stainless. The face is a deep hunter-green. I've never been able to find a good picture of it on the web.  I don't think it is "rare" but is uncommon. Its been idle for over a year with a dead battery (I know...dangerous) but the reason I stopped wearing it is that after a bang or drop, the day indicator stopped advancing. I can manually update it, but it is annoying. (Repair cost would be more than the price of a new watch.) Other than that, it still keeps perfect time. So it is back on my wrist until my Citizen comes home.

Finally got around to taking Lavie's wedding and anniversary bands in to be re-sized. Her fingers have expanded a bit over all the drug-treatments we have been on.  Most days she won't wear a band anymore, although she does have a cracker-jack box wedding band she wears when we go out.  While I was in Austin for some reason I just decided that we'd talked enough and it was time to get them fixed.

Our jeweler was able to resize them in about an hour Saturday.  Watching Lavie put them on again was amazing. You would have though we were getting married all over again. She gushed and grinned and bounced with joy.  I should have known.  Now I feel bad for not doing it years sooner.

Soft-"wear"

I did look "lightly" for some fitted dress shirts, but was unimpressed with the offerings. Lavie promised to sit down with me and go through the Land's End catalog I got in last week or two.

We did find a cute "World Wildlife Fund" recycled tee at JCPenneys for Alvis.  She has been on a real "green-kick" lately and this with the cute panda logo would be a hit.

We were right.

In looking for this link, I somehow tripped over the DAILY DANNY blog where Danny Seo blogs with light text and heavy pictures on how to add stylish green-living to your life.  Good stuff.

--Claus

Yummy Valca Link Stew!

Apparently this afternoon I discovered a new weakness I have that I was not aware of; shoe-shopping.

I have one very-nice pair of dress shoes, two kinda-scuffed-up pairs of "dress-shoes" for slacks and khaki's at work, two pairs of tennis-shoes (same style, different colors), a pair of hardly-worn running shoes (sigh), two pairs of work-boots that I usually wear during the week, a pair of leather chukkas, and a pair of lace-up Justin western boots. (Not counting my yard-work boots kept with the lawn-mower.)

Yes, I despite the clarity now in typing the above description out...I didn't realize I had a shoe-shopping problem.

I wanted to pick up one or two pairs of lug-soled semi-dress shoes to wear around the headquarters in Austin on my return trips in the next few months. Sure, my regular boots were fine and all, but I wanted something comfortable, but still a bit, um, nicer.

So we set out for the one store where I can usually find a decent selection with wide sizes. When I walked out, I had bought two more pair of semi-casual "sport" shoes, a pair of nice leather semi-casual Timberline lug-shoes, and a pair of semi-casual black lug-soled work shoes. Then Lavie found a nice cute pair and Alvis found two pairs as well. The good thing was that it was buy one, get one 1/2 off...so I didn't break the bank, but it was still quite a hard payout. Four more pairs...where will I put them?

(Alvis says, "On your feet, silly." Everyone wants to be a comedian.)

We ate pizza to recover.

Lavie just smiled....though she still has me beat in the shoe-count.

On to the Link Stew:

"Hard" Ingredients

Fossil Rivers - I really enjoyed reading this BLDGBLOG post this week. It examines the geological and historical changes of the Mighty Miss River. While the post itself is a fascinating read, it is even more fun looking at the fantastically detailed maps and charts created by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, as they charted the different river bank changes. They are works of art in their own right. Simply amazing.

Dell Wants Me to Plant A Tree - Bill Pytlovany is the software author of a great little security program (free/$) called WinPatrol. In his blog post this week, he discovered that Dell has a little "Plant A Tree" option in the checkout lists to offset the environmental impact of various computer hardware items. Sure you have to pay for the tree ($3, $4, or $13) with your order, but the thought is kinda cool. They also have a "donation-based" program where they will plant a tree even if you don't want to make a system purchase; prices vary per offset.

"Soft" Ingredients

AutoRuns for Windows v8.70 - (freeware) Microsoft's Sysinternals utilities just keep getting better and better. The latest version update "adds a number of additional locations that can be configured to auto-start software during boot and logon and runs as standard user on Windows Vista by default, allowing administrators to elevate, if desired, by using a new menu option."

AdExplorer v1.0 - (freeware) Brand-new tool from Sysinternals is "a powerful Active Directory viewer and editor that includes advanced navigation and search features, plus an AD snapshot facility that enables off-line AD viewing and differential comparison."

WinContig - (freeware) is a standalone defrag tool. It uses Microsoft Windows own defragmentation API for the back-end. Not related to Sysinternals Contig application. This tool does have a nicer interface than the standard Windows defrag tool. Note: I examined some other defragging tools in this post: Grand Stream Dreams: Defrag Mosaic and use Auslogics Disk Defrag and the Contig (Sysinternals)/Power Defragmenter GUI (eXcessive Software) combo for most all my own work and personal Windows defragging needs.

MiTeC's Windows File Analyzer - (freeware) Neat little tool for decoding and analyzing some special Windows files in forensic analysis. Handles Thumbs.db files, files in the Prefetch folder, shortcut files, Index.DAT file, and the Recycle Bin. Pretty cool little app. Spotted in a utilities post on Harlan's great forensics blog: Windows Incident Response.

DSynchronize - (freeware) I have a very large collection of must-have/must-use Windows utilities on all my systems and my two primary USB drives (one is for work/one is personal). Keeping them all synced up is a challenge as I am constantly updating the versions of the applications as well as adding new ones. I finally gave DSynchonize a try and am in file-synchronization heaven! It has tons of options and you can even run a "preview" sync action to see what gets added, deleted, and replaced during an sync before you execute for real. Set one or multiple sources and destinations. Do one-way or bi-directional syncing. Man this is an all-out awesome utility. It isn't pretty but it is damn-good. I highly recommend checking this tool out!

Sizer - (freeware) This is a way-cool utility if you have a larger-format/resolution monitor and do web-page design or screen-shot capturing and documentation work. It is NOT Vista compatible. Snag the corner of a window box and a pop-up menu should appear with various "standard" resolutions (640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, or customize your own). Click the size you want and the window snaps to those precise dimensions. Wow! Or set the options to allow the program to appear in the menu-system as an optional drop-down choice. This is another really clever little utility for you graphics workers out there. Spotted on Lifehacker.

Seconfig XP - (freeware). While not an everyday XP security tweaking tool, it is interesting enough to make note. Closes various "target" ports on a system as well as some services and come with three "preset" modes for home, Microsoft Network members, and standalone pc's with VPN access to Microsoft Networks.

Three Ways to Access ISOs - (tippage). This handy Daily Cup of Tech blogpost outlines three methods for getting files out of an ISO image file; Method 1: ISO file extractors, Method 2: virtual CD/DVD drives, Method 3: a virtual pc session. I am familiar with most all the utilities mentioned and this post is well worth a quick review by system administrators and advanced Windows users as a refresher. My personal tool of choice in this department is the incredible (and free/$) ISOBuster program. I've used it in the "free functionality" mode for many years and haven't found anything it hasn't been able to do yet in that mode.

And for the Fire underneath the Pot?

2 Pane Bookmarks :: Firefox Add-ons - Where have you been all my life, little 2 Pane Bookmarks Add-on? I use Sage as my RSS reader in Firefox and the two-pane viewing mode is so natural now to me. So when I found this little gem that promised to load my Firefox bookmarks in a two-panel sidebar view in Firefox, I knew it would fit right it. In the top half, your bookmark folder-tree is displayed for quick navigation and selection. The bottom half contains the actual bookmarks of the folder selected in the top section. It makes breezing through my bookmarks while blogging a delight! Well worth looking into you Firefox fans!

Mmmmmmm. Yummy!

--Claus

Geek-Green Thoughts...

With apologies to Kermit the Frog (video link), it's not easy being green.

Gasoline on the Radio

The other day I was driving home from work and listening as usual to NPR on the radio.

A story came on about the relationship of gasoline and pricing with American consumers.

• NPR : The Peculiar Role of Gasoline in Consumers' Lives (appx. 3:50 mins)

The host and interviewee discuss why we watch it so closely.  

One thing I found interesting was the note that with rising food prices, food manufacturers can re-package many food items with slightly more or less product to keep the shelf price constant and us psychologically in bliss (unless you keep an eye on the unit price...but who does that?)  This struck home the other day when I came home with a box of Rice Krispies that looked just like the one I always get for Alvis.

Only when I put it on the pantry shelf, I noticed it was about 1/2 to 1 inch thinner now than it usually is.  Hmmm.  Tricky.

Unfortunately you can't do the same thing with gasoline.

Two more short NPR gasoline related stories of note:

• NPR : Pain In the Gas (appx. 6:53 mins)

• NPR : Gas Prices Don't Slow Summer Driving Season (appx. 3:25 mins)

Two local Houston refinery connections I found interesting:

• KUHF, Houston Public Radio: Hurricane Series: Impact on Oil and Gas (appx. 3:04 mins)

• KUHF, Houston Public Radio: Hurricane Series: Surprise Hurricane of 1943 (appx. 6:14 mins)

Oil and Gas Related Blogs

Both of our fathers had (almost) life-long careers in the petro-chemical refining industry here in the Houston area.  Lavie's dad is now retired as is mine, although he has gone back to work doing consulting (contract) work for one of the major players again.  My brother has taken up the family business and continues the tradition.  I guess I am the black-sheep of the family.

So we grew up with all the oil and refining talk.  And I guess that makes us a tad-bit more knowledgeable about the industry than the usual consumer.  But I am still finding the whole thing maddening, especially when I listen to the business reports and it seems like each day has a new story about how now "x" event happened and that caused oil investors to drive the price of oil up...or so on.  I know it is more complicated than that, but it is so hard to sort out the hype from the fact in the markets nowadays.

Yesterday as I was waiting for my barber's chair to open up, I was reading a magazine that had some "Green Blog" links.

Some looked kinda tech-related so I keyed the URL's into my cell phone to check later.

• The Oil Drum | Discussions about Energy and Our Future 

This site's mission statement states

We all see the petroleum economy as the fundamental linchpin of our present democratic society. As cheap oil/energy/gas quietly fades into history, lives around the world will indeed change.

This real and tangible crisis of supply and demand is now inevitable. Whether the coming crisis arrives in six months or in four years, whether the crisis arrives in a slow, secular fashion or as a cataclysmic "shock," our purpose is the same: we are here to raise awareness of the reality of the current problem and to attempt to address the real issues that are often hidden by political pandering.

We are here to talk about ideas. We're all learning here about ourselves and from each other. No perspective will be punished as long as evidence and logic are present. We want to bring brain power to bear on all of these issues; we may not come up with a solution…but we can at least say we tried.

What can be expected to happen as this crisis develops and unfolds? Stick around, because that's the kind of stuff we're talking about.

It's got some interesting posts and articles. Worth checking out maybe.

• Daily Fuel Economy Tip blog 

Another interesting blog that offers consumers daily tips on how to help increase your fuel economy.  No wild miracle snake-oil-in-your-tank stuff here.

Just practical tips for the average Joe trying to get buy in the fueled times.

• AutoblogGreen

Great posts for the geeks and gear-heads interested in seeing how green vehicles may one day save our bacon and eggs.  The side-bar has great category/tag links for quick subject searching.

Green Living Blogs

• EcoGeek: Technology for the Environment blog

"Are you an EcoGeek?

Science, technology gadgets and...baby seals. We're in a bit of an eco-mess, but we've got the brains to lick any problem. And that's why EcoGeek.org publishes up to ten stories daily about innovations that are saving the planet. And if that sounds interesting to you, then congratulations, you're an EcoGeek."

This was the other website I took down.

It has a great collection of posts on green technology and its integration into our society.  Not all the products are out yet, but it points to the (hopeful) shape of things to come in the near future.  Well worth bookmarking or feeding.

• The Green Geek blog

Another geek-green technology focused site.  Seems to have a focus on the "bigger-picture" perspective technology can play in helping improve our environment.

I like "big-picture" perspectives.

• sustainable style foundation | look fabulous, live well, do good

Interesting website that has a multi-faceted focus on green sustainability in our society.

Covering areas of fashion, food, film, interior design, travel, music and more throughout popular culture, they take the position that green can be good and have hip-style at the same time.

It's a nicely managed website.

• Wild Thoughts Magazine: Environmental Writing Online

The featured articles written here harken back to the days of "Walden Pond."

Great writing, interesting perspectives, and real green living.

• The Alternative Consumer blog 

Seems a bit more focused for the ladies...and I don't mean that in a disparaging way.

However, it has some great suggestions for green consumer alternatives to products.  The focus isn't just on price and convenience, but also on the company's values and impact. It's a fresh look.

Green Design (Architecture and Products)

• House Hacker :: Stuff for Home

Practical tips on how to recycle and re-task items for better home living. Some clever items in here!

• Jetson Green blog 

I am really impressed by this site.

LOTS of architecture and design posts and material on taking a more eco-friendly approach to architecture and interior design elements.  Lots of quality posts here.  I'm adding this to my feed list.

• Inhabitat

Reporting and investigating the green design in architecture, interiors, furniture, products, fashion, materials and even graphics...this site helps show that green design can be purposeful, fun, and effective in today's consumer society. Another site I'm going to start feeding.

My own simple perspective

While I wouldn't consider myself a eco-green-environmentalist by any stretch of the imagination, I do try hard to keep an awareness of the impact my life makes in the world I get to live in for a few rotations of the earth around the sun.

Lavie and I make an effort to teach Alvis the same sensitivity and awareness of nature, the environment, and compassion for others as well.  We drive smaller cars, live in a much smaller home that fits our needs, pass on Alvis's "too-small-now" clothes to her little cousins to wear a few times more, stuff like that.

Obviously that's a constant challenge in our pop-consumer orientated society here in the States.

But we remain hopeful.

If nothing else, maintaining this perspective, with a few choice blogs will keep us in the loop.

And in the meantime...maybe I'll take up kayaking just in case the water rises too high here on the coast and I need to find a new way to commute into Houston.

--Claus