Opening a Drobo…
You see this.
Their quick start guide is simple and straightforward. Installation was easy, and I haven’t yet cracked open the instruction manual.
Seems like Drobo took a few packaging design cues from Apple. 😉
tech
The Lodge at Koele is Tech Savvy
The Four Seasons Lodge at Koele, Lanai is tech savvy running Google’s Chrome on their public use computers.
And they provide charging stations for a variety of devices.
Though, please note that the iPhone/iPod charger is not compatible with an iPhone 3G (and assumedly 3Gs). When I tried it, the iPhone complained and would not charge with this accessory.
Looking for Wireless Headphones
I’m looking for wireless headphones as a gift. Rechargeable batteries, decent sound, works through walls. Looks like a solid product is the Sennheiser RS120 926 MHz Wireless RF Headphones.
Plus until the end of July, there’s a deal for a free set of CX 300 in-ear headphones. Awesome deal!
Adding su.pr to Pulpconnection
I’m tweaking things a little by adding StumbleUpon’s new su.pr service to Pulpconnection. Su.pr is yet another URL shortening service (still under development) but has the appeal of tapping into the popular StumbleUpon “stumbles.”
Su.pr also has its own WordPress plugin which makes configuration much easier, and su.pr even supports shortening URLs using your own domain. For example, links I “shorten” can look like https://www.pulpconnection.net/asdf, though that’s not a very short URL. I’ll have to play with that a bit.
I also stopped my automatic Twitterfeed that publishes Pulpconnection updates to my secondary Twitter account of @pulpconnection. Instead, I’m leaving that duty to su.pr, but don’t worry, Pulpconnection updates are still Twitter fed to my primary Twitter account.
Let’s see what changes su.pr brings…
Bars and Shorties Are Surging
Can I blame ginx.com for the sudden surge of bars and URL shortening services (shorites) popping up? Ginx.com was the first service I remember that offered both services, but now it seems others are following suit. Many services usually offer one or the other, but more are offering both.
There’s the Digg bar and now StumbleUpon is in the game with Su.pr. Who’s next?
Wow, I Need Me a Mi-Fi!
Now this is cool and absolutely makes sense! Geeks all over are going to want a Mi-Fi device that creates a small Wi-Fi cloud fed by a cellular data connection. Read the article for a better understanding.
Shopping for a Washing Machine
Old Bessie, our longtime washing machine, finally gave out, losing a battle with a waterlogged comforter. So it was off to Sears to find Bessie’s heir. We checked Consumer Reports and went looking for the highest rated Kenmore washer in the reviews (Sears has a sale on appliances this weekend). Other features we want – a front loader that can handle bulky items like pillows and comforters. Sick kids who throw up a lot makes this a necessity!
Due to the bad economy the Sears appliance section is dead with pretty much no customers looking around. So when we showed up, there were quite a few sales people eager to help. Craig started helping us and after talking with him, he showed us washers made by LG. Never had an LG anything before, but he sold it.
Some of the benefits of the LG WM2487HWMA:
- Quiet operation and supposedly less maintenance due to its Direct Drive motor (no belts to misalign or mess with)
- Smaller size for a front loader. We need to fit the washer in the same space as Old Bessie. Most front loaders are very deep since their door design tends to be “bubble-like.”
- TrueSteam cleaning. The steam cleaning is supposed to help clean pillows and comforters without mangling them.
What else? Cost was okay though front loaders are also more expensive. Oddly enough, even though Sears has a sale on Kenmore stuff, this LG was discounted 22%. And the white color is cheaper. And there’s free delivery (coming tomorrow, yes Sunday). And HECO is giving out a $50 rebate since this is an energy efficient washer. And this model was rated #7 in the Consumer Reports guide.   So in all, a pretty good deal.
How well does it work? We’ll see tomorrow.
Griffin Simplifi Dock – Useful!
Reduce desk clutter and combine a bunch of useful devices with the Griffin Simplifi Dock!
Vacation Blogging Brought to You By…
While on my recent Socal vacation, I didn’t have access to a computer for blogging. Instead I updated Pulpconnection using a combination of mobile devices and various Internet services. Here’s a rundown.
iPhone (and built-in camera). My iPhone 3G was the primary device for getting online. I used its okay internal camera for posted pictures.
AT&T 3G Network. I must say that the AT&T 3G network worked well in Socal. Very, very few dead spots or times when I dropped to EDGE speeds. Only at the LAX airport did I have some serious 3G network slowdowns. Other than that, I preferred the 3G network even over WiFi. The free WiFi access at hotels were slow and always required a web login to initiate your session and subsequent logins to keep your session going.
WordPress for iPhone. Since Pulpconnection is now powered by WordPress, I relied on the app, WordPress for iPhone, to make significant blog posts. Though significant is relative since tapping out a lengthy post on the iPhone’s virtual keyboard isn’t the easiest thing to do.
One thing I hope the WordPress team fixes is the image handling of this iPhone app. It seems all images are added to the end of blog posts and can’t be placed within paragraphs of a post. That and sometimes the app’s UI would mess up and not display the necessary navigation buttons at the top. So I’d be stranded, not able to save my post. Fortunately, when leaving the app and coming back in, the app is able to restore my draft.
Tweetie, Twitter (with Twitpic), and Twitter Tools for WordPress. For all shorter blog posts, I used a bunch of stuff. Tweetie is my primary Twitter client on the iPhone. Combined with Twitter Tools for WordPress, tweets can automatically be converted to blog posts. I used this nifty function quite a bit.
Brightkite. To update my Socal location, I used Brightkite. The iPhone’s GPS would find my coordinates which I would check in using the Brightkite service. Brightkite integrates with Twitter and tweets my current location. And with Twitter Tools running, even these location based tweets are converted to blog posts.
So there you have it, my arsenal for mobile blogging without a computer. I will say that it wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but it wasn’t so difficult to stop me. To make this a more ideal setup would be incorporating an ultra portable netbook with a keyboard and USB port to retrieve higher quality pictures from digital cameras. Ahem, Apple?
Damn Linksys Default
Dang, my iPhone continually gets confused with the abundance of the default “linksys” WiFi SSID. Out of the box, Linksys wireless equipment broadcasts on a “linksys” network, and a family member has a “linksys” wireless network which I frequently used.
However, if I ever use my iPhone near another “linksys” wireless network, my iPhone associates with that network which usually doesn’t work. Then I have to “forget this network” in the iPhone settings to restore 3G connectivity and reconnect to the Internet.
I guess I should change the WiFi network name for my relative so I don’t run into this problem…
In iPhone and the Cloud I Trust
For an upcoming trip, I won’t have access to a computer which is a rarity. Instead, I’ll be relying on my iPhone with data stored in “the cloud.” The AT&T 3G network will be my access to the cloud.
I’ll be using the iPhone’s GPS along with Google Maps for directions. I hope to be blogging while on travel and will be using the WordPress iPhone app for that. I might also integrate my Twitter account with Pulpconnection via Twitter Tools so any tweet becomes a blog entry. Unfortunately, blogged pictures will be taken with the iPhone camera which ain’t the greatest. Better pictures will have to wait until later.
I haven’t completely tricked out my iPhone with geo/location or travel apps, but I have added some useful ones like this Disney park guide. Anyone have any recommendations for useful travel iPhone apps?