Olografix Tech Blog

Barracudas are in.

2011-05-12T13:48:00.000-04:00

Currently building my backup solution. I've ordered a d-link DNS-320 from Tigerdirect.ca for 99$ (wow!) with two 1TB drives that will run in RAID1.

The DNS-320 is, on paper, a great update to the d-link lineup! It has a built-in ftp server and an Ajax-based file browser to maintain files remotely among other things. I'll do a write-up once everything is setup.

The Barracuda's (Seagate ST31000520AS Barracuda LP) are in and waiting for their new home. This is my first time ordering drives online so I really hope they are not DOA when I pop them in. I know how delicate the postal service people can be...

These Barracudas have good reviews. At 5900 RPMs they should be able to handle backups and streaming (that's a whole other project!) while keeping the heat down. One terabyte should be fine for now... Who would have thought memory would be so cheap? I know I will look back at this and 1TB will sounds ridiculously small, but right now, it's alot of storage!

What I like about the DNS-320 is that it can run on its own and I can shutdown the PCs. It even has a USB port to connect a printer so no need for a PC running to share it.

More to come when everything is setup.

Twitter is suddenly not what I thought it would become

2011-04-19T15:34:00.000-04:00

My first thoughts of Twitter (and probably what it was meant to be) was that it was this useless community texting tool for people to think that their life was actually interesting to others.

With that definition in mind, I had no interest for it. I had no friends that tweeted and did not care about stranger's thoughts or actions.

But now, Twitter is transformed. It is actually a media outlet and a little more, I'll explain how. Sure there will continue to be these people who think someone else cares about them being in the toilet, but thankfully, you can easily ignore these people!

The reality is, with media moving so fast and information flowing at the speed of fiber optics, Twitter is now a connection to live events of interest. For me, the interest started with technology news and an easy way to filter articles that could be of interest to me without going to a million sites. Later, it became a source for rumors in the hockey world by following a few key people either by reference or by reputation (sports writers). Then, you realize that athletes you actually care about (it started with @MaxPacioretty67 and the savage attack he received from Zdeno Chara) are tweeting away and it's actually nice to hear from them directly and not from the twisted quotes that reporters shove in their mouths!

In today's age, and with my limited time, I don't always care about reading a 500 word article, but if a reporter is at a practice and something happened, a quick line keeps me in touch with current events. One thing that will remain true is that I don't care to make friends on Twitter and I will not follow just anyone. Nor will my life dream be to be followed by a gazillion people. I don't care if nobody follows me, I don't say much anyways!

Samsung just made me excited about tablets again!

2011-03-22T14:42:00.000-04:00

As soon as last week I was writing that I did not need a tablet. Well, today, Samsung announced the 8.9 and 10.1 tablets at CTIA. I've got to say, those tablets are pretty sexy pieces of hardware!

The first thing that stands out is thickness. They are the same thickness as the iPad2 (actually 0.01 inch thinner, but who's counting!). The 8.9 is really the one that caught my eye. Running this device with Android Honeycomb (3.0) plus an added TouchWiz (which all of a sudden does not look bad!) makes it attractive. I can see myself in the car tethering off my Galaxy S hotspot's 6GB of data. The idea does not seem far fetched. The Xoom had potential, but seemed to fail performance-wise. Of course I'll wait for some reviews before even considering an 8.9, but at first glance, this thing may be the first tablet to start the iPad decline. I might be wrong, but it seems manufacturers have caught up, and like the iPhone, devices will start to be on par and even better than the iPad. Widgets on a tablet just make sense to me and unless Apple changes it approach, it will never get my money for that reason. Speaking on money, the pricing is now on par (and better in the case of the 8.9 at 469$) and from past experience, they might drop after a few months giving Apple something to think about.

There is a concern though. Samsung's TouchWiz, although improved, means that Android upgrades will have to go through Samsung before being pushed out. We've seen this problem before with the Galaxy S series. Sure it took some time, but in the end I got my Froyo and it's been a smooth ride since the second upgrade (gulp). I wonder if these devices will get Gorilla glass like the Galaxy S. I've been pocketing my phone with no protection and the screen is absolutely intact.

So I'm back with one foot on the tablet bandwagon. I can't say that Sammy will be getting my money just yet, but they've got me interested. I'd really like to see a 350$ tablet with comparative specs as the 8.9 but I know that won't happen just now, why price it low when it will sell higher... but maybe they would sell more if they were priced lower... hmm.

Back from... I dunno, just back.

2011-03-11T09:34:00.000-05:00

I must admit, I was in a writing rut. Recently, nothing has got me excited about gadgets. I've been looking for a monitor to hook up to a desktop I had and just recently found an Acer 22" monitor for pretty cheap so I went with that.

Now, I'm in the market for a 1TB hard drive to store all my stuff. I'm very intrigued with the Samsung drives. I wish Maxtor was still around as they were the only company I really trusted with my data!

Anyhow, I think I'm back to writing. My problem is I'm not sure what to write about. I've been looking at the Motorola Xoom tablet as being pretty interesting running Honeycomb and all, but I still think the money is not worth a tablet right now. Whether it be an Android tablet or the "magical" iPad2, they're just big toys and nothing else. There is no "need" for a tablet. Seriously, I saw someone on the subway with an iPad and they were playing solitaire on it! Solitaire? Really?

I will say that I'm increasing my belief that there is no need for a Windows7-based tablet. The more I play with Android, the more I like how it works and its possibilities. The fact that manufacturers are customizing the launchers does not bother me at all. At some point someone will get it right. Apple has it wrong in my opinion with the lack of widgets and a desktop. It "might" be fine for a phone (and even then I'd rather widgets on my phone) but it is not functional on a tablet with tons more of screen estate.

It might be that we just bought a van and spending money is kind of on hold right now. The Honda Odyssey we got is a base model. Gadget-wise, it is pretty boring but we just could not afford the higher-end models with rear entertainment systems, navigational panel, etc. I guess I'll have to tweak it as we go along. When the kids get older, they'll surely want tablet-like stuff for entertainment, until then, all they get is a DVD player!

So I'm not really excited about anything on the market right now. My Samsung Galaxy S still keeps me busy and happy. App stores are a great thing and with the release of the Android Web Market it's fun to browse apps. I'm also waiting on the release of Skype with video support for Android. I can't believe they have not released it yet! I understand they bought Qik and all, but why wait so long to release the app? With more Android users than iOS as I write this, a lot of people are waiting for this release!

Cruising with the Bluetooth

2011-01-14T10:25:00.000-05:00

Over here, we have regulations that don't allow us to use cellphones while driving. Thus, you need a headset or something of the like to use your phone if it rings... unless you pull over to take the call. Yeah, right.

I once ordered a cheap Motorola (knockoff?) ear piece from eBay and it was absolutely the worst experience ever. The fact that you have to remember to put something that does not fit well in your ear is an absolutely ridiculous concept except if you are one of those people that walk around will the ear piece in your ear all-day. To you, I say, how do you do it?? I guess you have to be pretty important to have to do this, which, in any event, I am not!

Anyways, I put on my Christmas list to have a hands-free speakerphone. Luckily enough, my girlfriend picked me and decided to get it for me. So here are my thoughts on the Jabra Cruiser. First, it looks very sleek and it's very thin. There are four status lights in the front of the unit. Buttons include on/off, volume up/down, FM emitter, play/pause/stop, track forward, track backwards and finally, but not least, the answer button. The device comes with a cigarette lighter plug with a USB port and a USB-to-MicroUSB cable which I was very happy to see as I will be able to use this to charge my phone too.

For a while, I must admit that the "play" button was the "answer" button! I was a bit frustrated because it always started my music player! Then I did what any good tech person does : I read the manual! It turns out the answer button is the whole front part of the unit where the lights are located. Which makes sense. It's better to have a general are than a small button. the other thing worth noticing is that the metal wiring that clips to the visor is the antenna. I suggest not breaking that part!!

A neat feature of this model is that is can connect to 2 phones at the same time. Which means that if me and my girlfriend are in the car, whether her phone or mine ring, the call is routed to the device.

I ran into a couple issues. The first was that after syncing my Galaxy S, people said that although this thing has dual-microphones for noise cancellation, they could barely hear me but I could hear them loud and clear. I contacted support and they suggested I turned off my phone, pulled the battery for 30 seconds and do a factory reset on the Jabra (hold volume up/Answer/FM) and re-sync the Bluetooth. Apparently it seems to have fixed the problem and I must say that I was happy with customer support's assistance. My girlfriend's phone has not issue in that regards.

The second issue is that the device does not connect automatically to my phone all the time. The Jabra goes to sleep if not connected to anything for 10 minutes. When I get in my car, all I should have to do is click the Answer button to wake it up and have it connected automatically. This does not always work. Sometimes, I have to power off the device and power it back on and then it connects automatically.

Feature-wise, everything else works great. The FM emitter does a good job of transmitting audio to the car for both calls and music (though this is a feature I don't use much). The speaker is plenty loud, I can't use it at full sound, it's too loud! Also, the battery life on this device is ridiculously good. I have charged it the day after Christmas and I have yet to charge it again (as of Jan 14th). It is true that we make light use of it, but they boast 30 days of standby (I think) and that seems to be accurate.

So there you have it, I recommend this device although I'll have a better idea after using it for a bit longer. Also, I see that the Cruiser2 (shown left) is now out. It seems to have pretty much the same functionality but I like the new button layout especially for volume up/down.

Christmas gadget : Kindle 3

2010-12-29T11:35:00.002-05:00

My girlfriend reads a lot, I mean a lot a lot. I figured with her going on maternity leave and being in waiting rooms and feeding the baby and everything, having to lug around a brick can't be fun. With the price of the Kindle dropping, I figured it was time to get an eBook reader.

Here is what I knew I wanted :

E Ink display. With the amound of reading going on, I could not afford something that needed plugging in daily. Also, I knew my girlfriend would always forget to plug it in.
Small, lightweight
Quality of display
I did not need 3G connectivity. My Android-powered phone can turn into a Wi-fi hotpsot at any time to download a book
Anything else is a bonus

In Canada, we basically have the choice between the following products :

The screen and keyboard of the Kindle really set it apart and the price was just right. The Kobo just looked weird to me and the Sony product did not have a keyboard for my target price. So the Kindle it was and I think I made the right choice. The 6 inch 3rd generation Kindle is a pretty impressive product. I did not expect it to be as thin as it is. The screen is stunning. When we first opened it, everyone though the image on the screen was a sticker that had to be peeled off! I told them no, that is what it looks like and powered it on.

Within minutes we had bought a book and I lost my girlfriend for the rest of the weekend. She was thrilled. I won't talk about basic functionality. I mean, you buy a book and you read it. You can also get magazines (a bit limited right now) and newspapers. There is a small delay when you turn the pages, but it's the same as flipping a page in a real book. The form-factor is amazing. It is very light and makes reading a bed a charm not having to bend the pages of a 400 page book! The keyboard is very functional but I have not had time to try and take notes and then see what happens when connected to a computer. Also, I understand that not all eBook formats can be read, but I've found that there are converters out there (just Google them) to use other type of documents on the Kindle. PDFs can be read natively on the other hand.

Wi-fi connection was very easy. It connected, I entered the password and voilà, I was online. The one thing I had to try was browsing the net on the experimental browser. I did not expect much, but I was surprised by how usable it actually was. My mother-in-law was amazed that I was able to get the lottery numbers from the reader!! I was able to read-up on sports scores and stories just fine. I could see me girlfriend whipping up the reader and peeking at Facebook at the coffee shop. Of course, it is not a full web experience, but it is an interesting bonus.

The other thing I tried was installing Kindle on my Android phone. Everything that was purchased was automatically synced and I could open a book and keep on reading from the last read page with their "Whispersync" product. You can use the following QR code to get the app.

I also tried text-to-speech functionality. It worked fine but I can't say I would use it though. There needs to be a way to improve the robotic voice speech. Something appeasing that won't get on your nerves after 2 minutes!

The other thing this little gadget needed was protection. Knowing the state of my girlfriend's purse, I knew I could not leave it bare! So I ordered the Built neoprene sleeve. Sure I had to pay shipping and customs fees, but this was the only product that provided easy access to the Kindle and looked good too! I did not want to have to bother with a zipper (like so many other products do). I don't have it yet, but based on reviews, I doubt I will be disapointed with it.

So all in all, I must say I am very satisfied with the Kindle. My girlfriend is not a very "gadget" girl, but is very happy with the product and has used it everyday since it was unwrapped. I am certain that it will be a gift that will be used for a long time!

Backup solution, my new obsession!

2010-12-24T10:18:00.000-05:00

Here's something everyone should do, but nobody does : Backup. And part of those that do backup, don't do it well. Like me. Not so recently, I was upgrading my computer and had to reformat my hard drive. No problem I thought, transfer everything to my external hard drive, clean format my computer and get everything back from my external hard drive. Right? Wrong. My external drive decided to die on me in the exact same time frame that my computer was being setup.

So I lost everything, well, almost. I had been given a free 1-year subscription to Carbonite and had given it a try. You install a client on your PC, tell it what folder you want to backup and everything is sent over on the web to secure encrypted servers (at least we hope it is secure!). The thing is pictures are synced automatically, but not videos, they need to be synced manually. Being the optimist that I am, I never synced my videos. I know, idiot.

What this means is I could get all my pictures back and now the drive's data is in a shop somewhere with someone trying to get back my videos.

What is the poor consumer to do? I've been obsessing about what a good setup is. I want my data to be available and secure. I tried to find on the web what the best solution is but all I can find are "RAID is worth nothing" articles and "RAID vs. Backup" articles. What these articles don't say is what you should do! So my advice is, if you can, do both (RAID and backup). If you can't do both, then backup off-site. Burn it and put backups at the bank, friend's or family's place, use an external web-based service. Just do it. Have 2 or 3 backups. One more time : BACKUP!!!

Here is my master plan that I will put in place shortly. I've done a small diagram to get things started :

Here is I plan to make this work. I got a Home PC for dirt cheap. It's a P4 with a 40gig drive. It will act as a small home server. This PC will run the Carbonite client to backup everything in a specific folder on an out of location server.

The second part of the data protection strategy is to have my data mirrored at home. I don't just want an external drive that could fail, I want two copies at all time. Enter the RAID 1 setup. I've been trying to find information on what is the best setup for this. There are many possibilities, ranging from RAID 0 to RAID 5, internal or external, software or hardware RAID, it just does not stop. In the end, there are two options that I stopped on. The first is to get an external RAID enclosure that is connected via eSATA or USB (2.0 or 3.0). These range in prices depending on brand, hard drive slots and available ports. Keep in mind that these enclosures do not include the drives themselves. I've been looking at the Startech Dual Enclosure which runs around 70$ on Amazon.

The other popular option are D-Link products. The DNS-321 provides dual RAID 1 storage with a network connection. This means that you don't need a standalone computer (although I choose to use one) and plugin the device in your router. It becomes a shared drive on the network available to all. The DNS-323 provides the same specs but adds a USB printer port and a few other options the 321 does not. I've seen mixed reviews on these devices, but in the end I've had a personal recommendation from a colleague with positive comments.

Then you have to pick your drives. I'm going to go with two 1TB or 2TB Western Digital Caviar Green hard drives. I chose the green line because they are more energy efficient and don't run as hot which is important when set side-by-side in an enclosure. This will allow me to have plenty of storage. I must admit that I hold a grudge against Western Digital because the drive that failed was a MyBook series external hard drive but I have to get over it chose what the best product out there is. Note that two 1TB drives won't equate in 2TB of storage. These drives will be setup mirrored so whatever happens on one drive will happen on the other. If one drive fails, the other will be a copy. To backup to a new drive, you insert the drive and the RAID array will rebuild itself.

I must add the RAID "haters" comments here. RAID is not a backup solution. It provides data availability in the event of a crashed drive. If your enclosure is stolen or in the event of a fire, you will lose your data. If you delete a file by mistake, it will be gone on both drives. What it does provides is that if one drive fails, then you can still access your data. For example, if you need access to your videos, you won't have to download them from your backup solution (Carbonite). You have a backup solution, right? I understand RAID is not for everyone, and certainly not for people who are not technologically inclined, but this is my technology and I've decided that it is a must for me!

The next part of my setup is to backup some of my phone data. I will have a Dropbox client installed on my PC. I have a Dropbox client on my Android-powered phone. If I want to backup a picture, I can move the file to my Dropbox sub-folder on my phone and it will be copied over to my Home PC. What I intend to setup from there, is use Download Mover to move files from that specific sub-folder to a sub-folder in my Carbonite backup folder. Why not just backup the Dropbox? Well, Dropbox has a limit of 2GB and I intend to move videos a photos there regularly. By moving the files to another folder, the Dropbox folder won't fill up. Sure I will need to go to the PC and backup the videos manually, but I'll have to do that anyways for my other videos.

I think that covers everything. I just want to stress that using a product like Carbonite (or Mozy) is probably enough (as long as your are disciplined with videos). It certainly is a minimum for peace of mind. The RAID setup gives you quick access to your data if something should happen at home. I'm just trying to be extra-careful. I got burned once and I don't intend to let it happen again!

Samsung or Google? who is responsible for this?

2010-12-16T10:38:00.000-05:00

It seems the SGS (Samsung Galaxy S) Vibrant on Bell is running into Internal SD failures. It is a problem reported by many and they have to send their phone in for repair (4-5 weeks they are told!!).

I thought I was in the same boat (and maybe I am). After a call I received, I put the phone down and all of a sudden it started vibrating randomly. So I wake it and it keeps on vibrating. Then, I start seeing "Force Closed" messages for different apps. Can't open Facebook app, Twitter and even can't manage applications.

I knew of the Internal SD problems so I figured I was doomed. I shutdown the phone, even then the phone was vibrating, odd. I restarted. No dice. I got pass the Samsung animation and the screen went black and more vibrations (is this why they call it the Vibrant?). I pull the battery and figure I'll try recovery mode.

So I press Volume Up + Home + Power for about 10-15 seconds (past the Samsung intro screen) and am presented with the recovery options. I figured I'd go all out so I chose to format the internal SD memory and do a factory reset. This means I lose all my data (which luckily was backed up). I click reboot phone and I'm back in business... but I am very scared.

I have a feeling the phone will die sooner or later. Odds are this is a hardware issue with the internal SD but it is odd that this comes a few days after a Froyo install. Some say the flashing firmware accelerates what was going to happen anyways in the long. If true, better to have these failures now than when the warranty runs out! Also, it means Samsung is to blame for choosing cheap parts for their internal SD. Well, surprise, with all the repairs that will be needed, it will cost you more in repairs than the extra 20$ it might have cost you to put in good hardware!

So how long will my phone last? Part of me wishes it had died right there and then. I'd be really frustrated to ave to send it in and be left with whatever cheap loaner phone I would have been given, but on the other hand my phone would be fixed. Now, I feel like I have a ticking time bomb on my hands. It could fail at any time, or not. Only time will tell.

Got my Froyo (2.2) for Android

2010-12-10T11:33:00.001-05:00

This was something else to setup. Not because of Android, but because of software developed by Samsung called Kies. Kies is a pretty sad piece of code, it takes ages to install, requires .NET framework, takes ages to open and provides features that you'll never use when you plug your phone to your computer. These features are possible from your phone anyhow, that's why you got a smartphone, right?

I got the dreaded "MTP Application" error that could not install. It just kept looping and would not recognize my Galaxy S. Well the problem seems to reside in filenames with extension that contain more than 16 characters after the last period. That's right, as much as it seems ridiculous, it seems to be true! Someone wrote a program to find those Evil files. And here are the instructions I found to make this happen. If that download link does not work, Google "FileSearcherforKiesFix.zip" and you can find it easily. In the end, I still had to factory reset my device (make sure you backup all you data first!!!) by going to Settings -> Privacy -> Factory data reset. After the reset, my phone was recognized instantly and I was able to upgrade.

I did run into a glitch though. Near the end of the upgrade procedure, the progress bar froze and my phone screen went blue (Blue screen of death!!!). After 20 minutes of panic, I posted on XDA and a kind soul (thanks BlackDino!) provided the following instructions which worked perfectly :

Unplug, kies will say something went wrong would you like to recover the rom.
Click Yes.
Then remove your battery and boot into download mode
(Vol down + home button + Power)
then kies will ask you to plug in your phone.
do so and click next

To be noted that a pink screen of death is the equivalent. After this, the upgrade process restarted and completed successfully.

Funny note, I actually called Samsung Client Care (1-800-726-7864) to see what they would say. No offense to the kind gentlemen that answered, but "waiting 25-30 minutes for the process to finish" and "if it does not work, read up on Kies documentation, just Google it" proves to me how laughable live support is.

So after loading up Froyo on my phone, first thing I noticed is "wow, this thing is fast!". Downloading and installing apps is probably 5 times faster than before. That's pretty impressive. Next, I fired up the browser and sure enough, I had embedded youtube flash videos in the webpages!! That made me smile!

I also quickly installed Chrome to Phone to replace LinkPush. I really like LinkPush (as seen in a previous post) but when Google release Chrome to Phone for Froyo, well, I just could not resist going with the Google product.

Other enhancements include longer battery life (still testing), auto-dimming of the screen brightness and moving apps to the SD card.

Lets see what else I can find that blows me away!

Cellphone Security will be a problem

2010-12-08T14:56:00.001-05:00

It seems more and more stuff is being built into cellphones. And why not, almost everyone has one and you have it with you at all times... right? Unless you lose it. I don't have numbers, but I recall an article where it was said that so many phones are lost every day that it is a scary thought.

You have a smartphone. You install dozens of apps to gain access to your "connected" life. Social networks, check. Email, check. Banking accounts, check. eBay account, check. You always check the "Remember my password" because it's a pain to have to enter them each time. And now the Nexus S will have a NFC (near field communication) chip to have secured purchasing by just swiping your phone close to another chip.

Next, you lose your phone. Of course, you have not bothered to put a lock code on your phone (and on touch screens these can be seen by finger smudge!). Someone finds your phone and has access to all your info. Ouch, scary thought, no? It's not just that you lose everything you had stored like photos and videos (which you probably have never backed up), it's scarier to think that someone can consult your bank account and make purchases right there and then.

So what is it we need to counter this? I think the first thing is something that will really protect your device being accessed. Here is an app that is not available yet but holds great promise (at least the concept does). Blue Planet Apps is working on BioLock. Once installed, use device can only be unlocked by one of three ways: Retina Scan, Face Recognition or a password. The first two options are of interest. Retina scan will scan for a picture of your eye using either the front or rear-facing camera. Face Recognition will do the same with your full face and is said to be able to make a difference between a real face and a photo. I think this type of security holds great promise. The hardware is there, the processing power is there, it was just a matter of time before it happened. BioLock is nearing Beta status, I can't wait to give it a try!

The other thing available is a remote locator/lock/wipe of your phone. What this means is you have software installed on your phone and you register it to a service on the web. If you lose your phone, you can go to website and remotely ask to give the location of your phone and it will usually show up on a Google Maps type interface. You can also give it the command to remotely lock your phone or wipe your phone data. I've been looking at Lookout. For free you can backup contacts (although I recommend setting up your contacts on Gmail and have then sync automatically from the cloud), have some sort of anti-malware software scan your programs and you get a phone locator which will give you position of your phone and you can tell it to "scream" which will blast a horn on full audio. For free, you won't get lock and data wipe though.

For a Samsung Galaxy (or Wave) phone Samsung created Mobile Tracker which seems to be available only for the UK and Germany right now... boo Samsung.

For backup services, I'm trying to get all my pictures and videos in sync with Picasa. I'm testing out a product by PixelPipe to push photos straight to Picasa. Needless to say, there are a ton of pics and videos to sync so the initial push is a bit of a pain, but it should be worth it in the end. The problem is the 1Gig limit of Picasa. I think I will bust it, we'll see.

Anyhow, I'm sure there are other options out there. The goal here was not to give the perfect solution. It was to raise awareness of security for cellphones and give out a few options I've been looking at lately.

Pocket Legends... MMO in your pocket

2010-11-26T14:49:00.002-05:00

I have to talk about the first game I thought was worth purchasing on my Android phone. Pocket Legends is a Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) game that was developped for iOS and Android. For those who know World of Warcraft, Pocket Legends is WoW on a phone! You can play three different characters: Sorcerer, Archer and Warrior each with different skill-sets and game-play.

This game is actually on a "free to try" model. It allows you to move your character up to 15 levels and navigate two "worlds" for free. To continue past that point, you have to buy Platinum (4.99$ for 30 Platinum). The next "world" costs 4 Platinum and so on which is very reasonable considering the product you are getting.

This game makes full use of the phone's hardware. With a full 3D world you can zoom in and out, pan your view and truly enjoy how much phones (or portable devices because you can use this on a iPod Touch) have evolved. I'm running a 1Ghz processor in my phone is the game runs very smoothly. Gameplay is actually very intuitive using only the touchscreen. Of course, my endless hours of playing Diablo are probably of some help!!

I love the third-person view and from what I've seen, multi-player is actually very pleasant and easy to get on. You can even build a friend list and join them quickly when you enter the game.

What I really like about it though is that it runs on my phone! Having two kids, it's not always easy to make some time for video games. I must say that I had just about abandoned them completely. Pocket Legends allows me to play when I need a break from it all, anytime I want.

The game is very addictive and I think Spacetime Studios have really hit a home-run with this game. Their business model is a very good one. I'm all for free apps or banners, but I must say that this game deserves to be banner-free and the small fee ensures support for the players and revenue for the programmers. I must applaud their effort.

Since going to the US, my battery lasts longer.. uh... what??

2010-11-19T13:49:00.000-05:00

I know this cannot be correct, but still, it is my theory right now! But seriously, what I did notice when being in the US (Philadelphia area) is that cell reception seems to be much better than what we have here (Montreal). I had my Samsung Galaxy S set to disable data roaming of course so maybe that made a difference too and would have access to wireless data when at different family member houses.

I am presuming that because there is better cellular service, the phone does not have to "look as hard" to find a network and maybe this saves battery.

What I did do recently is purchase a few alternative power cables. I now plugin at work, at home at night and in the car on long travel. It is very seldom that I run out of juice now. But to get back to my "battery lasting longer", it seems to be true. For example, I forgot to plugin last night so the phone was unplugged from 4:30pm to when I picked it up in the morning (7am) and I check my battery and it was at 84%. Sure, I did not use it that much during that time, but still, that's more than 12 hours and low battery drain. I've been observing this for a few days now (not that I'm complaining!).

With Froyo three weeks away (I spoke to a store rep and they received official word from Samsung), I'll be curious to see if I see a difference

Viruses are a pain to deal with...

2010-11-03T10:26:00.001-04:00

Nothing irritates me more than viruses. People waste so much time creating these sophisticated viruses (most look like anti-viruses) that are just time-consuming to deal with. Why can't these people just uses their talents to make something productive instead? Obviously these people have talent because they can find security faults and exploit them (and I'm talking about the real hackers, not the kiddies who copy-paste source code to modify it a little bit). Imagine if the hackers spent all their time doing something positive and that the anti-virus makers spent their time not fighting these viruses and doing something else, we could have some amazing pieces of software in our hands!!

I'll just add my personal experience in case it can come handy for someone else. Last night I came home to an infected computer. I've seen this virus before, it "installs" and tells you that "Antivirus 2010" (a clone of "Antivirus 2010 Security Centre") has detected malware and just prevents access to your own file, constantly showing annoying prompts and various warnings. I'm not sure how it works, but it seems that just by navigating to a site, all of this installs. It must run through some ActiveX exploit or something. It all looks very real, but my best advice when you see this is not to panic. Spam was not sent from your computer, your files are not deleted, whatever, it's not as bad as it looks. It's just a very frustrating experience.

The first thing I would do is boot in safe-mode and backup whatever is important on your computer. This is a precaution you will not find in the guide below but should anything happen, at least you have your files.

You can find full instructions for removal here and they work (I've used this twice now and both were successful). Big props to Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (I know the name sounds fishy, but it is very legit and efficient). I used to use Spybot but it proved inefficient with this specific problem.

As far as prevention goes, I'm not quite sure what is best. One thing I'm going to do is create another user and give it admin rights. Then my regular user will get its admin rights revoked. I don't know why I have not done this before, just lazy I guess. If I need to install something I'll have to change user, no big deal. At least whatever virus won't have access to an admin account when I'm browsing with my regular user. The second thing will be to revise my IE security settings, again, laziness.

So there, hopefully this will not occur anymore and I won't have to stay up until midnight to clean up my computer again. There is no way I could have gone to bed knowing this annoyance was on my PC!!

Multi-Zone Home Audio

2010-10-28T13:55:00.002-04:00

When we built our house two years ago, we had the splendid inclusion of pre-wiring the house for multi-room (zone) audio. It was great to have this because the concept of having ambient audio coming from the ceiling instead of, say, the theater system meant more audio at different places and with a multi-source system, you could listen to different audio in different rooms. Ah, the possibilities.

Of course, what you don't realize is that when you move in to a new house, unless you budget for specific expenses, there are always more important things to buy than home audio stuff and so what you end up with is four rooms with wires hanging out of the ceiling! Esthetically speaking, it's really ugly, but what bothers me more being a tech person is that the possibility is there, I just can't use it.

The big debate is should I look into the affordable solution or should I wait for more budget and better audio experience. The fact that kid number three is on the way, I am more than positive that the budget solution will prevail, but it's always fun to dream, right?

The budget solution is the "Elevate" by Breathe Audio. It's a 4-zone, 2-source system and this was what was pre-installed in the model home we visited before we started construction. It was hard to tell the actual quality of the sound with the house being empty (no furniture) and lots of echo. The controls seemed to work well. You can turn a room off/on, adjust the volume and change the source from the wall mounted interface that is mounted for every room. Speakers are sold separate, but Breathe also sells their own and they can be found on Ebay for a pretty reasonable price. They can be wall mounted or ceiling mounted and come in both mono (2 speakers in a room) or stereo (I'll need a stereo one since I have one installed in the bathroom). Total package for this installation will run for about 700 to 1000 dollars if you shop it right. You'll see some reviews that say that the quality is not great, but to be fair, you're paying under a thousand dollars for it all.

And then there are the others which will run you well over 1000 dollars (Sonos, Truaudio, etc.). These companies are not your usual players (Sony, Toshiba, Pioneer) and it's kind of difficult to figure out what is good strictly by using Google for someone who knows nothing about advanced audio. I must admit I started looking at the more advanced solution but quickly realized that it was a waste of time for my budget. From what I saw, the functionality is pretty much the same, but I am pretty convinced that sound quality would be much better. Not being an audiophile, I don't think it would matter much to me.

This is the sort of purchase that will be hard to do entirely on the net, you need to do research on and off the computer. I think the best advice I can give is to find a retailer/showroom and test-drive them. You'll know what the systems sound like and you'll get an initial quote. That's my next step and then after Christmas, we'll see if I can afford anything and get rid of those hanging wires from my ceiling!!

Creating a link between a TV and your PC

2010-10-22T14:30:00.001-04:00

I have not found a convenient way to output video or pictures to my TV. I've looked at many options, but nothing has excited me much. All the solutions out there are either pricey or just not very user-friendly.

For a while now I've been looking at Blu-Ray players as my poor little Hi-Def TV is hooked up to my very low-def DVD player (does not even do upscaling so my DVDs always play with a top and bottom black bar). Now that wireless DVD players are dropping in price, I figured this had to be an interesting option as I could probably stream computer content to my TV. But the reality is that I don't often rent movies and would much rather stream movies from the web (I don't mind paying) instead of going to the rental place. So the question is, do I need a Blu-Ray player? And if not, is there anything else out there? The answer is yes.

There is an incredible abundance of products coming to market right now. From integrated products (all TVs with integrated Wifi and custom software) to seperate boxes (Google TV, Apple TV and others). Which to choose right now is just a gamble. We are sort of at an VHS/BETA or Blu-Ray/Hi-Def DVD moment in wireless media. Everything is good choice but you know that one will emerge as victorious. I think the winner this time around will be dependent on product support (ongoing development/upgrade) and ease of use. I really believe that discs will end up disappearing and replaced by the web/streaming. It makes sense, the bandwidth is getting there (if we were in some parts of Europe this would not be a problem anymore) and it'll just plain be more accessible once the companies get everything sorted out as far as how media should be distributed.

This brings me to the product that I've been looking at lately. The Boxee Box is a seperate box hooked up to you TV. It has pretty much all the connections you need and connect via wi-fi to your network. It's not released as of today, but coming very soon. It allows to stream content from your PC to your TV, but as a standalone product, you can use it with its remote (deemed as one of the sexiest remotes out there right now because of the QUERTY keyboard on its backside) to surf media on the web (youtube, hulu and others).

It's price point is about the same as a good Blu-Ray player and the good thing about this product is that you can actually go out and sort of try it out. Software can be downloaded from their website for PC/MAC and more. If media can be played on your computer, it can play on your TV with the Boxee Box. It's really that simple. I sound like a salesman, but really I'm just hopeful that this product is what I'm looking for. I'm not pre-ordering because I want reviews from the real world, but if this works as advertised, it just may be my next birthday present.

Laptop Cooling

2010-10-05T14:36:00.001-04:00

At home, I'm running a huge 17" HP DV9000 series laptop. I'll call it a laptop because we really do use it on our laps (laptops are now more referred to as notebooks now). The machine is a beast and it heats up like crazy to the point that it is barely bearable. So I decided to invest in a chill pad. This has two goals. The first is saving my legs/groin from burning(!) and since reading recent articles that laptop heat can damage your skin I've become somewhat conscious of this. The second is improving the laptop's life expectancy.

Heat is not good for electronics. I remember knowing people in college that would have a setup that would remind me of a car's cooling system. It was close to putting the computer in a freezer! Now you have fans on everything, laptops included. The problem is the fans are underneath and if you're on a bed or a couch or your lap, the fabric will block out the fans and they will be completely useless. Enter the chill pad. The chill pad will help with circulating air beneath your laptop and push it to the sides (if it was conceived properly). Some don't have fans and I've never used one myself so I'm not sure how well they perform. I initially was looking at one without a fan but after reading up on it, I convinced myself that I'd rather have something that really works.

One thing I remember is more cooling is better so I opted for a dual-fan equipped one. You plug the pad in a usb port and voilà, instant airflow. I have to give props to a DIY solution I saw on seen here. It would not work on laps, but it looks pretty cool and must be cheaper to build than to actually buy something.

I chose the Targus Chill Mat. It had good reviews and it was the right size for my 17" laptop. I have not tried it yet. If I'm not happy with it, I'll update this space. I noticed that some other models had a fan in the middle and would just push the air "down" with no space between the pad and your lap. I don't see how that would be very efficient. I liked that this model allowed a good deal of space beneath the fans and a good keyboard positioning when typing. It's also very light and not "ugly" (minor factor, but still...)

Lets find out if this thing keeps the hardware cool!

Keeping things in Sync

2010-09-27T20:59:00.003-04:00

I should write about this because I've been researching this a little. When it comes to syncing documents across computers and devices, it seems everyone is trying to develop the perfect solution. I'm just uncertain which way is the best. I hate to have multiple versions everywhere and trying to keep things up-to-date. Here are a few things I've been using (and I use it all as they all do something different.

Google Chrome. I've switched to this light weight browser a little while ago. Of course, I use Google products quite a bit and their tools sync nicely together. One nice feature is bookmark and extension sync. Enabling this allows me to use Chrome on my home PC and anywhere else with my portable version of Chrome (found here) and have all my bookmarks and plug-ins organized the same way every time I launch the browser. The portable version of Chrome is really nice as well. This allows it to be installed on a USB key. Just plugin the key and launch the app, no installation required on the PC that you plug into. I'll write something on the portable apps I use later.

There is an extension I use on Chrome right now that is called Linkpush (available for free on the Android market). Linkpush allows to send a link straight from Chrome to an Android powered device. This is great when looking for a location on Google Maps and you want to send it to your phone to open it there for example. When Froyo comes out (see previous post), There will be a native Google app that will work in a similar way called Chrome to Phone.

Dropbox. This service allows to have documents synced in the "cloud" (on the web). It acts as a folder that you can access anywhere. This is nice for documents that change often and that you need wherever you are. For example, I use KeePass to store my passwords. My password storage file is kept in my Dropbox folder and can be accessed from my phone, at work, at home, anywhere and I don't have to worry about keeping it up-to-date because when I change it, I change it in the cloud. The problem with Dropbox is that if you store music for example, or any other large document, then the documents are stored everywhere. Dropbox allows for 2 GB of storage. If you fill that up, then you'll be using 2 GB of bandwidth when you sync it up. At our current speeds, that's a lot of traffic for our small pipes.

AwesomeDrop. I've come across this little app for Android and it is quite the find. It is such a hassle to have to plugin your phone when you want to send files to your phone. AwesomeDrop allows to send a file quite simply. Just open a URL on a browser, open the app on your phone, enter the code given to you in the browser and you're set. You can drag and drop files from your computer to the browser window and that's it, the file is on your phone. This is actually very useful when you want someone else to send you a file.

Syncing is not quite there yet. Things are moving along, but there are too many options. What I suggest is find what you need to sync and where you need to sync it and then stay organized. It's really harder to do than it looks!!

On the road to Android's Froyo

2010-09-23T13:26:00.003-04:00

For those who don't know, Google has used desert-based code names for the different Android versions. The names went from Cupcake to Donut to Eclair to Froyo and the next iteration is to be called Honeycomb. So here I am, running 2.1 (Eclair) and waiting on Froyo to be released in the next few days (I hope!).

The problem with Android is that it is taking the same path as Window Mobile. This is both good and bad. The fact that is open is good. The fact that carriers and phone makers can modify it is kind of bad. The customization becomes a problem when it causes delays in releases. If I could run a "vanilla-Froyo" (without rooting the phone), I'd probably have the new version running on my phone. The Nexus One has this pleasure because it was sold directly from Google and so OTA (over the air) updates were sent out very quickly. The rest of us have to live with customizations being tested out by all these people who are trying to create "the next best thing". The reality is that users will install what they like, not what is imposed. Almost all of the Samsung apps and widgets that came pre-installed (and that I cannot remove!!) are not better than what is available for free on the Android Market.

So why waste the users time, the phone makers money and time and delay Google's effort to roll-out updates when the out-of-the-box product is already excellent and users can just go to market to get what they need? It is very frustrating.

Now, we were promised a September release and the end of the month is near. Samsung Spain is reporting October release but UK still set for September. All of this confusion could be avoided if upgrades could be handled by Google alone. I'm not sure why Google is allowing this. Guess why Windows Mobile is extinct, too much hardware to support for too many versions of winMo. Microsoft is trying to fix this with the release of Windows Phone 7. Restricted hardware for a somewhat restricted operating system. Let's see how that goes. From the leaks flying around, they seem to be allowing customization layers also so I'm not sure what I think of it yet.

I think Google needs to be stricter with phone makers. Give them strict release dates and if they don't meet those dates, make them pay fines or something. It's Google's name that is paying the price in the end because people don't understand that it is not Google's fault, it is the phone maker's fault.

When I get Froyo on my phone, I'll write about how great or bad it is, until then, I can only wait.

Slingbox - My TV, anywhere.

2010-09-20T14:14:00.002-04:00

One of my birthday gifts that I gave myself was a Slingbox. This little box allows for a single user to access what is currently playing on a TV receiver at home (in my case, my satellite receiver) and watch it to any (or almost any) web-connected devices such as a laptop or cellphone. Of course, what's great about this is that you can be anywhere in the world and have access to your programming.

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't need to have my TV all the time, but one thing from being an avid sports fan is that it is nice that you can have a peek at the game going on anytime you want. It also adds the possibility that I can share a couch with my girlfriend and she can watch her show while I watch mine on the laptop. You can watch on the train or while cooking, it's a great product for a one-time purchase fee. Cell providers are trying to push TV to their devices using paid services. My current provider charges 8$/month for this service. My Slingbox cost about 180$ which means that within 2 years I will have covered my cost but the neat thing is I will have the programming that I want, not the restricted lineup my provider offers. Also, you can hookup anything you want to the Slingbox, whether it's a DVD player, PVR and even VHS player if you're into that sort of thing!!

I used to run the software on my Windows Mobile phone and it worked great. Now I'm running it on my Android device and the fact that the phone has a 1Ghz processor makes a big difference. Of course the quality is not hi-definition (mainly because I bought the Solo which was enough for me) but you can follow the action without problem.

The only thing that is lacking is that you'll need an Ethernet connection to plug into. When I built my house, I did not wire through RJ-45 cables in the walls. I put my faith in wireless and I sort of got caught. So I setup a repeater using an old Linksys WRT54G wireless router. It picks up the internet signal from my ISP's router and relays it to any wired (or wireless) device connected to it. It took some tinkering around, but now it works flawlessly. I might lose a bit of quality because the repeater's traffic is cut in half for upload/download, but at least it works. There are interesting products that use your power outlets to relay network traffic. Reviews are positive but I did not feel like spending the money when I had a WRT54G lying around doing nothing. I'm always up for a challenge and this one was a pretty good one!

Long live the trackball, the mouse is dead!

2010-09-16T10:30:00.002-04:00

I've ben using a trackball for a long time. Around 15 years I would say.so when I see news about Logitech releasing a new trackball it gets me excited!

I find trackballs to be much more comfortable then a mouse and they don't strain every part of your arm. Sure, it takes a bit of time to get used to, but in the long run, it really is a better pointing device. It also gives the advantage of being able to work in a limited workspace as you can position it any way you want.

So why the hype over a wireless trackball then if you don't ned to move the actual device? I can understand that if you've never used one then it is hard to understand. I've ben using a wireless trackball for a few years now and I must say that the flexibility of using the "mouse" in any position is really great. I can lounge back in my chair or a sofa and don't need a surface to work off of. You can also give a powerpoint presentation without being next to the computer and can do it from a podium easily, etc.

This new device looks good. I like the new buttons. They look accessible. Also, a small USB adapter will be much more portable than the rather large receptor that I currently have.

At 70$, you can't go wrong. Give it a try, you might enjoy it!

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2010 - Year of the Tablet

2010-09-09T09:32:00.000-04:00

I think it's safe to say that 2010 was the year of the tablet PC. There were many talks about Tablets before then and a few companies made weak attempts before that, but 2010 really changed things around. Right now, you've got one company that is in full flight: Apple's iPad. I am not a "fan" of anyone in particular, I try to post unbiased opinions. I own a 5th Gen iPod. The iPad, although a big seller, seems like more of a toy than anything else right now. Three big things I don't like about it. First, no front-facing camera. Second, no Flash support. Third, the Apple App store (or to be more precise, the Apple ecosystem).

Apple's ecosystem is a bit troubling to me. Once I buy a piece of hardware, I want to be in control of it. I don't need someone telling me what I can and cannot install on my device. I understand what they are trying to do though, they want to make things work easily for EVERYONE. I get that, and I agree with it. But for more "tech" people, this is a turn-off. Why should people have to "jailbreak" their device to enhance their hardware? Why should people use iTunes and nothing else to manage their device? Apple is being so controlling about everything that it's a bit suffocating.

I won't be buying an iPad, and probably won't be buying a tablet of any kind soon. I don't think any platform is ready for tablet PCs right now. I'm seeing good progress though. Here are interesting products coming along.

The EXO-PC is one of my favorites. First, it's a Quebec based company (which makes it a home favorite!). But more importantly, it's running Windows 7 with a custom layer to make it touch friendly. The device is said to launch soon and has very good specs. The fact that it runs Windows 7 means that you can do a lot of things with it. It has an excellent screen, front-facing camera and since it runs Windows, it plays Flash. If I were to jump on the tablet bandwagon, this is what I would buy.

And then there are a gazillion Android tablets. I think Android is very close to being ready to run on a tablet. Owning an Android phone made me realize that it is designed to be touch friendly right off the bat. All we need now is for big companies to start producing units. We see so many prototypes running Android, but not production units. Samsung's Galaxy Tab might hold promise, but only time will tell.

I'm sure this will change soon, but once one of the other devices launch, it will take time to change people who have been early iPad adopters.

Radio-shack pong-like game

2010-09-08T15:06:00.001-04:00

Found the pong-like game! Wonder if I can get it to work...

By the way this post was made from my phone using swype keyboard! I love how this works. So simple and efficient to input text!

This is also an attempt to post using the blogger-droid application on my phone.

Enjoy the picture!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.8

Intro. - Part 2

2010-09-07T09:39:00.000-04:00

So the nice thing about a PC is that you can upgrade them. Someone donated an old hard drive that could hold an enormous 20MB and replaced one of my two 5'1/4 drives!! I never filled up that drive and I was now at a stage where word processing was on a blue screen and homework did not have to be hand written and gaming was limited to cheap hockey games and 10 disk dungeons and dragons!! The reality was that the time of the XT soon came to an end.

Before companies sent fully built systems, there was a period where building your own PC was the best solution. I enjoyed so much building my own PC. The motherboard and casing were second-hand parts, but the rest we got from a computer fair in the US. Bought a hard drive, RAM, monitor, modem, video card, cd drive, etc. This was a 486 with a VGA screen. It was already a bit behind the technology curve, but it could run Windows 95 and could do all I needed it to do. The game console got replaced by the computer and games like Diablo ruled the world. Dial-up connections to the Internet were now available for an affordable price and ultimately, a second phone line had to be brought into the house because phone communication was made impossible by the number of ours the computer was connected to the internet!! I remember having 160 hours in my monthly plan to access the internet and they had been all used up by day 13 of the month... Needless to say, I was hooked even at 56k speeds!!

Later I built a Pentium 2 (300Mhz... the top at the time was 333Mhz, but I could not justify the price difference for 33Mhz. It was insane and I'm still patting myself on the back for not giving in!!). It was the beginning of inkjet printers, broadband connections, USB was taking off, cellphones for everybody, things were moving fast! As a college student, I remember I was looking for ways to save a few bucks and thought I could go back to 56k for a while. Turns out "a while" is about three days!

As far as computers go, I went the laptop way the rest of the time. I have 2 and both still run. My interest in building PCs has dropped significantly. I just need them to work now and have little time to tinker with PCs. What I need now is efficient technology. More on that later...

I remember my dad having a Motorola StarTac cellphone and I thought that it was amazing. When I got my first real job, I decided I should get a cellphone too. I ended up with a Motorola with a green screen. It did what any boring old phone was designed to do: it made phone calls. I then switched to a Nokia, this one had a color screen! Then a friend gave me an old Samsung flip phone which was nearly indestructible. I even went for a swim with it for about 30 minutes. Of course it was fried when I came out, but I opened it up, put it in front of a fan for 48 hours and sure enough, it started right back up!

My next phone was an HTC Touch. First smartphone and an incredible price with my provider. 7$ for unlimited internet on a smartphone is non-existent now. What I like about a smartphone is that you can tweak it whenever you have time and the things you can do now are unbelievable. I was running stock Windows Mobile and then upgraded to a custom ROM. That phone was pretty amazing. I could email and internet at will. I could VPN to work and even VNC on my computer to control it remotely. Not to mention GPS with Google Maps and take pictures (junk camera, but still..) It was my first mobile computer and I loved it.

I actually just moved away from it and got a Samsung Galaxy S Android powered phone. I have to say, I cannot imagine what cellphones will be capable of in 10 years. The screen on these things is awesome and even in daylight it is still quite usable. I'm a heavy Google service user and to have everything integrate into my phone is very appealing. What I like about Android is how you can customize it. I think Android is a platform capable of pleasing to casual user but gives flexibility for the advanced users to get in there and do their own thing.

In the end, many other gadgets have made it inside my house. All receive a thorough research process before I dish out the cash for them and I can't say there are many regrets with my purchases. Slingbox, wireless router, SLR camera, HDD camcorder, USB drive, etc. Technology is is here to stay so might as well keep up with it as much as we can.

Intro.

2010-09-03T14:59:00.000-04:00

I've been inspired by Engadget's Growing Up Geek columns. I figured I should start writing down my tech experiences before I forget them!

When technology is a big part of your life and that everything new you see in the tech world gets you excited about new possibilities, you know you're a geek! I'll always blame myself before I blame technology and I understand that most of the time it's a user error... not many people will acknowledge this unless you know what you are talking about.

So this is me.

I was born in the 70s and have lived Montreal, Canada all my life. Tech was far from what it is now. I can remember having no cable at home and having a color TV with 3, maybe 4 channels at the beginning of the 80s. I can also remember the first remote we owned. It was a wired brown/beige box with click buttons. You could open it up and turn little wheels to adjust the signal coming from the cable box (was it cable? I'll have to ask dad on that one..). I wish I could remember who made that remote.

We had a VHS player that my grandma won in the early 80s. I still have it and it still works! I just don't have many tapes to play! It too had a wired remote (probably the most useless of remotes!) with the following buttons : forward, back, pause (which would un-pause) and stop. Not even "play"!!! It can also record, but you have to turn the little wheels to adjust the signal (what's up with that anyways??) and can only go up to about 30 channels. It would top eject with a wicked loud sound!

My dad also bought pong game that I remember running with so many AA batteries that my Gameboy would have been jealous!! It was a two player unit. The main console had a few switches and buttons(?) with a wheel and the secondary console (wired of course!) had just a wheel. I don't remember playing it much though.

The first (and only!) real game console that came in the house was an Atari 2600. First it was the old model that was black with fake wood and the miscellaneous On/Off/Reset/1player/2player buttons! Gaming at its best. The joysticks would drive me mad when they started failing, but we had only ourselves to blame. Those things took a bunch of abuse! Pitfall (I and II) were excellent and then Kaboom was great too. We then got the newer 2600, but it did not bring more functionality, it just "worked" better I guess.

Video games pretty much went away for a long time after that. For me at home, sports took over my life. Computers were showing up at friend's houses though. I remember spending hours copying code on a Commodore 64 just to hear a "beep" or a small tune. I remember loading cassettes in a system to play games (I can't remember what it was called...)

And then something happened. We got an IBM XT (X-tended T-echnology!!). Two 5"1/4 floppy drives, a three button PS/2 mouse and a CGA (4 colors) screen that cost just little over 1000$. 1987 was the year and it probably changed my life. I would get boatloads of floppy disks from my dad's colleagues. Every disk's content was scrutinized. No stone left unturned. Loading to DOS was great and using command prompts made me happy. I was in control of this box and the possibilities were endless! I could load Word Perfect and type text on a blue screen and print it out to an Epson dot matrix printer (I'm getting a headache just thinking of the noise that thing made!!).

Sure there were a few games (California Games, King's Quest, etc.) but what really made that magical (yes, even more than an IPad!!) was the 300 baud Hayes modem my dad purchased (or was it given to us?). I don't remember questioning what the heck I was supposed to do with the modem. It somehow plugged in the serial port of my computer and I could connect a phone cord to it. Had to modify DOS boot disk so that it would be recognized and then... magic. I could establish a connection. Where would I dial : BBS (Bulleting Board Systems). Redialing for hours to get the line. The goal? Exchanging posts with other people (wow, the world really has changed a lot hasn't it??). I could even play Risk with complete strangers on a turn by turn basis!

The other thing that came in the mail was an invite to Compuserve. What was this Compuserve thing I asked myself. It turns out Compuserve was something that ruined an entire summer for me! By that time, I was BBSing so much that we had a second phone line put in. I was probably 13 or 14 by then. I spent hours on CB's different channels to communicate to strangers that eventually became friends at the time.

The problem with early technology and parents that knew nothing about it is that they did not pay attention. What ended up happening is that Compuserve's publicity offered 1 month free. After the second month of activity, my parents got a bill. Something around 500$ and of course we were already in the middle of the third month so that one ended up costing around 300$. Needless to say, my Compuserve account was closed (but the memory lives on, I still remember my ID!!). So it was back to BBSing for me.

To be continued...