Preston Hunt

After a couple years of steady use and countless drops o ...

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:13:20 PST

After a couple years of steady use and countless drops onto the pavement, I traded in my trusty Blackberry Pearl for a Blackberry Curve a little while ago. I was really looking forward to picking up Wi-Fi support (especially for using free hotspots while on vacation without a laptop). I had become a pretty fast typer on the Pearl's partial keyboard, but I was curious to see if the Curve's full keyboard would prove superior.

Unfortunately, after only one week, my Curve refused to charge! I tried reinstalling the drivers and using the car charger, neither of which helped. I was getting ready to throw in the towel and contact AT&T for a replacement when I stumbled across this helpful post on the Blackberry support forums.

It turns out that the mini-USB connector on the Blackberry is very susceptible to getting out of alignment just enough that it won't charge. I employed the recommended screwdriver technique from the article to gently bend the connector back into alignment, and I was charging again in no time.

So if your phone (or other device) that relies on a mini-USB port for charging won't charge, give it a try!

While I'm on the subject of Blackberries, if you have one with a full keyboard, then you are really missing out if you haven't enabled keyboard shortcuts. To enable them, go to Phone, Options, General Options, and set "Dial from Home Screen" to "Off". Now you will be able to launch common tasks with a single keypress from the home screen, such as "M" to view your messages or "W" to launch the web browser. More details on this useful Blackberry 101 Beginner's Guide. >

I love making coffee and talking about making coffee. S ...

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:10:39 PST

I love making coffee and talking about making coffee. So I was really excited when I read about two new coffee makers in Wired recently. But, first, a little history.

I used to use a French press, but it requires too much cleanup. So for the past several years, I've been using a moka pot, which gives a strong cup of coffee and is easy to clean. The coffee out of a moka pot is also a lot less gritty than the French press. However, I think the consensus of most coffee experts is that the French press produces superior coffee.

Which brings us to the first of the new coffee makers, the AeroPress. It is similar to a French press but with the filter at the bottom instead of the top. Most importantly, it supposedly very easy to clean. I just ordered one from Amazon.

The other tempting device is the MyPressi Twist. It is advertised as a portable espresso maker, but given its anticipated low cost ($130) and small size, it would be a great alternative for home use as well. The only unknown at this point is how much the carbon dioxide cartridges are going to cost. The web site says that "standard" cartridges are used, whatever that means. As long as they are not too expensive, they are going to sell a lot of Twists. >

Story: Increasing your banking security by using a dedicated browser

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:00:00 PST

I discuss the benefits of using separate browsers for banking and general surfing.>

Eclipse ** : Third Twilight book. The weakest and most ...

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 10:24:12 PST

Eclipse ** : Third Twilight book. The weakest and most poorly written of the series. But if you're reading the series, what choice do you have but to read this one as well? >

I have to give a plug for Banana Republic's credit card: ...

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 21:14:20 PST

I have to give a plug for Banana Republic's credit card: I accidentally incurred a late fee (we were on vacation and didn't get to it in time--so it was my fault). Called them up and they refunded it without any fight. Turns out that they allow one courtesy fee refund per year! I had heard that banks were being really tough with fees lately, glad it wasn't true in this case. >

What Renting DVDs Teaches Us About CD Yield Maximization ...

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 10:33:14 PST

What Renting DVDs Teaches Us About CD Yield Maximization: Instead of buying a one- or two-year CD, always buy a five-year. If you need the money early or the interest rates go way up, you still come out ahead even after paying the early-withdrawal penalty. Seems to make sense! >

I got caught up on some of my Atlantic reading while we ...

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 08:44:00 PST

I got caught up on some of my Atlantic reading while we were on vacation last month. These articles really impressed me:

How American Health Care Killed My Father: Excellent summary of the problems with American health care and how it won't be fixed by the current proposals. Offers a way that the system could work better, and I think it would work - if it could ever get passed into law (doubtful)!

The Founders' Great Mistake: Problems with the way the Constitution defines the president's powers and how to fix it. >

Petabytes on a budget: How to build cheap cloud storage: ...

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 09:55:58 PST

Petabytes on a budget: How to build cheap cloud storage: And I thought my home-built 4 terabyte server was impressive... >

New Moon *** : Book 2 of Twilight Series. Enter the wer ...

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 20:11:53 PST

New Moon *** : Book 2 of Twilight Series. Enter the werewolf. >

Love in the Time of Cholera **** : Probably the ultimate ...

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 09:26:20 PST

Love in the Time of Cholera **** : Probably the ultimate story of love in all its forms. A difficult read at times, but ultimately very rewarding. >

Anathem ***** : Science "monks" sequester themselves fro ...

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 14:10:50 PST

Anathem ***** : Science "monks" sequester themselves from the rest of the world for 1, 10, 100, or 1000 years at a time so that they can solve interesting problems in peace. Takes place on another planet with a whole new vocabulary to learn and enjoy. Based loosely on the Clock of the Long Now. >

Sourcery *** : Another Discworld novel. 'Nuff said. ...

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 18:11:52 PST

Sourcery *** : Another Discworld novel. 'Nuff said. >

OpenStreetMap is a cool project to provide an open sourc ...

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:19:11 PST

OpenStreetMap is a cool project to provide an open source map of as much of the world as possible. They have quite a bit of coverage of Portland already, but are hosting a mapping party in Portland on June 20th to fill in some missing areas. I would love to participate, but will be riding Tour de Blast that day. >

The Truth About Bender's Brain: Bender-from-Futurama's b ...

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:50:47 PST

The Truth About Bender's Brain: Bender-from-Futurama's brain is a 6502. I love it! (Link is to second page of article.) >

Gai-jin *** : Part of James Clavell's "Asian Saga". Unfo ...

Sun, 31 May 2009 20:31:49 PST

Gai-jin *** : Part of James Clavell's "Asian Saga". Unfortunately, not nearly as good as his epic novel "Shogun". But still worthwhile if you've read the rest of the series or like historical fiction about Japan in the 19th century. >

Here's a great article on couch surfing. I gave Phil so ...

Tue, 19 May 2009 22:20:42 PST

Here's a great article on couch surfing. I gave Phil some advice when he embarked on his bicycle trip across America last year. (The article got his trip stats wrong--he did 90 miles a day!) I wish couch surfing had been around when Eric and I did our bike trip. We probably would have met a lot more people that way. I guess we'll have to do it again one of these days... >

I just released version 1.53 of Presto's Hard Drive Moni ...

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 18:36:13 PST

I just released version 1.53 of Presto's Hard Drive Monitor. Check it out if you're into such things! >

It's been a tumultuous week for our aquarium. I added a ...

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 08:31:28 PST

It's been a tumultuous week for our aquarium. I added a six-line wrasse, a Clarkii clown, 20 turbo snails, 10 crabs, a sand-sifting cucumber, a lettuce nudibranch, and two clams. Everybody seems to be doing well except for one of the clams which died after one day and the cucumber which died after four days.

I also arranged all the cabling and tubes to better integrate a Red Sea Wavemaster. And removed a ton of algae from the tank.

All of which is making the tank look better than it's looked in a long time. Unfortunately, all of the commotion caused some stress on one of the longest tank residents, a yellow tang named Scotty. I found him dead in the tank after work. R.I.P., Scotty. >

If you are in the market for a new Windows laptop, it's ...

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 08:09:00 PST

If you are in the market for a new Windows laptop, it's hard to beat the Best Buy Blue Label Toshiba. I've bought over a dozen laptops for work in the past two months, and the Toshiba is my favorite overall. And at $799, it's a steal... >

Sunshine *** : Makes me nostalgic for 2001: A Space Odys ...

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 17:36:39 PST

Sunshine *** : Makes me nostalgic for 2001: A Space Odyssey. Well filmed, but impossible physics and some ridiculous plot gyrations cost this movie a star.