The Dastardly Report

Make an Android powered speedometer for your car

2012-01-07T08:45:00.000-05:00

One of the things I noticed right away when we got our new van was that the speedometer was slightly off. The car is used and probably had bigger tires put on at some point, so whatever, it didn't bother me. It felt like a little problem I could live with.

But the more I tried to nail down exactly how much the speedometer was incorrect, the more I realized just how wacky speedometer problems can be. This particular problem would get worse the faster the car would go. So if you wanted to go 20mph, for example, you had to point the needle at 25. But if you wanted to go 65mph, you had to point the needle at almost 80. I tested the speed using speedometer apps on several phones, and by driving past those "your speed is" signs at various speeds.

This obviously made it really hard to ever know exactly how fast you were going. Real speedometer calibration is very expensive, standalone GPS speedometers are expensive, and simply learning to live with it was not an option for me.

The solution? A homemade Android powered speedometer for $35.

Today's smartphones have super-accurate GPS chips which, combined with the right speed app, can tell how fast you're traveling to within 1 or 2 mph. With those standalone GPS speedometers being upwards of a hundred dollars, the option of using a cheap phone was pretty appealing.

I took to eBay and found lots of options in my for less than $40, many even cheaper. Some were working phones with cracked screens, some were Verizon or Sprint phones with bad ESNs (which means the phones have been blacklisted and won't be allowed to be activated on the network), and some were just old phones. All I wanted it for was GPS, which does NOT require a data connection. Even one with a cracked screen would have worked fine.

I ended up getting a Verizon Droid Eris with a bad ESN for $35. When the phone arrived, I installed two apps, Tasker and Speedview. Then I turned on airplane mode and headed out to the car. Many people don't know that the GPS chip in your phone needs no active data connection. For simple coordinates or speed use, it does not need to be connected, so using one in airplane mode or with a bad ESN works just fine.

Once out in the car, I took apart the dashboard and rigged up a USB charging cable behind it. I added a secondary cigarette-lighter charging plug behind the dash and plugged the cable into it.

The cable ran behind the dash up to the speedometer area where I attached the phone with peal-and-stick Velcro:

Tasker takes care of keeping the phone in the proper mode and turning it on and off with the car. Power to the USB cable shuts off when the engine is off, so Tasker is set to wake up the phone and launch SpeedView whenever power is connected. When power is turned off, Tasker is set to exit SpeedView and set the screen timeout to 7 seconds, effectively disabling the speedometer when the engine shuts off:

It works way better than I expected it to. The phone gets a solid GPS lock before I finish backing out of a parking space and it holds it without fail through everything except long tunnels.

If you are looking for a cheap and easy solution to an innaccurate speedometer, I highly recommend this option. It takes some time, hacking, and willingness to take apart parts of your car, but the end result is a very accurate digital speedometer that can even do things like speed logging, odometer, graphing of past speeds, etc. Ours works great and has yet to give me any trouble.

Hashtags aren't ruining language, but they are misused

2011-12-30T10:24:00.001-05:00

I shared a link on Twitter yesterday regarding the misuse of hashtags on Twitter and other social network sites. The author of the original story was of the opinion that "hashtags are ruining the English language" and by sharing it I got quite a heated response from those who disagreed with the article.

In response to the heated response, I thought it would be good to write a quick post about how hashtags are supposed to work without the sensational "ruining the language" angle of the other article.

Intended Uses
Hashtags were pioneered as a way to organize people around an idea, event, or topic. They were originally used on Twitter, but as the original article points out, they have since gained adoption on Facebook, Foursquare, etc, even though those systems weren't designed to use them properly. On Twitter, hashtags function as a hyperlink and offer a way to do a canned search for the tag. When used the way they were intended, they work remarkably well for letting people quickly find other people tweeting about the same topic.

Big events are a great example of this. Rather than having to search for "New Years Eve," for example, you can just click on the #NewYears hashag people are using to see what is being said on the topic, and you can use the hash tag to include your voice in same search.

TV shows have started using hashtags, too, as a quick and easy way for viewers to discuss the show. Have you been watching a show recently and seen a hashtag listed in the bottom corner? They're encouraging you and other viewers to use the tag in your tweets about the show so everyone's tweets can be gathered together.

Hashtags have been used in natural disasters too, and in many cases recently, news about an earthquake, flood, plane crash, or other breaking news has hit Twitter before major news outlets. Hashtags allow people involved or at the scene of the incident to quickly congregate around the topic.

But there are other, far less serious uses for it, too. These include things like Follow Friday suggestions (#FF), trending jokes, etc. Twitter's new interface design even includes a new Discover tab which features the hashtag symbol.

Unintended Uses
That other article claims hashtags are ruining the language because they have become so misused lately that they are becoming all but useless. The other article used the example of typing #misingyou instead of just writing "I miss you." The problem isn't that using the hashtag is lazy, but that it doesn't help anyone. Tweeting that you miss someone is a fine, even sweet thing to do, but including the #missingyou tag doesn't provide any useful search link to others reading your tweet and becomes more clutter than anything else. Even the famous example of #winning is mostly unhelpful because nobody is really going to click on the tag to see what others are saying.

Another popular thing is to include a humorous or semi-related hashtag at the end of the tweet, such as #ridiculous or #truth or even #notgonnalie. While they can be funny, they don't provide value to anyone reading the tweets, and as the author of the other article said, mostly just serve to make the person tweeting feel like they're part of an inside joke.

Conclusion
Sure, nobody can tell anyone how to use services like Twitter. And it was average people who started using hashtags in the first place, not Twitter itself. So they can absolutely evolve over time to work differently, and mean different things to different people. But the increasing number of people who use meaningless hashtags in all of their posts often feels cluttered.

Hashtags certainly aren't going to ruin the English language. But they do have an intended use that can be super helpful when used properly.

LEDs in the car

2011-10-17T23:29:00.000-04:00

UPDATE: Be sure to read the update at the bottom of the post for details about LEDs and weird electrical issues with some cars.

The previously mentioned Project LED has taken a new turn recently. My original plan was to gradually replace all the house light bulbs with LEDs, thereby saving energy and money, while buying bulbs that will last as much as a decade.

That plan is still going, of course, but my new project has been to replace all of the car bulbs with LEDs. It's easy to overlook the car bulbs as even needing to be replaced because, unlike house bulbs, you're not paying per kilowatt hour on the electricity your car bulbs use. So why replace them at all?

LEDs run very cool, to start, meaning less excess heat which can damage or leave black marks on other electronics over time.

In addition, LEDs last essentially forever. Most of the car LEDs I've seen have 50,000+ hour lifespans. So if you drove your car for 2 hours a day (and the bulb was on the whole time), 365 days a year, those bulbs would last 68 years. Even if you drove 8 hours a day, the bulbs would last 17 years. So either way, these bulbs will very likely outlive the car they're going into.

They're also seriously inexpensive. If you're willing to buy them on eBay from Hong Kong, you can get bulbs for as little as $1 or $2 each. Even the off-brand replacement bulbs at Walmart aren't that cheap.

Next, LEDs use drastically less power than incandescent bulbs. For example, the LED dome light I got for inside the car uses 0.5 watts compared to 8 watts used by the old bulb. And while the reduced power may not be as immediately apparent as a house electric bill, it does have advantages. It seriously lightens the strain on the electrical system of your car, both when the engine is running and when it's not. The LED dome light can be on for 16 hours before it's used the same power as the old bulb being on for 1 hour. Never worry about an accidentally drained battery again.

And when your car is running, all the electrical stuff that's turned on is putting a load on the alternator. So when you're driving at night, all the lights around your car are on, in addition to the air conditioning or heater, the instrument panel lights, the radio, the cellphone charger, etc. So by using LEDs on exterior lights, you're freeing up considerable alternator load, allowing it to perform better for the other stuff that's turned on.

LEDs also provide a safety factor over incandescent bulbs. Since LEDs have no warm up time, they light up at full brightness the instant you hit the brake pedal. Incandescent bulbs take a few milliseconds to reach full brightness. That may not sound like enough of a difference to worry about, but at highway speeds, those milliseconds translate to much faster reaction time. When driving at 60mph, if you hit the brake, the car behind you sees your brake lights sooner and has as much as 17 extra feet of stopping distance.

Buying Advice
If you're looking to buy some LED car bulbs for yourself, here are a few tips.

Don't by LED headlights. They're the one bulb on your car that needs to stay with the traditional incandescent or halogen bulb. The LEDs you buy on eBay just aren't bright enough and it would be a safety hazard to use them as headlights...at least for now.
Look for SMD bulbs (which look like this) rather than the traditional domed LED (which looks like this). SMDs are wide, surface mounted LEDs and are brighter while offering a wider viewing angle.
Go to Sylvania.com and use their model selector to get the correct bulb numbers for your car. Ignore the letters after the bulb numbers and just pay attention to the number itself.
Go to eBay and search for your bulb number and SMD, like this: "SMD 194" or "SMD 3094"
Be willing to buy from Hong Kong and wait the 2-3 weeks for them arrive. Yeah it's a long time to wait, but the money you'll save is worth it.
When they arrive, double check that they fit and that they work. LEDs are polarized, so if it doesn't turn on, flip the bulb and plug it in the other way. Get a friend to help push the brake pedal while you make sure the new bulbs light up correctly.
Save the old bulbs for reference or just in case the new ones burn out while you still own the car (unlikely)

Conclusion

I honestly can't understand why auto makers don't ship their vehicles with LEDs pre-installed. They just make so much sense from every standpoint. They're cool to the touch, use way less power, are cheaper, come on instantly, and just look good. Just imagine the lessened strain on the alternator if you replaced every bulb with LEDs. Especially given the price, I'd definitely say it's worth it. Happy shopping!

UPDATE:
I neglected to mention the weird issues that can come up when using LEDs in cars. You see, car electrical systems were designed with incandescent bulbs in mind, which suck up far more power than LEDs. So when an incandescent bulb is swapped for an LED bulb, the electrical system in some cars kind of freaks out and weird stuff can happen.

For example, when an LED bulb is used for a turn-signal bulb, it will almost always blink extra fast, because LED bulbs use so little power that the car thinks a bulb is burned out.

In some cars, using LEDs in place of brake bulbs will cause the cruise control to stop working when the bulbs are on. This is caused, again, by the extreme lack of current LED bulbs use which feeds back to the cruise control computer making it think that the brake lights are on. And of course, you can't set the cruise control if the brake is being applied.

Finally, in some cars, just sticking an LED bulb into a socket will blow a fuse. The cause is, you guessed it, tons of extra, unused power feeding back and blowing fuses. Sometimes the fuse that blows isn't even the one for the lights you're replacing. In one of our cars, for example, it blew the fuse for the instrument panel inside the car. Go figure.

None of these issues are serious, and all can be fixed by putting the old incandescent bulb back and/or replacing the blown fuses. If you still want an LED bulb in a spot that causes weird problems, then you'll need to add some resistors. These can be purchased fairly cheaply on eBay. The resistors are easy to install and easily attach to the existing wires.

However, using resistors counteracts most of the benefits of using LED bulbs in the first place. Resistors work by converting voltage to heat, so when you add one to an LED bulb, you're once again using the same amount of power as an incandescent bulb, and you've got something that gets really hot. So now the only benefits are the long life of the bulb and the instant-on safety benefits. You really might as well use incandescent bulbs, which are obviously easier than dealing with resistors.

But if you really want that look of LEDs, and your car doesn't like the bulbs by themselves for whatever reason, then you'll need the resistors.

So, all that to say don't panic if you put in some LED bulbs and something odd happens. Par the course with LEDs and cars that weren't designed for them.

Remembering my first car

2011-09-28T11:37:00.000-04:00

Way back in 2004, I decided I wanted a car. I'd been driving my parents' car up until then, and I was anxious to get my own set of wheels. A coworker at the time was considering selling his Mustang, and the notion seemed to capture my mind. After my coworker decided against selling his car, I'd already decided I wanted a Mustang and couldn't get the idea out of my head.

So after a fair amount of shopping around, I found a winner. A 1999, 35th Anniversary Edition V6 with only 50,000 miles. I borrowed some money and made the purchase.

To go from having no car to having a 200hp Mustang that was only 5 years old was pretty exciting. While I certainly didn't buy it to impress others, I'd be lying if I didn't admit that the prestige associated with the car didn't get to me. I definitely enjoyed the attention the car brought.

And then I crashed. Not a serious accident, but enough to do some body damage and rip the exhaust pipes off from underneath. After spending some more money, the car had new tires (also ripped off), and a new Flowmaster dual exhaust system (which sounded excellent).

After that it was smooth sailing. I put the stripes on myself, installed some fog lights, and just generally had a great time with that car. It went with me to several YouthCamps, College Retreats, road trips, and even drove my beautiful bride and me around for our wedding.

The Mustang also made the move to Florida with us, driven by the ever-teachable Tom (that was an adventure of a trip!). I had it before I was married and before I was a dad. There are certainly lots of memories associated with that car.

So here's to the Mustang, my first car and the one that drove me over 70,000 miles and across the country. It wasn't without its flaws, to be sure, but it was an amazing vehicle that is definitely going to be remembered. Someday I'll be able to show these pictures to my kids and prove that their dad was cool once. :-)

And now we have a new car! Well, not a NEW car, by any means, but it's new to us. The Mustang was traded in and we now have a minivan!

We were able to pay for it with cash, meaning no car payments! It's a Dodge Grand Caravan and we couldn't be happier with it. It serves the family so much more than the Mustang did and we all love it.

It's funny how priorities change, isn't it? If you would have told me when I got the Mustang that I'd eventually be trading it for a minivan and that I'd be seriously excited about it, I would have laughed. But here we are, and not only am I excited about the van itself, but also about the fun memories the kids are going to make in it on road trips as they grow up.

Android Tip: Google Maps Traffic Widgets

2011-08-06T15:41:00.001-04:00

This feature has been a part of Google Maps for Android for a while now, but I only became aware of it recently. Google Maps for Android features a very nifty little widget you can add to your homescreen for instant traffic information.

To add it, go to add a new widget and look for Traffic. When you add it, you will have to give the widget a name and then give it an address to navigate to. The widget will then be placed on your homescreen and will look something like the picture here. It will show you a red, yellow, or green light based on current traffic conditions and estimate the number of minutes it will take to get from your current location to the destination in the widget.

You can add multiple traffic widgets to your homescreen to the various places you travel most. One for home, one for work, etc. Then before you leave for that place, just tap the widget and you get a quick heads-up about what the traffic conditions are along your route. The time estimation isn't perfect, of course, as routes can vary greatly depending on traffic lights and other factors, but it's still a great way to get a quick glance at what might be along your route. If nothing else, the light showing red when you don't expect it might make you pause to look up what's going on.

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The on-demand lifestyle

2011-07-31T23:34:00.001-04:00

My children will likely never remember media being on a schedule. That's kind of a crazy thought, but it's true. The baby is still too little to understand watching TV or listening to music, but Amber definitely does and she has never had to be told no to a request. Of course, I have told her no, but only because of other circumstances, never because what she requested was unavailable.

All of our movies are in digital form on a hard drive in a Media Center PC; all of our CDs are ripped into the computer; whatever little videos she wants to watch are on YouTube; even the radio we listen to is choose-your-genre Internet radio. And once she's old enough to watch episodes of TV shows, they'll either be ready on the DVR, or streaming from the web.

Amber has never had to sit through commercials waiting for the show or music to come back on. She's never had to watch something just because it was on. She's never been told that what she wants isn't on. She's never had to put in a DVD. She's never had to sit through DVD previews or menus. Quite simply, she's never had to interact with media the way we did growing up. Everything she ever wants is available immediately.

I was joking recently that I don't know what parents did before YouTube. It's almost become a game for us. Amber will request a video of something completely random and I'll see if it exists on YouTube. So far, we have found every single thing she wants. Huge ball, lots of balloons, tiny Pooh, tiny bugs, trains, monorail, huge clocks, Mickey and Goofy, even Android dancing. Oh and cats. Of course cats. All of these are requests Amber has made and all of them were available.

When I took Amber to her first movie in the theater (Cars 2), you could see the confusion on her face as the commercials and previews played. She would look at me and ask, "Lightning?" genuinely not understanding why the movie she wanted was taking so long to begin. Even at home, she thinks nothing of watching 5 minutes of one movie, then switching gears and requesting another movie entirely because it's extremely easy for us to honor the request with just a few buttons.

Those of us who didn't grow up with on demand are still not used to it, no matter how much we like to think we are. I'm the one who set up the system for Amber, and yet I often find myself sitting through commercials even on a DVRed TV show just because the idea of commercials is so firmly ingrained in my mind.

Hollywood is fighting tooth and nail to keep commercials relevant, to keep current TV shows off the Internet (unless you pay monthly for it), and to keep us watching live TV instead of recording it to watch later. Things like the stars live-tweeting during a show, or by hyping up live content like award shows, they are desperately trying to force audiences back into the mindset of the time-slot.

It's working, too. The way Amber watches movies is still very much the minority. Most kids her age still swap DVDs and watch their favorite TV shows when they're on. They can't switch movies in the middle because that's likely a 5 minute task of ejecting, finding, inserting, waiting, menu-ing, waiting, FBI-warning etc. It will likely take an entire generation to grow up with media being on-demand before the industry and culture truly shift. But for those on the fringe like Amber, the thought of "such-and-such-show is on at 8 and if you miss it, too bad" is completely foreign.

Is there a downside to kids like Amber having whatever they want immediately available? There could be, if they are allowed to abuse it and do nothing but watch movies all day. But there was a time in history when books were scarce and only for the super rich. Now, however, the notion of a child browsing vast bookshelves and picking their favorite is completely natural.

I think that kids who grow up with media being entirely on-demand will naturally gravitate away from abusing it. When they know that what they want is always available without issue, there's no need to gorge. It's like the child who grows up in a house with a swimming pool and is used to being able to play in the water whenever he wants, vs the child at the neighborhood pool who refuses to get out because having a pool is a novelty.

There's obviously a call for parenting in all of this, as children need to be engaging in a wide range of activities, not just watching movies or listening to music. But watching TV has been a part of the American lifestyle since the 1950s and not since then have we seen such a vast change in the way media is consumed. Amber's generation is likely the first to truly grow up with on-demand being the norm, and it will become even more commonplace in the generations to follow.

It will certainly be interesting to watch how children like Amber think about and interact with media as they grow up. But it's clear that along with corded phones, pictures you have to wait for, paper maps, and screens that can't be touched, traditional time-slot media will not play a large part of her childhood. I think that's a good thing.

Android pro tip: Search with different apps

2011-07-09T00:05:00.002-04:00

One of the best parts about using an Android smartphone is that there are so many seriously powerful things that the OS is capable of. An admittedly frustrating part of Android, however, is that not all of the cool features are immediately apparent and average users may not always discover them.

One such feature is app searching. Most Android phones have a dedicated search button right on the front. And even those that don't at least have a Google Search widget with launches the same search app. Pressing it brings up a search bar that lets you search through items on your phone, as well as search the whole Internet. By default, it searches through your apps, contacts, bookmarks, etc.

But that search can be customized to be much, much more powerful. With a few tweaks, you can pick which apps you want to be searchable right from the search button

To get started, push the search button on your device, or tap the widget if you don't have a button:

Now, instead of typing a search, tap the little blue g icon in the top left. You will now see a list of the applications you can search:

You can pick any one of these apps to perform a search just within that particular app, such as searching for a movie title on IMDb, or searching for something to buy on eBay. If you search for a particular term, you can even tap the icon of any app and whatever you typed will be preserved, allowing you to quickly check search results across apps just by tapping the icons:

To change which apps show up when you tap the g icon, tap the little settings icon in the initial app list:

This will bring up a huge list of all the apps you have installed that can be added or removed from your searchable apps popup:

And there you have it! With a few tiny little tweaks, you can seriously add some power and speed to the way you search. I personally use this feature all the time to quickly search within a specific app without needing to launch the app itself first. It definitely saves time, and makes that little search button on your phone all the more useful.

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Google+ first impressions

2011-07-02T18:11:00.002-04:00

I was invited to check out Google's new social network, called Google Plus, a few days ago and so far I've been extremely impressed. Everything about Plus feels well thought out and smooth. The engineers behind this project clearly put a massive amount of time into it, thinking through even the smallest details, and it shows.

Google Plus is the culmination of lots of rumors, and it weaves together existing Google products into one cohesive experience that has the real potential to challenge Facebook and Twitter in the coming months and years.

Unlike Google's other social attempts, namely Wave and Buzz, Google Plus seems to have a real chance of changing the social landscape. Wave suffered from extremely limited adoption, a buggy website, no real mobile support, etc. and was finally shut down completely. Buzz still exists, but has become largely a dumping ground for other services. People use it simply to pipe in status updates from Twitter, photos from Flickr, etc. In addition, Buzz never got a good mobile application for alerting you to new updates from friends.

Google Plus on the other hand has almost all of what the other services lacked right from the get go. It is being rolled out by invitation only at the moment, which could prove problematic if the invites don't go out fast enough to maintain interest, and people forget about it before they ever get a chance to try it. (That is another issue that plagued Wave.)

Before you ask, no, as of now, existing users do not have the ability to invite friends. So please don't ask me for any.Now that that's out of the way, how is Plus as a service? What's it like to use?

It's super solid and fast, to start. It feels like a service that has already been around long enough to add features. The fact that it launched with a fully-featured website, an Android app, etc. says a lot about how seriously Google is taking this project.

The main screen of Google Plus is the Stream, which is similar to Facebook and Twitter in that it shows recent activity from your friends. You can comment on other people's posts, or +1 it, much like Facebook's Like button.

Speaking of friends, one of the coolest features of Plus is called Circles. It finally makes organizing friends into groups fun and easy. Facebook has the ability to make groups of friends and then only share certain content with certain friends, but it's not the most intuitive process, and nobody wants to go through their huge friend lists making detailed lists and groups. Plus changes that with Circles. You simply drag friends into whatever circle you deem appropriate, such as Friends, Family, Coworkers, etc. Then, every time you post or share something new, you can select which Circles can see the post. And unless you share a post publicly (which you can easily do), it won't appear in search results, and will only be visible to the people within the Circle you selected.

The next super cool feature is called Hangouts. Essentially it's group video chat, but with some additions. Someone starts a hangout and whoever they share it with sees a notification in their stream. Up to 10 people can then join in and all video-chat together. The system detects who's currently taking and makes their video box bigger. It's an awesome idea, and one of the best (not to mention cheapest, being totally free) group video chat services currently available.

There are also some great features included in the Android app. The first is called Huddle, which is group-text chat. You can select a circle, or individual people to being talking to and then all of you can chat back and forth as a group.

The next is called Instant Upload. With your permission, the app automatically uploads every photo or video you take with your Android phone to a private album. You can then share any of those photos/videos from your phone or from your desktop when you get back home. Even if you chose to not share, this is an awesome service for cloud photo backup. And get this: the desktop website for Plus knows which photos you've taken recently with your phone. So when you go to post a new update on the website, it shows you thumbnails of all the photos/videos you've taken over the past 8 hours. Imagine going to an event, snapping a few photos, and then the photos are waiting for you at home, ready to attach to an update with literally one click. That's just awesome.

Google says an iOS app is coming soon, but they didn't specify which features would be included and which wouldn't. If I had to guess, I'd say Instant Upload will not be part of the iOS app, just because I doubt Apple would allow an app to do that.

Conclusion
There was a remarkably apt xkcd cartoon when Plus launched All in all, I think Google has a real winner on their hands with Plus. It's definitely one of their biggest product launches in a long time, and it's still in what they're calling "limited field trial." They say more features are coming and that the site should be open to anyone later this year.

I hope this product finally pushes into the social space in a way that Wave and Buzz couldn't. I'm personally really liking Plus so far, and I hope other people agree.

Project LED

2011-06-19T14:43:00.000-04:00

photo by kalleboo

I have long been a fan of LEDs. Even when I was a little kid, I can remember buying LED bulbs at Radio Shack and taping them to batteries to make little light-up projects. There's just something fascinating about a form of light that barely gets hot and uses so little power.

Now that I'm a responsible adult, LEDs have taken on a new fascination for me. Since they are such a clean, cool, bright, and energy-efficient way generate light, I want to be able to use them to light my house. Up until recently, LEDs haven't been able to generate the same level of light as incandescent or florescent bulbs, or the ones that could were extremely expensive.

But that's finally changing this year, with places like Amazon and Home Depot selling very inexpensive LED bulbs that are quite comparable to traditional bulbs in brightness. So, with these cheaper bulbs comes my official embarking on Project LED, my attempt to replace every single light source in my house with LEDs.

I have purchased LED lights in the past that are supposed to replace traditional bulbs...and they've been disappointing. Now, however, there are some better options on the market. Amazon sells one by Pharox that is a 60-watt equivalent for only $27, while Home Depot has a 40-watt equivalent bulb by EcoSmart for $18.

Sure these seem expensive compared to the dirt cheap incandescent bulbs we're used to, but they pay for themselves quickly. Here's a little math I actually did myself:

Assuming the bulb is on for 8 hours per day, a 40-watt traditional bulb costs about 4 cents per day to run, or $12.85 a year. The 40-watt LED from Home Depot costs 1 cent per day, or 2.76 per year. That would mean that at $18 each, these bulbs would pay for themselves in less than 2 years. And with a lifespan of 50,000 hours, at 8 hours per day, this bulb would last almost 17 years. That means that the one I just bought could still be in use by our family when Amber is in college. Is that insane or what?

Here's some more quick math. Our apartment has approx. 21 light bulbs, including the outdoor lights. If we were to replace them all with the $18 bulbs, it would cost $378 + tax. And it would cost $567 + tax to replace them all with the $27 bulbs. Those are some hefty amounts when looked at lumped together like that. Even if I could afford 500 bucks, I have more pressing things to spend it on than light bulbs. That's why this will be a gradual process.

Someday, hopefully soon, I hope to be able to say that every light in our house is LED. Between the bulbs I just discussed, LED florescent replacements, LED light strips, etc. there are LED options for almost every application. They're not cheap by any means, but they consume so little electricity that they quickly pay for themselves. Lighting accounts for 10-20% of the average house's electric bill, so it's easy to see how even replacing a few bulbs with LEDs could show a noticeable drop in power use.

So consider my LED voyage officially started. Look for future blog posts on how the project is going. Until then, here's where it stands now:

PROJECT LED CURRENT STATS:

1 of 21 bulbs replaced

4.7% complete

Android 3.0 Honeycomb first impressions

2011-06-18T16:48:00.002-04:00

The newest version of Android, specifically intended for tablets, has been out for a while now. It launched on the Motorola Xoom back in February, and is now commercially available on a number of tablets. Honeycomb is a full-tablet version of Android and Google has specifically stated that it won't work on phones. The next version, Ice Cream Sandwich, will merge the phone and tablet versions into a single version that will work on any device.

Seeing as how I didn't have a tablet until recently, I was never able to actually give Honeycomb a try. I've spent the last few days using it on my Nook, however, and I can finally give my opinion on the latest version of Android.

Note: Since Honeycomb has been out for quite a while and multiple publications have covered it extensively, I won't be cluttering this post with lots of screenshots. For some very nice, high quality screenshots of Honeycomb in action, head over to Droid-Life.

Unfortunately, Google has yet to (and probably won't ever) release the full source code for Honeycomb, meaning all the hacked versions for devices like the Nook are imperfect. On the Nook, for example, there are a number of things that don't work, or work partially. So for me, it's not good enough to use as a daily OS, both because features are missing, and because using it eliminates the excellent Nook reading experience. But even though I'm not using it full-time, I have still used it enough to get a feel for it.

Overview
The main homescreen of Honeycomb is a huge, drastic departure from the Android experience on a phone. Everything is designed for a large screen and rearranged to work better with more space. Even the lockscreen is revamped to avoid super long swipe lines, which tablets running other versions of Android have to deal with.

The same way Gingerbread brought lots of green theming, Honeycomb brings blue. The whole OS has a blue TRON-esque theme that permeates everything, from the icon outlines to the loading animations. It doesn't look bad, per se, but it definitely takes some getting used to. It almost looks cartoony, but in a refind sort of way.

Honeycomb does away with hardware buttons entirely, instead opting to put the traditional Android buttons in software along the bottom left of the screen. There is also a text and voice search area always available in the top left. Apps are accessible from a screen button in the top right, where there is also a button to add items to the homescreen.

The app drawer is arranged in full pages that scroll horizontally, much like the iPad. Apps can be sorted by All or Downloaded which shows only the apps you've obtained from the Market.

Speaking of the Market, both it and the other Google apps have received major facelifts as well. The Market itself looks nearly identical to the Market website, while Gmail shows multi-pane viewing, label lists down the side, message previews, etc. The YouTube app has also been revamped to better take advantage of the bigger screens.

The Browser, too, has gotten a big screen feature-boots. It now looks very much like Chrome with tabbed browsing, etc.

My Impressions
Not using Honeycomb as my daily OS on the Nook limits my ability to get a strong feel for it. I can make observations, of course, but I won't be able to find all the little nuances (both pro and con) that make up using a device on a daily basis.

That being said, I really like what I see. Honeycomb makes much better use of big screens than Gingerbread does. Things like multi-pane Gmail and apps like Tweetcomb that really take advantage of the space are what really make the OS shine. I also really like the on-screen buttons instead of hardware buttons. I don't know why, but they just seem to flow better.

As much as I expected to like the TRON themed blueness of Honeycomb, I'm not entirely sure I do now that I've played with it for a while. Don't get me wrong, it looks very cool and futuristic, but there's just a slight twinge of an unprofessional, childish, cartoony vibe in there. The same way you might be embarrassed to use your phone in public if you had an cartoony wallpaper image, Honeycomb makes me almost (not quite, but almost), hesitate to use it out in public instead of the stock OS.

Honeycomb also has a bit of a learning curve that something like the iPad doesn't. It makes things like search, apps, settings, homescreen customization, etc. very easy to get to, but the buttons are all on opposite corners of the screen. It looks nice, but for someone not used to it, you'll find yourself doing a lot of hesitating while you refresh your memory with where all the buttons are.

On the whole, I can definitely say that Honeycomb is perfect for tablets. I'm almost glad that the effort to hack it to work on phones has been limited, because this just wouldn't be a good experience on a small screen. On a tablet, though, it rocks.

It's a completely different experience from the Android we've been used to for the last 2+ years, so for Android enthusiasts like myself, it sure takes some getting used to. Everything is still there, but it's all been moved around, features added, buttons removed, concepts changed, and just overall very different. Once you've played with it for a while, you start to really appreciate the big-screen changes and miss them when you go back to a smaller screen.

I can honestly say that if I were in the Market for a 10" tablet, Honeycomb would be a requirement. Things like Flash in the browser, real multi-pane Gmail, resizable widgets, etc. totally push it over the other tablet options out there at present. If you're looking for one, you definitely owe it to yourself to check out a Honeycomb tablet before making your purchase.

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Nook Color quick review

2011-06-11T17:32:00.149-04:00

I finally have a tablet. After wanting one for a very long time, I finally bit the bullet and got the Nook Color. Arguably, it's not in the same tablet league as the bigger, more expensive models, but with a tiny bit of hacking it can be a super powerful, full-featured tablet.

But I've also been wanting an e-reader for a very long time. I seriously considered the original Nook and even the new Nook touch. I knew I wanted it for reading, but the allure of the Nook Color and its tablet features (not to mention super easy hacking), finally won me over. Keep reading to find out my impressions on this little device. This won't be a long, exhaustive review since the device has been available for a while already and reviewed extensively by other sites.

Hardware
The Nook Color has a 7" IPS touchscreen with a custom anti-glare layer. The result is a screen that is great for reading, even in bright light. It definitely still gets washed out in glaring sun, but it's usually still readable. The touchscreen works great, but isn't as responsive as the more expensive tablets.

The device itself is just over 15 ounces, which while not too heavy, is definitely heavy enough to get a bit tiring when holding one handed for reading. But considering an typical hardback novel is around 25 ounces, the Nook Color doesn't seem too bad.

Overall, the hardware is solid, thin, and very attractive. Personally, I think it's one of the more striking devices around and won't be quickly confused with other 7" tablets.

Stock Software
Out of the box, the Nook Color is running a highly customized version of Android 2.2, Froyo. Everything has been tweaked, and the stock experience is clearly geared toward reading, as it should be. The main screen shows a row of recently read books across the bottom, and has three customizable homescreen panels. You can drop books, magazines, apps, etc. on these panels for easy access. The traditional Android status bar has been moved to the bottom. A center icon on the bar gives instant access to features like the B&N store, your library, apps, web browser, etc.

Speaking of apps, the most recent update to the Nook Color brought real apps to the table, making this even more of a tablet. The selection, however, is painfully limited. This is not the real Android Market we're used to, but rather a custom Nook app store. As of writing, the store only has 229 apps available, most of which aren't free. Even some apps that are free on the Android Market are paid apps here.

The stock reading, shopping, browsing, organizing and general Nook experience here is so far and above the regular Nook Android app that it's not even fair to compare them. You can make personalized shelves of book collections, instantly return to your book with a single tap, etc.

One of the reading features that Barnes and Noble is able to offer that Amazon can't match is the physical store experience. As any Nook owner will tell you, the ability to read books for free (for 1 hour per day) in a B&N store is pretty awesome. It allows you to get a look at books before purchasing, or even read one completely for free by visiting a store over a few days. It's a great feature, and one of the B&N's biggest advantage over Amazon.

Hacking
I've been an Android user since Day One, and have rooted/hacked quite a few devices, and I can honestly say that the Nook Color is the single easiest device to root and customize that I have ever used. It's so easy that trying a new ROM is as simple as inserting an SD card. The ROM runs totally off the card and leaves the internal OS intact and untouched.

It's also nearly impossible to mess things up. It includes a fail safe feature that even if you somehow manage to royally screw things up, you can still revert back to stock entirely without even needing a computer.

My current setup is a modified version of the stock experience. I really like the Nook Color's stock reading experience, as well as the extras like in-store reading, so I didn't want to wipe all of that away to install a custom ROM. But I did want the real Android Market. Setting this up was painfully easy and now I can install any app I want, even custom launchers, without messing up the stock reading experience. It's perfect.

But being the Android enthusiast that I am, I couldn't resist trying some other ROMs, especially with out easy it is. It was thanks to the Nook's easy hack-ability that I was finally able to give Android 3.0, Honeycomb a try. It doesn't run perfectly on the Nook, of course, but the experience is solid enough to give me an impression of how Honeycomb works. Expect a future blog post on that topic soon.

Conclusion
The Nook Color is a solid, if curious device. It can't strictly be called a tablet, since it lacks so many features of the other tablets on the Market. But it can't really be called just an e-reader, since it does so much more than the other e-readers. And with just a tiny amount of hacking, it becomes a full-featured tablet.

I've been asked more than once why I chose the Nook over the iPad, Galaxy Tab, Xoom, etc. since they so clearly offer features the Nook lacks. The answer is primarily price; the Nook costs $250, half the price of the cheapest iPad, and more than half the price of the Xoom. But it's more than just price. In thinking about what I would use a tablet for, I kept coming back to reading.

I already have the Cr-48, which is literally the perfect device for couch computing, so I don't need a 10" tablet for casual web browsing. I'm not a big gamer, so the iPad's game selection doesn't do much for me. I like real portability, and despite the thinness, 10" tablets are just too big to easily take with you. And I really, really want to read more.

All that came together to make the Nook Color the perfect device for me. And I haven't been disappointed. The reading and book organizing experience is unparalleled, portability is perfect, battery life is awesome, and with just some simple hacking, it can transform into a serious tablet when I want more features or extra apps. For me, it's the perfect combination of tablet and e-reader.

Android 2.3 Gingerbread first impressions

2011-01-30T15:26:00.000-05:00

A couple weeks ago, I decided that I needed to try the latest available version of Android. My G2 came with 2.2, Froyo, but being the Android enthusiast that I am, I just had to try the newest version, which is 2.3, Gingerbread.

I carefully backed up all of my info, erased everything and flashed the new ROM. It really brought me back since this was the first time I'd done much ROM flashing on my G2 and I forgot how much fun it is, albeit a tad nerve racking. But I am now running the very latest version of Android (the latest available version, anyway), and I'm able to try it out long before HTC or T-Mobile will make it available officially.

Filesystem
From a user's perspective, Gingerbread isn't that different from Froyo, save for some visual theming. The underlying OS code, however, is very different and is worth mentioning. Previous versions of Android used a filesystem called YAFFS, whereas Gingerbread uses one called EXT4. Without getting too technical, the filesystem is simply the method by which the OS organizes files, writes new files to memory, etc. Each filesystem has its own set of limitations, and YAFFS was starting to show its age.

One of EXT4's biggest advantages is speed. It allows the system to create files much faster, which is great for things like recording HD video, or playing high-end games. The fact that Android will be using EXT4 from now on means that all of these things will perform much better, even on existing hardware.

Visual theming
Android, as it ships from Google, has always had a standard visual appearance. Every manufacturer adds its own custom colors and skin, of course, so there are millions of people who probably don't know what "stock" Android even looks like. But if you've ever used a G1, MyTouch 3G, Droid 1, Nexus One, G2, etc. then you have been using stock Android.

Visually, Gingerbread makes quite a few changes. The status bar is black, the menus are now grey-on-black, status icons are redesigned and now colored green and grey, the lockscreen icons are slightly different, and the standard homescreen dock now has green icons as opposed to grey. It's mostly just colors that are changed, but it makes quite a difference. For those of us used to the traditional white/grey of previous versions, it takes some getting used to.

I personally really like it, though I admit to being less than enthusiastic at first. I'd never really cared for black theming and I wans't sure how I would like the new look. After using it for a few days, though, it really began to grow on me and now I love it. The green on black really looks good, and gives the whole OS a more polished appearance. Froyo's status icons look almost cartoonish now, by comparison.

Another new visual trick is the amazingly cool screen-off animation. It's a very simple and fast animation that runs when the phone screen is turned off either by timing out or by pressing the power button. It mimics the old CRT TV style of turning off, and it looks sickeningly cool. There's a similar animation when the screen turns on, and I've gotten so used to and impressed with it, that it's kind of jarring to use a phone that doesn't have it. I think it should become a standard feature on all smartphones, including Windows Phone 7 and iOS devices. :-)

Apps
This is an area where there is very little to say. Google has done a tramendous job of decoupling core apps from the OS and putting them in the Market. Apps like Gmail, Google Maps, Voice Search, and YouTube have all been removed from the OS and updated on their own through the Market. This means that new versions of Android don't ship with brand new, never-before-seen versions of these apps.

So the only apps to get updated for Gingerbread are the dialer, text messaging, and the browser. And all of these look and function almost exactly the same as before, save for the same black and grey theming that's present everywhere else.

Conclusion
While it's not all that different from Froyo, Gingerbread is a nice, solid upgrade and I've been enjoying it so far. I've only encountered a few apps that don't work, but that's likely caused by the fact that the Cyanogen ROM isn't completely finished yet. I like the new visual look, and the screen-off animation alone is enough to keep me from reverting back to Froyo.

Overall, I'm very impressed and plan to keep using it until something better comes along. Now we just have to hope that the manufacturers get their butts in gear and release official Gingerbread updates for existing phones. If your phone is already rooted and a Gingerbread ROM is available for you, I definitely recommend giving it a shot. It's quite impressive.

How to set up and use Google Cloud Print

2011-01-26T08:33:00.001-05:00

Last year, Google showed off a new service, called Cloud Print that promised to link devices and printers across the Internet without needing to mess with complicated network sharing settings. Yesterday, they expanded Cloud Print to support printing from mobile web browsers on Android and iOS.

Even though setting up and using Cloud Print is easy, there are still some steps that might not be clear, so keep reading to learn how to set it up yourself.

To begin, you need a Windows computer connected to a printer. Google says Mac and Linux versions are coming soon, but for now, the home computer needs to be running Windows XP, Vista, or 7. You also need at least one printer set up on this computer. It doesn't matter what type of printer, or how they're connected, as long as they're there.

Next, you must be using the Beta Chanel of Chrome. Chrome is Google's web browser, and it comes in three different versions: Stable, Beta, and Developer. The Stable channel is the one easily available at google.com/chrome, and is the most commonly used version. The Beta channel is for people who want to try newer features before they are finalized, but don't want to risk things breaking. The Developer channel is for web developers, and people (like me), who want to always be using the latest and greatest, regardless of stability. Cloud Print is still a beta product, meaning it hasn't been finalized for use in the Stable channel, so you'll need to bump up to the Beta or Developer channel to use it.

Switching channels is easy and you can do it by simply clicking these links: Beta channel, Developer channel.

Once you are running the Beta or Developer channel, you can set up Cloud Print by clicking the Wrench icon in the top right, then Options. From the options window, click Under the Hood, and look for Google Cloud Print. Click Enable and follow the steps for turning Cloud Print on.

That's it! Cloud Print is now set up and running on your home computer. In order to print back to it, you need to have a smartphone or a Chrome OS device (like the Cr-48). I'm sure Google will update things in the future to allow standard PC and Mac laptops to print back to the home printer, for example, but for now that's not supported.

On a Chrome OS device, you simply click the Wrench, then Print and it automatically pulls up your Cloud Print printers.

On a smartphone, things are a tiny bit more complicated. For now, Cloud Print only works on Android and iOS devices that have HTML5 browsers...and it's only done through the browser. You can't print emails from the native Android Gmail app, for example. That's coming, of course, but for now, you have to sign into Gmail or Google Docs from the phone's browser. Then you simply hit the arrow drop down, and tap Print.

From there, you get a menu to select which printer you want to use, and that's it. The document is sent back to your home computer and printed. The only downside is that your home computer must be running and connected to the Internet. Though, it's worth noting that Chrome does not need to actually be running on your home computer, since the Cloud Print service runs independent of the browser.

Cloud Print works extremely well and is a great addition to Google's mobile offerings. I'm looking forward to seeing it come to the native Android and iOS apps, but until then, this is an awesome first step for those times when you need to print from your phone.

How about you? Do you see yourself using Cloud Print now that it's available on mobile?

CES 2011

2011-01-25T12:01:00.001-05:00

Another Consumer Electronics Show has come and gone. There were tons of great announcements this year, and tons of new products unveiled. Last year's show was somewhat (though not entirely) boring, being in the middle of the recession and all. It was the year of e-book readers, with every manufacturer showing off something that could compete with the Kindle.

This year was the year of tablets, as various electronics companies are trying to come up with unique products to counter the iPad. Almost every single one of the new tablets runs Android, and many will likely never be produced as real products. Some were very exciting, though, including those from Motorola, Asus, and Vizio. The Vizio devices, in particular, are interesting since they include an infrared emitter and act as universal remotes for your TV and home theater gear, a perfect feature on a device you'll likely be using on your couch.

3D was also present in a big way at this year's show, with every major TV manufacturer showing off cheaper, bigger, and better 3D TVs, some of which don't even need glasses. The Nintendo 3DS made another appearance and will go on sale this year. There were 3D laptops and tablets, cheap 3D video cameras, and lots of other gear. It won't be long before 3D will be as common as HD and nobody will think twice about it.

Another trend this year was crazy fast mobile phones. Devices from Motorola, Samsung, LG, etc. all showed off dual core processors, high amounts of RAM, and high resolution screens. With these devices (and the Motorola Atrix in particular), this is set to be the year that the line between phones and computers really starts to blur.

I have never been to CES, unfortunately, but I follow it closely every year. With sites like Engadget, Android Central, and Gizmodo all providing in depth coverage, I am never lost for news to read during CES week. Google Reader is still one of the most valuable tools in news reading, and without it, keeping up with CES news would be next to impossible.

You can expect a future post from me about RSS and news reading. It's a utility that mainstream tech sites seem determined to kill, but I feel so strongly about that I can't help myself from writing about it.

And maybe I can finally attend CES next year. For someone like me who consumes tech and gadget news like water, CES is like the promised land. The chance to be surrounded by people who share your interests, and a chance to write about tech news first hand would just be awesome.

Initial review: Google CR-48 Chrome Notebook

2010-12-17T00:03:00.000-05:00

When UPS knocked on the door earlier this week, I was expecting to find some Christmas packages from out-of-town family members. When I opened the door, there were three packages out there, two of which were indeed Christmas presents. But the third had a return address I didn't recognize. I was wracking my brain trying to remember if I'd ordered anything. I asked Shels if she'd ordered any gifts for me so I wouldn't accidentally open something I wasn't supposed to see. But no, we couldn't think of what might be inside. I cut open the box to find another box inside with this image emblazoned on it:

I knew I'd seen that picture before, but I couldn't place it. As I was opening the inner box, I remembered: I'd seen it in an unboxing video for the CR-48 Chrome Notebook!

Quick recap: The CR-48 is Google's first official product running ChromeOS. It's a simple netbook-style computer with a 12.1" screen, full-size chicklet keyboard, multi-touch trackpad, integrated webcam, built-in Verizon 3G, all in a thin, non-descript, minimalist housing. The hardware is all black soft-touch material with no markings or logos anywhere...at all. It's a simple thin, black slab, and in a world of laptops covered in logos and product endorsements, it's actually quite refreshing. Suffice it to say that I love the hardware. It's thin, light, minimalistic, and actually quite beautiful.

The notebook is called the CR-48, which is the atomic abbreviation for Chromium 48. They had around 60,000 of the notebooks to give away to people who were willing to beta test it. They opened up requests and I signed up as soon as I heard about it. Even so, I was very surprised when it showed up unannounced at my door. I'm actually kind of humbled that they actually sent me one.

Anyway, on to the device itself. The hardware is great, but how is the OS? ChromeOS needs very little introduction. If you've used the Chrome browser on a desktop computer, then you've used ChromeOS. It's a very lightweight linux-based operating system that is just a browser, nothing more. It has some minor differences from the browser, of course, like date and time settings, Internet connection settings, the ability to sign in and out of different accounts, and a very simple file-browser. But for all intents and purposes, it's just like Chrome on the desktop.

After solving my initial WiFi problems, I was off and running. I've been using the CR-48 as often as possible for the last few days and I've been pretty impressed so far. It's been surprising to me how much time I spend in the browser and how little I've needed to move back to my desktop. I actually wrote this entire post using the CR-48, with 3 other tabs open and music streaming from Slacker the whole time.

This is an extremely solid and easy to use system that will be perfect for traveling, or for simple surfing on the couch. It obviously can't replace a desktop system for more advanced use like Photoshop, video editing, or mass-storage of music or movies, but for every-day web browsing, Flash gaming, etc., or for taking on the road, the CR-48 and ChromeOS seem perfect.

I absolutely love how all of my bookmarks, extensions, saved preferences, saved passwords, etc. were automatically and quickly synced to the notebook as soon as I logged in. That cloud-based sync is one of Chrome's most powerful features, in my opinion.

Now for the problems. Google made it very clear that the CR-48 is not a consumer-ready device. ChromeOS is still under active development (there have been 2 OS updates since I've had it), and is expected to be commercially available this summer. For now, though, Google wanted to get these notebooks into people's hands for beta testing. As such, it's hard to properly review the OS, since a problem I'm having today may be fixed in an update tomorrow. So keep that in mind as I continue with the problems I've had with the Chrome Notebook.

Flash
Flash works just fine for most things, especially given the CR-48's low-powered hardware. But for streaming video, Flash gets pretty laggy. Adobe has already stated that they are aware of the problem, and are working hard to bring true hardware acceleration to the CR-48. Until then, video streaming and video chatting are somewhat less than ideal.

WiFi
As I shared in my previous post, the CR-48 has trouble with networks encrypted with TKIP. Switching to AES solves the problem, but this is still a very strange issue that needs to be addressed. In all likelihood, it can be easily fixed with a software update.

Touchpad
This is my first real experience with a click-pad, so it's possible that my problems are due to simply not being used to it. The pad requires two fingers for most tasks, which works fine...most of the time. Two-finger scrolling works fine and is very smooth. Right clicking, however, has been somewhat frustrating. You have to put two fingers on the pad and then click down, which sounds easy, but half the time, it ends up left clicking. I don't know if this is a problem with the way I'm doing it, or with the pad itself, but it's definitely bothering me. In addition, I am quite used to moving the cursor with my right hand, while my left hand rests on the mouse button, ready to click. That obviously doesn't work here, since there's no button to rest on. Not a bad thing, but if you're used to a traditional laptop touchpad, this will take some getting used to.

SD Cards
The CR-48 has an SD card slot on the right side, which should be able to be used for uploading pictures from a camera memory card. It didn't work for me, though...at all. All of the pictures in this post had to be added from my desktop PC. I'm blaming this problem on beta software, and fully expect an update to address it down the road.

One thing that definitely hasn't been a problem is the battery. Google says that the battery can last as much as 8 days with the computer asleep and I don't doubt it. I charged it up when I first opened it and I haven't plugged it in since. After a small amount of use each day, the battery is still at more than 50 percent. For a computer that I intend to carry with me, this is awesome and very welcome.

Finally, the CR-48 has built-in 3G cellular access from Verizon Wireless. It's easily turned on and of from the settings. To sweeten the deal, Google and Verizon have teamed up to offer all CR-48 users 100MB of free data each month for 2 years. That's not much at all, but it's enough to quickly get online in a pinch when no WiFi is available. Users can purchase extra data for $10 for an unlimited 1-day pass, and monthly plans start at $20. There are no contracts and plans can be changed easily. If you use the free plan, you can even see how much of your 100MB is remaining by simply clicking on the WiFi status icon, which is a very nice touch.

In conclusion, I think ChromeOS and the CR-48 definitely have a place in the tech world. Lots of people have predicted its demise, and how it will never catch on, blah blah. I disagree, for the most part. On the consumer side, perhaps that's true. The average Walmart shopper is very unlikely to chose a ChromeOS netbook over a Windows 7 netbook, simply because Windows is what they're familiar with.

But ChromeOS could be a massive success in the business world, both for traveling computers, and desktops. Imagine your fleet of sales people having cheap, easily replaceable laptops with zero risk of lost data should the computer be damaged. Or an office full of ChromeOS desktops where each user can log into any computer and immediately have all of their bookmarks and data.

So I certainly don't think it's going to be a huge flop, but I also don't necessarily think it will gain mass-market attention. Personally, I am really enjoying it, and I see the potential. I'm honored to be selected as a beta tester, and you can expect more posts about ChromeOS and the CR-48 as its updated in the coming months.

Happy Trails!

Fix WiFi speed on CR-48 Chrome Notebook

2010-12-16T09:18:00.000-05:00

I'm in the midst of writing my quick review of the CR-48 Chrome Notebook (which I'm still amazed that Google sent me in the first place), but I wanted to take a minute to share a quick tip.

When I first set up the CR-48, I connected it to my home WiFi network. It connected without issue, but was very slow. I initially blamed the slowness on the CR-48 itself, thinking it was just a crappy, slow product. But then I connected to the Verizon 3G connection and webpages started loading extremely fast.

Turns out the problem was with the encryption setting on my router. For some reason, ChromeOS can't handle TKIP encryption very well. By simply setting the encryption to AES, the problem was solved. Webpages now load lightning fast on WiFi, which is the way it should be.

So if you have a CR-48 and find WiFi to be frustratingly slow, don't blame the machine. Simply change your router's encryption to AES and you should be good to go.

Now that that's taken care of, I shall return to writing my review. :-)

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Facebook now lets users export data!

2010-11-05T11:38:00.000-04:00

It looks like Facebook may finally be coming around. After quite a few problems with privacy lately, Facebook recently unveiled several new privacy features and options which seem to have users in mind. As usual, several of the changes are opt-out, meaning all users are automatically signed up for them, and must manually turn it off. More about this in a future post.

One of the biggest and most surprising features, though, is data exporting. In a huge shift from the way Facebook has previously worked, the site now allows users to perform a mass export, and save all of their data themselves. The export feature creates one zip file that contains all of your status updates, notes, pictures, links, comments, etc. and lets users save it to their local computers.

Exporting data is extremely easy, and takes just a few clicks. To do it, first log into Facebook, then click Account in the top right, then Account Settings. From there, click Learn More next to Download Your Information. You will then be presented with a very simple, one button download page. The download isn't immediate, as it takes a while (sometimes several hours) to prepare your information for download. Once you click the button, Facebook will send you an email when your file is ready.

Be careful, though, since the zip file does contain all of your information, including private info that you may not want others to see. As such, it is definitely NOT recommended that you do this on a public computer. Wait to actually download your zip file until you are on your own, personal computer. If you must use a public computer, you should copy the file to your personal USB drive, then delete it and empty the recycle bin. Common sense stuff, here.

Once you get your download link, you can save the zip file to your computer and take a look at it. You'll find a group of folders that contain your pictures, videos, etc., we well as HTML files that allow easy viewing of these files. Sadly, it only downloads the small, Facebook-quality images. So even if you originally uploaded a 10 megapixel image, this only downloads the tiny display version.

There are bound to be third party services soon that can take advantage of these zip files. One potential example would be a competing social network. Imagine if a new service comes along and you can simply upload your Facebook zip file to instantly add all of your info to the new network. Or imagine services that let you upload the zip file to help add contacts to your email client, or add photos to Flickr or Picasa. There are lots of possibilities of how to take advantage of the zip file, we just have to wait and see what developers come up with.

So why should you download your information? If you have no plans of quitting Facebook or deleting your account, then you don't necessarily need to download your info. Some people simply like to keep a local backup of their data for safe keeping. It never hurts to backup your data, of course, especially if you keep a lot of photos on Facebook. But if you are at all interested in deleting your account, you now have an excellent and super-easy option for getting your data out.

There is one glaring hole to this, however: none of your friend data is exported. Even with this new download option, there is still no easy way to export your contact information from Facebook. Your address book is forever stuck in their ecosystem, unless, of course, you hunt down a 3rd party solution.

Even so, it's great to see Facebook take this step. Data portability is one of the most important features whenever I look at a new service. Most of Google's services (including Gmail, Docs, Calendar, etc.) allow users to quickly and easily export their data for use somewhere else. Facebook was one of the most glaring hold-outs for not allowing this type of exporting, and it's encouraging to see them change their tune.

Maybe now I'll start using Facebook again...or maybe not.

T-Mobile G2 review

2010-10-14T18:02:00.000-04:00

I just posted my fairly lengthy review of the T-Mobile G2. Be sure to head over to His And Hers Android to check it out!

http://www.hisandhersandroid.com
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Get the most out of Google Maps for Android

2010-09-18T16:16:00.002-04:00

(cross-posted at His and Hers Android)

As any smartphone guru will tell you, Google Maps is one of Android's greatest features. There are Google Maps applications for other platforms, of course, but Android's version has some major exclusives that make it stand out. I've spoken to several iPhone users who say that Maps is one of the features they're most jealous of.

With all the features it has, though, it's easy for the app to seem overwhelming and some of the coolest features to go unnoticed. So let's take a look at some of the useful stuff hiding under the surface and how to get the most out of Maps on Android.

View 3D maps without Navigation
Navigation is undoubtedly the most impressive feature of Maps. Free, always up-to-date turn-by-turn directions is pretty epic. But for the times when you're not using Navigation, and just simply want a map view on the screen, it can sometimes be confusing to just look at the 2D map, especially while driving. Did you know that you can view the 3D map, which auto-orients to the direction you're heading, even when not using navigation? Just tap the Navigation icon in your app list, then hit the Map button in the top right. That's it!

Avoid Highways; Avoid Tolls
This is something a lot of people want, but few know how to find. To tell Navigation to avoid highways and/or toll roads when giving directions, tap the Navigation icon in your app list, then the gear-shaped Settings button on the top.

Take advantage of Places
The latest version of Maps adds a Places icon to your app list. Tap this to bring up a quick and easy way to search for places nearby. Searches like Coffee, Hotels, Bars, etc can be done instantly, all based on your location. You can even view the results on a map to quickly see where they are. It's very useful.

Turn on some Labs features
There are a number of extra features you can turn on in Maps that are considered "experimental." This means that they may not quite work perfectly, and it's very possible that they won't always be there. But there's no danger in turning them on, and some of them are really cool. To find them, open Maps and press Menu. Tap More, then Labs. At present, there are 4 extra features you can turn on. Look them over and try a few out. I personally like Scale Bar, Traffic with Labels, and Bubble Buttons.

Install the new Street View
In the latest upgrade to Maps, Google also upgraded Street View, but it's not installed by default. To find it, go to the Market and search for Street View (or tap here from your phone, or scan this QR Code). The new version brings easier navigation by dragging Pegman around. Check out the official demonstration video to see it in action.

Give Latitude a try
Google's Latitude feature allows you to see where your friends are and communicate with people nearby. But even if you don't want to share your location with anyone (or if you don't have any friends), Latitude can still be useful. There's a page of extra web apps you can use with Latitude, the most useful of which might be Location History. This provides a private (viewable only by you) web page where you can see a history of where you've been and how long you've spent there. For example, Latitude figured out by itself where I work, where my house is, and shows me a map of where I've traveled. This feature has to be turned on (it's off by default), and may creep some people out. But for others, it's hugely useful.

Search with your voice
This is a feature that's been part of Maps for a while, but lots of people haven't tried it. If you've never tried searching by talking, definitely give it a shot. You can say things like, "123 Main Street" or "Directions to New York City" or "Navigate to Main Street" and Maps takes care of the rest.

So there you have it. Maps is seriously powerful app, and one of Android's headliner features. If you don't use Maps very often, or don't use the advanced features, I highly encourage you to give them a try.

Do you have any cool uses for Maps that I missed? Let's hear about them in the comments!

The stupidity of analog money transfers

2010-09-13T19:30:00.002-04:00

(photo by lincolnblues)

The current state of digital currency is somewhat maddening. We have services like online banking, of course, that are getting more powerful all the time. We can pay bills, manage accounts, etc. all from home. Services like PayPal are trying to digitize things like payments to and from individuals, too.

But we're not there yet...and money transfers is a perfect example of why. Transferring money from one bank to another has been possible for decades. It's traditionally taken 3-5 business days for a transfer to process, and until recently that made sense. Banks all operated on different systems, and moving money required several steps.

Today, however, that's not the the way it works. Case in point: ATMs. You can walk up to any ATM and immediately withdraw money, or check account balances in any bank. The computer in the ATM owned by Bank A can immediately connect to the servers of Bank B to find out if there's enough money in the account to allow a withdraw.

Let's look at an example. I have accounts at Bank A and Bank B. I want to transfer $100 from my account at Bank A to my account at Bank B. So I go to the bank's website. Sure enough, transfers are possible right from there with only a few clicks. But it takes 3-5 days to process.

The other option is visiting an ATM. I withdraw $100 from Bank A as cash (or as I like to call it, analog money) and then immediately deposit the money into Bank B. The transfer is completed immediately.

I simply cannot understand why bank transfers still take days to complete. The computer in the ATM, likely no more powerful than an average laptop, is able to instantly connect to the requested bank and transfer money to turn it into cash. So why can't the huge mainframe computers of banks do the same? It should not be faster for me to drive to the bank, withdraw cash, then immediately deposit said cash, than to use the bank's website.

Honestly, I suspect it's that way simply because that's always how it's been done. There are probably very long standing protocols in place for money transfers that aren't easy to modernize. But online banking has been around for years, and ATMs have been around even longer. To me, this seems like something that should have been taken care of by now.

On a related note, can I just say how much I dislike analog money? Paying for things with pieces of paper just seems so archaic.

Why I'm excited about the G2

2010-08-30T09:30:00.002-04:00

Those of you that have been reading this for a while probably remember my "excited about the G1" post. I wrote that on October 1, 2008, nearly two years ago, when the G1 was nearing launch. Since then, the Android landscape has exploded. Things have changed so much since the G1 launched that it's almost mind boggling to think that it all started a mere two years ago.

And now, T-Mobile and Google are poised to release the G2, a next generation Android device. (We covered the G2 twice already over at HisAndHersAndroid.com). Exact specs for the G2 are unknown (though it's rumored to have a new, very fast chipset), so it's difficult to speculate how it stacks up against other Android superphones like the Evo or Droid X.

But the G2 is exciting for different reasons. First, it's the first HSPA+ smartphone from T-Mobile, giving it 4G speeds over T-Mobile's existing network. Secondly, it's rumored to be the first phone since the Nexus One to run stock Android 2.2, no carrier skins in sight. In a world where every single phone is being launched with some form of skin on top of Android, this is exciting news. There are many people, myself included, who prefer stock Android and it's great to see a new phone ready to show it off.

Personal preference aside, phones that run stock Android have historically been able to receive software updates much faster than their skinned counterparts. For example, the original Droid is already running 2.2, while the much newer Droid X is still running 2.1 (though an update is expected very soon).

Of course, I don't personally have any intention of waiting for carrier updates anymore. Since discovering the greatness of root, I don't think I could live without it, so I'll probably be rooting the G2 as soon as a root method is available. That being said, software update are becoming increasingly important, and the general public is becoming more aware of them, so devices that will get updates quickly are exciting.

I'm also excited about the G2's keyboard. The number of Android phones that have keyboards can be counted on one hand, and the number of them that I would even consider are far fewer. The G2 promises to be a great device for those of us who need hardware keyboards. Check out some pictures of the G2 that Engadget got here and here.

The G2 is also shaping up to be the new phone of choice for Android hackers. Even Cyanogen, one of the more well known hackers, said he is going to get a G2. As someone who will likely be keeping the G2 for another two years like I did the G1, having a large community of smart people behind it will ensure that it keeps performing for the whole two years, just like the G1 has.

Until we know more about the exact specs and price of the G2, it's hard to know exactly what to expect or how excited to be. It's possible that it could have more surprises in store and be even more exciting, but it could also have some critical flaw that disappoints us all (though I really hope not).

For now, though, I'm quite excited and have every intention of buying it. I definitely want to learn more, and I'll be sure to cover it once we know some more details.

Quick update: Facebook Places privacy settings

2010-08-19T22:05:00.001-04:00

Facebook launched their much anticipated Places feature yesterday, and with it comes new privacy concerns. Thankfully, Facebook seems to have learned from previous privacy mistakes and made some good decisions regarding places.

With only one exception, all the newly added privacy settings default to Only Friends, which is excellent. People should start off with privacy settings on, and then they can decide on their own whether they want to turn them off. That one exception is a big one, however, and it's one everyone should be aware of.

A quick recap: Facebook Places is a location-based service similar to Foursquare or Gowalla that allows users to "check in" to physical locations. You can check in at a restaurant, or a store and then let your friends know that you're there. If they're nearby, they can join you, or simply see where you've checked in. You can also view a newsfeed of where your friends have been and what they had to say while they were there. With Facebook's existing userbase of 500 million users, this has the potential to be huge and millions of people are already using it.

The one concern is in regards to allowing friends to check you in somewhere. The idea is that if you're at a concert, for example, one of your friends can check in, and check you in as being there, so you don't have to. Sounds like a good idea, but do you really want your friends to be able to post your location? Some people do, I'm sure, but if you don't, here's how to change it.

Log into Facebook, then click Account in the top right, then Privacy Settings. Now click Customize settings in the center and scroll down to the section called Things others share. The bottom option in that section says, Friends can check me into places. Change that to Disabled if you're concerned about that privacy detail.

That's it! This might also be a good time to double check all of your other privacy settings since you're there anyway. Now you can chose to use Places when you want to, and never worry about a friend checking you in without your knowledge.

Introducing His And Hers Android!

2010-08-17T09:30:00.001-04:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am very happy to announce HisAndHersAndroid.com, a new Android blog written by Shelsy and me, that we hope will take a unique approach to Android related news and stories.

I consider myself to be a computer aficionado (or geek, if you prefer), and I have a particular interest in mobile phones. Over the past two years, I've grown particularly fond of Android, having owned the very first Android phone since launch day. Shelsy and I have both been using our G1s for the past two years and I rooted them both several months ago.

Android has grown by ridiculously huge margins over the past year, even outselling the iPhone this year. As a result, there are now millions of people using Android phones on a daily basis, most of whom are probably not geeks, nerds, or even technically inclined. But there are also huge numbers of hardcore Android fans who know what rooting means, know lists of specs, and always pine after the latest and greatest device.

Both of these groups are potentially interested in reading Android related news, reviews, articles, etc. But it's difficult to find websites that cater to both groups. And so, His And Hers Android was born.

I'm the hard core Android geek, Shelsy is the mainstream Android user. Together, we will be able to discuss Android stories from both angles, presenting information that is useful to "nerds and normals" alike.

We have a lot of great plans for the site, so I encourage you to check it out. Whether you're a hard-core, rooting, overclocking, Android fan, or a mainstream Android user, we hope the new site will appeal to everyone. Tell your friends, and stay tuned for more cool stuff down the road.

Android 2.2 Froyo first impressions

2010-08-10T09:30:00.001-04:00

This past weekend, I took the plunge and installed Android 2.2 on my G1. Those of you in the Android community know that this involves much rooting, hacking, etc. and is not for the faint of heart. I've had my G1 rooted since March, and have been using and enjoying 2.1, Eclair, since then.

About a month ago, the Cyanogen team released their modded version of Froyo for the G1. I held off trying it myself until some of the initial issues were fixed, but that didn't take long and I am now up and running with the latest version of everyone's favorite green robot. Keep reading for my first impressions of the new OS.

Under the hood, Froyo functions very differently than Eclair in a number of areas. These changes make the system faster, more responsive, and better, but they mean that those of us used to hacking Eclair have to relearn our tactics. For the average user, though, 2.2 doesn't look and feel all that different from 2.1. For this post, I'll focus only on the front facing features that average users will see.

Android Market
The Market got some excellent new features that everyone will appreciate. Apps are now considerably easier to update. Does anyone reading this remember the days of Android 1.0 when the Market didn't even tell you when updates were available? Those days are long gone and the new Froyo Market does even more than that by allowing automatic updates. Users can select on an app-by-app basis whether to allow automatic updates or not. Then, as long as the app's permissions don't change, the Market will auto-install updates in the background. There's also an Update All button now, for apps that aren't set to auto update.

The new Market also allows up and down ranking of comments. Market comments can now be either marked as Helpful, Unhelpful, or Spam. I don't really understand why these options are there, since the Market sorts comments by date and doesn't allow sorting by helpfulness. I can only assume that the new ranking system is in preparation for the next version of Android which will allow app browsing and installing straight from the main Android website. Once the web version of the Market is live, I'm sure comments will play a much larger role and users will surely have the ability to sort comments differently.

Gmail, Browser, and Email
All three of these stock Google apps got minor updates, too. Gmail now allows super easy account switching via a drop down, and it has back and forward buttons to move between messages. Best of all, it also now supports selecting and copying text from within emails. This alone might be worth the upgrade for some people.

The Browser got some nice new features, too, though it's very slow on my G1. I stick with Steel, which isn't nearly as feature-rich, but it's very fast. But for faster devices, the new Browser offers some great new features like Incognito windows, better HTML5 support, etc.

I don't use the stock Email app, since Gmail is the only email service I use, but for those who use Yahoo, AOL, or another email service, the Android Email app got some improvements, too. Things like Exchange support, multiple accounts, etc.

Chrome to Phone
This may be one of the coolest features of Froyo, and it's just the beginning. One of the things Google showed off when they first announced Froyo is a new web-to-phone push service. This will allow apps and websites to push links, files, etc. straight to your phone, if you allow it. The potential for this is massive, and will eventually power the new Market website, where users will simply click Install on the web and watch as the app magically begins installing on their phone.

For now, the only app taking advantage of the new service is Chrome to Phone, which is a combination Android app and Chrome extension. Once they're both signed in and linked together, you can view a website in Chrome, then push the button and the site immediately loads on your phone. It works with maps, too. Load a Google Maps page, push the button, and it loads the map on your phone.

There's also a Firefox extension that works the same way.

Conclusion
Overall, Froyo isn't a huge upgrade from Eclair. It's more evolutionary than revolutionary, as they say. It provides some excellent improvements and definitely sets the stage for future improvements. If your phone/carrier offers a Froyo update, you should definitely get it. And if you aren't offered one, you should seek it out yourself via root, hacking, etc.

Android is evolving faster than ever and with flagship devices like the Droid X and Evo 4G, it's only going to keep growing. These new features are great, especially for those of us who have been using Android since the beginning. The evolution has been a lot of fun to watch and I can't wait to try the next version.

How to set up an always-on webcam

2010-06-22T22:36:00.003-04:00

photo by mofetos

Before you even read this post, let me make something clear: This is a very geeky project that will not be even remotely interesting to most of you. Save yourself the trouble and skip it.

Still with me? Okay, let's get started.

This is a project I completed recently as a pure proof of concept. I wanted to see if I could do it and how hard it would be. The answers are "yes" and "surprisingly easy." Here's the idea: set up a dedicated PC somewhere in your house with a webcam that automatically takes snapshots every so many seconds and uploads them directly to an FTP server. There are many reasons why you might want this, from home security to pointless fun.

Personally, I wanted it for use with WorldTour, the Android app I mentioned in my previous post. This app automatically pulls an image from a webcam every 30 minutes and sets it as your homescreen wallpaper. I thought it might be cool to have my wallpaper display a current image from looking out the window at home. So my wallpaper would always be displaying a view out the window, as if I were at home. Nice idea, eh?

The Computer
To get started, you'll need a webcam and a computer. If you can use an existing computer, all the easier, skip to the webcam section below. Almost any computer will do, even an old one. I'm using an old Pentium 4 system with only 256MB of RAM running XP. All it really needs is a USB port for the webcam and a way to connect to the Internet. I used an old PCI WiFi card I had in my box of parts (finding the XP drivers for it was a little harder).

You can use a desktop or laptop, of course...just whatever you have laying around (most of you who are still reading this probably have an old computer in a closet somewhere). If you don't have one already, you can buy older systems quite inexpensively. Here's one for only $115.

Set up the computer wherever you want your webcam view. Remember that this system will be running 24/7, so pick a spot where it won't overheat or be annoyingly loud. Also, since it will be running constantly, do whatever you can to decrease its power use. My system, for example, doesn't have its own monitor...I just move my regular monitor into that room when I need to work on it. Also, don't leave a USB mouse or keyboard plugged in, even when not in use they draw small amounts of power.

The Webcam
The type of webcam you need depends on where you intend to set it up. Even the cheapest of the cheap will work nicely for still image capture, depending on lighting. If it will be in an area that's brightly lit 24/7, then even this $12 one from Walmart will work. The cheaper cameras suffer in two areas: video streaming and low-light performance.

If you're looking for a camera to stream video rather than taking still shots every few seconds, or one for setting up in an area that gets dark at night (like out the window), then you'll want a higher quality one. This $27 Microsoft Lifecam will work well but still not break the bank.

If you need a camera that can perform in total or near-total darkness, then a night-vision IP camera is a much better choice and this whole setup is unnecessary (skip to the IP camera section below).

The Software
There are lots and lots of free/paid programs available for both Windows and Mac that do basic webcam monitoring. Google is your friend when it comes to researching the various options available. For Windows, though, I recommend Yawcam. It's totally free and supports streaming/still image, FTP uploading at various intervals, local image storage, and even motion detection. I've been using it with my setup and it's easy to install, easy to set up, and works perfectly.

The FTP Server
One of the most important steps in this project is the server. FTP servers are (very unfortunately) not free. However, a project like this does require one to be truly useful. I use Hostica and have had no problems with their service. They're a full-featured domain/web hosting company and they have hosting plans starting at only $12 per year. That's the plan I have and it works perfectly for this project (and lots more!). Heck, a dollar a month is less than I pay for coffee (and I buy my coffee at Walmart in bulk cans).

IP Cameras
This is by far the simplest option and negates pretty much everything I've already said. IP cameras work by connecting directly to the Internet (wired or wireless) and giving you a secure URL to view your camera feed. These cameras often feature very cool options like infrared night vision, remote pan/tilt/zoom control, etc. Of course, that comes at a price, but not unreasonable...here's one for $85.

Conclusion
My whole point in tackling this project was primarily to see if it could be done without spending any money. All the components (including the old computer), were things I already had on hand. And it turned out brilliantly for being a zero cost project. Any of you reading this who are thinking, "now that's just cool" know exactly what I mean.

Sure there are better ways of doing it (like the IP cameras I mentioned), but you just can't beat free. And there's definitely something to be said for doing a project like this "just because."

So what do you think? Will you be setting up an always-on webcam this weekend? Do you already use one? Let's hear about it in the comments.