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Paul's Time Sink

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ModooFree BT

Paul Westbrook | 25 March, 2006 23:06

Modoofree-BtI saw this rear-view mirror, and I though that it would be a great way to get  an integrated hands-free cell adapter into a car, especially since there are any head-units that have integrated Bluetooth, and integrated iPod and satellite radio controls.

The ModooFree BT does give you a integrated hands-free cell phone adapter, that could look pretty good installed.  One thing that I don't like about this is that it uses the cigarette lighter.  I would be more interested in this if I could hard wire it behind my dash.

I may get this, and modify the wire myself, since this can be found for about $149.  Here is the Froogle search for it.

[via Gizmodo]

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SSH tunnels

Paul Westbrook | 25 March, 2006 22:17

This page on Engadget has a great description on setting up and using ssh tunnels for securing network traffic.  This can also be used for getting by networks that block certain protocols.

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Mini-ITX PVR

Paul Westbrook | 25 March, 2006 21:57

XYZ Computing has a great walk-through on setting up a Mini-ITX Linux PVR running MythTV.  If I had the time, I would love to do a project like this.  Hopefully, it would be possible to build a MythTV PVR that can control an external receiver, and to be able to input an HD signal with either HDMI or component video.  Also this PVR would need to be able to control the external receiver with IR blasting or serial control.

[via Slashdot]

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Harmony remote, technology extender

Paul Westbrook | 25 March, 2006 21:38

This weekend, I set up my grandmother with a new Series2 TiVo and a Harmony 880 remote, that we use at home.  Her system has some older components, where there aren't really enough inputs for all of her devices.  This causes her to use the AV switches in both her receiver and her TV to use a device.  For example, in order to watch a DVD the TV has to be switched to the DVD input, but the receiver needs to be switched to the CD.  It is pretty confusing to use the individual remotes to configure this.

The Harmony 880 is perfect for this situation.  The devices are still configured the way that they were, but now the remote hides that away from my grandmother.  Now to play a DVD, all that she needs to press is the "Watch a DVD" button, and the remote sets all of the devices correctly.  This is essentially extending the life of each of the devices.  Without this remote, I would be tempted to buy a new receiver that has enough inputs to handle all of the devices.

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VW Gypsy

Paul Westbrook | 25 March, 2006 01:04

VW's research group is working on a new in-car computer, that will integrate a lot of technology.  Some of the stuff that they are working on, like the integration with the wireless mesh network for home devices, will take a long time to come to market, but I think that some of the other ones could come to market sooner.

For example they are showing a iPod slot for integration, instead of a cable.  Also, this video didn't mention it, but one of the menu items was named "iTunes Library", so it looks like it reads exports data from iTunes, or it reads it directly.

[via TUAW]

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Blogroll with Google Reader

Paul Westbrook | 24 March, 2006 20:26

I saw this post that describes how articles and feeds can be shared from Google Reader.  I was thinking that this would be a good replacement for BlogRolling.  To use a lot of the features on BlogRolling, a paid account is require, and I haven't wanted to do that.

Here is the blogroll when using Google Reader.  (javascript is required.)

 (More)

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Big change

Paul Westbrook | 22 March, 2006 21:40

Today was my last day working at TiVo.  I had been there over 5 years, and it had been a wonderful experience.  I will miss the people I worked with, as they some of the smartest engineers that I have had the opportunity to work with.

In a few weeks, I will be starting at a new company. I am really excited about his change, and am looking forward to the challenges up ahead.

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Simplify

Paul Westbrook | 22 March, 2006 00:03

Now that we have moved into our new house, I have decided to simplify a lot of things.

  1. We are not running a web or mail server out of our house.  This means that I don't have to worry about making sure that our connection is up, or have a UPS for the server.  We ordered a Mac Mini that we will keep our music on.
  2. Got regular consumer broadband connection.  Since we are not running a server at home, we are not paying for the business class dsl with a fast upload speed and the static ip addresses.  Now we just have the standard cable modem service
  3. Using POTS telephone line, instead of VoIP.  When we were using VoIP, we needed to make sure that QoS was availble for the network.  When we were using Vonage, I used a router and software to make sure that the packets going to the Vonage ATA were prioritized higher than other packets.
  4. Using a Airport Extreme as the network router/firewall.  Instead of using the Linksys WRT54GS, with the Sveasoft open source firmware, I will be using the Apple gateway.
  5. Not wiring the house.  Before we moved into our last house, I make ran ethernet cables to each room.  Now we are using wireless around the house.  I have an Airport Extreme connected to the cable modem, and a Airport Express in the TV area.  The Airport Express is connected to the Airport Extreme with WDS, and I have a switch connected to the ethernet port where I have the PS2 connected to.

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Backup bug

Paul Westbrook | 21 March, 2006 22:38

I just noticed a bug in Apple's Backup.  When I logging to my laptop, I get a message that states that my iDisk is full.  When I looked to see what was filling up my iDisk, I found that it was a bunch of incremental backup files from  Backup.

It looks like when you create a backup config, Backup will perform incremental backups of those files.  When those files change often, Backup will essentially create full backups daily.  This is not a problem, except there is no way to limit the size for one of these backup configuration.  In addition to that, there is no way to delete the backup files from within Backup.  You have to delete them from the mounted iDisk itself.

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SmartDeck

Paul Westbrook | 20 March, 2006 23:55

Prod Smartdeckdock Main-1The XM SkyFi in our Sentra is starting to die.  When it is turned on, it just shuts down randomly.  I am not sure if it is a problem in the FM modulator or the SkyFi itself.  Since I don't know what type of head unit I want to get, I just wanted to get something that would allow me to use my iPod in my car.

Since the factory head unit that I have has a cassette player, I wanted to try the SmartDeck, that I mentioned before.  This iPod adapter allows you to use the cassette controls to control the iPod.  By pressing fast forward on the head unit, it will either fast forward or skip tracks on the iPod.

It took me a while to get this to work.  It might be because I haven't played a tape in years, but the tape kept ejecting.  Once it started playing, I noticed that it sounded pretty muffled.  Once I reversed the direction it sounded a lot better.  (I am surprised that it only has the signal going to one side of the head.)

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wireless PC Card died

Paul Westbrook | 20 March, 2006 22:53

This afternoon, the power went out at work.  I think that something during this outage caused my 802.11g PC card to get fried.  When I got home, the card wasn't recognized at all.  I rebooted without the card installed, and was able to use the built-in 802.11b card.

Unfortunately, this means that when I do large file transfers, things will be a lot slower.  I guess I will just plug into the wired network for these transfers. But I have noticed that it seems that the battery is lasting longer without the card installed.

Yet another reason to get that MacBook Pro.

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authimage for comments

Paul Westbrook | 19 March, 2006 21:35

I have decided to enable authimage for posting comments.  The previous filters have been successful in blocking 99% of the comment spam, but I was getting tired of few that got through.

I am a little unhappy about this, as I don't like spam filter technologies that require any additional steps for people initiating this communication.

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Disabled Bad Behavior

Paul Westbrook | 19 March, 2006 01:06

I have disabled the Bad Behavior script on my blog.  This was blocking some of the scripts that I use to post and manage my blog, that happen to use curl.  I am hoping that the improvements in the next version of LifeType will reduce the database io.

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Non-Functional online order systems

Paul Westbrook | 17 March, 2006 02:17

I am surprised about how many online order systems make it appear that you can create an order online, but then when you try to commit the order a web page is shown informing you to call their order service.

Since, we are not going to use Speakeasy VoIP, I wanted to add some services to our phone service.  When I attempted to add these services, the web page directed me to call their center (And of course, the special prices is only available when ordering online.)

Then when I attempted to schedule a cable modem installation, I was instructed to call their sales office.  And this was after the order was submitted, and I had to go through their "live chat" with one of their agents.

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On dialup

Paul Westbrook | 17 March, 2006 01:43

Now that we moved, we are using dialup again.  I called Speakeasy to schedule a time to have dsl installed, and then they told me that my address is not in the database they they use to determine how far we are from the Central Office.  So it appears that even though our phone line has been activated by SBC (AT&T), they haven't updated the database.

This is essentially forcing me to use them for DSL, if I want DSL.  This is something similar to what happened to me before.

Ideally I would like to use Speakeasy for DSL, and use their Speakeasy VoIP since they manage all of the QoS on their network.  But now I am looking at switching to a cable modem.  I am not planning on running a server out of my house anymore, so I don't care about the static ip address.  In addition, with a cable modem, I don't have to worry about the interference with our alarm system.

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