TITAM - Technical issues that affected me

Having invested in Movie Collector Pro (from Collectorz.com), here's my impressions so far. The software seems reasonably fast and well written.  It's quite usable.  There are tons of fields, which can be an advantage or a disadvantage depending on how much time you want to spend. I invested in the wired laser-based barcode scanner, the C37.  The Cuecat looked too goofy, having to swipe across each barcode, and the Intelliscanner didn't seem to justify it's high price.  I have a spare laptop currently sitting in my movie room to do the job of mass importing my collection so wireless scanning is nothing to me.  So I have no idea how the Intelliscanner is supposed to work with the software. Importing barcoded movies is really pretty fast.  Hitting "Ins" brings up the import screen, and if you have a barcode scanner then the cursor is pre-set to the barcode input field.  You scan, and the software will download the details and cover automatically fo...

I knew that upgrading my phone would spell some kind of trouble. In this case, aside from losing a lot of settings (such as email accounts), my Bluetooth keyboard no longer works. It's a funny problem, though.  The keyboard still connects, and the driver works.  You even get a sound when you press the keys.  But Android 2.1 on the X10i doesn't allow you to select BlueInput as one of the input methods.  It's just not there any more. I tried installing the latest BlueInput, but no change.  Wonderful. [Edit]:  To re-enable BlueInput in the IME list, go to Settings/Language & keyboard settings, and check "BlueInput".  This will allow you to select BlueInput as an input method, and the keyboard will work again.  Now using driver 1.7. Note also that the stock Sony Ericsson backup application does a good job, but MyBackup Pro did a reasonable job of restoring my home screens.  I'd recommend it.

So in the interest of saving myself time, I went  back to Best Buy and picked up 4 headsets to try out. I had a long conference call arranged for business reasons - a good opportunity to test all 4 out under the same conditions. They were: -  Plantronics M100 -  Motorola H720 -  Plantronics Discovery 520 -  BlueAnt Q2 Impressions: Motorola H720 - $80 Like:  Like the folding design: compact, easy to tell when it is on, and really easy to connect when I yank it out of my pocket.  Earloop rotates, easy to get on and off.  Micro-USB charge port.  Might come with a carry case, I didn't even look. Call quality:  Same as all the others, basically.  Incoming audio sounds fine.  My voice sounds a bit tinny and still has the electronic overtone mentioned in my last post. (Heard the same on a demonstration audio clip from another reviewer using a different headset.  Must be common to all headsets.)  Good volum...

In my quest for a new headset, I tried the Plantronics 975.  You can get it for around $70 online, shipped, but I bought it locally because I was worried I wouldn't like the fit.  Always best to try before you buy. Now, I had this thing for less than 24 hours, so take these for what they're worth. Good stuff:  Fit me pretty well.  It is as light as they say, and (surprisingly) doesn't move around in your ear. I was surprised because I expected the boom to create some leverage, but it doesn't.  Or maybe the hoop in the earbud is what keeps it in place, I don't know.  But I was personally happy with the comfort level for short periods. The volume button on the headset only has low, medium, and high settings.  But you can use the volume control on your phone to set any volume level you please.  So the volume button is really a 'boost' button for kicking up the volume when it's noisy out, or dropping it when you're in a quiet area.  Works...

So I took a chance (a $25 chance, to be exact) and bought a "mini Bluetooth keyboard" for my Xperia.  I figured why not - it may be an improvement over the soft keyboard if I'm doing a lot of entry or something. These devices are sold everywhere under different names.  The one I bought is from Focalprice.   Others have the same unit for similar prices. Naturally, the unit that came was packaged differently than the unit shown.  There was no manual, and the included CD was either blank (likely) or wasn't formatted properly for a standard PC to read it.  Figures. After some digging, here's how I got it to work: Grab the Teksoft Bluetooth keyboard driver for Android, called BlueInput.  Get it here.   These are demo versions, so they're free to try to see if they'll work with your keyboard or not. (I recommend getting all 3 versions of the driver.  The latest 1.7 driver doesn't install on some devices, including mine.  The initial 1.5 ...

It seems that more and more products are being marketed with fluff and image rather than design and substance.  This is an incorrect assessment, of course - the reality is that most products have always been marketed this way.  It's just annoying me personally more and more every year. I need a Bluetooth headset to replace my aging Cardo Scala 500.  I liked the Scala so much I bought a couple of old-stock units from eBay, but they failed to perform as well, and somehow the Scala does not work as well with my new Xperia X10i. You'd think that picking up a good headset would be like picking up a decent case - just go out and find it.  Unfortunately, handset accessories are major breadwinner products with little to no substance behind them.  While a case can be judged solely on appearance, and inexpensive enough to take a chance, headsets are not. So the frustration begins.  I agree with Mark Knowels when he said - nearly 3 years ago - that even reading...

Previously, I wrote that my Xperia X10i (AWS version, compatible with WIND) was frying SIM cards. A little inaccurate, as it turns out.  Full details are here , but basically the SIM is fine.  It's the phone that's the problem. After highway trips, or indeed any trip that involves a lot of cell site handoffs, the X10i seems to get confused about how to look for roaming partners.  My current theory is that it gets stuck looking for a pre-programmed roaming partner that isn't there. The long and short of it is: if your X10i doesn't want to work anymore, try cycling your SIM card through another GSM phone.  Of any kind.  This seems to 'unconfuse' the phone by resetting the information in the SIM and letting the phone work normally again. Good news for anyone suffering with an X10i that periodically stops working.  Try turning on airplane mode for long trips, and if needs be, keep a spare GSM phone around to recycle the SIM and get it working again. I...

After being on WIND for a while, I have found some peculiar behavior from my Sony Xperia X10i.  More about these 'niggles' later. A few days ago, my phone stopped responding to the network.  Basic troubleshooting such as resetting, changing areas etc. didn't help; I called WIND and my account was still intact too.  The phone radio showed a good signal (better than -60 dBm, which is fairly good.) The WIND techs were quite helpful and took a considerable amount of time to help me solve the problem.  I tried to stay out of their way - I have found that trying to hurry tech support along doesn't get you anywhere.  Also, it seemed that the problem was either my phone's radio (my problem) or something to do with the network access (their problem), and I didn't want to be a pill in case in was, in fact, my problem. After some trouble, it was determined that the SIM card in my phone was fried.  In fact, the techs went so far as to declare this a known issue o...

My old-but-reliable Treo has finally given up. More accurately, the spotty built-in microphone finally seems to have given up for good – I can hear them but they can’t hear me. After realizing how much I’m getting taken for at my current carrier, I got interested in Wind. Their plans seem nice. But their limited phone selection makes things difficult. So the quest began to find a phone I wanted that would operate on the Wind network. (There is a sticky topic at Howardforums.com that deals with this same topic , but I found it to be a bit too complicated. This is the for-dummies version.) 1. Look carefully at the phone specs for the magic number: 1700 MHz. Wind runs on 1700. No 1700, no Wind! Yes, you will see many other numbers. You don’t need any of them. Specifically, you don’t need 2100 MHz. 2. Look for one of the key words: UMTS, WDCMA, HSPA, HSDPA, HSUPA, or HSPA+. For our purposes here: UMTS = WCDMA = HSPA = HSDPA = HSUPA = HSPA+ This is all the sa...

Logitech G15 and KVMs - the final word I was so pleased when the G15 first came out. I wanted input devices that would make me more productive at work, and the G15 macro key setup (G-keys) fit the bill perfectly. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the on-board LCD display was useful for displaying the date and time. Overall the G15 is a great business keyboard. I have never used the G15 at home, because I have a multi-PC setup. This means I have the dreaded KVM in between my input devices and my PCs. I live by my KVM, for many reasons. I don't know when it became acceptable to wait 15 minutes for a PC to boot, but somehow it did. With the KVM, at least I can switch to a different PC while I'm waiting for a machine to reset itself from the inevitable memory leaks, hung processes and general deterioration that affects all Windows machines sooner or later. I also routinely have my PCs running in the background, doing different jobs. Usually I like to parcel out...

Having recently set up my own little electronics design consultancy, I eventually (and inevitably) found myself needing some test equipment. (Actually, I managed to survive for several months without even 'basic' equipment - such is the life these days, where most of the work is done on CAD tools and not in real life.  If you're thinking of stepping out on your own, don't assume you'll need $10k of seed money just for tools - or, at least, not right away.) My desire, of course, was naturally to get some of the Fluke tools that I'd used in the past.  The 189 is a lovely meter, and having worked with Fluke (the company) and Fluke tools (the meters) before, I know they are top-notch.  Unfortunately, they command top-notch prices as well.  $900 for a Fluke 289 is not in my budget right now. Being a curious sort, I ended up researching this topic, and soon ran across Mastech (www.p-mastech.com) and their line of 'high-end' meters for low-end prices.  Th...