Category Archives: Technology

Comcast Disaster Continues

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Oddly enough, the remote initialisation of the DVR did nothing to fix the problem with it crashing when it tries to record. I come in tonight to find it locked up in the same way as before.

I’m not yet convinced that this is a hardware issue though. So I am not expecting the box they bring on Monday to fix this issue unless it is a different unit (or has fixed software on it). Others are also having problems with the Motorola DCH3416, and Comcast’s service in general by the sounds of it.

And, yes, that’s yet another visit (my third so far) from the Comcast technicians – I asked tonight if they can book recurring appointments so they can just come out the same time each week and fix whatever has failed since the last visit. At the rate they’re going, they may as well just park out front.

Vertography Blog

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VertographyI’ve just launched a new blog, with the goal of providing information to help you live a greener life, without compromising on its quality. This is not information for the hard-core tree hugger, but information for everyday people. Yesterday looked at eco-friendly lighting options; today a search engine that plants trees for every 1000 searches performed (and produces great results too thanks to Yahoo!).

In addition to simple tips for greening up your life, it is also going to cover some cool green technology that is being developed or tested. Today included a post about plugin hybrid cars. And there’s lots more cool, green technology out there for us to cover!

Cost of Support

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One of the interesting differentiators between smaller service providers and larger ones is often the quality of their customer support. I suspect the same may well be true for hardware manufacturers and software vendors too, but what triggered this post was thinking about service provider support. Is it really more cost effective to operate a two-tiered support system, or does it just seem that way to large corporations?
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Twitter Load

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It has been a bad couple of weeks for the folks over at Twitter (and perhaps not a great time for me to start playing with it – I don’t think there’s a connection). Looks like they’ve become a victim of their own success.

The main reason I starting playing with Twitter though was the XMPP/Jabber capability, making it possible to keep an eye on the musings of the folks I follow, as well as being able to post my own messages without needing a web page. Using the OctroTalk app on my N95 allows me to take all that with me too. Sadly, that’s the one thing that is still not working.

Flickr Problems Today

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Looks like the folks at Flickr are having a busy Monday! There have been site problems all morning as they try to stitch everything back together. The top of every page currently reads “Seeing various site problems? We know! Check this forum topic.” And the forum starts with this information:

Lots of people blaming the recent addition of video support to Flickr, though there’s no evidence that this is actually related so far.

Update: The forum thread about this makes for some interesting reading for those thinking about operating a large consumer facing web application. Kudos to the Flickr staff, especially Kevin who is posting the Flickr updates to the thread, for their restraint!

Location Tagger, AT&T Wi-Fi and Twitter

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Starbucks, AlamedaI installed a new app on my N95 the other day from the Nokia Beta Labs: Location Tagger. This is one of the things that should have been built into the camera application from day one on a GPS enabled phone, but I’m glad to see they’re catching up.

The photo on the right is my first test of this new feature. The photo was automatically geo-tagged (so, if you visit the photo’s page in Flickr, you can see it placed on a map). Flickr seems to be confused about the city (it thinks Alameda is Oakland!), but it shows up in the correct place on the map.

Why was I at Starbucks? Well, I stopped by to see whether AT&T had disabled the free Wi-Fi for iPhone users. The special free login page has indeed gone, replaced by the older iPhone login page, though it did still let me on using the iPhone credentials I had stored in my Devicescape account 🙂

Finally, I finally signed up for Twitter, and added the Twitter feed to the left column on the blog. Since it is connected to my IM client (Adium, for those wondering), I can send it short messages about what I’m up to, and they’ll end up here on the blog as well as on my Twitter page.

AT&T Wi-Fi Free for iPhone Users

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AT&T Wi-Fi iPhone Login PageWell, to be more accurate, free for AT&T iPhone users. If you have your service through AT&T still, then you should get this login page when you connect to the attwifi SSID at Starbucks, or anywhere else. Enter your 10 digit AT&T mobile number and you’re online.

Devicescape users can add the special ‘AT&T Wi-Fi (iPhone)’ credential type to their account, and they will get online automatically.

There have been rumours around that the same will be enabled for anybody with an AT&T mobile data plan at some point; I expect the iPhone is being used as the test platform here since they already had mobile pages for the iPhone (my N95 still sees the full page).

Update, May 4, ’08: Seems that the web page has been taken down now (guess too many folks were abusing it by changing their browser agent string and getting online with non-iPhone devices).

Got Power?

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Got Power?As seems to be the case in many airports these days, there is Wi-Fi coverage all over the lounge area in Terminal 3 at London’s Heathrow, but you’d better make sure you have a full charge on your batteries if you plan to use it as even at the dedicated BT and T-Mobile hotspot ‘zones’ the power sockets have no juice.

And forget finding sockets anywhere in the main waiting areas – there’s none to be found (they’re all hidden under special covers in the floor). I have to wonder what the point of providing the Wi-Fi is if they don’t also provide the power for the laptops.

Still, it did work well for a quick connection from my N95 earlier – I connected to the BT Openzone, fired up Truphone and made some free international calls to let people know I’d arrived safely!

Free Portable Music – Legally

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Slacker + DevicescapeI’ve spent the day walking around downtown San Francisco testing the new Slacker Portable Player with Devicescape enabled firmware on it so I can sync my radio stations at public hotspots as well as at home.

Notice the top line of that that screen shot where it says “Signing in” – that’s Devicescape at work, getting me online here at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on Market Street. And once it is done, it logs me out too.

For those that haven’t heard of Slacker before (where have you been?), they have a flash player for your browser that lets you choose one of their radio stations to listen to, or customise one of your own. The portable allows you to sync a few stations onto a device you can put in your pocket and then take with you. Internet radio for when you’re not connected. Next time you’re near Wi-Fi, just connect and it will re-sync getting you new tunes to listen to.

How is this free? Well, they limit the number of times you can skip forward per hour, and might also throw in some commercials (though I’ve yet to hear one). If you want the freedom to skip as often as you like, or the guarantee of no commercials, they have a monthly subscription premium plan too.