iPhone 4 circular reference wifi tethering bug in ios5?
I think this screenshot captures the essence. That's my phone thinking it can tether with itself.
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Monday, December 13, 2010
Giving up Crackberry for iMeth
This past Monday I handed in my Blackberry. I was carrying two devices: a Blackberry for work and an iPhone for personal use. I needed to simplify; one less device to forget going through airport security, one less charger. So I started testing out my work email on my iPad which worked well, then started testing out the iPhone on the exchange server.
My crackberry addiction goes all the way back to my early Advertising.com days after the bubble burst and there was a flood of used blackberries on eBay for sale. A couple of us picked up the 950 models and we were off to the races. After upgrading through various models I definitely think it is the superior corporate email device, and still remains so in my mind.
We all know the iPhone apps are what set the devices apart. While I would take a real keyboard and Blackberry exchange integration over the iPhone, the Blackberry apps simply don't compare. Whether I'm checking my flights on my Delta app or listening to something out of my iTunes library it's a simple setup and easy to use.
Carrying two devices that emitted radio waves also seemed like something I should try to avoid. I do carry a charger for the iPhone where ever I go to make sure I don't go dark. I have to say it's nice to be down one device.
Full disclosure: my idea for iMeth came from the latest Roger Waters Tour.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
It's the end of my 10 year affair with TiVo
It's been a long affair with my TiVo, starting 9/5/2000. After purchasing a Series One box in September of 2000, I was addicted. The functionality, the ability to get a season pass, being able to efficiently consume my favorite shows and skip commercials - I was hooked.
They are the pioneers and even with all the miss-steps, they are still here today. In the past month I started to question whether I should upgrade my TiVo or succumb to Cablevision's own cheaper DVR service. There were pros and cons to weigh, including all of the offers TiVo was dangling in front of me to upgrade, discounts on the Premiere box, etc.
With my current Series II
Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
I started looking into seriously switching in mid-November and started checking out the Optimum options. Cablevision offers a HD DVR for about $11 a month with no box to buy. I was paying TiVo $14.95 a month and would need to buy a new box and then rent a cable card from Cablevision.
In the end I called Cablevision and ordered the box. It came via FedEx and I returned my old box. Easy and simple.
Now I'm on the phone with TiVo to cancel my service and I must say they made quite an effort to save me. The rep put me on hold for 2-3 minutes while they "processed" my cancellation. I'm sure it's scientifically designed to be the optimal process to create dumper's remorse. Holding was essentially listening to an infomercial for TiVo Premiere.
On comes my rep, who said he talked to his manager and because I'm such a great customer I was then offered a Premiere box for $99.99 plus my normal monthly fee. He also tried to give me a free month of service through December which would allow me to stay eligible for all the upgrade offers if I changed my mind about the Optimum DVR.
Am I pining away for my TiVo?
TiVo clearly is the best TV/DVR OS (operating system) out there. The remote is well designed, making it simple to navigate and drive your viewing pleasure. The discovery system, TiVo suggested recordings based on your likes (thumbs up), or dislikes (thumbs down) found many a TV show I never would have found. Southern Fried Stings is a recent example. I'm going to ignore the On-Demand streaming features because almost any device (game console, computer) you connect has them now.
The Optimum DVR has the basic functions of TiVo, but with some key limitations. The season pass functionality only allows you to look seven days out. If the show isn't on within the next seven days no luck recording it. There isn't any discovery functionality either, so it's now my responsibility to find new shows. The remote is a standard cable remote, but the UI isn't as smooth or well laid out as TiVo's. One nice feature is an iPhone app that let's you schedule or delete shows remotely.
Yes, I miss the TiVo operating system, but I'm disappointed that they never became the TV operating system for the masses. I would happily pay a couple bucks more a month for a TiVo software upgrade on my Optimum rented box. It's nice to reduce the number of boxes under my television.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Removing a bee hive from the LVIS Building
While my wife and I were on vacation, or as she likes to call it a bee-cation, I got the call that a bee swarm had taken up home in the second story of the Ladies Village Improvement Society (LVIS) building in East Hampton, NY.
I immediately went into action, as I had never removed a hive from a building. Sure I've read plenty of articles about how to do it. I'd pulled one from a privet hedge, but not a building.
Step one was to figure out what equipment I would need to get this hive out. I determined the easiest way after watching some youtube videos and researching on the Internet was to build a bee-vac. I decided on using a shop-vac and combining that with a medium super and a deep hive body. Essentially the medium super has #10 screen across the top of it with the shop-vac hose connecting underneath it. This large screen area helps to reduce the suction on the bees after they are pulled into the deep hive body.
From there it was getting up on a ladder and trying to vacuum up as many bees as possible while also determining where they setup shop with their hive. If you don't get the comb out of your house, it'll either attract other bees or it'll melt and attract other unwanted insects.
Once the bees were sucked into the bee-vac, I removed all of the comb including the old decaying comb that was up in the soffit. Clearly another hive had once inhabited the area, which upon questioning the LVIS members nobody could remember it ever being there.
Once the bees were out it was time to transfer them to a nuc box. This was a five frame, waxed cardboard nuc from Brushy Mountain. In the photos below you'll see I shook them into the box and found the queen which I promptly marked with a blue marker.
What happened next was not expected.
Diana and I went for walk and when we returned they were gone. I started to look around to see where they might have clustered. One look up and sure enough they were about 40 feet in the air on a branch of the oak tree above the nuc. I guess they didn't like their new home.
Not having any way to reach them, we went to bed and in the morning I awoke to the swarm taking off. It was the first swarm I ever witnessed taking off. It was amazing- that ball of bees simultaneously burst into a cloud and sounded like an airplane taking off.
They seemed to be heading south so I hopped in the car and went looking for them. Sure enough I found them on another tree on a road nearby. I was able to bat them down with a borrowed bamboo pole at which point I grabbed the queen who landed on the road and put her in the large hive body. The rest of the bees quickly followed and I was off with my recaptured bees.
I'm happy to report the bees are now safely in their new home and seem to be drawing out comb and filling it with honey. I haven't seen the marked queen, but I have seen a few cells with eggs in them.
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Wednesday, June 16, 2010
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