A company I've never previously heard of, Moixa Energy Holdings, has announced their development of new AA USB Rechargeable batteries. Yes, I wrote that right, USB re-chargeable batteries. Batteries running low? Pop the top and plug them into your USB port for a quick recharge. USBCELL, a new category of rechargeable batteries, should add an oompf to the currently exisiting rechargeble battery market.

This is definately a battery I will be trying as soon as it becomes available.

Apparantely someone at WalMart got a little ansy about adding the Microsoft Zune to their online database. Based on some reports, for a short time yesterday, Walmart had the Zune listed at a retail value of $284.00. Question is, was this price set prior to Apple dropping the price on their 30GB iPod down to $249.00 from $299.00? Will Microsoft come in even lower for this wonderful Zune we all keep hearing about?

Walmart has a whole section dedicated to the Zune.

Only time will tell....

UPDATE

It's seems someone at Microsoft leaked the final price of the Zune - Drumroll please - $229.00. Apparantely they've decided to drop some pre-loaded content to make the price below that of Apple's iPod.

 Have you ever wished you had the ability to reorder the running programs on your Windows taskbar? Why didn't Microsoft build this functionality into Windows? We may never know, but at least there is a wonderful little application that makes your wish come true. On September 14th,  Jay E. released version 2.0 of Taskbar Shuffle.

Version 2.0

• Added: sweet visualization when dragging a button in XP (updated look for Win2K) 
• Added: full support for XP button grouping
• Fixed: too much CPU getting eaten while dragging
• Fixed: should now restart if explorer crashes
• Added: option to middle mouse click on a taskbar button/group to close it
• Added: new options window with some cool grouping options
• Fixed: auto-check for updates shouldn’t give errors anymore
• Fixed: few memory leaks plugged up
• Added: new icon!

Not only is this program extremely handy, it is value priced for any budget, free!

I worked with Jay, Taskbar Shuffles' creator, this past year; he's a great developer and welcomes comments and suggestions for future versions. Keep up with him at Nerd Cave.

Link to home of the nerd cave | taskbar shuffle and more

I'm not one to be highly over critical of movies, there are good ones, and there are not so good ones. I'm can usually tell them apart based on the preview and the cast attached. Today I proved my theory imperfect.

I must say, I first read about the Black Dahlia case a few years back, I think it was inspired by an A&E special. Very gory, very intriguing, very mysterious; a brutal murder that was still unsolved.  When I first heard that a movie was in the works and that Brian DePalma was to direct, I was comfortable in thinking that the movie would do justice to the story. Boy, was I wrong! This is the first time, in a very long time, that I feel like a victim of theft, I want my money and time returned. This movie is bad, everything about this movie is absolute garbage.

Sorry, I had to get that off my chest.

For sometime now, my wife and I have been sharing one vehicle, our trusty Land Rover Molly (Molly was the center of attention during the Rosenthal Sucks experience), so this past weekend I finally broke down and decided to go get me another car. I receive in the vincinity of ten "Pre-Approved Financing" automobile offers (where do they get my name?) so I pretty much played iny miny miney moe and decided on a Ford dealership nearby, Kip Killmon's Ford.

I wasn't really set on a particular model of car, just something small, 4-door, 4 cylinder, newer model. After a quick tour with my salesman Sam, I decided on a 2006 Toyota Corolla S-Type, silver, black interior, only 4K miles. While we did the test drive, Sam and I got to talking about music, he asked me if I had ever heard of an album by Steve Winwood by the name of "Go". I never had, he explained that it was a project he did with some other musicians, he couldent remeber their names, only that it was released around '76 or '77. He claimed that he had searched for it in numerous record stores but had no luck. He also is one of the few people remaining that doesnt have a computer or use one for work, he had never checked online.

I offered to take a look and see if I could locate it for him, since he said it was an absolutely amazing album. When I got home (In my new Corolla) I decided to use my Jedi searching skills to come across this yet to me unknown album. After a few minutes I found out that Steve Winwood did collaborate with a japanese musician by the name of Stomu Yamash'ta on an album named "Go". Unfortunately iTunes did not have this available for download, Amazon had some used copies, but I was heading back over to the dealership in a couple of days and wanted to get something for him sooner. After searching Google for "Stomu Yamash'ta download MP3" I came across LegalSounds.com an outfit based out of Russia. They advertise downloadable MP3 tracks for $0.09 a track! Yes, thats right, not $0.99, but under a dime a track! Not only are they supa cheap, they had some tracks that until now, I was unable to find. I have spent several hours going through my memory banks to drudge up some old songs I never thought I'd be able to find digitally, their library is definately filled with some obscure and rare tracks, a treasure trove for those searching for tracks not normally found on iTunes or Napster.

As far as I can tell, they are completely legit, my assumption is that they are paying licensesing fee's at Russian rates and then reselling to the international market. So until I find out otherwise, LegalSounds is my new one stop shop for rare and hard to find music tracks.

UPDATE Sept. 12th 2006

Motorola.com recently released an update for the Motorola Q, it will completely wipe your memory (not storage card) and update a lot of little quirks I've noticed such as Ring Tone Preview (Boy, was that annoying!), the addition of Wireless Manager, better Exchange Support, etc. Actually I am still in the midst of uncovering all of these updates seeing as I was unable to locate any documents on the Motorola site stating new features and bug fixes.

One definate feature it did take away was the ability to do the ##342587 hack I so eloquently describe in my original entry.

To my surprise the Bluetooth profile for DUN (Dial-Up Networking) was now enabled! Woot Woot! I won't have to carry a USB cable around with my laptop!

Wrong! 

I made numerous attempts to connect to Verizon through my Windows XP laptop using my bag o' tricks, but, no go. I broke down and decided to contact Verizon. Argh, why must it be such a pain to get decent customer service from a company you pay damn good money to each and every month? Anyways, I'm told by a Technical Support supervisor that there is an additional $15 monthly fee to use my Motorola Q as a modem either USB tethered or using Bluetooth. She stated that they charge a different fee depending on the device. I'm sorry, my contract states "Unlimited Data Usage" which I pay $47.99 per month; why should I pay even more to use that Unlimited Data through my laptop? Why?

I've yet to re-install PDANET, although I'm fairly certain it'll work.

I'll update.

Original Post Aug. 23rd 2006

Having recently acquired a new toy, my handy dandy Motorola Q, I was hell bent on squeezing every ounce of functionality from this technological little wonder. This puppy is chock full of neat features, least of which is the BT Remote control feature, which allows me to remote control my PC through my Q! One of the features I expected, which was communicated to me by the Verizon salesman, was the ability to use my Q as a modem to connect to Verizon Wireless Internet service, functionality I plan to abuse since needing to add a $50 a month unlimited data fee (A data plan is necessary when using a PDA\Smart Phone with Verizon, unless you want to pay some outrageous per KB charges).

When I finally got around to setting up DUN(Dial-up Networking, or Dial-up NOT working as some would say) on my laptop, I realized that Bluetooth connection would not be an option, as Verizon disables the Bluetooth DUN Profile (I am still unclear why Verizon, amongst other national cellular services insist on disabling or crippling functionality of these ultra cool devices they so vehemently promote), so I attempted to connect using the USB cable. To my surprise, I did not have a Motorola USB Modem in my Device Manager. I previously owned a Motorola RAZR, so I am familiar with connecting a Motorola device to use as a modem (In order to use the RAZR as a modem, you must make some modifications which require more detail that mentioned, this site offers complete tutorials). I wondered if might be doing something wrong, well, I decided I would just call Verizon and get the step-by-step on how to set this up. After the litany of menus and transfers, I was speaking with an Internet specialist. He informed me that currently Verizon has released the Q minus the ability to tether the device via USB for Internet access.

What ?? Great, there goes my unlimited data access. I mean the Q is fine for looking up an address or a phone number real quick, but it certainly lacks the screen real estate to do any worthwhile browsing. What's a geek to do?

So I began my search, and after hours of hit and misses, I figured out how to get my Q connected and working as an amazingly quick broadband modem, around 950kbps downstream and around 90kbps upstream.

Here are the steps for the Q:

1. Dial ##342587 and press TALK (Green Circle)
2. Select 'Enable' Click 'OK' and then click 'EXIT'
3. Press 'START', select Accessories, and select the new item, 'Modem Link'
4. Select USB (Only Option) and click 'Activate'

On your PC:

1. Plug in the Q using the USB cable
2. When 'New Device Found' wizard comes up, use this inf as the driver.
3. Complete driver installation
4. Add a new Dial Up Connection, select the Motorola Q USB as the modem
5. For phone number use '#777', for username enter 'XXXXXXXXXX@vzw3g.com' (Replace the X's with your 10 digit phone number), for password enter 'vzw'

You now have a working dial-up connection!

A couple of things to note:

1. Sometimes you may receive 'Hardware error' from Windows when attempting to connect, a quick fix for this: On your Q, press and hold your 'Home' button until the menu appears, Select flight mode, wait 1 minute, then bring up the menu and turn Flight Mode off. The connection will work now

2. ActiveSync will not work when 'Modem Link' is set to active, it must be deactivated in order to sync. I recommend that you leave 'Modem Link' disabled whenever you are not using the Q as a modem. I locked up my phone a couple of time when using Bluetooth or other features. If this happens, just remove the battery and reinsert, then re-power.

Note: Anytime the phone is power cycled you will have to repeat steps 1 and 2 above on the Q to re-enable dial up networking.

So, until Verizon decides to stand behind their feature rich mobile devices, this will at least keep you connected when you most need it. 

Motorola Q Specifications:

• Modes: CDMA 850 / CDMA 1900
• Weight: 4.06 oz (115g)
• Form Factor: 4.57" x 2.52" x 0.47"   (116 x 64 x 12 mm)
• Battery Life: Talk: 4.00 hours   (240 minutes) Standby: 192 hours   (8 days)
• Display: Type: LCD (Color TFT/TFD) Colors: 65,536 (16-bit) Size: 320 x 240 pixels
• Platform / OS: Windows Mobile for Smartphones version 5
• Phone Book Capacity: Shared memory
• FCC ID: IHDT56FQ1

UPDATE (8/28/2006):

For those of us who would rather not have to go through all of this when needing you SmartPhone / PDA to act as a modem, I found this great little program that will do it for you - PDANet cost $35(one-time) and definately takes care of the hard work for you. I've tried the trial and will update once I have purchased as well.

So most independent surveys reveal 60% or more disaproval rating of Mr. George W., with an almost similar disaproval of the war. A recent ruling by the court states that Bush broke the law by wire tapping individuals without a judge's signature. Countries clamoring for a trial, accusing Bush and his cronies of war crimes. My question is this, how far will we let him go before we impeach him? I mean, all Bill Clinton did was twiddle a secretary; yes, he betrayed his wife, not the entire country! I mean Bush is sending innocent young americans to die in land far away, Clinton was cheating on his wife.

Have we americans just settled on Bush and figured we'll just "hang" in there until the next election?

Wake up America!!!

IMPEACH GEORGE BUSH!

Interesting enough, it did prompt me to install the Windows Live Toolbar, which I must say I was somewhat hesitant, I've already got the Google Toolbar installed, but I must say this toolbar aint half bad. One of the strongest features of this new toolbar enhances Internet Explorer with tabbed browsing functionality, a feature I have long yearned for with IE, I'm still not keen with installing IE 7 Beta, it feels like an AOL application! 

I've been one who never thought a desktop application was a necessary tool for a blog, but Live Writer changed my mind. With the numerous "Views" available, this tool actually makes blogging more enjoyable.  

The draft feature is one I didn't know I needed until I had it; how many times have I gotten a thought and started 2 or 3 lines of a new blog, then due to life's eternal need to keep me busy, had to abandon what could have been my best entry yet!

Live Writer also includes a built in spell checker and saving dictionary file, an obvious necessary feature; no one ever accused me of winning any spelling bees.

All in all, I think I'll be using Live Writer from now on, I haven't one bad thing to say about this app, Kudos, Microsoft.

Download Microsoft Live Writer

Take into consideration everything mankind has accomplished, especially during the past century, science, technology, quality of living, etc; and still we must all suffer the reality that is the Department of Motor Vehicles.

White males are more than eight times as likely to kill themselves as women of the same age and the risk increases as they get older, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Bought a new toy! Motorola Q! Windows Mobile 5.0 (Already built an application in Visual Studio 2005, had a bit of an issue with certificates when I went to deploy, but found a quick and easy way around it here), 1.3 Megepixel camera, bluetooth (This really cool PC remote control feature), chock full of geek fun!

Atomic engineering helped to develop 110 Ghz circuit speed, a Guiness world record?

So, I went to purchase a copy of LiveStats server for a client that wanted the best web site analytics package out there, and lo and behold, DeepMetrix has been purchased by none other than Microsoft! I guess it doesn't come as much of a surprise since Google purchased Urchin and integrated their technology into Google Analytics and AdWords.

Notice my Google ads not working?

I am currently disputing charges of click fraud with the behemoth, they claim that this site caused click fraud, yet they fail to show proof or even give any details. I have furnished log files, testimonials, what else do these people want? Just an ant against a giant. Oh well, guess they will just keep my earnings and I'll switch to another link network. You gotta love shady business practices such as this.

I have lost all respect for Google.