New Airport Update out!

Apple released a new Airport Extreme Update (2007-004) hopefully this fixes some Wi-Fi woes that I have been having.

I’ll keep you posted if this is a good fix or creates more problems for me.

Logitech G5 Mouse

I use Windows Vista on my Mac Pro for one thing, and one thing only, playing America’s Army. I don’t know why that game, but I just like the fact that you can go and kill. I am also a member of a clan, so maybe that is why.

Up until yesterday I had been using my USB Mighty Mouse for my gaming, it seemed to suit my needs. But it lacked one feature, the ability to click two buttons at once. This is key for doing somethings in games, without being shot atleast. So at the behest of my clan mates I decided to go get a new mouse.

After talking to several people and reading around the internet, i narrowed it between the Razer and the Logitech G5. So I headed over to Circuitcity (prices were about the same as online after shipping) and checked them both out.

iPhone: my woes begin.

Up to this point I have had good iPhone luck, I have not experienced any of the issues and bugs that other users reported to have. Until Saturday night, I got two bugs at once. First I was waiting for a call, and while I was waiting I was using EDGE to surf the web. The iPhone never rang, instead I just got a new voice mail.

According to other users this will happen sometimes when you are using EGE to surf the web, phone calls just will not come in. This is not good, and not cool at all. No one, especially my self, likes to explain to someone why they did not get their call.

The second bug that hit me is the iPhone charger bug. This has nothing to do with the iPhone itself, but with the small brink USB charger that comes with the iPhone. That has stopped working. The iPhone charges fine off the cable plugged into a computer, and all other chargers. But that darn brick just won’t work, forums are saying that Apple will replace it and I will have to do that, as the tricks I have seen in the forums do not work for me.

Well heres hoping for no more bugs!

Pownce a look.

I got a Pownce invite from Om Malik and decided to try it out. After all I am a fan of Digg and Kevin Rose. I am not however into the Twitter craze, not against it, just isn’t my cup of tea. So Pownce had me curious.

After I signed up and got my page all set up I went looking for people that I know, and sense I am not connected in the San Fran scene, there was nobody that I knew. I invited friends using all the invites that I could, but only my gf signed up (after I told her to). So I have been testing it out with her, and I must say that it is a cool service. I signed up for the Pro account ($20 /year) because it was way to cheap not to, and who knows if this is going to blow up and the prices take off.

I probably will not be using Pownce that much, except for sending files to my gf and such since I now have a 100mb limit there. Other than that it is a cool service with a cool Adobe AIR application that is all integrated well. Problem right now is that nobody is using it.

By the way I have a few more invites, if you are interested in one drop me a comment.

A look at the new Backpack.

I am a huge fan and user of 37signals Backpack web app. I have posted my review of it, and will be posting a look at how I use different programs to handle my day to day work load. But I want to look at the new update to Backpack.

Let me start by saying it is very nice! I love it. Before you were stuck with the layout that they designed, now the page can be very free flowing and fluid for how you use it. What I particularly think is beneficial about this is that fact that the new page dividers and free form layout lends itself to there being fewer pages, meaning you may not need to upgrade to a pay account.

Though I am keeping my pay account. I currently am using 10 separate pages not including the start page / home page that you get. The new update is much needed, and sense you can try it and use it for free I suggest you do so, play with it, don’t just take my word for it.

One last thing I want to point out, and my only point of contention is that may pages were all jumbled around after the update. I had to spend some time redoing the pages, all the information was still there, just not the way that I wanted it.

Review: Apple Bluetooth Headset (iPhone Headset)

I have had my Apple Bluetooth headset for about a day now. With any other device I may wait a week before doing a review but, this is just a headset and so I think it is safe to do one now. First things first, this is the coolest looking, and feeling headset that I have ever used.

Second, the hidden light on the headset does not blink, hell you barely even see it when it does, this is the opposite of what the rest of the industry is doing and it is about time! Who wants a huge blue light blinking on the side of their head, as if to say go away I am talking to more important people? I don’t want that, this sleek black device is all about being discreet, from its size to its stealth looks (in fact I am pretty sure that it would not show up on RADAR, maybe someone can confirm this).

Apple Bluetooth Headset (iPhone Headset)

I just got mine, and plugged it in. I will post up a review later this week, but I wanted to show you the best feature that it has, this can only come from an integrated product (or can it?).

Bigger picture here.

On another SPAM note…

I got a text message this morning on my iPhone, it was spam!!! What the hell is up with that? It was telling me to buy some stock cause the price was going to be great, and that I could reply to the message if I wanted to and bla bla bla.

If text spam starts up like email spam I am going to go crazy. Lets get some regulation on the text message spam, alright?

Smartphone Spam Filtering

One thing that the Desktop email clients always battle about is their ability to stop spam from getting to your inbox. They never seem to battle about how well they send and receive email. They also battle over their ability to organize your email. They all have the ability to block spam now days.

Smartphone email clients however seem to battle over their ability to send and receive, then maybe their ability to organize. Well they all send a receive so we will call that a tie. The iPhone’s Mail does a great job of organizing, so we will give them a half point (could be better). But the iPhone doesn’t block the spam!!

That is just crazy. Get it together guys. Yeah I could always turn on server side spam filtering, but really? I mean say a client sends me an email that my server marks as spam, that means it will be a pain in the ass to get that message back. But with client side filtering it is no problem.

Google Docs: Looking to the Future

I was reading this post over at DownloadSquad which talks about a new feature in Google Docs called readability.

From the post:

Now there’s a whole slew of new features, including character, paragraph, and sentence counts. But the really cool stats are under the “Readability” column. There, you can find out how many words per sentence, sentences per paragraph, and words per page you have. And that data lets Google use a few different formulas to tell you how easy or difficult your passage is to read.

I do not use Google Docs, but this is a very cool new feature. Cool enough that I might try it out a few times. This is the future for sure, there is two ways to look at it, pissed off that a computer is telling you, that you suck. Or grateful that an client or employer are not telling you that you suck.