My Gadget Life

OK youguys who know me. You will laugh at this one. I love this. It’s a free service called “Audlink.” I can call a phone number, leave a voice message, and it gets automatically uploaded to my web site, so I can link to it here. Here’s a test:
Hi everyone!

I’m just starting to think of some ways I could use this. Here is where I first read about it: How to create podcasts with a smartphone.

I’ve been playing with extensions to Firefox (my current favorite web browser). Here’s one I’ve been using for a while, ForecastFox, which displays weather forcasts and current temperature in the status bar on the bottom of my brower window. Here’s what it looks like right now:

When I hover my mouse over it, it shows more detailed info. The two icons after today’s temperature and forecast are for tonight (4 degrees) and tomorrow (24 degrees and sunny).

Today we’ve had a blizzard. Yea! That means I don’t have to go anywhere! Luckily I bought groceries yesterday, so I’m all set to stay home and play with technology, gadgets and my blog.

Here are a few camera-phone photos taken out the window this morning around 9 am. (not the best quality, but you get the idea):

I’ve just recently started using Gmail for some of my email. I have two accounts, one with my real name and one with a pen name. I came across this great set of Gmail tips, which has inspired me to start using Gmail more.

One thing I love is the idea of labels instead of mailboxes or folders for storing mail. You can assign multiple labels to each message and then click on that label name to see all the messages filed in that category. I wish I had this in Apple Mail for my MIT mail! I’m always forgetting what category I filed an old message in. (could be under the project name or the person’s name or whatever).

I also love the tip about maintaining “notes” in Gmail, because I often email myself notes on things I want to remember.

Another related thing I like is the Firefox extension for notifying you if you have email in your Gmail account. You can download it from the Firefox extensions page on Mozilla.org - it’s called Gmail Notifier.

Last night I was looking around in the Apple Store and I asked them if they have refurbished products in the store or only online. They said no refurbs. So then I asked if they ever have returned items on sale, and it turns out they do! They call them “refreshed” products. And it turns out they had just what I had been thinking of buying online: an Airport Express. They had 1 “refreshed” one for $99 (full price is $129, educational price is $119). So I bought it and now I’m listening to music from my iTunes music library on my Mac cube (in my bedroom) on the stereo in my living room. This is great because it’s hooked up to speakers in the living room, kitchen, and the cellar (so I can continue to hear it when I’m down there doing my laundry).

Of course, installing it wasn’t totally trouble-free. There was a problem at first. I plugged it in near the stereo and went over to my Mac to install the software and set it up. Somehow it couldn’t find the Express using my existing wireless network. After a bit of Google searching I found this page, which had the answer. It involved updating the software from Apple’s site, updating the firmware, and then plugging it into my Ethernet cable while setting it up. Turns out third party wireless routers use IP addresses beginning with 192 and Apple’s product is set up to use addresses beginning with 10. So this workaround helped me fix that, and now all is fine.

It was great to listen to some of my favorite podcasts today all around the house while I was doing other things. Usually I only listen to them on my iPod. Of course I can plug my iPod directly into my stereo, too, but that runs down the battery, and there is a lot more music on my computer than on the pod (since it’s a mini).

The other reason I wanted an Airport Express was to extend the range of my wireless network so my laptop will work more reliably in the living room. (I have a Titanium Powerbook, which is known for poor wireless reception). The only problem is, that doesn’t seem to be working. The network fades out when my laptop is in the living room. But I’m too tired to troubleshoot that today, so it will have to wait for another time. It’s probably some setting I didn’t set up when I installed it.

At least the music plays, which is great. Oh, and I’m using Veta Universal on my cell phone to control iTunes remotely. (see previous post about that) It’s so cool to be sitting at the kitchen table with my cell phone and if I don’t want to hear a particular tune, I can advance to the next one by hitting a button on my phone (it doesn’t have to be in a line of site with my Mac, because it’s Bluetooth, which is radio waves). So that’s really cool. (Veta Universal is shareware for $8).

Ever since I read an article in 2600 magazine about viewing movies on portable devices, I’ve been wanting to try that on my Palm. So last night I finally had a chance.

I used Kinoma Player Ex and Kinoma Producer to do it.

Now I can convert movies to a format viewable on my Palm. I’m limited a bit by storage space… currently I have a 128Mb SD card, so I’m thinking of getting a bigger one (saw a deal recently for 256 Mb for $10 after rebates).

My goal would be to watch movies that I’ve downloaded from the web of lectures or events that I missed, but are available online. One example is the Lessig video I mentioned in a previous post. It’s about an hour long and the file is about 15.1 Mb, which will just fit on the room I have left on my SD card. (I haven’t had a chance to try it yet). So I could watch it with headphones on my Palm while on the subway. It seems like a lecture or little movie would translate well to a small screen.

In addition to lectures there are a lot of free movies in the public domain available in the Internet Archive, the Prelinger Archives and other sources.

In fact there is some amazing footage of the recent Tsunami disaster available in the Internet Archive.

Last night I set up my Nokia 3650 cell phone to use as a remote for controlling iTunes on my Mac. It’s so great! I used Romeo and Veta Universal shareware to do it. Romeo installs on the Mac and Veta on the Palm or cell and now I can use either device to control iTunes and other apps on my Mac. This is great! I can control Powerpoint, DVD Player, iTunes, the system (turn volume up or down or mute, etc.), and more. Here’s what the screen looks like on my phone: