Sue has temporarily put aside her Nook as she plays with her new iPod Touch. She wanted something smaller than the Nook for carrying around, like I do with this toy of mine, and decided that instead of getting another Droid device to instead get a iOS device; the iPad is of course too big, so the Touch it was. Right now she is using it as a shopping list having used Dragon Speak to verbally add items.

I am of course following her down the isles tapping Away on my little tablet while listening to some Kieth Whitley tunes through a audio app I discovered. I think that I might even make it my default player; it has a very nice equalizer included with it that the stock one lacks.

The next thing I have to find is a app for organizing folders. I really do not like how I am stuck with whatever order the icons are at; I want to place them in the order that I want! I did find a couple that made folders with pretty icons, but they have the same arraingment issues that the stock version has. Oh well the hunt is on!

That remains one of the fascinating things for me with this new OS, there are so many new and interesting things too explore. It reminds of when I got my first PC; the Packard Bell I got from Walmart with a blistering fast 66mhz processor, huge 250 MB hard drive and a staggering 4mb of RAM; it cost me $148 to buy another 4mb similar and bring me up to a humongous 8mb.

Right now I am in a slightly. Similar situation; this toy is no slouch but it won’t break any records powers wise, for that I would want to get one of the latest and greatest Phones, which I won’t be doing right now ’cause I really don’t need to deal with the costs of a data plan.

Oh well; we’re at the register so I guess that I had better get bagging.

I have down loaded a bunch of games, meh, some are fun, and a bunch of other apps that are entertaining, none though are as fun as this new keyboard; it makes the little tablet I have so much easier to write with.

My fingers don’t have to reach so much to get the right key; I actually find my thumbs flying accross the keyboard with much less mistakes. If you have a tablet – big or small – get yourself the thumb keyboard.

I may have paid a good penny for this thing but I do not regret it one bit.

The App that I am really happy to have found though is called Find Me Gluten Free. It has an extensive listing of locations that reportedly offer GF dining; some of which will also have reviews from people who have (hopefully) dined there themselves; I have been adding reviews myself for places I have frequented.

I have been using the Android version, which is HERE

And I see that there is a iOS version as well, which you can locate HERE

I would encourage anyone one who does download these apps to go through them and review anyplace you have visited, there is a place for suggesting places as well in case you find a hidden gem missing from their database. You know yourselves the anxiety that comes with going to someplace new, so lets do what we can to take the guess work out of quest of other folks dealing with it as well.

So I decided on the SGP 5 in part because of its feature; it is listed as a PMP, so it will act as a replacement for my beloved A2, but also because I really like the size of the device. It is small enough to drop in a pocket but large enough to create messages without straining. Typing isnt that bad either; in fact I am using it right now to compose this message.

As expectEd, it will take a little time to get used to the new operating system, but I am doing okay. A real challenge though is avoiding accidental touches of the keyboard & adding oddball letters. I may look into one of the specialty keyboadd apps though.

Well that will do it for my inaugural post.

I’m thinking that perhaps it woulld be best to wait till close to Christmas when the newer models are released.

There are some nice ones out there, but each of them has a shortcoming. The Lenovo that is coming out only has gingerbread, the flyer will have honeycomb, and it has the stylus, but camera seems to be mediocre and it has only a single core processor which might not cut it with honeycomb.

Samsung has a 7 inch tablet but it isn’t honeycomb either, although they do have one coming out.  The best ones seem to be 10 inch versions; but that is really not a very portable option. And even if apple came out with a 7 incher I would still need to get over my aversion to iTunes.

Thinking that I should practice for when I do have my tablet I am using Sues nook color as we walk through the whole floods market in Hadley while shopping.

There sure is a learning curve; my big fingers don’t help. I keep having to go back and correct accidental touches of the keyboard and that blasted bar under the space key keeps popping up if I just slightly miss hitting the space bar directly in the center.

That said, I think that I can make this work.

I hope that having the ability to commpose posts on the fly wherever I am encourages me to write more, whether I am making blog posts here or in a note taking app. One thing for sure though, I will need to find a better keyboard.

Ttfn

I have not put as much of effort into this blog as I wanted to and a great deal of that is due to the fact that I don’t always have something to say when I am sitting at the computer; but often things come to mind when I am out and about. My handwriting is deplorable at best so jotting down notes on scraps of paper or a dead tree notebook has mixed results; yeah the ideas are captured but then I gotta go back and re-write them on the computer and that only works if I can actually read what I wrote.

So now I am looking into getting an Android based tablet; sorry Apple, ya make cool stuff, but I don’t like iTunes or any other of your imposed limits

Over the last week or so I have been bouncing around the net checking out reviews for all the different flavors available both now and in the very near future. At this date, 10-2-11, the two top contenders are the Lenovo A1 and the HTC Flyer.

Lenovo’s A1 has not been released yet so my interest is based solely on what I have read about pre-released reviewed models, maybe once it hits the shelves and there have been more hands on reviews I’ll have to look elsewhere. Even if that is the case, whatever I do choose will more than likely resemble its specs.

I like the idea of a 7 inch screen. I have played with Sue’s rooted Nook Color and like how I can easily grasp the unit with both hands and type with my thumbs while in landscape mode; it will take some getting used to, but it is not uncomfortable.

10 inch tablets just seem too bulky; as a reader or for a mobile unit with the way I move about. For me that size might be more ideal for a home based device. Although Sony’s new S tablet is a really nicely designed tablet with greater ergonomics, It is only slightly smaller than other 10 inch models so still too bulky.

The A1 also has a built in GPS which wont require any wireless service to use; therefore it will function as another device I often rely on.

Android does not have the extensive app selection that Apple does, but I do not really see that as a downside; I am pretty sure I don’t need every app out there, Plus with the aggressive marketing we are seeing lately for android based tablets; the A1 16GB version is supposed to be only $200, more apps will certainly be available; the market goes where the money is.

I am also not looking for a 3G device; I have gone this long in life without tying myself to a monthly contract cell service and there really is no need for me to start right now. That alone disqualifies a number of hot new items coming to market. Even if I could acquire them without signing a contract, I would have to fork over an additional two, three even four hundred dollars for the device which, based on how I perceive myself using it, cant really be justified.

One component of the A1 that I am not wild over is its OS which is Gingerbread. GB is by all accounts a dandy OS, but with Honeycomb out there (and Ice Cream Sandwich already in the wings) GB will slowly begin to loose support and thus make it less ‘future proof’, if there even is such a thing in the world of electronics. Lenovo has already said that there will not be an upgrade to Honeycomb available for the A1.

The A1 also only uses a single core processor, a pro and con: one core should have better battery life, but two, while costing more, is typically considered better. I don’t envision really needing the power of two cores, I imagine it would be very useful for heavy load apps, maybe games, but I don’t fall into that gamer crowd. Again though it could limit the future proof-ness of the device.

Another toy that I have also been interested in, along with not instead of the A1, is one of the new Android powered Samsung Galaxy Players coming out this month. These devices are offered with either a 4 or 5 inch screen; too small I think for any serious blog composing, but they might come in handy as a iPod replacement. My 30gb iPod is already a couple years old; which is about as long as any other one I have had has lasted, in fact this one I am using now replaced one that only lasted one year. As well, my beloved Cowon A2, seems to reaching the end of the line; the little joystick control is starting to not function well when pressed upwards. This pains me in ways only a geek can comprehend; ‘Mini Pearl’ has been my almost constant companion for the last 6 years. Even if I do find another device to travel with I will keep my eyes open for another A2, it is a just fantastic PMP; I don’t know of any other that equals it, especially for recording video, and I don’t see anything new offered either that would fully fill the void. A true testament, I think, to its popularity among its owners, is that I rarely find them offered on eBay.

Like the A1 the Sammy Players appear to have a built in GPS not requiring a net connection. Basically they are versions of their cell phone cousins, but without the phone, just like how the iTouch is a ‘crippled’ iPhone. Tim & Keith were each given a iTouch last year for Christmas, and they are cool devices; Tim, till he recently lost it at work, was never without his, and used it all the time to communicate with folks through the texting and even video phone abilities over wifi. He still intends to replace it with another iTouch; just one with with more capacity than the 8gb version he had. Again though, with the iTouch, you are shackled to iTunes which I am trying to avoid. Keith even acknowledged the other day his frustrations involved with having to work through iTunes to get anything done.  Another nice feature of the Players, which neither the iPods or A2 has, is a replaceable battery which comes in handy when you’re traveling or sitting around all day and the battery dies out.

The second 7 inch tablet that I am considering is the HTC Flyer. Previously the Flyer was not an option for me; at $500 it just did not have a cost to usefulness factor that could justify, IMHO, that high of a price for a wifi only single core device running Gingerbread.

However, it has just been announced that the Flyer is now being offered at Best Buy for $300, plus there are strong indications it will shortly receive a Honeycomb update. Now THAT makes it a very interesting prospect and worth the extra $100 over the A1.

The Flyer also has the capability of using a proprietary pen for note taking, at least as a Gingerbread device it can only be used for note taking, with Honeycomb the usefulness of the pen ($80 extra btw) is expanded much more; reportedly allowing you to even use it to navigate throughout the device. I really like the idea of having an electric notepad. The Flyer does not appear to have the GPS capabilities of the A1, however, if I do indeed get a Samsung Player to replace my aging iPod, that might be a moot point.

I still need to look further into the HTC, as I said it was not even on the horizon of my attention before, but now, with the recent announcements, there are at least two Android tablets I am going to consider.

Over all the prospects for spending more time here on this blog are bright and it is fun to have something to look forward to. It will be interesting to see what other big changes will come to the tablet market in regards to pricing with Lenovo first throwing down the gauntlet by offering the A1 for only $200 and the recent announcement of Amazons new Kindle Fire, which I don’t think is really in the same league as the above mentioned tablets, but it can still be a strong competitor; Amazon has a huge customer base, like Apple, and for those who want a e-Reader with more capabilities and not really a full fledged tablet it fits right in; look at the popularity of the Nook Color.

I am strongly considering my own Droid device; the Lenovo 7 inch tablet looks interesting, it will be cool to have a device such as this to make a quick post and maybe get me writing again……..it will take a little getting used to writing with my thumbs though…..

Anyway. I did a quick search on offline blog editors and found this page which suggests 5 editors you can use with WordPress. The first one I am trying is Microsoft’s Windows Live Writer; the version I am using at the moment is for the XP operating system.

Okay. I just inserted three links in one short paragraph; I think that I got that part down pat!

Part of the reason for my wanting a offline editor is my desire to get back into writing, even if it is just gibberish; I miss it. I am working on getting a new laptop in the, hopefully, near future; something very portable. I figured that if I had something I could easily haul around with me than it would be easier to keep writing.

When I compiled a list of features I wanted the new laptop to have they included: a small footprint, power, good battery life and a backlit keyboard. After reviewing many models I settled on the Alienware M11x, Rev 3.

The M11x, built for gamers, fits all the requirements, plus it even has discrete graphics to boot; which I really won’t need since the most graphic intense games I play are on par with Free Cell and Solitaire, but it is nice to have if the occasion should arise. The most awesome feature to me is the keyboard; not that it has all the color options for the back light, but that the font on the keys, reminiscent of Star Trek TNG, is so clear, so easy to read, and the back lighting is superb. There are a couple of points about the M11x that I am not entirely thrilled with, namely the built in battery; if the battery runs out it you cant just switch to a fresh one, and the low power mobile CPU. Granted it has the latest Sandy Bridge processor, but it already is knocked down from a quad to a dual core, plus, now, it is only running at 1.6GHz; for the i5; 1.5GHz for the i7.

As is my nature, I spent a lot of time on forums reading every scrap of information I could find on the M11x to acquaint myself with every quirk and feature of the device to diminish the new systems learning curve down to next to nothing. It was while reading one thread that I came across a question someone asked to the original poster about if they had thought of maybe  considering the Lenovo X220. The OP flatly said ‘No’; they wanted more than integrated graphics and, besides, the X220 was too ugly.

I knew that Lenovo had bought out the old IBM line some years back but I had not paid attention to their product line; I had never heard of the X220. The guy who asked the question mentioned in his post that the X220 was just about the same size, had a full power mobile processor, and better battery life. I was intrigued and set out to find some reviews. The M11x has some great reviews, and every time I came came across a potential candidate to consider instead over the it they always fell short. But the more I read about the X220 the quicker the M11x faded into the background.

Granted, there is one glaring shortfall to my system requirements in the X220: it does not have a backlit keyboard; instead it uses a “Think Light” which is a LED built into the bezel of the screen, near the webcam, which shines down on the keyboard. Adequate from what I read, but I really fell in love with the M11x keyboard!

Some people are really into how they, & their laptops, look and would point out that the X220 wont win any contest for style. In comparison, especially the red version, the M11x definitely has, IMHO, the upper hand. Fortunately I am a function over form kind of guy so I couldn’t care less; a pretty paint job wont make my old truck run any better either.

Put aside that, and the M11x’s included discrete graphics card which, again, is not a deal breaker for me, and the X220 thumps the M11x like Mike Tyson b*tch-slapping Pee Wee Herman.

The X220 is lighter, more powerful & has much better battery life. The IPS screen has a matt finish, opposed to the glossy screen on the M11x, with much better viewing angles. The keyboard is supposedly superb, the unit is designed for business that have IT departments who can service their own machines; so it is easy to swap parts (replacing the HDD requires removing only one screw).  And. on the subject of hard drives, though it comes stock with a 7200rpm 320 GB HDD, if you go without the wireless WAN ‘cell phone’ card, you can use that slot to install a blazing fast mSata SSD which you can then install the OS onto and relegate the regular HDD to a simple storage drive. So, basically, you’re running two hard drives in a 12.5 inch laptop; to me that is pretty cool. The default battery on the X220 is a six cell that can get about 6+ hours of life, but if you want to trim some weight you can also get a 4 cell. If you want longer battery life you can get a 9 cell, which is what I am looking at ,and even a 6 cell “Slice’ battery that snaps onto the bottom of the X220 giving you 20+ hours of battery life when used with the 9 cell. Holy lithium ion Batman!

So now I am just waiting till the funding comes in and I can get my new toy. Sure there may be other laptops I discover that entice me and try to sway my desire for the X220, but, comparing other features I haven’t included here, nothing I have found so far even come close in my mind.

Well I guess that is it for now. Using the Windows Live writer seems to be straight forward; it seems basic but easy to use. I’ll have to try the other suggestions though before I decide on a final product to use though.  One thing I need to research is linking to photos I host offsite, not on WordPress, I am not sure how that will work since I grab the URL’s for those pics while online.

The next posting is already in the works, using WP’s standard online editor, and will be about our recent trip to WDW, in particular a update on my experiences with their Gluten Free dining.

At one point, while siting there, slowly creeping forward, I had the idea to ask one of the big rig truckers who we found ourselves along side  if he had heard what the hold up was. Much to my astonishment he replied that he didn’t have a CB so no, he didn’t know either. This surprised me about as much as it would have if he had told me that his truck also drove without a motor.

Coming from a family where both my father and step father worked in the trucking industry, a CB had always been around; my father had one hooked up in his living from till the day he died, and he had retired years before that. Truckers and CBs went together like peanut butter and jelly; that this guy didnt have one really amazed me.

As we sat there waiting to get to the exit where they detoured everyone off the highway I gave myself a mental dope slap and asked myself why didn’t I have a CB with me?

Years back I had a GE HELP portable CB radio that I picked up at the AMES department store in Agawam. It was a basic no frills unit but it was cheap and worked fairly well. I had it in my car for a number of years till I passed it on to my sister one year when she came through town on her way from Buffalo to El Paso. With most of the ride ahead and a baby in the vehicle with her I wanted to make sure that she had the means to reach out if she ran into trouble; cell phones were not even in the picture for average folks back then. Fortunately the ride went smoothly but she did use the radio to talk with truckers during the trip and they did a great job of keeping an eye on her and keeping her company along the way. I am not sure why, other than a lack of funds, but I never replaced the radio.

I really used to like listening to radios we had around as a kid, from my first AM radio, our families shortwave, and later the CB. Most every evening, just after dinner, my mother would turn on a portable multi-band radio to the shortwave location and listen to the news from Radio Nederland. Sometimes during the day, or when she was finished at night, I would take the radio to my room, sit on my bed and slowly turn the dial on the shortwave and listen to voices from around the world. Many of the broadcasts were in languages I could not understand but I remained fascinated just the same that I could hear them. At night, when I was supposed to be sleeping, I would press my ear to the tiny speaker on my little AM transistor radio as I slowly turned the dial;hunting for far away signals tucked between the local stations.

My Oma had in her dining room in Holland a old tube type tabletop multi-band radio who’s dial was labeled with countries from around the world. I was fascinated how with a simple twist of the knob we could here music from across Europe.

Some of my classmates had Ham radios and I quietly was in awe listening to their updates of whom and where they had made contact; I could hear people on my radios – they could SPEAK with them! And, of course. back when I was a teenager in the 70′s CBs were all the rage. You couldn’t find a moment of silence on any of the 23 channels as everybody and his brother was slapping CB slang back and forth in their best truckers drawl.

Where my father lived in the later years of his life he was in close proximity to Interstate 91 and we could hear the truckers on his CB as they went through. He also had bar and trucker buddies with whom he would talk back and forth with while driving or with the radio he set up as a base in the house. Over the years though the airwaves became more quiet, and his buddies either slipped or passed away. Although the home base unit remained in the front room, I don’t think he turned it at all in the last couple years of his life. After he passed I placed the radio and dc power source in a box, wrapped the cord for the GE Sentry antenna up, and stored them away.

Sitting in traffic that day on I-80 in Iowa, my mind searched the multitude of boxes in the basement for clues where the radios and stuff were tucked away. CBs, how had I forgotten the CBs? I still had a desire to play with radios, in fact it was only a few months before that I had picked up the ARRL’s Ham Radio License Manual, who knew when I would be licensed to play on a Ham radio, but I could at least get started with a simple CB!

So after we got home I located most of what I already had for CB eqipment from where it was stashed away and set out to get on the air. I brought everything out to my pick up truck, rested the radio on the front passenger seat while I connected the power cord, microphone and antenna then placed the unit on the hump on the floor.

The first time I scanned the dial it was like walking through a ghost town; what had once been a vibrant community now appeared to have been reduced to a static wasteland. At first I wondered if my radio was even working.

Living near an interstate though, once I got to channel 19 I was able to hear some of the truckers as they made their way through the area; many looking for directions to the local truck stop. Sitting in my driveway I keyed up the mic and asked for a radio check. It was a few moments before I got a response then a voice came over the speaker proclaiming “Its working driver”.

“Roger that”, I replied, “How am I sounding on that end?”

“Loud and Proud” was his response.

“10-4, thank you”.

A big old smile spread across my face.

Chatting back and forth with other folks I made contact with that day I felt just like I did when I was a kid running through the neighborhood with my friend clutching my first hand held walkie talkie.

In the days that followed I experimented with transmitting and receiving as well as read every post I could on the net at every radio forum I could find.

By law Citizen Band radios are restricted on how powerful they are allowed to be and as such your range will be limited. There are a number of ways CB’ers have worked around those limits, not all exactly legal, one way though to get the most from your radio that is legal is to get the best antenna you can. You can buy the best radio money on the market but if it is hooked up to a cheapo antenna you’d be lucky to reach further than, basically, around the block.  The GE Sentry antenna that I had in my setup worked, folks nearby could hear me and I could hear them, but if I was go to get all I could out of what I had I knew that I was going to have to upgrade my equipment.

Although the CB is no where near as popular as it once was, there is still a decent market out there; mostly driven I think by truck drivers, but there are still radio hobbyist out there that play with them as well. So there is no shortage of equipment to chose from. Of course with my present limited budget I was going to have to find alternative avenues to supply my needs.

God Bless Craigslist. Although you do find on occasion newer items offered at higher prices much of what I see is from folks cleaning out closets and such of old equipment and willing to part with it cheap.

The first antenna I found was a Wilson 500, also known as a “Little Wil”. it is a small; about the same length as what I was using, but more modern antenna, going for about $40 on Amazon, I got one for $15 on Craigslist. Though not a great antenna I did note some improvement. My next find was a Wilson 2000 Trucker, its about a $60 antenna; I found mine for $20 – with a Uniden 76XL radio included.

The 2000 had been owned by a guy who used to drive a tow truck and it came with one of those mounts that with bolts clamped onto the extended mirrors of his truck. My pick up does not have those types of mirrors so I was going to have to find another way to mount it in order to use it (the magnetic mount on the Little Wil is not the kind that lets you change to a different antenna mast) which I did and a future post will go into more detail on that.

As much fun as I was having though listening to the radio when was driving, there was still a big gap when I could listen. I do not make a living out of driving and unless I was in my pick up running errands or whatever I could not use it. Obviously what I needed was a Home Base.

So down in the basement where I keep a second computer I cleared up a little area on an adjacent shelf unit and placed a radio there along with a 12 volt power supply I had. I mounted a small antenna onto the roof of the garage and with a 50 foot length of less than stellar quality, but cheap, coax from Radio Shack connected it to a radio in the basement.

At about this time I also made a friend with someone who had been advertising radios on Craigslist. Meeting him was one of those moments of synchronicity; I had been wanting to meet someone who could give me pointers and guidance in my guest to set up my mobile and home based units, a Elmer is what I believe they call it in Ham circles.

Not only did he give me some pointers but also loaned me some equipment to help me get started. One item he loaned me was a 102 inch steel whip antenna which greatly improved my listening power.

About a week or so ago while sitting at my computer and slowly turning the dial I came to channel 6 and heard a mish mash of voices coming through the speaker like I had never heard before. The volume of the audio signals from the various voices would randomly go up and down as their signals waxed and waned. It took me a few moments but after one of the voices made note of where they were broadcasting from it dawned on me what I was hearing: ‘Skip’

Skip, I learned from my forum studies, is when the signals that are usually limited to only a few miles bounce, or Skip, off the atmosphere and come down hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of miles away.  The voices I heard were coming from mostly Texas, but I also heard Oklahoma,  a voice claiming to be from California,  even Iowa.

I marveled at the sounds of all these people coming through my speaker and it threw my mind back in time to my childhood as I listened to the radios in my room late at night.

With CBs when someone talks everyone else pretty much has to just listen; unless one of those other people you’re listening to locally has a much more powerful radio and then blasts over the other guys signal. With the skip I heard coming in the voices were almost layered; not one over the other but all at the same time and I had to tune my ears to pick out one sound over the others to understand. It reminded me of the mish mash of sounds and voices you here in the Beatles song Revolution 9 from the White Album.

Occasionally I would hear voices locally around here communicating or attempting to communicate with those distant voices. Surprisingly during some of the conversations I could hear the distant signals better than I could hear the ones more local.

This inspired me to make use of another Craigslist find. I had recently obtained from a guy two identical base antennas, not the best quality but brand new, as well as two 75 foot lengths of good quality coax cable – all for just $40. I was also allowed to remove from the lodge a 21 foot pole; what had once been the upper support from a chain link fence, with the intention of making it the mast for one of the antennas.

Right now it is still in a test phase, with the pole resting on the ground and fastened to the building with one of the two antennas on top, but it already works better than the 102 inch whip mounted a little lower. I cant wait for the weather to improve a bit so I can put it even higher. And next year I might even take the other antenna and mount it at the top of one of the huge pine trees that are along side and dwarf my garage!

I am now not only able to hear and broadcast even better than before, but I am hearing even more skip and on other channels as well. Sitting in my basement, with the aid of some wire, a stick in the air, and an old Cobra 2000 voices of faces I may never meet speak to and with me; like old freinds sharing a secret fascination most everyone else has forgotten. The mere fact that I am there with them includes me into their exclusive club. Common citizens run about with cell phones pressed to their ears; limited, for the most part, to talking to or reaching out to just one person at a time. While with our little radio’s we can reach a multitude of individuals at one time.

After the trucker on I-80 in Iowa  and I finished chatting he closed the window on his truck and dialed somebody on his cellphone. Maybe it was his dispatcher, or a friend near a radio or tv who might be able to tell him what was up. If only he had had a simple CB radio he would have known way in advance to pull off the highway and saved himself time and aggravation. I surely dont plan on ever going on a road trip without one from now on.

As we get older we have a tendency to try and reclaim our youth. Some guys go out and buy sports cars; a nice convertible perhaps. Well, I already have one of those, had it for about 8 years now and it wasn’t a middle aged splurge either. However I could see CBs and eventually Ham radios filling in that void. I can not describe it, why listening to faint signals through a static haze gives me such a thrill, but I am so glad that I have the opportunity to experience it again.

All because of a traffic jam.

Ya know, I wonder if one of those voices I hear skipping accros the heavens from Iowa is a trucker riding down route I-80.