It used to be that I’d have a Wendy’s burger fairly regularly. Big Bacon Classic… ummmm…

Which isn’t to say that I believed Wendy’s burgers to be fine examples of what a burger should be; no, in that regard, Wendy’s sits alongside McDonald’s as a place where you go because you’re looking for a particular taste. McDonald’s burgers have a distinctly “McDonald’s” taste, while Wendy’s burgers have a distinctly “Wendy’s” taste.

And I guess I just had a jones for Wendy’s burgers.

But that was another lifetime. In this lifetime I’m married and my wife tries her best to make my diet a healthy one. Even my subs, which used to be of the pizza or assorted variety, are now almost strictly veggie.

Now and then the old cravings come back. And while I Done Good(tm) recently and ordered a Wendy’s salad during a lunch outing with a friend, for whatever reason I decided to indulge two days ago by ingesting a Big Bacon Classic – a combo, “biggie sized” of course, just like the good old days.

And just like some things are meant to be left in the past, so too will I now relegate Wendy’s burgers to a time when I just Didn’t Know Any Better(tm). Once upon a time I used to scarf Burger King bugers, and then my sister and I got all nostalgic and decided to give them another go for Old Time’s Sake.

BIG mistake.

And two days later I’m still regretting that Wendy’s burger. I guess my body got wise and moved on from that trash before my brain did. Lesson learned.

It used to be that I used SPB’s PocketPlus and PhoneSuite products on my HTC TyTN to provide some useful functionality.  Most of that – including finger/kinetic scrolling – is provided native in the WinMo 6.5 build I have running on the Touch Pro.  Which is one reason why I went with WinMo 6.5.

But some features of those programs were sorely missed.  Namely, timed profiles in PhoneSuite (the ability for the phone to automatically switch back to the Normal profile from, say, Silent or Vibrate after some time).  PocketPlus gave me an enhanced File dialog.

For whatever reason SPB is dragging their feet on supporting 6.5 in these two apps.  So screw it.

While I still don’t have an enhanced File dialog, I now have timed profiles.  I’m running code that I designed, but it works.

Quickly then – I’ve got a C program that watches certain registry entries waiting for them to change.  One of those entries – HKCU/ControlPanel/ShellOverrides/Mode – reliably indicates whether the phone ringer is Normal, Silent or Vibrate.  So the C program sits on a notification waiting for this key to change.  When it does, the program fires a Mortscript which does Interesting Things(tm) based on the registry key value – and by extension, the ringer mode we’re in.

If the mode is != Normal, the script sets up a notification queue entry to run x minutes later which will put the mode back to Normal.  We rely on a 3rd-party free application to do the actual mode switching.

Currently the script is hard-coded for 5 minutes, but it’ll be trivial to put a dialog in there so that I can select how long I want the delay to be.

That’s one.

Two… using the same C program, we watch ANOTHER key to see the state of the Bluetooth radio.  I do this for two reasons.

In the early days of owning this Touch Pro, Bluetooth stayed on when I told it stay on and never turned off unless I told it to turn off.  So I could reasonably expect that I when I got into my car, the phone would pair with the car and Life would be Good.

Lately, for whatever reason, Bluetooth is being naughty and turning itself off for no reason.

So I figured, let’s watch the registry to see when the Bluetooth state changes.  If it turns off, we’ll turn it back on.  Concept is simple: C program watches the key, fires a Mortscript when the key changes, Mortscript looks at the key and calls a 3rd-party freeware program to flick Bluetooth back on if required.

But hear this… one thing I like from Shelly’s phone (and most phones in fact) that mine is missing is the ability to turn Bluetooth to “Discoverable” mode and have it automatically switch back to normal (“Connectable”) mode after some time. The idea here is that you don’t want to walk around with your phone in Discoverable mode if you’re not pairing any new devices.  So using the same approach as above with the ringer, the script also looks for Discoverable mode and will setup a notification queue entry to kill that mode after 2 minutes.

Done and done.

I’m quite upset.

I had a rather cool idea for a patentable invention, only to find that somebody beat me to the punch by a little under a year.  Although, I think there’s one element of my idea that’s not in their (quite exhaustive) patent application.

Two, is that anybody who’s interested in cleaning a microwave interior, where said interior has stubborn caked-on food waste, only need boil a bowlful of water and place that bowl within the microwave.  The hot water will rapidly evaporate and condense on the interior walls of the microwave, thereby soaking the food waste and making it much easier to clean out.   This cleaning can be done within 5 minutes or so of placing the bowl of water within the microwave.

This is a known trick apparently; I didn’t know that until I looked it up while writing this post.

My goodness, talk about an eventful past few weeks in technology-and-mechanisms land.

I wasted about 4-5 hours of my life on the phone with my wife’s cellphone carrier, trying to clear the fog of confusion and hold them to their word about a new plan… I spent some time setting up her new cellphone, which is part and parcel with the discussions above… I acquired a “new” (used) cellie to replace/compliment my TyTN… my internet server has been having unknown problems of a service-interruption nature for the past two weeks… my wife’s car is back to its old tricks (ie, being frustratingly unreliable)… my car soaked its passenger footwell and sprung a mysterious leak in a tire…

…and I think that’s it.

So what does all of that have to do with the subject of this post?  With the exception of my “new” cellphone and Shelly’s new cellphone – not much, but I haven’t posted since October 28th so I thought I’d bring you up to speed (and have you share my pain…)

Okay, so Google Maps.  Well, first off, is that I chose a used HTC “Fuze” (the AT&T version of the HTC Touch Pro) to replace my TyTN.  Ah, the TyTN… it’s come a long way since I first unboxed it back in ’07 and saw its gleaming, Rogers-infested workings.  Over time it’s been steadily upgraded with various software goodies to keep it relevant:

– interface: went from Today screen customizations and ended up with a new shell (SPB Mobile Shell), although at one point I thought the idea of a replacement shell was sacrilege

– web browser: from Opera (which never worked reliably due to memory constraints) to Opera Mini (which wasn’t a “true” experience and not suited for online banking) to SkyFire (also not a “true” expereince and not suited for online banking, but it wasn’t Java and it supported Flash)

– finger-friendliness: courtesy of native support in some apps, and psuedo-global support by SPB Pocket Plus and fTouchSL; as well as some registry tweaks to increasae the font size of  system-wide menus

I’m sure there’s more, but that’ s the gist of it.

But through all of these additions, one realm I could never improve on was the hardware itself.  Limited processing power and limited memory were becoming hindrances.  The recessed screen was on a divergent path with the increased emphasis on finger-friendliness.  And finally, the battery was rapidly approaching the upper limit of its useful age.

Now, some of these issues could have probably been resolved by flashing a new ROM.  But as the only Windows Mobile 5+ device in my stable, bricking the device was not an option.  Nor did I want to flash a new ROM and find that the hardware limitations were even more pronounced – or find some incompatibility with my carrier – and then have no way to go back to the known-working ROM.

So the decision was made to look for another device.  At least then I’d have two WinMo 5+ devices, so that one could serve as a backup in case Something Bad(tm) happened.  I wasn’t entirely convinced that my future would lie in Windows Mobile, but without my carrier offering any appealing subsidized smartphones I decided to go the pre-owned route for another couple of years.

The Touch Pro is currently one generation behind the latest and greatest Touch Pro 2.  It’s got ample memory, a sufficiently-fast processor, and a multitude of available ROM images.  The screen is flush, its got an internal GPS, accelerometer, VGA screen, but still has a 5-way dpad.  So that’s what I went for.

And while the unit I ended up could have been better cared for (scratches galore), I decided that was a small price to pay for such a huge jump in software and hardware revisions (2.5 and 2 generations, respectively).

Okay, great… so, what about Google Maps?

Yes, GMaps – it should be obvious, that with the Fuze’s GPS I now have pinpoint accuracy in this awesome, *free* application.  And while I’m still in the process of getting that GPS to fix quickly (and reliably, although I think I made a big step forward in turning *off* AGPS), I must say that GMaps has twice proved its usefulness in the last 24 hours.

Something I didn’t know, is that GMaps now supports live traffic info in Canada.  Apparently this has been around for some time, but since I’ve got GPS in the car and had no GPS in my phone before, it was rare that I would fire up GMaps while in any car.  The traffic info showed me that a route was flowing smoothly yesterday for the evening commute – which I wouldn’t have believed otherwise since that route is never clear that time of day – and it showed me that the same route should be avoided like the plague this morning, although the undisputed king of radio traffic reports had nothing to say on the matter.

In both cases the info was spot on.

So that’s cool.  I’m trying to convince the wifey to get a Google account so we can use Latitude.  She’s adverse to that sort of thing.  I’m not looking to track her whereabouts – especially since I wouldn’t recommend that she leave GPS on 24/7 and run GMaps during that time as well – but I think it would be useful in those moments where we’re out and/or apart and there’s some requirement to know where the other is or that the other is okay (because the other never hears their phone ring……… 🙂

But mostly I just want to see the technology in action.  I think it’s cool that Shelly now has a mobile device that’s as powerful as mine, with a mobile plan that includes a healthy chunk of data without breaking the bank.  For a while, her phone was even more powerful and feature-packed than mine.  Now we’re on par, but the point is that we can both do the same things – get info online, navigate with GPS, use Bluetooth – so I can get her up to speed on this stuff whenever she’s ready.

So anyhoo… more on this stuff later.  Particularly my woes with my Internet server at home.  Ugh… talk about a pain in the @ss, especially when I’ve got like -ve free time these days what with an infant son and a car-less wife.  Compounding matters is that that server is instrumental in receiving work-related alerts on my phone, so… stress all around.

This weekend I had my very first, multi-hour experience in a Starbucks.

This may seem like a non-event for many of you, but I’m not prone to holing up  in a Starbucks with a latte in one hand and bestseller novel in the other.

Not that I have anything against the notion – I just haven’t done it.

Anyhow, my experience involved a “premium” Hot Chocolate, a netbook, and a 3G cellphone.  And all in all, it was pleasant… ish.  The particular Starbucks I was at was rather small, and the angle of the sun at that time of day was such that it made seeing my netbook screen a little difficult at times.  That, and I was situated right beside a high traffic area.

But I accomplished what I needed to accomplish online.  No, I wasn’t there to soak in the ambience – I had a task to perform, and I’m happy to say that it went off suprisingly well.  I’ll attribute that to my cellphone 3G service vs. Starbuck’s WIFI service, which I have no interest in partaking of given my own mobile capabilities.

I guess the only downside was that my jacket smelled like a barrista for a good 2, 3 days afterwards.  Oh well, such is the like of a Starbucks yuppie I guess…?

In keeping with the desire to run free (read: not be tied down to a particular technology or implementation) I recently decided that being forced to run IIS5 on Windows 2000 Server was anything but a Good Thing(tm).

I don’t see why Win2K users can’t be privy to the potential goodness that comes with IIS6+.

So, IIS be gone.

Apache, come hither!

Yes, I’m running Apache on this here server, and while IIS5 is still toiling away, it’s only to serve the Piper’s Pages website by way of a reverse proxy.  Almost immediately after installing Apache, WordPress breathed a sigh and relief and showed its appreciation by enabling config-free permalinks and working plugins.

The sweet smell of freedom, indeed!

I picked up an Acer Aspire One 10.1″ netbook a couple of months back, to replace my Dell Inspiron 4000 – which ultimately decided that it didn’t like staying powered on.  Full details in a Piper’s Pages post, do the search.

Anyhoo, the short of the netbook purchase is that I wanted a small device running a full OS, since it became clear to me that portability was becoming increasingly important over sheer computing muscle.  A screen size of 10″ was the minimum I was willing to tolerate, and the keyboard had to resemble a full keyboard as much as possible.

So I picked up the Acer on sale and was generally happy, but I have to admit that I deliberated for about 60 minutes in the store; the keyboard had a few characters in the wrong place, and green French characters adorned about 40% of the keys and was a distracting eye-sore.  I had done my due diligence before visiting the store and OK’d the keyboard layout I saw online, but here it was in the store that the keyboard was different.  I Google’d the situation on my phone and found out that laptops/netbooks gracing Canadian shelves often have a combined English/French layout in order to comply with Canadian language laws.

<sigh>

So that’s the background.  A few weeks back I found a US keyboard on eBay for the earth-shattering price of $15, free shipping from Hong Kong, so I pushed the “Buy Now” button and prepared myself for the customs fees.

Long story short – keyboard came, I popped it in thanks to a handy how-to video on YouTube, and I can now say that I’ve done my part to fall in line with French-ignorant Canadians in the Great White North.

Oh, did I say that?

Readers of Piper’s Pages will be well aware of my complete disregard for all things Internet Explorer.  I completely decided to ignore the piece of %!#! for my home automation interface.

And now here it is, after a day of planning and a few hours of coding, the d@mn thing is falling on its @ss with a simple scrolling tables implementation while… yup, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera all behave like good little school children.

Really, even if IE had a DOM browser I’d be happier.  And JS errors that made sense.  But here it is, it’s quite adept at deleting a node from the DOM but adding nodes???  Ya, if you can craft a song that adheres to IE’s rhyme and reason I’ll be quite impressed.

And because there’s no DOM browser I have no idea if the stupid things made their appearance elsewhere in the DOM . Ya, I could slap on an ID, do a getElementById() and see what happens, but then what?  The results will just drive me even more crazy.

I have a son now.  I don’t have time for this @#!^.

Hey all,

This is my first WordPress post, but all of those “in the know” will be aware of Piper’s Pages over at http://www.pipenet.org/people/piperd/.  So while I may be using official blog software now, it’s not to say that I haven’t been blogging for quite… some… time……..

I’m somewhat torn on whether to continue posting to the other site, or perhaps to post here and link here from the other site.  Truthfully I just don’t have the time/inclination to update the backend code that drives Piper’s Pages, so I suppose it makes sense that future posts occur here.  If I permalink from Piper’s Pages, then I’ll lose search functionality on that site but…

I think I’ll just post to both sites, and provide the permalink at the start of Piper’s Pages posts.

Problem solved.  Not that you cared, but one thing you’ll soon learn my friend is that my online sense of entitlement is rather startling.  So that’s that then – let’s blog!