July 29, 2007

Happy birthday to my Acer Aspire 5003WLMI!
Well my Acer is now one year old! Hard to believe as it feels like I just got it yesterday! Well, I am hoping that I get another year out of the battery now! Heres to one year with my Acer and the battery has only lost 5WH of capacity!
You know what? I THINK ITS TIME FOR A RANT!
This is one of them things thats bugging me now... The PDA market is beyond dead... Why is this? Simple, the companies like HP and Palm just plain don't care about them anymore. HP made a few phones and all Palm cares about is the Treo. This is a rant devoted to the lack of PDA use.
There are some stuff that can bring back the PDA market. The first thing though, is probably the biggest market for these devices.
The back to school market This is the biggest market if you ask me. There easier to travel from class to class with for one thing. Not to mention that the battery life is a lot better. They are getting close to what a student needs most in terms of the operating system programs. Couple the PDA like my iPAQ with a keyboard like my StowAway Bluetooth model. This is the ultimate in mobile computing for me. Its not as good as having a full operating system but its also a lot cheaper.
There is a way to make this seem important to kids and parents a like. We need to Stress the Features of One. They are not just a basic organizer any more. They are getting more advanced. Here is just some of the things that they can do!
Office Both Pocket PC (or Windows Mobile as its called now...) contain office programs. The ones on Windows Mobile are core programs in the operating system while Palm chose to bundle a very popular application with there operating system. Documents To Go for Palm OS is a very nice office suite. Windows Mobile has Word Mobile and Excel Mobile with a PowerPoint viewer, where as Documents To Go has Word, Sheet, and Slideshow programs that allow editing as well as viewing. This is great since you don't need to buy another application.
Music Yes, you can even use a PDA for music playing. They may not have a hard drive in them for the most part with a few exceptions like the LifeDrive that Palm made. I can use a 4GB SD Card with WMA audio files at 48KBS that sounds just fine, and fit A LOT MORE MUSIC THEN ANY IPOD NANO CAN! Plus there's the fact of that you can change the music player. Palm includes Pocket Tunes basic, and Windows Mobile has Windows Media Player. There are numerous others that you can use. Thats the best part as there are choices.
Internet Yes, they have Internet access now. This allows you to go online for information. Thus can help for when you are doing a report. This also openes up the use of online radio stations and chats. You can read the news from the palm of your hand. They both include a web browser so why not get one with WiFi and use it?
Reading eBooks You can get a reader for these and read a book in a digital format on your PDA. This can be helpful as there is no book to get ruined or lost. Plus this helps save paper and carry less stuff
The final reason I will tell you about is GAMES!!! There are many games, both free and commercial. Sure this isn't the best reason for school use but everyone needs a break now and then! There are games of every type for both Windows Mobile and Palm OS. Chances are you will find ones that you like. There are even high end games like Call of Duty 2 on Windows Mobile.
There are a lot of programs on both Palm and Windows Mobile... Thats the fun part of it! You can experiment and make the device just the way you want it. You may want a program that tells you the weather for example. There are programs that will do just that! There are themes that you can tweak the look to what you want in a PDA.
There is an idea I had that company's can do. They can make bundles that would be cheaper then buying everything separately. One possible bundle could be you pick the PDA you want, and what you want for it, and get maybe 20% off the total purchase. This could be anything at all that you want. You could get a case, a keyboard, a spare battery, and a SD card. The company could also box the bundle up.
They could also start including better software with it. My idea would be they would have a list off applications you can try, and pick so many of them, to get for free. Like you could have a choice of any 3 applications that you wanted from a list of maybe 10. This would be better since you would have more powerful programs. Even a discount is better then paying full price for them!
Another thing they could do is make them a multimedia device. This would be sold next to the iPod and other players. They could have options of flash memory to hard drives. For example, a 4GB flash model for 300 or a 80GB hard drive model for 500. They could also function as Internet devices. The Internet device could be larger and have a keyboard that would attach to it through standard USB.
Well, that was a long rant wasn't it? The sad thing is that I am not done yet! But now we are onto a different subject. While still on the topic of mobile electronics, this is a different subject. Lets continue!
One feature that all PDAs should have to me is USB host. This allows you to use a flash drive with the PDA. Really good for when you need the file on a computer. This would mean that you could take the file off the PDA, place on the drive, use the file on the computer, and put it back on the PDA. Very useful for word files and other documents. Such as when I code this website. Its much easier then me using an SD or Compact Flash card!
How many people remember the Handheld PC of yesteryear? Well, I am one of the people who still uses one as I have said before. They are quite amazing devices for when they came out. My NEC is so old yet has a lithium ion battery. This means that the PDA is light, if you can call almost 2 pounds light! The best thing about them is the keyboards and the operating system though. I can type on mine for a while before the battery is dead. I wish I could say the same for some laptops! My main question though has to be...
Why did these die? These are the perfect travel companion for me. They weren't meant to be a PDA really. They are too big for your pocket for the most part yes, but they make up in what they can be used for. I mean look at me, I code my website on it. There is one reason I love my NEC, even though you can't see the screen outside, is that its easy to use. Its like using Windows! The real sad this is that I can do something I can't do on my iPAQ!!! Multiple word documents open.
Okay, now I am done!

July 28, 2007

Well, today was an okay day. I decided to leave the T20 home today and just wing it! This wasn't much of a problem as its so damn hot today that I don't want to even take a laptop with me. I just can not wait for this summer to be over. I CAN NOT TAKE THIS HEAT ANY MORE!!!! It was suppose to rain today and we got nothing sadly...
I almost traded my NEC away... Sorry Alex, you are not prying this thing from me ever... It would have been for a older greyscale Compaq HPC and some other stuff I do not feel like naming.
I went to Old Country Buffet today. The food was okay... I didn't really want it but I ate anyway. I don't know why I didn't want it though. The good thing though next week is that I get Chinese buffet again! Now that I want! Plus in two weeks I get Bonaza steak! Now thats a great steak!
My new goal is to get another HPC one of these days. I hope I can get another free one though. I want a greyscale one that takes AA batteries now since I can not use the NEC outside. I also need to find a way to get multiple documents open on my iPAQ. That would make coding a hell of a lot easier. Yes I like to code on my PDA. In fact this was typed on my NEC with the finishing touches down on my Acer. Funny really, I haven;t really used the NEC and now I love it again and I am trying to make use of it.
Some people see coding on a PDA as stupid or painful. For me, I like that I can code on it instead of a desktop or laptop. They are easier to take with me then a laptop. I know, I am repeating my self as I know I have said this before... Oh and yes, I still love the T20. I just rather use the Acer now as the speed helps... Plus the widescreen makes coding nice as it does on the NEC...
I have done some reworking on teh blog now. You may have noticed that the archives page is on the SIDE and goes by months now. This is to make coding eaiser for me as all I need to do is add the new month link to the list and paste the links for the entries onto a new page. This also looks better to me. I do plan on tweaking the reviews page like this too if I ever add more.

July 27, 2007

Well, is SysAdmin Apprecation Day! Its the last Friday of every July. Pretty funny reason for a holiday if you ask me. Since this includes web masters such as my self...
Happy SysAdmin Appreciation Day to ME!
Since my friend got a Handheld PC like me now, he finally understands why I have a death grip on my NEC so badly. He got an older Compaq thats a little slower then mine but its nice. It takes a pair AA batteries, has a greyscale screen, and 8MB of RAM. It has Windows CE 2.11 like I do too. He doesn't have a nice keyboard like me though. I can type faster then he can on mine since I have the nice 92% full size keyboard. I just wish mine was as small as his. But I have both compact flash and PC card while he only has PC card!
I am really starting too see the main reason I love the NEC! Coding HTML! I can do it on the thing in a text file and rename to an HTML file. I also have to say that the wide screen makes this a breeze. Plus the fact of having such a nice keyboard to type on. I did notice one thing, CSS doesn't work on its web browser. Oh well right? Its old so I wasn't expecting everything new to work on it. But at least I can test the code.
I also found that this site isn't all that slow for dial up users. Good thing since that means I can get more readers. I hate waiting for a page to load so a fast load time is a good thing. Thats one of the great things bout having your pages as simple as mine. You can code them fast and they load fast!
I offered to give my friend a few pages on here but he didn't want them. Too bad really as I would love to share the 20GB I have. I will never use that much in my life! Hell, I can barely get this thing over a MB, let alone a GB. If I still had the forums, that size would be really handy. There is one thing I would love to do with this site and thats get it to be a nice big site!!!
There is one great thing about HTML... You can code it on almost anything. All you need is a text editor. If you can get it onto a computer that is. Sure its hard to code without a full size keyboard but it is possible to do. I have done this on numerous PDAs before. Its simple if you know how to get the keys for the tags. I have even coded in my Treo when I had it. That was a pain because you needed to use the option and FN keys.
There is one thing I would love to get just for the hell of it. A very old computer. That would be fun to code on! I seen some really cool PDAs that ran on DOS. Now I would love one of them to play with. I heard that the text editor on them can open a .txt from a memory card so I would be able to code on it.
I should check thrift shops like my friend does. He got the Compaq for 6 bucks. Man, thats a great deal if you ask me! The only thing he was missing for it was the sync cable and charger. But since his laptop has infrared, he can use that. The thing also takes 2 AA batteries so a charger is no nig deal for him.
Its really sad that I rather have an old computer then a new one! Why would I rather and old one??? Simple, they are really cool. The new ones are all the same to me anymore. I have a good enough laptop, why get another one? The old ones were really cool because they were different. It would be really fun to have one, even if it was just to mess with. Plus, its like owning a piece of history. Some old computers still sell for a lot of money.
Yeah, my geek side is really starting to show now! On a different subject now... My friend was thinking about getting a Wii for a bit but decided that they are just not worth it. Plus not to mention that annoying Wiimote. I rather use a keyboard and mouse for my games thanks. Too bad my laptop can't play most games I want to play though haha.
There are great reasons to play games on a computer... One is that the games are better. Another is the fact that they are easier to play. The main reason though is that you can upgrade the computer! No need to guy buy a new console!

July 26, 2007

I am really hoping that I can fill up this site soon! I mean I have 20GB of space. I will never be able to fill up that much space though. Maybe I will bring back the news page. Once I get the sendmail enabled however, I plan on getting a forum back up. I don't know if the forum will be added for sure though as sendmail is 500 coins as I have said before. Though they did disable phpBB due to security. I will just have too see what happens. I am not really worried about the forum though as it wasn't really that popular to me...
I am also considering adding a shoutbox to the index page. I am still confused at what I will be doing though. I hope that the link exchange thing will get me more readers. I know its just a simple site, but it loads faster this way. Plus I can get the coding done faster and that means the site gets up faster.
I know I said I was going to start reading HTML 4 for Dummies a while ago... Too bad I still haven't started yet! I have been kind of lazy with the whole reading thing. I still plan on reading this though. Maybe one day I will! Then again, I want to learn more CSS (cascading style sheets) so I can make the site look nicer. Maybe add some back ground stuff. For now I like my orange theme though.
Man it is really nice to have a battery on the T20 again. I can use it anywhere I want now since I don't need to plug it in. I don't need to use the APC battery either. Its very nice that I can finally use it as it should be used! Now its actually portable for me!
I have to say that the bag is really nice for the T20. The extra room on the side means I can place my mouse and adapter there. Its nice to have the free space. I haven't used it for the Acer yet. For that, I like the backpack case I have. My friend wants to get a backpack case for his laptop so he can use it for taking notes this year.
I am going to set up the dial up connection on my NEC again. The connection is free as long as you have unlimited long distance. Its quite fun if you ask me to be able to use something so old to go online with a PDA this old. Plus it gives me a chance to check the site on the old thing. Some people still use these with a WiFi card. It makes a ok internet device. I wish I could find one for mine. This would be very nice as an IRC computer since I have a keyboard on it!
I am asking anyone who wants to help me to do so with this! The disclaimer page needs more side effects. I ask people to email them to me. You can email them here. Thanks everyone, I need more stuff for it!!!

July 25, 2007

Well, I am just going to say no forums. Newsit.es is not going to all phpBB anymore due to security reasons. There are other forums that I can try however. Sorry to everyone who was on my forums before. I do hope that everyone enjoys my blog though.
I am announcing a new service of my site. I will post a link and a description for you. This is a free service and just as in return that you please link back to me. Use the email button on the Links page with subject "Link Exchange". I ask that you provide the link, what you wish link to say, and if you want, a description. I know, I am too nice!!
The more I think of it, the more is pisses me off. Why can't Windows Mobile 5 open more then one document at a time? There are not many times when I need it but WHY? My old NEC seems like it can do more to me. I mean, look at the way I can open a HTML file in Pocket Word and it will make it a text file for me, and then same as the HTML file. It only the NEC was smaller and could be seen outside. Though making the thing smaller would ruin the very nice keyboard that it has!
Heres a better question... Why did they have to stop making the handheld PC? I think that they are a lot better then most PDAs we have now. They have a keyboard for one thing. This makes them perfect for school use. They have the wide screen so its very nice to do documents on them. Not to mention the whole multiple documents at once!
I wish we would get a nice big thunderstorm soon. We need the rain and I just like storms! What would be really nice is that the grass would start growing in thicker too. The more grass, the more money I make too! I made 20 bucks for doing my neighbors. I really need money so I can get more toys!
I am hoping to get some use out of the RC car again soon. I know I said this before but I really need to start getting some use out of it now... The engine is getting kind of sad that I haven't started it in a while. I hope it will start easy this time. I can always put the rotostart back on. Actually I should put it back on. It makes the car so much easier to start up for me.
The laptop bad that I got is really nice. It feels so light compared to my old one. It could be that the Acer was 1.2 pounds heavier then the T20. I am convinced that the T20 is the best travel computer I have ever used. There is no hot air blowing on me at all. Maybe it is just me but I really must say that I love it so much more. Also with the new battery, its perfect. It lasts just as long as my Acer does now. Plus not to mention the TrackPoint makes everything really nice

July 24, 2007

Well, I am still in webhost limbo! I need to get the forums up and running... Theree is one main problem though. I need a way to get either the no mail mod installed, or sendmail. I can get sendmail for "500 coins" on the newsit.es forums. This is free but it will take some time. There is an option of using a free forum off of this main site. I will keep debating what will happen. Maybe I can get the forum installed here.
I want to start using my iPAQ more. Its not really worth the effort to make my laptop shopping really. Its nice to have but its a pain to carry. It also takes time to start back up. Plus I keep the iPAQ in my pocket in the store so it comes in handy. I can edit the entries whenever I get bored. I don't have to worry about if I have my laptop with me.
I am debating on whether or not I should get the off site forum. I can keep trying to get the on site one working but I am thinking of using a free off site one for now until I get the on site one up. I will just have to see what happens.
I would love to get a paid hosting and a .com website. This would be great since I could have my own domain. One day I will have a domain all to my own, but for now. this is good enough. I will try to get one eventually. If any one wants to buy me one for free though...
I am loving this new battery. It lasts a nice long time for me. It lasts a good 2 and a half hours! I want to get a second one but I don't have the money for it. One is enough though. I would like some RAM Though. Even with the small 384MB RAM, it runs great!!!
I want to see the Simpson's Movie. It looks pretty funny. I would like to see it but I will wait for the DVD. I will see it one of these days! It would be really nice to get the DVD.
I am so sick of seeing all this Harry Potter stuff. Its only a book people. I can wait for the movies personally. I seen videos on YouTube with spoilers. Wow people, is it really that funny to spoil the book. I would rather read the book then go by what people say happens. I already read it on Wikipedia anyway!
I ma really loving my new flash drive too. I installed the Portable Apps Suite from Portable Apps instead of the U3 software.

July 23, 2007

Well, I got all the pictures taken for the Acer Aspire 5003WLMI review. I am hoping to start it tomorrow if all goes as planned. Maybe even tonight after I post this. We will just have to see!
I must say that I am really enjoying the T20. For something this old, it runs great. The infrared port is by far my favorite feature right now. I can sync my old NEC again. While the 570 also has infrared, I rather use the T20.
Speaking of the old NEC, I am using it as a PIM (Pocket Outlook) device. I am mostly use the tasks feature for my website. This helps me know what I need to do with the site. I just wish I had a network card for it so I could do and upload the pages.
The news page today is quite big! I am glad that today seems to be quite a good day for news that interests me!
I am glad for FireFox, it makes doing the news page easy do to tabs. Yes, Internet Explorer 7 has tabs, but I hate it. I much rather use a good browser like FireFox. What I would love to know is what people want to use Safari. I know that Mac users even hate it and use FireFox. Sorry Apple, I am a happy FireFox user.

July 21, 2007

Well, I'm debating using a differnt style of blog. It would be a simple php blog. This would help me focus on getting them up faster since I would have less coding to do. Not that I have much now though! This all depends on how I feel though...
You know, there is one reason I still love my iPAQ! I can still use the Palm OS Graffiti 1 input letters. This allows me to write fast with very few mistakes... Why? Simple! Its still embedded in my brain from my SJ33 days! I still prefer the tap keyboard though. I feel it puts less stress on my screen protector. Its also faster for me... Man i love them ...'s!
Of course, there's always my one true method... The Bluetooth ThinkOutside StowAway Universal keyboard! I really love that thing! After using the T20 so much though, I can't get adjusted to it! If I had the one with a number row it wouldn't be so hard to readjust. The NEC isn't as hard to use since it has a number row. The keys are smaller though.
I am really trying to get more use out of my iPAQ any more! I have to get more use out of it to make me feel better about keeping it charged. My overall goal is to use only freeware programs on it. This is something thats been made easier to me now since I know there are a lot of free programs. Here is a list of what I have installed now, including my theme.
• FireFox theme I love FireFox a lot so this was a good theme to use. Its also very similar to the Bliss theme...
• S-Tris 2 Come on, every device needs Tetris! Its a very good free version that has both a classic and maniac mode which is a very hard version with non-Tetris 4 block pieces.
• lgtEditor I installed this HTML editor to try and do not know if I will be keeping it or using something else. Its one of the only 2 I found on FreeWare PPC.
• Peek Pocket Everyone needs a good WiFi scanner! Tells me one key thing too, if the network is locked!
• Total Commander The best freeware file explorer I have ever seen. I looove it!
• zsIRC Everyone needs a great IRC client on there PDA for when the urge to chat comes up!
I also have my drivers for my keyboard installed but I don't need to count that now do I?
Well today was a great day for me too! I found a case for the T20. Its for a 15.4 like my Acer but it has a divider in it. This means that the T20 fits great with some room on the side for other suff. This is great as now I have a better case for my Acer too. Its like getting 2 cases for the price of one! Speaking of price, it was on clearance for only 20 bucks!
While at OfficeMax, I had to get a flash drive that was cheap! It was a 512MB Lexar for only 10 bucks. I figured it would make a good back up drive. I can leave it in the bag for when I forget my 4GB.
I also got my favorite! Chinese buffet!!!

July 19, 2007

You know, there is one thing I really miss on Linux now... That little calendar! I have trouble remembering todays date sometimes. It really helped when I write these entries. At least you can hover over the date on Windows and get a small text box with date. Not perfect but better then nothing I guess!
I have to say, I really do love my T20 and its now been 2 weeks since I got it. I feel kind of bad for my Acer though! The T20 gets more use then it does. I really wish my Acer was smaller now! I also wish it had a TrackPoint like mouse!
I got 2 TrackPoint caps from a friend. I got a classic dome and a soft ring from him. I prefer the dome but they get dirty fast. They are also hard to clean from what I hear. I wish the 6 pack of caps that Lenovo sold for 10 bucks where all the classic dome. Its 2 of each type though. I do not really care for the other 2.
Guess what today is! The ThinkPad's 15TH birthday! Gotta say WOW. 15 years for one brand of laptop is pretty good if you ask me. I will always love the design of IBM and now Lenovo's laptops. Some people think they are ugly though. I personally love them. They are well made laptops. I just wish that my T20, I don't know what others have it though, didn't have the rubberized paint. It makes a nice grip though!
Something I have been thinking about lately is that Linux has gotten slower. I use to be able to run SuSE 9.2 on a 450MHZ Pentium 2 with 384MB of PC100 RAM and it ran great. I tried 10.2 on the T20 which is 300MHZ faster at 750MHZ and it was slow. I had the same amount of RAM. I guess Linux is losing its touch... Shame! I rather use Windows now since its faster.
I have starting getting sick of waiting for stuff to start up so I switched to AbiWord. I have probably said this before but it starts up fast once you disable the splash screen! Its not as advanced as OpenOffice.org but its a lot faster so thats a big plus for me. All I really care about is spell check! I just wish it had the auto replacement for a few words but its no big deal! I can use the help in learning to spell sometimes any way!
Man, I am really wish the weather would start getting colder soon. I would love to use my buggy more. It has just been too hot for me to feel like dealing with tuning the engine to hope it runs good. I then have to deal with the heat. No thanks, I can wait til the fall! Is a little cold air, like 70s so much to ask for?
I have to say, RC Driver is a great magazine. In the painting section this month, they made a Cheez-It theme body. Now I love food a lot but I don't think I could ever bring my self to making a body for my buggy about food. Thats a little crazy to me. The only thing funnier is when you see the look on peoples face when they see this thing. That must be the funniest thing ever. Taking your Cheez-It obsession to an RC scale!
Also in this magazine this month, they were talking about how nitro can be replaced by electric soon. The motors and batteries are starting to get up to what we need for this too happen now. They took a Losi 8ight and make it a brushless buggy. Its only a little heavier then the buggy stock minus the fuel. Pretty cool if you ask me. I prefer nitro but I would really rather have an electric anymore!!! Less cleanup, less hassle, and most importantly! Just plg and play! Sure you need to charge the batteries and get a few spares but it is so much easier then trying to get that engine started. Plus there is no tuning to do! The best part though is very little maintenance. I am not lazy but there is days when I just want to have some FUN and not try to get the engine started and tuned. Plus they don't make as much noise!
So far the server is still running great. There is one problem I am having though. My Acer and iPAQ can not connect to the drive. I find this to be kind of weird really. It worked fine for the T20. I am thinking for the iPAQ though, its due to it being a NTFS drive. The Acer though, I have no idea. The only bad thing is that I can't access the drive when I am not home. Oh well. I have flash drives I can use. I will have to use one for car trips. I love my Kingston DataTraveler 4GB drive. What makes the drive even better is that I got it for free!
Today started the Woot Off so I missed a lot of stuff. Good thing there is nothing I want! I did get what I wanted though. I got my laptop battery for T20 off Tiger Direct!

July 18, 2007

I am happy to say that the server is up for 3 days now. I am hoping it stays up for a long time.
I am addicted to Wind Waker now! Great! Just what is need is more video games! I have a little more to do and I will be done playing!
I am really looking into getting a battery and case for this T20 soon. I love it! They are only 65 on TigerDirect so I want to get them there. I would also love to get some more RAM and a case too. I still have to see what I can find. Hard to find a nice 14" case really!
I love how they cover logos on TV. Its so obvious what is under that sticker. Like when you cover up an Apple logo, its very easy to see its an Apple. Seriously, are they that cheap that they won't pay to use the damn logo! At least use a less noticeable product! Like say a computer no one pays attention too!
I really need to start making these entries longer. I am trying to get so much done though that it is hard to focus on the blog. I am trying to use my PDA more for one thing. The iPAQ has been sitting with no use for awhile now. I put Tetris on it so I am playing that once and a while now.
I should start coding on the iPAQ more. I use the NEC sometimes since it has the full keyboard. I can set up the Bluetooth StowAway though! Since I am done with school, I don't see many reasons to use the it. It makes coding a little hard sometimes as there is no number row. I try to avoid using numbers anymore though.
That will be one thing I will always miss from school! I loved getting 2 passes a day except for Wednesday to go to the computer lab. I would go there since my study hall teachers didn't let me use my PDA. It was always fun for me. I would just sit there with my PDA!
All I did on my PDA was type for the site too! I would have used the schools computers but why? I rather type on my PDA or a laptop. At least then I could take it with me! Thats one thing I love about laptops!
YOU CAN TAKE THEM WITH YOU!
Sorry its still a little short, I hope for a bigger one soon!