I find beauty in strange places, including man-made structures.  Some of these photos are pretty mundane unless you share that point of view.

Disclaimer: I am not a professional photographer, nor do I play one on TV.  “Point and shoot” is the extent of my skill.  With that in mind, here are the photos:

I took this while hanging out at a sidewalk cafe near my university.

This was taken on the San Gabriel River bike trail near the 91 Freeway in Los Angeles.

Yet another shot of the San Gabriel River.

© 2009, Jonathan Johnson. All rights reserved.

Here are some photos of the device next to my Creative Zen Vision M (approximately the same size and shape as an iPod Classic) and my Toshiba e330 Pocket PC.

Here is a list of features I mentioned in my previous post, and my impressions of them in actual use:

I want to check my email on the go, but I don’t like things I have to pay for month after month.  Ergo, buying a data plan for my phone is not an optimal solution. Besides email, I rely heavily on the internet for real-time traffic and other information, as well as entertainment.  I’ve wanted for a long time to have a portable browsing device.  The N810 has received stellar reviews of its web browsing capability.  Apparently, you can view regular web pages instead of the stripped down portable versions that some devices require.

The N810 excels at web browsing as long as you have either access to a wifi network or a tethered connection to a phone with a data plan.  Web pages display beautifully.  The device isn’t as fast as a full-size desktop or laptop PC.  Resource-hogging pages that have a lot of images or interactive content tend to load slowly.  This includes sites like CNN.com and Facebook.

The Sigalert website that I use for real-time traffic here in Los Angeles works well.  It takes close to a minute to load, but works fine after that.  Many of Google’s services run slowly.  I’ve switched my Gmail account to “basic html” mode because it’s a lot faster that way.  Google maps and docs are so slow as to be useless, but Google Calendar and Reader work fine if you are patient.

I’ve also used the tablet to write and upload posts to this blog.   The blogging interface is just slow enough that I prefer to write posts in the device’s text editor, then copy and paste.  It’s not my favorite way to do it, but it works.  There is also a downloadable blogging client for the N810 that I haven’t tried.

I already use a PDA and portable keyboard to take notes in my classes.  I upload all my notes to a Google document so I can share them with my colleagues.  My university has WiFi internet, so having a WiFi device like the N810 would allow me to directly edit the Google document and save the time I now spend uploading files.

This was a partial success.  The N810 has an excellent note-taking application that includes basic word processor functionality like different text sizes, styles and fonts.  I used the device with a bluetooth keyboard and loved it.  I was unable to directly type into Google Docs, partly because my classroom had no wifi, and partly because Google Docs runs so slowly on the tablet as to be useless.

As a freelance musician, I perform in a lot of unfamiliar places.  The N810’s GPS capability, while not essential, would be helpful for finding gigs.

Again, a partial success. The N810 comes with a built-in GPS receiver and mapping software.  You can connect to satellites and find your position on the map for free.  If you want turn-by-turn directions, you have to buy a license for $130.  Also, the GPS receiver is a bit finicky and can take a while to connect, especially if you are in a moving vehicle.  Sometimes it can take 5 minutes or longer to get a connection.

I didn’t buy the license for turn-by-turn directions.  The GPS would be a lot more useful with the license, but I’ve used it a few times to navigate through unfamiliar neighborhoods or find my way to a nearby major road.  If I really wanted turn-by-turn, however, I would buy a dedicated device.

Skype capability is a big selling point for me.  One of my sisters lives in Europe, and 2.1 cents per minute to call her from any WiFi hotspot is a pretty good deal in my opinion.  Try getting international rates like that from a cell provider.

After 6 months of procrastination, I finally signed up with Skype and bought some calling credit.  I pay $2.95/month for unlimited calling within the United States and Canada, and I bought $10 worth of calling credit for international calls. I’ve spent about 4 hours talking on Skype with the N810 since then, and am so far quite pleased.

If you don’t have a bluetooth headset, you can use the N810 in “speakerphone” mode or with headphones.  The device has a microphone that will pick up your voice.  I connected my bluetooth headset and left the device sitting on my desk while I chatted in an adjacent room.  Call quality is reasonably good, although I could hear some soft crackling.  I haven’t had any dropped calls so far.  Mrs. Fencepost and I have decided to discontinue our current home phone service and exclusively use Skype and our cell phones.

To use Skype, you will need access to either a wifi hotspot, or a tethered connection to a phone with a data plan.

Other Thoughts:

Movies and Music:

The N810 can play movies and music in several formats, although it can’t handle digital rights management.  It’s not my first choice for listening (I have an excellent MP3 player), but its screen, which is relatively large for a pocket-sized device, displays movies beautifully.  Here’s a link with instructions for converting movies.

Ebooks:

A free open-source ebook reader, FBReader, is available for the tablet.  As with movies and music, you can’t use if for books containing digital rights management.  I haven’t used it enough to comment, except that I am impressed with the crispness of the display.

PDF Reader:

The N810 comes with a PDF reader preloaded.  I use it regularly and am quite impressed.  My only complaint is that I can’t bookmark my place in a PDF document.

Thumb Keyboard:

I really like having a thumb-size QWERTY keyboard.  I’ve tried touchscreen software keyboards, including on the iPod Touch, and was not impressed.  Call me old fashioned, but I much prefer a physical keyboard.  Even though I have a bluetooth keyboard, I have occasionally taken notes in meetings and classes, and composed lengthy emails, with just my thumbs.

Screen Resolution:

The internet tablet’s screen has a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels.  It is beautifully crisp and clear.  Coming to the tablet from my old Toshiba Pocket PC (320 x 240 screen resolution) is like night and day.  It’s like looking at a tiny laptop screen.

Expandable Memory:

The N810 has a slot for mini-SD cards, so its storage capacity is limited only by the size of the card you have in it, unlike certain other products that have only the storage capacity you buy them with.

Conclusion:

I think my Nokia N810 is the coolest thing ever.  I wouldn’t mind if it was faster and could handle every website without a hitch, but it’s very impressive for its size.  I’m one step away from whispering “My precioussss….” as I gently cradle it in my hands.

If you haven’t yet experienced the technological marvel that is the Nokia N810, I invite you to purchase it here.

© 2009, Jonathan Johnson. All rights reserved.

“VOIP” stands for “Voice Over Internet Protocol.”  Simply put, with VOIP, your phone conversations go over the internet rather than through landlines.

Okay, why does that matter?

The advantage to VOIP is that it is far less expensive.  For example, the first phone service I ever had was absolute bare bones.  No Call Waiting, no Caller ID, no Voice Mail – just plain old telephone service.  Including taxes, I paid about $28 per month.  The cost only goes up from there.  I just did a quick internet search and discovered that in my area, Verizon charges $40 per month before taxes for unlimited calling to the US, Canada, and Puerto Rico.  If I want voicemail, caller ID and call waiting, I would pay $45 per month before taxes.

I have all that and more for about $17 per month through VOIP.com.

My current phone package:

• Unlimited calling to the US and Canada.
• 1.8 cents per minute to call my sister in Germany.  Similar rates to many other countries.  Verizon, by contrast, charges 14 cents per minute.  If I used my cell phone to call Europe, I would pay over a dollar per minute.
• Caller ID
• Voice Mail
• 3-way Calling
• Call Waiting
• Anonymous Call Rejection
• Selective Call Acceptance/ Rejection
• Sequential Ring – If no one answers at my home phone, I can have the call automatically forwarded to any other phone I choose.
• Simultaneous Ring – I can have incoming calls ring multiple phones until one is answered.
• Call Forwarding – I can have incoming calls forwarded to any other phone I choose without ringing my home phone.

I have all that for $17 per month.  None of those features cost me any extra to use.

How does VOIP work?

To use VOIP, you have to have high-speed internet such as cable or DSL.  Unfortunately, dial-up just isn’t fast enough.  When you sign up for VOIP phone service, you can either talk through a software program on your computer or get a little box that plugs into your modem and allows you to use a regular telephone handset for your calls.  Some VOIP providers give you a box when you commit to a certain length of contract, similar to how cell phone companies subsidize handsets.

I pay by the year for my VOIP service.  It costs a total of $204 for 12 months.  I could also pay by the month, which costs $20 per month, but I would also pay an additional $5-10 per month in taxes.  Apparently when I pay by the year, I only pay the taxes once.  Weird, but that’s the way it works.  I was happy enough with the service to renew for a second year last July, so I’ve now had it about 18 months.

Update 7/26/09: I no longer use VOIP.com.  I terminated my contract with them earlier this month after I figured out how to set up free phone service using Google Voice, Gizmo Project, and my old Sunrocket analog telephone adapter.

VOIP Providers

• VOIP.com – This is the company I use.  I chose them because at the time, they were the least expensive option for my purposes.  $17 per month and a free adaptor if you pay for a year in advance.  Also, at the time I signed up, they offered a 30 day money back guarantee.
• Skype allows you to make free calls from computer to computer using a piece of software.  You need a headset, but you don’t pay a monthly fee.  You can also call cell phones and landlines, either on a pay as you go basis, or for a low monthly fee.  Unlimited outgoing calls to the US and Canada for $2.95 per month, and calls worldwide starting at about 2 cents per minute.  You can also use Skype with a laptop or internet tablet at a WiFi hotspot.  For a little more money you can get an incoming phone number.

Disadvantages of VOIP

• Power outages – regular phone lines use a power source separate from the other appliances in your house.  For that reason, your phone will often still work when the power goes out.  with VOIP, unless you have your system plugged into an uninterruptable power supply, no power = no phone.  That said, last summer when I experienced my first earthquake, I tried unsuccessfully to call my wife on my cell phone and a regular landline.  As you might expect, all circuits were busy.  My VOIP phone, by contrast, worked just fine, because power was still available.
• Occasional outages.  VOIP is a relatively new technology, and it is not yet as reliable as regular phone service.  Although problems are rare, I have occasionally been cut off in mid call, or been unable to dial out.  Resetting my VOIP adapter usually solves the problem.

Have you tried VOIP?  Share your opinion by commenting.

© 2008 – 2009, Jonathan Johnson. All rights reserved.

[ratings]

As a student, I have to take a lot of notes. I’m a fairly fast typist, and I frequently get impatient when I have to write things by hand. Some of my classmates bring laptops to school, but I am reluctant to carry that much weight around or put such a valuable item at risk of loss, damage, or theft.

I recently purchased a Belkin F8U1500 Wireless PDA Keyboard from an Amazon retailer to use with my Toshiba e330 Pocket PC. I used it last month to take notes during a four-day seminar, and was very pleased. Some of the presenters spoke way too fast for anyone to take good handwritten notes, but I easily kept up with them.

Specifications

• Measures 5.5 x 3.75 by .75 inches. Weighs .4 lbs.
• Uses one standard AAA battery.
• Keys are about 7/8th’s of full size.
• Rated battery life of 360 hours.
• Package includes the keyboard, a PDA stand, and a startup CD with a PDF user guide.
• Price: I paid about $55 including shipping from an Amazon retailer, but could have gotten a used keyboard for less. This keyboard is also available from Fry’s Electronics for about $50.

Photos

Here is the keyboard shown with my Toshiba Pocket PC for comparison:

The keyboard is in the middle, folded. On the left is the PDA stand, on the right is my Pocket PC. The PDA stand snaps onto the folded keyboard for storage and transport. Folded, it’s not much bigger than my PDA.

Here is a shot of my Toshiba e330 mounted on the PDA stand. The flat piece of metal above the PDA is a mirror to reflect infrared from the keyboard to the PDA’s IR port.

Here is a screenshot of the Belkin keyboard management software on my PDA. I enabled the keyboard through this interface and used Pocket Word to take notes.

Here is the keyboard in its original packaging. The black square is a piece of Velcro I added to secure my PDA to the PDA stand.

The Good

• Small and light.
• Able to keep up with my typing speed (80+ wpm).
• Easy to set up and use
• Pocket Word documents can be transferred to my desktop for further editing. In fact, I roughed out this review on the Belkin keyboard just so I could say I did. (I use Open Office with Vista. In order for Open Office to read Pocket Word documents, you have to save them as RTF files.)
• Belkin claims this keyboard is universally compatible.

The Bad

• The Belkin wireless PDA keyboard includes a number of extra functions, accessed by using the “Fn” key. Some of these did not work on my PDA. Also, certain Windows keyboard shortcuts such as Ctrl-C for Copy, Ctrl-V for paste, etc. do not work, but I don’t know if that’s Belkin’s fault or whether it is a Pocket Word shortcoming.

The Indifferent

• Due to its slightly smaller size, the Belkin wireless PDA keyboard takes some getting used to. It took me about half a day before I stopped making typos. Now, when I switch between the Belkin and my desktop keyboard, it just takes me a minute or two to acclimate.
• If you are typing without a desk, you’ll want a book in your lap to steady the setup. Otherwise, the keyboard wobbles, and the connection becomes intermittent.

Conclusion

I can’t say enough good things about this keyboard! I should have bought one years ago. Switching from handwritten notes to this is like buying a Ferrari after using an elderly donkey to get around. I expect to use this keyboard for some time to come.

© 2008, Jonathan Johnson. All rights reserved.

This post was brought to you by the folks at PartyPop.com

Wedding-Needs.com is an online supplier of invitations for weddings, rehearsal dinners, bridal showers, bat and bar mitzfahs, and other celebratory occasions. They offer a variety of classy themed invitations ranging from traditional to modern to whimsical

As a man, I am clueless about the intricacies of wedding-planning. I am dimly aware that invitations were sent for the ceremony, the reception, and various peripheral events such as bridal showers. I am also aware that we received gifts, for which we sent thank-you notes. To compensate for my inadequacies, I asked Mrs. Fencepost to look at the site with me. She offered some useful insights which are listed below:

Pros:

1. Convenience and Price: Instead of wasting time driving from store to store, you can choose and order your invitations over the internet. Additionally, the price is competitive with what you would pay at a brick-and-mortar wedding supply store.
2. A wide variety of themed products, including dinner place-cards,
3. The site includes pictures, and you can zoom in for a closer look at designs and lettering.
4. For a small fee, Wedding-Needs.com will send you a sample selection.
5. Multiple font options are available.
6. When a product is selected, the site suggests a small selection of related products, such as outer envelopes with pre-printed mailing addresses, or pre-addressed envelopes for thank-you notes.
7. Products are sorted by categories, and navigation is intuitive.

Cons (nitpicky details, really):

1. Some of the products are photographed on a background of a similar color to the product, creating a washed out, unprofessional look.
2. We noticed a typographical error on some of the front-page text

Having never done business with this company, I cannot comment on their customer service or shipping. Overall, however, they appear to offer good products at competitive prices. Mrs. Fencepost said she would have considered ordering our wedding invitations from this site if she had known about it when we were engaged.

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© 2008, Jonathan Johnson. All rights reserved.

Microfiber Towels

We live in a one-bedroom apartment and pay by the load for laundry. The dryers in our complex are a bit wimpy, and our towels and jeans have been coming out damp. Also, the towels never dry out completely between uses, and after a few days they start to smell funny. We started doing research to find towels that would absorb well but dry quickly, and we found out about microfiber.

Microfiber is made of extremely thin strands, which makes it much more absorbent than a regular towel of the same thickness. It is used, among other things, for athletic clothing, car detailing cloths, and towels. Our new towels are thin and light, but they work as well or better than the old ones. They dry quickly between uses, so our apartment smells better. Best of all, we’ve reduced the number of loads it takes to do our laundry. Each towel will pay for itself within a few months.

Here are some links for purchase or more information about microfiber towels:

Wikipedia: Microfiber

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© 2008, Jonathan Johnson. All rights reserved.