One of the things that got stolen along with our laptops was the USB charging cable for my Jabra Bluetooth headset. I have a "normal" charger, so I was just resigned to the loss of the little wire and the accompanying inconvenience. While rebuilding the Mac, I discovered that Jabra had issued a firmware upgrade for the headset that might improve its performance with Skype. Unfortunately, upgrading the firmware required the USB cable. I popped open a new tab in Firefox, and started browsing around trying to find a place that would sell me a replacement. Google turned out to have no answers at all on this particular topic. As a last resort, I send a message to the tech support address on the Jabra website. After a brief e-mail exchange, the support folks were happy to send me a replacement cable at no extra charge. The cable arrived very quickly because it was so light it could go first class mail.

I'll definitely be looking at a Jabra when it comes time to replace that headset...

I have a second telephone line which I am paying way too much for. For several months I've been meaning to do something about it, and I think I'm piling up enough momentum to do something about this. From what I can tell, the folk who read this blog are pretty technically savvy, so I'd like to know whether you are using Vonage (or a similar service), what your experience has been, and what your recommendations would be in terms of provider, plan, hardware, hacks, etc.

Here are some things that are important to me:

• VoiceMail as E-Mail - I am horrible at returning voicemail - I hate the phone pad interface to voicemail, and I want to manipulate that stuff from my computer.
• Caller ID - So I don't have to talk to spammers, I mean, telemarketers
• Call Forwarding that tries a list of alternate phone numbers before dumping to voice mail, and the ability to turn this on from a web page - I always forget to forward my phone
• The ability to dial phone numbers from my computer - that means a Mac.
• Cost of the service is a factor, and free long distance is pretty much mandatory
• I want a solution that doesn't tie up my computer or that will degrade because I've got both cores in the MacBook Pro maxxed out doing compiles, running tests, or rendering in Aperture.
• Ability to keep my existing phone number

What are you using and why?

I am not a physically large person -- in fact a new acquaintance of Julie's apparently described me as a "petite Chinese man". In any case, my stature impacts the amount of stuff that I can comfortably carry, and as the Washington Post notes [ via Merlin ], we Americans are hauling more and more stuff around with us.

As a bookish youth, I hauled lots of books (required and extracurricular) to and from school. I remember having to replace bookbags because they were destroyed. I have no idea of how I'd stack up against today's kids, although I do know that a friend's twelve year old has a 22 lb backpack for school. I watched while the bag got put on the scale.

It's definitely the case that the longer I am going to be away from the house, the more I carry. Living on an island, and having the associated ferry ride and waiting time definitely means that I want to have stuff to keep me occupied. Kick that up a notch if I then am going on to an airport.

I wrote a bit about my bag/carrying setup last year, but a few things have changed. The eVest is still going strong, especially during the cooler parts of the year. The thing that's changed is that a decent portion of the time, I am packing a growing collection of camera gear. There is no way that I'm going to get my camera gear into one of the two main compartments of a Brain Bag. I could just dump everything in there, but the thought of all the equipment jumbling around in there just isn't going to make it. So I needed a camera bag, which for now is a Lowepro Slingshot 200 AW. This is an over the shoulder bag, which means that I can't carry it and the Brain Bag. The laptop bag that I was using works great in conjunction with the Brain Bag, but it's just marginal as a standalone laptop bag, which was fine when I bought it. Since I can't use the Brain Bag as often, I needed a different solution. I have a very nice Google laptop bag, which I've tried once. It was serviceable, but there were a few things that I didn't really like about it. Part of the Search Champs schwag was a Timbuk2 messenger style laptop bag, which is what I am going to try next.

Current weight: Camera bag 9lbs, Laptop bag 13lbs. I'm definitely carrying.

A few weeks back, news of the Nikon D50 digital SLR leaked onto Engadget and Gizmodo. I was moderately interested in this, because someday I hope to get back into photography, and SLR's are of interest. Last week it was discovered that Nikon is encrypting the white balance data in the RAW files generated by their high end D2X and D2H SLR's. Apparently this is causing problems with Photoshop support. Nikon has since tried to clarify their position on this. but unfortunately it doesn't look like they are going to change their position. The tone of their response is quite condescending, since you need to be a "bona fide software developer" (whatever that is) in order to have a dialogue with the company..

The encryption problem doesn't affect the D50, but when you buy an SLR, you are buying into the ecosystem of lenses, flashes, battery packs, etc. The body is not the only cost, and people do occasionally upgrade bodies. Features from high end bodies find their way into lower end bodies over time. The last thing I want to do is get locked into the Nikon ecosystem and then wake up one morning and find out that all new generation Nikon bodies are encrypting parts of my photos. Nikon already has plenty of lockin via the lenses and other peripherals. Trying to get lockin on my data (the photos) is over the line.

Fortunately, I have a choice. We've been a Canon household, and while I was impressed by some reviews that I read about the D70, the encryption episode has pretty much guaranteed that I'll be steering far away from Nikon products for the foreseeable future.

I haven't been paying any attention at all to video games, but a few weeks ago, I happened to see a Sony PSP in person, and I was pretty impressed. The form factor kind of reminded me of a Newton MessagePad 2100, but it was lighter, faster, and I hate to say it, cooler. The image quality was really good, and I was impressed before I learned that there was 802.11 inside. And I was done for when the owner showed us SpiderMan2 playing on it. The only question I have is whether it's hackable enough...

Julie has posted some musings on the What's in your bag meme. I find this kind of stuff really interesting, because you get ideas for how to improve your own setup. Since I'm travelling a lot more than I used to, I"m always looking for tips. Back in the Usenet days there was a thread that was about what you carried in your pockets, or maybe as much as a fanny pack. The flickr meme is the upgraded for digital photography version.

I have the topic on the mind since I'm getting ready to pack for PyCon. Unfortunately, our camera is broken and I don't really have the time to do a nice layout of my bag(s), so a few short tips.

I have three levels of "bag", depending on how far I'm going, and how long I'll be away from home.

Level 1: A ScotteVest. I have one of the 2nd generation models, and I wish I could think of an excuse to get the fleece version. This has been a huge benefit when I am traveling. I put everything into it and then just put the coat into the x-ray machine and walk through. All handheld sized gadgets have a home in the vest. I usually wear another coat over top of the vest since I am always cold, and it reduces the geek factor somewhat.

Level 2: A now discontinued Tom Bihn shoulder bag (I can't even remember the model name). This is a thin bag that hold the computer and a few key accessories.

Level 3: I drop the level 2 bag into one of the two compartments of a Tom Bihn Brain Bag, a capacious backpack. I then load all the rest of the cables, etc into a Tom Bihn Snake Charmer. That leaves the other compartment for papers or whatever else I might need to carry.

The rest of the contents aren't particularly exciting, but if you travel a lot you might be interested in something I call the "make friends in the airport kit". Invariably there are never enough power outlets wherever you go. So I carry a very small power strip that is a combination of a Radio Shack 3 outlet tap and a Cables To Go 1 Foot Outlet Saver extension cord. You plug the tap into the Outlet Saver, and you now have 3 outlets where there used to be one. It's pretty handy at conferences too. Here's a phonecam picture of that.

Long time readers will know that I've been nosing around for a Bluetooth headset for quite some time. I was looking at the Jabra BT250 series, but the reviews seemed uneven. The Nextlink Bluespoon AX has looked like a candidate -- the reviews I've seen are pretty good. Then I saw the Motorola HS820, which also got good reviews. Today Erik Thauvin posted his mini-review of the Jabra BT800, which looks pretty promising. One of these days I'm going to take the plunge.

I'm looking for a headset that I can use both with my Nokia 6600 and with iChat A/V and Skype on the Mac. The primary usage mode will be with the computer, although being able to use the cell phone simultaneously is important to me as well.

Also, readers of Julie's blog will know that our digital camera has met its demise. So we are looking for a new camera -- the criteria are mostly reasonably small size, fast shutter lag, and a longer zoom. Right now the leading candidate is the new Canon A520/510 (reviews here and here). It's not Digital Rebel or D70, but Julie's done a great job on photos for her blog with a far less capable camera (Canon S10).

Suggestions on either of these counts would be welcome.

Last year I wrote about my experience with the Shure E3C headphones, which I ultimately returned. After my adventures at Zeitgeist, I decided that I had worked up enough courage to try the Etymotic ER6i headphones. A number of people have written that these headphones are much better at blocking out noise, so I've been curious. I did try on a pair of the Bose noise canceling headphones at an Apple store, and they didn't seem to block as much noise as I would have liked, and they have the drawback of being quite large and requiring a battery. So, I ended up back at Microphone Solutions, which matched Buy.com's lower price, and whom (despite last year's experience) I knew would honor the 30 day money back guarantee. I got the ER6i's which are tuned for small MP3 players like the iPod, and claim a higher degree of noise isolation (compared to the regular ER6)

The sound isolation is very good at home. On the day that I got them, I had Michaela jumping up and down and yelling right in front of my face, and I didn't hear her at all. The iPod was set on a low volume setting, which seemed promising. The acid test was last week's trip to the Bay area, which included trips on ferries and airplanes, and a stay in the OSAF offices, which are a large open area. I was listening to a lot of IT Conversations, which has the pauses in conversation, during which I was able to pick up noise from my surroundings. Playing music at a relatively low volume took care of most of those noises. I noticed significant (to me) reduction of airplane noise just by having the phones in the ears. I've gotten over the hurdle of licking the flanged ends to get a better fit, and I haven't yet tried the foam earpieces, but so far I'd have to say that the noise reduction is better than the Shure's. I think that the Shure's had slightly better sound, but I'm willing to accept the tradeoff. The Etymotics seem to insert more easily (although the fit is still not perfect -- I really need to try the foam earpieces) and I haven't developed any pain like with the Shure phones.

At this point, I think they're a keeper.

Yesterday I discovered that someone called my home office line 9 times early in the morning. The interesting / horrifying thing was that my caller ID reported their phone number as 000-000-0000. I was very brief when they called again and turned out to be a telemarketer. It seems that caller ID spoofing technology is out in the wild.

I'm happy with my Nokia 6600, but I always wonder if I've made the right choice when it comes to handsets, mostly because there are so many and because things are changing so often. So I was comforted by Tom Yager's comparison of the 6600, Treo 600, and Blackberry 7230.

I'm making this post from I-5 just south of Tacoma using my bluetooth enabled cellphone as a modem for my Powerbook. More details tomorrow...

The folks at MobileBurn have a review of the GN Netcom 6110, which is a BlueTooth headset which you can plug your landline phone into, possibly providing a way to use a single headset with cell phone, iChat, and landline. The review is short but postive. Concerns I have:

1. In order to be effective for my landline use, I need an amplifier (with a mute button), a feature that I have on my wired GN Netcom headset.
2. I'd like to have confirmation that it works w/ my equipment -- Nokia 6600, iChat, and landline -- I don't want to be on the bleeding edge for that.
3. The headset is kind of ugly

I am spending a lot more time on the telephone these days. Having a decent phone headset makes that a workable situation. I'd love to escape from my wired headset to an unwired headset. So the ideal situation seems like a Bluetooth headset that I can use with a regular (POTS/landline) phone, my cell phone, and my Powerbook (VOIP/iChat). The cell phone and Powerbook are covered, but the POTS part isn't. Google reveals that some products purporting to do this have been announced, but I haven't been able to find them actually listed on a vendor's page...

During last weeks trip, I was testing out a new cell phone, a T-Mobile Nokia 6600. T-Mobile's service seems to work well in all the places that I need it to, so I think it's going to be a keeper. Next we'll move Julie's phone over and get onto a family plan -- which will save us quite a bit versus AT&T Wireless, and gets us usable phones to boot. I was even able to use the 6600 as a Bluetooth enabled modem when I missed my intended boat last night. It made the hour and 20 minute wait less tedious.

Here are my observations on the 6600, comparing it to my 6310i. The screen is a lot larger and nicer. This makes it much better for text messaging (which is one of my big usages for a phone -- when I worked at Apple, we had really long compile cycles, so I wrote an MPW script that got tacked onto the end of a compile job, which would e-mail page me -- I used to walk down to a co-worker's office to help them debug). The Series 60 UI makes good use of the 6600's little joystick control. I find the entire phone to be much more usable than the 6310i.

I didn't have very high expectations for the camera in the 6600, and that's probably good. The camera is pretty low resolution and there are hardly any controls. The picture quality isn't that impressive either. It'll do if you need a camera and don't have another handy, but I don't think I could use this as our only camera. It's probably good enough for those impromptu shots that you'd otherwise miss without a camera.

The Bluetooth support on the 6600 is miles ahead of what was there in the 6310i -- partly because it didn't work in the 6310, and getting the firmware flashed to the right level in the 6310i would have cost me half of what I'll end up paying for the 6600 (must remember to send in rebates!). I had some weird false starts with iSync (that needs a bit of work), but I finally was able to sync my iCalendar calendars and my Address Book with the phone. This means that I can stop carrying my iPAQ 3635. The big things I used the iPAQ for were the address book, calendar, and keeping track of billing hours (something I no longer have to do). I could probably also figure out how to use the phone for e-mail, but I'm to paranoid to allow my mail to go over unencrypted POP or IMAP. Maybe I'll get motivated and allow IMAPS access, but I doubt it. Reading e-mail on a phone just isn't going to work for me, mostly because the messages that I need to respond usually require enough text that trying to do it with the keypad would give me carpal tunnel for sure.

In addition to iSync, I have the phone working with Apple's AddressBook Bluetooth support (for dialing and caller ID) and with BluePhoneMenu. I like BluePhoneMenu because its under active development, although I wish the calling out interface were a little better developed. Also, it appears that having BluePhoneMenu running inhibits my ability to use GPRS over Bluetooth. This is almost getting me to the goal of doing all phone management through the computer (how I hate the telephone!).

As I mentioned, I was able to get the 6600 to act as a Bluetooth enabled GPRS modem. I found that this is a bit flakier than I would like. There were some problems related to BluePhoneMenu -- if I quit BluePhoneMenu, I could connect. But sometimes the modem connects and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it helps if I manually connect the phone to T-Zones. So there's still a little ways to go there. I used these GPRS scripts for the modem functionality. Here's what I did:

1. Setup the modem using the Bluetooth Setup Assistant
2. At the section where it talks about accessing the internet using the phone:
• Use Nokia GPRS CID1 script
• Supply wap.voicestream.com as the phone number
3. Go to the Network Prefences Panel
• Push the PPP options button on the PPP tab of the Network Preferences
• Send PPP echo packets - On
• Use TCP header compression - Off

I was also able to tunnel ssh over port 80, so that I can use ssh port forwarding via T-Zones. ssh -p 80 is your friend. Of course the GPRS is slow enough that the encryption does make things pretty slow. This is one area where I feel a little disappointed.

Next up on my list to try: Sailing Clicker -- so that my IRC, iChat and other status will update based on my location.

I'm also looking for a decent Bluetooth headset that I can also use with iChat. From what I can tell Jabra's Freespeak BT250 seems to be the leader but I'd be interested in opinions on this.

I've previously written about the Shure E3c's that I ordered from Microphone Solutions, based on a special deal that I found out about via iPodLounge. About a week after I got them, my right ear started to hurt -- not a good sign for earphones that are worn in the ear. So I stopped wearing the E3c's for about a week and tried again. Things were a little better, and I tried for a few more days. But ultimately I concluded that these were not for me. It was too much money for something that hurt my ear and didn't exceed expectations in all areas (noise reduction being a primary - I really would have liked that for all the plane flights I've taken in the last 30 days). To Shure's credit, they offer a 30 day money back guarantee, which Microphone Solutions also honors. So I sent a note off to Microphone Solutions explaining that the phones hurt my ear and that I wanted to RMA them. I got a short e-mail giving me the RMA number, which was good for 5 days (which meant I had to send the phones via expensive shipping). Nothing about the pain in my ear or anything like that. If I sold something to somebody that caused them physical pain, the least I could do would be to apologize while issuing the RMA numbers. The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth. I've nothing against Shure, and I'm sure that the phones work beautifully for many people, and I appreciate the 30 day return policy that allows people to try the phones. Microphone Solutions is a different story.

One way of describing me is that I am noise intolerant. I have pretty good/sensitive hearing, and this sometimes causes problems for me. I think that I'm probably all the way at the totally whacked by noises end of the spectrum. It's one of the reasons that I am a night person -- things are quiet at night. I find that I just think better in a quieter environment.

I've been working out of my home office since 2001, and for the most part noise hasn't been a problem. As the girls get older, they are getting more expressive and enthusiastic in their expression. So sometimes during the day, I'm starting to notice the noise from the rest of the house.

Last week, via one of the Mac news sites, I discovered that MicrophoneSolutions.com was offering a coupon deal on the Shure E3c in ear headphones, which are supposed to block out all kinds of sounds. I've been using as set of Sennheiers HD545's that are a number of years old. The sound is good, but the open over the ear design isn't much help in blocking out noise. So based on a number of reviews on blogs, the desire to reduce the noise, and a 30 day money back guarantee, I decided to try the E3s.

So far, my feelings are mixed. The sound is wonderful, but the noise reduction and comfort are less than I expected. The sound quality is truly impressive, much better than the Sennheisers, which were pretty good when I bought them years ago. I read some complaints about the bass in some of the reviews, but for the music that I'm listening to, it seems adequate -- I don't really want the glass in my office windows to vibrate from the earphones anyway. The noise reduction is mixed. It definitely cuts out noise, and many conversations in the rest of the house disappear when I have the phones on. If I insert them right, I can barely hear myself type (when no music is playing), sometimes not at all as Scoble is experiencing with his Etymotics. I have a feeling that this has to do with fit. I seem to be having trouble with the fit. I'm not sure whether it's my technique or whether my ears are too small. I've tried the various small sizes of tips that were included with the fit kit, but I don't really feel that the fit is quite right. I wonder whether the flanged sleeves (not included) would make things better. Comfortwise, they are mostly comfortable, but I've noticed that my ears felt sore after using them. This sensation is dying down though, so it may just be a matter of getting used to wearing something in my ears for long periods of time.

So after a few days, the verdict is that these are very nice headphones, they definitely cut the noise. The only question for me is whether they are cutting enough noise to make it worth the price. For me, "silence is golden".

[via Trevor's ETech notes]

become rude to make a phone call without first checking via sms. [this is becoming more and more the case in europe also]

I would love it if this became the etiquette here in the US as well. For all telephone calls, not just cell calls. People seem to believe that they have the right to call you simply because you have a telephone.

When I bought the headset for my telephone, the one thing that was missing was a mute button. I can't remember whether I couldn't find one or whether I didn't think of it. With my new job, I'll be on the phone quite a bit more. I may also be doing some video conferencing or VOIP, so I'd like to have a headset that hooks up to my computer.

So I googled around and discovered the GN Netcom 4150, which has a mute button, lets you use the same headset on a phone or computer (and switch between or mix them), and includes an amplifier. So far, it's already made a difference for the calls that I've used it on. I haven't hooked it up to the computer for sound yet, but maybe I'll find some time to do that this weekend, or maybe I'll just wait until the Powerbook comes. I did try to find one that didn't have the headset, but the one with the headset was actually cheaper than the one without the headset (the 8150). And at $50, it was cheaper than the original headset -- so now I have a backup.

It seems that I influenced Steven Noels to get a Brain Bag from Tom Bihn. Now there'll be two of us walking around with them at ApacheCon. Unfortunately, mine won't have a PowerBook in it...

Next on Steven's gadget acqusition spree should be a SCOTTeVEST. I bought one of the 2.0 vests, and it has been a winner (aside from being just a tad big for me). I would really like to do the Three.0+ System with the zip in fleece, but I already have an arrangement just like that. One thing that I've learned from that arrangement is that in theory this is a nice idea but in practice it doesn't work well. I am *always* cold. So wear the fleece liner a lot. When it's not super cold then I'm always putting the shell on, but then the weather changes and I'm taking off the shell, and its a pain. I don't want to imagine that pain plus the added pain of loading / unloading all the devices from the shell to the vest and so forth. So the fleece would actually make sense for me.

I have a fleece that I wear around the house that is 7 years old. It's special because Julie made it for me back when we lived in the Valley. Unfortunately, it's got a hole in it because I wasn't careful around a beach fire that I was tending. Maybe when that well loved fleece has reached the end of life, I'll get a Scott fleece.

I've used a Nokia 6310i for the past 10 months, and I really like it. The phone is a good size for my hands, the radio reception is good, and the battery life is excellent. I'm using ATT Wireless which has good coverage for the places that I go to on Bainbridge Island.

The one problem is that I can't sync my telephone using Bluetooth. I can make GPRS calls, but the Nokia Outlook sync package needs a newer version of the firmware for the 6310i, v5.50. This is well documented on ATT Wireless support forums and all over the internet. It turns out that there is one Nokia Service Center in the entire Pacific Northwest, Kester Communications in Woodinville (on the other side of the water). It also turns out that they don't do software/firmware upgrades. So my only recourse is to send the handset to Nokia for 7-10 business days. I'm going to be travelling quite a bit in November, to the LA area and to Las Vegas for ApacheCon. Surely there is one Nokia Service center in these metro areas that can do a flash upgrade for me...