Well there's more coming about this in a future post, but the new Dell XPS laptop that I am now using has LoJack.

We'll track you if you steal it. :) It came with it for a year for free, not sure if it's something I will use or not after my 'free' year is up. But here is what the web interface looks like. I hope I never need to use it.

During the Xbox live outage fiasco over the holidays, I have learned a few things.

The Settings blade in the Xbox live menus has a very handy Xbox Live test. Running the test will allow the Xbox to check every setting and networking option that the console needs to communicate with the Xbox live service.

What I found when I ran mine, was that everything was working, but my NAT settings were testing as 'Moderate'. Sometimes Call of Duty 4 worked for online play over live, and sometimes it didn't. I could connect and play with one friend, but not others. My friend suggested to port forward some of the settings through the firewall. I gave my Xbox a static IP address and did the following.

The ports the Xbox requires direct communication over are:

• UDP 88
• TCP 3074
• UDP 3074

Call of Duty Requires these ports to be open:

• UDP 20500
• UDP 20600
• UDP 20610
• UDP 28960
• TCP 28960

Setting these up on my router and then trying to connect with friends that I was unable to previously INSTANTLY fixed my issues.

So about a month ago, I eagerly called the Verizon FIOS customer service number as I'd heard people at work were getting FIOS TV. After a few phone calls with Verizon, the install date was setup, now all I had to do was count the days that I'd have to wait before becoming a Comcast FREE household.

The Install
I had an annoying window of 9-5 to wait for my install. The morning of the install, the Verizon guy called me and informed me I was the last install of the day, and he seriously doubted he'd be there before 5:00 PM. I said no problem, and went off to work. I returned home around 3 PM just to be sure I wouldn't miss them, especially if they were running early.

At about 4:30 PM "Brandon" called me back to let me know the Verizon provisioning system was having trouble adding the new Verizon set top boxes, and we could reschedule, or he could come and do the install, but there were no guarantees. I convinced him to come and do the install anyway, he said he was close to wrapping up at this current job, and would be over soon.

At 7PM I was starting to get stressed. Did he just blow me off? What was going on? He showed up at 8PM and looked tired. Apparently the demand for the service was beginning to take it's toll on the technicians, he didn't complain, but started unloading his gear from his van. I showed him the location in the garage where the old Comcast cable modem was, and explained I'd like the new Verizon gear to go there.

He was elated to see, power, cable, and data all in one place, and explained this install would go fast. He started by going outside and hooking the fiber to the ONT (Verizon box) on the outside of the house, and then poked a piece of coax through into the garage. We mounted the new actiontec router (required for FIOS TV) and I did all the networking stuff to make everything else work.

He installed the downstairs set top box, a multi room DVR with HD viewing and recording capabilities. We then went upstairs and installed the basic set top box upstairs. He didn't think the boxes would provision, but decided to give it a try. It worked! The install was done. I must say that the level of communication, attention to detail impressed me. It was almost 10 o'clock now so I went to bed.

The Viewing Experience
Let's just start by explaining that with my Comcast digital service that I paid close to $100 a month for, I hated it. Sure I had HBO and tons of channels, but I'd say that a good 50% of the time any given channel would display a banner that said "Please wait - available shortly" or something to that effect, and the channel would never load. It was on the more obscure kid stuff, and higher numbered channels, not ones I watched a lot, but still very annoying.

Verizon FIOS TV? Not a single issue. Every now and then I'll see some compression artifacts in HD, but I saw worse in Comcast's. The big pros for me switching to Verizon FIOS TV were to:

1. Improve my service.
2. Dump Comcast.
3. Lower my monthly expenses.
4. Unify my internet and television serives again.

I'm happy to say that I've achieved all of my goals.

The user interface for the menus is polished. It does not look like a 2 year old designed it like Comcast's does. The menus are crisp, well organized, and thought out. From the main menu, you can do it all, On Demand, Pay Per View, DVR, or simply just browse channels. The buttons react semi-quickly. There is a small annoying lag that happens, but I can live with it, and it's really no different than Comcast.

Pay Per View
We have not tried the Pay Per View yet, but I have browsed the titles. The prices range from 2.99 - 4.99 depending on how new the title it. The nice thing about viewing the titles is you get a thumbnail of the box cover. Why doesn't Comcast do that?

DVR
The DVR is great. Is it as good as TIVO? No. Does it do most things the TIVO DVR does in respect to recording shows, series, etc? Yes. The user interface does well in it's searching, but if you're looking to get rid of your Tivo and be just as happy with the Verizon DVR, think again. I got rid of two tivos for the Verizon DVR, and while everything works as it did before, we can see shows etc. I do miss my Tivos. However, getting rid of my two Tivos saves me $20 a month. The DVR cost is about $10 so in essence I'm saving $10 a month.

We also have the multi room DVR capability. So one DVR, and any of the other TVs (1 in out case) can access it. If it's a non HD TV, it can only access the non HD content, makes sense to me.

Guide
The guiide is great. You get a little PIP window in the top right corner of what you're currently watching, and as you page through the channels, the expanded channel you are looking at on the guide appears a bit bigger with the channel icon and art (nice touch). You can go forward up to a week (or more possibly). You can also click the guide button a second time for a smaller view, it's one I don't like and don't really use.

On Demand
Almost identical to Comcast's. You can get some free on demand movies and shows in this section. Not much more to say here.

Conclusion
Hands down the best TV line up and package I have ever had. At the cost of $42.99 a month, add the multi room DVR capabilities, HD content, and HBO, and we're setting right around $75 a month. Comcast used to cost us $95 a month plus $20 a month for the two tivos. $115 a month total, versus $75 a month. That's a savings of $40 a month, which coincidentally is the cost of our internet access. So for the cost of Comcast for a month we now get TV and Internet for that price. I'm liking that.

Here's a network diagram of all our stuff now for the geeks out there! :)

Wow, I'm going for the "No Webcam Option" that charges me $50 instead ot taking the one that's included in the price.... what the heck is this?

Trillian is notorious for doing things like this:

So the window is off the screen, no way to drag it back. Did you know you can right click the item in the taskbar, select "move" and then use your arrow keys to bring it back down into a state where you can use your mouse? I never realized that the "move" feature on the context menu (right click) of an application in the taskbar allowed you to move the window with just the arrow keys. Very cool.

It's an interesting question if you really think about it. Did you spend tons of time researching the best feature set, rates, or other reasons for choosing your bank? Maybe it was close to your house? When you think about it, choosing a financial institution is almost as important decision as buying a house. It's generally a long term relationship where you entrust your finances and more.

I bet most people get sucked in by a free toaster, or that $50 matching deposit. I'll answer the thread of this post two ways, how I used to bank, and how I do it now. Well when I was 16, I wanted a checking account, so my Mom took me to "Super Big Bank", just down the road from our house. They were always customers of that bank. They're huge, they're everywhere which would make you think it's a good place to go. It really is a good bank, but unless you're a really big customer, and have a lot of money with them, investments, retirement accounts, credit accounts, etc. you're a slave to bank fees.

After almost 20 years with them, and after MANY horror stories and I don't want to add up how much I spent in service fees later, I decided it was time to change. I had heard of credit unions growing up, but never really understood what they were. To be honest, I kind of thought they were for people that had bad credit, or were scared of banks. I was 1/2 right I guess. The huge difference between a bank and a credit union is that credit unions are generally owned by the members and operate for the members, they are a non-profit organization.

Wow. Pretty much all the benefits of a big bank, without the service fees. I had a 'Super Big Bank' credit card for years. Ran thousands of dollars in transactions through it and got no real benefit. With my credit union, I have a rewards card, and after about a year have earned a free airline ticket. 

My credit union does post a schedule of fees for it's members, but outright told me if we ever charge you a fee, just complain and we'll remove it. After more than a year, I have yet to be charged a fee. Their customer service is excellent. The nice thing about credit unions is they all sort of piggyback off each other too, so cash machines out of state don't charge a fee generally if it's a meber of the credit union network. They also offer things like Online Bill Pay, free. I've seen that some banks charge money for this! They also offer things like being able to skip a car payment one time per year (not something I've done) if you're in a pinch, or just need some extra money one month. My credit union's web site is just as 'feature rich' as the big bank that I left.

This is kind of how REI operates (but they're for profit obviously) as a co-op. So ask yourself this question again, why do I bank where I do? Especially if you're constantly paying service fees, and getting little in return other than a monthly statement mailed to your house.

I like to be proactive about things. There are times that I have to send someone an email on a certain date, or remind someone of a certain thing on a certain date, typically in the future. Well when I know about these things I've used sticky notes, calendar remidners, and other seemingly stupid ways to remember to do something. I was poking around OutLook today and figure out I can set a date to send a mail. So a colleague asked me to remind him of something on Dec. 4th. Well I'll be traveling for work (I'll have my computer with me) and may not be in the mindframe to remember to send him an email.

So I've composed the message that I need to send, and then clicked the 'options' menu item. Under the 'Delay Deliver' item on the 2007 Outlook Ribbon, I then chose:

   Do not deliver before: 12/4/2007 11:40 PM

I know I'll be in the office then, and my machine will be running so the mail now goes into the outbox, but sits there until then. So at 11:40 (ish) it will be sent out, no need to remember!

Make sure you realize that you must have OutLook open and be connected to the exchange server for this to work.

In the spirit of my previous post, and related to it indirectly, I've had an excellent experience with a company called Zagg. They manufacture screen protectors for various hand held and electronic devices. If you've ever used screen protectors from other companies, it usually goes something like this:

• Install the screen protector
• Become frustrated at how stupid the installation is
• Start over
• Try again
• Be somewhat satisfied with your install
• It moderately protects the screen for some time
• It's sometimes annoying and you wish you hadn't done it
• It eventually becomes too annonying and you remove it  ... or
• It falls off

But the Invisible Shield products from Zagg are a different story. They supply a liquid you spray on both sides of the film, and a squeegee. You put this 'wet' film on your device, position it, squeegee out the liquid, dry it off, and it stays on. I had the last one on my iPhone for over 5 months with no problems. No peeling, no annoyances. They guarantee it for life too. If you scratch, scuff, or ding it, they'll replace it for FREE. I don't think there's any way you can though, I've never seen a screen protector, or anything like this that is as good as Invisible Shield.

So where does the customer service come in?

Well my iPhone needed to be replaced. So I just swapped it out for a new one, without even thinking about the screen protector. (whoops). So I emailed Zagg and explained my situation, I really only needed a new protector, and not the squeegee and spray, as I had some left. I wanted to know if I could just purchase the film. They replied by saying they'd just send me a new kit, no charge, 2-3 day express mail too. Crazy good customer service.

Here's another cool thing... Got a device that's not listed on their web site? Just provide a link to a photo (so they can see the device), measurements of the screen, and the make and model of the device you want a protector for, and they will custom fabricate you a screen protector. Very nice. I just purchased an alarm for my truck, and the key fob has a digital display that's plastic, and I was worried about scratches. So I ordered the Invisible Shield custom cut to fit it.

If you're considering protecting a device with a screen, check these guys out, I like to support great companies!

Ok I know I bagged on Apple before... But this story is good.

I have an iPhone, if you've ever been here before, you must be painfully aware of it. Well it has been acting strange the past few weeks, and I finally got sick of it. Yesterday evening I made an appointment with an Apple Genius (man I hate that term....why can't they come up with something better, I digress...) to check out the behavior of the phone.

I had not been getting really long email delays and weird stuff when I docked the phone in it's cradle. After describing some of this to the ... ahem... GENIUS ... he showed me a menu on the phone that I had just glanced over and forgotten. Settings > Reset > and about three or four reset choices. He told me that every now and then it was a good idea to go into the reset menu and just choose the "Reset all Settings" option. It clears out files from the OS, and doesn't do too much damage to the settings on the iPhone, you don't lose any data, you may have to reset a few things here and there.

He claimed that this has solved problems for people from not getting receiving calls, to dead spots on the screen, hell at one point he had me convinced it could help solve world hunger. So I said thanks, and happily left with my iPhone. I did explain to him I was not about to do this every day, he said it shouldn't be needed to do it that often.

So today, guess what? Same problems. Made another appointment, determined to get a new phone this time. I went back in to a NEW GENIUS this time, man how many geniuses work there??? Ready to state my case, he said, "hmmmm you were here yesterday, let's just get you a new phone." I had even dealt with the fact I may have to pay a stocking or shipping and handling fee (not happy about having to do so, just recalling the experience with my Nano). But no fees, no hassle, new iPhone.

I'm restoring my backup now, and upgrading it to 1.1.2. Man I love Apple this time.

So last week the IT guys told me I'd be getting a new machine, and I'd need to surrender my old one when they gave me the new one. Well, that doesn't work. Especially when you're in the middle of development of projects. So after cutting through all the red tape, I was able to keep my 'old' box for a few weeks. I'm going to throw down some of my thoughts about transitioning to a new machine, and some things to think about that will help you.

Don't just toss your old machine out. Do the project in parallel. Had I turned in my machine when they simply dropped a new one off at my desk, I would have been "down tools" (an expression my Dad uses) for about two days.  Not to mention if my projects needed something, my new box would not have been setup correctly to respond to emergencies. So my old laptop was set aside, and kept running, it was great to be able to refer to it for settings, and other issues too.

There are two things really to have to do in migrating to a new computer, install your software and transfer your data. Both may seem really simple, but there are a lot of 'gotchas' to worry about. I'll address both items below in the following two sections.

Installing Software.

Think of your new computer as a brand new house. You don't have a pile of junk mail sitting on the table, hell, there's not even furniture in the place. So don't just move everything in right away, wouldn't a nice book case be better than the cinder blocks and 2x4's? Did you really ever use the Tiki bar that someone gave you years ago? The first thing I did was made a list of all the software I had installed on the 'old' box, and started trimming out things I hadn't used in 6 months or more. There are a few ways to accomplish this, I intially found a VBScript I ran to outoput a list of all the installed software, but then found this great free utility: MyUninstaller. It's an exe that run, nothing to install even. It will list every single item that is installed on your computer. You can even export the list to a text file, and bring it into excel, and do your evaluations there! Be realistic, there are of course programs that you have to install, but in reality, less is more. Don't try to get by with no Word processor, or no music software, but is that one time use utility worth installing? MyUninstaller works way faster than the Windows one, and provides a ton more information in an easy to read and use format.

Don't forget about utilities you use that are plain executables that don't have an install/uninstall associated with them. A good way to keep track of these is to create a 'tools' folder and dump all your stuff in there. I have a ruler tool, the MyUninstaller, and some utilities I've written to do stuff I need to do for my job. Just don't forget about these guys, as it could take a while to find them.

Once you're done installing all of your software, update update update. Get on Windows Update and start the service pack installations. You may find that you have to do this several times, or even before all of your software is installed, but now's the time to get it ALL on there.

Moving Data.

Hopefully, if you're organized, your data is all in once place. It's probably in your my documents folder. But there are a lot of other things to remember to grab while you're copying those files to your new environment.

1. Your Desktop - There's probably stuff sitting on your desktop that you'll want to move. If you keep shortcuts there, as long as your new programs are installed to the exact same locations, they should work. Files, and other stuff can be found in the Drive:\Documents and Settings\User\Desktop
2. Outlook PST Files - Do a local hard drive search for *.pst and make sure you copy any of the PST files you may want on your new machine. Also setting up email on your new machine is easily facilitated by keeping your old box up, so you can get the settings off of it.
3. Bookmarks/Favorites -Your bookmarks are something that make you productive (hopefully) make sure you go to the Drive:\Documents and Settings\User\Favorites folder and copy these to your new machine in the samme location, now is a good time to go through and clean house on those as well.
4. Misc - Critically think about other things that may be in other places that are important to you. Again, this is why you should run both systems parallel for a few weeks before committing to the new one.

Transition.

Once the new system is setup, and you're 'confident' that you're ready to be on the new system, turn the old one off. Keep the old system handy for a week or two, and if you have the means, backup the old system entirely.