Category: Technology

Switched to Google Reader

I used to be a regular Bloglines user, but I have switched to Google Reader.

Instead of regularly checking blogs, news sites, or other web sites, I simply register them with Bloglines or Goolge Reader. Either of these services will regularly check web sites I register with them for updates. This simplifies keeping up with my favorite web content.

I switched to Google Reader because after just one use I realized that Bloglines’s new service, http://beta.bloglines.com, is little other than a crude, slow-to-improve copy of Google Reader’s innovation.

Wired up the den

Since the ceiling is out, I wired up the den for speakers.

Our TV is in one corner, and the couch is on the opposite side of the room. My wife never wanted to drape cables around a wall, so I figured that since the ceiling is out, it’s the perfect time to run speaker wires.

The whole job took me about 3 1/2 hours, not including patching wall holes.

Even though I only have a dinky 5.1 speaker system, I wanted to be wired for 7.1 channel surround sound setup just in case I luck across such a system some some day. That means I needed to run 4 pars of speaker wires between the walls. Add that to some category 5e network cables, and that would be a hassle!

Home Depot sells a single sprinkler system wire bundle with ten 18 gauge wires. An uncle in the audio business me that 18 gauge solid is plenty for unpowered speakers, so this 18/10 sprinkler wire is what I used!

Installation took a few steps.

A drywall cut for a junction box and to poke a hole through the fire block:

Cuts through the fire block:

3 cuts on the opposite wall:

Yes, 3 cuts. I made the first cut at the traditional fire block level because my stud sensor said something was there. Opening it up, I found nothing!

When I fished the wire from the top, I ran into something about 1 foot down. It turns out some 2x4s are stacked laterally at that point to support the wide opening to the left. Cutting above that, I found that I could slip the wires between an opening between the 2x4s.

Then about 1.5′ from the floor, I ran into something else! Cutting right above that point, I found a traditional fire block and had to cut through it.

Here’s my speaker cable handiwork:

Since the sprinkler cable had 10 wires (5 pairs), and since the speaker connector QuickPorts came in packages of 5, I went ahead and hooked up all five pairs.

On the suggestion of a neighbor, I ran two cat5e cables to the TV area. Supposedly the complexity of media center stuff would appreciate the availability of the two ports. And if I ever got a cable modem, I could head it back behind the TV and run its data to a router or switch in a hall closet.

Can you tell it has been 8 years since I last punched a RJ45 jack?

Don’t worry, I cleaned up the wires before installing it.

Here’s the connections behind the TV:

The other side of the room looks the same except for one less data port.

There wasn’t much noteworthy about the way I ran this through the ceiling except that I tried to distance the network cable from power wires:

My recollection is that fluorescent ballasts are the biggest signal killers, so this may not have made much a difference.

Since I was in the attic anyway, I took a long exposure picture:

I’ll never get this view any more unless, heaven forbid, the ceiling collapses again!

How to force EVDO in Sprint’s 1X zones

Driving between the Mississippi towns of Starkville and Flowood on MS 25, I was surprised that my cell phone’s pokey 1X data service went to high speed EVDO.

It turns out that this is a roam area, possibly using Verizon. The gray blob between Columbus and Jackson in the coverage map at right is classified as “mobile broadband roaming” on Sprint’s Coverage Tool. (Verizon’s own coverage map doesn’t have a special broadband area that corresponds to the gray blob, so it may not be Verizon after all?)

Once I got into Flowood, MS, I reentered Sprint’s pokey 1X network. Argh.

On a whim, I forced my phone into roam mode, and I get EVDO even in Sprint’s 1X area! So it appears that if you only have 1X access, you may still be able to get high speed EVDO by forcing roaming.

UPDATE: I got EVDO on I-20 all the way to Van, TX by forcing the phone to roam mode. Otherwise, it would have been 1X the entire way.

Google Maps and Far East Dallas Neighborhood Associations

A few weeks ago, I used a spiffy Google feature for the first time: a map you can annotate and share. Click on the picture at right to see an annotated map of east Dallas and all its known neighborhood associations.

Using this feature is simple: go to Google Maps, sign in with your Google account, click on My Maps, and start annotating. The annotation buttons appear near the zoom slider. Be sure to save it!

I created this map to help me understand what areas of far east Dallas are represented by neighborhood associations.

I had an ulterior motive. The area just north of mine, called Lake Highlands (not to be confused with the Old Lake Highlands neighborhood, which is also north of me but not part of Lake Highlands), has an organization called Lake Highlands Area Improvement Association. This association supplements homeowners’ and neighborhood associations by coordinating communications and actions on issues that broadly affect the area. This association has reasonable success getting its message out to the public and government per Dallas Morning News’s search feature.

I envision a similar organization for far east Dallas, possibly called the Garden and Lakes District Council of Neighborhoods. This association would serve the area by providing the same badly-needed coordination of action and communications. I also envision it helping start up and sustain neighborhood associations in areas currently lacking one. An active neighborhood association can make a long-term difference in a neighborhood’s vitality.

Lake Highlands has pockets of dilapidated housing interspersed through its area, but its single family detached neighborhoods are pretty stable. Far east Dallas is different: several neighborhoods are turning into rental communities or ultra-cheap housing. Some of them are fighting this, and doing a good job at it, but it’s tough. Several neighborhoods have no active neighborhood associations, nobody to fight against creeping decline.

I want to change that.

I have emailed this idea to all area neighborhood association presidents, and the response was very positive. The next step is come up with a coherent plan and have a working meeting to put the plan into action. Today I met with a fellow neighborhood association president and an area business owner to discuss ideas on putting a plan into action.

It will be interesting to see how this works out. Sometimes I fear I’m getting in a little over my head, but at the same time, if you never challenge yourself, you’ll never learn new things.

Thinkpad function keys randomly pressed

Update: See the bottom of this post for updates.

I have a work-provided Thinkpad X60 tablet PC. Great little laptop.

It has an annoying software bug. With certain drivers installed on a Vista OS, the laptop will randomly do one of the following every 2-30 minutes:

  • The speaker mutes.
  • Keyboard light tries to turn on.
  • Screen zoom activates, drastically changing the screen resolution from the native 1400 x 1050 to 1024 x 768 then back.
  • Screen brightness goes to lowest setting.

When these happen, a green indicator briefly shows on the screen (except for screen zoom). It’s just like if I activated the function manually. For example, if I press the mute button, I’ll see this on the screen:

And if I hit Fn + 12, I’ll see this:

(It’s for a keyboard light, which is actually not on this model!)

Two drivers cause this bug:

  • Thinkpad Tablet Shortcut Menu, available through the ThinkVantage System Update software. (Strangely, it’s not available at this laptop’s software download page on their web site.)
  • “Lenovo – Other Hardware – PS/2 TrackPoint” as available through Windows Update. Even though Windows Update says it was released by Lenovo in April 2007, it never showed up until the following September.

As long as I don’t install either, I am fine.

Unfortunately, I did install “Lenovo – Other Hardware – PS/2 TrackPoint” a few days ago. Immediately after installing, I got the random function key activations. Worse yet, after uninstalling the driver and rebooting, my mouse stopped working. Installing the TrackPoint driver off Lenovo’s web site didn’t fix it, either. Neither did using System Restore to revert my system to before the Windows Update session that installed the driver.

Somehow I futzed around enough to get a working mouse, but it doesn’t work the same as before. I will probably just reload Vista soon.

Update: I wiped and reinstalled my ThinkPad in mid-December. I allowed System Update and Windows Update to install everything, and no problem recurred. I figure that Lenovo finally worked kinks out of its drivers or I had some unknown interaction with my laptop’s prior configuration.