New Online video blog / show has started!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nyhunter77

Hi guys,

Just wanted to announce that for the last 2 weeks or so, I've started a video blog / online tv show. I'm hoping it will be something I can improve on in time. It's something I'll use to get technical announcements on new advances and ideas I'm excited about and other personal, interesting things going on in my life out to my friends and viewers.

So far, I have 2 channels, Nerd-e-tech guy Online and Nerd-e-tech guy Miscellaneous.
The Online channel will surround mainly technical subjects while the Miscellaneous one will cover all my other events and interests.

Because of the narrow spec of the first channel, you'll find more entries on the latter.

In any case, I'm having a lot of fun posting up videos, live and recorded. I hope you'll enjoy them too.

More ATT News, my response to article on Engadget

This was my response to Engadget Article:
AT&T to offer 'incentives' to customers willing to limit data usage
http://bit.ly/4Psx00

I'm taking this question VERY seriously.

I have a suggestion for those who are like me who use ATT DSL as well as the mobile phone service. They should give those with DSL the DSL for free if we use wifi whenever at home or whenever we can.

There's probably no way to really track this unless they keep track of data usage on each customer's bill or some other way but every time I am at home I switch to Wifi because it's faster and when I am at friend's or cafes I use wifi as well because I know the Iphone will memorize the codes and places and my battery will last longer. It's a convenience for me since I only have to set it up once.

I have noticed though that I have used just over a gig of bandwidth since September to December the way I do things, but since I've been on vacation this week and had to switch exclusively to 3G to get all my podcasts, videos, music, etc, I am over 1.5 Gigs in 4 days (mostly twice a day to get all the new episodes in the morning and evening).

I see how ATT's system can get rocked now so easily when bandwidth like that is used up. It's so easy. I feel kinda bad about using so much but I am not at home and I'm where Wifi isn't available. That kinda thing is unavoidable sometimes though. I'd say, think of the bandwidth like electricity at home, just be conscious of it and turn it off when you're not using it (I mean go to wifi). I don't see that it's that hard.

I also want to +1 though for the idea that ATT spread their woes out with other companies, if they can't support us for everyday activities, they should let us switch companies for free.

When they talk about ways to get us to use less data, they have already broken their promise to us for unlimited data that we signed up for and they said they would (not could) provide. That means we honestly owe them nothing and they will probably screw us.

My response to AT&T article in the Chicago Tribune

Image from:touchmyapps.com

Response to article: http://bit.ly/92jdat

Tighter controls on wireless data usage coming for iPhones and other devices, AT&T exec warns

Their service is going downhill but it's not because of users, it's because of equipment they own.

In Chicago, I have gone from perfect crystal clear iphone service to (after November 18th for whatever reason) hit or miss, drop call, 3G loss all over the city. So far all the ATT technical support ppl have admitted that they have wide ranging tower problems right now and "degraded" service on all towers (whatever that means). They are also working on some kind of project that will keep a percentage of the towers offline until sometime in January.

On their behalf, I would say they assured me that they are getting more repeaters out there in Chicago to pick up the slack and they have already done that in San Francisco (confirmed). Service has been a lot better in the last week (going up from unusable) but still not what it was from before Nov 18th when I found every call I made dropped.

The Iphone and smart phones (most of them) were made for internet, music, AND video. I see "tighter controls on those who watch video" as a serious threat to business and what the phones were made for. I and many others keep up with news, stocks, and entertainment using internet AND video. It's the 21st century! Video is required and makes us better businessmen and knowledgeable ppl. Especially when on the road, driving or riding mass transit, it's much easier to listen and watch than to read.

I try to use Wifi whenever it's available and I think all users should look for that to lighten the load but AT&T, you need to shape up! If you keep selling devices you can't support, you should lower your service rates! You have the highest prices on mobile internet connectivity, you should be giving us the service to match!

Comment I posted on techcrunch.com.

Comment in response to article about the end of the CrunchPad, hopefully just a short siesta.

Original Article:
http://bit.ly/6Px6NA

It is a sad day. I am an avid advocate of tablet computers. I find they provide an alternate way of inputting information I find is greatly needed in many instances. Also, it’s a bit nostalgic and rustic but mainly it is an input method that is useful, at least for me. I was excited to see if a decent 300 option tablet would be a success and I was cheering for it. After all, tablets are still over 1500 greenbacks for a decent machine. So sorry for your loss, actually, we have all lost.

My Take on Google Voice

Well, I’ve been trying out the new Google Voice for a few days and I got to say, it’s a neat idea and a great service! I’m enjoying the new service immensely. I don’t get anything from Google to say these things but they have come up with and put into work, another great idea to make life easier. Other than the fact you get a phone number that will never change (unless you change it), you also get a way to manage and track your voice messages, your calls that you’ve missed, and a convenient “send to all” service that tries to reach you where ever you may be.

Let me tell you a little bit about the way it works for me, my Google Voice number is now the “gateway” to my communication resources. If someone needs to contact me, it’s an amazing convenience. In the past, I gave my cell phone number to all my friends. Some people though, thanks to previous business cards or business dealings, had that number and my home phone number. Also, some businesses and some people only had my home number because I only wanted to deal with them at home (or not at all).

That’s where Google Voice fits into my world. It’s my new secretary. When someone calls the Google number, which I am planning to use exclusively as my only number in the future, all my phones ring. At the moment, that means my mobile and my home numbers (but in the past I’ve had as many as 3 mobiles). The caller Ids still work so I can see who’s calling. Then, I can choose to answer or not. Here’s the great part though, if I’m busy, I can let Google Voice take the voice mail, after it does that, it sends my mobile notification by email that I received a voice message and transcribes it in the email so I can read it. If I choose, I can call my Google Voice number and receive the message like a traditional voice mail but sometimes, reading makes quick and easy work of finding out what people want. The transcription part does need just a little work but the messages are very close to what the callers intended to say. On my phone, if I click “play” on the email, it will automatically go online and play the message for me as well. That’s another quick and easy way for me to review my messages. It’s really cool.

Another thing that is nice about this service is that I’ve set it so that if someone uses my current mobile number (from AT and T), the voice mail that picks up is Google Voice’s as well so I don’t lose the emailed notification or record of the call online even if they use my original mobile number. Oh, and when people call my home, my home still gets the call alone (not forwarded) and the message stays on that answering machine so I’m not bothered by telemarketers ha ha!

That brings up another good use for Google Voice. It’s a great way to keep track of what your friends or co workers wanted and when. Most email programs tell you how long it’s been since you got that message whether it’s on the phone, online, Pigeon, Outlook, or Thunderbird, you can quickly see when requests were made and what they were about. If you ever need a legal record as well, such as if someone is bugging you leaving many messages on your phone, they’ll be a written record of each and everyone with the words said in your email account. It might be invaluable for some people or in some situations.

Anyway, you can probably tell, I think this service rocks! Google has always been an innovator of many great products that they’ve graciously kept free for all of us users. I really hope it stays this way for Google Voice as well.

As an aside, an experiment I am anxious to try soon is to take a trip out of the country to Asia or Canada and add a local number there to my Google phone list. For calls from the Google system, like on Skype, you need to pay per call outside the country but the per minute charges seem reasonable. If calling a Google Voice number can connect to a sim card in Asia for example, it would be a great answer for friends and family “here” to reach me “over there.”

I should say a thing or two about improvements too. I do like the fact that Google Voice also allows you to send SMS text messages for free. That is another added conveniece for those of us who don't have text message plans. I pay for internet so I choose not to pay for texts. Sending texts from the Voice site is quick and easy from my phone. An improvement I hope they come out with soon is to give email notification of text messages by email as well. It's strange that text messages end up in your inbox yet notification does not go out to email to let you know you have a message like it does for voice mail. I have turned my SMS notification off and do not allow Google Voice to text message me so I have to check a few times a day for text messages on my Google Voice page. I hope that sometime soon, we'll get notified by email of anything in our Google Voice inbox. That would make it even better.

All in all, it’s a great tool for business or personal, the sound quality is great too even though I’m not sure if it’s really a VOIP system or land line based, I’ll keep using it and for me, it’s another great technological convenience that I’m thankful for.

*The Google Voice logo is from my Voice homepage and is property of Google.

Have gun laws gone too far for the wrong people?

What about my rights?

picture is from ambientparadise.com/

I woke up today and had the urge to go over to the shooting range and fire off a few shots of my 9 mm pistol and relax a bit after a long mid-week. Oh, but then I forgot, in Chicago, you can’t own a handgun, oh, I forgot, you can’t carry concealed, oh, I forgot, you can’t go to a range, oh, and, in a way, you can’t defend yourself.

The fact that I am an experienced gun user who is responsible enough to always lock up my firearm when not in use and the fact that there are tens of thousands if not more others out there that are the same doesn’t seem to matter to certain governments like here in Chicago and in my home city of NY. I’m sure a lot of us can identify, there have been more than a few times I’ve felt deprived or even suffered a real lack of safety because of these silly laws that really just put the normal, upright standing citizens of our cities at a real disadvantage on the streets. You never know, as you walk the streets or ride the trains, you can be sure you’ve passed someone at one time or another who is a criminal and was probably carrying an illegal firearm themselves. It’s not a level playing field.

Gun control has just gone too far when the criminals have all the power and we as citizens are relegated to waiting for help from the police if something dangerous happens or is about to happen. The police are never around when you need them (as the adage goes) and they are all shorthanded now as well thanks to the economy and our government that eats up our resources and takes away from education and law enforcement programs first. This issue weighs heavily on me, I’ve lived in the south and I felt much safer when I felt the law followers and the law breakers were on even ground. I followed the laws and got training in everything so I would not make mistakes, like fathers who don’t lock up their guns, or people who have a chance to defend themselves but hurt someone else or lose out because they don’t know what they’re doing. That’s just unforgivable.

A firearm is a tool, a well crafted, (I would say an) essential tool in some places and as a tool, licenses and training should be asked for, provided, and required. The good people who only wish to follow all the rules and defend themselves should not be the ones who are hurt by our country’s laws. Studies have been shown that the crime rate is lowered if people in cities and towns, residential and commercial areas, know that the other guy (or girl) might be packing. There is a true sense of security as well knowing that you have the training and means to take care of your friends and family if needed. As I said, I feel very strongly about these issues, I have been a member of the NRA but don’t write this on their behalf. I really believe as citizens, we shouldn’t have to leave our protection to a financially strapped organization like the police department, we should be able to take care of ourselves. Anyone who doesn’t believe in that and works to tie our hands and leave us law abiding citizens at a disadvantage over the criminals out there, you do us an extreme disservice and we’ll all pay for it someday.

Sure, I won’t deny that there are the above mentioned unreliable people who actually leave their families in danger by not locking up their firearms and observing proper safety standards but they are few and far between the ones that are responsible. They are ruining the respectable gun owner’s reputation and I call on all of us to make sure that we all know enough to be safe “protectors of the peace,” each and everyone of us.

One last remark: I’m a moderate that is receptive to both sides of the issue and I respect those that don’t like guns or who think the common man or woman should not own them. I have heard from those who have been saved by firearms and those who have been victimized by them. I simply think that our society would be better off with the “option” to be trained to own and use them. Thanks.

Microblog (that turned out to be not so micro) on Testing

http://bit.ly/eM1rC (from the NY Times) (picture from another blog)

I read the Times this morning as I often do on Saturday mornings and I was taken aback by a story on China's testing policy. Some people are really against tests and I too do not think paper pencil tests or multiple choice tests could ever be better than my preferred test, practical clinical real world experience tests, but they are the easiest to grade ... whoop di doo.

I read this article though and I couldn't agree more about how this is definitely not a good practice because one test should never be the end all doorway to a person's future but you know what? I can identify with this situation and I think, good, this is how the world really works. I'm a multiple victim of this type of test and sometimes I sit in the dark room in my mind thinking is this really how the world works? Isn't there a better way? Obviously yes but probably not more efficient or cost effective. It's a shame though to think that a test is the gateway to your future.

I really was encouraged by these students who decided to enroll in the military type academy that would hopefully help them to pass their exam though. And by the end of the article, they did make the cut. That's great. I feel their rapture and wish for the same joy in my future. It may not be the best situation or set up to prove one's readyness for the future but when people wonder why people who come from countries like China or India after being educated are so smart, this is why. And, it shouldn't be a crime (or seen as one) to want your country's students or graduates to have a certain standard to take on the world. I think more of this attitude is needed in the United States (probably disagreeing with a lot of my friends in education). In fact, I think this is the essense of NCLB even though I don't agree with the implementation. We are too lax when it comes to allowing our students to graduate with the needed knowledge and letting them go without the study skills they need as well. So many students including me had no training in how to study.

Anyway, this article touched off more continuous feelings to get rid of the test barrier in my life. I've been to review programs and though they were expensive and time consuming, they were not what I needed to prepare for my test. What do I need to overcome this barrier? I still don't know but I'm urged by these students' stories to find out. I've let Step 2 and previously Step 1 ruin many parts of my life from relationships, missing family events, emergencies, funerals, to jading me and making me extremely critical in my overall attitude about life. I've sacraficed and lost much too much to just let it go (although some say I should). Is it my stubborness that is wrong? Am I following the path God has set before me in Education? Should I go back to the health field which I still love so much. Do I have to give it up, should I? Some friends would argue that one is clearly my intended and God given path and others would tell me never give up no matter what. I count myself as a devout follower of God but I don't see the solution and no path is clear no matter how many times I ask for clarity. Go one way and you will definitely make it but longing for the other for the rest of time, go the other way and you have a history of not being able to cut it hanging over your head which might destroy you psychologically when it's over. Life is a crazy and more often than not, one test IS the key to the future. I wish that I was prepared better for it and had a situation more like those in China, mostly the passing part. I've been to review programs though, there's something else I need. Not sure what, but I'm going to try to find out.