new mac

Over a year ago, I wrote about the defective LCD on my 17-inch Powerbook G4 1.67 GHz Mac.

Last count, there were over 100 vertical lines on the LCD. They did not pose a problem using text-based applications, but they did make graphic-based applications very hard on my eyes, so much so that I stopped using my Mac for those applications.

Meanwhile, I had been following the situation closely. I had become resigned to the fact that Apple seemed to be ignoring everyone with the defective LCD and that I was stuck with a bad apple.

My daughter felt my pain and decided to call Apple in late February to fight for my cause. After 90 minutes on the phone, Apple agreed to fix my Mac for the cost of labor, $325, which was a bargain since the replacement part alone cost about $1000. Next day, Apple sent me a box to ship my Mac to their Texas repair center and I sent it on its way.

Day after day, I checked the status of my computer online and day after day, the status was that the part was on order.

Tuesday, Apple called to tell me that the part was expected on Friday and if it arrived on schedule, I would have my Mac back on Monday.

I was pleased with the news.

The man from Apple then said that if Monday was not soon enough, they would ship me a brand new Mac that was equivalent to my defective one. The equivalent is the brand new 17-inch 2.5 GHz MacBook Pro with 2 GB of RAM and a 250 GB hard drive. I jumped at the proposal; it is not often that someone offers me a $2800 computer for $325.

The new Mac arrived yesterday. Last night, I decompressed the backup files from my old Mac and began installing software.

I am still in shock over my good fortune!

Surfin': Looping Into the 21st Century

In this week’s Surfin’, read all about new loop antennas we can use to chase DX. Then come back here to post your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Surfin': Thrown For a Loop

In this week’s Surfin’, read all about those loop antennas we use to chase broadcast band DX. Then come back here to post your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Surfin': Leap Day and the Continuing Saga of the Kerosene Radio

In this week’s Surfin’, read about Leap Day hams and revisit the good, the bad, and the ugly side of innovations from the past. Then come back here to post your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Surfin': Finding More DX and VNAs

In this week’s Surfin’, we suggest other ways to find DX via the Web and how to obtain an excellent piece of test gear for the ham shack. Then come back here to post your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

Surfin': VNA in Your Future

In this week’s Surfin’, discover how you can obtain an excellent piece of test gear for the ham shack. Then come back here to post your comments, if any.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb features Web sites related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

XO in Wolcott

I received an e-mail late last week that my XO computer would not be shipped until after the holidays and that I can expect delivery before January 15.

I was disappointed because I planned to give the XO to my wife, Laurie, as a Christmas gift. Laurie has never used a computer, but lately has expressed an interest, so I thought that the XO would be perfect for a novice like my wife (plus I could play with it when she wasn't playing with it).

Christmas Eve morning, Laurie was out doing some last minute Christmas shopping and I just came in from the cold after washing the crud from the recent snowstorms off my car. The Pie dogs started barking, which was a sure sign that someone had driven up our driveway. I went to see who arrived and it is Fedex delivering the XO! I was surprised and very happy.

I wrapped the XO's shipping box without opening its contents and gave it to my wife with other sundry gifts yesterday morning. She was very happy to receive her own computer, but we did not have much time to play with it because we had a full schedule ahead of us.
I did power up the XO to make sure it worked (and it does). The user interface is cool and the XO sees our home Wi-Fi network, so that is a good start.

In the next few days, I will get the XO on our Wi-Fi, check it all out more throroughly, and report my findings here.

XO Marks the Spot

Here is the deal of the century! Yeah, I know the century is not even 7 years old, but this is one of the best deals I've seen in a long time.

For a mere donation of $399, you can give a laptop computer to a child in a developing country, receive a second laptop for the child in your life, and get a $200 tax deduction! (This deal is only good in the US and Canada and ends on December 31.) The Give One Get One program is part of One Laptop per Child (OLPC), whose mission is to "empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child."

The laptop, known as the XO, includes a bundle of hardware and software features that make it a versatile computer and not just a toy. Since the XO runs on Linux, ham radio Linux applications can be run on it, too.

If you sign up for the Give One Get One program (like I did), you will help a child in a developing country join the computer age and you can give a laptop to a young ham to help him or her join the Amateur Radio computer age. If you need more convincing, read David Pogue's review in The New York Times and for more information, check out The OLPC Wiki.

(Thank you, Harv Nelson, AI9NL, of Harv's Hamshack Hack fame for cluing me into OLPC.)

cheap video camera

Recently, Geoff, WA1U bought a disposable video camera and hacked it so that he can reuse it. He has been posting videos that he has captured with his hacked disposable on his blog.

I am intrigued and would like to perform a similar hack myself.

Yesterday, Geoff posted a link to a web site dealing with camera hacking and here it is for those of you interested in hacking your own video camera.

iPhone: not for me, but....

Despite the problem with my Powerbook that Apple refuses to fix thus far, I still like Apple products and likely will buy Apple products in the future. However, as attractive as the iPhone seems to be, I will not buy one because I live on top of a mountain with spotty cell phone coverage.

The cell phone towers are located below my home and I assume they are optimized to provide coverage for the surrounding valleys where the majority of people live. I am lucky to get any cell phone coverage at all. (If I stand on one foot near the dining room window between 6 and 7:15 PM and the wind is not blowing above 5 MPH... ) So, I am not very confident that the iPhone will work any better at home.
Also, my WiFi and Powerbook provide more than adequate "mobile Internet" access at home.

Also, I hate phones. They are one of those "you can't live with them, you can't live without them" things. I dislike them so, that I don't even own a cell phone. My wife and daughter have one, but they are not for me.

However, that being said, I think the iPhone might shake things up and I direct you to the following blog post titled "Why the iPhone matters." If you are tired reading about the iPhone (I can't blame you), just read the end of the post: the last six paragraphs starting with the sub-heading "What do you mean? How could the iPhone change the larger phone business?"

Surfin': Don't Stop Surfin'

“Don't Stop Surfin'” is the title of this week’s installment of Surfin‘. After you read it, you can post your comments, if any, back here.

By the way, Surfin’ is a weekly column published on ARRLWeb that finds and features Web sites that are related to Amateur Radio, specifically, and radio, in general. If you have any suggestions for Surfin’, please contact WA1LOU using the e-mail link to the right.

iPhone APRS

Steve Dimse, K4HG, the brains behind findu.com, is planning to do a version of APRS for the iPhone. (That might push me over the brink to buy an iPhone myself!)

Here is what Steve posted this morning on the APRSSIG:

Just curious if anyone else will be getting an iPhone at the end of the month.

It seems that Steve Jobs backed off from the closed architecture he initially proposed, and rumors abound that Apple will release an SDK next week at their developer's conference. I'm an Apple developer, and I will be writing an APRS version to run on the iPhone if it is possible. Whether it is web based or APRS-IS based depends on what the SDK allows. One rumor is that the SDK will be a modification of Mac OS X widget, which does not allow access to ports to connect to the APRS IS stream, in which case a web app will be the only option.

If anyone gets an iPhone and wants to beta test whatever I develop email me privately.

Steve K4HG (steve@dimse.com)

Surfin': Brew Your Own Software Defined Radio, Revisited

"Brew Your Own Software Defined Radio, Revisited" is the title of this week's installment of Surfin'.

Read it here, then come back here and leave your comments, if any.

iPhone: maybe not

Yesterday, I wrote here how I want an iPhone. After sleeping on it, maybe not. Here's why.

My wife and daughter have cell phones. Their provider is Verizon. Verizon is reputed as having very good coverage in these parts, yet their coverage is very spotty up here on top of Compounce Mountain. Some days there is no signal. Other days you have to stand in just the right place to get a signal. Such is cellular life at 1000 ft ASL; the cellular towers are all below us.

The iPhone's provider is Cingular. Their coverage is reputed as not being as good as Verizon's in these parts. So, an iPhone would likely be useless most of the time up here.

I guess I will stick with my Powerbook using DSL via WIFI.

iWant iPhone

I never considered owning a cell phone before. My wife and daughter have cell phones, but not I. However, Apple may have pushed me over the brink today when they revealed their new gizmo, the iPhone.

Surfin': PCB Times One

If you only need one prototype of your printed circuit board design, read this week's installment of Surfin' and leave your comments (if any) here.

Surfin': Yet More Tools for Online Hams

This week, Surfin' has "Yet More Tools for Online Hams." Read it and come back here to post your comments.

get off my iPod, Howard Stern!

Seven thousand one hundred and fifty –five (7155) is the number of songs I have stored on my iPod. I can't believe it myself!

Primarily, I use my iPod when I am mobile. For a couple of years now, I have used an iTrip with my iPod to transmit the iPod's audio to my car's FM radio. It was convenient and worked satisfactorily for a long time. The iTrip's transmitter is puny weak, so I had to position the iPod just so, otherwise I did not get a good signal into the FM receiver. But I knew all the hot spots in all our vehicles, so it was no big deal.

About a year ago, I would occasionally get interference from other vehicles I passed or passed me during my travels. I am not sure, but I assume it was related to mobile satellite radio installations because the interference was often in the form of a Howard Stern broadcast.

During the intervening year, the interference is more frequent. It occurred three or four times during my daily 35-minute commute and if the interfering vehicle was going in the same direction as I was traveling, the interference could last for minutes. I also started experiencing the same interference from non-mobile objects. For example, there is a house I pass by everyday on my way to and from work that causes the same interference.

I finally abandoned the iTrip and replaced it with a $10 gadget called an iPod cassette adapter. It looks like a cassette tape (it uses the same plastic case as a cassette tape), but has a long cable that plugs into my iPod's audio output connector. I insert the gadget in my car's cassette deck and I'm in business again.

I no longer have to deal with interference or the finicky placement of the iPod to find the hot spot. It is a low-tech solution that works.

Surfin': Tooling Around The Internet

This week's installment of my weekly column, Surfin', is now online. This week, its title is Tooling Around The Internet. Read it if you will and leave your comments here.

Surfin': What on Google Earth!

Read this week’s installment of Surfin': What on Google Earth!, then leave your comments here.