Tech Friday: A couple Gmail tricks and a Thunderbird update

| February 3, 2012

I’ve been using Gmail for years and recently found a hidden gem for filtering email. It works particularly well for me while using the Mozilla client Thunderbird, although is equally useful with any other client or the Google’s web client (BTW the upgrade to 10.0 was pushed out this past week).  Without getting overly detailed [...]

Is FB – Facebook – ready to go public?

| February 2, 2012

Yup … FB .. that’s the stock exchange symbol for Facebook; the biggest IPO of the year, or past few years. This will be the largest web-based company to have an initial public offering since GOOG went public (believe it or not, GM in 2010 was the overall largest). It will instantly turn Mr. Zuckerberg [...]

From Predator Drones to Swarms of Nano Quadrotors

| February 1, 2012

Hmm … and Dylan thought that the “times were changing” back in the 1960s. Can you imagine where this technology is going when it comes to “nano” or “not so nano” quadrotors and their military or CIA use? Bob Dylan – The Times They Are A-Changin

Will Apple rescue an ailing Sprint?

| January 31, 2012

After hearing an employee at Sprint talking about the iPhones  substantial impact on activations last week, I pondered the value of the carrier to Apple. With Sprint buying 30.5 million iPhones worth $20B to the cash rich Apple (AAPL) and the Sprint (S) trading at uncomfortable lows, there are rumors that Sprint needs to return [...]

Tell congress how you feel about SOPA and PIPA–for or against

| January 18, 2012

Against my inner voice telling me not to bother, I wrote to my congressmen yesterday regarding the Stop Internet Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA). There are areas that I agree with and understand, but also way too many areas that will impact what most of us appreciate about the Internet. As written, [...]

Controlling solar power onboard Encore

| January 9, 2012

Although I’m not at all disappointed with my current single 135W Kyocera solar panel, I don’t want to be wasting amps and not returning them to my battery bank. I was reading an article debating the different controllers regulating charging and began doing some of my own research since I’m thinking about adding an additional [...]

Lubricheck Software Completed. Now Works on Diesel.

| January 5, 2012

The Kickstarter company Lubricheck, mentioned in May of 2011, has improved their oil analyzer device to include diesel engines. Outstanding … although they aren’t shipping just yet – order link.

Trivia tidbit associated with my pick for person of the year

| December 31, 2011

In tying up loose ends in closing out the year, one story that made a big impact on technology followers was the death of Steve Jobs. He was an inspirational and creative marketing wizard with oddities all too common with those we associate with the “genius” label … and would have been my pick for [...]

Apple looking to make a $400 million buy?

| December 13, 2011

With the “in the news” section of Anorbit a bit quiet, the rumor that Apple may be buying the company makes the story a bit more interesting. There might be a good reason for cash rich Apple to begin acquiring a few more of the parts they need to assure production continues for their hot [...]

WebOS survives as open source; HP phone hardware? Doubtful.

| December 11, 2011

The big news from HP’s CEO Meg Whitman this past week is that the operating system they acquired when purchasing Palm last year will remain alive … just in a different form than originally intended. WebOS will soon be “open source to its Linux core.” Some see that as a good thing in hopes that [...]

Wireless connections are less than perfect on the boat

| December 8, 2011

A few days of travel away from decent Internet connections has me appreciating my questionable home cable Internet connection (either Time Warner OR my internal network isn’t perfect). I ran a few tests of both the marina BeaconWi-fi and my tethered Sprint Palm Pre and have come to the conclusion that I need to treat [...]

How secure are your smartphone keystrokes?

| December 6, 2011

I’ve been following the Carrier IQ story after it was pointed out that they have been spying researching for carriers on some Android phones. The Verge did a follow up story that give all smartphone users reason to pause. … Carrier IQ has been around for six years and has been installed on over 141 [...]

Track your progress in realtime with Glympse

| November 25, 2011

My daughter tested the Glympse app on her Android phone on her way home to Cincinnati for Thanksgiving this past week. She sent the link to my phone and shockingly I was able to open the moving map based web page perfectly on my aging Palm Pre smartphone. As her progress closed in on home, [...]

Leaked info on the Asus Padphone gadget combo

| November 22, 2011

After Asus introduced its Padphone prototype in the spring of 2011, additional phone/tablet Padfone information was leaked yesterday regarding the specifications (below). According to several tech sources the new Android phone will use the Snapdragon SoCs chipset and Adreno 225 GPU. The new chip supports global frequencies including the HSPA+ and LTE offering very impressive [...]

Looks like Google’s Flights search could be helpful

| November 16, 2011

I’m anxious to try Google.com/flights for my next trip planning although I’m not sure it adds much besides the interface over competitive flight planning websites. The search giant has created a convenient way to compare the pricing and scheduled flight times, but in testing a few closer airports and flights it didn’t turn up any [...]

Archive: This Google meme has been around …

| November 16, 2011

…but it is still worth sharing and archiving on my blog. Do a barrel roll – http://bit.ly/uT7a9E Google Sphere – http://bit.ly/uXfgyO Epic Google – http://bit.ly/uGANwB Google Gravity – http://bit.ly/nLGzd1 *Tilt/Askew* – http://bit.ly/vNtlSn Google Loco – http://bit.ly/urU8vW Google Gothic – http://bit.ly/v2VhZm Google Pacman – http://bit.ly/s1nNin Google Guitar – http://bit.ly/uiJKH1 Google Pirate – http://bit.ly/tNQmEa Google Rainbow – [...]

Trying out Google’s latest music beta. So far, so good.

| November 15, 2011

Thanks to Google+ friend Paul Young, I had a chance to play with Google’s new Music beta on Monday. I can’t say that I’m a must have music listener (I’m not), but I do enjoy listening to tunes once in a while. I’m partial to Pandora but have enjoyed Spotify and do listen to several [...]

Reports are hinting that HP is nailing the webOS coffin shut

| October 31, 2011

Since HP’s new CEO, Meg Whitman, reversed course on spinning off their PC division (link), many who use and appreciate Touchpads and Pre smartphones have been hoping the same thing might happen for the webOS division. Some believe (or believed) that there was new hope for webOS devices like the Touchpad and Palm Pre smartphones [...]

Who’s taking the lead in Internet TV? Google, Apple, etc

| October 28, 2011

The next big technovation for the big Internet players is no doubt going to be “winning” in the TV space — here’s a short vidoe demonstrating where Google TV is going with their product (below).

And what kind of computer are you looking for sir?

| October 18, 2011

Perhaps it is my age … or just not paying attention to the changing terms associated with portability when talking computers, but as I contemplate upgrading my daily computer I realized the terms have changed yet again. My first “portable” computer went by the trade name Compaq … but it was basically a transportable. At [...]

New software for sharpening photos in our future

| October 14, 2011

If you enjoy taking and working with photos, you might appreciate the advancements coming to software to help with optically blurry photos. The demonstration is not particularly easy to see (video below), but the reaction of the crowd was enough to thinking a plug in for Adobe Photoshop might be in our future. Check out [...]

Taking count of my Apple life after the passing of Steve Jobs

| October 6, 2011

   I’ve been thinking about the passing of Steve Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) and realized that there wasn’t enough time to include all I wanted over a lunch hour. First, his innovative vision, business savvy and keen sense of “what customers wanted” have earned him a place in my list of [...]

Somewhat underwhelming was the anticipated Apple event

| October 5, 2011

I wasn’t alone in paying attention to Tuesday’s much publicized Apple event which showcased a new an updated iPhone. Perhaps the enthusiastic hype isn’t Apple’s fault as “we” have reason to anxiously wait, considering the the cool new stuff that comes out of Cupertino California. Unfortunately the “updated” hardware and new software integration wasn’t as [...]

An update and mini review on our Roku 2XD

| October 1, 2011

So far I have been satisfied with our relatively low cost purchase of a Roku 2XD as a way to stream Internet content to our plasma TV. The Roku is must quicker to navigate than our TivoHD and offers a simple interface and one HDMI wire set up. Amazon online movie rentals worked great and [...]

Kindle Fire and new eInk readers from Amazon

| September 28, 2011

Stopped to check on the big NYC coverage from Amazon for their new eInk Kindle Touch reader device and highly anticipated Kindle Fire 7″ tablet device. A couple surprises are the “Silk” browser and pricing at $199. For those looking for a competitor to Apple’s iPad … look elsewhere. The new Kindles are more of [...]

Defunct Satellites: How many are there?

| September 24, 2011

Although my question wasn’t answered as to how many are due to plummet to earth in the next few years, it is good to know that “more recent satellites are designed so that operators can bring them out of orbit and control their trajectory as they take the final plunge through the atmosphere.” With an [...]

Netflix splits streaming & DVD business–CEO says he messed up

| September 19, 2011

After talking with a few disgruntled NetFlix subscribers (and ex-subscribers) this morning, I can attest that I’m not the only one thinking “spin-off” after CEO Reed Hastings relays the news that their new DVD-by-mail service will be a dying “wholly owned subsidiary” being called Qwikster.

My Desultory Blog returns this weekend and a Roku2 XD

| September 17, 2011

After a few days off after arguing with my “previous” web hosting company in serving up my blog, I’ve moved the 12 gigabytes of files and content over to a new server. The task was not made any easier by my 6 years of linking photo, video and embedded content from a variety of places. [...]

Read only Google Docs and Calendar content available off line

| September 2, 2011

Google web-based products such a docs and calendar were once upon a time available for off line use; thankfully they are now being re-launched. Things are slowly coming back to a more useful state with the new off line viewing (read only) extension for the Chrome browser. I’m looking forward to hopefully once again being able [...]

HP says more touchpads on the way

| August 30, 2011

If I can pick up a Touchpad for $99 … I think I will. If any readers find out when and where, tweet me! (@richc) I finally have some solid news to share about TouchPad availability. Before I share, let me first say thank you for enthusiasm for this product. Since we announced the price [...]

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.