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Bluetooth to the rescue

As anyone who has spent enough time with electronics knows, computers and mobile phones are delicate, fragile devices that are prone to malfunctioning or breaking. And often it takes just the loss of one essential component to render an entire device useless.

That’s what happened to me at the beginning of the month when I discovered, to my chagrin, that my BlackBerry would no longer charge when it was plugged in. I took the phone to the Verizon Store to find out what was wrong with it. Lo and behold, the USB port that allows the phone to charge and exchange data with other devices was broken. The only way to get it fixed, according to the Verizon employee I talked to, was to replace the whole phone.

Fortunately, the phone was still under warranty, so I was offered a free replacement. Taking the replacement, however, would have meant surrendering my old BlackBerry to Verizon, along with all of my settings, messages, and other data which I didn’t want to lose.

I ended up declining the replacement initially, so that I could figure out a way to back up my BlackBerry’s data first. I knew I could use my micro SD card to transfer off the pictures and music that were on the phone, but wasn’t sure how to save anything else. Neither were the unimaginative folks at the Verizon Store…  they had no ideas or suggestions to give me. The most they could offer was to simply go ahead and replace my phone.

I decided to leave my phone at the store so I could at least get the battery charged (it was almost completely dead when I brought the phone in).

When I got home I started researching the problem. I soon found a potential solution while browsing the CrackBerry forums. It turns out that BlackBerries can be backed up wirelessly using Bluetooth – no cables required. It sounded like Bluetooth could come to my rescue.

So I headed back to the Verizon Store. On my way there I stopped at Best Buy to purchase a Bluetooth desktop adapter for my notebook computer, which doesn’t have one built in. I had misgivings about going to Best Buy but didn’t want to drive all the way to Fry’s in Renton to get what I needed.

Turns out I should have.

The “Rocketfish” Bluetooth adapter I got from Best Buy refused to work, even after I had installed the drivers. I kept getting an error message telling me “Bluetooth license check failed. Please make sure that the bluetooth device you are using is licensed”.

As a result, I was unable to connect to my phone to back it up. But at least I was able to take my phone home with me, freshly charged, to keep trying. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the Rocketfish adapter to work (Rocketfish, incidentally, is one of Best Buy’s house brands. Figures).

So the next morning, I returned it to Best Buy and did what I should have done in the first place: go to Fry’s.

At Fry’s I found a Belkin adapter that was less expensive than the Rocketfish adapter, and better supported. (The Rocketfish website is awful, there’s almost nothing there. No drivers, no real support).

I installed the Belkin adapter successfully but was unable to connect my BlackBerry. I returned to CrackBerry to find out why and found out that BlackBerry Desktop Manager only works with the native Windows drivers. I followed the instructions to register the Belkin adapter with Windows and then uninstalled the third party Broadcom drivers.

When I restarted my computer, the Found New Hardware screen came up. This situation wasn’t addressed in the CrackBerry instructions so I wasn’t sure what to do. I chose Install from a list or specific location (Advanced) and clicked Next. At the next screen I decided to try Option Number Three: Don’t search. I will choose the driver to install. I clicked Next.

To my amazement, Windows detected its own drivers and promptly finished the hardware configuration correctly.

I set my BlackBerry to listen for a Bluetooth connection and initiated the Add Device wizard in Windows. Sure enough, it came up. After creating a passkey, I was able to successfully connect. I then opened BlackBerry Desktop Manager. Thankfully, the Bluetooth options in the Connection Type selector were no longer grayed out. I checked the boxes to use Bluetooth and then Yes when the Desktop Manager asked me if I wanted to connect now.

Then, at long last, I was able to back up my BlackBerry.

Less than forty eight hours I had restored the backup onto the new replacement BlackBerry, plugged in my micro SD card, and I was back in business, with all my data intact. That is, except for applications, which I quickly was able to reload with the help of App World. And I now have a charging cradle to further reduce the wear and tear on my BlackBerry’s USB port. (It charges the battery via the gold contacts on the bottom of the phone).

Moral of the story: Just because someone tells you something is hopeless doesn’t mean it really is. I was able to save my data and save myself from a lot of trouble because I was persistent.

Posted in Technology.

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By Andrew – June 12, 2009

Huskies defeat Arizona, 83-78, at Hec Ed

Nice:

BREAKING NEWS: Washington has clinched at least a tie for the Pac-10 basketball championship with an 83-78 victory over Arizona. Details to come.

It was a pretty close game all the way through, but the Huskies stayed ahead at the end with good free throw shooting, making up for missed shots in the first half.

The No. 21 ranked Huskies defeated Arizona State in a big game on Thursday night. With the win over Arizona, the Huskies have improved their record to 22-7.

The Huskies have one league game left… they will square off against WSU at Hec Ed on March 7th (2:30 PM). They’ll also take on Seattle University on March 3rd, also at Hec Ed. (Kind of nice to have those last four games at home!)

Posted in Sports.

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By Andrew – February 28, 2009

We’re better than this, Mustangs

This is how a high school basketball game ends in our house?

In a matter of seconds, Friday night’s KingCo 4A Crest Division boys basketball game between Redmond and fourth-ranked Garfield turned sour.

In a bizarre scene, a Redmond High School senior charged out of the stands and punched Garfield player De’Andre Taylor in the face, spurring punches from both sides as the two teams and fans had to be separated.

The Redmond student who threw the punch reacted to a collision and verbal exchange between Taylor and Redmond player Max Wisman in a game where opposing fans traded derisive chants. Referees had stopped the action to separate the two players when the student ran onto the floor.

The Garfield bench emptied and eight Bulldogs were ejected by referees for leaving the bench area and coming onto the floor in the mayhem. With Garfield leading 50-33, the game was suspended with 5:26 remaining.

I wasn’t at the game last night, but when I read accounts of the brawl in this morning’s P-I and Times, I was appalled. I’m sure I’m not the only Redmond alumnus who feels ashamed that this happened on our home court. That any Redmond student would surrender their self control and assault a player from an opposing team is embarrassing to both RHS and the people of the City of Redmond. It’s beyond disrespectful.

Whatever happened to Honoring the Game?

I hope the Redmond senior responsible for instigating the brawl is creatively punished. Perhaps he or she should be sent over to Garfield to do community service there.

Knowing the administration at the Redmond High, they’ll think of something appropriate.

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By Andrew – February 7, 2009

Heather Haworth: An Appreciation

Good afternoon.

It’s really an honor to be here with you remembering this extraordinary person – Heather Haworth.

Heather taught my ninth grade advanced science class, during the 2001-2002 school year. My siblings also had her as a teacher and I know I speak for them when I say she was a terrific.

As a teacher, she was especially magnificent. She knew how to make ideas stick.

I want to share a few quick stories about life in her class so you can get an idea of how much fun she made school. She would often use mysteries to make lessons memorable.

One of my first memories is before the school move to the new Redmond Junior High. We came into class one day and we were asked this question: Resolved: Are beaver dams technology?

Those who thought the answer was yes were supposed to go to one side of the room. Anyone who thought no, the other side. I went to the no side with a small minority of the class. For the rest of that period, we debated the majority of our classmates, who argued that beaver dams were, in fact, technology. That was a Friday. On Monday, we came into class to hear the answer. I think most of the class was expecting the answer would be somewhere in the middle, but instead Ms. Haworth announced that our side had been right and the rest of the class had been wrong.

I also remember putting together hot air balloons. They took weeks to build in the autumn. Building them was tricky and we had to be very careful to do it right so that the balloons would inflate properly. One day in November, we went out and launched them. I brought along the school’s digital camera and took lots of pictures for the website.

When we moved to the new RJH she was able to use the new lab counters to do all sorts of demonstrations, or as we called them, demos. She was a pyromaniac… she loved to play with fire. She had a way of making chemistry very easy to understand which was helpful to me. Every lab we did was both fun and challenging. My best friend Dave, who was frequently my lab partner, always wanted to do the lab correctly, so he had a habit of asking Ms. Haworth for clarification. I gave him the nickname The Verifier because of this.

In the spring, we built bottle rockets. Groups were assigned to build different kinds of rockets. Each two person team engineered a different rocket. The one that Dave and I built wasn’t supposed to have a very long flight because of the way we constructed it. As it turned out, it didn’t fly at all. It exploded at the launchpad. Ms. Haworth thought this was hilarious, she walked over to ask us how the launch went with a big smile on her face.

Her bad days were not visible to her students. She always seemed so happy. Full of energy. She was a wonderful teacher and I will always be grateful for her encouragement and help.

She had spirit.

Posted in Remembrances.

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By Andrew – January 24, 2009

This American loves to despise TV advertising

As viewers all over America know, television advertising is often needlessly repetitive and poorly produced. The number of creative spots that manage to strike a true emotional chord or offer useful information, though memorable, are few.

Most of what airs between programming on every channel consists of endless promotions for drugs, cars, and beauty products. Trucks leap over giant boulders, pitchmen talk up the virtues of the latest sleeping pill, and models smile for the camera while displaying the latest brands in cosmetics.

Nestled between the messaging of America’s major corporations are pitiful appeals from the owners of local dealerships and insurance salesmen. On occasion, there will be a sobering and thoughtful reminder from the Ad Council, or a comedic scene inviting laughter.

But these gems are hidden within a dry and scratchy haystack of bland and boring fare. If advertisers really want our attention, why do they spend so much money on thirty second messages that simply serve to irritate the viewer?

Posted in Annoyances.

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By Andrew – January 26, 2008

Quantum of Solace?

Seriously, this has to be the worst Bond movie title, ever:

Producers have revealed some of the secrets about the latest James Bond film, due for release later this year, including the inner turmoil that drives its suave superagent hero and its title: “Quantum of Solace.”

As titles go, it’s not as mellifluous as “From Russia With Love” or “Goldfinger.” But Daniel Craig, returning as Bond after 2006’s “Casino Royale,” says he likes it.

“It has grown on me,” Craig told reporters on the film’s set at Pinewood Studios near London on Thursday. “It doesn’t trip off the tongue. But why should it?”

Yes, but who is going to understand what it means?

Where did the producers get it from? Well, believe it or not, it is an Ian Fleming story – here’s some background from Wikipedia:

“Quantum of Solace” is not a spy story and Bond appears only in the background. Told in the style of W Somerset Maugham, the tale has Bond attending a boring dinner party at the Government House in Nassau with a group of socialites he can’t stand.

Bond makes a remark after dinner when the other guests have left in order to stimulate conversation, about always having thought it would be nice to marry an air hostess. This solicits a careful reply from the elderly Governor of The Bahamas who tells 007 a sad tale about a relationship between a former civil servant he calls Philip Masters, stationed in Bermuda, and air hostess Rhoda Llewellyn. After meeting aboard a flight to London the two eventually married but after a time Rhoda became unhappy with her life as a housewife. She then began a long open affair with the eldest son of a rich Bermudan family. As a result Masters’ work deteriorated and he suffered a nervous breakdown. After recovering he was given a break from Bermuda by the governor and sent on an assignment to Washington to negotiate fishing rights with the US. At the same time the governor’s wife had a talk with Rhoda just as her affair ended. Masters returned a few months later and decided to end his marriage, although he and Rhoda continued to appear as a happy couple in public. Masters returned alone to the UK, leaving a penniless Rhoda stranded in Bermuda, an act which he’d been incapable of carrying out merely months earlier. But Masters never recovered emotionally, nor recaptured any spark of vitality. The governor goes on to tell Bond how after a time Rhoda married a rich Canadian and seems to be happy. When Bond remarks that she hardly deserved her good fortune, the governor says that Masters had always been rather weak, and that perhaps Fate chose Rhoda as its instrument to teach him a lesson. Bond deduces that the dinner companions whom he found so boring were Rhoda and her new husband, and he tells the governor she was much more interesting than he had thought.

While the story does not include action elements, as other Fleming tales do, it attempts to posit that Bond’s adventures pale in comparison with real life drama. Bond reflects that the lives of the people he passes somewhat superficial judgements upon can in fact hide poignant episodes.

It’s not a spy story, you say? Well, it is now!

Posted in Movies.

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By Andrew – January 24, 2008

Watching the fireworks on New Year’s Eve

If there is anything truly exciting about New Year’s Eve, it’s the annual burst of fireworks from Seattle’s signature landmark, the Space Needle. Even though the light and the noise only lasts for eight minutes, there’s something fun and adventurous about staking out a location and patiently waiting to capture the illuminating explosions set against the dark, typically cloudy, sky.

New Year’s Eve 2007 was no exception. Not wanting to suffer in the cold, I waited to make the journey to a suitable lookout until the ten o’clock hour that night. I chose to watch the show from Wallingford’s Gas Works Park, less crowded than the streets of Queen Anne, but with a clear view of Seattle Center across Lake Union. To my surprise, the show started late and stalled twice, but my disappointment was muted.

Unlike the throngs of people standing on the concrete pier or muddy knoll nearby, my anticipation of a splendid, uninterrupted display of pyrotechnics had not been building for hours, and I used the sudden quiet to adjust the settings of my camera.

Fireworks are notoriously difficult to record, whether digitally or on film, without equipment programmed to the proper settings. Though I spent only twenty minutes in Gas Works Park, I got all the footage I wanted, and happily reveled in the good tidings shared with me by my fellow observers.

Posted in Experiences.

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By Andrew – January 2, 2008

Safari for Windows: it just doesn’t work

When Apple announced it would offer Safari for Windows last June, I was curious to see how the browser would compare to Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer…so I downloaded it and tried it out. I was quite surprised to find that the browser functioned like an alpha product. It was buggy, slow, and extremely unpleasant to use. I related this experience to a friend of mine who practically worships Apple (yet chooses to live in Microsoft’s backyard), and I was assured Safari would improve, because it was just the first public beta.

Well, almost seven months later, Safari for Windows is still in “beta” (version 3.04) and it’s just as horrible as the day I first tried it. It boots up slowly, stupidly attempts to mimic the font rendering of its Mac OS X brother, has trouble processing Javascript and can’t open files in protected folders. (It will return the error Safari can’t connect to the server). Apple boasts on its website that Safari is “the fastest web browser on any platform” stating specifically:

Safari loads pages up to 2 times faster than Internet Explorer 7 and up to 1.7 times faster than Firefox 2.

And it executes JavaScript up to 3 times faster than Internet Explorer 7 and up to 2 times faster than Firefox 2.What does all that mean for you? Less time loading pages and more time enjoying them.

This is complete bogus. On my Windows XP SP2 machine, Safari struggles just to render web pages, let alone attempt to best Firefox, Opera, or IE in a speed competition. And it fails to execute Javascript consistently. It’s not in the same ballpark as the many mature browsers available for Windows.

I don’t know how Apple achieved the results it brags about in its own testing environment. Maybe there’s something on my machine that’s interfering with Safari, but I keep my system in good order, and other non-Microsoft browsers (Opera, Firefox) work well. But regardless, Safari’s performance in an Apple testing environment is a useless benchmark for end users. What matters is how well the browser works for the user, and that’s not the measurement the company is using in its marketing.

Even if Safari is improved, I doubt users of other browsers will switch to it. There’s no reason for them to do so. As far as I’m concerned, Mozilla Firefox remains the best browser available – for Windows, Mac, or Linux.

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By Andrew – January 1, 2008

Lord of the Rings fans, rejoice!

Academy Award winning filmmaker Peter Jackson will produce two Hobbit films beginning at the end of the decade:

The makers of the smash hit “Lord of the Rings” films said on Tuesday they settled a legal dispute and agreed to make two movies based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” but most likely without Peter Jackson directing.

Oscar winner Jackson, however, has signed on as executive producer along with his wife and producing partner, Fran Walsh, who also was instrumental in making the three “Lord of the Rings” films that earned $3 billion at global box offices.

In recent months, loyal “Rings” and Tolkien fans loudly proclaimed on Internet sites that they would not support a Hobbit movie without Jackson’s involvement, and Tuesday’s announcement brought them some welcome relief.

I figured the Hollywood wrangling would end sooner or later – studios can’t make money by stubbornly refusing to compromise and insulting the other players involved.

So New Line, MGM, and Jackson have worked out a deal. Here’s hoping the two films they release are as good as the first trilogy.

BusinessWeek has a good writeup about the back room dealmaking that made this happen, and TheOneRing has a post suggesting what we might see in the second Hobbit movie, which may be a “bridge” between the original book and the Lord of the Rings.

Posted in Movies.

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By Andrew – December 19, 2007

HP MediaSmart Server software and support far from stellar

A couple of weeks ago, after waiting nearly a month, I finally took delivery of HP’s MediaSmart ex475 Server, which I’ve been wanting to try out ever since I heard about it in early 2007.

The system, which is based on Microsoft’s Windows Home Server, comes with a terabyte of storage, a 1.8 GHz processor (an AMD Sempron 64 bit) and 512 MB of RAM. While I’ve found the product to be very useful (centralized data storage, automatic backups, cool add-ins) HP’s software and support has left a lot to be desired.

I had reasonable expectations for the product, and I’ve been mostly happy with it.

What I did not expect, however, was that I would encounter a major error after using the product for only fourteen days.

This morning, while logging in to my Windows Home Server, I was greeted by this error:

Input string was not in a correct format. At system.Number.StringToNumber(String st, NumberStyles options, NumberBuffer & number, NumberFormat.Info.info, Boolean parseDecimal)
At System.Number.ParseInt64(String value, NumberStyles options, NumberFormatInto numfmt)
At HPConfiguration.IniFile.GetLong(String key, Int64 defaultVal)
At MediaSmartUpdate.MediaSmartUpdate.GetiniConfig()
At MediaSmartUpdate.MediaSmartUpdater.GetSettingsValues()
At Microsoft.HomeServer.HomeServerConsoleTab.HPSU. HomeServerSettingsExtender.initializeMembers(IConsoleServices.svc)

The console loaded after I clicked okay, but under “HP MediaSmart Software Updates”, where I’ve previously seen the date of the last update, there were instead six Xs:

MediaSmart Server - HP Update Blanks

It seems the error is a malfunction in HP’s own software, which essentially runs on top of the Windows Home Server platform. The problem seem to be affecting the performance of the operating system, fortunately, but it is certainly annoying.

Thinking I should report the problem, I went to the ex475’s support page, and was surprised to find that email and live chat support for the MediaSmart server are not available:

E-mail HP

Support E-mail not available
» E-mail questions before you buy

So I called HP instead – the only provided option for contacting the company in regards to the ex475. The representative that I spoke with had not heard of the problem, and all he could suggest was doing a server recovery, which would result in losing operating system settings, including user accounts. I suggested that HP take the opportunity to investigate the problem, and he fortunately saw the wisdom in that, so I have sent a copy of the error message to HP.

It’s frustrating, though, that HP’s bundled software should just abruptly stop working. I certainly appreciate not having any bloatware on the system (trial offers, third party products, and the like) but why not just ship a clean version of Windows Home Server on a compact and sleek package of hardware, and let customers download the optional extras (like iTunes synchronization across home PCs, or the photo Webshare) only if they want them?

(There are great alternatives to HP’s offerings – if I want to easily share photos, for example, I could install the Windows Home Server Flickr synchronization plugin, and not bother with the Webshare).

My call to HP was the second time I had called the company about the ex475. The first time I called, I was curious to see if HP could tell me how to get into the desktop of my home server. (The ex475 doesn’t come with any peripherals, and the provided console software doesn’t have any kind of shortcut for desktop access).

After going through two people, including what sounded like someone at an outsourced Indian call center, I was told by the third that my simple question was “outside of his support boundary” and that if I wanted an answer, I would have to pay to talk to a product support specialist. Incredulously, I said no thanks. I managed to configure my router to support a Remote Desktop connection to the server on my own. I was able to run the .exe installer for Avast! Windows Home Server edition. (As far as I know, Avast! is the only vendor to be offering a security solution specifically for WHS).

There was of course nothing in the product’s manual that relates to the error I saw, although when I was flipping through, I noticed that HP had failed to properly proof the document before sending it to the printer. Take a look at this excerpt, Table 15 from the “Troubleshooting Tips for DRM” section of the manual:

Question/Issue: Why can I play and stream DRM content [from] my home computer but I can not stream it from my HP MediaSmart Server?

Answer/Resolution: The HP MediaSmart Server includes a media server for streaming iTunes music to PCs running iTunes through[out] the hous. See the section in the User’s Guide on iTunes.

For Windows Media DRM (WMDRM) content (protected .wma music and .wmv videos) the HP MediaSmart server does not support streaming of this content to DMAs at this time [do we want the "at this time"? we will support it after the February update; should we say that?]. Playing (and streaming) of WMDRM protected content requires that the device that is playing the content have a license for that content. When you downloaded the content to your PC, you also received a license to play that content on the PC. If you copy the files to the HP MediaSmart Server, you cannot copy or transfer the license to the server. The server must obtain its own license, and we do not provide for this feature in the current product.

As you can see from the bolded sentence in brackets above – which appears verbatim in the table! – somebody at HP forgot to remove a comment from the draft out of the copy that was sent to the printer. Oops. Pretty funny, too.

Perhaps more importantly, the paragraph above shows one of the fundamental flaws of digital restrictions management (DRM) – crippling a user’s freedom to move and back up their own legally acquired content (like a music library). HP’s MediaSmart Server cannot (yet) play or stream .wmas for people who have faithfully followed the encouragement of Microsoft and the RIAA and paid money for crippled digital music. You’re punished if you do what the record industry executives want you to do…funny how that works. I’m glad my music is DRM free.

Bottom line: if you’re thinking about spending several hundred bucks on a MediaSmart server, you want might want to consider another product preinstalled with the Windows Home Server OS, because HP’s MediaSmart Server software and its technical support have a good likelihood of giving you a headache, unless you’re really patient and enjoy solving computer problems.

Posted in Technology.

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By Andrew – December 18, 2007