Just wanted to post this for posterity. If you’re using TVTime but aren’t getting any sound, I recommend this, as it worked for me:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/tvtime/+bug/472770/comments/25
Thanks, Pete Graner
So, my contract with T-Mobile ended. Or will end. In any case, I was due for a brand new phone and a brand-spankin’ new contract. Though T-Mobile has been very nice to me, I wanted to see what else was out there. So I set out on my quest asking around to Sprint, Verizon, US Cellular — the normal suspects. Most had plans that were higher than T-Mobile for about the same service.
But in every single conversation with a representative, they were stumped when I asked them a simple question:
“T-Mobile has wi-fi calling on all their wireless phones. Do you guys have any phones that do that?”
All I got was blank stares, so I continued.
“Well, with my BlackBerry 8120 , if I don’t get signal (which is common in small towns when I travel or when indoors (read: The National in Richmond) my phone jumps on to wireless networks to make calls.”
I don’t want to get too technical, but it is just that simple. If there’s a more-powerful 802.11 (read: wi-fi) signal than the cellular network, my phone jumps onto it and from there I can make calls. It’s called UMA and it’s a killer feature. Instead of calls/texts/internet on T-Mobile’s network, I can do it on a wireless network at wireless speeds.
What I got from most of the reps is, “Oh, well… our Wi-Fi phones let you text and browse the internet.” No, that’s not what I mean. I want to make calls when I have terrible signal. DO YOU HAVE THIS FEATURE? “No.”
Slightly off-topic: Well, as it turns out, most of the companies do offer something similar, and it’s called a Femtocell. AT&T sells one for $150. What does it do? Well, you buy it ($$$), then hook it up to your internet ($$$) and it’ll let you make calls on your wireless network, while the company charges you for USE OF YOUR OWN INTERNET CONNECTION. JKOnTheRun puts it nicely, as does Gizmodo. T-Mobile actually leverages their use of this network with their @Home service, which for $10 a month you can make unlimited UMA calls (Get it… you’re @ Home?)
But this isn’t exactly what I’m talking about. And none of the carriers (save T-Mobile) who have Wi-Fi phones offer the service to make calls over Wi-Fi without extra equipment. The phone I have is over 2 years old now, meaning the technology is at LEAST that old. And not ONE of the reps in the 4 stores I went to knew anything about the feature?
So, anyway, I re-upped with T-Mobile on a better plan than I had, and I’m getting a Bold 9700. Pretty friggin sweet.
Thank you, T-Mobile, for not charging me out the ass for this kick-ass feature that apparently doesn’t get around to other providers.
But do any of you in the cell phone business know what the hell I’m talking about? Does this just not get around to the other companies?
I don’t use Twitter’s new RT feature. I just don’t. Sometimes I want to add a comment before or after a tweet, or shorten it.
But once in a while I use it out of convenience, when I’m browsing the Twitter website.
I did this on @richardroeper‘s feed, retweeting his information about his new book. Well, when something is new-RT’ed, it shows up who retweeted it on your timeline:
But when you go to hover over the “you” in that “Retweeted by you,” you’re presented with Twitter’s latest feature/bug.
It shows you pop-up information for user @you. Clicking the text in “Retweeted by you” will bring you to your own timeline, while clicking “you” in the pop-up takes you to @you’s profile.
How completely pointless.
When you hover over something tweeted by someone else, the feature works properly.:
Some of you might know I’m now tending to a beard. I’m keeping it short, and it will probably never be as luxurious as the beard I grew up till the day of Dave’s wedding:
But I’ve noticed something that bothers me about my beard. I’ve got red hair in it. There’s no other red hair anywhere on my face (or body) that is anywhere near this particular shade of red.
I would say that this is just a really light brown, but it’s very clearly GINGER RED and it only grows in certain patches. Does anyone else have this phenomenon? Should I dye it, or leave it as-is?
I know this post isn’t as incendiary as most of mine, but this is my blog and I decide the damn content.
Because I’m bored, I’m starting a new project. It’s called Billy Mays Chat Roulette. I use an image of the late great Mays in ChatRoulette and see how many people will give him the thumbs up. If you want to help, leave a comment here.
Posting this here because I deleted it from my PAGES on my website.
I’m borrowing a concept from Bill Maher, but the two are very different. I don’t claim to have ownership of the concept, but these will be posted here when I update either my Twitter or Facebook status.
Most of these “new rules” are going to be about customers at Walgreens, people in Lynchburg, VA or people I know. I won’t ever give any names, so if a new rule will apply to you, and you think I’m making it because of you, just accept it as my own view.
I don’t promise these on any kind of frequency — just as my life permits.
Used SCIgen to create “Byzantine Fault Tolerance Considered Harmful.”
Googled that title and found this SCIgen article: http://bit.ly/1VhBNI
Yeah, just a quick post here. No politics, no religion. I just want to say that I think Conan is getting shafted by the NBC executives. That said, Leno probably is, too.
Yep. IP address 194.8.75.141 is a spammer. Each time a comment gets posted to this blog, I get an email. I don’t auto-approve comments for that very reason — so I can check if it’s spam.
But this, this is terrible.
I’m going to ban this IP (and probably update WordPress AGAIN), but I thought you’d appreciate how annoying this is. Every time another one was posted (159 and counting, currently) I got an e-mail in my inbox… on my phone. Clogging up my inbox, making it hard for me to get to REAL important things I clearly have going on.
So, screw you 194.8.75.141.
Well, world, I’m back in Chicago. In an effort to save money, Julie and I opted to ride the Greyhound bus over flying or taking the train. The bus was considerably cheaper than flying or by train, but took the most time. It was slightly more expensive than driving, but if you’ve ever made a 13-hour car ride, you know why we didn’t want to drive.
The last time I took a bus was to visit Dave down at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. During that ride, I met a few interesting people, and made (as you do) bus friends.
This trip was different. The SUIC trip was many MANY years ago, and limited to Illinois, with one stop in St. Louis. This trip was different. 20 hours, 6 states, 2 transfers and a dozen stops. On this trip, I learned 10 key facts about life and traveling Greyhound.
1. Something in the driver handbook says he must repeat everything at least 4 times. “This is Cincinnati, Ohio. Cincinnati, Ohio. Transfer here at gate 3 if you’re going to Cleveland or Columbus. This is Cincinnati, O-hio, transfer here at gate 3 if you’re going to Cleveland or Columbus. Cleveland or Columbus transfers here at gate 3.”
2. Chewing gum between your teeth will help you sleep. When the bus moves, it shakes. Don’t try to lay down across two seats, because the vibration will make your teeth clang against each other.
3 This American Life is great time killer. Each episode is an hour long, at least, and makes a 2-hour ride incredibly bearable. There’s a torrent floating around with at least 200 of their episodes enclosed. Look out for that for even a car ride.
4. Effingham, IllInois is not alone with the giant crosses. I was always under the impression that the giant cross was a novelty people traveled to see. I was first proved wrong in the movie “Jesus Camp” (or was it “Friends of God”?) and procurd wrong again on this trip. One cross was not 100 yards from an adult video store. The one I saw on my trip might have been the same one featured in the movie. God bless America, indeed.
5. Every TV in every Greyhound station plays the Fox “News” Channel in HD. Enough said.
6. Nobody steals anyones cell phone from the charging station. The geniuses at Greyhound provide, at major stations, a surge protector-style charging station for the increasing number of people who, like myself, drown themselves in their phones for long rides. 8 to 10 phones at a time are sitting on this table, and nobody touches a phone that isn’t theirs. Even when another bus boarded and a giant group of people attacked the table to grab their phone, the only one left was mine.
7. Femullets are back in style. A lady boarded with us at Lynchburg and stayed with us till Indianapolis. She had a huge mullet. Huge. It did NOT look attractive. Business in the front, party in the back.
8. Feel free to discuss your probation officer, your priors and your favorite cigarettes with perfect strangers. People who have never met before exchanged details of their petty thefts of old ladies, their reasons for travel (to see “my baby daddy,” she offered) and why Newports are better than Marlboro Mild 72s. This all seemed bizarre to me at first, but then I thought, “well, you’re probably never going to see these people ever again, might as well tell your life story.”
9. Music from guitar sounds better in bus terminal at 3am. It’s a long-standing rule of mine that if I cross someone on the street or in a bus terminal who is playing an instrument, my wallet opens. I’m not going to give you a dollar for sitting on your ass holding a badly-misspelled cardboard sign. Food stamps and welfare from my tax dollars are yours to take, but i’ll be damned if you’re taking my cash from my actual wallet pre-destined for other purposes. At least you’re procuring a skill. My $2 that night blessed that guitarist, somehow.
And finally…
10. Some people will violate the cardinal rule after removing their shirt, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
