Cameron's Thoughts

I have finished updating the family pics section of this site. I actually did most of this a couple weeks ago when I added my resume to the site. I had integrated those pages left over from the old pre-Movable Type based website. Now everything here except for the NX page is based on MT. I planned on doing that at one time, but gave up. I probably never will since it's pretty much just there for historical reference now since most of that info is out of date.
But I now have some better pictures and some more up-to-date pictures of my family. Hopefully more to come.

This is a freeware app for Palm that allows you to access SMB shares (SMB is the protocol Windows and some other systems use for file sharing). This software has been purchased by Hands High Software and will only be available commercially in the future, but this version is distributed under a freeware license so is free to use and further distribute.

Click here to download (174kb)

I had wrote a couple of posts in the past about playing Divx on Palm PDA's:

• Divx playback for Clie's!
• Divx Playback Update

At the time when I wrote those, Divx support was brand new on Clie's. Things have changed since then. There have been some updates to the MMPlayer app that made it possible. But the biggest change happened within the last couple of weeks. Fellow ClieSource member CliePet was able to accomplish an amazing task. He figured out a way to access the high quality audio system that is built in to the OS5 Clies. Here's some history. The NX, NZ, and TG series of Clies all have Palm OS5. OS5 has a built in CD quality audio API. Sony choose to remove it and include there own audio system. Problem is, only two apps can access the CD quality audio. The built-in MP3 player and built-in video player. Other than that, all you could do is have the old style beeps and blips, or you could do 8-bit 8kHz mono sound. Not to great for trying to playback MP3's or watch videos when CD audio is 16-bit 44kHz stereo sound. Newer Clies don't have this limitation any more, but Sony would never revel how developers could access the sound on the older OS5 Clie like the one I have (NX60). Now, back to today. CliePet, using the same magic he has for other projects like this, not only figured out how to access the audio, but created his own API known as MCA (Modern Clie Audio) and modeled it after the PalmOS5 streaming sound API. What this means is that any developer only needs to make a minor change in their apps to support this. The developers of MMPlayer have been the first one's to do so only days after this has been released. This is the download for the experimental beta version of MMPlayer with MCA support. I have tested it on my NX60 and am very impressed. I took a Divx movie, and do zero audio conversion. I did convert the video bitrate down as the player doesn't handle high bitrates due to CPU limitation of the Clie. But, the sound was crystal clear. Unlike previous tests where the sound was very rough and sometimes hard to make out what was going on. On a 128MB MS, it's unlikely a full movie will fit and still have high quality audio. But, for people with 256MB, and larger MS's, not only can you fit full high quality videos on your PDA, you can now have high quality audio. This really opens the door to mobile movies on the older Clies since it can now play any Divx movie that will work on any other Palm or Pocket PC. Also to note, MMPlayer also know supports a variety of video formats including MPEG1,2,4,H263, DivX and MJpeg. Also limited MOV support. I haven't had a chance to test any of that yet though.

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

This week is button avatar week at ClieSource so I created a couple of buttons to use in my avatar. I made a 'ClieSource Mod' and a 'Clie NX60' button. I also used one I created a month or two ago, the one that says 'CBulock'.

OK. I seen this advertisement, and it seemed a bit strange to me. Why do they show a missle launcher being right next to the market and a residential area as being a positive thing. Yes, thank you Lockheed Martin for being weapons capable of killing numerous people into our backyards.

On Wednesday I had phone wiring and phone jacks installed in my house. I have now entered 19th century technology.
I have been living in my current place for about two and a half years, and bought it new. Never had any phone jacks, and when moving I decided that I would try the wireless only phone option. So for the last two and a half years, a cell phone has been my only telephone.
There were a few things behind that decision. I already had a cell phone that I never really used at the time. I bought it because I was driving a hour one way to school three days a week. I wanted a way to call in case of something happening. Of course I never did need it. But, I was paying about $30 a month for that, then another $50 for my landline. I then realized that I could by a plan with two cell phone for $70. Cheaper and then Nickcole and I could still stay in touch. To top that, at the time, MCI was my phone carrier. But, they didn't have the ability to move my service. I would have to switch my service to SBC (was known as Ameritech at that time). After they moved my service, I could then switch back to MCI. Plus, all the costs of installing the jacks, wiring and hooking up the service, it wasn't worth it.
Fast forward to today. I have a child. Nickcole always forgets to charge her phone. I worry something will happen and there will be no way to get in touch with 911 or anybody for that matter. I also am planning on getting DirecTV once they get local channels in my area. Should be ready within the next few months. DirecTV requires a phone line to operate. I now work for a phone company. I get a really nice deal on the phone service, so there is really no reason not to have one anymore.
So in an era of computers, satellite TV and worldwide Internet, I now have a landline phone.

In very sad news, Bozidar Benc, one of the most revolutionary programmers for the Palm platform has passed away. He was the creator of apps such as Launcher III and Launcher X and was basically the man who created the modern launcher that apps such as ZLauncher have been based on.

"It's with the greatest of regret that I pass on the sad news that Bozidar Benc passed away yesterday. As some of you may know he was involved in a serious car accident in early February. Hopes were high for a full recovery, but unfortunately his condition worsened and finally he succumbed to complications caused by the original injuries. Bozidar was 47 and is survived by his wife and two daughters. He will be sadly missed."

More info at LauncherXplanet.

Yesterday and this morning, I worked on a ton more updates to this site. Nothing is probably noticeable at first glance. I did change the coloring, but I mentioned that in the last post yesterday.
I spent a LOT of time at work yesterday working on code. (It was slow). Really, the biggest things you can see are on the mobile edition of this page. I had set that up a while back for an easy way to access this page over a cell phone or PDA. Previously, you could see the last eight articles posted, and that was it.
It is now very functional. You can now not only view the posts I made, but also view the comments posted to them. Plus, I added an archive function to the mobile version so you can now view all the past posts that I have ever made. I hope to soon add a search feature too.

I've went ahead and updated the look of this page a little. I like it, but I don't know if that's because it's better than the old design, or just because it's new. I'd love to hear what others think. Should I stick with the all grey backgrounds, or go with this grey/black mix. I also plan on doing more design updates as I am starting to figure out this whole CSS thing (I'm still too attached to the old school HTML rules of web page design, but now that I am understanding CSS, I can see it is worlds better.)

I just added a resume to the side of this page now. Anyone wanting to hire my can now easily access this information and quickly hire me for a high paying job. I also finally got around to updating the family pics section of this page. Those links can be found on the side here under the section 'My Own Pages'.

Not that this is really shocking or anything, it just gave me a nice laugh. Here's a video of Donald Rumsfeld flat out lying on an interview and then proved wrong on air. Look's like it was on the show Meet the Press. http://www.moveon.org/censure/caughtonvideo/

I am afraid for humanity by the type of people allowed to make decisions. Instead of using their personal knowledge, they base laws on random websites off the Internet. For example, this story is about the city of Aliso Viejo, CA almost banning foam cups in city-sponsered events since the foam cups are made using the potentially deadly chemical dihydrogen monoxide. Anyone familiar with chemicals, even a high school chemistry class, might be able to tell you that dihydrogen monoxide is two H's and an O. Or H2O, commonly known as water. The city was fooled by this site. It's a very offical looking site, and it doesn't really lie about anything, it just makes you look at water from a different point of view. But people really need to be thinking about the decisions they make. If they are freaking out over a website that shows the dangers of water, what other kind of BS are they buying into?

I have been thinking a lot recently about what kind will be my next purchase. I still have quite some time to think about this since the lease on my current car won't be up until June of next year. I bought my 2001 Toyota Echo on a four year lease. It's a pretty good car, but I think I should be able to get an even better car for the same money I paid for that one. I bought it in June of 2001, and after Sept. 11 that year, with the economy going to crap, there have been TON better deals on cars. I have still seen deals much better than I remember back when I bought my Echo. Anyways, I really am having some trouble deciding what to get. I am a slacker, so I would like to be prepared once that June '05 date comes around. I won't be able to take my time then as I will need to have a replacement car ready to go. I saw my current dream car in pictures of the most recent Detroit Auto Show. The Nissan Actic. Though only a concept car, if this came out, it would be pretty cool. Looks a bit different, but it's kinda like something you might see in a movie of the future, like A.I.. Here are a few highlight's about this car that I like:

"The IT system boasts a 100-gigabyte memory and a portable wireless hard drive. The LCD roof panels provide the ability to use visual displays to change the “interior environment.” The Actic is the future contained in a rounded silver pod."
From North American International Auto Show website.

"Actic provides nearly unlimited opportunities for its users to explore and challenge the relationship between exterior and interior environments and to introduce elements of personalization by projecting video displays on a series of six roof-mounted flat LCD screens."
From NAIAS 2004 Highlights: Nissan Actic Concept.

Other than that, there are a few other cars currently on the market that I am looking at. I have kind of been thinking about the 'modern stationwagon' look of the Toyota Matrix and the Pontiac Vibe. I would probably go with the Pontiac though as my Dad works for GM and I get a discount for buying those cars. Another car that I like is the Mazda3. It's a sporty looking car with some nice features. I have also somewhat considered the Saturn Ion (another GM car) but I still have to look more into that. My mother-in-law just bought a brand new Hyundai, but not sure what kind. It was really nice with power everything, a power sunroof, and keyless entry. They were able to talk the price down to under $12,000. So far, these are the cars I am considering. I have also heard some commercials on the radio for Sundance (a somewhat local dealership) having Chevy Malibu's for like $190 a month and Grand Prix's for $220 a month. Those are some nice car's and for prices like that it might be worth checking out.

I don't know why, but recently my computer can't keep track of time anymore. A little bit a go, I was almost late for work because my computer said I had about an hour before I had to be there, but in fact I only had about 20 minutes (this was when I was working at McDonald's). I reset the clock. I have then been having to reset it more frequently as the last couple of weeks have been going on. I have Windows set to automatically update the clock, but it only happens once a week. My friend Neil says I can change that setting, but he never explained how. So, I have downloaded a freeware app called Time Synchronizer. It updates to an atomic clock at the frequency that you set. I have to have it update every hour because I have now figured out I am losing about 2 seconds every minute. Might not sound like too much, but that is two minutes every hour. Leave the computer for 10 hours and come back, the computer is 20 minutes off. Windows' little weekly update isn't very effective for this problem. I would like to find out what is causing this because right now I haven't really solved the problem, I am only masking it. So, for now my clock should be okay, but now that means I need yet another app eating up my precious RAM. If anyone has any idea's what's causing this, feel free to comment. I've already checked to see if there was some kind of IRQ conflict with the real-time clock, but that doesn't seem to be the issue.

Recently I haven't been posting as much. Probably because whenever I am at the computer at home, I don't really stay on very long. I now have to sit in front of a computer for 8 hours straight at work, so when I am home, I just check a few things and then do other stuff. Eventually I will be able to do things like post from work, but right now I have to wait until I reach 'Tech Level 1' status or something until I am able to do things like surf the web, IM and do whatever else I want on the computers there. So, today I have a day off again, so I am going to possibly post more today, but we'll see. I have to do a few things like get some new tires for my car, and get my oil changed.

I finally have a day off again. I am not used to working this five days straight thing, though I know most people do this. At McDonald's, I had a nice set up where I would work three days, get a day break, then work two days, and get another break. So I never had to work more than three days in a row. I don't really mind working five days in a row, I can get used to it. Though I probably won't always be doing that either. For instance, after today, my next day off will be Thursday, so only three days straight this week.
Yesterday I picked up my final paycheck from McDonald's and I also received my first paycheck from Corecomm. From now on, my paychecks will be on direct deposit so I won't have to worry about that anymore. So, McDonald's is finally done. The uniforms are returned, and they now owe me nothing. There are a lot of memories being left there, but that place already has a foreign feel to it. Just when picking up my check last night, the smell of food and grease was actually noticable and somewhat disgusting. I haven't worked there for over two weeks, so I guess in that time, my system has actually recovered from being used to that crap.

Today at work I took about 20 calls or so. (I think that is what the computer said). I am feeling pretty comfortable giving people help. I think I might actually be starting to sound like I know what I am talking about because by the end of the calls I took, people seemed to be genuinely satisfied with my help. At first they just kind of seemed like, "Yea, whatever, thanks I guess." I could have taken more calls, but I had to do some training on telephone repair support and then just went over some other basic training stuff with my trainer Ruben.

I uploaded a picture of Hailey as a candidate for a future Jones Soda label. My friend Neil told me about this after he uploaded a picture there. You can see Hailey's and vote for it by clicking here.

PhoneScoop has a story about Sandisk's new T-Flash memory card. I think for once, they might have taken this shrinking of technology too far. How hard would it be to lose your 1GB T-Flash card. That would be really pricey to lose. It cool that it is really small for use in cell phones, but maybe they should just put more onboard memory in them, and worry less about the expansion cards.

The first music video shot entirely on a Nokia 3650. A cool idea, but I'm not sure I would exactly call this a music video. More like a guy doing a really bad dance to not so great music. But it was all filmed using a Nokia 3650 so it's cool with me.

Ton's of people calling in at work today complaining of getting e-mails from us saying we are going to cancel there service. I guess someone thought making a virus with an encrypted ZIP attachment looking like it came from people's ISP would be funny.

I think this might just be my next phone. I LOVE Series 60 and this is the first clamshell Series 60 phone. Ever since purchasing my Nokia 3650, I have been wondering about my need for a Palm OS device. Maybe my NX60 will be my last PDA. I don't really use it much anymore. I have all my contacts and calendar synced to my phone, and it actually does an even better job than my Palm. The new Cobalt OS will have better support for syncing more fields with MS Outlook, but Series 60 already does.
There isn't a whole lot of info out yet on the X700, but it does look nice and Jørgen Sundgot gave the physical characteristics such as the keypad and navigation keys a good review. That kind of stuff is important, especially since I already know the software inside is good. Sundgot is pretty accurate in reviews in my opinion so I would trust this device will be pretty nice. I am curious about the RAM though. Series 60 doesn't really have any high requirements, but a nice supply of RAM is good for multi-tasking. Opera really eats it up too when surfing the web. That's yet another reason I question the need for a Palm device. I would like the large screen to surf websites, and NetFront is a nice browser. But, Opera for Series 60 (for any device actually), just kicks the ass of NetFront. It's a full desktop browser with compliance to every standard, desktop and mobile.
Anyways, Series 60 is about the only way I will go with any future phone, the software library is already large and growing fast. Everything about the system is nice. I would also like a clamshell phone. I hate the screen getting scratched up, and the keylock is starting to drive me wacky.
Also, there is some more info, and a hi-res pic here.