Listened to TWiT 256: The Shirtless Page Turn netcast

• Netcast
• Innovation happening in smartphones that happened earlier with PCs, then Internet
• Consumers seem to want what is intuitive (touch) rather than what is fast (keyboard or mouse or other hardware)
• Google Search has to overcome flotsam created by search engine optimization, scraper sites, associated content (created by companies such as Demand Media)
• Funny Bing commercial 
• algorithms can be "gained"
• Facebook has real people (your "friends", people in your network) providing recommendations/Likes (aka search results).  These are the "curators"
• but how large is your circle of "friends" and how diverse are they?  Because people like people like them, what is truly new that you would learn from them?
• other social bookmarking services such as Delicious may be the answer

Restoring Windows Mobile phone

After resetting, need to restore applications and data.  My steps, approximately: 

1. Install programs from CAB files copied from computer to Storage Card
2. Set-up wireless connections 
3. Don't have MyPhone CAB, go to mp.windowsphone.com to download Marketplace bootstrapper.  Using Marketplace, install MyPhone
4. Restore data from MyPhone server.  Do NOT synchronize Contacts or Calendar
5. Configure ActiveSync with m.google.com to synchronize to Gmail Contacts
6. Use SyncMyCal Mobile to sync with my multiple Google Calendars
7. Customize which applications are launched by buttons
8. Speed Dial settings
9. Miscellaneous settings:  Display clock on title bar, Set phone to Vibrate and Ring

Re-setting Windows Mobile device

In an attempt to draw out the life of my Windows Mobile device bought in Sept 2007, I will be resetting the device (Start > Settings > System tab > Clear Storage). This seems to have fixed some stability issues in the past and I hope it will fix my recent problems with extremely short battery life, the phone not answering calls on occasion, and parts of the physical keyboard not responding well.  Not sure if Windows Mobile has registry problems like older versions of Windows.  Prior to resetting the phone to manufacturer defaults, for myself, I need to do these steps to back up the data:

• Back-up data on device
• Sync to m.google.com and then to computer using ActiveSync 
• Sync to myphone.microsoft.com using My Phone app  
• verify latest data in destinations

• In MS Outlook, save Contacts to .pst file.
• Calendar is read-only in Google Calendar ... no need to back-up
• Note programs installed on device, for later re-install  

ATI graphics card, dual screens, and Ubuntu

For some reason, whenever I have to re-start my Ubunutu 9.10 machine, which is very seldom, I have to cross my fingers and hope that I don't have any strange display issues.  Just this past weekend, there seems to have been a power outage at work and when I tried to boot into Ubuntu, I saw a blank screen rather than the login screen.

After booting into Windows XP without issue, I eventually choose to boot into "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-19-generic" rather than the current default "Ubuntu, Linux 2.6.31-20-generic".  I received a warning about my graphics configuration but was able to log in.  My display was duplicated on both monitors.

When starting ATI Catalyst Control Center, I received a message similar to "There was a problem initializing Catalyst Control Center Linux edition. It could be caused by the following. No ATI graphics driver is installed, or the ATI driver is not functioning properly. Please install the ATI driver appropriate for you ATI hardware, or configure using aticonfig."

There was further messing around to fix the problem which I think can be filtered into the following:

1. Use the lspci command to determine the ATI hardware you are using so that you can download the appropriate driver.  You also may just need to re-install the driver that you already have!  The current driver file for my hardware is ati-driver-installer-10-4-x86.x86_64.run
2. Attempt to run ATI Catalyst Control Center from the menus
3. If unsuccessful, run sudo aticonfig --initial=dual-head --screen-layout=left
4. Output should be similar to:
   
   

   Found fglrx primary device section
   Found fglrx secondary device section
   Using /etc/X11/xorg.conf
   Saved back-up to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.fglrx-6 

5. Reboot.  Attempt to run ATI Catalyst Control Center to refine settings. 

Hopefully this doesn't happen again for awhile.  If it does, I'll update this post as appropriate ...

Follow-up to this:  Upgraded computer to Ubuntu 10.10 and had to fuss with the dual monitors again as I was either getting mirrored screens or blank screens.  Steps this time:

1. With both monitors connected to computer, run ATI driver (ati-driver-installer-10-10-x86.x86_64.run).  My graphics card is a ATI Technologies Inc Mobility Radeon HD 3470
2. Execute sudo aticonfig --initial=dual-head --screen-layout=left
3. Reboot, but have only one monitor connected until after login into Ubuntu
4. Reconnect other monitor
5. Go to ATI Catalyst Control Center (Administrative) and set up Multi-Display.  Without reboot, the dual monitor (non-mirrored) should be working!

Setting up Mac Mini with Windows-based peripherals

Recently, purchased a Mac Mini for my wife's use (and mine), essentially replacing her old PC desktop.  That PC's power supply and graphics card had to be replaced with salvaged parts and now, with a smaller disk installed with Ubuntu, it is at my dad's.  Rather than getting another Windows-based PC, we decided to get a Mac.  Since we had all the peripherals, it made sense to get a Mac Mini.

The Mac Mini is an interesting device between a laptop and an immobile desktop.  It has wireless and built-in speakers and with it tiny form factor, it is very portable.  On the other hand, Mac OS X itself has not blown me away yet.  Using Ubuntu 9.10 at work, and mainly Windows 7 at home, these OSes have set a high standard.

• External NTFS-formatted disks - by default, Snow Leopard has Mac Fuse which by itself is able to READ NTFS-formatted disks, I have an older drive in an enclosure and connect it to our Mac via USB.  However, to write to this disk, we  need NTFS-3G for Mac OS X; this web site can be a bit confusing.  As of the time of writing, look to download "NTFS-3G for Mac OS X 2010.1.16".  There are links for "Tuxera NTFS" which is the high performance, non-free version.  The correct file is ntfs-3g-2010-.1.16-macosx.dmg and of size 19.6 MB.  
• Since we are using a Microsoft (i.e. Windows) keyboard, the modifier keys differ compared to an Apple keyboard.  Mac 101: Using your Windows keyboard provides some tips of how to cope with this.  Currently, I've mapped the physical Ctrl key to a virtual Command key, and the (non-existent) Command key to a virtual Ctrl key.  This makes most of the Mac keyboard short-cuts familiar to Windows users.      
• Using Mac OS X, what I find most frustrating so far is not knowing the keyboard short-cuts or finding that a particular key combination does something different from what I expect.  Here's a comprehensive list for a few OSes:  Keyboard Shortcuts.  Keep in mind, the physical Alt key on a Windows keyboard is mapped to the virtual Option key by default so most short-cuts can be achieved.   

Yahoo Mail versus Gmail: feature comparison

I've been a long-standing user of Yahoo Mail.  Gmail was a different way of thinking so I was hesitant to use Gmail.  Now that I'm using both their web clients and also accessing the accounts in Zimbra, I'm starting to see each of their advantages and disadvantages more clearly.

	Yahoo Mail	Gmail
Conversations	Not available with the web client although Zimbra does try to collect email into conversations, but sometimes does not associate the correct emails together	Yes, available.  With more use, I've grown more accustomed to it.  Will continue to evaluate.
Search	Yahoo's search is no slouch.  Searches attachments and allows you to further filter by folder	Haven't used enough to judge but I remember when my wife searched her Gmail (in 2009?), PDF attachments weren't peeked into; could be fixed by now
Contacts	Recently (as recently as early 2010), access to Contacts seems to be unstable such that addresses that are in my Contact are deemed to be missing and direct access to the Contacts list is occasionally not available	So far, seems stable
Folders versus Labels/Tags	Folders; simple to understand and use but can have limits since a piece of mail can only exist in one folder at a time	Now that I am using Delicious social bookmarking, starting to understand the power of tags as a piece of mail can now have multiple tags.  More flexible but can be more "work" to organize
Synchronization with phone	Not available with my Windows Mobile phone as far as I know	Yes, via ActiveSync for Windows Mobile so able to sync mail, contacts and default calendar.  For other devices
Open to other email clients	Other than Zimbra, don't know of any other clients	Openly uses standards such as IMAP and SMTP so any email client that understands these protocols can access Gmail
Security	Only on login	By default, uses a SSL connection (i.e. https) through-out.  Although that doesn't mean you can send/receive confidential information as others might be using less secure email clients
Archiving	Equivalent to moving to a folder (can be viewed as both tagging and archiving)	Explicitly available

Essential free software for Windows Mobile 6

From a user point of view, Windows Mobile is a shameful, embarrassing interface.  Possibly because of its stylus-based roots, the touch interface for its native applications are especially awkward to navigate.  Fortunately the crappy base applications that come with WM 6 can be supplanted by these free ones:

• The Core Pocket Media Player (TCPMP) - replaces the dreadful native Windows Media Player.  Excellent touch screen interface and handles most media formats.  Discontinued but I've never had a problem with version 0.72RC1
• Total Commander - the native File Explorer is OK for single-handed use but Total Commander has much more functionality as a file system utility.  However, because of so many widgets on its interface, a stylus is recommended although touch use is acceptable
• S2V - I can't say enough bad things about the native Pictures & Video app:  it's slow, very stylus-oriented, and generally useless. On the other hand S2V is touch-savvy, slick (like an iPhone app, despite how much I dislike Apple's closed philosophy) and responsive. S2V also works well with the hardware navigation controls so single-handed use is great
• Google Maps is a no-brainer to have available on your phone
• Skyfire - mixed reviews on this web browser.  It requires you to be online even to see your bookmarks as Skyfire stores them on its server.  However it is otherwise full-featured, and gives you a PC web browsing experience on your WM phone.  Yes, you can watch YouTube videos with it.  Just remember to be connected online before you start up this app as it otherwise won't stop trying to get online with a cellular connection (persistent bugger).  Conversely, I find Pocket Internet Explorer suitable for most web browsing on the phone because it is mindful of the limited WM screen real estate.  So in this case, Skyfire is not a complete replacement for Pocket IE
• Pocketxpdf - is a 100% replacement for the OEM Adobe Acrobat Reader.  Again the OEM app is stylus-dependent, non-intuitive, doesn't take advantage of WM's "right click" functionality, and generally seems to be programmed by a junior developer who has never touched a mobile device.  While PocketXpdf takes a little bit longer to load a PDF, once loaded, it is relatively fast to zoom in and out, responsive when panning around with your finger, and generally the user's view is very customizable.  I am now able to truly browse my course/conference materials on my phone
• WM users should also evaluate Microsoft's My Phone for backing up their phone contents online.  "My Phone" could also be viewed as a replacement for a Windows PC to sync to, if one is using Ubuntu exclusively as their desktop operating system, e.g.  WM users, beware of this Microsoft travesty:  Lost contacts while trying to sync on laptop 

One more tip is to re-configure your Buttons to launch your frequently used applications with a press of a hardware button on your device.  My HTC has a myriad of buttons so I've got them launching S2V, Total Commander, etc. with just a click.