Don't Back Down

It seems that there were rumors that palmOne would shortly be releasing a new Treo smartphone loaded with a version of the Windows Mobile operating system. Of course, palmOne now denies that rumor vehemently.

What they don't seem to get is the obvious. Sure, the Treo 650 is cool. But it's not available. I went through the whole hubbub a while back when everyone was waiting on the next smartphone. First it was the Kyocera 7135 (which is a cool phone). But it took so long to get to market, that by the time it finally came out, I had moved on to other things.

The Treo 650 will do well, I have no doubt. But what happens in the interim is that people get excited about the features and so worked up that they'll go find alternatives. Like my new Audiovox SMT 5600 (which now works beautifully). Does it do everything the 650 will? Dunno. I think it's probably pretty close, with the exception of the full keyboard.

But it works and I have it in my hand now. That means a lot. Not to mention the fact that this phone was $149 and the Treo will probably set me back $600. A $450 difference on a phone that doesn't really introduce much new in the way of features probably isn't the best route to take.

I suspect we'll see further erosion on the PalmOS platform and further adoption of the Windows Mobile platform, because apparently the PalmOS license is just too expensive to create a reasonably-priced device. Eventually palmOne will be just another electronics gadget maker and PalmSource will be gasping for air. Wonder who managed to convince those folks that it was a good idea to create a separate company?

I had some problems getting ActiveSync to work with my new phone, the Audiovox SMT 5600. Then I had problems getting it to work securely. I'm happy to say that I've finally managed to get it all working.

My first problem was that I couldn't get a connection to the server. We're using Microsoft Windows SBS 2003, and as you may know it installs its own certificate based on the computer name. This isn't so much a problem, but that computer name wasn't available externally. What's worse, I couldn't get certificate services to install on the server. I'll get back to that problem another day.

Read "Smartphone ActiveSync" »

There's been more than one time that I've driven past a business that doesn't know how to use the apostrophe. For instance, many times I've seen the sign out in front of The Window Pros. Presumably, the business name is short for The Window Professionals. Strangely enough, their sign actually reads The Window Pro's. Perhaps the felt they were creating a contraction our of the word Professionals and so replaced the missing letters with an apostrophe.

While I'm perhaps running the risk of simply regurgitating Les' blog, his guest writer Slick posted a link to Bob the Angry Flower's Quick Guide to the Apostrophe, You Idiots. While the strip in general isn't really to my taste, I did enjoy that piece. Thanks for the link, Slick (and Les). If you like that piece, you may be interested in the full-color poster, or you can get it on a t-shirt (or mousepad) in black and white or in color.

If Bob's humor is a little to rough around the edges for you, perhaps you'd prefer something a little different. To that end, I bring you Arianna Huffington's take on the very same issue. You may or may not agree with Arianna - I don't generally - but on this one she nailed it.

And if you prefer a more proper education on the use of the apostrophe, here is a piece from Purdue. One of the surprising bits from this page is that the apostrophe is actually used to indicate the plural form of lowercase letters. For instance, Mind your p's and q's. I did not know that. It is probably worth mentioning that this convention is not necessary with capital letters or numbers, as in You have quite a few CDs and I love the 1980s.

Another October, another round of changing the clocks. I think that only maybe half the clocks in the house are actually changed at this point. Luckily the computers and cell phones change their own clocks, or we'd be far, far behind in the process.

I've never really understood Daylight Saving Time (and it is Daylight Saving Time - no "S" on "Saving"). Sure, it's nice that we get an extra hour of sleep in the fall. But that has always screwed me up. In fact, I had one of the best nights of sleep in a while not long ago. Friday, in fact. Then Saturday night (Sunday morning, technically) changed the clocks and I haven't slept particularly well since.

In a week or three, I'm sure that I'll be getting into the groove of things again. Then, come April, we'll do the same thing in reverse. I just don't understand. The parts of Arizona that aren't on an Indian Reservation don't observe the change. Indiana has some downright goofy rules. Why do we go through all this nonsense?

Arguably it saves energy. I'm not so sure that this is a valid argument anymore. When we are home, we're using energy like crazy. On the computer, on the TV, on the digital cable box, on the video game system. I don't think that use is going to change because the clock is different. We live in a society that's more addicted to our pleasures than ever (electronic and otherwise). It's not going to matter if it's 7:48am or 8:48am.

Maybe it's time to do away with this archaic practice.

It seems that Tuesday's voting saw many bond issues across the nation receive approval from those voting on them. This isn't really a surprise - many people will vote for spending on roads or parks or schools. What I don't get is that people don't seem to make the connection between higher spending and higher taxes.

Read "Disconnected Reality" »