TheAppDotNet: November 2007 Archives

Bandwidth Hogs

By Richard on November 18, 2007 10:09 PM

Although most of the equipment in the house uses a wired connection I do have a wireless router. My phone and the wife's iPaq are both WiFi and when the Marine is at home his laptop uses it, as well as my brother's. I usually just leave it open and don't worry about security. As long as my neighbors aren't on much and don't use too much of my bandwidth I haven't really worried about it but lately my connection has been pretty laggy.

I logged into my router tonight and discovered seven fucking devices connected. There are only two computers hooked up in the house getting an IP address, as well as our two handhelds. I set it back to using WEP and rebooted the damn thing. Guess they are going to have to find their own Internet connection now. What a PITA.

Ringtones

By Richard on November 17, 2007 5:29 AM

Since I picked up the new cell phone I can't just use the GetItNow apps bundled with most of the Verizon phones to pick up my games and ringtones anymore. Even when I was using them I would still download quite a few off of the Internet and transfer using Bitpim or a program like that.

Now I just use Windows Explorer and copy them over to my ringtones folder. The i760 uses true polyphonic ringtones that I can either record myself in mp3 format or that I have purchased off of the Internet at places like MSN Emotions Ringtones. I prefer the free ringtones myself. They have all kinds of different sounds for phones including Hip Hop Ringtones that don't really interest me, Dance ringtones, Country, Rock and quite a few funny ones as well as theme Ringtones from movies and television.

They also have the option to listen to them on the site so that you know exactly what you are getting before you download. Like most of the Ringtone places on the Internet it is subscription based and will get charged to your monthly cellphone bill so that you have the option to cancel it by sending a text message.

Samsung i760

By Richard on November 16, 2007 10:54 AM

One of the things I have noticed about my new phone is that when I leave for work I have to make sure and turn WiFi off as well as Bluetooth if I'm not using GPS. I don't use a Bluetooth headset so that becomes unnecessary unless I am going somewhere I haven't been before. Samsung supplies a normal battery as well as an extended lithium battery for the i760 and it's a good darn thing but even with the extended battery, as I discovered last week, if WiFi and Bluetooth are both left on all day it can seriously drain the thing. I finally started carrying the extra normal battery with me just in case.

HTPC Thoughts

By Richard on November 16, 2007 10:37 AM

When I rebuild my HTPC after the first of the year (I've had to put it off until then) I think I am going to try and run everything so that most of it is in the basement. My network router is down there anyway so all I really need to do is to run a bit of fiber cable from the living room into the basement and then pick up a couple of wireless doodads as well. Either that or I will try and get the smallest case I can find and then start using more USB TV tuners than I have in the past. There are some pretty nice ones out there. Mainly I just don't want all of the wiring and a big old PC case sitting next to the entertainment center. We have doors on it that close so that it just looks like a big cabinet and having a PC sit beside it is somewhat counterproductive.

The Effects of Getting Spanked by Google...

By Richard on November 15, 2007 1:34 PM | 5 Comments

Updated - Just got home from several hours of meetings this evening. What an enjoyable day off :)

All of my sites except for this one have been dropped to PR0 now, but it's the same for some of the bigger guys such as Techcrunch as well, so whatever Google is doing has broken some serious shit. Hopefully whatever it is will get fixed soon.

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It's interesting to see what's happened with some of my visits since Google decided I am an asshole.

This is a screenshot from one of the counters I use. Historically, compared to Sitemeter, Google Analytics and AWStats ZExtreme only seems to record about half of my actual visits, so the numbers themselves should be doubled but it should give you an idea of what I am talking about. I suppose since I have paid links links and don't use the nofollow tag like they think I should, I have been bumped like 50 places on any and all searches that might bring people here. Joke 'em if they can't take a fuck. The only searches they seem to let through are from images.Google.com and I am getting ready to block that shit.

I am torn about the whole thing anyway. Has the content gotten worse? No, not necessarily. I still post the same old crap except that I think maybe it's improved slightly. I post more often and write longer. I am getting like ten times the amount of comments than I was prior to that, and THAT's what blogging is all about for me anyway. The participation and communication between people.

The only part of the whole thing that sucks is that it DOES effect my income and I don't like the fact that Google is basically telling us that the only relevant paid links or searches are those which IT performs and if all your base don't belong to Google, then you are dogshit. So am I taking down my Google AdSense advertisements on the sidebar? Nope, they are still performing, although slowly. I am considering giving in though and adding nofollow back into all of the links that I can.

One Way To Get Rid of Cell Phones

By Richard on November 14, 2007 9:39 PM

Although I have several (quite a few actually) old cell phones stashed in my desk drawer, some of them broken, I can't seem to bring myself to throw them out (how's THAT for a run on sentence by golly?!). My local Verizon dealer has a bin where I can take them and dump them but that's 20 miles away and I just never seem to find the free time to just go get rid of them. Apparently I'm not the only one because something like 100 million cell phones are retired each year according to CellForCash, who offers us a way to recycle cell phones and actually pays cash for them. Very sweet. There is quite a bit of useful information over at their site. Here is the latest press release from CellForCash.

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This America Recycles Day CellForCash.com Wants to Pay You to Recycle Your Old Cell Phones More than 100 million cell phones are retired each year in the United States, and most are just stashed away adding to an already hazardous stockpile. CellForCash.com lets you upgrade without the guilt when you sell your old cell phone online. OCALA, FL, November 14, 2007 –- Has the latest cell phone in the TV commercials got your number? Do you want to upgrade your feature-challenged cell phone for the feature-rich model and do the right thing for the environment? CellForCash.com enables you to upgrade without the guilt by recycling your old cell phone for cash. Over the last few years the environmental hazard discarded cell phones can cause has become a growing concern. Research has found cell phones to leach hazardous levels of lead when disposed of in landfill conditions. As a result, programs banning electronic devices from regular trash pickups are becoming more common throughout the country. Some research suggests that less than 10% of cell phones are recycled. Others say only about 5% of people will recycle their old cell phones, and a few actually do throw them in the garbage. In any event, every month more and more cell phones are added to the stockpile. “America Recycles Day is a great time to remind people that the old cell phone they have stashed away shouldn’t be trashed,” said James Mosieur, CEO of RMS Communications, the company that operates CellForCash.com. “Responsibly recycling an old cell phone is free, easy, and it may even come with a payoff.” Mosieur encourages people to visit CellForCash.com before buying a new cell phone. “Consumers should be determined to recycle even before they choose a new phone,” he says. "Besides, getting $20 for your old phone could make the difference between getting the model you want and just settling for the one you can afford". CellForCash.com pays for over 600 different models of used cell phones and then re-markets them around the world. Payouts range from just a few dollars to well over $200 for each qualifying cell phone. If your phone does not qualify for payment, CellForCash.com will recycle it for free. Printing a pre-paid mailing label from the website and handing the package to your postman is a lot more convenient than going to the local landfill. Some recycled cell phones are used in the company sponsored 911 Cell Phone Bank program, which provides no-cost emergency cell phones to the elderly and victims of abuse throughout the country. Over 1,500 cell phones are donated to law enforcement and other agencies every month. “Phone upgrades do create a dilemma for the environmentally responsible, especially since most people already have a few stockpiled,” Mosieur said. “But as more consumers learn about recycling solutions like CellForCash.com, they’ll realize there is an immediate payoff for recycling; cash today and a healthy environment in the future.” About CellForCash.com CellForCash.com pays cash for used cell phones, and makes the process simple by displaying the phones it will buy and the prices it will pay for them right on the web site. It also provides sellers with already-addressed, postage-paid mailing boxes. The site lists over 600 models from 21 manufacturers including Motorola, Nokia, LG, and Samsung. For more information visit the web site at www.CellForCash.com. ####

CellForCash.com

This Post was Sponsored by CellForCash.com

New Toy

By Richard on November 8, 2007 1:25 PM

Other than the fact that I picked up a new phone when the Marine wanted an upgrade for his that had been stolen, I have pretty much been using the money I have been earning online for gifts (Christmas, Birthdays, etc..) and bills.

I found this little Freedom Keychain GPS unit online earlier today and ordered it. I have been toying with the idea of getting GPS to go with my phone for quite some time now and it was one of the things that I was looking for in a cell phone but is not included. I will be better off with an external unit anyway that I know will work with Google Maps and I may even look at some of the other free GPS software out there as well.

My birthday is in just a few weeks so that will have to be my excuse and will be my gift from me, to me, unless of course I make a shitload of money between now and then and find something else even cooler :)

I should get this tomorrow or maybe Saturday if I am lucky. Not that I ever get lost but it will certainly be nice to have just in case I follow the wife's directions going somewhere (he said as he ducked the blows...)

I still need to write a review of the new phone on my tech site, so if I ever get time for that I will post one on the GPS unit as well.

Day Off...Sort Of

By Richard on November 7, 2007 9:53 PM

I am off today and tomorrow, at least half of today. Since my manager at the top of the hill is on vacation I went in this morning to take care of the end of the week paperwork and closing out my weekly payroll and sending it to the corporate office. I managed to get home early this afternoon and took a much needed nap.

I have pretty much bummed around the rest of the evening, hanging with the girls and playing with my new cell phone. Did I tell you I upgraded my phone that I just bought a couple of weeks ago? The Marine had his stolen and wanted an upgrade to the exact phone that I had been using, the Motorola Q9m, and I wanted a real Pocket PC phone rather than an MS Smartphone. I picked up the Samsung i760 last Friday, the day it was released in the stores. Here is the i760 browsing the web full screen with Opera Mini, a very cool browser.