So after getting the iPhone 3G, I promptly installed fring on it seeing as how I could make skype out calls and skype to skype calls on the iPhone! Yes, I know..it sounds magical and wonderous, but my experience has been less than stellar. fring itself seems like a neat little app, but my skype out calls never worked. Until I found this:
As I wrote elsewhere, in addition to adding " " before the REQUIRED country code, if your logged into ur Skype account via your computer and you try to Skype via ur iPhone, the call will terminate as well.
Yup that's right. This is absolutely a hidden "feature" of fring. Now, granted skype does add the little "+" sign for you, but seriously, fring should have anticipated this pain point and at least thrown up a dialog box that says, "Hey Skype Out-ster, you may want to add a "+" by HOLDING DOWN THE 0 on the dialer before the country code (and yes, you need that country code)."
After you figure this out, fring actually gets a bit more useful and interesting.
[via iPhone 3G | iPod touch Forums]
I just remembered that I needed to get some Splenda and deodorant so I fire up Amazon.com, found out that I can "subscribe(?!?)" to Splenda (yes, you heard me, you can subscribe to sugar substitute) and save 15%. I also found that I not only shopped for but discovered new deodorant faster than I could at any store...about 2 minutes. I decided to give Tom's of Maine deodorant a try since we use their toothpaste and all of their materials are sourced in the US. So, not only do I not have to drive to the pharmacy, find parking, search the aisles filled with child-labor-produced-discount-fire-non-retardant-stuffed animals for deodorant, AND wait in line, but I can find what I need cheaper with 2 day shipping AND no tax on Amazon.
Today I read that I should buy Walgreens stock since they've taken a nice dive...actually I think I'll sit that one out thank you very much.Anyway, the other thing that struck me after I subscribed to my sweetener of choice is that I am sitting here with my phone attached to my PC and actually working. I know, I know, I've been doing this for a couple of years now, but it has just dawned on me that back in the good old days, right after college, I was pretty much shackled to my desk.
Remember that old IBM commercial with a skinny dude screaming at pigeons to buy and sell stock in the middle of St. Mark's Square in Venice? That has been my dream since I found out that cell phones actually existed. I think we're getting really close. I say 5-to-10 years tops until we get to the eye-embedded screen, ear-embedded speakers, brain embedded computer days.
filed under CoolTechnology DailyLife Hawkers Society (more tags...)
Since getting my sweet, sweet Dell XPS m1330, I've decided to blog my entry into the world of Ubuntu over at SwitchBuntu. Come on over!
Cool! One of my photos was chosen to represent the Tapestry Art Festival on the San Jose Schmap.
If you go to the photos tab and scroll through the photos, you should see one of my artistic creations there. Sweet!
Well, we're about 5 days from our departure date to Europe and making last minute preparations. As you already know (I think), we've decided to go sans laptop for this trip. What? No computer at your every beck and call? Preposterous you must be shouting by now. I think so too, but we decided against it since a laptop would comprise about 20-25% of our total gear weight limit of 40lbs. I still think we're a tiny bit over without the beastly machine, but at least we're not lugging a whole computer and what not around.
This presents a few problems in and of itself. First is that we will need internet access. Sure there will be Internet cafes just about everywhere, but we know those are about as safe as carrying your money around in a clear plastic bag floated by helium balloons behind you. I'm sure most are perfectly fine, but I'm not really in the mood to take a chance with my private info.
So what to do? Well, in this day and age, plenty. We're bringing a USB thumb-drive-ama-key-fob-ama-flash-amajig that contains a bevy of widgets:
- Portable Apps - a nice suite of apps ready to go for your USB thing
- KL-Detector - a free keylogger detector.
- KeyPass - a password keeper app (yes, you should put your passwords into this app BEFORE you leave home)
- LockNote - a notepad that uses AES256 encryption to lock up text...we're going to keep backup copies of our info on here...just in case.
- TrueCrypt - a drive encryption mechanism that will keep data safe in case it gets lost.
- Mouse Only Keyboard - a tool that will allow you to construct passwords by choosing letters and symbols on screen instead of using a keyboard. Sure it's slow, but it is much safer.
- Neo's SafeKeys - a variation on the on-screen keyboard theme.
I'm also thinking of bringing my PPC-6700. Eventhough I won't have EVDO access, it still has built-in wifi that should work with public wifi connections. The cool part comes when I login to my home PC via logmein from the phone. Since there are no keyloggers on my personal phone and the logmein traffic with my home computer is encrypted, we should be pretty safe. A little paranoid you say? Yeah, but at least my data will be safer for the most part. A little geeky elbow grease goes a long way.
Big Ups to The Great Geek Manual for point the way for us paranoid geekswho want to roam the earth.
filed under 2007EuropeTrip CoolTechnology FireFox Travel (more tags...)
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