FreedomPop Hotspot now only $40

Two months ago I blogged about my FreedomPop Photon Hotspot. I've been using it every day since and it's great. There are definitely dead spots along my daily routes (see Wimax coverage map), but overall I am quite pleased. It works well in San Jose, Oakland Chinatown, and many spots inbetween. I paid over $104 for it, for which $99 is refundable if I return it within a year.

Today they announced the updated model for only $40! I'll let you read the articles below as that will save me from having to explain everything to you. Essentially it is the same, $0 for 500mb 4G coverage. If you also want 3G coverage (to overlap the dead spots), it's $3.99/month.

Fierce Wireless

Cnet

Gigaom

Sacramento Bee

Techcrunch

For me, other than the original purchase price, I don't pay any recurring fees for the 500mb monthly allowance. When I dipped to less than 100mb left, I automatically got charged $10 to buy credit in case I overuse my monthly allowance. That credit never expires. If you turn off "Auto Top-Off" then you will never get charged the $10, but you will also only get to use 400 of the 500mb.

I currently have five friends that I connect with. Each of them give me an extra 50mb every month. So now every month we all each get a total of 750mb (500mb + 50mb + 50mb + 50mb + 50mb + 50mb). Towards the end of my month, if I have extra mbs that I know I will not use, I can give them to my friends in 20, 50 and 100mb increments. That way I can use up all the data instead of letting it go to waste.

So if you're still sitting on the fence, this is a real no-brainer. Once you get one, I can add your email to our sharing list and Boom! we'll all be up to 750mb just like that! Get another one for your kids and we'll get another 50mb! This is my definition of friends with benefits!

Sign up here: FreedomPop

Apple most valued

At the close of the stock market yesterday, Apple surpassed Microsoft as the most valuable tech company in the world. Today the lead widened even more. I know many of you are in disbelief that your beloved MSFT has fallen so far, or that your stock hasn't moved in 10 years... Am I gloating? Yeah maybe. But as an Apple faithful, I knew this day would eventually come. What yesterday proved is that I was right all along – that Apple makes wonderful products and MS lacks innovation, copies others, and is late to the game with half-baked products (Vista, Zune, Kin). Also this proves that more and more peeceer's are making the smart choice to end their misery. Unfortunately, many of my readers still refuse to let go, like a 40 year old still sucking on his security blanket.

I'm sure by now you know my opinion is very biased so please feel free to roll your eyes. Fact is, in my lifetime I've only used a peecee for a few days of training here and there, and I currently use it twice a month to do my timecard. What I find is that their desktop and menus are ugly and the workflow clunky, very unlike the elegance of my Mac. When I type on a peecee, I feel dirty, contaminated, like my soul has been violated... I can proudly say that I have NEVER even booted up a peecee in my life. And I never will. But that's just me.

What I do know I hear from my friends and family. If I had a dollar for every time someone said their peecee was slow, infected, crashing, in the shop, etc., I'd be a rich man. A part of me feels sorry for them, but a bigger part of me wants to say to them "Dude, you got a dell? Hahaha!" or "Wow, I would expect a better OS for $399..." but I'm too classy to pile it on :) All I know is that I wouldn't want to be them. Actually, who I really feel sorry for is the poor schmuck/friend they call upon (over and over) for tech support because they're too cheap to pay the shop $200 on a machine that has only a $150 value. Sure, I would do the same (it's the Chinese way), but is the cost savings worth the possible toll on your friendship? If I was that schmuck, I would immediately get a Mac and abandon the peecee just to preserve the friendship.

To make matters worst, generally the people that freak at spending a few extra hundred on a Mac are the very same people who happily spend a few extra thousand buying the EX/XLS/luxury versions of their car. Oh how people have no problem spending an extra $10k on a BMW/Lexus/Acura sedan over a comparably equipped Toyota or Honda because of the perceived "quality" and status. So let me ask, can a Lexus ES really get you from point A to B better than a Camry? And if so, at what cost? (Higher insurance, pricier maintenance and premium gas.) Are all those added creature-comforts really worth it? They say image is everything, but are you that much more the studmuffin/sexymomma with that fancy car when your kids are in the backseat?

Also, when you think about your luxury car, the annual depreciation alone is more than enough to buy a new Mac every single year. Hmmm, I can drive a beemer for 5 years and watch it's value plummet from $40k to $30K, or I can get an Accord for $25k and get a new iMac or Macbook every year and still come out ahead... And which one will bring you more happiness: sitting in your precious car while stuck in traffic? or creating incredible stuff on your Mac in the comforts of your home? Decisions, decisions...

Recently, one of the luxury car owners (and lifelong blanket-suckers) asked me what makes the Mac better? I started rambling off about OSX and it's lack of viruses and free preloaded iApps, but then I stopped. I told him to go ask someone who has switched. Since I've never used a peecee, I can't really compare. But of all the people I've helped switch to a Mac, NONE of them have ever gone back to peecee. Not one. In fact, in many instances, they've even convinced their spouses to switch too, so now they have two Macs in their household! Imagine that, a bunch of cheap chinamen willing to pay a premium for a computer! (Fortunately, some of us cheap chinamen also know a bit about value and quality of life.) Now the time they used to spend patching, upgrading and debugging is spent on just being productive. As they say, "once you go Mac, you never go back." To you all, you are welcome.

As graduation nears, some of you will get new computers for your kids. If you get them a cheap peecee craptop, then you are preparing them for a lifetime of hard labor. It's like in a village when a boy turns 10 and dad takes him out to work the rice fields. They'll spend their days frustrated, troubleshooting and rebooting. It's like forcing them to solve the Rubik's cube on a daily basis. At best they will grow up to be great problem-solvers. At worst, socially-inept nerds. Is this a chance you're willing to take?

Also you'll have the pleasure of training them not to open any .exe files or visit hundreds of virus sites that you won't know about until it's too late. Plus you get to do cool newsletters in Word and slideshows in Powerpoint using those snazzy transitions. They'll then thank you by taking that craptop to school where their unsavory friends can help fill it with satanic music, pirate software and loads of porn, thus crashing it and they you can buy another one. It's an endless cycle.

So instead of buying something that rhymes with feces, get the whole family a 27" iMac that stays in the house. Instantly, this beautiful appliance will add excitement and sophistication to your home, sitting as an inviting centerpiece begging to be explored. Your children's computer time can be monitored and limited. Your family will thank you for years to come.

You can also buy Apple's $39 iWorks and use it alongside Google Docs for cloud computing. YOU DON'T NEED MS OFFICE AT ALL. All .doc/.xls/.ppt files will open and save seamlessly from every computer. (Note: If you must use Office, rest assured that it is 100% cross-platform compliant – I know, I work with blanket-suckers all day.) Everything just works! You'll have peace of mind and will sleep better while witnessing your family do tons of amazing stuff on it. Now that's value!

To end, I would like to leave you with an excerpt from an earlier post of mine:

This, my friend, could be you – Penny-Wise and Pound-Foolish. Sure, you may save money up front. But at what cost? If I can mimic the voice of Al Sharpton:
"Guard your souls, my children! Don't be tempted by the Dell! It will consume you with instability, insecurity and uncertainty! Leading to loss of productivity, credibility, and longevity! Leaving you with feelings of negativity, irritability, and hostility. Flee my children! Flee I say! Lord have mercy!"

Right now you can even get a free iPod Touch with the Mac.

Dropbox - A must have for multiple computers

Do you have multiple computer at home? Or do you always take your work home with you on a jump drive? Or do you email yourself files so you can access from another computer? Your solution: Dropbox.

I recently started using Dropbox and it's great. I can upload/download files from my computer, laptop and iPhone. And I always know where the most up-to-date file is. It is fully integrated into my operating system, so it's just listed as another folder in my home folder. Other than the first time setting it up, there's no logging in, just instant access as if it was resident on your hard drive.

This cloud-computing service is a stripped down version of Apple's $99 MobileMe, but it's free for the first 2gb of storage. After that, it's $9.99/mo. for 50gb and $19.99 for $100gb.

Learn more about and download your Dropbox here: https://www.dropbox.com/tour

So are you REALLY a PC??

Here's a shout out to all my Chinese peecee readers. I just ran across this ad this morning and HAD to ask one question: Are the people at Microsoft nuts?? Are they really that clueless?? Okay, that was two questions.

Do they really think that featuring this handsome fella is a positive representation of the "pc" people? Do they think this will really drive sales or reconvert Mac switchers? Yes dude, I totally believe Windows 7 was your idea. And I do believe that Windows 7 was made for people like you, just like parenting classes and tetanus shots.

I mean really, if Microsoft bought General Mills, I could only imagine what kind of social rejects would be gracing the Wheaties boxes – Dennis Rodman? If Microsoft was smart, they would parade this guy to all the Apple Stores just to drive customers away. And what the heck is he buying? Looks like vinyl at Rasputin's.

Question: so are mohawks making a comeback? I've seen a couple lately. Honestly I see no benefits of looking like a freak unless you want a career delivering pizzas. And even if it were making a comeback, I'm not sure it's working with this particular guy. Maybe he needs some piercings or tats to complete the look.

Sure, he's younger and hipper than John Hodgeman of the "I'm a Mac" commercials, but I just don't see normal, civilized, non-skateboarding-trailer-punk people wanting to be more like him. Those castoffs are already on Windows because OSX won't sync their Zunes!

And the worst thing? He's Asian!! Is there any other ethnicity that is sure to fail as trying to be anything remotely non-law-abiding! This guy looks like a former playground bully that never grew up and still likes beating up nerds. PC's beating up on fellow pc's – that's gotta suck.

Though I saw this ad on BostonHerald.com, my guess is it was originally aimed for the Yakuza-wannabe crowd in Japan or the gangs in Chinatown. Sadly, here in the United States, Wiliam Hung would've been the best choice. Sigh.

I'm sorry, but some pc people just need to remain as pc people.

The Choice is Yours

Normal, non-techie, sensible, productive, tidy, reliable, creative, don't-want-to-be-interrupted-by-system-nonsense people will prefer the iMac. Others, unfortunately, will go straight to Dell.

Dear Tortured Souls,

I know over half my readers are logging on using Windows machines (aka PCs – rhymes with feces). Oh why use such an unreliable and boring system with unfriendly intolerant software? Don't you deserve better?

Apple recently announced the new iMac desktop computer. Fast, elegant, and fully loaded with the best programs normal people actually use (iPhoto, iMovie, etc.). But no, you continue to wallow in your clunky system using Internet Explorer, constantly closing pop-up windows and installing service patches and antivirus updates. Also you're getting the ire of your friends when you email them a 10mb attachment of 5 photos. Oh the agony.

"But Macs are so expensive!" Not necessarily so says this article. PC's are cheaper only in the sub-$500 range. But even in that price range, you can find a very capable used or refurbished Mac Mini. Remember, OS X is what you're buying. The computer is just a shiny container. It's software, not hardware, that will cause the most downtime.

Long-time Mac-basher John Dvorak wrote about his Mac experience:

I have no plans to move to the Mac platform for my personal use. That said, I have noticed that I've been recommending the machine to friends and neighbors when they want to know what kind of system they should buy.

I can see why the Mac is gaining market share, because the rationale for using one is simple. Do you want to deal with the agony of antivirus, firewall, antispyware, and other touchy software subsystems, many of which do not work well? Or do you want to boot Microsoft Word and write a document and be done with it?

Here's another article that claim the Mac is set to soar.

The word of mouth for any Macintosh is remarkably good, and with the negative press that Vista is getting, the shine on Apple only gets better and better. To put it simply, Apple's Macintosh is becoming the most logical choice for those looking to buy a new computer.

But I know many of you will probably never venture onto the fairer platform. You'll continue to ask me for help on converting PDFs, making slideshows and ripping videos because you "can't" do it on your machine. And that's ok, I don't mind helping (I currently have two video projects on my cluttered desk awaiting my attention). I know for you that your next upgrade will be a Vista box because you want the latest and greatest. So to you I offer this article yesterday from Walt Mossberg:

"If you install Boot Camp on a well-equipped Mac model, it can become a blazing fast Vista computer. A few days ago I bought a top-of-the-line model of Apple’s new iMac line, and installed Boot Camp and Vista. I then tested the machine using Vista’s built-in Windows Experience Index, a rating system that goes from 1 to 5.9, with scores above 3.0 generally required for full, quick performance. My iMac scored a 5.0, the best score of any consumer Vista machine I have tested. Obviously, a tricked-out high end Dell or HP box might do as well or better, and a lesser Mac might do worse. But the score was very impressive for a computer that wasn’t designed with Vista in mind."

In fact, our Mac is SO easy to use, today Dustin (age 7) called me on iChat from home to chat during lunch. Surely you are smarter than a 2nd grader.

Thriller!

I just had to share this video with you. I was a huge MJ fan back in high school, back when he was still ebony and not ivory. I ran across this video (don't ask me how) and just about died laughing! The performers are real inmates in a Philippines prison. This is what I call rehabilitation!

I grabbed this video off of YouTube and posted it back onto YouTube but under my account. Now why would I do that? YouTube freely allows you to embed other people's videos onto your website. But the problem with that is that the video displays all the pages that are linking up to it. So if it's a popular video with a million visitors, those million people may see your link and visit your page. Some people might like that but I don't want the extra traffic.

YouTube to my computer
So how did I get the video off of YouTube? I found this awesome website called vixy.net. If you go there, you can just enter the URL of the video you want, then select how you want the file converted (mp4, mov, avi, 3gp), and voila. It will convert the video and then download to your computer. The above 5 minute video took about 5 minutes total for me to download my own personal copy. Real fast. Real easy. No software needed. No account to register. I wish everything was this simple.

Capturing the Moment

This past Saturday we attended Hailey's 3rd birthday party. Unlike other kids' birthday parties, there was no junk food (except cake), just lots and lots of meat. Short ribs, steaks, sausage, and plenty of it. So much in fact, we had to invite ourselves over for dinner to help them eat the rest! And I heard a rumor that there's more uncooked leftovers to eat again this weekend! Woohoo!

As with any party, all the parents come equipped with cameras to capture the occasion. I'm no different. Thanks to my job, I have access to a digital SLR, a miniDV camcorder, and 3 point and shoot cameras. In the past I used to bring at least 2 of the cameras for maximum flexibility. But with all the kid and baby gear we now have to pack, I'm always looking for ways to downsize on the equipment.

The camcorder is great for video, but absolutely horrible for still pics. I have a pocket point and shoot camera which can record video, but you can't zoom and it's mono. The SLR is great for photos (especially fast motion), but no video, and it's HUGE to lug around.

Recently I discovered the perfect compromise to an all-in-one solution. The Canon Powershot S2IS. A 5 megapixel point and shoot with an incredible 12x optical zoom lense. My new best friend.

The S2IS is larger than typical cameras, but smaller than most camcorders. It shoots video at 640x480, 30 frames per sec, which is standard television resolution. And unlike other cameras, the large 12x zoom is actually operable while shooting video. (Smaller cameras disable the zoom during video because of motor noise.) Also, with its separate buttons for video and photos, you can both shoot and film simultaneously at any time. In video mode you can take a full 5mpix photo and vice versa. All the photos shown here were taken while I was filming. In the video you'll hear the retro shutter sound and display a momentary still. Really cool!

Of course nothing is perfect. Video can take up tons of space quick. Unlike a MiniDV tape holding 90 minutes of video, the size of your memory card will dictate space. A 2gb SD card ($22) will hold 12 minutes of video at 640x480 or 48 minutes at 320x240 (perfect for YouTube). So I would say recording a concert is not its best use. But following your kids snapping and recording the funky stuff they do – it's downright perfect. Most of my video clips rarely exceed one minute. It's just to capture the essence/goofiness of the moment. And besides, people's attention span is short so it's nice to keep the clips short anyway. Once all the clips are downloaded, I easily assemble them in iMovie (sorry, PC users), editing out all the boring parts, and output to a Quicktime movie which I can either upload to YouTube or burn on a DVD. Yes, the quality is that good.

The S2IS has been replaced by the S3IS which is 6 megapixel. Click on the highlighted links for specs and review. The S3IS sells for about $300, but you can find a S2IS used on ebay for about $150-$200. It's a bit chunkier than your typical pocket camera, but I guarantee you'll LOVE the 12x zoom! Hey, good excuse to buy a new bigger purse ;) Shooting video is very addictive. You'll especially love it at amusement parks where it's hard to get a good pic of your kids on the rides. And unlike a camcorder, getting the videos to your PC is super easy as it downloads the same way the photos do. Give it a try and send me links to your latest vids. Just remember to get a large memory card.

Mazda Mater

This morning I ran across this page on making your car into the Pixar "Cars" characters. Since Justine is asleep, I thought it would be fun to try it (and Colby loved watching me do it). Took about 30 minutes.

Subscribe to my blog
Today is the 2-month mark of my blog. Since then I've gotten 800 hits. (I know the counter says 1000, but probably 200 of them are of my own doing.) So a big THANK YOU to all my supporters! Many of you may check in often to see if it's been updated (only to be disappointed). To save you time, I would recommend that you subscribe to my blogs so whenever I update, you'll get the blog text (no pics) emailed to you. It's fairly painless, just enter your email in the box to the right and follow instructions. Then you get a confirmation email that you click on and that's it. Should take less than one minute. And you can unsubscribe whenever you like (although I can't imagine why you would do that :o)

Also, stay tuned. Tomorrow I'll be trying out a new restuarant, New Empire Buffet in Livermore, for Zachary Lew's red egg party. I can't wait!

Peeping Mom

Yesterday I discovered something really cool! Did you ever want to monitor your home or office when you're not there? Do you have pets running around unsupervised, or suspect coworkers stealing your candy after hours, or wonder how good your kids REALLY are at home? Well let me show you how to set up an easy surveillance system that you can use from anywhere with an internet connection.

First you will need a USB webcam. Besides the Apple iSight, I would recommend a Logitech Quickcam Pro. The pro models works on both Mac and PC and has a built in microphone. Other requirements will be a broadband connection (on both ends) and a somewhat decent computer (Mac OSX 10.3+, WIndows XP).

Second, go to Skype and download the free software. You'll need two separate Skype accounts. Using one account, setup the home version of Skype to auto-answer calls and automatically fire up the webcam (see screenshots - yes, that's the view from my office). Then to check in, just use the second Skype account to call the first, and the webcam video will pop up. The program must be active and the computer cannot be asleep. If you're afraid of screen burn in, you can always just turn off your monitor, but leave the CPU running.

Last night I checked into my office (first picture) and noticed they left the lights on. When I got to my office this morning I tried unsuccessfully to call home, because the home computer was asleep--arghh! As soon as Chrissy got on, I called in and startled her. Note for all you women: the resolution isn't great, so don't fret about having your makeup or hair done. You'll look like the same pixelated glob either way. To me, the quality was "good enough" and the sound was surprisingly clear without much delay.

In order to video chat, you'll need a webcam on both ends, which I highly recommend for maximum experience --Wouldn't it be great for your kids to actually SEE your angry face when you bust them for jumping on the furniture?! But one webcam is all you need if you're only checking to see if Scruffy trashed your living room, or if the mailman is still at your house, or if your husband is still working.

For those of you shopping for a new laptop, I would highly recommend the Apple Macbook. Like the iMac, it has a built in camera, so immediately you'll have a second camera to chat with your family when you travel. Starting at $799 refurb. from the Apple Store-(sells out quick so check back often.)

So how does Skype differ from iChat? They both offer IM and video chatting and conferencing, but only Skype offers auto-answer and auto launching of the webcam, which is key for surveillance.

Skype is also great to make phone calls (to actual phone numbers, not computers). It's roughly 3 cents/minute to most places around the globe. So perhaps your cell phone has roaming charges, or you're like me, where I have zero cell signal from my house, you can use Skype to save on landline charges. Computer to computer calls and conferences are always free. With your Skype sign up, you'll get 24 minutes free to test--just enough time to call grandma in China to wish her a Happy New Year!