Technology in Mind

This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time and finally took the time to make it happen.  I was a 31V (Tactical Communications Operator/Mechanic) when I served in the US Army between 1987 to 1991. During that time my job was troubleshooting radio, intercom, and cryptographic equipment in the Infantry Batallion’s Bradley’s, M113’s, Humvees, and other vehicles.  We also setup the antenna and operated the MARS radio equipment while in Grafenwohr, Germany and other training sites.

So I finally buckled down, read ARRL’s book to prep for the exam, studied the practice questions, and then took the test where it was offered at a Community College yesterday. Now I’m anxiously waiting for the FCC to provide me with my call sign nr.  I don’t have any equipment at this time and might initially use Echolink or CQ100 to interact with other HAMS until I do. Besides, before I start transmitting, I need to listen in and just get more comfortable with  the jargon.

Where did the time go?  The last time I posted it was 9/3/2010. Now it is 3/17/2011 and I realized that it was time to decide whether to retain the Ortel German Mobile Number for my wife.  Really it hasn’t been used frequently, but we’d hate to lose the German number since we have it.  Again, it works great for receiving text messages from her family in Germany.  It’s not quite cost efficient for using it to send messages, but she might as well use a good portion of the credit before it expires.

Whenever she receives a text message, she responds to the SMS using http://sipgate.de or http://voipgain.de which have cheaper rates for outgoing messages. And as I mentioned last year, making or receiving calls using the German number while it’s roaming in the USA is definitely too expensive and would quickly eat through the prepaid call credit. So really this is a texting solution.  When she’s out and about, she can respond using the phone since she does have some credit, but otherwise she uses the computer to respond. I’ve programmed the caller ID settings for Sipgate and Voipgain to show the German mobile number though.

Adding credit is easy.

1. Visit http://aufladen.de
2. Click on the Ortel Mobile option and add 15€ (Euros) of Credit. (Or more if you’d like)
3. Then pay using a credit card. 
4. You then receive an email with a prepaid code.
5. Dial 1155 on the phone, enter the 16 digit number.
6. The system confirms back (in German) the number and prompts you to press 1 to confirm.
7. Press 1 and the credit is added.

Afterwards I added an event to my calendar to remind me to top up again in August.

I started thinking how I could continue to use the German prepaid SIM card I purchased for my  wife’s trip even though she’s back in the USA.  I did pay quite a bit more for the SIM card since I purchased it here in the USA rather than her buying a prepaid SIM once she arrived in Germany. But I had to keep the process simple since I wasn’t traveling with her.

Everything went smoothly. She had free incoming calls and texts while in Germany. And she kept her outgoing texts and calls to a minimum.  I decided that once she returned I could use the Ortel Sim in an older Sony Ericsson w300i phone that was just sitting in a junk drawer.  However I discovered that the phone was SIM locked to the old Suncom network, therefore I had to first figure out a way to unlock the phone.  After some extensive googling of discussion forums, I found a software tool that allowed me to overwrite the ROM and apply an unlock script. That did it, and then the Ortel Sim worked, roaming on AT&T’s network.

I used the prepaid credit that I still had on http://voipgain.com to test sending an SMS to the German Mobile Nr. and it worked perfectly. I then checked the credit to ensure there were no hidden roaming fees for incoming SMS messages. The credit amount remained the same.

However outgoing SMS messages were too expensive according to the tariff listing on www.ortelmobile.de ‘s website. And of course the incoming/outgoing calls are too costly as well.  So the only value this setup will have is permitting my wife’s family in Germany to send text messages to her without paying the International SMS rates.  I then registered the German mobile phone number with http://sipgate.de and http://voipgain.com .  That way she can send and reply to outgoing text messages through these sites inexpensively instead of using the mobile phone, but they can respond and the messages are received on her German number. The phone can still be used periodically to send text messages as well, since any unused credit expires every 6 months.

The trick with prepaid International SIM cards is that they have to be initially used in their originating country. In other words, a person can’t buy one over Amazon.com or some other online vendor and simply use it in the USA. The first time it’s used, the person has to be in that country or it could render the SIM card useless.  But afterwards it should work outside of the originating country.

Most of the prepaid providers want you to add credit periodically in order to keep your mobile number from expiring. Ortel’s website only permitted German issued credit cards but I found another site http://aufladen.de that did permit me to pay through them.  They sent me an SMS and an email with the code that I needed to replenish my account.

I will monitor this over the next 6 months (the maximum length of time before I have to ‘top up’ again) to see if this avails itself to much use between my wife and her family. Perhaps this information will be useful for others trying to maintain connections between Europe and the USA.

Here in the USA calling a mobile phone costs the same as a landline.  But in most countries calling a mobile costs quite a bit more.  My wife was traveling to visit her family in Germany recently and I decided to purchase a prepaid SIM for her so that I could easily reach her during her travels.

The great thing about phones in Germany and I believe in all of Europe is that incoming calls and SMS messages are free.  She would only use her prepaid minutes if she initiated a call to me or sent me an SMS.  Whereas, here in the USA, with most carriers if someone calls your phone it counts against your allotted minutes and you even have to pay for any SMS messages that they send you.

However, after looking at different VOIP rates, I quickly realized how expensive it could get for me to call her cell phone.

Google Voice rates show an international rate of only .02 cents per minute calling a German landline, but between .17 cents to .23 cents per minute to call a German cell phone. Skype charges 2.1 cents per minute to landlines, but 24.6 cents per minute to a German mobile phone.

So I searched for other options and finally found one that was more affordable at http://voipgain.com . Their rates were actually free to Germany landline, and €0.04 to German mobile phones.  The SMS rates were really great too as to what you’d normally pay. As the company is based out of Europe, the currency quotes are in Euros rather than dollars. They take many payment options including credit cards and Paypal. I uploaded a credit of €10 and that has proved ample for my calling my wife during her visit.  They do have different access numbers to initiate the call, but the easiest method for me was using their software. I added my home phone and my wife’s mobile to it, and could easily initiate the call. It would ring my phone first, then my wife’s phone.  The ‘free’ phone calls to landlines listed in a number of countries appear to be only introductory rates, so I think they’ll revert to some rate after 90 days of having an account with them. I really didn’t care much about the landline rates though because I already have a US based Google Voice number VOIP solution established in my mother-in-law’s home that I can call for free.

Because of their great rates, I’d highly recommend checking them out if you need to be able to call  or SMS International mobile phones.

I’ve been experimenting with the Second Life 2 Beta Viewer and I like it a lot. The greatest   thing about the viewer in my opinion is the newly implemented Shared Media. This began of course last year with the introduction of ‘web on a prim’. But this was limited to one per parcel, via the parcel media controls. It did permit web pages to be shown on a prim, but it was really limited.  There were developers such as Damani that really pushed the technology to it’s limit and tried to make it simpler in bringing up various web pages and  selecting various videos to display.

With the new SL Viewer 2.0 beta that has all changed.  Any object face can have a media texture. It’s not limited to parcels, and any prim can have a different shared media texture.  Individual avatars can carry their own shared media object, without even renting or owning land.

Currently I have the Damani MediaPRO Viewer in my virtual office which allows me to display YouTube videos and provides limited website viewing functionality. But with the introduction of the shared media in the new viewer, I believe that this viewer will soon be obsolete. That’s not to mention, a lot of my office inventory that runs on note card systems and RSS hovering text will soon be rendered obsolete as well.

I’ve also been experimenting with creating shared media objects that will permit someone to send me an IM from in-world to my Yahoo Messenger or other IM client using simple URL’s that point to flash sites.  However, it seems that the zoom in on these objects is limited and that causes the fonts for these applications to be to small in the display.  The idea is to permit someone who visits my virtual office to be able to IM me using the display. If I’m not online, then Yahoo would redirect the IM to my mobile phone and we could still connect to have a conversation.

  Another way to access Second Life via an Android device with more functionality is using remote software.  Recently I downloaded SoftwareForMe.com’s PhoneMyPC software and it works VERY well.  There is a $9.99 introductory price while it’s in Beta, but I’m not sure how much longer it will stay at that price. There is no free version to try, but do remember that Google Checkout gives you 24 hours from the time of purchase to request a refund if you find out the software isn’t what you expected.

Of course PhoneMyPC wasn’t specifically built for accessing Second Life, but I logged in, looked around my office, looked at inventory, etc.  Navigating isn’t easy as there are no dedicated arrow key, so I turned on the visual ones in the Second Life viewer.  I could read and type in chat and utilize it as if I were sitting in front of my computer.

I’ve only tried it over WIFI, but it should work over 3G as well. I’m not sure it would work that great over EDGE.

To me, the mobile software is of great use as it enables me to not only access my virtual office, but my computer and network at home as well.  Currently the software will permit you to connect to 3 different PC’s as well.

*** Update: One problem I’ve come to realize with this program is the fact that that if your workstation is locked then the program can’t be used. I always leave my workstation locked when not in use so this poses a problem. The developer says that this is to be fixed in the future, but until that happens I can’t use this program.

I’m currently trying out a 14 day free trial of the Mobile Grid Client on my Android phone which allows me to access a number of common in-world functions within Second Life.  I can use in-world chat, review profiles, teleport, and even provides a region map of wherever I’m logged in.  I won’t go into detail since their own website in the link above details all the features quite well.

My initial gripe was the fact that the software is not a one time purchase, as it is with similar applications in the iPhone market (i.e. Sparkle IM and Touch Life).  However, the Mobile Grid Client is currently the only option in the Android Market filling this niche, and their subscription prices are quite reasonable. After the 14 day trial, the subscriber can opt for either the 250L$($1 USD) for the standard version or their professional version at $450L$ ($1.75 USD) per month.

The primary features that differs the standard subscription from the professional is that the standard does not permit you to change your active groups, make payments, and the application only remains idle for 15 minutes in the background versus 8 hours for the professional subscription.

As an ‘Augmenter’ versus ‘Immersionist’ in Second Life I tend to look for tools such as these to compliment my real life Internet presence without having to remain tied to my computer at home. This application seems well designed and it appears that the author is actively adding new features and functionality.

Not only am I blogging again, but I’ve also re-established my Second Life virtual office, this time on the mainland continent of Gaeto. This is the first time I’ve chosen to use mainland versus a private island.  I am leasing my land rather than purchasing, as I’ve decided there’s really no difference with the exception of who you’re paying your money to.  Also leasing means no upfront cost of a land purchase and doesn’t require that you become a premium member. One of the first things I noticed with renting an Oceanside parcel is that I’m now next to Linden Water rather than what is available with  the private estates. This makes it possible to sail around the entire continent and there’s supposedly a channel that will permit crossing over to another Linden continent.

I’ve also setup an irc channel in my office that permits me to monitor what’s going on in my  SL office when I’m not logged in. I can now monitor activity using any IRC client and have even installed the AndChat IRC client on my Android phone for when I’m not near my computer.  It permits me to view conversations and even chat with the people within range of the IRC device.  This is using QuickFox’s SL Gateway Service.

I took a hiatus from blogging last year while my wife and I worked towards bringing our daughter home from China.

In October we flew to China and adopted our daughter and she is adjusting to her new home in the U.S.  There are more details on our family blog at http://timandheike.com .

Since that time, I sold my HTC S621 Windows Mobile phone and am now an owner of the HTC MyTouch3G. I immediately rooted the phone and flashed the ROM with one of Cyanogen’s custom ROMS.

Although I thought I would miss having some sort of physical QWERTY keyboard I haven’t missed it, and there are so many great things going on with the Android OS that I can’t say I miss my old phone at all.

I look forward to getting back to posting my views regarding technologies that interest me and perhaps even regaining a small audience.

Thank you,

Tim

“Click, Click, Click”, the Western Digital My Book hard drive continued to churn as it denied it’s presence to my computer.  So I unplugged the firewire cable from the hard drive and plugged it in again. “Click, Click, Click”, it continued it’s dysfunctional state. I tried plugging it into different firewire ports, unplugged the power cable and reconnected, and even rebooted the PC.  My episode suddenly became reminiscent of an Edgar Allen Poe story wherein the clicks became more audible to my ears, laughing and sneering at my situation.

Lest you think I’ve gone mad, and as reassurance to myself that my sanity was still intact, I searched the indexes of google to see if my incident was an anomaly.  And in a twisted sort of way, I found comfort in a group of individuals that had fell victim to the same heckling of the clicking sound.

You might think that I’m being quite unfair and despondent to the suffering of a dying hard drive, except that I can speak to the souring of our relationship before this particular day.

I was initially enamored with my external WD My Book hard drive, relishing in it’s bountiful storage space. It’s flashing blue eye tempted and beckoned me to fill it’s vast spaces with the contents of my plentiful data. I gladly obliged, filling it with music, pictures, and videos. And even so, it’s satiety was lacking and I dutifully began using it to backup the other computers on my network. With it’s enormous appetite I established it as a storage area for my PVR, feeding it vast amounts of video to fill it’s longing sectors.

Little did I suspect the drive to have any ill intent, at least not initially. But in hindsight I now sense the foreshadowing of it’s evil plan.  At first it tempted me with it’s flashing eyes to trust my data to it’s 500GB of space. It worked diligently to become a respected device in my network, earning it’s trust in it’s utility. Once it had sensed my reliance upon it, it began it’s taunts.

It taunted me with sudden disconnects as a network drive! Just when I planned to copy a file, the drive mapping was suddenly gone.  This was sporadic and it’s timing seemed to be in correlation to how urgently it felt my need.

It taunted me with it’s disappearance to the PVR’s scheduled recordings! I could feel it’s glee from knowing that in it’s absence it caused me to miss an episode of 24 or Prison Break.

It celebrated my frustrations in attempting to reconnect, enjoying my trials of unplugging the firewire cable in and out, repowering it on and off, until it suddenly would reappear of it’s own accord! There seemed to be no logic or reason as to when it would work or wouldn’t, no methodology could be discerned. It would begin working again upon it’s own accord.

And then it’s final taunt, it bore out it’s fiendish plan, something I now suspect was preconceived. As the My Book hard drive self-destructed with my precious data, it heckled and laughed with his flashing blue eye, and sounds of “Click, Click, Click”!

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