This week at Mobile Tech Manor #9

By Sep. 26, 2008, 6:07am PT 3 Comments

Mobile_tech_manor_large_2It was the first full week after Hurricane Ike disrupted everything and my trip to San Francisco.  It was great to be home and working normally for the whole week and dealing with real life once again.  This week’s column covers some software upgrades, hardware recalls as well as some general observations about how things work at Mobile Tech Manor.  Join me for my weekly column of life at MTM.

Mobile Tech Manor felt quiet this past week compared to the week of the storm.  There are still a lot of folks in the Houston area that don’t have their power restored yet and others without water service.  We were lucky that the power was only out for a week and that we never lost water due to Ike.  It doesn’t take long in a situation like Ike to realize how dependent we’ve become on having continual power to our homes and offices.  That sounds obvious but as this was the first extended power outage I have endured in a very long time it was driven home to me how dependent I have become on all the gear and gadgetry that I use daily.  Take it all away and it’s a totally different life.  I am glad that is over.

Software Updates

This week I upgraded a couple of big pieces of software that I use daily.  Apple released an update for OS X 10.5.5 which I just got around to installing.  It went smoothly as OS X updates usually do but this one required two reboots during the install process.  That usually doesn’t happen so the update must have been affecting some very core OS functions.  It was a big download too, over 200 MB so it’s no surprise.  As is often the case once the system was updated I couldn’t tell what was affected.  I always apply these updates as soon as I have time to make sure everything is up-to-date.

I spend probably 10 hours a day or more in Firefox as it is my most heavily used program.  The folks at Mozilla pushed out an update bringing it to version 3.0.2 which went well.  I have always been impressed with Firefox updates and this was no exception.  I have it set to download them automatically so one time I opened the browser and it told me it was updating and would relaunch when done.  The update was incremental and hasn’t affected any of the extensions I use.  I still think that Firefox is the best browser out there on both Windows and OS X and while I have played with Google Chrome a lot it doesn’t touch Firefox for the way I work.

Windy OS X

This week I have spent a lot of time talking to Kevin about his experience putting OS X on his MSI Wind.  I must say how impressed I am that it works as well as it does although Kevin is still contending with some things that don’t work under OS X which is not surprising.  I have to admit that it’s got me thinking seriously about trying to put OS X on some of the laptops here in MTM, for the experience if nothing else.  I was amazed to discover that there is an entire community of enthusiasts and developers who work tirelessly on getting OS X to work on non-Apple hardware.

Once I entered into this domain for my research on the process I was blown away with the work that is ongoing to get OS X to work on just about every piece of hardware in the PC world.  I am considering trying this to see what the process is like from an end-user experience if nothing else.  I can only imagine how cool it would be to get OS X working on an 11-inch laptop for example, and I just may try it.  I figure it will show me how OS X interacts with hardware if nothing else and that may be valuable in the long run.  There will be more on this if I jump into this process.

Happenings at Mobile Tech Manor

Gear-wise this week has been slow.  I have mentioned how happy I have been with the Richard Solo Backup Battery for the iPhone although there is a known problem with the original model.  The Battery is supposed to allow simultaneous charging of both the battery and the iPhone 3G but the company had informed me after I bought it that they discovered that didn’t work as advertised.  This week they sent a replacement which is the 2nd generation battery and I am happy to report it works as intended.  It’s pretty cool to plug the Backup Battery into the iPhone 3G and then plug both into the adapter and have them both charged in the morning.

The Backup Battery got a real workout on my recent trip to San Francisco as it helped me keep the iPhone going and going without concern that the battery would die on me.  I used the iPhone a lot for email and 3G data connectivity on my trip and the battery was hit hard but the Backup Battery kept me going.  I still feel it’s one of the best purchases I have made in a long time.

Speaking of my trip it was great to spend time with Kevin once again.  People may not realize it but we usually only see each other once or twice a year and this was a great opportunity to work together.  He brought the MSI Wind, although pre-OS X, and I am impressed with the device.  Kevin is able to work away on the Wind without compromise and to us that’s a big deal.  He would simply open it up, plug in his USB EV-DO modem, and get busy.  He needs a second 6-cell battery though as he had to plug in whenever possible to make sure his battery didn’t run dry.

The HP 2710p worked well for me on the trip as I knew it would.  I have traveled with it several times and it is a champ at mobile computing.  Kevin can back me up when I say that the internal battery combined with the slice battery can keep me working all day.  I never even carried the adapter along with me, not even to the Mobilize conference which I knew was going to be a long day.  We showed up before 7 am and didn’t leave until after 7 pm but I still had juice left in the tank.  Kevin and I did video interviews all day and I used the 2710p in slate mode to conduct them.  I had the interview schedule and made ink notes on it to use for the interviews and it rocked..

Speaking of the trip I must compliment San Francisco on the mass transit system.  I was able to use the train system to get around SF and am impressed with how well it works.  It was a good thing that the 2710p is as light as it is since I always had it in my backpack on the train as I moved around the area.

Apple stuff

I need to hit the Apple store soon as the iPhone 3G mini-adapter has been recalled.  I haven’t had any problems with mine but since there is a fire hazard according to Apple I will exchange it.  I do like how they are doing it, you can either call them and start the process or just carry both the adapter and the iPhone 3G into the Apple store and get a new one.  I’ll do that in a day or two just to be safe.

Speaking of the Apple Store I ordered something that should arrive today that I am excited about. I ordered the Incase Sling Pack for the MacBook Pro since I am carrying it back and forth to coffee shops a fair bit and I need a thin pack to use.  It fits the 17-inch MBP and I can’t wait to see how well it works for that.  I’ve gotten a lot of good recommendations for this bag from the user community and am certain it will serve my needs well.

eBooks of the week

I am still impressed with reading ebooks on the iPhone using eReader.  It works well and the folks at Fictionwise keep improving the reader which rocks.  This past week I read a great book, Compulsion by Jonathan Kellerman.  It’s the latest in the wonderful Alex Delaware series, my absolute favorite.  In "Compulsion" Alex and Milo Sturgis have to deal with a serial killer who is a master of discguise and it is as good as all the other Kellerman books.  I have just started reading The Servants by a new author, Michael Marshall Smith.  It’s too early to tell how good it’s going to be but so far it feels like it’s going to start kicking.  I love books like this.

Wrapping up

That’s it for another week at Mobile Tech Manor.  Thanks for stopping by and listening to my ramblings about life and mobile tech.  I love writing this column and I hope you enjoy it.  Until next week.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.