Gizmos Grabowski

Lose some OTA Canadian digital tv channels? Here's the fix

September 1 was the day that most Canadian tv stations were required to turn off their analogue signals. In August, I bought a digital tv converter so that our outdoor rotatable antenna could feed its digital tv signal to our analogue, picture-tube tv. It worked, and the females of the family were impressed by the better picture. (OTA = over the air.)

While away on a business trip in September, my wife emailed that she could no longer pick up CBC or CTV. I figured the problem might be that I had moved the antenna due to renovations at our house. Digital tv is not like analogue, where you can still get a fuzzy image; digital is ON or it is OFF. While back home for a couple of days, I climbed onto the roof, and moved the antenna around while my wife monitored the tv. No change.

I contemplated the financial horror of getting cable, and so spent yesterday evening trying to solve the problem. At one point I got distracted reading up on Wikipeadia why CBC in Vancouver is named CBUT -- it is short for Butte Street, the street on which the station first began broadcasting in 1953.

One sentence in the article described how this station began digital broadcasts in August 2009 -- and then came the key: on September 1, it changed channels!

That's right: the day Canadians are supposed to successfully change to all-digital tv, CBC (and CTV, it turned out) changed their digital channel numbers. 

And those of us who use antenna would never know. Here's why: when you install the digital tv converter, its first task is to scan and memorize all the digital tv signals that it can pick up. This I did in August, creating a list that became partially invalid in September.

I got the converter to rescan, it found the wayward stations, and I again saved myself  $1,000 a year in unwanted cable bills. (We now have a total of 8 stations.)

 

 

How to copy photos to your computer faster than Picasa

Google Picasa is great software for processing photographs, but it is painfully slow copying files from digital cameras that have large memory cards. Mine has a 4GB memory card, which is small for today, but can hold 2,000 photos. 

When it comes time to get the photos off the camera, Picasa slows to a crawl. The reason is that Picasa checks through all thousand-odd photos to see which ones have already been downloaded. This just takes too long, and I found a faster alternative:

1. Plug the camera into your computer's USB port. (Alternatively, plug the camera's memory card into the computer's card slot -- either way, doesn't matter.)

2. When Windows displays the AutoPlay dialog box, choose "Open device to view files with Windows Explorer." (If this dialog box does not open, then open Explorer on your own.)

3. The camera appears as a disk drive on your computer. Use Explorer to navigate to the folder containing the photos. In the case of my camera, Canon thoughtfully places each day's pictures in a folder of its own, such as "272Canon" shown below.

4. Right-click 272Canon, and then choose Copy from the shortcut menu.

5. In Explorer, go to the Photos folder under Favorites, and then choose Paste.

6. Now fire up Picasa, and it within a few seconds it will find the newly added photos.

Fixing the wrong aspect ratio for HDMI monitor connection

I have an Apple Mac mini, which sports an HDMI port, with a 22" monitor with VGA, DVI, and HDMI interfaces. I was using the DVI connector, since the monitor included that cable. I wondered what it would be like to use the HDMI connector.

DVI (digital video interface) and HDMI (high definition media interface) are the same, except for the following differences:

• DVI is video signal only
• HDMI transmits video and audio on one cable
• HDMI incorporates copy protection in an attempt to prevent you from syphoning off the signal and making copies, legal or illegal.
• DVI and HDMI use different connectors: DVI has a bulky square connector, while HDMI is slim and rectangular. 
• Monitor vendors seem to always include in the box a DVI cable, but not an HDMI one.

 I found a short HDMI cable at Walmart for $10, and connected the miniMac to the monitor. The aspect ratio was wrong and signal overshot the screen (the Mac desktop image was bigger than the monitor).

Weird, I thought. I pressed the monitor's AUTO button, but no change. I checked the miniMac's monitor settings, but all seemed fine.

Finally, I went through all of the monitor's settings, one by one. I finally found one that corrected the problem: signal type could be Cinema or PC. It was set to Cinema, so I changed it to PC, and the problem was fixed.

Android settings for 2G/3G Internet access over Fido

When I recently switched from Mobilicity to Fido as my cell phone carrier, I also got the Google Nexus S phone, since it was just $50. I then discovered just how much value Samsung adds to its own brand of Android phones, for my Galaxy S Vibrant has features I can't live without -- and for which I could find no acceptable substitutes on the Android Market.

With the slow read/write access fixed on the Vibrant (using Voodoo lagfix), I was ready to resume using this, my first Android phone. It works equally well on the Fido network as the Nexus S: phone calls and text messaging. But 2G/3G Internet access was missing.

I realised that the Nexus S worked effortlessly on Fido, since the phone was sold by Fido. All the Internet settings were in place. But not for the Vibrant.

I did a bit of searching, and then found the settings to enter:

1. Tap Menu -> Settings ->  Wireless and Network -> Mobile Networks -> Access Point Names.

2. Now tap Menu -> New APN.

3. At this point, you get a long list of settings that need to be entered; it just looks that way. Most of them can be ignored. Here's what you enter:

Name: Fido Internet MMS
APN: fido-core-appl1.apn
Username: fido
Password: fido
Server: 205.151.11.13
Authentication type: <not set>
Proxy: <not set>
Port: <not set>
MMSC: http://mms.fido.ca
MMS proxy: 205.151.11.13
MMS port: 80
APN type: Internet+MMS

Ignore any other settings not listed above.

4. Press Back.

5. Select the APN ("Fido Internet MMS")

6. Press Back.

7. Turn on Use Packet Data

8. Turn on Data Roaming. There are no data roaming charges in Canada with Fido; remember to turn this off when leaving Canada!

9. You're done. Press Home.

To force the phone to use the 2G/3G  network, turn off WiFi. The phone is accessing the Internet over the cell phone system when you see an E or a 3G on the status bar.

How I switched to digital tv for $50

Well, we made the switch to digital tv today -- for $50! When I was in the store buying the equipment we needed, the clerk said, "So many people buy just the digital antenna, find it doesn't work, and then return it, mad." For us, it was the other way around.

TV in the USA was forced to switch to digital-only broadcasts a few years ago; here in Canada, the analog transmissions get turned off end of this month. Unlike the American government, the Canadian government has not  been helpful in explaining what's happening and what needs to be done; we don't even get that subsidy the Americans got for buying converters. I found The Source's Canadian Web site the best source of information.

Some history: we have an aging CRT tv in our family room. We don't have cable; I installed a Radio Shack rotating "disc" antenna on the roof a few years ago, and we pick up six stations -- good enough for us.

After a lot of reading, I finally figured out that we needed:

• an antenna capable of receiving the digital signals
• a new tv -- or else a digital converter box to work with our old tv.
• reception. (We live in a bit of a bad area for radio and tv reception, hence the external antenna.)

I wasn't really keen on spending several hundred dollars on a new LCD tv, especially since I have a 100" projection system in the basement. I figured I would try the converter and antenna; if they did could not pick up the digital signals, then I could always return them to the store. 

I bought a digital-analog converter for $50 and a powered, indoor digital antenna for $30. After making the connections (antenna -> converter -> tv), and changing the tv to Channel 3, the converter took 5-8 minutes to search for digital tv stations. It found a few (CBC, CTV, and a couple others). Wonderful! 

My family was impressed with how clear the image now is. The image got clearer when I swapped the coax cable for composite signal cables.

Since the digital antenna was an indoor one, it could not pick up Global TV. I wondered if our "old" outdoor antenna would work. Since it was not so old, it might be equipped for digital.

I swapped antenna cables, and it worked! So now we get the big three Canadian tv stations, plus three or four others. I returned the indoor antenna. The clerk at the store was not impressed: "If you can't get cable, what's the point of having a tv, I always say," she remarked. Her reponse to the six stations we get was a snort.

My current Android apps collection

I have come to appreciate the enhanced apps that Samsung provided with its Galaxy S line of phones. I had the Vibrant, but got frustrated at (a) the GPS that never works; (b) the slow file access speed; and (c) the long delays in getting the latest versions of Android OS.

When I switched cell phone providers, I decided on the Google Nexus S (made by Samsung), because it eliminated the three problems listed above, and was just $25 with the three-year plan. However, all those lovely Samsung enhancements are missing. Among them:

- The camera app is rather plain, and I especially miss the real-time panoramic stitch mode. As replacements, I found Camera X as a better version than the camera app included by Google. Easy access to options, but lacks a way to view or share pictures. And 360 is an attempt at automatic panoramic photo stitching. Not as fast or as slick as the one on the Galaxy, but better than nothing!

- The status bar no longer has the handy mode switching. As a replacement, I found Widgetsoid. It lets you create your own master control widget for controlling phone functions. Many, many options. I have toggles for GPS, Orientation, Brightness (Auto/30%/1200%), Silent (causes Shush to kick in), and WiFi.

- The clock app is missing the stopwatch, and the alarm is not as lovely as Samsung's gentle awakener. Gentle Alarm is the third-party replacement for the alarm clock.

With this new Nexus S phone, I also got these apps:

ADWLauncher EX - a replacement home screen. The main feature I used is the ability to have 4 columns x 5 rows of icons on each screen, as well as five icons in the main dock at the bottom. Also has a nice balloon interface for changing buttons on screens.

Agenda Widget - displays Google Calendar items as a widget. Lots of customization of the look. I used the big 4x5 widget size and the smallest font to maximize the amount of calendar items displayed at one time.

Data Counter - tracks the amount of data received and sent by the phone, both by WiFi and by cell phone. If you don't have an unlimited data plan for your phone, then this widget reports how much data the phone has used.

Data Enabler - toggles the phone's data connection (2G/3G/4G). Since I have the cheapest data plan ($25/month for 500MB), I need to make sure the 3G connection is turned off most of the time!

DICE Player - the only movie player that can correctly play back MKV movie files.

LED Light - a widget that turns on the camera's flash so that it acts as a powerful flashlight.

Shush! - When you turn off the volume on the phone, this app pops up and prompts you for how long to keep the volume turned off. Great for having the phone unmute in the morning automatically.

SwiftKey X - now better, because it includes cursor keys!

TuneIn Radio Pro - excellent user interface for listening to Internet radio stations.

Wireless File - lets me move files between computer and phone by WiFi; includes a file manager and an application manger. TIP: you need to press the Stop button to make it start!

Playing back hi-def MKV video files on smartphones

My son loaned me an MKV file of a recent episode of Top Gear. It is in high-def, 1280x720 resolution -- or "720p" as it's more popularly known.

It turns out MKV is a "container" format, popular for tv shows, which includes the video and audio tracks in a single file. It is an open source competitor to AVI, also a container file, and one that is more broadly supported.

I did some research: MKV is short for "Matroska Multimedia Container", and the "Matroska" is a loose transliteration of the Russian word for their nesting dolls. But to Russians, "matroska" apparently means "sailor suit!"

I have a $37 media player box -- dunno what else to call it -- from retailPlus. It has a USB and an SD card connectors. It reads media files  -- videos, music, photos -- and plays them back through an HDMI connector. I hook it up to the projector in my media room, and watch stuff on the 100" screen. But it does not support MKV.

I found a free MKV to AVI converter (AllToAvi), but progress is slow. It takes about six hours to convert one hour of video! Fortunately, I can watch MKV files on computers without conversion using VLC. (WinAmp and many other software media players also work.)

Dice Player for Android

Samsung supports MKV on the Galaxy S phones, as do some other smartphones. I didn't test my Vibrant yet, but my new Google Nexus S phone plays it back -- but only after I tested 16 media players. Of them all, I found just one -- very nearly at the end of list at the appstore -- that worked correctly with the enormous 1.5GB MKV file. All other players suffered from lagging audio or no audio at all, and most displayed serious artifacts in the video.So, congratulations to Dice Player from innoSoft!

Dice could use improvements to the user interface. Bizzarely, the menu button locks and unlocks the screen. But at least it plays back hi-def MKV files.

• DicePlayer free trial
• DicePlayer $3.95 

Unlocking a cell phone, the Samsung Hype in particular

My daughter upgraded her cell phone, and so her Samsung Hype (A256) became superfluous. This gave me the opportunity to try my hand at unlocking a cell phone.

I found www.cellunlocker.net and sent them the phone's IMEI number and the $7. ($7 is a lot less than the $50 charged by our national cell phone companies for unlocking phones!) The IMEI number is the number that uniquely identifies every cell phone. It is short for "International Mobile Equipment Identity" and you can learn more from Wikipedia. You usually find the number inside the phone, under the battery.

After a day or so, I received an email with the unlocking number, plus six pages of instructions. It's not that it takes a lot of steps to unlock a phone; it's that CellUnlocker.Net provides instructions for 15 groups of Samsung phone models, plus extra instructions should the phone freeze after unlocking.

The Hype A256 was not listed, and so I tried the instructions for "All Other Samsung." It didn't unlock. I wrote CellUnlocker.Net's tech support, but after two months still haven't heard from them.

My other kids needed to bring their phones in for warrenty work, which typically takes six weeks with Rogers. I thought I would try again to unlock the unused phone. This time I picked a set of instructions at random... and it worked!

For the Samsung Hype (model A256), type the following:

#7465625*638*
enter the unlocking code provided by the unlocking service
#

Typical Unlocking Instructions 

The instructions for unlocking a phone are usually similar:

1. Turn off phone, remove back, remove battery, and then remove existing SIM card.

2. Insert a SIM card that does not work; ie, one from another network.

3. Turn on phone, and wait for it to start up. It will complain about a bad SIM or other such message.

4. Enter a string of numbers and punctuation, as if you were entering a phone number. Often, these begin with # and/or *, have a series of  number specific to the phone, followed by the unlocking code, and end with more # and/or *.

5. Phone should then announce it has been unlocked, and the "non-working" SIM card should now work. You can make phone calls.

Important Note

Just because a phone is unlocked does not mean it will work with your cell phone company. In some cases, phones do not work because they do no support the cell phone company's communications protocols, such as CDMA (Telus, Verizon) and GSM (Rogers, AT&T). CDMA phones don't have SIM cards.

In other cases, the cell phone model itself is not supported. For example, the Samsung Hype does not work with my cell provider, Mobilicity. But the unlocked phone works with Rogers and its low-cost brand, Fido.

The state of computer magazine reviews

by Donald Beaton

 Joel Santo Domingo, lead analyst for PCMag.com, does in-depth review of new Seagate external hard drive on May 2, 2011. Poor Joel couldn't complete his testing because, "We didn't have an eSATA cable at the time of our review, so we couldn't test that interface."

Times must be hard at PCMag.com for they can't afford an eSATA cable, which costs $3.25 on Amazon.com (see

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=esata+cable&x=0&y=0)

However, his investigation did reveal one huge deficiency: "Cons: Adapters come in only one color." What does this tell you about the state of computer magazine product reviews today?

To read the splendid "Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Ultra-Portable Drive (500GB)" review in its entirety, follow this link: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2384772,00.asp

PS:

It's hard to find eSata drives now that USB3 is gradually becoming available. This is sad, because eSata is significantly faster than USB3. The nerds who named "eSata" should have chosen a name like Blitzen-Blast-Konnect (or is that too much like Thunderbolt?).

  

[Donald Beaton is a tech enthusiast and CAD user living in southern California.] 

Repairing a USB flashdrive that's "lost" most of its RAM

I use an 8GB USB flashdrive (aka thumbdrive) for ReadyBoost on my desktop computer's Windows 7. Once in a while, I notice that Windows loses the drive, and so ReadyBoost no longer helps speed up the system.

(Sometimes, the reason is that Windows 7 has unhelpfully shut off the power to all USB hubs. See solution that I found to this problem here.)

But this time Windows reported just 200MB total disc space on the 8GB flashdrdive. I checked it on another Windows computer, and the same report. I formatted the flashdrive, but even then just 200MB were free. Did the drive lose most of its Flash RAM? It was too new and from a too reputable vendor, Imation.

I plugged the flashdrive into my Linux netbook, and it saw what Window did not: somehow, while sitting in the back of my desktop computer and just doing its ReadyBoost duties, it got partitioned -- meaning, it acted like it was two drives. The main partition was 200MB, the part that Windows saw; the secondary partition was not active, and so remained invisible to Windows.

But Linux saw them both. I used Linux to remove the second partition, and then reformatted it again with NTFS. The full 8GB returned for Windows to see.

 

Another attempt at overcoming the Windows Defender virus

Last week I reported on trying to remove the "Windows Defender" virus from the computers belonging to my dad and one of my daughters. I thought I had removed it, but then it returned to my dad's computer -- as one commented suggested it might.

(The virus disables Microsoft's Defender software, preventing you from reinstalling it. It displays dialog boxes and alert balloons that look similar -- but not identical to -- Microsoft's own security warnings. Below is an image of an older version of the virus. When you agree that you want to remove the threat, it asks for $60 or so.)

The newer version of this malware uses "Vista" in the name, instead of "XP."
Image credit: 2-Viruses

 

Where does the virus come from? Your Web browser, and it usually downloads from an infected Web site to your computer -- without you knowing it. It is really nasty.

I was disappointed that both Microsoft (running on my dad's computer) and AVG (running on the daughter's computer) anti-virus failed to block the infection. On my dad's computer, I wiped the drive, reinstalled Vista, did the 106 Windows updates, copied over his backed-up files, and then reinstalled the apps. This took about a day.

I looked around the Interweb for other anti-virus programs that (a) were being commended and (b) would actually find the virus. I found two:

Avast - does realtime monitoring, and it found the virus lurking on the external hard drive onto which I had backed-up my dad's documents (prior to reinstalling Vista).

Malwarebytes - is a scanner, and it found several virii still on my daughter's computer.

This one has a nice touch: if it finds a virus, it reboots the computer into safe command-line mode, which is the best way to erase virii. Note that in this mode, you need to attend the computer, since the software pauses each time it finds a problem, waiting for you to respond. (This is not the fault of the program, but a reality of command-line mode.)

So I will see if these two apps are better than their better-known competitors.

Not that Mac users can be smug. The same virus is now affecting them:

Apple:  How to avoid or remove Mac Defender malware  — A recent phishing scam has targeted Mac users by redirecting them from legitimate websites to fake websites which tell them that their computer is infected with a virus. The user is then offered Mac Defender “anti-virus” software to solve the issue.

I wonder if this is now just the beginning of the virus onslaught for Mac users. We Linux users may remain in our smug positions.

New Apple ads recognize Android's ascendency

Earlier ads from Apple reported that its iPhone, iTouch, and iPad could play back music, display books, show photographs, and so on.

The new Apple ads I saw on tv Sunday evening change the wording to report that only Apple's devices had iTunes, iBookstore, and so on. During the new ads, I chanted, "Got it on my Android, but it's called Music"; "got it on my Android, but it's called Kodo."

The new tag line for the new ads is the rather defensive-sounding, "If you don't have an iPad (iPhone), you don't have an iPad (iPhone)." Exactly. I don't.

With these new ads, Apple is stating that it recognizes it is no longer the only game in town.

PS: Towards the end of The Amazing Race, RIM ran an ad for their new Playbook tablet. My mother-in-law, in town for my son's wedding, asked, "Is that the iPad?"

 

Eradicating the "Windows Anti-virus" virus

Last week, the computers of my dad and a daughter caught a virus that looks just like Windows own security software. You can tell virus from the real security software because (1) it pops up so many dialog boxes and balloon alerts and(2) it asks for money when you agree to "eradicate" the virus.

(Both computers run anti-virus software, yet were infected. Perhaps the anti-virus definitions were not updated? Both asked me where the virus came from; I don't know, but I suspect they clicked on a link in a Web page.)

I found the following steps work to remove the virus:

1. Download the free version of AVG from here <http://free.avg.com/ca-en/download-free-antivirus>, install it, and then allow it to do a full scan. The scan can take several hours, and it will erase the virus.

2. The virus damages Windows Defender, and you cannot reinstall the software. The solution is to rollback Windows by following these steps:

a.  Restart your computer.

b.  As it starts, keep pressing F8 repeatedly.

c.  When the boot options screen appears, select Safe Mode.

d. After Windows finishes loading, start System Restore.

e. Restore the system back to a date earlier than when you first noticed the virus, say a week or two earlier.

Windows will probably reboot the computer, and then Defender should be back to normal. You may need to reinstall software removed by the rollback.

Can't update your Vibrant phone? Here's six reasons why

If you are having difficulties getting your Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant cell phone to connect to the Mini Kies software, here are suggestions in fixing the problem:

1. You cannot update your phone using Mac or Linux computers, becasuse you need to use a piece of software from Samsung called "Mini Kies." (You can download this software from Samsung here: http://www.samsung.com/us/support/downloads/SGH-T959ZKATMB: click the EXE icon across from Device(Install) (Software).) Also, it is questionable if you can use Mini Kies on a 64-bit Windows machine; many report problems, so stick with Windows XP, or 32-bit Vista or 7.

2. Ensure your computer has Samsung USB drivers installed. (Check Control Panel's Unistall Software.) If not, you can download them from here: http://www.samsung.com/us/support/downloads/SGH-T959ZKATMB and then click the ZIP icon across from Device(Install),USB Driver (Software).

3. Uninstall any unauthorized improvements, such as lagfixs and roots. In my case, I had installed the Voodoo Lagfix, which sped up my phone by 2x. To uninstall Voodoo, follow these steps:

a. Connect phone to computer and mount the USB drive.
b. In the Voodoo folder, create a new folder named uninstall lagfix
c. Disconnect phone from computer.
d. Turn off phone.
e. Turn on phone, and then wait for Voodoo to uninstall itself. This may take several minutes.

4. Switch the phone's home screen back to Samsung's default, TwLauncher. If you are unsure how to do this, go to the Android Store and install the Home Switch app.

5.  Samsung recommends removing the MicroSD card. (Remember to turn off the phone before doing this.) This step also helps with the next problem.

6. Ensure that no files have file name extensions longer than 16 characters. (The extension is the part of the name after the . ) If your phone has such files, then the connection screen will flash repeatedly. To check this:

a. Connect phone to computer and mount the USB drive.
b. Search using the following wildcard: *.????????????????* <-- that's 16 question marks.
c. When Windows finds such files, move them from the phone onto your computer. Make a note of the folder names. Later, after the update is installed, you will need to return the files to the same folder(s). In my case, the Kodo ebook reader software was the culprit.
d. Disconnect the phone from the computer.

Now follow Samsung's instructions for updating the phone. Mine got updated to Android 2.2 today.

Speeding up Windows 7 greatly -- for $40

I read yesterday of a blogger's enthusiastic endorsement of SSDs -- solid state drives. He replaced his desktop computer's hard drive with a 128GB solid state drive he had purchased from Amazon. (The drive kit included the software needed to transfer the data image from the old to new drives, so no need to reinstall all his software.) He wrote excitedly about the improvement in speed.

This speed-up solution worked for  him, because his old hard drive contained just 60GB of files, and because he has enough money laying around to pay the $250 for the new drive.

The solution does not work well for those with large amounts of data, such as the 500GB and 1TB drives in my desktop computer that are 3/4 full. Here the solution is to use a large and fast USB thumbdrive for ReadyBoost -- the Windows feature that made use of USB memory to speed  up load times.

My desktop computer uses an 8GB USB drive from Imation. Through ReadyBoost, PaintShop Pro loads instantly, and AutoCAD 2011 opens up 5x faster. This speedup cost me just $35.

There is no problem finding a large USB drive; the problem lies in knowing which ones are fast.

The problem of LED bulbs from China via eBay

With the the prices of LED lightbulbs unreasonably high locally, I wondered if cheaper alternatives might be available through eBay.

Sure enough: 8W bulbs that cost $20 locally can be had for just $3 on eBay, shipped from China. I ordered two, and after two weeks they arrived. Each bulb featured 149 LEDs!

I plugged one in to ascertain its brightness and cone of illumination. (Many LED bulbs for sale locally are designed for spot lighting, meaning the light does not spread out over a wide angle, and so are unsuitable for general use.) I was immediately disappointed.

The LEDS at the flat end lit dimly; those around the circumference, not at all. After some further testing, I took apart the bulb. (It was made of plastic and held together with six machine screws.) Immediately I saw the problems: hand soldering and serial wiring.

Every one of roughly 300 connections was hand soldered. This is a problem, because soldering by hand can lead to missed connections, and to cold solder joints -- as I know from my teenage years of hand-soldering electrical components. I felt sorry for the poor Chinese laborers who had to tediously hand solder all these bulbs.

Serial wiring is a problem, because just one bad connection means that all connected lights no longer work-- just like with an old set of Christmas lights that uses serial connections: one bulb goes, the whole string goes.  The advantage to serial is that less wires are needed, bringing down the cost. The better parallel type of connection ensures the string stays lit, even when one bulb burns out -- but uses 3x more wires.

Then, suddenly, I was relieved that the LED bulbs did not work, for I realized that they were not CSA or UL approved. Had they caused a fire in my home, my insurance might not cover the cost of the damage.

I provided the eBay seller with negative feedback, and warned others to not purchase these LED bulbs. Quickly, he responded, saying he would refund my entire purchase price (no need to ship the bulbs back to him). All I needed to do was to remove the negative feedback.

I refused, telling him I wanted warn against procuring the problematic product. His next response: the bulbs were meant for 220V systems, not the 110V I use here. I ignored him. A week later, eBay contacted me for more information on this case, which I provided them.

 

What will be the (hidden) flaws in LED bulbs?

When greenist fundamentalists insisted that everyone must switch away from tungsten light bulbs, they even managed to convince some governments to make incandescent light bulbs illegal. Only the positive aspects of CFLs were promoted by environmentalists, governments, and electrical utilities. Our local BC Hydro utility even gives away CLFs during events at hardware stores.

But now that LEDs are the new Saviour of our haggard-looking and repeatedly-raped mother Earth, the negatives of CFLs are coming to light:

• They contain mercury, and so cannot be easily disposed.
• They do not last very long in typical lighting situations in homes, where lights are turned on and off repeatedly throughout the day.  

As it turns out, these "electricity saving" light bulbs operate longest when left on, thereby consuming power unnecessarily. It's true: the ones in our bathrooms burn out after a half-year or so; the one we use in the kitchen as a nightlight lasts years.

Which leads to the obvious question: what are the hidden flaws in LED lighting?

These are not your dad's incandescent bulbs, where electricity simply flowed through the base, along the tungsten wire, and back out. LED bulbs contain a lot of electronic circuitry to distribute the current to each individual LED semi-conductor.

They might not last very long. Our town switched its traffic signal bulbs to LEDs, and we are already seeing ones where half the light is burned out. Since these bulbs are made of hundreds of LEDs, I suspect the problem lays with the internal circuitry that controls them. Chinese-made capacitors, in particular, have a bad reputation for wearing out early.

Yah, so I'm waiting for the day in the future when some alarmist group or another launches its anti-LED scare campaign. Sheesh guys, make up  your minds. Your indecision over what's good for the earth is killing me!

 

LED light bulb pricing problematic

I am slowly converting our household from CFLs (compact fluorescent lights) to LED lights. The problem today is the same that dogged CFLs two decades ago: price and lumens.

(Our house was one of the first to switch from incandescent light bulbs to CFLs, having done that back in 1991.)

Locally, LED light bulbs start at $8. Those use just 1.5W, but are too dim anything other than mood lighting.

Up the wattage to 3, and the price jumps to $14. Now the bulbs are bright enough for area lighting.

Up the wattage to 8, and the price slides up to $20. Finally, we have bulbs that are as bright as the CFLs and  tungsten bulbs they are meant to replace. But 8W isn't all that energy efficient, considering many CFLs we use in our house use just 5W more. That 5W savings just barely pays for the $20 cost of the LED bulb.

(Why is it that only Wal-Mart sells LED bulbs locally?)

I've ordered some 8W LED bulbs through eBay, which were $3 each. It'll be interesting to see their brightness.

It's Lumens that Matter, Not Watts

One problem is that we were taught to evaluate the brightness of light bulbs through Watts, rather than lumens. Watt is the amount of volts and amps the bulb consumes, not its brightness. Lumens is how much light it puts out.

For the bulbs I mentioned above, the lumens scale farily vs price:

• $8 gets you 100 lumens (8 cents a lumen)
• $14 gets you 220 (6 cents a lumen)
• $20 gets you 350 (6 cents a lumem)

It's the Watts that Cost, Not Lumens

Our utility company, however, doesn't charge by the lumen, but by the watt. So, we need to figure out the cost-effectiveness of switching to LED bulbs through watts.

Even at 10c/kWH, saving 5W (24 hrs a day, 365 days) works out to $4.38 a year. It will take 4.5 years for that $20 LED bulb to pay for itself. By then, it may be burned out.

With the high cost of LED bulbs, I am first switching those bulbs that are on a lot, such as at the front door and the two inside the house that are on all night or all day (laundry room/night light), as well as the ones in my office.

 

Ten ways Android beats iOS (or, Why Apple is User-Hostile)

I owned an iPod Touch for about ten months, before handing it over to a daughter, where upon I have owned a Galaxy S Vibrant for the last three months. (I'm saying this so that you know I have experience with both iOS and Android OS.)

In many areas, iOS and Android devices are similar:

• Physical size
• Screen resolution
• Many apps are similar or identical
• User interface and touch controls are similar
• Interactivity between apps
• Task switching and multi-tasking
• Movie and still camera, GPS, Bluetooth, WiFi, phone, sensors, compass, etc.
• Pricing is similar 

- - -

Yet, iOS lags. From my experience, there are ten areas  in which Android is better than iOS. (Some of the features described below may be specific to Samsung devices.) Here is my list:

10. Flexible User Interface.  Android lets you choose different interfaces (called "launchers"), keyboards (I have four installed, but primarily use SwiftKey, $3.99), screen fonts, widgets, shortcuts, and live backgrounds. I don't like Apple's cold brushed-metal interface; I do like Samsung's custom interface for Android. (Indeed, it is so nice that Google is adapting parts of Samsung's GUI for future releases of Android.)

Apple limits iOS to a single user interface.

9. User-replaceable battery. When I travel, I use my portable devices a lot, so they need to have long battery life (like 33 hours for my Sony MP3 player) or have replaceable batteries. On a iTouch or Android, I typically go through 1.5 battery-charges a day. When traveling with iOS devices, you need to carry along external rechargers and then wait for the recharge to complete, which takes hours; for my Android phone, I just replace the battery and I have my instant recharge.

iOS devices lack replaceable batteries.

8. Full Access to All My Data. You can access all drives, folders, and files on Android devices. They can be accessed on the device itself, or through a connected computer, via USB or wirelessly. While Android has specific folders for movies, music, photos, and so on, you don't need to place any file in any specific location. That's because MediaScanner knows the location of all files. In contrast, Apple sandbags files to prevent one program from accessing another's data.

iOS does not allow you to access all your folders and data.

7. Instant Google Synchronization. When I first got the iTouch, I spent a half-day moving all my contact and calendar data from my Palm to Google. (The time was not in moving the data, but finding effective solutions to automate the process. I have 600+ contacts and 14 years of calendar data.) I could access this data on the iTouch, but was frustrated with the painfully slow and non-automatic synchronization. On the Android, synchronization is near-instant and invisible.

iOS syncs slowly with Google Mail, Calendar, and Contacts.

6. Shortcut Folders. Shortcuts allow you to access sub-sections of data stored on the Android device. (They are sometimes misnamed "folders.") The one shortcut I use lists starred contacts, in effect a mini-list of frequently called people in a quickly-accessible list. I like it, because it reminds me of the shortcut buttons on old Palm devices that instantly accessed the calendar, contacts, and so on.

iOS does not support shortcuts.

5. Alternative Distribution of Apps. You can install apps on Android from any source: the official store, from independent Web sites, side-loading from your PC through the USB cable or wirelessly. Android uses package files (also used by Linux and OS X.) My first disappointment with iTouch was when I learned CAD vendors could not simply send me their iOS apps to test; I'd have to buy them through Apple's app store. Unimaginable! And then there was that unfathomable bloatware known as iTunes.

Apple limits installation of apps and other files through iTunes and AppStore.

4. No Limitations on Apps. There is (almost) no limit to what kind of app can be made available for Android. Want an alternative keyboard, new interface, interesting UI font, better Web browser, or just a simple WiFi checker? Except for recently allowing alternative Web browsers, Apple allows none of these. The iOS experience soured for me when Apple pulled WiFi managers from their store; fortunately, I had downloaded one the week before. (When roaming with a portable Internet device, how is one to live without a speedy WiFi checker?)

Apple limits the content of third-party apps, and removes them from distribution retroactively.

3. More Apps Free. Some 2/3 of Android apps are free, which lead some iOS boosters to condemn the competition, saying it was proof of Android's impending failure. ("If developers can't make money from selling apps, then they won't develop for Android.") Then Angry Birds came along and made $1 million a month from the ads in their free game on Android. The anti-Android crowd forgets that there is no market for iOS developers in the areas of alternative keyboards, launchers, widgets, et al. In any case, I cheerfully pay for all apps that I find myself using regularly.

Approximately 2/3 of iOS apps are not free.

2. Widgets.  Widgets are small-interface programs that run on the screen, covering the area of three or four or more buttons. Widgets let you see data instantly, without having to launch an app. One of the widgets I use is CheckItOff (free or $2.99), which lists the next 4-5 appointments. Others include The Weather Channel Widget, Samsung's dual timezone widget, and a retro-style date widget.

iOS does not support widgets.

1.  Status Bar. The Android feature I use the most is the pull-down status bar. The right end of the bar displays icons indicating missed calls, new emails and messages, recent tweets, completion of software installation, and so on. Drag down the status bar to see more information about each item; press the item to directly access the app that generated the alert. I find it interesting that the status bar has become the primary interface for me.

iOS's status bar is not interactive.

- - - 

In summary, Apple is user-hostile.

Google's big announcement week

Engadget has this headline today:

Google's big week: Nexus S, Honeycomb tablets, Chrome OS laptops, and eBooks to boot

Well not quite:

• Nexus S - not shipping; initially available in just USA and UK.
• Tablets - Android for tablets not available until next year, unknown date.
• Chome OS laptops - not available until the middle of next year, at the earliest. 
• eBooks - available in US only, leaving out  94.5% of the world population.

So a 100% Fail, 4 out of 4.

In any case, I like my Galaxy S Vibrant than the proposed Nexus S for this reason: the Galaxy has a slot to add up tp 32GB RAM (on top of the existing 16GB). The Nexus does not.