I recently got promoted at work.  I'm now responsible for QA Systems in both the Chicago and Denver offices of R.H. Donnelley Interactive.  With a wife who's 8 1/2 months pregnant, I find myself bouncing between Chicago and Denver, and at least twice so far this month.  My wife will likely deliver early, so no more traveling for me between now and the time that the baby comes.

So... I'm sitting here on the floor next to a plug in the Denver airport, shifting weight from cheek to cheek (cuz the floor is really hard!), trying to charge my Mac formatted iPod from a Windows controlled USB port on an HP TC4400 Tablet PC.  My goal is to NOT accidentally format the iPod so I can at least watch a movie on this flight. While its not long, I hate sleeping on planes, as I never sleep well, and usually come off the plane grumpy.

As a thought... why are AC outlets such a hot commodity in airports? You would think that in today's day and age with everybody and their brother carrying a laptop, there would be free power kiosks; or at least MORE PLUGS!  I hate being a power whore.., "Excuse me, you've been in that plug for over an hour, do you mind if we share..?"  Sheesh!  The dirty looks you get from someone with exclusive AC access..!

Anyway, As I was in the office, and at the hotel, and even here in the airport, I felt as though I was an unwelcomed guest in almost every location me and my TC4400 visited. At the office, while I could get "on" the Internet, I couldn't connect to my VPN through the wired network. I'm not exactly certain why...

I also could not use the built in wireless adapter at the office, because the security they have enabled on it is just nuts!  It also isn't very easy to get connected, even with the built in HP tools (where's Network Magic when you need it???)

My hotel (a Marriott) had a wired network cable in the room, but they wanted some ungodly amount to connect for 24 hours (like $15-$20 bucks); and I just wasn't going to give it to them... Oh you could get on, but you couldn't surf past their sign up page... Such a deal!

The same thing happened to me in the Denver International Airport, Concourse C.  I was able to get to the landing page; but I refuse to pay for access for casual surfing. It just seems too excessive to me.

I've got a Verizon PC5750 Wireless Air Card that the office got for me.  I use it to get access on the 120 minute round trip commute to the office and back to get some extra work done.  I have a love hate relationship with this thing, though.

I love it because its hauled my butt out of the fire more than once. Its gotten me access when, for what ever reason, regular network access didn't work (like the last 2 days in the Denver office...not sure what's up with that, though). I hate this thing because if you breathe on it hard, the drops the connection.  The Exchange 2003 Server we have at the office isn't configured correctly for mobile users. I max out my 32 allowed connections during my first session (the connection to the server keeps dropping, and instead of reestablishing the current connection, Exchange creates a new one, and leaves the old one(s) active.After 32 active connections, Exchange won't let you connect, regardless of your credentials.  My VPN software is also flakey, so it drops its connection every time the air card does, and won't auto reconnect when the Internet connection is restored.

Traveling with mobile data needs isn't easy. Finding a way of getting access (and apparently AC power...) isn't as easy as I thought it would be. Using my phone as a modem isn't a good option for me right now, as I have a greater need for a working phone (due to my wife's pregnancy) than for Internet access.

I'm not completely certain what the best solution is here, or if there is truly...TRULY a problem.  However, it just seems to me to be way too difficult to get and stay connected in a day and age when I really just want to get access, get some quick work done, and then get off.  Configuring networks to allow some people on, and keep the unwanted out, shouldn't be so difficult that legitimate, visiting users can't get the kind of access they need.

I know Jenneth has commented about some of this for our Down Under readers.  What is everyone else's opinions and experiences here in The States?  Am I the only one who has a need for cheap, affordable (read free) network connectivity that just works, or am I being too picky??

I do a lot of talking with my mobile phone when I'm in the car. In fact, its where I do the bulk of my talking. I learned a long time ago, through no fault (or accident) of my own, that if I was going to talk on the phone, I need to have my hands at 10 and 2; and my attention on driving and not on the screen of my gadget reading mail or fumbling to answer or make a call. To that effect, when I got one of my first Pocket PC Phones, the Samsung i700, I purchased the HFK that Samsung made for it. When you do most of your networking in your vehicle, this can be difficult at best. This is the number one reason why people like me need to have some kind of a hands free way of making and taking calls while driving. Wired headsets don't cut it. Wires get tangled and in the way. Recently, I've been using the Tekkeon ET6000 Bluetooth Hands Free Car Kit. Is it the device that will make me put my trusted BT headset aside? Let's take a quick look and find out.

The Contents of the package... 

In the Package
Take a look at the above and tell me what you see missing... Right.  An AC adapter. The only way to charge this puppy is in your car with the included car charger, which I found inherently problematic coming out of the box.  The battery needed charging.  The only way I could charge it was to put it in the car and run the engine, wasting some very expensive gasoline (gas is running anywhere between $3.04-$3.57 a gallon here in the areas of Chicago I romp in); or to wait and charge it the next time I was in the car.  Big bummer...and not a lot of fun. 

The biggest and best thing about this device is that it allows you to make and take calls without messing with your device. You can initiate a call right from the ET6000 just by pressing its green call button. If you have MS Voice Command installed, or some other voice recognition software, pressing the green call button once should initialize the software, and allow you to quickly make a call. Your success rate is entirely environmentally dependent. In other words, if your car cabin is filled with road noise, or if you have the radio going, you aren't going to have a lot of success in getting VC to work. I know I didn't. My Treo 750 has MS Voice Command 1.5 built into its ROM, and I never had a great deal of success getting it and the Tekkeon to dial a call while the car was moving. Instead, things worked better after the car was stopped, and the road noise was greatly reduced. While this wasn't a huge deal with my 750 (due in no small part to the way a Treo interacts with your Contacts, allowing you to place calls by typing a number or a name), it did mean that I would not be able to use one of the device's main features...somewhat of a disappointment.

The device itself is oval shaped and made of plastic. It comes with a vehicle charger and a visor mount so that you can hang the device from your visor, giving you easy access to its one line, monochrome display and its buttons. This particular setup will work for most, but I had a great deal of trouble with it. The ET6000's display is a one line, green backlit, monochrome display. When you're in your car and driving, and using the ET6000, the screen momentarily lights up when you turn the device on. It also lights up whenever you push a button. The timing on the back light is NOT user configurable, and it goes out way too quickly for me and my crappy eyesight to register what is being displayed on the screen. Furthermore, the distance between me and the screen while the device sits on my visor falls right in the middle of the distance of my near/farsightedness so that I find myself either constantly moving my visor up and down, back and forth or tilting my head up and down trying to read the display with and without my bifocals. The back light also goes out very quickly, and I've found that the display is very difficult to read, even in full daylight without the back light on. This is truly a pain. If the device had another mounting option, say something that could be mounted to a spot on my dashboard, or to an air vent, I might try those (though mounting something to an air vent wouldn't work due to background noise that flowing air would create). It might also make the device easier to use, as I wouldn't have to look up, and then through, over, under or around my glasses to see the display.

A stock shot showing the ET6000 on a desk next to, of all things, a MacBook Pro!

Pairing the Device with your Phone
Pairing the device with your phone wasn't too much trouble; and the bulk of the operation is really taken care of by your phone.  Again, while no surprise, I did find that the device and my phone frequently forgot who the other was.  The only way to repair the relationship was to delete the partnership and start over again. Doing that more than once got to be a bit tiresome, especially since I've only had the ET6000 for a few months, AND I've had to do it about 4 times on each of the 2-3 devices that I've tried to use with it.  So, it ain't me, or the mobile device I'm trying to use. Its the ET6000. I'm not certain what would cause this, either.

To pair your device with the ET6000, follow these simple stes:

1. Press the green call button on the ET6000 to turn it on
2. Press and hold the green call button on the ET6000 until the words, "Ready to Pair" appear on the LCD screen
3. On your device, turn BT on, and make certain that it is set to "Discoverable," "Visible." It needs to see and be seen by other devices.
4. Run through the device discovery and pairing process on your device.  You shouldn't need a passcode for the ET6000.  I didn't have to use any.  You will also need to indicate that the ET6000 is your hands free device.

After the pairing process completes, and you get a success message from your device, the ET6000 should automatically connect.  When you want to initiate a connection in the future, turn BT on on both devices, and then press the green Call button on the ET6000.

Using the Device to Make and Take Calls
You're supposed to be able to initiate calls from the ET6000; but I never tried.  Honestly, with the Treo 750, iPAQ 6945 that I had used it with on the PPC Phone Edition side (they have MS Voice Command installed on them) and the Blackjack on the Smartphone side, I really didn't see the need to really even try it.  I always initiated the call on the device side, and it seemed to work very well.  The calls were clear, even in the semi-noisy cab of my CR-V. However, they could have been a bit louder. I found myself wanting to bump up the volume just a bit more in almost every call.

  Side view of the ET6000 in my Honda CR-V.

  Front view of the ET6000 on my car visor. My garage door opener is sitting to its left...

Conclusion
The Tekkeon ET6000 Bluetooth Hands Free Kit is a decent accessory for the price. It would be better if Tekkeon offered additional mounting options for the device so I can place it somewhere else other than my visor. The microphone could also be a little better at noise reduction and picking up my voice. I often found myself shouting at my visor while driving down the road, so the person I was talking to could hear me clearly. When the car was stopped, everything was fine; but road noise played a big factor in the overall usability of the device; and that's something that I can't easily change...at least not without buying a new car.

The biggest problem I had over all, was the fact that the only way to charge the device is in the car with the car charger. A desktop charger would have made this so much easier... and a much better product.

For the cost, this isn't bad at all. I'm actually pleased with the device at this price point; but just a bit more, could have greatly improved the overall experience and the TOC, and made this a real home run.

The Tekkeon ET6000 is available from QVC.
MSRP: $69.96
What I Like: Works with any and every Bluetooth phone, Easy to use. Reasonably priced giving competitor products in this space.
What Needs Improvement: Call volume. Longer backlight time. Additional, mounting options. A desktop AC charger needs to be included with the kit.

My daughter is 13 going on 23. She's testing he boundries of her privilages; and its making me old.  I am constantly telling her, there are consequences to your actions. Some are good. Others are not...

Speaking of consequences, it looks as though Dell is in for some nasty consequences. Last week, Dell announced that they are going to be restating earnings from 2003 to 2006.  The word on the street is that the the book cooking was minor, but that it didn’t keep a number of heads from rolling; and the SEC has yet to chime in...

DELL, once one of the biggest and best in the personal computer industry, has admitted that senior company executives made false accounting entries to hide poor sales and company performance. Heads have rolled, Michael Dell is hinting at a company shake-up.

The company has admitted manipulation of figures covering the fiscal years 2003 to 2006 and the first quarter of 2007, and will now revise its financial statements for those The expected impact is up to $150M USD. Its not known yet what this will mean for Dell and their future, though Dell insists that there will be no material impact to Q2 2007. I'm doubtful, however, and am wondering how Wall Street and the US economy will react.

Every news bit I've seen on this is trying to play down the whole issue, or at least appears to. I'm not certain if those politics are coming from Dell, the reporting rag, or is the writer's own hopes trying to subtelly, or unconsciously help the situation along (print has a lot of influcential power).

Some analysts have questioned the impact of these revelations on Dell’s future, and the company has said there will be no material impact on second-quarter 2007 results.

"SBSH Mobile Software announced today a new update for its best-selling Facade for Smartphone to version 1.3! SBSH Facade 1.3 brings new exciting features and improvements, including: changing orientation support to fully support all new device models, Automatic-implementation utility to implement installed plug-ins within Facade layout, new signal and battery temperature meters, fresh new layout and graphics including three different layout for your choice and much more! "

I'm a big fan of Snoopsoft Dashboard. It puts your schedule on your Today Page in a much better format than the regular Today Page Calendar plug-in.  Unfortunately, there isn't a version for Smartphone. 

Fortunately, I found Facade, AND SBSH has just released a new version of it that supports rotating screens for devices like HTC's Vox.  For those of you that already have Facade, can get the upgrade for free. Details on the upgrade can be found here. The software sells for $14.95 and can be purchased here.

While it isn't SP1, Microsoft today released a couple of updates to Vista that is designed to fix a number of different performance and reliability problems. While the fixes are, and obviously, will be welcomed by end users, it's probably going to be rather confusing.

The fixes address comparability and reliability issues in Vista; and will likely be rolled into SP1 when it finally hits the streets next year. Some of the changes include:

• You experience a long delay when you try to exit the Photos screen saver.

• A memory leak occurs when you use the Windows Energy screen saver.

• If User Account Control is disabled on the computer, you cannot install a network printer successfully. This problem occurs if the network printer is hosted by a Windows XP-based or a Windows Server 2003-based computer.

• When you write data to an AVI file by using the AVIStreamWrite function, the file header of the AVI file is corrupted.

• When you copy or move a large file, the "estimated time remaining" takes a long time to be calculated and displayed.

• After you resume the computer from hibernation, it takes a long time to display the logon screen.

• When you synchronize an offline file to a server, the offline file is corrupted.

• If you edit an image file that uses the RAW image format, data loss occurs in the image file. This problem occurs if the RAW image is from any of the following digital SLR camera models:

• Canon EOS 1D

• Canon EOS 1DS

You can find the fix here.

Please forgive me for being a bit on the direct side.  The following is a personal opinion, and doesn't (necessarily) reflect on any other member of this site.  However, I started following this story last week, and it annoyed me.  I followed up with a story of my own in my column on CompuServe's Computing Pro Forum, "The Weekly Byte."  I originally saw coverage of this issue on BetaNews.  My good friend, Nate Mook has developed one of the best sites on the Internet.  BetaNews is a site I visit frequently.

Anyway, late last week, it was reported that Sprint was terminating a number of accounts that they had labeled as problematic simply because they called customer service a lot.  In many cases, the owners of these accounts complained that errors on Sprint's part was the reason for their numerous calls.  Their CSR's simply couldn't get it right, and a number of different, long and involved calls were required to correct, what were often to be discovered as, billing issues.  Great... Sprint makes the mistakes and penalizes their customers AGAIN... I'm sorry...my bad; but you lose. Nice.

So, I'm trolling BetaNews again tonight and I noticed that Sprint is AGAIN under fire because they are sending out more account termination letters; but this time for active members of our military.

Say WHAT?!? 

Sprint is purposefully killing accounts of customers who do too much roaming, like members of our military, simply because the network they are roaming on doesn't charge as much as Sprint does (so Sprint isn't making as much money on the account if the user were in the States on the Sprint network.  Sprint is the one who negotiated the roaming agreement. Is it the customer's fault that they are able to take advantage of it?

Some service members are contacting Congress about this, as these Sprint cell phones are often the only way active duty members can keep in touch with their family members and loved ones.

This absolutely stinks.  These service members are actively in harm's way, protecting our country and Sprint's worried about making a buck off of them.  Its sickening, unpatriotic, and in my reasoning, criminal. If I were a Sprint customer today, I wouldn't be tomorrow. If I were a Sprint stock holder, I'd be DEMANDING for Sprint chairman and CEO Gary Forsee's job.  The fact that this is happening during his watch, with apparently, his sanction and approval, is simply unforgivable.

Sprint... this is some of the most despicable behavior I have ever seen. I'd call for a boycott, but they never work.  However, I will say this: not only will I never be a customer, I likely won't review one of your devices again, either. I don't want anything to do with you, your company or your service.

Active members of our military give their time and their lives to serve this country, giving you the ability to be one of the biggest groups of jerks around. To pay them back with this level of service is insulting...