Bill Ferrante

Cool Blog

2008-05-18T00:28:00.004-04:00

The list of blogs I read is ridiculously long. Most times I read something interesting, I'll add the blog to the list. These days, this happens once a month or so. I've had bloglines for what, like 3+ years now? Yea, it's a long list.

Today I spent some time catching up on some blog reading as I do occasionally on the weekends. One of the blogs I regularly ignore, probably because of the daunting number of postings, is Apartment Therapy. One of the posts that stood out to me was Top 5: Cheap Furniture Basics. There's some neat stuff in there. The desk could be a good candidate for my next. The book shelves are pretty nifty as well. Check it out and click around a bit. It made my past hour pretty enjoyable.

Mom's New iMac

2008-05-11T02:50:00.007-04:00

Wow. Just wow.

I've always thought the thing was stunning, but until you unbox one and set it up, you can't fully appreciate the construction of the machine.

I've been telling both my Mom and Dad that the iMac was their next computer for probably around 6 months ago. Mom needs a simpler computing experience with better photo and video support now that grandkids are rolling in. Dad is an anti-clutter guy who despises cables and appreciates well designed items and excellent customer service. It was a match made.

One night this week after getting dinner with my folks, Dad mentioned, hey, we talked about the computer at dinner, can we go see it somewhere? Turns out we were about 5 minutes from the Galleria Mall where there's a small Apple Store.

In the door, straight to a 24' iMac. After 15 minutes with the sales person (She did most the talking, I swear) Dad went for it. Quite possibly her easiest sale of the day. =)

This is truly the first computer I've seen my parents buy that they were happy about instead of intimidated and continually asking questions like 'how do we work this' or 'are you going to set this up for us.'

Its only been a couple of days, but so far, so good. The only real problem we've had was getting therir HP Laserjet 1020 to work. There's no driver for Mac OSX unfortunately. After a little bit of trial, error and several google searches, I was able to get it up and running with a different HP driver.

Next up:
-Latest MS Office from UB
-Time Machine backups, possibly via a Time Capsule base station
-Airport Express to make the printer wireless (maybe just get a wireless printer?)
-Go paperless with a Fujitsu Snapscan double sided scanner w/ OCR

Twitter Junkie

2008-05-08T03:47:00.003-04:00

Yea, I'm really starting to enjoy it. The pundits, blowhards, friends, family, etc etc. There's lots of fun stuff and it feeds my insatiable appetite for information.

But really, what a neat communication platform. It's only become real valuable to me with the third party apps through the api. I don't particularly like the website interface and when I originally got on the service, I couldn't stand the constant stream of text messages. But I've got it all under control now. More on that in a bit.

The great thing about Twitter is the real time access to what is going on in the world. There are sites I view, blogs I read, e-mails and IM's with friends and colleagues. Twitter falls into the IM and e-mail category. It's real time reactions, but not just to a select person. It's available to everyone who is "following" you, or whomever you allow to follow. Suddenly instead of waiting to read something in my RSS reader after it happens, I get a short message from someone who just saw it.

There's also access to people you wouldn't typically ever see. For instance, Jim Long, aka newmediajim. Jim is camera man for network television. He's typically covering the President and political happenings in DC. Every so often you'll get a message from him about a breaking news story he's getting ready to shoot, or even the one time the President made a surprise trip to Iraq where all their communication gear was confiscated for a period of time for the safety of the President. Where else would you hear about this stuff as it happens?!

So, what's my Twitter setup like. Quite simply, I'm either at my desk or on my iPhone. At my desk, I use an application called Snitter to get updates, reply, post etc. It's a great app that works well and looks good. On my iPhone, there's 2 options. If I'm casually viewing and posting, I use www.hahlo.com (hat tip to Gavin). One of the most powerful and potentially annoying features of Twitter is the text messaging capability. You can link your Twitter account to your cell phone, as I have, however I almost always keep it toggled "off" so I'm not bothered. But, if I wanted to receive messages, all you have to do is send a text saying "on." Simple as that.

Jump on. Follow me. Read my feed to see what I'm reading and start to follow whomever is interesting to you. Twitterholic.com is a top 100 Twitter user list that's a nice jumping off point to find some people to follow.

See you in cyberspace!!

Wedding Crasher

2008-05-08T03:26:00.002-04:00

It's that time of the...well, life. Everyone is getting married. At last count, I've got 5 weddings to attend this year alone.

Typically, I'm good enough with the planning, but about a month ago, I forgot to book a hotel room for a friends wedding. I landed in Orlando, got my rental car and hit the Beeline for the East coast before I called the South Melbourne Hilton.

Being that I was so late, there was no "wedding guest" rate available to me. However, they did have 1 room left. After asking for a AAA discount (thanks for that Mom =) my rate actually came out to $2 below the wedding guest rate. w00t.

This tiny bit of success really emboldened me. Just 2 weekends ago on the way to another wedding in Naples, I called from Alligator Alley, about 45 minutes out, to the Hilton designated for the wedding guests. Still feeling the rush from the last wedding, I informed them I could stay elsewhere. It wasn't a priority since the wedding, reception and all activities were located at facilities outside the Hilton. Again, one room left. Yea, not sure I believe it either, but the rate was great and they gave me something off for AAA again. But the real bonus didn't come until I arrived at the door.

le hookup.

Moral of the story: Procrastination pays!

Plague part II

2008-01-08T20:53:00.001-05:00

It seems the plague has returned in attempt to finish the job. This time around I had a mild fever, aches and a lovely cough. I started to notice that I was feeling poorly on Saturday. By the time I decided to throw in the towel and see a medical professional, it was Sunday. Not the best day to seek much any kind of professional assistance.

My mother, in her infinite wisdom, recommended one of those new fangled walk in clinics adjacent to pharmacies in Target, Walgreens CVS and the like. A friend of mine recommended an emergency walk in clinic around the corner, but she added a footnote about the waits being similar to an airport security line on Christmas Eve. I whisked out my handy dandy health insurance card to evaluate the situation. A doctor office visit was going to run me $20 while the emergency clinic was going to be $50. This plus the wait was enough for me to give my mothers suggestion a whirl.

I originally began by calling my local Target pharmacy to ask where I could find a clinic. 2 separate pharmacists concurred that they existed but neither could point me towards one. The holy grail it would seem. Next up was CVS. As I loaded the page I wondered why I hadn't looked there first. They are the only company on my short hit list above that I hold stock in. I think I find Target more inviting, but that's for another post. =)

CVS's web-page shows a button for the "Minute Clinic." Their page quickly directed me to the nearest CVS housing a clinic. The site listed a bunch of conditions they treat but I wasn't certain that I would be candidate. A quick call to their toll free line answered all my questions and put me on my way.

Arriving to the CVS I was immediately greeted by 2 separate clinic signs in front of the store. On the inside it was impossible to miss their large sign in the back of the store inviting me into their waiting area. Luckily there was no wait and I was quickly greeted by a friendly Nurse Practitioner. Apparently they can conduct many common examinations and write certain prescriptions, which thankfully included the antibiotics I needed.

The through examination took a short time. The nurse answered all of my questions and even recommended a flu vaccination. She also noticed my insurance provider, who apparently provides the shots with no co-pay! Pretty handy info! Another interesting thing was during her questioning of my symptoms she asked who my primary physician was. Pecking at the computer she was able to locate him in her database. What was that for? 'When we're done with your examination, our corporate office will mail a copy of everything we've done here today to your physician so his records are complete. It would be nice if it were all electronic, but at lest we're all in sync.'

After bidding the kind nurse adieu, I trekked the 20 steps to the pharmacist counter. It actually took longer to get my prescriptions filled than it did to conduct the examination! Still, the entire encounter took about an hour which, in my experience, is well below average for an exam and medication dispensation.

Thanks CVS. I'm going to hold that stock for a bit longer. =)

Eye-Fi update

2008-01-01T02:33:00.000-05:00

The beauty of the Eye-Fi is that you never really ever mess with it. All I do is login to flickr and create albums. The second automatic copy goes to my PC, and that's for my backup. It's simply a utility to me now...it just works. Until a couple days ago.

I've been considering trying out SmugMug.com for sharing photos. I love flickr for the community and its openness, but I'd like nicer albums and showy features for the family. SmugMug has some nice touches to it and I'd like to play around. Next step: what's the easiest way to get my photos into SmugMug? Eye-Fi? Maybe. I login to the web console to have a look around. Maybe there's a feature that will handle all of this. Oh, there's a firmware update available? Well, why not. 1 minute...2...5...10..watch an episode of it's always sunny...yepp, it's hung. Great. Oh, and don't disconnect whatever you do! Well, I've got no choice.

My beautiful "utility" is now a paperweight for postage stamps. It functions as a memory card (I appreciate that it didn't trash my photos) but nada else. The most expensive 2gig SD card on the market!

Next report: Eye-Fi customer service. =)

I miss my roommates.

2007-12-31T17:55:00.000-05:00

It's been a fun couple of days here in the mouth of the rat.

First off, I've been sick and under self imposed quarantine. I refuse to make others ill and simply can't stand when folks decide to go to restaurants and movies whilst sick. Seriously people, you've got the plague. Take some well deserved time off and spare the rest of us, will ya. Thanks.

And what's the deal with UCF Bowl Games and field goals? Guys. Really. Let's get it together. I won't even comment on our inability to accurately pass the ball.

All in all though, a great season. Absolutely my favorite on record. On campus stadium, fantastic seats thanks to my chums, national on air recognition from ESPN and Ellen (It's my 15 minutes and I'll take them how ever I can get 'em!), Sports Illustrated videos of the year (4th down) and my first credit in wikipedia. Thanks UCF, it was a blast!

I'm sorry that I won't be able to go out and throw down in true New Years fashion this year. While I'm beyond the spewing-bodily-fluids-about "contagious state" I'm just not feeling up to the party. I'll be hanging locally with my brother and his friends for dinner, which should be a nice affair.

I can't really remember the last time I was sick. Those that know me know my lack of immune system. It's not pretty. But lately, I've been great! I credit it completely to my former roommates, both of whom were active college students. There's some crazy shit floating around college campuses and it kept me immune for a while. That party's officially over. I miss my roommates.

Retail Technology!

2007-12-06T22:10:00.000-05:00

Last week I was picking up some supplies at an Office Depot in Boca when I noticed an everyday retail icon had received a fresh techno makeover; the price tag!

That's right, the price tag was a digital screen which displayed the price, product identification information and a sale indicator if the item was on sale. I asked a sales person if it was RF-ID, yes, I know, super geeky question to ask a random sales person, but to my chagrin he nodded whilest pointing over his shoulder to a transmitter mounted to the ceiling. Apparently this Office Depot location was a test store for this system. This is pretty sensible given their proximity to the corporate office.

He mentioned how he thought the system was pretty slick the way it updated and stayed current with the ads all by itself. He also said that he was going to jump on the stock of the manufacturer, a company by the name of Pricer.

I think the implications of a system like this are pretty awesome. Already retail locations loose money every day by not having the most current prices on their products. Companies like Walmart routinely change the price of their products to remaim competitive as well as to maximize profit. Prices are different depending on the demographic and it's all electronically controlled...except for the price tag.

Even if Pricer isn't the one to do it, I bet this technology becomes mainstream very soon.

Update
So, it seems that Pricer has announced that they have a pilot program with Office Depot. I've checked the Pricer website and have been unable to find a press release, however Sven in the comments points this out and my blog has been receiving record traffic. I'll go ahead and assume he's correct. I'll clarify and answer some questions from the comments.

Their technology is NOT RF-ID. Rather, it's "diffuse IR" which appears to be a flavor of the regular old infrared technology we all know and love. The major difference is this version can bounce off of most anything which eliminates the need for the line of sight requirement. I've read the site and looked at their photos. The transceiver looks identical to what I saw that day in the store, of which there is a photo above.

The store appears to have 100% been converted from paper price tags to pricer wireless ones. From the software down to the pens at the cash wrap, it's all wireless Pricer tags. The staff at the store even seemed enthusiastic about having the new technology in their store.

Happiness

2007-12-06T00:29:00.000-05:00

"Take a look at what makes other people happy and try it out. Notice who is looking like their life stinks, and stay away from the choices they've made."

-Penelope Trunk

Eye-Fi: Damn convenient

2007-12-02T03:26:00.000-05:00

Not all that long ago, if you wanted a nice sized memory card for your camera, you'd spend close to $100 for that privilege. It looks like those days may be returning.

I've been using the Eye-FI wifi SD card now for about a month now. The card supports uploading to several online services as well as your network connected PC or Mac. The configuration couldn't be more simple.

The card plugs into any USB port via their adapter. It appears just like a drive on your computer which you explore into and execute the setup file. After the installation, configuration takes place in your web browser of choice. You identify your wireless network (there's a nice interface to explore for live networks), tell it about your favorite web based photo service (flickr in my case), point it to a folder on your PC or Mac to upload to and you're off and running. Simple as that.

There are a few helpful things I've figured out while using the card that are worth wile to pass along. First, the card uploads to their remote webservice first. From there they dole out the photos to Flickr (or any other service) and then back to your local computer. It's seems inefficient, but it ensures that no matter where you are, your photos will get where they need to be when they can be delivered. Next, make sure you add a "linksys" connection profile. Those damn things are everywhere. I assure you, if you travel around a lot with your camera, you'll be stunned to see some random photo got uploaded when you didn't expect it. If there's an open linksys, might as well take advantage! Lastly, if your Internet connection is busy, don't expect very much. The other night I couldn't get my Eye-Fi to upload pictures. Then I realized that I had a large torrent file downloading. When I killed it off, everything operated as expected.

Go buy one. Toss your camera docks, cables and driver disks in the trash. Never worry about transferring or uploading photos for your friends and family to see again. Eye-Fi takes the nonsense out of digital photography.

I want a Mac.

2007-11-26T15:09:00.000-05:00

Yepp, it's true. I want to convert to the dark side. For the last year or two, anytime anyone asked me "Hey Bill, what computer should I buy?" the answer was simple: A Mac.

Okay, it was a little more complex than that. Some folks have no choice. I've got friends in Psych and Engineering classes that need to use SPSS SAS. To the best of my knowledge there's no Mac alternative. And honestly, I don't want to do the research to figure it out. Actually, telling people to get a Mac is a blow off answer of sorts; I no longer want to want to be tech support for everyone that knows me!

The most shining example (in my mind): My brother needed a new laptop about 6 months ago. I recommended a Mac. We visited the Apple Store, he asked his questions and was comfortable making the switch. I can count on one hand how many times he's called me since that day.

We all know the general appeals of a Mac. It's pretty, dead simple, intuitive and operates as advertised. Personally, I'm interested because it's pretty and every time I load up lifehacker, there's some little piece of software that I'd love to be running. Seems like Mac developers take a lot more time paying attention to the usability of their applications, just they way Papa Jobsey does. I'm down with that.

So why haven't I bought one already? It's tough to justify a computer purchase when you've got all the firepower you "need." I feel like I'd get a significant gain with managing all those new age hippie technologies like digital photos, video and maybe even blog posts. ;) And really, maybe I will make pick one up after I buy a the new digital SLR I've got my eye on. Still, it's a tough justification.

When I do buy a Mac, I'll probably replace my desktop with a slick, powerful iMac. It'll keep my desk tidy and probably will be a nice looking decoration for my home. My laptop is a bit of a different story. Currently, I have a Lenovo Thinkpad x60s. It's hands down the most solidly built laptop I've ever laid my hands on. One of my favorite features is the Verizon Wireless EV-DO built in card which lets me connect to the Internet wherever my cell phone can make a call. The x60s is smaller, has more battery life and stays connected better than any Mac laptop in the store. It goes anywhere and everywhere with ease and keeps me connected. In general, I don't see myself replacing it until there's a serious next generation data competitor out there. See WiMax. On a Mac note, the whole Apple experience would have to knock my socks off for me to ditch my precious Thinkpad.

Lunch Discussion

2007-11-19T10:54:00.000-05:00

Over lunch with my FAU pals, conversation turned to classroom presentations. Last week I watched one of the best presentations I've ever seen. It was by Professor Lawrence Lessig at the TED Conference. Lessig is a professor of law at Sanford Law School

The talk he gave at TED, while a fantastic topic, was crafted in a way that would blow the minds of high paid consultants everywhere. Check out his talk below.