Greg In The Desert

I wrote about an rumored Apple tablet computer as far back as 2004 and now it seems to be confirmed by the Wall Street Journal.

While the device’s ship date hasn’t been finalized and could still change, people briefed on the matter said the new product will come with a 10 to 11-inch touch screen—which would make it closer in size to Apple’s line of MacBook laptops than its smart phone.

John Martellaro at macobserver says this was part of a controlled leak because he used to do the same thing when he was a Senior Marketing Manager at Apple. I always believed that Apple did controlled leaks like this and they have figured out how to control the hype around product releases.

Supposedly this thing will be announced in a January 27th event. I’m also hoping for an updated iPhone and especially a updated Apple TV.

The Star Wars Science Force Trainer consists of two parts, a headset with EEG sensor that can read your brain waves and a Training Tower which consists of remote controlled ball in a tower. It’s hard to belive there is a toy EEG sensor in a Star Wars toy, where was this stuff when I was a kid?

You use the headset to control the ball in the Training Tower through 15 levels. Based on the 5 reviews at Amazon, the device could have some problems like possibly it doesn’t work at all for some people. It wouldn’t surprise me to hear that this first generation toy needs some of the issues worked on. Imagine where this will be in 10 to 20 years. Everyone will be walking around with their EEG headsets to control just about anything.

Regardless for $75, I am very tempted to buy one just to try it out myself.

Amazon: Star Wars Star Wars Science – Force Trainer. About $75.

Ford has issued a Speed Control Deactivation Switch Recall (09S09) on a number of trucks and SUVs. They sent me a letter to about my 1997 Ford Ranger and suggested I have it fixed as soon as possible.

Ford cannot be confident that over many years in service, a speed control deactivation switch installed on your vehicle will not leak brake fluid, posing the risk of a fire. This condition may occur either when the vehicle is parked or when it is being operated.

This risk exists on vehicles equipped with or without speed control.

Ford Motor Company has authorized your dealer to perform the repairs under this program and your dealer on your vehicle free of charge (parts and labor).

Your dealer may be able to perform this repair while you wait; however, due to scheduling requirements, your dealer may need your vehicle for a longer period of time.

Please call your dealer without delay and request a service date for Recall 09S09. Provide the dealer with the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) of your vehicle. The VIN is printed near your name at the beginning of this letter.

Until you have the recall service performed, park your vehicle outdoors away from structures to prevent a potential fire from spreading.

I took it to the local Don Chalmers Ford who was able to get my truck in immediately. They had my truck for about 6 hours and gave me a receipt. Total cost of the repair charged to Ford was 28.89. I realize Ford has millions of these to pay for but I have never taken my truck to a Ford dealer and had such a cheap repair. If I had to pay for this myself, I wonder how much it would have cost me.

A few days ago I wrote about Google using goats to control grass on their property. Techcrunch didn’t seem impressed and was worried about the jobless human mowers.

The city of Mesa, Arizona has used 70 goats for the last 50 months to clear vegetation around a water reclamation plant. They expect to save $10,000 by using goats.

Besides being cost effective, it reduces the use of fossil fuels, toxic chemicals and pesticides. It’s a pollution-free way of ridding the three retention ponds of compromising vegetation, Satter said.

Goats’ bodies break down plants in such a way that they won’t grow back when it becomes waste, making the job more permanent than what a machine can do.

It’s not mentioned how many people it took to mow the grass with machines vs. taking care of goats. I suspect goats are more labor intensive that mowers.

According to USA Today Apple is in negations with Verizon. AT&T’s contract with Apple to carry the iPhone expires in 2010.

The New York-based telecom entered into “high-level” discussions with Apple management a few months ago, when CEO Steve Jobs was overseeing day-to-day business, these sources say. They declined to be named because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly.

People tell me all the time how much they want the iPhone but won’t switch to AT&T because of the superior coverage of Verizon. That Verizon is sucking up to Apple to get the iPhone wouldn’t surprise me.

Before releasing the iPhone, I think Apple looked into starting their own wireless company. Having no idea how successful the iPhone would be and how much a undertaking starting a wireless phone company would be, they decided they needed to focus their efforts onto the hardware and partner with a wireless company. If the iPhone was a hit, they would work on being their own wireless company later.

Apple will eventually want to have control of the wirless network. They will either start their own or buy out AT&T. Why not stick with the world stanardard of wireless phone networks GSM, which AT&T uses and not Verizon.

I don’t think a deal with Verizon and Apple will happen. I also didn’t think Apple would switch to Intel processors.

The links I post daily are surprisingly popular, and have become even more popular since I started adding small summaries to them.

I use the social bookmarking site del.icio.us (del.icio.us/gregjsmith) to gather all my links. I post them throughout the day then had Delicious post them to my blog. I didn’t really like letting Delicious have control of the posting and recently found the Wordpress plugin postalicious. Postalicious pulls the links from Delicious (it also works with ma.gnolia, Google Reader, Reddit, Yahoo Pipes and Jumptags) allowing me control over how the post looks and when they are posted. I could post every hour if I wanted, thought I think that would be too much.

I didn’t like the way the link posts looked on the front page, so I disabled the Delicious category from appearing on the front page (using the Simply Exclude plugin) but they will still post on the RSS feed. If you get updates to Greg In The Desert by visiting the site, I suggest you subscribe to the RSS feed or subscribe by email or visit the category.

Back in 2005 I bought a iHome (now called a iH8 model). It was the first real ipod compatible alarm clock radio. After a little over 2 years of usage, I think I can give a verdict: Don’t buy one.

First problem is the often complained about back light. It’s bright even at the lowest settings. The entire screen is backlight instead of just the numbers. Second problem is the somewhat confusing button layout. Including the buttons on the very back related to setting the time. Finally the fact the the thing breaks over time is the main reason I cannot recommend it.

My iHome’s back light stopped working over 6 months ago. I could live with that. About a month ago all the buttons stopped working. I cannot control a ipod, though at least it still charges one. My one data point doesn’t do it alone. A little over a year ago a friend bought one. It too has also no longer is able to control a iPod, although it is still able to charge it.

That’s two data points, enough for me to say the makers of the iHome have a quality control issue. I’m looking forward to purchasing the Sony XDR-S10HDiP HD Radio with iPod dock this summer.

Perceptive Automation has released Indigo 2.5 Beta 11 which now includes the long awaited Insteon Link Management. Links are a way to create scenes or groups with a single command sent through the power line. It also allows the setting of individual ramp rates and brightness levels.

I’m not completely familiar with Insteon PC software, but I don’t think there’s a software package that allows both link management and control of triggers and scripting in a single package. Yes, I’m a Indigo fanboy, but for good reason.

Here’s some screen shots of the new features:

Manage Insteon Device Links

Edit Action Group

Smarthome has a public beta of new Insteon SwtichLinc like dimmer that does not need a neutral. Some houses do not have neutrals in every switch location which means they cannot use current SwitchLincs

How it Works
The INSTEON 2-wire Dimmer Kit comes with two main pieces: a companion switch that installs in the switch box and a fixture dimmer that installs in your light fixture. With these two devices you’ll now be able to convert one of your two wires in your switch box to a neutral, enabling reliable control of your light. The companion switch and fixture dimmer are “paired” at the factory so both devices will act as one. This means that once they’re installed, you won’t have to go back into the fixture, either for control OR for linking to other INSTEON-compatible devices. Simply put, the companion switch’s SET button acts as a remote SET button for the fixture dimmer, giving you added convenience and flexibility.

Sounds a lot like the switches that are wired up to ceiling fans to allow separate fan and light controls from a single switch

Check out the discussion on the Smarthome forums

Check out this local news report of a balloon crash in Rio Rancho with some pretty graphic video. This balloon was taking part in the Balloon Fiesta this week. Overall, I believe the safety record of the Balloon Fiesta is pretty good but these crashes highlight just how little control the balloon pilots have compared to a plane.