The Digitante: The man, the myth, the legend…

• dig·i·tal – Pronunciation: \ˈdi-jə-t^əl\ characterized by electronic and especially computerized technology

• dil·et·tante – Pronunciation: \ˈdi-lə-ˌtänt, –ˌtant; ˌdi-lə-ˈ\ a person who dabbles in a branch of knowledge

About 6-8 months ago, I was sitting around, reading an article about something or other related to electronics and I got to thinking, ‘Why do I read all this stuff?’ The short answer was that I loved all the subjects I was reading about: cell phones, computers, HDTVs, cameras – technology in general. I was confused as to why I would read all this stuff, be excited about it, and then go on with this rest of my life like it never happened.

One day, I was reading a post by Ramit Sethi, founder of I Will Teach You To Be Rich. He was talking about a new book coming out called Escape from Cubical Nation by Pam Slim (she has a website by the same name). The book started off talking about how cubical life in an office is an inspiration killer. It moved on to strategies to starting your own business and finally, actually jumping out and doing it.

I was inspired. I was also very lucky because the idea that I had was one which involved very little capital investment. On the other hand, it was going to require a large amount of time investment. I took inventory of what I would need: a website, business cards, content, some marketing.

Something was missing though. A name. I read a ton of blogs and they all have great, memorable names: The Boy Genius Report, Gizmodo, Lifehacker, Technorati, Ars Technica. I struggled with the naming for a long time. The good names already had their web addresses taken. The ones that had web addresses available were just plain terrible names. Then one night in the shower, it hit me – I had to name my business The Digitante, pronounced ˈdi-jə-ˌtänt.

It fit me perfectly: a dabbler or dilettante in all things that are digital. I don’t claim to be a subject matter expert at any one thing, but my breadth of knowledge is huge. I can sit down with most electronic gadgets and figure out what is going on in a few minutes. If I can’t, I’ll search the internet and figure out what I need to know. I always want to know more.

That night, I ended up staying awake till 4 or 5 in the morning, signing up for a twitter account, buying a web address, and all kinds of odds and ends. The next few weeks were spent getting a website host, setting up the blog, designing logos and business cards, and all the other little things you need to do to start a business. As normally is my way, I didn’t know a thing about hosting a website, designing a website, designing a logo, or designing at business card, so I decided to learn. I first programmed a web page in HTML. I then learned how to host a WordPress blog. I learned to use a free alternative to Adobe Photoshop graphic design software called GIMP.

Since that time, I’ve gotten a few clients, I’ve focused on writing a blog post each weeknight, and I’ve come up with a couple of nice features such as Friday Night Links and In Action!

So now you know about The Digitante as an idea that blossomed into a nice little business, now let’s learn about The Digitante as a person. My name is Andy and I live near downtown Indianapolis. I have a wonderful wife who is very forgiving and understanding when I come home from Fry’s Electronics with $100s of stuff I don’t particularly need. I have two little daughters who are little socialites, even at 7 months old. In addition to my love of gadgets and electronics, I run and bike. I love watching movies, but that has pretty much slowed to a crawl since the little girls came along.

Finally, I want to thank my readers. Tell your friends about The Digitante. If there is something you want to see, ask. I feel like I’ve has some pretty interesting topics thus far, but I’m always on the look out for real life questions that people have.

And as always, if you have anything you need to discuss with me, The Digitante, you can always contact me by heading to the About page and from there you can send me an email or give me a call.

Friday Night Links (8/28/2009)…

I’ve got some interesting stuff from the past week. Check it out:

• Solar Roadways – Driving on glass solar panels? Yep, if these prototypes work out. This would be quite the feat of engineering and could be a planet saver it is works. Apparently, the company also did some calculations and a conservative estimate says that if we replaced all of our roads with these, it would produce 3 times our nation’s electricity consumption. It would also generate its own heat to melt snow in the winter. No more salt on the roads? Count me in.
• Chipotle iPhone App – Chipotle has an iPhone app that allows you to find the closest Chipotle, customize a burrito (and save it to a favorites list), and pay for said burrito before arriving at the store. Delicious.
• 25 Must-Have Ubuntu Apps – Since I got rid of my little Dell computer about  6 months ago, I’ve been missing Ubuntu, the open source, free (as in beer and freedom) operating system. If you want to check it out (or already are), here are some great programs you need to pick up.
• High-Speed Robot Hand – While they certainly aren’t sentient and can’t come to life organically (yet, anyway), robots really out-do humans in some aspects. This video is amazing. The robot hand bounces ping pong balls, picks up a grain of rice with tweezers, and tosses and catches a cell phone out of mid-air. Just a couple more years until Skynet becomes aware.

Moving to Gmail…

Email has come a long way since I first started using it about 12 years ago. At that time, I had to clean out my messages as they came in or else my inbox would fill up and I would stop receiving mail. Half the mail that I got was spam because I would sign up for silly promotions or put my email address in a bucket to get a free lunch. All my mail would go to my inbox and just stew there, never to be filed or looked at again. I didn’t particularly plan for the future because my university email address was gone the second I left school – any emails that went to that address were lost forever.

Email grows up

My preferred email provider is Google’s Gmail. Gmail started about 5 years ago and revolutionized email. They fixed the major problems hampering email that I mentioned above.

Gmail accounts can hold over 7 gigabytes (GB) worth of data. To put this in perspective, you could receive a high-quality photo everyday in your email for 6 years and still have plenty of space for other emails. If you only sent and received text-based emails, it is likely that you would never run out of space since there simply isn’t enough time in the day to type up and send that many emails.

Five years of The Digitante’s email:

Most modern email services have excellent spam (aka junk mail) filters. You may have seen emails advertising “male enhancement” or deals on “replica watches.” These emails generally will lead you to sites that will attempt to install viruses on your computer and spy on your passwords and browsing habits. Gmail gives you a separate folder which grabs these dangerous emails before they ever make it to your inbox. If you happen to receive an email like this, you can click the Report Spam button to tell Gmail to look for this message going to other Gmail users.

Google is known for search. That doesn’t stop at searching the web. You can search your Gmail in the same manner and with equal power of searching the web using Google.

Chances are, if you don’t already have a Gmail address, you are using another service and don’t want to bother with sending out an email to everyone telling them you have a new address. With Gmail, you don’t have to.

Forwarding or remote retrieval

Forwarding is the act of setting up your old email account so when it receives an email, instead of putting the message in the old email inbox, it simply forwards it on to your Gmail inbox.

Alternatively, you can use head to the Gmail Settings menu and go to Accounts and Import. Here you can import all your old mail, old contacts, and even messages that come to your old email address for the next 30 days. It also allows you to apply a label to the mail to indicate that it came from another account.

Also in the Accounts and Import section, if your old email provider allows Post Office Protocol (aka POP) access, you can set up your emails to be automatically transferred to your Gmail inbox. The main difference between this option and the Import option is that POP access lasts until you disable it instead of only lasting 30 days. However, if your old email provider doesn’t allow POP access, you might be stuck with import anyway.

So my mail is all headed to Gmail, now what?

Start receiving emails! You don’t have to delete emails anymore. You will rarely, if ever, get a piece of spam mail. You will be able to find past emails with a keyword or two.

Gmail also has tons of organizational options as well as “Labs” settings for those useful features that Gmail wants to try out but aren’t quite ready for primetime. You can expect a future post from The Digitante about how to use these organizational and Labs features.

If you are running out of space, overwhelmed with spam, or just want to improve your email usability, you can always contact The Digitante by heading over to the About page. From there you can email me to get help with setting up a new email account and transfer over your old account.

Happy Anniversary…

Happy Anniversary to Mrs. Digitante! She and I have been married for 3 years! I am taking the night off for this momentous occasion…

Beyond Firefox Part 2…

Yesterday, I posted about Firefox and why you should be using it. I put up some of my favorite practical Firefox extensions – extension that improved the usability and functionality.

This post will cover extensions that are just as important, but they are also much more covert. They provide extra security and awareness to your browsing experience.

1. TACO – It sounds delicious, but in actuality, TACO stands for Targeted Advertising Cookie Opt-Out. It still sounds delicious, but what it does it tell companies that track your browsing habits that you don’t want them to do so. Do they comply? Not usually, but this is a first step toward getting better privacy on the internet.
2. Ghostery – Ghostery is billed as an extension that “watches the websites that watch you.” What this means is that the companies above (and many others) watch your browsing habits. They do this secretly on most web pages. Ghostery detects them doing this and displays a small bubble in the upper corner telling you who is watching you. Once again, this extension doesn’t protect you, but certainly makes you aware of your surroundings. What you do with that information is up to you.
3. No Script – I struggle with this extension. On one hand, if configured correctly, this could be the best protection your computer can have from attacks from malicious websites. On the other hand, it takes a long time to set up properly and is somewhat redundant with the previously mentioned Adblock Plus. If you take your privacy seriously, you should definitely add No Script to your Firefox.
4. WOT – Web Of Trust is an extension that gives you simple color cues when visiting a website: Green is good, yellow is a warning, and red means don’t go! This helps you determine if the site you are heading to is ok to visit, potentially protecting you from malicious websites.

With these extensions installed, you aren’t necessarily impervious to attacks on the web, but you will certainly be aware of what you are doing, where you are going, and who is keeping tabs on you. If you still feel like you need some help determining how to safely navigate the web, The Digitante can be contacted to guide you through safe browsing habits. Just head to the About page and either email or call to get help with your browsing needs.

Beyond Firefox…

When people visit my site, I know a couple of things about them: what operating system they use (mostly Windows), what screen resolution is set (1280 x 800, smaller laptops), and what browser they use to view the page (majority Firefox, but still a decent amount of Internet Explorer). Now you might be a bit creeped out that I know all this, but those things are intentionally announced by your computer so my website knows how to appropriately provide your computer information to display on your screen. Plus, there is no personally identifying information so I don’t WHO looks at my site, only HOW they look at my site.

Since there is still a large contingent of users sporting Internet Explorer, I wanted to try and talk you guys out of it. Of course some are at work and don’t have a choice, but if you do have a choice, I would HIGHLY recommend moving to Firefox. The biggest reason I can think of for you to make this switch is extensibility.

Extensibility is just a big word for addons. I’m not talking about a Yahoo! toolbar that takes up screen real estate and bugs you about updating all the time. I’m talking about useful items that once apart of your browser, you will never let them leave: weather, email checking, download manager, bookmark manager, auto-copying, ad blocking, and that is just a start. After installing Firefox, head into the Tools menu and you’ll see an item for Addons. Alternatively, you can also just click the links below to be taken to an install page for each of the extensions.

Here is a list of my favorite extensions:

1. Ad Block Plus – This extension does exactly what it says: Blocks Ads. During setup, you select an automatically updating filter list. It also includes a whitelist so you can allow ads to appear on sites that you support or ads that you find useful. Aside from removing annoying ads, this extension has the added bonus that it blocks ads before they ever come to your computer, which will speed up your browsing experience. This is especially helpful since many sites pop up the ads before the actual site content.
2. Xmarks – I just added this to my Firefox installs on three separate computers. It allows your bookmarks to sync on all your computers. During installation, you create a username and your bookmarks are then uploaded to the Xmarks server. Any other Firefox browsers that use the same username will then have their bookmarks merged upon install and then synced with any updates in the future. Now you have access to your saved sites on all your computers.
3. Gmail Manager – I have three Gmail addresses (one for The Digitante, one for my BlackBerry, and one that doesn’t go to my BlackBerry). Additionally, Mrs. Digitante has an older Gmail address for her maiden name and a more recent one tied to her married name. Logging in and out of all those accounts is quite the chore, especially if I’m working on a combination of work and personal emails. With Gmail Manager, you can check all your accounts simultaneously and open them with one click.
4. Flashblock – Flash animation can make some amazingly interactive websites. It can also make some amazingly annoying ads (that are still around even with Ad Block Plus). Flashblock replaces all Flash elements on a page with a box containing the stylized “f”. Click anywhere in the box and the animation will play. Right clicking allows you to instantly whitelist the entire site in case you are on a site that is reliant on Flash.
5. Close Tab by Double Click – Sometimes its the small things in life that make the greatest impact. For me, I love double clicking the tab area to open a new tab, but I also like to double click an open tab to get rid of it. It used to be a difficult task to get working until this tiny, helpful little extension came along. No more aiming for that little X to close the tab.

Tomorrow night we’ll cover a couple more extensions. Tomorrow’s extensions, while not as practical, are much more security oriented.

If you want to learn more about what extensions and addons can do for your browsing experience or need a specific extension to help fit your needs, The Digitante can help you get things setup and going. Just head over to the About page and from there you can email or call The Digitante.

Friday Night Links (8/21/2009)…

Tonight, I have a little bit for everybody: food, recycled bottles, super-efficient refrigerators, paper mail from the internet, and fleshing out your bar.

• One-handed egg crack – Cooking isn’t just about flavor – everyone knows it also about the flair. If you aren’t tossing spatulas, spinning pizza dough in the air, and using inordinate amounts of butter and lard a la Paula Deen, then you really need to work on your kitchen skills. Try starting with this video of the lowly one-handed egg crack.
• Wine bottle torches – I’ve seen some amazingly designed wine bottles in my life, however, since I’m not in college anymore, lining them up on the top of my cabinets is no longer acceptable. With a little work hooking some copper pipe together, you can end up with some sweet tiki torch-type outdoor lights. Add some citronella and you have some mosquito repellent as well.
• Chest freezer turned fridge – Normal fridges are extremely inefficient. When you open the door, all the cold air falls out on the floor. Imagine having fridge full of ping-pong balls and trying to keep them in there every time you opened the door. Tough to do. Now imagine you had a chest fridge and tried to keep the ping-pong balls in there. Simple stuff. Cold air sinks, hot air rises, so it is similar to the ping-pong ball analogy. Just add a little on-off switch hackery and you have yourself a super efficient fridge.
• Paper mail from the internet – After entering the address and paying a dollar (or $1.15 for no ad on the envelope), you can send a letter or note on paper to anyone through the internet. The cost seems kind of high, but it will also save you a trip to the post office.
• Stock your own bar – Stocking your bar on a budget is a great thing. I don’t necessarily agree with all their recommendations, but as is usual with this sort of article, you can customize it and spend and cut expenses as you see fit.

Movie nerd…

As you may or may not know, I’m a bit of a movie dork. I love most genres (minus artsy-fartsy and romantic comedies). Since this is a tech blog, I was going to share a dorky movie trailer with you.

The movie is called Avatar by James Cameron (Aliens, Titanic, Terminator, and :wink, wink: Aquaman :wink, wink:). It is being called a hyper-reality fantasy movie. Basically that means that it combines computer generated (CG) graphics and live-shots that are blended to look similar meaning the CG stuff looks close to realistic and the live-action is stylized a bit. Plus it is going to be in 3-D.

The plot of the movie (or the description I saw) was pretty generic: reluctant hero has to save civilization, blah, blah, blah. Part of me is excited for this movie and part of me thinks it will be a huge letdown.

Enough of this chatter, let’s get on to a link for the trailer:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/avatar/hd/

Unless you have a pretty good internet connection and your computer is hooked to an HDTV, I would recommend the 480p version of the trailer.

Be sure to let me know what you think of the movie trailer in the comments!

Sprint Store vs. Best Buy…

An update as been posted to this article. Scroll about halfway down for that.

Mrs. Digitante was due for a new phone last week, so she and I headed over to our local Sprint Store to shop for phones. Then the next day, my friend Mr. B went phone shopping (and I even chronicled our excursion) at our local Best Buy. We had two very different experiences at each store and each had its hits and misses. We are going to cover those here.

First of all, a bit of qualification, the Sprint Store we went to was a corporate store. That means it is owned directly by Sprint. This is different from an affiliate store. When using the Sprint Store locator, an affiliate store typically is named something like “Sprint Store by Digitante Wireless” or something of that nature. The Sprint Store is called simply the “Sprint Store.” This will make a huge difference when shopping for phones since affiliate stores will be more similar to Best Buy (who is a type of affiliate). The corporate store is the type of store we will be comparing to Best Buy in this post.

Additionally, while I talk specifically about Sprint in this post, this would most likely apply to Verizon, AT&T, T-mobile, and most other carriers as well.

Phone shopping

Sprint Store had working phones on display. With these phones you can make calls, type on them, and see the actual screen and keyboard. Affiliates and others like Best Buy have dummy phones on display. These phones are typically not made of the same materials as the actual phone, have pieces of paper inserted to simulate the screen, and may have buttons that don’t actually function. When deciding on a phone that you have never used before, it is highly advisable to head to a Sprint corporate store to try out a real, live phone in person.

Score one for Sprint: Sprint Store 1, Best Buy 0

Mail-in rebate

When purchasing a phone from the Sprint Store as a new customer or as a contract renewal, you will get a nice subsidy (aka $ off) that may be as much as $300-400 depending on the phone. Unfortunately, part of that is in the form of a mail-in rebate. With a rebate, you have to remember to fill out the paperwork, send it in in a timely fashion, and then wait 8-10 weeks before the check finally arrives in the mail. This is assuming nothing goes wrong in the meantime and you actually receive your check. With Best Buy, the rebates are instant: no waiting 8-10 weeks, no paperwork.

Score one for Best Buy: Sprint Store 1, Best Buy 1

Customer service

While the Sprint Store employee was extremely helpful when he was talking to us, he was flitting around the store the whole time. We had to hunt around to find him when we were ready to make our purchase. At Best Buy, there we had an associate ready to help us right away and he stuck around the whole time. There were a couple of other guys there to keep us busy as well, as we checked out accessories and asked questions. Once again, it isn’t really fair to call this category for one or the other because depending on your mood, you might just want to be left alone, or you might want a little hand-holding. We’ll call this one a draw.

Score one for Best Buy: Sprint Store 1.5, Best Buy 1.5

Technical know-how

While at the Sprint Store we found out all kinds of information about the phones we were looking at such as information about the Palm Profile which saves all your data in case you lose your phone. At Best Buy, we talked about pretty much everything but the phone we were purchasing. Calling this category is somewhat unfair since an uneducated customer may have been treated to the same information the Sprint Store provided at Best Buy; its hard to tell. Once again, we call it a draw.

Score one for Sprint: Sprint Store 2, Best Buy 2

Basic warranty

If there is a manufacturer’s defect in the first year you have your phone, you can take it directly into a Sprint Store and they will attempt to repair or replace it and typically have had a good track-record of helping customers out. If you purchase from Best Buy, you are on your own. All repairs must go through the manufacturer’s warranty process. Best Buy doesn’t do it to be mean. They do it because that is all they are required to do. Sprint, since it provides the service to the phone, has more at stake and therefore is willing to do a bit extra for the customer.

Score one for Sprint: Sprint Store 3, Best Buy 2

Extended Warranty

Sprint’s extended warranty (also known as Total Equipment Protection or TEP) covers pretty much everything: theft, damage, defect, etc. It does exclude wear and tear. It costs $7 per month, plus it has a $100 deductible. Over the two year contract, that totals up to $268. That is nearly the cost of a nice phone and much more than the cost of a basic phone off of eBay. Best Buy’s warranty covers everything including damage due to wear and tear, spills/water, etc. It is $9.99 a month and has no deductible. Over the two year contract, that totals to $240. That is more reasonable and it covers more perils.

Score one for Best Buy: Sprint Store 3, Best Buy 3

Tied ballgame, folks!

I somewhat intentionally left this comparison as a tie. You really need to make the decision on what aspects of your phone purchasing process are important to you. If you still aren’t sure where to head to buy your phone, feel free to head to the About page and send The Digitante an email or give me a call. I’d be more than happy to talk about your options for your next phone purchase.

Update (9/30/2009):

Here are the terms of the Best Buy Performance Service Plan (PSP). I removed parts not applicable to cell phones:

Performance Service Plan Benefits

A Best Buy Performance Service Plan (PSP) ensures the long-lasting enjoyment of your purchase with comprehensive coverage from the day you buy it.

Some of the benefits are:

Parts and Labor Coverage
We cover all the parts and labor necessary to return your product to factory specifications. If we cannot repair your product, we will provide a replacement.

Normal Wear and Tear
We cover normal wear and tear as part of our PSP, protecting you from the decline in performance that can come from everyday use.

Power Surge Protection
You’re covered for product damage due to power fluctuations, outages, line spikes or surges.

No Deductibles
We pay any covered claim from the first dollar. There are no deductibles, no hidden charges, no out-of-pocket costs for qualifying repairs.

No Lemon Policy
If your product requires 4 qualifying repairs, we will provide a replacement of comparable performance. Technological advances may result in a replacement product with a lower selling price than the original product.

Accidental Damage from Handling
Accidental Damage from Handling (ADH) coverage is a benefit that can purchase (on qualifiying products) for an additional price over the standard Performance Service Plan. During the term of the Accidental Damage from Handling Performance Service Plan, we will repair or replace the product as necessary to correct any damage to the product. Accidental damage from handling is defined as: “Unintentional damage to a product as a result of daily usage; such as spills and drops.” Immersion in liquid is not covered. ADH covers product from normal daily usage and the way the manufacturer intended the product to be used.

Security
The Best Buy Performance Service Plan program is fully underwritten by a member company of the AIG group of companies.

Renewability
One year of term extension is available on most products at the conclusion of the initial Performance Service Plan. Renew your PSP by calling 1-888-BEST BUY (1-888-237-8289).

Transferability
Our coverage follows the product, which may enhance its market value. When you sell your product simply sign the terms and conditions and give them to the new owner, along with the purchase receipt. No fees apply.

Battery Coverage
We provide a one-time battery replacement of the original factory battery on the following products:

• digital camera batteries
• camcorder batteries
• notebook computer batteries
• cellular phone batteries
• MP3 player batteries
• portable DVD players (Only available with the purchase of Accidental Damage from Handling coverage)

Does not include consumer replaceable batteries (i.e., AA, AAA, C, LR44, DL123A, etc.)

Preventive Maintenance
Preventive maintenance keeps your product performing like new for the duration of the plan. (Good on qualifying products.)

Customer Service Line Available 24/7/365
For any questions regarding this information, you can reach our service representatives at 1-888-237-8289 anytime day or night.

Here are the are the terms for the Sprint Total Equipment Protection:

Total Equipment Protection

• To be eligible for Total Equipment Protection, you must add it within 30 days of activating your phone, smart device or Sprint Mobile Broadband Card.
• The fee for Total Equipment Protection is $7 per phone, smart device or Sprint Mobile Broadband card per month.
• You have the right to cancel your coverage at any time without penalty. If you choose to cancel, the change will be effective immediately.
• You may sign up for either program separately if you prefer. Click the Coverage Certificate and Service Contract links below for details.

Equipment Replacement Program

• Coverage for devices that are lost or stolen or have liquid or physical damage.
• The fee for the program is $4 per phone, smart device or Sprint Mobile Broadband card per month.
• There is a $50 or $100 non-refundable deductible per approved claim depending on the device.
• File your claim within 60 days of the loss, theft or damage.
• You can have up to three approved claims for loss, theft, physical or liquid damage within any consecutive 12 months with a maximum replacement value of $1000 per claim.
• Replacement equipment may be the same or comparable model with similar features as your original device at Sprint’s discretion and may be new or remanufactured. Remanufactured replacements have been tested and inspected to meet or exceed Sprint quality standards.
• Device replacements for approved claims typically arrive in 1 business day when submitted by 7:30 p.m. Central Time. Inventory levels and holidays may delay this estimated arrival time.

Equipment Service & Repair Program

• Coverage for failure from normal wear and tear and out-of-warranty mechanical and electrical failure.
• The fee for the program is $4 per phone or mobile broadband card per month. There is no additional per incident charge.
• The Sprint Equipment Service & Repair Program does not cover damage beyond repair, liquid damage, cosmetic damage, or damage resulting from customer misuse or abuse.
• Repair and service are available at more than 1,400 Sprint Phone Repair Centers.
• Replacement equipment may be the same or comparable model with similar features as your original device at Sprint’s discretion and may be new or remanufactured. Remanufactured replacements have been tested and inspected to meet or exceed Sprint quality standards.

Mr. B gets a Palm Pre…

As I mentioned the other night, Mr. B and I went to pick him out a new phone. You can check out that post over in the In Action! section above or just click the link above.

Just the day before we went to pick out his phone, Mrs. Digitante had gotten a new phone as well. Their experiences could not have been more different:

• Mrs. Digitante ended up going with a BlackBerry Tour, the newest BlackBerry Sprint offers. Mr. B ended up going with the Palm Pre which touts a brand new WebOS operating system which replaced the aging PalmOS.
• Mrs. Digitante purchased her phone at a Sprint corporate store. Mr. B purchased his at Best Buy. There were some stark differences between the two establishments. I’m going to be posting a fully rundown of the differences, both good and bad of purchasing through a Sprint store and Best Buy.

In the meantime, check out In Action!