Tag Archive: case

Jul
18

Laparascopic Nissen Fundoplication – 6 months later

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July 18, 2005

Here’s a followup article to the one I posted about my Laprascopic Nissen Fundoplication procedure. I am happy to say that things have gone very well for me. Read on to see what has happened over first 6 months after having my operation…

In a nutshell, the results of the operation have been wonderful. My doctor did what’s called a “floppy wrap” which apparently isn’t as tight as some wraps are done. You may want to ask your doctor to explain this.

Since the operation, I have had ZERO indigestion or reflux, and I have taken ZERO reflux-related medication. Not only is this better for my body, but it is significantly less costly!

Swallowing food was a challenge at first. I had to very quickly learn to take very small bites of things and to chew very thoroughly. I also felt I was getting fuller faster. I had to be very careful with certain types of breads and “sticky” foods, and chicken gave me some occasional problems at times. But, once I learned to take smaller bites and chew thoroughly, it made things much easier–so much so that now, I can eat pretty much anything. After about a month on soft foods, and a followup doctor’s appointment, my wife treated me to some Sushi, my favorite food! I was very hesitant because of the sticky rice, but it went down well and I felt great.

Since the operation, I dropped some weight because of my changed eating habits. I went down from 225+ pounds to 205 pounds, and I have been maintaining that weight now for probably three months. That’s great news for me. As for what I can eat, I can now pretty much eat whatever I want–I just have to pay attention to bite sizes and to chew thoroughly.

That’s all the good stuff. Now, what have been some of the side effects? This type of operation can lead to some common side effects…

1. Swallowing
The swallowing difficulties typically come in the form of occasional spasming of the esophagus near where the nissen was performed. Food sometimes gets “stuck”, and the spasming can be quite uncomfortable–kind of a tightening feel in the chest that can be somewhat painful. (I admit though, that it’s more mentally disturbing than physical…) I just stop eating at that point, calm down, straighten up my posture, take some quiet deep breaths, and wait for it to pass. In almost every case, it just passes without incident, and nicely reminds me to pay attention to what and how I am eating.

I did say “almost”…I had two “major” incidents where I thought something was really stuck bad, and it panicked me. The feeling did pass within a few minutes (which can seem like an eternity.) It was my own fault because I didn’t chew thoroughly, but it was a lesson learned.

2. Stomach Issues
You may or may not be able to belch or vomit like you used to. The operation prevents stomach contents from backing up into the esophagus, but remember, your stomach will still produce acid, so you can still suffer some stomach-related indigestion symptoms. They just do not come in the form of reflux or “backing up” of anything. You still need to watch your diet and stress levels. Not being able to belch is quite strange at first. I learned the hard way one time: I drank about a half can of soda pop and watched my stomach begin to distend because of the gas buildup. And I couldn’t burp out the gas to save my life! Never did that again! OK, not to get gross on you, but the fact is that as your stomach produces extra acids and gas, it only has two directions it can go. Because the nissen shuts off the esophagus direction…well, you get the idea. Simply put, expect some more frequent lower gas symptoms, and occasional diarrhea or loose bowels.

3. Chest sensitivity
We recently purchased a home gym, and it has been a wonderful device to help keep in shape. I just have to be careful doing any exercise that stresses my chest muscles too much. While the laprascopic procedure is minimally invasive, the fact is that you still have five holes in your chest that must heal. I never did any exercises that did any damage, but chest and abdominal exercises sometimes result in soreness. So, I just tempered my male ego, lowered the weights, and worked on doing more reps. So far, I seem to be doing well.

Conclusion
All in all, the procedure has has been a great success for me. Understand that different people have different results, so please don’t take my experience as a reflection of how yours will go. That said, success rates are very, very high. For me, the simple fact that I have not had any reflux, and I have not taken any medication (antiacid, Nexium, etc.) since the operation has made everything–including the side effects–completely worth it.

One final recommendation: If you have a spouse, relative, or close friend with whom you spend a lot of time, by all means ask them to help hold you accountable with your eating habits. My wife would regularly say, “That bite is too big!” or “You’re eating too fast!”, and though it was admittedly annoying at times, it really helped me focus better, and for that I am grateful.

I hope you found this interesting. Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions.

Permanent link to this article: http://jimstips.com/health-medical-tips/laparascopic-nissen-fundoplication-6-months-later

Mar
30

Gmail Tip #40: New Feature! Rich formatting!

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March 30, 2005

It’s the nail in the coffin…the icing on the cake…the “You had me at hello” feature! Gmail finally has Rich Text formatting! But it’s not just for making your messages pretty. Read on to see why the addition of this feature propels Gmail way ahead of the competition…

In this tip, I will briefly explain how to enable Gmail’s new Rich formatting features, but first, I need to get right to the heart of the matter.

One thing that has bugged me all along with Gmail is how it handles the forwarding of richly formatted (HTML) messages. Whenever I received an email from an AOL user or an Outlook user, more often than not, it would contain rich formatting like different fonts, inline images, etc. The problem was that while Gmail would display the message perfectly while reading, when I went to reply to or forward the message, Gmail would convert everything to plain text, completely mangling the message. All formatting, inline images, and anything else that was not plain text was efficiently removed and forever lost. Needless to say, the end result was FAR from what was really sent to me. My biggest gripe was that if I receive a message, I should be able to reply to or forward it without its basic structure and formatting being altered.

Well that has all changed! By adding the Rich formatting editor, Gmail can now handle forwarding as it should. Kuddos to the Gmail developers!

OK, that said, here’s the tip: If you receive a message and reply to or forward it with the plain text editor, all formatting will be stripped and the message will be sent as plain text. That much is the same. There may be cases where you might want to do this, bit not too oftern. If you have the Rich formatting editor enabled, when you reply to or forward the message, Gmail retains all the formatting for you and you can reply to and forward the message with the assurance that it will be received as it was received by you.

To ensure that the Rich editor is enabled, just click on the “Compose mail” link or press “C” if you have Keyboard Shortcuts enabled. Just below the “Attach a file” link, and above the main text entry space, there will be a “Rich formatting >>” link. Click on it, and the Rich formatting tools will display. Next, just discard the message. Gmail will remember your setting between sessions. If you watnt to revert back to Plain Text, just click on the “<< Plain text" link to the right of the Rich formatting tools.

For a list of all the tools and their functions, go to this link where you will see a summary.

So not only do we get a very nice, fast, WYSIWYG editor, with the addition of this feature, Gmail, in my opinion, raises the bar significantly. Before, I simply could not recommend Gmail to anyone other than tech-savvy people, because forwarding some messages was simply too diffucult. People like my parents simply would have been confused and intimidated by the original design because handling such messages took significant effort. But that has all changed. It looks like this may be the answer to open the door to the masses!

With features like Labels, comprehensive Search, Rich formatting, unobtrusive, yet targete ads, and a gig of storage, I now feel that Gmail could be used by basically anyone, and now stands far above the competition.

Permanent link to this article: http://jimstips.com/gmail-tips/gmail-tip-40-new-feature-rich-formatting

Feb
27

Moxi Tip #14: Easy Remote Text Entry?

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February 27, 2005

I have read the manual. I have played with Moxi. I obviously overlooked it, but it just hit me that there’s a very easy way to enter search words in Moxi’s Find screens! Read on to learn how…

Moxi’s very powerful and useful "Search by Title" and "Search by Keyword" screens provide an easy to navigate on-screen keyboard to enter search keywords. It’s pretty obvious that when you want to enter a character in the on-screen keyboards, you just move the cursor around with the arrow keys and press the [ OK ] button to select the letter. Pretty simple.

But, if you are familiar with text messaging on a cellular phone, then you will be right at home! Take a look at the keypad on your remote. Above the numbers are printed alpha characters just like on a phone keypad. When the on-screen keyboard is displayed on the Search screens, pressing the number key on the keypad cycles you through the corresponding letters on the screen. As you press the keys, the on-screen cursor moves to the selected key. For example, if you want to enter the text "the", just press the [ 8 ] key once, the [ 4 ] key twice, and the [ 3 ] key twice.

If you pause after entering a key, then the current character "locks in" and you move to the next letter. If you keep pressing the same key, it will just cycle through the available letters until you stop pressing. For example, if you want to spell "monk", press the [ 6 ] key once, pause, press the [ 6 ] key three times, pause, press the [ 6 ] key twice, and then press the [ 5 ] key twice. All text is case insensitive.

To clear an entire entry, press the [CLEAR] button. To add a space, press [ 0 ] twice. To backspace one letter, press [ 1 ] twice to highlight backspace, and then press [ OK ].

I personally do absolutely no text messaging, but have found that this is certainly an easy way to enter text!

Permanent link to this article: http://jimstips.com/moxi-tips/moxi-tip-14-easy-remote-text-entry

Dec
13

Moxi Tip #11: How To Find The Shows You Want

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December 13, 2004

With hundreds of Cable channels to choose from, it can be very overwhelming to try to find what you want to watch. Moxi, like most DVR’s has some excellent features that let you not only find the shows you are specifically looking for, but find other shows that might be of interest to you. Read on for some information on searching as well as some “deeper” functions that you may not be aware of…

Hopefully, you are familiar with Moxi’s “navigation” controls. You should be able to bring up the Moxi menu, scroll left and right through the different categories, and scroll up and down through the different category choices. In addition to the “Channels” list, you should see several categories like “Sports”, “Movies”, “Kids”, etc. These are the groupings that Moxi uses to give you quick access browse through these basic categories of shows. Like the “Channels” list, these categories show you what is currently airing now using a format similar to the “Channels” list including the “On Next” pane. Because these screens are more for “browsing”, it can be tedious to find a specific show, especially if it is not airing now. To do more targeted searching, Moxi offers three simple, yet powerful tools: “Find By Title”, “Find By Keyword”, and “Find By Category”. Each has its specific use, so here’s a brief rundown of Moxi’s various search tools:

The first thing you need to do is to navigate to moxi’s “Find & Record” section. Press the Moxi button to bring up the Moxi menu. Scroll left or right until the “Find & Record” category is highlighted. From there, scroll up or down to highlight any of the following choices:

Find By Title
This first method of searching is pretty simple. Say you know the title you are looking for, but just don’t know when it’s airing. Selecting “Find By Title” brings up an on-screen keyboard on the left side of the screen. You use the remote to enter the letters either by moving around the keyboard with the arrows and pressing OK on each letter, or you can use the remote number pad to enter the letters directly “phone pad” style. (Pressing “0″ (zero) twice adds a space, and pressing “1″ and “OK” backspaces.) Don’t worry about case.

As you enter the letters of the title, Moxi displays the search results in the pane on the left of the screen, narrowing down the list as each letter is typed. If the show you are looking for is in the current channel guide data, which holds about two weeks of upcoming shows, the show will display in the left pane. Press the left arrow to move over to the left pane and scroll up or down to highlight the desired show. Pressing OK will bring up the standard controls to either watch the show if it’s currently airing, or record the current or upcoming shows.

“Find By Title” is an excellent way to find a specific show or to select a bunch of episodes to record without having to set up a series recording.

Find By Keyword
This second method of searching takes the “Find By Title” concept a bit farther by letting you search through not only the titles, but the cast members, and words in the show’s descriptions. For example, say you can’t remember the title of a movie, but you remembered that “HARRISON FORD” was in it. Just select “Find By Keyword” and like the “Find By Title” screen, a keyboard will display on the right side of the screen. Enter the keywords you want to search for, in this case, HARRISON FORD. When finished, press the left arrow to close the keyboard and highlight the results pane. Unlike “Find By Title”, this is not an “as-you-type” search. There will be a brief pause as Moxi searches through all its data for your keywords. Once the search is complete, you can scroll through any results and view or schedule upcoming shows to record.

One small caveat about “Find By Keyword” is that you cannot save the search results nor can you schedule recordings based on keywords. You can only record shows that display in the results pane. For most users, this is a non-issue, but if you are ReplayTV (and possibly TiVo) user, this is a missed feature. None-the-less, “Find By Keyword” searching can be very powerful.

Find By Category
This last search method is for those times when you are looking for something to record, but don’t specifically know the title or show details. It’s similar to the Category browsing described above, but it goes much deeper. Selecting “Find By Category” brings up a horizontal group of major categories like “Movies”, Sports”, etc. with the individual shows displayed vertically under the highlighted category. Again, this is similar to Categories described above, but with two main differences:

First, the shows that are listed are not just those shows airing now, but all shows in that particular category airing in the next two weeks listed alphabetically. Again, this is designed so that you really don’t need to be concerned with when the show is airing, just that it is airing. Select the show to record, and when it airs, it will record.

The second difference is that in each vertical list, there is an entry labeled “More”. Select this, and Moxi displays more detailed sub-categories on the horizontal. You can drill down into these very specific categories to further narrow down those shows to browse.

ReplayTV “Zones” users will be at home here, but again, be aware that you cannot set up recordings based on these categories like you could with Zones, just record the individual shows or show series.

I hope that you find these search tools useful. Moxi, like most DVR’s, offers pwerful tools that the casual user may not know exist. So have fun and start finding shows!!

Permanent link to this article: http://jimstips.com/moxi-tips/moxi-tip-11-how-to-find-the-shows-you-want

Dec
07

Gmail Tip #37: New Feature: Image Attachment Thumbnails

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December 7, 2004

Read on for a simple description of a simple new feature…

Gmail’s site describes it as:

“It’s like seeing the trailer before you see the movie. Now you can get a sneak preview of your attachments.”

Gmail now adds the ability to preview graphic images attached to email messages you receive by displaying “thumbnails” of the images displayed below the message text. In many cases, you won’t even need to open the image, but you still have the familiar “View” and “Download” options.

Yet another step forward in Gmail’s ever-evolving interface!

Permanent link to this article: http://jimstips.com/gmail-tips/gmail-tip-37-new-feature-image-attachment-thumbnails

Dec
02

Moxi Tip #7: Moxi Vs ReplayTV

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December 2, 2004

As a long-time ReplayTV DVR owner, comparisons are inevitable, so here are my rather lengthy impressions of Moxi in comaprison with ReplayTV. This comparison is an enhancement to a posting I made over on the AVS Forum. I have refined it a bit and added some more information, so read on for all you never wanted to know…

BACKGROUND
Before I get into the review and comparison, I want to provide a bit of background and perspective. I have been a long-time proponent of ReplayTV boxes and I have participated on AVS Forum’s ReplayTV forum for a number of years. I have owned three ReplayTV boxes over the past four years, and I run a personal hobby site, JimsTips.com, where I have been providing Tips & Tricks related to several topics that interest me (including ReplayTV), so to say that I’ve had some experience and interest in DVR’s would be an understatement!

As for ReplayTV boxes, I currently own an “upgraded” model 2001, an “upgraded” model 2020, and a “stock” model 5040. For me, the 2xxx models are simply “tanks” that just work. They are solid, reliable, very responsive to the remote, and have proven to be exceptional in their reliability and function. The only downside of them is that they are not “networkable” and require a phone connection to retrieve Channel Guide data and software updates. The model 5040 on the other hand has more bells and whistles, but at the same time, it seems “forced” in many of its design points. Its remote is less responsive, and it has an overall more sluggish feel when compared to the 2xxx series. For a while, it was more prone to lockups than the 2xxx series, but to ReplayTV’s credit, recent software updates have corrected this and a number of other issues.

The one real plus to the ReplayTV 5040 is its networkability: All program data can be received via broadband as opposed to dialup on the 2xxx boxes, and any show that is recorded can be “offloaded” to a PC for playback, editing, and burning to a DVD. This is excellent for building a personal library of favorite shows. You do have to jump through number of hoops to accommodate ReplayTV’s picky MPEG-2 format, but the results are quite good. (See my “ReplayTV to DVD HOWTO” on my Web site JimsTips.com for more details.)

Finally, please don’t think that I am ignoring TiVo here. I think TiVo is very innovative and an excellent product. It’s just that several years ago, I chose ReplayTV, because at the time its interface was more familiar and solid, and it provided a logical and simple transition from DirecTV’s interface. TiVo’s interface was just too different to make an easy transition. Also, ReplayTV just had a “feel” about it that seemed less intrusive. Over the years, though, TiVo has significantly improved things, and they are certainly a fine choice. So much so that if I was starting from scratch, I would seriously consider a TiVo box. I just won’t be covering TiVo here because I have no real experience with it like I do with ReplayTV.

OK, enough background. First off, I’m going to give you my Pros and Cons list about Moxi. These are based on playing around with Moxi, reading data sheets, and my experience with ReplayTV. There may be some bias, and I’m trying to be objective, but when you’ve used ReplayTV for over four years… Also note that I am not focusing at all on the HDTV features of Moxi. While this aspect is huge for many, unfortunatly, I do not have an HDTV nor do I subscribe to any HD channels. I’m focusing here primarily on the “SD” experience.

MOXI PROS:

Low Cost
Charter Cable charges a monthly charge of $9.99, and there are no initial equipment costs. This cost varies from market to market and ranges a couple bucks more or less. Over the course of a few years, ReplayTV would be more cost-effective, but if a new model becomes available, typically Cable companies let you swap them out for little or no cost whereas ReplayTV would require a new purchase and sale of the old box.

Player Bar
AKA, a Status Bar. This is pretty cool. This is something that I wish ReplayTV optionally had that TiVo has had from day-one. It gives you a quick and easy visual cue to “where you are” in a show, live or recorded. It’s clean and slick looking, and at-a-glance, I can really get a good sense of where I am in the show without having to do mental time calculations like I do with ReplayTV.

Buffer Recording
If you decide to record a show AFTER it started, Moxi can record the entire show back to the beginning as long as it is buffered. This is a very nice feature that I wish ReplayTV had.

“Skip” Button
Like ReplayTV, Moxi has a “Skip” button, but depending on the Cable company’s settings (more on that later) how far ahead it skips may vary. Initially, Charter had this configured to skip ahead 30 seconds, similar to ReplayTV. However, they recently changed it to a 15-minute skip. While at first thought this seems like a joke, it means that all “small” navigation forward is done by Fast Forwardin, and “large” navigation can be done with the 15-minute skip. For example, say you record a four hour football game and want to go to halftime. Prior to the 15-minute skip, you woult either hit Skip a couple hundred times or you would have to Fast Forward all the way to the middle. With the 15-minute skip, just a few button presses takes you forward to where you want to be. My only complaint is that you cannot skip back (reportedly, this will be addded in a future software release.

Flexible “Find” Capabilities
Like ReplayTV, you can search by keyword and category (ReplayTV “Zones”), but Moxi has some additional “advanced” search functionality. The ability to search for a show is essential and a very often-used ReplayTV feature, and Moxi doesn’t disappoint here.

Cool User Interface
Moxi’s (award winning) UI is very slick and modern. It reminds me a bit of Media Center PC’s which have very slick UI’s. Navigation is a snap, the response is quick, and the animation is smooth and pleasing to the eye. Just about everything can be accessed with just the arrow and OK keys. I have always considered ReplayTV’s UI to be more “functional” die to its unobtrusive design. Moxi seems to strike a nice balance. I’m ery happy with it, partly because it is so intuitive.

Integrated Cable Box
This is an excellent feature and most welcome. Obviously, this eliminates the Satellite and OTA markets, but consideing that we switched to Cable, it’s an excellent silution for us. It completely eliminates the need for serial connections or IR blasters required of “standalone” boxes resulting in almost instantaneous channel changes. In addition, Pay-per-view and Video On Demand channels are available.

Dual Tuners
This is another huge feature! This virtually eliminates scheduling conflicts, and the ability to record one show while watching another is something ReplayTV could not do.

MOXI CONS:

No “Grid” Guide
I really like the ReplayTV Grid Guide because it really gives you an “at-a-glance” view, especially when you want to visually look for shows. Moxi’s “dual-axis” navigation guide is novel, and I will no doubt get used to it, but I do wish it had an optional Grid Guide. Rumors indicate that an “improved” method of displaying what’s coming up is forthcoming, but it probably won’t be a “grid” guide.

No “Keyword” Themes
ReplayTV lets you create recordings based on keywords, something Moxi doesn’t do. This is nice when you don’t remember the exact name of the show or you don’t know when the show will be on. If a show matches, it will record it. This has proven to be very useful in recording shows that we know get aired occasionally but are not currently in the current channel guide data. I haven’t found a way to do this in Moxi.

“Cumbersome” Interface
While Moxi’s UI is very slick and modern, it is a bit kludgy here and there requireing extra button presses for certain tasks. ReplayTV has some “extra” buttons the let you bypass menus and jump right to specific key functions.

FEATURE-BY-FEATURE COMPARISON
OK, so how does the Moxi compare to the ReplayTV box on a feature-by-feature comparison? I will compare the Moxi to ReplayTV in general while pointing out any differences between the 2xxx and 5xxx series ReplayTV boxes. Note that 3xxx series boxes are similar to the 2xxx boxes and 4xxx boxes are similar to th 5xxx boxes. My intent is not to present a “which is better” review, but more a list of side-by-side features from which you can choose a device based on your needs and wants. As of today, I am running version “3″ of Moxi’s software. Note that software revisions can change these features and specs in a heartbeat, so if things have changed let me know and I’ll update this review.

Recording Buffer
A recording buffer is space allocated by the system where live TV is stored letting you pause, rewind, and resume watching paused TV.

MOXI
Originally, Moxi had a fixed 30 minute buffer, but it now appears that its buffer can grow much larger. The only real “idiosyncracy” to their implementation is that if you are paused for more than 30 minutes, Moxi will resume playback from where it is paused. Initiating a Recording of the current show will also record back to the beginning of the show assuming that the channel was tuned to that channel at the time of the start of the show. This is VERY handy if you missed the beginning of a show and want to retain it for later viewing.

REPLAYTV
ReplayTV’s buffer has a minimum buffer allocation of 20 minutes, with the maximum being the amount of free hard disk space. I know of no real limitations save for the amount of free disk space. I have paused and succcessfully rewound back over 12 hours or more of buffer without issue (tedious, but without issue!) Initiating a Recording of the current show will flush the buffer and begin the recording at live TV. ReplayTV does not back up in the buffer to record the beginning of the show.

Recording Quality
This refers to the quality at which the show is recorded. If you are coming from the VCR world of video tape recording, you will be stunned by either system. No more tracking problems. No more video noise. Just decent to excellent digital quality. There are two types of DVR’s available today: Standalone and Integrated. Standalone boxes have inputs that accept signals from any video source. Integrated DVD’s have Cable or Satellite decodes integrated. These typically cannot record external video sources.

MOXI
Moxi is an Integrated box and records the raw bit stream right from the Digital Cable Box, so how you see it “live” is how you see it recorded. For Digital channels, Moxi does not compress or convert between Digital and Analog because compression is done at the head-end, so the user has no control over recording quality. Overall picture quality is excellent and comparable to “normal” Digital Cable reception. Basically, what you view live is what you see recorded. For Analog cable signals are still received by Moxi and converted to Digital on-the-fly for storage and playback. Users have reported that HD viewing and recording is excellent, Digital Cable viewing and recording is very good, and analog viewing and recording is marginal–worse than ReplayTV or TiVo. Unlike ReplayTV and TiVo, Moxi has no recording quality settings.

REPLAYTV
ReplayTV, unlike Moxi, are Standalone boxes that record any analog signal as input, for example, the analog output from raw Analog Cable or Digital Cable boxes. It records the analog source signal by converting it from analog to digital on-the-fly, compressing it based on one of three recording qualities: Standard, Medium, and High.

Standard Quality rivals VCR quality. I personally think it is better, but it is also somewhat prone to digital artifacting depending on the source content. The reality is that it could be better, but over time, you just don’t notice the artifacting.

Medium Quality is decent quality and is a great compromise between quality and disk capacity. It is, in my opinion, the most “compatible” quality when offloading shows to a PC for burning to a DVD. (See my “ReplayTV to DVD HOWTO” on my Web site JimsTips.com I tend to record everything at Medium Quality for this reason.

High Quality is excellent for sporting events and fast-action movies. If you have a larger TV (and can thus more easily see artifacting) then High Quality is almost essential.

Note that on series 2xxx ReplayTV boxes, audio records at varying levels directly related to the various video recording qualities resulting in better or worse audio quality. On 5xxx boxes, audio is always recorded at the same high quality regardless of video recording quality.

Recording Capacity
Recording capacity refers to the maximum number of hours of show content that you can record. This greatly varies depending on the model of the box and the recording quality used.

MOXI
Currently, Moxi only offers one capacity: 80GB. This lets you record about 50 hours of Standard Definition content and about 10-12 hours of High Definition content. These numbers are rough estimates, but should give you a ballpark idea of total capacity. There are rumored plans for expansion capabilities. As mentioned above, there is no recording quality setting.

REPLAYTV
ReplayTV storage capacity can be approximated by considering the size of the installed hard drive and the recording quality setting. For example, a ReplayTV box with a 60GB drive can record about 60 hours at Standard Quality, 30 hours at Medium Quality, and 20 hours at High quality. Other drive capacities have the same recording capacity ratios. Note that ReplayTV boxes cannot record High Definition recordings, only Standard Definition recordings.

Channel Guide
The Channel Guide is the method by which the system organizes and presents show information on channels over time. This is the way you typically select shows to watch and record.

MOXI
Moxi uses a novel “dual-axis” navigation system. Along the horizontal is a list of “categories” like Channels, HDTV, Favorites, Settings, etc. When you scroll left and right, the available options in each category appear in a vertical scrollable column. For example, if you bring “Channels” into “focus”, all channels and the current show airing on those channels appear in a list running vertically. You just scroll or page up and down to the desired channel. The highlighted channel also displays additional information about the program and pressing the “Info” button brings up yet more detailed information. It also displays the next three shows airing on that channel in an “On Next” section. Pressing the right arrow moves you to that “On Next” section where you can scroll through that sub-list out to 14 days ahead. On any highlighted show, you can record and search for upcoming shows.

If you are used to a typical Grid Guide, Moxi will disappoint. It definitely requires a change in mindset or perspective, BUT it does work well, and is quite effective. The more I use it, the more it works for me. Two quirks: First, the sort order of the channel list is “descending” as opposed to the typical “ascending” list. Not sure why they decided to break with tradition, but this seemed anti-intuitive to me. Second, there are no channel numbers listed in the channel listing, only network logo icons. The channel DOES display on the highlighted item, and I do realize that screen real estate is at a premium, but it seems strange that they would omit channel numbers. I guess a resonable explanation could be that you may be more likely to recognize an icon than a number. If the Cable company changes the lineup, you could still quickly “recognize” the channel. Time will tell if these really are issues.

Moxi provides two weeks of show data.

REPLAYTV
ReplayTV uses a “classic” Grid Guide. If you are used to looking at a paper TV listing, then you will be right at home with ReplayTV. Channels are listed on the left of the screen, half-hour time blocks are listed on the top, and corresponding shows fill the grid. You use the arrow keys to simply move around the grid to view and select available shows. The show that is currently highlighted displays brief information at the top of the screen.

ReplayTV 2xxx boxes store one week of programming data, and 5xxx boxes provide two weeks of programming data.

Info Display
While watching a show, you often want to more information about the show such as description, actors, etc. Both systems offer program information in various forms.

MOXI
When viewing the Channel Menu, a brief show description is displayed next to the highlighted show. Pressing the Info button brings up an extended description screen with full show description, and an extensive cast list. Depending on the amount of data, this can be a multi-page screen providing excellent information. Pressing the Clear button dismisses the screen. While watching live TV, pressing the Info button brings up this screen as well.

Moxi also has a “Flip Bar” that is a small status bar that appears on the bottom of the screen when you press an arrow button. It displays information about the current show and also shows the next three shows airing next on that channel. Pressing the right arrow moves you to the “On Next” section where you can scroll through 14 days of data. Selecting one of these shows brings up options to record. Scrolling up or down in the main part of the Flip Bar will also display the corresponding show information on other channels without actually changing the channel. “On Next” information is also displayed as well. Pressing the Info buton will bring up the extended info screen as well. Pressing Clear or waiting a few seconds will dismiss the Flip Bar.

REPLAYTV
While scrolling around the Channel Guide, the highlighted show’s information displays in a banner at the top of the screen. The number of lines is is adequate, but it is limited, so if there is extended information, it gets cut off. There is no way to view any additional information.

While watching live TV, pressing the ReplayTv’s “Info” button brings up a banner at the top of the screen containing information about the current show. Series 2xxx boxes have “static” info banners while 5xxx boxes have arrow-navigable banners letting you see current and future show information on other channels without tuning to that channel.

User Interface And System Responsiveness
How quickly a DVR responds to remote button presses, and how quickly it processes requests is very important to the overall user experience. If the system is too slow or sluggish, it will turn people off very quickly. Tech saavy people sometimes have more tolerance because they understand what’s going on in the background, but to Joe Sixpack, these are appliances that should respond and operate quickly. You never had to watch an hourglass while programming a VCR, so they won’t expect delays or lags in a DVR either.

MOXI
Version 3 of Moxi’s software improves the interface performance over past revisions. Moxi responds to remote button presses very quickly, and overall, the interface is smooth, nicely animated, and pleaseing to use. Rarely do you see a delay. The only real annoyance I had was that it is painfully S-L-O-W to add and remove channels in the Channel Listing section of Settings. (This is where you can optionally “select” and “unselect” channels to be displayed, for example those channels to which you do not subscribe.) Fortunatly, this is a one-time deal, but unselecting literally a couple hundred channels was less than pleasant. It would be nice if Moxi either had an “auto-unselect” for known, unassigned channels, or at least a faster inerface.

In some cases, Moxie does require some extra button presses to get to “core” functions, but it’s not too bad. Other than that, the overall interface is excellent–probably why it recently won an Emmy award.

REPLAYTV
As mentioned above, the 2xxx series is very snappy and quick to respond. The only time things slow down is during a long search, but there is screen feedback telling you how it is searching. The 5xxx series is more sluggish, but recent software updates have improved the UI overall. It still has the occasional “lag” or “squishy” feel because things just don’t respond as snappy as the 2xxx series, but the added features and capabilities of the 5xxx box typically outweigh any response issues.

ReplayTV has several extra buttons that take you right to core functions with one button press, for example, “Channel Guide” and “Replay Guide” (recorded shows.) While not essential, this is a nice convenience.

Remote
DVRs typically require a remote to do even the most basic functions. Without one, you really can’t do anything, so the decent remote is essential.

MOXI
Moxi’s provides a number of controls on the front of the box itself that you can pretty much control most, if not all functions. This is pretty typical of most cable boxes. Should you lose or break your remote, you are not stuck.

Moxi’s remote is solid, nicely weighted, and has a rubbery backing that gives a good grip. It feels good, and the layout of the buttons is pretty decent. And, because it’s a Cable Company product, if the remote breaks, the Cable Company typically will provide a replacement as needed. I’ve grown to really like the remote.

REPLAYTV
ReplayTV’s boxes have one, yes, one button on the front: Power. All other functions are controlled by the remote. Lose the remote? You better get a new one, because nothing, and I mean NOTHING is controllable without the remote.

ReplayTV remotes have gone through three radical incarnations over the years. While all have their idiosyncracies, they are all are effective. I personally like the most recent version because it fits my hand well, it is compact, and the buttons are in a logical placement. My only issue with most ReplayTV remotes is that over time, the “most often used” buttons do wear out, and I have had to buy several replacements over the years–an added cost I wasn’t anticipating.

Conflict And Space Management
So what happens when two shows you want to record air at the same time? What happens when the networks change the time slot or extend a show (like the “Must Miss..er See TV” shows where they start them 1 minute early or extend them 10 minutes later possibly overlapping another recording.) How a DVR handles these conflicts determines if your show gets recorded or not.

MOXI
Moxi has a huge advantage in that it includes two tuners, so conflicts should be GREATLY reduced. Most conflicts occur typically occur between two shows. Yes, because you now have two tuners, you may have other conflicts, but it’s much less likely with two tuners.

For those times when you have conflicts, particularly with Series recordings, Moxi provides a “piority” method that lets you determine the priority order of selecting series to record. I don’t know how it prioritizes single-show recordings.

Moxi also provides the ability to extend the start or end times of recordings. In fact, once a show has started, you can extend the end time while it is recording–something sports fans of overtime-prone games will like.

Additionally, Moxi provides not only a “Sheduled to Record” listing, but a “Deleted and Cancelled” listing. The first displays everything that is scheduled to record–individual shows and shows associated with a series recording. The nice thing about this is that you can selectively remove shows that you may not want to record–shows that are not repeats (to Moxi) but shows for which you ahve no interest or have already seen.

The second list displays all shows that were deleted, or did not or will not record. More importantly, id shows why the show did or will not record. For future cancelld recordings, you can optionally record them or find upcoming shows. This is very handy and makes recording management a snap.

REPLAYTV
ReplayTV has a single tuner meaning it can record only one show at a time, so conflict management is much more important. For “Single” and “Recurring” show recordings, if the show moves more than two time slots from its originally scheduled time, it will not get recorded. If it is a “Theme” recording, it will still record because Themes are not limited to channels or time slots.

Further, ReplayTV uses a somewhat complex but effective system of “Guaranteed” and “Non-Guaranteed” recordings. Basically, if you flag a recording as Guaranteed, space is “hard-allocated” on the disk. Non-Guaranteed recordings will record if disk space is available. Guaranteed recordings are great for those shows you “can’t miss” and want high assurance that they will record. Non-Guaranteed recordings are great for setting up recurring “filler” shows that you don’t care if you miss an episode or two.

If you want to record two shows that air at the same time, simply put, you are out of luck, but there are several functions to let you find other occurrences of the show. There are a number of other factors that I won’t get into in this review, but ReplayTV’s conflict management isn’t too bad. And the 5xxx series has added several other features to help better manage conflicts. The only major downside is that there is no “ToDo List” showing what ReplayTV actually has scheduled to record. Recordings are listed in the “Replay Guide” but because of the varied nature of different recording types (single-show, recurring, and Themes) Specifics may or may not be available. This is a long-time shortcoming of ReplayTV.

Connections
Like Neo said in The Matrix, “Guns…lots of guns” a DVR needs “connections…lots of connections” to be compatible with the myriad of TV’s and, if applicable, input sources. Both ReplayTV and Moxi offer very comprehensive connectivity options.

MOXI
Moxi’s input is simple. It has a single input: Coax. Given that it has an integrated digital cable decoder, this makes sense. It is not a “standalone” box, so a single input is expected.

Outputs, on the other hand, are numerous. Video options include: Coax, RCA, S-video, Component (YPrPb), and DVI connections providing full SD and HDTV compatibility. For audio, there are standard stereo Left & Right RCA jacks as well as both coax and optical digital S/PDIF connectors. Depending on your cable company’s deployment, some of these outputs may or may not be active, and some may not be active while others are active (for example, if Component or DVI video is active, composite and S-Video are not active.)

Moxi passes Dolby 5.1 through the Digital audio outputs if it is available on the channel.

REPLAYTV
Because ReplayTV is a standalone box, it needs to accommodate several input sources. It has standard coax, RCA, and S-video inputs. You can configure it to utilize all or any combination of these inputs.

For output, all ReplaYTV boxes have multiple S-Video outputs and RCA outputs. The 5xxx series, adds coax output, progressive (YPrPb) video output, and an Optical audio connector. As a side note, though there is no digital audio INPUT, ReplayTV decided that providing optical audio OUTPUT would help provide the best available audio. You will not get Dolby 5.1 audio.

Playback Control
A signature feature of DVR’s is the ability to “pause live TV”. In addition, you can typically rewind back through the buffer, pause, and fast forward through the buffer back to live. Other controls may also be available.

MOXI
Moxi has basic playback functions: Pause, Play, Rewind, Fast Forward. You can also “Replay” which skips you back 7 seconds (useful for replaying a scene) and “Skip” which skips you ahead by a Cable company-determined amount of time. By that, I mean that the Cable COmpany can control the function of this button, and currently it is set to do nothing, skip ahead 30-seconds (useful for skipping past commer…um…I mean unwanted content), or skip ahead 15 minutes (useful to jump forward in large chunks, sat to quickly get to halftime in a football game recording.) You still have full Fast Forward and Rewind control, so how this is set really shouldn’t affect your viewing experience.

There is currently no (or very poor) “Overshoot Correction” so if you hit Play while Fast Forwarding, it stops exactly when you press play, so you may have to rewind or hit Replay to correct if you overshoot. I suspect that this will be correctd in a later software revision.

Missing are “specialty” features like stepping forward or backward one frame at a time and slow motion playback. I am not a sports fan, but I do find this useful with movies, especially the credits. Again, I suspect that these functions may surface in a later software revision.

REPLAYTV
Playback control is a real strength of ReplayTV. Like Moxi, it also has the basics as well as the Replay and Skip buttons. For recorded shows (and live shows on the 5xxx series) you can also skip forward or backward by number. For example pressing “5″ and then “Skip” jumps you forward 5 minutes. Pressing “15″ and “Replay” jumps you back 15 minutes. Pressing “8″ and the “Jump” button jumps you the point 8 minutes into the show. This is very handy for handling long shows like the Olympic coverage.

ReplayTV also lets you step forward frame-by-frame after pressing Pause, and pressing the “Play” button during playback plays in slow motion in variable speeds. ReplayTV’s Fast Forward and Rewind have “Overshoot Correction” where it jumps back (or forward if rewinding) a few seconds to compensate for your hand-eye coordination delay. It works very well.

Parental Control
I do not use Parental Controls, so I cannot speak to them, but suffice it to say both Moxie and ReplayTV provide fairly comprehensive channel and rating controls.

Other Features
In addition, there are other features that are uniquie to each box. Here are some examples of some of these unique features…

MOXI
For an entertainment diversion, Moxi has the capability of providing Games like Blackjack, Solitaire, etc. using the remote. They look great and are quite fun.

For the you information addicts, Moxi has the capability to provide an optional “ticker”. This is a small, user-controllable scrolling banner at the bottom of the screen that can display things like news headlines, weather conditions, stock quote, and sports scores. The TV picture shrinks slightly so you do not miss any content.

If available, Moxi has the capability of providing access to Video On Demand content with full playback control.

Notice that I say, “has the capability.” Moxi, in an effort to attract Cable Companies as customers, offers a very flexible feature set that can be tailored by each Cable company depending on their technical capabilities, economics, and market. For example, one market may enable Video On Demand while other markets may not. As I understand it, these features are typically consistent within a market, but can vary from market to market. However, I could see no real technical reason why specific features could not be offered as “premium” services.

It is important to understand that this effectively means that if you read about a new Moxi feature, that doesn’t mean you will automatically get it. You may need to contact your Cable company to request those features. While that’s a certainly a negative for the viewer, it also helps promote Cable company market share.

REPLAYTV
With some minor exceptions, the ReplayTV 5xxx series pretty much has all the features of the 2xxx series, but it does have some added features.

One significant feature is Networkability. Connect your ReplayTV 5xxx box to a broadband connection or an Internet-connected home LAN, and you can receive all Channel Guide content and software updates over a high-speed connection. In addition, by running some third-party software like DVArchive, you can transfer the shows you recorded on your ReplayTV box to a LAN-connected PC in all its full, digital glory. This is useful not only for archiving to DVD, but if you ahve a capable laptop, you can watch the shows on your commute or travels. Unfortunately, “the industry” doesn’t like this too much, so don’t expect to see this available on Moxi any time soon.

Another extra is “Commercial Advance” that auto-skips commercials. This is technology pioneered on VCR’s except that instead of auto-fast forwarding through the commercials, ReplayTV can “skip” them completely. Again, it’s a controvercial feature that works surprisingly well.

Internet Sharing is another feature that has brought ReplayTV under fire from “the industry”, so much so, that this feature was removed from newer 5xxx models. This feature lets you (in a very controlled and limited way) transfer recorded shows to other ReplayTV users over the Internet. This has proven useful on a number of occasions, but understand that due to current residential bandwidth limitations, it can take many hours, if not days to transfer a movie, so its usefulness is subjective.

The Future
In addition, there are other features that are uniquie to each box. Here are some examples of some of these unique features…

MOXI
Moxi, being a new kid on the block, has had the luxury of learning from the mistakes of its competition. Instead of going after the retail market, they are going after the Cable market. There is a staggering Cable customer base that is ripe for simple, inexpensive, and snazzy innovation, and Moxi may just be the ticket.

In addition to the current box, Digeo is working on a new “remote” version called “Moxi Mate” that provides a second “thin client” box that can be used to control viewing, recording, and playback of the main box from another room of the house. Say you are watching a movie in your living room and it’s getting late. Just pause it, go to the bedroom, and resume playback on your bedroom’s TV–while someone else watches a different program in the living room.

Digeo is also working on the “Moxi Plus” box which is a subscriber-installable box providing additional DVR Hard Disk storage space, and other optional features from card ports for importing photos to audio music streaming to CD and DVD playback and recording.

REPLAYTV
As for ReplayTV’s future, I believe that it is uncertain. ReplayTV has created some very innovative technology, but its financial struggles and failure to capture a larger market share of the DVR market has hurt its innovation. Over the years, ReplayTV boxes end up on retailer shelves, get pulled from retailer shelves, and end up on them again. ReplayTV is currently on its third owner, and it looks like “consumer grade” (read $200-$300 range) offerings will be either limited or non-existent. Dennon, ReplayTV’s current owner, has said that the Program Guide service will continue, but it looks like they are focusing on more higher-end (read $1,000+) offerings. Their technology is ambitious, but not much has surfaced. They are also trying to woo third parties to license their technology.

CONCLUSION
In my opinion, your choice of DVR is a very subjective one. Different people have different needs, so a simple feature list may or may not provide the information you need to make a choice. For example, we have been using ReplayTV boxes for years with DirecTV with excellent results. When we moved to South Carolina, we decided to go with Charter Digital Cable because of the cost savings, but because there is no serial port control capability on Charter’s Digital Cable box, we have to use an “IR Blaster” to control channel changing. Unfortunatly, while this has proven to be about 99% reliable on the 2xxx series, it is virtually useless on the 5xxx series–not something neither my wife or I like. So one of my goals of evaluating Moxi is to provide a less complex and more reliable solution. Having a DVR integrated into the cable box is certainly a step forward.

My recommendation is to give the various boxes a “test drive” and see what features you like and what features “feel good” to you. Be sure to take advantage of free trials–Charter offers the first month for free, and both ReplayTV and TiVo offer 30-day money back guarantees, so you are free to compare as you see fit.

One thing is for sure: Once you get hooked on the DVR concept, the specific make model really becomes almost irrelevent–you just have to have SOMETHING!

Permanent link to this article: http://jimstips.com/moxi-tips/moxi-tip-7-moxi-vs-replaytv

Oct
19

Vonage: Not For Me, But Still A Service To Consider

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October 19, 2004

Well, after using Vonage for almost two months, we decided to cancel our Vonage service and remain with Bell South. Unfortunatly our situation is a bit different from many others, so your experience could be quite different. So read on to see why we canceled and why I still recommend Vonage as an excellent phone service alternative. That may sound like a contratiction, but it’s not…

There was no one major reason for our cancelling Vonage. Our decision came from a number of smaller issues that, after reviewing “the big picture”, caused us to decide that despite the added cost of Bell South phone service, its reliability and quality outweighed the issues we were having with Vonage. Here are the issues we have been dealing with:

1. NO LOCAL NUMBER ISSUE
The first issue we had was the lack of a local number within our local calling area. Vonage did provide numbers within our area code, but they exist outside our local calling area. Not having a local number presented the following issues:

-11 Digit Dialing
Local callers must dial 11 digits when dialing our Vonage number. I am originally from the Chicago area which has had “overlay” area codes for several years requiring dialing 11 digits. It was a no-brainer because everyone had to do it. Call New Mexico: 11 digits. Call across the street: 11 digits. Simple.

In Anderson, SC however, the norm is currently 7 digits, so it was confusing and inconvenient when giving out our number and expecting people to reach us the first time. Of course it’s not rocket science, but was a minor hassle.

-In-State Toll Charges
Because the Vonage number resides outside our local calling area, anyone within our local area who dials our number got hit with an in-state toll charge. Again, not a huge deal, but I personally don’t like the idea of pushing off these added costs to the caller when they would otherwise be covered under my phone plan had we had a local number.

-No Phonebook Listing
This issue wasn’t apparant at first. It turns out that because the Vonage phone number is “owned” by Vonage and is “leased” to Vonage customers, there is really no easy way to get a new Vonage phone number listed in the local phonebook. Some may find this a blessing as it may reduce telemarketing callers, but we found this to be an issue. We moved to a “small-town” community that relies on these types of resources. Again, not a huge issue. Note that if you “ported” or “transferred” your number, this should be a non-issue. This only affects “new” Vonage numbers. Because our number could not be transferred due to lack of local number availability, we had to go with a new number.

-CALLERID NOT “ACCURATE”
Again, this seems to be an issue similar to the phonebook issue. Our CallerID information displays as “Unknown Number” and then our Vonage phone number on recipients’ CallerID boxes. I find this pretty lame. Given current technology, Vonage customers SHOULD be able to have their Account Name displayed on the CallerID regardless if the number was “new” or “transferred”. While I do understand the reasons behind it, the reasons are really more political and administrative than technical. Obviously, this is not Vonage’s fault as such, but it’s still an annoyance.

-911 REGISTRATION A PROBLEM
According to Vonage’s response to my 911 registration request, our address “failed [their] 911 Address Matching Test.” so our 911 registration was declined. Apparantly, we live in a county area that currently does not exist in the 911 system. I will definitely persue this issue because it could also affect our Bell South line. Again, this is not Vonage’s fault, but given current technology, this should be transparant to the user.

Looking at these specific issues, you could conclude that they are not necessarily “show-stopper” issues, and you would be correct. What concerns me is that while I’m very tech-savvy, “Joe Sixpack” would certainly have a tougher time dealing with and understanding these issues.

2. CALL QUALITY ISSUE
Simply put, my wife and I were disappointed with Vonage’s call quality. Overall, it’s pretty good, but depending on the call, there were often noticable delays, occasional “choppy” voice, and occasional dropped connections. Because I had my Phone Adapter located behind my router for security reasons, I couldn’t take advantage of QoS, so calls were more often than not affected during heavy Internet activity. Despite having 3000/256 Cable Modem service, the call quality was never on par with that of Bell South. I did not try lowering the bitrate on the Dashboard, and maybe that would have improved things, but I also didn’t want to sacrifice voice quality.

The good news (and I’m not being cynical here) is that if you are used to and satisfied with Cellphone quality service such as occasional voice delay, intermittent choppy voice, occasional dropouts, and the occasional lack of service, then you will be right at home with Vonage. I seriously believe that if you are happy with cellphone quality, then you will be happy with Vonage. However, if you prefer POTS quality, then you may be disappointed. Again, your milage may vary depending on your particular setup.

3. LINE RELIABILITY ISSUE
OK, so the fact that three hurricanes recently swept through the Southeast is truely not a normal occurrance, but unfortunatly, our cable went out twice during that two week period due to weather-related issues rendering Vonage phone service useless. Our Bell South line remaind “on” during the outage. My Cable Modem, Router, and Phone Adapter were connected to an Uninterruptable Power Supply (which was an added cost), so THAT portion of the system stayed “on”, but because no Internet connection was available, the Vonage phone service was unavailable. To be fair, in this case, the problem was NOT with Vonage, but our Cable provider.

CONCLUSION
OK, all that said, please understand that MOST of our issues have to do with our specific proximity and the fact that no local number was available. My original intent for Vonage was to save some money over our Bell South bill. Obviously, from a money-savings perspective, Vonage wins hands-down being certainly more cost-effective. That said, after dumping our second business line and re-working our long distance package, we are currently paying just about $50.00 per month with Bell South. Yes, it’s more costly than Vonage, but it’s still a HUGE savings over what we were paying previously. For us the added cost and stability of Bell South’s service outweighs the issues we have been having with Vonage.

Another thing to understand is that unlike the POTS line that relies on its own internal managed system, Vonage relies on the integrity of other interconnected, unregulated systems. Overall, this may not be a big issue, but it is a real consideration.

I also want to mention that when we lived in Chicago, we had Cable TV, Internet, and Phone service provided by Comcast Cable (formerly AT&T Broadband.) Their phone service was really not much different from Vonage in that it was VoIP, but all technical details (specifically QoS) were handled by Comcast. Their service was nothing short of stellar.

In conclusion, I have to say that the Vonage service is an excellent phone service alternative. With inexpensive features like a Web-based user-controllable Dashboard, almost real time detailed billing, a portable phone adapter, and the availability of virtual numbers, Vonage certainly provides a lot for the money. If you are willing to deal with some minor issues, then Vonage is really a great deal and I highly recommend it. For some, the cost savings alone is well worth it. To us, however, Vonage did not offer the same reliability, quality, and convenience that we have come to expect from POTS phone services like Comcast Phone or Bell South have provided us.

By all means, give Vonage a try. We gave it a chance, and for us, it wasn’t the right solution, but it may well be for you.

Permanent link to this article: http://jimstips.com/vonage-tips/vonage-not-for-me-but-still-a-service-to-consider

Sep
08

Review: Proporta Crystal Case for Tungsten T3

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September 8, 2004

Given the functionality and portability of PDA’s, it’s important to me that I always have my PDA with me. Unfortunatly, because of the design and form of many PDAs, unless you have a good case, you simply can’t “pocket” your PDA without fear of damaging the screen or inadvertently pressing a button resulting in a drained battery. Cases provided with most PDAs are marginal at best with the best cases being sold my third-party vendors.

While I’m certainly no newbie when it comes to PDA cases, (I’ve owned various cases for the US Robotics Pilot 1000, Palm III, Palm Vx, and Sony Clie NX70V) the choices are admittedly daunting. Read on to learn more about what case choice I made for my Tungsten T3…

My new Palm Tungsten T3 sports a simple stock leather-like “flip” case. While it does offer some screen protection, I am very hesitent to “pocket it” for fear of damaging the screen, so some better case was in order.

After reading some reviews and product listings, and after thinking about just what kind of case would suit me best, I decided to order a “Crystal Case” from Proporta, an excellent PDA accessory company in the UK.



The Crystal Case for the Tungsten T3 is a “flip” style case. I prefer this design over a “book” style because it lets you easily hold and navigate the PDA as it was intended. I also feel that for the T3, the “book” style is a bit impractical given its “slider” design, so the “flip” style is excellent.

The case construction is simple, rugged, and elegant. According to Proporta’s site, is made from “the type of durable and scratch resistant polycarbonate plastic that’s used to make protective eyewear”. In other words, it’s very durable. Like a pair of safety glasses, it’s clear and rugged providing great protection while at the same time letting you see and access most functions while the case is still closed. The case “grips” the T3 around the edges very nicely and utilizes the small “indents” in the back of the T3 to “lock” into place. Once attached, there is no slippage or movement. There is a “flip” cover that covers the screen and folds to almost 180 degrees when open. The case fits very snugly–almost feeling like it’s a part of the T3′s construction. The very form-fitting case adds only about an eighth of an inch all around keeping the T3 small and sleek like it was meant to be.

All buttons and ports are accessible thanks to nice, beveled cutouts that provide easy access to the power button, the voice memo button, and even the reset hole. The 5-way nav pad is NOT covered. Whilt this does make it probe to in-pocket button presses, this makes is actually nice because it lets you navigate apps without having to flip open the case. THere are several third-party apps available to prevent the buttons from powering on the T3.

At first, I thought that i could not HotSync with the case on. It simply didn’t fit into the cradle. But the, it struck me that if I just pull out the T3′s slider, it sits very nicely in the cradle! So no messing around with removing the case! Very nice.

At this point, I have absolutely no reservations putting my Crystal Case-enclosed T3 in my front pocket, but I’m still a bit hesitent about “back-pocketing” it. Time will tell, though. So, overall, I give the Proporta Crystal Case very high marks.

Oh, and I must also mention that when I ordered the case, it arrived without incident within a week from the UK (I live in the USA.) Proporta did have to backorder another item I ordered at the same time, but they didn’t charge me shipping on the second item. Little things like that make their service really stand out.

Permanent link to this article: http://jimstips.com/palmos-pda-tips/review-proporta-crystal-case-for-tungsten-t3

Jun
29

Gmail Tip #22: Advanced Search – Multi-Labeled and Un-Labeled Messages

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June 29, 2004

In an earlier tip, I briefly explained how to perform Advanced Searching using Gmail’s “query words”. Here are two practical examples of how to use the “label:” query word to search for Multi-Labeled messages as well as Un-Labeled messages. Thanks to “rishid” on the GmailForums for submitting this tip…

Say you want to find messages that have multiple Labels. For example, you want to display all messages with label1, label2 and label3 that you had previously defined and assigned. Into the basic search field at the top of any Gmail page, you would enter label:label1 label:label2 label:label3

Note that this is searching for all messages that have label1 AND label2 AND label3. If you want to include messages that have ANY of those labels, you can use the “OR” command like this: label:label1 OR label:label2 OR label:label3 (Note: “OR” must be in uppercase.)

You can optionally add a “-” to the query words to exclude search criteria. For example, entering -label:label1 label:label2 label:label3 would return all messages that have label 2 AND label 3, but do not have a label1 Label.

Taking this concept a step further, you can use this method to search for all “Un-Labeled” messages. Unfortunatly, Gmail does not provide a choice in the search dropdown that lets you search for unlabeled messages. If you manage a large number of messages, it can be very cumbersome to determine which messages are unlabeled. My personal preference is to ensure that all messages have a Label making it easier to manage and organize them.

So, if you want to list all unlabeled messages, just create a long search string containing every label that you have defined. Be sure to include the “-” character in front of every label. This ensures that messages with these labels will be EXCLUDED (remember, you are looking for all messages WITHOUT Labels.) You can also optionally include the hidden “inbox” Label to exclude anything in your Inbox.

For example, if you have defined the Labels “Family”, “Friends”, “Ebay”, and “Support”, you would enter the following string into the search field (note that the labels are not case sensitive) to find all Unlabeled messaegs:

-label:inbox -label:family -label:friends -label:ebay -label:support

If you have a large number of labels, obviously, this becomes harder and harder to manage, so I recommend reating a “note” email to yourself containing the search string for easy future reference.

Permanent link to this article: http://jimstips.com/gmail-tips/gmail-tip-22-advanced-search-multi-labeled-and-un-labeled-messages

Jun
17

Gmail Tip #17: Advanced Search – View Multiple Labels

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June 17, 2004

Gmail has some advanced searching capabilities that, if you take the time to learn, enables you drill down to very specific information. In future tips, you’ll learn many of the advanced searching functions, but in this tip, (sent in by “Juan Valera”) you’ll learn how to search for specific messages based on their Labels including how to search for multiple Labels…

If you want to search for all messages having a specific label, you can click on the “Show search options” link, click the “Search” dropdown, select the desired Lable, and click the “Search Mail” button.

But a shortcut is to type the Label prefixed with the “label:” query word in any simple search field at the top of any Gmail page:

label:Label1

If you want to view all messages that have selected multiple Labels, for example messages having both ‘Label1′ and ‘Label2′, enter the following into the simple search field at the top of any Gmail page:

label:Label1 label:Label2

To see all messages with either ‘Label1′ or ‘Label2′, you can enter:

label:Label1 OR label:Label2

Note: the specific label names are NOT case sensitive, but the “OR” operator is case sensitive, and must be in uppercase. The pipe operator ‘|’ can also be used in the same manner as ‘OR’.

label:Label1 | label:Label2

(Thanks to “Juan Valera” for submitting this tip!)

Permanent link to this article: http://jimstips.com/gmail-tips/gmail-tip-17-advanced-search-view-multiple-labels

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