The River of No Return book review

The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Though the concepts introduced in this book are an inventive twist on the time travel idea, the character dialog and motivations are dreadful.  In this story, there are competing time travelling organizations struggling for control of time travel throughout human history.  Nick, an English nobleman who fought in Spain in the early 1800's finds himself in the 21st Century just before he is about to die.  This is the story of his struggle to dance between these two organizations while sorting out his own role both in the 21th Century and the 19th Century.
I did enjoy reading much of the book as the plot unfolded, but found myself suffering through some dreadful character interactions. Some of this was due to character development that was somewhat engaging, but drowned out by the chorus inauthentic thoughts and experiences. The leading male character, Nick, was a noblemen from the 19th Century and only spent 10 years in the 21st Century, but somehow seemed more in tune with 20th Century social and entertainment elements than us normal people that lived through that time period, even though he did not. His experience with the 20th Century would've have been more authentic if it had been taken from the approach of a child growing up in the Aughties (2000-2010). Also, the characters of British origin often felt more like Americans, often using Americanism and seemed both out of place globally and chonologically.  Additionally, the writing of the characters while in the 19th Century felt more like rejects from Jane Austin novels rather than real people.
This book appears to be the first of a new series. Will I look forward to the next book? Eh. The author has to polish her skills of writing for characters with more authenticity, as her first attempt to do so is a distraction from an otherwise good concept and plot.


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Radioactive, radioactive radio edit controversy

There's a bit of a controversy about a popular song right now called Radioactive by Imagine Dragons.  There's a lot of complaints by fans who bought the album about how the song quality on the album is inferior to what's been playing on the radio and in trailers for movies and on commercials for new TV series.  (Seriously, this song is everywhere right now.)  The complaints are pretty consistent by fans, not even haters.

Distortion was noticeable on digital format as well as CD. Very poor quality on car stereo really drives home the point.

Somehow, producer Alex da Kid thought that intentionally introducing that awful, cheap sounding distortion (several tracks, most notably beginning on 'Radioactive'), was somehow "artistic". What a stupid idea.

What's this about distortion?  The bass in the song Radioactive has been distorted to sound like subwoofers maxed out.  It's a rough and gravelly sound that doesn't sound good on good stereo systems (such as the stereo systems in the average car these days).  I got the CD, and I agree with the criticism.  It's OK, but not good.

Theres something called the radio edit version of the song, which I like, but it also seems like it's distorted too much too.

The Ice Dragon and the Blue Rose (my first original work!)

Announcing the release of my first electronically published book (ebook) on Amazon.com called Decide My Quest: The Ice Dragon and the Blue Rose. This is an interactive adventure where you are a young man who must battle the Ice Dragon and find the Blue Rose in order to marry the Princess.

The new innovation of the Decide My Quest (TM) series is you get to see events in your quest from different points of view based on decisions you make. The challenge in writing an interactive adventure in electronic form was providing a method to allow the reader to make decisions on which actions to take in the story. This is accomplished by providing links at the end of each chapter. You can use the normal interface to click on those links, similar to how you click on the chapter links in an ebook's List of Contents.

This book was fun to write, and I hope fun to read and navigate. It is meant primarily for younger readers (9 and up), but older readers will hopefully appreciate it as well. It's $2.99 on Amazon.com. That's a bargin for a book of its lenght. Similar style printed interactive adventures cost much more for less story.

Alaska Cruise Day 7: Not Alaska (B.C.)

Day 7 of our Alaska cruise was highlighted by a visit to Victoria, British Columbia. Many people don't realize that the name Columbia was used by our North and South American forefathers to name a bit of land that they really didn't have a name for. Columbia is the "poetic" name for the Americas. There's also Washington, District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.) and the actual country of Columbia.

Victoria is a very nice city with many interesting buildings, good food and they freely take U.S. dollars (1:1 with the Canadian dollar these days).





My In-laws liked it a lot. We had a relaxing time, just walking around without too much of a schedule to worry about. We had a great dinner at a local steakhouse. There was this Celtic themed store with some of the highest quality clothes I've seen (and the prices to match). I even have a video around somewhere of Darth Vader playing the violin (street performer).

The vibe in Victoria is definately different than Vancouver, B.C.

One of the reasons we chose to take a cruise with Norwegian is that the cruise starts and finishes in Seattle, WA (within the borders of USA). Many cruises start in Seattle, but then end in Victoria. That means we'd have to take an international flight home; a painful experience which I am always more than happy to avoid.

So, even though Norwegian wasn't everything we expected it to be, it was everything it needed to be. I guess that's not a great endorsement, huh.

Overall, the trip was enjoyable. Some pluses (many of which cost more $$$) and some minuses (many of which were part of the cruise package for no additional $$$). We did our trip to Alaska. We did our first cruise (and prolly last, at least for a long while). We took my In-laws on a big vacation and had a lot of quality time with them. And, I got to see my best friend and his family before and after the cruise.

Please see the full Alaska Cruise article list.

Second cross-country road trip in 2011: Day 6 (slow start, comments about various hotels)

Our sixth day of travel across America was marked by a late start. Though our trip from St. Louis, MO to Columbus, OH was one of the shorter drives, we didn't get into Columbus until 5PM or so. We didn't do much in Columbus. Actually, we didn't do anything other than get a meal at Chipotle and watch some TV in the motel, er "hotel" room. That's the problem when trying to plan ahead for a trip in cities that you don't know. Finding good hotels for a good price in a good area of town is very hard, even with online reviews.

Our hotel in Lake Havasu was spacious, but dingy.

The original hotel I booked in Albuquerque was in a very sketchy neighborhood, so we opted to cancel the reservation and stay at a Homewood Suites near the airport instead. Homewood is very nice and does accept pets, though for a very hefty fee of $100. The average (even at other nice hotels) was $25, so $100 is a bit over the top; particularly since you can just drop your dog off at the nearest Petsmart for about $30 overnight lodging, and that includes one-on-one human attention and a free meal. Note to Homewood, lower your pet fee!

The motel, er, again I mean "hotel" we stayed at in Oklahoma City, OK was also very sketchy and dingy.

The lesson I'm slowly learning is to stay away from the less expensive nationwide hotel brands that are in the big cities. Spend a little more to get a decent place, and try to pick towns that are a bit outside of the area, as smaller outlining towns tend to have higher quality versions of the nationwide hotel brands.

Second cross-country road trip in 2011: Day 5 (St. Louis)

Although the drive from Oklahoma to Missouri was fairly uneventful, we did take time to stretch our legs. Toebzilla was happy to be in Missouri, or maybe just happy to have plenty of green grass to take care of his business. We drove through the state all the way to St. Louis. Allie has never been to St. Louis before. My first time here was actually back in June of this same year. We dropped off Toebzilla at a nearby Petsmart to be sitted for a few hours while Allie and I had a date night to ourselves for the first time on this trip. We dined at Zia's on The Hill. Located in a quiet Italian neighborhood of St. Louis, simply called The Hill, this restaurant was a pleasant surprize. Eating almost nothing but junk food for most of our road trip, good Italian food was a welcome change from all the fast food we had been consuming throughout much of our journey. Overall, the food was very good. (See Yelp for my full review.) Our hotel was The Cheshire. This is a "British author themed" hotel with rustic atmosphere, yet modernized appeal within the rooms. The bonus is that this hotel is very pet friendly. They even provide Beggin' Strips, doggie bowls, doggie bed and other amenities for your dogs. (Only the Beggin' Strips is complimentary. Everything else should be treated as belonging to the room.) The Cheshire is a comfortable place to rest your head. The only drawback are the old style windows which let a lot of heat escape the room. This means you'll need to keep the heater running on cold evenings. That's not bad for the guess, per se, but it is wasteful when taking the entire hotel into account. Overall, I recommend staying here if you are in the St. Louis area. Allie, Toebzilla and I visited the Gateway Arch later in the evening. Though the weather was clear, the temperature was very cold. We took a few photos, then quickly left to return to our cosie hotel room.

Never order a Mojito on a plane

I had a particularly bad plane trip early this year. After multiple delays and cancellations, I was finally on my way home. Food was being offered complimentary on my flight, but not the alcohol, of course.

Looking at the food menu, I saw that Mojitos were offered. I let out a brief private chuckle at the very thought of a flight attendant trying to make a Mojito in flight. Mojitos are one of the most labor intensive cocktails, as they require crushing of mint leafs within the glass. How would any of this be accomplished on a plane? So, much to the surprize of others around me, I ordered a Mojito on a plane, just to see what I would actually get.

I was handed the following, along with the same plastic cup you get if you order soda or water.



My travel day had been particularly bad (more than most on the plane) so I give the flight attendant a quick sad story to convince him to throw in an extra Bacardi minibar bottle. A very small consolation for a very crappy day, but nice nonetheless.

That single shot of Bacardi and the bag of mint flavored lime juice was $11....and that's with me "mixing" the drink myself. Without the mint leafs, it would be debated that this was actually a Mojito at all. So, the moral of this story is to never order a Mojito on a plane.

In flight maps

Many airlines have touch screens on the back of each seat. One of the tools to view on those screens is an actively updated map of where the plane's position is shown along its flight path. This usually includes data such as "ground speed", "distance to go", "altitude" and "outside temperature".

Ground speed is useful, because when dividing it into distance to go, the calculation well show how many hours remain for the flight. Altitude is interesting, but not so useful. The only metric that doesn't really have any value at all is outside temperature. Why show this? Am I going to open a window and pop my head out for a breathe of fresh air? No. The only function this serves is as a reminder of the cabin's warmth (even if air is a bit on the cool side).

What other useless information could be included? How about outside air pressure, so we can be reminded that the cabin pressure is moderately comfortable? Instead of altitude, why not provide "distance from outer space" to remind us of just how close we are to entering orbit?

Something that might be more useful is if the map provided information on the destination, like the "current ground temperature" so I know to pull the jacket out of my carry-on luggage.

BTW, I'm ranting this from the airplane. I'm glad wi-fi is now being included on many flights.

4th Annual Taste of Downtown Marlborough (and 1st Annual Brewfest)

I was driving to a Diary Queen near downtown Marlborough yesternight when I saw a rather small and unimposing sign that advertized something called 4th Annual Taste of Downtown Marlborough. Yesterday was Sunday, so I thought I had just missed an interesting event. No so. This event was held this evening (Monday). It seems a little unusual to have an event like this on a Monday night (and bad timing to have it the same night as game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals in which the Bruins must win or lose completely), but it didn't seem to deter the crowds from coming.

I'm very new to the area, so this was the perfect event to see tons of restaurants in the Marlborough Olde Town area at one time, all for only $20. Overall, I think I was able to sample tastes from a couple dozen places. Some places I might come back to later this year. Other places I might not consider again. To each their own.

The 1st Annual Brewfest portion of this event cost an extra $5. There were a couple dozen beer vendors giving out 1oz samples of their offerings. Some of the beers just aren't suited to my taste. I had one that tasted like I was sucking on a 10 week old lemon, and not in a good way (if a good way could even be imagined). Other beers were good. I enjoyed some of the beers from Brooklyn Brewery. It was impressive that a New York company would show its face at a Massachusetts event.

There were lots of long lines to sample the various restaurants. Later in the evening, it was a little easier to get samples, but some places had run out by then.


There was also various live acts, ranging from the classic to the drum beat based. One rock group played Turning Japanese and then She Bop right after. I couldn't help but grin when I saw parents dancing with their kids to those particular songs. Sometimes you have to wonder if people know what those songs are supposedly about.


There are also some interesting old buildings.

It was interesting to see what this town of Marlborough has to offer. I have some ideas of which places to visit in the near future.

Be wary of the Hotwire unpublished rates service

You get what you pay for. This is a poorly grammarred sentence that gets to the point. It is true with Hotwire's unpublished hotel rates service. I recently used this service (via Expedia) for a trip to Kansas City, MO. I thought I was getting a 3 or 4 star hotel that was centrally located near a popular area of town. The hotel offered a good rate through Hotwire's unpublished rates service. I didn't get to pick the hotel using this service, but was able to select the general area in town.

The hotel is very nice, and is likely 3 stars, but not for me. Here's the drawbacks. Though the hotel was in the general area I picked, it was not nearly as close as it should've been. I wanted a hotel within walking distance of the central area. I got a hotel that was within a 5 minute drive. Annoying. The hotel offers a complimentary breakfast, but not for me. The hotel offers free wi-fi, again not for me. The hotel did offer me an upgrade to receive those normally complimentary services ($15). Wanna guess on their published rate for the room? I'm guessing it's very close to the Hotwire's unpublished rate plus the $15 upgrade fee. Funny how that works.

Android Top 10 Utility, Tools and Communications Apps for 2010

A lot of new apps are now available on the Android Market this year. With so many new apps and Android phones, it's hard to keep up. So, I'm going to do several top ten app lists for various categories this year. This is the 2010 installment of my Top 10 Android Utility, Tools and Communications Apps for 2010, in no particular order.

• Star Contact by StarObject provides advanced Contacts search functionally that is missing from almost all smartphones (even Palm). Though I do not use this app every time I need to look up contact, it proves itself to be essential when searching contacts based on criteria other than a person's name. (Also listed in 2009.)
  

• Easy Dialer Premium by UIP ($) does cost a small nominal fee, but it is worth the chump change! It provides a well designed speed dial interface that really should be the standard for any Android smartphone. There is a free version with small and unintrusive ads called Easy Dialer. (Also listed in 2009.)

• App Referrer by Drathus allows one person to quickly give an app to another person's phone by scanning a simple barcode. (Requires Barcode Scanner app from Google.)
  

• Blogaway by Kumar Bibek is a simple and convenient method to post articles to your blogger.com blogs.

• WordPress by Automattic, Inc (WordPress makers) is a fairly powerful app that allows you to add and edit comments, articles and pages to your WordPress blog.
  

• Shazam by Shazam Entertainment Ltd is a powerful tool that can quickly identify a work of music just by listening to it, with information about the artist, myspace pages, etc.
  

• FPT System Manager by FPT Software is a powerful app provides detailed system and app information, with many tools built-in. Unfortunately, this app may no longer be available.
  

• Mute by Marko Mitic is a very simple tool that allows for one-button press to toggle the fully muted mode on the Android phone. This is on my home screen and I use it almost every day.
  

• Tip Calculator by Techmind determines a tip on the pre-sales tax price. It also calculates the amount each person owes on split bills. There are many tip calculators on the Android Market, but this is gets straight to the point with a simple and easy to use interface.
  

• Twidroyd for Twitter by PostUp, Inc is a great Twitter client app with a lot of bells and whistles that are missing from Twitter.com homepage. It tracks multiple accounts, has LivePreview which automatically shows webpages or profiles associated with a particular tweet, and has an intuitive interface. There is also a paid version called Twitdroyd Pro for Twitter, which I recommend if you want additional control over your Twitter experience.

Nice to have authentic burrito

One thing I miss from Salinas Valley is regular access to authentic home cooked Mexican food. There's plenty of good Mexican places in Silicon Valley, but there's something just a little bit better when eating Mexican food closer to the source. Finding places like that require a keen eye and a good memory. Since I'm not likely to get Mexican home cooking these days, I have to be mindful of where to go to find good authentic food. One place I found is Chavez Supermarket on Fair Oaks in Sunnyvale. It is not an actual supermarket. It's a small Mexican grocery store. Go in and walk to the back of the store. Order tacos, burritos or whatever. Then, enjoy.

Toyota "They did not have any respect for our laws."

I've long been suspicious of Toyota as a company. Of course, I don't trust any corporation. However, foreign companies whose lies result in the death of Americans leave a particularly bad taste in my mouth. Recent comments by a former Toyota top attorney, Dimitri Biller, really brings the point home. Biller and Toyota are now suing each other. Why is Toyota suing Biller? Because he decided break his silence, the very same silence that they apparently thought they purchased from him for $3.9 million in 2007.

Biller has stated, "you have to understand that Toyota in Japan does not have any respect for our legal system." He also stated, "they did not have any respect for our laws," and that "[Toyota had] a culture of hypocrisy and deception." If this doesn't scare people, I don't know what will.

In a ridiculous effort to discredit Biller, Toyota claimed that Biller was a disgruntled former employee who is angry he lost his job. Yeah, I'd be pissed if my company paid me $3.9 million too. Toyota also claimed that Biller did not handle acceleration cases while he worked there. Biller disputed that statement, noting that he worked as the managing attorney for Toyota on a sudden acceleration Lexus case in 2005.

Tuesday Two: Anti-gravity Battery paper

Tuesday Two

There's something crazy about Professor Yi Cui and his research team at Stanford University. No, it's not their lab coats. They are using a nanotechnology to develop an ink to make paper batteries that you may fold into an origami crane, crumple into a ball or simply lie flat on a toilet seat.

The Alter-G G-Trainer is called the anti-gravity treadmill. To me, it's g-rated ("g" as in "great") for giving patients a new lighter than air physical therapy tool that uses goal-directed action to get them back on their feet sooner. It's been successfully employed at military hospitals for orthopedic and neurological uses.

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Epoch-Fail

Again another Epoch-Fail award goes to Toyota for continued unresolved problems with their accelators. This is a PR nightmare that they just don't seem to know how to handle. So far, in my opinion, they have taken the approach of burying their head in the sand and pretending nothing is going on. That is already costing them dearly. I would use the metaphor of a "train wreck", except that is somewhat literal in this case. The disaster isn't over. More recalls might be likely as Toyota is forced to deal with issues beyond the current scope. Here's one example of problems not being addressed on CBS 5 San Francisco.

Tuesday Two: Quantum Motions

Tuesday Two

Here's motion control that doesn't require bright lights, tons of balls, or expensive high speed cameras. Instead, it uses a relatively inexpensive pulsating projector with sensors that record movement patterns at 500 times a second.

Keep those rubidium atoms separated in your quantum computer by using polarized light! Your qubits won't be the same! No longer will they interfere with each other, causing screwy quantum calculations. Quantumfy with assurance!

Epoch-Fail

Apple has had fairly high representation in the as of yet short life of the Epoch-Fail awards. Do I hate Apple? Not at all. They just make themselves such an easy target. Epoch-Fail award again goes to the iPhone 3GS for having what some claim to be broken encryption that will not be able to protect sensitive data.

Some tranny trouble with my G8 GT

Under warranty, I've now had one major issue and one minor issue handled. The minor issue was a scratch on the underside of the front bump cover that was likely put there during one of its test drives...so that doesn't really count.

The major issue is with the transmission. Over time, my G8 GT developed a clunking when I would shift from reverse directly into drive. It was inconsistent. It was more pronounced when the car was cold started. Every once in awhile, the car would actually jerk forward so much that I had to get into the habit of pressing very tightly onto my brakes before moving into drive.

When I first reported the issue to my dealership at 6000 miles, the service dept said that there was no bulletin on the issue even though I did get the service manager to reproduce the issue. I didn't make a stink at that time, though I prolly should've. The problem got worse from there. It got so bad, I couldn't let anyone else drive it.

So, at about 8000 miles I had enough. I took it in. The dealership was claiming that they could not reproduce the problem to the degree I stated. In addition, they claimed that a bulletin from GM (just issued a month before) said that clunking transmission was "normal operation". To me, this was not just operation, but safety (since the behavior of the car was actually dangerous). I insisted that the issue be addressed. I had to include the involvement of the general GM customer service department. After I insisted they keep the car and keep trying, the dealership was finally were able to reproduce the issue and finally realized that something needed to be done.

A lot of time was supposedly wasted because the GM technical service didn't have the staff assigned to handle any issues in the NorCal region (something to do with the restructuring that was going on at the time). Finally, an engineer was assigned to the case and determined the issue was mechanical. The dealership followed Detroit's instructions, replacing a bunch of parts deep inside the tranny.

All said, the dealership had my car for two weeks. The issue was much less obvious afterward. There is still some tendency for the tranny to engage a bit aggressively when going from reverse to drive, but at this point, that seems to fit the "normal operation" mentioned in the GM bulletin. At least I don't have to be concerned with it jerking forward.

Now that the car is over its 10K mark, everything seems to have broken in.

My Cool Apps for Android Smartphones

Android has thousands of apps. Many are worthy of mention. This is a list of ten that I thought are cool, though not necessary. Most are simple and to the point with full functionality:

Tips Calculator by KajaBo Mobile is a simple tip calculator based on the bill before tax. Most tip calculator apps do not determine the tip based on the pre-tax bill, even though this is customary. This app even calculates how much each person owes for multi-party bills.

GPS Speedometer by Char Software, Inc. is a cool little app that keeps track of one’s near current speed (in the car), average speed, and a few other data points.

Quick Settings by Sergey Shafarenka allows the user easy access to basic Android smartphone settings on one screen.

Google Sky Map by Google Inc. displays are real time image of the night sky constellations based on whatever direction the smartphone is pointed.

Thinking Space by Charlie Chilton helps in developing and recording thoughts and ideas. This is helpful for abstract problem solving or getting through writer’s block.

Ringdroid by Ringdroid Team let’s you splice up your MP3 and iTunes music to create custom ringtones.

Barcode Scanner by ZXing Team will read any barcode. If the product is found in the database, it will show information and reviews.

AttachEmail by gasoline allows the user to attach files to emails being sent from the Android smartphone.

GDocs by WildArt will access your gmail GDocs account and the documents you have stored there.

Superpages by Idearc Media LLC is the link what some may call real yellow pages online these days.

Epoch-Fail

In this special edition, I hereby give the Epoch-Fail award to AT&T for their recent nonsensical lawsuit to stop Verizon from advertizing a truthful comparison between their respective 3G network coverage areas. Needless to say, this lawsuit did nothing but highlight the pathetic nature of AT&T's 3G coverage.

According to Paul Thurrott,

AT&T, of course, is the exclusive US carrier for the Apple iPhone, and—as any iPhone user will tell you—AT&T's 3G network is tiny, ill-equipped to handle the iPhone's voluminous data traffic, and often completely unavailable.

There has been several news stories in the Silicon Valley area (home of Apple and Google) which have highlighted AT&T's much complained about network, including non-3G problems, such as frequent dropped calls (issues that may have been carried over from the Cingular days). Among 3G complaints, speed (slowness) is one of the major issues. AT&T has said they are in the process of upgrading their network right now. However, why would a company put forward such a poor product at the heart of one of the world's technological centers?

It almost goes without saying that the lawsuit was thrown out of court (already!). Can't sue the truth away from the public eye!

Paul Thurrott concludes,

[AT&T's] 3G network is widely considered the be the shoddiest of the major wireless networks in the United States, a fact that was coincidentally confirmed this past month in the latest issue of Consumer Reports, which rated AT&T's overall cell phone network as the worst of the major carriers.

My Ten Most Useful Android Apps (and one Outlook Plugin)

The Samsung Moment is a good Sprint smartphone that runs on the 1.5 version of the new Android OS. One great function is that it offers direct syncing with the user’s Google accounts. However, for some reason, Sprint didn’t include enough applications on the Moment. It is fully functional off-the-shelf, but it just seems to be missing stuff that experienced smartphone users would want. Fortunately, the Android Market has more than enough apps to quickly add most (if not all) functionality that one might expect from an advanced smartphone.

This is my Ten Most Useful Android Apps for Samsung Moment (and really any other Android smartphones) in no particular order:

• Android Backup Tool by Marigold backs-up a multitude of data from the smartphone to the SD Card, including Contacts, SMS, browser links, settings, etc.

• Star Contact by StarObject provides advanced Contacts search functionally that is missing from almost all smartphones (even Palm).

• Easy Dialer Premium by UIP ($) does cost a small nominal fee, but it is worth the chump change! It provides a well designed speed dial interface that really should be the standard for any Android smartphone. There is a free version with small and unintrusive ads called Easy Dialer. Another free alternative is Speed Dial by CRinUS. There is no interface to speak of in Speed Dial. It simple allows the user to put speed dials directly on the home page as links.

• Where by where is highly rated and updated frequently. It provides up-to-date information and reviews about restaurants, movies, local news, weather, friends, etc.

• Dolphin Browser by MGeek is a great Android internet browser that has powerful and time saving capabilities.

• OI File Manager by OpenIntents is a good and simple file management utility for the SD Card. It allows for the renaming and copying of files.

• Wikidroid for Wikipedia by Sirius Applications Ltd is a rapid and simple alternative to just loading the Wikipedia website directly. It loads articles very quickly without all the extras that weight down Wikipedia in an internet browser.

• ASTRO File Manager by Metago is another powerful file manager. It has different functionality than OI File Manager, so I really recommend installing both until one app starts including the functions of the other.

• AirPlaneSwitch by C-LIS Crazy Lab. is a simple application that allows the user to switch their phone over to Airplane mode without having to navigate into the smartphone’s settings.

• TwitterTweet Twitter Client by MEDIAFILL LLC is an underrated app that allows the user to efficiently and simply sync their Twitter account and feeds to their phone.

Sync Android with Outlook

Right now, a PC application that syncs the Moment with Windows Outlook is not included. There is a fairly good Outlook plugin which will sync your contacts, calendar and notes with your Google account. The plugin works great as it allows your smartphone to be updated without ever attaching it to a computer! The plugin is called gSyncit for Microsoft Outlook by David Levinson. It is available at http://www.daveswebsite.com/. It costs $14.99 and does have unusually strict licensing for installations, so I will be keeping an eye out for free or more customer friendly licensing. For now, this plugin provides a much needed service, so I do recommend the investment if you have any Android smartphone.

Tuesday Two: SolidWorks World edition

There's been many inventions and innovations that have been profiled at the various SolidWorks World conferences. This week's Tuesday Two covers to wind power winners that are getting notice.

Tuesday Two

Magenn has an innovative balloon wind power generator which goes by the name Mageen Air Rotor System (MARS). It floats far above the ground to take advantage of wind that is more reliable than ground based turbines. Here's an ancillary article in Design World on material used to make MARS.

Jeff Ray gives us an update on MicroWind Technologies which makes relatively small rooftop wind turbines called MicroWind Residential Turbine which will be able to produce 3 kW. They also have the MicroWind 300W which can be lamp post mounted.

Epoch-Fail

The Smart car that just isn't all that smart. It is not much bigger than a go cart, while only netting 41 MPG highway (which is worse than many real cars already on the market). Too much is sacrificed in both functionality and safety for no real gain; and don't get me started about the price for the "well equipped" version! For that, it recently ranked as the worse car of the 2000's by Cars.com, not to mention it wins this week's Epoch-Fail award!