Finally Fixed Doorbell

I finally fixed the doorbell over the weekend. Took about an hour to follow the wire and find where it was cut during recent construction. I had bought a replacement buzzer and wireless system from Home Depot just in case, but didn't use them at all. Using a 10% off coupon usually leads to buying more than you need. Next weekend, I'll have to install the faux wood blinds I bought.

Since our hearing is not great, I'd like to have a second buzzer in another room trigger off the same button. Unfortunately, the more common configuration is 2 buttons ringing one buzzer. I don't like running wires through walls just to have a buzzer in another room. It would be great if they sold wireless extensions to wired doorbell systems. I'm thinking of some kind of relay action on a wireless push button.

I have not had success with wireless doorbells because the battery in the button housing usually craps out due to weather. Wireless doorbells is a bad idea for outdoor installation (which is the most common case.) Instead, they should have short wired connections between a pushbutton and the transmitter and battery so that the transmitter and battery can be protected in the appropriate housing.

Use rollover VirginMobile airtime to buy phones as gifts

If you are wise and used a Virginmobile prepaid phone for emergencies only for the last 2 years, you probably have over $100 airtime remaining. You can use that money to buy another phone for yourself or for someone else. So it was essentially free cell phone service if you didn't need to use it at all. (You can still see caller ID without using a single minute.) The low feature phones are cheap--around $10-$20.

Promotion iPod touch is 3rd gen

It has been confirmed that the free iPod touch given out by the Bank of the West (new account promotion) is model MC086LL/A whichi is a 3rd generation model with some multitasking capability. It is not the newer 4th generation model MC544LL/A which has the camera.

I need to turn off in-app purchases on my iTouch

Apple's built in safeguards do not work as well as they think. There will be more and more free apps that try to trick users into making in-app purchases.

Expensive smurfberries

What's with the resort fees

Every Vegas hotel is charging resort fees now. It's just another way to muddy up the picture for total cost, making the price look more attractive at first glance. Pretty soon they'll follow the cellular industry and offer free rooms with $100 fees with made up names. The resort fee covers necessities like self-park and bottled water.

Appcast Annotation

I am currently working on an appcast framework that allows the viewer to add a memo annotation and re-package into an appcast for reminding, forwarding, replying or re-posting.

SF School Enrollment Season has begun

During this season, parents will be touring schools to decide which schools to list in their application for next semester. This is needed for students entering Kindergarten, 6th grade, and 9th grade. Then it's wait and see because there is no guarantee which school you'll get into. The San Francisco school district is also cracking down on residency fraud for students who do not reside in San Francisco.

Residency Fraud Amnesty PDF

AppCast - iPhone home screen bookmark pseudo-apps that works offline

AppCast widgests are tiny apps that can be "installed" on the iPhone home screen, run on Javascript while offline, and can be distributed on web sites. They can additionally pull in live data while online, but at the minimum will start and have useful functionality when offline.

Apparently, there is a way to store a home screen bookmark (app icon) with a page that can load offline. Kent Brewster's page shows an example using canvas animation. The key is to use the data: protocol. This could work just as well for text data and text apps. Like this,
Hello, World. This is a great way to offer an instant small iPhone "app" that visitor's can install when simply visiting your web page using safari/iPhone.

With careful design, you can even make it work dual mode online/offline. Persistent data storage is questionable, depending on whether cookies work with the data: protocol.

But the real power is to use this to start native iPhone apps that support custom URL scheme with different parameters. The parameters can seed data into the native app that will make it behave differently. You can add/replace data in the app. You can set/change complex app configuration by sending a link to your customer to give them customized iPhone app without the App Store.

Phishing/virus email spoofing iTunes

Phishing/virus email spoofing iTunes: It wants you to open a zip attachment to see the certificate code for $50.

The header information reveals its not from iTunes or Apple, so I deleted it.
Received: from [96.48.72.9] (helo=S010600606e7713ef.vf.shawcable.net)
by m1.dnsix.com with esmtp (Exim 4.63)
(envelope-from )
id 1OHE1x-0005Ch-Kv

Hello!

You have received an iTunes Gift Certificate in the amount of $50.00
You can find your certificate code in attachment below.

Then you need to open iTunes. Once you verify your account, $50.00 will be credited to your account, so you can start buying music, games, video right away.


iTunes Store.

Ideas for new blog gadgets

I'm building a new gadget for these blog pages. I'm open to new ideas. Use comments below to leave ideas. All comments are assumed public so please do not include proprietary info. I'm thinking of a rank/aged shout box with custom like/age weighting formula.

No street cleaning today

SF will not enforce WEEKLY/BIWEEKLY street cleaning parking restrictions today (Veterans Day) according to SF MTA site. However, parking meters WILL be enforced today.

Bank alert workarounds

None of the online banking alerts seem to work well with deposit-only ATM cards. When payees use them, I get my money faster and there is no action on my part. But that also means I won't know when the payment comes in, so I would prefer to receive an email notice. Unfortunately, there is no alert option for ATM deposits.

My work around is to set up a daily minimum balance alert of $999,000 which is essentially a daily balance alert. I can quickly eyeball a balance change and go check details online in a timely manner.

Replaced furnace thermocouple

Now that winter is approaching, I finally replaced the thermocouple in our furnace. The universal thermocouple didn't fit so I had to go out and buy another one. Our 80 year old furnace uses a bigger screw-in fitting than the universal one. I ended up re-using the old fitting with a push-in adapter. It didn't work initially, so I had to force the thermocouple closer to the flame. It took me about 3 hours overall.

Cruise ship stranded

We sailed on Carnival cruise ship Splendor earlier this year. This week that same ship was stranded when it lost power off after an engine room fire off the Baja California coast. The passengers had to rescued off the boat.
Links:
CBS News

User-printed luggage tags

Cruise lines use user-printed luggage tags to expedite boarding process. Before the sailing date, passengers have access to online website where they can print luggage tags specific to their cabin. The tags can be printed on regular paper and attached to luggage handles with tape. You can see a sample luggage tag pdf here: PDF file
view in browser

Nbox works well for watching videos

I have been very happy with using the Nbox media player over the past month. I watch videos from 2 main sources: A) flash videos downloaded online and B) AVI files recorded on schedule in DVR. The beauty is that I can move them around as files between devices (dvr, pc, NAS, nbox) using flash drives. Depending on the format, some have to be converted on a PC, so the newer Nbox may be worth the money. I had recorded the World Series on the DVR. It's good to know that I'm not limited to watching that only on the DVR. This is very important because several people are contending for couch time in front of the DVR. Remaining space on DVR also becomes a non-issue when recorded material can be moved around as files at file-transfer speeds.

Deposit-only cards have pros and cons

I saved some time over the last 2 months by putting deposit-only ATM cards to work. People who used to send me monthly payments now deposit those checks directly at a Chase ATM. I simply use online banking to check which payments arrived and send reminders to those who are late.

One problem is that there is no way to distinguish the payees until the images are available online the next day. The deposit-only ATM cards I give out have unique card numbers along with the payee's name. But those details are not available in online banking website so cash deposits are completely indistiguishable as to who paid it. A manager at Chase said I can call her to request those details in a report that she can print out for me. I will give that try soon.

Their email alerts also leave a lot to be desired. As a result, I have to check daily when I'm expecting a payment. Oh well, that's better than running down to the bank and post office daily.