Yannblog

The personal website of Ian Littman

If the iPad can do this stuff, I’ll buy it

Jan 30

Posted by Ian Littman in General | 2 Comments

So the 3G version of the iPad (announced Wednesday) is still three months away, but I already have some expectations that, if met, would cause me to fork over $630 for the sucker…these expectations are realistic technology-wise, though I’m pretty sure they would require a jailbreak to get working…

1. SIP VoIP, over 3G and WiFi, with Bluetooth and in the background
I’ve successfully run phone calls over AT&T’s HSPA network, so assuming the processor on the iPad is “all that” this shouldn’t be difficult. If I can get a SIP client that connects to a Bluetooth headset and allows other applications “up front” without killing voice quality then I’ve got a very versatile system for nformation gathering while “on the phone.” This is particularly useful when you see my other requests below:

2. Full-fledged RDP, SSH and VNC clients…and either GoToMyPC or LogMeIn if at all possible
The iPad can be an excellent remote access tool; its screen has enough resolution to run any modern OS without having to scroll around. Add in the keyboard accessory and you’ve got a lovely little remote terminal that works anywhere AT&T has service (I’m talking about the 3G version here). Or any other non-AWS GSM or 3G carrier for that matter; the device is unlocked. SSH would be a godsend for doing command line heavy lifting, though you’d need a host to SSH to in this case (not a big deal for me). Even nicer, all of the above will likely be available for the iPad as App Store apps; no jailbreaking required.

3. A high-quality PDF viewer
I want a PDF viewer that can search and copy text, preferably at least as good as Preview. Yes, Preview can be outdone with PDFs…it’s not the most compatible piece of PDF reader in the world unfortunately. Read the rest of this entry »

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Verizon WIreless – A Quick Test

Jan 11

Posted by Ian Littman in General | 7 Comments

So up until now I’ve tested three of the four providers who have 3G service in Fredericksburg, TX: AT&T, Sprint and CricKet, listed in order of connection speed, descending. I was able to borrow a Verizon aircard from work (Novatel USB727) and check Verizon’s speed at my house. Here are the results: Read the rest of this entry »

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My experience with GVTC

Dec 22

Posted by Ian Littman in General | 2 Comments

So I’m headed down to South Padre Island for some downtime with the family before Christmas. We made a pit stop at the Flagstop Café and my mom noticed that there was a big sign in the window advertising the availability of WiFi.

So naturally I pulled out my HTC Touch Pro, which has WiFi, to see what network they were running on. After registering for an account on the hotspot provider (Less Networks, never heard of them) I checked whatismyip.com to see who I was on. Sure enough, the connection there was GVTC, registered as “Guadalupe Valley Telephone”. Right before we pulled out of the place I opened up my laptop, logged into the WiFi network that way and did some tests. Read the rest of this entry »

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Force 3G on a Sierra Wireless aircard on a Mac…here’s how

Oct 17

Posted by Ian Littman in General | 2 Comments

So I bought an AT&T data plan earlier today. SIM-only, no contract. Pretty cool, since their less-than-a-month-old 3G network around here is still pretty speedy. I didn’t need an aircard as I purchased a Sierra Wireless USBConnect 881 back during the days of “unlimited” GoPhone data for $20. The card lay dormant after “unlimited” became 100MB (big difference) but today it meant the difference between signing a contract (aka not getting service) and not signing one.

One problem arose when I got home: my aircard kept switching to EDGE during the middle of a data session. Not a good thing for a $60 + taxes and fees data plan. So I needed to force 3G on the card. The problem there was that only the Windows Sierra and AT&T clients allow forced 3G. So (not knowing that settings are stored on the modem and thus once I set 3G-only on my Windows computer it would be 3G-only on my Mac) I scrounged around and found this page. I followed those instructions and was able to make sure my aircard was 3G-only.

If you don’t want to read through a (relatively short) page on how to kick your aircard into high gear, you’re in luck. Here’s what you’d do on a Mac to force-3G a Sierra aircard. Note that this procedure was performed on OS X 10.6.1 and with the Apple “native” driver installed (a tiny download from here). This is also with the latest modem firmware, which I had to use the Sierra driver (vs. the native one) to upgrade to.

  1. Go to Terminal (Applications > Utilities)
  2. Type in screen /dev/tty.wwanCMD 115200 and hit enter.
  3. Type in AT!band? and hit enter.
  4. If you see the number 02, you’re already locked into 3G-only mode. Otherwise, type in AT!band=02 and hit enter to set the mode. If you wanted to go 2G-only, the code would be 04 instead of 02. AUtoselect is 00.

Hope this helps! Now I’m cooking along with 2-3 bars of signal (-87 dBm right now) and pulling down these speeds:

Though connection quality is quite a bit more variable than Sprint’s (slower, particularly on uploads) connection at my place…

In comparison, SPrint usually pulls down 1.3 Mbps down, 300-500 kbps up and gets a B on connection quality.

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My Bank Failed

Sep 3

Posted by Ian Littman in General | 2 Comments

Earlier this year I moved a sizeable amount of my cash (low five figures at the time) from Guaranty Bank to Broadway Bank. BankRate was looking slim for Guaranty at the time, and I didn’t want to be caught trying to collect FDIC insurance on my own. Looks like I made the right decision.

A couple of weeks ago Guaranty Bank failed. It wasn’t the only bank failure on that Friday (the 21st of August), but it was the largest. Guaranty’s demise was the second largest bank failure of the year, next to Colonial Bank in Alabama.

Read the rest of this entry »

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1TB for under 6¢ per GB…again!

Aug 24

Posted by Ian Littman in General | 4 Comments

Previously on yanntx.info, I found the shocking deal of a $54.99 1TB hard disk. Well, that deal is gone however that same drive, coupled with a new Newegg promotion, is nearly as good…better for folks who want to buy more than a single drive.

The super deal this time: Windows Live…er…Bing Cash Back. It’s how I got my Vizio VS42LF TV for about $490 (after $198 in cash back, a 10% PayPal discount and a few bucks in credit card rewards) and it’s how you can nab magnetic storage for under 5¢ per GB. In order to get this discount, just go here (a Bing search for “newegg”) and click the link next to the Bing Cashback icon.

Now you’re locked into a session that will give you 10% cashback (via Bing; you’ll have to get a Bing cashback account there but it’s not a huge deal) on pretty much whatever you buy on Newegg. You can now mosey on over here and grab up to five drives at the net price (once the limit-five-per-household rebate and the up-to-sixty-days Bing cash back are in) of just $57.49 apiece, or roughly 5.75¢ per GB. Solid.

Just remember to claim your cash back, to mail in your rebate(s) before the end of September and to grab the drives either by the end of this month or before they sell out again, whichever comes first!

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State Of The Internet, Fredericksburg, TX

Aug 21

Posted by Ian Littman in Tech | 4 Comments

Interesting stuff happening lately about internet service in this area:

  1. My mom saw a Verizon truck in the county fair parade today (I didn’t go; saw no need and was tired). The truck has “High Speed Internet coming soon!” or similar painted on te side. This is DSL, not FiOS (Verizon always refers to their fiber offering by its trademarked name). However from what I hear Verizon’s DSL release is just a ploy to drive up the sale cost of their system here; Fredericksburg isn’t a large metropolitan area, and there are too mayn bridged taps and other phone system anomaies here for DSL to reach beyond a small part of town. At least that’s what the scuttlebutt says. My prediction: Verizon offers some flavor of DSL to folks who can currently get Windstream DSL, then sells the system to whoever will take it, using the “we have DSL in our central office” argument to jack the price up slightly above what the system is worth.
  2. Bee Creek Communications, the local our-hands-are-tied-and-if-anyone-competes-with-us-we-lose wireless ISP, was in the parade today as well. They also have a third-of-a-page ad in the paper advertising free installation to new customers until September 15th. A few years ago an installation with similar equipment would have run you around $220. The problem here is that their network is already over capacity in some areas, they’re spread too thinly in terms of manpower and their speeds are the stuff of yesteryear, barely competitive with satellite internet (though their monthly transfer caps are higher). The service also requires a two-year contract with a $125 early termination fee. If you want a one-year agreement service will run you another $10 per month. In short, don’t buy. Read the rest of this entry »

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