Continued story of the Xoom

Posted by Greybeard on Sep 14th, 2011 in Technology and Music | 4 comments

Well,  the Xoom arrived today.  We anxiously unpacked it,  eager to get it online,  and generally just get a feel for it and try out all the bells and whistles.

NOT!

It was shipped without a power cord!   We can’t even charge it up until the power cord ships separately.   A lot of good it did to get Amazon’s 2 Day Shipping.

UPDATE:  I’ve been researching the Xoom app’s on the web (using my PC)  and it looks to me like , for games anyway,  they are mostly reworked  ”Flash” games that have been available to PC users for quite some time.  I’ve also learned that the SD card slot on my Xoom is not enabled,  and user’s in the U.S. are still waiting for the update to be released.  (IT WAS ADVERTIZED AS HAVING A SD CARD SLOT)

A new phase

Posted by Greybeard on Sep 12th, 2011 in Technology and Music | 0 comments

Today I ordered a Motorola Xoom tablet.  I had recommendations for both the Android,  and the Ipad OS,  but for me,  the Xoom with it’s Android 3.2 OS was the winner.  The Samsung Tab was a contender,  (also runs Android), but it seemed more at home with a Version 4G account,  and 4G isn’t available here.   Ours will be a WiFi only version.

This tablet thing is all new to me,  as I don’t use a cell phone anymore,  and am not really informed about them.  I expect I’ll be doing a few more posts about the Xoom after it arrives.

Lot’s of traffic

Posted by Greybeard on May 23rd, 2011 in Fishing, Technology and Music | 0 comments

I’ve been getting a lot of traffic on the blog lately and I can’t  figure it?

http://greybeard.igogg.com/2009/04/14/a-damn-shame/

Is a very old post I did  back in 2009,  about financial issues.   Totally irrelevent today,  but still getting hit’s like crazy,  Hmmmm?   I get a lot of hits on a lot of different older posts,  some irrelevant,  some that still have meaning.  It’s just puzzling how this internet thing works.

And on to today’s business,

Here’s a couple of pictures of the Walleye boat as she sat today.   The epoxy sealer is just about dry,  and tomorrow,  weather permitting,  the bottom coat will go on.  It should be in the water in a few days.

Some times stupidity just builds up, until it really bugs me.

Posted by Greybeard on May 18th, 2011 in Fishing, News and weather, Technology and Music | 1 comment

A couple of days ago I read this article:

A recent FCC decision to allow high-speed internet and cell phone service to use frequencies close to existing GPS radio frequencies could disrupt GPS signals and cause severe interference to a wide range of GPS receivers, including those used by boaters. On January 26, the FCC gave conditional approval to a private company, LightSquared, to build 40,000 ground stations within the U.S. that would transmit high powered signals in the middle of the existing satellite band of frequencies.

Then today a BoatUS magazine arrived with an article about “Rescue 21”  the Coast Guard’s new advanced distress-comminications system.   (connects your GPS to your VHS radio,  for automatic transmission of distress location information).   To use this system you’ll need a compatable GPS,  and a new VHS radio with the connection port.    For a marine radio tutorial,  go to www.BoatUS.com/Foundation/dsc/player.html

Anyway,  the bugs are building.    On one hand the government is taking action that will reduce or eliminate a vital marine function (GPS navigation),   and with the other hand they’re rolling out an exciting new program that , TOTALLY RELIES ON GPS FUNCTION.   (the function the FCC is hamstringing)

If this didn’t get me riled enough,  this afternoon I was trying to get a TV to work.   Hooked up digital adapter box,  connected antennae,  turned out power,  scanned for channels,  THREE FOUND,  signal strength to low to receive.   Now you have to understand,  that before the FCC sold TV analog bandwidth to the phone companies,  we received about 9 channels reliably,  and another 3 or 4 on clear days.  Now that they’ve gone digital,  antenna TV is history up here.   It’s cable or Satelitte ONLY.   What was free before Uncle Sam got involved now cost me around $1oo a month.  Not to mention the money I laid out trying to get  the stinking antennae to work!

NOW THEY WANT TO CONTROL HEALTHCARE!   They’ve got to be kidding!

Playsushi

Posted by Greybeard on May 1st, 2011 in Technology and Music | 0 comments

There’s a game site called “Playsushi”  my suggestion is,  do not click on this game site link.

It looks good,  but dig’s hooks deeply into your computer.   It might take a while,  but you likely won’t like the results.

If you’ve already got it,  leave a comment here,  and I’ll tell you how I got rid of it.