Monthly Archives: July 2004

Video Capture Card Redux

Well maybe I am going to get the video capture card that I ordered a few days ago.

Turns out the vendor “lost” the items … and recently found them (sounds like a song).

I got a call a few days ago from the vendor telling me that they did have the cards and I could get one if I still wanted it.

Considering their lack of communication and general bad business practices, I said no and hung up.

After thinking about it for a while, I decided to get it. So I sent them an email asking them to re-activate my order. They informed me that the original order was canceled and I would have to call to give them my credit card, or order another one on Pricegrabber.

I ordered another one on Pricegrabber this morning … and I got an email this afternoon indicating that it had shipped via UPS. I should have it on Tuesday (oops, sorry Ginny, TARsday).

Not really enough time to properly record The Amazing Race … but maybe for the following weeks episode.

Hmmm … I’ll probably have to get a bigger hard drive for mordor.

Using Domino’s Database.remove method

When using the Lotus Domino Java API Database.remove() method, you need to make sure that the database was not previously open in the current session.

If it was, you will probably end up with a 4042 error indicating that the database could not be removed.

The best way to do the remove is create a database object and just hang on to it. When you are ready to remove the database, invoke the remove() method on the original database object instead of trying to create a new one.

Although the Database class has open() and isOpen() methods, it does not have a close() method.

Video capture card

Darn it!

My brother Mitch gave me a heads up on a good video capture card for $80 … I had this idea that I could setup MythTV so I could record shows and then burn them to CD or DVD.

I placed the order through Pricegrabber‘s storefronts … and the vendor is supposed to ship the item within 2 days … but they didn’t. I contacted the vendor and, after waiting a whole day, they responded that it would be shipped today.

I had hoped to be able to record The Amazing Race for Ginny and burn her CD’s … but it looks like the first episode will be missed.

WiFi: Free or Pay?

Note: I tried to post this on Friday, but IE crashed while I was in the middle of posting it … I’ve switched to Firefox at both work and home.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer is running a very interesting article on Free vs. Pay WiFi in Seattle’s coffee shops.

Personally, I refuse to pay for WiFi at commercial establishments … it’s just far too cheap for the vendor … and the price that gets charged is far beyond what I would consider even marginally reasonable.

In Boulder, while we were on our road trip we found a cute little coffee house that advertised WiFi internet access. Both Ginny and I were kind of starved for a ‘net fix, so we wandered down there. I asked how much it cost to connect, and the owner said it was free as long as we were customers. So, we got a couple of iced teas, some turkey wraps, and some yummy cookies, stat down at a table and started munching and surfing.

In fact, while we were on the road trip, most of the places we stayed did have (or were going to have soon) WiFi access. Even the Alps had wired and wireless access available for free. It kind of surprised me that they would provide such access, as they are a pretty romantic place, but it kind of makes sense … they also cater to the business meeting and retreat business.

The only place we actually paid for WiFi access was the Homestead Suites in Salt Lake … and that fee was only token ($5 for the entire stay). I think they charge the fee simply to justify requiring a userid & password. Since they are very near a popular pedestrian mall, it makes sense. They want to provide the service for their customers, not everyone who is walking by. Of course, the userid & password were quite trivial… and I’m sure they don’t get changed much if ever. My ownly gripe with that place was they told us about the WiFi, but didn’t indicate there was a charge for it. When Ginny called the front desk she was informed of the charge … and we just had them put it on our bill.

Even the Holiday Inn in Grand Island Nebraska had WiFi … unforunately, it wasn’t working in our section of the hotel. Not sure why. I asked the front desk if they could have someone reset the access point, but nobody knew how to do it.

Of course, since I have gobs of internet access at home and work, I really don’t need it at coffee houses … but it’s nice to know that it’s there.

I really like the Penera Bread Company in Schaumburg … they have good soup, sandwiches, and coffee… plus they have WiFi for free. I only used it once, but it was nice.

It would be nice if I could get WiFi access at work … then I could use my PDA to access resources while in meetings… but they have legitimate security concerns. I also think that I’m the only person who would use it.