Interesting…Disappointing, But Very Interesting…

I was trying to figure out if the ‘GPS’ on my new iPod Touch was broken, or something, when I found this page.

Since it’s probably pretty safe to say that no one from Skyhook will be driving around Yukon with their wi-fi scanner and GPS any time soon, I think we should all do our geekly duty and submit our access points.

As they say, many hands make light work, and those of us not crazy enough to buy an iPhone that can’t be used here (as well as our Touch-equipped visitors) will be able to use location-aware apps.

Windows Live Writer Beta (And All The Crap That It Came With)

This blog entry is being written with Windows Live Writer - a desktop blog posting and management tool. I'm thoroughly impressed with the fact that it'll work with (almost?) any blogging software, including mine, TypePad. All I had to do was log in and it auto-detected everything.

You can set it up to work with multiple blogs and you can use it to do (almost) all your post maintenance. The only thing it seems to be lacking is the ability to add new categories (with TypePad, anyway). Not sure whose 'fault' that is, since a client app like this can only do what the server API allows, of course.

All the expected tools are provided - font and paragraph formatting, helpers for inserting links and images, and even one to insert a map from Windows Live Local (Virtual Earth).

The coolest feature, I think, is the layout/preview modes. Writer downloads the HTML layout and CSS, allowing you to view your post in normal, HTML, web layout and web preview modes. Web layout mode shows your post in the proper width container and with the right fonts and colours. Web preview lets you see your new post as it will look on your blog before you post it, including your menus and widgets, and even updated 'recent posts' listings!

If you also install Windows Live Toolbar, you also get 'blog this page' access to Writer, including different templates depending on whether the content is a feed item, snippet, link or image. (I haven't tried to figure out and use this feature yet, though.)

Which brings me to the second part of this post - the toolbar. As Michael Knight put it when he first saw K.I.T.T., "looks like Darth Vader's bathroom." After installing, I quickly realized I didn't want Windows Desktop Search and uninstalled it. I keep my files pretty well organized, know how to use existing search tools, and I really don't need any further drain on my system resources. As for all the buttons that come with the toolbar:

News

I get news via my RSS feeds. Uninstalled.

Gallery

Bookmarked the page it goes to - I'll browse it later. Uninstalled.

Onfolio

Took a look at the RSS reader, but I can check my feeds with Google Reader from anywhere. Uninstalled.

Maps

There was only one item in the menu, 'Locate Me,' which required me to install some software. Uninstalled.

One Care Advisor

I tried the scan on Windows Live OneCare. It identified one file in its virus/spyware scan, but didn't tell me what it was when it cleaned/deleted it, and I couldn't find a log file. Won't be using that again....Uninstalled.

Spaces

I've already got TypePad. Uninstalled.

Windows Live Mail

Outlook Express has been serving me pretty well for the last....um...10(?) years. Uninstalled.

Messenger

I've been using Trillian for quite a few years now, and, after seeing the latest version of Messenger (speaking of Darth Vader's bathroom!), I think I'll continue. Uninstalled.

Popup Blocker

Already have this with Service Pack 2 (which makes me wonder why it's included with the toolbar...). Uninstalled.

Highlight Viewer

Ctrl-F works for me. Uninstalled.

This leaves the tabbed-browsing feature (which is good, but I like Firefox's implementation better....something else to blog about, I guess!), the 'Blog It' button for Writer and the 'Favorites' button for Windows Live Favorites, which I'm hoping will help me sync favourites between my work and home computers (and with a tad more effort, it seems, even between IE and Firefox!). At least I can uninstall all the stuff I don't want, which is more than I can say for Messenger and all those blasted tabs that I can't get rid of.....but that's a whole other post/rant.

All this is not to say that the features I uninstalled aren't any good - I just didn't have any use for them and the sheer quantity of 'stuff' added to my browsing experience was a tad overwhelming. I think it would have been sufficient to give me just the stuff I originally wanted (Writer and browser integration) and a link to the gallery to see all the options available to me.

Municipal Wi-Fi

I was just watching a video on CNET News.com about Tempe, Arizona being the first large U.S. city to implement city-wide (ahem) 'free' wireless Internet access. Andrew wrote a Geek Love article on this subject over a year ago, and there was much blogification on Geof's blog in this post, and back on Andrew's other blog about Whitehorse in this post a few months back.

Through all of this discussion, I've refrained from raining on everyone's parade, and have just quietly read it all with an affectionate smirk on my face ("oh...you silly little geeks, you....!" <pinches collective cheek>) I have somewhat of an inside view on municipal finance, and what it really costs to do 'stuff,' and have already talked Andrew's ear off on why I think Whitehorse isn't likely to see city-wide wi-fi (provided for free by the City, anyway) anytime soon. Those points mostly revolve around implementation (hardware), maintenance (the high cost of bandwidth in the north) and support costs ("Hello, City IT Department? I can't access the wi-fi network with my Commodore 64. Fix it for me!"). It's not really free, of course, and whether the tax-payers want this service bad enough to accept the required tax hikes, is a whole other ball of wax.

If those of you in favour of wi-fi as a municipal service watch the CNET video, you may be surprised (as I was) to find out it's not as easy, technically, as just throwing a bunch of wireless access points up across the city, either. Tempe's 'blanket' of Internet access only works if you're outside! Inside access requires the use of a signal booster because the antenna on the computer, surprisingly enough...or not, if you think about it a bit, isn't strong enough to send to the access point. Too funny - assuming a city were to implement wi-fi, in order to access it, you'd unplug your DSL/cable modem from your wireless router and the wall, and then plug your wireless signal booster back into your router. That's a net savings of one cable, but I guess you can now put all that hardware just about anywhere in your house. You also don't have to pay for your Internet access, but now everyone's taxes have gone up, even if you don't use the municipal wi-fi network. And then there's the quality of service - you don't pay for it directly, and (no offense, but) it's being run by unionized, city employees. Better hope the 'net doesn't go down on the weekend.....

D'you hear that sound? It's IE's browser share falling...

...like a rock. After reading about new updates being available via Microsoft Update, I went ahead an updated all my Windoze machines, including the cover-yer-ass-patch MS is using to, "shield itself from...Eolas Technologies." IF YOU USE IE, DON'T INSTALL THIS UPDATE (assuming you have a choice)! What a pain in the arse. You wouldn't think one extra click would be so bad, but when you need to click once to activate a Flash menu and then click again to actually select a menu item, it's REALLY annoying. Nearly every site I've been to since I installed the update (nhl.com, the raptors' site, even Microsoft's own gaming zone) has displayed the, "click to activate and use this control," message at some point.

Sheesh...the abbreviation's not M$ for nothing...you'd think they could have come up with something better than this crap as a work-around. Excuse me while I go download Firefox....