Turns out that iSync will only sync the “Home” address to a Palm. So if you have a company, ignore the urge to enter their address using the work label and use the Home label instead.

A couple of weeks ago I got a call from my brother about the Vonage voice over IP service. The call was clear and unlike most volP services I had used, it was full duplex, meaning we could both talk at the same time (for the most part)

After reading reviews on the web I signed up. Once I had returned from Canada, my phone adaptor was waiting. I plugged it into my router, went to the website and configured my account and made a call at 1am!

The system works like this. Vonage has a fairly sophisticated three layer network. The Cisco ATA 186 box they sends you plugs into your cable/DSL internet connection you have, and allows you to plug one or more phones (through the use of splitters into it) Once that is done, you can make calls!

Let me be clear – You can call any number in the world. Don’t confuse voice over IP with talking from one PC to another. This uses good old analog phones just like any other phone service. In fact, this same concept has been in use by the phone companies for many years now, you just never knew it. The adaptor box was in their building, not yours. They used their own private networks, not the internet. But the concept is similar.

The proxy servers they have set up keep people from knowing who you are if any packets should be intercepted. We’ll see how this works out over time, if someone is able to gather information by cracking and listening to someone hand out their credit card.

So why the hoopla? What are the cons?

Hoopla

Apparently a lot of people have been having major problems with their Airport Extreme Basestations losing connectivity due to interference.

This update is supposed to help with that issue.

It is clear as we move into a more wireless world that we are going to need more regulation over the frequencies so these devices no longer step on each other’s toes…

Safari does not seem to like to find text in pages with frames. Anyone else seen this?

I have a dining table, finally. They were out of chairs, so those come soon!

Life takes us on trips we’re not always expecting. Mine has been that way lately – No need to worry, life is wonderfully amazing. Will be a slow, rewarding road, cautious steps, being independant, seeing myself for my strengths more often now, someone in my life to be supportive, amazingly so, while I grow and become a better person – wow.

I don’t like the way Safari staggers new windows. they often end up with the scroll bars off the right edge of the screen, etc.

I’d like an option to turn off staggering and just let me figure it out (or open new windows as tabs would be nice hehe)

I had just not tried this, but I drug my Dating folder tab (not interested in dating at the moment <g>) down into the bookmark window and it worked! Very nice, seemless integration of the bookmarks.

I was just complaining to Simeon that Verizon Wireless only works with IE. My ortho changed their certificate – I wonder if this “self-signed” certificate support will allow Verizon Wireless to work….. Yep! I am not sure I like self-signed certificates, but it works now.

Windows no longer appear under the dock if the dock is on the left side of the screen. However a wide window will show under the dock if the dock is on the right side of the screen. (window should be resized, or maybe shifted left?)

Shoot, popup windows still show under the dock. I think Safari should catch this and offset the window.

Speed is still great, scrolling with my new MS Wireless Optical Blue is better it seems for some reason. Smoother.

From this cursory look, a great update!

Available via Software Update, the notes state:

The Safari Update 2-12-03 improves the compatibility with popular web sites based on Safari user feedback, further improves the performance of loading web pages and Flash content, adds support for XML, increases standards conformance and delivers improved application stability. The update also enables access to web sites that offer self-signed security certificates.

Cocoa eFax, from Ben Mackin, is a simple, elegant user interface on top of the UNIX eFax program.

eFax sends PDF files, which thankfully is supported so well by OS X that any application can save to a PDF via the Print dialog.

Simply launch Cocoa eFax, enter your phone number, add your PDF files and off it goes. I sent a fax and it went through cleanly, even after the other end picked up and said “hello? hello?” and then started the fax machine on their end.

I have not tried receiving a fax. There is also an untested “Scan and Fax” feature.

In the “Send Fax To:” field you can enter a name “Riggins” and click Check Address Book. The popup menu will then list matching items, however it shows them even if they don’t have Fax Numbers listed. Only choosing the name will report the error. Cocoa eFax should take a page out of Mail.app and use a nice palette for searching for a name (complete with x in the search field) and only match on records with Fax: numbers.

Cocoa eFax is shareware $10, quite affordable, requires no extensions to run and allows you to send 5 faxes before paying.

How to disable Ken Burns from every photo in iMovie 3

I received a call this morning from the president of PMUG asking if I would teach a class on iMovie 3 at MacCamp this spring!

I enthusiastically said YES!

So send in those reports you have for iMovie 3. Being so new, I can use any feedback of experiences you have had to help form my opinion on exactly what I will teach in this class.

I am so excited!

from an MSDN flash I received:

Most likely you have heard about the “Slammer” Worm last week. While many communications focused on patching SQL Server 2000, there are additional Microsoft products used by developers which are affected.

The worm targets MSDE 2000, which is installed as an integral or optional component of many Microsoft products including the .NET Framework SDK, Visual Studio .NET 2002, ASP.NET Web Matrix, Biz Talk Server 2002 Partner Edition, Host Integration Server, and some instances of Windows Server.

from scifi.com, we learn that:

Marsha Thomason, who plays Eddie Murphy’s wife in the upcoming supernatural movie Haunted Mansion, told SCI FI Wire that the film will feature elements of the popular Disney theme-park ride on which it is based. “We’ve got the singing heads,” Thomason said in an interview. “We’ve got the whole mausoleum. We’ve got Madame Leota. Jennifer Tilly is playing Madame Leota. There’s a whole lot of the Disney ride in the movie.”

I was invited to go see a play, Abstract Person Singular in Salem at the Pinnacle Theater tonight. I had a great time! The theater is in the boonies, very secluded and very intimate.

The play was really enjoyable, but I can’t say as that I understood it. I understand some of the tie ins between the three families, but I guess I’m going to need time to digest the rest of it.

The vision of mankind stretching out her hand to learn, to explore, to pioneer the vastness of space. Along the trails some fell, but they kept going, kept taking the road, kept making new homes, new trails, safer trails. The trails took them to new, wondrous places, new mountain ranges, new beauty, new riches, new land.

We shall never forget our pioneers. Our prayers to rest their souls extend beyond the heavens so that God may cradle their souls, give their families peace and give us all thought.