Lanchester.net ...musings of an old nerd

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I have several pages of third-party apps on my iPhone 3GS, but there are only a few I use a lot.

• Facebook
• Grocery iQ: The best grocery shopping app around! The husband and I both have it, and we can sync lists. We separate A LOT at the store to speed up shopping, and as I check an item off the list, he gets the update! A huge amount of features for 99 cents!
• Echofon: My chosen Twitter client. Seems to be an easy font for the middle-aged to read without glasses.
• Google: I primarily use Reader, but also GMail on occasion.
• MacGourmet: I have the app on my Mac, too, and these sync up marvelously. The "chef's view" on my iPhone blows the recipe up to a size big enough for me to read from without reading glasses.
• Mantis Bible Study: My main workhorse of the Bible apps. You download the translations, commentaries, concordances, etc., to your phone. The company has been updating the app frequently, and now it's about perfect. You can take notes, highlight, and look up commentary. Anything you enter can be backed up online with the click of a button. This is the most expensive app on my phone.
• Things: This is my to-do app. I have the Mac version, and they sync marvelously! Fabulous interface.
• The Holy Bible, YouVersion: This has great reading plans! As a study Bible, it's not nearly as full-featured as Mantis Bible Study, but you can't beat free. (The browser-based version on my Mac has a beautiful interface.)
• Evernote: Just a fabulous free app for every kind of note-taking you could possibly do.
• Flashlight: A basic free app that turns the entire screen white. It lights the way on dark nights up the stairs.
• Mi-Fi: Shows signal strength and battery charge for a Verizon Novatel 2200 Mi-Fi.

Those are the apps I use all the time. If I'm having connection problems, I might use a network test app (Speed Test, iNetworkTest).

"About 75 percent of spending, for instance, goes to taking care of chronic disease."

Read about it and get the facts at Factcheck.org.

I'm quite sure any bill put together by politicians will be full of provisions aimed at pleasing powerful special interest groups, but people need affordable health insurance. Is the health care bill a good first step? I don't know, and it will be hard to tell until it all shakes out.

It's definitely been interesting to see the hatred generated during the drafting and the passing of this bill. Can't we all just get along?

Mmmm. Yes, I had pancakes this morning, and, yes, I follow a strict 100% gluten-free diet. (Gluten is a migraine trigger for me.)
 
Q: What's the secret to gluten-free pancakes?
 
A: Don't mess around with trying to find the perfect mix of various gluten-free flours. Just rush out (to the grocery store or to the internet), and buy Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Pancake Mix.
 
Even the finicky husband wolfs down these pancakes. 

The original Airport card in the 1 GHz Titanium Macintosh PowerBook cannot handle any network except WEP. It will see WPA neworks, but fail to connect citing an "incorrect password" error.

This tidbit of info isn't necessarily easy to sort out because the Airport hardware in the various Mac models is not clearly labeled. How do you know your Mac has an Airport Extreme card if the Airport card reported merely says "Airport"?

In any case, the fix I found was not necessarily easy. I bought an EDIMAX EW-7108PCg 802.11g/b Wireless LAN PC Card from Newegg for under $20.

It doesn't come with Mac drivers, so you have to download those from the Edimax website. Here's how I got it to work:

• Unplug the PowerBook.
• Remove the battery.
• Remove the torx-8 screws from the underside of the PowerBok. (Requires a Torx-8 screwdriver, available from Sears or online).
• Remove the panel from the underside of the Mac to expose the wireless card. It will have an antenna plugged into it, and it will be located over by the PC card slot.
• Remove the antenna by pulling on it.
• Push the Airport card up at a slight angle, then pull out to remove.
• If you want photos of any of the above steps, google "titanium powerbook take apart" (no quotes).
• Ensure the antenna dongle will NOT get in the way of any inserted PC card.
• Put the lower panel back on.
• Attach the screws.
• Put the battery back in the PowerBook.
• Plug the PowerBook back into the AC adapter.
• Put the Edimax PC card in the PC card slot.
• Launch the appropriate Edimax/Ralink installer (10.3 or 10.4 or 10.5, depending on which OS you have installed).
• Go through the install and reboot when prompted.
• The RALink Wireless Utility will launch upon reboot. if it doesn't, it's in your Applications folder. Use it to connect to wireless networks.

• Verizon Novatel 2200 Mi-Fi Tutorial (Flash-based video from Verizon)
• Checking data usage
• How to remain under the 5gb limit
• Boosting the Mi-Fi's signal
• Locating cell towers (not a simple task!)
• Access the Mi-Fi admin page
• What does 5gb get you?

I bought a Verizon Novatel Mi-Fi 2200 Wireless Hotspot to work with an Apple Tablet. (It's actually an iPad, horrid name, yet to be released by Apple.)
 
I tested the speed of the Mi-Fi* at work and at home and at various places using my favorite iPhone speed test app, SpeedTest.net. Well, the Mi-Fi was getting TROUNCED by AT&T 3G on SpeedTest.net every single day. I chalked it up to a very nice AT&T 3G setup in this area. (*I understand I'm actually testing the speed of Verizon's 3G CDMA-based EVDO data service, not the speed of the Mi-Fi, but it's much shorter to say "Mi-Fi" than all that!)
 
Then something big happened. The "Great AT&T Melt-Down of 2010" at work began. Too many iPhones. Too much drain on the AT&T amplifier in our buildings. AT&T's service tanked to a range of 0.00 Mbps to 0.09 Mbps download last week.
 
The Mi-Fi provided zippy network access to three of us, including two who were hitting Pandora, and still the Mi-Fi download speed was reported around .29 Mbps. Hmmm...
 
I finally decided to get the computer at home on the Mi-Fi, and I used the internet version of SpeedTest.net to check the speed. What? The Mi-Fi reported 1.66 Mbps, a huge jump.
 
That's when I figured something was fishy. I tried the iNetworkTest app on the iPhone. Mi-Fi: 88.79 Kbps. AT&T 3G: 54.68 Kbps. What?!
 
So when I cruised to dslreports.com on the iPhone (i.dslr.net/iphone_speedtest.html), the Mi-Fi was 1510 Kbps, and AT&T 3G was 640 Kbps. Double what?!
 
The SpeedTest.net app (NOT the website) appears to be reporting incorrect data. SpeedTest.net app indicates the iPhone on Mi-Fi is .29 Mbps (296.96 Kbps), and on AT&T 3G is .38 Mbps (389.12 Kbps). Clearly wrong.
 
Speeds are measured in bits per second, not bytes. To translate megabits to kilobits, multiply the megabits by 1024, or divide the kilobits by 1024 (your choice).
 
The conclusions to be drawn are:

• Don't trust a single speedtest app/website.
• Speed test results vary, based on how busy the download/upload speed test server is and other factors.
• The iPhone appears to slow things down. (There's no way to test AT&T 3G on my laptop, but the Mi-Fi appears to download far faster on a laptop than on the iPhone.)
• The Mi-Fi was definitely the way to go for the Apple Tablet (iPad)!!!

The seven Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour "Road to..." movies are comedy classics, favorites of my Mom and Dad. I can't exactly remember any of them, but they all involved journeys and lots of slapstick comedy.
 
Trying to buy my adult child a car has involved journeys and lots of silliness. First, there's my kid, who had her heart set on a RAV4. I was near the end of my negotiations when the "acceleration problem" of 2009/2010 arose. So being cautious, I thought she should look at other vehicles, although her heart was set on the RAV4.
 
She FINALLY went to test drive the RAV4, the CRV, and an Equinox, and found she hated the RAV4! Now wouldn't that have been nice to know before I had three dealers in a bidding war?! How silly is that?
 
She didn't like the CRV's styling. But she LOVED the Equinox, and Consumer Reports gave it a thumbs up, so we were good to go.
 
Not knowing diddly about the Equinox, I went to the website, built what I thought the brat would like, and requested a quote from a nearby dealer, and then the fun began. First the "internet specialist" tries to sell me a demo Equinox which is NOTHING like the vehicle I requested, has 12,000 miles on it, and costs more than the list prices of the brand-new car I want!
 
Then, this "internet specialist" kept forgetting the prior emails from me, and apparently didn't have the one from Chevy with the car details. After four emails back and forth, he asked me if I want a four or six cylinder?? I wanted the car in the price quote request!!
 
Once I pointed that out, he sent me back a "price quote" with the MSRP after we've already established I work for a certain company which qualifies me for special set "no haggle pricing. I had to remind him again of a prior email from me.
 
So I tired of all this back-and-forth and requested a price quote from a different dealer, and her first email to me stated, "So, what can I help you with?" Oh, my gosh??? How about a price quote on the exact vehicle you have sitting in your inventory that I am interested in buying that I requested a price quote for (which is why you have my email address in the first place)???!!!
 
There is something wrong with Chevy's redirection of price quotes or "internet specialists" at Chevrolet dealers are clueless (based on my random sample of two :D).

First, you need to understand the concepts involved here:

• The problem to be solved is that you have an existing wireless network that doesn't quite reach far enough. (Examples: You're getting dead spots in a wireless network in a large house, or you want to extend your wireless network from one building to the next—and the buildings are VERY close together.)
• You have a spare Linksys WRT54G or WRT54GS router.
• The spare router is on a list as being "third-party firmware upgradeable."

We'll be using DD-WRT, third-party firmware for numerous routers, to turn our Linksys into a bridge. What's DD-WRT? So let's get started.

• Locate your spare Linksys WRT54G or WRT54GS router.
• Flip it over and find the tiny print "Model No." After it will be WRT54G or WRT54GS and the version (e.g., ver. 2). The version is important!
• Look for compatibility on this page, and note the special notes on the right for your version.
• Go to the DD-WRT download page, and type in
  Linksys
  then find your router in the list, and click it.
• Change the drop-down at the top so it DOES NOT SAY SP1 (what it needs to say will depend on the notes you found two steps prior). For example, in March 2010, for my router (WRT54G ver. 2), I should be downloading v24 preSP2, the recommended build, and use the VINT (vintage) standard (dd-wrt.v24-13064_VINT_std.bin). However, if I were to use TFTP, I would first need to flash the router with the TFTP mini-build. If I were to use the web (instead of TFTP), I would first need to flash the router with the web mini-build.
• After locating the proper software to download (both standard and mini-build) download away! (NOTE: TFTP is Windows only, if that helps your decision about which mini-build to download!)
• Next, plug in the power to your Linksys router, and hook it to your computer with an Ethernet connection. (Ensure your computer's Ethernet connection is active.)
• Now you have to try to remember what your old ID and password are for this ancient Linksys router! :) Launch your web browser, and go to http://192.168.1.1 (assuming you had the Linksys configured in a standard fashion). DON'T USE SAFARI on a Mac. Use Firefox.
• Click on the Administration Tab, and Factory Defaults. (I don't remember the exact steps here, but reset it to factory defaults.)
• After that's done, the ID and password will be admin and admin (all lowercase).
• Now it's time to flash. Go into the Administration Tab and choose Upgrade Firmware.
• Select the "mini" version of the file and upload.
• After that's successful, your ID and password are changed AGAIN to root and admin, respectively.
• Going back to 192.168.1.1 in your browser gives you a different look and feel now, since you're running under new firmware. It's time to upload the "standard" (and in my case, vintage) version of the firmware.
• GO to the Administration tab, the Firmware Upgrade tab.
• Select the standard version of the firmware file, and click Upload.
• After the process is finished, the hard part is over. All that's left is to set things up to match your current wireless network to this new bridge.
• Start out by changing the ID and password for the router to something you can remember. (Administration tab/Management tab)
• Now it's time to follow these instructions TO THE LETTER. (Ignore the stuff at the end of the page that says to ignore the "Virtual Interfaces Section." YOU NEED the Virtual Interfaces Section!)

I've helped a friend's son get his Xbox fix by employing this hack. (His Xbox is too far from the wireless signal when it's attached to the TV.) And now a local Boy Scout troop gets to reap the benefits when I extend the church's wireless network for them to one of our outbuildings.

The best general purpose gluten-free flour I've found is Sylvan Border Farm General-Purpose Flour. (You can order it from this link, or I've found it at Amazon in a "case" containing three small bags.)

Use it in place of regular flour for things such as:

• Cookies
• Thickening gravies
• Coating meats (e.g., fried chicken)

Each bag contains gluten-free baking tips and recipes.

NOTE: Don't use the general-purpose flour for bread. Sylvan Border Farm has a special flour for bread.