Sat, 31 May 2008
California Law for Hands Free devices starting July 1, 2008
Thank you Gov.Schwarzenegger for signing this, the only thing is wish it had been signed a couple of years back .Everybit helps as we have seen time and again that Cell phone drivers get too much distracted while driving and can cause accidents.
You can read more about this law at Gov. Schwarzenegger Signs Bill Requiring Drivers to Use Hands Free Devices While Talking on a Mobile Phone
posted at: 20:17 | category: /general | permanent link to this entry
Mon, 26 May 2008
BU-303 GPS Mouse receiver
Couple of years back I bought a USB GPS receiver mouse from ebay for about $60.Now is is priced at about $10-$20 on Ebay.You can search for BU-303 or you can buy the newer ones by searching GPS mouse receiver.
Anyways I still use it now and I have been pretty happy with it. Also if you have the same GPS then you can download the latest drivers from Prolific's website for BU-303 Receiver.
Also please remember that on Ebay for the price mentioned above you don't get any mapping software but that is where Open Street Map helps.
Anyways I still use it now and I have been pretty happy with it. Also if you have the same GPS then you can download the latest drivers from Prolific's website for BU-303 Receiver.
Also please remember that on Ebay for the price mentioned above you don't get any mapping software but that is where Open Street Map helps.
posted at: 17:53 | category: /reviews | permanent link to this entry
Fri, 23 May 2008
Roadnav GPS navigation for Windows/Linux
Roadnav is an open source GPS navigation tool with auto-routing functionality.
If you are using it on Windows I would highly recommend that you move the temporary folder into some other folder as it downloads a lot of files. In order to move to some other folder you need to goto Windows profile folder like "C:\Documents and Settings\BPATEL\" and there will be a file named roadnav.ini and change the variable to something like below
LocalDataDirectory=E:\\DocumentsAndSettings\\roadnavdata
Although , I tried some directions and I don't feel this software is ready for primetime.
If you are using it on Windows I would highly recommend that you move the temporary folder into some other folder as it downloads a lot of files. In order to move to some other folder you need to goto Windows profile folder like "C:\Documents and Settings\BPATEL\" and there will be a file named roadnav.ini and change the variable to something like below
LocalDataDirectory=E:\\DocumentsAndSettings\\roadnavdata
Although , I tried some directions and I don't feel this software is ready for primetime.
posted at: 21:59 | category: /reviews | permanent link to this entry
Thu, 22 May 2008
Truecrypt Files on an encrypted Filesystem
A couple of months back I ran into this very good utility called Truecrypt.
It is a free open source software(GPL license) which creates a filesystem in a file and it is encrypted.
One of the cool things about this is how seamlessly it integrates with Windows/Linux.
It shows up as a drive in Windows Explorer just like a USB drive.And it mounts like regular mountpoints on Linux.
Another benefit of having all your files in one file is that you really don't need to worrying about forgetting to backup individual files.All you have to backup is one file which has all your folders/files etc.
To me This is a huge benefit as I have looked into multiple backup tools/machine imaging utilities etc but by far truecrypt is the best.
Another advantage of truecryt based filesystem is that it is ultra-portable. You just copy one file onto any machine and you have your filesystem there
. No need to use partition magic or other tools to backup the pastition and then restore it on another machine.
Combine this with Portable Apps and you can have your working desktop/environment on any machine and best of it all , it is encrypted !!!!
Oh, the other thing you don't have to pay inflated prices for USB drives for encryption.You buy **any** USB drive and put your encrypted files on the USB drive and you can derive similar protection.
One of the cool things about this is how seamlessly it integrates with Windows/Linux.
It shows up as a drive in Windows Explorer just like a USB drive.And it mounts like regular mountpoints on Linux.
Another benefit of having all your files in one file is that you really don't need to worrying about forgetting to backup individual files.All you have to backup is one file which has all your folders/files etc.
To me This is a huge benefit as I have looked into multiple backup tools/machine imaging utilities etc but by far truecrypt is the best.
Another advantage of truecryt based filesystem is that it is ultra-portable. You just copy one file onto any machine and you have your filesystem there
. No need to use partition magic or other tools to backup the pastition and then restore it on another machine.
Combine this with Portable Apps and you can have your working desktop/environment on any machine and best of it all , it is encrypted !!!!
Oh, the other thing you don't have to pay inflated prices for USB drives for encryption.You buy **any** USB drive and put your encrypted files on the USB drive and you can derive similar protection.
posted at: 16:39 | category: /general | permanent link to this entry
Short stint with net10(parent company is tracfone)
I tried Net10(prepaid service) for about 2 months .
Essentially their model of pre-paid is 10c a minute and you need to buy a minimum of $30 card (gives you 300 mins) every 60 days.So essentially it comes down to about $15 per month
I got the Nokia 1600 from their website
Their business model is that they lease from GSM carries like T-mobile and AT&T.You will not come to knonw upfront who your carrier will be .
I didn't quite like their service as I had to talk to them multiple times to get my home phone ported to them and they goofed up multiple times at many places and sometimes I had to wait for 45 minutes to talk to a Support person.
I also ran into multiple issues with them mainly because the phone which I got was really a tracfone inspite of the packaging and everything saying it was a Net10 phone.Then I had to wait for a new SIM card because the original SIM card which came with the net10 package was of Tracfone and hence would not work at all.So they shipped me a new SIM card after multiple calls etc.
Inspite of multiple calls to their support they were clueless about the concept of an email address associated with mobile phones.
So once I came to know that the underlying carrier for my Net10 phone is AT&T I just played around and found out that my phones email address was@txt.att.net .Anyways I believe the same thing will work if your underlying carrier is t-mobile.
Their website absolutely sucks and most of the things you cant do on their website.
Overall I was not very happy with them and moved on to my tried and tested Virgin Mobile.You can read about it here
Essentially their model of pre-paid is 10c a minute and you need to buy a minimum of $30 card (gives you 300 mins) every 60 days.So essentially it comes down to about $15 per month
I got the Nokia 1600 from their website
Their business model is that they lease from GSM carries like T-mobile and AT&T.You will not come to knonw upfront who your carrier will be .
I didn't quite like their service as I had to talk to them multiple times to get my home phone ported to them and they goofed up multiple times at many places and sometimes I had to wait for 45 minutes to talk to a Support person.
I also ran into multiple issues with them mainly because the phone which I got was really a tracfone inspite of the packaging and everything saying it was a Net10 phone.Then I had to wait for a new SIM card because the original SIM card which came with the net10 package was of Tracfone and hence would not work at all.So they shipped me a new SIM card after multiple calls etc.
Inspite of multiple calls to their support they were clueless about the concept of an email address associated with mobile phones.
So once I came to know that the underlying carrier for my Net10 phone is AT&T I just played around and found out that my phones email address was
Their website absolutely sucks and most of the things you cant do on their website.
Overall I was not very happy with them and moved on to my tried and tested Virgin Mobile.You can read about it here
posted at: 15:58 | category: /reviews | permanent link to this entry
Free child ID kit
A child id kit allows partents to store vital information about their kids like fingerprints/hari sample etc.
It is very important to get a child id kit for your kids as in the event of missing a child or abduction this information is very critical for police to help finding your child.
We went to our local police station in the great mall in milpitas to get our child id kit free.
The process was very simple and the following things were done
The process was pretty fast and I would encourage all parents to find a local police station which can ID their child.
It is very important to get a child id kit for your kids as in the event of missing a child or abduction this information is very critical for police to help finding your child.
We went to our local police station in the great mall in milpitas to get our child id kit free.
The process was very simple and the following things were done
The process was pretty fast and I would encourage all parents to find a local police station which can ID their child.
posted at: 12:26 | category: /kids | permanent link to this entry
Sat, 17 May 2008
Rainbow Montessori, Sunnyvale
My son goes to this daycare.He has been going to this place from the time he was 6 months old.
We feel that the teachers/care takers here take good care of the kids and my son loves going to school every day.
Overall we like this place and our current plan is to continue him for the next couple of years until we buy a house and move somewhere else.
http://www.rainbow-montessori.com/
We feel that the teachers/care takers here take good care of the kids and my son loves going to school every day.
Overall we like this place and our current plan is to continue him for the next couple of years until we buy a house and move somewhere else.
http://www.rainbow-montessori.com/
posted at: 03:01 | category: /reviews | permanent link to this entry
Kabab and Curry House, Santa Rosa
On our recent trip to Santa Rosa(in Napa) we ate at a nice Indian place in downtown Santa Rosa.The ambience of this place is very good.
We were not very hungry so we just ordered 1-2 dishes and they were pretty ok.
The service was very good
Though we did find this place a little pricey. http://www.kababandcurryhouse.com/
We were not very hungry so we just ordered 1-2 dishes and they were pretty ok.
The service was very good
Though we did find this place a little pricey. http://www.kababandcurryhouse.com/
posted at: 02:55 | category: /restreviews | permanent link to this entry
Virgin Mobile Flare
Recently there was a deal at Target for this web-enabled/bluetooth/flip phone.For $90 you would get $90 worth of top-up and the Flare phone
I have used it for about a week and it is a pretty good phone especially compared to my cheapo and old K7 Rave from Virgin mobile.
Though I really want a phone which can have a USB connectivity.
I have used it for about a week and it is a pretty good phone especially compared to my cheapo and old K7 Rave from Virgin mobile.
Though I really want a phone which can have a USB connectivity.
posted at: 02:43 | category: /reviews | permanent link to this entry
