Tretakoff Musings

I've always been much more satisfied with analog displays than digital. They are somehow more alive, more vibrant than the cold displays of numbers on most LCDs or LEDs; give me a Nixie Tube any time over any of those. Certainly, my wishlist has always held a valued spot for the Ambient Office Dashboard , with it's delightfully analog gauges and punch card programmability, but it's a mere pretender to the throne when compared with The Device. The Device (it's full name is The Device Patented Process Indicator) is all I have ever imagined for a desktop widget of the first order. With 2 analog dials, a glowing beaker of liquid, and a bezeled red light, you can use the software to decide what 4 things you want to watch on each. Stock prices? Temperatures? Blog page loads? take your pick and take in all the information at a glance, in magnificent style. Courtesy of a link from Brass Goggles , The Device is almost on sale. As soon as it is, count on me as a very happy early ...

In my recent posting about AT&T's VOIP Service , I wrote: "Yes, Vonage has a few more features I would like, and is $5 less;" To which, a commenter, the mysterious SamIam , kindly said: "AT&T CallVantage isn't $5 more than Vonage. Call them up and change your plan. The new plan (same as the old plan) is under $25 -- The FCC requires you change to the new plan!" Well, I logged into my CallVantage account today, saw a link to change my plan, and was able to switch it to the $25 plan instead. There is NO difference between the $30 and $25 plans; just different price. Thanks, SamIam: $60 a year savings, because of your comment!

I'm an unabashed fan of alternative fiction, where visionary authors look at key times or key events and wonder "what if this turned out differently?" From the books of Harry Turtledove , to the more obscure such as Richard Dreyfuss (yes, that Richard Dreyfuss), as well as the movies that attempt this (though usually with some annoying subplot of time travel), I'm hooked. One sub-genre that particularly gets my full attention is steampunk . In essence, the idea of many of our technical innovations today, powered by steam engines, usually set in the 1800's. Good examples are the works of Jules Verne, or Bruce Sterling/William Gibson's The Difference Engine . Unfortunately, when Hollywood tries it's hand at steampunk, it usually is abysmal. Take, for example, the painful-to-watch film version of the Wild Wild West , or the movie that drove Sean Connery into retirement, vowing never to appear on the silver screen again, the terrible adaptation of Alan Moore...

I've mentioned before that I ditched my landline some time ago in favor of a Voice Over IP (VOIP) line from AT&T, with their CallVantage service. $29.95 a month, with unlimited local and long distance calling, with crystal-clear sound quality. Uses your broadband Internet connection, and comes with almost every feature you can imagine: voicemail, caller ID, privacy time, and dozens more...all included. What I have not mentioned is why I think their service is the best thing going. Yes, Vonage has a few more features I would like, and is $5 less; yes, SunRocket will give you a deal for $199 for 2 years of service. What AT&T gives me is some of the best customer service I could ask for, as well as the best phone quality you can imagine: far better than any landline I ever had. Examples of their service: call them, and speak to a human, 24 hours a day. Try that with any other VOIP provider. Got a problem? They will patiently try to fix it, and, if all else fails, they FedEx y...

Ok, before we start, the pics are all here. We headed to Tucson to see my mother's new winter homestead. Never been, but I love the desert, so we were looking to have some fun. She lives in the Catalina Foothills, with the city below. Tucson's population is, surprisingly, about the same as San Francisco's; it's also the home to the University of Arizona: I had no idea. While downtown is nothing to see, the landscape is stunning. First tourist attraction: the Wildlife Museum . Located way out in the desert, it's an open-air, self guided sprawling facility that covers all of the native plants, animals, and minerals of the Sonora desert. The cave tour was amazing: walk through the cramped passages, and see a wild open cave, along with gorgeous exhibits of semi-precious stones from the area. The native plants and cactii are stunning, and the feel of the place is decidedly unhurried and hands on. Lots of trails and paths to explore. The animals? WOW. A pair of mountain l...

Thanks to contributors to this blog, as well as my wife, I recently became the proud owner of a Palm GPS for my Palm TX. Consisting of a small (3"x2") Bluetooth GPS unit, a cradle that attaches to your windshield, and a handy cable that charges both the Palm and the GPS, this is TomTom on your Palm. Literally. It uses the TomTom software that you see in all the commercials, and your Palm. And, I'm thrilled to say, works like a charm. You load the software on your Palm, throw the maps on your SD card, and you are in business. The GPS grabs a signal within seconds, and you are good to go. Setup is done through a simple wizard on your Palm, one time, and, as Southwest says, you are now free to move about the country. To test it, I took it on my recent trip to Arizona. I programmed in my favorites: city, street address, and a custom name. Then, when I got in my rental car, I fired it up. In moments, I had a built in navigator, complete with a wonderful British woman's voi...

It came to me in a flash across the screen in a tony eatery in Old Town Scottsdale, Arizona, today. Finally, the day I had dreamed of, since blogging about it two years ago, this month: Bill Parcells resigns as the coach of the Dallas Cowboys. We have all endured a terrible ordeal. Now, with this episode behind us, let the healing begin.