Category Archives: Mobile Lifestyle

My voice communications configuration

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Spent some time, but I got my voice communications system up. Tested it and now feel confident that I can stay in touch, wherever I am in the globe, at least wherever there is a GlobalStar Satellite coverage.

My configuration is this :

Hardware/Services :

  • Sprint Samsung S7 Smartphone
  • 8×8 Polycom Handset
  • AT&T Prepaid ZTE Z22 Flip phone( I love the ability to flip the phone to end the call)
  • GlobalStar Qualcomm GSP-1600 Satellite handset
  • Computer with Internet Access (I use an AT&T Mifi hotspot)

My Sprint phone number is linked with my Google Voice account.  For this, you have to have a number with an area code in one of the 50 states.  I haven’t tried Puerto Rico.

This linking gives you a lot of features.  The most important one is the ability to forward calls to verified phone numbers.  In my case, I have a SkypeIn #, an 8×8 phone service, and a GlobalStar Satellite phone.  With this feature, calls coming to my Sprint #, ring on all these devices.

To make use of a prepaid GoPhone for use on the AT&T service, I configured the SkypeIn number to forward to the local AT&T number.  I wanted this configuration, because when I travel to a location outside of the US, I can just get a local number and then configure Skype to forward to this number.

Is this configuration expensive ? Yes !  However, what is more expensive, is the lack of communications in my line of business.

Over time, I will figure out ways of optimizing this configuration for both cost and dependence on various service providers.

Why do electronics die ?

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A great video on electronic devices and their frailness.

Why I just installed Pokemon Go….

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As a technologist and futurist, I am always looking at ways to implement technology to make my life easier, get paid to help other individuals and organizations and look towards the future.

I see the technology that Pokemon Go as an epoch in human history.  Many ‘Adults’ may see this as a bunch of ‘kids’ running around and throwing imaginary spheres at each other, but I can imagine the same interaction taking place 44 years ago when Pong came out.  Ironically the original Pong Cabinet was yellow….go figure.

Many only see the content, the furry yellow Pikachu.  I see the next step in technology interfaces. Augmented Reality(AR) will replace Virtual Reality(VR) before VR even starts.  Location specific resources will be part of the future, and with the unlimited layers that can imposed on the world, we are just beginning to scratch the surface. Just like DSpace from the Daemon/Freedom(tm) books by Daniel Suarez, the world on-line will enter the ‘real world’

Ingress was great. I loved it, but couldn’t stick with it because it kept getting repetitive. Let’s how much I can catch in Pokemon Go while being part of human history.

 

Laptop battery test script – win32

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To test the time that a laptop battery takes to  discharge, I wrote this script that would just print the time to a text file on the My Documents Directory every 10 seconds.  When completely discharged, just look at the time it stopped recording.

  1. Power on laptop on AC Power
  2. Run Program
  3. Remove AC Power
  4. Let battery power discharge
  5. Analyse text file.

Todo:

  • Monitor battery load
  • Email (?)

Source Code:

#include <Date.au3>

$ts = _Date_Time_SystemTimeToDateTimeStr(_Date_Time_GetSystemTime())
$tstart1=StringReplace($ts,”/”,”_”)
$tstart2=StringReplace($tstart1,”:”,”_”)
$tstart3=StringReplace($tstart2,” “,”_”)

while 1
$ts = _Date_Time_SystemTimeToDateTimeStr(_Date_Time_GetSystemTime())
FileCreate(@MyDocumentsDir & “\battery_” & $tstart3 & “.txt”,$ts & @CRLF)
Sleep(10000)
WEnd

; Create a file.
Func FileCreate($sFilePath, $sString)
Local $bReturn = True
$bReturn = FileWrite($sFilePath, $sString)
Return $bReturn
EndFunc ;==>FileCreate