My TouchPad Today: Boston's First Night Ice Sculpture

Another post in a series of wanderings out and about with my HP TouchPad and Pre 2 in tow...

This morning I wandered through Copley Square in Boston and caught some video and still pix of the final touches being put on the ice sculpture that is the centerpiece of tonight's First Night 2012 celebration.

See the video here on YouTube.

Pre 2 Photo - rnolan1087

Click here to see a map of the First Night 2012 events in Boston and Cambridge.

Happy New Year to all!

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My TouchPad Today: Required (Sinatra) Viewing

Another in a series of posts about using the TouchPad as a TV Wayback Machine...

In 1967 Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim did a television special medley of several songs they had recently recorded for the aptly titled album Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim.

 

The songs:

• Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars
• Change Partners
• I Concentrate on You
• The Girl from Ipanema

 

I had the Reprise record album and the corresponding cassette version around 1981'ish and played them constantly... particularly on my Sony Walkman when bike riding around Fresh Pond in Cambridge, MA on summer evenings to relax after work.

 

I purchased the CD (still on the Reprise label) in the early 90's and ripped mp3's of it for myself around 2002.

 

Amazon has current mp3's of the album that are available from the Frank Sinatra Enterprises label.

 

 

I remember most of the Sinatra television specials, but, for some reason, I have no recollection of seeing this collaboration at any time until -- using my TouchPad -- I came across it recently on YouTube.

 

A classic album and a classic television performance... perfect for the TouchPad Wayback Machine!

 

 

 

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My TouchPad Today: Cracked!

Several months ago, when reports surfaced of TouchPads showing cracks in the area of the speaker ports, I checked my TP and my wife's... No cracks found!

A similar inspection in just the past few days turned up something a little bit different on my TP, but not terribly dramatic...

It's been in a case since it was about three weeks old.  Before that it was in a neoprene sleeve for protection.

What's a fella to do?

For right now, probably nuttin' but "watchful waiting" since it doesn't seem to be growing and doesn't seem to be affecting anything.

If it spreads, I might delicately apply a wee bit of super glue.

Will I return it to HP for repair or replacement under warranty?

Probably not for this crack... I have enough real problems in my life to deal with already without getting into a sparring match with another (alleged) customer service organization.  The TP ended up only having a net cost of $100 and there's little to gain in trying to get "Leo's Legacy" fixed or replaced.

Gee, thanks, Uncle Leo!

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My TouchPad Today: Apps I Never Use!

These are apps on my TouchPad that it turns out I never find myself using...

• Calendar (I use the calendar on my Pre 2)
• Calculator (I use the calculator on my Pre 2)
• HP Movie Store
• Maps
• Nom Nom Nom (I happily use Tea Reader on my TP)
• Pandora (I use Pandora on my Pre 2)
• pReader  (I happily use Kindle on my TP)
• TuneIn Radio (I use TuneIn Radio on my Pre 2)
• Typewriter

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My TouchPad Today: Apps I Seldom Use!

These are apps on my TouchPad I seldom find myself using...

• Advanced Browser
• Audiophile HD
• Audubon Birds
• Camera
• Digi Camera Light
• Evernote
• Free URL to PDF
• FreeCam for TouchPad
• HP App Catalog
• KalemSoft Media Player
• Music
• New Tork Times News Feeds
• PDFMyWeb Pro
• Picsel Smart Office
• Quick Office
• Splashtop Remote
• VideoFlood HD
• Voice Recorder

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My TouchPad Today: Apps I Really Use!

Out of all the apps I have installed on my TouchPad these are the ones I really use...

 

• Adobe Reader
• Box
• Email
• Fortune Magazine
• Gemini File Manager
• Kindle
• Memos (for writing -- or at least drafting -- most of my posts)
• New York Times Beta
• Spaz HD
• Tea Reader (for reading my Google Reader news feeds)
• Web
• WiFi Media Synch (for synching files from my laptop with the TP)
• YouTube

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My TouchPad Today: The TouchPad, The Grinch and The Boston Pops

More wanderings with the TouchPad and Pre 2 in tow...


Over the weekend my TouchPad returned to Symphony Hall in Boston for its second visit in less than a month. No, the TP isn't becoming a classical music fan. The occasion was a Holiday Pops concert by the Boston Pops which my wife and I took in on Saturday afternoon.

The Boston Pops and The Grinch - HP Pre 2 Photo

Each December since the 1970's, the Pops do a series of concerts featuring traditional and popular songs for the holiday season.

Click here for a review of the December 7th performance from the Boston Globe.

Image from BSO.org

Typically, the program has a special segment... a few years ago it was music from the film The Polar Express accompanied by a reading from the original book on which the movie was based. This year -- see photo above -- the segment was a reading (by Jeremiah Kissel) from Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas with the Pops and conductor Keith Lockhart in support.

Oh, by the way, the TP was not working on this visit to Symphony Hall... the Holiday Pops program notes are not available online.

Do the BSO and Pops have a grinch of their own living in Symphony Hall?



This post was written on my TouchPad



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My TouchPad Today: How to Winterize Your TouchPad

Earlier this week I was performing some "winterizing" chores around the house and it occurred to me that my TouchPad could use some winter protection, too...

HP Pre 2 Photo

Do you think ear muffs would work better than the stocking cap?



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My TouchPad Today: Quiet Times

Its been quiet on the TouchPad front for me over the past several days.

HP's announcement that webOS is going open source was no big surprise... It was one of the common options/scenarios that had been floating around since Meg Whitman reversed course on Leo Apotheker's decision to scrap the PC unit and kill the TouchPad.

Otherwise, nothing worth sharing has happened with my TouchPad.

On another front, though...

I've spent some time getting a now-ancient Sony 8mm TRV350 camcorder (vintage 2003) working with my Windows 7 laptop and digitizing/editing some tapes recorded twenty years ago on an earlier 8mm camcorder..

The problem was that my current laptop -- the camcorder can connect to a computer by either Fire Wire, USB, or composite connections -- doesn't have a Fire Wire port, nor composite video connections, and Windows 7 does not natively support USB video streaming.

The solution was buying an EzCap116 USB video capture device on Amazon.

The device installs a driver on the computer that allows Windows 7 to support USB video streaming. The camcorder then connects to the device via composite RCA-Type connectors and the device connects to the computer via USB.

The video is captured as an mpeg2 in an ArcSoft program (TotalMedia ShowBiz 3.5) bundled with the capture device.

I import the video into Windows Live Movie Maker to do my edits and output the final file in .wmv.

Its a decent solution, at a modest expense ($30), to extend the useful life of the camcorder and do something with a boxful of tapes that are deteriorating more with each passing day.



This post was written on my TouchPad


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My TouchPad Today: TouchPad goes to Symphony Hall

More wanderings with the TouchPad and Pre2 in tow...

Last weekend the TouchPad accompanied the wife and me to Boston's Symphony Hall for the Handel and Haydn Society performance of Handel's Messiah.

Symphony Hall, Boston, MA - HP Pre2 Photo

The TP wasn't just along for the ride, it was there to work!

Based on past visits to Symphony Hall -- for the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops -- I knew it can be difficult in the half-light of the hall to read and follow the goings on via the program booklet.

My first thought was to go out and download the program from the H&H Society website for use on the TouchPad.

Alas, this was not to be. The H&H does not have downloadable programs on its site. What they do is post the program on the website of a service (that will go unnamed here) which is a poor choice for navigation and reading on a PC web browser, nevermind how it reads/navigates in a tablet-based browser.

HP TouchPad Screen Capture

The solution (see TP screen cap above) was to download and print to PDF the libretto of Messiah from one of a number of places it is available on the web.

Thus armed, we journeyed to Symphony Hall and I managed to stay awake during the two hour and forty-five minute performance!



This post was written on my TouchPad


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My TouchPad Today: Kindle Library Books - Not Ready for Prime Time?

Since an announcement from Amazon earlier this year I had eagerly been awaiting the debut of borrowing Kindle library books.

A few weeks ago I heard that the program had begun and went about getting myself in on the action

It wasn't extremely difficult, but it certainly wasn't a breeze either.

Here -- more or less -- is a recap of my experience...

- Learned on Overdrive.com that I would need a valid library card and would be borrowing through the regional library network of which my town is a member
- Discovered that my local library card had expired, but couldn't be renewed online
- Visited the library and told the librarian that I wanted to renew/reactivate my card so that I could borrow Kindle books.
- Asked for my current phone number by the librarian as she reactivated my card and updated my "account"
- Discovered, online back at home, that my regional library network needs my local library card/account to have an email address added to it
- Sent email to the local library asking them to add my email address to my card/account
- Found the following afternoon that I was able to register for electronic borrowing with my regional library network, although my local library never confirmed/acknowledged that my email address was added to my account
- Perused the slim offerings available from my regional library network on Overdrive.com... most of what's available is already out on loan or has one or more borrowers on a wait list
- Put myself on a wait list for Piecework by Pete Hamill

Fast forward to last week...

- Received email advising that my requested Kindle book was now available
- Followed link to my regional library network
- Sent to Amazon for the download part of the checkout process

My Current Recommendation/Bottom Line...

- Great concept that will become useful with some refinement of the Overdrive.com /regional library network/local library parts of the picture
- Selection of books will hopefully improve in the future. Though for now, a number of publishers are dragging their feet on making electronic library copies available
- There's no need to hurry in getting onboard with Kindle borrowing, unless you have the constitution to deal with a system/program that is not quite ready for prime time



This post was written on my TouchPad


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My Touchpad Today: Going by the (Online) Book

I enjoy doing posts that illustrate where the TouchPad, or for that matter any tablet-type device, can make something about your normal day/life legitimately a bit easier.  This is one of those posts...



Last week I finally got around to helping a friend setup and test an electronic device -- a turntable that converts vinyl LP's to CD's.

As part of my prep for the big event, a couple of nights beforehand I downloaded and read the manual for the unit on my TouchPad while sitting in the foodcourt of a local mall.

I then didn't give the downloaded manual a second thought until I was at the friend's house. In the course of giving him my overview spiel about the unit, I mentioned that I had crammed for the session a couple of nights earlier on my TP.

As we went through the setup, my buddy was carrying the ball and going through the steps in the paper manual, while I was sitting back and playing the role of the all-knowing consultant.

Inevitably, we hit some bumps in the road and it was kinda tough to work with the paper manual being passed back and forth. (Do I need to say any more? I think we've all been there numerous times. Products just don't come with two copies of the instruction manual.)

Then it hit me... My electronic copy of the manual was sitting in my TouchPad less than six inches from my left hand.

We still had some bumps in finishing the setup and testing, but from that point forward having a second copy of the manual available on the TouchPad smoothed out the process considerably.


This post was written on my TouchPad



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My TouchPad Today: Lotsa Links from The Friday Special

Lotsa Links from Today's The Friday Special



This post was written on my TouchPad


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