Christian’s Blog

My main source of cardio-vascular exercise is road biking. I love mountain biking, but living in Minnesota leaves much to be desired when it comes to MTB. An important part of CV workouts is tracking your progress. For this I have a Shimano Flight Deck system. Although this is awesome to track speed time, distance, etc. while I ride, it lacks in storing and tracking the data capabilities; I also cant see my ride on a map. For this I use Endomondo. Endomondo takes the workout tracking and implements some social networking features. Specifically, you can use the Endomondo software on virtually any mobile device to track your distance, speed  & time. At the end of your workout the data is automatically uploaded to your Endomondo account, where you can view all important data and map the ride or run:

You can also ‘friend’ people so that you are notified of their workout and progress:

I like the social aspect of the service, and the fact that its free. importantly, its available on *every* kind of mobile device. With the Blackberry its set it and forget it. When I start my ride I enable it, when the ride over I turn it off.

If you want to track your rides and share with other or challenge others, Endomondo is an awesome service. If you join, send me an invite.

The Subaru Impreza WRX is one of the most affordable performance cars available. The STi version is stepped up even further with 305 hp flat 4, 2.5 liter turbo charged engine – standard . in 2010 Subaru release the Special Edition STi which has the same engine, and a highly turned Nurburgering suspension ripped from the JDM Spec C model.

Until last Friday I had a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Now I have the special edition. I am a happy boy. Morries Subaru did a great job putting together a deal.

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Last night I checked to see if the Office Web Apps were live. They were not. This evening I went to my SkyDrive and saw a *brand new* interface and all Web Apps live. See below. Hotmail is not yet updated … waiting.

If there is a video that sums me up, let it be this:

I am in New York this weekend preparing for the public lauch of WestlawNext – the groundbreaking legal research search application from West. While here I had the distinct pleasure of visiting Alexander Hamilton’s grave. Hamilton is my favorite founding father so this was a warm moment for me. I also added a few shots of a WestlawNext ad in Time Square.

This is the most snow in one night I have seen since the blizzard in St. Louis in 1982. Merry Christmas!

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WOW. Get this now! Windows 7 Family Pack (3 licenses) for $2.00 from an Amazon seller! HERE

Granted this is from a new seller, Amazon is reputable and it’s only $2.00. I ordered it today; I’ll let you know if any problems occur. $2.00 for three licenses of Win 7 raises many questions indeed. I trust Amazon, so I’m willing to take the risk.

Update: Looks like amazon took the item down … I have received an order confirmation, but no cancellation of order notice. the item is no longer in my order history and the storefront for the seller Kelvin N. Shaw has been taken down. Boo on you if you reported this seller, unless he’s violationg Amazon’s TOS, then yay on you.

There was quite a buzz last week from Google, they released the source code for their foray into the Operating System market: Chrome OS. As readers may know, I have a Dell Mini 9. I have installed Windows 7 and Moblin and Ubuntu. All are easy to install and take up various amounts of hard disk space with Win7 taking up 90% of the 6Gb SSD. So when I heard Google was going to come out with an OS that is designed specifically for netbooks I was interested. Google makes some very nice software. I think that they collect way to much user data, however, they are a marketing company.

So when Google released their “pre” beta, I jumped at the chance. gdgt, a burgeoning gadget site with no discernable revenue model, put a compiled version of the source code up for download. I downloaded here. To use this “pre” beta you have to run it in a virtual machine. I tried to get it working in VMWare and failed, so I used Virtual Box. Virtual box is easier to download and dead easy to set up.

I set this up on my Gateway NV-52. AMD Proc, 4Gb RAM ATi Radeon3200 HD. Here is how you do it

Download Chrome from gdgt here, extract to an easy to access folder. You are going to have to point to this later. Then download and install Virtual box Virtual Box. Open the app and select ‘new’

Don’t read the message, just click ‘next’. You will then be asked to name your OS and identify what kind of OS. I chose the innovative ‘ChromeOS’. For type I select “Linux” and “Other Linux” for Version

Then click ‘next’. the next screen will ask you to select a memory size. I chose the completely arbitrary amount of 512 MB.

Click ‘next’. Here is an important part. for hard disk, select ‘use existing hard disk’ Browse to where you expanded your Chrome OS download.

Click ‘next’. You are pretty much done. If you have the ability to follow directions, you should see a screen eerily similar to the one below.

Click ‘finish’. You should see this screen. the next part is very important if you want to browse the internets from Chrome OS! Click the ‘Settings’ icon and then select ‘Network’. For Adapter 1, change the ‘Attached to’ selection to ‘Bridged Adapter’ then in ‘Name’ select the adapter you computer is connecting with.

click ok. You are ready to run Chrome! Click the Green ‘Start’ icon and get ready for the most underwhelming OS beta you have ever used!

So here is Chrome running in my Win7 environment using virtual box. What you see below is the start panel – its the only new screen you will see in the OS.

I was amazingly underwhelmed by ChromeOS. Specifically, all this it represents is an OS that boots to a dedicated browser. wow. Further, you can access dedicated Google Applications. wow. Other applications are bookmarks to an URL. so the calculator is an internet based app. I admit that I think this is precisely where the OS is headed. There is simply no reason to have installed application for a home based personal PC (productivity PCs are a different story).

Regardless, there is really nothing to see, do or test in the ChomeOS beta. its basically Chrome browser booting from firmware. This begs the question … what is GOOG going to do with this … thing? Its just a Linux build? Will it get Ubuntu or Win7 off netbooks? Will developers go for it because its cheap? Who knows, apart from brand loyalty and Win hatred, there has to be some compelling reason to use this. Will GOOG make it somehow easier to access your google data? GOOG has some amazing developers so only time will tell

Microsoft has been manufacturing (or licensing the manufacture of) keyboard, mice and other quality peripherals for quite sometime. I use the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000 at work. Its an oldie, but a solid keyboard. Only downside is that its USB and not wireless. Enter … the Wireless Comfort 5000 Keyboard

It comes with the bluetrack mouse, however, I use the Habu Laser Mouse (OMG what an awesome mouse) so that’s a backup. The keyboard, however is absolutely great. As always there are programmable keys you will never use, but the media controls are convenient. Although the keys are light, there is a nice ‘clack’ when typing. the palm rest is not just a soft surface, there is a nice diamond pattern that allows your palm to grip it for intense typing sessions!

I cant really speak to its gaming capabilities. Although it is not built specifically for gaming, there is nothing about the keyboard that would make me think it would suffer in a gaming session.

All said, this is a quality keyboard.

I got a Gateway NV-52 recently and so far I am very happy with it. I am typically a fan of Dell. Its not that they make the most compelling computers – although they do have a wide variety to choose from – its that their warranty is so compelling. I have an DELL XPS 420 which I love, an older Inspiron, 1525 for my wife, 1501 for my daughter, a Dimension E521 for my son and a Mini-9 for me for travel and fun. All computers are great and run very well. Recently, however, I wanted a larger more powerful laptop than my paltry Mini-9. So I shopped for a laptop with a 15” display dual core, 3-4Gb RAM.

Dell has a reasonable machine in this space, but my eye was captured by the Gateway NV52. It has a large comfortable keyboard with a full sized number pad and a gorgeous display. I am going to use it mostly for hobbyist stuff and moderate gaming so that dual-core AMD Turion at 2.17 Ghz is acceptable – plus its nice to have an AMD proc back in my hands.

The laptop came with Windows 7 Home Premium a fine OS selection. Above the keyboard is a touch sensitive area to enable wireless, mouse pad gestures, file copy, and volume. Laptops now-a-days all have these kind of buttons. I don’t get it .. why they need to be touch sensitive, but oh well.

The audio is some Dolby thing that is supposed to be good, but its a frakking $500 laptop – I don’t expect to have awesome audio. Regardless, the sound is strong.

Performance wise its a performer. I have ripped a few DVDs without being concerned about the speed of the DVD multi-drive. I can run SimCity and Command & Conquer just fine. I don’t think I will ever run a FPS on this machine.

I’d love to expand to 8Gb of Ram but at half the price of the laptop … Ill live with 4Gb.

My only concern is warranty. I hope to have this PC is solid shape for about 3 years. My Dells last that long without a problem. So far this thing runs like a champ but what I hear about Gateway warranty mildly scares me.