Palm Update 2  

Posted by Stephen Lowe in , , ,

So, a week and a half into my new Treo 755p and all is well. So far I have had zero phone issues. I had an issue with some software I installed but that was the softwares issue no the phones. The palm has been there when I needed it and I actually get better reception at my house with this unit. I'm guessing it will last about 6 months until something cooler comes out and I find a reason for someone else to inherit this one.

What the .....?  

Posted by Stephen Lowe

So I'm having a great fathers day, we dedicated my son at church, my parents came we all went out to eat at P.F. Chang's, we hang out at some friends pool all evening and then the phone rings. An employee had stopped by the office and discovered my truck had gotten broken into over night. So we pack up and scoot up to the office and it's bad. The grabbed my stereo, satellite radio, an old wakeboard and my fishing poles. The stuff, I'll miss but the real bummer is the sheer volume of glass that is now sprinkled over the entire interior of my vehicle. I spent 2 hours last night with the shop vac trying to get it all up and the big chunks are gone but there is still a sparkling powder covering every horizontal surface. I managed to embed a piece in my hand driving home and had to literally dig it out, fun! So now I'm paranoid about having my kid in there, I guess I need to take it and have it detailed and wiped down all over to remove the dust. I was just shocked that it happened at all. We leave cars at the office all the time and have never had an issue. On the bright side, My truck is probably cleaner than it's been in a while.

Palm Update  

Posted by Stephen Lowe in , , ,

After my first full day with my new Palm OS phone I am much happier. It's amazing to be able to pick up the phone and make a call without having to completely power cycle the device. The battery life seems to be better than the WM device and it's a smaller capacity battery. So far things are much better and my frustration level has gone down considerably.

When it comes to gadgets, maybe you can buy happiness.

Disruptive Feds  

Posted by Stephen Lowe

I got this news update on a story I've been following for a while regarding the Qualcomm, Broadcom patent battle. Apparently the US International Trade Commission as halted the import of new 3G cell phones that use Qualcomm chips. Uh oh, being in the cellular business this is not good news for me. Lets hope they get this issue straightened out quickly and this doesn't affect business. More info can be found here.

Time Out  

Posted by Stephen Lowe

I got put in time out last night by my 2 year old. I was barely able to keep a straight face the whole time. We were playing in the play room and I was throwing this big rubber ball up in the air and it landed on the train table making a loud noise. My wife kinda scolded me for setting a bad example and my son says "no throw ball on table". I said "yeah, dada was bad", he then said "dada bad, go time out there" and pointed to an empty spot on the wall. I didn't have a whole lot of choice, I went in time out and he came over a minute or to later and made me say I was sorry.

It's good to see that the whole concept has really sunk in with him. He gets it, I just gotta watch myself now, I was always the trouble maker growing up. Now I've got my wife and kid to keep me straight.

Goodbye Windows Mobile  

Posted by Stephen Lowe in , , ,

I dumped my Treo 700wx today. After weeks of problems, and a replacement unit that still wouldn't work, I was done. I'm a die hard Treo fan, I've had almot every model made, back to the monochrome flip top device and have always had great luck with them. The 700wx was not the first Windows Mobile device I've had, I had a PPC6700 before that but missed the keyboard on the front of the device. I never had a real issue with Palm OS but when we got Exchange running in house and found out about the integrated push technology via Over the Air Activesync I had to switch. Two devices later and now you can sync palm with the same technology over the air, it doesn't sync tasks but that is something I don't need instantly. So today I went to the Sprint store and picked up the new Treo 755p. Within minutes of changing my service over I had all of my contact, calendar events and email synced with the phone, wirelessly. So now I've got 30 days to try the phone and see if I really want to keep it, but so far I would definitely say yes. The phone itself seems much snappier and quicker to respond and hey, i haven't had to reboot it yet! The real test will be full on daily usage of the device, I hammer the phone and email all day, my cell is my primary phone. I am digging all of the software that came preinstalled on the device out of the box and I am excited about getting back into the palm world of 3rd party apps, the list is much larger than WM apps. I'll report back in a few days on the progress.

R. L. Graham Zulu-2 Holster Review  

Posted by Stephen Lowe

I finally received my new Zulu-2 Holster for my KelTec P3AT 380. I say finally because I ordered the holster on November 28 2006 and received it about 2 weeks ago (mid May). I understand custom holsters take some time and I went into the purchase knowing that but man, 6 months? Anyway, all complaints with delivery times aside, the holster is fantastic. The quality of craftsmanship is excellent, I expect this holster to last a really long time.



I spent a good deal of time looking for the perfect holster to use for daily concealed carry. I knew I wanted a pocket holster but most of the ones I looked at were either designed for the front or the back pocket, not both. The Zulu-2 combines the best of 3 worlds, front and rear pocket as well as belted carry.


The anti-print panel snaps onto the holster to help conceal the outline of the gun while in your back pocket and comes off to put the gun in your front pocket.


The back side of the anti print panel is rough finish to help grip the inside of your pocket making drawing the weapon easier.



These show the gun in the holster, it fits very snugly and the shape of the anti-print panel covers the edges of the gun perfectly. The holster wears excellent and is less obtrusive in my back pocket than my actual wallet. From the back it looks just like you have a wallet in your pocket. i have only used it in my front pocket once and it functioned perfectly there as well. The belt loop tabs stick out and give the holster a flat bottom to keep the gun verticle in you front pocket, no fumbling to get to it if needed. i have yet to actually carry on my belt but i have put it on to check it out. The way the loops are cut it gives the gun a natural forward "FBI Style" tilt making drawing the weapon easier as well as bringing the butt closer to your body for added concealment.

All in all, I would highly recommend this holster if you are looking for pocketed carry with the option to carry belted. The quality is excellent and the price is very reasonable. Visit http://www.palehorseholsters.com for the full line of R. L. Graham leather products.

Tool Concert  

Posted by Stephen Lowe

I went to the Tool concert at Gwinnett Arena last night. Unbeleivable, thats the only thing I can say. Musically, this was the best concert I have ever been to. I've seen a lot of shows that have had better stage shows but no one can compare to the musical talent of this band. I go to concerts quite frequently and I have never seen or heard a performance like that before in a live setting. I literally felt like I was in the recording studio with 15000 other people. The sound was incredible and the band was so tight playing together. I've been a long time fan of the band and seeing them pull off the music in a live setting so cleanly and true to the original album was just amazing. I love the fact that these guys know what they do well and they just do it. The lead singer came out and said hello Georgia, then they jammed for 2 hours, took a bow and left. It was perfect. I hate when musicians try to use the stage to spew their political and social beliefs on a large crowd, I pay to hear the music not your ranting. Hats off to the sound guys at the arena but they need to work on the traffic control. The show sold out in 3 minutes and that was the most people I have ever seen at that arena. I sat in the parking lot after the show for an hour before we even moved. Considering it's on Sugarloaf Pkwy and 1/4 mile from I85 there shouldn't be this kind of problem getting people out of there. I can't complain though, I would sit in traffic for hours to see these guys play again!

D5 Conference and Google's World Domination  

Posted by Stephen Lowe

I guess normal people out there are probably not following the D5 conference very closely but for those who are or who are interested in technology and the future of it, check out the site Here. Some of the best things I've seen from there so far are the hour and a half interview with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates sitting side by side on stage, really cool to see these two interact with each other as they were asked questions, check it out Here. Also the video intro done by Steven Colbert for Viacom President, Philippe Dauman was hysterical. There was definitely some jabbing going back and forth between Google CEO, Eric Schmidt and Dauman from Viacom. You can tell they have a business relationship but there is some bad blood there.

On the Google front, they announced yesterday their new app called Google Gears, which is being downplayed by Google and a lot of other bloggers in my mind. Everybody is writing about being able to view their Google reader feeds after syncing their browser from anywhere when not connected. I second that but people are missing the big picture. If you watch the Jobs Gates interview mentioned above, they both comment on connecting the "rich" devices with the cloud and how we are not there yet, how we need full blown PC's to do editing of documents and such because to use web apps you have to have a connection. Well no more, Google has taken that notion and thrown it out the window, these guys are always playing catchup to Google. The Google announcement clearly states Gears works with Google Apps which is the doc and spreadsheet programs and I'm guessing their forthcoming presentation software as well. Now you can use Google apps from 30000 feet with no internet connection and just sync your data later. This should be a huge warning light for Microsoft as this has been one of the biggest hurdles in my mind of exclusively using the service. I told one of my business partners over 5 years ago that Google was going to take over the world, every time I turn around they are bringing a new product to market that sets them above everyone else in the market place.

I just love getting geeked out by tech stuff, so many cool new devices and technologies are starting to turn up it's hard to stay on top of them all. What a cool age to live in!

About Me

My name is Stephen Lowe. I'm a Christ follower, Husband, Father, Technologophile and Metalhead. This is where I dump my observations and opinions on whatever strikes me as noteworthy. Enjoy, discuss, disagree, I'm cool with whatever.

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