Raible Designs

New Phone - BlackBerry Pearl

Yesterday I picked up a new phone - a BlackBerry Pearl. The main reason I got it is because I couldn't get my e-mail with my old phone. It seemed like I was tethered to my computer all the time when I was waiting for an important e-mail. Now I feel free. Not only does it works great as a Bluetooth Modem, but it also supports browsing the internet and all of Google's Mobile apps (GMail, Google Talk and Google Maps). Even cooler - when you add a bookmark to a page that has an RSS feed, it detects that and allows you to add a "Web Feed" or a Bookmark. When I added this site as a web feed, it prompted me for Atom Entries/Comments or RSS Entries/Comments. It also allows you to auto-synchronize with your bookmarks or feeds. In other words, it has a built in feed aggregator. With a $20 unlimited data plan from T-Mobile, I love this phone!

The BlackBerry Pearl doesn't work with iSync, but PocketMac seems to do the trick. Unfortunately, PocketMac makes you synchronize with a USB cord whereas iSync uses Bluetooth. The Missing Sync for BlackBerry may solve this problem, but with everything else being free, I don't know if it's worth shelling out $40 so I don't have to plug in.

Some of you may ask, "Why didn't you just get a smart phone with EVDO built in?" The reason I didn't do this is I had a Verizon EVDO card. We were up in Steamboat for a week in January and it absolutely sucked. I worked for 3 days while were were up there (8-12 hours per day) and it was way too slow for me. The average speeds where 120KB/sec and I can easily get those with the Bluetooth Modem on the BlackBerry. Also, I don't want a fully-functional mini-computer for a phone, I just want it for basic calling functionality and the ability to check my e-mail.

What about the iPhone? I'm sure this phone will kick ass, but the fact that it won't support J2ME means that Google's apps won't work. Of course, they'll probably create widgets that'll work on the iPhone, so that argument may be invalid in a few months. The biggest reason I don't like the idea of having an iPhone is one thing - Cingular. I had AT&T as my carrier for a couple years and their customer service was beyond awful. Whenever I would call them for help, it'd take anywhere from 15-45 minutes before I talked to anyone. Today, when I called T-Mobile to get my BlackBerry Internet service setup, they told me the wait would be 6 minutes and they'd call me back when it was my turn. I was very impressed. I hope more phone systems start using a "call me back" feature instead of the current "wait on hold for X minutes" debacle.

So I'm very happy with my new phone and anxious to use it in my travels next week. Where am I going? I signed a contract with a company out in Massachusetts to help them architect and implement a Java-based web infrastructure across all their projects. The initial scope is estimated to be 2-3 months. I'll be flying out to Boston periodically, but most of the time I'll be working from home. I had a number of very interesting full-time opportunities, but the gig I'm taking seemed to be the most interesting technically. With any luck, I'll make it to the New England JUG on Thursday night to hear Mark Fisher's talk on Message-Driven POJOs.

Update: I just found NewsGator Go! for J2ME. I use NetNewsWire on my Mac and FeedDemon on Windows, so it's great to see I can subscribe to my existing feeds on my phone. Thanks NewsGator!

Bus Ball

A reader sent me an e-mail about ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons' Bus Ball. His suggestions was if I don't get my bus fixed, I should turn it into one of these. Looks like motion sickness waiting to happen. I'm sure the kids would love it though.

AppFuse Book!

David Whitehurst (an AppFuse committer) has taken on the task of writing a book on AppFuse 2.0. I don't envy him, but it looks like he's got a lot of good ideas.

If you'd like to help David shape AppFuse Primer, please post a comment on his blog.

Roller as a Photoblog

Discovered on the roller-dev mailing list from Richard Jones:

For the last 6 months I've been turning Roller into photoblogging platform - you can see the most up-to-date version @ www.pixyblog.com.

I really like what Richard has done with Roller - especially this entry.

In job-hunting news, the market seems to be pretty hot in Denver right now. While I haven't accepted any offers, I have been replying to 4-5 inquiries per day, as well as shooting out 2-3 resumes per day. I had a couple interviews yesterday and another one this afternoon.

The most intriguing interview so far has been with Sun. I'm jazzed about it because of the work opportunities there, but I'm not-so-jazzed because 1) it's a full-time position (which typically pay a lot less than contracting and 2) it's working for a big company. That being said, it does seem that Sun is really turning things around and it's probably an exciting time to work there.

For those folks out there that have worked for Sun - what's it like? Is it a good place to work these days? Would you recommend it for a passionate open source developer like myself that likes to make contractor rates and take lots of vacation?

Bandwidth Speed Issues

In the last few days, I started to notice a huge slowdown on my MacBook Pro when surfing the net. At first, it seemed to be a Firefox-hogging-a-shitload-of-memory issue. So I started using Safari instead. After a few hours of using Safari, the problem came back and pages were taking 5-6 seconds to load. I have a Cable (Comcast) modem, so I didn't suspect any bandwidth issues.

Last night, I got tired of waiting and decided to do some further investigation. I started off by running several bandwidth speed tests. All of them reported similar statistics: download speeds of under 300K/sec. I called Comcast, they ran some tests and determined that there were no package loss issues between my modem and their facilities.

Since I moved my modem downstairs last year, I tried moving it upstairs. Same result. I tried plugging it directly into my desktop and voila! - 3MB/sec. I have 2 NetGear routers setup (one for each laptop since my MacBook Pro's wireless abilities suck) and it seems like they are the source of the problem. Do routers go bad like this?

I'm considering buying an Airport Extreme to solve all my Mac-related wireless issues. Unfortunately, it only has 3 ethernet ports and I'd prefer a lot more.

java.blogs - nice crippling update

I like how java.blogs updated their site the night before last. The changes seem to be cosmetic for the most part, with a cleaner look n' feel and some language features as well. Seeing these updates is good, and based on the update last week (where they forgot to find.replace ${community.name} with "java.blogs"), it looks like Atlassian might be releasing the software behind java.blogs.

However, there's one thing they screwed up in their most recent update: the software ceases to function.

Ever since they updated, no new feed entries have shown up on the first page. You can tell because the last entries added are experiencing record hit numbers. WTF Atlassian? Did you update the software and forget to test that it works?

In reality, I can't be too upset. This lack of updates is boosting my productivity.

Abbie can ski all by herself!

We've had a great ski season so far. I think I've skied more this year than the last 2 years combined. The best part is after a few days in Steamboat for Christmas and another long weekend, Abbie can ski all by herself! I'll admit, she did have a 1/2 day lesson, but I don't think she learned much there. Most of her learning occurred with Julie on the bunny slope. "Pizza" and "French Fries" where the encouraging words of the day.

By the time we left last week, Abbie was able to do the Magic Carpet runs all by herself. For those that don't know, the Magic Carpet is a flat escalator that hauls kids up the mountain. It's smaller than a bunny slope, but challenging for those that've never skied before. Jack is unlikely to ski by himself this year, but he's doing a lot better than the first time I took him. He'll actually stand on his own now instead of doing the "wet noodle" thing when I touch him. Click on the pictures below to see Abbie tearing up the bunny slope.

Abbie and Julie were going to head up to Keystone for some skiing today, but it's dumping right now and they didn't feel like dealing with the nasty roads and traffic. With my new found freedom, I hope to get some good powder days in before I start my next gig.

Let's Go DU!

While I'm a big fan of DU Hockey, I don't know many players names and I rarely know their exact ranking. That all changed when I found the Let's Go DU blog a couple weeks ago.

Last night, I had a great sports-infested evening. A couple of friends and I started by watching DU shutting out the Gophers (the #1 team in the nation) at Braun's in downtown Denver. From there, we went to the Nuggets game and watched them walk all over Labron and the Cavaliers.

There's another DU game at 4:30 today and some excellent football tomorrow. Seems like a good way to get through a cold Denver weekend.

The Adventure is Over

After 1 year and 7 months, the big adventure is over. It was a great ride with lots of really cool people. As of Tuesday, operations at Virtuas have ceased to exist and everyone was let go. It's not a big surprise - most of us knew it was coming. I won't go into the details of why it was shutdown because I don't think it's that important. Suffice to say, it was a great job and I really enjoyed working with the folks I did.

So what does this mean for me? What's next?

I hope to go back to doing independent consulting like I was before Virtuas. When I was doing my own thing, I never had to travel, earned good rates and enjoyed 40-hour work weeks. That sounds pretty nice after the once-a-month traveling I was doing.

What does this mean for AppFuse 2.0? I hope the release schedule won't change, but it might. I was hoping to get a fair bit done this week, but it's been nuts with the shutting down festivities and the "moving out" drama. With any luck, I'll get a gig soon and I can concentrate on AppFuse development (and relaxing) until my start date.

If you're looking to hire an enthusiastic Web + Java Developer, please take a look at my resume or send me an e-mail.

Broken PowerBook Display

This past week, Julie accidentally dropped her PowerBook (my old 17" G4) and broke the display. 1/4 of the screen still works, but the rest looks like a digitally shattered window. There doesn't appear to be any physical damage to the exterior. The laptop is definitely out of warranty, so I'll probably take it down to The Mac Outlet and see if I can get it fixed. Has anyone experienced a similar situation? If so, how much was it to get repaired?