Just discovered the hard way that the Sprint Samsung A920 phone doesn’t charge over USB when being used as an EVDO modem. Our fancy mobile hotspot went down at about 1:00 because my phone died. The folks across the way at the Sprint booth didn’t have a spare charger (which wouldn’t have mattered, since it uses the same port on the bottom to sync and charge - can’t do both at the same time).
Time for plan B.
I put my Samsung i730 with Verizon EVDO in USB Modem mode, hooked it up, and we were back on the air. Getting better speeds on Verizon, too (~200Kbps on Sprint vs. ~450Kbps on Verizon). And Paul Colligan confirms that the little Boxwave miniSync cable I’m using charges over USB. So we should be good to go for the rest of the event. Woo hoo! 
Then, after trying to make sharing via WiFi work on my Tablet PC and failing, we hooked up an ethernet cable to the iMac next to me, and are using the Mac’s Internet Sharing capability to share out the connection.
The result? A free open WiFi hotspot for people at Podcast on the Floor to use, without having to pay $12.95 for access. It’s a shared connection, and only about 300Kbps, but it’s working great so far.
Arrived here at the convention center. WiFi is $12.95 a day, so I hooked up my Sprint Ambassador phone with it’s EVDO connection as a modem, and got online that way. Then we hooked up the iMac next door, and are sharing the connection out (couldn’t figure out how to share via the wireless on my Tablet PC).
Instant free mobile WiFi hotspot.
Did a workshop first thing with John Anthony Hartman on producing a podcast from scratch, then sat on a panel on the Business of Podcasting, representing podcasting at Intel, and how podcasting is happening in the corporate world. Both were great, and we recorded the audio, which will be released later (I’m guessing at podcastonthefloor.com), so I’ll definitely point to those when they’re up.
Off to find something for lunch, then more workshops in the afternoon.
A few days ago, when I posted about turning off FeedBurner ads, I wasn’t very worried about it. It was more an experiment to get familiar with their tools than anything. But Rick Klau, VP of Business Development, contacted me not once but twice via email, and also left a comment on my post, to let me know that I had uncovered a bug in their reporting process that was incorrectly reporting my ad revenue as $0.
So, even though I never contacted them, they:
- Watch the blogosphere for mentions of their company
- Respond rapidly and personally to customer issues
- Followed up to let me know that they fixed the problem
That, my friends, is how to do support in the new conversation-connected world.
Thanks, Rick, for the help - I’ve turned FeedBurner ads back on for now, to give them a run, and see how they do. I won’t be retiring off of the revenue any time soon, but at least it’s non-zero, showing me that it’s working. I’ll keep you updated, and even though I don’t drink, we’ll definitely have to hook up at Gnomedex.
I’ll be participating at the Podcast on the Floor part of the InnoTech conference at the Oregon Convention Center in downtown Portland tomorrow (4/19) and Thursday (4/20). I’ll be presenting a workshop on “Building at Audio Podcast from Scratch” with John Anthony Hartman at 9:30 AM on 4/19, and participating in the “Is Podcasting for Real?” panel with organizer Alex Williams and other podcasting luminaries at 2:45 PM on 4/19. I’ll also be hanging out both days at the “Tech Lounge”, doing equipment demos, showing off gadgets, answering questions, and generally schmoozing with attendees.
Come by and see me if you’re in Portland! You can get free tickets to the conference! There’s also going to be a Podcast Hotel party at the Jupiter Hotel Thursday night, and good times are guaranteed. Come check it out!
Oh, and just because I’m a geek, I created a Google Calendar for the Podcast on the Floor workshops and events. You can subscribe to the iCal feed if you know what that is, and you are so inclined.
Thanks to Alex Williams for inviting me to participate. See you there!
Jason pointed out to me, in email, that my Feedburner-powered feed (http://feeds.feedburner.com/TinyScreenfuls) hasn’t been updating for a few days (since April 12).
I hit the feed in my browser, and sure enough, he was right. Why is that weird? I’m subscribed to my own feed in Bloglines, and it’s been updating normally - stuff I posted yesterday and today was showing up.
Anyway, I resynced my feed at Feedburner, and it appears to be updating normally now. Not sure if there was some time warp glitch at Feedburner that threw my feed into last week, or what.
All should be well, now. Let me know if you’re seeing otherwise.
Well, what do you know. My previous post about using my Microsoft Bluetooth Keyboard and Mouse on my Mac mini led me to see if Microsoft’s Intellipoint software, for programming all the extra buttons, etc., exists for Mac.
Lo and behold, it does.
Installing now. Kind of weird that the download comes from apple.com, and not microsoft.com, but oh well. Seems official enough to me - the “post date” is March 14, 2006 - about a month ago, so it seems this is a recent revision. I’ll report on how it goes.
The volume up/down and mute buttons on the keyboard work, as do all of the Function keys. The “Sleep” button brings up a dialog prompting to Restart, Sleep, Cancel, or Shut Down. All the other fancy buttons, though, such as Favorites, Media, Mail, etc. don’t work (to be expected, since Microsoft’s Intellipoint software controls these on Windows). The scroll wheel on the keyboard works, which was a pleasant surprise. I also learned how the “Windows” key behaves on a Mac - it acts like the Apple/Command key on an Apple keyboard. Alt and Ctrl both do the same thing you’d expect them to.
The Bluetooth Intellimouse Explorer works as expected, too. The scroll wheel works, and when I click the scroll wheel, it brings up Dashboard, just like on the Mighty Mouse. The side button (”Back” in WIndows”) activates Exposé, just like the squeeze side buttons on the Mightly Mouse. There’s a fifth button on the side of the Intellimouse Explorer that the Mac doesn’t seem to be able to use (it was “forward” under Windows), which is kind of a bummer, but again understandable, since it’s the Microsoft Intellipoint software that handles all those fancy functions under WIndows.
What did I do with my Apple keyboard and Mighty Mouse? Why, hooked them up to my Tablet PC, of course.
It’s a topsy turvy Mac/Windows mashup in Josh Bancroft land, folks.
I just deactivated FeedBurner’s ads in my site feed. The experiment was successful - I discovered whether or not their ad service performed well. It did not. A couple hundred impressions, 3 clicks, and exactly $0 in revenue.
I don’t know what kind of feed would perform better with their ad service, but if you’re a blogger, it’s probably not worth your while.
Thanks for being patient with me.
TinyScreenfuls Feed (this blog)
