wwward.expressions

Livescribe Pulse Warranty Replacement - Good Experience

After about four months of heavy use, my Livescribe Pulse pen's power switch failed. I was able to work around the problem by docking the pen to power it, and then leaving the pen on all day.  The idle power down feature is sufficiently long that I could get away with starting it just once in the morning.

I called the Livescribe customer service line and spoke to someone who quickly agreed to ship a replacement without first requiring the old unit.  I continued to use the original until I could remove its data.

The customer service experience has been pleasant so far (I also had replacement earphones sent out in July due to a bad microphone.)  Hopefully the firm will continue to maintain this service level.

Alien Bees B400 Strobes and other new photography toys

Bought some Alien Bees D400 Strobes recently - in a kit form.  Two of the strobes, two umbrellas, two stands.  $600 or so with all the tax, shipping and whatnot.

Paul C. Buff makes these things.  They're pretty straightforward.  I'm no professional, but if you're a hobbyist they're reasonably priced and certainly add a considerable amount of flexibility to your range of strobe photography.  Go buy some (if you feel up to it) at Alien Bees.  Of course, then you'll have a house full of equipment - and you'll want to buy a background with something to hang it from.  I bought a simple black and a simple white background and a bit of kit to hold it up with.  Hopefully the fiancee will permit me to post some of her better pictures when she's up for it.

I recently bought a Sekonic flash meter, the L-358 model.  I should have invested in a standalone meter ages ago.  Again, as a hobbyist, I'm not going to provide a lot of useful information comparing this product to others - but it works reasonably well for what I need, and as far as build quality and general usability go - it certainly gets the work done.

Finally, I have a folding reflector - gold, silver, white.  Something else you'll forget to pack when you go to the park - but if you manage to remember it, you'll take much better photos of someone than without.  Using this to fill in the short side of the face in a portrait is great, rather than relying entirely on the environmental reflection or shooting a flat-face shot.  An on-camera fill flash can only do so much and mostly results in a shiny forehead if the internal metering is not good.

I find that I enjoy portrait photography a great deal.  Of course - why not?  You get to take flattering photos of your special other!  Naturally!  As I get better I expect I'll enjoy shooting photos of just about anyone foolish to sit there long enough, if only because the combination of technique and pose are interesting puzzles to work out, and giving someone a nicely done photo of themselves is a great gift.

You may be thinking that this is horrific overkill for a hobby, and you're right.

Livescribe Pulse - A month and a half of use later...

I've been using the Livescribe Pulse for about a month and a half (My first post on the topic was May 15th.)

The pen is holding up very well.  The most surprising thing about the pen is that, despite extensive - DAILY - use, I have over 1.2GB free space.  Obviously pen strokes don't consume very much data, and I don't record every meeting I attend, but I do have a large amount of audio on the device.

The written recording is extremely reliable - whether you're writing at unusual angles or without much pressure.  I find that the pen's camera is tolerant of sloppy use, quick jotting, or even writing at the edge of the page.  Anoto's technology is very refined, and seems to be able to cope with just about anything in typical use.

The battery life is fairly reasonable - I think I've gone about 3 days without charging the unit so far - definitely more than two.  As with all devices, the battery life indicator tends to surprise you by jumping from "mostly full" to "just about empty" without much time in-between.  You won't need to charge this pen nightly, however - and I don't.  When I get to work, I turn on the pen.  Throughout the day I leave the pen running - and this constant usage does not cause me problems.  I prefer to leave the pen on as I sporadically write notes as they come to mind.  When I'm not using the pen, it rests on top of the keyboard function keys.

Ink lifetime is reasonable.  At present, I have filled up about 320 pages across three notebooks and only just this past week run out the first ink cartridge.  I have one more before I order the $6 replacement pack.

Audio recording is outstanding - especially when using the headphone-mounted microphones, but surprisingly when using the internal microphones.  In an auditorium, I used the pen microphones to record a departmental meeting along with my own notes.  I tend to take notes to summarize the key points as I understand them, but with the Pulse, I also tend to use written words as audio bookmarks.  The audio from the auditorium was clear even during audience questioning.  During smaller conferences where I might be recording a meeting, the audio is even better.

I tend to record most of my telephone conference calls, in part because I find having the recordings to be invaluable when reviewing any obligations I may have made or if I'm responsible for delivering the meeting minutes.  Fortunately I live in a one-party state, where I do not need to notify the other party of audio recordings.  People will differ on their comfort level with recording calls and meetings, but I'm very comfortable bringing my "surrogate memory" to the table - it helps a great deal in delivering better results on meetings and capturing important details during discussions.  I do not tend to record very informal meetings, one on one discussions, and meetings where I don't see any value in consuming the storage space - in these cases, simply having a digital copy of the notes works well enough.

Another use for the audio recording has helped me with recalling phone calls to call centers.  I routinely record calls to a telephone call center to capture the name of the agent and any obligations that I may have made or received by the service provider.  This is especially useful when making follow-up calls where you need to reference something said by the previous agent.

I don't use the online service at all.  The material I store is not suitable for insecure sharing - much of it is not for public use, and in many cases due care would prevent me from uploading it to a third-party website.  At the moment the data is stored on the pen and on my home PC - and I would prefer to be able to share the data selectively using standalone files.

I tend to carry the "Moleskine-like" journal around the most.  You can use the velcro flap on the pen case to clip the pen to the journal elastic.  This looks professional and travels well between the myriad floors in my building.  Going forward, I will probably invest more in journals than in the spiral bound notebooks.  Since I tend to fill a notebook before moving on to the next, I don't see a limitation in the two-book series of journals.  I will simply "archive" my spent journal and open a fresh one.  (In my previous post on the topic, I explained how Livescribe's paper products were serialized - using two notebooks with the same series type would result in overwritten notes as the pen uses the series to differentiate between different notebooks.)

One tip: it appears that if you hold the power button down continuously for about 20 seconds, it will kick the pen into audio record mode.  This is handy if you need to start recording something unexpectedly and don't have the paper or storage case nearby.  This is something you'd rarely use, but if one of your coworkers begins harassing you in the hallway, perhaps having a recording to back up your HR claim would be useful. :)  We live in a surveillance society - we've accepted it (I don't like it,) - we may as well equip ourselves for the same reasons.

Things to wait or watch out for:
The Mac version - I need this more than I need any other feature.  I do not tend to use my Windows PC for data applications such as this, I tend to aggregate my information on my Macintosh.  I usually use a Remote Desktop session to access pen data on the PC, but would prefer to leave it on my Mac.  Bonus points to Livescribe if they can make the searchable notes integrate with Apple's Spotlight search engine.

Exporting data as PDF or machine-readable ASCII files.  Searching my notes is great - now give me that data so I can use it for something else!  I know you brought it with you, Livescribe - don't hold out on me.

Conclusion:
The Pulse Smartpen is an excellent purchase.  For $200, you acquire a very handy "surrogate memory" that not only travels exceptionally well, but works unobtrusively.  It does not scream for constant battery charging, and it is so reliable that I do not fret about whether or not it is operating properly.  I simply turn it on - a five second operation, and start writing.  I don't worry about volume levels in recording, and I don't worry about running out of memory.  Even if Livescribe never releases the enhanced features they claim to be working on - the base set of operations is very impressive and works exceptionally well for the busy knowledge worker.

Quick Post: Problems finding PPP/modem on Nokia n95 with Mac OS X

If you're having trouble getting the Nokia n95 to work with your Mac OS X machine, despite it working in the past, and you're seeing "5/27/08 2:22:30 PM Bluetooth Setup Assistant[239] WARNING: no Bluetooth-PPP interface found" when you run the Bluetooth Setup Wizard, then you may be experiencing the same issue that I just finished wrestling with here.

For reasons that aren't clear to me yet, the PPP service name on the Nokia device changed, aparently, as it was presented on Mac OS X. Try opening the "Edit Serial Ports" menu under the device properties icon (the gear under the device tree in Bluetooth preferences) and look for "-Dial-UpNetwork-<#>". Check the Port Settings underneath and ensure that the Protocol = Modem and that the checkbox for "Show in Network Preferences" is checked. Afterward, go into Networking, and configure the device. The btname and the # will likely be consistent with the Bluetooth name of the device and the number 2.

I know I left a lot out, but I'm not in a position to write more at this time. Most of the folks having issues like this will have the other details (such as configuring GPRS connection properties for their provider,) but won't know that the disconnect is in the serial port.

The symptom of this particular problem is a greyed out network properties panel in the Bluetooth Setup Assistant, and errors in the System Log referring to a missing Bluetooth-Modem and missing Bluetooth-PPP.

I searched high and low but did not find this posted elsewhere.

UPDATE: The added serial port item on the Nokia disappears periodically on reboot with the Mac, leading me to believe there is a stale entry in the configd component's registry/database. I've been short on time this week to work on the issue - so manually re-adding the serial port on the Mac is a workaround until I can crack open the documentation on configd or related components to identify the stale entry. Key notes - the serial port *must* match the name of the Networking profile as I mentioned above, or Networking won't associate the device to the profile on connection, failing with a device not found error.

The general dial-up networking connection fields for AT&T Wireless should be:
(On Mac OS X Leopard) Under Advanced: Nokia, 3G, APN = wap.cingular
Phone number = *99#
Username = WAP@CINGULARGPRS.COM
Password = CINGULAR1

Livescribe Pulse Smartpen - Screencast

Enjoy this 2 minute overview of the Livescribe that I recorded last night.  This should give you a good idea of what the device is about.  I'm fairly excited by it, as I prefer to keep my notes handwritten.  Read my earlier blog post for more detail about the pen, what it can do, what it can't do, and where things appear to be headed.

New Phone Numbers: May 1st, 2008

Please note that my telephone numbers have changed as of May 1st, 2008.
If you've had trouble getting in touch with me, drop me a line via this blog and we'll connect.

Livescribe Pulse Smartpen - Arrived.

My Livescribe Pulse smartpen has arrived!  The Pulse is notable for recording both what you write on paper, and the ambient audio at the time of writing.  It links these two streams of data together so that you may recall the audio at the point of writing by clicking on a word or scribble on the page.  The software does much more, however.

This little gem is a marvel of miniaturization, with not only a camera embedded in the tip, but also a tiny organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, a speaker, and microphone.  The unit is about the size of a cigar, but is very lightweight.  Included are headphones with stereo microphones attached for a stereoscopic recording experience, and a complex slipcase to keep it together.  The pen is only supported on Windows XP or Windows Vista at this time - although Livescribe mentions on their forums that native Mac OS X software will be released later this year.

To use the pen, you'll need the Livescribe "dotted" notebook.  These notebooks cost about $5 (USD) ordered directly from Livescribe and include 100 sheets of paper.  Each page is double-sided, and each page is uniquely coded within the Livescribe "paper universe" which permits the Pulse to identify exactly where it is in the notebook and can uniquely identify each notebook from another.  The "universe" is not absolutely unique however, as the patterns are duplicated within a serialized notebook scheme - if you buy two "#1" notebooks, for example, you'll end up with duplication.  There is an "Archive" feature in the Pulse software which permits you to separate duplicate notebooks by locking the content in the older notebook.

When recording with the pen, you can optionally record audio.  This is primarily useful when recording notes in a lecture or presentation, and the unit has over 80 hours of recording time using stereo audio making it possible to record a tremendous amount of data before requiring a memory purge.  The stereo audio feature is remarkable in that the headphones contain microphones to record audio spatially, to provide an immersive experience on playback.  Charge time is about 2.5 hours according to Livescribe's knowledgebase - but no word on run time before a recharge.

Once you're ready to unload that data into your PC, you'll attach a small cradle to the USB port.  Launch the Livescribe Desktop application, and the pen immediately downloads its memory to your PC.  Pages appear against a virtual notebook, providing a clear copy of your handwriting.  Text associated with an audio recording is highlighted in green, and clicking the green text will play back the audio track at the point where the handwriting was recorded.  Conversely, you may elect to play back the audio track and observe the handwriting highlighted as the text and audio "play back" in synchrony.

One exceptionally useful feature of downloaded pages enables text searching of your notes.  Through handwriting recognition, the Livescribe Desktop software permits you to type in a word and have the results highlighted in your actual handwriting on the page.  At this time, the recognition engine does not provide text output for word processing - only this limited search feature, but I'm pleased with the results.

Another benefit of the Livescribe product is the ability to upload your pages to their online community.  This may be of the most use to students sharing classroom notes with one another, but also represents a creative opportunity to share narrated line-art "movies" with others.  In fact, several contributors have done just that.  You can elect to share your pages with the public, or with a limited group of friends.  The full utility of this feature will become clearer in time.

There are three other interesting applications loaded inside the Pulse smartpen.  One, a calculator, works with a pre-printed calculator panel in the front of the notebook.  The calculator provides basic functions and displays the results on the tiny display.  A future software release for the pen claims to offer advanced financial and scientific functions.  A second feature, of dubious practical value, is a piano that is drawn on the paper and "played" by tapping the virtual keys.  While interesting to tinker with, it's a clever example of what one might do with a "virtual control panel" when some clever developers get their hands on the software developer kit (hopefully forthcoming, but not announced that I know of.)  Lastly, a demo "translator" reads your handwriting and speaks the corresponding word in Spanish, Mandarin, or one of a few other languages.  As I understand it, a fuller featured translator application is in the works for sale later in the year.  Considering the Pulse as an application platform takes it beyond the realm of a mere recording device and enables a variety of interactive options (provided the function and result can be accomplished within the pen itself - there are no wireless communication features on this device.)

As with any fresh product in the tech market, there are a number of undesirable limitations.  First, the pen is not supported on Mac at this time.  My primary applications reside on Mac, and I prefer to leave my data there.   Livescribe has mentioned in the forums to expect a Mac release later in 2008.

Another limitation is the drivers and application are only compatible with 32-bit Windows XP or 32-bit Windows Vista.  One expects this limitation will be overcome shortly as it would affect a growing percentage of the PC market.

Mac users who may choose to work around the PC requirement will find the Pulse drivers are sensitive to virtualization, and I was unable to make the Pulse software work with Windows XP 32-bit under Parallels.  Livescribe Forum posters have reported success using a Bootcamp installation of Windows XP, however.  Another forum poster mentioned that VMWare Fusion worked successfully with the Pulse.  Your mileage may vary, and be careful to consider this if you're not equipped with a traditional PC.

Finally, one limitation that may or may not cause you concern is the limited number of data export options from the Livescribe Desktop software.  At this time, you can print documents, or copy and paste the pages into another application as a graphic.  It is not possible (that I can determine) to export the files as searchable PDF documents or as plain text files.  These features may be released in the future and there don't appear to be any insurmountable technical issues - but at this time you're effectively locking your data into the Livescribe application.  Be sure to back-up your computer as well, as the data is stored automatically - rather than being presented as a document that must be saved as you would with a traditional word processor.

Conclusion:

Obviously after just two days, the shiny hasn't worn off, and I haven't spent any meaningful time trying to do something with the pen outside of a tolerant environment.  When you're in the midst of a classroom or business meeting, and you don't have time to futz around with the technology - and you need it to simply work is when you find out the real value of an accessory such as this.  It looks very promising, and it has a substantial value when it works correctly - specifically that you can carry a very limited amount of technology into a typically hostile space (a classroom, or a conference room) and come out with a rich data collection that will assist you in recalling information and keeping up with an extensive collection of personal notes.  Regarding the value proposition, I believe the price point is appropriate (given the type of technology and the lack of competition, I think it is hard to consider the price unreasonable,) if you rely heavily on written notes for your work and tend to rely on paper for permanent storage.  Would I buy it again?  Absolutely - am I representative of the mass market?  No - but I think this is a tool that will appeal first to students with the disposable income to buy it, and later it may migrate into the conference room.

Details:

The 1GB edition retails for $149 and the 2GB edition retails for $199.  Notebooks will set you back $19.95 for a four-pack.  http://www.livescribe.com

Caveats:

• The Pulse requires 32-bit Windows XP or Windows Vista at this time.
• The Pulse does not support Mac OS X at this time (Parallels Virtualization also failed to work for me.)
• The Pulse only works with Livescribe's "dot" paper.
• The Pulse does not export to formats other than a graphic copy via clipboard, printing, or uploading to Livescribe's community site.
• The Pulse performs OCR on handwritten text, but does not provide this data to the user as plain text at this time.
• Notebooks are unique within a series (books 1-4 are unique from one another, but someone who has two book 1's will have to retire one of the two books before beginning to use the new book 1) so you'll need to be mindful when buying new paper that the dot pattern is either unique in your collection or that you've filled up and retired the old duplicate series.

That's it for now.  Things will certainly change with Livescribe's forthcoming releases, so I'll update this article when time permits.

Photos:

Nokia n95 camera focusing, LaCie revisited

Just a couple quick notes:

The Nokia n95 camera has a lousy autofocus. I was taking a fairly static, moderately well lit shot of a row of buildings (plenty of sharp angles and contrasts to detect,) and the infernal software repeatedly failed to focus. I stood there for more than a minute before the focus indicator turned green, indicating a successful focus lock. While the camera sports exposure compensation, the user is not given a manual focus option. You can instruct the camera to use a scene mode, but there is no way of communicating to the software that you'd like a particular focus.

On the LaCie front, I found that the power supply on my older LaCie Etherdisk Mini was bad. Replacing the supply with one from the oldest (the one with the bearing problem) solved this issue. This re-establishes one layer of my backups. I also started using Time Machine with my Apple Airport Extreme and a locally attached USB disk (500GB.) We'll see how that works out.

Free Cat Le-Huy from Tourist Nightmare (UPDATE)

UPDATE! - Cat Le-Huy is free after substantial efforts by the Internet community, legal counsel, and the BBC!
Congratulations, Cat!

Cat Le-Huy was arrested in Dubai, Saudi Arabia on really bizarre charges of illegal drug possession.

He had no illegal drugs on him at the time, and officials are holding him on very questionable evidence.

More details here: http://users.livejournal.com/_yungfuktoi_/311658.html

Donate to the defense fund here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=info%40futurecorp%2eco%2euk&item_name=Cat%20Le%2dHuy%20Legal%20Fund&no_shipping=0&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=GBP&lc=GB&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8

Putting the Semantic Web to Work: An Idea Factory (UPDATE)

Left to Right: Jerry Paffendorf, Andy Fundinger, Alvis Brigis, Melody Chamlee

UPDATE: I expect to be discussing DearIdea.net at BarCampNYC this weekend (Mar 15 or 16, 2008) in hopes of getting some tactical and strategic feedback. Most importantly, I want to see if it passes muster as a viable tool with the architecture I'm proposing. If you're attending BarCampNYC, look me up (e-mail for contact info.)

An enlightened group of intrepid knowledge-seekers gathered tonight in New York for a brainstorming chat over dinner. The topic? An "Idea Factory" to leverage the newfound connectedness of society towards solving problems of all sizes.

Not content to sit around and watch disconnected advances unfold alone and isolated, we discussed how a combination of social networks, semantic markups, peer review, incentives, and "knowledge visualization" could improve the effectiveness of ad-hoc collaborative teams. We'd like to harness the power of the community, which is all the rage today (crowd-powered!)

At our initial brainstorming session, we covered ground related to facilitating open idea exchange, ranking those ideas, and mapping their relationships in a format which would facilitate the sort of ad-hoc collaboration that thrives in the open source community. We saw this both as a means to accelerate the pace of innovation in public spaces as well as a means to begin heading off a coming "patent apocalypse" where the lack of prior art on obvious innovation ends the act of invention by anyone other than the most well-funded of law firms.

We left the meeting with some healthy action items, some points to ponder, and some goals.

I'm thankful to have spent time with such bright minds, and look forward to getting together again soon.

Cheers, mates!