Bluetooth Keyboard for Blackberry Thumb and Carpal Tunnel Relief
After many years of typing I’ve recently developed Blackberry thumb and carpal tunnel syndrome. If you have similar symptoms there are a couple of things you can do to get immediate relief. There are 2.5 million blackberry users and most of them use their thumbs to type out messages at up to 40 words per minute. However, the repetitive motions you use to use with your thumbs type out messages can cause repetitive stress injury. Here are ways to avoid it…
This is my Bluetooth keyboard connected wirelessly to my Treo Smartphone at a nearby airport
Blackberries and most smart phones allow devices to connect wirelessly via Bluetooth. One way I found relief, is to use a portable wireless Bluetooth keyboard with my PALM device. The portable keyboard folds up to a size that can fit in a coat pocket. When unfolded, the keys are full size for easy typing, but some of the keys to double duty with the aid of special function keys. For example, the very top row of number keys on a standard keyboard don’t exist on the portable keyboard, instead you press a function key and use the top row of letter keys to activate numbers.
So if my TREO/Blackberry messages are short, I still use my thumbs. However, I found the portable keyboard to be incredibly convenient when typing long messages or memos or long e-mails. Below is an actual picture of my Treo and the IGO portable keyboard. At an airport. While I travel with a laptop computer, it’s often overkill for just stay in touch with my e-mail and instant messaging. It’s much easier for me to pull my smart phone out of my pocket, check my instant messaging and e-mail, and decided that point whether or not I need to use the portable bluetooth keyboard or if I should set up my laptop. In most cases I never need to set up my laptop.
You can buy an IGO Mobility or Stowaway Ultraslim Bluetooth keyboard at various places on the web for as little as 40 bucks. The one I use operates on two AAA batteries. To set it up, you’ll press a couple of keys on the keyboard to activate the Bluetooth. On your Bluetooth or smart phone, you’ll have to install a small application that will allow the Bluetooth keyboard to work. Once the software is working and the keyboard is within range you’ll be able to type wirelessly on your Blackberry or smart phone using a full size keyboard.
Experts have the following recommendations to avoid Blackberry thumb:
- You should take frequent breaks, we all know that sometimes this is possible and sometimes this is not it depends on your workload.
- You should write shorter and fewer messages. If your conversations are such that they allow abbreviations, this is one way you can type less.
- Change how you grip your Blackberry or smart phone. One way to avoid carpal tunnel is to type with your wrists as straight as possible. When you are gripping your Blackberry or smart phone, attempt to keep your wrists as straight as possible, or place your device on a table or flat surface for support instead of using your hands and wrists.
- Don’t always use your thumbs to type on your blackberry or smartphone. That’s precisely why I use a portable bluetooth keyboard if I think I’m going to be typing for more than just a few moments. If you don’t have a portal keyboard, you might alternate between using your thumbs and another finger or using multiple fingers.
[DME]
Free Real-time Flight Tracking Status
Airline flights are canceled all the time. Airline schedules are changed all the time. The Internet can make it easy to find the latest information about airline departures and arrivals. But what if you’re not near your computer to get the latest airline flight tracking status?
Are you leaving town on a flight, but want to make sure that it’s on time before you head for the airport?
Are you picking someone up from the airport and want to make sure their flight will be arriving on time?
Have you already arrived at the airport to pick someone up, but you don’t know the status of their incoming flight?
You’re sitting on an airplane, the plane has just landed, and you want to know the gate number and departing time status of your connecting flight?
You want a weather forecast for either the departing airport or your destination airport?
You want to know how long it takes to get through security before you go to the airport?
Some excellent websites allow you to quickly and easily get all these answers about airports and airline flight status from your Blackberry, Treo or any other smart phone.
Recently, I was on a flight to Atlanta, Georgia, one of the busiest airports in the world. Our flight to Atlanta was delayed, and although on Atlanta was my final destination, many of the passengers around me had been keeping their fingers crossed that we would land in time for them to catch their connecting flights.
The woman sitting next to me was especially nervous; the airline that we were flying allowed only 30 minutes from the time we landed until the time she was required to get her connecting flight.
As our wheels touched down, I removed my smart phone for my pocket and quickly activated my phone’s Web browser. I tapped the bookmark on my phone browser to go to FlightStats.com, and 2ithin 30 seconds I was able to tell my seatmate that her outgoing flight was 30 minutes delayed and that her connecting gate was C32. Furthermore, I told her I hope she packed an umbrella, because it was raining at her final destination.
When several other people in the seats around us heard what I told the woman, they began to shout out the numbers of their connecting flights. By the time our plane had taxied to the gate, I had told nearly a dozen people the status of their outgoing flights and the gates for their connecting flights.
What I did wasn’t difficult. My smart phone browser screens for flight departure and arrival status are shown below:
The first screen asks for a partial name of the airport or the airport code. The current date and time appears as the default, but you can used to drop downs to choose dates and times in the future. You can also type a partial airline name or airline code. In the image above, I use the airline code “FL” which is an abbreviation for AirTran Airlines.
After selecting an airport and airline, your phone will display arriving and departing flights for that airline at that airport. You’ll also see both scheduled times and actual times. This is especially helpful if you’re taxing to the gate and need to know the status and gate of your connecting flight. It’s also helpful if you are picking someone up from airport and want to know if their flight will be late.
If you click your Airport code on any of the flight status screens, you’ll see a weather report for that airport and you’ll see chatter written by people at that airport that may discuss airport security delays or any other information that could be important to travelers at that airport.
FlightStats.com is absolutely free. Visit FlightStats.com from your home computer, your laptop or your Internet enabled smart phone for fast, free information about airline flight status, airline delays, and airport weather.
-Edit by DME
Using Dual LCD Monitors – up to 4 LCD monitors!
Recent reports have showed that the more screen space you have available, the more productive you can become. One way to get more screen space is to add more monitors. Beginning in 2005, I started using four monitors connected to my laptop, and I believe it has truly increased my productivity.
For as long as I’ve owned laptops, I’ve always been connecting external monitors to them. Plugging an external monitor into the back of your laptop is simple, and connecting four monitors to your laptop is easier than you think if you have a second nearby computer, a network, and a neat, inexpensive program called MaxiVista.
MaxiVista provides two specific functions:
1) MaxiVista uses your computer network to allow one to three monitors on a remote computer to act as a remote desktop extension for your main computer. This is how I use MaxiVista most of the time, to extend my laptop to four screens.
2) MaxiVista allows you to use the single keyboard and mouse on your main computer to control both your main computer and a remote computer on your network. I do this sometimes to start downloads on a remote computer without slowing down my main computer (my laptop).
Essentially, here’s how it works: I run a copy of the MaxiVista Server program on my main computer, which is a laptop. At the same time, I run two copies of the MaxiVista Viewer programs on my nearby desktop computer. The MaxiVista server program on my laptop talks with the viewer programs through my computer network, and allows me to use the two monitors connected to my desktop computer as third and fourth monitors for my laptop.
MaxiVista works best when the computers are connected by a wired network, but, I’ve also seen MaxiVista perform well controlling the third and fourth monitors when my laptop was connected via WiFi and not a wired connection.
MaxiVista’s installation instructions may sound daunting, but they’re really not. I’ll give you a simplified overview.
But MaxiVista in my experience works first time, every time. In my case, it had to get through my two software firewalls, my hardware firewall, and then find the laptop on the WiFi network. It did it in a heartbeat.
It’s likely that the producers made the instructions this complicated because they want to cover all the nuances of installation. In my case, the installation steps were this simple:
1) Download and execute the MaxiVista setup program from the MaxiVista website.
2) Start the MaxiVista Server program your main computer. In my case, my main computer is my laptop. Once the MaxiVista server is running, one monitor icon for each remote screen will appear in the task tray.
3) After you have the server portion installed on your main computer, MaxiVista will create one or two viewer programs and place them on your main computer’s desktop. You’ll need to move those MaxiVista viewer programs to the remote computer you want to use it as a virtual monitor. When I installed my recent MaxiVista upgrade, the icons didn’t appear on my desktop, so I had to find the viewer programs on my hard drive. If you can’t find the viewer programs, you can have MaxiVista create new ones. While MaxiVista Server is running, right-click on the MaxiVista server icon in your task tray and select “create MaxiVista viewer.” Repeat this if you have a second MaxiVista server icon in your task tray. Click “Start > My Computer” then navigate to the Windows folder containing your installed version of MaxiVista. By default, the MaxiVista folder is “C:\Program Files\MaxiVista Pro Server”
4) Click the MaxiVista viewer icons on your remote computer to activate the additional “virtual” screens.
5) From the desktop on your main computer, right-click any blank area of the desktop, click “Properties,” then click the “Settings” tab. When your monitor configuration is displayed, just drag them around until they are in the proper order related to each other and you are done.
6) Right-click the MaxiVista tray icons on the primary computer to toggle between using the remote computer’s screens as an extension of your desktop and allowing you to use the primary computer’s keyboard to remote control the remote computer.
Installation of the demo
http://www.maxivista.com/docs3/09/manual.htm#install
Installation of the full version I use:
http://www.maxivista.com/docs3/09/manual.htm#installfull
Remember that you must have a network and a second computer to use MaxiVista. I consider MaxiVista one of the most productive software values I’ve ever purchased at only $30.
-Edited by DME
Mazda Miata MX-5 Radio Removal and Replacement
New Easy Instructions and pictures for removing a Mazda Miata MX-5 Radio and replacing it with a new radio.
On a day-to-day basis I’m so grateful for the do-it-yourself instructions I can so easily find on the Internet. Most of the time, I find the instructions to be incredibly helpful-especially the instructions that have pictures. It took me less than 40 minutes to remove my old radio and install a new one.
I’ve been wanting to install a new radio in my low mileage Mazda Miata MX-5 for a long time. Specifically I wanted a radio that would play books on tape and music
I found a couple of sets of instructions for moving Mazda Miata radios. The instructions were very similar, except I learned a couple of tricks that I think will be helpful to others to take on this project in the future.
In the old days and installer would lie on his back under your dashboard and physically cut wires and wire the radio harness into your car’s wearing harness. A much better way to do this is to buy a harness that has male connectors that you can plug right into the harness in your dashboard. The two obvious advantages are that you don’t have to cut any of the the wires in your dashboard, and if you ever decide to put the original radio back in it’s as simple as unplugging the harness and plugging in the original set.
I learned that there is a standard wiring color code for car audio which simplifies matching wires from your dashboard to your new radio. The radio wiring harness that I bought had the additional feature that besides being color-coded, it also had written labels on the wires describing which wires were correct for power ground and all the speaker connections. There was especially helpful to a guy like me who is colorblind. After matching up the wires from the back of the new radio to wiring harness wires of the same color, the new radio was ready to install.
1) For your protection and protection to the radio, you should make sure that the power is off to your radio. You’ll have to remove two fuses, the one for the radio, and the fuse that provides the constant power that allows your radio to memorize radio stations and keep time.
2) To remove the Mazda Miata radio, you’ll gently remove two small slim trim peices on the left and on the right that cover two holes on each side. A picture is below.
3) In another picture below you’ll see what your objective is. You’re trying to insert a nail or screwdriver or rod into both holes of the radio at the same time, only far enough to depress a tab that will release the locking mechanism for the radio. It’s always easier to understand what you’re trying to do if you can see a picture, so the picture below shows the radio removed with the screwdrivers inserted to show you what the tabs look like when they’re depressed If you have four nails or four screwdrivers, you may want to insert them in all four holes, you need only insert them about an inch and a half.
4) My radio had a cassette hole, so once the screwdrivers (or nails) were inserted I placed my fingers in the cassette hole and pulled out the radio. If you don’t have a cassette player, you’ll have to gently improvise how you remove your radio.
5) Most radios have two wiring harnesses from the rear. Slowly remove the radio, and as soon as the back of the radio is exposed, look for a small release on the plugs that connecte the wiring attaches to the back of the radio. Most radios also have a grounding wire that is held in place with the Philips screw. Remove the grounding wire, also. You can then completely remove the old radio.
6) At this point, you can follow the instructions to install your NEW radio. Generally, you’ll simply install a metal frame in the radio hole in the dashboard, then bend back tabs to hold the frame in place. You’ll plug the new harness into the Miata harness in the dashboard. You’ll reconnect the ground wire post on the back of the radio. The new radio will slide into the frame and click into place like the radio you removed. You’ll need to reinstall the fuses to power the new radio.
In another article, I’ll write about the inexpensive radio I chose that allows me to play CDs, play MP3
Good luck with your radio installation!
Below: Use a wire harness so you don’t have to cut wires under your dashboard. You buy a harness at eBay or from some other Internet retailer.
Below: I used small screwdrivers to release the old radio from the dashboard, but you can use 6D nails or some other non-flexible steel that will fit in the holes.
Below: Use a small screwdriver to gently remove the trim to expose the radio’s release holes.
below: See how the screwdrivers release the catch that holds the radio in the dashboard?
Below: With the screwdrivers in the hole, I pulled the radio out with my fingers.
Below: My new radio was held in place with a standard sized metal sleeve. Just insert the sleeve and bend back the tabs.
Keeping an Old Computer out of the Landfill / Ubuntu Linux
Cheap way to to make that 10 year old computer faster and usable again…
I mentioned in an earlier article how I purchased two Pentium computers from a local library for five dollars apiece. A few weeks later than that, I received a computer for free that had been taken out of service from a local university. The challenge of keeping this computer out of the landfills was quite a bit more challenging for this computer than the earlier ones because of how old and slow this computer is.
The computer case looked clean when I received it. The inside of the case, like the other computers, was also clean. The biggest problem was,when I connected a keyboard and monitor, the computer took nearly 6 minutes before the hourglass disappeared and it was ready to use. According to the system files, the computer hadn’t been switched on for about six years.
The specifications for my free computer are listed below:
Gateway P5 P5-75
Pentium 1 , 75Mhz
Maximum RAM: 128MB
This computer was manufactured and sold by Gateway in 1994, about 14 years ago from when this article was written.
The computer had only 16 MB of memory installed, and because the computer were sold the maximum amount of memory allowed was only 128 MB. That is not a misprint, this computer was operating using about 64 times less memory than today’s typical computer. Still, the computer eventually booted, and still operated, even if it was excruciatingly slow.
I had considered myself very successful upgrading the earlier two more powerful computers, but the limitations of this computer’s hardware would make salvaging this computer much more difficult.
A neighbor of mine had been successful installing Ubuntu Linux on older Pentium computers. The computers were powerful enough for the latest versions of the Windows operating system, but they were plenty powerful enough for the stripped-down Ubuntu Linux.
He had told me how to bind to Lex had much lower processor requirements. And how it was easy to download and install. I used Google to find the official who bound to Lenox webpage and downloaded the English version in an ISO file format in less than 20 minutes. I then used my CD-ROM burning software, Nero, to directly burn the downloaded ISO file to a blank CD.
What should happen next, if I hadn’t been trying to upgrade such an old computer, was that I should have been able to boot from the newly burned CD, then follow some on-screen prompts to format the hard drive and install the Linux operating system. Unfortunately, the computer was so old that it did not allow the option for the computer to be booted from the compact disc.
I tried also booting from a floppy disk that had CD-ROM drivers installed on it, but the computer refused to boot from anything other than the floppy drive or the hard drive. Keep in mind that this is not typical for most computers manufactured since around the year 2000.
The goal, of course, is to get the bootable operating system installed on the computer’s hard drive. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the hard drive must be in the destination computer at the time the operating system is installed. One obvious solution is to physically remove the drive from the case, install it in another computer that you may have, install the new operating system, then reinstalled in the original computer.
I hadn’t realized that Unbuntu Linux required a larger hard drive than the 768 MB drive that came with the computer. I had a spare 20 Megabyte Drive on a shelf, so I connected it to my spare Dell Computer and successfully installed Ubuntu Linux on it. But I decided to leave the original 768 MB Drive in the old computer and reinstall a fresh copy of the Windows 95 that had been installed when I received the computer.
I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to get Ubuntu Linux working on this computer. However, after reinstalling Windows 95, the computer started in a approximately one minute instead of five minutes.
Remember, this computer hadn’t been used for about five years. So, with the fresh copy of Windows 95 installed, I wanted to make this computer simply usable on most basic level. Surprisingly, I was able to do just that. Other than reinstalling a fresh copy of the operating system, the only other real change and made was opening the box and adding a five dollar network interface card so that the computer could be plugged into a cable modem or router. I then installed to programs and versions listed below so that this very old computer could be used as a word processor or as a basic Internet workstation.
IE5 5.00.2314.1003
Special Version MSIE302max (a modified version of Internet Explorer available for free on the Internet)
MSWORD 2000
Opera 9.02 (an Internet Explorer alternative)
The low amount of memory in this old Gateway computer doesn’t really allow for power web use, but it does work surprisingly well for web surfing, e-mailing, and word processing. I’ll likely give this old computer to someone who has very minimal computer needs and hopefully keep it out of landfills for least another few years.
Free Tech Help Newsletter…
