For those not familiar, the National Park Service operates a lottery system to select 1600 lucky folks from the US, Canada, and beyond granting access to the Park by private vehicle. This is the only time private vehicles are permitted to traverse the 92 mile long Denali Park Road. The intent is to limit disturbance to one of the last great places on earth.

So, four hundred lucky souls a day. My pass was for the first day, Friday, September 14. I drove to Denali from Anchorage on Thursday in preparation. The weather cooperated not only for the drive north, but even improved on Friday. While not a ‘blue sky day’ the weather was gorgeous, going from thin overcast to partly cloudy, and back to overcast over the course of the day, with just about everything in between along the 90+ mile journey to the end of the road.

I will admit a bit of ‘trouble’ when picking up the pass on Thursday, the evening before. I stood in line for about 20 minutes, patiently waiting. I had the email Russ had forwarded to me, the notice he was selected, and the pass itself. Well, sort of…

When it was my turn, I said I am not Russ, but he gave me his pass. Ahhhh, do I have something that says so? Well, he sent me an email, asking if I wanted to go. Ahhhh, it doesn’t say that here. But… wait, I have an email. Well, they must have something they can “file”. Ok, so I will go to the hotel (where I hadn’t checked in yet) and look it up, and print. They were saying he could fax it… Ok (and it *was* my lucky day) they didn’t have any functioning fax machines, except the one locked up in HR.

I struggled, but stayed positive. She did say, under the circumstances, she would work with me. Just get that email. I thanked her and got out of line, since I couldn’t scroll back far enough on the (damn!) phone.

After sending some texts back and forth to Russ, he sent me another email. Service on the GCI phone was barely usable, so I never got it (or at least it took forever, which is just the same.) After about 15 minutes, I decided all was lost, or close to it.

I went to the car, and fired up my ACS EVDO card and Cradlepoint router. Wow, loads of signal and 3G connectivity! Maybe there is hope after all. I opened the MacBook Air and logged in. There was my original email from Russ, but also the two newest ones, too, that he had just sent. Sheesh! After connecting my GCI phone via wi-fi to my ACS router, I had the emails there, too.

So, I went back inside and played it cool. No line jumping, and patiently waited another 15 minutes or so to get back to the front of the line. The same girl started to go through the standard routine, then recognized me. I put the MBA on the counter, and my phone, too. Both were already opened to the email from Russ, formally stating transfer to me, since they couldn’t use the pass. She giggled, and said that would be good enough.

So, I signed on Russ’ line, and then moved to the left and gave the man my $10 Park entrance fee. I got my pass, and was all set.

Now, off to the hotel to check in and relax. Thursday was quite a day…

(To be continued)

Essentially, Streamified provides a way to aggregate your social media streams. For example, you can use one “page” to view all the latest news and happenings from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, and others. It allows you to snag your news feeds, Instagram, and Google Reader streams. Pretty much a one-stop shop for all that is going on in your world.

In the flood of information (overload) these days, it is important to be able to filter out the noise, or at least gather those gems you want to revisit. Streamified does just that by allowing you to bookmark favorite posts for later. The integration of services such as Instapaper (which I recommend a subscription), Pocket, Readability make the service more useful.

They have an iOS app that has been released, and a Chrome plugin, and apparently are close to releasing an Android app. In addition, there is a web app that works on any device.

On a side note… I was exploring the service yesterday (Sunday here in the US.) I ran in to some snags adding my Tumblr feed. Streamified provides a forum / support page (via Get Satisfaction). I decided to search for my issue and did find one that was similar that what I had experienced.

I made a quick post, detailing the issue I saw. In, literally minutes, I received a response to my post. I tried the suggestions, but still had problems. A reply, and then I provided some more information. Almost instantly, Zane said he saw the issue, made a change, and asked that I try again. In the few minutes later, I gave it another try. Sure enough, the issue was resolved! Wow, now how is that for “customer service”??? On a (US) holiday weekend, no less.

I highly recommend the service. I created a ‘username’ and have now given the Streamified.me web app service a try from several devices. I can highly recommend you give it a try, too.

Last year when I was back this direction, we all went to QSL in Austintown. I think we outdid ourselves this time around. Four full buckets of various flavors didn’t stand a chance. The gang polished off well over 100 wings! My fav of all was the Chipotle BBQ dry rub, but a close second was the Arizona Ranch. Least fav, but certainly not bad was a pepper parmesan wing… I’d probably pass the next time.

Of course, life is not all about wings. A full tower of onion rings, and a rack of soft pretzels, a loads of fresh veggies and dip helped fill empty stomachs. And for Mom and Dad who really weren’t in the mood for wings, a nice steak special and a huge burger.

No one went away hungry and it sure was nice for everyone to get together for the evening!

I’ve tried several ‘living pictures’ taken with my Lytro. The Lytro application allows tagging and sharing to Lytro.com, as well as Facebook. There are even ‘work arounds’ to allow posting to Tumblr and WordPress. Why does FB seem to block the posts?

Since the Timeline “upgrade” I have really been struggling to once again really look forward to going to Facebook. This issue isn’t bolstering my enthusiasm.

Here is a “living picture”…

On the other hand, the black one (that wasn’t engraved) came from the big depot in Ontario, California. It appears Apple had pre-shipped plane loads of “plain Jane” new iPads and then shipped from California for US destinations. FedEx, as did (I will admit this one time) UPS served the customers right. Both iPads arrived within less than an hour of each other.

So I unboxed the white one at work. Before I unwrapped it, I laid it flat on the desk with the iPad 2. Yes, first off, the new iPad is just noticeably heavier. Second, it must be about a millimeter thicker than the 2. Also, the taper seems to happen much quicker on the new iPad — in other words, it maintains the thickness until a point closer to the edge of the iPad. This is all done to accomodate the battery which is almost twice as big as the iPad 2.

It is unfortunate that Apple took a step backwards so to speak. I guess they got really agressive with the design change from the original iPad to iPad 2. We got used to that, and so it is a so-called step backwards in that regard.

I started it up, and walked through the setup and activation. I haven’t upgraded to 5.1 on my other iPads or the 4S, jailbroken running 5.0.1, so it was cool to step through the new one. I got to the screen that asked if I wanted to set up as new, restore from iCloud, or restore from iTunes. I stopped at that point and fired up the iPad 2 and backed it up to the cloud. Once complete, I chose ‘restore from iCloud’ and waited a little less than half an hour for it to complete.

But all that aside… the screen, if nothing else, is awesome. While I will admit the iPad 2 screen is just fine, when viewed side-by-side with the new iPad the Retina display advantages are quite obvious. Graphics performance over the iPad 2 is noticeable, but not earthshaking. However, when compared with the original iPad, the A5X processor and quad-core graphics CPU blow the original away. I was really amazed at the difference.

I don’t recall there being a significant jump from the iPad to iPad 2. The big advantage at that time was the size and weight reductions. I commented at the time that while there was “some” noticeable gain in performance, I can see now that it was not near dramatic as the step between the original iPad and the new iPad.

In use, I have noticed some troubling characteristics. First, on my white one (the black one isn’t opened yet) there is a noticeable lack of contrast compared side-by-side with the iPad 2. I suppose it could be a slight variation in the brightness setting (since I could lessen the difference) but my iPad two looks “whiter” than the slightly warmer tint of the new iPad. I’ll have to explore this further and see if others are observing the same thing.

The single biggest item (complaint) thus far — battery charging. Or, maybe I should say the lack of battery charging. Granted it is a much larger battery to power the Retina display and all those 4G and wifi radios, not to mention the A5X graphics. But, using the standard 10W iPad charger, I can only “maintain” the charge while I am using it when it is plugged in. Granted the battery indicator does not lose power, but it certainly didn’t gain anything after almost two hours. (My iPad arrived with 89% battery life showing. I ran it down to 38% before I plugged it in, and it never increased while I was using it.)

I continued to explore, and found some apps didn’t restore. I manually added them, and then took some time to arrange the apps into logical “folders”.

After work, I continued to configure and fine tune. All my settings seemed to be transfered in the restore. Of course, I had to log in to several apps and authorize, but that is not unusual.

I have yet to watch a 1080p movie, but I did shoot a small clip which seemed to work fine. I took a photo, and the camera is significantly improved over the iPad 2. Beyond that, I haven’t explored much.

The first new app, for the new iPad, was iPhoto. Certainly from what I have seen it is worth $4.99. What I really am looking forward to with the new device is actually using it for photos (and maybe some video work, too.) I think the new iPad really opens up a whole world that can only be a major improvement over the iPad 2. I think Leo Laporte, of TWiT, said, ‘the new iPad is no longer just for content consumption, but the iPad is now a viable content creation device.’

So, what do I think? I love the device; it is a step improvement over the iPad 2, and blows the original iPad away. But, I also hope the circuit design in the new iPad will accomodate a “rapid charger” of sorts. If you can’t use the device and charge at the same time, it really defeats the way I use it. Just like anything that also means another slew of chargers and other accessories. Just as I think Microsoft is in cahoots with hard drive manufacturers (the OS and apps just keep ballooning in size), I believe Apple has a stake in the cottage industry of cases and peripherals.

Time will tell on the charging. Would I recommend the new iPad? That is a difficult question. If you have an original iPad, yes, absolutely. If you have an iPad 2, yes, but only if you can afford it and want to keep up with the latest. But beware of the charging issues I have experienced. The question really is clouded when the iPad 2 (all versions across the board) have been discounted $100 and are still being produced. To original iPad owners, don’t be tempted, unless you can’t justify the extra $100 for the new iPad.

I watched Engadget’s live blog, since Apple didn’t stream the event. (But I did watch later that night, and you can, too, at Apple’s Keynote)

I battled with the millions of others and tried to give Apple my money. Finally, after several attempts, I was in. But my cart showed eight iPads and thousands of dollars. Fortunately, you can only order two, so I had to fight for another few minutes to remove items from my cart.

When it was all said and done, about two hours after the end of the announcement, I had two 64GB 4G iPads and some accessories in my cart and able to checkout. I ordered a black one, and then a white one which was engraved.

Already received confirmation that the white engraved one has shipped. As a matter of fact, it left China, went through Hong Kong, stopped for refueling in Anchorage, and then off to clear customs. Or so says UPS…

Still shows March 16, which is as expected. More concerning, however, is that the black one that was not engraved, still has not shipped.

Still have the webcams, and last night decided to give Weather Underground a try. I never fooled with the FTP features of the Sharx cameras since I was always more interested in providing the streams.

First played around with uploading to TheCzechs.net. Had limited success… But searched around the net and looked for cameras, and methods with a Mac, to use the Sharx with WU. Found a software program, EvoCam, that was mentioned by a few people in forums. Downloaded a full featured, 15-day trial version from the site. Installed and had to fiddle a bit, but it seemed to work.

Went ahead and registered the camera with WU. Today, I checked and looks like it was accepted, as the 27th camera in Alaska! When it was all said and done, it was easier than I thought.

The still images, and link to the camera on the WU site is here.

You can view a time lapse below. WU provides a 24-hour stream.

Been watching the build-up and hype for weeks. At the announcement, to my (and a lot of folks) surprise, there was no pre-orders. This is unlike the release last year of the first gen iPad.

But, unlike last year, the actual release was only a week away, as opposed to the 30-days. That seemed to increase the hype in the compressed time from announce to release.

At midnight on the 11th, I was online and had a white 64GB 3G (GSM) in my cart. But the 3-5 business day delivery didn’t sit well. After pondering for a while, I decided to take my chance locally at Best Buy at 17:00 on Friday.

I went to the Dimond Center on Friday. Taking a few breaks, I wandered by BB and AT&T a few times. Found out AT&T had a “very limited supply” and BB will hand out tickets in the line.

Finally went back down about 4:00. Talked to Ben who gave me the skinny. Get in line, get a voucher, and at 5:00 they will let people in. The line was just around the corner outside, BUT, I didn’t have my jacket!

So I ran to the office and retrieved that, and in the short time to get back to “the line” I was WAY back. Ben had said they had about 100 left of different models, but I didn’t push for specifics. I tried to do a quick count of the line from where I was, WAY back. I was probably within the 100, but would they have the one I wanted.

They came through the waiting crowd and made an announcement. They would start passing out vouchers, and go back the line at 4:30. They would start selling at 5:00.

By the time they got somewhere close to where I could see, they made another announcement and said they would be moving the line forward as folks were going to be entering the store. The vouchers would resume at the door.

I was about 10-20 back at that point. It was right at 5:00.

Got to within about 5-7 from the head of the line and they made another announcement. There are no more 32 or 64GB iPads, in either white or black. They had 16GB 3G and some wi-fi versions still available. Skunked!!!

So I broke out of line and hurried to AT&T. Was only a small line. I was talking to a guy in front of me who had also been to BB. He was still trying to decide which model he wanted. I mentioned my experience using the 64GB and it sounded like a 32 would probably suit him just fine. About that time, 5:07PM, they made the announcement that there were no more iPads, but that they could order for you. Dammit, denied again!

I went back upstairs to the office. My MBP was still plugged in. A quick link to the Apple store still showed two to three weeks delivery. I went ahead and picked the white, 64GB 3G (AT&T) model, and the accessories. Got confirmation yesterday that the AppleCare “shipped” and next saw that the cover had also shipped. Should arrive Monday or Tuesday…

I just hope the supply chain in China is cranking them out (as I know they are) and the iPad will only be a couple of weeks behind.

In the end, that 3-5 business days doesn’t look so bad now… In this case, I gambled and lost.

– Posted from my iPad…

So I found an easy way to root the device (z4root.apk). This was the first step in essentially doing anything beyond factory authorized installs and customizations. It is akin to “jailbreaking” an iPhone, but in this case it is far easier than the current ‘untethered’ jailbreaks for the current version of the iPhone on 4.2.1.

The next step was a big one for a ‘noobie’ like me in the Android world. I can’t tell you how many hours I searched, read, and searched some more for information. Of course, “information” isn’t a problem, but it is the sorting, sifting, and filtering of pertinent and then determining what is reliable and verifiable. That is the tough part!

I decided that instead of trying to “roll my own” I would go with what seemed to be a highly recommended way to easily install customized ROMs for the Milestone/Droid. Luckily, the CDMA Milestone that is offered by Alaska Communications is almost exactly like the Verizon Droid.

This means so much more is available for the device. That includes what Motorola said would not be available for the A854; that being Froyo 2.2 (and beyond.) I was pleased to see that the the device from ACS was running 2.1-update1, but there are some really neat, useful features of 2.2+.

Some of those features include being able to work around the RAM limitation of the device and load apps to your SD (transflash) memory expansion card. This is critical, especially for apps such as Flash. In general you can load most apps to a special partition on your SD card and free up base machine memory. If for no other reason, this is the reason to upgrade.

But, there are other reasons… Currently I’m running a pretty cool Matrix animated wallpaper. This is just one of hundred (thousands???) An easy way to impress those Blackberry users in the crowd.

I decided to try the Bugless Beast (0.6.2.1) ROM to start. It installed without issue and allows me to start to explore the 2.2.1 firmware. Cool features, 800MHz overclocking, and other features included in the base ROM. I hear Cyanogen is another very popular ROM. I think I might load that one to try it out, too…

In all, the large free selection in the Android Market, the ability to customize the device, and the relative ease of doing so, make this first venture into the world of Android a pleasant experience.

In the end, do I think I will I give up my iOS devices…? Ahhhh, NO!

So I set out to investigate printing from my iPads. I tried several no-cost options and was reluctant to spend money on an app that may, or may not, work. I tried the CUPS mods from Terminal, the free AirPrint Activator (and even the former AirPrint Hacktivator) but none worked with my wireless (not physically connected to a Mac, or PC) WF600.

I did have success, albeit limited, with PrintJinni. At least I knew it was possible to print from the iPad to my WF600. But the limited ability, and the need to print via an attachment to an IMAP email account wasn’t palatable. Sure, if I could get nothing else to work, it would be better than nothing. But what about printing in the office and elsewhere…?

Then I came across a site that reviewed several options to allow the printing that Apple stifled (for whatever reason.) It seemed there was good press and user reviews for PrintCentral. While researching that app, I discovered PrintBureau. Now I was on to something!!! And, from what I could tell, it really did seem to work!

Of course, for the price ($12.99!), I was still reluctant to give it a try. My lack of success with CUPS printing was in the back of my mind. Sure PrintJinni worked, but what if PrintCentral or PrintBureau didn’t work any better than that free app?

Upon further research, I saw a comparison between PrintCentral and the EuroSmartz PrintBureau. I liked that direct comparison between the different versions of similar software. I saw the major differences were nullified with an in-app purchase. However, it seemed to make more sense to just purchase PrintBureau from the start. I’m glad I did!

The app does take quite a bit of time to configure and explore. It certainly provides $12.99 worth of extra value, and bells and whistles. The ability to write directly to a PDF on the device, by itself easily makes the extra $3 over PrintCentral a smart buy, at least in my opinion.

Just a bit of frustration was involved when I tried to setup my wireless Epson WF600. The app “discovered” my wireless printer. Great! Then, when attempting to do the “test” prints, all I could accomplish successfully was the plain text printing. Graphics, in any mode, were non-existent… That is, until I pressed the “More” button. It was then that I saw the first choice in selecting my printer – Epson specific was at the top of the list. Several other printer manufacturers were listed as well. Once I selected “Epson” (in my case) all the printing issues went away.

All in all, I highly recommend this app, if for nothing but the ability to print to ALL printers (in some fashion) and create PDFs. The additional features are almost overwhelming, and I am sorry to say I haven’t explored them fully. But accessing the iPad as an external “drive”, the links to the cloud, etc., all add more than enough value to justify the price, even if you only scratch the surface.

In summary, this is what I envisioned printing to be on the iPad. (And, I guess it works on the iPhone as well, although IMHO, that is a stretch.) The $12.99 price tag is almost outrageous, but it does what it says, and there doesn’t seem to be anything close to matching it’s capabilities at this time.

– Posted from my iPad…