Fido UNO? try Fido LAMO

Here is a chance for a Canadian Cellular provider to redeem itself. On the surface Fido UNO seems like the perfect marriage between VOIP and GSM. Peel back a few layers and you will find loads of red tape. Cellular providers are scared spitless of wireless VOIP. How many subsidised WiFi enabled devices do you see out there? Exactly, none. Enter Fido UNO. Finally a WiFi handset that lets you use the internet to save money on calls. The possibilities seem endless, right? Wrong! There are some very strict limits to what Fido UNO can do for you. It is designed to and only to replace a landline at home or in the office.
Let's start out with what UNO can do. You can use the Nokia 6301 ($300) and the Fido UNO service ($15-$20/month) on top of a monthly plan (minimum $30/month) to make unlimited local and long distance calls over a wireless network that is 1) in your local calling area and 2) within GSM range. That's pretty much it!
Now let's talk about what Fido UNO cannot do.

• Use the UNO service outside your local calling area
• Use the UNO service outside Canada
  
• Use the Nokia 6301 to browse, stream or download from the internet using your network free of charge
  

Because UNO seemlessly transfers calls from WiFi to GSM network you need to be within GSM range in order to place an UNO call. Once you are out of service or are registered in another calling area, good-bye UNO. The name UNO is seemlying becoming more ironic. Instead of consolidating your all your personal telecom it is tying you down.

What I want out of the service/sevice:

• replace Skype phone - handheld VOIP
• replace Vonage VOIP device - true international portability
  
• replace iPOD Touch - handheld mp3/wifi browsing device, free when on a wireless network
  

If don't have a cheap way to make long distance phone calls (such as a VOIP landline such as Vonage or Primus, a calling card, prefix-dial), don't make calls from outside your local calling area, don't travel, don't want an all-in-one solution then Fido UNO is for you. It would be ideal for people who talk a lot locally or long distance who spend most of their time at home or in the office, given their office is in their local calling area.
As a Vonage customer I pay $20/month for 500 minutes of calls, includes all the features you could every want and I can take my big bulky black box any where in the world and make VOIP calls. There are some definite gaps within my personal telecom that I would definitely invest in given that they existed. For now I will hold out for an unlocked Nokia 6300i. Who knows what VOIP settings or service providers you can use with it? Maybe Skype, Gizmo or even Vonage. Fido is definitely not at my side on this one and dogs with two heads are just plain weird!

Mythbuntu

I'm too cheap to buy a Tivo. Luckily the products of the Ubuntu Linux Distribution and MythTV have been binded together to form Mythbuntu.
After a week of configuring it I finally have a fully functioning Personal Video Recorder (PVR aka DVR).
Some great features include a web interface I can access from the web, anywhere in the world, TV listings and searches, commercial recognition and other features such as RSS support and local weather reports. No need to stay up late watching hours of TV plagued with commercials. All I do set mythbuntu to record my show, then watch it at a convenient time and when commercials come up I hit the Z button and good-bye commercials.
Mythbuntu offers the same user friendly distribution installation that Ubuntu does and can also convert an existing Ubuntu system into a Mythbuntu one. There are certain requirements which can be found on the site. 1 GHZ of processor (CPU) gets you one stream. IE if you have a 2.0 GHZ computer and two TV capture cards then you can record two shows simultaneously. It also takes up a lot of hard drive space. I'm averaging 1.5 Gigabyte per 30 minute show. Having a wireless keyboard and mouse comes in handy and so would a remote control, had my TV card come with one.
The biggest challenges for me was configuring my video card. I have an ATI Radeon 9600. I used the linux proprietary drivers from AMD (read ATI). Instead of being able to use the nice friendly GUI that comes with Mythbuntu I had to use the command line utility aticonfig. After hours (days really) of trying this and that I managed to put together a configuration that now has the computer outputting nicely to the TV.
Another obstacle I ran into was loading the TV listings. By default Mythbuntu tells you to sign up for an account with a third party and pay $20/year for tv listings. Again I don't want to pay for that and so I searched for a free way to get TV listings. I ended up using a Perl script called zap2xml which grabs the listings of the internet from http://tvlistings.zap2it.com and loads them into the MythTV database. You can find the how-to here.

All-in-all I am quite happy with the results and after a bit of hacking and frustration I am enjoying commercial free television when I choose to watch it!

Here are some nerds talking about about the features and benefits of MythTV:


Links:
http://www.mythbuntu.org/

Flash Games

So I'm not a gamer. Not in the typical sense anyway. I have a hard time sitting in one place for a long time working away on some meaningless, endless quest for points. Nor do I enjoy a long drawn out fps battles competing with 13 year olds hopped on 3 cans of red bull. I reckon you could power a city of some of those kids. Does this mean I don't waste time in front of the computer trying to achieve a frivolous top score? Nope, I love flash games. They're quick, entertaining and even now as I write I can't help but think of a new strategy for Antbuster. I'd like to share my favourite flash games with you.

1. Antbuster - Armor Games
2. The Last Stand - Armor Games
   
3. Motherload - XGen Studios
4. Bike Mania - flashgames247.com
   

Antbuster is a great strategy game that lets you place gun turrets at your picnic. There are many strategies to consider and endless combinations of embattlements which
keep the game fresh
The Last Stand is a great zombie shoot 'em up game with excellent graphics that far surpass any game I've played. See if you can find the super gun!
Motherload is a fun mining game. It is possible to finish this game but the ending is a little on the weird side. It definitely keeps your attention.
And finally Bike Mania. Ah. Already being into bicycle trials I have an affinity for such a game. If you like riding bikes over obsticles then this is the one for you. I believe it is based on a previous Mototrials java games that seemed to come from Europe. "Next one is real hard!"

Try not to spend the rest of your day playing these!

Christmas Wish List

It's Christmas time and I can't resist the juvenile temptation to formulate a Christmas wish list. This year I am headed to Mexico for Christmas and will not be doing a gift exchange, rather I will be spending time with family, basking in the sun and renting beer.
Never-the-less I will make a wish list.

1. 1978 Chevrolet K5 Blazer
2. Four Wheeler Magazine Subscription
   
3. Neon Bible LP
4. Flat Eric
5. Play Station 3
6. House in Cumberland
   

Use your Vonage home phone as a long distance calling card

Status:
I pay $20 a month for a Vonage land line. I get 500 minutes to Canada and the USA. I have a cell phone. I get 150 day time minutes and 1000 evenings and weekends minutes which I never use up. My cell provider charges me $0.30/minute for long distance calls made from my mobile. I visit other cities and need to make calls to my local calling area.

Problem:
I don't want to pay $0.30/minute for long distance, instead I want to use my Vonage minutes and my mobile local air time I've already paid for. I also want to tap into my Vonage minutes while I'm out of my local calling area.

Solution:
Using a combination of a computer with internet access, a Vonage access number and Vonage call forwarding I can tap into my Vonage minutes from any major city in Canada, USA, Mexico, France, Spain or the United Kingdom.

Step 1.
Determine the local Vonage access number for the city you are in. Use this website:
http://vonage.ca/features.php?feature=v_access
For example, the access number for Vancouver is 778-786-1245

Step 2.
Using the Vonage website, log into your account and setup call forwarding to the number you wish to call. For in-country call forwarding, enter area code and number. For International call forwarding, enter 011 and then the country code, area code and local number.
For example if you wanted to call the Legoland Hotel you would enter: 011 45 7951 1343
Be sure to save your settings and leave the website open. You will need to disable the call forwarding after you make your call.

Step 3.
Dial the Vonage access number and follow the prompts to dial your own number. Once the call is connected you will be ringing the number you call forwarded to.
For example:
In Vancouver dial 778-786-1245 from any phone
Press 1 to call a Vonage number
Now dial your own Vonage number 1 555 555 5555 # (be sure to add 1 to the front of you 10 digit number)
Press 1 to confirm
RING RING

Step 4.
Once you hang up be sure to disable call forwarding using the Vonage website (that you left open) to ensure no one else calls the Legoland Hotel on your coin.

Conclusion:
This is a neat feature provided by Vonage. I doubt they set it up to work like a calling card. There may also be a better way to do this but this way works and I have already started making long distance calls for much cheaper than $0.30/minute. If you have the $40 unlimited Vonage plan you can talk for as long as you want for free, given its a free to call the local Vonage access number from where you are. You can also check your Vonage voicemail using the Vonage access number.


Happy chatting for cheaper