Monthly Archives: March 2016

MobileViews Podcast 155: A look back at the IBM PC Users Network on Compuserve with its founder Don Watkins

Jon Westfall and I (Todd Ogasawara) welcome special guest Don Watkins in this podcast.

  1. 2016 is a big anniversary year for tech.
    Apple turns 40 on April 1 – incorporated on Jan. 3, 1977 for purists
    The IBM PC turns 35 in August. Ref: IBM Archives: The birth of the IBM PC
  2. Extreme Tech: Could the 9.7-inch iPad Pro kickstart a tablet upgrade cycle?
    2GB RAM vs. 4 on 12.9″ Pro. A9X clocked down. No Smart Keyboard available to pre-order on 3/24. Embedded Apple SIM.
  3. Nik Collection by Google photo filters for PhotoShop and Aperature now free. Was $150. Works with Open Source GIMP photo editor on some Windows PCs. I have not tried the combo on a Mac yet.
  4. Don Watkins (PCNet-Online.com) founded the IBM Users Network on Compuserve in 1982, a year after the IBM PC launched. In the years before the Internet became available to regular people (vs. those on the ARPANET or MILNET), Compuserve was one of the few online services with a national reach via mostly localized dial-up modem banks and mainframe backend (vs. BBS running on an Apple II or CP/M based microcomputer). We discuss the early years of the IBM PC era, his role in kickstarting large online communities, and other topics in this podcast. You can see an interview with Don on Computer Chronicles from January 9, 1987 at the 11 min. 30 sec. mark of this YouTube video.

MobileViews Podcast 154: Mandatory Kindle update, new Apple iPad? Microsoft OneNote importer for Evernote data

In this podcast recorded on the first day of Spring 2016, Jon Westfall and I (Todd Ogasawara) discuss:

  1. Amazon: Mandatory 2012-or-older Kindle firmware update by March 22.
  2. 9.7-inch iPad Pro? Ref: 9to5Mac.
  3. Tried out the Microsoft Evernote to OneNote Importer – 3002 files. Eight importation errors.
  4. 5 best add-ons for the Raspberry Pi 3 | ExtremeTech
  5. Jon’s Rant / Paranoid Advice: You’re dropped into some random place with a computer that has internet access. Can you access your accounts?

MobileViews Podcast 153: What’s in your travel gadget bag?

  1. Google DeepMind AlphaGo beats Go master (ranked 1 or 2 in the world) Lee Se-dol Ref: ars technica
    Lee Se-dol wins game #4 in 5 game series. Ref: The Verge
  2. Microsoft’s Evernote to OneNote migration tool. Ref: Microsoft Office Blog
  3. Microsoft SQL Server for Linux
  4. Android 6 – Marshmallow – only on 2.3% of devices 5 months after its launch
  5. What’s in your travel gadget bag? Also: FAA device use policies Oct. 31, 2013

MobileViews Podcast 152: Apple support on Twitter, Amazon Tap & Echo Dot, Raspberry Pi 3 & more

  1. Apple Support Twitter account
  2. Raspberry Pi 3
  3. A 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARMv8 CPU
    802.11n Wireless LAN
    Bluetooth 4.1
    Bluetooth Low Energy

  4. MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is now Free and Open Source Software
  5. Alexa gets new siblings: the Amazon Echo Dot and Tap | ExtremeTech
  6. Jon’s Rant: I’m not trusting Alexa when Amazon doesn’t value privacy / encryption. Sure they’re bringing it back, but why was it removed. Ref: Boingboing
  7. Update: Engadget: Amazon reverses course on encryption for its Fire tablets

  8. MobileViews Mini-podcast 27: August EP715 – Active Noise Cancelling Earphones – Hands-free Calling with Integrated Microphone

MobileViews Mini-podcast 27: Recording with the August EP715 active noise cancellation earbuds

I’m using the relatively inexpensive (I think I paid less than $40) August EP715 – Active Noise Cancelling Earphones – Hands-free Calling with Integrated Microphone to record this mini-podcast.

The earbud seem to fit well in my ears. It is a one-size fits all design. There aren’t any alternative ear pieces if the fit is not good. Its microphone is on a label clip. This surprised me a bit. It has a pause/play button on the label clip. However, it does not have any volume control which would be very useful to have. The AAA battery pack to power the earbuds hangs off of a micro-USB cable that is paired with the 3.5mm jack. It can also be plugged into a phone’s plug for power (instead of using the battery pack). August provides a micro-USB to Lightning adapter if you use an iPhone or iPad. I’m really not sure the noise cancellation does what I expected it to do. I didn’t notice any diminished white or pink noise during some informal testing. There does seem to be a slight volume increase. But, I can still hear low frequency sounds that I had hope would be reduced. I will test it a bit more and discuss it in another podcast.