Don't Buy This Router!

 Don't buy a Netgear WNR854T Wireless-N Router!  I've had mine for over a year and apparently that is lucky.  This thing works great when it works but the issues and problems have continued.  A number of firmware updates didn't solve the issues.  Sometimes the radio would just drop and I would have to cycle the power.  Other times it would have trouble staying on the broadband connection.

Then last night the final straw.  It dropped so I went into my office and it didn't have any lights.  I run this thing on a UPS so it doesn't take any surges and doesn't lose power unless it is an extended power outage.  I tried to cycle the power and it did come back on but only the power light.  No other functionality on the ports.  I checked the web and there are a lot of reviews about how this router just stops working.  The result is identical to my experience. 

Of course mine lasted longer than most but unless Netgear steps forward and recalls this router and replaces it with something that works I won't be buying anymore of their stuff.  That is too bad since I used to always recommend them to anyone that asked about brands of switches and wireless.

Link to NETGEAR WNR854T RangeMax NEXT Wireless-N Router - Gigabit Edition

Data Visualization and Bias

I've been looking at a lot of products to assist with visualization of data.  Mainly those that are spatial capable.  I've tried to look at the open source offerings in this area but so far I've been very disappointed either in the capabilities or the ease of use.

The Dundas products have so far been the most interesting.  The chart, gauge and map products are very good and feature dynamic interfaces with AJAX support.  I'm going to produce a few prototypes of these to see how well they work but so far I've been impressed with the demos and the abilities.

My biggest issue is going to be the lack of interest in anything Microsoft at the place where I am implementing this software.  The anti-Microsoft position here is so strong that I feel these products will not be given any consideration or fair consideration.  That really bugs me.  I don't think a company should allow their IT people to be anti-anything when it comes to tools.  After all if the tool works and produces for the company then no using it because of un-supported bias is like stealing office supplies.

Source: Dundas Software Products - For .NET and SQL Reporting Services 2005

Trailer Assembly

 I spent most of Sunday putting together my trailer to haul behind my Escape.  I needed something since I don't have my truck anymore and I really like these folding trailers.  Just fold it up and store it on the side of the garage.

My Folding Trailer

Calgoo Calendar

 I've been working a little every day to make moves towards moving all my email and calendar functions to online.  Still I have to have offline abilities since being always connected is just impossible.

The second part of my attempts to do this is meant to allow me the ability to move to Mac and back to Windows while retaining my email, calendars, and some other functions.

One piece that I've found very useful in this attempted transition is the Calgoo Calendar.  It is a Java based application and it can run on Windows and Mac.

It can show calendars from Google, Outlook, and iCalendar.  You can synchronize with all of those and display all on a single Calgoo calendar.  You can also copy and move calendar entries between the various calendars.  I did discover a bug with the copy and move functions which requires you to edit the item after you copy or move it.   The development team responded immediately and said that this would be fixed in the next release.

If you have similar needs for multiple calendars you should check out Calgoo.

Link to Calgoo Calendar -Use & Share

Windows Live Writer Rocks

I've been trying the Windows Live Writer out for a few days now.  Mainly I tested postings and removed them since I don't often have that much to write in my blog.  But this thing is great.  I now can do postings to multiple blogs and I can work on them while offline which is a big bonus.

It supports Blogger and Live Spaces so you can have either or both.

Now there is a Firefox extension for blogging directly from a web page which is how this snippet from the Live Writer page got into this posting. 

Blog This for Firefox 2.0 now available on Windows Live Gallery

The Windows Live Writer Blog This extension for Firefox has been updated to officially support Firefox 2.0 (in addition to Firefox 1.5.x). 

Source: Writer Zone

Windows Live Writer

I thought I would test out the Windows Live Writer for writing blog entries.  I like the ideal of offline blogging since you cannot always be near an Internet connection when you want to write something down.  Plus it has very nice editing features including pictures for uploading.  Not sure how it will work with blogger so we will see how it turns out.  One thing to be aware of is make sure you get the 1.0.1 version.