Technically Speaking

The other night we were at dinner at McGrath’s Fish House in Orem, and I saw this gentleman who was sitting at his table eating his meal with a woman, with whom he was having a lengthy conversation. The funny thing though, was that he was wearing his wireless earpiece for his cell phone.

I don’t get that. I’m not bothered by people who answer their cell phones in a restaurant. But I draw the line at leaving your telephone earpieces. Put it away! You’re at dinner!

Some of my faithful readers have probably skipped this post. I know for a fact that I have two close family members who abhor American Idol, and that is okay. I understand. But I still like the show. And I’m okay with that. American Idol is, in fact, the only television show that we watch. We really don’t watch anything else — not even the news.
This week we watched the first two episodes of the season, and I have to admit that this isn’t my favorite part of the ship. I much prefer Idol in the second-half of the season when it gets down to 12 really good singers. The first half of the season tries to get too much mileage from bad performances and rude comments from Simon. The part I look forward to seeing is the part where they’ve narrowed it down to the cream of the crop.

The funny thing about the first part of the season, though, is that this is the half of the season when Christina and I actually agree with the judges. Last year when we were watching the second half of the season, we would listen to the performers, and it seemed that almost invariably if we thought the performer had done a good job, the judges hated it. And when we didn’t like the performance, the judges seemed to give it a lot of praise. (Yet another reason why we aren’t judges on the show.) But at this stage of the show, we’re still at the point where we like who the judges like and agree on who’s not up to snuff. (Well mostly. I still think they should have given the Statue of Liberty guy more of a chance. But thats just me.)

Here is my American Idol tip of the day: watch the show on tape-delay. I have meetings on Tuesday evenings, so I can’t watch the show live. We taped the show (I think it is our first time taping something from TV in like 3 years; maybe more), and then we watched it later. The great thing is we watched the 2-hour episode from Tuesday in like 80-90 minutes, because we could fast forward through all the sleazy commercials.

Oh. And one last Idol comment — a guy from SL tried out at the Denver auditions and made it through. His audition wasn’t shown on TV last night, but he made it to Hollywood, and I expect we’ll see him in a future epsiode. I don’t know his name, but when I find out, I’ll let you know.

Okay, anti-Idol readers: you can come back. I’m done for now.

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So I’ve been wondering what to do about our book club, Chronicles.

Last year we started an online book club so we could discuss and be exposed to new literature. However with the hectic end of year, participation dropped through the floor, despite getting a few new members of the club (who I think would have participated more if there had been more activity).

There are a number of reasons why I think the book club is mostly dead right now, and I’m not really wanting to debate those right now. But what I really want to know is this: What should be done to increase participation and resurrect the club?

Is it worth it?

If you are interested, Chronicles Book Club is located at http://bookclub.pehrsonfamily.net.

I’m open for suggestions. Post ‘em here or e-mail me. (Remember, if you don’t already have an account, you don’t need one in order to post.)

As I mentioned previously, while we were in California for Christmas I was introduced to a new technology that my inlaws are now using for broadband Internet access. The technology seems quite interesting, and seems poised to take the broadbane Internet market by storm.

WiMax is a wireless technology that basically uses a cell-phone signal to cover the last mile (or the final stage of delivering a product, in this case broadband Internet, to a consumer). All a home user needs is a WiMax modem that must be positioned to receive a strong cell phone signal. The lights on the top of the modem represent the strength of the cell phone signal (3 ligts = 3 bars, just like a cell phone). The modem plugs directly into the network jack on the computer (or router). That’s it. Basic users can set it up by themselves at home without help.

The company that is providing the service in Stockton (where my in-laws live) is called Clearwire. When we signed up with them in December, they provided 512Kbps service for as low as 24.99 a month. Now it looks like their minimum plan is for 768 Kbps service for as low as 29.99 per month. (You can either purchase your modem up front for $150, or you can rent it for $4.99 per month.)

In the end, if you are paying $20 bucks a month for a dialup provider, plus paying a fee to your phone company for a dedicated phone line, you may find it is cheaper to pay Clearwire $35.00 a month for broadband access, as opposed to around that for slow dialup and an extra phone line.

The technology has a lot of potential. Coupled with Vonage or another VoIP provider, you could do away with your home phone completley, and take your phone service with you on the go.

Clearwire is partnered with Intel and Bell Canada. Intel intends on releasing a chip that has integrated WiMax by the end of 2006 (maybe early 2007). It would be as easy to use as WiFi, the currently incorporated technology, but would be much more moble. With WiFi chips, you can only go about 300 feet from the base station; with WiMax, distances between 3-5 miles are realistic.

With WiMax technology on enough towers, this means your broadband internet access can be as mobile as your cellular phone. And because the so-called last mile (see above) is wireless, it is much cheaper to provide, which in turn means it should be much cheaper for consumers. (Current deals at Clearwire have 1.5Mbps at less than $32.00/moth for the first year when paid annually in advance.)

This service isn’t available in Utah, where we live, but I’m keeping my eye on it. Watch for it in your area. Not only is it cool, but it could save you a bunch of money, and give you high-quality broadband Internet access.