Where are the basic Phone Applications?

After going through the semi-regular review of our mobile phone plans, the coincidental semi-regular Canadian frustration also set in.  My phone-service provider has a decent plan system, however, the basic services of caller ID and voicemail are ridiculously expensive.  Here is the math: $7.00 for one of those services and for a great bundled price of $10.00 per month you can have both.  Considering that I once paid $18.99 not so long ago for a physical answering machine. This is a complete rip-off.  I know the phone companies will never-ever make these features inexpensive.  By refusing to pay their insane prices, I know that I am in the minority

There must be an application that can do some of this for you. 
 

1. Who are you:  This is billed as a free caller ID.  It really is not.  It provides valuable enhanced caller ID information, but cannot substitute for not having caller ID service from your phone company.   
2. You Mail Visual VoiceMail: Doesn't seem to be available for my phone/country

There are ways of getting around some of the locked features of Android Market to try things like YouMail, which holds great promise. Market Unlocker, is an application that promises to  break those pesky geographic blocks.  The problem is, that it needs a rooted phone, which I have yet to attempt. 

Getting root access will be my next project.

HTPC Cleanout/AV Update

Now that the software is running well inside Windows Media Centre and Media Browser, it is time to clean out the inside of the HTPC and update some of the AV connections/hardware that makes the whole system work.  This involved taking all of the AV Components out, opening the guts of the HTPC and then dusting and cleaning.  Everything inside looked good and the cable management was more or less intact.

The Next Chore was to clean out the cables and wires behind the Media Components.  I got rid of an old NAD510 CD player that had been collecting dust.  It was replaced by a slightly less old Hitachi DVD Player.

Now the System runs an HDMI out from the HTPC to the Receiver with a second audio out via SPDIF.  The second audio path is required because Video is displayed on a 1080p Projector, which is not always practical to have on; when it is off, a 7 inch USB touchscreen display is used.  Unfortunately when the touchscreen is on the HDCP pathway is compromised and the HDMI shutsdown.  The DVD player is connected via a component video/coax audio feed.  We also have a phono connected.

All of this feeds the Yamaha Natural Sound HTR 6280 Home Theatre Receiver.  The Speakers are the weak spot, but everythings sounds and looks quite good. 

HTPC Specs:
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit
Intel Core 2 Due E 8400 @ 3GHz
ATI All in Wonder HD with HDMI out
4 GB DDR2 Dual Channel RAM
ASUS P5QL/EPU Mother board
Server Connection via Gigabit LAN and 802.11 N wireless
BluRay ROM

HTPC UPDATE

It has been a long time since I sat down and sorted through all of the plugins and settings in the HTPC. It has been running very well, but every so often its time to go through things and make them better. Here are some of the things that have been updated

Media Browser
Mkv support
New theme
Radio Plugin

Canadian Internet Radio Content:

It has not always been easy to get a simple internet radio interface to work with Canadian radio content. There are often all sorts of IP/Geographic blocks or very complicated interfaces that require complex setups. I stumbled upon the Tunein Radio plugin and it seems to be working very well. It has several ways of searching including a geography based catalogue of stations that has all the stations I was looking for.
PLUGIN RECOMMENDATION: TuneIn Radio Time

The Search for the best Family Application

We have recently adopted Android based mobile phones for the family (4 months ago).  Ever since, we have been searching for the best shopping list/to-do list application.  We have some requirements that are essential to making our life more organised and coordinated:

1. Applications must have a simple interface
2. In addition to the Application there must be a web interface
3. One must be able to sync with the web and across multiple phones

I think these are pretty reasonable expectations and pretty common for a family that uses smart phones.

Here are the applications we've tried:

FAMJAMA  (-1)
This site is full of promise, but at the time that we used it, it was flawed and difficult to use.  There were tonnes of interface problems and the built-in calendar feature required a different application.  There was no Famjama application for Android at the time and it relied on the web interface.  This later point was not so much an issue because it ensured that everything was easily synchronised. 


GROCERY GADGET (0)
Another promising application that is available in Android form and with a website.  In the Pro form there are many nice things like multiple lists, a family group across which you can share lists and a master list of things that have been placed on a list so that they are easily added again.  Also nice to have is a built in bar code scanner.  The big problem is the complexity of the interface and the issues with synchronising.  It became very difficult to update the website and all phones, to the point that we no longer use it.

OUT OF MILK (+1)
This is the application that we are using now and from our preliminary tests, seems to be the answer we have been looking for.  There is no family group, but the lists are so easily shared that this is not an issue.  Synchronisation is almost instantaneous and it incorporates google voice recognition as a method for adding to lists.

Out of Milk is the recommendation that I recommend and use.

Finally

Finally, it is done!  I have made FLAC work on Media Centre!  I have always been able to get FLAC to work on my desktop, but for some reason I always had a hard time getting everything to work on the HTPC.

If you are not familiar with this format, check it out.  It is a lossless format that is completely open source and relatively small in size.  It works great with WINAMP and VLC, and is worth converting to, or switching to.

Here are the useful links:

The Tutorial:  FLAC Music playback in Windows Media Center 

The CODEC: Directshow Filters

The PlugIn:  WMP Tag Plus 

HTPC Upgrade

This was the easiest upgrade ever!  I switched out the LGA775 processor with another more powerful processor (Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0 Ghz)  Things are working quite well.  It was a simple swap and CMOS wipe followed by some Windows Updates.  No new system and no hiccups.  The most annoying thing was that I had to use my HDMI projector to configure the BIOS as my normal mini touch screen is USB based so will not work until its drivers are loaded- after the BIOS. 

NEXT:  Get FLAC working on that machine.  It has been an ongoing nightmare to get working.

New Build Continued

The board has flashed up and is running well.  The only casualty has been the CPU heatsink fan.  Luckily I had an old Sythe Ninja heatsink with a dead fan.  I've jury-rigged that beast with an old case fan and it is now working well within normal parameters.  All is good.

A picture will be forthcoming when the last 4 GB of RAM arrives in the mail tomorrow.    It looks pretty rad.