The script is as follows:

• Load 10 predetermined websites (the same websites were used for every phone).  We will load each website 5 times each.
• Watch a YouTube video at least 30 min in length (same video used for all phones)
• Listen to a playlist of music that is stored on the phone.  Music is played at max volume through the attached speaker.  Playlist was allowed to play for 30 minutes and the same playlist was used by all phones.
• Make 10 phone calls, each 1 minute in length.  The calls used the speakerphone with the phone placed face up on the desk.  The same number was called for each of the 10 calls.
• Play video game for 10 minutes (vary by phone)
• Take 10 pictures at the highest resolution in common on all phones
• Take a 20 minute video at 720p resolution
• Use the GPS to navigate a short road trip.  The trip was just a few miles and we used the same trip for all phones.  Note that we were not doing turn by turn as some of the phones doesn’t support that natively.  During this trip we will be bluetooth streaming some music to our truck radio.
• And our last test is to load each of the 10 websites we used in test #1 twice using our 3G connection (non-wifi)

I love WordPress.  Really there isn’t a better blogging platform on this platform.  It’s that good.  And I’ve been using it to self-host my blog for the past year or so.  For awhile, I hosted it using II6 on WHS v1.  That was a real pain as it took several days to find a URL rewriting solution that worked with IIS6.  The past few months I’ve been hosting it on my Windows 7-based media center.  Since that runs IIS7, URL rewriting was easier using the standard URL rewrite module.

A few days ago I decided to test out WHS “Vail”.  After installing it, I wanted to move my blog onto it so I downloaded the Microsoft Web Platform Installer.  It promptly let me know that it couldn’t find any products in my selected language.  Huh?  This is what drives people crazy about Windows software.  Crap just doesn’t make sense sometimes.

I googled and found several links describing how to manually setup WordPress on Windows Server 2008 but each of them had about 30 steps.  Sheesh.  I was about to punt back to media center when I remembered trying out XAMPP a few months back.

Man, this thing is beautiful.  I downloaded the installer, double clicked it, and watched it dump Apache, MySQL, and a bunch of other stuff into c:xampp.  It then brought up this nice UI where I could enable Apache and MySQL as a service and start them.

A simple file copy of my wordpress folder to the c:xampphtdocs, a copy of my wordpress mysql database to c:xamppmysqldata and create the proper username in mysql and I was set.  That only other thing I had to do was to open the appropriate holes in my Windows firewall.  Five minutes and I was done!  Windows may be pretty awesome but XAMPP is pretty awesome too.

I’m writing this under Windows 7 but I’m typing it into the web UI.  I’ll likely hang out in OS/X a bit more as I have some video editing I need to do and iMovie just blows away any free products on Windows.

I signed up for Mint several months ago but they just recently added my bank so I can manage my checking and savings accounts.  The charts are great.  The quick links that show my spending in a given category are nice.  And the budget tracking and alerts are awesome.  They also recently added a feature that allows you to manually add a “pending” transaction.  This is part of what I needed to fully move.  The other thing was the ability to “reconcile” transactions against the bank.  This is where the workaround comes in.

The way mint works is that you login and then it downloads transactions from your bank and shows you all non-pending transactions along with your current balance.  Seeing my current balance is nice but I also want to see money spent on things that have not cleared yet such as bills paid or large expenditures I just made.  This is where the manual add comes in.

To reconcile your receipts to the bank you have to be a little clever.  You have to use the tags feature of Mint.  First, create a new tag called ‘Checked’.  You can call it whatever you like but I thought ‘Checked’ sounded good.  Then you need to apply the ‘Checked’ tag to all of your transactions that you are satisfied are correct.  My guess, at this point, is that is all of them.

The next thing is to understand that when new transactions come in they have no tags applied.  So, to see all transactions that are ‘not checked’ then you simply need to do a search.  Enter this in the search box -tag:Checked.  That means find me all transactions that are not checked.  Then, compare each one with the receipts you have and apply the checked tag appropriately.

It’s actually very easy.  Now you have the power of mint with the ability to add pending transactions and reconcile your account with your receipts.  Nice.

So far what’s the verdict?  Well, there are some things I really like and some things I don’t.  Here’s a breakdown of the software I was using on Windows, what I’m using on Mac, and if it’s better or worse.

• HydraIRC is  a great Windows IRC client.  On the Mac I’m using Colloquy and I must say I prefer Colloquy.  It’s faster to connect and has a better default profile for notifying you when things happen.  With HydraIRC you could easily miss a PM. Not going to happen with Colloquy.
• Skype is skype
• I use Digsby for IM, Facebook, and Twitter on Window.  On the Mac, I’m using Adium for IM and Facebook and Twhirl for twitter.  This is a push.  I prefer how Adium handles conversations but prefer Digsby for twitters.
• Use Chrome for browsing on both but I have to say that I prefer Chrome on Windows.
• I love how Apple Mail handles mail.  The keyboard interface is great and the find is awesome.  Much better than Thunderbird. I also love the LDAP integration with Address Book (seeing my co-workers pictures in mail is great)
• iMovie is GarageBand is better than anything at the same price on Windows
• iPhoto is ok

I still plan on finishing my 30 day experiment.  Will I stay on OS/X after the experiment is over?  I doubt it.  There’s simply not enough ‘can’t live without’ features on OS/X to justify the pain.  Ok, back to work.

I have access to both Windows 7 and Macs.  I’ve been a Windows developer for a long time but with the improvements made in virtual machine solutions I’ve started doing most of my development work in vms.  I find it refreshing to keep all my development work sandboxed in a system that I can easily take and rollback snapshots as needed.  I recently ran some winsat checks on my native box (a Core i7 rig with 8gigs DDR3 memory) and a virtual machine configured to use all 8 cpus.  The results were nearly identical with the virtual machine turning in 95% performance on cpu tests and beating the host system in disk tests (the vm was using a 80gig file as a disk).

So, since the VM is giving me enough performance to do my work I am really free to use whatever I like as a host system.  So, here I am preparing to embark on a fun adventure.

I”m going to use Snow Leopard (in 64 bit mode) for 30 days while doing my Windows work in a VM.  I don’t intend to run back to Windows for anything during that time as I really want to force myself to use OS/X.  During this time I’ll blog frequently about issues I’m facing, things I like, things I don’t like, and work arounds I’ve found.

So, to get started here’s what my day normally looks like on the computer.

• Lots of development work on Windows (Visual Studio 2008 and 2010)
• IRC/Skype chatting with friends and co-workers
• Email with co-workers
• Using Google calendar to manage my day to day activities
• Editing Word/Excel/Powerpoint documents (these are more rare these days but they do happen)
• Watching recorded tv shows from my Media Center HTPC
• Watching shows from NetFlix and Hulu
• Listening to music from Pandora, Slacker, Sky.FM, and personal music collection
• Blog reading/writing
• Facebook and twitter’ing

Well, wish me luck.

Our tax system has always been progressive.  That’s really not an appropriate term to describe it because what it really means is that our government takes money from those who have it and gives it to those who don’t.  If you make less than $20,000 per year then you likely pay no income taxes at all.  (please note here that income taxes are completely different than taxes like social security).  If you make more than $200,000 per year then you get taxed very heavily.  Seems fair right? 

Before I go too much farther I want to make sure you understand me completely.  There are real and legitimate reasons to take tax money and give it to the poor and needy.  It is certainly not in our country’s best interest to have people homeless and without food and shelter.  But what about the lady we’ve all seen in the grocery line that pays for milk and orange juice with food stamps and then plops a $20 down for a pack of cigs?   What about that uncle you found out lost his job and is not looking for a new one because ‘he can make just as much on unemployment’?  We’ve all seen them and we all know them.

Now, how would that lady or that uncle behave differently if instead they had to ask their neighbors (who apparently have more money) for their weekly stipend?  Well, they wouldn’t ask.  Why?  Because we are all cowards.  We stand behind our government while it robs those who have more and gives it to us.  Those who get government handouts (and yes they are all handouts) have a moral responsibility to work their a** off to quit taking the handouts.  But as long as they can stand in the shadows and let their government do the dirty work, that’s not going to change.

Am I suggesting that we just turn away from our poor and needy?  Nope.  Our government could run a very effective tax system that is fair for all and funds handouts for those who need it.  But is the federal government really the one who should be involved here?  I’ll get to that next time.

Now quit reading this blog and go get a job! 

I have 4 kids and I’ve tried to raise them with good old-fashioned family values.  Be true to your word, stand on your own two feet, and worship your God. Still I’ve heard my kids talk about the ‘government’s money’.  Recently we were talking about some project that Washington was thinking about funding (don’t remember which one) and one of my kids said that she thought the government should pay for it.  So as President Obama would say, I used that moment as a teaching moment.

I asked my daughter if she wanted to pay for it or if she wanted me to pay for it.  She said of course not, she wanted the government to pay for it.  I explained to her that the government has no money.  All of the money the government spends comes from the citizens through some form of taxes. 

Of course some items are necessary.  We need interstate roads, military defense, and international trade just to name a few.  On the local level I certainly want the police, fire department, or EMTs to show up when I call 911.  There are very legitimate uses of our money.  But I explained to my daughter that the next time you hear of the government wanting to spend money, just ask yourself if you would want to chip in and  help pay for that.  If not, then the government shouldn’t be doing it either.

And this is what the liberals in this country just can’t grasp.  I was watching a recent episode of The Daily Show that had Bill Kristol on as a guest.  Near the end, Jon was very smugly asserting that since the US can run a quality healthcare system (the VA) then every citizen deserves the same.  What he, of course, will not talk about is how that is paid for.  Of course our government _could_ provide world class healthcare for everyone.  Heck, it could do it completely free of charge.  Just walk in to the doctor’s office, flash your medical card, and get what you need.  But who pays for that?  As we just learned the government has no money.  So who pays for it?  Your neighbors pay for it.   Your neighbors pay for it through increased taxes.

And that, my friends, is why we are all cowards.  More on that tomorrow…