Docandersen&#039;s Blog

Review – and discussion on cellular boosters

I bought the portable Wilson Cellular Antenna booster for both cars about 5 months ago. I’ve had one in the house for awhile (we live out of the city so reception isn’t always the best) and a portable one from Wilson before (that is now the basement antenna). So I was intrigued by the new antennas and decided to pick two up.

I have seen a consistent 20-25% increase in overall cellular reception with both windows mobile 6.5 and Windows Phone 7
I have fewer dropped calls (although the last one I had was actually with T-Mobile which kind of makes me laugh now).
Data connectivity is much stronger (but how much of that is Windows Phone 7?)

Installation:

Easy and simple
unbox, place charger in the cigarette lighter
Run antenna to outside your car
Plug unit in
Watch for green light
start talking!

Usage:

It connects to the cellular antenna and broadcasts that in your car so the usage is simple and easy. For the home – it covers about 1200 square feet effectively and I highly recommend the internal antenna which has boosted our signal significantly.

All in all the two different Wilson boosters I have are a great addition if you have weak cellular signals at home or travel in the car a lot.

.doc

What does it mean to read someone’s blog?

January 29, 2011doandersen

Long day yesterday (5 am GMT – to 9:30 pm EST so figure roughly 21 hours in a row with limited sleep.)

I am up and running today but I can feel the jet lag.

From the nearly 1700 blogs I’ve written I have managed to talk about everything that came to me when I was thinking about what to say. I have presented concepts and ideas that burst forth from my brain (some of which are pretty scary). I have reviewed products, I have commented on the thoughts and ideas of others.

I’ve talked about jet lag and listening. Politics and places, things and objects and people. Its interesting (I reviewed a few of my blogs last week in London for inspiration – it was a long week).

I’ve had 32 emails/comments saying how do you post everyday. (well sometimes you post about posting)…

I’ve had over 250 comments.

Each comment is a pearl that both reflects and refracts what I am talking about – all of them precious to me.

I am honored that my daughter reads my blog.
I am honored by each person that reads my thoughts and ideas. There are many people that touch me via my blog and that means something to me. People sometimes come up to me as say I read your blog. It is truly a gift from you to me, thank you.

Time to take a break.

.doc

Change is in the air

January 28, 2011doandersen

Today is the first day of the electronic revolution. Electronic or E-books sold more than regular paperback books last quarter. It is the first day of the new world order Smile

Not being a snot or anything, I suspect most pundits and critics saw a time when this would happen. E-Books have been growing quarter after quarter and everything else has been shrinking.

Many people have the ebook readers now (I’ve tried the Kindle and the Nook (software only) and find them easy to use and carry with you.

But now its official.

So what is the next gadget that will replace something physical? It is my assumption that newspapers and magazines will be assimilated into the e-book craze. So its not that, I wonder what the next great change is going to be.

It is so wonderful to live in interesting times!

.doc

Is the reality of the media age created, intentional or perhaps too much?

January 27, 2011doandersen

The media lens…

I have been thinking about a couple of things lately (Private Cloud and I am sure that one will come up again) and the concept of the media.

When I was a kid I suspect professional athlete’s did some level of the drugs that athlete’s of today do now. I say this so as to allay some concerns about my idealizing the world of 30 years ago. I do not in fact idolize that time.

But I do wonder if perhaps the media lens we’ve turned on those athlete’s (and politicians/actors etc.) may be a bit too much. I can’t help thinking about the number of mistakes I would make if camera’s followed me virtually everywhere.

There is a horrible feeling of why me, why now sometimes that we get in life when we run into someone we really aren’t prepared to run into. Imagine having to live in a glass house where in fact you are going to run into that person, EVERY DAY. Possibly running into that person 10-12 or more times that day.

I guess I have come to the conclusion that the lens should perhaps turn upon itself for a time to evaluate itself. That any news agency publishing information about others, should also openly publish information about its own failures, following its own employees home and catching them unaware as they wander out of the house in the morning to get the newspaper.

The lens is a little tight guys – time to loosen up!

.doc

A few architecture random thoughts

January 26, 2011doandersen

A few random architecture thoughts:

We need a pattern’s podcast that focuses on a pattern each week and takes a deep dive into its use and process. Call it architects on architects.
How about a pattern’s blog focused on the use and reuse of patterns and the IP around them
I would love a functionality roadmap tool – integrating some of the value add of MindManager from Mindjet, but allowing for greater linkage within functionality. IE to do this you need this and this in place and operating first.
A tool built to take requirements and map them through the entire architecture as a stand along application you can use. The end state of this tool would be a traceability matrix.

Some of this stuff exists somewhere and I have just not run across it, but the beauty of random thoughts is well they are random.

.doc

To cloud or not to cloud is not even the question :-)

January 25, 2011doandersen

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about the concept of “private cloud” lately. The concept is often presented as “rip” your current solution out as is and dump it into a data center managed by another organization.

Value:

Increased operational efficiency (the team now managing your solution in theory manages many other solutions and has a broader view)
Decreased cost over time
First step towards “cloud” enabling your business

The problem is the last bullet, that it is the first step towards cloud enabling your business.

That is the debate that I have been having with myself for more than 6 months now. I have come to the conclusion that the first two are very good reasons but the third is actually weak.

I believe that in fact a Private Cloud “porting” I won’t call it a migration will in fact delay the “Cloud” enabling of an application set rather than enable it.

That is my initial thinking, more coming!

.doc

Creating a traveling office

January 24, 2011doandersen

Over the years I have traveled so much that I’ve had to spend time thinking about how do you make traveling easier. What devices do you have to have for easier travel?

Top Devices:

Netbook
MP3 Player
Video Camera to call home
Laptop
Sling Device
Cradle point Wi-FI router
Portable scanner and printer
Smart Phone

Top Software Packages

Connectify (instant hotspot) with a windows 7 laptop!
Office 2010 (productivity)

Its amazing how long the list really is (and in the end how much stuff you still have to carry with you (or maybe that is just me). The amount of gear you have to carry is less now than it was, but there are a number of things you need for comfort when traveling for more than a week!

.doc

On the way out of town

January 23, 2011doandersen

Is there a worse for you (but taste good food) then McDonald’s hash browns?

I will be traveling during the game today – so GO BEARS!

When I travel – I remember how much I love the Kindle! Its really nice to have 8 or more hours of entertainment options so that I am not stuck watching whatever movie they provide for the flight.

The other thing however about traveling is leaving home.

Lots of things to figure out.

So adieu for now…

.doc

Some solution thinking

January 22, 2011doandersen