inner happiness and outer space

Hello everyone. Today, my father and I installed my new Bose Companion 3 speakers. Things went more smoothly regarding getting the desk up onto small bricks than I expected. Nothing even slid on the desk surface or lower shelf. So far, it seems to be quite stable. The speakers themselves produce very good sound especially taking their small size into consideration. Things seem much more balanced than with the Logitech X540 set of surround sound speakers. The sub-woofer just overpowered the other speakers too heavily no matter how you tweaked it. Also, I could never really get the rear speakers situated very well. The virtual surround simulation feature of my soundcard is actually producing better results with these speakers. Apparently, they'll sound even better once they've been used a while. It's a phenomenon called "burn-in" where components need to be worn in like a new pair of shoes. A lot of reviewers talked about that. I presume I'll be adjusting the bass compensation over the next while as that happens. I don't need the desk as far out from the wall now since the sub-woofer fits under the desk and fires forward as opposed to downward. Music sounds a ton better through these speakers. So do games.

The cell phone is also up and working. I've gotten a pay-as-you-go plan. We'll see how the economics of that work out over the next while. The setup was quite easy as things turned out. I got the simcard for free. The plan is to receive calls on the cell phone and then call people back using Skype. I can call anywhere in North America on Skype at no cost. Theoretically, despite how expensive cell phone calls are at 25 or even 15 cents per minute, I should do alright. It'll also be handy to have when I'm away from home provided I remember to take it with me. That'll take a while to get used to. One thing's for damned sure. When I'm out visiting, the phone will be off. I refuse to be one of those idiots who brings proceedings to a halt so somebody can take time I've already decided to spend with others. Doubtless, many of my contemporaries would think that a very Victorian and curmudgeonly stance but well, there you have it. Just because it might be possible to be in contact with everyone all the time doesn't always make it a good idea.

Regarding the new version of Internet Explorer, that hasn't worked out so well. It keeps freezing up on me after a while. I ended up reverting to IE7. None of the new features appealed to me all that much. So much has to do with consolidating all the information you zip around the Internet for into one screen or page. Sounds like a real good way to get comfortably stuck in a rut to me. Yet another dismal sign of how much people are packing into their lives so they have no time to look around for new possibilities. Firefox might be the next move for me but I'll wait a little while and see if they fix things given the not so positive feedback they seem to be getting. I know, damn it! I'm an incurable optimist.

The space shuttle seems to have landed alright. I caught that earlier this afternoon and it sounded pretty neat. They seem to have had quite a good mission this time around. One of these days, I wouldn't mind checking out a physical model of the international space station and having a better sense of what it felt like. I've read a lot of dismal commentary of what a waste all this effort in space is. Frankly, I hope they discover a nice mass-time-travel device so we can send all of those folks mor short-sighted than me back to the stone age they seem to cherish so much. The moment we stop exploring new horizons both artistic and real as a species, we stagnate. I got a pretty good taste of what that kind of life was like after Rebecca and I separated. It took something close to five months to pull myself out of the dead space I inhabited. Certainly, life suddenly got a whole lot easier and less costly in physical terms. However, there was nobody new to see. Nowhere I had any inclination to go. There was working on the guide but I already had a sense of where that had to go. Those idiots are gravely mistaken if they think that money saved by abandoning outer space would automagically ease this world's problems. How many billions have been chucked at the poorer countries of Earth? How many ads have I heard about the plight of African's, the poor of India, the homeless right here in Canada and the US? Things only make a difference when good people approach them with truly good attitudes and intentions. Even in that circumstance, due to the short-sighted idiots in said countries or helping said people, a lot of the money gets misspent or downright stolen. They see a chance to improve their own lives quickly and obscenely in comparison to those around them and don't contemplate what a better life everyone could have if the lives of everyone around them improved just a little.

Space exploration inspires good people to think in new directions. It keeps our minds open and even by changing the single constant of gravity, opens up new potential discoveries. They were looking at bacteria up there and a load of those experiments have just arrived back for scientists here to look over. Remember that salmonella outbreak a while back? What if some observations made in the new environment of space lead to breakthroughs in dealing with that? The space program has certainly already given us better construction materials and computers. How many improved or saved lives would make the money spent on space worth it in their eyes?

Sorry about that rant, folks. I just get frustrated when I see all these negative comments on the CBC site right below any article discussing what goes on in space. There's too much damned negativity in the world. Happily, I have it on good authority from a psychologist on DNTO that happiness leads to greater creativity and more openness to possibilities. Take that, Darth Vader! I, for one, am pretty happy all in all. Good friends, good family, a lovely betrothed and new possibilities in life are things I'm very thankful for. On that happy note, I believe I'll sign off for now.

a nifty weekend

Hello everyone. It's Monday morning again. I've just had quite a nifty weekend. There was so much going on that I'm glad to be able to relax today and tomorrow. My grandmother came over for a visit. She's doing quite well and it was good to see her again. Her hearing might be dropping off a little but not too much thank goodness. Other than that, she sounds as healthy as ever. I showed her the netbook and she was amazed at how small it was.

Friday night, Janene and I went over to her friend Barry's house. He does this Barry Kirkey Show those of you who read peoples' comments to the blog will have seen mensionned. Not to cause anybody's cranium to rupture, but the best way to concisely describe it that I can think of is like a radio morning show served anal side up with generous helpings of smut and indecency. Definitely not recommended for parents or children. The anxt of the young adult single male writ large and with little heed to future consequences. Paradoxically, what little contact I've had with a few people involved in this group seem quite decent and thoughtful folks. They just seem to need this kind of bestial commic releaf. It certainly made for an interesting and darkly fun night out for Janene and I. Not something I'd do very often. I tend to be pretty conservative about publicly discussing sexual matters and such. Doubtless, most audience members found me quite dull.

Barry is one of those people who you can just tell are very loyal, caring and considerate despite themselves. Those who take the time to get to know him rather than judging him by his cover will come to realise that. Sadly, there are a great number of people in this world who refuse to take a closer look at people who are at all unusual. They lose out on a wonderfully unpredictable, quirky and refreshing dimension to life. They'll grow old fast because they fail to see the true value of childhood play and aspects of it. He has the strong whiff of antihero about him. You can never be certain which way he'll go or what he'll say next. The fatherly part of me wanted to reach out, tap him on the shoulder, and say something excrutiatingly paternalistic. "Come now. You have so much potential that could be far better directed to good purpose." or some such nonsense. That wouldn't be fare at all. He and his audience are just coming at life from a different angle than I am. They've had a lot more worldly experience while I've had a lot more time to absorb and reflect on things like self-identity. I can see how Janene thinks of him as a kind of younger brother. His girlfriend seems to be secure enough in her own identity to not mind him making a crass fool of himself. Barry's co-host is a good friend who I expect will stick by him through any rough weather which might happen should Barry take things too far with his show one day. Sadly, I believe that's a distinct possibility when you're pushing hard at all the social boundaries. Barry also tends to use voiceclips out of context so don't take anything you hear me say on the show or future ones seriously.

Saturday was extremely busy. Dad and I went out first thing in the morning to grab some beer. We also picked up a set of Bose Companion 3 speakers which were on sale at Futureshop. I think they'll be far better and easier to manage once I've moved in with Janene. I've never been comfortable with the idea of speaker wires trailing across an apartment floor. Also, over the years, I have yet to be in a situation where it's possible to actually position two rear speakers correctly. Having them not lined up right doesn't do wonders particularly while playing sound-based games. Also, having a sub-woofer which fires downward may annoy people below. The Bose Companion 3 speakers certainly have a high-quality feel to them. Their sub-woofer fires forward into the room so it should keep things somewhat more contained. There was just one little problem. The sub-woofer wouldn't fit under my desk as I had been positive it would. My estimation of the hight off the ground of my desk's shelf and the top of the sub-woofer was off by perhaps two centametres. Damnably annoying. Dad has thought of a very good solution but I was so positive he wouldn't have to at all.

Later that afternoon, we went over to my brother Dan's house to baby-sit Ava and Amia. It was the first time my grandmother had seen them in quite a while and we all had quite a good time. Amia is getting very quick and quite adept at grabbing things she wants. You really have to stay sharp. I let her check out my flexible keyboard as it seemed to interest her. She didn't seem curious about anything else in my netbook bag like Ava is. Neither of them pay attention to any one thing for very long. Ava did watch a show on Treehouse for a while but really wanted to go off with her gramma downstairs. Her great grandmother was completely overwelmed by the number of toys the kids have down there.

Saturday evening was spent in the new Keg in Waterdown where my brother is a bar manager. It was what they call a dry run where they iron out any remaining kinks before opening to the general public. They have friends and relatives come in and have a meal with some of the proceeds going to charity. Things went quite well overall. The only slight disaster was when our server spilled some wine on my father and I. The poor guy felt so bad about it. I felt bad for him but couldn't help a touch of dark amusement. Usually, I'm the one who accidentally knocks glasses over. It was refreshing, in more ways than one, to hear somebody else do that. As things turned out, they did a masterful job of making amends. We ended up getting a new choice of dinners which were better suited to our tastes. Not that it would have been easy to go very wrong eating pretty much anything at the Keg. The food was good to the tenth power as it tipically is. The conversation was also excellent. I got to hear more about Mom and Dad's younger days for one thing. The stark contrast between Friday and Saturday night was sharp enough to cut through steak with. Dan and the staff as a whole did a very good job as far as I could tell from my auditory vantage point. Dan really hit his stride checking up on people and making certain things went well. It was the first time I really got to hear him at work like that.

Sunday was busy as well. We went out to take my grandmother to my aunt Kae's house in Bright. She seems to be doing quite well. They'll be going on some sort of bus trip together soon before my grandmother returns to Winnipeg. Heading home afterwards, we had a nice relaxing afternoon. Mom and Dad certainly needed it and I was also glad of the lull. I took in a couple of movies. Namely, The Fantastic Four and the sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer. I wasn't certain what I'd make of comicbook adaptations having never read any. However, I found a depth of character I wasn't at all expecting. There wasn't as much of a dark gritty edge as in the case of Batman Begins. The premise was also somewhat more far-fetched. Certainly an enjoyable few hours all in all.

Another fantastic bit of news this weekend was hearing from a kind lady who is donating her accessible cellphone to me. It has been made especially for blind people and doesn't have all the bells and whistles I didn't want like Internet browsing and a camera. I merely wanted something I could call and possibly send text messages with and this phone does all that with all the menus and functions speaking. These phones aren't at all inexpensive and I deeply appreciate this lady's generocity. It was a terrific stroke of fortune that I happened to attend the same accessibility chat as she did last week. With everything going on in life these days, I'm far from a regular atendee. Now, I just have to figure out which GSM network provider to go with. That's one of the things I'll be working on this week.

Janene and I ended the weekend by having dinner together at Swiss Chalet. She ended up relaxing for most of the weekend and seems much better for having done so. It was good to do that and then have her over afterwards to visit with my parents and I. She'll likely be busier next weekend with school work. The pressure isn't quite over on that front. I guess I'll be catching up on news from CSUN as well as examining this new version of Internet Explorer more thoroughly. So far, it's working quite well for me but other people have apparently not been so lucky there. I'm not using all the new features so I hope there's less chance of my encountering snags with the basics.

a gps walkabout

Hello again everyone. My mobility instructor Ray and I just went on an impromptu GPS excursion. I now have routes recorded to the corner store from home as well as to the bus stop. I just have to do a little cleaning up of extra landmarks. We learned quite a bit about the Trekkor Breeze today. Ray and I both thought it would be worth-while to record my impressions for others.

For the most part, the Breeze will announce landmarks when you're fairly close to them. However, the ten-meter radius of error is large enough to make for some possible missed turns and could certainly put you in your neighbour's driveway. It will often announce things a fair number of steps before you come to them or after you've passed them. Humanware was quite serious when it says that you should be basically familiar with the area you're in. For instance, I know that I'm the second house down from the nearest corner. From that corner, I go up two driveways on my right side and that one will be my parents' home. If I didn't know that, the Breeze would be absolutely useless at guiding me back home. Don't expect it to be all that precise with street numbers. It says I'm near a street address that Ray couldn't even spot from where we were. There may not even be a 5789 Montevideo Road. I think there may be something wrong with the backtracking feature when you use it to reverse your steps. It's probably meant more for when you're in exploration mode rather than on a route. We tried it and it got me pretty well back to where we started alright. However, it failed to notify me of its success. In fact, it started to think we were moving farther and farther away the longer we stood still at the correct place.

One thing to always bear in mind is that the Breeze won't always know precisely where you are at all times. When you hear it make a slight dong sound and announce the street it thinks you're on, that's when it's updating the fix it has on where you are. People may find that annoying but the more I hear it, the more I can trust its directions. The satelites are constantly moving above you and sometimes, you have to just wait in one spot for it to zero in on you again. It can sometimes seriously lose track of you. One thing I thought we should do was to see how it would direct me back home from the corner store. It doesn't know about the shortcut path that I use to get there so I knew it would take me on a completely unfamiliar route. Ray knew the area enough so that I could trust we wouldn't be out there for ages. He too was curious to see how the GPS would do in such a crisis when one were hopelessly turned about and lost. I told it to guide me home and it warned me that it might guide us on unfamiliar paths. Ray's first impression wasn't a good one as it sent me onto what he thought was a crazy and much longer route. However, we decided to follow it and off we went. It did a pretty good job of telling me enough about intersections and crossings. However, there were several instances when it lost track of how far I had gotten. The Breeze certainly did take us on an unfamiliar and circuitous walk home. One thing people should do is to wait around a minute or two at any intersections to give the Breeze a chance to be certain of where you are if you're in unfamiliar surroundings. Otherwise, it might still have an older instruction as the current one and that could send you in a wrong direction. If you go off-route, it will eventually correct you once it figures out where you are again. As long as you do that, the Breeze should get you to your destination. However, it may not notice that it has done so right away. We had to wait around a minute and a half before it finally figured out that we were home and announced that fact. Make certain you're not in any kind of hurry when you travel with the Breeze and will be relying on its guidance rather than your personal familiarity with a given route. You've really got to have good mobility skills in terms of cane technique and safety. Having said all that, it did indeed manage to get me back home again. The Breeze is certainly going to be good to have as a guide of last appeal in such situations as long as I'm not in a rush. You just have to get a good mental grasp on its limitations and quirks. It was certainly interesting to try something totally new like that. Once it's gotten somewhat warmer out there, I'll probably go out for more walks with the Breeze and perhaps do a bit of cautious exploration.

Rogers, the internet provider I currently use, has just decided to throw another curve my way. As of the middle of next month, my Internet phone service will be discontinued. As a result, since I'm going to be moving in another five or six months, I'm going to be unexpectedly thrust into the world of cellphones. Now folks, I don't really want any of these advanced features like texting and web access. I just want a simple cell phone which is relatively inexpensive and easy to destinguish the keys on. I'm just going to use it for receiving calls and making the odd call. Mostly, I'll be using Skype. I have the jaws scripts for Skype4 installed and have purchased a subscription which gives me free calls anywhere in North America. All I couldn't ultimately get was an online number for people to call. Everything else is splendid with Skype but they don't have online numbers which people can call available in Canada. What a pain! Snarl! That's the only reason I'm getting a cellphone although it will likely come in handy if I do more travelling. Also, I'll be able to take it when I move and keep the new number. Having said all that, if anybody has recommendations about good simple cellphones which don't cost hundreds and where I can use a "pay as you go" plan, I'd be much abliged to you for sharing them.

illness and idleness

Hello everyone. The past month or so has been fairly uneventful other than a nasty cold or flu. It started out as a mildly annoying cough which I didn't take very seriously. However, it has since turned into quite a monster. Sadly, I gave it to Janene and pretty much wrecked her week's vacation. She seems to be getting over it now but it certainly took a while. For me, it stayed mild for longer and gradually transformed from a cough into a more orchestrated campaign to make me miserable. I've generally found myself fairly lethargic and unable to get very much done. My nose has been quite plugged over the past week and a bit to the point where I couldn't even taste what I was eating. My head has felt absolutely stuffed at times and my hearing has also been effected. Everything sounds more distant and fuzzy. The cough has also returned so that now I have the plugged nose and cough in tandom. You'd think whatever this bug is would have gotten bored with me and moved on by now. Mom has also gotten a cold. Thankfully, she still had a good vacation. Dad also thinks he has the flu and stayed home today. I guess it could be the varient the flu shot didn't protect against.

Not being able to muster a lot of creative energy, I've been doing a whole lot of listening lately. All sorts of shows, documentaries, podcasts and speaker reviews. I'm looking at purchasing a good set of 2.0 or 2.1 speakers if the sub-woofer is small enough. The only 2.1 system I'm considering at the moment is the Bose Companion 3. Dad took me out to Futureshop last Friday and I was at last able to feel the speakers I had been reading about. The Logitech Z2300 has a very large sub-woofer. That was disappointing as it had come out very well in the reviews. Currently, I'm thinking of either going with that or with the Creative Gigaworks T40. The TV highlight of the past while is definitely History Television's Urban Legends show. Having to figure out which of the stories is true has proved to be very entertaining indeed. Another show on Spike called 1000 Ways to Die appeals to my darker side and to the part of me which values the bizarre events of the world. Voiceprint has gotten some of my time as has the CBC and BBC.

Janene came over yesterday and we went to a place called Score's which my father originally told me about and took me to last Friday. The service and food were just as good the second time. I could only taste my food some of the time but it was certainly good. It'll be nice to go back when I'm fully healthy and can more thoroughly enjoy it. They do excellent chicken and the service was fabulous.

a smigeon of life

Hello everyone. It's been a slow and relaxing weekend. This is a good thing since my sleeping seems to be out of whack again. I got up at around five o'clock yesterday and had a very disjointed sleep last night. Somehow, I seem to be getting enough sleep to still enjoy the days despite feeling like they're longer than they ought to be. We went to Hamilton to see my brother Dan and his family. Ava was out doing gymnastics so we mostly saw Dan and Amia. Mom and dad got some good time in with her while she was awake and happy. She constantly moves around to different things. In contrast, Dan actually got to sit and chat rather than chase his daughter every which way. It was good to talk with him about various things. Our conversation ranged from computers to how things were going to future plans. Dan feels very good about where he is in life at the moment with good reason. The economic troubles the world is experiencing shouldn't effect the restaurant business too much. People, he opines, will still go out and celebrate life. His employers seem very happy with his work. His computer is being very well-behaved and hasn't given them any trouble for quite some time now. He's got a Mac and an Iphone which he also seems most pleased with. Apparently, they have the game Rogue for the Iphone or Ipod now. I can't quite remember which. He remembers playing that game with me on the Eureka A4 back in my high school days. I have very fond memories of Rogue. It was infinitely random and loads of fun. If he gets it, I'll be interested to hear his observations on a game he originally could only hear me play. Now there's a nifty turnabout for you. When Ava and Alli got home, Amia became markedly less content. We think she feels left out but she's just too young to do gymnastics with her big sister. It won't be long though. She's certainly getting bigger and smarter.

The netbook kept me very well occupied during the trip. An update for the bios came out and it fixed that damned non-reversible mute button problem. I don't have to worry about accidentally rendering my little machine speechless and neither do other blind users if they get the latest bios update. The update utility is inaccessible with screen readers so sighted help is required. They've also improved the software controlling the fan. The 900HA still gets warm particularly while in super performance mode but it's definitely better than before. Still no solution or explanation for the problem I have running Winfrotztts. For some reason, the netbook just doesn't like that piece of software. Some kind of initialization error. At least I can play the classic interactive fiction games using Dosfrotz and NVDA. A very minor annoyance in an otherwise completely positive experience. The battery I ordered has arrived so I now have around eight to ten hours of battery life if I need it. Thankfully, unlike the rest of the Asus web site, their online store is very accessible and easy to use. If you need to buy batteries, chargers, or other items, go to:
http://estore.asus.com

There's been some very interesting listening on the Internet lately. A show called Thinking Aloud presented by the BBC looks at sociological subjects. The last show was about a professor who put computers into the sides of buildings in slum areas to see what the children there would do with the digital world when presented with it. They proved to be very resourceful indeed. Unfortunately, the email link to contact this professor failed to work for me. I wanted to express my appreciation for an experiment which will have very positive and far-reaching effects for these children. Computers and the Internet have certainly had a profound impact on my life. I can only imagine what effect such exposure will have on these young and very capable minds. Today, I listened to a show on Soundprint about a man who will soon be completely blind. Mr. Stuart went back to his home town in Ohio to see if this would alter his childhood memories of it. A fascinating exploration of how we can cherish and change our memories over the years. Also, the latest Serotalk podcast gave me the promise of some interesting listening over the next week. It seems the Atia convention, a major access technology event, is happening from the 28th to the 31st. The folks at Serotek are launching a new internet radio station and will be broadcasting live from there. If they even have half the fun they have with the podcasts, it'll be a very fun ride indeed. I keenly look forward to tuning in. If you'd also like to have a listen, go to:
http://radio.samobile.net/


Robert J. Sawyer is hosting a couple of new shows on Vision TV which start this week. I believe they're on Tuesday evening. I very much look forward to hearing those. If they pan out, it'll be good to finally have a couple of things to watch regularly on TV. To get all the details, check out the blog of this terrific author at:
www.sfwriter.com

Janene is coming over for dinner with us in a little while. Mom always does an excellent turkey dinner. A nice way to round out the weekend. We'll hang out afterwards and take in some TV with mom and dad which will hopefully be more interesting than the football we watched last time. The netbook certainly came in handy there as did mom's laptop and crossword book. It must have been strange for Janene to find that everyone including her was doing their own thing in the same room. It certainly felt strange to me. Next week looks pretty good. There ought to be lots of tech news of interest. I'll have another go with the Trekker Breeze and see how the landmarks I set last week behave. Perhaps, I'll go to the corner store for a chocolate bar or two. It's good not to have any more packages in transit to listen out for. The doorbell is pretty much impossible to hear from my room up here even with no other sound happening. Good to have everything here safe and sound. My review of all the travel gear I've assembled was just posted to Blindcooltech today. I hope people find it useful. I was interested to listen to a review of the 904HA from a guy who clearly likes to put machines through their paces. He was recording while playing a game while doing some pretty processor-intensive audio editing and it didn't even slow the netbook down. Amazing. Well, I guess that pretty much covers life currently. We'll see what happens with these crazy politicians of ours this week after a needlessly long cooling off period. I wouldn't be surprised if we have to go and vote *again*! I hope we get some kind of majority so that at least a fraction of these damned idiots will be able to get things done in stable fashion over the next while. It would have been better had they been able to just get along and do stuff instead of fighting like a pack of kids over the last while. Now, the best I can reasonably hope for is that one fraction of them gets enough power not to be on the brink of defeat. The Americans seem to have all the political luck. Admittedly, they've been sorely lacking in good leadership over the last eight years but they didn't need to grab all the political karma. I'll certainly follow President Obama's adventures closely. An actual idealist with a good dose of common sense and perspective. What will Washington actually let him accomplish? It'll be interesting times. That's for certain.

recent activities

Hello everyone. Yesterday, I noticed that Blind Planet, where I have published my guide and some other writing was having trouble again. This happens every so often. I have therefore taken the step of publishing my writing to this blog to make certain people can find it fairly easily should they want to. They may also comment upon it directly. Additionally, I posted a review of the new netbook I have obtained recently. This review has been sent to a couple of different magazines and I'm hopeful of getting it published. These netbooks could have some very welcome implications for cash-strapped blind people who want to take the plunge into the digital age but can't spend a fortune to do it. I hope my review will help to alert them to the existence of these nifty cheep machines. I also did another podcast for Blindcooltech where I reviewed all the new gear I've gotten focussing mainly on the netbook.

Finally, I worked up the resolve and fortitude to take another crack at ripping my BBC Sherlock Holmes collection to mp3 format so that I can take it with me on my netbook and play it on my pc rather than always digging into the box with sixteen volumes to find one out of the sixty-four cds I might want at any given moment. It was an absolute chore. I must have spent something like ten hours over the afternoon, evening and well into the next morning ripping cd after cd. This was my third major attempt to get this done. I ended up using Goldwave, my sound effects editor. Both Premier Accessible CD/DVD Creator and Windowsmedia Player failed miserably at the task. I can't for the life of me understand why pirates would go to such utter pains and then post the results up for other people to grab. Had I done this for anybody else but myself, I would have expected a good day's wages for my efforts. It's absolutely mind-bogglingly boring but you can never just assume that a cd has been done completely. It took three or four actions to get some of the cds completely. You always had to check the status report so you could get tracks which weren't saved due to errors. I hope I never have to do this again and will take great pains to make certain I have a backup. I'll also hang onto the CDs just in case. The collection is absolutely brilliantly dramatised and I have no doubt it'll come in handy on my travels. I'm not a big detective fan in general but Sherlock Holmes has always hit the spot very nicely for me. It's that victorian sense of companionship and adventure.

I guess the big TV switch will happen pretty soon now when everything's supposed to go over to digital. That could very well render my $65 TV completely useless. I'd certainly miss having a TV in my room should that turn out to be the case. However, I'm at the same time very curious to see how the switch goes, how qquickly everyone switches over, any backlash, etc. This change is going to effect so many households. I guess that fully accessible channel will be on the air by now. I can't get it with my basic cable but perhaps I'll be able to if there's a cheep way of switching to digital. I'll at least be able to check it out on my parents' TV assuming Rogers carries it. I'm pretty certain they're going to. I know Cogeco does so perhaps, there'll be something on of interest to both Janene and I assuming she has any time for TV now that school is starting up again. It always starts off lightly but that certainly doesn't last.

Asus Eee PC 900HA review

The Asus Eee PC 900HA Netbook
Reviewed From a Blindness Perspective
By Michael Feir
Score: 9/10

*** Introduction:

Over the holidays, I've invested a considerable amount of my savings in making travelling around with portable computing ready to hand a lot more feasible. Formerly, I had a full-sized laptop with the requisite large carrying case stuffed with other things I deem to be essential. It wasn't super--heavy but weighed enough to pull me somewhat off course when I wore it over my shoulder. Combine that with a bag to carry clothing for a weekend away and I'm a fairly bulky traveller even more prone to bump things than my total blindness makes me. Now that I'm contemplating doing more travel on busses and with my fiance, I needed to become more ready to move while still packing some computing punch.

Netbooks, those ultra-small laptops taking the sighted world by storm, seemed the perfect answer to my problem. I had originally hoped that prices of ten-inch models would fall within my range. However this didn't pan out quite as expected. I ended up being able to take a trip to Futureshop where they sell the Acer Aspire 1. Checking out its keyboard, I was quite surprised at how comfortable it was to use. That was my major reason for not contemplating 9-inch netbooks originally. My laptop is used for work as well as entertainment while I'm away and a comfortable keyboard is an absolute must. Speaking in a forum frequented by blind users, I ran into a trio of netbook owners who had opted for the 9-inch netbooks. One of them used the Acer Aspire 1 while the other two had Asus 900HA models. Obviously, given the title of this review, I opted for the latter choice. It was two to one for the 900HA. Another key consideration was that I had done enough research to know that Asus netbooks come with shortcut keys and system tray utilities which allow easy control of various power-saving features. I would have hated to get one of these things only to find I was unable to take full control of power-saving performance mode, disabling wifi and web cam, etc. The 900HA also came with a 160 gb hard drive. I ordered mine online for around $420 Canadian when you factor in shipping and such.

***Initial Impressions and Setup:

Opening the box, I was astonished to feel just how small and light the 900HA was without its battery. It's absurdly light. The battery comes separate from the computer and you have to insert it. This was literally a snap. It clicks into place and is then locked securely via a couple of sliding round locks on the bottom rear of the unit. Replacing the battery is absolutely child's play and requires no sight at all. The best comparison I can make to give you some idea of the size of the 900HA is to compare it to a fair-sized relatively thick paperback print book. It weighs 2.5 pounds including the battery. You can easily fit it into a purse or small carrying bag. I bought a great small carry all bag at Mountain Equipment Co-op:
www.mec.ca
The 900HA comes with its own soft zippered protective sleeve as well as an additional case feeling like velvet with a leather Velcro closing flap. These cases serve to cushion the netbook but have no handles or anything and no room for other items besides the netbook. I prefer the zippered soft sleeve.

On the bottom of the netbook, there are four little rubber-bottomed stubs which keep it slightly off the surface you place it upon. This is essential since the vents are located along the bottom along with the speakers. The screen lifts up as if you were lifting the cover of a book whose spine faced directly away from you. Well-built hinges keep the screen at the angle you choose to open it to. The keyboard is very small and you may well have some initial trepidation when you feel it for the first time. There are small bumps on the F and J keys to help you get your bearings. I'll come back to the keyboard later on.

Exploring the rest of the netbook, I had no trouble finding the socket for connecting the cord from the power brick. Three USB ports were easy to locate. Two on the right side and one on the left. Also on the left side are an Ethernet port near the very rear of the unit, a small vent near the middle and two audio jacks for headphone and microphone right near the front. Besides the two USB ports, the right side also sports an SD card reader near the front and a Kensington security lock port plus a SVGA port for hooking up an external monitor. The power button for turning on the 900HA is along the inside of the spine which runs along where the screen and main body of the netbook come together. Feel near the right end of that spine and you'll find a small indentation. Other than the battery, there isn't anything on the back of the netbook. For that matter, there are no ports or other things on the front of it either.

Turning the computer on for the first time, I was blown away by how quietly this little machine runs. You can hardly hear it at all even when the fan goes. Sound began to play soon after my father and I had started the machine. However, to my disappointment, I couldn't get NVDA to run until after my father helped me choose the initial options for language and other settings. You'll need sighted help in order to get up and running. However, within ten to fifteen minutes, we had progressed to the point where I could plug in my flash drive with the portable version of NVDA on it and I was the eager owner of a talking computer. In short order, I had gotten Jaws version 9 installed by copying the installation file over from the flash drive. Once it was going, the next order of business was to disable the damned built-in mouse. Those things are incredibly annoying to blind people until you can put them out of action. Fortunately, this is quite easy to do via the system tray. Go into the Elantech TouchPad item and into the Elantech tab and use the "stop device" option. After that, the TouchPad will be safely dormant but easy to turn back on should you need sighted assistance. From this point onward, customizing things to your liking is pretty standard stuff.

***The Keyboard:

And now, we come to the crux of things. Make no mistake about it. The keyboard is where the rubber hits the road. Purchasing a netbook of this small size means by definition that you're willing to make some sacrifices in the name of portability. The keyboard is about as small as you can get while still being reasonable to type on. It'll take a couple of weeks of regular use before the adjustments become second nature to you. I've had this computer around five days at the time of this writing and still have to pause and think in a few instances. The letters, punctuation and numbers are where they ought to be. However, the right shift key is a small key right above the right arrow beside the up-arrow. Slowly, this is becoming less annoying as I get used to positioning my hand being careful not to hit an arrow key while trying to shift a character on the left side of the keyboard. That's my only major gripe. Other than the right shift key, the other major change is the elimination of the six-pack of keys. Don't you just love it when a six-pack goes missing? The delete key is in the very top-right corner and the insert key is just to its left. The left and right arrow keys double as home and end when you simultaneously hold down the fn key. This is found to the right of the left control key and is to the left of the windows key. The up and down arrows double as page up and page down keys with the fn key held in. There's no number-pad but a group of keys can function as that either via holding the fn key while hitting them or once numlock is enabled.

That fn key is also your gateway to a method of easily controlling your netbook's power-saving functions among other things. For everyone's convenience, I've listed all of the defined functions making use of the fn key below:

fn+f1: places netbook in suspend mode.
fn+f2: toggles internal wireless lan on/off.
fn+f3: decreases screen brightness.
fn+f4: increases screen brightness.
fn+f5: lcd/monitor toggle.
fn+f6: task manager.
fn+f7: mute speakers. [DON'T!]
fn+f8: volume down.
fn+f9: volume up.
fn+f11: numlock on/off.
fn+f12: scroll lock.
fn+insert: print screen.

Using the fn+f3 key, I turned my display right off so that it isn't wasting power. Thankfully, the functions don't wrap around. You can hit fn+f3 a bunch of times and know that your screen will be off and then just hit fn+f4 should you need to increase brightness for sighted people. You'll likely have to hit the key more than once before it becomes bright enough for their comfort. Whatever you do, don't hit the fn+f7 key to mute speakers. It doesn't un mute them when you hit it a second time and there's no un mute key. I had to rescue myself by going into the volume settings via the start menu under programs/accessories/entertainment and then tab twice finally hitting the spacebar to uncheck the "mute all" checkbox. Fun city!

You'll get used to the keyboard eventually. It just takes a little practice. Actually, I'm far more comfortable typing with it than I thought I would be for quite a while. Your speed will certainly take a hit but not nearly as big a blow as I initially would have expected. I've spent a whole afternoon typing this review. I'm making the odd typing mistake but feel no finger fatigue at all. I had fears of what would happen when I switched between a full desktop keyboard and this one but that doesn't seem to be an issue. To test this, I had my email come in on my desktop so I would switch to that computer's keyboard to check that and then back again to keep writing the review. The keyboards are different enough that separate unconscious habits seem to be developing for the netbook. I'm by no means up to full speed but I'm clattering along at a pretty good clip. Actually, clicking along very quietly would be more accurate. You could type near a sleeping person and be in very little danger of rousing him or her. The only occasion where the keyboard gave me any real grief had to do with setting up global hotkeys for Winamp. I ended up finding it far more simple to track down the winamp.ini file and just copy it over. Instantly, I had my familiar global hotkeys which I set up on my desktop's full keyboard. Go Me!

***System Tray Power Control

There are a couple of utilities in the system tray which give blind people a good deal more flexibility than we're used to having with laptops. Using the super hybrid engine, you can switch between super performance, high performance, power-saving and auto modes. You just right-click on the super hybrid engine icon and then go down with the arrow key until you reach the desired mode. Hit the enter key or left-click on that and the new mode will take effect. Super performance mode runs everything at full power. I noticed the effect of this most of all when using SAPPI voices. They get particularly broken up in power-saving mode but behave well in high performance and super performance modes. If you're playing games, you'll want to use high performance mode at a minimum. Basic tasks like word processing and even listening to music work well even in power-saving mode. The more intense a task or tasks you do, the less constrictive you want the mode set for.

The other utility is the Eee PC tray utility. This works similar to the super hybrid engine but instead gives you control over screen resolution settings. It also lets you enable or disable your wifi and webcam. The webcam is built into the bezel on top of the monitor. Not bad at all.

For everything else, just use the standard Windows tools for controlling things. No other special features are present which I've yet been made aware of. People who are familiar with Windows XP Home Edition as well as whatever screen-reader they plan to use with their 900HA should be quite comfortable fairly quickly despite the keyboard.

***Performance:

Having initial expectations of possible sluggishness, I was very pleasantly surprised even before I introduced a memory upgrade which gave me two gigs of RAM instead of the included one gig. Booting up takes around forty seconds even with AVG version 8 and Jaws version 9 included. I haven't taken a look at optimizing that yet. The extra gig truly comes into its own when you're doing numerous things at once while AVG scans for viruses. I noticed a distinct reduction in the computer's tendency to freeze up when hard-pressed. An extra gig of RAM is a very good investment of around $30 or so. You have to undo four screws to access the memory slot. I wouldn't recommend upgrading without sighted help. It's not hard for even a relatively non-technical person to perform a memory upgrade as long as instructions are followed. They can be found on the Internet even including videos of an upgrade being performed. My father didn't find the diagram in the manual to be of much help at all. However, the process didn't take more than five minutes despite that hindrance.

The hard drive is quite good and things get done in speedy timely fashion. It runs very silently. You can feel a slight vibration if you rest your hand on the computer but I challenge anybody to actually hear the hard drive while sitting in front of the netbook. Holding it right up to your ear is cheating but you'll have a hard time even then. The fan is also very quiet. You can just hear a motor running assuming you're in a quiet room. Fortunately, there's enough of a vibration that you should be able to feel when the computer is on and busy. It would be quite easy to leave the computer on by mistake if you didn't take the time to feel it. If you close the lid, it will go into standby mode. I've set my power options such that you don't need a password to bring the machine out of standby. Until you set a password, hitting the enter key will do the trick for you.

The built-in wireless Internet connection works very well. I get a good connection to my router here at home even when I'm two floors down. I also detect several other networks in my vicinity. This is certainly an excellent machine for connecting to the Internet with. Listening to Internet Radio while checking email is trouble-free and smooth. I have absolutely no complaints on that score. It's too bad they didn't include N wifi connectivity and/or blue tooth. However, given the low cost of the 900HA, that's a very small quibble.

***Audio:

What would a blink be if he wasn't interested in audio performance? "Dead" would be my ready answer. The built-in speakers of the 900HA
don't win any awards from me. The descriptive audio track of Terminator II: Judgement Day sounded like an embarrassing cartoon farce. You won't be doing your favourite artist any favours playing songs through them for your friends. There's just no base whatsoever. The speakers are tiny little things you'll find on the bottom of the netbook. It'll do in a pinch when you want to do something quickly and don't feel like using headphones. I purchased a pair of Logitech V20 USB speakers from Ebay which work splendidly provided you have some hard space like a table to work on. The Logitech V20s have built-in foldable stands and are far less likely to be knocked over than the Altech Lancing XT1 speakers I used before. They're a bit heavier and wider but definitely make up for it with good performance and stability. Should you use these speakers, check out the "advanced" options in your normal Windows volume control. You'll find the standard base and treble sliders but will also discover automatic gain control and base boost options. Nice eh?

Headphones work very well. The sound comes through full and rich even on lower-end sets. According to Winamp, the Realtech HD Audio chip gives us 34 channels of sound assuming that Jaws takes up one channel. That's a tremendous improvement over the 12 free channels my older laptop had built-in. Even after adding my Altech Lancing XT1 speakers, I only had 17 free channels until I added in my Creative sound card. The audio hardware in the 900HA will certainly be more than adequate for the majority of users. Unless your a musician or have other special heavy-duty audio requirements, you ought to have plenty for what you need with 34 channels available. Plugging in headphones or a microphone brings up the audio manager which asks you what you just plugged in. Tabbing once gets you to a combo box where you can select whatever you connected. After that, go over to the "ok" button, hit the enter key and you're done.

Accessible games work quite well with the 900HA keeping in mind the keyboard changes. I was frankly expecting more trouble on that score. However, it turns out that the 900HA is a pretty nifty portable accessible gaming machine. Alien Outback played without any problems at all. So did Superdeakout, one of my personal favourites. Should you need to, you have three USB ports for connecting external speakers, keyboard or gamepad/joystick. Not too shabby at all. The Atom processor does a fine job and the audio has certainly proved more than a match for anything developed for the blind community so far.

***Conclusions:

Overall, I'm very pleased indeed with this little machine. Who would have thought that I could so affordably take care of my portable computing needs for the foreseeable future? I likely would have appreciated a larger keyboard. However, I think the Asus Eee PC 900HA is an excellent balance between extreme portability and comfortable usability. The keyboard is just different enough to let a clean separation exist in one's mind between its keyboard and a normal desktop keyboard. Given time, using the 900HA won't require a moment's pause for thought. It's a nice sturdy solidly built netbook. I wouldn't wack it with a hammer but won't cringe in mortal terror should I bump it against something while travelling with it. They aren't the delicate flimsy things people who have never felt one might expect. On the outside, all the needed features are present and accounted for. You can connect pretty much anything you'd want to via the USB ports and audio jacks. There's no external drive but you can certainly use SD cards or flash drives for that sort of thing. The 900HA has a nice smooth feel and heft. It can easily be carried like a book in hand or under the arm.

Under the hood, the 900HA certainly has it where it counts. The wireless connectivity is more than satisfactory. The Intel Atom processor keeps things running and saves energy. Throwing in two gigs of RAM up front wouldn't have hurt Asus's bottom line too much and certainly improves overall performance. In the audio department, the 900HA loses ground due to poor internal speakers but redeems itself by offering more built-in audio processing power than many full-size laptops. If you want good audio, use headphones or buy external USB speakers. You shouldn't need an external sound card.

Finally, in every way, the 900HA is very unobtrusive. It's small enough so people won't think you're moving in for a week when you're travelling with it. The battery it ships with is a four-cell which doesn't give as long life as the six-cell variety. However, particularly for blind people who don't make use of the screen, it should offer enough juice so that you won't always have to ask where a plug is. I haven't done a battery test yet but anticipate at least four hours and likely over five. You also won't have to worry about disturbing others around you with noise. This thing is impressively quiet. It can get warm after extended use but not uncomfortably so. All this adds up to a very positive user experience for blind people who already have screen-readers or who can make use of the free ones like NVDA and SA TO GO. Market forces have finally put truly portable computing within financial reach of many blind people including a very appreciative me. This netbook would be a tremendous asset to students already familiar with the Windows operating system. They would very quickly become proficient with the keyboard for use in class and could attach a normal USB keyboard plus USB speakers for use at home. For both work and play, the Asus Eee PC 900HA makes an excellent travelling companion. Overall, I give this netbook a 9 out of 10.