Thoughts so far: Pixel 9 Pro XL

 I've had my Pixel 9 Pro XL for a few days now and I will toss out some thoughts that I have.   Most of these will likely be negative thoughts without a bunch of positives,  (though some) but it's not because the phone sucks or anything.  It's just the fact that when you switch to a new phone, the bad points tend to bubble to the surface.

Price - Good

Google offered me $350 off because I was a Google Fi customer without a trade-in and offered to double my memory for free.  So, I paid about $750 for the Pixel 9 Pro XL with 256GB of internal storage.    They offered me another $125 off for my Pixel 7 Pro that has no damage on it.    I opted to keep my Pixel 7 Pro as my wife tends to break her screens within a year.  (she gets a new phone every year because of this, I get one every two years)

Phone Size - Good

So, I generally do not buy the big jumbo phones.  I normally get the normal sized version.  That said, the offer above was for the Pixel 9 Pro XL, and not the other versions that I could tell.   That said, when it arrived I was thinking it was going to be a big hulking phone, but instead it's very close to the same exact size as my Pixel 7 Pro was.

Heavy - Not Good

The phone is definitely heavier than the Pixel 7 Pro.  It just flat out feels more dense.  I won't say it's absurdly heavy, but you can definitely notice the extra heft.

Squared Off Sizes - Not Good

The Pixel 7 Pro had sort of rounded off sides of the phone.  The Pixel 9 Pro XL is more boxy which I immediately deem as less comfortable to hold.  (especially combined with the extra weight)

Physical Side Buttons - Not Good

The side buttons are lower down on the phone and I have far more difficulty using them.  I usually fail more than once trying to hit the volume or power buttons.   I'm not sure if it's the buttons, the location of the buttons, or just the silicone case I use, but they are much more of a pain to use.    It's likely just because I'm not fully used to it yet, but we shall see.

Camera - Good

I'm not a big picture taking guy, but I went to see Joe Bonamassa the day that I got the phone and I took several pictures and I must say.  The pictures quality in a dark theater was much improved over the Pixel 7 Pro quality of photos in that setting. 

Touch Screen Accuracy - Not Good

I've considered this a few times and what I believe the issue I'm having is is due to the higher resolution that this phone is set at than my Pixel 7 Pro.   I use the Nova launcher and the grid now has five slots across the home screen rather than four.    So it's definitely a higher resolution and I believe that is what is causing the accuracy issue.  (to be clear, I'm talking about playing Bejeweled Blitz only)  

So, this issue is definitely not a deal breaker and I will likely adapt to it with time.

Fingerprint Sensor - Not Good

I'm unclear as to why, but sometimes it takes me several attempts to unlock the phone with the fingerprint sensor.  This is increasingly annoying.

Helpful Hint for PIA VPN Users

When I copied all my things to the new phone, my PIA VPN application kept crashing as soon as I tried to open it.   I was thinking maybe it was an incompatibility with this phone / Android version.   Though, after going into Android Settings -> App -> PIA -> Storage and dumped the cache and data and then re-entered my credentials.  The VPN returned to normal operation.

I hope this helps someone.

HAM Radio: Why Upgrade Your License?

 Recently, we've had a nice influx of people interest in ham radio with our radio club.   Our club has provided some training classes and several people have punched their ticket and obtained (or is in the process of) their technician license.

Several of the seasoned hams push really hard to get the newly licensed hams to upgrade to general to obtain more HF spectrum access.   Some of them are so adamant that it becomes awkward and uncomfortable.  While I know these hams are just trying to push to get hams more active in the hobby, I don't so much agree with pushing so hard.  Especially when it's around the reason they are hams.

Ham radio has a ton of different paths you can take.  CW, DXing, contesting, rag-chewing, repeaters, simplex, and even building / repairing electronics and antennas.

I've met a lot of hams and there in some cases are huge differences in how they apply their hobby.  For rag-chewers, SSB HF is like the internet, but for like-minded people.  It brings people who like to socialize and radio together.  Some people will say, this is what ham radio is about, but that's not true.  It's only one aspect of ham radio!

I am more introverted and therefore, small talk doesn't come easy for me.   When I really started to get into HF, I chose to do digit modes over voice. (SSB)  It was easier for me and I didn't have to have uncomfortable chats with people I really didn't know.  Over time, this changed.   I still do not like to have uncomfortable conversations, but I also lost interest in digital modes like FT-8 except for chasing DX in countries or great distances.  Today, if I turn on my HF radio, it's almost certainly for SSB and it's usually just to make a brief contact (usually DX) with or talk with friends whom I'm already comfortably acquainted with.

Many other aspects of what I consider ham radio do not even require a license.  For instance, I hosted an ADS-B monitor / tracker and used to enjoy seeing the planes and their locations and seeing how many planes  I could track in a day. (it can be competitive)

I also have owned two SDRPlays and monitor ham radio and other bands like AM, FM radio stations, local emergency services, catching satellite weather images as they are transmitted to Earth and even listening to the very same airplanes I used to track with ADS-B talk to airport tower control.  These do not even require a ham radio license and couldn't be a cause to upgrade.

The point that I'm making is, while other hams can show you the possibilities.  It's your interest that should drive whether you want to upgrade your license.  I obtained my Extra license, but not really for any specific "radio need" that the license offered except that I could now transmit anywhere in the allotted band without risking fines and I could learn something in the process.  (I'm a habitual hobbyist)

So to existing hams, I suggest show new hams why you love the hobby, but don't push them into something because you love it.  Share it with them and if they show real interest.  Bring them along for the ride and teach them your hobby.

For the new hams, find what interests you and learn from the hams that are knowledgeable in that area.

I love electronics and tend to befriend those in the hobby that also dabble (or in some cases are seasoned professionals) in electronics. For me, it's about the physics and technology it drives.  Not chatting or making a billion FT-8 contacts.   Though I fully respect those that do that as that's their way of enjoying the hobby.  You should fine your way.

Major Scale: CAGED System

Every since I started playing guitar back around 1987, the only scale I ever learned was the minor version of the Pentatonic scale and I know all five patterns of it. Yes, the major version is the same thing with different root notes, but I never really played it and had difficulty making anything sound good when I did.

Anyway, the point of this post is to report my dissatisfaction with attempting to learn the Major scale (not Pentatonic) and all of it's patterns using the CAGED system. My issue is that every where I look on the Internet, they show different pattern blocks. One site will show pattern "A" starting with the "X" note, and the next will show it starting with a completely different note. While when playing and knowing the entire scale it doesn't matter, it does initially when I'm trying to learn it for several reasons. First, is consistency of the basic pattern! Consistency is important when learning things on the Internet some people are poor teachers or just poor at explaining some things. One person may have a very good explanation of something, but have poor examples that it is applied too that make it very difficult to understand. While another site may have very nice examples, but the person who posted it is very poor at explaining things.

Matching mixing and matching quality content of the same thing can make learning much easier. Except when they describe what you're learning completely different! I saw a nicely drawn out picture of the five different major scale patterns. It even listed the fret the first note started on (from the low E, not the root note) so you would know where each pattern started for whatever key it was in. The problem was, were it started on the G note on the low E string (3rd fret) didn't match up when it reached the G note of the higher octave. (15th fret of the low E string). As a matter a fact, it skipped right over the G note without even touching it!

I've memorized three of the patterns now to the point that I can use and mix them together and actual make something that sounds decent. I must say, since I've started learning these, I feel like I've opened so many more possibilities that I didn't have only knowing the minor Pentatonic. Everything had a big time blues sound to it.

Linux, Moonlight, and MLB.com

The state of the Linux desktop has been improving quickly over the last few years, but was still never quite there. I'm a big Texas Rangers fan. (can't accuse me of being a bandwagoner!) One thing I really hated was I couldn't watch MLB.tv on Linux. If I was able to get it to work, it stunk, and then they switched to Silverlight which I really had issues with.

Well, with the baseball season revving up, I headed over to TexasRangers.com to see whats going on. Usually, I just check it out on my Blackberry during the offseason. Well, I run a dual boot at home. Ubuntu and Windows XP Pro. XP Pro when I run Windows only software or visit websites that just don't function in Linux. (ie, any MLB website when I wanted to watch video) Well, I clicked on a video and it said I needed Silverlight and ask if I wanted to install it. Sure, I said, and it started installing Moonlight which is Linux's Silverlight counterpart. Once it completed, the video ran perfectly! There was no moving plugin files, no symbolic links, no tweaking of anything, and best of all. No pop-out video player!

I can't tell you how excited I was when this happen. Combine this with Compiz / Beryl / Compiz Fusion looking like they are going to settle their issues and work together not to mention what exist looking pretty good as it stands now. I am very excited with progress of the Linux desktop. Sometimes I still have issues with sound in Linux. Not that it doesn't work, but with apps locking up during operation and locking out all sound until I kill the frozen process with the kill -9 command. That is something that must improve along with 3D on Linux. It's a shame OpenGL failed to keep pace with DirectX especially since it was created and released well before DirectX existed. Yes, you can run DirectX on Wine, but Wine is a stopgap for a bigger problem, not the answer to the problem.

Don't purchase guitars online!

So, I've made this post to vent about a guitar I puchased on the Internet. Yes, yes I know. Like many things, a guitar may not be something you want to purchase on the net due to what you might end up with. The guitar I was purchasing was brand new from a reputable retailer. (Amercian Musical Supply)

I puchased an 2007 black Ibanez RG370DX. The guitar was beautiful to look at, but it was completely out of wack when it arrived. It had clearly sat in a warehouse or something with severe temperature changes. I'm guessing it was in the warehouse during the Summer months and here in the Winter months before I purchased it.

Anyway, I worked on it the best I could (I'm not a pro guitar tech) but while I could get it playable, it was still not right. The low E string had a nasty buzz on it and even the A string had more buzz that it should have. Not even close to my current guitar. So, I took it to one of the best guitar techs in the NYC area and had him work on it. He made it even more playable, by more adjustments and even leveling a few frets that while weren't really bad, were a still not perfectly level. After all that it still wasn't right.

Needless to say, I shipped it back and got a refund for the full price of the guitar. Of course, I didn't get a refund on the tech work I had done. One thing that seems to be true among all guitar makers though. The newer the model, the more poorly it's crafted. I had a 1987 Fender Strat Squire II that I paid $160 for in 1987. I saw that same guitar on Ebay for almost $600 now. A new Start Squire today on Ebay is like $80.

So, after that nasty experience I don't think I'm going to test the waters of buying a guitar online anymore. The only reason I did this one is I got a pretty good discount on it, and you cannot find that specific model at local retailers anymore.

The whole reason for it was I was going to replace (though not get rid of) a 1997 green Ibanez RG270DX that I bought used from a local music store for $170. It had some electrical shorts, but I fixed them in 10 minutes with a soldering gun. The RG270 plays great otherwise except that it had the low end stock pickups in it. Since I do like the RG270 so much I've decided to take part of the money from the RG370 and just upgrade the pickups in it. I'm replacing the stock ones with Dimarzio ToneZone in the bridge, Dimarzio HS-3 single coil in the middle, and a Dimarzio PAF Pro for the neck. I wanted the Dimarzio Area '61 for the single coil, but it only came in white and while I love the sound, I could bare having an really odd white pickup in the middle.

KDE 4.2 Review

KDE 4.2 has come out and word out there is that it has finally caught back up to KDE 3.5 in features. So, I upgrade my Ubuntu to 8.10 and then installed KDE 4.2.

First I would like to say that I do like KDE 4.2. It's fresh and I can see a lot of potential in what it can become. It has a lot of flash to offer and ability to customize different aspects to make it the way you want it.

Now, the downside of KDE 4.2 is that I was forced to switch back to Gnome because it crashed so often. Just adjusting the task bar caused it to crash at least ten different times. Using it to copy some music to my Blackberry cause corruption to the filesystem on my 8GB SDHC card. Then it froze my entire system causing corruption to my root filesystem. Needless to say, I had to boot from a rescue disk and fsck my root filesystem. Once I fixed the filesytem damage, I log back on with the intension of switching back to Gnome and it freezes again, this time corrupting the current kernel making my default boot corrupt. Lucky, I keep the last three kernels bootable.

I booted from an older kernel and from the login menu I chose Gnome and logged in. Removed the newest kernel and then reinstalled it. Everything now runs fine. I still have the KDE login menu, but it logs into the Gnome desktop.

With what I saw in KDE 4.2 I can't wait for KDE 4.3, but KDE 4.2 just isn't usable.

Chess Tactics Server

As tactics are one of the best ways to improve your game, consistent study of tactics is important. There are many ways to do this and one of the most common are tactic books. The problem with many tactic books is that they can have a host of errors in them. My absolute favorite way to study tactics is the Chess Tactics Server.

While overall it's not perfect (which I will discuss later), It is the best and most enjoyable way to study tactics. Not only are you trying to solve tactical issues, it sets you up like a real game. The server shows you the board and them moves for your opponent after six seconds and it becomes your turn. You are also timed on how long it takes you to move and your score for solving the problem is altered by how long it takes you to solve the problem. This includes getting a negative score for taking too long to solve the problem!

There are currently almost 24 thousand problems to solve (way more than any book you can buy!) all of them pre-rated on their level of difficulty. The ratings used at the Chess Tactics Server are based on the Glicko rating system.

The negatives of the server are minimal, but sometimes annoying. First, it doesn't check for legal moves. Of course if you're studying tactics, I'm sure you actually know what is a legal move is. Sometimes you may accidentally click on a square adjacent to the correct square causing an incorrect answer. While this is something I would fulled accept if I clicked on an actual legal move by mistake, I find it extremely annoying if it wasn't a legal move in the first place. While I understand it was my mistake, in an actual game of chess you are not allowed to make that move and are required to correct the problem. Though if you place a piece on a legal square by accident, you aren't allowed to correct that problem.

Even though I don't like it allowing illegal moves, that doesn't detract my overall enjoyment of the Chess Tactics Server. I would love to get a version of this for my mobile phone that I could update with any new tactics that may come out. My commute on the train to and from work everyday would become so much more enjoyable!

On that note, I give the Chess Tactics Server a rating of a 5 out of 5 stars. I would give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars due to my one issue, but with every other tactics studying tools (books, etc) being so poor in keeping my attention, it's hard not to give it 5 stars. The dimensions it adds like showing opponents move first, having fully rated problems, rating your progress and even basing your ratings on how long it takes to complete a problem make it truly enjoyable. It creates a challenging game out of tactics study.

The Chess Tactics Server is a first class study aid and first class enjoyment!

Until next time.