Archive for February, 2008

The TVisto 3500 SATA Multimedia Hard Drive Enclosure

Friday, February 22nd, 2008

A few posts ago, I described my experience in trying to use my XBOX 360 as an mp3 player for my home theater system. Unfortunately, the 360 is crippled. You can’t copy your music from your computer to the internal hard drive.

Enter the “multimedia hard drive enclosure”, a class of small devices that promise to play all your music, movies, and pictures from a small quiet device that plugs right into your stereo. That sounded like just what I needed!

[TVisto]

I found a good price on a TVisto 3500-SATA, a small device that’s barely bigger than the 3.5″ hard drive that it encloses. Along with the TVisto, I picked up an inexpensive 500GB SATA drive to store my stuff. So how well does it work? Read on
to find out.

(more…)

Moonblogging

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

There was a total eclipse of the moon tonight. The sky was also mostly clear, so I got to see the eclipse. Here’s some of what I saw.

Early in the eclipse, the moon started to disappear.

[Eclipse 2/20/08 #1]

As more of the moon was covered in shadow, it took on a red/orange color.

[Eclipse 2/20/08 #2]

Almost all of the moon is in shadow here.

[Eclipse 2/20/08 #3]

Total eclipse!

[Eclipse 2/20/08 #4]

[Eclipse 2/20/08 #5]

Hope the weather was clear in your town for the eclipse!


Sorry if you’re using a feed reader – some of them don’t set the referrer tag correctly for the images on this site. If that happens, you can see the pictures by visiting this post with your web browser.

Friday cat: The Black Hole

Friday, February 15th, 2008

Behold Tom, the black hole!  A place so dark that nothing, not even light, can escape!

[Tom - eyes shut]

… until he opens his eyes.

[Tom - eyes open]

XBOX 360: The little media center that couldn’t

Thursday, February 14th, 2008

I’ve had an XBOX 360 “Elite” (the one with the 120 GB hard drive) for a while now. Since the hard drive in my 360 is largely empty, I thought it might be nice to use the 360 as a media center. More specifically, I thought the 360 might be useful as a music center, since it’s got the ability to play mp3 files.

I’ve ripped all of the family’s CDs. It’s nice to be able to listen to anything in the music collection without going to the CD racks and searching. But listening to these music files on the stereo in the living room is a bit awkward. The DVD player will play mp3 files from CD, but that still means I have to shuffle discs around. Plus, the DVD player’s interface for doing this is clunky at best.

So why not use the 360? It’s got plenty of disk space for holding our music collection, and it’s already hooked into the stereo. Unfortunately, the 360 is a typical Microsoft product. By that, I mean it’s been hobbled – either accidentally or by design. How?

  • You can – albeit very slowly – rip audio CDs to the 360’s hard drive.
  • You can play mp3 files from a data CD.
  • You can plug an external hard drive into one of the 360’s USB ports and play the mp3 files on the drive.
  • You cannot transfer mp3 files from the external hard drive or a data CD to the 360’s internal hard drive***. If you put in an audio CD, there’s an option to copy the music to the hard drive. If you hook up an external drive or put in a CD with mp3 files on it, that option disappears. (What the f#%?)

I guess it’s all for the best. It’s rather difficult to hear quiet music over the roar of the 360’s jet-engine-like fans.


***If you can actually copy mp3 files to the 360’s internal hard drive and play them from there, clue me in on the method. In the meantime, there’s always my TVisto

FedEx Ground: Worst shipper on the planet?

Tuesday, February 12th, 2008

Warning: Long rant ahead!

Background

As some of you know, I’ve been teaching using a Tablet PC. I’ve found it to be a valuable tool in the classroom, and I use it for all my teaching work now. A little while ago, the hard drive in my tablet came loose, wreaking havoc with my data (which was mostly recoverable). I decided to buy another tablet from ubid.com, worried that my current tablet might destroy another hard drive. So I ordered one, and they shipped it via what I thought was FedEx. And that’s where the story begins …

Day 1

The new computer was scheduled to arrive. I had a lab exam to give, but I figured that Patty would be home in the early afternoon. No problem, right? Wrong. The first delivery attempt was at 9:43 AM. What’s more, they wanted a “direct signature”, so I couldn’t just sign it and let them leave it behind the door. That’s ubid’s fault, but why on Earth would anyone try to deliver a signature-required package to a home at 9:43 AM? Most of the population would be at work between 9 and 10 AM on a weekday.

I’ve missed FedEx packages before, so I thought I knew what to do: Just go to the FedEx distribution center (on the same street as my school) and pick up the package after work.

That’s when I found out that the FedEx that has my package … isn’t FedEx. It’s FedEx Ground, which is another company that FedEx bought. How can you tell them apart? FedEx Ground is green instead of orange.

[FedEx Ground logo]

So I figured that, since I didn’t know where FedEx Ground actually was, I’d give them another chance.

Day 2

I had a stack of papers to grade, so I decided to come home after my morning classes and wait for the new computer. I can grade papers just as easily at home as I can at school, after all.

I checked the package tracking between classes (that’s just before 10 in the morning) and … found that FedEx ground had already attempted delivery. At 9:43 AM. Again.

Hey, at least they’re precise!

So I decide to call FedEx to ask what I could do to get my new computer. That’s when I found out that Hell actually exists, and it is the voice response system at FedEx. The system is designed (by sadists) to be “easier” to use. You’re supposed to say things like “Track a package” to select what you’d like to do, instead of pressing a number button on the phone. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, I’m a Southerner. And I was calling from work – on a digital phone system. Taken together, those two things meant that Hell couldn’t understand a word I was saying. Eventually, Hell decided to let me punch numbers. So I punched zero to talk to a representative. But Hell wasn’t quite through with me:

“Before I transfer you to a representative, are you calling to ship a package?”, it demanded.

“No”, I said.

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand that. For faster service, next time indicate whether you want to ship a package.”

Hell then transferred me to a human. After telling the human that FedEx Ground had twice attempted delivery early in the morning, I asked if there was any way to schedule a delivery attempt. “Anytime after or even during lunch would work”, I said. So the FedEx human called the local FedEx Ground office and suggested that my computer be delivered a little later in the day. “We can’t guarantee a specific time for delivery,” she said, “but I’ve let them know that you need this signature-required package delivered in the afternoon.”

When I arrived at home, the door tag the driver left had a curious message:

[Call me!]

… with an illegible phone number (that I’ve made a little more illegible for this post). “Call if not wanted.” Odd, since I had that morning navigated through Hell just trying to get my new computer. Oh well, at least the driver would know the package needed to be delivered tomorrow afternoon instead of tomorrow morning.

Day 3

Off to work again! Just after my first class, I check – on a whim – to see if the package was on the truck again. As if to spite me, the driver had attempted delivery even earlier: 9:28 AM. Plus, he’s lied about it and marked the package: “Refused by recipient”. (Who was there to refuse the package? Did one of my cats answer the door and decide I didn’t really need a replacement laptop?)

So I dialed Hell again, but this time I just started hitting “0” as soon as Hell answered the phone, which eventually got me to another human. “Okay,” I said, “I need this package for work. I have tried to get FedEx Ground to come to me and have called several times trying to get this package. I most certainly did not refuse delivery. Since you will not deliver the package to me, is there any place I can pick it up?”

This FedEx human sent me off to the FedEx Ground facility. Unlike regular FedEx facilities, the FedEx Ground facility is located … in the middle of friggin’ nowhere. Not even FedEx themselves knew where the place was, as evidenced by the directions they provided. It’s a good thing that I was able to find out which industrial park they were in on my own, otherwise I’d still not have my laptop.

When I arrived at the FedEx Ground facility, it was immediately obvious that the place was not meant for mere package recipients. I had to be buzzed in through an iron gate. (No, really!) There wasn’t a desk to go to for package pick-ups. When I found someone to help me get my laptop, it too them half an hour for them to figure out what truck it was on. I suppose most people just give up on their packages by this point?

Conclusion

Eventually, I got my laptop – and I’ve been enjoying using it in my classes this semester. And I even learned a few things! I learned the location of the top-secret FedEx Ground facility. I learned how to get out of Hell. And I learned to never, ever ship a package by FedEx Ground. (And sellers, if I know in advance you use FedEx Ground for shipping, you’ve lost my business.)

Postscript

I debated whether to publish this post. It’s been sitting in my unpublished drafts for more than a month. Am I being too hard on FedEx Ground? Don’t things go bad once in a blue moon with every shipper? Perhaps.

But the tale above wasn’t my only bad experience with FedEx Ground. I’ve got another nightmare in the making. I purchased something off of Ebay recently, not knowing that the shipper used FedEx Ground until it was too late. Things are going … just as I expect from FedEx Ground.

[FedEx Ground:  Too lazy to bother delivering packages.]

The originally scheduled delivery date for my package was today. As you can see, they loaded my package on the truck and … drove around all day with it, not even bothering to attempt a delivery.

Might I suggest a new slogan for FedEx Ground?

[FedEx Ground:  Packages check in, but they don’t check out]

“FedEx Ground: Packages check in, but they don’t check out!”


Follow-up

After driving around all day with this week’s package, the FedEx Ground driver must have gotten bored with it.  So he stopped by the house while I was at work and left the package out in the rain.  Thankfully, the package was double-boxed and the water hadn’t yet soaked through the first box when I made it home.I suppose I should count this as a successful delivery.  By FedEx Ground standards, anyway.

The importance of a good start

Friday, February 8th, 2008

If you’re a college student and you’re reading my blog right now, here’s something for you to think about: How important is it, really, to do well on the first test in a course?

You can always go back and catch up on the beginning stuff any time during the semester- and a semester is a long time. Also, there are usually several other grades that can pull up a bad first test. So how bad can bombing the first test possibly be?

Here’s a chart showing a comparison between students’ grades on their first test and their final course grades. There are about 90 students plotted. Students who withdrew from the course were not included since they had no final course grade to plot.

[Final grades vs. Test 1 grades, 450px]

The yellow box shows all students who both “bombed” their first test with a score of 60 or below and brought their grade back up to make at lease a “C” in the course. Notice how few students appear in that box: three.

So yes, it is pretty important to do well on the first test. Passing the first test doesn’t guarantee success in a course, but failing it almost always leads to failing the course. Think about that before you head out to another late-night party the night before your test!

Studying really DOES work!

Thursday, February 7th, 2008

Since I teach at a college, I get a fair amount of junk mail from publishers’ representatives wanting to sell me … or force me to make my students buy … their educational doo-dads. Here’s one from my inbox this morning.

Dear Professor […]:

In a recent message to you, we noted that in a general chemistry class recently taught at the University of North Texas, students who completed more than 90% of the OWL problems assigned earned an average grade of 89.3%—while students who did not follow the assignments earned an average grade of 66.3%. With results like these, it’s no wonder OWL [Online Web-based Learning] is the most popular chemistry learning system in use today.

They’re trying to sell me an “online homework” system. I’ve been incorporating web content into my courses for a decade now, and one thing that my students have always had trouble with was web-based chemistry problem sets. Chemistry problems just don’t lend themselves easily to input into a computer – for instructors or for students.

(And besides, I already have plenty of online content for my courses, all free to my students…)

But the real reason this e-mail caught my eye is the sales pitch [emphasis mine]:

[…] students who completed more than 90% of the OWL problems assigned earned an average grade of 89.3%—while students who did not follow the assignments earned an average grade of 66.3%.

You don’t say! Students who complete nearly all of their practice assignments actually make better grades? There’s a shocker.

But why should this revelation make me want to force this product onto my students? I observe the same sort of pattern whether I have assignments on the web or on paper. The students who make higher grades generally spend more time with the material and complete more of their practice assignments.

The problem is getting students to spend time with the material.  I somehow doubt that this product runs on an Xbox 360!

No rain

Tuesday, February 5th, 2008

This was once a pond.

[No Rain, 1024×768 JPG image]

(Click the image to enlarge.)