The Mallorys Online

The quick background on my recent purchase is we just celebrated Jacob’s first birthday.  Our great friends, Grant and Heather, were given a Nikon D60 as a Christmas gift and they took pictures during the party that made our Canon point & shoot photos look like garbage.  Anybody that knows us is well aware of our affinity for taking photos (right, Jill?) so I was immediately 1) stoked that Grant brought his camera and took photos and 2) disgusted that the photos from the first year of Jacob’s life were just OK and not GREAT.

So my search for a bargain DSLR began.  I started with the Nikon D40/60 because of Grant’s photos.  The camera has everything I would need with one small exception.  The autofocus motor isn’t in the body, it’s in the lens.  That’s no big deal for Grant because his Christmas kit came with two lenses and he won’t buy a new lens any time soon.  I couldn’t afford a big kit like that right off the bat so I would need to buy additional lenses in the future.  With the autofocus motor in the lens it drives the lens prices up 3-4x.  So, I settled with the Canon EOS Rebel XS because the autofocus motor is in the body and image quality is the same as the Nikon.  I just got the camera Wednesday so I haven’t had a chance to get out in the sunlight and take some great outdoor shots.  Here are a few shots of Jacob.

Going into the weekend the Mallorys were looking forward to relaxing and doing “family things” like going to the park and shopping for home stuff.  Saturday morning we got up, had coffee and breakfast and fed Jacob.  The sun was out for a break between rain storms and it seemed our plan was going to work!  We got the family loaded into the car around 9:30am when Jennifer asked if I could grab the diaper bag because her phone is in it.  I grabbed the bag and she rummaged through for a while before declaring the phone must be somewhere in the car and we’ll find it later.  We had a great walk around downtown Sacramento and by 11am Jacob was ready for a long nap.  We headed home, still unsure where her phone was.

Once we got home we emptied the car looking for this phone… it was missing, but at this point we don’t think it’s lost or stolen.  We sit down for lunch a little after 12pm when all of the sudden my phone rings, but it only rings once and then stops.  I pick it up and I see a missed call from Jennifer’s phone!  My heart drops. Read the rest of this entry »

A buddy of mine sent out a note asking for iPhone app recommendations.  Since I went through the effort to put the list together I figured I might as well share it on the site.

• WeatherBug – replaces stock weather app and provides more detailed forecasts and weather maps
• Wordpress – I run a couple Wordpress powered blogs and this provides publishing on the go
• Facebook – This one needs much improvement.  It’s rumored they’re working on a 2.0 that closely resembles the web based Facebook
• Pandora – Internet radio that adapts to your taste.  You can create custom stations by seeding the player with a favorite artist or song.
• eBay – Obvious
• iChoose – Free app that offers a coin flip, yes/no, dice roll or card choice when you need a little help making a decision!
• myLite – Flashlight app with some cool effects.  Great way to cut Jacob’s fingernails while he’s sleeping at night.
• Simplify – App that allows iTunes library sharing between users.  I share mine under NorCalAngler
• SportsTap – Instant access to scores and news for all major sports
• Last.fm – Similar to Pandora, Internet radio that adapts to your preferences
• Dual Level – Bubble level app that uses the iPhone sensors to make sure things are level
• Exposure – Tap into your Flickr photo library anywhere.  Great for showing off pics of Jacob without loading my iPhone will gigs of photos
• HoldEm – The best iPhone Texas Holdem game
• Enigmo – Fun puzzle game where you use various tools to direct water into buckets
• Air Hockey – 1/2 player air hockey
• Sudoku Free – Obvious
• Tris – Will be removed from the app store on Wednesday due to copyright issues – Tetris clone

What are your favorite apps?

For my birthday this year (May 25) I asked my family for Apple store gift cards so I could get the new iPhone when it is released.  Well, that day has come and gone and I don’t have an iPhone.  Why?  Well, that’s a great question that I would love to answer.  The reason I don’t have an iPhone is that I have a family and a job.  While I was helping our country with its gross national product, college kids and unemployed people across the country were standing in line for up to 8-9 hours to get an iPhone.  How can I compete with that?  I asked Jennifer to head over to the Apple store at 8am.  She had Jacob with her so there was no chance she was sticking it out once she saw the line.

I figured the line may die down toward the end of the day so I headed over to the mall at 3:30pm and saw a guy walking out with an iPhone bag.  I asked him how the line is moving inside and his response was, “it’s still pretty slow, about 4-5 hours is my guess.”  My natural follow-up question was how long he waited. “Oh, I’ve been here since 7am.”  WHAT?!?  These people are nuts, but they have an iPhone and I don’t.  I have been messing with the new software on Jennifer’s iPod Touch and it’s awesome!  Hopefully the Apple store gets some more stock (they’re currently out) this week.

On another note, I found a cool plugin for themallorysonline.com that optimizes the layout for iPhones and Touches.  The only person I know that looks at the site with an iPhone is my older sister so I’ll have to ask her if it actually works.

Update: Thank you, big sis, for the screenshot of the site in action on the iPhone!  She said it looks good and works great.. awesome!

In May ‘07 I jumped ship from a standard mobile phone to the Cingular 8125 Pocket PC. I had three requirements for my new phone:

1. Allow access to personal e-mail in stand-alone software, not web-based
2. Syncronize contacts & calendar between the phone and my home computer
3. Internet access with a full-featured, desktop-like browser

The 8125 met these requirements, but I sacrificed slim and sleek for bulky and powerful. My employer has a premier relationship with AT&T Wireless and I’m able to upgrade every six months. In November ‘07 I upgraded to the AT&T 8525 with 3G data speed. Again, the device was very bulky, but Windows Mobile has software for just about anything I wanted.

This month was my six month upgrade time again so I sifted through the refurb section on the AT&T Premier site to see if I could get a phone that is thin, but still allows access to the internet and Gmail/Hotmail. To my pleasure I found a Blackjack II Wine. Click the following “read” link to read more. Read the rest of this entry »

I took the plunge and bought Vista last week. I purchased the Home Premium Upgrade edition because I already had a legitimate copy of XP. The CompUSA near me is going out of business and they were offering 10% off all software. I also found a great trick to perform a clean install using the upgrade version. For some ridiculous reason, Microsoft removed the option to perform a clean install with an upgrade version. In previous releases you could pop in your previous OS disk to prove you were worthy of the upgrade. Not so anymore. I won’t cover the process since it’s already documented all over the internet.

Using the above mentioned install process took a little over an hour. However, the basic Vista install only takes about 20 minutes. I already backed up all of our old data using this tool. Getting our user accounts and documents back on Vista was extremely easy. This theme of “it just works” is something Mac enthusiasts have enjoyed for years. This is due in large part to the fact that Mac operating systems have always been tied to specific hardware. However, every function in Vista is amazingly intuitive. With only a few days under my belt, here are my thoughts. Read the rest of this entry »

Against my good judgment I headed over to eBay to get a 2gb memory stick for my PSP. I found one in California because I hate waiting for stuff to ship from Hong Kong. I waited until the last second to snipe bid, like I always do, and snagged one for $20 shipped from eBay seller lei_1002 . What a deal! Shipping was fast and I got the stick today.

However, once I popped it in and tried to transfer a 1.4gb file I knew something was wrong. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s Jennifer’s birthday today and I got her a full spa package. It started at 9am and I had some time to kill so I drove over to Target. I tried Best Buy first, but they didn’t open until 10:00. The temperature was about 50 degrees and rainy. When I got to Target I found these idiots camped outside in the rain waiting for the PS3. Only 400,000 are making it to the US shores for launch day so the chances of the 5th guy in line getting one is pretty slim. Factor in lost time and pneumonia and I can’t imagine doing this for a freaking video game console. What idiots.

I don’t want to hear about how these guys can sell it on eBay for $1,000. When the damn thing costs $600 to begin with, $400 isn’t worth it.

I decided that it’s time to get into shape. Being the geek that I am, I find my motivation in gadgets. I already have an iPod Nano so when I discovered the Nike Sport Kit I had to have it! I went out today and got the Sport Kit along with a pair of Nike Air Max 180 running shoes.

The shoes are part of the Nike+ line that has a built in compartment for the Sport Kit sensor. The setup was amazingly simple. I simply took the insole out of the shoe and slipped the sensor into the built-in compartment. The only hiccup happened when I plugged the receiver into my Nano. A message popped up stating the attachment doesn’t work my version of the iPod. I docked the Nano and found that there was a software update. A few minutes later and the Nano worked seamlessly with the receiver.

I went on my first run today and let’s just say I’ve fallen off my high school 1-mile time. I loaded my Nano up with some inspirational music, stretched, and I was off and running! The Sport Kit gives you verbal updates over the music when you push the center button. The music and verbal status updates are great, but the most amazing part of the Sport Kit is Nike’s online site. When you dock the Nano after a workout it automatically sends the information to the Nike site. Here is a snapshot of my last run:

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No laughing at my time, I’m easing back into exercise! On the site you can set goals, see previous runs, look at personal bests and compete against others. Hopefully all of this gadgetry keeps me motivated to hit the pavement consistently.

I’m not a hardcore runner so I can’t claim to know what to look for in a running shoe. I can say that the Air Max 180 is very comfortable and didn’t have any “hot spots.” In my opinion, for $110 they’d better be the best shoes!