Sounds great, right? You can scan an e-mail quickly, whereas a voicemail can take a few minutes to listen to. With voicemail, you also need to write down any important phone numbers.

Sometimes, it works great, and sometimes it’s awful. For example, here’s how they transcribed a very clear voicemail message:

“Hi. This my sent it. Why iraq at some my name is when i send i’m i’m i’m not a lot of times. I’m calling to come from our point of for tomorrow morning at 8 am fair enough 3 fifty. You have any questions or like changing things he’s gonna so call back at 61739311 a there was. You know. Thank you.”

Notice the phone number is incomplete and it doesn’t tell you who it’s from. Really, it tells you nothing. Here’s the original voicemail message (typed by me):

“Hi, this message is for Erica (lastname). My name is Vanessa and I’m calling from Lexus of Watertown. I’m calling to confirm your appointment tomorrow morning for 8am for your ES350. If you have any questions or would like to change anything, please call us back at (ten-digit phone number). Thank you.” 

In this case, the visual voicemail was useless. About half the time, however, they type it up perfectly. My theory is that sometimes a human being types it, and sometimes you get voice recognition software. Clearly I got voice recognition software for this message. Don’t bother with the software, Vonage. It doesn’t work.

To the guy on the forum who said you should just follow Radd’s school of flight so you won’t crash, I guess that guy needs to spend more time keeping the heli in the box. More videos after the jump.

And here are some full-scale crashes:

I went through this recently, and here are some things I learned:

• There are two places that sell replacement parts in the US: Hobby-Lobby and Ka-Planes. When figuring out which is cheaper, make note of the shipping costs.
• Buy common replacement parts ahead of time, because these parts often go out of stock. Here’s a good shopping list of things you’re likely to break, partially lifted from a forum:
  • 6016 - Main rotor blades (get extra. Ka-Planes has them a bit cheaper)
  • 6022 - Tailboom. These can often be bent back to shape, as long as you can make it straight again, a few dings don’t matter.
  • 6023 - Tail drive shaft (you may need a few of these). You might break the Tail Drive Gear Set (6005) taking this apart, so buy an extra set of those, too.
  • 6029 - Tailboom reinforcement struts
  • 6018 - Tailfin set
  • 6011 - Tail rotor blades
  • 6037 - Tail pushrod
  • 6049 - Tail gearbox assembly
  • 6030 - Bearings 8×3x4mm, 4 (The person on the forum recommended getting the here)
  • 6031 - Main rotor shaft (you may need a few of these)
  • 6032 - Flybar (a few of these)
• Many parts are cemented in. For example, the talboom has three bearings inside of it–one on either end, and one in the middle, to hold the tail drive shaft in place and allow it to rotate freely. They’re cemented in place, so you’ll need to knock them loose with a quick, fast strike. I placed a screwdriver in the center of the bearing and tapped it with a hammer to knock it loose without damaging it.
• You’ll need some micro-tools that fit the screw heads well. If they don’t fit well, you’ll strip the screws. If you do strip them, use the cutting edge on a dremel to cut a new groove in the head so you can remove it.
• Of all the parts, the most overpriced one is the tailboom. $13.40 for a hollow piece of aluminum–ridiculous. Stop by your local hunting shop (or that section of Wal-Mart) and buy some Easton 2213 xx75 arrow shafts. Those are reportedly exactly the same as the tail boom, but you’ll need to cut it to length with a dremel or something similar. I just ordered a batch from someone on a forum, so I’ll let you know how it goes.
• You can’t remove the main shaft until you remove the Collective Control Lever, right runs up the center of the main shaft to the Washout Set from below the main shaft (that thin wire that pokes out the bottom). To remove it, loosen all screws connecting to the main shaft so that the main shaft can spin freely. Then, loosen the screw connecting the Collective Pitch Arm to the Collective Control Lever. Use pliars to hold the collective Control Level still (and pull it down slightly), and then rotate the main shaft left (counter-clockwise). The Collective Control Lever will unscrew from the Washout.

Here are those parts labelled:

That crash didn’t do much damage. It bent the boom, but I bent it back with my hand.  It also broke one of the main rotor grips, which I glued. Glueing that rotor grip was my biggest mistake, because it re-broke later during normal flight, causing a more serious crash. Now, I know better than to try and glue one of those high-stress parts.

Anyways, after a couple of minor crashes the main gear seemed to be a little rough at certain points in the rotation, and the main shaft seemed a little wobbly, so I decided to replace the boom, boom linkage, tail gears (which had a messed up tooth), main gear, main shaft, and of course the broken blade clip. That was a nightmare–it took me several hours. Most of the parts are cemented together, which makes them very difficult to disassemble. In fact, to remove the tail gear from the shaft, I had to cut it away with a dremel. I tried to replace the spindle shaft, but I couldn’t manage to remove the screws, and finally gave up (it seems ok, though, i just wanted to replace it to be sure).

Anyway, I took a lot of pictures before the repair to help me re-assemble it correctly. The instruction manual does have exploded views, but it’s not always clear how things connect. The pictures are huge to show the most detail, and I’ve adjusted most of them to show detail in the dark plastic.

• Falcon 3D rotors
• Falcon 3D rotors and main gear
• Falcon 3D main gear and swashplate
• Falcon 3D frame, motor, servos, swashplate, main gear, and gyro (right side)
• Falcon 3D frame, motor, servos, swashplate, main gear, and gyro (left side)
• Falcon 3D top view with flybar paddles
• Falcon 3D rotor head set and flybar control arms
• Falcon 3D main gear (notice the bearing in the center and the direection of the arrow)

Sorry, i’d put thumbnails, but I guess WordPress can’t deal with images of that size.

$30:Air Hogs Havoc Heli

These tiny, wildly popular helicopters can only be flown indoors. They Air Hogs are other sub-$50 helis are fun, and you can learn to fly them in just a few minutes. Unfortunately, you have almost no control over them compared to larger helis. All you can do is move up and down or rotate left or right. If you add some weight to the nose, they’ll move forward and fly around. Because of their tiny blades, these aren’t likely to injure you or your pets if they run into you, and they’re pretty durable when you crash them.

$120: Co-Co Lama

There are actually lots of choices between $40 and $120, but I wouldn’t recommend them. Either go super cheap and get the Air Hogs or something similar, which many people on the ‘net have modified and upgraded, or take a step up to a real coaxial like this Co-Co Lama. Like the Air Hogs, this has two counter-rotating blades (note that the tail on co-axial helis is for looks only). This is a more like a real helicopter, though, because you can hover it in a single place or fly it forwards, backwards, and side-to-side (as well as rotating it).

Notice that this model and the next have two sets of blades, one on top of another–that means it’s a coaxial design. The dual sets of blades rotate in opposite directions, making the helicopters much more stable and easier to fly than the traditional design that you see on real helicopters, which is a single pair of blades on top and a rotor on the tail.

$160: Blade CX

A popular first helicopter with hobbyists, this heli’s capabilities are similar to the Co-Co Lama’s, but the parts are higher-quality and it’s a bit bigger, so you can fly it outdoors on very still days without it blowing away.

$220: Blade CP

What does the extra $60 get you over the Blade CX? Well, this is the first plane in the list that’s not coaxial. It just has a single rotor on top. To keep the plane from spinning wildly with the blade, it has a tail rotor that blows wind in the opposite direction to keep the nose pointing forward, just like a full-scale heli. Because it doesn’t have the coaxial blades keeping the body so stable, it’s capable of fast forward flight, and it’s much more agile than a coaxial helicopter. For the same reason, it’s VERY hard to fly. You have to make constant, tiny corrections to keep it pointing forward and level. It will probably be at least a couple of hours of practice before you can hover stably. For help learning how to fly it, check RADD’s School of Flight. Here’s a hint at how hard these non-coaxial helis are to fly: You’ll run through 10 batteries before you even get the skids off the ground. Here’s another hint: the video above ends in a crash. It’s not a problem with the Blade CP; all the helis listed hereafter are just as hard. Here are dozens of more crash videos.

$250: Blade CP Pro

To understand the difference between this and the standard Blade CP, watch the video above. Because the CP Pro has symmetrical blades, it can fly “3D”. 3D is anything that seems to defy the laws of physics as they pertain to full-scale aircraft, such as doing loops, rolls, or flying upside-down. It takes many months, maybe years, of practice before you can fly 3D. However, it’s nice to have it to grow into.

There’s nothing especially unique about the Falcon 3D, except that it’s pretty cheap for what you get (a good value, as they say). It’s capable of the same 3D flight as the Blade CP Pro. However, for just a few bucks more, you get a brushless motor which has a much longer lifespan than the brushed motors like those included in the Blade’s. Also, it’s larger than the Blade CP Pro, which makes it easier to fly and more stable. In general, as helis get larger, they’re easier to fly. This is the heli I bought. I was hovering it OK after about twenty minutes, but I’m still mastering hovering indoors. I flew it outdoors once and managed to crash when a gust of wind came along. Turns out, wind makes helicopters gain altitude, which I wasn’t prepared for. I’ll get more practice when the weather improves.

$500: Align T-Rex 450

I wouldn’t recommend this or the next heli for beginners, because it’s just too expensive to be crashing regularly. This heli is basically exactly the same size as the Falcon 3D (many of the parts are interchangeable). The components are better quality, however.

$2000: Align T-Rex 600

This heli is actually easier to fly than any of the non-coaxial helis here, because it’s so large. The rotors are twice the length of the T-Rex 450/Falcon 3D, so it’s very stable. This is the heli of choice for professionals and hard-core enthusiasts. Because it’s so large, it looks fantastic doing 3D. It’s also a great platform for aerial photography, because it can carry a reasonably-sized video or still camera. Try not to crash it into anyone, though–the large spinning blades could easily kill you or whatever they hit.

As I mentioned, from those I chose the Falcon 3D because it would be challenging enough to be fun (people get quickly bored of the co-axial helis) and it was reasonably priced. Your best bet might be to stop by a local hobby shop and see which electric helis they sell and carry replacement parts for–you’re going to need to do some repairs if you get anything other than a co-axial heli, and it’s nice not to have to wait for shipping.

If you’re looking for a gift, I’d suggest one of the coaxial helis (the Air Hogs cheapo-heli, the Co-Co Lama, or the Blade CX). The single-rotor helis with collective pitch are so hard to fly that the recipient would probably become frustrated and give up, or just immediately crash it.

Here’s a crazy variation on Asteroids: SlingStar. You play a floating space eye with two comet satellites. Move your eye with the mouse to sling your comets into the bad guys (everything else). I got to level 14 before I got bored. Crazy.

Here’s a rediculously fun game: Desktop Tower Defense. It’s along the same lines as Flash Circle TD, but the monsters don’t have a pre-defined maze to follow. Instead, they move from the left-to-right and the top-to-bottom (in normal mode). My high score is 4643 in Normal mode, 7022 on the 100-level challenge, and 3454 on Easy, and I feel like I’m nowhere near mastering it.

Use this tip to play it full screen. A full review is available at Jay Is Games.

I love a game that entertains me for five or ten minutes without sucking up my entire day. Bloons is one such game (assuming you can overlook the, uh, overly festive color scheme). A monkey pops balloons. Pac-man makes a cameo. What more do you need to know?

Use this tip to play it full-screen. I got to Level 27 before getting bored.

I had a friend ask me what to buy for an inexpensive macro setup so he could close-up pictures of the products they make for work. He wanted to be able to get within 1-6 inches of the product, which doesn’t really tell me the magnification he needs, but it gives me some idea that he wants to get closer than most cameras will allow.

I have a very expensive macro setup for my Canon 5d–a Sigma 150mm lens with a Canon ring-flash. That whole setup would run about $4k-$5k, and would be way out of his price range.

The hardest part of macro photography is the lighting, and you really need a ring flash mounted to the front of the lens if you’re not going to setup an entire macro studio. So, I started with the lighting, and found the Nikon Macro Cool Light SL-1 for their CoolPix series of consumer cameras. The best camera that was compatible with that flash is the Nikon Coolpix 5000. To connect the camera to the flash, you’ll need the Nikon UR-E6 adapter. Oh, and you’ll need a CF card for the camera.

All of those components have been discontinued, unfortunately. That does mean that you can find them cheap, though, and the whole setup will cost less than $300–not bad for 5 megapixel pictures at about 1.2″ from the front of the lens. Oh, he’ll need one more thing: a macro tripod. Macro tripods are really just any steady tripod with a sliding head on it to allow you to carefully adjust the distance of the camera from the object. I did find one macro tripod ready-to-go at B&H, without the complexity of finding a separate body and head.

Later, I’ll I plan to describe macro photography and my setup in more detail, but wanted to document this before I lost it.

Here’s a simple version of SimCity that you can play in 20 minutes: DotVille. Build farms to create food and markets to make money. If you feed your dots enough, they’ll be happy with you and promote you. The goal is to reach Emporer status, and then to defeat the evil squares in a cunning battle of strategy. OK, there’s not really any strategy in the final battle, but it kept my interest.

Use this tip to play it full screen. It took me two tries to win the game with a high score of 759,124 (proof after the jump). A full review is available at Jay Is Games.

DPI (dots-per-inch) depends on two factors: the resolution of the picture (“dots”) and the size of the image as you will print it (“per inch”). My website shows the resolution for every picture at the top of the page, as part of the pictures description.
For example, this picture has a resolution of 3072 x 2048:

If you wanted to print it at 3×5, it would be 614.4DPI (3072/5=614.4). Vertically, it would be 682.6DPI (2048/3), but you’d need to crop it vertically to get the 3×5 proportions, so the DPI will be the same once it’s cropped.

Can I add extra pixels in a picture saved im my computer by Photoshop or something else for enlarge or resize it??

Lauro

Brasil

Answer:

Yes, but there’s hardly ever any reason to. When you print the picture, your printer or the printing service you use will automatically scale the picture as necessary. Nonetheless, I have run into printing services that insisted on having the picture at 300dpi (or 250 dpi or 200 dpi).

I use Photoshop Elements, but I think the steps are the same in Photoshop:

1. Open your picture.
2. Click Image, click Resize, and then click Image Size.
3. Select the Resample Image check box (if it’s not already selected). You can select Bicubic from the list. Also make sure that the Constrain Proportions check box is selected.
4. Change the Width and Height in the Pixel Dimensions group to the desired resolution. If you need to achieve a specific DPI, change the Width, Height, and Resolution settings in the Document Size group.
   
5. Click OK.

Photoshop will think for a second and then show your bigger picture. Of course, this doesn’t make your picture any sharper or add any detail–it just makes it bigger and a little blurrier. Photoshop can’t add information where their wasn’t any previously.

Hi Tony!

I’m going to try to make this simple. Retired,love my back yard birds of which some species I had to work on attracting them after reading (Back Yard Birds), Woodpeckers,Finches etc. I got good at this and was flabbergasted when I finally got to see my first woodpecker. This was a big event for me and now I want a camera to go along with this great media center windows xp computer with 20” wide screen monitor. I would like to purchased a middle of the road digital camera that is fairly user friendly and yet has some step up settings for defined photos. With so much software out there which would you advise for me in the type/brand of camera and the softwhere that makes things more simple. I also have the printer that can handle this,a ( all in one photo printer ),pic bridge.plenty ram,photo ink & paper,and a wide variety of supported memory cards of different cameras. It would greatly appreciated if you could help me on this subject about which camera and software.

This is a windows xp media center computer and the monitor & photo printer was in mind with this kind of computer. One more thing, a external hard drive. Would it be wise to have one for photo backup or what would be appropriate and gig size. I liked your simple kitchen photos since I also garden peppers of all colors for my homemade salsa. I also would like to be able to make 8×10 portraits-Pixels ?

Sincerely,JDEME

Print a photograph from a memory card Printing tasks Scanning/Copying/Faxing tasks Troubleshooting

Most digital cameras use a media card to store photos. The Dell Photo AIO Printer 964 supports the following digital media and USB keys:

CompactFlash Type I and II

Memory Stick

Memory Stick PRO

SmartMedia

Secure Digital

MultiMediaCard

xD-Picture Card (up to 512 MB)

DELL - 256 MB High Speed USB 2.0 Memory Key, Part Number 311-4341

DELL - 128 MB High Speed USB 2.0 Memory Key, Part Number 311-4340

DELL - 64 MB High Speed USB 2.0 Memory Key, Part Number 311-4339

Answer:

Heya. Obviously, I like bird photography, too. It’s hard, though, because birds like to keep their distance from people. To make matters worse, birds can fly, and we can’t. Oh, and birds almost never stop moving. Woodpeckers are especially hard because they don’t hang out at feeders, and instead prefer to stand on the sides of trees, usually very high up. (though now that I write this, I find I have several pictures of woodpeckers on bird feeders)

So, you’re not going to be able to walk up to a woodpecker and ask it to hold still. You need a telephoto lens to bring them closer without disturbing them. So, my recommendation for you is going to be similar to the recommendation I gave this guy:

• Canon Digital Rebel
• Canon 70-300 IS telephoto lens

If the $870 price tag of those two items freaks you out, buy an older generation Canon SLR from eBay. Any of the digital Rebels or a Canon 10D would serve you well. They’ll all have a 1.6x conversion factor that will extend that telephoto lens even farther, letting you get closer to the birds.

If you wouldn’t mind spending over $1000, get a Canon 30D instead of the Digital Rebel. The Digital Rebel should be fine for you, though.

Regarding software, Vista Ultimate has some great tools built-in for managing photos. You don’t need to upgrade the whole operating system, though. Adobe offers the Adobe Photoshop Album Starter Edition for free, and so does Google:

For more hard-core editing, I like Adobe Photoshop Elements.

Well, let me know what you decide on.

Hello Tony

Sorry I am technologically very ignorant. Finally I have managed to set up my blog space. I just cannot figure out how to publish this into RSS.

Hope you could help me.

BTW your notes were very helpful and they help me setup my Windows live space.

Cheers
Satha

Answer:

Here’s the answer from Windows Live Spaces help. I can’t figure out how to link to it, so I’ll just quote it:

Share content from your space

You can share the content from your space with others through syndication (Makes specified content from a website available to others to use and display on their websites. When the syndicated content is updated, the same content is automatically updated on other sites.) . If you syndicate your space, it can be read by an RSS news reader (Really Simple Syndication news reader. A program that allows a user to read content from various RSS news feeds and blogs.) or aggregator (A program that watches for new content coming over specified RSS feeds.) .

When you first create your , syndication is automatically turned on. If you do not want your space syndicated, you can turn syndication off.

 

1. Make sure that you’ve signed in (You must sign in using your Windows Live ID before you can edit your space. To sign in, click Sign in in the upper-right corner of your space.) to your space and that you’re in edit mode (One of two modes that you use to work on your space. When you’re in edit mode, you can customize your space, change themes, or add photos or a new blog entry. As you work on your space, you’ll flip between edit and view mode. To get to edit mode, click Edit your space in the upper-right corner.) .
2. Click Options.
3. Click Space settings.
4. Under Syndicate this space, clear the Syndicate this space check box to prevent content from your from being syndicated.–or–

   Select the Syndicate this space check box to allow content from your space to be syndicated.

5. Click Save.

 

Notes

• When you syndicate your space, the Subscribe to RSS feed link is available in the Visitor tools module.
• When you syndicate your space, your blog, lists, photo albums, and music lists are all syndicated.
• When you syndicate your space, the Sign up for alerts link is available in the Visitor tools module. To allow visitors to use Windows Live Alerts with your space, set your permissions to Everyone.
• When you turn off syndication, you prevent visitors from using Alerts with your space.

Here’s a great way to kill ten minutes on your Sunday morning: NaaC. This simple, two-dimensional, one-room shooter reminds me of asteroids. Move around the room with your cursor keys, and hold down the left mouse button to fire. If you pick up a weapon, click the right mouse button to switch to it. The pace of the game cosntantly increases as new enemies are released into the room. When everything gets quiet, that means you’re about to meet one of the bosses.

For strategy:

• Turn inertia off from the main menu (otherwise, it’s hard to pick weapons up)
• Use your pistol (the default weapon) as much as possible. Switch weapons when you start to get in trouble.
• Don’t move around the room too much; you’re better off staying in one corner for most of the game.
• Pick up weapons and goodies whenever possible, but don’t dive into a group of enemies to pick something up. If a weapon is surrounded, just let it disappear.

I suggest just downloading the .ZIP version of the game, unzipping it, and then running the executable file without installing it. It’s a fun game, but it’s not like you’re going to be playing it years from now.

My high score is 1,355,081–post your score in the comments. This is another game from Jay is Games.

Don’t worry, airplanes only have a few parts, and they’re all user-replaceable. The parts are:

• Battery. Connects to the ESC and supplies the power for the motor, receiver, and servos. The bigger the battery, the faster the motor spins (if your ESC and motor can handle the power).

• Electronic Speed Control (ESC). Think of this as the power distribution center. It connects to the battery, the receiver, and the motor. Based on signals from the receiver, the ESC sends more or less power to the motor. The ESC sends power to the receiver, which the receiver uses to power the servos, using a built-in battery eliminator circuit (BEC). ESC’s have some intelligence, and won’t spin the motor when you first turn the transmitter on even if the throttle is turned up (to prevent you from hurting yourself). They also monitor the power coming from the battery, and cut the motor off before the battery runs completely out so that the battery will have enough power left to move the servos, allowing you to control your plane while you glide it in for a landing. You need a different ESC for brushed or brushless motors.

• Motor. Connects to the ESC and the propeller. Spins faster when the ESC gives more power. Electric motors can be brushed or brushless. Brushed motors typically have a gear that spins the propeller faster than the motor. Brushless motors, which last longer than brushed motors, usually connect directly to the propeller without a gear (they can spin much faster). The picture below shows a brushless motor.

• Propeller. Connects to the motor and spins, pushing wind behind it. The bigger the diameter, the more air the prop pushes with each spin. The deeper the pitch, the faster the prop pushes the wind. The picture above shows the propeller conneced with a prop saver, which lets the propeller bend instead of breaking when you crash the plane into something.
• Receiver. The radio that receives signals from your transmitter. Connects to the ESC and the servos, and sends them signals indicating how far the corresponding stick on the transmitter is being pushed. The receiver has a long wire hanging out of it–that’s the antenna, which receives the radio waves from the transmitter. The receiver has to be the same frequency as the transmitter. You control the frequency using a crystal, which can typically be swapped out.

• Servos. Turn a few degrees to move the control surfaces (the rudder, elevator, and ailerons) on the airplane. Connects to the receiver and the control horns. The first picture below shows two servos connected to a Slo-V fuselage–notice that the control wires (which connect to the control horns) are attached to the servos using “Z-bends”. The arm on top of the servo twists around the screw. Servos typically include several control arms in different shapes. The second picture shows a servo disconnected from an airplane. Beginner planes typically have two servos, while more advanced planes can have five or more servos.

• Control horns. Small pieces of plastic that connect to the control surfaces and, using a stiff control wire, the servos. The control horns connect to the control surfaces, which are the movable parts of the airplane’s wings and tails (the rudder, elevator, and/or ailerons) that control the direction of the airplane by pushing wind in different directions.

This diagram shows how the electrical components are connected:

And here’s a picture of a Slo-V (it’s like a Slow Stick with a V-shaped tail) with the wing off to show all of the parts. Click the thumbnail to view the full-sized picture.

I’m a fickle gamer. I love games, but I don’t have much time to play games, so when I do sit down with a controller I want the game to be great.

For years, I just bought games new from the local Circuit City. Often, though, I’d get a game home and realize I hated it, and I was out $50. When GameFly started, I thought, this’ll be cheaper than buying the games, and I won’t have to worry if I get a game that I hate–I just send it back and get another.

I’ve been a GameFly member for more than three years now (since January of 2004), and overall I’d give it 3/5 stars. It does work as advertise–they mail me games, and I send them back postage-free in the included mailer. They’ve always given me whatever game I had at the top of my queue, including games that would have been hard to buy in stores. They sell used games at very cheap prices ($20-$35) for the few occasions that I want to buy one.

GameFly has its flaws, though. I live on the East coast, and it literally takes TWO WEEKS to get a new game after I send one back. Actually, sometimes it’s a little shorter–they have a clever service now where the postal service informs them that i’ve mailed a game back. That shaves a couple of days off the round-trip time, but it still takes at least 9 days to get a new game. Plus, they don’t get the notification every time.

Also, I’ve had a lot of games disappearing lately. Literally, since I’ve moved to my new town, about 75% of the games I send back never arrive at GameFly. Either someone is taking them directly from my mailbox, or someone at the post office is stealing them. This happened once or twice at my previous address, but now that it happens most of the time, I have to be suspicious. I’m going to have to start returning them to a post office box (which reduces the convenience factor).

Out of the maybe 40 games that I’ve rented over the last several years, two were damaged. GameFly sent me a replacement promptly (they don’t wait to receive the game, but ship the replacement out as soon as you notify them of the problem).

I’ve tried to find a similar service that offers faster distribution to people on the east coast. GameFly does have several competitors, but none of them are as well-reviewed as GameFly, and people still have the same shipping time complaints. NetFlix, which distributes movies instead of games, has distribution centers throughout the country and so offers very fast turn-around. Unfortunately, there’s no real “NetFlix for games”.

If I do ever cancel GameFly, I’d just buy games used from eBay and then resell them. That’s more trouble, but given the small number of games I play, it’d be much cheaper. Though, if someone at the post office stole a game I bought, I’d be on the hook for it, I suppose.

Add a comment if you have an experience with GameFly or a similar service.

I’ve used Vonage for voice since August, 2004. Voice was okay; it was never great. There was always some delay/latency. Sometimes it wasn’t really noticeable, and other times it was very distracting–it seemed like a whole second between the time you spoke and the time the other person heard you speak. You’d be surprised how awkward that makes conversation, because you’ll often be inadvertently interrupting the person you’re speaking to, and you won’t realize it for a second.

I decided that I needed some Quality of Service (QoS) so I replaced my router with one of these D-Link GamerLounge routers. That series of routers has a much more aggressive QoS than other routers, because it will constantly break large, lower-priority packets into smaller segments. See, while QoS will prioritize realtime traffic like Voice over IP (VoIP) over traffic like Web transfers (say, HTTP and FTP), it can only prioritize queued traffic. That helps, but if the router is in the middle of transferring a large packet, it can’t be interrupted with a VoIP packet, and the VoIP packet has to wait the few milliseconds it takes to transmit the large, lower-priority packet. The GamerLounge routers minimize this effect by fragmenting all large, low-priority outbound packets so that the interruption will be less.

The GamerLounge router did a good job of reducing the latency. Unfortunately, the model I had was awful at handling VPN traffic. When my wife started working from home regularly, this caused real problems for her. So, I upgraded to a D-Link Xtreme N Router. It has QoS, but it doesn’t do the fragmenting thing, so the voice delay got worse again.

In December of 2004 I added a fax line to my Vonage service. Before that, I had been using one of those eFax services. That’s great for receiving faxes, but I don’t receive many faxes. Mostly, I need to send signed contracts. It turns out that the quality problems with voice, while annoying, absolutely kill fax services. Most fax transmissions died after 2-3 pages, requiring me to send contracts in multiple calls. Nonetheless, I don’t fax that often, and I’m lazy, so I just dealt with it.

This week I finally reverted back to a Verizon land-line to use for faxes. I’m faxing more regularly now, and I need it to be reliable. Vonage made cancelling my fax line an absolute nightmare. While I added the line with just a few clicks on their website, they forced me to call them to cancel the service (just like every other online service, they want to make it difficult–I’m talking to you, Sirius). Then, they tried to convince me to keep the service at a discount, convert it to a virtual number, convert it to a second voice line, convert it to a virtual number (they asked me this twice), etc.

Well, that’s my experience with Vonage. I continue to use their voice service because I don’t make many voice calls and it’s only about $18/month. My favorite Vonage feature is that it rings my cell phone at the same time, so I don’t have to give people separate office and cell numbers–one number contacts me even when I’m not in the office.

Share your own experiences in the comments.

FrostBite is a platform game that combines Super Mario Brothers and DigDug. Use the cursor keys to move and jump, and use your mouse to aim your grapple. My hi-score is 20850, at which point I got bored. It’s a good game, though, I just have to get back to work.

Use this tip to play it full screen. A full review is available at Jay Is Games.