Tom Caswell

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  • Some help for T-Mobile HotSpot@Home users…

    If you are trying out T-mobile’s HotSpot@Home VOIP home phone service, there is a setting you may need to change. T-mobile is still figuring this out so their technicians will invariably blame it on your ISP to get you to hang up and go away. I usually like T-mobile, but they have had this VOIP service out long enough to have figured out these types of issues. By the way, this article is only useful if they gave you the Linksys WRTU54G-TM router (this is the model they are currently handing out with this service).

    I have Comcast as my ISP, and I was having the same problem others were having (no blue light — no phone service). I also got the same error message as others (W006.1 ISP Error. Retry.) I have found that the default firewall settings on the WRTU54G-TM router are too strict. I am not an expert so there may be a less drastic fix, but turning off firewall rules solves the problem. To do this, log in to your router via a computer connected to it (type http://192.168.0.1 in your browser to access it). As has been mentioned before, the default user name and password for the router are both “admin” (without the quotes). You can change this later. Once you have logged in, click on “Security” and then “Firewall.” Change “Enable” to “Disable” and click “Save.” You may need to restart your router (just unplug it, wait a few seconds, and plug it back in). Once it has time to start up the error message should be gone now and the blue light that indicates a phone connection should be back on. (To check, log back into your router and click “Status” –> “Voice” –> “Error List.”) You should be in business!

    Here is a link to the Linksys forums where I posted this as well:

    http://forums.linksys.com/linksys/board/message?board.id=VoIP_Routers&message.id=2931

    If you want to check for firmware updates, here is the place (although currently there is only Version 1).

  • Meet the Netflix Player, by Roku

    My wife wanted to watch North and South last night while I was gone, but after calling every video rental store in town she finally gave up. Well guess what? It was available in the Netflix “Watch Instantly” section, along with over 12,000 other movies and TV shows. But she is not the type to watch a movie on a laptop. And since the instant movie viewer currently only works via Internet Exploder, I would have to open VMWare Fusion on our mac first, start Windows, etc, etc, etc.

    Enter the Netflix Player by Roku.

    (more…)

  • Waterproof anything…

    It looks like cameras, phones, and other gadgets can now be made waterproof. Sid Martin, director of technology at Northeast Maritime Institute, has a new, molecule-thin invention that keeps your electronics working even when wet. It’s called “Golden Shellback.” Interestingly, no one at CNN or The Wall Street Journal originally believed him when he tried to go public with the invention.

    Article: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080731/NEWS/80731010
    Video: http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/golden-shellback-visits-nbcs-today-show/

    Phone in glass of water

  • I had a beard…

    I had a beard for the last two weeks, but it got really itchy. So here are some photos and some manly beard quotes. If you are thinking of growing one, go for it. But realize that having a beard takes as much work as not having one (you have to trim it, etc). Unless you are going for a total mountain man look.

    Beard quotes from Wikipedia:

    • “There are two kinds of people in this world that go around beardless — boys and women — and I am neither one.” -Greek saying
    • “A kiss without a moustache, is like soup without salt.” – Breton saying
    • “A man without a moustache is like a cat without a tail.” – Arab Saying
    • “A woman with a beard looks like a man. A man without a beard looks like a woman.” – Afghan Saying

    Me with a beard

    Another photo of me with a beard

  • 3 years later, I have become a resident!

    I have been a resident of Utah for 3 years now, and I am FINALLY being allowed to apply for resident tuition. The form I had to fill out asks for details about every aspect of my life. Let me tell you, the Department of Homeland Security has nothing on the Utah State University residency folks. They want to know where I have lived, worked, and traveled in the past three years. Every trip greater than 15 days has to be documented. They want copies of my taxes, my vehicle and voter registrations, my mortgage statements, as well as information about my wife and my parents. While I am grateful to pay less tuition starting next semester, I am amazed by how much information is required to establish residency. So I wrote my own version of an employment verification letter to make life easier on my supervisor:

    To whom it may concern,

    Tom Caswell has been an employee of Utah State University since September 2005. He has put up with your tuition residency requirements for 3 years now. He has paid the higher out-of-state tuition rates during this time — even though he has been paying Utah property, income, and sales taxes since the first day he set foot in Utah back in August 2005. Please stop being a bunch of freaking morons and realize that he is now eligible for in-state tuition. Thank you.