My HDTV Adventure – Continued

Everyone has different television viewing habits and preferences. Some don’t have a TV at all and there are times that seems appealing. My viewing habits can be summarized as follows:

• I don’t watch TV every day.
• I only watch TV using a DVR.
• I only watch pre-recorded shows (except occasional sports.)
• I usually skip commercials and sometimes even boring content within a program.
• Most of my TV watching is late, when the kids are asleep.

Last fall I posted about “part 1″ of my search for HDTV service.  Earlier this year I dropped Dish Network due to frequent hardware failures.  I then switchted to Comcast and was happy enough with the service, but the monthly cost was too high after the initial promotions ended so I restarted my quest…

A little bit of research led me back to DirecTV.  Their offerings have improved in a number of ways since I left them last year.  Most importantly since I’m now a “new” customer, they’re offering a reasonable deal on new HDTV/DVR receivers. 

Additionally I discovered that AAA members get additional discounts on top of the regular promotions for new DirecTV customers.   Offer is available only by calling the AAA exclusive DirecTV toll-free number to order services: 1-800-242-9114. Valid AAA membership number needed when calling.

I ordered two HD-DVR systems and two standard (SD, non-DVR) receivers for a total cost of $130 with installation and a two year service agreement.  My monthly cost for TV service will be half of Comcast’s with more programming — even after my initial promotions expire.

I needed a new roof-top dish to receive the newest signals, and the DirecTV installer put the dish right where I wanted it.My only complaint about installation is the installer wanted to charge $80 extra to remove my old roof-top dishes.  I had three, one old DirecTV and two from Dish.  I removed them and patched the screw holes myself.

I am very happy about the following aspects of the DirecTV service so far:

• The picture quality is better than expected.  According to my research, DirecTV’s HD signlas are not technically as complete as cable or over the air HD broadcasts, but I can’t tell the difference.
• The DVR interface is easy to use, and response to the remote.
• The On-Demand service has lots of programming, comperable to what Comcast offered.
• The DirecTV receiver (HR-22) can play audio, video, and photo media through my home network which is stored on my Windows PC.
• The new roof-top dish to receiver wiring is much less complicated than it was previously.  I have only one RG6 cable coming from the dish to a central wiring point.  A non-powered splitter then provides one single cable output to each receiver.  The splitter provided by the installer supports up to 8 receivers.  The new receivers can now provide dual-tuner HD support with a single cable run back to the splitter.

I have the following suggestions for improvement:

• It would be nice to replay a program on a different DVR than it was originally recorded on.
• It would be nice if the DirecTV receivers could act as media sources to Windows Media Center.
• It would be nice to configure the DVR recordings via a web interface instead of the remote control.

In summary, I am now again a happy DirecTV customer.  Your startup and monthly costs are sure to vary from mine, as they are dependent on seasonal promotions.

Email – Finder or Filer?

I just read a great blog post here that speaks to a transition I recently made myself.

I have been an Exchange/Outlook user since 1996, before Outlook was even a product.  During those years I developed systems of email folder heirarchies that I used to “file” my email.  These heirarchies changed year-to-year as I changed projects or jobs.  This filing helped me find relevant email on any number of topics when required.

I also have a no-delete policy for email.  I don’t delete anything.  My theory is that storage will continue to get cheaper, and search functionality will continue to improve.  Once my mailbox size became large, I started creating an annual “PST” archive file so that my primary mailbox would stay manageable.  Over the past twelve years I’ve amassed many gigabytes of email.

Last year I began using Google Mail’s web interface as my primary personal email client.  Around the same time I saw an “Inbox Zero” presentation by Merlin Mann which was very thought provoking.  After a short time my habits changed dramatically from being an email filer, to an email finder.  I highly recommend it to anyone who spends time moving emails from your inbox to other folders in an attempt to organize your email.

When using Google Mail, I immediately archive any message that doesn’t require me to perform a follow-up action.  Those that require follow up stay in my inbox until I’ve completed the task.

When using Outlook I flag messages requiring follow-up.  Messages from high-volume email distribution lists are automatically moved to Inbox subfolders via the Rules feature.  Others emails simply stay in my Inbox or their distribution list folder until Outlook AutoArchive moves them to a PST file.

The advantage to “finding” is that you don’t spend time filing on a daily basis.  I don’t even label much as I can almost always think of keywords, senders, or recipients that narrow my search sufficiently.  The only filing and labeling I do is automated with filters.  Email from active distribution lists gets automatically tagged and/or filed appropriately.

Are you a finder or a filer?

Digital Federal Credit Union

I first joined Digital Federal Credit Union as an employee of Digital Equipment Corp in 1999.  In the years since I have found DCU to be focused on providing new an innovative services, excellent customer service, and a very convenient place to conduct my day-to-day banking.

Digital Federal Credit Union is a not-for-profit financial cooperative owned by and operated for our members. DCU was chartered in October of 1979. Since then, DCU has been chosen as the credit union for more than 700 companies and organizations. DCU serves more than 350,000 members and their families in all 50 states.

 

DCU is the largest credit union headquartered in New England as measured by assets and among the top 15 nationwide. According to Callahan & Associates, a credit union consulting group, of the top 50 largest, DCU has been the fastest growing credit union in America in the last ten years. That’s thanks in large part to the satisfaction and loyalty of our members and the dedication and commitment of our volunteers and staff.

DCU has several advantages to local area banks that I find very appealing:

• No fee-for-service  Very few kinds of things incur fees at DCU.
• Reimbursed ATM fees  DCU reimburses you for the fees that third-party ATMs charge you (up to $10/month)
• PC Deposit  Deposit paper checks from your PC and scanner – no more mailing!
• Fantastic bill-pay system  Very easy to use, and costs you nothing.  I don’t write & mail checks, and have not for years.
• Free Wireless Access Free account access from your web-enabled phone, PDA, or pager.
• Quicken/Money/Quickbooks Data import functions if you use software to help track spending

Since DCU is a credit union, not a bank, you must be eligible to join by your employer, family relationship to existing members, organization you belong to, or community you live in.  Luckily, anyone can join DCU by first joining a membership organization for as little as $15.  Once a member, always a member.

The only downside to using DCU day-to-day is that they don’t have branches near my home.  This isn’t a show stopper however.  DCU does participate in a CU Service Center Network which does have branches within 30 miles of my home.  With conveniences like ATMs for withdrawals, direct deposit, prepaid envelopes for deposit-by-mail, and now PC deposit via scanner, I rarely need a traditional branch anyway.

High Speed Personal Scanner

I prefer to store documents digitally, rather than with paper in drawers.  I have long sought a way to quickly convert paper documents into digital form for archival and search/retrieval purposes.  I recently found a great product which sits on my desk, and does exactly that.

Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 Instant PDF Sheet-Fed Scanner

Increase productivity in a snap with the Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 Sheet-Fed Scanner. The S510 digitizes both sides of a document in a single pass at up to 18 pages per minute in color, making it ideal for a small office or home office environment.

Changing how documents are managed

• One button scanning to searchable PDF
• Scan directly to Microsoft® applications
• New multifunction Quick Menu feature
• Easily protect, preserve, & share documents
• Business card scanning
• Color Duplex 18 pages per minute
• Adobe® Acrobat® 8.0 Standard

The Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 is around the size of a toaster.  I can put a document in its feeder tray (up to 50 pages at a time) and just hit go to start.  Both sides of each page are scanned simulateously.  When its done, a PDF is created and OCR processes begin.  It sits just to the right of my monitor in prime desktop realestate.  I use the ScanSnap regularly to scan bills, paper correspondence, and even drawings created by my kids.

My only complaint is that the scanner driver is not TWAIN compliant, so applications like PhotoShop, and NeatReceipts don’t recognize it.  The “workaround” is to use the ScanSnap to scan first to PDF for import to other applications.

Update: I should point out that this product is not cheap.  The average price is around $400.  At the moment, a $50 mail-in-rebate is available though October 2008 at Newegg.com.

KeePass

Once upon a time I frequently reused passwords. So if you knew my dogs name, or what kind of car I drove, you could easily have pretended to be me with just a little extra work. This is obviously a very bad idea, but I’m sure many people struggle with managing passwords for web sites and computer systems you access on a regular basis.

KeePass is a free open source password manager, which helps you to manage your passwords in a secure way. You can put all your passwords in one database, which is locked with one master key or a key file. So you only have to remember one single master password or select the key file to unlock the whole database. The databases are encrypted using the best and most secure encryption algorithms currently known (AES and Twofish). For more information, see the features page.

A while back I wrote a post about PasswordSafe, which I used to manage my usernames and passwords.  I’ve since switched to a different tool named KeePass.  KeePass is also free and open source, but I think it is also easier to use.

Most importantly the ability to auto-type usernames and passwords is infinately more flexible with KeePass.  Auto-type is a very important feature, although I can understand why you may not initially think so.

Think about the strongest types of passwords.  They are long, complex, unique, and full of many different character types.  Do you want to type those in manually each time?  Once I switched to KeePass, my normal password length increased to 20 or more randomized characters wherever possible.  Since I don’t have to remember or type them, I prefer the really long/complex ones.

To manage my password database across several computers, I use FolderShare to synchronize it between systems.  This keeps my database of (as of writing 317) passwords the same across all my systems.  Occasionally I also copy the password database file to a USB flash drive so I can access accounts when I’m not using one of my own computers.

KeePass has many other great features.  The listing of features below links to their website.

Strong Security

Multiple User Keys

Portable and No Installation Required

Export To TXT, HTML, XML and CSV Files

Import From Many File Formats

Easy Database Transfer

Support of Password Groups

Time Fields and Entry Attachments

Auto-Type, Global Auto-Type Hot Key and Drag&Drop

Intuitive and Secure Windows Clipboard Handling

Searching and Sorting

Multi-Language Support

Strong Random Password Generator

Plugin Architecture

Open Source!

I found it helpful to change the default “auto-type” string to inlcude a pause before the KeePass types your username.  Click Tools/Options/Advanced/Auto-Type, and use this value:

{DELAY 50}{USERNAME}{TAB}{DELAY 50}{PASSWORD}{ENTER}

Some websites with more complicated authentication schemes will require customization of the auto-type string.  The software “help” references provides details on how to do this.