I had picked up a Vox for my wife at Futureshop while they were on sale for $179.99.  The rep I dealt with forewarned me that he had sold 9 of them and all 9 were returned.  I wasn’t too surprised given what I had read online but on the other hand it seemed that there were also a good number of people out there that were using the Vox without too many issues.

So I got the Kobo Vox home and handed it over to my wife and then the fun began.  Right out of the box upon powering it on you must connect it to a (your) wireless network.  If you do not have WiFi you will not be able to even use the Vox as an eReader, it will be useless to you.  Once we had connected the Vox to our WiFi it checked for updates and advised to download.  It didn’t give any other option so we proceeded.  The download failed after about 15 minutes and we couldn’t retry as it said it had ran out of storage space.  I suspect that the image it was downloading (firmware update) had taken up that space and the device wasn’t smart enough to overwrite it on retry.

We then connected the Vox to computer to see if we could access the data partition and delete that file but could not.  We performed a factory reset on the Vox and tried again.  The second attempt also failed with an error but this time we could retry and the third attempt was successful.  Once the update was installed we had to log into Kobo.  We kept getting a connection error and there was no way to skip the login.  We waited about half an hour and finally were able to login and then start using the Vox.  From the time my wife unboxed the Kobo Vox to actually being able to use it took 2 hours.

I can only imagine why so many people wouldn’t have bothered trying to get it to work and just returned it.  We really tested it out and installed flash and app managers, browsers, games, books, movies, music etc.  It’s performance is ok for the money you pay.  The speaker is not that loud, it’s kind of laggy when you’re typing or tapping the screen and requires tapping 2 or 3 times before it responds.  The status bar at the top of the screen would just stop working and the Kobo library application would error out and not display anything but errors.  From what I read online people who were experiencing the Library app issue were saying the only way to fix it was to perform a factory reset.  I actually figured out an easier way to fix that issue.  If you go to the getjar site and download/install the Kobo app it will resolve the issue.  You’ll then have two Kobo apps installed so just pick the one you installed and uninstall it.

After all the little issues and glitches we just decided to bring it back to Futureshop and exchange the Kobo Vox for the Acer Iconia 16GB 10.1 inch tablet which is an awesome device for $349.  Mind you our upgrade was almost twice the cost of the Vox but what you get for the money is outstanding.  The Iconia performs beautifully and right out of the box it’s fully functional and usable as fast as you can turn it on.

I’m pleasantly surprised at a couple of high end tablets that are now available in the $350 price range.  I’m sure they’ll give the higher priced tablets a run for their money.  IMHO if you’re going to start dropping $600 and up on a tablet you might as well buy a laptop which for the same amount of money is way more powerful has tons more storage and can do all the things a tablet can’t.

If you’re looking for just an eReader I would advise to get just an eReader.  If you’re looking for a tablet that you can also read on I recommend you get a real tablet.  For all that it appears to be, problems abound with the Kobo Vox.

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I was a little bit stumped and called a network cabling technician who does this for a living and he didn’t even know.  I also did some research online and couldn’t find any info on how to crimp and terminate a CAT3 cable for LAN use.  The cable in question was category rated and was stated on the cable jacket, CAT3 is the specification for 10 meg / 10BASE-T.  So I started messing around with the cable and even tried to check the old end I had snipped off to see how the wires were laid out.  The colour coding on the wires was so bad that half of them just appeared white which didn’t help matters.  After a few tries I got the CAT3 cable working properly and the layout of the wires should be as follows: blue, blue-white, green, orange-white, orange, green-white, brown-white, brown.  Once I had the CAT3 cable terminated correctly the issue was successfully resolved.

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I have an iPhone 4 with iOS 4.2.1 running on it currently.  Just recently I started using the feature of adding an Asian language International keyboard so that I could edit the user dictionary and add custom words that aren’t in the default English dictionary.

Initially this feature worked splendidly.  I had added the Chinese Pinyin International keyboard and had been adding custom words to the user dictionary such as slang and other words and acronyms that typically don’t push through with the default dictionary.

After a day or two I noticed that those custom words I had added to the user dictionary weren’t being recognized anymore.  When I checked the “edit user dictionary” feature in settings I noticed that all the words were gone and I no longer had the “plus sign” (+) to add any words.  Nothing had changed on my iPhone over those couple of days so it struck me as odd.  I tried removing the International keyboards I had and re-adding them.  I still didn’t have the option to add custom words to the user dictionary. I also tried resetting the keyboard dictionary and still nothing.  No matter what settings I tried playing around with on the iPhone 4 I could not get the option back to add custom words to the user dictionary.

I don’t know if this is a glitch in the current iOS as after doing some research I found some other people who have experienced this issue but with no resolution.  What I did is backed up my iPhone 4 and restored back to factory defaults and then tested the edit user dictionary feature and voila I could add custom words again.  I then restored my iPhone to the latest backup I had done and performed a full sync.  Once the sync was complete I added the Asian International keyboard and tested the edit user dictionary feature to add custom words.  Once again the feature to add custom words had disappeared.  At this point I figured it must be some sort of conflict with an application currently on my iPhone 4.  I started removing applications and syncing and testing. I removed all of the apps I could live without and still didn’t have any luck.  I didn’t try removing all of the apps as there are some I cannot live without so regardless even if they are causing the issue it’s a moot point.  The weird thing is that all of these applications were already on my iPhone 4 when I started using the “edit user dictionary” function.

My conclusion regarding this random issue is that an update went through for one of my applications currently on my iPhone 4 that is causing some sort of conflict.  I would surmise that over time with additional updates the edit user dictionary feature will just start working again and it will be resolved without further intervention from myself.

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In need of a new Bluetooth headset and after reading up on tons of different brands, models, specs etc. I finally decided upon the Sound ID 510 Bluetooth headset.  Sound ID itself as a company sounds pretty neat since it was founded by an ear doctor, presumably who would be better suited to design a tool for your ear.

The features of the Sound ID 510 definitely caught my attention as there are many.

• Earprint App
• Touch sensor volume/mute controls
• 3 microphones for noise reduction
• Comfortable earloops
• A2DP for music and more
• Pass thru mode
• Voice prompts
• Multi point, connect to two phones
• USB connectivity (micro USB for charging/upgrading)
• Long battery life

Initially the Earprint App was only available for the iPhone although it’s now available for Android and Blackberry.  The Sound ID 510 is the first Bluetooth headset with an App for the iPhone.  It’s a cool idea as you can customize the sound to your preference, get an update on your battery status, use it to find your headset and more.  The problem with the Earprint App is that it’s buggy.  It has a hard time finding your headset even when it’s on and paired to your phone.  You can even be on a phone call using your headset and the Earprint App can’t find your Sound ID 510.  I find quite often that I have to go through the whole process of turning off my headset and turning it back on so that Earprint finds it.  Hopefully this will be fixed in future updates.

The touch sensor volume controls on the Sound ID 510 work great, super easy to adjust the volume and you also have the ability to mute and un-mute calls by holding for 2 seconds on the touch control.  You will hear a voice prompt telling you the call is muted or un-muted.  I’ve read from others who have expressed that with touch volume controls accidentally swiping the volume up or down may be an issue.  It’s not, even if you did accidentally swipe the volume up or down it goes in such increments that it wouldn’t ruin your phone call.

The clarity of sound on the Sound ID 510 is fantastic both for the user and the person on the other end of the call.  The 3 microphones do a great job in reducing background noise and with the great sound it makes it easy to have conversations in places that would normally be difficult at best.  Here’s something interesting that I did notice and I’m not sure if it has to do with noise reduction but I’m pretty sure it does.  When I first started using my Sound ID 510 I thought it kept cutting out or dropping.  After a few phone calls and discussing what I was experiencing with the person on the other end I finally realized what was going on.  When you’re on a live call with the Sound ID 510 whichever person isn’t talking it’s like they’re not even there.  There is no line noise, no background noise, no person breathing etc.  Apparently for the person on the other end the experience is the same when you’re not talking.  Now that I know what’s happening I appreciate this feature but initially it’s so sudden from talking to nothing to talking to nothing.

The Sound ID 510 comes with 3 ear loops and an over the ear accessory if that’s your preference.  By default the Sound ID 510 is fitted with the mid-size ear loop right out of the box.  The ear loops are very comfortable although if you’re not used to having something in your ear it’s going to take a while to get used to it.  I started out using the mid-size ear loop and it felt like a good fit.  After wearing it for nine hours straight my ear was killing me.  I figured after a few days my ear would adjust but not so and therefore I have switched to the smallest of the ear loops and that’s working well for me.

A2DP is always a great feature to have, ring tones play on the headset, tones for whatsapp, SMS, emails all play on the headset although they don’t sound the exact same, it’s more of a tight, tinny sound.

Pass thru mode I’ve tested to so how it works although I’ve never actually made use of this feature yet.  I would surmise it may be good for eavesdropping, lol.  Basically when you’re not on a call you can enable Pass thru mode which is a amplified setting to hear what’s going on around you.  You can choose from focused or surround mode.

Voice prompts on the Sound ID 510 are helpful during pairing, connection status, voice dialing, muting, end of call etc.  They can be a little annoying when your battery starts getting low on your headset or your Sound ID 510 just randomly disconnects/reconnects multiple times for no reason even when your phone is two feet away from it.

Multi Point is great especially if you have a Bluetooth enabled vehicle or two phones for whatever reason.  I haven’t used this feature yet.

The fact that the Sound ID 510 uses Micro USB to the headset and standard USB for charging or updating is awesome. I’m surprised that not all Bluetooth headsets are like this although in the future it would sense that they will be.

The battery life on the Sound ID 510 is average, I mean how much life can you get out of a battery that small anyways.  In one day I can easily talk up to five hours on my iPhone so I have killed my Sound ID 510 in less than a day.  This is where the USB cable comes in handy because if I’m not near a USB wall adapter or a computer I’m probably dead.

The Sound ID 510 is packaged quite nicely.  In the box you’ll find the headset of course, a little box with two additional ear loops (small, large) and the over the ear loop which is clear plastic and very slim.  A cube USB wall adapter (black) with fold down prongs for easy transport.  A short USB cable (6-8inches) for charging, upgrading.  A neat soft rubber holster with pocket clip for putting your Sound ID 510 in while you’re not using it.

Conclusion:  I really love the Sound ID 510 and think it’s a great Bluetooth headset with a fantastic inventory of features and accessories.  I use the Sound ID 510 with my iPhone 4 and would definitely recommend it.  It’s hard to get in Canada, I could only find it for sale at two places; Best Buy for your typical big box store inflated price of $129.99 and SIG Electronics online for $89.99 which is where I purchased mine.

The Sound ID 510 can definitely benefit from two things.  A firmware update so that the headset maintains a better connection to your phone.  I have found that repairing can help but doesn’t totally eliminate random disconnects at close range.  An Earprint App update so it works properly.  When you can get into it, it works fine.  The problem is getting the app to find your Sound ID 510.

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I didn’t even bother trying to get an iPhone 4 until September. At that point it was a constant letdown every time I walked into a Rogers store. A lot of Rogers wireless stores just started putting up signs saying they were out of stock. I remember walking into a Roger Wireless on Bank St. at 12:00 PM on a weekday and being the 67th person to already come in and ask for an iPhone 4. So after a month of wasting who knows how many visits to Rogers wireless stores I gave up for a few weeks.

One of my clients is a large Telus dealer in Ottawa and starting around mid October I would notice every time I visited them that they had iPhones 4 just sitting on the shelf waiting to go. It didn’t make sense to me that they could get them and yet Rogers never had any. So at that point I decided to go through Rogers Customer relations and even after threatening to switch providers and telling them how ridiculous a process this was becoming just to get a phone they still couldn’t do anything. They said the only thing I could do was call them back until they had one in stock. I even asked them if they could just order the phone for me and when one becomes available just ship it to me. Well I was told repeatedly that they didn’t have any type of process in place to facilitate that type of request….and on it went until one day on one of my regular call ins to Rogers I finally struck the Jackpot. I wasn’t on the phone for more then five minutes and the rep instantly ordered 2 x 32GB iPhone 4′s and said they would be shipped to me as they didn’t have them in stock. I received my shipping information email and then later that day the shipping confirmation. I received my first iPhone 4 the next day and the second iPhone on the following day. Needless to say I was a little perturbed by the fact that all along Rogers could have just ordered and shipped me my iPhones, instead they made me jump through hoops and call them repeatedly. This is how they treat a client who gives them almost $5,000 a year.

But it doesn’t end there because that would be too easy. The second iPhone delivered by UPS was just left on my doorstep while we were out. Lucky that didn’t get jacked. One of the new Micro SIM card’s couldn’t be activated as it was showing as already used. This cost me yet another trip to a Rogers wireless store to get a new SIM. I don’t know why they couldn’t have taken the 30 seconds before shipping it out to verify it was good. At any rate it’s all over now. Can’t wait to see how much of an ordeal it will be the next time an iPhone comes out.

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When I originally set up this modem after upgrading to the 25Mbps Extreme plus service there was no documentation included with the device stating the default IP address, user name or password to login to it.  As I figured out there are actually two accounts that you can use to log into the Rogers N Gateway – SMCD3GN.

1. Default IP address: 192.168.0.1
2. User name: cusadmin – Password: password
3. User name: rogcesadmin – Password: wra8uje

Ironically the one Rogers technician I talked to didn’t even know about the second login and took the information down for future reference.

In terms of which account you should use I recommend using only the rogcesadmin account as all device features/settings are available using this account.  For instance if you want to use the SMCD3GN as just a modem (bridge mode) you’ll need to log in as the rogcesadmin to disable all commercial gateway functions.  See screenshot below.  If you do disable all commercial gateway functions on the SMCD3GN I recommend disabling the wireless on it first. If you don’t, you’ll notice that you’ll always see the default SSID for the SMCD3GN available although it’s useless and cannot be connected to. Please note that once you disable all commerical gateway functions on the SMCD3GN it will reboot and you can no longer login to the modem and will need to perform a reset by pressing the reset button on the back of the SMCD3GN for 30 seconds.  This will of course reset it to factory defaults allowing you to login as well as enabling the router/wireless capabilities.

Disable All commercial gateway functions

What’s interesting about the SMCD3GN is that on Rogers website for this device they state: “Enhanced wireless range delivers maximum signal strength anywhere in the home.”  I can tell you right now, that is an incorrect statement.  If you live in an apartment or your residence is only 1 floor of a house you’ll be fine.  If you live in a multi-floored residence (typical house) the SMCD3GN performs poorly for signal strength and network speeds.  There’s no external antenna on the SMCD3GN so that’s one clue as to the extent of it’s wireless strength but test results posted below will show just how weak the signal strength of the SMCD3GN really is.

I performed speed tests in 4 different spots in my house.  I tested using a laptop with an Intel wireless AGN wireless card on N mode.  My SMCD3GN  device is located at the front of my house on the second floor. I performed my first set of tests using the SMCD3GN N wireless and the second test using my NTI WF-2406 N wireless router with the SMCD3GN in bridge mode.  On both tests I used the same wireless channel, encryption methods and server.  There was no other network traffic during both sets of tests.  The following screenshots tell the story.

SMCD3GN - 5 feet - Speed test

NTI WF-2406 - 5 feet - Speed test

SMCD3GN - 30 feet - Speed test - Direct line of sight (horizontal)

NTI WF-2406 - 30 feet - Speed test - Direct line of sight (horizontal)

SMCD3GN - 40 feet - Speed test - 1st floor of house (back)

NTI WF-2406 - 40 feet - Speed test - 1st floor of house (back)

SMCD3GN - 60 feet - Speed test - Basement of house (back)

NTI WF-2406 - 60 feet - Speed test - Basement of house (back)

As you can see even at 30 feet the Rogers N Gateway – SMCD3GN is really starting to struggle and that’s direct line of sight with zero interference. As far as I’m concerned the N wireless capabilities of the SMCD3GN are pretty weak at best. You can get better signal strength from a cheap wireless G router. As a modem the SMCD3GN does exactly as it’s supposed to and performs admirably. I haven’t had to reset the modem yet for any performance related issues and I’ve been using it for over a month now.

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NTI WF-2109 product features are as follows:

1.Comply with IEEE 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11n standard for 2.4GHz Wireless LAN.
2.Compliant with PCI 2.2 standard.
3.Capable of up to 128-Bit WEP, TKIP and AES.
4.Support Windows98/ME/2000/XP/Vista/7.
5.Support MIMO technology with 1 transmit and 2 receive.
6.Lower power consumption.
7.Easy to install and configure

As per the manufacturer Windows 7 is supported. The NTI WF-2109 ships with a drivers CD but you’ll find that if you’re running Windows 7 attempting to install the driver via the CD will error out and advise you that the operating system is not supported. Windows 7 does not have a built in plug and play driver for the NTI WF-2109. What you’ll need to do is make sure that you have a hard wired connection or otherwise bridge a wireless connection from a laptop so that Windows can download and install the driver. The NTI WF-2109 actually shows up in the Device Manager as a Realtek RTL8190 802.11n Wireless LAN (Mini-) PCI NIC.

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• Ending a phone call via Bluetooth headset doesn’t close the phone app.  Unlocking to the home screen will show the phone app still open and tapping the End button does not close it.  Must press the home screen button to close.
• Push for email doesn’t work when WiFi is enabled, only works when using carrier data.
• Emails via Exchange account don’t sync in terms of what’s been read.  Previously if I read the email first on my iPhone it would show as read in Outlook or vice versa…no longer.
• Whatsapp app takes 10 seconds to load which is extremely annoying.
• Photos and video will freeze and tapping the screen does nothing.
• Tethering via Bluetooth is choppy although tethering via the USB cable still works normally.
• Timer randomly works.
• Certain applications that worked fine before will randomly close while in use.
• Email audio notifications are delayed quite a bit.

If you’ve noticed other bugs in the iOS 4 please comment and I’ll add them to the list.

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• Built server using Enterprise hardware, RAID 5 with rotational backup solution.
• Installed and configured SBS 2008 x64, including redirected folders, user accounts, Exchange 2007, Active Directory, offline files policies, network shares, data partitions, shadow copies.
• Installed and configured BES Express 5, while I was drunk I might add, ha,ha.
• Installed and configured WatchGuard Firebox XTM 2 series, including RDP, RWW, HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP, FTP.
• Configured Bell modem, D link router and D link switch.
• Joined systems to the domain.
• Set-up email pulled into Exchange 2007 through POP3 connector.
• Configured hard-wired and wireless network printers.
• Configured scan to file direct to PC from network multi-function printers.
• Activated and tested BlackBerries.
• Configured and successfully performed automated backups.
• Set-up and configured dedicated system for remote access only.

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