New Cable Modem

I like getting new gadgets and this weekend started with a letter from Rogers Highspeed about getting a new DOCSIS modem when I return my old Motorola modem. I had to go to the Rogers Store at Bridlewood Mall (Warden and Finch) since it was one of the listed participating locations. I haven't been to this mall since Towers shut down. Towers had the best toy prices with GI Joe figures at $3.99 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at $4.99. So at the Rogers store, a line at already started:

I looked at cell phones while I waited. They had a lot of featureless phones such as the The LG 4015, Motorola V180, Samsung X426, and Nokia 3120. Thankfully it was fast since most people were there for the same reason as me and no talking was required.
Here's my new Motorola SURFboard SB5100 DOCSIS modem:

I think it's rated at 3Mbps while my older modem was at 1.5Mbps. I got a new IP address from the Rogers DHCP servers and it did seem faster.

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The airport used Windows and that ran out of virtual memory, what else can happen? This is a sign in the Easton Mall in Columbus:

That's not the blue screen of death, but what is it? Here's a close up:

I'm scared about technology controlling my life.

The Power of Bluetooth

Some friends have asked me questions about Bluetooth, like what's so good about it?

Controlling my laptop from my bluetooth enabled phone

I'm sure everyone has seen a bluetooth headset on someone's ear. One of the most popular headset is the Motorola HS-810 since Rogers stores carry them.

So with bluetooth you can use a headset without wires, but what else can I do?
Let me tell you some of the common uses of bluetooth with your phone.

You can transfer files to and from your phone

Surf the internet using a shared connection

Control your computer (Great for navigating PowerPoint presentations)

Print images on your phone to a bluetooth enabled printer

Share videos, music, and photos with other bluetooth enabled devices

Synchronize data from your phone to your computer like Outlook e-mail and calendar

Play competitive games against other people over Bluetooth

There's a lot more possibilities with Bluetooth but it's up to companies to develop the Bluetooth profiles that will benefit the consumer. The main hurdle with Bluetooth is consumer awareness of the benefits and the lack of phones supporting Bluetooth. Currently, only Rogers and Fido carry phones with Bluetooth (V3, V551, 6620, T637, S710, P910) and these phones are relatively expensive compared to non-bluetooth enabled phones. This is slowly changing as you can get the 6620 for free on a new 3 year contract. Bell and Telus have been shying away from Bluetooth phones as they allow file sharing, something they don't want you doing as it circumvents their data and email services. If they do have a Bluetooth enabled phone like the V710 on Telus, the file sharing profile has been disabled or restricted. I recommend Rogers to all my friends unless they live in the states. It would be nice to be able to send my contact to a friend, play a game of snakes against them, and even let them browse my phone from their phone for ringtones they like. I hope your next phone will have Bluetooth.

Half a GIG!

I went to Pacific Mall today and got me something very very nice. Just take a look:

It's half a gigbyte of ATP memory for my phone!! Very nice. Here it is going into my phone!!

Accessing the MMC is as fast, if not faster, than accessing the internal phone memory. Too bad my phone is going into my sis' hands in mid May. I also went to Treatz' Rogers store and got a chance to play with the Nokia 6682 and the Nokia 8801. I really liked the size and feel of the Nokia 8801. It'll be a very hype phone. The Nokia 6682 was disappointing for me. It felt large and non special. But the Nokia 6230b also felt bad when I played with it at Treatz' place and I still got it and love it. I think I'll still get it when it comes out and reviews are good.

Mexican

This is a picture of a Mexican restaurant that we went to eat at:

One thing I realize, most of the restaurants in Easton look nice but don't really have that wonderful taste you can get elsewhere.
We also went to KFC this week. It looked like a popeye inside with biscuit, mash potatoes, salad, and pies. It tasted better than KFC in Toronto but the 99 cents Snacker sandwich was really bad. It was an old chicken strip (just batter) in an old bun. It was really old and dry. I say avoid it. Too bad I was too hungry at the time to take a picture of it. Perhaps next time.

Spring in Easton

It was a beautiful weekend in Toronto and it's been a beautiful week in Ohio. Here's a pic of Easton:

Here is Bon Vie, a French restaurant that I've ate at twice. They have really good pork chops

The New Yorkdale Section

Do you remember where the old Eaton's use to be? That section has been completely hollowed out, extended, and rebuilt into a shopping section.

You probably noticed the interesting ceiling that City Pulse had talked about. Here's a bigger pic:

It's too bad some stores were not open yet like the Apple Store or Lululemon. But they had other interesting stores open:

I hear Sephora is like Futureshop for women. I don't know if that's true but there were a lot of girls in there. Most of the stores were targeted to females. I ended up looking at these most of the time:

Low Virtual Memory

Ever run into that situation you have way too many windows or applications open at the same time and Windows warns you that you're low in virtual memory? Seems like you're not the only one:

I guess no one really looks at these monitors to notice this error.

Outside stuff

This is a restaurant I ate at a while ago. It's called Smith & Wollenski

Hopefully I didn't guess the name incorrectly.
Anyways, here's a picture of something probably a couple friends wish was in Canada:

An even closer look:

Nope... as close as I got, i didn't go in.

Brushstrokes in Flight

While at the Columbus airport I always walk by the Brushstrokes in Flight structure in Concourse B:

It was installed at Port Columbus in 1984 and designed by Roy Lichtenstein.
It's very easy to miss at a quick glance but its bold colours and outline really show strength.

Easton Mall Entrance

Here's one of the entrances to the Easton Mall:

Easton Mall is one of the main malls of Columbus, Ohio. There's another big mall too but I haven't been able to find time to go there.
Since I so rarely update my blog during the week, here's another pic:

It's a pink and silver coloured fire hydrant. Looks pretty weird. I think I prefer the red, yellow, or orange variants.

Someplace Different

This week I went some place different:

I was in Paris!! LOL, I'm just kidding, it's actually download Columbus. It's a bit empty but there were some nice structures.

Where am I?

I'm not in Toronto so here's something I saw a while back while shopping. My favorite character a few years ago.

And here's his best pal:

Who is do you like more? Poor Odie.

Cute Monkey

I went to eat at a Japanese restaurant last week. We were looking for a good rolls place and one of my friends suggested a place at Hwy 7 and Kennedy so we tried it out:

The crispy rolls were very good but I didn't like the spicy chilli sauce for the spicy salmon rolls they used. I prefer the spicy mayo that some places use.
Then we went to the nearby mall and saw this monkey:

I think it's as cute as me. What do you think?