DavidBreyer.Com

I have been using the Griffin iTrip to listen to my iPod in the car since February. I never did like the fact you had to program the iTrip with the frequency using the iPod interface. On several occasions the iTrip would “forget” what frequency to use and me not liking to keep the frequency programmers on the iPod (more on that later) would be in for a very dull commute. if I did have the iTrip frequency “tunes” (They are actually mp3 files that program the iTrip.) on the iPod they would advertently get played and screw up the iTrip. Which was easy to do if you used the iPod’s shuffle feature. And resetting the iTrip was an ordeal that only following the step by step instructions could fix. In other words, can’t do while driving.

Anyway, on my commute home Friday the iTrip got screwed up for the last time. It was the final straw. I recalled Griffin had announced an iTrip with a built-in tuner. So I went straight away to the Apple store in the Kenwood Towne Centre and purchased one.

The new iTrip allows you to adjust the frequency with the roll of a dial. Oddly though the frequency I actually used in not available in this model. For anyone using 87.9 you will have to find another channel. The iTrip begins on 88.1. I eventually settled on 90.1 90.5, although I will have to see if it works on my 35 mile commute. I swear there is a radio station for just about every .1 of the dial. My logic dictates that there should be a small sprectrum of radio frequency left untouched for portable consumer devices. Say 80.1 - 89.9 or something. I mean if 192.168.1.x can be used for every router why didn’t we think to do this with radio frequencies?

My intial findings are; unless $40 is too steep for you or if 87.9 is the only free frequency in your area, there is no reason not to upgrade. Now it’s time to remove these annoying iTrip MP3 files.

The other day I was commenting how Gmail did not have a mobile client. Then after reading through the Gmail hacks article in Make Vol. 1. I noticed there is user created Gmail wap site, not endorsed by Google of course. All you have to do is download Gmail Mobile from sourceforge.net and install it on your web server. One capable of PHP.

Don’t have a web server or you can’t run PHP? Well if you trust giving your password out to someone else you could use GmailWireless.com. Also not endorsed by Google.

I tested this out on my Vizaweb account and Sprint Sanyo 8100 phone. Works like a charm.

The Linksys Wireless-G Broadband router is probably the most ubiquitous router for home users. And for good reason! There are numerous firmwares to hack this device to fit your needs. And even without the rebate is this a good deal. The list of availble firmwares is always growing, from Earthlink’s IPv6 hack to Sveasoft, which adds dozens of features. Read more about the WRT54G at Wikipedia or visit the Linksys Info Forum.