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Review of Clear (or Clearwire) Internet Service [November 29, 2011]
I have been using Clear for about a year in and around Portland, and my experience has been very up and down. There was a time when the service was terrible for a couple of months. Apparently they were experiencing...
Where Have You Been? [September 19, 2011]
I haven't posted anything here for quite a long time. Almost 3 years, in fact. But, I'm getting ready to post again, so this is just a quick little blurb to make sure that everything still works....
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Thirty Three—Rockaway Beach to Home—Longview, WA [October 29, 2008]
coming soon...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Thirty Two—Florence to Rockaway Beach [October 28, 2008]
coming soon...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Thirty One—Brookings to Florence [October 27, 2008]
This was a travel day with no major stops. Probably be the same for the rest of the trip home. I’m back in Oregon now, and I’ve been pretty much everywhere on the coast that there is to go. Since...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Thirty—Fort Bragg to Brookings—Redwoods [October 26, 2008]
coming soon...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Twenty Nine—San Francisco to Fort Bragg—Valley Furniture [October 25, 2008]
coming soon...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Twenty Eight—Chowchilla to San Francisco—Monterey [October 24, 2008]
Once again, pretty much a travel day. The only real attraction on the agenda is Monterey, and even that is going to be a brief stopover. One thing that has become obvious to me is that I could easily have...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Twenty Seven—Yosemite to Chowchilla—Yosemite Valley [October 23, 2008]
coming soon Yosemite Valley Out of the Mountains Chowchilla I’m spending the night in Chowchilla, a medium-sized agricultural town just off of Hwy 99 in central California. The smell of organic fertilizer is in the air :-) I spotted a...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Twenty Six—Lone Pine to Yosemite—Manzanar Concentration Camp [October 22, 2008]
coming soon Dow Hotel Alabama Hills Manzanar War Relocation Center Mammoth and Mono Yosemite from the East...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Twenty Five—Las Vegas to Lone Pine—Death Valley [October 21, 2008]
So, up early today to get through Death Valley and out the other side. About 300 miles. I had stayed the night at a hotel/casino about 15 miles from The Strip on Hwy 95 so that I wouldn’t have to...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Twenty Four—Hurricane to Las Vegas—Hoover Dam [October 20, 2008]
coming soon...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Twenty Three—Bryce to Hurricane—Zion National Park [October 19, 2008]
coming soon...
Scott's Big Adventure: Days Twenty Two & Twenty Three—Bryce Canyon National Park [October 19, 2008]
coming soon...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Twenty Two—Glen Canyon to Bryce [October 18, 2008]
coming soon...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Twenty One—Grand Canyon to Glen Canyon [October 17, 2008]
coming soon...
Scott's Big Adventure: Days Twenty & Twenty One—Grand Canyon National Park [October 17, 2008]
I’ve mentioned a couple of times that many of the places that I’ve visited on this trip are smaller in reality than they appear to be on film or in photographs. The Grand Canyon is just the opposite. Pictures cannot...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Twenty—Kingman to Grand Canyon—Route 66 [October 16, 2008]
Like I said yesterday, Kingman was a major disappointment. I rode back towards town on Route 66 just to make sure that I didn’t miss anything. Nothing. Just modern motels, gas stations, restaurants and the like. There were a few...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Nineteen—Gila Bend to Kingman [October 15, 2008]
Sonoran Desert National Monument It was a nice evening yesterday, so I decided to ride out to Gila Bend at dusk in order to see the Sonoran Desert National Monument the next morning. The big attraction in the Sonoran Desert...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Eighteen—Sitting Around Chandler Vespa [October 14, 2008]
I slept in late this morning because there was no need to get up early. The agenda for today was to get the Vespa serviced and back in top condition. I’ve traveled over 3000 miles since starting this trip, and...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Seventeen—Benson to Chandler—Tombstone [October 13, 2008]
Today is Tombstone day, but here’s the problem: Tombstone is only about 20 minutes south of here. They do a re-enactment of the gunfight everyday at 2pm. So what to do until then? Ride around, I guess. Tombstone sits in...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Sixteen—Springerville to Benson—The Coronado Trail [October 12, 2008]
Day Sixteen dawned with clear blue skies, calm winds, and perfect temperatures. Time to ride! Ride Through the White Mountains on the Coronado Trail I headed south from Springerville on Highway 191, which heads up into the White Mountains and...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Fifteen—Storm Layover in Springerville AZ [October 11, 2008]
I had pretty much decided this last night, but once I got up in the morning and took a look outside, I decided for sure: I’m not going anywhere today. I woke up to a full-bore thunderstorm, complete with...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Fourteen—Holbrook to Springerville [October 10, 2008]
The wind was still howling on Day Fourteen. The plan for today was to visit the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest, and then figure out the best way to get to the southern part of the state. Painted Desert There are several...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Thirteen—Kayenta to Holbrook—Meteor Crater & Winslow, Arizona [October 9, 2008]
Day Thirteen was primarily a travel day, getting from one side of the Navajo Reservation to the other. The main attractions of this day were to come in the afternoon, but not before the weather took a turn for the…unexpected....
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Twelve—Cortez to Kayenta [October 8, 2008]
Leaving Cortez just after 9am, there were two destinations on the agenda for today. First was Four Corners Monument and second was Monument Valley. The only real decision was whether to drive through Monument Valley from south-to-north, or from north-to-south....
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Eleven—Moab to Cortez [October 7, 2008]
Got up bright and early on Day Eleven and headed south out of Moab. The weather was perfect: sunny and clear with temperatures slated for the high 70’s. Couldn’t ask for better. I had initially planned to blitz right...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Ten—Inside Arches National Park [October 6, 2008]
This should be a short post. I pretty much spent the entire day inside Arches National Park just north of Moab Utah. The pictures will tell the story of this breath-taking place. I had intended to get up early...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Nine—Salt Lake City to Moab [October 5, 2008]
Got up at the usual time and found that it was raining, just like the day before. The forecast for central Utah called for showers, so I dressed for a rain day. Took my own advise from yesterday and dressed...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Eight—Jackson Hole to Salt Lake City [October 4, 2008]
What a miserable day! First, the town of Jackson is yet another tourist town, with lots of shops catering to the same. I had dinner at the Cadillac Grille and watched some of the Boston v. Anaheim playoff game. Had...
Scott's Big Adventure: Days Six and Seven—Inside Yellowstone [October 3, 2008]
Its weird. The town of West Yellowstone sits right on the boundary with the park. You just turn down a street and there’s the park entrance booth. It cost me $20 on a motorcycle to get in. The road...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Five—Sun Valley to Yellowstone [October 1, 2008]
Got up at a decent hour, and had coffee and a bagel at Tully’s in Ketchum. Ketchum and Sun Valley are right next to each other. Sun Valley has the resort development and Ketchum is the tourist trap town. I...
Scott's Big Adventure: Video and Picture Update [September 30, 2008]
All of my pre-trip planning has been for naught so far. I’ve gotten very late starts—for various reasons—on 3 of the 4 days of my trip so far, putting me into my destinations well after dark, and hours later than...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Four—Boise to Sun Valley [September 30, 2008]
I spent the morning sleeping in and, after waking up, being bummed about the Vespa and considering canceling the rest of the trip. I had had engine trouble with the Vespa twice before, and I was beginning to think that...
Scott's Big Adventure: Days Two & Three: Pendleton to Burns to Boise [September 29, 2008]
Around Pendleton If I could have left Portland early enough to have gotten into Pendleton by mid-afternoon, then this next bit would have taken place then and I wouldn’t have gotten further off schedule for Day Two. As it was...
Waaay Behind on Videos [September 29, 2008]
I am way behind on editing the videos of my trip. I got a late start out of Pendleton yesterday, which was due to my late start getting out of Portland the day before. I got into Pendleton after dark,...
Scott's Big Adventure: Day One--Portland to Pendleton [September 27, 2008]
Highlights from the first day of the big tour of the West, and all did NOT go well.
I"m Off! [September 27, 2008]
This is it. All the bags are packed and mounted on the bike. All of the electronic gadgets are charged and the chargers packed. Just need to stop at Fred Meyer for some drinks and ice for the cooler, oh,...
Drivers License Arrived, (Almost) Ready to Depart [September 26, 2008]
My permanent drivers license just arrived in the mail. This was the last thing that I was waiting for before I could take off. I’ve still got a few more things to take care of that will keep me for...
Encouragement? [September 24, 2008]
Thanks Jared!...
The Oregon DMV is the Bane of my Existence [September 24, 2008]
The new rules that Oregon DMV implemented starting July 1, 2008 are just killing me! What used to take an hour or two with a single visit to a DMV field office now takes weeks, or even months to accomplish....
Scott's Big Adventure: Day Zero [September 23, 2008]
A video talking about some of the things that have been delaying Scott's Big Adventure, and also about the route I'll be taking through the West.
Scott's Big Adventure [September 23, 2008]
Scott is taking a month-long Vespa tour around the West. Follow along with daily updates, pictures and videos.
Gmail Mass Email Deletions [December 29, 2006]
Michael Arrington (and others) reported yesterday on a problem with GMail as described here: Gmail Disaster: Reports Of Mass Email Deletions. Regardless of how this incident ultimately turns out, and without assigning neither blame nor praise to Google or anyone...
The Veteran Newbie, But Is It Legal? [August 22, 2006]
I always find it amusing when someone who has been deeply immersed in one area of technology, suddenly "discovers" a completely new area of technology and starts acting like a complete newbie. I'll christen it "The Veteran Newbie Effect." Dave Winer is certainly an experienced veteran of the tech industry, but I think that he's been so completely absorbed by RSS and blogging and podcasting for the past several years that he's vastly underinformed about many other areas of the industry, such as mobile Internet access. What Dave has done with the software he created is interesting because it's an approach that hasn't been done before, it's just not necessary. More importantly though, I wonder if it's legal. I think that what he's doing is taking multiple content streams from one source, stripping out the graphics if any, and republishing them from his own server under his own domain name. If that is in fact what he is doing, isn't that a copyright violation? And isn't using a domain such as nytimesriver.com a trademark violation?
IE7 Backward Compatibility a Red Herring [August 16, 2006]
Microsoft's claiming of the need for backward compatibility in order to justify not being standards-compliant is a red herring. Thanks to the rise in popularity of Firefox and Safari and Opera over the past few years, there are very few websites in common usage that are written specifically to run on IE6 and that break in the other major browsers. I can't remember the last time I encountered such a page. Oh, yes I can: it was Microsoft's own Windows Update site! Regardless, Microsoft needs to stop making excuses and fix all their bugs and get their CSS support at least up to the same level as the other 3 browsers. Anything less will fail to reverse the erosion of IE's market share.
Intel Sheds XScale Processor Unit [June 27, 2006]
There are basically two ways of looking at this: (1) is that Intel has yet again lost patience with a strategic investment that it has made that hasn't immediately yielded at multi-billion dollar revenue stream; and (2) is that Intel has plans to migrate it's x86 architecture down into a mobile form-factor, and it wants to rid itself of a competing architecture before it does so.
WebVisions 2005 Wrapup [July 19, 2005]
I went to WebVisions 2005 last Friday, and while overall things were terrific, I was a little disappointed with some of the sessions. The problem was that many of the sessions that I attended were dominated by the questions and the needs of the newbies, with the result that not much time was spent on the "Vision" part of WebVisions. I think the answer is to reorganize the agenda so that there are clear introductory sessions for the inexperienced, and more meaty sessions for those of us who are more advanced.
Gnomedex Wrapup [June 27, 2005]
Scott wraps-up Gnomedex 5.0 by discussing Microsoft's RSS support in depth, with a little bit on Adam Curry's BitTorrent support, and Dave Winer's OPML Editor.
Intel Inside...Apple? [June 23, 2005]
A number of people have recently asked me what I think about the Apple/Intel deal. This has been flogged to death on the net already, so I’ll just add a few brief observations. Apple is beginning a 2-year transition from...
Cory Doctorow a Liability to EFF [March 31, 2005]
EFF spokesperson Cory Doctorow debates Google's Autolink feature on IT Conversations. Doctorow was disrespectful, rude and ineffective, but also seems to be advocating the position that authors should have no right to have the integrity of their work respected, which is a fundamental principle of copyright law. If the EFF no longer respects the rights of authors, then I can no longer support the EFF.
IE7... Don't Get Excited Just Yet [February 15, 2005]
Microsoft reversed their position today, and announced that there will be another stand-alone version of Internet Explorer, to be released independently from the next version of Windows. This is generally good news, but web developers shouldn't get too excited just yet. So far, the only things that Microsoft has talked about changing in IE7 are some security bug fixes and possibly adding some end-user features such as tabs. Conspiciously missing from the official pronouncements are any mention of bug fixes and standards compliance for the rendering engine, the very things which give web developers headaches and ulsers.
Copyright Cartel Strikes Again [August 30, 2004]
I saw an item on Scripting News this morning about software which captures songs off of XM satelite radio and saves them as MP3 files on your PC’s hard drive. The software, Nerosoft TimeTrax, enhances a $50 XM accessory called...
So Far, So Good [August 25, 2004]
The conversion from Radio Userland over to Movable Type has gone very smoothly so far. There’s no support or directions from Six Apart for importing from Radio, as there is for a few other blogging systems, but I found a...
Life's Too Short [August 13, 2004]
I started this weblog last year, because I wanted a place where I could publish my thoughts and analysis on various topics related to my interests, hobbies and profession. I chose to use Radio Userland as my blogging tool because...
Still exploring the guts of Radio Userland [February 25, 2004]
Still exploring the guts of Radio Userland. I had hoped that I would be able to effect the changes I desired simply by modifying the template files which are completely user-visible. Unfortunately, some of the macros that the templates invoke...
I'm poking at this puppy [February 19, 2004]
I’m poking at this puppy a little bit at a time. I got the Rogers Cadenhead book on Radio, and so far it does a very good job of describing the details of how Radio works. I’ve moved the site...
TrotterNet has moved [February 19, 2004]
TrotterNet has moved to its own server, at http://trotternet.com. Come check it out....
Another shot at it [February 18, 2004]
Well, I’m going to take another shot at actually writing this blog. When I first started this enterprise last year, I was appalled at the quality of the HTML that was emitted by Radio Userland. Its the very worst ‘tag...
Going on hiatus for a while [April 6, 2003]
I know that nobody is reading this right now, so this is addressed to posterity. I haven’t posted in about 6 weeks because things at work have gotten WAY busy, and it’s likely to continue that way for a while...
Concerning NewsMonster [February 20, 2003]
Here is a copy of the rather lengthy comment that I posted on Ben Hammersley’s weblog concerning a discussion about a new news aggregator product called NewsMonster: I haven’t tried NewsMonster yet, but based on the discussion, it appears that...
Tables really are evil [February 13, 2003]
Dave says: Last year on this day I asked if tables are really evil. Now one year later, I long for the simplicity of tables, … If it ain’t broke, dont fix it. The trouble is, it is broke—it being...
Software Success Has India Worried [February 13, 2003]
Software Success Has India Worried. Is the United States going to start turning its back on outsourcing, the lifeblood of India’s software and services industry? By Saritha Rai. Remember the hue and cry over expanding the H1B visa program a...
TiVo criticised for "invading privacy" [February 13, 2003]
TiVo criticised for “invading privacy.” TiVo, the tapeless TV recording system, causes a row in the US after it automatically records the Discovery Channel. I really, really want to own one of these devices, but this is exactly the kind...
I just re-posted my first entry [February 11, 2003]
I just re-posted my first post from a few days ago. Not content to simply install Radio and just use it, I managed to delete my first post this morning. Quite simple to do, actually. I installed Radio on a...
Hello World [February 7, 2003]
Hello World. I’m a programmer by training, so I had to start that way. My name is Scott Trotter, and I’m the Executive Producer and Technical Director of Paris France, an award-winning interactive media (a.k.a. web site) design shop located...