My Life in the Tech World

Bought an ADATA S511 120GB SSD drive recently and I was going to return it because it was crashing my system about once every day. It required a full power cycle to get the drive back after the crash too. The good news is that the latest firmware from ADATA has fixed the problems. Since I had some trouble updating the firmware thought I'd post about what worked for me. First, you'll need to download the updates: http://adatausa.com/index.php? action=product_download&cid=3& piid=130 Get the ADATA firmware upgrade tool and the firmware for your drive. They've compressed using RAR (not sure why they didn't use ZIP) so you'll also need a program such as  7-zip  to extract the files. Plan on the firmware update as the first thing you do with the drive.  There is a possibility of data corruption using the old firmware. For peace of mind, you're better off installing the latest firmware right after you physically install the drive. When installing t

My new Galaxy Tab 10.1 arrived yesterday and I've used it for several hours now. Since most of the reviews I've read focus on processors, pixels, and applications I'll just write about my subjective thoughts about how Galaxy Tab 10.1 feels to use versus iPad 1. The Galaxy Tab feels as well built as the iPad.  Both have the same solid rigidness of glass and metal. There are no creaks or other  warping sounds from either device when holding normally. In short, they both have the expensive electronic device feel. My wife who is the primary user of the iPad commented that the Galaxy Tab looks and feels much smaller, thinner, and lighter than iPad 1. Though she also noted that you wouldn't want to fall asleep while reading something and have the Galaxy Tab bonk your nose. We can't compare to the iPad 2 since we don't have one. After holding and using the Galaxy Tab while laying down I noticed that it was harder to hold than the iPad. At first I thought the ba

Got my invite to Google Music the other day and loaded it up on my Mac Book Pro. Google Music is essentially a music locker service that gives you access to your music on the web and Android mobile devices with an internet connection. The sign up process is really simple. You login with your Google ID and walk through a few steps. In one of the steps  Google Music asks you about your music preferences. These selections are used to populate your account with free songs. This last part is important because otherwise you'd start out with an empty locker and you'd have nothing to listen to. So I started playing the free music and downloaded the music manager application. By the way, the free music selection was good and I was happy to listen while I installed the application. Web UI for Google Music Beta The installation of the Google Music Manager took just a few seconds. It installs and runs with very little configuration. In my case, I told it all my music was in iTune

It seems that Toyota will be partnering with Microsoft for their future  telematics  systems. I guess Apple and Google don't care about this market! I wish they would care. Toyota finally understands that people want more than what they're getting with today's Toyota and Lexus cars. Thank heaven! However, the lingering question remains: Will these new systems be like todays and only be usable while parked? Check the Wired article for more details.

iPad 2 line Palo Alto, CA iPad 2 line goes around the block in Palo Alto.