Experience installing Pioneer 4200NEX in 2006 Lexus LS430 without Nav.

The original AV system had Radio, tape deck and CD in a double din plus CD changer under it. JBL amplifier was behind.

It was replaced with Pioneer 4200NEX Android Auto/Apple Car Play system, Pioneer's rear view camera with the ability to calibrate the back up camera guidance lines. Added HDMI, USB Android charging port in place of the center cigarette lighter and 3.5MM jack inside the storage compartment between the front seats, bluetooth mic behind the rear view mirror.

Tested it with Android and iPhone.

Paid $250 for labor and about $800 for parts.

This is significantly better than Lexus built Nav system and backup camera available in the 2006 LS430 because the backup camera adds guidance lines as in all the newer systems, bluetooth, HDMI, 3.5MM and DVD playback. Had bypass installed to be able to play video over HDMI when the car is moving because a passenger should be able to do that which is no different from a passenger being allowed to sit next to driver with a connected phone or tablet.

Pioneer will not force the driver to push a button to accept the legal message every single time unlike Lexus and Toyota.

Google maps work offline too and way more current than the maps on the Lexus Nav DVD as well as easier to use.

Here is what I noted. Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Lollipop was not compatible with Android Auto. LG G4 H811 Marsmallow, Nexus 6P Nougat 7.1.1 worked fine. Samsung Galaxy S7 Marsmallow worked fine.Interestingly Google Pixel XL Nougat 7.1.1 did not work. Important to check compatibility before the installation.

Car battery draining? Check your electronics add-ons.

I came back from vacation to find that the battery was totally dead. I used a 10A charger and it charged to 66% and then the display said "Bat Bad". Car started though and I revved the engine to about 5 min at 3500rpm. Stopped and re-started the car. Next morning it did not start.

I looked at youtube videos which suggested that I connect a meter to monitor current and remove one fuse at a time if the current drain is more than 50mA. That gave me an idea. I removed the OBD2 bluetooth reader. In 5 min the battery trickle charged to 68% from 66%. In 8 hrs, it went to 90% and after over night trickle charge, it is 100% charged.

So, I ordered OBD2 switch to disconnect power when I do not want to use the device. Moral of the story is to go easy on devices we connect in the car. Hope this helps someone prevent a dead battery.

Good to pay more for devices which are smart enough to auto power off or go to sleep mode when ignition is off. Solar trickle charger may help but not if the car is in the garage overnight.

Got bumped down Business to Premium Economy by British Airways but that is not all...

Hope there is a lesson in this which helps someone.

1. Even business class gets overbooked by British Airways and that too on long haul flights. They told me that I would get the refund but when I called BA, they told me that I should call the travel agent.

2. Ticket was bought through Orbitz but British Airways wants passenger to call Orbitz to get refund. After 30min on hold Orbitz confirmed the downgrade and says that British Airways will take 4 to 6 weeks to process the refund. Next time I will try other airlines. If they are so quick to downgrade, they should be quick to refund. No real excuse in the current day of electronic transfer of funds or credit back to credit cards. I guess I gave a free loan to British Airways for 4 to 6 weeks. The $250 compensation does not compensate for the sleepless 10hr flight at all. More equitable would have been a free upgrade next time I fly. What was interesting was British Airways did the right thing and promised to bank to bank transfer of the $250 compensation but will not speed up the refund.

My take away from this:

Look or Orbitz but do not buy on Orbitz. Deal directly with the airline. I was on the plane with my elderly mother who is disabled but got separated from her just because she got her ticket and then I got my ticket on the same flight. Even though I called British Airways and they told me that they linked our booking references, it was just a note and no one looked at it before deciding that I was a single traveler and OK to downgrade me. Moral here is if you travel with someone, book the flights together.

How I moved TD Ameritrade thinkorswim to new machine.

On the new machine, I opened thinkorswim (ubuntu linux but may be similar for other platforms).

in $HOME/thinkorswim directory

I saw a single file workspace.*.xml

On the old machine I saw 4 files. Copied all of them to the new machine.
Opened thinkorswim on the new machine and bingo. All done.

Hope this helps someone else because google search did not find me anything and if you call them, you really need to get lucky and talk to the right person.

Acer C720P 11.6" Chromebook 4GB RAM not so great.

Specs looked good. Dual core x86 CPU, 4GB RAM 16GB SSD.

I already had an account on Google Chrome on a Linux machine.  There was no recovery SD card. So, I thought of creating a recovery before I did anything. Google search and Youtube videos suggested chrome://imageburner

That did nothing at all. I struggled and found that there is an App that does it and it did. All this took 1hour.

Then I turned on the machine knowing that if something goes wrong, the machine can be restored because I did test the restore.

All good? No.

When I turned on the chrome book and opened the browser, It picked up all the Addons as if they work on all platforms including ChromeOS. That immediately caused chromecast not to work properly. I had to delete the cast app, re-start the machine, re-install the cast app and then it worked as expected. My wife wanted to be able to read Microsoft documents when offline. Found no way to do that except to install ubuntu linux using what is called crouton. 

The video said that you put the machine in developer mode and then it is easy. It was very tricky to put the machine in developer mode. I did it after google search and experimenting for an hour because I have the comfort of a recovery SD. I have used Ubuntu for 10yrs on X86 PCs. Installation took 30min and customization took 30min for a fresh install on X86 PC. Crouton took well over 2hrs to install and 3 hrs just to get firefox, libreoffice, java and silverlight to work. After all this, the machine was very slow. Either the internal memory is slow or 4GB RAM was just not enough. 11.6" screen was adequate compared to 13.3" I used for over 4yrs. The shine on the screen caused lot of glare. There was no DEL key! It is ctrl Backspace. It was very convoluted to start using ubuntu do begin with. So, packed up the machine and returned it and in the market for a Windows laptop to run ubuntu as in the past.

At least I tried...

Replaced $100 Automatic Car adopter + App with $20 bluetooth obd 2 reader and free App.

I used Automatic gen 1 adopter for 2yrs and gen 2 for 1yr. I liked the idea of looking at mileage and the status of check engine light and email or SMS when a trip is completed or if air bag is deployed. Usually the lower mileage is an indicator that something is not OK. Could be tire pressure, air filter, engine problem....

What I never liked about Automatic was that it is says is driving and gives no other info like engine coolant temp, battery voltage level, real time MPG which older cars before 2010 or so may not have.

What I did not like at all with Automatic was that it was taking to long to recognize that car was started and pair to the phone. The newer gen 2 unit has GPS. So, it can record the trip using that GPS. What I found is that we do not want to replace a unit like this too often. You connect to OBD 2 once and then it is software upates. All the intelligence is in the App. We replace the phones more often.

So, I bought bluetooth obd 2 reader for $20 and a free App called Dash and the result is fantastic.

For Iphone there are other solutions like Carista. Just have to look.

Only thing which is constant in technology is change. Accept change or become obsolete!

Global Entry card. Experience in applying for it - Part 2

Our interview times were 6:45pm and 7pm on Sat Jul 16 th at SFO. We were then at 6:25pm. At 6:30pm, both of us and another person with interview time at 6:30pm were called. Essentially the questions we already answered on the application were asked and the original documents we mentioned in the application were required. Finger prints and photos were taken. We were told that we were conditionally approved and the email with official approval will come in 24hrs. The emails arrived 2 minutes after we walked out. We were told that the global entry cards would come in 3 weeks. They came in 3 working days on the following wednesday. We were told that the card is valid for 5yrs. I was pleasantly surprised that it is 5yrs from my birthday next yr. I guess I got bonus few months this one time. I was told that when may passport is renewed, I just need to stop by any of their offices and when they come to call people for interview, they will allow me to come in and link my new passport number and expiry date to the Global entry. Also, I was told that renewal is online and interview is required.

I will write a part 3 of this blog as a travel domestic and abroad and see how it helps.

Is Automatic driving assistant gen 1 unit unreliable in connecting to bluetooth?

It happened again. When the phone was in my left pocket and I was in the car, Automatic App did not indicate that I was driving when I pulled out of the garage. I unplugged and re-plugged Automatic gen 1 into the OBD 2 socket and it recognized that I was driving. Definite firmware bug in bluetooth pairing. I hope you fix the bug or recall gen 1 units and replace them with gen 2. Gen 2 unit works fine on Samsung Galaxy note 3 with lollipop. Gen1 unit seems to have reliability issue in connecting to Marshmellow or the bluetooth in LG G4.

I was promised a 20% discount on a gen 2 unit which sells for $89 it seems. Still waiting....

"Glad you got it working again! Sometimes the Bluetooth pair does fail and creating a new pairing by running setup will help. Careful with the Ebay Gen 2 purchases we hear all the time that those sellers send Gen 1s or simply buy from us and resell after a sale. Gen 2 adapters are $89 on our site right now and I am happy to send over a 20% discount code if you want."

The right thing to do is fix it as a firmware bug in gen 1 or recall the gen 1 unit and fix the problem.

Ideas to introduce and improve self-driving technology and IoT.

Here are some ideas. You hear Tesla, Google, Apple, Samsung, Wink, Intel, Qualcomm, Garmin and others?

Best to perfect the technology on sparsely populated low traffic areas first and then people movers or dedicated roads instead of trains or buses.

Perfect example comes to my mind.

A retirement community with a golf course and other activities.
=================================================

Self-driving wheel chairs, golf carts and minivans with sliding doors.

Just imagine the entire golf course lawn monitored by cameras to see where watering or lawn maintenance is required and sending messages to crew using IoT. The golf ranger cart with cargo capacity to send sod or supplies to the crew and even transport the crew. Tiny solar cells and wireless technology embedded in the golf balls to help the players locate the balls or let them know that ball cannot be recovered where it is. Later the crew will know how to recover and recycle the balls and sell it back to the owner but share the profit. Players have an app in the phone to know where the balls is and automatically score. self-driving golf cars to keep track of multiple players sharing the cart and moving the cart as required on the designated areas.

Now extend the self-driving carts in the retirement community. App on the phone or TV to request a cart as in uber to go the the club house, the gold course or to visit some one in the same community or to the entrance of the community and then connect to a bus or uber or other transportation service. This may even be a minivan for larger number of people.

People mover without rail tracks
=============================

Huge corporate campuses with designated pathways for self-driving carts to move not just people but supplies between buildings. Expensive lab equipment could be shared between several buildings.

Airports do not have to invest in dedicated self-driving trains to move people between terminals, rental cars and ground transportation. They can be electric minivans or golf-carts on dedicated pathways.

Toll roads and car pools dedicated to self-driving cars can accommodate bumper to bumper vehicles moving like a train. No slow pokes holding up traffic and speeders tail gating. Nav software updated to encourage people to use combination of uber like which connect to self-driving cars can even replace the sparsely used buses and they have the priority in the sense that others have to yield when they see flashing green leaf symbols on such cars.

I see a win-win here.

Tax payers will pay less for rail, road and bus infrastructure.

Auto makers can sell cars to people who cannot drive.

People can use their time more effectively while taking less time to go from A to B and spend less because there is no need to own a car or even if they have a car, they carry a device which records the actual use and insurance may be less or more.

Yeah. There are many challenges other than technology. Vested interests to keep the status quo and monopolize, legal issues, safety concerns to name a few.

Open letter to Intel.

I worked only for 2years at Intel back in 84 as a new college grad. Later I was an investor and did well too but no longer an investor.

Here is my point of view. Back when iPhone came and later Android came, the writing was on the wall that the conventional PC model is changing. Intel did not embrace the change and rather than capitalize on the strong ARM, Intel did the opposite and got out of ARM completely. The foray into foundry services to offset the cost was perhaps too late. The failure of WiMax and the delay in entering the networking market did not help. The decline in PC graphics and the move to game consoles and tablets for gaming did not help either.

Once the management changed, the emphasis on cloud services and IoT was a plus. Hope this is just the start.

Time has come for lot more changes than a big layoff to take the company into the next stage.

Hardware is commodity. Hardware has less value without software. I believe that consumers will only have one PC or Mac and replace it only if it breaks. Microsoft has acknowledged the change and made office available on multiple devices and the cloud.

What if Intel re-embraced ARM. If not hardware, emulation assisted by hardware acceleration? That should enable Android and IOS apps to run on x86. Eventually acquiring a company like ARM itself perhaps?

Partner with Samsung, Tesla, Apple and Google to enter IoT end user market, self-driving cars, next generation cellular networking etc..

In other words, major changes...

Time for Cable companies and content providers in the US to evolve.

You keep reading that Comcast with 27.7Million subscribers with average revenue of $100 per customer does not want to make available their content including USA Network, Bravo, E!, CNBC, MSNBC, Syfy for streaming. They will allow only their subscribers to stream.

Just as it required old management to leave before companies like Microsoft embraced cloud services as opposed to Windows and Office, it is time for the management to change and consolidation to happen.

For $100, people get many channels they never ever watch. So, out of 200 channels, people actually want to watch only 40 channels but they are willing to pay $50, the revenue per channel is $1.25 instead of $0.50. Let the channels which people do not watch disappear. Let the shopping channels pay more money to service providers. Also, by offering TV only over Internet, the cable companies could cut their costs. No need to transmit cable and Internet signals. No need for extra hardware. Also, by offering channels over internet, content providers including Comcast can significantly expand the number of subscribers to 27.7M in the US to the entire world. Just as DirectTV got absorbed by ATT, Dish Network can also be absorbed by another service provider like a Verizon. There can be roaming arrangements for Internet between all internet service providers as in cellular data. Satellite may be required only where there is no Internet or Satellite can be used for Internet TV because downstream bandwidth on Satellite is much better than upstream.

Internet service providers will win if there is no such thing as unlimited data. It can be pay per use. Let the free market decide how much bandwidth is needed by consumers. High efficiency codecs allow very decent 720p signal to be sent with just 1Mbps downstream. Most people cannot tell the difference between 720p and 1080p on their TV. On Mobile devices with screens 10" or less need no more than 480p. The costs incurred by internet service providers will come down as usage comes down.

Content providers will win because the potential subscribers are huge. At some point the broadcast TV network is not required. Just stream. Of  course the FCC must allow that too. DVR is only in the cloud. It is just a stream. Anyway, their content is saved somewhere.

Consumers will win because they will pay perhaps $50 a month for content instead of $100. They may pay $60 for faster cable if they want higher definition TV than 720p and their watching patterns but they may pay $40 less than currently.

I do not see any losers in this. It can happen.

Time has come for a 3rd party in the US which evloves with times.

I rarely venture into political blogs.

Why do I think we need a 3rd party?

1. Our US primaries with the 2 parties have exposed the weakness in the way we choose candidates for the President.

The system of delegates, caucuses, primaries starting in a small state and ending in a large state may have made sense before we had telecommunications, mass media, internet. Our country was way too big to even think of elections one one day. However, when we had the infrastructure to hold nation wide elections in November, we also had the infrastructure to do the same for primaries nation wide in 1 day. That way, no single state would dominate because all the voters can vote and vote for any candidate in any party. No need for closed primaries. The candidate with the largest votes in each party goes to the November election. Again, all the voters can vote as long as each voter votes only 1 candidate.

2. For a long time we had essentially 2 parties with one working for the poor and working class and one working for the rich and the rich corporations and businesses. As a result we often have grid-lock and nothing gets done.

There are no real winners.

Our medical care is the most expensive among the developed nations and yet not all the people are covered.

We have the worst public transit system in the developed world.

Our tax structure is too complicated. It should not be about taxing the rich to pay for the poor. It should be about a level playing field for all citizens and corporations.

All the citizens must have the same quality of medical care. Take a page of the airline pricing system. Regardless of economy, business or first class, every sits in the same plane and take same time to reach the destination on a given flight. Those who can pay more may have bigger bed or a suite with a fancy bathroom and fancy food. All get the same medical care.

The US corporations should not have to go abroad just for lower taxes, We should compete and take away the need for them to go abroad just for taxes.

We need reciprocal trade. If our goods and services are taxed at a higher rate by other countries compared to the goods and services produced locally, we tax them the same way. If a country subsidizes their goods and services for export, we do not buy from them.

We are not the police for the world.

We have no business telling other countries that our way of freedom is right for everyone.

We have no business in allowing our citizens to promote their religious beliefs and try to convert poor people into their religion. Religious freedom is within our country. Atheists may be offended by the idea of one nation under God. We need the idea of one national for all the citizens. All citizens need to pledge allegiance to the nation and the flag or leave the country. De-couple religion from the country. No single religion should be favored by the constitution. Citizens should be free to choose a religion or no religion.

All this is easier said than done of course. But it sure will not happen with the existing 2 parties and without amending the constitution.

I do not believe that the founding fathers meant our constitution to stagnate.

It is about time for a truly "progressive" party which progresses and evolves not only the party but our constitution and the processes to ensure real liberty and equality  for all the citizens and businesses.
 

Paris Apr 4 to 8 2016. Europe series part 8 of 8.

This is the last of the Europe series blogs.

We drove from Reims to Epernay in the Champagne region of France to an apartment 5 min from Notre Dame on Saint Germain. It took little over 2hrs of easy drive. I could have parked in front of the apartment if the car was a bit smaller than the Opel Insignia.

Next time, I will look into 25 euro per day parking multiple entry in 9 parking garages in Paris for 4 days. Sure it is more expensive than metro but if you have 4 people, it may be cheaper than a taxi perhaps without having to look around.
http://www.parkingsdeparis.com/EN/multi-park-parking-pass.php

We bought 10 metro tickets for 14 euro. Each ticket bought separately costs 1.8 euro. Good till use dup I guess because we used the tickets over 4 days. We used up all the tickets. We had 6 day Paris Museum pass we used in Versailles, Louvre, Orsay. We had a reservation to go to the summit of Eiffel Tower at 8pm to see the view before and after sunset. We saw Louvre and D'Orsay using Rick Steve's audio guide. No waiting anywhere. We bought for 50 euro 3 day batobus pass to cover a boat and hop 4 routes on hop on hop off bus. Took just 1hr to see D'Orsay museum. Could have spent 2hrs if we had time.

http://www.batobus.com/en/paris-a-la-carte-pass.html

We did go all 4 routes without getting off anywhere and just 1 ride on the boat. There are other choices I would consider next time. The frequency off the bus was not enough. We wasted too much time waiting. Also, compared to other buses, this one ends too soon in the evening at 7pm.

We went to the nearby Franprix and Carrfour supermarkets for food shopping.
We walked to Luxemburg gardens and Montparnase tower, Notre Dame.

Here are the photos.

https://goo.gl/photos/zGd3Z3A4pG3ygEbF8
https://goo.gl/photos/nXiue8XrTt8qo5rk7
https://goo.gl/photos/qc7LXk1pMMJMPVcT9
https://goo.gl/photos/fwNBXeCQTMbr8Grp8
https://goo.gl/photos/A3yHiDfdfEppVvVM6
https://goo.gl/photos/s7pWo7xVPXLXMsa37

Reims and Epernay Champagne region, France. Europe visit series part 7.

Left Versailles at about 3pm on Apr 4th and reached Reims in less than 3hrs. It was a very easy drive. Parking was right in front of the apartment and it was big enough for Opel Insignia car. It was free on weekend and 1 euro per hr after 9am. We stayed at a nice 1 bedroom apartment close to the city center.

That evening we walked to a nearby carrfour city supermarket and got milk, coffee and breakfast supplies. The next morning we visited the cathedral and later Pommery.

Our host took trouble to make a reservation to visit Pommery which is a producer of Champagne.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pommery

http://www.champagnepommery.com/en/

http://pommery.tickeasy.com/Information.aspx

We then drove through Epernay Wine country to Paris for a 4 night visit. That will be the next blog.

Here are the photos:

https://goo.gl/photos/c2fcjhW75V9o3NHh9

US T Mobile worked great in Denmark, Norway, Italy and France. Europe visit series part 6,

I used Android phone set to use Google Voice for all calls.
In all cases I used Google navigation to find public transport and walking, driving and even Uber. In most cases 3G data was good enough for navigation, email, whatsapp. At least 70% of the time it was good enough for phone calls. Calls to US were free. Calls to other numbers were 1cent to 8 cents per minute. Text messages worked great. Airbnb worked great. When I was at Wifi, calls were like local landline calls because Wifi was 1 to 3 MBps down and 0.2 to 1Mbps up.

I used the phone in
Copenhagen - Denmark
Oslo - Norway
Rome, Rome to Sorento - Italy including driving
Paris, Versailles, Reims (Champagne area) - France including driving

We had no charges at all for data or text. Even though we set the phones to use Google voice for all calls and when we called the call seemed to have gone through google, the incoming calls went on the voice network and for 17 days, we paid total $97 extra at 20 cents a minute. Not bad at all. Even better. I asked T Mobile about this charge and they gave me full credit for the extra $97.

Folks, if you have Google voice:

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/voice/crhtHN-rUhU

Google voice is NOT supported outside the US.

Google voice only uses the tiniest amount of data during a call to do some stuff.

The call itself actually goes through your phone network. 

Hangouts does work over the internet to make calls.

Alternately, use Whatsapp or skype over data network. Of course, this may all change in future and international roaming for calls may be included.

I am surely impressed by the T Mobile service while in Europe and even when I asked them about the charge. Time for other carriers to follow T Mobile.

Versailles. Apr 3 2016. Europe visit series Part 5.

Our flight landed in Paris CDG from Rome at 7pm. On hind sight we should looked for flights landing at Orly which is closer to Versailles and the city as well. We rented a car which was a bit smaller than Toyota Camry and bigger than Toyota corolla called Opel Insignia. We left CDG at 8:15 and reached the apartment we rented about 5 min drive from the Palace gate.

We parked right in front of the gate for 20 euro at 9am when they opened. We used the Paris pass and were inside by 9:15am. Rick Steve's audio self guided audio tour was more than enough to see the palace in 90min. They had water fountain in the gardens behind the palace and just for that they charged a fee of about 12 euro. The water fountain was nothing compared to the Trevi fountain in the US but when the fountain is running you have to pay to see the gardens. That was rip off 1. They had golf carts to rent but then you have to walk 25min to get there. You could also park behind the palace and rent the cart which was another 30 euro for just 1hr. They had a tram to take people one way from the back to the front for 4 euro each. On hind sight, I should have parked in the back and seen the gardens first and taken the tram back when we were tired. The 4th rip off (after expensive parking in the front, paying to see the pathetic fountains, golf cart, tram was 3 euro for water. This is not a 3rd world country or an island like Bahamas where water is sold. When you compare it to the facilities we get in the US national parks like Yosemite once we pay the entrance fee, it was a surprise. Not really friendly for the disabled. No wonder we hardly see wheel chairs in Paris and even Rome.

Palace was nice. In the back was Marie Antonette's estate which was interesting. We were done with the visit by 2pm. Total 5hrs.

https://goo.gl/photos/buuQJovZNQheBxMP7

Recommendation:

We rented the car because we also drove to Champagne wine country and we had a heavy checkin bag. Otherwise train is convenient to go to Versailles.

I suggest parking in the back or take a taxi to the back if you take the train. See Marie Antinette's estate first, walk through the gardens, see the palace, coming back is downhill and easy to walk.  Skip the golf cart. They also rent bikes. I would try that if all the people in your party like to bike. 4hrs is plenty. Carry water and even lunch. Not much of lunch choice there and ridiculously expensive.

Rome. Europe visit series Part 4.

We were in Rome at 1 bedroom apartment rented using Airbnb within 5min walk to Trevi Fountain. We had Roma Pass which allowed free access to 2 of the attractions and unlimited access to Metro for the 4 days we were there. We bought Roma pass at Rome airport in the visitor center. The metro bus was all we used in Rome. Google nav worked great for the metro and walking.

On day 1, we visited Vatican which is not covered by Roma Pass. We reserved a time slot at 11:30am. No lines. However, we did not really see many people in the line. Even though we had an appointment, there was no guide. We could hire a private guide, rent the audio guide or walk around. We rented the audio guide. There was no real guided audio tour. You just go to each area, look a number and choose the number on the machine to hear about that area. Not really effective. The layout of the museum takes people through ridiculously long corridors on 3 floors. Hardly any windows and lot of crowds. If there are elevators, we could not find them. After 2hrs we walked out to the Baslica and then into the cathedral. That was so much nicer and well worth seeing. Weather in high 60s was great. Perhaps we should have gone with a tour guide.

That evening we walked to Trevi fountain. It was very impressive but so crowded. Took some photos and spent perhaps 30min during the day and 30min at night with the lights.

https://goo.gl/photos/chPgsQjEz3igwPrj8

Our first use of Roma Pass was to see the Colloseum. We found an excellent guide to see the Colloseum without standing in the line. It was a great tour for about 90 min and later to Palatine hill for 1 hr tour. Well worth it.

https://goo.gl/photos/yDDx1Mqd6KKWg3Xm6

That evening we walked to Spanish steps which is like many Plazas in Rome where people hangout particularly in the evenings. If you are inclined to walk about a bunch of steps, try going down the steps and walk back on gentle slope of the streets.

https://goo.gl/photos/XksoEZZtcD73JCCN6

The next day we did a self guided tour of the Forum next to Colloseum and then visited Piazza Navona (OK if you don't see it) and the Pantheon (surely worth seeing). Rick Steve's audio guide was good enough.

We ended our visit to Rome with a walk in the gardens of Villa Borghese but could not go to the museum because appointment was difficult to get.

Visit to Ruins in Italy Ostia-Antica near Rome airport, Pompei and Herculaneum near Naples. Europe visit series- Part 3.

This was our first ever visit to Italy. We stayed at a bed and breakfast close to the Rome airport. We were picked up by retired couple running the place and taken to a very nice Italian home. We were treated like family. Even though it was 10pm by the time we were home, they not only let us use the family kitchen but actually heated what we had and brought to the dining table. The next morning, they took us to the airport for us to rent a car, get some cash at the ATM and allowed us to come back with the rental car to pick up our bags even though they had a family lunch planned.

The rental car was a Puegot 308. It was a very short 10 min drive to Ostia-Antica. Parking was free and we used Rick Steve's audio guide and had a fantastic visit. Driving was very easy because they drive on the right as in the US and police do not bother to issue tickets. Yet I did not face any crazy drivers. Traffic was moving just fine. We rented another apartment in Masa Lubrense just past Sorento along the coast. Once we drove past Naples, the road was narrow and I wished that I had a smaller car. Parking was a challenge on a small street. More than that, we had to walk for 3 minutes on a 1 foot shoulder while traffic was zipping by and go down 2 flights of stairs into the apartment. The view was fantastic but parking and taking bags into the apartment was an adventure. If I did more homework, I would not have picked that place.

The next morning we drove to Sorento harbor, parked there and took a ferry to Naples and spent a day there including lunch at a famous Pizza place called L'Antica Pizzeria Da Michele which serves just 2 kinds of thin pizza. We were lucky and got seated right away at 11:30am. It took 45min to get Pizza Margherita but it was just 6 euro each and fantastic. One was probably enough for 2 people. This was where Julia Roberts was shown eating in the movie Eat, Pray Love. I did not know that until I got there. This place was more than 100 yrs old in the same family. My wife was impressed that they have Michelin rating.

We then visited the Naples National Archeological Museum which was opened in 1750 and had exhibits from Pompei and Herculaneum dating back to 0050.

I did not drive in Naples but it is easier to drive in Naples than in Sorento for sure. Parking may be a challenge but there were paid parking lots.

We took the ferry back to Sorento and the next day drove to a Pompei and found a huge Carrfour supermarket where we stocked up, left the car in the parkign lot and walked 10 minutes to the ruins. We saw a long line but an excellent guide met us and we skipped the line and had a fabulous tour for 2hrs. I highly recommend a guide. We then drove to Herculaneum and arrived there just 2 minutes before they closed the ticket counter. We joined a tour group and had an excellent 90 min tour.

When we left for Rome at about 5:30pm, it was Tuesday after the Easter Monday and apparently a holiday too. The Google nav guided us off the freeway on another route which was not bad at all. We arrived at the airport around 9:30pm, took a taxi and were in a great apartment which was 5 min walk from Trevi fountain. That would be the next blog folks.

Photos:
https://goo.gl/photos/Kn5ReYwaZPcKBAgG9

4hrs in Oslo Mar 26th. Europe visit series Part 2.

Oslo was much cooler than Copenhagen the day earlier. Flight landed at 9:30am from Copenhagen. Flight to Rome was at 5:30pm. So, we decided to spend the time in the city. It was very easy to take the train from airport to the city. We were in the city by 11am.

Very small city. Temp was close to 40F. Other than the usual downtown eating places and few shops open, the only thing worth seeing is the Opera House an interesting building and Nobel Peace Center. There is Royal Palace but all you do walk up a little hill and see the palace from outside. No tours. We cut short our visit and came back to the train station at 2:30pm.

One more thing. 2 individual thin Pizzas for lunch in the airport cost $25. Also, no water fountains and SAS gives you just 4oz of water for free and offer to sell you a bottle for 3 euro. Reminded me of Bahamas.

https://goo.gl/photos/TWJ7DVdwecTYpXTs7

I would not bother to go to Oslo again.

Good to read this before renting AirBnb property outside US. Absolutely no standards set by AirBnb. Free for all "hosts".

Here is my opinion after renting 9 different properties 2 in Denmark, 4 in Italy, 3 in France.

1. Only 2 of the properties were pure rentals not occupied by the owner as primary residence. In the US, I rented often using VRBO in California and ALL the properties were vacation homes where the owner may have few closets and perhaps 1 bedroom reserved and locked.

2. When they list a kitchen, they may not even have a microwave oven. That happened in 2 of the properties. In very few cases there were coffee supplies. If they listed that a grocery was nearby, there were no directions. Too much time wasted by each guest to re-invent the wheel.

3. In one case, when I booked an entire apartment, I was received at the airport and taken to a Bed and Breakfast place without any kitchen. Too late to make a change and did not even bother to contact AirBnb.

4. In one of the cases in France a property was listed as 5 min away from a major attraction. In Europe you assume the 5 min is walking time. Wrong. It was driving time. I would not have rented if I knew this.

5. None of the properties had a clothes dryer and they advertised as such. Our only option was to increase the heat and let the clothes dry on hangers near the radiator or on chairs and such because the nearest laundromat was just not convenient.

6. When they advertised an elevator, it was barely enough for 1 person and 1 checkin bag.

7. When they say parking was nearby, it was paid parking. They did not say where exactly the parking was, if it is paid, how to pay for it and how much it costs.

8. Not even in 1 case I had simple instructions in English to operate the appliances in the kitchen, the TV, the clothes washer or even the shower in the bathroom.

9. In the kitchen, often we found an induction electric stove where you need a special flat cookware which we did not have. The cookware they had was not necessarily non-stick and there was no scrubbing pad. I had to look hard to find what looked like clorox powder and a kitchen towel to scrub it.

10. Not in one case were clear checkin or checkout instructions about what was available to use and what was expected when we checkout.


I can go on. You get the idea?

What can AirBnb do?

1. Add filters in search such as:
    a. Is the unit mostly occupied by the host?

If so, AirBnb needs to inform the host that prior to rental, they must remove their personal things enough so that the guest has enough space in the refrigerator and closets as a minimum. If they leave something in the refrigerator they must have a note if any of it can be used such as water, butter, milk, bread.

I personally will not even rent a place unless it is vacation home with an empty kitchen and perhaps 1 bedroom and 1 closet reserved for host.

    b. Filter for specific appliances including the type in kitchen.

I would not have rented if there was no microwave oven, regular non-induction cooktop and non-stick cookware.

    c. Is it a unit rented by the host or owned?

I think many hosts are illegally listing their properties as AirBnb without the consent of the landlord. I will not rent unless the landlord permits it.

    d. Is there a checkin list with instructions in english?

Thanks to Google Translate for other languages. If the answer is no, I would ask the host for it before even renting. I wasted too much time trying to figure out how to use the kitchen, clothes washer and where to put trash. Too many messages with the host for these things. Not my idea of vacation.

    e. If they list parking, the size of the car which fits there.

In almost all the cases, my car would not fit and it was the size of Toyota RAV 4 or a Corolla.

2. Qualify properties before allowing a listing.

Looks like it is totally open ended with no screening by AirBnb. AirBnb can charge a small premium for such properties.

3. AirBnb MUST ask the hosts for better photographs.

Showing entrance to the property, parking space if any, all the appliances, space available in the closets, refrigerator, what is available for guests to use (Soap, Shampoo, towels, extra pillows, blankets,  supplies in the Kitchen such as oil, salt, pepper, cooking utensils, cups, plates). In other words full disclosure.

Having said all this, I like the idea of AirBnb as long as it is not misused by renters to lower their cost instead of having a room mate or to make quick extra bucks.

First visit to Copenhagen. Europe visit series.Part 1

We spent 2 nights in Copenhagen on the way to Rome and back on Scandinavian airlines from San Francisco.

I bought online 2 1 day passes on Metro system which was emailed to me as well as a text message to show it as proof along with phone. Flight arrived at 1:20pm.  We were at the metro about 30min after the flight arrived. The metro is in the airport just as in San Francisco or Washington National and other US airports. We were told that there is only 1 metro and it goes only 1 way and we needed to get off at Femoren which was 2nd stop. There were signs that the Metro was upstairs but a local person assured us that we need to go down and then got on a train. Interesting to note that there was no need to insert a ticket for a gate to open to let you in and then your ticket comes out. It was honor system as if the train was an airport terminal loop in the US. I noticed that 2nd stop was not Femoren. We then found out that there is a train as well as a Metro M1 in the airport. The Metro was actually upstairs above ground level and train was below. We got off at orestad which happened to have a Metro M2.



As you can see from the above map, M2 meets M1 at Christanshavn and we could take M1 back to Femoren. Once we got on M2, I opened Google Maps on my T Mobile phone with free data roaming 3G and found that there is a Metro bus which takes us directly in front of the apartment. So, instead of taking a 2 minute train ride and walking half mile in about 10 minutes, we took 10 minutes total on a train and a Metro and walked for 1 minute. On second thought, there was a bus which is not as frequent but directly from the airport and 5 min walk. So, there are multiple ways. By the way, you can use credit or debit card at the airport on train station to buy tickets and select English language for the display. I suggest buying only 1 ticket at a time because it expires in 1 hour. Not sure how to buy 1 day or 3 day pass on that machine. "Please note that not all ticket types/travel cards are for sale via machines."

Finally, it is easy to use credit or debit cards everywhere and there are ATMs everywhere. I used Fidelity debit card and paid no extra fee or transaction fee and I got the exchange rate as seen on Google.

When in doubt, call them. They speak english.

So, what was Copenhagen like?

On Mar 25th and Apr 9th it was mid 40F. People were friendly. Really small city. Not much to see other than walk around and take a canal cruise. With kids, there is an amusement park called Tivoli Gardens. Don't bother if your kids saw Disneyland but if your destination is Copenhagen and you have kids, may be worth a visit. We did not go there. Canal cruise was 1 hr. You will get an idea of the city. It is so easy for Americans to drive in Copenhagen. Very bike friendly too with bike lanes as well pedestrian lanes to cross the street at traffic lights in the city center in some places. Many people were on bikes with kid carriers, luggage carriers as well which I did not see in Italy or France in a major city.

Global Entry card. Experience in applying for it - Part 1.

You guessed it. This is Part 1.

If you have no idea what TSA Precheck or Global Entry card is, read it here.
There is some more info here.

Summary: Easy to apply and quick to get conditional approval.  Bottleneck is getting the interview. In interview, they seems to ask 2 questions other than checking the ID and documents you submitted.

The easy part:

When I applied, I answered these questions other than name address, phone number email address.
1. US. Naturalization number and date.
2. US Passport number, place and date of issue, Place of birth, height, weight, color of eyes, foreign countries visited in the last 10yrs.
3. Driving license number.
4. Addresses for the past 10yrs including employment history.

Paid $100 for 5yr Global Entry card.

I applied on Feb 5, 2016. Got conditional approval on Feb 11.
Applied for my wife on Feb 7 Sun. Got conditional approval on Sat Feb 13.

The interview attempt:

The next available date for interview was 5 months later on July 14th.

Read yelp reviews and came to know that they do not have official walk-in system like in DMV office. However, some people just walked in and were called about 1 hour later and got approval email within 5 minutes and the card arrived in 4 working days.

So, we decided to go today the Presidents day to San Francisco airport. We were told at 10:30 that 6 people were waiting since 8am without appointment.

There was no reception desk. No instructions on what to do. You enter the office and face hostile people behind the counters looking at you as if you are an intruder even if you have an appointment.

There were 4 people in the office. They allowed 15min per appointment. People were coming out after they show the ID documents, asked if they had ever been convicted, giving finger prints and a photo taken. At 12:30, the lady waiting since 8am asked them if they might take her in. She was told that after lunch at 1PM they have appointments and if there is no show only then they will take walk-in. Apparently they have "something else to do" after the 5 min interview which could have been avoided by asking people to go to a local police station. They will take walk-in ONLY if there is a cancellation.

This is a gross waste of tax payers money. We are paying them to sit and do "something else" in the Global Entry office rather than take some one waiting because of lack of appointments.

We left at 1:30 after waiting for 3hrs and spending 1hr driving, $50 in gas, parking, food and tolls.

We scheduled appointment for Jul 16th Sat, 5 months from now. By then we will finish some travel.

So, you know why there will be a Part 2.

Why Internet Of Things (IoT) needs to be IeT (Internet Enhanced Things).

I have always maintained that Internet Of Things needs to be Internet Enhanced Things (IeT). My reasoning is that most of the time, the devices need to talk within the LAN or even PAN (Personal Area Network) peer to peer without connection to Internet. Reliability is improved a lot by battery backup of wireless hub with a SIM card in the hub with minimal data connection to the server ONLY for firmware updates or if the user wants to connect over internet.

Imagine driving your car in the boonies where you have just enough data connection to navigate using maps stored on your phone and make or receive phone calls. If you had an accident, you would want a text message sent to the people you designate, 911 with your health status (Blood pressure, pulse, are you awake or unconscious), info about your car for servicing etc. However, if all is well do you want uncle Sam to track you and your health?

Security and privacy may well become the dominant reason why users will demand what I call IeT.

Nice bargain. GoControl kit 2 contact sensors, 1 motion sensor for $44.

I tried this GoControl Kit with SmartThings and it worked just fine. If you need the siren you need the other kit with 2 more contact sensors and 1 more motion sensor for additional $50. By comparison, SmartThings contact sensor by itself sells for $40. But it is an all-in-one sensor that can detect vibration, orientation and angle (tilt), temperature and when things open or close if you need that for example the garage door or to sense end of cycle of Laundry.

This kit is also supposed to work with Wink hub but I never tried that myself.

So, if you are still debating, hope this helps.

Internet is necessary evil. How do you keep track of passwords?

The default passwords used have already been hacked.

Most average users who buy a router just push all the buttons and accept default password I think. 

One option is totally free. I used it for at least 10 years.
 I recommend using the free gorilla on PC, Mac, Linux and passwdsafe on Android, pwsafe on IOS. In all the cases, the password file can be saved on dropbox which is also available on PC, Mac, Linux, Android, IOS. You have to remember 1 password as a minimum. I have used PC, Linux, Android platforms myself.

If you want to get commercial password manager, the cheapest one is Lastpass. Lastpass also has a free version you can try. I know people using Lastpass for a long time. I don't have first hand experience with it.

I understand that there is more sophisticated one called Dashlane and bunch of others. Take your pick but you do need a password manager.

Average user has 2 email accounts, Netflix, 1 or 2 banks, 1 or 2 retirement accounts, cell phone, Wirelss router, Home automation and security, Travel sites, Credit cards, Brokerage, internet service provider, atm pin numbers, security locks pin numbers, Utility, AAA or AARP, Auto Insurance, Health Insurance, Airline freq flyer, Car toll payment, . Home owners need accounts for Water company, Trash company.

You get the idea?


 

GoControl $100 kit and others from Home Depot, Lowes compatible with Smarthings

The 3 door contact sensors are pretty much the same as the  monoprice one which sells for about $25 each or ecolink for $27 each or Aeon labs contact sensor for $25. I ordered one from monoprice too. Also works with smartthings. Save yourself money buy not buying the multipurpose sensor from smartthings for $40 each unless you need the other functions like vibration, orientation and angle (tilt), temperature which are required to sense door open/close status of garage, end of cycle of laundry washer, dryer.

Note that you have other choices to sense the status of garage door such as
monoprice Z-Wave Garage Door Sensor
It is currently listed at $22. Same is sold by ecolink for $27.

Note that the same motion sensor in the GoControl kit is sold by Monoprice for $22 and by ecolink for $32. For the price of buying 2 contact sensors, 1 motion sensor at Monoprice you get the GoControl kit which includes the siren as well.

Note that the SmartThings smarthome monitor kit includes just 1 motion sensor and 2 multipurpose sensors and 1 controlled plug for $150 more than the hub. Not a good value at average cost of $37.50 each.

You can buy controlled electrical outlet from monoprice for $27 or from Aeon Labs for $30.

So, this kit is good value. For add-on consider monoprice, Aeon labs or even many iris brand devices sold at Lowe's compatible with SmartThings.

Finally, note that most wink enabled devices are likely to work with SmartThings and some of the Lowes Iris devices may work with smartthings. You can always return if they don't work.

The following are known to work with SmartThings and cheaper than SmartThings devices.

Ex: Lowes Iris Utilitech 85-Decibels Indoor Siren for $35.
                  Iris Contact Sensor (Works with Iris) for $23
                  Iris Motion Sensor (Works with Iris) for $30

Home Depot Essentials DIY Home Security Kit, Z-Wave and Wink Enabled $50
                     1 motion sensor, 2 contact sensors.

That is the beauty of open hubs like SmartThings and Wink.

 


 





 
 

Open letter to Garmin.

You were the market leader in GPS long before cell phones became popular. Just saw you 2014 earnings report and noted that 20% of your revenue is from fitness devices but automotive was still 60%. You have a narrow window of opportunity to stay relevant in Auto and avoid the fate of one trick ponies like GoPro and fitbit.

1. Connect to obd2 port in the car and use the smartphone as display. You can enter new markets.

2. Get rid of dependence on connecting to a computer to update maps or firmware. Go direct with wifi.

3. Make all Garmin devices under the same account talk to each other. If user adds a new road or trail on one, all other devices must see it. Users have the option to share the maps with others as in crowd sourcing. "MyGarmin everywhere"

4. Seamlessly connect with Google and waze to get traffic info and other info in real time. People love the Garmin GUI but hate to connect to computer to update maps and hate to subscribe to traffic services.

5. Sell lifetime maps update for Android and IOS for 2x cost of adding that to your garmin units. Eg. difference in price between LM and non LM. You make money without investing in hardware.

6. Price your fitness device less than Apple or Android devices but a superset of the functionality with the plus of "MyGarmin everywhere".

7. On all your hardware devices, add SIM cards and offer lifetime data updates when on the road but wifi to do big updates.

8. Let the garmin auto unit be a hotspot if users insert their own SIM card.

Well. That is food for thought for now...

End of Dual boot Linux, Windows and on to Windows in a virtual PC in linux for me.

What? Me? Linux? What is Linux? These are your questions. I know.

What is Linux?

In simple language, Linux is really the free version of Mac OS which is also a flavor of Unix operation system. Apple convinced everyone in mid 1980 that its innovation was its Graphical User Interface and their OS. Actually it was Xerox Star the precursor to the first Macintosh.

Xerox failed to commercialize the personal computer with GUI. Apple did for the high end and Microsoft did for the low end. I believe that Apple did the right thing by adopting Unix.

I applaud Microsoft for not getting into the hardware business for years and allowing the masses who could not afford Apple machines. However, MSDOS which made it possible to use very low cost hardware without GUI became too popular for its own good and under the hood or Windows is MSDOS even today. Windows NT 4.0 and later Windows 95 was much better but the legacy support is what makes it ancient.

The corporations have been using Linux on cheap hardware and pretty much the same GUI as Mac and Windows on those machines. So, why not the rest of us?
Problem is support. Linux is open source. There is not one company supporting it for the consumer market in a practical way. That is why an average consumer may not know what Linux is. Also, there is some software which is not available on Unix. Lucky me. It is down to just tax software and will maker for now.

I have been using Linux at home since 2006. However just to use 2 or 3 programs available on Windows, I was dual booting the same computer to run either Windows or Linux. Only about one week of the year I used the Windows. Unfortunately, that is when all hell breaks lose. Most recently, after I installed will maker, windows 10 decided to update itself without asking me but will not boot again. I got the more stable Windows 8.1 original licensed disk and installed it inside a "virtual" PC inside the Linux. It took just 15GB. Nice thing is I drag and drop the virtual PC folder onto an external drive and I can run it on any Linux machine.

What do I use Linux for? Firefox browser for everything you do on PC or Mac, read write Microsoft documents, Adobe PDF, ebooks, read write CD, DVD, Bluray disks, Skype, stock trading, etc. That is probably what you do anyway.

See screenshot of Windows 8.1 inside Xubuntu 15.10 Linux in virtualbox:

If you are looking for excitement and you know how to down load what is known as ISO image, write a DVD you are ready to try Linux. Otherwise, buy the expensive Mac or put up with Windows.

If you want to try, get your really old PC which you think is not fast enough to run windows, firefox, MS office. Try this.

Download the ISO and write a DVD using a PC or Mac.
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/15.10/release/
If you have a 64bit pc get

xubuntu-15.10-desktop-amd64.iso 

else get xubuntu-15.10-desktop-i386.iso 

Now you are ready to install.

There are plenty of videos on youtube to help you.

Have fun.