A long time ago Rob told me about this wireless gear he was using from a company called Ubiquiti Networks . I of course promptly forgot who made it or the specifics. Then we (as in my company) bought a few to evaluate for a project. I'm. In. Love. I highly, HIGHLY recommend the PowerStation2 to anyone who might have use for such a thing. Awesomesauce.

I set up a Tumb/Micro/Mini/Whatever blog over here
The whole thing originated on the Mailing List .
Basically, I'm just keeping track of all the crap I buy. Too bad I didn't start this 6 weeks ago, I've been single handedly supporting the local economy.

I bought a searsucker suit. I'm really excited to have it, but damned if I know when I will wear it.

I'm going to see Nine Inch Nails several times in the upcoming weeks. At the Pittsburgh show, I've got meet/greet + backstage passes , I'm very, very excited.

Speaking of crap I bought, finally broke down and got a Mac Pro.

A while back, I ordered the SLG book Jellyfist . The concept was simple: Jhonen Vasquez wrote, and "Jenny" JR Goldberg drew pretty pictures to go along.

It was silly, beautiful and immensely entertaining. Recently, JR Goldberg began selling things on Etsy , so I thought I would take a look. Surprise surprise, I found a hand printed mini-book called "Squelch" for a whopping $5. That's right, five US of A dollars. And there was one left. I snatched it up.

I've been following JR Goldberg for a while on Twitter, and I decided to ask for an autograph on my order, didn't know if it would work..but what they hey.

Today, I finally received my order (it takes a while, I live in the UAE, so it has to be shipped to New York then here). I am absolutely stunned.

Not only did I get my copy of Squelch, it was Autographed..

..with a bunch of nifty extras!

That whacky JR Goldberg not only signed it, she threw in a pin, a nice little note, and a business card (from none other than MooCards , one of my favorites).

So, here is the point:

I love DIY. Not only did JR Goldberg undercharge me for this really great piece, but she went the extra mile. I didn't expect any of this, and I asked only for an autograph. She took it upon herself to really show that she cared about the product (her art) and her customer (me, her audience).

I've mentioned more than a few times my love for another Etsy Alumni, Hard Graft (neé Working Class Heroes ), and I love them for the same reasons. They create a superior quality product with a brilliant focus on detail and craftsmanship. How many companies ship you a piece of Austrian chocolate with your order?

Only one I know of.

Which is why I've continued to do business with them. When I got a new laptop, the first thing I did was place an order for a new laptop sleeve from Hard Graft. When a co-worker needed a laptop sleeve, I convinced him to buy one as well. (He did, and he loves it). He in turn has recommended them to other people as well.

Which is the point.

Goods from small companies (or even individuals) with the DIY mentality / ethic are wonderful things to purchase. Yes, often times the products cost a bit more, but in the end you know that you are getting a product that someone has a personal interest in. Their name and reputation hang on the quality of the product they personally create and sell to you. They care.

Etsy is a great place to find these individuals / products. There is a lot of crap, to be sure. (Seriously...how many people are selling keychains of random crap that they hot glued to a fob? No, I will not pay $15 for your Lego Man keychain, idiot).

Last night I was looking over the toledo source code thinking about how I should really update it.

Something shiny caught my eye, and I ended up doing everything but. A few minutes ago, I got an email from a guy in Holland who is working on making the AM03128 work with a microcontroller. He's using my code to figure out how to "talk" to the sign.

I often wonder if there would be anyone else in the world that would get any use out of my code. Now I know there is at least one person, and that's pretty freakin' awesome.

After running 10.5.6 on my local machines for a while, I finally decided to go ahead and update the server.

Which of course is when the problems set in.

Turns out, Apple helpfully reconfigured my configuration so that it insisted on listening to local connections only. Which wasn't documented, anywhere.

Foolishly, I assumed the problem existed in my own configuration files (it's been a loooong time since a restart), and I thought I bunged something up.

Had I done a diff on the configs, I would have immediately spotted the difference. ::sigh::

Easy enough to fix, once you know about it. Fix

Alternately: What I learned about iPhones while on Vacation

A few months back, I let temptation take hold. I broke down and bought an iPhone 3G from one of the, err, less than reputable places here in the UAE.

These places will, of course, happily charge you a ludicrous mark up for the device, which I simply was not prepared to pay considering I was going to Italy soon enough (more on that later).

It's not secret that I am a recovering cellular fetishist. At any given point in time I had a couple handsets on my person, with several more waiting at home. Always either super high-end or too unique to be useful to anyone but the insane.

Then I got my original iPhone. I was in love. I stopped looking at other phones. It honestly did everything I wanted it to do, and it did it well. Sure I Jailbroke it and installed grey-area applications. But I was happy, it was the one true phone for me.

Surveying the landscape of my bedroom, I decided to box all the other heathen phones up and sell them off.

It was here that I returned when I decided to buy my iPhone 3G.

As luck would have it, the guy was more than happy to buy my old iPhone (without the box or cables..I have them, they were just at home), dented corners, scratched lens and all, for a very, very good price.

I did the math, and deducting what he offered me for my old iPhone, the new iPhone was less than I would pay in Italy. But I wanted to be sure I was getting what I thought I was getting.

I asked outright about it's origin. Hong Kong? Italy? Belgium? Australia? Where did this come from?
His reply? "Yes".

So I tried a different tact: "Has this been hacked, or is this an officially unlocked phone?"
"Oh, it's officially unlocked, no problem."

I looked over the box. It certainly seemed genuine. But to be sure, I had him pop my SIM card in before I paid. It came right up on Etisalat. Satisfied, I paid and left.

That evening, closely examining the box, I noticed something odd: A copyright notice for the AT&T logo. I pulled a pasted sticker off the phone, and lo and behold, an AT&T graphic.

Over the next few days, I noticed erratic behavior. Calls dropped, terrible call quality, and most disturbing, you couldn't update the firmware while the SIM was in the phone. I started googling.

I didn't turn up anything solid, just reports from various countries that back-alley shops were popping open the cases and soldering SIM hack chips in. Apparently there are a number of different types, each of questionable quality, that all relied heavily on an IMEI exploit.

I began to closely examine my phone. Sure enough, there were rough-ish edges. As though someone opened the case. I continued to use the phone, and after updating to the latest firmware it seemed to do very well.

So well in fact, that I didn't really give it another thought. Until I got to Italy. Despite my best efforts, it simply would not connect to a Wireless carrier there.

Knowing full well that that very same SIM worked in Rome last year, I was dumb-founded. Etisalat is known for being a little...wonky, so I chalked it up to a new issue with their service and went on my merry way.

While out and about one evening, I decided to pop into a Wind shop and buy a couple of iPhone 3Gs. The kind that are actually OEM unlocked. The kind I wanted to buy originally.

Because of a very, very severe language barrier, I wasn't positive that these phones were what I needed. The shop keeper agreed to let me take them home and try to use my SIM, if they didn't work, he would refund my money. Got it back to the hotel, and presto! Right on the network. With my Etisalat SIM.

It was then that I noticed something interesting. The carrier unlocked version of the phone will actually allow you to select your carrier from the Settings menu. The UAE "hacked" iPhone definitely did not allow this at all, no matter what I tried. Problem found.

Long story short, I ended up commandeering one of the Italian iPhones for myself, and already I am much happier. The case feels seamless, supporting my belief that the UAE one was opened. And in general, it just seems to work "better".

I've not decided what I am going to do with the UAE hacked iPhone. I don't feel I could sell it off in good conscience, knowing it's an inferior quality version. Then again, I also know that it seemed to work OK with the latest firmware. Perhaps I will take it back to the shop and sell it back, just taking my losses.

As for the other Italian iPhone 3G? Well, I think my boss is buying it as a gift for someone. Maybe. I almost wish I grabbed more, just because the local market is flooded with these crap iPhones, but I was genuinely worried about customs.

TLDR Version:
If you buy an iPhone 3G, and you want (even someday) to use it on another network, buy an OEM unlocked version. Yes, they are more expensive, but in the long run it's worth it.

And don't buy a chipped version.