Several months ago, I was loaned a Mio Digiwalker C230. The one condition was that I had to use the unit and provide some feedback on what I do and don’t like about it.  Well, I used it all over the place; from Seattle (confusing city) to Pullman (middle of nowhere) and everywhere in between.  I’ve used it to get to places both when I do know how to get there and when I don’t.  Now I’m ready to share what I’ve found.

First, here’s a list of what I like:

• Nice Screen.  It is bright enough to see during the day, even in bright sun.
• Accurate Touch Screen.  I rarely find myself hitting the wrong button (some of the buttons are small)
• Expandable Storage via SD card for storing additional POIs.  (At least that’s what I think it is for…)
• Text To Speech: Reads street names and other useful information.  An example: “Exit right on to I-405 northbound toward Everett.”  It is not perfect, however:  It has trouble with variations on NE. (like North East 124th) streets:  If it is written as NE, it says “Nebraska”, and if it is written as N.E., it says “N point East”.  This has been mildly annoying, but at least the form of north east used matches the street signs in my city (yes, it varies from street to street for some reason…)
• There is a fairly complete help system in the device configuration menus.  On any configuration screen, you can pull up the help screen and find out what each setting is for.
• “Safety” Cameras.  This is what they call speed and red-light cameras.  It is really cool to be able to place warnings in your daily route… but I’ve never used it.  There aren’t many where I live.
• Variable Volume based on speed.  You don’t have to reach over to turn up the volume when you get on the highway.
• Automatic Night Mode.  The map switches to a blue on black color scheme and the screen dims.  This is really nice on longer trips since you don’t have to change it yourself.  I do wish it had a red on black color scheme (I find that easier on the eyes at night).
• Suction-cup mount is nice.  It stays up pretty well and has held up to many removal and installation cycles (I hide it and switch vehicles a lot).
• Following mode in the cockpit view is nice.  It shows the path ahead looking forward so you get a feel for upcoming cross-streets, and it zooms in on maneuvers as you approach them so you can clearly see what the turn looks like.  It can also be set to change over to a route overview when the next maneuver is more than a user defined distance away (useful for seeing where you are along the whole route).

And these are some of the problems:

• The GPS unit feels the need to tell you about an upcoming maneuver a few too many times.  There is the quarter mile warning, the prepare to execute maneuver warning, the 400ft. warning, and finally the execute now warning.  This can get really annoying when you have to make a lot of turns.
• The processor seems to be a little bit too slow.  It takes the system a bit too long to respond to completing a maneuver, and even longer to a missed maneuver.  When your only chance to get back on track for a while is the next turn, or when you have to make several quick turns in the city, this can make it very hard to get to where you want to be.
• Adding POIs is unintuitive.  You have to switch over to the map mode (There are two map views: “Map” and “Cockpit”.  Cockpit has more information on your route, but lacks the “Add POI” button).  Then you have to search for your POI location before you can press the “Add POI” button.  You can’t simply enter an address using the Edit POI menu.
• While there is an Edit POI menu, it can’t be used to add POIs or really edit them. You can change their icon or folder, and you can add or remove folders, but you cannot change an address or a name.
• It is unintuitive to tell the unit to avoid a street or maneuver.  You have to pull up a list of every street and maneuver for the entire route and, starting at the beginning, scroll through to find the one you want to avoid.  It gives you no indication of whether this is a permanent avoidance or temporary.  It also does not fit in with an important usage scenario:  What if I decide I want to take an alternate route?  Take a look at these pictures:
  

  The route this unit suggests between Kirkland, WA and Pullman, WA.

  

  This is the correct route between Kirkland, WA and Pullman, WA

  As you can see, this GPS unit takes you well out of your way (~70mi/50min).  But if I tell it to avoid I-90, it takes me on every side street and small highway until I hit Hwy 26.  This ties into my next point:

• This unit tries to force adherence to the current route.  At every possible opportunity, you will be instructed to turn around and go back on route.  This is nice if you make a wrong turn in a city (except that time it took me through 5.5mi of neighborhoods…), but it is really annoying in in the situation above.  If I decide to take highway 26 instead, it tries to turn me around for the first 20 miles or so.
• Menus aren’t streamlined in cockpit mode.  They are the same menus (with the exception of the “Add POI” button) as the map mode.  They are not set up in such a way that you can quickly access functions you might need while out on the road (stopped, of course).  For example, it would be nice to have a button; one that would take you off the current road (maybe asking a distance in blocks - 1, 2, 5, 10, and Rest of Trip) if you see that there is construction or an accident.  On the other hand, it clutters up the menus having things like “Edit POIs”.
• Has speed limit warning that can be configured in a variety of ways, including fixed and percentage over / under the limit.  This should be a good feature, but I’ve never seen it activate.  It seems like speed limits are not included in the map database, but it shows different speeds on different roads when it simulates a route, so it might be that this feature does not work.
• This unit gets confused by parking lots.  This may be a problem with any gps navigator, but it tries to snap you to roads even after you are yards away from them.  It also gets confused by express lanes on freeways that change direction throughout the course of the day.
• Sometimes makes you take routes that are impossible. Take a look:
  

  If you made this turn, it would be similar to turning left instead of merging onto a freeway. This intersection does not allow for this maneuver.

• The maps are out of date, and it sounds like there never will be any option to update.  With roads changing all the time, it would be nice to have the option of updating the maps instead of buying a whole new device.
• This device contains very few POIs.  There are a few places it has that are useful, but it lacks many places that may be useful during the day.  Some of these places include the nearby Costco (they do have a newer one 20 miles away) and several nearby pet stores and grocery stores.
• The built in help system does not extend beyond the configuration screens.
• No PC software for managing POIs or syncing safety cameras with the internet.  I expected the included dvd to contain some sort of software, but all that was on it was the electronic users manual and a backup image for the device in case it gets corrupted.
• The unit locks into mass storage mode when connected to a PC.  You cannot charge it from your laptop and use it at the same time.

Finally, I have a few feature requests:

• I would like the ability to set preferred roads or to select alternate routes.  Both of these would solve the HWY 26 problem.  I could tell it that I want to use HWY 26.  I don’t know how this should work, but I can’t imagine why there isn’t a way to have more control over routes.
• The day/night auto-adjust should adapt based on location and date.  In winter it can get dark as early as 4:30, and in the summer it can stay light until almost 9:30.  Besides, I have GameBoy games that can do this, so why not this GPS unit?
• A printed manual would be nice.  There is a quick start guide, but it is not very helpful.  It doesn’t explain anything beyond the most basic functions.  At the very least, the quick start guide should cover POIs and tell you what is on the included DVD.
• When you are on a trip, it would be nice to be able to find only POIs that are ahead of you.  The only option is to sort by radius from the current location or a selected point.  This would be helpful for seeing where / how far the next rest area is.
• I want more TTS voices.  There is only one.

One of the things I noticed is that the software for this unit looks like it was originally meant for a Windows Mobile / PocketPC device (makes sence, this unit runs Windows CE).

Overall, I’m happy with this device.  It does what it needs to, and I’ve learned to deal with the odd quirks.  And I got to use it for free.  If it were mine, I would invest the time in adding more POIs via SD card.  I haven’t used units by the major navigator companies, so I can’t compare to them.

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Yes, it’s true!  The custom error bar setting has returned to Microsoft Office Mac 2008!  Quickly, go download SP1!

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It has been a really, really long time since I’ve posted anything (other than mudkips).  I’m finally out of school for the summer and recovered enough from my jaw surgery to get back to writing.  My goal is to get about one to two posts out per week.

Since it has been so long, here is a preview of some of the posts I am working on:

• A series about resurrecting the Indigo workstation (From SGI).
• A review of the Mio Digiwalker C230 GPS navigator (Running Windows CE).
• A review of the Scopius-P20MT wireless Media Center keyboard.
• Some complaining about HDCP (What do you mean I can’t play upscaled dvds?!)
• Something about doxygen and my programming from last semester (hint: go here)…
• …And maybe something about doxygen and my VHDL…
• …And maybe some stuff about my other school work (this sounds like a series!).
• A review of the Wacom Bamboo tablet (man… that one’s been waiting forever).

And much, much more!

…I hope…

Oh, and this post introduces a new category: Ramblings.  I don’t like Miscellaneous for things, but it seems like everything goes in there.  Now I have Ramblings for posts like this, and it can have sub-categories (if needed) to further classify my (very few) posts.

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Too bad we had to eat it.  At least mudkips (of the cake variety) are delicious.

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Since this is the first filler item, I’ll explain. I don’t have time to sit around writing posts all the time, but I don’t like to have my site never update. The solution I came up with is to repurpose some of the youtube videos and funny pictures I was going to post and write about as filler items so I can have time to work on some longer series I have planned.

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Reminder from the Aperture Science Enrichment Center:

“The symptoms most commonly produced by Enrichment Center testing are superstition, perceiving inanimate objects as alive, and hallucinations. The Enrichment Center reminds you that the weighted companion cube will never threaten to stab you and, in fact, cannot speak.”

The weighted companion cube is harmless. Now go download this lua script for Garry’s mod.

From Facepunch Studios Forum.

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“Many hit songs appear to have nonsense lyrics,” says Dilbert creator Scott Adams, “so writing them can’t be that hard.” With that, he asked his readers to write lines of nonesense in order to create the next great hit song. The idea was interesting, but german band Rivo Drei has taken it to another level by taking the best of the submissions and making a song out of them. The results are surprisingly good:

MP3 File (mirror)
Lyrics
Scott Adams’ blog post on this.
A random lyric generator (based on a similar concept)

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Some time ago, my dad sent me a link to this: Microsoft Construction Cam. It is a camera set up to watch construction at the Microsoft West Campus construction site. The page actually has a lot of really cool features, such as the ability to view a time-lapse of the construction, a visual calendar with representative images, the outdoor temperature when the picture was taken, and a lot more. It is worth taking a look. (I’ve included some sample photos below)

Take a look at the camera page. I’m really impressed with it (maybe someday I can set one of these up…)

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This wasn’t a problem in Excel 2003; that had the options I needed, but it was not Intel compatible (it ran really slow). Upgrading to office 2008 was going to be great (fast, new look, better features), but it has turned into a nightmare. I am forced to rely on remote access to my parent’s computer (with office 2007) to do my homework, and installing Excel 2004 again won’t be an option for weeks.

As far as I can tell, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to remove custom error bars from the chart options in Excel 2008, but they are gone.

All I want to know is: Where did custom error bars go? Why are they gone? And will they ever be brought back, or will I be stuck with Excel 2004?

NOTE: This is copied from my post on the Mactopia Forums (Microsoft’s Mac site). I didn’t want to change it from its original form.

UPDATE: They’re back!

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Greyhounds are really fast!

I grew up with Greyhounds in the house (adopted ex-racers), so its always fun to see them around.

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