.FLYINGHEAD LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
.TITLE Read your water meter, find a handheld cheaper and sweeter, and get HDTV sans satellite receiver
.AUTHOR David Gewirtz
.SUMMARY This week, reader letters take us all over, from HDTV on the roof, to the water meter, to anywhere a cheap PDA can go. This one’s interesting, so read it and learn.
.DEPT
This week, reader letters take us all over, from HDTV on the roof, to the water meter on the side of your home, to anywhere a cheap PDA can go. This one’s interesting, so read it and learn.
.H1 Using handhelds to read water meters
One of our readers, working for Versaille, Missouri, asks:
.QUOTE Do you know if we can use a Palm Pilot to read our water meters? If so where do we started? What kind? Where to buy?
We did find a number of interesting applications that will help with water-related or meter-related issues. One of the more interesting applications is from EESIFLO. They offer Palm OS and Pocket PC flow calculator software at http://www.eesiflo.com/flow_calculator.html, as shown in Figure A.
.FIGPAIR A A flow calculator might be a good start.
Given that the EESIFLO has all sorts of flow metering products, both hardware and software, we definitely recommend you give them a look-see.
.TEASER Cheap handhelds, cheap HDTV, more water under the bridge, and more. Tap here to read it all!
If you’re doing other types of water work, you might want to check out HydroCalc, shown in Figure B, which calculates irrigation flow for lawn sprinkler systems. It’s at http://www.arkansoft.com/HydroCalc.html.
.FIG B If you’re watering your lawn, HydroCalc could be your best friend.
Then there’s McMeter, shown in Figure C. McMeter keeps track of your monthly electric, gas and water meter readings. Enter your monthly meter readings, how much you pay per unit, and McMeter will calculate how much electric, gas, and water you used, and how much your bill should be each month.
.FIG C Keep track of your meter readings.
You might think this is an homage to a Macintosh product, but it’s really a McIntosh product. The programmer’s name is David McIntosh, and his site is McIntosh USA. Now, I have to warn you. This is a really, really ugly Web site. David’s got some great programs he’s written, but he’s clearly not a designer. If you want to find out more about McMeter (and enjoy one of the most shockingly bad Web pages with some of the coolest software), visit http://www.mcintoshusa.com/Palm%20Software.htm.
But, mysterious reader from Versaille, MO, we think your best shot is to get ahold of the USGS (United States Geological Survey). The USGS Wisconsin Water Science Center is working on a mobile tracking and metering application. To learn more about this application, visit http://wi.water.usgs.gov/projects/dba/9kn15.htm.
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.H1 Whither Handspring?
Reader David S. (we so wish you folks would send in letters with your full names!) writes:
.QUOTE I remember my old Handspring PDA. Black and white, no bells and whistles, no wifi, no inet, but it sync’d Outlook wonderfully and I never had to change the 2x AA batteries for 6 to 8 weeks! No charging every night and praying it had enough juice during the day. I had neat little applets from Chapura and it was fantastic. Is there anything like that now?
Sure. Talk a look at the new Palm handhelds. You probably want to look at the Z22 or the Tungsten E2. Both are great! And Chapura’s still around (at http://www.chapura.com), regularly releasing new and even better versions of their Outlook tools. You might also want to take a look at tools from DataViz (at http://www.dataviz.com), which are also pretty slick.
.H1 More HDTV thoughts
Commenting on a previous Letters to the Editor (at http://www.computingunplugged.com/issues/issue200602/00001718001.html), another name-challenged reader (who calls himself or herself "AChessPlayer") shared these thoughts:
.QUOTE I just read Steve Gessert’s dissertation on HDTV. Oy Vay!
.QUOTE I have a 61" HDTV and have invested a very large amount of dollars into my system. As it sits now I have well over $50k into it. What I want to tell you is this. Four or five months ago I dropped my satellite TV service and put up a simple $50 roof HDTV antenna. I can’t begin to tell you the joy we now have. I’m now getting a remote roter and an antenna to get the regular TV channels. All I an say is this is awesome. All my friends came over every week to see the football games and they were drop dead shocked, unbelieving that the picture was not from cable or satellite, but just my roof. And the bit about black bars…that’s something done at the TV station. I get 1080i stations, sometimes 720p or 480i and sometimes black bars, sometimes not (most are 720i & 1080i). On large TVs bars become insignificant. 720p is the equivalent of your DVDs. 1080i is better than DVD quality. I think the cable and satellite are DVD quality.
.QUOTE I called and spoke to some high level tech dept directors at some local stations and they said that they are hoping that more and more people start finding out just what I have. I live in the WDC/Baltimore area and all the stations around here are scrambling to get their HD broadcast systems online now to help capture that audience growth. I feel that now is the time to begin enjoying free HDTV. And cable/sat. costs are rising, then there are all the extras and it seems like anything you want is special and cost more. No more for me and my friends.
.QUOTE And David, it’s all free! Even MPT & Public TV broadcast in HD. I never realized this. I switch between the four major networks (HD of course) during the morning ours for news etc, all broadcasting in full screen. And I use Verizon FIOS for my high speed inet. I’m putting about $100 AFTER taxes in my pocket every month. What I finally figured out was that I can only watch one station at a time anyway! And for my movies, my neighbor gets NetFlix and I have a large DVD collection that I actually get to watch now.
.QUOTE One of my relatives, who is very financially endowed, only uses a regular roof antenna with rotor, no HD, gets stations on nearly every channel of his TV, so you don’t even need HD.
.QUOTE My taking this chance has opened up a whole new world to my friends. My brother in Jersey is going to do it as soon as he is out of contract with his cable company and a couple of my friends asked me to help them when they get out of their cable contracts. If only people new. Many people around here know they can get regular TV but were unaware they could get HD signals for free! Anyone can try it while still cable connected as long as they have an HD tuner. Just put a simple HD antenna on their roof and run the wire.
.QUOTE When I signed up for satellite I got the HDTV tuner, which you own, so its mine now. I ran my wire from the roof into it then to my HDTV. I can’t ever see myself going back to paying for these signals again. Right now I’m watching Deal or No Deal in HD — Free. What are you watching?
.H1 And some final thoughts on reader names
We always enjoy getting reader questions, but, please folks, include your full names. There’s nothing more cheesy than printing a letter to the editor from someone called "AChessPlayer". We really want to connect with our readers and real names are an important way to do that.
So, if you’ve got a comment or a question, please send it in. But let us know who you really are. Thanks!
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.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on EESIFLO’s flow calculator, visit http://www.eesiflo.com/flow_calculator.html.
For more information on HydroCalc, visit http://www.arkansoft.com/HydroCalc.html.
For more information on McMeter, visit http://www.mcintoshusa.com/Palm%20Software.htm.
For more information on the USGS Wisconsin Water Science Center metering project, visit http://wi.water.usgs.gov/projects/dba/9kn15.htm.
For more information on Chapura, visit http://www.chapura.com.
For more information on DataViz, visit http://www.dataviz.com.
To read our previous Letters article, visit http://www.computingunplugged.com/issues/issue200602/00001718001.html.
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