Trusted Tools Of The Trade

=”article_text”>

Tools Of the Trade
By Richard Beattie

At Envoy Town we tend to step away from the office and the studio, but we take the tools of our trade with us. As a media writer, producer, educator, and author of media-arts from a Biblical mindset, I need agreeable tools of the trade and as I employ them I like to tell other Envoys about the good, the unpleasant, and the distorted. As co-host of Radio Envoy an internationally syndicated radio program, and a syndicated columnist with Envoy Town Hall, and a producer of commercials and PSA’s it is important to take the technology of Envoy Town and to veil the world. No matter where you are you can visit us at the new media hub site: http://www.envoytown.com.

Start with the Basics

Gateway M-6827 PC Notebook
Although there are many raves about Gateway products in general, there are a few caveats on the M-6827 PC Network. I was hoping that customer service wasn’t one of the caveats, but it was and is. When Gateway escaped its absorb retail outlets it left behind some things besides the cow icon and branding.

Eat More Beef:

I myself am a customer service snob so shortly after my purchase I called Gateway, I e-mailed Gateway, and I went to the store that I purchased my computer at and the dang thing still does not give milk! Actually I’m joking about the cow analogy- I just have not let it go. The real problem had nothing to do with dairy, but a sticky site instead.

A Sticky Situation (we have here)

Only days after I loaded the software, and started to exhaust this laptop a comic thing happened. I would key a line, and then find myself a paragraph behind again, like a reverse tab in mid-sentence! Then sometimes the M-6827 sends e-mails prematurely. I opinion it was just mine but since I have found out from friends, relatives, and other Gateway owners that they have encountered similar problems.

Fire the Fire Dog if you have to:

My friendly local shop where I purchased the machine and the extra service was my first place to solve the problem. They looked at it, and had it a day, without a loner and then told me “to air-clean the keys and the touch-pad.” Hmmm… I got it home to find “I’d been dogged!” Then I began contacting Gateway direct. They kind of dodged me with some nifty e-mails about the technical advances they are making in marketing. I called, I hounded, I got busy, and dropped the whole issue.

Numb to it all:

I use Gateway products a lot and I recommend them to writers I work with, and other business folks that travel and write. In the studio I can use it as a script monitor, in the cafe I write and send with it all the time. Lately though, I have started to use my Asus eee, mini-laptop for e-mail and for live broadcasts and presentations. My brother recently e-mailed me and I started to reply. When the touch pad sent the e-mail in mid sentence I quickly shot another one explaining the problem about the touch pad. He wrote back saying, “I have the same problem with my Gateway too.”

Okay diminutive people- “Let’s Fetch Small”

ASUS Eee PC 4G (EEEPCBLACK) PC Notebook
In a big world we seem to like miniature and compact. The Mini-Cooper, the bite size treat snack cakes, and the portable digital recorders that my team uses to record our weekly radio show catches the super-sized, SUV crowd in a plot where they can not hide! What surprises me is how many people ask me about my approved portable work-toy the Asus Eee PC.

Bigger than a Cell Phone, Smaller than a Notebook

Every time I am at an airport, a coffee house, or bookstore I am amazed at how many people will ask me: “What is that and where do I get one? ” A seven-inch screen, a decent sized keyboard and enough power, memory, for me to write an e-book, use as a monitor for my weekly radio program Radio Envoy, it has everything my Gateway with a few little extras.

Work in the key of Real Life

My quest was to find something portable that wasn’t as small as my Blackberry Keyboard. I was searching for a cell phone with e-mail capability and while on Amazon found the mini-laptop Asus at a price I could afford. Yes I still bought the Blackberry and with the Blackberry, my Asus, my Hitachi Digital mini-disc video camera, the Fostez MR-8 multitracker and the digital Marantz PMD-660, I can fit my show into a tiny day packer.

What a Difference 40 Years Makes

My grandfather use to listen to the Met game on a Sony transistor radio in the late 60’s, and I marveled at the portability of that little red radio. Even more amazing is how we can actually record and pod-cast instantly in media, and send it back with some quality! I am reminded when I was in Dallas at The Book Depository where JFK met assassin’s bullets. I was there a few years ago, not to talk to the conspiracy wackos on the grassy knoll, but to take in the journalism museum.

Portable media in 1963

Behind glass, were the large cameras, reel-to-reel recorders, and the portable Underwood many journalists carried around with them. No fax, no computer, you filled your jacket pocket with coins to “call in the fable.” When the shots rang out many journalists and media were scurrying to find interviews and set up for “instant eyewitness updates.” I just gazed at the exhibit with my cell phone in my holster, my laptop in my backpack, alongside my video camera and in my pocket the little digital recorder. I wondered how much was lost in documenting one of the darkest days in US history.

Great Expectations

I do not have ample expectations of all the Asus Eee PC can do. I impartial wanted to have something super portable and easy to use, yet the microscopic thing never ceases to surprise me. A high-resolution camera caught me off guard and on camera one day so I thought I should actually use it to shoot some commentary! The presentation software is adequate and from power points to short business plans, media strategies, and for work and play, my low expectations have been elevated beyond anything I could get for this sized computer.

“It’s so Cute!”

That’s what people say when they spy it and so I promptly looked for an affiliate agreement to carry the Asus Eee PC on my website at http://www.Envoytown.com. Though that is not a direct hit, I would recommend that you visit is, go to the Amazon banner and get a great deal before people gain so enamored with it (between $300-$500 depending on extras) the price could go up soon. And if you happen to accumulate our show, we are totally portable and are willing and able to cover anything with little or no set up time!

Lucero Lct250ce Thinline Cutaway Acoustic Electric…

I would not have believed it for a second. I just finished an instrumental recording with a vintage Martin 1952 classical guitar that I had borrowed from my closest friend in the world. For 35 years I was a dreadnought man with a crisp finger styling and addicted to the sound. Now I was influenced more by Latin jazz, and suddenly on a cold winter’s day I put down unusual compositions on the classical while being snowed in at the studio.

After the Blizzard

In a few weeks after returning the Martin I was intrigued by the new sound. I went to a nearby Guitar Center and searched for my absorb first classical guitar. I played whatever they had on the walls, I was clear not to consume over $500, after all this was experimental for me. Then simplicity and design caught my eye and I saw her: Lucero, a cut-away at $200! I treated her like the Martin and when I began to play, my heart started beating faster. The action, the sound wasn’t a beginner model. I fear someone made a mistake and so I went to the counter, bought a case, paid my money and got out of there before they could notice their error! Muy Bien!

That was a runt more than a year ago and from what I found out no one else knows that Lucero has made a grave error. I have tried to maintain it quiet but it isn’t fair to professionals, students, or teachers. Sure they make it in Indonesia, but some one is caring, and knows a bit about mass Luthier making at the factory. What’s more the thin line pickup is worthy of most of the $200 price tag.

If you don’t believe this- I didn’t! Take a listen to my guitar pieces. You can hear them on Jack Hannah’s Animal Adventures, PBS, and many TV and radio spots or visit us at http://www.envoytown.com.

For the technical

Body Style: Thinline Cutaway ClassicalTop: Laminated SpruceBack: Laminated RosewoodSides: Laminated RosewoodNeck: MahoganyFingerboard: RosewoodBridge: RosewoodNo. of frets: 18Scale length: 25 1/2″Nut Width: 1-15/16″Neck width at body: 2-5/16″String spacing at saddle E-E: 2-5/16″Inlay pattern: noneRosette: ClassicBinding: Black with white purfling. White neck binding and heelcapWidth at Upper Bout: 11-3/8″Width at Lower Bout: 14 3/4″Maximum Depth: 3 5/16″Finish: GlossTuners: Gold Slotted begin gear classicalElectronics: Under the Saddle Piezo Pickup. AT 3000 Active Preamp with 2-band ± 12dB EQ and Volume Sliders, and a low battery LED indicator.

With that said and quoted from Lucero specs I will tell you that the playability of this guitar at the price is what is so extraordinary! The intonation is well above average and the guitar seems to stay in tune throughout a session or show.

Phone it in: Motorola Q9h Smartphone
I am on the run in my main job as father and mentor to my four kids as well as my second job as media producer for a large ministry. I also work with writers and producers on portability, message, and technical tools that get us in places where we can cover a story, write it record it and send it instantly.

Fat Coverage- and Portable
The Blackberry curve I purchased for my Envoy Media Team was one of the tools that helped accomplish that. With my mini laptop, a hybrid digital camera, and a media hub like http://www.envoytown.com, and my digital recorder for interviews, instant press releases, conferences, stories, and interviews can be written, produced, and sent anytime and from any place.

Drowned Sound

So it was with great distress when picking my daughter up from Volleyball, I placed my Blackberry in a drink holder and heard “SPLASH!” I tried mouth to mouth, and many people gave advice as what to do. There was something about microwaves, a technician told me to blow dry it, and my favorite was my Pastor’s advice: “Put it in a drawer for three days and it may work again,” if I only had enough faith, The other thing that was a problem- no warranty on drowning your phone.

Meet Mr. Q

So I walk into the store where I bought it and was ushered into a room where the Q was sitting. I was drawn to the Motorolla Q 9’s keyboard and the fact that it is loud. It rings loud, it plays loud, and the camouflage is big too. We had a dinky funeral for the Blackberry and I signed up for two years on “Quasi Moto Q9.”

What I like

It is fairly easy to set up with the more manly sized keyboard. On the face are easy to read and peer icons, and it seems to hold remote battery power longer. The extras are nice too, including a second battery, and a nice belt case.

Sound

The blackberry seemed crisper in sound, and the loudness is often to the point of distortion compared with the Blackberry. All in all it’s a favorable tool for calling in radio set buys, directing talent, and brainstorming ideas with my team.

Conclusion

While I get a rebate on the purchase at AT and T I had to buy an extended warranty, which given my watered down record, I believe that flood damage IS covered. Bottom line is that like all electronics the Q has features that the Curve did not and I miss some of the features that the curve had.