Tag Archives: Technology

BlackBerry Tour Replaces My Curve 8310

I’ve been using the BlackBerry Curve 8310 (AT&T) at work for almost two years, and it’s been my favorite smart phone thus far.  It was small, light, feature-rich, stable, and went everywhere with me while on the job.  Not much to complain about.

But as with any smartphone, or any gadgetry, there comes a time in its life when it must be retired for the latest and greatest in replacements, which in this case is the BlackBerry Tour (Verizon).  I’m not totally sold on it yet, but I’m sure I’ll come around.  From what I can tell so far it’s pretty much the BlackBerry Storm, but with a keyboard and a trackball and no rotating screen or YouTube application (two things I don’t miss), and is quit a bit lighter than the Storm but doesn’t lack a solid feel when held in hand.  Perhaps the saddest feature is still the BlakcBerry’s underpowered processor — they always seem to be a bit on the slow side

Overall, I’m pleased with the phone.  It’s nice to have a 3G phone for work.  And now I can drop my Verizon/Storm option for personal use and switch to an Android/T-Mobile setup.  We’ll see how that goes…

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TerreStar-1 Launch Success

We don’t need to spend a lot of time on this, but I wanted to bring it to your attention that a new, potentially super-cool, satellite was successfully launched (probably into space?) July 1st from the Guiana Space Center.  The fact that it took off at all is interesting, but not the reason we’re gathering here today.  No.  The interesting thing is what this new satellite could mean for mobile broadband.  Terre Star is proposing an integrated satellite/terrestrial system with an IP infrastructure with a focus on smaller devices (smart phones) and Internet access for rural areas that have no real Internet broadband option.  (TerreStar-1 claims it will support speeds around 600 kbs, equivalent to what many DSL users experience.)

We’re talking about a new breed of mobile handheld options.  As if to imply you didn’t already have too many options.  Well, it’s not the handheld itself that really matters, it’s that there’s another infrastructure coming along that can prove competitive to our existing carriers like big V and ATT.  (No one really likes either of these groups, mainly because they knowingly cripple our hardware to suit their wants, but also because we don’t really have any other choice.)

I guess the part that really excites me is, we’re getting ready for some new technology.  Something we can hold in our hands and use for downloading crap we don’t need.  But at the very least, folks in desolate parts of North America will no longer be excluded from our status updates.  You dig what I’m sayin’?

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Slacker Radio In A Blackberry World

I’d never heard for Slacker radio, but we’ll get to that. First, Blackberry announced, or released, or opened its application store, which they call Blackberry App World . I fiddled with a few downloads, only the free ones of course, and not many stayed on my Storm longer than the day was long. Having said that, I am excited for the store’s opening. But not because it means I can get potentially cool and useless new apps for my smart phone, but because I like to see programmers writing small, efficient  programs for constricted environments. You know, like the days before processors and RAM were in too much abundance.  It’s a food feeling.

Moving on.

Slacker radio, what the heck is that?  (Slacker is more like Pandora than it is like last.fm.)  And why hadn’t I heard of it before?  Your radio everywhere .  That’s what they call it.  I’ve only had a short bit of time to tinker with its service, but what I was presented with impressed me. And I’m talking about what was streamed to my mobile phone.  Buffering was adequate so there weren’t any skips in the song.  Navigation and song or station selection through the app was clean and easy to manipulate.  Not sure what it does to the battery life of my phone since I have logged a lot of consecutive minutes of playback.  And I can say the speaker on the Storm isn’t horrible.

While I think the blackberry app world leads its fan base further from the professional working world,  it’s nice to finally see Blackberry step up on this front.  This opens the doors for developers to create quality apps (enterprise or recreational) on the Blackberry, allowing BB addicts to fully utilize all the cloud 2.0 web services they’re hooked on.

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Verizon's BlackBerry Storm More Of The Same, Sort Of

I have to start by admitting that I’m biased toward BlackBerry devices.  They call my name in the middle of the night, I’m sure it has something to do with the bright blinking light.  No, but seriously, I like BlackBerry for business purposes and I also like that all my Google uses come with apps for the BlackBerry so I don’t have to load the weak web browser.

Before I get on about how I can’t wait for the next Verizon BlackBerry, let me first say that the Storm is everything anyone could want in a latest and greatest gadgetry device.  It feels solid in the hand, it has a large screen without feeling terribly bulky in the pocket, it sports a semi-super fast network connection, and it’s loaded with a bunch of apps for you to tinker with when it’s new or you’re bored.

Which brings me to what I really want to write about, and that’s the shortcomings of the Storm.  BlackBerry, and who knows why, insists on under powering their handhelds with slower than needed processors.  I consistently feel as though I’m waiting for the phone to catch up to whatever it is I’m trying to do.  (Perhaps we’re just too spoiled with desktops that do more by 6AM than the rest of us do all day.)  I wouldn’t expect it to be quick like a computer if it wasn’t trying so hard to act like my computer, what with its email, web browsing, and video games.  Really, must it do everything?

Lag time is my biggest gripe, but I’m also disappointed with how heavy it is.  Feels like I’ve got a pocket full of flat rocks that I’m walking around town with.  (My Curve 8310 is light as a feather by comparison.)

It’s not that I’m unhappy with the SureType so much as I’m not that interested in touch screens.  While I like that it makes for a larger viewable area, I’m usually bothered with the typing inaccuracies.  Practice has lowered my error count, but still is more time needed to send a message than when using a tactile keyboard like the Curve or the Bold.

Long story short, if you need a new BlackBerry with a 3G connection and are stuck with Verizon then go for the Storm, else, if you can handle the torture of waiting for the next, hold out for the Niagra from BlackBerry which should be out by the 3rd quarter this year.  And if you really have it in you to calm your wants, wait till the 4G networks are unloaded on the market and get your new phone next year.

In the meanwhile, this is Justin saying, “write to me if you must, but please don’t call me.”

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Verizon’s BlackBerry Storm More Of The Same, Sort Of

I have to start by admitting that I’m biased toward BlackBerry devices.  They call my name in the middle of the night, I’m sure it has something to do with the bright blinking light.  No, but seriously, I like BlackBerry for business purposes and I also like that all my Google uses come with apps for the BlackBerry so I don’t have to load the weak web browser.

Before I get on about how I can’t wait for the next Verizon BlackBerry, let me first say that the Storm is everything anyone could want in a latest and greatest gadgetry device.  It feels solid in the hand, it has a large screen without feeling terribly bulky in the pocket, it sports a semi-super fast network connection, and it’s loaded with a bunch of apps for you to tinker with when it’s new or you’re bored.

Which brings me to what I really want to write about, and that’s the shortcomings of the Storm.  BlackBerry, and who knows why, insists on under powering their handhelds with slower than needed processors.  I consistently feel as though I’m waiting for the phone to catch up to whatever it is I’m trying to do.  (Perhaps we’re just too spoiled with desktops that do more by 6AM than the rest of us do all day.)  I wouldn’t expect it to be quick like a computer if it wasn’t trying so hard to act like my computer, what with its email, web browsing, and video games.  Really, must it do everything?

Lag time is my biggest gripe, but I’m also disappointed with how heavy it is.  Feels like I’ve got a pocket full of flat rocks that I’m walking around town with.  (My Curve 8310 is light as a feather by comparison.)

It’s not that I’m unhappy with the SureType so much as I’m not that interested in touch screens.  While I like that it makes for a larger viewable area, I’m usually bothered with the typing inaccuracies.  Practice has lowered my error count, but still is more time needed to send a message than when using a tactile keyboard like the Curve or the Bold.

Long story short, if you need a new BlackBerry with a 3G connection and are stuck with Verizon then go for the Storm, else, if you can handle the torture of waiting for the next, hold out for the Niagra from BlackBerry which should be out by the 3rd quarter this year.  And if you really have it in you to calm your wants, wait till the 4G networks are unloaded on the market and get your new phone next year.

In the meanwhile, this is Justin saying, “write to me if you must, but please don’t call me.”

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Google Latitude "So Cool", Says Mom

It’s true.  My mom thought Latitude was the greatest thing.  Not that she’ll ever use it, but that she could load up the web page and see exactly where I was.  Very handy, so as to avoid multiple phone calls asking "have you arrived safely?"  (Yes, my parents love me.  Be jealous if you must.)

Back story: It wasn’t anything I had originally thought of when the Latitude service from Google was first announced earlier this month , but adding my parents and my sibling was probably the best thing I could have done.  The idea came to me as I was packing to leave for a 3 day vacation to snowy Truckee, CA.  (Which supposedly had more than 4 feet of snow in 4 days.)  The road conditions to and from were far less than ideal, and I figured if anything were to go wrong, at the very least my family would know where I was last registered by my cellphone.

New story: While I’m still not entirely sold on location-based advertising (only because I don’t like advertising, not because I don’t like efficiency), Latitude is a great idea for parents.  It won’t be long before children everywhere are hearing, "if I’m paying your cellphone bill son, you’re damn well going to load some form of tracking service so I can find you whenever I want."  Not that it should be looked at in a negative way.  Safety first.

Truckee, CA Photos:
Cabin — Cabin in Truckee, CA. 2009

Snow on Truck (one day of snow) — Snow in Truckee, CA. 2009

Google Latitude “So Cool”, Says Mom

It’s true.  My mom thought Latitude was the greatest thing.  Not that she’ll ever use it, but that she could load up the web page and see exactly where I was.  Very handy, so as to avoid multiple phone calls asking "have you arrived safely?"  (Yes, my parents love me.  Be jealous if you must.)

Back story: It wasn’t anything I had originally thought of when the Latitude service from Google was first announced earlier this month , but adding my parents and my sibling was probably the best thing I could have done.  The idea came to me as I was packing to leave for a 3 day vacation to snowy Truckee, CA.  (Which supposedly had more than 4 feet of snow in 4 days.)  The road conditions to and from were far less than ideal, and I figured if anything were to go wrong, at the very least my family would know where I was last registered by my cellphone.

New story: While I’m still not entirely sold on location-based advertising (only because I don’t like advertising, not because I don’t like efficiency), Latitude is a great idea for parents.  It won’t be long before children everywhere are hearing, "if I’m paying your cellphone bill son, you’re damn well going to load some form of tracking service so I can find you whenever I want."  Not that it should be looked at in a negative way.  Safety first.

Truckee, CA Photos:
Cabin — Cabin in Truckee, CA. 2009

Snow on Truck (one day of snow) — Snow in Truckee, CA. 2009

Social Networking Sites Need Two More Features

The first feature I’d like to see added to sites isn’t one that I’d probably use, but there are still a couple places I’d like to see it implemented, and that’s the option to opt out of the social aspect of the site.  Which probably makes very little sense in most cases, but could be useful on a site like Wesabe which is useful for tracking my spending habits, but not something I necessarily want to share with other folks on the site, or anywhere on the web for that matter.  I would like for my Wesabe account to be invisible to all other users, or I at least want the option to opt out.

The second feature, and far more important, is that control to block the accounts of minors .  I don’t want to see them nor do I want them to be able to see my account.  There’s no reason I can think of for minors to interact with my social pages.  (The one exception being a relative.)  This seems like it should already be the default setting, when a person sets his age to under 18 that account should automatically be invisible to any adult figure who is not specifically listed as a family member.  (Lying about age is the parents’ burden.)  Which isn’t to say that every adult is a pedophile, but only to say that social websites should be doing more to protect minors, and this seems like a reasonably easy fix to implement.

Let us all play prevent from the get go.  Change our default settings so we’re not forced to opt out completely from using your service.    Thank you.

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FCC Up To What?

What’s the FCC up to and why are they giving TV stations a hard time?  It seems some stations are wanting to get their conversion over and done with now in February even though the FCC moved the date back to later this year.  The FCC is saying it’s not okay to shutdown analog signals unless TV stations can confirm there will be no negative impact to consumers.  Meaning, how the heck is that supposed to happen?  And why does the FCC keep moving the date?

FCC is claiming that if stations shut down signals prematurely, some consumers could be without access to emergency broadcasts.

How ’bout we get everyone on digital and stop messing around with this nonsense.  I’m voting for the FCC to create no further delays.  I want the analog signals shutdown and released into the wild for our white space hopes and dreams.