| I Wish It Was Like This At My House |
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We have 4 different mobile phones at my house. (What better way to express our individuality!) This leads to a rat’s nest of incompatible charger cables by the kitchen electrical outlet. But if we lived in Europe — and I’m voting for Sweden, woohoo! — this vexing problem would be a thing of the past. The EU has convinced mobile handset makers to create a standardized charger using a micro-USB connector. They hope that within 3-4 years all smartphones will be using the standardized charger, which will be sold separately from phones. A tech triumph for the bureaucrats from Brussels! |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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Comments (0)June 23, 2009
| Flash Coming for Smartphones (Except the iPhone) |
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Adobe has announced that mobile Flash will be coming in October for Android, Symbian, Palm Web OS, and Windows Mobile. Flash on the iPhone? Don’t hold your breath. My “clunky” T-Mobile G1 is lookin’ mighty good right now. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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June 17, 2009
| iPhone OS 3.0 Upgrade Available Today [UPDATED 2x] |
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For those of you unfortunate non-Android users, today’s the day you get cut-n-paste, landscape soft keyboard, MMS messages, and more. UPDATE (because I’m ADD today) - Should have mentioned that it’ll be available sometine after 12:00 noon today. Update #2, June 18 - Want the lowdown on 3.0? Here it is from Lifehacker, Gizmodo, and The iPhone Blog. David Pogue of the NY TImes reviews the new iPhone 3G S, as does Engadget. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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| My Kid Can Beat Your Kid |
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If I had only known about this contest beforehand, I’d have entered my son. Fifty thousand bucks for texting? There’s your college tuition right there, Gil. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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June 16, 2009
| T-Mobile Will Introduce the Second Android Phone [UPDATED] |
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The WSJ’s Digits blog is reporting that T-Mobile will introduce another U.S. Android-based phone shortly, called the myTouch 3D 3G. Digits says “the myTouch 3G is much thinner than the G1, which has a clunky swivel-out keyboard.” Clunky? I beg to differ. More like “big boned”. Android seems to be gaining some traction — Google says 18 Android phones will be available by the end of 2009. And we’ll see at least one Android laptop this year, too. UPDATE, June 22 - The myTouch 3G will be available in early August (pre-orders for existing T-Mobile customers starts in 15 days). |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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June 8, 2009
| iPhone 3GS Due on June 19. I Won’t Jump On That. |
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Another big thing from Apple’s WWDC 2009 is the next-gen iPhone. It’ll be faster, with better battery life, a zoom camera (plus video), and voice control. Two colors: white or black. Two sizes: 16GB ($199) or 32GB ($299). I’ll pass — I’m still happy with my G1, especially now that it has the “cupcake” software upgrade. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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May 19, 2009
| My First Week With a Netbook |
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I’ve been interested in netbooks since last autumn. I didn’t buy one at the time because I wound up getting my mitts on a T-Mobile G1 smartphone. Last week I pulled the trigger — I got the Acer Aspire One. For me, it was an impulse purchase. I stopped into my local Micro Center (aka Valhalla) ostensibly to look at the Lenovo S10. I swear I was just gonna look. Then I saw the Aspire for $279 and thought, “What the heck. If it croaks after 6 months I’m not out that much money.” My wife was like, “$279 is nothing if it makes you shut up about netbooks.” So, boom, the deal was done. Pros:
Cons:
Final note: The Acer’s running Windows XP. I decided to go without antivirus (but did turn on the Windows firewall), ’cause I’m just sooo tired of having it slow me down. I decided to stick exclusively with Google Chrome because it’s way safer than IE and even Firefox. We’ll see how it goes. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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May 14, 2009
| New Personal Record |
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My son just shattered his personal best for text messages. Last month he sent/received 5,682 texts — a whopping 681 more than the previous record. (That’s 189 messages per day.) Way to go, Gil! Just curious … how are your grades at SHS? |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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May 11, 2009
| BlackBerry CEO Wants to Move an NHL Team to Canada. After April’s Debacle, May I Suggest the Flyers? |
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Here’s a story my buddy Chris L. and I have been talking about: Jim Balsillie, the CEO of Research In Motion, makers of the BlackBerry attention-deficit device, wants to move the bankrupt Phoenix Coyotes to Hamilton, Ontario. (After what I saw on April 25, he can have the Flyers. Maybe after 35 years we need to blow the team up and start all over.) Anyway, he’ll have to clear a lot of hurdles to move the team, including opposition from the NHL. But Balsillie seems to be an impressive guy: “Unlike many college athletes turned chief executives, Balsillie did not leave sports behind. He heads to a hockey rink once a week at 5:30 a.m. to train and plays twice a week in a local old-timers league. He also competes in triathlons and cycles, and he coaches teams that include his two children … A 10-handicap golfer, Balsillie controls GolfNorth Properties, which owns 19 semiprivate courses in Ontario.” OK … CEO of a hot tech company. Married with 2 sons. Hockey, golf, triathalons. Does this guy ever sleep? |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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May 6, 2009
| 489 Bucks? Daaaaaannng! |
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The wraps are now off of the bigscreen Kindle, the Kindle DX. Here’s the new stuff that its older sib doesn’t offer:
Coverage via Engadget, Wired, CrunchGear, and TechCrunch. Four hundred and eighty-nine dollars? Daaaaaannnnnnng. |
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Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Internet Librarian
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