Well, I never expected to be the one to go down this road, but I am now an iphone user. I'm still with Verizon, but I have abandoned Android for the iphone.
The reasons this came about are pretty simple. First I had the original Droid. It was very good, great, in fact, for the most part. Through my own misuse (dropped a couple of times) it started to act up on me and signal strength started to suffer. Perhaps I had damaged the internal antenna...who knows. Add to that, the fact that the phone was strictly CDMA so I could not travel out of the country with it. My last vacation I was frustrated by this, and the fact that both my wife (AT&T iPhone) and best friend (Blackberry) has coverage everywhere we went.
So I got home and just pondered...I thought about the Droid2, but that was just an updated phone. THEN I SAW IT!!! The Droid2 Global. My prayers were answered. I researched and read and decided that the D2G was the next phone for me.
I got the phone, transferred everything over and started to use it. It was fast, ran like a charm, great signal everywhere I went, AND the promise of coverage overseas. Then it started. I began to have issues with the phone rebooting on its own. Then calls would have no speaker and on mic...and it would happen with no warning and I would have to reboot the phone to get it working again, never knowing when it would happen again. I Took it to the store and the offered to replace it. I agreed and got a refurb...seriously...a REFURB in place of my 4 week old phone...SERIOUSLY?!?!?!?!?!
anyway, I tried that phone and in the first week, same thing. So I hard reset it, took off all the apps, and used the phone as if it were fresh out of the box with nothing added...no music, no photos, no ringtones, no other emails except for my gmail account....nothing. It made no difference.
I went back to Verizon, Paid the money and got the iphone. Very simply, it works fine. It's different from Android...there a several features that I miss, but in the end, the phone works reliably and it's stable.
I know that I am back to CDMA, and I'll have to live with that, but since I don't travel internationally THAT much, it's not a huge issue.
My take on all this is that Android wants to be more open and free, so the apps and things might not get vetted as well as IOS apps. Everything has a cost...with Android, its stability on some phones, with apple, is being locked into whatever they approve and the knowledge that they can remotely disable or remove apps and features that they don't want you to have.
I'm happy with the iphone. I miss my android, but I don't miss the problems. If things change, I'll post an update.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Sony's thought provoking presentation at their 2010 annual meeting
This is a remarkably powerful video that I meant to post quite some time ago. Every time I watch it, I think about where we are as a society and where we are going. As an IT strategic planner, this is a thought provoking video
Friday, March 04, 2011
4 things that are important to me
On a recent job interview, I was asked to state four things that are important to me. You would think that that is a question requiring a lot of careful thought. I was surprised at how quickly my answer came. It was completely unrehearsed. Here are my answers, in the order I gave them:
1.
At the end of the day, no matter what I have done, or for whom I have done it, I need to be able to sleep at night. I need to be comfortable with what I have done in the world that day
2.
I asked the interviewer if they had ever been camping, they had. So I shared my next item of importance as an analogy; When ever you leave a campsite, leave it in better condition than how you found it. I apply the same principal to everything that I do in life...where ever I go, I want to leave it in better condition than before I arrived.
3.
When I come home at the end of the day, do my wife and cats still love me? This might seem small, but in the grand sense, what I am saying, is that I want to be the kind of person that my wife, whom I love and respect dearly, loves and respects me and wants to be with me. By the same manner, do my cats still feel safe enough in my presence to want to curl up on my lap.
4.
Personal health. I am conscious of what I put into my body. I am not a "foodie" nor am I a strict vegan or vegetarian, which is fine; But, I do eat with thought. I don't mean that I deprive myself of things that I like, but I eat with care for my overall heath.
OK, that's it. I think that these points are worth sharing with the world. What's important to you?
1.
At the end of the day, no matter what I have done, or for whom I have done it, I need to be able to sleep at night. I need to be comfortable with what I have done in the world that day
2.
I asked the interviewer if they had ever been camping, they had. So I shared my next item of importance as an analogy; When ever you leave a campsite, leave it in better condition than how you found it. I apply the same principal to everything that I do in life...where ever I go, I want to leave it in better condition than before I arrived.
3.
When I come home at the end of the day, do my wife and cats still love me? This might seem small, but in the grand sense, what I am saying, is that I want to be the kind of person that my wife, whom I love and respect dearly, loves and respects me and wants to be with me. By the same manner, do my cats still feel safe enough in my presence to want to curl up on my lap.
4.
Personal health. I am conscious of what I put into my body. I am not a "foodie" nor am I a strict vegan or vegetarian, which is fine; But, I do eat with thought. I don't mean that I deprive myself of things that I like, but I eat with care for my overall heath.
OK, that's it. I think that these points are worth sharing with the world. What's important to you?
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Droid2 Global
I admit it, I am a Droid(tm) fan. I bought the Droid1 a few weeks after launch and loved it. It really allowed me to be effective even when mobile without a laptop. Alas, after a year a couple of falls, and just wear and tear, it was starting to show it's age. So, a couple of weeks ago, I replaced Droid1 with Droid2Global. I do travel internationally, and felt the pain of not having service when I went outside the US. The D2G is the answer. So, my first impressions...
The interface is called Blur, and it's quite nice and full of features. Unfortunately, these features suck the batteries dry in a few hours. So for starters, I have removed a bunch of the apps that run by default. Next, I have ordered the extended battery. For an experiment, I also tried an alternative ti Blur, called launcher pro, It's nice, but misses a few things that I feel really need to work. The main thing was one touch dialing. For some reason, LP does not let me create the same type of 1x1 one touch dial on a home screen that the blur interface does. That alone made me go back. On the otherhand, if you do not care about that. then LP seems like a lighter interface that will save battery life.
As for speed? No Comparison; the D2G is blazing fast compared to the D1. I love it.
In general, the D2G is a great phone, and I highly recommend it.
The interface is called Blur, and it's quite nice and full of features. Unfortunately, these features suck the batteries dry in a few hours. So for starters, I have removed a bunch of the apps that run by default. Next, I have ordered the extended battery. For an experiment, I also tried an alternative ti Blur, called launcher pro, It's nice, but misses a few things that I feel really need to work. The main thing was one touch dialing. For some reason, LP does not let me create the same type of 1x1 one touch dial on a home screen that the blur interface does. That alone made me go back. On the otherhand, if you do not care about that. then LP seems like a lighter interface that will save battery life.
As for speed? No Comparison; the D2G is blazing fast compared to the D1. I love it.
In general, the D2G is a great phone, and I highly recommend it.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Deciphering the jibber jabber: getting started with your own self-hosted XMPP server
Deciphering the jibber jabber: getting started with your own self-hosted XMPP server
One of the things that has to be considered in production environments, especially when you are responsible for secure communications in your office environment, is the use of IM. IM can improve productivity, but has to be managed carefully. Using your own IM server can seen daunting, so this article in arstechnica, help to dispel some of the fear in setting up your own, internal IM server.
One of the things that has to be considered in production environments, especially when you are responsible for secure communications in your office environment, is the use of IM. IM can improve productivity, but has to be managed carefully. Using your own IM server can seen daunting, so this article in arstechnica, help to dispel some of the fear in setting up your own, internal IM server.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
BBC News - Is there a genius in all of us?
BBC News - Is there a genius in all of us?
David Shenk has written a number of books, including Data Smog (which is the first book of his that I read, in graduate school) , and a great history of the Grateful Dead. I value and respect his opinion, and find this piece just as interesting as anything else he has written.
David Shenk has written a number of books, including Data Smog (which is the first book of his that I read, in graduate school) , and a great history of the Grateful Dead. I value and respect his opinion, and find this piece just as interesting as anything else he has written.
Goodbye Skype Chat
OK, I have finally had enough. While skype has some great uses, group chat being one of them, the limitation with history has pushed me to the point where I will no longer use the chat feature anymore.
I didn't want to upgrade to the new version, but an unfortunate computer crash forced me to reinstall. Not only do I hate the new interface, but as in the past, chat history is lost. I can't stand it. Add to that the fact that history is mostly unavailable between computers, and the chat feature becomes painfully limited.
So, to skype chat, I say goodbye.
I didn't want to upgrade to the new version, but an unfortunate computer crash forced me to reinstall. Not only do I hate the new interface, but as in the past, chat history is lost. I can't stand it. Add to that the fact that history is mostly unavailable between computers, and the chat feature becomes painfully limited.
So, to skype chat, I say goodbye.
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