I upgraded my rev 1 iPhone to the 2.1 firmware Sunday. Unlike the last time, this process went smoothly.
Filed under: Apple, Smart Phone | Tagged: Apple, firmware, iPhone, iTunes | 1 Comment »
Palm Treo Pro is out.
Posted on September 9, 2008 by Mark Urbin
The Palm Treo Pro has been announced. Currently only with the overly complex WinCE decended Microsoft OS.
Filed under: cell phone tech, Palm, PDA, Smart Phone | Tagged: Palm, PDA, Treo | Leave a comment »
New iPhone firmware
Posted on September 9, 2008 by Mark Urbin
Version 2.1 is coming out on Friday. Based on the really lousy way Apple handled the last upgrade, I won’t touch it until next week.
Filed under: Apple, Smart Phone | Tagged: Apple, firmware, iPhone | Leave a comment »
The hot tech gadget…
Posted on September 9, 2008 by Mark Urbin
…is the old Rev 1 Apple iPhone. Tech consumers are spend up to $600 for a 16 Gig Rev 1 iPhone according to WirelessImports.com, a seller of used iPhones. That is $100 more than they sold for new! Even the 8 Gig iPhones are selling for the same $100 markup.
One of the main reasons given for the demand for the rev1 phones is that they are easier to unlock than the rev 2 3G iPhones. An unlocked (i.e. hacked) iPhone can be used on other networks than AT&T.
Filed under: Apple, Internet, Smart Phone | Tagged: Gadget, iPhone, used tech | 2 Comments »
No Bluetooth support in Android 1.0
Posted on August 28, 2008 by Mark Urbin
According to the Android Developers Blog, Bluetooth support has been dropped from the upcoming Android 1.0 release.
The reason is that we plain ran out of time. The Android Bluetooth API was pretty far along, but needs some clean-up before we can commit to it for the SDK. Keep in mind that putting it in the 1.0 SDK would have locked us into that API for years to come.
The honesty is refreshing, but that is a major chunk of basic functionality missing.
Keep in mind, that Android plans on doing a lot more with Bluetooth than supporting wireless headsets. So I’m expecting a 1.1 release to follow up pretty quick with Bluetooth and GTalk functionality.
Filed under: Gadget, Smart Phone | Tagged: Android, cell phone, Google | Leave a comment »
Prices dropping on small notebook computers
Posted on August 24, 2008 by Mark Urbin
The NY Times calls them “netbooks”, which is what probably what one of their reporters heard someone call one at a Starbucks while he was trying to think of what to write to meet his deadline.
Small systems, typically running UNIX, and in some cases XP, and have been selling for around $400. Now, the prices are dropping to the mid $300 range and will probably be flirting with $300 or or even $250 soon.
About the price of a SmartPhone, and in some cases, less.
I’ve been on the road for the past week, and yes, I did bring a laptop with me. I really didn’t need to. I just wanted something to back my pictures up on and do a limited amount of editing of both photos and text.
My gen one iPhone has been able to handle most of my short term Internet needs. I don’t need to find an Internet connection for it, which I would need for my laptop.
An Acer EEE PC would have fit the bill as well as the larger laptop I’m lugging. Being lighter and smaller is a big plus. Even with an 80 or 120 gig mini harddrive for backups, it still would have been smaller and lighter than the larger laptop running XP.
The NetShare app that Apple pulled from the iTunes store would have been a perfect fit with a small WiFi enabled laptop as well.
Filed under: Gadget, Internet, Smart Phone | Tagged: computer, netbook, notebook, travel | 10 Comments »
Another good iPhone etext reader
Posted on August 21, 2008 by Mark Urbin
I’ve tried Stanza, which has the advantage of being free. 🙂
It takes advantage of the nice big screen on the iPhone nicely. Easy to read and page back and forth.
They have a large number of public domain books to download, including ERB and H. Beam Piper. Two of my favorites.
I haven’t looked into what other libraries are available, but what they have is sufficient to keep many voracious readers busy. It makes a good replacement for the dog eared paperback in the back pocket.
Filed under: Apple, Smart Phone | Tagged: etext, Etext Reader, iPhone | 1 Comment »
A Good etext reader for the iPhone
Posted on August 17, 2008 by Mark Urbin
It’s called Bookshelf, and yes, it costs money. I found it worth the $10
It supports a wide range of formats including ASCII text, HTML, AportisDoc, unencrypted Mobipocket, rft & Word Docs (not docx).
I can access my Baen webscription account from it and download books directly as well as tapping their free etext library.
There is also a Java app that you can load on your computer in order to load books you already have from other sources.
So far, I’m really pleased. A good move by Baen to support this, since Mobipocket has been very quiet about exactly when they were going to produce an iPhone app.
Filed under: Apple, cell phone tech, Etext Reader, Smart Phone | Tagged: Baen, ebook, etext, Etext Reader, iPhone | 4 Comments »
Posting without power
Posted on August 16, 2008 by Mark Urbin
Power is out, but I’m still online with my iPhone.
It’s good to be a geek.
Filed under: Internet, Smart Phone | 2 Comments »
Android rumors
Posted on August 14, 2008 by Mark Urbin
Perhaps the Google Android team is getting a bit nervous, with actual working LINUX based smart phones on the horizon. Or it could be that iPhones are still selling like they were coated with crack and that Best Buy is going to start selling them as well.
Whatever the reason, the rumors of Android not being available to consumers until 2009 are getting competition from rumors that Android based phones may be availiable sooner. The word is T-Mobile will have the device.
Update: T-Mobile uses a GSM network.
Filed under: Gadget, Smart Phone | Tagged: Android, cell phone, Google | 4 Comments »
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