<v6.0> technology | reviews | news | banter </ v6.0>
I am a sucker for this kind of stuff since I feel our user interfaces today are far behind what they could be not only to help tech aficionados manipulate data and their environment better, but also to bring increasingly more complex technology to the masses. This article from Smash Magazine goes through 10 futuristic interfaces. My favorite is the the glass one.
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Twinkle - best app out there. Lets you twitter with location awareness
Facebook - self explanatory
HurryMail - a ‘favorites’ for email, quick email
Truphone - VoIP application
Palringo - Instant messaging aggregator + voice
Bloomberg - The latest financial news
NYTimes - The latest news
Currency - To find out how much my Pounds equate in Dollars and Euros today
Ultralingua - German to English dictionary
Remote - to remote control your mind… just kidding.. just my apple tv.
FastContacts - allows me to sorts contact information in several different ways
Over Here - a way of sharing my location
Evernote - an alternative to using Google Docs, but with sync between 3 points
Google - A faster alternative to find contacts, yes, really
Mobile Fotos - For uploading photos to Flickr and to get free wallpapers
Picoli - For editing pictures in my camera stream
Mighty Docs - for reading Google Docs
Urbanspoon - for selecting restaurants to explore
Eventful - for keeping track of all the local events in music and related
eBay - self evident.
Vault - for secret information, free too
EmailContact - when I want to send contact information to someone via email
SportsTap - best sports schedule and score app out there, and its free
Last.fm - streamed music
SudokuFree - I don’t play it, but I have it here to loan out
Labyrinth LE - graphics and physics are great, put the marble in the hole
de Blob - beautiful game with lot else going for it
PapiJump - A simple game that can be quick
magic8ball - when tough decisions need to be made
Phonesaber - It has been pulled from the app store at this point, so I’m keeping for collection
Toy Bot - a pretty addictive game that has some puzzle element to it as well.
Brain Tuner - Math game, fun for quick bouts.
Dual Level - Helpful bubble type level for settings things straight!
Chronometer - For horologists. If you don’t know what this is, don’t bother.
Image via Wikipedia This is just a quick post to say that I updated my iphone again without having to pwn my iPhone (2G) again after the initial pwning (2.0.0). All seems to work fine. I don’t know if I’d recommend it for those not willing to risk having it relocked and then going through the whole process again with the pwnage tool, or if nothing of this makes sense to you.
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As if WiFi at home, at work, in the park, at your local cafe and even public restrooms wasn’t enough, Delta has officially announced that WiFi will be available across it’s entire domestic mainline fleet in the continental United States. Although American Airlines and Virgin America have also announced WiFi service, Delta is the first, and seemingly only, carrier to have committed their entire domestic fleet.
Delta, as well as American Airlines and Virgin America, will be using Aircell’s Gogotm service. Unlike past failed attempts by Boeing and Conexion, who used satellite communications, Aircell uses a three tiered ground-based network. The first tier is rather simple, it is, for all intents and purposes, a cellular network. Aircell has deployed over 70 towers, or base stations, across the continental United States. The second tier is each individual plane which connects to these base stations/towers via on-board equipment using EV-DO Rev A. If we remember the FCC auctions in 2006, Aircell outbid every major carrier for a 3MHz air-to-ground spectrum. This is the very spectrum in use for communication between the individual airplanes and the base stations on the ground. The third tier is several plain old 802.11b/g WiFi base stations inside each airplane.
I, for one, am fond of this model. It’s simple, and it employs technologies that we use on a regular basis, minus the whole air-to-ground thing of course. However, it seems to be that it could work great. Aircell advertises speeds to each passenger “in the neighborhood of 1Mbit/s downstream.” In storage terms that’s roughly 125KBytes/s. I see you complaining, while on your 30Mbit/s connection at home, but think about it: on a three hour flight? You can catch up on email, instant message with friends… Yea, there’s just no running away from the internet, at all!
The service, OF COURSE, will NOT be free for passengers. So far it looks like the service will be introduced at $9.95 for flights up to three hours, and $12.95 for flights over three hours. Not too shabby, I don’t mind shelling out a Hamilton for some WiFi on my next flight to South Beach.
I am a bit excited to finally see these technologies in use on commercial airliners (translation: flights I can afford). There are a few questions that come to mind:
1) What will be the true download speeds? We all know that an increased number of connections is going to severely degrade network performance. I don’t know how many private planes are using Gogotm, or how many passengers use the service on those planes, but Aircell is going to have a major surge in usage when 300+ Delta planes begin using the service with each carrying over 100+ passengers. Granted, some statistics are involved, but I still don’t believe 1Mbit/s is plausible.
2) Internet on planes? Does that mean the annoying passenger next to me get’s to browse his favorite porn sites? I assume that Aircell is doing some level of content filtering and maybe even some firewall-ing. Will I be able to SSH and/or FTP to my favorite servers? or perhaps Remote Desktop to my Virtual Center server and manage my entire Virtual Machine infrastructure from 30,000 feet?
3) VoIP? I know, it’s a bit much, but you can push VoIP traffic over EV-DO Rev A. Can I call grandma using my SoftPhone from 30,000 feet?
4) Privacy Issues. How secure are those WiFi base stations on each airplane? Can that stupid script kiddy sitting in 13-C hack into my laptop? What is Aircell tracking? I assume I typed my credit card in somewhere and they have tied that to the IP i am given and thus they can track what sites I go to. Do I care? Can/will they use that against me?
5) As this service get’s more popular I want to see perhaps a monthly subscription model. YES Brady I know I don’t travel THAT much, but I’m speaking out for the people that do. What about free WiFi on commuter flights? or partnerships with other service providers to include services. Like if you have an iPhone you get free WiFi on Delta flights (hint, hint).
6) The Continental US is cool, Canada, Mexico, those are all easy. I want to see transcontinental flights with WiFi, done right. Satellite communications tend to be terrible, and expensive. Boeing and Conexion were both satellite based. There has to be a clever, simple, and efficient way to do it. Maybe a Mesh Network? ala OLPC? The more planes in the air the stronger it is? Hmm…
If you’re interested in finding out more about the Aircell’s Gogotm check out their website at www.gogoinflight.com
Delta plans to have Gogotm installed on all their domestic planes by the end of 2009. Check out the Aircell/Delta press release on Aircell’s website, click here.
Image via WikipediaRecently, my friend Jerry was considering replacing his trusty Blackberry with a 3G iphone. However, it looks like that may not happen. His reasoning is as follows:
“Being a bit of an Apple fan-boy I have been eagerly awaiting the time when I could switch from my trusted Blackberry to an iPhone.The first generation iPhone was clearly not up to the task, but my hopes were raised with the announcement of the 3G iPhone, together with the fuss Apple has been making about MS Exchange integration and the features needed for enterprise deployment security such as “forced passwords” and “remote wipe”.
Sadly, after much experimentation, I’ve concluded that the iPhone still isn’t up to the task and my Blackberry is going to stay for at least the time being. In fact, as much as I would love an iPhone, I am probably going to upgrade to the latest Blackberry Bold.
Here are my top 5 reasons why I am sticking with the Blackberry:
1. No cut and paste: the only word from Apple was that this wasn’t high enough priority to make it into version 2.0 software. Come-on Apple this is vital for a smart phone and for business use.
2. No ability to email or SMS a contact: that’s right – if you want to send contact details to someone the only way to do it is to type it in to an email or SMS. That’s pathetic and made worse by the lack of cut and paste. Yes, there are some third-party apps that help, but this should be built into the basic software.
3. No ability to forward an SMS: the iPhone supports the forwarding of emails so why can’t I forward and SMS to someone. The Blackberry gives me a choice of forwarding by SMS or forwarding via email, which is especially useful.
4. Half-baked exchange integration: no folder management, no creation or management of meeting invitations, no setting of an“out of office” autoreply, plus other deficiencies. All of which are essential and all of which the Blackberry does with ease. Okay, I can get email, calendar items and contacts stay in sync, but that’s only half the story.
5. Battery Life: from the numerous posts it is clear that the battery life is just not up to scratch and falls far short of the Blackberry’s battery performance. With no ability to change the battery I need at least a full day of on-the-road usage and from what I can read that’s something of a dream without very careful power management. From what I heard recently, it also seems that Exchange integration causes a big battery drain.
I’m not claiming that many (any) other smart phones come any closer to the Blackberry in operational performance and Exchange integration, I’m just saying that there are some things that I just wouldn’t want to give up. The iPhone has many other foibles and of course it has many excellent plus points; for example, web browsing leaves almost every other smart phone standing and the user interface is to die for. But, when you (as I do) rely on my phone as a vital business tool then sadly the iPhone doesn’t yet make the grade. Yet!”
Apple Bluetooth Headset
I think I have a Bluetooth Headset Fetish. Not in the silly kind of way where I walk around all day with one in my ear, but moreso in a scifi-ish sort of way. I’m fascinated by the technology that has allowed us to seemingly be talking to ourselves, as viewed by others, but to have both our hands free to type WHILE we speak.
The freedom to carry on longer conversations while you wash dishes, work, type, carry things, drive, etc… Bluetooth has freed many of us from the cramped position of holding the phone to our ear with a shoulder. However, with this freedom, poorer sound quality and reduced battery life are some of the things you have to accept. Every subsequent generation of headsets try to tackle these issues while making the headsets smaller, lighter, and sexier.
I have, in my time here at Chromewalker, tested more headsets than I can remember, and they have run the gamut from memorable (HS-850 Motorola) to downright useless (Bluetrek G2). Recent finds, such as the Jawbone have come very close to totally eliminating sound issues, but at a cost of size and well, cost. Others, such as the BlueAnt Z9, are dirt cheap for what you get, but comfort is somewhat compromised (with the ear loop).
As I moved to the iPhone not to long ago, though, I relinquished the right to have a flexible Bluetooth platform. We all know the iPhone is a great product, but it has its faults, and one of them is the Bluetooth implementation. Lack of profiles aside, the quality of any BT connection on it seems to suffer relative to other handsets. That said, compatibility can also be an issue, and thus, the range of headsets available that truly work well are a subset of the latest ones out there (the Z9’s volume, case and point, can’t be controlled by the iPhone’s volume buttons).
Thus, I started lusting after the Apple’s version of a BT headset. I read all the reviews and they were far from positive. The main issues had to do with cost, battery life, and sound quality as soon as you went further than a few feet from the handset.
Well, after a week of playing with it, I can confirm:
1) It is expensive, having paid almost twice as much as my BlueAnt Z9
2) Battery life is about 2-3 hours talk, not great, but can ‘get me by’, and mind you that standby time eats away at that talk time. On average, I’d say that the battery life is below average.
3) Sound quality is not as bad as I thought it would be (it’s decent if you’re close), however, you do have a more limited range than with other headsets. That said, the iPhone doesn’t do a good job of handling distance with ANY headset, but the Apple headset doesn’t help its cause. I have not used the headset in a car, just at home with minor mechanical noise in the background. This is not a replacement for a Jawbone-type headset that you would use in a car.
However, what did I gain by paying the Apple Premium?
First of all, and most obviously, a ‘free’ sync cable for my iphone, since they’re also not cheap. Secondly a small, comfortable, and aesthetically appealing headset to use around the house, and lastly, a well integrated device.
Apple really did a good job of integrating the intellingence of the headset into the OS of the iPhone. When both devices are charging, the iPhone display will show you the charge state of both devices. When you are using the headset, next to the iPhone battery icon, there is a headset battery icon. This is extremely useful so as to not get cut off mid-conversation with a dead headset. In addition, volume control works as you expect it to.
Do I regret paying the Apple premium? For my current use, which is mostly while I’m at home or on the computer, no, but I could see how, if I were requiring a headset with longer battery life, sturdier noise reduction and better connection quality, I would be disappointed.
