Archive for June, 2007|Monthly archive page
The Cell Phone Junkie Show #55
Leave a CommentThe Cell Phone Junkie Show #55 46:06
Show Notes
More and more information surfaces as we get closer to the launch of the iPhone. Also, if they are going away, why is Nextel putting up new towers?
News
iPhone news of the week
iPhone email from Apple and AT&T
Reasons why the iPhone will be a hit and the geeks won’t understand
Another way to get out of your Sprint contract
AT&T adding unlimited Family messaging
11% of Americans are cell only
Sprint hints at Wireless Evolution
Devices
Software
Nokia media transfer client for Mac
Questions/Comments
Comment from Gordon
Voicemail from Tritan
Comment from Harry
How to Contact us:
602-903-4116
How to Listen:
Get ready, the iPhone is coming!
iPhone arrives on June 29. iPhone features an amazing mobile phone, is the best iPod ever created, and puts the Internet in your pocket with desktop–class email, web browsing, searching, and maps. And iPhone makes it all easy to use with its revolutionary multi-touch user interface. iPhone syncs with your PC or Mac just like an iPod, so organizing your content now will help you start calling, texting, emailing, surfing, listening, and watching even faster when you get your iPhone. Here are a few suggestions to help you get ready:
Making a call with iPhone is as simple as tapping a name. You won’t need to re-enter all your contacts because iPhone syncs with the address book you already use on your computer—Address Book or Entourage on a Mac, or Outlook or Outlook Express on a PC. If you keep your contacts on the web using Yahoo! Address Book, iPhone can sync with them, too. To get ready for iPhone, organize your contacts in one of these applications and make sure they’re up to date with the latest phone numbers and email addresses. If you don’t have contacts on your computer, don’t worry. You can still enter them directly into iPhone.
Using its built-in calendar, iPhone lets you check your appointments with the flick of a finger. iPhone uses iTunes to sync with the calendar application you already use on your computer—iCal or Entourage on the Mac, or Outlook on a PC—just like it does with your contacts. If you don’t already use one of these applications to manage your appointments, now is a great time to start, so you’ll be ready to sync when your iPhone arrives. If you choose not to use a calendar program, that’s OK. You’ll be able to enter appointments directly into your iPhone calendar.
iPhone is the first phone to come with a desktop–class email application. So now your phone can display rich HTML email with graphics and photos alongside the text. iPhone will even fetch your latest email every time you open the application and automatically retrieve your email on a set schedule, just like a computer does. iPhone works with the most popular email systems—including Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, AOL, and .Mac Mail. If you’re not already using one of these services, now would be a great time to get an account. iTunes will make email setup on the iPhone a breeze by automatically syncing the settings from email accounts stored in Mail on a Mac or Outlook on a PC. Don’t worry if you’re not on one of these email services; iPhone also works with almost any industry-standard POP3 and IMAP email system.
iPhone has a 2-megapixel camera and a gorgeous 3.5–inch display, so it’s a great way to enjoy and show off your digital photos. iPhone uses iTunes to sync your photos from iPhoto on a Mac or Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Photoshop Album, or any picture folder on a PC. You can carry thousands of photos on iPhone, but you can start by creating an album or two with 50 to 100 of your favorite photos, so that when you first sync your iPhone, you’ll be ready to quickly show off some of your best shots.
iPhone is the best iPod ever. Its beautiful, 3.5–inch widescreen display allows you to easily enjoy the music, TV shows, and movies you have in your iTunes library. If you already use iTunes, you can start getting ready for iPhone by creating a playlist of a few hundred of your favorite songs. If you don’t have iTunes, now is a good time to download it and start a music and video library. That way, when you sync your iPhone with iTunes, you’ll be able to take your favorite music, as well as a few of your TV shows and movies, with you wherever you go.
To set up your iPhone, you’ll need an account with Apple’s iTunes Store. If you already have an iTunes account, make sure you know your account name and password. If you don’t have an account, you should set one up now to save time later. To set up an account, launch iTunes, select the iTunes Store, and click the “Sign In” button in the upper right corner of iTunes. Sign in and you’re ready to go.
Jobs vs. Gates
A little computer humor to kick off the WWDC 2007 week!
The Cell Phone Junkie Show #54
The Cell Phone Junkie Show #54 39:10
Show Notes
Joey is back this week. We have the usual iPhone news as well as a possible iPhone competitor! 2 great questions from the listeners as well.
News
iPhone official release date 6/29
Verizon thretens to shut off Amp’d
Are cell phone signals violating tribal laws in Canada?
Some Qualcom 3G Chips Banned from US import
Devices
Software
BIS customers in North America get upgrade
Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1
Questions/Comments
Question from Alan
How to Contact us:
602-903-4116
How to Listen:
Giveaways at Mobility Today
Dave from Mobility Today is working on coming back full time to the site, and will be celebrating with a great giveaway! Make sure that you keep an eye on Mobility Today over the next few weeks so yo don’t miss out! Glad to have you back Dave!
Information from Dave Ciccone
The Cell Phone Junkie Show #53
The Cell Phone Junkie Podcast #53 52:13
Show Notes
Jerry returns to the show and we’re glad to have him! The Foleo was the big story of the week, but we’ll talk about Sling, more iPhone info and some great questions and comments!
News
Devices
Motorola Q9h review from Boy Genius
Software
Make your cell phone act like a Blackberry (from Joseph)
Questions/Comments
Comment from Liban
Questions from Glen
Cingular to offer video calling
More from Glen
http://www.minowireless.com/mino/
http://www.challengermobile.com/
How to Contact us:
602-903-4116
How to Listen:
Google Gears
I was reading through one of my Blogs and found this post by Sean. I follow his stuff regularly as he is a fellow employee of my company. I thought it was a great synopsis of what we should expect from Google Gears!
http://seanwod.blogspot.com/2007/06/how-google-gears-will-change-your-life.html
How Google Gears Will Change Your Life
The announcement of Google’s latest development, Google Gears, was met with a lot of excitement over the last few days — understandably so. The ability of web applications to work even when off-line is a huge step forward for web software, and even if there aren’t a lot of apps that can take advantage of this yet, the beta release of Gears signals big changes in coming months.
But how will Google Gears change your online life? In more ways than you might think.
Let me first issue a disclaimer: there’s a lot of work that needs to be done on Google Gears, and it will be awhile before enough web apps adopt this feature. It’s not going to change the world, but it’s a start in a new direction.
How will Gears change things? Here are just a few ways:
- Office domination. For the first time, Microsoft’s domination over office suite software will be challenged. Google Apps (currently consisting of word processing, spreadsheets, email and calendar) has been out for awhile but hasn’t gone anywhere in terms of widespread adoption. The biggest reason: you can’t work when you’re off-line. With Gears, this changes. Now, Google Docs and Spreadsheets still won’t measure up to Word and Excel, but the appeal of being able to access and work on documents from anywhere is a big plus, and Gmail and Gcal are considered by many to be better at what they do than the Microsoft equivalents. It’ll be awhile before there’s real competition in this field, but Google took a major step toward being a competitor with the release of Gears.
- Everything online. For the last few decades, computer users have been reliant on an operating system and hard drive storage on their computer. But with online apps getting better and better, and now with the release of Gears, a user is no longer tied to any operating system or hard drive. You can work on your documents anywhere you have an Internet connection — and soon, the Internet connection won’t be necessary. All you’ll need is a browser. Even files can be stored online instead of on your hard drive. Of course, you’ll still need an operating system and hard drive, but which one you’re using won’t matter a bit.
- Offline work. This is the obvious one. Those who use online email apps such as Gmail or Yahoo Mail, or any online apps, can currently pretty much only do work while connected to the Internet. But soon you’ll be able to do work at any time — while in the bathroom (assuming you have a laptop), on an airplane, in the remotest areas of the world. This will liberate you from Internet access. Do a load of work somewhere off-line, then go back home or to the office and connect and upload your work.
- Down time won’t matter. Another obvious one, but this will make a big difference. Many areas have bad Internet connections, with major down time or up-and-down time. That kind of unreliable connection is a major deterrent for people to use online apps, but now it won’t matter. Internet’s down — just work off-line until it’s back up. Connect, update, and disconnect. This brings serious online computing to a much wider group of people, worldwide.
- Disconnected offices. A side effect of the growth of online apps will be an acceleration toward an office-less office. Laptops will become king, as you can do work from anywhere, Internet connection or not, an workers will become liberated from the office. Why do I need to be at my desk, as long as I get my work done? In fact, the lack of an office greatly reduces the cost of running a small business, and those businesses who learn that decentralized, disconnected offices are most efficient will have a competitive edge.
- Distraction-free work. This is my personal favorite. Currently, if you use online software such as Google Docs or Gmail to do your work, you have to be connected to the Internet — which just happens to be the greatest time-waster ever invented. So as you do your work, you’ve got the constant pull of other Internet sites (beyond the ones needed for productivity), the Siren’s call beckoning you at every turn. Eventually, you cave in, and there goes your productivity. With off-line work, you can disconnect from the Internet, only have the apps you need be available off-line, and work without distraction for an hour before connecting and caving in for a little while. Disconnect again for more distraction-free work. Productivity soars, you work less, and soon you’re sipping Margaritas on a deserted beach in Baha, work a distant memory.
