Twitter Gets Separation Anxiety

May 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Back in the good old days you used to be able to log out of Twitter and go on your merry way without giving it a second thought. Twitter hopes to change all that.

Now, when you log out of Twitter you’re redirected to a new landing page encouraging you to “go mobile” with a handy device guide on just how you can do that.

Fortunately this isn’t an issue for me because I stay logged into Twitter simultaneously from 7 different devices and 12 different clients. Still, I’m curious about what the rest of you think about this move? A nice, fresh reminder to stay connected or a needy cry for attention? I’m leaning more toward the former.

Filed Under: Social Media Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Jonathan Geller the Boy Genius from The Boy Genius Report Switches Back to AT&T

March 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I saw a stat somewhere today, although I can’t remember where it was, that Verizon had already nabbed nearly 20% of the iPhone market share.

One of the reasons I never considered jumping ship was because, for me, having an iPhone that can’t send/receive data while your’e on a voice call seemed to defeat the purpose.

There have been many times when I’ve been talking to someone and some question or another came up and I could easily turn on the speaker phone and quickly find an answer. That’s something that’s not an option on Verizon’s CDMA network.

Here’s Geller’s reason for switching his beloved iPhone back to AT&T:

In the end, my personal experience with Verizon’s iPhone in and around New York City ended up being about the same as it was when I was on AT&T. This, combined with other advantages AT&T’s network has, has made me finally decide to switch back. Literally moments before I wrote this article, I synced up my Verizon iPhone and restored it to my AT&T iPhone (I can do this because the OS on the Verizon iPhone is lower than the AT&T iPhone — if I ever wanted to switch back, I couldn’t restore my data until the Verizon iPhone OS is updated to version 4.3). I missed the ability to talk on the phone while data is still flowing (even though I hate talking on the phone). I missed AT&T’s extremely fast data speeds. I missed knowing that if I ever travel outside of the country, I don’t have to get a new phone (even though I hate flying — no, seriously, try me). I missed feeling like I’m in the digital age instead of the stone age.

For many people this may never be an issue, but if you’re in the tech industry and you use your iPhone as a tool of the trade, there are some glaring limitations with what you can do on Verizon’s network. And, whether you like it or not, as much as people like to complain about it, AT&T does have the fastest 3G network out there and when you’re not near a WiFi hotspot that definitely comes in handy.

So, is anyone else out there thinking about jumping ship and coming back to AT&T?

Filed Under: Tech Tagged With: , , , , ,

Google iPhone App Gets a Major Overhaul

March 16, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Google released an update today for it’s mobile iPhone app. The new app came with some much needed improvements including a new UI, crash fixes and overall speed improvements. The new app is noticeably faster and has improved in app switching.

While using the search feature you can start a new search from any point inside the app simply by swiping down on the screen, the search box slides down and let’s you begin a new search. You can also slide from left to right and open up a the fast app switching sidebar.

there are a number of improvements we’ve made to everything else you love in the app, including Google Goggles, Voice Search, Search with My Location, Gmail unread counts and more. There’s a lot in the app, so we’ve added a simple help feature to let you explore it. Access this by tapping the question mark above the Google logo.

Check out the video for more on all the new features in the Google search app for iPhone.

Filed Under: Reviews, Videos Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Would You Buy a Facebook Phone?

February 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Ina Fried of Mobilized confirmed the rumor that AT&T will be be bringing HTC phones featuring a dedicated Facebook button to the market sometime this year. Begging the question, would you buy a phone with a dedicated Facebook button? I’m honestly curious about this. Who is the target audience for this phone?

Filed Under: Tech Tagged With: , , , ,

Nielsen Study Shows Teens Text More Than Rabbits F…Well, You Know

October 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Our next generation of teens are poised to have the quickest, most agile thumbs in the history of humankind. A new study out shows that teens, on average, text more than six times more often than their adult counterparts.

If it seems like American teens are texting all the time, it’s probably because on average they’re sending or receiving 3,339 texts a month. That’s more than six per every hour they’re awake – an 8 percent jump from last year.

I have a 12-year-old niece that I’m pretty sure is helping bump that average way up there, as a matter of fact, her mom discovered one month she had sent and received over 6,000 texts. That managed to get her phone taken away for a while but I’m pretty sure she’s at least keeping up with the national average now.

So, what about you? Do you have a teen that texts? If so do you put any limits on their usage or do you just see it as this generation’s version of passing notes back and forth? Share your texting teen stories in the comments.

Filed Under: Tech Tagged With: , , , ,

NYC Subway’s Finally Set to Get WiFi and Cell Phone Access

July 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

If you live in New York and use public transportation lately you probably also know that the subway, no matter how hot or smelly or crowded it can be, is also a brief reprieve from digital leashes that are harnessed to you the entire today. At least that’s what you could tell yourself to try and make the smell of urine more palatable.

Now, even that “silver lining” is about to come to an end.

After an almost three-year delay, work is set to begin on a $200 million plan to bring mobile- phone and Wi-Fi service to New York’s subway stations.

After three years with no progress many New Yorkers assumed the project had fallen by the way side. Thanks to Broadcast Australia’s injection of a new revenue stream the project is once again gearing up and will reportedly have six stations wired up and ready to go within the next two months.

Does anyone want to get in on the over/under on the first cell phone related brawl happening on a subway platform?

Waiting for a training on a hot, smelly platform while running late for work can be stressful enough. Add into that equation a hundred or so people with no sense of “inside voice” having conversations on their cell phones around you.

This is quite possibly the worst thing I can imagine happening to the MTA Subway system.

Filed Under: Tech Tagged With: , , , ,

Starbucks to Offer Free, 1-Click, No Registration WIFI at all Locations Starting July 1

June 14, 2010 By 1 Comment

Starbucks used their Twitter account to announce, what will undoubtedly turn out to be a brilliant marketing move, free WIFI.

Between the recession and Dunkin’ Donuts, Starbucks has been taking a beating for quite a while now. I’m not going to go into a whole business class lecture about what caused Starbucks to stub their toe, but suffice it to say, I think that this announcement, small as it may appear, is a big step to Starbucks righting itself again.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

What AT&T’s ‘Rethink Possible’ Ad Should Say

June 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Talk about truth in advertising.

AT&T Rethink Possible

Via robhue.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,

Are you a Metrotextual?

November 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment

guytextingAccording to new research by T-Mobile, men aged 18 – 24 are becoming a lot more affectionate when sending and receiving text messages. Not to feel left out men age 55+ are turning into metrotextuals at a rate of 1 in 10.

“Metrotextuality” is most widespread among 18-24 year old males with three quarters (75 per cent) regularly sealing texts with a kiss and 48 per cent admitting that the practice has become commonplace amongst their group of friends.

Nearly a quarter of this age group (23 per cent) even appreciate an “x’ in a text exchange from people that aren’t close friends.

The research also revealed there’s a certain etiquette within metrotextuality. A lower case “x’ is the preferred sign-off for most (52 per cent) compared to 17 per cent for a bolder upper case X), with one in three sharing the love in a big way with multiple lower case kisses (xxx).

Could texting be what the male species needed in order for it to finally get in touch with its softer side? Thousands of years of war and aggression set aside by a simple, “lol, ttyl…x”? Is there anything technology can’t do?

Filed Under: Tech Tagged With: , , ,

DeadCellZones.com is Dead

November 7, 2009 By 4 Comments

The premise behind Dead Cell Zones was to give people a quick, easy way to note places where they were getting little or no cell service. I  jumped at the chance to have another tool in the fight against myself to leave AT&T. I thought maybe if I could actually see a visual representation of the amount of dead cell zones people reported in NYC it would push me over the EDGE. I got there only to find out that Dead Cell Zone was using someone else’s PushPin API key. That’s a no-no.

deadcellzones_alert

So instead of a cool map filled with all the dead cell zones in my area I get this.

deadcellzones

A blank map is not nearly as compelling of an argument.

Filed Under: Tech Tagged With: , ,

Automattic Releases WordPress 2 App for iPhone

October 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I just downloaded the WordPress 2 app. It’s has a few more options for bloggers, with a heavy focus on content moderation.

Like the old app it allows you to publish posts on the go as well. This time you can type your post body in landscape mode, which I’m not sure was an option in the first app.

A cool new feature is that it autosaves your post so if you drop connection, which you most definitely will since you’re on AT&T’s network, you can come back to it later when you’ve reconnected.

Below are a few screenshots and a few test photos.
[Read more...]

Filed Under: Blogging Tagged With: , , , ,

How to set up MMS on your iPhone

September 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Everyone is going nuts over AT&T finally opening up MMS (picture messages) for the iPhone. Personally I much prefer sending images via email anyway but I can see how it may come in handy for some people.

  1. Connect your iPhone to your computer and open iTunes
  2. You should see the following message
    mms-update-1
  3. Choose “Udpate Settings” the update should only take a few seconds and you will get a confirmation
    mms-update-2
  4. Restart your iPhone. You have to reset your iPhone for the update to show up.
  5. Confirm the update worked by opening up your Messages app and looking for the camera icon next to the entry field. (screencaps below)

That’s it, you’re ready to start bringing AT&T’s network to its knees. Wait, it’s already on its knees, so you can start kicking it in the face by sending pictures messages constantly to everyone you know.

Filed Under: How To Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Fixing Gmail’s IMAP on iPhones running 3.0

August 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Not long after upgrading to version 3.0 on my iPhone I began to notice that my Gmail IMAP began being unresponsive. In other words, actions I would take on the iPhone wouldn’t show up on the web. It’s pretty frustrating to go through and archive and organize all of your messages on your iPhone only to log into your web account later and see that none of it is actually reflected.

Apparently the key for people using firmware version 3.0 is to delete your current Gmail setup and start fresh choosing “other” on the setup screen rather than “Gmail”.

It’s still not perfect, but it’s better than what it was before. You can see the full setup directions via Gmail Help after the jump. This is definitely a step forward, but come on Gmail, you can do better than this.

[Read more...]

Filed Under: How To Tagged With: , , , , ,

Posterous and Qik Video on the iPhone 3G S

July 7, 2009 By 3 Comments

posters_and_qikYesterday I wrote about YouTube’s current dominance as the iPhone video hosting place of choice simply because you can upload videos straight from your phone and not be hindered by the relatively small file size restrictions on email attachments. I also mentioned that Vimeo publicly admitted to not having the resources to develop an iPhone app. I think this is a mistake that Vimeo will ultimately correct or regret, I’m not sure which.

YouTube’s dominant position may not last for long if a couple of other companies have their say. Qik and Posterous are both working on iPhone apps that will allow you to upload much longer video straight from your iPhone.

What will the two apps be offering? We heard back from both of them today. Someone inside Qik and from Sachin, one of the founders of Posterous and here are their responses.

Qik: “There is no limit to the total number of videos you can upload to Qik.com. There is a limit of 2 hours to the length of the video that you can upload.”

Posterous: “We are working on a photo uploading app now, and we’ll add video to it after we release the initial version. This should allow full res, long uploads to posterous.”

All I can say is, wow! The thought of streaming up to two hours of live video on the iPhone is a pretty exciting concept. Qik is already available on jailbroken iPhones but they do have an app in beta so let’s hope that Apple gives it the thumbs up for the App Store.

As exciting as two hours of streaming video is I’m almost more excited about the Posterous app. The Posterous app promises not only to allow you “long uploads” but Posterous will also post/publish your videos everywhere for you. This will allow you to take video on your iPhone, upload it to Posterous and have it posted to your blog, Twitter feed, Facebook account, Vimeo account AND YouTube. Posterous and iPhone have the potential to unleash live video greatness upon the web.

Hopefully we’ll here more soon about one of these apps being released into the App Store.

Filed Under: Blogging, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , , ,

BlackBerry 8900 + iPhone (minus SIM card) = Mobile Zen

June 13, 2009 By 6 Comments

att-blackberry-curve-8900I’ve been using smart phones for a number of years and in that time I’ve had plenty of them. For many years, BlackBerry was my phone of choice. From the 6230 to the 7290 to the 8800 to the Curve and a few more in between I’m sure I’m forgetting.

I’ve even had many regular cell phones here and there as well including an old LG landscape flip phone with a qwerty keyboard.

When the first iPhone came out I was extremely happy with my Curve and had no urge whatsoever to give the iPhone even a second thought. My resolve crumbled however when the iPhone 3G was released. I gave in and stood in line with all the other schmucks fanboys (not on the first day mind you) and bought my very first Apple product.

Currently I use my device for work email, personal email, texting and calling so obviously Enterprise integration on the 3G was a big factor in giving it a shot. I have to admit, at first I was gobbling up the hype. I spent money on cases (quite a few until I found one I liked and was usable), I spent money on Apps, you name it and I bought it.

Slowly but surely though I found something peculiar happening. I found myself texting less and less. If I knew that I had an email that I needed to reply to I would actually break out the laptop and set it up rather than just shooting off a reply on my iPhone.

Maybe it was the years of BlackBerry use but I could just never get used to the lack of a tactile keyboard. Even the few applications that utilized landscape keyboards really didn’t solve the issue for me.

I finally came to the conclusion that to deal with the amount of email I get a day between my work and personal accounts, not to mention my preferred method of communication, texting, that the iPhone was just not very efficient for me. It took the entire life cycle of the 3G but I finally decided to go back to BlackBerry. Luckily I was eligible for an upgrade so the device was free.  I brought it home, took the SIM card out of my iPhone, slid it into my 8900 and have never looked back.

Now, I have my the new BlackBerry Javelin (Curve) for talking, texting and emailing and I find that it beats the hell out of the iPhone in all three of those categories as far as efficiency goes.

What’s great though is that I still have my iPhone which still works on wifi and still gives me access to some of my favorite apps like Tweetie, MLB.com At Bat, The Weather Channel and most importantly Kindle. There’s also Sportacular, Buddyfeed and Scorecenter to name a few (I have six pages of apps).  Plus, I can still make Skype calls on my iPhone as well. All while paying absolutely nothing for any sort of data plan. It’s the best of both worlds, a fast, productive BlackBerry for email/text/talk with a sweet 3.2MP camera with image stabilization and flash that takes some pretty great photos and a free iPhone to basically use as a tiny PC tablet/iPhone/SkypePhone when I’m at home or at a hotspot.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: , , , ,