TechLore - Phones, Smartphones, and PDAs

Matt's Tech Law #4 - Cure Yourself of iSyndrome Before It's Too Late

Matt Whitlock — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:56:06 GMT

Over the last year, I've watched several friends develop severe cases of what I'm calling 'iSyndrome.' Not sure what that is? It's a disease... a terrible, awful illness with the horrible side-effect of making everyone you know hate you. Sounds serious doesn't it? iSyndrome targets a small, but rapidly growing segment of the population - iPhone owners. If you or someone you know owns an iPhone, listen up. The iPhone is cool. It does a lot of neat things like let you check your e-mail, catch up on news, post to twitter, play games, surf the web, and even just mess around with. The problem is that iPhone usage can become addictive, eventually leading to iSyndrome, which is a severe case of iPhone addiction that leads to several physical, mental, and social problems. How to tell if you or an iPhone user you know has iSyndrome iPhone user: experiences pain or soreness in neck from constantly looking down at their iPhone. often feels soreness or pain in thumbs or index fingers. feels separation anxiety when iPhone is not in hand. talks to or shows intimate affection to iPhone. constantly refers to iPhone as "my precious." cleans the iPhone screen with...

Letter to Apple: Way to Stick It to iPhone Developers

Matt Whitlock — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:00:16 GMT

Apple's business model is built on strict control of their products, both hardware and software based. It's the reason why the iPod is so tightly integrated to iTunes, and why you can't install their OS on whatever computer platform you wish (though there's a company called Psystar that's pushing those limits right now ). However, Apple's rediculous, unfair actions against Podcaster is making me wonder why they bothered opening up the iPhone to developers in the first place. The short story is that not long ago, a developer came up with an application called Podcaster that let the iPhone pull down podcasts directly over the air. Apple rejected the application from hitting the AppStore, claiming that encroached something that Apple's iTunes software already did (which it didn't). Today, screenshots of Apple's next iPhone firmware hit the scene , and Apple's version of Podcaster is present. In my opinion, that's complete BS. To Apple: Way to stick it to those who are trying to make your product better. If you're going to reject applications based on functionality you haven't yet released, how about publishing your roadmap a few years in advance so developers don't waste their time? Better yet, why not...

Convoluted Family Tree of Telecommunication Companies

Matt Whitlock — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:46:12 GMT

I understand the reasoning behind the Feds decision to breakup the AT&T monopoly, and on January 1st of 1984, AT&T's local operations split into seven independent Regional Bell Operating Companies (you've heard the term 'baby bell' right?). Since then, the telecom industry has slowly been playing a game of renaming, mergers, partnerships, and takeovers. In fact, what was left of AT&T after the breakup and a failed business segway into computer systems, ended up getting purchased by one of their own spin-offs. For a fascinating look at what's happened to the telecom industry since the big break up, check out this Family Tree of Telecommunications Companies over at neatorama.com . You may be surprised who owns who, and if you're like me, chuckle after seeing some old logos that you used to pay bills to. Any surprises there? Anything missing? Post your thoughts in the comments.

Greetings and first shout!

starkindler — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:29:35 GMT

I am still new to TechLore and have yet to get a good hold on all that is here.... I wanted to let the members here know about my PDA support site. There are two kinds of PDA enthusiasts: those who have heard of the Casio BE-300 Pocket Manager (discontinued) and those who need to hear about it. Both groups are welcome to stop by The BE-300 Advancement Society ( www.be300.org ) and see what it's all about. Undersold, under supported, and under estimated by Casio this little PDA is enjoying a long and productive life among those who like to tinker and tweak, tickle and tease the most out of a unit. It's been tons of fun these past 5+ years and (just as I look forward to learning more about TechLore) I hope some of you may want to learn more of "The Art of BE'ing". see ya 'round the forums!

Opinions Of Google Android, From an iPhone User's Perspective

Peter Redmer — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:31:55 GMT

If you've been reading the news, active in the blogosphere, or are just into technology in general, there's no doubt that you've heard about the T-Mobile G1 - the first mobile phone being sold and packaged with Google's Android operating system.

Apple Shows Off New iPods, iTunes 8 - Underwhelms?

Matt Whitlock — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:58:41 GMT

Today at Apple's "Rock Live" Event in San Fransico, Jobs and Co. took the opportunity to debut the iPod lineup for the holiday selling season, as well as highlight some additional updates and goodies for the juggernaut's existing products like iPhone 3G and iTunes. Before you take to heart the numerous reports of how "underwhelming" Apple's announcements were, it's important to keep in mind that Apple is held to a much higher standard of expectation. Granted, what Apple had to talk about today hardly justified an entire event. Thank goodness Jack Johnson showed up to play a tune at the end to fill some space. It wasn't underwhelming; it wasn't overwhelming... more just 'whelming.' At the end of the day, you have a slight refresh of it's two larger iPod products, a redesigned Nano, and a feature of considerable 'genius' value if it works. Pepper in an update or two, make a ridiculous challenge to Nintendo and Sony, and end the event with a music act. Event done. So what do we have from Apple for the holidays: iPod Classic - Apple's last remaining mega-capacity player is stripped down to only the skinny version and thrown a storage upgrade to...

The Sprint HTC Touch Diamond

HMMurdock — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:42:13 GMT

The Sprint HTC Touch Diamond is almost here!!! Here are the facts! - Coming to Sprint in September - SRP $549.99 - Net Cost $299.99 Re-defining the perception of advanced mobile phones… the Sprint HTC Touch Diamond signals a giant leap forward in combining hi-tech prowess with intuitive usability and exhilarating design. Featuring a sharp 2.8-inch touch screen housed within a stunning formation of brushed metal and flawless faceted edges, the Sprint HTC Touch Diamond is as beautiful to behold as it is to use. With HTC’s vibrant touch-responsive user interface, TouchFLO 3D, and ultra-fast HSDPA internet connectivity… the Sprint HTC Touch Diamond offers a rich online experience to rival a notebook computer, allowing you to interact with Google, YouTube, and Wikipedia as freely as you would with a broadband connection. Your contacts, favourite music, videos and photos are no longer an uninspired line of text. With TouchFLO 3D, album artwork, video stills and snapshots of your friends’ and family’s faces are brought to life for you to interact, play and launch at your fingertips. A 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera will help you capture the perfect moment in style and with a massive 4GB of internal storage you can keep...

Who Needs A Landline? Top 5 Reasons Why Skype Totally Rules

Peter Redmer — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:13:02 GMT

Conference calls, talking to my friends and co-workers, and a relatively small minutes plan from AT&T have led to my rapid burning-through of rollover minutes. Seeing my stash deplete like leftover Chinese food foolishly forgotten and left unattended in the fridge, I decided to make a radical move: get Skype. Why was this radical, you say? Well, I had heard that, in some situations, the quality is questionable. In others, call drops have been experienced. In other words, I had been hearing from all angles that the service is sketchy. Let me tell you - for the past few weeks, it has been GREAT, and I'd like to tell you the top reasons why I'm so pleased with my first experiences with Skype. #5. For a geek, it isn't so bad to not have a true landline Let's face it, I'm always on my computer. I don't care that I have to go to my computer to check whether I received a call. In fact, it's better. No annoying permanent ringing phone, no need to unplug a phone line. I can just change a simple setting. And, if I wanted to free myself from the USB headset I'm currently using,...