iPhone 4 Hysteria

In August of 2008, I traded in my trusty Palm powered device (the Treo 755p) for the iPhone 3G. Having used the Palm operating system for almost 10 years, it was quite an adjustment at the time, but a welcome one. The iPhone 3G has served me extremely well since then. The past year or so, however, Google has made some pretty substantial in-roads into the smartphone market with the Android operating system. While powerful and...

Re-thinking my mobile tech

Right now, I carry an iPhone, an Asus EeePC netbook (running Ubuntu 10.04 NBR) on a daily work day basis. When I travel, I carry the iPhone and usually the EeePC. I also own a 13″ Toshiba laptop that I dual boot Ubuntu and Windows 7, but I only use the Toshiba only for teaching and presentations. My thought process is: Should I sell both the Toshiba and the netbook and get a thinner, lighter laptop? Just sell the...

Cellular coverage at big events

This weekend, I had the opportunity to take my son to the Sundance Film Festival. We are doing it on a shoestring by standing in line for stand-by and wait-list tickets and camping in our VW van at an RV park. So far, it has been great fun…except for cell coverage. No matter what carrier folks use, they are complaining about slow network speeds, dropped calls, and inability to send texts. This isn’t unique to...

How to transfer your iTunes library & playlis...

If you use an iPod, iTouch, or iPhone and plan on getting a new computer, you will want to read this article! OR, if you use any of these devices and want to make sure your library stays safe, you will want to read this article! Yesterday, I helped a customer setup a new Windows 7 computer and transfer email, favorites, and other data from his old Windows XP computer. Turns out that he also needed to move his iTunes library...

iPhone continues to amaze me

iPhone continues to amaze me Actually, I should say the developers who use the tools made available by the iPhone technologies amaze me. I just returned from a short weekend trip with some golf buddies and downloaded a relatively new application called Golfshot from golfshot.com. The application combines the GPS and touch-screen capabilities of the iPhone into an incredibley easy and intuitive way to keep score on the course,...

7 Tech items I would take to college

I graduated from college almost 10 years before computers started being a main stream college accessory. I would love to be a student again not only because I enjoy learning, but I would love to have access to the technologies today’s students use every day. The most advanced piece of tech I used in college was the HP 41 CV programmable calculator with the magnetic card strip reader attachment. I loved that calculator,...

My iPhone applications after 10 months

From 1997 through August of 2008, I used only Palm based handheld organizers then the Visor Phone, Palm Treo 300, Treo 600, and Treo 755p.  I purchased an iPhone in August of 2008 because the iPhone proved itself in its short year of existence to be a valuable product, added the ability to allow third party applications, and gained access to the faster cellular networks. With very few exceptions, I couldn’t be happier...

Digital Readers and E-books

Amazon released their version of a digital reader, called the Kindle, in late 2007. It received a lot of attention at the time, but not as much as its new version released this spring. Amazon states that more than 285,000 books are available for download and purchase, 50,000 audio books, and there are many magazine and newspaper articles also available for download (including my blog). A full text book can be downloaded in...

How to add a web application to the iPhone home sc...

Popular demand (among new iPhone users) prompted me to add this quick, yet helpful iPhone tip. Don’t worry non-iPhone users…there is a tip for you at the end of the article…keep reading or skip to the end! To add a web page or application you frequently use to your iPhone home screen: Start Safari Navigate to the page you want to add Tap the Add Bookmark button at the bottom of the screen (+ sign) Tap Add...

Customizing your iPhone home screen – Video ...

This is a pretty specific tip for a relatively new device, but with WalMart now carrying iPhones more and more people will want and need to learn how to take advantage of their investment. The iPhone is a wonderful little tool…IF you learn how to use it and make it work for you. One of the first things you can do with any piece of technology is customize it to fit your needs. With the iPhone, learning to customize the...

Treo, what Treo?

After two solid months of using my iPhone 3G, I decided it was time for a short update. As many of you know, I used a Palm device for many years, ending with the Treo from 2003 through this August. When the first iPhone came out, I was intrigued, but thought Apple missed the boat, for me, by not utilizing the fastest cellular data network and not allowing 3rd party applications. When they announced the new iPhone last January...

My pick for the best technology currently availabl...

Editors note:  Of course, I’m going to exempt smartphones (my current favorite is the iPhone 3G) because these are necessary to 21st century living. Next to the smartphone, my vote for best technology currently available is the Digital Video Recorder (DVR). A DVR replaces the venerable VHS recorder for recording television programming. DVR’s use hard drives to record the programming digitally and require...

What I learned in the first 4 days of my iPhone 3G

I picked up my new iPhone late on Thursday night, worked with it on Friday, then left with it for a quick trip to see my brother and my first and only nephew. Prior to this phone, I have used some sort of smartphone since 2000…all Palm software based. Prior to that I used Palm handheld computers since about 1997. I decided to move to the iPhone because I felt that the Palm innovation had stagnated…about 5 years...

My iPhone 3G is on its way

Finally, after an almost 4 week wait (between working with my current provider and ordering the new phone), my new iPhone 3G is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Last year when the first generation iPhone appeared on the scene, I spoke up and said that the iPhone was too expensive, too slow, and not expandable (lack of add-on applications). Being a long time Palm user, then the Palm smartphone series user, I saw that the first...

Are Macintosh computers poised to make a run?

JUNE 2008 UPDATE: I wrote the article below two years ago, ran across it tonight and wanted to write an update to it. At the time I wrote it, I think the now famous Apple and PC guy commercials had just started ramping up and the ominous steps towards Windows Vista were getting closer. My words probably weren’t unique at the time, and I don’t claim to be a sage, but it is astonishing how much the market has...