Entries tagged as 'phone'
rant
Posted Sunday, 13 July 2008
I’ve seen more bicycles, scooters and motorcycles in Honolulu as our gasoline prices stay above $4 a gallon, and popular routers on The Bus get more crowded.
In my nightmares, I’m running on the sidewalk, and there’s someone who is riding right at me:
- Going full speed
- Ignoring the crosswalk signals
- Holding a lit cigarette
- Riding without a helmet
- Screaming into their mobile phone - bonus points if they’re cursing
- Listening to their iPod
- Wearing sunglasses, so I can’t see their eyes
Anyone who listens to an iPod while they’re riding looks like a candidate for a Darwin Award. If they’re talking on a mobile phone, they’re paying even less attention to where they’re going.
Once in a while, I see someone driving a motorized vehicle on the sidewalk. There’s a guy who I see almost every morning that I run on Ala Moana Boulevard. He guns his gas scooter down the mauka (ocean side) sidewalk on his way to Aloha Tower. He’s riding against the automobile traffic, but it’s a very wide sidewalk.
Then there’s the man I saw last month who rode his motorcycle up Beretania on the sidewalk behind Century Square and the Catholic Archdiocesan offices. He parked his bike next to the bicycle rack. Mopeds and scooters can park at a bicycle rack, but not motorcycles.
Sometimes I see people riding scooters and bicycles with one hand on the handlebar and the other hand holding a cigarette. Looks healthy!
Image courtesy of Thomas Hawk through a Creative Commons license.
Related pages on billso.com
Honolulu mass transit
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Posted Friday, 11 July 2008
The retirement of Bill Gates from daily duty at Microsoft prompted bloggers and journalists to write long articles about Microsoft technology. It’s summer, and we have to fill the pages somehow.
This Engadget article called Bill Gates: top ten greatest hits (and misses) has some details and product photos. Two of the “misses” are interesting.
The AutoPC was a voice controlled system that connected the driver to music, GPS and Outlook services. It went on sale in 2000 and died a quick death, but many auto manufacturers are offering systems with similar features in 2008. The same Microsoft business unit that developed the AutoPC also developed the SYNC system for Ford.
The second “miss” is another example of pervasive or ubiquitous computing. It’s interesting that both of these products were championed by Bill Gates himself.
I have worn my Suunto N6 HR SPOT watch almost every day for the last 2.5 years. Yes, the watch is a little large, and I have to clip it to a USB charger every 2 or 3 days to freshen up the battery. I never got the heart rate monitor feature to work properly, though.
Microsoft partnered with Clear Channel to distribute news, sports, stock market and other data to users via Clear Channel FM radio stations.The silvery rim of the watch face is the FM antenna. It’s a one-way device that receives broadcasts, so it’s impossible to send information from the watch.
I don’t use Outlook, so I never use the appointment and messaging features. But the baseball scores are usually up to date, as long as I’m in a Clear Channel city, and I never need to set the time. It’s synced by an atomic clock somewhere in the cloud.
Sadly, Microsoft discontinued the SPOT watch line in April 2008 - see this Engadget article called SPOT watches R.I.P. - 2004-2008. The cloud service still works on MSN Direct. I just go to the web site, log in, and select the information and faces for my watch.
I see fewer wristwatches on wrists these days. Many of my friends rely on their mobile phone’s clock instead, as they carry their phones with them everywhere. Most modern mobile phones sync their clock to their carrier’s system.
Image courtesy of billso through a Creative Commons license.
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Microsoft,
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radio,
software,
time,
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Posted Thursday, 10 July 2008
The first reviews of the iPhone 3G are coming in, and they are less than glowing. Two of the reviewers are iPhone users who have been using new 3G models provided by Apple for a while.
Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal likes the iTunes App store and 3G bandwidth, but he did not like the shorter battery life. During one day of testing, his iPhone ran out of power.
Mossberg also notes that the AT&T’s new data plan pricing means that the iPhone 3G is more expensive than its predecessor. His article called Newer, Faster, Cheaper iPhone 3G has a video review, and a good amount of detail.
David Pogue of the New York Times has his review in an article called For iPhone, the ‘New’ is Relative. Pogue seems to agree with Mossberg that current iPhone owners shouldn’t rush to the store for a new iPhone.
There’s still no voice dialing, video recording, copy-and-paste, memory-card slot, Bluetooth stereo audio or phone-to-phone photo sending (MMS).
Upgrading to the iPhone 2.0 firmware will provide access to official applications, along with many of the software tweaks in the 3G model like Microsoft Exchange support. The firmware won’t make an old iPhone use 3G frequencies or upgrade an old unit’s psuedo-GPS, however.
I’m less interested in getting an iPhone now, and more interested in looking at an iPod Touch, the WiFi-only cousin of the iPhone. The Touch won’t make phone calls, but I can buy an old unit and add the iPhone 2.0 firmware for $10, or just buy a new model.
Want to see the insides of an iPhone 3G? iFixIt from New Zealand has posted plenty of pictures. At least the battery is no longer soldered onto the board connections!
Image courtesy of dotmotion through a Creative Commons license.
Related posts and pages from billso.com
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Posted Thursday, 3 July 2008
Bruce Schneier published an article in Wired called I’ve Seen the Future, and It Has a Kill Switch. I agree with his basic premise - it’s a dangerous idea to include a kill switch in a networked device. It’s difficult to keep a determined cracker out of a well-defended network. It’s ludicrous to design a device that can disabled by remote control.
OnStar call representatives can bring a stolen vehicle to a slow and gentle halt by remotely disabling the car’s fuel system. Information Week article called Stop Thief!.
So how long will it take before someone tries to shut down an OnStar vehicle, just to show they can do it?
Tags:
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Posted Thursday, 12 June 2008
Do children need a cell phone before they’re 18? I’ve long believed that people shouldn’t learn how to drive until they’re 18, or when they’ve demonstrated some advanced level of personal development. There are folks like Darren Draper and Rich Ling who think that mobile phones can become excellent tools in a classroom. This article in the New York Times about finding gadgets that are age-appropriate for children got me thinking about the issue again.
Several months ago, I was in a campus restroom when I overheard a student talking on his phone while he was sitting in a stall. He was talking in a normal voice, as if he was the only person in the restroom.
There are some universities and schools that have developed zero tolerance rules for mobile phones and other devices in classrooms, especially during exams and quizzes. If the device can be heard or seen, the student fails the exam. I’m not sure how long these rules will last, simply because more college students seem to carry their mobile phones everywhere.
“Where you at?”
Kids who use Nextel or push-to-talk phones are another irritant. No one needs to hear both sides of their conversation, and Mark Jaquith seems to agree with me. I used a Nextel phone between 2000 and 2003, but I would almost always put the PTT feature on vibrate. I’d use the PTT feature as if it were a regular phone conversation whenever I was out in public.
As usual, Asia and Europe are the leaders in mobile technology. European regulators may ban advertisements from children’s cell phones, according to this 8 March 2008 New York Times article. As mobile telecoms and other companies search for new sources of revenue, mobile advertising has become an attractive new business. The iPhone and Google’s Android platform each offer multiple ways to place advertisements on a user’s screen.
This is your brain on a mobile phone. Any questions?
There’s another concern in Europe - radiation. Studies are being commissioned to examine the possible effects of mobile phone radiation on children’s brains and behavior.
In japan, government officials are now asking mobile telecoms and handset manufacturers to design and market models for children - without any email or texting features. Japanese parents rely on cell phones as a digital leash for their commuting children, but kids have been known to spend all night sending messages to each other. Japanese officials want manufacturers to focus on voice and GPS features, so students will spend more time studying. This Associated Press report has more details.
Related posts and pages on billso.com
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driving,
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Nextel,
phone,
rant,
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