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Generations

IMG_0142

  • HP 17” monster (good desktop workhorse)
  • Dell Vostro 13”
  • iPad
  • HTC EVO
  • ?

Of course it did not really started with the 17 incher… but rather around here. Smile

P.S.  You’ve probably heard that the Kin
got Kanned

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve)

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Know When Your Server Will Fail Before it Actually Happens

Image credit: BreadwigWhen your server goes down, it’s bad enough –even worse if you have to keep on trying to reach support in vain, then if you finally get through, you’ll have to convince them there’s trouble.  If you have such a host, run! (and I can even tell you where to).  So whenever I ran into trouble with online services, I feel relieved to see the auto-email saying support got notified.  At least they know!

But what if you know when your server will fail before it actually happens? I’ve just had an accidental peek into as-yet-unreleased technology:  today’s Zoho Blog post about Customer Support Community linked to another post, which simply did not load. Oops – the URL was in error, it pointed to an internal site, something like predict.zohocorp.longmumbojumbo.etc.  I got excited: can they predict future lottery numbers?  The World Cup results? (referee errors aside…)

I quickly asked Zoho what it was all about: it’s their predictive monitoring technology, which crunches a lot of data, is already delivering lightning fast notifications of failures after the fact, and also predictions – for now with false positives.  They certainly have to keep on tuning the technology, but it’s reassuring they are working on it.

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve)

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Simple Phone (for Seniors): when Less is More

motofoneThere’s hardly a week without a major superphone announcement. Yes, smartphones are so last year, with the iPhone 4, HTC EVO, Samsung Galaxy S..etc we are now in the era of superphones.  I just wonder what’s next?

Could it be … simple phones?   The official terminology for these is feature-phones, but they are anything but…  in fact their key feature is being feature-less. Simple, easy, just providing robust voice calls and long battery life.   Different demographies have different reasons to carry a simple phone:

The Digerati – where’s you’d least expect it.  They like to get the shiniest, coolest gadget.  But these toys have miserable battery life.  Even TechCrunch’s Mike Arrington carries a basic prepaid phone to make reliable voice calls, when his latest toy is out of battery juice, or just outside the coverage area.

The sleek types who’d consider “geek” a stigma. Yes, I know, geek is “in” in Silicon Valley. But elsewhere size still matters.  At least for he type that cannot be seen with a toy that would enable them to actually work… they just bark orders on the phone.  And it better be slim enough to fit a shirt pocket. Smile

Developing countries:

From Kenya to Columbia to South Africa – the kind of places that have built cellphone towers precisely to leapfrog past the expense of building wired networks, which have linked Americans for a century…cellphones are becoming the truly universal technology. The number of mobile subscriptions in the world is expected to pass five billion this year, according to the International Telecommunication Union, a trade group. That would mean more human beings today have access to a cellphone than the United Nations says have access to a clean toilet.

The Elderly.  This is where I have some personal experience. I spent hours and hours of research trying to find the right ‘senior phone’ for my Dad (you know, the 84-year old Google Apps guy:).  It should have good voice clarity without complicated functions. Anything with a touch screen, navigation panels.. etc is out of question.    My Motorola Startac a good 10 years ago would have been perfect – had I not thrown it away thinking it was an jitterbugobsolete piece of junk.  Now the industry would love to sell me $200+ devices, like the dominant Jitterbug which is simple, has big buttons, and of course requires it’s own service. Ridiculous. A rip-off.  But I almost gave in –- when I found a perfect solution for $20.

The Motorola F3 (Motofone, pictured at the top) was originally developed for third world countries, but it’s also the perfect senior phone for this part of the world.  Simple, only allows voice calls (technically it supports texting, but it’s such a nightmare, better forget it) , works with my Dad’s prepaid SIM card, and instead of an LCD it has an e-ink display, which is perfectly visible in the sunshine and saves battery life.  It even has better sound quality and shows stronger signal than my previous, more expensive T-Mobile phone. Oh, and it’s fairly stylish, too.

Sometimes less is more.  A lot more. Smile

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve)

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Your Own (Almost) Ad-Hoc HotSpot

If you’re a frequent traveler, you’re likely better off buying a MiFi or using your late-model cell-phone’s HotSpot capability than paying those outrageous hotel surcharges.  If you’re a frequent conference-goer, you’ve already learned they all fail to provide reliable connection(Web 2.0, LeWeb, Gnomedex, Microsoft PDC, Google I/O, just to name a few recent examples), so the only solution is BYOW – Bring Your Own WiFi (and the chaos it creates.)

But what if you rarely venture to un-connected areas, say a few times a year?  Paying $30-$60 a month does not look like a great value..  Now you can (almost) have your own ad-hoc service, without the monthly subscription plan – after you plunk down $149 for Virgin Mobile’s new MiFi device.  You can pay anywhere between $10 for 100MB to $60 for 5G of usage.

There’s only one problem with the plan – spot it yourself:

virgin plans

Yes, all these plans expire in an unreasonably short time.  Given the these limitations, if I were an infrequent user (less then once a month), I would probably buy the $10 plan just a few days in preparation for specific events. But let’s be real, this s*cks.  The proper solution for the ad-hoc user would be consumption-based plans with no expiry, with fill-up option.

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve)

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Samsung Galaxy S vs. Samsung Galaxy S

The title is not a typo, I’m really comparing the Galaxy S to the Galaxy S.  Join me.  Here’s the version many of us have seen, and I held in my hands (salivating with desire, I might add) at the Google I/O Conference:

Samsung-Galaxy-S front

And here’s the Samsung Captivate, announced by At&T today, and heralded as AT&T’s brand for the Samsung Galaxy S.

Something does not compute ( and I don’t mean the phones, these babies are blazing fast).  But either they are not both the Samsung Galaxy S, or this name refers to an entire family of devices, not just one specific model.  The latter does not make too much sense to me: Samsung Galaxy can be a family name, without the “S”.  Case in point: Samsung Galaxy Tab .

What gives?  Does anyone have an explanation?  Samsung, feel free to chime in.   Oh, and please release this baby while I am still within the 30-day period of my HTC EVO 🙂

Related posts:

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve)

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The Chaos of BYOW (Bring Your Own Wi-Fi)

It all started as an innocent joke:

scoble zoli wifi

Robert Scoble was sitting in the front row @ Apple’s WWDC conference while I was following the tweetstream from home.  Little did we know out joke would soon turn serious, as Steve Job’s keynote demo crashed when his shiny new iPhone 4 could not get a network connection.  Ars Technica offers detailed technical analysis of what may have happened, citing wi-fi experts who think the iPhone 4 may have a software glitch – but beyond that, they go deeply into analyzing the roots of network congestion at major gatherings.

It’s a great read, I have nothing to add on the technical side, just a little speculation on what brought this potential chaos about, and how to avoid it.

In short, we’re in a vicious circle.   The best “should-know-better” conferences have famously failed to provide sufficient wifi, including  Web 2.0, LeWeb, Gnomedex, Microsoft PDC, Google I/O… you name it.   We’re not talking about Birdwatchers’ Annual Convention or Road Builders Conferences – no, these are hi-tech events heavily attended by geeks, analysts, media, bloggers – the wifi_proliferationalways on, ever connected types, who will not tolerate being offline and will come up with their solution, as soon as the technology exist.

Thus, Bring Your Own Wifi was born – first the dedicated USB sticks with their $60 a month fees, then Mi-Fi, and now a flood of smartphones all providing their own hotspots.  Now all these BYOW devices wreak havoc and cause congestion.

Now, there are some cosmetic improvements we could all do, for example stop broadcasting our hotspot’s SSID. Not that it would reduce the behind-the-scenes congestion, but at least it would not clog the list of Wi-Fi for anyone else.  (Even this is easier said than done: some hotspots do not offer the option to shut broadcasting off, and even more sadly several devices refuse to connect to a Wi-Fi unless the SSID is listed).

We’re heading into a period of wireless chaos – it probably won’t be so bad on the road, in remote places, not even while using public transportation – but it will definitely get worse at places of expected high Mi-Fi / hotspot concentration.

We’ve come full circle. It all started by the lack of “centralized” connectivity, we all came up with our own ad-hoc solution and now we’re spoiling the game for each other.  I know I’d stop fiddling with my  EVO (or the gadget of the day) if there was rock-solid wi-fi at all conferences.  It’s time conference organizers step up to the plate.  If they don’t know how, I suggest they talk to Eric.

P.S. On a ligther note, some people already discovered the option of using the SSID for messaging. Is this the next marketing opportunity?

rwang wifi ads

Related posts:

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve)

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Update on the Sprint HTC EVO Battery Debate: Not Bad, Really. See Yourself.

IMG_9983The HTC EVO is the hottest Android phone for now, but it is plagued by the much debated battery issue.  Clearly, it’s a monster of a workhorse, and battery life will depend on one’s usage patterns: you can’t expect a whole lot if you get background updates from social networks every 5  minutes and watch HD video for hours.

But the real divisive issue is battery life on stand-by: some claim their EVO’s die in Sleep mode in a matter of 5-6 hours, while others swear battery life is not worse than that of the iPhone.  TechCrunch goes as far as warning people: Don’t Buy The HTC EVO, It Is A Seriously Flawed Device.

Wow, that’s a heavy statement – and I have to disagree, because I had experienced all the trouble myself, than started to research, experiment and went from 5 hours to 2 days standby time.

But I don’t want to argue – I don’t have to.  I have proof.  Just look at the image on the right: after almost 2 days my EVO still has 40% battery left.

I’d say that’s as good as you can get, from a powerful little computer that happens to allow phone calls, too. 🙂

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve)

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Launch Silicon Valley: 30 Startups Debut Tomorrow

Somewhat late notice, but there’s an exciting startup debut event in Mountain View tomorrow: Launch: Silicon Valley, co-presented by SVASE, Garage Technology Ventures and Microsoft, provides the next generation of emerging technology companies with the opportunity to pitch their products to, and network with, an audience of Silicon Valley’s top VCs, Angels, corporate business development executives, prospective customers and partners, bloggers and media.

The event is in it’s fifth year now (Happy Birthday!) and as usual, will feature 30 startups selected from hundreds of applicants in information technology, mobility, digital media, next generation internet, life sciences and clean energy.


Selected demonstrating companies for Launch: Silicon Valley 2010 include:

Company

Application

Web Site

Appbackr

App marketplace

www.appbackr.com

BCCThis

Sticky notes for email

www.bccthis.com

BioVantage Water reclamation www.biovantageresources.com
Breakthrough On line mental health counceling www.breakthrough.com

Jungle Cents

Auction

www.junglecents.com

Convergence CT

Healthcare data

www.@convergencect.com

Digital Sun

Water Management

www.digitalsun.com

Electradrive

Electric Drivetrain

www.electradrive.net

Evolver

3D characters

www.darwindimensions.com

GreenPlatform

Data center storage

www.greenplatformcorp.com

Highflex

Flexible photovoltaics

www.highflexsolar.com

jMango

build once, deploy all, app platform

www.jmango.net

Laster

Augmented reality glasses

www.laster.fr

Linqto Many to many collaberation www.linqto.com
Micello Indoor maps www.micello.com
NMBI Painless Injections
Optic Lanes Active traffic management www.opticlanes.com

Pilus Energy

bacteria energy cell

www.pilusenergy.com

RiverMuse

It management platform

www.rivermuse.com

ScanAvert

Food ingredient detection

www.scanavert.com

SDK BioTech

Cell platform

SocialAmp

see what friends are buying

www.socialamp.com

STI-Medical

medical imaging

www.sti-hawaii.com

Taggstr

Location tagging – Make your Mark

www.taggstr.com

TenCube

cell phone security

www.tencube.com

TrueDomain

Anti Phishing

www.truedomain.net

Vizibility

Presearch

www.vizibility.com

Youi Labs

Reduced cost phones

www.youilabs.com

Zikon

Electronic Ink

www.zikon.com


The event starts tomorrow morning at Microsoft’s Mountain View campus.  Here’s the Agenda and registration link.

There’s a pre-event party in Palo Alto tonight at 6pm – you’ll get details upon registration.

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve)

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Fixing the Battery Problem your Android Smartphone Seems to Have

Android and cupcake at the Googleplex

Image via Wikipedia

I shared some of my recent Android experience here, with the two leading phones, Verizon’s HTC Incredible and Sprint’s EVO  now it’s time to share a trick (actually two) that makes or breaks your experience with these two mobile powerhouses. Matt Burns @ MobileCrunch loves the EVO but considers the battery a deal-breaker:

Simply put, the battery sucks. It’s a deal breaker. I’m really sorry to say that, too. In fact it hurts me because I wanted this phone so bad, but the battery life is horrible. The phone will lose a third of its battery sitting overnight with the GPS, WiFi, and 4G turned off. Even with Advanced Task Killer set to aggressive and auto killing apps every hour, the most I can get out of the phone is about ten hours.

I know – been there, done that and could not believe how bad it was.  In fact with everything (Wifi, GPS, Mobile Data) off and without activity, in Sleep mode the battery died in 6 hours.  So why have a Smartphone if I have to turn everything off to be able to make a few calls?  I refused to accept it, searched, searched, experimented, and found the two tricks that can dramatically improve battery life.  They are actually simple: start with more, and don’t lose it 🙂

Start with more juice

No, I don’t mean buying a bigger battery pack. Get more out of what you already have. Charge with Power OFF.  Seriously.  If you charge your phone turned on, it will reach full charge status very fast.  The problem is, it’s not really full, only  Android thinks so.  Turn it off,  and recharging will last hours longer, but it will truly be full.  Since it appears to be a software glitch, we can hope an OTA update will fix it … one day.

Don’t lose your juice

Keep your Apps under control.  No, Task Killer and similar tools won’t help, some programs do get restarted no matter what you do.   Here’s what you need to check:  After power on, keep the phone in Sleep mode for a few hours.  If Uptime and Awake time are close to each other, or even 2:1  3:1 ratio, you have a problem.  An application does not allow your phone to go to sleep.  Keep on trimming your App list (and I don’t just mean shut down, but full uninstall) until you’ll see awake time less than 10% of uptime.

With those two tricks, your phone should last 2+ days in Sleep mode, and otherwise it will obviously depend on your actual usage.

Oh, and I am switching from the Incredible to the EVO 🙂

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Does Sprint Limit Using Google Voice?

(See update @ the bottom)
Well, this did not take long. I’ve just speculated that Google & Sprint wanted testers before the commercial rollout of the Android-driven HTC EVO on June 4th – a few hours later I see that theory proven.  I ran into trouble setting up Google Voice, and called the special number given to Google I/O attendees.  Apparently it’s a “discovery period” customer support group, and the rep I talked to was very (unusually!) courteous and helpful – at least she tried to, within the limits of information available to her.  Unfortunately it wasn’t enough.  Here’s the skinny:

I’m in the somewhat rare situation of being able to compare the HTC Incredible on Verizon and the EVO on Sprint, released a month apart, with essentially the same setup, same software releases.  Here’s part of the Google Voice configuration screen on both:

Google Voice Verizon vs Sprint

And yes, the shocking discovery: it appears that Sprint limits using Google Voice to international calls only.  Let me rephrase that: other parts (e.g. voicemail, transcription..etc) of the Google Voice service will still work, but if you can’t initiate calls using your GV number, than guess what, the other party will see your Sprint mobile number, that’s where they will call you back…etc – in other words the key concept of “One number to show”, which is what Google Voice integration is all about, is dead.

The Sprint rep told me she hoped it was a software glitch that would soon be updated, but frankly, the different wording suggests otherwise.  I’m afraid it’s a business decision by Sprint, and one that should be made very, very public.  Full Google Voice integration happens to be a key decision-making factor when switching to Android, for yours truly, forTechCrunch’s Mike Arrington and likely many others.  Not having it could prove to be a show stopper.

I hope it’s not final – Sprint, Google, HTC, whoever – please chime in here.  We need answers.

Update: The short answer, and it’s a good one, it’s not Sprint policy, just an installation glitch. Details:

All of a sudden I remembered that a few weeks ago when I set up Google Voice on the HTC Incredible with Verizon, it refused the accept my existing Google Voice number, so I tricked it: went ahead with the route of setting up a new number, but input y existing Google Voice number, then it worked.

I suppose something got fixed since then, as the Sprint EVO allowed me to link up with the existing GV account, albeit with the limitation shown above… so I started to wonder if I should try the same trick here.  I deleted the Sprint cell number from Google Voice, signed out on the EVO and even deleted the entire Google Voice app (probably an unnecessarily step, but who knows…).   Then I proceeded with the “new number” setup, but of course using the existing account information.  Got into a couple of loops with error messages, nevertheless following all prompts both on the mobile and the GV web side finally resulted in the perfect Google Voice installation, with identical results to the Incredible version (the phone shown on the left).  I’m a happy Google Voice user again.

(Cross-posted @ CloudAve)