Feb 05

Updates From Google For Your Mobile

By Chase Buckner Interesting No Comments »

google_logoThe good people at Google are constantly providing new services and apps for your new or refurbished cell phone. Here are some of there latest developments:

On Jan. 27th, Google sent out a notice proudly announcing that Google Voice is now available for the iPhone and Palm Web OS. Commenting on the benefits of their new advancements, the release stated: “AppCache lets you interact with web apps without a network connection and local databases allow you to store data locally on the device, so you don’t lose data even when you close the browser.”

On Jan. 29th, Google announced that their Popular Image Search for mobile devices running the Android platforms and for the iPhone. To use the feature, simply go to www.google.com and click on the Images link as you would if you were on your computer.

This past Wednesday, Google released something pretty impressive called personalized suggestions and synchronized starring for Google Maps on Android devices. The idea is that a truly “smart” phone would be synchronized with your computer and know exactly what you are trying to do at all times. The scenario is this: You’re on your computer looking for a bookstore in your area. You find one and Google map its location. Now you can either print the information, write it down, or re-look it up from your phone when you get close. With personalized suggestions, your phone will know what you Google mapped on your computer when you open Google maps on your phone, saving you the time of having to re-search it.

Synchronized starring allows you to star multiple locations in Google Maps on your computer, which will then appear when you open Google Maps on your mobile. These features are available in the new 3.4 version of Google Maps.

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Feb 04

Born Tired to Release Book

By Chase Buckner In The News, Reviews No Comments »

Picture 2Some friends in NYC have a great blog called Born Tired, which consists of nothing but images captured from their new and refurbished cell phones. Most of the members reside in New York, but many of the contributors travel frequently, so photos get posted from around the world. The pictures range from funny and ridiculous to beautiful and artsy, but what makes Born Tired so awesome is that the photos are nothing more than glimpses of everyday life.

The dominant theme of the blog is photos of people sleeping in public/random places (hence the name Born Tired), but a bunch of other themes have developed as the blog gained popularity. A lot of them are kind of inside jokes, but if you frequent the blog, you’ll start to pick up on them.

Born tired has gained so much popularity over the past year that there’s a sandwich named after the blog at Hana Food Corporation in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and the the blog is now actually being made into a book.  The book will be a collection of the most popular photos as well as sections for the most common themes, and it will be published by &Press sometime this year. Born Tired the book is rumored to be approximately 150 pages in length and should retail for $10 – $15. We’ll keep you updated on the release.

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Feb 03

16 Year Old May Have Figured Out How to Get Texts Into Subways

By Chase Buckner Interesting No Comments »

cavetextIf you live, work, or just spend time in any city with a subway system, you probably know the frustration of not receiving service on your new or refurbished cell phone while you’re on the train. Well Alexander Kendrick, a 16-year old from New Mexico, may have developed a solution to the problem.

Kendrick won the 2009 International Science Fair by creating a low frequency radio that is capable of sending messages through hundreds of feet of rock. His radio reportedly sent a message to his father from 1,000 feet below sea level. According to Switched, “The feat marked the deepest known digital communication ever achieved in the United States.”

The 16 year old developed the radio to save the lives of people injured working/exploring in underground caves but if the technology can be reduced in size, it could mean an end to that “no signal” on your daily commute.

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Feb 01

The British Love to Text

By Chase Buckner Interesting No Comments »

20messaging_600span.jpegApparently, the majority of British people don’t have Internet packages on their new and refurbished cell phone plans because their connection speeds aren’t that great and their cost is high (which seems weird that it would be worse from here in the US as I thought we were always behind with things like this). BizReport wrote that 76% of all cell phone owners in England do not have wireless Internet plans.

What they do use, and use the heck out of at that, is text messaging. According to the U.K. based Mobile Data Association, 96.8 billion text messages were sent out in 2009, – which is 11 million text messages per hour or 265 million per day. That figure was up 23% from 2008 when the Brits sent 78.9 billion texts. The number of picture texts sent in 2009 was 601 million, and 4.5 million of those were sent on Christmas day.

With companies working to make texting safe in cars and with companies like Google allowing you to verbally dictate texts to your phone, these numbers will surely go nowhere but up.

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Jan 29

Your Shoes May Soon Be Powering Your Cell Phone

By Chase Buckner Interesting 1 Comment »

sneakerPrinceton University engineers seem to have developed the technology to harness energy through rubber, which will eventually allow things like your shoes or your pants to charge your new or refurbished cell phones.

A lot of what I read about the technology went over my head, but the gist of it is that ceramic nanoribbons will be inserted into silicone rubber sheets, which will be used to make shoes, clothes, etc., and the ribbons, when bent by actions like walking and breathing, harness energy. Apparently, these ribbons are really efficient and can harness about 80% of mechanical energy and turn it into electrical energy.

Besides the fact that it would be really cool to be able to charge your phone by taking a bike ride, the technology will prove extremely valuable to people with internal instruments like pacemakers. No longer will these people need to undergo surgeries just to have the batteries on their devices changed because the devices will be constantly charged through daily activities.

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Jan 28

Apple Approving Voice Over IP Could Change the Cell Phone Industry

By Chase Buckner In The News No Comments »

Picture 2

Yesterday, Apple updated their policy to allow Voice Over IP calling over wireless networks like AT&T, which could seriously shift the longstanding paradigm that is the new and refurbished cell phone industry. The ban of VoIP has been holding companies like Skype and Google back for years, and the lift of the ban should usher in a heard of companies looking to capitalize on the VoIP market.

A company called iCall is now the first VoIP application that works on the iPhone and iPod Touch over cellular 3G networks and is now available for download at Apple’s app store.

Arlo Gilbert, the CEO of iCall, said, “I applaud Apple’s decision to allow iCall to extend its functionality beyond Wi-Fi and onto the 3G networks. This heralds a new era for VoIP applications on mobile platforms, especially for iCall and our free calling model. I hope that now more developers will begin using our VoIP as a platform to integrate VoIP into their applications.”

Hopefully, this means Skype will have a Blackberry app in the near future!

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Jan 27

Apple Releases iPad

By Chase Buckner In The News 1 Comment »

apple-creation-0097-rm-engWell, I’m not quite sure what this means for the new and refurbished cell phone industry, but Apple released their newest product, the iPad, today. The iPad is basically a cross between and iPhone and a Macbook, allowing the user to access the web; email; manage pictures, music, and videos; and play video games.

The iPad is 0.5 inches thin, weighs 1.5 pounds, has a 9.7 inch display, has a 1.4 GHz Apple A4 Chip, has WIFI, has Bluetooth 2.1, has an accelerometer & compass, and is available in 16GB – 64GB Flash storage. The battery has a reported 10 hours of usage time and over a month of stand by time.

You can sign up for data plans for the iPad through AT&T. The rates are: 250MB of data a month for $14.99 or unlimited access for $29.99 a month. It can be used via WIFI for free at any AT&T Hotspot, and the iPad requires no contracts. The prices are shown below.

prices

What seems to have most non-“Apple” people excited is that the iPad is going after the Kindle market. Apple has partnered with Penguin, Macmillion, Simon & Shuster, and others to deliver iBook, which allows you to download and read books on the iPad, navigate pages, and alter fonts. The iBook store functions just like iTunes, so it should have no problem digging into the Kindle market.

apple-creation-0308-rm-engThe only thing the iPad doesn’t do, as of now, is make phone calls. With companies like Skype eager to take Voice over IP to the next level, however, it probably won’t matter for long.

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Jan 26

Your Days of Texting and Driving are Numbered

By Chase Buckner In The News, Interesting 1 Comment »
(Dark Blue) States that have banned texting - (Light Blue) States debating over passing the ban

(Dark Blue) States that have banned texting - (Light Blue) States debating over passing the ban

Texting from your new or refurbished cell phone while driving is obviously not a responsible thing to do, but the number of state legislators who feel that you are not responsible enough to govern your own actions while driving is steadily increasing.

19 states (Shown in dark blue on the map) have already banned texting while driving, and 23 states (shown in light blue) are currently debating over passing the ban.  AAA’s director of state relations, Justin McNaull, believes that at least 12 more bans will pass in 2010. He feels, “There’s clear public disapproval of the behavior, and there’s strong public support for a law.” The president of FocusDriven, Jennifer Smith, says, “I’m kind of at a loss as to why every state doesn’t have a no-texting law. That’s a no-brainer.”

According to the department of transportation, 5,870 people, 16% of all highway fatalities, died in distracted-driving crashes and 515,000 were injured in 2008.

While I do agree that texting while driving is extremely dangerous, I don’t, realistically speaking, see people turning their phones off until they get home. Hopefully more car manufacturers will follow Ford’s lead and incorporate safe ways to use your phone without ever having to take your eyes off the road.

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