The day of costumes and candy are here again, which includes hordes of children going door to door for their candy treats. Younger children are almost always accompanied by parents or older siblings, but what can parents do to feel better about letting their children out on their own. Well, if your child owns an iphone, Android, Blackberry or Windows phone you’re in luck. On all of these smart phones there are GPS location apps that can help you keep track of your little trick or treaters.
Oct 31
Oct 24
Technology has grown pretty quickly the past 20 to 30 years. This generation back to generation X of the 80′s are more accustomed to quickly changing tech, which gives them an edge when something new comes along. The generations before were more accustom to calling a specialist when something goes wrong, while more recent generations tend to search Google before giving up and finding a specialist. Since there are rarely any Cellphone specialist on hand for your parents, the children tend to be the tech experts, when in reality they simply know where to look on Google. My parents both recently got Droids. My father owns a Droid X for Verizon, like myself and my mother owns an LG Vortex for Verizon. Whenever I come home they always try to spend an hour with me asking questions about their phone and how they can make it work for them. In the time I have spent with them going over some basic tools for their smart phone, and some more complex, I think I can safely give you all a few things to tell your folks when they leap into the smart phone world.
Oct 06
Apple has lost a great visionary last night as Steve Jobs passed away some time in the evening. He revolutionized personal computers, MP3 players, tablets and smart phones not with great technology, but with great simplicity. He saw that technology doesn’t have to be complex and super powerful in order to sell. He saw that technology can be sleek, appealing and, in some ways, fashionable. There will always be the PC guy and the Mac guy, but both sides can agree that he changed the technology world over and over again. I count myself as a hardcore PC guy, and even I can’t deny that Steve Jobs changed everything, and even though I may not have known it at the time, he changed it all for the better.
Apple released a memo to all their employees that they will be having an internal celebration in honor of Steve’s life.
Tim Cook
Team,
I have some very sad news to share with all of you. Steve passed away earlier today.
Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.
We are planning a celebration of Steve’s extraordinary life for Apple employees that will take place soon. If you would like to share your thoughts, memories and condolences in the interim, you can simply email rememberingsteve@apple.com.
No words can adequately express our sadness at Steve’s death or our gratitude for the opportunity to work with him. We will honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the work he loved so much.
Tim
Steve Jobs’ Family
Steve died peacefully today surrounded by his family.
In his public life, Steve was known as a visionary; in his private life, he cherished his family. We are thankful to the many people who have shared their wishes and prayers during the last year of Steve’s illness; a website will be provided for those who wish to offer tributes and memories.
We are grateful for the support and kindness of those who share our feelings for Steve. We know many of you will mourn with us, and we ask that you respect our privacy during our time of grief.
Bill Gates
I’m truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs’ death. Melinda and I extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends, and to everyone Steve has touched through his work.
Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives.
The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come.
For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely.
We here at The Bluedot.net are sad to see such a great man go and we hope his spirit, determination and innovation lives on in the company he helped create.
Oct 05
So the apple conference came and went. No word on the iPhone 5 yet, but apple did officially announce the iPhone 4S, an improved iPhone 4 that may just be worth the upgrade. So what are these major improvements to an already popular iPhone edition? Voice. It seems the next generation of smart phones are really pushing voice control and the iPhone 4S touts Siri, an advance voice recognition software. In the testing room many people got to try out this new software and one of the first things many people tried to do was slip it up. The folks over at Engadget.com asked it weird requests “We tried to psych it out with a bunch of random requests, including the history of Chester, Vermont (a lovely town) and the best Ramen places in San Francisco. Siri never faltered, never missed a beat.”
Google may have had the first step into the future of Near Frequency Technology, but Apple now has their foot out the door with advance voice controls. No matter what people threw at the new Siri software it seemed to keep up with them almost every time. Voice control may seem like a minor thing until you try it out, I get slight chills every time I am able to control movies on my Xbox 360 via the Kinect voice controls like characters did with their computer on Star Trek. But voice controls aren’t the only thing the new iPhone 4S is packing!
The iPhone 4S has quite the hardware, like the apple A5 dual-core processor, making menu navigation and app start ups appear much quicker. Not only does the iPhone have a new processor, it also has a new camera. The iPhone 4 had a 5MP camera with 720p video capture. The new iPhone 4S has a 8MP camera and 1080p video capture. When being tried out in the test rooms, it appeared the camera had better resolution, but it was difficult to tell if it was better at capturing images. The room was, apparently, inadequate for testing such a thing, so we will have to wait for hands on reviews of the camera to find out if it has improved in capturing as well. The battery has taken a bit of a downgrade, though that can be blamed on the new hardware. In standby, the iPhone 4S lasts about 200 hours, which is 100 less than the iPhone 4. Depending on what you do for a living, and how often you charge your phone, this may be an issue.
Already, people are beginning to trade in their iPhone 4′s for the upcoming iPhone 4S, even though the iPhone 5 may be just around the corner. The new iPhone 4S will retail from $199 for the 16GB model, to $399 for the 64GB model. If you’re looking to update to the iPhone 4S and want to get rid of your iPhone 4, you can trade in your old iPhone 4 with us at TheBlueDot.net
Sep 23
A strange thing happened on the way to a Technology Review keynote the other day. Four like-minded panelists unveiled their favorite gadgets; and before you jump to any conclusions, it was neither the iPad nor the super-awesome new iPod Touch (which I prefer to call the iPad Mini).
No–as it turns out each one of the panelists exhibited varying portable base stations used to boost wireless signals.
It’s no surprise that we’re aggravating ourselves toward a mentality of instant gratification and southern-style “demanding” of “satisfaction,” however, how many of us would go the extra step to further clutter our already massively cluttered landscape and rooftop scenes with more towers and machinery? All of us? That’s correct.
Wi-Fi and signal strength can be very unforgiving and frustrating for anyone who is used to enjoying rapid-paced internet and phone service in their equally rapid-paced Starbuck’s-fueled lives. One moment we’re enjoying the unprecedented speed of a mobile application for…well…let’s say…the iPod Touch, or any cell phone. The next minute you’re lost in an unrelenting sea of No Service. Sure, you could stand outside of a coffee shop, desperately pacing back and forth trying to pick up their signal, or you could introduce yourself to the Future.
Actually, we’re already there…and we might be able to un-clutter our landscapes and rooftops at the same time. Qualcomm’s senior vice president unveiled a portable femtocell base station that generates a signal over a 10 meter radius–and it’s about the size of a TV remote.
Imagine these bad boys simply planted around the city, or office, hidden in plants or trees, scattered about public parks, and now imagine them to have almost limitless signal strength and reach for miles and miles. OK, now you’re dreaming too big…for now.
The corporate head honchos expect to see a gigantic spike in cell phone use over the next five years. Alice White, a vice president at Bell Labs, expects that 40% of phones will be smart phones simultaneously running any number of apps, and if something is not done to prepare for that kind of usage, consumers will be tearing out their hair–so to speak.
The wheels are in motion to begin planting these portable cell phone towers in key areas. If no power source is nearby, the devices can be rigged to run on solar power. Mmm…green.
If all goes according to plan, we will inevitably see a huge increase in the ability to view, create, and share large multimedia files with ease and peace of mind. According to a CEO at Sprint, “Wireless has been the fastest adopted technology in history. There are more cell phones in use today than TVs, PCs and cars combined.”
Femtocells are designed to fill in “coverage holes” that often occur in homes and small businesses, Jonathan Segel, executive director of Alcatel-Lucent’s CTO Group, noted during his EmTech presentation Wednesday about mobile apps. In addition, he pointed out that cities have begun to turn to “metro cells” (which provide a range of several kilometers…okay now you can start dreaming big again) to offload data traffic in densely populated areas.
The trend over time is for mobile phone cells to continue to shrink while providing better service to wireless users. “Because your phone isn’t having to shout [to reach a cell tower], your battery life is better,” according to Rupert Baines, vice president of marketing for picoChip, a maker of chips used in femtocells. “If the signal doesn’t have to go too far you’ll get better quality, you’re covering less people with each base station and each person is getting more capacity.” PicoChip recently introduced a new processor designed to boost even small portable base station signals so they can be used in a variety of public spaces, including shopping malls and airports.
Sources: Scientific American | e! Science News
Aug 26
RIM’s Blackberry SmartPhones have been pushed around long enough. The capabilities of market giants like Droid and iPhone are gathering appeal at a steady rate across the board and this is pulling customers away left and right. Every piece of technology from MP3 players to Computers are now being shrunken down to pocket-sized devices and there are a lot to choose from. Certain phones are big for those interested in games and media, but others try to hit the social networking niche.
Blackberry has just released its latest operating system for its new devices and, well, let’s just say they’re doing everything they possibly can to keep up. Here are 8 key features of the new OS 6. These are some features you will be able to utilize on your Blackberry SmartPhones
1. Universal Search–Much like the iPhone‘s Spotlight search system, a visit to the “Address Book” is no longer necessary. Simply type in a name and the new OS will gather results from your Phone Book, Media, Apps, etc.
2. Enhanced Playback–Album Art and Info can now be viewed on an interactive media carousel to flick casually through albums and navigate in a more fluid manner (rather than point and click from endless lists).
3. Social Networking Feeds–Are you such a hardcore networking fiend that it becomes a hassle going back and forth to Twitter, Facebook, and whatever else you use? The Blackberry 6 fixes that with a a social activity generator that will merge Facebook and Twitter with your Events and Calendar to make for easy planning, communicating, and invitations.
4. RSS Feeds–Blog rolls and web feeds become as easy as a flick of the finger. Simply key in the web address you’d like to follow and choose your favorite feeds. It’s all right there with no data entry or tedious searching.
5.Visual/Fluid Interface–The interface for the new OS may just be the most appealing part. Utilizing floating tiles and optimal screen space, the new interface keeps all interactivity feel fluid and organic.
6. Blackberry Messenger–Yes, Blackberry Messenger has always been a feature that many people can take or leave, but Blackberry 6 takes it up a notch to create a clear and sharp interface with multiple media options. Definitely a must have for communicating with other Blackberry users quickly and effectively.
7.Simultaneous Postings–There are plenty of extra apps and computer programs that do this job fairly well, but Blackberry 6 OS takes care of all posting for you. One status update may (if you wish) update every social networking app that you use–a nifty, time-saving trick.
8. Awesome Web Browser (finally)–Yes, it’s been a long time coming, but finally the Blackberry got its hands on a usable web browser that doesn’t only serve to generate headaches. This browser actually feels like a real internet experience, featuring easy magnification and multiple tabs.
There’s plenty more to know about the new operating system, but these are by-far the coolest. If you lost or broke your phone and do not want to pay retail for a replacement, consider a refurbished Smart Phone. Otherwise, if you’re looking to upgrade to a newer model, or just have unused phones lying around your house, trade them in for Cash at The BlueDot.
Sources: Blackberry
