Archive for the ‘The Focus’ Category

I was perusing the web when I ran across this site – iPhone unlocking Ltd. The site features a program called “iPhone Unlocking”. For $24.95 you can unlock your iPhone 3G and 3GS phones.The program claims you will be able to:

• Vnc Client iPhone to interact with remote computers
• No loss of features or functionality
• Beat iPhone the music studio in your pocket
• Enable Video Recording
• Lifetime Updates and Support
• Enable GPS
• 100’s of Free Applications
• Enable Rss Feed
• Enable MMS messaging
• Enable instant messengers
• Use Installer.app

The site offers a money back guarantee and full customer support. iPhone unlocking software has not been pursued by Apple lawyers, but most unlocking software has been free to download. Now that a company is asking for money to unlock your phone, this might change the scope.

The company claims to have unlocked over 1 million iPhones worldwide.  The company also claims free upgrades for life. I am wondering if they will replace your iPhone if their software bricks it?

Last week I decided to put a call out to have people take a shot of their rear-view or side-view mirror and send to me. It all started simply because a friend of mine – Sean Kelley – inspired me to find out what is in people’s rear-view windows. I also asked them what they used to take the picture, which interestingly enough is not as many camera phones as I would think.

Sean Kelly

I decided to put this into a Gallery of Rear View moments. These are the result – I hope you like it.

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I have been hearing this a lot – people start complaining because their 3G is shotty. Now in some cases, it’s true. I’ve been out in the middle of nowhere, and the signal is almost down to nothing. With the iPhone, I see E instead of G. Nonetheless, is this something that is AT&T’s fault, or yours?

I am going to show you 3 pictures:

This was taken from my iPhone using the ookla Speedtest iPhone application. The first test shows 52 kbps down and 128 up. The second shows 230 down and 443 up. Finally, the third is at 1.8 down and 228 up. These tests were done in the same location at a relavantly close time to each other.

Now you might say the signal was spotty, therefore you will get this difference. But I ran these tests a few times and got the same results. And I can tell you – it wasn’t because of AT&T.

Part 1: the Initial Test

This test was done simply by turning on the phone and running the speed test. Each time I ran it, I was getting very similar numbers. Yet as you can see, the bars at the top show full power.

Part 2: Getting better after reboot

I am an educated owner; I knew what to expect when I got the phone. I have read the news and support articles, as well as talked to other iPhone owners. One person, who does a lot of travelling, suggested I reboot the phone up to 3 times a day.

While I thought that was excessive, he made a very good observation: When you move from tower to tower, the iPhone will follow, but it still tries to look for the other tower. If an Application is having difficulties, then it might be adding to the pain to getting the best possible 3G signal. Therefore, rebooting the device will help.

This would be true with any device. My last smartphone had the same issues. It would be sluggish until I reset it. Then it turned around and worked like a champ.

However, in this case, 230 kbps was not much of an “improvement”.

Part 3: Make it faster!

I want you to look closer to pictures 2 and 3 and tell me what you see here:

If you said: “Hey! The Blue curvy lines are replaced with 3G”, then you would be focusing on the difference.  That symbol is the WiFi capability. Picture 1 and 2 were running on the nearby Wifi, while 3 was running on 3G.

The Wireless system at the location I was at was running slow – Even the notebook showed those same numbers. Indeed, I found the Wifi signal, which was at a local coffee shop, and checked their router. When they rebooted it, the speeds got a lot better.

But I didn’t connect to Wifi:

This is where the tricky part comes in. The router for this coffee shop was sitting in back. It was set at a standard IP address range, and had all it’s default properties (including admin password, which we won’t even get into THAT). The SSD was named “Linksys”, which is the default SSD for all Linksys routers.

All I have to do is connect up to one Wireless with “Linksys”, then every time it sees the SSD, it will connect. That can be really handy simply because Wifi speeds can be better than 3G (which is about 14 MB download and 5 MB upload on a good day). 802.11g (or Wifi) can download at 54 MB.

If I am a good distance away from the router, but just enough to be in reach to connect, we can definitely see issues. The phone will try to connect to the Wifi, then when it fails, it goes through 3G.

We forget about the Wifi simply because the iPhone asks you the question once. Just exactly like a Notebook would. The phone is always going to connect through Wifi if it’s there. Therefore, if I am on a shotty Wifi signal, the results are slow and annoying. I then start blaming 3G for absolutely nothing.

Not a new issue:

This has come across my desk in more than just an iPhone issue. Employees with laptops would connect to the network through a LAN cable and then come to me because the internet connection was shotty. I would advise them to turn off their Wifi simply because they compete to deliver a website.

Think of it like having 2 waiters ready to take your order at a restaurant. You order soup, and both of them run to go get it. At any time, they could crash into each other and spill your soup on the ground.

What to do to make it go Vroom Vroom

In the settings, under “Wi-Fi”, you can either turn the option off, or “Forget the Network”. That will switch you to 3G, where you can get things done. Don’t forget to reset the iPhone afterwards.

How ofter will you use the option? Well, really only in places where Wifi is not great. Most of the time, Wifi will be more of a friend than a foe. I would also guess that the archetecture is set so the phone will push through Wifi first, then 3G. If you think about that, it can also make 3G slower, simply because the device is trying to use the failing Wifi first. It would be like walking down the path to the left, seeing the tree in the way, turning around and taking the path on the right. EVERY TIME.

Wired Map

A couple weeks ago, Wired ran a 3G test in where they pitted AT&T with Sprint and Verizon. The test control was Bloggers around the country, who reported results. The article didn’t state if there were control factors. This would be a series of tests run in a specific way. For instance, if I was to run a test, this is what would happen:

1. Note any “Questionable” programs and if problematic (ie: if it slows down or freezes up the device), uninstall.
2. Turn off Wifi
3. Reboot the device (this will make sure all programs are closed properly)
4. Give the device a minute to find a signal
5. Open the Approved Test prgram (which would be an approved Application that any device could get). In this case, we will just say “SpeedTest”.
6. Run the test
7. Take a screen shot.

Wired stated in the article that it was not a “Scientific” Test. Nonetheless, I know if I was participating, I would want to be as accurate as possible. After all, if I falsified my data then had AT&T show that was wrong, it would be a mark on me and Wired. Instead of belittling AT&T, I would be doing the opposite.

Summary

Results vary in many instances. The farther away from a tower, the lower power the signal. The more people connecting to a tower, the slower the connection speed.It’s really a matter of physics.

Don’t take my word for it. Run the 7 steps above and send me your screen shots. Use SpeedTest for the Application. If you prefer another App, then take a snapshot of the screen with Speedtest, then re-run the 7 steps – this time using your Application.

I use Twitter a lot. I wanted to stay informed, especially from friends. I decided to port all direct messages to my cell phone. That way I didn’t have to install a Twitter client. At first that was great – I could respond to people I need to talk to.

That has all changed with the Twitterbot.

Now, if I “Follow” the wrong person, I get a direct message:

Thanks for following me. I hope to talk to you, but in the meantime: here is a free gift hllp://i.am.spamming/you.

I am not impressed – In fact, I am downright annoyed. You want to get unfollowed by me? Then all you have to do is send me a bot like that. I’ll unfollow you in a heartbeat.

I don’t mind @replies. But the direct replies are the ones that go to the cell phone too. I am glad someone is trying to open communication, but this is redicuous.

So what can be done to change this?

Twitter could block directly direct messages – Maybe set up a blocker to direct messages until the two have conversed or a 30 day grace period has passed. Maybe even an

“Allow this person to DM you” option. Just because I want to follow them doesn’t mean I want them to spam me.

DM Karma – If your Karma is below a certain level, you cannot DM anyone.

In the meantime, I am going to have to turn off the option to SMS me for direct messages. I guess what was a good thing last year might not be so much this.

*NOTE* There are some that think Swine Flu comes from contact with pigs. The virus – H1N1 – has nothing to do with animals. It is a form of influenza that is circulating. Other variants in the past: Russian Flu (H2N2) Spanish Flu and bird Flu (H5N1).

It’s a fact – you have more germs on your computer keyboard and mouse than on your household toilet. We’re talking thousands of germs as oppose to only a few from a toilet. So when it comes to Swine Flu, do we have to worry about cleaning these items?

It is spring cleaning for me anyway – I reorganize and take care of items that I don’t normally touch on a weekly basis. Of course, with planning on moving, that also adds to the fun.

I keep my keyboard pretty clean. A can of air to blast out any dust, food or other items that get in between the keys. A handi-wipe to take care of the surface of the items – especially when I see dirt buildup on the devices.
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“No one gets left behind! No one gets left behind! Outstanding soldier!” Frank (Steve Carell) – Little Miss Sunshine (20th Century Fox – 2006)

There are slightly more than six billion people on the planet.Not everyone is connected as those folks in the Silicon Valley areas of the world.We have about 15 +/- percent of the adults who work on systems/devices, creating stuff, collaborating, sharing content/information and even blend the devices into their social networks and entertain.

They buy newer/better/more devices every 3-6 months.

Then we have another 15 +/- percent who use the basic mobile device applications – email, phone, photo/video exchange, use the web for productivity and creativity.They upgrade or add devices every 6-12 months.

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Remember when you surfed the web and came across a Geocities page that basically was a mess and completely unreadable? There are a few MySpace pages out there with the same problem. Vincent Flanders has been talking about Web Pages that Suck for the last 13 years about those issues.

Over the years we have really evolved on website design. If you look at the Wayback Machine, you can see how sites like Yahoo, Microsoft and Google evolved. Heck, they have to: with newer web technologies, we have to be concerned about how the site looks, because that affects viewership. New sites show up daily that could easily start taking away traffic.

Nowadays with scripting, CSS, Ajax, Flash and a whole lot more, we run into a whole bunch of new issues. One browser would look awesome and the other would be discombobulated. Browsershots has the ability for you to look at your website through a whole list of browsers on multiple OS platforms. There are browsers out there that I didn’t even know of!

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I have been reading on Conficker for a while now. It’s basically a worm that uses your computer to spread itself. The newest variant is feared to wreak havoc come Wed, April 1st. But if it does, how much damage are we really talking about?

First of all, lets throw it out on the table: if you have your Anti-virus and Windows updated, then totally scanned your PC, you should be good to go. If your Anti-Virus hasn’t been updated in a while (Some IT people feel they are impervious to getting a virus. Silly people), then update now.

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I have a friend. He is looking for a new computer, but is not sure whether he wants a PC or Mac. Since I have lived in both worlds, I could tell him the pros and cons for both. However, I am a techie. I suggest a computer based on my techie knowledge.

We both agreed that he wanted a “Everyday” opinion. We went out to the coffee shops and talked with the people and the computers they used.  Some have it for work, others either got their computers as gifts. Those that did buy their own computer got the info from another IT person.

There was one that did use Consumer Reports to choose his computer. He was happy with his machine and it weighed in on my friends decision. But he wanted a lot more.

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Avast thinks Hulu is a Malicious Site

I went to Hulu this afternoon to catch up on my HEROES. I didn’t get to see it on Monday, so I knew that I could go up there and watch the show without issue. Or COULD I?

Turns out Avast won’t have it. It is blocking the SWF from playing and saying “Malicious Code”. Tried a few times in Firefox and IE. Every show or movie I try to play comes up with the same thing.

Here’s the kicker – neither Avast nor the Event viewer is showing any more info. In fact, it’s not even logging the event!

Could this be a malicious code? Could it be that Avasts’ database is off? Maybe Hulu changed some stuff to thwart Boxee from going through the RSS backdoor?

Well, there is a way around that. I went to NBC.com and watched the episode. I hope it’s not a real issue on Hulu…

**Update – Avast has posted an update to allow the Hulu SWF through. There was still no Event log on what it blocked**

For a while now, I have been really critical about Yahoo and their business practice. The drop in stock, the internal fighting – followed by the new CEO and 1 month later, nothing to really talk about. If I was an investor, I would be up in arms.

The other day, Yahoo finally showed something positive. In this post, Yahoo is going to bridge the search with advertisements. What does that mean? The ads will finally coincide with the content on the page. That might bring more clickthrough and more revenue options for not only Yahoo, but also the webmaster that hosts the ads.

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