Posts Tagged ‘wireless’

Ultimately, wires will be involved with your wireless devices. Bloomberg reports Time-Warner wants to provide some of them:

Time Warner Cable Inc., the biggest pay-television provider in New York City, is pitching phone companies including AT&T and Verizon Wireless on a service that uses its underground cables to carry mobile calls and Web downloads — easing the congestion spurred by data-hungry users of smartphones like the iPhone.

The service, known in the industry as wireless backhaul, has become Time Warner Cable’s fastest-growing business after revenue tripled last year, said Craig Collins, senior vice president of business services. Across the cable industry, sales from wireless carriers may reach about $3.6 billion in 2012, according to researcher GeoResults Inc.

The story goes on to say, without quoting any statistics, that iPhones use twice the capacity of other smartphone (I wonder how an iPhone compares to my Android) and that backhaul may ease congestion from one cell tower to another, but won’t help between a tower and the phones in our pockets.

Busy Week
Thanks for coming to the site. We had another great week – busy week. It was a lot of fun and really productive.

Post – HPTF

Of course, we went to Vegas the week before to cover the HP Technology Forum Expo. Andy McCaskey, Kara Karsten and myself were working hard with interviews, product reviews and more. This week was planning to get some of the videos out to you. So far, we’ve posted the HP POD video on Friday and have a lot more coming soon.

Summer of Podcasts – Podcast Carnivale

This is what really took up the majority of the week. The last month I have been working hard in getting prizes together. Now it’s time to put a contest together. That is where the Summer of Podcasts comes in. Each week, Podcasters will be giving out codewords during their shows. We will be giving away a USB wireless VGA from IOGEAR (See the video below), a WebAround Web privacy screen and a lot more. The best part is a lot of prizes are from the Podcasters themselves. Caffination is giving some Coffee, Bageltech News gave a NYC canvas print, Bwana.org is giving Team Fortress 2 for PC and a T-Shirt, SDRNews is giving a MagicJack, Techpodcasts (Geek News Central) is giving an iPod Touch: there is a lot more.

Wednesday, July 1st is when the contest starts. Check out the site before hand to which shows are giving codewords for the week.

Bands

It’s summertime, so the band ramps up in it’s playing. It’s all well and good – I enjoy taking the trips and playing the gigs. This last weekend I played 3 shows and it wasn’t even Sunday. This afternoon is one more show. Next week is just about the same.

Interview

This last week, I was interviewed on the Isthmus – a local tabloid – style paper in the Madison area. The interview will be out next week, when that happens, I will post it.

PC/Mac Smackdown

Had lunch with Cal last Wednesday. He said – “Hey, why don’t you come on the show”. I said “Sure, why not?”. Therefore, I was on the PC / Mac Smackdown with Cal Davis and Rachel Baker.

Windows 7

Pre-Orders of Windows 7 means a significant discount. I have Windows 7 RC on my Dell D600 and really like how it works. What is even more interesting – Windows 7 works a lot better on that machine than when I put on Ubuntu 9.04. Ubuntu would lag when I was working – and I mean REALLY Lag. I would litterally select something, count to 5, then watch it execute.

I am really impressed with this OS, so I am excited this is coming out.

MJ, FF and EM AND BM

It was a sad week for a lot of people. Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson took the Trifecta this week as all three passed. Ed McMahon was the sidekick of Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show, Farrah Fawcett was the poster girl of the 70’s and of course, Michael Jackson was the King of Pop. While I was never a big MJ fan, I do appreciate his music and also how he let Weird Al Yankovic to make fun of his music.

I remember when I first heard “Eat it” 0n the radio. While I never listened to “Bad”, I did have the “Even Worse” album which featured “Fat”.

*Update – Just as I published this, the Internet found out that Billy Mays – the Oxy Clean promoter (as well as Mighty Putty, Big City Sliders, Kaboom and a lot more) was found dead at his  home. He was 50. I guess it’s more than a Trifecta…

Studio

This week was a lot of work with the studio. Only problem – I can’t find my staple gun. I had it, then it dissapeared. I am not sure where it went. AUGH!

Still, the new studio is doing well. I am hoping to record the first video there by Mid-week. My bedroom is getting cluttered with PC stuff and that needs to head down to the Dungeon. The door to that room is the main reason why I call it the Dungeon.

Looking at Phones

I have to admit, I have been looking at the iPhone 3GS. The one thing I like is I have fatter fingers. I was able to use the screen a lot better than with the 3G. For instance, when I hit the “N”, on the 3G, I would always miss and hit the “M”. However, with the 3GS, I have not done anything different and seem to be hitting the “N” key and actually getting an “N”.

I still have some tests to go. I am also looking at the Palm Pre, but in order to do that, I would have to switch to Sprint, which I don’t know if I am ready to do. Android is a possibility, but I really don’t want the G1. I am waiting for the Lenovo version.

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That’s pretty much it this week. Keep watching the site for more info on the contest. Of course if you want to give a prize for the contest, let me know.

Contest has closed. Thanks to all participants.

This month we are giving away an Epson Artisan 700 printer. This is a wireless printer /scanner with CD/DVD printing capability. Here are all the options:

• 4 in 1 Print / Copy / Scan / Ultra Hi-Def Photo
• Up to 38 ppm, photos in as fast as 10 sec1
• Auto Photo Correction; preview on LCD
• Professional quality CD/DVD printing
• Wi-Fi and Ethernet networking
• Scan and restore faded photos
• Ultra Hi-Definition photos last 4x longer than photo lab prints
• Print personal note paper & greeting cards

There are three parts to this contest.

• Follow on Twitter – @geekazine
• Comment below with your twitter name
• In the next few weeks, during the Quickcast – Week in Tech History podcast (published on Mondays), I will announce the third requirement.
  • Check out the latest quickcast on this – we give you the 3rd step – a codeword to enter in twitter. #geekazine rocks.

On June 30th, we will draw a winner from all the names recieved (randomizer on the comment list). We will have other prizes as well, to be announced later.

Good Luck!

Video explaination:

Press release here: http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200905/1243448369.html

The HP netbooks will come with the netbook version of Windows XP and will start at $199.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate.

Read the full story here.

I just looked at the Verizon Wireless website. There’s no mention of it yet.

As a kid I had this really cool TV. it was a Bentley with a 5″ Black and White screen and ran on AC power or 9 “D” batteries. It went all the way up to Channel 83, so if I hooked it up to the cable today, I would get the Big 10 network, MTV, and Disney. Yeah, Black and White, but sometimes you have to go old school.

Joost is no Bentley, but they might have finally pulled into a niche here. Last week they made an iPhone app for the Joost service. It’s not the best thing in the world, but it’s better than nothing.

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It’s been a year and a few months since the first iPhone was sold. Since the release of the 3G model, I’ve been seeing people with iPhones I would have never expected have one. The iPhone has brought up a new way to use the internet, the phone and a computer.

Apple is under a lot of scrutiny: AT&T being the sole carrier, the Apps store program take downs and the 3G services being poor. Yet the iPhone still is the 2nd best selling phone behind the Motorola RAZR. Apple itself is set to continue through these tough times.

There has been a lot of good and bad said about the iPhone. I have seen a lot of Forum posts, even more twitters and more. I decided to go ahead and ask a small group of people over at Help A Reporter what their thoughts were. I asked to send me 1-2 paragraphs as to why you like, don’t like or are neutral about the iPhone. Here are the responses:

Sick Weekend – Oct 1st is 1 year Podcast mark – Paythefan at 91%

Try GoToMeeting free for 30 days – No CC needed: GoToMeeting.com/techpodcasts.
Get IT Certified – Careersaver.com – 10% off with Code “Geek08″ 877-654-2265
Give to the Salvation Army
Nominate Geekazine for a Peoples Choice Podcast Award
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Audio Podcast Brought to you by CareerSaver.com – Special discount on Training materials if you use code “Geek08”. 1-877-654-2265.

Comcast has been riddled in the news lately. Bandwidth caps, overage fees all for simply surfing the internet. However they simultaneously opened Fancast – a Video Download site which won’t go against that cap. They also have Comcast.net, Disney Connection and Rhapsody Player Plus – All within their community.

There was another company that tried to keep their members contained within their virtual fence. That company was AOL.  However, AOL has been opening up for all to use. Still, I have to ask the question: Is Comcast becoming the next AOL?

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Listen to the show here -

Intel Atom
Flip Phones Lost Appeal?
Yahoo – go, or get off the pot.
Leeching the WiFi? How to stop it.

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I am reminded of the old Godzilla movies when I hear “Android”. But in all reality, this is not much different. We just don’t see a cardboard city get demolished by 3 guys dressed in costumes.

Google has given themselves not only a humungous undertaking in aquiring Android, but also a new buzzword that has been passed back and forth many times in the last few weeks. Since it’s silent aquisition back in August, the news has been anything but ‘quiet’. Companies getting on the bandwagon, putting in the hours to make this thing a success. But the real question is – Is this something that the massess want, or will this become another piece of diregarded technology.

It’s safe to say that everyone wants a phone that can do more than take phone calls. Text messaging has become more viable way of communicating. According to www.cellsigns.com, 79% of the US owns a mobile phone, and by Dec of 2006, they averaged over 18 billion text messages a month. That has been steadily growing month by month, so it may be safe to say this number is a lot bigger now. By 2010, they predict over 100 Million people will be text messaging.
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