November 22nd, 2009

Stupid DROID Tricks, Volume 1

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 1:12 pm

Categories: Desktop, General, Google, Linux, Personal Technology, Web Technology

Tags: Google Android, Shortcut, Photograph, DROID, Widgets, Power Control Widget, Mobile Operating Systems, Smart Phones, Corporate Communications, Consumer Electronics

Android 2.0 on the Verizon DROID Smartphone is indeed sophisticated, but for a new user can also be daunting or even overwhelming.

The Google Android 2.0 OS built into the Motorola/Verizon DROID is by far one of the most sophisticated smartphone UIs I have ever seen — and with that UI comes additional complexity which may confuse some users. Since a lot of my friends and family tend to follow my lead on the gadgets and technology I use, I’ve had a few of them ping me on the DROID and how to get the most out of it. Here’s my first installment in what I think will be a series of Tips and Tricks posts related to Android.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Read the rest of this entry »

November 19th, 2009

Messing around with the DROID camera

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 5:25 pm

Categories: General, Google, Personal Technology

Tags: Photograph, Firmware, Camera, Jason Perlow

As you may be aware, one of the earliest complaints from new DROID owners is that the camera under performed when compared with other smartphone cameras, such as the iPhone’s or the BlackBerry Bold’s, particularly as it related to sharpness and focus.

Apparently, it has been discovered that this problem was related to a strange firmware bug that only manifests itself during a specific time cycle. Currently the bug will not manifest itself again until December 11, 2009, at which time Verizon and Motrola is expected to provide an over-the-air software fix.

With Firmware Bug Affecting Servomotor Focus

Here’s a Lobster Cantonese I tried to take a photo of. Note the issues with focusing sharpness.

Similarly a Chinese pork noodle soup didn’t come up very sharp.

With Servomotor Focusing Properly

When the focus bug was in effect, I was unable to take closeups of objects and get sharp definition. Here’s a closeup photo of my bottle of antiperspirant in my hotel room in Baltimore. You can see how sharp the text looks.

Here’s a Clams with Shrimp and Pork a la Alentejana taken at Seabra’s Marisqueira Portuguese restaurant in Newark, New Jersey. This is with the DROID flash. Much better results than with the lobster photo only a few days before.

Here’s a pretty plate from a sushi buffet restaurant in Wayne, New Jersey. Taken without flash, using incandescent light filter settings.

DROID still-life: A fruit basket in my kitchen.

Watermelon Radish with Parsnips.

Tonight’s dinner — Shrimp Pasta with Cauliflower and Roasted Parsnips. Taken with flash.

Here’s a video I took of the Acela Express approaching the Baltimore Penn Station Amtrak terminal.

Are you feeling better about the DROID’s camera now that it has been demonstrated that the focusing issues were a result of a to-be-fixed firmware bug? Talk Back and Let Me Know.

November 19th, 2009

Chrome OS: Some Early Preview Videos

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 10:29 am

Categories: Business, Desktop, General, Google, Linux, Open Source, Personal Technology, Software Infrastructure, Web Technology

Tags: Jason Perlow, Video, Corporate Communications, Open Source, Marketing

Today Google released a number of early introduction/preview videos regarding their upcoming Chrome OS. (UPDATED: Demo from November 18 at Google Headquarters added)

While the software does not currently appear to be in an easily installable state, requiring developers to build their own Chrome OS environments for the time being, the OS does look quite promising and Google’s “Stateless” objective where all user data resides in the cloud reflects an extremely modern concept in OS design.

What is Chrome OS?:

Chrome OS Fast Boot:

Chrome OS Security:

User Interface Concept Video for Chrome OS:

Chromium OS and Open Source:

Live Chrome OS Demo from Google Headquarters

Do these videos provide encouragement or interest in Google’s stateless, cloud-based OS offering? Talk Back and Let Me know.

November 15th, 2009

My First Week With DROID

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 2:04 pm

Categories: Business, General, Google, Linux, Open Source, Personal Technology, Web Technology

Tags: Facebook, Google Gmail, Smart Phone, RIM BlackBerry, Camera, Motorola DROID, Android 2.0, Handhelds, E-mail Providers, Microsoft Windows 7

The Verizon/Motorola DROID is by far the most powerful and versatile smartphone I have yet encountered. My first week with the device was one of geeky joy, adapting to the learning curve of the Android OS as a former BlackBerry user, and understanding the device’s limitations and quirks that come with being an early adopter.

Updated 11/16/09: As many of you know, I became a Verizon Wireless customer on November 6, on the launch day of the Motorola DROID. I had extremely high expectations of the new Android 2.0-based smartphone given the many reviews/previews that had appeared on the Internet, and from extremely positive feedback from my colleagues that this indeed was the device that would fit my needs. I had gone without a smartphone device for just over a month, having terminated my BlackBerry AT&T contract and now was ready to try something new.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Read the rest of this entry »

November 10th, 2009

Cool New Google Maps Feature: New Jersey Wormholes!

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 7:32 pm

Categories: General, Google, Web Technology

Tags: Google Inc., IKEA, New Jersey, Google Maps, Whole Foods, Blogging, Internet, Jason Perlow

In Google Maps, Try to drive to Whole Foods in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and you’ll be teleported 11 miles to the west to IKEA in Paramus, New Jersey. AWESOME, right?

Last week, ZDNet iGeneration blogger Zack Whittaker wrote about Argleton, the English town in Google Maps that doesn’t exist. I thought that was pretty cool, but now I’ve found something even cooler — a rip in the Space/Time continuum in Google Maps. You know, like in Star Trek.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Read the rest of this entry »

November 8th, 2009

In Smartphone Wars, Darwinism Triumphs Over Intelligent Design

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 5:17 pm

Categories: Apple, Business, Google, Linux, Open Source, Personal Technology, Web Technology, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Google Inc., Research In Motion Ltd., Google Android, Phone, Smart Phone, Verizon Communications Inc., Intelligent Design, RIM BlackBerry, Messaging

With the release of the Verizon Droid, the smartphone market now has two apex predators with advanced, feature rich mobile embedded operating systems. There’s no room for smaller or less evolved players, and survival of the fittest in the war of the handsets may very well mean industry and carrier consolidation.

At around 8PM Friday evening, I walked into the Route 4 Paramus, New Jersey Verizon corporate store and walked up to the counter and said two words: “DROID Me.”

The store was busy, but there were plenty of demo units and lots of staff around — a far cry from the iFAIL experience I had when I first attempted and failed to purchase my wife an iPhone 3G at AT&T’s Fort Lee, New Jersey store during its launch in early July of 2008.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Read the rest of this entry »

October 27th, 2009

Congratulations B&N, you've built my Kindroid. So now what?

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 11:35 am

Categories: Business, Google, Linux, Open Source, Personal Technology, Software Infrastructure, Web Technology

Tags: E-reader, Software, Google Inc., Google Android, B&N, Kindroid, Mobile Operating Systems, Smart Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology

The Barnes and Noble “Nook”, which was launched earlier this month, is the real-life version of the “Kindroid” I envisioned one year ago. So now that it has been built for real, what do we do with it?

A year ago, I posited that Amazon might do better with the Kindle platform if they abandoned their proprietary, locked down software platform on the device and embraced an Open Source platform, Google’s Android.

It never occurred to me that the Kindroid might actually become reality in the near future, and that the theoretical device would be introduced by Barnes & Noble, Amazon’s prime competition in the brick and mortar space. Still, I am impressed and somewhat vindicated that the Kindroid or a similar device that resembled my proposed configuration came into existence as the Nook.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Read the rest of this entry »

October 19th, 2009

What's next after SpamWaves, WavePorn?

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 9:19 pm

Categories: Business, General, Google, Networking, Personal Technology, Web Technology

Tags: Google Inc., Obviously Wave Etiquette, Public Relations, E-mail, Marketing, Corporate Communications, Online Communications, Jason Perlow

No sooner than a week after using Google Wave did I get my first unsolicited Spam Wave.

First, there was e-mail spam. Then there was spam forum posts and spam talkbacks. And then spam Twitters.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Read the rest of this entry »

October 15th, 2009

Sneak Preview: Chrome OS Browser Video Tour

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 3:47 pm

Categories: Desktop, Google, Linux, Open Source, Web Technology

Tags: Jason Perlow

Recently, various outlets, such as TechCrunch, had reported that an early build of Chrome OS has been leaked into the wild. Well, I hate to tell you but those reports weren’t exactly accurate.

What leaked was in fact was an Alpha/Beta implementation of the Chromium browser that will be used in Chrome OS. As such, it was distributed in .deb package format, which is the very same format used by Debian-based Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu.

Chromium Browser for Chrome OS Sneak Preview from Tech Broiler

I was able to install this build of Chromium (4.0.222.6-r28902) on Ubuntu 9.04 simply by downloading the .deb package distributed on Rapidshare. Ubuntu immediately recognized this as a .deb package and prompted me to install it. What you see here is clearly a work in progress but may bring a little bit of early insight into what Chrome OS actually is.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Read the rest of this entry »

October 14th, 2009

Google Wave: The Microsoft Bob of the New Millennium

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 1:26 pm

Categories: Google, Software Infrastructure, Web Technology

Tags: Google Inc., Google Gmail, Microsoft Corp., Mashup, Google Wave, Wiki, Collaboration, E-mail, E-mail Providers, Groupware

Google Wave, the new and highly anticipated workflow/group collaboration mashup web application which is in limited alpha test has left me underwhelmed.

Over the weekend I became one of the lucky few to receive a Google Wave invite. I was excited, overjoyed, and basked in my new-found elite status among the New Media weberati. For all of about ten minutes.

I see for the most part what Google is trying to do. It’s trying to achieve the holy grail of workflow and group collaboration by tying the two paradigms of threaded email discussions and wikis together. Effectively Wave is a hosting site for disposable, single-purpose based Wikis and mashups.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Read the rest of this entry »