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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.

Also Read: My First Week with DROID

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.

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November 21st, 2009

Frugal Friday: Joblessness, DROID, Chrome OS, Richard Stallman, V.i. labs

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 12:18 pm

Categories: Business, Linux, Open Source, Personal Technology, Podcast, Security, Software Infrastructure

Tags: Lab, Richard Stallman, Piracy, Business Operations, Corporate Law, Jason Perlow

Frugal Networker Ken Hess and I discuss the dwindling IT employment landscape, my experiences with the Motorola/Verizon DROID, the Google Chrome OS developer code release, Ken’s recent interview with Richard Stallman, and we interview Victor DeMarines of V.i. labs, the anti-piracy and software protection company.

Click Here to Listen to the November 20, 2009 Frugal Friday Podcast.

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.

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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.

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November 5th, 2009

Frugal Friday: Verizon DROID, Intel Antitrust, V-Block, Oracle/EU, ICCA

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 9:20 pm

Categories: Business, Enterprise Computing, Linux, Podcast

Tags: Antitrust, Verizon Communications Inc., Intel Corp., Corporate Law, Security, Business Operations, Jason Perlow

Frugal Networker Ken Hess and I discuss the new Verizon DROID smartphone, the recent antitrust charges filed against Intel by the New York Attorney General, the new V-Block data center solution joint offering between VMWare, CISCO and EMC, the Oracle/Sun merger delays by the European Union, and have an entertaining and nostalgic conversation with Independent Computer Consultants Association founder Steve Epner about the early days of computing and learn about the ICCA’s upcoming annual conference in San Francisco on November 13-15th, 2009.

Click Here to listen to the November 6, 2009 Frugal Friday Podcast.

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.

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October 23rd, 2009

Frugal Friday: Mac refresh, Magic Mouse, Verizon DROID, The Nook, Windows 7, Likewise

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 8:00 am

Categories: Business, Desktop, Linux, Microsoft, Open Source, Personal Technology, Virtualization

Tags: Apple Macintosh, Mouse, Verizon Communications Inc., Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows, E-books, Mice, Operating Systems, Software, Personal Technology

Frugal Networker Ken Hess and I discuss the 4th quarter 2009/Q1 2010 Apple hardware refresh, the new Apple Magic Mouse, the quaintness of keyboards, the new Verizon DROID smartphone, the Barnes & Noble “Nook” Android-based ebook reader, the Windows 7 launch and Windows XP migration solutions, and talk with Barry Crist, CEO of Likewise Software, the Windows networking and identity management interoperability company for Linux, UNIX and Mac.

Click Here to Listen to the October 23rd, 2009 Frugal Friday Podcast.

October 22nd, 2009

Windows 7's latest fan: Linus Torvalds

Posted by Jason Perlow @ 5:40 pm

Categories: Business, Desktop, Linux, Microsoft, Open Source, Software Infrastructure

Tags: Linus Torvalds, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Software, Jason Perlow

Linus Torvalds, pictured at an unidentified Yodobashi store in Tokyo, Japan. Source: Chris Schlaeger (click to enlarge)

I was determined to not write about Windows 7 today, because any analysis I wrote would get buried in all the other news. I was going to wait to deliver my “last word” sometime next week. But then a co-worker emailed me the photo above, clearly of Linus Torvalds at the software counter at Yodobashi, a Japanese consumer electronics store in Tokyo in front of a huge display of Windows 7 boxes, giving it the international sign of recognition: Thumbs Up. I HAD to post that.

Of course, if you happen to be Japanese, the custom is to make the “V” sign rather than a “Thumbs Up” when you are being photographed, but I won’t criticize Linus for his trivial knowledge gap.

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Jason Perlow is a technologist with over two decades of experience integrating large heterogeneous multi-vendor computing environments in Fortune 500 companies. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.