Operation: Chicken Scratch

We see the cell phone industry continuing to evolve with amazing new technology, and we’re still going to see traditional handsets, but companies outside of regular carriers/manufacturers are going to begin to play a bigger part (like the Apple iPhone).

In July when Google announced it was willing to spend $4.6 billion to buy wireless spectrum in a U.S. Federal Communications Commission auction, analysts began to speculate about the next entrance into this broadening technology.

A recent report by the Wall Street Journal explains the idealogy behind Google’s project:

The Google-powered phones are expected to wrap together several Google applications — among them, its search engine, Google Maps, YouTube and Gmail email — that have already made their way onto some mobile devices. The most radical element of the plan, though, is Google’s push to make the phones’ software “open” right down to the operating system, the layer that controls applications and interacts with the hardware. That means independent software developers would get access to the tools they need to build additional phone features.

With all the lawsuits surrounding the “unlocking” of phones in recent news, pushing an “open source” phone could be revolutionary in the cell phone communications business.

CEO Eric Schmidt, spoke at the All Things Digital conference in May regarding Google’s plans:

The most likely scenario from a Google perspective is to build some, if you will, inspirational platform [applications]; but primarily focus on getting third parties to do it because that’s where the innovation will come from.

Early communications with Google hint that the web giant could attempt to adopt an advertizing driven platform, eliminating service carriers completely.

Sources claim we could see a first release as early as next year.

When it came time to pick a new bag for hauling around all the books, magazines, and laptops we use for keeping you guys informed, there was no better choice than a Timbuk2 Classic Messenger Bag. We chose the Small size measureing 14 inches across, in classic black with yellow accents (kind of a Livestrong look).

Originally built for hard-working messengers, the Classic Messenger Bag has been in production for 18 years. Known for its long-lasting, rugged durability and distinctive three-panel, multi-color design, the Classic Messenger has been adopted in cities around the world as the everyday, all-purpose carryall. It features a ballistic nylon exterior and waterproof liner, and remains the bag-of-choice for bicycle messengers, cycling enthusiasts and urban dwellers everywhere.

The cool thing about these bags is that they are fully customizable! You not only choose size and color combinations, but even the material they are manufactured from. You’re given a choice of Ballistic Nylon or Cordura, and all are back-coated with polyurethane waterproofing.

All of the bags feature:

• Cross strap for stabilization
• Cam Buckle for adjusting shoulder strap
• Vista light attachment loop
• Removable Reflective tails
• Front pocket with extra zippered pocket and pen slots
• Key ring
• Waterproof lining
• Internal pockets, including additional pen slots, business card slot, and fleece-lined cell phone pocket

The MSRP for our bag was $75, but can be more or less depending on size and customization.

We opted for the additional Accessory Case (MSRP $20) which attaches to the shoulder strap. Fleece lining protects devices inside from scratches. A separate slash pocket for earbuds is a nice touch. It has a Velcro top-flap, which snugly secures contents. This accessory case was a perfect fit for my Apple iPod, but could easily fit the iPhone, Treo, or a small digital camera like the Canon ELPH.

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The first BlackBerry to offer a camera, audio player, and a video player–in a noticeably smaller and lighter package than it’s predecessors. It actually looks much like an ordinary cell phone.

This “CrackBerry” has a penalty for such a small size however: The Pearl’s keys are tiny, and, cojoined. Research In Motion (RIM) calls it a SureType keyboard, which is basically a QWERTY keyboard, saving space by combining two letters per key. As you type, the SureType system “guesses” words based on your entry. When it’s correct, it’s a real time-saver, when it’s not, well . . . I’m not a patient person and this little bastard almost went out the window on more than one occasion.

The Pearl also has several multimedia functionalities. A 1.3-megapixel camera is the easiest to spot, and just as easy to use. Simply view your shot on the 2.25-inch screen and use the trackball to zoom (up to 5x), then press it to snap. Picture quality was about what you’d expect from a camera phone.

In addition to a camera, the Pearl is also the first BlackBerry to sport an MP3 player. Actually you can play AAC, MP3, and WAV files on the device. You can store music files in the on-board memory or use a microSD Card (not included). While this is the first BlackBerry to support an expandable media card, the card slot’s location behind the battery is not easy to get to. To add or remove the card, you need to first slide the back off of the phone and then remove the battery.

The jog wheel typically found on the right-hand side of the device has been replaced with a little white trackball that sits on the face of the phone, about the size of an eraser-style pointing device found on some laptops. The trackball illuminates white when the phone is active, making it look like . . . (see device name).

It also supports AOL, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo instant messaging networks. But more impressively is the BlackBerry Messenger application. This is a real-time, direct-connection to other BB users which lets chatters know when an entry has been delivered, read, and being responded to via on screen annotations. This is a feature we really liked.

The Pearl supports the RIM push e-mail technology that has made the BlackBerry so popular, providing access to popular POP/IMAP accounts like Gmail, or access to Enterprise servers.

In our testing, we found call quality satisfactory. Most calls were loud and clear. One of the nice things the BB has over the Treo is that you don’t have to worry about hanging up on people or muting a conversation when your cheek mistakenly touches the screen (Yes, I know this can be disabled on the Treo).

Battery life was OUTSTANDING, with talk-time lasting more than 8 hours! Not bad considering all the other stuff going on with this photo snapping-chat messaging-music playing-mobile phone device.

Considering the whole package, we were generally pleased with the combination of features on this tiny smartphone. However, the keyboard layout was a little frustrating compared to previous BB designs. This prevents us from giving the BlackBerry Pearl 8100 anything more than 3 stars.

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Can you really get a First Class ticket for the price (or less) of a coach fare? YUPP.

Actually, we mean YUPP as in the special type of fare that airlines offer, describing it as either a Coach seat with an automatic upgrade, or deeply discounted First Class. These seats can often be cheaper than even the most expensive Coach seat!

Next time you book a flight, ask the ticketing agent about a YUPP fare (sometimes referred to as QUPP or Z fare).

Happy flying!

Light weight. Open Source. Free.

That’s the slogan of Transmission, our favorite BitTorrent client. It certainly holds true, this strong program is feature rich and doesn’t include any thing extra.

This highly functional program runs natively on five operating systems, and boasts a well designed menu.

BitTorrent, first released in 2001, is the brain child of programmer Bram Cohen. BitTorrent is a method of distributing large ammounts of data where in each person supplies a piece of data to the recipients. They in turn do the same to others. Its no wonder that this protocol quickly became a favorite of those pirating software and music among other things.

There are a variety of BitTorrent Clients these days, but many are riddled with malware. Transmission proves to be “clean” and works very well.For our review we tested the 0.78 release (0.90 just released) for Mac OSX.

After downloading and installing, we were up with no problems at all. With Transmission running, open a web browser and locate a Torrent file from the numerous torrent sites out there. Download the Torrent file to your desk top, then drag and drop right into Transmission. This will begin the process of connecting you to peers who are sharing this file. The more the merrier with this kind of transfer.

The status bar in Transmission will begin to turn green as your transfer progresses and you’ll have your file in no time. Once the file downloads, it will appear on your desk top. Then you can usually run it directly, or uncompress it if needed. For this we use RAR Expander, which will be covered in another post.

No adware, Spyware, or Malware.

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