Technology

The Motorola Droid – Punching Apple in the Mouth

Jeromey Balderrama

By now you may have seen the new commercials for the Motorola Droid, which looks to be the next competitor to the iPhone.  What makes this viable is the fact that a phone with a nice form factor and runs Google Android is now on the Verizon Network.  This first ad takes a shot at the iPhone – right in the mouth.

The iPhone looks great, but the experiences that my friends have with the AT&T Network has deferred me from  getting an iPhone.  I own the Verizon xv6800 (which is basically a rebranded HTC Titan), which I have been mostly happy with.  However, Windows Mobile drives me crazy.  The fact that Microsoft doesn’t seem to put any serious development into the Windows Mobile roadmap really leaves me wondering if I’m riding on a sinking ship.  The fact the Microsoft has taken this long simply  to release Windows Mobile 6.5 – let alone 7.0 – is pretty appalling.

At the end of the day: It’s the Apps, stupid.  iPhone has all of these great apps that you read and hear about, that are capturing the attention of the Smartphone consumers market.  Android looks to have a promising app ecosystem, especially with the fact that they have a free SDK and an open platform.  Now, if they can continue to build up their compelling App inventory, we may have a viable competitor.

The key to this whole thing is Verizon.  Verizon, which is notorious for crippling their devices, will need to let Android to have free reign over the hardware to make this successful.  They have the strongest network by far, which has been the compelling reason for keeping me as a customer.  If I can have a phone that has access to the GPS, allows tethering and lets me do all that my hardware is capable of – Verizon and Motorola will have hit one out of the park.

Now I’m simply left to wonder if this will be my next phone.  I’m up for a renewal discount next month, maybe this will be it.

Digsby, doing more evil

Jeromey Balderrama

Digsby is one of my essential apps that I virtually have running all the time.  It’s really my window to the social world, through their Twitter & Facebook integration, as well as using it to manage my IM’s and emails.  I want to say it’s my favorite program, but with their latest actions I feel like I did a little inside every time I fire up this program.

Digsby has always had one of the most evil installers, which sneakily offers your crapware that you don’t want, making it pretty hard to escape unscathed .  Back in August they released a new version that stepped up the amount of crapware, but to make things worse they used your computer to “search the web” and do processing for other commercial companies.  As if that wasn’t unbelievable enough, it was originally opt-out.

Lifehacker did a great job of chronicling the ordeal and rightfully ripping Digsby for their misdeeds. It’s worth a read.  After enduring a PR firestorm, Digsby finally reneged on these restrictions, crying “mea culpa, mea maxima culpa” [see LifeHacker reaction].  In their blog post apologizing for (and defending) their actions Digsby proclaimed:

“We are still a young company that is trying to figure out our long term revenue models.  At the end of the day, we need to keep the lights on and pay salaries so we can keep making Digsby even better ..  The reason we decided to test these two revenue models is because they would allow us to accomplish this while keeping Digsby free and ad-free.” [Digsby Blog]

So I gave Digsby the benefit of the doubt, until I saw their Twitter post from last night:

Text DIGSBY to 41411 to be the first to know when there are updates and new releases!

So now they’re resorting to collecting cell phone numbers.  I’m going to go out on a limb here, but I think that a social media & communication tool – rather than using said social media & communication methods to send their updates – is now going into left field and sending them through cell phones.  How does this make sense?  It only makes sense if you’re looking to graft ads at the end of these messages or perhaps even build them up for more sinister purposes (like renting them to another company).

I’m surprised there hasn’t been a backlash about this, but maybe it’s building up somewhere.  I hope people see this as another one of their shady tactics and don’t buy into this crap.  If there is a backlash I’m sure Digsby will apologize on their blog, saying they need to keep the lights on and will go doing good until they get their next “Pinky & the Brain” evil scheme to take over the world.

This is a disturbing and recurring pattern that is being displayed in some of these cutting edge Web 2.0 companies.  Many deploy these slimy tactics and don’t see the problem with them until there is a backlash from their users.  What this tells me is that their ethical compass isn’t pointing north and there doesn’t seem to be a pressing need to correct it.

I hate this because I think Digsby is a great app and I want them to succeed.  I wish they simply would just go ad-supported and offer a modest price for a professional version.  This has become an essential app every day and would gladly pay the price. but not like this.

Worth Reading: AT&T to Data Cap iPhone Users

Jeromey Balderrama

One of my biggest pet peeves is businesses that are too busy to address their failing business models and resort to going against their customers. We’ve seen this time and time again with the RIAA and MPAA, and now you’re seeing this with the these Wireless and Internet Service Providers.

Case in point, Gizmodo posted a prediction that AT&T may impose a cap on data usage for the iPhone customers.  AT&T justifies this by saying that 3% of their smartphone users (which are iPhone users) use 40% of the Smartphone Data.

Sometimes I wonder if AT&T is happy with the deal they signed with the devil – in this case Apple.  AT&T got a lot of new customers over being the exclusive iPhone provider in the US, but somehow they failed to understand that when you have one of the most feature-rich phones out there that boasts the largest applications store, you’re going to see increased data usage.

I’m on Verizon and don’t have an iPhone (I have a Windows Mobile phone, which I have a love/hate relationship), but I can tell you that my data usage far outweighs by voice usage, and the sooner that Wireless Carriers realize that the better off they’ll be.  Instead they’re going to start battling customers, imposing these continued caps and restrictions – pages directly from the record industry’s playbook.

I understand that bandwidth isn’t free and these carriers aren’t a business but there are two issues that I have: 1) Carriers lock their customers into their contract and have sneaky ways of keeping you tied down with these new terms. 2) In the case of Telcos, the government provided them money to expand their networks, and they spent that money but seemingly can’t manage contain without “managing the network” steps.

Qwest Fiber: The first two weeks

Jeromey Balderrama

After moving into our new house in Spring of 2008, we made the switch from Comcast over to Qwest, which I’ve been mostly happy with.  I was especially excited to hear the rumors that Fiber was soon coming to Qwest and our part of town.  When I got the email a few weeks ago, I wasted no time to get signed up.  After about two weeks in, I wanted to offer some initial thoughts on the service and hopefully set the expectations for those who may be considering the service.

First off, the speed is pretty exceptional, especially for DSL.  Running a speed test at peak times, we’ve had a pretty steady downstream of 14.7Mb/S, with nearly 4Mb/s upload.  I’ve definitely experienced the fast steeds on my downloading and streaming.  The uploading has been especially exceptional.  We uploaded a bunch of pictures to print in what seemed like a fraction of the time that we were used to it taking.  The service has been very reliable as far as uptime is concerned.  I’ve been pretty happy with the actual fiber.

The modem/router on the other hand.  leaves a lot to be desired.  Previously we were using the M1000 DSL connected to a D-Link router that we’ve been very happy with.  The M1000 is incompatible with the Fiber technology, so we were forced to upgrade our modem to the ActionTech Q1000, which doubles as a router.  This router has pretty much driven me to pull my hair out.  Aside from connecting our computers to the Internet, we use an Xbox connected to Live, as well as have some Remote Desktop ports open into my desktop computer.  However, I had the hardest time making the latter two activities work.  I first tried to use the router in a bridge mode, so that I could use my current router, but that left me with notable latency and issues with port forwarding.  After some considerable work with the router, I was able to solve my port-forwarding issues (which required some application settings to be configured), but was still having the worst time getting the Xbox connected to XboxLive.  I finally solved that problem, after a crazy firm-ware upgrade (which at first bricked my router).  Right now things are working correctly for the most part, but I really wish Qwest would offer a stand-alone modem, especially with the third issue.

.The cost of upgrade/installation.  We got our first bill from the changes, and Qwest charged me a whopping $122 for “service addition & changes”.  Obviously the modem/router cost was included in this charge, but this is still a pretty baffling fee for a self-installation.  Part of the reason was that this was such a shock was because the chat agent that placed the order for me didn’t inform of these charges.  In fairness, I didn’t ask for the total of the new charges, but I think that anything over $100 should warrant a notification when you place the order.  If you’re considering upgrading to the Fiber, be ready for this charge.  This also reinforces my wish of having a stand-alone modem device that would have likely been cheaper.

I think if you’re salivating for faster internet service and live in an area where this Fiber is available, it’s a great solution.  However if you have the slightest hesitation, this modem/router may keep you on the slower side of the fence.