7 posts tagged “internet”
Qik is a new service that allow you to stream live video from your phone to a blog or friend & family members. Once you complete a live stream from your mobile device the Qilk will then archive the video directly on their site like You Tube. Today, Qik officially entered public beta. As long as you have a smartphone running Windows Mobile and a data plan, you're ready to share whatever your little heart desires.
Qik is a very cool service. Basically, if you're a mobile video fanatic, you need to sign up. I shoot video using my cell phone all the time. Transferring it to other sites was a major pain until Qik came around. Using Qik, any video you shoot is streamed live, and also archived at the same time, so you can watch it again later. For those who need to share what they see and don't think picture messages or MMS messages are enough, this is the avenue you need to take.
According to the Qik blog, the service supports several Windows Mobile devices and about two dozen S60 smartphones from Nokia. Qik is working to add more phones to the list of devices it supports, and currently has a private alpha available for the iPhone. Even if you have a phone that is not supported, you can sign up and join in the community aspect of Qik.
The beta program is free, and requires users to have a data plan with their carrier. I suggest you check it out.
As of today only four windows mobile phones are supported, Motorola Q9c, Motorola Q9h , Samsung Blackjack II , and the Samsung SGH-I600, with promised support the HTC Shift, HTC Touch, HTC Touch Diamond, and the HTC TyTN II. I can't see why anyone with a Window Mobile 5/6 phone can't post the cab and expect it not work with most other WM devices.
Well, despite Gmail being a free product the fact remains Google needs users to generate revenue and if Google feels high and mighty enough to think they can get away with releasing a faulty product it's high time they are smacked down the reality. I personally haven't utilized my AOL e-mail account in over eight years but giving the Google's stubbornness and lack of interest in end user experience with their product I'm going to switch my account over to their competitor. AOL may be considered the ugly ducking of Internet portals but let's face it Google's 800 pound gorilla flew the coop when their software engineers lost focus on innovation and management started concentrating on their stock price and buying others innovations instead of developing their own. i.e. Youtube & Google Earth.
So it comes as no surprise that Google can't respond to the IMAP Windows Mobile issue, they're too ill-prepared to do so. I encourage angry users to look else where for IMAP service providers, AOL may not have the prestige they enjoyed in the early 90's but their engineers have provided a rock solid IMAP experience that functional across all platforms including Windows Mobile. So the choice for me is easy.
Adiós Gmail... mail@aol.com here I come.
PS AOL does provide unlimited e-mail storage also, as a another instinctive to leave.
We received a pamphlet in the mail today from Comcast cable notifying us of their exciting new products for 2008? New products like Payment Conveniences surcharges ($2 to $4 dollars) and an nearly across the board price increase of $2.00 for all their services expect for High-Speed Internet and Digital Voice services. Interesting how only in the markets where Comcast meets completion they aren't raising rates. We might be switching to DSL services from AT&T and acquire television from Direct TV just to send Comcast a message.
I had just about had it with Comcast's so called high-speed Internet service, so much that I began fluting with the
notion of switching to AT&T new naked DSL service. {Naked DSL: Is a term used to describe DSL service from a telecom provider that doesn't require the end user to subscribe to additional services such as a land-line
telephone to gain DSL services.} Our neighbors can't help keeping themselves out of the buildings cable boxes and every time they attempt giving themselves free HBO we loose our Internet connectivity until technicians repair the boxes. Making matters worst was Comcast's advertisements about something called PowerBoost
which is suppose to joust connectivity an additional 10mbs per second for average file transfers and web surfing. Sounds great... only problem was since moving to Atlanta I haven't experienced exceptional Internet speeds in the slightest. I figured the problem was caused by clogged network nodes. I am living in a metropolitan area after all.
After conducting some research on the technology behind Powerboost I learned it required a cable modem that met DOCSIS 1.1 specifications. Which caused me to shine the spotlight on my aging home network equipment. As it turns out my cable modem has been discontinued for several years and fails to meet current DOCSIS 2.0 requirements and my home router was still a first generation wi-fi device sure to cause a bottleneck with it's 10mb WAN port. Now you do the math if the router maximal throughput is 10mb and our Internet pipe allows for >10mb and the router typically has three concurrent wireless connections at a given time our poor little router from 2002 just doesn't have the horse power to keep up anymore.
So this evening we went technology shopping and invested some capital into new equipment for our home network and the results were immediate. First we brought home the Motorola SB5101 current industry standard in cable modems, it's the same device most cable system lease to their customers. Then to avoid the router bottleneck we spring for the most advanced wi-fi device on the market we could afford and ultimately walked away with a Belkin F5D8233-4 based on the 802.11n draft specification. This device should have room to grow in the future as all our wireless devices currently have 802.11g technology in them so things can only get faster! Now I finally feel like I'm getting a little bit of my moneys worth out of Comcast.
A group of Scottish programs have quite a gem on their hands with the highly sought after Picsel Browser for mobile devices. With the ability to render full web pages as they were originally designed to be viewed, and while that's not exactly a new trick among mobile browsers Picsel is the first to do it with style and grace as it allows users to smoothly navigate pages with a flowing UI as users pan and zoom across pages. Simple put, Picsel currently stands as the best mobile option for surfing on the go.
As an added bonus the software is also able to view a plethora of document file types besides your run of the mill images. Picsel lends it's same gracefully scrolling and zooming capability to viewing Word, Excel, and even Acrobat PDFs, and even PowerPoint presentations.
Hopefully both Opera and Microsoft are taking notes and twinkling their upcoming Opera Mobile 9 & Deepfish Client release to better compete.
As a side note, the Picsel Browser is currently not available for sale or download for end users. The company decided to instead profit from licensing the browser direct to device manufacturers,
meaning if you don't have it installed on your device when you purchase it you're not (legally) able to obtain it.
I loath anticipating software releases, especially software I use on a daily bases. Take my web browsing software for example, back in 2006 when Internet Explorer 7 beta was released I risked my priority PC to test the new browser because I couldn't stand waiting on the new features to arrive. (But who could blame me IE7 arrived four years late!) Now I'm stuck waiting on future releases for two beloved apps, although they're not for the PC. Rather, I'm sitting here anxiously waiting updates for my freaking telephone. It's ridiculous how technology can get so intertwined into our daily routine that we flinch at the slightest hint of an upgrade hoping for new functionality and new improved features. Okay, so what gives... What exactly am I waiting for?
Well, unless you've been living under a rock... or simply not keeping up with telecommunication software you should have heard of "Opera Mini". The scaled down version of the much less popular desktop web browser, engineered to operated on smaller portable hand held devices. Now, before "Mini" skyrocketed into fame the Opera company was steadily making progress on the ninth incarnation of Opera Mobile destined for Pocket PCs everywhere. However, with the surge in popularly of its more tiny sibling plus the fact market share for users of smaller less expensive cellular devices out weight the number of more technologically savvy Pocket PC, Palm and yes Blackberry users (a few of you). The company decided to reallocate resources towards furthering development of "Opera Mini" to face the incumbent. The spooky Apple iPhone. Leaving Windows Mobile users once again to twiddle their thumbs until word of development leaks or the project slowly fades into nihility...
Related Links:
Opera Mini - Hands down the best web browser for the standard cell phone.
Opera Mobile - Hopefully still in development, the beta isn't half bad if you have a Pocket PC or smart phone.
iPhone - Made for people who 10% like technology and 90% suckers for marketing.
I'll end with this report from CNN International predating the release of the iPhone in the United States:
AT&T is finally owning up to promises made to the Federal Trade Commission last year when the company pleaded it's case for the merger between SBC Bellsouth and the resuscitated AT&T. Customers in the former Bellsouth footprint can now receive Naked DSL (DSL service without the requirement of a home telephone line). Although the plan is not currently advertised by AT&T on the old BellSouth website. Those interested in obtaining the service are required to call AT&T and ask for the "bundle package 97". In addition to this the FTC has also made a stipulation that AT&T is required to offer its lowest speed DSL service which is 786k/sec for a mere $10 per month for new customers. That's a sweet deal if you don't require massive bandwidth in your house. Comcast has something new to fear, it's called competition!
