My Mobile / PDA / eReader / tablet 2

Accessing Google stuff from the friendly skies

According to some tests, a number of Google mobile apps (including Hangouts, Plus, and the search bar) seem to work okay on different airline WiFi setups _without_ actually ponying up for data connectivity. Southwest, United, and GoGo services are all mentioned.

I definitely have to try this next time I fly.

What You Can Access Online Without Paying for In-Flight Wi-Fi
Maybe I’m a sucker because I pay for in-flight Wi-Fi. Turns out there’s a bunch of services on your phone that work without ever needing to pay.

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Living with a dearth of ringy-dingies

On a regular basis, the happy-peppy folk from Comcast contact us to say, "Hey, you use our Cable TV and Internet Broadband services — why not go for a triple-play and use our VOIP phone services, too?"

And my answer has always been, "Hey, our cable and/or internet have intermittent problems, but our ~~US West~~ ~~Qwest~~ CenturyLink POTS phone service is always there, solid and stable."

(And, yes, we want a land line. We live in a mobile phone pit — indeed, we got a Verizon femtocell to books mobile connections, which connected to the outer world, ironically, through our broadband. And I like having a phone connection that's not power-dependent.)

So for the past few months we've been having occasional phone problems — partial rings, rings that don't connect when we pick up, etc. I had thought that it was a problem with our cordless phone system. Margie thought it might be a phone line problem, maybe associated with rain storms.

And then, Thursday, we had a major, major rainstorm, and I got home from my business trip (delayed an hour by DIA being closed), and found Margie on her mobile with CenturyLink, because our phone service went completely out, though apparently the line was showing as busy. (Thus also confirming that her diagnosis of the problem was better than mine.)

The CenturyLink folk, in turn, informed us that it would be a week before we could get someone out to even look at the problem. A week without landline service. Which is what we bother dealing with CenturyLink for.

So one of their techs will be out on Thursday. And I strongly suspect it will take a subsequent trip to resolve the problem, at least. All of which, to be perfectly honest, makes me think that Comcast's VOIP service will be getting a much harder look next time they contact us with a possible deal.

On the bright side, not having a land line is cutting down on a lot of extraneous phone calls for political polls or touting one candidate or another, or for hail damage inspections / repairs. So maybe CenturyLink has done us a service …

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The commoditized smartphone

According to the article, the Android smartphone business has become increasingly commoditized — i.e., "phones is phones" and aside from looking for a larger vs smaller phone, there's not a lot to distinguish competitors. Being a major name like, oh, Samsung doesn't matter as much (indeed, the push toward non-skinned Android phones makes the manufacturer even less meaningful).

There are areas where the actual handset manufacturer does or could make a difference, but those areas are shrinking, esp. as budget Android models thrive.

In a sense, this is akin to what's happened to PCs. Yeah, you may have a "favorite" brand, but most are less concerned with the manufacturer than with the specs and (especially) the price, and in the process a lot of manufacturers have simply gone out of business. Companies care about HP vs Lenovo vs Dell, largely because the support costs decrease (and purchasing leverage increases) with a company standard, but the average home PC purchaser cares less and less as long as the thing turns on and runs the game / app they want.

I can see arguments over whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, but it is, basically, a thing.

The exception in all of this — PC and mobile — is Apple, because they've kept a lock on who can carry their particular operating system, and have managed to stay at the front of the pack in terms of styling and cachet. You can't buy a generic Mac or iPhone, and both are nice enough (and different enough from their competitors) that people are willing to continue buying them for now. But just as Macs are something of a niche product, I expect iOS mobiles to become that way, too, over time.

Samsung’s Future Is Bleak Because Phones Themselves No Longer Matter | WIRED
Samsung leads the world in smartphone market share, and at a time of ascendant mobile computing, that seems like a great place to be. So why does the future look so glum for the South Korean hardware giant?

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Is "living the moment" an overblown concept?

Every time I read an article like this, a part of my just gets all contrarian and says, "Y'know what, if someone values recording that moment on their cell phone rather than directly with their eyeballs, let them. If they find it unsatisfying, they'll try it the other way next time."

'Now, there is a side of this that is fine, of course. We celebrate meaningful moments and want to share with those we care about. The problem starts when we stop fully participating in the moment because we have this urge to record it.'

What does that mean, to "fully participate"? Why is the engagement focused just now inherently better than engagement that extends over time (as pictures are looked at and shared)?

People have been talking about disengagement from the here and now forever. When it wasn't mobiles, it was cameras in general (the intitial anecdote in the story is really about conventional photography), and before that it was people going around with Walkman-and-headphones, or people who sat there and read rather than "enjoying" the scenery, or someone who would pull out a sketchbook to draw a scene rather than just lingering over it.

Part of it may be that, now, that mobile-based engagement is so obvious and ubiquitous, and that this change has happened so fast. But these sorts of things tend to find an equilibrium. Rather than get all curmudgeonly, or else pine lyrically for the days when people were using Brownies rather than iPhones to record their lives, or when someone who went around with a Super-8 recording everything was just "eccentric," vs someone recording everything with some sort of wearable video or Google Glass who is somehow "disturbing."

Wanting people to "fully participate" or engage directly-via-eyeballs with the world is fine, within limits. Posting long laments or screeds on the subject is a modern equivalent of a cane-shaking shout to get off one's lawn.

(Note: I reserve the right to get as cranky and contrarian the other direction given a swing in my mood or a counter-example I find equally irksome.)

Originally shared by +NPR:

Should We Live Life, Or Capture It? #npr

Should We Live Life, Or Capture It?
Cell phones and social media may be changing the way we engage in — and experience — life. We need to be concerned if they have come to define how we live, says commentator Marcelo Gleiser.

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Accessorizing when no accessories are needed

Yeah, I've gotten over the whole screen protector thing — Gorilla Glass and its like is tough and I keep my phone in holster case most of the time so it's not banging around against my keys and the like.

As to an actual case on the phone — yeah, I still want a little something to protect it from droppage for the 2-3 years I'll have it. With the Moto X I got, I also wanted one that was see-through, so the bamboo backing I'd chosen would actually be, y'know, visible.

The one I ended up with is thin enough and clear enough to do that part of the job, while providing some good grippy nubblies but not much bulk to the phone (i.e., it will still fit easily into a case designed for a Moto X).

Originally shared by +Doyce Testerman:

My Mobile Rules
1. No cases on a durable phone that will be valueless old tech in two years when I get a new one. *
2. No shitty three dollar plastic film to 'protect' nigh-fucking-indestructible gorilla glass screens.
* – Protective cases become viable when the devices they encompass get heavy enough to qualify as tablets; in other words, when their own weight makes it more likely they can't withstand being dropped. **
** – Corollary: don't buy a phone that, according to the above rule, is effectively a tablet.

DOGHOUSE | Getting A New Phone
Hey people! Forekast just launched! It’s a project we’ve been working on. If you wanna know more, here’s our blog post. << · < ? > >> << · < ? > >> Getting A New Phone. It’s a very strange thing. Comments on Facebook. Alt-Text: Let’s further defile it with its own figurine pet which we will …

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Oh, look! A new Kindle is announced!

The good news is, Amazon continues to support the Kindle line — in this case, something a scosh smaller and lighter but with a better screen, etc.

The bad news is, I don't have any rational reason for replacing my current Paperwhite with one of the new Voyages.

Though given my track record of broken Kindles (currently on Number 6), I suppose that sooner or later …

(More coverage at http://www.wired.com/2014/09/amazon-kindle-voyage/)

Kindle Voyage: This Is What a $200 E-Reader Looks Like (It’s Gorgeous)
It’s been a few years since e-ink Kindles took a big step forward. 2012’s Kindle Paperwhite was the last big splash. But now Amazon’s got a new, beautiful, premium e-reader for you to read words off of. This is the Kindle Voyage.

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Farewell to the iPod Classic

Damn. We have one of these (5th Gen 80Gb). It has all our ripped music in its lovely little memory (synced to my PC), which means we use it to power our stereo system.

Better hope we don't drop it or lose it now.

Originally shared by +Gizmodo:

Apple finally killed the iPod Classic. RIP, iPod Classic: http://trib.al/3ICemx6

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'Til Death Do Us Download

Who owns your Kindle purchases after you die? Or your Google play purchases. Or your iTunes downloads?

The straightforward answer is, base on the EULAs you've clicked through, nobody. Or, rather, they revert to Amazon / Google / Apple, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

I predict some serious law around this within the next ten years. In the meantime, consider formats (purchased or converted) that leave those digital assets to your heirs (assuming that they have any interest in them). And, as part of that, consider your ethical position in doing so.

Who Owns Your Kindle E-Books After Death?

The fate of your online life after death is a sensitive topic, and one both the law and technology companies have struggled with how to handle. Last week, Delaware Gov. Jack Markell took one step toward a possible solution, signing into law first-of-its-kind legislation that will grant Delawarean families the…

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It’s the Kindle that everyone’s been waiting for

But Apple's not far behind …

New Kindle Helps Readers Show Off By Shouting Title Of Book Loudly And Repeatedly
Amazon says the Kindle Flare’s repetitive shouting will appeal to fans of print, who miss the ability to display a book’s cover to strangers.

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The evolving airline media environment

All I have to say is, "I'm glad I always have a book with me."

Aside from being a big #firstworldproblem , this is kind of interesting. I was thinking the other day (in a discussion about cell phones on planes) about how you never see those seat-back telephones any more. I'm grizzled enough to remember how cool it was when they first appeared (though I never used them).

Flash forward to today, and seatback TV displays may be disappearing the same way. It's cheaper and easier for airlines to provide (for a price) streaming to the tablets that so many folk are already carrying (the picture quality is probably better, though the convenience would be lower). (The gasp-shudder in the article over the inconvenience to the flight attendants having to manually give the safety briefing is … cute, given that the majority of flights I'm on still do just that very thing.)

Honestly, aside from international flights, I rarely use the movie/TV functions on planes anyway, so it doesn't bother me — though it does raise the specter of making sure I take my tablet on such flights, just in case I need it. But, again, glad I always have my Kindle with me.

Why your brand-new plane doesn’t have a seat-back TV
Earlier this year, I boarded a United flight from Newark to San Diego. After passing the first few rows, a young boy turned to his mother and asked, “Why

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When stuff that's good enough is a problem

For the industry that makes it, that is. The same thing as described here was true for e-readers — suddenly everyone who was likely to get one had gotten one, and the only costs were for folks looking at incremental improvements and people replacing one they broke. It's hard to make that a major profit center.

So, too, for tablets. We're looking to replace one we've had for three-odd years now, largely because Margie wants a bigger screen. But after that, we might go several years unless the industry tries to force obsolescence (applications only working on the latest-greatest operating system which is no longer being pushed out to older devices) — but that kind of shenanigans can lead to a backlash.

For me as a consumer, that's not a big deal. It's like a land-line phone, or a TV set, or a car — most folk buy one mostly when the old stops working (or working as well), and less frequently to make an upgrade (in size/quality), but not as a regular event.

Reshared post from +Les Jenkins

This makes sense on a lot of levels. Once you've found a tablet that works for you why would you need to upgrade it every year or two? So long as it's still doing what you want/need it to do in a reasonable amount of time you should keep it. Just as with a PC.
I have a cheapo Android tablet I've not touched in a while. Not even sure if it's charged at the moment. That said, I don't put a lot of apps on my phone either. Just the stuff I know I'm going to use regularly.

Op-Ed: Tablets really are the new PCs; nobody needs to buy them any more
There’s nothing new tablets can offer existing owners.

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Anti-sociability in forced-sociability surroundings

A funny pair of pictures (thanks, +Scott Randel), but indicative of a truth: humans may be social creatures, but force us into a social circumstance with strangers, a lot of us will choose any non-social interaction alternative.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's the way things are. What' different about the contemporary period is that everyone is carrying around an alternative to socializing in their pocket, purse, or hip holster,

Clearly It’s PHONES That Are Keeping Us Antisocial These Days
Cheezburger.com – Crafted from the finest Internets.

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Electricity in bed is not your friend

The headline of the story is not quite accurate — it appears that the teen in question was electrocuted by a faulty charger plugged into her iPhone under her pillow.

Which, yeah, neither should be there, but only one is actually connected to the electrical outlet in the wall.

(h/t +steph wanamaker)

Reshared post from +Gina Drayer

Second story this week about teens sleeping with phones under their pillows that ended in disaster.

Teen Dies After Getting Electrocuted By Her iPhone In Her Sleep
An 18-year-old teenager died in her sleep when her iPhone 4S electrocuted her while it was charging overnight.

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Snarky advice and reductio ad absurdem

Do like.

Reshared post from +Ralf Haring

via http://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/post/92606477500/dunebat-coldswarkids-edwardspoonhands

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Lots of folks are cutting the land-line

That 41% is huge. And it's a trend I expect to continue. When will we see houses built without phone lines attached, I wonder?

Three thoughts on this:

First, if we got better mobile reception at our house, this would be tempting. Adding the Verizon femtocell has helped, but not as much as I liked.

Second, this has the interesting effect of fragmenting family communication. You don't have phone numbers for "The Smiths," you have separate numbers for Bob, Susan, Billy, and Stacey. (Or the number you have for Billy and Stacey is their 'rents' mobiles, which has its own interesting issues).

On the other hand, with number portability, the phone number you have for Billy, once he gets a mobile, is likely to be how you can contact him for life.

On the other hand, if you've heard that Bob died … do you have Susan's number to call her up with your condolences? Or if you've been trying to reach Bob and you can't — whom do you call?

On the other hand, it means a family being on vacation isn't necessarily completely out of touch until they return.

Third, does this mean that if you want to be possibly reached in the middle of the night (by family, if not by your boss), then you must carry your mobile upstairs with you to bed? (And, thus, carry it with you effectively everywhere?)

I realize a lot of the above questions are already a reality for a lot of folk (as the below shows), but they're things I'd think about before cutting the land line.

Reshared post from +Les Jenkins

We've been wireless only since late 2005. Wow, that's almost 9 years now.

41% Of U.S. Homes Are Now Wireless-Only
Ten years ago, only about 1-in-20 American homes were cellphone-only. By 2010, that rate had soared to 1-in-5. And according to the newest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, …

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E-Read, Then, O Muse!

I'm a firmly loyal Amazon Kindle user — but I hate to see another ereader platform bite the dust. The Kindle is useful to me both for its ties to Amazon (whence most of my new ebook purchases) and as a simple hardware platform for ebooks via Calibre. The fewer the alternatives to Kindle, the less competitive and poorer the marketplace …

Barnes & Noble Is Dumping Its Nook Business | TechCrunch
Once a pioneer in the space, the B&N Nook has long lagged behind the Kindle, dragging down the bookseller with it. But no more. Barnes & Noble just..

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RT @SwedishCanary: Kids having…

RT @SwedishCanary: Kids having a sleep over 2014… http://t.co/h5jZRsZnQB

Still Waiting

Heh.

Reshared post from +John Saseen

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SwiftKey for Free

I'm a big fan of SwiftKey on Android, and not only is it getting some nice new features, it's also going for free. Not that $3.99 was a huge barrier IMO (they're going to make their money off of premium themes. Nice.

Reshared post from +Liliputing