Well, that day came on monday night, the call telling me my Dad passed away, the only small favor I managed was that my preparations of my mobile communications has worked out as planned. The Nokia 6300 on Vodafone.ie linked up with the AT&T network in Chicago and using the Palm T/X, I managed to connect to the Edge network on the Nokia to check flight changes, I also checked my email from my MacBook through the 6300 as well without having to pay for WiFi in the Airport. And when I had to make some phone number changes on the phone, the three (Palm/Mac/Nokia) synced up and shared the changes. Almost like they were made by the came company, standards, who knew, I suppose that’s why I don’t use Microsoft products. The only down side, the boss in Dublin knows my phone number, so if the shit hits the fan, I’m still on call.
telecommunications
Blogging life
It’s amazing that when family matters start to stress you, everyday activities like blogging loose their appeal. Facing aging and dying parents and the unpredictability of their loss makes everything else pale to insignificance. But I’m more or less prepared, in part, ready to hop any flight, when my brothers tell me the end is near. I have managed to put in place as many mobile communication and messaging technologies as I could manage so as not to be burdened with packing a laptop and various other bits and bobs that might make flying more of a burden that it will be otherwise. I could probably makes the States with only carry on luggage, dispensing with check in issues and customs. These new toys consist of a new Tri-band Phone in the form of the Nokia 6300 and a Palm T/X for more of the heavy lifting email, and web communications issues. With the U.S. now searching all laptops and sucking off suspicious data from disk drives these devices should prove useful for quick passage.
Web 2 Bloat and Mobile Internet bandwidth
This article about the Average Web Page Size Triples Since 2003, is a further illustration of problems on the Mobile Internet when dealing with Bandwidth issues. With the nature of the mobile web communication methods (GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, etc.) being more often costed on the bandwidth, and usage, rather than on a flat rate found in ADSL and Cable connections, this becomes a costly proposition.
Web 2.0 makes for easy universal ‘Application’ programming, but is inherently expensive to use as a consumer while on mobile web systems like Wap enabled phones and PDA’s. Even utilizing a mobile phone as a bluetooth modem and a laptop, Web 2.0 makes for expensive internet.
So the question remains, Who benefits most from Web 2? It surely isn’t the consumer.
I started out developing web pages, often testing against dialup speeds. Who does that now? Who tests their Web 2 apps against a slow GPRS connection or with the dialup connection many Irish folk still have to put up with? There is a vast marketplace out in the real world where broadband, or rather cheap broadband, handicaps Web 2.0 deployment.
This whole Web 2 experience convinces me further of the need to maintain, and further expand, traditional fat client Client Server application development into the mobile internet. As the internet continues to expand into convergent devices like the iPhone, Symbian and Palm OS based smart phones, Portable Media Players and connected PDP’, Web 2.0 will fail to fulfill the promise and the hype currently being displayed.
Web Apps and customer vs carrier benifits
I have been in the market for a PDA replacement, and all the conversations I’ve seen, point to the Web Applications being the solution and replacement to client side development on such things as the iPhone/iPod Touch. This harkens back to the the early days of Web when Netscape was being put forth as the new web operating system. The issue then, and in many ways still is, bandwidth. The thin client on the browser required all code from the application to be loaded before the application could activate and the user become productive. This issue still continues in the mobile internet, currently most users using webapps experience delays in application behavior. And this brings up a new concern.
Mobile Web applications are benefiting wireless carriers (who profit from the addition bandwidth use of their users) more than the consumer. In some cases there are ‘unlimited’ data plans with carriers, but mostly there is a cap on bandwidth usage, with hefty overcharge fees applied.
It only makes sense to promote web applications if you are a carrier, or a lazy programmer. This is part of my reasoning for having a PDA, local offline applications. Particularly in Ireland where WiFi or other networks have been slow to deploy and 3G networks are very expensive. Low bandwidth Client-Server applications are the only really customer centric, consumer friendly application development path.
Web Apps are not the best path to my pocketbook.
PDA’s VS Smartphones
Someone ask me why I’m looking for a PDA instead of the Smart Phone, and while I’ve considered a iPhone, or Palm Centro, the issue is still this.
* Both are using obsolete wireless technology.
* neither can perform PDA duties while the phone is active.
With a PDA, and bluetooth, when the mobile phone technology advances, substituting the phone, upgrades the PDA. And the PDA can operate independent while the phone is in use. Anyone familiar with the evolution of modem technology will understand this, updating the modem to improve communication speed was a common infrastructure issue. As now the speed at which a device can display a block of data, most PDA’s are readily able to perform faster, as they are generally waiting on data.
BTW: Here in Ireland we still depend on dialup Modems.
Screen real-estate, PDA’s vs iPod Touch/iPhone
I’m amused, I’ve been evaluating a PDA/iPod replacement and have been impressed with the ‘full screen’ presentation ability of the Safari web browser on the iPhone/ iPod Touch devices. For many years many popular websites have produced reduced displays that are more or less tailored to PDA’s and cellphones which have small screens. This is great for PDA’s and mobile phone users, but requires an extra effort on the part of the website builder, an effort that many sites choose to forgo.
So it is with much amusement that during this research I find that there are great efforts being rendered to redirect mobile Safari browsers to a reduced screen real-estate copy of any given website an iPhone friendly page if you will. This is, in a some measure, a vindication of the previous efforts of website creators to provide Palm PDA’s, WinCE, Symbian browsers with a Practical web interface to their sites.
This, more or less, mitigates the one great Mobile Safari advantage on the iPod Touch/ iPhone. You don’t need Zoom and shrink on a smaller screen. You don’t need to download, and render full sized graphics. You don’t need 3G bandwidth. And in one step, renders the browsers, on all the other mobile Phones and PDA’s, equal.
iPhone/iPod Touch Monopoly
I have been in the market for an upgrade to my iPod and the question of a replacement has been this, should I upgrade my old Palm Vx to a Palm T/X or my first generation iPod (5GB). The candidates have been the Nokia N770 / N800 / N810 series, the iPod Touch and the Palm T/X. I have by this time determined that the Nokia systems, while the most versatile are not completely integrated systems, more hacker devices than finished products. So the choices are down to the Palm T/X, which is getting very long in the tooth, running an aging operating system, or the iPod touch with a revolutionary OS/GUI but no third party applications.
The requirements are relatively simple, WiFi, bluetooth, applications like email, browsing communicating. MultiMedia. And any other things would be optional like eBooks. I have a medium sized iTunes collection, and plenty of Palm apps.
Currently if the rumor that Apple will approve and distribute apps and limit access to iPod/iPhone internals is true, this will be a deal breaker. No iPod Touch!
I have no intention of buying a totally locked in device. If for no other reason than it’s bad monopolistic practice. It will limit what the developers will be able to develop, and turn away some of the most innovative designs. This would be the most stupid thing Apple could do. A proverbial shooting one’s own foot off. It would cripple any development that might be applied, it would make the Palm the only choice.
I’ll wait until Apple announces on Thursday, but this rumor smells too true, so I’ll start pricing Palm T/X’s.
UPDATE: I looks like Apple has screwed it’s self Here! So my Decision to but an unlocked Obsolete Palm T/X is vindicated yet again!
Traitors to the U.S. Constitution
For voting to violate their oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States I present you with Traitors;
Sen. Lamar Alexander [R, TN] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Wayne Allard [R, CO] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. John Barrasso [R, WY] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Max Baucus [D, MT] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. B. Evan Bayh [D, IN] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Robert Bennett [R, UT] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Christopher Bond [R, MO] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Samuel Brownback [R, KS] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Jim Bunning [R, KY] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Richard Burr [R, NC] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Thomas Carper [D, DE] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Robert Casey [D, PA] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. C. Saxby Chambliss [R, GA] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Hillary Clinton [D, NY] Coward in defence of the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Thomas Coburn [R, OK] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Thad Cochran [R, MS] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Norm Coleman [R, MN] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Susan Collins [R, ME] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Kent Conrad [D, ND] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Bob Corker [R, TN] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. John Cornyn [R, TX] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Larry Craig [R, ID] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Michael Crapo [R, ID] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Jim DeMint [R, SC] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Elizabeth Dole [R, NC] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Pete Domenici [R, NM] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. John Ensign [R, NV] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Michael Enzi [R, WY] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Lindsey Graham [R, SC] Coward in defence of the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Charles Grassley [R, IA] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Judd Gregg [R, NH] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Charles Hagel [R, NE] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Orrin Hatch [R, UT] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Kay Hutchison [R, TX] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. James Inhofe [R, OK] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Daniel Inouye [D, HI] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. John Isakson [R, GA] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Tim Johnson [D, SD] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Herbert Kohl [D, WI] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Jon Kyl [R, AZ] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Mary Landrieu [D, LA] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Joseph Lieberman [I, CT] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Blanche Lincoln [D, AR] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Richard Lugar [R, IN] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Mel Martinez [R, FL] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. John McCain [R, AZ] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Claire McCaskill [D, MO] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Mitch McConnell [R, KY] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Barbara Mikulski [D, MD] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Lisa Murkowski [R, AK] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Ben Nelson [D, NE] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Bill Nelson [D, FL] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Barack Obama [D, IL] Coward in defence of the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Mark Pryor [D, AR] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Pat Roberts [R, KS] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. John Rockefeller [D, WV] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Ken Salazar [D, CO] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Jefferson Sessions [R, AL] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Richard Shelby [R, AL] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Gordon Smith [R, OR] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Olympia Snowe [R, ME] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Arlen Specter [R, PA] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Ted Stevens [R, AK] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. John Thune [R, SD] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. David Vitter [R, LA] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. George Voinovich [R, OH] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. John Warner [R, VA] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Jim Webb [D, VA] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse [D, RI] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Rep. Roger Wicker [R, MS-1] Traitor to the U.S. Constitution
Please remember these names when you next vote for a representative that will honor their oaths.
NSA Spying suggestion.
I was just thinking, if everyone using the internet, would include just one encripted message in one email per day, then that would just about crash every computer at the NSA. Wouldn’t that be fun. Then we can see just how much funding for new computers they ask for in next years budget.
The opposite of iPhone, The MotoFone F3
While the rest of the world is talking about the iPhone like Tom O2 to sell the iPhone?. I went to Lidl this morning a pickup a mobile, that can only be described as the antitheses of the iPhone the Motofone F3 and I can tell you after only a few hours of use, it’s as beautiful a mobile phone as the iPhone, in exactly the target audience it was proposed for, as that proposed by the iPhone’s target audience.
I’ll report more as I go along, but for now, I’m just as happy to have this phone as I might have been to be one of the proud iPhone owners.
I am still trying to find out if it runs Linux.
UPDATE: The F3 is a SCPL (scalpel) class device which runs a Java/Linux derived OS called JUIX now all I have to do is hack a command line interface to really get this thing to sing 😉
Links:
Motorola Motofone F3 Dissassembly
Motorola Motofone F3
Motorola Motofone F3