Results tagged “Verizon” from Green Mesh

There are a few solutions for replacing that bulky live TV truck with Android, your 3G data connection and a streaming Flash window embedded in a web page.

I tested Qik, Bambuser and Ustream.tv

All three apps worked well interfacing with the Motorola Droid running Android 2.0.

All three offer some form of interfacing with social networks and manual embedding.

For me it came down to which service streamed the best and gave the largest picture. Qik was the only service that worked well at the time of testing.

Of course, none of my testing is scientific. The results could have varied due to many things at the time of testing.

Qik embeds as a single stream and the flash window turns into an archived copy, while Ustream.tv embeds as a specific channel and the window lets the viewer know that it has the potential of being a live stream. Ustream.tv also has a revenue share plan.

Exciting concept! More testing and a work flow to come.

Broadcasting Live with Ustream.TV

Android takes the future of the app store and hands it over to the developer, consumer.

It is an entirely mobile app stream where refunds and updates are all accomplished from your handset. It starts with a search field but also breaks down into categories of most downloaded and types of apps.

I like the "Just in" category. For me, it serves as an alternative news feed of the latest apps which are just pouring in these days. I check the "Just in" app feed for a look at what people are developing.

There is little risk when reviewing a paid app because uninstalling them automatically credits your purchase immediately.

Once your card of choice is saved into the Android Market, the purchase and credit is a one button affair.

Access to the Android Market is via an icon on your mobile desktop and the refund is instantaneously obtained by Settings>Applications and choosing the app from the list

If feeling rogue, you can opt out of exclusively downloading from the Android Market and download from the wild through an opt out check.

Once you have your zillion apps downloaded, updates are received automatically through the notifications shade from the top of the home screen from where you can update all your apps from the wireless connection.

Once you have paid for an app you don't pay for it again.

Perhaps the most exciting part of the Android Market is the open door for those with the skills to develop apps.

It's the rebirth of the mom & pop corner store, but this time for the geek.

It's like Walmart charging you a small fee to access their retail network to sell your ideas and hard work from your corner store, globally.

Anyone with the skill set, ambition and a great idea can be part of a global economy that seems to be more and more dominated by corporations that force you into consolidation and the sucking sound of a single revenue stream to them.

This is what I love most about Droid.

I like Bloo better than the native facebook app Verizon ships with the Droid. The latter doesn't push notifications consistently.

I set my location seeking preferences to WIFI yesterday for when the phone isn't in a GPS location *(off by default). In a location that was obviously Pennsylvania my Weatherbug app and Google Maps switched to India.

It was an exciting short trip, but I had to get back to work so I disabled IP address location tool for indoors.


paulkuehnel: Liking Bloo android app for Facebook the fb app bundled with #droid doesn't push notifications consistently. Bloo looks polished

paulkuehnel: I just loaded the "days until I die" app droid and it says I'm gone 6/2011, which is cool because I've been looking for ways to dump my 401K

I didn't have access to one of our pool Sony HVR-Z1U video camera's today... so my Droid came to the rescue! And I wanted to play with it anyway!!

Today, I put the Droid on airplane mode to shut off the transmitter and any possibility of processor activity or notifications adding sound and activity.

Unlike the still camera, which is triggered by a mechanical button, the video start button is on the start screen. The interface is basic and works. With Android, the possibility exists for people to develop new interfaces for things like the camera module, so you never know what might appear in the Android Market tomorrow.

The processing switch over from record to pause is pretty quick. With no lag processing large files. The maximum length for video files is 30 minutes at this time.

I downloaded an app called Time-Lapse that will record time lapse video.

This video was a last minute deal today at a news event that wasn't too active. My instant web update was satisfied and it was time to train baby Droid.

The DVD quality video (720x480 resolution) of up to 24 fps capture on the Motorola Droid offers great potential for capturing spot news.

This video was shot at double arm length. I was ganking a TV interview so standing in front of their camera would have been rude for the situation.

Twenty seconds in, I suddenly realized that I had the PoliceStream app running in the background when York County Control started blurting out of the speaker, two inches from my microphone on the Droid and six inches from the TV video camera microphone.

This is multi-tasking hell.

A quick spin around and regroup scrambling at controls I'm not familiar with and I resumed recording the interview.

I also changed the video limit to 30 minutes so it wouldn't cut off.

The Droid ran smoothly after that.

Verizon gives the Droid a 16 gig removable mini SD card and the phone can handle up to 32 gig card plus internal memory. I chose to open up the phone and pull out the card and use a generic USB interface. The phone also has a mini USB charging port for data transfer.

The Android operating system allows developers to come up with software that may better control hardware so there may be different Android video app solutions out there.

It would be prudent to make sure there weren't any background programs running on the Droid before shooting video. There are several free apps available though the Android Market to manually stop background processes rather than going into each app and shutting it down.

I like TasKiller. Advanced Task Killer Free is listed in the VCAST (Verizon) section of Android Market as a suggestion and easy grab for the Droid, but TasKiller skips a step of checking a box to quickly kill processes. It also give you a memory warning when it's time to start the killing.

Shutting down the ring and alert tones also silences the camera noises. I will also try setting the phone to airplane mode to avoid data transfer and a random call in the future.

Note that I "zoomed" in using my video editing software in the production process zooming in my 720 raw files that will ultimately become a 300 pixel video. Something not usually possible from the raw pulls of a phone camera.

The Android Market pushed a $.99 cent app overnight for journalists and scanner junkies called PoliceStream. The App has archived over 2500 police scanner streams and streams them from your Android phone.

Cities are searched by letter or state and has a nifty spin bar down the side that finds your stream fast.

For York County, the streams are broken into two streams, one for fire and the other for police. The delay is several seconds from real-time but is about the same as the stream we cooked up at ydr.inyork.com/ydr/crime

I haven't listened long enough to determine if it's missing anything, but the inherent nature of scanners is that two scanners running at the same time will usually be prioritized differently.

I was told by a Verizon rep that the data plan on the Droid is unlimited (I keep asking people because of the 5gig included cap on wireless access cards), but using WIFI when available will cut down on data use on the Verizon wireless network.

As AT&T will tell you with their popular iPhone, data use on a wireless network is eventually everyone's issue whether it be the cost structure or network experience.

The excellent multitasking abilities of the Verizon Droid allows this app to run in the background while you use other services like email. The loud clear internal speaker is excellent for the task.

As 911 communication systems migrate away from analog systems into trunked digital systems, journalists have been forced to junk their old scanners. A new trunked scanner can cost over $600. My Droid just paid for itself.

Apps from the Android Market are only available for download and purchase via and Android based phone.

I've gone from amazement, to hate and concluded with love for the Verizon Droid.

There is always a learning curve when you are shifting out of a device (Blackberry Storm) that you have figured out an efficient work flow. Today, I figured out the Droid's multitasking philosophy.

The phone almost asks for you to dump on the multi-tasking. It doesn't seem to slow down at all.

The notification shade that pulls down from the top of the home screen groups ongoing updates like weather and available WIFI spots, and new notifications like email, twitter, facebook and messaging. Even downloads are updated graphically in real-time here.

You can jump to the apps that correspond to the notifications from here or clear all of the notifications with one button.

The BlackBerry uses multiple graphical icons for it's push icons, so this make more sense if you have many applications running at once.

Like the BlackBerry, the Droid has an alert LED at the top of the case to alert you if the phone is on silent or you don't hear the audible alert.

No LED, no need to wake up the phone and check the notifications.

My Droid's twitter feed from today

paulkuehnel: Pandora CEO "Just saw P android download # f the day... #droids are very much among us" bodes well for app development -- about 16 hours ago from twidroid

If I hear one more news clip calling the Droid an "iPhone killer" or a blogger saying it's not, I'm going to throw up.

Verizon's Motorola Droid Android 2.0 smart phone was released yesterday.

After a weekend with Verizon's Droid, I have concluded that the phone is an evolution of things.

I see bits and pieces of other phones that are successful and departures from corporate philosophy of competitors that Verizon and Google have attempted to capitalize on.

I was a Blackberry Storm user for the past year. I loved the phone. The multitasking, the great camera/flash, the integrated multiple pushed email and SMS/MMS. That is what I use 90% of my phone for. I'm not much of an app person beyond using core apps like Facebook and Twitter.

I like to create and spread content and that end needs a strong blend of hardware and application.

If RIM can be be criticized for anything with the Storm 1, it is that they tried to make it do too much before their hardware and operating system could handle it. The hardware in the Storm 2 seems to address these issues.

Potential that needs to be executed with care is an asset and sure beats limitations and walls.

The first thing a Blackberry user notices about Droid is a return key and the list of multi-tasking programs off a long press of the home key.

Droid has unified email, like BlackBerry, but oddly the home base Gmail account is a separate feed. Although, I haven't set up other email accounts to see how this works. I tried.

My Microsoft Outlook web work email didn't work (need to wait for IT for exchange help Monday) and using it to connect to Yahoo web mail requires that you pay Yahoo $20 a year premium for POP access. The Droid unified email says it supports POP3, IMAP and Exchange. My BlackBerry synced with all of these from day one with little effort and no extra expense.

Update 11/11/09 Yahoo is working in the combined inbox for free.

Update 11/09/09: Synching 2000 Exchange via IMAP was easy with the right information. Both Gmail and the integrated inbox holding me work account have the same look so it has an integrated feel.

The Android (App) Market is easy to use and allows you download apps outside the market after checking a security warning. BlackBerry also allows you to download apps from the wild.

A nice feature of the Android Market is a refund if you uninstall an app within a short period of time. This takes the question out of trying apps that may not be designed for different hardware and OS builds. And some Android Market Apps just don't work with this phone.

I love getting the whole chemistry set to play having no rules with no risk.

Verizon learned that some people don't like to see their branding and red menus. Aside from a Verizon logo at the bottom of the Droid, there is absolutely no Verizon in this phone.

The Verizon has been replaced with Googleness.

It's refreshing to see a different influence in the software integration on a Verizon phone and I already use many Google services so it feels comfortable.

However, try and get rid of the Amazon MP3 store icon and it just reappears and I really don't understand why there isn't an app for Yahoo Mail. There are a list of other Yahoo content apps in the Market. You would think someone would build something.

I guess we will wait and watch the Google evolution.

For the IPhone folks used to an integrated one stop shop of apps and Itunes created especially for their devices and running them one at a time in singular memory management bliss, the Droid will hardly be a killer. This is not a plug and play device.

Shall we start with hunting for USB drivers Motorola/Verzion? This phone operates entirely wirelessly, so the drivers and tethering really aren't necessary. I would still like to back up the memory card without pulling it.

If you are looking for a screaming fast science experiment on a great network, that runs with the multitasking idea, in a light Linux operating system with a growing app base this will excite you.

You like to go, Wow, that's cool... how do I figure out how to do that with no big, fat paper Verizon manual, then you will probably like this Droid.

Check back for more on taming the Droid and follow me as I run wild with the beast.

Over the past week, family and co-workers have bombarded me with cheerful questions and ugly comments about Twitter. This forced me to think about and explain this seemingly stupid activity.

THINK YOU ARE ALL HEADED FOR THE LOONY BIN WHERE THE FOLKS IN CHARGE CONTROL THE OTHERS WITH ELECTRONIC GAMES. THAT TWITTER AND FACEBOOK STUFF AIN´T FOR US FISHING FOLK
- My uncle

Twitter is scaled texting. You can talk to one person or you can talk to thousands. It is dynamic conversation unlike email, instant messaging or texting.

Twitter is free from the confines of cell phone company text charges and text multi-media messaging for pictures and video. It travels as pure data.

You choose the portal (desktop or phone) and mode of transmission. You can sent tweets from text, the twitter website or an application on your phone.

twttr is abt compressing yr thoughts & efficiently communicating the moment.

Twitter identifies with a generation of short attention span thinkers who grew up texting. They don't read the newspaper and won't wait for our website to load. It's reading the newspaper without taking your Ritalin.

Twitter is more about a concept of communication than it is about locking you into software, phone carrier, or App store.

I use a Blackberry Storm smart phone and the application ÜberTwitter.

ÜberTwitter is a beta program downloaded from an independent vendor not tied to your phone carrier or your phone manufacturer.

Using ÜberTwitter, I can expand my tweet by embedding videos and still pictures that I create on my phone and tie them to my relative GPS location.

Using bit.ly, I can tell the world about web links and track who is looking at them.

With ÜberTwitter, I can search the world, or my GPS location, or my friends, for other people who are thinking what I am thinking at any given moment.

Twitter uses all this freedom from monopolies to harness free choice which sparks innovation.

Twitter is a raw communication tool to help the mind expand rather than a button to push or a pill to pop. Perhaps this is why it is a hard concept to grasp and a definite reason to try Twitter before it is harnessed for revenue streams, gobbled up and repackaged for the masses to consume (understand) without question.

Few things are more annoying about large, flat, touch screen phones as carrying it and activating it unintentionally or manually locking and unlocking all the time to keep it from randomly communicating with the world from your pocket.

The leather Blackberry Storm holster has a magnetic strip embedded in the spine that interacts with the phone telling it that that it's time to go into holster mode.

When the phone is pulled from the holster, it automatically wakes up and unlocks. The optional password protection can automatically be activated when entering the case.

About this series

When the phone is placed in the holster it automatically goes into a low power mode. The sound alerts and calls can automatically go to vibrate via options selected off of the SOUNDS button. It isn't immediately obvious that you can scroll down in this menu.

The magic case is also perfect for streaming music while at the gym as there is a cut for the headphones/hands free jack. The power to the hungry screen is shut off and you don't have to carry this stupid box around wondering where to put it. The top of the case enclosure protects the head jack connection while in use.

The high quality leather case snaps closed with a magnetic leather tongue. Amazingly after two months of crawling, grinding and catching on things, I haven't broken this yet.