102 Famous People Picture and Answers

I was forwarded the 102 Famous People Picture so I thought I would publish the picture and the answers in a separate blog post.





















View Answer

102 Famous People - Answers

Here is one possible answer.























1. Socrates
2. Cui Jian (father of Chinese rock music)
3. Vladimir Lenin
4. Prince Charles
5. Ramses or King Solomon or Sinuhe of Egypt
6. Bill Clinton
7. Tsar Peter The Great Of Russia
8. Charles de Gaulle
9. Margaret Thatcher
10. Ulysses S. Grant
11. Bruce Lee
12. Winston Churchill
13. Raphael Sanzio or Matisse (French Painter)
14. Robert Oppenheimer
15. Elvis Presley
16. William Shakespeare
17. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
18. Genghis Kahn
19. Napoleon Bonaparte
20. Che Guevara
21. Fidel Castro
22. Marlon Brando
23. Lao zi or Hokusai
24. Marilyn Monroe
25. Yassar Arafat
26. Julius Caesar
27. Mike Tyson
28. George W. Bush
29. Luciano Pavarotti
30. Salvador Dali
31. Empress CiXi
32. Liu Xiang
33. Kofi Annan
34. Prince Charles
35. Ariel Sharon
36. Ho Chi Minh or Qi Baishi
37. Osama Bin Laden
38. Qin Shi Huang
39. Mikhail Gorbachev
40. Mother Teresa
41. Song Qingling
42. Otto Von Bismarck
43. Saint Peter or Rabindranath Tagore
44. Li ZhenSheng
45. Voltaire
46. President Hu Jintao
47. Dante Alighieri or Julius Caesar
48. Pu-Yi or Dai Dudu
49. Saloth Sar (Pol Pot)
50. Yi Sun-sin líder or Yue Fei
51. Michael Angelo
52. Hideki Tojo or Hiro Hito
53. Michael Jordan
54. Dwight Eisenhower or John Calvin Coolidge
55. Corneliu Baba, Romanian painter
56. Claude Monet
57. Mahatma Ghandi
58. Vincent Van Gogh
59. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
60. Marcel Duchamp
61. Confucius
62. Noah
63. Li Bai the Chinese Poet or Caravaggio
64. Mao Zhedong
65. Johan Wolfgang von Goethe, German Writer
66. Zhou Enlai
67. Marie Curie
68. Abraham Lincoln
69. Pablo Picasso
70. Stephen Spielberg
71. Freidrich Nietzsche
72. Karl Marx
73. Leonardo Da Vinci
74. Josef Stalin
75. Queen Elizabeth II
76. Lu Xun, Chinese Comunist Writer
77. Jose Francisco San Martín
78. Deng Xiaoping
79. Sun Yat-Sen
80. Theodore Roosevelt or Gen George Custer or Maxim Gorky or Philippe Pétain
81. Saddam Hussein
82. Benito Mussolini
83. Adolf Hitler
84. Guan Yu
85. Pele
86. Bill Gates
87. Audrey Hepburn
88. Ludwig Van Beethoven or Chopin
89. Charlie Chaplin
90. Henry Ford
91. Lei Feng
92. Victor babes or Norman Bethun
93. Mike Tyson
94. Sigmund Freud
95. Erich Honecker (leader of the GDR)
96. Vladimir Putin
97. Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Caroll)
98. Shirley Temple
99. Chang Kai Chek
100. Leo Tolstoy
101. Albert Einstein
102. Ernest Hemingway
103. Franklin Roosevelt
104. Woman from photograph by Cartier Bresson or Mother Teresa
105. Dolly (The cloned sheep)

Media Getting Edgier - Flo Rida and the Residue Is Evil Ad

If you don't think TV and Online media is getting edgier and edgier lately, here are two recent examples. On the NBC Today Show this morning, viewers and their children were having breakfast to the tunes of Flo Rida Right Round - "You spin my head right around, right round, when you go down... I understand that these are the songs our teenagers/children are listening to anyways, but I was a bit shocked because of the some of the subliminal or not so subliminal messages in the lyrics in these songs.


Example 1: Flo Rida Low on NBC Today Show

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Example 2 - An Internet Ad - What is This?



The ResidueIsEvil Ad believe it or not is an Old Spice Men's Deodorant ad. This ad appears on many of the twenty-something men's websites for sneakers and X-box items, which I'm sure are also includes teenage boys. And if you you don't think there are any subliminal messages in this ad, then I'm not sure you are living on the same planet.

So many of you may not be surprised by this, but it seems like just the other day Howard Stern was publicly criticized by the language he used on the radio and then there was the Janet Jackson incident during the Superbowl.

Twitter Status Updates from Twitter.com Still Not Working

After the 3 hours that Twitter.com was down this morning from 9 a.m. Eastern Time to 11:45 a.m. E, even this afternoon as of 3:45 p.m. ET, when I try and update my Twitter Status from Twitter.com, it does not allow me to. The request keeps loading. According to the Twitter.com status site http://status.twitter.com/:

"As we recover, users will experience some longer load times and slowness. This includes timeouts to API clients. We’re working to get back to 100% as quickly as we can."

I am able to Tweet from my Twitter Desktop Client TweetDeck and Tweetie, my iPhone Twitter App. Here is a list of reliable Twitter Desktop Apps.

• TweetDeck http://tweetdeck.com/beta (uses Adobe Air works on PC and Mac)
  
• Tweetie http://www.atebits.com/ (A Mac Application)
  
• Seesmic http://www.seesmic.com (uses Adobe Air works on PC and Mac)
  

Twitter still Down - 10:34 AM ET

Twitter is still down as of Thursday, August 6, 2009 10:34 AM Eastern Time. To check if Twitter is down you can also go to the site below rather than hitting their home page www.twitter.com:


http://istwitterdown.com

The Twitter.com Website is Down Thursday Aug 06 9:03 AM ET

I noticed this morning on the Twitter Status Page that Twitter.com confirmed that their site is down. Go to http://status.twitter.com The message on their site says: "We are determining the cause and will provide an update shortly."

This also means that Twitter Clients such as TweetDeck, Tweetie etc. are also down because the Twitter API access is also impaired.

Downloading Your NBA Team Schedule to Outlook and iCal

The NBA 2009-2010 Schedule has recently been released and if you are a fanatical NBA basketball fan, you might want to import your teams schedule into your Microsoft Outlook or Apple Entourage and then synchronize it with your iPhone or Blackberry.

Since I am a Miami Heat fan, today I exported the file off the Miami Heat NBA website and followed their well-written directions to import it into my Microsoft Outlook. Here are some helpful hints.

Microsoft Outlook

- Microsoft Office Outlook Import and Exporters - To import the Windows .csv file, you may need the Import Filters which should be installed automatically from the Office Local Installation Source (C:\MCOCache a hidden folder). If you receive an error message, then you may need your original Office Installation disks. If you are not able to add the Import/Exporters, I would not recommend proceeding unless you want to re-install Office.

- Microsoft Outlook Calendars - Before you start the import process, check to make sure what your primary Microsoft Outlook Calendar is. Some users may have more than one which might cause problems later when synchronizing with your iPhone or Blackberry.

- Print the instructions on your team's website. You need to follow them very closely or you may create many 80 something plus entries in your calendar that will need to be deleted manually .

Microsoft Entourage on the Mac
- Save the Heat.ics file to your Desktop, then add the New Event to your destination calendar in the list box. I clicked on the Heat.ics file and was prompted through the process. If you make a mistake, you can click Edit, Undo to your last import.

Google Calendar
- If you use Google Calendar, open the Miami Heat 2009-10 Official Schedule then click on the +Google Calendar in the bottom right corner of your screen. It you are already logged into your Google Calendar, it will add the Miami Heat Schedule.

Good luck!

Verrus Mobile Parking Payment by Phone - A Must Have To Avoid Parking Tickets

If you haven't tried the paying for your parking by cell phone yet, the Verrus Mobile Parking Payment system has now arrived in 100+ cities in North American. The key benefits are include:

1) Pay your parking by credit card.

2) Auto Text Message Reminders to your cell phone. If your dinner or movie runs longer than expected, then you can refill your meter from your cell phone automatically. This is a huge benefit!

3) When the parking meter is either out of paper or not able to scan your credit card (it happens too frequently in my city Miami, Florida), which could be embarrassing if you are with clients or are out on the town during the evenings. To use Verrus Pay by Phone, you merely, dial the Pay by Phone Number, Enter your location and Enter the number of minutes you would like to park.

The Verrus Pay By Phone mobile payment system is now operational in cities across the United States like Aspen, Chicago, Coral Gables, Dallas, Hawaii, Madison, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Haven, New Orleans, Oakland, Redwood City, Santa Ana and Seattle. If you plan on traveling to any of these cities, it doesn't hurt to sign-up because it's free.

Okay, if it sounds too good to be true, it is. There is a $.35 cents charge on each transaction, even re-filling your parking. However, it wouldn't take too many $25.00 parking tickets per year to offset that fee.

You can sign up by calling Verrus using the number on the parking meter, but it is much easier to do so online. To sign-up for the Verrus Pay By Phone, go to http://www.paybyphone.com or http://www.verrus.com There is no registration fee. They accept VISA, MasterCard, and American Express but AMEX is not available at all locations. You also need to enter the license plate number to your vehicle(s).


Verus Mobile Payment Locations
http://verrus.com/verrus/where.aspx

Verrus Sign Up Form
https://www.verrus.com/verrus/SignUp.aspx

iPhone 3.0.1 - Why You Should Update ASAP

iPhone users can thank two researches Collin Mulliner (a Ph.D. student at the Technical University of Berlin) and Charlie Miller (Security Researcher) who presented at a Black Hat Security Conference in Las Vegas that they could take control over an iPhone merely by sending a SMS message. It was described by CNET as a serious memory corruption bug in the way the iPhone handles SMS messages.

Although there are no reported incidents of users phones being affected by this security issue, I would recommend all iPhone users upgrade as soon as possible. Unfortunately, it will take a little less than an hour including the backup time, much less if you don't have much data on your iPhone. Before you upgrade, make sure you have the lastest version of iTunes.

I upgraded several phones this evening on both my Windows PCs and Macs without any issues. Thanks to my friend Jose A. who alerted me of this release via text message. I am now subscribed to the Apple Dev Team's Twitter account @iPhone_Dev so that I can monitor these types of issues.

Picasa for Mac Sizzles, much better than iPhoto

I finally installed Picasa for the Mac Version 3.0.6 today and it absolutely sizzles! It is much better than Apple iPhoto for cleaning up pictures. I've been using the Windows version for a number of years and finally decided it was time to switch!

I especially like the "I'm Feeling Lucky" feature for Basic Fixes or photo touch up and the Crop feature.

If you haven't tried it yet, here's the link.

Google Picasa MAC version
http://picasa.google.com/mac/

Google Picasa Windows version
http://picasa.google.com/index.html#

Also, I usually select the option to have Picasa search my entire hard drive for photos. However, be careful with that feature since Picasa will possibly find every joke email attachments that people sent you and who knows what else. You might have to do some clean-up after it is installed.

Atlantic Broadband Starter Service - 320 Kbps - It's Too Slow

A client of mine recently recently re-located to a new location complained that their Atlantic Broadband Service was very, very slow. When I went to diagnose the issue, I discovered that Atlantic Broadband provided them with a High Speed Internet Service of 320Kbps for $34.95 + $25.00 installation.

First of all, I was insulted to think that any "broadband provider" would have the audacity to charge $34.95 for such a service. It was President Obama in his election campaign who said, "It is "unacceptable" that the U.S. ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OEC)" and "Here, in the country that invented the Internet, every child should have the chance to get online, and they'll get that chance when I'm president -- because that's how we'll strengthen America's competitiveness in the world."

I seriously doubt that President Obama with his $8B Broadband Stimulus Package was envisioning our children and students in America surfing the Internet at 320Kbps with services like Atlantic Broadband High Speed 320Kbs Internet Starter Service allegedly targeted at low usage Internet users and students (according to the Broadband Tech Rep I spoke), it's no wonder our country is in its current state.

First of all, I allege Atlantic Broadband's Internet Starter Service is a deceptive marketing practice and should be either taken off the market or upgraded to a higher speed. Yes, it's faster than dial-up, but at only 320Kbps it is 25 times slower than their next 8MB $50.95 package. Even AT&T High-Speed Internet packages are sold at 1.5MB, 3MB and 6MB package. It really seems like a classic bait and switch.

Also, when I called Broadband Customer Service about this, they told me that's what the customer ordered. My reply was, would you buy this service for your mom or dad? They also said, Comcast their competitor offered a 1MB package. My reply, THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT RIGHT!

In any regard, NO ONE SHOULD buy the Atlantic Broadband Internet Starter Service Package, it's way too slow. The Atlantic Broadband's Preferred Service is $50.95 +tax in my client's area and if that's not within your budget, there are competitive services offering better alternatives. My client's Internet service was enabled over the phone in a few seconds and the service was downloading at well over 7MB, even on wi-fi. The Atlantic Broadband Rep offered no discount for my client's lost productivity.

If you have the Atlantic Broadband Stater Service or some other High Speed Internet Service and it is running slow, here are some sites to test the speed of your Internet connection.

http://speedtest.atlanticbb.net/
http://speakeasy.net/
http://www.speedtest.net

Upgrading my iPhone 3G S to iTunes 8.2.1

With each iTunes upgrade you are probably not alone in wondering if this update will break cause a problem with the data on your iPhone or your computer. So several weeks after its release, I finally installed iTunes 8.2.1 on both my Macs and PCs.

First of all, this upgrade took several minutes to download and install because it also included Safari and Quicktime. In general, it went smoothly. However, here is a list of potential issues you can review after installing this release and synching for the first time.

• iTunes Setup Assistant -This works similar to setting your browser as Internet Explorer or Firefox, provides and option to allow Apple to organize your music for you (no thank you) and to download Album Artwork automatically (nice feature).
  
• Info -> Contacts -- Ensure that your contacts are being synchronized and that they are not being doubled up. You might want to add a contact to both your Contact Manager and your iPhone to ensure it is working correctly.
  
• Info -> Calendar -- Add an item on your iPhone and using your Calendar Applicationtion to ensure it is working.
• Info - review other settings on this page since after a new install of iTunes, Apple sometimes doesn't save your settings.
  
• Photos -Ensure your photos are being synched.
  
• Photos - Make sure you backup your Camera Roll photos using iPhoto or Picasa.
  
• Applications - You might take the time to Upgrade your Applications from your desktop.

Software Updates - What's Mandatory and What's Not!

I received a mailer from my car manufacturer about an update for the Navigation System in my car for $149.00 http://www.navigation.com/InfinitiPromo. It caused me to think what sofware updates, new software releases or annual software subscriptions I would pay for and which one's I don''t. After reviewing this list, it appears that some of my decisions are not based on price and useful features as security and princple. Lastly, if it's a Free update, I'll always install it!

Required Software Updates

• Computer Antivirus Software
• Mac Operating System (Leopard was a nice upgrade and if I wa)
• iTouch Software Upgrade (with Apple products, it's nice to know you have the current version in the event you have a problem).

Not Required Software Updates

• Any Windows operating system after Windows XP Professional
• Microsoft Office Updates after MS Office 2003
• XM Radio, new feature to play on my iPhone and Computer (they should have grandfathered this feature for their long-time loyal customers.)
• Infiniti Auto Navigation (I haven't encountered many errors with the current navigation, at least in my city, these should also be free., although some would argue you are paying enough for the car, what's another $149.)

iPhone Voice Control Commands - iPhone 3GS Voice Control Commands

By far one of the most useful features in the iPhone 3G S 3.0 is Voice Control. If you didn't read or skim the iPhone .PDF user manual then you may have missed this feature unless you are one that like to uncover the the new features in your iPhone like you are playing a adventure video game or by after hours cocktail conversation.

First of all, when driving your car in states like California which require you to use a headset, this is a great feature. You can finally place a call from your iPhone without looking at it and driving. Here is a list of the iPhone Voice Control Commands.

To Active iPhone Voice Control

• Hold down the iPhone Home button for 2 seconds.

iPhone Voice Control Phone Commands

• Call 1 800 555 1212
• Dial 1 800 555 1212
• Call John Smith
• Call John Smith Mobile
• Dial John Smith
• Dial John Smith Mobile
• No - cancel command
  
• Nope - cancel command
  
• Not that- cancel command
  
• Not that one - cancel command
  
• Wrong - can command
  

iPhone Music Commands

• Play
• Play music
• Play playlist
• Play playlist On-The-Go
• Play playlist My Top Rated
• Play playlist Audio books (didn't work for me)
  
• Play playlist Purchased
  
• Play album
• Play Album T-Shirt
  
• Play Album Song
  
• Pause - to pause the music
  
• Pause Music - to pause the music
  
• Next
  
• Next Song
• Shuffle - to shuffle the playlist.
• What's playing?
• What song is this?
• Who sings this song?
• Who is this song by?
  

iPhone Voice Control Other Commands

• Help - the only commands for now are "Using iPhone Voice Control you can tell iPhone to call contacts, play albums or play playlists.

Caveat Emptor or let the buyer or user beware - In testing iPhone Voice Control 1.0, if the voice recognition system can't decipher your your command, it will sometimes randomly start calling someone in your address book. This doesn't work like the voice calling system in most cars which require you to acknowledge each entry, it is much more predatory. In my case, it started calling several people I haven't spoken to in years that are listed in my address book. In any regard, great job Apple, can't wait for Voice Control 1.1 or 2.0.

Lastly, if you are looking for Voice Control in your iPhone 3G, it's only available in the iPhone 3G S. Ugh, possibly a reason to upgrade! And it iPhone Voice Control doesn't currently work with Bluetooth. It is rumored to be in the 3.1 firmware update!

Upgrading to the iPhone 3G S

Before upgrading, I upgraded my old iPhone to 3.0 and synched,

The upgrade process was simple, call the 866 phone number, enter your
phone number, zip code and other security info, turn off your new 3G
S, wait 5 minutes, turn it back on and tether it with iTunes to
restore your backup.

Some issues:

• On one of the phones that I upgraded, I had to call AT&T to select a data plan. The phone worked, but the 3G and text messaging services did not.
• On another phone, the text messaging only did not work. I also had to call AT&T.
• On one of the early upgrade phones, the upgrade process went smoothly.

My iPhones and iPod Touches are now upgaded to 3.0

After a long weekend, my iPhone and iTouches are all upgraded! This was a major upgrade and if haven't done so yet, I would consider the follwing to clean up your device before upgrading. I think this will save you time in the long run and help to prevent errors during the upgrade process. You can also use this time to do a little housekeeping like you woud clean an office, desk or hard drive.

• iPhone Applicatons - If you have 8 screens of iPhone Apps, I would start with a at least 2 empty screens of Apps before upgrading. There is a new iPhone Spotlight screen that takes up the screen position to the left of the home screen.
• Music - I woud reduce the number of songs you have on the your device before upgrading. This would reduce the amount of time the upgrade takes.
• Camera Roll - First of all, make sure your camera roll photos are backed up. If you are a Windows user, you can use Picasa. If you disabled the camera wizard, remember to re-enable it and save your pictures. You might consider deleting your history of Camera Roll Photos from the past 2-3 years and starting new. This would be the perfect time to do so.
• Photos - I would remove some of the photo albums if you have too many. On some of my iPhones, iTunes re-optimized the photos which took many hours.
• Other iPhone Synch Applications - Make a list of other iPhone Synch applications you may have. These may include Google Calendar, Yahoo Calendar etc.
• Add Remove Programs - go to Add Remove programs and write down the versions of the following: Apple Mobile Devices Support, Apple Software Update, Bonjour, iTunes and QuickTime. This would be beneficial if you need to re-install iTunes and Apple Support asks you to remove these items. If another program you are using uses for example another version of Bonjour, you have a record of this in the event your other program stops working.
• Backup Plan - If you iPhone or iPod Touch does not upgrade, make sure you reserve plenty of time for a potential diasters recovery plan. For example, are you going to call Apple, try to upgrade on a Mac (if a Windows upgrade) or schedule an appointment with Apple. How long can you go without a phone? Is your IT guy or IT family member available to help you?

That all said, before you start the upgrade, for both Windows and Mac users, make sure you have installed all software updates!

iPod Touch 3.0 Upgrade Issues - What to Do! iPod Touch iBrick issues

Yesterday, I shelled out the $9.95 and tried to upgrade my iPod Touch to 3.0. Unfortunately, on my MacBook Pro, it failed twice and my previously working iPod Touch 2.1 was now stuck on the Connect to iTunes Screen of Death. After abandoning this task yesterday, this morning I pulled out a spare MacBook in my closet that I use to curse the small 13" screen and tried the iTouch 3.0 firmware Upgrade on it.

1) It restored my iTouch to 2.1 so it was at least functional. I did not restore the data because it was synched with my MacBook Pro.

2) It then upgraded the iTouch 3.0 firmware sucessfully. Again, I ignored the prompt to restore the data since I wanted to synch it with my main computer.

3) I plugged it in to my MacBook and it is now syching my Apps and music!


I recollect on my only visit to the Apple Genius Bar a problem with my iPhone that would not upgrade on my PC running Windows/iTunes, that this is what the Apple Genius Bar employee did. So if your iTouch is an iTouch iBrick from upgrading to 3.0, you might want to find a very good friend with a Mac to help you out.

I'm usually a fan of Apple Care Customer Support, but not during the iPhone 3G S launch weekend!

Good luck!

Apple iPod Touch Forum
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=221

Other Resources
Apple Care Customer Support - 1-800-275-2273

Apple Support Resources
http://www.apple.com/support/contact/

Apple Genius Bar Reservations
http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

Other Articles
http://www.i4u.com/article25463.html

iPhone 3.0 Upgrade Issues - no problem on Mac, as always Windows issues

This evening I am finally upgrading the family iPhones to the new iPhone 3.0 software.

1. One of the upgrades from the iPhone Edge using an iMac went very well. I simply clicked on the Upgrade button and came back to check on the Mac later and the iPhone was upgraded to 3.0.

2. I have another iPhone 3G that is synched with a Mac Pro laptop running Parallels with the the Windows version of iTunes. This iPhone 3G synchs with Microsoft Outlook Calendar. I was rarely able update my iPhone firmware with my laptop and this time was not different. I received an error message that it was unable to restore. Luckily I have a spare MacBook that I never got around to selling or gifting and was able to update to the new iPhone 3.0 firmware with it. I then reconnected my iPhone 3G to my Windows/Parallels and was able to synch it.

Here are some of the key new features.
- Cut, Copy & Paste with shake to undo
- Landscape keyboard
- MMS (not available yet)
- Forward or delete single or multiple messages
- Added search features in mail, calendar, notes and iPod
- Spotlight search for the iPhone (Tap Home button once or scroll to a new Spotlight screen left of the home menu. Ugh, you're still limited 8 screens so in my case the upgrade prodess randomly removed some of my Apps because Spotlight takes up one of the eight.)
- Support for CalDAV and subscriptions in Calendar
- Improved Safari, performance, HTML 5, HTTP streaming audio/video, auto-fill usernames and passwords. ( A client of mine reports Safari is much faster on the iPhone 3G S, huh, a reason to upgrade).
- New Voice Memos application (unfortunately, it doesn't do voice dialing!)
- Synch Notes via iTunes
- Internet Tethering (available later)
- Browse and download movies from the iPhone
- Stereo Bluetooth
- Wi-fi autologin
- Enhanced Stocks application (I hope I have a good reason to use it in 2009/2010)
- More parental controls
- ITunes account creation and login from the iPhone
- YouTube account login and access to subscriptions, ratings and favorites
- Shake to shuffle
- New languages, dictionaries and keyboards
- Find my iPhone and Remote Wipe via MobileMe (huh, I might need to try MobileMe again!)
- Support for Exchange Policies
- Create and send Exchange meeting invites
- Search mail on server (Exchange Server 2007 and IMAP servers)
- Search LDAP company directory
- VPN on demand and VPN proxy
- Encrypted configuration profiles
- Encrypted iTunes backups
- New APIs
- Compatible with iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3G S

It looks like I may need to read the manual to understand the new features.
See: http://www.apple.com/support/manuals/iphone

Digital TV Signal Strength Improves- NBC Miami

It appears to me that NBC in Miami has significantly increased their digital TV signal strength in the past 24 hours. I can now receive TV reception from a room that faces West or at Biscayne Bay. Before today, I was not able to get any NBC digital TV signal (stations 6-1, 6-2, 6-3). It's coming in nearly crystal clear on an analog TV with a digital TV converter box and only a standard VHF antenna. I returned the special digital TV UHF antenna a few months ago because it didn't help much. I also tested it earlier this week and I didn't notice any change. I am also receiving DTV 4-1 (CBS) and DTV 29-1 (Fox) DTV 29-2 without any significant transmission issues.

I guess the "beta" program is now over for Digital TV. I might eventually look at buying a HD Digital TV antenna for the living room. I'm not a big fan of my Satellite TV provider, but I'll certainly wait because in my opinion, their beta program really started this morning.

For other info on my experiences installing a converter box.

http://www.martinogawa.com/2008/10/digital-tv-converter-box-installed.html

Upgrading to the New Apple iPhone 3G S Online

I usually upgrade my iPhones at the Apple Store but for the new iPhone 3G S this year I decided to upgrade online at the AT&T site. I wanted to avoid the chaos of the Apple Store on Friday, June 19th.

1. At http://wireless.att.com I logged in to my AT&T wireless account. I have a family plan and I imagine like most famlies, each family member's current iPhone has Upgrade Plan. In my case, some of the phones are eligible for the new pricing since their two year contract has lapsed and of course my iPhone 3G falls under the iPhone 3G S Early Upgrade path. On the AT&T Manage Account interface, there are tabs for each family member or phone. Under Phone/Device, I clicked on Check Upgrade Options.

2. Upgrade Phone - A screen with each of the family member phones appears with a checkbox to upgrade their phone. You can upgrade multiple phones at this time. In my case, the screen also showed the following.

• No Commitment Pricing - You can take advantage of our no commitment pricing. Additional discounts may be available on 05/24/2010. (This message appeared on my iPhone 3G which I have to pay the Early Upgrade fee. I imagine it means that I don't have to extend my contract at this time and next June 2010 when a new iPhone comes out, I can extend it at that time.)
• Discount - We can offfer you an additional disount of up to $50.00 off regular 2-year commitment and a waived upgrade fee on most devices. (This message appeared under the main family member's account only but is not available on iPhones).
• iPhone Upgrade Fee $18 - As a valued AT&T customer, we can offer you an iPhone upgrade with a new 2-year commitment and an $18 upgrade fee.

3. Phones & Devices - The next screen lists the six different iPhone 3G / 3G S options. The main selection here is the color choice, the default is black and you need to click on the square white box to change the color, then click on the link (not a great user inteface).

4. Accessories -- The next screen gives you the option to purchase a long list of iPhone 3G / 3G S accssories. The iPhone 3G S and new iPhone 3G is the same size as my old iPhone 3G so I did not need a new case, but I ordered some other cases because the iPhone Edge is a different size than the iPhone 3G / 3G S. I also did not buy Apple Care because the phone is covered for a one year period.

5. Rate Plans - The iPhone 3G / iPhone 3G S has a more expensive data plan so when upgrading some the phones from the iPhone Edge, I needed to select new data/text messsaging plans. Here are some other rate issues that came up which I needed to research.

What are Nights & Weekends?
Question:What are Nights & Weekends?Answer:Nights and Weekends are generally defined as "Nights" from 9 p.m. to 5:59 a.m., Monday through Thursday, and "Weekends" as 9 p.m. Friday night until 5:59 a.m. Monday morning, in the time zone from which the call was placed. Extended Nights and Weekends feature can be added at an additional charge on qualified plans.
Some calling plans may have a different definition of "Nights and Weekends" as detailed in your contract or Customer Service Summary.

6. Shopping Cart - You need to provide AT&T with a credit card to check out. It will not be added to your monthly invoice.

7. Ship Date - Our iPhones should arrive on Friday, June 19th via Federal Express.

8. Other Notes; If you want your iPhones or a family member's iPhone shipped to a different address, you must call 1-866-499-8008 to order over the phone.

Reasons to Upgrade to the iPhone 3G S - iPhone 3GS

• Battery Life - The new iPhone 3G S and iPhone 3G should have an improved battery life. Apple claims that the battery life should improve when using wi-fi.
  
• 7.2Mbps HSDPA - The iPhone 3G S contains a chip that supports faster 3G download speeds.
• Camera - The iPhone 3G S comes with a 3 megapixels camera including a new Autofocus feature and support video. The iPhone 3G has a 2 megapixel camera.
  
• Speed - The new iPhone 3G S and iPhone 3G should be much faster than the old iPhone 3G or the original iPhone Edge. Apple claims that it should load Web pages and launch Apps twice as fast.
  
• Disk Space - The iPhone 3G S will be available in 32 GB, 16GB.
• Voice Control - The iPhone 3G S will have a voice control feature for auto dialing.
  
• Other Features - The iPhone 3G S has several other features that might be useful to some users. This includes a Digital Compass and Stereo Bluetooth.
• iPhone 3G S Dimensions - According to the specification sheet, the iPhone 3G S is the same size as the current iPhone 3G. Unlike the upgrade for the iPhone Edge, you shouldn't need to buy a new case.

Here is the pricing for the iPhone 3G S for new and existing customers. Current customers can go to http://www.wireless.att.com for their upgrade pricing from AT&T.

• New Customers - $299 for the 32 GB iPhone 3G S; $199 for the 16 GB iPhone 3G S; $149 for the iPhone 3G 16 GB; $99 for the iPhone 3G 8 GB; $129 for the iPhone 3G 16 GB (Refurb) and $79 for the iPhone 3G 8 GB (Refurb).
  
• iPhone Edge Customers - If the two year agreement has expired, iPhone Edge customers will be able to receive the discounted pricing (above) as if a new customer.
  
• iPhone 3G Early Upgrade - Customers Less than 2 years remaining on contract - $499 32 GB iPhone 3G S; $399 for the 16 GB iPhone 3G S; $349 for the iPhone 3G 16 GB; $299 for the 8 GB iPhone 3G; $329 for the iPhone 3G 16 GB (Refurb); $279 for the iPhone 3G 8 GB (Refurb).
  

Unfortunately, AT&T and Apple's pricing appears to punish the loyal Apple customer who buys each new Apple product when it comes out. That said, you can sell your old iPhone 3G or gift it to a family member to lower the cost of the Early Upgrade fee.

Backing up your iPhone or iTouch

With the release of iTune 8.2 and the pending release of the new iPhone 3.0 software or firmware, iPhone and iTouch users should ensure their iPhones are backed up. In addition, if you are considering upgrading to the new iPhone Pro, you should ensure your camera roll photos are backed up so you don't inadvertenly lose any info in case there is a problem with backup file. Here's Apple's KB article on backing up your iPhone and itouch.

Apple iPhone / iTouch Backup KB Article
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1766

FILE LOCATIONS

On a Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/

On Windows XP: \Documents and Settings\(username)\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

On Windows Vista: \Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

Don't Buy an iPhone until after June 8, 2009

On Monday, June 8, 2009 at 1 p.m. Eastern Time, Apple will announce its new lineup of Apple iPhones. There is speculation that Apple will announce:

• An iPhone 3G Pro for $299 that includes a 3.2MP camera with video recording
• A new 3G wireless chip that supports downloads speeds up to 7.2 Mbps
• A $99 iPhone
• A Digital Compass or a magnoetometer

If you are waiting to upgrade your current iPhone or are going to buy a new one, I would wait until after June 8th. You'll probably end up waiting until the end of June or early July to get the new iPhone Pro!

Apple Developer's Conference - June 8th
http://developer.apple.com/WWDC/

List of Facebook Phishing URLs - bestspace.be the latest!

This morning I received a Facebook Message from one of my "trusted friends" with a message to "look at bestspace.be". When I tried to post a message on my friend's wall with the website address bestspace.be, FB blocked or filted the URL bestspace.be from being posted. What I don't understand is why FB can't block the SMTP messages from being sent.

Oh well, here's my current list of FB Phishing website addresses:
- areps.at
- bests.at
- bruga.at
- bestspace.be
- fcoder.at
- kirgo.at
- nutpic.at
- sweeter.be


XXX sent you a message.

Subject: Hi

"Look at bestspace.be"

To reply to this message, follow the link below:
http://www.facebook.com/n/?inbox/

___
This message was intended for xxx@xxx.com.com. Want to control which emails you receive from Facebook? Go to:
http://www.facebook.com/editaccount.php?
Facebook's offices are located at 1601 S. California Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304.

Kirgo.AT - Facebook Phishing Scam - Don't Log-In

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

XM Radio - Removes Online XM Radio feature from its Subscriber Package

Huh, I just noticed that XM Radio removed their online service from its basic subscriber package. For this loyal XM Radio customer who has been paying for their service in his car for almost a decade, they want another $2.99 per month for it. I didn't listen to the service that often but once in a while if I wanted a break from my iTunes, I would listen to it. Also, all of their channels were not part of the free service such as ACC football. I hope for the $2.99 per month, you get all the channels and it just isn't the old limited set of channels and the purported "higher digital quality audio". This techie doesn't really believe that line! It's not a large amount of money, but what ever happened to the concept of "grandfathering" your early adopters, i.e. taking care of your loyal customers. It use to be that once you provided a customer with a service, you didn't take it away. Out of principle, I will not be paying the $2.99. Also, I understand many Sirius customers were promised a lifetime membership, but after the merger, they had to pay additional fees to get the XM channels. If this doesn't sound like a "Monopoly" or unfair pricing, then what is?

Here the letter I received from them. If XM didn't have a monopoly, I would be switching to Sirius.

---------------------

Dear XXXX,

Thank you for contacting XM.

We have received your email and we are sorry to hear that you are no longer able to get XM Radio Online. Since March 11, 2009, the online listening platform was upgraded to a higher Digital Quality Audio and is no longer included free as part of a base subscription. XM Radio Online is now $2.99 per month with a radio subscription.


To add XM Radio Online to your subscription, please go to http://www.xmradio.com/getxmro/index.xmc and follow the instructions provided. If you are having difficulties, please contact our Listener Care Center directly at the telephone number provided below. Our representatives will be more than happy to assist you.

If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to send an additional email or you may contact a Listener Care Representative directly at 1-800-XM RADIO (800-967-2346). Our Listener Care Center's hours of operation are as follows:

Monday - Saturday 8AM - 11PM ET

Sunday 8AM - 8PM ET

Thank you,

Glen
------------------

Taking my iPhone to Europe or Abroad - iPhone International Plan

In the past, when we have traveled abroad, I've disabled iPhone features by enabling a SIMM Pin and used the Wi-Fi on my phone only. What I discovered is that Apple has since changed their iPhone Software and Wi-Fi now works on Airplane Mode so disabling the SIMM Pin is no longer necessary. For this trip, I will be signing up for an International Roaming Package so that I can use the iPhone's 3G service for directions, checking mail and receiving text messages. Here are the details:

1. AT&T International Plan Customer Service 1-800-335-4685 - The day before I leave, I'm called them to subscribe the following services:

• AT&T World Traveler- $5.99 per month (calls in Spain, Switzerland and Italy are $.99 cents per minute)
• AT&T Data Global Add-On for the iPhone - $59.99 for 50MB of usage, $0.005/KB overage or $5.00 per MB for overage. You have approximately 1.67 MB per day data usage which is important as it relates to your normal AT&T billing cycle, your vacation dates and how AT&T does the pro-ration. When you sign-up, the beginning and ending date of your AT&T contact and how it falls within your travel period. To be safe, you might have to have the AT&T Rep back date your contract 30-days or less because of how they calculate the pro-ration.)
• Here's an Example: AT&T takes your total MB per month and divides by the number of days until the next billing period. If you travel started 1-day before your new billing period, then you would have 1.67 MB and $5.00 per MB for any overage. So if you used 3.67 MB the first day of your trip, you would be charged $59.99 / 30 days or $2.00 per day + $10.24 (2MB overage @ $5.12 per MB ) = $12.24. The second billing period you will be billed at $59.99 under the same formula. (Yes, it sounds complicated but worst case if you you pay$119.98 for two months for 50 MB iPhone data usage. (more later on data usage) In my case, the Rep back dated my contract 30 days so I had 7 days to use 50 MB which was more than enough.

2. Forwarding -- Before I leave the United States, I will use the iPhone to forward my calls to my Google Voice number. When people call this number, for any voice messages, text transcripts will be sent to my phone using Google's new cool service. I am lucky to have one of these beta accounts.

3. Text Messages -- Incoming text message are covered by my domestic plan. Outgoing text messages are $.50 each.

More info is at the link below.

http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/international/roaming/affordable-world-packages.jsp?wtSlotClick=1-0017YW-0-1&WT.svl=calltoaction

4. Canceling - When I get back to the States, I will cancel the plan without any penalty.


5. iPhone Usage Reset Statistics - Before my plane took off from the United States, I Reset the iPhone Usage Statistics Settings --> General --> Usage --> Reset Statistics (This allowed me to track my Cellular Network Data Sent and Received).

6. International Usage -- On my first day of travel, we landed in Madrid, Spain and drove North to Salamanca. The first thing I noticed was that I was not able to connect to Google Maps until I re-booted my iPhone several times (i.e. everytime you change Cellular providers such as Vodafone, Orange). Google Maps worked, but I'm not convinced it was as accurate as in the United States in the smaller town of Salamanca.

7. Photos and Google Maps - I normally blog on vacation and like to upload photos from my iPhone. As you would expect, each blog photo uploaded used a good amount of my daily 1.67 MB data usage. In addition, Google Maps also uses up your data.

8. Email - Spain didn't have good free wi-fi service like some other countries so I was judicious about checking my email, especially with the amount of spam I get in some of my accounts.

9. Coverage - For celluar service and 3G on the train from Madrid to Barcelona was also better than I expected.

10. Wi-fi - A side note that wi-fi was $20 to $26 per day in Spain and Switzerland. When I had Internet cable access in Barcelona, I actually used wi-fi sharing for the first time. My daughter was able to use my Internet connection and I also used it to connect my iPhone.

11. AT&T Text Message - Reset Statistics - On the day my billing period ended, I received a very informative text message from AT&T reminding me to reset my statistics and of the $5.12 per MB overage charge.

12. Text Messages - When using this service abroad, my incoming messages were generally unrelaible. There appeared to be a long latency from the time someone in Spain sent me a text message to the time I received it. In general, this was not expected.

12. Returned Home - I returned home and canceled my International plans today. I had to wait a few days to avoid the data plan overages.

Best links to Swine Flu Information (H1N1 virus)

Here are the best links I could find on the Swine Flu virus. When an incident like this occurs, as a consumer interested in up-to-date, relevant and comprehensive information on this topic, I found myself searching: 1) Google Web Search; 2) Google News; 3) Twitter.com #swineflu ; 4) Wikipedia ; 5) YouTube.com

1) Google Health News
http://news.google.com/news?pz=1&topic=m

2) World Health Organization Press Briefings
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/multimedia/swineflupressbriefings/en/index.html

3) CDC site
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/

4) Google Maps

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&t=p&msa=0&msid=106484775090296685271.0004681a37b713f6b5950&ll=32.639375,-110.390625&spn=15.738151,25.488281&z=5


5) You Tube Video on Swine Flu Virus
Dr. Joe Bresee, CDC Influenza Division.


6) Twitter.com CDC Emergency Site
http://www.twitter.com/CDCemergency

7) Wikipedia - Swine Flu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swine_flu

8) U.S. State Department Travel Alerts
http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_4488.html

9) N95 Masks and Respirators Info on CDC Site
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/masks.htm?s_cid=tw_epr_76

http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/ppe/masksrespirators.html

10) Dr. Sanjay Gupta CNN on Twitter.com
http://www.twitter.com/sanjayguptaCNN

Are you using TweetDeck yet as your Twitter Client?

Okay, I finally started using the TweetDeck Twitter client which is more or less the Outlook or Entourage for the Twitter client of choice for managing your Twitter tweets. If you haven't used TweetDeck yet, it's an Adobe Air application that resides on your Mac or Windows Desktop. It allows you to read, respond to, add to favorites and more easily post Twitter updates than using Twitter.com

Go to http://www.tweetdeck.com to download Twitter.

BTW, if you are new to Twitter, see my other blog at http://www.ogawadesign.com

Lastly, my Twittter client of choice on my iPhone is TwitterFon.

USTREAM.TV - Snoopdogg is live!

Snoopdogg is live on www.ustream.tv

New Dictionary.com iPhone App

The new free 10MB Dictionary.com iPhone App is a must have for all
iPhone and iTouch users. It's fast since it doesn't require Wi-Fi, 3G
or Edge network acceds. It includes a thesaurus and a user interface
that allows you to easily look up the correct spelling of a word. It
is a main screen page 1 iPhone or iTouch App. If you have a child,
nephew or niece that doesn't like using the dictionary, then there's
now a reason to buy them an iTouch ir iPhone! If they already have
one, then make sure it's on their home screen and they use it!

DWade YouTube video - Viral marketing?

This video is being circulating around the Web with proclaimed drunk billionaire in a $20K suit challenging Dwyane Wade to a basketball game in the American Arilines Arena Garage. Is this what viral marketing has come to?

Is Your Comcast Service Down? - Get on Twitter.com for Support!

This morning, I signed in to my Twitter client, TweetDeck and was checking this mornings tweets. I noticed several members of the Miami Technology community commenting that their Comcast Internet Service was down in the 305 or Miami, Florida area. One asked for a suggestions of local coffee shops with reliable wi-fi access. When I replied (@twitterusername) to this guy on my Twitter Friend list, the next thing I knew I received a public reply from a member of the Comcast Tech Support Department asking if I needed assistance. When I performed a Twitter Search on #comcast, I noticed Comcast Customer Service checking modems and connecting with customers via Twitter. This is a great use of Twitter, and you don't need to stay on hold for 15 or 20 minutes waiting for an available service rep.

If your Comcast service is down, I recommend you login to Twitter and search on #comcast for Comcast contact information or simply tweet with #comcast in your message.

Wow, this is a great use of Twitter.com. I hope AT&T DSL or AT&T FastAccess Customer Service is listening!

iPhone Skype App 3G not Supported

I'm sure I wasn't the only one that was hoping for this feature. I pay
AT&T each month for that 3G laptop card and am one of their most loyal
customers. I think I should be eligible for this feature.

Skype App for the iPhone in iTunes Store

I just downloaded and installed the new iPhone Skype App. It works
great!

AT&T DSL in Miami 33137 is now up and runnning!

My AT&T DSL is now up and running. They sent out the telecom service guy with his classic belt of telephone test equipment. He made some noise filtering changes at the panel, gave me a new 2Wire replacement modem and I'm now live again!

AT&T DSL Service Outage 03-27-09 (Miami, FL)

Yesterday morning, my AT&T DSL line went down. When it occurred, the lights the 2Wire modem were blinking and were not able to establish an Internet Connection. Here are the steps I used to try and resolve the problem.

• AT&T Tech Support - I called 1-888-321-2375 to inquire if there was a service outage. I was informed there was none that they were aware of.
  
• AT&T Tech Support - The tech reset the port for me and diagnosed an intermittent DSL connection issue on 2Wired modem. She put in a Service Request to request an AT&T rep come out the following day between 8 am and 12pm or 1 pm and 5 pm. I choose 8 am.
  
• Re-test with Backup Modem - I found an old Westell modem in my closet and plugged it in to my DSL data line and was still unable to get an Internet connection.
  
• AT&T Tech Support Manager - I asked to speak with a manager to get the service call that afternoon or evening but was unsuccessful. I explained that I was a very loyal AT&T customer and subscribe to several of their services. After making this call, I did get a follow-up voice mail confirminmg my appointment for 8 am next day and letting me know to call 1-888-272-4047 if I needed to reschedule the appointment.
  
• AT&T Onsite Tech - The tech arrived the following day at 8:30 am, about 24 hours from the initial service outage. He tested the line with his modem and was not able to get an Internet connection. He diagnosed the root cause of the problem being at the box on the street which is commonly caused by storms or bad weather. He put in another service request or ticket to request service at the AT&T box on the street. The tech gave me the ticket number. He tried to schedule the service for the afternoon but was unsucessful. The service was scheduled for the following day.
  
• AT&T Tech Support - I called AT&T Tech Support at 1-888-321-2375 to speak with a manager. I was able to convince her to escalate the ticket for this afternoon, between 1pm and 5pm.

More later...

Watch NCAA Games in HQ for Free on CBSSports.com

On the CBSSport.com site, I've been watching the 2009 NCAA March Madness on Demand service that is streaming live video for every game for free. This year they have a new High Quality (HQ) player that uses Microsoft Silverlight that will be downloaded and installed before you are able to view the NCAA games in HQ. The quality is the very good.

Here's the direct link to the CBSSports.com site with the Player.

http://mmod.ncaa.com/?source=mktg_09MMOD_AAsports

Advice to My Family Members - Memorize Your iTunes Password

As the tech guy in my family, I sometimes get calls during moments of crisis when their iPhone, Mac or PC has a major issue. As most of us know that provide Family IT Support, there is no trouble ticket system with assigned priorities -- depending on the family member everything is a high priority incident.

So this week, here are words of advice to my family members, none of which read this blog.

• User Name and Passwords -- You should create a list of all user names and passwords and keep that list in a secure place -- and that doesn't mean on yellow post-its tacked to your computer monitor. In addition, you should not write the exact password on this list but some set of words that would remind you of your password.
  
• Use Several Different Passwords -- No one should use the same password for every service they use!
  
• Password Length -- You should have a secure password for every combination of required password lengths such as 4 characters numeric only, 6 characters alpha numeric, 8 charaters alpha numeric.
  
• Your List -- Everytime you sign up for a new service requiring a password, you should write it down on your secure list. There are some secure programs such as SplashID that allow you to enter these on your mobile device or computer. However, if you store the password electronically, you should remember to enter a password hint rather than the actual password.

Finally, if you have an iPhone or computer and want to download an application or music, "please memorize and or write down your iTunes password and your Apple ID." And if you forgot it, here's the link if you forgot your iTunes password.



iTunes Forget Password link

iTunes 8.1.0.52 Windows Update

I finally installed iTunes 8.1.0.52 update for Windows and iTunes 8.1 (50) for the Mac. They both seem to be working fine. Some users are reporting that after this release, iTunes can no longer find the iPone Application Updates. That was not true for me.

Google Voice Invitation Link

For those of you that don't have a Google Voice account or did not participate in the Grand Central private beta, here's the link to get on the Google Voice waiting list.

https://services.google.com/fb/forms/googlevoiceinvite/


Google Voice Features
https://www.google.com/voice/about


Here are some of the cool new features of Google Voice that I think are useful:

• Voicemail transcripts -- Read what your voice mail. This may come in handy if you're in a meeting or with your family, the W, or GF and can't pickup your voice mail.


• Share voicemail -- Forward your voicemail messages.


• Listen in - Listen before taking a call.


• SMS - Send, receive and store SMS messages.


• Place calls -- Call U.S. numbers for free.


• Forwarding phones -- Add phones and decide which will wring and in what order.


• Conference Calling -- Join people with a single call.


• GOOG-411 -- Check directory assistance.

Gary Vaynerchuck - FOWA Conference

An inspirational tech video with Gary Vaynerchuck from the 2009 FOWA Conference I attended in Miami. Gary says he needs to "Go into hibernation and grow a sick ass beard and come out with six killer apps."


Gary Vaynerchuk at FOWA Miami 09 from DamianVoltes.com on Vimeo.

Amazon Kindle iPhone App User Interface

Can you read an Amazon Book on your iPhone? Is the screen too small? Here are some screen shots. I encourage everyone with an iPhone to take the time and download the Kindle iPhone App so they can decide for themselves.

Book Text from the Amazon Kindle iPhone App

Alec Baldwin's Book


Book Table of Contents on the Amazon Kindle iPhone App


List of Books on the Amazon Kindle iPhone App


Go To Navigation on the Amazon Kindle iPhone App


Locaton or Page navigation on the Amazon Kindle iPhone App

Using the Kindle 2 iPhone App to Read a Book

Today, I downloaded and installed the new Amazon Kindle App for the iPhone and purchased a book for it. Here are the steps I used:

1. I installed the iPhone Kindle App from the iTunes App Store. You an also download it from the link on the www.amazon.com/kindlestore/ or use the the Safari browser on my iPhone. There was no link to the iPhone Safari browser.

4. I typed in "www.amazon.com/kindlestore" in my iPhone Safari Browser and then found the book I was looking for at $13.51 that would be Auto-delivered wirlessly to Kindle on my iPhone.

5. In the right navigation, there were two options: A) Buy with 1-Click, Send wirelessly to my iPhone or B) Send Sample now wirelessly to my iPhone.

6. I clicked "Buy with 1-Click" and was prompted to sign-in to my Amazon account.

7. I was asked to verify my credit card information and billing address and then received the message: "Your Kindle Edition order has been placed. Your item will be sent to Iphone. Kindle for iPhone will start downloading the this item the next time you open the application.

8. I tapped on the Kindle Application and my Book was delivered in seconds.

Technology Video - Did You Know 2.0

Video by by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, Jeff Bronman.

The Amazon Kindle 2 Rocks!

Okay, I ordered my W the Kindle 2 because I wasn't sure that I wanted one. Today, while she was at the office, I downloaded a book from Amazon from for $13.92 which included wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet. The regular price of the book was $15.47 + shipping. However, with the Kindle 2, here the things you can do:

• Text to Speech - When reading a book, you can click Menu, Start Text-to-Speech and the Kindle will start reading the the book to you. The software used is similar to the text-to-speech engine used with the Auto GPS systems so it is not for everyone, but I could see times when I would use it with my headphones.


• Amazon Store Wireless Access - The Kindle 2 connects to the Amazon Store simply by selecting Menu, Turn Wireless On. There are no setting to configure and I understand it uses both 3G and wi-fi.


• Kindle 2 User Interface - The Amazon Kindle 2 screen is surprisingly very easy to read. It reminds me of the Palm Pilot screen, but better. When reading a book, the Next Page buttons on the left or right and the Prev Page button is the main user interface control you need to get use to as well as the Joy Stick which is similar to the iPod Home button. Also, as an Apple iPhone and iPod user, I keep wanting to touch the screen but that feature is not supported. (The W would not be happy if I inadvertently touched her Kindle 2 screen.)


• 
  
• 240K Books - There are over 240,000 e-books in the Amazon Kindle Store. A very impressive inventory.

Newspapers and Magazines - I was going to check out The New York Times and noticed that the Kindle 2 version is another $13.99. Ouch, I already get the print version so I don't think I'll be subscribing.

Blogs - Huh, you can read blogs such as the Amazon Daily (top selling but free?), The New York Times #2 ($1.99 per mo), The Clutter Diet #3 ($.99), The Onion #4 ($.99 per mo), The Huffington Post #5 ($1.99 per mo) and the Bedroom Blog #10 $.99 per month. (Hey wait a minute, aren't these blogs free on the Internet!). I don't think I'll be using this service since I can read these blogs on my MacBook or iPhone with 3G.

In any regard, The Kindle 2 is still hot and I recommend you get yours now before they run out!

Twitter Spam - GrantToolBox.com website - Grant Money Lost

If you receive a twitter or email leading to a landing page at a grantoolbox.com or secure.grantoolbox.com website, this is spam. Here is the Twitter spam I recently received from one of their affiliates.

1) Today, received a "twitter spam" that a member "Whynot12"was following me.

EMAIL MESSAGE
Subject: Whynot12 is now following you on Twitter!

Whynot12 (vqdsfZ) is now following your updates on Twitter.
Check out Whynot12's profile here:
http://twitter.com/vqdsfZ

You may follow Whynot12 as well by clicking on the "follow" button.

Best,
Twitter

2) When someone follows you on Twitter, I typically click the person's Twitter profile page to see if I know this person and see how many followers the person has. This person Whynot12 had over 800 followers, however, there most recent tweet looked like email spam I received. "Just applied for the new Obama stimulas grant package.

3) So I clicked through to the link, and it appeared to be an affiliate link, where the affiliate gets paid each time a user signs up or registers.
4) The Affiliate was https://secure.granttoolbox.com/

5) Ouch, look at their 245,000 monthly unique visitors per month on Quantcast.

Amazon Kindle 2 Now Shipping

For Valentine's Day, I bought my W or wife an Amazon Kindle 2. She can't wait to get it and I understand it shipped early and should arrive by Thursday, February 26, 2009. This is a very, very cool device with free 3G connectivity to buy books from Amazon and wireless connectivity, a browser for basic surfing the Internet. The electronic books should be $10 or less and this device has great battery life.

David Pogue's review is in today's edition of the New York Times.

I told my W to wait to buy the case since I imagine we'll see many great cases on the market in the next several months. I received an email regarding a new Kenneth Cole case for the Kindle 2.

AMEX Enhanced Fraud Protection - Overseas Transactions

Before traveling abroad, I need to remember to call my credit card companies such as AMEX to ensure I can use my credit cards overseas. That said, when traveling abroad online and when you think the company's shopping cart might be hosted overseas such as in the UK, then you must remember to call your credit card company to ensure your card is authorized to charge in the UK. Otherwise, you'll find yourself calling your credit card company or in the AMEX case, using their "Enhanced Fraud Protection".

Canon Rebel XTi Photos during Amgen Tour of California Bike Race

Here are some shots I took with my Canon Rebel XTi in the rain during the Amgen Tour of California bike race. You'll see some shots of Lance Armstrong.

Google GrandCentral 2.0 - Bring It

I was at a Miami Heat basketball game the other night reading my Twitter Friend's posts on my iPhone 3G and noticed disturbing tweet (no, it wasn't twitter: THE_REAL_SHAQ announcing he's in San Fran on his way to Alcatraz and he might stay) -- it was a tweet from Alex de Carvalho (twitter: alexdc) South Florida Tech thought leader and Social Media Strategist regarding the rumor that Google was shutting down GrandCentral, the universal phone number service. I immediately called my GrandCentral number that I had recently had printed on some new business cards and discovered that it was still active. If I would have continued reading Alex's Twitter messages, I would have later discovered that GrandCentral.com is not shutting down but will soon be releasing GrandCentral 2.0, that's at least the news from NY Times Tech Columnist David Pogue. http://www.alleyinsider.com/2009/1/pogue-googles-grandcentral-not-dead-just-resting

I had significant doubts that GrandCentral would not be a repeat of the dot-com era startup Thinklink later acquired by United Airlines. I'm glad to hear that at least today's news is that's just not true!

If you don't have a GrandCentral number yet, there's a waiting list so I would advise that you reserve your number now.

Upgrading my iPhone from 2.2 to 2.2.1

Today, despite warnings from a few users not to install the iPhone firmware update 2.2.1, I went ahead and installed it. I also updated my iPhone Touch from 2.2 to 2.2.1.

I was little hesitant to update it since earlier this year I switched to a MacBook Pro after nearly decades of exclusive PC computer and laptop use. See my blog on some of my experiences in running Windows on a MacBook Pro. 

http://widows-on-mac.blogspot.com/

In any regard, so far both my iPhone 3G and iTouch are running on 2.2.1 without any problems. I understand there are only minor fixes (Safari stability; fixes an image image in which pictures are saved from mail and don't display in camera roll and for iTouch users a Apple Lossless ALAC audio issue) but some 3G users report improved performance.

The Google Earth Updates 5.0 Rock! (at least for Miami, Florida users)

Wow, the new Google Earth Updates for Mac and Windows totally rock! If you haven't installed them yet, you should. I also noticed at least in the Miami, Florida area, the satellite and 3D images are vastly improved!

Google Earth Mac
5.0.11337.1968 (beta)

Google Earth 5.0.11337.168 Windows

Twitter is over Capacity - Trying to Add or Update your Picture

Are you trying to add or update your picture on Twitter and are you receiving the error message: "Twitter is over capacity". This happened to me only when I tried to upload a .GIF image. When I converted the image to .PNG or .JPG, the same image uploaded successfully.

Fring iPhone Applicaton - Can receive Skype Chat - AlwaysOn

 

 

http://www.fring.com/download/iphone/

Lastly, so what is Fring, on their website they say they are a "mobile internet service & community" that enables you to access and interact with social networks on-the-go, make free calls and live chat with your fring, Skype, MSN Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, SIP, Twitter, Yahooo and AIM friends using your handset's internet connection.

 

 

 

Dish Network - Losing Local Channels

In the past several month, my Dish Network cable TV has been losing my local channels. To fix this, shutting the power off and turning it back on usually fixes the problem, but that requires at least 5 minutes to reboot and reconnect to the satellite. I actually think turning most of my Windows PCs boot faster. I also use a Dish Network reseller in Miami, Florida, Broadband Solutions. I hope to find a solution to this problem or another vendor.

BTW, in the past month they have sent me two different smart cards to reinstall. They say they will be canceling my service unless I reinstall the new cards. What's up with that? I hope this isn't some security issue! Don't they know if it's not broken, don't mess with it!

If anyone has any recommendations, please let me know (and don't say, switch to Direct TV!)

View of Inauguration on CNN Site Using Microsoft Photosynth

If you haven't seen this yet, check out the view of the Inauguration at the CNN site using user submitted photos. It uses Photosynth by Microsoft Live Labs.

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2009/44.president/inauguration/themoment/


This is very cool technology!

Inauguration Map -

Here is a link to an Inauguration Day Map if you have any family and friends attending today's Inauguration in Washington DC. It shows the areas for the different ticket colors.