This week was DROID week, I got mine and am working on a nice little post about it. But there was more happening in the world of tech, right? Right?

• Midnight Droid Madness in Manhatten via CNET News
  • I was hoping that the release of the DROID would do better but lines don’t really mean anything. Also, a lot of people are waiting it out. My advice. Don’t wait!
• Another DROID commercial, Stealth, and it’s awesome via BGR
  • Stealth fighters? Moto DROID? Do you need anything else?
• Windows 7 Boxed Software Sales Surpass Vista Launch, According to NPD via NPD.com
  • Here is a quote from the article, “Windows 7 software unit sales in the U.S. were 234 percent higher than Vista’s first few days of sales.” People have been waiting for 7. Enough said.
• Transparency, choice, and control – now complete with a Dashboard! via Official Google Blog
  • I don’t know if anyone has checked this out yet, but talk about a walk down memory lane especially if you have been using Google services and products for a while.
• EU offers hope to File-sharers via BBC News
  • Kind of a crappy headline but the EU made some pretty good decisions regarding consumer rights. Now they just need to stop punishing the businesses.
• AT&T sues Verizon over ‘there’s a map for that’ ads via Engadget
  • I am liking the new aggressive, evil Verizon. Now they just need to work on keeping their ETF to $175.
• Sony XPERIA X10 announced, we go hands on via Engadget
  • This thing looks great in videos so far but all reviewers are talking that it is pretty much unusable. We’ll see what happens with it.
• Apple iTunes Pitch: TV for $30 Per Month via All Things D
  • I still don’t know about this. But Apples is great at tricking us!

Passing out the friend love!

• Does Your Blog or Site Design Make You Happy? via EricaSays.com
  • You know what? My design is starting to get there. Erica’s post definitely made me think of it in depth this week.
• Early thoughts on Windows 7 via Castellini on Computers
  • Here Rick points out some really great things going on with Windows 7, and he should know!
• 7 Google services you have never tried via Castellini on Computers
  • I commented that I tried all of these! But, for someone that maybe new to the Google world these could be overlooked.
• Replace Your Office Suite with Google Docs via LostInTechnology
  • Great post. Mostly because I totally agree!
• FeedDemon: The Best Offline Feed Reader via LostInTechnology
  • Still haven’t tried it, but LostInTechnology says it’s the best.
• How To: Download TV Torrents Automatically with uTorrent via WillINeedIt.com
  • Like TV? Like Torrents? Like uTorrent? Well then you may want to check out Brian’s post that incorporates all three.

The Times is reporting that EU leaders agreed to give more rights to internet consumers.  This agreement will help pad consumers from a kind of global DMCA, at least in the EU. This agreement bars certain types of regulations from taking place in the new telecommunications act that France and other countries are looking at or trying to pass. Basically, France was trying to adopt a “three strikes” plan that would bar consumers from the internet after three reports from telephone, ISP, or mobile companies of alleged copyright infringements. The biggest problem with this is that these consumers would not even be able to gain a fair trial; they would be service-less without even being proven guilty of copyright crimes.

The Soapbox

I am glad that the EU has come to their senses and actually listened to consumers and citizens, yet I still believe that there is going to be a problem.  I love how the Times reports this at the end of the article:

National regulators in the European Union will also gain the power to break up dominant telephone companies, which regulators in Italy and Poland are considering. The law also establishes rules for creating an E.U.-wide range of common frequencies for mobile broadband freed up by broadcasters in the transition to digital transmission.

All that ans no mention of how instead of infringing consumers rights, they are going to infringe on “dominant” telephone companies. I am a stern believer of the government staying out of the consumer’s way and granting consumers the right to use the internet in a lawful way just as much as I am a believer of the government staying out of strong business’s ways. This type of shifty wording allows the government to break up any telephone company that they feel is “dominant”.

So, instead of only protecting consumers by not letting businesses govern what’s right and wrong the EU decides to take control of the businesses themselves. I have a feeling that this is only the beginning of the end of consumer and telco business rights in the EU.

In the middle of the summer I finally received my Google Voice invitation.  I have to say that Google Voice is extremely powerful and could change the way that we use our phones as communication devices in the next few years.  There are some core features to Google Voice that I would add to truly make it the killer mobile app.

1. Customized Voicemails

In Google Voice you can add customized greetings for groups of your contacts.  Instead of keeping a whole group of people together in a “group” you could assign just one person to a group and then give that one person a personalized greeting.  What is missing is the ability to add a customized voicemails per contact, time of day, or group of people.  It would be nice to let someone know you are driving at a certain time and will be able to get back to them later; I commute to school every day at a certain time so this voicemails setting could stay the same for months.

2. Mobile Interface (I know they’re working on it)

This one is pretty self explanatory.  Having a mobile interface for Google Voice so that any phone can change and update settings via a mobile browser (dumbed-down or otherwise) is key for Google Voice to truly break into the mainstream market.  The Google Voice team is working on it, I believe mostly to combat the crazy, unbelievable lie-fest from Apple and AT&T.  Hopefully sooner than later.

3. Calling from Google Voice number without software.

I own a Palm Pre and with the Google Voice application I can call out from my Google Voice number.  This means that when my girlfriend sees my number pop up on her phone she wouldn’t see my Sprint number but my Google Voice number.  To have this feature without the software would be great.  The way that I see it working would be when you dial a number the Google Operator asks you if you want to use your Google Voice number or your Sprint number.  You of course could choose in your user preferences if you want this enabled or not, or if you want either number used automatically.  The faster people learn your new GV number the better.

There isn’t that many more features that need added Google Voice; it is robust just the way it is.  There addons would be a benefit and would make GV an excellent tool for anyone that wants more control from their phone.  If there are any other addons that would make Google Voice better than it already is, leave them in the comments below.

Windows 7 is a great modern operating system. Most people have been praising it’s robustness and that it closes the gap on OS’s like Mac OS X while still staying somewhat similar to Vista and XP to not lose any users along the way. Yet according to the Sophos Blog, after a clean install of Windows 7 with the default UAC (User Access Control) settings on, 7 still became infected by 8 our of 10 common bugs/viruses. [A good overview of UAC in Windows 7 can be found here]

Is this really surprising? It doesn’t seem so to me. I have been using the Windows operating system for a long time now and Windows has always had some types of security issues.  Theses issues though are nothing that a little common sense and a decent, lightweight anti-virus program can’t fix.

Something strange here

Something that I have been wondering about for a couple of months now with all of the crazy Windows hoopla is this: since Microsoft has released their own totally free anti-virus suite, Microsoft Security Essentials, why don’t they just include it with Windows 7? You have to go the site here to download and install the software. The only reason that comes to mind to not include MSE with 7 is that they don’t want to completely dominate all markets.  Microsoft is probably a little tired of fighting monopoly battles.

What this means for you

Like I said before, it is not a big surprise that Windows continues to be prone to viruses even though it has a shiny new coating and name.  With OS market share of Windows 7 slowly rising with it’s release on the 10/22/09 more and more people may be put under the guise that “this version is the best and most secure.” That may be true, but when you speak of “most secure” in regards to Vista or XP you are not saying very much.

Case in point: make sure to download some decent, lightweight anti-virus software and don’t open and install files that you don’t recognize.

Some good, free anti-virus suites:

• Microsoft Security Essentials
• AVG
• avast!
• Panda

These are all free and good quality: let Rick tell you why free anti-virus is OK.

With Apple having around $34 billion worth of capital to work with and a worth of over $170 billion it is now wonder that Fortune Magazine would name Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, CEO of the Decade. Jobs has led Apple to new heights most recently with the iPod, iPod Touch, and the ground-breaking iPhone and App Store.

I highly suggest checking out the thorough article over at Fortune Magazine if you want to learn about all of Mr. Jobs’ tribulations and accomplishments during his rise as Apple’s CEO. There really is no one else that seems more suited for this award. So, congrats to Mr. Jobs; even I am feeling a little Apple ‘fanboyism’ at the writing of this post!

I saw this first over at Lifehacker.

Omni DiskSweeper is a small application for OS X (yes, Snow Leopard safe) that shows you a list of the hard drives and or network drives that are connected to your Mac, allows you to view the size of them, and then allows you to delete what you will.

When the software is first opened you are greeted by all of the drives that are available to you.  When you click on a drive you are presented with folders and files on that drive. Next to the folders and files is the disk space that they are eating up.  System folders and files are differentiated in red.

Basically you can look for files and folders by size and decide if you want to get rid of them.  I cleared out about 36 GB of space from my new MacBook, mostly because I am a Mac noob and never cleared out my .trash folder.  There were a ton of applications that I have tried and deleted, movies that I have burned, music, etc.

Mentioning this software is due only to the shear fact that it saved me about 36 GB of space and that it is so easy to use.  The application is free and available here.

It appears that Verizon is going to keep up the old business model of nickel and diming it’s customers to death with the Motorola Droid, their flagship device, by charging $15 extra a month for MS Exchange support.  The net seems to be amazed by this; that Big Red is actually going to charge their customers more for services that they want to use. The real problem that the Droid is going to face won’t be pricing, it will be targeting.

More of the same, nothing to see here

Verizon is tied with AT&T for the most expensive plans in America as Sprint and T Mobile duke it out for the best price (value would be the wrong word here, at least in my area). Verizon has consistently charged the same amount of money for all smartphone data plans and add-ons; $29.99 for “unlimited” data plan on top of a $39.99 or higher voice plan and $15 extra for Exchange support (for Business accounts). This isn’t anything new and for consumers to think that “things will be different” now that Verizon is more “open and loving” with Android, they better think again or stay with Sprint or T Mobile.

Consumer Phone? The Droid?

This isn’t the only news with this story, something that struck me odd was that Brenda Raney, a spokeswoman for Verizon, said that the Droid is “a consumer phone.” The comment was used to explain that most consumers won’t be using Exchange and since the Droid is a “consumer phone” that customers need not worry about the higher priced data plan.

This is where Verizon is not thinking clearly and may really miss the target market with the Droid. From every review of the device that I have obsessively read, the Droid is not for a “typical” consumer. A “typical” consumer phone would be something that is user friendly like the iPhone. The Droid is not a phone that one can just pick up and instantly know what they are doing. For geeks the phone is great but this isn’t a “consumer” phone.  Anyone can take a look at the Droid commercials and understand that this phone isn’t targeted to everyone. Not everyone cares about “open development” let alone even know what the hell it means.

The Real Problem

The Exchange pricing for the Droid is not the real story here, the story is the misconception of what Verizon thinks that the Droid actually is. If Verizon keeps this kind of attitude towards the Droid, that it is an iPhone “killer” and a consumer phone, they are going to seriously frustrate a ton of customers that want a phone that can play cool games and play their latest MP3s. Verizon needs to recognize and appreciate the Droid for what it is, a smartphone with a lot of power and a large learning curve for standard consumers.

Can normal consumers use the Droid without frustation?

A quick look over at the Official Google Blog and you’ll find that Google is looking for some excellent people to fill in some spots in the company parking lot. Following a couple of links through you’ll find that they have open positions in a lot of their world wide sites.

It is awesome to know that such a diverse and vested company is still hiring and seems to be doing OK amidst what everyone will tell you is an economic nightmare.  Google is doing so well that they even offered up a multi-million dollar stock bonus for the Googlers that helped develop Google Chrome (Google’s web browser). If that isn’t an incentive to try and become a genuis and apply I don’t know what is.

On top of their game

If you haven’t noticed, Google has been innovating like crazy lately with projects like Google Maps Navigation, Google Wave, Android, and Google Voice. Most of these products are still considered “beta” but just about everything that Google makes is in a perpetual beta.  Even though Google had to lay off some folks at the beginning of the year, it looks like Eric Shcmidt and crew are ready to start another round of hiring again.

If you want to take a look at what Google is looking for check out this post at the official Google Blog.

And, a quick extension from this; what do you think that Google is looking for in people? What do you think some of the most important skills for potential Googlers are? If you have any ideas leave them in the comments below.

Looks like Apple is up to digital media takeover again. This time they are trying to put the hurt on cable companies with a $30 TV subscription model through iTunes. According to All Things Digital, Apple is trying to work out some deals with the cable networks and content providers to offer this model to consumers. TV only on my computer doesn’t sound that great. What other ways will Apple have to approach this model?

The iTablet, iSlate, iWhatever

Considering there is some kind of Apple tablet in the works, one would think that Apple may add this TV subscription service to their lineup around the same time the tablet is released. This is cool, having TV on your tablet, but only for a small percentage of people.  Personally, I could live without a device that gave me live or pre-recorded TV while on the go. I have Sprint TV on my Palm Pre and I don’t even use it. This consumer would not be well marketed to at all with a tablet with TV.

Apple TV. You’ve heard of it, right?

This seems like the best place for Apple to introduce a TV subscription model. The problem is is that no one really owns an Apple TV mostly because their are better options. Most people that would be in the market for an Apple TV would probably use a Mac Mini or even build their own home entertainment computer and use something like Windows Media. Although Apple TV makes sense this can’t be exactly what Apple is targeting; the current market is way to small. Maybe with a ridiculous Apple TV Set they could make some sort of impact in the living room.

iPod, iPhone?

This may be the ticket. People are crazy about their iPhones. They want to do everything with them, like turn them into remotes, car starters, GPS trackers, everything. The best part for them is that they can. What is better than being able to catch up with your latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy on your precious iPhone. Well, for them, absolutely nothing.

Apple has an uphill battle to try and market this TV subscription model on anything other than iPhones/iTouches, and even that won’t be one easily. One thing that Apple is good at though is making people think that the NEED something, just like they did with the iPhone. So, Apple may be hypnotizing all of us come January into thinking that we need a 10′ tablet with TV on it everywhere we go. Be prepared.

According to OS X Daily, Apple will update Snow Leopard to version 10.6.2 which will kill support for Intel Atom processor. This is an obvious attempt to thwart the efforts of OS X “hackers” from installing OS X on lower cost Atom based netbooks. Although the new update hasn’t been released yet OS X Daily and others say that it has been “confirmed”. Some are arguing that Apple has no right, but I say that they can do what they want with their own operating system.

Of course people are doing it

It isn’t a surprise, at least to me, that most people want a cheaper alternative to a fancy MacBook or iMac and a somewhat complicated but slick way to do it is to make your own Hackintosh.  There are several websites that have detailed instructions of how to make your own, and out of me not being sure of the legality of it all I won’t be able to post the direct links here. A nice Google search for Hackintosh or OS X on PC will give you several options to choose from if you are in to that semi-illegal thing.

Quit being the bully, Apple

Some people are arguing that Apple should be sued, yes Apple, for putting such a strong grip on their operating system. The argument includes how they are exhibiting monopolistic tendencies by locking out certain hardware and other vendors from using OS X.

Here is my take on the matter. Apple has developed a great operating system built on UNIX. It is very robust and “ahead of it’s time” (even though Windows 7 is starting to close the gap). The user experience is excellent and it works flawlessly on Apple hardware. Why would Apple want to get into the same game as Microsoft; trying to support a billion different combinations of hardware and the criticism that goes with that?

OS X is the product of some hard work by Apple developers and it is no surprise that they want to keep their OS from being used without the purchase of Apple hardware. I cannot blame them for locking out different hardware types.  They own the software and they can do what they will with it, plus Atom processors are wimpy anyways, so good riddance.