• I played with it for a few days.
• I tested it with friends.
• I couldn’t find a purpose for it.
• I have not logged in to it in well over a month.
• I do not miss it.

I am not sure what problem Google was trying to solve with Wave. Perhaps they invented a problem, which no one really has and then developed a solution for that invented problem. Either way I am declaring Google Wave useless for the majority of Internet users.

Email is still communication king and will most likely remain that way, until we all have 2 way video communicators built in to our watches and phones.

© 2010, Technoramblings of the digitally insane. All rights reserved.

Say what you will but in my opinion the iPhone beats the droid is every way (save some minor coverage differences in Cleveland, OH).

Regardless of the stellar savings offered by Verizon Wireless the devices have been returned and our remaining numbers on big red have now been ported over to AT&T.

After talking to a business rep we are now getting a 10% discount on service, and we have devices which are business usable!

Oh Well Android OS,  maybe next time.

© 2010, Technoramblings of the digitally insane. All rights reserved.

iPhones are great, but as a techie it was time to try something new!

Initially everything was looking very promising:

The phone was fast, I mean really fast.  People have been comparing it to the iPhone 3Gs but I don’t have a 3Gs I only have a 3G.  I will say the difference in speed between the 3G and the Droid is staggering!

It only took me about 15 minutes to get completely comfortable with the Droid’s UI and pull out keyboard and maybe another 10 minutes to fully customize the phone to my liking. At this point I decided it was time to setup my email account on the Droid.

This process was painless and simple.  I quickly got the Droid connected my to Exchange 2007 server and it began syncing email, contacts and my calendar.

So far this was going very well, fast and functional! Or so I thought.

Upon completion of the sync with my Exchange 2007 server, I opened up the Email app on the Droid.

Wow was this ugly. Gray on Gray background made it hard notice a difference between read and unread messages(The picture below does not convey this well). There was no preview of the email body like on the iPhone, and I could not find a single setting to change any of this.

After further inspection of the lack of options in this regard, I began doing a thorough testing of the most basic day to day email tasks.

1. Replying to email:

Fail. While I will say that the Droid does in fact send a reply email, you would never know by glancing at your inbox.  There is no change to the message listed in your inbox, no reply arrow or “badge” showing you that something was done with this email. During a long work day dealing with many emails this gets very confusing.

2. Forwarding email:

Double Fail. First it fails for the same reason as the reply fails.  No indication that you have forwarded the message is displayed in the inbox.  However this goes one step beyond to be a double fail when dealing with attachments on the Droid.  Exchange 2007/Droid users seem to be completely unable to forward emails with attachments from the phone properly.  While the recipient does get an email, there is no message body, just an attachment message.eml.  Now this would be ok if you could open the attachment, but it is junk on the receiving end.

I thought I was crazy and that I missed something in the setup, but I did not.

As a techie I could not let this go, and began the hunt for fixes. First to the Android Market, where I downloaded a trial of Touchdown.  This apparently was the end all be all application for Exchange users on the Droid.  It however had the same issues with indicating a message had been replied to and thus was a no go for me especially at the price of $20. Touchdown had its other weaknesses but that will be for another post (maybe). This then brought me to alldroid.org. An Android development community.  There I was greated by many other incredible tech savvy people, who were also not content with their Droids for various reasons. Surely there would be answers here…..

After reading many posts I downloaded a few “Custom Roms” for the Droid and went to work flashing them to the phone and testing them out one by one hoping there would be a fix for the email deficiency. (Learn how to root your Android Phone, and Flash Custom Roms Here) Unfortunately there were no fixes for the email issues! I could make the phone faster with an overclock, I could replace the stock applications for the Gallery, Music, Launcher and more with versions from the newest Android device the Nexus One, but nothing was there to upgrade/fix the email application.

Some Googling turned up results for the Android Google Code project bug tracking site, where these issues have been clearly logged by many people.  Google has been made aware of the problems with email and Exchange servers, but on their bug tracker they are listed as confirmed, or just sitting there opened.  Is anyone assigned to these bugs? Are they being worked on?

I was very frustrated at this point, mostly due to the fact that switching to Verizon would result in a huge monthly savings because of the 18% discount I get through mynpp.com, which unfortunately does not have an agreement in place with AT&T at this time.

So what does this mean for the business user? Apparently Google designed this device to work primarily with Gmail and its other Google Apps. Everything else was secondary or tertiary with only the most basic of functionality included.

So you just got your Droid and are in your 15 or 30 day window, depending on if you have a business account or not, and you are wondering what do I do now?

If you have never owned a smart phone before you may not notice these issues and the phone will be a great performer, which seems to be the case based on the adoption rate of the Motorola Droid and the million+ handsets sold thus far. So make up your own mind.

However if you have ever used a Blackberry, Treo, Windows Mobile or iPhone for business, I am pretty sure you will be mostly disappointed.

I do see great potential for the Android OS and hope that as development and adoption rate continues these major design flaws are worked out and I can try out the next iteration of “Droid”

© 2010, Technoramblings of the digitally insane. All rights reserved.

Deciding that Windows was just not going to do the job for various reasons, I used a great open source solution FreeNAS to get the job done.

Everything was going great until OS X got involved.

5 Users in the office are Mac users, which typically is no problem and actually way less of a support issue.

This time, however, things were not going well.  My Mac users were creating folders and files on the server in shares set with permissions for all authenticated users, but the folders being created on the Macs were not writable to other users.

I double checked the user accounts and the permissions in FreeNAS to no avail.

After researching Samba parameters for the better part of an hour I came across something that seemed interesting.

A Samba configuration setting of  “unix extensions = no” seems to ignore the permissions OS X is overriding on the server when it is creating files and folders. By setting this variable in the smb.conf file in the global settings section, folders created by OS X users were writable by the Windows users.

So if you are planning on using a Unix/Linux file server in a mixed client environment, make sure to set “unix extensions = no” in the global section of smb.conf and restart Samba.

© 2009, Technoramblings of the digitally insane. All rights reserved.

Just press ”SELECT” on your remote when you see the Start Over prompt and you can restart a show already in progress. It’s easy and it’s free with your Digital Cable service.

• Start Over is available on select shows on designated channels.
  
• Fast-Forward and Recording features are not available in Start Over mode.

Start Over will appear on your screen in one of the following two ways, depending on where you live in our service area.

Your Start Over Experience May Look Like This;

When you see the Start Over prompt on screen, press the “SELECT” button on your remote. (Appears only on channels airing Start Over.)

Press the “SELECT” button again to Start Over that show or press the “C” button to Cancel and return to live TV

Or Like This;

When you see the Start Over prompt on screen, press the “SELECT” button on your remote. (Appears only on channels airing Start Over.)

Press the “SELECT” button again to Start Over that show or press the “C” button to Cancel and return to live TV

Start Over is available on select shows on designated channels.
Fast-Forward and Recording features are not available in Start Over mode.

No extra equipment is required. All you need is your remote and an existing Digital Cable set-top box.

• Programs can be restarted multiple times within the TV show’s live timeframe.
• You can Start Over a show anytime within its programming viewing window.
• If you change the channel, you can resume watching the first show where you left off as long as the show is still within its scheduled broadcast timeframe.

Channel Lineup (Standard Definition only)

• Arts and Entertainment
• Biography Channel
• History Channel
• History International
• Nick Toons
• Nick
• VH1
• Spike
• Comedy
• Cartoon
• Noggin
• MTV
• TV Land
• Nat Geo
• FX
• Food Network
• HGTV
• TBS
• TNT
• Disney Channel East

Channel Lineup (High Definition)

• HGTV
• TBS
• TNT
• Food Network

© 2009, Technoramblings of the digitally insane. All rights reserved.

That being the case, I am hoping one of my blog readers has an extra invitation they can spare.

I would really love to use the application and blog about it and would also love to give away any invitations I would get away to my readers in the future.

Keep me posted!

© 2009, Technoramblings of the digitally insane. All rights reserved.

We knew good and well this thing was coming sometime in November, and now Verizon Wireless has made it official: the Motorola DROID will hit Big Red on November 6th for $199 on contract (after a $100 mail-in rebate). Naturally, the DROID itself is just the first of what could be many Android-laced phones coming to the carrier, and Verizon Wireless CMO John Stratton even stated that the phone “is wide open” — pretty big words from a company like VZW. Android 2.0 will be front and center, along with Visual Voicemail, a 3.7-inch display (854 x 480 resolution), 5 megapixel camera (with dual-LED flash), a bundled 16GB memory card and a beta version of Google Maps Navigation(!). For those wondering, yeah — the DROID is the first phone to offer that, which transforms Google Maps into a turn-by-turn routing system that’ll have your dedicated TomTom / Garmin trembling in fear. There’s also a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, 3G, WiFi, voice-activated search and over-the-air Amazon MP3 downloads. With all that, who needs the iPhone, right Ivan?

Continue reading Motorola DROID official on Verizon: $199 on contract, coming November 6th (video)

Motorola DROID official on Verizon: $199 on contract, coming November 6th (video) originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:23:00 EST.

© 2009, Technoramblings of the digitally insane. All rights reserved.

If you loved using the existing coax in your home to network your devices together at 110Mbps, then you’ll love MoCA 1.1 even more — testing has shown it can reach speeds of 175Mbps and up the number of participate devices to 16. The real challenge with MoCA right now though is that there aren’t many devices out there that support it and those that do cost a pretty penny — well worth it if you can’t run CAT5 cables though. Advanced Digital Broadcast, and Entropic made a little progress today however by getting the first MoCA 1.1 set-top-box certified, which we’re hoping is just the first of many devices to jump on the MoCA bandwagon. Because as cool as it sounds to have an Ethernet jack on the back of your HDTV or game console, it doesn’t do most any good because there’s only a coax cable running to their equipment.

First MoCA 1.1 cable set-top-box gets certified originally appeared on Engadget HD on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:18:00 EST.

© 2009, Technoramblings of the digitally insane. All rights reserved.

Face? Meet palm. Microsoft’s decided to pull out of its co-sponsoring of “Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex’s Almost Live Comedy Show” after execs attending the taping came to the sudden conclusion that Family Guy-caliber jokes were to be told, tackling such topics as “deaf people, the Holocaust, feminine hygiene and incest.” We’re not sure how 10 years and over 120 episodes of offensive precedence bypassed Redmond’s radars, but man, that’s gotta be some strong personal bubble. A Microsoft representative said of the taping, “it became clear that the content was not a fit with the Windows brand.” The show will still air November 8th, pre-recorded Microsoft references in tow, but with a new as-of-yet unnamed sponsor. All we have of the now-doomed partnership is this brief video from the Windows “741″ student site — it’s after the break.

[Via The Raw Feed]

Continue reading Microsoft ditches Family Guy special… for being Family Guy

Filed under: Software

Microsoft ditches Family Guy special… for being Family Guy originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:46:00 EST.

© 2009, Technoramblings of the digitally insane. All rights reserved.

If you already did jailbreak your iPhone or iPod touch, you don’t need to use blackra1n again.

Jailbreak iPhone 3.1.2 with blackra1n RC2

Here is how you can jailbreak iPhone 3.1.2 firmware using blackra1n RC2.

1. Download blackra1n RC2 (Available for both Windows & Mac)

2. Follow the steps at my jailbreak iPhone 3.1.2 post.

blackra1n on Windows 7

I tried blackra1n on Windows 7, but it crashed when I first tried opening it. To get blackra1n to work on Windows 7, do the following:

1. Right-click the blackra1n icon and click properties.

2. Click the Compatibility tab.

3. Under compatibility mode click the box to enable it and select Windows XP (Service Pack 2). Click OK, and then run blackra1n.

I’ve only tried this on a Windows 7 32-bit setup, but it should work on a 64-bit setup as well.

© 2009, Technoramblings of the digitally insane. All rights reserved.

The only thing we love more than analysts and surveys is content providers bickering over each other’s ridiculous PR claims and none are as fun as when Comcast is involved. Avid readers are all too familiar with Comcast’s strategy to give up on the linear channel race and instead focus on VOD “options” no matter how silly it makes them look to those in the know. What really makes this particular situation interesting is that Comcast doesn’t appreciate it when another provider, like Verizon FiOS, gets in on the action when it recently claimed it offered 3 times as many VOD offerings a month as the nation’s largest provider. Comcast claims this is just not true and there are actually at least 17,000 VOD titles available in most markets. If that is news to you, then you aren’t the only one as Verizon blasts back with “I’m surprised that Comcast wouldn’t talk about these numbers in their PR and advertising. We make sure to let our customers know when we’re adding more to their service.” Too true, Verizon, too true. Honestly we couldn’t care less about VOD because we’re in the small group of CableCARD users, but there’s no way we could turn away from a train wreck like this.

Comcast has issues with Verizon’s FiOS VOD claims originally appeared on Engadget HD on Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:07:00 EST.

© 2009, Technoramblings of the digitally insane. All rights reserved.

You know Microsoft, when you setup a big Windows 7 booth across the street from the Japan Linux Symposium you’re just asking for trouble.

[Thanks, Mitch W.]

Linus Torvalds gives Windows 7 a big thumbs up originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:14:00 EST.

© 2009, Technoramblings of the digitally insane. All rights reserved.

qStatus is a one of a kind status update application that lets you tweet and update your Facebook status like never before. It is straight to the point, super fast, ultra cool and darn effective. qStatus saves you the hassle of updating your Facebook status and Twitter separately by doing both for you instantly.

-Instantly update Twitter and Facebook or either
-TwitPic Support
-TwitVid Support
-Tweet Shrink and Tweet long
-Tweet your currently playing music
-Dedicate the current song your playing to your friends
-Customizeable background
-Tweety bird update sound

© 2009, Technoramblings of the digitally insane. All rights reserved.

Starz launching 5 new HD channels next year originally appeared on Engadget HD on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:09:00 EST.

© 2009, Technoramblings of the digitally insane. All rights reserved.

With the main obstacles for adoption of CableCARD tuners in Home Theater PCs gone it just makes sense that even those who don’t use Windows Media Center would want to get in on the fun. If only it was that simple, with CableLabs holding the keys to the kingdom, not just anyone can build software that will work with a CableCARD tuner and expect it to work. Good news for Sage TV fans, as the genius who came up with our favorite Media Center plugin (DVRMSToolBox) has now come up with a nifty work around. SageMCTuner is still in beta, but the idea is to put Media Center to work for Sage. So in other words, Media Center is still doing all the recordings etc, but Sage is calling all the shots and reaping all the benefits. If you want the full details you’ll have to click through and try it yourself, go ahead, we’ll be waiting for your return to hear how it worked out — we bet it goes pretty well.

CableCARD tuners come to SageTV via SageMCTuner originally appeared on Engadget HD on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:07:00 EST.

© 2009, Technoramblings of the digitally insane. All rights reserved.