Travel safely.

This meetup was conducted at a physical location in Louisville as well as over the Internet via DimDim.com. My 1st impression when someone else connected was "Yay! It's party time!" My 2nd impression was not so party-licious when I encountered some poor audio over the net. MY 3rd impression was much better after I dialed in with my HD2 and Jawbone headset and was able to hear much clearer. Before I dive in the water in I'd like to get my feet wet by saying thanks to MyMobileVille.com for organizing a monthly event for the purpose of talking mobile technology.

I missed a small portion at the beginning of the event which was actually about Windows Phone 7 and was sad since I actually wanted to hear it. The rest of the conference was informative on other topics as well.

Here's a list of the topics formally covered:

• Windows Phone 7 - it's here! Well, for some carriers so far...!
• The iPad on Verizon.  Coming Oct 28th!
• We'll have a head-to-head comparison of two Android text-to-speech apps; Vlingo InCar and Start Talking. I'm using the former and John Becker is using the latter, so we'll see how they compare!  Have another similar app that you use?  How about it, iPhone owners?  Join in the battle!
• Square.  Accept credit card payments with your Android or iPhone!  We'll have a live demo!
• Alternative user interfaces for Android (Lanucher Pro, ADW.Launcher, etc).  We'll demo some alternatives to HTC's Sense and Motorola Blur.
• A sneak peak at some apps being developed but not yet released!
• Of course, we always leave room for Q&A and items of interest that anyone wishes to discuss!

- The head-to-head apps comparison of Vlingo & Start Talking was great and although both apps stuttered a bit during the live demonstrations I favored Vlingo overall. I liked how it responded when it was activated from standby mode and the safe-reader mode sounded very handy, especially when your hands are not free.

- Square - I've heard of Square before and there's a vendor in the building I work in I'm trying to encourage start using it to possibly save a few bucks from their current technique. All you need is an Android/iPhone and their hardware which attaches to the smartphone using the 3.5mm audio jack and is capable of reading credit cards. The demo was pretty nice, but I didn't catch it all on video since my 15 month old son was running all over the house under my supervision. The thought of paying someone at a yard sale using their smartphone blows my mind, but the security and possible hack-ability makes me curl in a ball on the floor, sucking my thumb out of fear of identity theft. You don't know the person taking your transaction, but at least at a yard sale, you know where the thief lives.

- Alternate Android User Interfaces - I didn't get to watch much of this section either, but I have heard good things about Launcher Pro. I think this was demo'd 1st and it looked like a functional user interface with plenty of features for personalization. I'd be willing to apply this to an Android phone if I had one running in a stable mode. My HD2 can run Android 2.1 w/HTC Sense over Windows Mobile, but it is not something I use on a daily basis. Plus it kills my battery. My wife uses a 2nd generation MyTouch3G, but I don't mess with her phone much to avoid hiccups she might experience while I'm not around.

There were a few other topics I didn't get into as much as some of the others, but I would like to mention some items I contributed to the conference.

Someone was looking for an Android app to rescue their Outlook calendar from their PC to their smartphone. I recommended Good Technology or Good.com. I know this service works on the Enterprise level, because my office is conducting a pilot project using 25 or so HTC Evo 4G's, which I recommended them to use! I tested one for a few weeks mostly for video conference testing. Good works for us at the office really well enabling my calendar, personal contacts, as well as global contacts which is perfect while on the go and in need of a foreign contact. I'm not sure if it was exactly what they were looking for, but I hope attendees will give it a shot to find out.

I also recommended a great resource shared to me by a Louisville Verizon source. It's an interactive website for Verizon users with demo's on actual "Droid" handsets. The Smartphone Resource Center is very much worth checking out.

I briefly shared a Twitter-monial for the non-Twitter users out there. See my blog for more on how Twitter has granted me free swag: MeddersNation.com Twitter Tag

Lastly, I'd like to share my contact info and hope to connect with other participants of tonight's event and others reading this as well.  

Personal blog site: http://meddersnation.com

HTC fan site: http://htcfanatic.com 

Twitter: http://twitter.com/andymedders

Email: ittrooper@gmail.com 

Phone: 502-428-1233 - HTC HD2



My journey on Twitter.com has offered me several oppotunities to win cool prizes and I am proud to add these to the list. If I ever get a HTCfanatic.com logo drawn up maybe I will have some stickers made by StickerGiant.

Laughing Squid is an online resource for art, culture & technology and independent web hosting company. It is run by primary tentacle Scott Beale, who is also the publisher editor of the blog and is joined by the occasional guest blogger.

Thanks again to both sites and visit them here:

Laughing Squid = http://www.laughingsquid.com

StickerGiant = http://www.stickergiant.com