In this episode of Tech Hijack, Corey and Gerard talk mostly apple news. iPad, iOS rumors, Lion not being released(available now) and so on.

I have been an Android user for a couple years now. My first Android phone was the HTC Hero, then the HTC EVO, but I have never had a true Google Android experience before. So when Google gave me the opportunity to spend 30 days with the Nexus S in May, I jumped at that opportunity.

The Nexus S is of course the pure Google experience. No bloatware, no ugly skins, just you, your phone and Android. My first impressions where utter amazement. Right out of the box, this phone was fast! Not EVO fast, Blazing fast. I found the phone to be extremely intuitive and fresh. As on all Android phones, it asks to be setup with your gmail account, I was surprised though how quickly every thing synced up though. Most times you have to wait for a bit of a lag, but this almost seemed instantaneous. The Nexus S also shipped with the latest version of Android at the time which was 2.3.4 and that allowed for video chat in GTalk, which again, worked pretty flawlessly. Though I find it a little odd trying to video chat on a phone still.

Having the Nexus S also gave me a chance to try a game out that I had been wanting to play and I knew my EVO couldn’t handle it. That was Cordy. Again, on the Nexus S, the graphics where phenomenal. In the 30 day span that I had to phone, I only had to charge it a handful of times. Battery life was great. Now, I will say, I didn’t have this connected to a carrier, but it was connected to wifi the entire time. I also understand that if this would have been on a carrier, that battery life would not have been as good as it was on wifi only.

Also in the 30 days, the device did not crash once, nor did any of the applications I had running on it.

All that being said, I would say that if you are in the market for a new Android phone, and want the Google experience, the Nexus S is really worth a look at. The curved screen is odd, but really nice to use, battery life again is great, the device is fast and intuitive and the best part is, you will always have the latest version of Android.

The biggest complaint that I have though, is Currently the Nexus S is only available on two carriers. T-mobile and Sprint. I personally am hoping that in the future that the Nexus line will be available on all carriers upon release. Sprint had to wait a few months before they got it, and even though I am a Sprint customer, I am going to wait for the next Nexus phone since my contract is not up yet.

But to me, this phone is a buy.

In this audio episode of Tech Hijack, Corey and Gerard talk Google Plus, The Cloud, iOS, iTunes, and Apples poor decision with Final Cut Pro.

Android has been out for a few years, and since its release, you have been able to root your Android device. The thing is, you would think rooting was just for geeks, those people out there that really want to tinker with the OS. But that’s not the case. Many people are rooting their Android handsets and for many different reasons. Sure, there are those that want superuser access to really tweak their settings and overclock their processors. But there are also those out there that only root for simple things. Some just want to remove bloatware that their carriers insist be on their devices. Others may just want the ability to take screenshots of their homescreens. Of course, there is also that group of people (almost everyone) that don’t agree with tethering plans if they don’t tether their phones enough to justify the service. Who can blame them for not wanting to pay for tethering either? We already pay for data, why pay more for the same data? Any way, that’s a whole other rant for another post.

The reason I bring all this up, is the fact that I’m not sure if there is much of a reason not to root your Android device. Sure, if you root, you void your devices warranty. But there are ways to unroot so your carrier doesn’t know. The other reason? Ok, so you can’t get updates for your phone from your carrier, like the latest Android build! Oh wait, most OEMs and carriers aren’t up to date with those updates, so that’s not much of a reason. Ok, you could possibly brick your phone. But that is not likely to happen, and most times if it does happen, you can get your phone back up and running, remember I said MOST times.

But why root your Android? Besides unlocking superuser permissions, regardless on how you want to use them. As an Android user you can get custom ROM’s for your phone. You can get fairly up to date versions of the latest Android OS, and you have a lot of flexibility. Just think, a lot of devices get left behind when it comes to updates, and we know that a lot of phones can run the most current OS out there. So do yourself a favor, research rooting your Android if you haven’t already. Reach out to the Android community if you need help or advice. Get dirty with your phone and unleash the goodness that Android brings to the table.

Many many months ago, I had the pleasure of getting a TubeStick from Equinux to review. Due to some unfortunate circumstances though, I was unable to provide the review when I was going to. But now, here it is.

If you are not familiar with TubeStick, let me tell you about it. TubeStick is a USB device that allows you to connect a TV antenna to your Mac and watch over the air TV on your computer using their software. You can also use the device and software as a DVR. It’s ready to go right out of the box. When you get the TubeStick, you not only get the device, but software, USB extension cable, a small antenna, and an antenna adapter for using with your cable or other digital antena.

Like I said before, I have had this device for a while now. The TubeStick it self is actually pretty small, just a tad bigger than USB jump drives when they first came out. The device can easily fit in your pocket. The software does have DRM protection, so you can install it on your computers, but it can only be active on one computer at a time. The antena that they send you is small, compact and has a magnetic base. It gets the job done, but is a bit limiting when it comes to reception.

I used the TubeStick with Cable, the antena they send, and my own antena. All worked wonderfully. The small antena picks up a decent amount of stations, but had issues getting all my local stations. This would be the perfect antena for traveling with though. Especially if you aren’t looking to channel surf a lot. The higher end antena which I attached was actually my preferred choice of all. I was able to get all my local stations, they all came in clear, and I didn’t have to wait long for a signal. Cable worked well too, but in my area I was unable to get the channel guide to work with the software, so cable became a bit of a pain.

The biggest downfall of this product is scanning. When you connect a new antena/cable, you have to rescan the channels. If you are just using an antena, then it’s no big deal. However, if you are doing this with cable, it may take a while to get through the channels. Overall though, I was quite satisfied with this product. I used it primarily on my Mac Mini that is connected to a 37″ HDTV and it worked wonderfully. I can see this product being great for someone always on the go with their laptop, or for people wanting to do more on their computers and having more of a media center instead of just a TV.

This product for me is a Buy for sure. If you want to get your hands on it though, you might have difficulties. According to their website http://equinux.com they do not ship to the US. Hopefully I will find more info and post it here.

If you are able to find a reseller in the US, please contact me or leave it in the comments.

In this episode of Tech Hijack, Corey and Gerard talk about Netflix on android, Google partners with carriers and handset makers, Chromebooks, Music labels siding with apple, apple putting it to their users with iMac HDD’s, and app picks

A few days ago, movie geeks everywhere had a party. Netflix finally released an Android app. But the parties soon stopped. Why you ask? Well sadly the Netflix app only runs on a handful of select Android devices right now. Luckily, my phone happens to be one of them.

Much like the iPhone and iPad apps, you get full access to your queue, Top Picks, Genres and Search. You also have the ability to resume the last movie you started watching be in on the app or on some other form of Netflix (iOS, Website, Apple TV, ect). Netflix also works not only on just wifi, but on 4G and 3G networks.

After playing with the app for a few days now, I have to say, the experience is fairly decent. I have only used a Netflix app on my iPad and it was very rare that I did so, but it is very useable on a phone. When using on Wifi, the picture quality is excellent. However, when you dip into 3G, the quality goes pretty much down the tubes, and there is a serious buffer issue. This could also be my carrier, I do have sprint, and they are known for having some of the slowest mobile connections around.

Overall, if you phone is one of the supported few, I say go for it. Sadly, the app will only show in the market for the supported phones. Now there is a workaround though. If you are rooted, you may just be in luck. The netflix app is working on several rooted devices, but if you are not currently rooted, I’m not sure if the app is entirely worth rooting at this point.

Hopefully in the coming months we will see more and more devices become supported by the app. While my HTC EVO is supported, my Samsung Galaxy Tab is not. In fact even the Motorola Xoom is not supported. For a full list of supported devices visit Netflix.

In this episode of Tech Hijack, Corey and Gerard talk about the death of the Flip Video cam, Jesse Jackson JR being a moron, and Al Franken being a moron. Oh, and we have picks too!

In this episode of Tech Hijack, Corey and Gerard talk about BBM coming to Android and iOS, PwnToOwn tournament , and the iPad Announcement. 

More and more people are going into business for themselves these days. But not all of them have the right tools to get the most out of their business. So I am going to share my tips for having a more productive and organized business. Now remember, this is all Tech related, no paper journals here.

1. Smartphone/Tablet – Ok, first on the smartphone, you may be thinking this is common sense. But there are some that still use flip phones and/or messenger phones. Smartphones are a must. Not only are they capable of handling several different tasks that you can do on a computer, but they also make you look more professional. My recommendations on smartphones are phones running the Android platform or an iPhone…. Sorry Blackberry.

Ok, now to tablets. These are handy devices, especially if you are needing to take down a lot of notes, or for your own research needs. Sure, a smartphone can do it, but it’s sometimes nice to have a slightly larger option to use on the go. I prefer the Samsung Galaxy Tab because of it’s more mobile size. But there is the iPad as well. It is a bit larger and not as convenient to carry around, but it still accomplishes what you need to do.

Think of both these options as a tax right off. You are using these for your business!

2. Evernote – Evernote is a great service. Not only does it work in the cloud, it also has desktop clients for Mac and Windows, and mobile clients for all smartphones. Evernote allows you to take typed notes, photo notes, or voice notes. You can separate them into folders and stay super organized. I use Evernote to track paying bills, receipts for online purchases to business related items and for business cards that are given to me. Evernote also uses text recognition, so if you put in a note or snap a photo of a hand written note, you can do a search later on for that note and it will find it based on the text. The service is free, but there is a premium service for $55 a year. I pay for mine, I love the product that much.

3. Square – Maybe you have heard of Square, they are a credit card payment solution for your smartphone/tablet. Yes, for a small fee, you can take payments on your phone. The service is free to signup, and you get a free card reader. You only pay when you get paid. Now there is a limit of $1000 a month, but you can contact Square to negotiate that limit.

4. Paypal – You need a paypal account. you need to be able to accept payments for your services online, and most people have a paypal account already.

5. Task Manager/Calendar – You need to be able to keep your appointments and meetings straight. You also need to be able to set up a list of tasks that need to be taken care of. You can actually use Evernote for a task list, but I recommend keeping it separate. I suggest checking out Remember the Milk. It’s a great task manager and is only $25 a year to use on your smartphone. They have both Android and iPhone apps, and is pretty user friendly. If you don’t want to make that expense, look into using Google Task in conjunction with your Gmail account. If you are an Android user, I would also recommend looking into Astrid.

6. Google Voice – Don’t hand out your personal number to people. Sign up for a google voice account and keep that number to hand out to people you are doing business with. You can also text from Google Voice. It’s a great service, and to be honest, it’s the only phone number I give people any more.

The last thing I want to tell you, is please have a professional email. This is your business we are talking about. I am more likely to email you if your email is professional sounding. Nothing is worse than sending an email to a @hotmail, @yahoo, @MSN, or @gmail when you are talking business. Get a domain name, set it up with google apps for free, tie your google voice number with it, use Google calendar and tasks and start making your business yours.