Nexus S: The Next Generation Pure Google Phone. What does this really mean?

As most of you (tech/gadget fanatics) know. Actually, scratch that. As many of you know (due to Google's savage AdWords campaign) there is a new Android phone on the market, which can be safely called Pure Google in a phone v2. This phone, the Nexus S, has been massively hyped in tech forums, discussion boards, blogs, and actively through WOM. 

Why is the is an important step? Well, who's heard of the Nexus One? Right, aside from the people that talk to me all the time about my fascination with mobile phones, there are a few of you "normal" people that have heard of the Nexus One. Google was a little to arrogant in their first round of Nexus Ones, trying ambitiously to shape human purchasing habits and get around those pesky service providers (a.k.a. buy directly from their site). On top of that, Google wanted to brand this line of phone as "superphone," a step above what we call smartphones today. Tisk. So why did this hurt them? People aren't ready to start buying phones they've never held before. Apple does a tremendous job of letting users play with their phones and their amazing UI before they even think about buying a phone or an iPod or anything else for that matter, that's why Apple sells tremendous amounts of hardware and Google sells service. They are very different companies at the end of the day, regardless of how many people try to say that they are competing within the same industry. Yes, tech is an industry, but each is a giant within its own sector.

But enough of that niche stuff. There have been progressive movements by Google in producing products that people can use everyday. Take the Cr-48 as an example of a new product that Google is currently testing before spreading it in the market. They are doing something unique and trying to force all their products to connect to their services via the cloud, etc. The Nexus One, the phone I carry with me everyday, forces me to use almost all Google services before I can fully experience it. Luckily, I am a diehard Google guy. I use Google apps for all my work and Google everything else for personal use, so it was fairly easy to integrate. To get the rest of the general audience that is already so familiar with Yahoo, AOL, etc. it's going to be extremely hard to start this Google-centric movement. One step a time, right?

Now back to the Nexus S. Why is this important for Google specifically? The Nexus S is supposed to pay the way for the next generation of smartphones in many ways. First of all, although this phone doesn't beat the iPhone in terms of retina display quality, it comes with all the bells in whistles we'll soon be seeing standard in many phones. Here is a short little list:

• Gingerbread - Android 2.3.1. This is setting the standard for features and functionality.
• 1 GHz Hummingbird process for incredible processing speed and multitasking capabilities. It's a snappy processor and gets what you want done...now.
• 4-inch 800x480 CURVE Super AMOLED screen resolution. This contour display is the first in the industry and ergonomically cradles your head for calls.
• Increased 16GB internal storage and removable microSD storage. With the introduction of Froyo in Android 2.2, users are already having the capability of pushing applications to the SD card to save space.
• Dual facing cameras.
• It has all the standard bells and whistles when it comes to WiFi 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS, gyroscope, accelerometer, and digital compass. But wait, what's that? An NFC chip? NFC, in my opinion, is the next wave of mobile technology to be widely adopted by the masses. Big dogs like Apple, Google, Microsoft have been doing their due diligence in this technology, but this is the first time we've seen in in a widely offered phone. Near Field Communication gives us the ability to use our phones as a means of payment and making interactions with things out in the open. Imagine using your phone as a credit card so you never need to bring your credit card again? Smart.

Ok, more on why this is an important launch for Google. The build up and active marketing for this product was astounding - all the way up to and through their official release in all Best Buy stores on December 16th at 8am. You couldn't go to a single website without seeing a prominent banner ad. Chances are if you are going to the pages I'm visiting, you're seeing it a lot more often than you want to. Many of their D2C marketing campaigns were excellent - namely running the Twitter focused contests and awarding the most clever of users a Nexus S after going through some grueling mind challenges (my favorite was puzzle #2). 

And some marketing campaigns weren't as good. 

Bottom line, Google's doing some big things on the sales and marketing department, and I wouldn't be too far off to say that 2010 Q4 will be a solid testing model for launch of future products. Good luck Nexus S (named so after Samsung didn't want to be #2) and good luck Google on Q1 next year. It's about time financial focus wasn't put solely on AdWords ;).

AND, if you wanted to check out some reviews for yourself to see if the Nexus S is a good fit for you (trust me it is), then check it out here. And if you like iPhones, here's a cool video for you guys too. Much love.

TechCrunch: http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/06/google-nexus-s-review/

Engadget: http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/10/nexus-s-review/

Slashgear: http://www.slashgear.com/nexus-s-review-14119387/

Cnet: http://reviews.cnet.com/smartphones/samsung-nexus-s-unlocked/4505-6452_7-34431171.html

Android Community: http://androidcommunity.com/nexus-s-review-20101216/

Pocket Lint: http://www.pocket-lint.com/review/5199/google-nexus-s-samsung-review

Android and Me: http://androidandme.com/2010/12/news/nexus-s-review-and-unboxing-roundup/

Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/fred-wilson-nexus-s-review-2010-12

Phone Arena: http://www.phonearena.com/reviews/Google-Nexus-S-Review_id2619

Happy holidays and let me know if you get one!

George

Bonus video here.

Posted via email from A blog by George Dy

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(300x250) Ad Campaign by Google

We all know advertising space is huge for all kinds of websites. Whether it's a blog, website, or shopping destination, real estate for ad space is very important to generate revenue. Getting a bid for $.10 CPC vs. $10.00 CPC is a huge deal and can really make the difference at the bottom line, so creating quality ads to convey a message in all our short attention spans is huge.

Here is an example of a Google 300x250 ad that I saw populated on Mashable. This is a really catchy ad with some basic components that all good publishers and advertisers should look at. Keep in mind that information and this factor of "catchiness" varies based on the type of ad you have. You can change from skyscraper, to leaderboard, to the infamous 300x250. And after that, you need to focus on content, color, and most importantly - placement.

I'm talking too much about advertisment and ad space now. Take it as a lesson - while people are still predominantly on websites (though now migrating to mobile devices) on-page advertisements are going to be a huge industry. Nice touch, Google.

Posted via email from A blog by George Dy

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10 Key Takeaways from "The Social Network"

First, and foremost, I want to start by apologizing for not writing for such a long time. I've currently been working with a company called Weatherista, Inc. where we are currently brewing something amazing. If you care to read more about it, you can find the beta at www.weatherista.com, but I'll be sure to write a blog when the time comes.

Secondly, before I get started on my key takeaways from the movie, I wanted to write my own "review" of the film. In one word (as the marketing campaign seemed to love doing) - brilliant. I truly believe that the cinematography and story were extremely well done. The film was entertaining, yet retaining a sense of intensity that I couldn't help my heart from racing for many scenes - but maybe it's because things like Facebook and startup related talk make me very excited. In any case, though there were some historical fallacies, I thought it was well done and maintained a good balance of fact and fiction. Great job Mr. Sorkin! I thought everything from music to casting was done well, but from previous experience with movies winning the "Best Movie Award," I'm not sure if it fits the bill. For those of you that haven't seen it, I highly recommend watching it and please don't read on and get mad at me for spilling the beans. Enough of that (and my biased view). 

10 Key Takeaways from "The Social Network"

1. Stay In School: You're Not Mark Zuckerberg. To give proper credit where it's due, I've linked you to the original article written by Vivek Wadhwa from Y Combinator. Here is what I think on the subject. We've heard people say they want to jump onto the entrepreneur wagon and ride it to riches just like Zuckerberg and Gates before him, but in reality...well, it's not realistic. We see and hear all these glorified stories, but what we don't see is all the college dropouts that have failed miserably. Even though Zuck is a very talented programmer, he had perfect timing, a good team, and luck on his side. It really is luck when you consider the following: the general public was ready for a paradigm shift in online communication, Mark met Sean, who managed to get funding and introduce him to the right people, he had team members like Dustin Moskovitz, who the movie heavily downplayed. For Zuckerberg, he was really at the right place at the right time and with the right product. Not many people will have this chance.
2. The idea of motivation and inspiration driven products over money is thoroughly refreshing. If you take a look back, Mark's primary focus was never to make the money. While his co-founder Eduardo Saverin and eventual President Sean Parker made it their goal to monetize Facebook and grow its value, it seemed like it was always the primary interest to build something that would be used by people. That's why markers like 1,000,000 users are so important over selling the company for a couple mil in the beginning.
3. Crowdsourcing was important then and it is important now. The scene where Mark shows us that he is crowdsourcing his art homework on Facebook is pure genius. Companies like crowdSpring have sprouted and began leveraging the power of crowdsourcing, showing us that it is truly a revolutionary idea that could only truly be implemented with social networks like Facebook.
4. Sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet. Even though Mark and Eduardo had a strong relationship and co-founded the venture together (bringing business and engineering genius together), thefacebook would never have taken off with Eduardo. I know it's a bit mean to say, but what started as an in-dorm project could not have sprouted to be the #1 social network in the world and #2 most visited site behind Google with an early focus on ad space. Zuck was right in the beginning: giving people a "cool" experience will really play its cards in the future - just look where they are now. Ads can really ruin a page and a user experience, which is something that Eduardo did not fully understand at that point in his life. Ads were money, and that's how he measured success. But ads was NOT the way to grow Facebook at such an early age, which is something that Parker knew from the get go. So while it may have seemed awful and "traitorous" to have backstabbed Eduardo like that, it was better for Facebook in the long run (they all probably have more money than they would have gotten with the initial business model).
5. Don't waste time, be wired in. In a subsection of 37signal's book "Rework" Jason Fried states that "Interruption is the enemy of productivity" and breaks the work day down into several pieces of high productivity disrupted by meetings, phone calls, and incessant interruptions. The phrase being "wired in" infers being a part of the product/a part of the machine. We should all learn a little lesson from programmers and implement it in our daily lives. If our goal is to build something truly impressive, you must bring it to market ASAP and iterate according to the masses. The best way to do this is to work efficiently, passionately and without interruption.
6. Get it in writing and read your contracts. It's important to get agreements in writing when you are bringing someone into your project, let's say..an NDA Mr. Winklevi (though this is not really the case since the product that they were trying to produce was not directly resembling thefacebook). Also, it is just as important, if not MORE important to thoroughly read contracts that you sign - or at least have an attorney read your agreements for you. In the case of Eduardo Saverin, he wasn't so lucky and suffered a 25% share decrease, though 5% and roughly $1.3B isn't bad at all.
7. Prepare to lose some friends over a great idea. While it may seem like an amazing opportunity to work on a product you are passionate about with your very best friends, think again. Most of the times you are rarely engaged with your friends in this kind of setting...and once money becomes involved, the entire situation becomes messy. With something as game-changing and revolutionary as Facebook, there was bound to be some internal dispute. Pick your team wisely.
8. Ideas hold no value, execution counts. What you create is rightfully yours. It's the twins faults that they didn't have Mark sign an NDA, though this may not have prevented Zuck from doing what he did. In any case, the case was simply put (and settled if you ask me) by Eisenberg's most resonant line in the film: "If you were the inventors of Facebook, you'd have invented Facebook." There were services like Friendster and MySpace (oops, My_____) that existed before Facebook, but even though they had the capability and history behind them to create the Facebook concept, they didn't. Enough said.
9. Don't be afraid to rock the boat. I really enjoyed the scene when Zuck first launch www.facemash.com and subsequently crashed the Hardvard system. Just like Napster defied the system, this was more like a sign of Mark's capabilities and his capacity to do revolutionary things. Sometimes it takes breaking a simple rule (or crashing an entire school's network) to make you realize the potential of a product that would otherwise be halted by red tape.
10. Go out and build, be inspired. This was the first thing that I thought of (besides, I wish I had created Facebook, hah) when I left that theater. You may not be Zuck, but it just shows how one simple idea, executed on time and well can redefine the way people interact with each other. Who knew Facebook would be an international phenomenon that caused a paradigm-shift in business attitudes, expectations, and the way we all communicate with each other. I'm sure Mark Zuckerberg, himself, was not thinking about this when he wrote the first line of code. So focus on your product, build something with passion, and see where your hard work will take you. It takes time to build something great, as the cliche saying goes: Rome wasn't built in a day."

Posted via email from boochikan's posterous

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Cool Infographic on App Distribution: Facebook vs iPhone vs Android

via holykaw.alltop.com

I love infographics for more than one reason. One, because they look awesome and two, because they are high quality link builders. For SEO purposes, infographics can get viral and develop into a link back fortune - though obviously premium content like infographics, video, etc. come at a high price.

Posted via email from boochikan's posterous

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The Social Media Effect

via 2.bp.blogspot.com

This infographic is incredible...though I wonder what viral content would look like. However, this all goes without saying that the content must be "spread-worthy" before something like this happens to it.

Posted via email from boochikan's posterous

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George's Must-Have Android Apps of 2010

These days, more and more people have access to data plans and internet on the go. Smartphones are replacing "dumbphones" and children as young as 4 years old are playing with Androids and iPhones. Even more, iPhones are becoming "introductory phones" to many young children. As if having the ability to call isn't enough for a 9 year old. Right? So, now that you all realize that we're all so technologically spoiled, I've compiled a list of "must-have" Android apps since I've adopted the Nexus One as my daily use mobile phone. First off let me say, Android task killers are useless since Android is a smart OS and kills and launches apps to maximize efficiency and use.

Twitter Client - 

First Prize: TweetDeck (Beta 5 Free), Runner Up: HootSuite

TweetDeck is by far the best Android Twitter Client out there. You have to download it outside of the Marketplace at it's link here. It is the fastest, most enhanced experience. You can add multiple accounts (including FB, Foursquare, Myspace, Twitter - multiple accounts). As a plus, it also acts as a replacement Facebook notifications application - since we all know Facebook notifications for Android are non-existent.

 

Music App - 

First Prize: Pandora (Free), Runner Up: Slacker Radio (Free)

Pandora is such a seamlessly easy-to-use music player. It registers with your online account and syncs your radio stations. I would recommend this to anyone, but keep in mind that it drains battery because of heavy network usage.

 

Task Manager - 

First Prize: Remember the Milk ($3/mo.), Runner Up: Astrid (Free)

Rumor has it that Remember the Milk's Android app will follow in suit with the iPhone app and be listed as a free app. That would be great, since you can control all your reminders, tasks, and schedulers from your computer in a simple and intuitive UI.

 

Location Directory -

First Prize: Yelp (Free), Runner Up: Google Places (Free)

Because Yelp has reviews and the ability to save your preferences and check out an abundance of details about locations, it beats Google Places...but, Google Places is a very simple and quick app to search local (based on GPS) restaurants, stores, etc.

 

Video -

First Prize: Qik (Free)

Qik is hands down the best video app, which allows you to do live streaming video and save the video recorded on your Android device straight to your Qik online account.

 

Games (Free) -

Paper Toss, Abduction, Unblock Me

Pretty simple games that are free. In the case for Doodle Jump, too bad it costs more than $3, but Abduction is an acceptable replacement.

 

Notepad -

First Prize: Springpad (Free), Runner Up: Evernote (Free)

I love Springpad over Evernote, just because you can see ALL your notes on the Android app, which I'm not sure why Evernote doesn't offer that features. Both apps allow you to create notes and sync with the accounts for access from your computer.

 

Location Based Service - 

First Prize: Foursquare (Free), Runner Up: Gowalla (Free)

Love Foursquare in its simplicity. Gowalla just has so many features with all the dropping and picking up of items that people new to LBS might not know how to catch on. Of course, I love the "Passport" features and ways that you can plan a trip for people on Gowalla, but the simple idea of LBS game theory makes Foursquare good enough for me. Let's go Mayorships!

 

Multiple Protocol IM Client -

First Prize: eBuddy (Free), Runner Up: Fring (Free)

It's too bad Fring doesn't allow the "Facetime" feature on any Android phones but the EVO 4G. It does have a good multiple protocol chat client, but it's not as organized as eBuddy is (by the way it is divided by chat categories).

 

Caller - 

First Prize: Google Voice (Free)

Awesome. Period. Use it. Google Voice allows you to call any number from within the US for free. Text is free too. Why not? You can also get your own phone number. You can choose when and when not to use it.

 

RSS Reader - 

First Prize: NewsRob (Free), Runner Up: gReader (Free)

NewsRob does two way syncing between Google Reader and your Android device. It's a sweet device, but I would like to have the little favicons included so I know the source of the news without having to read the caption. gReader does a good job of this, but it crashes way too often when it loads all the news. Both are feature packed and FREE.

 

Voice Recorder - 

First Prize: Voice Recorder (Free)

There is only one that you need, Voice Recorder. It allows you to automatically turn your recording into a ringtone from the app.

 

Weather -

First Prize: Weatherbug (Free), Runner Up: The Weather Channel (Free)

It's an extremely simple app that gives you notifications in your notification bar (temperature), and also gives you severe weather warning. It looks the best and the notifications aren't too blinding.

 

Movies -

First Prize: Movies (Flixster with Rotten Tomatoes) (Free), Runner Up: IMDB (Free)

These two apps doesn't really belong in the same category, but Movies is a great app that gives you movie show times based on location, movie, time, etc. It also allows you to check a database of DVDs.

 

Finance -

First Prize: Mint (Free), Runner Up: Google Finance (Free)

Even those these apps do different things, Mint needs to be first because it dominates. It gives you all the features of Mint from your computer. It's a nice app, kinda slow, but manages all your accounts. Google Finance has the ability to sync with your Google Finance portfolios, which has cool functionality - and it's fast too. iStock Manager is also good for managing your TD Ameritrade account (if you have one).

 

File Manager -

First Prize: Dropbox (Free), Runner Up: Astro File Manager (Free)

Dropbox allows you to manage remote files and files from synced devices/computers. Astro File Manager will manage your files easily. The only file client you need to find your downloads and manage your SD card files. Really two different beasts, but felt like it should be in the same category. Also, Dropbox rocks if you don't already have it on your computer.

 

E-Commerce -

First Prize: Amazon.com (Free), Runner Up: Ebay (Free) 

Some pretty standard Ecommerce experience from your phone.

 

Must Have Apps (Uncategorized) - 

Barcode Scanner (Free) - For ISBNs and QR codes for apps.

Google Goggles (Free) - Can Google search ANYTHING you scan. Amazing for art pieces.

Google Maps (Free) - Awesome for navigation on Android - it actually gives you an ARROW so you can see which direction you are facing. Ahem...Apple.

Power Manager Full ($.99) - Check out your battery level and create profiles for battery use in different scenarios.

Screebl Lite (Free) - AWESOME app that manages your screen timeout based on the angle of your mobile phone.

BART Rider (Free) - Does realtime BART arrival times and departures. Not the best app, but gives you the option to create favorite stations.

Google Sky Map (Free) - Gives you the ability to see constellations virtually from your phone so you can name them!

Google Chrome to Phone (Free) - Can transfer whatever is on your browser to your phone and launch appropriate apps.

AppBrain (Free) - Can save your app history remotely and sync. You can then access information on those apps from your computer. Added with "Fast Web Installer" you can install an app on your Android device from your computer.

Flash Player (Free) - Get it for Flash in your web browser.

Smart Taskbar (Free) - Enhances your multitasking capability by providing a dock that you can open from any state. 

 

Yes, I know that was a lot, but it's the cream of the crop. Also, be sure to check out SD Mover since your internal memory is probably dying after all those downloads.

Posted via email from boochikan's posterous

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Cool Apps: Google Chrome to Phone Extension

via chrome.google.com

This is a really cool extension/application. Plain and simple - it sends links from your Google Chrome address bar straight to your Android-operated phone (launching the relevant application to handle the specified URL for a mobile user).

Their Description:Google Chrome to Phone Extension enables you to send links and other information from Chrome to your Android device.

Cool Factor:For anyone using an Android phone, you know its great having your Google products seamlessly integrated with your phone. Sometimes its even too much biased in this direction, but I guess that means Google really loves their products. For example, Android phones only really offer "push" email to Gmail accounts, the same goes for Google Calendar. This means if you use a POP or IMAP email address, you're S.O.L. But there's always a workaround, you can just forward the emails to a Gmail account and use the feature to send emails from a different address.

In any case, that has nothing to do the actual app. To launch this app you have to follow 5 simple steps:

1. Search for 'Chrome to Phone' extension at http://chrome.google.com/extensions
2. Install the Chrome to Phone extension and click on the toolbar icon to sign in.
3. Search for 'Chrome to Phone' in Market on your Android device (it's both a feature extension and featured app today 8/13)
4. Install the Chrome to Phone Android app and complete the simple set-up process.
5. Click the toolbar icon to send the link or currently selected text to your phone.

They have a cute little introductory comic strip that explains it all when you download and install the extension.

For people glued to their Android phones, it's a good way to have maps, URLs, phone numbers, anything you can think of sent directly to your phone from your computer. It has potential to be a really cool app for people that need directions to places, or need a phone number, or any information that is not easily accessed on a mobile phone. By appointing someone they can trust or allowing single time permission to access the joint Google account, Android users can have friends or family send these links or information to their phone with a click of a button. Pretty sweet.

Posted via email from boochikan's posterous

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Nexus One for Blackberry Users

See the full gallery on posterous

I've been a pretty satisfied Blackberry user for the duration of my smartphone-usage life, but I still felt like there was something missing. The first week the Nexus One was on sale (through it's virtual store at www.google.com/phone), I was immediately fixated. For me, it takes quite a while before I can really make such an investment, and for the unlocked version, $530 is a lot. So, I waited, waited until last week when I couldn't take it anymore. Well it's a good thing that I waited a little longer because there were several kinks that Google managed to fix:

• screen hue/tint changing
• Android 2.2 (only on the N1)
• major battery issues
• ATT 3G compatibility
• among other things

Well, I was pretty sold once I saw that it supported ATT and was launching Froyo (2.2). Well, this is the update on my previous post all excitement and post-unboxing aside. Here's what I thought:

Pros:

• The N1 has an intoxicating screen, 3.7" of glory
• The N1 really does have a growing marketplace of apps, of which I could find any app or a replacement that I wanted or needed
• Very customizable home screen (WIDGETS!) almost makes all the difference, I hated being constrained on my iPod touch
• Really simple conversion from BB to N1 with a simple SIM transfer
• Did I mention widgets? (my favorite is the power control)
  • The N1 also offers the ability to see battery usage and apps that are launching
  • A simple download of Task Killer will eliminate all background applications (though I'm having some issues with closing my gReader widget and Gowalla)
• Like the BB, I like how the N1 has a removable battery
• Really slick dimensions and a back that is conducive to good grip (though I have the OtterBox Commuter case)
• Great Google app integration - Gmail for push, Google Calendar, Google Finance, Picasa everything - you name it!
  • Push (sync) abilities for Gmail and Calendar are a nice feature
• Voice input is AMAZING, it really gets what you are saying, even when you speak fast, AMAZING....no joke
• Live wallpapers are cool
• 24-hour return policy on apps and no having to input passwords for free apps
• Google Voice integration is simply amazing, though a hassle since it is the only "visual voicemail" for the phone - makes it easier for transcription purposes, but you can no longer have two voicemails for business and personal without hassle
• Portable Wifi Hotspot is the most amazing technology I've seen on a mobile phone to date (kicks Tetherberry for BB's butt)
• Awesome entry choices for passwords
• Pretty sweet dropdown multitasking bar
• Dragging files in is so simple, just drag in your songs and they will automatically appear in your phone when you turn off mounting
• Extremely intuitive to use
• Gives space to increase the size of internal storage in your mini SD (up to 32gb) and you can launch apps straight from the mini SD to save HD space
• Upload videos directly to Youtube
• Upload pics directly to Picasa or to Facebook, Twitter, etc.
• Easy wireless backup and OTA updates
• Froyo speed benchmarks are incredible
• N1 voted 2nd best mobile device by RWW

Cons:

• QWERTY, come back! It's been a real hassle for me trying to get used to the keyboard over the last 3 days. It does come with landscape too, but it's just a huge jump from being able to blind type on the BB.
• BATTERY, say it ain't so? The battery hardly lasts a day. I guess that happens with a highly functional phone with a compendium of features.
  • Tip #1: do a full discharge and complete recharge, then let sit idle for at least 5 times a month (I hear)
  • Tip #2: make sure you use the power control widget to turn off features like bluetooth, wifi, etc. when you are not using it
  • Tip #3: make sure you use task killer to kill apps running in the background, ESPECIALLY the camera app - which is ALWAYS a battery drainer
  • Tip #4: make sure you keep your volume low on speaker calls and dim your display to acceptable levels of light
  • Tip #5: don't use immediately after a fresh recharge, after turning on, or when hot
  • Tip #6: put your phone on airplane mode at night or charge it over night
  • Tip #7: clear cache, history, delete old text messages, sign out of apps you are not using (Google Talk)
  • you should get a solid 10-12 hours of power usage if you use these tips
• Doodle Jumpy is $3.99? Are you kidding me?
• You have to manually set up the file directory to put in files - while it is easy enough to use your N1 as a hard drive and drag files in, it doesn't tell you how to put in ringtones and songs, etc.
  • Tip #1: download Astro or plug into your computer via USB and find the /sdcard/meda/audio file, then create the following:
    • /sdcard/media/audio/notifications
    • /sdcard/media/audio/ringtones
    • /sdcard/media/audio/alarm
• Cut - Copy - Paste is VERY sloppy
• BBM is gone :(, but GTalk is very easy to use
• Not really a con, but the trackball doesn't do anything - really even from an old BB user's perspective
• Since the N1 really turns off when you turn it off, it doesn't wake up from off when your alarm goes off (the BB never sleeps!)
  • Tip #1: just turn your phone to airplane mode and the alarm will still work
• No LinkedIn or TweetDeck app
• Pretty difficult to drag an app or widget across page
• Not great PUSH for POP or IMAP email that isn't Gmail

Extra Tips:

• easy to silence the phone with a long-push on the lock button or sliding a tab to the right on the home screen
• long-push the home screen to put in a widget, folder, shortcut, etc (you can shortcut contacts too which is cool)
• long-push an app in your directory to place it onto your dashboard
• hold the touch search button to launch a voice search over your cnotacts
• the inbred search widget lets you search browser, contacts, marketplace, etc.
• long-push the home button to see recent apps in any state (like a multitask feature to see recent apps and switch back between email and calendar, for example)
• long-push the lock button to silence, turn to airplane mode, or turn off
• go to your Google Voice dashboard on your computer to make your VM the default for your phone, all VMs aggregated in once place and transcribed!
• get the widget about how to start and how to conserve battery, if you need them

So you make the call. At the end of the day, these two phones are very different beasts. The N1 is a feature powerhouse with functionality that the BB couldn't dream of. The BB is a working machine, getting you push emails from ANY address at blazing speeds, which is complemented with the blazing typing speeds you can reach on the QWERTY keyboard. It really comes down to what you want to do. Do we even really know? Maybe if RIM decides to make something with much faster speed and capacity capabilities (with a slideout keyboard, ooh that's nice) then I might switch back, but for now I'm satisfied with this N1.

Posted via email from boochikan's posterous

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New Gadget: Nexus One "Google Phone"

Hey guys,

So I was debating on whether or not to make a video unboxing of my new Nexus One, which just arrived from Google this afternoon, but since my Flip Mino was running low on battery, I thought I'd just write a blog post and attach some cool pictures. So, as some of you may know, this phone came out quite a while ago. It came out in January earlier this year after much hype from Google, but sales tended to flounder. For all of its life, the N1 was pretty unpopular, not because of the hardware, software, looks, or anything like that, but because Google decided that they would go a different way and circumvent the traditional means of selling in store. In fact, I felt like Google was trying to detach itself from traditional wireless plans and this was their first efforts to "test the waters" as we should say. However, I'm sad to say that all people aside from early adopters weren't ready to buy a phone, especially one for nearly $600 after tax (unlocked). Well, I bought it anyway, but that might have to do with the fact that I am an early adopter for merchandise, SaaS, you name it.

In any case, I decided to get this phone, after much debate and deliberation because of the potential I see in Google's mobile OS - Android. With its 3.7 inch widescreen AMOLED touchscreen, 800 x 480 pixel resolution, and slender size, the look was already there. I know some people criticize the design, but I'm not partial to the unibody iPhone look, and personally, the iPhone 4 looks worse than its predecessor. In any case, the phone comes with all the hardware specs I need, the 1Ghz Snapdragon processor I need for speed, and comes in a package that is infinitely smaller than the dominating Android OS phones out there today - Droid X, EVO 4G, etc. If I wanted a mini iPad, I would have gotten an iPad. But I think part of the reason I got this phone was because I'm an admitted Google fanboy/iPhone hater (I'll say it now so you don't call me it later).

Anyway, it took me that long to finally put aside my Blackberry Bold 9000. It was a great phone, but I felt like it wasn't cutting it for functionality and entertainment value. The Bold was perfect for writing emails on the go, getting push business and personal email (also a curse), but most of all it was the fact that the physical keyboard allowed me to type blindly that kept me hooked. Needless to say, not hooked enough, but I guess we never know if I'll revert back because a virtual keyboard is unbearable? In any case, I thought the N1, with it's "useless" little trackball would be a perfect transition from my Bold. It also didn't hurt to have Google's talk to text feature for all text fields, which will limit the need to type, and with Google this feature is extremely accurate.

Here are some of the specs:

• A removable lithium ion battery (which was missing from iPhones until this latest generation, which also admittedly has a lot of issues, right Steve?)
• 10hr talk time on 2G and 7hr on 3G, which means 5hr internet time on 3G
• It comes with Wi-Fi and bluetooth features, and with the new Froyo 2.2 (shall I mention exclusive to N1 OTA right now) has tethering and supports the feature of Wi-Fi hotspot for up to 7 devices
• It has a 1Ghz Snapdragon processor, typical of higher end Android devices today
• Hardware includes 512MB flash, 512MB RAM, 4GB slot for microSD, but expandable to 32GB
• Supports ATT 3G bands (unlocked version) and T-Mobile through a plan
• It also has the usual accelerometer, digital compass, AGPS, etc.
• It has a 5mp camera, LED flash, 2x digital zoom, and HD video capture at 20 fps
• Also comes with a cute little Android neoprene sleeve, but I've put my order in for an OtterBox commuter case ON SALE at Amazon
• The phone comes REALLY minimalistic with small and slim buttons and regular jacks
• Live wallpapers and widgets are also pretty awesome
• Call Quality (because it's a phone) is EXCELLENT - no white noise, which is probably due to the double mics, one for noise cancelling and the other for input (the software also helps out)
• The capacitive buttons are reportedly unresponsive, but these buttons were really meant to be pressed and slid, which many non-N1 users don't know and therefore call it annoying
• Moreover, it covers all the OS bases of the iPhone and more - though I admit that multitouch and scroll isn't as smooth and seamless as the iPhone

...and that's off memory, so you KNOW how long I've been looking at this phone.

I also love the fact that it has an OS that has had multitasking functionality from the beginning. It also has push email, though I admit that it lacks with POP and IMAP email servers, but it doesn't really hurt me because I've worked with Gmail for a while now and my business line is with Google Apps, phew. Otherwise, I'd have to wait for email to come at refresh just like another phone I know, which would drain battery. This phone also boasts the most popular and growing OS on the market now and an Android Marketplace that is growing at tremendous speeds. As for apps, I'm excited to see Google App functionality - especially with Google Voice. I'm also excited to see newer apps like TweetDeck and my favorite Foursquare - though I might actually be able to make the switch to Gowalla as soon as I'm up and running since it doesn't work very well on the Blackberry.

I've uploaded a picture of a whiteboard that I used to write down the details - pros/cons - about each phone, which still didn't help me. I think it was finally the push from Google itself which announced the discontinuation of the phone that made me take the leap - I mean what kind of Google fanboy doesn't own the one and ONLY "pure" Google phone. This thing reeks of Googliness and doesn't come with the bells and whistles aka "bloatware" that you find with other HTC made phones. Now if a Google interviewer asks me what phone I use, I can answer with confidence :). So that's a little about why I got it and what decisions I had to make up to this point. Trust me, I considered the alternatives:

• Samsung Galaxy S (pretty neat phone)
• EVO 4G (too big, on Sprint)
• Droid X (too bigger, on VZW)
• Droid Incredible (on VZW, not impressed with HTC Sense)
• iPhone 4 (eeks, but yes, I thought about it for a split second)
• Blackberry Bold 9700

So if I convinced you and if you'd like to grab your own...hurry up, these phones are going to be gone forever, really soon! Yeah, and you'll have to find it here: http://www.google.com/phone - a little unconventional to the not so early adopter. For more info, I really like Jon4Laker's coverage of Android 2.2 (Froyo) and his EXCITING comparison between iPhone 4 and Nexus One.

Pics to come when I get my OtterBox Commuter case!

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Google Voice - Now Publicly Available!

via google.com

I'm sure many of you out there have heard that Google Voice is now available to the public without requiring an invitation. That's so cool! If there is any Google product, aside from GMail, that I thought would revolutionize their business, it's Voice.

Yeah, well here is a REALLY quick rundown of what it does for those of you that don't have one yet:

Voicemail transcription (which means even Visual Voicemail is not cool anymore), one number to port to multiple phone lines like your office or your cell phone, international calling for a very small fee, free sms and voice calling in the US and Canada, SMS to email capabilities when people text to your Google Voice number, VM sharing - which can be done through email, blocked caller capabilities, screening callers, conference calls, and a cool little mobile app for your iPhone, Android powered phone, or Blackberry (yeah, they even have a Blackberry app). And with this app you have the capability of checking out your voicemails and texts all in one place, which is also in the cloud.

In any case, here is why I think it's so cool. Voice lets you make calls and accept calls on any phone, regardless of its actual number. This means if you have a new business and want to make your Google Voice the primary line, you can port it to your cell phone or office phone, hell make it both, and it will redirect to that phone when someone calls. Pretty cool huh? So you don't have to rely on the shady and unresponsive business of major wireless and phone providers like ATT (business or wireless), Comcast, Verizon, etc.

One thing though, that begins to concern me, is the inability for Google Voice to place calls as efficiently as your normal number. You obviously can't call directly from your Google Voice line if you dial a number into your phone. Instead, you must call into your Google Voice line, which will then prompt you with the OPTION to make a call. When you give them the number, they will make the call for your and redirect it to the number you have on the account. Confusing huh? Yeah, tell me about it.

On the bright side, if you have a smartphone with the Google Voice app, you can call directly from the app - albeit a little slow and more frequently than not drops altogether.

So, while Google Voice does a really good job of offering us a free way to communicate with each other and carry around our number, it still lacks in transmitting capabilities. Regardless all the flack you give companies like ATT and TMobile for the shitty service around major areas like NY and SF, they are still doing a great job and it will take time and a lot of research before they are able to support a following as large as major wireless network providers.

Thoughts? Do you use Google Voice and how do you use it? Do you think it's useful to someone with your needs?

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Watch ST@B Dialogues with Ben Parr

I'm pretty excited to announce a new interview/speaker series that was set up in my last semester at Cal. This series, dubbed ST@B Dialogues, aims to address the interests, questions, and comments of students at Cal and people within the immediate entrepreneurial ecosystem by namely speakers.

To begin the series, I sat down with Ben Parr, Co-Editor at Mashable, and discussed some insights on the world of entrepreneurship trending topics in the social media world. We also discussed some major questions for students trying to find jobs or a niche in the field. My goal with ST@B Dialogues is to provide UC Berkeley students with insights into the world of entrepreneurship through regularly scheduled interviews with Bay Area entrepreneurs. We ask all our constituents to ask questions through major social networks, on our blog at startup.berkeley.edu, and through survey. We then select the best and most popular questions to be used in our interview. So keep watching our blog to either suggest new speakers or post questions for future speakers.

A little background about Mashable: Founded in July 2005, Mashable is the world's largest blog focused exclusively on Web 2.0 and Social Media news. With more than 15 million monthly pageviews, Mashable is the most prolific blog reviewing new Web sites and services, publishing breaking news on what's new on the web and offering social media resources and guides.

And here is the footage via http://startup.berkeley.edu/dialogues/benparr/

ST@B Dialogues - Ben Parr from George Dy on Vimeo.

Here are the questions I asked:

1. What do you think of the LBS phenomenon and do you see it developing further?

2. Do you think privacy issues with Facebook will cause the popular social network to lose a majority of its users. Do you think QuitFacebookDay.com will generate a strong movement?

3. do you think Facebook's Open Graph poses a threat to Google and hyperlinks as a whole?

4. What do you think social media will look like in 10 years? Which entrepreneurs or organizations are making strides towards that concept?

5. What are some common mistakes that you see entrepreneurs and companies making right now?

6. If you could work on any project or any company, who or what would you work on?

7. How has your time at Mashable influenced your perspective on startups and entrepreneurship as a whole?

8. What would you recommend for an aspiring entrepreneur at Cal?

9. Do you have any advice for entrepreneurs waiting to take advantage of the upcoming video calling and advertising platform for the mobile phones market?

10. Do you think Apple poses a real threat to Google's mobile advertising platform?

11. How do you like the Apple iPad?

12. What companies would you expect to hire heavily from college grads?

13. What is one key idea that you would like to share with the audience through your experience over the years? Stay tuned to startup.berkeley.edu for more ST@B Dialogues.

 

Stay tuned to startup.berkeley.edu for more ST@B Dialogues.

 

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Dear Facebook Case Comp Judges: Give Us Some Credit

I spent the last two hours looking through Mashable, TechCrunch, and a variety of other social media news sites for articles that I've already read. Why? Well, since my Facebook Case Comp team submitted our presentation in April, I've seen roll out after roll out of new Facebook features that uniquely resemble our case. Let me set the record straight. I don't think that Facebook stole our ideas at all. In fact, I believe they were already working on SOME of these features as we were doing the research ourselves - this becomes obvious to me only because it takes a while to roll out new features and some of the things we had "suggested" came only weeks after we pushed out our presentation. So, the claim at hand is NOT that Facebook stole our ideas, but that my group didn't get the rightful recognition or award that we should have in this small Facebook Case Comp. So in the last two hours, I was able to salvage a couple articles that highlight our Facebook developments, titled "Facebook for All."

Take my this article for example: Zynga Gunning Up and Lawyering Up for War Against Facebook with Zynga Live - http://goo.gl/ZHpr. Not exactly the most ORIGINAL idea, I know, but nonetheless it was not a part of Facebook's profit strategy before our presentation. We should have gotten recognition for our vision in attempting to integrate credits into native Facebook games. We even mentioned how these games relied on the FB platform and that they would easily be able to leverage the likes of Zynga to profit from the users. We went a step further to discuss the e-Commerce side of this, which was discussed in another article by Mashable.

In this article titled "5 Ways Facebook's Open Graph Will Impact E-Commerce" - http://goo.gl/3f8Y, Mashable's Mitchell Harper discusses Facebook's expansion into e-Commerce to drive more traffic to online stores - just as we had be demonstrating in our revamped Facebook Pages, which would act as a virtual store front for businesses and artists. Well, we didn't necessarily describe the possibilities of Open Graph and a universal "Like" button, but our ideas and methods for profit generation were spot on. Facebook needed to appeal to the business and drive more traffic to increase users and ads - where the big money is.

Ok, so you may be thinking on of two things now. 1. I'm crazy and anyone could have come up with this shit or 2. My team DID deserve its rightful recognition. Well, let me bring one last thing to your attention. In this article by Mashable called "Facebook to Roll out Q&A Feature" - http://goo.gl/rWSw, it seems as if Facebook is taking the same route as our "Facebook Questions" on slide 22. Man, I guess you could call this the straw that broke the camel's back and the reason why I'm writing this post only about 10 hours after Mashable's article on the new feature. It takes the exact premise of our Facebook Questions and renames it. Yes, it may be a trend since sites like Aardvark, Quora, and Mahalo have demonstrated SOME kind of success, but not enough to spread massive adoption like LBS has. This idea was, in essence, my "secret weapon" that I was sure the judges would like, but I guess it wasn't enough to sway them. Now, when Facebook makes millions off of this new feature, who can say they knew FB would go in the direction of Q&A or "social search." Well our team certainly can.

Here is my question. If our presentation was so precise and so close to what Facebook has been rolling out in the last month or so after the case competition, then why not award us at LEAST 3rd place or some consolation prize for being spot on? Damn, they could have hired our team and Facebook would have gone in the same direction it is going today. We all deserve seats on their executive board or something. Judges, did you think I had some kind of insider knowledge and that's why you couldn't give us fair recognition? Take another look at the slide. Take a CLOSE look and tell me to my face that Facebook implement most if not ALL of what we had suggested in the case competition. I guess I should be flattered that they are implementing all our ideas in new features and rebuilding existing features, but it still leaves a bitter taste.

Times like this just make me want to Quit Facebook, which doesn't seem like too bad of an idea right now. It is in 3 days, I guess I have some time to think about it.

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Facebook for All

The highly anticipated Facebook for All! Haha. Not quite, this was our entry into the Deloitte-Facebook Case Competition hosted by the Asian Business Association at UC Berkeley. For my first case comp, it was quite a pleasant experience, though stressful at that. However, regardless of the deadlines and the nitty gritty details of submitting a case, I felt like it was a thoroughly education experience that I could definitely apply to the real world. First off, I'll mention that our team did not win. Though I thought we had quite a strong case for Facebook and some strong empirical data to back up our findings, in the end it wasn't enough to make it to the final round. I'm not displeased. I believe if our team had a little more experience working on cases, we would have had more knowledge of how to organize cases and what specific layout/criteria judges were looking for. I'm still quite proud of our content.

Let me lay out the gist for you. We split it up into 4 segments in which Facebook would be show growth through market expansion, growth through new product development, and growth through revenue streams. To do this, we really had to think from an outsider's perspectives. As someone that is deeply obsessed (really obsessed) with new technology, SaaS, gadgets, and general social media/internet development, I was trying to think of what we could institute from a biz-tech perspective. In analyzing the trends of various companies and market segments that Facebook would be able to steal from, we figured that it would be a wise move to incorporate businesses into Facebook better.

Yeah, we know, businesses are already on Facebook - but that doesn't mean that businesses are able to use the platform to its full capability. For example, take a local restaurant. So they create a Facebook Page (formerly Facebook Fan Page). With previous model (before the recent f8 shift), most businesses could post some pictures, put up a menu, maybe add an application, and most importantly - interface with their customers. Well, what we were aiming to do was take market share from Yelp, a big hitter in local restaurant/business reviews. In doing this, Facebook would not need to rely on "less secure" Yelp databases (which they are having trouble with now) and institute a system in which businesses can develop a personalized page to interact with customers better. We suggested the ability to create reservations via the Facebook page, which would give real time SMS notifications for reservations made via Facebook. Facebook would then be able to get a cut for every customer that successfully uses the system. Again, this is just a thought.

Among other things, we were talking about institution some changes to their credits program, which companies and bands using pages would use as FB currency to charge for products they advertise on their personalized pages. Moreover, all of it would be integrated into the marketplace, which - let's be honest - is dead. We suggested that FB buy Oodle or some similar third party company to aggregate all of their e-Commerce related goods into one place - a way to monetize through Facebook Credits. Sound familiar... Well, I'm not going to be petty, but these new Facebook developments are ALL ON OUR POWERPOINT. Why would the panel reject our ideas? Well, we may have executed that slide poorly (no case comp experience), but I thought it looked nice?!

Anyway, enough of the ranting. Check it out for yourself, let me know what you think! Also, give props to my teammates Tim Yung, Anhang Zhu, and Tian Wang. Go Bears!

Facebook for All

View more presentations from georgedyjr.

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The Great Mobile Ad Wars: Apple vs. Google

There is no doubt in my mind (or anyone else's for that matter) that the war between Apple and Google is heading towards the mobile ads front. While it may seem that Google has a competitive advantage, demonstrating its repertoire of search based ad solutions and PPC advertisements, there are many variables that must be accounted for. 

First, let's discuss the legal implications behind this emerging industry. On November 9 of this year, Google acquired AdMob for an astounding $750M, this may be chump change or just stock options to Google, but it's a big deal for the owners of AdMob. In any case, in this acquisition, Google was hopeful to take the market, by offering mobile based advertisements on both mobile web optimized searches and through 3rd party applications. I'm sure you've all seen the advertisements that take up a share of your iPhone or Android screen, yeah, that's AdMob. In any case, with this acquisition, it seemed like Google would almost certainly control the market. Well, this is what the FTC thought too, prompting them to prevent completion of the acquisition pending further "investigation." However, while Google was busy tackling the legal issues behind monopolies, Apple, who had been denied the opportunity of acquiring AdMob, placed a bid on Quattro Wireless for $275M, still a lot. In this acquisition made earlier this year in January, Apple's hopes for entering the mobile advertising field were brightened. But what does this mean for Google?

While the legal side to this battle is interesting and all, the good part comes next. Within the same month of Apple announcing the launch of the iPad, Steve Jobs decides to make a bold move and announce the creation of Apple iAd, which is slated to launch sometime this summer, that's right, it's very own mobile advertising brand. Who didn't expect that? According to Applem iAd will "combine the emotion of TV with the interactivity of the web", which means that it will be more interactive with the users and utilize HTML5 to popup. Well with the launch of iAd, Apple made a couple major tweaks to their product line up. First off, in introducing iAd, Apple would be hosting all mobile application ads, giving 60% back to the developers and essentially making the integration of ads in 3rd party applications almost seamless. Well, with the introduction of the iPhone OS 4.0, mobile ads make more sense for Apple, with the key component being iPhone multitasking. By adding this function, Apple has made it possible to click and load ads while still in an application, effectively pausing their work. Cool right? So, in introducing this product, Apple will be aiming to garner stronger relationships with developers and advertisers, while still remaining the sole publishers of these mobile ads. While the focus would be on implementing these mobile ads would be in applications (specifically unpaid/free applications), the prevalence of these 1/8 screen size ads might even be present in paid applications (bad move if you ask me). 

For Google, while iAd poses a legitimate threat to its bread and butter (advertisement), Apple could never take away Google's internet advertising market share. Google claims the internet advertisement spectrum and accordingly has the best relationships with advertisers, publishers and developers. However, the announcement of iAd isn't only a bad thing for Google, it tends to help their situation. While the acquisition of AdMob sits in limbo, this recent iAd development makes it harder for the FTC to make a case, the transaction HAS to go through, lest it give Apple the opportunity to monopolize mobile advertisements. By the time AdMob is secured, I think Google will have the upper hand, here's why:

1. Google has strong relationships with advertisers and obviously has a stronger pull to developers because of the promise of "open source"

2. Google's Android has multitasking functionality bred in its early iterations of Android, Apple does not

3. Google has a naturally better phone, with better hardware and open source development, which will find errors faster

4. Apple made the move to ban Flash, which is a poor move considering all the developers that use Flash for their applications. I guess HTML5 will just have to do. I know Adobe hasn't been the greatest about meeting Flash release deadlines, but Apple is really doing this to keep more of the money that will be made on Adobe's separate development platform. This doesn't bode well for Apple's tight control over application development, but also makes it harder for developers to enter into Apple's terms.

Ok, I might be biased in the last claim, but the first two are very strong arguments. To provide some counter arguments:

1. Apple has the stronger iPhone user base and more developers making iPhone applications (where most mobile ads will run). WELL, Google is expanding mobile advertisements to search and mobile web advertisements, in fact, AdSense has been mobile for years.

2. Apple has the new OS. But this doesn't extend multitasking functionality to ANY unit before the iPhone 3GS and 3rd gen iPod Touch. Yeah, you heard that right. So while Apple claims to have the largest share of the market using iPhones, which will make implementation easier, it doesn't extend to the millions of smartphone users that don't have the latest technology.

3. Apple's iPhone is pretty. Yeah, it's pretty, and yes it's a great phone, but Android is catching up...FAST.

4. Apple' advantage in mobile has given it greater access and more experience with mobile advertising.

Well what have we learned? We learned that Apple is making a strong attempt to chip away at Google advertising market share in their new mobile advertising division. Google has the mobile functionality to implement mobile ads faster and on more of its sold units. Apple still does pose a legitimate threat to Google because of its head start in mobile development, but Google has far more relationships with companies in advertising.

Overall, I think Google's platform is much more conducive to attracting developers and has the technology to expand to both web-based advertisement and application-based advertisement. And with greater mobile technology development under Android, now at Eclair 2.1, I think it will soon catch up to the likes and meet milestones that the iPhone has made in its longer years of production. What will be interesting is to see what will happen with Symbian (Nokia, etc.), Blackberry, and Palm (if not sold) OSes. However, I think the bottom line is, Google's product line up and development team have made it hard for real competition to be seen, but Apple sure does have the ability to make the strongest push against this ad king.

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Startup Review 3: Check.in

Slogan: One checkin to rule them all

Their Description: Check.in takes the hassle out of checking in on multiple services. Check in once!

Why It Has a Chance: Let me just say, I'm a big fan of LBS is you can't already tell. Even though my Blackberry Bold 9000 doesn't have much inbred storage space and memory to be running many of these apps at the same time, I am still a check-in addict. For now, I use Foursquare, as it is the most comprehensive and quickest of the bunch offered on the Blackberry OS. I've seen Gowalla's web-optimized offering, Loopt, BrightKite, etc., but not have really stuck out as much as the Foursquare app, that is still regularly getting updates. But this review isn't about Foursquare, it's about Check.in. Well, one major flaw in this program is just that, it's not a program, its a web-optimized mobile site that is only accessible by the likes of the iPhone and Android. So, while I'm not able to use the service on the Blackberry, I am able to utilize the WiFi connection in my iPod touch to get my general location. Beyond this hump in the road, the service is fine. I am able to check into my location on multiple services and not have to fumble through all of the applications separately. This is obviously a benefit if I am constantly trying to keep my feed up. So, while I don't have either an iPhone or Android, I can take an unbiased approach because I have seen that it can function properly. Moreover, the web-optimized mobile site runs and loads just like an application if you store it as a bookmark on your iPhone desktop, which is done with great execution.

One thing I particularly liked about it was the fact that it prompts you and searches for similar listings on each of the networks. It's obvious that some obscure locations won't register on some applications as it will on others, but it does search through the directory. One thing I don't like is it's inability to "create locations" to check into, which you will have to do directly through the service that is missing that location. This may be due to the fact that Check.in was made by the same creators of BrightKite in an effort to draw attention back to BrightKite and take some shares away from Foursquare and Gowalla, their main competitors.

I think that this application is something that may be needed among the people that use LBS, but not necessarily for the mainstream. As it is, if I ask a person walking down the street if they use Foursquare, chances are they would say that they have no idea what I'm talking about. I'm ok with that. I understand that it takes a certain person, but these LBS games are certainly generating a following, even though it's not mainstream like Facebook with its 400 million users. Foursquare is somewhere in the low millions, maybe tens of millions if even that many. So, while it is a growing sector, I don't see this service offering any real perks to non-users outside of what can already be offered on a single site.

Drawbacks: Besides the fact that it doesn't support operating systems and is only usable view iPhone and Android, it also falls short in that it doesn't supply a directory of content-rich features. When you go on Check.in, the phone uses your inbred GPS to track your location and check you in. Once completed, you may decide to do a shout, tip, whatever you choose to call it, but nothing more than that. Instead creating a service like this to aggregate all checkins, wouldn't a company like BrightKite want to take attention AWAY from their competition, not give them more check-ins? Beats me, but if I were at BrightKite, I would certainly find a feature that the other's aren't readily adopting, Live Events is probably a good way to go.

Future Prospects: I don't see Check.in going much farther. Yes, it does what everyone using LBS wants it to do, but it is not its own separate application and doesn't offer features that the other companies don't either. I think the idea about getting in all your check-ins at once is cool, but when it comes down to it, people really only use one or the other. For me, it's Foursquare simply because it's available on BB and for some of my friends it's Gowalla. I think the next step for Check.in is to ditch the project, refocus on BrightKite and create a plethora of services that will want everyone to jump-ship and get on the BrightKite boat, which will easily remove the need to use services like Check.in.

Final Thoughts: Ditch the project, find new things that people want to see because to me, Check.in is just another check-in service that does work for its competitors.

Grade: C (Concept), B (Execution)

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LATEST: Youtube is Down!

So what does this mean? We all can't get our fix of useless personal videos and all of their premier users will have to hold off indefinitely before the service is back. I know Google treasures all their top users, even bribing them with Google Nexus One's at launch so that they can record on the go (in style). Well I guess not so much since we are beginning to see some videos appear in regards to the issues that are beginning to arise (funky accelerometer, poor keyboard feedback, bad screen resolution on the ATT units, etc.), but I guess we don't have access to those videos either. However, if you were browsing Youtube before the crash, you are in luck. You are able to go through the "related videos" bar and find videos like game highlights. The videos will still stream, but you lack the ability to search the directory or launch Youtube via its landing page.

What will you do in the downtime? Are you finally realizing that you are a Youtube fiend?

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The Future of LBS

Real Life Incentives

To be honest, I feel like this is a pattern that should have been adapted long ago. We've recently been seeing the big LBS companies like Foursquare and Gowalla moving towards "real-life incentives." Cool right? Well, it's just so cool that it could be the only thing keeping this growing location based check-in business alive.

I've been following this industry quite closely. I love the idea of being able to "virtually" check-in to locations that I frequently visit, enlisting in a global game with people I don't know to ultimately gain the crowned achievement of mayorship. Yeah, this game concept is cool, which is why Foursquare, Gowalla, and now even the likes of Yelp are trying to jump on the ship. But is this game concept really enough to keep people attracted? Well, up until now it has, but I don't think it's expansion could be very well sustained without some possible incentives. Virtual badges are cool and all and give people a sense of accomplishment, but there definitely needs to be an outlet or real-life incentive to affirm that a check-in to Safeway down the street is actually going to do things for you.

Well, now it is. Foursquare has partnered up with Bravo, big time. Bravo even has a Foursquare commercial. Gowalla, in response, has partnered with the Travel Channel and intends on making this a good competition. This is exactly what I had in mind for the next progression/step of these businesses. People need tangible results for their efforts. While it only takes 3 clicks to sign into your favorite restaurant, why would continue to do it if you were only going to be called the "virtual" mayor. Well, Foursquare was on this quite a while ago, partnering with small local businesses that offered free food to people who held the "Gym Rat" badge, but mostly offering incentive to "Mayors." This is a great marketing tool for both Foursquare and restaurants, not only does Foursquare get face time, but these locations get to advertise their restaurant to the masses, and yes Foursquare brings the masses.

Why This Will Stick

People are naturally competitive, they will fight for everything, resources, status, and yes, even mayorship. I think people will continue to fight for this acclaimed position, but now they have financial benefits to doing so. By checking into their favorite restaurants, they have the opportunity of getting their favorite dishes for free. Yes, now you understand why this is such an important move for these companies. 

Now, emphasizing the move of Foursquare and Gowalla in these recent days, you can understand how partnering with the big boys in advertising and public image would be good in getting out the name. Now, whoever can get the major contracts or partnerships out there will be the #1 LBS company.

So hear me, if you are a location based service offering check-in capabilities and you want to provide a new spin and keep up with the Jones', you need to adopt real life incentives. Without these tangible (and often financial) incentives, it is unlikely that you are going to get user retention. While novelty may gain interest, financial incentives offer user retention.

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Gadget Review: Lenovo U150 (Update)

It's been a while since I did a gadget review and since I don't really have the money to buy new gadgets, I thought I'd revise the first review I made on Lenovo's ultraportable U150.

As mentioned before, this is Lenovo's U Series, essentially a solution to the netbook-laptop dilemma. While it packs a punch, it delivers this power in a package that is manageable in size and weight. I've had this computer for about 3 months, which has allowed me to reflect on the pros and cons more effectively, with a look outside the reviews on the web.

The Good

• The size is perfect. I have come to love the 11.6" LCD screen, which delivers HD video playback from the video websites I visit most: Youtube and Hulu. As I mentioned in my previous review, I was very concerned about having a computer that would have the capacity to playback video in HD without being choppy, the U150 definitely addresses this problem.
• The weight difference between a laptop and this semi-netbook is quite significant. I used to carry around a Dell M1210, a 12.1" Dell XPS that weighed in at around 4.4 lbs, not much right? Wrong. This hunk of plastic weighed down my bag like nothing. Moving down to 3.22 lbs was amazing and no longer tired me during a long day.
• The build. Don't take this the wrong way, I loved my Dell, but the Lenovo feels far superior in build and sturdiness compared to the likes of my Dell. Now, compared to an Acer and Asus, this Lenovo is God. Those other netbook-famous brands are very well known for portability, and, well, being a netbook. The Lenovo keeps this size and weight dimension under control while also providing a keyboard that has good response and no flex. The design on the palm rest doesn't hurt either.

The Bad (Verified from use)

• The battery, yes it's really a problem. Not only is the battery a strange oblong shape, but the "legs" or "pegs," whatever you want to call them, dig into your lap when you are trying to use it as a "lap-top." These narrow pegs are equivalent to the metal end of a flash drive, poking into any object it rests on. While this may be ideal for typing on flat, hard surfaces like a table, it sure does hurt your lap if your legs are not narrow enough to fit in between the pegs, and trust me, they are not narrow enough. This problem manifests itself in my carrying case. I carry it around in an Incase specifically made for Macbooks. Yes, it's a strange fit, but it was what I used for my Dell, which fit snugly. The Lenovo slides around in the case, but that's expected for something with the carrying capacity of a 13" laptop. However, these troublesome pegs have managed to create a permanent and increasingly large dent in my neoprene sleeve - not so pretty.

• The battery gauge. There is none. One benefit to having the Dell was the battery gauge. Similar to the ones you might find on an HP netbook, you will be able to see how charged your laptop battery is even if the unit is not on. By pressing a physical button on the battery itself, a gauge will show you just how much juice your battery has. To make things even worse, in this regard, the battery charging indicator light doesn't really fit the bill. While it does tell you that your computer is being charged, it sure as hell does not tell you when the laptop is done charging. As a paranoid for overcharging lithium-ion batteries (I know the arguments against this, but I really think they have the capabilities to degrade), I would like to know when my laptop (when off) is fully charged so I can remove the AC-adapter, well it doesn't tell you that. The indicator light stays on even if you battery is charged to 100%.
• The AC-adapter sits quite precariously in the unit. When it is placed in my computer and charging my unit, I often remove the battery when it is already fully charged. However, compared to my Dell, I'm always fearful that the plug will just slip out and kill my power. This has not happened yet, but I am left uneasy about the integrity of the plug, which does not instill the same feeling of "stability" or "snugness" that I expect to feel or witnessed with my Dell.

The heat. Yes, the heat is an issue. Much to my dismay, the left side of the unit gets quite hot, even to the point that I can't have it on my lap. Sitting in bed, I am forced to put it on top of my blanket or a hard surface. If I have jeans on, this heat may be a bit more tolerable, but definitely not comfortable. I saw the reviews from Netbooked describing this problem of heat, stating that it was quite "warm," but trust me, it gets hot. It's not always an issue, but it is if you are going to be doing more than just surfing the web or word processing. But like I said, if you are going to be using it on flat, table-like surfaces, this shouldn't be a problem, it doesn't run hot on the palm rests. The rest of the unit is considerably cooler.

Last, but not least, the notorious Fn/Ctrl switch up. You will see on these units that there the Fn and CTRL keys have switched place. Don't ask me why this is or if it's changeable because it's not, you can't even change the function in Bios. This makes it problematic for people like me who switch back and forth between computers. The traditional PC keys situate it CTRL and then Fn, which I have gotten used to. I use CTRL on a day to day basis, scrolling through my text while word processing and using it in programs like iTunes and for functions like CTRL + T, CTRL + Shift + Arrow, etc. It gets annoying when I have to move back and forth between keyboards, but something pretty negligible compared to the issues with battery and heat. It's not too much of a problem since I don't use the Fn button too often, but it would definitely be beneficial if they didn't situate these keys like an Apple.

Final Thoughts

When it comes down to it, I'm still happy with my purchase. The Lenovo U150 fits exactly into that Netbook-Laptop domain where people can compromise between portability and power, without sacrificing too much from either category. The fact that it comes with Windows 7 Home Premium installed, has great build quality and product dimensions closes the deal for me. I'm a student and portability and style runs high on my list of needs, the U150 delivers this with many more functions. It has run well for these past months and I rarely run into many large issues. It works as my hub to connect with the cloud, the new Web 3.0 age as I call it. I think the Lenovo U series will last for quite some time and offer a solution to the problems that people have with their laptops and netbooks on a day to day basis.

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