Google Engineers Well, Misses the Relevant Story

Am listening to the Google Android/Chrome webcast right now, and its disappointing. So much so that I just took to Google+ to rant a bit. I hear them, but Google misses what makes the most relevant point towards people who should want the devices and service integration they are offering. This is what I said at Google+:

Impressions of the Nokia Lumia 925, & T-Mobile Jump

As I’ve talked about before, I’m not in the business of reviewing mobiles, so my impressions of mobiles come along either when I get my hands on them from other’s purchasing them. Or, I might get some time to wander into a store and get some impressions. The latter was the case once again as in helping my lady make the move to the iPhone 5, I took some time to look at the Nokia Lumia 925. Impressions are all these are… I didn’t walk out the store with it.

Reduction As Premium

I also published this over at Medium; so if you read it already, just pardon the rerun

The other day when taking a look thru my Google+ feed, I noticed a post from GigaOm’s Kevin Tofel mentioning that he was looking at selling a few devices to pick up the HTC One Google Edition. This device is a bit special in terms of how Google has traditionally done devices with their stamp on them. Both the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4 have been released to much fanfare as platform and halo mobile devices for Android. The release of a Google Edition of these device, rather than another Nexus (Google-sanctioned reference design and Android platform halo product) might speak to Google addressing two key issues with Android in the marketplace.

Evaluating @tomiahonen’s 9 Unique Mobile Characteristics

My good & mobile-tuned friend Tomi Ahonen has been very, very long in the mobile industry. Just looking at everything he did before becoming a speaker, author, etc. is enough to just make you nod your head. And yet, as we sometimes know, the best friendships and admirations come not always because you agree, but because you can disagree constructively. In one of Tomi’s recent posts about location-based services (LBS), he listed nine (9) unique characteristics of mobile. Given that I use these unique abilities very often in my mobile presentations, seeing a new addition to the list means that its not time for blind adoption, but careful consideration and analysis. 

Pursuing Discontinued Tech @Medium

Just posted my second piece over at Medium titled Pursuing Discontinued Tech. You can make the argument that I’ve probably written the same here a few times before – and I’d not argue. But, I’m still fiddling with the writing interface there. Its a lot better experience than WordPress in that respect. Definitely something that’s more or less WP without the fluff. At the same time, I feel like things that I write here are more mine than they are there. That’s something else for me to figure out – perhaps using WP vs Medium is another one of those discontinued tech pursuits that I’m aiming towards.

Hosting a Presentation Deck from Your Phone

Over at Mobile Ministry Magazine (MMM), I posted a piece on how I did one of my presentations at ICCM a few weeks ago. The presentation was titled Sharing Content FROM Your Mobile Device and the aim of the presentation was to talk about the behavior while being an active demonstration of it.

Jolla Thoughts

Today, Jolla introduced their first device. Its called the Jolla (seeing a single number on there would have been kinda neat; but I wonder… could the company change name w/each halo product). I started to put some thoughts together over at Talk.Maemo, but then it got good so here’s where the meat of things lie with my comments thus far.

Updates on My Google Reader Replacement

Am spending some neat time working on my Google Reader replacement this weekend. What I’m basically doing is making a web app that lives on my phone (currently the Nokia N9) that is accessible to other devices only when they are on the same network and have the password. I’m using a piece of software called Personal Web Server to do that. And while I work the bugs out, I’m making the fixes using my tablet as its connected to Dropbox. This has been a very good project for me. I just wish that Nokia would fix the authentication issue with Dropbox on the N9. Its kind of hard to take mobile forward when built-in features stop working. Nevertheless, I’m excited for my Google Reader replacement, and think that I’ll learn a lot from this experience of making it.

Previously submitted to Palm Addict

My Tech Mistake(s)

I’m probably not supposed to admit to these moments. But, over the past weeks, I’ve started to care less that I’m doing the popular thing with this tech, and more that I’m doing the sensible thing. Of those sensible things, its admitting when you make a mistake. That’s a hard one. I don’t make too many of these when it comes to tech purchases. But when I do, its a doozy and sets be back all kinds of ways. The mistake that I’m pointing to is the purchase of the Kindle Fire HD.

Experimenting w/Flickr Notes

Even though I’ve had a Flickr account since Yahoo bought them, I’ve not taken as much advantage of it as I could. Even with the reloading of my Flickr Pro account earlier this year, I just didn’t really take much time to dig into it much. Changed that a touch today… I uploaded a photo this morning from a scene of me listening to the latest show from The Voicemail podcast, and thought to play a bit with the notes feature.

Simplicity with Smart

This morning, I awoke to the news of Nokia offering a new mobile device, the Asha 501. I happened to be looking for a cheap mobile to replace my N8 (since moving to the N9, I’m looking for something low-end to just keep on the side). What I saw with the 501 made me think that (in part) Nokia’s got part of the “smartphones for the rest of the world” part down. And it has to do with how the interface has been designed.

Nokia Luna, A Treat That Extends

Since getting my Nokia N9, I’ve been delighted at some of the little nuances within MeeGo. Swiping through screens as indeed been a delight. One of the accessories that I was able to pick up not too long after was the Nokia Luna Bluetooth headset. While most headsets are simple – this one follows suit to the trend. Its the inclusion of NFC (near-field communications) wireless technology into the headset base gets me thinking that such a simple device could and should be capable of a lot more.