So, I was a GrandCentral.com member since way back. In case you weren’t aware, GrandCentral was a service that gave you a free phone number that aim at all of your phones–work, home, mobile, Skype, etc. So, all of your contacts call one number and voila, which ever phone you’re at will ring. Bestest service EVER!

Shortly after I signed up with them, they were bought by Google. After years of no improvements whatsoever, GrandCentral was finally folded into Google and were then reborn as “Google Voice.” Very exciting! They even had new features and services. My favorite is that I can tell calls from some people to go straight through to my phones without me having to answer my phone and then approving the call. YES. Simple = good!

One feature I didn’t ask for, but do think is pretty cool none the less, is voicemail transcription.

The idea is this: you can miss a phone call that then gets sent to voicemail, but maybe you’re busy in a meeting or (like me) on a subway and can’t call to get your messages. So, Google Voice will transcribe them and then email them to you. Pretty neat, huh? The only catch is, their voice recognition software, as you might expect, isn’t quite there yet.

This afternoon after leaving her temp job, my wife left me this message. Well, according to Google Voice, my wife left me this message:

hey it’s mike i am just now getting out of the library and i’m slightly calling the right but i will jump on the a from with united soon i love you and i hope to be home around six forty five seven operator love you bye bye

Yeah, I didn’t know my wife’s name was “Mike” either. Not sure why she’d be “calling the right slightly” unless she’s curious about converting from the Democrats. “The a” is a reference to the A-Train, so that makes sense, but why she’d do it “with united” is not a question I can answer. Nor can I tell you why the operator might love me.

So, sadly, Google Voice’s transcriptions end up reading a bit like a poorly translated VCR manual.

Ah well, Google knows they own my soul, and I know all my base belongs to them.

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OK, for years now, it’s been easy to see why Apple does so well. The only time I’ve ever really wondered what drugs they were on was when they introduced the first iPod Shuffle. With no display screen I was puzzled as to just what I was supposed to do with the thing. Years later, a friend gave me his since he wasn’t using it and I realized that, for me, it was perfect for listening podcasts. Who needs a display when you can listen to the podcast and know what you’re listening to? Songs, however, are a different story–but now Apple wants to think it has that problem beaten–by having the iPod Shuffle talk to you. That’s all fine and good, but wouldn’t it have been cheaper to just throw a display on it? And how the hell do you hit play? And what’s with the posing of the hand model in the pic on Apple’s main page right now (see above)?? The way the hand is holding the super-smooth Shuffle with it’s rounded edges suggests the form factor of a suppository.

Seriously, Apple has taken a cute little player with personality and made it a faceless, boring slab that could easily be mistaken for a tampon (ladies, back me up on this!).

So, sad. Please get better soon, Steve Jobs!

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UPDATE: I just read the product page again and it turns out the play and skip buttons are on the earbud cable. Wow, so now I can’t use my own headphones with the flippin’ thing! That is even more lame now.

thepete.com on My Kindle 2, originally uploaded by thepetecom.

Here’s the very first screenshot taken on my Kindle 2. It’s of my
website, thepete.com. You can take a screencap on the K2 by holding down the alt and shift keys while pressing "g". Then, the next time you connect your Kindle 2 to your computer, check it’s "documents" directory. Inside will be a gif. That’s your screengrab.

As you can see, web browsing on the Kindle is pretty rudimentary. However, it’s almost on par (minus the color screen) to the Sidekick 3’s browsing experience, so if you’re in a pinch, it’ll do. Now, I have an iPhone, too, but that damn touchscreen is sometimes hard to type on and since the Kindle 2 rides the Sprint network for wireless, I might find my iPhone uncovered by its network of choice (T-Mobile for me AT&T for most folks) and when that happens, I can check the old K2 to see if Sprint can let me Tweet.

So after a few hours of playing with the thing, the Kindle 2 seems just fine. There was a minor hickup while trying to buy a free copy of the Bible from the Kindle Store (it didn’t like my credit card!)–after the second attempt it let me download it with no problem. I tried to open it (I assume) before it finished DLing. As a result it hung on opening. It was no big deal, I just pressed the "home" button and opened the Bible again and it worked. I also converted one PDF with meh results, but I’m learning, still. I’ll post more about my experiences, soon.

Watch for the Kindle 2 unboxing video shortly at tv.thepete.com.

Not that there’s anything wrong with the subject matter of the book it listed amongst the other results a couple weeks back while I was comparison shopping for “electric razors”–it’s just DEFINITELY NOT what I was looking for. You would think Amazon MIGHT have a protection against this sort of thing.

Just another episode in the never-ending adventure show: “Perils in Online Keyword Usage!”

For the last episode, go here:

http://thepete.com/how-keyword-targeted-ads-are-far-from-perfect-why-does-facebook-think-im-christian

Catch a clue, oh, Masters of the Internet! Sometimes keywords aren’t everything!

GASP… I know it’s practically blaspheme but, sadly, it is the truth.

I really wasn’t looking for a novel called “Razor Burn” from a company called “Romentics”.

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The new Kindle 2 has been announced by Amazon.com and while I like it better than I did the original Kindle, I still think it has a seriously limited feature set for the price.

The Good News

The thing that makes me salivate for the Kindle 2 is its new design. Holeee crap is the new Kindle 2 easy on the eyes. It looks like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos took a third generation iPod, a Blackberry and a first generation iPhone, mushed them all together and made a paperback-book-sized device. The damn thing actually looks like it would feel comfortable in my hand now–unlike the original Kindle which looked much to angular and sharp-edged to be comfortable after an hour of reading.

Part of this new design is the form factor. It’s skinny as HELL!! This is what really makes me want to pick up the Kindle 2: it’s thinner than the iPhone. Yeah, that’s some serious skinniness. A .4 inch width makes Kate Moss look like one of those fat people who can’t get through doors.

The Kindle 2 will actually surf the web now. It won’t look pretty, but it can do it. The old Kindle could surf too, but not officially (the browser was listed under “experimental,” apparently). Officially you could hit up Wikipedia, but that was about it. Kindle 2’s browser is limited, but at least you can get out onto the ‘net. It’ll display text-centric web pages just fine but, one assumes, layouts will be screwed (browsing like a Sidekick 3?) and graphics will go undisplayed. Ironic because apparently this baby has all the right hardware under the hood for much more than it is officially sanctioned to do (shades of TheRedFruit–Apple).

According to some reports (already) it’s faster at turning pages and easier to refer to the dictionary.

You can still connect to the web wirelessly with no monthly service charges–which, I have to admit, is pretty awesome. I was going to complain about the Kindle 2 still running on Sprint, but if I never have to pay too much for their services, how can I complain?

Battery life is crazy long. With it’s EVDO modem powered up and running, the Kindle 2 can go four days without recharging. With wireless off, it can go two weeks without recharging. Yeah, that’s pretty damn impressive. Of course, if you go heavy on the mp3 playing and heavy on the wireless usage, you’re going to drop that life down a bit, but still, it beats the iPhone. I was at the NY Comic Con the other day and my iPhone didn’t last the six hours I was there. Which is sad since it was just sitting in my pocket with wifi and 3G turned off the whole time.

Since Amazon admits the browser works, other browser-based applications should be usable on it. Over on BlogKindle.com, last May, they posted about using Krypton. Sure, Flash wouldn’t show up on the Kindle, but an awful lot of sites are making iPhone-formatted sites available to users–how would they do on the big K?

The Bad News

It lost it’s SD card slot. Yeah–unbelievable. The Kindle 2 comes with a whopping 2GB of internal storage (only 1.4 gigs of which you can actually use) and still plays mp3s (like it’s predecessor) so between e-books, comics (manga), audiobooks and music, you just might fill that puppy up pretty fast (I definitely would).

Still too damned expensive. The screen is gorgeous for black and white text, but so is the XO and it only cost OLPC $200 to make it AND it’s a full laptop. (Well, hardware-wise it is, anyway.) Why does the Kindle 2 still cost $359 when it actually does less than something like the XO or your average netbook? I can get an eee pc for under $300 at Target. It’s about the size of some larger paperbacks and it lets me surf the web with Flash and everything.

Then again, it does come with free wireless service forever, so that may make up for the price. I’m on the fence about this.

Why I Want a Kindle 2 and Why I’m Going to Wait for Kindle 3

There are three things that make me want a Kindle 2 and one reason I am going to hold out (or at least try to hold out) for a Kindle 3:

1) Everyone who uses a Kindle seems to love it. My mom got to mess with one at her dayjob at a university library and fell in love with it.

2) My iPhone. Using my iPhone for so very much, as I do, really brings out the limitations of the wonderful little device. The damn thing puts James Bond’s Q Branch to shame. GPS, media playing, file reading and a LOT more. The thing is, I’m reading a friend’s screenplay on it now and while it’s fine, it’s missing a lot of features that it really needs–like bookmarking. Also, the iPhone’s backlight needing to stay on while I read uses battery life. Plus, the screen is kind of small for so much reading. Simultaneously, I’ve been reading Naomi Klein’s brilliant book, The Shock Doctrine and while it is a great read, it’s BIG–I own one coat with pockets big enough to hold it. I’m now so used to taking everything with me on my iPhone that I’ve found myself wishing I had bought an e-book version of Shock Doctrine just so I could read it where ever I took my phone. Of course, my iPhone was cheaper than a Kindle 2.

Then again, the screen is smaller, too.

SIGH.

3) Hackers. The iPhone has been wonderfully hacked to bits (and bytes–ha) since it was first released–my 3G iPhone, included. I am no longer with AT&T, I can drag and drop media files to the iPhone, can shoot video, etc. So, I’m hoping the hackers will go to town on the Kindle 2 and really let software take full advantage of its hardware. The catch? The Kindle 1 has barely been looked at sideways by the hacker community–I can only find one guy who has hacked it in all the time it’s been out. Igor Skochinky reverse engineered it, unlocking cell-based GPS, minesweeper, the ability to take screenshots, and a few other cool things. Check out Igor’s not-updated-lately blog on hacking e-book readers here: http://igorsk.blogspot.com Sadly, he’s all I could find Kindle-Hacker-wise.

I’m thinking that the reason hackers aren’t flocking to the Kindle is because of the price. Right now, the Kindle seems like the laserdisc player of the gadget world. Sure, everyone knows it’s cool and everyone would like to own a Kindle, but they’re just too expensive. However, like I said, if you think about wireless service fees for a year or even three, the thing kinda pays for itself. Or at least, it would, if it had VoIP capabilities. Ha!

The reason I will wait for the Kindle 3 (barring a Christmas gift, an extreme price drop or a lottery win), is the that hardware really can do a lot more than Amazon will let it do. I mean, come on, guys, I can watch videos on my phat Nintendo DS. You’re telling me the Kindle 2 can’t handle video? Sure, the screen is e-ink and is only black and white, but what about that? Why not license the XO’s display from OLPC and give us a dual-mode B&W and full color display with the ability to turn off or on the backlight?

I’m not even asking for touchscreen, here–I love that the Kindle has a tactile keyboard. It’s the one thing I miss about my iPhone (especially now that I have cut and pasted now–yay!).

If Jeff Bezos has any smarts in him, the Kindle 3 will have full multimedia capabilities–it’ll play video, audio and that will be on top of it’s ability to read e-books, and connect wirelessly to the ‘net. OH and it’ll list price at UNDER $300! Come on, Jeff! It’s the economy, stupid! No one can afford this thing right now!

Just my ¥2, as always!

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So far, since Jailbreaking my iPhone many moons ago, I have run into very few problems with my choice to do so. I don’t miss the original firmware and it turns out I have, not one, but two apps that provide the coveted “cut & paste” function that Apple idiotically left out of their Jesus-phone. Likewise since I unlocked my iPhone back on January 1, 2009. I did have a few bumps finding an alternative data plan from AT&T’s, but I’m happy with T-Mobile now and spending about $20 less a month than I was with AT&T is pretty cool. All this said, I’ve recently come across a couple of problems with the Jailbroken, unlocked iPhone that I think my fellow JBUiPhone-users should know about:

1) iPhone dev-team member MuscleNerd Twittered just today about the possibility of silent update that plugs the hole yellowsn0w unlock uses to get in. MuscleNerd also says: “definitely don’t update to 2.2.1_5H11 if you want to retain soft unlock / yellowsn0w :)” So hold off on any updates to your iPhone’s firmware until further notice. Check out blog.iphone-dev.org for that further notice. Personally, I’ll never update the FW on my iPhone just cuz.

But don’t assume you are safe to update your Mac’s OS if you have a JBUed iPhone:

2) My fellow XO laptop owner friend Donna posted a comment to my last iPhone-related post about an issue where updating your Mac OS after JBing your iPhone may lock-up said Mac. She links to a Gizmodo story that informs us that we should:

Be careful with that latest QuickTime update if you have run any “DFU fix” Automator scripts on your unibody (Late 2008) MacBook or MacBook Pro. Do not upgrade to QuickTime 7.6 until you’ve repaired the alterations that the script made to your system. UPDATE: I am learning from commenters that this is not just limited to unibody Late ‘08 MacBooks, but it applies to ALL MacBooks running 10.5.6.

Seems if you’ve got a Mac running 10.5.6 and want to JB your phone, you may be stuck. Lucky for me, I’m still running 10.5.5 and see no reason to update. I’m also running Quicktime 7.5.5 so I’m covered there, too. In fact, after reading this, I think I’ll just stay away from updating iTunes, too.

Thanks for the heads-up, Donna!

3) Finally, I’d like to point something out that I noticed myself just last night. I updated the JB app Backgrounder to the latest version (I think it’s svn.r125) and ran into weird trouble. What Backgrounder does is allow apps to run in the background so you can surf the web or read email while you’re waiting for a pal on your IM buddylist to reply to your instant message. It’s a great app, but after I updated to the latest version last night, I found that I suddenly couldn’t open any apps without locking the screen first. So, I’d tap the “email” app icon and it would just gray-out a bit. I’d have to press and hold the power button until it asked if I wanted to power-off. Then I tap “cancel”, then hit the home button and unlock the screen and finally, I see the email app. This is the same for any app I try to open. Once I uninstalled Backgrounder, everything runs as it should. Sadly, I don’t have Backgrounder anymore and it was a very handy app, to have. :(

So, there you have it! Be warned! Don’t update ANYthing (firmware, OS, or even your apps) unless there is obviously a problem with them. I suppose if you really feel compelled to update, do your research first to make sure the updates are safe.

Don’t be a good little Apple consumer and eat whatever they put on your plate. Sometimes it’s bad for you.

So, I've been trying, for the past month or so, to get Ubuntu running on my two netbooks.  I can run Ubuntu 8.10 on my XO (done with instructions found here: http://www.olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=4053.0 ) but my eee was being a bit harder.  I had somehow, months ago, managed to get a live CD of Xubuntu 7.10 installed onto an SD card.  The thing is, I couldn't get it to install onto another SD card–it just never worked.  Somewhere along the line I managed to get the SD card to think it wasn't a live CD anymore and suddenly I could write to it as though it had been properly installed.  Don't ask me how.  Somewhere around this point I discovered that I could no longer boot into XP.  The eee is my only XP machine and I need the XP part to keep running for various reasons.

However, at that moment, I decided to concentrate on Ubuntu since at least it was running.  I decided to upgrade to 8.04–of course, when I did, I discovered that I had lost my wifi driver.  Rather than trying to learn how to install the driver myself, I decided to stick to what I knew–now I really needed my XP boot again.  After a LOT of digging I learned it was the MBR, the Master Boot Record, that had been rewritten by Ubuntu.  It looked at the boot-device order I had set up in the eee's BIOS and got confused as to where Ubuntu was supposed to be installed.  So, it over wrote the part where the MBR tells the BIOS what OS to load off of which drive and where to look for which OS (yeah, it's confusing).  After even more digging, I found a post at Tuvaq.com (here: http://tuvaq.com/blog/index.php/2008/11/27/installing-ubuntu-8-10-on-a-usb-drive-me ) that explains it how to fix it with ease this way:

When I install Ubuntu 8.10 on a USB HD, it messes up my MBR. You can fix this directly from the Ubuntu terminal. You do not need to use the live CD if your Ubuntu system starts.

You need to install a little program called ms-sys. It will rewrite your Master boot record (http://ms-sys.sourceforge.net/). The ms-sys package you get directly from their site does not install on newer version of Ubuntu (apt-get install ms-sys). You will need to use the debian package http://packages.debian.org/etch/ms-sys

Once ms-sys is installed, you need to figure out on which partition is located Windows

   sudo fdisk-l

this will list the hard drives installed. You are looking for a line with NTFS as system. Something like:

   /dev/sda1 1 9327 74919096 83 NTFS

You need to replace /dev/sda in the following command line with your device Boot (without the number)

   sudo ms-sys -m /dev/sda

that's it! You can refer to the following page for more information:

http://www.arsgeek.com/2008/01/15/how-to-fix-your-windows-mbr-with-an-ubuntu-livecd/

This was the easiest part of this entire process.  This post really made it simple for me.  Hopefully, if you're having the same trouble, it will work this easily for you, too.

At this point, I've largely given up on running Ubuntu on my eee from an SD card.  The eee refuses to see any recently installed live USB stick.  Or maybe it's grub that refuses to see it?  Not sure.  Regardless, I've spent a long time getting it to work and it doesn't work yet, so I'll pass for now.  I may buy an external optical drive and try again, but I'm not sure how soon that will be.

If you have any questions about this or need help installing Ubuntu, check out Ubuntu.org or try IMing me or finding me on Twitter–or post a comment.  I can't promise anything, but I might be able to help.

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