My HTC Incredible, Microsoft Zune, and Garmin nuvi 765i

I just returned home from a trip to Salt Lake City in which I decided to use my HTC Incredible with Android 2.2 aka FroYo (It had 2.1 at the start of the trip but I’ll explain more on that later) as my all in one portable device. It replaced my Garmin nuvi 765, Microsoft Zune 80 Media Player, and of course it served as my cell phone.

To start, I’ve been salivating over FroYo (Android 2.2) for the Incredible since the rumors started flying fast and furious that the upgrade was coming August 18th. Well that was a crappy rumor because it never happened… on that date. When did I receive the over the air update? It arrived while I was sitting on the plane 10 minutes prior to the end of a 1.5 hour delay. I sat there staring at the screen for what seemed an eternity deciding whether or not to take the blue pill (update later) or to take the red pill (update now). I hold a degree in computer science and I have been working with computers and other computer-like devices for nearly 30 years. I knew better than to take the red pill. But the devil on my left shoulder (aka my wife… yeah I’ll blame it on her) kept telling me to just do it. So I couldn’t resist and I did it… and regretted it immediately. I could almost watch the battery level begin to drop before my eyes after the upgrade completed. Where my battery had previously lasted me all day plus more it now lost about 50% in about 3 hours. Ugh. I thought I was in deep trouble.

Luckily I brought the adapter to charge the phone in the car and plugged it in immediately. The first thing I did was open the Car Panel application so I could navigate to my hotel. I selected the address and a message popped up saying it could not find a route to my destination. Huge fail right out of the box. The car I rented was equipped with GPS so I used that to get where I needed to go right away. My first thought was that the upgrade to FroYo somehow screwed up the phone’s navigation capabilities. Thankfully I was wrong.

Once I arrived and was able to whip out my laptop I quickly found a solution to my rapid battery depletion problem. It turns out that FroYo is not a friend of Advanced Task Killer (ATK) or any third party task killer for that matter. Thank goodness for the Internet because without it there is no way I would have found the answer. I uninstalled ATK and voila! battery problem solved. Now I had to move on to my GPS problem.

For some odd reason, and quite the coincidence, my hotel was at a location that the Android navigation program had a hard time finding. This is not uncommon to GPS devices as I’ve had Garmin devices choke on certain addresses too. This just happened to be the first address I navigated to in a city that is not my home town with this phone. Prior to using this as a GPS on this trip I tested it in and around the Chicago area just so I could be familiar with how the software worked. The rest of the time the Android GPS software was a joy to use.

Searching for places was a breeze. I just tapped the microphone icon and dictated a search term. Google gave me several results in order of proximity, I selected the one I wanted, and the GPS software guided me to where I wanted to go. This search and drive utility alone is worth the price of admission and makes getting around so much easier.

At night and in the mornings at my hotel I use a media player (usually my Zune because, believe what you want, I say it is far superior to the iPod and the Zune media software is especially superior to iTunes) to listen to music and/or podcasts. Android falls short of the experience of using my Zune but it is still usable. The stock Android media player stinks and apparently will not run in the background while doing other tasks. But the HTC media player will run in the background although operates in the same clunky manner as the stock player.

I love the way the Zune device and the Zune software work with media. I purchase most of my music from Amazon.com using Amazon’s music downloader application. This software puts the music exactly where I want it and the Zune software automatically watches that folder and adds the music to my Zune library. iTunes on the other hand never just monitors a folder for new content and adds it automatically. If you don’t have software that does this (the Amazon downloader app is supposed to do this but for some strange reason it does not work properly on my home desktop) you have to manually import every album you buy, unless of course you buy your music from iTunes. What a pain. Android has no music management capability whatsoever. Essentially I have to connect it to my computer via USB and manually copy the files and folders I want. Not as convenient as syncing but it works because I don’t usually listen to more than 10 albums or so at a time. The problem I really have is how Android handles podcasts.

There is no easy way to manage podcasts with Android. There is Google Listen but it’s a product out of Google Labs which means that it’s half baked. It works well if I want to stream podcasts but I see no way to download and save to the device’s storage card even though Google says you can do this. I can copy podcast files from my laptop to my Incredible but then the media player application for some reason does not see it as an album and therefore does not show up in any list under artist, album, song, or anywhere else. In order to play the copied file I have to navigate to that folder using an application like ES File Explorer and tap on it, where it plays in the stock Android media app thereby making it not able to run in the background. What I really want is an application that will allow me to either stream a podcast or automatically download a podcast file to my storage card. Most of the time while travelling I would prefer to be able to let the phone charge and download podcasts for the next day while it sits on the nightstand over night. Is this too much to ask? This is what I do with my Zune. I leave my laptop on and plugged in over night with the Zune media software running. Podcasts automatically download when they come available and automatically sync with my Zune player. As Ron Popeil says, “set it and forget it”. But this is not how Android works and I have found no suitable application… yet.

Last but not least I need to talk about using the HTC Incredible as a phone. After all it’s a phone first and everything else last. As a phone the HTC Incredible is excellent. It’s the best phone I’ve owned. I’ve used an iPhone, Windows Mobile phones, phones from Blackberry, and others including Nokia. It does everything a phone is supposed to do with ease. It sounds great and from what I gather people can hear me equally well. I’ll put this simply. It works so well as a phone that I don’t have to think about it. That’s the way I like it.

The advantages of using the HTC Incredible as my all-in-one travel device do outweigh the shortcomings. Sure, some of the applications are a little clunky and the media player is a leap backwards in usability, but, I no longer need to carry around multiple devices and the octopus of wires that accompany them. Plus I can stay far far away from the Apple/iTunes ecosystem. This convenience and portability is multiplied if we talk about replacing my still and video camera as well. But I’m tired of typing so I’ll stop here.

The Kindle 3, as I’m calling it because I don’t see that designation anywhere else, is a vast improvement over the Kindle 2. Some tech blogs are saying it’s not that big a difference but I whole heartedly disagree. Kindle 3 is smaller, lighter, faster, better looking, more readable, and has a better feel in your hand than Kindle 2 and it is much closer to the size of my Sony (I’ve always preferred the form factor of the Sony). So, in my opinion, it is improved as the Kindle 2 was over the original Kindle.

What are my gripes (because if you know me you know I have gripes)? The page turn buttons are too thin. I liked the larger buttons of the Kindle 2. The D pad is too small. Probably an additional 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch larger would have been good. And the keyboard drives me crazy. I don’t understand why device makers choose to make keyboards with inline keys. Meaning the Q, the A, and the Z are lined up directly one under the other. WHY?? The keyboard I use for my desktop and on my laptop are offset. Every keyboard I use to type has an offset keyboard. So what happens when using the Kindle keyboard is that I end up typing the wrong character and then have to go back to fix it time and time again. It’s not like there isn’t enough space on the damn thing. Sheesh! Other than those minor gripes I’ll be reading on this Kindle for a long long time.

Now that I have a Kindle 2 and a Kindle 3 I don’t see a case where I’ll need another e-reader again. The Kindle 2 will end up on my night stand and the Kindle 3 is the one I’ll use to carry when I travel and use around the house. Add to that the Kindle app I use on my HTC Incredible and my Kindle circle is complete.

The thing that might totally make the perfect world where I can ditch my laptop too is the Samsung Galaxy tablet. That will be my travel computer and my travel Kindle reader all in one. I can’t wait to see that released.

My kids are gone and there is one Tivo box that is rarely used to record anything. So, I decided to save the monthly fee and cancel the service. Tivo makes cancellation as painful as an emergency tooth extraction. You can’t cancel online. Nooooooo, that would be far to easy and convenient. You have to call.

Once on the phone with a representative (thankfully you are not on hold for 20 minutes waiting at least that was immediate) he runs you through the 20 questions necessary to confirm you are who you say you are after you inform him that you want to cancel. He asks why I want to cancel and tries to convince me otherwise. He asks if I’m going to use the DVR provided by my cable company (I won’t because I don’t subscribe to cable). He asks what I’m going to do with the old Tivo and I lie to him telling him I’m giving it to a friend. He then tries to convince me not to cancel for up to two months. They will give me two months free until my “friend” activates his own account with this box. I had to adamantly insist that he just cancel the account because I don’t want my “friend” to change his mind or forget. Aaaarrrrrgggggghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just cancel my freaking account!!!!!!!

It took a good 15 to 20 minutes on the phone to run the course of the reps script to the end where there was nothing left on his decision tree of answers to my answers. And finally it was cancelled. This is exactly the way it used to be back in the AOL days when you wanted to cancel one of their accounts.

What am I really going to do with that old Tivo? I’ll leave it where it is and record my shows one of the other two boxes. Then transfer the show I want to that box so I can watch it. Ultimately I’ll replace it with a computer with a TV tuner inside and that way I have the full breadth of programming available online AND on the hard drives in my house.

Like you cared about my Tivo problems anyway… right?

Iran has long declared it has a right like other nations to produce nuclear energy. The country’s nuclear chief described the startup as a “symbol of Iranian resistance and patience.”

“Despite all pressure, sanctions and hardships imposed by Western nations, we are now witnessing the startup of the largest symbol of Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities,” Ali Akbar Salehi told reporters inside the plant with its cream-colored dome overlooking the Persian Gulf in southern Iran.

In several significant ways, the Bushehr plant stands apart from the showdowns over Iranian uraniumenrichment, a process that can be used both to produce nuclear energy or nuclear weapons. It also could offer a possible test run for proposals to ease the impasse.

The Russian agreement to control the supply of nuclear fuel at Bushehr eased opposition by Washington and allies. Bushehr’s operations are not covered by U.N. sanctions imposed after Iran refused to stop uranium enrichment. And last week, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the Russian oversight at Bushehr is the “very model” offered Tehran under a U.N.-drafted plan unveiled last year.

via Yahoo! News – Iran starts nuclear reactor, says intent peaceful

Joss: You have Felicia Day playing and singing on the album. Is she too pale to live? Also, you’ve collaborated with her in every medium except macaroni art. Do you feel sorry for her paleness, or is it a “talent” thing?

Jed: She lives nearby, is close friends with my wife and has some talent. That’s my excuse, what’s yours? That, and Maurissa and I like to invite her over so we can project Super-8 movies onto her face.

Here’s a link to the entire “interview”.

Image borrowed from themoderatevoice.com

In the forthcoming paragraphs I and I alone will settle the debate over net neutrality. Yes, I am that much of a genius.

Let’s start with the American public, American users, aka all those people geographically located within the United States of America (continental or otherwise). We, and I say we because I’m part of the American user group, have grown used to an Internet where everything is free except that pesky monthly access charge. This has been fantastic for users. We are able to find answers to questions to just about anything that crosses our minds in nearly an instant. We’re able to get news and information from all corners of the globe. All kinds of entertainment, professionally produced or otherwise are just a click away. And, we’re able to voice our opinions (this one included) and expose that to anyone in the world that can find it. It has been a wonderful decade and a half or so.

Now, let’s move to the gate keepers to the Internet aka the Internet Service Provider (“ISP”). AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner, and many other small and large telcos, cable, and satellite companies. Each and every one of these companies depend on the use of public space in order to provide Internet access. Cable and telco companies utilize so-called “right of way” space or public easements that border our properties and public roads. Wireless carriers (cellular, WiMax, and various municipal wireless broadband companies) and satellite companies utilize what is widely referred to as “spectrum” or broadcast frequencies that are regulated by the FCC. Each company is either granted a license or permit to use these public spaces in which to build their networks. This has been a great business for them because it limits the number of companies with which they compete. A small number of competitors with a user base of up to approximately 300 million users makes for big profits.

Content creators/owners cannot be left out. They are the ones that make the things users consume. These people and/or companies (but what are companies but a bunch of people getting together to do something) exist to create music, movies, short video, commentary, news, you name it. From the TV show Firefly to a family home video all these people are content creators. The Internet is the single best thing that has ever happened to anyone who wants to create content or sell a product. It’s the largest level playing field ever devised by man. For example, if you are reading this (and that’s a big if) you could be anyone from anywhere and these words I’m typing right now are just as accessible to you as any article in the New York Times, Washington Post, or my hometown paper the Chicago Tribune. As of this moment there is no editor, no censor, and no gatekeeper between my words and your browser. Should I make a video of this blog post that video commentary would be just as accessible to you as any commentary on ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, or PBS. As of this moment there is no television or radio station that I need to broadcast for my transmitter is the Internet and it has global coverage. This is a double edge sword for content creators, though. Because users are conditioned to access content for free and because ISPs make money by delivering that content without compensating creators it is very difficult, though not impossible, for a creative person to make a consistent living off their works.

The next item that needs to be discussed is the Internet. The Internet, as it exists today, consists of computers (not desktops and laptops although they can be included in this), racks and racks of computers, connected to big cables that connect to each other scattered across the United States and the rest of the world. This is a simplistic explanation but I believe it to be accurate enough for my purposes. On these computers are terabyte upon terabyte (perhaps petabyte upon petabyte or dare I say yottabytes?) of data. In the world of computers and the Internet data is everything and it’s nothing. To us data is our music, pictures, video, documents, and anything else thought of that resides on a computer hard drive. Any information we watch, read, or  listen is data that comes delivered by the wires or radio waves utilized by your ISP. But, at the same time this rich media is nothing but zeroes and ones. Bits. Bits which make bytes. Bytes which make kilobytes and megabytes and gigabytes and, yes, yottabytes too. The Internet and the computers of which it’s comprised are agnostic to this series of zeroes and ones. The bits don’t mean anything… it’s just data.

Last but not least a discussion of data needs to be had. For this is really the crux of the Net Neutrality debate. Data is the result of content creators, it’s what is transmitted over the Internet, it’s channeled to users through ISPs, and it’s ultimately why users want access to the Internet. This debate is all about the data. Since at its base data is nothing but zeroes and ones (bits) we should approach this subject with this in mind. Why should any company be able to charge $1 for this bit and $2 for that bit just because one will end up being a video and the other an e-mail? It makes no sense because all the bits are the same. Again, to the computers and cables of the Internet data is only zeroes and ones. Now, some users may consume more data than others. For example, a person that mainly uses the Internet for reading news and sending e-mails will not consume much data but a person that watches a lot of videos from Netflix, YouTube, or Hulu will consume large amounts of data. The more data a user consumes the more capacity (bandwidth) is required to deliver that data. It doesn’t matter if it’s delivered over a wired network (cable modem or DSL) or over a wireless network (cellular or WiMax). Bandwidth can be thought of, in simple terms, as “pipes” (yes those pipes spoken of by the late Senator Ted Stevens). A large pipe (broadband) with a large faucet will allow great amounts of data to flow and by the same token a tiny pipe (dial-up) with a tiny faucet will allow the data to trickle out. Just like the electricity and water that run through your house today. Unlike water and electricity, however, it is possible to deliver data in many different ways.

So the answer to this problem of Net Neutrality is to simply charge users based on the flow of data regardless of what the data becomes. Charge for consumption. People who use more should pay more and people who use less should pay less.  The existing ”pipes” are only so big and can only deliver so much data at one time. The more consumers on any given “pipe” means more data flowing through that ”pipe” and if consumers are not being charged based on their consumption then everyone loses. The ISPs lose because they can’t afford to maintain existing networks let alone invest in the next one, consumers lose because the person who uses the Internet for reading news and sending e-mails gets charged the same amount as a heavy user who streams movies and music, and content creators lose because access to their content will eventually become filtered or prioritized. This is essentially what was proposed by Google and Verizon.

Google and Verizon proposed that data sent through a wired network should be treated differently than data sent through a wireless network. They also left loopholes for classifying data based on what that data becomes at the consumer end and then prioritizing that data. This means that it would be possible in the near future for a content creator to pay to give their data priority over other data. It’s not neutral because data then is separated into classes. We’ll end up with the data elite and data ghettos. No longer will all data be treated the same and the Internet as we know it today will cease to exist.

So let’s cut the baloney, treat all data the same, charge the user for what he/she consumes, and leave the Internet alone.

Holy crap that was a long post.

Employing Sally costs plenty too. My company has to write checks for $74,000 so Sally can receive her nominal $59,000 in base pay. Health insurance is a big, added cost: While Sally pays nearly $2,400 for coverage, my company pays the rest—$9,561 for employee/spouse medical and dental. We also provide company-paid life and other insurance premiums amounting to $153. Altogether, company-paid benefits add $9,714 to the cost of employing Sally.

Then the federal and state governments want a little something extra. They take $56 for federal unemployment coverage, $149 for disability insurance, $300 for workers’ comp and $505 for state unemployment insurance. Finally, the feds make me pay $856 for Sally’s Medicare and $3,661 for her Social Security.

When you add it all up, it costs $74,000 to put $44,000 in Sally’s pocket and to give her $12,000 in benefits. Bottom line: Governments impose a 33% surtax on Sally’s job each year.

The general public like to blame the nameless/faceless greedy “corporation” for all of societies ills. But, in fact, it is the corporation that employs most of the people in this country. Businesses are not bottomless pits of money. When the minimum wage goes up jobs go down. When taxes go up jobs go down. When costs go up jobs go down. When regulations go up jobs go down. These are facts of life.

As illustrated in this story it’s not easy or cheap at all to hire someone. Often times it’s cheaper and easier just to add a few more hours to existing employees than to take on the risk of adding another to the payroll.

Why I’m Not Hiring (Wall Street Journal)

To ease the pain our friendly federal government is offering a $7,500 tax credit (tax credit is another term for a targeted tax cut) if you buy the car. This is insulting. First the taxpayers of the United States funded the bailout of General Motors. And, as far as I’ve heard GM has not paid this money back to the government yet. So, in effect, the people of the United States are still 60% owners of GM. Second, the feds offer a tax credit to promote this car further taking money from the taxpayers .

How about this, if the Volt is a car that people really want let them pay for it. Sales will determine the success or failure of that car not government (aka taxpayer) subsidies.

Mark Kirk is counting on voters to be ignorant of basic tax law. This may be a smart move though given that we have reached a point where most people effectively pay no income tax. It’s common for people in business, regardless of their wealth (wealth and income are totally different things), to either pay no tax or receive a refund of an overpayment of tax during the year (a tax refund is the government giving you back the amount you overpaid and not some benevolent gift from the government) if their business or businesses lost money.

Given the recession and how many businesses have gone under including Giannoulias’ Broadway Bank it’s no wonder why Giannoulias received a sizeable refund. So this is total bullshit that Mark Kirk is dragging this issue out presenting it as if Giannoulias has broken the law. If Mr. Kirk could prove that the refund was obtained by breaking the law it would be a different story. But by all accounts Giannoulias followed the tax code.

This does not excuse any wrong doing or bad loans that may have occurred as a result of any actions taken by Mr. Giannoulias while he and his family controlled Broadway Bank. A thorough investigation needs to bring out those facts and if there was any law broken or any unethical behavior than Giannoulias should suffer whatever consequence is appropriate.

Giannoulias is a typical Democrat that wants to go down the same path that the government in Illinois, and the federal government for that matter, has taken in the last 10 to 15 years. They want government to pick the winners and losers in life and they want to suck the life out of the private sector to do it.

Mark Kirk isn’t much better. But, he is better. Mark Kirk has conservative leanings but does not have conservative principles. He will bend and twist to fit what he thinks will get him re-elected. What Illinois voters need to do is to elect Mark Kirk to ensure Alexi Giannoulias does not become a Senator. Then, 6 years from now elect a conservative Republican in the Illinois primary to replace Mark Kirk.