How to root a Kindle Fire
I haven’t verified this, so attempt at your own risk.
[Flash 10 is required to watch video]
Rebecca Black’s Friday licensed as Black Friday
Aging aches - but makes you look at the world differently
The nagging pain of my tight upper back/neck muscles reminded me to day about my age again. It seems that physical reminders of my 45 years is happening almost daily now for me.
Since my recent physical at the doctor, mortality and aging has creeped into my thoughts almost daily. My doctor informed me that my lifetime hypertension has finally shown up on my EKG as a slight thickening of the heart. An EchoCardiogram later shows I’ve encroached on the limits of wall size - nothing serious at the moment but this cannot continue if I want to supply oxygen properly throughout my body in the future. A medication adjustment hasn’t impacted my blood pressure significantly right now - but maybe losing a few pounds will do so. She encouraged me to keep playing hockey since my diastolic function of my heart is above average for my age.
Couple all this with the fact that my mom died this summer - who I very much miss even though we didn’t talk that often - and I’m looking at the world differently now.
Maybe this is natures way of making us appreciate the moments we have left on earth - when we’re not caught up in the rat race of everyday life and self-induced pressure to achieve and be successful?
Bye Palm Pre - Hello iPhone 4S
I ordered my iPhone 4S today based on a conversation I had last night with one of my hockey buddies. It won’t happen immediately because the ship date is 3 weeks out at this point, but the order is in place. This will be the first phone I’ve had that I can make phone calls in Europe and Internationally. Yes I got the international version. No I don’t go to Europe much, but I’m happy that I can without losing reachability now.
I have a Palm Pre Plus from Verizon whose battery is on its last legs. I’ve swapped the phone about 4 times due to hardware issues (last time it was the keyboard). I love the TouchStone for charging. I love the fact that it’ll ring my HP TouchPad through bluetooth.
The problem is I love iPod/iPad apps even more. I carry an iPod Touch on my belt right next to my Palm Pre. I have an SSH/VNC app, remote for my AppleTV, and app to control my house’s thermostats and lights. I have kindle for reading books and GoodReader for reading work documents offline. With the exception of the multitasking environment of WebOS, I can multitask just the same (double tapping home sucks though).
My WebOS phone has no future now. No replacement (except for the time being maybe the buggy/poor battery life Palm Pre 2 from Verizon). I’m gonna miss WebOS, but I’ll still have it on my TouchPad to play with. But the iPhone should be a more unified environment for me to use and do everything from.
I was really looking forward to upgrading to a Palm 3. But I’m on Verizon and now that HP wimped out on this market space, will never happen for me.
Bye Palm Pre - Hello iPhone 4S. It was good knowing you and we lasted a long time together.
Just in case: I’ll be keeping my Palm Pre in the rare event I don’t like my iPhone 4S and return it within the first 30 days. After that I’ll probably sell it along with my Touchstones. I know there will remain WebOS / Palm people out there until the very end. Good luck to you all.
ONE FORTY PLUS: Update - keep an eye out for John Mayer
Hey all…
I wanted to give you an update on the granuloma just above my vocal cord. I had surgery this afternoon to remove it and am now on complete vocal rest for a month or more. It’s been a very long process in waiting to see if time was an alternative to surgery, but even given two weeks’…
RIM’s Blackberry Playbook Pricing Woes
Amazon’s Kindle Fire (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0051VVOB2) announcement today caused yet another drop in the price of the 16GB Blackberry on Amazon.com today. Frankly I don’t know how RIM is going to survive against Amazon.com now.
Amazon Fire will likely destroy other Android Tablets
With the exception of maybe the Samsung Galaxy Tab, I believe what this article says is probably true. The tablet space will dwindle quickly to become Amazon vs Apple.
What HP should do the day after Apotheker is fired
The moment Bloomberg reported that the ousting of Apotheker as a possibly imminent decision by HP’s board (http://t.co/9jEnpYGP) I started thinking about how HP should handle the TouchPad situation that Leo so abruptly caused.
If you factor in that there are around 1 million TouchPad users overnight and that the fact that demand for them has gone through the roof at the fire-sale price point, it’s reasonable to think that the following steps might actually end up as a positive for HP.
1. Raise the price of TouchPads to the current prices they’re going for on the second-hand market. Yes, HP will take a loss on the TouchPad, but continue to grow market share with the new availablity of more of them. $240 for a 16GB model and $300 for a 32GB model would still beat the competition’s newer devices which cost more
2. Create motivation for developers to create WebOS applications by putting “bounties” on application development. Do this to encourage new applications to come out faster by subsidizing app development. Of course you don’t want junk applications being thrown together, so run it like a contest where you specify the types of applications that are needed (e.g. a great To-Do list manager) and let the community decide which one gets the bounty within a certain timeframe by using ratings and purchase statistics decide which one is best. Some missing apps that would be good to put a bounty on: An SSH client with VNC Capability, A DJ Mixer App, and an Office Communicator IM App.
3. Subsidize the porting of key applications that are missing from the WebOS platform that are present on the Apple iPad - off the top of my head I can think of: Netflix Streaming, Hulu Plus, Tivo Remote, Time Warner Cable TV, SpringPad, Evernote (HD), Justin.TV, Dragon Dictation, PenUltimate, GoodReader, Google Maps, and various popular Games.
4. Take a cut of MP3, Video and Book sales/rentals done through the TouchPad.
5. Sell more printers because the wireless and magically work with the TouchPad.
6. Make extra money off of accessories like the touchstone charging stand - again closing the gap on the cost/sales differential.
7. More integration with business apps (e.g. Office Communicator, Office Collaboration Tools) would make the TouchPad an attractive alternative to the other Tablets available today as well. Imagine a Sales Force running around with one of these in-hand wherever they go.
In general, make the TouchPad a software sales generating device. Apotheker’s idea but stay in the Hardware Space - Make the TouchPad become a software revenue generating platform.
Oh and give it more than 7 weeks to succeed. HP’s got deep-pockets. Give it at least two years during which you introduce newer models of the TouchPad that cost more than the base model but offer more features. HP will be #2 behind Apple but as it’s software app library grows will be more and more competitive. At half the cost of an iPad HP could own the market over time, or at the very least provide a serious competitor to the iPad.
While not a perfect Tablet, the TouchPad shows the quality built into it. I believe while it might not kick the iPad’s ass but it certainly will give it some serious bruises.
Rogue trader loses $2 billion, UBS says
How can this still happen in today’s world?????
