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AT&T Steps In It Again – Seriously

December 28, 2009 By David
NEW YORK - JULY 11: A reporter holds the new ...

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Many things shock me about AT&T and their behavior over the past year, but the one thing that shocks me the most is that the entire PR department has not been fired. It’s been one PR disaster after another. Here comes the latest, a report that the AT&T website has stopped selling the iPhone in New York. They have now given three completely different reasons for this, none of them making much sense. Basically they are simply coming across as completely inept. People have already been unhappy with AT&T this year, mostly for network quality and uneven 3G coverage, now this. How can you stop selling phones in America’s largest city and not have a planned message for the obvious questions that are going to come? This is PR 101.

The entire communications and messaging from AT&T has been so abysmally bad of late it’s hard to imagine this is one of the largest and most powerful companies in the world. The iPhone was an absolute blessing at first, bringing thousands of new customers to AT&T but now the iPhone has become a curse on AT&T. The iPhone is a world class cell phone, the first of it’s kind. I guess AT&T isn’t world class enough to live up to the challenge of supporting it.

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Kindle Milestone: Amazon Sold More Kindle Books Than Physical Books On Xmas

December 27, 2009 By David
kindle book sales big

via businessinsider.com

You would have to be blind to see what’s happening in the world of publishing. Things are changing so fast these days. Amazon’s Kindle bet is starting to pay off big time.

Posted via web from David Jacobs’s Connected World

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I Have Touched The Hand of God: The Nexus One

December 22, 2009 By David

Ok, that was a little bombastic, but it was pretty exciting. I was fortunate enough to hold and play with a live Nexus One or The Google Phone last night.

Here is what I can report.

It’s fast, really fast, much faster than my iPhone 3G.

The screen is fantastic. Again, better than my iPhone 3G.

It’s simple and elegant. The most elegant phone, both in hardware and software next to the iPhone. Does it surpass the iPhone? Hard to say and it may just be a personal judgement call for most. But thank goodness, this is the first real, serious competition for the iPhone and it should get Apple scrambling to innovate and improve things on the iPhone. This will be great for customers.

Here’s my bottom line. For more technically savvy users who are getting tired of Apple’s maniacal control over the iPhone, the Nexus One from Google will be great. They will love it and it will sell well to this market. The geek cread on this phone is off the charts. For the mass audience who doesn’t know or care much about the inside baseball aspects of the market, they will likely be perfectly happy with the iPhone. What they will get unhappy about is the continuing problems with the AT&T network. If AT&T exclusivity does run out next year and Apple is able to open up to more carriers, I think AT&T is in real trouble. I do think Apple does need to distance themselves from AT&T as they are like a boat ancor that will bring the iPhone down eventually.

Android phones up to this point haven’t been exciting or interesting at all. The Motorola Droid was the first to change that and this Nexus One will move things along even faster. 2010 is going to be a fun year for mobile. It’s Android vs. iPhone. Game on!

Posted via web from David Jacobs’s Connected World

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Lindora Update

December 21, 2009 By David

Danish PasteriesSorry it’s been a long time since the last weight loss update. The news is good, very good in fact. After four weeks on Lindora I have lost a total of 17lbs and an inch and a half off my belly. This is an 8 week program so I have some more to go and I’m on track for my goal of 190.

It’s not been easy and there have been good days and challenging days. We are now on Christmas vacation away from home and thus on a hiatus from Lindora as well. I am trying to keep to the program as best as possible but the folks at Lindora said to not worry about loosing weight, just not to gain any. I haven’t stepped on a scale yet and I’m a little afraid to. We’ve not strayed greatly, but we have strayed. Let’s just say Solvang, CA is not a good place to go if you’re on a diet due to the abundance of Danish pastry treats .

The other big piece of news is that due to my weight loss I was able to stop taking the injectable insulin a few weeks back and I was able to cut another diabetes medicine in half. So far, even on this hiatus, my sugar is staying in line. I have also noticed several of my pants don’t fit right anymore due to my shrinking waist. That’s a very satisfying feeling.

After Christmas it’s back to the grindstone for the final push for 190. My ultimate goal is to stay below 200 for life. I started this adventure at 218lbs. So far, so good.

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ZOMG The Google Phone Is “Like An iPhone On Beautifying Steroids”

December 13, 2009 By David

via techcrunch.com

So it looks like the infamous Google phone is for real. I’m happy about this for several reasons. Most importantly, Apple needs the competition to keep them sharp. All the others, namely Palm and Microsoft, have fallen away quickly in the iPhone storm. Only Blackberry remains strong. But Android, after a slow start, is picking up serious steam and looks like they will become a strong number two.

I am also growing weary of Apple’s control issues. Controlling the entire end to end experience as Apple does have it’s benefits but is leaving me feeling a little constricted. I think I’m ready for a change and the Google phone looks like the first phone truly worth leaving the iPhone for. I wish it were on Verizon, though, as I’d love to stick it in AT&T’s eye at the same time. Yes, it will run on Tmobile but seriously, I’ve been on Tmobile. Not again.

If the iPhone is the “Jesus” phone, what is the Google Phone? John The Baptist?

Posted via web from David Jacobs’s Connected World

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The Irrefutable Stupidity of Sarah Palin

December 11, 2009 By David

I have known this for a very long time and others have hinted at it but now the truth can be told. It has nothing to do with sexism or agism or any other “ism” you want to point to. It’s just a simple, unfortunate fact. Sarah Palin is not very smart. Sorry conservatives but it also has nothing to do with the fact that anyone is scared or her or threatened by her or much of anything else but the facts. This article on the Huffington Post lays it out in simple terms.

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CrunchPad reborn as JooJoo | Rafe's Radar – CNET News

December 7, 2009 By David
via news.cnet.com

My opinion, I don’t think the JooJoo is going to fly. For one, $500 is way to expensive. Fusion Garage needs to get over itself as it compared the pricing of the iPhone and Kindle DX to their pricing. Fusion Garage is no Apple, they just don’t have the kind of juice Apple does to expect premium pricing. Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, who was the person to first visualized the product had a price of $200 in mind. Fusion Garage says that was crazy and not possible. Maybe so, but at that price point, they would have had a real chance to make a big impact.

Posted via web from David Jacobs’s Connected World

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Comcast takes control of NBC, promises not to crush Hulu 'like a bug' — Engadget

December 3, 2009 By David

via engadget.com

Despite what Comcast says, I don’t like this deal, not a bit. Here is the key point:

“NBC has been careful not to put too much cable content on the Internet. We think that’s a smart strategy…

It’s simple logic. Comcast, under their current business model, has little to gain from pushing Internet TV forward. They will do enough to prevent people from freaking out but they will hold things at bay. I think a distributor like Comcast owning the content is a conflict of interest and not at all consumer friendly. This is good for nobody but Comcast.

Posted via web from David Jacobs’s Connected World

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Dish Network Slaps All Non-Christians In The Face

December 1, 2009 By David

The following tweet from Dish Network entered my Twitter stream this morning

Did you see it? O’Reilly dubbed us Patriots on The Factor last night for our new commercial!: http://bit.ly/4KW3xs

I have been a long time Dish Network subscriber and I was peeved when I saw this and watched the video. Fox’s Bill O’Reilly has been popping off about the supposed “war on Christmas” for the past several years. His argument is that too many people are using the word Holidays instead of Christmas thus degrading the traditionally Christian holiday. Personally I think this artificial controversy is ridiculous. There is no “war” on Christmas and if anything has been lost of the religious basis of the season, it was lost a long time ago mostly to over consumerism and not because of any deliberate effort.

Dish Network has the right to make any kind of commercial it wants and I’m not bothered in the least that they say Merry Christmas in the spot. But Bill O’Reilly holding them up as some kind of heroes and worse than that, Dish Network glomming onto that is what pisses me off. As I said, I’m a long time Disk Network customer and I also happen to be Jewish. While I don’t mind the spot itself, Dish Network had better watch where they step and who they choose to affiliate with. I’m sure Dish has many customers who are not Christian and I feel like they just slapped them all in the face.

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