hopes for Palm Pre v2

February 21st, 2010

I’m a proud owner of a Palm Pre, circa June ‘09.  My phone is now getting a little long in the tooth compared to what phones are coming out now.  I’m really liking the Nexus One and the Droid.  Having just heard about the new Windows Phone 7 Series that Microsoft just announced,  that has seriously my interest peaked as well.

I’m very happy with my Pre and only have a few small quibbles with it.  Occasionally the phone slows down, I’m assuming due to background apps, but I’m not sure.  I would like the app loading to be a little faster, for simple apps like the calculator it should be lightning quick to load.  I would also have liked a louder speaker on the phone when either using it as a speakerphone or playing music over the speaker, it’s just not quite powerful enough.

Now onto what I would love to find in the next Palm phone.

To really show that Palm is back, they need to show that they have both ends of the spectrum covered.  They wowed everyone last year with the introduction of the WebOS platform and now they need to knock everyone’s socks off with some new high-end hardware.  They need to be first (or at most, second) to market with a 4G handset.  It appears that the HTC Supersonic will be first with an integrated 4G modem, but if Palm comes out with a 4G radio I believe that will be the biggest sign that Palm is truly coming back.

Secondly, they need to up the screen specs.  Palm needs to increase the size to at least 3.7″, up the resolution to at least 800 x 480 and go AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic LED).  Since the Pre has the gesture area below the screen, it allows them to run a slightly smaller screen but new generation device screens are more than 20% larger and come with many more pixels.  OLED would help offset the larger display’s power consumption, but more importantly, it would at least match the screen quality of the current top-end phones available today.

Third, take a page from Google’s playbook and add voice-to-text for any text fields.  This is a fantastic evolution of speech recognition.  There have been countless times that I would have found that very convenient to be able to speak what I need typed.  In addition to this they need to get an on-screen keyboard; many times I have need to type something short and quick into my phone and I wanted to do it one-handed but that is not very feasible with the slide-out, physical keyboard.

While I don’t expect, yet still hope, that all of these changes are in store for the next Palm phone, I hope that they will soon start releasing information on the next device – my year is almost up and I need a new phone.  I believe they need to continue pushing the envelope if they want to stay relevant and carve out a niche for their future success.

Till Next Time

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Wordpress theme hacked?

February 5th, 2010

I’ve been using a WordPress theme created by Jorge Gomez at switchroyale.com and have been very happy with it.  I logged on today to get a bit of info from one of my earlier posts and noticed that after ~5 seconds after the page loaded my site was redirecting to a seemingly random website.

I started some debugging and first deactivated my AdSense plugin thinking that was the culprit.  It turns out that the theme was loading some javascript from an external site and was executing the redirect.

I was using Azul 1.4 and noticed there was an upgrade available and I updated my site to Azul 1.51.  This did not solve my problem.  I’ve reverted back to an old WordPress default theme and the problem went away.  I’ve sent an email to Mr. Gomez to let him know about the issue.  I hope that it’s either a simple error or that his site was hacked (I’m not being mean).  I’d much rather believe that his site got hacked than if he decided to start screwing with people themes out of malicious intent.

I’m happy to give him the benefit of the doubt until I learn otherwise.  I’ve included the email that I sent him below:

Hey I just wanted to let you know that I’ve been using your theme for awhile and have enjoyed it, but today I noticed that there is some javascript coming through on your theme that is causing my site to redirect to a seemingly random website after the site is loaded for ~5 seconds.

I had been using Azul 1.4, but after noticing this issue I upgraded to Azul 1.51 and am still getting this issue.  I’ve reverted back to an old default WP theme and the issue went away and when I reactivated your theme the issue came back.

I don’t know if you are aware of this issue or whether your site might have gotten hacked.

Just wanted to let you know.

Hope this gets resolved.

I’ll update this post as needed.

Till Next Time

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Job's jesus-juice tank on empty

January 27th, 2010

The ‘Moses Tablet’ was announced today.

I’m glad the original Moses tablet was more revolutionary, cause this was just a disappointment.  I had been casually following the iPad rumors and was interested in what Steve Jobs was going to announce today.

Jobs’ track record over the years has been one of the best in the consumer electronics world.  You would be hard-pressed to find anyone who’s had a larger influence on the CE world than he has.  From all the rumors that have been floating around, this tablet was supposed to be IT.  The pinnacle of Jobs’ design life.  From a hardware point of view a case can be made for that claim.  But the software side of the iPad is what kills it.

Jobs has essentially blown up the iPhone OS and enlarged the size of the screen.  There doesn’t appear to be any major changes in how the OS works,  which is the downfall of the iPad.  What works for a 3.5″ screen does not necessarily translate to the same experience for a 9.7″ screen.  The biggest drawback to Jobs’ decisions on the iPad’s OS is the lack of multitasking.

A reasonable case can be made that a user doesn’t need to be able to multitask on a phone, but on a tablet there is no excuse to exclude this ability.  From everything I’ve read the iPad is extremely fast and responsive and I believe most people would gladly give up a slight boost in speed by allowing multiple applications to run simultaneously.  I use a Palm Pre and one of the main reasons I use that phone is for it’s multitasking abilities.  I have found the multitasking to be extremely convenient and time-saving by being able to have, for instance, Google Maps running alongside my email program or browser.

I’ll list a couple cons & pros of the iPad and then go into a little more depth.

Pros-

  • OLED Display
  • Hardware Design
  • Battery Life – compared to notebooks

Cons-

  • Battery Life – compared to Kindle
  • Multitasking
  • Camera
  • Wireless Data
  • USB Ports

On the plus side, the iPad is a beautiful device.  Jonathan Ive, Apple’s design guru, came through in flying colors with the hardware.  The choice, although not a hard one, to go with an OLED display was smart.  OLED is the current leader for small, affordable displays.  And the battery life, my jaw dropped when Jobs announced that it had 30 days standby time and 10 hours of video use on a charge.  Compared to notebooks this is exceptional in a device this slim.

On the negatives I won’t bother with multitasking again, but the choice to not include a camera is stupefying to me.  I cannot see any logic to not include a camera of some sort besides maintaining niches for each of Apple’s products.  The lack of USB ports I believe was based on the decision of form over function.  Apple would rather have a beautiful device even if it means losing some important functionality.  I wish Apple would have included at least one USB port just so that I could hook up my Clear USB modem and surf the web, that would be a mobile internet experience to fit the Apple ecosystem.

And battery life, yes I know it was on the pro list, but if you compare the iPad to the Kindle, it doesn’t compare.  Jobs seemed to try to position this device as a competitor to the Kindle with many added features, but one of the killer features of the Kindle, or any E-Ink display, is the outstanding battery life.  Most people could easily go a month without needing to charge their Kindle, not so with the iPad.

One major problem I see with the iPad is not inherent in the design or software, it’s in the choice that Jobs made.  His choice to use AT&T as the 3G wireless data provider.  From numerous studies across the US, AT&T is viewed as the largest deterrent for people who are considering buying the iPhone.  AT&T has notoriously bad 3G coverage.  Of the three major wireless carriers in the US, they have by far the worst 3G coverage.  It’s so bad they’ve  sued other companies for advertising their own horrible 3G coverage.

I believe the overriding reason Steve Jobs chose to stick with AT&T is because of a huge wad of cash they shoved in Apple’s pocket.  While that in itself is not such a dastardly thing, what is shocking is that Jobs always harps on user experience being king.  That’s why he doesn’t allow multitasking on the iPhone, that’s why Apple has a strict application approval process for the App Store, that’s why all Macbooks now have a unibodies with non-removable batteries.  It’s all in the endless goal of improving the user experience.  But he chooses to stick with AT&T when they are the largest cause for complaints on the iPhone?  I wonder how much his ideals cost him?  Maybe it’s time he does retire if his jesus-juice is running so low he has to compromise his ideals.

I hope that the disappointment that is being expressed about the iPad will cause Steve Jobs to reconsider a few of his design choices and release an updated design that includes multitasking, camera, USB port and different wireless data provider.  With those four changes I believe the iPad would receive much higher reviews and much higher sales numbers.

Disclaimer: I am a proud user of a Palm Pre on Sprint, I own a first gen iPod Touch, I have Clear WiMax Internet, I used to be an AT&T customer before I got my first smartphone.

Till Next Time

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quickie: creating symfony delete button

January 15th, 2010

Many months ago I had asked for help on the symfony forums on how to create a delete button using either the link_to() or button_to() method. I had tried but was always getting validation errors. Today a person asked whether anyone had figured out a solution. It prompted me to do more research into symfony’s core code and found a solution (though the solution wasn’t in the core code).

Original delete text link code:

echo link_to(
	'Delete',
	'state/delete?id='.$form->getObject()->getId(),
	array('method' => 'delete', 'confirm' => 'Are you sure?')
);

New delete BUTTON link code:

echo link_to(
	'<button>Delete</button>',
	'state/delete?id='.$form->getObject()->getId(),
	array('method' => 'delete', 'confirm' => 'Are you sure?')
);

Till Next Time

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quickie: setting symfony datetime default

January 6th, 2010

Setting the default value for a symfony form field is one of those tasks so simple that it’s impossible to find out how to do it without a good bit of trial and error.  So without further ado, here is how to set a DateTime field’s default value:

$this->widgetSchema['start_time']->setDefault(date("m/d/Y", now()));

Till Next Time

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updating symfony form values after submitting

January 1st, 2010

One thing that’s made programming on symfony very aggravating has been dealing with the forms.  Some sections of the forms are not well documented.  The main issue that I have with this at work is that we deal with GPS coordinates and the users enter their coordinates in degree-minute-seconds format but the database saves them in degree-decimal format.

I had googled for a solution to this problem before, but had not found anything to guide me to the answer.  The couple answers I had found were not very clear on getting it to work.  Till I found this.  Following these guidelines I got it to work on a test deployment of symfony.  Code below:

class Blog extends BaseBlog {
 
	/**
	 * Initializes internal state of Blog object.
	 * @see        parent::__construct()
	 */
	public function __construct()
	{
		// Make sure that parent constructor is always invoked, since that
		// is where any default values for this object are set.
		parent::__construct();
	}
	/*
	 * this function overrides the BaseBlog::save function to allow
	 * changes to be made to the object before saving to the database
	 */
	public function save(PropelPDO $con = null)
	{
		$this->setCommentCount('11');
		return parent::save($con);
	}
 
}

Till Next Time

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updating centOS 5 PHP install with mbstring & APC

December 22nd, 2009

The default install on A2hosting’s VPS does not have mbstring or APC installed by default.  I became aware of this as I was setting up symfony on the new server.  I googled around looking for a quick guide to install them.

mbstring is a straight-forward install:

yum install php-mbstring

Easy.

Installing APC is a pretty simple affair with one big caveat at the end.  The guide that I found for installing APC is on HowToForge. The last two steps are particular to CentOS on A2hosting’s platform.

1.  Install PEAR.

yum install php-pear

2.  Install php-dev & httpd-dev.

yum install php-devel httpd-devel

3.  Install group Development Tools

yum groupinstall 'Development Tools'

4.  Install group Development Libraries

yum groupinstall 'Development Libraries'

5.  Install APC

pecl install apc

6.  Reboot Apache

httpd -k restart

7.  Error alerts you to SSLRandomSeed error.

SSLRandomSeed Error

SSLRandomSeed Error

8.  Fix Centos Dev

Fix CentOS Dev on A2hosting

It took me an hour last night to figure out the last step.  Without the last step there is no authentication so there is no SSH access.

Till Next Time

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setting up a domain-nameless domain

December 21st, 2009

My company’s website is being completely rewritten from scratch and I chose to move to A2hosting.com.  We are going with a Virtual Private Server (VPS) from them and have found a little difficulty setting up web access to it.

The main issue is that since the website is already up and running, I can’t just transfer the domain name to the new server and be done with it.  I need to be able to access the new website by just the IP address for a while, until we move the production site over to it.  This is not documented anywhere on A2hosting’s site that I could find.

The issue resides in the setup of IP address of the server through Kloxo.  I am unable to configure the domain to default to the domain of my choice.  The error checking of this function disallows the assigning of that domain name since the domain name does not currently resolve to the server’s IP address.The solution resides in the /etc/hosts file.  I had to set the IP to equate to the domain name that WILL be the correct name once the production site is moved over.

A quick little walkthrough:

Set the /etc/hosts file

IP Addresses link in Kloxo admin

IP Address table

IP Address info

Select the proper domain name for the IP Address

Hope this helps.

Till Next Time

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Verizon's crusade to 'help' the poor

December 19th, 2009

Recently Verizon upped their Early Termination Fee (ETF) for ‘advanced devices’ on two year contracts.  They used to charge the industry standard  $175 pro-rated at $10 $5 a month over two years if you cut your contract early, they now charge $350 for devices that are generally considered smartphones.  This change has brought them under the scrutiny of the new commissioner of the FCC, Julius Genachowski.

The big reason for the scrutiny, I believe, lies in the fact that with the increase of the ETF, if a customer cancels their contract in the last month of their two years, they will pay a $130 cancellation fee.  Many people have been justifiably outraged at this anticompetitive behavior.  The big V also appears to be padding their coffers with a slightly unethical design to many of their phones that allows them to hit their customers with a $1.99 fee many months due to an accidental key press.  David Pogue has started a movement to question Verizon’s new choices.

Verizon has responded[pdf link] to the FCC’s query into these matters with a laughable reasoning.  Verizon believes they are following the spirit of the national broadband plan in aiding “those of more limited means” to gain “access to a range of exciting, state-of-the-art broadband services and capabilities”.  I’m sorry, but subsidizing phones like every wireless carrier  is aiding in nation wide broadband?  That’s preposterous, the only reason Verizon subsidizes the equipment is because every other wireless carrier in the US does it.   The vast majority of users who have a smartphone also have some sort of broadband access from a different source.

The reason stated by Verizon for increasing their ETF is that Verizon pays more for the advanced devices than they do for more basic feature phones.  This I can accept.  However this reasoning falls apart when the ETF is not eliminated by the last month of the contract.  Here Verizon cops to the costs associated with selling the devices.

“In addition to the difference between the purchase and selling prices of devices, Verizon Wireless incurs additional costs to sign up customers, such as advertising costs, commissions for sales personnel, and store costs.”

So are you telling me that customers that are unhappy with Verizon for any reason and decide to leave have to pay extra to help pay for the advertising, commissions and stores??  That’s absolutely ridiculous!  That would be similar to having to pay a termination fee to Comcast to cancel your service to help them cover their normal operating costs.  Why should Verizon get anything extra to cover their normal operating expenses?

For the conscientious consumer, many things go into a purchasing decision.  Even before these laughable changes took place I was very wary of Verizon.  The Big V always seemed more like Big Brother to me.  From the artificial limitations they place of the phones they allow on their network to the arbitrary pricing structures they use, I passed by them when I left AT&T to go to Sprint.  I’m very happy with my Palm Pre and Everything Data plan on Sprint.  I just hope the FCC does their job in protecting the people’s communication infrastructure from those who want to monopolize it for their gain at the expense of the people who use it.  The airwaves that Verizon are using to make money hand over fist belongs to the people,  they are not Verizon’s private frequencies.

Till Next Time

Update: In reading Verizon’s response to the FCC’s inquiry, I found that their standard device ETF is only reduced by $5 every month meaning that in the last month of a two year contract there still exists a $55 ETF.

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upgrading/sidegrading internet service

December 16th, 2009

I originally signed up for Clear internet service back in March/April before they actually launched in the Atlanta area, back when they were still called Clearwire.  At the time the service at the house was not great.  I was in a slight valley and the hill was between me and both of the towers in my area.  I have since moved.  Two days ago I decided to change my service from a Home account to a Mobile account, this will allow me to get my internet any where in Atlanta, not just where I have a power outlet available.

I spoke with a woman who was obviously not tech savvy, but earnest nonetheless.  Towards the end of the call I looked at my account online and realized that she had signed me up for a 2GB capped mobile plan instead of the unlimited plan.  This was a problem because I had already used over 6.5 GB of data in 14 days and my account screen was showing that I was going to be charged for my overage.  I let her know and she tried to change my account to the unlimited plan but was blocked by a strange activation issue.  Apparently at Clear you can’t change your service plan more than once a day.

She promised to update my account the next day(yesterday) and she put in an order for my USB modem.  She also sent out an email with an authorized return label for my old modem to ship back.  The next day around noon I get an email from Fedex with my tracking number for the new modem.  I tracked the package and it had already been delivered to my house!  For some reason they had next day aired my modem to me (talk about speedy service!).  I hadn’t even received my authorized return label yet from UPS!

I checked online this morning to make sure my account was fixed, it wasn’t.  So I called to fix my account, spoke with a nice woman for about 30 minutes to get it straightened away.  In the process I learned that you cannot change your service plan until the modem that is associated with your current service plan has been activated.  Once everything was fixed and we were good I ran a little speed test to check things out.

Speed test result for Clear Mobile Internet

Speed test result for Clear Mobile Internet

This is for a 6/1 Mbps connection, so needless to say, I am happy with the performance.

Till Next Time

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