Category Archives: technology

Making the switch…

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So I made the switch this weekend. The iPhone finally won me over completely (poor battery and all) and I embraced the dark side… or would that be the hippy side of the force. This is not officially an all Apple household. Getting all the files over has been something of your standard issue trauma, but now that most of what I need is set up and running (when I can find it), I’m very pleased with the setup overall. I’ve got a super-speedy laptop that when hooked up to the ridiculously beautiful 24-inch LED monitor produces some of the most amazing graphics I’ve seen in a long while.

The learning curve is a little steep and I’m doing my best to get by using wordpad until I can get a copy of Office and start accessing the vast bulk of my documents again, but otherwise I’m extremely pleased with how it’s working out.

I wouldn’t say that I’ve gone all zen crazy over the experience, but the longer I live with it, the more I suspect I’ll like it. I’ll need some time to really get into the nuts and bolts of the thing and start putting it through its paces, but for the time being, my satisfaction level is high… except, of course, for the ridiculous price tag they put on these things.

Eclectic…

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I was loading up some new music for my trip this week and really looked at the “Just for You” box for the first time in quite a while. According to the wiz bang Genius at Apple HQs, my recommendations include: Waylon Jennings, Social Distortion, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Skid Row, Boston, and several selections from H.M.S. Pinafore. How’s that for eclectic taste in music.

For the record, what I actually downloaded was: All-American Rejects, Relient K, Simon & Garfunkel, The Byrds, several tracks from “Punk goes Pop II,” Bob Dylan, and yes, even Britney Spears (Yeah, I’m having a hard time believing I wrote that out loud too). So, I’m expecting my next recommendations from iTunes to be even more interesting.

Storm…

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This is beginning to feel like a blog that should titled “Jeff Drools Over New Cell Phones,” but there’s another new Blackberry coming out tomorrow. Moving away from the company’s venerable position as the QWERTY king, the Storm is a full touch screen affair that just looks absolutely slick. Of course this model is a Verizon exclusive and I’ve been spending all week telling myself that having phones on the two largest networks in the country is not a good enough reason to pay two $100+ cell phone bills a month… Or is it?

The Bold is hands down the best device I’ve ever owned and other than the standard Blackberry memory leak, I don’t have any performance complaints. The Storm is a horse of a different color though and oh, so tempting. I still have two weeks to return the Bold and I’m seriously thinking about picking up the Storm and running them side by side and then keeping one I like best. Really, this is like some kind of nerdy sickness.

Fool me twice, shame on me…

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I guess it serves me right for believing internet rumors, but I just can’t help myself when it shows up on usually reliable sources like Boy Genius added to the slew of forums where it made the rounds. Late last night the rumor mill started circulating that BestBuy had the Blackberry Bold in stock and would begin retailing it this morning. Yeah, not so much. Once more, the AT&T/RIM/Bold succubus got everything worked into a lather only to disappoint. So now it’s back to eight more days of impatient waiting. Of course I’m so annoyed with the miserably bad roll out this device has had, I might just wait the extra week or two and try the Storm on Verizon. Then again the even bigger probability is that I’m going to end up with both of them until I can figure out which one to keep.

Bold…

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It’s true, I crave neat new electronic toys like drunks crave their next drink or junkies their next fix, but come on now, you have to admit that the BlackBerry Bold is one sexy beast. Of course with the endless series of delays from our friends at RIM and AT&T, it’s been almost interminable waiting for this phone to actually drop. But now it looks like November 4th is the official release date. Yes, it’s election day here in the states and yes, I’ll be on the road, but you can bet your sweet bippy that once I get away from class that afternoon my first stop won’t be for a TV update on the election. I’ll be too busy looking for an AT&T store.

Returned to the fold…

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They say you can’t go home again, but that’s not entirely true. You can go home again as long as you’re willing to spend the 10% restocking fee. At $40, getting myself right with BlackBerry would have been a steal at twice the price. The 8300 isn’t a quantum leap device. It’s a tweak here and a tweak there to make an already amazingly reliable platform just a little bit better. A few new features like the camera are fun to play with, but really, it’s the instant email, playing nice with Outlook, and a battery that lasts more than 7 hours under regular use that sealed the deal for me.

For you iPhone fans out there, I say godspeed. You’ve got yourself a fine phone with an exceptional browser, but if you’re serious about email and data, BlackBerry is the undisputed champ. Maybe it doesn’t have the cool factor that iPhone does with the phone geeks, but as far as I’m concerned, this is the image of pure beauty…

I Have Sinned… or The Devil Phone from Planet Hell…

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Let me start off by saying I didn’t mean to do it. My old service plan was up and I was going to the Cingular (Now AT&T) Store to upgrade to the 8300 (a.k.a Curve) but somehow I ended up getting distracted by the shiny black iPhone screen in the middle of the store. In my defense I’ve always been distracted by the latest and “gee wiz” technology… Well, technology and big boobs, but I digress.

Forgive me, RIM, for I have sinned against you. I cast aside the glory that is push email service and synchronization with Outlook, but I have learned the folly of my errant ways. I will be safe and warm in the fold of the true believers by noon tomorrow. Now, I’ve seen much of the rest of the world. It is brutal and cruel and dark, BlackBerry is the light. Your prodigal son shall return.

On a lark…

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I’d been kicking it around for a while now and boredom while waiting for clothes to dry finally got the better of me this afternoon… I’m now the proud registered owner of 2 websites – jeffreytharp.com and jdtharp.com. Now I just need to figure out what to do with them… And yes, I have to admit that there was a strong temptation make some quick money by linking my name inextricably with the internet porn industry, but I’ve resisted that temptation so far.

So, my gaggle of devoted friends, what the hell does one do with a website other than create a spiffy email address where both sides of the @ symbol are the same thing?

A dangerous thing…

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Some of you may have noticed that I’m a bit of a technophile. I love the new and the shiny, the sleek and the powerful. I have an overwhelming belief that two year old computers should be heading towards the ash heap of history. And that sets the stage for what comes next…

One of the wonderful features of my work is the quasi-regular video-teleconference we have with various and sundry locations. We tried to host said VTC from our new office this afternoon. When I walked into the room 15 minutes before the great event was to start and all the lights were off, I had the first inkling that there could be a problem. When I went to find the IT people to set up the equipment and they weren’t around, I knew we had a problem.

When, 15 minutes after the meeting should have started, the IT tech is struggling mightily to get the equipment set up we should have known the better part of valor was to throw in the towel. And just when you think the day couldn’t get any more odd, the computer supposed to be running all of the telephone equipment boots up… and is running Windows 95.

Win 95 was a groundbreaking OS back in the day… way back. There have been 5 new versions of windows since then and I hate to estimate how many generations of new computers have come and gone in the last 12 years. I guess that’s why no one was really surprised when 20 minutes into a meeting that started 20 minutes late, the computer froze and dropped the connection.

It boggles my mind that anyone would try to conduct business with this kind of set up. Quite frankly it’s more than a little embarrassing. In the right hands technology is a beautiful thing. In the wrong hands it can be a dangerous thing. But when it’s 2007 and your communications infrastructure is running Windows 95, it’s just a paperweight.