Proud Geek

Now that the Post’er app is available for my new-ish Palm Pre, I expect to resume blogging once again!

If only I can add photos via Post’er … 

Are you registered?  Where do you vote?  What are your polling place’s hours?  Etc etc etc?  Google has set up a map website with specialized info.  Just enter your address and you’ll get more information on your polling place than you would ever need.  (And for some locations, you can even verify if you have indeed been registered.)

Google Map with Voting Information

P.S. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!  And happy birthday, Alli!

The more I read about and see T-Mobile’s G1 smartphone running on Google’s new Android platform, the more I want it.

It looks smooth. It looks slick. It looks uber-cool. It has most of the programs I already use on my Palm Treo 755p. It has a physical keyboard. It has a touch-screen and wifi as well as high-speed wireless connection. It has a 3 megapixel camera (but I don’t think it captures video). The maps app lets you see street-view, and I believe has GPS as well.

A cool emulator shows what using it would be like. Be sure to click the “360 View,” “Guide” and “Emulator” buttons on the right side. On the emulator, you can slide the background (the “blue pond” in the emulator) left or right to see more. Be sure to slide out the arrow on the right side of the “blue pond” for additional options, then scroll the icon menu up.

Gmail (which I use on the computer and also on my Treo via IMAP) looks easy to use and has just about all the features of the website. I wonder if this allows for logging in from my “Google Apps for my Domain” account which I use with my own domain URL address.

The instant messaging app allows you to log into Gtalk, AIM, Yahoo, and MSN Messenger. Nice! I’m pretty sure it can work in the background — that is, you can do other things and then get notification of new messages. I also wonder if this works with my Google Apps account as well.

If you’re a true geek like me, check out the “settings” on that right-arrow menu to see settings for wifi, calls, sounds and display, data sync, etc. I wonder if it can be set to vibrate several times and for different notifications. One of the most annoying flaws of the iPhone is the fact that it vibrates only once.

The biggest downside for me? It’s T-Mobile, using a similar slide-out as the Sidekick. I’m gonna wait and see if Verizon comes out with a smartphone (and one that doesn’t slide out) using the Android platform. I just hope it’s sometime soon — Verizon is (in-)famous for NOT being an early adopter of new types of smartphones. On the other hand, I’m surprised that Verizon will be the first network to release the new Palm Treo Pro.

The T-Mobile G1 will be selling later this month for $179, and you can pre-order yours via the Tmobile website.

Long-time readers of my blog may remember that I had a series of posts explaining how to caption your videos and recommending that they be posted onto Google Video — at that time the only “major” video host that supported .srt files (where closed captions are stored).

YouTube, ironically also owned by Google, finally added the ability to upload .srt (and its sister .sub) files and to turn on / off captions.

Read my post on my preferred method of creating captions and then saving captioned videos onto Google Video — which should be similar to how you can save these to YouTube as well.

Google Operating System has more information on this — rather than repeat everything, head over there for an excellent synopsis.

Way to go, Google!  Now only if it improves its speech-to-text capabilities as well.

(Thanks, Google Operating System!)

Just got this comment from Lenny –

“FYI… The TAP for the 3G is 50.00 a month… The 2G is 40.00 a month… I thought I would make that clear before folks end up surprised at the extra $10 a month for the 3G model…”

Thanks, Lenny, for passing on this (bad) news. And remember, don’t shoot the messenger!

More info, from my friend:

“I just got an email from nccd att announcing that they now do support new iphones. Off I go to Apple Store!”

Go forth and buy the new iPhone and let us know what you think! I’m so tempted to buy one, but I’m not too sure about not being able to type without looking at the iPhone … I like to walk and type at the same time!

The new-gen iPhones went on sale today! But I just got this from a friend:

“I’m disappointed in ATT for not making an announcement that TAP discount plan can be applied to new iPhones. They said it was for old iPhones….so I decided not to buy it today.”

Has anybody had the same experience?

Three months after I blogged about Starbucks’ new Splash Sticks, I finally saw these sticks in the Starbucks store next to my workplace.

I’m a really happy man now. I know my ID photo doesn’t make me look happy, but believe me, I’m happy.

Please don’t forget to recycle these Splash Sticks, either in your local plastic recycling bin or by re-using them.

I just hope my local workplace Starbucks hangout won’t be one of those stores slated for closure. There’s another Starbucks on the next corner, after all.