Tag: technology

Google Translate

Google has released a new version of their translate app that now allowes you to communicate with someone in person that doesn’t speak your language. Check out the conversation mode in this new app. It may just help you out in the near future!

Angry Birds

I have a love hate relationship with this game. It’s so fun to play but it sucks time faster than anything else I know. If you haven’t tried it, I suggest you do. But be warned, you will become addicted.

T-Mobile & HSPA+

So, T-Mobile is rolling out HSPA+ to a ton of their customers.  If you’re unfamiliar with what HSPA+ is let me give you a short description.  It’s basically 3G.5.  It’s not technically 4G but the speeds can rival any 4G network out there, and T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network does just that.  In fact, when they release their G2 phone next month, it will be capable of downloads of up to 14.4 mbps.  That’s freaking blazing fast and no other wireless carrier has speeds that even come close to that.  All this being said, every android phone that T-Mobile has put out is capable of reaping the benefits of this faster 3G network.  My Samsung Vibrant will be able to get speeds up to 7.2 mpbs once the network is rolled out here in Phoenix.  Now, it’s not technically live here in PHX but let me give you some information that I’ve been seeing over the past few days.

At work – Full Bars – Download Speeds

Test1 – 4335
Test2 – 5210
Test3 – 5662
Test4 – 5014
Test5 – 5512

Average Download Speed is 5.146 mbps

At home, just 6 miles away, I’m averaging 1.7 mbps which is typical for 3G.  Hopefully this means that T-Mobile is close to turning on HPSA+ for the entire PHX metro area!  I’m so excited!

New Phone

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So, I finally got a new phone and I love it! It’s my first android phone and I couldn’t be more happy with it. My iphone was nice but this phone is ten times better. I am not even missing my iphone. The swype keyboard has made typing so quick and easy, and that’s coming from someone who was a keyboard typing master.

Since the galaxy s phones are coming to all carriers, I would suggest that you all check them out when available.

On another note, I am going to try to post more often but I won’t make any promises.

15 Days and Counting

Only 15 days remain until the Samsung Vibrant is released on T-Mobile. I’ve been waiting for this for the last year and a half. Thank you T-Mobile for bringing a high end Android device to your lineup!

Google Voice

Google Voice is now open to the pubic without an invite needed.  Read this article about all the cool stuff you can do with Google Voice.  I would highly recommend you get in on it!  The ability to save voice mails forever, download them and have them transcribed and sent to you via text is reason enough to get a Google Voice number.

Get Google Voice

Google Dashboard

Google Dashboard (http://www.google.com/dashboard) shows you how you are using various Google products.  For a geek like me that likes stats like these, this is a wonderful surprise to have offered by Google.
Some interesting numbers from my Dashboard:
I have 170 Contacts.
I have created 66 Google Docs.
There are over 10,000 messages in my Gmail “All Mail” box.
I have 608 shared photos on Picasa Web.
On Google Voice, I have received 41 voice mails, 287 calls and sent/received 188 texts.
Check out your Dashboard and see how much you’re utilizingoogle.

Google Dashboard shows you how you are using various Google products.  For a geek like me that likes stats like these, this is a wonderful surprise to have offered by Google.

Some interesting numbers from my Dashboard:

  • I have 170 Contacts.
  • I have created 66 Google Docs.
  • There are over 10,000 messages in my Gmail “All Mail” box.
  • I have 608 shared photos on Picasa Web.
  • On Google Voice, I have received 41 voice mails, 287 calls and sent/received 188 texts.

Check out your Dashboard and see how much you’re utilizing Google.

Wave

I’ve been fortunate enough to get a Google Wave invite and I just signed up yesterday. Now what? I think I a lot of early adopters are asking themselves this question. The concept of Google Wave is intriguing and I think we make up wild ideas of how we’d use the service but then we’re at a loss once we get it. What exactly will I use this for? Who will I use this with? What makes this any better than a threaded Gmail conversation or a collaborative Google Doc? I don’t have answers to those questions yet.

What sort of situation can I see using Wave? Well, maybe to setup some travel plans with a friend so that we can keep all our wishes and wants together. Or, maybe to plan a party with a group of people where all the details will be visible, etc. I’m not 100% sure how I could use it in my personal life.

What about my professional life? While sitting at work today I have come up with a few examples where having Google Wave in the enterprise environment would be great. For me, I am always opening tickets to get implementations completed or fixes in place for previous implementations. It would be great if the entire history of an implementation was available to anyone who wanted to view it. Right now, I have to search through thousands of tickets and hope I can find the one that has the specific request for the change I’m researching. To have this all in one collaborative location would be great. Another way I can see it benefiting my work would be in our billing guidelines that we have to create for every customer. It would be so great to have the history of how the requirements have changed for a customer over the months and years. When someone leaves the company, they wouldn’t take the billing knowledge with them. Do I think I’ll ever see something like this where I work? No, not unless such technology can be housed inside of the corporate firewall. These days, companies are too paranoid about information to allow such collaboration to take place outside of their firewalls. In the mean time, I can dream… can’t I?

Question: Do you have Google Wave? If so, what do you use it for?