jkOnTheRun Geek Session- Verizon LG Decoy and LG Dare

It's time for another Geek Session where Kevin and I sit down and talk tech for a while.  Today's session is our first effort using a new video conferencing solution, ooVoo.  We heard about ooVoo from our friend Joanna Stern at Laptop Magazine and it is definitely a cool platform for doing these Geek Sessions.  Thanks to ooVoo for working with us to get this going.  In this video we get to have a first look at two phones that came to Mobile Tech Manor today, the LG Decoy and LG Dare from Verizon.  The Decoy is the first phone that has an integrated Bluetooth headset that pops into the phone for storage and charging.  It is the thinnest and lightest headset I have ever seen and you'll have to see it for yourself to believe it.  The LG Dare on the other hand is a touchscreen phone without a keyboard or keypad of any kind, like that fruit phone, and it is evident that LG has put a lot of attention into the user interface.  Have a look at both phones and enjoy the show.

Photoshop Express blurs the cloud and local apps for image editing

Digital image processing is still a challenge for my web-only effort, but it did lessen a bit today. While many folks understandably swear by Adobe Photoshop, don't overlook the on-line version of Photoshop Express. Although I'm a novice photographer but not a Photoshop user currently, I did just sign up for a free Photoshop Express, which gets me 2 GB of storage to work with. I have to say that in just the first few minutes, I came away very impressed.

Kevin for president?

eeebuntu: yet another Ubuntu-based build for the Eee PC

Another good tip from Robert found its way to my inbox: I'm sure there's Eee PC owner or two out there that will appreciate it. There's a new and "eeemproved" Ubuntu distro that's customized for the Eee called eeebuntu. You can go with the snazzy Compiz Fusion enabled gnome version or go plain-vanilla with the Ubuntu Netbook Remix packages. Performance looks pretty darn good on the original 701 4G model Eee PC too: just check it in the above vid and supply your own audio track. I made mine funny, but feel free to make serious commentary when you watch.

Some of what's included in this distro:

• Working WiFi... always a must
• A simple and effective program launcher (shown below)
• OpenOffice Suite 2.4
• Pidgin, Skype and aMSN
• Amorak, Gtkpod and VLC for media
• Firefox 3.0.1 for everything else. OK, I'm biased there but that's because I'm boycotting client apps for a while.

You can grab the distro at the eeebuntu project page to give it a go. Hey, what do you have to lose when you can effectively restore your Eee to Xandros in about 90 seconds?

S60, Windows Mobile are on board with Google transit directions

BlackBerry owners gained transit maps on Google a few weeks back and now it's time for the S60 and Windows Mobile handsets to jump on board. You'll see a new "Transit" tab on your map and the Google claims directions are available for over 50 cities worldwide. Hmm... no Philadelphia transit support for me, but at least it's all good when I take my next trip to Москва. Hey, it's no Doyletown, but I suspect the data coverage might be working. ;)

Some commenters are indicating usability issues with the new functionality on a Windows Mobile device, so you'll want to be wary. If you're up for a challenge and have an S60 or WinMo handset, just point your mobile browser to http://www.google.com/gmm.

Mobile friendly sites look good, should they be device specific?

Since we've already highlighted one tech site's new functionality, why not keep the trend rolling with another? Steve Paine's UMPC Portal caught my "i", that is, my iPhone by surprise this morning. See, I have the bad habit of waking up but not getting out of bed. Nope, I reach over to the nightstand and power up my iPhone which always gets about 30 seconds more sleep than I do. Since I'm warm, cozy and comfy, I tend to surf through RSS feeds and hit websites before my feet actually hit the floor.

So today I went to UMPC Portal and saw how nicely it now renders on the iPhone. Looks like Steve implemented a plug-in for WordPress that works well on an iPhone or iPod Touch. The story titles appear along with the date and the number of comments found for each story. A tap will expand the post so you can read the first few lines (shown), while a tap on the title shows the whole post. All in all, a very nice look.

This gets us back to the original question posed when the iPhone arrived. How do you feel about websites formatted for a specific device? Normally, I'm not a fan, but you can't argue with great look and feel of examples like this. I suppose you try to implement a different plug-in for different mobile platforms and browsers, but wouldn't it be nice to have a mobile standard that looks good on all devices?

Missing Sync for Symbian now available

Nokia owners on the Mac platform can now rejoice as word has arrived that the Missing Sync for Symbian is now available.  Your contacts, calendars and tasks on the Mac can now be synced with any Symbian-based phone from Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorola.  Missing Sync uses Proximity Sync technology so that those phones equipped with Bluetooth can automatically sync any time the phone and the Mac are in close proximity with each other, making for extreme ease of use.  It doesn't stop with PIM data syncs either as your iPhoto albums, SMS and call history will travel back and forth as well.  $40

Homemade 9-cell MSI Wind battery: functional, yes; fashionable, no

Has it really come down to this MSI? Folks either can't find the 6-cell battery for your Wind netbook or they have an acidic bad taste in their mouth due to a price increase for a unit with the higher capacity power pack. The do-it-yourselfers have united, so take note! Some extra battery cells combined with electrical tape and good ol' fashioned ingenuity can yield powerful results.

In fact, just keep your puny 3-cell and now-anemic 6-cell battery. We've raised the ante to 9-cells. Are you calling us or are you folding? Hey, we might not be fashionable with battery cells sticking out our backsides and held together with tape, but we're computing a heck of a lot longer! Oh wait... did you say "warranty"? OK, we fold.

(via Liliputing)

My iPhone fell off the EDGE of the world last night

My posting was light yesterday as Barb and I were meeting with our potential wedding photographer. We loved the work he showed us and signed our contract, so that's one less thing to do before November 8th! The studio was just outside the Borough of Doylestown and our appointment was over around dinnertime, so we drove in to the "big city" for some fine Italian food. Well, as fine as you can have while still dressed in jeans and an Adidas top, that is.

During a rare lull in the food I went to check e-mail on my iPhone but kept getting an error message that the server wasn't responding. I thought it was odd, but didn't stop to really look into it. Instead, I went to the web and found the same issues. Hmm... five bars of signal strength: check. And then it hit me: I saw something that I never saw before. Actually, it's what I didn't see for the first time ever: no "E" next to the AT&T, which meant no EDGE service. HUH?

I'm lucky to be in an area that's pretty well covered by the major wireless carriers, but this was a first for me. Ironically, as the AT&T coverage map here shows, they've got Doylestown blanketed in HSDPA for 3G. Maybe the Italian place has lead-lined shielding in the walls? I even asked Barb to fire up her iPhone thinking that mine had some issues... same deal for hers. Definitely a strange experience for me... but a good one for the Italian place... I ordered a second glass of Merlot to cope.

GottaBeMobile adds ink to the forums

Premiere Tablet PC site GottaBeMobile has taken the plunge and added ink support to their forums.  You can ink your posts in the forum so those of us with great handwriting can make personalized posts.