Just going to post some of my thoughts on this device having used a Blackberry Storm (and Pearl, and Tour for a few minutes). No need for pics, everyone else has them.

Packaging:

Lets call it efficient. The box contains exactly what you need to get going, nothing more: the phone, the battery, a power brick, usb/charging cable, random paperwork. That’s it. A bit light compared to what came with any of my past phones. Things missing: a token wired hands-free/headphone set (the one from my Blackberry works…); some kind of case/wallet/sleeve, I know it’s a distinctive phone, but lets not scratch it m’kay? I opted to try their hard-case option – not fully perfect, I can feel a corner snap back in place after pushing the slider back in.

Hardware:

Distinctive and solid. Little exterior plastic, full metal and glass. Back plate/battery door is rubberized to limit sliding around. Slider movement takes a little work but moves smooth.

This is a hardware/software note – the hardware camera button on the Blackberry actually fired up the camera, on the droid it does not, it only acts as the shutter button. It might be an option I’ve missed but shouldn’t it be default?

Regarding buttons, I think the lack of hardware start/end call buttons could lead to some confusion. With a hardware end call button, there is no question on how to end the call.

The ’soft buttons’ on the bottom of the DROID for ‘back’, ‘menu’, ‘home’, and ’search’ seem to be sensitive up the the edge of the device which for me resulted in more than one fals triggering. The small lip of the hard case has helped with this.

Software:

I’d also call the out of box software ‘efficient’. Little more than the basics (Facebook, YouTube, …). Conversely there is no shortage of software available.

First a negative, coming from Blackberry the Facebook integration is lacking. On the Blackberry the updates would take you into the Application and allow appropriate responses. On the Android the integration simply isn’t there (or not turned on?).

And on the other front, one item I wanted once I had a ’smart’ phone was the ability to ssh to hosts. Even after finding MidpSSH everything was a battle, hard to use, hard to read, it worked, kinda. Under Android however connectbot just worked.

Voice search is just too cool. Around the dinner table a request was made for the ‘This Is Halloween’ cover by Marilyn Manson. I just tapped the YouTube app, tapped search, tapped the microphone and said ‘this is Halloween by Marilyn Manson’, picked a result, and success! The iPhone at the table remained unimpressed.

Bottom line, no it’s not perfect. But it is better than the others I have tried. I have had no ‘wanna pitch it across the room’ moments, yet.

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One thing that keeps me sane are audiobooks and podcasts and a couple of podio books – the latter two come via the iTunes store.

The Audiobook collection is anchored by the Harry Potter series, yes all seven. Unfortunately the length of audio books are well, long. Even for my hour long drive (each way, on a good day). They can also be troubling in the morning – where even the most interesting story can lead to one nodding off from the calm tones.

The shorter, more varied podcast/pod-book front are just as interesting – and can typically fit a number into my commute. The preferred content ranges from old time radio shows to news, from historical editorials to horror.

Overall I’ve got twentyish podcasts/pod books in rotation. Some come some go. Even in those cases where the full series is available I try not to listen to more than one segment at a time – for enjoyment and variety. Via the power of scrobbling you can see what I’ve listened to recently at last.fm.

As partly inspired by Wil Wheaton and his Podcasts I love posts I am sharing the podcasts I enjoy.

The next question whether to list the all (or some) out, or to try and describe each in turn.

The first podcast on my list is the lighthearted and often uplifting APM: A Prairie Home Companion’s News from Lake Wobegon podcast, as narrated by Garrison Keillor. You can find it from NPR, via this link.

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The inspiration being the ‘This I Believe‘ podcast series lately from NPR, originally from CBS, created by Edward R. Murrow.

I will start by saying this is about what *I* believe – or at least what I want to believe, nothing more. I am sharing it in the hopes that someone might find it interesting, or might choose to answer the question themselves.

I don’t know if I can – but two concepts I identify with are:

“to each their own”

and

“do no harm”

It’s a simple idea – I know what works for me may not work for you, and vice-versa.

For example I happen to believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. You may not. But I am not going to get bent out of shape when a gay couple get married. It works for them, let it be.

For me this extends to presenting what is your opinion, your position as fact. It might be my OCD/literal nature but this irks me. I try not to do this myself, I may get it right eventually.

Put another way, “don’t be a dick“. Another simple idea, but perhaps a harder tenant to keep.

This is more than simply thinking before acting, don’t go out of your way to make something harder for someone else, even yourself.

Also that hate – the negative energy that gets built up when you feel wronged – that’s harm too. Let it go, redirect it. We don’t need it.

Two simple sounding ideas, that I feel would improve the world, or at least parts of it.  Consider it, my two cents.

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Today I double check the preview for a post I was working on and – that’s odd. The side bar is… way down there. Tried other browsers – things are fine. Clear the FF cache – no change.

Seems my theme of choice Elegant Box, doesn’t like somethingin this version. The 2.8.3 change list doesn’t mention sidebar – at least from here.

Hopefully there is a simple fix. Gotta run.

Update: It would appear that this may be just me, or just that machine.  So far Linux Firefox displays the page perfectly fine.  Just my luck it seems.

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I subscribe to several podcasts via iTunes, and I have many audio books in mp3 format. In fact I listen to several podcasts a week – they are a life saver on my commute.

A small number of the podcasts have a sponsership deal with Audible.com. The ‘deal’ in this case involves the podcaster pimping audible.com, and sending listeners to a special URL where they get a great deal from audible.

I don’t know what the podcaster gets out of the deal, but for the listener it’s simple: You get a “free book” for 15 days. Doubtless a DRM enabled Windows only book, but still. “Free”.

And no, I am not a fan of DRM, it’s a cross platform pain in the a$$.

Here is what gets me every time I hear one of these advertisements, how cheap audible.com is being. They brag about how many times they have, over 60,000 at the time of this writing. And they turn around and show their generosity by sharing one whole book via this deal. This just doesn’t sound very generous to me.

Last time I looked at the Audible.com service I remember being presented with the same offer as incentive for joining. Granted I might be remembering wrong, but I’m sure this memory is close.

And yes, I find the World of Warcraft ‘10 free days’ offer in the same vein – they have how many users/subscribers? Might have something to do with the potential users ability to count to (or past) 10.

Rant: off

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• down at the bottom, I want to remove the web hosting, monetizing, links – seems they are added programmatically – do not want.
• Under Global Settings -> Regional I have turned off all but the en-US region. Yet new posts are coming up under en-EU … why? Yes I can change it under Expert here, but I should not have to
• Default visibility sets to Published (public)… thats not nice, should go to Draft.

Some fixes: http://wonderwinds.com/hackblog.php/2008/05/11/seven-hacks-for-v242 Perhaps I should try the 3x branch. so far this is a /fail

Update: b2Evolution is out. Newest version includes the spam links, a non repenting trend.

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We finally bought our first house and moved in June 2008. It’s my dream home, Drew isnt so sure. We both agree that the drive sucks big time. Our new house is in Eagle Mountain.

2 days after we moved in, the newest member of our family moved in. His name is Maxwell. He is a 17 lb Norwegian Forest Cat. He is the sweetest cat I have ever met.

A couple weeks after we moved in, Nikita got horribly sick and was diagnosed with IBD (inflammatory bowel diease) and must be on a hypo-allergenic diet. That in itself is a struggle. With meds & good food she recovered fairly quickly. We still have barf issues but nothing terrible. (It still freaks me out)

Everyone has settled in nicely into our new house and we’re trying to make it a home slowly. Except Drew, he hasnt unpacked his office completely. Maybe he’s secretly hoping we’ll move again soon.

The week of Halloween I came home to find Nikita curled up in a cozy and wouldnt move or open her eyes. We called the vet and made an appointment for the next day. I put her in her cozy next to our bed and laid with her trying to keep things calm & quiet. She didnt budge for 13 hours. The next day her eyes were very cloudy and that concerned her vet greatly. That means her eyes are actually inflammed and there may be an underlying cause. So, blood, urine & inter-ocular pressures were taken. We were sent home with steroid eye drops and were told to watch her like a hawk until the test results came back. Needless to say I have been beyond a wreck over this. 2 days later the vet called us with the best news ever… all of her test results were normal and we were to take her in for a follow-up the next afternoon to re-check her pressures. At her follow-up her vet said she had very minimal inflammation and her pressures were normal. Her guess was that she sustained some sort of head trauma while wrestling with Maxwell. We were to continue the eye drops for a full week and continue to watch her like a hawk. Well, that was on Halloween day. It’s almost Thanksgiving and I am just now feeling that she is back to her normal self. I, on the other hand, am just starting to feel better about it. This has been horrible. She is so much better.

We are looking forward to an uneventful Thanksgiving.

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