Highspeed Freedom

Please, release me……from a dependence on hotspots

There are myriad options when it comes to connecting to the internet while away from home or office. You can get an account with any of the dozens of services out there where we can connect in some airports, some coffee shops, some hotels, etc. Of course, if you are in a ‘hotspot’ that isn’t part of your service plan, you get a second service plan or just pay the one-day (or two-hour) access fees. That can start to add up, I assure you.

Once you get to a hotel, you can use either the wired or wireless services they offer. Some of the services are free–some are not. At an increasing number of hotels (ok, expensive hotels–see below) the wired service is free, but if you want to roam around your tiny room, you pay.

Fun fact: why do some hotels have free internet access and others do not? Oddly enough, the expensive hotels that cater to business travelers still mostly charge for internet. Business travelers will not hesitate to pay an extra $12.95/day so the hotels charge for it. And biz travelers choices are not based on cost. Budget hotels are all competing with each other for services and cost so most give it away for free. It may not make sense, but that is how it works.

Alright, so you don’t want to be at the mercy of random hotspots so you can either tether your phone to your laptop and use your phone’s built-in modem or get a mobile modem (available from most carrriers). There are limitless forums about tethering on the nets so make sure to check them before you pick a phone/plan. The iPhone, for example, doesn’t allow tethering (oh, and it isn’t HSDPA, so would be slow even if you could tether it). A mobile or cellular modem is available from most mobile phone retailers and you can get them for anywhere from free to a couple of hundred dollars. Here is the page on VerizonWireless that shows several mobile modems.

Service, though, is what costs a lot. You are looking at about $60/month to either tether or have a mobile modem. That is for ‘unlimited’ usage (again–you can check the nets, but unlimited actually only means ‘reasonable,’ according to Verizon, AT&T, etc).

I carry the VerizonWireless UM150 and am very happy with it. Of course, there is always the newest and best out there and now I see that Sprint is offering a wireless modem with integrated GPS. That would be very nice, but, alas, not for me right now.

Cats in bags?

I have a friend whose wife decided to water her MacBook with Coca Cola last week. For some reason, the alimentary additive (neither the water nor the caffeine) didn’t entice her MacBook to grow into a MacBook Pro. Instead, they went off to the local Apple Store where they happily parted with some hard-earned cash to buy a lovely MacBook that mirrored their old one (sans the soda).

All of that is well and good until Tuesday morning rolls around, the Apple Store is offline for a bit, and then–lo and behold–new MacBooks with more of this and that than the one my friend purchased just a few days earlier!

Notice: this is not a psychiatric session so it really is a friend

and not a thinly veiled descriptions of my own actions

So–he is peeved. He is a true fanboy so thinks that Jobs screwed him out of the newest/best for his own good, but I just can’t go down that path. Yes, if he didn’t have a job he could troll the rumor sites and live according to Mac mythology and rearrange his desk to work with the new Photoshop’d images of non existant hardware that merely exist in more devout fanboys heads, but why? Couldn’t they have announced that a new one was coming? Couldn’t there have been a wink/wink, nudge/nudge at the store letting him know he might want to wait until Tuesday?

I am sure the older MacBooks will be reduced in price now, right? They have to get rid of the old ones. So, I hope he at least gets a credit for buying the older model 72 hours before the new one appeared.

Perhaps a town crier would be best?

“The MacBook is dead! Long live the MacBook!”

(the one with more HD, faster processor, and video memory, I mean)

MBAir for biz

My name is Brandon and I am a Mac hater (applause throughout crowd accompanied by most people murmuring, ‘Hi, Brandon’).

So, it will come as a shock to you that I not only attended Macworld, but ran back to my hotel to order a MacBook Air soon after the announcement. I was one of the first to receive my pretty little ‘computer’ in the mail and have been carrying it around for a couple of weeks now. A lot of people stop me in the airports to gander at my MBA and ask questions like ‘do you like it,’ or ‘can I touch it?’. That last one always creeps me out.

Of course–I also get people telling me about all the problems with it: no ports, can’t change the battery, no built-in cellular modem, and it is slow. I, of course, appreciate them telling me that I am a fool for buying a $1,799 paperweight, but. luckily for me, I don’t agree with them. Despite my rocky history with Apple, I really love this machine for a number of reasons. And–I do believe that one of the primary reasons is that it is made for someone who lives in airports just like I do.

I use a bluetooth mouse so my one USB port is not wasted with a wireless dongle or a corded mouse. I use a VerizonWirless UMB 150 USB Modem, but that fits in the port just fine. I actually don’t want built-in cellular because I want to use my USB Modem on more than one machine.

I never use a disk drive. I sometimes think that I will watch a DVD on an airplane, but I usually just work or watch podcasts on my iPod. So–I don’t miss it. The only time I have wanted to have a drive was when I installed Microsoft Office. So, I had to copy the install disk to a thumb drive.

Speaking of Microsoft–the support for Exchange in Office 2008 is something to write home about (or to post on a blog about). It actually works and works well. My biggest headache with Mac in the past has been that Word/Excel/Entourage was too much of a learning curve and just wasn’t close enough to my PC experience. Well, I only have positive things to say now.

And the multitouch keyboard–what can I say? I thought it was a gimmick that wouldn’t mean anything to me, but it has changed how I use the computer. I no longer have to reach for a mouse (except during presentations) because I love the ease of scrolling, right-clicking, window dragging, etc that I can now do with the multitouch pad.

Ok–I started by saying that I hated Mac and Apple and now I sound like a fanboy ready to get Newton’s muse inked onto my shoulder blade. Well, I do love the MacBook Air, but that is because it does what I need it to do. I am on an airplane almost weekly and the MBA is light, doesn’t take much space, has everything I need, and is fun to use. I am not completely over to the darkside, though, because my office computer is still a PC and there are several programs that I run not available on Mac yet.

For a road warrior–I think this machine cannot be beat. But, that doesn’t mean I am letting my PC go…….yet.

iPhone–every blog needs a post, right?

I have an iPhone–one of the 8GB models.  And–I hate/love it.  I think that is what most people are saying, right?  Except, of course, the diehard fans that love anything even remotely Apple-y. 

 So, what do I need to add that hasn’t been said?  Nothing, really, but here is my take:  it is the best iPod ever.  The widescreen video is great.  The battery life is impressive as well.  The camera is good, the browsing is really good, as well.  There is no comparison (ok, see below for network speed) in browsing webpages on the iPhone and any Windows Mobile device.  I have had about 15 of them including the Cingular 8525 which is my favorite WM5 device. 

What don’t I like:

Network speed

The iPhone uses the EDGE network and not the 3G network so it is MUCH slower than other 3G phones on the Cingular, er, ATT, network.

Exchange Support

I use Exchange at work and need it on my mobile device.  Yes, there is imap support on the iPhone, but it doesn’t work as well as true Exchange support and I had issues setting it up.  My issues were due to a certificate issue and troubleshooting is incredibly difficult on this macine.  And the calendering…..ugh.  We know that Apple can do Exchange support because it works great in Entourage, but we need it on the iPhone now!

GPS

I travel a lot.  I am always gettting off a plane, getting my rental car–and then I have to get where I am going.  Most of the rental car companies offer GPS in the vehicle–but they frequently aren’t available.  You don’t want to carry a huge one because you are traveling light.  For a while, I was using my Motorola Q with an external GPS and software–but I hated carrying the extra device and charger (the external GPS module).  Then, Verizon came out with their VZ Navigator service.  It costs $10/month for unlimited use (there is a new offering as well where you can get unlimited applications for some fee) and works pretty darn well.  The only city that it has issues with in my travels (and I am in a different city 1 to 2 times per week) is Chicago.  I get where I am going in Chicago, but it sometimes takes an extra turn or two.

This is a very long way to say that, while Google Maps is a great application on the iPhone, there is no GPS so you still need to carry another device. 

In the end, I guess that I think the next generation of iPhone is going to be great.  I am sure that at least two of my three main gripes will be fixed and then it will be the perfect tool for those of us who want a great PDA and entertainment device all in one.