Category Archives: Tech

November 4, 2011

Why Some People Don’t Understand What Beta Means RE: ZDNet on Siri

Siri went down yesterday. It went down hard and it stayed down for a few solid hours. Many users were outraged. There was rioting in the social media “streets.” Many fiery tweets were thrown at Apple. Initially, I agreed with Adrian over at ZDNet, where he says:

See, Apple doesn’t slap the word ‘beta’ on things lightly unlike Google. When it went to great lengths during the iPhone 4S launch to call the service a ‘beta’ this was a clear signal that it wouldn’t be perfect. Calling something a ‘beta’ means that you can expect things to be a little temperamental and unfinished. You can expect it not to work right. You can expect things to go dark for a while … BECAUSE IT’S A BETA!

via “Siri, why do some people not understand what beta means?” | ZDNet.

Why did my thoughts change? Because we’re talking about average people here. We’re talking about people who have no ideas what iOS stands for, did NOT wait in line to get the latest iPhone 4s so they could block about it, and actually watch commercials (DVR? What’s that?). Do you know what they saw on those commercials? Here, let me refresh your memory:

WOW! Wasn’t that some magical stuff?! Holy crap! Makes you wanna run out and buy a damn iPhone 4s right now! Man, I’m sure glad they added that footnote about it being in beta and how it may or may not work. Oh! It’s also a good thing they mentioned that it requires a data connection in order to function properly.

Wait, no? They didn’t set the proper expectation of Beta software for the customer? They just put out a series of commercials that basically show a phone doing something tantamount to witchcraft without specifying that it’s only in testing and often won’t even work? They didn’t touch on the frustration one might experience after expounding on this or that to Siri, only to have her hit them with a data connection error? Well dang. No wonder customers don’t understand the situation.

November 3, 2011

How Roboto Will Change Your Android Life

I have pretty much done everything you can do to an Android phone. I’ve rooted it and installed all types of ROMs and software. I have spent many hours waiting on updates to download or ROM Flashes to complete, wondering if I just bricked my device.

Even though I have sort of tread the bleeding edge, it has brought me a much richer experience on my old Evo 4G than I think many Android users are getting on newer hardware. I’ve been using CyanogenMod primarily and have had Gingerbread for quite a while now.

Yesterday, I installed the Roboto font on my device. Many kinda teased Google with the big deal they made about the font at the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich event and I was one of them. Now that I have actually installed the font, I can almost see why they were so excited. Just as we often take for granted the fonts on your desktops and laptops, we forget how important fonts are on a mobile device. These letters are pretty much integrated into every single app or interface element on your device. Putting Roboto on my Evo has breathed new life into my device that other hackage has not.

If you want a taste of Roboto:

  • If you have Root on your device, you can use FontChanger.
  • Download the ZIP file at mediafire or directly from the XDA Forum Thread (which also includes a ton of other ICS goodies).
  • Put the fonts in a folder on your Android, preferrably /sdcard/.fontchanger if you’re using the app above.
  • Font Changer will walk you through the process of setting up the fonts. In my case, though,I had to go into Advanced mode and manually set the fonts. Not sure what I did wrong.
  • For Non-root folks, there are a few other options in the Forum Thread for getting Roboto loaded.
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November 1, 2011

Do NOT Update Your LG Optimus S to Gingerbread [Issues]

While many users rejoiced when the announcement came down that the LG Optimus S would be getting the Android Gingerbread update, it appears there are some serious issues with this push. Many users are having issues with the keyboard, SD card, and some users cannot even charge their devices anymore.

This update has been temporarily suspended while Sprint and LG continue to troubleshoot the problems some of you have reported. Please refer to this thread for issues you may be experiencing after the update. I will update that thread with new information as it becomes available. We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused and appreciate your patience as we work through these issues.

 

via Sprint Community: 9/14 – LG Optimus S (LS670) Software….

If you’ve already done the update, all is not lost. You have a number of options.

  • The thread referenced above provides a number of solutions for many of the most common issues. For instance, if your device isn’t charging, try charging with the wall charger with the device powered off instead.
  • If you’re just through dealing with this Gingerbread update and don’t have time to wait for fixes to be pushed, you can actually revert from Gingerbread to Froyo.

This post written with my own mother in mind, who is suffering from some of these issues. On that note, I’d like to thank Sprint and LG for totally screwing up this update and making me and Android look bad. The average customer isn’t going to care who is actually at fault.

April 25, 2010

Unofficial Google Buzz Bookmarklet

Based on the new Google Buzz share widgets, I created a simple Buzz bookmarklet.

First the goodies, than a short explanation on why you want this. Simply drag the following link to your bookmarks toolbar. Click it when you want to post the page you’re looking at to Buzz.

You can select text from the page to include as the Buzz message, which makes things even simpler.

Buzz This! <—Drag This

Now, you may have searched for other bookmarklets on the web, but most of these are not the real deal. Remember that Buzz is tied in very closely to Google Reader so the Note in Reader bookmarklet is often suggested.

This is not a Google Buzz bookmarklet and, while it may get your stuff into Buzz, there is a pretty big difference between a Reader Share and a native Buzz post.

Most important is the fact that people can’t comment on Reader items unless you add them to your contacts and authorize them individually. That’s a huge pain. Also, some people seem to only be paying attention to native Buzz posts, so your Reader shares will be ignored.

Let me know what you think, share this with friends, and I’d appreciate any feedback you have in the comments.

March 5, 2010

How To Get More Twitter Followers

This is a very common question asked not only by new users of Twitter, but by veteran users looking for an audience and marketers looking for potential customers. There are many things you can do to build your following, but it all boils down to interacting with the Twitter community.

I’ve made the analogy before that Twitter is like a party or a club scene. There are those that invited you that will automatically be on your friends list, but you want to grow and expand that list. What would you do in this situation?

Follow

The absolute most basic step you can take to gaining more followers is to follow others. Many people will reciprocate by following you back. This is the primary strategy used by spammers, but they usually get it wrong. Following massive amounts of random people will not work as well as following people who will actually be interested in what you have to say. The best practice here is to follow people who share your interests. This way, you will have something in common. This is important in building a relationship and keeping the followers you collect.

Interact

No matter how many followers you have, you can always get more followers through interaction. Pay attention to what those you’re following are saying. Contribute to conversations you see them having. Pay attention to who they are talking to because it’s likely those people share your interest as well and you should be following them. Make sure to try and respond to every Direct Message or Mention that someone sends you. If someone takes the time to talk about you or send you a private message, this is a prime opportunity to make a connection.

Be Interesting

This doesn’t mean you have to be the coolest kid on the block, the most knowledgable, or even provide the best quality links or content. Being interesting means being yourself. Tweet about your interests, things you are doing, random thoughts or questions that pop into your head. This will give people an idea of who you are and give them a better idea of whether they want to follow you or not. If you’re a musician, talk about your craft. If you’re a writer, share your work. Talk about things you might be reading or listening to and share your opinions. Using proper grammar, spelling, and capitalization is almost critical here. You only have 140 characters, so it’s expected to take some shortcuts, but keeping your tweets readable as well as detailed is important.

Conclusion

You probably don’t want to follow everyone, so use your common sense here. You also may not need to respond to every single Mention or Direct Message. There are definitely some things so insignificant that they don’t warrant a tweet, but you’ll have to get a feel for that on your own. The basic idea here is to use the service as much as you can to share whatever you think is worth it and seize the opportunity to discuss those things whenever it arises. This is how you build your following.