Lake Michigan Tour 2013

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Frank

Every spring for the last three years I have taken a trip around Lake Michigan to visit family and friends. The trip includes plenty of down time between visits, so I usually pack up a good amount of gear. At one time I literally packed a big plastic box loaded with cables and power strips, but now I am able to travel with just three bags.

What I Packed

A few different factors play in to what I decide to pack on these trips. The most important factor is connectivity, my travels take me through areas that have very slow mobile Internet access making WiFi connectivity essential. I also prefer to have at least one backup connectivity option, just in case the hotel WiFi connection is not available.

Another factor in what I pack is who I am visiting. Most of my friends know that I am a geek and some look forward to seeing what new gear I am using, and therefore some of what I pack is simply to show off. So, here is a summery of what I am carrying in the Red Terrain as I travel the highways and bi-ways of Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana.

iPad

As I have written previously, I don’t normally take my iPad out of the house, but ironically I always take it on my trips around Lake Michigan for one reason: I can use it as a WiFi hot spot. My third generation iPad connects to Verizon, who in my experience provides the fastest mobile Internet access in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The last time I visited my mom I was surprised to discover that the iPad had LTE connectivity. I am not sure why it was working then because on this trip I appear to only get a 3G connection, which is still faster than AT&T’s Edge connection that I can only get on my HTC One.

Another reason that I include the iPad is watch baseball using the MLB At Bat app if during some down time I have WiFi access and there is a game on that I am interested in watching.

ASUS VivaTab RT

I debated bringing the VivaTab because I don’t really need it on this trip as I have the Macbook Air, however it ended up in my bag to show off two things to my friends. One, the Windows 8 modern UI, in case I am asked about Windows 8, and second the VivaTab’s hybrid design that makes it a tablet and netbook computer.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

The Galaxy Note 8 is my daily driver tablet, so there was not doubt that it would come with me on this trip. It doesn’t hurt that it is also my newest device so none of my friends have seen it yet. I really like this tablet, although its price needs to get a little lower in order for me to enthusiastically recommend it to my friends.

Macbook Air

As the focus of this blog has been pretty much about tablet and smartphone personal computers, you may be surprised that I include the Macbook Air. If I had not packed the VivaTab, the Air would be the only computer with me that has a keyboard, which is essential for writing.

Because I have the VivaTab I could have left the Macbook Air at home, but there are two reasons why I did not. One is that the Macbook Air has a much better keyboard than the VivaTab, the second is that I prefer to be prepared for any computing need and if I needed I could connect to my company’s network using the Macbook Air.

Powerbag

I purchased my Powerbag Tablet Messenger bag a little more than a year ago, and I am still using it as my main bag for carrying my tablets and most important accessories. Unfortunately, during a recent visit to the Powerbag web site I discovered that the Tablet Messenger bag is no longer being sold.

What makes the Powerbag special is the 9000 mAh battery that plugs into the bag and provides power to mini-USB, micro-USB, and iPhone/iPod cables. The compartment the battery plugs in to also has a full USB port in which you can plug in another iPod/iPad cable.

Ironically, I have noticed that I am actually using the battery less and less as it appears the tablets and phones I use have good battery life. The best use for this bag is when I need a mobile WiFi hotspot because after enabling mobile hotspot on my phone I then plug the phone into the bag and set it to charge, which helps increase the battery life in the phone.

Waterfield Laptop sleeve case

After I bought the Macbook Air I sought a slim case to carry it in, putting the slender Air in a bulky case just didn’t seem right. The Waterfield Laptop sleeve is the case I settled on and I have been really happy with it. The sleeve is actually large enough for me to carry the Macbook Air and an iPad or other slim tablet.

Skooba Design cable stable

Of the cases and bags that I am taking on this trip, I have had the Skooba cable stable the longest. It has several bands and pouches for carrying cables, power adapters, chargers, and more. It zips up nice and fits in a backpack or suitcase. After years of just throwing adapters in a bag I’ve learned that keeping them organized makes everything much more efficient.

Monster Power Outlets To Go

Back when I first started traveling for business I would carry a full size power strip in my suitecase because the hotel rooms I stayed in never seem to have enough power outlets, or they were hidden behind furniture.

Today hotel rooms are much more friendly to travelers with electronics and tend to have plenty of outlets, but the problem is the outlets are often right next to each other and large power adapter bricks tend to cover up some of the outlets. The Monster Power Outlets To-Go fixes the problem by providing four outlets spaced far enough apart to accommodate power adapters.

The one nit I have with the Outlets To-Go is that its has a short power cord because it is designed for use on a table or desk. Don’t buy this if you are looking for an extension cord with a power strip.

Moshi Rewind

I’ve bought the Monster Outlets To-Go several years ago, before just about every device could be charged with a USB cable. Today I might only buy the Moshi Rewind, which looks like a standard power adapter, but has two USB ports and provides 10W of power, which means you can use it to charge two tablets at the same time. If you and your wife both carry a smartphone, rather than packing two power adapters, just pack the Rewind and two USB cables and charge up both phones from one outlet.

HTC Media Link HD

When I orded my HTC One online from AT&T, I was able to take advantage of the offer for a free HTC Media Link HD. The Media Link link provides a wireless HDMI connection between my HTC One and a television that has an HDMI port.

Ironically, while I usually have the latest portable computers, I don’t have the latest television sets and none of my sets in my home have an HDMI port. I am going to take advantage of the hotels I am staying in to check out the Media Link for the first time.

Panasonic camera

Today I use my smartphone for the majority of the pictures that I take, but I also own a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7. I bought the DMC-FZ7 before we went on our trip to Alaska seven years ago, and while it’s not a DLSR I’ve been happy with it’s 12X optical zoom and picture quality.

Wrapping Up

The amount of traveling I do for business has decreased significantly over the last ten years, so most of my trips today are for leisure. Back ten years ago when I traveled by car to visit my family it could easily take me three or four trips to carry all my gear from the car to the hotel room, today at most I make two trips and often I can carry everything in one trip.

A big reason why I make fewer trips is that the computers I carry today are much smaller and have much smaller power adapters. Wireless Internet access, either by WiFi or mobile Internet is pretty pervasive, so I no longer have to carry Ethernet cables and switches. I used to pack a full size Linksys WiFi access point to connect to the hotel Ethernet and provide wireless access for my wife and myself.

I am pretty confident that on this trip I’ll have all the computing power, connectivity, and entertainment that I could want.

Posted in Experiences | 1 Comment

Why Did I Pick The Galaxy Note 8 and HTC One?

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Frank

As you can probably tell by now, I am a big fan of Google’s Nexus products and I have only been using Nexus phones for the last three years, ever since I bought the Nexus One.

Anyone who is a real Android enthusiast will find the Nexus brand of devices appealing because you get updates to Android before everyone else and you get to use Google’s user interface. Frankly, I have not found HTC and Samsung’s UI design nearly as visually appealing as Google’s, although HTC Sense 5 is much better than previous versions.

At this point you are probably wondering, why, if I am such a fan, am I no longer using Nexus brand devices as my primary smartphone and tablets. The reason has to do with the hardware design decisions made by Google, Samsung, and HTC.

Poor Design Decisions By Google

Before its announcement I was certain that I would buy the Nexus 4 to replace the Galaxy Nexus in order to keep with the current technology. Unfortunately, I was disappointed that the Nexus 4 did not really have any features that I did not already have with my Galaxy Nexus except for wireless charging.

I am particularly disappointed that the Nexus 4 did not have LTE support. My wife’s phone has LTE so I ran speed tests on it to confirm that its Internet connection was in fact much faster than AT&T’s HSPA+ connection. Now that I’ve been using LTE full time, I can affirm that faster Internet access, even on smartphones, makes a big difference.

I have really been happy with the Nexus 7, and I still recommend it to anyone who asks me to recommend a tablet that is not an iPad. For $200 I think the Nexus 7 is the best tablet available for that price.

My one disappointment with the Nexus 7 is that it does not have a rear facing camera. I know most people make fun of the idea of people taking pictures with a tablet, but I think there is one very good use for rear facing cameras, to capture (scan) paper. Today I can’t do this with a Nexus 7, I have to use my iPad, which as I already noted I don’t carry with me everywhere.

Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Provides What I Gave Up

Prior to owning the Nexus 7, I had been using the HTC Flyer, which also had a seven inch screen, and I find the smaller tablets much easier to carry around for use on a daily basis. I also really like that I can easily pick up a seven inch tablet and hold it for long periods of time with one hand, which is something I cannot do with my iPad.

After checking out the iPad Mini, I saw benefits from having a slightly larger display. I did not buy the iPad Mini because it currently does not have a retina display, nor does it have the ability to write in digital ink as I did with the HTC Flyer.

I liked the HTC Flyer, but I could also see that HTC was not too invested in the tablet market, so I jumped to the Nexus 7 when it became available. While I wrote using the Flyer nearly every day, I also realized over time that a larger screen would be better for handwriting.

When I learned about the Samsung Galaxy Note 8, that it had the same size screen as the iPad Mini, a higher amount of pixels per inch than the Mini, and provides the ability to write in digital ink, I quickly decided it was the next tablet that I wanted to use.

HTC One Is Fast And Beautiful

After I learned about the Nexus 4 and decided that it was not the phone I wanted, I decided to keep using my Galaxy Nexus at least through the Google I/O conference to see whether Google released anything new. Unfortunately, my Galaxy Nexus had an untimely demise on a tile floor, therefore accelerating my need to find a replacement.

As you may know, in the last month two new smartphones have come to market, the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4. Between the two, I was drawn to the HTC One’s physical design and I also liked some of the software features, such as Blinkfeed, that HTC added to the One.

Conversely, the Samsung Galaxy S4 looks the same as the S3 but with a slightly larger screen. The S4 design is not horrible, but is made of plastic and therefore does not have the solid feel of the HTC One’s aluminum. Further, Samsung really loaded the S4 up with gimmicky software features that I don’t think are particularly attractive.

The HTC One and the Samsung S4 both support AT&T’s LTE network, so that was not a criteria that distinguished one over the other, but rather it was a criteria for not picking the Nexus 4. What I can say is that the HTC One’s aluminum case does not hinder the connection speed and having fast Internet access everywhere really increases the usefulness of a smartphone.

I Am Happy With The HTC One And Samsung Galaxy Note 8

In the end I decided that the features included with the HTC One and Samsung Note 8 are worth not using a stock version of Android. I don’t make this tradeoff lightly because it means that not only do I have to tolerate HTC Sense and Samsung Touchwiz, but also slower releases of Android. Neither device has the most current version of Android, version 4.2.2.

Fortunately, I still have the Nexus 7 that gets Android updates directly from Google, so I will at least be able to check out new Android features as they are released. Will my patience be tested by HTC, Samsung and AT&T? Only time will tell.

Posted in Experiences | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

I Have Upgraded My Primary Personal Computers

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Frank

I have recently upgraded my primary personal computers from the ASUS Nexus 7 tablet and Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone to the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 tablet and HTC One smartphone. In another article I am going to explain why, given all the choices available to me for tablets and smartphones, I picked these particular items.

For the past year my primary tablet has been the Nexus 7, chosen because of it’s size, native Android operating system and price. I also own and use an iPad as well as an ASUS VivaTab Windows RT tablet but I prefer carrying a smaller tablet because I think the iPad is too large and heavy to carry everywhere.

I pretty much carry my Nexus 7, and now Galaxy Note 8, whenever I plan to do a serious amount of reading or taking notes. The iPad is one of the primary computers that I use at home, and I frequently use it as a second screen to watch sporting events and video podcasts. If I plan to do a significant amount of writing, or benefit from having a wider screen display, I grab the VivaTab.

When the Galaxy Nexus became available I bought it because I felt it was the best upgrade available for the Nexus S I was using, and I was having problems with my Nexus S where it was randomly locking up.

Up until now the Galaxy Nexus has been my favorite phone because of the native version of Android that it runs and its physical design. The fact that it lacks LTE support had me considering a replacement, but the decision was made for me when the Galaxy Nexus had an untimely demise on a tile floor.

Like most people, the smartphone is the personal computer that goes with me wherever I go, and today that I means I am carrying the HTC One. The One is the most beautifully designed Android phone to date, but more importantly for me it works on AT&T’s LTE network so that I have the fastest mobile Internet access available to me when it is needed.

An astute reader will notice that this turnover of my primary personal computers is a move away from the stock Android user experience that is the calling card of the Nexus brand. I’ll admit to some trepidation about living within Samsung and HTC’s user experiences, but I have decided that the hardware benefits are significant enough for me to tolerate Touchwiz and Sense. In a later article I will write about how being outside the Nexus is working for me.

Posted in Experiences | Leave a comment

What To Look For In A Podcast App

Posted on May 4, 2013 by Frank

What is a podcast?

Podcasts are audio shows, saved as MP3 files, and available on the Internet to download or stream to computers and media players. Originally created as a hobby, in many cases entire businesses are now built around producing podcasts. Podcasts are free but do contain advertisements, which is how the businesses producing them make their money.

What is a podcast app?

While you can go directly to the web sites hosting a podcast and play its episodes directly within your web browser, it is much more convenient to have the episodes download automatically to your smartphone or media player so that you can listen to them while away from your desktop computer. Podcast apps download the episodes and in most cases provide a way to play and manage the episodes.

Another component fundamental to podcast apps is that they keep track of what you have listened to in an episode. Most podcast episodes are thirty minutes long or longer and the last thing you want is to listen 15 minutes through an episode, have the app crash or restart and have to start listening to the episode all over from beginning because the app lost track of what you heard.

What should you look for in a podcast app?

Podcasts apps are not terribly complicated but there are some functions that I think are very important.

Podcast apps must provide an easy way to subscribe to new shows and automatically download episodes of those shows when they become available. Just about every podcast app that you will try provide some type of catalog of shows as well as a way to manually enter a URL to subscribe to a podcast that is not in its catalog.

Some apps put an emphasis on streaming rather than downloading podcast files, but I personally think it is important to download the files to play locally from the device for the following reasons.

    • First, just about every mobile carrier has some form of cap on the amount of data you get with your contract before having to pay additional fees. In my opinion streaming audio when I don’t need to wastefully consumes a constrained resource.
    • Second, while mobile Internet access is available for most metropolitan areas, there are still places where there is no or limited connectivity. Obviously, you can’t stream audio from Internet without being connected to it.

Podcast apps should provide a way for you to control whether or not it downloads new episodes via a mobile Internet connection or whether it should only download when connected to WiFi. Most apps provide options to either download via either connection or just WiFi, and they often also provide an option to only download episodes while charging the device.

  • I configure my podcast apps to only download while connected to WiFi, which pretty much insures I have the latest episodes on my phone when I leave the house in the morning. If it happens that there are no episodes already on my phone to listen to, I can always manually force a download using the mobile Internet connection.

A podcast app must be able to automatically add new podcast episodes of multiple podcasts to a playlist as they they are available for download or streaming. Otherwise you spend a lot of time managing podcast episodes.

  • Regular MP3 players treat podcasts as albums and therefore treats episodes as separate album tracks. Consequently, while MP3 players will automatically start the next episode of a podcast if it is on the device, they don’t automatically start the next available episode of other podcasts, to mix episodes one has to manually create playlist of all the episodes they want to listen to.

Finally, because most smartphones have limited storage space, podcast apps should automatically delete the files of episodes once you a have completed listening to them. Most apps provide the ability to toggle the automatic deletion in case you want to keep episodes on your phone. You will also find that most apps allow you to specify how many episodes it downloads to your device so that if you get behind a certain number of them will queue up.

I mostly listen to my favorite podcasts during my commutes to and from work. Because my car has built-in support for bluetooth, I have found it to be nice that the app is capable of being controlled via bluetooth headset controls. If the app supports headset controls you might be able to pause, and skip forward and back through episodes using the controls of your car’s audio center.

Recently I have discovered another nice to have feature, which is the ability to synchronize playback location across multiple devices. Like many people, I carry two smartphones, one provided by my employer, and my personal device. In some instances I need to connect my work phone to my car’s bluetooth, while other times I prefer to connect my personal phone.

If I only use one or the other phone for listening to podcasts that means I can only connect that phone to my car if I want to listen to a podcast while I drive. By using an app that synchronizes what podcast episodes I’ve downloaded and the location to which I have listened to in an episode, I can start listening on one phone and then later switch to the other phone and pick up listening right where I left off.

Several podcast apps exist for Android and iOS, and I have recently been using Pocket Casts on my Android phones. In my next article I’ll share my experience with using Pocket Casts for the first time.

To see read this article in an outline, click here.

Posted in Experiences | 1 Comment

Customers Not Users

Posted on March 24, 2013 by Frank

Om Malik has been one of the most outspoken of the A-list bloggers in opposition to Google’s decision to shut down Google Reader, and after Google announced Keep he wrote that in his opinion Google can Keep it to their self. Marco Arment, who is the developer of Instapaper, wrote in disagreement to Malik, saying “In this business, you can’t count on anything having longevity.” Arment is expressing the sentiment of many who believe that Google is perfectly in their right to shutdown Reader, which they provide for free.

Many others have written in the past several days about the dangers of using free web apps like Reader. While 100,000 or so users of Reader have expressed their unhappiness, imagine the howls if Google announced it was shutting down Gmail. Of course, Google would not shut down Gmail because it makes them money by generating ads from scans of user’s email. Following this line of reasoning, one should only use Google apps for which there is an obvious way for Google to make money from one’s use of that app, which makes me wonder how they will monetize Keep?

At first read Arment’s point of view is perfectly reasonable. You can only really trust that which you own, never mind the fact that one never really, truly, owns any software. Truth is that most of the apps one use on the Internet do not cost money, and while some have premium models for which users can pay, most provide no way for one to pay money to use the app.

So, while “buyer beware” definitely applies to the world of the free Internet apps, I find myself asking, what are the responsibilities of the companies who provide these apps? Should Google be off the hook for shutting down popular apps? While it is within Google’s right to shut down apps, there is a price to pay for the practice. Malik is one of many who are wary enough by the Reader shutdown to not be interested in Keep. If Keep doesn’t succeed it is not likely to cause Google much harm, but what if those same users chose to start using Bing more for search?

What Google and other providers of free apps need to remember is that we are not just users, we are customers. No company, not even Google, is immune to the risk of pissing off their customers. Unhappy customers voice their displeasure to anyone and everyone, and motivated unhappy customers start searching for alternative products. The really inventive unhappy customers might actually create alternative products.

As customers, we also should not be so quick to let Google off the hook. When a company releases a product and makes it available long enough for customers to become invested in using that product, it has a responsibility to their customers. While Google didn’t make money off Reader, it is not my fault as a customer that Google didn’t figure out a way to make money off this product.

In my opinion no company should release an app without some plan for how they are going to make money from that app. Developers of most free apps do have a plan, either to eventually offer a for-pay version with more features, or to attract enough users and popularity so that they can sell the app to another company. The mistake Google made with Reader is not finding a way to make money from it. Google could have figured out how to serve ads from one’s subscriptions, or they could have even made it only available with Google apps for which people pay to use.

While its good to admonish users to think twice about using free apps, and not be surprised if free apps disappear, let’s also admonish developers to think of the people who use their product as customers who deserve to be able to rely on the product that you are producing.

Posted in Opinion | Tagged , | Leave a comment