Verizon updates Droid software; Users hope it fixes echo problem

The droid. i remember watching the commercials on this phone and then one of my close friends got it recently and its almost exactly like the g1. its funny lol because now the g1 is touch screen but im sure the droid has more apps.

Computerworld - An over-the-air software update to the Droid smartphone started yesterday, but it wasn't clear whether the 14 enhancements address a voice echo problem that hundreds of users complained about in online forums.

The much-anticipated update went to a "small percentage of handsets" yesterday and the update, identified as ESD56, will be phased in over the next week or so, a Verizon Wireless spokeswoman confirmed early today via e-mail.

The enhancements come from Verizon Wireless, Motorola and Google, which is behind the Android operating system that runs on the Motorola Droid. An update to the Droid Eris smartphone from HTC is "planned but a date has not yet been confirmed," the spokeswoman added.

The Motorola Droid update is based on Google's release of a software developer kit for Android 2.0.2 on Dec. 6. The most noticeable modifications improve the Droid's camera autofocus capability and the phone's voice reception, the spokeswoman added.

However, it remains unclear whether the list of official fixes offers any relief to hundreds of customers who have complained of a voice echo heard by recipients of calls made from Droid phones. At least 300 comments at a Motorola online support forum refer to the subject, "Droid phone sound quality is not great," and most comments refer to audio echo problems noticed by people whom Droid users are calling.

One Motorola Droid user, John Davis, said he has enjoyed all aspects of his Droid except for the phone itself. "Almost from day one there has been an annoying echo primarily with the person on the receiving end," he wrote in an e-mail to Computerworld. Davis, a physician, bought his phone the first day it was available at a Verizon store near Boston.

Despite the many online complaints of a similar problem from Droid users, he couldn't get Verizon store officials to listen to him, he said. "Each time I returned to the store, now three times, I have been treated increasingly like an Android from out of space until [a recent] Friday when I threw a nutty in the store and screamed out for attention," he wrote. "The techs were clueless."

Davis said his son, an engineer at Cisco Systems Inc., helped him decrease the echo somewhat by adjusting the phone's settings so that when the echo shows up, Davis must fidget with the speaker button to lessen the echo.

But Davis was still awaiting the update, which was rumored to start on Dec. 11, but now appears to have started four days earlier. Davis said his son believes the update is designed to address the issue, and so do many on an online forum. However, the official update documentation says only that one of the 14 improvements is listed as "audio for incoming calls is improved." A separate improvement says that Bluetooth functions are improved with "background echo ... eliminated" but only in reference to Bluetooth usage.

original article.

BLACK FRIDAY !!

good morning bloggers!
its thanksgiving week. my all time favorite holiday. endless amounts of eating not to mention the pumpkin pie and stuffing yum! anyways after thanksgiving theres a little day i like to call blackfriday! mmm my favorite.. what are some of the items you guys are looking for?

personally i would like a new camera and not to mention all the nonstop sales for all the clothing items. haha its like a kid in a Candy store. i know im going to go crazy!
so bloggers remember. be careful it can get a little crazy out there and happy holidays!

electronic cars.

i found this article.. thought it was kinda cool.. i mean i wonder what the world is going to look like next I'm waiting for the day that a car Can float.. be in water and drive all in one car haha that will be the day..

enjoy:]


LOS ANGELES--Driving Nissan's new Leaf electric car around Dodgers' Stadium in Los Angeles last week was not as glamorous as it sounds. There were a lot of journalists in line under a hot sun. But there were compensations, including a touch of Hollywood--actress Alexandra Paul, ex-Baywatch and a former General Motors EV-1 driver, was there.

This was the kickoff of a 22-city national tour for the Leaf, and it may be coming soon to a metro area near you. Go to this site, enter your zipcode and it will point you to the nearest stop. Or check the full list here. The tour ends in New York City February 14.

Nissan is the only automaker (through the Renault-Nissan Alliance) to actually build charging stations. In LA, it announced its 33rd alliance, this time with Reliant, a subsidiary of giant Texas-based utility NRG Energy. Like most utility executives these days, NRG CEO David Crane talked about the virtues of the smart grid and charging electric cars off-peak during evening hours. He said the current U.S. grid could easily handle up to 10 million additional EVs. "We don't get into trouble until we're talking about 50 to 100 million cars," he said.

The Leaf, which has a 100-mile range on lithium-ion batteries and will be out next year, was revealed in sky blue. It was a little bigger than I thought it would be, with excellent seat layout and some of the same eco-verities as the Toyota Prius. Not to confuse you, but the Leaf we saw was actually a styling model and not drivable. The "Leaf" we drove was in the body of the Nissan Versa, with the Leaf's drivetrain. This is what they call a "mule," and it gives a very good indication of what the production car will be like. Here's what it was like from the back seat:

THANKS GOOGLE! :Google's holiday gift: Free airport Wi-Fi

ENJOY!! this wonder gift from google this holiday season.. perfect for all those who are traveling in and out of the country or Even states to visit distance family.. HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL ! :]

hope you enjoy this article i found:


Google said Tuesday it will subsidize free wireless network access in 47 airports from now until January 15--and indefinitely in the airports of Burbank, Calif., and Seattle.

The promotion, in cooperation with Boingo Wireless, Advanced Wireless Group, and Airport Marketing Income, is the latest effort to use free Wi-Fi to boost a brand. Among others: Yahoo is sponsoring Wi-Fi in Times Square in New York, and Google is sponsoring Internet access on Virgin America flights during the holidays.

Among the larger participating airports are those in Houston, Boston, Miami, Las Vegas, Nashville, San Diego, Baltimore, and St. Louis. A full list of the airports is at Google's free holiday Wi-Fi site.

The move, though not cheap, is probably smart. Plenty of business travelers have a laptop and time to kill, and today's consumers are increasingly likely to be equipped with laptops, iPod Touches, or other devices that can use wireless Internet access. Google is spending some money for an opportunity to give a lot of people the warm fuzzies when they encounter the Google brand.

And in the big picture, Google gets to show people what the world might be like if there were more high-speed wireless Internet access--something the company has been aggressively lobbying for in Washington, D.C. Many people are used to wireless networking in their homes, but it's a different matter on the road.

There are downsides, though, too. Having been to dozens of conferences where the wireless Net access collapses as soon as the keynote speech begins, I'm acutely aware that providing large-scale wireless Internet access is technically demanding--and people get unhappy when a promised benefit evaporates. And public, anonymous places such as airports and urban population centers are great spots for hackers to launch main-in-the-middle attacks by offering "Free Wi-Fi," so exercise caution when logging on to these networks

T-Mobile users still reeling from outage

"Tuesday's outage is the latest blow for T-Mobile, which is still working through a month-long ordeal for its Sidekick service, in which some customers have lost their address books and many more are still waiting to get back other data, such as calendars, to-do lists, and photos.

Of course, T-Mobile customers are not the only ones with cell phone issues. AT&T customers regularly complain about service problems with their iPhones. An outage last year interrupted service for BlackBerry customers on various networks across North America. Earlier this year a cut fiber line left many AT&T customers in Silicon Valley without service.

On Wednesday, T-Mobile customers by and large had their service back, but many were still looking for answers. Bystrom said that several hours after calling customer care he got a call back offering a $5 credit. "When I protested that it was unacceptable (I) was pretty much told take it or leave it," Bystrom said."

image

Can Android Market Catch Up to the App Store?

The number of applications such as games and calendars that developers have begun working on for cell-phone operating system Android has jumped 94% between September and October, according to Flurry, which provides in-app analytics software for mobile devices.

The increased developer hustle and bustle around Android comes as no surprise: In November, Verizon Wireless is expected to launch its first Android phone from Motorola, and the carrier has already started a major marketing blitz around the device. Android-based phones from other makers, like HTC, are selling well. About 20 Android-based devices are expected to come out this year, and 30 more in 2010, according to analysts. As more Android phones get into users’ hands, more people will start using these devices to download apps from the Android Market, which currently features more than 10,000 applications. Naturally, developers want to get in on the game.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Android Market catches up to the Apple App Store, which currently offers more than 85,000 apps, in the number of applications it carries in the next year or two. Consider: By 2012, Android should become the world’s second-largest mobile operating system, according to consultant Gartner. At that point, more people will be buying Android-based phones each year than the iPhones. And users of Android devices download as many applications — about 10 — each month as iPhone owners do. Since developers always want to make apps for the largest possible pool of users, Android Market’s applications count should skyrocket.


original article
image

Apple's Mac Line Receives Massive Makeover

"iMacs, a new unibody MacBook, the Mac mini, and a new wireless Mighty Mouse.
The iMac line has been totally reworked with 16:9 widescreens that are significantly larger than the previous 20-inch and 24-inch models. The new Mac mini looks the same, but of course has some new internals. The Mac mini is joined by a new server-based sibling: same case, but dual drives and no optical. Last but not least, the new iMacs come with a new, wireless multi-touch Magic Mouse."

I love how AppleMac is always coming up with new features on there products.. seriously the ipohone is great.. and it just keeps getting better, then there are the ipods, which are awesome, even the new nano with recording on it , and now this.. just keeps getting better and better at apple.

image