Tagged : Technology

in Media Culture

Gossip Girl Pumps Verizon

Gossip Girl is an endless fountain of product placement, but the one consumer product on the show that always interests me most is the mobile phones that the characters use. Surely on a show where the whole premise centers around a Facebook-esque website accessed via cel phone, the provider of choice must pay top dollar for screen time.

There is no doubt in my mind that there are many thousands of Serena Van Der Woodsen wannabes out there looking to be like the TV show character adopting everything from her pouty demeanor to her fashion to her cel phone.

For season 4 on Gossip Girl the characters have aligned themselves with Verizon. If you notice, none of them use an iPhone, and the cool phone of choice is actually a Motorola Droid X smart phone powered by Google’s Android platform. I guess the iPhone 4 is already passe on the Upper East Side.

Most of the characters seem to carry one of Verizon’s line-up of smart phones, with the exception of Lonely Boy Dan Humphrey, who being from Brooklyn can only afford a rather plain LG flip phone despite his dad’s marrying into money.

I’ll be curious to see if next season the cool kids will have migrated to Sprint’s 4G network, after all, it’s the fastest network going and they have the HTC Evo.

in Tech

iPhone 4 vs 3GS Camera Comparison

The major feature on the iPhone 4 that made the upgrade worthwhile for me is the camera. Mobility is a key feature and I am trying to simplify the number of things that I need to carry around with me from day-to-day. If my camera, phone, and wallet can be one in the same than I’m a happy traveller.

Gone are the days of lugging around mountains of junk in my pocket. One device will do thank you.

The iPhone 3GS camera was more than adequate, but it had become slow and sluggish with more recent OS updates. Notably Apple iPhone OS 4.0 and up seemed to bring the app speed on the iPhone to a crawl, and really affected the performance of the camera.

The new camera on the iPhone 4 kicks that of the 3GS in the shins quite easily. Not only is the start up time quicker, but the image quality itself is also in a different league. To illustrate my point here are some images that show the difference in picture quality between the iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4.

iPhone 3GS

iPhone 4

The image set above was taken in less than ideal conditions to show the shooting power of the new camera. Both images were scaled down in-camera during the upload process to this blog to 640 x 480px. For both images I set the focal point as the edge of the wine glass in the photo. As you can see the iPhone 4 deals with this tricky lighting situation much better than its predecessor.

in Media Culture, Travel

Electronic Boarding Pass Issues

Recently I have been using the electronic boarding pass as much as possible. Not only is it less wasteful in terms of paper waste, but it is also more efficient for check-in, particularly when travelling with no checked baggage. Without baggage, the electronic smart phone boarding pass allows you to breeze through the airport without lining up to check-in, and without the hassle of having to print out the boarding card at home.

With this über convenience though comes a whole new set of hassles which I have discovered and are not limited to the items below:

  • If your iPhone or Blackberry is running low on juice you will not be able to board the plane.
  • When showing your pass at the departure gate and security it is cumbersome to show your ID and hand over your iPhone at the same time
  • On the iPhone the orientation of the boarding pass changes as you handle it, again causing a slightly clunky experience
  • If the pass loads in a browser you need to connect to the internet if you close the browser and come back to it again. This can be an issue, but I have made sure to take a screenshot of my boarding pass and save it into the photo gallery on my iPhone.

Overall the electronic boarding pass is a high tech solution with some low-tech hassles. I’ve also noticed that despite the advanced technology, they still need to affix a luggage tracking sticker to something if you are checking baggage. This means a sticker stuck to the back of my iPhone. I found this quite funny.

The e-boarding pass is something that will only get better with time, but for now there do seem to be a few low-tech issues.

in Media Culture

Facebook Places: Not In My Area

My first experience with Facebook places has been a bit of a bust. Since its release I have tried to use it, but to no avail. I’ve tried using it in Vancouver and in the Okanagan, but nothing.

I just get the message about Places not being available in my area.

Apparently Facebook Places is a bit short on places.

Update – Sept 25: Facebook Places is now in my area. It’s about bloody time!

in Media Culture

Nissan Leaf Preview Test Drive

This is a great video from Green Energy News showing a public advance test drive of the Nissan Leaf electric car. While the leaf may not yet be a great road trip car with a maximum drive per charge of about 100 miles, it will certainly be able to handle most people’s domestic driving for one day. It’s cool that there are 3 different options for charging including a rapid DC charge which will be available at certain gas stations and take roughly 30 minutes to get to 80% charge. The other two options for the home are regular A/C 110V power which would likely take forever, and a 240V option for the home which is the same type of voltage required for a stove or dryer.

I’m excited about this car and can’t wait to test drive it! Apparently even the bumpers are made from recycled plastic bottles. This is a leading edge step by Nissan in the direction toward a clean air future.

in Media Culture

HTC Evo vs. iPhone 4

I love these videos from Xtra Normal. Something about the robotic computer voice reminiscent of Sound Blaster’s Dr. Sbaitso is just F—ing hilarious! Particularly when the robot voice says swear words. Sorry, I know it’s a little juvenile, but this video is a great cartoon satire about our infatuation with the Apple iPhone. Basically, the HTC Evo should kick the crap out of the iPhone any day, but we’re all unnaturally obsessed with the iPhone to the point of iPhone blindness.

The video is slightly not safe for work (there are a few cuss words).