2 The Next Level

Archive for the ‘Google’ Category

Apple iPad users beware, there is a new kid about to be on the block from Google and Motorola. The Tablet wars are about to take place for the Christmas holiday season. The first threat to the dominance of the iPad took place just about a month ago when T-mobile became the first to carry the Samsung Galaxy Tablet. Verizon and Sprint followed with their own launch of the Galaxy Tab days later.

The Galaxy Tab did not sell as big as the iPad when it debuted but it has impressed many of those who made the purchase. I debated on snatching one up myself when I looked at the Galaxy Tab for the first time at my T-mobile carrier. I too was impressed with both the size and the features. It was the price that kept me from purchasing it. The 399.00 price was still a little too steep for me. Let one of these babies get to under the $300.00 mark and I am SOOOOO There..;-)

Google has now launched the Chrome OS and the newest version of Android 2.3 “Gingerbread” is due to come out by the end of this month, if not sooner. Take a look at the video below and be one of the first to see the new Motorola Android device due out very soon.

So what say you, when it comes to these new Tablet devices. Have they made you get off the fence when it comes to choosing one of them over the Apple iPad? Or are you waiting patiently for iPad 2 to make its debut in the near future?

Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

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I will be speaking at the Atlanta Tribune’s 8th Annual Moving Your Business Forward Conference: Part III on Monday, October 18, 2010 from 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM (ET) in Atlanta, GA Please see the below flyer for more details. If you would like to attend as one of my guests you may register (http://2010mybf3.eventbrite.com) under the “Sponsor/Panelist/Exhibitor” ticket and enter the promo code: AS10MYBF3-PFFD

Hope to see you there.

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Does everyone remember this commercial from Motorola that aired almost a year ago?

The Motoroal CLIQ was dubbed the fist smart phone with Social Skills.  I was so excited in getting this phone I wrote an extensive blog post about it. ( Santa Brought Me A Smart Phone) Little did I know that purchasing this phone would come with some not so good strings attached.

The main string being that the phone would not be able to have a software upgrade until the first quarter of 2010.
Well that quarter has come and gone an still no upgrade. Here is the official Motorola Android Software Upgrade News

Why is this upgrade important you may ask? Well just like software upgrades for your computer, upgrades for your phone will allow you to have all the new features that come with that upgrade. My Motorola CLIQ is currently on Android version 1.5. The newest version of Android is version 2.2. Google has long released this version and many other Android phones have taken advantage of its use.

One of the main reasons I am frustrated about not having the upgrade is that there are many Android applications that are not available to me. These application are written for Android version 2.1 or higher. These applications are not even listed in the Android application Marketplace on my 1.5 phone.

So what is the hold up you may also be asking? Well thats just it. Motorola is the hold up.

My cell phone carrier cannot force Motorola to release the upgrade. Google cannot force Motorola to release the upgrade.  The upgrade has to come from the manufacture in this case and that responsibility lies solely on Motorola.

So hear is my video Rant.

Please forgive the video quality. I made that via Facebooks video with my web cam.

What makes this situation even more frustrating is the fact that I may have to take this matter into my own hands and look to upgrade my phone manually.  I have since contacted some pretty savvy Android developers via Twitter, who have already upgraded their Motorola CLIQ’s themselves. These guys have even created some Youtube videos that give you step by step directions on how to do it yourself.

Do I want to manually upgrade my own phone and risk doing something wrong and hence damaging the phone for good? Of course not. So I have given myself till the end of the month to either have one of these Android developers upgrade the phone for me or go and get another phone that will already have the Android 2.2 software installed like the HTC G2.

So, my Solo’s, the lesson in this is to choose your smart phone wisely. Make sure you find out what the software upgrade capabilities are before you make the purchase. I will look to do a follow up post on this matter as I go through the dilemma of getting this upgrade to my cell phone.

All the best

JB

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Happy Labor Day everyone! Google is at it again! My last post was about why “Google was not afraid to fail“. Well, Here is a great example of why they have so much talked about success.

Google quietly released a new attachment to the Google Talk/Chat feature in Gmail. You can now make free calls to any land line in the United States using Gmail. All you need is a headset with a decent noise canceling microphone and you are ready to make long distance calls by using the new dial pad that comes up once you press “Call Phone” button that is located right under the chat window.

I tested this new feature with another Solopreneur friend of mine who is going to use it as her main way of making phone calls to her clients.  We made several calls to my cell phone and to my own land line. The quality of the reception on the call was pretty good. It was a much better sounding call then the ones made on my Magic Jack, and what is even better its FREE.

I can see this new Gmail feature threating both the Magic Jack and Skpe. The Magic Jack is an actual device that you have to plug into your USB port to work and will cost you about $40.00 per year. Skpe is a free call when you call other Skpe users but will cost you a fee if you call anyones land line or cell phone via their Skpe Out feature.

What is even more amazing is that you can easily integrate this feature into your Google Voice service.  You would then be able to receive calls on your computer via Gmail.

My Solopreneurs will love this new service because it can save you money on making long distance phone calls and keep you from using your minutes on your cell phone.  When traveling on business you can use this service to make calls instead of using your cell phone or the hotel phone.

So if you have a Gmail account, go ahead and test it by making free calls throughout the united states. Let me know how clear or not so clear your calls are by sending me your feedback in the comment  section below.

All the best

JB

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In the past couple weeks Google has shut down two of its latest failures. The first true Google phone the Nexus One and Google Wave.These failures are just a string of bad misses that Google has come up with in the past several years. See “10 Google Flubs, Flops, and Failures” That being said, why do you think Google keeps trying its hand at products and services with the best of intentions only to have them fail?

Heck, the first name the Google founders choose for their search engine failed. Imagine us all going around saying, Did you “Backrub” the name of Micheal Jackson to see how many tribute websites come up? or I bet you can find that street address on “Backrub” maps.

Well I say Google’s failures are our gain. For every Google failure there is at least 2-3 success stories. Case in point. In the last year how many times have you searched for something using Google search, sent and email using Gmail, or Watched a video on Youtube? How many of you are now making calls with your Android powered cell phone, listening to your voicemail using Google Voice while locating your favorite restaurant on Google maps.

We could go on and on about some of the awesome tools Google has created but the more I think about it the more I am convinced that the founders of Google are from the school of Thomas Edison and Abraham Lincoln. It took thousands of filaments to fail until one finally burned long enough to make the light bulb a success. It took Abraham Lincoln 15 years of many political defeats and failures to finally become our 16th president.

So, I say continue to fail Google. Continue to go out on a limb and try to prove us all wrong with yet another product or service destined for the scrap heap.  Every time you fail you make it easier for tech nerds like me to strive for that one shining moment of success.  You give people like me the will to stay the course and dream about one day turning our own “Backrub” into billions.

So, Solopreneurs. How many times have you failed?

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