T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant Android 2.2 Official Update

After many months of speculation T-Mobile has finally approved an official release of Android 2.2 (Froyo) for its Galaxy S Virant phone. This update will not be done via OTA (Over The Air), but rather users will have to download the official Samsung Kies Mini software on a PC or MAC to do the upgrade. The official instructions for upgrading are posted on T-Mobile (T-Mobile 2.2 Froyo Galaxy S Vibrant Upgrade). I did the upgrade on my Galaxy S and it worked great.

Operation Repo - Fake

So I turned on this show, Operation Repo. I immediately figured out something was weird. I guess the show is all fake, or re-enactments as they say. What a weird show.

No More Guitar Hero

Look what the Beatles did to this franchise. Oh well more room for Assassin's Creed in my schedule.

Homefront Game Trailer

This looks like a really cool game that is coming soon. Fans of 80’s war movies like red dawn will appreciate this one.

The Daily – A New Age In News

Today I got my first look at The Daily, a new interactive newspaper offered daily for the iPod. I was very impressed with the layout and use of interactive features of this app. It costs $39.99 a year, but it looks to me to be worth it. I believe that Apple has made great strides in new ways to present us all with information.  For the first time a truly interactive presentation of the daily news can be presented. I am not what you would call an Apple guy by any stretch, but I do think that the iPad has brought technology to a whole new level. And The Daily is the next progression of the type of media that people are going to expect from the major news agencies. It struck me as amazing that they were able to get a 360 degree picture out of Egypt, But that brings up a whole new subject. Bottom line, check out The Daily for good news presented in a great way.

Google Launches Their App Store

I opened my browser today to find the headline that Google had launched its new App store. In my mind I envisioned an online place I could go to get new exciting cool apps to run on my PC. The end result was not quite what I expected.  While their are some interesting applications, it turns out that most of them are business class and subscription based. Some of these applications may be useful, but I guess that I expected something more along the lines of the new apple type apps for the Mac.  Maybe the Google App Store will grow on me. We will see.

One Stop Linux Server Setup

Have you ever wanted to set up a server to help automate things around your office. The usual way that it starts is with an internet search for some type of software that does what you want. The way that it ends, is with you buying the enterprise version of some software and paying maintenance for the rest of your life.  Why not start your search with the site Turnkey Linux. This site offers over 45 free web appliances that come prepackaged in a Linux based ISO. You simply download the ISO, put it on a disk, and load it on a clean computer.

Linux can be very intimidating, but these builds are all packaged and ready to do exactly what they are designed for. The best way to load these servers is within virtual environments. VMware offers a free server version that works great to create a Linux server array. The Media Wiki build works great and is a good place to start with experimenting with this technology.

New Ford Police Interceptor

Check out these pictures of the New Ford Taurus Sho Police Interceptor. This is the replacement car for the Crown Victoria, which is now not in production. This new car has a 365 horsepower V-6 and a rear end rated to withstand a rear collision of 75-MPH. Best of all it features level III ballistic door panels.                                                                                          



QR – Code Generator

What is a QR code? It is the little bar code like square that you are seeing popping up everywhere. These tags can hold all types of information, and just about any Smartphone that has an app to read bar codes can read them. One great use for them is in the signature field of an e-mail. You can add all of your V-Card information into the code, and then people can scan the code into their phone to add your contact information. Advertising is the biggest use for these codes, take a look around and you will notice them popping up everywhere. Below is just one QR code generator, there are many other types all over the net. This link below is really cool, it can do all kinds of codes.

http://zxing.appspot.com/generator/

New Sony NGP Gaming Device

Roku Media Streaming Box Review

I purchased Roku media streaming boxes for my mother and mother in-law for Christmas this year. This was the big test, if I could teach a 50 and 60 year old person with zero tech knowledge how to operate a media streaming device. The Roku box gets 6 stars out of 5 stars from me. My mother, who can hardly turn on her TV can operate it.

I originally went with the Roku box since I needed a device that could stream Netflix to a TV with only composite RCA jacks as an input. The Roku hooked up quick and had no issues with connecting up to the wireless routers. The device is always on so it stays connected to the network (Less things to teach my mother). The remote only had like 6 buttons. This made it really simple to navigate the menus.  It helps to have an internet connected laptop there for the initial setup to get the Roku registration and Netflix all set up. But after that it has preformed flawlessly in both of the installs. The box even does well streaming the media on a slow internet connection.

If you want a simple and cheap media streaming device with lots of apps, check out the Roku.

Should I Get A Verizon iPhone 4

No. Unless you don’t care that your new phone is really an old phone that is not compatible with Verizon’s new 4G LTE network. This great tech scam of 2011 should go down in history as the greatest marketing hoax of all time. Here is what is really going on.

The NEW Verizon iPhone 4 will come with an EVDO CDMA 3G radio not a LTE 4G radio. That means that all of the people that go out and buy an iPhone 4 for $199 (With 2 Year Contract) will be riding on the network that Verizon has had deployed for years not its newly deployed 4G network. If all a person cares about is coverage, this may seem like a great deal. But, come this summer (or sooner) when Apple announces there new iPhone, everyone will be mad when they find out it works on Verizons 4G network (already deployed), which boasts speeds and coverage never seen before in the cell phone world.

Ironically AT&T is also deploying an LTE network in the 700Mhz band along with Verizon. What does that mean? Apple will only have to make one piece of hardware to work on both networks. So, Apple and their cohorts AT&T and Verizon will try to dump as many 3G iPhone 4’s as possible untill that date, and so they will.

You’ve got to love the names Apple gives its iPhone versions, and I’m sure it is no accident. Just in case people don’t know, iPhone 4 is not 4G compatible. So when everyone looking for an iPhone goes to Verizon’s website and see’s all the ad’s for the nations fastest 4G network, I hope they understand that their brand new iPhone 4 does not fall into that category.

So, what’s next. Apple, as usual, will announce a new iPhone version this spring (Probably the iPhone 4G) not the iPhone 5). That way they won’t have to change much, just the cell radio. Everyone will get all excited and run out and buy it like they always do. So, if you want a Verizon iPhone make sure you wait until that time.

And that’s why it only costs $199.

By the way, this isn’t the first time Apple has done this. They’ve done it every time.

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood Free Online Update

Sharp 70 inch 3D LED