Meet the Bold 9700

RIM announced my next phone today. It has been a while in the making. No, it is not Earth-shattering, or an iPhone killer, but what this Bold 9700 does do is improve every problem I have with my current phone (the Blackberry Curve).

You can find out more about the Bold 9700 here: http://na.blackberry.com/eng/devices/blackberrybold9700/?iid=RIM_Bold9700_Homepage

This phone will be available for purchase in early November. The carriers (AT&T and TMobile) have not announced pricing, but I have heard it should be around $200 (they can't make it more than the iPhone for sure).

Now, I know you probably aren't going to click that link, so let me tell you what improvements in the phone make this the next phone for me:

• First TMobile 3G phone - finally some speed while on the cell network (I hate EDGE)
• 3.2 megapixel camera - I cannot stand my 2.0, it is horrible (evidence of this is all over my blog). By the way, my current digital camera is only 3.2 megapixel, I will be able to get rid of it once I get this phone.
• WiFi calling - that really works. My Curve has wifi calling, but I always (OK, maybe not always) lose the connection when the phone switches between UMA (wifi) and cellular calling.
• Better QWERTY keyboard than my current Curve

And all this in a form factor that matches my current phone (the old Bold was quite a bit larger - width and height - than a Curve).

I am still waiting for TMobile to announce their launch date and pricing. Need to get me one of these.

At The Doctor's

Went to the doctors with Diana and Jordan yesterday (Chloe went babysitting while we were gone). It was a long visit. There was a lot of pulling and pushing and Diana even got her blood drawn (you should see the bruise today). The office was right across from university hospital and you could see the helicopter pad from the window. I got a picture of the helicopter on the pad (see below), and I told Jordan if it takes off to let me know so I could get a picture from my blog. Then, I took the picture of Diana below, and the helicopter took off. Jordan tells me and I run over, but for some reason my Blackberry takes forever to reset after taking a picture. Anyways, at least I got the really good picture of Diana below.

My Next Blackberry

Meet the Blackberry Onyx.

The Uber-Blackberry.

It has everything.

I will own this (as soon as it comes out for T-Mobile that is).

If you love your Blackberry you will want to see your next one.

You just have to follow the link: http://crackberry.com/blackberry-onyx-review

All I got for you today. See you tomorrow!

Links

I have not done a list of links for a while. Here we go:

You women are dirty, and this study proves it. I like the line, "Should a man worry about holding hands with a girl?" and the person responds, "I guess it depends on which girl." This stuff is hilarious, a comedian could not write it better.

I like to shop online. I have been buying more and more online through the last year. Last christmas was my first real HUGE online shopping experience. I bought our Wii, games, controllers, chargers, and even other gifts all online. I would say about 80% of all our gifts were purchased online last year. I don't know if I will be able to purchase that much this year, but I will try. Here is an article about online shopping and the popularity of it.

Blogs are changing the world. They change the ways companies do everything these day. I think it is very important that a company or a person control the message they are trying to spread. I also think a blog is a great way to take that control. The weird part is that five years ago you never heard of a blog and now blog posts are picked up by news organizations as fact.

The Blackberry Bold is just about out. Here is a good review of it. I am waiting for the touch screen Storm to come out (it also still has to be released on TMobile) and then I will get it. This reviewer really does not like the size of the Bold, but let me tell you, size matters and a big beautiful screen with a great keyboard will make up for any discomfort.

A real iPhone killer? I doubt it. Samsung does not have the "cool" factor that Apple does these days.

I love Skype. It is an awesome technology. VoIP is where it is at, but the world does not agree. Diana does not like it. I do not think she realizes that we have digital phone at home and it is ran through our internet connection. Out phone is just like VoIP!

Halloween was last week, but you can still view this slide show of "geek-o-lanterns" from Wired. There are some pretty cool pumpkins. I am not a very good pumpkin carver, but I try. I do not think I could make any of these.

Vegas Update: Part 9

All of these pictures were taken with my Blackberry Curve. It is amazing. I got a 4GB media card and all these pictures fit no problem. Baby tigers gotta eat. They are bottle fed and then the babies get a bowl of meat.
Sleepy tiger
Dolphin momma and baby

White tiger

Links for 1AM

New BlackBerry phone from Nextel. Not really new. This is a curve with Push To Talk. The thing is - Nextel is dying a slow death, why would anyone want to get a phone like this?

The new iPod Touch has Bluetooth! I heard a rumor about this, and that Apple was going to put Skype on the Touch and you would be able to use an earpiece for FREE phone calls (when you have a wireless network). I heard the AT&T put the squash on this, they want people to buy the iPhone, not a Touch. AT&T wants people to have pay for phone calls, not get really cheap calls from Skype. The cool part is - the technology is there, it just needs to be used.

iTunes has a bunch of albums on sale for $8. Pretty cool. There has to be at least one that you would like. The link will open iTunes if you got it installed. Counting Crows Saturday Nights is one of the albums - great opportunity to get your hands on it.

Foldable BlackBerry. If you like the flip phones - buy this one. It looks pretty cool. Me, I have never been a fan of the flip phone. Not that cool, but I still like BlackBerry's.

Real Networks just released a DVD copying application. I want to rip a whole bunch of movies and TV shows to my iPod before I go to Europe this year. I am going to look more into this application and then probably get it for my use.

Meet the dude that actually invented the iPod. Apple is even going to do the right thing - hopefully.

More info on Comcast's capping of online broadband usage. The next couple years of the internet is going to be very interesting.

Links for Later

When we first got our iHome alarm clock it was hard to sleep. I have gotten used to it now. It is weird how a little tiny light on my Blackberry can wake me up in the middle of the night.

Major security flaw in the internet itself. This is very scary. If hackers are able to do this there will be nothing safe on the internet.

This whole 8/08/08 thing is out of hand when people are keeping track of this stuff.

I do not think this new Microsoft strategy is going to work. Microsoft needs to just have their stuff work; better and easier. I do not think they can do it.

There is a new Sesame Street website. Check it out! There will be a new character and "Letter or Number of the Day" every day.

Delta is going to start offering wireless internet while on the plane. I do not know if I will be able to say no. What can I say, I am an addict.

Movie video games always suck. Hopefully these guys know what to do to really improve them.

More Links

Remember when all you wanted for your new car was a pimping sound system? I do. The new car buyer does not want this, they want portability. As someone that has had 2 different iPod to car connectors I will let you know that my first one (iTrip mini by Belkin) was pretty junky, it worked OK, I just had to have the volume on my iPod up all the way to make it work well. My current connector is an all-in-one iTrip and it works great. I love it. The sound is great, it does not matter what my volume is set on, and I can change the FM frequency that it broadcasts. Love it!

Apple is preparing new laptops. I no longer use Macs, I used to only use them. I can currently do anything that I want to on a Mac or on a PC. I do like to keep up on the Mac world, Apple makes great products and I like to see and touch them.

It is finally happening. All the people that love texting and IM are finally graduating college and think it is appropriate to write business emails like they text their friends. I rarely use an emoticon let alone write in text code when at work - or even for fun. I just cannot do it. I look at some things that people text and I can barely read it because of all the shorthand.

Jordan has nightmares when he reads scary books, movies, or anything scary. This experiment should have had Jordan participate and the findings would have been completely different.

RIM has announced the touch-screen Blackberry. I might want this.

Links for Today

RIM just announced their new phone, the Bold. I talked about this phone a couple months ago, but the phone is now official. The Bold is not an iPhone killer, but it is a killer phone. Fast 3G speed, big screen, and there is even an iTunes sync. Nice phone, and it looks awesome.

Microsoft is delusional. Here is a memo from Steve Ballmer, the guy that runs Microsoft now that Bill Gates is gone. This guy is crazy. Some of my highlights are when he talks about making the best sfotware in the world and how he is going to make people excited to use products.

If anyone is buying a digital camera (Littlkins), you should read this article on what is important when you buy a camera. It is the sensor that matters.

I remember the last time I got a new computer from Dell and the hundreds of crappy programs that were installed. It takes a couple days just to get everything you do not want on your computer deleted when you get a new one. This article talks about why it happens and what to do about it.

Click the link to view a bunch of pictures of high-tech graffiti.

New iPod Nanos will be mutli-colored and have more storage. I cannot even use the 8GB on my touch.

Here is an update on the computer guy that locked his own network down to blackmail his employer and still got paid while he was waiting in jail. He is full of excuses.

Links for today

Here in California ("Kal-E-forn-ya" by the Governator) I had time to read some stories on the internet. Here is the best of what I read today.

The Celtics are in trouble. They would not have won without James Posey, and they lost him because they would not add another year to his deal. They will be kicking themselves next June when they lose in the first or second round. This deal really improves the Hornets. They have quite a team, I see big things for them next year (if they stay healthy).

You should never take money out of your 401(k). Never. I know times are bad for the economy, but just do not do it. The money you lose is just not worth it.

Gil Grissom is leaving CSI? I do not know if I can watch the show once he leaves. I will have to see how they do this. He really is the heart and soul of CSI. When he left last season for like 6 weeks the show got harder to watch. It is good to hear that Sara will be coming back. I do not know how they could bring back the Miniature Killer, but this is TV, so whatever. I do not like Lady Heather so she doesn't matter.

I wonder how long until there is a copycat of this? I am surprised this is the first time that something like this has happened and made a big splash. I am sure there are plenty of people that could go out to the internet and lock down servers and basically hold their company hostage. I think we will see more of this in the future. At least this guy is still getting paid. Is there really not a way to stop paying him until his trial? Nuts.

I love my BlackBerry (you already know this). Something I thought was weird happened a couple weeks ago and I finally had time today to look into it. We call Lesley "LD", but when you type LD on the blackberry it inserts the day. Weird and annoying. I found this story on tips to use your BlackBerry, and it explains the LD thing. I wish there was a way to get rid of it. It is so much easier to type LD then Lesley.

Pandora, the internet radio station is a killer app on the iphone. I got to try and get this on my BlackBerry. I wish that I had it. This is a reason to get the iPhone.

I like jokes, I have a couple that are pretty bad that I can do. Here are some more bad jokes. Really bad.

Out of Office

I am out of the office for today and tomorrow. What is so interesting is that I have not set my out of office. I did not set it for Catalyst last week either. I do not know if I didn't because of my Blackberry or just because I did not want to do it. Life sure is different when you can have the always on connection of the Blackberry.

Today while I was at the Webelos Wilderness camp I could not get a signal. I was really away. It was not that weird because I had 5 boys to look after and we stayed pretty busy, but when I sat down to watch the boys swim I thought I could get a signal - but I didn't. I truly had nothing to do. I am bringing a book for tomorrow.

I did receive 20 emails today while I was "away." I only responded to the important ones (sorry if one of yours wasn't responded to, but this was to be a day off).

You Guys Are Funny

Today at work LD and Littlkins gave me crap all day long! They think I am just like the guy below:


The girls think that I spend all day playing with the Blackberry, which is not true. Today while I was in LD's cube Littlkins did this:

She thought she was pretty funny, but I know that she is only funny because she hangs out with me.

Also, today I took the Blackberry off during my service director meeting and then left it off during the company meeting. I did not put it back on for a couple hours. Could an addict do that?

LINKS

Being able to load videos onto my iPod and then plugging the iPod into my plane seat for a long flight would be awesome. Almost enough for me to want to switch to United. In reality I just want Delta to do this also. It would be awesome.

While it would be great if your company could provide every electronic gadget for you, in reality very few actually help the company and would be paid for by your company. I think everyone should be outfitted with a Blackberry, but not everyone likes being connected to work every second. For me, it is priceless.

Get the computer license to drive. I aced the part I took.

Some email really just is not delivered. Weird. Some of those emails that just go off into the ether have to be mine. I swear that. I think only about half the emails I send are actually delivered and read.

Some cool new laptops from Dell. I like Dell machines. The ones I have bought work great. The one I got from my IT team from work is a piece of junk. It is starting to freeze up sometimes on startup.

Click here for a freaky site. It takes a minute to load. Also, turn up your speakers.

Ducks in the backyard

Tonight as I looked out in my backyard I saw a duck. One of the neighbors actually has pet ducks (he used to have a goat to). Then the kids noticed that the duck a little trail of baby ducks following it. They were cute. Me and the kids went out to get a better look and I took some pictures with the blackberry. Here is one of the picutres (I circled the ducks so you can see them better).

Chloe had weird hands

Every once in a while Chloe gets a weird rash on her hands/arms. It is weird. Here is a picture of it:

It usually goes away after a half-hour or so. If you have a Ph.D. we will take your thoughts on what it is and how to take care of it. We do not go to a doctor becuase by the time we got to the office the rash would be gone. I am saving this picture on my blackberry for the next time we go to the doctors.

New iPhone

New iPhone. Seems pretty cool. A lot cheaper. There is a little less news coverage that AT&T raised the prices on their iPhone service plans. What the heck, over? That sucks. You can get more coverage of the iPhone here, here, and here. Oh...see the price increase for the data plan here.

I still love my Blackberry.

L to the I to the N to the K to the S

Fo' shizzle!

Now that Barack is the nominee, what does it mean? Can he beat McCain? Can the country really unite behind him? I just do not think he has the complete package to win in November. I will vote for him, but there are many people will not, just because of his skin color.

Want an iPod touch (like me)? Buy a qualifying Apple product and get one for FREE! I say just go for it.

I like Bill Simmons on ESPN and he is a huge Boston homer. I can not believe the ESPN let him run this column in the magazine, but they did.

I hope to take this flight in October, but I probably will not get the firetrucks and the appetizers before getting on.

I like the blackberry (you have been reading haven't you?). It seems as if the secret is out of the bag. If you want to know about the next iPhone, click here.

This is a little scary. Very Minority Report.

Links

This makes for interesting reading. You can see all the customer satisfaction ratings for hotels, phones, cables, fast food, airlines and more. When you read this you understand that you need to switch to DirecTV as soon as possible. But first call me so I can refer you and get credit on my account.

I never even heard of this, but Disney needs to step it up and keep Virtual Magic Kingdom free. Disney is RICH - what is the problem with giving this game away for free? Losers.

I never use SMS text messaging on my curve - I always use instant messaging on my phone. I guess I am ahead of the curve here. Can you believe that the average subscriber sends 2 SMS messages a day. That seems SUPER low.

I really think that the PS3 and the XBox 360 have maxed out at their price points. A Wii is only $250 and has better/funner game play in my opinion. Plus, who wants to spend $600+ to get their system up and running?

No wonder I do not like George W. Bush. The dude does not use a computer.

41st Post of the Month

Lots of links for tonight.

I posted about the new blackberry bold - but what about the thunder? This phone looks good - but will it have what it needs to take out the iPhone?

I am not doing as much design as I once did, but the new Quark looks pretty good. I am still using version 6.

New Get a Mac ad and Diana loves it.

If you have any of these passwords you should get them changed as soon as possible. Some of these are pretty funny. Who chooses "monkey" as a password?

I have had a TiVO for years and I think everyone should have one. I tell everyone that getting a TiVO will change your life and the reality of just that is finally hitting the TV executives. A lot less people are watching TV when the network wants you to - they are watching it when and where they want. It is time for a new kind of TV and I can feel it coming. Hopefully soon.

Microsoft was laying down this same stuff when they started to develop Vista. Smaller? Less system resources? More promises that Microsoft cannot deliver on.

There are a lot of fun social sites on the web. But how do they make money? That is the question I have always had. Once you give someone something for free, they do not want to have to pay for it. Not ever. If you change to pay - people will leave and find another service that stays free.

This is intersting and I think...why aren't we already doing this? Wind is free and does not burn up the Earth. I know that at my house it is windy every day.

Diana won't be happy that I posted this...but I think that the writer hit most of Oprah's buddies dead on.

Watched American Idol while I was writing this and none of the people were that impressive tonight. Pretty poor I say. The song choices were weird and no one really looked that comfortable.

Sorry

I was supposed to blog tonight and I do have quite a bit to note, but I finally got my old work computer home and I have been playing with/setting it up all night so far, and now it is time for bed. I will post more tomorrow.

I will leave you tonight with a link to the new Blackberry phone, and it is cool. This phone is supposed to be an iPhone killer, but I just don't see how. The people that buy an iPhone are not the same people buying a Blackberry. Apple is probably not worried, especially since they are so close to releasing the next iPhone that will solve all the original iPhone complaints. All I know for sure is that if anyone wants to give me a Bold, I would not refuse it. You should know up front - it is going to be sold for the AT&T network only for now.