The new Blackberry Storm 2 9550 (don’t get confused with the 9520 for Vodaphone…) has been a highly anticipated phone even just after the 1st gen Storm came out. Because the Blackberry phones have always had physical keyboards and none of them were touch up until the Storm was released, it was expected that there would be some issues with the new technology. For most people, the phone was a lag bucket (yes I said lag bucket.) Now there have been a couple of firmware updates that have been said to make the Storm bearable until it’s upgrade time for the Storm 2. With the addition of WiFi to the Storm 2, I would imagine there are going to be more people paying the full price to get the new phone.

Most of the annoying issues that consumers were not enjoying about there phone were, but not limited to the SurePress technology for the touch screen (where you touch the screen to select and then push down on the screen to activate something), lack of WiFi, battery life, and just all around prettiness. Even the battery life has improved greatly, 5+ hours of talk time and 10+ days of standby. I could certainly deal with that.

The Storm is currently still running on the 4.7 software for Blackberry but once the Storm 2 comes out, 5.0 should be out and accordingly, when this is applied to the Storm it should fix most problems with software issues on the phone. Just long enough to wait for upgrade time I suppose…

Will this new venture for Blackberry be the iPhone killer? Will the masses stampede all Verizon stores, waiting for days in line just to get there hands on a new crackberry? Most likely not, I still stand by the fact that if iPhone moves to Verizon, I will have one. I am pretty sure that there are many other people out there that have the same sentiments as myself. Until then, I am still oogling the new Blackberry Storm 2.

My iPod is a Touch, pretty sweet, and it sort of held me back from buying an iPhone and selling my soul to AT&T (which is a bad idea in NEPA…we have lots of valley and rolling hills that we tend to call mountains…and in those areas you are lucky if you get any service at all.)  I have a habit of buying the newest iPod when it comes out, not the case this time however.  I have had a 1st generation 2gb nano, then I got the 3rd generation square 8gb nano, and then the 4th generation 16gb nano.  I had decided that I did not want to buy an iPhone when it came out…ok I did but like I said, AT&T around here…the iPhone is no reason to switch networks.

So imagine my depression when Apple came out with the newest nano, with a camera and FM/AM transmitter which I will confess I would totally use.  And my Touch that has no camera, but there are some awesome radio apps I can use, as long as I am connected to wifi.  Along with the new nano having a camera, of course it will do video.  The prices have been dropping also.  You can get a new 16gb nano for less than $200 which is a pretty sweet deal actually seeing as how hey used to be over $200 for the 8gb.

Now if only they would do a new iPod Touch with a camera also (hey Apple, you could totally put in an FM/AM transmitter, I won’t be upset), they now have 32gb and 64gb which will probably be next on my list unless Verizon happens to get the iPhone and release a 64gb iPhone…no suggestions or anything.  Heck, even the iPod shuffle is insanely cheap, a 4gb for less than $100.  They basically look like a hot flash drive…just no USB stick.

So this last part is to Apple, Steve Jobs, whoever can make it happen.  Please make an iPod Touch with a camera (the radio honestly isn’t the kicker), I kind of feel left out without a camera/iPod/computer, just an iPod/computer…I really get annoyed when I have to walk around holding an actual camera and managing the flash and dealing with having the wrong SD card and only being able to take 1 picture.  I just want to have a phone/radio/computer/ipod/gaming system in my hands…

So hypothesis numero uno, what is it going to look like? I have seen concept images where it looks more like just the LCD ripped off of my 3 yr old Macbook (shall we call it the Macbook Touch?). Other images have it looking like a much larger Iphone or Ipod Touch. A 10″ screen is what they are boasting and that would be a little nicer on the eyes when you are watching a movies or video podcasts like I do on my Touch.

Next, what will the OS be? Will it be Snow Leopard or will it be the Iphone OS? If it is going to be something where you will be able to either dock or put on a stand, I would hope that it would be Snow Leopard, but it may be easier to just have the Iphone OS. Unless there are going to be USB ports for plugging keyboards and mouses in or wireless mouse and keyboard capabilities, then I could see something with meat and potatoes running as the OS. What will the hard drive size be? I would think that you would have to start at probably 16 gb if it’s going to be the same software as the Touch and the Iphone. If it will be running the other OS, probably at least 60 gb.

What about connectivity? Will it only be able to connect to wifi or will you be able to get a plan or maybe add it to your Iphone plan? If this tablet becomes huge and everyone is just carrying it around with them, I could definitely see 3G capabilities. Actually, scratch that, I could see 4G capabilities. If you can have a contract for a data plan with this, I see Verizon going all over this. They have been hinting that they will be getting the Iphone in time, which is just prolonging AT&T’s demise. If they can get the tablet and it becomes as big as I think it will, you will see tablets at the gym, in the coffee shops, at the park, in class rooms, everywhere.

You can tell I really have high hopes for this product, please forgive me, I am a bit of an Apple fangirl. So the dates have been flopping back and forth for the release of this amazingness in a 10 inch screen. Some have been saying by Christmas, others October, and the most recent as early as September. $800 is the price that has been flashing around, I would say $500-$700 is a good price range. All depending on the OS again and capabilities.

Either way, I am definitely gonna be asking Santa for one…

Facebook Apps – if you are like me than you have no idea how you got into even playing with these apps… I normally only use Facebook for keeping in touch with college friends. However, I see these as a new way to stagger through my work day.  Some of these apps are meant to just take your mind off of what you were currently doing and waste a little bit of time.  Others are so addictive that you just find yourself now checking your Facebook for updates with these apps and freak out because your co-worker or some friend you haven’t seen in 3 years just beat your Chain Rxn score by 32 million…and you need to sit in an imaginary bubble for just 10 minutes while you try and beat this gloriously high score…I’ve been there already.

1) Farm Town and Farmville (they are both basically the same): Pretty self explanatory, you plant seeds and trees and watch them grow. Then you harvest and sell them for money. The more you plant and harvest, the more experience you receive and then higher your level will be. You can also get animals and fences, buildings, the list goes on. You can also send plants and animals to your friends for their farms. The only down side I have yet to see is you either check your farm too late and have to delete the withered left overs or wait 3 days for your corn/wheat to grow, some plants take 4 hours and some take 3 days.

2) Chain Rxn: This is a super-massive addictive game, no lie. The object of the game is to click anywhere on the screen to start a chain reaction of balls as they bump into the other balls that have explodedfrom the initial ball. The longer the chain goes, the higher the score for each ball that bumps into another exploded ball. I have nothing bad to say about this except that it is the new crack, it’s that addictive.

3) Mafia Wars: I cannot really review this only because I have never played it, though I am going to review it now because it was the first app that made me cringe at using any other app. I used to have about 40+ new updates about my friends’ Mafia and always got invites to join the crew. I am sure that within the next few months, I will probably give up and join. I am a lemming…

4) Bejeweled Blitz: Come on, my generation and even those who may be a little bit older certainly remember the game Bejeweled. I would play that game like it was then end of the world, if I even turned my head away, the Earth would face certain horrifying death. Yeah, I know, I had issues. Either way, Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook is basically Bejeweled 2 with a 1 minute time frame, thats pretty much it. I adamantly tried to burst all of your bubbles there to save you the annoyance, because that is what happened to me.

Hopefully, this little tidbit of highly important information will either have you interested in playing with some of these Facebook apps (there are a TON more out there.)  If you do happen to get into most of the apps I mentioned…send me something for my farm…please…

I am going to say this first, I am not the most technically advanced person in the world.  Especially when it comes to my Macbook.  I have had this laptop for nearly 3 years now and I am just learning most of the shortcuts and how to use it to its fullest.  I really wanted to learn more and putting the newest Windows OS on my life line was a huge step.  The only reason I really wanted it on the laptop was because I wanted to play PC games and use Office.  This was my biggest and scariest experiment to date, installing Windows 7 on it.  I did face a couple of potholes on the way, Boot Camp Assistant was not my friend, but that was my own fault, too many files to partition. I had to burn two dvds because the first one did not work.  But when it was time for the macbook to preform, I was not let down.  This is why I love my 3 year old macbook.

First off, follow the system requirements it gives you, I only have 1 gb of ram and to date that has been plenty.  I have an 80 gb hard drive but I also have a 320gb external.  As long as you have more than 10 gb of space on your laptop and don’t plan on adding tons more to it, you should be all set.  If you cringed at the idea of having less than 3 gb of space left on your laptop, external is the way to go.

That being said, follow my lead.  Go to the Windows 7 download site, download your copy and make sure to write your serial down.  Then burn the iso to a dvd, its easier with the Mac then a windows machine.  After you have that done, I suggest trying out a free trial of VMWare Fusion.  It was a toss up between Boot Camp and VMWare, but when Boot Camp Assistant decided that it could not partition my hard drive, VMWare was the way to go.  I got the trial of VMWare Fusion and then inserted my Windows 7 cd and about an hour later, I was running Windows and Mac, smooth like butter.  I put the image on my laptop hard drive at first but then I moved it over to my external.  Once I opened the image on my external, it just asked if I had moved or copied it, select moved and it makes the changes.

It was a pretty interesting experience, but with VMWare Fusion, it is MUCH better than dual boot.  You can also use Parallels, which I have used before, but Fusion was much easier to use.

]]> http://www.muchgeek.com/blog/2009/07/the-easiest-way-to-install-windows-7-on-your-macbook/feed/ 0 http://www.muchgeek.com/blog/2009/06/verizon-and-iphonewishful-thinking-or-reality/ http://www.muchgeek.com/blog/2009/06/verizon-and-iphonewishful-thinking-or-reality/#comments Fri, 05 Jun 2009 22:35:05 +0000 gmFunkd http://www.muchgeek.com/blog/?p=322

A rumor that has been floating around for probably more than a year, but has started to gain more hype, is the possibility that Apple may come out with a new iPhone with Verizon.

Stop right there.  If any of you felt your heart race after hearing of the rumor or just reading this now for the first time, welcome friends!  In an age where we want everything at the touch of a finger, the iPhone is a very handy gadget.  Most smartphones are for that matter.  (Of course the iPhone apps are one of the reasons that Apple had no real competitor other than Blackberry.)

The iPhone, even in some of our generation’s dimmest times, was still increasing sales.  With the App Store, the iPhone can be transformed into anything you want it to be really.  Being someone who is fairly attached to her laptop, I will sometimes drag it out just to check on some news or tweet or play a game.  This isn’t a pain at all, but thinking about just doing it on the iPhone, I begrudge other people’s iPhone joy.  It seems to be the perfect mini-laptop when taking a laptop out just isn’t as practical as it used to be.  In a world where netbooks are selling like mad and laptops are selling much more than desktops, the iPhone fits in well.

If in fact Verizon and Apple do come to an accord for an iPhone, this should make for a take over in the smartphone industry.  One of the key reasons that most people do not have an iPhone is AT&T.  I live in an area where the best service is Verizon and AT&T is subpar, well most other carriers are too.  Because of this, I refuse to move over to AT&T just for an iPhone, though I constantly wish I could deal with the service and just get the iPhone.

From past endeavors, Apple will rarely annouce anything quite as big as a Verizon iPhone in a huge time advance.  Because of this, I doubt that we will hear much about a contract between Verizon and Apple at WWDC which is days away kicking off on June 8th.  If anything, I would expect the iPhone to be on Verizon’s bill in 2010, most likely Fall.  The reason for this is because they did annouce that they had no intentions of changing their partnership with AT&T.

It is no secret that if Apple were to open to other carriers, they would more than double their iPhone sales at present.  Verizon is a very stable network with great reception nearly everywhere I have been with a Verizon phone, even Maine and the boondocks of Pennsylvania and New York.  However, there is a downside for Apple to go with Verizon according to research analysts Craig Moffett and Toni Sacconaghi of Bernstein Research.  Verizon would certainly highten iPhone sales but AT&T would probably lower the subsidy per phone from $450 to $350 or even $250 and that would make us Verizon iPhone cheerleaders pay more for the iPhone with Verizon, unless they lowered the margins on each phone.

Either way, it makes me excited just thinking about using an iPhone with perfect reception at my house where AT&T has yet to expand service near.  Until then, I will be patiently awaiting the grand news.