Blackberries on the Beach

Just a quick update. I ended up going with a Blackberry Worldphone 8830. Probably one of the biggest deciding factors was that work would pay for it, where I'd be out $600 iPhone. It didn't help that AT&T was dropping 80% of my calls at the time, and my work email was overflowing! It all made perfect sense at the time. Even so, I love the blackberry. It's made my work life much easier. I am a little disappointed that they block 3rd party apps. I had google maps installed on there initially before syncing it up with the blackberry gateway server at work, and it was VERY sweet. About a week after syncing, a policy was pushed down to my blackberry and google maps was wiped off. :( I'm also a little disappointed that Verizon turns off the built in GPS device inside the phone. They want to sell you their own GPS enabled service for $10/mo I guess.

Over labor day, we went to Top Sail Beach. We had quite the blast. Due to unforeseen circumstances, my in-laws couldn't make it, so we ended up inviting some of our friends from the natural living groups we're a part of in town. Did I say we had a blast?!?! I've never made a huge sand sculpture before (only small ones), so it was quite fun having a few folks to help out with a mega sand turtle.



It only took a few minutes for the kids to climb all over it and crush it (we snapped a picture of them all on top). Of course then a few hours later it was just a nice flat piece of sand, thanks to the ocean.



I must admit, I did bring my blackberry on the beach and checked out the headlines while basking in the sun. Ah...

Lots of updates

Well, it's been a while, so I want to do a few quick updates. Since my last post the Abby and I have taken a trip to San Francisco, Yosemite, Oak Island, and recently went camping just outside of Statesville, NC in a town called Hiddenite. I must admit, there wasn't much up there in Hiddenite, but it was quiet. All the rest of the vacations were a blast and were filled with lots of pictures (see my flickr site).

I've also been thinking more and more about learning a stringed instrument. I really wanted to learn the banjo, but they're just so big. I found that you can play some cool stuff on ukulele's so I bought a cheap chinese one off ebay for just under US$30 shipped (Mahalo brand). Abby loves it! I also found a very cool program for windows to help me tune it called AP Tuner. There are a ton of free lessons on the web and a ukulele podcast too! Tiny Tim, look out!


I've also been watching a neat wine podcast called winelibrary tv. It's pretty cool and there is also a social networking site it links into called cork'd. I'm in there as ZhunZi of course. :) Friend me up.

I also tracked down an old graduate school buddy of mine (Jerome Leveque) who managed to slip off and get married while I wasn't watching.

Anyway, more news to come...

Daniel

Future of cell phones

I've been thinking a bit recently about the future of cell phones and the new functionality they will take on besides just placing telephone calls. One thing that has really caught my attention is their use as a GPS/Navigation device. Two phones (the Apple iPhone and the Samsung u740) recently have really made me start to think on the possibilities.

What if cell phones had the ability to send a beacon. Imagine if you will, you're at a party and you want to explain to a friend how to get there. You just send them a MMS message with your GPS coordinates, and their phone accepts them and navigates you to the location, whether you're 100 kilometers or 10 meters away. Or imagine if while on the phone with someone, both of you could be moving in a direction towards each other and meet halfway with the help of your cells? What about a 3-way calling situation? I think the next few years are going to bring about some exciting innovation in the cellular space. I'm looking forward to it.

For now, my Nokia 6820 is still holding out. I hope to have something new by this summer. I'm holding out to see if the iPhone is all that it promises to be.


== UPDATE 9/21/2007 ==
After much frustration with dropped calls on AT&T recently, I decided not to risk 600 bones on an iPhone locked on an AT&T network. In a way I'm glad I didn't, 2 months later they reduced the price by $200. I ended up getting a Blackberry 8830 Worldphone on Verizon. I'm very happy with it. Ironically, while watching InDigital Episode 25 I saw where Helio released my idea on their phones before I ever posted that blog entry. I swear I had never heard of it, but I'm glad to know that there are companies out there thinking of these great mashups. Helio calls it Buddy Beacon.

Wow! My account is still active.

I haven't posted here in over a year! Wow. It's amazing my account is still even active! In any case, lots has happened with me, and my online presence.

#1) Google bought blogger.com - totally cool
#2) Textamerica started charging for moblogs - this stinks. But it has forced me to give Flickr (now a Yahoo property) a try now. I actually like Flickr much better other than the learning curve is still there. Check out my new image blog at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zhunzi
#3) Abby is now 2 years old (see flickr site), my myth tv I gave up on and it's packed away in a box (we moved in 2006). I'm not certain what I want to do with it yet.
#4) Finally - Apple has announced their iPhone and it's amazing looking. Other than the $500 price point holding them back from the mass markets, I think this phone is going to be a big hit!

Anyway, I will try to post more frequently than once every 1.5 years.

- ZhunZi