Everything Social Networking
STEVEKHART.COM
You’ll find all kinds of stuff posted at my blog, so keep checking back. You’ll find a lot of information related to social networking, Facebook, Twitter, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), just cool internet tools and technologies.
Bio:
Name: Steve Hart
Job: Interactive Development Director for a large media communications company.
Interest: Everything Social Networks, SEO, Blogs, and Media Publishing.
Google Sky Map For Your Phone
Just got the new Motorola Droid phone and I love it! It makes my blackberry seem archaic. Comparing the Droid to a blackberry is like comparing a standard cell phone to an 1980 brick sized cell phone…you know what I’m talking about.
So I started downloading applications. There are a ton of them in the “market place”. A few pretty cool ones, but the best is Google Sky Map. It turns you phone into a personal astronomer. Want to know where Uranus is? (insert joke from a 7 year old here).
Using your Android phone orientation sensors, just hold the phone towards the sky and the screen displays the stars and planets regardless of cloud coverage. It uses the device’s compass, GPS, and accelerometer to see the constellations, planets, and stars.
And best of all, it FREE!
What’s your favorite Droid or iPone app?
Verizon / Google Droid, The New iPhone?
In direct competition with the iPhone, Verizon Wireless has released their new cell phone “Droid”.
Verizon’s Droid: Specifications
4.56 by 2.36 inches and weighs about 6 ounces.
It has a 3.7-inch, 854-by-480 pixel touchscreen.
It has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a 5mp camera capable of DVD-quality video recording.
It has a 16GB microSD card, expandable to 32GB.
It runs Android 2.0 operating system.
It has integrated turn-by-turn GPS navigation (FREE).
The Droid connects to Google’s Android Market, which has over 10,000 downloadable apps.
Verizon’s Droid: How Much Does It Cost
$299 up-front not including the $100 mail-in rebate. $199 in total.
You can buy the “Droid” at Best Buy where you will avoid paying the extra $100 from the mail-in rebate. Best Buy credit the rebate at time of your purchase.
The Droid requires a voice plan which runs $39.99 for 450 minutes and an unlimited data plan that runs $29.99. A text messaging plan is extra.
If your not looking to switch networks (iphone/att), the Verizon Droid is the best Android based phone on the market.
Picasa 3.5 Released with Facial Recognition
From the Picasa site…Picasa 3.5 now has name tags, based on the same technology that powers name tags on Picasa Web Albums. With name tags, you can organize your photos based on what matters most: the people in them. In this new version, you can also more easily geotag photos using Google Maps, plus import photos from your camera and upload them to Picasa Web Albums in one step. Get started by downloading Picasa 3.5 for PC or Mac at picasa.google.com
People
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Add name tags – Picasa 3.5 scans all the photos in your collection, identifies the ones with faces, and groups photos with similar faces together. It’s easy to add name tags to dozens of photos at once by clicking “Add a name” below a photo and typing the person’s name. Once you’ve tagged some pictures, you can make a face collage with one click, easily find all your pictures with the same two people in them, or upload your name tags to Picasa Web Albums. Learn more. |
Other Improvements
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Geotag your photos with Google Maps – Quickly add geotags using new integrated Google Maps by clicking the Places button in Picasa 3.5, and dragging your photos to the location where you took them. Of course you can stil use Google Earth to tag or view photos if you prefer. Learn more. |
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Import, upload, and share, all at once – We’ve improved the import process so that you can star your favorites, upload to Picasa Web Albums and share with Google contact groups at the same time. Learn more. |
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Tags — Better bulk tagging, quick tags & tag counts – We’ve also improved the tagging experience. Just click the new Tags button on the right side of the Photo tray to add Quick tags  , see tag counts for groups of images, and manage tags more easily. Learn more. |
Google Voice – Get Invited!
It’s not new news, but it’s good news. Google has come out with another great application. After reserving 1 million phone numbers, Google Voice is ready to use. Google Voice is like having your own personal PBX…and its free!
Check out the key features:
One number for all your calls and SMS
Voicemail as easy as email, with transcripts
More cool things you can do with Google Voice
The voicemail transcription and sending via email or SMS (text) is possibly the best feature. I use the caller screening which is great for unknown numbers. It asks the caller to state their name. You can send a call to voicemail then secretly listen in.
Then call forwarding…I set my office phone to forward to my new Google Voice number, from their I have Google Voice forward to my cell phone. In doing so, I able to use all the Google Voice tools on calls to my office phone number through my cell phone.
Get an Invite. Don’t get discouraged, it took about two weeks to get my invite. You’ll be glad you did. After you’re invited, you be able to pick your own phone number form their possible 1 million numbers.
Cool New Technology – Accuvein
Every once in awhile I venture away from the topic of social networking to bring you advancements in technology. This is one of those posts.
Ever had blood drawn from you arm only to find out the nurse can find a vein? Never again with new technology from http://www.accuvein.com.
As stated on their website, AccuVein strives to make every vein puncture successful on the first attempt by revolutionizing vein location through our new patent pending technology.
See more videos here: http://www.youtube.com/user/AccuVein
Time Warner Cable Sucks…for the last time.
We’ll, I’ve decide to terminate my long term relationship with Time Warner Cable (TWC). 
We’ve been together close to 18 years. I wish I could say”it’s not you(TWC), it’s me”, but I would be lying. The beginning of the end started with a new TV last 2 years ago.
Back in 2007, I went down to the local TWC office and picked up what I thought was a new HD DVR cable box. Come to find out later, nobody gets a new box. Of course, the box didn’t work after I got it home and hooked up. A day later and quite a few customer support calls, I was able to get the service working. If I remember correctly, this was the same experience I had setting up prior cable boxes with TWC.
Now to the current year, another TV and another cable box. As before, my first attempt resulted in the same experience. I was pissed but got over it shortly. Fast forward two months. The cable box just stops working, I get basic cable but it’s like TWC doesn’t know the box exists. Yet another call to support with the result of scheduling a tech to come out or taking another trip to the local TWC office. I decide to go back to the TWC office. Bad choice.
Before I signed off with the support rep, I asked for some type of discount or credit for my troubles. She was kind enough to offer a week credit on the box. This sounded good and I would have been please until…the rep said it wasn’t much, only $1.98. What? I asked how much it cost to send a tech to my house. $100? She said, ”no, much more”. Now I’m fired up. I’m saving TWC over $100+ dollars by not having a tech come out and they are so thankful they give me $1.98. #?!# Oh, and she put me on hold for another 5 minutes while processing the $1.98 credit.
Now start the thoughts of changing to ATT U-Verse.
I go the the TWC office and get another (not new, not even clean) box. I asked “are you sure this one will work?” My mistake. I got home and hooked it up let it sit for one hour as instructed before turning it on. An hour later, I pressed the power button. You guessed it, it won’t turn on.
Now I’m really pissed. Calmly I called the local TWC office, only to get a call center somewhere out of state (but on-shore). I was instructed the local office has no phones…r-i-g-h-t…. Now I need to go back to the TWC office…pissed off.
Luckily, I was car-less (another post later). I had some time to call ATT and check out their offering. ATT quoted me a price cheaper than TWC for the same service. They also provide another $150 in cash back and gift cards. I inked the deal.
A calm came over me. No longer would I have to deal with the poor service of Time Warner. I have a new relationship to nourish. Goodbye Time Warner, hello ATT!
I’ll let you know what I think of the ATT U-Verse service after a few months.
Tags: Customer Service
See If You Qualify for a Discount on Your Cell Phone Bill
Here’s an article on on to save some money on your cell phone bill.
Try these:
How to score a discount on your monthly cellular bill [jkOnTheRun]
Just find your carrier (links are all provided) and figure out if you are eligible.
I gave it a try, we’ll see if the discount actually show’s up.
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