The Blackberry Pearl finally went through a wash cycle, and has died.

Long live the NEW BlackBerry (Tour 9630) !

So, yes.  I’ve got this new BlacBerry Tour 9630 smartphone I’m starting to play around with now.  Probably a bit overkill for what I need, but the main advantages (buying decision points) that it has over the Pearl are (in the order of importance to me):

1) Much larger screen size and resolution
2) 3.2 Megapixel camera (as opposed to 2) with autofocus and image stabilization
3) Longer battery life
4) QWERTY keyboard (finally)
5) 3G connection speed
6) GSM (worldwide) network service (although I probably won’t use this much)

The very FIRST things I’m enjoying are the new holster and belt clip that came with the box, as opposed to my old Pearl which had some flimsy  pouch thing which I discarded after the first day.  The lack of a good holster and clip was probably the MAIN reason my Pearl got dropped over a dozen times.

After the new phone was activated, I tried taking it and the Pearl to Sprint so the data could be transferred, but since the Pearl would not even power on, they said there was nothing they could do!  I found that VERY bothersome… I KNOW the data is probably on some chip, unharmed, or at least MOST is recoverable.  Another Sprint rep approached while I was making a fuss, and let me know that the Sprint techs there have very basic skills, perhaps capable of replacing a cover, fixing various small issues, but certainly nothing like unscrewing the phone mechanisms and getting to the motherboard where the internal data is stored.

He DID add one other bit of advice… telling me about Skydeck.com which is an online web site that can get access to your phone (Sprint, AT&T, Verizon), as well as  importing contact lists (directly from your phone, or Google, Yahoo, Hotmail, Outlook, MAC Address Book, and more).  From there it can keep sync’d to your phone, and always show up-to-date info about current contacts, as well as save/store all phone text messages, voicemail, calls, etc both incoming and outgoing. As well as provide you with a way to send messages from the site, or place calls via help from Google Voice using your computer, use a search function on all your text/voicemail, and more. Anyway, I got signed up today with Skydeck.com as well, and am very impressed this first couple hours of playing around with it.

Tomorrow I need to contact someone at AustexPCS to check on pricing of data recovery from the old Pearl.  Their card (and site) show quite an extensive list of services, including data recovery from water damaged phone.  Being the digital packrat that I am… I guess I am most interested in getting the 1.5 years worth of saved text messages off the phone, and certainly my always important contact/address list.  It is an extra hassle to have to find, download, and reconfigure ALL those nice Blackberry apps I already had set up on the Pearl, but I’m pretty sure nothing can be done about transfering my app configs (which includes GPS locations etc), but I’ll ask.  Ultimately, this is another FINE example of my growing lifestyle where I do not want to store data on any particular device, which could get lost or damaged…. data should be able to be stored (and sync’d) to remote places, as automatically as possible for safe, off-site storage/retrieval in a none proprietary way.

It looks like Google has a new app (Latitude) which will share your GPS location on a Google map, AND show you the locations of all your friends who are showing their locations too! Yippie!  I’ve wanted this from Google for a couple years now, and I think more friend’s phones are capable of GPS tracking.  Should add a lot of FUN to social networking :)  You should be able to see my live tracking map right under my main picture on the far left column of this blog site.

It’s late. I’m off to bed, but will add more to this post as I get more Apps set back up on the new phone.

I’ve recently found a new app for my BlackBerry Pearl which seems to do some great GPS tracking of my phone.  I guess I’ve been thinking it’s cool to have friends and family be able to “know where I am” at any given moment… perhaps get a better feel for closeness.  Also, the new app (GPSed) can store a route (collection of locations) and overlay that on to a Google Map.  Even better, when I take photos with my phone, another app (ITookThisOnMyPhone) will automatically upload the pictures and make them available online.  These two apps can talk to each other, so the pictures an up getting posted on the map right at the location they were taken!  Today was one of the first days I really started to get things working out smoothly.. so here is a link to the route/map/pics !  I’ve also got my account on Facebook linked up as well, so every time I create a new route, it’s posted for all friends to see.

Of course, there’s also a LIVE TRACKING MAP right here on this site (rock808.com) also… just look in the lower left, under the Green Navigation column.

David

As I’m starting to travel a bit more again I have been looking for cool/fun toys for being MOBILE.

twittervision:
I have talked about the twittermap.com site before, but actually I think my page on twittervision.com is more cool.  (Yes, both sites are from Dave Troy).  Not only does it show where I am at on the google map, but also shows SEVERAL of my last posts, in case you missed one or two.  Id REALLY like to embed the twittervision map and log to my rock808.com front page some how.  I looked at the API page a little, and found a cool way to update just my location from the Linux command line, but nothing about embeding the map and log…. yet.

facebook:
I have also decided to do more on facebook rather than MySpace.  I think they are providing more interesting things for people to do, and do together, and the fact that facebook has a mobile app for my BlackBerry, as well as a tool for using twittervision has just really boosted my desire to make the switch.  Facebook also seems to have a way for directly accepting my uploaded images.  I’ll have to see if I even need my ITookThisOnMyPhone account any more….. I’m really not happy about having to use all these various external websites for mobile social networking.  I know we are REALLY headed in that direction fast, but I’m technologically impatient.

More on all this later.  I’m pretty worn out from a couple days of long hours, so heading to bed.
Be sure to check out the map to see where I’m at and what I’m doing !

David

Another interesting idea is the NON RECIPROCAL Links Exchange System.

You might want to read more about it at the link above.

I just talked to a friend of mine over at MyTVmusings.com who has recently found an interesting new “game” to play which is suppose to help increase your blog ranking over at Technorati.com. So far (2 days) it seems to be working a little for her, but it also means she (and all others) will need to be posting a HUGE list of links every 30-60 days as a blog post.  Something I am sure any normal readers/subscribers of their blogs will not really care for.  So, I’ve come up with a little experiment that might just do the trick for her…. keeping the unsightly post away from her readers while still bringing the bonus of a higher ranking.

My little test starts with THIS blog post and I’ll keep you updated with how things turn out. (in the comment section here)

If this DOES work, I’ll have a new, spiffy way to increase blog traffic. :)

As I’m playing around with TwitterMaps more, I’ve found it does NOT seem to know where some zip codes are! Such as 78641. I’ve looked around at how to add zip codes, perhaps with a Lat/Lon value, but can’t seem to find anything. Does anyone know how to get zip codes added?

In my research, I came up with a couple very cool zip code map web pages, though! And I’ll share them here:

http://maps.huge.info/zip.htm – Google Maps mashup with colored area for zip code. (same API: http://www.usnaviguide.com/zip.htm)
http://www.city-data.com/zips/78727.html – Tons of city / zip population data, statistics, sex offenders, home sale prices, census information, etc. Notice the zip code there at the end… just put in the one you want. The main website city-data.com might be fun to check out too.

At least according to a few bloggers, including my newest Twitter friend Paul Walhus, who also lives in Austin. Paul has a recent post about Twitter’s ‘explosive growth’, which I’m not overly surprised to read about. This site/tool really does seem like it could be something VERY useful in helping friends keep in touch. It’s extremely easy to use, which is an important key factor. Just use your cell phone, IM client, or web page to send out a quick note about “what you’re doing now”, and anyone (or friends only) can get an instant update sent to THEIR phone, viewed on a web page, or through ay RSS reader. On the left side bar of this blog I have set up a live view of the Twitter feed from all of my “friends”, which is a nice and convient way for me to keep up with everyone.

I think one of the MOST interesting apps I’ve seen with Twitter so far is TwitterVision, a mashup of Google Maps and the public feed for Twitter members. Be sure to zoom out enough so that you don’t have to deal with map scrolling. It’s quite something to watch! You really get the sense of a community.

For another something interesting, you might try TwitterMap, and then punch in a search location (keyword) of something like “Austin, TX”, or “rock808″ for me. I just discovered that sending a Twitter message with “L: [location]” will put a marker on the map with my bit of text, or do the Twitter Search, and punch in “rock808″ for your search keyword.

Now THIS is getting fun!
Of course, only for those of us who don’t care about other people knowing what we’re up to, or where we’re at.
If you’d like, you can follow my Twitter feed by adding me.

LOL! Like, OMG! ICU….

Yes, I think i’ve found my new home. Stickam.com is a new site I was introduced to yesterday. I don’t know much about it yet, but so far it seems to be very much like MySpace, but even better for people with webcams! It’s extremely easy to jump in to a chat room with several other people (many of whom also have webcams), and suddenly you’re chatting away…. and with most the other bells and whistles you’d expect from a web2.0, social network site.

A few days earlier I had randomly stumbled across TokenBlackChic’s videos on YouTube, and found her to be an absolutely creative genius! Not just in her deep cutting sarcastic humor, but also her amazing marketing skills (whether she is aware of them or not). She posted a video “Bad Girls vlog II” the other day and mentions she’ll be LIVE on stickam. Well, duh… of course I’ll be there. Like which one of her 8500+ subscribers wouldn’t want to see if she is really as quick witted live as she appears in her vids.

Unfortunately, I was having some… uh… technical difficulties with my camera and windows audio settings (I had to go in to the Windows Recording properties change my recording device from “Mono Mixer” to “Mic”), also a set of headphones was important to kill the echo feedback. The bottom line? I missed her show… well… I DID see/hear a lot of it, but I was one of those lurker freaks peeping in from the outside window, unable to participate. — It wasn’t until after the show I realized clicking the magnifying glass icon was the way to get in!?

By now I was hooked! Stickam strikes me as the next BIG thing to take over MySpace (unless myspace adds the cam features which I’ll take about below). I poked around the site more. Looking for other people to join in these webcam chat rooms, and trying to learn more about the set up, and navigation, etc. I think the potential for networking and building relationships is substantially higher on a site like this where live video is involved. Everyone knows facial expressions and tone of voice play a MUCH larger role in communication than text. Yes, I think I’ve found my new home… at least until the virtual worlds take over in the next 5 years.

As for more tech specs on Stickam…. Like I said, I haven’t even been a member for 24 hours yet! So there is a lot I don’t know, but some of the features I like the best are things like the total ease of being able to get your video going live on the net. They have a way you can embed your live feed on any webpage (as shown in the left column of this blog). Unlike YouTube where you have to record and then upload your video separately, Stickam has a way for you to record a video from a link right on the site! I’ve never uploaded a personal video on YouTube . Mainly because it seems like more of a “production”. I know many people do just record and upload, but since I’m a bit more of a perfectionist, I haven’t taken the time.. blah blah… but I’ve already recorded 2 videos (very short) onStickam. Perhaps the reason for that also, is because after spending 9 hours in various webcam chatrooms, talking with people live… it did seem a lot more laid-back , personal.. and more like a COMMUNITY where I felt comfortable just putting out some non-prepared bit of video. In fact, it’s taking me a long time to write this blog post, where i could do it much faster, AND with facial expressions and tone of voice if i just recorded a short video blog (vlog).

Anyway, enough blogging for now. I’m going to try and be LIVE on Stickam as much as possible for a while (weekends excluded – as I’ll be at work), and see how I feel about it in a week or two. Feel free to watch from the cam link on the left column in this blog, or check out my stickam profile… and say HI.

I just signed up for a few new websites:

Wordpress.com – the official “hosted” site for the Wordpress blogging software. I doubt I’ll run much of a blog there, as I prefer to host my own sites – and you should too. (remind me to post WHY). Basically I NEEDED to sign up with them to get an API key for the Akismet spam blocker. I didn’t have to get my own blog on their site, but heck.. why not. Maybe I can use it to help promote / monetize my other sites.

Twitter.com – Seems to be a type of social networking site where you post (via phone, IM, or web) what you are currently doing, and your friends can then pick that up on some RSS feed…. even sent to THEIR phones… or displayed on their (or your) web pages. Looks like an interesting idea. Although might be a bit time consuming to always be posting what you’re doing. Not to mention if you post “too much”, then your friends might disown you due to spam! heh — We’ll see. For now, I’ve got a live feed showing on the left side of this blog. My page there is: http://twitter.com/rock808