Belkin WeMo gets full IFTTT treatment
by Volker Weber
I have been running a two sensor, three switches WeMo installation for a few months now. My only complaint was that IFTTT only supported one sensor and one switch. This has changed as of last week. Now you can use all your WeMo components.
A week with the BlackBerry Q10
by Volker Weber
Last week, at BlackBerry Live, I traveled with three devices: the Yoga 11 as my typewriter, the Lumia 920 as my camera, and the Q10 for everything else. Bottom line: if I had to return all BlackBerrys but one, I would keep the Q10. It has all the Z10 goodies, plus a keyboard, and it holds much nicer.
Editor-refuses-to-give-it-back award.
Think your Skype messages get end-to-end encryption? Think again!
by Volker Weber
there's a widely held belief—even among security professionals, journalists, and human rights activists—that Skype somehow offers end-to-end encryption, meaning communications are encrypted by one user, transmitted over the wire, and then decrypted only when they reach the other party and are fully under that party's control. This is clearly not the case if Microsoft has the ability to read URLs transmitted back and forth.
36 hours travel - before and after
by Volker Weber
This is what life felt before my return from Florida. I was expecting a 16 hour return trip since I could not get on LH465, but United Airlines managed to turn this into 36 hours. In the end I felt like this: traveling in style, but exhausted.
Shortly after I arrived, there was a knock on the door. And a delivery. Not from United.
Two nights at home, and I am my normal self.
No Apple vs. Samsung debate here
by Volker Weber
Samsung earned industry praise for estimating that it expected to ship 10 million units of its flagship Galaxy S4 to carriers in its first month on the market, six months after the same journalists voiced disappointment that Apple had sold "only" 5 million iPhone 5's in its first 3 days.
About twenty years ago, on Fidonet, I founded an echo (a newsgroup, a board) to discuss OS/2 without advocacy. Much as I have done for Windows before. I just cannot stand these debates.
If you have a Z10, watch these
by Volker Weber
BlackBerry Q10 headset
by Volker Weber
BlackBerry gave me new earbuds with the Q10. They have the flat cable you may have seen with Monster or Nokia headsets. They are quite good because they do not tangle. While the earbuds themselves fit nicely and comfortably, the sound is quite lacking. Without an ear canal seal, these little buggers can't produce a decent bass.
Travel Infrastructure
by Volker Weber
This is vowe's mobile home base. It needs a single power socket and it supplies power to two mobiles (Lumia 920 and Q10), one notebook (Yoga 11) and an access point. So far it has not raised any airport security eyebrows.
- Belkin dual band travel router
- Belkin power strip with two USB ports
- Lenovo Yoga 11 power brick and US power lead
- Two Nokia DC-16 batteries
- Two retractable Belkin USB cables
- Two BlackBerry Micro-USB power plugs
I carry one additional 2.1A power charger, in case a device does not charge from the 750 mA power plugs. The power strip provides an additional two USB ports, and most in-room TVs also have a USB port.
The Nokia batteries not only provide emergency power to the mobiles but they also make the travel router work everywhere. If I find an Ethernet cable, I don't need power next to it. There is one more cable not in the picture: HDMI-HDMI with HDMI-MicroHDMI adapter, so I can watch TV from the Yoga or the Q10.
Fifty Five
by Volker Weber
Photo: Derek H. Pokorny
Nokia introduces a new feature phone platform
by Volker Weber
Nokia is finally getting ready to leave Series 40 feature phones behind. The Asha 501 is the first device built on a new platform based on Nokia's Smarterphone acquisition. Originally the company had higher aspirations with a new operating system developed in their Ulm/Germany lab. When this effort was killed, I did not know what other plans besides Series 40 Nokia had. This has changed today.
The Asha 501 is a low cost phone with very diminutive specs. QVA display, 2G radio for instance. But if you ever used the iconic N9 MeeGo handset, you will recognize a lot of similarities in the UX. What's astonishing here is the agility of its user interface.
This is not a first world handset. It works on spotty 2G networks with as little data as possible. Nokia uses the Xpress browser which transcodes and compresses data on a proxy. If you have a Lumia phone, you can use the same technology to save bandwidth.
The big elephant in the room is Facebook. 90 carriers worldwide are set to provide free access to Facebook on the new Asha 501 phone. This is the Facebook phone that is going to bring a hundred million new users.
Time for a new Lumia
by Volker Weber
Very much looking forward to next week's announcement. I am hoping for a 920 replacement. The front camera on mine has become unusable.
GROUP Business Software AG: Anzeige nach 92 AktG
by Volker Weber
Frankfurt am Main, 08.05.2013 - Der Vorstand der GROUP Business Software AG (ISIN DE0005104509/ WKN 510450) teilt mit, dass nach dem derzeitigen Stand der Jahresabschlussvorbereitungen bei pflichtgemäßem Ermessen ein Verlust in Höhe der Hälfte des Grundkapitals der Gesellschaft angenommen werden muss (§ 92 Abs. 1 AktG).
YouTube on Nokia Lumia
by Volker Weber
Finally, a decent YouTube app. Now look at this: a download button.
And yes, you have to watch the video.
iPhone leidet. Aber es geht nicht kaputt.
by Volker Weber
Not so Fitbit
by Volker Weber
This is a Fitbit Zip. You attach it to yourself and it will track your activity. Well, not really. It's just a fancy pedometer, because that is the only activity it understands. It does not understand what is going on when I am on my bike. Sometimes it will record 3000 steps for a short trip and then 1500 for a very long one. It will calculate some derivative data like calories burned or distance traveled, but that's all just secondary.
Pro: it is tiny. You can attach it to your belt or just put it in your pocket.
Con: it's not rechargeable. You need to replace its 2025 battery when depleted.
Do I sound disappointed? Sort of. I am not going to track myself every day. I am just going to use it when I am walking a lot at trade shows or conferences. Would a bracelet like the Fuelband, an UP or the Fitbit Flex be better? Probably not. I would just have to wear an annoying thing on my wrist.
Belkin Fastfit vs. Logitech Ultrathin
by Volker Weber
Belkin hat mir eine neue Tastatur geschickt: FastFit Schutzhülle mit Tastatur. Das Konzept ist ähnlich wie beim Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard. Ein Deckel für das iPad, der eine Tastatur enthält. Man trennt die beiden und stellt das iPad in eine Halterung. Das Bekin Fastfit hat zwei davon, für unterschiedliche Anstellwinkel. Es hat außerdem einen größeren Hub, so dass die Tasten weiter nachgeben.
So weit, so gut. Mein Problem: ich kann auf dem Belkin schlechter schreiben als auf dem iPad Glas. Read on.
Two ads
by Volker Weber
Compare the two ads. You will like one better.
Wolle Kindle kaufe?
by Volker Weber
Beim Kauf eines Kindle, Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD oder Kindle Fire HD 8.9 erhalten Sie den Kindle für nur 49 Euro dazu.
A week with the S4
by Volker Weber
The Q10 was not the only new phone last week. Samsung made the Galaxy S4 available, updating its hugely successful S3. It looks very similar and you have to place them side by side to see the difference. I find it much nicer than people suggested. However, much like an elephant, I like to look at it once in a while, but I would not want to own one. Read on ...
A week with the Q10
by Volker Weber
I put my hands on a Q10 about three months ago. Actually three and a half months ago. And I was not interested at all. It seemed old, like an old BlackBerry. As much as I love the BlackBerry Bold 9900, its software is dated. And there I had the shiny new Z10, the bPhone. I saw it again two weeks later, in Amsterdam, and was given an extensive demo by BlackBerry. Still, no Q10 for me. The Z10 had my attention. Then I received a note that I was eligible to receive a Dev Alpha C, which is a boxy version of the Q10. Six weeks delivery. Yawn.
And then, last week, I got the final product. First impression: this does not feel at all like the prototypes I had seen. This was good. I put a new SIM into the Q10, because I wanted to use it at the same time as the Z10, going back and forth between the two. Hah! I have not touched the Z10 once.
The Q10 has all the benefits of the Z10. And then some more. Like keyboard shortcuts to jump between messages. You get a physical keyboard and good suggestions. It's easier to wake up, since you don't have to swipe a long screen but a much shorter one. The screen is where your thumb wants to be. Very easy to reach everything on the smaller screen. I have charged the Q10 every second day without a problem. Whenever I write something, I just drop the other phone (Galaxy S4) and get the Q10.
Editor-refuses-to-give-it-back award. Big time.
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