Wary of New Technology... You Should Be

Verizon tweeted this article -- Wary of New Technology? I liked the beginning because it gave me more information about something I heard about -- the evolution of phone numbers. However, the end of the article is another thing. It's a marketing article.

Droid Incredible FINALLY Updated

After numerous tries the Verizon way and two tries the Android Forum way, I've finally been able to update my Droid Incredible phone with it's latest system update. Thanks to the people on the internet, not Verizon.

The Verizon way was to wait for them to push the update to your phone. If the update does not succeed, it puts you back on the queue for the next push wave. I got the push about 4 times. Once even when I was at Disneyland. None of those updates worked. First time was not enough storage. All the other times was a hung phone doing nothing.

Okay, I will not ding Verizon Customer Support on not helping as I did not bother calling them at all. I'm glad I didn't as reading the members who did call Verizon was unable to get help where the solution was not "Factory Reset".

I decided to seek my help on the internet as I seem to find many of my answers there. The members of the Android Forum gave me all the help I needed. I found them by searching for "droid incredible system update stalls".

It brought me to this 1st step in performing the system update:
Second GB Update/Patch Won't Reboot Issue - SOLVED!

Then I had to perform one of the steps in this post:
For those who want the second GB update/patch
I found that I needed to do Method III. In order to make the date stick, I chose the prior month of next year.

The bummer out of this process was that I needed to removed some apps, clear some data and cache in order to clear up storage that the phone supposedly needed and then repeat the steps above again. I guess I deleted enough to only repeat the above steps once more.

Crossing my fingers that this update clears up problems I've been having with the camera phone. Hope it's not the bigger storage card I installed. It now has a 16 gig card. The user manual said it could handle it. Hope it's not the new extra battery I'm carrying now in case I needed extra power while I was doing a mileage run.

Maybe it's telling me I should be looking at new smart phones as I'm up for freebie credit for new phone in 4 months.

Count Me In for the "No DRM" Camp

I never had problems with DRM (Digital Rights Management) ebooks.

I've been reading ebooks since 2005 when a co-worker showed me her Treo. I had a Sony Clie then, and they both had the same operating system -- Palm OS. 5 years of reading ebooks with no problem.

I started worrying when Palm decided to come out with a new operating system in 2009. Palm said new OS will still run old programs. This did not sound good. Hopefully, Palm or its software developers would come up with something better as I would not be changing my device for another year.

It's a year later. Palm is not doing good. It was being trounced by iPhone and new Android devices. Latest scoop, Palm has been acquired by HP. Who knows what's going to happen? No worries, I've jumped Palm ship. Instead of trusting Palm, I was hoping the owners of eReader and Mobipocket would come through with software on the Android platform. iPhone is not in my future because of carrier and poor NYC service area.

What really pushed me to not become a fan of DRM was the acquisition of an iPad last month. Yes, I wrote that I was not going to get one, but I have one. Since I had over 600 ebooks that were DRMed eReader (.pdb) and Mobipocket (.prc), I wanted the ability to read them on the iPad. I had to de-DRM the books in order to convert them into another format that could be used on the iPad.

After the iPad acquisition, I got a new phone -- an Android one. Mobipocket did not come through on Android. eReader did. Regardless of these two vendors, I was able to find a reader software that enabled me to read my DRM books -- iReader. I'll still be testing other software until I find one that I'm totally happy with.

Another ebook headache -- I've not been able to buy any books from my preferred vendor, Fictionwise. They are waiting for their distributor, Ingram, to iron out the agency-model pricing with the publishing houses. There goes the idea of acquiring books from a single place as I've not been able to buy a book for two months nor download some of my purchased books. In the meantime, I'm buying from other vendors. I still need to read and am no longer purchasing physical books.

Regardless, the books I buy belong to me. I do not want to be locked down on which device or format I'll be reading my books. Nor do I want a vendor to control where I get my books and where I can read them either. I'll be de-DRMing all my books so I can convert them into any format to read on any device I want.

This customer is QUEEN!

My new adventure is working with Calibre, library management software, to load and convert my ebooks that are constantly growing. I also need to figure out what device has what :)

New Phone, Current Plan - I WIN :D

I was scared. I thought I had to change my mobile plan.

I took the plunge and got the Droid Incredible. When I was completing the online "paperwork" to switch my phone, it told me I had to add a data plan. No data plan, no phone order. The thing is my current phone plan has the data part in it already. Was the company going to add an additional charge to my current plan. This would mean I would be charge for data access twice. Would it mean I would have to change my current phone plan, too?

The online chat rep came on and asked if "it" could help. I asked it my question and it said "Yes". I would need to change my plan as my current plan is no longer offered. Okay. I want the new phone so I'll change my phone plan, too. The online "paperwork" would not let me change my phone plan and phone at the same time. What numb skull thought of this great idea? I would need to submit two different orders.

Well, whatever numb skull it was, you have my gratitude.

I was going to submit another order to change my phone plan, but I was unsure whether I needed to do it immediately. I still had to wait for the ship of the Droid and my Palm Centro still needed the current plan. If I did submit the order, when would Verizon make the change? I hate bills that contain pro-rate charges.

I decided to wait until I got my new mobile bill. I did not get charged the extra data plan! I still have my current plan! Someone in the back office, or else smart programming, figured out my current plan has the data part in it and did not need another data plan added to my account.

Why am I so happy?

My current plan is cheaper than the new stuff. It would have cost me $10.00 more a month if I switched my plan.

New phone, current plan -- I WIN :D

Argggh, can't make up mind

My cell phone contract came up for renewal last month. I can get a new phone for free or at a discount price. I know I'm staying with the same provider. Just can't make up my mind about the phones. Why are some of them bigger? They are suppose to be getting smaller and lighter!!! Not the other way around. Darn all those new fangle features.....