A very long time ago, one of my very first posts to my blog was my Palm Treo History.  A malicious hacker deleted that folder along with others and that post is lost forever.  But I did get to thinking that maybe I should lay out my Cell phone history to include before and after the Treo and capture that here. So without further adue, here we go.

Sprint Brick: Yea, this one was my first!  I debated getting a bag-phone.  I ended up running with this one because I felt it more "portable".  I remember the plan was $30.00 per month and it included 30 "anytime" minutes.  Weekends were free and Sprint was the provider!  The best I remember anything past the allowable 30 minutes was something like $0.45 a minute!  We carried it everywhere but used it rarely!  I actually gave this phone away to a girl who wanted to walk around the Mall pretending to talk on it, just for laughs.  We've come a long way baby . . . .  

 During this time, I had a PDA!  it was a Palm IIIx.  I think the x meant that it was double the RAM/ROM of the original III series.  I can't remember if that was 4 or 8 megs of Ram.  But with that said, I used this device. I used it daily and never left home without it!  It would become my organizer and I was constantl tweaking, installing, uninstalling, and playing with this device! 

I dropped the III one day and cracked the screen. But that was not that big of a deal as I had been eyeing a device that offered 16,000 colors vs the grayscale unit I had been using.  In fact, it had come down in price to be just a little more than what I originally gave for the III.  This was called the IIIc.  And the "C" stood for Color! 

Six weeks to be more exact!  I really intended to write this closer to the one month mark, but I have been wide open, with several different projects, with not a lot of free time, and it's only because of inclement weather here in Northeast Tennessee that I am sitting down now to write this. Do I still like the TyTN II?  Yes, I still like it!  But there are things about it, that I don't like for sure!  Lets start with those:

• Email:  Attention developers!  Windows Mobile needs a reliable, easy to use, IMAP capable email client!  I guess Flexmail has won awards because its better than anything else available, but it sure don't come close to Chatteremail for the Palm OS.  I have found this email client awkward for multilple email accounts, and not very easy to navigate in General.  IMAP works, but it could work better!  For example, why can't I get different ringtones for different accounts, with different vibrations?  Currently when mail comes in, I am pecking 4 diferent inboxes to see where I just got mail.  I am telling you, take the Chatteremail user interface and copy it in everyway you can!  I can accept the file size limits and mark for download without a problem.  I just find email in general very limiting compared to what I have had. And I would love for this client to be able to "self Launch". If for any reason, I reset, then I have to manually turn it on.  With Chatter, I could set it to launch when the Treo booted up! I also have a problem with the home screen.  I have an email icon, but its tied to the default email app.  This is now wasted space on my homescreen as it no longer works. 
• Messaging:  Flexmail can handle messaging!  So can Palm's own mail client!  These are both tied in directly to "Mail" I purchased a standalone app to allow me to better manage messaging.  Its nice to look at, and "finger" friendly!  But it doesn't recognize html addeys.  I use Twitter and the links that people are sending are no good.  I can't even copy/paste them into a browser . . .  If someone can recommend a decent messaging app, I am all ears!
• Phone App:  I appreciate that Microsoft's Phone interface is "finger" friendly!  But what I am after is something a little more versatle.  For example, favorites: I can only have nine persons in my quickdial list.  If your not as popular in my book, then you have to go into my "Contacts" list so that probably means I am not going to call you often.  The reason is that from my favorites, I have to go to contacts, and there are a lot of contacts here! Yea, I can use the scrolling feature, or type in part of your name, but that takes two hands, so forget it while I am driving. 
  
• Built in weather app: There is this very cool, very attractive weather app on the today screen.  But its limited in the cities that are available.  The closest city to me is 90 miles away, so that makes it not very accurate for weather.  I have read about hacks, but those hacks have not helped me as this data is being pulled from Accuweather's world site and my city/zip is just not available on this site.  More wasted space on the today screen.

Now that I have the venting out of the way, lets talk about the pluses . . . .

•   GPS:  To have this GPS with me everywhere I go is just handy!  This is a very large plus and I know its becoming more common in phones in general!  I say great!  I have used this as my only GPS and on a recent trip to Nashville, compared it to my Tom Tom One 3rd edition.  I believe the Tom Tom one is a little faster and overall, more friendly, but its an extra device!  I hope one day soon to get them up both side by side to show you the differences.
  
• Sliding Keyboard/Tilting Screen:  What a great design!  I love typing on this phone!  I can whip out a message pretty darn quick with the keyboard and the text recognition feature. This was a big concern with me, leaving the Palm Treo design with the keyboard right on the front of the device.  But I have to say, when I need the keyboard, its almost effortless to access it!  And when I am done, its just as effortless to close it!
  
• Calendar: I thought the Palm Calendar was pretty good . . .  But the TyTN's is much more intuitive and syncs with no effort.  For example, I am at work, with my TyTN hooked up to my computer.  I accept a new meeting request and within seconds, its on my TyTN!  I don't resync or push any buttons.  It automatically adds the calendar to my TyTN!  And it adds location, notes, etc on its own!  Very nice feature that I am enjoying!
• Volume:  This thing is loud!  I don't care if I am listening to a podcast, or talking on it! Nice!  I also like that out of the box I can add MP-3 ringtones and trim them with the included trimming app!  With the Treo, this would have meant adding a 3rd party app, and then using Audacity to trim the song on my computer. 
  

Overall, I am enjoying my new device!  And if I didn't sound like it, be assured that I have no regrets of leaving the Palm OS platform! But I do miss a few of Palm's features!  Email and phone features being the largest ones. But lets not forget that Palm has its own set of shortcomings that I am not covering in this article. I have used WiFi on the TyTN, but not a whole lot. Its one of those features that is not a necessary, but when you use it, you are sure glad you have it!  I also like the scroll wheel on the side.  Depending on the screen you are on, this goes a long way on making this device a one handed device. I also like the camera.  Its a little awkward, but compared to the camera phone I used to have, its a camera that I can actually use a picture or two that I take with it! I like it that I can use a USB cable to hook it to any computer!  No special cables to buy or keep up with!  In fact, I probably have about 5 digital camera USB cables that I can use.  This unit is a very quality unit!  I have said it before, but I like the feel of it in my hands.  Yea, its heavy, but the feel of the buttons and the lines makes this a very well-built device.  So the bottom line: I am enjoying my new TyTN II! 

If you are a long time follower, you know that I use Joomla to manage my content here at Just Duke!  I can't say enough about what a powerful application Joomla is!  Best of all, its open source with a very active, and very helpful community!  Since its open source, I have tried to give just a little bit back to the community by tweaking and building templates for others to use!  I have been testing Joomla 1.5 for a few months now and although I have yet to migrate any of my sites to 1.5, I thought it was time to build a template.  Introducing Stone:

If you would like to see a demo of this, I currently have it up and running here .  And as I do with all my templates, you can download Stone here at Just duke by clicking this link .  

 Dells goal is to trim $3 Billion in costs and will involve more job cuts than what was recently announced to be around 8,800!  Michael Dell said Wednesday that his company's management had "identified a very significant opportunity" to cut costs, and that it was "aggressively going after it".  Dell wouldn't say how many would get the ax in the end, only that it would be more than the 8,800 previously announced. Motoroloa on the other hand, just can't seem to get past the tough times!  They announced yesterday that its laying off another 2,600 workers to bring the grand total of layoffs since 2007 to 10,000!  Motorola has been trying to turn its Business around and recently announced that its going to split its mobile phone business which will probably mean even more cuts down the road. 

Remember when these companies offered 1st rate customer service and innovative products?  I remember when they were a leader in their fields!  There was a time when I wouldn't own anything other than a Dell computer because it was rare I had a problem and if I did, I got to speak to someone who's first language was English!  When support moved to India, I started shopping for price considerations only as I figured whats the difference? 

Poor Motorola!  Once they touted winning the Malcolm Baldrige award!  An award that stood for quality products, and great quality control!  The Razr changed the way the world looked at what a cell phone could be.  And then, like Palm, they sat there, on top of the World, only to get knocked off by the likes of Samsung, LG, HTC, and others.  What happened to them?  The Q was a step in the right direction for sure!  It wasn't enough.  Lets hope both of these companies figure out how to journey back to what made them great companies to start with!

Yet another sign that our nation is in recession.  There are rumors everywhere that AMD is laying off 5% of its workforce.  That is guesstimated to be around 800 employees. AMD has struggled recently to compete head to head with Intel and as a result have made some Boo-boos. So when the economy turns, I guess its companies like AMD that are the first to show it.  This is not OFFICIAL!  But it is sounding like it is true.  We should know for sure by Q1 results at the latest!  Here is hoping and praying that 800 persons find bigger and better jobs in short order!

Years ago my family spent a lot of time in a motorhome. We had some really good times for certain.  My wife had some sickness in her family and it sat in our driveway for about a year not getting used so I sold it.  I made the comment that one day I would buy another. Well, through circumstances that I won't elaborate on, that time has come!  This was a deal I just couldn't refuse!  This isn't new, but its like new, low miles and in perfect condition. I plan on using this often, so maybe its time for a new category to be added here at Just Duke; Travels . . . .

Several more pictures of it can be found here. 

 High Tech Computer has joined Intel's efforts to develop Mobile Internet Device Products and the company is expected to launch their first product with handset functions this year, according to sources in Taiwan's handset industry!  What does this mean?  It could mean that we finally see a true alternative to the laptop . . . Let me explain. 

Currently mobile devices are built upon what is called in the industry an ARM processor.  But  Mobile Internet Devices use the x86 architecture. Windows PCs all are built upon the x86 platform.  There are many MID devices available today!  But most are not exactly what one would call pocketable.  And I don't expect HTC's first one to be either!  But I am betting that its only a matter of time before we see an x86 based mid the size of the TyTN II.  And that could be mobile world changing!  The x86 platform could mean that software designed for your windows PC may be compatible with your handset!  Michael Chen, director of INtel's Embedded Sales Group, in Asia Pacific, is already claiming that these devices will perform much better than the current ARM based devices!

I don't expect the World to migrate to this platform this year, but I am betting in two-three years, most smartphones offered will be built using the x86 platform.  Intel also has a 2nd generation platform scheduled for 2009, and thats when I expect things to get really fun! Even with voice functionality, the prices of second-generation MID devices are also expected to more competitive than the current generation of MIDs which are mostly available in prices ranging from US$599-799, according to market sources.  If your wondering where the future of mobile computing might lie, my guess is its with Intel's MID x86 processors and HTC's first generation devices.

 So people are walking down the street so absorbed with their texting that they are getting injured walking into things.  This has prompted the UK based Charity Living Streets  to break out Lamp Post Pad in Brick Lane, London.  If all goes well then plans are to roll out the idiot proof system in other areas of London.  Now just how stupid is this?  Where does this end?  Will double decker buses also be outfitted with padding?  I am sorry, but you can't engineer for every scenario.  You can't prevent "Stupid", no matter how hard you try . . .