I'd love to but it's a money thing, cecily.
- Spidra Webster
That's the top of the space museum.
- cecily
from iPhone
Ok, I have to admit, you're making me homesick with shots like theses, Cecily :)
- Micah Wittman
Ah, cecily, I was hoping to be in Vanc on Saturday for the BC Browncoats Holiday meetup, but I can't be there now. It's at the MacMillan Space Centre if you're interested - I can send you the link :)
- WorldofHiglet
Fans of Joss Whedon's Firefly sci-fi series and the resulting film, Serenity.
- WorldofHiglet
For some reason I thought you also lived in Vanc, WoH.
- Spidra Webster
Ah. If I had to ask, I probably shouldn't go.
- cecily
from iPhone
They would welcome you, cecily, but the whole thing would make a LOT more sense if you had seen the shows!
- WorldofHiglet
You should watch Firefly (it's on Hulu now I think?) and go! Damn, it looks like the whole show isn't up anymore. One of the best eps is going to expires in just a few days. It's called "Our Mrs. Reynolds" and stars Christina Hendricks who's now doing "Mad Men". http://www.hulu.com/firefly
- Spidra Webster
I live in the Fraser Valley, Spidra, about an hour or so from Vanc. It's easier to say I live near Vanc because ppl generally know where that is (once they realise you mean the one in Canada).
- WorldofHiglet
Rats, I just realized Hulu keeps out furriners. I think you can still use Hotspot Shield to fool it, though.
- Spidra Webster
An ex tried to get me into Firefly, and I couldn't get into it. Also Hotspot Shield doesn't work with Hulu. I've tried.
- cecily
from iPhone
Well Micah, if you ever find yourself back this way, just say hello.
- cecily
Ive been to Vancouver Canada ... love it ..
- johnpiercy
One of these days, I'm going to cross the border and go to Vancouver. This is obligatory. Not that Seattle's all that far away, but still it's not *Vancouver*...
- Dennis Jernberg
I drove from Seattle to Vancouver one night. When I got near the city the sky line was this wonderful green color. Really cool. Seattle was OK but I think Vancouver is a much cooler city.
- John Flynn
Sounds good to me, Cecily. We were frequent flyers at the Langley library. I declare Dec 10th as Hug a Random Librarian Day :) (((cecily)))
- Micah Wittman
"U.S. journalist Amy Goodman said she was stopped at a Canadian border crossing south of Vancouver on Wednesday and questioned for 90 minutes by authorities concerned she was coming to Canada to speak against the Olympics. Goodman says Canadian Border Services Agency officials ultimately allowed her to enter Canada but returned her passport with a document demanding she leave the country within 48 hours."
- cecily
from Bookmarklet
It's not much of a trade. Y'all got to keep Naomi Klein (who is more of an annoyance than Amy Goodman, IMO).
- cecily
Oh geez. How about we ship 'em both to Australia. LOL
- Admiral Anika
""He was clearly incredulous that I wasn't going to be talking about the Olympics. He didn't believe me," Goodman said." - OK, it is seriously nuts how the Canadian customs & immigration people are about protecting the Olympics.
- Andrew C
Silver lining (well, unless you really dislike Goodman): ""Now that this happened, it has definitely piqued my interest and it's clear we should be looking more closely at the Canadian Olympics," said Goodman, who added she wondered what would have happened if she had been going to be speaking about the Games. "When people feel they can't express themselves freely, that's not healthy."" http://olympics.thestar.com/2010...
- Andrew C
Sadly she's preaching to the choir. This crackdown is going forward and I don't think there's anything we can do to stop it.
- cecily
from IM
Weight: solidly built, but dense. Smaller than it looks in pictures
- LANjackal
from IM
Physical Keyboard: I don't know what reviewers were complaining about, this is actually pretty damn good. The only part that's not so great is the optional protective hard shell makes the top row of keys a bit hard to press because it consumes the "overflow" space that your fingers would normally have
- LANjackal
from IM
On screen keyboard: OK, but there's not much reason to use it
- LANjackal
from IM
The only major niggle I have with the Droid is that so far I can't figure out how to make it vibrate to notify me of incoming SMS when the handset is locked and the ring volume is silenced. If I don't figure that out I'm gonna miss a LOT of text messages at work, which is not good :/
- LANjackal
from IM
All charged up! Despair's (my Droid's Bluetooth name) first night on the town. He's already texted one girl and called another from his Contacts, which is fully integrated with my Facebook account (profile, pics, email addresses, phone numbers). This last part is absolutely amazing. Wish us well, I'll tell you more tomorrow when we embark on a 16h bar crawl (no joke)
- LANjackal
WOW. I have never set a custom ringtone this easily in my life. 1)Drag and drop song into phone from Windows Explorer (where it shows up as removable disk). 2)Go to Music App, which automagically finds ALL songs on the phone, regardless of location 3)Select track 4)Select "Set as ringtone". DONE. A-mazing, especially for a Verizon device (walled garden anyone?)
- LANjackal
"...especially for a Verizon device (walled garden anyone?)" They would had to have fucked with normal Android functionality. Have you tried, "Ringdroid," I think it's called? -- for editing audio on the handset. Perhaps there's something better now.
- Christopher A Carr
Idk about that, don't need audio editing capability
- LANjackal
from Android
Google Navigation: perfection. Period. Integrates with browser which integrates with calendar so I can nav my way directly to GCal event locations
- LANjackal
from Android
My buddy BR just picked one up himself. Verdict: fucking awesome
- LANjackal
from Android
Wi-Fi: works awesome. Using it @ a pool hall now
- LANjackal
from Android
Good hardware, presently. I would flash a fancier ROM.
- Christopher A Carr
I'm not going to throw down money until there is a 1 GhZ device. Soon. In 1/2 years, people who have this phone are going to feel silly.
- Christopher A Carr
... or we'll just get a new one? Handsets are salable dude.
- LANjackal
Speed: (because Chris Carr brought it up). The Droid is plenty fast. Speed is not an issue.
- LANjackal
Battery Life: Very good, but I'd bring my charger if I were going out of town for a weekend (I always do that anyway, so I don't consider than an issue)
- LANjackal
Browser: Faaaast. I don't miss the pinch multitouch capability reviewers have been bemoaning the lack of, since the high resolution means that 95% of pages are readable as is in the first place, and there's a handy zoom-in/zoom-out icon that pops up at the lower right of the screen
- LANjackal
UNPLEASANT SURPRISE: That charging cable that you think is a mini-USB cable? It's NOT. I don't WTF the port on the side of the Droid is, but it won't accept any other cable than the one that shipped with the device. Disappointing, but not a dealbreaker IMO
- LANjackal
Fancier ROM idea: If you wanna go for it, sure. However, my phone is one of those device (like my car) that I expect to just WORK, 100% of the time. Don't wanna risk bricking it, but if you wanna do that go right ahead.
- LANjackal
Contact management: This is simply the best implementation thereof you will ever come across, not only on phones but on ANY device. Full syncing of Google Contacts and your Facebook friends (all relevant fields, even job titles and pics from Facebook profiles), automatic duplicate entry handling, with search, email ... you name it. This is one thing the Droid beats everything else at. No competition.
- LANjackal
Camera: It's not the best, but it'll do. Besides, cameras like those are merciful to those who aren't naturally photogenic like me.
- LANjackal
Audio quality: Angelic. I know this sounds like an overstatement, but wait till you hear it. The audio on this device is just stunning. Everything else you've ever heard will sound like static afterwards in comparison
- LANjackal
Does it use a regular audio connector, or a custom one like the older Android phones?
- Glen Mistletoe
from iPod
Visual Voicemail is great, but if you have an active Wi-Fi connection it won't be able to sync. Which it tells you nicely. Perhaps Google Voice fixes that problem. Beginning to wish I had a GV account now. Oh well. Invite, anyone?
- LANjackal
I still can't get over the monthly fee for visual voicemail. Sigh.
- Glen Mistletoe
That's only if you have a 450min plan. The one I have has VVM rolled in... I think. Billing info isn't very clear on that, I'll see what my first new bill looks like when it comes
- LANjackal
from IM
VZW has the weird setup where feature prices vary BOTH by plan AND phone. For example, VZ Navigator is free on some phones but paid on others. I *think* Visual Voicemail's included with the data plan when you get a Droid
- LANjackal
More on battery life: Charging takes a while (1.5h from 50% to full). Definitely enough for overnight, but people who rely on fast charge times will be in for a surprise. I'm really anal about charging, so I don't find this an issue. Less "responsible" users (read: college girls) whose phones are permanently "about to die" will run into trouble :P
- LANjackal
Hmmm, not true mini-USB, slight disappointment. How loud are the ringtones and the call itself? Do you think the phone will feel weird with an extended battery? Do you experience any lag that has been reported in apps? Can't wait to have in hand next week!
- manielse (Mark Nielsen)
Lan: You want a GV invite? Think I still have one or tww. How do you like Stanford pounding the shit out of Oregon? Wow.
- Christopher A Carr
Why do you say it's not true mini-USB? That contradicts what I've been told by a Googler who's been using the phone since August.
- Glen Mistletoe
It may be a smaller USB connector than the "mini" one I'm used to. Phone ringtones are LOUD. So is the call volume. I don't know any phone that doesn't feel weird with an extended battery.
- LANjackal
from IM
Lag: bear in mind that you're dealing with a mini-computer that happens to be able to make calls, not a phone in the traditional sense. As with a PC, the more apps you run, the more lag you may notice (1 -2s sometimes, "missed" touches). In normal operation with mission critical apps though, there is no lag. I'd STRONGLY suggest Taskiller though, as the OS never seems to really kill...
more...
- LANjackal
from IM
Battery Life Report: During a drinking marathon today filled with heavy use of web browsing, FB app friend adding, taking (and uploading) pics, texting, email checking, calling, hopping on and off free Wi-Fi, etc. the Droid lasted *drumroooooooollllll* 11 HOURS. Terrible for a phone, but pretty good for what's essentially a pocket computer. Word to the wise: the car charging kit? Get it. An extra USB cable for charging at work is a pretty good call too
- LANjackal
Correction about the USB connector. It's a micro-B one, NOT a min-B one, which is why the other cable I had wasn't working. So yes, it IS a standard USB cable. Sorry to have mislead anyone
- LANjackal
Nice feature: automagical backlighting that turns on and off in response to ambient light (even when going through shadows)
- LANjackal
Camera: I take back what I said about it earlier. This is pretty much the BEST party camera ever. Reviewers who complained about the pic quality were simply taking the wrong pics. No one uses smartphones to take pics of flowers idiots. They use 'em to take pics at parties. The important thing is how skin tone and color come out WITHOUT being too revealing (trust me, no one wants to see...
more...
- LANjackal
Battery life: so my buddy BR who got one is complaining about the battery life also. And his phone was almost always dead BEFORE the Droid, so I can only imagine what the situation is like now
- LANjackal
Another niggle: No character count for text message composition
- LANjackal
UPDATE: OTA update will fix the SMS character count problem (exactly how that passed internal testing, I don't know)
- LANjackal
UPDATE on Visual Voicemail: I checked with VZW today and it really does cost $2.99 extra per month. Thanks to Chris' Carr, though, I installed Google Voice, so I chucked VVM.
- LANjackal
Bug: Google Navigation may forget to use the speakerphone at times. I think this happens if you attempt to navigate while the phone is in portrait orientation
- LANjackal
On the no character count for test messages --- doesn't it show you how many characters you have left when you get close to the 160 allowed?
- Kevin Mohr
I read that it does, but so far I haven't sent anything that long so I haven't seen for myself
- LANjackal
Worried about the Droid's 11h battery life? 1) Get the car charger 2) Head over to Monoprice.com and get a micro-B USB 2.0 cable for your office for all of *gasp* <$3, shipping included. Then you'll be able to charge at home, in the car, and in the office.
- LANjackal
Wait, an extra fee for VVM? That's just as lame as the extra fee for VZW Navigator.
- Wirehead
Not if you were on a Premium plan like I was. VZ Navigator's free then. Unfortunately, Premium plans are unavailable for the Droid, so you have to drop down to a Nationwide Select plan and then tack on a data package. This keeps the service affordable, but it means that VVM's not included. Don't really get VZ's thinking behind this one, although they probably reason that anyone who's savvy enough can get Google Voice anyway while the "average" users will lose $36/year to VVM.
- LANjackal
Droid lost 3G functionality this morning. How to restore: 1) With Droid still on, remove battery for 15 seconds 2) Replace battery 3) Turn Droid on. 3G should be restored
- LANjackal
from IM
Guess who got his Droid set up on the office Wi-Fi and VPN today? It took all of 3 minutes, no management approval and just a verbal request to the IT guy. Turns out he got a Droid himself, so he breezed through the setup and handed it back to me. So yeah, if you were worried about joining domain networks and whatnot, don't be - the Droid is ready for work
- LANjackal
OK so after a few weeks of use, several bugs have become apparent:
- LANjackal
1) This probably applies to all smartphones that can run multiple apps simultaneously, but active task management is a serious necessity if you're a power user. That means manually killing apps/processes that you aren't using to prevent your phone from becoming laggy. I recommend the Task Manager app
- LANjackal
2) Switching between Wi-Fi and 3G sometimes isn't seemless. The Droid will sometimes forget it's a 3G device when moving out of Wi-Fi coverage, and similarly not automatically connect to a familiar network when it's within range.
- LANjackal
3) The micro-B USB 2.0 port has become really loose over numerous plug-unplug cycles. It's now possible to plug the device in and have nothing happen because the connections aren't being made (This is solved by a little jiggling). To be fair, most USB ports weren't designed for this many plugging cycles, but for a device that needs as much charging as this you'd *hope* the port was a bit sturdier
- LANjackal
4) Phone ringtone volume sometimes goes out of whack. Solved by simply re-entering the relevant menu, which seems to "remind" the handset what level it should be at
- LANjackal
5) Plugging the phone into an HP docking station before booting the laptop will cause the laptop to fail to boot. I'm not sure whose fault this is.
- LANjackal
1) Contrary to what the SF Gate guy said in that article I'm too lazy to link to, Google Navigate IS SAFE to use in the boonies. Verizon's 3G coverage is beyond amazing, I traveled through some of the most sparsely populated regions in the country today with no problems. The phone lost the GPS signal a few times (regained within seconds) but never lost 3G coverage
- LANjackal
"The scary thing for me is that it might be Brendan, if he chooses to go into hockey. I don't think it's fair the face of homosexuality in hockey should be a 20-year-old college kid, but Brendan is more than willing to be the guy, which awes me. I think it's a matter of when, not if, players and management start coming out.""
- cecily
from Bookmarklet
Can't believe Miami's response on this one. I find it weird to consider that they're as accepting about Brendan's homosexuality as it comes across in the ESPN article -- I went to school there, and it's hard for me to think of another public university as conservative and homophobic as Miami was. Maybe they've changed a whole lot since the mid 1990s, who knows.
- John Fink
Perhaps it says less about Miami U. than it does about how people's attitudes change when they personally know someone who is gay.
- cecily
from IM
The whole thing about "you are blah blah blah" really grated on me, when it went on for so long.
- DJF
@DJF - the Vancouver Sun used to have a guy who did the whole cut-rate Hemingway or second-person-perspective writing way too often. So I'm kinda used to grating writing styles in sports articles.
- Andrew C
Funny, it was the style that actually made me sit through and read a sports article to the end.
- cecily
from IM
I agree, DJF. But they I realize the journalist was probably using it to get people to empathize (esp. geared to people who probably have trouble empathizing until something's happened to them).
- Spidra Webster
Love this: "This messy, difficult thing is called innovation, and while it can cause angst for those who prefer stable dysfunctionality,"
- Polly Potter
I am eagerly awaiting Stephen's reply. I love ping pong!
- mita
Is some clever person out there compiling a list of all the responses? 'Cause I was just thinking I should do that, but perhaps someone has already started.
- laura x
It's supposed to teach you how to be resilient in the face of change. It is quite difficult for me because they are asking us to draw from life experiences and share with a room full of strangers. You might as well ask me to try to pull on a pair of size 6 jeans, because that's easier for me to do than this.
- cecily
from iPhone
i think it's dodgy when we're asked at work to share deeply personal experiences for the sake of group learning and team building. if i trusted you i'd tell you...and i don't. hope it wasn't as awful as it sounds.
- tara
Well, you could go as deep or as shallow as you cared to, but it just so happened that the change that is effecting me most right now is a deeply personal one. I felt really raw and exposed sitting in that room, and I didn't participate much because I didn't trust the people around me not to misinterpret what they were seeing.
- cecily
Sharing is nice! But being forced or pressured to share isn't sharing, it's theft or extortion or something. Or taxes, and resiliency workshops shouldn't be taxing.
- Deborah Fitchett
Yeah, I don't have a problem with sharing if I feel like I know and can trust the people I'm sharing with, but that wasn't the case here.
- cecily
from IM
Mr. 7 started an after-school karate self-defense class today. I want him to be very suspicious if the teacher starts passing out bananas.
- s t e v e
from Bookmarklet
Wait - Black Eyed Peas are the opening act for U2 on this leg of the tour? Guess who's not turning up at the show until 9:00 on the dot on Wednesday night?
I don't have a capslock key. All my computers have been reconfigured to eliminate it and make it a control key. I guess I'm stuck with typing properly all day.
- DJF