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	<title>Joe Tech &#187; Communication</title>
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	<link>http://www.joetech.com</link>
	<description>Gadget reviews, technology news, software reviews, cool tech news</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:14:13 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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			<item>
		<title>How To Send An Anonymous Text Or MMS Message</title>
		<link>http://www.joetech.com/how-to-send-an-anonymous-text-or-mms-message/</link>
		<comments>http://www.joetech.com/how-to-send-an-anonymous-text-or-mms-message/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Jul 2010 06:33:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Joe Tech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Communication]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Just Cool]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[anonymous]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[email]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iphone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[phone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[text]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[txt]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.joetech.com/?p=2151</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So you want to send someone a text, but you don&#8217;t want them to know it&#8217;s you, eh?  Maybe you just want to have a little fun with a friend or you may have other reasons.  Whatever the case, it&#8217;s pretty simple to do.  Just follow the instructions below and you&#8217;ll be [...]


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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So you want to send someone a text, but you don&#8217;t want them to know it&#8217;s you, eh?  Maybe you just want to have a little fun with a friend or you may have other reasons.  Whatever the case, it&#8217;s pretty simple to do.  Just follow the instructions below and you&#8217;ll be leaving confused looks on people&#8217;s faces in no time.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4751395804/" title="President Obama Text Message by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4117/4751395804_0a059b45bf_o.jpg" width="455" height="298" alt="President Obama Text Message" /></a></p>
<h3>How To Email A Text Message</h3>
<p>First, you have to know their phone number and mobile carrier (AT&#038;T, Verizon, etc.).  Armed with a phone number and the list below, you should be able to easily figure out the email address to send a text message to your victim&#8217;s phone.</p>
<p>T-Mobile: phonenumber@tmomail.net<br />
Virgin Mobile: phonenumber@vmobl.com<br />
Cingular: phonenumber@cingularme.com<br />
Sprint: phonenumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com<br />
Verizon: phonenumber@vtext.com<br />
Nextel: phonenumber@messaging.nextel.com<br />
US Cellular: phonenumber@email.uscc.net<br />
SunCom: phonenumber@tms.suncom.com<br />
Powertel: phonenumber@ptel.net<br />
AT&#038;T: phonenumber@txt.att.net<br />
Alltel: phonenumber@message.alltel.com<br />
Metro PCS: phonenumber@MyMetroPcs.com</p>
<p>where phonenumber = your 10 digit phone number<br />
(Thanks to <a href="http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/939/sms_email_cingular_nextel_sprint_tmobile_verizon_virgin/">tech-recipes.com</a> for the list)</p>
<h3>Get A Fake Email Account</h3>
<p>The easiest way to do this is to head over to <a href="http://www.gmail.com">Gmail</a> and create a free account.  You want this free account because you&#8217;re only going to use it for this and you want to set up the name and address to be whatever you want.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4750726253/" title="gmail sign up by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4123/4750726253_06a401f3de_o.jpg" width="455" alt="gmail sign up" /></a></p>
<p>The screen shot above shows my new account as B Obama with an email address of prez-b-obama@gmail.com, but I eventually went with President Obama and notreallyobama@gmail.com.  Be creative.</p>
<h3>Send A Text Message VIA Email</h3>
<p>Now here&#8217;s the really easy part.  Just compose an email from your new Gmail account.  Send it to the address from the first step above.  You might even leave the subject blank to make it look more like a text.  The result might look like it did on my iPhone in the first image in this post, but be aware that some phones/carriers will display the email address, too, like my Verizon DROID Incredible below:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4751385222/" title="photo by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4095/4751385222_bb780a0291.jpg" width="455" alt="photo" /></a></p>
<p>You may also note that I tried to include an image on that one.  My iPhone didn&#8217;t show the image or even indicate that there was one.  The Verizon phone removed the image (and said as much) as seen above.  I&#8217;ve had mixed results on other carriers.  If you&#8217;re unsure, just do a test with another friend who&#8217;s on the same carrier.</p>
<p>With one more relatively simple step, you can actually spoof the email address as well.  All this means is that you&#8217;ll make the email look like it&#8217;s coming from a more convincing address.  In the past, this used to require some technical savvy and access to a server that would let you do it.  Now, it&#8217;s as simple as downloading a <a href="http://download.cnet.com/Family-E-Mail-Spoofer-Free-Version/3000-2367_4-10877723.html">free email spoofer</a> and installing it.  For me, this took about two minutes.  Take a look at the image below compared to the one above.  The one below shows a text that, to most people, looks like it came right from the White House.  Of course, with the email spoofer, you don&#8217;t even need the Gmail account, but I like to use both.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4750807829/" title="photo by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4141/4750807829_59c55cf1ec_o.jpg" width="455" height="189" alt="photo" /></a></p>
<h3>Share Your Results</h3>
<p>I&#8217;m interested in what you&#8217;ll all be sending to your friends/co-workers/family with this.  Let us know, below, about the fun you had and any reactions you got.  And remember&#8230; This is meant to be for fun with a couple friends.  Ultimately, stuff like this can get tracked back you you if you do something illegal with it.  You&#8217;ve been warned.</p>


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		<item>
		<title>How To Fix 3G Data After The iPhone IOS 4 Upgrade</title>
		<link>http://www.joetech.com/how-to-fix-3g-data-after-the-iphone-ios-4-upgrade/</link>
		<comments>http://www.joetech.com/how-to-fix-3g-data-after-the-iphone-ios-4-upgrade/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:51:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Joe Tech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Communication]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[3g]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[3gs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[broken]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Data]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Edge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[internet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IOS4]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iphone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Update]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[upgrade]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.joetech.com/?p=2141</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A couple days ago, I ranted on Twitter about how I was unable to even use 3G on my iPhone.  Already unhappy with AT&#038;T&#8217;s cellular reception, I was pointing my finger at the wrong people.  It seems there have been a lot of complaints about the IOS 4.0 upgrade killing 3G and Edge [...]


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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A couple days ago, I <a href="http://twitter.com/joetech/status/17068073872">ranted on Twitter</a> about how I was unable to even use 3G on my iPhone.  Already unhappy with AT&#038;T&#8217;s cellular reception, I was pointing my finger at the wrong people.  It seems there have been a <a href="http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2469934">lot of complaints</a> about the IOS 4.0 upgrade killing 3G and Edge data as well as MMS capabilities on the iPhone 3G S and that&#8217;s exactly what happened to me.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4743291642/" title="IOS4 3G Data Broken by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4081/4743291642_5ed3ccbd05_o.jpg" width="455" height="215" alt="IOS4 3G Data Broken" /></a></p>
<h3>Why Does IOS 4 Break iPhone 3G S Data?</h3>
<p>While some of my information comes from user speculation, some of it also comes from Apple support.  The general consensus is that the IOS 4 software doesn&#8217;t support the <a href="http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2283">Access Point Name (APN)</a> from the 3G S 3.1.x backup.  One person noted that Apple told them their old APN was corrupt, but it&#8217;s more accurate to say that some 3.1.x APNs are simply not compatible with IOS 4.</p>
<h3>Apple&#8217;s Solution</h3>
<p>Apple&#8217;s currently suggested solution will be fine for some and unacceptable for others.  Essentially, their solution is to eliminate the problem APN in the way that involves the least amount of technical knowledge: a factory reset.  The suggestion is to use iTunes to restore the phone as new which will download the factory IOS 4.  The problem with this is that you will lose all your data, settings, emails, saved games, etc.  On top of that, you&#8217;ll have to re-install every single application.  This is the easiest way for Apple and AT&#038;T to handle the issue from a support perspective, but it&#8217;s not a solution and it just creates a lot of headache for customers.</p>
<h3>Apple Forum Community&#8217;s Solution</h3>
<p>This solution was figured out by some iPhone users who didn&#8217;t want to wait for Apple to release a patch.  It involves creating a new APN without having to restore the whole iPhone as a new install.</p>
<p>1. Make sure your iphone is connected via wifi<br />
2. Head to <a href="http://www.unlockit.co.nz">http://www.unlockit.co.nz</a><br />
3. Follow the instructions.  It&#8217;ll need you to download a file.</p>
<p>The problem with this solution is that it doesn&#8217;t really fix the problem.  It does get you back online with the 3G network, but does not fix MMS and you can&#8217;t connect to the App Store.  While it&#8217;s a smart work around, it falls just a bit short.</p>
<h3>The Best Solution Currently</h3>
<p>Like the solutions above, this is just a work-around to resolve the problem for now, but it offers a decent compromise.</p>
<p>1. Backup your iPhone<br />
2. Restore to factory settings<br />
3. Restore to a backup you made BEFORE you upgraded.</p>
<p>The reason I like this solution over the others is that it restores full data access, MMS, Visual Voicemail, etc.  Additionally, I recovered most of my email, account settings, bookmarks, text history, etc.  I even got my photos back and my changed carrier ID that says &#8220;JoeTech&#8221; from when I was jailbroken.  The thing that makes this not the best solution over all is that I still have to manually re-install each and every one of my Apps.  I&#8217;ll look at this as a little house-cleaning, but it&#8217;s still annoying and time-consuming.</p>
<h3>The Real Solution?</h3>
<p>Ultimately, the real solution here is for Apple to send out a patch to fix the problem with IOS4 on older iPhones.  Will this happen soon?  I would hope so, but from what I&#8217;ve seen, there&#8217;s no official acknowledgment of this issue from Apple.  I need my data now, so I&#8217;ve opted for the best work-around.  If you can wait for your 3G data and do everything over wifi, that might be a better option as you&#8217;ll have an official fix and you will not have to re-install every app you&#8217;ve collected on your iPhone.  If you haven&#8217;t upgraded to IOS4 on your 3G or 3G S, just wait until they sort out the bugs.</p>
<h3>Before You Upgrade</h3>
<p>Moving forward, we know that Apple will have another major software upgrade at some point, so we might as well prepare for it now.  Here&#8217;s some things to remember before it happens:<br />
- Wait a week or so before upgrading and let us eager beavers find all the problems.<br />
- Back up often.  Sadly, my handy old backup was a few weeks old, so my emails, texts, etc were too.<br />
- Download Apps to iTunes, too.  Once you&#8217;ve downloaded on your phone, grab a copy on iTunes.  It won&#8217;t cost extra and now you won&#8217;t have to remember what all you had installed if this happens again.<br />
- Upload photos and videos to YouTube, Flickr, etc., and copy notes and contacts before attempting these solutions, upgrades, jailbreaks, or anything that can wipe out things you deem important.</p>
<p>Have you tried any of the solutions above?  Did it work?  Have you noticed any other problems found another solution or have more tips?  Share any of this with us in the comments below.</p>


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		<item>
		<title>iPhone Insurance Finally Arrives</title>
		<link>http://www.joetech.com/iphone-insurance/</link>
		<comments>http://www.joetech.com/iphone-insurance/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:12:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Joe Tech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Communication]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[asurion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[broken]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[insurance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iphone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lost]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stolen]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.joetech.com/?p=2129</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When I bought my first iPhone, the 3G model, I was making a big leap from Verizon to AT&#038;T and I was astonished to hear that I could not get insurance coverage for my phone.  I&#8217;ve largely been a phone dropper but I enjoy expensive smart phones, so I&#8217;d always taken advantage of the [...]


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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>When I bought my first iPhone, the 3G model, I was making a big leap from Verizon to AT&#038;T and I was astonished to hear that I could not get insurance coverage for my phone.  I&#8217;ve largely been a phone dropper but I enjoy expensive smart phones, so I&#8217;d always taken advantage of the insurance option Verizon offered by way of <a href="http://www.asurion.com/">Asurion</a>.  Without this option, I looked at alternatives and found none other than my home owner&#8217;s insurance with a deductible high enough to make it useless if only my iPhone needed replacing.  Today, Asurion has announced <a href="http://www.mymobileprotect.com">MobileProtect</a>, a program designed to insure your iPhone.  It&#8217;s about time it happened.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4727564493/" title="Broken iPhone by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1167/4727564493_15d0945dcd.jpg" width="455" alt="Broken iPhone" /></a><br />
(Photo courtesy of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/64878888@N00/">magic quote</a> on <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/64878888@N00/3187770478">Flickr</a>)</p>
<h3>What&#8217;s Covered And At What Price?</h3>
<p>Whenever you get insurance for, well, anything, it&#8217;s important to take note of what is covered and what isn&#8217;t.  According to the MobileProtect web site, here&#8217;s what you can expect to be covered for your iPhone with their plans:</p>
<p>    * Cracked Screen<br />
    * Water or Other Liquid Damage<br />
    * Loss<br />
    * Theft<br />
    * Accidental Damage<br />
    * Out of Warranty Failure</p>
<p>In the past, you&#8217;d have to hope that nothing happened to your iPhone unless it was a phone failure and was under warranty.  Asurion finally offers something to rescue the rest of us, but it&#8217;s not cheap.  In the past, I&#8217;ve paid about $8 per month and my deductible was $50.  Under the new MobileProtect plans, you&#8217;ll pay $11.99 per month and $99 to $199 (depending on your iPhone model) if you need to make a claim.  At $600 to buy a new one (without a contract), $199 seems a little high to me.  If my 16 GB iPhone 3G S (16GB) were lost or stolen today, I could pick up a new iPhone 4 (16 G) for $218 with a new 2 year contract.  To be fair, though, a new iPhone owner who is ineligible for a new contract discount and loses their new iPhone 4 will be able to save about $400 with the insurance plan in place as opposed to having to purchase a new $600 iPhone.  Furthermore, it appears that this insurance is really only available within 30 days of your new phone purchase, making my first scenario not even possible.</p>
<h3>Working with Asurion</h3>
<p>As mentioned above, I&#8217;ve dealt with Asurion before.  Having been a long-time Verizon customer, I had to file a few claims because I dropped my phone in the snow in Michigan, got rain IN another phone in Paris, and bounced yet another off the pavement.  In each case, I was able to make a claim pretty easily and just sent the damaged phone in the return shipping they provided.  Usually, they can have a phone to you within a day or so.  Mine was always the next day, but it may depend on where you&#8217;re having it delivered.  Replacement phones can often be refurbished phones rather than a brand new one.  There&#8217;s a kind of stigma to that, but the only difference, really, is a sticker on the phone noting that it&#8217;s refurbished.  I never had a problem with a replacement phone.  Over all, my experience with Asurion has been pretty good.</p>
<p>Signing up seems to be a lot simpler now, too.  Just download the free MobileProtect App from the App Store and sign right up.  The only problem is that it looks like it will let you go through the whole sign up process before telling you if you are ineligible because your iPhone was activated more than 30 days ago.</p>
<h3>Should I Get Insurance For My iPhone?</h3>
<p>In a case like mine, with a year-old iPhone and new contract savings, the insurance plan is not much of a savings and not available anyway.  For everyone else buying new iPhones, it&#8217;s a welcomed expense.  Sure it&#8217;s 12 bucks a month, but when you need a replacement due to rain, snow, and my own clumsiness, insurance is an incredible thing to have.  I&#8217;ve had all those things happen and each time, I was happy to be paying just a deductible compared to the full phone price to replace it.</p>
<p>What about you?  Do you have a phone horror story to share?  Leave it in the comments below.</p>


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		<item>
		<title>Go Out, Check In, Get Paid With WeReward</title>
		<link>http://www.joetech.com/go-out-check-in-get-paid-with-wereward/</link>
		<comments>http://www.joetech.com/go-out-check-in-get-paid-with-wereward/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 03 Jun 2010 03:18:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Joe Tech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Communication]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Monetization]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[app]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[check in]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[earn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[foursquare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iphone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[paid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wereward]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.joetech.com/?p=2096</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.
I&#8217;m sure that by now, most people are familiar with the concept of &#8220;checking in&#8221; to let your friends know where you are.  For those who aren&#8217;t, it&#8217;s pretty simple.  You&#8217;re out to lunch at Outback Steakhouse [...]


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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of <a href="http://socialspark.com/metrics/click/disclosure?slot_id=299132&#038;url=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FboFzgu" rel="nofollow">IZEA</a>. All opinions are 100% mine.</em></p>
<p>I&#8217;m sure that by now, most people are familiar with the concept of &#8220;checking in&#8221; to let your friends know where you are.  For those who aren&#8217;t, it&#8217;s pretty simple.  You&#8217;re out to lunch at Outback Steakhouse and you whip out your phone and check in using a service like FourSquare to let your friends know you&#8217;re there.  Maybe one of them will drop in and have a drink with you or just notice that you go there a lot and try the place themselves.  Checking in is only becoming more popular every day, but now you can get paid for doing it!</p>
<h3>Get Paid To Check In</h3>
<p><img alt="Chops" src="http://socialspark.com/uploads/socialspark/public/assets/3292/Chops.png" /><br />
<a href="http://socialspark.com/metrics/click/post?slot_id=299132&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FboFzgu" rel="nofollow">WeReward.com</a> pays you for check ins and tasks you complete in the real world. It integrates with Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare, so you can still get your badges and share the way you always have, which is pretty cool because I can now just use this one app for all three.  Of course I checked out the video below and then promptly downloaded the app to my iPhone.</p>
<p><object width="455" height="275"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/acDOZheA7GA&#038;hl=en_US&#038;fs=1&#038;rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/acDOZheA7GA&#038;hl=en_US&#038;fs=1&#038;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="455" height="275"></embed></object></p>
<p>It&#8217;s one of those things I wish I&#8217;d thought of first and had to happen eventually.  I&#8217;ve been checking in all the time on FourSquare and now I can get points for each check in that convert to cash.  You bet I&#8217;m in.</p>
<h3>Trying It First Hand</h3>
<p>I haven&#8217;t been out yet, but I wanted to give this thing a shot.  After downloading the app, I set up all three network connections to Facebook, Twitter, and FourSquare.  I always do this first in new apps so I don&#8217;t have to go back and do it later in the middle of some activity or while I&#8217;m on the road.  Before I could do this, the app took a little longer to load than I had expected, but I suspect that&#8217;s because it is grabbing all the nearby businesses and the reward details.  It also crashed the first time I opened it.  I can&#8217;t say if that&#8217;s the app&#8217;s fault as I&#8217;m jailbroken, but it&#8217;s in open beta, so who knows.  Regardless, once the app is loaded it&#8217;s fast and it hasn&#8217;t crashed again.  So far, so good.  I should also point out that I&#8217;m using a non-default font on my iPhone, so text in apps sometimes gets cut off as seen in my screen caps.</p>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4664680625/" title="photo by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4002/4664680625_1ee6632e38.jpg" width="215" alt="photo" /></a>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4665305804/" title="photo by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4011/4665305804_72a8db3f5e_o.jpg" width="215" alt="photo" /></a>
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<p>When you first open the application, you get a listing of businesses in the area where you can check in and earn reward points as seen in the image on the left above.  For these, it seems I have to take a picture of the establishment if I want my points, but it&#8217;s not like that&#8217;s hard to do.  When I hit &#8220;Check In&#8221;, it loads up the camera, I snap the photo and submit it for review.  Another option lets me find things nearby with a search.  To give it a test run, I typed in &#8220;pizza&#8221; and off it went searching for me.  A second later, I had a listing that included a bunch of places near me that were either pizza joints or at least serve or sell pizza.  Oddly, the list also included Long John Silvers.  I don&#8217;t think they sell pizza, but other than that, it was pretty accurate.  Before you check in, you can also click a little arrow at the bottom to expand a CityGrid listing for the business which includes a bit of helpful information as well as a review count and overall rating.</p>
<p>The image on the right above shows the Tasks view.  This is the sweet spot where you can cure a little boredom and earn a lot of points quickly.  Points convert at one cent each, so the Taco Bell task will earn you a cool $5 while other tasks are generally pretty simple and get you decent point amounts as well.  As a test (and to earn an easy breezy 50 points), I tapped on the WeReward task which asked me to write &#8220;www.wereward.com&#8221; on my body with a marker and submit a photo of it.  I wrote on my hand, snapped a photo, added a little note for Twitter (optional) and submitted it.  I now have my first 50 points pending.</p>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4665306226/" title="photo by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4054/4665306226_f86e508180_o.jpg" width="215" alt="photo" /></a>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4664681897/" title="photo by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1270/4664681897_9c9ddc2814_o.jpg" width="215" alt="photo" /></a>
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<p>You can check the status and history of all your rewards in the rewards page of the app.  This shows Pending, Approved, Declined, and Referrals.  This page is also where you can see your point total and its dollar equivalent and cash out if you&#8217;re over 5,000 points.</p>
<h3>Earn With Referrals</h3>
<p>If I&#8217;m already going to use a service and tell my friends about it, I look for the referral program if it exists, and it wasn&#8217;t hard to find here.  Not only does it exist, but it&#8217;s on a percentage scale.  When I refer someone, I get 10% of all their verified check in points, which can add up pretty quick.  I know some serious FourSquarers who check in all the time.</p>
<h3>Conclusions</h3>
<p>Now this is where you iPhone owners should <a href="http://socialspark.com/metrics/click/post?slot_id=299132&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FboFzgu" rel="nofollow">Download the App</a>.  WeReward is a welcomed addition to my iPhone.  Not only will I use it daily, but it works well and is very well thought out.  I&#8217;m already excited to try it out for the first time checking in somewhere for dinner!  Download and let me know what you think.</p>
<p><a href="http://socialspark.com/metrics/click/disclosure?slot_id=299132&#038;url=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2FboFzgu" rel="nofollow"><img alt="Visit my sponsor: WeReward for iPhone" border="0" src="http://socialspark.com/metrics/view/post?slot_id=299132&#038;url=http%3A%2F%2Fsocialspark.com%2Fimages%2Fdisclosure_badges%2Fdisclosure_badge_grey_three.png" style="border:0" /></a></p>


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		<title>Find The Best Broadband Deals On BroadbandGenie</title>
		<link>http://www.joetech.com/find-the-best-broadband-deals-on-broadbandgenie/</link>
		<comments>http://www.joetech.com/find-the-best-broadband-deals-on-broadbandgenie/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 20 May 2010 00:11:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Joe Tech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Communication]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Computers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[broadband]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[compare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[genie]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[review]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Search]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[site]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[uk]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.joetech.com/?p=2076</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of broadbandgenie.co.uk. All opinions are 100% mine.
I don&#8217;t move much, but when I do, one of the important things I look at is what broadband solutions will be available to me.  I need my high speed access.  Just last weekend, my mom, who [...]


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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em>This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of broadbandgenie.co.uk. All opinions are 100% mine.</em></p>
<p>I don&#8217;t move much, but when I do, one of the important things I look at is what broadband solutions will be available to me.  I need my high speed access.  Just last weekend, my mom, who has lived in the same house for years, got new broadband internet access.  She called me for help with figuring out what all this stuff meant and which provider to use, but what if I didn&#8217;t know?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4621957243/" title="Broadband Genie - top by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4006/4621957243_cf6719e3fa.jpg" width="455" alt="Broadband Genie - top" /></a></p>
<p>This is where a site like <a href="http://www.broadbandgenie.co.uk">Broadband Genie</a> comes in.  They offer comparisons of broadband (and other) services along with guides, news, tools, etc.  Here&#8217;s what they have to say about why you might want to use their site:</p>
<blockquote><p>*  <strong>Save time and money.</strong> We spend loads of time gathering and checking all the price and package data from all the top providers, so you don&#8217;t have to.<br />
* <strong>Be a sheep, make your life easy.</strong> If you don&#8217;t want to trawl through the comparison tables looking for that special deal, see what our experienced editors and users recommend.<br />
* <strong>Get an education.</strong> If you want to learn all about broadband internet, how it works and how to compare it, then let us translate it all into plain-English for you. We&#8217;ve got help guides, blogs, daily news, and loads of places you can ask questions or just have a good moan.
</p></blockquote>
<p>For those in the U.S., the site won&#8217;t be much help in regards to comparing services.  Non-UK readers still have plenty of reasons to visit, though, so keep reading.</p>
<h3>Compare Broadband Providers</h3>
<p>In the interest of the review, I pretended I was in Staffordshire and used Google to find an address where I could pretend to live.  This yielded much better results from Broadband Genie, which returned a list of broadband providers in order of suggested use.  The list displayed the initial setup cost, monthly cost, contract length, speed, and download caps as seen below.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4620861108/" title="Broadband Genie by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4065/4620861108_47cd885842.jpg" width="455" alt="Broadband Genie" /></a></p>
<p>I was able to sort by any of the columns I mentioned above and more information was a click away, taking me to a page loaded with information specific to the provider.  The provider page included service highlights, an overview of different packages, a &#8220;road test&#8221; widget showing overall user ratings, and customer reviews.  This page proved to be a pretty good snapshot of what the provider has to offer.</p>
<h3>Compare Mobile Services and More</h3>
<p>This site goes beyond just home/office broadband to also compare mobile phone services, <a href="http://www.broadbandgenie.co.uk/mobilebroadband/pay-as-you-go">pay as you go mobile broadband</a>, and even deals that give you a laptop (with a contract for the mobile broadband).  These work in the same way, providing a sortable ordered list and detail pages.</p>
<h3>Tools and Guides</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4620248251/" title="Broadband Genie by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3404/4620248251_ac82f3a3f2_m.jpg" width="164" height="240" alt="Broadband Genie" align="right" valign="top" /></a>Before buying any services, it&#8217;s helpful to get educated.  Broadband Genie starts with a broadband guide right on the home page to answer questions like &#8220;What is broadband?&#8221; and &#8220;What are modems, routers &#038; dongles?&#8221;.  Additional guides help you determine compatibility, understand broadband speeds, and even help guide you through setting it all up.  Along with the guides, the newsletter, frequently updated News section, forums, and &#8220;Ask the Genie&#8221; form seem to make sure you&#8217;ll find the answers you&#8217;re looking for.</p>
<p>Once you&#8217;ve learned all about broadband speeds, you can test your own to get an idea of what your needs might be.  The first time I ran the speed test, it actually crashed Firefox.  When I loaded it up again, it worked great, so I can&#8217;t say if that&#8217;s a bug or my browser was just having one of its fits.  I&#8217;ve since tried on another computer in Firefox, and Chrome with no crashing problems, but I&#8217;m not sure the results are reliable.  They seemed much lower than I had expected, so I headed to another site that returned vastly different numbers which were very close to my expectations.</p>
<h3>Conclusions</h3>
<p>The speed test didn&#8217;t impress me at all, but it was a small bump in a very smooth and freshly paved road to broadband knowledge.  Broadband Genie had what I expected.  Then it had more and more and even more.  I still feel like I left some stones unturned on this site and can only imagine other features I&#8217;ve missed.  It really only needs two things to be perfect, a U.S. sister site and maybe a better speed test (assuming it&#8217;s actually inaccurate). </p>
<p>Also, for those in Australia, Broadband Genie has an Australian site too, which also compares <a href="http://www.broadbandgenie.com.au/mobilebroadband">mobile broadband</a> and <a href="http://www.broadbandgenie.com.au">broadband deals</a>.</p>


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		<title>How To Screencast On Your iPhone</title>
		<link>http://www.joetech.com/how-to-screencast-on-your-iphone/</link>
		<comments>http://www.joetech.com/how-to-screencast-on-your-iphone/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 04 May 2010 06:07:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Joe Tech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Communication]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Just Cool]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[video]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[background]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iphone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[record]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[screencast]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[trick]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.joetech.com/?p=2058</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yesterday, I posted about how to jailbreak your iPhone running firmware 3.1.3 in 60 seconds.  After jailbreaking, I tried playing with ScreenSplitr and saw other apps that let you see your iPhone screen on your computer.  The problem is that most require you to be tethered to a computer or have both your [...]


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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Yesterday, I posted about how to <a href="http://www.joetech.com/how-to-jailbreak-iphone-3-1-3-or-ipad-in-60-seconds/">jailbreak your iPhone running firmware 3.1.3</a> in 60 seconds.  After jailbreaking, I tried playing with ScreenSplitr and saw other apps that let you see your iPhone screen on your computer.  The problem is that most require you to be tethered to a computer or have both your iPhone and the computer on a wifi network.  I found something much easier for creating videos of your iPhone screen.</p>
<p>After jailbreaking, I installed Backgrounder on my iPhone.  It lets you run things in the background, which the iPhone still doesn&#8217;t do (until 4.0).  What I found was that some video recording programs will still record in the background and others will not.  Of those that will, a couple will record everything displayed on your screen.  Below is a video I made showing regular video, then my screen, then back to regular video.  The whole thing was recorded using a iVideoRecorder ($0.99 in the app store) and Backgrounder.  It was not edited at all and was uploaded to YouTube right from the phone.</p>
<p><object width="455" height="275"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Now5-GMx3_E&#038;hl=en_US&#038;fs=1&#038;"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Now5-GMx3_E&#038;hl=en_US&#038;fs=1&#038;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="455" height="275"></embed></object></p>
<p>As you can see, it was pretty simple to share my iPhone screen activity with you without the need for a computer.  This is great if you want to, for example, show people how to take and edit iPhone photos on the beach or how well a navigation program works with a live demonstration.  Give it a try and let me know what you think.</p>


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		<title>How To Jailbreak iPhone 3.1.3 Or iPad In 60 Seconds</title>
		<link>http://www.joetech.com/how-to-jailbreak-iphone-3-1-3-or-ipad-in-60-seconds/</link>
		<comments>http://www.joetech.com/how-to-jailbreak-iphone-3-1-3-or-ipad-in-60-seconds/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 03 May 2010 22:03:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Joe Tech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Communication]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Just Cool]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[3.1.3]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ipad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[iphone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jailbreak]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spirit]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.joetech.com/?p=2054</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The problem with a stock iPhone is that it (currently) lacks things like app folder support for apps, carrier unlocking, and some apps that Apple just won&#8217;t approve for one reason or another.  This is why we jailbreak.  It provides more freedom over your device, allowing you to install whatever you want, change [...]


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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>The problem with a stock iPhone is that it (currently) lacks things like app folder support for apps, carrier unlocking, and some apps that Apple just won&#8217;t approve for one reason or another.  This is why we jailbreak.  It provides more freedom over your device, allowing you to install whatever you want, change the look, etc.  It&#8217;s just a lot more fun, but until now, you couldn&#8217;t jailbreak the iPad or an iPhone running the 3.1.3 firmware.  Welcome to <a href="http://spiritjb.com/">Spirit</a>. (note, this will not carrier-unlock your device)</p>
<h3>How to Jailbreak</h3>
<p>This is by far the easiest jailbreak I&#8217;ve done on my iPhone.  Run a backup with iTunes before jailbreaking!  You simply download Spirit for the <a href="http://spiritjb.com/win">PC</a> or <a href="http://spiritjb.com/mac">Mac</a>, unzip, plug in your iPhone or iPad and run Spirit.  You&#8217;ll see a small window with a button that reads, simply, &#8220;Jailbreak&#8221;.  Click it and wait a few seconds.  When done, it will reboot your device and you&#8217;re jailbroken.  Here&#8217;s a short video showing the process on an iPad:</p>
<p><object width="455" height="275"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/dhOrSgyEgcc&#038;hl=en_US&#038;fs=1&#038;"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dhOrSgyEgcc&#038;hl=en_US&#038;fs=1&#038;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="455" height="275"></embed></object></p>
<p>If you encounter any problems or want more detail, check out <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_to_jailbreak_the_ipad.php">this post</a>.</p>


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		<title>Social Media Overload From The Motorola Devour With MOTOBLUR</title>
		<link>http://www.joetech.com/social-media-overload-from-the-motorola-devour-with-motoblur/</link>
		<comments>http://www.joetech.com/social-media-overload-from-the-motorola-devour-with-motoblur/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 23 Apr 2010 08:49:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Joe Tech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Communication]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[reviews]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[devour]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[motoblur]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[motorola]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[verizon]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.joetech.com/?p=2001</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For the past few weeks, I&#8217;ve spent some time playing with the Motorola Devour smart phone, built for social media interaction.

While it&#8217;s been a lot of fun, it&#8217;s time to give the phone back to Verizon.  I liked things about it and I found a couple things I disliked.  I&#8217;ve detailed it all [...]


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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For the past few weeks, I&#8217;ve spent some time playing with the <a href="http://www.motorola.com/consumers/US-EN/Motorola_DEVOUR_US-EN.do?vgnextoid=6a9a94a4190b5210VgnVCM1000008b06b00aRCRD">Motorola Devour</a> smart phone, built for social media interaction.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4542286057/" title="Motorola Devour by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2700/4542286057_107baf3536.jpg" width="455" alt="Motorola Devour" /></a></p>
<p>While it&#8217;s been a lot of fun, it&#8217;s time to give the phone back to Verizon.  I liked things about it and I found a couple things I disliked.  I&#8217;ve detailed it all below.</p>
<h3>Devour&#8217;s Look and Feel</h3>
<p>Right out of the box, the Devour set itself apart from most phones I&#8217;ve put my hands on.  The first thing I noticed about it was its weight.  At 5.89 ounces it&#8217;s about an ounce more than the iPhone and you can feel it.  It&#8217;s also a little thicker than other smart phones, but the size and weight weren&#8217;t all that jumped out at me.  The extruded aluminum design is reminiscent of a space ship you might find in a late 80&#8217;s movie.  It&#8217;s bold and I like it.  Both rounded <em>and</em> sharp, it&#8217;s in a class all its own, visually.</p>
<p>Equipped with a 3.1-inch HVGA display at 320 x 480 pixels, the Devour offers a crisp display with vibrant colors for a good view of the customized Android platform.  Above the screen is the speaker and below it sits the Unlock, Home, and Back buttons.  In the bottom left hand corner there&#8217;s a tiny touch sensitive navigation pad we&#8217;ve seen before on recent smart phones.  As you might imagine, it can be tricky to use because it has to be sensitive enough to pick up your finger motion, but not enough for accidental navigation.  Luckily, the settings allow for some adjusting of the sensitivity.</p>
<table>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4542275045/" title="Motorola Devour by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4033/4542275045_754dff6973_m.jpg" width="215" alt="Motorola Devour" /></a>
    </td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4542911370/" title="Motorola Devour by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2744/4542911370_f0e431c8e9_m.jpg" width="215" alt="Motorola Devour" /></a>
    </td>
</tr>
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<td>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4542281635/" title="Motorola Devour by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4050/4542281635_8509ba13df_m.jpg" width="215" alt="Motorola Devour" /></a>
    </td>
<td>
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4542284927/" title="Motorola Devour by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4037/4542284927_f9bd070f88_m.jpg" width="215" alt="Motorola Devour" /></a>
    </td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>The left edge of this phone has the Micro USB connector, but it also has a long panel that slides away to reveal the MicroSD card and battery.  While it can be just a bit awkward to put the panel back in place, it&#8217;s hard to tell it&#8217;s even hiding anything.  I thought that was a nice touch in the design.  The right edge has the typical volume buttons as well as the voice dialing button and camera shutter button which also activates the 3 MP camera.  This leaves the top edge for just the well-placed Power/Lock button, which was just a little too flush for my tastes, and the oddly-centered headphone jack.</p>
<p>Finally, there&#8217;s the slide-out keyboard.  With keys that are raised just enough and that glow blue and white, the keyboard looks as good as the rest of the phone and just a little space-age.  Access to symbols such as @ and / are not placed very intuitively, though, so typing email and web addresses takes some getting used to.  Otherwise, the keys are comfortably spaced and typing on it was easy.</p>
<h3>Motorola Devour Features</h3>
<p>The main feature Motorola and Verizon would have you look at on the Devour is MOTOBLUR.  I don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s the <em>best</em> thing about the phone, but it is a pretty cool concept.  If you are active on Twitter and Facebook, you&#8217;ll love how it constantly refreshes your home screen with new updates from these servers as well as current emails.  Depending on who your friends and followees are, you&#8217;ll want to be careful about leaving your Devour on a desk at work, though.  You never know when your buddy&#8217;s idea of a joke post updated to Facebook could offend a co-worker.  For me, the only down side was that the number of people I follow and have friended makes real-time updating impossible to keep up with unless a filter or group setup is in place.  Sadly, either MOTOBLUR is missing such a feature or I failed to notice it.  Still, I like MOTOBLUR because even though I miss many updates and see many I don&#8217;t care about, I&#8217;ve still caught a couple I&#8217;d have otherwise missed.</p>
<p>The Devour supports an array of email and instant messaging services as well as some popular features like digital zoom and visual voicemail.  You can also check out the full list of <a href="http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/US-EN/Consumer-Product-and-Services/Mobile-Phones/ci.Motorola_DEVOUR_US-EN.alt">Motorola Devour features</a>.</p>
<h3>Moto Phone Portal</h3>
<p>Here&#8217;s something new to me.  It&#8217;s the Moto Phone Portal.  When you first connect the Devour to your computer, it installs its management software, which was so much faster than on other devices and just sits in the tray.  Rather than having a bulky application you launch, the portal is a web site, served from your phone.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4542415299/" title="Moto Phone Portal by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4010/4542415299_b1579bcc31.jpg" width="455" alt="Moto Phone Portal" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4543048578/" title="Moto Phone Portal by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4069/4543048578_f2305dd955_o.png" width="318" height="83" alt="Moto Phone Portal" align="right" valign="top" /></a>From the portal, you can view call and SMS logs, view, import, and export contacts with photos, and check out your photos that are on your phone.  It even has a built-in editor so you can rotate and crop images.  From the portal you can also edit ring tones and alerts and view the status of your battery, signal strength, and memory usage.  The Moto Phone Portal was a nice addition to the package.</p>
<h3>Conclusions</h3>
<p>At $149 with the 2 year contract and online discount, the Devour comes in at $50 less than its direct competition like the ERIS and other HTC models on Verizon.  It&#8217;s definitely a well-rounded phone with some unique features, but small things like the weight will have to be overlooked for the $50 savings.  You might buy this phone to break away from the pack, but the real draw is its ability to keep you connected in social media better than other (and often more expensive) phones.</p>


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		<title>Nokia Wants Everyone To Connect With The E5, C3, and C6</title>
		<link>http://www.joetech.com/nokia-wants-everyone-to-connect-with-the-e5-c3-and-c6/</link>
		<comments>http://www.joetech.com/nokia-wants-everyone-to-connect-with-the-e5-c3-and-c6/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Apr 2010 09:28:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Joe Tech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Communication]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[C3]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[C6]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[E5]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nokia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[smartphone]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[video]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.joetech.com/?p=1960</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Yesterday, I received an invitation in the mail to check out another Nokia virtual event, but there weren&#8217;t any clues as to what they had in store.  I might have correctly guessed I&#8217;d get a better look at their C6 smart phone, but I didn&#8217;t have to wait long at all to find out.

The [...]


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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Yesterday, I received an invitation in the mail to check out another Nokia virtual event, but there weren&#8217;t any clues as to what they had in store.  I might have correctly guessed I&#8217;d get a better look at their C6 smart phone, but I didn&#8217;t have to wait long at all to find out.</p>
<p><object width="455" height="276"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vNiPVlU-G1U&#038;hl=en_US&#038;fs=1&#038;hd=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vNiPVlU-G1U&#038;hl=en_US&#038;fs=1&#038;hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="455" height="276"></embed></object></p>
<p>The media event was scattered with videos like the one above, showing off their new phones and some of the many features offered.  Attractive hardware from Nokia is no surprise, but I didn&#8217;t expect to be wowed by the C6 as much as I am.</p>
<h3>The Nokia C6</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4517565866/" title="Nokia C6, C3, E5 by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/4517565866_4dd2d47f1c.jpg" width="455" alt="Nokia C6" /></a></p>
<p>The Nokia C6, which is scheduled to hit the market any time in the next couple months, will be running Symbian OS, S60 5.0 and will come packed with a 5 MP digital camera, media player, FM stereo, access to the Ovi store and Ovi music, full QWERTY keyboard, support for all the major email and IM providers, and Facebook integration.  One of the features I&#8217;m excited about is the additional camera for video calls.  The C6 will look great in either of the available colors, black or white and is will be competitively priced at 220 Euro.  I can&#8217;t wait to get my hands on one for a full review.  See for yourself in the promo video above.</p>
<h3>The Nokia C3</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4516930123/" title="Nokia C6, C3, E5 by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4032/4516930123_9b710a7a52_m.jpg" width="100" alt="Nokia C3" align="right" valign="top" /></a>Priced at 90 Euro, the C3 is for the smart phone buyer who wants to engage with social media but perhaps not quite as avidly as the C6 owner.  While the C3 offers the ability to update your status and connect via Ovi Mail and Ovi chat accounts, it doesn&#8217;t offer the full-on array of connectivity the C6 boasts.  Still, with quick access to your friends&#8217; updates and a full keyboard, staying in touch will be easy.  The C3 is also expected out in the next couple months.</p>
<h3>The Nokia E5</h3>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4517564172/" title="Nokia C6, C3, E5 by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2721/4517564172_4716030702_m.jpg" width="100" alt="Nokia E5" align="right" valign="top" /></a>Just like we saw with the <a href="http://www.joetech.com/nokia-e72-smartphone-hands-on-review/">Nokia E75</a>, the E5 offers a great QWERTY keyboard that looks just as easy to navigate for touch typing and a simple array of buttons on the smart phone&#8217;s face for getting things done quickly.  More business than social, the E5 provides the access to the same full list of email providers as the C6 and includes additional support for Microsoft Exchange and IBM Lotus NotesTraveler business emails.  The E5 supports all the major chat providers, includes a 5MP digital camera, and displays Facebook updates right in the phone book.  It may be business driven, but it looks pretty cool.  This guy will set you back 180 Euro but you have until Q3 to save up.</p>


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		<title>What Is A Geofence And Why You Should Care?</title>
		<link>http://www.joetech.com/what-is-a-geofence-and-why-you-should-care/</link>
		<comments>http://www.joetech.com/what-is-a-geofence-and-why-you-should-care/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:11:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Joe Tech</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Communication]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Computers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Just Cool]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Software]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[definition]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[description]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[geofence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[GPS]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.joetech.com/?p=1903</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It seems like every day, I get to learn about some new technology that has the possibility to reshape how I see the world, work with data, or get something done much more easily.  As a web developer, I&#8217;m very familiar with geofences and have applied them in working applications, but I wanted to [...]


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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It seems like every day, I get to learn about some new technology that has the possibility to reshape how I see the world, work with data, or get something done much more easily.  As a web developer, I&#8217;m very familiar with geofences and have applied them in working applications, but I wanted to introduce the concept to those of you who are unfamiliar with it.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nodomain1/4426096145/" title="Geofence example by nodomain1, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4021/4426096145_141688ed64_o.jpg" width="455" height="330" alt="Geofence example" /></a></p>
<h3>What Is A Geofence?</h3>
<p>Wikipedia has this to say about geofences:</p>
<blockquote><p>A Geofence is a virtual perimeter  on a geographic area using a location-based service, so that when the geofencing device enters or exits the area a notification is generated. The notification can contain information about the location of the device and might be sent to a mobile telephone or an email account.</p></blockquote>
<p>Although I think they&#8217;re pretty close, I&#8217;d like to add that a geofence is really just the area that is defined for a notification trigger (or other event) and the notification isn&#8217;t exactly part of the geofence.  As an example, you might have a device in your car that is linked to a service and that service has a geofence (that you defined) around your neighborhood.  On your way to work the service detects that you&#8217;ve exited the geofence (your neighborhood), and shuts off specific devices in your home through a home automation system.  When you re-enter the geofence after work, it sends a text message to your wife that reads, &#8220;Honey, I&#8217;m (almost) home!&#8221; or turns on your laptop.</p>
<h3>Practical Uses For Geofences</h3>
<p>I know the above example may seem a little Jetsons-like, but the technology is actually here today and already in use.</p>
<p>One real-world example is the annual <a href="http://irondog.org/">Iron Dog®</a> snowmobile race in Alaska.  It wasn&#8217;t long after the race began that the first team entered a checkpoint and like many other people, I received a text message on my phone letting me know about it.  Making this happen was software developed by <a href="http://www.ontec.com">Ontec Technologies</a>, the company that has provided real-time tracking and mapping of each racer for the past few years.  In the software, every checkpoint was defined as a geofence and each racer was outfitted with hardware from <a href="http://www.ase-corp.com/">Applied Satellite Engineering</a> that sent data over the Iridium satellite network to Ontec where it gets mapped and triggers alerts for geofences.  In this example, friends, families, and fans were able to know very rapidly as their racer hit each checkpoint.</p>
<p>The article, <a href="http://www.softwareadvice.com/articles/property-management/searching-for-real-estate-made-easy-geo-fences-plus-mobile-phones-1030410/">Searching for Real Estate Made Easy: Geo-Fences Plus Mobile Phones</a> from SoftwareAdvice.com describes, in detail, a scenario in which a young couple on a leisurely stroll is alerted that they&#8217;re near a home for sale that they may like.  It seems the couple&#8217;s tech-savvy realtor entered their search criteria and cell phone number into a system that has geofences around properties and when their phone&#8217;s GPS location entered the geofence, it triggered an alert.  The story is just a made-up scenario, but the reality of such a service is just over the horizon.  We already have the technology in the phones and all it will take is for someone to build an app for the iPhone, Android, and Windows Mobile 7 and the web service to pair it with.</p>
<p>The practical uses for geofences are numerous and I&#8217;m certain we&#8217;ll see them in use more and more.  Imagine an alert on your phone when your young child wanders off your property, or a friend is near the coffee house you&#8217;re sitting at.  A system that turns on a couple lights when I get within 50 yards of my house is entirely possible right now with a little hardware and some programming.</p>
<h3>Possible problems</h3>
<p>Any really good technology that makes use of your personal location information brings with it concerns about misuse of that information.  However, if used with consent and in the proper applications with these concerns in mind, the advantages far outweigh the unlikely possibilities of misuse.</p>
<p>If you could geofences for anything, what would it be?</p>
<p><em>Disclosure: I am a part owner/founder in Ontec.</em></p>


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