Hold on to your hats all you Googlephiles.  Is that a word?  No.  But it is now.  We’ve all wondered it, we’ve all seen it coming, hinted around it and questioned if it was really going to happen, and now, all that has come to a head.  COULD we see a Google Phone in 2008?

Some people think yes.  Most of us hope yes.  Time will tell.  I just read an article over at MobileCrunch that poses this very same question, and comes up with some very hopeful answers.  According to their article:

“There is compelling evidence to suggest that Google is moving into the phone business. Services like Google Maps, YouTube and Gmail are perfect applications for mobile devices, so why not offer an all Google package? The company has increased its media reach over the last few years to include online video, television, radio and print advertising. An inexpensive handset that can deliver multiple forms of media is a good fit with Google’s past acquisitions. If it can make a cheap phone call, so much the better.”

Here’s to hoping.  It just better be Bluetooth ready, because when the MoGo Headset launches, I’m going to want to try it out on the new Google Phone/GPhone whatever you want to nickname it.  Hold on tight, things are going to get interesting.

Share This

I’ve had a lot of emails in past weeks about support questions. As I work to respond personally to each one, it seems a very opportune time to remind our wonderful customers and readers of MoGo support lines.

The FAQ, which has answers to all the most commonly asked MoGo product questions, is HERE.

In the  United States and Canada, the phone number for MoGo support is (800) 945.9122.

In Europe, the Middle East, and Asia,  the number is +31 (0)55 538 4325.

MoGo also has online videos with instructions on installing, setting up and configuring their products HERE.

Share This

Today, instead of posting about some new product announcements, some cool Bluetooth products like the MoGo Mouse, MoGo Daptor, or MoGo Headset that is coming out soon, I want to ask You, the readers, a very important question.

To put it simply, what more do YOU guys want to read about?  What kind of information do YOU covet?  Do you want more news on products?  More opinions?  More editorials?  Sound off, because we want to know what YOU want to hear.

So, a call to arms, as it were.  In the immortal words of Jerry McGuire, “Help me, Help You.”  I want to know what you want to hear, and I want to know what you think!

Share This

If you are a customer of Disney’s Mobile Phone services, you probably already know that they are ceasing business as of December 31, 2007. What to do for a phone service to go with your new MoGo headset?

Not to worry, several other kid-focused cell services are courting Disney customers in a big way.

Firefly is offering a free  phone plus $10 credit is you switch from Disney to Firefly (6 month minimum contract, executed prior to Oct. 31).

The recently re-vamped flyPhone  is a fully functional kid-tough phone with a cool ‘morphing keypad’ feature that changes the keypad display to adjust to the controls needed to make calls,  play MP3’s, videos, or games. It can store up to 500 phone numbers.

It also has some of the parental-control features that lured customers to Disney in the first place, including :  : limiting incoming and outgoing calls to numbers stored in the phone book while also restricting what numbers are held in the phone book. There are also texting controls, pay-as-you-go plans,

The glowPhone, meanwhile,  looks and works much like the younger-child restricted phones previously offered by Disney. Kids are restricted to only numbers that parents have placed in the address book and a couple of ’speed dial’ buttons on the keypad.

What’s missing? The ‘Child Find’ services that utilize the phone’s built-in GPS to allow you to see where your child is whenever you wish.

This may be part of the reason that Disney is recommending Verizon for their customers.  Verizon is offering Disney-switch  customers Disney ringtones and wallpapers as well as 3 months free of their Chaperone service, their package  that locates the child’s phone from either your PC or your Verizon phone.

What’s missing from this plan is the gee-whiz kid-friendly phones .  Verizon’s offer comes with the same selection they make available to all grown-up new customers, with no products specifically geared for the younger set. Parents may be a little nervous about giving their 6 year-old a RAZR headset, and with good reason. Children are notoriously rough on their kit, and cell phones are hardly an exception.

Kajeet is also attempting to lure form Disney customers with kid-freindly services and a $50 credit.

Their phone offerings are also from the traditional line, although the prices are reasonable . However, they  do add a feature many Disney customers grew to love - the configuration management software. This allows parents to block the use of the phone during set hours (like school hours) except for calls to/from specific numbers (like 911 or a parent), as well as track  who your kids is texting and talking to.

Kajeet was the option Yahoo tech mom Dory Devlin chose in switching from Disney. Her review of her experience is here.

Share This

Q. Will my Bluetooth Mouse work with my Linux system?

A. Yes.

If you’re using the commercially available desktop GNU/Linux platform, then you should already have the Bluetooth kernel drivers compiled as modules and ready to load once your systems detects a Bluetooth hub and/or a Bluetooth peripheral device.

If anything, you may need to buy a Bluetooth USB adaptor, like MoGo’s about-to-be released Daptor.

Tyler wrote a great post on this a few month back. Andthis article is a little old but has tons of good information about Linux and Bluetooth.

Q. Will MoGo products work with Vista?

A. They already do.

Issues with Vista getting Bluetooth peripherals to work almost always have more to do with how the platform handles the Bluetooth protocol than any specific Bluetooth device (like the MoGo Mouse).

Here are the official Microsoft instructions for setting up any Bluetooth device with Vista. The Microsoft TechNet has a bunch of answers for the common problems you may encounter.

Q. I don’t live in the U.S. and don’t want to pay the outrageous shipping to buy a MoGo mouse from a US retailer. Tell me there are international sellers!

A. OK, there are International Sellers!

It’s true. Find your nearest MoGo retailer here.

Elizabeth is a professional writer & geek with most of the last decade spent in senior management at a leading global IT provider. Thousands have attended her seminars in the US & Canada on subjects ranging from basic TCP/IP networking to high-end data storage solutions.

Got a question? Ask Elizabeth.

Share This

Following on Tyler’s post from yesterday - there’s a lot of noise about that iPhone update.

According to the BBC, the Scobleizer, and a host of others, Apple’s v. 1.1.1, which was coded to render altered iPhones inoperable, may be causing a lot of problems for the unaltered ones as well.

The alterations they were targeting make the iPhones compatible with any mobile carrier.

Originally, the gadgets came hard-wired to work only on the AT&T mobile network as part of an exclusive deal.

But not everyone who wanted an iPhone wanted to get in bed with AT&T. Some, including a lot of techies (who, despite the bureaucratization of the field, still hang onto a cowboy mentality) were just plain outraged at being told what mobile carrier they had to use.

So the moment the iPhone went into distribution, software wizards around the world began ripping them apart to find a way to make iPhones compatible with any mobile carrier.

This, by the way, was perfectly legal. Farhad Manjoo at Salon wrote clearly on the particulars, which boil down to this: Apple does not have the right, once you legally purchase their gadget, to force you to use it with AT&T.

Soon, dozens of ‘SIM unlocks’ were available - for free and purchase. And thousands took advantage of them.

Apple reacted by voiding the warranties of anyone who used one of the unlocks. This move opened them up to lawsuits, because the laws around a company’s right to void their warranties pretty much says Apple can’t do that.

But then Apple went a step farther and announced that a planned update (”v 1.1.1″) would leave unlocked iPhones “permanently inoperable” in other words, ‘Bricked‘. Or, forever turned into pretty-looking paperweights.

The update was pushed last week, and true enough - thousands of iPhones immediately died.

This included many that were never altered - both Scoble and the New York Times are carrying accounts of customers whose pristine iPhones were also bricked in the recent update. Which is what many are pointing to as the big deal.

But the heart of the matter is really how these actions have revealed Apple to be both retaliatory and uncompromising against their own customers.From a brand that made its reputation as being counter-culture and ‘Not Microsoft’, the trail of decisions has been a blow to their loyal fans and their image.

Incubated in the days when they cheekily named one of their error noises ‘So-Su-Mi’ because it sounded something like a competitor’s ding, Apple has worked hard to be round in a world of square and organic in a world of finite choices.

This was shattered with the launch of the iPhone. The gadget itself is everything Apple - sleek, bright, and intuitive. The marketing and management, however, has been practically Orwellian.

The long-term will tell us if this is just a cultural mis-step in the corporation’s growth or a more enduring change in attitude.

Back in the immediate future, Apple is working to put out the fires of bricked unaltered phones. The legality of update v 1.1.1 and subsequent bricking is still being debated, leaving many mainstream techno-sites sitting uncomfortably on the fence. And hackers are hard at work at polishing a counter agent software, some versions of which are already available.

Share This

Happy Monday friends.  Hopefully the weekend saw you getting outside and enjoying whatever semblance of Summer is left in your area.  Hopefully you really were outside and not inside on MySpace.  If you HAD to be on MySpace, and trust me I know a great deal of people that HAVE to be on it far too often, things might be getting a lot better for you, and you might just be able to combine the great outdoors and MySpace in one glorious union.

Yeah, enough chit chat, the bottom line is, Fox Interactive Media is launching free Mobile MySpace access.  Yikes.  According to the article I just read, “Accessing the Internet from a mobile phone will soon be as common as text messaging and voice calling, and it’s FIM’s goal to deliver these new free, ad-supported experiences as additional options for our users on top of our incredibly popular premium mobile services.”   Basically, that means you’re going to be able to do all this, BUT, you’re going to have to put up with a whole slew of ad’s.  It’s more TheirSpace than it is your space, but nevertheless, you’ll be able to check up on those all-important bulletins from wherever your cell phone may roam.

That last sentence, just made me extremely depressed.  I am sorry if it did the same to you.

Share This

It’s already landed here, to huge commercial success, and I’m sure on November 10th, the same thing will most likely be said in Great Britain.  That’s right my friends, the iPhone is coming to the British, and on November 9th, it will be widely available.

Despite quite a few critiques on the phone here in the U.S., predictions are already pouring in about just how many units will sell.  What I wonder about, is if any extra features will be made available on the British iPhone that we were not privy to.  What I wonder about is this:  After the debacle unfortunate  price drop only a month after the iPhone’s launch, will British customers wait a bit longer after the November 9 launch, or will they buy it up just as fast as their long queue line dissipates?

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it 100 times, time will tell.  Get ready for the contract with British mobile provider 02, and get ready for a whole lot of marketing Great Britain.  Welcome to our world.

Share This

Last weekend, Yahoo picked up on the decline of free WiFi as we posted here.

The largest current roadblock is the financial problems facing Earthlink. It is Earthlink that originally sponsored many urban plans for WiFi infrastructure that would be free to citizens. Confirming this, Yahoo reported;

“Earthlink, a partner for a number of cities, has begun a reorganization that will limit new projects.”

But Earthlink wouldn’t be pulling out if these projects made sense on the bottom line. The problem is? They don’t.

Like clean running water and garbage pickups, WiFi is becoming a true ‘utility’ for most Americans. Internet connectivity is rapidly becoming a key necessity. So critical, in fact, that UNICEF uses it as one of the indicators of how healthy and equipped a child is in their development.

Even so, the piper that must be paid.

“The problem is finding a business model that really works,” said Stan Schatt, analyst with ABI Research.

“Originally the municipalities came into this by saying they would offer Wi-Fi and get a free ride for their internal networks, and it turns out it doesn’t work that way.”

In San Francisco, Google was preparing to back a citywide Wi-Fi program with Earthlink that would be free for users who agree to view online ads, with paying customers getting an ad-free version. But the city was unable to come to terms with Earthlink before the firm pulled out and announced a massive reorganization on August 28.

Chicago officials announced August 31 they would “re-evaluate” their plan after two potential partners failed to come up with a suitable plan because a network required “extraordinary financial support” from the city.

“In Chicago and in many other cities, a municipal Wi-Fi network was initially envisioned as a way to provide cheaper, high-speed access to consumers,” said Hardik Bhatt, the city’s chief information officer.

“But given the rapid pace of changing technology, in just two short years, the marketplace has altered significantly.”

Share This

Ahh the age old debate…do mobile phones hurt your brain?  Do they cause the rumored brain tumors, the cancer, the premature death?  In short, does your brain LIKE your mobile phone, or does it secretly loathe it, and try to put an end to it with powerful brain waves.

The latest belief is there is a good change that long term use of mobile phones might actually slow your brain’s functioning.  Wow.  The strange thing is, the same study also showed that frequent mobile phone users also showed better focused attention.  Hmm, so where do you turn?  Which do you believe?

The bottom line is, we may never know what to Truly believe…the article I read at MobileCrunch summed it up pretty darn sweetly:  “…all these studies about the effects on the health of mobile phone users may be meaningless. Remember how a few months ago mobile devices were being blamed for the disappearance of honey bees? It turns out they caught a virus. It is too early to panic about the dangers, or brag about the benefits, of the effects of mobile phone use. That’s what a brain is to think. “

Share This