Keanen's Blog My personal blog.

Time Lapse for Android

I used the Time Lapse application last week to capture a sunset up at the cabin. It's a cool application that creates motion capture videos. There is a free version that has a limited resolution, I purchased the full version because I wanted to run a higher resolution. For this video, I captured a photo every 15 seconds at 15 frames per second at a resolution of 1280x768.

I hope to catch some storms rolling in someday. I just need a good way to mount the phone. For this 'shot' I had my phone leaning against an upside down bar stool on the dock

Slingbox on the EVO 4G is awesome!

I am enjoying listening and "keeping an eye on" the Twin's game today. What a great technology solution!

Sprint EVO coming June 4th!!

The EVO is being released on June 4th! This is Sprint's first 4G device. I am pretty stoked about this! It looks like there will be a $10 a month premium for the 4G service that is required and if hotspot capabilities are desired that will be an additional $30 a month.

Specs can be found here

Some of the things that I am excited about...

• 4G!!
• 720p video recording
• 8MP camera AND a front facing 1.3MP camera (look below)
• A huge 4.3" screen
• HDMI output - want to show some video to the family? Plug it in and watch in HD! Make sure not to pay a bundle and use Monoprice for your cable ** I have learned that the HDMI connection is type-D not mini HDMI. Monoprice does not yet carry a type-D cable.
• Two-way video chat!! I won't need my laptop to say "hi" to the kids when I'm traveling

Qik will be preloaded on these devices and will be leveraging the front and back camera to bring the first ever 2-way video chat service on these amazingly powerful Android phones. To quote from the press release:

“With the launch of HTC EVO 4G, Sprint customers will be able to enjoy capabilities they have never experienced before with a new video chat service from Qik. The two-way voice and video capability will be available as an upgrade to the preloaded Qik app on HTC EVO 4G to enable conversational, interactive, real-time sharing between mobile devices or from mobile-to-desktop“.
Source

Sprint Overdrive 4G – Quick Review

Last week I was in Las Vegas for a conference and Sprint was kind enough to lend me a new Overdrive 4G unit. Minneapolis does not yet have 4G access available from Sprint so I was very excited to head out to Vegas to test out this new technology.

I powered the Overdrive up when I got to my room and connected my laptop via WPA2 security. I was able to get 4G access when I was in my room and in some of the conference areas that I was in throughout the days of the conference. The Overdrive fell back to 3G when I was deeper in the halls of the Venetian. When I was on 4G my browsing was very quick, I also kept up on "Lost" using Hulu which performed well. Even on 3G this was the fastest device that I have used. I do not know if it was related the the assumed abundance of data to the Sprint towers in the area to pump all of the 4G access or because of the newer hardware that the Overdrive contains. It certainly beat out my Blackberry Tour tethering speeds.

I was able to get higher test results on a couple of occasions with other sites but they didn't have the ability to share the results. I had results of 3Mbps to low 4's for download speeds and was able to see 1.0Mbps upload speeds.

I look forward to the 4G launch in Minneapolis that is rumored to be later this year and hopefully I will be able to have an EVO as my next device if the "4G tax" isn't too high

Maybe this could keep me from going to Android?

OS6 for the Blackberry will hopefully bring better Gmail calendar support and a better development platform so that the BB 3rd party apps can take the next step. I am hoping that Sprint brings the rumored slider on board.

Amazon Application on Blackberry Tour

Have a Blackberry Tour 9630 on OS 5.0? If so, you cannot download the Amazon application from Amazon.com.

If you would like to get the Amazon application back on your device download this file, unzip and use BBSAK to install the COD on your device.

RSS Graffiti for Facebook

For a year or so I have been playing around with RSS options to syndicate blog posts on my sites to my Facebook profile and I have had mixed results.

I started with the "newsfeed" function within Facebook and I was limited to only one of my sites. It performed well for posting the body of my blog post and even showed the pictures in the post. I was frustrated though because I was limited to one site.

I then found TwitterFeed which was nice because it could syndicate both of my blogs to Facebook and Twitter. The problem with TwitterFeed is that it limits the body of the post in Facebook to accommodate the 140 character limit of Twitter. It also did not include any pictures in the post so users had to click on the title link to then get to my blog to read the post.

Tonight I was searching Google for another method to do this and thankfully there is an application out there called RSS Graffiti. This application allows me to add multiple blogs. I can even add to the title to designate what the source is. The application offers many options for presenting a users blog posts in Facebook and even a preview like the one below.

If you run multiple blogs and want them on Facebook, check this application out!

Slacker 3.0 for Blackberry released!

If you have a Blackberry and haven't tried Slacker yet, you are missing out. Slacker is a great streaming music and comedy service that exists on many mobile platforms.

Carolyn uses Slacker when she's working out at the club. She already has her Blackberry Curve with her and brings earbuds.

This new version allows caching of stations to your device over wireless connections. Previously, users had to connect to their PC to achieve this. This feature does require a "Plus" subscription.

Slacker offers a great customized listening experience and excellent comedy content (unlike Pandora). Point your BB browser to Slacker.com to download the application.

XM Sirius Blackberry Application

I woke this morning and saw that SiriusXM has finally released a Blackberry application!! I haven't had this capability since my Windows Mobile devices via 3rd party apps. Unfortunately, it seems that they require a Premium subscription to use this application. So far so good after only 20 minutes of use!

** I used the app extensively today and it works very well!

The app can be downloaded here.