News

I've had the Storm for about a day and I've been using it on and off. I mainly got the phone for data usage and since charging it to full yesterday at 2:30PM, it is about half full in battery life. I'll come back in a longer article about more specifics.

The Storm needs a firmware update, at least. Hopefully it comes quickly. The UI is sluggish (at best). The accelerometer doesn't work well and takes a very long time to switch to portrait or landscape mode. The SurePress clicking is nice, but it can be disabled and it should be an option. It wouldn't be that hard. Many apps I've downloaded use a normal touch instead of having to click.

The clicking function is awkward since there is a huge button in the center, but not the edges, of the screen. When you try to click the edge of the screen, it is much more difficult than clicking the center. The screen itself wiggles when you hold your thumb on it and move it around. That seems like a design flaw.

The backlight bleeds out of the unit which reeks of poor packaging.

There are other problems and many issues I have would probably be glossed over with a firmware update. I bet something is coming soon, it is pretty bad. The demo units in Verizon stores are sluggish and such. My unit crashed a few times as well.

All in all, I wouldn't recommend the Storm just yet. I don't know why Verizon released the phone in this state. It is pretty terrible. I'm sure an extra two weeks would have ironed out these issues that are blatantly there.

Verizon has increased all tiers of their FIOS program. The lowest tier is now 10/2Mbps. That's insane.

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As part of the upgrade, all Fios customers will now have access to download speeds of 50 megabits per second and uploads of 20 Mbps for about $140 a month. The company is also offering its symmetrical 20 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload service to all Fios customers for $65 a month.

Verizon had already been offering these speeds in certain markets such as Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York. But now the service will be expanded to Verizon's entire Fios customer base, which is spread throughout its 16-state territory. Previously Fios in these states, such as Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, topped out at 30Mbps/15Mbps and 15Mbps/15Mbps.

Verizon will also upgrade its mid tier offering increasing speeds from 15Mbps/2Mbps to 20Mbps/5Mbps. And the low end service will increase from 5Mbps/2Mbps to 10Mbps/2Mbps.

Want to use Verizon's EVDO network with your Linux laptop? This guide shows the step-by-step on how to tether your phone with your laptop running Ubuntu.Next Page »

Now Verizon was feeling the heat and is now opening up their network. Any CDMA phone will work with Verizon in 2008. Screw your Verizon. Stop locking down your phones in the first place.

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Verizon Wireless will continue to provide a full-service offering, from retail stores where customers can shop, to 24/7 customer service and technical support, to an easy-to-use handset interface and optimized software applications. While most Verizon Wireless customers prefer the convenience of full service, the company is listening through today’s announcement to a small but growing number of customers who want another choice without full service. Both full-service and “bring-your-own” customers will have the advantage of using America’s most reliable network.

Verizon is trying to be the single point of contact between you and everyone else. They want to control all lines of communication including IM. The future doesn't look so bright to me. I don't trust any one company to have my information all to themselves to do what they want with it. Look at what AT&T did.

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Today presence, which is mostly associated with IM, is managed manually. Users have to tell the IM client if it is busy or available and the user's status is displayed in his buddy list. Using a combination of IP Multimedia Subsystem or IMS, an architectural framework for delivering IP multimedia to mobile users, and Web 2.0 technologies, Verizon can extend this notion of presence so that the network automatically knows if you are not to be disturbed because you're watching the final game in the World Series. Or it can tell if you've turned on your cell phone and are ready to accept calls on that device instead of on your home or office phone. Of course, the biggest issue with services that use this level of intelligence to detect presence is privacy. Verizon executives said any service that offered this kind of information about where and which devices subscribers used would also have the option to go "off network," so that a user's presence could not be detected.

Notice how it is go "off network" and not just offline without quotes. That means they want you to stay connected and get charged up for every second.

Apparently, violating patents is a bad thing. Someone had better tell Microsoft!

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A federal judge today issued an injunction that would bar Internet phone company Vonage from signing up additional customers as punishment for infringing on patents held by Verizon Communications.

Vonage, of Holmdel, planned an immediate appeal.

http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates/2007/04/federal_judge_rules_vonage_can.html

I see that Verizon is running new cables on all the poles in Westfield. And today Verizon has said they will be pumping quite a bit of money into fiber. I hope Fios comes soon in Westfield.

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Verizon officials say the revenue growth opportunities for FTTH and the declining network costs make the project worthwhile. The investment in a fiber service will turn profitable after four years, the company contends. So far, Verizon has shown impressive progress in infiltrating the video services business and ramping up its FTTH services, say some analysts.

Verizon has been using natural gas powered fuel cells for a bit in NY. The article does not mention how they split the hydrogen from the hydrocarbon molecule and if it is efficient. It doesn't make sense to split the hydrogen from the gas and then use the hydrogen as the fuel source. You have to do double the work.

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Verizon's fuel cells use natural gas piped in from a local gas company to obtain the hydrogen atoms for the chemical process. The natural gas is not burned. Instead, the hydrogen atoms are detached from the gas as it is fed into each of the seven cells, and then combined with oxygen atoms from the air to generate direct current electrical power. Heat and water are then vented from each cell, and direct current is converted to alternating current electricity for use in the building.