teknote systems corporate blog

So I broke down and replaced my 3 year old Palm TREO smartphone with an Apple iPhone 4, despite all of the hype floating around the press about a supposed antenna defect. Why would a techie like me who researches her gadgets like a mad woman before committing to a final purchase do such a thing? Because after holding the iPhone in my hot little hands and falling in love with the slick look and feel of Apple’s latest smartphone masterpiece, I was a goner. Completely sold.

And then I brought my new technological wonder home to a location I soon learned has weak to pathetic AT&T signal strength. That’s right. Take a look at the image below and you’ll see what I’m talking about - a picture is worth a thousand words:

But this signal strength problem was not enough to tear my sleek new iPhone 4 away from me. No siree! Instead, I’ve found ways to deal with my lousy home signal by doing the following:

• Downloading updates 4.01 and 4.02 for iOS4.
• When at all possible, keep hands from covering phone’s bottom left corner where antenna is located. Better yet, take advantage of the ability to rotate the device 45 degrees for a wider screen and keypad.
• Install the free bumper provided by Apple.

Easy peasy! Meanwhile after doing all of the above and reading various iPhone 4 news while working out at the gym, I ran across another brave iPhone 4 owner’s review that I couldn’t agree with more. The writer’s name is Daniel Terdiman and he writes a column called Geek Gestalt on cnet.com. High. Fives.

The funniest thing to me about all the hoopla this summer over the iPhone 4’s antenna problems is that everyone kicking and screaming about the situation seemed to overlook one small thing: pop a bumper on the device and it works absolutely fine.

Sure, when a company advertises the benefits of an all-new antenna design and the sleek metallic lines of a device like the iPhone 4–and charges $30 for a little plastic bumper–people develop expectations.

But throw in the bumper for free, which Apple was forced to do after Consumer Reports’ damning review, and suddenly you’ve got yourself a really great smart phone–and nothing to complain about… [more]

As pocket “flip” camcorders continue to be all the rage, quality becomes increasingly better with hi-def moving into the picture. Now, not only can you capture video on the fly, but you can actually record with frame rate options and superb video quality. Check out these inexpensive pocketable camcorders:

• Kodak ZI6 Pocket Video Camera
• Sony Webbie HD MHS-PM1
• Pure Digital Technologies’ Flip MinoHD minicamcorder
• Sony Unveils Compact, GPS-Enabled HD Camcorder

Be sure to take a look at Pure Digital’s video demo. Portable video gets even more affordable and easy to use each day!

For those interested in blogging but without the time to generate elaborate posts, ‘microblogging’ is a much better alternative. What is microblogging? Basically microblogging is blogging in a nutshell, or posting web logs in about 200 characters or less. Services such as Twitter, Jaiku and Pownce are popular with microbloggers who post updates about what they are doing, and the number of microblog users continues to grow exponentially.

With the increased number of microbloggers sharing posts, users are turning toward indexing services the help monitor microblog feeds. FriendFeed, twhirl, Quotably.com and Tweetscan are useful tools in keeping track of online public conversations within Twitter, Jaiku and Pownce. Hidden or ‘protected’ posts are not tracked, an added layer of security for bloggers wanting messages to be viewed only by privately selected users.

Current events have never before been so rapidly broadcast, with microblogs quickly becoming the new electronic wave pushing mainstream media to the wayside. What are you doing now anyway?

Watching television shows from your computer is no longer a thing of the future. A quickly growing company by the name of Hulu provides online viewing of TV episodes, clips and movies around the clock in the United States. Want to know more? View this video walkthrough:

Who says voice mail over the Internet is not just for the corporate world? Google, that’s who! Simply download Google Talk and get started with free online communication, including instant messaging and voice mail service. Not interested in another download? No problem. Just launch the Google Talk gadget and be on your way to instant communication.

Get Google Talk while it’s hot!

Why should Grandma and Grandpa Jones miss out on email and family photos just because they don’t own a computer? They shouldn’t, precisely why Presto came up with the idea of a printing mailbox service. Presto prints the recipient’s email messages and/or photo attachments on a daily schedule similar to regular postal mail delivery. Access to a computer with or without internet service is not required, only a telephone line, printing mailbox and subscription to Presto’s service.

Technology is an such amazing thing.