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Would you pay for better cell voice/data coverage at home?

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It's no secret that more and more people are dumping their landlines in favor of just using their cell phones or VoIP solutions. While I've covered VoIP stuff in the past, the purpose of this post is to talk about the ability to Extend your Cell Coverage in your home/office using a hardware extender sold by your wireless provider. All of the major carriers (AT&T, Sprint and Verizon) here in the US offer these devices. Luckily I don't need one. I even get 4-5 bars of signal in my basement. So my AT&T coverage here at the house couldn't be better. However, I know plenty of people that aren't so lucky that have really sucky service at home. My friend Dave has to either sit by a window or go outside to use his iPhone at home. If my coverage was that bad, I would probably opt for one of these devices, but something about this concept bugs me…

 

Should I have to pay for better coverage?

I have AT&T wireless. I have an iPhone. I'm happy. Sure, I think AT&T has dropped the ball in many areas and I've witnessed the poor coverage that my friends have in places like Tampa FL and NYC. However, for the most part my service has been really good. But let's say I wasn't so lucky. Let's say that my service at home was really crappy and AT&T said, "you can get great service at home. All you have to do is buy one of our NEW 3G MicroCell devices, plug it into your broadband internet and you'll have 5 bars of services for both voice and data all over your house." Would I do it? Probably, but it doesn't feel right. The part about this concept that doesn't sit well with me is that because you have poor service in my area, you want me to pay for a device to improve it. Yet, I pay the same monthly wireless rates as the guy across town that has great service. Not to mention that this device is $150!!! Verizon charges $249.99 for theirs! That seems like a lot of money to fix YOUR coverage problem. The other catch is that to improve my coverage with one of these devices you want me to plug it into my internet connection that I pay for to again make your service better! I wonder how Comcast feels about that?

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Broadcast Live Video with Livestream.com for FREE

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While I love recording some of my reviews via HD video and sharing them on YouTube, I can't get over this really cool service that my buddy Jack Beckman turned me on to with his review here.

 

What is Livestream?

Livestream.com is a website that allows you to setup your own internet broadcast channel for free. You can go on the air whenever you want and broadcast your message. It could be used for regular shows, broadcasting meetings and events, webcam monitoring, whatever you can imagine. 

 

How is this different from YouTube, Vimeo and others?

All of the others that typically come to mind allow you to share your message, but only after you first record it and upload it as a video file. Livestream is BOTH live broadcasting with the ability to record it for later playback (video on demand VOD). Livestream even has support for multiple cameras. You can even bring in video that you pre-recorded or have posted elsewhere such as YouTube or your podcast. There's a whole studio environment included.

 

Why is it FREE?

Like most free services including YouTube, there is money in advertising. So while people are viewing your channel there could be ads on the side, top or bottom of the viewer window. There is a way to eliminate the ads with the paid version that starts at $350/month! Most people will be quite happy with the free version. Also there is a limit of the number of people that can watch your broadcast until your account is verified. The limit is 50. That is still pretty good for an unverified account! Verification is beyond simple email verification. You have to prove yourself worthy by putting up some content first. This gives the verification committee at Livestream a chance to see what kind of content you plan on broadcasting. I tried to have my account verified right away and it was declined because I didn't have any content up yet. 

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Two New Drobo Storage Robots

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As you know I'm a fan of Drobo! I currently have two Drobos serving up my data here at home. (see my original review here) One is connected to my New Mac mini OS X Server and the other is connected to my iMac iTunes Server. I've been very happy with the products and the performance. However, Data Robotics isn't resting on their laurels. Today Drobo is announcing two new members of the Drobo family:

 

The NEW Drobo S

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This is the one that many of you have been waiting for. Although the current Drobo with its Firewire 800 connection is fast enough for my regular data storage needs, those of you who would like to use a Drobo for more intensive work such as digital video have been craving eSATA support. Well it's here! The NEW Drobo S offers USB 2, Firewire 800 AND eSATA connectivity. It also has a 5th drive bay which means it can support up to 10TB's of storage/protection (using the current 2TB drives that are out today). 

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iPhone App of the Week – BF Deals

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It's almost Black Friday! The day of madness and retail shopping. Actually with the economy the way it is, I welcome it this year. Go out and buy stuff PLEASE!

Of course you probably want to know where all the deals are. So I thought I would get you ready by giving you an iPhone app to use to keep up on all the potential savings. 

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BF Deals

BF Deals is an iPhone/iPod touch app that dynamically pulls in the RSS feeds from all the popular Black Friday Websites. Well that's not really all that exciting. You could do the same thing with your own RSS reader. However, this app goes over and above by providing lots of useful features.  First off you can enable Push Notifications to see the deals as they come in.

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Creative Ways to Showoff Your Photography – Gallery Wraps

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This is my 3rd installment on showing off your Photography. First I talked about Moo cards and then yesterday about Gelaskins. If you have a shot that you really want to show off in your home or office, why not go the extra mile and have it printed on canvas in the form of a Gallery Wrap? I'm really addicted to this kind of print/mounting done by MPIX.com. First let me tell you that it's not cheap! Before I even consider having a gallery wrap done, I have to really be in LOVE with the shot. Otherwise I'll just stick to traditional prints in frames. Gallery Wraps are for those shots that are really important to you. The ones that you just can't stop looking at. 

 

MPIX Pro

Once I got approved to become an MPIX Pro Customer, I was lucky that MPIX had a sale on Gallery Wraps. I thought this was my chance to get a few of my favorite shots mounted this way and save a little money at the same time. Whether you're an MPIX Pro customer or regular MPIX customer the quality is equally the same — OUTSTANDING! I've gotten several compliments on the ones I've gotten done so far and the next thing that they want to know is "where did you get those done?"

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Creative Ways to Showoff Your Photography – Gelaskins

Yesterday I talked about showing off your Photography with Moo Cards. Today it's all about skins. My guess is that you have a cellphone, mp3 player, laptop or gaming device if not all of the above. So why not add some custom bling to your electronic devices.

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Gelaskins has been around for a while selling all kinds of creative looking skins for your various devices. Honestly I'm not really a skin kind of guy. The reason is that I usually don't find an image that I like so much that I want it on a device that I use/look at every day. However, once I found out that they now allow you to use YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY, I couldn't get the site fast enough. 

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Creative Ways to Showoff Your Photography – Moo Cards

As a photographer I'm always looking for creative ways to showoff my work. So I thought I would spend the next day or so showing some of the products I've recently discovered or been turned on to to do just that. It's pretty common to have photographic business cards these days. However, the hard part is picking the one or two images that you'll use. Of course the minute you submit the order, you'll take an even more impressive shot the next day. So when my buddy Scott Kelby turned me on to Moo.com I was all over it. 

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Pick your favorite 50!

That's Right Moo.com lets you design your business cards with up to 50 different images. You can get 50 different business cards for only $21.99. Now you don't have to have 50 different images. That's the max. However, let's say that you have 10 images that you love. You can get say 200 cards with those 10 images and you'd end up with 20 cards of each image. For example, I picked 48 of my favorite images (I know, but I just couldn't come up with 2 more that I would want on a card) and I ordered 200 cards. I ended up with each image at least 4 times and two of the images ended up on 6 cards instead of 4. 

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So now when I want to give out a business card I can choose one based on either landscapes or portraits. The opposite side of the card, which contains your information is the same for every card. 

 

The Quality, Cost and Ordering

The card stock used is very good. I've had as much praise over the quality of the card and printing as the images that are on them. Ordering was very easy and straight forward. I was glad and impressed that I could upload all the images at once. The prices are 50 for $21.99, 100 for $43.98 and 200 for $69.99. Head over to Moo.com to place your order. Turnaround time was very quick.

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Don’t tell me, show me

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If you know anything about computers, chances are you have a friend, relative or colleague that knows less than you do and they come to you for help. I have a couple of friends that come to me from time to time and ask me "how do you do______ again?" Usually it's something that they actually have done before but they've either forgotten how or they've missed a step. Well if you've ever tried to help someone remotely with a computer problem before you know that half the battle is for them to explain what's going on on screen or what the actual problem is?

 

Look at their screen over the Internet

There's actually a way for you to see EXACTLY what's going on as long as you and your friend have access to the Internet. Adobe provides this service FREE of charge and it's called Acrobat Connect Now. As a matter of fact if you're in one of the CS4 products you can get to it even quicker by choosing "Share My Screen" from the file menu. However, even if you're not in a CS4 product and even if you don't even own an Adobe product you can still use this great service for FREE. Just head over to acrobat.com and sign up for an account. If you already have an Adobe I.D. then you're all set.

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Blockbuster, it’s the internet stupid

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When I saw this story come across my RSS reader, I almost spit out my drink. It seems that Blockbuster (in an attempt to remain relevant) is trying all kinds of new things. Let's face it! Netflix kicked your butt and you're in a fight for your survival. I get it. However, you have to realize that while you were hell bent on charging me obscene(more than the movie cost) late fees back in the day that someone (Netflix) figured out a way to eat your lunch by letting customers keep their movies as long as they wanted for one flat rate. Netflix continued to grow their business by moving BEYOND THE DISC (MEDIA) MODEL and partnered with every company they could on delivering (TiVo, Sony, Microsoft, etc.) streaming movies.

The fact that one of your newest ideas involves customers walking up to a kiosk and downloading a rental or getting a rental on a memory card shows me that you still don't get it. The "drive to my local movie rental store to pick up media" model has a very short life ahead of it. Maybe it's just me, but I think you should be investing more towards getting movies into the hands of your customers via the Internet and on mobile devices. You made a great first step by hooking up with TiVo. Although I'm happy with Netflix and iTunes I did cheer for you. You should really continue in this direction!

 

iTunes isn't going away!

The fact I can rent a movie right on my Apple TV in my living room should make you guys really nervous. Partner, Partner, Partner. This will be the key to your survival. Look at the boxes people are buying and hooking up to their HDTVs and do whatever it takes to get on those boxes at a reasonable price to your customers. Competition is great! Compete!