If you’re trying to decide between the hot new Nexus One vs. the iPhone 3Gs, here’s the skinny on what sets them apart. Both phones sport the aesthetic appeal of that sleek “wow” factor sheen, but there are a few differences you should know about which may make one a better fit for your needs than the other.

Despite its light weight compared to the iPhone 3Gs, the Nexus One picks up where the iPhone left off in the bench-press department. Its faster processor and more efficient Organic LED screen will keep your video sizzling sharp and your images pinpoint crisp while making the overall screen color reproduction more accurate (though strangely enough the orange colors on some of the YouTube videos I streamed to the Nexus One appeared a little too red for my liking).

The built in camera flash on the Nexus One is a very useful feature in low-lighting. It’s also a feature that the iPhone currently lacks, though rumor has it that Apple already put in a big order for flash devices for its next generation of iPhones. No doubt Apple will also be ramping up its camera resolution which is currently only 3-megapixels on the iPhone compared to the whopping 5-megapixel deliciousness of the Nexus One camera.

Unlike the iPhone, the Nexus One sports a full hands-free driving GPS navigation system with turn-by-turn directions functionality included right out of the box. On the iPhone, you only get the standard Google maps directions right now which is basically a little dot moving around on a 2D map…not very impressive unless you are willing to shell over the cash for a third party navigation application such as the $70 Navigon or the $80 iGo My Way.

Aside from these extra perks included with the Nexus One, the main point of difference I encountered between the two phones was their dependence upon wireless connectivity. iPhone applications run as smoothly when you are out of wireless range as they do when you are in range because your data is largely saved to the phone and is re-synched when your phone reception returns. This approach keeps your most of your data on your physical phone device, at risk of being lost along with the device if that data has not been synchronized and backed up first.  The Nexus One takes the opposite approach. It seems geared toward storing as much of your personal data as possible on Google’s computer clouds rather than on your phone’s memory. Unfortunately, while it does mean that your data is theoretically safer, it also means that you have to have a strong wireless connection for many of your applications to be useful. This is particularly true if you’re looking to leverage some of the coolest features Google provides such as voice recognition (see below).

The included Android Calendar application is a perfect example of why storing data on the cloud isn’t always the best solution. The included Calendar application is barely functional without a direct link to the internet, and it will not operate unless you have first assigned it to a preexisting Google Calendar account. While these limitations may not be an issue for someone who already uses Google Calendar and who has frequent internet access, I found it an unnecessary burden, and wasn’t thrilled about being forced to use a the Google Calendar which was only recently endowed with integrated Task features.

There are a few other ‘gotchas’ you should be aware of before you buy, such as the not-so-multi-touch feature of the Nexus One’s touch screen. The iPhone’s multi-touch feature is more than just fancy hand-waving; it allows you to use more than one finger at a time to interact with your mobile phone screen. This makes the phone easier to operate and cuts down on the number of buttons that would otherwise clutter its interface. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the Nexus One. Though the Android interface itself has been given an appealing facelift, (with live animated backgrounds and the like), it is currently limited to single touch functionality. [Note: You can enable multi-touch yourself if you are brave enough to attempt a ROM hack on your Nexus One].

Another iPhone feature I missed in the Nexus One was a simple notepad. You may be able to download one from the Android Market, but not having one pre-installed is inconvenient, and it makes taking notes or jotting down ideas difficult when no pen and paper are handy. If you’re creative, you could record videos of yourself talking and then sync them with Evernote, but if you’re looking for more direct digital copies of you paper masterpieces, check out the Scan2PDF Mobile application which instantly converts phone photos of your notes into fully searchable PDFs.

As any personal trainer will tell you, you won’t see your best results until you’ve put in the necessary hard work and preparation. In the same way, the Nexus One really starts to shine brightest once you start using one of its most underappreciated yet most awesome features, its voice recognition technology. Leveraging the technology it has long been toiling over for its Google Voice telephone service, Google’s Nexus One makes searching as easy as pressing a button and telling your phone what you want it to find. Seriously, it’s that simple! After a few tries, the phone will train itself to recognize your voice patterns and will identify pretty much any word you throw at it. And since every search you do is logged with Google, I’m guessing that your subsequent search patterns will be used to teach the software so that it continually gets better at recognizing which of your verbal commands it interpreted successfully.

Even more useful, and novel by comparison to what the iPhone offers, is the voice-to-text feature which magically transcribes whatever you say to your phone into an email or text message. This voice recognition feature, in particular, turned out to be a big time saver for me, just like using voice recognition in the built-in GPS navigation made hands-free navigation that much easier and safer while driving.

If you currently have an iPhone and are looking for those extra features that will squirt a few more ounces of productivity into your life, you may want to wait until the next iPhone iteration comes out. The additional benefits the Nexus One offers are mostly under the hood, and while they do add up, the margin of difference they make depends upon how ambitious you are about tackling the learning curve burn cycle, especially if you’re already acclimated to the iPhone interface. On the other hand, if you aren’t in love with the iPhone or if you are upgrading from a previous non-iPhone model and are looking for a top of the line phone with tremendous long-term potential, the Nexus One is probably your best bet.

And in case you’re still deliberating over the technical details behind the gloss, I recommend checking out Gizmodo’s definitive smartphone comparison chart for a great side-by-side comparison of these top two contenders.

~jp

Justin Palmen is a recovering technoholic with a passion for everything fast, mobile, and cloud enabled.  When not working in cyberspace, he enjoys traveling to exotic locations and would love to travel in real space some day.  He’d also love to receive your questions or comments at jp@justanasterisk.com

In a discussion about possible posts with some colleagues, I realized that there were subjects that you might want to know that I either don’t want to or simply shouldn’t write about.  I say shouldn’t because it’s not an area of expertise or more realistically – someone has already written about it better than I ever could. This post will be a mishmash of links to sites that do what I don’t.  Hopefully, it will provide useful reading.

“Why don’t you write review’s on iPhone/iPod touch apps?”

I’d love to but I’m neither qualified nor quick enough to write useful reviews.  I recommend two simple strategies for keeping up with the fast moving app market.

1. Bookmark this link.  I know it sounds silly but keeping a Google search of “best iPhone apps” will give you a simple starting point for iPhone and iPod touch updates.  As an example, I’m writing this on 1/31/2010 and the results I found were:

   1. Top iPhone Applications – TIME

   2. The 35 Best iPhone Apps Of The Year (So Far)

   3. The Best iPhone Apps

2. Check the following sites periodically:
   1. AppVee – simple reviews on nearly every app I’ve every looked for…
   2. FreshApps – a neat  site where apps are ranked based on “freshness”…
   3. AppCraver – similar to AppVee.
   4. Apptism – another in the same vein (there are thousands of sites like this).  I really just liked the name.

“Why don’t you write about the iPad?”

Ugh.  I don’t have anything against the iPad, but isn’t there enough hype without my rather weak thoughts?  If you are interested, each of the following sites has provided full coverage…

1. lifehacker – more than a few articles on the subject
2. techcrunch – a slightly techie bent
3. Ars Technica – if you want the detailed analysis from all geeky perspectives (I couldn’t find a tag for iPad on this one, but there are plenty of articles).

“Why don’t you do more male modeling?”

Just kidding.

Anyway – this type of post might start to be a recurring segment on just an asterisk.  Keep the questions coming – I’ll try to help in whatever way I can.

~ab

Good luck!!!

~ab

Step 1: Gather your supplies

It’s probably not a surprise that you’re going to need to do a little legwork.  Your wireless network is putting itself out there.  Buy it dinner and get to know it.  Here are the tools you’ll need:

1. A pen and paper.  Fancy pants McGee might not be impressed, but you’re not reconfiguring a satellite here.
2. An approximate diagram (not a Picasso) of your apartment/house by floor. I say by floor because most people don’t draw well in 2 dimensions, let alone 3… Here is mine (ignore the numbers for now):
   
3. Finally, you’ll need something to measure wireless signal.  My favorite option is an Ipod Touch, but you could use a laptop.  These measurements will be as precise as your instruments, so if you’re basing everything on the little icon, be flexible…  If you have an iPod Touch, check out the app WiFiFoFum.  You can use the RSSI value for data.

Step 2: Metric comes from the Greek for measure (metron) – soooo what you waiting for?

Once you have your supplies, take a walk around your abode and measure the results.  I would try to get two measurements per room. Find a spot, turn your laptop/iPod in the direction of your router (keeping your body out of the way) and wait for about 20-30 seconds.  Then write down what you get.  If you’re just using a laptop, the reading might be 1 bar, 2 bars, 3 bars etc.  If you’re using WiFiFoFum or something more fancy, you might get an RSSI reading like –50 or –11.  These readings are better when they’re closer to 0.

As you walk around writing down your measurements, be as thorough as possible.  You don’t need 1000 values, but then again, 5 is probably not all that useful.  I have the advantage of living in a tiny NYC apartment, but I still took 16 readings.  It didn’t take long and it was helpful in the next step.

When you’re done, you could just move on to the next step OR you can take a geeky detour and put it into excel (with another drawing of your home).  Excel has a sexy conditional formatting feature that will provide lovely depth to the image (my best signal is green, my worst is red).  This does not help with anything… at all.  It just looks nice.

Step 3:  Adapt!

Your goal was to improve your wireless in your home.  You now have a map of where wireless is good, and where it’s not.  I think it’s most likely that your home falls into 1 of 2 categories:

1. You have pretty good coverage with a few dead zones or low signal areas.

2. You have dead zones all over the place.

Let’s start with situation one.  If you (like me) just have a few areas farthest from your router with low signal, the first step should be to try adjusting your equipment.  Here is an example, just to show you how powerful this can be.  I am sitting in the same room as my wireless router.  I get “excellent” signal.  Using a roll of tin foil, I encased my router in layers, one at a time, and measured the change.  Here are the results:

As you can see from the graph, my signal was effectively cut in half just by adding a layer of tin foil… 1 layer!  Now think about what is probably in your wall.  Anything metal will have a similar effect.  Therefore, the first step to WIFI nirvana is to minimize the metal between the point you want to improve and your router.

Remember that this works both ways.  Metal reflects signal, but you can use this to your advantage.  For example, if you could use superman x-ray vision and see from my router to the computer in the kitchen, you would pass through two layers of bathroom tile, a tub, and a ton of metal pipes.  It’s no surprise that the signal, when it reaches its destination is … crappy.  However, this doesn’t mean I’m out of luck.  I built this rather silly looking parabolic antenna out of my lucky roll of tin foil and some tape.  I put it on the far side of my computer and suddenly “no signal” became “very weak”.  I can work with that, problem solved.

The above technique can be thought of as reducing interference or maximizing signal.  However, if you have dead zones all over your home, the situation becomes a bit more complicated.  You can’t just move stuff around or create reflective surfaces.  WiFi typically has a range of about 100 feet, a value that is seriously diminished when you add barriers.  If you want to cover more than an apartment sized space, consider these options:

• A repeater is a device that allows you to grab a weak signal and give it a boost, passing it even further than it’s normal range.  If I’m standing one room shouting “JAA rocks”, my wife might (but probably wouldn’t) act as a repeater, yelling JAA rocks so the neighbors can hear the good news.  These are affordable and available online from many retailers.
• Another option, if you have two connections to the internet, would be to install another router.  You would then have wireless network A and wireless network B (or if you are really slick you could try to make wireless network A extend across both routers).  This approach is not for the faint of heart – you’ll need to do some research.

Whichever option you chose, the solution will involve increasing the size of your network with hardware.  Maybe one day we’ll try to cover it here, but in the meantime, if you are embarking on a project, shoot me an email at ab@justanasterisk.com if you have any questions.

Good luck making your network into a kingdom.  While you’re at it don’t forget to put in some security!!!  There’s no reason to share your hard work with freeloaders.  I’ll write about that soon.

~ab

SMS (also known as texting) stands for short message service and has become more popular in the US than calling, a fact that was a surprisingly long time coming.  Although we’ve finally caught on to the trend, messages are still rather expensive if you don’t have an unlimited plan or are sending/receiving while out of country. Well there is a small solution built write into your Gmail account that you might not have found yet. Here are the steps to send text messages straight from Google talk!

The first step is to enable texting from your Gmail Account.  To change this, head to the little green flask next to settings.  This should bring up the “labs features”.

Scroll down to the labs feature “Text Messaging (SMS) in Chat” and enable it.

Now head over to your Google Talk window (you might need to log out and then log back in).  When you put your mouse over a contact, you will see a “video & more” menu.  From there you can choose “Send SMS”.

If this is the first time you are sending a message to this contact, you will be prompted for a phone number.  Plug it in phone and click save.

Now you can chat via SMS! The recipient will receive a message from Google, but when they reply, it will appear in the chat window!!!

Now that is pretty cool…

Enjoy!

~ab

That doesn’t mean that we have chosen the best ways to go about it.  What is pretty comical about the QWERTY keyboard that we use today is this – when the typewriter was invented just after the US civil war the design was changed.

“The type-bar system and the universal keyboard were the machine’s novelty, but the keys jammed easily. To solve the jamming problem, another business associate, James Densmore, suggested splitting up keys for letters commonly used together to slow down typing. This became today’s standard “QWERTY” keyboard.” – Wiki article

I guess for all you who can’t type (or can’t type well) this is a relief.  You were never meant to!

Unfortunately, considering all of the different keyboards we see each day, I can think of three good reasons to type faster:

1. You will get done quicker.  It may seem idiotic to say out loud, but do you really want to spend that much time writing out your thoughts?  Wouldn’t it be great to be able to input data accurately and quickly, leaving time for the rest of your life (as a reminder, this is the entire point of this blog)
2. Your colleagues won’t leave you behind.  As someone who has done the entry-level job a few times, I’m convinced that entering data, creating documents, spreadsheets and powerpoints are all mandatory rights of passage in most office jobs.  You can’t be an ideas person from day one and you don’t want your colleagues to realize this before you do.  You’ll have to get these tasks done quickly before the others…
3. Speech to text stinks.  I’ve been blown away by several new technologies in this area over the past few years, but in reality, we are still a few years away from a speech recognition revolution.  In the meantime, are you going to just hunt and peck at 1 word per minute?
4. It is absolutely faster than writing.  The average person writes around 22 words per minute when copying and only 31 when the text is memorized (wiki article).  I promise that with minimal typing practice, you could pound out 40 wpm.

Ok so if we’re going to try to improve your typing speed, maybe we should present a goal.  Books on tape are recommended to be read at 150-160 wpm.  My totally unscientific suggestion would be this – aim to capture every 3rd word.  This translates to around 50wpm.  I know you can do it.  Here are some tools to help.

Getting started

Before you can improve, you should figure out where you stand.  What is your current typing speed?  I tried a couple before writing this post and have chosen two.

The typing speed game

This site provides a great typing test of variable length.  I liked it because when I made a mistake, it didn’t break.  For example, if I misspell speed as speeed, this typing test still goes to the next word, rather than getting stuck on the last d and forcing me to type that before I can continue.  I think this emulates reality, as we rarely fix all spelling errors before continuing to the next word… Here are what the results look like:

Your score: 343 keys per minute ~ 68 words per minute
Language/mode: en
Ranking: That was fast – you can still improve, though.
Comparison: 23% of 34247 registered TyperA users using this language have typed a better result; 77% have a lower or equal result.

Powertyping

This site is annoying because of the error I described above, but it does give you an error rate (an embarrassing value for me).  I found out that out of the 75 words I typed, I made 11 mistakes.  This was a good reminder that although my speed might be fine, my error rate slows me down and should be my area of focus.

Training

Now that you know where you are, it’s time to start the heavy lifting. Try the tutors in this section and don’t forget to spend time playing the games in the next.  This shouldn’t be a chore – a few minutes here and there will provide immediate improvements.  Also, don’t forget to keep your lessons in mind when doing your work. Continuous practice, not fancy games, is what will make you a guru.

Beginner – http://www.typingweb.com/typingtutor/

Intermediate- http://www.keybr.com/

Fun

I like this game word shoot that I found through the lifehacker page:  Word Shoot

Also, although annoyingly covered in ads, there is a great selection of games at freetypinggame.net

Good luck!  It might not be immediate, but I know you can improve your typing.  You can do it!

~ab

If it doesn’t start there automatically, my favorite line from the 1989 Batman is “Where does he get those wonderful toys?” (at 1:17 into this trailer).  It’s just such a perfect description of how I find geek tools to be both empowering and entertaining.

A friend recently asked if I had any links to share and I thought I’d start the new year with a list of some of the blogs that I read.  My hope is this provides that answer to your question about my toys (yes in this fantasy, I am Batman).

Mental Floss – Some blogs are on my reading list just for me.  I almost never plan on sharing anything I find on Mental Floss (it’s my guilty pleasure) but often the factoids and trivia I pickup here filter their way into my conversations.  I feel like I owe them a permanent footnote after my banter but as I’m not going to end each sentence with “fact provided by Mental Floss”, this shoutout is going to have to do.  My favorite fact to date?

In Dom Perignon’s day, bubbles were considered a serious wine flaw, and the good monk actually went to considerable lengths to eliminate them during his 47 years as cellar-master.

“Bubble Trouble: The Not-So-Sweet History of Champagne“

Check it out and enjoy.

Flowing Data – The lovely graphs and well… data make this site a truly fascinating read.  I’m certainly not a visualization fanatic, but I adore the beauty of this rapidly growing field.  Maybe the blog’s author won’t appreciate it, but it appeals to the same parts of me that enjoy shopping at Muji or the Apple store.

The Universe as We Know It

Lifehacker – The brain child of Gina Trapani, Lifehacker has developed into one of the most vast compilations of useful information on the web.  I can’t count the number of times I’ve searched (on Google) with the terms “Lifehacker” and my query (like best chat client).  It’s just a fantastic way to get at the old stuff.  Moreover, what makes me really jealous is that the new stuff is good too…  These little nuggets will sit in your brain until needed.  Here’s a recent article that I thought exemplified the best of the blog:

Top 10 Mind Hacks for Making Your Resolutions Stick

Weburbanist – Although this is the noisiest site I’ve ever seen, the RSS feed is bearable and worth a read.  The point seems to be featuring gorgeous photography and design and the blog succeeds most of the time.  Sometimes it’s not my cup of tea but it’s often at least entertaining.  Here’s a taste:

Mind-Bending Digital Photo Manipulation by Erik Johansson

Gizmodo – You cannot love gadgets and not be drawn to Gizmodo.  The site really doesn’t need much of a description – they review the coolest, newest stuff and tell us all the gory rumors.  Interested in hearing about the much hyped mac tablet?  Check Gizmodo.  Want someone simply to tell you which gadgets are hot?  Read this article:

The Best Gadgets

That’s probably enough for now.  Remember to use Google Reader to maximize your blog reading experience!

Enjoy

~ab

There is a purity to the idea of music as the primary goal for the iPod (the phrase “it used to be about the music” always reminds me of Almost Famous and this scene above).  I’ve written about the feature craziness of the iPhone (here), but recently got an iPod Touch for Xmas, so I thought I would try an experiment.  You see, the iPod touch really has only two features – it plays music and video, like any iPod these days, AND it has a WiFi connection, a feature that leads to all sorts of mischief.  I wondered what I could get up to with only the WiFi connection.  Would the device still be useful if it were not about the music at all?

The results were entertaining.  I spent my vacation downloading apps and trying to get as much mileage out of the Touch as I could.  In fact, I’ll give you a preview of the ending: it was a lot of fun.  Let the games begin…

I started my trip to Milan for Xmas with Tripit, a program I’ve used before (but never on the Touch).  I synced my travel plans (with confirmation numbers and quotes), allowing me to tell the rather snotty Italian Avis rental guy that no, it was no ok if the price was 50 Euros more than the quote and yes I do have proof. In Italian this exchange was the rental guy saying  “e normale…” (shrug) and me responding: “NO non e normale.”  (insert look that said “just because I’m foreign doesn’t make me an idiot”).

Once on the road, I could look at my world clocks to make sure that my time zones were in sync.  This isn’t technically a new feature (it’s on the iPod Classic) but I found it very useful.

While in the air, I had read through one of  my kindle books (no not the complete works of Shakespeare – it just makes a nice picture).  It was great to do the same tricks that I do on my kindle:  taking notes, highlighting passages and adding bookmarks.  I also like having access to all my books, with the ability to download the books that I make have deleted or recently purchased using WiFi.  If the screen were 1 inch bigger, this app alone would be a selling point (if you don’t already have a kindle).

At road stops, a quick glance at Google earth provided a bit of entertainment, as I pinpointed my location and explored local attractions.  In the end, I used it for almost the same purpose as Google Maps (also included on the Touch), but I found the controls much more fun…  Turn by turn directions are available from other apps and as there is no GPS on the touch, it’s tough to get more mileage out of mapping features.

Once at my destination, I managed to tune my guitar (picture on the left) and then call ANYONE in my address book for free with Skype (picture on right).

Skype is such a useful app on the Touch that I’d almost buy one if it were a one trick pony.  The ability to call anywhere from any WiFi network saves oodles of dough and somehow, almost magically, the call quality is better than when I call from my laptop.  All you need to make this work is a headset with a microphone built-in – conveniently the same as my old blackberry headset…

Once I had arrived at my destination, there was nothing else to do but enjoy the vacation.  I wrote blog posts using Evernote, my favorite online note taking application.  You can write notes, add pictures, and then sync it all up to the cloud for safe keeping.  I will say that the built-in camera of the iPhone does add to the power of having applications like Evernote, as you can upload shots documents like business cards and such (which Evernote can scan for text and process for you).   However, I enjoyed typing away while in the kitchen with my grandparents.  It was convenient and much more subtle than opening a full laptop.

I won’t go into the details of the rest of my trip, but suffice to say, it was with family so the lively conversation sparked a few ideas which I captured with Remember the Milk (on left), probably the best task application out there (which I wrote about here).  I also had to do some grocery shopping, for which I found the lovely app ShopShop (right).

Also, family conversations inevitably end up in small arguments about relatively insignificant facts.  Wolfram-Alpha to the rescue!  This handy (although expensive) app connects to the full Wolfram-Alpha website (which I wrote about here) and allows you to type natural language queries such as NYC vs Milan (8.364 million people vs 1.298 million people) or my age in days (10061 days).  I find the math functions most impressive in this app (integrals and derivatives computed in seconds), but access to swaths of useless information is an agreeable plus!

For those of you who haven’t had a Panettone, your lives are incomplete.  That said, a quintuple bypass is probably not a life goal so perhaps a fitness app would be useful?  I’ll admit that I haven’t actually worked out per se with this sucker, but it looks great!  iFitness allows you to make up your own works outs from a large collection.  My new year resolutions will involve heavy use of this software – I’ll let you know how it turns out…

To close, I include the apps that are only for amusement.  Flixster allows you to update your NetFlix queue while doing heavy movie research complete with trailers and reviews.  You can also buy tickets and find theatres for new releases.  Also, I’ve included a screenshot of the games I’ve tried so far.  I think Collapse might be my kryptonite (perfectly good evenings gone forever trying to beat the floating bat creature who ruins this Tetris like game with gobs of ink).  Physics free is fun too – it’s not nearly as nerdy as it sounds.

Overall, the grand experiment was a success.  I managed to do many tasks on the one device and could have ignored the music function completely.  I recommend an iPod Touch to any traveler who wants a bit of fun on top of music player.  Let me know if you have any suggestions for me to try in the comments!

~ab