Blackberry in My Hands!!!

I am currently in possession of the Blackberry Curve and will have a review on it as soon as I set everything up. I am very excited about testing this device. Please check back for a review tomorrow………who am I kidding??? I will be up all night playing with this phone. There should be a review up around 3am. Peace out.

Blackberry Curve Released…..in Some Places

Well, apparently, the Blackberry Curve WAS released today as promised by AT&T. However, it seems that is only available online, via the 800 number and in selected stores(none which I called though). My friends at the Store told me they were informed, via conference call, that the phone will be in their location anywhere from tomorrow to next week. I did hold the dummy phone and it looks and feels incredible. It is definitely thinner and smaller then 8800. The only thing that bothered me a bit was that the keyboard is much smaller than it looked in pictures. Personally, I am torn between the Curve and the 8800. As soon as I get the Curve in hand, I will be taking pics of it from the AT&T Store along with a brief review.

Blackberry Curve Out Tommorrow???

According to AT&T and RIM, the Blackberry Curve is due out tomorrow in AT&T retail stores nationwide. The Curve sports a full QWERTY keyboard, 2 Megapixel camera, Bluettoth 2.0(including A2DP!), 3.5m jack(just like your ipod has) and noise cancellation. My question is………why all the confusion on the release dates? Is this supposed to surprise everyone and make them rush out and buy one? Probably.

Palm Treo 680 ROM Update for Cingular

 

 The long-awaited ROM update for the Treo 680 is finally here……for some. The update only applies to those Treos that are Cingular-branded, so all unlocked Treo owners are out of luck for the moment. Below is the excerpt from Palm’s site that details the issues addressed with the update:

The Palm Software Update for Palm Treo 680 Smartphone for AT&T offers these enhancements to your device:

• Improved power management for better battery life.
• Camera update for improved battery life (available previously as a standalone update).
• Helps correct distorted characters that can occur in the title bar of the Phone application.
• Helps fix device “freezing” that may occur under certain conditions.
• System Lockout improvement for increased security.
• Support for the new Daylight Saving Time legislation (available previously as a standalone update).
• Provides better support for networks unique to some Caribbean, Latin American, and Asian countries.
• Updates Cingular branding, replacing it with the new AT&T branding.

New T4 SHOW up on iTunes

To update the post about trouble with the feed from my iWeb app, the feed from SwitchPod has been approved and should be available soon for subscription. There will be some confusion temporarily with more than 1 T4 Show in the iTunes Store. However, to make it easier, the new show is categorized under “gadgets” now. Also, when the search results come up, the new show is all caps i.e. T4 SHOW. You will also see 2 ads from SwitchPod in the episode listing. Thank you for your understanding and best of luck in your future iTunes Store endeavors.

BlogTalkRadio Show with Darla Mack

Last night, the show finally made its return to BlogTalkRadio and I had the pleasure of interviewing Darla Mack. Darla has a blog that covers everything going on in the world of the Symbian OS. Please enjoy the show and be sure to check out her blog, which is linked in our Blogroll.

Damn you, iWeb!!!!

Due to unforeseen difficulties in uploading the podcast to iTunes via my iWeb application, we have switched feeds over to SwitchPod. Until the Itunes Store approves the new feed, you can visit www.switchpod.com and search “t4 Show” or go directly to the feed page at feed://www.switchpod.com/users/t4show/feed.xml. The next episode of the podcast will be in .mp3 format, which means it can be put into SwitchPod’s embedded list player. We will, then, add that player to the T4 Show Myspace site along with this one as well. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Apologies to the Readers

We apologize for the lack of entries lately. This promises to, hopefully, be a big week with the Blackbery Curve potentially being released on Friday. Also, Robbie and I will be recording a podcast by week’s end about his new Verizon Blackberry 8830. Thank you for your understanding and best of luck in future endeavors.

O&A Suspended from XM

I’ve been a long time XM Subscriber, and have loved the service and programming I have had since Opie and Anthony announced they were going to XM in 2004. I have listened to Sox games, I have listened to Phish in Concert, and the Ron and Fez show, but recently XM announced that Opie and Anthony were suspended from XM for 30 Days. Rumor also has it that they soon will be fired from XM. I have long wanted to discuss the different XM Radios on the T4 Show and this site, but due to the fact that XM’s uncensored format is now censoring their talent, I had no choice but to cancel my subscriptions. Now I may not be a huge account, but I had three radios all going. Also there is a site PeopleAgainstCensorship.com that has a poll going where over three thousand other people have cancelled their subscriptions.

One of the great things about the internet today is that FreeFM still has a stream up of the CBS Radio daily broadcast of Opie and Anthony, and also there are streams of Ron and Fez, who are the current fill in hosts all day on XM 202 for Opie and Anthony. You can even listen to these on your Q, Blackjack or whatever at TheStreamCenter.com . So give that a listen, and if you do have XM take a stand before they can keep shutting down the supposedly uncensored radio…..

Amazingly I talked about Censorship that much with out a black shoes, white socks referance…. Robie

New Macbooks Released

Here is an excerpt from www.macrumors.com:

Apple(R) today updated its MacBook(R) consumer notebooks with faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 1GB of memory and larger hard drives in every model. The MacBook is just one-inch thin and features built-in 802.11n wireless networking for up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g.* Every MacBook also includes a built-in iSight(R) video camera for on-the-go video conferencing, Apple’s MagSafe(R) Power Adapter that safely disconnects when under strain, and iLife(R) ‘06, Apple’s award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications.

Here is the price and feature range:

- 2.0GHz, 13.3″ White MacBook, 80GB, 1GB RAM, Intel Graphics 950, $1099
- 2.16GHz, 13.3″ White MacBook, 120GB, 1GB RAM. Intel Graphics 950, $1299
- 2.16GHz, 13.3″ Black MacBook, 160GB, 1GB RAM, Intel Graphics 950, $1499

My personal opinion is as follows. If you don’t have a mac laptop already, it is always a good time to finally buy one. The macbook is an excellent consumer laptop that, also, serves me well for podcasting and other “professional” uses. On the other hand, this bumps do ot warrant an upgrade if you already own a macbook. In my personal opinion, I feel the G4 iBooks and Powerbooks still do a great job on the consumer and professional ends as well. To put it smply, Macs are awesome.

ESPN MVP Launches tomorrow!

ESPN MVP service will launch on Verizon Wireless as a Brew Get it Now App that is included in the VCast service. It will include Bottomline Sports scores and news. You can see that the Sox are beating the Yankees where ever you go with this app. You can set your five favorite teams to get the news sent directly to the phone, and get mobile alerts where ever you go.

This service is going to be a lot like ESPN mobile, but you won’t be limited to an MVNO provider, and is a feature you can turn on or off. My favorite part though is by far the fact that you can manage your fantasy teams through ESPN.com on the phones with this application. I will hopefully have a full review usage wise up for the site as soon as it launches.

Notes from Citizen X Interview

I received the following email from Citizen X yesterday after he was my guest on the podcast:

Hey Michael,

I wanted to post this as a comment but am not sure how to link to urls on
your blog. Anyway, here are some notes from the podcast:

1. James Bamford’s book is Body of Secrets.
2. Nixon’s program was called COINTELPRO. Here
’s the Wikipedia article.
3. The NSA program to monitor
electronic communications is called ECHELON.
4. Norealid.com is my website which contains information
about the REAL ID Act and RFIDs.

Thanks again for having me on the show.

Unfortunately, I do not know how to do links either, so just highlight the websites, copy, then paste in your browser’s address bar.

Citizen X on T4 Show Podcast Later Today

In today’s episode of the podcast, we will be talking to Citizen X, host of the Tiny Political Show and www.theadventuresofcitizenx.com. We will be discussing how the government is using technology today in the war against terror and how that affects our rights under the Constitution. Please feel free to email us or the call the hotline with any questions or comments you have for Citizen X. In the meantime, you can listen to his Blogtalkradio show under “Tiny Political Show” or check out his website by clicking on those links in the blogroll section.

Would You Buy an iPhone?

We here at the T4 Show would like to know if you plan on purchasing an iPhone when it is available in late June on AT&T/Cingular. Please leave a comment and we will read them on the show. Also, you can call our hotline at 206-888-6281 or email t4show@gmail.com. We will read or play your comments on the podcast.

Nokia N95: Another $750.00 I Shouldn’t Spend…..But Want to

Here is another phone I have been tempted to buy to replace my Samsung Blackjack. It is the Nokia N95. The specs on this Symbian OS phone are as follows:

Symbian OS 9.2 S60 3rd Edition
Quad-Band GSM
WiFi- 802.11g
5 Megapixel Camera with Flash
Video Camera in Front
Bluetooth 2.0(A2DP included)
VOIP
EDGE in USA, WCDMA overseas
Intergrated GPS

These are but a few of the features of this incredible phone. However, the one big sticking point with me is the lack of a built-in QWERTY keyboard. If it had one, I would have purchased this phone the second it was available. Another thing that gave me pause was the price. It ranges from $750 to $1000. Now, take note, I said pause. Even with the lack of the keyboard, I am still incredibly tempted to buy this phone. So, I am asking you now, Steve Jobs……… please release the iPhone early.

Blackberry Curve Coming in May to Cingular???

I just saw a phone that may(and that’s a big MAY) make me put off buying the Apple iPhone. It is the Blackberry Curve. This phone is rumored to be released in May on Cingular/AT&T and sports alot of updated features compared to its predecessors, the Pearl and 8800. The curve will have a 2 Megapixel camera with flash, micro SD slot, Bluetooth 2.0(with Stereo Bluetooth!), 3.5mm jack and a more spacious keyboard. On the other hand, no 3G nor WiFi. However, in my opinion, the addition of the camera and better Bluetooth stack make it a worthy consideration.