SpecialKolin Settles at a new home

In case you haven’t been following my tweets, I’ve totally given my server a facelift…a new hard drive and a new OS… meaning I’m officially moving…to

SpecialKolin.com

I’ll see you there folks!

Swedes test iPhone 3G’s 3G service

On the news wires there have been complaints about the iPhone 3G not getting good 3G signal. Sweedish engineers took the 3G as well as the Nokia 73 and Sony Ericsson P1 into their test chambers.

Noise.io [an App I'm actually anticipating]

One of the lesser known facts about SpecialKolin is that he actually enjoys making music. Of course, my talent is quite questionable, but yes, it’s true, I play music. My instrument of choice, is the keyboard or the synth.

Enter: Noise.io. Noise.io is the first iPhone synth to come to the App Store. Basically, what they’ve done is jammed a whole software synth into Cocoa Touch. Naturally it’s not going to be exactly the same experience that a musician could get from, say, Logic Pro, or a real synth, but the main idea is that it would be portable, and just as good as any other software synth.

I’m anticipating Noise.io since I’m always looking for new ways to make music. When I download my copy, I’ll be able to play something from the comfort of…well…anywhere!

Noise.io is expected to be released sometime in September, and will cost $6.99.

- Noise.io

AT&T’s Response

A couple days ago, on my blog, I posted an open letter to AT&T Wireless regarding their expansion of the 3G networks. I had seen absolutely no progress, so I felt that the letter was needed, especially with no coverage in the closest metropolitan area, Ocala, FL. I wanted the letter to get around, so I Dugg it and I even added the Twitter for AT&T News.

The next day around 2pm, I was contacted via e-mail by a Seth Bloom of AT&T Corporate Communications. He wanted to know when and how I could be contacted. I gave him my info and began the wait [I've gotten good at it].

Soon after making contact, I loaded up Twinkle, and to my surprise someone was tweeting that they had 3G in my area. My first thought was that they had just bought it, and they were excited. Being a sceptic, I turned my 3G on, and to my surprise, my favorite little icon was smiling back up at me. Luckily, I had some driving to do that day, so I was able to see if I had gone insane or not. Verdict I wasn’t [although, according to my Qik viewers last night, I am anyway].

Today, I was called. My iPhone sang Jared’s tune for me, and I immediately muted everything and tweeted it. Through the earpiece, I heard a woman saying to me “Hello Colin, this is — from the AT&T Mobility President’s office” [I honestly forget her name...I'm really sorry]. She and I had a really nice talk. The main question was “how do you like your new 3G service?” which I loved the sound of, since it gave me the feeling of responsibility for it.

The other question was the 3G coverage in Ocala. Sad to say, there is none, nor is the new towers even planned, according to her. She did tell me though, that if you’re ever wondering about the expansion of 3G in your area, check with your local AT&T reseller or call customer service [611] and they’ll be able to tell you.

This post was originally intended for DailyTechTalk.com, but it appears to not be working.

AT&T’s Response [part 1]

This afternoon, I was contacted by an AT&T Corporate representative via e-mail stating that they had seen my open letter and would like to have conversation with me. I agreed, and we exchanged phone numbers.

Throughout the day, I had been hearing chat on Twitter that 3G was expanding [read: people saying "omg! 3G!"] I was cooking at the time, and I thought “why the hell not” so I flipped 3G on and saw the beautiful little 3G icon smiling up at me. Naturally, it disappeared within seconds due to the bad service I get in that area of my house.

I had class later, which meant driving around a greater part of the county. So I can formerly announce that Citrus County, as well as Brooksville, have 3G!

Sadly, class was cancelled, so all I can do is keep waiting for AT&T to call me.

Open Letter to AT&T Wireless

Dearest AT&T Wireless~

You and I have been great friends for a long time now. I’ve been with BellSouth/AT&T/Cingular ever since I knew what a cellphone was. I’ve always thought that you’ve been on the cutting edge of wireless technology, and you really have been, but it would seem as though you have no intention to expand your 3G network any time soon. Your flagship phones all are 3G capable, but the network is definitely not there.

Before owning an iPhone [as in the iPhone EDGE] I had a Samsung Blackjack. That’s right, I actually owned a Windows Mobile device. I remember the first time I went onto the 3G network in Jacksonville. Wow, what a feeling. I didn’t have a data plan at the time, so I didn’t download anything, but, I made a couple phone calls, and really, wow, the quality was amazing! At least it was in comparison to the EDGE network back home.

Then, after getting the iPhone 3G [you know, AT&T's big deal] I was able to experience the “blazing the f*ck fast” speeds in Tampa. Although, not really, cause I hadn’t slept in over 24 hours by the time I had gotten it, but I was consious that maps was loading really really fast, especially since I was driving fast with GPS on.

Here’s where I’m going to sound a bit harsh: You’ve got me locked in for another 2 years paying for 3G data…$10 more than what I was paying before. I would like to hear about some damn progress in expanding 3G. There are Metropolitan areas that you aren’t covering[eg:Ocala, FL]. There are also areas that are just an intersection on a highway [eg: Wildwood, FL] that ARE being covered. I know I’m not alone when I say “what the fuck?”

What is it going to take to set up the 3G here? You guys revamped EDGE after the iPhone release pretty quickly. I’m seriously willing to help in any way possible. So please get back to me on that someone at AT&T Wireless.

Thanks

With love,

SpecialKolin [aka: the dude that was first in line at Tampa]

Adobe CS 4 [DailyTechTalk Exclusive]

My buddy Adam Jackson over at [the new and improved] DailyTechTalk got a look at the new CS4. So, why not be awesome, and check out his post?

- Link

First Day Back to School

It’s been a whole summer, and most of us are back to school. I’m going to be making the very most of this school year. I’m going to try not to talk all school, but this was my first day back.

I don’t know if you know about this or not, but my school, CFCC, has about 4 campuses. This semester, I’m at the main campus, which is a first for me. This place was HUGE in comparison to the last campus. Needless to say, I was a bit nervous, and even got lost on the way to my first class.

Luckily my teacher wasn’t even available to teach the first class, so I wasn’t technically late. We were actually “taught” by the dean of the Math department.

Enough about the class, you’re here for tech, so here’s the tech part of my day:

In my first class, it was detrimental, I was lucky to get 2 bars on EDGE and the school hadn’t expanded their WiFi to that building yet. So yes, I had a horrible time in class. I then journeyed over to the Student Union building to aquire Wireless. I posted to Qik a couple time, then left due to how loud it was. OUtside, I connected my bluetooth headset, and tested that out on Qik [which btw, WORKS]. Then I went to my next class, which has FAST internet [it's all the teacher talked about, I swear].

Needless to say, my “Database Management” class is nothing but an Access 2007 class. I was actually expecting to learn, more in depth, how to use SQL, you know, the Database that companies WANT people to know. I’ve come to the conclusion that noone actually uses Access 2007, everyone just teaches it so that there’s no progress.

In short, I want 3G in my county. Call me up AT&T, please, I’ll do whatever it takes to get it here.

My Interview with the Pakistani Spectator

The other day, after I had done my post about Bathroom Qiks, I was approached by Ghazala Khan, a reporter from the Pakistani Spectator, wanting to set up an interview with me. I’ve come to love interviews, so, naturally, I accepted.

I felt a bit embarrassed about the question of the Pakistani people, but now, I can say that I really like the way they talk. It’s almost poetic in contrast to what we’re used to in the US.

Go check the interview out. It is located here.

The Mojave Experiment

As readers, I’m guessing that a majority of you are Mac users, but either way, I’m not sure how many of you have heard of this “Mojave Experiment.” What it is, in a nut shell, is this: participants know nothing about Vista, are tricked into thinking they are testing a new OS codenamed “Mojave” [like the Mojave desert...dry and boring, maybe?] when in reality, they’re just using Vista.

At the beginning of each segment, one would say that 100% of the subjects heard negative things about Vista, and wouldn’t touch it. They were also asked to rate Vista on a scale from 1 to 10, then at the end of testing Mojave, rating the phoney OS similarly. Microsoft reports that 94% of participants rated Mojave higher than Vista, and that 0% rated Mojave lower than Vista [you can't go below a 0].

What I found interesting was the fine print. Of the 140 subjects, 20 were not video-taped. About 30 [22%] of the participants were Mac users. Meaning, the Mac users, could have not been taped at all, technically nullifying their rulings. [or meaning they can do whatever they want with the results, since there's no hard evidence]

Another beef I’ve got is the fact that none of the people that were polled knew anything about Vista. This meaning that they were basically behind the times, and probably thought that Windows ME was awesome. Also, with that information, I’ve guessed that their computers [mostly XP] had 256MB to 1GB of RAM, and maybe a mid-range processor. The computer they tested “Mojave” on was an HP Pavilion DV 2000 with 2GB of RAM. Now, I consider myself to be a power user, and I used to be an avid gamer, I have 2GB of RAM…so of course the computer is going to run fast, as well as it would with the dual core processor.

All I’m saying is: it was a kind of unfair game to pull on users who probably haven’t used a computer that much better that their own at home.

- The Mojave Experiment – Facts

PS: Vista users and the like…if you really want, I’ll load up my Vista and do a review, so no griping in the comments.