Galaxy Nexus Watering Hole

[MSUgEEk]

Anyone a Google+ user? Just got a huge redesign.

Major Google+ redesign puts focus on discovery, lets users customize layout | The Verge

Sweet!! Although, I log in on the computer about as much as I do on my facebook account on the computer...which is maybe once a month or to fix permissions and/or upload/delete stuff.

 

[AntimonyER]

So, Verizon is at it again I see.

Verizon to charge $30 upgrade fee starting April 22nd

"Hey, I know everyone was mad when we took away the annual upgrade, so we have decided to bring back one of our favorite features of that perk, for everyone this time, the upgrade fee! We even increased its value by 50%! What's not to love?"

 

[Stigy]

So, Verizon is at it again I see.

Verizon to charge $30 upgrade fee starting April 22nd

"Hey, I know everyone was mad when we took away the annual upgrade, so we have decided to bring back one of our favorite features of that perk, for everyone this time, the upgrade fee! We even increased its value by 50%! What's not to love?"

To be fair Sprint and AT&T charge $36 to upgrade so we're still less expensive. And I am sure you can somehow get it waived if you ask nicely or talk to the right person.

 

[MSUgEEk]

So, Verizon is at it again I see.

Verizon to charge $30 upgrade fee starting April 22nd

"Hey, I know everyone was mad when we took away the annual upgrade, so we have decided to bring back one of our favorite features of that perk, for everyone this time, the upgrade fee! We even increased its value by 50%! What's not to love?"

As cell phones, especially smart phones, increasingly become something thought of as a "necessity" instead of a luxury, carriers will keep on pushing fees down our throats.

 

[AntimonyER]

Oh, and here is some good news (for me anyways) for an hour this morning my phone held a constant 4G connection at my desk, long enough for me to stream a youtube video, run speedtest (Was only 1Mbps down, but compared to the .1 Mbps down I get on 3G, was like lightning), and update an app. Its back to 3G now, but it seems they have been improving the signal around here a little, and if 4.0.5 has just a small improvement in signal strength, I should get a fairly solid signal.

Only problem is I can only get 4G with my phone unplugged... You want to talk about battery drain!

 

[AntimonyER]

To be fair Sprint and AT&T charge $36 to upgrade so we're still less expensive. And I am sure you can somehow get it waived if you ask nicely or talk to the right person.

Yes but other than the iPhone, they also have better subsidized prices on their phones.

 

[Copacetic]

Oh, and here is some good news (for me anyways) for an hour this morning my phone held a constant 4G connection at my desk, long enough for me to stream a youtube video, run speedtest (Was only 1Mbps down, but compared to the .1 Mbps down I get on 3G, was like lightning), and update an app. Its back to 3G now, but it seems they have been improving the signal around here a little, and if 4.0.5 has just a small improvement in signal strength, I should get a fairly solid signal.

Only problem is I can only get 4G with my phone unplugged... You want to talk about battery drain!

Hey Anti, I have noticed an increase in my 4g as well. From barely there to actually decent. All in the last few days.

 

[MSUgEEk]

What self-respecting, good looking young woman would want to have an affair with this goob??

 

[AntimonyER]

Hey Anti, I have noticed an increase in my 4g as well. From barely there to actually decent. All in the last few days.

I wonder if they boosted the power to the towers around here recently (if that is even how it works...) Although I have a different PRL than I remember having before, 15109, so not sure if that has something to do with it.

 

[AntimonyER]

What self-respecting, good looking young woman would want to have an affair with this goob??

Money and the thought of shacking up with someone famous. Same could be said about good ole Mr. Hefner. The guy is flat out old, but he can make you a somebody.

 

[Stigy]

Check out this awesome Kickstarter project I found today -- might back this one as well. Can't believe how quickly it surpassed its goal.

Pebble: E-Paper Watch for iPhone and Android by Pebble Technology — Kickstarter

 

[BabyBlues]

Nice find Stigy!

 

[MSUgEEk]

Check out this awesome Kickstarter project I found today -- might back this one as well. Can't believe how quickly it surpassed its goal.

Pebble: E-Paper Watch for iPhone and Android by Pebble Technology — Kickstarter

That's the kind of innovation in a watch I've been looking for. Had I not just bought a nice watch, I'd be grabbing one of these. Probably wait a couple of years and there will be more with a little better life and display, but nonetheless...VERY Awesome!!!

 

[AntimonyER]

Heh, so Apple and co. (Read: Book Publishers) are being sued by the Justice department for price collusion over the iBooks. First story I read made it seem like Apple was a small player, or even a pawn to the big bad publishers:

Justice Dept. Sues Apple and Publishers Over E-book Pricing - Yahoo! Finance

But seeing it was a NYT piece, I made sure to get a slightly different slant:

US files suit against Apple, publishers over e-book price-fixing | Fox News

The second story is damning of Apple, and if the fox news storyline makes headway, could be a major PR problem for them. They colluded with the publishers because Amazon was giving consumers too good of a deal on e-books, and instead of competing with the Kindle from an even playing field, decided to get the rules changed in its favor by having the publishers change their pricing policy to one which Apple benefited, since the iPad could yield much richer content than the Kindles could (and was locked to the iOS realm regardless), and they were all forced to charge the same amount, which by the way was higher, so we pay more.

What Android/Google and co. were able to do for phones through grassroots growth by first offering an option for smartphone users, and then building it to the point of a superior product, Apple says for the e-book/e-reader market, nah, we'll just cheat our way to the top in half (or less) of the time. And as a result consumers get screwed. Just pisses me off.

 

[MSUgEEk]

WOOHOO!! Dual monitors!!!

 

[AntimonyER]

WOOHOO!! Dual monitors!!!

Nice! I remember the day I got mine, was so great. Apparently soon I am getting widescreens. My lead actually has a 3D monitor, flying through a cad model in 3D is unreal.

 

[AntimonyER]

Uh oh, I just realized tapatalk is cutting off text behind hide tags. Anyone else noticed this?

 

[MSUgEEk]

Nice! I remember the day I got mine, was so great. Apparently soon I am getting widescreens. My lead actually has a 3D monitor, flying through a cad model in 3D is unreal.

Sweet! I had a nice setup at my old job. New Dell lattitude 17" laptop and a 21" monitor hooked up to the dock so I had two monitors there the whole time. I get to this job and for almost 4 years had nothing but a 19" and before I begged for that one, had a 17".

Get this though, the only reason I got these, is a new guy in our group got approval for two 24" monitors. HOLY COW Those are huge! I don't have enough room on my desk for anything bigger than these two 19"...too many stacks of papers and such, so I'm satisfied.

 

[AntimonyER]

Sweet! I had a nice setup at my old job. New Dell lattitude 17" laptop and a 21" monitor hooked up to the dock so I had two monitors there the whole time. I get to this job and for almost 4 years had nothing but a 19" and before I begged for that one, had a 17".

Get this though, the only reason I got these, is a new guy in our group got approval for two 24" monitors. HOLY COW Those are huge! I don't have enough room on my desk for anything bigger than these two 19"...too many stacks of papers and such, so I'm satisfied.

Yeah, my company is firmly entrenched in the Lean Six Sigma and 5S craze, so my desk stays immaculate and nearly empty. Plenty of room for two 24s.

 

[Copacetic]

I wonder if they boosted the power to the towers around here recently (if that is even how it works...) Although I have a different PRL than I remember having before, 15109, so not sure if that has something to do with it.

My PRL was just 52642. I just did a forced prl update by calling a contact I created and labelled update with the number *22899 and it changed it to 52686. (i know, some say you should not do this) I did some research on google and it some sites say the latest prl for verizon is the 52686 while others say 52686 is not lte. Does anyone know what the latest is? Also, I just checked and I had full signal 4g bars, but my dbm is -97 which is the same as before the update.

What prl is everyone on?

 

[CaptainRon]

Check out this awesome Kickstarter project I found today -- might back this one as well. Can't believe how quickly it surpassed its goal.

Pebble: E-Paper Watch for iPhone and Android by Pebble Technology — Kickstarter

Nerdgasm. I geeked out and backed it immediately. I NEED one of these watches.

"Jet" black watch of course!

 

[Copacetic]

Where is everyone?

 

[halon]

Watching the Penguins game. At least I am.

 

[halon]

Screw Philadelphia.

 

[ajdroidx]

Hey all.

Had a very interesting day today. Got a real hair cut I used great clips instead of my clippers and cutting everything off.

Walked into Dillards just to look. Ended up buying a suit (I was thinking about dressing better anyway) and found a 800 dollar sports jacket and matching slacks in the bargain bin for a whopping 65% off! I should get it Monday after the tailoring. Never bought a fitted suit before. Thats not all. I even got a pair of shoes to complete the suit. They are sick, leather and lambskin! Feel sooooo comfortable though. Feels so dang strange wearing the suit. Its black with pin stripes and I have a light purple dress shirt to go with it (also from the bargain bin). My mom who was with me said the minute I put the sports jacket on, my posture snapped up. So, I guess that is good

Then, had a surprise today while at barns and noble. First thunderstorm of the year for us and it drops a tornado about 2 miles from my house! Of course I could see the wall cloud from B&N but had some expensive shoes on so could not run around in the rain. Had to call the house and tell my sister and dad to take cover. If I did not have twitter, I would not have known there was a tornado reported on the ground really close to the house. Also got some pea and a little smaller then marble sized hail too.