QLVR Version 0.7.0

As many of you are aware, the famed CompUSAs went out of business nationwide a couple of months ago. I had the opportunity to raid the stores twice - when they went out of business in New Jersey a year earlier, and again, in Manhattan recently. Anyhow, it gave me an opportunity to try a couple of new bits of software and hardware I would look at, say “that’s interesting” and walk on. The piece of hardware I picked up at the Manhattan store was the Energizer Energi to Go Power Outlet.

The device contains two USB ports to charge devices like cell phones and a standard (well.. US standard) 120V AC three prong plug for your power hungry devices like laptops. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised to see both a car/DC adapter and an AC adapter inside the packaging. The only major missing part is an airplane plug but I haven’t check to see if the airlines or the insane TSA agents would consider this device to be a hazard…

According the the product page the battery is rated for:

Notebook Computer: 2 hours
Portable DVD Player: 5 hours
iPod/MP3 Player: 25 hours of music
Cell Phone: 75 hours of stand-by
Digital Camera: 400 pictures
Camcorder: 1.5 hours of video

I really wish I could verify this but the design of the on/off button is really pathetic. Apparently, a power cord turned the device on inside my laptop bag and drained the power. I knew something was wrong when I felt how warm it was. Good thing it didn’t burst into flames

I’ll look to get some benchmarks and see how long the battery last when throwing a very inefficient MacBook Pro and its dual fans. I’ll be amazed if I get another hour…

Update: The NotebookReview site has this reviewed. Their experience with run times for laptops was between 45 and 50 minutes. The post can be found here.

Also, the URL provided for the device is a third party seller. I did not find a link on the Energizer page for it….

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I’m not sure if Sprint turned up the juice or put in a new transmitter but the EVDO connection is quicker than usual. I grabbed a couple of screenshots from two different sources - Speedtest.net and Speakeasy’s site. Both reported similar download speeds rivaling home broadband connections (well - not our FiOS connection but you get the drift…)

The first screenshot - Speedtest.net.

• POP: NYC - Optimum Online
• Download - 1496 kb/s (T1 baby!)
• Upload - 751 kb/s

The second screeshot confirms the results above are not an anomaly:

• POP: Speakeasy NYC
• Download: 1792 kb/s (T1?  It’s better than a T)
• Upload: 662 kb/s

Can’t wait to see what WiMAX will offer in real world deployments.  Provisioning problems could be a thing of the past once WiMAX is in the wild.   That silly Verizon BS of “we’ll be there sometime between 8AM and 6PM on some day next week” will be a thing of the past.  The future is so… rosy.

Have a great weekend!

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This posting is a bit of an oddity. It has NOTHING to do with technology. However, I thought I would post a quick endorsement for my favorite pens in the world: Pilot Cavalier Hi-Tec-Cs. I like them because they are very smooth for a very fine pointed pen. I like the .4mm versions to use with my Moleskine mini-notebooks (Amazon link. You can pick them up cheap if you live in NYC at the Strand @ 12th and Broadway or at most art/office supply stores..)

I originally heard about the Pilot Hi-Tec-Cs in a Make magazine article but had a difficult time finding them. The only place that stocked them was Jetpens.com. I tried the cheap plastic ones but did not like them as much as the Cavaliers. The Cavaliers are $15/pop but feel a bit more expensive than that. No… they do not feel like a Mont Blanc but I really don’t care…

Check out the Cavalier pens at jetpens.com. I think you’ll be happy you did!

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I have been a Voce customer for about 6 months now. It was a dream come true for me - I could choose between AT&T’s or t-Mobile’s network. From experience, I generally stuck the phone on AT&T’s due to its far better reception around the NYC burbs (NJ side).

Well.. today, my SIM is not registering on my cell phone as of this afternoon.  I receive an ominous “SIM card registration failed”. OK.. so some hardware problem may have occurred. Simple enough, go and replace the SIM, right? Well, I am not having any luck reaching Voce. I have called their 866 number until my finger fell off from pressing the redial button. Oh.. and email? No answer from two separate emails. Once from their web page and the other to support@voce.com.

Next stop - visit one of their physical locations. I looked up the retail location listed on Voce’s page. How convenient, a location within 20 miles of me in Paramus, NJ. Before heading out, I thought I would give a quick call. Glad I did! Apparently, these stores do not sell or service Voce products anymore.

What?? So.. let me get this straight - I cannot call, email, nor visit a retailer to fix my phone. What am I supposed to do?

I called AT&T about getting a SIM. They’ll sell you one for $25 with a $10 credit. Of course I could sign a contract but that’s not as interesting to me.

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Update: I’m starting to wonder if Voce went out of business today.   After further investigation, the SIM registration error message could be related to failed authentication to the cell tower.   If AT&T and T-Mobile will not allow them to use their services then this would make sense.

Add the facts:

•  Voce will not answer the phone
•  Voce has STILL not replied to my emails
•  Voce has slashed their prices in half twice in the past two years

I wonder how this is the end of another MVNO…

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