Just Duke - Mostly Tech Ponderings

Just Duke Video Podcast 13

Just Duke Video Podcast #13 Recorded January 28th, 2012

Twitter and Censorship

Apple gets some bad press

VIP Deals buys 5 star ratings

One Atrix bites the dust, another takes it's place.

How I rooted my Motorola Atrix Part 3

The second time I rooted a Motorola Atrix, I used this method.  It worked, and wasn't hard, but it wasn't as easy as the first time, when I was sitting on Froyo. So Last week when my Atrix crashed and burned, I quickly did an Internet search and stumbled across this one click method. I would highly recommend that if you are sitting on Gingerbread 2.3.4, and a Motorola device, that you give this method a try! Honestly, from the time I took my new Atrix out of the mailbox, to remove the battery, Sim card, and micro-SD, boot and root, took every bit of 20 minutes! 

My Motorola Atrix - RIP

Remember last year's CES? Remember when Motorola unveiled the Atrix, that could dock with lots of cool accessories including one that could turn it into a laptop? I know I sure got excited!  So in April, 2011 I picked one up at my local AT&T store. Man, it was so cool! I mean it was state of the art! . . . . For about 2 months! Then, some reality set in. First off, was the pricing for these accessories! So I decided to stick with just the phone. Now, as I've stated here before, I am no fan of Moto-blur. But I really like the Atrix. I rooted it and found it to be a decent device. But let's also remember that the Atrix became available in late Febuary, 2011. was replaced by the Atrix 2 in October of that year.  

Now as the Android world turns, more and more Android awesomeness is unveiled. And I've certainly experienced some recent phone lust for devices such as the Galaxy Nexus, the S II, and on and on. But I have a way to go on my contract with AT&T, so its all good . . . . 

Well, Friday, which happens to be 9 months into my two year contract, my Atrix passed away. It got sick about a week ago, requiring a factory wipe, but alas, it didn't kill the cancer. Bad sectors in the internal hard drive . . .  So AT&T is sending me a new one. correct that . . A new Reburbished one. I shouldn't complain, but I will anyway. I've been a loyal customer to AT&T. I've bought several devices outright. I've had some outragous phone bills and I've paid them without complaining. I just expected a break.  And I asked for one!!  What did they offer me to upgrade? Take any Android phone AT&T offers, and whatever the asking price is, add $100 to it. So if Joe NewCustomer can walk in and grab a Galaxy S II for $199, I can upgrade for $299, Same deal on an iPhone. Fair? Maybe . .  I was just hoping for more . . .

Signs that Google + is Growing

From the beginning, I've been a supporter of Google's social network, Google Plus. And nothing has happened to change my opinion. Since the service went live in June of 2011 as an invite only beta, I've seen a whole lot of negative written whowever. "It's destined to fail", "It doesn't understand Social" It's geared to Tech people, and not real people."

  I've recently been reading some articles speculating that Google Plus is growing rapidly as of late. Although Google doesn't tell us much about user numbers, it has been reported that Eric Schmidt has admitted that Paul Allen's data is very close to the actual numbers that Google is seeing. Paul Allen's latest post about those numbers show that December has seen a rapid jump in those numbers. But I am seeing other proof that Google is growing and also reaching non-tech persons. Take a look at what is trending on Google Plus . . . As I write this, these are the top trending topics:

Streamzoo is a great photo sharing app

I was over on Google Plus venting somewhat about how Instagram wasn't available for the Android Platform. A fellow by the name of Manish Vaidya commented that there was an app called Streamzoo and I wouldn't miss Instagram. Manish happens to be the founder of Streamzoo and so far Manish has been very right!  This is just an awesome app for photosharing. It might not have the Instagram popularity, but it offers very similar filters and borders as well as the tweaks to brightness, hue, contrast, etc. But it goes beyond Instagram in that it's available on the iOS AND Android Platforms as well as being available in a web app. Also, they encourage the use of hashtags so that uses can follow streams of popular picture topics.

All the Android Apps on my Iconia

Just like on my Atrix, I have a whole lot of Apps from the Amazon Market. The price is right and it's easy. Very few I actually paid for, all though there are a few here and there that I certainly deemed worthy. Although this may like many, my Iconia doesn't come close to the apps on my Atrix.