Learn about the life of Michael Montez in Los Angeles, CA.
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Goodbye Nikki, you were a great dog and you took care of my mom and dad. We will all miss you very much. Thank you for your loyalty, love, and licks.
My parents had to put our dog to sleep today. She had bone cancer and it was too deep to operate. My mother is very upset because it’s also her birthday (Happy Birthday Mom).
Just found this Logitech App that controls your Home Theater PC (HTPC) via iPod Touch/iPhone. Now I just need to complete my HTPC and I will be ready to rock.
Logitech Touch Mouse Turns Your iPhone or iPod Touch into a Wireless Trackpad and Keyboard
WOW, has it been over two months – YES! Do I still love my Motorola DROID – YES! Am I bummed about Obama-care – YES! (but I digress.)
Again, the phone is great, I love the display, the audio is AMAZING. People have been asking me, “If I have an iPod, will I like Android?” In my opinion, yes. There are a lot of apps in the Android Marketplace (sorry, there are only a few FART apps, but I’m sure some more are on the way), and there is a small learning curve, but I’m sure you’re smart enough to figure it out.
Getting my music on the phone was easy, but it got even easier with upgrades to DoubleTwist and SongBird – check them out. You can download music from the Amazon store.
The one thing I don’t miss is having to run Apple’s (bloated) iTunes software. In fact, you really never have to plug the phone into any computer if you don’t want to. You can transfer media via the micro-SD card, easy on a PC, easier on a Mac.
What do I want from my phone? Some apps are missing and I really want them. First, Mint.com – please build a Android app. Second, I want the OS update to 2.1 (comes standard on the Google Nexus One).
Do I wish I had the Google Nexus One? Yes and no. Yes, because I want the OLED screen and Android 2.1. No, because I love the DROID’s keyboard.
So I just got a lovely call from my credit card company, Capital One. It was a courtesy call and they wanted to make sure I know that the federal government has required them to call me. Why, because of the new credit card regulations that are taking effect in Feb.
She was letting me know that I now have an option when it comes to overages. I could stick with the way it is now or I could opt out. Not being sure what the current way was, I asked. I was informed that currently, as a courtesy, if I made a purchase on my card, but didn’t have the credit to cover the purchase, Capital One would accept the purchase and then simply charge me a fee to cover the purchase. In addition, if I decided to keep this option, Capital One would like to reduce the service fee they charge for this service. Instead of paying $39 per overage, I would only pay $29 for each overage.
So let me get this straight, I have a credit card with a $750 limit. If I try to spend $751 dollars, instead of declining the charge (like the good old days), they will accept the charge and add a $29 service fee.
So I asked her, “instead of charging me, why don’t you increase my spending limit?” Her response, “Well, you don’t qualify for a limit increase.” Really, so if I pay you $29 each time I want a temporary limit increase (which is basically what is happening) that’s fine?
My other option, it turned out, was to decline this service and in the event that I tried to charge something and didn’t have enough credit, the charge would be declined. Um…I thought that was how it worked in the first place. Call your credit card companies and make sure you opt out of this “feature”.
For more information on the reforms the credit card companies have to follow, check out this Frontline episode, your tax dollars paid for it anyway.
Well, as you can see from the post title, its been two weeks with my Droid. Over the week I experienced Christmas and family as well as a lot of driving to strange places.
There is an application called CAR HOME on the Droid. This app is a handy little piece of software that puts all your common driving needs on the screen. Similar to a standalone GPS device. You can do a voice search, view your current route, and look up contacts. The apps was handy for getting me from my cousins house to my other cousins house and then to the bar. In addition, when I was at my cousins house I did a voice search for “ICE” and it found a few 7-11’s as well as a liquor store down the street and a Ralphs. Not bad. It’s a great time saver.
While I was driving from house to house, I needed some music. I am a big fan of podcast and have been using Google Listen in place of iTunes. One benefit of Google Listen, downloads the media via 3g (so far no size issues) and then adds it to the playlist. Most of the programs I listen to could be found just by searching from within the Google Listen app. There were a few that I had to copy the RSS URL and paste it into the app, but overall, it was a pretty painless experience. When I was leaving the house, I could add some podcast to the Listen playlist and let it run. My music is playing via the 3mm audio jack in my car stereo, but I can buy a new stereo with bluetooth and transfer the audio in that way. I’m ready to make the jump.
You can fire your radio as soon as you sign up for Pandora. Same great program, all the music you love plus the new stuff. Last.FM, same same. Pick it up. Google Goggles is fun but I don’t find myself in strange areas to often (more of that next week). Google Voice has yet to disappoint me. It handles calls and SMS with out a flaw. If you can get an invite, I suggest you move your life over to it.
I purchased the Motorola Car Mount and Rapid Car Charger. More on that next week as I travel to Las Vegas via car and stay well off the strip with my friends. I am also going to try out a new (to me) application for organizing my media. So far, Songbird is great, but some have suggested DoubleTwist. So We’ll see who wins.
