Recently in Personal Category

So, I just spent four days with an iPhone 3G, the experience was enough to make me switch to a BlackBerry Curve as my only cell phone. I really wanted to like the iPhone, but it just didn't work out.

Here are the pros and cons from my standpoint:

Email (and Messaging):

Email is easily the number one application for "smartphone" users. It really is what the BlackBerry was created for. Back before they added the phone functionality to the BlackBerry it was an email-only device. I expected the BlackBerry to handily beat the iPhone here, and actually was surprised at how well email works on the iPhone. Honestly, it's probably its best feature. The biggest concern I had before buying the iPhone was using the on screen keyboard. I had used some of my friend's iPhones and I found it really hard to type on the screen, but after buying one I was able to type easily on the iPhone after only a few hours with it. The iPhone does have one small annoyance that I think they should fix. When you have a new message and you click on the Mail icon on the home screen it should take you to the mailbox with the message. I frequently had to go searching around to find which account had the new message in it.

The last thing about messaging is SMS and MMS. The iPhone doesn't support MMS at all. This is just a super-weak FAIL on Apple's part. I used to work for a company that all we did was MMS and really, it's a super simple protocol from the phone's perspective. Here the BlackBerry wins by default. On SMS - the iPhone does this cool thing where it makes your chat messages look like an iChat conversation, but I've had phones that do this for ages. My Sony Ericsson T68i did this back in 2001, and my BlackBerry does it too, although, minus the cute bubbles. My biggest problem with SMS is what AT&T charges for it. An SMS message is 140 bytes. It costs the carrier almost nothing to transmit an SMS message, but AT&T charges an arm and a leg for them simply because it knows that people will pay whatever. It's stupid to have to pay an extra $15 per month (on top of the $30 data plan) just to get a basic functionality. AT&T deliberately skips from $5 for barely any messages to $15 for more than most people use. On T-Mobile I can pay $8 month for what works out for me to be the "just right" amount of text messages.

Another big plus for the iPhone is its address book. The layout and general legibility of contacts on the iPhone is far superior to the contact list on the BlackBerry. It's just overall easier to use and understand. Also, the "me.com" syncing ability on the iPhone is great. I like having all my contacts available online, on my mac and on my iPhone. There was one major glitch. I have most of my contacts on my me.com account as well as in my exchange contacts. This makes them show up twice on my iPhone. This is pretty lame. If someone has two copies of a contact the phone should do something intelligent about that.

So here's where I'm really torn on the iPhone. The external applications are awesome. Pandora for the iPhone kicks ass, so does the Yelp application, and the Facebook one, etc. Just for this, I really want to keep my iPhone. Heck, I'd spend $200 just for a device I could carry around with me and have Pandora all the time. So, if iPhone applications are so fricken awesome, then what is the catch?

Well, there are several catches - the first one is that you can only run one application at a time on the iPhone. This means that if you're listening to a great tune on Pandora, you can't browse the web or look at your email at the same time. It also basically means that there are no useful instant messaging clients for the iPhone. You can access Google Talk or AIM (or both through Meebo), but as soon as you switch applications, you're logged out. The second catch is that a lot of great applications are out there for the BlackBerry that you can't get for the iPhone yet. The big one for me is Opera. Opera is basically the best browser for mobile phones out there. I'll explain more when I talk about the web browser below. There are more issues, but I'll highlight only one more. The Apple walled garden sucks. I want to be able to write software or download software from anyone. I don't want to need Apple to approve what I can run on my device. I paid for it, I own it, I should be able to run any software I please on it thank-you-very-much.

I really expected the iPhone to dominate here. I mean really, but in the end, it disappointed. Probably the biggest thing is that it's slow, but leaving that aside for a moment, there's a problem that comes from the "one app at a time" issue I mentioned in the last paragraph. On my BlackBerry, I frequently start loading a webpage and then switch to my email, then come back to my webpage a minute later once it's loaded. Since you can't run more than one application at a time on the iPhone, you can't do this. As soon as you exit the web browser, the page stops loading. This even happens if you switch to another "tab" without even quitting the web browser. The multiple tabs thing was just another case where I was really let down by the iPhone. Overall the web browsing experience just doesn't really make it.

Web browsing on the BlackBerry is a whole different beast. The default, built in, web browser for the Blackberry is very much a "mobile" browser. It's a stripped down browser that doesn't handle anything complicated very well, but it's saved by one thing - it's fast. On the other hand, the lack of the walled garden means that the web browsing experience on the BlackBerry can be saved by Opera. Opera is a full web browser that does everything Safari does - and it's fast. This means that I can have the best of both worlds, a full browser that handles AJAX and complicated web pages when I need it, and a stripped down browser for when I'm mostly dealing with text. That along with the fact that I can run more than one application at at time, means that I can multitask between the two browsers (I'd really love it if Opera implemented tabs, they were the first to do that on their desktop browser) and be even more productive. Honestly, I'd say that both phones have a way to go before they'll have the perfect browsing experience, but for now, I think the BlackBerry wins by a nose.

Maps are another place where I expected the iPhone to dominate. The iPhone has a built in GPS chip and the touch screen user interface looks very intuitive. The BlackBerry has to rely on either an external bluetooth GPS or just use cell tower triangulation to figure out where you are. Turns out all is not so well in iPhone land. I'm not sure why, but 9 times out of ten the map on the iPhone hasn't been able to figure out where I am, while the BlackBerry, while less accurate, has almost always been able to guess my location. It's nice to use the multitouch interface, but then, the trackball on the BlackBerry works almost as well and I can zoom in and out using the keyboard, which actually is more reliable than the multitouch interface. Another thing is that the version of Google Maps on my BlackBerry is at least one generation newer. On my iPhone I can't get directions for public transit, but the feature works fine on the BlackBerry. I'm sure this will come with the next software update, but it's not here yet. Finally, maps on the iPhone are just plain slow. The user interface seems to take forever to respond. One thing both could do better - I'd love actual spoken driving directions, like a real GPS, neither phone can do this yet.

I don't really use my camera on my phone. It's a nice to have, but really, eh. If I want to take pictures I generally bring a real camera. The only time I find myself using the camera ability on my phone is when it's more of a spur of the moment thing. I think both phones have crappy cameras. The BlackBerry has a flash, which is nice. Eh, I don't care enough about this feature to write any more about it.

Here's the thing - the iPhone is slow. The iPhone is running-windows-vista-on-your-mom's-old-pentium slow. The iPhone OS is buggy. The iPhone is running-windows-vista-anywhere-but-worse buggy. I've had Safari crash on me more times than I could count. Scrabble (the real, legit, paid $9.99 for Scrabble) crashes as soon as it launches. It just sems that in general I spend far too much time waiting for the phone to do something. Even with the fancy-shmancy 3G network that AT&T rolled out, the web browsing is slow. It's slower than my basic "EDGE" 2G BlackBerry. It's even slower than the BlackBerry when it's on a Wi-Fi network and the BlackBerry isn't. To steal a quote from a friend of mine "it's like watching turtles racing in peanut butter."

The iPhone also has terrible battery life. I have to charge it when I'm at my desk or I run out of power by the end of the day. I managed to drain a full battery in less than 4 hours the other day just listening to the iPod application. People keep telling me all these tricks you can do to prolong battery life, but honestly, the phone should do that automatically. Turn off 3G when it doesn't need high speed data, not actively search for Wi-Fi networks at all times, etc. I don't want to dig three menus deep to turn on and off different features every time I need them. If the phone really needs a human to tell it when to save power, then it should have a big, bright, "save power" button in the settings.

The BlackBerry supports this idea of "profiles" and you can basically have an unlimited list of them. It even comes with a few set up for you by default. The iPhone has two "profiles". These are "Silent" and "Ring". I actually really love the fact that there is a switch on the outside of the phone to switch between the two, but there's a catch. On my BlackBerry, I use four profiles really. I have Silent, Vibrate, Normal, and Phone Only. The iPhone should at least have a "Phone Only" mode. At night, I want my phone to ring, but I don't want it to beep every time I get a spam message, and it don't want to have to remember to set and un-set (two menus deep) a bunch of alerting options every time go to bed and get up in the morning.

The BlackBerry also lets you tether it so you can use it to access the internet

Honestly, both phones could use some improvement. I think the upcoming BlackBerry Bold will fill in some of the holes in the existing BlackBerry Curve. I expect some 2.1 software updates will make the iPhone faster and more stable. I'm sure eventually the iPhone will even allow some sort of multi-tasking, but for now, the Curve wins.

I just found this cycling blog: Bike Snob NYC
. What really got me to add it to my google reader is this paragraph:

"But what about the cars?," you may ask. "Surely I should fear the cars." Well, you should be aware of the cars, and you should know that many of them are driven by people so stupid they can barely operate them, but you should not fear them. Rather, you should know them and understand them. You're at a distinct advantage because, being stupid, most drivers are easy to figure out. It won't take you long to anticipate their stupid behavior in the same way you can usually figure out what your dog is about to do next. Oh, and don't let them bully you. Ignore the beeping. A driver honks to express one of three things: 1) I want you to get out of my way; 2) I want you to go faster; 3) I just don't like you. The correct response to all of these is, "I don't give a fuck." Drivers don't honk when they're about to kill you because when they kill you it's because they didn't see you.

Really, you should go read the whole post.

So, with Kayak and Farecast both getting acquired by bigger travel sites, it's time to look for a new, leaner, meaner startup. Tech Cruch posted a link to Mobissimo today, and just with a brief look I'd say it pretty much rocks.

According to this article from the NYTimes Nalgene is going to stop making water bottles with the chemical bisphenol-a. I've been speaking up about this for about a year now. Bisphenol-a mimics some hormones and could be particularly damaging for infants. We'll see where this goes.

While the chemical makers are claiming that not enough study has been done, it's clear that we should stop using the chemical until we know it is safe. There are plenty of alteratives - both plastic and stainless steel.

What I didn't know before reading this article is that soda cans are lined with an epoxy that contains bisphenol-a. Bummer. I guess I have to stop drinking soda from cans. That's okay, most of the soda I like comes in glass bottles.

Exactly.

Link.

It's been awhile since I posted anything new. I'm currently on a train between Portland and Seattle. I love the fact that I can use my BlackBerry as a modem for my laptop. It's really come in handy several times.

This is only the second time I've taken Amtrak. It's not nearly as smooth as I thought it would be. We're getting pretty shaken around.

I think most everyone knows, or at least can guess that I'm supporting Obama. I've been volunteering on his campaign, and I've met some great people who are working on the campaign too.

I'm really frustrated by what seems to be the campaign's inability to answer the "light on substance" question. Obama is a very experienced candidate. He has a whole list of policy proposals on his website. I'm not sure what else there is to say about that.

I have a my.barackobama.com fundraising page. You can donate to the campaign though that page if you'd like. It will go towards my goal of raising $1000 for Barack Obama.

Is finally dead. I know many people will be sad, and I will mourn her passing. Actually, she's basically been living with a say of execution in Castro Valley for several months now.

Confused? I bought this RV back in July with the hope of taking it to Burning Man. It broke down before I was able to drive it away from where it was parked when I bought it. It seemed manageable to fix it, but alas when I was driving it to the mechanic's place it really died in a huge explosion of smoke while crossing the Bay Bridge. I wish I had pictures of that...

Oh well, I did get it to the mechanic, but he basically flaked on me, and it got towed to an impound lot in San Leandro. I decided to sign the pink slip over to the impound lot and have this mistake out of my life for once and all. I went into the RV one last time to collect some paperwork, and I remembered why I bought her in the first place. She actually was a pretty cool vehicle and with a little work, the interior would have been sweet. This wasn't much use however without a working engine, and this was sorely lacking. Oh, also there weren't any real breaks to speak of.

A few pictures:

Oh, and as to why she's called Wendy the Flying Whorehouse? Well that's another story.

I just returned Saturday (19 Jan 2008) from Mali. It was a really interesting, eventful, stressful, and ultimately, fun trip.

I left San Francisco on January 4th. It was pouring down rain here. There was talk about Tahoe expecting 10 feet of snow over the weekend (I'm told they actually got 11). I was really worried about getting out of SF. I tracked the plane coming into SFO that would become my plane leaving via Google Earth. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, FBOWeb is a cool service that allows you to track flights in Google Earth. I was at my office, getting ready to leave for the airport, when I realized I had left my anti-malaria drugs back at home. At first I reserved a Zipcar so I could drive home to pick them up, but then I didn't have my Zipcar card with me, having taken it out of my wallet since I was going to be in Africa. I ended up grabbing a taxi, running home, and grabbing the pills. During the drive to my house, the radio said that BART was closed down due to a train hitting a tree so I took the taxi all the way to the airport.

One of my rituals of leaving San Francisco is to stop at the sushi bar in SFO for lunch before my flight. I met up with Henry there, who was coming into town for a wedding and we had a nice lunch. I highly recommend the sushi bar at SFO in the international terminal. It's good sushi, particularly when you're leaving for a landlocked African country with bland food (more on that later).

After lunch I checked in with Virgin Atlantic for the first leg of my trip. I originally was going to take this trip with my (now ex-) girlfriend, Monica. She decided not to come, so I used the frequent miles that were going to her ticket to upgrade myself to business class. For Virgin Atlantic this meant "Upper Class," which is quite the posh experience. I was looking forward to the Upper Class experience. Upon check-in I was given an invitation to the Upper Class Lounge, which is a nice little lounge on the 5th floor of the SFO international terminal. They have a little bar along with a kitchen that serves a small menu of snacks. After a drink and a desert I picked up a copy of the Financial Times and waited for my flight.

One thing I should take a moment to comment on: Continental has a totally obnoxious reservations system for reward travel. It's horribly complicated, it doesn't show all the flights you can choose, it randomly will show a flight one day, and the next day, say it doesn't exist. It was really frustrating to make my reservations. I had wanted to fly Virgin Atlantic both to and from Africa, but I was told several times that there were no seats available on the return flight. I learned, just before leaving, and too late to change anything, that there were seats, everyone else just used the wrong flight number to look up the flight. Add this to the list of stupid and frustrating things with Continental reward reservations.

The flight from SFO to London was uneventful. I was unable to sleep despite having the lay flat bed. I think it's just hard to go to sleep at 6pm (as your body thinks). I've never really had any success in going to bed on eastern bound flights. I spent a lot of time thinking about luxury vs. money and my attitude about it, but that's a topic for a post on it's own.

Once I got to London I met up with a friend-of-a-friend who offered me a couch to crash on. We spent the afternoon cruising around London, had some awful Indian food and then I went out for a drink with a girl I met two days before I left on OkCupid. Anna and I had a great intellectual conversation over drinks in a pub and I eventually had to go find that couch. I really enjoyed London. I need to get back there to spend some more time in "Mirror World".

I left London Sunday morning, stopped in Paris for a few hours where nothing really interesting happened and then got on a flight for Bamako, Mali. I got into Bamako Sunday evening and met my Mom and brother at the airport. Then the real travel began. (continued in part 2)

Today is Blog for choice day, so I thought I'd do my part. I think the other blogs have done a great job of covering some of the more feminist aspects of the pro-choice debate. I don't think can add anything to the point that women should have control over their own healthcare decisions.

Freedom of choice is more than just what is morally right, It's actually also a good idea. I'm a huge proponent of what works, regardless of the ideological basis for it. Making abortions illegal doesn't make them less common, it just makes them less safe. There are studies showing the abortion rates for countries with legal and illegal abortion are about the same*, but in countries without legal abortion women have to turn to "back-alley" providers, or they try local remedies that may endanger their health.

Pro-choice, not just a good idea - one that actually saves lives.

(sorry, I'm too lazy to actually cite sources, but the interested reader can find the studies with little effort via google)

http://www.tcho.com/home/

Sweet. Literally.

There is a new chocolate company launching in SF. This will be something like the fifth chocolate company in the bay area (Ghirardelli, Rechiutti, Scharffen Berger, Guittard). They say they will be the only chocolate factory in SF, which might be true, but there is an abundance of great chocolate in the Bay Area.

More can only be better

My travel info for flying to Portland

Fri, Oct 26, 2007 - San Francisco, CA (SFO) to Portland, OR (PDX)

United 0780 Depart: SFO 07:00 PM Arrive: PDX 08:40 PM


Sun, Oct 28, 2007 - Portland, OR (PDX) to San Francisco, CA (SFO)

United 0119 Depart: PDX 05:55 PM Arrive: SFO 07:43 PM