14th
November
2007
Your Privacy Is An Illusion: Bank intern busted by Facebook
As a doctor and facebook user, I found the above story interesting when I read it in a medical newsletter I subscribe to. Basically this bank intern in the US took time off work for “family reasons” but was busted by his employer when they found photos of him at a party that day on his facebook page. There’s copies of the photo, and related emails posted on the link above. So Facebook users, bloggers, and anyone with an online presence beware - big brother might be watching… Maybe I need to consider Googling people after I’ve written them a sick note 
Categories : General Practice, Internet |
14th
November
2007
Experiencing a bit of blogging block this week, so for want of something more interesting to post on, let me briefly discuss my new phone.
Previously I had a Softbank, which is the same as a Dopod 838pro or iMate JasJam, but they all are manufactured by the company HTC, which is now releasing phones under it’s own moniker. For a few weeks I had been experiencing a few problems with the phone - a shorter and shorter battery life, and poor responsiveness and delays when using various programs. So I had a look around and discovered the upgraded model the TyTN II, which I could get on a monthly cap plan on the Three network for about what I was paying already. The perfect excuse to upgrade my phone then!
I tried to order it online through 3 but got an email back saying there would be a several week wait, and to try going in to one of their stores. So the next day I went into the Rockingham store and walked out with my new phone (and they threw in a car kit too!)
After using the phone for a week I am thrilled. It has everything I liked about the old one but it does it all better, faster, and without any stalls or crashes. It still has the big screen and fold out keyboard, but the overall feel is that it is slightly thinner but more solid (in a good way) - The keyboard now tilts to provide a more natural typing posture, as you can see in the picture. Connectivity options are mostly the same - multiple band phone network connecting including 3G video calling and high speed data. Wi-fi b/g remains but the connections are quicker and more stable. Bluetooth works well. They seem to have done away with an infra-red port although I rarely use it nowadays, but that is more than compensated for by the fact that this new phone has GPS. GPS seems to work good, and has been fun playing with, although sometimes it seems a little slow to aquire my location, and the provided maps are a year or so out of date.
Other features of the phone that have been improved are the onboard memory (which has doubled to 128 meg) and camera, which has improved from 2 to 3 megapixels. The old phone had a little flash though, which was useful at times, and I was a little disappointed to see that had been removed. The processor is a
400Mhz processor, and the PDA is very responsive as I mentioned. It comes with Windows Mobile 6 installed, which is a great OS. Also I’ve found that there seems to be less problems with syncing to my PC than with the previous phone. Everything syncs smoothly and flawlessly (especially now I seem to have resolved my issues with daylight savings screwing up my calendar).
So I am very very happy with this phone so far. What about the network? I’ve been with Optus for many many years and have never had any major problems with them so I was hesitant to change. But I must say I’m pretty impressed with their plans and performance. I’m on an “X-series” plan which includes up to 100Mb of data per month and unlimited 3 email and instant messenging. Data sessions connect quickly and the download speeds are fast. Because of the unlimited email I have forwarded all my email on to the three 3 email address and have it set to check and download every 5 minutes. So it’s not quite Blackberry style “push” email but it’s pretty close to it, and at a fraction of the cost. The native WM6 email app is a little limited in it’s options though so I might try and find an alternative when I get a chance. Video calling seems to work okay (although I can’t see myself using it very much) and the TV options etc seem fine (though I probably won’t use those much either, except maybe for cricket if I was out and about). So it’s so far, so good with three.
Categories : Gadgets, Personal, Technology |
