Additional notes

 Editor's comments delimited by < >

<When I update a Zentech page, I post a tweet at twitter.com/ddhart.
You don't have to join Twitter to read itl
You can also search for the tag #Zentech at twitter.>

Director Denise Zmekhol, who also did the film "Children Of The Amazon", now has a film called "Trading Bows And Arrows For Laptops". It's about how some tribes in the Amazon are embracing the internet.
Will be shown at the Wild And Scenic Film Festival.
You can find clips at green21.org as well as at childrenoftheamazon.com.

Glenn talked about Windows 7. He had a chance to work with it a bit. He said it boots up fast and, unlike Vista, it shuts down without annoying questions to confirm your intention. He said it's a culture shock for XP users who'll have to adjust to it.

Mikail talked about the new open source Google Nexus One cell phone.
Though it's not an iPhone killer, it has been hacked, can do tethering and already has some apps.
Google does tech support for the Nexus One but only by email, it appears.
Support at T-Mobile & HTC, the manufacturer, refer people to Google.
A version is expected to be available on the Verizon network by mid-year.
Rumor also has it that Apple has chosen a Qualcomm chip to allow the iPhone to be used on the Verizon network and should eventually be available on that network.
Apple has called for a press conference on Jan 26 to possibly announce their tablet computer.

Glenn expressed concern that tablet computers don't have a keyboard.
Mikail mentioned that he has an app for his jailbroken iPhone that allows him to use his wireless Apple keyboard, via Bluetooth, on his iPhone. It's found on Cydia and soon on RockApp. We'll have to wait and see if the Apple tablet will have an option for a keyboard.

Though the Nexus One uses T-Mobile, you can use it with AT&T <I heard you can use the 2G but not 3G network on AT&T, so check this out before you buy>.
To get it to work with AT&T, take the back off, take out the battery and put in the SIM card for an AT&T account.

Glenn asked Mikail to ponder why you can only use your finger to input into an iPhone, why can't you use a stylus? <They didn't come back to this question>

Myra called. She's looking for a new cell phone to use in the Bay Area. She's a Mac user and she's thinking of going to Sprint because she also has a Palm. She's also concerned with AT&T coverage.
– Glenn thought the Palm Pre is available for the AT&T network, so you're not limited to Sprint.
– Mikail said Sprint coverage is poor in the Nevada City area and that he's had good coverage with AT&T. He later said that he's never had AT&T coverage problems in the Bay Area though others have complained.
– Glenn said he's heard from people in the Bay Area that AT&T coverage is spotty.
– Most companies allow you a trial period to make sure their phone will work for you.

Mikail gave a list of costs for the various phones & plans:
– Nexus One with T-Mobile: $529 with no contract, $179 with 2yr a contract ($80/mo for 450min).
– Droid with Verizon: $559.99 unlocked with no contract, $199.99 with 2yr a contract ($100/mo for 450min).
– iPhone $599.99 with no contract, $200 with contract ($89.99/mo). You can get a refurb 16gig iPhone 3GS for about $50 from AT&T, if they still have them.
– Palm Pre with Sprint: $549.99 with no contract, $150 with 2yr contract ($69.99/mo for 450min, unlimited text messages and 5gig of data).

While Mikail was taking, Glenn checked with AT&T and said it doesn't look like they carry the Palm any more.
Glenn also said that the iPhone will not interface with her Palm desktop software. He's had issues synching his iPhone with Outlook on his latest laptop — not everything would come thru.
Mikail said both Verizon & AT&T will be carrying the Palm Pre Plus and the Palm Pixie, but not until the end of Jan (the 25th), Expect it on Verizon first.

Myra went on to say she's been using iSynch to do her synchronizing, but Mikail says he's been using iTunes (which then calls on iSynch to do the job).

While Glenn was on the AT&T web site, he noticed that an Android smartphone is coming soon.

Mark called to say he's also had good coverage with his iPhone.
He also got a Mac Book Pro and was wondering about doing backups to a service on the internet using TimeMachine (a program that comes with the Mac). He wants to be able to backup and restore the entire Mac <presumably the OS too>
– TimeMachine will work with MobileMe, but it's limited to 20gig
– Get an external hard drive. There are some that are fireproof and waterproof.
– As an aside, Mikail said there is an iPhone app that lets him synch his messages to Google's Gmail. It's called reMail.

Ellen called to say she has Palm Centro. When her Palm Pilot died, she couldn't get to her backedup data on her Mac without getting another Palm unit.
Mikail explained to Ellen that the Palm company kept trying to develop a way to synch music with the

iTunes store but Apple kept defeating them by issuing new updates. Eventually, Apple won in court.
Apple & Nokia are also battling in court.

Ellen then asked if it will ever be possible to transfer the Palm data to an iPhone.
– The calendar & contacts can be migrated, even now. On a Mac you'd first bring it into the address book & iCal. Try googling "iCal Palm Centro synch".

Ellen went on to say that she once broke the display on her Palm and recommended that people check to see how fragile the display is before buying a PDA/phone.
  – Mikail says the iPhone is very robust in that respect and he's heard that the Droid is too.
– There are screen protectors available.

Ken called to say that Consumer Reports Jan 2010 is has an article about the best & worst cell phone deals.

Last updated 8:35 PM 1/11/2010