Cellphone9 » technology

Do you own tech company stocks?

Jayvee Fernandez — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:11:34 +0000

Okay, so let’s talk stocks, since the economy is in a sort of slump. If you’ve been listening to Leo Laporte and Jason Calacanis at TWiT, they oftentimes mention how an economic slump is usually the best incubation period for startups as a lot of great companies, not necessarily tech, thrived by building value in the downside of the economy and became huge when the recession ended. In Dvorak’s recent Market Watch column he says that we shouldn’t be fooled — acquire tech stock:

The most interesting sector right now, at least to me, is technology. Everyone thinks it stinks, despite its ability to weather all economic circumstance. Also, consider the fact is the whole world is technology dependent and cannot get off the tech treadmill. It’s a good business.

And stock, yeah that’s another thing. I won’t pretend to be an expert in it since I really am not but I’d like to ask my readers, without disclosing anything sensitive – if you do invest in tech stock, especially for mobile phone companies like Nokia, Samsung, Apple and Motorola.

I don’t own any. Stock isn’t my forte and with a past in tech journalism, it wasn’t exactly the best set up for professional reasons.

Post from: Cellphone9

Mobile phones as translation devices with built in FM radio

Jayvee Fernandez — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:11:17 +0000

Two words for this: practical technology! Yesterday, I had come from a get together in a room with over 3,000 people all of whom spoke English, Spanish and the vernacular – Filipino (Philippines). Here’s the thing: the get together was with someone who spoke Italian and very little English.

A week before the get together, the organizers announced that all attendees should bring in mobile phones with FM radio built into the hardware and should tune in during the get together to various stations for English, Spanish and the local dialect real time translations. Here’s another great example of how everyday personal technology can be applied to what could have been a logistical nightmare. Although there were FM radios stationed outside the conference hall, I did notice a great number of folks toting Nokia mobile phones since most of the fairly recent models all have FM radio capability.

So there it was. We were tuned in to a translator giving real time translations to all three languages of the one hour get together.

(Rather funny how during the “test run” the translator would say, “if you hear me, please nod your head” and a sea of 3,000 people would simultaneously nod — how’s that for a flashmob concept!!)

Post from: Cellphone9

An Ode to the Accelerometer

Jayvee Fernandez — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:17:40 +0000

Have you ever wondered what makes the iPhone recognize that you’re tilting its screen horizontally or vertically? Or what makes the new Sony Ericsson W760 browse through your music library with a firm shake?

Several months ago, TIME Magazine wrote a really good article on the Nintendo Wii and how it had changed gaming from couch potato to couch throwing. There was one sidebar on that piece that dissected the Wiimote, the secret to the Wii’s success. The blueprint showed the presence of the accelerometer – a device that measures vibration, tilt, motion with and without the influence of gravity. What makes the accelerometer even more interesting is that it actually is a very basic device that is very cheap to produce. There’s no magic involved, really. I’m not sure, but from what I remember from the TIME article, the accelerometer didn’t cost more than a dollar in mass production.

Accelerometers were obviously used in machinery such as vehicles and tools and is now being incorporated into electronic devices. Laptops like some models of the IBM Thinkpad (now Lenovo) had an accelerometer built in to measure whether a hard drive was falling at 9.8 meters per second squared (accidentally dropping a laptop). Some point and shoot cameras have these as well for tilting images when reviewing. Now they are being placed into phones as well.

Truth is, accelerometers are so easy to incorporate into a device. The tricky part is to make them work well with the software, adding a seamless interaction that doesn’t seem awkward. Perhaps one of the complains some people have would be when using phones in bed, when you’re hunched to one side. The phone thinks that you’re tilting the phone when in fact you’re just lying to your side. The option to use motion sensors can be turned off though, but still.

I really feel that 2008 will have the accelerometer technology mainstream-ed into portable gadgets. It’s all about finding creative ways to use this technology, making it elegantly incorporated into the software.

Post from: Cellphone9

How to Fix Nokia BL-5C Overheating Batteries

Jayvee Fernandez — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 03:02:35 +0000

There are two steps to find out if the Nokia battery you have on your phone has a potential to overheat or *shudder* explode. These steps are outlined in the Nokia advisory:

1) Switch off your mobile device and check the battery model. If your battery is not a BL-5C model, you are not included in this product advisory and your product will not be replaced.

2) If your battery is a BL-5C model, remove the battery and check the 26-character identification number from the back of the battery. Enter the identification number in the field below (click here to view the document and the form) and you will be advised if your battery may be replaced.

The public advisory of Nokia states that the following phones are eligible for recall:

Nokia 1100, Nokia 1100c, Nokia 1101, Nokia 1108, Nokia 1110, Nokia 1112, Nokia 1255, Nokia 1315, Nokia 1600, Nokia 2112, Nokia 2118, Nokia 2255, Nokia 2272, Nokia 2275, Nokia 2300, Nokia 2300c, Nokia 2310, Nokia 2355, Nokia 2600, Nokia 2610, Nokia 2610b, Nokia 2626, Nokia 3100, Nokia 3105, Nokia 3120, Nokia 3125, Nokia 6030, Nokia 6085, Nokia 6086, Nokia 6108, Nokia 6175i, Nokia 6178i, Nokia 6230, Nokia 6230i, Nokia 6270, Nokia 6600, Nokia 6620, Nokia 6630, Nokia 6631, Nokia 6670, Nokia 6680, Nokia 6681, Nokia 6682, Nokia 6820, Nokia 6822, Nokia 7610, Nokia N70, Nokia N71, Nokia N72, Nokia N91, Nokia E50, Nokia E60

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