Free WiFi At Dealership, Model For Other Businesses To Follow

I am at a local Lexus dealership, brought in my mom's vehicle for service. First, before I get into the mobile stuff, the service is excellent here. It's the Longo Lexus just east of Los Angeles and Pasadena. Second, great service might mean $$$. I haven't gotten the bill yet but I reckon I'll be eating poorly for the rest of 2011.




It's been years since I've been here. Like everyone else, I have heard dealer services are a premium above the local mom-and-pop so I judiciously avoided it. However, the car now has issues that cannot be resolved so I had no choice.



I'm now sitting at a small table, free pastries and cookies and all I can drink coffee, water, and soda. More than that, free WiFi! The last time I was here, probably about four years ago, I don't recall any free wireless Internet access. There were terminals for use at the time just as there are now. Still, I'm pleasantly surprised. I had made sure I charged up my iSpot to make sure I have enough wireless access for my iOS devices at least through noon.




Oh, and there are plugs here if I should ever have to come back here. Power is not going to be an issue. I'm sure the folks here will help me find plugs if I ask for it. That's how great the service here is.

But the reason I'm writing this post is I think the Longo Lexus setup here is a model I think other businesses can follow. Other dealerships, hospitals, hotels, or any place with a flow of clientele on a daily basis. I am not suggesting that businesses follow the more lavish setup here but the concept. For instance, the Longo Toyota just on the other side has nothing like this. Why not? I think it absolutely makes sense for them to have something like this here at Lexus.

Just a block north are the Hyundai and Nissan dealership. I dreaded going there. Vending machines were the best they offered.

At the very least, businesses should offer free WiFi access. It is 2011 now. It's absolutely critical that wireless Internet access be offered. I work near an office that offered financial services. The business has a stead flow of affluent clients that visit on a daily basis. Give them Internet access while they wait. Makes sense, doesn't it?

The food and drinks are nice but I would not say it is all that necessarily. When people stop by our offices, we offer drinks but I don't see that as absolutely a must.

The uniqueness of this Toyota/Lexus "campus" offers an opportunity that might not be available to everyone. There is a Starbucks here and other restaurants within walking distance. I heard there's Denny's on campus here.

For now, I suggest businesses start with free WiFi. The cost would be minimal but the gesture is going to be greatly appreciated.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod touch

Location:Exline St,El Monte,United States

Where are the 720p Screens For Smartphones?

A year ago, Apple up the ante with the Retina display.  Close to a year later, I see nothing from its competitors that come close.  We might just see one from HTC's Pyramid, or Sensation on T-Mobile coming this summer, but it still will not be matching Apple's DPI.  By now, I would have expected 720p displays on those roomy 4 to 4.3 inch displays we regularly see on Android devices.

So, where 720p resolutions?  It seems that non-Apple devices have topped out at 800 x 480 (from 3.7 to 4.3") with the HTC Sensation coming in at 960 x 540 on a 4.3".  The iPhone has a tighter range with a higher resolution at 960 x 640 with a 3.5 " screen. This still give the iPhone 4 a better screen, hence, the label Retina display because you cannot see the individual pixels like you can on other devices.

Again, by now, I have expected Apple's competitors, especially Samsung, to outshine the iPhone.  For mobile devices with a screen size between 4" to 4.5", I think the 720p would be a nice fit.  

You can bet that if Apple ever releases an iPhone with a bigger screen as some hopes and probably will, they will not stay at the same resolution as the current iPhone 4.  It's time for HTC, Motorola, and Samsung to step it up with their display resolutions.  It's 2011 after all.

Efficient Wireless Sync And Streaming Takes Time And Valuable Battery Life

(This is a must read post from Apple fan, John Gruber on "Cutting the Cord".  It a very good analysis on why we're just are not to leave the PC behind when trying to get media onto our mobile devices.  I've offered a few notes myself below.)

One of the issues with regards to mobile is that a lot of them requires the user to still sync it with a PC.  Specifically, we are talking about Apple iOS ecosystem here.  Android, on the other hand, is all set to go once you get it out of the box.  Having said that, there is a distinct difference between activation and sync and loading up the mobile devices with apps and media.

To date and as far as I know, all Android devices are ready to be used once the user activates it wirelessly.  There is no need plug it into a PC first.  Simply type in your Google information (or set one up if you don't have one) and you're off to go.  And in the background, data is by synced.  

On the other hand, all iOS devices require that you put them into a PC and let iTunes do all the work for you.  It's why at the Apple store, they offer to get things up and going for you.  Simple as it is, it does take an extra step.  

Now comes the hard part of syncing that I think no mobile problem has solved.  Say you've got a lot of apps, music, and video.  What then?  Here is where iOS have an advantage that over other devices and why we still cannot cut the cord yet  

Say you've got 28 GB of apps and media you need to sync with your new device.  Or 60 GB if you've got a 64 GB iPad?  Let's take it a step further.  120 GB should someone come up with a device capable of hold that much storage.  You seriously want to sync all that from the cloud?  

And even if you want to, there is no way to do that just now.  Amazon just launched its music cloud storage (which I recommend everyone take a serious look at it).  Amazon is taking the first step towards a future some of us want.  Still, we are a long way off.  5GB from Amazon for free is nice but it's still a far cry from the 300 GB media library that I've got.  

And yes, Apple and Google are probably working towards their own cloud solutions for mobile users and I suspect that we'll stream most of the media should that day come.  But that is still a long way off until the solutions are robust enough.

So that's one reason why we're not ready for wireless syncing.  What's the other?

Wireless and Battery life.  Imagine trying to sync GBs of data.  One, never mind that carrier's monthly limitation would be in one day but the wireless networks simply aren't ready to handle the load of cloud storage.  So that means we'll be stuck on WiFi.  That means being at home or office.  That also means being near a PC.  And with Thunderbolt on Macs now, why would you use the slower WiFi sync when you can speed things up with a faster Thunderbolt connection?

Then there's the battery life.  If you're on a tablet like the iPad or Xoom that offers 10-ish hours, you might be okay with cloud syncing or streaming.  If you're on an power-hungry Android device, you can bet you'll be plugged into an outlet.  That horrendous 3 hours of battery life some Verizon Thunderbolt users are now getting?  Try living with two hours or less if you're on the LTE network while streaming an HD video.  

So when can we cut the cord?  No one know where Amazon is going with their music locker.  So far, Amazon has not received licensing from the music studios and it has said it does not require an additional agreement to offer it.  I agree.  But we still have to see what its competitors plan on offering.

Google is rumored to be close to offering its own solution.  And my money's on Google leveraging its massive cloud system that we already use for our webapps.  I've already got like 8GB on my Gmail that I don't use.  I can totally see Google easily offer another ten or even fifty GB of storage just for Android users.  

As for Apple, who knows.  Wall Street guys would have us believe they know.  My guess is as good as theirs.  At the end of the day, only Apple knows how they want to approach cutting the cord.  I know this about Apple's solution to this and cloud storage.  When Apple is ready to unveil it, it will be seemless and easy to use and tied into the iOS-iTunes ecosystem.

More at Daring Fireball.

Cloud Security - Something To Consider And Worry About

Last week, Epsilon, email service company entrusted by dozens of companies to manage their customer emails, was hacked. Google was attacked repeated by hackers in China a year ago. Now, we learn that Wordpress was also hacked.

So I ask this. If this can happen to these companies, ones that we rely on more and more for our mobile computing needs, what is the worth of cloud computing?

Can this happen to Google Apps? Lots of people swear by Dropbox and can it also happen to it as well?

Is the convenience of having our data worth the risk? I guess we'll find out when that day comes. Personally, I keep a copy of all of my files locally and sync them whenever I get a chance.

I thinks that's the best way to go about this. I know that Google is pushing Chrome OS as the future of cloud computing. Microsoft and Apple are probably moving in that direction as well. But Chrome OS will be on the extreme.

I just don't know if I am ready to send my files somewhere and receive no assurance that the service will not be hacked.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod touch

"Do Not Track" Option Already in Firefox, Coming Soon To Safari

Most people don't know this but cookies are not just for monsters and children (or me).  They're trackers, simply no way of putting this delicately, that are probably following you wherever you go on the Internet

The Federal Trade Commission has called for online advertisers like Google to provide a mechanism for users to opt out of being tracked.  Personally, that's the stupidest thing I've heard of  Why should users have to opt out?  It's like Facebook all over again.  Give these guys an inch, they'll take a mile.

So Mozilla built into Firefox 4 a more comprehensive option to block tracking.  IE9 from Microsoft has it and Apple's Safari will soon join these two browsers with the feature.

So, if you don't like being followed, check out Firefox and IE.  From what I gather, it's not a perfected solution but it's a start.  Congressional action may be coming to help guard user privacy.  It'll probably have more bark than bite given expected intense lobbying from the industry but, again, it's a start

I'll get into how this works later when I have had a chance to check it out for myself.  

I do want to mention that Google is probably not happy about this. After all, knowing about everything they can about us is how they make money.  It's why many of its services are free.  Ads.  And Google does offer an extension for Chrome.  I thought I mention this because many in the media are suggesting that Google is alone on this issue.  (More on Google's own "Do Not Track" implementation)

More at Arstechnica, PC World, Macrumors.

Note:  One might say that it's finally good to have Apple on board with this.  

iPads Putting A Hurt On PC Sales

Acer's PC share took a huge dive.  Recesson?  Nope?  Intense competition from HP and Dell?  Not exactly.  But there was competition in a big way and it was called the iPad.  The top 3 PC makers in the world were hit and hit hard as both Dell and HP lost 2% and 3% respectively while Acer, who relied on netbook sales, has seen a dramatic collapse.

Acer's problem being netbooks exacerbated its fall but the market as a whole has taken a hit from the hottest new mobile phenomenon.  And let's be honest here.  Analysts and what-have-you will call it the tablet market but it's really just the iPad  After all, during this dramatic fall on PC sales, it was pretty much just the iPad owning 80-90% of the tablet market.

In the next 12-18 months, we'll start to see the iPad's share as a percentage of tablet sold (not pushed out to vendors) drop.  Then we can truly call the tablet market for what it is.

And in 12-18 months, I fully expect more shrinkage in the PC, specifically, the laptop market, as iPad and Android devices really take it to the PC guys.  

For instance, Acer's Inconia will debut in a couple of weeks for just $450 with similar specs to the Xoom.  And not only that, it'll likely drop to about $399 by Christmas.  

If you're an average Joe consumer looking for a secondary device to use for day-to-day computing, surfing the web, checking e-mails, updating your social networks, you're gonna want to pick up a tablet.  Plus, the 8-10 hours of battery life is a better bet when than the 2-4 hours you get on a low-end laptop.

And look for PC sales drop to accelerate as corporate drones are issued iPads in place of HP or Dell laptops.  And it's going to happen.  Why do you think HP in such a rush to push out the Web OS Touchpad.  Why do you think a "half-baked" Playbook from RIM with missing apps is going on sale in a couple of weeks?  

I think it's too early to call it but tablets in general are making a convincing case that it will replace PCs in homes and offices.

More at Arstechnica and All Things D.

Prediction: Federal Deficit to Grow With Neither the White House Or Congress Make The Tough Choices

The GOP wants to cut $6 trillion over the next ten years. Today, President Obama laid out his plans for a $4 trillion cut.

Now, I like the President.  I do.  But I wonder if the Democrats have the will to make cuts or the GOP have the stomach to stay on their own course.  

The fact that "everything's on the table" but "not really" says that they aren't willing to do what it takes to stabilize the federal budget.  Is there any wonder the electorate aren't happy with either parties?  

And speaking of the electorate, I don't get the feeling we want to share in the sacrifice needed.  We want cuts but just not the programs that affect us directly.  

I mean, regardless of which side of the political spectrum you're on, a $38 billion cut that was just agreed to by the President and the Speaker is just 2.2% of the $1.68 trillion deficit we're gonna have to pay off some day.  

The Speaker may have the Tea Partiers to deal with, but the President has the liberal groups say no to any cut he proposes.  

More at Marketwatch.