I’m a couple days late in commenting on the newly released Facebook application for the Palm webOS smartphones, but wanted to mention that it has been significantly improved. If you are a Facebook user, or even a newbie, the enhancements available for the Pre and Pixi make the popular social networking site almost worth using. Currently I avoid using FB since my college age children and their friends couldbe sharing things I really don’t want to know – although I’m sure they are spending all their free time studying in the library.
The updated Facebook application has an entirely new interface of six buttons and a quick update bubble. The free application can be downloaded directly to the phone from the Palm app catalog and now includes a helpful datebook EVENT button – great for remembering birthdays and social events that are being shared.
Posting “What’s on your mind?” is as easy as pie and pops up as the default or by selecting the NEWS button; it also includes a camera button for those using the Pre or Pixi’s excellent camera or internal photo storage (also the new webOS 1.4 update now includes video camcorder features with a direct upload to Facebook – sample here).The PHOTOS button itself offers access to galleries of shared photos which is really slick. This was a favorite feature for sharing photos … although it was very good in the previous version. The INBOX button includes a friends avatar, name and first line from your friends messages, along with approximate date (ex. 1 week ago). An easy to use SEARCH button pulls up access to your friends in a list format and it can be searched by ‘flick’ scrolling or by typing a first, second, third letter in order to drill down and find the correct person’s Facebook “wall” (options then include “Wall, Info or Pics”). Finally the ME button brings up one’s own “Wall” (Info or Pics) as well as a place to post. Everything works exceptionally fast and without lag.
All in all, this a significantly improved application for the Palm webOS platform … and almost enough to get me using Facebook.
The current Obama philosophy of social and economic justice continues with an attempt to move forward with expanding government, even as polls show Americans objecting to the existing health care bills. The concern for many of us is that we are becoming a nation of ‘takers.’ Current progressive Democrats are moving in a direction that squeezes the ‘makers’ in this country too hard. Recent articles and opinion editorials that I’ve been reading has me pondering what Americans really want: a government centered social democracy like Europe … or individual centered liberties and rights our nation has had for over two hundred years.
We want “a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, but shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement.”
— Thomas Jefferson
John Stossel highlighted and offered a few thoughts last month on how local, state and federal government in our country continues to grow and is squeezing even the smallest businesses to the point of giving up. Time is running out to save traditional America and as more and more of our fellow citizens are becoming dependent on Uncle Sam – when ‘takers’ outnumber ‘makers’ it will be a lost cause (Stossel Hulu video below).
March 4 is the anniversary of the first flight of the airship Hindenburg, which is better know for the 1937 German Zeppelin disaster at Lakehurst Naval Air Station New Jersey. Aviation contact Dan from airships.net(Twitter: @airships) emailed some information about the website which includes sections of special interest for pilots,such as flight procedures, flight instruments and navigation.
The airships.net site is a non-commercial enterprise and reviewed by a team of respected airship historians – link. The website includes interesting photos, diagrams, and video about the Hindenburg’s history, technology, passenger decks, crew areas, a flight schedule, passenger lists, information about the Hindenburg disaster, etc. If you have an aviation interest, this site is a good source of accumulated archival information; I’m adding it to my blogroll. (Maiden Voyage YouTube video clip below)
A large rogue wave, actually three “abnormal” waves, hit a Greek cruise ship with 1350 passengers and 580 crew in the Mediterranean north of Barcelona, Spain killing two passengers and injuring fourteen. The Louis Cruise Line ship, Louis Majesty, has 14 decks and is over two football fields long. It hit the three 26 foot waves bow first resulting in caving in five windows in public lounges on the forward part of the ship. The two passengers, Italian and German males were killed and the others were treated aboard the ship for “light injuries” and hospitalized as a precaution. That quote aside, a 62 year old woman had fractures in both legs.
The incident brings back memories of our European vacation this past summer where we experience heavy weather and strong winds aboard the NCL Jade(cellphone photo of the navigation instruments right – notice wind speed gusting at 94.7 kt).
Also, because a photo is worth a thousand words, an incident in January last year in the Bay of Biscay caused ships to return to Dover England after hammering into 50 foot waves … photos below.
As a ‘three’ Tivo box family (two at the house and my daughter has one), I was anxious to hear that there will soon be a new ‘must have’ gadget to use with our Tivo DVRs. The company announced, along with their new Series 4 devices, a new optional remote which comes with a QWERTY keyboard.
Engadget: There’s also a new optional Bluetooth slider QWERTY remote, which will ship later this year for an undisclosed price — we played with a hush-hush prototype at CES and we can say that it’ll be a must-buy for Premiere owners. We’re actually a little miffed that it’s not packed in the box as the standard remote — all that searching almost demands it.
Curiosity had me pondering just how well the Palm Pre could capture video directly off of an HD Plasma television broadcast? Not too bad it turns out, considering up until webOS 1.4 update was implemented this past weekend that the diminutive smartphone couldn’t even shoot video.
When the update was first installed on my phone, I tried the YouTube update, then posted from email to Posterous directly and now will try embedding a clip as a flash video to the blog below … and maybe I’ll give Facebook option a try, even though I don’t use it much. The non-streaming .mov clip is download by clicking the above photo.
After a brief lost of tethering my notebook computer with my Sprint Palm Pre after the webOS 1.4 update this past weekend, all is good again … although speed seems to be slower than last year?
I uninstalled MyTether 2.1 as instructed on the MyTether.net donor forum and after a reboot, put the phone in DEV Mode and reinstalled MyTether again. It’s running just fine as I post this on Monday afternoon.
While watching an aviation video online highlighting the P51 Mustang (30 min video below) and thinking about the ever dwindling number of WW II heroes from the greatest generation, I gave a bit more thought about an upcoming trip with my son. We’ll be spending a week with a World War II aviator from that era, my father-in-law …and Taylor’s grandfather.
As an Air Force lieutenant, Frederick A. Howard flew nearly 40 missions as navigator in a Martin B-26 Marauder over Europe. His stories have always been of interest to me and knowing that time is running short, want to trigger as many memories as possible for him to share with Taylor. Several years ago we were amazed the the emotion that was triggered in seeing a B-26 at the National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, so to we planned a trip with him to the restoration area of MAPS Museum in Akron, Ohio. It was a chance for him to see (touch and climb though) one of the very few Martin B-26 Marauders, during a restoration. We then gave him a book that reviewed the history of this fast medium sized bomber during WW II and asked him to make notes in the margin detailing his memory of the missions — something he seemed to thoroughly enjoy.
Besides reviewing the book, I’m planning to archive the pages of B-26.com with Pagenest on my thumbdrive (questionable Internet) in order to share in with him via computer during our visit … and perhaps someday “soon” take him to the B-26 Marauder archives.
Watching this video has reminded me that time is short and the opportunities are disappearing for a grandfather to talk with his grandson about what he was doing at age 20. Simply amazing ‘young’ men.
I spent the afternoon and most of the evening struggling with upgrading to Windows 7, in between watching the USA lose 3-2 to Canada in OT in Olympic hockey. It wasn’t easy to switch from Windows 7 RC to Profession on a couple of computers, which by the way have been running flawlessly on both the Beta and Release Candidate operating systems.
I thought I had the entire upgrade figure out, but the “bitlocker” partition I installed caused me to overlook some the the automated C drive defaults after an email client update a few months ago. Thankfully I only lost 2 weeks of email due to my automated NAS drive back up. I’m glad to be running legal, although I still have a bunch of odds and ends software to re-install.
After tuning into the news early on Saturday following the massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake which struck the coast of Chile, I checked back in this afternoon after 4PM as Hawaii waited to feel the effects from the earthquake after a tsunami warning. The large earthquake has taken the lives of over 800 people (edit: 3/4) and expectations are that the low number of deaths is due to a country and population that was well prepared.
This earthquake, one of the biggest ever measured, struck just after 3:30 in the morning, toppling buildings, collapsing roads, and cutting off power and telecommunications services throughout much of the southern half of Chile. The epicenter was pinpointed offshore, 70 miles northeast of Concepción, Chile’s second-biggest city. Aftershocks are expected to continue for several weeks and tsunami warning extend across the Pacific Ocean.
I spent the afternoon like many people watching live television and web streams from Hawaii. UStream.tv had pretty good coverage, but not much in the way of surf or rising water. About the only noticeable sign was a reef that had significantly more exposed area than a normal low tide. Let’s hope that the lack of significant flooding or damage doesn’t discourage people from preparing the next go around.
but wanted to mention that it has been significantly improved. If you are a Facebook user, or even a newbie, the enhancements available for the Pre and Pixi make the popular social networking site almost worth using. Currently I avoid using FB since my college age children and their friends could be sharing things I really don’t want to know – although I’m sure they are spending all their free time studying in the library. 
The PHOTOS button itself offers access to galleries of shared photos which is really slick. This was a favorite feature for sharing photos … although it was very good in the previous version. The INBOX button includes a friends avatar, name and first line from your friends messages, along with approximate date (ex. 1 week ago). An easy to use SEARCH button pulls up access to your friends in a list format and it can be searched by ‘flick’ scrolling or by typing a first, second, third letter in order to drill down and find the correct person’s Facebook “wall” (options then include “Wall, Info or Pics”). Finally the ME button brings up one’s own “Wall” (Info or Pics) as well as a place to post. Everything works exceptionally fast and without lag.
