Tumblr + Facebook

I was reminded about this, yet again, with the latest ‘notes’ meme circling through Facebook. I’m also reminded that Facebook Notes aren’t the greatest platform for publishing. I’m also reminded that Facebook notes also aren’t a good platform if you want to share anything you write with friends that aren’t on Facebook or not your Facebook friends.

Enter Tumblr. For those of you that follow me on Facebook, you already know that I use Tumblr quite a bit. In fact, it’s what is powering wind(the)frog(dot)net and has been for the past 3 years and change.

At first, I used Tumblr as an aggregator of everything I did online (see this page as an example). It allowed me to bring in the RSS feeds from a bunch of things and combine them into one. For that, it worked amazing.

Now, I’m using it more as my personal blog and collection of random crap I find on the internet. And for that it works equally amazing. One of the features that makes that easy is the bookmarklet that you drag to your browsers bookmark toolbar. When you find something you want to share, you click that and click post. Done and done.

It also has settings that will automatically send your posts to Facebook or share them on Twitter. When you share on Facebook, your posts show up in a way that is very similiar to Notes. Your friend can still click (or not) to view the entire post. But, when you post that stuff in Tumblr, you can share it with people that aren’t on Facebook or aren’t your Facebook friends.

I talked about it in the last video blog. Jump ahead to 1:45 to get started.

Tumblr is free and easy to use and does so much more than I’m telling you about today. If you are looking for a way to start a blog that you can easily share with anyone you like easily, then set up a Tumblr. Sure you can do this with WordPress or Blogger, but Tumblr makes it easy. tumblr.com.

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Froyo on the Dinc

From the most ridiculous headlines department. For those scratching your head at that, Froyo is the latest released version of the Android Mobile Operating system (2.2) and Dinc is internet short hand for Droid Incredible, the phone I’m currently carrying.

Geek stuff explained, I shall continue.

Earlier this week, Verizon Wireless started pushing the 2.2 update for the Dinc. I thought I’d wait, but then I found this at Android Central and said to myself “how hard could it be?”.

And it wasn’t. Total time was about 15 minutes and it went without a hitch. And I’m very glad I did it!

First up the Dinc is now considerably faster. Places where there would a little bit of screen lag (like when scrolling through the photo gallery) are now smoother. Games open faster and perform better. Internet pages seem to open a bit faster as well.

Another bonus is the updates to the camera. The photo camera is much faster when taking photos and resetting. The video camera now records up to 720p.

(be sure to select the 720p option)

It’s not going to replace my Canon HF100, but for something I carry in my pocket it’s more than acceptable. I don’t think I’m going to stop using the The Flip either, since it has better sound and doesn’t suck away battery from my communication device when I use it.

Speaking of battery life, it is also better. Still not able to go a full day on a charge in the field, but I am able to go until 2 instead of 1. For sure I’m going to be picking up a 1750mah battery for this. I’m sure that will give me a solid 12 hours of my normal use, which I really need.

Other changes that I have noticed in Froyo include an update to the messaging app, making it slightly more streamlined, update to the app manager, making it super easy to move apps to the SD card or from the SD card to the phone or, or, or.

If you are running the Dinc, this update will suit you fine. If you haven’t gotten it OTA yet, follow the link above to do it yourself. You’ll be glad you did.

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Droid Incredible

24 hours in, here are some thoughts, right after the sample video, of course.

Really not too bad. This will improve once Froyo is released, bumping video resolution to 720p among other features*. Enough about this, here is what I think so far, keeping in mind that I have used an Android phone prior; The Motorola Droid.

Size/form factor is perfect for my hands. It is very close to the iPhone 3gs in this respect and much better than the Moto Droid with it’s ‘chin’
Speed. This phone is wicked fast so far.
Sense UI. The Moto had stock android which I liked. The Incredible is running the latest version of the HTC Sense UI which I love. The keyboard is much better with this form factor and it works well. Predictive text has been fairly accurate so far and it learns quickly. And the scenes feature, allowing you to setup 7 home screens per, gives unlimited amounts of customizing.
The screen. I don’t think I’ve got the AMOLED screen, but it doesn’t matter. It’s very sharp and easy to read. Touch works like you expect it to as well.
Phone calls sound fantastic from both ends.

This photo take with the Droid

It’s not all perfect however. These are minor things I’ve noticed so far that kinda bug me.

Skype will not work if the WiFi radio is on. I know it doesn’t use WiFi on VZW, but to make me turn WiFi off is a pain in the arse.
There is a button, joystick style, at the bottom of the device. So far I have no idea what it does or why it’s even there.
Making calls. If I’m honest, there are too many options. I’m still playing with it.
No in-phone video editing. I have no idea why nobody has done this and am guessing when Froyo is more widely available this might get some attention.

So far, everything you have read or heard about this phone is 100% spot on. It’s the right size and shape, it’s fast and the HTC Sense UI on Android is a great combination. If you are on Verizon Wireless and don’t want a phone the size of your navigation device, I highly recommend it.

*Froyo is bringing 720p video recording, WiFi hotspot, faster speed with a new JIT compiler and chrome-to-phone among others.

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