Disqus - Latest Comments for Kevin C. Tofel

Re: A Wimax N810 (Scripting News)

Kevin C. Tofel — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 08:47:55 -0000

Dave, WiMAX here in the U.S. isn't officially rolled out yet. Sprint has test areas in Chicago, Baltimore and D.C., if I recall. I attended the Sprint press event at CES this year and details were sketchy in terms of rollout, coverage and price. The expectation was that a rollout would start by this month, but like any wireless technology, it will take several years for the infrastructure to rollout to a large, national footprint. (Think of the 3G rollout, for example... it's still going on in some areas). The cost should be less than current 3G; my own guess is $40 to $50 for unlimited monthly service. There will be day-passes and other deals as well. Regardless, this type of service is a few years away from nationwide coverage.

Re: Time for an EVDO sidegrade (Scripting News)

Kevin C. Tofel — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:14:16 -0000

Dave, one requirement you didn't mention is budget. I suspect you're trying to keep the price down low, but to me it would be worth spending the extra $ to get the Novatel U727. I have the Verizon version of this and it's the smallest EV-DO modem I've ever used. It also has a microSD card reader and a GPS receiver. Verizon disables the GPS, but Sprint doesn't. The U720 does have GPS, but loses the card reader and is a little bigger. For me, a smaller modem card is less obtrusive, but of course it's a personal decision.

Why get the Cradlepoint at all? I realize it's a nice piece of hardware but the sole purpose of that is to share your EV-DO connection with others, essentially turning you into a 3G WiFi hotspot. You can share internet connections on Mac and PCs with software in the OS in a pinch. Unless you plan to share your 3G connection on a regular basis, I don't see the point of buying hardware you won't use that often.

Re: Time for an EVDO sidegrade (Scripting News)

Kevin C. Tofel — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:26:52 -0000

Choosing between the U727 and 597 might be a matter of personal preference at this point. The 597 does indeed look a little shorter (and therefore protrudes less from the host device), but also looks a little wider. The U727 has a built-in, flip-up antenna, which I like. Having the installation software on the 597 is nice, but not a very useful feature to me personally. You could always keep the software on a microSD card and keep it in the slot of the 727 to achieve the same function. ;)

Re: Time for an EVDO sidegrade (Scripting News)

Kevin C. Tofel — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:29:23 -0000

John, I agree with you that the Cradlepoint products are nifty gadgets. But isn't the main purpose of it to turn your 3G connection into a shareable WiFi connection? What are the other main functions? If there aren't any, it doesn't matter if "broadcasting" the connection is optional or mandatory. If you want to share your connection, the Cradlepoint is great! If you don't (and I'm gathering that Dave doesn't, based on his above comment) then it's nothing more to him than a nifty gadget. ;)

Re: New technology: TV on the passenger seat (Scripting News)

Kevin C. Tofel — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 20:55:35 -0000

A WWAN card can be integrated in a great number of the currently available netbooks or notebooks. In fact Dave, you could actually take the "guts" out of one of these modems and put in in your computer but there's an inherent problem, at least for me and my computer usage. As soon as you put an EV-DO or HSDPA module in the device, you've tied the 3G service to that device. I use 2 to 4 notebooks per day, depending on what I'm doing or where I'm going, so the USB method meets my needs for all the devices. One question: why aren't you inserting the device directly into the Eee PC, i.e.: why are you using a short cable with it?

Re: How to enable Windows Mobile Device Center Beta 3 with Windows Live OneCare 1.5 Beta

Kevin C. Tofel — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 12:18:09 -0000

Glad to help Rick! I still find WMDC a little "fluky" in that it doesn't always recogonize my Windows Mobile device upon connecting; hopefully, we'll gain some additional stability within the next few weeks.

Re: Bye, Bye Microsoft Outlook

Kevin C. Tofel — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:14:38 -0000

I've generally done the same since October. Not only leaving MS Outlook, but shutting down a hosted Microsoft Exchange plan in the process and saving a few bucks as well. Once Google implemented their IMAP solution, that was it for me. Working on multiple devices and platforms daily (depending on the task). I am keeping Outlook on a single Tablet PC, but that's solely so I can ink my responses when appropriate... or when they need that personal touch! :) There are also plenty of Google Calendar sync tools for both PC and Mac, so I'm not losing anything on the cal side of the house. Tasks and contacts are another story... using Remember The Milk and its various plugins for tasks. Contact management is still a bit of challenge, but I expect that to get better over time. It used to be that Windows Mobile / Outlook / Exchange was the only usable game in town, but the game has changed.

Re: iPhone 3G questions unanswered: AT&T subsidy, 3G data price, no video?

Kevin C. Tofel — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:09:07 -0000

The $199 and $299 prices are UN-subsidized. However, I just listened to the AT&T Investor Call on this topic and it sheds some light on the topic. Apple and AT&T have restructured the original revenue sharing deal. Going forward with the 3G iPhone, AT&T is retaining all voice and data revenues. That traditional method will allow them to subsidize the iPhone even further. http://www.jkontherun.com/2008/06/heres-why-you...

Re: FriendFeed spices up its iPhone interface, integration with Mail2FF begins

Kevin C. Tofel — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:55:26 -0000

The lack of cut and paste is a pain, but it's pretty simple work around for now. Just create a contact with the e-mail address: call it ffpix or something meaningful.

Re: From the red corner...

Kevin C. Tofel — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 17:15:58 -0000

Sweet and glad you could join me! You and I probably have very similar computing needs because I spend most of my time writing blog posts and freelance articles. I immediately recognized the challenge for image editing and see you use (as I used to) MS Paint for basics. My first order of business was to attack that... I've got a web-based option now. More to follow on that as well my entertainment needs as I chronicle the experience! :)

Re: iPhone Activation Proving Impossible

Kevin C. Tofel — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:26:57 -0000

Sadly, it's not just "new iPhone subscribers". Current customers / subscribers are in the same boat, which makes it even worse IMO. Thrilled that I upgraded my first-gen iPhone to firmware 2.0 yesterday morning at this point! :)

Re: TiVo’s New Radio Advertisement and Slogan

Kevin C. Tofel — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 20:13:24 -0000

Great ad, but it makes me want to buy a Free Willy DVD. ;)

Re: Picture of the Day: Dave’s Got Heart

Kevin C. Tofel — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 11:19:33 -0000

Share the deets...is this your insides or your significant other's? More impornatly, is the source recording available in 720p or better?

Re: Dave Touches Wii

Kevin C. Tofel — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 08:00:47 -0000

With 480p graphics only, I don't think I could do it; for my 9-year old son: maybe, but his Gamecube keeps him happy. It's disappointing to me that the Wii can't output at least 720p, but then again, they target a younger crowd than the PS2 and Xbox 360. That crowd usually doesn't have enough allowance saved up for an HDTV set. ;)

Re: Dave Touches Wii

Kevin C. Tofel — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 08:01:31 -0000

Oops; I meant "PS3". :)

Re: Xbox Video Marketplace Adds (Not Enough) Content

Kevin C. Tofel — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 18:46:07 -0000

I've downloaded two movies (one HD and one SD) as well as 8 HD TV eps. As Dave mentions, the initial service was painfully slow for downloads, but I'm getting a 42 minute HD ep of Enterprise in about 1h, 15m, plus I can start watching around the 75% mark. However, there's no good reason I can think of that the new releases aren't all available in HD upon release. It's tough to tout "HD" gaming and entertainment if the SD movies are showing up first.

Re: Dave Joins Sling Media (!)

Kevin C. Tofel — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 14:59:42 -0000

Congrats dude! Sounds like a win for you and for Sling!

Re: Apple Brings Lionsgate Films To iTunes

Kevin C. Tofel — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 13:08:18 -0000

Interesting since it was announced at CES that Lionsgate movies would be available via XBox Live as well. Will we end up with two distinctly different services offering the exact same content?

Re: iPhone Reviews Are In, A Few Surprises

Kevin C. Tofel — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 11:42:26 -0000

I too was surprised at how well the keyboard seemed to work for everyone. Then I watched a new video on the Apple site that explains why it works so well. I won't spoil the reason, just give the link: http://www.apple.com/iphone/usingiphone/keyboar...

Re: AT&T Launches Video Share Service

Kevin C. Tofel — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:23:01 -0000

Ah, but without the Ojo, what would CTU use on 24? ;) I suppose they could get up from their desks and walk ten feet, but where's the fun in that? Seriously, this sounds like an interesting transition service from AT&T: would be even nicer to see a software upgrade for iPhone video on the camera now....

Re: So Much for Portable Computing

Kevin C. Tofel — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 09:22:16 -0000

Pros and cons abound of course. My recommendation to anyone considering the UMPC and\or laptop scenario: make a list of your computing tasks and your locations. Rank each list by importance or amount of actual usage. If most of your tasks are light computing tasks in a variety of locations, a UMPC is a perfect complement to a notebook. If you're sitting in one spot most of the time or you're doing CPU intensive tasks, it probably isn't.

Plan B is to do what I originally did 15 months ago: throw all caution to the wind and order a UMPC. ;)

Re: So Much for Portable Computing

Kevin C. Tofel — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 09:23:44 -0000

David: take a look at FolderShare. It quietly syncs your data across multiple devices (PC and Mac) in the background. Plus, it's free.

Re: Dragon’s Lair Arrives On HD DVD

Kevin C. Tofel — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:37:21 -0000

You're more than welcome to test it on my Xbox 360 HD-DVD player and 60-inch SXRD. It's not because I too was addicted to the game; it's just the kind of guy I am. ;) PS - I sucked at DL too, but I'm much older and wiser now....not.

Re: Where’s the HD?

Kevin C. Tofel — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 13:59:29 -0000

No argument, but I have to ask: Comcast doesn't offer your local channels in HD? Reason I ask: I watch NBC Nightly News at 6:30pm in 1080i. I'll have to check the other local channels for their national news coverage in my area. Bear in mind: I'm getting my locals OTA and not from Dish, my content provider. Still, I thought most folks are getting national news in HD now...maybe not?

Re: CES: It’s a Wrap!

Kevin C. Tofel — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 15:23:36 -0000

Love the PC Mag video review Mr. Satz. ;) Seriously, you showed the product well. Thanks for the booth tour also; looks like 2008 will be an exciting year for SlingBox owners! :)

Re: An iPhone Question…

Kevin C. Tofel — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:23:33 -0000

I picked up a $5 adapter that's about 4-inches long. It does the trick with my Shure 210s but I think I would have preferred a solid headset with a mic. Gives another option. For $50, you can buy a long adapter from Shure that uses your old 'phones and adds a mic. Check the Shure site to see that option. If you don't need a mic, a small, cheap adapter (<$10) will work just fine. Oh, and stop resisting the lure of the iPhone... ;)

Re: Dave Dumps HD DVD

Kevin C. Tofel — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:44:47 -0000

I'm right there with you. I have my HD-DVD player for the Xbox 360 and it's unlikely I'll purchase any more titles for it, diminishing availability aside. For now, I'll use it as an upscaling DVD player and I'll continue to rent HD titles from Xbox Live. Don't think I'll invest in BR hardware for quite some time as the whole war has left a bitter taste in my mouth... and my wallet. ;)

Re: Birthday Tech - Mari Gets a Slacker Player!

Kevin C. Tofel — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 15:18:43 -0000

Happy Birthday! Barb & I were supposed to join you folks this weekend, but couldn't find a sitter. Probably a good thing; I might have grabbed the Slacker player for myself when you weren't looking! ;)

Re: Best Buy’s Too Good To Me

Kevin C. Tofel — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:10:38 -0000

I've already dug up my receipt if needed. Supposedly, they'll be shipping them automatically, but if you don't receive one by May, you'll need to call.

Re: Where to Find FiOS

Kevin C. Tofel — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:47:56 -0000

I saw a contractor running fiber in front of our development just yesterday! w00t! Now the question is: how long between that and the actual availability?

Re: Fring: First iPhone VoIP Client?

Kevin C. Tofel — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:22:50 -0000

It just hit me that what I was doing while talking could have had something to do with the call quality. I was downloading a very large file at the time... hard to say if that impacted the service quality.

Re: Mac Users: The Absolute Best Friendfeed App Is…

Kevin C. Tofel — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 09:57:14 -0000

Completely agree; the web app is fine by itself. Two related thoughts. Windows users can use Prism from Mozilla to get similar funtionality to Fluid. Also: I use the the FriendFeed Google Gadget. Using that with FireFox, I can run FF on my browser sidebar all day. The gadget auto refreshes, which is key.

Re: I Bought My First Firefox Extension Today

Kevin C. Tofel — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 11:03:30 -0000

If a function can be had only by paying for an extension, I'd be willing, but it would have to be an extension I simply couldn't live without. There's the value / cost issue as well.

Regardless: your extension *may* well work with FF3 RCx, but the browser is built by design to not allow older, incompatible extensions to be installed. Consider a quick tweak to get around this and test: http://www.jkontherun.com/2008/06/how-to-force-...

Re: I Bought My First Firefox Extension Today

Kevin C. Tofel — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:17:52 -0000

Paul, the tweak I wrote about isn't perfect by any means, but it's a global hack. Meaning: you do it once for the browser and it should allow all of your extensions to be installed, i.e.: it's the same effort whether you use one or one hundred extensions. I agree with the central problem regarding extension compatibility, but that's up to each extension developer, not Mozilla. Just wanted to clarify on those points.

Re: 2008/03/21/max-emily-twitter-proposal/

Kevin C. Tofel — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 08:10:16 -0000

I didn't propose on Twitter, but I did tweet that I was about to ask her and then tweeted her response. :) This was a year ago.

http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2007/03/...

Re: A Surprise Unboxing

Kevin C. Tofel — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:19:51 -0000

Happy Birthday Judie! :)

Re: Podcasting and Me…

Kevin C. Tofel — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 09:31:17 -0000

Chris, you hit the nail on the head with the time & effort it takes to podcast with multiple hosts. First, you have to get everyone together which is a challenge. We combat 3 time zones to do this. Next, you need some prep time for the topics; usually the easiest part. The actual recording is basically the same amount of time as the final show. Finally, getting the multiple tracks FTP'd, synched up, and cleaned up into one audio file usally takes 4x the show length. For our 30 minut show, it's a good 2 hours of post production. All told, I'd say that we collectively spend 6 - 7 hours of time for a 30 minute podcast! Juggling those hours once or twice a week is a huge commitment, so I can certainly understand why MG is a challenge. Looking forward to seeing it return, however! :)

Re: More iPhone Financial Wrinkles

Kevin C. Tofel — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:35:31 -0000

I don't understand the "page from the Microsoft playbook" reference. Can you elaborate? Thanks!

Re: More iPhone Financial Wrinkles

Kevin C. Tofel — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:56:34 -0000

Gotcha. Thanks for the explanation. Conceptually I get what you're saying now, but in reality, I'm not sure it applies. Windows Activation is meant to thwart software piracy. If I buy the software out of pocket, why wouldn't I activate it and if I don't, I don't have any additional expense. If I buy the iPhone out of pocket but don't activate it, I *DO* have to pay an additional expense. Not quite the same because these are two different product markets, but again, I see what you meant. ;)

Re: Who cares about conference Wifi anymore?

Kevin C. Tofel — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 18:02:20 -0000

Robert, I've been meaning to ask why you're paying $80 a month for EV-DO through Verizon. I'm assuming you have an EV-DO PC Card modem, but...what phone do you use? I dumped my PC Card modem and contract when I got an EV-DO enabled phone which has the same data connectivity for $45 a month. Phone as modem = same performance - lower cost + happy blogger. ;)

Re: Who cares about conference Wifi anymore?

Kevin C. Tofel — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 18:57:30 -0000

Robert, in the spirit of the MasterCard commercials:

Monthly EV-DO on old plan = $80
Monthly EV-DO on updated plan = $59
One time PDANet license fee from JuneFabrics = $34
New monthly EV-DO plan on phone only = $45
Verizon EV-DO with phone as a modem = priceless

http://junefabrics.com/pdanet/index.php

Ping me off list with any questions. :) I use the PDANet setup with my XV6700 and Samsung Q1 UMPC for my all-day, every day mobile office. Works flawlessly.

Re: First two months of ScobleShow

Kevin C. Tofel — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 18:25:39 -0000

Robert, don't be so hard on yourself! You've effectively become a startup, albeit within a semi-established young company in a new media niche. I need to watch some more videos before I can earn the right to provide any constructive criticism on the specifics. I can offer the following thoughts: yes, the more formats you can offer your content through, the better. We all (myself included) have to be platform and player agnostic. As far as who to interview: I'd line up Jason Calacanis right now and I'll add the following to your Wiki: the product manager for Tablet / Mobile PCs at Microsoft, someone at HTC, Ed Colligan at Palm, somebody at Skype and a product manager / designer over at Dell. Sorry for the mobile tech bias, but that's my schtick, you know! FWIW: you're headed in the right direction, so keep on going!

Re: CES BlogHaus, how to get in

Kevin C. Tofel — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 09:09:32 -0000

Just dropped a comment on PodTech; thanks to you guys and Seagate for this Robert!

Re: “Scoble isn’t listening,” TechCrunch commenter says

Kevin C. Tofel — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 20:25:14 -0000

Robert, howzabout reaching out to some MS contacts and getting the show up on the Xbox Live Video Marketplace or available on-line through WMCE? I'm not suggesting the content delivery be MS-centric, but those are two more avenues to garner a smart audience. By all means, WMV, Flash and MOV are all needed, which puts a fair amount of burden on content providers. It's a killer to have to create good content in the first place and then encode it over and over for every player....solid content creation ought to be enough, but unfortunately, it's not. ;)

Re: What a year!

Kevin C. Tofel — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 15:18:15 -0000

Best wishes to you, Maryam and Patrick in 2007, Robert. It was a crazy year and I'm sure you're correct in that 2007 will bring additional change. Change is inevitable and how we react to its uncontrollable nature is what defines us. Watching your reactions to changes in 2006 was an enjoyable ride; looking forward to the new year!

Re: Is Apple sandbagging the iPhone?

Kevin C. Tofel — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 10:05:35 -0000

Completely agree and listed several "predictions" for the iPhone here: http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2007/01/...

To save you a click:
1. HSDPA support is added by launch; we'll know when we see the FCC results. ;)
2. Killer app is not "making calls" even though Jobs touted it as such. Killer app is iTunes on the phone with ability to download content.
3. Outlook support gets added.
4. Apple one-ups Microsoft and adds WiFi synching. That was pulled from WinMo 5.
5. Apple adds voice nav of iTunes to the phone via their patent and the mic-enabled headset. Touch is cool, but requires you to look at the phone.

Re: Sometimes I need an hour away from the computer…

Kevin C. Tofel — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 18:16:44 -0000

Robert, anyone who blogs with a high level of passion and frequency is bound to have this happen. There's just no way to stay on top of your game 7x24x365 and I hope people realize that. I'm not defending you in the situation, but I agree with the approach you've outlined above. Hopefully everyone can move along from this. Have fun at DEMO!

Re: Another Stanford University Startup coming September 2007

Kevin C. Tofel — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 15:44:41 -0000

Saw the news on Twitter; best of luck on the new addition! :)

Re: Sick … and the state of mobile apps

Kevin C. Tofel — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 16:42:43 -0000

Robert, depending on the device your using, you might want to point your web browser at http://readermini.com John Tokash developed it to be an optimized Google reader experience on the Nokia N800 small screen but might work for you as well. He hosts the service, so you might not be comfy with entering your Google Reader credentials, but he only provides a front end to Google's service and he doesn't store your credentials on the server.

We covered this on our podcast and blog: http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2007/01/...

Hope it helps!

Re: Why we’re going to FastCompany.tv

Kevin C. Tofel — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 06:49:01 -0000

Best wishes and thanks for sharing the insights, Robert. I left my 15-year IT career last May to write, blog and create video content full time. Your thoughts echo many of the considerations required for a start-up... even on a smaller scale. Looking forward to seeing what you & your team produce!

Re: Verizon’s opening its network to any phone and software app is welcomed, but no surprise

Kevin C. Tofel — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:21:30 -0000

Hi Daniel. I saw mention of my name & quote; wanted to clarify that I'm not associated with, nor affiliated with Verizon in any way shape or form. The quote you picked up on was from my original blog post and used by Read/WriteWeb.