I painted that masterpiece of Rudolph in the fifth grade by the way. Didn’t go over well. So Bossman Doug Smith who told me from the beginning that I can write about anything I want just sent his armada of authors a plea to ramp up production while he deals with the fallout that comes with deer and their poor automotive judgment. I’ve been busy myself, not abreast of the issues that affect your phone, didn’t have much to write about in response to his request but I do have my own deer story that’s apropos. Nothing whatsoever to do with technology but I’m curious what happens if I post it anyway.

Once upon a time I was driving after dark on a windy unlit road in Westport Connecticut and as I got close to a blind curve on a hill I noticed a car pulled over on one side of the road and an incapacitated deer in the middle of the other. I did some calculations in my head and determined that traffic headed toward that deer wouldn’t be able to see him in time to make an evasive maneuver and that the deer, whom I’ll go ahead and personify for narrative effect as Mister Deer, was presenting a major hazard so I thought I’d do a good deed and pull over to drag him out of the way for the deer scooper man to deal with later.

As I approached Mister Deer, I saw that he was alive and conscious. I heard a car approaching, bam, the deer tumbled underneath was now twenty feet further away from me and the car kept going (Toyota maybe?). I was briefly relieved that there was no serious accident and that the deer was surely dead this time but as I got closer I saw that the deer was still alive and kicking. Five seconds pass, history repeated itself and if you can believe it he was still alive. Resilient little fella. That has got to be some kind of Westport deer record for surviving so many abrupt introductions to fenders, windshields and tires.

Depending on how your mind works this is going to get a little more disturbing. Don’t judge me.

…click here to read more

OpenMobileMaps is an app that is being developed by Cipher over at XDA. This app is very similar to GoogleMaps but it relies on openstreetmap.org. Some of the features of this app are:

• showing map in fullscreen
• finger friendly user interface
• map tiles are automatically downloaded if internet connection is available
• map tiles are stored locally for offline use
• GPS support and GSM triangulation
• show actual position on map
• follow-mode to automatically scroll the map
• search addresses (testing)
• calculate routes (not yet implemented)
• gps and gsm tracking (not yet implemented)
• choose between different OSM servers (not yet implemented)

Download this app here. It is still a work in progress. So try it out and give the developer some feedback at his XDA thread.

In my war against crappy cell phone batteries I’ve been dying to dig into the whole Chinese bathtub battery world as doing so could yield more effective and actionable information to use to shake things up and blow off lids than just fighting on the eBay feedback front would offer. But that’s a dark place you may not find on Google (or Pamela) to get access to and information about, one thing I’m hoping HTC can give me if they take my little email seriously. I want them to help me help them help me help you patronize the right people, you dig? That could take a while so I want to hand some of this off to you in case you ever buy a battery on eBay, either a counterfeit OEM, a crappy battery or a crappy counterfeit battery, as one of you might be able, with the right footwork, to crack their Great Wall of Cell Phone Accessory Secrecy. By they I mean China obviously. And Hong Kong and Singapore too at least have some peripheral involvement but we’re dealing with, primarily and as usual, China.

I bought three batteries advertised on eBay as being OEM/HTC. Two of the three were counterfeits. It seems there is a sea of counterfeit batteries and that ain’t right so I want to waste a ton of time trying to do something about it. If you get burned with a fake OEM or otherwise unsatisfactory battery, here’s how I recommend you handle it: First hit the seller with a negative feedback rating using language like “counterfeit” and “fraud” then contact the seller demanding your money back — but not in exchange for sending the battery back as, and you can advise them of this if asked, sending something that is fake in exchange for money, either normal money or refunded money, may constitute mail fraud. I wouldn’t worry about being prosecuted, but why make the schlep to the post office just so they can make sure there isn’t any loose evidence of their fraud? And you don’t want to mail it back just so they can sell it to someone else. If you’re not sure if your battery is copacetic or not and want to run it by me, I’ll test that sucker for you and even cover the return postage, no problem (but right now I can only charge Tilt 2 batteries, sorry everyone else).

The one legit OEM, by the way, came from Brooklyn.

These people are desperate to protect their feedback rating so you have some leverage here, at least enough to get your money back if not more. Actually by this point you may already have gotten your money back but let’s aim higher: In exchange for retracting your negative feedback in exchange for a neutral rating and not pursuing the situation further with eBay, PayPal, HTC, or if there actually is any, an equivalent their country has of a better business bureau, ask for the contact information of their supplier or the manufacturer. There are so many resellers that it’s pointless to try to report them all but getting information on who’s cooking up the bathtub batteries with the fake labels, now we’re talking. About what exactly I don’t know yet but it just feels like the right direction to head. I could use your help in getting that information in order to have any affect at all on this dirty industry so let us all benefit from your being victimized and not let the deal die in vain.

But it’s a safe bet they won’t cough that information up (at least the two I tried to pressure wouldn’t). So, demand next (in exchange for the bad feedback retraction) that they take the listing down of the fake item along with any duplicates, searching through their other listings for others of the same item. If they won’t do that, for your next counteroffer I would recommend to retract your negativity and stop breaking their balls if they would just remove any reference of HTC, OEM, HTC model numbers and the like — anything misleading buyers viewing the item into thinking it’s OEM. That’s just too much not to feed back negatively over. If they won’t do that, leave the negative feedback intact, sting them with a counterfeit report to eBay and move on in life.

So that’s what I did with Lovely Betty from Hong Kong. It’s both a good how-to for this situation and an amusing read. Sweet girl, so polite and even left me and now you too with a happy ending. Hit more so I can hit you back with the transcript.

Doug Simmons

…click here to read more

It is quite easy to sync your contacts, calendar, tasks, and emails between Windows Mobile Pocket Outlook on your phone and Office Outlook on your PC using Microsoft ActiveSync. However, ActiveSync doesn’t help if you use Thunderbird or Sunbird on your PC and not Microsoft Outlook. 

That is when BirdieSync helps you out. It syncs all Pocket Outlook contacts, emails, calendar, and tasks using ActiveSync. The synchronization happens automatically as soon as you connect your mobile to your computer. The most recent changes on any device you sync are synced to the other devices.  This ensures that everything is in sync on all devices.  It also supports the synchronization with WebDAV, calDAV and WCAP remote calendars.

You can try the trial version available with full functionality for 21 days before you buy the program. Read more details and the system requirements on the main website.

Read More…

Last year I bought a third party battery on eBay rated 33% higher than the OEM. I was fascinated by this claim as the battery was of the same dimensions as the OEM so I spent over ten times as much money on equipment to make sure this company wasn’t pulling my leg (that’s how my mind works) and it turned into a community service project. As you can guess these guys fib quite a bit on their numbers (the question being by how much, which is what I’ve been after) and I’ve been holding off on telling you the specifics until I had tested another handful of batteries.

But I came across something you should be aware of as, and maybe I’m just naive, it never crossed my mind until I finished testing a battery identified on eBay and labeled accordingly as belonging to HTC that there are counterfeits out there. In this case, what I’ll call its voltage fingerprint was consistent with a no name I had previously bought and in addition to being a fake, incidentally it was the poorest performer.

The OEMs aren’t cheap but are still desirable for reasons every third party battery I’ve tested so far have illustrated. If you want one, do not try to hunt down a deal on eBay. Get it directly from a source you trust. Even if the guy has four thousand positive ratings, presume you’re buying a random no name that will perform accordingly otherwise you’ll feel violated and saddened as I feel right now. Yes this one was cheap and not that bad a deal even for a no name of similar performance but damnit I wanted a new OEM, not a lookalike which performed 10% worse than my seven month old OEM.

Especially do not trust the seller if the battery, allegedly OEM or otherwise, in question will be shipped from China which, as I found out very awkwardly the other night, is not Taiwan. Just when you think you’ve lowered your expectations sufficiently about a country… man.

Doug Simmons

Our friends at WMExperts are reporting that the Verizon Touch Pro 2 may be getting a new official  ROM  update  with Sense 2.5

According to PPCGeeks forum user brent372 (who evidently works for Verizon), Big Red is aiming to update its Touch Pro 2 (again) with a build of Sense 2.5.

Although it it just rumored at this point, this update would be a welcomed updated for most of us that use Verizon’s Touch Pro 2.

Get the rest of the story here: http://www.wmexperts.com/verizon-touch-pro-2-getting-sense-25-where-art-thou-sprint

Looks like ZAGG has been updating there ZAGG Skins to include more devices, this is a list of what HTC devices that are currently available for the skins. I’m still waiting for the Touch Pro 2 (Verizon) to become available. There is also a create / upload your own design which I’m very interested in doing. The skins will run you $19.99

• Fuze
• HD2
• Hero
• Hero (Sprint)
• HTC Droid Eris
• Tilt 2
• Touch Diamond 2
• Touch HD
• Touch Pro 2
• Touch Pro (CDMA)

Features

• Scratch-proof patented film
• invisibleSHIELD™ Protection
• Dry installation process
• Easy to remove, leaving no sticky residue 
• 45 Day Money Back Guarantee
• No added bulk
• Military Grade
• Improves Grip
• 0.3 mm thick

Get your ZAGG skins here: http://www.zagg.com/zaggskins/index.php?intcmp=top_nav_btn

FORA.tv is an enormous treasure of video on the people, issues and ideas that are changing the world.

Today, we’re glad to share that you can now use Kinoma Play on your phone to watch over 1,800 FORA.tv videos on demand.

“Fora” is the Latin plural of “forum”, and in that spirit Kinoma Play’s FORA.tv channel features “you are there” videos about the day’s most important technological, science,business, and cultural issues — all gathered from leading thinkers, institutions and conferences.

FORA.tv was selected for TIME.com’s 50 Best Websites of 2009, and we think you’ll find it to be one of the 50 best content collections in Kinoma Play, too.

Where to find it

You can find FORA.tv in Kinoma Guide > Arts & Culture > FORA.tv.

Enjoy!

As usual, this new Kinoma Guide content is free for all Kinoma Play customers.

If you have favorite podcasts, radio stations, video streams or other media, send a URL and short description to content@kinoma.com and we’ll add them to Kinoma Guide for all Kinoma Play customers to discover and enjoy.

Source: http://kinoma.com/

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–When Sprint (NYSE: S) launched its exclusive rewards program for its most loyal and high-value customers a year ago, the company had no idea how popular the program would be. The exclusive benefits Premier members received have helped to foster loyalty between Sprint and its customers. According to a recent GFK End-User survey, Premier customers, indeed, are far more loyal. So to mark the one-year anniversary, Sprint is announcing enhancements to the program with the goal of further improving the Premier experience.

“In a world where there are companies who have thousands of customers, the customers tend to get overlooked or viewed as a metric based on revenue. This program shows me Sprint sees my loyalty and I am not just a revenue stream.”

• Six-Month Plan Check: Premier moved beyond simply reminding customers every six months to use Sprint’s online plan optimizer to instead proactively doing a six-month plan check for customers and letting them know if there’s another plan that provides them more value.
• Anniversary Rewards: Every year, customers get a “thank you gift” for their loyalty. Now customers have the choice of a $5 service credit to their account or 75 voice bonus minutes.
• Premier Community Forum: The official launch of an online user community for Premier customers. A forum to chat with fellow Premier customers, or talk directly with the Premier program managers about questions or ideas for Premier.
• Premier website: This newly designed site (www.sprint.com/premier) is available to both Premier and non-Premier customers to stay on top of Premier eligibility and program benefits.

…click here to read more

BGR getting the goods on the much awaited release of the HTC HD2 on T-Mobile and confirms that it will be released on March 24th. Listed on the leaked release sheet as the “Dark Handset”, we should see the HD2 as well as the Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Netbook with T-Mobile Broadband Access go live on the same day.

And if you plan to be the first in line on March 24th to get your very own HTC HD2, plan on being very pleasantly surprised at the price! The HD2 with all it’s 1gHz Snapdragon goodness will only set you back $199 with a two year contract minus rebates of course. Contract free purchasers will only be set back $449.99.

No too shabby for a device with so much under the hood.

Pricing thanks to TmoNews via WMPU/WME