SparkDad

As a Christian I believe that there are the Ten Commandments and Seven Deadly Sins. But I think that in this technology filled era we need to add another one. The eighth deadly sin should be phone envy!

I am suffering from it right now. My friend Scott sports his very cool iPhone, Tio Dee has his new Droid. And here I am on my ancient Blackberry 8300 series.

We have Verizon Wireless and have a very nice corporate discount that has been in effect for about 8 years so we are not changing carriers. The deal is just too good, so I am locked into choosing Verizon phones. In the past there has been a real lack of good phones with Verizon in particular the ability to get the iPhone. But with the Droid out and the Nexus One coming soon I do not feel as bad : )

Above you see a picture of the Nexus One. Google has a nice site to preview it.  It seems fast and sleek. Unfortunately it is not out for Verizon. Our contract is up in February so hopefully Verizon will have it out by then!

The Droid is a nice option as well. It has a ton of apps, though not as many as the iPhone, most are free and are useful.

The reason I am so interested in these two phones goes back to my recent post from yesterday. I am entrenched in Google applications. Calendar, Email, Documents.

With the Android operating system on both of these phones as well as real time GPS capabilities I would be very, very happy with either of them!

I did find a site that had really good deals on phones called LetsTalk.com. Check them out at he link below:

LetsTalk.com, The Smarter Way To Buy Wireless

When I get one in my greedy, envious little hands I will give a full review!

Well I am off to work out at 24 Hour Fitness!

Most of you who know me realize that I am entrenched in Google Technology. I have Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Voice, Google Wave, Fast Flip, Reader, you name it. If it is Google then I use it.

I do this because it is all integrated together. I can open and email and make that email a task or calendar event with a couple of clicks. Easy. Then I can go to another computer , log in and bam! all my stuff!

I can use it from my Blackberry and soon hopefully my Droid or Nexus One.

Google has just announced that you can upload ANY document to Google Docs! This is the Google Drive that has been so anticipated. They are not calling it Google Drive but it does the same thing.

Here is the announcement from the the Google Docs Blog.

We’re happy to announce that over the next few weeks we will be rolling out the ability to upload, store and organize any type of file in Google Docs. With this change, you’ll be able to upload and access your files from any computer — all you need is an Internet connection.
Instead of emailing files to yourself, which is particularly difficult with large files, you can upload to Google Docs any file up to 250 MB. You’ll have 1 GB of free storage for files you don’t convert into one of the Google Docs formats (i.e. Google documents, spreadsheets, and presentations), and if you need more space, you can buy additional storage for $0.25 per GB per year. This makes it easy to backup more of your key files online, from large graphics and raw photos to unedited home videos taken on your smartphone. You might even be able to replace the USB drive you reserved for those files that are too big to send over email.
Combined with shared folders, you can store, organize, and collaborate on files more easily using Google Docs. For example, if you are in a club or PTA working on large graphic files for posters or a newsletter, you can upload them to a shared folder for collaborators to view, download, and print.
You can also search for document files you’ve uploaded or that have been shared with you just like you do with your Google documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and PDFs. And you’ll be able to view many common document file types with the Google Docs viewer.
To learn how businesses can take advantage of this new functionality, check out the post on the Enterprise Blog.
As always, we’d love your feedback and if you have any questions, please check out our help page. This feature will be enabled for your account over the next couple of weeks — look for the bubble notification when you sign in to Google Docs

I hope this is helpful to some of you!

- Spark Dad

Today on the Google Blog, Google Voice released Google Voice for Android and most importantly for me Blackberry.

You install the Google Voice Application on your Blackberry and then you can dial from your phone using your Google Voice Number. Very cool.

I just made a test phone call to my wife and we will see how the quality turned out when she calls me back.

You can see the original link on the Google Blog here.

C YA

Spark Dad

I normally do not blog about technology, but this article warranted me posting.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/07/08/google.chrome.os/index.html

A Google OS. Wow! I love Google products, Gmail, Picassa, Calendar, Voice. I use it all. But will it run games, Microsoft Office, etc.

Check it out!

C YA

Spark Dad

Now that all of the posts are in I am going to add all of the subscriber data back in. Each of you might get an email when I do this.

Later…

Some great, easy lunch recipes for Dads or Moms.

C YA!