Source: mashable.com via miggy on Pinterest
This interview needs a little explanation for our regular readers. First of all it’s actually Roni Pridemore being interviewed instead of Sharon Cuppett, we had a last-minute substitute, and I promise, we didn’t try to steal Don’s phone when we left the interview with the zBoost zForce. When we received a call about 15 minutes later to return the phone, we all had a good laugh.
The video interview gives a good overview of the new zBoost zForce, zBoost Xtreme, and zBoost 4G-V. Thanks to Todd and Don for taking the time to share zBoost with their audience.
zBoost by Wi-Ex is a range of signal extenders that will improve cell and mobile phone coverage in weak areas. Todd and Don discuss zBoost’s latest products with Roni Pridemore (and they get a mention on Wi-Ex’s blog)
Wi-Ex launched two new products at CES, the first being the zBoost 4G-V, a signal booster for 4G frequencies on Verizon, the largest mobile carrier with over 100 million subscribers. A whole 4G product line is under development, including dual- and tri-band boosters. Available in Q2 2012 for around $220.
The second is an in-car booster, the zBoost zForce, which comprises a cradle for the phone and a magnetised antenna for the outside of the vehicle. Powered from the cigarette adaptor, the zForce can boost coverage by about 10x, eliminating dead spots and increasing range in rural areas. Retailing at only $99, it will be available shortly.
(You’ll have to watch the Blue Microphone interview to realise this, but in this video Roni borrows Don’s phone to demonstrate the zForce and then walks off with the phone at the end of the interview!)
Interview by Todd Cochrane of Geek News Central and Don Baine, the Gadget Professor, for the TechPodcast Network.
Way back in 1920, wireless phone users were saying “Can you hear me?”. This is an interesting story from Smithsonian Magazine of the first car phone. If you thought the car phones from the 80′s were large, take a look at the 1920 version.
An inventor from Philadelphia using his “wireless telephone” technology in 1920As I noted last week, the term “wireless telephone” in the early 1920s didn’t necessarily mean a device that could both transmit and receive messages. In fact, most radio devices during this time were simply either a transmitter or a receiver. However, some inventors were having a lot of fun tinkering with what was essentially walkie-talkie technology, in that they were developing transceivers — devices that could both transmit and receive radio messages. An article in the March 21, 1920 Sandusky Register in Sandusky, Ohio retold the story of a man in Philadelphia named W. W. Macfarlane who was experimenting with his own “wireless telephone.” With a chauffeur driving him as he sat in the back seat of his moving car he amazed a reporter from The Electrical Experimenter magazine by talking to Mrs. Macfarlane, who sat in their garage 500 yards down the road.
Headline for an article in the March 21, 1920 Sandusky Register (Sandusky, Ohio)A man with a box slung over his shoulder and holding in one hand three pieces of stove pipe placed side by side on a board climbed into an automobile on East Country Road, Elkins Park, Pa.
As he settled in the machine he picked up a telephone transmitter, set on a short handle, and said:
“We are going to run down the road. Can you hear me?”
Other passengers in the automobile, all wearing telephone receivers, heard a woman’s voice answering: “Yes, perfectly. Where are you?”
By this time the machine was several hundred yards down the road and the voice in the garage was distinctly heard.
This was one of the incidents in the first demonstration of the portable wireless telephone outfit invented by W. W. Macfarlane, of Philadelphia, as described by the Electrical Experimenter.
Mrs. Macfarlane, sitting in the garage back of the Macfarlane home, was talking through the wireless telephone to her husband, seated comfortably in a moving automobile 500 yards away.
The occupants of the car were a chauffeur, a reporter and a photographer. All wore the telephone receivers and could hear everything Mrs Macfarlane was saying. The chauffeur had no other apparatus than the receiver with the usual telephone cord attached to a metal clip to his steering wheel.
Lying beside Mr. Macfarlane was the foot-square box, the only “secret” in the whole demonstration. What is in the box is the inventor’s mystery. This box weighs about twelve pounds. The other machinery used consisted only of the usual telephone transmitter and receivers and the three pieces of stove pipe standing erect on a plain piece of board. This forms the aerial of the apparatus.
To read the entire Smithsonian Magazine article by Matt Novak go to: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/2012/01/the
Time to Get Up!
One of my worst habits is staying up too late and not wanting to get up in the morning. It seems like this article by social media expert, Peter Shankman, was written for me but maybe it fits you too! Read on….
By now, most of you know that I’m a super-early riser. If you do some homework on the subject, you’ll find that many successful CEOs are, as well. It’s simply ingrained into us – If we want to be successful, we need to be working when others are not. It’s like the classic running quote:
“Somewhere, right now, someone is training while you are not. When you race him, he will win.”
So I get up early because I believe it’s worth it. Here’s some of the benefits you can get from doing it, and as a bonus, here’s how to actually do it!
10) Learn! You can browse seven websites in a row (news, news, gossip, financial, gossip, sports, weather) without being interrupted by one email. You’re now smarter for your entire day.
9) This early, it really IS all about you. You get a few minutes of pure “you” time.
8) We’re not as big as we think we are. I can watch the sunrise. We take certain things for granted. Light, air, clouds, etc. Get up one morning and actually watch the sky turn from dark to light. It’s amazing. It changes your entire perspective from how big we are to how small we are when you realize that we’re nothing in the universe, just starstuff on a much, much bigger plane. That affects how you think, and changes for the better how you look at things.
7) You’re automatically early. Getting up even a half hour early eliminates the “rush” that comes with leaving the house in the morning. Get up earlier, and you’re calmer. You remember everything you need to take. You walk out without being stressed. This leads to a calmer day. Want to be on time? Get up earlier.
6) EAT! Getting up early lets you have breakfast, which, as trite as it sounds, really is the most important meal of the day!
5) Speaking of exercise… Getting up early and exercising, whether at the gym or by yourself, puts you in a very small, yet very powerful group of people. Get up, get it done, and get on with your day. Come on – You know you’re not gonna go to the gym after work, and now you don’t have to!
4) Easier commute! Get up early, get to the office, and your commute is done before traffic goes to hell. Easiest commute ever.
3) Be a power player. Be a market maker. Want to know who the real power players are in the business world? Try scheduling 7am breakfasts with them. I’ve been at 7am breakfasts with some of the biggest and most powerful CEOs in the world – Why? Because they know that the demanding schedule they have won’t allow for lunches.
2) Do something you “never have the time for.”
1) Change the world. The number one reason to get up super-early? 30 minutes can change the world. Getting up early each day can truly make all the difference in your life. Imagine getting up early and just doing a few of the things listed above. Would you be more productive? Make more money? Reach more people? Get more deals done? I bet you would.
That was the “why.” To read the Top Six ways to make sure you get up early, go to http://shankman.com/why-you-need-to-get-up-earlier-and-how-to-do-it/.
If you have tips on how to get up earlier, please share. I can us all the help I can get.
Have a great holiday, but remember no drinking and driving. Be sure to have a designated driver or take a taxi if you do plan to drink.
Posted in Uncategorized
zBoostThere’s the famous, Twelve Days of Christmas” song and Ellen has her Twelve Days of Giving, now zBoost has it’s Twelve Days of zBoost. Each day for twelve business days, zBoost Your Life will feature a different location and aspect of the zBoost line of products for your holiday shopping list.
Today we are featuring the zBoost SOHO at hunting camp. zBoost cell phone signal boosters frequently pop up on a variety of hunting and outdoor forums. Outdoorsmen who are searching for ways to stay connected to their family, friends or work associates while away from home, have found that a zBoost SOHO is a solution to their cell phone connection problems.
Now I have never been deer, moose or elk hunting but I am the wife of a hunter and there is nothing more frustrating for a hunter than being out of touch for a significant length of time with no cell signal. This problem can be resolved with the addition of a zBoost-SOHO. If you are looking for a gift for your hunter, a zBoost SOHO makes a great gift for all outdoorsmen.
Additionally if you want to stay connected while on the road to and from deer camp, the new zBoost zForce cell phone signal booster for the car is a great addition. The moose in this car may have benefitted from a zBoost zForce to stay connected while on the run.
Computer World reports some interesting statistics regarding iPhone 4S dropped calls. Looks like AT&T subscribers need a zBoost as much as ever. Excerpts below…
iPhone 4S most popular iPhone ever
By Gregg Keizer December 1, 2011
Computerworld – Apple iPhone 4S owners rated their smartphones higher than did people using last year’s iPhone 4, a pollster said today.
According to a survey conducted by ChangeWave Research in early November of more than 200 U.S. iPhone 4S owners, 77% said they were “very satisfied” with the device, with another 19% pegging “somewhat satisfied” for their answer.
Forty-nine percent of the iPhone 4S owners put Siri at the top of their list as the iPhone 4S’ best feature. In second place was “ease of use,” with 39%, followed by the device’s eight-megapixel camera (33%) and “faster Web browsing” (24%).
Those same iPhone 4S owners ranked poor battery life as their top disappointment, no surprise considering the large volume of complaints over the device’s power consumption.
Dropped calls, a woe that’s plagued iPhone owners for years, was less of a headache for iPhone 4S owners, said ChangeWave, attributing the better results to the influx of Verizon subscribers.
“In the current survey, nearly two-in-five iPhone 4S owners are using other wireless service providers — Verizon or Sprint — that have historically shown lower dropped call rates in our surveys than AT&T,” said ChangeWave in a blog post describing the recent poll’s results.
When dropped calls on the iPhone 4S are separated into two buckets, one for AT&T and the other for Verizon, the numbers are in line with historical trends: 4.1% of AT&T subscribers using the iPhone 4S reported dropped calls, more than triple the 1.3% of Verizon subscribers.
“The lower dropped call rate for the iPhone 4S in the current survey appears primarily attributable to owners now using multiple wireless service providers – as opposed to only using AT&T back in the July 2010 survey,” concluded ChangeWave.
ChangeWave’s November dropped-call numbers are in line, albeit slanted even more in favor of Verizon, with a similar survey the firm did last April.
To read the entire article go to: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9222314/iPhone_4S_most_popular_iPhone_ever?taxonomyId=75
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Computer World, dropped calls, Gregg Keizer, indoor cell phone signal issues, iPhone 4S, Wi-Ex, zBoost
The holiday season is about to begin. Even if you’re still at work, you may be using your lunch hour to run some 
last-minute errands or finalize your list of things to do before the Thanksgiving holiday.
Here’s my edited list: Get gas, stop at grocery for last minute items, call neighbor to watch our house and care for our cat, pack, Google driving directions, gather up family for early morning drive and hit the road early enough to avoid the inevitable Atlanta holiday traffic jam.
Some days a long list can be overwhelming, but it’s all about attitude, so today instead of bemoaning how much I have to do before leaving, I’m saying:
Thank You that I have a car to put gas in.
Thank You for stores with shelves full of choices.
Thank You for wonderful neighbors who like our cat.
Thank You for suitcases and clothes to put in it.
Thank You for computers and technology.
Thank You for Atlanta, a beautiful city that I call home.
Thank You for family and friends.
Thank You for a holiday that reminds us to be grateful for what we have.
We are so blessed in the United States, so finally I say Thank You for our country and for our military who are away from home this holiday season.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family from Wi-Ex. Be sure to remember your blessings.
Two retailers that carry zBoost cell phone signal boosters are offering free shipping for electronics during the holiday season. Both Best Buy and Walmart are enticing customers with free shipping.
Walmart to ship electronics free ahead of holidays
Nov 17 (Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc is offering free shipping on all electronics products over $45 from Thursday through Dec. 19 as the world’s largest retailer tries to win tech shoppers from the likes of Amazon.com and Best Buy in the all-important holiday season.
Best Buy, the largest consumer electronics chain, has already said it would offer free shipping on online orders from Nov. 1 through Dec. 27.
Earlier this month, top retail executives told Reuters they planned to be highly promotional in categories like televisions in the run-up to “Black Friday” on Nov. 25, the unofficial start of the holiday selling season.
U.S. shoppers have held off on buying televisions and other nonessential items in the anemic economy, but retailers are hoping to get those budget-conscious consumers to open their wallets during the biggest selling season of the year.
Wal-Mart said the holiday shipping offer applies to a wide range of products, including high-definition televisions, laptops, e-readers and digital cameras.
“Our customers are stretched for time and dollars this season,” Joel Anderson, president and CEO of Walmart.com, said in a statement.
U.S. shoppers plan to spend an average of $246 on electronic gifts this holiday season, according to the Consumer Electronics Association.
On Veteran’s Day we honor
Soldiers who protect our nation.
For their service as our warriors,
They deserve our admiration.
Some of them were drafted;
Some were volunteers;
For some it was just yesterday;
For some it’s been many years;
In the jungle or the desert,
On land or on the sea,
They did whatever was assigned
To produce a victory.
Some came back; some didn’t.
They defended us everywhere.
Some saw combat; some rode a desk;
All of them did their share.
No matter what the duty,
For low pay and little glory,
These soldiers gave up normal lives,
For duties mundane and gory.
Let every veteran be honored;
Don’t let politics get in the way.
Without them, freedom would have died;
What they did, we can’t repay.
We owe so much to them,
Who kept us safe from terror,
So when we see a uniform,
Let’s say “thank you” to every wearer.
By Joanna Fuchs
