Tech Junkies's Blog

Foursquare: The Next Gen of Twitter

Mastermind — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:02:12 +0000

I read Jennifer’s article months ago and was eager to get into location-based apps because the ones I’ve tried before seemed way behind. I downloaded the application for my iPhone and instantly fell in love with it. It’s so cool to get a notification about where your local buddies are and where they’re going or where they’ve been, create a social to-do list, and read reviews or tips in local areas or areas where you tend to travel and foursquare is provided.

i wonder why it hasn’t caught on “social media fire” yet. Maybe it’s meant for a bigger purpose. We will see soon.

Here’s a screenshot of the homepage on my iPhone when I open Foursquare. Check-In is for you to check-in to your location or send a shout-out to an event or something happening. Below are the other tabs you can view as shown below.

This tab is used to find places based on your location. There would be a list in this screenshot but I am in a location where there isn’t really anything nearby. If the place you are at is not listed you can use the ‘not in search’ or ‘we can’t find anything nearby’ to choose and input locations not show in the search.

As you can see there are nearby tips for places, a to-do list for myself, and you can also view your friends to-do list. This is a cool feature because if you go out and travel you can set up your own to-do list and people can view them and give you tips and etc. This also works for local use as well.

Badges is the coolest thing I think for Foursquare. They base it all on points and # of appearances. The more you check-in the more points you get. The more points you get the higher you are in your stats the more badges you get.

I’ll explain the point system briefly. You get points for checking in and you get bonus points for first-time appearances, adding places to the database, multiple appearances, multiple appearances per day, and more. Basically check-in as much as possible but don’t be overbearing. Don’t check-in at home or at the bathroom or any dumb places. Your compared to your local friends which is showed in the stat chart above.

You can add your friends, catch the latest scoop from FourSqare and updated your current location.

The application is just awesome. It is available for iPhones, Blackberries, and Android Phones. Just get it and join the community!

Laptop Mag Determines Acer, Dell and HP Have the Worst Tech Support

Mastermind — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 20:08:06 +0000

Laptop Magazine went out and called the tech support of every major notebook manufacturer. They timed their waits before asking one of two very basic questions. After reading this you might want to rethink calling.

Apple scored the highest with an A overall. HP, Acer, and Dell tied for the lowest with C- each. The score was an overall of online and phone tech support combined.

Most tech support people were able to answer the basic usage question within 5 minute holding times. Dell who maxed out at 19 minutes before connecting Laptop to a line that was full of static and hissing.

Acer claimed that a computer was beyond its warranty date but was fairly common knowledge with overseas lines.

via Gizmodo

iPhone Facebook App Update

Mastermind — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 05:46:00 +0000

So yeah it’s 1:30am and I’m posting this because I think one of my prayers has been answered. No, it hasn’t been to meet Gina Carano. That will be answered another day.

This Facebook update is crucial beyond any updates. Forget the new Twitter Page, Jay-z’s Blueprint 3, look at this:

Isn’t it beautiful? Now let’s undress her.

Above: A simple UI with a notification bar on the bottom and a search bar.

News Feed Section: Photo insert to update your status, update status bar, the news feed stream that shows you right on the same page whether it’s been commented or not.

Profile Section: Let’s you reload without shaking although that feature is still available. Wall, Info, and Photo tabs on the bottom of the screen.

Chat: The chat section hasn’t changed much. It is in alphabetical order now and they have clearer status icons with the sorter on the right-hand side.

Events & Birthday: Happy Birthday Ivon! Now the Events and Birthdays are group together and are sorted by date and it shows age.

Photos: This was cleaned up. Looks great!

Notes: This was also cleaned up.

Favorites Section: This is new and cool something that I think I will be taking advantage of. You can add friends and page shortcuts to this page so you don’t have to sort through your long list of friends.

Friends List: Yeah I know you see the two tabs on the bottom. You can view both friends and pages. BUT what’s that little phone icon next to Alex Grant’s name. Oh yeah! I forgot. If your friends posted their numbers on facebook home, mobile, or business you can call/text them straight from the friends list. How effin cool is that? See picture below.

Since this is there first release for some people it may lag. So far for me it has been smooth although I’ve had to wait a few times for pages to load. There are still some bugs so please be patient.

I honestly have to say that I might give up browsing on the web for a while and just do it on my phone. What I still don’t like about the iPhone Facebook App is the Facebook picture sync that is missing. The Blackberry has it but why doesn’t the iPhone have it yet?

Please feel free to leave comments and opinions below. Thank you!

I want a Wall-E USB Drive

Mastermind — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:21:41 +0000

Yes, they did make one and it’s only $65 for an 8GB. Yeah you can probably get 8x the memory for cheaper if you were to get a stick but look at the picture.

It’s so cool right?

Uber-nano nanolasers could lead to faster computers and reliable internet

Mastermind — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:42:06 +0000

Researchers at Arizona State University and Technical University of Eindhoven in the Netherlands have been collaborating on a project to make lasers significantly smaller than the ones that are currently available, by finding a way around the traditionally accepted diffraction limit — the idea that the size of lasers in any one dimension (say, thickness) is limited to half of the wavelength involved. One way around the size limitation, they’ve found, is to use a combination of semiconductors and metals like gold and silver, which causes electron excitement which helps confine the light in a laser to smaller spaces than that of the supposed limit. Using this method, the team has created nanoscale lasers that are one quarter of the wavelength or smaller — as opposed to the previously accepted size limitation of one half of the wavelength. As far as consumer applications go, the smaller the laser, the easier it will be to integrate them into small electronics components, leading to things like faster products and more reliable internet access.

It’s a mouthful right? As soon as I know more you will as well. Just informing you to be ‘aware’ of the ever changing way the tech world works. I’m outtie. I hope you enjoyed this post.

Anxiously Waiting on Motorola’s September 10th Announcement

Mastermind — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:51:32 +0000

September is going to be a big month in the tech industry. Apple is having their keynote where they may or may not show their Apple iTablet. Mirosoft has a lot of stuff to announce and Motorola does as well. To my knowledge the flyer I saw only had a picture of a little Android. (view below)

Most likely Motorola will announce the Motorola Sholes and the Morrison. Like everyone else, we’re just going to have to cross our fingers and hope that Motorola comes out with guns blazing at this event. We need the Sholes to knock our socks off, so to speak, and while the Morrison may be targeted for the teen crowd, there’s plenty of room for surprises therein. So here you go Motorola, here’s your shot. Is it a last shot? We’ll have to wait and see.

techyhorndog — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 04:36:29 +0000

New Beginning!