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Nokia – New Year 2006

Just saw this on the Nokia website… sounds like a killer party!

On December 31st, Nokia will welcome the New Year in unique style – by connecting millions of music lovers from around the world as they count down the final minutes of 2006. Nokia New Year’s Eve, a global music event stretching across four continents, will feature a number of international artists including The Black Eyed Peas and Scissor Sisters to entertain audiences at New Year’s celebrations from Hong Kong to Rio de Janeiro. Those unable to attend in person can experience the party via television or the internet. To orchestrate this unique global celebration, Nokia has enlisted the services of Harvey Goldsmith CBE, the producer of Live Aid and Live8.

Nokia New Year’s Eve will travel from east to west, starting in Hong Kong’s Ocean Terminal, followed by Mumbai’s Andheri Stadium, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro and rounding off the night in New York. [Nokia

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As if they know….


As soon as Thanksgiving passed the Turkeys returned to our yard… We’ve lived in the house for about a year and a half but it’s still a bit odd to see Turkeys roaming about when you look out the window.

A few more shots on Flickr.

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Hamilton College Gilded Bicycle Guild

There is a new free bike service – actually a Guild – which has been created by students so everyone can share and use 20 golden bikes to move about campus at Hamilton. Very cool!

The Gilded Bicycle Guild consists of a fleet of 20 used bikes, mostly classic 50’s-era one- and three- speeds. With funding from the Student Assembly, bikes were purchased from Welch’s Bike Shop in Utica for $40 dollars each and are now property of Hamilton College.

In late October a group of students got together to spray paint the bikes gold on what LaFiandra called “a really fun day.” After being painted, the bikes were all named by the students. LaFiandra wanted the names to “reflect the people who got the bikes here and the obscure and fun things behind the Guild.” The names cover a broad range and are derived from five languages including Chinese, French and Italian. They include “Bucephalus,” Alexander the Great’s horse, Horton, Buttons, Checkers, and more. According to LaFiandra, “the names reflect the sweetness of the Gilded Bicycle Guild.”

Although there are no specific rules for the Gilded Bicycle Guild, the system runs on the community taking responsibility and being respectful of the bikes. LaFiandra wants it to be understood that “they are your bikes but they are also everyone else’s bikes.” According to LaFiandra, the bicycles are “fair game” and “are there for you to take them where you want.” If you see a bike you can hop on and pedal to wherever you need to go. This also means that if you ride a bike to the library it might not be there when you come out. [Hamilton College]

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Home networking tip of the day

We lost power for a change last night and while I thought everything was working when I left for work, my wife ended up having trouble with connectivity and the cable box. They are not connected in the same place so I ruled that out while troubleshooting over the phone… After running through a few things and a reboot I was stumped on her computer.

When I got home I discovered the problem.

My main airport is connected to a switched outlet temporarily while some work is being done in the house and it must have been switched off at some point during the day. It never occurred to me to even check this since Ashley was reporting a full airport signal. The signal was coming from an Airport Express… not connected to anything. We use a few to extend the signal around the house and clearly they appear normal even if their home base is down… doh!

The cable box eventually decided to cooperate as well…

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New Nokia Multimedia Computers… and a firmware update

I received a few new Nokia’s this past week and so far I am a very happy geek. The N73 is an absolutely stellar update to the N70 while the N93 updates the N91. Both are very solid, though I’ve spent most of the time with the N73 as the form factor is a bit easier in the pants pocket…

The N73 actually has a firmware update which I ran today. You need access to a PC – no Mac for this. I’m fortunate enough that I’ve got both at work so it was pretty easy to do. Remember to back-up anything close to critical before running. My process was straightforward and error-free. I did have to reinstall two Handy Apps – Weather and Clock – which did not restore back after the update. I also had to re-enter my email password, but my data was completely intact and I was syncing over the air to the company Exchange server within a few minutes…

I’ll post more soon on my use of both devices.

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Driving to work


Just a quick shot from my drive to work via my new Nokia N73

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I’ve changed my reading habits

I’ve been a longtime NetNewsWire user and lover, but since I really started reading feeds on my mobile device, I’ve been searching for a way to keep my reading locations in sync easily. NetNewsWire can sync through Newsgator (which I use) but Newsgator mobile sucks compared to Bloglines and … Google Reader.

I was actually happily reading through Bloglines but in the last week or so, I’ve been actively using Google Reader because the new release is really pretty great! Bloglines has a few annoying features which have yet to be addressed and with a few minimal tweaks has actually been the exact same product since before the Ask acquisition.

Google Reader enables full reading, saving, tagging and navigating with the keyboard which I really dig. You can even call up a specific feed with a keyboard shortcut.

The main thing I really like over Bloglines is that I can click on a full folder without worrying that my full list of feeds will get marked as read before I’ve had a chance to actually read them. Bloglines has yet to address this and for me is actually a critical difference.

The obvious advantage to a web based reader is that you can access things from anywhere you have a connection and from any web enabled device. There is no sync – state is just maintained. Of course, the key disadvantage is that you can’t do any reading while on a plane, which I’ve certainly done in the past, but in my current gig, I am traveling more by car and use a Sprint EVDO card when on the go, so I’ve got access pretty much anywhere I need from my laptop … not too mention my E61.

The mobile reader can definitely use a few tweaks but is amazingly efficient for reading. You have less control than you do from Bloglines, but I can live with the differences for now. There’s a small list being compiled by the Google Reader Group for what changes would be appreciated.

Lifehacker and TUAW have made similar moves and are worth reading for perspective as well.

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Campbell McKenna’s Birthday!


We are proud to announce the birth of Campbell McKenna Greene!

She was born August 15, 2006 at 9 AM weighing 7.7 pounds and measuring 20.5 inches long. Everyone is doing great!

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Grilled and Chilled

We wrapped a great dinner tonight and now I’m just chilling to some great acid jazz on the back deck. I grilled up some steaks and potatoes (on the grill too!) along with some excellent fresh mozzarella and tomatoes on the vine with balsamic, olive oil and fresh pepper.

I actually had my last day at work this past Friday at McCann so I am fully heading to chill mode — though a considerable milestone lies in the week ahead. Ashley is due with our second – scheduled actually on Tuesday! New gig starts in a few weeks…All good things!

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Is Green

So AMD is running a pretty intense campaign which you might have seen all about their claim of power efficiency which is clearly targeting Intel. As someone who actively works on the Intel business from the agency side I’ve clearly been seeing quite a bit of this stuff.

Last week I happened to be walking back with my lunch in hand and caught this Out of Home execution which I’ve got to believe was designed to get the good people of the agency’s attention as it’s a block away from our office. I like it since I’m in the photo and, well Greene.

OH and btw – The Core2Duo will absolutely kick the pants off anything AMD has in the works for quite a while.

Is Green

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AOL — Amazingly Free

I don’t actively use AOL but have had an account since the early nineties and have had a ding on my monthly credit card bill since out of some twisted nostalgia perhaps… Since they now offer it free, I switched over (you do have to do it manually or they will gladly continue to collect your money). It’s like an era has officially passed.

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Presence is key

There are two interesting things breaking this weekend on the mobile presence scene…

Twittr is from Odeo / Blogger and lets you set up a simple group on SMS.  It’s actually very slick especially given how simple it is. You just text your message to the universal short code – 40404 – and everyone in your social space gets the update.  You can choose to share your messages on the public homepage (I’ve opted out) or not. There’s some simple lingo that lets you ping or track a friend as well as control the level of messaging you receive.

Jaiku is another app that lets you socialize your contact list on Series 60 second edition devices like the Nokia N70.  I realize that’s a limited set compared to Twittr which lets you send to anyone regardless of carrier or phone type, but it’s a very interesting way to guage outside of the usual IM space what’s happening with people of interest.  I’ve added my status to the blog sidebar for a bit of “flare.” I like how it tracks the cell towers and lets you give the zone you are in a name like home for example.  It did pick up my city which is cool as I am in a small westchester suburb currently… My status page is here.

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Sunday Morning




Just spending some time in my backyard, streaming GrooveSalad and catching up on news….

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Flock / Google Browser Sync Conflict




There is a seriously annoying conflict between the Google Sync Extension for Flock and Flock itself. Because, you need to enter a password to protect both your initial flock data as well as your google sync info, there are prompts on start-up.

For some reason the Google bit likes to jump on top of the flock bit making it impossible to enter your information.

The rub is that this only happens if you are not running Flock as the top-most application, which actually happens quiet frequently. My only fix (read avoidance) is to be sure to sit and watch Flock start in order to work-around it.

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N91 Initial Thoughts

So today was the first full day of use with the N91, and I have to say I really like it — a lot!  I still think the N70 is the most pocket-able of the NSeries I’ve tried and that’s a very good thing, but the extra size (which is really not that bad) in the N91 offers a considerably greater bang.

For starters, you’ve got a 4GB (yes Giga) harddrive which can be use to store apps, data, photos, video and of course music.  The N91 is intended as a Music Phone – ahem, excuse me, Multimedia Computer. With 4GB of storage and a great (almost iPod) UI for music
you can easily see the value in carrying a single device.

I had just commented to someone that I could not see switching to a music phone over an iPod and while that largely still stands after my first day with the unit, it’s making a strong case for why one-piece is something to think about.

I will definitely post more as I spend (and have) more time with the N91, but for now here’s a quick list of cool stuff inside:

  • 4GB Hard Drive
  • 2Megapixel camera for still or video capture
  • Bluetooth 1.2 (no wireless headphone capability though)
  • 802.11G WLAN – yes WIFI!  You can choose how to connect based on where you are and use the extra speed to do VOIP over SIP (seriously), browse, email, IM, stream multimedia etc etc…
  • Hardware lock switch – you know the phone will not phantom dial or answer without your knowledge (thank you Nokia!), nor will a music track start or stop playing due to pressure on your pocket or jacket…
  • USB connection (how else do you think you can fill that 4GB drive!)
  • much more…

One thing I know already I don’t like… It’s quite difficult to open the battery compartment.  I’m sure this is intentionally stiff, but the battery life could be a lot better given how you are likely to use this so opening the back is something I’ll have to get used to in order to swap batteries.

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