Where’s That BlackBerry Magic?

Posted by Teryl on

While at the local mall, I stopped by AT&It’s both and felt up the BlackBerry Z10. I was in no way impressed. It wasn’t that the phone was ugly or had any obvious glaring faults. It was simply that it is just another slab phone, nothing special.

Then to make matters worse it was locked in a demo mode that the salesman had trouble getting it out of. This is a really bad move on the part of BlackBerry and the carriers, with the phone itself looking so pedestrian, potential customers need to be able to easily get to the software, which in my limited time with the device looked interesting.

Interesting enough to get my cash? No, but I will be watching to see what happens as things shake out. If BlackBerry has given us a good stable & capable platform I might eventually be persuaded. Stability will be my biggest concern. I’m currently using a Galaxy Nexus which likes to soft reboot a few times a week.

The biggest disappointment was the lack of emotion I felt, usually when looking at new hardware or software I get at least a little excited. Not so, with the Z10. For me the “BlackBerry Magic” wasn’t there.

Like I stated before I’d love to give the new BlackBerry a fair go, but not on my dime.

Samsung Unpacked 2013, The Aftermath

Posted by Teryl on

Unpacked2013

I don’t usually watch the big reveal events for tech products, preferring to wait till the specs and other information are out for all to see. Mostly because, I’m not into watching commercials. But, with all the commotion about Samsung’s Unpacked event, I decided to see if it was really that bad or just a bunch of sensitive whiners. Below are my thoughts as I was viewing the event on YouTube.  Continue reading →

That Star.

Posted by Teryl on

yea that one on the right, at the top of the page. I don’t know why I leave it there, maybe I think I’m a star. No, that can’t be, there are no paparazzi out in front of my house.

 Maybe I just whipped it up in some logo editor that I can’t remember the name of and stuck it there as a place holder. No, I can’t go with that either, it might make you think I can’t plan or follow through. 

Hmmm… It’s a polite star, take a look, it’s taking a bow. So, Ok, I’ll go with this, maybe I am a star but a polite one, that would explain why there are no paparazzi out front, I would have already politely answered all their question and bored them to the point of leaving.

Maybe it was just that logo editor.

Bah!

I’m sure my wife remembers, I’ll ask her, if I remember too.

Blackberry Nostalgia and the Z10

Posted by Teryl on

lseries_white_eng_gen_frontangle2Way back when, moving from a normal cell phone to a BlackBerry was thrilling.  Suddenly, the tethers that held us to our computers were gone, we could email and message from anywhere. No more waiting for that all important email through lunch, no more wondering if something that needed urgent attention was sitting in your inbox while you were away from your desk.  There were other devices that could almost do what a blackberry did but, none of them were as good.  Back then using a BlackBerry was every bit as magical as using an iPhone or Android phone is today.  That’s not really the best analogy, but I really don’t know how to explain it to someone who wasn’t there, push email and messaging was a huge change in the way we did things, bigger than anything that has come along since.  Continue reading →

Guns and Police officers in Schools

Posted by Teryl on

I personally am not in favor of gun control. However, I am in favor of placing properly qualified law enforcement personnel in our schools. We’ve had it here in southwest Missouri for quite some time, they are called resource or D.A.R.E (I think that’s the correct spelling) officers. Currently, I believe they are stationed at the high schools & visit the lower grades. Unless my eyes fail me they are all armed as they would be on patrol, with their service pistol, radio, tazer and utility belt items.

Is this why my area has avoided the school shootings? I couldn’t say, however I know, from listening to the kids, that these officers are loved and respected by most of the students & do make most kids think twice before doing something stupid. Also, these officers are available for the kids to talk to when needed.

I don’t know if this is a end all answer to the issues at hand, I doubt it is. But, for the schools here, that participate in the program, it seems to be working out pretty well.