iPhone Moving to Verizon?

It has long been rumored that the iPhone is finding its way to Verizon Wireless. The iPad announcement was for a long time thought to also be the time when this would be announced. As we all know, this didn't happen and we were all left scratching our heads wondering what the industry spies got wrong.

Now in March, the rumor has surfaced once again in the Wall Street Journal, now saying that a Verizon version of the iPhone will be introduced this summer. Is it true? With Apple, how can you really know anything for sure?

ZDNet has a very interesting take on this though: if this rumor is indeed true, new iPhone signups and upgrades on the AT&T network could grind to a halt.

Why?

Well, we've all seen the commercials and I think most would agree that Verizon indeed has the larger 3G network, and details such as whether you can surf and talk on the same phone are minor. The very unscientific poll ZDNet has attached to this article asks the question whether a cellphone user would stay with AT&T or switch to Verizon. At the time that I read this article, there were only 18 votes and 83% of those were in favor of switching to Verizon. Naturally, the sample is too small at this point but it will be interesting to see what it says tomorrow.

I think this could be a real danger. Whether the rumor is true or not, AT&T stands to miss out on upgrades and new activations while those that hate the AT&T network eagerly await the same experience on Verizon's network. Of course, it could go the other way as well. People may wait to renew contracts or sign up in anticipation of the CDMA iPhone.

Ultimately, the question is how many leaks Apple will let leak out. In the end, they're the ones that really will benefit.

Who knows what will happen in Alaska. Will the CDMA iPhone be exclusive to Verizon or will it be usable on CDMA carries up here, like ACS, MTA and Digitel? What will that mean for AT&T's customer base up here? Quite an interesting question...time will tell.

Empathy 2.30 Released

Version 2.30 of the GNOME IM client Empathy has been released today. Love it or hate it (and I certainly had my moments when it first replaced Pidgin as the default Ubuntu IM client), Empathy has come a long way and is constantly improving. How these latest changes stack up we'll see but here's a summary of the new features:

• Improved accounts dialogue, including a new Facebook account widget and first-run wizards
• Better chatroom support
• Better error reporting
• Drag and drop file sharing

There are naturally a number of other things I'd like to see in Empathy but any improvements are good and the above definitely helps with overall usability and easy of use and considering that Empathy is the main IM client of Ubuntu, that's pretty important.

For the full release info, check out the following page.

Blackberry Beta Zone

RIM has announced the launch of the Blackberry Beta Zone this week. Here's what they say on the beta site:

BlackBerry® Beta Zone is the place where Research In Motion (RIM) communicates with and receives feedback from beta participants. As a member of BlackBerry Beta Zone, you'll have the opportunity to sign up for beta programs and be among the first to try out new BlackBerry software before it's released to the general public. Your feedback will be an important part of ensuring future BlackBerry products meet the needs of customers like you.

If you have a Blackberry and like to try out the latest, don't be foolish: sign up today!

An Unexpected Discovery - HTC Hero as a Modem Using Wifi

Those that own the HTC Hero and have done just some brief digging around in the wireless settings have without a doubt found the Mobile Network Sharing option. For those unfamiliar with this option, it essentially allows you to use your Hero as a modem for your computer. Simply connect your phone to your computer, check the check box next to the Mobile Network Sharing option and enjoy. It works great on my Ubuntu based laptop and on my XP laptop.

The other day I noticed something unexpected. I can tether my Hero using USB with a Wifi hotspot instead of the 3G connection.

It all happened by chance. I was trying to access a hotspot but for some reason my laptop just refused to connect.  I figured I'd just connect my phone and computer and just use the 3G network. As it turned out, the 3G connection was unstable that one day so I still couldn't get online. 

By complete chance, I was hitting some settings in the phone and happened to enable Wifi and Internet Sharing stayed on (typically this option is grayed out unless mobile network data is enabled). To my surprise, the Hero let me use the Wifi connection with my computer. It was as if my 3G modem had turned into a Wifi card.

Tonight, I tried to reproduce this again and found something curious. As I mentioned above, the Mobile Sharing option is not available if the mobile data connection is disabled. It can however be done.

1) Connect to a hotspot using the Wifi connect

2) Enable mobile network data

3) Enable mobile sharing

At this point, something interesting happens. With the Wifi connection active, the mobile network data connection remains in standby. Since it's checked to be on, mobile sharing is also available to check in step 3 but the actual connection being used is the Wifi connection. Once you disconnect the Wifi connection, the mobile connection picks right up.

Anyway, I'm not sure if this is useful to anyone else. Typically, all laptops have Wifi already but should you need to connect a computer to a Wifi network and you happen to have a HTC Hero handy that doesn't have a 3G connection at the moment, it can double as your Wifi connection as well.

Interesting...

Swype - A Revolutionary Touchscreen Input Method?

Having joined the horde of Android users with my HTC Hero, I have never had much of an issue using the default on-screen keyboard for the Hero. I do know that others hate it, some dislike it and others are just like me. They don't mind.

However, the other day I was made aware of Swype. No, it's no typo, it's not supposed to be Skype although it could potentially help Skype users at some point.

So, what is Swype? In a nutshell, it's a new input method for touch-screen devices. Let me explain.

Normally on the Hero and many other touch-screen phones, a keyboard is produced on screen and you enter your message by punching the keys on the screen. Sometimes this works well, sometimes it doesn't. Combine it with predictive text and it's usually not too bad. Still, it's not ideal.

Swype takes the on screen keyboard to the next level. Instead of forcing you to hit each button, you simply "swype" all the characters of the word you're typing. On screen, it looks like you're drawing a continuous line on the keyboard and essentially, this is exactly what you do. To enter the word "swype" you start on the letter "s" and then just play connect the dots with all your letters, basically drawing a line from "s" to "w" and so on. The software then predicts what word you're trying to type.

I know, it sounds a little hard to believe and once you start using it, it almost seems like magic. That's how well it works! I've found that using Swype, my text input speed has increased significantly and there are rarely errors either.

So, if you're an Android user, do yourself a favor and try the beta over at http://www.swypeinc.com.

Chromium and Flash on Ubuntu 64-bit

I've always used Firefox as my primary browser on my Ubuntu laptop. However, recently I've started exploring Chromium more and more and I've started to like it, with one exception: the 64-bit Flash plugin I use keeps crashing in Chromium.

Until today I've just pretty much left it alone but tonight I figured it was finally time to do something about it. It turns out the solution was so very simple: download the 32-bit plugin and off you go.

I love it when a solution only takes a few minutes to find and a few minutes to implement.

UPDATE: Scratch that, it still didn't work...the search continues.