Future guests should be comforted that both the hotel’s housekeeping and extermination programs work well (although maybe at different times). For me, I found the scorpion a great find. How many times have you played with a scorpion? However, I can see for others, they may not be able to sleep so snuggly at night. Where in the room had the scorpion visited before he met his demise?

The hotel and Acapulco are beautiful and the people are very welcoming. Despite the surprise, I would highly recommend both.

I think this is truly a search fit for Leonard Nemoy and In Search Of... Sasquatch, UFOs, an image of backup tapes tumbling off a truck…

So far my latest, best find is from Flickr. Not a box full of tapes, but the “Fell Off Truck” text is a nice touch and gives a hint of what might happen to a backup tape in a similar situation.

The mobile world continues to evolve, but the time to spend documenting the ways of a mobile switcher have dwindled.

Since the last post, I’ve moved into a management role but switching was still strong:

There is hope - a double fisted HTC Advantage and HTC Touch Dual (20key) blitz would be impressive.

With the Gartner Wireless & Mobile Summit approaching, there are sure to be at least a few things to keep the place a bit more up-to-date.

Plus, now with a traffic view in Google Maps (select land masses, not yet for oceans), the trip can be that much more faster and fun!

Should a Vonage customer switch now?  Packet8 and Sunrocket are two likely candidates.  Both are offering interesting international calling packages.  Another option could be cable operator voice. While living in the UK, we had a never used phone line from NTL that was bundled with digital cable (never used because the landlord required that we maintain service with BT - must have been a shareholder).  However, I don’t believe the cable operators (Comcast for me) are providing deeply discounted international rates like the VoIP startups.

For the time being I’m staying put.  Although there may be more incentive to switch since a new provider might support Brendon Wilson’s Click2Call Firefox extension.

My first smartphone was a Siemens SX-1, a Symbian Series 60 variant. This was a great GSM phone for check emailing and listening to music. So I jumped at the opportunity recently to spend time with one of the latest Series 60 phones, the Nokia E62. I had high hopes for the Nokia E62. When I first saw the phone during its prerelease period, I thought it could truly be the often talked about but yet to be produced “BlackBerry Killer.” Plus its WebKit-based browser has some of the sames feature found in the Apple iPhone.

The verdict: Series 60 continues to work well on smartphones and the E62 browser renders pages well, but the OS and this phone still lack the integration and utility of the RIM BlackBerry platform

Pro:

• WebKit-based browser
• Edit Words docs, including
• Nokia/Cisco-compatible VPN client
• Bright display
• Sturdy construction
• BlackBerry Connect client for BlackBerrry BES support

Cons:

• GUI is more clunky than functional
• Only EDGE, not UTMS or WiFi capable like the European E61
• No built-in storage encryption
• No camera
• Too chunky (but still pocketable)

Third party products are available that add device, file, or folder encryption to Symbian and Windows Mobile devices. In 2006, Juniper research forecasted the market for mobile phone encryption to reach over $1BB by 2011.

Comparison of Native Device Encryption by Smartphone Operating System

	RAM	Expansion (e.g. SD card)
BlackBerry OS 4.1	Supports	Supports
Symbian OS 9
Windows Mobile 5
Windows Mobile 6		Supports

While attending the Gartner Wireless and Mobile Summit 2007, I had the chance to use a Cingular’s Palm Treo 750 for two days.

The verdict: Nice try Palm, but the BlackBerry Pearl wins

Pros:

• UMTS-capable
• Palm enhanced Today screen
• 3rd party Windows Mobile 5 application (not included)
• Two days plus worth of battery

Cons:

• Keyboard a step backwards from the Treo 650, difficult to use one-handed
• Windows Mobile 5 - while sometimes pretty, does not match the efficiency of a BlackBerry
• No built-in encryption: full device, email, or removable storage

Only in Texas! For the first time, I clocked a +1 MBps using my Dell 420’s built-in Cingular BroadbandConnect radio. While staying at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, TX for the Gartner Wireless & Mobile Summit 2007, I achieved near 1Mbps downstream bandwidth. Right getting on a plane at DFW, I ran the broadbandreports.com Java speed test one more time.

A full list of my BroadbandConnect testing in California, Florida, Georgia and other states is available here on encrypted bits.

Below is an unscientific collection of experience using Cingular BroadbandConnect across the US. Tests performed using bandwidth speed tests from broadbandreports.com .

Last update: 10 Feb 2007 -Dallas, TX & Salt Lake City, UT