Paul David Olson | Business, the Google, Sailing, Ad(s).

Why the StraightTalk “unlimited” data cap is complicated.

By Paul Olson | Published: February 19, 2013

What’s the data cap on StraightTalk’s unlimited plan? Such a simple question. Such a difficult answer. It’s complicated. Here’s why.

See, StraightTalk uses both the T-Mobile and the AT&T network depending on the subscriber’s phone compatibility. I’m a StraightTalk AT&T user. Love the service, but how much data do I get? I don’t really know.

Unlike other MVNO providers that only use one network, using two makes things more complicated. T-Mobile is wonderfully loose with their data plans. Their $30 unlimited data plan gives you 4G speeds for up to 5GB a month. StraightTalk’s unlimited plan is $45 — 50% more — so they probably love selling customers cheap T-Mobile data. Meanwhile, AT&T is notoriously stingy with their data allocation. Red Pocket Mobile uses the the AT&T network and their top plan only provides 1GB of data and is $55. StraightTalk’s margins on AT&T’s network are probably a lot thinner. And that’s what makes the answer to how much data you get complicated.

So it depends. I’d guess their “unlimited” ceiling is around 1-2GB on AT&T and a lot higher on T-Mobile. But try to explain that to customers and it’s easy to see why they’d rather say nothing.

Posted in The Internets | Leave a comment

Um, there’s already a cheap-o iPhone. It’s the iPhone 4, and it’s $450.

By Paul Olson | Published: January 29, 2013

Word on the street is that Apple’s going to make a cheap version of the iPhone to fight off Android’s market share dominance. Problem is, there’s already a cheap iPhone for sale. You can buy it on Apple.com. There’s just one problem — it’s not cheap at all and you shouldn’t buy it.

Apple still sells the iPhone 4. You can get one for $0 if you sign a two-year contract. This, however, is a terrible deal — you’re better off buying the iPhone 5 outright and using it on StraightTalk.

The iPhone 4 was announced in the middle of 2010. Apple has been making the thing for two and a half years, and it still costs $450 to buy unlocked and contract-free. For reference, that’s $200 more than the Nokia Lumia 620, the cheap-o Windows phone, and $150 more than Google’s “top-of-the-line” Nexus 4. How much cheaper can we really expect the cheap iPhone to be?

Well, it’s not going to cost less than $200 unlocked, because that’s what the iPod Touch costs. And it has to cost less than $450, right?

Let’s use the Nexus 7/iPad Mini price conversion. The iPad Mini is 1.6x more expensive than the Nexus 7. Sure, it’s bigger, but they both target the small tablet market. Google’s Nexus 4 is $300, so 1.6 x $300 is $480 — $30 more than the current iPhone 4. What the hell?

Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple prices the new “cheap” iPhone at $480. That’s their style — look, we made something cheap…er than what we’re already making! (Note: the iPhone 5 is $650, unlocked.) Everybody that expected discount pricing with the iPad Mini was wildly wrong. Honestly, $480, +/- $30 is probably a good price estimate for a ‘cheap’ iPhone.

But that price sucks. I’m sure some people will still pay it, but I just don’t think it’s going to work out. Why shell out for this thing when you can get a Windows phone for half that? If you really want to save $170 ($650 – $480), why not save another $180 and get the Nexus 4?

Apple, however, has to do it. They need to consolidate their screen sizes (and connector types) … which are pretty stupid reasons to do anything. They also have to sell more phones.

Posted in Android, Business | Leave a comment

@techcrunch Should Have Listened To Me In 2011

By Paul Olson | Published: January 27, 2013

Wow, time flies. I wrote about TechCrunch’s switch to Facebook comments back in 2011. Back then, I said:

If I was building a blog for my mother, I’d use Facebook Comments. You’re TechCrunch — be better than that. I understand the accountability argument, but accountability doesn’t lead to good discussions. Accountability leads to the discussion you have with your boss at your annual review. Disqus fuels the discussion you have with your co-workers at the bar afterward. The uninhibited discussion at the bar is much more fun.

Now they’ve done it, basically, and they’re begging their commenters to come back. They’re now using Livefyre which isn’t all that different from Disqus. The big story is the move away from Facebook.

Facebook is getting more and more boring and has been for years. Remember when you’d see countless cool things every time you jumped on Facebook? Now it’s ads and stale posts from barely-friends instead. Facebook is turning into Napster — a fun thing we all used to do that’s just not what it used to be anymore. We’re all ready for the next thing — we just haven’t found it yet.

Posted in Media, The Internets | Leave a comment

Get Free 4G Data For Your Nexus 7 Tablet (or iPad) With FreedomPop

By Paul Olson | Published: December 28, 2012

Google charges a $100 premium for the Nexus 7 model that connects to AT&T’s network. Apple charges $130 more to get an iPad that connects to Sprint, AT&T, or Verizon. Yikes. How’s free sound instead? Yes, please.

Here’s the deal: FreedomPop will loan you a 4G hotspot ($99 deposit) and give you 500MB of free monthly data. More data costs real money (2GB for $18). The catch is that they currently utilize Clearwire’s 4G network which is only available in some urban areas. Sprint’s LTE network will get added into the mix in 2013. Sounds like a fair trade-off for a $99 deposit device. I want one.

The hotspot is the device to get because it’ll work with anything that connects to WiFi and can be shared. There’s also a USB stick and an iPod sleeve, but I’d pass on both those — they’re too dedicated.

Free Wireless Internet Free Internet 4G Wireless Internet - FreedomPop - Goo_2012-12-28_13-22-07

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Apple Monologue: Gimmie an iPad, I’ll Pay Anything!!!1!

By Paul Olson | Published: October 23, 2012

I NEED a new iPad. I’ll pay anything, Tim Cook! Gimmie a new iPad, pleeeeeeze.

Yeah, I bought one a month ago, but I need ANOTHER one. I want to have a bookshelf full of them. I want to sit on the couch and surf the web, take pictures, Facetime chat, listen to music, read a book — all that shit. Oh, you’re releasing a new model already? Thank GOD! A new processor? Faster connectivity? A NEW CONNECTOR?!?! What do you mean, “That’s it?” Let me get my wallet. $829 for the 64GB, uber-interwebs model. {Gulp.} Maybe I’ll get the base-level $499 version. Don’t these things get cheaper to make? Want me to talk to Foxconn for you?

Oh, there’s another option? The iPad 2 is still around. No shit? You’re still charging $399 for it? Meh. That thing’s like a year old. Impress me, Mr. Cook. Can I even surf the web, take pictures, Facetime chat, listen to music, read a book — all that shit — on technology that dated? I doubt it. I think my grandpa still uses an iPad 2. Probably uses it to play cribbage. No thanks!

A smaller one, you say? You’re renaming the iPod Touch, huh? I know I can use the iPod Touch to surf the web, take pictures, Facetime chat, listen to music, read a book — all that shit. Meh again, I’ve seen the iPod Touch. $199 is a lot for a 4″ screen. Did you hear Google’s selling a 7″ tablet for the same price? Amazon’s selling one too.

You’re not renaming it? Well, can I make a suggestion? Maybe you should. How about calling the iPod Touch the iPad Mini-Mini? Wouldn’t that make more sense? Or the iPhone no-Phone.

Oh, it’s bigger. I’m listening.

7.9″ … well that’s totally different, isn’t it? Now we’re talking. That extra 0.9″ versus the Nexus 7 is significant. That’ll greatly increase my experience while I surf the web, take pictures, Facetime chat, listen to music, read a book — all that shit. I can’t believe I almost bought a Google Nexus 7 with only a 7″ screen. What a moron! And it’s 2.1″ smaller than the iPad … what is that one called? Regular / full-size / old-size … whatever. That’ll be so much better. Yeah, I can hold it in ONE hand instead of using two like a chump. I can’t believe I’ve been lugging this full-sized beast around for the last month like a damn Neanderthal. I’ll take one! No, give me two!

$329? Each? Are you fucking kidding me? Do you think I’m some sort of fucking retard? Do you think I’ve lost all ability to fucking think rationally and make logical fucking choices? Oh my fucking GOD. That’s a joke, right? $130 more than the fucking Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD. What a fucking joke. Fuck that, man.

Oh.

An update to iBooks with continuous scrolling, you say? Nicely played, sir. Honestly, you had me at “new.” I can’t believe I almost thought about cost there for a second. You knew I’d pay anything, didn’t you?

Posted in The Internets | Leave a comment

FIX: ‘Low on space / Phone storage space is getting low.’ message on Android phones

By Paul Olson | Published: October 6, 2012

It’s annoying. You’re doing something, then your phone decides to be a jerk and tell you can’t open that webpage or send that email — it’s low on space. When your phone storage space is getting low, try these five fixes to solve the problem:

Move Apps to the SD card

This one is easy. First, navigate to Settings > Applications > Manage Applications. Tap to manage an application, and if you can click the “Move to SD card” button, do it. Some Apps won’t run off the SD card, so this won’t work for all of them.

Store photos on the SD card

Pictures take up space, so store them on the SD card. Usually this setting is inside the camera App, but you’ll have to look around depending on your phone model. The other advantage to this: if your phone self-destructs and you need to do a factory reset, you won’t lose your pics. After you change this setting, move your old photos to the SD card too.

Uninstall space-hungry Apps

Install the DiskUsage App to see what’s taking up space on your phone’s internal memory. See a big App that you barely use? Consider ditching it.

Stop using IMAP / POP email

If you’re using IMAP or POP email (either for your work or personal email address), try switching to a dedicated App like Yahoo Mail or Gmail instead. These are much more space-efficient. Using IMAP and POP means each email you receive is stored on your phone. Depending on your sync settings, this can end up taking up a ton of space. If you can’t switch, try tweaking your sync settings to save fewer emails locally (how you do this depends on the email client), or attempt the Inbox Zero challenge and keep your inbox as close to empty as possible.

Switch to Dolphin Browser Mini

The default Android browser is fine, but you don’t get cool Chrome unless you’re running at least Android 4.0. What are the rest of us to do? Switch to the Dolphin Mini browser. It allows caching to the SD card so that it takes up very little system memory storage space. After the install, set it to cache to the SD card, then set it to be your default browser and clear the data from your old one.

Got another tip? Leave a comment.

Posted in Android, The Google | Leave a comment

The Problem with Google’s Chromebox? Hint: it’s Android.

By Paul Olson | Published: September 24, 2012

What’s Google doing with their Chromebox mini PC? Yeah, it’s a good idea. I like the browser-as-computer idea. That’s all you need, really. But $329? Come on. That’s too much. That’s more than a Nexus 7, and the Nexus 7 comes with a damn screen.

And it’s over 3x-6x more than the little Android 4.0 Mini PCs that seem to be popping up everywhere. The bad news for the Chromebox is that Android 4.0 runs the Chrome browser too (and that’s ALL that runs on the Chromebox). It just runs a lot more cheaply, evidently, on Android.

Honestly, what the hell, Google? The Chromebox is a good idea. But it’s a $99 product. Stop charging $329 and I’ll buy one.

Posted in The Google, The Internets | Leave a comment

Why the iPhone 5 screen is the shape it is.

By Paul Olson | Published: September 23, 2012

I don’t know why Apple chose 320×480 as the original iPhone screen resolution. Those are nice round numbers, sure, but maybe they were just what was available. Maybe those capacitive touch screens were on sale. Whatever. That doesn’t really matter.

What I do know is that for a while, Android phones were killing the iPhone on resolution. They just had more pixels. Sure, it hurt battery life (more pixels to display = more pixels to process = more power consumed), but their displays were sharper and better looking. Then came the iPhone 4.

The iPhone 4 has exactly four times as many pixels as the earlier iPhones (original, 3G, 3Gs). The 4S uses the same Retina-branded display as the 4, and both have twice as many pixels in each direction, 640×960, which quadruples the resolution. Why was this resolution chosen? Simple — old apps didn’t have to be rewritten to look right — they just had to use 4 pixels instead of 1 to fit the screen. iOS could easily figure that conversion out, it didn’t need to stretch or scale apps using difficult math, it just did this simple conversion. Easy.

Then came Apple’s 6th iPhone, the iPhone 5. It has a bigger screen because it had to be physically bigger to fit the 4G LTE stuff inside it along with the bigger battery that technology demands. (Yes, the iPhone 5 is 1.7mm thinner than the iPhone 4, but it takes up more volume.) So Apple HAD to make the screen bigger or the normal-sized screen would look odd on the bigger-sized phone body. And customers want bigger screens (possibly giving Apple users Android-screen envy) — they want 4-inchers.

Apple delivered, but they delivered oddly. They just made the thing taller. Why’d they do that? Same reason as before, probably. They didn’t want to mess with all the old apps that were optimized for the old resolution, so they just decided to display them like your TV displays an off-resolution movie — with black, empty space on both ends. This way, the iPhone 5 can still display old apps optimized to 320×480 (by doing the 4x pixel thing then blocking off the extra space) and apps optimized to 640×960 (by just blocking off the extra pixels) and apps optimized to the new 640×1,136 resolution.

But why 1,136? That seems like an odd number (though it is, to be clear, even). Turns out, it makes perfect sense. It’s just the number of pixels needed to allow the home screen to show exactly one more row of icons. Simple.

So that’s why the iPhone 5 screen looks like it’s just gone through puberty and hasn’t filled out yet.

Posted in Business | Leave a comment

Leveraging The Saddam Hussein Body Double Strategy For Online Reputation Management

By Paul Olson | Published: June 6, 2012

Make getting your online shit together one of your resolutions for 2012. Google shouldn’t stumble when people are looking for you … unless you don’t want them to find you. Then, do this:

Look, you’re the CMO. You don’t have time for the Google or the Facebook or the Twitter. You have time for reading the iCrossing Great Finds blog, that’s about it. And LinkedIn? You’re not unemployed. Come on.

However, effectively managing your online identity is good insurance against negative content surfacing in search results targeting your name. If somebody writes a blog post about how you “suck,” it sure would be nice for that not to show up on page one of Google. What then do you do?

Find a body double – somebody with your same name – and make him your Saddam Hussein-style body double on Google. If your body double is on Facebook, sign him up for Twitter. If he’s on LinkedIn, get him on Squidoo. Create a Wikipedia page for him. Hell, create a custom home page with an optimized domain name about how great this guy is. Optimize the shit out of everything. Build links like crazy. Buy some AdWords and some 300×250 displays. Create YouTube videos about how your body double is totally awesome, and curate a Tumblr blog of his favorite images. Consider releasing a sex tape. Negative press targeting you won’t have a chance.

Or you could actively manage your own search presence. But search is just a fad anyway. Real business is done on paper.

Paul’s traveling the country as a digital nomad. Keep track of him, his wife, and their minivan home on drivinginertia.com.