Samsung Theatre, RSS-Less Google

Anybody watch that Samsung Galaxy S4 launch last night on the Webcast from Radio City Music Hall in New York City?

Well, the latest episode of Smash it certainly was not.  I think the entire show could probably have used a dramaturg, but hey, what do I know? The last show I saw at Radio City Music Hall was Iron Maiden sometime around 1985.

But, if Samsung doesn’t exactly have a handle on the number of the thespian beast, they certainly do seem to have learned how to make smartphones.

Once I got past all the drama last night, I was ready to shell out a few hundred bucks to move back into the smartphone camp (I’m currently carrying an LG feature phone from Verizon, because unlike most people, I actually still use my cell phone to TALK to OTHER HUMAN BEINGS.)  I currently depend on an iPod Touch 5th gen for most of my tablet computing (news consumption, email, calendaring, shooter games, travel, etc.)

But at some point, I’m going to create my own harmonic computing convergence and try to come back to one device.

Of course, the price point for an unlocked Galaxy S4 will likely require a second mortage, and that’s if you can even find one.

So I’m also keeping an eye on the downmarket players like BLU Products, a little known player from whom I recently ordered an unlocked feature phone for $35 that I now use as my bat phone.

BLU is introducing a whole slate of new smartphones in April, entitled “Live View,” “Life One,” and “Life Play,” all of which will allegedly be sold unlocked on Amazon and range between $229 and $299.

The Life View model will include a 5.7-inch display (bigger than the Galaxy 5 at 5 inches), a 12-megapixel rear/5-megapixel front camera, 1GB RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, and also a 2,600Ah battery for those lonnngg plane rides to Bangalore.

I imagine that phone will be “good enough,” and you can learn more here on Engadget.

What’s apparently not good enough for Google is having an RSS reader. It was just announced that Google Reader was going to be taken out back to the Google woodshed and shot, as of July 1 of this year, a resultant casualty of Google’s annual “Spring Cleaning.”

To whit I ask, couldn’t they have found something less useful to “clean?”

Not to pile on, but this is a really dumb move for Google, if not for the bad PR value alone (and there’s been plenty of that). Google Reader was a beloved product, if only by the niche social digerati — you know, all those massive influencers with a big social media megaphone.

For my money, it’s a jaded move — Google’s not making any money off Reader, and RSS feeds are notoriously difficult to measure, so why not bury it in the Mountain View backyard? On the other hand, it would be nice for them to keep a useful tool that helps we bloggers keep our blogging sanity, and Reader does/did? just that.

C’est la Google vie…I’ve turned to Feedly online and on the iPod, and Reeder on the Mac, to assuage my soon-to-be Google Readerless existence.  So far, I’m digging the newspaper-ish like layout.  I just hope I can learn how to add and subtract feeds as easily as I was able to on the Google Reader cloud.

As for my post-SXSW-partum depression, the sun’s shining in Austin and I plan to get out and play some golf this weekend.  But I’ll just say this: For me, Best SouthBy ever.  I saw a lot of great speakers and sessions, talked to a lot of cool and interesting people, consumed some of my native city’s great food and drink, and enjoyed myself all the way around.

And for those of you who made it to the IBM party at Haven Saturday night, well how about that?  Definitely NOT your father’s IBM.

The bar she has been raised.

The Snowstorm From Hades

For those of you in the northeast, I feel for you. 

The coming snowstorm sounds like a monster, and reminds me of my first big storm when I was living in the New York area, the “Blizzard of 1996.”

If memory serves, it really kicked in on Sunday, January 7. I was living in the White Plains area, and had walked down to a local bar so I could watch a Dallas Cowboys football game on their TV there.

I remember the snow starting to fall in the first half.  By the end of the game, snow completely covered the sidewalk outside.

I walked home through the snow, and it was still coming down pretty consistently and pretty heavily.

I had no idea.

When I awakened the next morning, I looked outside and snow was piled up halfway up the door of a car parked across the street.

I was speechless. Growing up in north Texas, it was a HUGE deal to ever see ANY snow.  To see it fall like there was an endless supply…well, I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing.

New York City had pretty much shut down.  Before it was all over, they were dumping snow into the Hudson River, as there was nowhere else to put it.

IBM offices were closed on Monday, and I think Tuesday, that week, but I remember being able to work from home through a phone line.  Yes, a phone line.  You know, with a modem.  Where you dialed up to your server and got that really annoying connecting noise when the modem finally coupled.  

I can still hear that sound today, 17 years later, like it was yesterday.

My recommendation to my friends in New York, Boston and in between: Run to the store, buy yourself plenty of food and water, a bottle of whiskey, some candles and batteries, and just hibernate. 

If it’s good enough for bears, it’s good enough for we humans, especially in a mjor snowstorm.  Sounds like a perfectly good opportunity to read that latest book you’ve been putting off.

Oh, that, and make sure you go out and play in the snow.  You don’t want to let all that white stuff go to waste!

P.S. I’m expecting to fly up to New York City on Monday for a business trip, so I’d appreciate you all clearing the runways at JFK sometime over the weekend.  ‘Kay, thanks!

Preppers

Buenos dias.

I hope those of you in the northeast still without power find yourselves in the range of AC/DC again very soon.

I’ve been reading some fascinating stories about the lengths to which people have gone, especially from downtown (below, say, 40th Street), to find power enough to charge their cellphones.

Hey, I’d be right there in line behind you (although I’d try the Google solar recharging tchotchke I got several years ago first).

I’ve also been reading about the comeback of pay phones.  I didn’t even know there WERE any payphones left in NYC, but yes, there’s actually some 12,000 of them (down from 35,000 at their peak).

Because I was a New York City bike messenger once upon a time, I am very familiar with NYC pay phones. When I used to traverse the streets of Manhattan riding around moving vehicles like a crazy person, I had two pieces of technology: My Sony Walkman, and a beeper.

Whenever that beeper went off, I would head straight for a pay phone so I could call into my dispatch to grab another pick up.

But to imagine that a landline pay phone was my last line of communication defense…well, that’s what it’s come to for so many New Yorkers.

Some other good news I’m hearing: 14 of the city’s 23 subway lines were expected to open (though the 3, 7, B, C, E, G, and Q trains remain dark), which should go a long way towards alleviating some of the ridiculous auto traffic seen in NYC yesterday.

And the Cuomo plan to require three folks to a vehicle coming into Manhattan, though a heavy hand, is also not a bad idea, at least until more public transport can get up and running.

I’m also amazed that LaGuardia Airport opened this morning, especially after seeing those flood waters leaning up towards the jetways just two days ago. I imagine there will be lines of folks wanting to get out of town.

As for me, I’m sitting back taking some notes for my own disaster “crash” kit.  No use not turning these lemons into lemonade.

First on my list, other than plenty of fresh water and three days of non-perishable food: One of those combination hand cranked cell-phone recharger, flashlight, and weather radio. I’ve read about too many people who just didn’t know what the —— was going on, and that alone would drive me absolutely crazy.

A small, portable stove with a minimum week’s worth of fuel.

Small packages of dried instant coffee and powdered Gatorade.

Some sealed packages of beef jerky, power bars, and MREs (because I’ve seen so many complain about eating only bananas and power bars for three days stuck in their apartments)

Cash, and plenty of it.

Tell me what else I’m forgetting, my NYC area kinsmen.

Ready.gov had a whole list of basic and additional emergency supplies that’s worth a look see here.

Hang in there, NY, CT, and NJ.  You’re almost back up on your feet, and the rest of the country is cheering you on.

And The Winner Is…

If the suspense was killing you, the winner of the IBM SmartCamp New York competition has been announced.

And the winner is…Localytics!

Great name.  And also a great idea.

Localytics providers real-time data analysis that helps the makers of mobile phones and tablet apps better understand their clients.

How cool is that?!

Congrats to Localytics, and all the other participants and semi-finalists (along with winners of prior city instances of SmartCamp).

Localytics was selected from more than 200 entries from around the world, and the NY finalists’ all had technology and business models that capitalized on the growing opportunity to apply analytics to data.

On the topic of analytics, IBM recently introduced a new program entitled “What’s Your AQ?”

The sitelet allows you to take IBM’s “Analytics Quotient” test to measure how ready you and your team are to apply insight to your strategy, processes and tactics.

The more your embrace analytics, the higher your AQ!