Wi Fi Hotspot has gone ...

The entire reason we ended up in a Sprint plan, was due to our first exposure to the Wi Fi hotspot from the smart phone.  After 'country DSL', Satellite, US Cellular Data Cards ... we ended up with the Unlimited data connection from the EVO smart phone on Sprint.

It was the fastest thing we had experienced out here in the sticks, and still is.  Until the next piece of technology comes along, this is working just great!

The downside?  We paid $30 a month for this service on top of the plan for that single phone to sit on our counter ... so tax and all that was about $92 a month.  Unacceptable.

Fast forward to today.  Now we all have an Android in the house, and Corinne carries that EVO as her phone.  The $30 Hotspot was shut off months ago, since we all have our own high speed device.

We quickly found PDANet, a free app from the market that allows you to connect your Android to a computer so that the computer can use the phones data connection (internet).  To use the full throttle version of PDANet, after 30 days, you have to pay a one time fee of $15.

Today, I open PDANet to do some surfing with my MacBook and I see a new option - Wi Fi!

What!  This was once only a 'root' option - let's check this out.  I follow the prompts, read the fine print ... and voila, it's now available without root!

Download the little piece it needs from the market (it tells/shows you how), start it up and BOOM!

Now have free Wi Fi Hotspot emitting from my Samsung Galaxy SII :)  Happy place.

The New iPad announced

Steve Jobs may be in Heaven, still inventing wonderful products ... but Apple has not lost the knack to keep a secret.

'The New iPad' (not iPad 3, not iPad HD - the New iPad) was announced yesterday, and I must say ... it looks pretty ding dang good!

The much awaited Retina display, is probably the single most important upgrade for iPad, in my opinion.

Why?

The iPhone, when it was upgraded to Retina, from the old and lower resolution display it had in iPhone 3 ... became an absolutely beautiful screen to feast your eyes upon.  Characters popped off the screen, the sharpness was second to none, it was so easy to read ...

... that it left the iPad 1 and 2, a less desirable device to read anything from.  How can that be, you say?

Compare the resolution of an old iPhone to an iPhone 4 or 4S and you will see it immediately.  There is no comparison, the upgrade is THAT noticeable.

Look at an iPad 2 compared to an iPhone 4 or 4S ... and it's THAT noticeable as well, that even though an iPad has a monster size screen compared to iPhone - it's actually not as easy to read anything on as the iPhone.

That's a lot of talk for something you will see in a nano second, but it's THE reason I never bought an iPad 2 - no Retina (or HD display).  You can see a little of what has been said for yourself at the link just below - iPad 2 and the new iPad are side by side with a magnifying glass over the word Library - the difference does look just as shown.

For the full display of the awesome device, go HERE.

The other notable and telling addition, is 4G LTE - or 'faster internet' capability.  This is something iPhone 4S was short of - disappointing many that were waiting to surf the net as fast as their Android based Samsung Galaxy SII or Photon friends.  The addition of 4G is important ... because that means iPhone 5 (or what ever they are going to call it) should also get the long awaited speed increase.

Onto the other changes;

New features of the new iPad: Retina display 2048 x 1536 resolution 44% greater saturation A5x quad-core graphics iSight camera 5-megapixel sensor 1080p HD video recording Backside illumination 5-element lens Hybrid IR filter Apple-designed ISP Face detection Voice dictation Supports voice dictation but doesn’t have full Siri support. 4G LTE Next-Generation Wireless support: Two different iPads, one for AT&T and one for Verizon Personal hotspot support 10 hours battery life 9 house battery life with 4G 9.4 mm thin, weighs 1.4 lbs Pricing: iPad with LTE 4G 16 GB – $629 32 GB – $729 64 GB – $829 iPad with WiFi 16 GB – $499 32 GB – $599 64 GB – $699 Release Date: March 16 in US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan. Preorder Date: Available for pre-order today! Worth the price?  You bet!  It is.  Apple has fierce competition in this market, wich Samsung, Motorola and all the other manufacturers vying for a piece of your wallet. The one thing no one can duplicate though ... is Apples simplicity of design, and use.  iPhone and iPad do not come with a manual ... it's simply not needed because the devices are that intuitive to use.  I've seen my (then) 3 year old change the wallpaper on an iPhone, watch a movie, listen to music ... and my Dad, at 70 years of age + ... also picked up either one in the matter of minutes and now LOVES all the Apple products.  There is no other company that delivers that type of ease of use, and a product 'that just works'.