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Posts Tagged ‘cellular’
The Future is Now: Unlock Your Front Door Using an iPhone – The New Bluetooth-Enabled Kwikset Kevo
Tuesday, May 14th, 2013Learning From Japan, 2013: Cell Phone Towers Everywhere – Excellent Coverage – How Different From San Francisco!
Wednesday, April 10th, 2013Now this is how you get good cell phone service.
A common scene in the Land of the Rising Sun. These antennas are all over the place:
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If San Francisco is the “World Capital of Innovation,” then every city in Japan is also The World Capital of Innovation.
POACHED! Chinese New Year Parade “Presenting Sponsor” AT&T Pwned by T-Mobile Street Team
Saturday, February 23rd, 2013There I was working OT in the 94111 and what did I see but the T-Mobile street team.
Uh oh. Isn’t competitor AT&T paying a ton of didgeridoos to corrupt Chinatown power broker Rose Pak, you know, to be the “Presenting Sponsor” of the parade this year?
Yep.
Here it is – the flier what tells you to take your unlocked AT&T phone to TMO to save a ton of money:
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Now how does promoting T-Mobile benefit Rose Pak on Chinatown Shakedown Day 2013?
Answer: It doesn’t.
I smell trouble.
Let’s be careful out there, Street Team, as you hand out your fliers to one and all tonight.
Attention San Francisco: The Great Phonebook Recycle of 2012 Has Begun – If You See a Big Stack, Recycle Immediately
Friday, November 30th, 2012Here’s a good dozen what sat in the lobby for twelve long hours.
Guess what? Nobody took even a one.
So these books got hauled off to the big blue bin when I got home last night. Good times.
And best of all, those The Real Yellow Pages / AT&T / YP books are surprisingly small these days, so you can carry them all in just one trip, you know, before they get all soggy:
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Uh, AT&T, what’s the point of this exercise?
Nobody in San Francisco wants your Yellow Pages.
I know you think that we do, but we don’t.
Does Verizon do this? No
Does Sprint do this? No
Does T-Mobile do this? No
So why do you do it?
I know that you can do it, you know, legally, but I don’t know why you do it.
If you want to get credit for giving minimum wage union members money, why not just give them money and be done with it?
Anyway, if I see any stack of your phonebooks anywhere about town anywhere near a big blue recycling bin or an AT&T store, they’re all going to get together tout de suite.
No charge.
See you in Hell, Yellow Pages people.
NB: Don’t try to “opt out,” San Francisco. All that does is give your contact information to AT&T so that they can ask you, every fucking year, if you still want to opt out. My conclusion: AT&T is a cancer.
Here’s a Place for Your Smartphone, in a Special Pocket in Your Jeans – Presenting the Delta415 from Alphyn Industries
Thursday, June 21st, 2012I don’t know, but here it is:
My dad had this kind of deal to take notes when he flew airplanes, in the pre-smartphone era:
All the deets:
“SAN FRANCISCO CLOTHING COMPANY REINVENTS THE ORIGINAL BLUE JEAN FOR YOUR SMARTPHONE: DELTA415
It’s Time to Change Your Pants: Alphyn Industries Launches the Delta415 Premium Jeans
(June – 2012) – Tech-fashion brand, Alphyn Industries has launched a new line of premium denim, which will revolutionize the way consumers interact with their smartphones. The Delta415 Premium Jeans are made of advanced materials designed to improve 21st century urban lifestyle. The stylishly intuitive smart jean is the latest product in the WEARCOM™ line. The WEARCOM™ technology gives the wearer the ability to use a smart device within the garment without physically holding it.
The patented Wearcom™ pocket (3 x 5 inch / 7.6 x 12.7cm) is made of durable polymer film to allow for complete interactivity with any touch screen device. A buttonhole above the genuine leather film edge opens into the front pocket for threading headphones/mic wire into right pant pocket. The zippered pocket cover provides a discrete look, secure and easy retrieval, and full usability of the smartphone while sitting down.
The Jeans are handmade in San Francisco, California, the heartland of Silicon Valley and the birthplace of blue jeans. They are made from 100% cotton denim and organic cotton pockets. The dedicated device pocket gives the wearer’s smartphone the safe functional home it deserves as the wearer navigates the urban stratosphere and makes things happen.
“We test and use the best materials because we know it is what our customers expect” said, Ben Raviv, CEO of Alphyn. Alphyn draws on the tradition of bringing military technologies to the public and redefining civilian culture.
Inspired by the fighter pilots’ G-suit, which has custom straps and pockets for a map clipboard and notes attached to their thigh during flight, Alphyn developed unique pocket configurations, which hold smart devices, and allows the wearer to interact with their device without the need to hold it. The goals are to make living safer, and to make everyday clothing stylish, protective, functional and user friendly, and merging advanced mobile gear with everyday clothing to accommodate our communication culture.
Industries is located in San Francisco, the birthplace of blue jeans and the silicone chip. Alphyn manufactures its clothes locally, reflecting the Bay Area’s culture of backyard Silicone Valley tech giants like Apple, Google, Zynga and eBay, combined with the rich fashion tradition of LEVIS, Dockers, GAP, and The North Face, who have reshaped classic American fashion.
Testing the best materials available, from space age silver coated, nylon cotton knits to denim woven on vintage looms; Alphyn uses the most advanced materials to produce its products. Alphyn bridges the gap between communication, safety, and fashion, and to offer its customers timeless design and style with avant-garde technologies and quality American craftsmanship.
We are Alphyn Industries, join the technological apparel revolution!
Features:
Engineered straight leg cut
Accommodates any touchscreen device (up to 3 x 5 inch) – iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod Touch, Droids and other devices.
Extended right belt loop with tactical black key ring
Made of coated 100% cotton indigo dyed denim.
Zipper fly.
Made in San Francisco, California.
Composition: 100% Cotton denim, organic cotton pockets and a polymer film.
Care Instructions: Wash inside out, cold cycle with like colors, do not bleach, tumble dry low.
DO NOT IRON OVER DEVICE POCKET
Sizes: 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38
Color: Indigo Blue
Purchase the jeans on our website: http://bit.ly/LBAUQ7
OMG OMG, the New Samsung Galaxy S III Phone is Here, Almost – Release Date is June 21 on the T-Mobile
Monday, June 4th, 2012The highly-anticipated Samsung Galaxy S III is a coming on June 21, 2012, at (achtung, baby!) T-Mobile, (aka Deutsche Telekom AG) anyway – that’s the news.
Oh, it turns out that that big AT&T / T Mobile merger isn’t going to happen, so TMO soldiers on as America’s #4 (and Germany’s #1) cell phone carrier, not that that really affects me. What affects me is that the T-Mobile doesn’t work so hot in the Lower Haight / Between the Haights (BTH) areas, I’ve noticed, lately, for whatever reason. Otherwise TMO is AOK.
This new device is wide. My man-hands will be able to handle it (in about a half-year or so when my re-up time comes), but what about your hands? I don’t know.
Deets from this AM’s release are below.
“T-Mobile to Debut the Samsung Galaxy S III on June 21 - Latest in Galaxy S series brings fast group sharing and on-the-go entertainment all running on America’s Largest 4G Network
BELLEVUE, Wash. — June 4, 2012 — T-Mobile USA, Inc., the No. 1 mobile operator brand in Samsung Galaxy S sales, and Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile), the No. 1 mobile phone provider in the U.S. and the No. 1 smartphone provider worldwide,1 announced the upcoming release of the highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S® III. Starting June 21, T-Mobile customers will have the opportunity to own one of the most innovative smartphones in the market to date, joining the popular Galaxy S family of devices.
The Samsung Galaxy S III is one of T-Mobile’s fastest 4G (HSPA+ 42 technology) smartphones. With an intuitive design, the Galaxy S III enables customers to share photos, videos and more effortlessly to a compatible TV or other Galaxy S III devices. Featuring a beautiful 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED™ screen, the Galaxy S III packs a powerful entertainment experience allowing customers to watch HD movies and TV shows, download apps and securely browse the Web at lightning-fast speeds on America’s Largest 4G Network®.
“We have a tremendous history of working with Samsung to bring cutting-edge devices to market, and we know our customers are excited to get their hands on the Galaxy S III,” said Brad Duea, senior vice president, product management, T-Mobile USA. “As we continue to aggressively compete, this device is yet another example of how T-Mobile delivers amazing devices and 4G experiences to our customers.”
On they go, after the jump.
How to Separate Teenaged Girls From Their SmartPhones: Offer Them a Sneak Peak of “Twilight: Breaking Dawn” at the Mall
Thursday, November 17th, 2011This was the scene last night at the Century San Francisco Centre 9 Theatres above Bloomingdales in the Great WestField Mall of SoMA. Sneak peekers of the latest horrible teen vampire/werewolf flick had to check their mobiles.
How could they stand for this, for even a couple hours?
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(Can you imagine what this box would be worth in the Mid-Market just a few blocks away on 7th Street, you know the World Capitol of Stolen Phones for Sale? A lot of cabbage, that’s for sure…)
Another BART Police Shooting Protest: BARTWRAITH 2011 (OpBART 2) Coming Monday, August 22, 2011
Friday, August 19th, 2011Is BART perfect?
Leave us review:
Here’s the death of Oscar Grant in 30 seconds at the Fruitvale Station in 2009. (Killing somebody with a SIG Sauer P226 semi-automatic instead of not killing somebody by using a TASER X26 instead, you know, that yellow plastic thing attached to your belt – Chapter 1)
Here’s the death of Charles Hill in 80 seconds at the Civic Center Station in 2011. (Killing somebody with a SIG Sauer P226 semi-automatic instead of not killing somebody by using a TASER X26 instead, you know, that yellow plastic thing attached to your belt – Chapter 2)
So, BART, do you think there’s a chance in Hell that you did a proper job of TASER implementation the past several years? Have you apologized for that?
Here’s more. Remember this, from back in the day?
“The BART Police Department stripped its officers of Tasers on Thursday, days after a sergeant fired the electric darts of his stun gun at a 13-year-old boy fleeing from police in Richmond on his bicycle, sources told The Chronicle.”
Anyway, here’s the latest – the next protest at the downtown stations of the Bay Area Rapid Transit will be during the evening drive on Monday, August 22, 2011. (Personally, I think this one will be smaller than the one we had on Monday, August 15th, but who’s to say?)
That’s right, it’s OpBART 2, BARTWRAITH 2011, betwixt ANONYMOUS and BART PR hack Linton Johnson, who costs the taxpayers $170k(!) per year.
Via Artificial Eyes/exiledsurfer – click to expand
(Are the BART police competent? I don’t know. How would they rank, say, compared with the SFPD, LAPD, FBI – is that a fair question?)
No matter, you’re making history, BART
“The mission of BART, according to BART’s statement, “is to provide, safe, secure, efficient, reliable, and clean transportation services.” So there was the municipal transit agency, exercising its powers to shut down a protest. It’s possible that BART had the legal right to cut off communications inside its stations. It can be argued that the inside of a transit station is an unsuitable place for a mass demonstration.
But the point of the would-be demonstrations was to challenge BART’s judgment in how it used its powers. The protesters were protesting a shooting by transit police. BART’s response showed that it couldn’t even grasp that premise.
What about ordinary commuters, entering the zone of conflict with no access to their own mobile communications? “BART Police officers and other BART personnel with radios were present during the planned protest, and train intercoms and white courtesy telephones remained available for customers seeking assistance or reporting suspicious activity.” The authorities were in charge. The authorities and no one else.
For a day, the measures worked—or in the unknowable world of security counterfactuals, they didn’t not work. There were no disruptive protests during that commute. But BART’s vision of tech dystopia was self-fulfilling. In response to the news of the phone shutdown, the vigilante hackers of Anonymous retaliated by breaking into its database of commuters’ private information and launching a new round of demonstrations, teaming up with the original aggrieved parties. Technology was a dangerous thing after all.”
“Constitutional Rights to Safety?” BART Spokesmodel Linton Johnson Doesn’t Know What the Fuck He’s Talking About
Monday, August 15th, 2011[UPDATE: IMO, posting naked photos sort of misses the point, but anyway.]
Hello, BART, helloooooo? Don’t you realize that you’re a national laughingstock currently? So why do you still have Linton Johnson out there spinning beyond measure, today and the past few days?
Here’s his howler from last week, from “BARTtv News,” I’m srsly, BARTtv News:
“There are a multitude of groups … flying in from all over the country. They want to do surprise attacks, basically, on BART riders.”
Really, a “multitude,” which is of course a “very great number,” so what, like 100 “groups,” 100′s of people paid their way to fly to SFO (and paid 911 fees and baggage fees and x-fer fees and fuel surcharges, really?) to “attack” BART riders on Thursday evening last week?
Really? How many people actually showed up that night? Zero? Two? Nothing happened, right?
What the fuck are you talking about, Linton Johnson? Is this poetic license? You’re not selling soap here, P.R. man, correct? Do you think it’s your right to make things up?
So that was last week.
Now, here’s this week, from the KRON-TV. OMG.
So, BART passengers have constitutional “Rights to Safety*” and a “Right to Privacy” that BART should invoke to “preserve” and “balance against” the First Amendment, Bill of Rights, etc?
What the fuck are you talking about, Linton Johnson?
And oh, Linton? Law school called. They want their diploma back.
And here’s the latest boner from just now:
“Inside the fare gates is a non-public forum and by law, by the Constitution, the U.S. Supreme Court, there is no right to free speech there.”
Jesus tap-dancing Christ, is all I can say.
Here’s the Cliffs Notes version, custom-tailored for P.R. set, of why Linton Johnson is wrong, wrong, wrong:
1987 – freedom of speech
In the case of Board of Airport Commissioners of Los Angeles v. Jews for Jesus, Inc., 482 U.S. 569 (1987), The Supreme Court held that a law which banned “First Amendment activities” within the Central Terminal Area at L.A. International Airport to be invalid as substantially “over broad,” and therefore, invalid on its face. As Justice O’Connor stated in her opinion, such a law could even be construed to prohibit a traveler from approaching a ticketing booth and asking when the flight from Des Moines was scheduled to arrive. The municipal agency in charge of Los Angeles International Airport had barred the group from distributing leaflets at the airport “as part of a larger ban on what they described as First Amendment activities. Jews for Jesus challenged the airport’s right to institute such a sweeping ban.”
And here’s part of my bit on Saturday”
“[T]his bit here from Friday’s hastily-released release from BART is overbroad:
“No person shall conduct or participate in assemblies or demonstrations or engage in other expressive activities in the paid areas of BART stations, including BART cars and trains and BART station platforms.”
Rest assured, passengers can legally engage in at least some expressive activities (like wearing a red shirt to represent the blood of a dead passenger or saying, “Gee waiting for BART can be a pain, goshdarnit” for example) in the paid areas of the stations regardless of what BART’s PR hacks say. (Don’t you have lawyers on staff, BART? So why don’t you let them formulate your legal policies instead of having a formerly ink-stained wretch writing copy? Just asking, Bro.)”
You don’t have to go to law school to understand these issues – they aren’t that hard.
*Are you arguing about some esoteric boilerplate from the 1800′s? Is that what you’re doing today? Really? Like, those who live in the Tenderloin have a Constitutional Right to Safety? If so, I’m sure there’d be a lot of people who would like to invoke that right…
