Archive for the ‘Phones’ Category:
FTC Puts an end to “Robocalls” tomorrow
Ever get one of those automated phone calls with the taped (okay, recorded) voice? Most of the time its telling you about something you have no interest in, and you can tell right away you’re not interested, and now you have the added aggravation as you realize the “person” at the other end doesn’t even want to talk to you about it personally.
Well, many, many, many of those calls become history today. Sept. 1 marks the end of the pre-recorded telemarketing “robocall “.
The Federal Trade Commission** said it is banning “robocalls” to consumers, unless the telemarketer has “written permission” from a customer that they want to receive these calls. (Ooo! Ooo! Sign me up, please! …Not!)
Now, perhaps you noticed, I said “many” and not “all”. Did you see that? No? You didn’t? … Oh … you did? Yeah, well, don’t worry, there’s no catch, … really. There will be some automated calls that are allowed without written permission. For example, informative calls like flight cancellations, prescriptions from your doctor or pharmacist, delivery notices, and debt collectors calls will be allowed.
Hmm. I can happily live with the first three, but can I opt out of the last one? (Probably not).
Franly, there are a lot of other annoying calls that are still permitted, and those also include calls from politicians, charities, banks, insurers, phone companies, and survey calls. Why aren’t they banned, too? Because this is an FTC or Federal Trade Commission ruling, and not an FCC or Federal Communications Commission ruling. The FTC deals with trade and sales, not communications. Since the latter calls aren’t selling anything (at least not for money) they they aren’t part of the FTC’s jurisdiction.
Rats! What a difference one letter makes.
By the way, this kinda does away with the do-not-call list, and as of tomorrow no one should be receiving these “most” of these calls anymore; and if you do, now you can file a complaint with the commission at www.FTC.gov or by calling 1-877-FTC-HELP. Under the new rules violators can expect to pay a $16,000 fine.
Loophole: This doesn’t put an end to annoying “live” calls. The robots may have lost some jobs here; but humans are still permitted to pick up the phone and personally annoy their fellow man (or woman).
** Think about who put this out. It’s important later.
Subscribe to the comments for this postT-Mobile G1 Battery Life Accessories
I purchased a T-Mobile G1 w/ Google Bronze phone (that’s the G1 in white shown at left) back in February of this year, and I’ve been pretty happy with it. For 2 decades I’ve had run-of-the-mill cellphones. (Have we had cellphones in the mainstream for two decades now?) I like it because the data plan is cheaper than that of the iPhone. (Economy and efficiency all the way). The only disappointment has been the battery life. Some times, when I have a not-so-great Internet connection I can actually watch the battery level decline while phone tries to access the page.
So I’ve been looking for ways to improve my battery life without erasing all my apps and shutting down features I’m not using at the moment to only have to turn them back on again less than 30 minutes later.
I searched here and there online until I turned to Buy.com to make my purchases. Here’s a list of the items I picked up and why.
I decided to get an extra battery: the SEIDIO Innocell 1400 Extended Battery for T-Mobile G1 (shown at left). It’s supposed to provide 15% more power than the stock 1150mAh battery. It’s not a big increase, but I figure carrying an extra battery will help out. I can just swap batteries when one dies.
Of course, there is the massive SEIDIO Innocell 2600 Extended Life Battery for HTC T-Mobile G1 (with Battery Door) (shown at right) which provides 125% more power than the stock battery. The drawback, in my opinion, is the added thickness the battery gives to the phone. Some people have said the speakers sounds a bit muffled because the larger battery casing places the speaker opening further away from the speaker. Additionally, I like carrying the phone in its stock sleeve in my pocket, and I don’t need a bulkier phone in my pocket.
I also purchased a T-Mobile HTC G1 by Google Desktop USB Battery Cradle (shown at left) so I can charge both the phone and the spare battery in the evening. There’ s a bit of a compromise here since the cradle charges the phone via a USB connection to a computer — the purpose here is to allow you to synch your phone’s data files etc while it charges — while an AC adapter is used to charge the spare battery. I would have liked to charge both phone and spare from the AC adapter, but I guess I’ll have to get a USB power adapter for charging the phone on my night table. Or have both charge in my home office by the computer. Hmm, I’m still mulling this part over.
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Android 1.5 Update (Cupcake) Delayed
Image from zenthought.org
Bonnie Cha at cnet news reports:
T-Mobile USA announced on Monday that it’s still finalizing the build to “ensure optimal functionality and smooth delivery” so it has delayed pushing out the over-the-air update by one week. The carrier said it expects all G1 owners to have the Cupcake update by early June.
Well, I will have to start anxiously waiting again next week.
More news stories regarding the Android 1.5 update delay can be found here.
The image above can be added to your G1 boot screen by following instructions at zenthought.org. I haven’t tried it myself, so be careful if you decide to try it yourself.
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