Dance, Monkeys, Dance

Dance, Monkeys, Dance

No comment necessary. This is pure awesome.

Wait, that was a comment. So, maybe one little opinion was necessary.

Well, it's not really necessary, but I wanted to give it anyway.

Some monkeys write down their thoughts hoping other monkeys care what they have to say. But each monkey is so wrapped up in their own little monkey worlds, they pretend to interact with other monkeys, but really only care about themselves. Didn't we evolve with the conception that cooperation was mutually beneficial? Give me a little monkey meat treat when you've got plenty and I have none gives you the promise of my debt and we can all come out on top. It works great until one monkey realizes he can get meat from everyone else and not give anything back. So the question becomes: does that selfish monkey live long enough to reproduce more effectively than all the other helpful monkeys in his tribe, and will his descendants take up his selfish ways? Walking through a mall today or driving down the highway, I'd say his genes have been pretty damn successful.

What kind of monkey are you?

update
Here's another version that sounds like it may have the original audio track by Ernest Cline.

New Phone!

Yes, I got my new phone. AT&T Tilt running Windows Mobile 6 and Goodlink 5.0. It's much faster than my old Treo 650 and the Windows OS is a bit more friendly and accessible than Palm OS ever was. There also seems to be a ton of software available, but I haven't dented this yet.


Size

The size and shape of this thing would be one complaint for many people looking at this phone. Of course any phone with a full qwerty keyboard will be of substantial size, there are many layout options out there now. What I did like about the Treo was its vertical layout which provides a relatively narrow keyboard. I could hold the device in my right hand and type with my thumb -- all with one hand. While I can't recommend emailing/texting while driving, it was possible to do with the Treo because of this property. A slider phone like the Tilt has a much wider keyboard. Even with my long skinny fingers, I just can't reach both sides of the keyboard with my thumb now. This layout seems to be better used sitting on a surface and poking one-handed with fingers, though I haven't really tried that.

Weight

It's heavy at 6.7 oz. It's a bit heavier than my old Treo 650 (6.3 oz) which puts it much more massive than the Treo 750 (5.4 oz). Carrying this or a Treo in the pocket of shorts with an elastic waistband often lands you in an uncomfortable position where the thing is banging around in there trying to pull your pants down. Much different than anyone used to light-weight phones like the Razor (3.4 oz) or even the Motorola Q9m (4.8 oz). It will be best suited to a belt holder, though I never used one of these for my Treo because I'm more likely to bang it into things. When traveling, it's either in my bag, on a table, or in the seat back of an airplane - no weight or size worries there, or need for a case.

Goodlink

We use Goodlink to connect to the work exchange server for email. However, the 8925 isn't currently officially a supported device. I have read though that people got Goodlink version 5 running on it. Determined, I set out to get this going which proved more challenging than I thought. First, it was not easy to navigate the Good website, and I ended up have to Google the right keywords to uncover the hidden download link. The main page is the Tech Support Download Page. There's lots of stuff there, and what you want is at the bottom, so install from an SD card, sdcard_5_0_0.exe. DO NOT DOWNLOAD THIS ON YOUR PHONE. This is a 26MB zip file with several supported platforms including PalmOS, SmartPhone (SM) and Pocket PC (PPC) and several different languages. To install this, I just copied the GetGoodLinkPPC2005.cab from the 'en' folder to my device using ActiveSync. Running this, you need a valid Goodlink account with an email address and pin. If you're replacing an existing device, you'll need your IT guy to reset the account. So you'll have an email from them in hand with a pin and work email address. Plug those in and the install goes smoothly, resetting the device once or twice. I haven't seen much difference between 4.9 (on my Palm Treo) and 5.0 (on Windows Mobile 6). Many of my settings were remembered which impressed me a bit. In short, while not officially supported and the device doesn't come with a "GetGood" app, it's pretty easy to set up and use on this device. After getting Good set up, make sure you configure ActiveSync not to sync Outlook email, calendar, etc. or else you'll end up with double copies of everything. Re-sync and it'll automatically delete all that if you synced it up before (which I did to get my contacts in there quickly).

Summary

It might sound like this is a big, heavy phone that is annoying to set up, but I've only highlighted some of the common things. Surfing the web using this phone is fast and amazing. There's support for WiFi, which means at home you can use your wireless router and land connection to surf even faster. It's got GPS, though I haven't played with this yet. It's supports 3G (though we only have Edge here) and BlueTooth. It really is an amazing device given some of the installed applications. I'm a happy camper!

Anyone want to buy a slightly used Treo 650?

My new phone ????

I'm waiting. And waiting. After much research, I'm pretty settled on getting what was initially called the AT&T 8925. This is the HTC Kaiser or TyTN II. Now it's being called the AT&T Tilt.

While I was leaning towards a Treo 750 running Windows Mobile, that phone is showing its age already, even if it is a huge upgrade from my Treo 650. I want current generation technology, and that includes WM6. It's not clear the Treo 750 has a migration plan to WM6 or not. Plus, there's no GPS and some other missing features (3G, WiFi) compared to the current generation. So the question then is to wait for the Treo 800 or not. But that could be easily next Spring before it appears. Then you're rolling the dice on which carrier gets it first. Maybe Verizon, maybe AT&T, who knows. Verizon is likely because they're stuck at the 700 now. I'm not opposed to switching, but the devil you know....

Anyway, once I kind of decided on the 8925, I've been asking around and watching the internets with mounting frustration. Sure, you can't call its release 'delayed' because they've never acknowledged the product even exists. Until now. Tilt Your World. I'm not sure they meant for this to be an external site or not, but I could see them punishing some poor IT guy getting the rack for this. There's even a calendar of events on the site. I'm getting my hopes up for a 10/5 launch, but it might not be for a couple more weeks either.

I'm a little annoyed with the AT&T guy at the Galleria Mall who claimed to know nothing about a replacement for the 8525 -- but yet knew just about everything else I asked about. I know there's a need to push the current devices off the shelf, but c'mon. There's a point at which you realize you're dealing with an informed consumer and at least come clean that you can't talk about it. You don't call to another store guy and say "have you heard about an 8525 replacement?" to back up your ignorance. So I'll be going to the AT&T shop in the other mall probably. And a note: always work with official factory stores, not licensed resellers. The resellers only get paid if you activate a new line. Upgrades don't buy them anything, so you'll get talked into stuff you don't want or need.