I don’t know if Sarah Palin rolled her eyes at the teacher in the video below or not. The pregnant pause was sure weird, though. But more important, her boots! When I watched this yesterday, I saw her wellies at the end and thought woah, those are pretty cool.

OK, I don’t wear wellies (short for Wellington Boots) that often since I moved back from Britain to California. But years and years ago, you just got green. I still have a pair in my garage. Then galoshes started coming out in different colors and patterns.

Palin’s boots, featuring a skull, a heart with “Rock” and “Roll” and birds take things up a notch. And don’t those birds remind you of Twitter?

Andrew Sullivan somehow figured out from the video what the boots were and posted a larger image. But he didn’t say their name, or where to get them. And were they hugely expensive? I did a little searching, and here you go.

The boots are made by Chooka and are called “Tattoo City: Turquoise.” Chooka’s got a pretty awesome collection of other rain boots, too.

Want a pair? They go for $30 to $60 on Amazon — here’s a link to the product page (and yeah, I earn a little if you buy them that way).

As for the eye rolling. Palin confronted a woman who was protesting her visit with a banner that said “Worst Governor Ever” when she was in Homer, Alaska. When Palin asked the woman what she did, she responded that she was a teacher. Whether she rolls or eyes at this or not is under debate. The weird two second pause and head turning is sure strange.

Here’s the New York Times article about it, and here’s the video itself:

Palin writes it all off at her Facebook page on the LSM, which I’ve learned is the Lame Stream Media, but she also links over to the video.

Shannyn Moore has a great written account about the visit and the banner’s ultimate demise. It was torn down by someone in the Palin camp, apparently.

Let’s say you’ve upgraded to a new iPhone and want your kids to have your old one. More and more, kids have phones. The iPhone is nice, since it doubles as a game device. But you don’t want them to have the smartphone features AT&T charges more for, both to save money and maybe to keep them off the web. Here’s some advice.

Technically, if you’re going to use an iPhone, AT&T will charge you $15 to $25 for a data plan, no ifs, ands or buts. You have to have it. Those are the rules, even if you don’t want data on the phone. In fact, AT&T will even suggest that you need to have the data plan, otherwise you won’t be able to use the phone to update it and so on.

The GoPhone Route

The reality is a bit different. AT&T has pre-paid phones, through its GoPhone service. Want to turn that iPhone into a data-less, data plan-less phone? One way is to turn it into a GoPhone.

Put a GoPhone SIM card into an iPhone, and you can make calls, get text messages and just fine. You even get voicemail. It won’t be the iPhone’s visual voicemail, but your kids will struggle on somehow. After all, their parents did for years.

What you can’t do is get out onto the web, which for many parents is just fine. Of course, you can still get out via WiFi. But you won’t have your kids running around chewing up their prepayments surfing the web.

Where do you get a GoPhone SIM card? Any AT&T store will sell one to you. I wouldn’t tell them you want it for an iPhone. Do that, and you’re going to get the “No, you can’t do that response.”

Instead, find some old AT&T-compatible non-smartphone, take it in, and say you want a GoPhone SIM card for it. You’ll have to top the card up initially with at least $25, I believe, and that lasts 90 days. Text messages and calls cost $0.25 each, and you can add on text messaging bundles.

Don’t have an old phone? Buy one. Sometimes you can get a refurbished basic model online direct from AT&T for as little as $25, and that includes $25 in call credits. Right now, the cheapest phone is $45. That also comes with call credit.

Oh, where to put the SIM card? If you don’t know, look at the top of your iPhone. There’s a small hole, just the right size to put the end of a paper clip into. Push one in there, and the SIM card along with its holder will come out of your iPhone. But the new SIM card into that.

The Family Plan Route

Want your kids on your calling plan? You can do that, too. The key is that you need to put them on using a “dumb” phone. Again, find an old AT&T-compatible non-smartphone or buy a cheap GoPhone. Take that phone in and ask to have it added to your account. You’ll be given a SIM card for it. They’ll probably even put the card in your phone. Take the SIM card out (you know, after you’ve left the store) and put it in your iPhone. Now you’ve got an extra line using an iPhone for $10 per month.

You shouldn’t find the data will work on the iPhone, because that’s not been enabled for the dumb phone that AT&T thinks is on your account. But to be safe, go to Settings, then General, then Network and disable Cellular Data. That should do the trick.

Warning Time

Worried about how AT&T might react to this? Technically, they could boot you from their network. Chances are, they won’t even notice. But yes, do this, and you’re taking a risk. Going the GoPhone route is “safer,” in that you’re only risking that prepaid line.

Obviously, if you start having phone-specific problems, you’re not going to get AT&T support. They’ll think you’re using a different model phone, so you might find if there’s a problem with your voicemail, they might not be able to help. But you’ll probably be OK, in most case.

As for updating the phone, you can do that via iTunes just like a “real” data enabled iPhone. iTunes doesn’t care what SIM card is in your phone. But you will have to have the phone tied to your Apple account. Yes, you can have more than one phone on the same Apple account.

Is it cheating to do this? Technically, yes. If you have qualms, don’t do it. Personally, I wish AT&T wouldn’t consider a “smartphone” to be smart (and charge a data plan for it) if you’ve specifically asked for the smart parts to be disabled. And having been in a number of AT&T stores recently, I’ve heard a number of parents specifically ask for exactly that.

Hence this post

I’ve had a Droid X for the past two weeks, running alongside my iPhone 4. Short story: I’m not keeping it, primarily because of the size. It’s too darn big. Below, a long look at the crazy world of super sized phones, plus some other observations on life with the Droid X.

Be forewarned. Most of this review is about size, the growth in size in general with some Android devices and how that translated into the Droid X being too large for me. I’m not a cell phone blogger, and I have no interest in trying to replicate the great technical reviews that many of those do. I’m trying to share my real life experience about why I like a phone or not. In this case, the Droid X — pun intended — eclipsed all other factors.

Pocket Sized Smart Phones

What on earth is going on with Android handset makers and the bigger-is-better trend? When did they decide to grow their phones to the size of PDAs? Here’s a stroll down memory lane:

Shown above are my first two smartphones, both Windows Mobile devices, from 2004. I had two phones because I lived in England but traveled to the US regularly. My US phone is on the left. My UK one, a “candy bar” format that I especially liked, is on the right.

Both easily fit into my pocket. My UK phone could shoot video (unlike my iPhone 3G that I purchased 4 years later). Both were 2G phones, since there wasn’t much of a 3G network anywhere at that time. That meant downloading web content was slow. Entering text was also a pain. I kept waiting for a long-expected version of my candy bar phone to arrive with a slide-out keyboard. But then these came, instead:

The two units on the left are the Windows Mobile phones I shifted to in 2006, about twice as big as my candy bar phone (my UK one is on the far left, with my US one next to it).

Bring Out The Belt Clip!

These phones really didn’t fit well into a pocket. Instead, I had a belt clip case to truck them around. It worked well enough, and it was worth going up in size for all the benefits the phones brought me: 3G (two years before the iPhone got it), a pullout keyboard, easy web browsing and even tethering.

The third unit from the left was my last Windows Mobile phone, which I upgraded to at the end of 2007. It was thinner than my other Windows Mobile phones but still had a pullout keyboard. I thought it was great — until the iPhone 3G came out, which is on the right.

Back In The Pocket With The iPhone

The iPhone taught me that I didn’t need a physical keyboard, as I’d believed. I also quickly realized that even though my Windows Mobile phone could do all the same things the iPhone could, it was a hell of a lot easier to do things on the iPhone. With it now being 3G capable, I made the jump.

I also went down in size. Without a physical keyboard, the phone was thin enough to slip into my pants (or trouser, for you Brits and others who read pants to mean underwear) pocket, even with my case around it.

The iPhone 4 is about the same size as the iPhone 3G and 3GS. In fact, when I had the iPhone 4, I kept using my old case without problems. Apple found a nice size and has stuck with it. But the Android makers seem to be losing their minds.

If I Wanted A PDA…

Consider this picture:

Those are all the PDAs that I’ve owned over the years. From left-to-right, there’s my old Palm III, then my Palm m515, then my Toshiba e330 Pocket PC and my last dedicated PDA, the Dell Axim Pocket PC.

That fifth unit on the end? That’s the Sprint EVO, which I was given free at the Google I/O conference earlier this month. Sizewise, it doesn’t feel that out of place in the line-up. Sure, it’s thinner than the PDAs. But lengthwise, it gives them all a run for the money.

The Droid X is even bigger than the EVO. Consider these pictures:

Above is the iPhone 3G, then the Nexus One (another free unit from the Google launch event), the EVO and my old PDA. And below:

There’s the iPhone 3G again, the EVO and finally the Droid X, even taller than the EVO. (If you’re wondering why I didn’t have the Droid in one of the earlier line-ups, it’s because I didn’t have the Droid at all when I started working on this piece about super size phones — and I’m not dragging all those PDA from the garage again!).

Just Too Damn Big

Basically, the Droid X feels even more like a PDA than the EVO did. It’s also got this weird bump at the top where it gets thicker:

I don’t care what the technical reasons are behind it. I just want a flat phone all around.

The phone is also so large that I never felt that comfortable using it one handed, which is often how I’m using my phone.

In the end, I don’t want to go back to a belt case. Even though the iPhone, or the Nexus One for that matter, only seem slightly smaller, that difference is huge. They’ll fit in my pocket. They can be used easily one handed. That’s the form factor for me, I guess.

But If You Like It…

That’s my view on phones getting large. Recent ones I’ve looked at are just too big, for my taste. Not everyone will agree. That’s fine. If you carry a bag around a lot, say either a purse or a backpack, you might be happy to have a large phone tucked in there. One nice thing about Android is that there is this great diversity. It’s not one size fits all, nor should it be, because one size doesn’t fit all.

But still, I keep feeling like we don’t have to wait for the first Android tablet to emerge as a challenger to the iPad. If the Android phones keep growing as they are, they’ll get to be tablet sized soon enough.

What Else Didn’t I Like?

The Droid X has the ability to create a mobile hotspot. I don’t think this is using the native hotspot software as part of Android 2.2 — indeed, the Droid X runs 2.1. Instead, I think this is something special Motorola added for Verizon. To me, it sucked. That’s because for no apparently reason, it would just turn itself off. It shouldn’t have been a power issue, as this repeatedly happened when the phone had plenty of power or even was plugged in to charge. It would just switch off.

To take a picture, you have to use a hard button on the top. I found this awkward. You have to press really hard, and I wanted a touchscreen option.

What I Did Like?

Anything I did like about the Droid X? Sure, plenty:

• The screen was very iPhone 4-like, not quite as sharp but very nice
• The flash felt powerful
• The GPS system, as I’ve found on other Android phones, was very nice
• It’s light! Maybe it’s not that much lighter than the iPhone, but it sure felt like a lot
• The keyboard was one of the best Android ones I’ve used. Of course, that’s also because the keys are so large on the screen that it’s hard to miss the keys.
• The coverage. Verizon gave me better coverage in many places than the iPhone

Nice Phone, If You Like The Size

That’s pretty much it. I brought the phone through Verizon about two weeks ago, and I’ll be taking it back shortly. Instead, I’ll be looking to move to either the Incredible or the Samsung Galaxy on Verizon.

If you’re thinking Android, this might be a fine phone for you, if you’re OK with the size. Clearly, I wasn’t. Spend some time really playing with it, and living with it, if you can.

Below, some related posts from me you might be interested in:

• No, Your First Impression Isn’t Wrong: Android ISN’T As Nice As The iPhone
• Upgrading The iPhone to iOS4 – The Quick & Dirty Way
• iPhone 4 Case Options
• Life With Verizon Mifi, The iPad, Mobile Broadband & Everything (covers the Sprint EVO a bit)
• Enough About The iPhone 4 Antenna, More About AT&T’s Bad Network
• Why I Returned My iPhone 4

Earlier this week, I handed in my iPhone 4. I’m back on my iPhone 3G at the moment. I’ll move to Android soon. I loved my iPhone 4 in many ways, and I’ll share my thoughts about it below. But the most important feature, the AT&T network it ran on, sucked.

Getting Out Of My Contract

Apple and AT&T couldn’t have been nicer about the return. I’d returned my phone 32 days after having it, 2 days outside the return policy. I’d been on vacation and didn’t have a chance to easily get in.

Apple Store managers apparently have discretion to take back a phone. The manager I dealt with did this without hesitation. Everyone at the Apple Store totally got my frustration with AT&T. They didn’t try to pressure me to stay. The person I worked with actually has a Nexus One with T-Mobile, because he was on his family’s plan. That surprised me. I assumed Apple would ensure all their employees had the iPhone somehow. But no matter. We had a good talk about how the iPhone measured up to Android. It was such a nice, pleasant experience that I felt bad about leaving the iPhone and wanted to stay.

With AT&T, I had to talk with a supervisor. That was all very polite. They decided to do what’s called a “no activate,” which meant the phone supervisor had to call to a retail store near me, to see if the manager there would approve that. Seemed weird, but it worked. I had to take the receipt for my iPhone 4 refund in, and that was it. I was back to my original contract — which at this point is now month-to-month.

Life Back With The iPhone 3G, For Now

It was kind of funny to have my iPhone 3G back. All my settings and apps were still on it, so it was a simple transition. What’s most remarkable is that I’m not thinking that I’m missing anything. The iPhone 4 was super fast when I got it, in loading apps. The screen was amazing. And yet, I’m back on my iPhone 3G and not really feeling like I’m missing much.

I find that kind of reassuring, because I felt really anxious about returning the iPhone 4. I’ve loved the iPhone, but returning the iPhone 4 was the first step toward leaving the iPhone altogether. Leaving the iPhone family. The security of knowing there will be a billion cases to chose from (except, of course, right now when the iPhone antenna issue has caused cases to be out of stock everywhere). The security of feeling like I had what the bulk of people are using.

Then again, I have an iPad, which is just a giant iPhone, more or less. I’m still in the iPhone family!

More important, Android is growing. And Android’s all I feel I’ve got, if I want a smart phone that’s iPhone-like but with Verizon. If Verizon had the iPhone, I’d have probably gone right to that. But they don’t. Apple’s decision that it had to be buddies exclusively with AT&T has ultimately cost them a customer. I doubt they’ll notice I’m gone. But maybe I won’t be alone.

My Real Life Review

I liked Walt Mossberg’s “real usage” review that came out yesterday about the iPhone 4 (he said it’s the best smart phone, if you can stand AT&T). Over the past two weeks, I’ve read enough phone reviews to go blind, most of which focus on the specs rather than what we really do with our phones. This has front flash. This has a front camera. This has 5 megapixels, while that has only 8.

Who really cares about this stuff? In the end, what makes a phone right for you is if it does the things you need it to do and does them well. So this is my review of how the iPhone 4 did for me. Disagree? That’s fine. You might be absolutely right, for yourself. That’s what’s important, so don’t worry if someone tells you that you have the “wrong” phone.

A Beautiful Camera

The iPhone took great pictures, much better quality to me than my old iPhone 3G. That was nice. Want to see one? OK, here:

That’s from what I uploaded to yFrog. Here’s the same scene from my Droid X, that I uploaded to Twitpic:

Personally, I think the Droid X colors are a little nicer. But you know, it’s not that big of a deal.

Look, most of the pictures I take with my phone get uploaded to photo sharing services, where they’re going to be compressed. Worrying about small differences in picture quality is like worrying about whether your MP3 file would sound better if it was a larger sampling, when you’re playing it through low-quality earphones to begin with

I’ll probably look at some of my pictures on my computer. A few I might use for a news articles. The quality with any of the smartphones I’ve used has generally been good enough.

What’s more important to me is ease of use. The iPhone camera is a dream to use. The touch screen interface is intuitive. You can easily zoom and snap a photo, even with one hand. That’s important to someone who shoots a lot of sunset photos while in the middle of an evening rollerblade.

I love having a zoom, and it’s one reason why I won’t stay with the iPhone 3G. There are times I want to get closer.

I also love having video, something the iPhone 3G lacked. Too many times, I’ve wanted to video something. I know there’s an app that will bring video recording to my iPhone 3G, but I need to leave it because of AT&T, anyway.

A Great Keyboard

Like my iPhone 3G, the iPhone 4 keyboard was wonderful. I could quickly type, even while walking, just using my thumb. I don’t do that much typing on my phone. But when I do, to answer a quick email or to tweet, I want a keyboard that doesn’t make me constantly have to override auto-correction or that mistakenly gets the wrong letter. That’s been one of my big issues with Android. That might go away as I get more used to Android. But typing on the iPhone was easy.

A Nice OS

I love the cleanness of the iPhone OS, especially how iOS 4 allows you to group apps into their own folders. I especially like how I didn’t have to decrapify the iPhone compared to how carriers feel they’re pimping up their various Android handsets with widgets I don’t want and wish I didn’t have to uninstall.

iOS 4 allow allows you to task swap in most cases — go back to an application where you left off — which is very nice. In a few cases, you can even actually multitask, have one app keep running while using another (like Pandora will keep playing, I believe).

Android has long had task swapping and some multitasking, so I’m not losing much by leaving the iPhone. But I still feel like I am leaving an operating system that lets me do more with fewer clicks.

A Beautiful Screen

The iPhone 4 screen is the sharpest screen of any smartphone I’ve ever used. In fact, I though that would be a deal breaker for me, leaving that screen for another phone.

You know what? In the end, I found that most of the time I was zooming pages in my browser to read them more easily anyway. My eyes are getting older, so I didn’t want to try and focus on the smaller type, even if it was sharp type. And once you zoom in, other phones like the Droid X or the Sprint EVO have pretty good screens, too.

Meanwhile, in some apps like email, having a great screen wasn’t that big of a deal.

Maybe I Do Want Flash

I’m not fan of Flash. It’s often used when unnecessary, and I want to scream at designers who I believe use it as a lazy crutch in these cases.

Part of me thought maybe Steve Jobs, in refusing to support Flash on the iPad or the iPhone, would get people away from it.

But no. I still encounter sites that use it, on my mobile devices. So knowing that Android has some support, and support that will get better, is a plus.

Easy Music

I never thought I’d use iTunes much on my phone. Then I discovered it was handy to have tunes there for when I was at the gym, or out rollerblading or in the car. iTunes on my computer makes it easy to sync selected playlists to my iPhone. All types of devices seem to have support for the iPhone, too, like a watch I have that lets me control my music selection on the iPhone with a little remote plugged into it.

Apparently, dealing with music on the Android isn’t much fun. But that’s not a deal breaker for me, so off I go.

Applications

I’m really, really sick of stories talking about the number of apps that each platform has, as if the numbers mean anything. It’s not sheer number of apps but specific apps that are important.

I use Twitter and Foursquare the most. Both exist on Android. There, I’m done. Sadly, the official Twitter app for Android is nowhere near as good as for the iPhone. I’ll survive. Foursquare is about the same.

There are a variety of other apps that I use from time-to-time, such as BoxScore or TheBike. I’m pretty sure I’ll find Android version of these and others. If not, nothing on my iPhone is a killer app that’s keeping me there.

In contrast, Android has a killer app that is pulling me in: GPS. I’ve used this many times when I’ve been traveling and didn’t have my regular dedicated GPS unit. It’s handy.

Forget Facetime

Ah, but isn’t FaceTime a killer app for the iPhone? I’ve used it once, to test how it works.

Here’s my pet theory on video calling. We don’t really want it. It’s not like the technology for regular phones to do video calling hasn’t been out for ages. So why don’t our regular phones have it?

Well, I haven’t had a shower yet today. Ooooh! My hair’s a mess, I haven’t shaven and I’m not really wanting to video call with anyone, even if I could.

Voice has been and will continue to be fine. FaceTime’s nice to have, and when I was traveling more and my kids were younger, I probably would have loved it as a better solution that the web cams I tried. But now they’re older, and it’s enough to get them just to talk in voice, you know?

For me, FaceTime wasn’t a killer feature. If it does become popular, I’m pretty sure a system that’s not dependent on two people having exactly the same device will come along.

The Browser & Email

Two of my biggest activities on my phone are browsing the web and reading email. It’s a nice experience doing both on the iPhone. In Android, browsing feels about the same. The double-click to zoom often is useful, too. The email client isn’t as nice to me as with the iPhone, but it’s good enough.

Battery Life

I never had a problem with battery life on my old iPhone or my iPhone 4. I keep things off so it wasn’t constantly polling the network to download data. I’d always keep my phone plugged in, when I had the opportunity. I religiously shut off my screen, when I wasn’t using it.

As for Android, it depends on the phone. I’ve had some like the EVO that are power hogs. But I expect to learn the best power management options for whatever phone I do ultimately end up with. And unlike the iPhone, I can always change the battery.

The Network: AT&T Sucks

I saved the worst for last. The most important feature of my iPhone is its ability to connect me with the world. That’s the point of the phone. And it constantly lets me down.

The antenna issue was a non-issue for me. In fact, I find it infuriating that so much focus goes into that aspect. Look, I can take two iPhones, put them side-by-side, and have different signals on them, no “death grip” involved. What the hell is that?

More important, I can’t get coverage or get only poor coverage in many places I go. On my vacation, I went through the Southwest: Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, Zion National Park. I had 3G Verizon coverage in all these places. Sure, I was on vacation, and I really didn’t need to be connected. But my iPhone had only basic coverage or sometimes no coverage.

When I go to large events like a baseball game or a concert, I’ve consistently had my iPhone be unable to send data or make phone calls. But on occasions when I’ve had another phone with another network, that’s been OK.

I just can’t have a nice shiny phone that doesn’t do the basic thing the phone is supposed to do, connect me with stuff. So I’m moving to Verizon. Verizon isn’t perfect, but I know from experience in using my broadband card that I often have coverage where the iPhone doesn’t.

And yeah, maybe if everyone goes to Verizon, then it will have network problems. Fine. I doubt that will suddenly make AT&T better. More important, I’m just fed up with holding out hope for AT&T.

More Posts To Come

That’s about it for the iPhone 4. But I’m not done with posts coming out of my experience in leaving it. I’ve got a whole series coming, because I need some type of cathartic release.

I carry my phone around with me more than my children! More than my wallet. It’s almost always with me, for better in some cases, for worse in others. But there’s no denying it’s a big part of my life. So committing to a phone for two years, at least for me, is a huge decision beyond price point.

I’ll have more about this in a future post, frustration with carriers trying to lock us in to phones for two years in a way we’d never be locked in with our computers. I know, just pay the full price for your phone. Sure, but unlike a computer, that phone is basically locked to that carrier. A brick you can’t use elsewhere easily.

I’ll also do a post shortly about life with the Droid X, which I picked up two weeks ago, to see how Android has changed since I last looked at it earlier this year. Answer? Much better, enough that I’ll make the jump comfortably. But I won’t be keeping the Droid X. It’s just too large for me. (This is now up, see Life With The Droid X & Do We Need Super Sized Phones?)

Instead, I’ll probably go to the HTC Incredible or the Samsung Galaxy S — the Fascinate, as it is known when it comes to Verizon. The Incredible is out of stock. When it finally comes back in mid-August, the Samsung may arrive. I’m tempted by the Samsung because it looks so iPhone-like, plus because it will be newer than the Incredible. Mossberg is among several reviewers who liked it. I also played with the AT&T version and was impressed by the keyboard. But more on all that later.

Ultimately, I’ve got an entire post coming where I’m going to take Apple and Google to task for selling out what should have been the smartphone revolution in order to make sweet cell phone love with the carriers. I think that’ll be fun. Stay tuned.

Below, some of my past posts about the iPhone and Android:

• No, Your First Impression Isn’t Wrong: Android ISN’T As Nice As The iPhone
• Upgrading The iPhone to iOS4 – The Quick & Dirty Way
• iPhone 4 Case Options (gets into some iPhone 4 impressions at the end)
• Life With Verizon Mifi, The iPad, Mobile Broadband & Everything (covers the Sprint EVO a bit, here)
• Enough About The iPhone 4 Antenna, More About AT&T’s Bad Network
• Life With The Droid X & Do We Need Super Sized Phones?

We’ve been hearing rumors that the Albertsons supermarket would be closing soon here on the Balboa Peninsula, as well as all the stores in the complex near it. Apparently this is true, not that there’s been any local press about it.

I just heard back from my local city councilman, Michael Henn, who told me:

The City received the WARN Act notice from Albertsons about a month ago that the store would be closing on August 19th. The leases for all tenants expire on August 31st, as I understand it. So, I expect the center will be dark as of that date. The owner of the center is processing final permit approval with the Coastal Commission and construction plan approvals through the City for the remodeling, which I expect will start some time in the next few months.

The shopping center takes up nearly an entire city block. The supermarket is one of two that serve the area, so we’re not stuck — but it’s going to be a big crunch. Also departing will be these local businesses:

• Carl’s Jr
• KFC
• Fantastic Sam’s
• Let It Roll Bicycle Rental
• China Kitchen
• Newport Nails

And several others that I can’t recall off the top of my head, right now, including a dry cleaners.

Perhaps the biggest concern I have is that the entire center is going to be closed for months. I mean, the area doesn’t look that great to begin with, but what a mess. And how strange to do this right in the middle of the summer rush period.

The neighborhood rumors we’ve been hearing is that the Pavilions supermarket that’s nearby in Lido Marina Village will be relocated into the new shopping center. And further, that the property owners want to redevelop Lido Marina Village in some way — with new housing potentially going up on the site of the current city hall, after it relocates to a new direction.

Here’s a marked-up map on Google, that pinpoints the locations:

View Balboa Peninsula Redevelopment & Albertson’s Closure in a larger map

Earlier this month, the Daily Pilot did report about the Lido Marina Village redevelopment. But there was no mention of the Albertsons center redevelopment, and how that might play into things.

Personally, I hope the old city hall site gets turned into a park. The city just had a study session yesterday, so I’ll be checking back to see what’s coming out of that and paying more attention to things, myself.

And how sad — there go some of my Foursquare mayorships

The iPhone 4 antenna issue perhaps jumped the shark when Consumer Reports declared this week that it did special testing to prove that the “death grip” really can lead to a loss of signal. Hey, Consumer Reports? Where was your special investigation into how just being on AT&T’s network can lead to a loss of signal?

It’s The Network, Stupid

Seriously, it’s the antenna woes that caused CR to withhold a “recommended” status for the iPhone 4?

Look, I can take two iPhones, put them on my desk side-by-side, not touch either one of them, and yet one might show signal degradation for no reason.

More important, I can be holding my iPhone (iPhone 3G or iPhone 4) with a FULL signal (whether you believe the bars or not) and not be able to hear someone clearly or send or receive data.

How About A Bumper Case For AT&T?

But yeah, let’s waste more time investigating the antenna. And then let’s waste even more time testing that putting a case around it will help. Yeah, we knew that. Apple told us that.

You know what the case doesn’t solve? The far more common issue of AT&T’s network still giving iPhone owners grief in general, case or not.

Warning: iPhone Ownership Produces Self-Loathing

By the way, I’m living a living case study of how Apple’s latest phone might indeed be its Windows Vista, a meme that’s making the news today.

I begrudgingly upgraded, hating myself for staying with AT&T but still preferring the iPhone’s interface over Android and wanting a fresh new phone after my last one two years ago. But in the past few weeks, I find myself even more angry than in the past any time my spanking new iPhone fails to work as advertised due to AT&T.

You know, it’s the little things. I can’t send or receive data. Phone calls sound like they’re underwater. I can’t get the screen to turn on during a call by hovering with my finger, as in the past — and yet somehow it often senses my ear and puts a call on mute, by mistake.

Android Paralyzation

Suddenly, Android is looking much more attractive to me. I think the EVO and the Droid X are still too big in size for me, too PDAish, and I have a future post on that. But if the Droid Incredible’s screen resolution is better than that of the Nexus One — and looks somewhat as sharp as the iPhone 4 — that might push me over the edge.

But that’s also Android’s weakness, in another way. There are so many bigger and better Android phones coming around the corner every few weeks that I almost feel paralyzed from making a move. That I might hang on with the iPhone a bit longer than I really want to, waiting for the next best thing.

I Left Vista; I Could Leave The iPhone

Still, I might make the jump, which brings me back to the “Is the iPhone Apple’s Vista” meme.

Vista was so bad that two years ago that it drove me to the Mac, where I continued to run Windows XP and Mac software side-by-side. I skipped Vista entirely. I got back to Windows only because my Mac died, and the repair took so long that I upgraded an old laptop to Windows 7 and discovered, hmm, things have gotten better.

Earlier this year, I loved my iPhone way more than Android. Now my iPhone “upgrade” has me hating it more each day, a PR issue that both Dave Winer and Rex Hammond write about today.

Maybe I’ll switch to Android and wait things out until the iPhone 5 fixes the Vistaness of the iPhone 4. Or maybe I’ll go Android and perhaps be as done with the iPhone as I was with Windows Mobile, when I left that behind.

Then again, maybe I’ll go Kin

Some past posts from me on iPhone and Android:

• No, Your First Impression Isn’t Wrong: Android ISN’T As Nice As The iPhone
• Upgrading The iPhone to iOS4 – The Quick & Dirty Way
• iPhone 4 Case Options (gets into some iPhone 4 impressions at the end)
• Life With Verizon Mifi, The iPad, Mobile Broadband & Everything (covers the Sprint EVO a bit, here)

Heading to Newport Beach for the 4th Of July? Here are some tips for you!

First, see my post from last year, 4th Of July 2009 Info For Newport Beach & The Balboa Peninsula. Much of it remains applicable to 2010, including these sections:

• Parking
• Public Transport
• Necessities
• What To Do
• Fireworks Viewing
• Partying & Avoiding Trouble

Also see my Newport Beach 4th Of July 2010 Street Closures & Info map of related information:

View Newport Beach 4th Of July 2010 Street Closures & Info in a larger map

Here’s what’s new for 2010:

Balboa Boulevard Closed To Everyone

Other than by water, there are two routes onto the Balboa Peninsula: via Newport Boulevard or Balboa Boulevard. Balboa is traditionally closed to vehicles. This year, it’s closed to everyone, from noon on July 4 through 6pm. Even if you’re biking or walking, you still can’t “enter” the peninsula via Balboa Blvd. Here’s a snapshot of the city’s map showing the entrance routes:

For those driving, this is no big deal. You couldn’t drive onto the peninsula via Balboa anyway. For pedestrians and bicyclists, this is a big deal. Go off the peninsula via Balboa, and you’ve got a long walk ahead of you.

Here’s a close-up view of the closure area around Balboa Blvd, from the city’s published map:

And an even closer view, from another map:

There’s a small shopping center on the corner of Balboa and Pacific Coast Highway. In the map above, the “No Access” barricades look to block access to the center. This means anyone heading over to the businesses there are likely to have been deemed to have “exited” the peninsula and subject to the new detour entrances.

Another change is that the street closure area is now shorter, both ending earlier than in the past and also only extending to 38th Street.

Activities Update

My 2009 post has plenty of information on things to do and where to perhaps see fireworks displays. Here’s an update on things that are new:

• Boat Parade: The American Legion is again having a Pancake Breakast at 7am through 11am, then BBQ Lunch and Dinner from Noon through 6pm. The Old Glory Boat Parade also returns, starting at 1pm. More info is here, here plus the route is here.
• Marine Helicopter Flyover: Watch along the beach at 7:00pm. Four AH-1W Super Cobra helicopters will be flying from the north in Huntington Beach and down the coast to Camp Pendelton. They’re expected to pass off Newport around 7:05pm. More info here.
• Mariner’s Parade & Picnic: It happens on July 3 this year, not July 4. More info here.

Twitter Hashtag

On the peninsula and tweeting? Use #nb4th as your hashtag!

More Information

• Newport Beach’s Official 4th Of July Info
• Newport Beach’s Official West & Central Newport Beach Holiday Information
• Official West Newport Street Closures & Parking Information
• Printable Flyer from Newport Beach with key information (PDF format)

Finally, I’ll leave you with these samples of what last year was like. Enjoy this year!

Life as a LinkedIn group manager isn’t much fun, given the limited control you have over your group. Now LinkedIn’s rolled out a new discussion format that makes things even worse, not to mention confuses the difference between “discussions” and “news” items. Apparently, LinkedIn has serious Digg envy. Let the spam commence.

How Things Were

Previously, LinkedIn Groups had a “discussion” area, where anyone in the group could start discussions on topics with other members. In addition, there was a separate “news” area where anyone could submit news items to share. These have now been merged — and without any heads-up that I see being given to the poor suffering LinkedIn group administrators out there.

Now, I oversee our Search Engine Land group. For about a year now, I’ve had some very strict rules in place, with the primary one being that discussions shouldn’t include links, because way too many people were starting “discussions” that were merely product pitches, attempts to get traffic to blog posts or outright spam. I also had rules that no one was supposed to submit news stories. Again, this was to fight spam submissions that added little value to the group.

Rules & Premoderation Wishes

For those who care, you can read more about these rules as they are posted in our LinkedIn Group, here and here. To ensure people saw them, I had them flagged with big “READ FIRST” headlines and tagged to be at the top of the default discussion mode. I had to do this because LinkedIn has failed to give LinkedIn group admins the ability to moderate discussions and news items submitted.

Today, I still don’t have moderation controls. To make matters worse, I can’t even feature the rules in the way that I used to. You really, really suck, LinkedIn.

Policing LinkedIn: Old School

Let me step a bit back and share what I sent LinkedIn last November, documenting what a joyful experience I had to deal with working with their terrible group system on a daily basis. My routine, as I explained to them (feel free to skip all this, if you don’t want some back history on LinkedIn problems):

Visit the Search Engine Land group in the morning.

Hit discussions and sort by most recent, so that I can see what new discussions have been started.

Look for spam or people who simply start a “discussion” that’s really a link drop.

Copy and paste the person who started the discussion’s name, since I can’t remove and block them from the discussion itself (FEATURE REQUEST). Delete the discussion.

Go to manage. Search for the person. Hope I can find them. Sometimes people join, post, then quit so you can’t remove and block. Well, why not preapprove? Because that’s a pain. Let me locate ANYONE in LinkedIn and proactively block (FEATURE REQUEST). Also, when I’m dealing with some names, looking them up can be hard since I have to figure out where exactly the last name begins. You get lots of people who also have “names” that are generic descriptions of what they do.

Remove and block that person, when found. Be VERY CAREFUL not to accidently hit the Change Role link that’s right above the remove and block button (at least it doesn’t say Promote To Manager” any more. Rinse and repeat this for each person who has abused the discussions feature.

Go to News. Curse again that I can’t restrict news to just come from my own feeds or whatever feeds I want to enable (FEATURE REQUEST). Instead, in order to keep people on the Search Engine Land Group updated with news from Search Engine Land, I also have to let anyone submit. Wish at least I could premoderate.

Sort by Latest News, to see if there’s any really junky submissions. Open each article to review it, which loads with that really annoying LinkedIn frame. Then open the comments for each story, in case I need the person’s name in order to remove and block them. I also leave the news tab open, so that I can delete the stories.

Curse that for the past five days now, LinkedIn has stopped pulling in our own news feed. Wonder if the support message I sent on Friday will get answered. Decide that I will just turn off the News portion and then curse that you have to have both Discussion & News together, not separately (FEATURE REQUEST).

Later in the day, a summary email will go out to all members of my group. Often, despite the fact that I’ve killed offtopic discussion and news spam, it will still be there, because it was automatically prepared at some point. Wish that I could get a preview before it went out, or I could manually trigger a send if I want (FEATURE REQUEST).

In the news area, I just want to have news from my own site or a collection of sites to go out.

In the discussion area, I want to be able to have only approved discussions go live.

These don’t seem that hard to implement. At the very least, I wish I could toggle what I want, news, discussions and/or jobs. Jobs is options, but to have news, you have to have discussions (and vice versa).

Since that time, LinkedIn made only one improvement, the ability to easily click on someone’s profile and select the “Remove, Block & Delete All Contributions” button. That wiped them out, along with all the spam they submitted.

That button is still around, but locating it is harder. More important, trying to ferret out the spam and unauthorized submissions in now an incredible nightmare.

The New Horror Show

Here’s what I see in my group right now:

Previously, what I chose to feature as a discussion was right at the top of the page. Now, my “Manager’s Choice” gets shoved into the lower right corner (marked A in the screenshot above). In place of my choices, LinkedIn decides on its own which are “popular” topics and shoves them up high.

Even further up, LinkedIn shoves an invitation for people to “Like” new “Discussions” (marked B in the screenshot above). The problem is, these aren’t discussions. These are predominantly articles that have flowed into our group from Search Engine Land’s news feed. And soon, they’re also going to be any links that anyone in the group decides to share, despite that being against our group guidelines and despite experience showing that we’ll be flooded with spam.

In particular, take a close look at the new “Start A Discussion” section:

See the “attach a link” section? That’s a big, huge fat invitation for people to start spamming us with links. It also fundamentally changes one of the unique features that LinkedIn offered over Facebook. It was more “discussion” oriented, more designed especially for business professionals to ask question of each other and get help. Worse, it’s difficult to tell when you’re going to click on a “discussion” and get sent out of LinkedIn to a news article or stay within LinkedIn where an actual discussion is taking place.

I can’t even police my group rules. Without asking me, LinkedIn just made these changes to merge news and discussions, explicitly encouraging members to share links without bothering to ask the group administrator (that’s me) if I wanted this. I can’t turn off the functionality, either. My only choice is to completely kill the new combined “Discussions” section entirely.

I don’t really want to do that, because that’s what made our group compelling — members could talk to each other and do so in a largely spam-free environment.

Policing for spam is also harder, because all the feed content gets mixed in with new submissions / discussions or whatever LinkedIn is calling them now. After finally locating the “new discussions” link that was previously easy to find:

I have to scan through all the news feed “discussions” from us to spot things that members have submitted:

Then I have to look at each submission to decide if it they violate our group guidelines — not that some of these people submitting can even find our guidelines now.

Basically, LinkedIn has shoved Digg down my throat. I don’t need that — Search Engine Land’s sister site Sphinn is already expressly designed for people to share internet marketing news stories, complete with a moderation team that fights spam.

What I asked for (such as in this LinkedIn product forum) was premoderation. What I heard back was:

Pre-moderation is definitely one of the additional moderation tools in the near-term pipeline (among which is the digest-quality-scrub option discussed in another thread in this forum)

More than a half-year later, I still don’t have it — but I do see LinkedIn found time to make my life, and probably those for many other group moderators, a hell of a lot harder.

So, here’s a request to LinkedIn. Give moderators back the “classic” look if they want it. If you can’t, then the very next thing I want to see from LinkedIn is the ability for group managers to premoderate what goes out in our groups. Because they are OUR groups, in the end. For me, if I can’t control spam, if I can’t ensure a good signal for my group, I’ll just shut it the hell down.

Are you a list admin who’s unhappy with the changes? Chime in on the discussion thread I created in the LinkedIn Groups Product Forum.

I’m a phone case fanatic. If my phone’s not in a case, I feel like it’s undressed, unprotected for the world. So the challenge with a new phone is often that the cases lag behind. The iPhone 4, which I got yesterday (mock me or applaud me now) is no exception. A few thoughts for those pondering case options.

My Old But Perfect Flip Case

I tried several cases when I got my iPhone 3G two years ago and settled on the perfect one, a Belkin Folio Flip. It’s awesome. Since it’s leather, it slides into my pants pocket without getting stuck or picking up lint the way some of those rubber cases do.

Better, it has a cover that flips over the top of the screen, keeping it always protected:

Inside the cover, a small bit of Velcro keeps it in place. I like that, rather than having a bulky clip or metal catch.

Flip the cover back, and it tucks on the rear of the phone, nice and out the way:

Inside the cover, there’s also a small pocket where I keep a spare credit card along with some emergency cash:

This has saved me time and again, when I’ve forgotten my wallet for some reason.

After two years, this case is still going strong. I wondered if Belkin had a new version for the iPhone 4. While waiting in line yesterday for the new iPhone, I visted the Belkin site and found that they did, one called the Verve Folio. But apparently, it’s not yet available for order. Meanwhile, the Apple store itself seemed to only have those stupid “bumper” cases — and in only one color. What to do?

POSTSCRIPT: Belkin no longer lists the Verve Folio on its site in the US. It is still listed as coming in the UK here.

Old Case, Meet New Phone

Well, after I got my iPhone 4, I tried sliding it within my old case. It fit. Like fit really well. It fits just slightly looser than my iPhone 3G, so I’m careful not to hold the case upside down, lest the phone slip out if the flip top is open for some reason. But to be honest, the old phone would have slipped out, if I held it that way.

The pictures above show the new phone in the old case. I know the pictures aren’t the greatest – I shot them with my old phone. But hopefully you can see that it does fit within the old case really well.

As for the camera, there’s an opening in the back of the case for the 3G camera. This works fine for the iPhone 4 camera (though it covers the flash). You have to be a little more careful to make sure the edge of the hole doesn’t block your shot. But I shot this video and this photo:

out of the case yesterday just fine. As for the front camera, nothing in the case blocks that. You can’t put the phone in a dock with this case (I don’t think), but I don’t anyway. You can easily plug in your charger through the bottom opening.

Buy An Old Case & Save!

I’ll probably get the new Belkin case, when it’s finally available. But if you’re pondering a case option, I’d highly recommend getting one of the old Belkin Folio cases until your perfect choice comes along. Since it’s now “old,” I found it here on Amazon for only $10. If you don’t mind pink, you can get one here for only $5. (Both those links and the Amazon ones below, by the way, earn me a tiny bit if you purchase through them).

Don’t like flip cases? Well, my wife has one of those Paul Frank rubber cases for her iPhone 3G. It’s now holding her iPhone 4 pretty well. Looking at Amazon, I see these cases now going for $9, half the normal price (such as here and here and here).

Bottom line. Can’t find a case designed for the iPhone 4? Go try some of the old iPhone 3G and 3GS cases. You’ll probably get a nice one that’s heavily discounted and which will fit your new phone really well, until the specifically designed cases come along. And they will come, plus some are out there already. Below is an Amazon search box that lists some of the iPhone 4 cases currently available

Saving On Screen Protectors

Along with cases, I’m also a big screen protector person. I’ve become a big fan of Zagg protectors after I got one for my iPad. I went with the full body option, since I’m still waiting for a decent iPad case to come along. The back protector gives me a nice grip feeling, while the front slid on pretty well, and after a day, the little microbubbles did go away as promised.

The company does have iPhone 4 protectors out now, and here’s a tip. Zagg’s more expensive than regular protectors, but they also have a nice guarantee that comes with them. Still, if you want to save, try this link. That takes you over to Google’s real time search, where you’ll find people sharing discount codes that will save you from 10% to 50% off. You’ll probably have to try a few ones to get a valid one, but the codes do work. You can also try the same search at Twitter here.

Another tip. Leave the screen covering that came with the iPhone originally on, until a new one arrives. Cut the two tabs at the bottom of the front and rear, and you’ve got a nice temporary protector that doesn’t get in the way of using your phone, especially within a case. Also be sure to cut the openings around the cameras, flash, microphone and speaker. I left the speaker covered and could hardly hear anything, at first. I thought my phone was broken until I realized my dumb goof.

Oh, About The iPhone 4

A couple of people have asked me what I think about the iPhone 4. I might do a longer post on this in the near future. Originally, I hadn’t planned to get one at all. I was (and still remain) convinced that a version will come to Verizon in the near future, and I’d love to leave AT&T. But the peer pressure got to me.

OK, it wasn’t all peer pressure. I’m out at too many places where it would be handy to have a phone that shoots video (and I didn’t know about iVideoCamera that lets the 3G do this, thanks Greg Powers for the tip). So many people use the iPhone that I also felt I needed to have it to better understand some search apps. Most of all, I still like the iPhone interface over Android. Sorry Android fans and those who work on Android, but I do.

Android’s getting there, really getting there, so maybe down the line, I’ll make the jump. That’s especially so if the touch typing improves. But for now, I’m staying iPhone. Having skipped a generation, I decided to dive in.

So far, it’s not that magical. The screen looks sharper to me, but I haven’t had an “oh wow” moment. I’ve only been to a few web sites, and the text is crisper. But I don’t feel my life has changed because of it. Maybe when more apps that use the higher resolution appear, I’ll change my mind.

The multitasking, as best I can tell, is really just task swapping in most cases. You shut an app, go to another one, and if you go back, the app you left is still where you left off. That’s nice, especially since I’ve missed this from my time with Android phones. But I’d sure have loved if I could have somehow swiped between apps, like swiped and moved the screen to a new one as with Spaces on the Mac.

What I notice most is that it is so much faster than my iPhone 3G. That’s to be expected, since my other phone was two years old. If I had an iPhone 3GS, I don’t know that I would have made the jump, since that has video, probably the biggest thing I was lacking on my old phone. I’d have likely upgraded to iOS 4.

For more of my thoughts on the iPhone, as well as the iPhone versus Android, see some of my past posts below:

• No, Your First Impression Isn’t Wrong: Android ISN’T As Nice As The iPhone
• Upgrading The iPhone to iOS4 – The Quick & Dirty Way
• Life With Verizon Mifi, The iPad, Mobile Broadband & Everything (covers the Sprint EVO a bit, here)

I decided to upgrade my iPhone 3G to iOS 4 today, despite worries that ultimately, it would just slow my phone down more. We’ll see. After an hour of waiting just for the phone to backup, I got a tip off Twitter that let me get through the upgrade process painlessly in 45 minutes flat. Here’s what I did.

Big hat tip to Jake Feuerbacher, who told me to do a restore rather than an upgrade. It’s something he picked up off this Apple support forum thread, and it did the trick.

Backing Up … Forever!

Initially, I had loaded iTunes, plugged in my iPhone and got a message that there was an update available — the iOS4 software. I had selected Update, which caused iTunes to start backing up my iPhone before it would even apply the update.

Now, backing up is a really good thing to do. I like the concept of backing up. But after about an hour, I was wondering how long this would take. When I tweeted the seemingly endless process, I got a number of responses from other people in the same situation. At that aforementioned Apple thread, you can see similar complaints.

Restore, Rather Than Update

The quick and dirty method skips doing an update. Instead, you use the “Restore” option. Do this only after you’ve downloaded iOS 4. When you choose Restore, the iPhone will look for the latest version of the iPhone software on your computer (which will be iOS 4). Then it will “restore” this version of the software, effectively upgrading your phone.

The downside? Well, the restore means you’ll end up with a “clean” phone that knows nothing about your previous settings, the apps you had installed and so on. However, that’s where Sync comes in.

Syncing Back To Normal

Be sure that you’ve fully synced your phone. Make sure that iTunes has a record of all your apps, your playlists, your purchases and so on. If you’ve done this, after doing a restore, you’ll be able to resync your phone and bring back all your apps.

This worked fine for me. There is a risk, however, that something might go wrong. If you haven’t backed up your phone, and iTunes goes haywire, maybe you’ll have to start over.

I decided it was a risk worth taking, since the backup was taking ages. Plus, on my Windows machine, I kept getting “Mobile Backup” errors anyway. I threw the dice, and they came up good for me.

Sidenotes

A few further comments on the process.While my apps came back, none of my settings within them did. So expect to spend some time setting your email back up, Twitter and so on. That was a fair trade-off, for me.

I don’t sync my photos. That’s probably the most important data that I can’t replace on my iPhone. Instead, on my Windows machine, I simply copy the photos over manually from my iPhone to my Windows machine. Not syncing may have helped speed up the process.

Also, iTunes kept screaming that I hadn’t copied some purchased items from my iPhone to iTunes, warning me not to restore before doing this. Despite syncing all my apps, I kept getting this warning. Maybe there’s some music that didn’t make it. Or maybe one of my two digital movies that came with DVDs were causing the warning. Don’t know, don’t care. But sure would have been nice if iTunes had given me some better and more specific guidance.

In the end, I did see both movies I had purchased in iTunes, so I guess they didn’t die.

I also had one horrifying moment. In the initial sync, synchronizing my music wasn’t turned on. I toggled to do this, to the playlist that I keep synced with my phone. No luck. I kept getting little Windows errors that a some required file was missing.

I exited iTunes and restarted. It then saw my phone and asked if I wanted to start a fresh phone installation or restore. Gulp. Restore? But I’d just restored! And synced! And I didn’t have 45 minutes more to spend on it now.

Despite my better judgment, I chose to restore. In about 2 minutes, that was over, then the phone started syncing all my contacts again, my calendar and my email. Then I went back to my music area, tried to sync that again and success! I was even able to sync those purchased movies.