Continue reading »]]> Every once in a while, I find the need to talk about some new developments and updates for products I’ve reviewed or topics I’ve discussed in previous articles.  Well, it’s about that time again.

Back in July of last year, I reviewed an online music provider called Spotify.  Since that review, I’ve upped the ante and jumped into a paid subscription which gives me access to using Spotify on my mobile phone, allowing me to listen to streaming music, which can consume that precious bandwidth, or I can choose to store songs as local files, which download to the device and allow me to listen without having to use my bandwidth.  I also can access Spotify on my AV receiver in my home theater setup, which is a great way to explore a lot of new music.  Spotify has also added a lot of social network functionality, with Facebook integration and apps that can really help to discover great new bands and songs.  The apps are available for everyone to use, not just subscribers, so I urge any music fan with a computer to run, don’t walk, and get on Spotify today!  For the $10 a month subscription, you can take all that music on the road with you via your phone, which is a heck of a deal, considering the library of tunes at your fingertips.  Spotify has also just released their iPad app and it seems to be pretty nice, with the added screen real estate giving it a visually striking interface, but much of the same functionality as the iPhone version.  It almost negates the need for an extensive purchased iTunes library… almost.

I had covered Apple’s iCloud (http://www.icloud.com) in November, giving a synopsis of features that the service offers, and I’ve enjoyed using all the synchronization capabilities thus far.  It should be noted that MobileMe, the service from which iCloud matured, will be expiring as of June 30, 2012.  If you haven’t migrated from MobileMe to iCloud, do it soon.  With iCloud, I have had a few clients with small issues here and there, and I’ll recommend a few things for people that have yet to sign up.  First, do not attempt to share an iCloud account between two people, as this will create some headaches if you keep separate lists of contacts, calendars, and more.  The accounts are free to sign up for, so just get one for each person.  Secondly, you can have a different App Store account than your iTunes account.  I personally share my App Store account with my wife and children so that our purchases can be shared across devices, but we each have our own iCloud account.  You can configure these individually in your device settings.  Third, understand that Photostream only works if you are connected to a WiFi network.  I’ve had quite a few folks ask why it wasn’t working, but then discovered that they never connect to Wifi.  Much like FaceTime, Apple wants you on a WiFi network to use that feature.

In December of 2011, I reviewed a product, the Jawbone UP, which was an iPhone accessory that helped to keep track of waking and sleeping activity.  I had mentioned in the article that Jawbone had initiated a refund program for folks that had issues with the product.  While I stated that mine was working fine, I’m sad to report that indeed, my Jawbone UP suffered the same fate as it’s brethren and ceased to function.  I did take Jawbone up on the refund offer, and they painlessly sent me a check for the price of the device.  As of this writing, their website (http://jawbone.com/up/buy) still indicates that Jawbone UP will be available for purchase again soon, but no definite date is available.  Kudos to Jawbone for a great idea and fantastic customer support!  Better luck next time around.

If you have any suggestions for products, apps or any other types of tech that you would like to see explored, please feel free to shoot me an email or leave some feedback.  Thanks again for reading!

Continue reading »]]> As you may know, I’m an Apple kind of guy.  One product I had been remiss in adopting until recently is Apple TV, the set top component that allows your home entertainment system to play content purchased from Apple through their iTunes Store.  Of course, there are a number of other features that Apple TV brings to the table, but the latest incarnation shared a release date with the new iPad, so I went ahead and pre-ordered one the same day I ordered my new iPad.  You can read my hands-on review of the new iPad to catch up with my thoughts.

What sealed the deal for me with this new Apple TV is the addition of 1080p video resolution.  Previously, the Apple TV only provided 720p support, which is fine, but true high definition is the 1080p standard.  Powering this upgrade in video resolution is a new processor, the A5, which powers the iPad 2.  The last version contained an A4, so there is a noticeable improvement in performance, aside from the better graphics.

Aside from these differences, everything the last Apple TV provides is here in the new one.  Services like Netflix, NHL, NBA, MLB, YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr, WSJ Live, and Internet Radio are all here.  The lack of Hulu Plus is still an issue, and for me, a big drawback is the absence of streaming video from other sources on a home network.  Competitors like Roku provide this in their set top boxes, and with my extensive media library on my desktop computer, having the ability to watch content from these sources is a must.  One way around this is a third-party firmware that typically accompanies an Apple TV release, though as of this writing, there is no solution (yet).

Another reason I opted to jump into an Apple TV is the ability to use AirPlay.  This feature allows content from my iPad or iPhone to be viewed on my TV through the Apple TV via my wireless network.  Without any cables, I can share my screen on my iOS device with the Apple TV, which is a pretty cool feature.  Almost all apps work with this, a notable exception being HBO Go, which doesn’t allow for this functionality.  I can also share content from my Mac computers, so that my entire iTunes music library and my iPhoto library can be accessed from my Apple TV, which is definitely a perk.  There are rumors amiss that the new OS X 10.8, codenamed Mountain Lion, will bring screen sharing to the Apple TV as well, but this remains to be seen.

Of course, like all Apple devices, the Apple TV is a design phenomenon.  The device is tiny, fitting easily in the palm of my hand.  It measures 3.9” square and is 0.9” thick.  It provides HDMI and optical audio outputs, and also includes a USB input.  This USB input is a disappointment, as it only functions for service and diagnostics.  Plugging in a USB keyboard, mouse, or hard drive does nothing.

Overall, I’m happy with my Apple TV.  If you have a 2nd generation unit, the need to upgrade is minimal, unless 1080p is a must for you.  The lack of streaming content from other networked devices might be a deal breaker for most, and for them, I’d recommend the Roku devices.  Me, I’m confident that some enterprising programmer will have this functionality available soon, and until then, I’ll be using my Apple TV for music, pictures, and watching content from my iPad.

Continue reading »]]> I pay a decent amount for my cellular phone bill.  It’s typically the same each month for two lines, both with unlimited everything, so when it’s time to write that check (or submit my online payment), I’m rarely surprised.  I got a shock last month when I noticed that my bill was a bit higher, so I started looking deeper into the itemized charges and saw something that I surely didn’t know about.  A service called BULLROARE had charged me $9.99 as a monthly subscription on my second cell phone line.  There was a link available on my bill, which lead to a company called mBlox (http://mblox.com), which is a mobile marketing company.  That means they use cell phones for advertising for their clients.  While I’m no stranger to cell phone advertising via text messages, what I surely didn’t know is how easily it can find you, trick you, and have you paying money that you might not have realized you were paying.

Text spammers can get your phone number through a variety of means, but like with your email address, sharing it by registering for contests or online forms can often lead to unsolicited text messages.  In my case, I fell victim to an even more insidious type of text spam, one that actually was costing me money on my cell phone bill.  The usual method to cancel these types of messages, texting “STOP” or “NO” in reply, is not recommended, as it then verifies your device number to these unscrupulous advertisers.

There is a way to help combat text spam, as the mobile industry has enlisted the help of Cloudmark, a maker of antispam software.  A reporting service lets users forward the mobile spam they receive to “7726”, which spells “SPAM” on most keypads.  These texts will then help mobile carriers to block these spam text messages.

Of course, mobile spam is illegal, and there are a few websites you can use to report the numbers from which you are receiving these text spam messages.  The FCC (http://www.fcc.gov/guides/spam-unwanted-text-messages-and-email) is a great place to start, and the link I’ve provided will fill you in with all the details on how to report these unsolicited messages.

This, by no means, will stop the spammers.  They make big money, as email spammers do, sending you advertisements that can yield them big money.  One way they can profit is by sheer numbers of messages sent, for which they are paid by the advertiser.  When millions of messages are sent, even a small percentage of people might bite at the ad.  Compounding this profit can be people who fill in forms they are sent to, getting more information from them, sometimes tricking them into revealing private info that can help them to gain access to bank accounts, credit cards, and more.  Bottom line: there wouldn’t be spam if there weren’t a huge amount of money at stake for the people doing it.

I was lucky in that I was able to catch the culprit on my first cell phone bill.  I have unlimited text messaging, but other folks might not, and as annoying as getting a spam text can be, imagine if you got charged by your cell phone provider for receiving it?  Either way, text spam is here, and it isn’t going away.  Know how to combat it and prevent it and be a couple of steps ahead in the battle against spam.

Continue reading »]]> When Apple announced the new iPad on March 7, 2012, I was one of the many who plunked down their credit card to preorder the latest and greatest gadget to emerge from Cupertino.  With the promise of its arrival by March 16, 2012, I was content in knowing that I had nine short days to wait.

I own the iPad 2, and there’s nothing wrong with the one I have, but being that technology is my business, it was easy to rationalize the purchase: I have to stay on the cutting edge of technology!  Or at least, that’s what I told my wife, who was promised my iPad 2, which certainly eased her resistance to the expense.

The new iPad arrived on the 16^th as promised, amidst much fanfare and lines at various retailers across the world.  I had preordered the same configuration as my iPad 2, a 32GB model with cellular data connectivity through AT&T.  Of course, one of the new features of this new iPad is the 4G LTE speed, but I’ll have to wait until I get into another city to test out that functionality.  Upon opening the new iPad, the first thing I noticed was the added heft:  it is slightly thicker and heavier, but not overwhelmingly so.  Apple touts the depth as .03 inches thicker and .11 pounds heavier, which isn’t much, but it is noticeable.

As soon as I powered it on, I noticed the difference in the new display.  Apple has quadrupled the resolution on the new iPad, and the Retina display blows away the iPad 2 display.  A side-to-side comparison on the home screen makes the old one look far inferior: icons exhibit no pixelation, gradients are seamless, and everything is smooth.  I then opened up a photo on Photo Stream on both for another comparison; I had taken the photo with my iPhone 4s and its 8-megapixel camera: the new iPad displays brighter colors and greater clarity.  Of course, if you’re holding the iPad at arm’s length, the difference isn’t quite so noticeable, but up close, it is remarkable.

Another new feature is a better iSight camera, upping the ante with a 5-megapixel version that can autofocus and perform facial detection, much like the camera offered in the iPhone 4.  In video mode, it shoots in full 1080p and offers video stabilization.  One of the most disappointing features on the iPad 2 was the substandard camera that Apple used.  This rectification will be greatly noticed by most iPad users who have upgraded.

Under the hood, the new iPad features the A5X processor.  This is still a dual core processor, though Apple claims this chip offers quad-core graphics processing, a term more commonly applied to processors, not graphics.  Nevertheless, this dual-core processor runs at 1.2GHz, .2GHz greater than the iPad 2, not much of a noticeable difference, in my opinion.  The new iPad also contains double the RAM, weighing in with 1GB.  With the display offering 4x the resolution, both of these upgrades will help to push the device to offer the same type of performance to which iPad 2 users are accustomed, I would think.

Now to answer the question that most want to ask:  should you get one?  If you don’t have an iPad, then by all means, get the new one.  The slight difference in price ($100) between the iPad 2 and the new iPad is easily justifiable based on the upgrades alone.  But if you own an iPad 2, upgrading might not be the best idea.  Yes, there are some differences, but for most, they won’t be noticed.  The iPad 2 is still a rock solid tablet, and in areas with no 4, there won’t be much of a difference in cellular data connectivity speed.  For iPad 1 users, yes, the new iPad is more of a temptation, but the iPad 1 is still a great device.

All in all, I’m happy with my purchase and I can justify the purchase.  The new upgrades that this new iPad offers are things that I will notice, and besides, it’s my job to kick the tires on this stuff!

Continue reading »]]> I’m a Twitter user.  I have two accounts: one for my business (@BayouTechnology) and one that I use for personal stuff.  Most of the time, it’s the business account I’m on, because I follow and tweet information that I find useful regarding technology.  For anyone that doubts the importance of Twitter for promoting your business, think again.  Building a following can really enhance your online presence for your business, and it’s not very hard to do it yourself.  This week, I was introduced to an online service that adds a level of ease and utility to managing your tweets.

Buffer is a cool way to keep your followers engaged by posting your tweets over time.  One thing about Twitter is that you can easily annoy your followers if you push out a ton of tweets in a short time.  It is also important to keep your followers interested by tweeting often.  Buffer solved the problem with a nice approach: it creates a queue, or buffer, for your tweets and sends them out consistently throughout the day.  Just keep your buffer filled with content to tweet, and you will have a great way to keep your followers interested and engaged.

Like many utilities, there are a few different options for pricing.  All of the plans include free mobile apps for different platforms that allow you to use Buffer across the board and extensions for nearly every flavor of web browser.  They all connect with multiple social network accounts and all share posts through Buffer throughout the day.  I’ve been kicking the tires with the free account, which allows you to keep 10 posts in your buffer; it also allows you to post simultaneously to your Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn accounts.  It works well for the price (FREE!) and if you refer people to Buffer, you can get added posts to your free plan.  If I upgrade to the “Pro” plan for $10 per month, I get access to 50 posts in my buffer, 6 social accounts, 2 users per account, and advanced scheduling.  The top tier “Premium” plan, for $99 per month, gives you unlimited posts in the buffer and unlimited social accounts.  For companies that manage social media for other people, this is really the way to go.

You can login to Buffer using any of your social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn) but you can also create an account with Buffer and associate them all there.  I did this because I found that the iPhone app for Buffer didn’t give me the option to login with Facebook, the method I used initially to setup my Buffer account.  Using the website through a standard browser allows you to see Analytics for your posts, a great way to track the clicks your posts get and the reach your social media posts are realizing.

Overall, I really like Buffer.  I like the way it parses out your posts as to not antagonize followers.  Having a nice, consistent stream of posts that aren’t clumped together is a huge benefit for anyone trying to attract followers and potential customers to your business through social media.

Continue reading »]]> I use my cell phone a heck of a lot.  I used to be a Sprint customer, but after some issues with their lack of 3G support in the Lake Charles area, I switched to AT&T a couple of years ago.  When I joined AT&T, I started out with an iPhone, and I opted for unlimited minutes, text, and I added the unlimited data plan for $30 a month.  I did so because I knew I would be a heavy phone user and having no such restrictions would be one less headache.

As time went on, AT&T stopped offering this unlimited data plan and started up other tiered options that weren’t unlimited, but do give a decent amount of data usage.  Recently, they offered a 3GB per month plan for $30, the same amount I pay for my unlimited data.  Thankfully, I haven’t had to worry about changing plans, because AT&T allows their customers who are “grandfathered” in with this unlimited data plan to keep it when they get a new phone, like the iPhone 4s I got back in October.

A few months ago, AT&T announced that they would start “throttling” their unlimited customers that are in the top 5% of data users.  Apparently there were people using over 10GB per month on their unlimited data plan, which seems to be taxing the AT&T network.  10GB seems pretty excessive, but then again, being on an unlimited data plan, you wouldn’t think there would be any limits.  Users that are classified as being in this top 5% are notified via text message that they have qualified for this dubious honor and their data speeds are drastically reduced, or “throttled”.  Now it appears that AT&T is tightening the noose even more.

Most recently, a blogger named John Cozen was unhappy to report that he received such a text message the moment he exceeded 2GB of data usage.  That’s right, 2GB of data usage now qualifies someone as being in the top 5% of data users on the AT&T network.  When he inquired to AT&T via email about this predicament, he was led down a harrowing path of lackluster customer support, unkept promises for returned phone calls, and ultimately no satisfaction.  However, at every turn, AT&T did manage to offer that he move to a tiered data plan.  This bodes ill for users like John Cozen and myself, who are “grandfathered” into an unlimited data plan, but may now face suspicious practices to force us into a plan that limits our data consumption.  Basically, AT&T is breaking their agreement with their customers.

The thing that really irks me on John Cozen’s situation, and potentially any other unlimited data user, is that being heaped into the top 5% of data users after passing the 2GB mark screams false.  AT&T offers a 3GB plan for $30.  So now, unlimited users that are 1GB beneath the 3GB point are somehow lumped into this 5% group?  I’d love to see the math on this one.  Yes, one could switch to this 3GB tiered plan, but to me, at least, this is about the principle.  AT&T should honor their agreements they made with their customers.  It is one thing to curtail heavy data users, but this new margin they seem to be establishing doesn’t add up, even when compared to their own tiered data plans.  To make matters worse, they even have a 5GB plan for $50 a month, but somehow, going over 2GB of data usage now ranks as being a top 5% user?

I don’t use a lot of data on my phone.  I rarely, if ever, cross the 2GB barrier.  However, the reason I got an unlimited data plan was in case I ever needed to, I wouldn’t have any overage charges or problems.  It seems that AT&T doesn’t care about honoring agreements and cares more about squeezing as much money as possible from their customers.

Continue reading »]]> Do you remember what life was like before the smartphone?  Waiting was such a pain: whether having to wait in a doctor’s office for your name to be called, or waiting for your meal at lunch, the time passed excruciatingly slowly.  Now, with a smartphone in nearly everyone’s pocket, passing the time can be an enjoyable activity.  One of the things that has captured the mobile consumer audience by storm is the proliferation of mobile gaming.  With the Apple App Store and Android Marketplace filled with games, it helps to find a few that really make the cut.  Today I’ll look at a few that have been helping me kill some time.

Everyone knows about Words with Friends, but a new word game from Zynga has hit the App Store and it’s pretty darn fun.  As Words with Friends is a take on Scrabble, Scramble with Friends is a riff on Boggle, the seminal letter-dice game in a four-by-four configuration.  Points are awarded by formulating as many words as possible in two minutes with adjoining dice, while not using a die twice.   Similar to the points system in Words with Friends, less common letters have more value, and certain dice will have letter and word multipliers.  Unlike Words with Friends, the addition of the two-minute timer adds a frantic level of fun.  Of course, you can pause the game, but when you’re in the zone, an interruption can be costly.  Like Zynga’s other games, Scramble with Friends is available on the App Store for free with ads, or 99 cents for the ad-free version.  I would anticipate an Android version coming soon as Zynga provided with Words with Friends.

If word games aren’t your thing, Super Crate Box is a fantastically simple game that incorporates shooting, jumping, and retro-style graphics.  One of the things I love about the games from my youth is the ease of playing:  you didn’t have to get mired in any back-story or learn the complex system of controls to play.  Super Crate Box harkens back to those simple days of gaming, so you can pick it up and start playing immediately.  The goal is to avoid or shoot the never-ending stream of enemies that comes down while trying to pick up the crates.  Points are only awarded for the number of crates you collect.  The shooting is just a means to helping you with this task.  Each crate contains a new weapon, and some are definitely better than others.  Not only is it mindless fun, but it also supports the iCade, which definitely helps to bring that old school arcade feel.  Super Crate Box is 99 cents in the App Store, and that low price scores you the iPad version too.  You can also get it for the Mac or PC.

Angry Birds has become a smash hit, and similar games, like Cut the Rope, have also found the formula for success.  Combine cute characters and simple gameplay with a puzzle-like problem solving factor, and you can have a best selling hit.  Joining in on the fun is Where’s My Water?, a puzzle game brought to us by Disney.  Swampy the alligator hates being dirty, but to get his bath, the water must be guided through a variety of roadblocks.  This simple concept is enjoyable for all ages, as my 4-year-old daughter has been playing this one quite a bit.  This game is available on both Android and iOS with a price point of 99 cents.

Killing time has never been so much fun!  No matter how much distraction you need from the drudgery of waiting, one of these games will be sure to help.

Continue reading »]]> If you’ve browsed the Internet today, January 18, 2012, chances are you’ve seen quite a few website talking about protesting something called SOPA and PIPA.  A few weeks ago, there was some backlash against GoDaddy, the ubiquitous domain registration company, because they didn’t fall in with a lot of other online companies in protest against this bill.  They lost quite a few customers as a result, but it hardly made an impact on their business.  Today, a more widespread protest was launched, calling for 24-hour blackouts of various websites like Wikipedia, Reddit, WordPress, Mozilla, and many others.  Even Google is showing their support with a blacked-out logo on their homepage today, with a message asking to “Tell Congress: Please don’t censor the web!”  The link takes you to a page where you can sign the online petition to protest this draconian resolution.  I’ve already signed it, but I thought it might be a good idea to explain exactly what SOPA and PIPA are and why this legislation isn’t a good idea.

SOPA stands for the Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R.3261), a bill in the House of Representatives.  PIPA is the Protect IP Act (S.968), a bill in the Senate.  The intent of these bills is to “provide tools for law enforcement and copyright holders to protect their intellectual property rights.”  Yes, piracy is wrong, and yes, there should be methods to protect intellectual property, but the problem with these bills is how they intend to exact this protection.  These bills are aimed to protect the entertainment industry from the spread of online piracy, which is a noble effort, but the methods they intend to use are less than noble.

Vast majorities of the online websites that offer pirated content are located outside the US, and the bills want the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block the domain names where these sites can be found.  They also want to sue US based websites that contain links to these sites, no matter how the content is presented.  The bills also seek to cut off funds to infringing websites from any US based advertisers.  While this might not seems like a bad way to go about things, the problem is that the bill wants the action against the supposedly infringing website before any judgment that the site is indeed engaging in any infringing conduct.  With these bills, the mere accusation of impropriety would allow the site to be shutdown and sued.  With the ambiguous wording in the bills, it would open the door for major social media sites and search engines to be subject to these measures.  Sites like YouTube, SoundCloud, and others that allow people to freely express themselves could be misconstrued as sites that condone piracy to the wrong judge.  You might think such a travesty of justice might not happen in the US, but when you consider the other countries that might follow suit with similar legislation, their standards might not be set so high.  Not only would censorship run rampant, but also the entire standard of how we access the Internet with domain names, the DNS system, would be less stable and secure.

These bills, if passed, will introduce vast potential for censorship and abuse, all while making the Internet less safe and less reliable.  What’s worse is that these measures wouldn’t stop online piracy, as any website can be accessed by a direct IP address, the string of octets you sometimes see. (192.168.10.58).  Piracy will remain rampant, and the rest of the Internet will suffer as a result of these measures.  The Senate will be voting on this bill on January 24^th, so do what you can to learn more and act.  Hopefully the collective voices will be heard and we can find a better way to combat online piracy.

Continue reading »]]> The holidays have come and gone; with them arrived a couple of new accessories to compliment my iPad 2.  The vast number of third party accessories that accompany any Apple product is overwhelming, and with the amount of care and logic that go into every Apple product, it’s hard to find an accessory that truly adds value to the Apple experience.  Today, I’ve got two different types of accessories that have wowed me, one is very practical, and the other is just a lot of fun.

When I was a kid, I played video games in arcades.  The games were engaging, fun to play, and almost anyone could learn to play in a few minutes.  With the advent of iOS, we’re seeing the same type of simplicity that really works for games: fun, engaging, and easy to learn.  The iCade, from Ion Audio, is an iPad accessory that is a small replica arcade-style cabinet.  (http://www.ionaudio.com/products/details/icade)  It allows you to play certain games on the iPad with controls that are faithful reproductions of the arcade controls I knew and loved.  It features a sturdy control stick on the left, and eight sizeable buttons on the right, all of which have an authentic arcade-style feel and functionality.  It connects with the iPad via Bluetooth and the cabinet can hold the iPad both horizontally and vertically.  There is an app available in the App Store, Atari’s Greatest Hits, which brings some old classic favorites to the iPad, which are a lot of fun to play with the iCade.  While the app does have additional games available for purchase, all 100 can be obtained for $9.99, a good value for the amount of fun you’ll have.  The iCade itself is priced at $99.99, which might be a bit steep, but I found mine for half price right after Christmas, so keep an eye out for deals on this one.

The second accessory that I’m using daily is a practical solution to an issue that owners of iPads (or iPhones) and Mac laptops face daily: finding enough electrical plugs for your devices.   The PlugBug Charger, from Twelve South, solved this quandary elegantly with inspired design and functionality.  (http://twelvesouth.com/products/plugbug/)  The PlugBug incorporates a 10W USB port that piggybacks on the standard Mac laptop charger.  The result is a unified charging device that occupies one electrical outlet, which might not seem that incredible, but the functionality is just half the allure.  Twelve South really upped the bar with this accessory in that the design of the product, and even the packaging, impressed the heck out of me.  While it stands out from the stark white charger with it’s bright red color, it integrates perfectly with the original charger, almost as if Apple designed it.  Of course, it charges any iOS device reliably, but for mobile warriors that have a multitude of power needs, this solution is one that you definitely need.  Pricing for the PlugBug is $34.99, and at the time of this writing, is unavailable due to the incredible demand.

Accessories can add value and functionality to a product, provided that they are well thought-out and implemented with style.  With the iCade and PlugBug, all of these qualities have been embraced.

Continue reading »]]> The marriage of technology and fitness has been progressing rapidly with the advent of smartphones.  As more processing power and capabilities are crammed into hand-sized devices, enterprising companies have been using this platform to capitalize on the peoples’ needs for healthy lifestyles.  Most recently, Jawbone, a major player in cell phone accessories, has entered this arena with UP, a wristband that tracks movement and activity for the wearer.  (http://jawbone.com/up)  Partnered with the iPhone app, this fresh new gadget had me eager to explore its capabilities.

The UP wristband comes in a variety of bright colors and sizes, though for my testing, I opted for a black one in the largest size possible, which fit my wrist comfortably.  The exterior of the UP device is mostly rubber and it touted as sweat-proof and water-resistant.  The band contains a motion sensor, a vibration motor, a rechargeable battery, and a 3.5mm plug.  This plug is how you connect the device with the iPhone to download the activity from your wristband to the free app that Jawbone provides on the App Store.  There are two main functions that the band facilitates with the motion sensor, one for waking activity and one for sleeping activity.  A quick press of the button on the wristband switches between the two modes.

During the day, the motion sensor tracks the number of steps you take, determining your distance traveled, calories burned, pace, and more.  At night, the motion sensors track the number of hours slept, light sleep versus deep sleep, awake time, and evaluates the overall sleep quality.  The vibration comes into a play when you set timers and alarms for your activities.  During the day, you can have UP alert you when you haven’t moved for a certain amount of time to keep you in your target range of activity.  When sleeping, UP can be set to wake you at a certain time.  What’s neat here is that the detection of light and deep sleep that UP features can help you to wake when most effective.  For example, I set the alarm for UP to wake me at 6:30AM, but if it detects that I’m in a light sleep cycle, it will wake me before I fall into a heavy sleep.

Once UP is synchronized with the iPhone and the app, it displays your activity via attractive graphs that help to illustrate your progress with your daily goals.  The app also features a food journaling function that allows you to track your meals and how they affect your energy levels.  You use the iPhone’s camera to take a picture of the meal, and afterwards, the app asks how you feel.  In my opinion, there’s a lot more that can be added to this aspect of the app, but there are already a lot of calorie-counting apps that take this quite a bit further.

The Jawbone UP is available at a number of retailers, but AT&T stores here were some of the first to carry this revolutionary new device.  When I picked mine up from the newly renovated store in Moss Bluff, I also got to check out another Jawbone device, the JAMBOX, a small wireless speaker that can fill a room with sound.  Pricing for UP is $99, and JAMBOX retails for $199, and Jawbone is known for their quality products.

Since my initial review of the product, Jawbone has announced a refund program for UP wearers that have had issues with their wristband.  I can report that in wearing my Jawbone UP consistently for two weeks straight, I experienced no issues with the device or its functionality.  All in all, I like this new type of peripheral and even with the issues some users are reporting, I’m sure the next version of UP will work out these kinks and bring even more useful features.