The Misery that's the 'Free Hotel Wi-Fi'

I'm back from my weekend trip to LA and it was a very picturesque drive back and forth. I had my MacBook Air, iPad and iPhone 4 with me along the way. The Virgin Mobile Mi-Fi gave me internet connectivity on the wi-fi only iPad. It was the first time I've really used the Mi-Fi since getting it last week and I was pleasantly surprised. In most instances it worked better and had faster speeds than the 'Free wi-fi' in the hotels I stayed at. Which brings me to the main point of this post.

Virgin Mobile Broadband MiFi: Initial Thoughts

The last time I went on a road trip was in August this year. Through Northern California and up the Oregon Coast to Washington State. It was a fun 10-day trip. Before setting out I had contemplated getting a MiFi device to be able to connect to the internet on my Wi-Fi only iPad while on the road. The thought of activating AT&T's iPhone 4 Tethering service had also crossed my mind but the fact that I would lose my unlimited data plan for doing so had crushed those plans. Back in August I decided to wait till the holiday season to get a mobile broadband device and to be honest it was a pretty good decision because the road trip was fun as there was lots to see along the way and the motels/hotels we stayed at had decent internet services. So I hardly missed being able to get online at the time.

Now, this coming weekend I have a trip planned to Los Angeles

White iPhone 4 and the New iPad 2

The speculations keep flowing! 9to5mac now reports that Apple has not killed the possibility of a white iPhone 4 and in fact it is very much coming by 'late spring 2011'. I'm sure this is good news for all those who felt let down when Apple announced that the white iPhone was being pushed back indefinitely.

HBO Anywhere is now a Reality!

I found out just today that HBO's streaming service, 'HBO Go', is now up and running for AT&T U-verse customers. This is great news because it means I don't have to use up space on my DVR to catch up on episodes of shows like Eastbound & Down and Bored to Death. Movies on HBO can also be watched on-demand. Look out Netflix and Hulu Plus!

Apple Mac Mini 2010 RAM Upgrade

The 2010 Mac Mini became the first Mac I've owned when I purchased it in September of 2010. I've really liked it ever since because it's small and doesn't take much room on my desk. A very nice innovation since it's a unibody machine and doesn't have overheating issues. It is very quiet too and works just like any desktop should. I purchased the 2.4GHz model with a 320GB hard drive and 2GB RAM.

Lately I have been contemplating upgrading the RAM to its full 8GB capacity. Flash player and Java have been acting up on me and I didn't exactly know if it was because of insufficient RAM. So when I opened up the Activity Monitor it showed I only had about 200MB of free RAM at one point.

iOS 4.2 on the iPad and Netflix Streaming Subscription

It's finally here! Apple released the much awaited iOS 4.2 update on Monday, November 22nd, 2010 and I'm guessing everyone who owns an iPad must have scrambled to update their device. For those at work, the wait to get home and do the update must have been agonizing. But, was it worth all the "hype"? It was, and here's why.

BodyGuardz for the MacBook Air

I've never been a big fan of cases for my portable devices unless I'm traveling or on the go. For everyday use I like to be able to use the gadget in its bare existence. I know many people who keep telling me that using a case on my iPhone would protect it from falls. To that I usually say, "if you handle your phone with care then there's no reason for it to fall". But then again, accidents do happen and to account for those I have settled down to using protective films on most of my devices. If you get the right one and put it on the right way they are almost invisible. It's like holding the device in its bare existence but knowing it's protected from scratches and dings.