We all see references to 2G, 3G and 4G wireless systems and sometimes we see references to 2.5G as an in between system, but now I am seeing 2.75G, 3.75G and even 3.9G (why not just say close to 4G or just under 4G). How can you have a half or three quarters of a generation? I guess if you just base it on data rates, maybe we can get these fractional generations.
What caught my eye was the Asus announcement that they are adding 3.75G wireless to their new laptops due out in October 2008. They state download rates of 7.2 Mbit/s and upload rates of 2 Mbit/s which is very good, but it is really just HSUPA technology so why not just call it that. Maybe it is not as elegant as 3.75G.
It took a very long time to develop systems from 2G to 3G, so I can see why we have the 2.5G but anything beyond that is getting carried away in my book. But I guess it is progress as long as the numbers keep getting larger!
hodgepodge
1. Our little blog has gotten more than 10,000 hits since April! That's crazy talk! Thanks to everyone for caring about us and wanting to catch up with our lives...2. I may or may not have cried when I got on the scale on Sunday afternoon. Granted, I had just eaten a big lunch, and a big dinner the night before but still. Realized it was time (yet again) to really crack down. I don't even care if I lose a ton of weight...all I want is to be the same size I was when we got married! That's not too much to ask is it!?
3. Ryan starts his job tomorrow (he was sick all last week), and he's super excited. On my job front... I'm just taking it day by day and doing the best job I can.
4. My hair has grown 2 inches since I got it cut. Nobody told me this would happen! Haircuts are expensive! Maybe having long hair has it's advantages...
5. With the exception of a very sweet gift card from Cathryn, I've been abstaining from Starbucks due to the ridiculous prices. I can get a large vanilla nut coffee from the cafeteria here for $1.18 versus $3.48 at the S-bucks. Sorry Karen :)
6. Mom's kitchen looks awesome!!!!! On Saturday Ryan and I went over to her house to help finish it off with new wallpaper and accessories... I think it looks so great! Check it out!
7. This year I'm planning to get all my Christmas shopping done as quickly as possible. I know that's a "duh" for most of you readers, but for some reason I usually put off all my shopping until about 2 weeks before, and it stresses me out! Not to mention, it's not so smart for the bank account either. So I started yesterday, and made a spreadsheet (Mom, aren't you proud!?)
update.
Well, I just got out of a meeting to discuss the reorganization. And... basically upper management has barely made a dent their decisions, and we won't know for "a while". However, my boss' boss (who led the meeting for our team of 30) said that she's hopeful and reassured that we should be okay throughout this whole process because not a lot of people can do the job we do. So that made me feel better. But, it was a bit of a let down to not have a decision made either way. I've been a big stress ball this whole week, and then nothing was resolved. So I guess I'll just hang in there and do my job the best that I can, which is all I can do at this point. I just want to thank all of you for your sweet calls, texts, comments, thoughts and prayers for me this week. It's hard when you're fairly new to the corporate world and you don't know what to expect in a situation like this... But I have been carried by your prayers this week, and I appreciate all of you. [update: Steve (my boss) just bought us all ice cream... morale boost = 2 points.]
My sweet husband is taking me out on date tonight, which is something we haven't done in a while! We're going to go out to eat and then seeing "Nights in Rodanthe". I read the book and I've been wanting to see this for months!
Have a fabulous weekend, friends.
My sweet husband is taking me out on date tonight, which is something we haven't done in a while! We're going to go out to eat and then seeing "Nights in Rodanthe". I read the book and I've been wanting to see this for months!
Have a fabulous weekend, friends.
MATLAB available (with purchase)
On Wednesday of this week, Agilent Technologies and The MathWorks announced the availability of MATLAB with the purchase of Agilent's EXA, MXA, or PSA signal analyzers.
Hmmmmm.... what does this mean? Are they giving away a seat of MATLAB with the purchase of one of these high-performance analyzers? Well, no. One has to read this press release very closely to figure out what is being offered.
Agilent and The MathWorks are making MATLAB available as a purchase option when buying one of these signal analyzers. I don't know how difficult it was to purchase MATLAB in the past, but I suppose this has the benefit of reducing the number of purchase requests you need to submit to your evil purchasing department. In that sense it is good news.
It's also good news to see two big companies we rely on for our product development collaborating at any level. So while our wishful thinking was for a free copy of MATLAB, we will still be grateful that Agilent and The MathWorks see the benefits of working together for the sake of their customers.
Citing that ,"The combination of Agilent signal analyzers and MATLAB data analysis software enables engineers to confidently analyze, visualize, demodulate, and filter signals that would otherwise be very difficult or impossible to do. ", the two companies felt the agreement would provide high-quality instrumentation and data analysis software from a single source.
Here are the details:
* The MATLAB Basic Signal Analysis Package provides an introductory software package for configuring and controlling Agilent instruments and performing basic signal and visualization tasks from the MATLAB environment.
* The MATLAB Standard Signal Analysis Package adds functionality for filtering signals and analyzing modulation schemes.
* The MATLAB Advanced Signal Analysis Package adds functionality for advanced filter design methods and radio frequency (RF) component analysis.
For additional information or to purchase MATLAB software with Agilent EXA, MXA, and PSA signal analyzers, visit www.agilent.com/find/N6171A. and don't forget to tell them the Journal sent you!!!
Hmmmmm.... what does this mean? Are they giving away a seat of MATLAB with the purchase of one of these high-performance analyzers? Well, no. One has to read this press release very closely to figure out what is being offered.
Agilent and The MathWorks are making MATLAB available as a purchase option when buying one of these signal analyzers. I don't know how difficult it was to purchase MATLAB in the past, but I suppose this has the benefit of reducing the number of purchase requests you need to submit to your evil purchasing department. In that sense it is good news.
It's also good news to see two big companies we rely on for our product development collaborating at any level. So while our wishful thinking was for a free copy of MATLAB, we will still be grateful that Agilent and The MathWorks see the benefits of working together for the sake of their customers.
Citing that ,"The combination of Agilent signal analyzers and MATLAB data analysis software enables engineers to confidently analyze, visualize, demodulate, and filter signals that would otherwise be very difficult or impossible to do. ", the two companies felt the agreement would provide high-quality instrumentation and data analysis software from a single source.
Here are the details:
* The MATLAB Basic Signal Analysis Package provides an introductory software package for configuring and controlling Agilent instruments and performing basic signal and visualization tasks from the MATLAB environment.
* The MATLAB Standard Signal Analysis Package adds functionality for filtering signals and analyzing modulation schemes.
* The MATLAB Advanced Signal Analysis Package adds functionality for advanced filter design methods and radio frequency (RF) component analysis.
For additional information or to purchase MATLAB software with Agilent EXA, MXA, and PSA signal analyzers, visit www.agilent.com/find/N6171A. and don't forget to tell them the Journal sent you!!!
pray for j-fred
It's times like these that the Lord puts things in perspective and basically tells me to stop having a pity party for myself because other people are dealing with much more difficult things. My dear friend Jessica Frederick has been in nursing school in Galveston this year, but when hurricane Ike hit, she had to evacuate and leave all of her stuff behind. She has heard that her entire apartment was flooded and that rats have infested the island. Her car that she left behind caught on fire and is completely destroyed.She's going back to the island tomorrow to survey the damage. The worst case scenario is that her whole apartment is destroyed including all of her belongings. I can't even fathom the feelings she's having.
Check out her blog if you'd like... I keep thinking of this verse:
"But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal" - Matthew 6:20
Could we all join together and pray for her?
Introducing Google Moderator on App Engine
At Google, we host a large number of "tech talks". These talks cover a wide rage of Computer Science topics like research in machine learning and methods for ranking images based on text queries. I've enjoyed attending these tech talks, but as the number of attendees has grown over time, the question-and-answer part of the talks hasn't been able to scale. There was never enough time for all the questions, and it wasn't clear that the best questions were the ones actually getting asked. And since many of these talks were led by offices outside of Mountain View, it became harder for distributed audiences to participate.
To help with this, I designed a tool in my 20% time that would allow anyone attending a tech talk to submit a question, and then give other participants a way to vote on whether or not that question should be asked. This way, the most popular and relevant questions would rise to the top so that the presenter or the moderator of an event could run the discussion more efficiently and in a transparent manner. The tool, which we internally called "Dory" after our favorite question-asking fish in Finding Nemo, quickly grew to other parts of Google including our weekly all-hands company meeting, as well as for our series of talks led by political candidates or distinguished authors.
Several of our colleagues and visitors to Google have asked if we could make it available externally for any kind of talk, presentation and/or event. Conveniently, Google App Engine launched in April and made it easy for us to do this! As a result, we're pleased to release this tool, now called Google Moderator, on Google App Engine. Google Moderator is available now and is free to use. To get started go to moderator.appspot.com and sign in to your Google Account.
distracting myself...
Still haven't heard anything yet, so I'm posting pictures instead of worrying :) Thanks for praying for me everyone... God is giving me a peace about things, and that can only be attributed to the prayers surrounding us! With that, here are some pictures of the latest happenings...
So, first off: Our dog has been acting strangely lately. Usually when this occurs, we know it's because he's wanting attention and he's not getting enough.
Take, for example, this photo. We were looking everywhere for him, and he wasn't coming when we called him (VERY unlike him). Well, we finally found him under our bed. Again...he never does this sort of thing.
Then, there was the time that we noticed he was being waaaaay too quiet. When we checked on him, this is where we found him. No, I haven't unpacked from Vegas yet. No judgment. Take note that I took a few pictures of this, and this is the one that made him look the most un-fat. We need to fix this little chubster!
But, a tell-all sign that he's really needing attention is when he pulls his bed out into the dining room and starts tearing it up or just shaking it around. Yep. He's there.
Anyway..... Last weekend was jam-packed with friend time! It was awesome! We met up with Ashley and Ellory at the spur of the moment to celebrate Ellory getting a new job! I know they are just ecstatic, and we're so proud of him! We also took the opportunity to take our anniversary picture. Not sure why I felt the need to hold my arm up, but there you go.
I also had lunch with my girls Ash and Kristin at the Chocolate Angel...that's the place I had my bridal luncheon 6 months ago! We had fun catching up, and we tried getting our nails done but the place was super sketchy. Oh well. We went antique shopping instead.
My great friend Vanessa and her husband Will were back in the states for a little while so they got to come over and watch the Gators game at our place. Vanessa and I were attached at the hip during junior and senior year of high school, and she was almost part of our family! She and Will have been in Scotland for the past year and a half, and now they're moving to the UK! Dont' tell.... but they kind of inspired us to move some place far away! Shhh.
We went over to Kristin & Alan's home for dinner, and had a fabulous time talking about their Jamaican weddingmoon over tacos! I hope we can hang out with them a lot more often because I love them! The boys played playstation (Ryan was in awe of the tv and surround sound they have!), while the girls chatted in the kitchen. Fun times!
On Sunday morning, we went to the service to see our good friend David get baptised! Not only was that cool, but the service was just incredible. Then we went to our bible fellowship class, and I cried about my job. Fun times!!!! I just love embarrassing myself when I cry uncontrollably! Thankfully everyone was super supportive and the rest of the day was super mellow. I needed that.
Monday night was Keno and a birthday celebration for my mom! Cindy bought the most amazing cake I've ever tasted, and Mom got some great gifts. It was a smaller crowd than normal, but we still had a blast catching up. P.S. Isn't my mom gorgeous!?
some Keno women that I love.
me & my moms, and a cool robe mom got!
Last night, for the first time in a while, our fridge, freezer and pantry were completely stocked. So I cooked my specialty--Hamburger Helper's beef stroganoff--along with some freshly sliced strawberries and crescent rolls! It was amazing! :) P.S. I love my dad. And only he knows why he's included in this paragraph :) Oh!! And, I found a few lingering spaghetti noodles from the incident.
Okay, back to this attention-seeking pup of ours.
He always gets his way. :)Please keep praying. Thank you!
G1 Versus iPhone 3G - The Great Cell Phone Fight Has Begun!
It this corner, we have the champion, Apple's iPhone 3G, and in the other corner we have the new contender, Google's (and its partner's) Android phone. Well, everyone is buzzing now after the release of the first Android phone with T-Mobile's G1. The initial reviews are in and they seemed to be mixed. The G1 has a lot of nice features and great potential with its open platform. But the G1 does not have some key features like Exchange support so that counts it out of the corporate board room (for now). One key to Apple's success is its great music integration with iTunes, so I believe the key for Android is its alliance with Amazon to provide DRM free music. Could be the weapon that wins or loses the war!
I purposely left out the Blackberry which in its own right is a very functional device but it is not intended for the same audience as the iPhone and G1, in my opinion. For us in the wireless industry, it all means that we have to keep cramming more and more into the ever shrinking phone. What do you think?
I purposely left out the Blackberry which in its own right is a very functional device but it is not intended for the same audience as the iPhone and G1, in my opinion. For us in the wireless industry, it all means that we have to keep cramming more and more into the ever shrinking phone. What do you think?
Google on Android
At Google, we develop products that we love to use ourselves. For example, we're avid users of Search, Gmail, Maps, and many others. But for those of us in mobile, it's tough. Not all products work the same on all devices, and although we try and optimize for each device, we often run into challenges specific to certain mobile phone platforms. I, for one, used to carry three devices with me all day. I love my iPhone for its powerful browser and music player. I use my BlackBerry for Gmail and Calendar (and occasionally Brick Breaker), and I carry a Nokia N-series phone because of its camera and YouTube application.
The first Android-powered phone, announced today by T-Mobile, comes 'with Google'. The following Google applications are preloaded on the device: Search, Maps, Gmail with Contacts, Calendar, Google Talk, and YouTube. There are a few things I'm particularly excited about:
The Google applications on Android take full advantage of the features of the Android platform. Gmail is built on 'embedded WebViews', the real-time push features and synchronization use the multi-tasking capabilities of the platform, and the integration between applications relies on the 'Android Application Framework'.
We're kicking off a new blog series, called 'Google on Android'. Over the next couple of weeks, we will dig deeper into each one of the Google applications available for Android, and at the end of the series, I'll let you know whether I've decided to switch phones or switch to pants that let me carry four phones instead of three.
The first Android-powered phone, announced today by T-Mobile, comes 'with Google'. The following Google applications are preloaded on the device: Search, Maps, Gmail with Contacts, Calendar, Google Talk, and YouTube. There are a few things I'm particularly excited about:
- Easy to use. It's never been easier to use Google on your phone. With single sign-in, you can log in to your Google account and have instant access to all your favorite Google products. No messing around with settings, your login never expires, and everything just works. If you don't have a Google account yet, you can set one up on your phone and be up and running in seconds.
- Fully synchronized. Your emails, contacts, calendar entries, Google Talk chats are fully synchronized with Gmail and Calendar on the web. New events are pushed in real-time to your phone and any changes you make on-the-go are immediately available on the web. If you ever lose or break your phone, all your data is safe and secure in the cloud.
- Designed to work together. Search is now available as a feature in many applications, including non-Google ones, such as the music player. While you're listening to a song -- like something from Depeche Mode -- just 'long-press' the artist's name. You'll see a menu pop up that let's you search Google for the Depeche Mode Wikipedia entry, or search YouTube for the music video. The contact application lets you see your friend's IM status, view his address on a map, and communicate with him using Gmail or Google Talk. And, of course, you can call or text him as well.
The Google applications on Android take full advantage of the features of the Android platform. Gmail is built on 'embedded WebViews', the real-time push features and synchronization use the multi-tasking capabilities of the platform, and the integration between applications relies on the 'Android Application Framework'.
We're kicking off a new blog series, called 'Google on Android'. Over the next couple of weeks, we will dig deeper into each one of the Google applications available for Android, and at the end of the series, I'll let you know whether I've decided to switch phones or switch to pants that let me carry four phones instead of three.
Get public transit directions in New York with Google Maps for mobile
Now that Google Maps can give you subway, train, bus, and ferry directions in New York City, it's a handy tool for planning a night on the town. But what if your plans change while you're at dinner?Luckily, Google Maps for mobile can give you the same public transit directions right on your cell phone! You can plan trips throughout the New York metro area, including turn-by-turn walking directions. With the My Location feature, most cell phones can automatically set the starting point for your trip, even without GPS. And satellite view and Street View (on selected devices) can show you a preview of where you're going.
With Google Maps for mobile in your pocket, you can go wherever the evening takes you, secure in the knowledge that it'll be easy to figure out how to get there. Google Maps for mobile with public transit directions is available for Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Symbian Series 60, and many Java-based phones. Download it by visiting http://m.google.com/nyc in your mobile phone's browser.
five fabulous fall things :)
To curb my anxiety (see post below), I'm going to focus on the positive... Today is the first day of Fall!! This is by far my favorite season of the year, and here's why:
1. cooler weather... which means I get to bust out my fall wardrobe :) I just love my sweaters, jeans and tall boots! Although it's torture to see all of the cute new clothes in all of the stores out lately.
2. starbucks lattes... okay so I drink these year-round, but they just taste better in the cooler Fall months!
3. changing leaves... even though this technically doesn't really occur until Christmas season.
4. good home cooking... this one is tentative since I really haven't tried cooking yet. But--my plan is to take baby steps and maybe start out with my handy dandy crock pot! I'm thinking roast beef or chili sometime this season. Wish me luck!
5. pumpkins and fall decor... since our apartment is pretty much all set for fall anyway (with our reds, golds and earth-toned furniture), I really like Fall because all I have to do is put out a few pumpkin-scented candles and call it a day! [See the House Itch for more amazing fall decor pictures!]
Yay for thinking about happy things this week... Help me out! What's your favorite thing about Fall?
1. cooler weather... which means I get to bust out my fall wardrobe :) I just love my sweaters, jeans and tall boots! Although it's torture to see all of the cute new clothes in all of the stores out lately.
2. starbucks lattes... okay so I drink these year-round, but they just taste better in the cooler Fall months!
3. changing leaves... even though this technically doesn't really occur until Christmas season.
4. good home cooking... this one is tentative since I really haven't tried cooking yet. But--my plan is to take baby steps and maybe start out with my handy dandy crock pot! I'm thinking roast beef or chili sometime this season. Wish me luck!
5. pumpkins and fall decor... since our apartment is pretty much all set for fall anyway (with our reds, golds and earth-toned furniture), I really like Fall because all I have to do is put out a few pumpkin-scented candles and call it a day! [See the House Itch for more amazing fall decor pictures!]
Yay for thinking about happy things this week... Help me out! What's your favorite thing about Fall?
"You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." John 13:7
Please pray for me this week as I'm finding out some information about my job status. We've known this was coming for a while now, but it's just now hitting and we'll actually know our "fate" by the end of the week. I know that God has His perfect plan for everything, but the "control freak" in me has a hard time accepting that I can't plan a darn thing in this situation!
Praise God for Ryan's job starting this week though... He has His perfect timing.
Praise God for Ryan's job starting this week though... He has His perfect timing.
viva las vegas: day 4
Day 4 - Sunday:
On Sunday Jeri and Christen went for a 15 mile run (they're training for the leiukemia marathon for Mimi) while Mom and I slept in :) Then Jeri, Christen and I went down to the pool to relax while Mom went to get her hair done at the salon (it was hard for her to do her own hair with her huge ol cast). We had lunch at a cute restauraunt by the pool and had fun feeding the cute little birds that surrounded us.
Later, Mom came by and we all went up to a big cabana to sit and talk over Pina Coladas for a while. (Didn't her hair look great?)
Then, we all went up and got ready for our last night on the town. We decided to walk by the Ventian which was another must-see hotel for me, and we saw the really cool gondola boat rides that people could go on. Since we were running out of time, I decided I'd wait and save that for when Ryan and I come to Vegas together someday. We took pictures of hotels since it was our last view of them in the daylight... still couldn't get over how pretty everything was.
Then we walked through the Wynn Hotel. Maybe my favorite hotel in Vegas because it was just beautiful, and the architecture and details were amazing. We decided to get appetizers in a swanky restaurant overlooking a really cool fountain. Although the food wasn't very good (and pretty expensive), we still had a good time.
Later, we took a cab back to the Mirage so that we could go see our Cirque du Soleil show. It was a-mazing. Just amazing. The show we saw was "Love", and it was a show that was set to a bunch of Beatles songs. I was told that if you didn't like the Beatles before the show, then you'd like it after you saw it...and that was totally right! I'm such a Beatles fan now! I was sad we couldn't take pictures of all of the cool cool cool parts of the show, but it was still incredible.
Later, we went to the Bellagio to see the fountains. But before we went outside, we walked through the hotel to see all of the beautiful things inside. There was a whole ceiling of beautiful glass sculptures that I just couldn't get enough pictures of.
There was also a really cool chocolate store that had the world's largest running chocolate fountain (always a good thing!) I was really tempted to eat one of the homemade crepes they were making (I'm on a big crepe kick now), but I just settled for a latte.
Then we went outside to see the fountain show. The song that it was choreographed to was "Luck be a Lady" by Frank Sinatra. We all really really loved it, and we knew that that was one of Mimi's favorite things in Vegas.
The whole trip was just amazing, and that was the perfect ending note. I am SO blessed to have incredible family that sticks together through everything, and I hope we continue to have more and more girls trips as the years go by :)
On Sunday Jeri and Christen went for a 15 mile run (they're training for the leiukemia marathon for Mimi) while Mom and I slept in :) Then Jeri, Christen and I went down to the pool to relax while Mom went to get her hair done at the salon (it was hard for her to do her own hair with her huge ol cast). We had lunch at a cute restauraunt by the pool and had fun feeding the cute little birds that surrounded us.
Later, Mom came by and we all went up to a big cabana to sit and talk over Pina Coladas for a while. (Didn't her hair look great?)
Then, we all went up and got ready for our last night on the town. We decided to walk by the Ventian which was another must-see hotel for me, and we saw the really cool gondola boat rides that people could go on. Since we were running out of time, I decided I'd wait and save that for when Ryan and I come to Vegas together someday. We took pictures of hotels since it was our last view of them in the daylight... still couldn't get over how pretty everything was.
Then we walked through the Wynn Hotel. Maybe my favorite hotel in Vegas because it was just beautiful, and the architecture and details were amazing. We decided to get appetizers in a swanky restaurant overlooking a really cool fountain. Although the food wasn't very good (and pretty expensive), we still had a good time.
Later, we took a cab back to the Mirage so that we could go see our Cirque du Soleil show. It was a-mazing. Just amazing. The show we saw was "Love", and it was a show that was set to a bunch of Beatles songs. I was told that if you didn't like the Beatles before the show, then you'd like it after you saw it...and that was totally right! I'm such a Beatles fan now! I was sad we couldn't take pictures of all of the cool cool cool parts of the show, but it was still incredible.
Later, we went to the Bellagio to see the fountains. But before we went outside, we walked through the hotel to see all of the beautiful things inside. There was a whole ceiling of beautiful glass sculptures that I just couldn't get enough pictures of.
There was also a really cool chocolate store that had the world's largest running chocolate fountain (always a good thing!) I was really tempted to eat one of the homemade crepes they were making (I'm on a big crepe kick now), but I just settled for a latte.
Then we went outside to see the fountain show. The song that it was choreographed to was "Luck be a Lady" by Frank Sinatra. We all really really loved it, and we knew that that was one of Mimi's favorite things in Vegas.
The whole trip was just amazing, and that was the perfect ending note. I am SO blessed to have incredible family that sticks together through everything, and I hope we continue to have more and more girls trips as the years go by :)
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