Google Nexus One Phone draws a lot of reviews

Google's Nexus One Phone is officially out and thankfully it's not exclusively on the iPhone-user-hated AT&T Network (cheers!).   It's already drawing a lot of reviews, some comparing it to the iPhone, others to Droid, or just by itself.

The Nexus One Phone's on the T-Mobile Network, and the best news is that existing T-Mobile customers like me are eligible for an upgrade to what I will now call "The G-phone". Verizon mobile users will have to wait until spring of this year for service activation.

There are a slew of reviews of the videoblogger-ready Google Phone by everyone except Iron Man 2's Robert Downey, Jr, as "Tony Stark".

TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington explains that he's (like Fred Wilson) had a G-Phone since mid-December and has used it as his primary mobile phone. That's quite a switch for Arrington, who could be seen using an iPhone as his primary mobile device for some time before the introduction of the G-Phone.

Arrington says that while the G-Phone looks like the iPhone, it's better "in most ways" and is the fastest and "most elegant smartphone" available to date. Michael's main reason is the Google Voice provision in the G-Phone. With it, Google Voice users can use their number and use it to make outbound calls and messages. And the phone comes with something called Google Voice Keyboard.

Google Voice Keyboard is such that according to Michael Arrington, you can talk into the phone and it converts your speech to text. He says it's "90 percent accurate".

Engadget is less excited about the G-Phone, stating "it's not in any way the Earth-shattering, paradigm-skewing device the media and community cheerleaders have built it up to be" and in some cases prefers Droid over it. Yikes. But in reading Engadget's review, it seems as if authors Joshua Topolsky and Chris Ziegler were so, well, nit-picky, that they left themselves without a way to escape with anything other than a somewhat negative assessment.

The New York Times' David Pogue, channeling Engadget, writes that "the Google news this week is not quite as earth-shaking as Google seems to think it is".

Interesting.

Sometimes this is done as a way to achieve what the writer feels is a certain element of "cool" but the approach has grown tired of late. It's OK to be genuinely excited, guys.

A lot of video about the Google Nexus Phone

The Google Nexus Phone is already the subject of a slew of videos, some of which are below:

Official Google Video:



MacWorld:



Even kids get into the act:



Stay tuned!

Rory Markas dies but lives on in movie, The Yankles

The main play-by-play man for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and a broadcaster for USC Basketball, the Milwaukee Brewers, and the Los Angeles Clippers and Pacific Coast League baseball , Rory Markas, passed away this week, but he's immortalized in a new movie called The Yankles.

The Yankles is about Charlie Jones, a washed up, ex-major league baseball player, and an Orthodox Jewish academy who lets him start a new baseball team.



According to ESPN, Rory Markas died suddenly Monday, the cause of his passing not known as of this writing. He was just 54 years old. Markas is survived by his mother, Billie, and brothers Gary and Troy Markas.

Markas graciously provided his vocal talents for The Yankles when its producers wanted a big-name play-by-play announcer. According to the LA Times, film producers Zev and David Brooks sent an email to Markas asking if he would help them in such a role; he responded and was more than helpful. Markas' voice is the first one and the last one in the movie.

tpempir at YouTube made this moving video tribute to Rory Markas:

Chicago plane crash at Chicago Executive Airport

A LearJet cargo plane has crashed near Chicago Executive Airport in Wheeling, Illinois, outside of Chicago, and just north of O'Hare International Airport. According to the Chicago Tribune, both the pilot and co-pilot were killed, but their names have not been released as of this writing.



The aircraft was reportedly making an approach to a runway at 1:30 CST when it crashed near Euclid Avenue and fell into a forest preserve surrounding the Des Plaines River just south of the airport. Airport spokesperson Laura Witlox said the plane belonged to Royal Air.

If that is the case Royal Air Freight, based out of Waterford, Michigan runs a fleet of small planes for cargo-only use, including six LearJets.

According to CNN the flight was on its way to Atlanta, from Pontiac, Michigan with a stop in Chicago.

Stay tuned.

Google Nexus One phone to be released; better than iPhone?

Google's much anticipated Nexus One phone "iPhone killer" is to be released today, which happens to be the week of CES 2010. (In fact, TechCrunch's MGSigler is already rocking out at the "Android Press Gathering" as I write this. And oh, does TechCrunch answer emails anymore?)

But the phone is already out and used by a select few in the public. Just ask Fred Wilson, a venture capitalist who received his Nexus One phone last December as a Christmas gift. Wilson took to his blog Musings of a VC in NYC to brag about his good fortune and share the advantages of having a Google Phone:

In mid December as holiday gifts and cards were arriving daily in our office, I received a gift from Google. It was a Nexus One. I have been using it since that day as my primary phone. In the box was a note from Google asking me to keep quiet about the phone until Jan 5th. Well today is Jan 5th and so I can tell you what I think. So here goes

This is not going to be a hard core review of the phone. Engadget has one of those up this morning. Thus is about how I use it and why I'll most likely stick with this phone for a while longer.

Then Wilson explains the advantages and disadvantages of the Google Nexus One Phone. He praises its effortless connection to available wifi transmissions and observes that you can run multiple apps in it, which isn't true for the current iPhone. However Wilson then lists the Google Phone's disadvantages to the iPhone, namely the onscreen keyboard which he writes is "good but not as good as the iPhone" and notes the lack of an iPhone-like "multitouch" feature.

Beyond that, he praises the phone for being able to remember passwords and how well Google apps run on it.

Stay tuned.

Tiger Woods in Vanity Fair amid rehab reports

This Tiger Woods update from O'Hare Airport has Tiger Woods allegedly in rehab (!) and on the cover of the February Vanity Fair in a photo that caused Entertainment Weekly's Adam Markovitz to write "seems more than a little menacing to me", which strikes me as racist, and opens the question if Markovitz would have even had such a thought in his head if Tiger Woods was white?

Tiger Woods in Vanity Fair 

Or let's say he was Robert Pattison, from Twilight: New Moon or Taylor Lautner for that matter? My guess is he would use adjectives like "beefy" but nothing like "menacing" as was used for Tiger Woods.

But I digress.

The photo was taken pre-Tiger Woods sex scandal and the article (called "Tiger In The Rough") was written by Buzz Bissinger without Tiger Woods knoweldge or approval. My quick pre-flight blogging scan of Buzz' work reveals that it's really just an overview of what happened to Tiger Woods and speculation if he will return to Golf. That's it; just two pages online. (Which is disappointing for Vanity Fair as I'd expect six pages, but this is a bad economy.)

Meanwhile the VF works come amid new unconfirmed allegations that Tiger Woods has entered rehab. The whole email deal behind us and largely disproven (I could not care one way or the other), we now have a fresh field of rumors and sitings to deal with.

The rehab stuff does not have the TMZ or Radaronline.com seal of approvel, so it can't be taken seriously because those two organizations have the best track record of getting the Tiger Woods (or Michael Jackson or whatever celebrity) story right.

Stay tuned.

Michael Jackson and Lenny Kravitz "Another Day" - update

Greetings from a typically busy O'Hare Airport! This Michael Jackson and Lenny Kravitz "Another Day" update comes from TMZ.com, which reports that the leaked new song "Another Day" has caught the eye of The Jackson Estate, Sony, and Lenny Kravitz.

While Sony takes steps to remove the video images, Lenny Kravitz made this video below to say that he did not release the song for Internet ears to hear. He says:

Good morning. I just want to reach out to you, so I can set the record straight regarding the Michael Jackson track "Another Day". As you know and have heard, the song, part of the song leaked. The version that's out , roughly a minute and thrity seconds of the track, not mixed but it is the track. Not by me, because mine has been locked in a vault.

The DJ who's speaking over the track (shrugs); I don't know who that person is. I don't know how they obtained it or what their purpose is, but that person has nothing to do with the track.

That song was recorded by me - I produced it. For him (Michael Jackson). I wrote the song. I played all the instruments. It was one of the most amazing musical experiences I've ever had. It was a bunch of people who respect each other and love music. I'd like to see this thing get straightened out as soon as possible. I'd like for you the fan who love Michael to be able to hear the track in its entirety as it was intended to be. That's all being worked out as I sit here in the bush. I'll get back to you.

Here's Lenny Kravitz' video:



Stay tuned.

Related link: TMZ.com

CES 2010 - Videobloggers storm CES Las Vegas

CES 2010 Las Vegas is almost upon us, well for all practical purposes, its here. The Consumer Electronics Show has always been a "big deal" but the emergence of New Media and the use of communications devices like camera-equipped cell phone has made it only larger. And the impact of these eonsumer electronics systems on media has been nothing short of amazing, and given rise to that newest of all creatures...

The Videoblogger.

Videobloggers will not be in short supply at CES 2010. There's my friend Sarah Austin, who partnered with online meeting company Watchitoo to host a special live show January 8th. CNET has its BuzzOutLoud Live Show. And perhaps Robert Scoble will have another interesting story like this one from the 2008 CES:



Whatever the case, I'm not going to be there. Actually, never planned to go and I'm traveling as I write this. But I will be posting updates regularly through the week. If you're a vlogger and will be at CES, ping me.

Stay tuned.