Author: Juan Carlos Bagnell

Juan has been obsessed with consumer electronics since before computers had GUI’s. Out of college he worked on a JIT computing contract which supported DOE facilities in New Mexico. He’s been featured on numerous podcasts and radio shows lending his tech insights. You can also find him in LA directing voice over actors and producing spoken word recording.
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Amazon fights Brick & Mortar stores while trying to save the US Postal Service

Amazon-logoTwo birds. One stone.

Starting now, Amazon Prime customers in Los Angeles and New York Metro areas might be able to receive packages on Sundays via the US Postal service. Amazon is hoping to roll out the service to other major markets like Dallas, Phoenix, and New Orleans throughout 2014.

It’s a pretty clear stab at the recent transitions Amazon has gone through in these major markets. Most states are now trying to enact some kind of internet sales tax on companies like Amazon. Now the online sales giant has been experimenting with ways to combat local sales. First with services like Amazon Locker, now with Sunday delivery. It still wont have the instant gratification of buying something in person, but you’ll no longer have to wait until Monday to get your hands on a Thursday or Friday purchase.

If it helps out the US Post Office, well that’s just a win-win for everyone.

Full PR after the jump. Continue reading “Amazon fights Brick & Mortar stores while trying to save the US Postal Service”

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PSA: MotoMaker for the Moto X now available for top four carriers in the USA.

motomaker moto xJust a friendly heads up.

If you were holding off on buying a Moto X for VZW, Sprint, or T-Mo because you didn’t have access to the same MotoMaker customization options AT&T had, well now might be the time to make that jump.

MotoMaker is no longer a carrier exclusive, and now all four top carriers in the USA can take advantage of the myriad number of color and accent options available.

Get out there and personalize the perfect phone for you!

MotoMaker

Related:
1st Impressions – The Moto X on AT&T (Video)

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AT&T teases Lumia 1520 features on video.

nokia lumia 1520 hands on video youtubeWe’re getting really excited for Nokia’s first phablet, and now AT&T is getting in on the act teasing us with this video.

Spend a good 90 seconds with this quick look at the Lumia 1520. Quick run down on the specs, and a good look at the hardware. The screen looks great on camera too.

If you want a more in depth look at the 1520, we went hands on at a Nokia event in New York!

The 1520 should be in stores by the end of the month. Will you be shopping one this holiday season? Leave us a comment below!

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Do you get all the bandwidth you pay for? The FCC will release a speed test app for you to check!

ookla speedtest app screen shotBandwidth speeds and prices are a touchy subject here in the states right now. People often are surprised to see that their expensive internet plan does not guarantee a consistent top tier of speed. If you have “50 megs innernet”, that only means that your connection can burst up to that speed, not that it can sustain that speed.

To help consumers figure out if they are actually getting what they pay for, the FCC is jumping into the app business. More details will be announced on November 14th during the release, but it looks like Android users will get first crack at the FCC test app. With users contributing test results, the FCC hopes to develop a national report card for carriers and ISP’s. Seeing as how we pay more for data access than most other industrialized countries and still deal with caps and throttling, it’ll be nice to see if we actually get what we pay for.

I’m certainly interested in seeing how the app compares to other speed test apps like Ookla’s SpeedTest.net app (shown to the right). Expect a full test when the FCC’s solution drops!

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Top 5 for the week starting November 4 – Thor Red Carpet, and why you should shake up your tech habits…

thor dark world skype marvel somegadgetguy red carpetWhew! Another week and a bunch of exciting stories hit the web. Here are the most read and most shared stories from this here lil old blog.

5. On the Red Carpet for the Hollywood Premiere of Thor: The Dark World

A little shameless plugging here. Skype hooked me up with a pass to the red carpet premiere of Thor: The Dark World. I got to jump into the pit, and got a bunch of great pics of the film’s stars looking fabulous.

4. Why now is the perfect time to diversify your technology portfolio…

It’s becoming a weekly tradition, my cranky technology rant. I’m like the Andy Rooney of internet commentary, but I’ve figured out how to use the Start Button in Windows. Anywho, this week I turn my sights on fanboyism and why it might not be a bad idea right now to try something different than what you’re currently using.

Lenovo-Miix-2-Windows-8.1-8-inch-tablet3. Lenovo Announces most affordable Windows 8.1 tablet at $299

Tablets are going to be all the rage this holiday season (Our holiday tablet buying guide comes out tomorrow)! Lenovo is double dipping in both Android and Windows 8 slates. Funnily enough, this week more of you looked up info on their Windows offerings. The Miix 2 looks like it might be a decent way to jump into a mini-Windows portable with some decent computing power.

2. Review: The HMDX Jam Classic portable wireless Bluetooth speaker

A blast from the past, this post got shared around a lot! Our review of the HMDX Jam Classic showcased what this tiny little wunder-speaker was capable of. Utilizing our full audio test suite, and a hands on video, this review proved mighty popular.

0741. App Review: Top Task List for Windows Phone 8

Welcome to the list Chris! Mr. Trimble is a new contributor here on SGG, and he’s a fan of Windows Phone. His second app review for the site scored this week’s number one spot.

We’re nothing without you readers, and we certainly can’t compete against the big blogs by ourselves. We always greatly appreciate not only the likes, but the sharing on social sites like Google Plus, Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit. The more we get to talk with other tech fans, the better we get, and soon we’ll be able to reward that participation with some fun contests coming up soon!

Thanks for reading, and if you feel we missed a big story this week, or you have a hot tip, please drop us a line on our Contact Page!

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Real World Battery Test: The LG G2 – 47 hours to “Critically Low”

lg g2 battery critically low run time test 47 hours somegadgetguyThis is the longest it has ever taken me to run a battery test.

Run time is a difficult feature to test. Benchmarking usually means throwing high usage scenarios at a device to see how long it can last under “worst case” usage. The phone runs hot, which means it runs somewhat less efficiently, and you end up with a number that you can share. If you test all phones the same way you can somewhat compare how all phones perform when they run hot.

The problem with real world testing is it takes longer, and your testing isn’t going to be consistent. Maybe I took more calls on my HTC one than I did during my Galaxy S4 during a similar 24 hour period. Maybe I gamed longer on the iPhone than I did on the Moto X. Basically I’m saying you should take the following with a small grain of salt… Continue reading “Real World Battery Test: The LG G2 – 47 hours to “Critically Low””

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Blackberry: An interim CEO and the illusion of action…

blackberry os 10 handsets z10 q10 smartphonesI wanted to take a minute to look at the Blackberry situation before reporting on it.

Earlier this week it was announced that Blackberry would not be bought out by Fairfax Financial, the company would not be going private, and that CEO Thorsten Heins would step down. Fairfax and other investors will be offering up instead a $1 Billion bond to help float the company, as its cash reserves are starting to dwindle. John Chen is stepping up to the plate as interim CEO, receiving a $3 million salary and over $80 million in restricted stock. John Chen was responsible for fixing up Sybase, a corporate data solutions company.

At its core, Blackberry has been facing a crisis of identity. Like Microsoft, BB missed the boat on the consumer driven data services market. Our favorite little tic-tac keyboarded phones were corporate sweethearts, but BB was late in attempting to crack into the general consumer demographics where Android and iOS dominate. The new BB Z10 was a first step towards offering up corporate friendly mobility which would be pretty enough for consumers to enjoy.

Of course it was not successful. Continue reading “Blackberry: An interim CEO and the illusion of action…”

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Microsoft Support: If your Surface wont turn on, Tap on Settings…

LB_8705This is just funny.

Occasionally things bork. Happens to all gadgets. It’s frustrating, but you find some support and you get the problem fixed. For those times when your shiny brand new Surface tablet wont turn on, Microsoft has some helpful advice.

From the MS Support page:

If your Surface RT or Surface 2 won’t turn on, here are several steps you can take to pin point the cause and fix the problem.

Before you begin
***Step 1: Unplug the Surface power cord from the electrical outlet, and if you have any of the following remove or disconnect them from Surface:

  • Power supply
  • Surface Cover
  • microSD card
  • USB devices such as printers, keyboards, or mice
  • Video or audio cables or adapters

***Step 2: Swipe in from the right edge of the screen, and tap Settings.
***Step 3: Tap Power, and then tap Shutdown.
***Step 4: Next, make a few preliminary checks:

Is the electrical outlet you’re using to charge your Surface working properly?
Try plugging something else into the outlet and see if it works.
Are conditions right for recharging?
It’s best to charge your battery near room temperature. Surface is designed to work between 32° and 95°Fahrenheit (0° and 35° Celsius).
Are the magnetic charging connectors clean and free of damage?

Wait what… Rewind that…

It doesn’t look like Microsoft really thought out steps two and three there…

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