what did you do today? (2008-2015) (closed)

[Walt34]

Went to the gym with DW. She was "getting OCD" about getting the ice off the driveway, sidewalk, and porch. I'm willing to wait for the end of the week when it'll just melt by itself. The noise of her chipping away at it with the snow shovel was getting bothersome so I thought about getting her a roofing shovel to make it easier for her.

 

[foxfirev5]

Finally at the end of a two day shoveling and snow blowing battle. The county road grader came by this afternoon and cleared our street. Now the wind is still picking up and the temperature is dropping further. Time to settle in. - Not exactly, since I have the only 4wd in the family it means going out at 10:30 tonight to give my son a ride home. However, I'm glad to do it if everyone gets home safe.

 

[robnplunder]

I was playing golf and this guy takes out his smartphone, asks one of us to take his picture with background scenery, and sends the picture to his relatives buried in snow. He gets immediate response from his relatives who respond with expletive laden e-mail. The guy is laughing his heart out reading his relatives response.

 

[Nodak]

Just found out the parties to the jury trial I was scheduled for have settled out of court. I don't have to get up at 7am to get ready. Think I will have a drink to celebrate.

 

[Cassie]

Won a $1600 jackpot during my retirement celebration trip to Louisiana. Took the winnings in a check to make sure I don't spend it since I have 2 more days here. Linny, sorry about your dog.

 

[freebird5825]

I woke up at 4 AM and decided to stay up. The wind has been howling all night. No snow, unlike the poor folks up near Watertown, NY. That area is predicted to get up to 5 feet of snow over 3 days from a persistent lake effect snow band. Great for the snowmobile tourism industry, but hell for the local folks.
NWS radar image loop of Composite Reflectivity from Montague, NY

Today's plan is to do some mini-stepper exercise, continue cleaning the house, fold some laundry, and then watch some more Law & Order SVU. I did a thorough cleaning of the master bedroom yesterday, all corners and walls and furniture. Next up...the living room and hallway.

Mr B is furiously studying the IRS site for all the latest and greatest (NOT!) changes to tax laws. I have to admire his tenacity when it comes to reading all of that gobbledy-gook.

 

[NW-Bound]

So, we found ourselves owners of 2 old iPhone 3GS, courtesy of our children who abandoned these phones for newer, badder, bigger Android phones.

Well, in fact I have been overlooking them for a month now, and on a bit chilly day (of 68F) decided to pull them out and to set them up for our use. I dunno about all the games, or apps and stuff, but I guess the large 32GB memory will be useful for storing and playing MP3.

It irked me that I have to use iTunes to transfer MP3 files from my laptop to the phone, and then have to create an iCloud mail account, just to get my other non-Apple mail account. Yeah, iThis and iThat. The fight for world domination, but then Google and anybody else is doing the same thing. Sigh... Yep, they are reeling me in. iTunes wants my credit card number, just in case. Good thing I managed to cancel and get out of that screen. Lordy!

In looking to transfer contacts from my old dumb Samsung phone to this iPhone, I discovered that the old phone got a built-in GPS. Son of a gun! I have had this phone for 3 years, and never bothered finding out what it could do. Well, the darn thing is turned off most of the time anyway, and I have been using it mostly as a watch. I often forgot my phone number even. Well, I have it only because the incremental cost is only $10 in the family plan, and my wife handles all the phone talking on her own phone when we need to contact anyone anyway. She's my secretary to handle all the chores, while I concentrate on getting money off the market (and BS'ing on this forum). Oops, I digressed...

So, I have these phones up and running, and could check email, play some music. Then, time to turn mine off again to conserve battery power. Compared to old dumb phones that can be on standby for almost a week, these smartphones are power-hungry, aren't they?

 

[aja8888]

Then, time to turn mine off again to conserve battery power. Compared to old dumb phones that can be on standby for almost a week, these smartphones are power-hungry, aren't they?

Better get a couple of strategically placed chargers ready.

 

[Khan]

Walked with friend to a local saloon for an after lunch wine, was ~50F and still a bit windy.
I'm in Florida until 7 Feb.

 

[FIREd]

Walked with friend to a local saloon for an after lunch wine, was ~50F and still a bit windy.
I'm in Florida until 7 Feb.

Going back north is going to be tough!

 

[Meadbh]

Walked with friend to a local saloon for an after lunch wine, was ~50F and still a bit windy.
I'm in Florida until 7 Feb.

You timed this trip very well, Khan! Sounds like you are enjoying Florida.

 

[W2R]

Compared to old dumb phones that can be on standby for almost a week, these smartphones are power-hungry, aren't they?

It helps to just connect your iPhone via USB to your computer every night, so that it can sync with iTunes and recharge. It becomes a habit and to me, is this is less of an issue than I expected it would be.

And yes, having to use iTunes for everything is not my cup of tea, either. Sometimes I feel like Apple owns me (and all my information) rather than the reverse. But, after a while I got used to that, too.

 

[Bestwifeever]

.... week, these smartphones are power-hungry, aren't they?

You can turn data and wifi off in a pinch when you don't need them, and the battery will last much longer and you can still use the phone and text properties. We have done this when we are out and not able to charge a phone that is running out of juice but we need to stay reachable.

 

[NW-Bound]

it helps to just connect your iphone via usb to your computer every night, so that it can sync with itunes and recharge. It becomes a habit and to me, is this is less of an issue than i expected it would be...

you can turn data and wifi off in a pinch when you don't need them, and the battery will last much longer and you can still use the phone and text properties. We have done this when we are out and not able to charge a phone that is running out of juice but we need to stay reachable...

-- . .-. -.-. .. .-.-.- / ... . -. - / ..-. .-. --- -- / .-.. --- .-- / .--. --- .-- . .-. / .. .--. .... --- -. . .-.-.-

 

[MoWheels]

http://www.onlineconversion.com/morse_code.htm

.-.. .-. --- -- / -- -.-- / .. .--. .- -.. / -.. . / .- -.. ....- .... ..-.

 

[harley]

If you switch from a (not dumb, but more technologically discriminating) phone to an iPhone or some other "smart" phone, doesn't your cell phone company automatically switch you to a data plan and add an additional $30 or so to your monthly bill? I spent a couple of years using a Motorola Q which was the smartest phone I could find that didn't automatically kick in the data plan before giving up and going back to a dumb phone. Since I really only use the &^%& thing to make calls or do an occasional text, why pay the overlords all that extra money?

 

[aja8888]

If you have a smart phone, the carriers won't let you activate it without agreeing to pay for a data plan. Data plans are how they make high margin profits.

 

[NW-Bound]

I never signed up for a data plan. I am playing with this iPhone while it is accessing the internet via my home WiFi.

I have never used the Samsung phone (my son told me it came after this old iPhone) to access the home WiFi. So do not know if the unused built-in GPS app would pull the map off WiFi or not. Hmmm... I am curious now, and may pull the SIM card off to put it back to the old phone to see for myself.

PS. This iPhone is unlocked.

 

[ERD50]

If you have a smart phone, the carriers won't let you activate it without agreeing to pay for a data plan. Data plans are how they make high margin profits.

That is too broad a statement. I have DW's smartphone (Samsung Galaxy Exhibit II) on our t-mobile gold status prepaid. She uses all the smart features on wifi, uses it as a standard 'dumb phone' when she is out (calls and texts).

Nice thing is, you can turn on unlimited talk/text/data for $2/day ($3 for 'hi speed' data). So far, we have not even done that once in the past year, but nice to know it is there if you need it.

-ERD50

 

[NW-Bound]

So, I have already downloaded two apps: Google Map, and Gas Buddy.

Google Map because I saw that you can tell it to cache the map, so that the navigation function can be used off-line. It turned out that while the phone memory of 32GB is huge (my MS Streets and Trips map came from a 4GB DVD), google only lets me select a square of perhaps 20x20 miles to store. While RV'ing, I used a netbook to run MS S&T map with a GPS dongle, with the netbook sitting on the huge dashboard.

Gas Buddy app because it will help me find cheap gas while RV'ing. As it "knows" my current position from the built-in GPS, it can find the nearest and cheap gas station and hands off the location to the GPS map to direct me there. Slick! Of course I will need to have a data plan to use it on the road, but the money saved on refueling the gas guzzler should be enough to pay for the data plan, if I can subscribe on a monthly basis as needed.

PS. We are using ATT right now.

 

[ERD50]

So, I have already downloaded two apps: Google Map, and Gas Buddy.

Google Map because I saw that you can tell it to cache the map, so that the navigation function can be used off-line. ... .

Someone pls correct me if I'm wrong - but when I looked into the apps that allowed you to cache the map, those apps did not provide 'navigation' services w/o a data connection. IOW, yes, you had a map, and the GPS could tell you where you are on the map, but you did not get "Turn right in 100 yards" style instructions, and I don't think you could even plan a route automatically.

From what I could tell, the navigation (turn-by-turn directions) apps get their routes and instructions from a computer in the cloud, they don't do that calculation locally. So you need a data connection for turn-by-turn.

But map/location may serve your needs.

This is what I determined over a year ago when I looked into it. I may have missed something, or maybe things have been updated, but that's my understanding. I would have thought these smart phones had enough brains to do what a ten year old GPS could do, but apparently not (or it is restricted in some other way - licensing?)


-ERD50

 

[aja8888]

That is too broad a statement. I have DW's smartphone (Samsung Galaxy Exhibit II) on our t-mobile gold status prepaid. She uses all the smart features on wifi, uses it as a standard 'dumb phone' when she is out (calls and texts).

Nice thing is, you can turn on unlimited talk/text/data for $2/day ($3 for 'hi speed' data). So far, we have not even done that once in the past year, but nice to know it is there if you need it.

-ERD50

Maybe times have changed since the last time we bought smart phones (AT&T) and activated them. AT&T would not complete a contract unless we had agreed on a paid data plan. That was over two years ago.

No longer have AT&T and have switched to PagePlus. Now I can turn off my data on the Android phone as I have an app, but that doesn't mean I have a smart phone without a paid data plan.

I have not tried to activate a smart phone on PagePlus without data, but I am sure it can be done with the cheaper plans.

I guess I am not positive that it is possible to activate a new smart phone on a major carrier (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint) without a data plan. Can someone comment on this?

 

[Khan]

Went to local health clinic; have tonsillitis.

 

[travelover]

........ I have not tried to activate a smart phone on PagePlus without data, but I am sure it can be done with the cheaper plans.
..........

I have a smart phone on PagePlus on the very basic plan. I can access data, but it is expensive - $1 a megabyte. I don't use the data, but it is nice to have the option in an emergency, and since my balance rolls forward, it is essentially free if I use it.

 

[NanoSour]

I guess I am not positive that it is possible to activate a new smart phone on a major carrier (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint) without a data plan. Can someone comment on this?

I can only speak about AT&T. I've been trying to reduce my monthly bill for 2 iPhone 4 phones (currently pay $95/month) and AT&T will not let me drop the data even tho we've only averaged 100MB for the last 6 months. I'm paying $45/month for this data privilege and have now decided to switch to a different cell provider. I will let you know that AT&T did give me $100 no questions asked, but that is not enough to keep me with them.

I should receive a new Sim card from Consumer Cellular tomorrow morning and I'll stick it in DW's phone for testing before I cancel our AT&T account. The CC service will cut our bill down the $40/month + tax for 500 shared minutes, 1000 texts, and 100MB of data. Hope it works out and saves me $600 this year. IDK what took me so long.