Firefox 31.0 Beta 5 is now available for download.
The latest build of Adobe Flash Player 14 Beta from June 23, 2014 is also available.
T-Mobile Test Drive: Day One
Received T-Mobile Test Drive kit on Wednesday afternoon, June 25, 2014.
The Test Drive Kit includes:
- Gold 64GB iPhone 5s with nano-SIM pre-installed
- Apple EarPod with mic and remote
- Apple 5 Watt USB Charger
- Apple Lightning Cable
- Manual
- Terms & Conditions booklet
I wonder what T-Mobile / Apple would do with the EarPod after it is being used. Remember, I have to return the Test Drive kit at after the seventh day.
T-Mobile Test Drive is free with no obligation to buy, but if the iPhone 5s comes back with a cracked screen, damaged screen display, water damage, active Find My iPhone feature, or can’t be powered on we have to charge a $100 damage fee. If you don’t return the device, we have to charge $699.99 plus applicable taxes.
A hold for $699.99 + taxes will be placed on your credit or debit card. The timing of releasing that hold will vary by credit card company. We won’t charge your card unless you fail to return the device.
Here’s the interesting part: a 64GB unlocked iPhone 5s retails for $849 + taxes at Apple Store. Should I choose to keep the 64GB iPhone 5s from the Test Drive kit, it would have cost me $699 + taxes. That is $150 cheaper than Apple Store price.
I already have an unlocked 64GB iPhone 5s, courtesy of firstnameatappledotcom. I don’t think I would want to buy one anytime soon.
For 24-hour period I used the iPhone 5s on T-Mobile network and performed Speed Test using Ookla SpeedTest.net app. Bear in mind, these tests were not done scientifically. In that 24-hour period I spent some times at the following locations in Southern California:
- Long Beach, Downtown and 2nd Street
- Fullerton and Placentia
- Costa Mesa and Newport Beach
I noticed that T-Mobile network performed exceptionally well in the Costa Mesa and Newport Beach area; 74.99 Mbps download and 25.43 Mbps upload peak test result. T-Mobile has the best network around my office desk, beating out AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. T-Mobile might have secretly installed a cell tower a few feet from me.
Somewhere in the Fullerton / Placentia area, Verizon seems to have the best network; beating T-Mobile and AT&T. Sorry for the slightly blurry picture, it’s the only one I have.
iPhone 5s on Verizon LTE network has an impressive 40.77 Mbps download speed compared to 13.48 Mbps and 9.92 Mbps for T-Mobile and AT&T, respectively.
In the Downtown Long Beach area, AT&T hits 8.88 Mbps download speed while T-Mobile hits 20.55 Mbps.
What do these all mean?
I can certainly say that I would not mind switching carrier. Six more days to go.
p.s. Here’s a 37-second video of one of the speed test I did.
OS X Mavericks 10.9.4 build 13E25
Apple seeds OS X Mavericks 10.9.4 build 13E25 to developers on Wednesday, June 25, 2014.
Google Domains
Google is now in the domain registration business. Google Domains is currently an invite only beta.
Whether you’re a rookie or a veteran, our website building providers offer everything you’ll need to easily create a beautiful website. This is an optional service offered by Shopify, Squarespace, Weebly and Wix. For an additional cost, you’ll enjoy secure, reliable hosting, customizable web templates and powerful features like e-commerce, drag & drop creation and mobile site-management. No coding required!
I have a few domains that were originally registered through Google Apps but not by Google. I will try moving at least one domain registration to Google Domains.
Hello Google Voice, How Are You?
Google I/O keynote is set to begin at at 9:00 AM PDT on June 25, 2014. Most likely there will be mentions of Google Glass, Android TV and the next Android OS. One thing that I personally am interested in is Google Voice.
Google Voice seems to have become a forgotten product as part of its features were integrated into Hangouts for Android and iOS, separately. Google Hangouts for iOS gained the ability to make phone calls while its Android counterpart gained the SMS and MMS integrations.
Google Voice App for iOS was last updated on September 25. 2013.
There have been speculations on what Google would do with Voice.
- Finally, we want to make Google Voice as secure as possible. There are a few third-party applications that provide calling and SMS services by making unauthorized use of Google Voice. These apps violate our Terms of Service and pose a threat to your security, so we’re notifying these app developers that they must stop making unauthorized use of Google Voice to run their services and transition users by May 15, 2014.
Many speculates that Google will kill Voice as a product. We all soon find out what Google will do at Google I/O 2014.
I use Google Voice number for work, that means I need to port that number out should Google kill Voice.
The Need for Regular Cleaning
I’ve told a lot of people that they need to clean their computer on regular basis.
Hiding Place
“A safe place where I hide from the sounds of thunder and fireworks.”
