In case you haven't noticed, AT&T has the iPhone. And Verizon has The Network.
But now, Verizon has a real option for iPhone-starved VZW customers - the Droid.
The Motorola-built Droid teams with Google to bring open architecture to VZW - an outfit that has firmly resisted that open-app notion in the past.
A couple of Verizon connections were kind enough to loan me a Droid for the Thanksgiving holiday. In the short time I drove the Droid, I found it played well with the main apps I use every day - Gmail, Facebook, SMS, surfing and real-time Google maps. (Which were free! See, VZW is starting to get this open-app thing.) Phone function was up to snuff with my BlackBerry, even as I adjusted to the new interfaces. Watching the rest of my family interact with the Droid was the eye-opener, though. My nephew was nearly drooling, while my oh-so-cool (and BlackBerry-equipped) niece seemed less impressed. My two sons, both of whom are on iPod Touches (but VZW phones) enjoyed messing with it a bit. In fact, since I didn't load a bunch of music on the Droid, we streamed music from Pandora on our drive through the Ohio flatlands, then fed that into the minivan stereo.
Our standard-sized jack was a bit wonky, and the music got a bit choppy when multitasking the Droid at 75 mph, but neither was unexpected. Left alone, the Droid flowed the music just fine.
This is a slick unit, about the same size as an iPod Touch or iPhone. Its removable battery and slider keyboard make it a bit weighter, but that's not entirely bad. It gives the device a heft that feels good when in use.
Putting auxiliary headlights on a 2008 Buell Ulysses
When it comes to night flighting, TeamBoxer likes lights. Lots and lots of bright, lovely lights.
A pair of Hella FF50s have been on my shelf for more than a year, waiting for the right app. They were cheap, they are sturdy, and they come with a rat's nest of wiring and a relay to make mounting easy.
First, the right-angle mounts were handmade, and mounted off the turn signal stalks.
Wired them into the high beam switch. (Had already done the "low beam always on" Ulysses wiring trick.)
The bottom line is, Todd likes to visit with ole Tennessee Jack at the end of an evening. When you hit the hotel room after 500 miles or so, the last thing you want to do is make an immediate trip to the liquor store. You want a snort and a shower, in that order.
But those cheap little plastic flasks don't last a week with friends along. So this plastic bottle, which originally held Canadian Mist, now capably holds Old No. 7 on the road.
It stashes neatly and flatly. It's indestructible. It seals tight. And it can serve up several fingers a day, over hotel ice, for about a week.
Need more than that?
Well then, friend, you need help, not a plastic bottle.
Tools
The bottom line is, Todd likes to visit with ole Tennessee Jack at the end of an evening. When you hit the hotel room after 500 miles or so, the last thing you want to do is make an immediate trip to the liquor store. You want a snort and a shower, in that order.