my laptop isn’t cooperating with the wireless networks here at java one or in my hotel. for some reason i’m able to get a signal but i’ve been unable to get an ip address or connect with it. as a result i won’t updating my site as often as i’d like. i hate windows nt, i have to reboot every time i change any networking configuration and since i takes about 10 minutes to boot into nt it’s rather painful trying to get the wireless working.


today at java one has been rather slow so far. it’s more of an pavillion day designed to get everyone in, registered, and walking around to see the vendors. the sesssions don’t start until 2:15 today. i attended a few of the intra day “visionary” sessions but those were way to high level for me. there are a number of good sessions lined up for this afternoon all the way till late late tonight. we’ll see how long i last and if the late night birds of a feather (bof) are worth attending. i’ll post later tonight or tomorrow with more meat.


i was rather disappointed with the discounted devices this year. they normally have a nice discount for conference attendees at java one on a gadget. each year it’s something different like a palm or a zaurus. this year it’s one of two nokia phones that i’ve read nothing but bad reviews about. specifically the nokia 6800 and the 3650. the circular dial on the 3650 is impossible to use and the interface is way to camera focused and unresponsive. all of the default menus are related to the camera with the tiny buttons bringing up the menus that you actually care about. also when i push a button there is a noticable lag/delay before it performs the selected function. it’s actually a laberous task using this phone. not worth the discount of $200 off the already high $499 sticker price. i bet they’re giving these phones away in 6 months. the 6800 is equally as cumbersome and the keyboard, while a cool idea, actually detracts from the looks of the phone. it’s way too thick in my opinion and the keys don’t feel comfortable positioned on the sides of the screen. my hands don’t natually flow over the small qwerty keyboard like they do on a computer. to top it all off neither of the phones has bluetooth or any other wireless support. too many negatives for that price tag. oh well, maybe next time …