Who’s on Crack in Tech: 08.21.09

Yes, as summer steams toward a close the tech world gears up for fall intros and even CES is on the horizon. PR folks have been huddled in corners trying to figure out how to make their widget the “bomb-diggity” for the holiday buzz and into January. The result? Some hits, but mostly excitement over some repackaged dog poo. Here are my faves of the week:

• Google Voice thinks I want to call Canada
• “It was AT&T, in the drawing room, with the lead pipe”- WSJ
• Camera quandary
• Dell backpedals phone outing

Google Voice says, “eh?”

Despite pressure from the FCC regarding a good long look into why the Google Voice app wasn’t up to snuff for Apple/AT&T, the service soldiers on introducing new features. Our Robert Nelson reports, “Google Voice, the service that many people are still waiting to get an invitation for, as well as the service that is now tempting many iPhone users to jailbreak, has been steadily rolling out some improvements and tweaks.”

One of these tweaks is calling Canada for free. Grand Central (the service that became Google Voice after some cash exchanged hands) offered this perk, but taken away by Google. Now it is back, so presumably you can call a Mountie or hockey player of your choice. Just kidding, though my calls to Canada are very low in number. Perhaps we should talk more?

AT&T holds smoking gun?

According to an opinion piece that ran in the A section, opposite important things like health care reform, why the Economist magazine should change from Red to Black with the economy, and why we should build more F-22s, the WSJ gave credence to the theory that AT&T wants Google Voice to eat it. That was the thrust behind Andy Kessler’s piece citing no source, no statements, no evidence other than circumstantial.

It was an all out battle cry for an attack on AT&T. Kessler’s not new to throwing mud; he ridicules Walter Cronkite What prompted Kessler to jump on AT&T? Kessler’s personal crusade against the current administration for bailing out things that are “too big to fail.” The FCC better not treat AT&T and Verizon like Citigroup, GM, and the Post Office. Cellphone operators aren’t too big to fail.

That’s a big jump and wouldn’t a FCC informal investigation (something I’ve said before is silly) be contradictory evidence of them not using kid gloves on the carriers? You’re pushing too much BS to make a hill of this.

Will cameras outside of phones die?

For consumers, that answer must be yes. Just this week it was announced that the iPhone has become the most popular camera on Flickr, a web photo sharing site. That is huge and points to just one thing: we love access.

While on vacation last week, I was torn on which to take on day trips: my Casio camera to get quality shots and video or my iPhone that lets me instantly shoot photos to Facebook, Twitter, or just email. I imagine this same debate happens with a lot of folks and those that don’t have a digicam probably don’t even think about having one too much.

That isn’t to say I love the iPhone’s camera, it is kinda crappy, but what isn’t crappy is how I can share them immediately. Maybe that is the answer for digicams, stick in an always on data connection, a la the Peek device. I have an Eye-Fi SD card that hooks into Wi-Fi but it isn’t enough, I need more control on where the images go and how.

Obviously, I am not a photog like our Exec. Editors Berger and Berger (no relation, which makes me think of Simon & Simon TV show, but they were related). They love their massive giant cameras that can catch the crazy eyebrows of Steve Ballmer from 20 rows back. Like most consumers, I use what I have or can get for the least amount of money and/or hassle. Outlook: expect a decline in digital camera sales this year.

Dell lets smartphone get waved around, says “Pretend you didn’t see that.”

The actual words were “The only thing that we’re confirming is that we’re in product development with China Mobile,” Dell said, “We were there as a development partner for the [Google Android-based] oPhone platform,” according to Sascha Seagan of PC Mag. This week, a Dell smartphone was shown off as China Mobile announced some new services. The phone looks pretty good.

So China Mobile execs wave around your phone and it isn’t an announcement? OK, are you planning a huge launch party? Expect customers lining up in the street? What’s so secret?

By the way, Dell, shrewd move on going to China to compete in an market that hasn’t moved to the smartphone yet; the US would be a tough road to hoe right now.