Ampers & Dot

Tonight I’ll be attending the Boston Gadgetry MeetUp, a group organized (by me) to bring together people who like to talk about fun tech-toys.

The general topic of the evening will be “Mobile Operating Systems”, to discuss the brewing battle between Windows Mobile, the iPhone OS, Blackberry, and the prepubescent Android.

For a little background reading on this subject, check out the following links:

• HTC’s Diamond featuring Windows Mobile 6.1: YouTube Video
• Blackberry’s newly announced “Bold” with new OS 4.6: Gizmodo Images
• A video walkthrough of the Android platform: YouTube Video
• And a few leaked details on the new 3G iPhone: CrunchGear

And here are a few notes that I’m excited to discuss this evening.

• That Palm OS isn’t even in the mixer anymore
• How the Diamond’s modded WM 6.1 is WM 6.0 with the addition of a number of features to make it more like the iPhone
• The fact that Blackberry can actually make hardware appealing enough to compensate for no touchscreen
• And conversely, how the iPhone can make an OS appealing enough to compensate for no hardware
• How each OS is targeted towards a different user group, but the hardware doesn’t necessarily match this
• How easily Android will be able to break into the market because of its minimal operating requirements
• The future of the mobile OS - combining a UI of the iPhone with functionality of Windows Mobile… and how this will most likely be seen in Android 2 before either WM or an iPhone…

So if any of these things interest you then stop by the Kinsale at Government Center this evening after work. And make sure to check out the Gadgetry MeetUp page for more details.

Hope to see you there!

Hot off the heals of last night’s WebInnovators (while there I saw about 200 iPhones but only a few good startup pitches) I’m in the mood to branch out in the area. So, in an attempt to be more social, network a bit in Boston, and play with lots of gadgets, I’ve just formed the Boston Gadgetry Meetup group.

The idea here is that people will come meet at a bar and talk about nerdy gadgets and such. I’m not really sure how successful this will be- but I thought “hey, drinking beers and playing with toys is what I do on the third Tuesday of each month anyway… why not do it with other people!?”

So if you’re in the area and want to speak geek- check out the meetup page by clicking on the badge below. Drew’s already committed to hanging out… so at least I wont be all alone on the 15th.

Click here to check out
The Boston electronics Meetup!

Hope to see you there!

I’m posting twice in a day to provide further justification as to why Boston needs a better tech blogging community…

Valleywag, the self proclaimed “Center of the IT World and the Website that Thinks it’s Better than You” (ok, I made that up), takes a nice and unnecessary stab at Boston with their announcement of Google’s Street View updates.

“Google Street View Rolls Out in Boston and Other Places that Don’t Matter”

Thanks, Valleywag. Well, at least you’ve taken a break from your US Magazine-like reporting of the Larry Page’s Wedding… stalkers…

Boston is in dire need of a stronger blogging community. I understand the vastness of Silicon Valley, but as Boston/Cambridge is on the rise, we need writers supporting the growth.

And seriously, no one out there has found anything funny caught by the google cars in Boston?

Big and fun news today: Google’s voyeuristic Street View finally launched for Boston maps.

Go check it out now

For those unfamiliar, Google maps added this street view function for big cities over the last year, giving you a peak into real locations. And although this all seems a little creepy and intrusive, this summer I noticed a few cars with cameras mounted on the top driving around the Back Bay, so I’m going to go search for myself…

There have been some pretty hilarious moments caught by the google cams in other cities, inspiring a number of websites dedicated to capturing them all.

So go have a look around Boston- whoever posts the funniest image found in Boston in the comments section wins a prize (I’ll spoil the surprise now: the prize will be me, laughing to myself).
Also- Happy Birthday, Dad!

*UPDATE*: Adam over at Univeral Hub is having a competition with a $5 prize. That’s $5 more than I’m offering… I say go over there to compete.