Well, I got a Samsung Focus S to play around with this weekend and test the windows phone 7 OS out.  Overall, I liked it, but I can't switch from iOS just yet.

UI

The "Metro" UI is actually quite nice, I found it easy to use and find everything.  My biggest gripe is lack of customization beyond just the basic moving around of things.  I can't find the battery percentage at the top, have to dig fifteen menus deep to get at it.

Email

I love the email app, finally someone gives me a way to see only unread emails, only flagged emails, only important (!) emails in my exchange outlook.  The linked inboxes are cool too, even though I finally got that on iOS.

Social

The phone is clearly aimed at social media users, and the integration is really good.  Of course its lacking any Google+ integration.  Not a big deal, but its easy to set up and easy to use.  Can easy send pictures to multiple social media sites. Only biggest issue is you can't easily switch between multiple users on different sites.

Issues

Have to use the Zune software on my computer to load music.  I hate the zune software, why can't I just copy my music over, or why can't I download music from my skydrive?

No VPN???  Really Microsoft? Really?  I can't believe you released a mobile OS without any VPN support!  This is absurd!

App prices are off the chart.  Sure I get xbox live integration, but nothing too impressive here.

No Hulu? Again, Really?  This isn't rocket science, get hulu on your OS!

Development

I'm a native visual studio user, so I found creating apps using XAML very familar, but no sockets connections!  This means any non web based connections are out of the question.  I wanted to write a simple app to query my Control4 system.  Already had a cool C# desktop app, figured it would be easy... Nope.  The SDK lacks a lot of core .NET features.

Overall

I want to like this OS, but I can't.  I like the phone, despite bad battery life.  The camera is good, the screen is ok, a bit gray in the whites for me.  Ultimately, it will be another version or two before they win me over again.  For now, I'm going back to my iPhone 4, I miss my iPhone 4.

I'll be hosting Louie Anderson May 14th and 15th at the Bayview event center along with special guests Scott Hansen and Pete Borchers.  Please come out and see a great night of comedy on a lake.  It beats sitting in a boat hoping the fish will bite and the Bayview event center is right on Lake Minnetonka, so you can come right off the lake in Excelsior Bay, enjoy some comedy and go back out after the show.

Oct 8th - The Laugh Pit
Oct 9th - The Laugh Pit
Oct 16th - Improv Show
Oct 23rd - The Laugh Pit
Oct 24th - The Laugh Pit
Oct 29th - Cambridge Isanti
Oct 30th - The Laugh Pit

Lots of fun and some great shows.  The Laugh Pit opened and crowds are growing.  Great place to see new comics and eat some great ribs at Market BBQ in Downtown Minneapolis, MN.

For the last 2 months I started doing stand up comedy after taking Scott Hansen's Comedy Tech Extremely Serious Comedy Workshop and I have been having a blast.

Here is a list of shows I've done so far:

July 9th
Maple Grove Art Center, Maple Grove, MN

July 10th
Maple Grove Art Center, Maple Grove, MN

July 15th
Opened for Scott Hansen and The Stagebenders
Eagle Room, Silver Lake, MN

July 16th
Maple Grove Art Center, Maple Grove, MN - Improv

July 17th
Welsch Big Ten / Minnesota Comedy Club, Arden Hills, MN - Improv

July 23rd
Opened for Scott Hansen and The Stagebenders
Laff Boat, Hudson, WI

July 24th
Welsch Big Ten / Minnesota Comedy Club, Arden Hils, MN

Jul 30th
Welsch Big Ten / Minnesota Comedy Club, Arden Hils, MN

Aug 6th
Welsch Big Ten / Minnesota Comedy Club, Arden Hils, MN

Aug 7th
Welsch Big Ten / Minnesota Comedy Club, Arden Hils, MN

Aug 14th
Welsch Big Ten / Minnesota Comedy Club, Arden Hils, MN

Aug 15th
Opened for Scott Hansen and The Stagebenders
Laff Boat, Excelsior, MN

Aug 27th
Welsch Big Ten / Minnesota Comedy Club, Arden Hils, MN

Aug 28th
Opened for Scott Hansen, The Stagebenders and Dave Mordal
Hollywood Sports Complex, Watertown, MN

Sep 3rd
Welsch Big Ten / Minnesota Comedy Club, Arden Hils, MN

Sep 4th
Welsch Big Ten / Minnesota Comedy Club, Arden Hils, MN

It's been a fun and busy time doing stand up and working with some great comics.  I even got paid enough to cover travel expenses.

You can see some of my performances on my youtube channel at www.youtube.com/pstew21

I look forward to more opportunities for stage time and refining my act.  It's been a blast so far.

Wow, months after the African Puppy Scam I get another one over the weekend.

Started off with a simple email requesting a quote in print price...

Hello Sir/Madam,

My name is Rev James Hopper and i want to make an order of SOME FLYERS .I will like you to get back to me as soon as you with the pick up price of the following models and sizes;

1. measures 8.5' x 11'
2. 80# Gloss Text or
3. 0.25 - White boarder
4. One sided

Please provide a quote on 98,500 copies

l want you to write of the flyer (Love One Another).I want you to go ahead and quote me the total pick up prices plus tax without shipping and will also like you to get back to me with information on the major credit card you accept for payment and how soon can you get that ready for pick up as i have a shipping company that will come for the pick up as soon as they are ready. also get back to me with your contact phone number and full name so we can proceed.

James Hopper.

So, I responded with a few questions and here is the response...


i will like to inform you that this will be black only and will like you to get back to me with the total cost and will also like to know if you accept credit card for payment and how soon can you get that ready for pick up.


so I gave a quote for the job and this is the hook response I got.

Thanks for the quote..
But it is unfortunate to inform you that I have a family emergency,(my wife just had an accident)and I will be on the next available flight to Germany but I won't be back till further notice.Meanwhile this order is to be delivered to a church in Ghana,West-Africa.
So I would like you to contact the Freight Company with the approximate weight of the order and your address and get me the freight charges for delivering the order to the address below:

Rev. Matthew Banson
( World Miracle Church )
352 Lemon St.
Accra, Ghana,00233
West-Africa.

Freight Company Contact Details:
COMPANY NAME:Melcome Shipping Company.
EMAIL ADDRESS:Bulkshippers@hotmail.com

i will like you to go ahead and contact them and get back to me as soon as you can so i can provide you with my credit card information for you to go ahead and run that for the Grand total of the order plus shipping so we can proceed.. also let me know as soon.

May God Bless You
JAMES HOPPER

How great, using religious titles like Rev. makes scamming people all that much better.

Now, a couple of things really got me interested, first the quick swerve on the emergency, can't pick the job up, have to ship it to Ghana, West Africa.

Then I did a lookup on where the email originated from, after all its a yahoo.com email address right? Email came from an internet cafe in West Africa... Interesting, considering the person is supposedly able to pick up the printing.

I still don't know what the angle was here? Credit card fraud? Free printing? A staged scam to get the printer to pay to clear customs on the promise the client would pay us back?

Anyway, don't know, but a simple reply saying we don't ship internationally seemed to qwell the scammer.

Net of it all is beware online, do your homework and don't get scammed. Also, use google, and you will find links like this http://bizcardpro.com/PrintingScam.htm

Hopefully no body gets dupped by this scam.