AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon goaded into customer service showdown

Filed under: Reviews, Studies

It doesn’t matter who your carrier is, you’re gonna have some complaints. But is the grass always greener somewhere else? To answer that question, the kids at Laptop Magazine have conducted a test of the customer service practices of the big four (Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and AT&T) to ascertain each company’s friendliness, knowledge, and timeliness. The publication placed customer service calls twice during a week (once at midday and once during rush hour), visited two stores per carrier in New York City, and tried to find solutions to its problems using each carrier’s online knowledge base. Apparently, T-Mobile takes the prize for in-store assistance and web support, and Sprint, while not always able to answer questions, at least had taken steps to streamline the support process (and the fact that its employees were friendly didn’t hurt). Apparently Verizon Wireless offered solid in-store support (albeit with grumpy employees), “quick and accurate phone support” and “solid” online help. AT&T, sadly, was the loser here — Laptop says it left the store “shocked” that one representative couldn’t figure out how to get email up and running on its Blackberry. Shocking! Hit the read link to see for yourself.

AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon goaded into customer service showdown originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BlackBerry Storm gets a freshly leaked upgrade to OS 5.0

Filed under: Software, RIM, BlackBerry OS

Will Verizon release an official update to 5.0 for the current generation of the Storm? Maybe — it’s a total crap shoot — but even if they do, your children’s children could be having midlife crises before it’s actually released considering the glacial pace that Verizon typically gets new hardware and software to market. Of course, that’s partly thanks to an infamously back-breaking testing regimen that helps Verizon consistently earn high marks for network quality and generally keeps customers off the support lines, but for those of us who want nothing more than to live on the edge, it’s good to see that another packaged 5.0 update for the 9530 has hit the wires — this one versioned 5.0.0.230. We imagine this one’s leaps and bounds more stable than the nearly unusable stuff from earlier this summer, and initial reports from users seems to indicate as much — the camera works (always a good thing) and there seem to be countless minor tweaks and fixes that folks are describing as “promising.” As always, your average BlackBerry user who relies on the phone day in and day out might want to wait for something a little less leaky — but like we said, it could be a bit of a wait.

BlackBerry Storm gets a freshly leaked upgrade to OS 5.0 originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile’s Motorola CLIQ presale countdown page is up and running

Filed under: Handsets, Motorola, T-Mobile, GSM, EDGE, HSDPA, UMTS, Android

In a little over 19 days from now, you’ll be able to get your CLIQ… ah wait, no you won’t, but at least you’ll be able to express your interest in getting a CLIQ, which is a good first step, we suppose. T-Mobile has just thrown up its official CLIQ preorder countdown page, which we’re thinking the most die-hard Android types out there are probably going to leave running in the background of their machines for the next three weeks until the moment of truth finally comes. In the meantime, you can register for official updates, which — sorry, T-Mobile, much love — probably won’t come as quickly as we can provide them. Just sayin’.

[Via TmoNews]

T-Mobile’s Motorola CLIQ presale countdown page is up and running originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Use VBA to return the next Saturday

Looking ahead is part of most projects. Whether you’re scheduling downtime or a special event, knowing the date of the next Saturday can come in handy. In that case, the following VBA function procedure should help:

Public Function FindNextSaturday(dte As Date) As Date

  'Return the first Saturday following dte

   FindNextSaturday = dte + (7 - Weekday(dte))

End Function

Simply pass a date to the function — but be sure to delimit it properly using the # character as follows:

#09/30/09#

The dte + (7 – Weekday(dte)) component adds the number of days between the passed date and the next Saturday to the current date — the result being the next Saturday. This function should work in any application that supports VBA.

Office poll: Which Office application would you like us to cover more?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

Counting Excel rows, columns, and sheets

Counting the number of rows or columns in the current selection is an easy task for VBA. All you need to know is the object model. Specifically, the Selection object returns the selected object in the active window. For example, the following subprocedures display the number of rows and columns, respectively, in the current selection in a message box:

Sub CountRows()

  MsgBox Selection.Rows.Count, vbOKOnly, "Rows"

End Sub

Sub CountColumns()

  MsgBox Selection.Columns.Count, vbOKOnly, "Columns"

End Sub

Of course, the selection must be a valid range selection. If you select a chart object or anything other than a range, the procedures will return an error.

Similarly, to count sheets in the workbook, use this simple procedure:

Sub CountSheets()

  MsgBox Application.Sheets.Count, vbOKOnly, "Sheets"

End Sub

Unlike the column and row counting procedures, this one doesn’t evaluate a Selection object. Instead, it displays the number of sheets in the workbook, regardless of how you might have grouped the sheets.

To return a value you can use in another procedure, change the subprocedure to a function procedure as follows:

Function CountRows() As Long

  CountRows = Selection.Rows.Count

End Function

For example, if the current select is C11:F18, the function returns the value 8.

Office challenge: How do you inhibit Word’s tendency to add new formats to an existing style?

Where styles are concerned, Word is a bit flaky. It does things you don’t always intend. For instance, when you apply formatting to selected text, Word sometimes updates the entire document. You could might find yourself removing a lot of unwanted formatting.

The key is to inhibit Word’s behavior so it doesn’t happen at all. How do you keep Word for adding new formats to a style if that’s not what you intend?

Last week we asked…

How would you replace a bar series in an Excel chart with a graphic? Using a graphic in this unique way is easier than you might realize, according to Joshua.Masson (and I agree):

1. Right-click any bar in the series.
2. Choose Format Data Series from the resulting submenu.
3. Click the Patterns tab.
4. Click Fill Effects is the Area section.
5. Click the Picture tab.
6. Click Select Picture button.
7. In the resulting Select Picture dialog box, use the Look In control to locate and select the picture you want to use in the selected data series and click Insert.
8. Click OK twice.

The results aren’t always picture perfect, especially if Excel stretches (the default) the picture to accommodate different size columns. Some graphics just won’t work.

The better option is often to stack the graphic. In the Fill Effects dialog box, choose Stack or Stack And Scale in the Format section.

Depending on the graphic and the size of the chart, even stacking might not produce something you’d want to keep. In this case, the graphic isn’t readable either way — at least not onscreen. A printed copy might be more effective.

Clip art is often too large for data points, but it doesn’t hurt to try:

1. Select the series (left-click one of the bars or data points).
2. Select Picture from the Insert menu. (In Excel 2007, select Clip Art or Picture from the Insert tab).
3. Choose Clip Art from the resulting submenu.
4. In the Clip Art task pane, locate the file and choose Insert from its drop-down list.

Thanks to CAopsguy for great instructions for working with data points in Excel 2007. In addition Thunderbird23 offered advice for pasting a custom graphic into the worksheet — thanks!

Motorola Barrage for Verizon sounds aggressive, has specs to match

Filed under: Handsets, Motorola, Verizon Wireless, EV-DO, CDMA

Casio has a pretty tight lock on Verizon’s market for ruggedized gear, but they don’t own it outright — Motorola’s got the V750 in the mix, too, though it’s a little stale at this point (it launched last July, which amounts to an eternity in phone years). That might just be where this puppy comes into play: meet the “Barrage,” a phone that both sounds and looks like it’s gearing up to kick ass and take names. Verizon boasts in the launch pack that you don’t have to “be afraid of getting dirty” when you’re carrying the Barrage thanks to its mil-spec 810F compliance — and you don’t have to be afraid of getting wet, either, since 810F covers submersion in a meter of water for up to a half-hour without ill effect. If EV-DO, a 2 megapixel camera, external music controls, and GPS all sound good to you — and you can tolerate a meager QCIF display — it looks like you’ll be able to score the Barrage online on the first of next month, while in-store availability follows on come November 16.

Motorola Barrage for Verizon sounds aggressive, has specs to match originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sun, 27 Sep 2009 16:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Website rates best and worst cellphones by radiation output levels — how does yours stack up?

Filed under: Handsets, Studies

You’re surely aware that your cellphone bleeds radiation into your face the whole time you’re on the phone with your mom, best friend or lover, right? Yes, it’s a fact we try not to think about most of the time, but now there’s a tool out there on the internets for the more reality-facing folks among us. The Environmental Working Group’s launched a website dedicated to rating cellphones on their radiation output alone. Ranking highly (meaning they put out the lowest levels of radiation) are the Motorola RAZR V8, and AT&T’s Samsung Impression. In fact, it seems that Samsung is cranking out the healthiest phones these days! Phones with poor showings includes T-Mobile’s myTouch 3G and the Blackberry Curve 8830. So hit the read link and tell us, how does your phone rate?

[Via bookofjoe]

Website rates best and worst cellphones by radiation output levels — how does yours stack up? originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sun, 27 Sep 2009 08:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumor: Garmin-ASUS nuvifone G60 to run $300?

Filed under: Handsets, ASUS, Others

While several shipping dates have come and gone, we’re still hopeful of seeing Garmin’s nuvifone in the flesh and on the street at some point in the future. If you’ve forgotten (and nobody would really blame you), the HSDPA, quad-band handset will boast GPS (of course), WiFi, Bluetooth, plus a full browser. The G60′s been available in Asia for some time now, and while a confirmed US launch has been much anticipated, no pricing has ever been announced. Rumors now abound that the device will carry a $300 price tag on contract, running about $550 without. Of course, it is just a rumor — and one that we hope is off base, too.

[Via Navigadget]

Rumor: Garmin-ASUS nuvifone G60 to run $300? originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sun, 27 Sep 2009 03:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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