Showing posts with label Verizon Wireless. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Verizon Wireless. Show all posts
Friday, January 10, 2014
Verizon Wireless G’zOne Phone
Farmer Doc had the chance to test drive this Casio G’zOne phone from Verizon Wireless. This is a rugged, nearly indestructible phone as-is, without an extra case. Because it doesn’t need a protective case to keep it safe from the occasional drop, Farmer Doc was much happier with the size of this phone.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Tagg Pet Tracker
I had the opportunity to test-drive the Tagg Pet Tracker from Verizon Wireless for two months for our dog Sadie. This handy little device attaches to your dog’s collar, and keeps track of where your dog is, and how active she is.
Here’s the tracker clipped on Sadie’s collar. It’s nice and small, and she never bothered it once. (Don’t mind her fur. It’s summer, she’s a Husky cross, and she just started shedding… she won’t be pretty for another 3 weeks…)
Here she is again, looking slightly more respectable. Slightly.
The main goal of the Tagg Pet Tracker is so you know when your dog leaves your property, where she goes when she leaves, and how to find her once she is gone. The Tagg will send you an email and a text message when the dog is outside the Home Tagg Zone (that you set).
Sadie doesn’t actually leave very often, and when she does she just goes to the bottom of the driveway (which I set outside our Home Tagg Zone). So to really see how the tracker works, I took it off her collar and went for a drive.
You can use your computer or the free Tagg app on your mobile device to locate your dog’s current location on a map, or to track your dog’s progress. With the track feature, you will get email and/or text notices (depending on your settings) every 3 minutes with updated location information.
Here’s another location, a few minutes later. The email and text messages will give you an address close to her location.
And a map is included in the email. The blue box is where Sadie (or at least, her tracker) was.
(Love, Sadie. Because she didn’t really mean to run away, and she’ll be so happy to see you again when you find her!)
From the website, you can see the map with Sadie’s location (the orange paw print).
And you can see the trail she took to get to her current location. The orange dots are sort of “check in points” – I got an email to correspond to each of these locations.
Then, when she comes home on her own, or you find her (or bring the tracker back home), you’ll get another email/text saying “I’m back!” Phew! No more worrying!
One other feature I was really excited about was the activity tracking. Sadie’s an old, arthritic Husky cross farm dog. As she gets older, she spends a lot more time sleeping on our porches, so I really didn’t expect that she was getting all that much activity. Boy, was I wrong!
Here is one of her more active days… She racked up 239 Tagg Points (compared to a monthly average of 169).
I love the timeline feature. Who know that between 1:00-3:00am every day Sadie gets up and takes a tour of the farm? I wonder why? (But not enough to get up and spy on her.)
And her total time active really surprised me! This was a busy day for her, clocking in over 3 hours of activity. Most days she gets more like 1.5-2 hours of activity. As the weather has gotten hotter, she has been less active (and who could blame her?). But still, for an old arthritic farm dog, that’s pretty good!
Veterinarians recommend at least 30-60 minutes of activity for dogs daily. This is a great way to see if you dog is hitting that goal! You can also set Tagg Point goals to hit each day. These point totals are easy to see on the Tagg mobile app, so it’s easy to keep track of how your dog (and you!) are doing during the day.
Here’s Sadie’s last 30 days of activity…
And a snapshot of the two months that we had the tracker. Some of the dips are from when the battery needed to be charged and was on the docking station instead of her collar, and some of the dips are on the hotter days when she just hung out in the shade. But, overall, a pretty good activity level for our old girl!
I used this on our dog, but it could also be used for any other animal. This would be a great tool for cattle. They tend to stay in herds, so not every cow would need a tracker, but a tracker or two on the troublemaker cows would alert you if they broke through a fence and were off wandering around. The Tagg Pet Tracker would also be great for a sick animal – we could monitor the activity levels of animals we were worried about to be sure they were moving around to get food, water, and a little exercise even if they aren’t feeling great.
What systems do you have in place to find your dog if she goes missing? Collars, tags, and microchips are very important, but none of those can tell you where your runaway pet is right now!
{Thanks to Verizon Wireless for letting me use the Tagg Pet Tracker for two months. All thoughts, opinions, and photographs are my own.}
Here’s the tracker clipped on Sadie’s collar. It’s nice and small, and she never bothered it once. (Don’t mind her fur. It’s summer, she’s a Husky cross, and she just started shedding… she won’t be pretty for another 3 weeks…)
Here she is again, looking slightly more respectable. Slightly.
The main goal of the Tagg Pet Tracker is so you know when your dog leaves your property, where she goes when she leaves, and how to find her once she is gone. The Tagg will send you an email and a text message when the dog is outside the Home Tagg Zone (that you set).
Sadie doesn’t actually leave very often, and when she does she just goes to the bottom of the driveway (which I set outside our Home Tagg Zone). So to really see how the tracker works, I took it off her collar and went for a drive.
You can use your computer or the free Tagg app on your mobile device to locate your dog’s current location on a map, or to track your dog’s progress. With the track feature, you will get email and/or text notices (depending on your settings) every 3 minutes with updated location information.
Here’s another location, a few minutes later. The email and text messages will give you an address close to her location.
And a map is included in the email. The blue box is where Sadie (or at least, her tracker) was.
(Love, Sadie. Because she didn’t really mean to run away, and she’ll be so happy to see you again when you find her!)
From the website, you can see the map with Sadie’s location (the orange paw print).
And you can see the trail she took to get to her current location. The orange dots are sort of “check in points” – I got an email to correspond to each of these locations.
Then, when she comes home on her own, or you find her (or bring the tracker back home), you’ll get another email/text saying “I’m back!” Phew! No more worrying!
One other feature I was really excited about was the activity tracking. Sadie’s an old, arthritic Husky cross farm dog. As she gets older, she spends a lot more time sleeping on our porches, so I really didn’t expect that she was getting all that much activity. Boy, was I wrong!
Here is one of her more active days… She racked up 239 Tagg Points (compared to a monthly average of 169).
I love the timeline feature. Who know that between 1:00-3:00am every day Sadie gets up and takes a tour of the farm? I wonder why? (But not enough to get up and spy on her.)
And her total time active really surprised me! This was a busy day for her, clocking in over 3 hours of activity. Most days she gets more like 1.5-2 hours of activity. As the weather has gotten hotter, she has been less active (and who could blame her?). But still, for an old arthritic farm dog, that’s pretty good!
Veterinarians recommend at least 30-60 minutes of activity for dogs daily. This is a great way to see if you dog is hitting that goal! You can also set Tagg Point goals to hit each day. These point totals are easy to see on the Tagg mobile app, so it’s easy to keep track of how your dog (and you!) are doing during the day.
Here’s Sadie’s last 30 days of activity…
And a snapshot of the two months that we had the tracker. Some of the dips are from when the battery needed to be charged and was on the docking station instead of her collar, and some of the dips are on the hotter days when she just hung out in the shade. But, overall, a pretty good activity level for our old girl!
I used this on our dog, but it could also be used for any other animal. This would be a great tool for cattle. They tend to stay in herds, so not every cow would need a tracker, but a tracker or two on the troublemaker cows would alert you if they broke through a fence and were off wandering around. The Tagg Pet Tracker would also be great for a sick animal – we could monitor the activity levels of animals we were worried about to be sure they were moving around to get food, water, and a little exercise even if they aren’t feeling great.
What systems do you have in place to find your dog if she goes missing? Collars, tags, and microchips are very important, but none of those can tell you where your runaway pet is right now!
{Thanks to Verizon Wireless for letting me use the Tagg Pet Tracker for two months. All thoughts, opinions, and photographs are my own.}
Friday, May 24, 2013
Samsung Galaxy Camera
I love my tech. Heck, the last time I traveled I took 2 smart phones, 1 camera, 1 smart camera, 2 tablets, and a laptop. It’s safe to say that I am a tech addict. And I just love trying new stuff when I can. Thanks to Verizon Wireless, I had the chance to check out Samsung’s new Galaxy Camera (that smart camera I mentioned), complete with a 4G connection!
This is pretty much the only camera I used the entire time I had it. With a 4G connection, the Android platform, and access to any Android app in the Play Store, I was hooked! In fact, all my Instagram pictures between March 23-May 2 were taken with this camera. (Yes, even the ones that used the PhotoGrid app!)
This is pretty much the only camera I used the entire time I had it. With a 4G connection, the Android platform, and access to any Android app in the Play Store, I was hooked! In fact, all my Instagram pictures between March 23-May 2 were taken with this camera. (Yes, even the ones that used the PhotoGrid app!)
Monday, March 18, 2013
Verizon Wireless Hotspot
Home internet. So many choices, options, pay structures! Who knows where to even start? This Samsung Hotspot is a quick and easy fix for some super-fast data speed from Verizon Wireless. And the best part? It’s portable!
Monday, March 4, 2013
Verizon Wireless Network Extender
We’ve all been there. You pull up to a business, you’ve got great cell service, you’re in the middle of a phone call (or sending a super-important email or Facebook status update). You walk in the door, and bam! The signal immediately drops when you step inside.
Pain in the butt, right?
Now imagine how it is for the people who work there. All. Day. Long.
Pain in the butt, right?
Now imagine how it is for the people who work there. All. Day. Long.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2
Is this a disco party, or is this a tablet? Can it be both? Verizon Wireless let me try it to find out!
(That's the start up screen. There's no music, but I still boogey.)
I already have a Kindle Fire (the original), and I don’t use it for much more than a glorified e-reader. When I realized that the 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (on the left) is about the same size as the Fire (on the right), I wasn’t sure that I would like it much.
(That's the start up screen. There's no music, but I still boogey.)
I already have a Kindle Fire (the original), and I don’t use it for much more than a glorified e-reader. When I realized that the 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 (on the left) is about the same size as the Fire (on the right), I wasn’t sure that I would like it much.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Droid RAZR MAXX
I’m a Motorola phone user. And I’ve had my “regular” RAZR for almost a year. I’m a giant fan. But I’ve heard lots and lots about this RAZR MAXX from some friends, and I’ve been itching to try it. I got the chance to try one from Verizon Wireless. Turns out, I love it even more than my “regular” RAZR! The RAZR MAXX (on the left) is a little bit bigger than the RAZR (on the right), but just barely.
(There’s a glare-resistant screen protector on the phone on the right, so don’t judge the screens by this photo.)
The RAZR MAXX (left) is also just a little thicker than the RAZR (right), but not enough that it’s uncomfortably big.
Hands down, my absolute definite most favorite thing about this phone is the battery life. If the RAZR MAXX had an “i” in it’s name, I would dot it with a little heart. I consistently got 2 full days of battery life out of this baby with moderate email and social media usage (minimal video, and a little streaming music). Holy cow! Farmer Doc also took this phone to work for a couple of weeks. The service in our veterinary clinic isn’t great, and his regular RAZR would be dead by the end of the day. The MAXX? Still had at least 40% left at the end of the day.
(There’s a glare-resistant screen protector on the phone on the right, so don’t judge the screens by this photo.)
The RAZR MAXX (left) is also just a little thicker than the RAZR (right), but not enough that it’s uncomfortably big.
Hands down, my absolute definite most favorite thing about this phone is the battery life. If the RAZR MAXX had an “i” in it’s name, I would dot it with a little heart. I consistently got 2 full days of battery life out of this baby with moderate email and social media usage (minimal video, and a little streaming music). Holy cow! Farmer Doc also took this phone to work for a couple of weeks. The service in our veterinary clinic isn’t great, and his regular RAZR would be dead by the end of the day. The MAXX? Still had at least 40% left at the end of the day.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Samsung Galaxy S III Phone
Farmer Doc and I recently had the opportunity to test drive this Samsung Galaxy S III phone from Verizon Wireless. This was our first adventure into Samsung electronics. (Although definitely not our last!)
I’ve been used to the Motorola DROID RAZR phone. The Samsung phone had a little different feel with rounded corners and soft angles, which I liked. It’s about the same size and weight as the RAZR, so it was easy to get used to.
I’ve been used to the Motorola DROID RAZR phone. The Samsung phone had a little different feel with rounded corners and soft angles, which I liked. It’s about the same size and weight as the RAZR, so it was easy to get used to.
Friday, December 21, 2012
Fun with Verizon Wireless
Last week, a Public Relations Specialist from Verizon Wireless came down from Chicago to spend the day with me and Farmer Doc. Paul wanted to see how we use technology in our daily lives and at work and how Verizon Wireless could help us do our jobs better.
I know that we learned a lot from Paul, and I think he learned some things about rural Indiana and had a pretty good time in the process. We started the morning off with a farm call to do pregnancy checks on a herd of beef cows. We let Paul have the full experience. This cow was 5 months pregnant. And Paul got to check it out for himself! (Apparently, VZW does not have an app that will help with this. Oh well. I guess that’s job security for us!)
We definitely gave Paul feeling of what it’s like to be a mixed-animal veterinarian in southwest Indiana. We saw a little bit of everything – a cold farm call to check pregnant cows, pet vaccinations back in the warm office, a dog with heartworms, a cat teeth cleaning, and a series of x-rays with barium contrast in a cat with a mass in its abdomen!
While we do have a website and some neat online services for our clients, there is still one big technology gap at the Princeton Veterinary Hospital. Cell service. Right outside our building (and throughout Princeton and almost all of Gibson County) the VZW 4G service is spectacular. (Just download the free Speed Test app to check it out!) But as soon as you walk in our door the cell signal evaporates. Something about a two-story metal building. Since our phones are constantly searching for service all day, the batteries don’t last very long. The problem is that we are on call for emergencies after hours. And if our cell phones go dead, we can’t take emergency phone calls.
To try to solve this problem, Farmer Doc and I have a Motorola RAZR MAXX HD phone to try for a few weeks. This phone has a monster battery life, and so far is passing the test! (PS, that’s 11:17 PM in this photo… and still 57% battery life left!)
Paul is also going to ship us a Network Extender to try for a few weeks to see if this solves the signal problem in the building. Theoretically, all we need to do is set up up near an upstairs window, and it should boost the cell service and 3G signal inside the entire building. We should be getting this neat toy in a few days, and I’ll be sure to let you know how it works!
As a large animal internal medicine specialist, I mainly serve as a consultant for Farmer Doc and the other vets in our practice. And I get a lot of phone calls with “can you give me your opinion on this case?” The truth is, it can be really hard to give a medical opinion without seeing a patient. Verizon Wireless to the rescue! With their Looxcie Bluetooth Video Camera, Farmer Doc can send me a live video stream of his examination of a complicated case. We can talk to each other over the video stream so I can ask more questions and he can get the answers from the owner or do a different exam right then and there. Now that’s customer service!
Paul definitely got us intrigued by a few other products. We love the idea of the Tagg Pet Tracker (keep virtual tabs on your cat, dog, or farm animals on your smart phone!). The Belkin Net Cam WiFi Camera could be great help to keep an eye on kids at home, mares getting ready to foal in the barn, or that sick goat who needs a little extra TLC. Wonder who is coming up your long driveway? Set one of these puppies up to monitor the driveway and get an email alert when the motion detector goes off!
I’ve got to say, we had a blast meeting Paul and learning about some of the fun things that Verizon Wireless has to offer. Check out the Verizon Wireless Midwest Area blog for Paul's thoughts on his visit!
{Verizon Wireless has provided me and Farmer Doc with devices to try, but the opinions expressed her are our own.}
I know that we learned a lot from Paul, and I think he learned some things about rural Indiana and had a pretty good time in the process. We started the morning off with a farm call to do pregnancy checks on a herd of beef cows. We let Paul have the full experience. This cow was 5 months pregnant. And Paul got to check it out for himself! (Apparently, VZW does not have an app that will help with this. Oh well. I guess that’s job security for us!)
We definitely gave Paul feeling of what it’s like to be a mixed-animal veterinarian in southwest Indiana. We saw a little bit of everything – a cold farm call to check pregnant cows, pet vaccinations back in the warm office, a dog with heartworms, a cat teeth cleaning, and a series of x-rays with barium contrast in a cat with a mass in its abdomen!
While we do have a website and some neat online services for our clients, there is still one big technology gap at the Princeton Veterinary Hospital. Cell service. Right outside our building (and throughout Princeton and almost all of Gibson County) the VZW 4G service is spectacular. (Just download the free Speed Test app to check it out!) But as soon as you walk in our door the cell signal evaporates. Something about a two-story metal building. Since our phones are constantly searching for service all day, the batteries don’t last very long. The problem is that we are on call for emergencies after hours. And if our cell phones go dead, we can’t take emergency phone calls.
To try to solve this problem, Farmer Doc and I have a Motorola RAZR MAXX HD phone to try for a few weeks. This phone has a monster battery life, and so far is passing the test! (PS, that’s 11:17 PM in this photo… and still 57% battery life left!)
Paul is also going to ship us a Network Extender to try for a few weeks to see if this solves the signal problem in the building. Theoretically, all we need to do is set up up near an upstairs window, and it should boost the cell service and 3G signal inside the entire building. We should be getting this neat toy in a few days, and I’ll be sure to let you know how it works!
As a large animal internal medicine specialist, I mainly serve as a consultant for Farmer Doc and the other vets in our practice. And I get a lot of phone calls with “can you give me your opinion on this case?” The truth is, it can be really hard to give a medical opinion without seeing a patient. Verizon Wireless to the rescue! With their Looxcie Bluetooth Video Camera, Farmer Doc can send me a live video stream of his examination of a complicated case. We can talk to each other over the video stream so I can ask more questions and he can get the answers from the owner or do a different exam right then and there. Now that’s customer service!
Paul definitely got us intrigued by a few other products. We love the idea of the Tagg Pet Tracker (keep virtual tabs on your cat, dog, or farm animals on your smart phone!). The Belkin Net Cam WiFi Camera could be great help to keep an eye on kids at home, mares getting ready to foal in the barn, or that sick goat who needs a little extra TLC. Wonder who is coming up your long driveway? Set one of these puppies up to monitor the driveway and get an email alert when the motion detector goes off!
I’ve got to say, we had a blast meeting Paul and learning about some of the fun things that Verizon Wireless has to offer. Check out the Verizon Wireless Midwest Area blog for Paul's thoughts on his visit!
{Verizon Wireless has provided me and Farmer Doc with devices to try, but the opinions expressed her are our own.}
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