Neutron :: Bomb

Motorola on the Comeback Trail; CLIQ, Droid

2009-10-23T14:28:00.000-07:00

Moto mania is back. Well, its not that crazy, really. In fact, no one is going to rush out and say we have an iPhone killer on our hands. But, the Cliq that is now available from T-Mobile and the pending Droid from Verizon show that Motorola AT LEAST made a strong effort to launch Android-based smartphones that pack some punch.

You can read about the CLIQ here: http://bit.ly/moto_cliq
and the Droid here: http://bit.ly/moto_droid

For me, the most interesting element of the CLIQ review come here:

Turn the CLIQ on, however, and it's quite the social butterfly. A little application "widget" on the home screen dubbed "Happenings" constantly refreshes your friends' latest updates to Facebook, Twitter and other social sites. Another widget aggregates all the messages you get from various social networks and e-mail accounts and gives a preview of the latest one. A third widget shows your most recent status update and lets you easily update one or several social networks at a time.

I love this, from the standpoint that the CLIQ is distinguishing itself in the marketplace. It screams: 'buy me if you are the type of end user that constantly stays in touch and wants it dead simple to do so and you love having a smartphone'. I have an iPhone, and there is not an app or way to do what the CLIQ offers. I want it.

Furthermore, this is EXACTLY the type of product offering a company needs to wrangle in the teens. And the teens set trends. And trends produce the type of revenues that get people to notice your products, and that furthers the purchasing and the revenues. Got it?

No SONOS, Squeezebox or Apple TV, got the parts already

2009-09-23T13:23:00.000-07:00

After weeks of contemplating how to rig the best system for listening to my giant library of MP3 files through the home stereo, I have come to the conclusion that all I need to buy is one cable, a mini-tosLINK to tosLINK cable. Cost: $15 + tax.

Up until recently, we had an iMac G5 plugged into an old-ass bookshelf stereo, running two 20 year old Bose speakers. And it was in our kitchen. Worked fine, but not ideal. The MP3 files are stored on a ReadyNAS NV+, which is on our home network. Both the iMac and NAS are on ethernet for throughput stability.

I had decided I wanted to run the music thru to our very nice home stereo, and started the research process. I have followed along this trail of gadgets for years, and came to the conclusion that I needed one of the following systems to make it all work:

SONOS - $349 for the basic device, and I could use my iPhone as the remote
Squeezebox - $149 for the basic device, and I could use my iPhone as the remote
Apple TV - $229, and I could use my iPhone as the remote

I already had:

ReadyNAS NV+ (1.5TB of space, holding 200gb+ of MP3s)
Netgear Router
Ethernet infrastructure
Airport Express
Nice home stereo system
iMac G5 (running the iTunes library)
iPhone

All the devices listed above would accomplish the same thing: stream my MP3 collection thru my home stereo.

Here are the few pluses/minuses of each:

SONOS - Do not need iTunes or other software running; great sound quality. But, expensive
Squeezebox - Prolly don't need server software running on a PC, b/c ReadyNAS has a streaming server bult in; cost is low, sound quality good
Apple TV - Need iTunes running on a machine on the network; cost is not too bad, sound quality is the worst of the three, with limited output.

Yes, that is a quick and dirty roundup. But after much thought, I realized I had all I needed to make it happen at almost no cost, explained by this diagram:

I didnt need to spend much at all to accomplish what I needed. The iPhone is a great remote control, as it can be used to control your iTunes library using an App called 'Remote' (built by Apple). It has a touchscreen, album art, and is very easy to use. And anyone in our house with an iPhone or iTouch can control the music library.

I simply needed to connect my existing AirportExpress to the stereo, using the mini-tosLink to tosLink cable I bought for $15 bucks. The AirportExpress was already right next to the stereo, wa-la. Sound is more than acceptable.

Bottom line: I didnt need another 2-300 dollar gadget in the house, and I dont care if I have the greatest sounding system, this one does the trick.

Smartphone Application Store Roundup (July 2009); iTunes Rules

2009-07-09T13:37:00.000-07:00

When Microsoft launches its mobile application store (date TBD), there will be six (6) application stores in production, representing the six (6) major mobile device operating systems: Apple OSX, Google Android, Microsoft Windows Mobile, Blackberry, Palm WebOS and Nokia Symbian. I have also included a store (website) run by Samsung. Just because.

Matrix of Application Stores, Mobile Operating Systems, Device OEMs, Billing mechanisms and US Wireless carriers:

*Announced and/or speculated relationship

The major similarities are that all the application stores cater to the individual operating systems and the devices that run them, the companies supporting the stores provide SDKs for the software developers, and the stores themselves are available on the handsets.

Of course, there are some major differences, and anyone following this industry knows that Apple is the 800 pound gorilla in the room. Apple has over 25,000 applications available, Android Market claims 'in the thousands', and the rest? in the hundreds. It is clear that these other mobile application ecosystems needs to catch up in application volume, and they most likely will (especially phones running Blackberry, Symbian and Windows Mobile, since the install base is huge).

But, the one thing I point out is this: Apple has iTunes.

With the exception of Nokia, who does have a Windows only PC client to discover, download and manage applications, NONE of the other application stores are providing a PC/Mac client. This is a big disadvantage, as most consumers spend copious amounts of time using laptops and desktops, providing ample time to discover new and useful applications, and then immediately downloading (and PURCHASING) the applications right there and then.

There are companies such as Seattle's AppStoreHQ (www.appstorehq.com) that are attempting to make discovery easier for mobile applications, and gathering information on the apps is manageable, regardless of the device/OS ecosystem. The problem lies in the fact that AppStoreHQ can only provide discovery for all the Apps except for the iPhone Apps; only iPhone Apps has as method of purchasing online that is widely used. There is a strong disconnect between discovering a mobile application online and then proceeding to use the device for purchase. And of course, Apple has provided back-end software to ensure that your purchases on the device and on the desktop match up (you are not able to buy apps twice!).

Finally, to further illustrate why it has (and will maintain) the dominant position in the mobile application marketplace, iTunes already had a massive installed user base, so the transition to discovering and downloading apps for the iPhone was natural. No training needed. Now, go ahead and try to get a Blackberry app from the Blackberry App World. Let me know how it goes...

Note: I am going on a hunt to discover what percentage of apps are downloaded via iTunes versus on the iPhone itself. Drop me a line if you have info.

Application stores in the news:

Apple App Store
Android Marketplace
Windows Mobile Market (not official yet, coming soon)
Blackberry App World
Palm App Catalog
Nokia Ovi

2009 Mid Year Smartphone Assessment

2009-07-09T09:59:00.000-07:00

The midway point of 2009 has come and gone, and its time for a bit of an assessment. At the beginning of the year, I (and many others) were saying 2009 was the year Google's Android would take off, Palm would release its savior and we all questioned who would remain relevant as Apple's market share grew (RIM, Nokia, Motorola?). Table after the fold shows which smartphone OEMs have devices at which US carriers.

Android has NOT taken off, though there are many handsets coming from various OEMs, including Motorola's attempt to save itself from obscurity. But, I still believe the best is yet to come, and 2009 still has six months left. The new HTC Android device looks like a winner (and reviewers are loving it).

Palm did release a kick ass phone and exceeded its expectations (150,000 sold in first week); though the hard part is that everyone is comparing it to the iPhone, which is not fair. Palm has simply proved that it can compete, and I do not believe we have started to see the results yet, and will not for many more months. It will take time to build out all the infrastructure needed to fully compete. The iPhone hit the scene and changed everything; the Pre hit the scene in the wake of the iPhone juggernaut, and everything pales in comparison. Note, the iPhone had one full year without the App Store...

Is Apple kicking ass? Yes, no questions asked.

Who is relevant: RIM has been kicking ass also, grabbing market share as its Bold and new Tour are making waves (positive ones); The Storm has had luke warm results, but shows that RIM is serious about touchscreens; Nokia still holds the lion's share of the marketplace, everywhere except in the US. Only AT&T is showcasing a Nokia smartphone, the E73; What has been one surprise is the LACK of news from the folks at Moto; an Android phone is supposed to be on the way, but very little is known as of today.

One last point here that is important: smartphones are quickly becoming handheld computes that make phone calls over wireless; netbooks are quickly becoming smartphones that run all types of operating systems (and wireless carriers are now selling, er giving away, netbooks). The point is that these devices are starting to bleed into each other, and we are all going to be holding small computers in our hands one day (if we don't already, and I'm sure most everyone reading this fits the bill).

All OEMs are getting in on the smartphone action: Dell, Garmin, Acer, Asus, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, LG, Huawei, and the list goes on.

###

Handsets people are talking about:

Breakdown of which Smartphone OEMs have devices at the US Carriers

Palm Pre and Apple iPhone Sold by Same EU Telco

2009-07-08T08:42:00.000-07:00

News came online today the Palm Inc. is set to distribute it's new Pre smartphone exclusively via Telefónica SA, the EU wireless carrier that is the exclusive distributor of the Apple iPhone. (From PC World http://bit.ly/telefonica_palm_pre).

This is an interesting ploy by Palm, and begs the question of why would you line up your new iPhone-killer right next to the iPhone in Telefónica owned O2 shops in the UK? Its like lining up your new Porsche-killer right next to the Porsche Carrera GT2 in a showroom, expecting consumers who want a Porsche to buy yours.

My guess is that sales will drag in the EU for the Pre as consumers looking for an iPhone want an iPhone, not the next best thing. In the US, the Pre is sold exclusively by Sprint thru the end of 2009, at which time it is reported Verizon will be selling the Pre as well. This strategy at least presents smartphones in a segmented way. The other sane strategy would be to allow all carriers to sell a device... think RAZR.

Everyone views the Pre as the next best thing to the iPhone, and some hold out hope that the Pre will eventually go head to head with the Apple device. Palm needs to rev up its online marketplace for applications, the App Catalog, and needs to iron out some deficiencies such as battery life before it can really be seen as a true replacement of the iPhone.

Second Android Phone Coming in July; ActiveSync Available

2009-06-22T09:21:00.001-07:00

Though a 'wave' of Android phones has not overwhelmed the US Smartphone marketplace as many have predicted, a small splash will be made next month (July 8th, to be specific) when T-Mobile releases the second HTC-built, Android powered device, the myTouch (or Magic abroad). And the key feature that makes this device, and any entering the marketplace, have great potential is ActiveSync availability.

Costing $199 (with 2-year contract) and lacking a physical keyboard, this new device will offer direct competition to the iPhone in price, features, design and more. The Android Marketplace, the Google equivalent to the Apple App Store, puts the device in almost complete parity with Apple's iPhone. One advantage the Marketplace will offer is the ability to bill the application purchases directly to your T-Mobile phone bill (coming by end of year), a feature Google is hoping to offer on all carrier billing systems in the future (rather than using Google Checkout, as you currently need to). And one significant deficiency is the fact there is no equivalant to Apple's iTunes on your computer to manage and purchase content. Google only offers the device based store as of today.

It will be interesting to see the first month numbers on this device. T-Mobile is the smallest of the big four carriers in the US, sitting behind VerizonWireless, AT&T and Sprint (and not too far ahead of US Cellular and MetroPCS), and it needs to grow a strong smartphone business to stay relevant (and it does a decent job with its WinMo and Blackberry selections). Additionally, there are a lot of Google lovers and open source devotees out there that want a better device than the original GPhone, the HTC G1. That device left a lot to be desired, especially in terms of form. This new device is sleek, cool, and keyboard-less, just like the iPhone.

The key feature of this phone: it has Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync integration (provided by HTC, this is not an Android built in feature). This is important because business users are the largest buying segment of smartphones, and if they are going to move from Treos, Blackberrys and WinMo phones (or iPhone?) to the Google devices, this is the most key element. Certainly a large group of non business users are buying smartphones (hello, iPhone), but the 'wealthiest' group of buyers for smartphones are business users. And almost all of them use Microsoft Exchange for corporate email, contacts and calendars. Not having this on a smartphone is the ultimate non-starter.

I have ActiveSync running on my iPhone now, and it is wonderful. One device for personal and business needs, and a device that does it all.

Palm Pre, Apple iPhone and Google myTouch. Three sweet smartphones that could be pacing the marketplace over the next 6-12 months. What does Blackberry have in store? Nokia? Anything powered by Windows Mobile?

Nishino Impresses as Expected

2009-06-22T09:13:00.000-07:00

Nishino, the Madison Valley Japanese restaurant, is definitely one of our favorite places to eat, and in the running for all time favorite. We have eaten here at least a dozen times in the last year.

A short list of what we love:

Being greeted, and remembered, by the owners
Ambiance - not too loud, good separation between dining and sushi bar, fresh white linens, bright enough to feel alive, and acoustics that allow you to keep your conversations private
Courteous staff, and we always ask for the same server, who remembers the little things (Elisa)
Fresh fish - the albacore is to die for, as are all the tuna varietals; salmon is often perfect; most other types are 'melt in the mouth'
Sake selection - top notch and served in custom made bamboo flasks
Non sushi selections - really good salads and vegetable dishes, mushrooms, asparagus, greens, and the dressings are perfect
Consistency - its great every time we go, great

Update: Mac + PC + iPhone + Exchange (no more Blackberry)

2009-06-18T14:24:00.000-07:00

The day has come to go from two mobile devices to one.

For the past 3 months I have been at a new job where I am using a Windows laptop, Outlook, Microsoft Exchange and a Blackberry. The Blackberry was used only for email.

I had my iPhone set up to sync my work calendar, and also had attempted various means of syncing up my work contacts with iPhone, but nothing worked well.

Now, Exchange is open to me, and I can ditch the Blackberry, go to one device, and life gets a bit more simple and elegant. The diagram above says it all

Mr. Gyros, Greenwood Greek Fast Food

2009-06-05T10:34:00.000-07:00

Mr. Gyros
8411 Greenwood Ave N
Seattle, WA 98103
(206) 706-7472

www.davidmwall.com/mrgyro/

Yelp review http://www.yelp.com/biz/mr-gyros-seattle

In a town mostly devoid of gyros and Greek food in general, Mr. Gyros stands tall as the best place to go for a gyros sandwich, fries, pita, hummus and a good laugh from the owners. The guys running it, brothers Johnny and Sammy, make everyone feel welcome, chat you up while you are waiting for your food, and have established a great place to pick a up meal quickly in the Greenwood hood. 2 of the 3 times I've gone there is a line out the door.

Love the atmosphere and appreciate the effort to provide great Greek style fast food. Have only eaten gyros as a main dish.

However, I think the food can get better with a bit more care. The fries are often not crisp (have bitten into a not-quite-fully-cooked fry a few times), pita should be fried lightly in oil, for instance. Thus, my 4/5 rating.

Overall, love the place, have gone 3 times in the last month, and only criticize so that an already great experience gets even better.

Palm Pre Fevor is Heating Up, Way Up

2009-06-03T15:34:00.000-07:00

Crazy Palm addicts are excited about 'tweeting' from their as-of-yet-purchased Palm Pre handsets from Sprint (they go on sale this Saturday, June 6, 2009).

Check this:
http://palmwebos.org/2009/06/03/palm-pre-already-twittering-with-tweed/

These bloggers are happy to report that they think the iPhone as king has limited shelf life. The jury is way out on that one.

But, its good to see the excitement all over for this device. I personally think, and have expressed, that the Pre seems to be the first real competitor to the iPhone. the Storm and G1 were OK efforts, but no one has been that excited over them, and I have used both and was left wanting much more (especially after using an iPhone for almost 2 years now).

Im thinking about heading over to Best Buy this Saturday to see if there are people camping out (I bet NOT). And I hope to be able to play around with a phone in the store. Stay tuned.

Too Many Android Phones to Count

2009-06-01T11:44:00.000-07:00

The execs at Google are happy to let the public know that no less than 18 handsets running Android will be on the shelves by year end, for sale and ready for use. Most of these handsets, though, will not be available in the US. And, the OEMs of these handsets are not being publicised.

It wasn't until late 2007 that Android was released on the carriers, and most phones take 18 months on average from concept to being on a shelf for sale. Meaning, we are actually about to see the promise of numerous handsets hitting the marketplace. Its not a big mystery who the OEMs are (check out the open handset alliance list of OEMs), with HTC, Moto, Samsung and others all making announcements over the last year. For Moto in particular, there is a lot riding on the introduction of their first Android device. many pundits have weighed in on the coming Android tidal wave, its good fun watching as the market takes shape. Releases never happen as quickly as you would like, and certainly speculation is rampant on the impact Android will have on the smartphone market place. Apple is kicking ass right now, Blackberry is dominant for business users and Nokia sells more phones than every other OEM combined. Android has a big challenge ahead in terms of gaining marketshare.

Matt Richtel does a nice job on the NYTimes blog on the subject. My favorite part, though, comes from one of the comments:

Rumors of ATT and Verizon bringing out android phones seems interesting since neither belong to the open handset alliance but I think are charter members of the Crippled Handset Alliance.

Its so true that those two firms go out of their way to simultaneously claim they are 'open' and yet produce the most closed systems and devices.

Open Handset Alliance OEM List

ASUSTeK Computer Inc.: www.asus.com; ASUS is a leading company in the new digital era for IT and communication products. The company's turnover for 2007 was 6.9 billion U.S. dollars.

Garmin International, Inc.: www.garmin.com; Garmin is the global leader in satellite navigation and has built millions of products that serve the automotive, wireless, OEM, fitness, aviation and marine markets.

HTC Corporation: www.htc.com; HTC Corporation focuses on driving cutting-edge innovation into a wide variety of mobile devices to create the perfect match for individuals. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under ticker 2498.

Huawei Technologies: www.huawei.com; Huawei Technologies is a leader in providing next generation telecommunications network solutions for operators around the world.

LG Electronics, Inc.: www.lge.com; LG, the brand that is Delightfully Smart, is a global leader and technology innovator in consumer electronics, home appliances and mobile communications. LG's vision is to supply top-of-the-range innovative digital products and services and ensure customer satisfaction.

Motorola, Inc.: www.motorola.com; Motorola is known around the world for innovation and leadership in wireless and broadband communications.

Samsung Electronics: www.samsung.com; A leading innovator and provider of mobile phones and telecom systems.

Sony Ericsson: www.sonyericsson.com; Sony Ericsson is a top global mobile phone manufacturer with sales of over 100 million phones in 2007. With operations in over 80 countries, Sony Ericsson was established as a 50:50 joint venture by Sony and Ericsson in October 2001. For more information about Sony Ericsson, please visit www.sonyericsson.com.

Toshiba Corporation: www.toshiba.com; Toshiba is a world leader and innovator in pioneering high technology, a diversified manufacturer and marketer of advanced electronic and electrical products spanning information & communications equipment and systems.

Google Inc.: www.google.com; Our mission is to organize all the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.

gtactics: Android Devs Get Free HTC Magic (aka G2)

2009-05-28T11:04:00.000-07:00

Numerous blog posts in the last 24 hours indicated that Google gave away a HTC Magic, the Tmobile G2, to developers who attended the Google I/O Conference this week. Digging thru the posts, I ended up reading through the Android Developer Challenge and indeed saw a sentence indicating that all attendees would receive a device.

Interesting ploy by Google.

Interesting that Apple, of course, did nothing of the sort when ramping up for the App Store launch, or since.But, Apple has a device where Google does not, more importantly has an exclusive contract with AT&T, and thus has far more control over the number of devices in the hands of consumers. Google, beholden to OEMS such as HTC and Motorola and carriers like TMobile, thus lacks the ability to have qidespread use of its application marketplace. So, keep the engine humming with give aways (assuming their adwords/adsense revenue continues to be able to fund every other business unit :)

Rise of the Ampersand (er, Commercial at)!

2009-05-27T09:18:00.000-07:00

Before understanding twitter in its entirety, I started noticing folks using ~~an ampersand~~ a commercial at (the @ symbol) in front of peoples names (and nicknames, handles, user names, etc) in email correspondence, blog posts, forums, etc.

I was certainly curious.

I began to use twitter, and quickly understood that the use of the ~~ampersand~~ commercial atindicating that a twitter post (tweat) was talking directly to the person referenced, as in this:

@john hey, that was a great idea!

And now, this form is entering other online correspondence. Really? Does the following not work:

john, hey, that was a great idea?

The Harvest Vine: Fantastic Experience

2009-05-26T14:36:00.000-07:00

The Harvest Vine
2701 E Madison St Seattle, WA 98112
(206) 320-9771
Google Map
http://www.harvestvine.com/

Quality food, excellent service, simple menu, very friendly host!
Rating: 5 Star Calian Rating

We sat upstairs, at a bar table. We could have sat at the bar overlooking the chefs, outside at a small two-top table, or downstairs in the 'cave' (really cool space with wine cellar, separate bar and typical four-top/two-top tables).

We ate the following: chickpea and eggplant salad, garlic & bread soup, sheep milk bleu cheese, grilled leeks with some type of tomato-based rémoulade and venison served over morels and caramelized cauliflower. We had a Spanish red wine recommended by the host. Desert was chocolate sorbet a glass of desert wine.

All the dishes were top notch; the chickadee dish and the venison were outstanding, and we had to reserve ourselves while eating. Wine paring by the host was right on, and we were not rushed one bit. We sat at our table for over 2 hours and enjoyed every minute. The front and side of the upstairs are open air, and the nice weather was experienced by all because of this. Location on Madison is fine, as the street traffic was not noticable at all. Overall atmosphere was very enjoyable.

The host was fantastic, friendly, and served us a free glass of each of the two wines we ordered, which certainly endeared us to him and the restaurant.

Would go back anytime, and hope to do so soon.

App Store Conversations and Advice Flowing Like Water: App Store Walled Gardens or Not?

2009-05-22T10:42:00.000-07:00

I have been reading a lot of stories about App Stores, and there is a prevalent theory among consultants and experts that 'more choice' in App Stores is going to confuse consumers. Really? Keep in mind that there are currently no smartphones with multiple stores, and there will not be in the near future.

The argument goes like this: a consumer buys a Nokia phone from a carrier. Once the phone is in the hands of the consumer, they go to the device homepage, and 'may' be presented with one or more 'stores' on the homepage, ie icons to click on. And if there are two icons to choose from, what choice does the consumer make? The Nokia branded store (Ovi), or the carrier branded store? Or maybe there is even a third choice, the operating system branded store? Well, not in this use case, but you could see this if you are use an HTC smartphone, running Windows Mobile, on TMobile, for instance.

So, what is the consumer to do?

The fact is this: each of the stores is going to offer applications that work ON THE DEVICE, so a consumer WONT get an application that doesn't work. And each of the stores will offer some method to pay for the applications, such as carrier billing (the price of the application is put onto your carrier bill) or some other form, like Paypal or Google Checkout, or maybe even CREDIT CARD billing.

I suppose if you cant remember where you shop, you might be confused. But I think you have bigger things to worry about in that case.

Consumers currently have 'choice' about where to buy a piece of software for their PC or Mac; in fact there are thousands of stores that sell Quicken, for instance. Once you own quicken you can easily install it on your PC or Mac and should not be confused. Just like buying a smartphone application from one of the stores on your new smartphone.

I do not see that consumers will be confused. Rather, I see carriers being confused right now on which strategy to take: keep 3rd party app stores walled out and run their own; run their own and have 3rd party; just have 3rd party app stores

The current landscape includes Apple and iTunes as the App Store leader, and it services one device. RIM has its Blackberry Store, which in theory works on most Blackberry devices, Google has the Android marketplace, Microsoft is launching its store, Nokia has Ovi (a store with a history), HTC and Samsung are making noise (horrible website design), Vodaphone announced a HUGE effort, Palm has an App Market, and we are simply waiting on others to join.

But, most smartphone users WONT have choice... A single smartphone is most likely tied to one store. There is no example right now of a smartphone device with a choice of stores. There may be in the future, however. Lets hope consumers can handle it properly.

So, whats the big deal? IMHO, the big deal is WHO is going to own this? And the answer is not simple, and it wont be one company. Apple only serves Apple devices; same with Google and MSN. It is the strategy of the Carriers that will be interesting, to gauge how 'open' they are willing to become, and how much closer to dumb pipes they are willing to let themselves become.

Apple Gains Worldwide Smartphone Marketshare

2009-05-20T15:58:00.001-07:00

According to a recently released report, Apple (and its iPhone), has doubled its marketshare in the global Smartphone market in the last 12 months. Abbreviated report from Gartner.

The report indicates that overall mobile phone sales were down, but that Smartphone devices sales were up over 12% from a year ago. Nokia is still the world's dominate Smartphone device OEM, but its lead is slipping as both RIM (makers of Blackberry) and Apple gained share.

NOTE: no mention of Android (yet).

Calendar and Contact Syncing: Mac + PC + iPhone + Blackberry

2009-05-18T08:42:00.000-07:00

(Continued from previous posts)

Objective: an automated, elegant way to keep calendars and contacts synced between numerous devices and 'in the cloud' services, for those of us who use multiple devices and operating systems (specifically those of us on Mac/iPhone for personal use; Windows and Blackberry for work, using Exchange).

Devices: Macbook Pro (MBP), iPhone, PC laptop (Windows XP) and Blackberry Pearl (BB).

Software: MobileMe, Google (Gmail), Soocial, Mac iCal, Mac Address Book, Outlook, Exchange

The picture above shows the current set up. You will notice the MobileMe and Google are redundant. I am in the process of cutting off MobileMe and the $99 a year Apple charges me to keep in sync. And one item I dont have pictured is that I sync Address Book with Yahoo Mail, just as another back up option.

At home I have my MBP, at work a Lenovo X60 laptop. Because my company will not open up Exchange server to iPhones, I carry both an iPhone (for calls) and a Blackberry Pearl (for email). Plus, the iPhone really is the device for all other information and gaming.

Calendar: I now have one calendar, and it is totally in sync. I can create/edit/delete calendar events on any of the four devices or from Gmail calendar (I am using Exchange on the PC). Almost perfect syncing, as sometimes (depending on where I start an event) my Gmail user and my Outlook user are invited to the same event, but that is not a big deal.

Contacts: Keeping contacts in sync has proven to be a pain in the @$$. But, I finally have pieced together a workable solution. The picture below depicts the connections currently running:

Syncing between the Mac/iPhone and Google is simple, as the MBP and iPhone sync anytime you are using them (on the MBP, as long as Address Book is open, it syncs with Google; the iPhone is always syncing).

The Blackberry stays in sync with the PC using the Blackberry software, so whatever is on the PC is on the BB.

The part that was difficlut to nail down was the Google to PC syncing for contacts. I tried various pieces of freeware (OggSync, Go Sync, MobileMe for PC, etc.) and finally found Soocial (www.social.com). In theory, soocial wants to be your 'contacts in the cloud'. Great idea, and they are doing a fine job. But, once Google has a way to sync nicely with Outlook, I'll probably cut out soocial. Ideally Google is my one stop shop for contact/calendar syncing.

soocial: this is not perfect, as I have noticed some odditites when syncing (info is not exactly the same in Outlook as it is on soocial as it is in Google).

Issues with other choices:

OggSync - simply never worked! This was the free version, not pro. I did not want to pay for any software (Yes, MobileMe cost $99; I paid that before I really jumped into this).
Go Sync - the most I could do send some contacts from Outlook to Google. Could never do any other type of merge or sync; always got an error about negative count numbers?#$%
MobileMe - the idea is great: sync Outlook contacts to MobileMe. BUT, does not work with Exchange contacts! That is the catch. Had this worked, I may have kept up with MobileMe.

Final thoughts: I really like using Google, because it hosts my personal email address, calendar and contacts, and is always on and free. Google simply needs to create a solution for contact syncing like it does for calendar syncing and we should be all set. Right now, though, all the places that hold my contacts have some different names for fields, are missing some fields, etc. Its not perfect, but its getting close. Every time I get frustrated, I remind myself of exactly what Im tryingto do and sit back and smile: I'm trying toget Google, Apple, Microsoft and Blackberry to place nice together!

Mac Fan Forced to Use Windows

2009-04-08T11:50:00.000-07:00

New job = new Windows machine to work on. And a Blackberry.

I am now using a Lenovo X60. Its very small (great for travel), battery is looooooong life, works very well in conjunction with MS Office, and overall I like it. My BB is an old school 7xxx series model.

But...

I had been using a Macbook Pro for business (and personal) since the summer of 2006, added an iPhone to my mix in summer of 2007, and am deeply in love with those devices. My productivity is wicked efficient in terms of daily tasks, and as I re-introduced myself to a Windows machine, I was left feeling lonely without all the nice apps I had grown accustomed to on my Mac.

For the phone situation, I am currently using two devices. My employer does not yet support iPhone in the enterprise, so I have a hacked solution until this situation fixes itself (rumor has it that iPhone support is coming; fingers crossed.)

So, I am only using the BB for email. I have my contacts and calendar synced on the iPhone with my Outlook contacts and calendar. I achieved this by using Google Calendar/Sync, MobileMe, Funambol, iCal, AddressBook and Outlook. Yes, a bit messy, but it works perfectly! See my posts here on using Funambol to sync contacts, and here to sync calendars.

For the laptop situation, there were two key things I was missing:

Getting myself on the Inbox Zero system in Outlook
Finding a Quicksilver replacement for Windows

I have accomplished both items, and Im back on track with wicked fast productivity.

Inbox Zero system in Outlook
My modification of the systems looks like this: All email to my inbox. Upon receipt I do the following things:

Read
Delete OR send to Archive folder OR send to Active folder

Delete - never needs to be seen again. Very invigorating to use.
Archive folder - need a receipt for the important messages, and always need to have emails for referencing/remembering
Active folder - my To Do list. Hardest one to work with, so I keep it light. Alternative to this is to keep To Do emails in the inbox. I admit this happens more than I like

Steps to make this work:

Create Archived and Active sub folders under the main Inbox folder
Learn basic Outlook shortcuts (ctrl+D for delete, shift+ctrl+V for moving to another folder)
Add a macro to move items if step 2 is not enough for you (not enough for me). Go here for instructions: http://lifehacker.com/software/quicksilver/hack-attack-a-beginners-guide-to-quicksilver-247129.php#c9091738
Done.

Quicksilver like application for windows
Found a great post on this here: http://www.lifeclever.com/scott-hanselman-10-quicksilver-alternatives-for-windows/
I have done further research, and tested out the following applications:

Colibri (website) - launches only apps
FARR (website) - launches apps and documents
DOMercury (website)
Launchy (website)

My choice of Windows app that most mimics Quicksilver: Launchy

This program most matches Quicksilver IMHO.

None of them are spectacular the way QS is, but Launchy gets you close. It will catalog anything, but you have to tell it to.

Good luck.

TiVo to Mac: Move Your Movies and TV to Your Mac

2009-04-03T00:49:00.000-07:00

Finally got around to figuring out how to get my movies and television shows I record with my TiVo HD onto Mac, and then what to do with them once I had them.

Goal: download the content I want and convert to a format (MPEG) that was free and clear of any Digital Rights Management (DRM) and able to be played using Front Row in a high quality (the exact quality off the TiVo box)

Items you need first:

TiVo Decode (download)
FFmpefX (download)
Your TiVo Media Access Key (MAK) - get this by logging into My TiVo online
IP address (optional) of your TiVo box (get this by looking it up on the TiVo machine OR use your router browser admin to look it up)
Roxio Toast Titanium (optional) to download content from the TiVo and to convert to iPod/iPhone format and/or burn content to DVD
VLC (optional) for video playback on Mac

Transfer to your Mac

Use Roxio Toast Titanium, which includes TiVo Transfer (this is the offical way to do it, and the software has a nice queuing service
Otherwise, you can simply browse to your TiVo via a web browser. Simply type in:
- https://
- Once there, you will need login info
- login: tivo
- pwd: your MAK
- click around to find your shows or movies, and download one by one

Easy way to watch and convert (does NOT achieve goal)

Use Roxio Toast Titanium.
Watch content with Roxio movie player on your Mac
Convert to iPod format to use on your iPod/iPhone/Front Row

Cons: low quality once converted. Front Row uses low quality iPod format. Cant watch highest quality (HQ) on Front Row. Cant use Quicktime for HQ.

Correct way (IMHO) - no paid software required

Use browser for downloading
- See instructions above
Use Tivo Decoder to decode
- Open Terminal (the Mac application)
- TYPE : tivodecode -m ########## -o distraction.mpg distraction.tivo
  - ########## = your MAK
  - distraction.mpg = the new name of your file
  - distraction.tivo = current name of file with .tivo extension
- In just a minute or two, you’ll have a free and clear MPEG-2 to play with. Enjoy!
Use FFMpeg to convert decoded files to nice MPEG-4 format for viewing in Quicktime at highest quality. Also covers Front Row, and you can of course create iPod/iPhone formats as well
- See instructions at the FFmpegX website
You should now have videos you can enjoy anywhere

Email me if you have any questions.

iPhone - Sync with Outlook and Address Book (using Funambol)

2009-04-01T14:46:00.000-07:00

Dilemma: I have an iPhone, which I sync with my Macbook Pro and Address Book, that I need to also sync with my work contacts that rest on the exchange server of my company. I am NOT going to sync my iPhone full time with my new work PC running windows. I will keep it synced with personal MBP. But, I really need all the contacts from my new job on my phone.

So, how do you sync iPhone with both Address Book and Outlook (using Exchange)? And, more importantly, how do I do it with the least amount of manual processing?

Solution found, and in less than 10 minutes of searching Google.

Keep my existing setup on MBP/iPhone
Create a new contact group for company contacts in Address Book
Sign up for Funambol, my.funambol.com
Set up account at Funambol
Download Funambol Outlook plug in
Configure plug in to ONLY sync contacts (waiting on calendar support)
Sync Outlook to Funambol plug in (One Way)
Download and install Funambol iPhone app
Sync using Funambol app on iPhone
One way does not function, so I had to do a full sync. It took me 2 tries with over 700 contacts
Sync iPhone contacts to MBP (via USB or MobileMe)
Open Address Book on MBP
Add your new company contacts to new company group (I simply searched for domain name used in the email address of my company contacts)
Done.

My iPhone now has all my company contacts on the phone, and can sync new/edited contacts from Outlook at any time, with no manual processing

Email me if you have questions.

Overall, pretty slick.

Problems:
The current version of the the Funambol iPhone app 'should' allow you to sync one way, so that in theory you could : sync Outlook to Funambol server (one way), then sync Funambol server to iPhone (one way), then sync iPhone contacts normally and you are done.

But, the one way on the iPhone is broken... so, I had to sync all 700+ contacts from iPhone BACK to Funambol server BEFORE I could snag the Outlook contacts from Funambol. Oh well. Its all FREE!!!

And it served my needs, as my company contacts are on my iPhone without forcing my iPhone to sync with iTunes on my work PC. Im happy.

Now, waiting on Calendar syncing, that will be excellent as well.

Symbian (Nokia) Still Top Smartphone OS; 53% Market share

2009-03-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

Despite all the noise here in the US about Apple, Blackberry and the highly anticipated Palm Pre, it is still Symbian, the smartphone operating system owned by Nokia (Public, NYSE:NOK), that dominates the smartphone marketplace with a whopping 53% market share.

Looking at the chart above, from Gartner, Symbian was installed in an astounding 72 million smartphone units last year, 300% more than the next OS developer, Research in Motion (Blackberry).

Despite Symbian's (and Nokia's) strong position, "Samsung, RIM, HTC and Apple saw their volumes and share increase during 2008, thanks to their ability to offer compelling device experiences and touch interfaces.” Nokia is well aware that the competition is heating up, and that slick, consumer friendly touch screen devices will be to the next 5 years what the RAZR was to the last 5 years for normal consumers. I wold expect to see Nokia devices, running Symbian and sporting touch screens, to hit the US market in the coming 12-18 months.

Jailbrake Your iPhone, New App Stores Waiting

2009-03-06T14:29:00.000-08:00

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123629876097346481.html

The article is nicely written, and brings up an interesting concept. But, the number of people who jailbreak the iPhone and then upload pirate software is small. Jailbreaking is a pain in the ass; I liken it to installing linux on the desktop. Cool for a few days, but after that you want to go back to a system that just works without foolin' around with it.

More interesting is the idea of competing application stores for other devices. Who will run them (carriers or OEMS or content publishers), and what will Apple be doing to compete?

Asus Smartphones: Someone Please Tell Them That Names Matter

2009-03-01T21:39:00.000-08:00

Asus, maker of computer hardware, is doing its best to muscle into the smartphone business with a big release of devices running Windows Mobile 6.5. A press release from Friday announced the arrival of the P835 WVGA PDA phone. Wow, what a horrible name!

From the release:

ASUS, a leading producer of innovative handhelds, today launched the P835, a PDA phone that delivers an Internet browsing and multimedia viewing experience without equal.

Asus has made PDA (personal digital assistant) devices for a while, using the Windows operating platform. It was a natural switch over to smartphones and is a good indication that most, if not all, Wintel OEMs are coming into the smartphone marketplace too.

The PR lists out all the goodies for the phone, but here is an interesting point, a list of add on software: Opera browser, Wi-Fi Access Point, YouTube, Flickr, ASUS Virtual Keyboard, Anytime Launcher, ASUS Today, EziMusic, EziPhoto, Google search and RSS Reader.

Interesting that Opera and Google get such placement.

ASUS P565 PDA Phone, 800MHz CPU, Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, Traditional Chinese

Nokia to Launch Ovi Application Store; More Than Just Smartphone Applications

2009-02-16T17:02:00.000-08:00

Nokia has launched its own app store: Ovi. The concept of OVI has been evolving for some time now, and is the latest attempt by Nokia to capture marketshare in mobile services. Previously, wireless carriers were very reluctant to allow Nokia access to their customers via a store front. But now, after years of failing to significantly capture marketshare themselves, carriers are more open, even letting Nokia place its store side by side with their own.

Based on the press releases and news coming out of the MWC, it seems Nokia is really pushing into this area. Interestingly, Nokia is hoping to seriously capture more than the Smartphone users every other OEM is hoping to catch; they are going after all mobile users. Email, shopping, software, maps...

Niklas Savander, executive vice president of services and software for Nokia, said at a press conference here Monday that the Ovi application store is different from the others.

"This is not just a place to find applications," he said. "It's a smart store. That is not just for smartphones. It actually suggests things you might like and adds social location dynamics to show you relevant applications. And it shows you what your friends have bought. And it changes the inventory based on where you are."

For one, the store is not limited to providing applications for smartphones. Eventually, all Nokia devices will be able to access some applications from the store.

"It's not only about smartphones anymore," he said. "We must address the range of devices we have in the market from the high end to the low end. This is not necessarily about getting the 2 percent of mobile users who are already using applications to switch. But it's about addressing the 98 percent that will soon start using applications."

More at CNET

Windows Mobile Marketplace Announced; 20,000 Applications Aggregated

2009-02-16T17:01:00.000-08:00

Microsoft announced today that it is formally launching the Windows Marketplace for Windows Mobile devices. THe market will be available on the handsets and basically takes the existing 20,000 applications available to day and packages them in one place. Not novel, but if the developer interface kicks ass and the payouts are better than 70% (to beat Apple and Google). Users will be able to purchase applications by logging into their Windows Live account.

The app store wars are heating up!

From the Companies website:
The new operating system features Windows® Marketplace for Mobile, a rich and integrated marketplace for searching, browsing and purchasing mobile applications from Windows® phones or from a PC by simply using a Windows Live ID. The new marketplace will be included with all Windows phones based on Windows Mobile 6.5, which will help consumers to easily find, install and experience those applications that fit their needs and make the phone truly personal. Developers, who have already built over 20,000 applications for Windows® phones, will be able to offer applications to customers through the marketplace via a simple security and compatibility check from Microsoft.

Full release here from Microsoft

The Marketplace will be available when Windows Mobile 6.5 ships later this year.