Image via Boy Genius Report

What’s the big deal?

Well… that is a great question.

1. One of the big dogs (Google) has finally released a phone that is expected to fulfill the “prophesies”.  For a long time the Android mobile operating system has been being proclaimed as the next wonder of the world but hasn’t really delivered.  Well, the Droid comes with the next (highly-upgraded) version of Android.

2. Second, Motorola (makers of the Razr) has had some very high profile flops recently.  Many were saying that they were done in the mobile phone/smartphone market.  So, apparently they took note.  They apparently decided to really go all out on this one.  Just take a look at the current specs.  Also based on early reviews I would have to say that they’ve silenced some of their critics.

3. The all-powerful Verizon FINALLY has a competitive smartphone.  Oh sure… the Pre will probably be released early 2010 but it’s not new anymore.  Verizon has been very slow to the game in the smartphone arena.  None of their phones really took the market by storm… until the DROID.

Too much hype?

Time will tell.  Based on what I’ve seen so far… No.  This phone is going to rapidly become a major player in the game.  It is going to put Android on very solid footing.  It’s still slightly immature from initial reports… but just get it out there and people will starting tweaking it.

iPhone Killer

No… No… and No.  The iPhone has it’s niche.  Let’s face it… it’s a cool phone.  It also has a big weakness… AT&T.  That said the smartphone market is so large and immature that Blackberry, iPhone, Pre, and 10 Androids can be very successful without really affecting the other.  I would say for these phones… it depends on your needs.

Bring on the Droid

I say welcome to the new kid on the block.  Push the limits.  Force innovation.  Create demand.  This market truly needs to step it up.  Want to see more?

Motorola Droid Hands on [Boy Genius Report]

Motorola Droid Site

Verizon’s Droid Site

So… now what’s your opinion?  Will the DROID live up to the hype?  Is the Pre a better solution?  Let’s hear it.

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photo credit: _e.t

One of the larger studies done on teleworking has confirmed that it could have a negative impact on performance.  The study consisted of 9 different organizations and 18 separate teams, all in different parts of the world, some near and some far.

The outcome of the study showed that without teams being collocated, negativity influenced both electronic and in-person social networking.  On the other hand, performance improved when teams worked apart.  Additionally, performance was positive for those in the hub of electronic networking whereas teams working in person had no effect.

This particular study identified several things.  Lessons learned were that more challenges existed for remote employees specific to the ability to communicate and share knowledge electronically than for employees working together.  However, even teams centrally located within an electronic network benefited, specific to getting help from others and receiving additional information.  This study also showed that telework compared with distributed teamwork showed one primary difference.

Distributed teams thought nothing of having little in-person contact with others and even electronic communication processes required little interaction.  The other team, people teleworking, accepted that at some point, they would be back in the office where they would eventually meet with someone in person, even if it meant a delay in work, or the work not completed.

The second aspect of the study showed that working independent from team members was beneficial.  For one thing, these people had a lower number of distractions, which allowed them more time to focus on the work at hand.  As a result, these team members actually performed at a higher level.  Even so, for collaboration, certain routines and processes had to be in place.  To mirror the in-person networks, these teams did not need any type of sophisticated or high-speed electronic solution.

All of the teams that took part in this study conducted business via email and phone.  The people that reached the highest level of completion and success had a basic understanding of an electronic network, which provided them with opportunity for meeting goals, as well as getting needed support from the organization through processes appropriate for the task.

Oliver Darraugh has been researching the effects of teleworking on real estate businesses.  He has implemented many of the research findings in his own real estate company Sell House Fast, an enterprise built fully on teleworking individuals.

photo credit: HVargas

Last spring, Bob Stanke wrote an article about TweetLater on this blog called “Twitter, a time waster? Not with TweetLater!“.  He wrote about the convenience of scheduling tweets and how TweetLater helped with that function.  Since that post, Tweetlater got a new name: SocialOomph.  It has also undergone quite a bit of construction and transformation.  It has become a must have tool for people who are really into Twitter.  I’ll outline some of the features that I think are really valuable.

Auto Follow/Un-follow

This tool simply follows anyone who follows you and un-follows anyone who un-follows you.  There is some logic built into the un-follow to deal with issues where Twitter doesn’t report the proper information back.  Decent feature that works quite well if you wish to follow everyone who follows you.  I’m personally not convinced of using an un-follow tool but that is a personal call.

Vet New Followers

Here’s where the auto-follow really kicks it up a notch.  This allows you to make sure you want to follow the people who follow you.  So instead of just blindly following everyone who follows you (spammers and all), it asks you to confirm that you want to follow them.  Now… here’s the cool part: it’s completely configurable and you can see/confirm the people on one screen instead of having to search for them on Twitter or through some other tool.

First, you configure criteria that will decide the default behavior of the individual follower.  So as an example if the ratio of Followers to Followed is greater than 75% default to follow.  Or… if they don’t have any tweets… default ignore.  The cool part is that it still lets you confirm but it defaults the action so you don’t have to do anything if the configuration is correct, but you can override.

Now, once your configuration is setup… to the vetting screen.  When you click on the vetting screen, it will display everyone who has followed you and is eligible for follow.  On that screen it will display their profile information, recent tweets, stats, which account they followed, and the action (Approve, Ignore, Block, Spam) to be taken.  This will be displayed for groups of 25 at a time.  Once you have set all the actions for that set of 25 simply click the Apply button and the designated action is taken.

This is a great way to filter out some of the spammers that the Auto-Follow simply follows.

Purge DMs

Another cool feature that was added was purge DMs feature.  We all know that DMs are a favorite of spammers.  Also, we receive quite a few legitimate ones that once read really aren’t all that useful.  So what’s the option?  Go through one by one and delete them.  Well, not with Purge DM.  You can set this tool to purge all DMs for a specific timeframe.  Once complete your DM inbox will look a whole lot cleaner.  Pretty cool tool.

Keyword Alerts

Keyword alerts allow you to setup Twitter search criteria and have it send you an email with the results.  Pretty neat tool if you are looking for people to follow.  If you wanted to follow people who were discussing the new Droid phone, simply setup the keyword “Droid” and have it email you the results.  This could come in very handy at times.

Tweet Scheduling

Well, the flagship utility is still there!  You can still tweet later.  There are some added features such as saving message templates.  It also allows you to schedule for multiple accounts.

Premium Services

As with many services on the Internet today, SocialOomph follows the freemium model.  All the options I described above are the free parts.  There are also premium services.  Some of those services are: enhanced tweet scheduling, enhanced filtering of follows, filter for people to follow, define twitter channels, etc.  One other service that has been added is TweetCockpit.  It’s a twitter client that allows you to setup channels, mute certain users, setup filters, and many other available features.  Take a look at the many premium options available.

I’m Oomphed out

So the name change wasn’t the only thing that happened at SocialOomph over the last year.  They have been busy adding features and improving existing features.  It has been expanded to be a sweet suite of social media utilities.  You can find new users to follow, determine whether to follow them or not, schedule what you’re going to tweet to them, and even do some clean up.  It’s a great tool to really put the Oomph in your social media plan.  I hope you enjoy looking into it.

The Services page has been revamped to better describe what Borea Systems does.

A WordPress Packages page has been created to better outline services.

A Recent Project page has been created to describe what it is we’ve been working on over the past months (and we’ll try to keep it up to date).

Lastly, Borea Systems finally has a FaceBook presence.  Please join us on the Borea Systems FaceBook page!!

Corbett has just released his first e-Book.  It is called “New Economy Superstar“.  The general premise is how the economy is really changing and really how technology has driven that change.  He discusses many of the concepts of how the Internet, Social Media, and mobility are really changing the rules at an ever increasing rate.  I think that topic will be very interesting for many of the Refocusing Technology readers and I would highly recommend taking a look at Corbett’s book.  AND don’t worry there’s no cost and no requirement to sign-up to be able to read this book.  I am certain that you will find that Corbett is very interesting to read and that you’ll probably want to give him a follow after reading this book.

Book: New Economy Superstar

Blog: Free Pursuits

Author: Corbett Barr On Twitter

Work is not a place, it is something you do

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photo credit: Picture Perfect Pose

Recently, a once-convicted felon had his probation revoked when pictures from his wife’s Myspace page were introduced into evidence at the hearing. The pictures showed the felon holding a beer, which was a violation of his probation. More close to home, I was involved in a case last year where the Myspace, Facebook, and Youtube postings of a couple of plaintiffs dramatically undercut their damage claims (testifying that you’ve never used illegal drugs only really holds up if you haven’t crowed about doing cocaine and heroine on your Myspace page). Likewise, picture of you that you didn’t know were out there can also be found on the worldwide web (try Sorry I Missed Your Party or join the Facebook group 30 Reasons Girls Should Call It a Night)

The proliferation of personal information publicly available can help as well as hurt. For employers, a simple Google search can provide much in-depth information, as can a trip to various social networking sites. In a time when it’s more important than ever to find qualified and capable employees, background research can be helpful. Care should be taken, of course, to make hiring decisions based upon the applicant’s ability to do the job, his/her qualifications, and other factors related to job performance, rather than the pictures posted on Myspace. Merely because the information is now available does not mean that it should be focus of the employment inquiry, nor a factor in the employment decision at all. However, many employers will point out that they seek ambitious, motivated and driven people. What is there in the applicant’s various social networking profiles are those qualities demonstrated?

The internet ground is always shifting under employer’s and employee’s feet. Care should be taken by employees (and for those of you with kids, your sons and daughters) about what information they put on their profiles (remember, social networking site profiles are often searchable by Google and Yahoo). On the other side of the coin, employers must be diligent to exercise proper due diligence, but also to consider job-performance factors in making hiring decisions. As always, if you have a question about a specific situation, contact an attorney versed in employment law.

Noah Fiedler is a commercial litigation lawyer based in Wisconsin. For more information about Noah and his work  take a look at his blog at http://www.NoahFiedler.com/ .

via Gizmodo

Courier: First Details of Microsoft’s Secret Tablet

photo credit: Mzelle Biscotte

All these updates come in one email!  I love the application and I recommend you check it out.  http://nutshellmail.com

Image via BoyGeniusReport

Archos makes new Android-powered Internet Tablet official; 3.5G Phone Tablet partially unveiled

Android-powered Archos tablet out-specs Zune, iPod Touch

Archos 5 Internet tablet site

I have seen the future and it will be cool!