Even though Firefix is set to my default browser, if IE is running (works best for remote Exchange access and some other Intranet stuff) it picks up the link I click on from any app… Bad IE, down!
iPodder
Can’t try this yet… out of town on a PC laptop, but can’t wait to get it going on my Powerbook when I return.
iPodder automatically downloads new mp3 files when they become available from any of 5 sources (you can change these if you wish) and copies them to playlists in iTunes based on the channel name. If you have an iPod, connecting it to your computer will load the songs automatically. [Adam Curry’s Weblog]
Orange Deploys PTT With Treo 600
Not sure if this is considered data or voice (data would be free to umlimited plan users) or what the latency might be which is the key to successful Push to Talk Applications. Nextel for example is less than a second once the initial connection is established. You need to at roughy one second of the delay makes usage much too annoying…
Orange has announced the commercial availability of Talk Now, Europe’s first advanced Push-To-Talk over GSM service. The first device able to take advantage of the new service is the palmOne Treo 600. [PalmInfocenter.com]
Walking to Mom
Here’s another shot of Hannah cruising along ….
Hannah Loves Vermont!
Hannah continues to amaze! At 9 months she is walking and getting seriously good as each day passes. She’s pushing our hands away now to walk on her own and has easily gone 10 feet or more… whoa! Do we have some serious baby proofing to do when we get back home…
Ballmer sells Windows 1.0
Apple – iTunes – Affiliate Program
What the hell took so long???
Good chief bets on standard OSes
While at times I thought he was a tad squirrely, Good’s CEO makes some good points about focusing on a variety of devices rather than relying so tightly on a hardware/software solution. I like Good, I don’t use it but if I had a choice at my job between a Blackberry or a Treo with Goodlink, I’d definitely pick the Treo. I am too attached to my other apps…
Good Technology CEO Danny Shader says his company is well-placed in the mobile enterprise market space, providing an application that runs on standard operating systems rather than on proprietary hardware or software bundles. In a Face to Face interview with ZDNet Editor in Chief Dan Farber, Shader discusses the changing shape of the market [ZDNet]
iTunes may rock, but Microsoft will win??
Biran Cooley over at ZDNet believes that simply based on scale and relative goodness that the the MSN music service will knock iTunes down. I am not so sure… I’d bet that enough people have been exposed to the simple elegance of iTunes and iPod that they get how it should work. Microsoft has a high bar to match even if they can outspend Apple… they probably won’t out-cool them.
There’s also the missing piece of the player itself. They just have a store, and many others will probably roll out very similar stores based on their platform — and let’s not forget confusing DRM.
It’s all part of the objectivity and professional skepticism that goes with the job, but come on. In the end, Microsoft’s strategy for the music wars should simply read like Reagan’s plan for the Cold War: they lose, we win. Then, you just spend your competitors into a hole.
Apple’s iTunes store and iPod players have been earning a 4.0 grade point average. But Microsoft merely has to get a 3.0, multiplied by the Windows user base, and it wins. All of the online music stores sell the same music from five major labels (and a handful of indies who don’t make or break anyone’s business). And even if Apple does have leverage with the labels now, I can assure you that all five of them will throw Steve Jobs under the bus when the Windows music store starts heating up. [ZDNet AnchorDesk]
The City of Brotherly Wireless
For about $10 million, the city of Philadelphia believes they can turn all 135 square miles of the city into the world’s largest wireless Internet hot spot. [Daily Wireless]
Palm T5 Pictures a hoax…
1src
just ackowledged that the T5 info and pictures were in fact a hoax…
Verizon 3Mbps Goes Live
I’m a loyal cable guy for now, but this probably is good news to many people… the price is actually quite competitive, though I am capable of getting up to 6MB down…
Though Verizon has yet to issue a press release or official announcement, our users are now ordering and receiving 3Mbps/768kbps DSL service. Only customers in former Bell Atlantic territory are seeing the upgrades, while Verizon West or Ex-GTE customers are still waiting. Users report it’s not available for those served via a remote terminal, or to those further than 11,000 feet from their CO. The tier costs $39.95 bundled, or $45 stand alone; the upstream speeds making it particularly attractive to many cable users (if they qualify). [broadband reports]
Nintendo DS does VOIP
In its Electronic Entertainment Industry Update released today, TNI Securities reports that the recently revealed headset port on the Nintendo DS will be used in conjunction with the built-in wireless 802.11b networking capabilities to offer voice-over-IP chat–in effect, allowing gamers to use the DS to make free phone calls at wireless network hotspots. [Gamespot via Gizmodo]
Pocket PC as a WiFiphone
The Vonage Softphone forums have a few posts on this and while it’s not supported, it definitely works. I don’t have and probably won’t be getting a PPC device, but for those of you with WIFI PPC’s and a Vonage account, you might be quite happy reading this… The Softphone service is pretty cool and if you add it on to your Vonage account, you get 500 minutes unlimited local and LD, which is a pretty good amount of talking (not power business use, but average). If you have a softphone account now, this is just another way to make use of it instead of lugging a laptop around…
This week’s How-To is a handy one for the folks out there who use the Vonage Voice Over IP (VOIP) service and happen to have a Pocket PC device with WiFi. We%u2019re going to show you how to turn just about any Pocket PC PDA device in to a real telephone with a working telephone number. At the end of this, we’re also going to post our phone number so you can test it out (it might be a long distance call for you). [Engadget]
You can now… download Skype for Mac OS X
Too bad I am on the work PC for the week while out of town… can’t wait to give this a shot.
iMac G5
The new Apple iMac will definitley be finding a place in our home at some point… wow! I love the design and the specs are fantastic.
Damn you, Jay
Autoweek interviews one of the few people in the world capable of buying three new supercars at once: Jay Leno, who just ponied up for the Mercedes SLR, Ford GT and Porsche Carrera GT. [Autoblog]
Call Looping
As I mentioned in the previous post I am using the Vonage softphone to handle my calls while I am out of range for T-Mobile this week. I just did an interesting trick I thought I’d share for the other person who might find this interesting. my T-Mobile mobile is forwading to my main Vonage line which is forwarding to my Vonage Softphone. Basically all calls are being routed to my softphone which is very cool – at least to me.
Vonage to the Rescue
I am currently in Vermont with my family getting away from the hubbub in NYC this week. I had no idea my mobile was going to be out of service here and was stressing a bit about how I would stay connected for work purposes … until I recalled that nice feature of Vonage, the softphone. The hotel we are staying in offers free wifi in all the rooms and across the entire property from what I’ve been told though I’ve only tested in two rooms (we’ve moved once, long story and perhaps another post)…
The Vonage softphone is a $9.95/mo add-on that gives you 500 minutes talk time unlimited local and long distance calling. It’s a software application that creates a SIP phone (Session Initiation Protocol) connection to any other phone of your choosing. The call quality is pretty good, not great — had a few drop outs which don’t seem to plague Skype on this PC, but may be more connection speed related than anything else.
All in all it’s a great work-around for my situation and something I am glad to have. There’s no way I could afford to be disconnected at the moment given work-load… I just wish Vonage gave this away as part of package allowing me to use my existing number with them rather than having to add another number and charge… maybe as competition cooks a bit more they’ll reconsider.
Why (Not) to Switch From Email to RSS
I disagree with this post of Rick Bruner’s, but I am too tired to really rant. At the moment, Rick’s key argument against the use of RSS in business is that such a small percentage of people are using it. It’s hard to argue on numbers alone… RSS is still in it’s infancy.
As tools develop and people realize that they can be in control of their own information choices, it will grow. It may take a Microsoft OS implementation, but I doubt people will wait that long. Microsoft doesn’t even get it right most of the time on the first try…
The push (pun intended) is going to come through a development from someone like Apple or a very savvy developer who gets that the tech needs to be hidden. Information is the hero in reading feeds… the tech is way to much for most people to really even care about.
Keep in mind that MP3’s and digital music existed long before Apple (and broadband) came along and proved it was easy to manage on the consumer end, as well as sell to them. There are a great deal of people today buying and selling music and more services (Yahoo and Microsoft come to mind) on the way. I realize RSS, Feeds and the tools are still in the hands of early adopters, but they will mature (sooner than later) and this will grow. Understanding RSS today is a good move for your business, not a foolish one or a waste of time.