Are you addicted to the ‘Net? You may be and not even know it. Then again, it could just be another damn farce that some research-type used to bilk the government into funding some research (and themselves) for a year or two.
At any rate, I obviously use the ‘Net quite a bit. Considering that I’ve moved to using the web for all my information technology service needs, you could argue that I’m “hooked”. However, I beg to differ – big shock, huh? I use the ‘Net for simplifying my life. I use the ‘Net for information. I use the ‘Net to streamline.
While I’m using a computing device most of the day, I only use the ‘Net for a little bit a day. Most of my computer-related time is spent at work figuring out some ridiculous problem, or supporting someone else’s problem (fun – not).
Paul has always had great opportunities to review early versions of products from Microsoft. He enthusiastically does this with an eye for detecting the not-so-finished features that would trip up the average user.
Since I’m an avid technology buff working in IT, I regularly read his reviews, and this one should be another great retrospective of the process of getting from the Longhorn concepts to Vista the product.
If you have been using Outlook Mobile Manager (OMM), you may be interested in knowing that Microsoft Research has released version 2.1 of this very useful tool.
OMM allows email delivered to your Outlook Inbox, to be forwarded to a mobile device, be it a cell phone, smartphone, or PDA Phone. The system learns what emails are important to forward, and which are not based on your actions. Omm can also forward appointment reminders in addition to emails.
Some new features in version 2.1:
Supports POP3, in addition to Exchange email accounts.
Enhanced support for native junk-email filters.
Extended personalization to examples from arbitrary folders
This is one of those products that I believe will help move blogging into corporate America. With software features like LDAP authentication and enterprise-class support contracts, Six Apart is positioning it’s Movable Type blogging platform to fit into corporate-minded IT shops.
Corporate IT is usually religious in its zeal to secure and “normalize” any technology. Don’t get me wrong, the IT departments that do it right usually have less down-time and increased productivity from their IT systems. They just suck the soul out of a product in the process.
With a made-for-enterprise approach from one of the top blogging software purveyors, corporate blogging can begin to be rolled out in the traditionally controlled environments. Hopefully, MT will be able to bring even more conservative types into the blogosphere.
Early last week, I decided to try using the River of News format that Scoble and Winer both rave about so much. You can enable this type of view in Google Reader by selecting All Items in the selection panel on the left, and then selecting Sort by newest the view settings.
I have to say that this view simply is the greatest way to consume RSS/ATOM feeds. While I had thought I would miss my more interesting feeds because they would be “buried” inside a bunch of other non-critical posts, that simply isn’t the case.
The “river of news” view has allowed me to make another leap in both the quantity and quality of news I consume. Today I’m able to follow many more stories, much more quickly.
First Lady Melania Trump: "Most know my husband as the strong Commander-in-Chief, but his empathy transcends the role and shapes a caring leader who constantly remembers each and every American soldier is someone's child."
