Oct 16, 2008 | blog
Yeah, I’m a little excited while I sit and wait for my T-Mobile G1 to be delivered. During this waiting period that nearly every geek worth their weight in Apple will experience, I’ve been reading reviews, opinions, development docs, looking up existing applications and so on.
During this time I’ve been thinking about the things that Google did & didn’t put in the phone. I’ve been pondering the criticism and the early praise for the device, and I’ve started thinking about what I want out of the G1, and through this I’ve come up with a list of possible application ideas for some “Rock Star†android developers. So here they are.
Media/Communications
- Video Camcorder App (since Google left this out!)
- Adobe Flash Player
- Flickr Uploader
- QIK & Seesmic Video Client
- A Slingbox client
- A Kick-But Media Player
- Rhapsody client, iTunes Client, and so on
- Skype, GrandCentral, ooVoo Clients
Social Media
- Twitter Client
- Facebook (and other social networks) Client that supports pic/vid/audio uploads
- Find a way to use the accelerometer as an input device – specifically for scrolling. (Ok, yes like the information pads from STNG that the crew would simply tilt back & forth to scroll the information on the device – geeky I know.)
Drivers/Input
- Bluetooth AD2P Stereo Headphone Support
- Bluetooth HID support for keyboards (Specifically my older ThinkOutside Bluetooth Keyboard please!)
- Bluetooth HID support for Mice
- Multi-Touch input drivers (I believe Google didn’t do this because of IP concerns – I’m probably wrong)
Productivity
- Google Reader App (How’d they miss this?)
- Google Docs App (Gears… Hello!)
- Note taking app (I’d like one that integrates/syncs with Microsoft OneNote, but others like Evernote)
- Full Screen Keyboard
- Blogging client similar to Windows Live Writer
- Weather App (Forecasts, Maps, etc…)
- Support for email signing/encryption certificates
- Travel App (This one could be cooler than they have been to date: detect location via GPS, set correct time/date, download current weather, look up local restaurants automatically and present by breakfast/lunch/dinner times, download current exchange rates, more…?)
Heck, I’m just listing off things I want – but look at the device and think of the G1 as a PC rather than a phone. Remember, with 3G, GPS, accelerometer, touch interface, camera, access to your Gmail Contacts & Calendar, Maps, etc… what could you build using a combination of these hardware and soft resources? What if…? Since Android is an open platform, you can replace even the core components of the software suite: dialer, browser, email, input drivers, camera software… it’s endless.
Ok, now that I’ve demonstrated that I’m an Android fan-boy, I’m going to go back to work. Have fun!
Oct 15, 2008 | blog
With the knowledge that I’ll be moving to the T-Mobile G1 in the near future, I started thinking about my contact list. Yeah, the one I have in Outlook that I sync to my current Windows Mobile phone. But wait, there’s no sync client for Android phones.
However, in the case of the T-Mobile G1, it will sync it’s contact list with my Gmail Contacts over the 3G connection. Ok, I can live with that – it actually works out better in the end. More on that later. With that realization, I started thinking about how best to edit and update all those contacts I have in Gmail.
For a long time I had looked for some kind of utility to sync from Outlook to Gmail Contacts. I was hopeful when early last year Google themselves released a Outlook to Gmail Calendar sync tool. Alas there was no contact sync utility, just some API extensions to make it possible.
Since I’ve been playing evaluating Thunderbird as a replacement for Outlook on and off for a year or so, it occurred to me that there may be a way to sync Gmail items to Thunderbird via Add-Ons. Sure enough, they exist. With a Gmail Contact Add-On and a Gmail Calendar Add-On, I’m able to edit and update these times fast and easy via a great offline client.
The great part of all this is that because the G1 automatically syncs Gmail, Contacts and Calendar – all my PIM data will now effortlessly be in sync from PC to Web to Mobile. No matter where I go to send an email, make a call, or view my schedule, it will always be in sync.
Do you know of any interesting Google or Gmail related Add-Ons for Thunderbird that would make it even better? Let us know what you find that works!
Now to just wait for the G1 to be delivered…
Oct 13, 2008 | blog
Yep, Mike Nash announced it today on the Windows Vista blog. The next version of Microsoft Windows will be named: Windows 7
I like it, but then I’ve been accused of being a Microsoft fan-boy, so my opinion probably doesn’t count. It’s a name anyway, and darn early for a Microsoft OS release at that. Not even in beta yet. The idea with Windows 7 is simplicity, and the name seems to fit fairly well.
At any rate, I’d like to toss a few ideas regarding W7 (can I coin an acronym this early?) at Microsoft that would make the next version a little bit better than Vista. These are mostly non-technical suggestions, but one’s I’d like to see at any rate.
- SKUs: Let’s pare it down to 3 versions of W7: Basic, Home, and Business. Forget about anything else.
- Basic is just that and should be for UMPCs and Netbooks, etc…
- Home should have Media Center, Tablet support and a few other “fun†things that used to be in “Ultimateâ€
- Business is the standard business client with full Active Directory & corporate security functionality. It should also have Tablet PC extensions.
- Licensing: Home licensing should be made super-simple. It’d be great for home users to by a 3-Pack of “Windows 7 Home†licenses for $99 (US). How about a 5-Pack for $150 (US)? Sure, not all home users will need many of these license packs, but the positive PR from bloggers of low-cost upgrade license packs, reduced packaging materials & shipping of these is a great “green†spin.
- Include the Windows Home Server client components on the Windows 7 DVD.
- Nice to see the duplicated “live†components being removed and available as free add-ons. Now do this with Media Player, Internet Explorer, and other non-essentials. You don’t need to go open-source with Windows, but take out all the optional-extras that you’ve been making us install by default. Make it so damn easy for Google, Apple, Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter, IBM, Bob’s Computer Supply, etc… to make available downloadable replacements for these. Then make the Live offering so damn good that everything else can’t compare. A tall order, but one that is based on true competition and is what users what anyway. Can you imagine folks not complaining about IE or WMP? Wouldn’t that be nice for a change?
- Publish all the hooks needed for 3rd party developers to create replacements for these and share them. Shout from the rooftops about it. make it simple and easy for any developer to find and use it.
- Create an installation routine that will include 3rd party components during the install of Windows 7. Let the user choose from an alphabetical list of choices, with no pre-set defaults. MAKE them CHOOSE one. Make it easy & free for 3rd party developers to get their wares in the list.
- Make all the “Windows Vista Ultimate Extras†that you were supposed to offer for
- Windows Vista Ultimate available at no charge as offerings from the Live site to any Windows SKU.
- Be 100% accurate when you share resource requirements to the average Joe.
Something I’d like Microsoft to get as well is that we’re buying an operating system. We’re not buying a soup-to-nuts software suite. I’m not sorry to tell you that, that is all I want. Just like all I want from my broadband ISP (Cable in this case) is a simple, fast, pipe. Nothing else. Your value-add is the Windows Live stuff, so make that good.
Some of the early indications on Windows 7 is a new approach. I’m not sure it that’s true or just more spin like the last 20 years. Prove our suspicions wrong. If Windows 7 is really about “simplicity†than make it so – make it OSX simple.
I know you can do it – I’d just like to see folks as happy with Windows as I’ve been for nearly two decades.
Ok, I’m off my soap-box. What’s your take? More spin? Stupid or great name? Do you believe the next version of Windows will be worth your time? Tell Microsoft what you think – some of ‘em are actually listening.
Oct 13, 2008 | blog
Looks like Christmas is in October for me this year. I’ll be looking for the new T-Mobile G1 to show up around the 10th of November according to the order information. Yeah, I couldn’t help joining over 1.5 million other new Android fans and preordered the phone last night.
I’ve been waiting for some time for the right phone to come along, and this may be it. For sure, it’s a whole new ballgame instead of Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Nokia S60, iPhone, or Palm.
Let’s see… Google Maps integration, GPS, Push Gmail, Google & YouTube integration, 3G on T-Mobile (so I don’t have to change carriers), the Android Market, and integration with Amazon MP3 store. Too cool.
I’ll post on the device as I get it and share what I learn about it. Happy to have an exciting 3G smartphone on T-Mobile for a change. I’ve made my darn T-Mobile MDA last nearly 3 years!
Photo credit: T-Mobile
Oct 13, 2008 | blog
Its no secret that I’ve long been a fan of Gmail. In fact, I moved my main email domain to Google’s hosted service about two years ago. I’ve loved the flexibility, space, search, and tagging that are tightly incorporated into the service.
The only problem was a few niggling odds & ends. Not big issues mind you, but a few things that just make it hard to switch 100% to a web-only email environment. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been about 87% of the way there already. When out & about I use the web interface daily for most email tasks. When I need to find something – use the web interface for searching. I’ve used both POP and IMAP to view mail on my Windows Mobile phone since I signed up – and much more.
The few items have been enough for me to keep an email client installed, and here they are:
- Creating HTML emails
- Custom HTML Signatures
- Contact Synchronization with my phone (the real biggie)
A number of these I’ve gotten around. Early on I found that I can cut & paste an email signature from a web page to a Gmail email when composing. Simple, but not convenient. The number of specialized HTML emails that I send are small and the Gmail editor is up to 99% of the tasks. The contact thing is the hardest to get past though.
I have a Windows Mobile phone, and contacts in Outlook sync right to the phone easier than anything else that exists out there. Period. I’ve had Nokia, Samsungs, Motorolas, and BlackBerrys – and all had sync tools that worked, but none as easy as Outlook to Windows Mobile.
At any rate, the real issue with contacts is getting them synchronized between Outlook and Gmail. It’s extremely tough. With the upcoming release of the T-Mobile G1 “Google phoneâ€, it looks like all that might actually be ending. With built-in Gmail support it also has the ability to sync your phonebook with Gmail contacts. Sweet!
So I’ve been debating whether to throw down on this device or not. It may be the one, the final piece that let’s me go web-only for email management.
Oh, the signature piece – yeah I found this great Firefox plug-in called Blank Canvas Gmail Signatures which allows you to have up to four HTML signatures for each Gmail account. Highly recommended!
So is this the final piece to my text communication puzzle? It very well may be.
And 3G to boot! 😀
Oct 12, 2008 | blog
Slow, lazy weekends – that’s what we all need from time to time, and that’s what I’m doing today on the patio overlooking the St. Croix river. Problems and issues of the world are removed and the simple sounds of life on the river replace the hectic hubbub of modern life that I return to tomorrow.
It sometimes seems so hard to get away and relax, that I often forget the view right outside the door. I’m terrible that way – I love the Northwood’s of Wisconsin and Minnesota, and my family gets away to them whenever we can. However, we choose this place on the edge of Minneapolis & St Paul so we could enjoy the view. A shame when we don’t make use of it.
It’s also a fine day to get caught up with some thinking, and get started on much needed writing as well. Something that I’ve been neglecting of late. The stress of work and the long hours involved have kept me from pursuing my agenda as much as I would like. So today is a day (afternoon really) to sit here in the autumn breeze and watch the river flow past.
So I thought I’d share the view – a couple quick snaps with my aging T-Mobile MDA (Windows Mobile), that doesn’t quite live up to modern digi-cam phones. But still…
Anyway, I hope you’re having a great autumn day as well, no matter where or what you happen to be doing.
