Mar 14, 2008 | blog
It’s time has come, or passed rather… at least for me. I’m sure I’ll cross paths with my favorite email client and PIM in the future. I’ll either have a change of heart (unlikely) or a future client will insist that I use it for internal email at their location (very likely).
For all those anti-Microsoft folks that love to hear things like this, I simply have to say that it has little to do with the product. It does have everything to do with the way I work. As I transition much of my work online, I’m finding that I use more than one or two computers. Since it’s much harder to sync all the data on all these machines, and the fact that I simply can’t do this on some, leads me to world of cloud computing.
This is nothing new for me, I’ve been an advocate of leveraging the cloud for years, but it’s the first concerted effort to simply migrate my data and shift my app usage online. Yes this includes office productivity solutions as well. I’ll be using a lot of both Google Apps and Zoho Office. Both have their strong points and I’m aiming to leverage both for different reasons.
I’ve got most of my data on either XDrive or SkyDrive for differing reasons, and use Box.net as well for some always accessible drivers, tables, code snippets, and such.
I’ll keep MS Office Pro installed, but it’s use is limited to supporting my clients – nothing more. So join me, if you wish, and see how well this works out! I’ll share my frustrations and my wins equally with you.
Have you been thinking of doing the same? What are your directions on how you work, looking into the future?
Mar 13, 2008 | blog
So for all you T-Mobile owners out there, I’ve found a few fun ways to give your device a new lease on life. It’s true that we are all getting tired of the lack of 3G service by T-Mobile, or maybe the “long in the tooth” look & feel of Windows Mobile 5 and the ridiculous T-Mobile theme that shipped with the MDA.
It’s a good thing too, because right now there is simply too much turmoil in the mobile market to pick a good successor to our trusty little devices. What are the options? Go back to a “dumb” phone? Switch to a non-touch screen Smartphone? Go the Nokia N-series route? Spend upwards of $800 on an HTC unlocked device? Bite the bullet and jump to AT&T and the iPhone?
Well I’ve got some great ideas and news for you that will help pass the time waiting for new devices, and answers to some questions that will make that aging phone more productive and fun.
First, lets start with the one thing that we simply can’t change: 3G. No, there is no way at all to fix that. But there are workarounds: T-Mobile Internet & WiFi HotSpots. I’ve had the full unfiltered Internet & HotSpot service from T-Mobile for nearly two years and have used it extensively. Mostly I’ve used the WiFi with my laptop and really like knowing that I can hit any Starbucks Coffee location and enjoy decent connectivity. It used to be $30/mo. but they changed the pricing on that a few months ago to $20/mo. for customers with a voice plan. If you combine that, T-Mobiles GPRS/EDGEand some free WiFi spots, it’ll cover a lot of a person’s daily stomping ground.
Second, we’ll talk a bit about the user interface. It’s tired, it’s old, it’s boring. The iPhone sure has a great UI. But have you noticed the various 3rd party solutions to this problem? There is the PointUI Home interface, HTC’s “Touch Cube” interface for select HTC devices only, and recently SPB Software House’s Mobile Shell. I’ve chosen this piece of software because of the simple elegance of it, the functionality, and the fact that it’s really darn stable and doesn’t slow down the device. In addition I’ve picked up SPB Pocket Plus which, among other things, adds a touch-based scrolling action to the native applications in Windows Mobile. Too cool! These simple additions make the device much easier to use, easier to look at and FUN!
Third on the list has to be tunes. For this I was recently surprised that the Rhapsody Music Service recognizes Windows Mobile devices as “Play’s For Sure” devices. That means that it can sync any of their DRM’d content to the phone. Sure.. I’ve been an advocate of non-DRM for years – still am actually. However, I’m just not willing to part with the thousands of dollars that I’d have to spend to get all the music I want to choose from. With Rhapsody, I can spend $15(US) and be able to sync any track from their over 4 million strong selection to my MDA. Slip in a larger 2GB (maybe a 4GB…?) miniSD card and I’m pretty darn happy on this front.
So, no it’s not a new phone, nor does it bring a ton of new functionality. But with these hacks, tweaks, and upgrades, it doesn’t compare badly with newer phones. After all, it’s really the services and experiences we’re after. And these darn things aren’t cheap! I made a $400(US) investment in this phone over two years ago – and to think that I still am getting value from it is amazing. What’s more, I keep finding ways to answer my immediate needs demonstrates that the HTC Wizard will long be remembered as one of the most flexible and adaptable phones in mobile device history.
Come on! Share some of your hacks and upgrades in the comments below. What else makes this device still viable in the face of recent competition?
Mar 6, 2008 | blog
It seems that Google itself has released a useful little utility that will sync your Microsoft Outlook Calendar with your Google Calendar. No, I don’t think hell has frozen over, but it’s gotta be colder there anyway.
You can read more on the utility over at Google’s “Calendar Help Center“. Or you can skip the reading and download the tool here.
See, now this complicates my choice to wean myself from Microsoft Outlook!
Technorati Tags: Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, Calendar Sync
Feb 25, 2008 | blog
I’ve come to the conclusion that there is only one feature in Outlook that is holding me to it at the moment. Can you help convince me that it’s time to drop Outlook?
See, I’ve been a longtime user and proponent of Microsoft software. It’s actually really good software, and a decent value… for the enterprise. For personal use, it’s long been questionable whether one needs such overblown feature laden software.
Also, Microsoft’s software is what I’d built my technical career on – and still rely on. It solves business needs, and integrates together very nicely. I’m not claming it’s the best-of-breed, or that it’s the most intuitive. It’s simply been the best value proposition for most businesses when compared to other shipping options, personal opinions aside.
Anyway, want to know what that one feature is? The ability to sync the contact list to a Windows Mobile phone. In nearly a decade, it has simply worked time and time and time again. It’s only failed me on one occasion, which was a user-instigated problem (I goofed up). In all these years, my phonebook has always been up to date and consistently backed up with changes replicated back and forth with no effort or thought about it on my part.
All my mail is online, I’ve moved my calendar to Google calendar, and all the rest – but the one thing left is that sync of my trusty T-Mobile MDA’s phonebook. With the MDA at 2 years old, I’m soon to replace it too – and it’s likely not to be a Windows Mobile phone… so is it time? Should my friends perform an intervention? Can I do it? Will I have get the shakes? I’ll keep you posted. 
Addiction photo credit: Mr Gonzales
Feb 25, 2008 | blog
I’ve been enjoying some of the Adobe AIR apps during it’s development over the past year. Among several Twitter clients that have popped up in the last few months running on AIR, I’ve really enjoyed Twhirl.
Now, if you’re a Twitter user, you know that its a great way to share links and more. Works great – except when you’ve set a browser other than Microsoft’s Internet Explorer as the default web browser. I happen to be partial to Firefox, and use it constantly, so when an Adobe AIR based app launches IE when I click a shared link – it’s upsetting.
Luckily in the final version there is an Adobe KB article with instructions on how to fix that problem. Personally I think their reason that it doesn’t work in the first place is lame:
Windows Vista does not make the required additional registry entries correctly when a browser other than Internet Explorer is set as the default browser. When an attempt to load the URL is made, Adobe AIR uses Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) to connect to an open instance of the browser registered for URL requests. If that fails, Adobe AIR falls back on Shell Execution.
Other non-Microsoft (and Microsoft!) applications have consistently and successfully launched the correct browser for me. Why not AIR?
At any rate, here is how to fix the problem.
- Launch “Default Programs” off the Vista Start Menu
- Click on “Set Program Access And Computer Defaults” in the Default Programs dialog
- Select “Custom” from the list and choose your preferred browser from the list of recognized installed browsers.
- Click OK and your done.
Next time you launch your AIR app, you will be able to follow links and have them load in your preferred browser.
