Rix Bits

In my previous post re: the Touch Pro, I talked pretty bad about the Touch Flo 3D (TF3D) software, and about the little zoom wheel on the phone.  I think I may have used the word “useless” for both of them.  I’ve come to learn that perhaps that’s too strong of a word.  :)  Although they still have a long way to go before they get a glowing review from me, I’ve found some subtle benefits to these two Touch Pro features:

TF3D Music Player vs. Windows Media Player:  For a while I ignored the music player that was part of the TF3D, and instead used the default Windows Media Player (WMP) for listening to music.  But I’ve found that there are two distinct advantages to the TF3D music player that I didn’t realize until I really gave it a good try.  Check this out:

- An equalizer/Audio Booster:  comes in handy when I want to make the bass hit a little harder.  Besides that, there’s a full-blown equalizer that you can tweak, or choose from the standard presets like Jazz, Rock, etc.

- A better Library experience: Whenever I add a new song to my phone, I have to manually update the WMP library in order for the song to appear in the list for me to select it.  Not so with the TF3D player.  As soon as it’s in my storage card, it’s automagically in the TF3D player Library.  Nice. 

- Bigger buttons:  Also, the Library itself is easier to navigate thru, thanx to smooth finger panning action, and bigger fat-finger style buttons:

  
(TF3D vs WMP)

The fatter buttons are extremely useful when looking for a song while driving…. I mean, while drinking a can of Sprite.  ;-)

The disadvantage to the TF3D player – it doesn’t respond to my voice commands.  The WMP seems to be the default player used when I issue commands like “Play Stevie Wonder” to play all the Stevie Wonder songs I have on my phone.  Using the voice commands obviously makes finding music while driving a much better and safer experience. :)

The Zoom Wheel:  A friend of mine once asked me if my phone was able to zoom in on web pages like the iPhone does.  My response was that it zooms with a double-tap like the iPhone, but that’s it.  Actually, I was wrong.  Not only does it double-tap zoom, but the Zoom Wheel also works in Opera to zoom in on a page.  This can be compared to iPhone’s multitouch finger swipe gesture for zooming, tho I prefer the Zoom Wheel because iPhone’s method insists that you use two hands rather than just one thumb.

So, here’s my initial
view of a webpage:

Here’s the view after a
double-tap:

And here’s the view after zooming in with the wheel (it’s just coincidence that it happened to zoom in on these words – I’m not trying to drive a point home or anything):  :-)

Notice that the words wrap.  Also, I find this comes in handy when I’m trying to click a small hyperlink.  Instead of trying to get precise with my finger pressing, or trying to use my fingernail for pinpoint accuracy,  I can just just make everything big and fat-finger the sucker!

As it turns out, there are a few other places where the Zoom wheel can be used (some of these are even documented in the manual – go figure!):

• Viewing photos (obviously)
• To forward or rewind during a song with the music player
• To zoom while using the Camera
• To change the size of text on-the-fly (like when reading e-mail or text messages).  This is my favorite use.
• to scroll up/down in a list on certain apps

So, looks like had I not dug a little deeper into my phone’s functionality, I might have missed out on some pretty nice features.  What can I say – you learn something new every day (hopefully).  Maybe those guys over at HTC actually know what they’re doing after all.  :)

I upgraded the storage card memory in my Touch Pro from 1 gig to 8 gigs. Nice!

Before the days of tiny micro storage, I was walking around with all the thumb drives pictured below. The drives in this picture total 6 gigs of memory – I’ve now replaced them all with something no bigger than a dime!

I bought my 8 gig microSD card local for $29. I haven’t seen the 16 gig card in the US (the Touch Pro supports up to 16 gigs), but I think I saw one online from the UK. I’m good with my 8, tho… for now. ;- )

In InformationWeek, the author wrote:

“…Apple has always boasted that "Mac OS X isn't plagued by constant attacks from viruses and malware" because its operating system was "designed with security in mind."

But about two weeks ago, Apple updated an old note on its support Web site advising its customers to use more than one antivirus application to make their computers more secure, affirming a longstanding divergence between its marketing and its technical concerns…”

In RedmondMag.com, the author wrote:

“…Here's why it's so important: Many Mac users are so confident that they pile up gigabyte after gigabyte of personal documents, photos, data and songs. If a virus hits, they have lots to lose, and often haven't taken as many precautions as their PC brethren…”

In his blog post in August 2008, Ricardo (that’s me) said:

“…So yes, you probably will have less trouble with viruses while using a Mac, but please don't assume it's because Mac is somehow superior in its security design - and please remember that the more popular your Mac becomes, the more susceptible it will be - will Mac be ready when the hackers decide they're ready to launch a full-blown attack?…”

In “I Robot”, Detective Spooner said:

“…Somehow, ‘I told you so’ just doesn’t quite say it…”

Classic….  ;-)

Well, I’ve upgraded my phone. For the past two weeks I’ve been using and adjusting to the HTC Touch Pro from Sprint, trying to see if I like it, or if I need to take advantage of the 30-day money-back guarantee. I’ve got a lot friends who have the Mogul, so I thought I’d write something up to say how I feel about the Touch Pro (6850) in comparison to the Mogul (6800). With that said, this review is specifically for Mogul users, and I’m not gonna spend time talking about the specs (you can read about that here), nor will i be talking about how HTC’s 6000 series phones are so much better than other phones like the iPhone, for instance. (insert devious giggle here)

In general, I like the new phone, and would recommend the upgrade. There are improvements in lots of areas, and the improvements far outweigh the shortcomings. So, based on my previous post, this post could also be called “The HTC Touch Pro is… Awesomer!” :)

I’m gonna talk about my experience in the following areas:

Software

Pros: The Touch Pro has a September 2008 version of the ROM with WinMo 6.1. This is definitely a better version than the last Mogul ROM. Although it introduced at least 1 stupid glitch (no standard word completion), it fixed a lot of other issues. In general it feels more stable, and I’m sure the extra hardware is helping that as well. They built-in a lot of software functionality that I was previously installing separately (picture mail, voice commander, scrolling/panning).

And they’ve added a lot of goodies also (see below). One of the nicest goodies is a choice during sync – you can use ActiveSync, or just treat your phone (with storage card) like a flash drive. Perfect for grabbing a few MP3’s before you get in the car (which by the way has me now using my phone more as an MP3 player than i did with the Mogul).

Cons: They could have left the TouchFlo 3D software off of this phone. I mean, I know what they were trying to do: put some fancy eye-candy software on the phone to make your friends envy your new phone, and to make you feel like you’ve got an iPhone-ish interface. But I don’t need that. In fact, the TouchFlo interface is so useless I went ahead and re-installed my SPB Mobile Shell software; I still prefer it over the fancy stuff. I've found that there are others that agree.  [updated]

Hardware

This, my friend, is the key area that made me want to buy the phone in the first place (ie Pro’s), and is also the area that made me initially not want to buy the phone ever (Con’s):

Pros: The major value this phone brings is in a whopping increase in memory – any current Mogul user will probably salivate over the screenshot shown here. This is the #1 reason why I even considered this phone. As Forrest would say, “that’s all I’ve got to say about that”.

Also, although I don’t have official data just yet, it ‘feels’ like the power management on this phone is better. I think I’m getting maybe 50% better battery life out of this thing than I was with the Mogul. It also feels like it charges faster as well.

Finally, one kool hardware feature that I haven’t yet explored is the TV-out capabilities (I need to first buy the cable to do it). Imagine playing YouTube videos from your phone onto your friend’s TV, or just demonstrating the phone in general on a TV. But mostly, this is probably useful for showing PowerPoint presentations from your phone – this is a way to get your non-techie colleagues to awe at your greatness, and fellow-geeks to covet you. :)

Other subtle hardware benefits:

• the D-pad has a better feel, especially for the push-select
• ergonomics of the phone are nice
• video screen looks beautiful
• screen auto brightens/dims (which probably helps the battery life), and looks better in sunlight than the Mogul does

Cons: My major problem with this phone was/is (haven’t decided yet) the lack of hardware buttons. Certainly taking away all the buttons adds to the sleek sexy feel of the phone. But me – I had tricked out all my buttons to do some amazing 1-touch kind of things on my Mogul (as I describe in the latter part of my other post). I really felt that those extra buttons were so useful that it wasn’t worth an upgrade. I’m starting, tho, to learn how to live without them, and the SPB Mobile Shell software is certainly helping me break my addiction. So, maybe this isn’t so bad after all.

Another con is that the little scroll wheel on the D-pad is pretty useless. It’s mainly for zooming in on pictures, and that’s about it. Why not make it useful in other apps as well? Perhaps they’ll do so in future versions of the software, but for now, that scroll feature is just another piece of eye candy like the TouchFlo software. [updated]

Finger-friendly

Pros: One of the main things that makes this new phone ‘feel’ good is the solid finger functionality. With the Mogul, I had bought some SPB software to enable things like finger panning and scrolling, but now that feature is built into pretty much every app. And it works much smoother than it did on the Mogul, especially in Opera Mobile, probably due to the beefed-up processor and memory. And they also size up the text throughout the phone areas to support this finger-friendly experience.

Another benefit is in the area of 1-hand action, which comes in handy while I’m driving holding a can of Sprite (as I’ve heard Jeff & Josh say). :) The on-screen keyboard on the Mogul was only useful if you wanted to pull out the stylus, where as the Full and Compact on-screen QWERTY keyboard on the Pro finally makes thumb typing a reality. Again, I had bought software on my Mogul for better 1-handed typing, but now it’s built-in. This is mostly useful for quick text messages where I just need to say a couple of words – you’d be amazed how often that scenario comes up. For full-blown emails and stuff, tho, I obviously am still using the slide-out keyboard.

Cons: I think I might need to do a registry edit to increase the sensitivity of the screen. Every now and then I need to press something twice before I get it, or I have to make use of my fingernail rather than just my finger for more precise presses.

Goodies

Here’s a quick list of goodies that they threw in on the Pro. This is not a comprehensive list – it’s basically the list of things that I think are actually useful (so you won’t, for example, see the TouchFlo software on this list):

• Built-in Voice Commander ($40 value)
• YouTube app
• Bluetooth FTP and Explorer
• Sync vs Disk Drive option
• Built-in picture mail
• Opera web browser
• RSS Reader (Newsbreak; $20 value)
• A few new games, including the geo-sensitive Teeter
• Sprint Radio
• Business Card reader (WorldCard Mobile; $25 value)

So, in general, Yes this is a great phone, and an improvement over the Mogul. Besides all the specifics I’ve laboriously explained above, in general the Touch Pro just ‘feels’ like a better phone (from a Mogul user perspective). And that, certainly, should be the first step for a phone maker in getting you to buy the latest and greatest thing – get me to ‘feel’ like I’ve bought something better than what I had. For lovers of WinMo, I think this phone makes Windows Mobile shine the way you always wished it would. There are still quirks, of course. And there’s still a need to stay friends with the software gurus at SPB and PPC Geeks and XDA Developers - but nevertheless, a worthy new addition to your mobile computing toolset.

Happy Moofing! :)

Update: 12/24/08 – Review Part 2: Music Player

I think I’m officially done with my crusade to debunk the so-called coolness of the iPhone.  Why, you ask?  Because of the 1,800 “please fix” wishlist items I just saw on pleasefixtheiphone.com! 

If you take a look at this list, you’ll see that the iPhone is just as flawed as any other phone out there.  Well, actually… it might be worse than that.  You might be surprised at some of the things on the list?  No cut-n-paste???  Hasn’t that been a standard for personal computing since like the 80’s???

This just solidifies my view that Mac is a less about ‘superior technology’ and more about ‘marketing hype’.  And now that I’ve seen thru the veil – it doesn’t seem worth talking about it anymore.  It’s like laughing at the kid who always loses the playground races, only to later learn that he has asthma.  Awww… a tear for iPhoney…. I mean, iPhone.  :)

I was recently presented with another article that supposedly talks about the weaknesses of Sharepoint 2007 and why it might not be a good choice.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t the strongest of articles – in fact, I’ve yet to see a published critique truly worthy of my rebuttal skills. :)  However, this one had some points that were fun to refute (even the vague comments that he didn’t bother to try and prove), so I thought I’d post it. 

Today I attended a local Sharepoint Conference sponsored by our User Group. Kudos for a job well done! Topics included:

• Governance
• InfoPath
• Troubleshooting Environment Issues
• Custom Branding
• Content Types 101
• Search – Keywords, Best Bets, and Property Mappings
• Content & Infrastructure Deployment Challenges

Interestingly enough, I think I learned the most not so much from all the expert presentations, but rather from the Local Spotlight track, where local folks gave presentations on how they are using Sharepoint in a real-world environment in their own organization. Sometimes all the APress books and Level 200 demos in the world just can’t beat good ole fashion real-world scenarios! ;-)

I was shopping for a new bluetooth headset for my Mogul.  Found a site that made me appreciate having a triple-monitor setup. :)  I was able to view their side-by-side headset comparison w/o too much scrolling:

(i added lines to symbolize where my monitor boundaries are)

For the most part, 2 monitors is enough.  It certainly is the new minimum – I can’t go back to just one.  But many times, that 3rd monitor does come in handy.  I particularly like it while developing web applications with Visual Studio:

• I expand VS to use 2 monitors
• In one monitor I have the Designer view of my ASPX page
• In the other monitor I have the code-behind view
• In the third monitor, I have a IE open for when I need to View In Browser

Nice! :)

Although I work daily on Sharepoint development as part of my job, I also think Sharepoint is such a great tool that I’ve also been using it at home.  I administer two WSS 3.0 sites for my two small group bible study groups from church.

It helps with the distribution of readings, membership rosters, and calendars.  Each study meeting has it’s own meeting workspace.  The discussion boards allow for additional conversations on the readings.  And we even have a convenient way of posting Prayer Requests and Praise Reports.

But, just like in the workplace, adoption is slow.  My study groups have certainly accepted e-mail as a way for us to communicate, but Sharepoint as a way for us to collaborate has only caught for some so far.

For instance, I’ve realized that the simple power of sending readings as text via email is still more valuable to some than posting a nicely-formatted list item of the reading into a document library.  They prefer reading it directly from their phones & blackberry’s as opposed to logging into a website.  My first thought was to combat this preference by using the power of the built-in mobile version of WSS sites.  However, that feature is very weak.  Most things in the WSS site don’t translate well, if at all, to the mobile version.  And meeting workspaces don’t work period.  I appreciate that Microsoft threw that little extra feature in there, but it feels more beta than anything else.  I wait for the day when that becomes full-feature.

My personal use of WSS helps remind me that there are still some simple technologies and methods that still make sense in today's WSS world.  It’s important to be realistic about the needs of your audience, and not pull out the WSS hammer for every one of their nail needs. :)

I know my blog may sometimes seem like I'm pretty anti-Mac. ;-) Even tho ever since I got my Mac Mini, I've been trying to find the positive side of the Mac experience (with little success so far). Nevertheless, when I read articles like the one below, it's just like - this stuff writes itself! Is there no limit to the amount of material that's out there??? LOL

This one truly brings the pun "Macintrash" to life. Apparently, there's a complaint about an odor coming from the Mac Pro. And there's speculation that it might be TOXIC!

All I can say is, for all the bugs and computer crashes that Windows may have put me thru in the past, at least it never tried to kill me!!!

Two of my favorite things - computers and Seinfeld - have finally been brought together via the new marketing campaign Microsoft has been doing. I'm a big fan of Microsoft products, but when I'm not on the computer, I watch Seinfeld re-runs as if I haven't seen them 47 times already. :)



My friends are making fun of me because of the not-so-funnyness of the first commercial. I told them that I'm convinced there is a master scheme at work here, and if we don't get it, there must be something wrong with US! Okay, I'm being silly, but I actually am kinda thinking that down the line this whole thing is gonna unfold as some masterful marketing magic. How can you go wrong with Seinfeld on your team??? :)



I watched the 2nd commercial via Microsoft's website in its full HD, Silverlight-powered glory. I can't wait to see how this turns out.

I got into a little discussion this week with a couple of guys re: Mac vs Vista. One guy was a Mac owner who claimed Vista was bad, tho I don't think he's used it (see Mojave experiment). The other was a PC owner, tho not necessarily a power user, who had recently been dazzled by a Mac presentation in a store and was now considering buying one.

Then there was me - long time Microsoft-lover as well as Mac-owner. I had to give them my $0.02 because their opinions were starting to be driven by the same factors that seem to drive many folks - Mac's "i" software, Mac's "stability", and Mac's alleged freedom from viruses.

Let's get the easy one out of the way first - we know that viruses are created by crazy & malicious hackers out there that want to cause trouble, right. Historically Mac has never had trouble with viruses. Why? Cuz those hackers didn't bother wasting their time on Mac! Windows machines control the world - why would I waste my development time putting a virus together to affect all seventeen of the Mac users of the world! :- )

okay, i'm exaggerating, but you get my point. Anyway, this security piece is recently being proven now that Mac is starting to get products like the iPhone that are taking a bigger bite out of the market. Check the news - you hear more and more stories about Mac being 'hacked' these days. So yes, you probably will have less trouble with viruses while using a Mac, but please don't assume it's because Mac is somehow superior in its security design - and please remember that the more popular your Mac becomes, the more susceptible it will be - will Mac be ready when the hackers decide they're ready to launch a full-blown attack?

Re: stability, for the most part I usually concede that Mac is more stable. But the reason behind this is what's important to understand:

• Windows is like those 60's hippies - everyone's welcome to join in, love is everywhere, let's all join hands. Mac is like a fraternity - very selective about who gets in, and once you're in, play by our rules.
• Windows is like a wild toga party of 300 people crammed into small house - noisy, wild, people spilling drinks on the floor - but fun. Mac is like 12 people studying in a locked library - yes, you're getting your work done, everything's nice and neat, but you're missing the party.

What the heck am I talking about? I've found over the years that Windows instability for most users comes from the non-Microsoft software they put on it. Vista has been extremely stable for me, and those times that it wasn't ended up being a 3rd party software or driver issue. Is it Vista's fault that it invited another software maker to the toga party that didn't know how to hold his liquor? Meanwhile, Mac doesn't invite quite as many people to library, and when they do, there's a lot of "Quiet, please!" going on.

So yes, normally I'd say Mac is more stable, but for a user like I me, I simply prefer the toga party - I've got more options, and I'm the kind of user that nows how to clean up spilled beer... i mean, troubleshoot stability issues. :) I will point out, however, that mere days into my Mac ownership, I was already having stability issues reminiscent of my Windows experience - could it be that maybe Mac isn't quite as stable as advertised?

Re: software, many people on the web have compared iPhoto vs Windows Photo gallery, iTunes vs Media Player, and iMovie vs Vista's Movie Maker. Here's my comments in a nutshell:

• each side's software essentially gets the same job done. tho there's a different experience for each. whose experience you prefer is up to you, but let's not act like one of them is doing something more remarkably groundbreaking than the other.
• I like to remember that although both are giving me these software tools for free, with Windows OS & hardware being significantly cheaper than Mac, I wonder if Mac is truly free after all???
• Anybody that has traditionally felt Mac's tools were better than Windows needs to try Vista - maybe in the past the argument was true, but Vista pretty much copied a lot of ideas from Mac and put them in Vista.
• I agree with many that Mac's tool take away a lot of freedom - which is why i never could make the jump over to iTunes and iPhoto. They're very specific about how they want you to manage your photos & music, and I don't like them telling me what to do. Maybe my 70-year old grandmother, who doesn't care either way and just wants to store her grandkids' pictures, would like iPhoto, but not me.

In closing, here's a pretty good feature comparison I found. The green boxes essentially mean it's better. However, there's a few points I disagree with it on:

• Find windows - both Expose and Flip 3D are equally useful (or equally useless, depending on your usage)
• Virtual desktop - although Windows doesn't come with it, there is a free virtual desktop tool built by the developer community that does the same thing that Spaces does. Tho I'm one of these guys that has never found a lot of value in the concept. Although I'll many time have a dozen or more windows open, I'm never quite comfortable saying that "these 4 windows can be pushed out to another view" - my mind jumps around to all my windows simultaneously! :)
• Calendar - iCal and Windows Calendar are equally useless. :)
• Remote desktop - VNC is an inferior user experience compare to RDP in Windows. This has been a major issue for me in my Mac adoption.

Alright, i guess I've talked enough. Hope this helps someone. Vive la difference!

Today I laughed [a little more] at the iPhone after watching a satirical video ad on the show The Soup. Being a proud HTC Mogul owner, I always tell my Apple-loving friends to "get a real phone, not an iPhone".



In fact, during a recent business meeting, I noticed that someone else in the room also had a Mogul. Turns out we are old college buddies, so we decided to share each other's information. Why pull out our business cards? We just beamed each other's contact info via Bluetooth. Took just a few seconds, and we didn't even have to worry about pointing our IR ports at each other like we used to have to do 'back in the day'.




After swapping info, she told me that she wanted me to check out her company website to see if I might be interested in re-designing it. Since her web address was right there in her contact info, I was able to pull up her site right then and there! (and with the new Internet Explorer that comes with WinMo 6.1, I was able to zoom out and get the full birds-eye view the same way Opera does!)



After doing all this, I felt the need to make a smart-a** comment to my friend sitting next to me. You see, just moments before all this technological euphoria had taken place, he had commented that his son had just bought an iPhone. "Let's see your son's phone do that!", I sarcastically exclaimed. :)



In actuality, tho, I assumed that the iPhone COULD do that. I thought beaming info (contacts, files, etc) via bluetooth was something all high-end phones could do. Well, I just did a little research, and it sounds like the iPhone doesn't do that. Now I admit, the bluetooth stack is a fickle lady that all phones sometimes have trouble with, but I just was sure that the holy iPhone had that stuff mastered. What a surprise. Of course, this also means that the iPhone also can't be used as a wireless Phone-As-Modem the way my phone can. Interesting....



So tell me again why everyone's in such a frenzy about this whyPhone... i mean, this iPhone?.... ;- )

There was an interesting article that talked about an 'experiment' that Microsoft did. They took 120 people who previously said "I don't like Vista". They put them in a room and had them try out a brand new operating system called "Mojave". Afterwards, they revealed to them that they were actually using Vista (minus any identifying logos). Those peoples average rating of Vista went from 4.4 (unfavorable) to 8.5 (out of 10).

Most were XP users. About 22% were Mac users (insert devious giggle here).

I've been using Vista for quite a while with very few problems (especially post-SP1), and I prefer it over XP. Perhaps more people should actually TRY it before they dismiss it. :)

Update 8/17/08 - found Microsoft's website for the Mojave experiment.

Would it be weird for me to say that I fall deeper in love with my phone with every update? LOL

Okay, maybe not love, but I sure do like my phone a lot with the latest ROM update. There's lots of stuff I could say about the Mogul and related software, but I don't have much time, so I'm gonna hit the high points.

There's several major software updates. One being an upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.1. We'll have to see if over time this manifests itself in stability and performance. But also, two other goodies they added in this update are Sprint TV (which should have been there from day 1 but for whatever reason was not), and threaded text messages.

I'm not a big one to watch videos on my phone, but hey, with this Sprint TV maybe I can be converted. The quality is decent - certainly no high-def videos being displayed, but enough to make watching things bearable.

The text messaging I think is pretty kool. I'm sure all it did is bring the Mogul's text messaging interface up to par with other people's phones, but for me it's a kool feature. Essentially now we've got threaded conversations instead of having to view one disjointed text message at a time.

Aside from some other subtle improvements, the other thing I must say is that I started to create a list of must-have apps for this phone. Three of these must-haves are: SPB Mobile Shell, SPB Pocket Plus, and Pocket Controller. (see screenshots)

They say that SPB Mobile Shell does things on the phone that Microsoft should have done already but didn't. I totally agree. I had the 6700, 6800 for months before getting the SPB suite, and when I started using it, it made me say, "Yes! This is how it should have been all along!"

One of the many many kool features it allows is for additional function assignments to the phone's hardware keys. So for instance, the phone can already be programmed to make the Internet Explorer button do something (like, for instance, open Internet Explorer). But with Pocket Plus, you can also program that button to do an additional tasks when you HOLD DOWN the button! I used this feature to turn the Comm button on the side to a Task Manager shorcut - by holding down on it, I go straight to the Task Manager to be able to jump to some other minimized program (see screenshot). This is crucial when I'm on a call, using my bluetooth headset, and the caller needs me to check my calendar, or I need to take notes while on the call, or the caller needs me to find someone's phone number in my Contact book - or all 3 at the same time!

The Pocket Controller software allows me to connect to and operate my phone via my computer (and also allows for the kool skin that you see in the screenshots). This is now a must-have software if for nothing else

because it made an easy task out of getting my phone back up to speed after the full data erase necessary for the ROM upgrade. Re-adding my 4 email accounts is such a pain via the Mogul keyboard and my two thumbs, but using the Controller allowed me type with all the furious keyboard speed contained in my lightning-fast typing hands! :) The Controller does lots of other stuff too, but again, I'm running out of time.

I just had to put my $0.02 out into cyber-space along with all the other Mogul users to let you know my thoughts on this great phone. Don't get me wrong - it is a love/hate relationship, just like everything else. Somedays the screen freezes or missed calls or battery life issues are frustrating. But overall it's a good phone, it still make's the iPhone look like a toy I'd give to my 7-year old nephew, and it keeps getting better with every update!

Rumor has it that we're just days away from the official Sprint update of my phone, the HTC Mogul. This will be update #2 for this year.

I'm trying to be patient and wait for Sprint (even tho they've already missed two advertised delivery dates for this update). Otherwise, I can always download the official unofficial leaked version of the ROM. It's amazing how talented folks are out there - there are some super-techies out there developing software for my phone and hacking the existing ROM - and they do a better job of it than Sprint and HTC do!

The strong connection these days between manufacturers and their educated consumers is pretty impressive, especially when compared to, say, 10 years ago. As I surf the Net, I see unprecedented levels of community involvement in the development and QA of software and electronics. I believe most companies nowadays have a policy of putting out betas or leaked versions for the specific purpose of allowing the community to test and tweak their products (w/o paying them of course).

That makes me both excited and uneasy at the same time. It used to be that you could depend on manufacturers to make high-quality stuff that you can depend on. Now it seems like they throw 'whatever' over the fence, and let us figure out how to fix it. Somewhere around version 3.x the product is usually good enough to use. :-) Hmmm, interesting...

I actually learned something from this. Why can't all technical information be delivered this creatively? :)

Iron Man was pretty kool. But not only was it a good movie, it also showcased yet another 'hypothetical' futuristic computer interface. From fancy HUD interfaces to 3-D prototyping to voice-commanded AI robotics. Sweet. Do they sell any of that at Microcenter???

Here's my short list, in no particular order, of classic movie interfaces:

1. Iron Man - the crazy part is that the only part of the technology that he used that I think is 'way off' in the future (other than the suit of course) is Jarvis - I think we're a long way from being able to tell a computer to "throw some hot rod red into my design...", and have the computer do so in an aestethically pleasing way. And even if it did, to be able to do it so reliably that I don't even have to review it? To be able to walk away from the screen the way Tony Stark did??? Can I trust Vista like that? :)
   
2. Minority Report - the famous hands-free "magic wall". Goodbye thumb drives, hello big sheet of glass with all my data on it? :)
   
3. Lost in Space - there was a very brief scene where one of the characters was typing on a small interface, and in doing so mentioned how fast the interface was. What I thought was kool was how small the interface was, and yet in theory he was able to program all these complex commands, as well as get any necessary feedback that he needed. I don't think the movie makers were going for realism here, but I still thought it was kool.
   
4. Swordfish - remember the 6-monitor setup that the main character uses to create his super hack? I really don't think 6-monitors would be helpful for what he was trying to do, but it still looked cool.
   
5. The Matrix - here's an interface that I always wish I had whenever I'm trying to learn some new technology. Why can't I just download all the Wrox and APress books in the world directly into my brain??? :) Also, the idea of feedback to the user in the form of green flowing characters - interesting.
   
6. Disclosure - a "virtual reality" interface for content management? Kool! Interestingly, he still had to flip virtual pages in his virtual reality environment to read one of the documents. Is that a step forward or a step back in speed and efficiency?
   
7. iRobot - imagine not having to walk into a certain room at home to use my computer. Why can't my computer be whereever I am? Why can't every wall be a monitor? Or have the computer to create a holographic display right in front of me whereever I am? That's what V.I.K.I. was in this movie. I gotta get me one of those - minus the going crazy and trying to destroy the human race, of course. :)

Okay that's all I've got for now.

I've always been pretty impressed with the out-of-the-box handwriting recognition capabilities that tablets provide. Even my sloppy handwriting gets recognized about 80-90% of the time.

I just realized, though, that there's actually a feature in Windows that helps the tablet to be even more accurate. Through a series of "write the following sentence" examples, I can train the tablet to be more familiar with my writing style.

I don't know why I didn't assume that this type of feature was there all along. Maybe with enough training I can get my tablet to recognize my infamous "-ing" - a squiggly line that looks like I'm falling asleep while writing any word that ends in "-ing". :-)

He was gracious enough to give me a shout-out, so I'm returning the favor: my friend and fellow Xbox player (Oblivion is the best, but he seems to favor Bioshock) Brian Prince has a blog. His is much more informative than mine, tho. :)

I've recently begun using HP's latest tablet pc, the 2710. My previous experience with tablets has been with my trusty (but old) Toshiba Satellite R15. To it's credit, it's definitely done it's job pretty well over the years, but as of now it's about 3 years old, and we know that in tech-years that means it's ancient and outdated. :)

But like many things in life, having the old stuff makes you really appreciate the new stuff. Here's what I appreciate so far about not just the HP tablet, but today's tablets in general:

• Screen size - most tablets these days are 12 inches, and although that's smaller than my Toshiba, I've come to appreciate that 12 inches is enough. Also, it's a good deal because of my next point
• Weight - because of the smaller screen size and other form factor decisions, even the heaviest of today's tablets seem to be lighter than my Toshiba. I'm pretty sure the HP is at least half the weight of my Toshiba, which means I'm now more comfortable with moving around, and to onlookers, I look less 'awkward'. :)
• Integrated Bluetooth - on my Toshiba I need an external bluetooth receiver, separate software, and favor from the heavens to get bluetooth to work. Now with integrated hardware and Vista's built-in support, it's a much more pleasant experience.
• Indoor/outdoor screen viewing - need I say more? Now I can work comfortably on a nice day in my sunroom! :)

Expect more info about my tablet experience in weeks to come...

Today I had a doctor's appointment. When I walked in, the standard ritual began. Fill this out, give me your insurance card, sign here, etc.

I started thinking about this process - in 2008, these doctor's offices are still doing the same things they did when I had doctor's visits in the 90's and even the 80's:

• new patients have to fill out forms of the same standard name/address/etc information - more paper
• they use a big photocopier to scan my little insurance card - more paper
• i assume someone later types all this into an antiquated medical document system

Is this a "crisis" of information management? The quantity and rate of data that we want to store and manage in the world is growing every day - why isn't everyone embracing new content management systems that maximize the use of that data??

This I must ponder....

Okay, anyone that knows me knows that it takes a lot to get a Mac compliment out of me. :) But I must admit, Mac made a small victory with me today with a little feature it has that apparently Windows doesn't.

Actually, the victory comes in using Mac's built-in email viewer vs. Microsoft Outlook. The other day my friend sent me about 10 emails. Each email had 1 photo attachment.

In both Mac and Outlook I had a way to preview the image w/o actually have to double click the file and open it in some other program. Outlook, however, required 1 click for the Preview, Mac didn't require any.

But that's not the victory yet. What I realized is that I wanted to save all 10 images into a folder on my hard drive. What's the easiest way to do this? What I would assume is that I can just highlight all the emails, and save "Save All Attachments".

In Mac, that's exactly what I was able to do.

Apparently Outlook couldn't fathom that such a scenario would ever occur. :) Outlook assumes I'd ever only want to Save All on a per-email basis - not across multiple emails.

So, for once I had a pleasing Mac experience while trying to do some practical work. Who would've thunk it... :)

How do you go about storing your emails?

In the past, I've always used PST files from Outlook. Every year or so, I spit out a huge honking 1 Gig PST file that represents all the emails from the previous year. Store it somewhere nice, do a big, time-consuming Import later if I ever feel I need it again.

Okay, that's getting old. What I really want is to be able to access 60 years worth of emails right at my fingertips without having to do any importing/exporting, and w/o having a huge data file in Outlook that affects performance.

Two options I'm looking at right now - both are "desktop search engines": Vista and Copernic.

Copernic will index and search emails just fine. It pretty much does what I want except for one thing: it wants me to keep those emails in Outlook in order for it to index them. I don't want that. I know that Outlook isn't going to be happy with me keeping tens of thousands of emails in its data file.

What about Vista's search engine? Turns out that yes, Vista will index my emails within normal file folders. Great! So now, instead of PST exports, I can just copy the raw emails to file folders.

The caveat - it doesn't seem to be working right:

In the corporate enterprise, content management issues are no surprise. How do we as an organization manage, store, search & retrieve the huge amount of data that makes up our business? Emails, documents, images, etc.

There are certainly plenty of fancy tools and options at our disposal for helping with this process. I myself and currently involved in the implentation of MOSS 2007 at my job, which seems to be one of the more popular ECM solutions right now.

But the interesting thing for me now is that, after 15+ years of being a power user of my computer and related technologies - as well as being a pack rat who can't throw away his digital artifacts - I realize I'm now facing the same issues that many large organizations face:

• What do I do with 8 years worth of personal emails? What's the best way to archive emails 8 years ago in such a way that I can still find it easily if needed?
• How do I store/search/retrieve old documents?
• How do I search thru my e-books for specific information?
• What's the best way to organize terabytes of data spread across 8 different hard drives that I've accumulated over the years?
• How do I categorize physical backup media? Data that I've burned to CD/DVD for backup - how can I find it now that it's sitting on the shelf?
• What kind of distaster recovery processes should I have in place? ie, how do I keep from losing gigabytes worth of precious digital family photos? Do I trust my hard drives? Or do I trust physical media like DVDs as backups? Will any of these technologies last as long as my grandmothers old picture scrapbook? - will I be able to show my grandkids my childhood pictures via DVD???

I'm gonna explore these issues over the coming months, and try to document my findings. I mean, if big business can find a way to manage its content, why can't I? :- )

See, what did I tell you? Vista ain't so bad after all. :-)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=sPv8PPl7ANU

Well, there certainly are a whoooole lot of tweaks and fixes included in the latest Leopard OS update. I even see a few STABILITY fixes in there.

Now that I'm a Mac owner, I'm privy to these updates and what-not. Prior to, I never would have known that Mac's required software updates. In fact, it seems like everytime I turn on this Mini in the couple of months that I've had it, seems like I always see that little Update icon bouncing around. When I go see what the big to-do is, I see a list of some hefty-sized updates it wants me to download.

Hmmm - they're certainly not putting THAT little factoid in the commercials... :- )

(originally posted 2/12/08)

Got a hands-on introduction to the Air laptop today. It felt a lot more sturdy than I thought it would be for its size. Also seemed like it was handling heat dissipation pretty well. If it wasn't for the outrageous price it might make for a pretty good compliment to a moofing lifestyle.

--sent from mobile phone--

(originally posted 2/12/08)

I read an interesting article talking about the upcoming service pack for Vista and XP. Some of the folks commenting on the article started the standard debate among Windows OS users about how XP is better than Vista (aka "Vista sucks").

I actually upgraded to Vista on my main machine a few months ago. I did it for a few reasons. One, I was doing my personal bi-annual "build myown monster machine" routine, and so I figured I might as well put the latest and greatest on this new machine, especially since I knew my hardware was beefy enough to handle it. Also, I know that Vista will ultimately become the OS of choice, despite what the critics say, and I made the decision that I was ready to deal with the standard headaches of the early-adopter until Vista got nice & stable & popular.

Anyway, I thought some of the comments in the article were both quite ignorant and quite eloquent. Check it out:

• "if XP can perform 5% better than Vista...it means Vista is crap..."
  - I would say it a different way - "Vista has a ton of new features, has a fully-overhauled and visually pleasing graphic interface, and with all that it only performs 5% slower than XP..."
  
• "XP can perform better on older computers and Vista requires some pretty heavy hardware to be useful..."
  - I think it's funny how people still want to be able to use their grandmother's hand-me-down computer for the next 20 years, and if something new comes out that doesn't work well with their hamster-driven machine, they have a problem. Nevertheless, as someone pointed out, if you actually go price a new machine these days, you'll see that you can buy a new machine that is fully Vista-capable, plus some extra memory, for as little as $400 if you shop right. If your money is too funny for that expense right now, then sure, stick with your Hyundai without making fun of our Escalade.
  
• "Notice how few folks are around saying that XP's an abortion and Microsoft should have stopped with Windows 98? The trend is already starting to turn around in exactly that way for Vista versus XP..."
  - Amen, brother.

It's true that we as consumers basically tell folks like Microsoft, thru our behavior, that we want NEW NEW NEW and we want it NOW NOW NOW. So when they speed-push the new stuff to market, it's funny how we then complain when a few bugs got thru in that hurried process. Oh well, I guess we'll all have to wait and see how this new generation of OS's turns out. Tho I have a suspicion that I already know..... ;- )

(originally posted 2/1/08)

I went to a microsoft event tonite (yes, that's how I spend my evenings) and won this tshirt in the door prize giveaway. Had to take a picture to capture the unique packaging - figured that posting it here was the best way to document it. :) in case you're wondering that symbol is for Visual Studio, a Microsoft product.

--sent from mobile phone--

(originally posted 1/24/08)

I think I've found a good analogy that describes my experience thus far with the Mac:


Let's say this remote is my Mac. Obviously, very simple. Some might say even stylish in it's simplicity. This remote probably has about 10 features, and each one of those features it probably does flawlessly. Everything's laid out intuitively and you never have to worry about getting lost. You don't have to worry about it accidentally turning on/off any of your other devices, because it only works specifically with the TV that it came with. It's not a universal remote - you can't put codes in it to operate your other entertainment systems. And not much thought is required about "how" to use it - you use it the way it's designed. If you had some other ideas about how a remote should work, you should forget them.

Now, in my house, I own a universal remote called the MX-500. It's a fully-programmable universal remote. You can map actions to the hardware buttons. You can program macros commands (I have a macro that turns on/off the tv, cable, audio receiver, and DVD with one button. I have macros that change the tv and audio receiver configurations for, say, DVD-viewing vs. VCR-viewing, etc.) The buttons illuminate. The remote can "clone" another remote by pointing the IR sensors together. It can even be programmed to remote control light dimmers should I be adventurous enough to install them.


Nevertheless, as a result of all these features, I will admit that this remote is not very "friendly" to the casual user, including my wife. (over the years, she has grown to live with it and learn just enough of its features to get by) You would not be able to just look at this remote and figure out how to use it the way I do. (You wouldn't know to press "Main", then hold down one of the panel buttons to run a macro). And if you pressed the wrong sequences of buttons, you might find yourself stuck in some state that you would not easily be able to recover from, thus making the remote useless [for you] until I came over and helped you out.


But - and ay, here's the rub - I wouldn't trade this 1 remote for any of the 6 stylish and simple remotes that it replaced in my house. I gladly give up simplicity and even stability for the God-like power to control and interface with any and everything, and to do things with this remote that perhaps the manufacturer hadn't even thought about. Many times, I do experience limitations. It happens when my TV's manufacturer, for instance, doesn't give my remote the proper access or code authorization to access all of it's features. So, every now and then there's some sublte, hidden feature of my DVD, for example, that I can only access by getting up off the couch and doing by hand, or (heaven forbid) grabbing that DVD player's remote to access the feature.


But do I fault my remote control for this? No, I give it a pat on the back for doing a 85% good job of interfacing and playing nicely with all these other components. My remote has made a decision to bravely enter and play in the world of other electronics. It has not required me to make my home on an island called Basic Remote - an island with one TV, and one set of rules, and one way of thinking.


Rather than being the ruler of that island, a small kingdom though tightly controlled, I'd rather rule the world. Yes, I may have only loose control: a few riots every now and then, a recession or two, a stock market crash maybe, a war here and there. But still - I rule. Ask your boy GW Bush - he'll tell you the same... :)

(originally posted 1/21/08)

I was reflecting on Apple's commercial where they were making fun of Vista for its new security feature, which asks for your permission everytime it wants to do something that could be potentially dangerous.

Well here I am on my MacMini, and lo and behold they have the same thing - every now and then when I try to do something, the Mac confirms that I want to do it. To do that, it asks for my user password (on Vista, you can just hit Continue). I found this very interesting.

Well, let me get back to troubleshooting my Mac printer installation - the very process that one of my friends went on and on about in terms of Mac-simplicity. Perhaps I'll blog later on the details of my printer woes, but the short story is that I installed from disk the drivers to a Mac-compatible Canon printer, but yet now I find it hard to find anything related to the printer driver i just installed. Perhaps the Mac is hiding the details of the installation from me in an attempt to "keep things simple". Yeah, that's working out real well...

(originally posted 1/20/08)

I just learned a new word that describes my lifestyle pretty well - moofing. Mobile out of office. Describes 'where you are/ what you're doing when you're not at your desk or office but yet fully contactable and able to work as normal'. If you arm me with my trusty tablet pc and my pocket pc cell phone (which doubles as a wireless modem), then a moofer is what I become!

Unfortunately my mac mini has yet to prove itself as an ally in my moofistic lifestyle. Being that it is morally opposed to my windows mobile device, and thus refuses to sync nicely with my calendar items, puts yet another barrier between it and my coveted primary workstation area. :)

--sent from mobile phone--

(originally posted 1/4/08)

So, I hooked up with some of my Mac buddies - two in Cali, one in Ohio - and got a 4-person video chat going. As you can see from the snapshot, it's got a pretty impressive interface. What was also impressive was the file/photo sharing. I was able to stream a Billy Ocean music video ("Caribbean Queen", of course) and an Al Green mp3 to the other 3 people, pretty seamlessly. Nice.

So, I'm like just a couple weeks into my Mac ownership, and already i'm using the 'task manager' to kill rogue processes? In this case, one of the disc mounting processes was running in the background and keeping me from ejecting [another] disc. Hmmm...seems like i'm using all the same troubleshooting skills I learned in the Windows world. I didn't think I was gonna need those bag of tricks in Steve's world. :)

I also tried to do a screenshot of my error message using the Grab service. Thought I could capture the image and paste it into an email message. Does that sound too much like right? Wouldn't let me do it.

I also realized that I never liked the menu bar for the apps always being context-sensitive and sitting at the very top of my screen. "Attention managment" is important to me - seems inconvenient to have to take my eyes all the way up to the top of the screen to do something with a window I'm using near the bottom of my screen. And that's if the menu updates to the new context fast enough, and is not still showing the menu for the last window I clicked on. (hmm, maybe that's a Mini thing)

To top it all off, I love the message Mac gave me about my problem from their Help files:

"If this happens, WAIT A FEW MOMENTS and try again..."

Who is this message written for? Are there computer users out there in 2008 that actually DON'T wait a few moments prior to being frustrated enough to check the Help files??? And apparently, in this case a 'moment' was like 10 minutes before I started having to search for a process to kill.

So far, I feel right at home in my Mac world - my woes thus far are very familiar..... ;- )

(originally posted 1/1/08)

Step 1 for my new blog is to migrate my technical posts to this blog from an older blog I have (those posts weren't really appropriate there). Then the fun will begin...