Technology from All Angles
Today I tried out my new MotoROKR T505, which allows me to stream music from any bluetooth enabled device (i.e. My G1) or ipod (bluetooth adapter may be needed) directly to my car stereo. The MotoROKR connects to the device using bluetooth, and then to the car stereo via an available FM channel. I can listen to music, and make hands free phone calls without an ear piece, which is pretty nice.
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I finally got around to loading all of my medical records into google health. It’s so easy and I recommend that everybody do it. Your data is 100% secure and only you can grant access to share it with doctors, insurance providers..and anyone else.
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I met the CEO of School Town yesterday, and got to learn a bit about their vision of eliminating all text books in K-12 schools, and providing learning tools 100% over the web.
I must say, it’s a no brainer. The Internet is so underutilized in K-12 school systems. With School Town’s web-based platform, students can learn interactivity with the teacher and other students, use collaboration tools to share items, Â link to other sources on the web, and most of the other great things we’ve come to love in SaaS software. Not to mention the millions in savings by eliminating text books. Chicago Public Schools has something around a $30M budget for text books.
I’m believe within the next 10 years text books will go the way of the dinosaur, which doesn’t upset me.
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I work between multiple computers, including a few macs and a windows machine. There are also times I’m accessing files and folders from public machines. I keep a lot of what I do in the “cloud” such as email, contacts, and calendar items that I sync with Google, but I’ve not found an easy way to SYNC FILES across multiple computers, until DropBox.
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Over the past several months I have reconnected with people that I haven’t talked to in years over the web.
People I met randomly, some I went to grade school with, high school connections, family, family I’ve never met but they found me online, and others who have reached out to explore a professional relationship.
It seems obvious that tools like Facebook, LinkedIN, Twitter, Blogs and other online social media bring us together, but it’s really amazing how much value they bring by allowing us to rediscover lost friends and family and stay in touch.
Sphere: Related ContentI’ve now gone 100% digital with all of my music, movies and photos – here’s how:
Step 1: I purchased a new Samsung 52″ HD LCD flat screen from Best Buy (they have outstanding offers right now due to the economic situation, and in some cases are offering up to 36 months free financing) I had the option of going with a plasma or the new LED (a combination of LCD and plasma), however LCD was the best option for me because it displays the most accurate picture from a computer, and there’s less worry about burning and ghosting. The exact model is LN52A650, and you can read more here.
It connects directly to the internet and has various widgets, such as weather and news feeds as well.
Step 2: I purchased the new Apple Mac Mini, and loaded it up with 4GB of RAM. I got the smallest hard drive offered because my plan was to use external hard drives to store all my media so that I could easily switch computers down the road, and stay flexible enough to switch from mac to linux or windows if need be as well.
I also got the wireless keyboard and mouse – well worth the extra investment and allows me to use the macmini’s browser on a 52″ display – pretty cool. It’s connected via HDMI to my TV for HD quality video too.
Step 3: Two 1 Terabyte external hard disks to store all of my media. I went with the LaCie 1 TB drives. I’m using 1 drive to store everything, and the other drive mirrors the primary to ensure I have a daily backup. Intego Backup is a great (free) application for doing this. I then configured my photo library and iTunes music to load from the external drive. Movies are also stored on the external drive. If my computer were to die, or I needed to upgrade my system, I simply swap out my computer for a new one and all of my media is ready to go.
Step 4: Misc other stuff: I installed Boxee (which I have been testing for about 6 months now). There are still quite a few glitches, but it’s really good for streaming internet TV. I prefer iTunes to browse my music library (using the gmote on my G1 to remotely control) Boxee is good for watching Hulu or NetFlix movies over the web, and that’s about all I use it for. For DVD’s that I’ve ripped I use VLC player - it’s great and plays videos that Boxee and other apps have trouble with.
I would ultimately like to drop my cable TV subscription for free internet video (and my NetFlix fee), however we’re still several years away from that being a reality. By that time my prediction is we’ll have to pay for internet video anyways…and it will be no different that the cable model we’re familiar with today.
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Memorial Day weekend was so relaxing…….and a much needed break. Pulling this catfish in was probably the highlight of my weekend, aside from the great time spent with friends and family.
I really love to fish!
Sphere: Related ContentMy Danish friend Morten Lund is referenced in this excellent summary of the recent “free newspaper wars” in Denmark. It’s a great read but a sad ending for most involved, including Morten.
Link courtesy of Chris Anderson advocate of the “free model” and creator of the the long tail niche business strategy.
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After receiving several replies and direct messages on twitter in response to specific things that I “tweeted,” I began to see the value in tracking specific keywords for the purpose of creating a dialogue. I wanted to start using twitter as a prospecting tool, allowing me to instantly engage with people who are researching or implementing a mobile marketing/CRM solution.
My problem, I have a personal twitter account that I use as a micro blogging tool to post short thoughts, and I didn’t want to turn that into a never ending dialogue of mobile marketing thoughts and conversations. So I decided that I will continue to use my personal account as a micro blogging tool, and create a new account that will focus specifically on engaging people in conversation on mobile marketing/CRM. I created a new account and my second identity is MobileCRM.
I will use MobileCRM to reach out to people on twitter who are discussing mobile marketing and CRM solutions. Not only will I have a better understanding of customer expectations in this space, I’m also likely to see new business as a result.
So, that’s my twitter experiment and so far it’s working quite well. Within 48 hours of creating the MobileCRM account and starting to talk with people about mobile marketing, I’ve had numerous direct inquiries, a few skype conversations, and even a phone call. We’ll see how things progress…..
Lastly, after tracking twitter with various widgets and using feeds, I found the best way to monitor the “twittersphere” is via an application called TweetDeck. You can keep track of various streams based on keyword searches, and you can instantly reply to someone or send a direct message.
Sphere: Related ContentHere is the video if you haven’t seen it.
Sphere: Related ContentI have been blown away at what google has done with gmail over the past several months. It is by far the BEST email application in my book, and here’s why.
I’m not going to go through a feature list…boring, but I will highlight some of the features that have made my life easier. First, gmail can pull email from all of your existing accounts, and centralize your messages into one location forever. The benefit – a single interface to manage EVERY email account that you own, the ability to use the amazing google search technology to find anything, and you can save every message forever. You know, those messages that you really need to find a few years down the road…yea you can find them.
Secondly, You can customize the interface to show multiple inboxes, or create your own “inboxes” using the filtering and label tools. This means you can label messages based on criteria you set, and have them appear on your main page using the multiple inbox feature in gmail labs.
The list goes on and on, but other cool things include the ability to “unsend” a sent message (within a 5 sec window), use keyboard shortcuts to navtigate quickly through messages and labels, and a really cool third pary add-on for firefox that searches attachments in gmail for you, called Xoopit. I have been using this and love it. It works, and oh yea it also integrates with facebook.
There are some limitations, especially for using gmail in the business world. With multiple accounts gmail only fetches mail after you’ve manually checked it a few times. It’s based on an algorithm, so if you don’t manually fetch the mail for a period of time it will only check once per hour. Also, it’s currently impossible to have multiple signatures, and outlook recipients will see that you are sending a message from gmail. For some businesses that may be a problem.
The good far outweighs the bad, and I suggest that you drop your microsoft outlook client, or even some of the other ok web based mail programs. Gmail is simply unmatched. It also has a task manager – which I have been using for some time, and love it because it’s integrated with messages, so you can easily add and link to do’s to emails.
Anyways, if you’re not on gmail you are making your life harder than it needs to be.
Sphere: Related ContentReposting from Dick Morris:
President Obama and his big spenders are moving quickly, to the relief of those who are facing foreclosure on their mortgages. But the program they are offering will do nothing for those most in need.
In the fine print, Obama’s plan provides no relief for any homeowner whose mortgage exceeds the total value of his home. But these folks are the ones who have been conned into taking sub-prime mortgages so loaded with brokerage commissions, interest rate subsidies, bank fees and lawyer and title-company charges that the amount of the mortgage has ballooned. These high mortgage amounts, coupled with declining property values, have turned about 20 percent of American mortgages upside down, so that the debt exceeds the value of the property.
So, here is truth. If you are current on your mortage (i.e. you paid the bank on time every month!) you do not quality for the loan remodication. The second option is that if you are current, you can refinance without costs even though you owe more than your house is worth due to the steep decline in prices. BUT, your loan must be securitized by Fannie or Feddie. Darn! I struck out twice. I continue to make my payments and my loan it is not backed by Fannie or Freedie.
What it boils down to is those who don’t/can’t make their payments and are behind, or those backed by Fannie or Freddie get rewarded. All of the others lick our wounds and tough it out! It pays to be responsible…I think ? ??
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I signed up for Mint when the site first launched – several months ago. It lets you manage your personal finances online, by connecting with all of your banks, investments, credit cards etc.. and giving you an all encompassing view of your finances. I never got much value out of it before, only because I was using it 25%. If you take a few minutes and register your bank accounts and credit cards, it’s a great a way to manage everything from one location.
Here are some of the highlights I find valuable:
It’s worth your time.
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I think it speaks for itself. The downside – it’s only a concept 
I have to love Richard Branson. Though I’ve never flown on Virgin Atlantic I really want to. Isn’t this inviting? Flying Virgin Atlantic (on the longer routes) now includes Satellite TV and WiFi – great!
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Mowser
