Microsoft Kills Live Mesh Remote Desktop

Here is a shocker. Microsoft is killing the Live Mesh service, which includes file sync and remote desktop functionality across multiple platforms and over the internet. They are replacing it with Sky Drive, which of course lacks any remote desktop functionality, and I believe it also lacks the ability to sync files directly between computers, skipping the cloud.

Over the years, this is just another item in a long list of apps Microsoft has dropped for consumers. I learned my lesson on this a long time ago and there are only two Microsoft products I use now: Office and Windows. What they make is more often than not top notch quality, but they are quick to kill items that they perceive no longer fits into their portfolio or doesn't generate enough revenue. Money, Outlook Express, Tax Saver, Zune, etc. The list goes on and on.

I'll continue to use Office and Windows because for me they are exceptional tools to get done what I need to get done. You'll not catch me using their other products though because I have zero confidence they will be around in a few years, and it is easier to start using a similar but competing product from another company that needs that product to survive, whereas Microsoft seems to treat these products as "let's throw this competing product out there and see what happens, and we can kill it later if we want."

They usually do.

AnyLists Makes Sharing Shopping Lists Easy

My wife and I have a whiteboard on the refrigerator that we use to write down whatever we need from the grocery store. It makes it pretty easy as when you are low or out of something, you just write it down. AnyLists for iOS makes this really easy.

The problem with the whiteboard method is if she leaves before I do, and I add something to the board, it gets skipped until the next trip to the store. It also fails if I decide to run by the store on the way home as I remember little of what is on the list at home.

AnyLists for the iPhone eliminates these and other problems. I created a list for various stores and then shared them with my wife. Now we can add and scratch off items and the list on the other's phone gets updated instantly, provided both phones are online.

It does work on the iPad, but as an iPhone app, so only in portrait mode, and only at 2x resolution. Of course, you'd never take an iPad shopping but it is a great device to add a bunch of stuff to the list since the keyboard is larger.

Anylists tries to automatically group items by grocery store sections, like produce, bakery or health & beauty. If it doesn't know, it sticks it in "Other" and you can move it manually. It also has a pretty big database of items to pick from. Type "rom" and romaine lettuce will show up. This saves a lot of typing on the tiny iPhone keyboard.

The app also has recipes from a lot of different sources, like Epicurious, Martha Stewart, and several dozen others. Of course, you can just click on the ingredients in the recipe to add to your shopping list.

It also works well for other stores. I have an Amazon list that we keep up to date to bundle items and reduce shipping charges. We have Amazon Prime, so I really don't need to worry about it, but I feel guilty using Prime for a $4.99 item.

The price of the app is exactly right too - free. I'd give $0.99 to $2.99 for this app in a heartbeat given how useful it has proven in recent days. You can get it here in the App Store.

Links In iMessage Hard To Tap On

Is it just me or are links in iMessage really hard to activate? I have no problem on web pages, in emails or other apps, but in iMessage, I may tap on and around a link 10 times before it activates.

This is on an iPhone 5 and iOS 6. Never really noticed on my iPad as many links are via SMS (from IFTTT, Twitter, etc.) which are on my phone only.

 

Posted with Blogsy

The End Of An Era

I first got this Windows Mobile 2003 Pocket PC as a gift when I was an editor at Pocket PC Thoughts way back in 2003. It served as my primary device for at least 2 years, even though I purchased others. Even after I eventually moved on, this device remained my alarm clock until two weeks ago.

I never could get my other Windows Mobile/Phone devices to be an effective alarm clock because if the sound was on, I'd get email and text notifications during the night. If the sound was off, then the alarm wouldn't sound. Pretty useless huh?

That changed with iOS 6 though. The new Do Not Disturb setting and the ability to play an MP3 file for my alarm has made me switch to my iPad as my primary alarm clock. The reason I don't use my iPhone is you cannot have vibrate set to on for calls but off for alarms, and I despise vibrating alarms, so the iPad is the best choice. It is always by my bed and goes with me on trips.

Farewell iPaq. You served me well for almost a decade. How many other gadgets can make that kind of claim?

One Month With The iPhone 5

iPhone 5 Screen

On September 21, 2012, Apple shipped the iPhone 5 to those that signed up early enough and I got mine late in the afternoon. It is my first iPhone so I thought it would be interesting to see what I though one month after switching platforms.

First, you should know my bias. Everyone that writes any sort of review has a bias. I've been a Microsoft Pocket PC/Windows Mobile/Windows Phone user for years. Apple products have held very little interest for me. I've always said, I don't use the operating system, I use the apps, and there are a number of apps critical to me on Windows that keeps me from looking seriously at any OS X machine. Similarly, on the phone (or back when they were just PDAs), the best apps, for me at least, were in Microsoft's platform. They were far superior to what PalmOS apps could offer me.

Then Apple released the iPhone in 2007. It had no third party apps for the first year, just web apps. It wasn't until the iPhone 3G came out in 2008 that the app store was opened. So, at the time Windows Mobile still was the best choice for me.

Then in 2010 Microsoft rebooted their mobile phone platform with Windows Phone 7. I got a chance to play with it a few months earlier and I was very impressed. To this day, I think Windows Phone has the best platform. However, that isn't enough. I forgot why I used platforms. It wasn't for what the platform itself does, but is what the apps available for the platform can do for me. That was a mistake I had to endure for nearly two years.

Two years later, the app story for Windows Phone is still anemic. I don't care about numbers. Yeah, I know, nearly 100,000 apps, but honestly the earlier version, called Windows Mobile, had a richer app story even though there were far fewer apps. I got sick of reading articles at sites like Lifehacker or in magazines like Fortune, Time, Money and Runner's World that had useful apps, none of which ran on Windows Phone. That is still the story today.

In March of 2012, I got an iPad 3, or New iPad, or whatever Apple wants to call it. Other than an iPod Nano I got for running in 2010 (the awesome little square), the iPad was my first true Apple computing device, and I got it primarly for one reason - Evernote. Yup - the apps drove the purchase, as it should be. I fell in love with the iPad, and still use it daily. I've added great apps like Drafts, Kindle, Blogsy, PocketBible, Feeddler, Sworkit, Pocket, Skitch, and more. Every financial institution I do business with has an app for iOS, eight for eight is not bad. Windows Phone only has one, and it just got it in the last 30 days, and is for a credit card I rarely use.

My phone contract was up in 2011 and I had an unlocked Windows Phone 7, an HTC Trophy, for Verizon. Again, the phone and OS itself are really good, but the apps, well, I just didn't enjoy using the device. I stubbornly stuck with WP though because the OS itself is superior.

After having the iPad for a few months I knew I wanted to try the iPhone, but decided to wait until the 5 was released. By now, my two boys and wife had each picked up an iPhone 4 in early-mid 2011 and I was sick of borrowing their phones to deposit checks.

So, I got up early on September 21, and ordered a white 32GB iPhone 5. The thing is simply a work of art. I am not going to bother posting pics of it - there are better images on Google than I could take anyway.

So what do I think after a month, and do I miss Windows Phone at all?

Well, honestly, I don't like the iPhone 5 as much as I like the iPad. On the iPad, everything can be used in landscape mode, which is great for typing. On the iPhone, many apps won't rotate, like Facebook. I really don't like typing in portrait mode. This isn't an issue with built-in apps like Safari, iMessage and the mail app, but a surprising number of third party apps simply won't rotate. The iOS UI I also think is better suited to the iPad. The latter lets you keep 6 apps at the ready and you can quickly go back to the previous app or home screen with multi-fingered gestures, which cannot be done on the iPhone. I am afraid I am going to wear that little home button out with all of the single and double tapping. The iPad's larger screen holds 20 apps plus 6 on the bottom app bar and none of it appears cluttered. On the iPhone 5, it too hold 20 apps (compared to 16 on its smaller screened predecessors) plus 4 on the bottom bar, but the screen is much smaller and it feels busy.

The app experience though is amazing. As I said, all 8 financial institutions I work with (think savings, insurance, credit cards, 401(k), brokerage, etc.) are fully supported on the iPhone. Evernote on the iPhone is good, though I prefer the iPad version simply because of the screen real estate. But then there are all of the apps I've read about that make the device so useful - apps like Fooducate, The Consumerist, Amazon Video, Hulu+, PocketBible, SugarSync, Starbucks, Slice and more. Then there are lesser known apps that are useful for me, like Wonderful Day, Recall, Find Friends, and Stroll Free. Heck, I even like the new Passbook app from Apple. American Express and Starbucks have both integrated well with it.

The OS itself still lacks in many ways compared to Windows Phone. Live Tiles on WP are phenomenal compared to the grid of icons on an iPhone. Compared to WP, iOS integration of Facebook is a total joke too.

That said though, the iPhone experience for me in the last 30 days has been vastly superior to what Windows Phone was delivering, and it is 100% due to the apps.

I also feel better about my iPhone purchase. The iPhone 4 devices my family own are all running iOS 6, just like my brand new iPhone 5, so when you invest in an Apple device, Apple will take care of you. I am 100% confident I will have iOS 7 and iOS 8 on this new phone in the next few years. With Windows Phone, you may or may not get an update depending on the whims of the carrier, and for the second time in 2 years, Microsoft is abandoning 100% of their users by requiring them to buy new phones to get Windows Phone 8. That leaves a really bad taste in my mouth.

Bottom line is, I am very pleased with the purchase. I miss the slickness and deep integration Windows Phone provides, but iOS 6 isn't shoddy in the least. In fact, many aspects of iOS are very well refined and insanely intuitive. iOS also has more features than Windows Phone. The only area of confusion in iOS is in the Settings icon. It can take a long time to find a particular setting. Just one example is the useful Do Not Disturb feature, a feature that allows you to have your phone, or iPad, turn off all calls, texts and other reminders at night, or whatever hours you choose. You can set it to also allow certain phone calls though, like from family members in the event of an emergency. The problem is, I had to do a Google search to set it. To configure DND, you go to Notifications, not the Do Not Disturb setting.

With iOS I find I have the opposite problem I had with WP when it comes to apps. With WP, I was looking for no-named alternatives to popular apps and rarely finding them. With iOS I find I install too many apps because there is such a fantastic selection.

Knowing now what I know, I wouldn't hesitate for a second to by the iPhone again over Windows Phone or Android. (See here for my reasons for not seriously considering Google's mobile OS.)

Will I ever go back to Windows Phone? Maybe. First the share of the platform would need to be 15% to 20% at a minimum  I figure it would take that much share to get mainstream app developers to really take notice and support the platform. I would also need to see a pattern of upgrades available in a timely manner from the carriers for WP devices. That latter point also applies to Android, though the propensity of Android device makers to heavily customize the UI still turns me off to the platform overall.

And the hardware... the iPhone 5 takes a back seat to no other phone when it comes to fit and finish. The build quality and design are excellent. From a hardware standpoint, it is the best there is in my opinion. From a platform standpoint, I would like someone to go in and redo the Settings to make it easier to find things, and from a UI standpoint, I'd like to see more icons with live information. After all, it isn't always sunny and 73 is it?

There are things the iPhone excels at, and others where it doesn't do the best job compared to the competition, but overall, it is the most intuitive and integrated device available.

Microsoft Announces Xbox Music, Tells Windows Phone Users To Pound Sand

Microsoft took the wraps off its new Xbox Music Service today. It will initially be available on Windows 8 and the Xbox 360 platform. Windows Phone 8 support will likely follow when that platform is released later this year, and iOS and Android users will be able to get it in 2013.

The new service will not be available on Windows 7 machines, but unless your PC is really old and barely survived the upgrade to Windows 7, you should be able to upgrade to Windows 8.


The story for Windows Phone 7 users is very different though. Microsoft will not provide upgrades for existing users, even if you buy the flagship Nokia Lumia 900 today. The Xbox Music service is the first of many features you'll need to buy a new phone for.

I am sure users of iOS will need to be on the latest, iOS 6, to get this, but if you have an iPhone 3GS, made in 2009, Microsoft has you covered. But a brand spanking new Windows Phone7.x device, well… not so much.

Think carefully about who makes the next phone you buy. If you never want it to do more than what it does the day you walk out of the store, buy whatever you want. All manufacturers honor their warranties. If you want upgrades though, remember some companies have better track records than others.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Amazon's Business Sense Continues To Impress Me

Amazon is nothing if not savvy when it comes to operational excellence. They proved it to me again today. I went to a forecasting seminar this week and there was one book highly recommended. I downloaded the free Kindle sample and got about 10 pages of it. I decided it was worth it. Because it had a number of charts, tables and the like, I opted for the dead tree version as much of that doesn't look great on a Kindle.

I am a Prime member, which gives me 2 day shipping free on most things. I wanted to read the book this weekend though so I opted for the $3.99 upgrade to overnight shipping.

I also wanted to get a copy for a colleague in our corporate office. When I went to check out though, there was a $7.98 shipping charge. I didn't realize the $3.99 was per item! I didn't need her copy until next week as that was when the normal intercompany pouch was going out, so I cancelled her copy, ordered mine expedited, then ordered hers using regular Prime. That saved $3.99. I thought it was dumb on Amazon's part to do this though ad shipping 2 overnight is healer that shipping one overnight and one second day.

Well, someone on Amazon's shipping team thought the same thing. They bundled my orders into one and the box arrived this morning.

More companies need to encourage and empower employees to make these sorts of decisions on the fly.

This Is The Primary Reason Android Holds Little Interest For Me

Android is a highly capable operating system, but it has a number of flaws - not in its coding but in its execution. First of all, every manufacturer of an Android device adds their own "special sauce" to the UI, but more importantly, the upgrade story is quite possibly the worst in the mobile phone space.

The Motorola Atrix 4G, which was released in early 2011, will not get an upgrade to Android's latest offerings, either Ice Cream Sandwich or Jellybean. Instead, this phone, which is less than 18 months old, and is not a freebie entry level device, will stay on Gingerbread, a platform launched in December of 2010.

Keep in mind too Motorola is now owned by Google, so you'd think if any manufacturer was going to keep their phones on the latest and greatest, it would be Moto.

Sadly, almost 56% of Android users are on this nearly 2 year old platform.

To make matters worse, Motorola joined the Upgrade Alliance in early 2011, which is a commitment to upgrade devices for at least 18 months following their release. If you purchased a device such as the Atrix thinking you'd get at least one upgrade out of the device, well, now you know the Upgrade Alliance is little more than a marketing tool.

Windows Phone is little better. In fact it may be worse as Microsoft knowingly released Windows Phone 7.x with plans to never allow upgrades to Windows Phone 8.

Say what you will about Apple, but they take care of their users in the upgrade department. iOS 6 was released in late September, just two days before the iPhone 5 came out. Not only were owners of the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 able to upgrade, but owners of the iPhone 3GS, released on June 19 of 2009 - yes, 2009! - can upgrade as well, and everyone can upgrade on the same day, regardless of the carrier.

Meanwhile, Android users with phones made in 2011 and Windows Phone users that buy a phone today are being left out in the cold.

That is a shame too. I think Android and Windows Phone both have some big advantages over iOS, but I am not willing to buy my phone as if it were a toaster. It isn't. It is a computer and I expect to be kept current on technology without having to buy a new device just to get it.

Microsoft Knew Windows Phone Early Adopters Would Get Screwed

Not many Windows Phone 7 owners were too happy with the news that the forthcoming upgrade, Windows Phone 8, would not be available for their WP7 device, even for the flagship Nokia Lumia 900 that just came out a few months ago. What makes this worse is Microsoft was working on WP8 to some degree before WP7 even launched!

Apple has done a really good job of keeping your hardware from going obsolete. Since the original iOS device, the first iPhone, Apple has consistently provided two full version upgrades to the device, and sometimes more. The iPhone 3GS, released in the summer of 2009 with iOS 3, will get iOS 6 this fall. Sure, not every feature will be supported due to hardware limitations, but the big benefits will be there.

Microsoft got a pass when WP7 came out and broke all compatibility with every phone and app that ran on Windows Mobile 6.x. The underlying platform for WinMo devices was a decade old and needed a reboot. I won't give MS a pass for doing the same thing less than 2 years later, especially when it knew from day one that WP7 was just a stall tactic.

According to CNet, Microsoft's Greg Sullivan said work on WP8 was ongoing before WP7 launched:

"It was right after Windows Phone 7," Sullivan said, speaking in an interview with CNET UK. The team that developed the 7.5 release actually was working in parallel with the core team that was already beginning [Windows Phone 8]. In fact some of that work was already initiated before Windows Phone 7 was even available -- so this goes back a little bit."

Unifying the Windows Phone and full-fat Windows kernel "was always the plan", he adds.

Sorry Microsoft. That is inexcusable. I'll be spending my money with a company that has a bit more respect for the consumer.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Goodbye Windows Phone - Lack Of Upgradability Kills It For Me

Yesterday Microsoft officially announced Windows Phone 8, and it looks like it will be a welcome release. Unfortunately, exactly zero percent of current Windows Phone users can upgrade their devices to the refreshed platform. That's right. If you have the shiny new flagship device, a Nokia Lumia 900, your phone just became obsolete.

WP8 has a lot of great new features like:

• Integrated VoIP support, so now Skype can let you know calls are coming in without having to be the foreground app.
• In-App purchasing
• Device Encryption
• Better multitasking

It also has an improved Metro interface as seen in the image above. All in all, it looks like a really nice upgrade to the current platform.

Developers will be able to take advantage of these features as well. They can also write native code, a big no-no in Windows Phone 7, something that drew complaints.

If you have A WP7 device, you might get Windows Phone 7.8 later this year, after WP8 launches. I say might because newer devices are more likely to get the upgrade from the carriers, but older first generation devices have probably been forgotten about. 7.8 though only gives you some of the visual enhancements, not the core upgrades. That means new apps written in native code won't run on your device. How much fun will it be this fall to see new apps being released in the Marketplace that you cannot run on your 4 month old Lumia? Not much I suspect. No other WP8 improvements will be in WP7.8, just the shiny new start screen according to Joe Belfiore.

I purchased a New iPad two months ago and am really enjoying it. In fact, this post is being written on it using Blogsy. I have been following the news on iOS 6 and like what I see and have been seriously considering an iPhone 5 this fall. My wife and kids all have an iPhone 4, and they have iOS 5 on there now and will be getting iOS 6 this fall. Heck, Apple is even upgrading iPhone 3GS users, which launched in 2009, over a year before WP7 launched! Sure, not every iOS 6 feature will work on older phones, but most will. Apple's upgrade for older phones isn't just window dressing, no pun intended.

So I'll get the iPhone 5 and can be reasonably sure I'll be able to upgrade to iOS 7 and 8, while consumers of Microsoft's platform get no such assurances that WP9 or above will come to their phones. Yeah, WP8 supposedly comes with better upgradability, as stated in the blog, but the same thing was said when WP7 was launched in 2010.

That is a shame too. I love the Metro interface. I love the people hub, Facebook integration, the smoothness of the UI, and overall intuitiveness of the platform. Phones today aren't toasters though. They are computers, and people expect to be able to upgrade them for at least the duration of their contract. How pleased will the guy that purchased a Lumia 900 last month be in early 2014 with a phone that hasn't seen an update in over a year and a wealth of cool new apps that won't run on the device?

You've lost me as a phone customer Microsoft for at least four years, which will be two contract upgrade cycles for me. In that time, you'll have to prove you have fixed your upgrade cycle and won't abandon current customers so quickly. Two years isn't enough time to establish a track record, especially given your past, so I won't even consider your platform in 2014. I'll keep an eye in you though. Your software is good and the Metro UI in a phone is great. That isn't good enough though. You have to keep me on the latest greatest after I fork over my hard earned money for your product, something Apple is willing to do, and has proven it year after year.

 

Windows Phone 7 Still Struggles For Apps

The best feature of smartphones is their expandability with third party apps. Both Apple's App Store and Google's Play store have the most, with the former having over 500,000 apps for the iPhone and the latter having over 450,000 for Android devices. When you see articles recommending apps for your phone, it is common for the app to be available on both platforms. That isn't the case with other platforms though like Windows Phone and Blackberry. In fact, it is the number one thing in my mind that is hurting the growth of those platforms.

This was highlighted to me in a June 2102 article in Money Magazine called "35 Best Money Apps." Sorry - no link as Money mag has virtually no online presence - not even a home page. It is a good article though so if you see that issue in the stores or want to buy the issue on your iPhone or iPad, you should do so.

The article highlights 35 great apps for your mobile device that will help you invest, save, use coupons, track expenses, make car buying decisions, look at homes, plan remodeling costs, and more. As I was reading it, it struck me how many icons for Windows Phone I saw. A year ago, there might have only been two or three apps. Just over a third though are available for Microsoft's mobile platform.

That is still a far cry though from what is available for Android and the iPhone. Only four apps weren't available on Android. The iPhone scored 100%. Even the iPad, a platform with a much MUCH smaller presence than smartphones, has 17 apps designed specifically for its screen. It can run the rest though by installing the iPhone version if you don't mind having less than stellar graphics since it just pixel-doubles the iPhone app.

These articles are free advertising for mobile platforms. Money Magazine typically encourages you to save money and not waste it on the latest greatest technology, but this issue says if you don't have a platform to run these apps to get one. The savings the apps can generate can more than pay for the device.

If you are looking through these apps and see that the iPhone and Android devices have just about everything, but there is only a third or less for Windows Phone or Blackberry, which platform do you think people will buy? It continues to be an uphill struggle for Windows Phone. Believe it or not, it is about to get worse for Windows Phone. The upcoming Windows Phone 8 platform will run most Windows Phone 7 apps in legacy mode, but that means developers have to start over to get apps to run natively on the new platform. If I were a developer with limited resources, I'm not sure I'd bother with a platform with low single-digit share.

Good News For Windows Phone

Microsoft got several bits of good news for its mobile platform this week.

• Both AT&T and Verizon stated they would put a renewed effort into supporting Windows Phone.
• Steve Wozniak praised Windows Phone, claiming it is more beautiful than the iPhone and Android devices

AT&T has recently put some heavy marketing muscle behind Windows Phone with the Nokia Lumia 900, and that will apparently continue. Verizon, with its sole HTC Trophy released in the middle of 2011, has decided it is in its best interest to have a third viable platform after iOS and Android. This is very welcome news, but selling new devices won't be good enough. Microsoft must fix its update story. When Mango released, Microsoft and its partners performed very well. Most devices were updated within two weeks and only one or two exceptions weren't updated within a month. Things fell apart though with patches. Mango broke a few things, as software updates are bound to do. Microsoft rushed out fixes for some of the biggies, like Exchange 2003 support and the vanishing keyboard issue. Both were ready to go late last year. Verizon just recently rolled out these patches and AT&T still has yet to do so for many of its phones. You can be assured if Apple rolls out patches like these, they are in users hands within hours, not days, weeks or months.

For me, this new found commitment to Windows Phone is a good start, but not good enough. I'll be watching the update story for the next year or so before committing to buying another Windows Phone device. If Verizon and AT&T update Windows Phone like they have in the past, or like they continue to update Android devices, then I'll pass.

The Woz recently got a Lumia 900 from AT&T and has high praise for the device.

I'm kind of shocked. Every screen is much more beautiful than the same apps on Android and iPhone.

High praise indeed. He goes on to compliment the platform in how it looks and its usability, but wraps up saying the thing holding it back is the availability of apps.

Which brings me to my next topic. One of the best things about a smartphone is the ability to install apps that enhanced their functionality and enjoyment. I am a big fan of sites like Lifehacker that posts frequent download articles for a variety of platforms, including Android, iOS, Linux, MacOS X and Windows. It is rare that an app they look at is available on Windows Phone. For that reason, and others, I also subscribe to the Chip Chick rss feed. Every week these ladies review a hot download for all of the mobile platforms, including Windows Phone. Sometimes though for WP it seems they are reaching. I knew this week that was the case when I saw the app. A tip calculator. Seriously. Now, there is nothing wrong with the app itself and can be very useful. I think it speaks though to the platform as a whole when a tip calculator is the hot app of the week for a platform.

The other bit of news that is disturbing is the share for the platform. It keeps getting smaller according to ReadWriteWeb. Microsoft peaked in 2007, right as the iPhone was launching with 36% of the market. It was the largest smartphone platform at the time. Yeah, Symbian might have been larger, but I have never considered that a smartphone platform as it was just as often used on feature phones with limited addon capabilities.

Windows Phone 7 launched in October of 2010 and by then, Microsoft's share had dwindled to 8% as Windows Mobile had run out of steam. A year later, even after the launch of a few Nokia devices and the significant upgrade to 7.5, also known as Mango, share is down to 5%.  This share is the reason for the dearth of apps. Microsoft boasts over 80,000 apps in the marketplace, but where are the biggies? Angry Birds Space isn't out, though it came out on just about every other platform at least two weeks ago. Popular consumer sites like The Consumerist and Fooducate don't support Windows Phone. I know some banks support it, like Bank of America, but online banks, where an app is most critical, especially when it comes to  depositing checks, are missing in action. Ally Bank, Schwab and ING Direct are all supporting iOS and Android. A few even support the iPad specifically, but none support WP7.

I think 2013 will be the make or break year for the platform. Nokia is now on board, Windows Phone 8 will have been released and some US carriers will finally push it with the same energy that they push Android and iOS. If the platform doesn't take off in 2013, it never will. A big chunk of its success though rests in the hands of developers.

Livescribe Pen + Evernote = Amazing Productivity

I am a huge fan of Evernote and recently got an iPad as it is an almost perfect form factor for the note keeping software. I routinely take the iPad into meetings and usually use Evernote for note taking. Depending on the meeting, I might also use MagicalPad, which can store it's notes in Evernote.

The only problem with my setup is I occasionally need to physically write my notes. Is some meetings or settings, using an electronic device is frowned upon as it looks like you are goofing off or worse, checking email.

Enter the Livescribe smartpen. The pen has the ability to recode what you write pans safe to PDF when you dock it. It even has an advantage over Evernote for some scenarios. I use it to take notes at church and the pen not only records what I write, but records tha audio! You can later tap on a word on your paper and the recorded audio will start playing at that spot. It is fantastic for lectures where you need to go back and listen to a particular segment.

Of course this all integrates Evernote, or email, Facebook, and a few other locations where you want to store your pencasts as they are called.

If this is of any interest to you, now may be the time to buy a model of the Livescribe Echo Smartpen. As long as you buy it by April 30 and register by mid-May, you get a free year of Evernote Premium. That $45 gets you 1GB of uploads per month versus 50MB for the free version. I recommend you check out Amazon as they often have the pens for a few dollars under retail.

In the six months I've had my Echo Smartpen, a 4GB model by the way, I've found it to be an indispensable part of my productivity arsenal.

Email Is Not A Tractor Beam For You To Point At People

Email is not some sort of weapon you point and aim at someone with the expectation that they drop what they are doing and turn over whatever bit of information you seek. Unfortunately though, that is exactly how email is used all too often.

I've even had co-workers send me an email, then use Skype or some other IM tool to see if I had received it and opened it yet before their mouse's button had fully recovered after being used to press "Send." I am sure you have experienced the same thing on occasion.

Lifehacker has run two excellent articles on this issue and I strongly encourage you to check them out. The first is "Email Is Not Broken; We Are." As you might have guessed, the thrust of the article is as a tool, email works just fine. The problem is, we are misusing it.

The second article is "When You’re Constantly Checking Your Email, You’re Putting Your Needs Behind Everyone Else’s." You might think that as an employee of a company, the needs of everyone else comes before you, but you are wrong. You have a job to do and you are doing your employer a great disservice if your full attention is not on the task at hand. If someone walks into your office and has a critical issue, then you need to make a judgement call as to whether or not that demands your full and immediate attention. However, you do not need to make that same judgement call regarding the 20-30 emails (or more!) that come in during the next hour while you are trying to finish those TPS reports. This article also has an amusing, and accurate, decision tree about when you should check your email.

What can you do right now to regain your productivity?

1. Turn off all email notifications, both on your phone and desktop. If you aren't expecting anything important, having your devices ding and throw up windows at you is about as useful to your productivity as having someone poke you with a cattle prod. I still leave my email on push, and keep Outlook running, but that is for my convenience, so when I need to refer to something, I know everything is up-to-date.
2. Set specific times to check email. I check mine first thing in the morning, around lunch, and at the end of the day religiously. I also may check it at around 3pm.
3. When you check email, clear them all. I have zero unread emails. That doesn't mean do them all. It means clear them. If you can take care of the email in 2 minutes or less, do it. Don't waste anymore time deferring it. If you can't, then file it for future action. See The Secret Weapon for some excellent tips on how to do this effectively. I actually use Evernote coupled with Zendone, which is a web app that automates much of what The Secret Weapon advocates. 

Now you can focus on projects, meetings, or your employees and peers, giving them the attention they deserve. It can take some getting used to, but trust me, once you free yourself from being yanked around by emails as they come in, you'll realize you get more done each week since you waste far less time having to change gears to satisfy the whim of each email.

Windows Phone Handicapped By Poor Update Story

Microsoft's update story for Windows Phone continues to be its Achilles heel. The new Nokia Lumia 900 is getting good reviews, but you'd better be happy with it as is. If history is any indication, AT&T will provide few, if any, updates for the device.

This, and this alone, is what is making me consider the newest iPhone to be released later this year.

Microsoft Has Just About Guaranteed My Next Device Will Be An iPhone

I've been using Windows Phone/Mobile devices for years. Microsoft's inability to get updates out to consumers though means something miraculous would have to happen for me to upgrade to a new Windows Phone device later this year.

Updates with the older generation Windows Mobile devices were rarer than  an Amish person showing up at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Microsoft had suggested this was fixed with Windows Phone, where it would roll out the updates once the carriers approved it. This took the burden of distribution off of the carriers.

The carriers though, at least in the US, have figured out a way to keep the updates out of the hands of the users. They simply don't approve updates. Pure genius. This wasn't hard to predict. In fact, a recent change in how Microsoft reported updates indicated the company is far more interested in serving the needs of its customers rather than you and me. No longer would the software giant let us know by carrier where the updates are. That means users are less likely to know that updates are out and won't call their carrier pestering them about fixes and patches and pointing out carriers that have rolled it out, mostly in Europe of course.

Few in the US have received any updates after the big Mango upgrade in the fall of 2011. That wouldn't be a problem except Mango introduced a few bugs, like the infamous disappearing keyboard. This has been fixed, but no US carriers have bothered to release it.

Recently, AT&T stated that no phones would be getting the latest round of updates. I know Verizon couldn't possibly care less either.

Total failure Microsoft. Unless I see that Nokia fixes this situation in the next few months, which is highly doubtful, I'll be getting the iPhone 5, safe in the knowledge that Apple will be providing updates for 2 years for the phone, not the 4-5 months Verizon supported the Trophy.

That is a shame too. The reason I have Windows Phone 7 is in many ways it is superior to the iPhone. Having patches out there though that fix known bugs that affect me, but being unable to get them, negatively affects my experience. I'd rather lose some features and functionality and have something that works instead of using something that feels like an abandoned beta product. Try typing an email on your phone and have the keyboard disappear on you 3-4 times while typing it out and you'll quickly see what I mean.

A New Blog Dedicated Running Adventures

I'll continue to post random stray thoughts to this blog, but I've decided to put all of my running posts in a separate blog. I've gotten into trail running recently and if nothing else, the scenery is interesting. It is called The Faithful Runner. In the coming weeks, I'll write a post that will actually explain what the blog name means. I hope you'll join me there.

On a run early one Sunday morning

Don't Run Like This Dude, Run Like The Chick

Jason Robillard has an interesting post on why we should be running like the image on the right, not the image on the left.

When you look at shoe ads or see some show, move or commercial with a runner in it, they almost always look like the guy on the left. I'll admit, it sure looks like he is going faster. Just look at that long stride!

The odd thing is, 30-40 years ago, no one ran like this. So-called running shoes hadn't been invented yet so there were no shoes with absurdly thick "cushioned" heels. If you ran in racing flats like the guy on the left, you'd be in pain withing minutes.

Think you should be training your body to run this way? Try this little experiment Jason describes: "Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.  Jump up in the air.  While in the air, straighten your legs, lock your knees, and land on your heels.  When you land, it hurts like Hell.  Now do the same thing except bend your knees and land on the ball of your foot.  WHOA!  YOUR FEET AND LEGS ACT LIKE SHOCK ABSORBERS!!!  Hot damn, it’s almost like your legs were designed to work that way!"


Yet people hurl their bodies on their locked leg that is over-extended in front of them all of the time and then wonder why shin splints, runner's knee, plantar fasciitis and other maladies often associated with running show up.

Head over to Jason's post and look at the other six examples of why the chick on the right is doing it right. He also explains why it is OK to use the term "chick" in this context.

Are Running Shoes Causing More Harm Than Good?

It is often said that all you need to go running is a good pair of sneakers. That may not be true. You will likely be far better off going barefoot, using Huarache sandals, or running in minimalist shoes like Vibram Five Fingers. Ditch the shoes and use the engineering God built into your body.

There are a ton of great resources out there on barefoot running and the problems caused with shoes. A good place to get started is Dr. Nirenberg's America's Podiatrist blog. Vibram also has its own FAQ on barefoot running, and it encourages you to start truly barefoot before upping the ante with a pair of Five Fingers. Why start barefoot instead of transitioning from classic running shoes to minimalist? Because your skin will be your limiting factor. The skin on the bottom of your feet is probably very tender. Until you build up a nice pad, not callouses, you will take it easy, which is good. It will give the muscles, bones and tendons in your feet time to build up slowly as your skin does. Concrete and asphalt are excellent surfaces to get started on. Your first barefoot run may be 100 yards or less. That's perfect! Rest for a day or so, then do it again, maybe increasing to 200 yards. Within a few weeks, you will be up to a mile, and you can grow from there.


Created by: X Ray Technician Schools

The Star Trek Franchise Is 45 Years Old

See the infographic. Nothing more needs to be said.



Source: SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration