Digital Common Sense

I’ve been struggling a bit with simplification of my lifestream of information lately. Simplification is a very complex process as we all know. It’s not always easy.

I’ve begun weighing the merits of the many online touchpoints I have. Each represents some sort of implied obligation to update and share something.
This blog - Digital Common Sense
The Realtime Unified Communications Community
My VOX blog
Twitter
Jaiku
Facebook
Flickr
and others that are far less resource intensive.

Each represents and input and output touch-point, I put information in that I want to share, and I follow friends, colleagues, family and others to see what they’re up to.

The blogs are all handled. Posting here and the Unified Communications site is easily accomplished, most using ScribeFire (aka Performancing for Firefox). Vox posts are easily done via the web, or from any mobile device I happen to have at hand.

Flickr and I have a love/hate relationship. I nearly left when Yahoo forced the user name changes. If I could as easily manage photos anywhere, I’d bail on Flick in a hearbeat. But between web integration, upload tools and the Nokia phone integration, I’m staying with Flickr. And all you folks who use something else that you like, don’t tell me to come use yours. It doesn’t work for me. Trust me, I’ve tried them all and they don’t meet my needs. Not even close.

Then there’s the new breed - Twitter and Jaiku. I was a very early adopter of Twitter. Way before SXSW. Back when it was Twttr and the only interface we had was SMS. I like that. And I still like Twitter, but it’s been crushed by growth. Death by success? Not yet, but it doesn’t work adequately most of the time.

Jaiku is not a direct mirror of Twitter. Jaiku lets me feed input from all the other touchpoints as well. And when I read my friends on Jaiku, I can pick their touchpoints that I want to see. For example, if you share your last.fm info there, I can (and do) unsubscribe. I don’t care what you’re listening to, and I like being able to drop that feed.

In my case, Jaiku picks up all the above except Facebook. I like it as a lifestream aggregator. I like it a lot for its potential. But I’m frustrated with the speed at which it’s unfolding. They have a Nokia app that holds huge potential as a small “rich client” that bridges the gap between SMS and web interfaces. Again, moving slowly, but the potential is huge. Jaiku is working on funding, and I hope they get some great backers. I see real solid potential for something different.

Along comes Facebook. It’s been there all along, but not terribly vibrant. But they’ve been changing. Facebook Mobile and SMS integration really changed the model. Now they’ve begun really integrating applications to turn it into a platform (that’s marketing speak for we do lots of shit we can’t describe). I have mixed feelings about Facebook because they’re quickly gaining the “evil empire” feel. But the convenience, for now, offsets that a bit. Not entirely, but enough that I’m still there.

What I won’t do, is continue the geekish ADD continual updating of all of the above that so many of us seem trapped in. It reminds me of a description from Darin Barney’s book Prometheus Wired: The Hope for Democracy in the Age of Network Technology. There’s a section in the book that describes how, in the information age, we are all simply inputs, feeding data into “the machine” that is the Net. And why we often think of Google as the machine that wants to own all our inputs, the machine is really a larger aggregation of all these sites and more.

I don’t mind sharing with the machine on my terms, but my social network isn’t the machine. The people on the other end are the ones that make up my social network.

And people, like insects, swarm. On the Net that’s probably a more apt analogy that at any other point in human history. We swarm to new things and follow the herd mentality. Don’t believe me? Take a look at what happened with Twitter during SXSW. That wasn’t people finding a new tool. For the most part that was a herd stampede jumping on because everyone else was jumping on. Many stayed. Many left. But the groundswell of popularity for Twitter has remained, hence the performance problems that leave the swarm buzzing in anger.

We also follow our friends. Or we make a conscious decision to move to a tool that they haven’t chosen. When we do that, our social network may shrink. I’ve been thinking about that quite a bit. Twitter has expanded my social network to some new friends I wouldn’t have found elsewhere. And to new ephemeral contacts who quickly disappeared from my social network. Jaiku has a less ephemeral feel, but only among my friends who use it effectively. And many of the friends I pay close attention to don’t.

At some point I’ll have to decide whether to abandon a tool and let my social network shrink, or perhaps marginalize one or more. Part of what led me to that phrasing was a comment Stuart made in response to my poser about Skype’s relevance. He said

Thus what Ken and Alec really allude to is their connections have
shifted. They are more available now on new connections and perhaps
less available on others. My guess is they don’t talk or message less.
Probably it is more than ever; without the shackles of cost.

And he’s right. Alec and I have chosen to marginalize Skype. I don’t think either would say it’s fully because of the reasons we gave. We marginalized Skype because our most valued contacts were either as easily, or more easily, connected through some other tool, or several tools.

So I’m just left thinking about all the touchpoints I have that call to me, softly calling out feed me 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Some are going to get marginalized and fade into the past, like Skype is rapidly doing. I just haven’t decided which yet. When I do, you’ll only notice by my absence there, which means you may not even notice. That’s the danger of so many touchpoints. Absence of touch may go unnoticed.

And as much as I grumble about Jaiku’s slow advances, or Facebook’s potential to become the evil empire, they both lead the game because they easily aggregate the lifestream touchpoints that matter most to me.

Technorati Tags: Twitter, Jaiku, Facebook, touchpoints, social networks. lifestream

Filed by Ken at 6:53 pm under Tech in General, Technology
2 Comments

My friend Alec weighed in with a reality based historical perspective to counter the unbridled enthusiasm, I’d say unwarranted, that Palm’s announcement seems to be getting everywhere.

Palm ignores history, forges ahead.
I’ve long been a fan of clamshell design mobile companions.  They start quickly, they’re ultralight, and their batteries way outlast laptops.  Does anyone remember the NEC Mobilepro line?  How about the Sharp Mobilon Pro?  The Vadem Clio? Don’t worry.  Nobody will hold it against you if you can’t remember them… it’s been nearly 10 years since these products were on the market, although you can still pick up a ready (if dwindling) supply of used ones on EBay.
[Read full post from Alec]

I remember the clamshells well. I know right where two Sharp Zaurus devices sit in my personal equipment storage. They were indeed, incredible devices.

I’m perhaps a bit more negative. Palm has grown tired, with nothing to build on except the Treo, and it’s faltering on many fronts. I’m on my eleventh or twelfth Palm device with my Treo 700W, but I doubt I’ll ever buy another. I certainly have no interest in the Foleo. It’s a huge yawner for me.

Right now I’m keen on the Nokia N800 paired with an N-series phone. Sure I carry a separte bluetooth keyboard, but integrating a keyboard into something like the N800 in a clamshell design is a simple engineering feat.

Palm Foleo - Too little, too boring and too late to save Palm.

Technorati Tags: Palm, Foleo, too little too late

Filed by Ken at 12:28 pm under Mobility & Handheld, Portable Pleasures - PDA/Smartphones, Technology
1 Comment

Here’s a quick glimpse at some pictures taken out on an after-dinner walk this evening. Click through to Flickr for the full set.

Filed by Ken at 10:43 pm under General
No Comments

I’ve had my N95 back for a while now. I probably use mine differently that a number of folks, so I thought it was time to update, especially after the workout it got this weekend.

Perhaps the largest common concern everyone has has is battery life. At this point, I find it quite acceptable. In fact I’ve not run out of power since getting the N95 back in my hands. it’s powered on 24X7, but I tend to stay plugged in to power often. That means if it’s not in use it might be plugged in. But that also means that it worked fine for 6 hour outings making calls, taking pictures, sending them to a blog or Flickr, and text messaging. In short, I don’t have a battery life problem at all right now. I’m quite happy with it.

That said, I have set the phone for optimal power use for me. I’ve toggled it to GSM only as I don’t have access to a 3G network. Even if you don’t have access, the phone will eat battery power hunting for it if you don’t shut it off.

I have WiFi scanning off. There’s no reason to constantly scan for WiFi ever. Ideally, it would be nice if Nokia automated this. I’d like to turn on WiFi scanning so I can find an access point, but have the phone automatically shut scanning off after two minutes.

I have Bluetooh always on, set for continual active pairing with my N800. If you don’t need it on for that or constant headset use, shutting it off would help conserve battery life further.

I haven’t used the GPS a lot. I know many people run it all the time. I’m mostly on my home turf. I don’t need a GPS running in background to get home from my office. For me, the ability to automatcially geotag photos would be a reason to leave it on at times. Don’t suggest Shozu please. I know they say it will do this. I also know it has screwed up the six devices I’ve tried it on, four of them Nokia N-series phones. Given Nokia’s support for Flickr and Vox built in, I want geotagging as a native option tied to the camera. Do it in a future firmware release and don’t make me rely on unstable third-party applications.

I like the camera a lot. I took a ton of pictures at Cannon Beach over my long holiday weekend with both the 5 megapixel N95 and my 6 megapixel Nikon D50. While the Nikon obviously has more controls and flexibility as a photographer’s tool, the N95 compares nicely for quality. Here’s one picture form the weekend that I think demonstrates the quality and detail easily captured with, let’s face it, a cell phone. Put it in perspective and this is nothing short of phenomenal.

People do have complaints about the camera, but frankly I don’t. What I do have is a hardware flaw. if you read here regularly, you know the N95 went back to Nokia for camera failure. It had double icons in the primary camera and quit working. After it was restored and returned, I’ve had the problem again. It’s a fairly common problem. When it happens, if you turn the camera off, close the lens cover and give the phone a firm tap above the lens, it will come back and work fine. Mine has only failed once so far, but this is fairly widely documented on the Net. If a physical tap fixed it, it can only be a hardware problem. Perhaps a flawed electrical connection. Whatever it is, it has to be fixed for the N95 to gain critical acceptance. But it is fixable.

I made some Gizmo VoIP calls, and it’s frankly everything I’ve come to expect from Gizmo. if the WiFi is decent, the call quality is great. Nearly seamless integration and a fabulous first glimpse of what fixed mobile convergence can one day become with the right network capabilities.

As I said, I actively pair it with the N800. That means the GPRS link is running as a data modem for the N800 all the time. Well, all the time I’m outside WiFi range, which is a lot. I’ve paired the other N-series phones the same way and they all work perfectly in my experience.

I’ve used it as a music player, tapped into the stereo in my 5th wheel. Works great. It also works great as a small stereo in my shirt pocket out anywhere. After all, you never really know when you might just need to tango - the beach, the mall. A tango could be needed at a moment’s notice.

The N95 user interface is cleaner and crisper than the earlier N-series phones. WiFi setup is easy. The Gizmo client worked very handily for me. The menus are a bit more intuitive, although many items are still too deeply nested. But it’s getting better.

What the N95 isn’t is a fully developed, mature, third-generation product. This is still the first generation. It’s a glimpse of the future of mobile phones that are far more than phones. And when paired with the N800, the pair are solid casual computing…today. Perhaps more important, they’re a vision of the computing environment of tomorrow.

Technorati Tags: Nokia, N95, next generation, mobility

Filed by Ken at 5:01 pm under Mobility & Handheld
6 Comments

Unified communications is a huge, broad topid. Nokia gets a lot of visibility for the advances in mobile devices, and the incorporation of Gizmo and GoogleTalk as VoIP (and even video) tools.

When I go fishing, I’ve always been an ultralight fisherman. Very light spinning rod and 2-4 pound test line. When I explored flyfishing, I went straight to a #3 flyrod. Yet when we travel, for our email and web needs, we so often walk with a heavy foot. Sure, laptops became notebooks and shrunk to a degree, but they still weigh around 5 pounds. We still carry accessories and add-ons.

I’ve done a lot of ultralight computing connectivity. Ten years ago I carred a Sharp Zaurus with a 2400 bps modem attached. Still tethered. I had Palm handhelds with modems too. When the Palm VIIx was release with the flip-up antenna and wireless access, limited though it was, I carried one for two years and paid the premium price for connection. Then a Palm TungstenC and later a LifeDrive, both with WiFi.

I leaped to the Treo 700W with EVDO the day it was released.

I have carried an infrared/bluetooth keyboard for use with these tools for a long time. Mostly that’s been for on planes and at conferences, but the last couple of years, I’ve found myself using the keyboard more and more. I’ve travelled with only the handheld devices, but generally onyl for very short trips. Even on vacation, my laptop bag was always along for the ride, and straining at my back.

It’s time for change - a lightness of being.

This past Memorial Day weekend, we took the 5th wheel down to Cannon Beach, OR for a getaway. I’ve always taken my laptop, and driving means you can carry plenty. This trip, I thoughtfully legt the laptop at home. It was, after all, a vacation weekend. I took the Nokia N95, N800, bluetooth keyboard and my Treo. The other thing that was important was taking my Nikon. It’s with me almost every day, and I wanted to really have some time playing with photos.

Nokia raised the bar on casual computing this weekend. I honestly didn’t use the Treo at all, but the N95 and N800 provided more than I would ever need.

The first two days I had GPRS signal on the N95. The N800 paired through it, providing complete email and web capability. I even blogged a couple of substantial pieces in other places sitting in the trailer relaxing. At some point over the weekend, the GRPS link lost signal. I hadn’t even looked before, but a check for WiFi revealed a free hotspot at the RV park. We’ve stayed there before, but I never looked or noticed it before. It was a bit like hitting the jackpot.

Connecting the Nokias to WiFi enabled a whole new level of high-capacity productivity while in casual mode. I popped the SD card out of my Nikon and into the N800. That let me upload a bunch of pictures to Flickr. Pop that card back in the Nikon, pictures intact for linking to the PC later when I get home.

Make a couple of VoIP calls out to the PSTN with Gizmo. Partly to test the quality, but then again, why use the cell plan and eat up minutes. Quality was quite good. It wasn’t perfect, but sitting on the Oregon coast, camped on the beach, cellular quality isn’t exactly stellar. I made one video call from the campsite, mostly to give someone a hard time and say “look where I am and you’re not.”

I also worked a bit on both a magazine article and white paper I’m writing. The N800 screen is big enough to use as a casual workstation, and the bluetooth keyboard makes it so easy.

I also kept in touch. So many of us are not just hyper-connected to the Net, but to our social networks, that contact is frequent, nearly constant. I sent pictures to Flickr, to multiple blogs. I updated Twitter, Jaiku and Facebook. I read my RSS feeds while sitting in camp with my feet up. I had a couple friends comment that they enjoyed vicariously coming along for the weekend.

For me, the social networking aspect of keeping in touch was both important and easy.

Luca commented recently on his experience with the N95/N800 pair.

After a few weeks using the Nokia N95, I’ve found myself using the Nokia N800 much less. I can use them together and I think the N95 can be the perfect companion for my N800 when I’m not under Wifi coverage, so I can use its 3G data connection.

On the other hand, when it comes to reading emails, I find much quicker using the N95 rather than the N800. If you want to use the N800 at best, you need to keep it always on. If you turn it off (if you understand it is really turned off), when you really need it you don’t want to wait much time for its booting.

Our experiences are different indeed. I love the N95, yet carried the N800 on the beach, in town, and everywhere in my very light backpack. I’d never do that with a laptop. I dont’ find the boot time for the N800 to be an issue.

I do agree that the N95 is incredibly fast, and powerful. It isn’t without issues, but it’s proving to be a real powerhouse and a workhorse mobile device. The from factor fits my hands better than the N73 or N80i, but it’s small and light. The interface is cleaner and crisper than any earlier N-series phone. WiFi connection and setup is very easy. Sending posts to Flickr and Vox are easy with the built-in apps. No need to bother with Shozu quirkiness ever again.

And it provides entertainment. I ripped a half-dozen CDs to the memory card last week. I ahve an AM/FM/Cassette stereo in my 5th wheel, but there’s an input jack for a CD player or AUX device. I plugged in the N95 and kicked on the media player. Awesome CD quality music as the MP3s filter from my pocket-sized N95 out through the stereo speakers in the trailer. Add a bottle of champagne and some fresh strawberries and casual computing just doesn’t get much better.

If ultralight travel computing was about being nimble, casual computing is about being easy. Seamless connections, easily doing anything I want or need to do.

Frankly, if I didn’t need a computer for work, I’d probably abandon my laptops and shift entirely to the N95 and N800 pair for all my computing needs. As a technologist, they’re my casual computing arsenal, and I’ll be using them more and more, while I take my laptop less and less.

I would love to have the time and resources to take an extended road trip and document the whole thing with my N95, N800 and Nikon D50. Since work keeps me plenty busy, that will simply be the trips that come. We’re headed back to Cannon Beach for another round in four weeks. That will include serious time at the tidepools and some horseback riding on the beach. Then in late September we’re off on an eight day cruise to Alaska. I won’t take a laptop along for that trip either.

Casual computing isn’t just about work. It’s more than doing your email when you’re on a day off. Casual computing is about the hyper-connected lifestyle, maintaining relationships, and sharing life events.

If unified communications is about the convergence of data, voice and video, casual computing is about the convergence of work and personal life into a holistic mindset that takes away the stress and strain.

Technorati Tags: casual computing, Nokia, N95, N800, mobility, GPRS, WiFi

Filed by Ken at 12:03 pm under Meandering, Mobility & Handheld, Portable Pleasures - PDA/Smartphones, Technology
1 Comment

I never doubted for a minute that Nokia would do the right thing if they were aware of the situation Stefan faced recently. Glad to see I was right.

I’m no longer in trouble!

Huge thanks to Lucy Nichols, Director of Brand Protection in the Intellectual Property Rights Department at Nokia!

Lucy took the time to give me a call from her hotel room in Beijing and apologize for the letter that Darby & Darby sent me. The person handling the complaint was new and apparently unaware of the proper procedures. It was all a huge misunderstanding.

I’m delighted to tell you that Darby & Darby will stop pursuing their case!

My day has officially been made.

Technorati Tags: Nokia, Stefan Constantinescu, RingNokia

Filed by Ken at 11:52 am under Mobility & Handheld
1 Comment

Filed by Ken at 9:24 pm under Meandering
1 Comment

Nice weekend away to start the summer season of road trips in the 5th wheel. Went to Cannon Beach, OR down on the coast, always a favorite spot.

Here are a few pictures. The whole set is here.

The campground pasture area

Haystack Rock, the prominent local landmark.

Life was really rough with champagne in Lexan wine glasses and fresh strawberries

Technorati Tags: Cannon Beach, Oregon coast, 5th wheel, escape, Memorial Day 2007

Filed by Ken at 9:06 pm under Meandering
1 Comment

Winding down Memorial Day weekend at Cannon Beach. In the morning it’ll be time to roll it up and roll home.

Filed by Ken at 7:15 pm under General
No Comments

Nice quiet place at the north end of Cannon Beach

Filed by Ken at 8:07 pm under Lifeblog
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Like my pal Marc Orchant, I’ve got a pretty slim mobile office. Mine consists of the Nokia N800, a Nokia N-series phone (the N95 is my current primary), a Stowaway keyboard, and minimal attachments. And for me, my Nikon D50 is often part of my work routine. And a Moleskine for written notes, doodles and ideas.

Heading out to Cannon Beach in the 5th wheel means I don’t necessarily have to travel this light. On most occasions, I take my laptop along. There’s a danger in that. There might be WiFi. If not, I can always tether it. If I take my laptop, the danger of working rather than relaxing always presents itself.

This weekend, while I do plan on doing some writing, I’m leaving the laptop behind by choice. I’ll write on the N800 because I don’t need anything more than that.

Someone asked would I be disconnected and offline. Not likely, but I can’t remember how strong signal is at Cannon Beach. But blogging is likely to be light. Then again Flickr, Lifeblog and portable tools allow for blogging easily. It’s just not likely to be technology focused. More like pictures and moments worth capturing.

Technorati Tags: Nokia, N800, N95, Stowaway keyboard, NikonD50, decompressing

Filed by Ken at 6:02 pm under Meandering
1 Comment

I got my Nokia N95 back yesterday, fresh from reflashing and ready to roll. Last night I set it all up, paired with the N800 and got it back in a configuration that’s useful for me. So now it’s back to being my primary phone and we’ll see how it does.

One early observation - battery life is doing very well. Standard morning use left a full set of bars on the power meter at noon time. That’s a good sign for starters. It’s been cranking SMS, 3-4 phone calls, a few pictures.

One problem noted. I did install the Jaiku client and the phone started randomly rebooting itself. Removed Jaiku and problem cleared. That means Jaiku won’t be on the phone until things clear up, which means I probably won’t use Jaiku much for a while. With web only access. it’s not terribly useful to me.

So far so good with the N95. It will get a workout this weekend on a getaway in the 5th wheel too.

Technorati Tags: Nokia, N95

Filed by Ken at 12:55 pm under Mobility & Handheld, Portable Pleasures - PDA/Smartphones
No Comments

May 21, Washington Technology — DHS calls for cybersecurity white papers. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is initiating an ambitious Cyber Security Research Development Center program that entails soliciting input from industry, government labs and academia on how to protect data against the latest threats and intrusions. The Science & Technology Directorate published a 43−page broad agency announcement seeking white papers on topics such as botnet and malware protection, composable and scaleable systems, cyber metrics, data visualization, routing security, process control security, real−time assessment, data anonymization and insider threat detection and management. White papers on technologies to address the threats and strengthen protections are due on June 27. Final proposals will be due on September 17.
Source

Technorati Tags: DHS, InfoSec, Call for Papers, cyber security

Filed by Ken at 6:04 pm under InfoSec
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In preparation for a weekend at the beach, mostly away from technology, I recognize that I´m a blog addict. I write. I post pictures. I sometimes just can´t stop myself.

This weekend I won´t be taking a laptop along at all. I´ll mainly be using the N95, and I´ll tether the N800. I´ve used Maemoblog quite a bit, but not lately. This is simply a test run before the weekend to make sure things are working ok.

Maemoblog is a very basic, rudimentary blogging tool to the N800 that works with Wordpress. It´s pretty weak on features and functionality overall. It holds promise, but won´t hold up to any heavy use.

After this weekend, Im going to take some time and set the N800 back to factory settings and take another run at installing Wordpy, which looks to be a far better tool. Wordpy needs Python elements, and installation attempts have all failed miserably. so far. But in the long run, it probably is the blogging tool I want on the N800.

I can also write offline and use the web interfaces to blog just about anywhere with the N800, although I have had nothing but problems using this browser with VOX.

Then again, I don´t plan on writing a lot of blog posts over the weekend. They´ll be limited to early morning over coffee or late evening rambling writing. For the most part, I plan very short Lifeblog and picture posting at most.

Just making sure this thing is on.

Filed by Ken at 10:22 am under General
2 Comments

Unlike most of the folks evaluating the Nokia N95, I encountered some problems that necessitated sending the phone to the doctor Nokia for a lobotomy reflashing. That’s been done and the phone is en route back to me. It will be delivered later today.

I’m going to be quite diligent about logging what I do and when with settings and software.

To be clear, the N95 impressed me as the most awesome phone I’ve ever used. There were many things I really liked about it, but the problems arose so quickly I wasn’t able to give due diligence to any real substantive testing.

When I get the N95 back in my hands, I’ll immediately work through the basic setup, configuration and synchronization I need to use it. It’s going to be my primary telephone, paired with the N800. And I’m hoping to really put it through the paces.

This weekend will be a good challenge. I’m off in my 5th wheel to the beach for the holiday weekend. The N95 will be my Internet link, in conjunction with the N800. Lots of pictures and we’ll see how it holds up sending them to Flickr and Lifeblogging over the weekend.

Technorati Tags: Nokia, N95

Filed by Ken at 6:47 am under Meandering, Mobility & Handheld, Portable Pleasures - PDA/Smartphones
2 Comments

I figured that out when I realized that every time that damn cat pops up, Twitter gets marginalized just a little bit more. The first time or three, the cat was cute. Now, around the world, the cat just generates cursing as once again Twitter fails to keep up with growth and popularity.

With other options like Jaiku and Facebook really picking up momentum quickly, more and more people are finding Twitter only marginally provides value. There doesn’t seem to be any mass exodus underway, but many Twitter fans are spreading themselves across other solutions. And for many, the other solutions are taking the lead as they advance and grow while Twitter flops about like a fish on the hot deck trying to keep up with the flow.

Technorati Tags: Twitter, jaiku, Facebook

Filed by Ken at 12:24 pm under Technology
4 Comments

I’ve been involved in VoIP technologies for a long time now. And I’ve been a mobile user for more years than I can count, dating back to a bag phone when mobile technology was quite young.

The past several months I’ve had the opportunity to explore mobile integration of VoIP up close and personal. When we say mobile VoIP, we’re almost always talking about WiFi solutions in a mobile device, although there are some 3G or near-3G solutions I’ve toyed with.

Currently I have VoIP capability on my laptops, but from a mobility perspective, also the Nokia N80i, N95 and N800. Technically the Nokia N93 can also do VoIP, but not as smoothly as the others that I’ve found.

The N80i and N95 are mobile phones, and I use them on Cingular for the most part, with an unlimited GPRS data plan. Both run a very nice Gizmo client, integrating VoIP over WiFi. For those who use Gizmo regularly, it’s a handy tool.

The N800 also supports a Gizmo client, but there’s an added dimension with the N800 in that it can support video as well. I find that capability useful and interesting, but it still falls into a tiny niche.

I’d love to hear comments from business users on whether or not you really even care about mobile VoIP capability. It’s a haven for geeks and bleeding edge early adopters; a playground of technological magic and wizardy. But what about business people. I’m curious whether you even really care at this stage of the game or are waiting for a fully integrated fixed mobile convergence solution that just seamlessly picks the optimum network for calls.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Technorati Tags: VoIP, mobility, mobile VoIP, fixed mobile convergence, unified communications

Filed by Ken at 12:20 pm under Unified Communications, VoIP/Unified Communications
2 Comments

Fisrt I’m going to quote an entire post from my friend Stefan Constantinescu -

I finally found out why I’m in trouble!

And Now I’m going to say this to Nokia, you simply screwed the pooch on this one. No other way to put it. Stefan is one of the most ouspoken Nokia proponents on the planet. You could have handled it any number of ways. You could have turned it into a PR plus, and instead, you came out looking like a bully going after the little guy.

I’m quite impressed with the Nokia products I’ve had the privilege of evaluating. From a produc standpoint, Nokia is clearly in a leadership role pointing the way to a very mobile future.

From a positioning standpoint, the Nokia Blogger Relations program has done wonders to position Nokia well, and for good reason.

Had I been in Stefan’s position, I expect this would have escalated into a very public, very large black eye for Nokia. But instead, you sent the lawyers after an ally who is, for all intents and purposes, a college student who wants to come work for you. He’s that big a fan.

Shame on you Nokia for one of the worst cases of mismanagement for 2007. You’re in the running for blunder of the year at this point. Get off your butts and salvage this and turn it into a win you fools.

Technorati Tags: Nokia, Stefan Constantinescu, blunders, mismanagement, PR debacle

Filed by Ken at 5:56 pm under Mobility & Handheld, Portable Pleasures - PDA/Smartphones
4 Comments

Not much, but there is at least one vital piece missing, and I’m not the only one to have noticed.

The N800 comes equipped with absolutely nothing in the way of PIM functionality. There’s no native synch with Outlook, or even better, with a Nokia N-series phone.

In my case. I synchronize my data in far too many directions. I can give up the Outlook notes and ToDo list. I use them, but could easily adapt without. But my calendar and contact lists are vital to everyday life.

With the N800, you have to build contacts in from scratch for the most part. Given the very GoogleTalk-centric environment, I would have expected some way to such down my Gmail contact list easily, but it isn’t there.

A choice of cable or bluetooth synchronization to a PC or telephone would be a huge step up for the N800. As it is, it can’t servce as my single device ever. It has to be paired with a phone. If I’m constrained to one device for any reason, a phone wins.

I like choices, and adding synch capabilities would allow me to pick up the N800 as easily as a phone when I dash off to many places. Given WiFi availability, I could easily take the N800 instead of a cell phone. With VoIP capability via Gtalk, and the Gizmo client that works great, the N800 can easily function as a phone, if not a fully mobile cell phone.

I’m sure given Maemo, there are PIM tools and options I haven’t yet found, but frankly, they won’t cut it at the consumer level. This stuff simply needs to be built in. Users shouldn’t even have to think about them.

The other thing I’d realy like to see is a port or subset of Open Office running on the N800. That might be out there, but at a cursory glance, I didn’t see a mention anywhere.

Technorati Tags: Nokia, N800, mobile devices, VoIP

Filed by Ken at 5:53 pm under Mobility & Handheld, Portable Pleasures - PDA/Smartphones
3 Comments

I caught this just now in my RSS from from David Beckemeyer -

Highly visible long-time Skype supporters abandoning ship?
Over the past several months we’ve seen a number of notable Skype advocates expressing criticism of Skype in public, including Martin and Jan Geirnaert.

The latest comes from Ted Wallingford who says he is dropping Skype because it slows his Macbook down too much. I think the following is even more significant

It made me realize that, while I’m not as visible and haven’t been quite the supporter the others have been all the time, I’ve abandoned SKype by simply not using it. I don’t autostart it and have found rare occasion to use it for the past three months. I remember installing that Gold version and having it trash all sorts of important things. I backed it out and reinstalled an older version, but haven’t fired it up since.

Then again, Skype’s become a phone company and I don’t need another one of those.

Like the legacy telcos, Skype is losing relevance.

Technorati Tags: David Beckemeyer, Martin Geddes, Jan Geimaert, Ted Wallingford

Filed by Ken at 7:30 pm under Unified Communications
5 Comments