May 27, 2008
11:58 pm | 0 recommendations | 3 comments
I wrote several months ago about a device called MagicJack. It's a VoIP adaptor for those looking to use their own home phones as a VoIP phone. I got a lot of emails from people stating that they were looking for a more portable and mobile solution. One they could use with a laptop from their car, in the field with a wireless card, from a convention floor or from a hotel room. And it had to be small, portable and low cost. I think I found a perfect solution for you.
Philips makes a USB Phone for Skype, the VOIP0801 B/37. The cost is $30.00. It comes fully ready to use within 2 or 3 minutes after unpacking. No batteries or complicated set up required. Just a free USB port, an Internet connection and a Skype account are all that is needed to get your started.
Insert the CD ROM that loads the phone and Skype software onto your PC. Then plug the USB cable from the phone into the PC. They wizard runs to configure the connection, the connection LCD lights green, and your ready to go.
If you have a Skype account, then just pick up the phone and dial. You have remote control over Skype and your Skype address book (pulled directly from Outlook) from the phone directly. Select a contact or dial right from the phone or from Skype. The sound quality is excellent. No one I called knew that I was not on my land line.
Skype offers a calling plan for less than $3 per month or $23 for 1 yr of prepaid service. This is for unlimited Skype calling to land lines or cell phones anywhere in the US and Canada. Other low cost plans to South America, Asia and Europe are available as well. Also, dedicated numbers and voicemail are a available for a small additional charge
The phone itself only weighs a few ounces. The USB cable completely wraps around the phone and then slips neatly into a carrying case included with the phone. A desk holder comes with the phone as well. There are other versions with color LCD screens and other features, but this version meets the perfect cost vs use ratio I am always seeking with a device that will not be used everyday but has it's place in my business travel toolbox.
The phone works with Windows 2000, XP and Vista. No support for Mac users at this time.
The phone is available from the online Skype store as well as many other VoIP phone online retailers.
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May 21, 2008
10:55 pm | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
Last week I talked about using Twitter as a business tool. This week, I chose a different tool that has helped me in business life, MySI aka: Sports Illustrated Mobile version for Windows Mobile.
How is this a secret business weapon? Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you that I am not a sports guy. Ask me about the latest rounds of vc funding, the status of the Yahoo/Microsoft talks or the IBM X300 vs MacBook Air I am your guy. What was the score of the Lakers game? Can't help you. But now with MySi, that data is quick and easy to find and all through a single interface.
Sure you can load up any web page with scores but the MySI application is different. It offers the following:
- You can track 4 favorite teams right from your home screen.
- A direct link to add important game dates directly into Outlook
- Access to scores, photos, stats, standings, schedules, and up to the minute results
- Photos from the top games
The interface is well done and easy to navigate. Downloads are quick depending on your network provider. I was able to get hockey scores with relative ease and a good game recap with box scores and highlights.
So now when you walk into the clients office you can comfortably say, "Hey how bout those Lakers. Three players with triple doubles and 8 unanswered points in the 4th period" and sound like you were really there.
The software is available for many Windows Mobile devices and will be available for Blackberry phones later this year. To get the software, text "MYSI" to 58585. You will be sent a text message* with a link to download MySI Mobile.
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May 12, 2008
12:00 am | 0 recommendations | 1 comment
Microsoft Live Mesh is out in Beta. I have had a few weeks to play with it. What is Live Mesh and why should you care?
Live Mesh is a service that lets you synchronize your settings, files, feeds and applications on several computers. Live Mesh allows you to achieve the following:
- Allow your devices work together
- Access your data and applications available from anywhere
- Allow the people you need to connect with just a few clicks away for sharing and collaborating
- Ensure the information you need to stay up-to-date and always be available
Microsoft achieves these design goals by combining the power of ‘cloud services,’ with the convenience and rich experience of your many devices.
How? Microsoft explains it like this:
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Synchronization of all of your folders across devices- Just install the Live Mesh software on each device. Then add folders to your mesh. Folders are automatically synchronized, always available.
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Access your data from anywhere - Need a program that's only on your home PC? With Live Mesh, access to all your devices—and any programs on those devices—is at your fingertips, no matter where you are.
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Easy Share Features - Update documents, post comments, or send instant messages, all right from the folder. The Live Mesh bar helps you connect instantly with other folder members.
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Status of other Mesh guests and members - News about your mesh is easy to access. You can view news items in the notifier, from the mesh bar, and on the Live Mesh website—available whenever, wherever you are.
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Secure - All file transfers are protected using Secure Socket Layers (SSL), the same technology your online bank uses.
So, what’s the big deal - Live Mesh is a single platform that will make it easier for 3rd party app developers to do this. You can use Live Mesh for syncing all your devices, files as well as most or all of your applications.
How will it look and feel in practice- Let’s say that you and three other coworkers have a shared Mesh desktop. You fire it up, check out the log to see who changed what. Great, Mike added the graphics you needed. You add some notes to the graphics and drop them into the Mesh, but you share it only with your devices; they’re not ready to be seen by everyone just yet. On the way to work, you want to start some downloads on your computer at work, so you remotely connect to it through your Windows Mobile phone. The rest of the trip you read your feeds; the ones you read at home are marked read so you can just keep reading where you left of. Think of it as Groove on a more personal level and accessable via more platforms.
To put it really simple: the promise of the Mesh is that you won’t have to care where you are or which device you’re using - your data will always be there. You’ll only have to care about which data you want to share with whom.
More information is available at www.mesh.com
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May 4, 2008
10:30 pm | 0 recommendations | 2 comments
I have been a huge fan of FreeConference.com for quite a while now. Making it another tool in my arsnel has become a great way to increase communication while lowering costs.
What has been missing is a "Live Meeting/Centra" type product of the same caliber, that is free as well. Well, I finally got my wish. Dimdim.com.
Dimdim is a free web conferencing service where you can share your desktop, show slides, collaborate, chat, talk and broadcast via webcam with absolutely no download required for attendees.
It is available in a free open source version and in a commercial enterprise edition which is capable of supporting thousands of attendees. These versions are available in both an onsite version (you host locally on your own server) and hosted (Dimdim hosted) configuration.
The main features:
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Built In VoIP capability
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Free version supports up to 20 users
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Supports PPT and PDF files for presentations
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Video Share Support
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Private Chat
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Annotations and Markup Tools
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Outlook and iCal Integration
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Shared Whiteboard
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Screen Share.
They are working on a Linux/Mac supported version as well as a Recording and Archiving feature as well. They should be available sometime this summer.
Downsides?
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The free version has ads and does not support corporate branding. If you would like to upgrade to a non ad/branded version, the cost for 20 user seats, unlimited use is only $99 a year. Considering Microsoft's live meeting costs over $800.00 for 15 users per month, this a excellent value.
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No application share. This is a feature I recommend they work on for future versions.
Visit them at www.dimdim.com
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April 30, 2008
11:18 pm | 0 recommendations | 2 comments
I am the first to try anything new out there. Problem is I usually I find that I am bored with whatever the TechCrunch flavor of the week is pretty quickly. Twitter was one of these tools.
Microbloging (the act of blogging simple acts and thoughts from your phone as they happen throughout the day) was something that didn’t really appeal to me. I can barely find enough time to blog for Fast Company and my MVP Blog site. But I noticed something interesting. Many of my business contacts were updating their Facebook status via Twitter. I started following some of their exploits. Samples of some of their Twitters included:
· SEA to SAN going home and escaping the rain!· Headed to dbacks game with wife and friends. Go dbacks!· In HI... Trying to get to Wikiki Beach...share a cab· hard disk recovery complete. couldn't copy some files, but old enough they are in last backup. archive.pst completely gone though· reading a good computerworld article about vista
What I realized was I was getting insight into these people daily lives and I had a new weapon to use when I ran into them, relevant yet personal information.
One colleague I ran into was amazed when I asked him very specific questions in regards to a trip to Egypt he had just returned from. Another friend was in Twittering that he was in Chicago so I pulled out my phone and sent him a list of must visit restaurants in the Loop (my old stomping grounds) that he should not miss. He was quite thankful but surprised at how quick my response to him was. I had now found my edge in the social ring.
My business partner asked how I knew who was where and what they were up to? I explained my use of Twitter (a product he also signed up for and quickly disregarded) and how I was using it to track friends and see what everyone was up to. He is now an addict and is using that edge to further his foothold with clients.
His latest message, “On way to lax....to Hawaii”…hmmm...I will have to ask him to bring back some Kona Coffee while he is there. Good thing I knew where he was.
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March 30, 2008
10:31 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
I am an amazing organized person except for when I travel. For some reason, I carry 20 different sheets. Flight info, hotel info, googled directions, etc…. Even worse with the 10 emails shared with my wife and assistant with all my info to the point they have no idea where and when I will be anywhere.
Then I found Tripit.com . All my info from all sources in one place and shareable! Trip it allows you to book from any source, email your confirmations to Trip it and it builds an Trip Plan for you.
What is a Trip Plan? A TripPlan is a single web page with all your trip details. Organized by day, it’s a step-by-step guide to the things you’ve planned, plus notes you want on hand during the trip.
A TripPlan is like an itinerary, but better. In addition to organizing your flights, hotels, rental cars, and other typical travel components. Share this with friends or fellow travelers, and even give others the ability to add comments or their own items to the TripPlan. TripIt also gives you helpful options for printing your itinerary so all your information is at your fingertips while you’re on the road, in a concise and easy-to-read format.
In addition, TripIt will automatically add:
Sounds too good to be true? I thought so as well. I created the account and sent my Hyatt flight info from my Outlook inbox and my Orbitz trip confirmation to plans@tripit.com. When you register, it registers your incoming email address so it knows it’s you. You can even add multiple email address.
I logged into Tripit and was amazed. It scrapped all the data from the email from Hyatt. Everything was convereted there including my frequent traveler info and my early check in.
I then choose to share but not allow edit rights to my wife and assistant. They were granted access to all my info and will be sent updates as things change.
One piece of paper now. My life is good.
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March 30, 2008
10:27 am | 0 recommendations | 2 comments
“Hi, this morning I’m using Jott. I’m actually in my car driving about 50 miles an hour, and sending an E-mail/message to myself to remind me of things I need to do today, while it’s still fresh in my head. So I no longer have to type and drive at the same time. Note to self: stop typing and driving. Very dangerous. This is a great mobile technology that I am very excited about it, so I’m gonna end the Jott and wait till I get back to my office finish and finish this blog entry.”
Jott! I love it. I use it. And best of all…it’s free!
What is Jott? Well, with Jott, you can record free voice messages that are transcribed and sent as text messages or e-mails without having to fumble for a pen or your mobile device.
How can you use it:
I mainly use it to send emails or notes from the car to myself or anyone in my Jott address book.
Now they have added several strategic partners so there are some new features like:
- Amazon.com shoppers can use it to create a list of their favorite products using their voice.
- For example, a user of the new service, which launched today, could add a voice message about favorite products — say an Zune or the Heroes DVD Boxed Set and have the results from Amazon.com returned in an e-mail message.
- You can use it to add appointments direct to your Google Calendar
- Make a shopping list at Remember The Milk
- Find out where the speed traps are by saying your location and getting an email back from trapster.com
- Maybe just blogging directy to your Wordpress, Blogger, TypePad and others.
So…http://www.jott.com Check it out and let me know what you think!
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March 21, 2008
12:09 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
Over the past few months I have been playing with a lot of the new GPS enabled mobile apps. There has been a shift (finally) from ported applications (applications written for the web and ported to mobile) and true mobile designed applications. Some of the most popular are the Yahoo Go!, Google Maps and the new Windows Live Search for Mobile.
Which one is worth the time to install and play with? Well, here’s the breakdown.
Windows Live Search for Mobile
I really like this product. With or without a GPS, the WLS is a great add-on to any Blackberry or Windows Mobile Device. WLS offers.
- Ability to either speak or type the location or store your searching for
- GPS directions and centering
- Turn by Turn Directions
- Real Time Traffic Status
- Cheap Gas Locations
- Movie Theater locations, times and reviews
- Category breakdown search for local businesses
- Satellite Images
Google Maps w/ My Location (still in Beta)
This application is smaller and more specific than the WLS. The directions were a bit more accurate but not as many local features integrated like WLS.
- Real Time Traffic
- Turn by Turn directions
- Integrated Search - Local business locations and contact information appear all in one place, integrated on your map.
- Satellite Images
Yahoo Go! 2.0
Yahoo Go! Is a real stand out in the mobile apps arena. The Yahoo Go! App is nice as it gives you the most used Yahoo features outside of their search in a Mobile designed (not mobile ported) application It is more of a true portal app rather than a local search application. The interface is very stylish and very easy to use. It takes the concept of a portal page and breaks it down into mobile friendly tabs. My only issue with it is it’s not GPS enabled. Maybe in v 3.0.
Here’s the breakdown by tab.
- Integration with Yahoo Calendar, Contacts, and Yahoo Today
- Traffic Watch and Local Search
- Top News Stories and News watch.
- Sports including team watches
- Money and Stock watch.
- Entertainment news and Entertainment watch
- Weather
- Flickr direct view and upload
- Yahoo Mail
All these apps are free and well worth the time for you travelers to download.
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March 21, 2008
12:06 am | 0 recommendations | Be the first to comment
Wouldn’t it be great if next time you had a presentation, if you could just turn on your laptop, hit a button and instantly share your PowerPoint, handouts and more without an internet connection? What if while on a plane, you were able to hold a whiteboard session with a coworker 10 rows away. A true on the fly collaboration tool.
Well, wish no more. If you have not played with Windows Meeting Space, then you have missed out on one of the best features in Vista Business and Vista Ultimate Edition.
Windows Meeting Space is a peer-to-peer application that operates directly between personal computers. No server infrastructure is involved even when you use the application over a corporate LAN or WLAN. Also, Windows Meeting Space is designed to enhance and support spontaneous and informal small-group collaboration (up to 10 concurrent users). It is is designed to help you collaborate from different locations, across corporate boundaries, and on different networks over the Internet.
Some notable features include:
- Unlike Live Meeting which is designed to help you collaborate from different locations, across corporate boundaries, and on different networks over the Internet. Meeting Space is an Ad Hoc tool requiring no internet, LAN or WAN access.
- It’s secure. Invitations and participant authentication are handled by using certificates derived through a common password exchange and verification between the session creator and the attendees.
- In Windows Meeting Space, just like Live Meeting, the initiator can pass control to others.
- No more swapping USB drives, all handouts can be shared in the session. When participants add a file to the handouts area, everyone gets a copy
- If one group member makes a change to a file and saves it in the session, those changes are replicated immediately for all session members. When participants leave, they can save a “final” copy of the handout to their local hard drives. This alleviates the pain of managing multiple versions. Everyone can have an identical copy that reflects the results of your meeting. Allows for ad hoc chalk talks among participants.
- Note- this product required IPv6 to be enabled on your laptop as it utilizes the peer to peer framework.
- If you have not played with this tool yet, I encourage you to try it. I am a huge face of Live Meeting and have been using it for several years. If you know Live Meeting, you know how to use Meeting Space.
Let me know what you think and if this has removed some boundaries in your next conference room or outdoor lunch meeting.
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February 29, 2008
12:27 am | 0 recommendations | 4 comments
I have tried it all. Skype, Vonage, even VoIP from my ISP. Still, none were as easy as promised. Skype required me to purchase a expensive USB headset, Vonage required their equipment and my ISP had too many contracts. All I have wanted is true plug and play VoIP with my own telephone.
Then I found MagicJack. MagicJack is a small USB dongle (looks like a thumb drive) that any regular land based phone and a high speed internet connection. Plug the RJ11 line into the phone and into the MagicJack. That is the longest and most complicated part of this whole process. After that, it takes about 2 minutes to setup.
The Magicjack has excellent voice quality that's almost indistinguishable from a land line, and a cost of about $20 (A one time $20 fee for the MagicJack and a $20 a year charge for service)a year for unlimited nationwide service to any land line or cell. Even my Skype after adding a incoming line and voice mail was more expensive.
If this is your first time using the device, you'll have to run through a registration process and choose from a poll of numbers based on area codes. You can even pick an area code from a state or city other then where you live if you like.. You either request a new number or ask to have your existing number ported (there is a $10 surcharge for porting.). Set up your 911 service and your done.
What’s included? Everything most people need. Caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding, three way calling, free local and long distance to US and Canada, and voice mail that will works even if you're not online.
It works with Windows and Macs and international calling credits will be available in Feb.
For those with home business trying to keep the cost down or with kids in college, this one is a new brainer.
Check out MagicJack here
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