| | Great news for those of you that want to start building web apps that utilize the new client-side database storage system in HTML5... Webkit supports an initial implementation now. Check it out.
Webkit is the open-source foundation of the Safari web browser. It is cross platform on the desktop (Mac and Windows), and has two mobile cousins, Mobile Safari, and Webkit Series 60 | | Posted by Michael on 10/19/07. | |
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| | | Back in June of 2007 I wrote a post that asked a simple question: "Does your email inbox reflect your productivity level?". I mentioned that I had just successfully cleaned out my inbox, and that I was going to keep it that way.
Today, three months later, I still have zero (0) emails in my inbox. Sure there are times when I'm out and about and it gets up to 10 or so, but they're quickly dealt with, and I go back to zero. See the screenshot below.
David Cohen just put up a post about his success with the Inbox Zero system and how he feels about his productivity.
I can't stress enough how right he is. Having an out of control inbox was like having a constant reminder that my life wasn't was well organized (chaotic?) as it could be. Now, I know without a doubt in the world that no one is waiting on a reply to an email from me. I know that support email for HyperSites is answered in minutes. It just feels great.
Head over to David's Colorado Startups blog and read Inbox Zero Is For Me yourself.
 | | Posted by Michael on 09/16/07. | |
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| | | For the past three years, my wife and I have had a group of friends over for dinner on Thursday evening. The intent is to relax with friends, have dinner (spaghetti, bread, dessert, beverages) and watch several time-shifted TV shows (Survivor, Hereos, Eureka, Smallville, Lost!, and Grey's Anatomy) and any other video content that the group deems pertinent.
Last night, however, was special.
Last night there were a total of 10 people. One totally new person, and one relatively new person were on hand. But the one that held my attention throughout the evening as a friend that brought his unopened iPhone... to unlock and move to T-Mobile. By 12:30 AM, we had finally succeeded... everything worked.
If you're interested in the gory details, ping me, and I'll do a post on it. But those details are not the subject of this post. Instead, I wanted to share with you the fact that yes, you can unlock it, and yes it does indeed work.
It is not a second rate experience. As a matter of fact, the only difference I could see was that the voicemail button directly dials the T-Mobile voicemail system instead of providing the elegant visual voicemail interface. | | Posted by Michael on 09/14/07. | |
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| | | The world has been abuzz about the iPhone, since even before Apple acknowledged its existence. Why? Who cares? My mom does... and so will you.
First, let's take a look at the state of mobile phones. For better or worse, mobile phones have become far more than simple phones. Text messaging, email, browsers, and custom apps have infiltrated them. A decade ago, a phone was a phone. Today, a phone is the micro computer.
As mobile carriers have rushed to add features, they have forced the desktop computer's generic UI (menuing , windows, etc.) into their tiny screens.
So what makes the iPhone any different? Apple started from scratch, ignoring everything that is commonplace in today's smart phones. Ok, so they didn't start from scratch, they started with the iPod interface, and appropriately appropriated some fantastic desktop features. Add to that the touch screen, iPod features, and Mac OS X.
What does this mean to you? It means that when you pick up an iPhone, you'll know how to use it, instead of spending days learning how to use it. How many of you have encountered people, not computer people, that are waiting for their iPhones?
This is a great start, though I feel that the impact of this phone has yet to be felt. Sure they'll sell million and millions of them. But far more important to the consumer mobile phone market is that this phone will be the one by which all that follow it are judged. Put another way, the features that make the iPhone will trickle in to other phones across all budgets.
Obviously many of the features in the iPhone are not unique. But the way they're implemented and the thought that went in to them is unmistakable.
On top of the great UI, Apple and AT&T have changed the mobile phone landscape in another way. The plans. Today I pay $40/mo for unlimited data on my Cingular 8125. That is $40/mo just for the data service. In addition to that, I pay another $60 for voice and messaging. As of Friday, the cheap plan with unlimited data is $59/mo, and that includes rollover minutes.
Two things change on Friday that are being heavily overlooked.
1. All mobile phones will become easier to use because they'll all use the iPhone as a base line.
2. All mobile phone plans will be less expensive ... they have to be to keep the world from switching to AT&T.
Photo courtesy of Apple, Inc.
Links:
iPhone Guided Tour
iPhone Data plans
What do you think? How will this phone impact the industry as a whole? | | Posted by Michael on 06/26/07. | |
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| | | I've been testing a theory for a while now that has to do with my productivity level as it relates to the number of emails in my inbox.
Simply put, the fewer emails in my inbox, the more productive I feel. There are times that my inbox reaches 150 to 200 emails... it has been as high as 400. I can't explain why it happens, but it does, and it usually happens when I'm not at the top of my game (thus the correlation).
Today I'm happy to say that for the first time in quite a while I have zero (0) emails in my inbox. Nada, zero, zilch. I don't need to file email bankruptcy. I'm email-flow positive, and will do my best to stay that way.
What do you think? Does your inbox reflect your productivity level?
 | | Posted by Michael on 06/22/07. | |
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| | | John Gruber has a great post about the silly stuff going on around meta-data embedded in iTunes Plus music tracks.
Listen, let's put this in terms anyone can understand. You own the tracks and can put them on any device you want. They are DRM free tracks. DRM free however, does not mean it is suddenly OK to "give a copy to your friends" or to Limewire.
Check out John's post | | Posted by Michael on 06/06/07. | |
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| | | [This entry originally appeared in the old blog on 03/25/07. I've reposted it here for those that requested it. Enjoy.]
When Apple mentioned the AppleTV last fall, I wanted one immediately. It was made by Apple, it connected wirelessly to my Mac, connected my HDTV, and frankly that was enough. I bought one Friday night.
To watch video content on my Samsung DLP before Friday night I'd have to move my laptop to the TV, plug in the DVI -> HDMI cable, plug in the stereo 1/8" -> RCA cable, switch the receiver to video 4, switch the TV to HDMI input 2, then sync the video settings on the laptop/TV (and in the process hose my application's window sizing).
It was such a PITA that I'd removed all but one video podcast from my subscriptions (The Merlin Show).
Today watching video podcasts on my TV is as easy as grabbing the tiny Apple remote and finding the podcast I want then clicking play.
And watching video podcasts I have been. Lots of them. The Merlin Show, GeekBrief.tv, DL.tv, MacBreak, Cranky Geeks, teXtra, Diggnation, David Pogue, etc. It is like having my own custom tech TV station.
Watching these with the AppleTV means I no longer have to dedicate my laptop (or any other computer for that matter) to the cause. Sure the XBox has a similar feature set, and there are other solutions to the problem. Those solutions may work for you, but the tight integration with my Mac, and the ability to hack (new video formats, larger hard drives, SSH, AFP) it make the AppleTV a great purchase for me.
Next up is ripping Z's DVD collection to his G4, then connecting his iTunes to the AppleTV. Kid's TV On-Demand. You can connect to up to 5 iTunes libraries.
I don't anticipate using the AppleTV to watch movies or TV shows. Downloading TV doesn't fit in to our television workflow at all. We watch TV two nights a week by time-shifting our favorite shows with our Comcast HD DVR. As for movies, we hardly find the time to watch the 3 Netflix DVDs we have in the queue as it is. | | Posted by Michael on 06/04/07. | |
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| | | As my friend David says, good ideas are a dime a dozen. Well David, here's another one I had, then found. I hate when that happens.
"Data de-duplication, also called data de-dupe, removes duplicate information as data is backed up or archived. It can be done on the file level, where duplicate files are replaced with a marker pointing to one copy of the file, or at the sub-file level, or byte level, where duplicate bytes of data are removed, resulting in a decrease in storage capacity requirements of several magnitudes."
OK, so the idea isn't unique, but if someone wants to bring that tech the desktop and you're interested in my UI ideas for it, I've got plenty. | | Posted by Michael on 06/04/07. | |
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