BlackBerry Triumphs

So the company I work for has decided to go BlackBerry… I’ve got mixed feelings on this – I’m a Microsoft guy. While I know that this is a good decision for the company, it pains me slightly to not leverage our investment in Exchange the way I had hoped. Windows Mobile has made steady progress moving into the mainstream, and this quarter is probably one of the most exciting times for the platform as no less than 7 Windows Mobile phones have been released by all four nationwide carriers. The flexibility of the Windows Mobile platform is astonishing, and I’ve had the privilege of participating in the evolution of the platform for the last several years.

From a corporate perspective, choosing BlackBerry is a great choice for our end-users. The more intuitive interface of BB and a single support infrastructure worldwide is what is the real selling point of BB. The knowledge that RIM’s NOC and support structure will be able to help any of our BB users around the world and around the clock is as comforting as push-mail itself. Hopefully, as we wonder the path through the mobile woods that we are able to build on the strengths of BB and offer either “Web 2.0″ or AJAX apps that really offer new services to our end-users.

Unfortunately it will not be Windows Mobile. I really believe it is a better platform no matter what many others have and will say. The platform is just too powerful and broad in its approach to not support corporate America well. The ability for the device to be a phone, a PDA, media player, Internet terminal, data storage device, etc… the list is endless. The software solution set is endless. In our case though the support costs outweigh the platform strengths – or is it simply that the BlackBerry is just more “sexy”?

Technorati: Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Pocket PC, Smartphone

Google Talk

Not to rain on anyone’s parade, but (ok here I go) what is the usefulness of this? Guess its because I’ve tried IM services from ICQ to AIM to MSN, etc… and been disappointed all the time. Comes from being interrupted by family & friends when I’m trying to do real work, enjoy an article or media of some type. What happed – I used to think the technology was cool, but I’ve never been able to find a good use for it. I’d rather simply grab my mobile phone and call the person I want ‘chat’ with – oldfashioned I guess.

Yeah, Google has not had a chat tool up to now, and of course to be ‘well rounded’ in their product offerings I suppose they need this, and I’m sure its better in some ways than their rivals – Google always implements their tools in interesting ways. Of course, I’ll admit up front that any service that is hosted online and does not require me to install client software is a good product implementation in my book – I’m really excited about a lot of the new “Web 2.0″ tools that are popping up like crazy the last few weeks.

Good luck Google, but I won’t be using this service.

via: Techcrunch

Technorati: Google, Chat, ICQ, AIM

Om Malik on Slingbox Hating

Om’s got a good discussion going on the latest incarnation of the company-A hates technology-B story. Slingbox! Yep, a certain broadcasting president is shooting off about the Slingbox and how it violates broadcast transmission laws, and/or program copyright laws. You know, I get tired of all these companies going off on technologies that push them to inovate. I mean, is it that bad to come up with new products to offer to the public? Is it that scary to have to change (dumb question I know)? I have to continually change and adapt in my career (I’m in IT). Every day is a new opportunity to learn and grow. Some days are hard to find the inspiration, I know, but just for once I would like to see a company applaud a technology that makes them think harder – makes them find a new inspiration to push themselves to develop new technologies to put them on top and bring another new level to our lives.

Alright, /rant off

via: Om Malik’s Blog

Technorati: Slingbox

Smartphone Summit

How fun it would be to go to an industry conference like this one – I’m in IT, but mainly go to dull, boring Windows, Microsoft, Server, or Exchange focused conferences that have little new excitement in them. I miss the excitement of a GUI environment when it was new, or the concept of every computer being connected together, then connected to the internet.

Geekzone has a post about discounts on registration for the summit.

Right now, mobile communication along with smart devices like smartphones and connected PDAs are where the excitement is, and soon will simply be in the services accessible anywhere, anytime – its real close, trust me.

PC Rebuild

The time has come to rebuild my home laptop.  Only got started at 9pm so I have not gotten very far.  I’ll be using some different software this time around for AV and Firewall – since I’m participating in the MS OneCare beta, which is actually a good piece of software.

 As many know, the worst piece of a rebuild is the patching – at least MS has automated that part quite well.

Interesting Finds Last Night

While browsing and reading up on a number of different blogs that I had just discovered, I found some new things.

One is a blog about “Web 2.5″ – where they make the case for using a web interface, or a hyperlinking, AJAX, or other web technology on a mobile platform.  Check out the “Web 2.5: Always-On-You Web 2.0 Tools” blog.

The other new item I found has been around a little while, but is new to me.  Its called “Clipmarks” and it basically allows you to clip certain sections of web pages, add tags & comments, then save them to their online service (which is free).  The result, is that you accumulate a database of information indexed by yourself that is fully searchable.  Need to find that article from 6 mos. ago?  Search for it and read the exact context of the article that you selected.  Looks interesting – I’m going to try it out for awhile.  Check this service out at Clipmarks.