Jeg har jo en Blackberry Bold 9700, og jo det er en fantastisk telefon! Men uden BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server) eller BIS (Blackberry Internet Service, 130 kr/md hos Hi3G) er det ikke altid en lige fantastisk telefon. Faktisk kan jeg kun bruge Twitter og Facebook når jeg ikke er på Wifi. Mails bliver uden BES/BIS ikke pushed til telefonen og jeg er forvist til en webudgave af min mail. Kort sagt, det er en udfordring, at have en Blackberry i et ikke-Blackberry land. Og nu blev bægeret desværre fyldt, eller mere korrekt var måske, at græsset var grønnere på den anden side med en anden telefon.

Jeg har altid været tosset med Nokia telefoner. De har for mig, altid repræsenteret en solid kvalitet i forhold til konkurrenterne. Beklageligvis ramte de lidt en begrænsning i deres Symbian 60 3rd (jeg havde en E71). Jeg husker glimrende opsætningsproblemerne der skulle løses inden man kunne synkronisere kontakter med SyncML, som desværre også ofte resulterede i flere duplikerede kalendere og ødelagte kalendere på nettet.

Hvad er de vigtigste funktioner for mig ved en telefon?

(Der findes selvfølgelig andre ting der er fede ved moderne telefoner, men lige præcis de her ting, er nok vigtigst for mig).

Long story short: Uden BES/BIS er en Blackberry ikke så frygtelig sjov!

For mig er det ikke en diskussion om jeg skal have hvad der er “den mest smarte”-telefon på markedet. Jeg vil i bund og grund gerne prøve det hele. Nu har jeg fundet ud af, at Blackberry måske er ikke er det mest geniale, hvis man ikke vil betale for et abonnement til den. Og ved et lykke strejf, er der kommet en lækker telefon fra Nokia, så den skal jo selvfølgelig prøves! Jeg skriver nok mere, når jeg engang får min telefon J

Endelig smed vi vores printer ud. Den havde manglet blækpatroner det sidste års tid. Derfor har jeg også en fin lille Netgear Printserver som er overflødig.

Den er trådløs og kablet. Den har 2 x USB porte til printere (er i tvivl om man kan stoppe andet der i).  4 x LAN porte. Fungerer sådan set glimrende, vi printer bare ikke der hjemme. Den er helt gratis, hvis bare du henter den selv hos mig eller aftaler et sted jeg alligevel er. Jeg giver den gratis væk.

I kan læse om print servere på følgende fakta ark: http://kbserver.netgear.com/datasheets/WGPS606_ds_r1_3.pdf

send en mail på lassestorgaard(at)gmail.com. UPDATE – ny ejer er fundet.

Med det samme du hører ordet Tablet, begynder du enten at få trækninger som Zoidberg der hører ordet mad eller vrænger lidt på næsen af det her nymodens pjat – for hvad er der dog i vejen med bærbar computere og polyfoniske ringetoner? Uanset dine følelser for tablets, må man vidst sige at har været det hotteste Gadget tema i 2011 og efterhånden må man også sige at udvalget er uoverskueligt.

Et stort problem for overskueligheden er hastigheden på markedet og forskydningen mellem udgivelse i USA og Europa. Apple skyder en ny iPad ud i handelen hver 12. måned, samtidig prøver samtlige andre producenter at stjæle billedet ved at presse en bedre teknologi på markedet, hvilket betyder at nogle er helt nede på at sende en ny tablet ud hver halve år eller de nye aktører som spiller ind med noget interessant og spetakulært (f.eks. HPs Touch To Share Youtube). Men nu er der en dansk side som bringer en lille smule overskuelighed på det danske marked: Tablets.dk. De sælger selvfølgelig tablets selv, men inden man kommer for godt igang, skal man bemærke at de hverken har e-handel mærket eller har kunder der anmeldt dem på Trustpilot.dk. Men indtil videre en god oversigt over hvad der findes af tablets på det danske marked.

Og indtil videre kan man se Microsoft concept video for integration af information i ALT og drømme sig ind i fremtiden.

The RIM Blackberry is a pretty good mobile handset which mostly is a perfectionism of what it does. Though there are some obvious drawbacks of the architecture. One is the Blackberry Information Service, which does provide security, but on the flip side it also enables the service providers to overcharge the dataplans and being an expensive single brand technology it also stands out as a market entry barrier to RIM.

In Denmark, where I live, the only mentionable users of BBs is a handful of companies, being the only three of the four network operators having BB BIS plans and only one of these sell it for non-business users and they charge 23$ a month for 100 MB of data.

The standard guide:

1. Download and install update to computer
2. Delete vendor.xml
3. Boot desktop manager (latest version)
4. Connect 9700
5. Find the button to try search for updates.

Then you’ll properly experience it saying you can’t because you haven’t got a service plan. So now you need these extra steps.

1. Take a backup of your device using Desktop Manager
2. Disconnect your device
3. Remove the battery (keep the battery ready to reinsert)
4. Reconnect it back to your PC3.

Desktop Manager should now show you a prompt to where one of the three buttons says “Update” the device, hit that button and follow the screens.

1. Follow the prompts and keep an eye of Desktop Manager
2. When you see “Reconnecting to JVM” reinsert the battery
3. It will after a while reboot and maybe display an error on the phone screen during reboot (2-3 sec), however it started loading the applications onto the phone afterwards, so I think its normal.
4. Once the update has completed select “Application” on the left hand side of Desktop manager > When the list is displayed select all the required components – components such as language options
5. Press Apply – the phone reboots and all is great! Notice the speedier reboot J

An area of technology I’ve been watching closely is the video conferencing. It comes with my involvement in a couple of non-profit organisations where travel expenses are a natural enemy and the volunteer side of engagement sometimes makes it difficult to maintain a close coordination. When I first researched the market, 2-3 years ago, I had an offer of 400.000 DKK for a single multipoint and three single point communication units. This was of cause including a communication unit, camera, microphone and TV. This was at the time the lowest low budget units conceivable, which was Lifesize – only a mere 40.000 DKK (7.500 $) a unit. At the time I also considered looking into used equipment with older standards. At the time Polycom and Tandberg both had obsolete equipment delivering H.323 communication over a double ISDN connection which would for our initiating use prove sufficient. It was however difficult finding used equipment – now I think it was because the technology moved to rapidly to become implemented in organisations and deemed obsolete.

Well the frontier has defiantly moved a great distance to the point where technology is almost available to the man on the street.

The three drivers of this technology:

• Internet capability has greatly improved. Almost every teenager is running around with a 5 Mbit internet connection in his or her pocket. This relieves the development of technologies from bandwidth restrictions.
• Cost of technology has greatly improved with first Skype being a free service and hardware prices naturally being driven to the ground.
• The scope of technology use has been a great benefit to the video technology. Where first Skype was a standalone application with a separate webcam and separate microphone, it is today included in computer to facilitate “business communication” and also included in multimedia products such as Blueray players and social platforms as Facebook and G+ and so forth.

The technology facilitating the man on the street for video conferencing is primarily the (partially free) video services by Google and Skype.

Skype has been implemented in Samsung and Sony Hifi products such as TVs and Blue Ray players. The offer a great cheap access to video calling from a 1000 DKK (199$) which is kind of cheap when you think about it, though it is not multipoint but I look forward to that changed in the future.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/01/skypes-living-room-invasion-continues-coming-on-sony-blu-ray-players.ars

Skype offers multipoint communication on their standalone application, which is beautifully illustrated by this fantastic promotional video. But don’t let you be tricked by the lovely tune – it is not free.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sqd7ds2mEbY&feature=related

G+ have introduced videoconferencing as a native service in the Hangout feature which is pretty effective when participants having a G+ account and large bandwidth (reducing lag). The video is Lifehacker.com demonstrating how it works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLf9jzFvkTA

And finally in this blog post, there is a new contester on the scene bringing video over IP technology to the man on the street. Biscotti are promising to release a box in two weeks’ time, which brings High Definition video point to point communication to your TV. They seem to utilize the Google Talk protocol rather than Skype, which gives access to communication with Android devices and everyone using a Google account. It does sound pretty neat. The box is small and seems pretty simple in usage. However there are two issues that annoy me. 1. They have yet to release a demo video displaying how well it works. 2. The box ONLY utilizes wireless connection, which in my book is a bad idea when trying to deliver quality video and voice of a network.

http://www.biscotti.com/buy/biscotti-tv-phone.html/#5

I’m still excited on the development of the technology and I’m defiantly looking forward to the future products.

Login til WiMP på iPhonen

Imens teleselskaberne har travlt med at finde på nye gebyrer for at betale deres udgifter til Apple og effektivisere deres organisation, prøver de ind i mellem sig også med merværdiskabende tiltag for at holde på kunderne og måske få nogle flere i biksen. Dette er f.eks. initiativer som TDC Play, Telia Fri Musik eller Telenor WiMP. Og det er netop den sidste jeg vil beskæftige mig med. WiMP (Wireless Music Player) er et stykke software der streamer musik fra internettet hvis man har musik tilknyttet sit abonnement hos Telenor. Der findes klienter til PC (Windows, Mac og Linux) og Android 1.6 (som er i Beta). Men iPhone klienten mangler. Efter sigende er klienten på vej. Og i mellemtiden må os iPhone ejere bare vente med tålmodighed… Men men men… Telenor har fået applikationen godkendt i Norge. Og der fungerer den på bedste vis. Derfor har jeg taget et lille kig på programmet ved hjælp at et par tricks.

WiMP kører i baggrunden. Se play knappen i status baren.

WiMP er i princippet et program som alle mulig andre. Det fylder ikke alverden, under 20 MB så man kan hente det ’over the air’ hvilket jo er dejligt. For at bruge det skal man have login – går ud fra at man kan sætte den op til auto login hvilket jeg dog ikke lige fik testet. I WiMP er der en del redaktionelt materiale – såsom playlister lavet af kendte musikere eller baggrundsinformationer om musikere. Samtidig sorterer de også efter hvad der er nyt og ”hot”. Det vigtige ved programmet er selvfølgelig at den kan spille musik. Først prøvede jeg at høre et par Norske kunstnere, så Robbie Williams og til sidst Agnes Obel. Musikken har en god kvalitet – hverfald af hvad jeg kan høre med mine høretelefoner og højtaleren på iPhonen. Musikken hakker ikke og numrene starter med det samme. Programmet er dog en lille smule tungt for min 3GS. Den er langsom når man skal bevæge store menuer med søge resultater osv. Men i det mindste påvirkede det ikke afspilningen af musikken.
WiMP har en offline funktion hvor man kan vælge at gøre albums og spille lister tilgængelige så man ikke behøver 3G dækning. Funktioner virker ret ok, selvom det er lidt som om den blot gemmer albummet efterhånden som man hører det og ikke sutter det hele ned så hurtigt som muligt. Det er en mindre detalje, men da noget at være opmærksom på. En vigtig feature for en musik afspiller på min telefon er: kan den ligge i baggrunden? Ja det kan WiMP. Der kommer enda sådan en flot lille play ikon i statusbaren. Man kan kalde den frem igen fra iOs multitask menuen – når jeg tænker over det kan man sikkert også hente programmet frem igen ved at trykke på program ikonet.

Alt i alt er programmet er et fint program og vi kan bestemt glæde os til det i Danmark. Men den har en fejl, som jeg vil håbe skyldes at min telefon er 1 år og 3 md gammel. Den drænede batteriet rimelig meget da jeg testede det. På 31 min gik den fra 51% til 36% batteri. Og det var eksklusiv download af applikationen.

Ps. jeg fik WiMP på følgende måde: Norsk iTunes konto, Norsk mobil nummer (min kærestes mobil) og Norsk kreditkort (også min kærestes) til at aktivere 30 dages prøveperiode af WiMP fra www.wimp.no

Efter lidt søgen på den Engelske, Tyske og Europæiske eBay-side fandt en håndfuld Kindles,
Sony Readere, enkelte Nooks, iRex osv. Men jeg fandt også to readers på dba.dk.
En var en Nook fra Barnes&Nobles, den anden en Sony PRS-600 som det lykkedes mig at købe.
Jeg synes det er absurd at der er ikke er nogen af de Danske forlag der har startet op med at sælge
Readers, specielt Gad.dk og Saxo.dk som har startet med at sælge ebooks.

1. Men nu har jeg en reader og jeg har to formål med den.
   Spare penge på studiebøger fremover.
2. Få en lettere måde at have adgang til al det PDF materiale der bliver udleveret på universitetet.

Men nu har jeg fået min reader og det er næsten kærlighed ved første blik. Fik læst lidt i bussen
på vej til arbejde og det var meget behageligt. Jeg har selvfølgelig nogle udfordringer med at få
tilpasset medier til den osv så jeg kommer nok til at blogge lidt om den den næste tid.

EDIT: Man bliver klogere. De store online forlag har eReadere man kan købe.

Gyldendal

Gad

Underligt nok kunne jeg ikke finde nogle hos Saxo.

I’m very satisfied with Outlook 2010. They really rocked the boat on that one! But today I discovered a flaw causing great annoyance. I had to check if there were any new mails a couple of times and discovered I had to go to another Tap to do it. It isn’t much of a difference, but coming from Outlook 2003 at work and Outlook 2007 at home, it really tilted the balance of the rocking boat. But all of a sudden I realise, one of the selling points was the ability to customise the Ribbon in Office!

5 minutes later I had a Send/Receive all button on my Home tab. What constituted the annoyance was actually that the interface returned to the Home Tab when I had pressed Send/Receive, so if had to press it again (not being satisfied there weren’t any mails) I first had to switch Tabs.

Well it’s fixed now and the boat rocks on… hopefully…

Once upon a time I were actually an Opera user. It’s been a couple of years since then of course, but I still remember it was better to interpret valid XHTML and HTML. And the evil opponent IE which were defining the market standard. Now things have changed. IE 6 are being hunted down by pretty much any internet media society and the European Union have placed it’s large boot of a bill right i the ass of Microsoft and forced it to provide a browser choice in it’s operating system. Meanwhile IE 7 and 8s marketshare are being targeted by Chrome, Firefox and Safari.

Before the choice was between Opera and IE, later when Firefox came around, it unfortunately was a greater threat to Opera rather than IE and instead of providing a broad palette of browsers competing towards an open and free market. They pretty much ate each other.

The last year and a half have defined some specific competing measurement – in specific: speed! Firefox was always faster than IE, no doubt. But then came along Chrome, and WOW it just ate both of then. Then IE said they were faster again – but they really weren’t. Firefox had a rebound and were really fast. Then Chrome knocked back and forth.

A couple of days ago  Opera 10.50 came around. And OMFG it’s really nasty fast. It’s the first time sine I switched to Chrome I consider switching to something else! But it’s just amazing! But the coolest thing isn’t actually just the speed. They’ve went to a different design, much like Chrome. But the coolest thing is actually Opera Unite. A build in application server bringing Software As a Service to a personal level where you host your own services right in your browser. They’ve been using the little one on the top of the body with this one I promise you.

Say hi to me on my fridge here (a little social application where you can leave notes to each other).

The address is: http://notebook.rubberd.operaunite.com/fridge/

A lot of people have taken on an opinion on Google Buzz – so have I, but for most part, I don’t agree with anybody. Reports are running in, as you might have guessed, that Buzz is lame and no match to Twitter or Facebook. An argument that seems reasonable, but from my point of view it is not true. See the twitter opinion and Business Insider with a pre-review.

A couple of days ago, I had a class in Strategy and Performance Measurement. One of my classmates argued that Google lacked direction and didn’t have a uniform business strategy. If your point of view are the Mainstream Perception (MP) of Google, yes then it might seem like Google lacks a direction in strategy. The MP is something like “Hey look what we made” attitude towards new products and technology. What you should realize is that every new feature or function, such as Google Buzz, are an improvement on the Business Platform Google are building. The platform is known as Google Apps, as you might know already.

If you have tried Google Buzz, and didn’t like it – Then you should consider the business case:

Your company are using Google Apps. This means it is the primary fascilitator of communications. You are running an intranet on Google Sites, you are video chatting and instant messaging (IM) through Talk, sharing calenders, sharing documents and using their Office Application and E-mail client. Your e-mail are Pushed to your smartphone along with contacts and calendar updates and so forth. In between the E-mail and IM communication there is a gap. The E-mail are able to reach every one in your company but in a very formel and “slow” mannor. IM are fast, easy to use and not so formal but limited to a very small subset of the company. Buzz  are just as Facebook and Twitter, an agile communicator with the ability to reach a crowd and still a be a Point to Point (P2P) communicator. The difference is, it is an integrated service. Which I think i very powerful!

Google Buzz might not be a revolution to personal users. But it is yet another screwdriver (not the drink) in the toolbox towards making Google Apps a VERY serious competitor to Microsofts company IT architecture.

Why do Google have this strategy?

Well because they are pretty good at predicting the future. Since more and more communications have moved from offline communication, to inhouse hosted services and later on to cloud services. Google are pointing in the direction that the future of company communication services are Cloud based and preferrely based on their services, rather than an expensive infrastructure from Microsoft.