Ceci n'est pas un blog

July 2008

Nick O'Neill: The 10 Commandments of the Social Web

by Volker Weber

Over the past year I have been covering Facebook and social networks obsessively. The more I write and the more I read, the more complex the social web becomes. ... So after using tool after tool, site after site, I’ve come up with the 10 commandments that everything on the social web should embrace.

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Delicious 2.0 - Fresh !

by Volker Weber

Public transport directions in Google Maps now on S60 & Windows Mobile

by Volker Weber

A few weeks ago we released Google Maps for mobile with Transit directions for BlackBerry and Java-based handsets. Now, with the release of version 2.2 of the application for Symbian S60 (3rd edition or later) and Windows Mobile (2005 or later), we're happy to say that Transit directions will be available to a bunch more smartphone users around the world.

Coverage in Germany: nil.

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Lotus changes the tone

by Volker Weber

Go read the full press release: IBM Growth in Emerging Markets Fuels Lotus Momentum. It's much more to the point than the usual enterprise strength bla-bla.

We now have two winners. Microsoft and IBM. This should be fun to watch as it evolves.

Swapping Sonos ZonePlayers

by Volker Weber

I was discussing the merits of the Sonos ZonePlayers today and thought that somebody may actually want to swap one player. A whole bunch of people bought Sonos gear before Xmas, and since Sonos only bundles one ZP80 with one ZP100, some of you may have the wrong mix. The ZP80 is much smaller, draws less power, and has a digital out to connect it to amplifiers. The ZP100 is bigger, has an amplifier, can drive regular speakers, has two more Ethernet ports, but misses the digital out and draws more power.

Do you have the right players, or would you want to swap one?

It's "Make your own caption" time

by Volker Weber

Not a good license plate for Anna's Lexus

by Volker Weber

New toy: TomTom Go 930 Traffic

by Volker Weber

I am pretty familiar with TomTom PNAs. And I have settled for the simple TomTom ONE as my device of choice. It does everything I need. And I am still looking forward to try this top of the line device. Besides all the bells and whistles like car kit for your mobile, music player, picture and document viewer — stuff that I never use — it comes with a few navigation features that no other TomTom provides:

• IQ Routes know how long it actually takes to drive the route segments at the time you want to drive them. Rush hour traffic has different rules than middle of the night or Sundays.
• Advanced lane guidance tells you which lane to take at complicated intersections. First saw that feature on Navigon.
• Enhanced Positioning Technology provides dead reckoning as you go through tunnels.
• And finally: Canada and USA are preloaded alongside European maps.

On a related note, TomTom HD Traffic has been postponed for Germany. Should not be ready before 4Q2008.

3D Red Bull Flights in Google Earth

by Volker Weber

Joey Wade has created some new 3D model time animations depicting flights of the Red Bull air races in London and Monument Valley. These animations pretty accurately depict the way the planes fly through the "cones" or "pylons" placed on the ground.

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[Thanks, Hajo]

Weird news of the day: Delta says body found in plane's restroom

by Volker Weber

Delta flight attendants found the body of a 61-year-old woman in the restroom of a plane that landed in Atlanta early Wednesday morning, a spokeswoman for the company said.

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Orange and BIC launch the BIC phone in France

by Volker Weber

• The BIC phone is ready to go! It comes with 60 free minutes, the battery charged, and the SIM card already in place.
• With the BIC phone, you pay as you go, with a prepaid "mobicarte" refill card.
• The BIC phone is easy to use since it focuses on cell phone basics: sending and receiving calls and SMS.
• The BIC phone pack will be easy to find. It will be sold over the counter, in major supermarkets and local convenience stores (tobacco shops, newsstands, train stations, airports…), and will be available as of the back to school period, at a suggested retail price of €49 including tax. The BIC phone will be sold in Metropolitan France only.

49 € will buy you lots of starter kits in Germany. Not necessarily with 60 minutes talk time though. Interesting offer for overseas travellers nevertheless.

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This week's Alex Warning

by Volker Weber

Two mystery boxes arrived at my front door today. And I will have to wait a week to tell you what's inside. Consider this to be an unspecified Alex Warning. Sorry, that I can't be more specific, but I am always keeping my promises.

Cautionary

by Volker Weber

Parents, talk to your kids about Linux before somebody else does. :-)

A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy

by Volker Weber

Another good Clay Shirky reading:

This talk is in three parts. The best explanation I have found for the kinds of things that happen when groups of humans interact is psychological research that predates the Internet, so the first part is going to be about W.R. Bion's research, which I will talk about in a moment, research that I believe explains how and why a group is its own worst enemy.

The second part is: Why now? What's going on now that makes this worth thinking about? I think we're seeing a revolution in social software in the current environment that's really interesting.

And third, I want to identify some things, about half a dozen things, in fact, that I think are core to any software that supports larger, long-lived groups.

After reading this piece I understand a lot of things happening in communities. Should have read this five years ago.

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Did I catch somebody ego surfing ?

by Volker Weber

Incoming referrer from ibm.com :-)

Nokia halts development of BlackBerry Connect

by Volker Weber

BlackBerry Connect (BBC) is currently available for 9300(i), 9500, E50, E51, E60, E61(i), E62, E65, E70 and E90. And that is the end of the line. No BBC for E66 or E71, or any future Nokia smartphone. Yes, I have asked Nokia and this is their official statement.

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Very cool installation instructions

by Volker Weber

Windows Installation (not supported, YMMV):

1. Install wgrib v1.8+ and make sure wgrib and dll is on your path.
   (see http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/wesley/wgrib.html)
2. Send an email asking when grib2ctl.pl will be converted into Visual Basic.
3. Receive an email saying, "Never."
4. Download perl from the web.
5. Install perl.
6. Follow steps 4-6 in Unix/Linux install.
7. doesn't work? See heading: not supported

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[Thanks, Hajo]

Why fix it? It isn't broken.

by Volker Weber

Yesterday marks the day that a new "Google killer" entered the fold. Cuil.com got a lot of link love and I tried it myself. At first it could not keep up with traffic, then the search results were somewhat strange, adding a random picture to each hit.

Beyond the curiosity it begs the question: why bother? Looking at my search engine referrers, everybody and their grandmother uses Google. There is the occasional hit from Microsoft or Yahoo, but basically it's Google. And that's what I turn to if I want to find something. With excellent results, delivered fast. Why would I use anything else?

You tell me.

Edit your Google calendar from iCal via CalDAV

by Volker Weber

With CalDAV support in Google Calendar, you'll be able to view and edit your Google Calendar events directly in iCal. Any changes you make in iCal will automatically appear in Google Calendar the next time you sign in (and vice versa). If you use iCal while offline, changes you make will be saved and updated in Google Calendar when you get back online.

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Make sure you check the list of known issues.

From my inbox

by Volker Weber

From: "xxxx xxxxxxx"
Date: 28. Juli 2008 17:50:40 MESZ
To:
Subject: Notbook

Hallo,

Ich habe einen computer und einen interrnet zugang .

Ich wollte mir jetzt einen Lap top kaufen damit meine Frau unabhängig von mir ins internet gehen kann .

Ich brauche den Lap top nicht beruflich .

Brauche ihn nur fürs internet und um bilder anzuschauen , der Lap top sollte aber nicht zu langsam fürs internet sein .

Könnten Sie Mir da einige Geräte Entpfehlen ?

Wäre ihnen Sehr Dankbar für ihre hilfe .

Gruss xxxx

Da stellt sich mir nur eine Frage: weiß seine Frau, welche Bilder er sich im Internet anschauen will?

Michael Nielsen: Shirky's Law and why (most) social software fails

by Volker Weber

A strange consequence of all this is that much of the most successful social software was invented by accident.

Ward Cunningham invented the first wiki because he was tired of responding to user’s requests to update a website he ran. To save himself time, he made the page editable, and told them to update it themselves. He was shocked when this small change utterly transformed the dynamics of the site.

One of the first widely used pieces of blogging software, Blogger, was originally a small part of a much more ambitious project management system. The project management system never caught on, but Blogger took off.

The team that developed Flickr wasn’t originally building a photo sharing service. They were building a multiplayer online game, and decided to let players share photos with one another. When they realized the players were more interested in sharing photos than playing the game, they dumped the game, and built Flickr.

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Randy Pausch R.I.P.

by Volker Weber

Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon computer science professor whose last lecture became an Internet sensation and bestselling book, has died of pancreatic cancer. He was 47.

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Time to see his lecture again >

Removing a wasp's nest

by Volker Weber

Syncing iTunes with your S60 phone on Windows

by Volker Weber

For the Mac there is Nokia Multimedia Transfer. But what about Windows?

Antony Pranata of S60Tips has put together a excellent step-by-step instructions to synch your iTunes with your S60 3rd Edition device - and it's really easy, and synching is simple (unlike some older hacks). Along with iTunes and your device, all you need is the open source iTunes Agent and your device's USB cable.

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A creative lie

by Volker Weber

In about two weeks, Redmond has managed to turn a marketing idea into something that may just shock you. Microsoft blogger Ina Fried is reporting that Microsoft managed to trick XP users in San Francisco into loving Vista simply by telling them a small fib. The company told these users that they were using a new version of Windows, codenamed "Mojave." When asked about their experience with using Mojave, over 90 percent said they were impressed with what they saw. Then Microsoft told them they had been using Vista all along.

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Ganz feiner Humor

by Volker Weber

Calgoo Connect - Calendar Sync Software

by Volker Weber

Calgoo Connect is a calendar sync tool that supports synchronization between a wide range of calendar programs: Outlook 03/07, Apple iCal, Google Calendar, and 30 Boxes.

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Gruber is having a bad day

by Volker Weber

Music store closes. You lose.

by Volker Weber

The Yahoo! Music Store, along with the ability to purchase and download single songs and albums, will no longer be available as of September 30, 2008. Songs and albums that were purchased through the Yahoo! Music Unlimited Store... are protected by a digital rights management system that requires a valid license key before they can be played on your computer. After the Store closes, Yahoo! will no longer be able to support the retrieval of license keys for music purchased from Yahoo! Music Unlimited, and Yahoo! will no longer be able to authorize song playback on additional computers.

Repeat after me: DRM is bad for the customer.

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[Thanks, Hanno]

Sybase announces availability of iPhone support in iAnywhere Mobile Office

by Volker Weber

Enterprises can provide access to email through the built-in email application available on the iPhone device. Users can also access corporate and personal address books through the Safari Browser. The new components used to specifically support iPhone devices integrate transparently into the existing mobile infrastructure.

Secure IMAP with offline support plus web applications. That is one step further than iNotes in 8.0.2. Still no contacts sync.

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New frames

by Volker Weber

One of the things you need as get older is more glasses. I am nearsighted, and I just needed one pair of glasses until the age of 45. Those glasses became too strong as I was no longer able to focus on closer objects. The eye's crystalline lens loses elasticity which limits your ability to change focus. The solution to this is to use prescription glasses with a variable focus. Depending on where you look through them, the focus changes. That's what I am using every day:

It takes quite a while to adopt to those glasses. Some people never succeed, but for me it took about two weeks. The downside of this type of corrective lenses is that you always have to look through the middle of those glasses. Not good for reading on a large screen. That is why I now have another frame optimized for two to three feet of distance:

Much better now.

BlackBerry Media Sync for iTunes

by Volker Weber

Use BlackBerry Media Sync to get your desktop iTunes music files on your BlackBerry smartphone. Whether it’s a specific playlist from your collection, or a random mix of tunes, it’s incredibly easy to transfer the music you want to take with you. ... If you make changes to one of your iTunes playlists, the next time you sync your BlackBerry smartphone and your computer, BlackBerry Media Sync will make sure the music on your device is updated too.

Requires 32 bit Windows XP or Vista and iTunes 7.2 or higher. Works only over USB. BlackBerrys can't play tracks crippled by Apple's DRM.

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Do it "now" with Lotus Domino

by Bruce Elgort

Organizations that want to leverage the power of IBM's Lotus Domino and who also want to invest in Web 2.0 social bookmarking applications without having to purchase a second social networking stack (read "no Connections necessary") should check out Elguji Software's LinkJam.

LinkJam works by allowing your users to store their bookmarks in a centralized location. They can then see what other users have bookmarked, and what links are most popular. Users don't have to start from scratch either; they can import their existing web browser bookmarks from Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and del.icio.us, Magnolia and Dogear. Users can then add links directly within the LinkJam web application, or they can install the "Add to LinkJam" bookmarklet button into their browser. With this button, bookmarks can be added to LinkJam from any webpage quickly and easily. Click the "Add to LinkJam" bookmarklet, select one or more tags to categorize the bookmark and then add an optional description.

Setup is quick and easy. The entire LinkJam user interface including text labels can easily be customized to meet your company's branding guidelines. LinkJam is also fully integrated with Elguji's popular IdeaJam software. Both products run on IBM Lotus Domino 6.5.x, 7.x and 8.x.

My role in the development of LinkJam has been on the UI design, QA, marketing and documentation side. Gayle Elgort is responsible for all sales related activities and Matt White is the chief software architect. The same is true for IdeaJam.

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An amazing declaration of love

by Volker Weber

[Thanks, Hanno]

iPhone Exchange woes

by Volker Weber

Two incidents:

• Iphone 2.0 and high Store CPU usage on Exchange Servers
• We have stopped our iPhone/Exchange pilot

Same root cause: a single iPhone causes trouble. Not good for Exchange, if that is even possible.

Holy moly

by Volker Weber

Lotus launches Evora

by Volker Weber

IQ test: can you find the invite key?

by Volker Weber

Are you able to find the invite key on this page (screenshot)?

There is one Microsoft person who has asked three times now and cannot find it. Finally I felt inclined to explain the purpose:

Apple reports record quarter. Stock tumbles 10% after hours.

by Volker Weber

Here is your chance to buy some ...

Maybe I am too stupid

by Volker Weber

This is something I understand. Show the product:

But I do not understand this >

How to confuse an idiot

by Volker Weber

[via Felix]

Shazam - an amazing application

by Volker Weber

Every DJ needs a very simple skill: imagine what he would like to play and then find it in his stack of records. For that he needs to know the artist and the title of the track he would like to play. Whatever is playing on a radio or in a bar, ask a DJ and he will most likely know artist, album and title. With Shazam you no longer need the DJ. Just let the iPhone to listen for a couple of seconds and Shazam tells you what is currently playing. It will also find that track for you in the iTunes store so that you can buy it right away (see where they are making money?) or on YouTube.

Free in the iTunes App Store >

Pwnage 2.0 released

by Volker Weber

Pwnage Tool 2.0 won't unlock iPhone 3G yet, but everything else is just fine.The 2.0 jailbreak is done, which is a first step to an unlock. You can upgrade the original iPhone to 2.0, and jailbreak and unlock it at the same time.

Hint: once it has built the custom firmware, place the iPhone into recovery mode and "restore" the phone with iTunes and the new custom firmware. No need to follow the difficult procedure with Pwnage.

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Update: New version >

Night of the 10.000 Lights

by Volker Weber

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Lotus Connections R2 Reviewer's Guide

by Volker Weber

The Lotus Connections R2 Reviewer's Guide provides an introduction to version 2 of IBM's social software, Lotus Connections. Learn about the five components of Lotus Connections: Profiles, Activities, Blogs, Dogear, and Communities. This guide covers integration with other applications, such as Lotus Sametime, Lotus Notes and Lotus Quickr.

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iPhone 3G won't charge on the iPod Hi-Fi

by Volker Weber

This is more than annoying. Whoever bought iPod equipment not sanctioned by Apple won't even be able to charge their iPhone 3G on those devices. That includes all the Bose and JBL speakers you bought earlier in good faith.

The joke here is that the iPhone is sitting on a genuine Apple product. Nice way of saying FU.

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So how bad is the iPhone 3G battery? And other first impressions ...

by Volker Weber

While I find the original iPhone battery life ok, but not great, the 3G is somewhat disappointing. Seven hours standby and five hours of usage with about half an hour of 3G talk time, and now it is down to 20%. That is with everything on: 3G, Wifi, GPS, Exchange ActiveSync with Push enabled, GMail with 15 minutes fetch interval. That is a pretty heavy usage pattern, and the battery has not seen sufficient full charge cycles, so I am expecting it will last through the day, but just barely so.

I will try to squeeze in a few rundown tests in the next few days. This unit goes back to Apple end of next week, so I don't know how scientific I can make this.

Other first impressions:

• The 3G feels much nicer than the original iPhone. The curved back is easier to hold. It's a few millimeters wider, but the tapered edges make it feel thinner.
• Going back to an un-recessed headset plug opens the device up to better headphones. Nice touch.
• The GPS is very fast and usable. Applications keep on asking about access to location information. I would like to answer those questions once and for all. Have not found the settings for that.
• The new speaker (and microphone) grill at the bottom won't be clogged so easily as with the old one. But the speaker isn't really that much louder. It needs another 10db. Apple, can you hear me?
• The original dock does not fit the 3G (and vice versa as I hear). The new phone does not come with a dock, but I want one. Especially if it needs a recharge during the day.
• The App Store works a treat. I can see myself wasting quite some time there.
• The firmware seems to be very rushed to market. Lots of small hangs in the UI. 1.14 was much, much better.

Exchange works a lot, repeat a lot, better than you are being lead to believe. This certainly looks "good enough" for me. Yes, you have to be online to move things, also to the trash. But you can read, reply, forward, create just fine. I don't see why they cannot move things yet, but I am pretty sure that will be added. Password policies and remote wipe work great. It does take a long, long time to wipe, but what do you care?

Zum Thema Lizenzierung

by Volker Weber

Manchmal steht mir einfach der Mund so offen wie die Mail, die ich lese:

Z-push wurde durch eine "Datenstromanalyse" in Verbindung mit tiefem MAPI Know-How entwickelt. Es wurde keinerlei Spezifikationen von MS benutzt. Warum sollte jemand etwas bezahlen?

Was ist das jetzt? Mut? Übermut?

Voodoo economics

by Volker Weber

Oil goes up, gas prices rise.
Oil goes down, gas prices rise.
Dollar loses against Euro, gas prices rise.
Dollar wins against Euro, gas prices rise.

Some spelling mistakes are hard to correct

by Volker Weber

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IBM 2Q08 Quarterly Earnings Report

by Volker Weber

Revenues from the Software segment were $5.6 billion, an increase of 17 percent (9 percent, adjusting for currency) compared with the second quarter of 2007. Revenues from IBM's total middleware products, which primarily include WebSphere, Information Management, Tivoli, Lotus and Rational products, were $4.3 billion, up 17 percent versus the second quarter of 2007. Operating systems revenues of $592 million increased 4 percent compared with the prior-year quarter.

For the WebSphere family of software products, which facilitate customers' ability to manage a wide variety of business processes using open standards to interconnect applications, data and operating systems, revenues increased 9 percent. Revenues for Information Management software, which enables clients to leverage information on demand, increased 30 percent. Revenues from Tivoli software, infrastructure software that enables clients to centrally manage networks including security and storage capability, increased 9 percent, and revenues for Lotus software, which allows collaborating and messaging by clients in real-time communication and knowledge management, increased 21 percent year over year. Revenues from Rational software, integrated tools to improve the processes of software development, increased 37 percent compared with the year-ago quarter.

It's all in US-Dollars of course and needs to be properly adjusted to reflect real numbers in your territory.

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How embarrassing is this?

by Volker Weber

[via Michael]

New toy: iPhone 3G in white

by Volker Weber

So much has been written about the iPhone 3G already. What I am interested in is how well it works with Exchange. Will need a few days of testing ...

Three more iPhone push servers. Plus one open source ActiveSync implementation.

by Volker Weber

Exchange is not the only game in town for iSync push mail. There are a couple of other options for Exchange ActiveSync:

1. Kerio Mailserver
2. Zimbra Collaboration Suite
3. PostPath Server
4. Z-push

What I am confused about is EAS licensing. Do you need one for the server? Does MS even license it to server vendors? Looks like this issue is being completely ignored.

Pwnage will not unlock iPhone 3G - for now

by Volker Weber

Interesting list:

Phone (1st Gen) with 2.0 - Activated, Unlocked & Jailbroken, (with support for third party applications).

iPod Touch with 2.0 - Activated & Jailbroken, (with support for third party applications).

iPhone (3G) with 2.0 - Activated, Jailbroken (with  support for third party applications).

Looks like they are currently unable to unlock the 3G which means you can't use it with your own choice of carriers. You will however be able to upgrade your unlocked 1st gen iPhone to 2.0. I was not aware you had to activate an iPod touch though. (?)

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Nokia E90 E71 E61i

by Volker Weber

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Sometimes you have to touch it

by Volker Weber

It's very hard to convey the impressions you have in words. Apple makes good use of movies to show off what you can do with an iPhone, and that alone makes many people want one. But with the E71 I am lost.

This thing just feels so right. It's the shape, and the size, and the weight, and the materials. All of that is just right. A BlackBerry Pearl feels too light, a Curve to plasticky, an E61i too wide, an iPhone too square, a BlackBerry 8800 too square and too light. But the new Nokia nails it. It's large enough for the screen and the keyboard, small enough to comfortably hold it, the shape just fits very well. The back is stainless steel, but not polished, so it feels more expensive and is not slippery. The weight is well balanced so it's easy to handle.

Two words: just perfect.

What's not so perfect is the software. S60 cannot nearly compete with the iPhone user experience. And still, it gets the job done swiftly. I like.

New toy: Nokia E71

by Volker Weber

The all new Nokia E71 is here. And it's incredibly nice and shiny. I am a big fan of the E61i, but this one takes the cake. First impression: as powerful as the E90, much much smaller than an E61i, same or better build quality.

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Obsessive

by Volker Weber

I guess everybody is entitled to at least one stalker.

Wish I could buy this here in Germany

by Volker Weber

Dutch licorice - excellent stuff

BlackBerry Bold will have to wait

by Volker Weber

I was wondering which one would show up first at vowe's macgic flying circus, and it's not going to be the BBB. The BGR has a report and gives you are reason why:

It’s now July 15th, and even running the latest 4.6.0.95 build, we’re still pulling the battery out a good 10 times a day. Why? Between the constant java errors, and the BlackBerry completely losing service and informing us it’s “Searching for Network…”. That’s why. What’s sad is that even with this bad-ass 624MHz CPU, we still get slow downs and we still get freezes. Don’t get it mixed up, it is 100% faster than any other BlackBerry. We just can’t understand why this thing isn’t really optimized like it should be. Ah! Because the OS is from 1999. That’s it.

The software isn't done yet, and I applaude RIM for taking the time to get it fixed first, and simply ship later. It's not going to be like the end of the world. This troubles me a bit more:

There are no creaks with the device, and it seems sturdy as heck. The screen could possible be an issue as it looks like it’s a cheap plastic, and the “chrome” border around the body is also a lower-grade plastic. At least it seems that way to us. Expect for the screen to be scratched to all hell, and for nicks, scrapes, and dents to show up on the device body.

This isn't easily fixed. :-(

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"New" Skype client for Mac

by Volker Weber

First time I see this. Usually I was faster than the client. This times it appears to be two months old? :-)

How to hack a claw machine

by Volker Weber

Let your Mac sing

by Volker Weber

Open Terminal and paste this:

say -v Cellos “This is something very cool very cool very cool this is something very cool that every Mac can do”

I knew it could talk, but sing?

[Thanks, Pieterjan]

heise Autos: Handyverbot am Steuer gilt auch bei Nutzung als Navi

by Volker Weber

"Ist ein Gerät zum Telefonieren geeignet und bestimmt, soll es demgegenüber ohne Bedeutung sein, wenn es über weitere Funktionen verfügt, denn dadurch werde seine Eigenschaft als Mobiltelefon nicht beseitigt", heißt es in der Begründung. Anders verhalte es sich nach bisheriger Rechtsprechung, wenn ein Mobiltelefon im Fahrzeug lediglich ab- oder umgelegt oder nur zum Ohrwärmen verwendet wird.

Stellt sich mir die Frage, ob man ein Navi zum Telefonieren benutzen darf.

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Flying under Stockholm

by Volker Weber

How to automate backup from Windows Server to ftp server

by Volker Weber

I am trying to create a daily backup of two relatively small but essential directories of a Windows 2003 Server using ftp. How would you solve this on Windows?

Scenario: 2 Servers

1. Windows 2003 Server with access to the Internet, all incoming ports besides Terminal Service closed
2. Linux Server on the Internet, all incoming ports besides FTP closed

Task: Create a daily full backup from two directories on server 1 to compressed archives on server 2. Archives should be named by date, like foo080714.zip and bar080714.zip.

How would you automate this?

iPhone's single point of failure

by Volker Weber

Apple has created a single point of failure. It's the activation process.

If you purchase an iPhone, you essentially get a bricked phone. You first need to connect it iTunes which in turn connects to the iTunes store. Then you need to establish an ID for the store, or provide the credentials for an existing one. Apple then activates the phone.

How delicate this system is became apparent last Friday. Not only was the new iPhone 3G available in stores, but also the 2.0 software. And after installing the 2.0 software you need to activate the phone again. Apple simply could not deliver what it had promised.

Why all this nonsense? Control. You actually have to ask permission to use the device you bought. Does this look familiar?

Repeat after me: DRM is bad for the customer.

Overheard in New York

by Volker Weber

Guy #1: Are people getting dumber or is it just me?
Guy #2: Both.

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70+ Nice and Beautiful Firefox Wallpapers

by Volker Weber

Good news for Firefox fans out there. If you are getting bored with your wallpaper, we’ve got something cool to spice up your desktop. We’ve crawled deep into the Internet and this weekend, we present you with some of the nicest Firefox wallpapers you’ll ever find. Get your fingers ready on the mouse wheel, here’s 70+ nice and beautiful Firefox wallpapers. Full list after jump.

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Bin ich zu simpel?

by Volker Weber

Wenn ich sowas lese, dann schüttelt mein Kopf ganz automatisch:

Bericht: Wirtschaftsminister prüft Pkw-Vignette bei gleichzeitiger Spritsteuersenkung

Wir machen einen Riesenzirkus um KFz-Steuer, CO2, Benzinpreise etc. pp. Und uns wird sicher auch die kompliziertest mögliche Lösung einfallen, die noch mehr Bürokratie und Kontrolle bringen. Ich denke mal laut:

Alle Steuern und Gebühren ums Autofahren kann man am Sprit festmachen. Wer viel fährt, braucht viel Sprit. Wer viel CO2 ausstößt, braucht viel Sprit. Wer mit dicken LKWs Tomaten zum Schälen nach Polen fährt, braucht viel Sprit. Wozu brauche ich eigentlich KFZ-Steuern, Vignetten, LKW-Maut etc, wenn ich das einfach über den Sprit besteuern könnte.

Alle Fixkosten bestrafen behutsame Nutzung. Das fängt bei 1%-Regelungen an und endet mit Vignetten schon lange nicht. Ist ja alles bezahlt, dann muss sich das durch fleissigen Gebrauch auch lohnen. Warum genau war jetzt noch mal viel weniger Steuer auf Dieselsprit?

It's Lovely! I'll Take It!

by Volker Weber

A collection of poorly chosen photos from real estate listings. Hilarious.

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iPhone DevTeam presents PWNAGE 2.0

by Volker Weber

That was pretty fast. Not released yet, but soon.

iPhone brings down Apple

by Volker Weber

me.com isn't really working, iPhone activations after the upgrade often hangs, and generally everything Apple is sluggish today. If you could beat the crowd by upgrading yesterday, that's fine. But if you didn't, then back off for a day or so.

Brilliant: Surfer vs Office Worker

by Volker Weber

Blackberry Bold, iPhone 3G or Nokia E71

by Volker Weber

Three new phones are promised to appear at vowe's magic flying circus. I wonder which one will be here first.

Amazing what you can find at an Oregon beach

by Volker Weber

At least according to Bruce. :-)

How to access the App Store from iTunes

by Volker Weber

Just click the image or use this url:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewGenre?id=36

Yes, Salesforce Mobile is on the front page.

Update: The App Store is now linked from the iTunes Store front page.

iPhone 3G disassembly

by Volker Weber

This is unbelievable. These guys flew to Auckland, NZ, because the iPhone went on sale there first. And what did they do? A complete disassembly.

Use iPhone or iPod touch as an iTunes remote

by Volker Weber

Also use the new Remote application for iPhone or iPod touch to control iTunes playback from anywhere in your home — a free download from the App Store.

You have to be connected to your home WLAN ("from anywhere in your home") to talk to iTunes. Very neat, and should put some pressure on Sonos to deliver an iPhone controller.

iPhone 2.0 software is live

by Volker Weber

Come and get it here until Apple makes it available through iTunes. Download and put the file into your ~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates folder. Then you need to update iTunes:

Then connect your iPhone and do the update.

AppStore is live as well. Check the AIM client. It plays a little trick on you. When you put it in the background, you are being disconnected from the service, and when you switch back to it, it pretends you are connected, and then connects in the background for you. Of course you will not be receiving any messages while the device is sleeping or you are running a different app.

Gartner Says Business Potential of Social Networking Web Sites Remains Largely Untapped

by Volker Weber

Desire for Entertainment Rather Than Practical Objectives Drives Success of Social Networks

Sydney, Australia, July 10, 2008 —

Most users of social networking Web sites are motivated mainly by personal needs and a desire for entertainment, rather than business and practical objectives, according to a recent survey by Gartner, Inc. Gartner said that although the potential of such sites for business remains largely untapped, they will become increasingly important to the competiveness of large enterprises in the future.

More >

How much does Lotus value community?

by Volker Weber

Ed recently has written an interesting piece on leveraging the community. I had to think about it again today, when news broke that Alan is leaving Lotus to work for Socialtext. I have had similar thoughts when Bob left, or Rocky. They have all been participating in this community a lot.

Ed says:

... Nothing wrong with people pursuing their careers and dreams ...

Indeed, that is always the case for the individual. They (hopefully) have found a better place to work, an interesting challenge etc. Things they apparently did not find where they worked before.

Let's take a look at the most vocal Lotus people in this community. How many of them have recently been promoted to Director, Vice President or any such role? If the community they are building is valuable, shouldn't it show in those tangible assets?

Maybe "community" is not such a great career enabler (inside the company). Maybe Lotus does not get it. I don't know. We will all find out when Ed announces a new job. Or I should better say "if".

I do think "community" is very valuable. It has landed quite a few good people a better job.

Three lives for a dollar

by Volker Weber

Suicide is the only cause of death that is 100% preventable.

[via Benno]

Want somebody's .Mac password? Just ask for it.

by Volker Weber

Unbelievable >

Nipple remover, the sequel

by Volker Weber

Hanno has done it again. After finding the nipple remover he went further south.

Read all about it here. Great title btw. Don't forget to check the comments.

New toy: Polaroid Pogo Printer

by Volker Weber

You all remember the Polaroid camera, don't you? Stick in a box of expensive blank photos, fire away, and have instant gratification with photos that develop themselves without taking them to a lab first. With the digital camera and publishing to the internets most of that appeal went away. Well, most but not everything. You still have to develop the photos if you want them on paper. Or print them with a bulky inkjet printer.

Enter the Polaroid Pogo. Hook up your camera with its USB-cable, or a mobile phone via Bluetooth and you are ready to "develop" your own prints on the spot. It's reasonably simple to set up. Instead of "printing" from your mobile, you just transfer the file with Bluetooth OBEX. (Which means it won't work with an iPhone.)

Sounds good? Well, not really. Polaroid sent me a retail package which contains the printer, a battery, a pretty huge charger, and a pack of ten blanks. I charged the printer in three hours and then it is good for a maximum of 15 prints before it needs a recharge. The small size of the printer also limits the size of the prints: 2 by 3 inches. And that is very, very small. The prints are soft, colors are washed out, they generally look like being taken with a mobile phone, even if you have a better source.

On Amazon.de the printer sells for 140€, but I can't seem to find any paper. Maybe everybody else is also printing only 10 photos before giving up. Update: As Sascha points out, paper is either 9 Euro for 10 or 22 Euro for 30.

Verdict: despite winning a best of CES award there is no chance to win the editor-refuses to give it back award.

There are some videos on YouTube if you want other opinions.

Neulich beim Shopblogger

by Volker Weber

Ein älterer, ausländischer Kunde, der sich nicht richtig auszudrücken wusste, suchte Haftcreme für sein Gebiss. Um das zu signalsieren, nahm er seine "Dritten" raus und fuhr mit dem Finger in der Vertiefung entlang.

Gut, dass er keine Kondome gesucht hat.

More >

iPhone and iPod Touch wallpapers for the rest of us

by Volker Weber

Updated every couple of days. Get them here >

A lesson from Twitter

by Volker Weber

Russell hits it:

The lesson from Twitter is that microblogs aren't Content Management Systems at all, but are instead Messaging systems, and have to be architected as such. SMTP or EDI are our models here, not publishing or blogs.

More >

I dare you

by Volker Weber

Yes, I know, we had this before. :-)

Would you ride this?

by Volker Weber

Redneck rollercoaster >

Operating systems and browsers on vowe dot net

by Volker Weber

Stats for last week. Just a few thoughts:

• Mac OS X is much higher than market share suggests. More than four in five visitors are on Intel Macs.
• A lot more Mac visitors than Linux.
• A year after the release, Vista has not made much progress into the installed base.
• Firefox is the dominant browser. Two out of three have upgraded to the latest version.
• Safari is already at 50% of Internet Explorer.
• There is still a sizable IE6 portion, with IE8 yet to be seen.

Stats on microsoft.com will be completely different.

Klare Ansage

by Volker Weber

tagesschau.de: Springer setzt konzernweit auf Apple

by Volker Weber

Die Axel Springer AG will nach eigenen Angaben alle PC-Arbeitsplätze auf Apple-Technologie umstellen. Zur sukzessiven Umstellung sei ein Rahmenvertrag mit dem kalifornischen Unternehmen geschlossen worden. Die Axel Springer AG ist eigenen Angaben zufolge der größte europäische Konzern, der seine Systeme komplett auf Apple umstellt.

More >

Video auf YouTube >

Richard Stallman on BBC News: It's not the Gates, it's the bars

by Volker Weber

To pay so much attention to Bill Gates' retirement is missing the point. What really matters is not Gates, nor Microsoft, but the unethical system of restrictions that Microsoft, like many other software companies, imposes on its customers.

More >

[Thanks, Nick D]

Google Maps with voice search

by Volker Weber

Tired of typing on your phone’s tiny keyboard? Not sure how to spell a business name? Simply say it to Google Maps for mobile. It’s really that simple.

Supported now on the following BlackBerry devices: 8110, 8120, 8130 (US only). Using your voice is optional. You can always type your searches as usual.

More >

Try to watch the brunette

by Volker Weber

Gut beobachtet

by Volker Weber

Ich habe mich noch nie, sooft, soumfassend, so offensichtlich und so schlecht belogen gefühlt wie in diesem Jahzehnt. Jeder Quadratzentimeter Innestadt und Internet ist voll mit Lügen. Das Fernsehen lügt mich an. Die Zeitungen lügen mich an. Die Bahn belügt mich. Die Telekom lügt. Ganze Unternehmen scheinen nichts anderes als Lügen zu produzieren. Politiker haben sowieso schon immer gelogen. Ja mich rufen sogar Leute an, nur um mich anzulügen. Die Leute lügen wenn sie nur ein Hemd anziehen, sich in ein Auto setzen und morgens zu Arbeit fahren.

Und das bizarre daran: Alle wissen es. Alle machen mit.

More >

Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection 2 released

by Volker Weber

Remote Desktop Connection Client for Mac 2 lets you connect from your Macintosh computer to a Windows-based computer or to multiple Windows-based computers at the same time. After you have connected, you can work with applications and files on the Windows-based computer.

Three months ago I asked what would happen to RDC 2, as the beta was about to expire and no product was released. The beta did expire, but only displayed a message and would continue to work. I asked Microsoft and they told me RDC 2 would be shipping "in spring" and there would not be another beta. Eventually they did release another beta, most likely because they were downing in support calls.

Anyway, the wait is over, and yesterday Microsoft released the final product and makes it available as a free download.

This free download runs natively on both Intel-based and PowerPC-based Macs. The RDC bundle supports eight languages: English, French, German, Italian, Swedish, Spanish, Dutch, and Japanese.

More >

[Thanks, Bruce]

Gartner Says E-Mail Will Lead the Charge Into Mainstream Adoption of Cloud Computing

by Volker Weber

STAMFORD, Conn., July 2, 2008 — Driven by falling prices and new vendors, the percentage of commercial mailboxes using a cloud-provisioned model will grow from 1 percent of enterprise seats in 2007 to 20 percent in 2012, according to Gartner Inc. The push into the cloud e-mail market by large suppliers will cause fundamental restructuring of the e-mail market, analysts predicted.

More >

CIO.com: Twitter's Potential for Business Users

by Volker Weber

Watching the emergence of Twitter, a microblogging tool that allows people to post updates in 140 characters or less, IT leaders are beginning to think about how the technology could be used in their organizations.

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GigaOM: 10 Reasons Enterprises Aren’t Ready to Trust the Cloud

by Volker Weber

Many entrepreneurs today have their heads in the clouds. They’re either outsourcing most of their network infrastructure to a provider such as Amazon Web Services or are building out such infrastructures to capitalize on the incredible momentum around cloud computing. I have no doubt that this is The Next Big Thing in computing, but sometimes I get a little tired of the noise. Cloud computing could become as ubiquitous as personal computing, networked campuses or other big innovations in the way we work, but it’s not there yet.

More >

Nokia Push Email for S60 devices

by Volker Weber

Currently only supports POP3 and IMAP accounts. The clients seems to be based on IntelliSync.

More >

Do you want to see an ILUG 2009?

by Volker Weber

ILUG 2007 was a huge success. ILUG 2008 was even bigger. But it has taught the organizers that they just cannot continue like this. The toll on their lives is too big.

Paul is too subtle to tell the story as it is. If nothing changes there will not be an ILUG 2009.

Which of course would be a huge loss. Go to Paul's site and float your ideas.

iPhone: How to use your Exchange account

by Volker Weber

Watch the video from 3:52 to 6:04. The full guided tour is here.

Nico Calm

by Volker Weber

More products at Nico Market >

Old vowe.net archive pages

I explain difficult concepts in simple ways. For free, and for money. Clue procurement and bullshit detection.

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