November 2009
Das wird ein teurer Spaß
by Volker Weber
Neues vom Nokia Adventskalender
by Volker Weber
Nun ist es raus. Statt Schokolade gibt es Überraschungen aus dem Ovi Store und dem Nokia Music Store:
Weil Mail auf dem Gerät mal wieder nicht so wollte wie ich, halt per Bluetooth:
Und da isser:
Einmal mogeln muss ich natürlich. Was gibt's morgen?
So macht das dann auf einmal Sinn. Nur den Pappdeckel durch die Gegend zu schicken, das war überflüssig. Und irgendwie "last century".
Weihnachtsbäckerei
by Volker Weber
The Girlfriend
by Volker Weber
[via Alper]
Charles Aznavour & the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra
by Volker Weber
Raumfeld Multiroom Audio
by Volker Weber
Sonos finally has a competitor. It's a small German startup from Berlin. And they have a promising solution. Since I have written a lot about Sonos here, I am going to try and tell you about similarities and differences. Please bear in mind that I have not actually seen or heard their system.
First of all, Raumfeld is a wireless music system based on 802.11g Unlike Sonos, the network seems to be a straigtforward access point and client setup without a mesh network. Raumfeld says their network can be extended with standard repeaters and powerline adapters.
You can play music through three different setups: wireless Raumfeld speakers in two sizes (and prices), and a Connector which feeds your stereo. The Connector would be a direct competitor to a ZonePlayer ZP90. Raumfeld has two speaker systems at different price points. Each consists of a pair of active and passive speakers. The active speaker has power, network and a volume button, and it drives the passive one over a speaker cable. A set of those speakers would compete with a Sonos S5 without being portable. There is no amplified player that could drive your own speakers. For that you need the connector and your own amp.
Raumfeld requires a Base, which is a wireless access point with a 160 GB hard drive. Speakers or the Connector tie into the Base which provides a storage for your music. The system is controlled by a handheld controller with a touchscreen and a large volume button. Raumfeld obviously tries to create an "analog" experience through this massive knob.
There is a couple of interesting features to the Raumfeld system:
- Raumfeld is complete. You don't need to provide your own NAS. You can however use a NAS or UPnP media servers.
- You can't buy the system yet. They do have demo units and they will take orders in December, but you should not assume availability this year. That is certainly a missed holiday opportunity.
- Raumfeld promises to be open. They intend to publish their software source code. The system ties into existing gear through UPnP AV/DLNA. They don't promise a perfect sync for other hardware, but it will be controllable from their system.
- The company claims exceptional sound quality, at least for their more expensive speaker kit.
- Raumfeld will be able to use Internet radio stations, but they have not yet announced any partnerships with other online services that they intend to work with.
- Raumfeld has not published information about software controllers for their system, like Sonos provides on iPhone, Mac, Windows. I assume you will be able to use any UPnP control point.
I think this is an interesting new entry into the market, and I wish them luck. It is next to impossible for them to replace my massive Sonos setup, but once they are better stocked, I would certainly take a look.
Speaking of looks, I don't particularly like the unique Raumfeld design, at least not from looking at their (mostly rendered) photos. You can hide most of their components, but you will need to see the speakers, and the controller of course. ;-)
*) You need a Base for their simple setup, but it looks like you will also be able to use your existing infrastructure. Without a Base you can only drive two sets of speakers and have to enter SSIDs and passwords as configured in your WLAN access point.
Ich trau mich nicht
by Volker Weber
Circles
by Volker Weber
Was ein Quatsch
by Volker Weber
Liebe Nokia,
ich halte Euch gerne zugute, dass Ihr mich zu Weihnachten grüßt. Ich finde es auch gut, dass Ihr auf ein Geschenk kommt, das man verzehren kann und nicht für immer aufhebt. Soweit alles richtig. Aber einen leeren Adventskalender als Gag so durch die Landschaft zu schicken, das ist eine mehr als dumme Idee. Erstens kam der ziemlich zerknittert an. Zweitens finde ich diese Ressourcenverschwendung doof. Drittens werde ich einer Tat verdächtigt, die ich nie begehen würde.
Schickt mir ein N900. Das bringt Euch wenigstens was.
Parental control
by Volker Weber
Irgendwas auf der Apple-Wunschliste? Heute kaufen.
by Volker Weber
Viral marketing done right
by Volker Weber
Much better than astroturf comments to lame videos, right?
The Palm Pre just became much more fun
by Volker Weber
I felt like installing Preware would be cheating, but I just found out it's a necessity if you like to have fun with your Pre. Now I wish there were a patch called "double the battery life".
Hi, and your name is?
by Volker Weber
Low cost production
by Volker Weber
An inquiry:
Hello,
i just saw a few photos of the Junkers JU 52 and i want to ask you if i can use some to do a commercial photo CD/DVD production of the JU 52.
Thanks in advance.
An answer:
Not for free. You can certainly buy some.
Unsurprisingly, he has not asked for a price.
As this is a low cost production we can not buy all the photos. But thanks for your time.
Sonos S5 tours Germany
by Volker Weber
No wonder the first shipment was lost.
MacBook Pro and netbook updates
by Volker Weber
A month ago I wrote The MacBook Pro it is. And I could not have been happier with this purchase. It is an elegant and fast machine and has not given me a single headache. Surprisingly it was the "default notebook" at BlackBerry Developer Conference. Surprisingly, because RIM, much like Lotus, does not have Mac development tools (yet). If you think about getting one, do it. This Friday, when Apple will have some one-day-only price reductions.
Three weeks ago I upgraded the Samsung NC-10 to Windows 7. This has also been a no-nonsense update. Windows 7 runs well on this diminutive machine. I do have 2 GB RAM installed, so this may cloud my judgement. But again, no headaches. If Windows would run Keynote, then I would not have been in a great hurry to buy the MacBook Pro. On the other hand, the NC-10 would also be too weak to run Traktor Pro. And I am going to need that again next week.
The NC-10 has a worthy successor in the N140. If you really, really only need a netbook on a budget, this is the one to look at. Battery life has improved again to nine hours and it comes with Windows 7 Starter. But it is as limited as the as NC10 was as far as CPU, RAM and disk are concerned. Limitations that Microsoft sets in their licensing agreement. Having used a netbook for a year I can't honestly recommend it as your sole computer. You will probably hit the first wall when you try to watch Flash videos.
All is well hardware-wise at vowe's magic flying circus. If Microsoft would fix Live Sync for Snow Leopard, I would be an extremely happy camper.
Android G1 with Nokia BT Headset and other mobile updates
by Volker Weber
Initially I had a few problems with dropouts between the Android G1 and a Nokia BT Headset. Today I have wiped the device, installed 1.6 Donut and I am happy to report that all the difficulties are gone now. This is actually the first time I can listen to music from the G1, and it's working quite well.
I am very happy with this phone and the progress Android is making. My favorite apps beyond the Google suite (Gmail, Calendar, Contacts, Gtalk, Maps) are Facebook, Newsrob and Twidroid. The Android Market is full of free and amazing apps to goof around with, but I am currently running a very tight ship. Maps was updated to 3.2.1 today and this is supposed to be the version with turn-by-turn instructions for the US.
My favorite phones are getting ever closer: Android G1, BlackBerry Bold (9700), iPhone 3G. The Pre has not yet earned its space in this line-up. I am a bit disappointed by the lack of progress, but I am holding out for at least another six months before coming to a conclusion.
A few people were surprised to see me using a BlackBerry during DNUG. It's actually very simple: the Bold is my trusted backup. It always works, no matter where I am. It has the longest uptime, it is the best mail machine I have, it's fast, but its perfection is also kind of boring. Most of the development action is elsewhere. So I am using a G1 and a Bold. Or an iPhone and a Bold. Or a Pre and a Bold.
The iPhone is losing a little bit of its appeal. I have an unlocked 3G which makes it more valuable than a locked 3GS would be, but I am missing the ability to stay on top of things outside of mail, mostly instant messaging and relevant information from Twitter and Facebook. Push notifications in your face are not as useful as the ribbon updates that Android, BlackBerry and webOS provide. As elegant as the iPhone is, it is also somewhat single-minded. :-)
Finally a good use for the Belkin Cooling Lounge
by Volker Weber
Lifehacker had an important ergonomic upgrade for your workspace: elevate your laptop to eye level. Since there was previously unused Belkin Cooling Lounge in the house, this problem was easy to solve. Belkin also has a notebook stand which misses the hand wrist support. The Cooling Lounge is meant to sit on your lap, but works just as well on the desk. For outdoor session in the summer I prefer the Cush Top. ;-)
Lawnchair
by Volker Weber
Sorta like a couch except smaller and outside, also, a client side JSON document store.
Somewhere, it's raining bears
by Volker Weber
400kg CO2? That's about 2000 km in a car emitting 200g/km. Did not know polar bears consisted of CO2 though.
Marketing-Schwall
by Volker Weber
Sehr geehrter Herr Weber,
vor einiger Zeit haben wir Sie über die Modernisierung des Unified Messaging Service (UMS) von 1&1 informiert. Dadurch bieten wir Ihnen z. B. noch mehr Ausfallsicherheit und Sie können von der Nutzung des 1&1 SmartFax-Client profitieren.
Im Zuge der Modernisierung wird Ihre bisherige UMS-Rufnummer zum 14.12.2009 abgeschaltet. Ab diesem Zeitpunkt können Sie auf Ihrer aktuellen Rufnummer keine Faxe mehr empfangen.
Liebe Kinder, was ist hier die wirklich wichtige Information? Richtig: Ihre aktuelle Rufnummer wird abgeschaltet.
Currency exchange rates at the Apple Store
by Volker Weber
I find the exchange rates more reasonable, when Apple has to give you money:
webOS 1.3.1 nun auch in Deutschland
by Volker Weber
Sodatreppe
by Volker Weber
Die Treppe? Ach, die ist einfach so da.
Mails von Lotus Notes nach Google Mail migrieren
by Volker Weber
Wolfgang Sommergut hat seine Erfahrungen aufgeschrieben >
Quote of the day
by Volker Weber
Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels
— Kate Moss
Official Google Blog: Releasing the Chromium OS open source project
by Volker Weber
In July we announced that we were working on Google Chrome OS, an open source operating system for people who spend most of their time on the web.
Today we are open-sourcing the project as Chromium OS. We are doing this early, a year before Google Chrome OS will be ready for users, because we are eager to engage with partners, the open source community and developers
I want this on my netbook.
From my (physical) inbox
by Volker Weber
This album is so brand new, that I was the one to tag the album in CDDB. Has not happened in a long time. Plus, DJ Jondal has my kind of music. Thank you, Heiko!
Geht es ein bisschen langweiliger?
by Volker Weber
Wer jeden Tag ins (selbe) Büro marschiert, der stellt sich die Reisen in aller Herren Länder immer als begehrenswert vor. Wer mal ein paar Jahre "auf Montage" war, der weiß, dass das nicht so ist.
Es geht mir gut. Ich komme in schönen Zimmern in guten Hotels unter, habe einen tollen Service, bekomme leckeres und gutes Essen, kann bequem reisen. Und doch: ich will nach Hause. Und das mache ich jetzt auch. ;-)
Familiär
by Volker Weber
Ich war am Dienstag auf der DNUG, und es war noch ein bisschen schöner, als ich mir das vorgestellt habe. Es war gar nicht genug Zeit, mich mit allen Bekannten auszutauschen.
Die DNUG wird kleiner und schaut auch endlich dieser Tatsache gefasst ins Auge. Das ist gut so, denn sie ist immer noch eine gute Organisation für Notes-Anwender und Partner. Kleiner kann auch feiner sein. In Fulda* waren mehr als 200 Teilnehmer, selbst wenn man die IBM-Präsenz abzieht. Es gab gute Vorträge, von denen ich nur ein paar sehen konnte, und wie immer eine fruchtbare Diskussion.
Ich hoffe die Frage "Du hier?" hat sich in Zukunft erledigt.
*) Der Tagungsort ist übrigens genial. Auf der anderen Straßenseite eines Bahnhofs mit exzellenter ICE-Versorgung gelegen, ist er ganz wunderbar zu erreichen.
Und manchmal geht ein Plan nicht auf
by Volker Weber
Vor ein paar Wochen schrieb ich einen Beitrag mit dem Titel "Sonos kaufen?". Der Plan war gut, aber er geht nicht auf, jedenfalls nicht auf Dauer. Thomas wird alle Bestellungen abwickeln, wie er sie angenommen hat, aber er kommt in Zukunft nicht mehr mit diesen Konditionen zurecht. Sonos hat etwas getan, mit dem ich nicht gerechnet habe. Das Leben hat manchmal seine Enttäuschungen und es ist gut, dass ich mich von Anfang an aus dem Geschäft herausgehalten habe.
Ueberall-musik.de wird vorerst weitermachen. Aber Euer Vorteil ist in Zukunft kleiner.
Thomas hat gelernt wie man einen Shop aufsetzt. Ich habe auch was gelernt und ein paar neue Einträge ins Klassenbuch gemacht. Verloren hat Sonos.
How to Manage a Group Project in Google Wave
by Volker Weber
The mere promise of Google Wave inspired a rainbow of potential use cases, but Wave's best real-world use boils down to this: it helps a group get things done together. Here's how to manage a group project in Wave.
World's most scenic Pizza Hut
by Volker Weber
Was macht ein Enthusiast
by Volker Weber
Blue sky in Soho
by Volker Weber
Remember: it's ALWAYS the cable
by Volker Weber
Today I was stupid. I have been in this business so long that I should have learned my lesson. But today I forgot it.
What was going on? One of the new Sonos S5 players was acting up. Turn silent, would not listen to commands, drop off the controller. I was convinced it was broken. So I let Sonos know and they wanted to exchange the unit.
In comes the cavalry, a.k.a. Sonos support. Daniel lets me submit a diagnostic and finds out that the S5 shows unusual wifi behavior. Then he suggests the obvious: swap two S5. I should have thought of that, shouldn't I. Turns out that now the formerly "broken" unit works well, and the other one doesn't. The problem must be something else.
With guidance from Daniel I suspect it's a very old DECT base station. Since I have three of those around the house, I may not have noticed that it is broken. Anyway, six diagnostics later it looks like the S5 experienced some strange bursts of wireless activity that have stopped since I unplugged the base station.
Remember: it's always the cable. In this case a "wireless cable". Which just means the problem is not where you are looking. Kudos to Sonos. Their support is outstanding.
Next on the agenda: replace my DECT setup. They are too old anyway. I need up to six handsets and at least one base station. Any suggestions? I am looking for simple and clean design, AA rechargeable batteries, one base station without dock, at least three charger docks.
Facebook app for Palm Pre
by Volker Weber
Come on Telefónica/o2, start shipping the 1.3.1 update already.
Nokia E72 wird ausgeliefert
by Volker Weber
Espoo, 16. November 2009 - Das mit Spannung erwartete Nokia E72, ein speziell für die geschäftliche und private Kommunikation konzipiertes Mobiltelefon, ist in Deutschland ab dem 28. November zum Preis von 439 Euro (inkl. MwSt ohne Mobilfunkvertrag) erhältlich.
Comparing the Sonos S5 with the Bose Sounddock
by Volker Weber
The Sonos S5 and the Bose Sounddock are remarkably similar. Both cost the same, both follow the same design idea: a white body with a metal grille. And yet they are remarkably different.
The Sounddock is a simple iPod/iPhone dock. The iPhone barfs if you dock it but it works, an iPod just works without complaining. You place your device on the spin-out tray, select the music you want to play and off it goes. On the right side there are two volume buttons, the back has two sockets for power and line-in. Thus you can connect other devices that won't fit the iPod dock, a notebook for instance or a Sonos ZP90. That is exactly how I used my Apple Hi-Fi until I got the S5. You get a small remote that lets you control basic functions but you will have to retrieve your iPhone if you want to take a call or do anything else meaningfull with the device, at which point the music stops.
I like the Sounddock because it works so well and it sounds amazing. Until you hear the S5.
Side by side, the S5 wins hands down. It is way more powerful, defined and transparent. While it looks very similar, it works completely different. Your iPhone will serve as a remote controlling the S5, but it's not a music source. S5, like all other Sonos players, draws its music from multiple sources, one of them being the iTunes library on your computer, not your iPhone. It cannot directly talk to your iPhone, but needs to be connected to your network, usually your Internet access router. The iPhone connects to that router via Wi-Fi, the S5 needs a wire. If you can't run a wire from the router to the S5, Sonos sells you a simple access point called ZoneBridge which creates SonosNet that the S5 uses to connect.
The S5 has many more sources for your music, my favorite being the free Last.fm service. Also, my master iTunes library is not on my computer but on a network attached storage. If you want to have a simple NAS, you can attach an external drive to many Internet routers, the Fritz!Box 7270 for instance.
The big difference when using those two devices is that the S5 plays music on itself, without requiring your iPhone. You just sit down, tell it what to play from your iPhone and then it plays what you want to hear. There are volume and mute buttons so you can turn the music down when you need to do quickly without fetching the iPhone. It works pretty much independently and you can continue to use the iPhone for other things. That is a much better setup, since you want the iPhone with you, and the speakers on the other side of the room.
Sounddock also has an advantage. It works independently from power and network. It has a rechargeable battery that works for up to ten hours. So you can drag the Sounddock out on the deck or a picnic and it will play whatever is on your iPhone. With the S5 you need A/C power. Without a network it can still play music from an iPod/iPhone by connecting to its line-in. But without a controller that can talk directly to the S5, you won't be able to tell it to.*
Connectivity is no problem for me throughout the house and garden since there are so many devices partaking in my SonosNet spread out. Since the S5 sounds better than the Bose, and since it works so well in my environment, I have no use for the Sounddock. On its own however, the Bose device is amazingly well designed and built. If all your music is on your iPod and you only need music in one room at a time, you will be very happy with the Sounddock.
*) Unless it defaults to line-in, if nothing connects. I can't test that since there is a SonosNet in the house.
In need of a jailbreak after three easy steps
by Volker Weber
We have an iPod touch 16GB (1g) with an interesting condition. It is no longer able to use Wi-Fi. The option is greyed out. Google has a ton of answers to that problem, most pointing to an Apple support document that says: (1) reset network settings and try again, (2) reset all settings and try again, (3) restore to factory and try again, (4) go to Apple service and do not pass Go.
Steps 1 through 3 failed, step 4 is not viable with an old machine. Digging deeper it reveals the culprit:
iPod has lost its MAC address. That can be easily fixed if you can ssh into the device. Which of course requires a jailbreak, because Apple won't let you do that. Apple will also go out of their way to fight the jailbreak.
Sooo tired. iPod touch relegated to nice paperweight. This used to be a good Sonos remote.
Dienstag auf der DNUG
by Volker Weber
Nach drei Jahren komme ich endlich mal wieder auf eine DNUG-Konferenz. Die 25. in Kassel war meine letzte, an der ich voll teilgenommen habe. Da habe ich mich schon auf Dresden gefreut und dann ging irgendwas schief. Seitdem war der Faden abgerissen.
Da ich am Mittwoch in Hamburg sprechen werde, komme ich am Dienstag praktisch direkt an der 31. in Fulda vorbei; eine gute Gelegenheit den Faden wieder aufzunehmen. Vom Bahnhof aus sind es nur ein paar hundert Meter bis zum Veranstaltungsort. Also werde ich Dienstag früher abreisen und in Fulda Station machen. Eine Agenda habe ich auch schon:
10:00-10:45 Opening Strategy Keynote Speech
10:45-11:30 The Future of Enterprise Communications and Collaboration
11:30-12:00 Das DNUG Enthusiast Programm
12:15-13:00 Enterprise 2.0 Fallstudien - Nutzen für die Praxis
14:00-14:30 Lotus Lab Tour 2009 - Bericht und Diskussion
14:45-15:30 Sharepoint oder Connections, Content Management, Portal und Quickr?
Um vier Uhr muss ich weiter, um es rechtzeitig zum Technik-Check in Hamburg zu schaffen. Also keine volle Konferenz, aber wenigstens mal sieben Stunden schnuppern. Ich freu mich schon.
Top Gear to return to BBC 2 tomorrow
by Volker Weber
One hour later than previous series. That is 22:00 in Germany:
So, ready yourself for 9pm, Sunday 15th November on BBC Two. Please note the new later start time as it is significant for two reasons.
webOS 1.3.1 available - no, it isn't
by Volker Weber
While customers in the US can now enjoy their webOS 1.3.1 update, Telefónica is still sitting on it:
I hope it does not take them too long to decide they are ready to roll. Hey, you only have two numbers to swap to get from 1.1.3 to 1.3.1. :-)
Three locks
by Volker Weber
I have a theory that says all bikes weigh 40 pounds. The lighter the bike, the heavier the locks.
Touchscreen phones are phones missing a keyboard
by Volker Weber
RIM makes really, really good smartphones. In fact, I think the Bold 9700 is by and large the best phone you can buy today. It. Just. Works. And I have not been able to deplete the battery in my longest day.
Today it was time to use the other new phone that RIM just brought to the market: the Storm2. Wonderful large screen, much improved SureType over the Storm1. And yet, it is simply missing a keyboard, no matter how well they try faking one with the onscreen keyboard.
Want an example? I installed Google Sync to get my contacts and calendar on the phone. Simple install: go to m.google.com/sync, hit the install link, follow the prompts and launch it. Sync asks for username and password. Enter username, tap on password. Up comes a menu as if you pushed the menu button. Fooled around for a quarter of an hour and cannot get it to tab down to the next field. ARGHH!
Turns out there is a solution. Go to options, go to applications, select 3rd party applications, tap Google Sync, open menu, select "disable compatibility mode". Reopen Google Sync, and now you can tap on the password field. How many people will ever get there?
On a Bold, this just works, roll down to the password field, and you will never hit this road block. On the Storm I constantly find myself crashing into these obscure obstacles.
Good-night, John Boy
by Volker Weber
This was the longest day I can remember. Started Wednesday at 6 am in San Francisco, and just ended past midnight on Friday here in Darmstadt, with very little sleep. Just a few naps on the plane, on the ICE train from Köln, and before another short trip to the Airport tonight. Two continents, four cities, nine time zones apart.
The plan came together perfectly, sometimes at the last possible five minutes, but it all went down without any stress. The presentation went well, I made all connections, and there was just one half hour delay on the last flight of the day. For those counting, it lasted about 33 hours.
Tomorrow should be a "move as little as possible" day. I am expecting a shipment from RIM:
And I have already established in San Francisco there will not be an editor-refuses-to-give-it-back award. I am planning for a one week's stay where it replaces the Bold 9700, so I learn all the ins and outs.
Busy day ahead
by Volker Weber
All in 24 hours: breakfast in San Francisco, half a day BlackBerry Developer Conference, 6000 miles on United Airlines 900 to Frankfurt, travel on the ICE train for lunch in Köln, speak at Heise Netze conference, return home to Darmstadt on another ICE train.
Two new features in Google Latitude: Location Alerts and History
by Volker Weber
Google Location Alerts (beta) lets you receive and send alert notifications if Google Latitude friends are nearby when you're somewhere interesting or unusual. Alerts use Location History to send notifications only when they're most likely to be interesting to you and your nearby friends.
Google Location History allows you to store your past Google Latitude locations and see them on a Google Map or in Google Earth. Once you enable Location History, you can view your location history and export or delete it at any time.
Mixed Tape 29 is out
by Volker Weber
On my way to BlackBerry Developer Conference
by Volker Weber
Laut vorlesen und laut lachen
by Volker Weber
Diese E-Mail bestätigt, dass Sie eine offizielle Mitteilung über Ihren Preis zu gewinnen in der letzten wöchentlichen online zeichnen erhalten haben. Im Einklang mit den weltweiten Lotterie Sprengkörper, werden Sie als offizieller Preisträger sofort Datei für Ihre Ansprüche nach Erhalt dieser Mail genehmigt. ... Beachten Sie, dass Auszahlungen werden streng an die Gewinner, die Datei offiziell für ihre Angaben gemacht werden. Um die Forderung Prozess der Ihren Preis zu beginnen, werden Sie aufgefordert ... um das Programm-Koordinator unten.
Auch 'ne schöne Mailadresse
by Volker Weber
Nicht nur kurz, spricht sich auch gut. Ich liebe diese Zweibuchstabendomains. :-)
Lesen
by Volker Weber
On mobile applications
by Volker Weber
Apple is throwing around some numbers. More than 100,000 apps in the iTunes Apps Store, more than two billion downloads. PC World says that only 20% of those apps are being installed. Yes, it's being hard to get noticed in the app store. But does that matter to the users? I think it does not.
What matters are two things: if you need to augment your mobile experience on an iPhone, you will find apps and websites that cater to your needs. And if you are a service provider in one way or the other you will have to take iPhone users into account. They expect you to be there with an app or at least a website.
If you want to serve your customers, you better think about mobile. If you do think about mobile, the iPhone is probably at the top of your list.
But what's beyond the iPhone? You can't build native apps for all other promising platforms, have beens and whatnot. If you are in the travel industry, chances are your customers have either an iPhone or a BlackBerry and actually use it beyond texting and calling. The BlackBerry isn't as simple. Yes, RIM has a good App World by now, but many BlackBerries are locked down by IT. Can't install anything on them. Then there is Android, webOS, Symbian, Windows Mobile (a.k.a. The Horror).
There is one common theme amongst those platforms: webkit. Think about building with HTML, CSS, Javascript. RIM talks about it, Nokia does, Palm has chosen it as the development environment for webOS. It won't be write once, run anywhere. But your apps are going to be portable with reasonable effort.
Start working now.
Wie bekloppt ist das denn?
by Volker Weber
Wer mit einem Schnurlos-Telefon am Ohr beim Autofahren erwischt wird, kann nicht wegen des Handyverbots belangt werden. Das hat das Oberlandesgericht Köln am Mittwoch bekannt gegeben. Drahtlose Festnetztelefone seien rechtlich nicht mit Handys gleichzusetzen, urteilten die Richter.
Sonos S5 has arrived
by Volker Weber
Today I have seen the first production level unit. But first I had to part with my trusted beta S5. Sonos was very diligent in collecting the non-production units. There must be some gold hidden inside. :-)
So now it's production gear. The only obvious difference is the label and the box, which was plain white on the beta unit. Here are a few photos (they are all click through) of the unpacking process. The review is further down:
Unboxing the new Apple mouse
by Volker Weber
You want this. Badly. I spare you the details on how to open the box. The mouse isn't only beautiful. It also works very well. Thin and light. Have not used the two finger swipe that Apple advertises because it feels awkward.
This might as well be the first Apple mouse that I really like. :-)
Sonos megafail
by Volker Weber
I have good things to say about Sonos. Love their devices. Of course they are not without failure. Stefan has one broken ZP100. Calls Sonos, ships it to them. They charge him 103,08 € to fix it. He waits two weeks to get it back through UPS. When it finally arrives he unpacks it, plugs it in.
ZAPPPP
Zapp? Turns out Sonos sent him a device switched to 110V. No warning label, no sticker, nothing. This is from Germany to Germany. Where all devices need to be set to 230V. As was his unit when he sent it in. The replacement one is dead.
Sonos, you just lost a customer. If you need to find the person to blame, the incident number is 091019-000060.
Update: Sonos is going to fix this I heard. They would have without me making noise about it. Sonos is actually very good at it. My first experience was less than stellar, when one of the first two review units was broken. They went out of their way to find the problem and then fixed it.
30 Android icons for development
by Volker Weber
Good find by Jeff Gilfelt.
Sonos kaufen?
by Volker Weber
Vor ein paar Wochen schrieb ich schon einmal unter dieser Überschrift. Mein Problem: ich bekomme jede Menge Anfragen von Lesern, die fragen, ob ich nicht Sonos billiger besorgen kann. Die Antwort ist, nein, jedenfalls nicht in großen Mengen. Die meisten Hersteller geben in irgendeiner Form einen Presserabatt, aber der ist halt nicht zu vervielfältigen.
Wir haben eine bessere Lösung gefunden. Thomas Lang hat einen Webshop aufgemacht, der Sonos-Geräte zu den ganz normalen Preisen anbietet. Nun hat jeder Händler natürlich das Recht, jedem Kunden einen individuellen Preis zu machen. Er kann nur nicht damit werben. Und genau das machen wir jetzt so.
Wer sich also Sonos-Geräte anschaffen will, dem empfehle ich einen Besuch bei ueberall-musik.de. Dort müsst Ihr zwei Dinge tun: einen Account einrichten und eine Mail an die im Impressum genannte Adresse schicken, vielleicht mit dem Zusatz "vowe is a good mother". :-) Ihr werdet dann im Shop der Gruppe der vowe.net-Leser zugeordnet und bekommt Euer individuelles Angebot, sobald Ihr Euren Warenkorb füllt. Ueberall-Musik nimmt Bestellungen ab sofort entgegen, kann den S5 aber erst nächste Woche liefern.
Ich bin an ueberall-musik.de nicht beteiligt. Ich empfehle den Kauf dort, weil ich Euch selbst keine Rabatte besorgen kann und weil ich Thomas Lang als zuverlässig kenne.
Why the Motorola Milestone does not have Google Navigation
by Volker Weber
What you see here is a Motorola Droid. And this is not the same thing as a Milestone. Apart from differences in the radio, there are supposed to be two major changes: the Milestone will have multitouch, but it won't have Google Navigation. I believe the multitouch thing has to do with Apple IP, but the missing navigation is due to the fact, that Google simply does not have the necessary maps for Europe. For Darmstadt, Google says the maps are copyright TeleAtlas. For San Francisco it says they are copyright Google. Google can set the terms for their own maps, but not for those owned by TeleAtlas, a TomTom company.
And this means, you will have to wait quite a while until you see Google Navigation on any Android phone this side of the pond.
Technical Preview of Microsoft Office Web Apps
by Volker Weber
If you'd like to try Microsoft's online Office apps, just go to skydrive.live.com and login with your Live ID. If you don't find this link already, just upload one Office file and it should appear. If this is not working for you, try this direct link.
