June 30th, 2007

iPhone day one - what does it all mean?

Posted by Marc Orchant @ 8:09 am

Categories: Gadgetry, Hardware, Mac, Mobility, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Apple Inc., Marc Orchant

My buddy Matt Miller wrote a nice post about alternatives to the iPhone on his Mobile Gadgeteer blog and as I perused (and joined in on) the comment thread, it occurred to me that a little long-view history lesson might be in order. I’ve been pretty disinclined to write about the iPhone because a) I don’t have one yet, b) I don’t think I’ll have one in my grubby little hands anytime soon, (update: so much for that theory) and c) there is so much noise about this device that adding to it seems like a fruitless pursuit (pun intended).

So I’m not going to weigh in on why the iPhone is better or worse than what’s already available, whether it represents the next stage of mobile evolution, or whether it will make your whites whiter, your teeth brighter, and you personally irresistible to… you get the idea.

What I did want to to toss into the mix, especially after reading the comments on Matt’s post, were the following observations:

• Apple is simply better than any other company in the tech world at reframing consumer expectations and the ensuing conversation. They have a more highly evolved sense of design than most companies – Bang and Olufsen and maybe Sony come to mind as others who have made design a clear differentiator in a similar fashion. The capture people’s imagination about the “how”, not the “what”. That is “how will using this device change the way I work and play” as opposed to “what features, functions, or technical details make this device different or better”. Don’t think design is important? Read Tom Peters’ Reimagine and get back to me.
• Apple markets better. Their ads are engaging. Their positioning is clear. Their CEO is a master presenter. Apple literally shut down the press room at CES this January when the Steve took the stage to announce the iPhone. Every journalist, blogger, and analyst in the room was watching the keynote. What they were not doing was paying any attention to the thousands of square feet of vendors surrounding them and the hundreds of thousands of products on display in Las Vegas. The fact that Apple has been able to sustain the insane level of interest in this device as they have for six months and built it to a perfect crescendo of media coverage yesterday is something no one else in the industry has demonstrated they’re able to come close to (with the possible exception of the gaming console trio of Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, and Microsoft XBox).
• Apple forces competitors to ante up when they raise the bet. If the tech business is a poker game, players at the table know that Apple doesn’t bluff very often. When they raise the bet, you have two choices – call or fold. Since folding isn’t a very good business strategy, competitors have to meet the challenge Apple has thrown down. Whether it’s trivial (colored computer cases) or innovative (scroll-and-click wheels on music players), the rest of the industry scrambles to follow suit best they can. Those are pretty specific examples where the act of copying Apple’s lead made no difference. Consider the iTunes-iPod ecosystem Apple created to carve out a huge share of the commercial media download market. Who else has been able to (or is even in a position to) match that raise?

You can vent all day about why you think Apple is a nice player, over-priced, evil, or whatever your particular epithet of choice might be. You’re wrong. Apple is a vital contributor to the evolution of the connected experience and they deserve credit for continually challenging the status quo. It’s what they do. They’re better at it than anyone else. And that’s why the iPhone is such a big deal.

June 28th, 2007

Oh yeah - Skype on the N800 is coming soon

Posted by Marc Orchant @ 2:20 pm

Categories: Events, Gadgetry, Hardware, Mobility

Tags: Nokia Corp., Skype Technologies S.A., Marc Orchant

Kevin C. Tofel of jkOnTheRun just reported that on his way out of the Digital Experience show in New York City today, he saw Skype running on a Nokia N800 internet tablet. According to Kevin’s report, this should be downloadable in July. I’ve been waiting for this since the N800 was launched at CES (actually a bit earlier to be honest as I had a brief chance to play with a late stage  release candidate when I spoke at a Nokia event in Finland a month earlier). This will make what is already an incredibly useful device when I’m on the go even better.

One disappointment is the news that, at least in the initial release, the N800’s built-in webcam will not be supported for Skype calls. Bummer.

Photo source: jkOnTheRun

June 28th, 2007

Fake Microsoft security bulletin in the wild

Posted by Marc Orchant @ 5:53 am

Categories: Microsoft, Microsoft Office, Windows

Tags: Security, Vulnerability, Sophos Plc., Microsoft Corp., Phishing, Hacker, Marc Orchant

If you (or someone you know) receives an e-mail about a zero-day exploit affecting Microsoft Outlook do not, under any circumstances, click on the links embedded in the message. It’s a phishing scam folks. The Security Bulletin (MS07-0065) it points to doesn’t exist. And just because it can never be said too often, I’ll say it again here. Microsoft does not alert users to security issues via e-mail. Ever. That’s what Windows Update is for. Details from Sophos are available here.

In the closing paragraphs of their announcement, Sophos describes why this vector has become so popular for phishers and hackers – people have learned that patching their systems against exploits is part of their “job” in keeping their systems running properly but haven’t yet completely grasped the potential vulnerability that awareness creates if they allow themselves to be duped into reacting to messages like this.

“Security bulletins from Microsoft describing vulnerabilities in their software are a common occurence, and so its not a surprise to see hackers adopting this kind of disguise in their attempt to infect Windows PCs,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. “The irony is that as awareness of computer security issues has risen, and the need for patching against vulnerabilities, so social engineering tricks which pose as critical software fixes are likely to succeed in conning the public.”

In examples seen by Sophos experts, the emails have contained the recipient’s full name, and the company they work for, in an attempt to lull user’s into a false sense of security.

“By using people’s real names, the Microsoft logo, and legitimate-sounding wording, the hackers are attempting to fool more people into stepping blindly into their bear-trap,” continued Cluley. “Users need to be on their guard against this kind of confidence trick or they risk handing over control of their PC to hackers with criminal intentions. They should also ensure that they are downloading Microsoft security updates from Microsoft itself, not from any other website.”

Update: Well, a number of commenters have corrected me  on my statement that Microsoft does not provide security alerts via e-mail. Apparently they do – on an opt-in subscription basis. And, apparently, the e-mails are PGP-signed (although, as the person who informed me of this pointed out, the vast majority of people don’t have PGP installed). My best advice to those of you who prefer to be safe rather than sorry is to use Windows Update to check for any security (or performance-related) updates.

June 27th, 2007

OMG... not another iPhone post!

Posted by Marc Orchant @ 8:53 pm

Categories: Mac, Mobility

Tags: Apple iPhone, Object Management Group, Marc Orchant

I know… I know… you’ve had it with iPhone posts on blogs everywhere. Well I have something a little different for you. I’m not going to waste your time explaining why I am or am not getting an iPhone on Friday. I’m not going to get into an exhaustive feature checklist comparison between the iPhone and some other device. Nope… not going to do it. Instead, I’m going to point you to what is quite possibly the most fun you can have at the iPhone’s expense. It’s clever, it’s amusing, and it’s free.

Go here and experience what is sure to be the “feature” everyone will be talking about Friday night.

June 26th, 2007

Powerful and free CSV export utility for Outlook

Posted by Marc Orchant @ 5:24 pm

Categories: Microsoft, Microsoft Office, Software, Utilities and Add-Ins

Tags: Microsoft Outlook, Marc Orchant

CodeTwo Outlook Export is a free add-in for Microsoft Outlook (98 - 2007) that provides much greater flexibility than the built-in export feature in Outlook. All folder types are supported (including Post and Journal) and the utility provides an easy interface that will be instantly familiar to anyone who’s poked around in the backwaters of Outlook to customize views and forms. This will come in handy for anyone looking for an easy way to eport Outlook data for use in a spreadsheet or database application.

H/T to Slipstick

June 26th, 2007

Codeweavers 10-step program

Posted by Marc Orchant @ 4:16 pm

Categories: Linux, Mac, Microsoft, Software, Uncategorized, Windows

Tags: CodeWeavers Inc., Microsoft Corp., Marc Orchant

Codeweavers, the company behind CrossOver, an engine that provides Mac and Linux users the ability to install and run some Windows applications without a Windows  install or license, have just released a 10-Step Program for Computing Nirvana. It’s a very tongue-in-cheek poke at Microsoft and the dominance they enjoy over the computing world. I’m warning you up front that if you’re a Microsoft zealot, you’re probably going to hate this. If you’re a Microsoft basher, you’re probably going to get at least a few laughs out of it. And if you’re hewing to the middle ground and refuse to succumb to either of these magnetic poles, you’ll probably see both the truthiness and folly in this sort of thing.

It made me laugh and got me to click around their site a bit so I guess that qualifies as a success. Heck, it amused enough to write this.

June 26th, 2007

Google calendar updates

Posted by Marc Orchant @ 7:49 am

Categories: Google, Web Apps

Tags: Google Inc., Marc Orchant

Google has recently added a couple of very nice new features to the Google Calendar application. Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been using Google Calendar as the “glue” that binds all of my devices witht he assistance of some helpful utilities including Spanning Sync for Mac OS X and SyncMyCal for Outlook on my Windows Vista devices.

Plaxo has recently made a public beta of version 3.0 of their online address book and calendar tool available and it to can create a sync point with Google Calendar. I expect we’ll continue to see integrations like this as the API Google has exposed for Calendar is (by reports from my developer friends) very easy to work with.

New in this release:

• Receive notifications about upcoming events. Calendar now gives you more control over how and when you’re notified of upcoming events. Get reminders via email or text message, for every event or just the ones you want.

• Access your calendar with your phone. You can also stay on top of your schedule by accessing your Google Calendar account from your mobile phone. Visit calendar.google.com on your phone’s web browser to see a list of upcoming events with date and time information in an easy-to-browse format.

June 23rd, 2007

New OneNote Powertoy adds search and replace

Posted by Marc Orchant @ 7:13 am

Categories: Microsoft, Microsoft Office, Software, Tablet PCs, Uncategorized, Utilities and Add-Ins, Windows

Tags: Microsoft Office OneNote 2007, OneNote Powertoy, Daniel Escarpa, Marc Orchant

Daniel Escapa has just released a new Powertoy for OneNote 2007 that adds a basic search-and-replace feature to the application. I’ve long wished for this ability in OneNote. The add-in currently supports text only (no support for searching against pre-recognized text which makes sense in a certain way since what would it replace a result with?). Like all Powertoy releases, this is unsupported by Microsoft or the author so use at your own risk, your mileage may vary, back up all of your data before installing, and other cautionary admonitions apply.

June 21st, 2007

iGTD just keeps getting better

Posted by Marc Orchant @ 9:38 pm

Categories: Mac OS X, Productivity, Software

Tags: Folder, Task, Integration, Marc Orchant

I’ve been using iGTD for some time and am planning a review of how I’ve integrated it, MailTags, Mail Act-On, and a few other tools into a very powerful GTD system on my MacBook. But I’m on vacation in Telluride right now at the Bluegrass Festuval and that will have to wait. For now, I thought it worth mentioning that a new release has just come out with a number of great new features and integration with other popular Mac applications. Here’s the list of what’s new in version 1.4.5:

New features:

• F-key integration with PathFinder, Yojimbo and MacJournal
• cutting and pasting tasks support - use it to move your tasks between contexts and projects (it works great with new type-ahead feature, see below)
• Quick Tags feature: you can define your favourite tags with key shortcuts Alt+1…9
• you can also access the Quick Tags via a popup menu (use the button near the Tags field)
• tasks with tomorrow’s due dates are marked orange
• contexts/projects containing tasks with today’s/tomorrow’s due dates are marked red/orange - you won’t miss them!
• better integration with Apple Mail - you can send yourself an e-mail with subject like ‘todo: @home wash the dishes’ and it will be pushed to iGTD (read more)

Keyboard improvements:

• type ahead feature for all folders: type first few letters to switch between contexts, projects, smart folders and archive categories - no matter where the focus is (I love it!)
• type-ahead for tasks: you can activate it in preferences
• by default, the tree gets collapsed before switching between folders with type-ahead - you can change this behavior in preferences
• hit Shift+Return to add a new task or archive item - works like Cmd+N
• hit Shift+Return to add a new context, project or archive category on the same level as selected item - a totally new feature
• hit Shift+Alt+Return to add a new subcontext, subproject or archive subcategory for selected item - works like Cmd+Shift+Alt+N :-)
• left arrow key collapses the current tree branch both if the parent item or if any of its children are selected - like in OmniOutliner

Fixes:

• colouring the tasks with today’s due dates works OK now
• broken smart folder filters for due dates fixed
• View menu ‘Refresh’ action works again
• sorting smart folders works in case-insensitive mode
• ‘Include sender in task names’ MailTags option works fine if checked off
• Return key start the edit mode for selected smart folder’s name

iGTD is donationware right now.  A Pro version is in development and a special discount is planned for people who have made a donation.

June 20th, 2007

Enterprise 2.0 coverage

Posted by Marc Orchant @ 4:07 am

Categories: Events

Tags: Boston, Marc Orchant

I’m at the Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston this week. There’s a tremendous amount of energy at the show – the exhibition space was packed wall-to-wall yesterday. As I’m working at the show and attending some meetings in Boston, there’s been less time than I’d hoped for visiting with companies to see what they’re announcing and showing here at the event, Thankfully, ZDNet’s David Berlind and my good friend Michael Sampson are doing a terrific job talking with companies and posting analysis of what’s new in this space.