Being effective with Twitter

For those that are uncertain on how to increase what you get out of Twitter here is a good read.

http://blog.shoutem.com/2009/03/25/build-your-blog-community-with-twitter/

Everything Twitter

Here is a great site that describes everything about Twitter. I think that those of you who are wondering what the big fuss is about Twitter and it's 140 character message this site will clue you in.

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/03/the-ultimate-guide-for-everything-twitter/

Sprint and Clearwire and WiMax, Oh my!

Reading about the new Sprint 3G/4G modem U300. First, the modem and technology are very cool. The modem itself can switch between EV-DO and WiMax, a first I believe. It is a small and rotatable dongle that plugs in to the USB. You can read more about it here.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2343549,00.asp

However, also in this article you will read about how crazy the business is for Sprint and Clearwire. In fact, I would ask what the heck Clearwire is doing?

Google email undo

Google has a new feature you can add in that allows you to undo sending a message... sort of. You get about 3-4 seconds to react to hitting the send button, then if you see the message at the top of your screen you can click there and stop the send function. It definitely works, but you have to be on your toes to catch it. Here is how to add it.

On your main gmail screen click on settings

Next click on the Labs tab

Finally scroll down (way down) to the Undo option and enable it.

Go to the bottom of the page and click Save

Now you have the feature.

Lots in the news today...

It doesn't take long to find something interesting on the news today to write about.

Email VS Social Networks:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13846_3-10200669-62.html

According to Neilsen Online Social Networks are more popular than Email now. This is not surprising to me. Email lacks the community need. Sure you can reach out to whomever you want, and they to you, but why. In a social network there topics and discussions going on to hang out around and take part in. Email definately is not going away and has it's place, like for CYA in many places.

Tom Tom to MS - Get Lost!

http://www.crn.com/software/215901395

It is patent infringement wars between the two around navigation. Linux is pulled into the mix because MS claims Tom Tom is using part of MS technology that relies upon Linux. Interestingly MS has said that they are willing to work out some sort of license agreement with Tom Tom and other developers. This has outraged Linux developers because Linux is an open source platform. TomTom has countersued MS, saying that in fact MS has infringed on their patents. Wow what a mess.

Ballmer has eyes for yahoo!

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2009/tc20090319_464203.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_technology

After speaking with CEO of Yahoo! Ballmer sees a real opportunity for a deal. Referring back to the first artical that claims 85% use and are interested in internet search seems to indicate clearly why MS wants a search engine with some popularity. Currently, MS search capabilities have not found success, although they are rebranding their search capability to be Kumo. What is Kumo??? Would you Kumo it???

What are you all thinking about, send me mail or comments and lets talk!

-Wylie

Contract free iPhone

I am reading on CNET about the speculation that AT&T will offer the iPhone free of the two year contract. This is good news, but the price of the phone is $599-$699! Without the two year contract could we take the iPhone to another carrier?

Mobile and Location Based Wireless Presence

Presence is best described through the example of most Instant Messaging software. Simply put it is a way for software and systems to always know the availability of the users. This is also being extended to the wireless communications world with Push to Talk features on phones. I am thinking that it will need to used for any peer to peer application.

So, the question is how will this work. It especially becomes an interesting problem when the status of the peer is changing constantly, as would be in the case of location based peer to peer applications. It seems unreasonable to have the application constantly sending messages with a new status of the presence, but is that the way it gets done today? Is there a technology that enables presence?

Wireless Trends

After reading the CTIA Agenda I think I have come up with a list of wireless trends over the next 12-24 months. Here are some of the more interesting ones.

• The falling of the walls around the walled garden
• Peer to Peer applications that make use of GIS
• Mobile social networking

It will be interesting follow these trends and product developments over the next 1-2 years. For starters match up Apple's iPhone announcements with these trends. Hmmmm....

Killer Apps

I have been reading two good books lately by Tomi Ahonen.

• "Services for UMTS"
• "m-Profits"

I am really starting to understand the 6 Ms method of determining killer apps. I highly recommend the read. Here are the 6 Ms as described in these books.

1. Mobile: Must be mobile and enable the free movement of the user and service
2. Moment: Relevant to the time of day or delivered at the crucial moment
3. Money: Must generate money while delivering value
4. Me: The user wants what they want not what we want – My content, my services, my interests, supports my work needs, makes my life easier
5. Machines: Services must come in many different shapes, sizes, and colors. The must be usable from many different devices from home, the office, vehicle, phone, and more
6. Multi-User: Creates a sense of community. People want to belong to something, anything. Information travels and improves faster within a community

Frictionless Communications

Yesterday my eyes were open to the future of information communication and collaboration. While reading tweets from my some of my favorite techie tweeters I learned that Apple was about to host a special meeting for the press to announce the new iPhone OS 3.0. Lance Ulanoff a tweeter I was following was attending the meeting and decided to start blogging live on the event (complete with pictures). I was following Lance and others on twitter and his blog (http://live.appscout.com/2009/03/apple_iphone_os_30_announcemen.php). All in all this was very fun and I actually felt like I was learning new information real-time.

The point I am making is that in the advent of social media, which started with blogging, and has now advanced to sites like Twitter and Facebook, information is shared more easily. The sharing of data is refreshing. I hope this continues and that new technologies are developed on open platforms with open software so that anyone with a computer or phone can feel the power of frictionless communication and collaboration.

-wb