2005/01/14
One way to get your Audiovox SMT5600 from Cingular
While Scoble has been raving about his phone, I have yet to see one in person. Speculation about whether Cingular will carry this phone or not is rampant among blogs. At least in the mean time, Smartphone Thoughts has a way for those who own the phone to convert the branding to Cingular, if they so desire.
2005/01/13
Where the business people roam...
I think the folks over at Wi-Fi Networking News are a wound a little too tight about EVDO, Wi-Fi and what business people need/want out of wireless connectivity. Their article, "Uh, Oh, Verizon Thinks EVDO Trumps Wi-Fi," talks about the bandwidth necessary to support various applications and still provide sufficient speed to its users. They make a few points like having video applications and large downloads over the same bandwidth will ruin it for the masses, an argument that we have seen and heard on the DSL and high speed cable fronts for some time.
While they made some good points, I think they are a little off on what a sterotypical "business user" is and what are their needs. My point of referrence is the law firm where I work as the IT Director. While attorneys (for the most part) are not the most technologically savvy people in the world, they know the value of being able to connect remotely to their office network. What do most of them want? Email access, plain and simple. Email, which is mostly text based, and requires very little bandwidth. Mind you, they would like this to be available to them everywhere, a la Blackberry.
While the attorneys travel, should the need arise to use our terminal server, they simply connect to the high speed network at their hotel, or use the Wi-Fi at the airport. Do the require the same everywhere access for that purpose. No. They are content to only use it where available.
So, while there are some excellent points in the article, I think they need to put into perspective who the average business user is (not necessarily a techno-phile, or techno-phobe), and what needs they really have for everywhere access.
While they made some good points, I think they are a little off on what a sterotypical "business user" is and what are their needs. My point of referrence is the law firm where I work as the IT Director. While attorneys (for the most part) are not the most technologically savvy people in the world, they know the value of being able to connect remotely to their office network. What do most of them want? Email access, plain and simple. Email, which is mostly text based, and requires very little bandwidth. Mind you, they would like this to be available to them everywhere, a la Blackberry.
While the attorneys travel, should the need arise to use our terminal server, they simply connect to the high speed network at their hotel, or use the Wi-Fi at the airport. Do the require the same everywhere access for that purpose. No. They are content to only use it where available.
So, while there are some excellent points in the article, I think they need to put into perspective who the average business user is (not necessarily a techno-phile, or techno-phobe), and what needs they really have for everywhere access.
2005/01/11
New Adobe bundle
Omar Shahine shows us a new Adobe bundle of Premiere Elements and Photoshop Elements 3.0. I went to BestBuy last night and found one copy left on the shelf. I'm tempted to try it out. I used Photoshop Elements 2.0 before and I like the album, which is similar to the Picasa software I am using now. I'm currently using Roxio's Easy CD & DVD Creator 6, and I'm not satisfied with the DVD burning capabilities. Read more about Adobe Premiere Elements 1.0 at Omar's blog.
Only one speaker necessary?
I'm a big fan of Yamaha equipment. My father's home theater system is all Yamaha; I have a Yamaha stereo system and speakers; I even had a Yamaha 6-head VCR once. The implications of this speaker unit boggle the mind. One speaker for surround sound -- hell, for your whole system! Read more over at Gizmodo : Yamaha YSP1 Released in Canada.
2005/01/10
Does the average user actually update their PC?
Mike McBride performed some Futher research on the new Microsoft anti-spyware that everyone is talking about lately. His observation was that it covered a lot of what XP Service Pack 2 did because he installed it on Windows 2000. That made me think about all the computers that I work on while I'm moonlighting. Based on the average user, meaning a person who is not very technically savvy, how many computers out there actually have XP SP2 installed? I am constantly installing it for users. I would say 90% of them have it downloaded, but none of them has actually clicked to install it.
This brings me to my point. If Microsoft is smart and they freely give this product to users, maybe, just maybe, we will see a squash put on 85% to 90% of the spyware that is out there. If you rely on the average user to install service packs to fix problems, problems will never get solved. A product like the MS anti-spyware will at least help users find and remove problems prior to installing service packs. Maybe the app should suggest that they install any missing service packs too.
This brings me to my point. If Microsoft is smart and they freely give this product to users, maybe, just maybe, we will see a squash put on 85% to 90% of the spyware that is out there. If you rely on the average user to install service packs to fix problems, problems will never get solved. A product like the MS anti-spyware will at least help users find and remove problems prior to installing service packs. Maybe the app should suggest that they install any missing service packs too.
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