I have decided to give Quora a try. Normally I try to avoid the “next big thing” bandwagon, but I feel there is some real value and compelling content in this startup. You can check out my profile here.
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Is the iPad Killing the Netbook?
This chart has become one of the most discussed on the topic of iPads vs. netbooks.
Many pundits and commentators are debating whether or not the iPad is eating into netbook sales. Some studies indicate the iPad is the stake into the heart of the netbook (see here and here.) Others say this is typical Apple-inspired hyperbole (here and here).
Getting to the truth is tricky because tech commentary lately sounds too much like our political system: polarized into overly dogmatic camps who talk at, instead of to, each other. On the one hand are the Apple fanboys, who find Apple devices as items of worship and take pronouncements from Steve Jobs as if the Pope were speaking ex cathedra. Yet there are also the Apple haters, who compare every Apple product to a Fischer Price toy and think all Apple innovations were stolen from someone else.
Instead of listening to these warring factions we should interpret the data. It is fair to infer the massive growth experienced by netbooks is probably declining because most who wanted one have bought it. Most new products that achieve popularity have a spike in sales and then eventually decline.
Continue reading
Dear Google: Add Some Muscle to Docs
I spend a lot of my time in the Google ecosystem. I am a heavy user of Gmail, the Chrome browser, Calendar, Reader, Buzz, Picasa, and Docs. Yes, this pretty much means I am intellectual property of Google; but for now I am willing to live with the trade off because of the excellent interface and mobility these cloud-based products offer.
However, lately I’m finding the one hangup to all of this is Google Docs. For example, while Chrome is on a lightning-fast development pace (in just over a year they are already testing a version 5.0) Docs seems to be crawling along. This runs counter to many news reports that Docs would get significant improvements this year – making it a competitor to Microsoft’s Office suite. Most posts I see on the Google Docs blog are about some new template to help organize your NCAA bracket or plan a wedding – not a new feature release.
Docs is a great opportunity to get more users into the Google world. It makes being productive with the same series of documents between my desktop, laptop, and iPhone very easy. And now with the latest version of Documents To Go, I can edit and sync my docs (editing in the mobile browser is only available for Gooogle Spreadsheets). Continue reading
Google, Google, Buzz Buzz Buzz
Congratulations all 150 million Gmail users – you’ve just joined a social network. This is purely anecdotal, but most people I have come across this week are not all that thrilled with Buzz. The feeling is pretty much, “Great, another social network to follow.”
I too am a bit skeptical, though I understand what Google is trying to do. Its bread and butter is indexing the Internet and getting everyone online through using Google services. The social networking explosion has, for better or worse, left a bunch of the web out of Google’s clutches.
Personally Google’s index-the-universe aspirations make me a bit queasy, but I am a heavy user of their services and generally happy with the experience. And Google does tend to listen to user feedback pretty closely – Buzz was already tweaked recently to account for some privacy concerns. But by making Buzz a permanent part of Gmail, Google is showing it has pretty heavy aspirations for this service and hooking in new users.
I’ll follow the Buzz for now, but I am hopeful there is a way to turn it off in the future if the buzzing gets too loud.
iPhone App Roundup
One of the coolest writing gigs I have is reviewing iPhone apps for AppCraver. It gives me a chance to check out what is new and exciting (and sometimes lame) in the app universe. I thought I would give a run down of some of the apps I’ve had a chance to play with lately. Links to the reviews are included.
Awaken – This is a pretty cool app if you are bored of the alarm clock settings on the iPhone. I was especially a fan of picking any song from your music collection to wake up to.
Night Recorder – Part sleep aide, part spy tool. This app records even when your iPhone is on standby, meaning you can finally catch your partner’s snoring or those spirits that haunt the attic.
The Inferno – Dante’s Inferno is all the rage with the launch of the new video game, but this iPhone game avoids turning Dante into a weapon-wielding steroid mutant freak. It’s a nice puzzle game that I found to be quite addicting.
**Shameless self-promotion here: My web site performs quite well on your iPhone or Android device thanks to the WPtouch WordPress plugin (The above logo is the button it places on your iPhone if you save the bookmark). If you run a web site in WordPress and want a super easy way to create a great looking mobile site, I highly recommend it.
Excuse our dust…
I am doing a bit of tinkering with the site this week. So if you just landed here I apologize that everything is not as smooth and organized as I would like it. Things should be back to normal soon. 
The Island of Misfit Phones
I love my iPhone, but its only Achilles’ heel is AT&T’s shoddy network (though it is getting better). Which is why I thought this commercial was quite clever:
My Office Staff is Hard at Work Today
My First iPhone Video Upload to Youtube
This is a Fourth of July fireworks video I shot with my new iPhone 3G S. I thought the audio was quite good given that I was several blocks away from the site where the fireworks launched. This is going to be a handy tool.
TweetDeck arrives on iPhone
One of my favorite Twitter apps just launched an iPhone version. TweetDeck, though still in Beta, brings some order to the disorganized chaos of trying to follow people on Twitter. Its unique column view allows you to filter tweets by categories you establish. There is also Facebook integration (not yet on the iPhone version) so you can post to and read messages. I’m looking forward to toying around with this app. I’ll post an update when a review goes live on AppCraver.