Sunday, June 17, 2007
Introduction to Abject-Oriented Programming
read more | digg story
If you know nothing about HTML, this is where you start
read more | digg story
Youtube Mobile, now live to the public.
read more | digg story
Friday, June 15, 2007
16 Steps to Creating a Bulletproof Startup
read more | digg story
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Ruby on Rails Rake Tutorial (aka. How Rake turned me into an alchoholic)
read more | digg story
How to make Windows Mobile more like Windows
read more | digg story
The Ultimate RSS Toolbox - 120+ RSS Resources
read more | digg story
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Prove Your Knowledge at Windows Mobile Training Website
read more | digg story
How to Check RSS Feeds on Your Phone
- Bloglines (http://www.bloglines.com/mobile)
- Feedalot (http://www.feedalot.com)
- Litefeeds (http://www.litefeeds.com)
- RSSHome (http://www.rsshome.com)
Coke promoting a MySpace for cellphones
read more | digg story
New Streaming Application - Radio365
read more | digg story
Mail For Exchange 1.6 Available
read more | digg story
Google promises mobile software platform to challenge Windows
read more | digg story
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Asus Eee PC 701 to take on the Foleo and NanoBook
read more | digg story
A New Display Lengthens Gadget Life By Up To 50 Percent Longer
read more | digg story
Google PageRank: What Do We Know About It?
read more | digg story
Everything you ever wanted to know about video codecs.
read more | digg story
Friday, June 08, 2007
MIT Cracks The Code of Déjà Vu
read more | digg story
Thursday, June 07, 2007
HTC launches smartphone to challenge the Apple iPhone
read more | digg story
Democracy Player 0.9.6 Released!
read more | digg story
A Grant from Mozilla to Democracy Player
read more | digg story
Sunday, June 03, 2007
View Your Google Calendar on Your Mobile Device
link
Mobile phone rays paralyse cars
Link
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Mahalo - We're here to help
read more | digg story
Mahalo - We're here to help
read more | digg story
Palm Foleo
" With its 10-inch screen and full-size keyboard, the Palm Foleo mobile companion connects wirelessly with your smartphone to help you do more on the go. Unfold it, press a button, and it's on instantly—while just one touch brings your email to the big screen.1 Use your Foleo to view attachments, type longer emails, or to get a bigger look at web pages and photos you'd normally view on your smartphone. And with up to five hours of battery life packed into such a compact design, you'll do big things wherever you go."
The top 10 presentations on scaling websites
read more | digg story
26 Reasons Why What You Think is Right is Wrong
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A Search Engine, Better Than Google
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Sunday, May 27, 2007
9 Driving Secrets from Police Officers
read more | digg story
How Big is AppExchange? The Salesforce.com Guessing Game
read more | digg story
Friday, May 25, 2007
10 Tips for Mastering E-mail Overload
read more | digg story
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
The Market Function of Piracy
read more | digg story
PC World's Best Products of 2007
read more | digg story
Nokia Beta Labs releases GizmoProject S60 Voip/IM mobile client
With a WLAN connection you are able to use all the features, and IM and presence are available even when you are connected over 2G or 3G.
You will first need to install the Nokia Internet Services Support Package available on the download page before installing the Gizmo for S60 client. Also note that the client needs to be installed on the main memory.
link
HTC takes a gamble with new brand and OS strategy
read more | digg story
Mobile TV will reach 244 million by 2011, says report
TV enabled handsets will reach a staggering 244 million devices by 2011, according to a new report.
This is almost double the number previously forecast, and was reached by a detailed look into the likely mobile TV launch dates and the uptake rate expected in 55 countries.
The report was published in the US by Multimedia Research Group, but was written by Rethink Research Associates in the UK. It shows the rapid increase anticipated in handsets annually, with huge leaps during 2009 especially (see graph below), when 53 million broadcast TV enabled handsets are expected to ship.
"There are over 80 mobile TV trials all over the world and already there are a handful of services launched. The bulk of those trials are already committed to turn into genuine services, in some cases with a nationwide footprint, in other countries in limited regions," said report author Peter White, principal analyst at Rethink.
"This forecast is not including video services which are streamed over a cellular network, because that has largely been a slow burn business, due to its low screen resolution and the careful management it needs so that it doesn't interfere with voice. Most of these new handsets will deliver QVGA quality screens, where voices and lips are synchronised, where there is no shadowing on the screen, and where the resolution is good enough to watch for 30 minutes at a time and beyond," White said.
Initiatives in Japan and South Korea have been launched for some time using technologies which are largely unfavoured in the rest of the world, but last year Italy launched two DVB-H based services and now Qualcomm's MediaFLO is aggressively going after the US market with deals that take in Verizon Wireless and AT&T as resellers.
Around 80 pilots have been carried out globally and the trickle of current services will reach a torrent of some 50 to 60 services during 2009, led by developments in China and Asia Pacific, where the report says 105 million handsets will ship. It says this will be followed by strong showings in Western Europe and the US, which will ship 73 million and 40 million mobile TV capable handsets by 2011 respectively.
According to the report, service revenues from the global mobile TV market will exceed $24bn annually by 2011, with Western Europe likely to lead in revenue terms at over $10bn, followed by the USA and Canada at $7.7bn, and China and the Far East lagging at $5bn, despite higher usage levelsMillions of Chinese Hit by Symantec Foul-Up
read more | digg story
Monday, May 21, 2007
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Top Ten Sources of Interruptions
read more
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
What I Learned
If it’s any help to other entrepreneurs
- Make no assumptions when it comes to roles and responsibilities. “Someone’s gotta call quittin’ time.”
- Communication between partners is mandatory. And you cannot communicate with someone who is not communicating with you.
- Decisions aren’t decisions if you have to keep making them. Set on the course and stick to it. If you keep talking about things that have already been decided, nothing will ever get done.
- When someone says one thing, but acts in a contradictory way, you have a choice between believing their words or believing their deeds. Believe their deeds.
- Never let anyone tell you what you want. When someone says, “You don’t want that,” what they really mean is, “I don’t want you to have that.”
- Don’t stay where you’re not wanted, respected, or happy. Even if it’s your company.
Shaping the Future
read more
Shortcuts for Special Gmail Labels
^b chats
^f sent mail
^i inbox
^k trash
^r draft
^s spam
^t starred messages
^u unread mail
That means our query could become: l:^i l:^u. What about all the unread messages that aren't in the inbox? Search for: -l:^i l:^u.
read more
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Comparing 5 Ways to Tag Videos
read more
Friday, May 11, 2007
Bored Mathematician Discovers An Unusual Numerical Pattern While Doodling
read more
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Learn to Ruby: 74 Quality RoR Resources and Tutorials
read more
Ultimate Web 2.0 Layer Styles - Free Download
read more
DIY Electric Bicycle
read more
IPv6 firewalling knows no middle ground
Link
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Absolutely HUGE List of Color Related Sites!
read more
Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded Edition announced
read more
100+ Ubuntu Tutorials and Growing Fast!
read more
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Microformats: What They Are and How To Use Them
read more
Saturday, May 05, 2007
PhoneTunes - Series60
PhoneTunes provides an Apple iTunes interface for a Smartphone, allowing you to control your music collection from the comfort of your phone.
linkHutchison Australia Shareholders Approve A$2.85 Billion Raising
"Hutchison Australia, which competes with Telstra and Singapore Telecommunications's Optus unit, will use proceeds to pay down debt related to its third-generation mobile phone network to around A$1.1 billion.
The group, which reported a 2006 net loss of A$759.4 million, expects the lower debt position to slash A$250 million a year off its interest bill"
with only "one million" customers that is $2,850 per customer.. they do not even get that much in ARPU
Friday, April 27, 2007
HP ‘Always Connected’ Concepts



The HP Mobile Innovations Tour is a showcase of concepts around the future of mobile communications. The world’s current mobile environment continues to grow more complex. Today’s notebooks, mobile phones, PDAs and digital cameras all continue to add more features, more options and more wireless technologies.
The industrial design behind these concepts strives for extraordinary simplicity, elegance and ease of use that result in an “insanely simple” customer experience.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
RIM Announces New BlackBerry Application Suite for Windows Mobile-based Devices
The old you can't beat the then join them trick. When will Nokia follow?
Link
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Nokia widgets??
Will confuse most end users out there, basicly I run a RSS reader on my phone unlike most people I know I use RSS on my phone. Not only has Nokia tried to push out this new medium to the people arround me, but they are going against the trend with a walled garden approach.
Yes Nokia I applaud you for releasing more software but this is a case of too soon and the wrong way, there will be alot of criticism towards Nokia over this one.
Link
Intel plans to deliver $500 mobile Internet devices
Computer, and Elektrobit to form the Mobile Internet Device Innovation Alliance (MIDIA). They are planning to make a low power device for less than US$500. With WiMax and Adobe's Apollo multimedia platform for offline Internet apps, and will be capable of running either Vista or Linux.
This is the next generation of PC which will replace the phone and PC that we have today.
Link
Nokia Beta Labs
Nokia Beta Labs is a site for early testing of Nokia applications that are not yet in wide distribution.
The current set of applications on Nokia Beta Labs include a few applications previously covered on e-series.org: Mobile Codes, Wellness Diary, Sports Tracker and Widsets.
Head over to the Nokia Beta Labs - try out some application.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
American subscribers will prefer WiMAX
The analytical company In-Stat carried out a survey, which revealed that American subscribers prefer WiMAX services to cellular data or Wi-Fi. The survey was conducted with over 1200 respondents earlier this year. The analysts say that WiMAX’s ability to support services with notebook cards and USB-devices will become a reality this year. The combination of mobile and fixed capabilities will help WiMAX providers to differentiate broadband services from what is currently available.
Besides In-Stat reveled the following:
- Over 50% of respondents would change their current broadband provider for one that offers wireless with a home broadband service.
- Respondents' interest in cellular data transfer dropped when they learn the pricing.
- Top attributes used in choosing a wireless broadband provider, when not factoring in price, were availability and reliability.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
BlackBerry Down
By midmorning Eastern Time today most BlackBerry users in the Western Hemisphere found that the push e-mail service had recovered from the outage that began last night. The longer-term ramifications of the massive shutdown for the maker of the popular smartphone, however, could be broader and more troubling.
The facility that serves as a hub for RIM's North American traffic, routing messages between the roughly 8 million BlackBerry devices now in use and the various sources of email, from private corporate servers to web-based accounts like Yahoo and AOL.
Yahoo News
Itnews
Free Task Manager and Registry Editor for Windows Mobile 5.0 devices
DotFred, a developer at Buzznet has developed a free all in one task manager, registry editor and network utility for Windows Mobile 5.0 devices.
New tools added:
-Ping utility
-IP config
-Net Stats
-Registry Editor
-cut/copy/paste included
-reg file extension associated
-find returns all occurences
-import reg files
-export to reg files
New features added:
- Terminate process under CPU usage
- Terminate thread under Process/Details
- Allows a service to be started manually (so not started after a soft reset)
- Allows to disable/enable a notification
Qantas in-flight SMS and Email trial
The carrier first flagged plans to conduct the trial in August. Telstra, Panasonic Avionics and AeroMobile will be part of the exercise.
Qantas said passengers wanting to send or receive an SMS will need international roaming activated, and a GSM mobile phone. To send or receive e-mail messages, a GPRS-enabled device would do.
"We have asked our business travellers about the concept, [and] the overwhelming majority felt the service was a good idea, particularly e-mail access. This evaluation is the first step towards building a product which will support our customers' business and communication needs into the future," Lesley Grant, Qantas group general manager (Customer Product and Services), said in a statementlink
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
How to Have a Business Conversation
In the course of climbing the corporate ladder, or of just managing the little corner of the world you occupy, you have to communicate with people. It's not always easy, but you have to do it.
link
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Intel to launch Linux-powered mobile
Link to Zdnet
Friday, April 13, 2007
China Mobile Subscribers Surpass Total US Population
This is one reason I think that the current ICT market is just a tip of the iceberg as the China market will dictate pricing to the rest of the world in the years to come.
Nokia Announces Open C SDK Plug-In Availability for S60 Devices
Palm developing own OS - again

Palm is to build its own handheld operating system, combining a Linux foundation with the regular Palm OS look and feel. Work is clearly progressing: devices equipped with the new OS are due later this year, the company's CEO, Ed Colligan, said this week.
If all this sounds familiar, it's because it's the approach PalmSource, the Palm OS development company later acquired by Japan's Access, adopted earlier this decade. It decided to base future incarnations of the Palm OS - versions 6.0 and onward - on a Linux core surmounted by the famliar Palm user interface.
Link
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Where RSS is going.. Forward
Link
Samsung UpStage
Slim, Dual-Faced Form
Music (and Everything Else) Player 1.3 Megapixel Camera Stereo Bluetooth® Wireless Technology |
Link
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Sprite offer DM with mobile wipe
The software cannot be uninstalled without a user selected password. If the device is ever lost, simply send a SMS from a previously specified “partner” phone and you can have the device locked. You can also go one step further, and send a “wipe” text message that will erase the entire contents of the phone, including everything on the memory card.
If, on the other hand, your phone is stolen, and the thief changes the SIM card, you will automatically get a SMS on the designated partner phone so the user will know the new number. You can also find out the recent call activity to help track your phone down.
Link
HTC Shift.. nice laptop or phone
* VIA CPU (the one we tried had a 1.2GHz chip)
* Vista business (yes, it was running Aero)
* 7-inch sliding, tiling wide-touchscreen
* 30GB drive
* Tri-band UMTS / HSDPA, quad-band GSM / GPRS / EDGE
* WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0
* Biometric reader, front-facing camera
Watch your TV from anywhere
X-series with Orb
Oh as for Orb fantastic you setup the cient on your PC at home point it to which ever folders you want to share and login from any where, on your it will steam the media so you don't need to wait for it to download. You can get all types of data from your home network where ever you have internet conection, with X-seires that means everywhere.
MS finaly gets it. Deepfish
Link
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Sync your calendar to gmail
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Mobile or is it a Laptop
At present, many mobile phone manufacturers are already into that challenge. If you know about the HTC mobile phone from Advantage, it looks like a small laptop but you can fold it up and use it as a phone. And at Cebit T-Mobile from Germany showed off its Ameo which is a mobile phone with a screen measuring 13 centimeters and comes with a drive with 8 gigabytes. The time has come that mobile phones have turned into PCs, I do not mind it at all.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
WM to support USB host
Seiko Epson Corp. (Epson) is developing sample Windows CE 6.0 drivers for its S1R72V family of high-speed USB2.0-compatible controller chips. The first such driver, for the S1R72V17 controller chip, is now available, the company says.The S1R72V17 is a low-power USB2.0 interface controller that implements both host and device functions. The device supports USB2.0 data transfer rates of "HS" (480 Mbps), "FS" (12 Mbps), and "LS" (1.5 Mbps), for both host and device function operation, according to Epson.This sample driver is unique in that it can be connected to a mouse, keyboard, hub, and to storage equipment in order to effortlessly set up a development environment on a CEPC device, eliminating the need to establish a specialized development platform environment. By launching this new sample driver for Windows(R) Embedded CE 6.0, Epson has further expanded its lineup of sample drivers for USB controller LSI products in an effort to support customers in their development activities.
Key features of the driver, as listed by Epson, include:
1) USB2.0 host functions
- Supports HS (480 Mbps), FS (12 Mbps), and LS (1.5 Mbps) transfer rates
- Supports control, bulk, and interrupt transfer
- Compatible with CEPC PCI bus
- Compatible with test mode
- Supports multichannel
- Supports mass storage class
- Supports hubs (compatible with multistage connection)
- Supports HID
- Supports CDC
2) USB2.0 device functions
- Supports HS (480 Mbps), FS (12 Mbps), and LS (1.5 Mbps) transfer rates
- Supports control, bulk, interrupt, and isochronous transfer
- Supports Endpoint 0 in addition to five general Endpoints (for bulk/interrupt/isochronous transfer)
- Compatible with CEPC PCI bus
- Compatible with test mode
- Supports serial class (ActiveSync can be used)
- Supports mass storage class
TiVo Launches Remote Scheduling With Verizon Wireless
TiVo and Verizon Wireless bring consumers the convenience of scheduling television recordings while away from the living room. Whether you are away from home or discussing TV at the water cooler, all that is needed is a select Verizon Wireless Get It Now-enabled handset to schedule recordings on your TiVo box.
TiVo Mobile scheduling uses the award-winning TiVo interface to give subscribers the ability to easily search for and browse through listings to find shows that they want to record. Subscribers to the TiVo Mobile scheduling service will also have access to premium entertainment content that is updated daily, including a customizable channel lineup, the most popular and most recorded shows and a current list of recommendations from TiVo.
Nokia steps closer to to WIMAX network in the USA
"Nokia will deploy WiMAX infrastructure, including the Nokia Flexi WiMAX Base Station, at sites throughout the four Texas markets, enabling Sprint Nextel to deliver wireless Internet broadband access to consumers, businesses and governments. Service is expected to commence in the Texas markets during the first half of 2008. Sprint Nextel's mobile WiMAX network intends to cover 100 million people nationwide by the end of 2008."
Link
Saturday, March 10, 2007
gSyncit for Microsoft Outlook
Link
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Windows Mobile 6 SDK Now Available for Download
link
Google released a Google Maps client for Windows Mobile
You can download it directly to your device from: http://google.com/gmm/
The application can also show a traditional looking street map, locations of businesses, real-time traffic for certain cities, and driving directions. I’m very impressed by what I’ve seen. I hope we see more native Windows Mobile apps from Google in the future.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
E-mail best practices
These days, e-mail is used by just about everyone. Unfortunately, a lot of users out there don't use it right, flirting with security risks, consuming excessive bandwidth, and practicing lousy etiquette. Here are some basic e-mail usage guidelines to help your users handle their e-mail responsibly and to safeguard your organisation.
1. Prevent virus outbreaks and spam
Viruses are often spread through e-mail. You can greatly reduce the spread of e-mail viruses by using antivirus software, using only e-mail services that offer automatic antivirus protection (such as AOL, Google, Hotmail, and Yahoo), opening e-mail only from trusted sources, opening only attachments you're expecting, and scanning attached files with antivirus software before opening them.
Spam is loosely defined as unsolicited bulk e-mail and loosely correlates to the junk mail that turns up in your home mailbox. But spam represents more than unwanted clutter. It clogs e-mail accounts -- and networks and servers -- while trying to sell products, spread jokes, or propagate Internet hoaxes.
Reduce the amount of spam you receive by being cautious where you post your e-mail address. Avoid publishing your e-mail address on Web sites or submitting it to every site or organisation that requests it.
Never forward chain messages, which often reveal coworkers' and colleagues' e-mail addresses to other parties. Use caution when accepting e-mail offers or agreeing to accept mailings from vendors; subscribe only to Web sites and newsletters you really need and consider creating a generic Hotmail or Yahoo e-mail account for these subscriptions.
Don't open unsolicited e-mail. If you accidentally open spam, don't click links offering to unsubscribe or remove you from the mailing list unless the sender is a trusted vendor.
2. Avoid phishing attacks
Phishing scams are designed to steal consumers' personal information. They often use doctored and fraudulent e-mail messages to trick recipients into divulging private information, such as credit card numbers, account usernames, passwords, and even tax file information.
Online banking and e-commerce are generally safe, but you should always be careful about divulging personal and corporate information over the Internet. Phishing messages often boast real logos and appear to have come from the actual organisation, but those messages are frequently nothing more than copyright infringements and faked addresses. If you suspect a message possesses any credibility, you are much safer calling the company directly -- preferably at a telephone number printed on a paper statement or invoice -- and talking to an authorised representative.
3. Manage your Inbox
Sort messages by priority, subject, date, sender, and other options to help find important e-mail that requires your attention. Proper e-mail etiquette dictates that you respond to all e-mail in a timely fashion. Generally speaking, you should respond to all professional e-mail within a business day, even if it's just to say you've received the message and will look into the matter. Occasionally, you may receive an e-mail thread that contains responses from several people; always read the entire thread before responding.
4. Compose professional messages
It's easy to convey the impression that you're unprofessional or careless if you don't follow some basic principles of good business writing. Make sure you follow proper grammar and sentence structure when composing and responding to messages and use a spell checker. Don't type in all capital letters -- it creates the effect of shouting. Break your message into paragraphs for logic and readability.
Before clicking the Send button, give it a final once-over. Reread the entire e-mail, checking it for grammatical errors, punctuation mistakes, and typos. You'll be amazed at what you catch. Also make sure your tone is appropriate for the message.
5. Write effective subject lines
Writing subject lines can be tricky, but you should always include one. The goal is to summarise the message without being too wordy or too vague. Long subjects tend to be skimmed or ignored, and they don't always fully display in e-mail viewers. For best readability, use sentence case for subject lines rather than all caps:
Agenda for meeting on 3/29/07
Not
AGENDA FOR MEETING ON 3/29/07
6. Properly use CC and BCC
The carbon copy (CC) and blind carbon copy (BCC) features found in most e-mail clients allow you to send copies of an e-mail to others you need to keep informed but who aren't necessarily the primary recipients.
When copying others, be certain the e-mail message pertains to them. If you use e-mail address lists, verify that all of the members of the list should receive the e-mail, too, and remove those who don't need to be included. And use the BCC feature sparingly. If sensitive topics require BCCing others, it may be best to take the matter offline and discuss it in person.
7. Obey etiquette rules when forwarding messages
Before you forward an e-mail, make sure that all recipients need to receive the message. In addition, be careful when forwarding sensitive or confidential information. Never forward proprietary information to external audiences or to unauthorised recipients. Before clicking the Send button, review whether a message's contents are appropriate for each listed recipient.
8. Don't be a party to a flame war
Flame wars are heated e-mail exchanges that are more emotional than reasoned, and they have no place in professional communications. If you receive a flame or suddenly find yourself in a flame war, take a little time before responding, if you respond at all. Think about the situation and reply rationally not emotionally.
You may also decide not to reply but to deal with the issue in person. Often, flame wars are started because of a simple misunderstanding. An ill-phrased comment (or even a well phrased one) can be misconstrued by a recipient, who then fires off a salvo in response. Instead of replying, go talk to the person and discuss the message. If talking with the person doesn't end the problem, involve a manager for assistance in resolving the issue offline.
9. Protect e-mail addresses
Don't divulge your coworkers' e-mail addresses to vendors, friends, or others outside the organisation. Verify that recipients listed in the To and CC fields should be receiving messages and that you won't be revealing others' e-mail addresses in the process. Don't post your or coworkers' e-mail addresses on Internet forums or bulletin boards, on Usenet groups, in chat rooms, or in other public areas.
Here are a couple of simple ways to help keep others' e-mail addresses private. First, use the BCC feature when you need to hide their e-mail addresses from external audiences. Second, delete their addresses from messages you forward. It takes only a few moments and will reduce the chances of coworkers' e-mail addresses proliferating in the wild.
10. Be smart about handling attachments
E-mail attachments consume inordinate amounts of e-mail server space and network bandwidth and are often the culprits behind virus outbreaks -- but they're often the easiest way to transfer files. Just be sure to follow these guidelines when e-mailing attachments:
- Don't attach large files to an e-mail; anything over one or two megabytes shouldn't be sent via e-mail.
- Limit the number of files you attach to a message to five or fewer.
- Save attachments to your hard drive and then delete the e-mail message containing the attachment.
- Don't open unexpected attachments or those sent by unknown parties.
- Always scan files with an antivirus program before opening an attachment. Never click an attachment without first confirming that it's virus-free.
- Don't annoy recipients by forwarding attachments they can't access. If an attachment requires a new or less-common application, say so in your message.
11. Don't include sensitive or potentially embarrassing information
Don't make the mistake of thinking your e-mails are private. They're not. Think of them as postcards. You should never include any information in an e-mail that you wouldn't want published on the front page of your local newspaper. In other words, never send confidential, proprietary, sensitive, personal, or classified information through e-mail. You should also refrain from making inflammatory, emotionally charged comments in e-mail.
12. Know when to use e-mail (and when not to)
Businesses provide e-mail for professional, business-related use, not for jokes, gossip, or chain e-mails. Also remember that you shouldn't send an e-mail to do a conversation's work. Complicated subjects are often difficult to explain face to face, much less in an e-mail. Instead of firing off a complicated explanation via e-mail, set up a short meeting to address the issue in person.
E-mail is also a poor stand-in for conversation when conducting critical, difficult, and/or unpleasant discussions, such as issues related to human resources matters. Touchy communications are best handled in person.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Steps to create better meeting
- Make sure the meeting has a clear purpose. If I could scream this, I would: “What is the purpose of this meeting?” If you can’t define the purpose clearly, or you’re obfuscating it in order to get me into the meeting then shame on you.
- Avoid suspense. There’s no place in meetings for suspense. Whether you’re delivering bad news or good news - just get to the point. You can explain all the circumstances of your news after the fact, but don’t keep people sitting around waiting.
- Document what’s going on. The best thing about a meeting is not remembering what was talked about 5 minutes after it was finished. I suppose to avoid pointless meetings I could say, “be remarkable and memorable” but barring that, pick one person as secretary and have them distribute their notes later on.
- Avoid distractions. Every meeting has at least one guy that’s distracted by something. He’s looking at his computer screen, staring out the window, signaling to people walking by the conference room, or picking his nose. Boot his butt out of there, he’s Mr. Pointless Meeting.
- Have an agenda. This won’t work for impromptu meetings, but an agenda is a very good way to keep people on track. Distribute it beforehand. Don’t ask for everyone’s approval. If you do, and don’t get it, you’ll have a harder time following the agenda. Agendas are an opt-out effort; if someone doesn’t put in suggestions or request changes (or respond in any way) they’ve - by default - accepted the agenda.
- Avoid regular meetings if there’s no agenda. Following point #4, if you’re having a regular, weekly meeting but there’s no agenda, why have the meeting? If you say “habit” then poke yourself in the eye. Meetings aren’t meant to satisfy your need for organization and habitual, mindless behaviors; they’re there to solve problems.
- Schedule something critical right after. If you have the sense that a meeting may be pointless schedule something important right after. Tell the attendees as soon as you get in there, so you’ve got an escape route setup. You could always fake it, or even have someone call you during the meeting to get out, but it’s much more effective if you legitimately have to move on. It’ll help you keep others focused, moving through the agenda and accomplishing something.
Wireless doorbell rings you in
The wireless doorbell allows apartment dwellers, home owners, and small businesses to answer their doorbell, talk to visitors, and even open the door remotely with their GSM phones.
The GSM Doorbell consists of four parts: an intercom, an electronic lock, a GSM-enabled doorbell, and a SIM (subscriber identification module) for the GSM device.
When someone presses the doorbell device, it rings your handset, allowing you to communicate with visitors and, by entering a pincode, to grant them access to your home, all without having to leave your location.
The technology can be useful when dealing with delivery people, door-to-door solicitors, and many others who need or want to stop by. And you don't have to worry about locking yourself out of the house or apartment again because the machine will recognize your mobile's number and unlock the door for youLink
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Google VP: Mobile phones the future of the Internet
The future growth of the Internet lies in the hands of mobile phone users, not computers, according to Google Vice President Vinton Cerf. Speaking in Bangalore, India this morning, Cerf said to reporters that while the Internet population has exploded from 50 million to 1.1 billion since 1997, it still only reaches a sixth of the world's population.
The only way to reach the remaining 5.5 billion people on the planet will be to make it more affordable to access the Internet, according to Cerf. Internet access via mobile phone has been slowly gaining momentum in developed countries—over 50 percent of those surveyed toward the end of 2005 had used at least one data service on their phones. However, such mobile access could be the key to quickly getting large populations in developing countries online due of the marginal cost of a mobile phone compared to a computer.
Friday, February 16, 2007
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