mip's scan

mip's mid-week update - july 26

Good evening everyone.  You didn't think I'd forgotten you on this Wednesday did you?  No way!  I had good reason to put this show as a late night edition rather than the normal early edition....you'll just have to listen to the show to find out why?  I cover off some interesting items today like:

• Nike+iPod Sports Kit
• Garmin Forerunner 301
• NikePlus.com
• Motionbased
• OQO - My Initial Post on this device
• OQO - The Official Site
• OQO - I finally got to test this little PC...join me to see what I think
• Me Talking About my New Skype Phone and telling you about it's range
• An Apple tip for a reader who emailed me a question - How Do I Turn iTunes into an Alarm Clock on my Macbook?

I hope you enjoy the show.  As always, I'm enjoying informing and entertaining you.  Having fun with tech and getting value from it is what it is all about.  To download today's show just click on the link below or subscribe to it in iTunes.

Download midweek_update_july_26.mp3

Elements of Innovation - Continuing Thoughts

I'm back thinking about the topic of innovation.  The last piece I wrote on this seemed to spark some good discussion and the comments from you gave me new things to think about.  Then this last weekend, while up at the cottage sorting through boxes of books, I came across an old book of mine that I so enjoyed called Thriving on Chaos by Tom Peters.  The copy I have is well worn as I've read it numerous times.  After a busy day of re-organizing, I sat out back and began to read the book again.  A pleasure as always.  Then synchronisity struck.  A close parallel to another book I recent read, Rapid Results.

As I was reading Thriving on Chaos, I came across a great chapter called Invest in Applications-Oriented Small Starts.  On page 240 of that chapter there is a subsection titled The Unpredictability of Innovation Defeats Excessive Planning.   This rang true to me and linked back to what I was getting at in my prior post, namely, that innovation is best realized when you deliver things quickly.  Peters says, on page 240:

"The essence of successful innovation is, and always has been, constant experimentation.  Plans and basic research are important, but frequent test in small markets are more important." - Thriving on Chaos, Tom Peters, pg 240

I couldn't agree more.  Peters hit the nail on the head back in 1987 and now, almost 20 years later, we see that it remains true and that Rapid Results builds on this concept.  So in my last post I spoke about important elements for innovation like speed of delivery, partners, processes and leveraging technology.  Now I can add another one that should be evident in all the others and that is experimentation.  One of the people that posted a comment in my previous post (Jim) made reference to Edison's repeated failures in trying to develop the light bulb.  But with each passing failure he got closer to the success.  That comes through experimentation.  And that is why investing in small starts as Peters suggests is important, because it allows you to experiment but to mitigate risk.  If you are holding to rapid results, a failed experiment hasn't cost a lot of time or money.  When an initiative fails that has taken 8 months to try....well, the consequences inside an organization can be grave.  But something you've rapidly tried, something you crank out in days and weeks rather than months and years, doesn't cause the same negative ripples if it fails.  And the more of them you experiment with, the more likely you'll hit on something innovative. 

Video Skype Now Available for The Mac

I'm loving Skype.  You know that already.  Since I got my new vTech Skype phone as well it's been even better.  What I was still waiting for though was a version of Skype that didn't treat my beloved iMac and MacBook Pro as second class citizens.  The previous versions of Skype didn't allow for video conferencing if you were on a Mac which is a drag since all the new Macs have the built in iSight.  Well, the wait is over, the video version of Skype is now available in beta for the Mac. I downloaded it yesterday and carried out an international Skype call using it late last night and it worked perfectly.

Google Traffic

You can always tell when I've gotten really busy either at work or at home....or at times like this...at BOTH.  :-)  I've been keeping a running list of things to blog about and here is one that I think is awesome (and wish it was available in Canada...but it's not...yet).

You'll remember that some time ago, Google launched a nice little application for Mobile maps on your cellphone.  I use it on my Blackberry 8700.  Well, now it looks like they are adding live traffic status to this already excellent application. 

Highway traffic information is sent to the phone, with road conditions highlighted in three colors: -- red for congested, yellow or orange for slowdowns, and green for smooth sailing.

I find it interesting to see how real time data, not only in traffic but other areas, will change the way we behave.  This service sounds simple to use and effective because you can get the info when you need it (i.e., when you are in the car).  I look forward to seeing this roll out in the Greater Toronto Area at some point!

vTech Skype Phone

So I picked up a vTech Skype phone today and thought I'd blog about it.  This is a pretty neat little phone.  The base station plugs into one of my PCs where I have Skype running.  It also plugs into a regular telephone jack.  On the handset you can then decide how you'd like to call: out over the internet via Skype or out of the good old fashion public switched telephone network. 

With my family away now for the next week up at the cottage and me all by my lonesome it is great to be able to call them via Skype but not be tethered to my PC.  I was kicking back watching a movie, got a Skype call....the handset on the coffee table rang, I could see who it was, I answered and we chatted.  Seamless.  Then I called my family up at the cottege.  Pretty good given that there is no quality of service. I did get the occassional bit of background noise and delay but nothing terrible.  There was someo other noise but that may have simply been a nashing of teeth at Bell Canada which didn't get a red cent from me during that call.   Same with calling my parents, I simply dialed the number and pressed the little computer button on the telephone handset and placed a SkypeOut call which is currently free. Spoke for 30 minutes with my mom....cost....$0.00.  Beautiful.  It really is an amazing thing.  It would be even better if Skype would provide SkypeIn numbers in Canada so people from a landline could call me from their phone to my PC/Skype handset.  The day that happens the solution will be complete for me.

I also like how the handset alerts me and shows me the name of people in my contact list when they come online and go offline.  It is a nice touch.  So if you're looking for a way to make Skype even better, consider one of these handsets.  It'll change the way you use Skype for sure.

A Review of the Q

I had my doubts about the Motorola Q and to be honest I haven't tested this myself, but found a good write-up from Mark Evans.  He hits the nail right on the head as far as I'm concerned when he states

The "Q", however, suffers from trying to carve out a niche by being all things to all people. There are so many features that none of them stand out.

That was exactly how I felt about my Treo 650 and that is why when faced with a choice, I went back to Blackberry and got the 8700.   You have to decide what the core function or purpose of your device is going to be.  For me, it is email.  Everything else is secondary.  So email has to work perfectly and on the 8700 it does. 

Great review Mark.  Thanks.

mip's mid-week update - july 19th

So nice to have you join me here again as we hit the middle of the week.  I've got a few things to talk about in today's show that I've been mulling over for the past few days since we last spoke.  Listen to today's show to hear my thoughts on:

• Google Checkout and the many stores that have signed up so far.
• Getting ready to kick-off a video-blog (vlog) or vidCast.  Somewhat of an experiment and nothing to announce yet, but I have started my research on a delivery mechanism for vidCasts and thought I'd share my thoughts on MoveDigital.  Here as well is the service matrix I reference in today's show
• Apple Movie Rental Service....would it work?
• Sony Offering Movies on MemorySticks for PSP's
• Parallels Virtualization Software for the Mac - Showing Up On Shelves Soon!

I really hope you enjoy today's show.  You can download it by clicking on the link Download midweek_update_july_19.mp3 or you can subscribe to this show in iTunes as well. 

Enjoy!

CNN Pipeline

I've had the opportunity to trial a great online video service from CNN called Pipeline.  It is a 14 day trial and then costs $2.95 month after that, or you can pay $24.95 for the year.  This gives you commercial free access to some great content, both live and archived, from CNN.  Here's what they say on their site about the service.

The CNN Pipeline Premium Player puts you in control of the news. CNN Pipeline empowers you to watch up to four live news streams at once, changing streams at any time with a single click. Our free video player only allows you to view one video at a time. Additionally, while our free video contains commercial advertisements, CNN Pipeline offers commercial free access to video content on demand, including free video, with multiple features for ease in searching and browsing. Our extensive archive, not available through the Free Video Player, gives you unlimited access to search and browse CNN.com's online video library.

I really like the applicaiton they've built and have you download.  It's a nice clean app, great user interface and easy to use.  You can of course use a thin client version as well but if you use the downloaded app you can then make the window small (mini-mode) and pin it to the desktop so you can hear & watch the news while you work.   The video archive give you access to 50,000 videos (that's 2000 hours!) that you can browse or search.  I've include a screen capture from my computer for you to check it out.  For more details you can click here.

Microsoft And Yahoo Messaging Apps Play Nice

If you're like me you love instant messaging applications like Windows Live, Yahoo, Google Talk, ICQ, etc., etc., etc. The problem to date has been having to have many different messaging applications because your buddies, co-workers and family all used different messaging platforms. 

So it is really nice to that the interoperability between Microsoft's Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger has finally been made a reality.  I think that it will drive further innovation in the instant messaging application that we see coming out.  People will use a particular instant messaging client over another because the like the value, the features and user interface over over similar applications, rather than using a messaging client just because they have contacts on thier list and are "locked into" using the application.  Now if you prefer Yahoo Messenger over Windows Live Messenger...go ahead use the Yahoo application but still have access to your friends who are using Windows Live Messenger.  It is all about choice for the end user and I like that.  Sure there were other solutions already out there like Trillian for Windows or Adium on a Mac but I never liked using those applications because while they integrated your buddy lists well, they did a poor job of retaining the robust features and user interface that the actual instant messaging client provide so well.

Now what I hope is that we see further interoperability deals being done so we can leverage our contacts from other messaging platforms as well.  To hear more on this topic you can listen to my 5 minute segment that I did on Leading Edge Technology.

mip's mid-week update

Hello dear listeners.  Welcome, welcome to the middle of the week here at mip's scan where we are set for another mid-week update!  Today's show is a little shorter since last week's was much longer.  But we've got some quality topics here (LOL) that will inform and entertain you.

• Skype - Free International Calling Now Too?
• The Argo - Microsoft's iPod Killer
• Controlling the product experience from start to finish
• Excellent Mac switching guide for those of you moving from a PC to a Mac
• With virtualization on a Mac does it matter if it is a Windows or Mac application you are using
• Bloglines - Everything keeps coming up un-read - WTF?

Hope you all enjoy the show, which you can download by clicking on the link Download midweek_update_july_12.mp3 or you can subscribe to this show in iTunes as well.