I’m trying out the new, free email service from Google, Gmail. The big draw –in addition to “free”– is storage. A gigabyte. Which is a shit-load of email. The idea is you save ALL your email and use Googles great search tools to find stuff later. I’m not one of those that likes to save everything but I’ll reserve judgement.
I bought my first IBM Thinkpad in 1996. That was the year IBM introduced the 560 model, the first “ultraportable.” The little bugger is still working. In December of 2000 I replaced the 560 with an A21p. I told the IBM rep on the phone to give me “the biggest, baddest box you have.” The warranty on the A21p expired in later February and the mother board expired last weekend. A brand new Thinkpad R40 left Hong Kong overnight and is heading my way.
Thought about buying a Mac (for about 30 seconds) and decided to stick with what I know. Thinkpads are a little pricey but looking at the 10-year-old 560 over there on the couch reminds me why I keep coming back.
“Did you wake up late for work and you want your boss to think you’re caught in traffic? Select the Traffic Jam background and give him a call from your bedroom. He will hear your voice on top of (traffic sfx). Is one of your mates a chronic talker that just doesn’t know when to stop? Use the Phone Ring background and your friend will hear a phone ring 6 times, 15 seconds into the call. Tell him that your other phone is ringing and that you have to go. Pretend you’re at the dentist, in the park, on the street, caught in a thunderstorm, near heavy machinery or at a circus parade.”
I’ve been wanting one of these little doo-dads for a while and finally broke down. “The SanDisk Cruzer Mini is the fastest and easiest way to move your data. Cruzer Mini is Hi-speed USB 2.0 certified for fast data transfer (also compatible with USB 1.1). Store all your data, pictures, music and more on this pocket-sized device and then easily transfer files between your laptop and desktop.”
I really like this little add-on for Windows XP. Drop in a bunch of photos…put them in the order you want…add narration for any/all/none…lay some music under…and Photo Story squeezes it all down to a .wmv file that can be emailed. And my favorite part is the “Ken Burns” effect. Appears you’re panning or zooming the still images. Earlier this year a group from work toured Dallas Cowboys Stadium (or whatever the call it) and I took a wad of pictures. I did this little piece (2 minutes) in about half an hour. You’ll need latest version of Media Player to view (it’s a little over 2 meg). Part of the XP Digital Plus! package ($20)
A new report issued this week by Future Image predicts that “by mid-2004, sales of photo phones in the U.S. could exceed the combined total sales of digital and film cameras.” [Via Poynter Onlilne]
Usability expert Jakob Nielsen on PDF: “PDF is great for one thing and one thing only: printing documents. Paper is superior to computer screens in many ways, and users often prefer to print documents that are too long to easily read online. For online reading, however, PDF is the monster from the Black Lagoon. It puts its clammy hands all over people with a cruel grip that doesn’t let go.”
Beginning this fall, Microsoft plans to offer a new wireless information and messaging service that will run on evolving smart watch devices. The software company’s MSN Direct division says the service, which costs $9.95 a month, is geared to deliver customized information to a new category of watches. MSN Direct said the service would provide consumers with information including news, weather, sports scores, stock quotes, movies, dining, and games. Microsoft is expected to leverage some of its original content and existing media licensing arrangements in order to provide the data for the wireless watch information service. [InternetNews.com]
According to CyberJournalist, Google News beat out BBC News Online, MSNBC.com, Poynter’s Romenesko and allAfrica.com to win 2003 Webby Award for best news site. I’d sure like to be a fly on the wall at AP headquarters. I spent a few (pre-Web) years trying to develop and market an “alternative (to AP) wire service.” All of the news and information was “out there.” And there was no shortage of radio stations (our target market) hungry for the information. The challenge was connecting all the dots. We had a big old expensive satellite channel to move the information one way and we busted our hump to “aggragate” (I always liked that word) the information. But people just didn’t want to pay for information. At least, not very much. Fast forward a few years and damned near every newspaper in the world is putting some or all of their stuff online.
The big record labels tell me that although I paid for my copy of the Metallica CD, I can’t rip the songs to a CD and give it to a friend. While they might win this one, keeping me from sending a copy of today’s big news story to five friends (who each send it to five friends).
I always thought the most important part of the Associated Press wasn’t it’s reporters and editors but the “connectedness” of all those newspapers. A way for them to share the news they gathered. Can we agree that has changed forever?