The new iPhone 3G and iPod Touch with the 2.0 software upgrade include much new functionality. You can now run embedded YouTube videos from Safari. When you are browsing a web site that has an embedded video and click on it to play it, the video is passed to the YouTube player on the device. This is a welcome improvement.

Another improvement is that when you are entering a URL like: http://www.alonso.com into the Safari browser, you can now enter the “.com” or other extensions like “.net” and “.edu” by pressing and holding down the “.com” button at the bottom of the on screen keyboard. It will present you with a menu that allows you to make the correct selection. This is an improvement over the previous software that only had the “.com” shortcut. I consider this a great time saver.

You can now save pictures that you see on a web site by touching the picture and holding your finger on it. An option for saving the picture is displayed. If you press it, the picture is saved to a folder called, “Saved Photos.” You can later copy it from the device when you connect to your PC using a USB cable. Your computer will now treat your iPhone or iPod Touch as a hard drive. Unfortunately, Apple does not allow two way copies. You cannot write to the drive with the photos–only read from it and copy the pictures to your PC.

You may also find the ability to take screen shots of the device useful. Let’s say you are on a web site with some graph or news that you want to capture. You can do so by pressing the “Home” key followed by the “Sleep/Wake” button on the top of the screen. This will save an image of the screen to the “Saved Pictures” folder.

This is great software. Enjoy!

Robert Alonso
Alonso Consulting

On Friday, July 11th, I dutifully upgraded my iPod Touch to version 2.0. This new version includes almost all the software functionality that is found in the new iPhone 3G. The only missing items are the phone, camera and the new GPS hardware. I was primarily interested in the Exchange Server technology. If you have read this blog before, you know that I think that Windows Mobile 6.x software is lame. I have been looking for a better solution that synchronizes as e-mail is delivered, contacts changed or appointments made. The new iPod Touch software delivers exceptionally and it does so for a $9.95 upgrade price.

I have only used it for a day, so there will be more detailed posts in the future. My testing so far has revealed that the software synchronizes with an Exchange Server remarkably well. It can use the push or fetch method for getting your information. When you get e-mails, the mail icon on the home page of your device tells you how many messages you have received. You click on the icon with your finger and start reading your e-mails by clicking on a mail item with your finger and navigating through the message with finger motions. All e-mail messages are displayed in their full HTML. You can magnify a message if it looks too small by using two fingers to expand away from a center point. The converse motion, shrinks the message. It is easy, beautiful and intuitive–the way software should work. (Are you listening Microsoft?)

Your calendar is also synchronized and displays pending appointments on the startup screen you see when you turn on your iPod. You can also browse through your calendar by using finger motions. For example, if you want to see tomorrow’s appointments, you simply drag your finger across the screen towards the right and they are displayed.

You can browse through contacts from multiple contact folders in your Exchange Server and also from contacts that are discovered and not necessarily entered into a contacts folder. I am not sure how this works yet, but it appears to scan e-mail addresses of people that you have communicated with. You can select which group of contacts to display or you can select to see them all at once.

Another interesting feature in the new software is that you can now save images that you see on web pages in Safari. These images can then be synchronized to your desktop when you connect the iPod. They appear as an imager folder would when you are using a camera. I love how this works.

The App Store is a feature that Apple likes to talk about. The reason is obvious–they will make money off the purchases made. I have tried the App Store directly from the iPod and can tell you that it is elegant. You can browse by category of applications and download and install them with two clicks and your iTunes password. I installed a few free applications. These were the New York Times, Paypal, Bank of America, Facebook and Remote applications. The names are self explanatory, except for the Remote application. It allows you to use your iPod as remote control application for your iTunes library. You can access all of your music and pick songs to play on your computer from anywhere that you have a wireless connection. If you have your computer connected to stereo equipment you have the makings of an unbelievable jukebox. The Remote software is free.

So far, my experience has been so magical that I am considering getting an iPhone so that I can use all the functionality while out of range of my WiFi signal.

Robert Alonso
Alonso Consulting

With this subtitle: “How to Turn Everything You Know on Its Head–and Succeed Beyond Your Wildest Imaginings” how could you not buy this book? I certainly could not resist the urge to buy Peter Sheahan’s book. FL!P is an easy-to-read business book that encourages you to think of your business in a different way. If this happens, then the author has accomplished his goal and you have flipped.

The author chides the reader into thinking counterintuitively and into moving forward with action. He believes that today’s business environment requires that you do things Fast, Good, Cheap and then Add Something Extra. He warns readers of the dangers of complacency in the new global economy and also explains the dangers that the Internet has created for businesses that do not perform well. For example, if you did not satisfy a customer in the past, you could suffer from bad word of mouth that could affect ten or more people. With the Internet, the same dissatisfied customer could post information about his experience on a blog and affect the opinion of hundreds or thousands of people. I believe what Mr. Sheahan writes completely because I have posted comments on this blog about unsatisfactory experiences with preferredphoto.com and with the Maestro 4250 GPS and know that dozens of Google searches bring dozens of readers to those experiences every week.

Like most business books, some of the advice is obvious. For example, the book has a chapter on the fact that business is personal. This is obvious to anyone who has owned or managed a business. People do business with people they know and trust. Mr. Sheahan makes the point that one way to compete with the threat of cheaper global labor is to stress the fact that you are local and trustworthy. He uses as an example a laser eye surgery that he underwent. He had the choice of having it done for a fraction of the cost overseas, but chose a local doctor after the doctor explained to him that Sheahan’s condition meant something to the doctor and would affect him if he did not do it right. He told him that in a foreign country, the doctor would not be worried about his reputation or about any malpractice.

I recommend “FL!P” because it is a good and entertaining read, because it inspired me to action and because it is well researched. Buy a copy and read it, you won’t regret it.

You can get FL!P here.

Robert Alonso
Alonso Consulting, Inc.

I have been hearing about Skype for a couple of years now. However, I never felt inclined to try it out this wildly popular Internet phone service. I figured there were already so many ways to reach me that what I needed was one less way instead of one more. Recently, a very specific need made me become adventurous and try it. I’ll try to tell you about each step of my experience.

Downloading and Installation

The first thing I did was search for "Skype" on Google and found that the first listing is the web site for Skype. The Google listing is very well organized and has links to all the areas of the Skype web site that you might want to visit. I went right to the download page, but then decided to do some reading before actually downloading and installing the software. After a few page reads, I decided that it was alright to download this software. It took a few minutes to download. I chose to run it directly after the download. The install process was smooth and took only a few minutes.

Configuring Skype

After the install completed, the Skype software requires that you choose a user name and give it an e-mail account and password. This took me a little longer than is probably usual because I am very picky about user names and do not like names like "robertalonso56897." Since every variation of my name was taken, I settled for "alonso.consulting." (Now, readers of this blog have another way to reach me…)

Test Call and Contacts

Skype automatically loaded my contacts from my Outlook. This was something that I found a little disconcerting. I still don’t know if this information resides on my local machine only or if they uploaded it somewhere. I am very leery of cloud computing when it comes to my contacts and financial data. I then tried a test call to an automated system that Skype provides and discovered that my microphone was not working properly. Once that problem was fixed I was ready to call people.

Calling People

You can call people on Skype by finding their listing in the directory. You can search by name, Skype name or e-mail address. Once you have found someone you know, you add them to your contacts and that person is notified that you are attempting to add them. They can accept or decline you. Once they accept you, you can click on that person’s name in the Contacts tab and the Skype software literally rings on their end. When they answer, you can talk as if your were on a phone, you can watch each other if you have a web cam and you can also text message and send files to each other. If you become a big user of the service, you can buy a Skype certified headset that includes a microphone for about $29.

After my initial calls from my PC, I downloaded the software for my Smartphone and was pleasantly surprised to see it work through my phone’s data plan. That is what I call very cool.

Although I did not try it, you can also call contacts that are not on Skype. You need to pay to call land or cell lines, but the fee is very reasonable at $.021 per minute.

Final Thoughts

I recommend this service because it is unobtrusive, works reasonably well and is mostly free. I do have a warning for you if you decide to use it: Skype’s terms of use allows them to monitor your conversations, web video and text messages as well as your contact relationships for the purposes of improving the service and providing you with goods and services that you might want to purchase. I found that more than a little creepy–so think about it before using the service. You should also note that the service is owned by eBay.

Robert Alonso
Alonso Consulting, Inc.

There are thousands of open source applications available so it is difficult to look at them all and recommend the ones that are best. I recently ran across Synergy. This utility will allow you to use one keyboard and mouse with multiple computers and monitors. Think of it as a KVM without the hardware.

It is different from a KVM in that each computer requires its own monitor. The software is loaded on PCs running any Microsoft Windows operating systems (except Vista which is not listed as supported and has not been tested by me as of this writing), Macintosh operating system (10.2 or greater), and Unix or Linux based operating system. You can then control one or more machines using the same mouse and keyboard. You set it up so that when you move the mouse pointer off to the side of the screen the mouse and keyboard begin to control a different machine and the display that is active is the one for that machine. If you have ever used a dual monitor setup on a PC, you know how this works.

The reason that I think this product is great is that it supports all the most common operating systems and enables you to have a little less clutter on your desktop. One keyboard and mouse does the trick.

Robert Alonso
Alonso Consulting

We recently upgraded to Exchange Server 2007 and have experienced some problems with it that may be primarily caused by hardware issues. It appears that the Information Store and the System Attendant services fail and then will not restart automatically or manually. When these services failed to restart, my first inclination was to think that the database that is used for storing e-mails had been corrupted.

It turns out that the real culprit is that the server’s time was 40 minutes behind the time that was displayed on client machines. This sort of disparity is not allowed and results in the Exchange Server services not starting. The error messages that Exchange displayed were not that helpful. Setting the time correctly fixed the problem and the services started immediately. I am adding this blog entry, just in case someone else runs into this problem and finds this simple solution through a search engine.

I think that the problem lies with a faulty server that has timing issues. We will have to look into it.

Robert Alonso
Alonso Consulting, Inc.

I have always been a fan of Microsoft products, but the company has definitely lost its way. I have been using Windows Mobile and previously Windows CE for many years, but find that the software has not kept up with the competition. It has fallen so far behind the Apple iPhone and Touch that it is not even in the same league. It is difficult to understand how a company dedicated to creating software could deliver such a clumsy piece of software.

There are so many things wrong with it that I could write a very lengthy entry on all the items. Rather than bore you with every problem, I will concentrate on the two that really bother me. The reason that I have purchased Windows Mobile phones is to read e-mail and do light Internet browsing. Other than synchronizing with Exchange, the e-mail client and Internet Explorer version in Windows Mobile are absolute garbage. I am especially disappointed in the Windows Mobile 6 version because I expected so much more.

I purchased a new phone to “upgrade” from Windows Mobile 5. The reason I made this purchase was to get the extra functionality that I believed was in Windows Mobile 6. I naively believed the marketing hype that I could read my e-mail in HTML and that attachments that were in the newer Office 2007 format could be read with it. Neither one of these is really true out of the box. When you start using a Windows Mobile 6 phone you immediately realize that you need to have Exchange 2007 as the back-end server for your e-mail in order to see HTML e-mails. Otherwise, “HTML” is not available as a message format. I was using the previous Exchange version. Other features like searching through your messages on the server or marking them for follow up also require that you have Exchange 2007 server. I used a workaround to get my HTML messages. I created a separate e-mail account on the phone and used IMAP as the protocol. I set it to download a few times a day and was able to read messages in HTML this way. This proves that there was no real need for Exchange 2007, except for Microsoft’s desire to force you to purchase the server upgrade as well.

The reason I call Windows Mobile 6 lame is that any software that forces you to use a workaround to get something done is obviously seriously flawed. The magnitude of lameness is incredible. Once I upgraded to Exchange 2007, I could stop downloading my e-mail twice–once through the ActiveSynch method and once through IMAP to get HTML messages. After using HTML extensively, I realized that Windows Mobile does a horrible job of rendering the messages and also has problems with scrolling horizontally through a message. You first have to tell the program that you want to scroll horizontally rather than being taken to the next message in your inbox.

Windows Mobile 6 also does not support Office 2007 file formats. You first have to download a free upgrade to get this functionality. This takes up more memory on your device and is a feature that I was expecting to have the moment I turned on my device. The Office 2007 reader programs are part of what Microsoft calls Windows Mobile 6.1. You can download this upgrade here. The only positive thing I can say about this upgrade is that it is free. Apple would have probably charged $20–like they did with the iPod Touch recently.

Internet Explorer is also very weak on Windows Mobile 6. It is better than in previous versions, but it offers a tiny window into the web. In fact, when I first purchased my phone, my bank did not support my phone and I was not able to do on-line banking with my “upgrade”  to Windows Mobile 6–something that I was able to do with my Windows Mobile 5 phone.

The Safari browser on the Apple iPhone and Touch makes Microsoft’s attempt look feeble. I have both and can tell you that the Windows Mobile 6 browser feels like riding a tricycle–you can get there, but you better pedal like hell and hope for some down hills. Safari makes you feel like you are using a fast titanium-built racing bike. The Apple browser works exceptionally well and is ultra-fast. The marvelous touch based interface just makes it an exhilarating experience. Are you listening Microsoft?

It is time for Microsoft to give up on Windows Mobile altogether. It is too tied to other Microsoft products and the development mindset appears to be to create a mini-Windows. To really innovate, Microsoft needs to stop thinking about the “Start” menu and program menus and all other things that are Windows-like. Start fresh. Use inspiration. Hire new people and do extensive usability research. Otherwise, Microsoft’s mobile platform will become irrelevant.

Robert Alonso
Alonso Consulting

When you order an item from a web-based retailer your expectations are clear. You want to buy a product that they offer for the price that is listed on the web site plus the listed shipping charge. Someone at preferredphoto.com does not believe that this is the way to do business. They offered a Tamron 75-300mm lens for Nikon cameras for $111 and free shipping. Thinking that this was a great value, I placed my order and entered my credit card on the site.

It turns out that it was a big mistake on my part. I received an e-mail from preferredphoto.com asking me to call them to clarify something in my order. I called repeatedly and got a voice mail box that was full for the extension that I was supposed to call. I also go a full mailbox for their main extension. Three days later, a representative called me and offered to sell me add on products. When I declined, I was offered an extended warranty since "the manufacturer hardly covers the product at all." I told the caller, I had certain expectations when placing an order and one of them was not to be called with additional offers. The rep told me not to get preachy with him and that the total would come to $129 and some change including the "handling fee." I promptly told him to cancel my order because I did not want to do business with a sleazy company. He, of course, said I would not find the product at that price anywhere. Even if that is true, this kind of behavior cannot be encouraged. I would rather go without the product.

Here is my recommendation: Steer clear of preferredphoto.com and give your money to a company that will deliver what they say they will at the agreed upon price.

Robert Alonso
Alonso Consulting

If you are like most Windows users, you have needed to use Notepad to read a text file or to temporarily paste some information that you are going to use in another application. You may have even tried to use it to make a quick change to a web page or an source code file for a development project. If you have, then you surely appreciate the fact the program is available for free with Windows and that it is generally useful enough for simple tasks.

However after using Notepad more than once, chances are that you have also experienced some of its limitations. One of these is that file sizes are limited to a little more than 64 thousand characters. Another is that it does not display line numbers. This is particularly a problem for modifying source code or web sites. When working with these types of files, you are often looking for a specific line that has created a problem in a program or web site. Notepad is useless for this purpose and requires that you manually count each line–not a very productive option.

A free, open source replacement is now available. It is called Notepad++. Notepad++ lives up to its name. It is a expanded Notepad with line numbers, the ability to open multiple files at once, sophisticated search capabilities, bookmarks, syntax highlighting for various computer languages and so much more. It can also print your file in color with source code keywords highlighted. Although it is optimized for programmers, it is very useful for any text file manipulation and is an excellent replacement for Notepad.

One of the cool features is that you can edit two sections of the same document within the editor. Notepad++ also support drag and drop. That means you can click on a file in Windows Explorer and drag it over to the Notepad++ icon on the desktop and the program will open with the file. You can also drag and drop a file into an open Notepad++ instance and it will open the file as a new document without affecting any other document that it already has open. Another useful feature is the Zoom feature–it makes all the lines in a file larger and is popular for people with sight issues.

Notepad++ also has a plug in function that allows you to add functionality that others develop for it. There are dozens of plug ins available. One that is useful is a spell checker, but there are many others that are specialized for different fields.

One last feature that you should know about is the macro recording capabilities. You can have Notepad++ record a sequence of actions that you perform within it and then replay these actions as many times as you want. This is useful for editing a group of lines in a file with the same pattern without having to type the same thing repeatedly.

I recommend this free program wholeheartedly. You can get it free here: http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/download.php

Robert Alonso
Alonso Consulting

Every once in a while a new tool comes out that is so indispensable that everyone should install it and make it part of their operating system experience. Rename-It! is one such product. Once installed, this utility makes itself part of the context menu in Windows. This means that you can go into Windows Explorer, highlight one or more files, right click and then select “Rename-It!” This action brings up a small pop-up window that then facilitates your renaming the group of files using search and replace rules. You can define as many rules as you want and the program shows you the impact that the rules will have on the selected files. Once you are satisfied, you can then select “Rename Files” and it renames the files according to your rules.

I have found this tool indispensable for renaming groups of media files. With MP3 files, you can create rules that rename the media files according to the ID Tags that are embedded within the files. These tags often have the correct artist, album and song information. Using this information you can rename your MP3 files so that they are self descriptive and easy to organize.

The best thing about this utility is the price. It is absolutely free. You can get your copy here: http://download.beroux.com/renameit-setup.exe

Robert Alonso
Alonso Consulting