• Monitoring Television Loudness Issues Revisited 

      Posted on 26 January 2010 | 12:37 pm

      As the CALM Act makes its way through Congress, more and more industry leaders are chiming in on the Act and what exactly it means for cable, satellite, telecom and other providers of multi-channel video. This is a timely discussion should the CALM Act eventually become law, which is likely as it has passed [...]

    • Back to Basics: The PR Biggest Lesson Learned During a Tumultuous 2009 

      Posted on 28 December 2009 | 4:36 pm

      [This post is the first in a series of three for a blog panel comprised of marketing communications practitioners and also includes Frank Strong, Meredith Eaton and Krim Stephenson. All four of us will blog on the same topic on the same day. This first post is on the biggest lesson we learned [...]

    • UPDATE: CALM Act Passes Congress 

      Posted on 16 December 2009 | 12:30 pm

      You may recall a couple of months back a blog post regarding the Cable-Tec Expo show. In particular, I discussed Mixed Signals’ demonstrations and announcements surrounding Sentry’s ability to measure the loudness of TV commercials and programs. “As overly loud commercials have become increasingly problematic, proposed legislation is now before Congress that would require video [...]

    • Weekend Reading – December 11 

      Posted on 11 December 2009 | 7:56 pm

      There Really is an App for That Consumers know that their smartphones can do just about anything. Shopping lists, sports scores, weather, videos, Facebook… There are thousands of consumer apps. But weren’t smartphones originally intended to be business devices? The cover story of this week’s “InformationWeek” magazine is all about the business applications [...]

    • Weekend Reading – December 4 

      Posted on 4 December 2009 | 6:41 pm

      #Vanish “I’m driving East out of San Francisco on I-80, fleeing my life under the cover of dusk. Having come to the interstate by a circuitous route, full of quick turns and double backs, I’m reasonably sure that no one is following me.” So begins “Wired” magazine’s fascinating article, “Writer Evan Ratliff Tried to Vanish: [...]

    • Weekend Reading – Thanksgiving Edition 

      Posted on 25 November 2009 | 4:59 pm

      Something ELSE in The Smartphone Market We rarely lead our Weekend Reading Feature with a blog post, but it’s hard to get past this intriguing opening by Richard Lai in “Engadget“: “Folks, today might be the day when you start to notice how ancient our smartphones have become, even if they only came out in last [...]

    • Localized Ads and the Holiday Season 

      Posted on 25 November 2009 | 11:26 am

      As the never-ending slew of massive corporate Black Friday advertisements begin their impending invasion upon us, I can’t help but be thankful this year for something I never thought I’d utter around this year’s turkey feast: local ads. Yes, you heard it here first. I, Tamara Parker, will be thankful this year for more local [...]

    • Weekend Reading – November 20 

      Posted on 20 November 2009 | 11:45 am

      Google Aims To Remake Computers Quentin Hardy at Forbes details Google’s plans for the Chrome OS and an “ultra-cheap” portable computer in time for Christmas next year. Google is definitely a company with its head in the Cloud. With a host of Internet-based applications, Google is banking that users can do most of their [...]

    • Happy 5th anniversary Broadband Gear Report 

      Posted on 17 November 2009 | 3:52 pm

      Happy 5th anniversary Broadband Gear Report (www.broadbandgear.net)! Five years ago many (yours truly included) weren’t convinced the market could support another publication, but the BGR folks were savvy enough to focus their editorial and have managed to live, thrive and survive. As the name suggests, BGR reports on the needs of [...]

    • Cable-Tec 2009: Touch the Technology 

      Posted on 16 November 2009 | 9:21 pm

      Despite the record 18” of snow that covered Denver during Cable-Tec Expo, this year’s show proved successful and productive for both exhibitors as well as attendees. And yes, even the coat check was a popular stand at the show. In keeping with the theme- “Touch the Technology”- exhibitors put their best technology on display for [...]

    • Flycell lanza servicio de contenido móvil en Argentina 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:32 am

      Flycell aumenta presencia en América del Sur con el lanzamiento del mayor catálogo de contenido móvil online en Argentina NEW YORK – MobilityWire® – February 8, 2010 Flycell, Inc. (www.flycell.com), un proveedor líder de contenido de entretenimiento móvil y online, anunció hoy el lanzamiento de una nueva edición de su portal especialmente diseñado para el mercado [...]

    • Flycell Launches Mobile Content Service in Argentina 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:30 am

      Flycell Grows South American Presence by Bringing the Largest Online Catalog of Mobile Content to Argentina NEW YORK – MobilityWire® – February 8, 2010 Flycell, Inc. (www.flycell.com), a leading mobile and online entertainment content company, today announced availability of a new edition of its portal created especially for the Argentinean market. Argentina is the ninth country [...]

    • Vesta’s New Mobile Payment Platform Delivers Innovative, Secure Payment Features for Mobile Operators 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 3:10 am

      Version 5.0 of Vesta’s Mobile Payment Platform enables enhanced consumer payment capabilities while ensuring payment processing security and privacy best practices PORTLAND, Oregon – MobilityWire® – February 8, 2010 Vesta Corporation, a global pioneer and leader in electronic payment solutions, today announced the availability of version 5.0 of its industry-leading secure Mobile Payment Platform. The [...]

    • Widgets coming to the BOLT Mobile Browser 

      Posted on 3 February 2010 | 2:01 am

      Bitstream set to unveil mobile Web apps, also known as widgets, and a host of new features for the acclaimed BOLT Mobile Browser at Mobile World Congress MARLBOROUGH, Massachusetts – MobilityWire® – February 3, 2010 Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS) today announced that the forthcoming version of its BOLT™ mobile browser will include the ability to run Web [...]

    • Google Phone Nexus One Now Supported on the Kony Mobile Application Platform 

      Posted on 2 February 2010 | 9:45 am

      Highly extensible platform delivers on promise of Write Once, Run Everywhere technology by supporting all emerging devices and mobile operating systems quickly and seamlessly SAN MATEO, California – MobilityWire® – February 2, 2010 Kony Solutions, Inc., the mobile applications platform provider with Write Once, Run Everywhere technology, today announced that the Kony Mobile Application Platform™ now supports [...]

    • Mixed Signals Demonstrates Advanced Commercial Loudness Monitoring Capabilities At Cablelabs® Winter Conference 

      Posted on 2 February 2010 | 6:57 am

      Sentry is Industry’s First Scalable Solution to Cost-Effectively Identify and Track Loud Commercials and Other Volume Issues Affecting Cable Operators LOS ANGELES – MobilityWire® – February 2, 2010 Mixed Signals, the leading provider of digital content monitoring solutions, will demonstrate the advanced audio monitoring capabilities of its award-winning Sentry® digital content monitoring solution at next week’s annual [...]

    • Online Gamers Get Their Game On at Gamorama.com 

      Posted on 1 February 2010 | 12:41 pm

      Flycell’s new casual gaming website brings online gamers the best in interactive fun right to their fingertips NEW YORK – MobilityWire® – February 1, 2010 Flycell, Inc. (www.Flycell.com), the popular mobile and online media and entertainment company, today announced Gamorama, a new casual games portal featuring the best in casual games for people of all ages, all [...]

    • Kony Mobile for Commerce Enables Retailers to Offer Consumers an Exceptional Mobile Shopping Experience On All Devices 

      Posted on 28 January 2010 | 9:45 am

      Write Once, Run Everywhere mobile technology lets retailers quickly go-to-market with branded mobile applications on iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Palm SAN MATEO, California – MobilityWire® – January 28, 2010 Kony Solutions, Inc., the mobile applications platform provider with Write Once, Run Everywhere technology, today announced the release of Kony Mobile for Commerce, a pre-packaged [...]

    • And the Mobile Content Winners are… 

      Posted on 27 January 2010 | 3:10 am

      Flycell announces top mobile content for 2009 NEW YORK – MobilityWire® – January 27, 2010 Flycell, Inc. (www.Flycell.com), the popular mobile and online media and entertainment company, announced today the top mobile content for 2009 based on actual consumption by millions of people who subscribe to the Flycell service around the globe. People come to Flycell [...]

    • Vesta Announces Marshall Behling as VP of International Business Development 

      Posted on 25 January 2010 | 3:09 am

      PORTLAND, Oregon – MobilityWire® – January 25, 2010 Vesta Corporation, a global pioneer and leader in electronic payment solutions, today announced that Marshall Behling has joined the company as vice president for international business development. With a strong background in business development and account management, Behling will continue to develop and manage Vesta’s strategic international partnerships. “Marshall’s [...]

    • The Cell Phone Killed…Well…Lots of Things 

      Posted on 16 January 2009 | 6:22 pm

      We all know that a cell phone isn’t really just a phone anymore (c’mon, you’ve seen the Sprint commercial I’m sure). It takes our pictures, sends and receives our emails, plays our MP3s and it even keeps track of our hectic lives with advanced calendar functions. Yes, a cell phone isn’t just a phone.  But before [...]

    • Music, man: The Philco and iPod as distance cousins 

      Posted on 18 November 2008 | 7:40 pm

      The Philco, a shortened version of The Philadelphia Storage Battery Company, was a pioneer in early radio and television and an early manufacturer of transistors, starting in 1953 with the famous Surface Barrier type (SBT). The Philco in our collection originally belonged to Nancy Foltz (her name is still visible on the leather case) and is [...]

    • Mobility technology meets pop culture 

      Posted on 14 November 2008 | 7:58 pm

      We’re culture junkies here at MuMoH. Not only do we live and breathe mobile and wireless but we also enjoy the history of a wide range of topics, including politics, local and national history, punk and new wave music and general pop culture. Sometimes these cross paths and make for an interesting mash-up of technology and [...]

    • From the collection: Mattel’s Football 

      Posted on 22 October 2008 | 8:02 pm

      Museum of Mobility History – Mattel Football from Mobility Public Relations on Vimeo. Every once in a while we will grab an item from our collection and showcase it with video. This post features Mattel’s Football game – a product near to our heart. We fondly remember getting the game as a holiday gift, ripping it [...]

    • You’ve come a long way, baby 

      Posted on 21 October 2008 | 5:49 pm

      Twenty-five years ago on October 13, 1983, the first commercial cellular call was placed to the grandson of Alexander Graham Bell in Germany from the president of Ameritech Mobile Communications at a ceremony held outside of Soldier Field in Chicago. Weighing nearly two pounds and 13 inches long, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X used on that historic [...]

    • The Y2K that wasn’t 

      Posted on 19 June 2008 | 11:26 am

      MobHappy’s Russell Buckley has a wonderful post that points to a presentation from 2000 that forecasts the future of mobility. Some of the technology: Wireless headset? Check. Pocket MP3 player? Check. Digital camera with built-in modem? Close. Glasses for watching DVD movies? Not quite yet – though on the way – we saw one at CTIA last April. Slides from [...]

    • Portable Computer Ads 

      Posted on 8 June 2008 | 1:18 am

      The evolution of portable computing as told through advertising. 1983 1986 1988 1989 2006 2008

    • OLPC XO 

      Posted on 8 June 2008 | 12:42 am

      The XO-1, previously known as the $100 Laptop or Children’s Machine, is an inexpensive laptop computer intended to be distributed to children in developing countries around the world, to provide them with access to knowledge, and opportunities to “explore, experiment and express themselves” (constructionist learning). The laptop is developed by the One Laptop per Child [...]

    • Kellogg WWI Field Phone 

      Posted on 7 June 2008 | 11:11 pm

      Ask people familiar with telecommunications history and they’ll tell you that the first text message sent from a mobile phone was sent in 1993. But MuMoH has a phone that sent text messages more than 75 years before that! The Kellogg Switchboard Supply Company field phone, model 1917 (and we’ve also seen model EE 3) [...]

    • IBM PC Convertible 

      Posted on 7 June 2008 | 3:32 pm

      Introduced on April 3, 1986, the IBM PC Convertible was IBM’s first laptop computer and was also the first IBM computer to utilize the increasingly common 3.5 inch floppy disk drive. Like modern laptops, it featured power management and the ability to run from batteries. Weighing in at 13 pounds (5,8 kg), the PC Convertible was [...]

    • Flycell lanza servicio de contenido móvil en Argentina 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:32 am

      Flycell aumenta presencia en América del Sur con el lanzamiento del mayor catálogo de contenido móvil online en Argentina NEW YORK – MobilityWire® – February 8, 2010 Flycell, Inc. (www.flycell.com), un proveedor líder de contenido de entretenimiento móvil y online, anunció hoy el lanzamiento de una nueva edición de su portal especialmente diseñado para el mercado [...]

    • Flycell Launches Mobile Content Service in Argentina 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:30 am

      Flycell Grows South American Presence by Bringing the Largest Online Catalog of Mobile Content to Argentina NEW YORK – MobilityWire® – February 8, 2010 Flycell, Inc. (www.flycell.com), a leading mobile and online entertainment content company, today announced availability of a new edition of its portal created especially for the Argentinean market. Argentina is the ninth country [...]

    • Happy Groundhog’s Day! 

      Posted on 2 February 2010 | 7:35 am

      Every February 2nd, according to folklore, if a groundhog sees his shadow after coming out of his burrow, winter will continue for another 6 weeks! Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania is where the largest Groundhog Day celebration is held. Let’s all hope that the most famous groundhog of all, Punxsutawney Phil, doesn’t see his so we can get [...]

    • Grammy Award Winners! 

      Posted on 1 February 2010 | 4:35 pm

      The winners are in! In case you missed the action on CBS last night, here are some of the Grammy winners. Album of the Year -  Fearless, Taylor Swift Record of the Year -  Use Somebody, Kings of Leon Song of the Year -  “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It),” Beyoncé Best New Artist -  Zac Brown Band Best [...]

    • Online Gamers Get Their Game On at Gamorama.com 

      Posted on 1 February 2010 | 12:41 pm

      Flycell’s new casual gaming website brings online gamers the best in interactive fun right to their fingertips NEW YORK – MobilityWire® – February 1, 2010 Flycell, Inc. (www.Flycell.com), the popular mobile and online media and entertainment company, today announced Gamorama, a new casual games portal featuring the best in casual games for people of all ages, all [...]

    • What does your ballot look like? 

      Posted on 29 January 2010 | 1:07 pm

      The 52nd Grammy® Awards are this weekend, and Flycell will be rooting for some of our favorite artists like Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas, Taylor Swift, Cold Play and more. Who will you be rooting for? Flycell will be posting the winners (and linking to ringtones) as soon as it happens! Send us your predictions [...]

    • Lady Gaga Saga 

      Posted on 27 January 2010 | 6:06 am

      All Lady Gaga fans are wondering what is up with the songstress these days. Her hectic touring and appearance calendar was abruptly halted, for obvious reasons, after her collapse before a concert in England. She was able to pull it together for the Oprah show but still has us worried and wondering if she will in [...]

    • And the Mobile Content Winners are… 

      Posted on 27 January 2010 | 3:10 am

      Flycell announces top mobile content for 2009 NEW YORK – MobilityWire® – January 27, 2010 Flycell, Inc. (www.Flycell.com), the popular mobile and online media and entertainment company, announced today the top mobile content for 2009 based on actual consumption by millions of people who subscribe to the Flycell service around the globe. People come to Flycell [...]

    • Donate for Haiti 

      Posted on 26 January 2010 | 7:06 pm

      By now you all know of the utter chaos and huge need for help that Haiti has following the devastating earthquakes earlier this month, but what you may not know is how to help. One great place to start is the American Red Cross. You can help the victims of the recent earthquakes in Haiti by [...]

    • Top 10 Handsets of 2009 

      Posted on 26 January 2010 | 5:07 pm

      LG – CU920/CU915/Vu LG – Shine (CU720) SAMSUNG – SGH-A767 (Propel) KYOCERA – (Wild Card) M1000 SONY ERICSSON – W350 i/a/c SAMSUNG – SGH-A867 (Eternity) SAMSUNG – SGH-A737/A736 LG – VX9100 (enV2) LG – CF360 (Slider) MOTOROLA – RAZR V3xx

    • Marketing 101 - The Hair Stylist 

      Posted on 6 January 2010 | 11:42 pm

      This week I stopped in at my wife’s hair stylist to get my hair cut. I’m trying to get her to use the #3 setting on the clippers like my regular barber does to get a nice close cut in the back.

      The question of marketing came up and how marketing and advertising are not the same thing. She is in business for herself, renting her chair from someone who owns the salon. She has her own collection of clients and contacts. We used her business as an example.

      Who are your customers?

      Let me share with you some of the questions I asked her. You can answer these questions yourself and see how it applies to your own business.

      #1 Q: Who are your customers?
      A: Everyone

      This is a very typical answer for most small business people who are more focused on doing the work and haven’t stopped to ask themselves who their customers really are.

      “Really?” I asked. “Your customers are young and old, male and female, adults and children? You get the same amount of money from each slice of the market?”

      ”Well, no“ She answered, ”They are young“

      ”How young? Under 30 and over 20?“

      ”Under 30“

      ”Male or Female?“

      ”Female“

      ”Local?“

      ”No, they are from around the county and usually not from the local city“

      ”So your typical client is a under 30 woman who lives within the county.“

      ”Yes“

      ”How do you find customers?“

      ”All referrals since I don’t advertise“

      ”Referrals from who?“

      ”All my clients“

      ”All of them or a few? Do all your clients recommend evenly or are there some clients that recommend more than others?“

      ”Well, I’m not sure“

      ”Okay“ I said, ”Write down the name of a client, we will start with me. Do it on a white board or a big piece of blank paper. Make my name inside a circle and then draw a short line to who recommended me to you. In this case it would be my wife. Put her name in a small circle and then connect a line to who recommended her. Do this for each of your clients, writing down their names and then drawing a line to who recommended them.“

      ”When the paper is full, you will notice something immediately. That there are clusters of your customers who are connected and recommend more clients to you than others.“

      Simple ideas

      We then talked about pricing, about which services she performs the most and which are the most profitable, as well as what she felt her speciality might be.

      Once you have these simple things. Who your customers is, where they come from, what they purchase from you and what you are known for, it becomes very easy to focus your business on growing because you know what to sell and who to sell it too.

    • Novell Makes Smart Move and Cancels BrainShare 09 

      Posted on 18 December 2008 | 2:25 am

      I've blogged about Novell's decision to cancel BrainShare and the role GWAVACon will fill.

      You can view it at my new blog site:


      Novell Cancels BrainShare

    • Apple dropping out of Macworld as a sponsor - The changing face of conferences 

      Posted on 17 December 2008 | 1:47 am

      I have moved my blog to http://richardbliss.typepad.com

      Please visit there for the Macworld blog.

    • Amazon Kindle is owning the category 

      Posted on 13 November 2008 | 8:13 pm

      This month marks the one year anniversary of the Amazon Kindle. According to Amazon, the adoption has been iPhone smashing numbers like they hoped, but it has done fairly well in a modest way.

      What it has done is to bury the competition. Amazon doesn't need to worry about the modest numbers. They are all going up and they will keep going up. The Kindle is a winner. It is such a winner that the competition doesn't even know that race is over and Amazon won.

      First, let's not talk about the product itself and its competition. If you want to do that kind of comparison you can visit Top 5 e-book readers compared

      Here are the names of the top ebook readers currently on the market:

      ECTACO-Jetbook
      Amazon Kindle
      Sony 505 Digital Reader
      Sony 500 Digital Reader
      Franklin EBookMan EBM 9-11

      Now, how many of these had you ever heard of other than the Kindle?

      Kindle hasn't sold a lot of devices. Even with massive marketing effort. But that is okay. Because they really have sold the device to most everyone who is going to buy an ebook reader. They have sold it to people who haven't bought it yet.

      When a person reaches a point where they are comfortable with the idea of using an ebook, do you think they are going to go to their spouse and say...

      "Honey, I'd love to have a Sony 505 Digital Reader"

      I don't think so. You can't remember that. But I have had a lot of people tell me that they are thinking of a Kindle, and then when I show them mine, they are now convinced they need to buy one.

      Disruptions take time

      The Kindle is a massive disruption to the traditional book. People take time to adjust to such a radical shift from what they are used to. And ebook readers in the past have been poorly received, so the category as a whole is looked at with suspicion.

      But as that suspicion fades over time, Amazon Kindle is already in the minds of the potential customers. They have already bought it in their mind without even realizing it.

      Amazon got it right and now dominates the mindshare of this category. Only time is needed for them to dominate it with sales as well.

    • Novell GroupWise Cluster support answer 

      Posted on 12 November 2008 | 12:03 am

      Someone anonymously posted a comment on my blog about some troubles they were having with GroupWise. If they want to email, I have an answer. But since I don't know who they are, I have to post this to my blog and hope they read the post.

      Whoever you are, send me an email.

    • Interoperability - Novell Losing the Word 

      Posted on 7 November 2008 | 8:14 pm

      Novell has been focused with their messaging lately. They have told me on numerous occasions that they want to own the word "Interoperability".

      Okay, I can understand wanting to own that word. It makes me wonder if anyone is hearing Novell talk about Interoperability.

      I know one company is - Microsoft.

      This week in eWeek (www.eweek.com) they had a story on the main page.

      Microsoft Pushes Interoperability

      It was in the Linux and Open Source Section. Looks like Novell is getting through to someone and that someone has decided they want that word for themselves.

      At this point Novell is either going to have to fight for the ownership of the word or find a new word.

      First would be to get themselves listed in the top ten on Google ranking for the word Interoperability. That would certainly help. Right now Microsoft is listed as #3 and #4 by Google for the word Interoperability.

      My recommendation is that they pick a new word that Microsoft can't own or doesn't own.

      First choice - Business-Driven Linux
      Second choice Teaming

      Novell GroupWise wants to own the word collaboration as well.

      Novell can win this battle and own a word but it will take some focused effort. Right now they have a big company, Microsoft that wants to take it away from them.

      BTW, GWAVACon, The Novell Teaming and GroupWise conference is just around the corner. www.gwavacon.com to register and get the early bird special. It is in Las Vegas this year, January 2009.

    • Boy chops dad's arm off during World Series 

      Posted on 31 October 2008 | 7:06 pm

      Okay, I'm sure the headline got you. But here is what happened.

      I was watching the World Series game on my TV. I was watching it live on Tivo, meaning I had it delayed by about 10 minutes to skip the commercials.

      I was fast forwarding through the commercials, hit the play button, and for the shortest fraction of an instant I saw something extremely disturbing, I saw a boy with a machete hitting a man.

      At first it was so quick, so sudden, so fast, that I didn't react. The news was announcing it was on after the game and then I was back to the game. And then my consciousness caught up with my brain. What had I just seen?

      I paused Tivo and flipped back and watched it again...sure enough, for about as long as it takes for you to blink, there was an image on the screen.

      I rewound and put it into slow motion...Tivo is great for that...but even in slow motion, the image was only on the screen for a fraction of a second.

      After about six attempts I was able to have the image up in slow motion and then I was able to hit pause, then pushing pause again moved the image forward one frame at a time. There were about 6 frames.

      There was a boy, covered in blood, standing with a machete in his hands. He is standing behind a man who would seem to be his father. His father is sitting in a chair with blood over his head and clothes and his right arm hangs limp. There is a woman in the foreground watching with her back to the camera. The boy has the machete over his head and slashes down on the man's arm/shoulder...an inch before it enters the arm the image flashes to a jungle tower with a man standing guard looking off into the distance. That lasts only 1 frame and is almost impossible to catch.

      All the people in the scenes are black.

      I don't know if it was a Halloween joke, if it was a silent protest of Darfur, if it was an anti-Obama item. It appeared to be a family being forced to torture other members of the family.

      It was grisly, it was shocking, and it was definitely not TV approved.

      I'm wondering if anyone saw it or might have an idea of what it was.

      I've looked on Google for any statement but haven't found anything.

    • Competition is Good - Important lesson for GroupWise partners 

      Posted on 29 October 2008 | 5:31 pm


      Have you ever been to an AutoMall?

      This is where car dealerships, fighting for your money, line themselves up like wall flowers at a high school dance, hoping that they get picked to go home with the prom king.

      Why on earth would such competitive companies subject themselves to scrutiny by a cautious public?

      Because they sell more cars. In truth, by clumping themselves together, it makes it easier to be found, it qualifies the buyer quicker, and it increases their overall sales.

      In this case, they all come together knowing that if you are in the car buying mood, they stand a better chance of being seen, if they are seen with their competitor than if they are isolated by themselves.

      GroupWise Community

      This is a great lesson for the GroupWise community. GroupWise customers tend to be isolated. There are fewer of them than Exchange customers, and they tend to not congregate.

      Two places you can easily find GroupWise technology partners and GroupWise customers in the same place - BrainShare and GWAVACon

      The new GroupWise Open Horizons magazine is the only GroupWise publication and Cool Solutions and NGWList are about the only place that you can find them talking to each other online.

      This is the reason for the GroupWise treasure hunt at BrainShare and the creation of GWAVACon, the Novell GroupWise Technology conference. A place to bring buyers and sellers together.

      But you would not believe how hard it is to convince competing companies that it is in their best interest to get ALL GroupWise 3rd party vendors in the same room. That a GroupWise Partner Mall is better than attempting to go it alone.

      Both GWAVACon in Las Vegas in January and BrainShare in Salt Lake City in March will be a big party for the launch of GroupWise 8.

      Here's hoping that everyone comes to the party.

    • Fear is the new virus 

      Posted on 27 October 2008 | 12:47 am

      Melissa - May 24th, 1999
      I Love You - May 4th 2000
      Code Red - July 13th, 2001

      Maybe you recognize these names and dates. They were some of the most destructive computer viruses ever. Code Red alone is estimated to have done more than $2Bn USD in damages.

      It isn't pleasant to say, but these viruses kept Novell GroupWise in business. As Microsoft systems were crashing and burning around the planet, including companies like Ford, Boeing, and entire cities, GroupWise systems kept on going.

      These viruses helped GroupWise come to the own the word "Secure" in the face of virus and hack attacks.

      The bad news for GroupWise is that Microsoft has improved on the security front. Security is still a reason to keep GroupWise but the reason has grown much smaller.

      New Virus

      There is a new virus stalking organizations around the world. This one is called Fear. You won't find it caught in your Virus quarantine. You won't see it listed on your AV threat monitor. This virus is not called Fear it IS Fear. The kind of fear that creeps into your mind and begins to disturb your sleep at night.

      Every executive of every organization is being struck with it. They are asking themselves if the financial crisis will come at take them like it has taken so many. Are they immune? Are they safe?

      Staying Safe through IT

      When email viruses were crashing servers, executives would come to the IT department and ask if they were safe. And each time, the Novell GroupWise IT person was able to reassure the suits that everything was going to be okay.

      Today, it is happening again. As the crisis strikes one sector of the economy after another, executives are wondering if their organization is going to survive, and one of the departments being asked is the IT staff.

      The question: Will our organization be able to continue to function and meet our growing IT needs if we are affected by the crisis?

      And for those IT managers running GroupWise and relying on Novell technology, they can reliably answer YES.

      As IT budgets are tightened, IT staff are going to be asked to do more with less. Gone are the irrational decisions to rip and replace all hardware and software to put in the latest Microsoft monolith simply because someone wanted to do it. Now, companies are looking at hardware, software, training, support, and business continuity as driving factors. Suddenly, when one vendor like Microsoft is consuming the majority of your IT budget, it become important to ask if allowing Microsoft to dictate the cost and complexity of your IT needs is wise. No, it isn't.

      Fiscal Irresponsibility

      The City of San Diego is broke. Yet they got a new mayor and the first thing he did was rip out GroupWise and install a multi-million dollar Microsoft package. Who's needs were met? Certainly not his taxpayers who had to foot the bill. Not even his own staff that then had productivity cut because of training needs. No, a select group made a decision that cost was not important. Instead, the decision was made to lock the city into a extremely expensive long-term commitment that only benefited Microsoft.

      This is Fiscal Irresponsibility. More and more cities and governments around the world and now saying No to this kind of planning. Governments should be lowering costs and decreasing complexity, while expanding options. Not doing the exact opposite.

      Fear is the new virus

      Today Fear is the new virus. And every IT manager who relies on Novell and Novell GroupWise, should be standing in the door of their executive leadership, reassuring that the decision to rely on stable, safe, and low cost solutions are a truly responsible decision that will keep the organization safe.

    • GWAVACon Berlin a huge success 

      Posted on 26 October 2008 | 12:25 am


      I returned this week from GWAVACon Berlin, the Novell Collaboration Conference. The event was a spectacular success. This GWAVACon was the 9th worldwide that my team has delivered, and each one just keeps getting better.

      I've called GWAVACon the Novell Collaboration Conference because it has begun to grown and expand beyond the traditional GroupWise that are its roots.

      There bulk of the conference is still focused on GroupWise, but now Teaming has become part of the conference and ZENworks has been there nearly from the beginning. This moves the conference from the focus of just GroupWise to a broader discussion of collaboration.

      My keynote theme, like many I've delivered in the past, was the focus on owning a word. I have talked about owning a word in this blog many times and this was an opportunity for the Novell community in Europe to hear it first hand.

      Novell needs to own a word and I believe that word is "Business-Driven Linux"

      Not all in the audience agreed with me. Novell has been attempting to own the word "Interoperability", something the European crowd had a tough time even saying, let alone understanding what it meant.

      Volker Smid, President of EMEA, delivered the keynote on day two and did a great job of emphasizing the ownership of the word Interoperability. He is an talented and enthusiastic presenter, and the audience responded well.

      Feeling Good

      The thing that most people feel coming away from GWAVACon is that they now belong to something bigger. They often feel that they are alone as a GroupWise IT administrator. When they attend GWAVACon they are surrounded by hundreds of other GroupWise enthusiasts and they are not alone.

      In addition, the unprecedented support from Novell makes a difference to the attendees. I use the word unprecedented because in all my 15+ years involved with GroupWise I have never seen the support from all levels of the company like I'm seeing today.

      Novell Marketing Makes a Difference

      Wendy Steinle, as the person responsible for managing the marketing teams for GroupWise and Teaming, has been doing an outstanding job of increasing the overall involvement of Novell in the community. It has been very effective and it is very appreciated.

      Thank you Wendy for hiring great people like Travis Grandpre over GroupWise marketing and Karen Rowell over Teaming marketing. They are both new in their roles, but came to GWAVACon and make an impact to the success of the conference.

      Surprise visitor

      We had a surprise visitor as well at GWAVACon. Mike Morgan from Novell manages the BrainShare event every year. Mike was in Berlin for another conference and was able to spend a day with us. GWAVACon is a very small event in comparison to the thousands that Mike takes care of for a week every year. But we were proud to be able to show off our little conference and the success we have had building it into a voice of influence in the GroupWise community.

      BrainShare and GWAVACon

      It has been asked if GWAVACon competes with BrainShare. My answer to that is that it complements BrainShare. When asked, GWAVACon attendees tell me that they, as GroupWise administrators get to come to GWAVACon while their boss, often the head of IT, gets to go to the much bigger event of BrainShare.

      This has been GWAVACon's purpose. To focus on giving the GroupWise administrator a place to come and be king for a day. And in Berlin, we treated them like Royalty.

    • Mixing your audiences is never a good idea 

      Posted on 24 October 2008 | 12:58 am

      There is a fierce debate about how to reach the CxO level person within an organization. If you are a technology company like Novell, this can be a difficult task due to the tendency to talk tech and craft that message into business speak. A CxO level person seldom seems to be interested in the technology, but instead is interested in the business drivers.

      Novell has been doing a much better job of this than in the past. Their discussion of Interoperability as a value proposition is still a little bit techie but is much better than before.

      My continued insistence that Business-Driven Linux be their message might sound like tech talk, but truly focuses on the area of the mind where a CxO person has limited knowledge of the technical specifics of a Linux distribution but believes they understand the business value that Linux brings by lowering their costs.

      Oil and Water don't mix

      This brings us to the struggle that technology companies have with attempting to sell a technology but wanting to talk business. Where do you have this kind of discussion?

      Novell attempted to have BusinessShare be a part of BrainShare. The first a business discussion to CxOs, the second a technical discussion with IT managers and directors.

      It didn't work.

      For whatever reason, it seems almost impossible to invite Executives to a technical conference and have them find it worth their time. The techies don't like their bosses hanging around, and the bosses don't want to look dumb at a technical conference.

      Birds of a Feather

      If you are planning on selling to both audiences, my advice is to keep them separate. Have two completely separate events unrelated to each other.

    • Kindle - I love it 

      Posted on 14 October 2008 | 8:26 pm


      My wife recently bought me a Kindle from Amazon.



      If you haven’t heard about the Kindle, you can watch a video here:

      Kindle Demo Video

      I love my Kindle.

      It helps that I love books but the Kindle has supercharged that love affair.

      Here is a quick overview if you didn’t bother to watch the 2 minute video link I just gave you.

      Kindle is an electronic book reader...but saying that is like saying the iPod is an electronic music player.

      The Kindle has changed the way I interact with books.

      First, the Kindle has amazing electronic Ink that looks like real ink. When you see the book, like the image up above, it appears to be real ink.

      It has an intuitive interface that allows me to quickly read and even speed read through books. I got so lost in a story today, that I attempted to turn the page at one point, forgetting that I was reading an electronic book.

      These features are nice, but it isn’t what has changed the way I interact with books.

      I’m one of those people who has trouble throwing a book away. Any book, whether I like the book or not. This causes me to hesitate to buy books because I worry that if I don’t like it I will have to go through the angst of getting rid of it.

      I also like to collect books and have a nice collection in my office.

      What the Kindle has done, is to allow me to easily read books that I may not have read before. The price is usually 50-60% off what I would normally pay. The reason I can read these books is because it makes the purchasing of books dead simple.

      I do a search on my Kindle on the Amazon Store (Free cell phone networking is built in), find the book, purchase it, all within a few seconds. And my purchase is downloaded within 60 seconds.

      Now when I go through an airport bookstore, I have my Kindle in hand. I see a book that looks interesting, I read a quick review on my Kindle, then purchase it, and read at my leisure.

      The Kindle device itself will hold 200 books, but that isn’t something you really need to worry about...remember I said I have trouble throwing books away, or even giving them away. With Kindle you never have to worry about that again. Once you purchase a book from Amazon with the Kindle, you get to keep the book forever. Even if you lose your Kindle or delete the book, Amazon will remember your purchase and make it available to you whenever you need to download it again.

      Suddenly my anxiety for buying books doesn’t exist. I never have to get rid of another book again.

      The Kindle must be seen to be appreciated. But once you have it, or if you get within 25 feet of my when I have mine, you’ll be convinced you need one as well.

    • Own a word - BlackBerry Storm vs iPhone 

      Posted on 8 October 2008 | 11:34 pm

    • Free is bad video 

      Posted on 8 October 2008 | 1:17 am

    • NetMass - Backup and Recovery for GroupWise 

      Posted on 7 October 2008 | 12:38 pm

      I just came across a recent press release for a Dallas-based company, NetMass. The press release talks about their latest product, ServerSafe 8. A data backup solution. Here is the announcement:

      http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=76666

      I spoke very briefly with Michael Reagan, their Director of Marketing, about their support of GroupWise. He said that GroupWise has been supported for quite some time and that they have GroupWise customers who have been using it.

      I hoping to get more information from the company to see how GroupWise administrators could use it, since GroupWise does have some unique backup issues.

      They also support Microsoft Exchange and Notes. It is nice to see that vendors are including GroupWise in their announcements and actually telling the world that they support the platform.

      I will post more information when I get more details.

    • Free is not good. GroupWise's ongoing dilemna 

      Posted on 30 September 2008 | 2:21 am

      Years ago Novell established the precedent that add-ons and additional functionality with Novell GroupWise would be free. The clamor for out-of-the-box solutions that come free has been heard at every BrainShare for a decade.

      The problem with free is that it hurts the enduser, the very person who screams for free products or product integration is the one who ends up hurt in the end.

      Free is bad.

      Today Nokia announced the discontinuance of the Intellisync division. The solution that Novell had decided on for their GroupWise Mobile Server.

      Nokia Announcement

      You are building your business, your organization, your reputation, on the solutions that you, as an IT Manager or consultant, recommend. Do you really want to stake your reputation and relationship with your customer, your boss, or your end-users on a piece of "free" software?

      Now, I don' have the room or time to argue the whole Open-Source issue about free vs proprietary. That is not what this conversation is about. I'm here to argue that if you want some thing of high value then you will have to pay for it.

      Novell customers have demanded that they get device syncronization for "free". Well, Novell obligded and provide the opportunity to have a syncronization experience out of the box.

      They got a free solution but now they are faced with a non-solution because Nokia couldn't find any way of making money with the Intellisync product.

      If you want something bad enough, then pay for it. Nokia pulled the plug on Intellisync today which has placed all of Novell's GroupWise Mobile Server users in a tight spot. Their free server doesn't seem to have a future.

      I've never been a fan of Novell offering everything for free even though it supposibly causes them to lose business.

      An ActiveSync process will make more sense for Novell in the future.

    • Fear holds us back 

      Posted on 24 September 2008 | 3:34 am

      Why do smart people do dumb things? Especially when it comes to marketing. Haven't you seen a company that goes along doing really smart stuff suddenly seem like they got a major case of the stupids?

      What causes individual people to not do the right thing when the time comes?

      Fear holds us back. Fear prevents us from stepping out and doing the right thing.

      When Bill Gates famously turned his company around and moved it full steam into the Internet age, he was able to do this because he didn't care and wasn't afraid of what other people would say. Those people included his staff, his employees, his partners, his stockholders, and most importantly, his customers.

      He did the right thing and didn't let fear hold him back.

      Novell found itself paralyzed with fear for years. The people there had grown fat and happy with the way things were. NetWare was generating nearly $1 Billion in annual revenue and things looked sweet.

      Except the bottom of the boat had been ripped out and the ship was sinking. But no one seemed willing to stand up and do something. Fear paralyzed the company. Those making the decisions would say that it wasn't fear, that they were trying to save it. Yes, they may have been attempting to save it, but they were afraid to stand up and say "NetWare is Dead" and then work from that premise. Instead they kept rearranging the chairs on the deck while the ship sank.

      I remember when Chris Stone stood up at BrainShare and said that maybe the future of Novell wasn't NetWare. What a commotion it created. Everyone was in a panic. Even when it was plainly stated, those inside the company continued to tell themselves that Chris wasn't serious. He was just talking. No, he was serious, and wasn't afraid to say it.

      When Ron Hovsepian made the decision to embrace a partnership with Microsoft, he made a lot of enemies. But he wasn't afraid to make a very hard choice that was good for his company and good for his customers. He still has the enemies but he also has success which makes dealing with your enemies a little easier.

      Good people and good companies make bad decisions when they are afraid to rock the boat. When internal Chicken Littles actual prevent action because they are crying about the sky falling in. Seldom does the sky actually fall when strong bold decisions are made. It is the lack of a decision, the inability to get past those that wring their hands and prophesy doom, that leads to disaster.

      If you want to be successful, have the courage to make the tough decisions. You will make enemies but success makes it a little easier to deal with them.

    • GroupWise and the word Free 

      Posted on 18 September 2008 | 4:05 pm

      Novell GroupWise just had its 20 year anniversary. I have worked with and supported the product for nearly all of those 20 years.

      Back in the early days, when the Internet was beginning to emerge, GroupWise sold its SMTP Gateway for $2,500 extra. You could run GroupWise normally but to connect to the Internet you had to pay for the SMTP Gateway seperately.

      That didn't go over well with the user base and the decision was made to bundle the gateway with the product.

      Since then, the sense of entitlement and the expectation that everything should be included for free has been the dominant philosophy.

      A philosophy that has nearly killed the product.

      GroupWise has document management built in for free. Only a fraction of the install base uses it but everyone has to pay for it. And because only a fraction use it, it is hard for Novell, during tough economic times, to justify putting resources into something that doesn't generate a hard return on the investment.

      Oh, sure, some will argue that Novell should have invested more into Document Management and then people would have bought the product. That is what I mean by a hard return. It is nearly impossible for Novell to know who is buying the product for which features.

      Free is still bad

      Today we are seeing ain increasing pressure from the Novell install base to keep putting more things into the product for free.

      GMS, the Novell GroupWise Mobile Server, has been added. But it doesn't support the iPhone because Nokia, which bought Intellisync, doesn't want to have their product support a competing mobile device.

      Don't argue with me that Novell should have bought the technology rather than partner for it. We would be right back where we are with Document Management. Increasing costs without any hard returns.

      I wish everything was free as well. Then I wouldn't have to pay my mortgage, but things aren't free, there is ALWAYS a cost.

      The sooner the GroupWise market can focus on how much GroupWise is saving because things are not free but stronger GroupWise will be as a viable low cost alternative to the monolithic Exchange approach which is draining IT budgets with bloated features that are free but unwanted.

    • Sticking to the story with owning a word 

      Posted on 17 September 2008 | 11:28 pm

      First, I was wrong. A few blog posts ago I mentioned that I thought John McCain's campaign was slow to come up with a word to own, slow to find a central theme, and that their new theme, Original Maverick, while good, may have been too late.

      I was wrong. McCain completely made up for lost time.

      To own a word and keep owning it you have to tell a story that reinforces the word. Stories fill in the blanks and voids that surround a word.

      With the word, Maverick, McCain was going to have to show that his actions matched his story. And with his selection of Sarah Palin, he totally reinforced the word and position. It doesn't matter whether you agree or disagree with McCain's decision. What you have to agree with is that his decision reinforced his position. It continued the story of maverick.

      Depositioning - Changing the meaning of someone else's word

      Remember Hillary's strategy? It was to own the word "Experience". She did a good job, but then along came Obama and he used the word Change to deposition the word "Experience" to mean something different than what Hillary was attempting to say it meant. Obama made Experience come to mean "Same Old Thing".

      But then a funny thing happened on the way to the election. Obama lost the strength of his story.
      When it came time for him to make his first executive decision and demonstrate what his version of "Change" meant, he chose Joe Biden, a long time Washington player and co-Senator. His choice was probably a smart move for the strength of his ticket, but it was a bad decision to reinforce his campaign and ownership word. His actions didn't match his word. Biden did not reinforce the word "Change"

      Now McCain has done to the word "Change" what Obama did to the word "Experience". McCain, rather than attempting to steal the word Change which is still easily owned by Obama, picked the word Reform to augment his Maverick word, and now McCain's Reform story is getting better traction than Obama's Change.

      Changing a word

      I have been seeing the signs at the Obama events. They used to be the word "Change" without explanation. Now they are "Road to Change" or "Ready to Change". McCain has successfully redefined Obama's meaning of the word Change and now the Obama camp is attempting to explain what the word means, when before they didn't need to explain it at all.

      Whoever can tell the better story is going to win this. Obama has a smart campaign team, they should be able to get back on story. McCain has a tendency to not understand how to stay on message, which means he could still squander this momentum.

      It is all coming down to owning a word and telling a story

    • Reading your Email 

      Posted on 17 September 2008 | 11:15 pm

      Since 1986 I have been in the business of reading people's email.

      I personally don't sit at a computer and read it, but I have built businesses and solutions around the concept of reading email for corporations. The reason has been to keep the bad stuff from getting in and to keep the good stuff from getting out.

      But this latest issue with Sarah Palin's yahoo email account being hijacked and then published is something that completely crosses the line.

      This is not free information for public consumption. This is left of someone's personal property, even if it is digital property. And that property is being used for financial gain.

      That is like someone breaking into your house and stealing something that they then sell on ebay and everyone knows it was stolen.

      I am not so naive to believe that the email information can be retracted. Once on the Internet always on the Internet.

      Which brings up a funny incident the other day. I heard about an attorney who has a client in the email security business. He didn't quite know how the whole Google thing works, wanted someone to call Google and have them get rid of some content that was showing up in the search engines. He thought you can just call Google and they will take it off their 'website'. DOH! Welcome to the Internet age.

      I created a saying for GWAVA's archiving product, Retain.

      "Life is short, Email is forever."

      The one lesson we learn from this is to never put something in email that you wouldn't want the entire world to know about. You might not care today but who knows what will happen in the future.

    • Does GroupWise have a future with Novell? 

      Posted on 29 August 2008 | 1:51 am

      For a year and a half, the Novell GroupWise revenue stream has gone one direction...up! For the past six quarters, GroupWise has continued to defy expectations and has steadily increased their revenue.

      There are a lot of pieces to the success, and it is amazing since Bonsai, the next generation of GroupWise has been delayed.

      Novell is also growing. It's Linux business jumped 30%. Now, you find people suddenly saying nice things about Novell and its future. Over at the VarGuy, he isn't even shy about admitting that he hasn't been a Novell fan in the past but might be changing his tune.

      With Novell's success, the question is asked. Does GroupWise have a future at Novell?

      The future of collaboration is no longer focused on Microsoft. Collaboration innovation of the future is being deployed to Linux. Novell has a strong presence in the enterprise space, and especially with those companies looking to drastically reduce their costs and realize the gains from deploying Linux. The market leader in collaboration is all about vendor lock-in and spiraling costs of deployment and maintenance.

      Companies are looking for Linux to help drive down costs and then they are looking for applications to run on Linux to continue to drive down costs. Collaboration, namely the email application is the primary target for major cost savings.

      If Novell can focus GroupWise on this emerging opportunity then GroupWise has a chance to relaunch itself as the collaboration product of the new linux platform.

      The answer is Yes, GroupWise has a strong future with Novell. GroupWise is good for Novell and Novell is good for GroupWise. The future looks brighter for the both of them.

    • If It's Broken - A political marketing message 

      Posted on 21 August 2008 | 11:58 am

      This blog isn't about politics. I don't discuss which party or candidate will do a better job. I do discuss marketing and the successful application of its principals in business and politics.

      This past week McCain has begun to use a new theme in his campaign.

      The theme is Washington is Broken. If you are a McCain supporter this is good news. Finally a message that got McCain here in the first place. The Washington is broken theme will work well with his 'Original Maverick' brand that he is attempting to create.

      One year ago the Mitt Romney campaign asked for volunteers to create a political ad. I participated. Alas, my ad wasn't chosen. They went with a wrap the flag around you feel good ad. Something that I felt was not what Americans wanted to hear.

      Things are broken, our country has some issues to straighten out, and we are going to need someone to lead in a very tough time. The Washington is Broken theme will help McCain get the attention of a lot of people.

      BTW, here is the ad I created a year ago. It is what I felt the marketing message should have been back then and I believe it is still the message. Washington is Broken

    • Original Maverick - Owning the right word 

      Posted on 21 August 2008 | 10:21 am

      It isn't perfect but it is a vast improvement for the McCain campaign. Their new message, "Original Maverick" is starting to hit the right tone and message.

      This, after a disastrous attempt by the McCain campaign to convince the American public that Obama is extremely popular and that is a bad thing. Running ads with Obama's face all over the screen, with massive crowds chanting, "Obama, Obama" and then attempting to slip in a little dig that McCain is better because he is not popular.

      One viewer of the Olympics mentioned to me that as they used Tivo to scim the ads, they thought they just kept seeming Obama ads, not evening getting to see McCain in his own ad.

      Owning a word

      In marketing, to capture the attention of your intended audience you must own a word in the minds of those people who you wish to hear and remember your message.

      Obama owns the word Change. All the candidates have attempted to take this word away from Obama, either by using it themselves or by dismissing it as unimportant. They have all failed. Obama owns this word outright.

      McCain, up until this point has owned the word Old. He hasn't wanted to own the word, but that isn't the way it works. He has continued to reinforce his ownership of this word and the examples are too extensive to mention here.

      A new word for McCain

      But now the McCain campaign has hit upon a new word combination. Original Maverick. The word Original has a similar meaning to the world old. Afterall, the Coke brand is old but it successfully uses Original or Real as a replacement for old.

      McCain, by claiming to be the original, can use his experience and age as an advantage. Maverick can be a good word as well. It speaks of someone who leads with strength of inner conviction and not swayed by peer pressure. There are dangers in this word as well. A maverick is also seen as a contrarian. Somewho who isn't a team player, someone who doesn't work well with others.

      Telling a story

      In order for The Original Maverick to work for McCain, he has to step up and tell us a story that convinces us that he deserves to own this word. I have heard so many times McCain state that the American public knows him and knows his position. Sorry Mr McCain, but most Americans pay very little attention to most senators and their perceived accomplishments while sitting around with the other 99 senators. Americans don't know you and that is part of the problem.

      So tell us a story. Tell us how you are a maverick. We understand the 'original' part, we want to know about the maverick part. Other than the Iraq war, which Americans do know your views, where else have you stepped up, stood out, and been right. Where have you bucked the conventional wisdom, gone out a limb, and then been proven right.

      You are a republican, so being opposed to their ideas won't give you street cred as a maverick. We want to know where you were when controversial republican items were being passed and we especially want to know why you failed to prevent them from passing if you are such a maverick and a great leader. There is a great chance for McCain to show how he has failed to influence and sway his fellow legislators.

      Too little, too late

      I'm still predicting that the republicans took too long to figure this out. And their delay has provided Obama with a lead that isn't showing up in the polls yet. Once the Olympics are over and people turn in earnest to politics, the runway is just to short for the big heavy McCain campaign plane to finally get off the ground.

    • Olympic Advertising - The Good and The Stupid 

      Posted on 10 August 2008 | 11:57 pm

      I've been watching the Olympics. It has been amazing sports competition. I've also been watching the Olympic ads. Some have been great, some have been average and one has been downright STUPID.

      The Good

      Visa - This has been one of my favorites. Morgan Freeman narrates about Michael Phelps not being a dolphin.

      Visa has done such a good job with the Olympics. I got my first Visa card for one reason, to be able to get tickets to the Winter Olympics. They are the leader and they know it and you don't doubt it.

      Budweiser - One of their first ads was a rerun of their Superbowl ad, the horse that doesn't make the team and then works out for a year to get on the team. Great ad, great message.

      Budweiser is struggling with an image issue at the moment due to their sale to a Belgian beer maker, so this was a good angle, reinforcing their role as a world leader in beer.

      Coke - They have several ads, but their overall message has been consistent with their market position. Coke as been around a very long time and is the leader in this category. No doubt about it.

      The Stupid

      Then there is the category winner for the stupidest ad of all.

      McCain - This year the candidates are spending more than $5 million each on ads. McCain didn't just waste his money, he spent it for the other guy.

      The ad starts out with the chanting of a OBAMA, OBAMA with a scene of Obama walking in front of a massive crowd chanting his name.

      The narrator asks, "Is the world's greatest celebrity in the world able to help your family?"

      A unflattering picture of Obama appears on the screen about how Obama is going to raise taxes, how he is going to increase government.

      Then the ad turns to John McCain and talks about energy and something else that I don't remember.

      This ad is STUPID. I'm a republican, but I'm appalled by the lack of fundamental understanding of how to market a candidate.

      Obama's ad isn't anything spectacular. Stuff about all of us working together to solve the future's problems, and then a short about Obama. An average ad.

      But how can McCain's camp keep doing this? They just spent $5 million USD to campaign for their opponent.

      Comparison

      Let's do a quick comparison

      Visa's ad - A picture of American Express with Morgan Freeman saying, American Express is used by a lot of people, but Visa is better because American Express doesn't do as much as Visa.

      Budweiser ad - Picture of Miller Beer, with a bunch of people laughing and drinking the beer, then cutting to Budweiser and saying, yes lots of people like Miller but more people like Bud.

      Coke - Picture of a bunch of kids drinking a cola, then Pepsi appearing on the screen, Narrator saying, "Yes, Pepsi is really liked by lots of kids, but we are the best because people who drink Coke know better"

      If you are the leader, rule #1 is you don't compare yourself to those in second place. And you certainly don't give your competition more air time, face time, logo time, than your own product.

      Also rule #1, you don't concede that your competition is better than you at something. Running an ad admiting that Obama is well liked around the world isn't a good idea, especially when you aren't a very likeable person yourself.

      People do business with people they like. And the same is for politics.

      This strategy by the McCain camp is idiotic and it is causing me to shake my head. How can anyone believe this kind of self-destructive campaigning will get McCain elected.

      Okay, that is my advertising lesson for the day. Now, back to watching the Olympics.

    • Happy Birthday, GroupWise - Some comments 

      Posted on 8 August 2008 | 10:09 am

      Several people have commented on the 20th anniversary of GroupWise. I thought I would post a few of their comments here:

      Blogger laurenceobrien said...

      You know Richard I have been working with this product its whole life and my entire business career.

      Now I am still selling products that work with and around GroupWise, I think we should get Long Service medals at the next Brainshare.

      Here's to 20 more...


      Greg Arnette said,

      My friend Richard Bliss reminded me GroupWise is 20 years old today - launched 8/8/88.

      Although not originally known as GroupWise, the product WordPerfect Corporation launched as PerfectOffice on August 8. 1988 was a revolutionary piece of software for the time. An integrated email, calendar, task system with server components that could run on the popular operating systems of the day: DOS, 3COM, Banyan, Netware, etc. My first experience with Office was an installation at Greater Boston Legal Services. The legal professionals there quickly became big fans of electronic mail.

      WordPerfect reinvented PerfectOffice a few years later as WordPerfect Office 4.0. More features were integrated, gateways for SMTP and dial-up were added, and a truly modern complete collaboration system debuted. It was no small feat to create a multi-platform email system when DOS, OS/2, Windows, Netware, Vines, and other operating systems were all being used in many different configurations. WordPerfect Office quickly became the standard platform for most law firms, and it was an amazing experience to see the effect simple electronic communication had on the work force. Fax, FedEx, Telex and paper memo usage gradually dropped, and email slowly became a trusted communication tool. Today email is a given and used world-wide for all contacts.

      Novell inherited WordPerfect Office and renamed it to GroupWise and has continuously been innovating the platform with the latest release "Bonsai" v8 due to launch soon.


      --
      --- Greg

      Greg Arnette
      Sonian Inc.
      617-694-8787 - Mobile
      617-418-1964 - Direct
      800-275-8794 - Main
      617-275-8705 - Fax
      gregarnette - Skype

      http://www.sonian.net
      http://blog.soniannetworks.com


      James Higley, with MailWise says,

      My first memories of GroupWise was when I was worked for The Allegro Group, at the time, GroupWise connected to another MTA via the async gateway. GroupWise was at version 4.0. Most people could not afford a high speed internet connection, so we provided the link of the clients MTA to our SMTP Gateway (now called GWIA). Fun times! GroupWise you provided me many years of productivity, it's been a blast to watch you grow up! Happy Birthday!

    • 2008 Year End Customer Satisfaction Survey 

      Posted on 31 December 2008 | 2:20 am

      Each year, GWAVA works at meeting its customers needs, especially the GroupWise community.

      This year I invite you to participate in a short GWAVA customer satisfaction survey to help us become better as a company and to become better at meeting the Novell GroupWise community needs.

      Here is the link to the survey:

      GWAVA Customer Survey

      Thank you for your support in 2008 and we look forward to a successful 2009.

    • Charles Taite thread on Stubbing in GroupWise - Content from the NGWList 

      Posted on 12 November 2008 | 1:28 pm

      The following comments are from a stubbing discussion on the NGWList, a Novell GroupWise user email listserv. Charles goes into details about the issues of stubbing.

      ++++++++++++++++++

      Simon,

      It's true that the current conventional wisdom around stubbing in the
      Exchange world is shifting towards only stubbing attachments (even
      Microsoft is recommending it). This is not only critical from a
      performance point of view, it also makes a lot sense since it's really
      the attachment that consumes the space.

      BTW... The initial stubbing API Novell is delivering in GroupWise 8

      read more

    • GWAVACon Success with GroupWise means it costs this year to attend 

      Posted on 11 November 2008 | 6:20 pm

      This is our 5th year in the US for GWAVACon and our 10th GWAVACon worldwide. The conference is still focused on Novell GroupWise but has also become a gathering place for other Novell Collaboration Solutions, including ZENworks, Novell Teaming, and now OES.

      Each year the event has grown in numbers and influence. Last year, Ron Hovsepian, Novell CEO was the keynote speaker to a packed room. This year in Berlin, Volker Schmid, President of Novell EMEA was the keynote speaker.

      read more

    • Microsoft and GWAVA agree - Stubbing to be approached with caution 

      Posted on 27 October 2008 | 1:12 am

      First, what is stubbing?

      The removal of a GroupWise item from the GroupWise message store that is then placed into a third party database, leaving a "stub" that appears to be the message in the GroupWise Windows Client.

      The concept was developed for Microsoft because their databases were growing too large in Exchange and they need to get them smaller. Stubbing was created to move content out of the Exchange message store into something else.

      The problem is now that stubbing has been out there for awhile, problems are appearing. And Microsoft is now recommending AGAINST Stubbing.

      read more

    • Vertigo for GroupWise getting closer to replacing Console One 

      Posted on 30 June 2008 | 1:25 am

      Vertigo from GWAVA was developed by Roel Van Bueren and Ronald De Zwart.

      The product isn't technically a replacement for Console One, but right now, in its current version it is doing a lot of the things that GroupWise administrators wish Console One would do for them.

      The good news is that Vertigo added a Console One Snapin a few months back and can work seamlessly with Console One.

      read more

    • Analyst Firm doing Collaboration Survey - Participate and Support GroupWise 

      Posted on 27 June 2008 | 2:38 pm

      Radicati, a Messaging and Collaboration analyst firm, is doing a survey on the Collaboration Space.

      Be sure to participate to show your support for GroupWise.

      http://www.radicati.com/survey.asp

    • GroupWise Market Research Survey - Win a new 3G iPhone 

      Posted on 20 June 2008 | 2:56 am

      I'm conducting, through my corporation BlissPoint, a GroupWise Market Research Survey. Click here to participate and be entered to win 3G iPhone from Apple.

      GroupWise Market Research Survey

    • Holy Grail of GroupWise - Reload saving the day 

      Posted on 16 April 2008 | 3:53 am

      I recently chatted with a GWAVA customer outside the United States about their hardware failing on a GroupWise Post Office that was nearly 200GB in size and how Reload saved the day. I'm being slightly vague on the details because we are working on getting the story published and I don't want to steal my own thunder...BUT...the story is too good to not say something.

      Reload from GWAVA has been referred to as the Holy Grail of GroupWise. The reason it is called the Holy Grail is due to the unique architecture of GroupWise. Due to its method of storing and retrieving email messages, it makes it hard for GroupWise to recover a single message or an entire post office in an easy, quick way. Also, due to the vast number of files involved, traditional backup software struggles to handle the constant usage of GroupWise to secure a clean back up of the post office.

      read more

    • BrainShare Keynote Live on GWAVA TV 

      Posted on 17 March 2008 | 11:37 am

      The Novell BrainShare keynotes are being broadcast live from Salt Lake City on GWAVA TV at www.gwava.com/gwavatv

      Watch it now.

      Richard

    • GroupWise Market share - How much is it growing 

      Posted on 2 March 2008 | 1:38 pm

      Latest reports, both public and private, coming out of Novell and GroupWise is that the product is seeing double digit revenue growth this past quarter. That is great news.

      Also, Ferris Research is doing an online survey for email collaboration use. We are organizing a response to influence the report in a positive way for GroupWise.

      Visit http://www.ferris.com/2008/02/20/survey-of-support-staff-size-for-exchange-and-notesdomino/ to participate in the 3 minute survey.

      It will make a difference.

      Richard Bliss
      http://gwbliss.blogspot.com

    • BirdBox Wakes You Up With the Sound of Hungry Birds On Your iPhone [IPhone] 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:46 pm

      I love little birds. They are so cute. And they taste delicious and crunchy fried in beer batter. If you want them to wake you up, however, try BirdBox.

      BirdBox is a $12.75 bedside bird home with a matching free application that turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a cuckoo alarm clock. You know, because nothing says good morning like "the sound and sight of nesting birds" eating regurgitated bugs and worms. [Luckybite via Boing Boing]

    • George Costanza Needs Target’s New Mobile GiftCards 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:45 pm

      Is anyone else’s wallet getting chunky and unwieldy with too many cards to carry? When I put all of my credit cards, gift cards and store club cards in mine, I’m reminded of a Seinfeld episode. In it, George Costanza’s wallet was nearly as thick as a phone book and you can see below that it eventually explodes due to all of the bulk. Any time I can go digital instead of stuffing more data in my wallet, I do it. And today, Target just gave me a good reason to stop carrying their gift cards, even though I’ll still be using them.

      The retailer today introduced Mobile GiftCards as a way to carry the gift card account information on any mobile phone with Internet capabilities. Using a secure PIN of your choice, you simply register Target gift cards online — you can add a nickname to any card and use the account number and access code printed on the card for registration.

      Once registered, you’re able to check the balance through your phone or use the phone to pay for Target purchases in the checkout line. Each gift card appears with a scannable barcode that appears on your phone’s display — just hand the phone over to your cashier where the barcode is scanned and your purchase is paid for. Easy to use and no need to worry about exploding wallets — that’s a win-win in my book. It’s way too late for George, but not too late for you and your phone.

      Related research from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

      Why Google’s “Favorite “Favorite Places” Will Push QR Codes Into the Mainstream

    • Novatel Wireless completes first dual-carrier HSPA+ data transmission 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:43 pm

      novatel wireless1 Novatel Wireless completes first dual carrier HSPA+ data transmissionNovatel Wireless has announced that it has successfully completed another data transmission (see the post about 4G data here), this time over dual-carrier HSPA+, using Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM)’s MDM8220 chipset.

      For those of you not in the know with the network terms, Dual-carrier HSPA+ is a network innovation that will deliver more advanced data capabilities by (surprisingly enough) banding data carrier channels together. Novatel Wireless is apparently working with operators and plans to launch commercial data devices based on the MDM8220 in the second half of 2010.

      It really does shoe that there is life left in 3G as a network technology – moving from 3G to 3.5G, and now 3.75G technologies, we are already heading toward 40Mbps – which certainly does make the argument to rollout out all-new 4G network technology that much harder!

      Related News from IntoMobile: Novatel Wireless Do First Successful 4G LTE Data Transmission Rogers to add Novatel’s Ovation MC950D USB and Merlin X950D ExpressCard modems Novatel’s GSM MiFi Mobile HotSpot hits Telefonica Spain first! Sprint planning to switch to IP-based network in push to become data-centric provider Sprint delays WiMAX XOHM rollout

      Share this: Digg Facebook StumbleUpon

    • The RFID Record Player Is a Real World Cover Flow [DIY] 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:40 pm

      I like this idea by Matt Brown: He tags 45rpm vinyl records with RFID stickers to play songs in a turntable that doesn't turn at all.

      Inside the fake player he placed an RFID reader, which gets the information from the RFID-tagged record. Once it detects it—and the user moves the tonearm into position—the record player starts reproducing a playlists. Matt wanted to be able to touch the songs, like people used to do back in the day, when people wore funny shirts and pants and watched Three Is Company in analog TV. If you want all the inconvenience of physical records combined all the inconveniences of cold digital music, you absolutely need this. I know I do. [Real Tomato]

    • Windows Mobile 7 to kill multi-tasking? 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:39 pm

      windows mobile 7 logo Windows Mobile 7 to kill multi tasking?One of the things we’re most excited to see at Mobile World Congress 2010 is the unveiling of the Windows Mobile 7 platform from Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT). Ever since the iPhone came on the scene and showed the world just how horribly behind the times Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system had become, we’ve been hearing a lot of rumors about what to expect in the revamped WM7. They’ve mostly painted WinMo 7 in a positive light, but the latest rumor chops our excitement down a notch. Word on the street suggests that Microsoft will not allow multi-tasking in Windows Mobile 7. That means you can only actively use one mobile app at a time, much like the iPhone OS.

      The rumor goes on to mention that Windows Mobile 7 will allow apps to be “paused,” rather than allowing them to continue running in the background. That pretty much means Windows Mobile 7 will allow apps to save their current state when the user closes them or switches to another app. When the “paused” app is reactivated, the user will see the app exactly as they had left it – text intact, cursors in the same place, document scrolled to the same position, and maps pointing to where you left off. The rumor also makes mention of a push notification system, similar to the way iPhone apps notify iPhone users of updates even when the apps are not running.

      There are a lot of things about the iPhone OS that we’d love to see in WM7. There’s the intuitive interface, the finger-friendly buttons and menus, the lack of a stylus. Microsoft would do well to emulate Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s iPhone OS on those fronts. But, when it comes to multi-tasking, we’d rather see Microsoft going down a different road. Push notifications are great, but they’re still a compromise. Allowing apps to save their state (pause) is handy, but still not the same as allowing apps to run in the background. Granted, multi-tasking is resource intensive, but seeing as how it’s already 2010 and we’re not flying around in spaceships or eating food made by replicators, it’d be nice to at least have a Windows Phone that can multi-task.

      As for the user interface, Microsoft is rumored to be using design elements from its Zune HD interface. The interface is codenamed “Metro” and is said to be clean and soulful. It’s this interface that Microsoft will unveil at MWC. Unfortunately, we’re also hearing that apps will only be allowed to install through official channels, like Windows Marketplace for Mobile. The days of side-loading apps on your Windows Phone might soon come to an abrupt end.

      We’ll know more next week, at Microsoft’s press conference in Barcelona. Make sure to keep an eye on IntoMobile, we’ll be coming to you live from Mobile World Congress with complete coverage of the event!

      [Via: PPCGeeks]

      Related News from IntoMobile: Apple rumored to allow limited iPhone multi-tasking with iPhone OS 3.0 Multifl0w for jailbroken iPhones – Multi-tasking on all iPhones should be this awesome iPhone 2.0 OS jailbreak and what it means for multi-tasking applications Poll: iPhone Background Push Notifications or True Multi-tasking? iPhone Push Background Notification – A multi-tasking compromise?

      Share this: Digg Facebook StumbleUpon

    • Electronic Arts Posts Jump In Digital Revenue—But Overall Sales Fall 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:35 pm

      EA logo

      With sales of traditional video games down, Electronic Arts (NSDQ: ERTS) continues to look (so far unsuccessfully) for its digital business to make up the gap. The video game giant said that its digital revenue reached an all-time high of $152 million during its third fiscal quarter, up 30 percent compared to the same period a year ago; mobile revenue was up 14 percent year-over-year to $57 million.

      That growth, however, was unable to compensate for declining sales of the company’s traditional video games. Overall sales dropped 25 percent to $1.243 billion, while the company posted a loss per share of 25 cents. Both figures were slightly above analyst expectations, although those had been dropped after the company slashed its guidance last month, citing weakness in Europe. (The company did, however, manage to cut its net losses to $82 million from $641 million during the same period a year ago).

      Unnerving for Wall Street apparently was the company’s outlook, which was below expectations (via Barrons). The company’s stock is down more than 7 percent in after-hours trading.

       

      Related

      EA's Stock Dives On Lowered Holiday Sales Guidance

    • AMD's Plan to Take Back Laptops: The Llano "APU" [Processors] 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:32 pm

      If you want a laptop with graphics performance that isn't totally embarrassing, you're pretty much stuck with some combination of Intel and Nvidia gear. Now, finally, the AMD Llano, a CPU/GPU combo, or "APU", could give us a serious alternative.

      AMD running with the "Application Processor Unit" name isn't as gimmicky as it sounds, because the Llano is genuinely unique: It's four processing cores and a DX11-capable GPU on a single processor die. In simpler terms, this means that AMD has created a tidy little system on a chip, aimed at a few portable markets. In the simplest terms, they've shrunk laptop graphics and processing into a single chip, which saves power and space.

      So! Not much is known about the Llano right now, but we can pick out some broad themes. The chip's power regulation is novel, monitoring specific chip functions to gauge power draw rather than sensors. The graphics capabilities, though still generally a mystery, wouldn't have to be very good at all to trump Intel's lame integrated graphics. In other words, as Ars notes, this could be the first real baby of the still torrid AMD/ATI marriage, and the start of an ATI comeback, at least in laptops.

      Or, given that we're not expected to see these processors in products until 2011, when everything could be completely different, it could be none of these things. [Ars Technica]

    • Slug Wars Slimes its way on to the App Store! 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:31 pm

      slug wars 1 Slug Wars Slimes its way on to the App Store!Republic of Fun just announced the release of Slug Wars – a real-time strategy game that brings to light the epic battles fought by brave slugs in yards across the nation!

      Slug Wars is all about managing unit queues for maximum impact on the battlefield. Slug units move down one of three lanes to reach the enemy base, engaging enemies along the way. Players carefully utilize eight different types of combat slugs, ranging from slow-moving (even for a slug!) tanks to salt-shaker-wielding kamikazes to defend their base from the slug onslaught while trying to capture their enemy’s base. Effectively selecting the order to release slug units is the key to success in this surprisingly deep, yet easy to play strategy game.

      slug wars 2 Slug Wars Slimes its way on to the App Store!

      “Slug Wars was a combination of inspiration from one of our favorite classic game series, Worms, as well as a whole new gameplay type, and tons of fantastic input from our fans and the gaming community,” said Mike Rasmussen, el presidente of Republic of Fun. “We wanted to bring humor and fun to a deep and engaging game, and our fans really helped us determine what features they wanted to see in a mobile strategy game.”

      Slug Wars is now available in the App Store for $1.99 normally, but is ending today on a $0.99 sale streak – so grab it quick!

      Slug Wars / $0.99 (sale) [iTunes link]

      Republic of Fun just announced the release of Slug Wars – a real-time strategy game that brings to light the epic battles fought by brave slugs in yards across the nation! Slug Wars is all about managing unit queues for maximum impact on the battlefield. Slug units move down one of three lanes to reach the enemy base, engaging enemies along the way. Players carefully utilize eight different types of combat slugs, ranging from slow-moving (even for a slug!) tanks to salt-shaker-wielding kamikazes to defend their base from the slug onslaught while trying to capture their enemy’s base. Effectively selecting the order to release slug units is the key to success in this surprisingly deep, yet easy to play strategy game. “Slug Wars was a combination of inspiration from one of our favorite classic game series, Worms, as well as a whole new gameplay type, and tons of fantastic input from our fans and the gaming community,” said Mike Rasmussen, el presidente of Republic of Fun. “We wanted to bring humor and fun to a deep and engaging game, and our fans really helped us determine what features they wanted to see in a mobile strategy game.” Slug Wars is now available in the App Store for $1.99 normally, but is ending today on a $0.99 sale streak – so grab it quick! Slug Wars / $0.99 (sale) [iTunes link]

      Related News from IntoMobile: THQ Wireless’ Worms 2008: A Space Oddity coming in June THQ Wireless launches Star Wars: The Clone Wars for Java-enabled handsets Touch Foo’s 2-D Platformer ‘Soosiz’ Available On The iPhone App Store Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars Releases on the iPhone Dope Wars goes native on iPhone!

      Share this: Digg Facebook StumbleUpon

    • China shuts down pretty darn big hacking Web site 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:30 pm

      Much has been written about China and “hackers” in recent weeks, probably because it contains two items that sound mysterious and scary: China and its rise, which unsettles people who believe the U.S. should run the planet, full stop, and “hacking.” Oh, scary hackers! Anyhow, here’s another story! A rather large Web site, one allegedly offering software for hacking, has been shut down. The site, Black Hawk Safety Net, was once located at 3800cc.com, but all you get now a bad request.

      The site was run by three people, who have now been arrested. The site had 12,000 subscribers, and generated some $1 million in revenue.

      The crazy thing is that all of this went down in November of last year, but it was only just announced.

      This is the part where I mention that China is home to plenty of “hackers,” but the country’s authorities have been sorta lax in cracking down.

      You’ll note that this is also a problem, if that’s the word to year, in Eastern Europe, where there’s plenty of computing talent, but not necessarily enough legitimate outlets to funnel said talent.

      In other hacker news, I’m eagerly awaing my first shipment of Club Mate, popularized here in the U.S. by 2600 magazine.

    • Android 2.1 Update for Droid Will Begin Rolling Out This Week [Android] 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:28 pm

      We knew that the Droid's Android 2.1 update is on its way, but apparently we won't be waiting long: According to Motorola's official Facebook page, it's "happy to relay the 2.1 upgrade to Droid will start to roll out this week." [Engadget]

    • Rad: Rise of the Triad comes to iPhone 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:27 pm

      While pundits were arguing about whether Doom was damaging to us kids, we were busy having our sensibilities shocked by the phenomenally violent Rise of the Triad. While it wasn’t as flashy as Doom (it was Wolf3D-based), it had crazy weapons, fire, and enemies that would beg for their lives. So ahead of its time! At any rate, it was a fun game and I played through the demo a million times. And it’s coming to iPhone (yes, and iPad). 1up reports that it’s coming “soon” and will be a full port with all the levels of the commercial game. I’m not really a big fan of iPhone shooters like this, but the old, simple ones fare pretty well with the new control schemes. It might be that an iPad will be a great old school game platform — can you imagine playing X-COM on one? I got goosebumps!

    • Can’t connect your iPod to your Ford SYNC car? Reboot! 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:27 pm

      There’s is an old saying: if something is wrong with your Microsoft computer, simply reboot. A few days ago I came to learn that this advice applies to some vehicles as well. I recently purchased a 2008 Ford Fusion and among its many features was SYNC by Microsoft. This is the in-car system that allows [...]

    • Samsung N150 netbook reviewed 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:26 pm

      The Samsung N150 is one of a handful of mini-laptops powered by Intel Atom N450 processors that Samsung introduced last month. It’s one of the cheapest new models, with a rather ordinary looking plastic case and a battery that’s good for up to 7.5 hours (as opposed to the 11 to 12 hours of run time Samsung is promising for the NB30 and N210/N220 netbooks).

      CNET has posted one of the first reviews of the Samsung N150. Overall, the reviewer finds the netbook to be a mixed bag. He finds the keyboard to be a little cramped, but he likes the touchpad which supports multitouch gestures.

      The 4400mAh battery provided just over 5 hours of run time in a Battery Eater test. Since Battery Eater is designed to constantly stress the CPU, you should expect closer to 6 or 7 hours of web surfing or other light duty activities.

      The Samsung N150 is available from Amazon for $349.

      via Eee PC.net

      Post from: LiliputingSamsung N150 netbook reviewed

    • Dalvik Turbo increases Android application performance by three times 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:24 pm

      Myriad Group, one of the founding members of the Open Handset Alliance, announced the Dalvik Turbo virtual machine for Android, which will replace the Dalvik engine that currently powers applications on Android phones.

      According to Myriad, Dalvik Turbo can increase Android application execution speed by up to three times, without significantly increasing memory requirements. The new Dalvik Turbo virtual machine can also provide “substantial battery life improvements” and supports a variety of processors (based on ARM, Intel’s Atom or MIPS).

      Thanks to Dalvik Turbo, Android developers will reportedly be able to create new games (fully compatible with existing Android software) that feature complex models and advanced graphics.

      Dalvik Turbo Android

      Myriad said that it would demonstrate Dalvik Turbo on Android devices during MWC 2010 – so we should expect Android phones with the new virtual machine to be available soon.

      Via Press release

      Similar Posts:Intel confirms plans for Atom-based iPhone-like mini-tablet? Run Android on HTC TyTN II, Touch Ericsson and Intel team up for HSPA on MIDs Android 1.5 on the way #CES 2010: Palm brings 3D games to webOS, opens developer program, promises Flash and video recording

    • Motorola Says Android 2.1 Headed to Droid This Week 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:23 pm

      Today Motorola announced via its official Facebook page that users of the Motorola Droid should expect their devices to update to Android version 2.1 at some point this week. The company said, "We're happy to relay the 2.1 upgrade ...(follow link to read)

    • AT&T Navigator 1.5i update adds speed limit alerts, shake-to-go, to iPhone 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:21 pm

      Last June I wrote a review of AT&T Navigator for the iPhone and thought it was a very good solution for GPS navigation. I popped my SIM card in my iPhone 3GS last night and saw there was an update to version 1.5i that I read about on the TeleNav blog was just released a couple of days ago. You can find the latest version on the iTunes App Store (iTunes link) where you will also find TeleNav has a pricing option for $69.99 for a year instead of the $9.99/month option. The monthly option is convenient if you only need the navigation option for a couple months a year, but like I mentioned in my Android post the year option is the best deal.

    • Google: Nexus One early termination fee lowered to $150 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:20 pm

      Google lowered the Nexus One's early termination fee (ETC) from $350 to $150 today. The ETF applies to customers that leave their T-Mobile contract within the first $120 days and does not include any changes to T-Mobile's own ETF, which is still $200. "We make no profit from commissions from operators or from equipment recovery fees, and our recovery fees are based on operator charges to Google for early termination of service," Google told The Wall Street Journal. Read the full story here.

    • mocoNews Quick Hits 02.08.2010 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:14 pm

      Apple iPad In Case and using its picture-frame mode

      »  The iPad hasn’t even shipped yet and the predictions already have Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) cutting prices if sales are slow. [MarketBeat]

      »  Since the hype lessened over the past few weeks, less consumers are enthusiastic about the iPad. [iPhone Alley]

      »  The lowdown on Samsung’s new platform/OS, Bada. [Mobile Entertainment]

      »  Leaked photos of the upcoming Verizon HTC Incredible. [PocketNow]

      »  Linux originator Linus Torvalds swoons over the Nexus One. [Engadget]

    • Motorola: Droid update to Android 2.1 'will start to roll out this week' 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:13 pm

      We knew Android 2.1 was coming for the Droid, but we'll confess -- we didn't expect it to come this soon. Motorola is now reporting via its official Facebook page that it's "happy to relay the 2.1 upgrade to Droid will start to roll out this week," going on to tease that it "will have more information to share on other device upgrades later." There's no detail on what the Droid update will entail or whether it'll roll out to every user this week (we doubt it), but by all indications, this is a promising sign that Moto's keeping the pedal to the metal, we'd say. [Thanks, andrewcweaver]

      Motorola: Droid update to Android 2.1 'will start to roll out this week' originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

      Permalink | Email this | Comments

    • Slango Urban Dictionary goes live for iPhone 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:05 pm

      slango 2 Slango Urban Dictionary goes live for iPhone

      There are a real mixture of Apps for the iPhone – some useful, some more for fun – I can’t decide which category ‘Slango Urban Dictionary’ falls into, but it certainly brings a smile to my face :-)

      Here’s the spiel:

      Ever wanted to know what your favorite rappers were talking about when they referenced their “whip” or their “chrome four-fifth”? Ever wanted to know what all the cool kids were saying? Wonder no more with Slango!

      Slango is the best Urban Dictionary app in the App Store. With access to over 4,000,000 words and features suchch as Word of the Day, Search, Share, and Bookmarks with offline-viewing support, it’s a no-brainer. Try Slango!

      Well I have to say I gave it a go, and it’s very amusing – there’s a wide variety of phrases in there, and some I’d not heard before – but will certainly be going in my ’street lingo’ repository! I’d say if you’re bored and fancy a chuckle, which you can share with others, give it a go!

      Slango Urban Dictionary / £0.59 [iTunes link]

      Related News from IntoMobile: PowerDic for Symbian S60 devices released Dictionary.com goes iPhone, iPod Touch Paragon releases Van Dale Dutch dictionaries for the iPhone Epocware releases the largest Merriam-Webster’s dictionary for Symbian smartphones Paragon releases VOX General Spanish Dictionary for iPhone, Windows Mobile and Symbian S60

      Share this: Digg Facebook StumbleUpon

    • Google's Nexus One 'equipment recovery fee' slashed to $150, still a pain 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:04 pm

      So the good news here is that Google appears to have heard the cries for help, having taken a chainsaw to its brutal $350 "equipment recovery fee" that had been lumped on top of T-Mobile's $200 ETF for subsidized Nexus One contracts canceled in the first 120 days. The bad news, though, is that it still exists at all -- a hairy precedent for an industry being watched with eagle eyes by the FCC right now. The company has knocked $200 off the fee, bringing it down to $150; in other words, if you break your contract, you'll pay the same ETF that Verizon now charges on its "advanced devices." Whether that was a deliberate move to let 'em say that they're no more expensive than Verizon is unclear, but let's be honest: $350 is extreme, $550 was highway robbery. At least we're going in the right direction.

      Google's Nexus One 'equipment recovery fee' slashed to $150, still a pain originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

      Permalink | Email this | Comments

    • Google Drops Nexus One 'Equipment Recovery Fee' to $150 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:04 pm

      nexus one.jpg Google has dropped the "equipment recovery fee" it charges for early returns on the Nexus One smartphone from $350 to $150. The company made headlines when it was revealed that customers who cancel or downgrade their service plans within 120 days of purchase (minus the 14-day initial trial period) would be charged a $350 equipment recovery fee on top of the $175 early termination fee (ETF) charged by T-Mobile. Google said in its terms of sale that the fee was "for liquidated damages Google will incur as a result of such cancellation." The company has now altered that fee. Customers canceling or downgrading service within 120 days will have to pay a $150 fee, plus any ETF charged by T-Mobile, according to revised terms of sale. If you're upgrading your service, you will have to pay a $50 equipment recovery fee. "We've been working with T-Mobile to improve our customers' overall Nexus One experience through a reduction in the equipment recovery fee (ERF) associated with purchasing the Nexus One with a T-Mobile service plan," Google said in a statement. "Starting today, new T-Mobile customers who want to cancel service after 14 days, but before 120 days, will be charged $150 by Google, instead of the original $350 fee. Upgrade customers will now be charged $50 by Google, instead of the original $25 fee. Google continues to provide the same upfront discounts to customers who buy Nexus One phones with T-Mobile service."

    • Miyamoto: Nintendo is working on new hardware 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:03 pm

      Nintendo’s next console has been the subject of countless rumors, and every time something comes up, someone at Nintendo vehemently denies it. A new console? Perish the thought! Well, I never! But at the Japan Media Arts Festival on Saturday, Shigeru Miyamoto himself said that yes, Nintendo is working on new hardware. There wasn’t much said beyond that, so it may be that it’s something totally different from, say, a Wii HD, but since we have a recent DS release, it’s safe to suppose it’s something that’s definitely new.

      He was talking about the development process and some Nintendo history, and also revealed that he was working on some good stuff for MotionPlus. At some point, however, he acknowledged that the new generation of hardware was underway. I don’t trust the translation of the original article, so I’ll leave it at that.

      [via Andriasang and 1up]

    • Dev-Team releases PwnageTool for iPhone OS 3.1.3 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:01 pm

      Jailbreak Pineapple

      They’re back at it again. The iPhone dev-team has released an update to their popular jailbreaking software, PwnageTool, for Mac OS X. The new PwnageTool — version 3.1.5 — boasts the ability to properly jailbreak Apple’s recently released 3.1.3 iPhone/iPod Touch firmware. Before you get too excited, the dev-team does offer up this proclamation, “Unless you’ve personally observed a problem with the reporting of your battery percentage, there’s no reason to update to 3.1.3.” For those that feel the need for a jailbroken iPhone or iPod Touch with the 3.1.3 firmware follow the read link; let us know how it goes in the comments.

      Read

    • Heat powered arcade mugs 

      Posted on 8 February 2010 | 5:00 pm

      Mugs are like jeans. You go through several different ones before you settle on a favorite. But once you find one, hell can freeze over before you use something else. And ThinkGeek’s new temperature sensitive arcade mugs will be able to tell you when that happens.

      You’ve got a Pac Boy or Space Invaders design to choose from. In it’s natural state, the mug is black and rather nondescript. But pour in a hot beverage, and your nostalgia of choise is represented in all its 8-bit glory. Definitely beats whatever you’re drinking out of right now. These things will run you $7.99 a piece.

      Now I suppose you could treat this as a very rudimentary video game in itself. By pouring your delicious drink in an accurate enough pattern, you should be able to recreate a session of respective pill-popping or alien-killing fun. Someone go do that, and you’ll almost be on par with these guys.

    • EBIF: The key to unlocking advanced ads in enhanced linear programming 

      Posted on 2 December 2009 | 12:54 pm

      CED magazine just released its annual ranking of the 50 biggest trends, deals and technologies in cable and lucky number 13 is the snappily-named Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format, better known as EBIF. It may not sound impressive, but major cable operators like Comcast are counting on EBIF. This standardized data set was defined to support [...]

    • Telco is the Word 

      Posted on 12 November 2009 | 9:28 am

      As TelcoTV wraps up this week in Orlando, RGB is excited to announce several accomplishments, including winning a TelcoTV Vision Award in the category of Innovation in Encoding (against two very worthy challengers), not to mention two key customer wins with HTC, the nation’s largest telephone cooperative, and Hargray Communications, a provider of television services [...]

    • Video Ubiquity 

      Posted on 13 October 2009 | 3:38 pm

      Despite the challenging economic climate, most operators we talk with continue to be optimistic about the near- and long-term prospects for the video delivery market. The fact that video is increasingly being viewed anywhere and everywhere on a plethora of devices certainly bodes well for our industry! The challenge now is establishing the [...]

    • RGB @ IBC 2009 

      Posted on 18 September 2009 | 9:23 pm

      Find out about RGB’s latest offerings, including content repurposing for the delivery of any video to any device. View videos from IBC 2009, with RGB’s Ramin Farassat: • TelecomTV • Videonet

    • The Ad Crisis Set Out in Black, White and Pink 

      Posted on 14 September 2009 | 4:00 am

      The media has been awash with stories about the state of the ad market recently, not all have made for comfortable reading… Take for example the Financial Times’ week-long ‘Media Challenge’ series, which – among other things – examined the sheer scale of the problem facing those broadcasters with a heavy reliance on ad sales. [...]

    • Making Three Screens Happen — Without Breaking the Bank 

      Posted on 9 September 2009 | 5:39 pm

      ‘Three screens’ is the Holy Grail of TV. The attraction of being able to watch the same video on the TV, PC and mobile devices is obvious to consumers and service providers alike. While deceptively simple to the layman, actually accomplishing it is fraught with complications for service providers in today’s multi-codec world. While [...]

    • Digital Ad Insertion is a Critical Application 

      Posted on 17 August 2009 | 10:25 pm

      North American operators have long relied on local ad insertion as a lucrative revenue stream. As market and technological changes transform the television delivery environment, operators around the world are seeing the opportunities that advanced advertising has to offer in terms of engagement with subscribers and revenue-generation. In addition to local and zoned ad insertion, [...]

    • The DBM Takes on the Big Three – HD, VOD, MPEG-4 

      Posted on 11 August 2009 | 4:23 am

      The latest upgrade to RGB’s Dynamic Bandwidth Manager (DBM) addresses three growing trends in the video delivery business—more HD, more VOD and now the growing use of MPEG-4/H.264.To learn more about how the DBM can help your network to keep up with bandwidth constraints brought on by the proliferation of advanced video service, click here [...]

    • Introducing Relevancy into TV Advertising 

      Posted on 4 August 2009 | 4:47 am

      Learn how cable and IPTV operators can begin to match the relevancy offered by Internet advertising through the use of real-time digital overlays for addressable advertising. Check out this video clip of RGB’s Ramin Farassat at ANGA Cable, courtesy of Videonet.

    • Video Charges Full Speed Ahead 

      Posted on 23 July 2009 | 9:00 am

      This is certainly the most dynamic time in the history of the video delivery business—so much is happening in the industry, making it both exciting and challenging. I’m with customers every week and I see several key trends playing out. Currently, operators’ biggest focus continues to be around the addition of more services, with HD and [...]

    • Happy Australia Day 

      Posted on 26 January 2010 | 7:38 am

      G’day and Happy Australia Day mates! (I really wish you could hear my Australian accent) Australia Day is a national tribute to everything that is great about Australia and being Australian. Call your Aussie friends and family to wish them a happy Australia Day for just 0.020 cents a min with Talkster.

    • Compliment Day 

      Posted on 24 January 2010 | 7:31 am

      How nice of you to visit the Talkster blog today. I can see by your choice of websites, that you are an intelligent person. I love the way you read our posts on your computer or your phone. How wise you are. I bet you smell good too. Yes, it’s Compliment Day. Compliment Day offers the perfect [...]

    • Truly Steeped Savings… January is Hot Tea Month 

      Posted on 20 January 2010 | 7:11 am

      While that perfect cup of tea is steeped in history and tradition, Talkster is offering callers international calling rates deeply steeped in savings! With Talkster you can call China, the birthplace of tea nearly 5,000 years ago, for rates as low as 0.019 cents per minute. Use Talkster to call Morocco, where the national drink is Green [...]

    • Happy Birthday Benjamin Franklin 

      Posted on 17 January 2010 | 7:27 am

      On this day in 1706 Benjamin Franklin was born. He would become famous as a scientist, an inventor, a statesman, a printer, a philosopher, a musician, and an economist. Today, we honor Benjamin Franklin as one of our Founding Fathers whose ideas are still very much alive. Ben Franklin’s personal ideas about economics helped to shape [...]

    • Is it really International Skeptics Day today? 

      Posted on 13 January 2010 | 8:26 am

      Yes. It is. Trust us. By definition, a skeptic is a person who questions or doubts facts and theories. Here at Talkster we deal with skeptics all the time. People wonder, “Can Talkster really save me money on my international calls?” Why yes, we can. That’s exactly why we’re here. The “doubting Thomas” asks us time and [...]

    • Happy Peculiar People Day 

      Posted on 10 January 2010 | 1:25 pm

      Every year on January 10th people around the United States take pause to honor the uniquely different people in their lives on “Peculiar People Day.” Ah, the peculiar people in our lives; the un-ordinary, extraordinary, unusual, strange, odd, uncommon, intriguing, different, abnormal, and downright quirky. Today, we honor them. Today is a day to look for the [...]

    • Talk-Up Your New Year’s Resolutions to Keep Them 

      Posted on 6 January 2010 | 5:23 pm

      Happy New Year from all your friends at Talkster! With a fresh start and a brand new year ahead of us many of you will be making New Year’s resolutions. In our experience the best way to make sure you stick to your resolutions is to clearly state your intentions and share them with friends [...]

    • Our Holiday Gift to YOU! 

      Posted on 22 December 2009 | 8:00 am

      It’s that time of year again… the holiday season! Talkster loves to give the gift of gab to all our loyal customers, especially since we can save you money and help you to stay connected to friends and family all around the world. In honor of the season we announced a new limited time promotional offer [...]

    • Chatting with a techno teen… 

      Posted on 17 September 2009 | 1:08 am

      By James Wanless President & COO of Talkster At the end of the week I had the opportunity to chat with Jeff over at Jeff On The Go a technology blog with a fresh “youthful” perspective on the industry. His perspective is particularly unique as he is a high school student himself. Clearly he’s not your typical [...]

    • USA Today Heralds Talkster as Free Service Worth Using 

      Posted on 29 May 2009 | 5:47 pm

      USA Today featured Talkster this week as a way consumers can save money using technology. In the article, “Here are 7 great freebies you’ll actually use,” USA Today CyberSpeak columnist Kim Komando recommends Talkster as a “legitimate freebie you may want to use again and again.” Other free services that Kim profiles in her article [...]

    • Updated version and more private beta invites! 

      Posted on 24 November 2009 | 1:39 pm

      Thanks to the hundreds of private beta users making thousands of calls over our VoIP service for Android phones, we have been able to make improvements to our private beta application. Now we want to share it with a lot more users. To get the private beta, please check with your favorite Android [...]

    • Tubaloo Explained 

      Posted on 17 November 2009 | 1:10 pm

      Watch Tubaloo CEO Michael Tupper explain and demonstrate Tubaloo on bnetTV at CTIA:

    • Gizmodo: The iPhone-to-Android Switch – 10 Things You Need to Know 

      Posted on 9 November 2009 | 12:15 pm

      This morning Gizmodo posted a sometimes humorous, but entirely accurate column on making the switch from iPhone to Android. Anyone who is on the fence about making such a switch should read this article. The only thing the article forgets is to mention VoIP and the Tubaloo application. http://gizmodo.com/5398942/the-iphone+to+android-switch-10-things-you-need-to-know

    • Tubaloo adds a Facebook fan page to ways we interact with our users 

      Posted on 3 November 2009 | 6:42 pm

      To make it even easier for you, our users, to connect with us at Tubaloo, we launched a fan page on Facebook, which you can join by clicking here. The fan page shares our blog posts, additional information about the Tubaloo application and service, and more Tubaloo fun. Please join us there, and as always, [...]

    • Watch the new Tubaloo video 

      Posted on 30 October 2009 | 6:42 pm

      Tell us what you think of our new video: Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DOk1BNU5qg

    • Update on Private Beta Invites 

      Posted on 30 October 2009 | 6:29 pm

      We’re just a few days into our private beta, and have been very pleased that hundreds of people have downloaded and started using Tubaloo! In fact, we had to give out new invites to a couple of the blogs that are offering invite codes to their readers. In addition to our invite code, tubaloo1, you [...]

    • What do people in Europe, Asia, North and South America have in common? 

      Posted on 29 October 2009 | 1:04 pm

      Wow! We are off to a great start on the Tubaloo private beta. Yesterday we announced the opening of our private beta and offered an invite code in our press release and here on our blog: tubaloo1. Other Android blogs covered our news and offered their own invite codes. The rush [...]

    • Tubaloo announces the private beta of our Android VoIP service 

      Posted on 28 October 2009 | 4:08 pm

      After weeks of making final refinements, Tubaloo is very pleased to announce the launch of our beta service! Our aim is to give you control of your calling, including how much you pay for long distance and international calls. We built a voice over Internet calling service that works with your phone, not [...]

    • Anyone care for an Eclair? 

      Posted on 27 October 2009 | 6:37 pm

      Google has announced that their latest SDK for Android now supports Android 2.0 — also known as Eclair. According to the Android Developers website: “Android 2.0 brings new developer APIs for sync, Bluetooth, and a few other areas. Using the new sync, account manager and contacts APIs, you can write applications to enable users to [...]

    • Tubaloo’s VoIP via 3G on Android 

      Posted on 16 September 2009 | 7:42 pm

      PhoneDog.com, the mobile phone news and reviews website, is the first publication to take a look at Tubaloo’s new app for Android: “Amidst the storm of debates surrounding the FCC’s investigation of Apple’s refusal to allow Google Voice into the Apple App Store and the befuddlement over the tech giant’s acceptance of the Vonage client, a [...]