PawEng » Communication

Google Wave

PawEng — Sat, 30 May 2009 01:02:04 +0000

The web is buzzing with the news that Google is coming out with Google Wave:

Google Wave: A Complete Guide by Mashable
Google Wave “Is What Email Would Look Like If It Were Invented Today” by Lifehacker
Could Google Wave Redefine Email and Web Communication? by Mashable
Google Wave: Google Tries to Reinvent Email by Read Write Web
Google Waves Goodbye to E-Mail, Welcomes Real-Time Communication by WebMonkey

Google Wave promises to revolutionize the way we communicate and collaborate online. It works in real-time. If someone else writes something, you see it immediately. Anything can be edited much like a wiki, and you can share files via waves. At any point you can play back the wave to see who did what. Finally, waves can be extended by third-party applications.

Google Wave will be available later this year.

Watching Podcasts on a Windows Mobile Cellphone

PawEng — Sun, 24 May 2009 19:51:02 +0000

I have an old Samsung i730 cellphone running Windows Mobile 2005. I have long wanted to watch podcasts on it, but I have never really found a good way of doing so. But now I finally have something that seems to work.

I have downloaded Apple’s iTunes software for my Windows XP PC. In iTunes I have subscribed to a series of podcasts, and iTunes automatically downloads new episodes for me.

I also tried the Juice podcast receiver. It lets you download podcasts automatically from rss feeds.

I use MobSync to copy the podcasts to my cellphone. It detects when I connect my cellphone to the computer, and then it automatically uploads the podcasts. The current version of MobSync is 2.0.3, and it has a 30 day trial period. I found an old version (MobSync 0.94) on the web, and it looks like it is freeware. It works fine for me.

On the cellphone, I use TCPMP to play the podcasts. I downloaded version 0.72RC1 and installed it. I also needed to install a few plugins. I downloaded and installed the ffmpeg plugin. It is available from the download page of TCPMP. In order to play AAC files, I needed the AAC plugin for TCPMP. It is unfortunately not available from the TCPMP page, but I found it at RareWares.org. (Yes, it says it is for version 0.66, but it works fine in version 0.72RC1.)

I added a 4GB memory card to my cellphone, and now I have plenty of space to store podcasts.

Google Voice — Formerly GrandCentral

PawEng — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 20:20:05 +0000

A while ago, Google bought GrandCentral, but then we haven’t heard anything from them until now. GrandCentral is emerging as Google Voice. It is Google’s way of letting you do more with your phone calls. You can, for example, have one phone number that will ring both your home phone and your cell phone. You can get voice mails transcribed and emailed to you. You get conference calls, and much more. It is all free.

Lifehacker has a first look at Google Voice giving you a good overview of what to expect once Google Voice opens to the public in the next few weeks.

Cc:Betty Organizes You Email

PawEng — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:40:18 +0000

The new company Cc:Betty presented their system for organizing your email. It is as simple as cc’ing betty@ccbetty.com, and Betty will organize your message and it’s contents for you.

Cc:Betty was presented today at DEMO. It has gotten a lot of press on the blogosphere:

Visit Cc:Betty, which is in beta right now.

Whspr: Receive Email Without Revealing Your Email Address

PawEng — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:36:19 +0000

Whspr lets you receive email from anyone without revealing your email address. Whspr sets up a contact web page for you. It is valid for up to a year, and you can delete it at any time. Simply give out the URL for the contact page instead of your email. This can be very useful for many public online places where you want to receive email, but you don’t want the spam.

Whspr [via Lifehacker]

Best Blogs of 2009

PawEng — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 20:51:32 +0000

The Ninth Annual Weblog Awards is underway. You have until tomorrow to vote for your favorite blogs in some 30 categories ranging from best Asian blog, over best food and best entertainment blogs, to best technology blog and blog of the year.

So, go vote for your favorite blogs. Or just visit the site to take a look at the best blogs out there.

Ninth Annual Weblog Awards

UberNote — A Google Notebook Replacement

PawEng — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 20:35:48 +0000

Ever since Google announced that they will stop development of Google Notebook, I have been searching for an alternative. I have settled on UberNote. It offers an easy way to import notes from Google Notebook and it has a Firefox add-on for easy use. The layout of UberNote is very similar to Google Notebook, so Google Notebook users such as myself will feel right at home.

The UberNote web site has a very good introduction to the site. It features a 3 minute video tour, suggested uses for students, bloggers / web workers, business users, productivity junkies, and researchers, and sample content for task lists, contacts, webclips or bookmarks, grocery lists, recipes, and event plans.

I miss Google Notebook’s “infinite” lists where new elements are loaded as you scroll down. UberNote uses the normal “page [1] [2] [3]” technique. Another thing I miss is the ability to tag entries as they are created via the Firefox Add-in. Right now I have to log in to the web interface to assign tags. Luckily it is easy to view all untagged notes, but I like Google Notebook’s approach of placing new notes in the same notebook (tag) as the last one. These are all minor issues. Overall I am very happy with UberNote.

UberNote is a free web service.

Easy Whiteboard

PawEng — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 15:45:20 +0000

Easy Whiteboard is a program that turns your screen into a whiteboard. You draw directly on your screen on top of all other applications. This is very useful if you are explaining something. It is similar to how the meteorologists show the direction of weather patterns or how sports commentators explain the latest plays on TV. When you are done you can either clear the screen or save it as a picture.

The program is only available in German, but since it mostly uses icons, it is possible for non-German speakers to use it. Click “Start” (which is German for “Start”… see how easy German is?) to begin, and click “Fertig” when you are done. Any other German words are quick translated using Google Translate.

Easy Whiteboard is a free download for Windows [via gHacks]

Palm Pre: An iPhone Killer?

PawEng — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 15:13:01 +0000

Palm has introduced the Palm Pre cell phone. It looks ready to take up the battle with Apple’s iPhone. Take a look a the many photos on Palm’s own website to see for yourself.

The Pam Pre uses Palm’s new webOS operating system. It has an 3.1 inch, 24 bit, 320×480 pixel screen. It has a physical slide-out QWERTY keyboard as opposed to the current trend of virtual keyboards, and it has removable batteries. The Palm Pre has GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, and Bluetooth support.

The past few days, the tech media have been all over the announcement. Wired has a good story about it. And Computer World has an excellent summary of what the media are saying.

There is no word yet on the price of the Palm Pre.

Update 1/25/2009: See the Palm’s presentation of the Pre at CES. It is fairly long, but includes a very good demonstration of the Pre and its capabilities.

A Peacock In The Land of Penguins

PawEng — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:27:48 +0000

Once in a while you come across a book that in a simple and elegant way describes some deep and core issues. The book Peacock in the Land of Penguins is one such book. It is a fable about creativity and courage. It describes how Perry the Peacock travels to the Land of the Penguins, and how he is pushed to conform. He must decide how far he wants to go to become a penguin. It is a story about how conformity stifles us, and how greatness comes from diversity.

The first part of the book contains the fable about Perry the Peacock. It is about a hundred pages in the book, but they are quickly read. A summary of the fable is available as a short movie.

The second part of the book lets you test yourself to know whether you are a peacock or a penguin. There are tips and tools for birds of all feathers, and ideas and examples for teaching penguins to fly.

Google’s Book Search will let you read some of the pages online.

In many ways the book resembles The One Minute Manager, which is also built around a simple story that expresses some deep truths. In The One Minute Manager we follow a bright young man who is looking for an effective manager, and in the process learns three important secrets to management: The one minute goals, the one minute praisings, and the one minute reprimands.