First of all, we’re not normal users. At least not during the working day. We use computers to create and manage rather than simply consume content.

We also provide general and specific consulting services to corporate clients who count on us to try to figure out the safest way through the consumer electronics minefield where misinformation tends to outweigh accurate, reliable intel.

We use a mixture of software that ranges from open source to very expensive. We use a mixture of online services that range from free to very expensive. Think of it as a hybrid of home made and world class. Yet they all have one common element: we believe they are the very best software and services we can find and afford for the task(s) they perform.

In simple terms, it’s what I call the Swiss Army knife approach: Want to whittle a point? Knife. Take something apart? Screwdriver. Opening a bottle of wine? Corkscrew.

In other words, pick the right tool for the job. Yes, you can open the wine with a screwdriver. Spit. Gag. Don’t you love Chardonay with squishy bits of floating cork?

So what are these missing applications that would be difficult to live without?

VNC – Remote control software that lets us take control of a remote computer. We use this for technical support, both inhouse and for clients.
VLC – A great cross-platform media player. There are so many a/v codecs and file formats floating around that stump common media players. If anything can play an audio or video file, it’s likely going to be VLC.
RDP – Remote Desktop is one of those applications that we use nearly every day to log into our desktops remotely, whether that’s from a laptop or a mobile phone.

We haven’t tried all of the Playbook apps that are out there, but we’re grinding our way through them one by one. What we have noticed is the lack of some very basic functionality in many of them, and the surprisingly common spelling and grammatical errors that accompany many of them in the Blackberry app store.

For instance, there’s a potentially useful app called ‘Teleprompter’: the idea is that you can use your Playbook to scroll through text, just like a TV studio teleprompter that costs hundreds or even thousands of dollars. But it doesn’t have the ability to paste text into the application or to import a file. Huh?

And the time tracking applications are few and far between, rudimentary at best and completely lacking in the ability to export the data short of retyping it. Might as well just use a little notebook and a pen from the start. It’s about $450 cheaper.

-g

PS – Managed to completely drain the battery. On purpose. Now seeing how long it takes to full recharge using AC. We’ll do another test plugged in via USB to see how the two methods compare.

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It didn’t take long for the Apple fans to start in on my Playbook tablet notes. So perhaps some background info, and then let’s address their comments.

Why Are We Doing This?

We provide consulting to clients who need to know about technology – hardware, software, best practices, online trends, etc. – and who have neither the time nor the interest in spending days or hours testing, researching, and generally digging through a million details to find the useful nuggets.

In order to be able to do that effectively, we need to get our hands dirty.

Are We Apples or PCs?

We’re both, and more. Well call it being operating system agnostics. We just don’t care if it has a PC or an Apple logo on the case. (In fact, one or our in jokes is to put PC stickers on Apple devices and the Apple logo on PCs. Just to yank the chains of the more rabid fanbois.)

What we do care about is whether or not it works as intended. And there are plenty of examples of Fail! in both camps.

(How agnostic are we? How about Linux virtual machines running inside a Windows server using VMWare? At last count, we had eight separate operating systems going here. Because we have clients who need to know.)

The Missing Pieces – Sort Of

Here’s an email from a colleague following my first post to a forum about the Playbook review:

FYI: If you get a PlayBook and expect to use it for mail, calendars, contacts and so forth, you also need to have a BlackBerry handset.

That’s not entirely accurate.

I first read the email in question on the Playbook (though I responded from my desktop ’cause there’s nothing better for typing than a real keyboard) and I don’t have a Blackberry here today.

So webmail – while feature light – does work. And Google calendars work.

But the writer is correct that the ‘native’ Blackberry mail, calendar and contact apps are not currently available to run directly on the Playbook.

If you expect to use those native apps, then you will need a Blackberry handset.

One of the issues facing corporate IT managers is the potential for mobile devices to carve great big security holes in corporate networks. Blackberrys are very locked down, or they wouldn’t be so popular with the suits. Using the Playbook as a way to ’see’ into the handset without actually having the handset software running on the tablet should minimize those security concerns.

Another reason for the ‘coming soon’ label on the native apps is presumably due to the tablet using a new operating system – QNX – created by an Ottawa company that RIM bought. The plan, as I understand it, is to move all of the Blackberry devices to QNX as well as providing an Android emulator for the tablet. The latter move would open the device to about a zillion Android apps and possibly drive corporate IT managers ’round the bend.

A more pressing issue in my opinion is the lack of an RDP (remote desktop) application. I have one on my iPod Touch. It works, but the screen is so small, that it’s not very practical. (I rarely have to synch anything but consumable entertainment – certainly not work files – between my mobile and desktop devices. RDP lets me log right into my desktop over cellular or wifi and use the remote device as a dumb terminal.)

I suspect most Playbook purchases will be by people already in the Blackberry camp. Those tend to be corporate users. Who are too busy to do the kind of exhaustive road testing that we do. As one person at one of our recent technology presentations put it: “I don’t need to know all this stuff. I just want you to tell me what I should do.”

-g

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We picked up the last Playbook on sale in Fredericton yesterday. And have been mucking about with it for the past 24 hours.

My first impressions is that I like the build quality, the form factor (bigger than an iP0d but smaller than an iPad), the stickiness of the coating on the back, the clean intuitive interface, and the rich display.

The audio is surprisingly good. It seems to have a depth – on the bass end of the scale – missing in most small consumer electronics.

The Playbook has two cameras – one front, one back. The camera on the back produces decent quality video, and puts you in the position of using the monitor to control the camera. It even has optical stabilization.

On the Other Hand…

The lack of a calendar application is curious. I’m not a Blackberry user, but understand that if I was, I could use the calendar app on the phone to synch with the Playbook. The only recommendation for us non-Blackberry users is to use Google Calendar.

It froze, less than 12 hours in. What happens is that when you boot up your Playbook, it displays the ‘Blackberry Playbook’ title – white text on black background that slowly changes to a multi-coloured background. And stays there. The on-screen swipe does nothing. The edge of the bezel that normally reacts to finger touches goes dead.

The solution requires plugging the Playbook into a computer, downloading the desktop Playbook application, and upgrading the Playbook software. So you need a computer to use your tablet? Doesn’t seem right.

And the upgrade was a less than flawless process.

Netflix doesn’t work. And for our US friends, Hulu is blocking the Playbook. Silverlight, Microsoft’s video delivery platform, isn’t compatible with the device.

I haven’t been able to find a streaming video service that recognizes the Playbook’s camera so it could be used to stream live.

Battery Life?

No idea whatsoever. Will have to test that over the next few days.

-g

1. Apr 23, 9:43 – corrected iPad/iPod comparison – Thanks, Annie

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I’ve been using Mozilla Firefox for a long time now, since the days when its version number started with zero & it was still called “Phoenix”. In that time, I have been fairly conservative about installing extensions, but there are still a small handful that I can’t do without; this is a list of my top 6 favourite extensions for Firefox.

Number 6 – FlashBlock / AdBlockPlus

FlashBlock and AdBlockPlus are really two separate extensions, but I’ve lumped them together because they’re both help make the web significantly less-irritating. As the name suggests, FlashBlock blocks Flash content from loading automatically – instead, you see a play button in its place. You can then start the Flash movie by clicking on the play button, or you can whitelist that site file so that Flash content loads automatically next time.

On slower internet connections, running FlashBlock can make webpages load much faster – especially pages that contain Flash-based ads. And on faster internet connections, it’s FlashBlock handy if you want to block advertisements audio and/or videos ads, since those typically use Flash. Until about six months ago, I didn’t bother running any other ad-blocking extensions, because FlashBlock already took care of the truly obnoxious ads.

Which brings us to AdBlock Plus (or ABP), which is easily one of the most popular Firefox extensions. If you really dislike advertisement on the web, ABP can block the vast majority – including ads from the large advertising networks like Google AdSense & the ads displayed by common self-hosted banner applications. Personally, I try to avoid blocking ads unless they’re genuinely obnoxious or distracting, and FlashBlock already takes care of most of those. I finally broke down when video sites started going really overboard with the pre-roll & post-roll video ads, and even started running ads in the middle of videos – for me, final straw was getting a pre-roll ad on Blip.tv that couldn’t even be paused or muted.

AdBlockPlus doesn’t block most in-video ads by default (except on youTube), but it can with about 3 minutes of effort to add the “EasyList” subscription. That’s one of the best features of AdBlock Plus: anyone can create & publish a blocklist that other ABP users can subscribe to. When new ads (or types of ads) are discovered and added to a list that you subscribe to, your copy of AdBlockPlus updates itself and the new ads are blocked automatically – similar in principle to definition updates for anti-virus software.

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$41 million. From Sequoia Capital, Bain Capital, and Silicon Valley Bank. Pre-launch.

That’s how much a brand new startup called Color has to work with. Your eyebrows should already be raised, and here’s something to keep them fixed there: this is the most money Sequoia has ever invested in a pre-launch startup. Or, as the Color team put it, “That’s more than they gave Google.”

Jason Kincaid

Techcrunch.com, Mar 23, 2011

Sound familiar? Actually, this deal has some serious potential. And anybody who bet big on Google can’t be completely crazy. But this next big thing in social media has no members and everyone now knows what they’re up to.

What this feels like – not this event per se but this event in the accumulation of other related events – is the dot.com boom again, but with social media and web 2.0 plastered all over it.

Most people think that the dot.com bust which inevitably followed the collapse of so much hot air had something to do with technology. It didn’t. It was financial. Much of the technology developed and companies started  during the original dot.com bubble  are doing just fine, thank you very much. You’ve probably heard of Google or Amazon?

But ask any university that rues the loss of computer science students to parental misunderstanding. pitches computer science and you’ll hear the lament of fewer students due to parental misunderstanding, parents who thought the problem was the lack of opportunity in information technology when it was about unsustainable businesses blowing up.

The pot is boiling again – with the rise of Twitter and Facebook and social networking and online video which, among other things, is attracting marketing dollars away from other media. And any time there’s blood – or money – in the water, the sharks come out.

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In the past few months, we’ve noticed an alarming new (and increasing) trend: websites compromised by way of “malicious software” (viruses, etc) that targets web developers. By all accounts, the malware searches infected computers for the data files of common FTP programs, where login details are stored (FTP usernames and passwords) – the attackers can then use this information to upload malicious files without the site owner’s knowledge.

The result is that otherwise-legitimate websites can end up containing malicious content, without the site owner’s knowledge. This typically means “phishing” pages, which impersonate the login pages of online banking sites for purposes of stealing financial information. In other cases, the site itself is modified to add hidden code which can then infect visitors to the site.

Read on for some information on how to prevent these types of attacks.

Read the rest of this entry »

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So you have a payment due to a company in Ontario – and it has to be made today – so you get a bank draft and take it to the local branch of their bank, the Bank of Montreal (on Prospect Street in Fredericton).

Two tellers and a line to the door. Two other people behind the counter, but they’re consumed by their computer monitors. One finally steps in to help customers as the line threatens to extend outside into parking lot.

Finally get to the teller’s window, provide her with the account info for the Ontario company and the bank draft for the appropriate amount.

“Do you have an account here?”

“No. ”

“Then we can’t accept this.”

“It’s a bank draft. It’s legal tender. The payment is due today. Your customer – who’s expecting the payment – specifically requested that it be deposited at a local branch of the Bank of Montreal.”

“One moment.”

She calls over to Kim, one of the people behind the counter who’s been focused on her computer terminal, who says basically the same thing.

“It’s a bank draft. It is legal tender.”

She says they’ll have to check with the branch manager. She and the teller go to the far end of the counter area, then the teller gets on the phone.

About thirty minutes after entering the bank, the teller returns and tells me that yes, they will accept my bank draft. But they require two pieces of ID.

Why?

Because the bank manager requires it.

She doesn’t like the first pieces of ID. “Do you have government ID? With your picture on it?”

I essentially empty my wallet and she picks through it, finding the ID she’ll accept, writing the details on the back of the payment slip.

“Why is this required?”

“The manager requires it.”

“How long do you intend to keep that information?”

“Indefinitely.”

“Why?”

“It’s required. And we require a contact phone number.”

And who required all this?

“The manager.”

And the managers name: “Kim Barnett.”

—————-

I call my financial institution, the Omista Credit Union. Unlike the Band of Montreal, it’s locally owned and operated and the profits stay in the community. And I can’t imagine tellers hanging around staring at monitors while customers are lined up. But then it’s a local business, not a big bank.

They tell me that the Bank of Montreal teller, prior to demanding my ID, called to confirm that they had, indeed, issued the bank draft half an hour earlier and yes, it’s valid.

“They do that to us all the time,” the credit union tells me about the Bank of Montreal’s refusal to honour their bank drafts.

———————

The Bank of Montreal has a complaints procedure. But save your time and energy: the secret apparently to an effective complaints procedure is to avoid answering the phone.

Here’s a link to the bank’s complaint info page, where “We promise to address your complaint quickly, efficiently and professionally, as retaining your confidence and trust is of utmost importance.”

Don’t start laughing yet. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt.

This is a multi-part complaint process. Part one is calling the  appropriate division. This step is called ‘Talk to us’…that would be nice if they were really willing to listen. Here’s what happens instead:

You dial the number they provide: 1-877-262-5907

You’re told that your call is important (generally the first clue that it is, in fact, a pain in the ass and won’t you please just go away?) and to push the right button to talk to a representative. (I can’t remember the fancy title – something like senior banking response agent or an equally pompous name for call center worker.)

But, and you should have seen this coming, all of our senior banking response agents are busy. Please wait in order to retain your position in the queue. Six minutes pass.

Then, after sustaining another brain injury caused by horrible elevator music playing while on hold, the phone begins to ring. And ring. And ring. And ring. And ring. After another six minutes – and about 60 rings – it seems obvious that I’ve reached the end of step one.

Step one not working for you? Then you can ‘escalate’ this to step two – a senior officer – who didn’t get to be a senior officer by answering telephone complaints, by the way. But if you insist, here’s a new phone number to try: 1 800 372 5111

You can tell it’s a step up the food chain from the lowly step one minions: theres no messing about voice mail messages and pushing the right number on your phone to redirect your call. None of that fluff. This is plain old ring – ring – ring – ring – unanswered ringing right off the bat. (Is this going to a pay phone somewhere? That would be a cheap way to redirect complaints witho9ut having to put up with the annoying ringing sound in your senior officer office.

So on to step 3: the ombudsman. And yet another number: 1 800 371 2541

Ah, yes, the ombudsman. Not quite in the call center, but not a senior officer with the right to unlimited phone ringing. What we run into here is plain old voicemail because, while it’s the middle of the day on Monday and their office hours are Monday to Friday, 8 am to 4:30 pm Eastern time, they’re unable to take my call.

Now that’s an interesting way to deal with complaints: just don’t answer the phone.

I’d call that a pretty damn good triple play. And some excellent reasons for avoiding the Bank of Montreal and telling the world why.

UPDATE:

The ombudsman’s office called back. They tell me that what I thought was step 1 was actually part of step 2. Stupid me, relying on the information and phone number provided under step 1 on the bank’s own web site. Seems there’s a step before step 1: you need to find and call the area manager.

And there’s even a search page on the Bank of Montreal site. Too bad it doesn’t work. Or maybe between me driving to the Bank of Montreal branch on Prospect St. in Fredericton this morning and now, the branch disappeared. Now that would be a fairly extreme way to avoid hearing complaints, but at this point, nothing would surprise me.

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A scant two weeks after posting my first blog about being a walking talking blogging machine, researchers at the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton have published results they claim categorically shows the anti-aging benefits of exercise.

They started with mice pre-disposed to early aging and put some of them on a regular treadmill regimen. The first group ended up hunched over, huddled in the corner while the treadmill walkers stayed bright eyed and bushy tailed into their golden years.

So as I head off to the Doc for another checkup, let’s see if the 100 km I’ve logged on my treadmill desk in the last month made a difference.

-g

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More and more people are working from home, and given the typical Canadian winter, our typical Canadian diets supplemented by typical Canadian binges during the Christmas holidays, the Super Bowl party, and the annual Valentine’s Day feast of chocolates, many of us home office types are getting noticeably wider.

It’s all that sitting in front of a computer terminal. But that’s how we work. If you work from home, you’re going to be using the computer, the telephone or both. And it usually happens in a chair. There are few signs of that changing any day soon so the only rational option is to change the working environment. Actually, it means changing the focus of the working environment.

And that means taking advantage of thin, light, mobile monitors, wireless connections, alternative input methods, some innovative office furniture, and some standard exercise equipment.

Monitors, as we’ve seen from the explosion in popularity of computer tablets led by Apple’s iPad, are not tied down anymore. And while they’ve gotten larger, they’ve become smaller and lighter. So much that they’re being carried around in ever increasing numbers as smartphones, laptops, netbooks and now – tablets.

This mobility on the part of monitors – allowing us to put them on the wall in front of us or in our jacket pockets – coupled with some other relatively ordinary tools have the capability to get us back on our feet, back in shape, and even more productive than when we worked sitting down.

For the past year, I’ve been researching the benefits of working standing up. That led to learning about standing desks, essentially desks that are designed more like working counters or work benches.

That led in turn to learning about what are called walking desks or treadmill that. These desks are designed to fit over a treadmill, the idea being that you walk while you work.

There are homemade and commercial versions of treadmill desks that range from the extraordinarily simple – like the my fake maple 35″ x 14″ Canadian Tire shelf – to the extraordinarily elaborate that cost several thousand dollars. Most are stationary, but some have hydraulic lifts that allow the desk to be raised and lowered at will.

About three weeks ago, I installed a treadmill in my office and started experimenting with it as a workspace. Since then, I’ve logged about 70 kms while reading, watching online videos or webinars, taking part in phone meetings, testing various devices like keyboards and touchpads, and so on.

I’m dictating this while walking at a rate of about two kilometers an hour. Not very fast, but easily the upper limit for typing. Which is why I’m also experimenting with the latest voice-to-text software.

Which led to an attempt to create a blog entry that could be written and posted without touching a keyboard. Failed at perfection, but succeeded in moving up the learning curve. Expecting 100% keyboard free writing and posting the first time out is admittedly optimistic. Yet I can’t stop thinking about the advantages of being able to compose while walking at work.

Granted, only a portion of this post was created with the dictation software while walking on treadmill. Yet it was a whole lot more than I was able to accurately type in the same period time and with the same relative effort.

During the experiment today, I also took part in an online chat using a combination of typing and dictation. It took a while to figure out some quirks – such as how to send message once I entered them – but now that they’ve been discovered and the workarounds documented, the next experiments look even more promising.

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More Gevalia spam from Sharktech Internet Services – an appropriate name for such a constant source of spam. It’s coming from this IP address on Sharktech.net’s network:  70.39.97.2,  which they’re renting out to pushwall.info, a domain name registered to ‘Bobbie Crandall’ but, as usual, the phone number listed in the registration information isn’t Bobbie Crandall’s. It belongs to someone else who isn’t happy about some of his identity being misappropriated.

Pretty much like all of the other Gevalia spam that keep’s arriving from this ridiculous collection of made-up domain names with made-up owners.

This is really crude and rude behaviour from a company – Kraft – that’s the largest food processor in North America.

The emails have no accurate contact info and are using bogus domain name registration information, and relying heavily on gmail addresses for their email contacts.

This pattern is being repeated day in, day out. It would be fair to call it business as usual for Kraft and Gevalia.

Sharktech, meanwhile, is climbing up the spammer food chain with four listings on the Spamhaus blocklist:

The Spamhaus Block List (SBL) is a realtime database of IP addresses of spam-sources, including known spammers, spam gangs, spam operations and spam support services.

And all four are from the past week (Feb 1-6). Would that be in honor of the Super Bowl Sunday spamathon?

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