Category Archives: Software

Software, Technology

Windows 8 – designed to annoy CIOs?

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OK, so the Windows 8 first look is out and – on the face of it – kind of cool. Finally, Microsoft has worked out what a touch screen interface should do differently! Although it does feel like a very early look – judging by the fact that when they showcase non-Windows 8 HTML5 apps – it looks exactly like Windows 7…

My comment about CIOs is not so much to do with the specifics of the platform – of which we’ve seen too little to say anything other than ‘oooh, shiny’ – but the speed of the refresh cycle. Thanks to the mediocrity of Windows Vista, most enterprises that run Windows (even smaller ones like the one I work for) skipped it, and are probably in the midst of a migration from Windows XP to Windows 7. That was the best part of a 10 year gap.

The migration – especially in smaller enterprises, although I know of larger ones doing this too – will let happen naturally with hardware refreshes.

Now: it’s partially my obsessive tendencies, but I’d really like a uniform OS estate across my company. It’d make management and training so much easier. Ditto rollout of new services. So every three years for a new OS? Too fast, if they’re going to change as much as it looks like they might in UI and usability. And even though hardware refreshes tend to take place every three years or so – they tend to happen in waves, especially in growing companies. Not everyone gets a new machine at the same time…

Also; touch in the enterprise? Wonderful for marketing and useful on tablets (or ‘slates’ as Microsoft bizarrely insists on calling them) – but really not useful for knowledge workers. Well, maybe on a Microsoft Surface machine – not on a desktop, for reasons I’ve gone into before – as long as we need to type, touch is a secondary interface for most people.

Regardless, will watch with interest. I’m afraid my home-life slide into Jobs-land is probably irreversible (for the moment) with any incremental upgrade but will watch with interest.

Software, Technology

Outlook 2011 defaults to local Exchange server details [troubleshooting]

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I can’t fix this one or find information on it anywhere, but – probably due to Outlook 2011’s clever autodetect capabilities – when its within a corporate firewall it takes the local name of the server – not the externally visible OWA address – so when you leave the firewall the server doesn’t resolve.

My only fix at the moment is to keep changing the address manually in the settings. I’ve tried this but it doesn’t work – I’ve also tried configuring the mailbox manually from outside the corporate firewall but that resets once I’m on the office Wifi too.

Any tips from Macheads or Microsofties appreciated. Will keep scouring the forums, too.

Software, Work

Quora for research

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I’ve been checking out how useful Quora is to new business research recently and it really is a wonderful network for getting under the skin of a company. You find questions from marketers, strategists, analysts, customers and beyond, answers from the same and from the companies themselves.

I’m a bit of a leech on this social network  – as with Twitter I find it hard to stay close enough to the topics I’m interested in or qualified to respond to to contribute meaningfully. But many good questions have been asked and answered (even one of mine). Definitely recommended – don’t think Facebook has manage to build the same cult of users for this particular service of theirs as yet, and its unlikely to be useful for professional insight (for me, anyway) just yet.

Gardening, Software, Technology

Weed or plant? A new game…

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weedorplantThis is a picture of a weed. Or possibly the leaf of a Lapland potato I brought back from Finland for planting. I have no idea.

My plan is to leave it for a bit until there is more discernible growth and to try to make a less than completely arbitrary judgement then. That’s when I read of LeafSnap – Leaf recognition software developed by Columbia University in the US. You take a picture of a leaf and it pattern matches against a database to tell you what it is. Could this make the difference?

Reviews of the app are not good on the Appstore. “Only works on US trees,” “Primitive pattern matching that returns dozens of matches”… and then there’s the fact that it only makes claim to cope with tree leaves.

But it’s a start. Technology will find a way to help my garden grow…

Software, Technology

Trialling Disqus

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I’ve been thinking for a while that this blog needed tighter social integration into Facebook etc., and came across Disqus ("discuss") whilst researching commercial spam filters for a client. Am trying it out here – it’ll allow you to comment on posts by logging into your Facebook, Twitter or Disqus account and hopefully diminish barriers to commenting marginally, not to mention make for a slicker, more interactive commenting experience.

Thoughts appreciated.

So far, all I’ve really had opportunity to notice is that the set-up process was fairly seamless and I had to do remarkably little hackery to get it to take the place of the native WordPress commenting engine, and that it syncs into the WordPress DB so even if Disqus someday goes bust (always a worry for Silicon valley start up services) – I’ll still have all the comments here.

Software, Technology

Google Android maturing fast

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If you read my earlier post on the Android vs IOS debate you’ll understand many of the reasons why I feel that Google’s platform isn’t quite ready for the mass market yet, despite its increasing sales success and technical brilliance. However, at Google I/O some news dropped that will make a difference to this.

In brief: Google is unifying the platform – which will mean fewer different versions in the wild, simpler and more regular updates for all phone (and tablet) users, and a marginally more tightly controlled user experience!

The conflict between open and closed, open ideals and ‘being evil’, tends to get polarised to extremes. In my view, complete choice is just too confusing for the average Joe, so am massively pleased to read that Google seems to have understood this (to some extent) – albeit from the perspective of the developers. Hopefully it’ll bring Android into contention for me the next time I review my handset choice… Which might give Google a little time to thrash it all out if the rumours of supply chain disruption to Apple’s iPhone5 production line bear true!

In unrelated news, my brother-in-law is trialling a Blackberry Torch for a week, having used an iPhone 3GS for the last 18 months. May well get his thoughts for another blog post, whichever way it goes…

Books, Software, Technology

Kindle blogstore… ish

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I made good use of the Kindle app over the sabbatical – I read my way through most of Joe Abercrombie’s back catalogue, including the First Law trilogy, amongst others, via the iPad and iPhone, whilst feeding Emily and when on planes, trains and boats.

So it was with some excitement that I realised that I could add my blog to the Kindle store and make it available to my adoring public via another channel. I’ve done so, and you can subscribe here… if you live in the US and have a full-on Kindle device. I’ve no idea why it’s not available in the UK… Can anyone educate me?

As to why is it that Amazon hasn’t provided similar features on the iPhone/iPad that it has going on its own device…? Again, not sure. Presumably to force sales of the Kindle to people that want to read blogs, newspaper etc., and make some money from the hardware sales… But you’d think that they make most of their money from the book sales rather than from the physical hardware??

Software, Technology

Android vs iOS – why I’m not yet with Google on this one

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I love Google. My relationship with the company is very different to my relationship with Apple (grudging respect) or Microsoft (mild, perpetual frustration). I use the company’s products all over the place. But I’m not yet unequivocally recommending Android phones to anyone but the early adopters for a few reasons.

Am interested in others’ thoughts, especially those who have been in both camps (I’ve trialled, but not owned, and Android device):

1) Experience uniformity. There isn’t any, because device manufacturers can customise it massively. So fine for early adopters, but for mass market – every Android device will feel slightly different and you’ll have to learn it again.

2) Software upgrades are fragmented. Because of the device fragmentation (some screens are 3.2 inches some 4.3, some 2.7, different resolutions, processor speeds etc), Google can’t roll out upgrades for everyone at the same time. This means where with an iPhone you potentially always have the latest features, with an Android phone you have to wait for your phone manufacturer to catch up and update the software for you. And worse, potentially your operator too.

3) Application sprawl. It’s bad on iOS but Apple’s Appstore’s quality control and consumer feedback mechanism protects you from dodgy apps and malware in a way Android does not always manage. Also, there are now multiple appstores for Android. Is that much choice good for a consumer? Theoretically yes, in practice it’s a little confusing.

4) Security. For the same reason it’s hard to patch the OS, it’s hard to provide uniform security. Exploits will occur on individual handsets customisations (HTC Sense, Motorola Motorblur etc) and legacy Android versions (a large number of handsets in the field are running Android 1.5, 2.0, 2.1 and the latest version is 2.3).

5) Skype doesn’t work with front facing video on Android, and one of the major uses my iPhone gets is letting Emily speak to her Grandparents from it and the iPhone plays a key part of that.

6) Peripherals are more easily available for iPhone at the moment – manufacturers only have to design for one/two form factors so there are tonnes about, from cases to docks and beyond. Not so with the Android jobbies…

7) Product creep. At least with Apple I’m guaranteed a year before I start to feel Phone Envy. Google’s iterative development cycle is seeing point releases and new features coming out several times a year, and hardware seems to be changing at least twice a year too. I can’t afford to keep up with that and I like being at the edge of things…!

There are tonnes of reasons to choose Android, don’t get me wrong – Google integration, great hardware from a number of manufacturers, loads of great apps, more affordable than iOS, and better on a number of individual features – but I can’t help but feel that on the whole ithas the potential to be a little more confusing than the average user might like – and so I’m sticking with iOS for now.

Music, Software, Technology

Shazam alternative for sung/hummed tunes

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If you, like me, have a good memory for tunes but a shoddy memory for lyrics or song titles, then you’ll have loved Shazam – the smartphone app that recognises music when its being played and tells you what it is and where its from.

Whilst staying with Sarah and Ilkka we tried it with a hummed tune, which – to be fair – it doesn’t claim to be able to cope with. It didn’t. So I researched alternatives and found Soundhound – it works on both Android and iOS devices and when I sing to it – it works out the song title pretty regularly.

Fantastically clever, and good for spontaneous singing competitions!