I bought my iPhone 3G in July of 2008 and it has been a good business tool for me. I use the calendar, contacts, email, maps, Internet browsing, iPod, and a few of the other 250,000 apps available for the phone. After working with the HTC Incredible for two days, I am ready to switch to not only a new device, but a new network altogether.

I have always said about the iPhone that I love the device and hate the network. Now, I’m not even sure I love the device that much. By comparison, (and granted, my iPhone is two years old), the HTC is about 5 times faster loading programs, about 10 times faster loading web pages, it has an 8 megapixel camera and amazingly high quality video.

There are only two things that will hold me back from switching. As previously stated, there are over 250,000 apps for the iPhone. iTunes makes it ridiculously simple to sync contacts, photos, music and data to the device. If the new iPhone comes out in June or July I will have to look at the features and performance of the new phone before making a decision.

The biggest difference between the phones is simply the ability to make a call. AT&T has several “dead zones” just in the Boulder area. Verizon seems to have none. The hills going out of town seem to affect most carriers, but not to the degree that AT&T is affected. I will probably be willing to work with the syncing issue just to have a solid handset that doesn’t drop my call.

In the mail the other day I received an official looking letter from a company telling me that my domain registration was almost up and I should renew through their company.

While I’m sure that my domain is due for renewal soon, I will be renewing it with the company that it is currently registered with. First, the price will probably be better, second, I would probably have to switch some DNS information and third, I don’t appreciate putting my clients through this confusion.

These people are opportunists – god bless ‘em – but they are going to cause more harm than good. I believe that the same people that get fooled by phony anti-virus schemes will be fooled into thinking that this mail they are getting is something they HAVE to do. Most folks domain registration will automatically renew through their current registrar. It’s possible that they would pay the direct mail shysters AND their current registrar.

Ugh. The point is, if you don’t know if you need to renew – check with your web master or IT admin. Don’t be fooled by direct mail pieces from companies you don’t recognize.

Hate is a strong word. Maybe I am overstating it. Listen to this and tell me if I’m crazy.

I have been using QB Pro 2007 for the last four years. It does what I need. I never run updates as I don’t use the Payroll function. If I were to have a problem with the software, I’d run them manually.
I have known for a while that at some point, the one feature that makes my bookkeeping simple would be taken away unless I upgrade. I send my invoices via email through QuickBooks.
Finally, a couple of weeks ago, I got the message that I would have to upgrade if I wanted to continue using this feature. My option would be to print my invoices to PDF files and manually attach them to a new email in Outlook. Extra steps. I felt it was worth it to upgrade to keep my workflow streamlined.

Guess What?

QuickBooks 2010 attaches the invoices you want to send via email to a new message in outlook, you then have to click Send again.

Upgrading saved me one small step, the attaching part. That’s it.

ARGHHHHHH!

I save all my appointment data in my calendar. It seems to work the best for me. I can update what I just did after each appointment and at the end of the week, pull up my calendar and send invoices based on the appointments. Lately, however, after the switch to Apple, I have had to do a bit of double entry as my invoicing is now on a separate system from my calendar.

The Answer? Google Calendar. That way, all my appointment info is on a web-based calendar which can be accessed from anywhere. I bought a $6 app for my iPhone that holds cached copies of the calendar and syncs it all day long. Now I can look at my calendar on my phone, my laptop and any internet connected desktop. I have also linked my calendar to my website. Google gives you the code to embed the calendar. Now, my clients can see when I am busy and schedule accordingly.

I have been using this system for a couple of weeks and it is working fine. Go take a look at my calendar before scheduling your next appointment.

If you read the tea leaves and ANY tech blog or website, it seems that Apple will probably announce and release some version of a tablet this year. My question is; Why?

While a 10″ iPhone/MacBook SOUNDS cool, who would use it other than gadget freaks? We’re talking about a device that could run iPhone Apps, surf the web, have a touch sensitive screen and could be a replacement for the Kindle or your portable DVD player.
Ok, it sounds like I’m talking myself into it.

First, they already have the MacBook Air; basically a very powerful netbook. If the Air isn’t ultra-portable, I don’t know what is. And yet, you still need to carry it in a bag. The beauty of the iPhone is that it fits in your pocket. The iSlate or whatever they decide to call it will need a bag of some sort, be it your purse or man bag. Even with the newest Pine Trail processor from Intel, the device won’t be much of a business tool, will it?

One of the biggest markets for tablet based PC’s is the medical profession where EMR and EHR systems integrate with tablets to allow medical providers to markup charts and bubble sheets as they work with a patient. All of the Practice Management, EMR and EHR programs I am familiar with require Windows to run. Unless this new tablet from Apple allows you to run Boot Camp, it won’t get much penetration into that market, and even if it did allow you to run Windows on a partition, the software providers probably wouldn’t support it. Add to that the fact that you would lose the functionality that you presumably bought the gadget for and it seems a pointless exercise.

The form factor itself is not without precedent. Remember the Microsoft Origami? There was so much talk at the time about it changing the mobile computing world and it failed miserably.

It looks to me like it will be a device for gadget hounds and folks with too much money. I’m probably wrong. At least all the die hard Apple geeks will buy it and that will probably make it successful enough to keep around for a few years.

Your Thoughts?

So for the last couple of days, my phone has been acting up. This has happened once before. Basically, the phone part of the phone stops functioning. I can’t receive or make calls, voice mail is screwed up and I don’t get texts.
Today, performed a restore of the phone and it didn’t do a darn thing.
SO . . . . I made an appointment at the Apple Store Genius Bar. I took the phone in, told them what I had tried and they did some diagnostics. The diagnostics turned up bubkus. They replace the phone anyway.
Thank goodness for Apple Care.
Now, my phone is happy again and so am I. It really affects my bottom line as a business owner when the cel phone quits working.

Has anyone else needed to get a replacement iPhone?

As previously posted, Microsoft doesn’t allow direct upgrades from XP to Windows 7. Dell also cannot sell you a PC with XP without also selling you Windows 7. Many version incompatibilities exist between different versions of Microsoft software. It seems that whenever MS decides to “innovate”, they leave someone or something out.

Google, on the other hand, makes their money from advertising. This frees them up to create all manner of products and services that actually deliver usability. It also frees them up to use the “group think” mentality of open source to increase the stability and usefulness of their products.

I just read a piece about the new Google Chrome OS and it will no doubt, be a work in progress. That said, it has a limited scope; phones, netbooks and other ultra-mobile devices. In the post, they openly state that they will need help from developers to make it work.

Contrast that to the Microsoft issues listed above and the secrecy and closed system that Apple has. I am seriously thinking about the new Nexus One phone from Google. If I can get that phone with Verizon service, I just may get out from under the iPhone and AT&T.

Google Nexus One

Ok, so I am the last person to find out about this, but there is no direct upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7. Dell and other PC companies are selling Windows 7 with the XP downgrade installed; that is, selling you both Windows 7 and XP pro with XP loaded on the box. What they don’t tell you is that you cannot simply put the Windows 7 disc in and run the upgrade while all your programs are hunky dory. Nope, you have to perform a clean install and wipe your hard drive and migrate your backed up DATA and re-install all of your programs.
ARRRRHGGGGHHHH!!!

Honestly. Doesn’t it seem like these operating systems are so Klugy and built right on top of each other that they should easily upgrade from one release to the next? I could understand not being able to upgrade from 32bit to 64bit, but you can’t upgrade from XP Pro to Windows 7 Pro. Nope. Can’t do it.

Aren’t computers supposed to make our lives easier?

Wow. I have been watching the demo of the new product, Google Wave. Google Wave is a collaboration tool designed to allow users to have a more “real life” experience of a conversation. If that sounds confusing, I make no apologies. It’s hard to describe.
Google wave has its own web page that allows you to aggregate these conversations, but also gives users the ability to publish these conversations or waves, to social media sites, blogs, and web pages.
Changes to the wave happen in real time if you desire. As you type or add photos, those changes happen immediately on the collaborators client, blog or web page.

Go watch the video. It’s pretty amazing. The applications for this are going to change the web. Again.

Since it is only $29 to upgrade, you might be saying, Why Not?

My friend Lynn is having problems with her printer. I am going to go look at it tomorrow, but in the mean time, I say, keep your shirt on.

No matter the the operating system, always wait for the first update from the manufacturer before buying. While a new version of Quick Time, 64 bit support and better performance all sound great, do you really want to pay to be a beta tester? Me neither.

Wait for the first OS X 10.6 update before upgrading.