Got Entourage to sync to my corp Exchange Server
I finally connected my MacBook up to our company’s Exchange Server. I found adding Mail accounts to Entourage to be a great experience. I loved how easy it was to connect my Yahoo mail account — just added my email address and Entourage took care of the rest. Exchange was a bit more work, but since we have Outlook Web Access, the process was greatly simplified. I ended up needing to open the Microsoft Cert Manager, import our corporate-created Root Certificate, export to OS X compatible file, and imported into Keychain. Not too bad.
Sure don’t understand why Apple has NOT put a right-click on their touchpad. A huge weakness in productivity for me as I’ve a right-click nut. Certainly adding a right-click to the touchpad wouldn’t result in a “bad” industrial design.
$2B for a virtual community of students
The Facebook is a babe in terms of years in business. But man have they cranked up the valuation. Turning down $750M is a big pass, but pocketing an extra $1.25B would be a nice bonus if Steve Rosenbush at BusinessWeek is correct.
I thought Facebook was cool when I first saw it. I was able to reach out to some friends attending other schools, including former employees like Ron Heinz at Villanova — sorry about the defeat during the sweet 16.
Last summer, Ron and I talked at length about how he used Facebook. As a Freshman, he found that he was able to meet other students on his time, and in a certain comfort zone. He could browse interests, classes, and groups. Ron also said that he connected with high school friends at other campuses.
I spoke with Kevin Colleran at Facebook last year to discuss some advertising/sponsorship opportunities for Agilix GoBinder and Blackboard Backpack. It was clear that Facebook was a fast growing web property with huge interest from advertisers targeting the lucrative youth audience. Kevin told me that the company was still under 25 employees. He postured that Facebook was very profitable and actually turning down advertisers that didn’t “fit” with Facebook. The $13M in funding was more of an alliance with a VC to get visibility on Wall Street.
Colleran was clear though. He believed the value of Facebook would continue to grow as long as it was an underground site where parents and “old people” didn’t venture in. Stay real and focused. By targeting high-school ages with a new property, they could continue to reach into the minds of the upcoming movers and shakers.
Adam Ashton, son of the founder of WordPerfect, was also an intern working with Ron last summer. It was a bit painful to think how different it was in funding and building Facebook vs. WordPerfect — my current office is one of probably 15 “buildings” on the former WordPerfect campus. We also discussed how cool it would be to come up with such a great idea and business at such a young age — hat’s off to Mark Zuckerberg.
Hard to imagine playing chicken with $750M. Personally, I’d probably agree with Rob Hof, a coworker of Rosenbush’s at BusinessWeek. I’d probably pocket the $750M and gladly move onto the next thing.
Another Ajax replacement for an existing application
I’ve watched Michael Robertson since he started the Lindows business. Now it appears that in addition to his SIP / VoIP stuff, he’s launching a series of Ajax-based applications to replace desktop applications. The first is ajaxWrite.
I was working for an innovative blade server company (Xyterra) in Scottsdale Arizona when I first ran across Lindows. Back in 2000, we were betting on Linux as the standard OS for our server development. Linux wasn’t new, but using it as a hardened OS for telecommunications infrastructure was new.
Ajax is cool. Dynamic web applications that are lightweight and improve the user experience on the web are cool. I’m not sure the percentage of the market that will switch from desktop application to web delivery, but I see a big benefit for the college market. In fact, today’s campuses offer computer labs with pre-configured network storage and a suite of applications that configure themselves to each student. A web hosted environment may be a whole lot simpler to manage for the IT organization. And students could use the same applications the same way on any computer.
One big downside…no web connectivity. Someone in the space has to think about mobilized application uses. Perhaps these use environments will simply be the “old” model of fat desktop software. Is there a place for offline use of Ajax / Web 2.0 functionality? I love the concept. Wonder what the market size and possibility for revenue.
Pinewood Derby is over…I can breath again
Spent this past week on the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. Been totally swamped. Wow what a lot of work.
First challenge was building a car with Jed. We ended up with a simple yet effective wedge design with the weight formed inside the hollowed out wooden block. Jed ended the evening with a 3rd place ribbon. Over his three years in Cub Scouts, Jed placed 1st, 3rd, and 3rd. I’m so happy for Jed as I know how important this was to him.
After the car for my son, I had to prepare for the other 20 boys! I had to figure out how to race and score 20 different boys. Of course I wanted this computerized. I modified and used a cool spreadsheet application from ScoutDB.org and highly recommend it. It allowed me to track each heat easily and allow for calling out the heats with the boys names.
Managing the whole event was easier this year than last year. I enlisted the help of 5-6 people who were in charge of various parts of the derby (pit, starter, timer, chalk-board scoring, others).
Special thanks to Richard H., Jena H., Rich J., Boyd M., Greg A., Stephanie G., Lindsay P. — the were all awesome! And Amy was awesome as usual. I’d never be able to pull of these pack nights without her background, behind-the-scenes organization and project management skills.
Comfort with Windows and HP over Apple OS X and MacBook
True confession: I’m feeling a few pain points with my Mac. Like almost all my tech choices, there are hardware and software issue. In this case, most are dumb hardware issues.
Like where is the right click on the trackpad? I’m going to have to relearn every application I use. Of course I can click and hold, but I’m trained on the right click. I make my wife turn the lights on and off so I can watch the illuminated keyboard turn on. I hope that eases the pain.
Generally I like the software since most can be used to accomplish the same result. But the implementation of the “Mac-like” features are going to take time. Using Excel was like arriving on a different planet where the city streets were all laid out like here on Earth, but everyone was driving backwards on the wrong side of the street. Sure your skills learned on Earth can transfer, you just have to get used to doing things a different way. Taking fun pictures with the built-in iSight camera using Photo Booth and laughing at the outcome takes a little of the edge off.
Buyers remorse? Not yet. Just a test of my ability to quickly adapt :-).
14.1″ vs. 9.25″ footprint is HUGE…
The size of the MacBook Pro is going to take a little getting used to. I’ve been using a 12″ form-factor Tablet PC for the past 3 years. My HP TC4200 Tablet PC has a footprint of just 9.25″. My former laptops have been approximately 10-12″ footprints for the previous 9ish years. It’s a big piece of real estate. I think a 12″ MacBook Pro would have felt like home. Love the keyboard though.
Dave’s amazed…
Just showed the MacBook Pro to Dave. He liked the tiny, built-in iSight camera. Took this picture of himself. Fun.
Gleeful about my new MacBook Pro
I said I was going to do it. And I did.
Tonight I added yet another computing device to the family. A sleek, silver MacBook Pro.
Specs:
- 15.4-inch TFT display with 1440×900 resolution
- 2.0GHz Intel Core Duo with 2MB shared L2 Cache (1)
- 667MHz frontside bus
- 1GB (single SO-DIMM) 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
- 100GB 5400rpm Serial ATA hard drive
- Slot-load SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW)
- ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 256MB GDDR3 memory
- Full-size backlit keyboard
- AirPort Extreme wireless networking (802.11b/g)
- Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
- ExpressCard/34 slot
- Dual-link DVI video out
- Gigabit Ethernet
- USB 2.0
- FireWire 400
- Optical digital and analog audio in/out.
Not sure who is the happier one, me or Abby. She got to play with the box.
Moment of silence for service men/women in Iraq
The invasion was fast and destructive. We flexed our muscle and showed the bully-like strength of a superpower. Now, three years later, we resort to defending ourselves from homemade bombs on the streets as strangers in a strange land.
I love America. I’m grateful to our service men and women and the great honor they bring to those of us who rely on them to preserve our way of life and freedom. I pray for the men and women in Iraq and other parts of the world every day and indulge God’s protection to preserve you while you serve me.
Despite mine and the prayers of thousands of others like me, we’ve still lost 2,302 service men and women to the war in Iraq. It’s certain that we’ll lose more. May this war end soon. May we save our sons and daughters for the many life experiences outside the toil of war. President Bush, please don’t let pride get in the way of reason.
The Wall Street Journal offers a great visual to remind us all of those who have lost life while serving.
Windows on Apple…What about OS X on Dell, or Lenovo, or …
It didn’t take long to get Windows to launch and run on Intel-based Apple hardware. But why are we so fascinated with technology inside small markets. It’s cool that Windows can run on the best industrial designed hardware. But we’re overlooking the OS. When will OS X run on a Lenovo ThinkPad or a Dell Latitude? Now that’s cool and practical for a lot more people.
« go back — keep looking »