So if you’re looking for some nice gEdit color themes, check out mig’s repository.

Click for full size

]]> http://www.mkoby.com/2010/02/13/gedit-color-themes/feed/ 2 http://www.mkoby.com/2010/01/05/the-apple-tablet-internet-hype/ http://www.mkoby.com/2010/01/05/the-apple-tablet-internet-hype/#comments Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:55:56 +0000 Michael Koby http://www.mkoby.com/?p=1449 Over the past 2 weeks or so the tech news websites have been all the rage about two things: Google’s Nexus One and Apple’s tablet computer.  The Nexus One exists, people have seen it, handled it, taken pictures of it, written reviews on it.  Apple’s tablet however continues to be nothing more than rumor.

Sure, there’s lots of evidence that it might exist.  Apple themselves filed for a patent for a table like device years ago.  But the problem is, people seem to be dead sure it’s coming out.  Just like they were dead sure at MacWorld last year, and in January 2009 before that.  Ever since the iPhone people have been “predicting” the Apple tablet.  However, since the month has flipped to January there has been tons more coverage on the device.  A device that doesn’t actually exist yet.  There’s been so much coverage that even the Wall Street Journal has written on it, stating dates for both an announcement and shipping.

Apple has a reputation for causing excitement in their products, even those that don’t definitely exist yet.  Like I said, the rumored Apple tablet has been rumored since the introduction of the iPhone.  But there in lies the problem.  It’s a rumor.  Still is.  Until someone can grab a picture of the blasted thing, it is nothing more than a figment of our imagination.  And this is where I find issue.  Sure, sites like Engadget feed on product rumors.  That’s their proverbial bread and butter.  But when the Wall Street Journal, Wired, and other non-blog oriented news outlets start feeding the rumor mill, I take issue.  When I read a blog, it’s a blog.  Regardless if it’s a popular one, there is always the chance that what they’re reporting is based solely on conjecture, rumor, or just word of mouth.  In other words, I expect that it could turn out to be a hoax, misinformation, or something else erroneous (that doesn’t mean that everything these sites discuss lacks proof, evidence, and actual fact).  But when a site like the Wall Street Journal, something that is considered a “reputable” news source,  starts playing along to me it brings it more into reality.  It means that more people will read it, it means more people will think its true.

When you compare the Nexus One hype to the Apple tablet hype the main difference is that the Nexus One exists.  We’ve see it.  Google employees have spoken out about it.  People outside Google have touched it, played with it.  The Apple tablet is still nothing more than a patent application, and some non-Apple photoshopped mockups.  See the difference?

Now, do I think the Apple tablet exists?  Yes, I think somewhere within Apple’s walls, there is a tablet.  There might even be a prototype, and they might have already shipped build plans off to China to have them built.  But, as with anything Apple, nothing is certain until Steve Jobs gets on a stage and says “Hey, here it is” because until then it’s not real.  Apple has pulled entire product announcements before, so it’s always helpful to keep that in mind as we dream of new Apple devices.

Before I go any further, if you don’t know what OpenOffice is, you should definitely check it out.  It is a fully functional office software suite that can (for the most part) completely replace Microsoft Office on your computer.  If you don’t have Microsoft Office on your computer, OpenOffice will work about 98% of the time for most people’s needs.  If you don’t want to install software on your computer at all, you can look at Google Docs.  It should be noted that you will need Java to run OpenOffice, if you’re browsing the internet regularly there is a good chance you already have Java installed.  

Setting OpenOffice to Save Microsoft Formats

Whenever I tell someone about OpenOffice and/or set it up for them to use on their computer I always do one thing for them.  I set OpenOffice to automatically save in the Microsoft Office formats (.doc, .xls, and .ppt).  Below are the steps you can take to set this up yourself.

To begin, you’ll need to open OpenOffice’s word processor.  Your screen should have a window that looks very similar to this:

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1. Click on Tools in the menu bar and then select Options


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2. Once the options dialog has come up, select the “General” options under the “Load/Save” options list


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3. Towards the bottom, you’ll see a section for “Default file format and ODF settings” under this you will see two drop down boxes; one labeled “Document type” and the other, directly to the right labeled “Always save as”.  This is what we’re going to change.  Since we were in the word processor, the “Text Document” should already be selected under “Document type” and the “Always save as” will be set to “ODF Text Document”.  We will change “ODF Text Document” to “Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP”


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4. Once that’s done, we’ll change the “Document type” to “Spreadsheet”


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5. Once the document type is set to “Spreadsheet” we can change the “Always save as” dropdown to “Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP”


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6. Finally repeat steps 4 & 5 but change “Document type” to “Presentation” and “Always save as” to “Microsoft Powerpoint 97/2000/XP”


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7. Once all 3 file types have been changed to save as the Microsoft formats, you can click “Ok” at the bottom of the dialog.

There you go.  All your files will save in their Microsoft Office file format equivalent.

Personal Thoughts on File Formats

While performing these steps will in fact allow you use OpenOffice in a more Office compatible way, I want to note that I feel this is the wrong approach.  My personal opinion on this matter is that we should be encouraging the acceptance and use of more open standards.  The file format used by default in OpenOffice is the “Open Document Format” (wikipedia link).  This format is open sourced which means that it can be utilized by anyone willing to implement it into their software.

I think that pushing for people to use open file formats, in the long run, will make things easier since making things compatible would be easier.

A Google Phone

To begin with, lets all acknowledge that Google bringing out it’s own device should have been expected from the start.  They have a solid, recognizable brand that people like.  Also, it makes sense for them to have a device completely labeled as their own.  It’s a smart move, especially since Android is in direct competition with the iPhone.  Google bring out a device that, in a way, shows others how to fully utilize the Android platform is good marketing for Android and will result in better Android devices.  Google has some smart people working for them, so it would be safe to say that they could do a lot with their own software to really bring out a showcase device for the platform.

So before going any further, you must first accept the fact that the Google phone exists.  If the Nexus One is actually this phone remains to be seen, as it could simply be a new top-of-the-line HTC device that Google gave to their employees to test new Android features.

Making it Work

Google has to consider a couple of things, in order to make a Google phone succeed.  First and foremost is carrier openness.  They need to at least sell it on each GSM carrier here in the states (T-Mobile and AT&T).  This is of course assuming they don’t sell it unlocked directly to customers.  But to maximize their reach they need to have a version that works across as many 3G networks as possible.

Secondly is price.  If Google sells the phone directly to the consumer in a unlocked fashion (works on T-Mobile or AT&T), they will need to self-subsidize (taking a huge loss) to bring the phone down to a price that most people are willing to pay.  People like the $99/$199/$299 prices of the iPhone.  If the iPhone was sold at it’s unsubsidized price ($500) it wouldn’t sell nearly as many units.  People (here in the US, at least) don’t really want to drop $500-$600 for a mobile phone, even if it means having no carrier contract.  So if Google wants to sell directly to the consumer, they’ll have to find a way to bring the price down.  If they go through a carrier, this becomes less of an issue as the carrier will subsidize the phone in turn bring the price down.

Why the Google Phone is Important

Google needs a device that’s completely their own.  Yes, this phone is an HTC device, but if Google had large amounts of input then it could be considered a Google phone (like the first Zune which was still a Microsoft device but made by Toshiba).  But in the long run, Google needs to be showing people exactly what can be done with the Android platform.  Because lets face it, while some of the Android devices we’ve seen so far are pretty cool they lack some of the “nice-ness” of the iPhone.  Google could create their own device, if for nothing else than to be a showcase for others.

Also, if Google takes steps towards self-subsidizing to bring people to the phone (and thus the platform), that’s important because it will bring the device into more people’s hands.  While I don’t think the Google Phone will beat the iPhone initially, Google has a good enough brand and good will with customers that they could give it a serious run for those iPhone dollars.

In the end, a Google phone will probably do nothing more than 1) showcase the Android platform and 2) give us an idea of what Google thinks a cell phone should be.  One thing that I haven’t seen discussed however is Google’s recent acquisition of Gizmo5, the voice over IP (VOIP) company.  Combined with Google Voice, there is some serious new ideas on how voice service could be handled on mobile devices in the future.  However, until Google says “yes this is the Google Phone” we’re probably just looking at a new Android device that Google is testing new features on.  But we can hope.

However, the other day when I was using Gowalla on my iPhone to check in at a place I was at (local business close to my home), I noticed something when Gowalla pulled up the locations I was close to.  What I noticed was an entry labeled “[PERSON'S] House”  (I have omitted the person’s name to protect their privacy at  least a little).  Who in their right mind thought that it was okay to add a personal’s physical residence (where they live) to a social network like this?  This is a huge invasion of privacy on that person’s part.  And if the person who’s house it is, said it was okay, why would they do that?  There are lots of crazies in the world why would you give everyone pinpoint accuracy to where you live.  It’s just not a smart move at all.

I understand that the younger generation has lived in a world of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and other social networks.  Things like this just weren’t around when I was in my teens (no, I had to use IRC and newsgroups and the web was still young).  Granted, I’m not going to sit here and tell you that everyone on the internet is a child pornographer, perv, or creep.  But people like that do exist and while we have these social networks, one should still exhibit some discretion when they post information to the public internet.  Especially on networks that revolve around location.

To be fair, I do participate in location based social networks (Gowalla fan/user here), but I’m very particular about where I check in at.  Also, when using Tweetie 2’s (iPhone Twitter app) new geo-tagging feature, I turn it off when I’m at home.  I don’t need that level of privacy broken.  Sure, you could probably find the area I live in quite easily based on tweets, pictures, and other miscellaneous info I’ve posted around the internet.  But exact address, nope sorry (unless I’ve designated you allowed to on Facebook which if that’s the case you probably already know it anyway).  But I won’t geo-tag a tweet from home, that’s too much information the internet does not need to have cached somewhere.

People, I implore you, use common sense when using location based social networks.  Don’t put people’s personal residences in to the database and sure as heck don’t allow others to do it (even with consent).  It’s just not a good idea and too much potential bad can come from it.

If you look at my home screen you’ll notice that with exception of a single row most of the apps on my home screen are either the default app, or an app that improves upon exisiting default apps. For example, the Evernote app replaces both the default Notes and Voice Memo apps. Also the Weather Channel app replaces the default Weather app.  You’ll notice that my bottom 4 apps remain unchanged except for the fact that I have jailbroken my device so that I could install the updated version of GV Mobile, giving me a Google Voice app on my phone.  I’ll continue to use this app until Google brings out their nice web app or Apple approves the official iPhone Google Voice app.  The GV Mobile app has replaced the Phone app on my bottom row.

Some of the none default apps you see are:  Tweetie 2, which is hands down the best Twitter app on the iPhone. It doesn’t crash and it’s feature set is fairly complete. Not to mention some of the user interface and user experience touches that really improve it’s usability over other Twitter iPhone apps.  For those that might try to convince me otherwise, I have tried most of more popular Twitter apps for the iPhone.

There’s the Facebook app which really needs zero explaination. The BeeJive IM app which I use to maintain instant msging presence (this is also how I communicate with the wife while on the go). I use the Gowalla app to checkin at places I visit. I prefer Gowalla to FourSquare.  There is also a Safari bookmark to the Houston area traffic map which is a must when driving around Houston at any given time.  And finally there is the Toodledo app which I use to manage my todo list. It syncs with the Toodledo website allowing me to have my todo list anywhere I’m at.

Apps that are not on my main page that I use frequently include the USA Today app for news, Shoutcast and Pandora for streaming music, and the game I’m currently playing is Fling.  Also, I use Wikipanion, which is a great Wikipedia app for the iPhone and essentially turns the iPhone into the Hitchhiker’s Guide.

So there you have it.  My FirstAnd20.  What’s yours?

When it comes to online content, streaming movies through services like Vudu, and Netflix’s “Watch it Now” the content makers are doing one of the best jobs of shotting themselves in the foot, and doing it with the up-most of consistency.

YouTube’s New Policy

Let’s look at the recent YouTube development first.  This announcement pretty much comes on the heals of YouTube releasing 1080p (full HD) video on its site.  Which means if I’m using something to stream YouTube to my HD television, I can get some streams in nice full HD, which makes it really nice to watch on my television.  To a degree it makes sense.  Especially if content makers are going to use YouTube to release content, they’ll definitely want a cut of the financial pie so Google has to take steps to ensure they somehow derive revenue from this.  But not everything on YouTube is put up by Hollywood and there in lies the problem.  There should be no issue with me streaming non-Hollywood content to my TV on an unapproved device.  There’s a simple solution for this, YouTube could simply have a second API that you have to pay to get access to, leaving them with 1 public API and 1 private API.  They’re already monitoring video uploads for copyrighted content and they take those takedown notices very seriously so there should be nothing stopping them from segregating what’s available to different APIs.

Hulu Blocks Boxee

Hulu actually has an argument.  The point of Hulu is to watch TV shows on your computer and having to watch ads.  Since the content on Hulu is provided by Hollywood, they can to some degree control how it’s viewed.  It makes sense that these content makers would rather you watch TV shows on air or on a DVR where they can bombard you with commercials rather than having you watch it on your computer via Hulu where the number of commercials is limited.  In the end though, the lack of being able to stream Hulu to my television is going to cost them viewers and with their recent announcement to start charging soon, Hulu is going to die faster than initially planned, unless they can ink deals with hardware makers and find their way onto things like Blu-Ray players (like Netflix).

Vudu & Netflix “Watch it Now”

Finally, something that makes zero sense.  Movie studios purposefully hold back video from providers like Vudu and Netflix.  Example, on Vudu if I want to rent the HDX version (near Blu-Ray quality video) on my LG Blu-Ray player, on many movies I have to wait a month after the movie is available to purchase.  These studios do the same thing with Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” for newer movies.  In fact, the Netflix instant watch feature is loaded with movies and television shows that are either old, B grade, or even just flat out unwatchable.  Yes, there are some good titles available but they are generally the exception rather than the rule.

The logic behind this is that I won’t go and buy it if I can rent it for cheap.  Which is completely the wrong thought process because really, if I’m iffy on a movie, I won’t buy it period.  However, if I can rent it or see it cheaply (say Vudu streaming rental or Netflix “Watch it Now”) I’m more likely to buy it if I enjoy the flick.  In fact I have purchased several movies due to seeing them using “old-fashioned” Netflix (you know, where you actually get a DVD in the mail).

Conclusion

All these companies are doing the same basic thing.  They are limiting how we can watch content.  They are dictating how we are allowed to watching something rather than letting the market tell them how we want to watch content.

They think that if they can control how we watch content they can in turn control how we buy it.  And this is just backwards.  Let the market figure out how it wants to watch content and then do that.  Because long term, how the average consumer actually consumes content will change.

While people will argue the merits of this OS up and down over the next year, and when it’s finally released (by the 2010 holiday season), I wanted to point out a few things I found both good and bad about the ideas presented at the announcement.

Some things to like about it are:

1. Very fast boot up
2. Cloud based storage (your data can’t be “lost” because its not on the machine)
3. Secure, the OS (since it’s a browser) doesn’t trust anything. And it does a check on boot up to ensure that hash keys match against google servers, if they don’t then the machine is basically wiped and reinstalled on the fly.

Some things to NOT like:

1. No native apps. While not a big deal long term this might affect people’s initial opinion/adoption at first
2. Will require new hardware designed with this OS in mind. You can’t download and install it to a current machine. (You can apparently can currently install to a Asus Eee PC, but it requires some hacking).
3. Requires an internet connection. They didn’t go over the “offline mode” in great detail at the event, but the release is 1 year off and google has offline tools (Google Gears), which will probably come in to play here.

Overall, I think that this will be pretty nifty if still very niche.  I think that there’s a good chance that this won’t succeed like Google would like.  But I think that the fact that they are making efforts in moving the web forward (something very important to them) is a good thing.  Chrome OS is innovative even if it might not be overly functional.  But what we saw yesterday was an early preview and they did say many things will change between now and the official release.  I for one am interested in at least giving it a go to see what it’s going to be like.

If you want to get an idea of what this OS will be like, download Google Chrome and run it full screen on your computer and don’t run ANY desktop applications.  Or you can pick up a VMWare or VirtualBox image at Gdgt.

iPhone Changes the Game

Lets start at the beginning, when the iPhone came out it drastically changed out the consumer market thought about phones, smartphones specifically.  Before the iPhone, smartphones were the Treo, BlackBerry, and Windows Mobile.  They weren’t really for the consumer market and general consumers largely ignored them in favor of phones like the Motorola RAZR and other small cell phones.  The iPhone was a revolution.  It made smartphones interesting to the average person.  ”You mean I can have my email, internet, and cool apps with my phone? Sweet!” is probably what normal people started to think and those RAZRs started to look less cool, even if they were thin.

So the iPhone changed the smartphone world.  It turned it upside down.  All of sudden it wasn’t just enough to be functional, it had to be at least a little flashy too, it had to be fairly easy to use, and it definitely couldn’t be bulky.

Enter Android

Google, never to be out of a market for very long released it’s Android mobile operating system soon after the iPhone’s release.  One could argue that Google was planning this move long before the iPhone was announced.  But it was everything the iPhone wasn’t with a little bit of what the iPhone was.  It could have the flash and usability of the iPhone but with the openness of the Linux operating system.

That’s what Android represents.  Openness.  The ability to completely customize the user experience for the device, the ability to dig into the internals and make it work well with your hardware.  It means that developers can develop applications for it regardless of platform.  But there’s a downside.  With Google releasing an OS it relinquishes the control on the hardware the operating system can go on.  This is why the iPhone works as well as it does.  Apple doesn’t just control the software, but the hardware too.  Apple works to ensure that their software runs well on their hardware.  They limit the points of failure because they control both elements completely.  But that doesn’t mean Android is destined for failure.

Hello Moto.. I Mean Droid

Motorola has taken a different approach with Android that HTC and others haven’t yet.  They’ve really worked to control the software on their hardware.  They’ve proven (quite well I might add) that if you really work with Android on your hardware, you can bring a really nice device to the market.  Does it beat the iPhone? No, it doesn’t but it does show that Android is a nice contender and that Apple and Microsoft need to worry.

What Motorola has done is something similar to Apple in that they’re releasing solid hardware and taking serious control of the software that goes on that hardware.  Rather than spending money on R&D to write their own mobile OS, they are spending time ensuring that Android runs well on their hardware.  This is going to save them money in the long run because Android is a complete OS that’s ready to go. Motorola just has to worry about tweaking it to run on their hardware.  And because of the openness of Android, they can really control the software just like Apple does.  Motorola proved with the RAZR that they can design nice, flashy, consumer friendly hardware, it was the software that was never perfect.

In the End

When it’s all said and done, the Droid doesn’t beat the iPhone.  It’s a nice device though, regardless of what the iPhone fanboys say on the internet.  Motorola has proven that Android is a force to be reckoned with.  No, Android still isn’t all the way there, but with each successive release it comes with notable improvements and Google isn’t looking to put Android to rest.  Motorola itself has bet the farm on Android, almost literally (there isn’t an ACTUAL farm).  I would keep an eye on Android devices over the next few years, Apple’s got some competition and they would be doing themselves a disservice if they didn’t try to keep the iPhone relevant and moving forward.  Yes Apple, you changed the game, but you can’t rest on that forever,  you have to keep moving forward.  Android’s getting there and Google has shown that they’re serious, and Motorola has shown Android can be a nice mobile operating system.

What is Boxee

Boxee is a piece of downloadable software that runs on Linux, Windows, and Mac OSX.  Boxee allows you to watch videos off your network, and gives you easy access to videos from online sources like Revision3, ABC, other video sources online.  It’s designed with the use of a remote in mind and is based on the popular XBMC (XBox Media Center) project.

The Goods

Boxee is very easy to use.  I was able to get it installed (on Linux), was quickly able to point it at my network shares containing videos and music files.  It index my videos, grabbing information about them from various online places (like TheTVDB and IMDB).  It comes with some nice default installed plugins and applications, my favorite among those is the Pandora application which is quite nice.  The fact that Boxee automatically downloads video information and reviews for various albums it finds is quite nice and means that a new user needs to spend no time on organizing their collection with things like NFO files and thumbnails.

Navigation through the application is nice, simple, and if you’re using a remote it is easy.  When browsing movies or TV shows you can see nice thumbnails for the movie or TV show.  You also can see summaries for those movies and television show episodes.  They also grab reviews and ratings so you have a good idea of what you’re getting ready to watch or listen to.

The plugins are extremely nice and if you are willing to add third party application repositories, you can really fill out your Boxee experience with a large amount of content from all of the internet.  Things from CBS, Revision3, Cartoon Network, even MIT’s Open Courseware.  There’s lots of content here and as Boxee grows in popularity, the amount of plugins will continue to grow.

The Bad

While Boxee might be based on XBMC, it pulls some of it’s best features out.  For one thing if you’ve set up your video collection and have it all ready for XBMC with fanart, NFO files, and thumbnails: Boxee doesn’t use these files at all.  So when Boxee starts loading up your movies it ignores the NFO file and will on many occasions find info for the wrong movie.  For example, my wife purchased the current Rob Zombie remake of “Halloween” but Boxee insists on showing the poster and info for the original film from 1978, even after telling Boxee that it is the recent remake.  It doesn’t use DVD order for TV shows (example, Firefly).  It also completely ignores some movies (like in my case “1408″).  And the recommended “naming conventions” are just about worthless.

Why on earth would you gut XBMC and take out one of it’s best features.  Considering that XBMC was designed for exactly the kind of thing Boxee wants to do, to have Boxee turn off or rip out such an important piece seems like a poor decision.

Another thing that seems to be missing is XBMC’s ability to skin the interface.  There are some really nice skins for XBMC (see Aeon).  I guess one reason to not allow skinning is to control the UI completely and on some level I get that, but the kind of people that would use an alpha product are the kind of people that want to customize.  I would personally love an Aeon like skin, it really impresses when showing off.  This isn’t really a deal killer, just kind of a “nice to have” because customizing the experience is kind of nice.

Overall

In the end, Boxee offers a lot, and the fact that it’s in alpha means that one can kind of forgive some of these things that I consider drastic oversights.  Hopefully the beta (due next month) will resolve some of these issues.  I think as the product grows and matures it has the possibility to bring something nice to the area of HTPC software.  However, if XBMC gets a nice Pandora app/plug-in, I’ll probably switch back to using that full time as I’m more familiar with it and like it’s skinning abilities.

If you’ve never used Hulu before, here’s the basic premise.  Shows from the major networks (ABC, Fox, CBS, NBC, etc) can be watched in both standard and high definition via the Hulu website.  The catch is there are some small (less than 30 second) commercials inserted through out the show.  The commercials are shorter than those you’d watch on regular TV and less frequent.  Giving people a nice way to catch the shows they missed the night before, and give TV people a way to make money.  The idea behind Hulu was to eliminate the need for people to illegally download shows through things like BitTorrent.  The good news is, it mostly worked.  Yes, people still download torrents, but Hulu as an idea worked quite well.  People, in general, were willing to put up with the short commercials in trade for the ability to watch their favorite shows online when they wanted.

However, announcing that you’re going to start charging people without a lot details is a bad idea.  If you are going to remove the commercials and charge your users, then you might have an argument.  However, if you’re going to charge me money and make me sit through commercials, then I’ll have a serious problem (and so will most Hulu users).  It is a bad move to start charging for something people have come to expect to be free, and then on top of that still subject them to the commercials.

It is important to note that Hulu hasn’t announced how a subscription service will work or what it will look like so we will all just have to wait and see.  Personally Hulu’s content providers need to wake up and realize that they’ll send people back to torrents and other illegal means of getting their favorite shows if they back a bad subscription model.  They already lost favor when they made Hulu block things like Boxee, so they really don’t need to earn themselves anymore bad ire.

So I tried to make use of Foursquare.  Whenever I went somewhere I’d try to check in.  This is where the problems started.  The Foursquare iPhone app, is horrible.  It doesn’t do one of the things it should do, search for locations based on your current GPS or cell signal location.  If I’m in my home town of Katy and do a search for Jason’s Deli (because that’s where I am with my family), it should find the Jason’s Deli on Mason Road.  Nope, it pulls up the Jason’s Deli location that’s in downtown Houston, 27 miles away from where I’m at.  In internet meme terms, this is known as “FAIL” (ie broken).

Enter Gowalla.  Gowalla is similar to Foursquare in that it is a location based social network with a game element.  You can get points for visiting certain places and there are “trips” you can take that involve checking in at multiple locations.  Successfully completing a trip earns you points.

But Gowalla does something that Foursquare can’t seem to do (at least for me).  When I go to check in, it pulls up surrounding spots based on my GPS or cell signal location.  In other words, it actually uses my location to determine where I might be.  I have found one bug (but I haven’t check to see if its fixed in the latest version).  That bug is if I check in from inside a building (no GPS signal), if the cell tower it’s getting my location from is not on top of the building I’m in, then it won’ t let me check in, it tells me that I’m not actually at that location.  While I understand what the point of this is, there should be some leeway to say if you’re within a certain radius, allow the check in.

But that’s not all that Gowalla handles better.  If you try to check in at a place that isn’t in their list, you can add a new place to the GPS coordinates for where you are at.  In Foursquare, you need to have the address of where you are at (very annoying).  You simply type the name of the place, assign it a category and it adds the location to Gowalla’s database and then you can check in there.

In the end, I have chosen to go with Gowalla over Foursquare.  There are some elements of Foursquare that are fun and it definitely is more fun for people that go out all the time.  But the lack of ability to check in based on my location and needing to know the address to add a new place is a huge hindrance for me.  Gowalla suits my lifestyle a lot better and to me their iPhone app is just flat out better.  Foursquare is riding Dodgeball coat tails (the same people are behind both services), but it needs to get its act together when it comes to its iPhone app because for a location based service it kind of stinks.

My Gowalla Profile: mkoby

I’m a .NET developer by trade, its my job and software development as a whole is a general interest. So as a result I’ve kept my Twitter follow list closely to those in that field. Sure there are people I know personally, people I work(ed) with, and a few social media people I find interesting. But if you were to look at my following list, you’d see mostly developers if it’s not someone I know. This keeps my Twitter feed relevent to me because it’s my friends and my field. But since programming isn’t my only interest, I use FriendFeed to fill in the holes for my other interests.

I like keeping up with social media, Web 2.0, general technology that’s not necessarily related to software development. So I use FriendFeed to follow highly prolific folks who would otherwise overrun my Twitter stream. People like Robert Scoble, Louis Gray, Om Malik, Michael Arrington, and other bloggers and writers that if I were to follow on Twitter would cause my friends and those in my specific field to be lost in the mix because they just post so much stuff. I don’t want to miss that stuff though, so I use FriendFeed to see it and comment on it. FriendFeed also has “groups” which allow you to follow things in a more organized manner should you need it. There are several user created groups so you can follow areas of interest which brings in more items.

Basically to boil it down, I keep my Twitter stream fairly focused while my FriendFeed stream is anything but focused. FriendFeed is for those that desire information overload. When I don’t have time for the information, I can simply not go to the FriendFeed page or open the desktop application I’m using for it. When I’m done with work I can log into FriendFeed and the more popular stuff is going to be towards the top so I will always get the best or most controversial news items because FriendFeed moves them to the top when new likes or comments appear on a specific item.

FriendFeed is a nice service but its purpose is vastly different than Twitter and that can take some getting used to. Hopefully this helps a few people use FriendFeed more since it can be a little hard to figure out, especially if you’re coming from Twitter.

A few years ago, there was a large push behind OpenID.  OpenID, worked in  a similar way that Facebook does.  A website could set up a way to authenticate a user via an outside source, allowing the user to have a single password that they had to remember.  The idea behind this is that the one password that would be remembered would be incredibly strong.  But the user could connect to a website without having to signup for an account because the OpenID login was their login.  Facebook Connect works exactly like OpenID does, a person can log into a site using their Facebook credentials, thus allowing them to not have to remember a different password and create a new account on yet another webpage.

My question is, “Is Facebook winning the OpenID war?”. Not that there is really a war going on persey.  I’m sure some people will make the argument that the two technologies are different (and on some level they very much are), but from a end user perspective they accomplish a similar goal and since a lot of people already have Facebook accounts the userbase for Facebook Connect is larger than OpenID.  While some of the underlying technology is different, if the end result is the same from a user perspective, what incentive is there for a user to choose to get an OpenID when their Facebook credentials will work just fine?  Also, from a programmer’s perspective why implement OpenID when I can implement Facebook Connect and achieve a similar result?

Long term, I think Facebook might win out in this “single sign-on” war.  Microsoft tried but it really hasn’t won.  The only place you use your Live ID to log in is a Microsoft site.  Facebook Connect and OpenID are used in more places.  Time’s going to tell the true winner on this one but what do you think?

Tweetie ($2.99) – Hands down the most used app I have on my iPhone.  Not to mention, the best Twitter app on the iPhone.  I’ve tried all the more popular iPhone Twitter apps: Twitterific, TwitterFon, TweetDeck, Twitterlator Pro, etc and Tweetie wins hands down.  I’m anxiously awaiting the newest version which the author of the app says will “awesome” (but you know developers, we like to say “awesome” a lot).  If you’re looking for a Twitter app, look no further than Tweetie.  It’s rock solid (I don’t recall it ever crashing on me).

Beejive IM ($9.99) – If you do instant messaging like do, then you’ll need a good IM application for your iPhone.  Coming from the BlackBerry world, I was happy to learn that Beejive had an iPhone version of they’re application.  I was even more excited to learn that it was going to be one of the first to get push notifications.  Now my wife and my friends can get a hold me no matter where I am.

Byline ($4.99) – I read a lot of websites throughout the day and as such I subscribe to and watch a lot of RSS feeds.  A large part of my news reading takes place in Google Reader so it stands to reason that my iPhone RSS reader has to connect and sync with Google Reader.  Byline not only connects to Google Reader but will cache my starred items for future reading offline.  It will also cache unread articles for offline reading as well.  This makes it a must if you’re ever in a place where you can’t get cell or WiFi signal.  If you read RSS feeds and do so through Google Reader, then you really need to give Byline a shot.  It’s worth the price.

BuddyFeed ($2.99) – As noted earlier, I twitter a lot, and having used and liked FriendFeed in the past I wanted to make more of an effort to use it regularly.  Enter BuddyFeed, the more popular FriendFeed client for the iPhone.  It allows you to do most of the basic features you’d need in a FriendFeed client like post a new item, comment, like, and profile lookups.  It’s very easy to navigate and allows one get value out of FriendFeed fairly easily.  While FriendFeed hasn’t caught on with the mainstream, this will change due to its recent purchase by Facebook.

Peggle ($4.99) – I bought this game because it’s fun and it was on sale for two dollars.  This is an addicting game and if you’ve never played it, I suggest downloading the demo onto your computer and giving it a try.  It might seem hokey with the unicorns and other wooded creatures, but it’s addictive as all heck.  My wife even steals my iPhone on occasion so she can play this game.

Let’s review: Apple released an extremely popular phone, the iPhone.  It is used by both seasoned geeks and teenage hipsters looking to be “cool” to their friends and classmates.  It has gone from having zero market share to having a nice worldwide market share in just 3 years (still not beating Nokia but Apple still has some impressive numbers).  Google, in it’s “don’t be evil” way, managed to land 2 native iPhone applications at launch: Google Maps and YouTube.  Not only are these apps native, but they are extremely popular.  Also, Google has two top 50 apps in the iPhone App Store (Google Mobile and Google Earth), and the recent release of the Google Latitude web app Google has an impressive array of applications for use on the iPhone.

So is the rejection of the Google Voice iPhone app a result of fear from Apple about Google taking over the iPhone?  Could be.  But while Apple might be starting to fear Google’s apps on their platform, they should embrace Google.  Why?  Geeks (and the general public) love Google.  They like what they see Google doing.  People pay attention to Google.  Michael Arrington of TechCrunch recently dropped his iPhone over this whole Google Voice debacle.  Apple needs to realize that they have a platform that people like to develop for, and it behoves them to allow as many developers as possible onto that platform.  Aside from blocking obvious pornography apps (and that is another debate all together), Apple needs to stand aside and let people develop and release apps to their device.

It makes sense for Google to target the iPhone even though they have the Android platform.  The iPhone is a popular device, lots of people have one, so targeting apps at it has a good pay off.  And with that in mind, there is this one simple fact: mobile application developers can survive without Apple and it’s iPhone.  The did for years before there was an iPhone.  With more mobile platforms now than before, a mobile application developer has a lot of choices: Android, Windows Mobile, Palm’s WebOS, and even Symbian.  What Apple can’t do is support the App Store without it’s application developers.  Make enough of them angry, especially big ones like Google, Apple runs the risk of losing quality application developers and thus loses quality applications on their platform.

So while Apple might be scared that Google has so many good applications for the iPhone, they should just let it go and accept it.  Apple doesn’t want to lose Google as a App Store developer, because you treat a big company like Google badly, smaller developers will begin to question how viable developing for the iPhone is and move elsewhere. Apple needs to get over it, be more accepting of apps on their platform, and make everyone happy.

USA Today – While I hold that the printed newspaper will go the way of the dodo eventually, I feel that it will be a long time before it happens.  However, with apps like the USA Today app on the iPhone, it could happen just a hair sooner.  This app completely removes the need to buy a copy of USA Today from a newsstand or vending machine.  You get all the latest news that you would get from USA Today right on your iPhone screen.  It’s easy to navigate, and the text is fairly easy to read.  You also get quick access to weather, sport scores, and headline photos.  A great app if you want to keep up with the news.

Alternatives: Associated Press App if you want local coverage and more news.

Evernote – If you’ve never heard of Evernote, you’re probably trying to remember too much stuff in your head.  With the Evernote iPhone app, you can completely remove (or move them off your main page) two default iPhone apps; Notes and Voice Memos.  The Evernote app connects with your Evernote account and allows you to create, manage, and sync your notes.  You can turn photos or voice memos into notes that get uploaded to the Evernote servers for future reference.  It makes organizing thoughts and information easy.  Trust Evernote to be your memory and with the iPhone app it’s just that much easier to do.

Shoutcast – It’s no secret to anyone that reads this blog that I like music.  I like finding new music I haven’t heard and sometimes I like a radio format.  The problem is that I hate regular radio.  But I’ve long loved internet radio, and I’ve been using Shoutcast since when WinAmp was still the top music player for Windows.  The Shoutcast app for the iPhone makes it easy to find streaming stations that fit your musical tastes, plus if you get tired of listening to your limited collection on your iPhone it’s a great way to add some variety.

QuickTip – My wife and I eat out a lot, mainly due to our 5 month old son having lots of doctors appointments which leaves us with a lack of time to fix meals at home.  I hate figuring out the tip, I had been working  a pretty decent system of just doubling the tax and then rounding up to the nearest whole dollar.  That gets expensive and if you had a bad waiter, you’re over tipping if you do that.  QuickTip makes it easy, you can set a default tip amount and then have it round up/down to the nearest dollar.  A great app for those that eat out frequently.

Zynga Live Poker – The only game on the list (I have more actual applications/utilities than games on my iPhone) is Zynga’s Live Poker app.  This app will allow you to connect to your Facebook account (where Zynga has a Texas Hold’em app) and play against your Facebook friends from your iPhone.  Also the app is gorgeous, and is fun to play even if you aren’t playing against your friends.  Plus, you get free chips just for logging in once a day, nice incentive to get people coming back routinely.  Plus its Texas Hold’em which is like the most popular card game in the world right now.

If you don’t know what virtual desktops are, a quick definition would be multiple desktops without a need for multiple monitors.  The good thing about virtual desktops is, they allow you to have multiple applications open in a slightly more organized manner.  For example, you might have your development environment open on one virtual desktop, then have your email and instant messaging applications open on completely different desktop.  Or you might have your web browser open on one desktop and your music player on another.

When I work on a Linux desktop, I have my web browsing on and other common applications on my main desktop and then I have my development environment on another desktop, and finally a virtual machine running Windows on yet another desktop.  Giving me great separation of tasks and thus the ability to keep track of what I’m working on.  It’s a way to not only separate application (and work) on your screen but also mentally.  You have less going on, on a per screen basis.

Again, I have to ask, why is this feature not native in Windows?  I can understand it not being on by default.  I get that it can be a confusing way to work at first (I know it was for me).  And I can understand not wanting a million support calls asking “where did all my windows go” because that could get annoying.  Why not have a little section in the Display settings that allows me to turn this feature on and input how many virtual desktops I want?

Come on Microsoft, get with the times.  Some people want this functionality.  So much so that several have written third party applications to get it on Windows.  But serveral of them are horrible and use more resources than necessary.   When am I going to get native virtual desktops inside Windows?

To begin with, the lack of plugin functionality makes browsing some frequently used websites annoying.  Especially the lack of Flash support.  I don’t visit a ton of flash intensive web sites but I do visit a few and the one’s I do rely on Flash quite heavily.  I did try and use nightly builds of Chromium, the open source browswer that Chrome is based on, but this was really hit and miss and cause a lot of crashes on sites with zero Flash and just plain javascript.  I had issues loading Gmail in Chromium, that’s how bad it was.  Chrome itself ran into the occasional problem loading a page and once it hit that particular snag it required a complete restart of the browser to get things working correctly again, simply closing the tab did not work.

End result?  I went back to using Firefox on Linux (even if it’s not 3.5 yet).  It works without issue and can view all the websites I need to access on a near daily basis.  I will continue to check out Chrome (and Chromium) on Linux to keep tabs on where things are at, but at the moment it seems that Firefox is the only truely, cross platform, mainstream browser on the market today.

With Apple being the sole source of approval for applications in its App Store, this most recent issue has brought to light a problem that has long existed for iPhone apps.  The fact that an application’s existance in the App Store and on iPhones is decided at the sole discretion of Apple and no one else.  Yes, it is true that AT&T has in the past requested applications be hindered (like SlingPlayer specifically), but Apple still has the final word on an applications ability to be in the App Store.

With that in mind, it begs the question, could this fiasco be what helps bring more people to the Android platform?  The Android platform (Google’s operating system for mobile phones) is an open platform.  The platform itself is derived from Linux, and is open source.  It also is designed to be installed on different devices rather than just a single piece of hardware, meaning you can have a large number of devices running Android.  You can also have different kinds of devices running the Android operating system (Acer has announced a netbook that will run Android).

The big thing here is that the Android MarketPlace (the Android app store), doesn’t have a draconian approval process.  You publish your application to the Marketplace and that’s it, you’re done.  If Apple keeps up this practice of not approving useful apps that people want and they also continue to remove previously approved applications from the App Store, it could cause developers to look elsewhere.  If a developer can code an app and release it to an App Store without fear of it being removed “just because” would a developer not choose to do so?

The issue here is that (currently) the iPhone is pretty much the most popular phone in the world, making it a very hot platform to develop for.  Getting an application into the iPhone App Store means millions of potential customers.  While Android currently doesn’t have the same numbers, it does have the possibility to have better numbers if a few high profile devices with some powerful hardware.  Keep in mind also, that Motorola has latched on to Android with a furocious passion and they move a lot of handsets.  Android has tremendous potential to take off, though it might take another year or two before it really becomes a force to be reckoned with.

If you are a developer doing iPhone development, how does this recent Google Voice app issue affect your decision to develop for the iPhone?  Is it making your reconsider your platform of choice?  Do you not care about it?  Are you looking at Android more closely than before, or not at all?  Leave commments, I’m interested to know.