douglasmkelly's posterous

Thanks Sage Telecom For The Push Out The Door

This week, I killed the house land line. There's a little history: Had Sage Telecom for a home phone service. Their service was ok and all, but I under paid them by the giant sum of 1 dollar. They shut off the phone. I called them up - Spent probably about 25 minutes while the very nice lady looked up my account. I'm busy. A home phone was never a priority - not since the cell phone revolution. But there I was. Evidently Sage has this complete automated system that if you haven't paid the full amount, they disconnect you. I DON'T EVER USE THE HOME PHONE! So I went online and made a payment through my bank, whence I noticed it was off. Crazy, there had been less politicians after my vote for a couple days.

After making the payment, I didn't care that the line didn't get turned on right away - I assumed that some person had to "Touch" the account. See loud all caps statement above. However, when it didn't get turned back on for 4 days, I went to the Sage site - I noticed and paid a balance ($20), believing that maybe now they'd turn it back on. Turns out I was supposed to call them to let them know that I wanted to keep my home phone. I'm not exactly sure how I would have known that. So the lady from Sage apprises me that I now need to pay $86 to get the phone turned back on. All OVER A $1!! A dollar? Seriously? Good bye Sage and thanks for over charging me for 3 years for something I barely used. It was mostly a tool for politicians and marketers to call and bug me anyway.

Now for the rest of the story: Everyone, that matters, already has my cell digits so this is just to have something in the house - for the occasional sitter.  First I purchased a tracphone from AT and T. They call their pre-pays Go-Phones. I grabbed 250 minutes for $25 and have 3 months to use them. The cool thing is I set up a new local Google number so it can be given out to friends and family. Google rings my iphone with this new number as well as the "home" phone. Voice mail is emailed - and transcribed - so I can get it from anywhere.

The steps were pretty easy, you just go to Google.com/voice and set up an account (if you don't already have one). It does need to have a GMail account associated with it. Then you select a number or have Google do it for you. You can look up by Area Code or Zip Code. Finally you "point" that new number to an existing telephone - Google rings you up with a code and you're done. You give that number out and it can ring multiple lines. The first to pick up gets the call. The free part is that you go to ATT.com and put in the new telephone number as a free call (A-List). Then when anyone calls that number it comes across to your cell as your new number. With Google Voice you can opt to have everyone state their name prior to you answering. Do this as their number won't register (you want free don't you?).

Note: Outgoing calls from this new line will be charged. Incoming answered calls will go against your minutes too. So you just answer one of your other lines on the account. If you have less than 5 lines on your ATT account, just add a line and it will share the minutes and free goodness. I didn't have that option. This is just an emergency phone. And at $8/month it's worth it. Sorry Sage Telecom - The only way you'll get me back is to give me back my old telephone number, waive the fees and turn me back on. I'd pay the difference of $20, if I have to. The only other issue is that Dish will now charge me $5 for not having a telephone plugged in. Let's see... $48-$57 per month vs $13. The new phone was $20. That's a sum total of $500 per year for an emergency line.

I am not sure how long this particular scenario will last as I have a few other options, like porting my business line over to Google and just forwarding that to my iPhone, then dropping the track phone and switching SIM cards.

History: You could say that I'm an Apple Lover. I own 2 Apple Macintosh G4 Desktops - in use - one Graphite 500MHz I tricked out with a Dual Gig-a-Hertz processor, additional hard drive and maxed RAM. There's a MacBook Pro in various pieces in a drawer in my office. I won an iPad at a Networking Event (see the top article from the previous link and others on Networking in GR). And, I'm writing you from my big girl friend - See above article. I own an iPhone 3GS purchased the day they came out June 21st, 2009. It's white. I loved her until 2 months ago, when alla-sudden she started being whiny when using location based services or switching between the 3G AT&T Network and Edge (2G) or the WiFi radio. Essentially she'll just crash. Poof. Narcolepsy.

Apple? Are you listening?

I've just pretty much stopped using the AT&T 3G Network, consequently. It does work if I'm connected to a power source, so driving while using Google Maps, requires being plugged in. If I use location in one place, and use it again in the same place, I should be ok... but not all the time. Generally she gets all whonky when I move around between towers using Location apps. I think the tower database may be corrupted or perhaps the battery... But who really knows, since the Apple.com site is no real help with this regard. Monday, the speaker at the top, where your ear goes, ceased to work. Lucky I have Blue Tooth headsets and/or ear buds. Just one more thing that isn't happy with her.

Yesterday I went into the Apple Store, was met by a cutie at the door, saying that I needed an appointment - the next one available was for 4PM in the afternoon - there must have been at least 35-40 patrons in the store, and at least that many Apple-logoed, blue-shirted people with iPads walking about. Last weekend the employees at all the Apple Stores redid the stores to put iPads at every product station, where you could learn more about that particular product and request an Apple Employee to assist you. They were up late getting ready for the opening. It was different, and slightly cooler. The iPad apps that are Apple iStore-Only are cool, but I don't know how 10th Anniversary-Cool it all was. The manager introduced himself to the conversation and was able to over-ride technology to give me an appointment with an Apple Genius in 1/2 hour. I made for the Starbucks and should have offered the cutie some coffee, she kept yawning.

30 minutes later... The Genius, after listening to all that I'd already accomplished, backed up my iPhone, then did a wipe and told her that she was a new iPhone. I'm pretty sure she didn't believe him. She might have played that game before. Funny thing: When I initially purchased my iPhone, they had to set up a device twice, as the first one didn't take to me. I'm wondering if there's a symbiotic thing. So anyway, my phone was done: Dude turned her on - I switched from Edge to 3G, did a Google Maps look up, switched off 3G started importing all my contacts - EVERYTHING WORKED!

I left the store believing that the phone was working, and made it to my car, wherein the New Amnesia Girl Friend starts acting like her old self. I returned to the Apple Store to talk to the girl answering the door. She remembered my name. I'd like to think it's because I'm cute - Yep, I'm going with that. The Genius that assisted me, ran up. We turned the phone back on and it did the same thing, wouldn't finish booting unless plugged in... He thinks the phone is somewhere between death and burial. MEH.

Note: Neither the Cutie nor the Apple Genius made mention of the fact that AT&T may do some original thinking with regards to my contract, as it was just about to expire ;-)

I walked down the mall to the American Telephone and Telegraph store. That store was empty, save for 3 employees. $50 for a refurb 3GS. $200 for a new 4G under contract. $450 for an out-of-contract new 3GS. I'll let you know what I decide.

Let me conclude on a positive note: The Apple employees that I interacted with, were awesome. From the Manager that was able to intercede with an appointment squeeze, the Greeter that remembered my name and email address even with helping the intervening 40 or so people in the hour and 1/2 since we met, to the Genius, who really was a genius. Even though they couldn't fix my device, they checked in to what they could do including offering me a minor discount on a new gal.

I have heard, and read, some awesome stories of Apple hook'n a brother up. I would love nothing more than to write a post on how over the top Apple's Customer Service really is to those of us that have owned Apple products since 1997 and still actively purchase them.

So, I started writing this blog post 21 days ago - I guess I've been too busy again. This is the final post in the "Too Busy" series. (I might just do a prequel ala CS. Lewis, though.) One of the primary things I've added to my life since a month ago, when I was so busy I couldn't see straight, was cross syncing software for iPhone, iPad and Laptop. Collaboration is extremely valuable to me as well. SimpleNote is one such app, that is open source. Open source makes it so others can write apps using their API (code) - adding new functionality that the drafters might not have envisioned.I've not started sharing SimpleNote yet, but once I'm comfortable using it - the functionality is there to allow for increased collaboration. Dropbox is becoming my favorite, can't-live-without collaboration app. Dropbox, as mentioned in a previous post is where you can drop files into the cloud and share them with other computers or people. That's been awesome for sharing files with affiliated partners as we work to quote new projects together.

EasyTask is another app that is cross device syncable. EasyTask has an app for the iPhone as well as a free web interface. You can setup projects and assign tasks. It does not have an SSL site so be careful in public WiFi. One more app that allows for some syncing is PaperDesk. It's a note taking app for the iPad that can sync online. The app has use of the keyboard or optional stylus. It also allows for voice memos. The Lite version is robust, but only allows for a limited amount of memos/notes.

I had really hoped that several of you would have added some thoughts of your own on the types of technology that you use to help you manage your lives better. So here's the appeal to the audience: Please comment below on some of the things you use, day to day, that make life easier. Give it to me full swing!

The biggest thing for me is ensuring that all my clients are taken care of in a timely fashion. As I add more and more clients to the funnel, I want them all happy. For instance, being able to access my email from anywhere is key. Luckily both Google Mail (GMail) and my hosting server allow for IMAP which leaves all my mail on the server to be access via web apps or browsers.

Something else I'm reviewing is SurgarCRM. One of my Affiliated Partners uses it and loves it. I'd love to hear if any of you are utilizing this Customer Relationship Manager, or if there is another open source app you like.

These changes giving me access to my information and files from anywhere haven't alleviated my busy-ness, but do make it so I can remain this busy but not let things fall through the cracks.

This post is meant as a followup to last week's post on having too many things pulling at my time. I discussed that I really wanted to see more of ArtPrize, but had conflicting time constraints not allowing me to experience as much as I'd like. Since that last post I've had even more requests of my day. I had to turn down invitations to political fund raisers and networking events as they just couldn't fit into my schedule.

So how have I started to better manage my time in the last week? For starters, I added Mozilla's Sunbird Calendar Thunderbird extension. It's called Lightening and it allows you to accept calendar invites in your email. Next, I synced up all my calendars including my iPad, iPhone, iCal, GCal and Lightening on the laptop. There's a great article for how on LifeHacker. I love LifeHacker. If you have a spare hour, just go peruse all the cool time saving, computer tweeking, and awesome apps out there that will help your life.

So allowing all my calendars to automatically sync themselves, cuts about 1/2 hour out of my day as I only need to sync the iPad with my laptop, or use google's calendar from the app, and make changes there.

Next I started using DropBox more. If I need to work on a particular file remotely or am delivering a look I drop the file in a DropBox folder and it's accessible from anywhere. That way I don't need to haul around the laptop for every little thing like my last AimWest Board Meeting. I could access to all my agendas right on the iPad. Google Docs works for most all docs, spreadsheets, images and PDFs. Those are all accessible on the iPad as well, and just as easily shared with groups and individuals. I don't need to pull out the lappy, wait for boot, get out a hard drive and locate the file. Instant access on the iPad! No Internet connection? No Problem! iPhone to the rescue with Google Docs and DropBox I can view all the files loaded there. This means that I don't need to perform an aRsync as I'm tring to run ou the door, late, to a client meeting. Next I need to locate some technology that automagically syncs my NAS, an attached HD and DropBox. Any suggestions?

One thing I could really use is a teleportation device, so that I don't have to spend so much time driving downtown, to the soccer fields, home, clients... Ooo ooo, and if Google Goggles was actually something you wore, where you could drive and access your documents, maps, contacts and other files.

Also as a followup - I was able to make it downtown to view some more of the ArtPrize pieces. I took in about 20 pieces at the B.O.B., outside the GRPM and on the Blue Bridge. That was only about 3 of the top-10, but 3 more than I had to that point. If you have a chance to do it with kids, you'll find out what's cool and what's not - if you need help with that.

Look for my next post on more technologies and tricks I'm implementing to help me better manage my time, tasks, thoughts, projects and overall life.

Last week 250 West Michiganians and I attended the AimWest Google Lunch at the Devos Place. I won't get into what a cool venue Devos Place is, or that the Devos-Provided WiFi didn't work for most of the day, or that I took 3/4s of a day off to go. I won't get into the price for AimWest Members being only $10 less than non-members... Ok I guess I just did... I just couldn't believe for the price of the event, that the WiFi wasn't adequate.

Was it cool to go to a great venue to listen to The Almighty Google speak? Oh Yeah! Was it cool that a local organization can pull in a Google Rep? You betcha. I will start with saying, that I knew most everything presented by all 3 speakers I listened to, and if I didn't, I could've Googled It. I also made up a half dozen people's mind on what they were going to attend – solely because they believe I know what I'm doing. I picked events based on packaging and name instead of really asking what the product contained. To all of you that decided to attend the break out sessions based on my going: I am sorry.

I did come away with some minor notes. Google's John Black (I'd so change my name to Jack!) was the Keynote speaker. Google's retail online sales manager didn't have all the techie info I had hoped to glean. John briefly talked about Google's association with Dish Network for TV ads. That was cool to hear. They have set-top boxes helping to manage ad integration. The ad supplier is only charged for when someone actually views an ad – local or national. That was pretty much it. The coolest take away.

Some of the other areas Black touched on were:

• Based on customer feedback they are also working to make it easier to use Google Adwords.
• In 3 years Google's seen a 300% growth in mobile search, with 50 times more search on mobile devices than regular cell phones.
• Google believes more and more computing will be done on the Cloud than on your C: drive. (This is not news)
• Google.org tracks flu trends world wide
• Some of what's next: Consumer Internet, Smart Grid Technology, and Green Energy

You know what? I could have Googled all of that. It was cool to see the Flu graphs and how Google is predicting breakouts around the globe on similar numbers with the CDC. Some of the other numbers were slightly noteable. But John Black didn't come with anything new – seriously new. 25 minutes after his key note finished Google released a statement that they were rolling out Font API and Font Directories. No one in the room knew about that! It could have been the Steve Jobs-esque end to an address. Then on Friday (or Monday, I don't exactly remember), Google released a notice that Google TV was coming to a provider near you. Ok, I get it: Google's a HUGE company and all, but come on! The GR Press was there. One of the local TV news outlets had a camera going. Grand Rapids is number 1 or 2 (depending on the poll) to get Google Fiber. John made a comment about GRGoogleFiber initiative, but that was it. No major announcements. No major un-Google-able points.

I'll back off Google for a minute. The best thing I've enjoyed about AimWest events, even when I could have given the talk my self, has been the Q and A. Even if I know most of what the speaker discusses, the questions fired and the answers given help me with my potential clients. I ended up walking out of the Mobile break out session, when the guy went long, and we never had any question period. For one thing the guy was extremely boring, wasn't used to giving speeches, was visibly unprepared, and spoke above many people's heads. Part of what he talked about was essentially Business 101 – but for iphone apps. I attended the mobile session because I believed it was going to be about new trends, or how Google and iPhone/Android were going to revolutionize the world. I didn't really want to hear about the steps to rolling out an app. I only jotted down a couple things during his session:

• Launch your App with friending to gain stickyness
• Plan for Participation
• Support Social Networking and Location
• and expect emergent uses because you may have envisioned it being used one way, but the marketplace may find another way.

I only noted these because they cemented what I already knew and spoke to Social Media. The guy talked about who you need to have buy in, from Legal to IT. Any department that wants a new site, app, marketing expenditure or corporate direction knows and lives by this. It's called “Red Tape”. I almost walked out to find another session, not caring who I offended or what I missed, because I made the terrible assumption that it would get better – or end soon and the Q&A could begin.

So ok – 1). the food was good. 2).I saw 40-50 people I know. And, 3).I met someone that I've only talked to on Twitter. I set up 2 meetings from this event. Those are good things and if I close any business out of it, will probably change my tune – but even the last breakout was google-able. Pete Brand was a much better speaker than either Mobile Guy or Google Guy. But he only read a list of Google Apps, that anyone can find on Google's App Site. He did give one sentence describing each... (psst, you can also read that from Google Apps), what I really wanted to know was how his company helped organizations save money. How he helped them migrate from Microsoft to the free Google Apps. How much money did his clients save? How easy was it? I only tweeted a couple things from Brand's talk:

• Use forms to easily roll out marketing questionnaires with out needing IT support.
• The other was that I already knew all of this.

There was some Q&A, like “How did you migrate your clients from MS to Google. Brand deferred to the audience. The Grand Public Library rep tried to answer that going Open Office was pretty easy. Does it sound like I'm griping here? It should. For $40 I got to have a Google Search recited on 2 different topics, and some guy review Business classes. I can believe that, in the West Michigan area, there are many knowledgeable individuals. Having the audience answer other's questions isn't really as bad as you might think. I attend a local Social Media Free Lunch where the group founders have asked me to answer some questions. It really shows that there are several topic savvy individuals locally. The difference between a lunch/learn and a conference, however, is that the speaker is supposed to be an expert.

Am I asking too much?

I know that the AimWest Board works really hard to pull these things off. I respect all and know many  board members. I also bet that they don't review presentations pre-event. After this one, I hope they start. If any of you attended the AimWest Google Lunch and took some good things away, please for the love of all things Google, comment. I love Google. I love AimWest. I'd like AW to get better. I think all comments here could be reviewed by the board. Google, on the other hand, is getting too big - in my assumption. They'll not be reading this blog. But if you're from Google, change my mind!

Most people could tell you that I'm not the biggest schemer. I am a bit of a pragmatist when it comes to business. I have been thinking for some time now, however, about creating an iPhone App. I even went out and bought the iPhone under a partial premise of needing to learn more about the phone and (of course) needing a test device. I do love my iPhone, but haven't really gotten into the whole app part. I only have 4 pages worth, and one page is games I never play. I have the preverbial LastFM, Facebook, Epicurious and The Weather Channel. I'm a business man. I'm a designer. I write markup and style documents. I'm not a gamer, and I've only ever done the front-end design for web applications - and one that had a hand-held interface.

This week I've been sitting out waiting for a deer to walk by so I could give him some lead poisoning. The only time that I saw any deer in the woods, was when I was just arriving at the predetermined hunting location and was still putting on my gear ... and they were moving pretty quickly. By the time I finally could pick up my gun, I couldn't get a shot off, except if I'd have wanted to shoot a yearling. Which I didn't. If I'd have arrived 15 minutes earlier, I'd have had a chance on a small 4 point. Or there was a large Doe... but probably have gone for the buck.

Anyway, since I've had a lot of time in the woods, and since it's been relatively warm in MI this November, I can have my fingers out of the gloves and have been playing with the phone. Hours in the warm woods has given me the time to further consider what type of app I should create. I've contemplated one that manages web cams placed strategically in the trees around a hunter, so he/she has “more eyes”. The problem with an app like that is one would only use for 2-4 weeks out of a year, and I'm not going to make much money on that. Especially since I only know 1 hunter with an iPhone – me. So could such an app work for other types of scenarios? There is Turkey Season, and maybe Duck Season, but we're only adding a couple weeks. Those other seasons rely on fooling the birds in to your vicinity and not the chance one would ghostly float through your hunting lanes. There is also the issue of additional work by the app owner: The hunter would have to put up the cams and depending on where they were sitting, take them back down again, when leaving. Batteries would have to enter in... and there's the whole small router/network setup... So I've already killed that idea.

I have a couple friends that are building iPhone Apps. One has good promise. It might seem that I'm in search of a problem and solution.

It is possible that I'll never create an application, but will only be able to design a front end. It would just be nice to be on a team working on an iPhone app. So if any of you 61 of my followers can envision an application or know of someone working on one that could use a designer – write/comment/contact me.

Google Android phones have held my attention over the last year+. An open source cell phone and a rival to Apple and Windows intrigues me. I've been greatly dismayed with how cellphone makers haven't really embraced the Google Operating System, built on Linux. There haven't been many provider options in the US either. This week, though, a couple Android phones hit Verizon.

I used to have Alltel for years. Alltel's service in the Great Lakes Region of the US was better than outstanding. Their EVDO (3G) service out on the beach up in Ludington or in my basement, or traveling down the highway was superb. I purchased a 3G wireless card from Alltel and saw better than ISDN speeds, which was good because I could only get dial-up to the house in the country.

An early adopter of the iPhone, I was not. I played with my friends' phones and saw the appeal, but couldn't see paying the Alltel termination fee on top of the device's high price, nor could I see using the terrible AT&T network in Michigan. I ended up purchasing a Blackberry from Alltel. Even though it wasn't touch screen, Alltel had left it open to download apps. The problem was there weren't many free apps and the storage was abysmal. You could add a micro-SD card, but couldn't load it with apps, only pics and music. I started hoping that Alltel (then owned by Goldman Sachs) would pick up an Android phone so I could get a really good device.

When Verizon bought Alltel last year I was angered, to say the least. At first they started dropping calls. Then I started getting bad reception. Finally they dropped support for my Air-card, meaning no internet at the home office. That was a last straw! I started in talks with AT&T. I figured if I was going to have to live with terrible coverage it might as well be on a device I loved. I looked at T-Mobile's HTC Android phone when it came out, but it was bulky, had little app support and the interface was a little kludgy. T-Mobile's network in MI was worse than AT&T. I decided I couldn't wait for more providers to roll out a Google phone and grabbed a new iPhone 3GS. I love it. And now I finally have decent Edge service, since the leaves have fallen off the trees.

This week I was intrigued to learn about this new Motorola Droid that Verizon is offering running Google Android. I have read some reviews that definitely sing it's praises. It's price tag of $200 rivals the iPhone. It sports a micro-SD slot, separate camera button and slide out keyboard. There are mixed reviews on the keyboard, but I'm sure it would take getting used to, if you are moving from the iPhone. I speculate that Verizon is going to lock down the Operating System as much as they can, as it's more than a reputation - its a business model. I am happy to see Motorola running away from Windows Mobile and embracing Android, perhaps driving further innovation in the Cell Phone World. www.androphones.com

Today I read about a new inexpensive Android phone that is coming out on VZ's network: The HTC Eris. I am happy to see any provider offer multiple phones with Android. It would seem, however, that it's worse than HTC's T-Mobil phone: www.wired.com. I'd probably pay the extra $100 for a better phone. The biggest draw backs for me are switching networks AGAIN and the termination fee. I've 3 lines on AT&T. So, for this writer, I'll be sticking with my iPhone.