General

Happy Birthday Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com!

August 3, 2007 by Julie

We want to wish a very happy third birthday to Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com. Many of you may already be familiar with Clinton’s site, and for those of you who aren’t, you should definitely check it out! It’s full of mobile news and reviews of some of the coolest hardware and software out right now. And today is a good time to visit the site, because Clinton is celebrating with a contest, and you don’t want to miss out!

Congratulations, Clinton, and we wish you many more years of news and reviews to come!

Where Are They Now?

August 1, 2007 by Ellen

I just finished reading (OK, skimming) an interesting book called Founders at Work, interviews with founders of famous technology companies about what happened in their earliest days. It turns out that a few of them were involved with handhelds - PayPal started out as a service by which Palm users could beam each other IOUs (do people even beam using Palms anymore? I haven’t seen anyone do that in years). Another of the founders interviewed was involved with General Magic and the long-forgotten Magic Cap handheld, which we looked at for about 2 minutes in the very early days of Ilium Software.

Another former handheld company founder who’s moved on is my friend Vidal Graupera, founder of Iambic. I first met Vidal many years ago. I don’t remember where, but I very clearly remember our conversation about what a bad idea it is to start company name with an " i".

Anyway, Vidal has moved on, and has started a site called 5th Bar, full of useful info about, and reviews of, mobile phones and accessories, and cell phone carriers. I find roundups like this very useful - I’ve spent a lot of time lately on the VOIP reviews and roundups (see my previous post for why, and my conclusion). But I’m hoping it pays off in decent service. And I’m definitely bookmarking 5th Bar, because I’m sure that my current mobile phone won’t be my last.

Support and Sunrocket Alternatives

July 19, 2007 by Ellen

Like everyone else who used Sunrocket as their VIOP provider, I’m now looking for a replacement service, as they’ve just announced that they’ve stopped their service. And because I went to Sunrocket in the first place because Vonage customer service was so bad, I’m spending a lot of time reading reviews of other VOIP providers.

I like the convenience of having phones all around my house - it’s a small house and I have 6 phones, and still have a hard time finding one when it rings - so going cell-only, while an option, isn’t my first choice. And I briefly worked for our local phone company once, and will do almost anything to never give them any money again. So finding a VIOP provider I don’t mind (I don’t even have to like them, just not find them too objectionable) would be the best option for me.

But reading the comments on the review boards - wow. I may go cell-only just because I don’t want to give money every month to a company that doesn’t treat me decently. It’s why I canceled Vonage in the first place, and is the sole reason I’m not going back to them. I don’t need all that many features (though will admit I enjoy number blocking quite a bit, and would like a less-expensive plan with limited minutes, since I never use many) but I will not knowingly sign up with a company that doesn’t tell me the truth, or whose representatives don’t have the knowledge or authority to fix my problem or even to connect me with someone who does. I just won’t - I don’t want to support that kind of business model if I absolutely don’t have to. I don’t fly Northwest (if I can possibly avoid it) for the same reason - I just don’t want to give money to people who treat me that badly.

So this decision really comes down to support, for me, since I do have the luxury of not getting VOIP or a landline at all, and of taking my time to make up my mind. There are several providers who have the features I want and a decent price, and I’m very willing to put up with the VOIP phoneline quality. But unless I find one where I get more confidence in their support - even though I doubt I’ll need it - I don’t think I’ll be signing up with any of them. (And Sunrocket’s suggestion - Teleblend - is just scary. I’ve never heard of them before; they’re not on any of the review sites; at least 2 of their URLs were registered this week, and there’s very little info about their agreement on their site - just “sign up”. How about “no thank you”!)

Support does matter. And if we buy, or sign up for, the least expensive alternatives based only on price, we’re just incenting companies to provide bad support. And making it harder for people who provide good support to survive.

Once More, with Feeling

June 26, 2007 by Ellen

Today is the Internet Radio Day of Silence. To quote from the official press release:

“The arbitrary and drastic rate increases set by the Copyright Royalty Board on March 2nd threaten the very livelihood of thousands of webcasters and their millions of listeners throughout the country.

Major webcasters like Yahoo! Launchcast, Rhapsody, and Pandora.com will silence their streams along with other Day of Silence participants like KCRW.org, Live365, MTV Online, Radioio, RadioParadise, and AccuRadio.” (full list)

Please help us support this effort. This site will help you send letters, get banners for your own site, and spread the word to your friends.

They’ve been a little busy lately, which is great, so if you have any problems with that link, you can pick either of the ones below:

• Call your representative (the link will give you their phone number) and ask for their support of the Internet Radio Equality Act: S. 1353 in the Senate and H.R. 2060 in the House.
• If you’d rather write a letter or an email, this link will help. But be sure to also mention the Internet Radio Equality Act: S. 1353 in the Senate and H.R. 2060 in the House.

Don’t let internet radio go silent permanently. Act now.

Thanks.

Hype Meter: Harry Potter and the Killer iPhone

June 25, 2007 by Ellen

Comparing the two most-anticipated and hyped events of the summer. Yes, this is only tangentially related to mobile computing, but one too many news stories just put me over the edge. Harry Potter Book 7Apple iPhoneWinnerRelease DateJuly 21June 29iPhonePriceList: $34.99; street: $17.99 – $20.99$499 - $599HPAvailability after releaseEverywhere. I expect to see it in grocery stores, gas stations, and probably on street corners.Best guesses are that it will be hard to get, or even to find.HPAppeal / Cool factorMass / Probably notCult / Very highiPhoneSecrecy surrounding releaseInfo, or at least rumors, are starting, but clearly unauthorized. (I’m trying hard not to read them, so please don’t post any here.)Lots of official info leaks. This article says “Issuing nuggets of news may be a marketing tactic.” We say: may be??HPBiggest decisionWhere to buy it? Amazon, get the best price (and a $5 coupon) but wait for delivery, or a local bookstore, and pay more and fight the crowds.How early to show up at the AT+T store to wait in line.iPhoneBiggest open question:Is Snape the ultimate good guy or the ultimate bad guy?Will it ever run third-party apps?tieBuzz v. hypeBuzzHypeHPGoogle matchesLoosely 30 millionAbout 55 millioniPhoneTotal44tie!

eWallet 5.0.2 is out (and other news)!

May 30, 2007 by Marc

We’ve released a tiny update to eWallet. It’s version 5.0.2 and it fixes a couple of little things that were bugging us. For 5.0.1 users, you don’t need to download this one but it doesn’t hurt. It primarily smooths out the experience for new and upgrade purchasers in the future.

ListPro 5.0 Closed Beta continues apace. So far things are looking quite good. We’ve got a few more features that have to go into it still so the release is undetermined. Sorry everyone! It will be worth the wait!

We have an update to one of our free products “in the pipe”. Can’t say which one just yet but we’ll announce it soon I hope! Thanks for all your comments on the Extreme Makeover blog post!

Finally, we have some additional cool announcements we’ll be making in the coming weeks. Can’t say much more than that yet but we’ll keep you updated!