Nice Review of ‘HTDE with Web 2.0 Blog’
I appreciate what this reviewer is saying about my book…sometimes it’s tough to “hit” just right with the marketing, cover design and so on. The truth its, a lot of folks worked hard on the book (editors, tech editors, copyeditors, publicists) and not just me. But it’s a pleasure to receive glowing praise such as this:
Do yourself a favor: don’t judge this book by its (awful) cover. I’ve had this book by my side every step of the way while setting up my very first blog, and I have to say it has been a huge help. Stauffer’s style is direct and engaging, not cutesy. He tells you what you need to know to get started, without a lot of fluff.
I wanted to write a review here because I think this books deserves a big audience, and because the Amazon listing tells you little about what’s covered.
Bob then goes on to talk about the different topics in the book.
Actually, he brings up one problem I’ve had with Amazon on past projects — the book descriptions often come from very early entries in whatever cataloguing systems are used for book orders and sales. So, many times the descriptions of the books just aren’t as accurate by the time they’re written; this book, for instance, moved away from some programming coverage in part because the “rise of widgets” took place as I was writing. It took a long time to get the description changed to reflect the new outline.
iPhone: Not a Great Phone
Yes, it took me forever to finally make the leap to an iPhone but, now that I’ve been up and running with my iPhone for a few weeks, and I’ve got to say that I’m a little underwhelmed. Switching from a Blackberry has been interesting on two fronts.
First, I can totally see why Apple has announced a push strategy that goes along with the Me.com announcement — having to wait for your e-mail to download very much blows when you’re used to just looking down and seeing e-mail on your Blackberry instantly. I’m excited about the Me.com upgrade, since I already pay an arm-and-a-leg for my less-than-useful Mac.com account, but ONLY if the service will transparently allow me to send e-mail from my other accounts — I need it to work like Gmail in the respect that it seems that e-mail is coming from my jacksonfreepress.com account even if I’m using Apple Mail. If not, then it’s straight-up no dice on Me.com, because I can’t answer my work mail using an @me.com address.
Second, my main complaint about the iPhone might just be the carrier — AT&T is simply not as good as Alltel, my previous carrier, in this area. I’ve gone back to the days of hunting around in the room for a signal — something that I haven’t had to think about for years using my Alltel phones, whether regular clamshells or Blackberrys. Ms. D’s Treo is the same way — signal problems are very rare.
Since I’ve gone to the slick, swanky iPhone, I’ve had a LOT of trouble making actual phone calls. In my house, the signal only works well closer to a front window; in our office suite, I’ve found a better signal in the sales cubicles than in my own office. That just ain’t right.
Solution? I’m concerned that I’ll need to quickly make the decision to move to something else — back to Alltel, ideally, with, perhaps a Treo 755p. That’s not my greatest desire, since I like synching contacts and addresses with my iPhone — as a diehard Mac user, even in business, the iPhone excels on that front. Or, I could sit around and wait for AT&T to improve in my area, or I can hold on and hope that the 3G iPhone is better on actually being a phone.
We shall see!
Great Piece on ‘iPhone 2.0′ Dominance
I just stumbled on CounterNotions, where the author has a compelling piece on iPhone 2.0 and whether or not there’s another player in the market that can take it on.
I, personally, am watching this whole iPhone thing closely…although I swore months ago I wouldn’t go in for an iPhone, I ended up buying one one eBay somewhat accidentally (long story, but a I got a great price), but I haven’t yet activated it. Not sure what I was waiting for…but I’m getting closer.
Word of native iChat clients is helping me make that decision; I’m not a huge iChat user, but being able to bring up folks back in the office using iChat has proven very handy when I’ve had the capability in the past. (It was a feature that I found compelling about the T-Mobile SideKick, for instance.) I may be an iPhone user yet…
Now Apple TV has a Killer App
In what appears to be a direct response to my multiple blog entries on the topic, Apple announced yesterday that it will update Apple TV so that it can directly access the iTunes Store for rentals, videos and songs was music to my ears, since I’d been calling for that behavior for some time, as noted here and here.
Watch the guided tour and then sit back and realize something. You page through films, choose one to rent, then you rent it. Then you watch it. On your TV. That’s it. It works.
That, my friends, is a killer app.
Oh, plus, you can buy TV shows, play podcasts, play your music collection, buy more music…Apple TV just became the heart of your media center. (If you could rip movies to MPEG-4 from DVD that would take this thing even further. The drag-able movies from new DVDs will be the next best thing.) Apple TV can replace your music channels on digital cable or satellite — in fact, it can replace your CD player or iPod dock device altogether. Internet radio. It’s all there.
Once I’m allowed to buy an HDTV (ahem…Ms. D?) this will revolutionize how *I* watch TV. I imagine others will agree.
Now if only they would make it so that you can purchase football and baseball games without the damn commercials…
Snoozester: Wake 2.0
Very cute idea from Snoozester, a Web 2.0 product that, for as little as $3.99 per month, will give you a wake-up or reminder call on your home or cell phone. The service features a “SecureAwake” feature that will keep calling you until you answer the phone. (This assumes that, unlike me, you’re able to keep your mobile phone charged and ready to go at all times.)
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