It’s time [...]]]> I am a long time user of Windows CE, Pocket PC and lately Windows Mobile devices. I am no fan of Microsoft’s. However, I have always thought their mobile OS, although not always the best and, certainly not open, it was a step in the right direction with decent devices and plenty of software.

It’s time for a new smartphone. I admit habits die hard and this is the first time since 2000 I am actually considering changing mobile platform. Not because touchscreens were “non-existent” before multi-touch, as Apple fans would put it, but because Microsoft has, or is close to managing what seemed impossible: lose in the software availability arena. Most new mobile applications for new Web 2 needs are created for the iPhone and Android first and for Blackberry and WM later.

Microsoft clearly failed to recognize the mobile devices market trends in time and doesn’t even seem to do anything serious about it. WM updates are drugged by hardware and other developments and are nothing to write home about. Devices are still best-of-breed, thanks to HTC and others, but this can’t be credited to MS.

So, these are the lists for and against staying with WM:

Stay with WM

• 10 years of usage (habit)
• It does work, most of the time
• I have almost all the applications I need
• MS Outlook synchronization. What about Outlook synchronization with Android? Android Market’s web interface is bad to useless. It’s a Google product with no search!
• HTC HD2

Leave WM

• WM is not open. Android or Maemo would be candidates as open platforms
• Most hip programs and services are first available on other platforms. Android is the only candidate here as the iPhone is closed, regulated and not the best hardware around
• All else being equal, open platforms are also hosted by cheaper devices

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

A Remarkable Book from Wiley-Finance

---

"An excellent book!"   — Paul Wilmott Want to break into the lucrative world of trading and quantitative finance? You need this book!

Possibly related posts (auto generated)

• The Google Android Platform (1)
• Windows Phone 7 or Android for Horde, Lightning and mobile phone synchronization? (2)
• Web browser standards: Opera Software vs Microsoft (0)
• Outlook crashes when switching keyboard language? Check Outlook Connector! (8)
• Microsoft IE and Standards Compliance (0)

To cut a long story short, each time he tried to switch the keyboard to EL (Greek), it would hung with no exception. Several times it even crashed by itself while (re)starting. Repairing the .pst file [...]]]> Does your Microsoft Outlook crash lately? A client of mine’s kept crashing for the better part of two consecutive mornings.

To cut a long story short, each time he tried to switch the keyboard to EL (Greek), it would hung with no exception. Several times it even crashed by itself while (re)starting. Repairing the .pst file did not help. After realizing it was switching the keyboard that did this, I googled the issue and found the thread “Outlook 2007 crash when I typing Thai language“. Result: No solution or workaround (yet), but Outlook Connector was to blame.

Well, not any more, it’s gone now and we all are back in business. I was very reluctant to recommend Outlook Connector to begin with, but there were no issues with it for weeks. What can I say? Can’t tie the issue to an update, either.

Sorry for not troubleshooting this further, MS, we both had real work to get done…

Update Nov. 24, 2010: According to “Solved: Outlook 2007 hangs when switching language” post #7, “… there is a new release of Outlook Connector (Ver 14) and it should fix this problem …”. Find it in http://download.microsoft.com/downlo…kConnector.exe.

Possibly related posts (auto generated)

• WM, Android, or, maybe, a Maemo smartphone? (0)
• Web browser standards: Opera Software vs Microsoft (0)
• The Google Android Platform (1)
• Microsoft IE and Standards Compliance (0)
• Athens Startup Weekend 2008 (0)

The feeds were served by the standard [...]]]> Apart from its own Ice Tea tech blog, Dipot.com also displays two external feeds relating to Optimization and Standards. I needed to optimize the post titles of these two feeds by getting rid of their long suffixes, both for better looks and for more content within the same space.

The feeds were served by the standard RSS WordPress 2.7.1 widget, which is fine, except it does not support much customization. After some search, I found Advanced RSS 1.0.1 WordPress plugin and KB Advanced RSS 2.1.3 WordPress plugin. Smart RSS only works until WP 2.7.0 and I didn’t want to tweak with that. Advanced RSS only works until WP 2.6.2 and requires PHP5, DOM and XSL extensions loaded on the server and I don’t want to depend on those if I don’t need to, so the choice was easy.

Installation of KB Advanced RSS worked flawlessly right from within wp-admin. Then, on my first attempt to configure it, I came across a problem which could very well had been a show stopper: for some reason, except for the feed’s URL and Title, the widget would not commit any of the other parameters to the “Options” table of the database. Troubleshooting this issue, I ended up reading all the users’ comments on the plugin’s site. As usual, I was not alone; this is a common issue. Thankfully, Wesley of  http://www.improvingtheweb.com had already posted the solution to PHP4 not committing widget field changes in WordPress. The solution worked like a charm. And, as expected, when I later upgraded to PHP5 the problem wasn’t even there to begin with.

KB Advanced RSS is well thought-out, very straight forward with good documentation and examples. It supports all the features of the standard widget (including multiple instances) plus formatting and full support of all the feed’s fields to display or not (including the debugging tool to show which these fields are)! It further supports two modifiers to optionally manipulate the string before display, by taking out a number of characters from the start (ltrim) and/or trimming it to a specific length (trim).

Alas, what I actually needed was to take out a number of characters from the end of the string. Fortunately, as it turned out, KB Advanced RSS’s code is pretty straight-forward and extending it with my own modifier (rtrim) to do just that was only a matter of 3 lines of PHP code added to the version of the plugin that runs by my version of Wordpress; there’s one for versions up to 2.7 (pre-wp-2-7.php) and one for versions after that (post-wp-2-7.php). Here is the PHP code from the modified post-wp-2-7.php (my rtrim extension is in blue):

///////////////////////////////// CUSTOMIZATIONS /////////////////////////////////////////
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// If you want to write customizations, put them here. The variable to modify is $text. See the FAQ.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// right trimming
// cuts $rtrim characters from the right
// by ageor, April 9, 2009
$rtrim = (is_numeric($rtrim) && 0<$rtrim) ? (int) $rtrim : null;
if (is_int($rtrim))
$text = substr( $text, 0, strlen($string)-$rtrim );

// left trimming:
$ltrim = (is_numeric($ltrim) && 0<$ltrim) ? (int) $ltrim : null;
if (is_int($ltrim))
$text = substr( $text, $ltrim );

// length trimming (do after left trimming)
$trim = (is_numeric($trim) && 0<$trim) ? (int) $trim : null;
if (is_int($trim))
$text = substr( $text, 0, $trim );

return $text;

The way this is written, the string in question can undergo any mix of all three trimming types necessary.

All setting up and troubleshooting took place by adding one instance of the widget and configuring it, then a second instance. When all was done and I had what I wanted, I removed the original two instances of the original RSS widget, positioned the new ones on top and saved, certain I was done. However, as the resulting “Widgets” Wordpress admin page suggested after saving, something was very wrorg. It displayed the message ‘You are using 3 widgets in the “Left Sidebar” sidebar’ but not the widgets themselves, nor the “Save Changes” button. Sure enough, I ended up with an unworkable site, as these where the first 2 widgets on the left column of Ice Tea tech and the page that appeared ended with the title banner. Disaster!

To cut a long story short, plenty of “trial and error”s later and with the help of Vicki of neTWire, here is my conclusion: For KB Advanced RSS widget to work with WP 2.7.1 and the Atahualpa WordPress theme, the WordPress RSS widget needs to be activated and positioned above it. That’s how I temporarily solved my problem, until (if ever) I have the time to look deeper into the code involved or newer versions of  the theme and/or the plugin solve it for good.

Just to be clear, none of the problems and troubleshooting it took to solve them can be traced back ato KB Advanced RSS alone. Atahualpa is a great but complex theme and it is their combination that turned out to be problematic. It’s not the first example of a bad mix and it won’t be the last. On the flip side, with each such incident we get to learn something new that will potentially save others and ourselves some frusrtation and time in the future.

Possibly related posts (auto generated)

• WordPress Optimization: Compatibility between Themes & Plugins (2)
• Feeds to Content & Categories Optimization in WordPress (1)
• Apologies for last days’ posts flood (0)
• PCs and the Internet: Addiction Magnets or just Tools? (1)
• Athens Startup Weekend 2008 (0)

This bookmark links to http://www.visualthesaurus.com/

This bookmark links to http://www.awmn.net/cms/node

Technology providers used to measure their success only in terms of the classic adage, “on time, within budget, and according to clients’ expectations.” However, because of the need to be profitable and manage steep competition from both [...]]]> “… After years of being considered cost centers, IT organizations and service providers have evolved into profit makers. …

Technology providers used to measure their success only in terms of the classic adage, “on time, within budget, and according to clients’ expectations.” However, because of the need to be profitable and manage steep competition from both within and outside the enterprise, it is nearly impossible to stay afloat by delivering the bare necessities; barely functional does not cut it anymore. Success is now measured primarily by improvements in the bottom line, such as increasing revenue, reducing product defects, minimizing capital, and having a shorter time-to-market for products. And yes, add to the long list, innovations that result in long-term benefits to the computing landscape, employee productivity, and greater market share. …”
By ageorg

This bookmark links to http://it.tmcnet.com/topics/it/articles/52919-how-optimize-it-greater-business-value.htm

Possibly related posts (auto generated)

• PCs and the Internet: Addiction Magnets or just Tools? (1)
• WordPress: External RSS Feeds Optimization with KB Advanced RSS (6)
• Music on Hold (0)
• Athens Startup Weekend 2008 (0)
• Optimize Firefox with 9+1 Must Have Add-ons (2)

This bookmark links to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_with_mains_power_plugs,_voltages_and_frequencies

This bookmark links to http://www.twe2.com/about/countries.aspx

This bookmark links to http://www.msokorea.com/blogging/0,6600,399498,00.html

I apologize for the flood of links of the past few days.

I have been trying to implement Yet Another Autoblogger to bring my Delicious and StumbleUpon bookmarks in WordPress-based Ice Tea tech. It seems that, while everything finally worked fine with Delicious, StumbleUpon kept returning the same posts over and over to Autoblogger causing a [...]]]>

I apologize for the flood of links of the past few days.

I have been trying to implement Yet Another Autoblogger to bring my Delicious and StumbleUpon bookmarks in WordPress-based Ice Tea tech. It seems that, while everything finally worked fine with Delicious, StumbleUpon kept returning the same posts over and over to Autoblogger causing a flood in the blog itself and to its RSS feed, FriendFeed & Twitter by extension.

I stopped using StumbleUpon a while ago, because it didn’t support greek-encoded titles. It seems there is also an issue between its feed and Autoblogger. So, at least for the time being, I removed it, which is not that much of a problem, as I don’t post there any more.

Sorry about that, I’ll try to contain such incidents in the future. Thank you all for your patience and especially @Sotomi, @Cybereddie, @Chriiiiis, @Botchagalupe, @Alexnewbee, @Skoroneos, @Jimeh, @Vtripolitakis, @Spdd and those I may have missed for taking the time to notify me about it.

In an attempt to minimize the impact, I erased all the Ice Tea tech feed (with posts) from FriendFeed (I don’t know how to bulk-erase the relevant twits, any ideas?). The sideffect is that, as I am about to recreate the feed in FriendFeed, multiple blog and bookmark posts will appear at once, possibly in Twitter as well. Please forgive me, hopefully it will be the end of this annoyance.

Possibly related posts (auto generated)

• Feeds to Content & Categories Optimization in WordPress (1)
• WordPress: External RSS Feeds Optimization with KB Advanced RSS (6)
• WordPress Optimization: Compatibility between Themes & Plugins (2)
• Which Service should a Post go to? (2)
• News Reading Thoughts (4)

This bookmark links to http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2009/reporters-guide-to-multimedia-proficiency-part-1/

This bookmark links to http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/rssupplement/

This bookmark links to http://greenerblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/mom-song.html

This bookmark links to http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/01/how-to-choose-the-right-cms/

This bookmark links to http://evansims.com/tips/getting-your-extensions-to-work-in-the-firefox-31-beta

This bookmark links to http://evansims.com/projects/friendfeed_activity_widget

As I mention from time to time, I never have enough of a good thing. FriendFeed is more than good, it’s great. Greatness has a tencency to increase expectations. These are a few optimization suggestions to raise the experience from “great” to “near perfect” (as new requests will probably always exist):

During my early days as an IT support person (well before USB flash drives, external hard disks and recordable CDs), I picked up the habit to not be dependent on anything not included in Windows (v. 3.0, at the time) if I could help it. So I got used to working on the setups my [...]]]>

During my early days as an IT support person (well before USB flash drives, external hard disks and recordable CDs), I picked up the habit to not be dependent on anything not included in Windows (v. 3.0, at the time) if I could help it. So I got used to working on the setups my clients did.

I rarely support people this way any more. Although old habits die hard, I increasingly get used to my own, optimized setup. I am a Windows person wishing for a Linux future, so, I keep trying to use software also available for it in an effort to prepare for the switch at some point. I also prefer portable applications, ones that can run fully configured from a flash disk. Firefox is my browserfits these specs plus there is a plethora of great, value-adding add-ons to optimize it.

This is the list of the Add-ons I can’t live without (in alphabetical order):

1. Better GReader

As the name implies, Better GReader is a collection of scripts (also available for GreaseMonkey) that improve the Google Reader experience. I use the ones that bypass the GReader-iGoogle choice, color-code the list items, massively mark the items above the current one as read, show the feeds’ favicons and make better use of the window real estate to fit more items in each page. Among other choices, there’s also the preview item within GReader choice I know people like, but I don’t use it. Better GReader does not require GreaseMonkey to work.

2. DownThemAll!

“The mass downloader for Fireox”. GetRight is better, but it’s not free. The only item in my wishlish for DownThemAll is ability to change the saved name of the document.

3. FireFTP

Not everyone uses FTP any more. If you do, FireFTP covers all the bascis: local and remote “explorer” windows, permissions change, synchronization, initial folders after logon etc.

4. Google Toolbar for Firefox

Firefox does support several search engines out of the box and a lot more by customization. The Google Toolbar is very versatile and Google is my search engine of choice. I don’t use all of its features but those I do use save me a lot of clicks and data entry.

5. IE Tab

IE Tab is still one of the first add-ons I install, as it allows use of Internet Explorer’s rendering engine within a Firefox Tab. Furthermore it can remember IE-specific sites and kick-in automatically. I would prefer such sites did not exist (and they do tend to become extinct) but if you are a web developer, you need it anyway.

6. PDF Download

Earlier versions of Firefox did not work very well with acrobat documents. I think both Firefox and the acrobat plug-in have now improved but I’m still used to choosing whether to save or to just view a .pdf up front.

7. PlainOldFavorites

Windows and IE Favorites are not as compact as Firefox Bookmarks. I don’t like importing them, though; I prefer using PlainOldFavorites that adds a “Favorites” menu entry that works almost exactly like (Internet) Explorer’s. If only Shift Organize worked the same, it would be perfect! This is a must-have for people whose primary browser is IE.

8. Shareaholic

If you like to post sites you visit on an extensive list of supported services (including my favorites Delicious, Facebook, FriendFeed, Google Reader, Twitter and many more), this is the tool of choice. Many sites use widgets for that but why not be prepared?

9. Split Browser

I can live without Split Browser, except when I can’t. Like on US election day and Obama’s inauguration, when I had a tab split into 3 or 4 panes to follow several video etc. streams at once. If you need it, you need it.

• Adblock Plus

Due to the debate whether blocking ads is hurting the Internet, I scruple about such add-0ns. Having said that, I asked about the most valuable Firefox add-on in Twitter and FriendFeed and the answer I got was Adblock. I am presenting Adblock Plus, which knows how to block many ads and is easily further configurable. Additionaly, four expansions, Adblock Plus Filter Uploader, Adblock Filterset.G Updater, Adblock Plus: Element Hiding Helper and Adblock Plus Watcher help share our filters, update them automatically, hide text ads and debug Adblock Plus for even better results.

There go my most valuable of around 35 Firefox add-ons I use. Which browser do you use and how do you optimize it? Please do share!

Possibly related posts (auto generated)

• Firefox 3 Add-ons Updates Wishlist (0)
• News Reading Thoughts (4)
• FriendFeed Optimization Feature Requests (0)
• Clipmarks :: Firefox Add-ons (0)
• 7 Favorite, Value Adding FriendFeed Applications (0)

I like FriendFeed much better than Twitter; that’s no secret. In a conversation with @Trianta earlier today, it seems the only FriendFeed desktop clients out there are the Adobe Air-based Twhirl and feedalizr. They both leave a lot to be desired. There is also the announcement of  .NET-based FriendFeed Client. Web-based FriendFeed applications are also [...]]]>

I like FriendFeed much better than Twitter; that’s no secret. In a conversation with @Trianta earlier today, it seems the only FriendFeed desktop clients out there are the Adobe Air-based Twhirl and feedalizr. They both leave a lot to be desired. There is also the announcement of  .NET-based FriendFeed Client. Web-based FriendFeed applications are also scarce, compared to Twitter’s.

This isn’t a wish list. It’s a wish come true list, including existing applications that accomplish specific tasks and add great value to FriendFeed. True, there are many more than the following but those are my favorites (in no particular order):

1. Friendfeed Like Compatibility Calculator

FriendFeed stats only show 10 people who like me and another 10 that I like most. It’s not enough. Friendfeed Like Compatibility Calculator lists who gave a user the last 300 likes. Utilizing the 3 included modifiers, the list can show people with similar interests. It also shows the subscription status with a small “sub” next to each user. No password or passkey is required.


2. FriendZone?

Find out the top 100 subscribed to people among the people you subscribe to. This defines your friendfeed neighborhood, or FriendZone and results to contacts you may want to subscribe to, if not already. No password or passkey is required.

3. FriendVenn

This is one function FriendFeed should perform itself. FriendVenn answers who subscribes to you that you don’t subscribe to. Only for oneself, as it requires both username and password (not passkey). It returns 3 columns: “people you are subscribed to”, “people who both sub to you and you sub to” & “people who only subscribe to you” with totals for each.

4. Twitter2FF

Twitter2FF helps sync Twitter follows and FriendFeed subscriptions both ways. It requires usename/password for Twitter and username/passkey for FriendFeed. It then provides a one-page, one-click per user interface to invite or subscribe to Twitter friends in FriendFeed and follow FFd Friends in Twitter. It uses its own expanding database of Twitter-FriendFeed account pairs, as well as the Twitter feeds of people you subscribe to in FFd. Friendfeed recently added its own support to massively Find (and subscribe to) your Twitter friends on FriendFeed but Twitter2FF is still useful for the other half of the job.

5. FriendDeck

FriendDeck runs different concurrent FriendFeed searches live. Each result includes all poster’s details, the originating service and Like, Re-Share & Link ability.

6. FriendFeedLinks

“FriendFeedLinks is a memetracker that tracks links shared on FriendFeed”. It also makes them available via RSS.

7. ffholic

ffholic reports (collectively or per user) on the most Discussed, Liked, Commented, Popular or Active Entries, Users, Rooms, Photos, Music or Videos (not all combinations exist) for the last 1, 7 or 30 days. The good thing is Entries, Photos, Music & Videos reports are available in RSS feeds and include a language filter, powered by Google. Last but not necessarily least, ffholic also presents user metrics and calculates “activity points”.

Find more in FriendFeed Apps and, please, let me know of other FriendFeed apps, clients etc. that you find useful. There is also Robert Scoble’s discussion “To new friendfeeders (there are thousands due to Twitter invites and follows), here’s what you need to know:” on Friendfeed, with plenty of tips and links.

Possibly related posts (auto generated)

• News Reading Thoughts (4)
• Optimize Firefox with 9+1 Must Have Add-ons (2)
• WordPress: External RSS Feeds Optimization with KB Advanced RSS (6)
• FriendFeed Optimization Feature Requests (0)
• PCs and the Internet: Addiction Magnets or just Tools? (1)

I never have enough of a good thing. The first time I read the online edition of a magazine I immediately wished for a filtered edition which would only contain the articles of my choice. When Greek Naftemporiki newspaper’s online-edition provided filtered, personalized content, I immediately wished for a method to push the content to [...]]]>

I never have enough of a good thing. The first time I read the online edition of a magazine I immediately wished for a filtered edition which would only contain the articles of my choice. When Greek Naftemporiki newspaper’s online-edition provided filtered, personalized content, I immediately wished for a method to push the content to me, instead of going around the sites and soon after that RSS appeared (what I like about technology; it always catches up).

Now RSS is commonplace. Filters increase, but the implementations are still early and immature. For example, except for Google and similar sites, filters usually apply to a single site; that of the content source (like http://naftemporiki.gr -only in greek). RSS makes it easy to gather information from multiple sources to the feed reader of choice, but by itself provides no filtering in the source, except in the form of multiple feeds. So, where should filtering apply?

The tools have been expanding and improving. From the days of raw content we now have search, filtering, RSS and a multitude of clients to put them to good use. I tried the very good BlogBridge for a while for its keyword-based virtual feeds (thanks, karagos, for suggesting it). It being offline and other problems I had (bad greek support and hitting the 600 feeds limit of the free edition while not convinced to buy yet) made me return to Google Reader. Regardless of reader, my everyday struggle to get and keep informed about the news and my interests has been getting very time-consuming, mainly due to increasing volume (never have enough of a good thing, remember?).

How many sources and how many pieces of news and info am I talking about? A quick count showed around 2800 items from my (ever expanding collection of) ~750 subscriptions in Google Reader in the last 12 hours. This includes my ~450 FriendFeed subcriptions feed, but not my ~900 people Twitter feed (strangely, only a small count of the tweets I follow make it to the RSS feed). Thankfully, a good portion of the tweets make it to FFd as well (although I fear not all FFd posts make it to the RSS feed, either). At this rate of incomings, it takes me 10-20′/h to browse everything, read and microblog about whatever catches my eye.

This is way too much time. In practice, I browse some of the titles when there’s time and only read the interesting items among them. I do use the Google Reader Filter GreaseMonkey script to highlight items containing an increasing number (~100, so far) of keywords and it is helpfull. But the real problem is with the multiple sharing of the same (great) URLs in FriendFeed, which in turn produce multiple different (as they come from different users) items in Google Reader. Those are not caught by the script’s “hide duplicates” option.

So, for the time being, I consider avoiding duplication my #1 goal for increasing my news-reading productivity. I hope Friendfeed will listen and convert duplicate link posts to likes or comments of the first such post. This would also result in a major added benefit: aggregating all the relevant discussions in one thread, as discussed here. I find it so important, I even requested Robert Scoble to lobby for this here (I guess it’s impossible to read everything, even for him)!

#2 goal is to reduce sources that produce similar content, like press releases etc. Google News does well about it but doesn’t track all the sites I do. Mechanisms of bookmarking sites like Delicious might also help, as they keep URL scoring. While I work on a plan, I’ll stick to goal #1. Please join!

Possibly related posts (auto generated)

• Optimize Firefox with 9+1 Must Have Add-ons (2)
• FriendFeed Optimization Feature Requests (0)
• 7 Favorite, Value Adding FriendFeed Applications (0)
• PCs and the Internet: Addiction Magnets or just Tools? (1)
• Feeds to Content & Categories Optimization in WordPress (1)

First things first. I told them all in person and I’m saying it here as well. Special thanks go to Andrew Hyde, the mind behind Startup Weekends, Alexandros Pagidas, the person who brought it in Athens, Patrick Malone, our host in Microsoft Innovation Center venue (Patrick and Lydia, you definitely improved Microsoft’s image for all [...]]]>

First things first. I told them all in person and I’m saying it here as well. Special thanks go to Andrew Hyde, the mind behind Startup Weekends, Alexandros Pagidas, the person who brought it in Athens, Patrick Malone, our host in Microsoft Innovation Center venue (Patrick and Lydia, you definitely improved Microsoft’s image for all of us), the sponsors of the event (Domino’s, Loumidis, Coca Cola-3E, Wind; hopefully I am not forgetting anyone) and all the professionals who dropped in to give us a hand. I won’t go into the event itself. Others have already done that; follow the event’s site and the links all over this post for that.

In danger of giving the feeling of repetition to readers of other relevant posts, I’ll say it: Athens Startup Weekend was a successful event and proved several points (Greeks can actually work together without shouting or arguing all the time, previous acquaintance is not important, teams can form without guidance or many introductions etc.). Plus, it produced and set off a number of ideas that can eventually work.

Andrew mentioned that Startup Weekends are not meant to create viable startups over the weekend but, rather, form a community among the participants. In a private conversation he said only 4 such startups were created in Startup Weekend history so far (unfortunately I didn’t get the names). The event is meant to prove that people who didn’t know each other before can sit around the same table, share and expand on an idea and make the most out of it in a very short time-frame. The important thing is not the idea, but that these people can work together, add their talents to a cause and produce a combined result that’s greater than the sum of their individual strengths. At the end of the day, these people become potential partners/collaborators in these very same or other promising projects.

The event put the best out of us all. We expressed our opinions and discussed difficult matters (we sometimes knew nothing about) in a civil, productive manner. We all got out of there with some fresh ideas, some new potential friends and partners, the knowledge that talented, cooperative people are there waiting to be found and great accomplishments are so much closer than expected. Indeed, 10 great projects were born.

I consider myself privileged to have been a part of it and hope the event does go annual so we can experience it again.

Here are a few additional relative links (no particular order; I’ll be happy to add links I’ve missed):

• Athens Startup Weekend: brief recap
• Εντυπώσεις από το Athens Startup Weekend
• Athens Startup Weekend I
• Athens Startup Weekend
• Επιτυχημένη η συμμετοχή μας στο Athens Startup Weekend 2008 #ASW
• Introducing HowSocial.ru, a project of Startup Weekend Athens

Possibly related posts (auto generated)

• WordPress: External RSS Feeds Optimization with KB Advanced RSS (6)
• News Reading Thoughts (4)
• PCs and the Internet: Addiction Magnets or just Tools? (1)
• Optimize Firefox with 9+1 Must Have Add-ons (2)
• WordPress Optimization: Compatibility between Themes & Plugins (2)

I can’t understand why Android-based HTC G1 and other [...]]]> I read about Open Handset Alliance’s Android platform and cellular phones with great interest. The web is full of specs, reviews, comparisons and the like. I just can’t help but share the following thoughts:

• Sometimes it seems Google’s Android is the second touch screen platform after Apple’s iPhone

I can’t understand why Android-based HTC G1 and other touch devices are automatically compared to the iPhone. Yes, it is a great looking device. It has a great touch screen. And that’s where innovation ends and limitations begin.

Great as the iPhone may (or not) be, it’s not clearly and objectively superior to Microsoft’s Windows Mobile devices hardware-, software- nor appearance-wise. Plus, Windows (Mobile and its previous incarnations) has been, so far, dominant in the touch arena. So, how come the iPhone (a new comer with plenty of flaws of its own) is the ad hoc point of reference? And how come all Windows Mobile’s long-standing features (touch screen, great sofware library, multitasking) are rarely mentioned?

• Android, anyone? Sure, on what hardware?

Maybe I understand a new platform like Android needs to come with new hardware for psychological (marketing) reasons. Now that’s over and done with, why not introduce Android for old and new hardware? Wasn’t one of Linux’s advantages better performance on old PCs? I’m sure I would love to run Android on my current Windows Mobile Phone but I fear this won’t happen any day soon, if at all. How about selling the HTC Touch HD (my favorite, in the absence of an Android phone with no hardware keyboard. With a camera flash, please) with a choice between Android and Windows Mobile? Better yet, sell it able to dual-boot both platforms? I would buy it right now. Now this is not so, I just have to wait and I am not happy about it at all.

Consider how nice it would be to compare different platforms’ sales and performance on the same hardware (isn’t that what Apple avoids at all cost on the PC market?)! How different the HTC G1 is from the Touch HD or any other current model?

It is my prediction that we will see Android and Windows Mobile running on the same hardware not later than 2009. And this will be the start of a new era on the “choice” and “objective comparison” fronts.

Possibly related posts (auto generated)

• WM, Android, or, maybe, a Maemo smartphone? (0)
• Microsoft IE and Standards Compliance (0)
• Android Market Business and Program Policies (0)
• Optimize Firefox with 9+1 Must Have Add-ons (2)
• WordPress: External RSS Feeds Optimization with KB Advanced RSS (6)

I have already tried a CD player and WinAmp on a PC. The CD is short in duration and eventually wears out. WinAmp is better, but it requires a PC with a dedicated sound card (or every other [...]]]> I am in search of a simple “music on hold” (and background music) system for the office PBX.

I have already tried a CD player and WinAmp on a PC. The CD is short in duration and eventually wears out. WinAmp is better, but it requires a PC with a dedicated sound card (or every other sound source disabled), it doesn’t run as a service out of the box and it does occasionally stop playing for no apparent reason.

All these were happening before the portable MP3 players days. So, the obvious today’s choice would be an MP3 player with enough memory, set to shuffle and repeat. Using an AC to USB adapter should solve the power problem, as batteries don’t last for ever, right? Unfortunately, most USB-powered MP3 players switch to data mode when connected, even if connected to power-only USB. And when in data mode, they just won’t play songs! Experiments with several players and asking various salespersons confirmed that fact.

So, how can it be done? I got a suggestion to find a player powered from a non-USB source. Not an easy task, these days. The last such device I remember was an MPIO MP3 player (yes, it still works, but it’s not mine). Although this was before USB totally dominated the peripherals market, I always held using a non-USB power adapter against it. Little did I know…

Then I accidentally came across the Creative MuVo V100. Its design is exactly such that it distinguishes connection to data USB vs power only USB and acts accordingly, that is play MP3s even when powered! Perfect, at least in theory. Preliminary tests show that, while it works as advertised, it, too (like WinAmp), occasionally stops playback for no apparent reason.

While tests continue, it seems I am still searching…

Update: Creative is in the clear. Apparently, MuVo works fine. When I tried another USB power supply all problems disappeared. It turns out even a simple device like that can be faulty enough to work at random! I am finally happy with my music on hold.

Possibly related posts (auto generated)

• Optimize Firefox with 9+1 Must Have Add-ons (2)
• WordPress: External RSS Feeds Optimization with KB Advanced RSS (6)
• The Google Android Platform (1)
• PCs and the Internet: Addiction Magnets or just Tools? (1)
• Microsoft IE and Standards Compliance (0)

I have always wondered why any web developer would block all Linux & Mac OS users out of their sites and frustrate a good portion of Windows users, those who prefer Firefox. On top of that, some [...]]]> Don’t you just hate it when a web page won’t show correctly in Firefox or any non-Internet Explorer browser?

I have always wondered why any web developer would block all Linux & Mac OS users out of their sites and frustrate a good portion of Windows users, those who prefer Firefox. On top of that, some sites don’t even look the same in IE6 & IE7 due to incompatibilities of their own, which recently forced Microsoft to decide to make IE7 available to illegal Windows owners as well!

Over time, it is a well-known fact that Microsoft won’t respect standards very much. Java has been a good example and HTML compliance is no different. So, what’s new about any of that? This extract from the Friday, December 14, 2007 8:00 AM PST Paul Meller and James Niccolai’s PC World article “Opera Seeks Tougher Remedy in Microsoft Case“, describing the “… antitrust suit filed with the Commission this week …” by browser maker Opera Software, which I find especially interesting and long overdue:

“… In addition to the bundling charge, Opera also complains that Microsoft does not follow Web standards, putting rival browsers at a disadvantage. The issue is significant because if all Web browsers do not use the same standards, Web site developers are likely to design their Web sites to work with the most widely used browser, which is Internet Explorer. That gives people a disincentive to use other browsers.

Microsoft often takes part in debates over Web standards, and says it will implement them, but ultimately does not, Opera’s Lie said. He pointed to CSS, XHTML and DOM as areas where Microsoft does not comply with or is inconsistent. …”

I will follow up on this with great interest. I would prefer users and the industry to force Microsoft (and web developers) to comply by (prefferably open) standards (the cornerstone of the Internet), but a court might as well do it…

Possibly related posts (auto generated)

• Microsoft IE and Standards Compliance (0)
• Optimize Firefox with 9+1 Must Have Add-ons (2)
• Athens Startup Weekend 2008 (0)
• WordPress: External RSS Feeds Optimization with KB Advanced RSS (6)
• The Google Android Platform (1)