New iPhone 2.1 Update!!!!

I’m starting a new positively posh post every Friday that will include some fabulous finds.

For today, we have a special guest, the iPhone 2.1 update! Not only is Apple stating that this update will fix those reputed dropped calls, but also lend a hand in that poor battery life. What could be better news on a Friday, I ask you?

Here’s a quick list of what’s included in the iPhone 2.1 update:

* Decrease in call failures & those pesky little dropped calls
* Better battery life
* Supposedly fixes crashes from third party apps! Here I come LOLCats!
* Better text messaging performance
* Faster loading of your beloved contacts
* Improved accuracy of 3G signal
* And tons more!!!

Get you one today! Read More...

Get Now! Email Management Via Gmail

Recently, I wanted to increase the productivity of the management of all my emails. I had been using Outlook for maybe 8 years or so, and was relatively happy. However, I wondered if there was a smoother way to deal with my emails. You see, I get 100-200 emails per day. I need a proper method in place to manage this, otherwise, I lose time which to me is of a great value.

I had switched to Google Calendar, and I was wondering if a similar switch from Outlook to Gmail would actually work. Gmail would have to have all that Outlook offers and then some for me to transfer over. Here is what I found out:

Multiple accounts & label system
I was pleasantly surprised to know that I could fully manage up to 5 accounts + the actual Gmail account from within the same account. This was very good because I happen to have 3 or 4 different email addresses. What’s different about Gmail is that it does not have folders. Within Outlook, I would save and/or arrange my emails in different folders. With Gmail, you put a label on it and then you can retrieve it by searching within that label’s category. It gives you the same result in my opinion. Labels or folders, I find my emails just the same. Labels might be a little cleaner as far as what the screen looks like since it takes less space than to have tons of folders.

Huge archive storage
It is very important for me to save emails and be able to retrieve them easily. With Outlook, the database backup was just enormous in size for what is basically text. Plus, searching through old emails in Outlook takes a embarrassing amount of time. With Gmail, you get about 7 Gigabyte of storage space. I have barely used 1% of it so far (1 month of usage). Searching within Gmail is so easy and so fast. I can easily archive all my conversations, and find what I need to find within a matter of seconds. This saves me a lot of time, because I would get very frustrated when searching for an email for a client and having Outlook take 5 min. or freeze on me.

Great spam filter
The spam filter in Gmail is really good. I was actually very surprised as to how much more accurate it is compared to the filters in Outlook or the ones installed on the web server for POP or IMAP accounts. I usually had about 30-50 spams that would still find their way into my inbox every day with Outlook. Now, after 1 month, I remember 1 or 2 spam that made it into my inbox. The difference in efficiency is clearly obvious.

Star system
One of the best features in Gmail is the fact that you can apply a “star” (or question mark, exclamation point, etc.) to a particular email, so that you can be reminded to follow up on it later. When looking at a screen of 100 emails, it’s hard to remember which ones you need to reply to or whatnot if there is nothing to make them stand out. I have found my ability to properly deal with emails where my attention was required multiple times has improved because of this star system. Sometimes I cannot reply right away, but I put a little exclamation mark next to it to remind me that I need to reply back. I put a little star next to an email where I am expecting a response back. This feature can really boost your productivity.

More features
Just like other emails, you have all the features you need. You can add a signature to your outgoing emails. There is a vacation auto-responder as well. Before, I had to set up 4 different auto-responders for each email account. Within Gmail, just one takes care of everything. What’s also great is that you can have your Gmail in sync with your Google Talk account. I use this chat service often, and it saves my chat history within my Gmail account. So if I discuss something with a client, I can easily find the information back if necessary, and I can do that extremely quickly. Plus, you get notifications on the chat when you have new emails. You can also add your own filters to incoming emails. These are very flexible and highly customizable. There is also an option to create keyboard shortcuts for common tasks that you might do within your account. These features are nothing new, but they make Gmail truly a viable alternative to Outlook.

Best of all, I can access my Gmail account from any computer. Therefore, I can deal with my emails anywhere in the world I may be. With Outlook, I was restricted to one computer. And even using IMAP instead of POP, I would still have to login to each specific email account individually on the server itself. With Gmail, it’s all under one roof, and that’s what I found so powerful. This was one of the main reasons why I switched over. I wanted my work to be more remote and be accessible anywhere. Sometimes I am on the road, traveling, or on a laptop. Sometimes I just need to check something quickly while I am at a friend’s place. In any of these cases, I have full access to my email accounts just like I would if I was at the office. Add in all the other features I mentioned above, and the decision to switch over was very easy to make! To be perfectly honest, it’s been so smooth using Gmail, that I haven’t missed Outlook whatsoever ;)

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Affordable Apple: Here Come the Clones

It was only a matter of time after Apple’s switch to Intel and subsequent thriving of the OSx86 project. There were already plenty of hardware guides helping users spec out their own OSx86 compatible PCs. Now you can switch on the cheap without putting in that kind of effort. Psystar Corporation is selling computers with OS X Leopard preinstalled starting at $554.99. Here are the specs on their baseline machine:

* 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Processor
* 2GB of DDR2 667 memory
* Integrated Intel GMA 950 Graphics
* 20x DVD+/-R SATA drive that is Lightscribe-capable



A significant processor gain and twice the memory and hard drive of Apple’s closest priced Mac mini which is $50 more. Interesting to note that most of the cost for these computers, like PCs today, is in the cost of the operating system. In fact, even more of the cost ($155) is due the operating system in the case of these machines because Apple does not have OEM licensing pricing available. Psystar does make their hardware available without Leopard preinstalled for $399, a move likely to encourage piracy of Apple’s OS X. If Apple can hold back the knee-jerk urge to sue they must be feeling right now, this could be another revenue opportunity. A $90-a-copy OEM licensing deal with companies like Psystar in exchange for the manufacturer agreeing not to sell the equipment without an operating system, similar to deals Microsoft has been known to engage in with Dell and other manufacturers, it would serve both add a revenue stream from a customer base that currently finds Apple’s lineup cost prohibitive and reduce revenue loss via piracy. That would make a lot of business sense. Apple will still be the Cadillac. These machines are large ugly bricks compared to the cool and sleek Mac mini. Of course I’m morally opposed to enforced licensing schemes such as that. ;)

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Google to release Web browser

'Chrome' challenges Microsoft's Explorer

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google Inc. is releasing its own Web browser in a long-anticipated move aimed at countering the dominance of Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer and ensuring easy access to its market-leading search engine.

The Mountain View-based company took the unusual step of announcing its latest product on the Labor Day holiday after it prematurely sent out a comic book drawn up to herald the new browser's arrival.

The free browser, called "Chrome," is supposed to be available for downloading today in more than 100 countries for computers running on Microsoft's Windows operating system. Google said it's still working on versions compatible with Apple Inc.'s Mac computer and the Linux operating system.

Google's browser is expected to hit the market a week after Microsoft's unveiling of a test version of its latest browser update, Internet Explorer 8. The tweaks include more tools for Web surfers to cloak their online preferences, creating a shield that could make it more difficult for Google and other marketing networks to figure out which ads are most likely to appeal to which individuals.

Although Google is using a cartoonish approach to promote Chrome, the new browser underscores the gravity of Google's rivalry with Microsoft, whose Internet Explorer is used by about 75 percent of Web surfers.

Google's lead in the Internet search market is nearly as commanding, with its engine processing nearly two-thirds of the Web's queries.

For the past few years, Google has been trying to take advantage of its search engine's popularity to loosen Microsoft's grip on how most people interact with PCs.

The assault so far has been focused on a bundle of computer programs, including word processing and spreadsheet applications, that Google offers as an alternative to one of Microsoft's biggest money makers, its Office suite of products.
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Switching to Gmail IMAP on the BlackBerry

After reading this post a while ago and spending some time thinking about it, I’ve switched over to IMAP for Gmail access on the BlackBerry. Before I had an elaborate setup, using a filter to forward emails to my blackberry.net device email and then setting the device email to set from and reply-to to my gmail address and auto bcc my gmail address. All that because IMAP and POP have historically had much slower delivery times on the BlackBerry than the device and enterprise email. However, as I process more and more email using my device, I always have a pile of unread messages in my inbox whenever I log in to the web interface. I’ve tested IMAP again and it seems to be working much faster than in the past. Here are some notables about my new setup:

* Emails read on the BlackBerry are marked as read in Gmail
* Emails deleted from BlackBerry are archived in Gmail
* After creating a ‘Sent Items’ label in Gmail, emails sent from the BlackBerry appear under this label on the web interface. Conversations stay intact.

Technology wouldn’t be fun without a few caveats:

* Emails read in the web interface are not marked as read on the BlackBerry
* Emails archived or deleted in the web interface are not removed from the BlackBerry inbox
* Any previously archived messages moved to the inbox using the web interface will be redelivered as new messages on the BlackBerry

Now at least messages are marked as read when I view them on the device and I can archive messages from the device quickly to keep them from building up in my inbox. I still have the Gmail app installed but continue to see that as primarily a tool for searching through historic messages and chats, etc. from the device more than a good way to process incoming email and reply to it. Read More...