Archive for the 'Technology' Category

If you work in any type of corporate environment or large educational institution that uses Microsoft Exchange E-Mail, you’ll be ecstatic about the new Exchange client for the iPod Touch.

This $9.95 software upgrade takes our favorite iPod and turns it into a productivity powerhouse. This new Apple application is by far the best hand held implementation of Exchange E-Mail that I have found. It takes your e-mail and makes it scrollable, adds your outlook calendar to the built in calendar application, and imports your Outlook contacts into the contact interface.

I downloaded the application through iTunes and followed the step by step instructions. The software did a complete rebuild of my iPod and within minutes was ready to go. I would strongly recommend that you have a good broadband connection to do the upgrade on as the file size is over 100 megs and needs to have a reliable connection to complete the upgrade process. Patience is a virtue here.

Once the software was installed, I clicked on settings and chose the mail setup screen. Lo and behold there was the bright and shiny Microsoft Exchange selection button ready to go. I clicked on the button and added my current exchange web mail settings. Within a minute it found my exchange server and started the download.

Soon my work e-mail was setup along with my Outlook calendar and my full contact list. All of a sudden this iPod became much more than a toy. Since we have wireless internet access where I work, I now have a way to take my e-mail with me wherever I go throughout the building or at our remote sites.

Here is the BIG advantage… I can now have my e-mail, calendar and contacts without paying for a data plan for my phone. In fact for many users this may do away with the need for a work phone at all.

This simple software package can possible save your organization hundreds or thousands of dollars a month in phone charges. If you currently have wireless installed in your building and you use exchange e-mail, you’ll be good to go. If you have wireless internet at home you can have work e-mail access at the touch of a button. The iPod touch may become the Hi Tech Pager of the 21st century.

This software update also includes a whole list of new applications which we’ll cover in another post. Until then… happy e-mailing!

Have you ever had a dream where you could fly or glide through the air? In my dream it’s almost effortless. You just point where you want to go and you zoom off in that direction. Flying through the air with the wind blowing past your face.

Sometimes dreams come true.

My wife and I were in Santa Barbara this week for a short vacation. We stayed in one of our favorite places, the Cheshire Cat Bed and Breakfast. This is a wonderful Victorian residence, designed around an Alice in Wonderland motif. It’s one block off of State street, and a great place to discover the city.

One of the packages they offered this year was a two hour Segway tour of Santa Barbara. We had booked our stay with a restaurant package including dinner at Downy’s and lunch at Louie’s Bistro (delicious mesquite broiled meatloaf), but the Segway tour sounded intriguing. On the second day of our stay we called up Segway of Santa Barbara and signed up for their 2 and a half hour Old Santa Barbara Tour.

We arrived to find a small business across the street from the Santa Barbara pier. they signed us up, provided helmets and took two Segways outside to start our tour and Segway lesson.

Bill was our tour guide and he took a few minutes to familiarize us with the Segway i2 personal transport. He showed us how to power it up with the wireless controller and how to step on the self balancing device. At first my wife and I were both a bit wobbly, but we soon caught on to the controls.

The Segway is very intuitive. You lean forward to go forward, you lean back to stop. You use the handle bars to turn. The built-in gyroscope keeps you magically upright and balanced.

Within minutes we were zipping around the parking lot and doing a quick slalom around some cones. We practiced entering driveways and going up and down hills. The Segway soon became almost second nature. This is one amazing machine.

Once we were able to do the test course with ease, Bill had us follow him as we set off for the city tour. We headed out on State Street and rode down the sidewalks with ease. Since the Segway is classified as a pedestrian instead of a vehicle, we could go almost anywhere on the unit that we could walk.

We were soon zipping past the train station and soon found ourselves under one of the largest trees in Santa Barbara. Bill was an amazing tour guide. He reminded me of a laid-back Indiana Jones. Someone who was incredibly knowledgeable of the history of Santa Barbara and always up for adventure.

And adventure we had… over the next 2 hours we saw more of Santa Barbara than we could have by any other means. We toured many of the downtown streets and drove through a couple of parks. We went down a dirt path to view a Koi pond alive with fish and turtles. We parked the units outside a downtown museum, and Bill gave us a locals-tour of the museum.

Bill had so much trivia and local knowledge it made the history of city come alive. From the early Spanish influence through the Chinese settlers, up to a modern multi-cultural city, Santa Barbara is fascinating.

As the tour wound down, we headed back to the pier at a quick 12 mph pace. The Segways maneuvered through the streets with ease and as we pulled up to the shop after two hours on the machines, we found they still had almost a full charge.

I was blown away by the Segway experience. I haven’t had so much fun in years and now I really would like to own one. With gas over $4.25 a gallon here in California, the electric powered Segway would be a great alternative for short trips around town.

Priced around $5000 and very reliable, this may be the future of urban transportation. It’s certainly the most fun you’ll have commuting!

Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of creating an electric car. One that you could plug in and drive to work or school. One that would let you bypass the high prices for gasoline (26 cents a gallon when I was a kid!). Over the years this dream has come closer to reality but with unfulfilled promises by manufacturers every decade or so.

It has always been a problem with batteries. The lead-acid units we have used for so many years in our cars, just don’t have the capacity to make an electric car feasible for most people. The range is too short and the weight of the batteries too high.

Technology has changed in the last few years and we are now seeing a wide variety of gasoline-electric hybrid cars on the market. These cars use a medium sized battery and a gasoline engine to provide power and charging capacity. Electric power is used at low speed and the gasoline engine comes in seamlessly at higher speeds. It is a marvel of modern technology that they actually work, given the complexity of the hybrid gasoline-electric power plant.

Many hybrids are currently using Sealed Nickel-Metal Hydride battery technology which is an improvement over lead-acid technology. Battery manufactures are now pointing to Lithium-ion technology (Like the new batteries used in laptops and digital cameras) as the next wave of power storage. There are many variations, but the main hurdle to mass production is overheating and fire (remember the laptop batteries that caught on fire).

One of the current battery technologies that is available that has overcome this problem is Lithium-phosphate batteries. These offer extended capacity without the danger of overheating. Once the Lithium-Ion technology is refined we’ll see even greater capacity.

With the advent of these newer batteries, inventors and entrepreneurs are scrambling to bring electric vehicles to market. I went online and found two companies that are coming out with vehicles that may actually live up to the promise.

The first is an electric motorcycle from Brammo Motorsports. The bike is called the Enertia Bike and is powered by multiple lithium-phosphate batteries mounted to a low weight aluminum frame. The bike has no transmission and is simply a computer controlled battery power supply and an electric motor. This simple setup results in low weight and a slim design.

The bike has a range of about 40 miles and a top speed of 50 miles per hour. A two hour charge time will have you back on the road. Given it’s limitations it is being marketed to urban inter-city commuters that don’t have to travel on freeways to work.

With a price tag of over $11,000, the market for this bike will be somewhat limited but there are some people that may want to be the first to actually own a plug and go motorcycle.

As battery technology improves, the range and speed of this motorcycle will increase, but for now it actually works and you can pre-order one today.

The second is one of the coolest cars I have ever seen. It’s a cross between My Favorite Martian’s Spaceship and a Cessna airplane. It’s called the Aptera and is based on a unique three wheel design with an all electric or hybrid power plant.

When production begins in late 2008, the unit will be powered by the latest battery technology. Currently the prototypes are powered by Lithium Phosphate batteries which give an all electric range of about 100 miles. The hybrid gas-electric model has a small gasoline engine to recharge the batteries and will provide fuel economy of over 200 miles per gallon.

Given its three wheel design and size, it is actually characterized as a three wheeled motorcycle. This puts it in a range of vehicles that don’t have to meet the stringent safety and environmental challenges of automobile manufacturers. This allows the company to actually produce a viable electric vehicle at a price point that most people can afford.

The company hasn’t scrimped on safety features though. They have included airbags and have crash tested the prototypes. The Aptera has fared very well in the tests.

This vehicle will be produced just for the California market right now and is designed as a super commuter car. With a target price of under $30,000 there will be a huge interest in the Aptera. The factory is in Carlsbad California and soon we will be seeing them on the road throughout Southern California.

I can’t wait to test drive one of these. The hybrid model would be wonderful for the long commutes that many of us have and being able to plug it in and go would fulfill a dream I’ve had for a long time. Aptera means wingless bird in Greek. Even without wings, this unit will fly off of the showroom floors!

Check out the pre-production video here.

In the meantime, this car makes a great wallpaper on my computer!

I’ve had my Apple iPod Touch for a few months now and I’ve been very happy with the device. With Apple’s $20 software update, I can now read my e-mail, get a weather report, check the stock market, and view the latest you-tube video quickly and easily almost any place that has a wireless internet connection.

The problem for me has been that it Did Not Work at Starbucks. Unless I paid an exorbitant amount for their T-mobile wireless access, I was out of luck. This all changed a month ago as most of our local Starbucks are now offering 2 free hours of Wi-Fi service daily if you register your Starbucks card.

This free service now means that I can stop by for a coffee and check my e-mail and get a weather report while waiting in line. If I am meeting a group, the wide screen web browser on the iTouch is available to browse the internet and have the ability to e-mail other members of the team.

The iTouch allows me to take meeting notes quickly and easily and then e-mail them to myself for later printing at the office. This feature easily pays for the iTouch in convenience alone. One of the other cool features is the map widget which pulls up Google maps for directions and traffic information. The expanding touch interface allows me to zoom into the map quickly and easily. (You can read my reviews of all the new productivity applications here)

Starbucks has taken this relationship with Apple a step further and is offering an interface with the built-in iTunes application and the songs being played in the Starbucks store. If you like the song being played just touch the iTunes button on your iTouch and you’ll see the currently playing song listed automatically. You can easily purchase the song from the iTunes store and be able to take the song with you… cool!

I think Starbucks has hit a home run by offering free internet access. There are over 10 Starbucks in the area that I live and I’ll be a much more frequent guest now. Not only will my iTouch find a lot of use, but my laptop as well.

Registering your Starbucks card online only takes a minute and you’ll be up and running. And registering the card brings other free benefits too. Check out their new customer focused web site where you can let them know what you want in your in-store experience.

If you are in sales or marketing, wouldn’t it be great to be able to carry a powerful Powerpoint style presentation along in your pocket or purse that you could show to a client at a moments notice?

If you have an Apple iTouch or iPhone you can do just that in just a few minutes using an Apple computer and Apple’s presentation software called Keynote. You just create the slide-show in Keynote, add your animations, transitions, and sounds and then export it to iTunes. It’s a simple click from there to import it into your iTouch or iPhone.

In the export screen in Keynote you can set your playback and build speed. The resulting slide-show is sharp, bright, and clear and the wonderful 3d animations that are available in Keynote come right over to the iTouch. Just click on the Video button on the iTouch and you’ll find your new presentation ready for use.

If you currently have an Apple computer and an iPhone or iTouch this is a great reason to buy the iWork08  suite from Apple. The Keynote application will create amazing presentations that will blow your audience away.

Keynote comes with beautiful templates and a host of 2d and 3d transitions and animations. It interfaces with iPhoto and iMovie for easy import of pictures and video along with an easy import of your best soundtrack from GarageBand.

The nice thing about Keynote is that it offers an easy import feature to bring your existing Powerpoint slide-shows into the program. With some quick modifications you’ll have an amazing presentation, ready to go out to the field in just minutes.

Instead of walking into your clients office with an intimidating laptop, now you can take your presentation along in a much more convenient, pocket sized format. If your client wants to see the presentation on a larger screen, just bring along a simple iTouch video cable and you can interface right in to their projector.

If you are new to Keynote, The Apple iWork Training Series Book will get you up and running in no time at all. Microsoft has also announced that its new Office 2008 suite for Mac offers similar iPod export features from the new version of Powerpoint. Have fun creating a killer sales presentation!

I love my iPod touch. Its touch screen interface is wonderful and the stock list of applications has been very useful. As long as I am within range of a wireless internet signal, this unit really shines.

I was really surprised when I logged into Apple.com yesterday and found that there was a major software upgrade available. Five new productivity applications available for $19.95 and a quick download. The applications are…

1. Mail: A robust e-mail application that works with popular mail applications such as Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo mail. The interface is fast and intuitive, with quick fingertip scrolling. You’ll love this app.

   

2. Maps: Take the best of Google maps and put it in a handheld interface with fingertip scroll and pinch resizing. This unit is really nice on the go. You find your destination on the map and with one click you’ll have step by step scrollable directions. This is a very useful app.
3. Weather: Quick… what is the weather going to be like this week? Not to worry if you have an iTouch. One click answers for all the cities that you have input in a clean weekly format. Fast and easy.

   

4. Notes: I really like this one. You can now input notes from the fingertip keyboard as fast as you can click. This is very useful for meetings, appointments, or just a quick note to bring home some milk.
5. Stocks: If you are an investor this bright clear interface will bring you the latest stock news (delayed 20 minutes) in an easy to read format. Just the stocks you want listed, without having to log into a web site.

   

After using these app’s for a day, I am a raving fan. These have really bumped the usefulness of this device up to a new level. What I really like is the easy to read screen and the intuitive interface. Within seconds you can get where you want and get the information that you need.

The new app’s require that you update your iTouch to the latest firmware and that you interface with the latest version of iTunes. The iTouch update is about 160 megs and takes about 30 minutes to download and setup if you have a broadband account. The actual app’s are a simple purchase from the Apple store through iTunes for $19.95

The good news is if you haven’t bought an iTouch yet, they now come with these app’s pre-installed. If you’ve been waiting to buy one, the incentive is now that much greater. Pick up one of these and increase your productivity and have one of the coolest devices going.