Technically Speaking

He’s the one on the right…

This coming week is the 2007 Super Bowl, or so I’m told. I didn’t even know who was playing before today. However, I went to superbowl.com and took a quiz to see who I should root for in the upcoming game.

Turns out that if I were to care, I should cheer for the Colts. That’s what I would have picked anyway (high school mascot).

Now I guess I’ll go work on caring.

Or maybe not.

In case you haven’t heard, we at Technically Speaking are celebrating a new holiday today: national Hug a Writer day. Seems appropriate, doesn’t it?

To celebrate, we are cross posting a holiday greeting created by the founders (and, um, sponsors) of national Hug a Writer day.

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I stumbled across a new feature from Google today that I have to tell you about. It’s on Google Maps / Google Local (http://local.google.com). The feature allows you to call any business you find listed on Google Local. For free.

Here’s how it works: You go to the Google Local website. You do a search. Business listings pop up in the sidebar and on the map. Next to any business’s phone number, there is a link to call that business. You click the call link. Google asks you for your phone number. Google then calls you. You pick up, and Google calls the business. You’re connected. Google pays the phone bill.

So, lets say you want to send flowers to your mother that lives in a different state. You search for a florist in you mom’s city. You find one, and click the call button. Google calls you and then calls the florist in your mom’s city. You don’t pay a dime. Well, the flowers are your responsibility, but Google can hardly help that.

Those of you with caller ID should be aware of the following: When Google calls you, the originator, Google populates the caller ID info with the info of the person you are trying to call. This means that if you are using your cell phone, you can later store the phone number in your phone’s address book. You also have the number now in your caller ID memory, if you are using a land line. If the person you are calling has caller ID, they will see Google’s name and phone number on the caller ID display. (It would be nice if Google would change this to populate it with the originator’s phone number, with an option to hide it completely. Maybe in a future iteration.)

So go check it out! Unfortunately it doesn’t work for calls to non-businesses. But I guess that is a good thing. Google would go broke if we all used it to call our mothers. Just call a local florist and send flowers instead.

PS: Apparently this feature has been around since mid-November. I’m going to claim ignorance and say it was because of my new baby that I missed it. In any case, it is still cool.

You’ve probably heard about Apple’s much touted Apple iPhone — a device whose announcement sent Apple stock shares soaring 12% the day after it was announced. Apple claims it will sell 10 million of the devices in the year and a half of selling the phone. I’m simply not convinced.

Today I read an article on Computerworld’s website on how Steve Jobs blew the iPhone announcement. Reading this article solidified some thoughts I’ve had about the iPhone since its announcement.

First: 4GB or even 8GB is pitifully small for a device that seemingly was built for mobile video. I own a 60GB 5th generation iPod. I’ve put a couple of movies on it, and my experience mirrors that discussed in the Comptuerworld article: each movie takes around a gigabyte. Not to mention my music and podcasts and photos. I’ve got 9 GB of audio, and 3 GB of video, in addition to the movies I’ve loaded onto my iPod. Who is going to pay more than the price of a 60 GB iPod to only get 8 GB of storage? I mean, serious audio users would need a gen-5 iPod in addition to the iPhone. Doesn’t that defeat the purpose?

Second, with the iPhone, Apple is trying to go head-to-head with the Blackberry. I know that there are a lot of people who have decided they can’t live without their Blackberry’s. They can even make a legitimate business use case. I’m not convinced that the iPhone will be as useful in a business setting: you can’t edit your Word files; You can’t synchronize your task list and e-mail with Microsoft Outlook. I mean, hey, the interface is beautiful, but, I’m guessing beautiful won’t be enough if users determine the iPhone doesn’t do what they want it to.

Finally, what is the deal with only pairing with AT&T/Cingular? Does Apple really think that they are going to sell 10 million units by getting the whole world to switch to AT&T? I’ve been there, and I’m not going to do that again. Just because AT&T dropped “Wireless” from their name, doesn’t mean service has improved. But that’s a different rant for a different post.

With the iPod, Apple got a lot right, and they improved over time. Early iPods didn’t support synchronizing with Windows-based machines, and it wasn’t until the 5th generation that they supported video. With the iPhone, Apple may get there in a few iterations, but I don’t think they are there yet.

My bet: If you’re looking for a sleek interface, be prepared to be amazed. Just don’t be surprised if the iPhone doesn’t do as much as a Blackberry. Just wait a couple of generations. Apple may get it right yet. If they don’t get beat to it.