I’m just going to come right out and say it: most of my personal computing is done on a mobile device. A mobile device being a tablet or a phone either with WiFi or some kind of mobile Internet connection. This is despite being surrounded by more conventional laptop and desktop computers. Note this does not count my work-related use of computers, which, unfortunately, is still tied to a more conventional laptop.

It’s hard to know when the tipping point happened for me. Likely when I started getting more capable smartphones from Nokia, whom employed me at the time. Surely I had experienced the various Communicator-style devices (I had a 9210, a 9300, and a 9500). However, the two most pivotal devices for me: The Nokia E70 and the Nokia N95, which is the middle of 2006. I still have (and occasionally even use) the Nokia N95, even though by today’s standards, it’s only marginally more functional than a featurephone.

Of course in those days, Smartphones were not entirely accesible to the masses. Sure, they were obtainable in the sense you could go to any operator and buy one. But then what? Most people had no clue how to use them. Why else do you think the US operators had no problem selling unlimited data packages? Because no one was really using them (except for a few of us).

Then something changed: the iPhone came on the scene. While the first iteration of the iPhone OS (now called iOS)  was arguably less functional than smartphones of the day, it quickly became the smartphone that everyone in the developed world wanted. It raised the bar for what the user experience should be on a phone.

Then Google-backed Android came on the scene and, after a few iterations, became a credible alternative to the iPhone. Microsoft, being a bit late to the party, completely redoes their mobile operating system. Nokia’s Symbian, the long-time leader in the smarphone space, could not keep up with the level of innovation Google and Apple were cranking out and, eventually, Nokia announced their plans to sunset the operating system and go with Windows Mobile. RIM, maker of the Blackberry handsets, have also struggled to keep pace and have stagnated.

It’s pretty clear to most industry observers (and even lay-people) that Android and iOS are the dominant phone operating systems. But it’s more than that: it’s now mobile computing. The same popular smartphone operating systems are now available in a different form factor device: tablets. And, as a number of industry analysts are saying, tablets are the new personal computers.

Apple led the way again here by introducing the iPad, using the same OS used on the insanely popular iPhone. A number of other hardware manufacturers have tried (and failed) to duplicate the success that Apple has had with the iPad using Android. The only manufacturer having any success is Amazon, who introduced the Kindle Fire at the end of 2011. Even their numbers are anemic compared to what Apple sells, but they have something the other tablet makers don’t have: a thriving ecosystem on which to use the device. Remember, Amazon sells all kinds of digital goods in much the same way Apple sells them through iTunes and the App Store.

Why do people prefer to use mobile devices rather than traditional computers? For me, it’s always been: because the device is always with me and connects me to what matters most. Even if it’s not a full experience, it’s often good enough.

For other people, it’s that these mobile devices are easier to use than traditional PCs. This is partially due to the easier-to-use touch interfaces on the current generation smartphones and tablets. There is also less for the average person to “screw up” as well, making for a less intimidating experience.

For another class of people, it’s because they can’t afford the PC and everything it takes to make it operate. This is certainly true in less affluent nations, such as Nigeria.

I had an interesting conversation over Twitter with Yomi Adegboye AKA Mister Mobility (he’s well worth following at @Mister_Mobility). It confirmed this hypothesis. Of course, during the 10 years I worked at Nokia, I took every opportunity to read up on everything Nokia was doing, including how they were developing phones for places like India and Africa. My hypothesis was already well informed.

In these less affluent nations, many people don’t even have electricity. Or if they do, it is supplied by a generator of some sort. Wired phone service may or may not exist (if it does, it is surely expensive for voice service, much less data service). The infrastructure needed to operate a PC may be entirely out of reach.

Meanwhile, while even a basic mobile phone is out of reach for some, that, a SIM card, and an occasional source of power is all one needs to compute and stay connected. For these folks, their mobile phone is their only computing device. Not because they prefer it, but because that’s what they are able to obtain.

There is no doubt in my mind that computing is going mobile. Will more traditional computers go away? While I expect my children won’t even need to own a traditional computer when they are young adults, the traditional computer will likely never go away entirely.

There is always going to be a need for bigger screens and more horsepower than you can pack into a device that lives in your pocket. Especially by people who generate large amounts of content. Will that be the norm for the average person, however? No.

See also Mister Mobility’s take on moving away from traditional computing.

There’s been an interesting debate going on about the state of blogging lately. Jeremiah Owyang kicked off the most recent debate when he declared The Golden Age of Blogging Is Over in where he says that at least the tech blogosphere is maturing and changing as the result of a number of factors. 
 

The funny thing about blogging is that it’s a new name for something I’ve been doing for 15 years or so: putting content on a website for other people to use and comment on. I am best known for a series of Frequently Asked Questions I wrote about the Check Point firewall products over a period of about 8 years. After that, I changed my focus to something more fitting to my nickname: telecoms, VoIP, mobile phones, gadgets, etc.
 

Blogging, both for myself and others, became a real serious business. That is the main point of Owyang’s piece, really. It was a business I thought I wanted to be in at one time, which is why I decided to join Creative Webblogging back in the day. I went through a period of time where I was blogging daily. Multiple times a day, in fact. I generated a lot of content. Both on my own site and for several of the blogs for Creative Weblogging. 

During that time, I saw a lot of the same ideas over and over again, hashed and rehashed. Both in the products I was covering and the people talking about them. It’s not called an echo chamber for nothing and I simply got tired of contributing to it. The money I was making was not commensurate with the effort required to generate content. The payoff simply wasn’t there.
 

I also experienced a significant change to my personal situation in 2008 related to my job at Nokia. The end result is that I now work for Check Point Software, the company my personal brand has been most tied to over the years. This necessitated a change in focus for me–back to the very thing I was best known for, albeit with the backing and support of Check Point.
 

While I have a number of roles at Check Point, the most visible one is being an advocate for Check Point in the “social media” space. I created our Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ presence and actively participate there. I answer questions on two externally run forums about Check Point proudcts and services. 
 

That isn’t to say I haven’t blogged about VoIP, telecom, mobile phones and the like. I occasionally blog about my employer as well. That said, I do not feel the need to say something on my blog every day. I am a lot more deliberate about what I decide to blog about and when. It has to be something unique or something I can provide a unique insight, perspective, and opinion on (to borrow a phrase from Andy Abramson).
 

I tend to express quick thoughts about a number of things on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and others. Thoughts that, some time ago, I would have turned into a blog piece. Is that the right approach? I’m not sure. 
 

The one thing I do miss from the earlier years was the sense of community we had. While we independently put our words out there for all to see, we did exchange and play off each other’s ideas. That was fun. There is some of that going on today on Twitter, etc., but it’s not the same.

 

Rest assured, I will continue to provide my unique insight, perspective, and opinion. I may not do it as often as I used to on as many things as I used to, but you can be assured when I do, I’ve got something worth reading about something worth knowing about.

It’s no secret that a number of outlets are reporting that the Nokia Lumia 710 will launch on T-Mobile USA sometime in January. This phone is one of two devices Nokia has produced with Windows Phone 7 on it (the other being the higher-end Lumia 800), which were initially made available outside the US in November. 
 
Being an ex-Nokia employee for nearly 3 years now, and not being among the smartphone reviewing elite that companies regularly send handsets to for view, I haven’t seen this device up close and personal yet. That said I’ve heard and read a number of reviews of the device that suggest that it is a respectable device for the price point. Having used Nokia handsets for more than a decade, I have no reason to doubt those assessments. 
The chatter I’ve seen on Twitter suggests people are excited about Nokia’s return to the US smartphone market, even if it is on the weakest of the largest carriers and not their “best” Windows Phone device they have. You have to start somewhere, I suppose. 
 
I read an interesting statement on The Verge about how T-Mobile is positioning the Lumia 710 against other smartphones: “against first-time smartphone buyers.” In other words, they are betting the Lumia 710 will be big among people buying smartphones for the first time. 
 
It’s great that Nokia’s getting back in the US Smartphone game with the Lumia 710, but let’s face it: the real barrier to adoption isn’t the price point of the handset itself, it’s the cost of the monthly service plan required to operate it. 
 
If you wanted an iPhone and hadn’t yet bought one, you can get the 3GS for free on a two year agreement with AT&T. The iPhone 4 can be had on Verizon and AT&T for $99 with a two year agreement. You can find Android handsets at similar price points on all operators. 
 
Handset cost for a subsidized smartphone is really not that much of an issue. It’s a one-time cost most people can absorb or save their pennies for. The much harder pill to swallow is the additional $15-$30 per line per month (in addition to a $40 voice plan) that is required when you buy a smartphone from a major US carrier. That’s a price you have to pay even if you choose to pay full price for the handset. 
 
Until the operators restructure their service offers to make the overall cost operating a smartphone on their network cheaper, I don’t expect to see a massive uptick in smartphone adoption–here in the US or anywhere else. 
 
And as for Nokia kick starting Windows Phone 7 sales, I doubt it. They’ll bring in some incremental improvements to their overall market share numbers, but I don’t see this phone on the weakest of the four national networks being the one that breaks open the market for Windows Phone 7.

Every laptop comes with some method for hooking up to a computer monitor. On PC laptops, it’s a VGA connector. On Macs, it’s whatever version of DisplayPort Apple is using these days. Some might have HDMI ports–heck, phones and tablets certainly do. 
 
Getting a computer hooked up to a modern TV is not nearly the ordeal it used to be. My Visio has a VGA plug on it, making it really easy to hook up to any computer. So one wonder why you might need a device like the UltraAV USB 2.0 to HDMI Adapter from Accell? 
 
The problem with VGA: it’s an analog connection which means you can’t play back any videos with DRM. Also the video may not be as crisp and clear as you might get with a digital connection. You also would need a separate connection for audio. You might also not have a TV with VGA. Or, if you have one of those really thin laptops, no video output ports at all! 
This USB 2.0 adapter solves that problem. Every modern computer has at least one USB port (whether it’s free or not is, admittedly, another matter). The device will work with any PC or Mac and includes a driver disc. Unfortunately, my PC laptop has no optical drive, so I opted for downloading them from the provided URL–interestingly not Accell’s site.
 
I tested the adapter, which was provided to me as part of this review, using a Lenovo X201 laptop and my 40″ Visio TV. Once I loaded the drivers and plugged in the adapter into my laptop, my big screen was now a monitor that Windows could mirror or extend my desktop to. I played a few videos to test the adapter and everything worked as expected.
 
You can get a UltraAV USB 2.0 to HDMI Adapter from Amazon or other places for $99.99. 

Every once in a while, a new app comes along that provides a fresh approach to something. For me, Path is doing this for Social Networking. Instead of encouraging to share with as many as possible, it’s encouraging me to share more to fewer people.

According to Path’s website, path is a smart journal that helps you share life with the ones you love. It actually began its life about a year ago as a photo sharing service similar to Instagram with one major limitation: you can only share with a limited number of people. This started out as 50 but was increased to 150. Compare 150 friends with Facebook’s limit of 5000 or Twitter’s unlimited.

From a feature standpoint, there is nothing new in Path. It’s an Android and iPhone app where you can share your thoughts, photos, where you’re at, who you’re with, and what you’re listening to. Rather than being called a status update, though, it’s called a moment. Aside from sharing to your friends in Path, you can also share individual moments with your Twitter or Facebook friends and check-in on Foursquare. You can also be completely private, if you prefer, and show a moment to absolutely no one.

One unique feature I haven’t seen on any app so far is the ability to do an “awake/sleep” post. It automatically posts an “awake” or “sleep” message with time, location (specific to neighborood.city), temperature, and if you’re waking up, how long you slept. It’s a nice touch.

Finding friends is pretty simple. You can use your address book, your Facebook contacts, friends of friends, or just a regular search box. Select whom you want to share your path with. If they confirm you as a friend, you will be able to access each other’s path and your activities will appear in each other’s timeline.

The timeline view is well done. Scrolling is quick and easy. You can see how many people saw a particular moment (and who). You can react to a moment with one of five emoticons: happy, laugh, surprise, sad, or love. You can post a comment of your own. You can see when people become friends with one another.

The iPhone and Android applications are nearly identical, though the Android version is missing a couple features: the ability to share on posts on Twitter and utilize Instragram-like photo filters. Edit: Version 2.0.2 of Path on Android adds support for sharing posts on Twitter.

As I said, none of this is new. Many social media applications do all of these things. Arguably, these things can be done better on existing, well-established platforms.

This isn’t about features, though. It’s about the experience. The experience reminds me of something I used long ago on my Nokia S60 phones–Jaiku. Jaiku had at least some of these features and was tied to a Nokia S60 handset. As far as a social networks go, it had a very intimate feel.

Path definitely has that same intimate feel. By keeping the service phone-only and not providing the ability to share other things like web pages, or allowing you to import content from other services, you really only see moments that people make a conscious effort to share on the service. This keeps the noise relatively low. The upper limit on the number of friend forces you to be a little more choosy about whom you want to be friends with.

I really like Path. It’s clearly not for everyone as you have to have an iPhone or Android device to even use the service. That said, it provides me a new, fun way to share my life with others and be a part of other people’s lives. I wish there was an iPad version of the app, but that’s my only serious complaint. You can download it from the respective App Stores for Android and iOS:

• Path for Android
• Path for iPhone

I like my iPad 2. I really do. While it’s not perfect, I have a significant investment in the Apple iTunes universe. I could get it with WiFi and 3G. It does most of what I need. In many ways, it is the replacement for my personal computer, even if it does have some restrictions.

So, one wonders, why did I decide to spend a couple hundred more dollars and buy a Kindle Fire? Especially for a device like the iPad, is tied to an ecosystem I am not heavily invested in?

A number of reasons. First of all, the price tag. $199 is quite compelling. It’s the kind of thing I see more people buying than an iPad, which has a minimum entry price of $499. It’s smaller than an iPad: 7 inches instead of 10, which will affect how one might use the device. Third, it is tied to a well-established company with nearly as compelling of an ecosystem as Apple. I have no doubt Amazon will introduce other Kindle Fire-type devices in the future and the first generation Kindle Fire will improve with additional software updates.

So how does the Kindle Fire measure up? Hit the break for my thoughts.

(more…)

Every once in a while, I will either run into someone who remembers the old FAQ site I used to run here about Check Point FireWall-1 or I will get a fan letter about it. Both have happened this week.

I’m going to tell you a little secret about that old site. I really didn’t know all that much about Check Point, especially when I started doing it. I just wrote down what I learned both from my own experience and others. More importantly: I shared it.

Obviously doing the site helped me to learn the product back in the day. It also helped countless others and I do appreciate all the feedback I get from folks about it. I really do.

Anyway,  a while back, I decided, for various reasons, to put up an old version of my FireWall-1 FAQ up on a hidden page to take a couple of screenshots. By posting a link here, decided to make it available again by posting a note about it here. It is for nostalgia purposes only, given that most of the information is older than many people’s IT careers (circa 2000). Also, links are likely to be broken, etc.

Hopefully you’ll enjoy the walk down memory lane…

I figured I’d let some of the hoopla die down a bit before I offered my thoughts on Apple’s latest iteration of their mobile OS: iOS 5. It was officially released to the world on 12 October 2011 via iTunes, though the so-called “Golden Master” was released to developers (and consequently on Bittorrent) a week before.

The bottom line: if you have an unjailbroken iPhone 3GS or later: you should definitely upgrade. If you’ve dipped your toes in the jailbreak waters or, worse yet, used Ultrasn0w to unlock, you should likely avoid it unless you research very carefully.

I haven’t done a full analysis of the new features, but I can tell you what I’ve noticed. Note this is on an iPhone 3GS and an iPad 2. Your mileage may vary.

Notifications

Honestly, this was seriously broken before iOS 5. Popups are not an effective way of handling things. Especially for all applications. Now most notifications live in a tray that you pull down from the top, very similar to how it works in Android. You can configure what apps will show there and in what order. I like it better than how Android does it, though, because I get more information to boot and can easily clear individual application notifications. You can also configure which applications use the more traditional popup notifications versus the ones that live in the notification tray.

The Lock Screen

In addition to the notification tray, missed call and text notifications appear on your lock screen. There’s also a “camera” button that I’ve seen appear as well so you can activate the camera without unlocking. That said, I cannot get this to appear consistently on the lock screen.

The Camera App

The camera app has been improved with auto-focus and auto-exposure lock. You can also do minor photo editing: cropping, red-eye removal, an “auto-enhance” mode, and photo rotation. Not nearly as full featured as, say, Camera+ (which is still a great app) but good enough for me to revert back to the standard Camera app for most of my day-to-day use.

iCloud

Finally it is now possible to own and activate an iPhone, iPod Touch, or an iPad without a computer. This is due, in large part, to iCloud. Applications, their data, contacts, calendars, and device photos can be stored and/or retrieved “from the cloud.” You can even do firmware updates from the cloud as well.

Of course, with multiple iOS devices, I quickly ran into the “free” 5GB data limit. You can buy more, of course, or you can choose not to backup application data for some applications like I did. Or you can choose not to use iCloud at all.

iMessage

While I’ve tried to use things like TextPlus and Google Voice, they both leave something to be desired: they don’t “just work.” Neither will do text messages to international numbers unless those people sign up for the service.

iMessage just works. I just try and send a text as normal from the Messages app. If the person is using an iOS 5 device (and it can tell either by email address or phone number that I’ve already got configured for the user), it automatically is sent over iMessage, which is faster and cheaper than a conventional SMS. I can send text or pictures. It’s totally transparent to me other than the fact the text bubbles are in blue rather than green.

This is Apple’s answer to Blackberry Messenger except this just works without exchanging anything you don’t already have. I used it with a number of people–in some cases, not deliberately as I had no idea they used iOS 5 devices. It just worked as advertised. It’s hard to beat that.

Newsstand

I like the idea behind newsstand–put all your electronic periodicals in one place–but until applications are updated for it, your newsstand will look kind of empty. Mine only has the Wired app in it. It would be nice if I could also put, say, Instapaper or Flipboard in it, but alas, I cannot. I also cannot move the Newsstand icon into a folder. Very irritating.

Twitter Integration

Something else that came as part of iOS 5: Integration with Twitter. You can not only tweet pictures from the photos and camera app, but other Twitter apps can make use of your Twitter credentials stored in iOS as well. You can also update your contact pictures with information from Twitter.

The only annoying part is you need to have Twitter’s official app installed to use these features. I personally don’t use that app. I prefer Tweetbots, instead.

Summary

I know there’s a lot more features to iOS. I’m only scratching the surface, but these are the things I’ve used so far. What are your favorite iOS 5 features?

The folks at MemoryCardZoo.com sent me a Samsung MicroSD card, which various reviewers have said has “amazing levels of durability, being water, magnet, and shock proof.” How do they fare against standard MicroSD cards? Well, I decided to put it to the test and put together a video showing what I did.

From Verizon Stops Illegal Tethering, Follows AT&T – Mobiledia – The Mobile Future – Forbes.

Verizon today began blocking customers from tethering their data through jailbroken apps, following in AT&T’s footsteps as the company fights to stay on top of the U.S. wireless market.

The Basking Ridge, N.J.-based carrier now requires users have a hotspot-capable data plan if they want to tether data from their smartphones to other devices. Users who try to tether through jailbreak apps like MyWi will be redirected to a Verizon webpage where they can upgrade to a capable plan for an additional $20 a month.

Well that didn’t take long. The minute one of Ma Bell’s children does something anti-consumer like raising prices on unbundled SMS or eliminate unlimited data plans, the other is surely to follow. And AT&T wonders why people are so against their proposed merger with T-Mobile? And unlike what I said before, I’m definitely against the AT&T/T-Mobile merger now.

So let me get this straight. We can’t do unlimited data anymore. Even those who have it on a grandfathered basis on AT&T are gonna get throttled if they are in the top 5% of users. I’m waiting for Verizon to start pulling the same crap sooner or later.

And, to make matters worse, if we allow some other device to use that data via tethering, we have to pay more for the privilege? Sounds a bit like the old Ma Bell practice of charging you monthly for the privilege of having another phone jack in your house.

At least the old Ma Bell guaranteed universal service (meaning, you could get phone service anywhere). Not only can we not get service everywhere with these jokers, we pay out the nose for the privilege. Sounds like the worst of both worlds to me.