Category: Technology

I work in technology sector. And I do round a clock, not only from 9 to 5. It is my bread and butter, it is my hobby, it is the fascination of my life. And with the current rate of change particular in information technology (IT), there is always something new to learn, to try, to talk about. I often post news, thoughts, and reviews. And when I do, this is the category I use.

Damn you, Autocorrect!

Automatic spelling correctors are well known for their weird understanding of the world.  People had troubles with them for years, and it won’t be soon until the problem will be completely solved.  But from all those applications and devices, Apple iPhone stands out.  Maybe it has something to do with the popularity of the gadget, or maybe it does indeed has a weird auto correct program.  The reasons aren’t that interesting.  Interesting is the fact enough people got caught by it and had enough fun to create a website devoted to automatic correction mistakes – Damn You, Auto Correct!

There are tonnes of fun there!  Go, have a look, and subscribe to their RSS feed.  Don’t forget to share the best ones.

Motorola Defy – my first Android device

It has been more than three years since Google announced their Android platform, but I still remember how excited I was.  I knew that it would be years before I’d own a device running Android, but that didn’t matter to me.  It was (and still is) a very cool concept and initiative.  Not everything worked out the way it was supposed to workout, and the process is still in its infancy, but I am super glad that I can finally participate rather than just read about it.  A couple of days ago I spent 355 EUR to buy my first Android device – Motorola Defy smartphone (specs on one page).

Choosing which smartphone to buy was easier for me than it was for my friends.  While most of them had to count on website reviews and comparison charts, I could actually spend a few minutes playing with different devices, since I was among the last people to get one.  But the decisive factor was this video review (in German, but quite easy to understand even if you are like me and don’t speak the language).  See, for me, one of the biggest problems with smartphones is that they are quite expensive, but at the same time, they are too fragile.  No matter how carefully I handle them, it takes only a year and some to render them unusable – touch screens get stack, buttons fall out, etc.  Motorola Defy seemed indestructible by comparison.  Plus it was moderately priced and of a smaller size than most other similar phones.

So far I’ve been using this smartphone for two days and I am very happy with it.  I am already used to the interface (which differs quite a bit from Symbian that I used on my previous phones).  I am comfortable with configuration options.  And I already went through hundreds and hundreds of applications.  The variety is just amazing.  Anything you could wish for is there – wallpapers, ringtones, games, calculators and converters, news and social updates, and much much more.  And I haven’t even started yet with commercial applications.

Of course, as with any other device, there are issues and nuances.   For example, there seems to be an issue with Android devices not being able to connect to ad-hoc wireless networks.  (I guess not many people use them, but I happen to be one of those who needs this often – some of the offices that I work at don’t have wireless networks, so I connect my laptop via Ethernet cable and then create an ad-hoc wireless network to share the connection with my phone.  I’m sure that it will be fixed in the future updates.)  But what I get now is different from what I had before.  Before I had to Google for the answers myself, read pages and pages of forums, and fight the problems on my own.  Now, all my friends are using Android devices.  And even though the devices vary, they have enough in common for us to share solutions to problems, cool applications, tips and tricks.  And I absolutely love this bit.

This phone is very much like a modern computer – it’s not very useful when offline.  With built-in synchronization of contacts with Gmail and Facebook, calendar synchronization, and support for Twitter, YouTube, and pretty much every other major social network, this phone shines when it’s online.

An extra layer of awesomeness is guaranteed by built-in GPS.  And unlike the previous generation of devices with built-in GPS, this time it actually makes sense.  No longer I need to wait for 5 minutes until all satellites are acquired and my position is triangulated.  It just works and takes mere seconds.  My position information can then be utilized by a whole range of applications – camera geo-tagging pictures that I take, Twitter telling where I am, and foursquare which is a lot of fun in itself.

Even though I had this phone for only two days, I’ve kept in touch with Android platform for years.  So now I can talk about this for days.  It turns out I am as excited about Android as I was three years, and getting myself one was exactly what I needed to do.  My only regret is that I haven’t done it earlier.

Spam Clock shares shocking numbers

Spam Clock runs the counter of the SPAM websites that were created since January 1st, 2011.  The data is provided by blekko search engine.  And the numbers are staggering.  Every hour a million of new SPAM pages is created. And there I was, thinking that we mostly have a problem with email, where, any ISP in the world will tell you, SPAM messages account for roughly 99.99% of all emails.

Via Download Squad.

Are Facebook Pages Killing the Corporate Web Site?

I came across this blog post asking the question of whether Facebook Pages are killing the corporate web sites.  Just by coincidence, I’ve been thinking about this for the last few days.  And not only thinking, but discussing it with other people and collecting their ideas, feedback, and data.

With a question like this its easy to fall into an extremist black and white view of the world.  But an answer in the middle isn’t quite as interesting as an answer from either side of the debate.  In my personal opinion, the answer is more yes than no.  Let me now explain.

Corporate web presence is increasingly important.  It is so important in fact that today it’s almost a requirement.  Web site is one of those first things a company needs to do, together with the office, logo, and business cards.  Yes, I am aware of the fact that not every company needs an office, or a logo, or business cards, or even a web site, but these are minority and more of an exception rather than a rule, so I’ll ignore them for now.

But as much as web publishing technology developed and improved these years, it’s nowhere near the accessible level.  Take for a example a brand new company.  And let it, for the sake of the example, be a small business.  A store, or a small services company.  At the stage where we are now, the company basically has these routes to establish its web presence:

  1. Employ a web design/development company to create the website.  There are a lot of variables here, but from what I’ve seen and heard around, such an option would cost somewhere around 700-3,000 EUR.  It will also take somewhere between 1 week and 3 month to be completed.  And then there will be maintenance/hosting/support charges ranging between 50-500 EUR a year.  Roughly, of course.
  2. DIY.  Either one of the company owners will create a website in MS Word and upload it to his ISP hosting folder.  Or a there would be somebody technical, somebody from the IT department, who will be able to find some cheap hosting, buy domain, install an open source CMS together with some free themes and plugins.  Even though cheaper and probably faster for the company, this will end up being a one-time job and soon nobody will remember who is supposed to update the web site and how to even get to the administration.
  3. Follow the white rabbit.  As much as I wish for this option to be a free blog over at WordPress.com, the reality of the situation suggests that it’s more likely to be a Facebook Page.  Free, fast and with no hassle.

Larger, richer companies have resources to invest into a proper web site, which would be maintained and updated, as well as constantly promoted.  However many smaller companies simply can’t afford the option.  And for them Facebook pages work surprisingly well.

In fact, I’ve spoken with a few local people who use Facebook pages to promote their business, services, and products.  And most of them are very satisfied by this option.  The outcomes vary, of course.  Some people said that Facebook doesn’t help them at all.  But they don’t mind since they spent only a few minutes setting up the page.  Others are much happier.  Two people in particular told me that they even had their own websites before, but those were a waste of time, since nobody ever visited them.  But on Facebook they managed to capture their audience and now they have larger client base and its much easier for them to keep everyone in the loop on stock updates, as well as to collect feedback.

I think that this last bit is particularly important.  It’s not about how much time or money you can invest.  But whether you can break through and reach your potential audience.  And somehow Facebook pages seem to be doing it better than standalone corporate website.  At least for some types of businesses.  And if it goes this way, I think more and more companies will start downgrading corporate websites from top priority to an item of lesser importance.   After all, it’s never too late to start with your own website, but if you can survive for some time without it, and save money and time – why not?

Delicious scare

During the last few days I’ve been asked by several people what I think about the scary bit of news regarding the shutdown of Delicious.   I’ve replied individually several times, but I feel that a blog post is in order.  So here it goes.

First of all, Delicious is not being shutdown.  Here is a quote from their blog:

Is Delicious being shut down? And should I be worried about my data?
– No, we are not shutting down Delicious. While we have determined that there is not a strategic fit at Yahoo!, we believe there is a ideal home for Delicious outside of the company where it can be resourced to the level where it can be competitive.
Secondly, if you are worried about your data, just make a backup of it.  Delicious had an export option for years.  Login to your account and you’ll be able to export your bookmarks from the Settings page.
Thirdly, I can understand that news like that could throw some people into a search for alternative mode.  And here are alternatives of them out there.  I haven’t tried any of them in years, since I’m a happy Delicious user.  But if I were forced to choose one day, Xmarks would be my first choice.  My reasons are:
  • All features that are vital for me are a part of the free subscription.  More features are available for premium subscribers.
  • Cross-browser support that covers all browsers that I care about.
  • Support for sharing of bookmarks.  That’s the main reason for me to actually use a social bookmarking service instead of a much simpler bookmark synchronization service.
  • Support for private bookmarks.  I want to share as much as possible, but not everything.
  • Easy integration with third-party tools and services.  For example, using an RSS feed.
  • Support for direct import from Delicious.

But with all that said, I want to stress it once again – Delicious is not shutting down.  So if you use and enjoy the service, simply continue doing just that.  No need to worry.