Disqus - Latest Comments for outsidr

Re: The Power of Push: Push Notifications vs. Multitasking

outsidr — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:28:28 -0000

"Now with that said, not every app is a candidate for background
notifications. Music players for example, need to be able to run in the
background. Also, apps that interact with OS elements need to be able to run
background processes (profile schedulers, local alarms, call filters, etc).
Push notifications are most definitely not an all-encompassing solution.
This is where the iPhone still falls short and will continue to fall short
until Apple A) allows certain third-party apps to run background processes
and B) allows third-party applications to interact with the OS. But imagine
if your Windows Mobile or Symbian handset had an implemented system where
Twitter apps, IM apps, etc could utilize background notifications while call
filters, music players and profile schedulers could continue to run
background processes. Mobile bliss."

;)

Re: The Power of Push: Push Notifications vs. Multitasking

outsidr — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:26:17 -0000

;)

Re: The Power of Push: Push Notifications vs. Multitasking

outsidr — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:46:28 -0000

I'm not going to take the time to write up an itemized response to what came
off as a pretty fanatical comment. I always find it amusing that people can
have actual hatred for a company that manifests itself in bizarre,
unwarranted and borderline-ridiculous ramblings.

Go if you must but before you do, try giving this post a second read. Maybe
even a third. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear but judging from your response you
really didn't understand this post or my position at all. Not even a little
bit. It's like you're replying to 50 posts you read on other blogs, but doing
so on this blog for some reason.

If recognizing the potential of a new solution and pointing out how it might
work in conjunction with currently available features to overcome limitations
that will always be present in mobile devices somehow makes me a "fanboy" in
your eyes, that's fine. It still doesn't negate the viability of the
solution though, and it definitely doesn't have any bearing on reality.

Re: The Power of Push: Push Notifications vs. Multitasking

outsidr — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:12:16 -0000

But push notifications aren't an "option for multitasking". The system is
something entirely different -- and better in some cases as I pointed out
above.

Yes, push notifications are a mechanism of a server and if the server goes
down the system goes down. Such is life unfortunately. Similarly however, if
AOL's AIM servers go down you can't IM. If AP News' serves go down you can't
read its stories. And so on. If the body empowering push notifications is
large and knowledgeable, interruptions should be at a minimum as they are
will all hardy networks. In some cases the best solution might be for the
service provider to also host the push notification server. Regardless,
there will always be outages just as there are with AIM, AP News and every
other service that relies on computers.

As for the rest of your comment, yes we agree. Push notifications are not
always useful for apps like music players, games, etc (though I'm not sure
how you would play a game if it was in the background). E-book readers and
email apps are prime candidates for push notifications though. If you don't
have a connection, you can't get new data -- if you have an internet
connection you can. Data (existing e-books, existing emails) is still stored
locally and as such, it's still useful with or without a connection. The
difference is that now, these apps have zero drain on your resources.

Re: Is This Thing On?

outsidr — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:30:25 -0000

Thanks James! I'm hoping to free up some time for this blog soon.
Hoping......

Re: Last.fm uses illegal steroids, steals purses from old women and eats babies

outsidr — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 10:42:50 -0000

They must... Be... Stopped.

Re: The Breakfast of Champions

outsidr — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 09:59:17 -0000

It would take me six months to list all of the positive effects on the
country, its economy and its people. What are the cons?

Re: Targeting Jim Goldman

outsidr — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:33 -0000

Thanks for that insight.

Re: “I’m a PC.” And?

outsidr — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 21:33:10 -0000

Nice Jonny, glad you found it!

I can't say I disagree with you as far as the Mac ads are concerned. At
first I thought they were pretty clever but they've long since been over.
The PC advertising one is definitely the one that began the crossover into
ridiculousness. I covered this on BGR but to make a long story short, no
computer company, Microsoft included, spends more money on advertising than
Apple. Not even close...

As for the "I'm a PC" rebuttal commercials - meh. I doubt highly that
they'll have any significant impact on sales, and that's the point of
advertising. Whether or not you enjoy them, do they make you want to buy a
PC?

Re: “I’m a PC.” And?

outsidr — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 11:19:12 -0000

I'm not sure at all - MS is now claiming they are right on track though I suspect they had more Jerry ads to run before moving to these new ones. The hoards of negative attention likely caused them to jumble the schedule a bit - maybe we'll see more zany Seinfeld/Gates antics in the future. Personally, I think the Mojave Experiment commercials are the most effective to date and would've liked to have seen them expand upon them a bit.

If MS did only make two commercials and paid Jerry $5mm per spot, I'm throwing my PCs out the window right now...

Re: When it Comes to the Web, Venture Capitalism is Broken

outsidr — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 10:14:14 -0000

"would you date someone (or really, even respond to someone) who emails you randomly wanting to meet?"

If you had a dedicated team sifting through hundreds of 'applicants' and handing the 'most qualified' through for you to review, evaluate and choose from you're damn right you would! ;)

Re: How Not to Move from a Free Service Model to a Subscription Model

outsidr — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 16:29:55 -0000

Of course I was oversimplifying a bit with my comments above but I still think a hard sell is not the answer in this particular situation. Jott is not selling 'widgets' - it is trying to convince the bulk of its users to pay for what they are now accustomed to using for free.

If a softer email was to be well-thought out and executed I believe it would have had much better results. This is an extremely small sample set but so far two people have contacted me directly since I published this post and each of them laughingly told me they had the exact same response as me. "What? Huh? Ok, close my account." So as far as I know thus far, Jott is 0 for 3...

Now go grab that cup of coffee! ;)

Re: How Not to Move from a Free Service Model to a Subscription Model

outsidr — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:10:31 -0000

I definitely agree with a lot of what you said Olly, but the first and foremost goal of this email should have been to convey the message, "Don't worry! We're going through some changes right now but you can just sit back and relax if you like because you can continue to use Jott without lifting a finger. But hey, if you want to spice things up a bit then come over here and check out our premium offering..."

I would venture a guess that just about everyone who received this email either clicked through and chose "free" or simply ignored it.

Re: Pandora’s Woes: RIAA Would Rather Artists Make Nothing

outsidr — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:13:11 -0000

While this hasn't been "proven" as you say, it seems all but understood. Rumblings indicate just about the same situation that Sirius and XM faced not long ago. There are reasons that merger took 18+ months to complete and it wasn't just the pennies in "donations" Jim Kramer reported on...

Re: Pandora’s Woes: RIAA Would Rather Artists Make Nothing

outsidr — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:22:07 -0000

The sad fact of the matter is that you're probably not that far off. The missing link however, is the real motivation behind their actions...

Re: The Public Execution of Terry May; PR Just Can’t Catch a Break

outsidr — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 16:12:06 -0000

The problem I think, is that top bloggers are the hardest hit. Whereas I might receive five unsolicited emails each week, bloggers like Pulver might get 30 or more.

Big bloggers are so immersed in the "public social web" they often forget people in other industries might not have fully embraced these new mediums. Not everyone has the time or necessity when it comes to building a massive online social status. A flack might spend weeks trying to get noticed by Pulver on Twitter and (s)he doesn't have time from that in most instances.

On the flipside, PR pros need to realize that each and every blogger is different; especially those a the top of their pile. Taking a few hours to research and personalize an email (WELL) will drastically increase the odds of a positive outcome.

--- Sent from my Nokia E71

Re: Bye-Bye Standby: Affordable, Green and Convenient

outsidr — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:46:09 -0000

Sure Dave, go and rain on my parade!

One input is indeed less than optimal but we all have strips I'm sure. Power strip -> Bye-Bye Standby -> wall. This is actually a great lineup; for example, finish watching a movie before bed and cut the power to your TV, DVD, surround sound, etc with one button press without getting up. I like it.

I'll check out the other units you mention but at $25 this thing can easily pay for itself in less than six months without adding any additional sizable boxes to your clutter.

Re: Has Touchscreen Jumped the Shark?

outsidr — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 11:39:07 -0000

A $2,000 control center? ;) Plus I'm not sure home automation companies will be so quick to write software for an unproven application. I'd rather have one of those snazzy WiFi remotes I think...

Re: Nokia Leaks Its Own Handset After Publicly Ranting About Leaks

outsidr — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 21:09:07 -0000

I'm still of the opinion that it's a tad bit ridiculous that Nokia would put a pre-announced handset in a movie after the private and public reaction to the E71 video. I'm not clear as to how this is different.

If Nokia has all of the sudden done a 180 and decided that leaks are good, it should use all of the resources at its disposal to find the source of the E71 leak (remember, the article on the Nokia Conversations blog posed that it may have been a Nokia employee behind the leak - I have no idea if this is the case to be honest) and it should promote him or her to head of whatever department is now in charge of leaking handsets. Why? Because the E71 video generated infinitely more valuable interest and anticipation among potential customers than the Batman / 5800 placement will have when all is said and done. Yes, I'm saying this despite the fact that The Dark Knight was seen by the entire free world...

Re: Nokia Leaks Its Own Handset After Publicly Ranting About Leaks

outsidr — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 21:09:04 -0000

Ha! ;)

Re: Comes With More of the Same?

outsidr — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:40:08 -0000

Just added you on Gtalk :)

Re: Comes With More of the Same?

outsidr — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:37:08 -0000

Can't tell you how much I appreciate that WD - so great to know there are people out there who are stopping for even a moment to think about something that I've posted on. Cheers!

Re: Real Visual Voicemail; What I’d Like to See Next from Spinvox

outsidr — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:27:05 -0000

Thanks James. I'm also in the process of exploring PhoneTag's SimulSays service which appears to be exactly what I'm looking for - though it's currently limited to BlackBerry and WinMob which doesn't help me much personally. It could help plenty of others though. Follow up post will likely come next week.

Re: The Devaluation of Web Content: Focus on FriendFeed

outsidr — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:56:05 -0000

I totally agree Karen. In terms of a "social network" I think that FriendFeed is one evolutionary step above Twitter and Jaiku is two or three evolutionary steps above FriendFeed despite being older. On the reverse side of the coin, in terms of a "stalker tool / web-life aggregator" FriendFeed is several evolutionary steps above Jaiku. And for sure - Google was almost certainly interested in the architecture, mobile presence, etc as opposed to the web service in its current state. We can only hope that Jyri and Petteri worked some sort of web service maintenance deal into the agreement...

As for the iPhone, despite having gotten rid of mine quite some time ago I got used to the keyboard pretty quickly. Truth be told I don't type very quickly on a 1-9 keypad or virtual qwerty so I didn't mind it. I'm passing (initially) on the iPhone 3G though, at least until we see what kind of apps come out of the AppStore.

Re: The Business of Leaks

outsidr — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 10:12:13 -0000

Thanks for the reply Charlie - I did send a trackback, or so I thought, but apparently it didn't work.

Distributor leaks definitely fall outside of this post, very true. These types of leaks might not be Nokia's mistake per se, but how are they dealt with? Are examples made of the culprits? Are they prosecuted fully? Is their distributor agreement terminated? I would imagine that the type of small shop that would do such a thing intentionally is not of much value to Nokia.

As for manufacturers intentionally leaking information, believe it or not it happens all the time. Market manipulation is a serious matter but tracing the source of a leak is extremely difficult at best and it happens rarely in terms of serious leaks. I'm not suggesting that leaks are always a good thing - this is definitely not the case. Sometimes they are good however. Example of a good leak: A company with a tremendous product line but near-zero marketing presence in the US has a proto handset leaked in a video on a very popular US blog. Ok, this example might be a bit close to home but that post is STILL getting linked to this day. Traffic to it is still quite high. Try to dig up a "release announcement" post or a video of an announced / released handset that is still getting new links a month later and you'll be digging forever.

And despite that fact that this video is a month old and it shows nearly everything there is to show on the device, blogs that received test units corresponding with the official announcement are still covering the devices and making videos, etc. Said posts and videos are still being viewed by readers and watchers. While this new wave of coverage will hardly have the longevity that the leak had, this would be the case regardless. In short, it's a win / win.

I agree that malice is not the issue, but Nokia is a very trusting company from what I understand. This is a very good thing in my eyes; it might just have to be reeled in a bit. It sounds like Nokia is taking measures so that's well and good. Just remember - particularly in the US - that eliminating leaks will also eliminate a good deal of buzz. Symbian / Nokia fanboy blogs hardly reach the market that Nokia needs to reach. PR and marketing could potentially compensate for this somewhat but Nokia's approaches in the US have hardly been a success to date. This is a much more important issue in my eyes. Just last night I forwarded a lead to [unnamed] that would result in a tremendous amount of free exposure for Nokia amongst hundreds of thousands of US businessmen and women. One would think that I would have had a positive response and a 'thank you' in my inbox first thing this morning, but alas...

Lastly, with regards to including more people in early testing and feedback, there are plenty of pros and cons with this scenario. You'll likely get nothing but positive feedback on the idea from bloggers, basically because it's every blogger's dream. I'm sure Nokia would handle such a program quite well but even still, remember what they say about too many cooks. Conversely, implementing such a program "for show" and not valuing the feedback obtained could have a negative impact as well. It's a tricky endeavor.

Thanks again Charlie.