I've finally upgraded my phone, and as promised, I'm here to deliver the good news. I decided to go with the Verizon SMT5800.

 

 

Overall, I'm really pleased with the phone's quality and features. It's a SmartPhone, which is to say it's a phone first and a PDA second. I don't really miss the touchscreen, as I never had much success with the stylus or handwriting recognition on my former devices. There's the ability to view, but not to create, Office and PDF documents (why anyone would want to author spreadsheets on a 2" screen is beyond me). The e-mail, contacts, and calendar sync is sweet, but since my organization uses Lotus Notes, it takes a bit of contortion to make it work properly. Windows Media Player is great for playing tunes and videos; even recorded TV from my media center can (in theory) be converted and synched to the device. The camera obviously isn't as sharp as my Kodak EasyShare V803, but with 2.0 MP, it's better than most phone cameras, and I'm sure it will be great for candid photos. 

 

I opted not to get the data plan (hey Verizon, how about a reasonable price?), so most of the wireless and web features are out of my reach, but I can still sync the device with my PC. Maybe someday...

 

I paired the phone with a Plantronics Voyager 855 Stereo Bluetooth Headset. For such a tiny device, I was pleasantly surprised by it's sound quality. It's the conventional "Uhuru-style" Bluetooth headset (the kind that make people look like they're talking to themselves in the mall), but it provides an extender with another earbud for stereo sound. I was able to hear it clearly while mowing the yard last evening, so it's OK in my book.

 

Finally, I added a 8 GB SanDisk MicroSD card for all my media. The damn thing is so small, it's practically weightless. I'm going to sound like a crotchety old fart, but my first desktop PC only had 100 MB hard disk, so SD technology never fails to impress me.

 

Now for the software. Most SmartPhone software is craptastic, and I don't want to load it up with a bunch of stuff I never use. I'd really like a tool for customizing the main screen and a voice command tool would be great. I'm open to your suggestions.

 

- Greg

 

Over the past week, we've added yet another mural component to Logan's classic Pooh-themed nursery. This time around, it's Owl's tree, complete with Owl himself:

 

Owl's Tree

 

This was certainly the biggest art project thus far; the tree stretches from floor to ceiling, wraps around the corner behind the rocking chair, and is about 6' across at it's widest point. Ginny and I definitely had some artistic differences about the style and size of the subject, but overall, I'm satisfied with how it turned out. Funny thing about painting tree leaves: since they can really be any shape, you have a tendancy to keep painting, until they've entirely overwhelmed the space.

 

As usual, Logan seems completely non-plussed about the addition, although he did point at Owl yesterday and proclaim, "CAT!" (every animal is a cat these days). I hope he's not traumatized by a giant predatory bird watching him sleep. We're going to have a hard time convincing him that drawing on the walls is a "no-no."

 

- Greg

 

<rant>

 

Lately, Microsoft Office Word 2007 really chaps my hide. Not only have Microsoft fractured the tried-and-true interface with that "fluent" crap, but they have added a zillion goofy new features that few people are likely to actually use. And the one feature that would really help me out doesn't seem to exist.

 

I work with a lot of technical documents, and I need the ability to control the flow of my content. For a long time, Word has provided the ability to keep one paragraph tethered to the following paragraph, so that if a page break occurs, then they both move to the next page together. That's great for some styles of text, such as headings, which need to stick with (at least) the following body paragraph.

 

But I don't always know what's coming next! Consider a figure or caption, which needs to stick with the paragraph that precedes it. Wouldn't it have made more sense to offer a "keep with previous" option, at least as an alternative? Otherwise, I have to comb through my content manually every time I repaginate the document.

 

</rant>

 

I'd welcome any suggestions. I'm gonna go sulk.

 

- Greg

 

Redmond, Wa. - In a statement released today by Microsoft, the software giant announced that it will begin the planned phase-out of Greg by the end of 2008. Ironcially, the statement comes on the 34th anniversary of the product's initial launch.

 

Greg has been a stalwart Microsoft program since the early days of Windows 3.0 and had steadily evolved into a fun, if sometimes unreliable, office workhorse. It is an effective multitasking application that can compose documents, exchange email, post blog entries, share torrents, find hilarious YouTube (er, SoapBox) videos, and organize a music library at once. Although Greg has never been successfully integrated with Lotus Notes, the program is known for creating workarounds to increase office productivity.

 

This marks the end of an era for Greg, a product that has recently garnered renewed interest from a dedicated community of enthusiasts. Within the past couple of years, an arrary of mobile and social networking features had been developed, compatibility with the popular Ginny platform was expected to be right around the corner, and an SDK was in the works.

Microsoft promises to redirect its development resources to Logan, and Ballmer hinted at the development of another spin-off product in coming months.

 

- Greg

 

If Microsoft has its way, the NBT (next big thing) is going to be Live Mesh, which is nothing less than a platform to integrate and organize our digital lives. At present, it's a file sync tool at the tech preview level, which should not be confused with SkyDrive or FolderShare, which are two other, similar products in this arena from the software giant.

 

After signing up for Mesh and downloading the client software (a tiny ~2MB install) on one of your devices, you are presented with a "ring" that includes an online desktop (called Live Desktop) and an option to add other devices. The interface is powered by Silverlight (what else?); it's sleek, sexy, and practically begs to begin buildling relationships with your devices. Right now, only Windows XP and Vista PCs are supported, but Microsoft plans to add support for Mac and mobile phones soon (where's the love for the Linux community, Redmond?).

 

Anyway, here's a sample of a Mesh ring:

 

Mesh Device Ring

 

What makes Mesh different is the level of integration that it has with each device in your ring. You can create and browse files directly on your Live Desktop (no drag-and-drop...yet) and depending on your sync settings, they'll be almost instantly available on each of your devices. Likewise if you have a local folder that you'd like to make accessible to your other devices, simply right-click it and add it to the mesh. If you want to invite your friends and colleagues to the party, you can even make folders in your mesh securely accessible to others.

 

Mesh also has a nifty remote desktop feature, but I have to admit that I haven't had time to play with it much yet. I'm sure that'll be a really handy option for me.

 

Sounds impressive, but you're probably thinking that several other vendors are already doing something similar (in fact, Microsoft almost seems to be competing with several of its other Live services, such as the aforementioned SkyDrive and FolderShare). Well then, you need to take another swig of the Kool-Aid. According to Microsoft developer blogs, such as Channel 9, there are scads of other uses for the platform besides file sync, including shared application hosting (much like offerings on Facebook).

 

Lest you think that I'm getting kick-backs from Ozzie & Company, let me just say that as cool as Live services are as a whole, I've been very disappointed with the overall their lack of cohesive branding and neverending betas over the past 2 years. I'm hopeful that Microsoft is positioning Live to really make a comeback against competitors like Google Gears, Adobe AIR, Facebook, Yahoo, and now Apple MobileMe (careful IE7 users).

 

I'll certainly be keeping my eyes on this new service. I guess that I'm "enmeshed."

 

- Greg