VIRTUALIDA

Where is my iPhone / iPad ?!? - iLocalis app review

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 11:12:55 PST

A few months ago, apple has release for free the service “Find my iPhone” which up until that time was provided only for paid users of “Mobile Me”. To my and your sorrow, we are talking about a pathetic service which I would not recommend relaying on to locate your lost devices. The control features are very basic and when it comes to Israel, the map is limited to satellite view only without street information and it’s only a fraction of what your iPhone and iPad can allow you to do.

So, like many other cases, a more comprehensive and quality service can be found in Cydia if you’ve jail broken your device… the app iLocalis offers a wide verity of features for tracking and remote control which you can otherwise only dream on.

The service is paid subscription based:

Annual basic service 5 euro
15 euro for an advance package
50 euro for a family package of up to 5 devices

Advanced remote
control features

Let’s say the device is lost / stolen:

Similar to “find my iPhone” services, you can remote lock / create a popup message / remote wipe and of course see your device on the map.
You can activate a load alarm sound to help track the device
With the help of Google maps, you can get exact driving instructions from your location to the device location.
You can command your device from the site or by SMS message to update its location and even call you at any number so you can listen in to the surroundings of the device.
You can get an audio recording from the phone which will be secretly recorded and sent to your email.
You can get a steal picture taken from the front / back camera at your choice without the user’s knowledge that will help you id the person using your phone.

The features may also be useful on a daily basis:

If you have other friends that subscribe to the service, you can get alerts when they are near by (assuming you both approve it).
If you’ve left your phone at home, you can login to the site and remotely instruct it to direct all incoming calls to a number of your choice (for example the office number or a friend you happen to hang out with).
You can send remote sms from your phone using the site
You can get you location history up to 3 months back and export in various formats (where was I on Monday last week at…).
You can define alert zones which when you enter / exist from a certain action would be performed (text message / email will be sent, calls will be redirected etc.).

Ops... I am at the office and i found out the phone is back home!
- redirect incoming calls using the site remote control

If my phone (or I) happen to be in this area, something must be wrong! alert the cops!
(alert zones example)

The app can be downloaded using Cydia and after a trial period of 10 days you’ll have to pay for a package of your choice. For additional information please check out the site and forum at http://www.ilocalis.com/

Let's talk free #5 Acrobits - One app to rule them all (your numbers)

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 04:29:52 PDT

If you've been following this guide from the beginning, you are likely to have several phone numbers on your name at this point:

The basic free number in the USA by Whistle phone or an equivalent service of some kind
An Israeli number provided by the Spikko service
A Google Voice with advanced features

Why now? And you may very well sign up for other similar services which will entitle you for other numbers in more countries.

In order to manage all these numbers and services you need an advanced quality app and Acrobits has 2 apps to offer you:

Softphone (6.99$) – for standard use
Groundwire (9.99$) – for advanced professional use.

Which app should you get?

Softphone's major features include-

Management of multiple services and accounts
Google Voice support
Making outgoing call / receiving incoming calls
The ability to record a conversation!
Support of iOS 4 standard background work
The ability to make calls over 3G (with costs according to the data package you purchased)
Direct access to your address book (no need to manage separate with duplications)
Ability to set ringtones
Favorites and quick dial mangment
Dialing rules (number rewriting, explained later)

Groundwire's major features include-

All the features in SoftPhone
Call transfer (after you get a call you may transfer it to another party)
Call waiting
Conference call (ability to connect / remove individuals from the call)
Advanced voice mail management

On the company site you can check the video tutorials and written guides for the details of the service. I suppose most people can definitely settle for the SoftPhone version and while the Groundwire is more for professional people whose work has a strong emphasis on phone communication (team work, collaboration, corporate needs etc.).

Configuration of service provides (numbers) in the app

Both apps allow configuration of a variety of service provides that have been tightly integrated in the app as well as adding any standard SIP provide according to generic configuration assuming you have all the relevant parameters to input.

Choose your SIP provider / add one that's not on the list

Configuring Whistle Phone

Whistle Phone has not been integrated in the service providers list so we'll select the Generic SIP

Title – the service provider name as it will appear on your providers menu (you may assign whatever name you like).
User name – your whistle phone assigned phone number
Password – your password
Domain – Proxy.whistlephone.com

Whistle Phone SIP definition

Once you've saved the configuration, go back to the service details and make sure incoming calls is set to "One with Push" so you will get an immediate notification when someone calls you even when the app is closed.

Now, go back to the keypad screen, choose whistle service in the top left corner of your screen and make sure it's green (indicates a connection was successful).

Successful configuration indicator

Configuring Spikko service

Spikko has been integrated directly with the app so the definition will be a bit different:

Title – the service provider name as it will appear on your providers menu (you may assign whatever name you like).
Username – type the user you signed up to Spikko with
Password – your password

Spikko SIP configuration

That’s it, Push should automatically be enabled.

Configuring Google Voice

In order to avoid the complexity of using two separate apps, one for making outgoing calls and another to take incoming calls, you are well advised to setup Google Voice services in the app.

Title – the service provider name as it will appear on your providers menu (you may assign whatever name you like).
Username – the email address used for connecting with the Google voice service
Password – your password
Callback phone name – the name of the number from which you want to make outgoing calls as you wrote it in your Google Voice settings.

According to the scenario described here, this would be the name you gave your Whistle phone number in your Google Voice numbers setup.

Google Voice configuration

Once you've completed the Google voice configuration, you'll have a new provider in your menu with which you can make outgoing calls to any number in the USA. The service will initiate a call back which will transfer your call to the number you listed as your callback number (your Whistle phone in this case) and this way you won't be bothered with listening to the ad before you call is connected.

Dial rules management (number rewriting)

The app allows your quickly and easily switch between service providers you've configured and their different phone numbers, but it also makes it very easy to forget to set the right service provider and accidently initiate an outgoing call from the wrong number (what may lead to waste of valuable calling minutes if for example you called a USA number from your Spikko service and not your Google voice / Whistle services). In order to avoid such cases or at least reduce the risk you can define dial rules.

For example

All calls with over 9 digit in the number that do not start with zero – are immediately suspected as USA number and should be dialed using Google Voice.
All numbers starting with 0039 should be made using some sort of Italian SIP provider (still looking for a good free one)

Try to manage your own rules based on the numbers and locations you call as well as the service providers you've signed-up with.

You can watch this demo by Acrobits on how to connect with Google Voice and manage basic dial rules.

Please note

Remember to check the costs that may be involved with making VOIP calls over a 3G network before you make any call (if you have a limit on your data package be sure to check your status every once in a while).
Manage your dial rules in order to avoid initiating a call using the wrong service provider.

For full and fair disclosure, Acrobits provided me with promo codes in support of this review.

Let’s talk free - #4 Google Voice sign-up guide (not only) in the USA

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 08:13:51 PDT

Now that you are familiar with Google Voice services comes the sign-up guide,

what will you need?

Get an active American phone number
Connect for initial sign-up while camouflaged as you are located in the USA.
Sign-up
Install relevant applications for using the service (or you can settle for the web access provided by Google).

Getting a USA phone number

In order to activate the service you will need an active American phone number which you can validate by getting an incoming call and dialing a code to verify you are indeed the owner of that line.

If you don't already have an American phone number – follow the instructions on this post for you free number or you can sign-up to any number of SIP services that provide a phone number such as SIP gate (but I do recommend the options described on my post as the simplest way to get it done).

Getting access to Google Voice sign-up

If you are located in the USA – you can skip this part and go directly to this address http://www.google.com/voice.

Otherwise you'll need to gain access using a proxy server to a VPN service

Camouflaged Browsing

I highly recommend ibVPN – a company offering an easy service of "camouflaged browsing" using various proxy servers around the world including the united states. This is a paid service however the prices are reasonable and the support service is very friendly, you can find detailed guides on how to connect with various devices and most important – you'll have a clear address to verify you are not messing up with unwanted unknown people with issues concerning information security on your computer. You can read about their service in more detail in the following post.

The is a free alternative, Hotspot Shield who promises to allow you camouflaged browsing in return for displaying ads on the pages you browse too. Installing this alternative is slightly more complicated and if truth be told, it does not inspire a lot of confidence with all the alerts I got during the process… try it out at your own risk (like everything else actually…).

Eventually, when you go to the address http://www.google.com/voicewith camouflaged browsing as if you are in the US, you'll be allowed to sign-up for the service.

Signing-up to Google Voice

Assuming the site recognizes your browsing as if it's coming from the United States, you'll immediately be taken to the first stage of the signup process:

Choosing your new Google Voice phone number

Find an available number by area code / zip code and a combination of letters and numbers

Pages through and select your number

Type in your pin code (for use with the voice mail and as secondary identification)

Type a 4 digit code

Type in your existing American phone number (the one mentioned about, your Whistle phone or other), go through the validation process (Google voice will dial your number and ask you to enter the validation code presented on your screen in your phone)

Type in your existing American number from stage 1

Click "Call now", wait for an incoming call and enter the validation code on your phone

Once you've completed this process you can disconnect the proxy used for the camouflaged browsing and work directly with the Google voice site without having to camouflage your origin (unless you'll want to change your Google voice number in the future).

At this stage you can add other American numbers you may have to the service and control which one will ring and when.

Using Google Voice services

If you are using Google Talk you can also transfer calls to that account and manage the whole thing from your computer using the web services of Google Voice.

iPhone / iPad / iPod users have several alternatives:

The free (most unfriendly) solution

Get incoming calls

Using the Whistle phone app you should already have.
You can also use Fring or any other SIP phone app you may have that can work with SIP service that provides a number.

Sending and receiving text messages, managing your voice mail, checking call history and setup can all be done by directly accessing www.google.come\voice from your mobile device.
Making outgoing calls – you'll need to switch to the "old version" of the Google voice web site using the link at the bottom of the page.

Once your type in the number to call and selecting the Whistle phone number – you will be getting a call back which will ring on your Whistle phone (You'll get an instant push if you've set it up), once you answer – the call will ring for the number you typed and you will be connected.

New Google Voice web app

Old Google Voice web app,
allows making outgoing calls using callback feature

A small price, a bit more friendly solution

Getting incoming calls – same as above
Everything else (sending and receiving text messages, voice mail management, call history and setup) can be achieved using GV mobile + (2.99$).

GV Mobile +

The advantage of GV Mobile + is with easier outgoing call interface to get your call back, you'll get the transcript of your voice mails and the recordings inside the app as well as the call history for offline access – even if you are not connected to the internet. The down side is that you'll have to disable use of multiple accounts in Google if you have it since it interferes with the app operation for some reason.

(I've seen some indications that Google may release a native app which may serve as an attractive alternative and I'll post a note of that as soon as I have more information).

The best solution

Making outgoing calls from one app, getting calls in another app is most unfriendly… in order to achieve both tasks from the same app, I've found 2 very well executed, friendly solutions by Acrobits that offers 2 relevant apps:

Softphone (6.99$)
Groundwire (9.99$)

Soon...

A detailed review will be available in a future post…

Did you give this guide a try? Was it clear? Did you make it? – Please share your story in the comments!

Question? Problem? Share in the comments as well so I'll be able to update the guide…

Internet with no boundaries – Camouflaged browsing

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:25:55 PDT

The internet is the essence of the phrase "Small world", it breaks down boundaries, connects people, and allows access to all sorts of content and media items…

But…

For some reasons, there's discrimination – content and services are sometimes limited to a certain geographical area and blocked to users in other areas.

In order to break such barriers there's and option to camouflage the location from which we are connected, making the service provider on the other side believe we are in the allowed area. By connecting to a VPN type service and using a proxy (connecting) server we can achieve the desired results.

Ibvpn – Invisible Browsing VPN service

The company provides this service for a fee which allows access to proxy servers in several locations in the world (Unites states, Canada, UK, Netherlands, Ireland, and Germany). For the purpose of this guide, let's assume we wish to connect to a service in the United States.

Just as the homepage of their site comes up, we are welcomed with big banner showing the location from which we browse as identified by the network (according to the IP address we get from our internet connection provider) – scary, no?

My location is identified as Tel Aviv

In the site you can find a number of tutorials on how to connect with iPhone / iPad, a number of Windows versions or mac. In this guide, you'll find the install process as I did it on my Windows 7 PC (for the purpose of the install you may need to connect your computer directly to the modem and skip the router, you may have to temporarily disable your firewall or antivirus protections).

Installing ibvpn on Windows 7

After you've purchased your service package (you can choose a 1/3/6 months packages for various prices):

Go to your "Network and sharing center" from your "Start" menu

Select "Setup a new connection or network"

Select "Connect to workplace"

Select "Use my internet connection (VPN)"

Type the address of the proxy server of your choice and give the connection a name

In the USA there is a number of available proxy servers, you are advised to check each one in order to find which gives you the best connection speed, it's possible you'll get different speeds depending on the time of day.

Type in your user and password, click connect.

Once the connection process is done, you can see the indication you are connected to the VPN next to your internet connection (from your tray).

Once the process is done and you are connected, if you go back to the homepage of the company, you'll see that the location from which you are connected is now identified as from the USA with a different IP address than the one you actually use.

My new location is identified as Bloomington, USA

Please note

Camouflaged browsing means routing all your communication through a proxy server. This means performance rate (connection speed) may be significantly reduced due to latency (especially if you browse sites that are distant from the proxy server location).
You are well advised to sample all the available proxy addresses offered in different time of the day.
Don't hesitate to open a service request with the company friendly support team.

In the following posts I will tell you about some of the services you can benefit while surfing under camouflage which were previously only relevant to users from the USA.

Let's talk free - #3 Introduction to Google Voice (link)

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 22:33:03 PDT

I am sorry but I would feel a bit silly writing an introduction to Google Voice in English, so this post will be a bit different while I take the time to make the introduction in the Hebrew part of the site...

Please check this link for the introduction and follow-up on the next post - a guide to sign-up for Google Voice - not exclusive to American people!

Let’s talk free - #2 Calls with the Israel

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 23:45:00 PDT

This was a post I originally thought I’d only publish in Hebrew, but then I realized there is an English option for what I am about to discuss and I am sure some of you English speakers would appreciate this when you come to the holy land… (I’d love to know if you do!)

So, in this chapter of my guide, I’ll review “Spikko” http://www.spikko.com/index_en.htmvery similar to the solution I presented in the last post, this service provides you with a free telephone number used for incoming and outgoing calls with Israeli carriers.

In this case the service is provided on its own, and you can attach it with various applications if you like.

http://www.spikko.com/index_en.htm

What is this about and How does it work

Sing-up for this service is done via the site in the above link, following validation in an email sent to you, you will get an 057 area code phone number (this is one of Israel’s mobile carriers called Mirs).

In order to user the service you’ll need an SIP (soft phone) application which you can find for computer (you can find links and details on the site) as well as for your smartphone.

Incoming calls – unlimited, the caller will be paying a regular rate for calling an Israeli mobile number according to his communication package.
Outgoing calls – this is where it gets tricky

Upon connecting to the service you will get 8 minutes free for Israeli landlines and 2 minutes for Israeli mobile phone numbers (you can choose to call other countries using your credit according to the exchange rate calculated on the site).
You want more minutes? No problem you can either buy them or accumulate them in the following manner:

Each minute you spend on an incoming call entitles you to a minute of outgoing calls… the more and longer your incoming calls, the more free minutes you will get.
If you invite friends and they get incoming calls, you get 25% of their incoming talk time for your outgoing calls.

The services also allows you to send up to 30 SMS messages a day for free using the site / a dedicated computer application as well as voice mail (where the minutes people spend leaving you a message also entitle you for free outgoing minutes!).

(If someone invited you – be a good friend and join using their invitation although you can just signup, it will not come out of your budget and your usage can benefit your friend… and if you want an invite, let me know...)

To the people abroad / those who are in Israel

Spikko anywhere service allows you to define a telephone number in select countries around the world to which incoming calls to your Spikko number will be redirected – when someone dials the Spikko number the number you defined will ring. The process includes a short validation using the numbers to which the calls will be redirected and after that all calls will be routed to that number.

If you leave in the USA for example, you can provide your friends and loved ones a local Israeli mobile number to call which will ring your home phone back in the USA. Each incoming call will load your Spikko phone with outgoing minutes which you can later use to call them back.

Receiving and making calls

If you chose to direct your calls to a local number you are covered for incoming calls. In addition you can install an application which will allow you to receive / make calls from your computers. iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad users should install an SIP app which will allow you to connect with the service.

What is SIP?

A protocol for initiating communication using the internet which is supported by many devices (I won’t be surprised to find out that it’s behind some of the international call options offered by the telecom companies). You can run a quick search to find more details on this protocol and in future posts I’ll mention some SIP providers from around the world.

Fring app

The app I mentioned yesterday, Whistle Phone can serve as you SIP app if you did not setup an account for a USA number… another alternative can be the free app “Fring”. From the screen More>Add-ons you can define one SIP service as you choose, the Spikko site has the details but generally:

Choose the option “Other” from the list of providers
Input the name and password of the account your created
In the Proxy field input: sip.spikko.com:5090

Service configuration

So you can have Whistle Phone for your USA calls and Fring for your Israeli calls… an app recommended by Spikko site for use with their service is belongs to Acrobys who offers 2 excellent solutions for you to choose from, rich with advanced functionality which will be covered in detail in a future post in this guide.

Let’s talk free - #1 Calls with the USA

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 00:05:43 PDT

Part of “Let’s talk free guide”.

The first solution is quite simple – free calls for with USA and Canada (incoming / outgoing), we’ll get to Google voice in a future post but for start – how about getting a new phone number, real and active for all intents and purposes which will allow you to make outgoing calls and accept incoming calls without spending any money?

Please note – the solutions I will describe require data connection in 3G or Wifi connection (for which you will most likely have to pay), Most are valid for use with computer, iPod, iPad etc.

The app Whistle Phone (free) will get you your own number as soon as you complete the initial signup and verify your email address within minutes!

What is this about and How does it work

You will get a random number (without any possibility to change)in one of the area codes in the USA (more about that will follow), with this number you can make outgoing calls using the app and also take incoming calls. How does it work?

For outgoing calls, you will have to listen to a short commercial right before the call will be made.

A small “price” to pay in my opinion and in future posts we’ll see how we can get rid of it as well.

For incoming calls you will be able to accept “Push” messages which will indicate the arrival of an incoming call if the app is closed or you can just leave it active (which I didn’t find very practical).

Whistle Phone

This solution does not support sending / receiving text messages or a voicemail (we’ll get to that in a future post). It’s relevant for the iPhone, iPod touch & iPad plus the site has links to computer applications for windows / mac users if you like. The call quality is excellent in my opinion (tested while connected to WIFI)with good data connection).

Some notes and things to think about

USA time zone – it’s possible the person on the other side of the line who wants to call you from the USA may have a problem calling the area code you got from the app due to limitations of his service package. Meaning, some US phone users opt for a cheap communication package limited to their living area and there for will not be able to make calls to the area code you will get. Again, we’ll have a solution to this in a future post using Google Voice but any way – you will be able to call them using the app.

While most of us are lazy and try to avoid anything complex, think about this – any two friends living anywhere in the world are able to communicate with one another (provided they have a good signal) and avoid pay for local calls… the Push messages will ensure you won’t miss a call (although I did read some reviews by people who complained about not getting these messages, it’s worth a try…)

Let’s talk for free – Updating guide

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 04:36:40 PDT

Ever since Apple relaxed its approval policy for apps last week we’ve witnessed lot’s of stories that got me interested in Google Voice in particular and VOIP communication in general. It turns out there are many options which are not as well-known as they probably should be, so I dug deeper.

In the coming days I will publish tips and reviews around free (and almost free) phone calls around the world, you are welcome to follow:

Free calls with USA
Calls with Israel
Review of Google Voice services
Detailed guide on how to sign up for Google Voice (even if you are not) in the United States.
Managing multiple numbers (SIP)
Free / cheap calls around the world

The guide is aimed particularly for iPhone / iPod touch / iPad users, however computer owners will find some interesting options as well and I am sure you can adjust some of it for other smartphones.

Take better picture using ClearCam

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 05:09:11 PDT

A while back I announced my project to find the apps that would help me get more value from my camera now that I’ve started using it more often. The concept behind the first app I wanted to review is actually what inspired the idea. However, technical issues I discovered when I took a closer look at the app made me put it on hold. I shared my concerns to Josh Paterric, the developer of the app and he immediately got on it…

Today, a new version of ClearCam (1.99$) was released and it’s even better than what first caught my attention :) so it's time you read the post that almost got cancelled...

The app that will help you get better pictures

How do we avoid fuzzy, unclear pictures

Sometimes, in the heat of the moment you don’t have time to set the camera just right, trying to take a picture of a hyperactive kid or pet that makes move just as you hit the button, maybe your grip is not steady enough...
A picture out of focus is always a source for disappointment.

What if, instead of taking 1 picture when you hit the button, the camera takes 4 pictures one after the other and then selects the best one for you?

Can we double the megapixel pictures we get from our camera?

Photography savvy people will tell you it’s impossible, the lens capacity is fixed and you can only get as much as it’s designed to give you…

What if, you take several pictures and combine their data?
after all, a digital camera captures pixels and if you have more pixel data from several pictures – why not use that data…

ClearCam has an innovative approach to tackle both these challenges with two dedicated modes of work:

Enhanced mode – takes 6 pictures one after the other and then (offline – when you have the time) you go into edit mode and process them.

Step 1: auto align the 6 pictures
Step 2: enhance – the app will combine pixel data from the 6 pictures into 1 – producing a much sharper image
Step 3: save – you can choose whether or not to save the enhanced image or one of the originals.

The enhanced pictures are 150% the size of a regular picture you take with the iPhone and they are clearer than the alternative.

Refael Salem, Medusa, 2010, oil on canvas, 140*180 cm - enhanced picture using ClearCam

Enchanced vs. Regular photo - closeup on a detail from above picture

Quick mode – takes 4 quick snap shots one after the other as soon as you take a picture then saves the clearest picture automatically. The results compared with a single picture I take while moving or without proper setup time are often better this way.

While the app default when switched on is “Quick mode”, I would recommend using the “Enhanced mode” whenever you can, this way you’ll have the option to review the different pictures taken by the app, try to enhance and save one you like most (especially when kid’s / pets are involved since you never know in which millisecond they will be at their best…). My problem with quick mode is that the app chooses the clearest picture for you and you cannot see the alternatives).

Josh says the improvement in pictures taken using the new iPod touch with the low end camera makes a BIG difference and you can really see it in the following official demo:

According to official figures:

	MegaPixel according to Apple	MegaPixel using Clearcam enhanced mode
iPhone 3G	2	4
iPhone 3GS	3	6.75
iPhone 4	5	11.15
NEW iPod touch	0.69	1.35

For full and fair disclosure, I got a promo code for the review of this app (but that didn’t keep me from pushing Josh to deal with the issues I found!). This would be a good place to express my deep appreciation for Josh on this matter – it took less than 24 hours since I presented my concerns for him to come up with an initial solution and get to work on including a fix for following version.

Why I held back on this review

(Short story / technical side note)

As part of the research and close study of the app I noticed important geo tagging information was missing from the photo files created by the app. That meant if you choose to use the app instead of the iPhone original camera – you would not be able to see where the picture was taken. I called up my personal local photography guru friend Liran Stern, who quickly discovered a great deal of data was missing from the EXIF record kept for the photos.

As it turns out, many if not all 3rd party apps that let you take pictures actually deny you important meta data that the iPhone native camera app brings.

EXIF – (Exchangeable Image File) is saved by many cameras and provides valuable data on a verity of environmental and functional parameters for the moment the picture was taken. You can view the EXIF data of a picture using a tool such as exifviewer.

Data on exposure, shutter speed, flash and a lot more including of course GPS coordinates for the geotagging was missing which in my view was not acceptable.

The latest version of the app includes the EXIF data and is apparently the first non-native app to have it!

So a bonus tip – if you value the standard data you are supposed to get with your pictures, check the files produced by any app that offer replacing the native camera app and verify the EXIF data is accurate.

BIG thank you to Liran for bringing EXIF to my attention!

Go over and review documents with ease using iAnnotate PDF

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 07:21:22 PDT

A pile of documents on my desk waiting for me to read them or having several dozen emails with resumes or proposals I need to go over usually gets me depressed… to be honest I don’t enjoy printing lots of pages and then sitting down to go over them.

But, someone did put a lot of work into them… it’s my job… I do need to find the best candidate for the job or pick the most attractive proposal… and sometimes when it’s something I am particularly interested in – I enjoy reading a technical guide or a professional book.

Unlike leisure type reading, the particular type of documents I am talking about often require me to make comment, mark issues I will need to address later or particular ideas I may want to remember and reference in the future. With PDF being a common format for “Soft copy” document sharing, there are several ways to do that:

You can print the file and do it offline where ever is most comfortable for you (can be messy with large documents and certainly not friendly to the environment).
You can take the notes separately in your notebook for example.
You could find a desktop application that will allow you to take notes on the file itself – forcing you to sit at your desk or carry your laptop at least when you do it.
OR you could do it on your iPad…

(Video demo included towards the end of the post)

iAnnotate seems to be the richest, most comprehensive app available for reviewing PDF files in the app store at the moment(9.99$), It is super friendly and flexible (almost too flexible maybe as it could get a bit confusing at first when you dive deeper into customization options). You can save the PDF files directly on the iPad or access them from web storage services such as DropBox and when you are done you can share the reviewed document with anyone.

Once you choose your document (you can have up to 6 open documents at a time as tabs in the app), you have several toolbars to work with and lots of options to review:

Navigate the document quickly.
Use a “magic marker” to highlight text in any color you choose.
Add comment with text.
Draw directly on the document with your finger.
Underline text or cross over it to emphasize.
Copy text for use outside the app or in one of the notes
Add bookmarks to sections for future reference.

Executive summary for Nilsen's praliminary review on iPad - I have many comments!

The app has some problem in search and copy paste for “right to left” languages such as Hebrew, the developers are aware of the problem and promise to take care of it in the future (I don’t find it a deal breaker personally).

iAnnotate belongs to a unique family of apps I think that will shape how the iPad is integrated in our life. It would be perfect for students who need to cover lengthy articles and text books for a paper they need to turn over, for a teacher who needs to grade papers or for lawyers & business man reviewing contracts and proposals.

My Video overview (Hebrew caption...)

For full and fair disclosure, the developer gave me a pomocode for the purpose of this review.

Go cables free using Photo Transfer

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 07:21:33 PDT

In my quest to find apps that will help me get more from my iPhone camera I obviously took many pictures and it took me a while but eventually I got tired of hooking up the iPhone to the PC, then to the iPad where I prefer editing the pictures and eventually viewing them. I realized there must be another way… and sure enough I found Photo Transfer.

The app allows you to select photos from your albums and transfer them over WIFI to other devices:

Transfer pictures to / from your PC or MAC:
The app creates a private site, available only to people connected with the same WIFI. You browse to a web address presented on the device where you can either download pictures you selected on the device or upload pictures from the PC / MAC.
Transfer pictures to / from other iOS devices (iPhone / iPod Touch / iPad):
Once you install the app on another device, you can set it as receiver (while the device holding the pictures is the sender). The two devices will than attempt to find each other on the private WIFI network automatically (this part did not work for me but you can do it manually as well) than the pictures are simply transferred to the camera role / saved photos album of the receiving device.

This is a perfect app for moving pictures around that saves a lot of hassle, with simple instructions in the help screens.

For full and fair disclosure, the developer gave me a code for the review of the app and also to give to some of the blog readers, if you are interested drop me a line in the comments / in Virtualida Facebook page…

Video demo & help

Photo Transfer help screen

App review: Tell a story with your pictures using Strip Designer

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 07:21:49 PDT

I was never one of those people who carry a camera everywhere; the need to make a visual documentation was always suppressed since carrying a camera around with me just in case never made sense to me. With the iPhone 3G, I occasionally took a picture and most of the times got mediocre results that didn’t contribute much to my enthusiasm as well. With iPhone 4, the camera can finally be considered reasonable for the average person I think. 5 mega pixel still photo’s look very good and 720 video is more than enough for my needs…

With that in mind, the latest pet projects I decided to take on is finding the best apps that would complement my new camera and increase the personal value of the pictures I take.

The first app in the project “Added value to digital pictures” deals with presentation of the pictures you take. For full and fair disclosure, the app developer gave me a promo code for the purpose of the review and also some other promo codes to give out to some of the readers!

Pictures are meant to tell a story

Taking a good picture is not enough, presenting it to someone is often just as important. That’s why we have the traditional physical albums for the old (pre digital) photos and why presentation skills are so developed since digital photography became so common. The way you layout the pictures is how you tell your story, so how about taking a cue from the masters of picture storytelling and do it comics style?

Remember what it feels like to imagine a scene when you read comics? Strip Designer lets you tell a story by bringing several photos together, adding stickers and comment or actions indicators that will get people a lot more interested.

Strip Designer brings multiple user friendly features that will make editing your picture fun and get you professional looking results in no time, it can give kids and adults alike hours of creativity:

You can present a scene as it actually happened or change the whole meaning just by putting a few pictures together and playing around with the stickers and text.
The app comes with a large variety of templates that allow you to position up to 9 pictures from your photo album.
Applying different filters to a picture, playing with colors to set the right mood is very easy.
If you like, you can add graphic symbols for example noise indicators such as “Crush” or “BOOM” graphics, exclamations calls, a funny mustache drawing etc.
You can add text using various fonts as titles, speech / thoughts balloons coming from people’s heads (the app supports Hebrew and comes with lots of font pre-installed which you can later add too on your own!).
Finally you can save your creation or share it by email or directly to Facebook, flicker or twitter

There are lots of reasons and occasions you may want to use Strip Designer:

Show off vacation pictures
Add a touch of humor to an awkward situation
Create a personalized holiday or birthday card
Remind family and friends what good times you had when you last met
Position several pictures to make a point in a presentation, formal document or a post (as I’ve started doing recently in this blog).

Here are some samples of what the end results may look like:

My sister and I, in a trip to Spain

First time on a horse excitement :)

Giveaway and more information

The app works for both iPhone and iPad and it’ll cost you 2.99$, the first 5 people to “Like” the note on Virtualida Facebook page in this link – get the code!

App Review: iThoughts - Map Your Mind!

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 07:22:48 PDT

Have you ever had a chance to take part in a brain storm meeting dealing with a complex problem or an innovative idea during which ideas were tossed around by the group member?

Have you ever had to prepare a big presentation on an unfamiliar subject and in order to deal with the task, trying to simplify it – you tried to break it down to sub topics methodically using logic?

Have you ever managed a huge project with multiple participants which was actually an integration several sub projects each of which has a world of its own?

It’s possible a mind map would have helped getting your head around the issue!

A mind map is an important, interesting tool takes your through planning processes, envision, scoping, creative thinking, brain storm and learning. The technic is simple and you may very well have used it in the past intuitively without even knowing it, the map helps track our thought process which are usually based on associations. Generally, you start at a central point (an idea / a need / a topic of some kind) than you break it down step by step. Using colors and icons is recommended in order to draw attention and improve the chances of remembering and internalizing the results more easily.

In the iTunes AppStore you can find various tools in different maturity price level that can take you through the process of creating a mind map, so are very basic while others are packed with functionality you don’t necessarily need. In order to deal with some complex processes I am involved with recently, I’ve looked for a good app and I finally chose iThoughtHD which I’ve purchased for my iPad a few weeks ago. Beyond the pleasant user experience and the impressive functionality, I got friendly service from the developer, Craig Scott that quickly responded to my questions early on and shared some of the future plans for the application upgrades in the future…

Mindmap Sample...

I’ve updated Craig on my intentions to run this app review on the blog and for full and fair disclosure, he was nice enough to offer me a promo code for the iPhone app version and… something else (yes, we are talking about 2 different versions, for more details keep reading).

So what have we got with iThoughtsHD

7.99$ in iTunes, Please note this is only a short list of the most significant functionality in my view, for a full list visit the AppStore:

The tool supports multi language (English / Hebrew).
A wide variety of colors and shapes is available for use in the map – the more complex the map the more you’ll want to use different representation for junctions and nodes.
You can use icons and notes to further emphasize and provide additional information
The app provides a vast area to work with; you can focus on a particular area on the map or get a wide view using pinch and zoom.
You can collapse / expand and branch, move / copy a full branch or a single node.
You can add shapes at any point by using the on screen buttons or with keyboard short as well as create links between nodes in different branches.
If your map is meant to help track tasks, you can set a time table and present progress visually with ease.
The app automatically saves versions once in a while so you can go back to past versions at any time if you discover an error or accidently delete something.
The map can be synced with DropBox / synchronized over WI-FI or sent by mail in various formats (PDF, picture, text or order standard mind map formats compatible with other mind map applications).

Confused? Let’s see what it looks like in a video:

iPad iThoughtsHD demo video

iPhones too?

The app was first introduced for the iPhone actually and as previously mentioned is sold separately (7.99$ in iTunes as well). Now, before you rise and eyebrow, please note that due to the limited size of the iPhone – the user interface is completely different and very smart! The functionality is more or less identical according to my quick impression, here is a short demo:

iPhone iThoughts demo video

Remember, the map is meant to simplify dealing with complex issues so you’d be wise to use the various tools the application offers in order to reduce the visual overload!

Oh… I promised one more thing :)

Craig was very kind to offer 2 additional promo codes for the blog readers (one for the iPad and one for the iPhone) so this is how it’s going to be, interested in getting a code?

~~In the comments for this post, please indicate which one of the codes you would like and for what purpose (which project / complex issue is on your mind that a mind map may help with).~~

Since Facebook comments for blogs apparently does not support "Like" ,We’ll use a Facebook note to collect all the comment’s applying for a code (same note for the Hebrew and English applications this time).

Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Facebook note for iThoughts & iThoughtsHD free promo codes

Share the post with your list of friends on Facebook and invite them to like your comment.
The comment with the most “Like”s on Friday, September 3rd 2010, 14:00 Israel time, will award the author with the code.

Please note:

~~Since the post appears both in Hebrew and in English – both posts are participating, no matter where you comment, both posts comments compete for the 2 codes.~~ (updated for use of the Facebook note).
You can apply for both codes in separate comments.
An individual will get only one code (for the comment with the most “Like”s).

Too complicated?
Maybe a mind map can help:
(please note the change of using the Facebook note to collect comments instead of the posts comment).

Links and additional information

iPad VS. SalesFoce.com

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 04:12:54 PDT

I’ve worked with several big organizations in the past few years, introducing and pushing for the use of Knowledge management and collaboration tools. One of the toughest challenges has long since been the sales people. As opposed to most company employees who are focused inwards (on company needs) and are therefore more likely to understand the benefits of sharing, the sales people are focused outwards – making the sale, spending time with the customer playing golf, mingling, with the hopes of landing that next big business deal.

What are sales people saying?

I am mobile, logging into the company network is tedious or even risky for me

VPN login takes precious time, I need to instant access when I need it
I can’t afford not to have the data on me when there is not WIFI / 3G signal so I rather carry what I need in an offline version

I am lost with all the data the company intranet holds!

Forget about R&D portal information / active projects status reports / HR notifications or special deals!
I don’t have time to read company news and updates, checkout the internal Wiki or post on the forum!
Give me immediate access to my contacts
Give me access to previous information on the company I am dealing with
Help me make the connection between my client needs and existing projects

This is actually one of the reasons Salesforce.com is trending I think, they are offering a great solution for mobile use that is fast and tailored to the needs of the sales people. but is this really smart to go this way?

By introducing a solution such as SalesForce.com in the company, you are at risk of creating an island, a disconnected (or limited) place were the sales people can share between themselves while the rest of the company is collaborating on other platforms… how will the R&D department benefit from the insight of the sales people? How much does Marketing need to be involved with SalesForce.com and how much with the rest of your intranet since they are “stuck in the middle”?

Sometimes, the package makes all the difference

How about, giving the sales people iPads instead and provide them with a dedicated information system that is still connected to the intranet?

iPads are sexy… it’ll give the sales manager something to talk about before or after the golf game so you know he’ll love it…
The iPad is more responsive, quicker to turn on super intuitive even for the technologically challenged so training and implementation is less of a risk.
It’s a great platform for media presentation – if you have 5 minutes to make an impression, there is nothing like pulling the iPad and showing a vibrant movie or presentation
Creating a dedicated solution for the iPad is becoming more and more common, using existing IT services and APIs you can provide flexible solutions that are dedicated and friendly to the sales manager but still connected to the internet.
The solutions you provide can still support offline view (similar to Instapaper and other apps that offer support in case you are cut out of the web.
The changes Apple introduced with iOS 4 are making is more secure and more enterprise network friendly so conectivity can be much more simple than with the laptop alternative.

Since the introduction of the Blackberry, corporate employees found out they can stay in touch with their email and not be dependent of their laptop or PC, sales people I believe, took it to the extreme and have since started to push further and further away from the company intranet – declaring their independence… While I do appreciate the benefits of mobility, as a Knowledge management enthusiast – I fear this move may seriously hurt collaboration. I wonder if the iPad can help reverse this trend…

What do you think? please share your comments bellow!

APP Review: MobileNoter helps you sync with OneNote

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 07:23:11 PDT

Last week I wrote a post about the electronic notebook OneNote – a useful tool by Microsoft that I’ve been using for a few years not (you can find the post in my blog under the title “How many of you know OneNote?”. I’ve accumulated a lot of data and personal documentation (summaries, notes, pictures, videos etc.) and as you can guess, the main limitation of the tool for me as my use of mobile devices such as the iPhone and the iPad increases is the dependency of using a PC in order to access data on this product (even the web application that was recently presented with Office 2010 is limited to a certain web browser at this point). You can’t imagine the smile I had when I found out about the following solution…

In the past, I’ve searched for an app that will allow me to synchronize content from OneNote to my iPhone so that I can take my electronic notebooks with me where ever I go, I’ve recently come across and app that allows me to do just that! MobileNoter & MobileNoter for iPad are two free versions (for the iPhone and iPad accordingly of course) that allows you to perform complete or selective sync between the notebooks you manage on your PC using OneNote (for the sync ability you’ll have to pay though, more details will follow).

For full and fair disclosure, the developer granted me an extended subscription so that I may better explore the app for the purpose of this blog review.

The main features and abilities I found useful:

Viewing and editing of existing pages in various notebooks

Add and update of text
Free style drawing tool
Moving pictures around for editing

You can view a list of all the tagged items in a single notebook or all of them

For tags that enable check box– you can updated the status from the app
At this point you cannot tag content from the app though

You can quickly access recent pages or run a search that will cover all the synced notebooks or just the one you are in.

Issues that still require some work:

At this point you cannot create new pages inside the existing notebooks you sync, the good news is that you can do so in the Quick Notes section and later move those notes to the right place after sync using OneNote on the PC and then resync.
Hebrew is presented ok more or less, only it’s shifted to the left

The apps are free, syncing however is not

You have 2 options for paid sync plans:

A onetime paid license (15$) for a sync applications for a single PC that will allow you a direct sync over WIFI between the computer and the mobile device.
A time limited subscription for sync in the cloud:

You’ll still have to install the sync app on the PC but this time it’ll sync with the cloud services which the mobile can sync with as well after that.
The service allows you to sync up to 600 MB on the cloud and is relevant for those who require more frequent updates.
Data encryption was taken into account and dealt with as detailed on the site.
You can choose between a 3 month subscription (5$) or a full year (15$).

What we can expect in the future:

Support sound recording which will keep sync with what you type (similar to the way OneNote does it!)
Ability to sync protected sections from the notebook that are for now unavailable when you sync.Improved formatting for text (Numbers, color etc).
Ability to add new pages to the notebooks from the app(not just Quick Notes)
Improved ability to work with images on existing pages in your notebooks
Ability to tag content in the app
Multiple device sync

An updated version is expected to come very soon and another about a month after that according to the timetable given by the developer which means there is serious work being done and the solution is supposed to grow and evolve in the future.

Please note,

After downloading the sync application for the PC and registering, you get a 30 day trial version before you need to purchase a subscription or the WIFI sync license so you can check it out without spending a cent.
The application supports sync between one PC and one mobile device for the moment (you cannot sync both your iPhone and iPad with the main PC due to a limitation in the current sync algorithm).

Tip!

Even if you don’t use OneNote, the apps are very friendly for taking notes with picture attachments, search ability etc. the apps are free and they can rival some paid apps that are offered in the Appstore in terms of functionality.

Links and additional information:

How many of you know OneNote?

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 07:23:21 PDT

Taken from Microsoft OneNote guide

One of the more useful but least known tools in the office suite if called OneNote. This tool that was first presenting in Office 2003 has gone through an impressive evolution in the following versions of 2007, 2010 and is a strong contender in the personal productivity tools category in my opinion. OneNote is used as an electronic notebook and is most useful for mobile computer users.

What does electronic have to do with a notebook?

Teacher: “Amir, why don’t you write?”

Amir: “I listen and remember…”

Teacher: “Don’t remember, just write!”

Since our early school days we’ve been taught to write in our notebooks, to this day it’s very rare to find a meeting where at least some if not all of the participants carry a notebook. Weather you write the meeting summary and distribute it later, take personal point from the discussion for your own use or just scribble – the notebook has been with us for years. The electronic notebook can be used for the same purposes and more:

The electronic notebook, unlike Office Word does not require you to SAVE. They say the paper can absorb anything you write on it, so does the electronic notebook – every word an change are immediately captured and saved, you can close your computer and once you reopen it you’ll the content is just as you left it.
You can enter text by typing on your keyboard or by writing directly on a touch screen for computer that support this functionality.
You can highlight (just like you would using a marker) any text or picture
You can add pictures / sound / video as well as manual doodles and drawings using a mouse or pen on a supporting touch screen.
Just like all Office suite tools you can of course add tables, tags for important sections, edits styles just as in Word or PowerPoint to give the final draft an organized, professional look.

Additional benefits:

You can quickly link between pages in your notebook
You can run fast search on all the notebooks

Search in English also covers words that appear within images you save on the notebook!

You can record a meeting (sound / video) while you summarize the meeting, OneNote will keep sync between the recording and the typing process so when you later point a section of text the recording can jump directly to the right place (that way you can hear what was said exactly when the note was taken).
The tool also supports synchronized shared work between several participants using a particular notebook while everyone can see the same page, each in his own computer, every update appears for the others next to the name of the person who made it.
The final draft can be quickly sent by mail (meeting summary for example) or you can create tasks with reminders as well as subsequent meetings directly from the notebook with direct link to the decision that was made and noted in the summary.

Conference room mess
(From the blog curiusLee)

There are many other benefits to the electronic notebook, but I’ll leave them for your find out for yourselves… I’ve been using OneNote for over 5 years in work and in my studies mostly and you can safely say I am a big fan. The only problem is with people who don’t know or unused to it who can’t understand why someone would participate in a meeting, keep his laptop open and type during the meeting… you can try to explain or demonstrate but while some may understand and even appreciate it, others will still see it as a sign of disrespect (I’ve met a few that were sure I was switching to play Tetris whenever they weren’t looking instead of listening) so you should be sensitive to that and maybe keep a real notebook near Just in case.

Beyond my own personal little contribution to the green trend, the electronic notebook saves me time (no need to copy notes from the regular notebook for the meeting summary of for future reference), saves space (drawers with past notebooks for historic record) and allows me to easily find every detail I document in it (I’d like to see you find a decision from a projects kickoff meeting that was held last year or some good tips that were given by the professor in human resources course you took back in college, regarding employee evaluation when you get down to do this task every year…).

OneNote is included in all office 2010 packages, I urge you to give it a try.

Social Search - Revolution NOW!

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 04:12:54 PDT

The social search revolution (Virtualida ©)

The internet is going through a revolution these days, similar to the one it went following the release of Google’s Page rank in dealing with the relatively new concept of “Social search”. Now that the social networks are well established its time to leverage the vast knowledge that has been accumulated there and revise the way we deal with information and knowledge. Various companies are developing different strategies in dealing with social search and it will be very interesting to see where todays revolutions will lead us.

Somewhere at the turn of this century, Google has transformed the world of internet search completely with the introduction of its famous “Page rank” on which her search results are still based on today and in similar ways in other leading search engines in the market. At some point it has become clear that simply crawling the web automatically while indexing the various pages is not enough to produce a relevant sorted list of results and neither can a group of people large and skilled as it can be will be able to canvas the net and catalog it for the rest of us. If you haven’t been around or simply don’t remember, you can check out the post “Popular Search Engines in the 90’s: Then and Now” and get a clue as to the major transformation search engines have gone through in the past 14 years.

Search engine from the "old days"...

Search.Twitter.Com

When I mention twitter search, I don’t mean the search box that’s in the top of the page before you login or at the side bar after you’ve logged in. Oddly, you won’t find a direct clear link to the professional search engine twitter provides - the one that covers all activity in the social network - Http://search.twitter.com or the advanced version http://search.twitter.com/advanced.

Diving a little bit deeper into this page you can quickly recognize the true power behind micro blogging – the ability to focus on specific tweets with any combination of words, people’s names, a definitive location from which the tweet originated (something like: display tweets within a 2 miles radios from 42nds street, Manhattan), date range and even the ability to filter the tweets by negative and positive attitudes or ones that contain a question.

Note, within the search results, Twitter will push the 3 tweets that have been ReTweeted the most followed by all other tweets in chronological order. In addition, the results will include tweets in which the search term appears within linked content and not necessarily only within the tweet sentence (in order words, search results are not limited to the tweet itself but extend to the linked content). Recently, Twitter has limited the date range to few recent days, probably due to overload from which the system suffers but there are other solutions that will still enable you to search tweets history and it’s reasonable to assume Twitter will expand the range again in the future.

What they have to say about it on Twitter?

This Social search that focuses only on Twitter content holds huge potential for marketing professionals as well as for regular people interesting in researching a particular subject and get results that are linked with identified individuals. For instance, you can locate a restaurant that got good reviews within a 1 mile radius from a specific location… the strategy in this case is relaying on public wisdom in a similar way to one of the leading principles behind the page rank – the more people reference something on the social network, the probability of it being relevant and accurate to the person doing the search increases.

Google Social Circle

Naturally, one of the more interesting experiments tested by Google these days also deals with social search. If you search using www.google.com (Searching from localized Google sites does not support this still), as identified users with your Gmail account you may find a special type of results hiding on the first page, results that originate from content that has been published by people directly connected to your social circle.

Search using your Google social circle

It seems this experiment is in early stages at the moment and it will probably be integrated with the social network Google is expected to release in the future (the rumored Facebook competitor Google.me). At this stage, in order to receive social search results you are required to have an active Google profile as well as the rest of people connected to your social circle.

To checkout your own personal social circle as Google sees it you can follow this link: http://www.google.com/s2/search/social#socialcircle

In this case, the strategy is to push content that originated from the user’s personal social network (friends profile pages and connected content, Google buzz as well as other social networks) within the general search results provided for the user, based on the assumption that content with which members of your social network deals with, may very well be of particular interest when you search. This will eventually augment the algorithm of the page rank probably.

Sentimnt - my social archive

An interesting startup that has been making some headlines recently under the name Sentimnt promises to allow an overall search spanning various social networks and specific content sources in order to track a certain peace of information with which the user may have ran into in the past. Let’s say for example that a friend published a few months ago some tips in his status line or blog on how to handle communication with your cable company in case of some problem… at the time that information was not relevant to you so you move on. Today, when you ran into a similar problem, if you want to go back to those tips a before calling the service desk, you will be able to search through your personal social archive and track the specific post (while if you do a similar search using Google, you’ll be overwhelmed with a lot more other results before the one you are interested – if it was even indexed).

http://sentimnt.com/

Sentimnt - your sentimental archive...

This service is currently in beta, you can connect to it only following a direct invite which you can apply for in the site. I’ve yet to receive and invite although I applied a few days ago so I’ll get back to you if and when I have something more to report on this…

It seems their business model will include limited search functionality for free with the ability to expand with a monthly paid subscription. The search engine is expected to cover RSS feeds you subscribe too, your Google reader, Facebook data from your friends, Twitter data from the people you follow, Gmail and social bookmarks buy Delicious (it seems you’ll have to grant direct access to the search engine into all these accounts while completely exposing them to access by the search engine – what may very well be considered by many as unacceptable).

The goal of this search engine, is to serve as a personal archive that covers all the content to which the user gets exposed too and provide dedicated personalized and unique results to each individual based on their social network (while combining several social networks) while completely ignoring all other search results to which the user is not directly linked in one way or another (we already know where we can get that type of data). In this way, a novice with a limited social network is not expected to gain much value from this engine and it’s likely he will rely on traditional search engines. But the more active and big his social network becomes, the more value he can gain from the information and knowledge his friends and colleagues share, with every item identified and linked with a specific individual that you can follow-up with for additional information if you wish.

To summarize, we’ve seen how different companies tackle the concept of social search:

Limited focused search on a particular social network allowing segmentation of the results for drill down using advanced search as done by Twitter.
Using a user’s personal social circle to include results coming from his linked contacts, trying to improve the relevancy of search results as Google is experimenting with.
Creating a combined archive of several social networks, allowing you to track a single content item to which you’ve been exposed in the past from your personal content sources as the Sentimnt search engine promises to deliver.

Vive la revolution!

Publish your own content for Flipboard!

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 04:12:54 PDT

Wouldn’t it be nice to add your blog content or edit all the links you find interesting in a magazine style and give access to millions of iPad users?

The hottest iPad app on the market “Flipboard” introduced the first social magazine and has been getting some great reviews over the past few days. If you haven’t heard of it, this app is only for iPad and it basically sits on top of your social networks (Facebook & Twitter) and lets you browse them just like you would a magazine…. It simulates page turns and organizes the pages automatically with content that is taken from those networks.

If you are thinking “Great, another RSS feed reader…” you couldn’t be more wrong – flipboard does more than present the twits and status updates – it goes into the links and takes the pictures and text from the articles and pages and makes them a part of the page that is presented. The end result - great magazine style pages dedicated to your likings, based on the content added by friends and the people you follow.

Other than your Twitter and Facebook, Flipboard offers a variety of content providers to select from and compose your social magazine. But what if you own a blog and you want to provide your readers with a dedicated channel in the same style? What if you keep running into great links and want to edit them together on a daily or a weekly basis for the world to follow?? Flipboard does not handle RSS feeds at the moment – but that doesn’t mean you can still do something about it.

Creating an independent section for your content distinguishes it from the rest of the twits and status updates in the reader’s Facebook and Twitter feeds that include many others.

The method is actually rather simple, create a dedicated twitter account or advertise the one you already have for people to add in Flipboard. Then, add instructions for the users how they should add your content to Flipboard.

What it would look like

The end result would look just like any other section in the main content page of Flipboard, the twits from your twitter account with the links and picture would be automatically edited by Flipboard as magazine pages for the entire world to see.

See samples at the end of this post!

How to add as section in Flipboard (the instructions for the users more or less)

Click to add new section

Type the Twitter account name with "@" and click the twiter user button

In order to add a section to Flipboard, you should go into the app, flip to the “Contents” page and click the “add section” square (Flipboard supports up to 9 sections at the moment so if you don’t see one – you’ll have to edit and remove one of the existing sections...)
Then, using the search box at the top right – type the twitter ID with the “@” prefix for example type “@virtualida”
Click the name that appears in the middle (you can also try to search but not all twitter accounts can be found using the search for some reason – so it’s better to directly type the twitter account with the “@” sign).

That’s it… the Twitter account should be added as a new independent section.

How to manage your “Magazine”

Managing the account is as simple as managing your twitter account – you can add and delete twits that will be edited automatically into the Flipboard magazine. A good guide line would be to start off with text as head line for the Flipboard article, than the link (preferably shortened link) to the article. Flipboard will do the rest – pull the text and photos from the link and compose the magazine.

Additional comments

Be ready for the fact you have little control over how Flipboard edits the posts together, I’ve yet to figure out the algorithm behind it – when does he pull the picture and how many lines of texts are taken per post.
Flipboard probably saves a cached version the twitter account and only pulls it every few hours, so a new post may take time to appear.
There may be encoding issues with foreign languages, for example not all Hebrew sites work at the moment while some do.

Samples of the end results:

Virtualida magazine section

Clayton Morris on Twitter as magazine section

Newsgeek from Israel - in Hebrew

The main content page leading to the new sections

Enjoy Virtualida magazine and spread the word to your fellow bloggers and friends!
(Please link to this post as professional curtsy)

Why bother with Knowledge Management?

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 04:12:54 PDT

“If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish Author & Playwright

If you check Wikipedia, you’ll see Knowledge Management has been around as an established discipline since 1991, the concept of sharing knowledge and ideas is much older though as you can see from the quote above and there are endless examples the predate it. Yet many companies and individuals are still not sure if KM is good for their business and how much they should invest in it!

I believe companies and individuals have different motivational reasons for pursuing the implementation of KM but that doesn’t mean there is a conflict – it just means that this different points of view should be taken into account from the beginning and effect the way you present the business justification to the company management and later to the employees.

The value from the organization point of view

There are several common goals shared by most organizations that KM can contribute too, for example:

Reduce costs – avoid repeating past mistakes based on lessons learned and making accumulated knowledge easily accessible can reduce the time spent on a particular task and improve the chances it will be done right the first time around.
Improve effectiveness - using best practices such as team collaboration, following up on centrally managed KPIs and action items can greatly contribute to the quality of the work which can only increase over time as the knowledge base covers more and more ground.
Generate growth and profit – with improved quality and quicker response time profit will naturally increase. Providing tools for research and discovery can contribute to synergy, build infrastructure for innovation and improve the intellectual capital of the company that lead to growth and increase profit.

With detailed professional requirements analysis, we can plan and design diverse KM solutions to fit the unique business goals of any organization.

The Value from the individual point of view

Even if you don’t accept the concept that what’s good for the company is often good for the employees, going along and adopting KM practices can work for the individual’s benefit just as much:

Be heard and recognized – contributing insights and ideas, sharing experience, exposing personal knowledge and expertise help getting noticed… The better the quality of the shared material, the more relevant it is – the more it will be reused and more credit will be given.
Solve problems and feel effective – avoiding problem and overcoming challenges quickly contribute to the personal satisfaction and self-sense of worth.
Personal growth – going back to the quote by Bernard Shaw, learning from your peers, being introduced to new concepts, ideas, best practices and professional knowledge make us grow, help the individual become better at what he does and improve the chances he can move forward and advance in his career.

With KM, one of the ground rules is you gain at least as much as you give and share… so the deeper the implementation of knowledge management is in the company the more it stands to gain from it just as the more the employee contribute the more he can gain from the personal point of view.

Why I Won’t Be Craiglisting My iPad

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 04:12:54 PDT

(Well, other than because I live in Israel and we have other sites for that - not that I’ll do that with them as well)

Reply to by Vivek Wadhwa’s article titled “Why I’m Craigslisting My iPads” posted on TechCrunch on Jul 17, 2010

I am pretty sure you cannot call me an Apple fanboy: I never really got along with Mac on whatever device it came with… I kept getting lost with whatever task I wanted to accomplish on a Macintosh, Mac book and the others. I don’t own an Apple TV, iPod never really appealed to me (although I have cool MediaCenter setup in my living room and like all humans I love music…). I was always a fan of Microsoft though… I’ve been using every product they came up with since Dos 4.01 around 1988 including all forms of windows and office suites, I’ve worked closely with most of the servers they provide including all versions of SharePoint to this date. Ok, I have an iPhone 3g and I can’t wait to get my hands on the new iPhone 4 so Apple did make its way into my heart in some way, but I would never consider listing my iPad on any site like Craigslist. Why? Because I can hardly get away from it and put it aside, I CAN’T stop using it!

When the iPad was first announced I was disappointed actually. No front facing camera or multitasking, seemed like it would be mostly used for media consumption and games and I really don’t have much time for that (check out the Xbox and Wii sitting side by side next to that MediaCenter I mentioned earlier.. mostly gathering dust these days...). I thought it didn’t really have much chance of catching with the masses, I mean we have computers, laptops and Netbooks, eReaders in various shapes and sizes and the price was not that cheap! Besides, who buys and apple product on the first version? It’s obvious there will be a big leap a year later..

But then I saw the actual thing, held it in my hand, the early adopter / passionate geek with low postponement of gratification skills in me just had to have it. I figured, I really should start reading and since I never get around to go to the book store – it’s time I get a proper eReader, plus it would be great to stream media to the bedroom (without SageTV and the laptop that are already providing that options). I also figured I deserve one and that if eventually it won’t be used much – I would always be able to resell it.

The reality turned out to be quite different. While I thought the iPad would never leave the house, I don’t think there was one day I left it there when I went to work… so I really think everyone should buy and iPad and I can’t see why someone would like to part with the one they have. Here’s why:

First, it changed what the “media consumption” means to me, if in the past it was movies, music and some news articles from the one local news site I’ve always followed, all the other things the internet has to offer suddenly make sense! RSS feeds, blogs and social networking always seemed like a waste of time and I couldn’t figure out how other people find the time to “obsess “ about them so much. With the iPad, keeping track and handling all that huge amounts of data is SO MUCH easier! It literally opened up new horizons for me and I salute all of you who were into those things before I got here  I don’t know how you did it and I am still trying to make up for all the things I missed out on.

So, we have the RSS reader (I use NewsRack to keep track of blogs, news sites etc.), we have Twitter which is slowly catching on here in Israel (I use Echofon), we have Instapaper just in case we step away from an area with WiFi / 3G, we have the Youtube app for movies and Safari that does a good job with most sites I turn too. These are the main tools I use to stay updated with professional content, trends and other topics of interest.

Second, taking my laptop with me to all places suddenly feels like a drag… granted, Office2HD which I am using doesn’t have all the capabilities of the wonderful Office 2010 I have installed on my main computer, but it has most of what I need when I am mobile. If I need to catch a quick meeting summary its more than enough (plus people complain less that it seems like I am not paying attention to them when I type during the meeting, in fact they are intrigued and curious!). I keep the documents I need locally, some others I keep on Dropbox, and when I really want to do research I have the iPad on one side for searching the net and I have the laptop on the other side with access to all my past documents including access to the online document management system that’s in use in the company I work for. I feel perfectly fine using the right too for each task and I adapt and come up with new ways to be more efficient and effective using all the available tools.

Third, I am anxiously waiting for iOS4 to make its way to the iPad and it will be very helpful to be able to switch between applications as I use it. Until then, I have Backgrounder that works with some of the apps (that’s right, I jail broken the iPad as soon as I could, remember – I am not an apple fanboy and I don’t appreciate being denied access to the full potential of the products I buy). I may one day get another iPad (probably the ones that comes out next year) if I really want to have the dual screen experience, until such time, I have the laptop close by when I need it.

Forth, I never really liked flash, for some reason I often find it distracting from the actual content and most of the sites I relay on have come up with adequate alternatives. I also think that as HTML 5 becomes more common, it’s possible I won’t miss flash at all (HTML 5 is still official in draft mode and it’s expected to mature and spread in the next 2 years, so you may have to be patient).

Last, while I do miss the camera (both front for Facetime use and back for augmented reality users) the iPad is all I could expect from an eReader using the iBook / Kindle app / B&N – although I don’t have much time for it, reading is much more accessible and fun for me. Also, AirVideo is wonderful for streaming my media files from the living room MediaCenter to anywhere in the house, so all the uses I originally expected to have are actually useful this time!

I know many people still don’t get the iPad, they think conventional computers are more than enough for them and they can’t justify the purchase of an iPad that is still considered a luxury item by many. But from my experience, this is a life changing, professional tool that is worth every cent that I put into it.

I am definitely going to buy and iPhone 4, antenna issue and all because the iPhone 3G is almost exhausted at this point and I really think the bumpers look nice so I wouldn’t mind having one on. I am sure the second version of the iPad is going to awesome and I’ll probably buy one as well and find something to do with the one I have now. So Steve, with the iOS devices, you got me hocked I guess, but with the Mac OS you still have a lot of hard work ahead of you and for now Gates / Ballmer can be sure I’ll keep using all things MS when it comes to my standard computer / laptop. I really do believe you should use the right tool for the right job and the iPad is an excellent tool for me.

P.S #1 This post was written on an laptop using office 2010 Word, so what?!?

P.S #2 TechCranch, feel free to repost :)

How much do you really want to share with the world?

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 04:12:54 PDT

The Privacy issue on Facebook is getting mentioned here and there (probably much more in the US and in English than in Israel and in Hebrew or other countries and languages) and in my opinion, too many Facebook users choose not to think about it, and that is a shame…

Here are some things to consider:

For many, Facebook is dedicated to communication with friends (some friends closer than others), a bit part of the communication revolves around experiences – parties, hanging out, having fun maybe?

Have you been photographed lately? Have you been tagged?
Maybe you have a friend who thins a picture of you dunk or having some other awkward moment will provide a nice topic to post and discuss on Facebook?

Has anyone used your profile for advertising something by tagging you on some shady advertisement photo?
Maybe you have some hobby which is… not exactly politically correct and you’ve indicated “like” to a group that deals with that sort of thing?
Did you know some of the applications you’ve approved on Facebook have access to your personal information, this information is exposed to the developers and worst, you have allowed the application to share this info with others and even publish it.

In some cased, the application doesn’t have to be used directly by you: it’s enough that a friend is using it and allowed it to access your personal information which is exposed to him!

Facebook recently advertised a new service that is supposed to automatically tag people in photo’s based on advanced facial recognition, how many photos (awkward to one degree or another) may be out there on the internet which you are not even aware of that can automatically be tagged like this?

You would do well to remember that:

Search engines such as Google systematically scan Facebook – every photo, status, video, like etc. may find their way to search results and these days ANYONE can search…
More and more employers are searching Facebook these days – what can they find out about you?

Awkward moments?
Tags in photos or status notification that may not correspond with the message you want to communication?
Bizarre habits or hobbies you enjoy?

So what do we do?

Not share?!? Cancel the account?!? – That is really not what I am offering, there are a number of things you can do:

Develop awareness – it’s important to understand and thing a little on the consequences of what it is you do – the information you publish and the approvals you give friends and applications to publish.
You may want to check your settings and update them (some tips will follow)

You can check manually the profile and approval settings pages of your account
You can also use a dedicated application that will scan your settings and provide diagnosis of current state and maybe some recommendations (simply follow the instructions):

Here are some guide lines and tips that may help:

Basic Directory Information

Who can “See my friend list”? – who needs too? (it seems to me only your friends and maybe their friends as well, but beyond that, why should they be interested?)
“See my interests and other pages” – now to me this is an important decision that depends very much on why you use Facebook:

If you use it for social purposes only, you can limit the exposure to a close circle of friends in one level or another and block it from networks and others (this way embarrassing or inappropriate content is limited in its exposure).
If you have some work related or networking uses for Facebook, you may want to share with as many people as possible, but than on the other hand, you need to remember to avoid exposing potentially embarrassing things or things that can be seen as negative.

Application Settings

Avoid approving every silly application and if you have – clean up from time to time and get rid of those who are not in use.
For the applications you choose to keep, I recommend doing into their specific settings and make sure they are allowed to do only what they need in order to ensure proper function.

Account settings

Networks – to which networks are you connected? (some of the privacy settings allow you to limit access to “friends and networks”) are those networks still relevant? Do you really want to expose those things with all the other members of these Networks?

Please note – if you leave a network, if may not be easy to get back to it later, sometimes membership in networks is an asset since it gives you important access to information and connections, it would be wise to think carefully on this one (you can simply share less with the network…)

Privacy settings, you should use the “Customize Settings” option rather than settle for one of the combos offered by Facebook:

With want circle of friends do you feel comfortable sharing each of the contents listed there?
“Photos and videos I’m tagged in” – maybe you can settle for close friends only? That ones that will forgive you for embarrassing staff or turn your attention to something before it becomes public knowledge?
“Can see wall posts by my friends” – how far do you want something that was written by a Facebook friend on your wall to go? (how many of your Facebook friends are really friends?)
Who do you want to share your contact information with? Address, phone numbers, email addresses?

That’s it basically… you don’t have to panic and block every feature but on the other hand, remember that ignorance can cost you dearly and hurt in places you least expect.

Safe sharing!

Keep paying if you want to keep MyWi as you upgrade

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 04:12:54 PDT

One of the apps that made some headlines in the jailbreak community a couple of months ago was “MyWi”, the takeoff version for “MiFi” cards that popped up in the past year, promised to allow its users a simple way to create WiFi hotspot at a click of a button and enable other wireless internet dependent devices to connect to the web.

Many users temped by the promise of connect anywhere based on the 3G coverage paid “Rock Your Phone” the 9.99$ and when the iPad WiFi only versions was launched, the app was even more attractive for those who wanted to avoid paying the extra 130$ and simply tether the iPad to their existing iPhone. Unfortunately I was one of theme…

First as to my experience with the original release for the 3.0 OS – it worked ok more or less… although I often had to do a complete restart after using the app to create the hot spot before I was able to create another (that was apparently the only way to clear up some things from its cache that prevented another hot spot from initiating) – not the best experience but it did what it was supposed to do.

When iOS 4 was launched, the original app stopped working like many others until the “Rock Your Phone” recently released an iOS 4 version, but the proud owners of the app had a surprise when looking for the upgrade – the price doubled (19.99$)! AND previous owners would have to pay additional 9.99$ as an upgrade fee if they want the app to work on their upgraded iOS 4 device…

Apparently “Rock Your Phone” and the developer think their app users should pay about 10$ whenever a new OS comes along… how many apps have you seen do that in the App store or even in Cydia? Am I the only app consumer who finds it outrageous?!?

Check out this correspondence I had with their support:

From Amir

toRock Your Phone Support

dateThu, Jul 15, 2010 at 9:17 PM

subjectRe: Rock Contact Form: - amir

mailed-bygmail.com

9:17 PM (41 minutes ago)

I understand the term you are offering.

However the basic assumption for every app in various app stores Jb or other is that there will be free updates for os upgrades. The app info did not state additional payment will be required for future versions!

What you are suggesting is that users should no upgrade the os if they want to keep using the app?!?

This is pure greed and completely against any standards app users are used too.

Please convey my disappointment to the relevant people as well as the developer and be sure I'll stay true to my word in the first email.

Amir.

Sent from my iPad

- Hide quoted text -

On 15/07/2010, at 21:01, "Rock Your Phone Support" wrote:

> Amir,

>

> MyWi 4.0 is a new app which is compatible with all OS's including iOS4

> and is priced at $19.99. It can be downloaded as a free 10-day trial

> and then can be purchased.

>

> MyWi 3.x remains for sale supporting all 3x firmware levels.

>

> If you purchased MyWi anytime in the past and have moved up to iOS4 and

> want to purchase MWi 4.0, you will receive a $10 credit during checkout.

>

> Thanks,

>

> Tom Cross

> _______________________

> Rock Your Phone, Inc.

> support@rockyourphone.com

>

> -----Original Message-----

> From: Amir Hanan

> Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2010 12:26 PM

> To: Rock Your Phone Support

> Subject: Rock Contact Form: - amir

>

>

>

> Name: Amir Hanan

> Type:

> E-mail:

> Telephone:

>

> Comment: I've purchased mywi 2 months ago for 9.99 and I was shocked to

> find out I am required to pay additional money for it to work on ios4 !

> I would not pay 19.95 to begin with at any case and the fact you now

> rise the price is not acceptable in any way to me.

> I hope you refund me the money if you want me as a customer in the

> future, I sencirly promise I would never buy another app from you if you

> dont and will make sure none of my friends and follower would as well

>

> Amir.

>

What is Knowledge Management anyway?

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 04:12:54 PDT

I was recently asked that question by a friend who visited my blog and tried to figure out “what is it that you do anyway?!?” So I promised I’ll explain in a future post and here it is…

First I’ll say that from my experience, if you ask 10 people who define themselves as experts in Knowledge Management (KM from now on) to define KM, most likely you would get 10 different answers… actually, sometimes when you asked the same person that same question on different occasions you may get different answers! (You can get some examples in a blog post titled "Definition of KM" in "Gowry's View of Knowledge Management" blog).

If I have to pick one definition I’ll take this one by Karl Wiig, Chairman and CEO Knowledge Research Institute (1997):

"Knowledge management is the systematic, explicit, and deliberate building, renewal, and application of knowledge to maximize an enterprises knowledge-related effectiveness and returns from its knowledge assets."

To me, this mean Knowledge is considered an asset and as such we (and organizations in particular) should manage it in the same way we manage any other asset – working methodically to increase the quantity & quality of this asset.

You may ask yourself first, what is knowledge? (You should by the way…) we have:

Explicit (meaning clear, physical, obvious – that you can see) can be structured / unstructured:

Structured - in databases or other data structures such as XML for example, in a way that allows us to easily distinguish between parameters and characteristics in order to analyze it.
Unstructured – bulk text files, documents etc. that are not as organized and therefor it is harder to deduce insights and they require diving deeper into the content in order to get to the answer or insight you seek.

Tacit (implied, not physical) ideas, experiences and insights that people carry in their heads.

The problem (mainly) with the tacit knowledge is that we depend on the person that is actually holding this type of knowledge in his head to be available when we need him, and sadly that’s not always the case… people change positions in the course of their careers, they may leave the company and for sure they go home from time to time and take the knowledge with them!

Since knowledge is an asset, our goal should be to capture this knowledge and allow it to exist within the company systems so that we may leverage it whenever we need.

So the easiest diagram describing the main functions of KM includes 3 functions - we need to capture the knowledge, map so that eventually we can leverage it (and go back and capture the new knowledge that is generated….)

That’s more or less what KM is about… so why are there so many different definitions to KM out there? Why almost every company struggles with the question of how to implement KM? I can think of several reasons:

KM is a multi-disciplinary practice that involves methodology and tools for independent fields of expertise such as document management, collaboration, social networking and much more, so KM for each company may be composed differently.
Delivery of a good KM solution requires analysis of the people should serve, the processes they follow, the tools that are available and the culture that exists and addressing each of these aspects. That means the KM expert should be part System analyst, part business analyst, part organizational consultant, part psychologist and part philosopher (and it’s that part in particular or again the different solutions that are offered in each case that lead to so many definitions…)

I hope I gave you some clue as to what KM is and what it is that I do,

feel free to respond and ask questions, in the future I’ll dive deeper in to some of the topics I’ve mentioned here and lots of others.

Updated Virtualida Site Design

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 04:12:54 PDT

If you've been to this blog site before, you'll notice some major look and feel changes I've worked on for the past week or so. With recent updates to the blogger template designer and my plans for this blog I decided it's a good time now to "step up the game" with a more updated design.

The blog is now updated in two aspects:

Graphic - look and feel
Functional - integration of new collaboration components to the site

Graphic aspect, look and feel

I wanted to keep to a simple look and feel, get rid of the dramatic header and tone down the colors, introduce round corners in some places, transparent backgrounds - bringing a more updated overall design.

I still consider changing the background image, the current one is nice but it's one of the default backgrounds that come with the template so it may become boring the more people use it... Also I consider introducing a logo, but that may take time since I'll want to give it proper focus since branding is not something I take lightly.

Functional aspects, updated collaboration options

First, you'll notice a group of icons on the top right side bar. Since a big part of the content in this blog will deal with knowledge management and collaboration, it's only fitting I use advanced social networking and collaboration features...

RSS feed reader, if you are using any type of news feed application (Google reader or otherwise) you can now get updates on new posts as soon as they become available, for more information click here

Email me - the old fashion way, if you wish to get in touch and give me any type of private feedback use this link to open a new email message and take it from there...

Delicious link, if you find this blog interesting, add it to you delicious bookmarks! In doing so you are also sharing the link with your friends, introducing them to the blog site and support the blog by letting everyone know you find the content interesting, for more information click here

Stumbleupon link, similar to delicious, this is another service to let others know you approve of this site content, support the blog and improve the chances others will visit, for more information click here

Twitter link, link to my personal Twitter page. I am not that active on Twitter yet, this is mainly because I don't have many followers there :) actually, in our local market in Israel, Twitter is still not that wide spread... I will probably use it more in the future so stay tuned... (Doesn’t hurt to follow someone that doesn't twit much... Don't you think?)

LinkedIn link, direct link to my personal profile where you can check out my CV and the professional network of experts I am connected with all my connections there are people I’ve worked with directly one way or another in the course of my career.

I added other collaboration options on the post level:

You can now clearly see at the beginning of each post how many comments were added so far, the idea is increase the discussions on each post... Please feel free to leave your comment!

Facebook like button - per post, if you find it interesting, please clock to let your Facebook friends know about it.

A number of other links for sharing can be found at the bottom of each post allowing you to quickly twit about the post, share it in Facebook, Google buzz etc.

The goal here is to give you many options to connect with the content I am adding and spread it around to your social network, please use them and let me know what you think!

Cali Lewis everyone...

noreply@blogger.com (Amir Hanan) — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 04:12:54 PDT

Ok, so this post is dedicated to a very dear person that I've yet had the pleasure of actually meeting face to face :)

Cali Lewis, the sweet hostess of geekbrief.tv has announced the last episode of that show and moving a new project under the new brand geekbeat.tv. I've been following Cali and the brief for over a year now, getting most of my tech news delivered in wonderful 3 – 6 minutes of video episodes every few days, each episode carefully and professionally edited (often including funny bloopers at the end).

Covering all sorts of news related to gadgets, technological and scientific breakthroughs and projects from all over the world, Cali is a true geek at heart and you can usually see it when she talked about cameras robots and some favorite TV shows such as V and others…

I am crossing fingers the new project geekbeat.tv preserves the quality and feel of the brief I’ve come to depend on :)

Follow Cali!

And join me in wishing her best of luck…