my mobile office

Read/Write Web did an article last summer about "rolling your own office." As a telecommuter, and a consultant/freelancer previously, I'm intimately familiar with most of those tools, and have fully and completely jumped on the web application bandwagon. My calendar is online. My email is web mail. My project management tools and todo lists are online. My "office" software is online. I haven't yet paid for online storage, but I do have an account at box.net, and am seriously considering making the move. (Currently, I use Hamachi to VPN to my desktop at home. This is fine most of the time -- except when massive storms hit San Francisco and the power goes out.)

Early last year, frustrated with Sprint's voicemail system, I began looking around ago for an online substitution. I started using GotVoice to check my voicemail and get it on the web (visual voicemail pre-iPhone!). Then I signed up for a GrandCentral number and fell in love. I emailed my family and work contacts, put the new number on my business cards, and made the switch. I've used Skype when I'm on the go and can't get a cell signal, but haven't had to resort to this too often.

I write all this to get to the point of this post... I'm currently in Vancouver at Web Directions North, and AT&T's international rates are pretty high. After the first day of making calls, checking email, going online, etc., I realized that I was roaming and promptly turned data roaming off. I can do without the email and the browsing, especially since I have access to WiFi at the hotel during the day. But what to do about all those pesky calls coming in?

Here's what to do (if you have a GrandCentral account):

1. Download Gizmo (like Skype, but VOIP/SIP)
   
2. Set up your Gizmo account
3. Add your Gizmo number to GrandCentral
4. Tell your friends, family, coworkers to call your GrandCentral number
5. Take your calls on your computer!

Voilà!

[non-sequitur]I want to start capturing all the various incarnations of the usage/mis-usage/misspelling of "voilà." This might be via blog, twitter, flickr, or something else entirely (tumblr?) but it will happen one of these days. I've seen "wahla!", "wahlah!", "viola!", "vwalla!" and oh-so-many more.[/non-sequitur]

So, if you travel a lot, have a Skype-In number (or otherwise use Skype a lot), frequently head to the mountains where there is no cell signal, or are just plain curious... go download Gizmo and give it a whirl. If you need a GrandCentral invite, just hit me up in the comments or on Twitter. I know they're still in beta (so everything is still FREE!), but I don't know the status of whether you need an invite or not.

Try it out!

iPhone Zeitgeist

"iPhone" on twitter -- watch this number grow as the pages get cached. unfortunately no way to search the public timeline.

"iPhone" on google blog search (searching only 1/9/2007) -- currently more than 4,500 posts

"iPhone" on technorati -- currently 3,327 blog posts tagged 'iphone'

and apple has updated their homepage and site navigation to include the big announcement. gadget geeks everywhere drool in anticipation...

iPhone is no longer a rumor

[photo via engadget]

it's true. steve jobs announced a couple big products this morning -- Apple TV and the long-awaited, vastly-speculated-upon, years-in-the-making iPhone.

some links...

• jobs's keynote this morning at macworld
• engadget blogged the entire keynote
  
• engadget highlight reel
• iPhone product page at apple.com
  (yes, it's real! and holy crap they created some very cool demos!)

quick specs... [via The Unofficial Apple Weblog]

• The iPhone will use a revolutionary interface called MultiTouch, first seen in Apple patent filings over a year ago.
  
• The iPhone will run OS X, and be capable of running desktop-class applications.
• The 4GB costs $499 and the 8GB $599 (includes a 2 year contract with Cingular). It is shipping in June.

My 1st Apple

And now, like millions of bloggers before me... I will blog my first Apple purchase.

I'm rather notoriously anti-Apple, though as their machines get slicker and slicker (not to mention the killer specs) it's hard to remain a totally PC gal. I've been an Apple enabler in the past -- I got the wife a shiny white iPod video last year. But we don't use iTunes, and it's hers.

However, after receiving a gift certificate from my boss, along with a note of encouragment to "come on over to the dark side," I have, like Anakin Skywalker before me, done just that.

Here are pictures of my brand-spanking-new black iPod nano. It really is impossibly small! (Collage courtesy of Picasa 2.)

nano collage Hosted on Zooomr

Since this isn't exactly my first Apple experience (I'm the one who had to deal with the technical details of getting the wife's video iPod loaded and ready to go), I know what to expect. I'm hoping the battery life is decent, and I'm looking into how to carve a hole into my running shoes so that I don't have to buy new Nikes to take advantage of this.

Hopefully I won't be running back to the Apple store in 2 weeks, cuz this shiny new gadget is awfully cute and needs a good home!

DirectTV and XM Radio finally get their act together

DirecTV is now streaming 72 XM radio stations!

As part of DIRECTV's dedication to offering the best in entertainment to its customers, beginning Nov. 15, 2005, 72 channels of XM's quality music, children's, and talk programming will be available via DIRECTV, nearly doubling its current audio programming lineup at no additional cost. In addition to music channels and children's programming, XM will provide XM's Major League Baseball "Home Plate" talk radio channel, and its High Voltage channel, featuring talk radio stars Opie and Anthony.

sure enough, channels 801-879 are now XM radio stations. Channel lineup (PDF)

it took them long enough -- Sirius has evidently been providing Dish with radio content since sometime last year. but better late than never... the stereo sound quality is good, and the "top" stations appear to be represented. my faves are all there -- deep tracks, top tracks, real jazz, beyond jazz, xm live, xm cafe, xmu, fred, ethel, music lab, lucy, the loft. perhaps they'll figure out a way to allow a local traffic & weather station based on subscriber zip code!

the only glitches i can see are that song synchronization is sometimes slow, and some stations provide minimal (or even no) song info -- which is weird since it seems like it would just be a port of exactly what is coming through normally. but hey, it's free!

between this and free internet streaming, i'll definitely be keeping my satellite radio unit in the car!