Kevin Muldoon

As I said last week, I won’t be using Google Buzz. If you use gmail, you may be interested to know that you can turn buzz on and off at the bottom of your Gmail account (in the footer links).

I switched mine off last week but turned it on today to see what I missed. It does seem that many people are enjoying using it, therefore I will probably be integrating Google Buzz in future blogs I develop. It’s still not for me though.

Below is Googles response to the privacy issues which were recently raised about Buzz.

I’ve had the chance to play around with Google Buzz over the last few days. Forget about all the marketing talk by Google, Buzz is essentially FriendFeed/Twitter integrated into GMail. Which to me is a big plus because I use Gmail everyday anyway.

Buzz also integrates with Twitter well and allows you to post updates to both, but you can’t follow replies to both (as yet). Twitter fans will no doubt love Buzz. I did my best to like Twitter and tried to use it as I know it’s a good way to market websites. Though I find it time consuming and a bit of a pain in the ass to be honest.

When you work online you need to make sure you manage your time wisely as it’s incredibly easy to skive off and do other things. And for me, Twitter and Buzz both come into the skiving off category. Marketers are always telling you that Twitter is a great way to build relationships online. I personally prefer email. Seriously, how are you supposed to develop a relationship with someone who has thousands of followers. If you want to partner up with them on a new project then why not drop them an email and have a chat via msn messenger or skype?

I must admit I do skive off semi frequently on FaceBook but everyone I know there I know in real life.

Already I’ve noticed the same kind of people complaining on Buzz. I saw several people complain yesterday because others were not telling the world who they were via their Buzz profile, which means that they don’t know whether they should follow them or not. I’m of the opinion that if you don’t know them, then don’t bloody follow them!! One of the problems of Twitter/Buzz is the more people you follow, the more difficult it is to build any sort of relationship. You are in essence just shouting into the wind and hoping that someone shouts back. If everyone would keep the number of people they follow to under 100 it would work, but they don’t, which means when you do reply to someone it will likely be lost in one of a thousand replies back to them.

For these people it’s all about the numbers i.e. the number of people following them. And they’re right; because in order to market via social networking sites like Twitter and Buzz you need to have a lot of followers, and the easiest way to do that is to follow someone else and hope that they reciprocate.

So to summarise, Google Buzz seems pretty good and I am a big fan of them integrating it with the Gmail interface. However, my feelings towards using these kind of sites remain the same.

I do understand the benefits of using these networking sites for business (and that’s all I would be using it for because I keep in touch with real life friends via Facebook), but for me the cons greatly outweigh the pros. In order to get anything back you need to spend a lot of time networking and getting yourself known, time I would rather spend writing good articles, developing my sites and contacting people about potential projects and partnerships directly via email or messenger.

There’s only so many hours in the day, and you learn to appreciate that after working online for several years. Fair play to those who can manage their workload and spend hours every week posting on these sites, but I find it incredibly difficult to do both. And if I have anything relevant to say, I prefer to put it into an article.

I may occasionally leave a message on Buzz though; there’s certainly more chance of me posting there than Twitter seeing as it’s built right into Gmail. Bah humbug!!!

Kev

p.s. please don’t reply saying I don’t understand Twitter. I used to run a Twitter blog and read dozens of ebooks on the subject. I’ve also wrote lots of articles on promoting yourself via Twitter and tried out lots of free and paid services too. My issues are not with Twitter itself, it’s more to do with the time it takes to get anything back from it. Opportunity cost rules all.

Google Buzz was announced earlier this week. Rather than starting a social networking site themselves, Google have instead opted to build Buzz into Gmail. Which I think is a good idea as Gmail has hundreds of millions of users so it should grow in popularity pretty quickly.

I do log into Facebook most days but I never really got into Twitter. I knew it was great for networking and promoting websites but I found it time consuming and pretty boring too. Though Buzz might be more up my street. All of my website email addresses filter through Gmail and I can access that via my phone too, so perhaps this is something I will use. I won’t know for sure until it’s rolled out.

What do you think about Google Buzz?

Kev

After saying I didn’t want to be a fanboy, I’m posting about the new Apple iPad on the same day as getting an iMac, though it’s hard to get away from all the exposure this new gadget is getting.

It seems to be getting great reviews. I’m sure it’s a capable device, I just can’t figure out what it’s for. Well, I can’t think of any reason why I would get it.

To me it seems like a glorified touch. I was lucky enough to get an 8gb touch for free a few months before it came out in the UK as some poker company sent me it as a gift. I loved it at first but after a month or so the novelty of using wifi went away and I was left with a music player that wasn’t very practical for me. That is, an mp3 player which was a pain in the ass to use at the gym or in the car as you had to go through a few screens via a menu to change things rather than just click a button.

However, I am aware that millions of people love the nano, touch and iPhone. The music player aspect of the iPad is the only thing that appeals to me. I guess it would be good as a home media player and would allow people to browse and play music easily. Though this can already be done with the touch and classic ipods and if I wanted something bigger for the home, I’d be inclined to get a budget all in one pc which runs windows to do that.

A few people have noted that it is being released in the USA for only $10 more than the Amazon Kindle. However, I really don’t think they should be compared. The Kindle was designed specifically for reading ebooks and has various settings for reading in light and dark conditions. I can’t imagine reading an ebook via the iPad outside is practical or easy on the eyes. I may be mistaken though.

Of course, I’m sure the device has lots of great features. I just can’t think of any reason why I would want an iPad. It does seem to be a bit overhyped. I mean it should have been called the iTouch Large or something like that though obviously that isn’t going to shift as many units.

When I normally read about a new gadget I think ‘I want one’, even when I really don’t have any need for it. Though I don’t think that about the iPad. Perhaps I’m missing something but it just seems like a large iTouch with a faster processor. It’s too big to put in your pocket so you would need to carry it around in a bag. And if you are doing that, why not just get a fast netbook with a flash hard drive?

What do you think of the iPad? Is it overhyped or do you think it could be a useful device?

Yesterday I mentioned my intention of getting a new computer. I really wanted to get the Apple iMac 27″ with i7 processor but was put off by reports of flickering and my the 3-4 weeks to ship the machine.

I looked at lots of different setups in the meantime including purchasing a 30″ monitor or two 24″ monitors and getting either a windows 7 pc or a macbook or a mac mini. In the end I decided that I wanted the imac (thanks for convincing me Chris!). So I called the apple store in Glasgow this morning and asked if they had i7s in stock. To my joy they had some in stock.

I drove into Glasgow and went to the Apple shop but was disappointed to hear that they only sell i5 powered iMacs, not the first time I have been duped recently by misinformation. The salesman apologised but I wasn’t too mad, after all, it wasn’t his fault. By this time I was already playing with the new 27″ and realised immediately why it was top of my shopping list.

I then had to make a decision, do I purchase the i5 today or wait a month and get the i7. I asked the sales rep for some time and read several articles which compared the benchmarks between the two processors. There’s no doubt that the i7 is a faster processor, the main reason is due to it’s hyper threading capabilities which allows 8 cores instead of the i5s four.

Many people were of the opinion that you should get the i7 simply because it’s future proofing your machine whilst others thought that it was a waste of money if you didn’t need to do heavy video editing. In the end I decided to just get the i5 machine. Mainly because I won’t need much processing power anyways as I will only be using it for work, which means browsing, word editing and basic photoshopping. Though I will also be watching videos from time to time. The i7 was about £135 more expensive too so I think I made the right decision, particularly as I mostly game on my PS3.

I’ve only had it a few hours but I have to say I’m very impressed. I took the 4gb model (2×2GB) but it can be upgraded to 16gb so I may decide to upgrade in the future, though I don’t think I need to soon as it seems awfully quick.

I installed skype and spoke to my mate Johnny, who has used macs for a few years. He has already helped me out with some basic tips to help me going (apart from using macs at nightschool about 8 years ago, I’ve always used windows or linux). So far I’m loving it. I wasn’t sure about the small wireless keypad as I like to have a number pad but it’s really easy to type on. The magic mouse seems quite cool too.

The iMac really is a beautiful machine and I’m enjoying the extra workspace already. I’m operating a little slower than I usually do with my windows machine but I’m sure I will be much quicker once I get used to how everything works.

I have my 15.4″ windows vista laptop next to my new imac with an 1.5 terabye external hard drive in between. I don’t think I’ll be turning into a complete fanboy but i must admit my first impressions are positive. Though I’m sure I will still use my windows laptop from time to time for some things.

Any other mac fans out there?

Kev

A quick explanation about the big bang

I don’t own an iPhone. However, I did get the iTouch when it was launched. So I browse the app store from time to time.

The app is called FlipTime and was designed to resemble the boards you see at Airports and Train Stations.

FEATURES:

• Portrait mode
• Landscape mode
• Can flip panels by flicking from top to down or tapping them
• Can show next/previous month by flicking horizontally
• Can reset by shaking

Check out the video below to see it in action :

It only costs $0.99 so if you fancy it, you can download the app here and read more about it here.

The last few days I have spoke about my search to find the best email solution for me. I still have 7 months of my contract to run on my phone so I was looking for a good solution to tide me over til then, at which point I will try and get a good contract with unlimited internet.

At the moment I have a Nokia N95 8GB and although my contract has unlimited texts, it does not have any internet usage included. Through my orange account I can however add bundles to my contract such as Unlimited Evening & Weekend Browsing for £5 per month, 30MB of usage for £8 per month and 80mb of usage for a ridiculous £41.13 per month.

For over a year now I have been forwarding all of my business related emails to my Gmail account. This allows me to check my emails almost anywhere. Before I was using outlook express and had to transfer backed up emails and account details to my other laptop whenever I was travelling, a right pain in the butt!

So my research into ‘how to check my emails on the move’ should really have been ‘how do I check my gmail account on the move’.

Thankfully, with the N95, there are a few options

Mobile Gmail With A Browser

Google has a low bandwidth version of Gmail which you can use at m.gmail.com. There are no images or advertisements and the page loads really quickly. A good option to try out.

Nokia Default Mail Client

Nokia symbian phones have a mail client built into them. You can setup a pop mailbox or, more preferable, an imap mailbox.Once you set it up on your phone, you can view, send and receive emails in much the same way as text messages. Infact, the screen looks almost identical.

Google has good instructions on how you can set this up on a Symbian S60 phone

1. Enable IMAP in your Gmail settings.
2. Select ‘Messaging’ > ‘Options’ > ‘Settings’ > ‘E-mail’ > ‘Mailboxes.’
3. If you have never set up email on your phone before, select ‘Yes’ to define a new mailbox. If you already have other mailboxes, select ‘Options’ and then ‘New mailbox.’
4. Select ‘Start’ to begin the setup wizard.
5. Select ‘IMAP4′ and then ‘Next.’
6. Enter your full email address (including ‘@gmail.com’) as the email address and select ‘Next.’ Google Apps users, enter your full address in the format ‘username@your_domain.com.’
7. Enter ‘imap.gmail.com’ as the incoming mail server and select ‘Next.’
8. Enter ’smtp.gmail.com’ as the outgoing mail server and select ‘Next.’
9. Select the appropriate access point and then ‘Next.’
10. Enter a descriptive name for the email account mailbox name.
11. Once your mailbox is set up, select it from the email mailbox settings screen.
12. Select ‘Connection settings’ > ‘Incoming e-mail.’
13. Enter your address (including ‘@gmail.com’ or ‘@your_domain.com’) and password.
14. Select ‘SSL/TLS’ for your security (ports) and define your port as ‘993.’
15. Select ‘Back.’
16. Select ‘Outgoing e-mail.’
17. Enter your email address (including ‘@gmail.com’ or ‘@your_domain.com’) and password.
18. Select ‘StartTLS’ for your security (ports) and define your port as ‘587.’
19. Select ‘Back’ and change any other settings according to your preferences.
20. Check our recommended client settings, and adjust your client’s settings as needed.

All Symbian also provide a good quick guide on how you can do it.

Google Gmail Mobile Application

Google have a range of applications for mobile phone users. All you need to do is go to www.google.com/mobile/, select the type of phone you have and then select Gmail. You then have to enter your phone number (make sure you go to your regional google i.e. for the UK go to www.google.co.uk/mobile/).

After that Google will send you a download link to download the app to your phone.

Which Method Is Best?

I followed Googles Instructions and setup gmail through the default mail client on my Nokia N95 8GB. It works ok but it’s not perfect.

You can setup automatical retrieval so that your phone will check for new mail every 15 mins, 30 mins, hour or day or whatever. You can also set how many new messages you will download. I stupidly asked my phone to receive all mail and my N95 then tried to download every single email that I have on my Gmail. My phone froze and I had to switch off my phone as I couldn’t get it to stop. When I switched it back on I noticed that it had downloaded over 2,000 messages!

The mobile version of Gmail works pretty well but for me, the Google App was by far the best way to check my emails. It’s a scaled down version of Gmail but it still has all the major features like starring posts, something which the other methods lacked.

All the methods are fairly quick and until I get a new phone contract, I weill probably use a mixture of the default client and the google mail application.

If I’m out and about and want to check my emails I can logon via the Gmail Application. Unless you leave that on constantly though, you will not be informed of new posts. Therefore if for some reason I am out and need to know when I receive an email then I can use the default mail client that Nokia offers. I can set it so that I am informed of any new emails to my account and then I can go and check my email through the Gmail application.

This is the best setup for me and it won’t use much bandwidth either. Plus, I can always try and leech some free wifi if I’m at a friends anyways

Hope this helps some Gmail users out there

Kevin

I decided to do something I’ve been meaning to do for a while now and extend the life of my laptop a little and upgrade it’s RAM. Looking back, I’m not sure why I haven’t upgraded it until now as I have upgraded my last 3 portable laptops (the one I use for travelling) and before that my PC always had the maximum amount of RAM it could hold.

My Asus G1S is about 2 years old now but it was top of the range at the time with it’s 2GB of Ram. It’s still not that slow generally but there are times, when I have several programs on at the same time, that it slows down a little.

I took a look online the other day and noticed that a 2GB module only costs £20.69, which is buttons in the grand scale of things. With 2x 1.1 GB modules already in the laptop, I had the option of either upgrading to 3.1GB for £20.69 or purchasing 2 modules for £41.38 and putting 2 GB modules in.

However, since I have a 32 bit version of Vista, putting 4 GB into my laptop is pointless as it will only recognise between 3 GB and 3.5 GB. This is because vista can only allocate 4GB of RAM memory (roughly 2^32). However, this includes the RAM from your graphics card, sounds card etc too.

How much RAM you actually get from putting 4GB into a 32 bit version of Vista varies from machine to machine. Some people get as much as 3.5 GB but most people get around 3.2 GB. There are some bios workarounds and tricks which you can use to try and get closer to 4 GB but the only sure way to get all of the 4 GB of RAM is to either install a 64 bit operating system i.e. a 64 bit version of Linux or Vista, which isn’t really worth doing as I can’t upgrade for free and would have to buy it outright. It’s simply not worth it with this machine.

I got the module delivered today (from Crucial) and quickly installed it. Within a few minutes my laptop was booting up with 3.1 GB of Ram. And it has made a big difference. I sometimes have 7 or 8 windows open which is why it got slow at times before but now, with an extra gig to play around with, the laptop handles it very well.

My brothers laptop only had 1 GB installed (2×512MB) so I was able to boost that as well from around 890 MB to 1.4 GB. Due to the memory Vista itself took up, the difference on that laptop was much more apparent. Before FireFox was incredibly slow at loading up but now it loads up quickly (like it should).

DDR2 Ram is really cheap now so I recommend upgrading the RAM on your laptop if it is not at it’s maximum. Don’t be daunted by the thought of upgrading RAM on a laptop, it’s actually very easy. For 99% of laptops it’s just a matter of unscrewing a slot at the bottom and putting your module in

Yesterday I talked about how I have been looking at mobile email solutions. The device I found, the Peek, is unfortunately only available in the United States.

A few days ago though I came across this advertisement for the Blackberry Pearl.

Whilst the BlackBerry 8110 is not a top of the range phone, it does have push email. You can pick it up sim free for about £130.00 so £179.99 for the phone AND unlimited email and internet is a great offer (particularly on pay as you go). However, this is a great offer only if you don’t use your phone much as you don’t get free minutes or free texts so if you were using it regularly as a phone, I think you’d be better off getting a contract.

I don’t particularly want to carry two phones around with me so this is obviously not the best solution for me.

I have found a good temporary solution which suits me though. I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow