Get Google Maps Phone Directions and Locations Without GPS

It’s funny. The same week I buy a GPS-enabled phone, Google releases a beta of Google Maps that can find your location without the use of satellites.





Yes Google Maps for Mobile now has cell tower triangulation built in so your location can be guessed to within a range of around 100 meters or so. If you have not tried Google Maps on your phone, it is well worth a look. Here is what they describe as the key features:

Real-time traffic — See where the congestion is, and estimate delays in over 30 major US metropolitan areas.

Detailed directions — Whether you plan to walk or drive, your route is displayed on the map itself, together with step-by-step directions.

Integrated search results — Local business locations and contact information appear all in one place, integrated on your map.

Easily movable maps — Interactive maps let you zoom in or out, and move in all directions so you can orient yourself visually.

Satellite imagery — Get a bird’s eye view of your desired location. (It’s like you’re there, we swear.)

Now for me this is a great improvement in many ways over Nokias own product that comes free on the n95. There are however a few things you need to be aware of:

  1. It is quite data intensive, unlike Nokias product you can’t pre-load the maps you need to use, which means you will be using up your data tariff pretty quickly
  2. Just like the standard Google Maps/Earth, the data is out of date. Don’t expect it to show you recent road changes. Right now it thinks I am sitting 100 feet up in the air above an empty field.
  3. The directions are only really useful as a passenger or on foot, if you want a voice telling you which direction to take use Nokias subscription or buy TomTom.

That said it is a great addition to be used as complimentary, if only for local amenities searches and the detailed (if dated) satellite imagery. Try it out on your phone now.

The Excel Magician: 70+ Excel Tips and Shortcuts to help you make Excel Magic

Are you working with Excel and want take your Excel skills to the next level? Or do you want to learn Excel and don’t know where to start? Check out these 70+ tips and shortcuts that will help you make Excel Magic.

Online tutorials & videos

The following online tutorials are mostly free and will teach you quite a bit about Excel. In fact they are better than some of the expensive classroom training courses.

  1. Online introduction to Excel: If you are just starting to use excel, this is the perfect resource for you. Here you will find dozens of audio courses that take a step by step approach to learning excel.
  2. DataPig Technologies: The guys from Data Pig Technologies made a comprehensive collection of videos that explain almost every aspect of Excel. From basic Excel concepts to VBA programming. And most of the videos are free!
  3. Online Charts Tutorial: Jon Peltier is an Excel-charting superstar. You can use his online tutorial to get you started on Excel charting and also as a reference.
  4. Basic Formulas Guide: This excellent tutorial will help you master Excel formulas in no time.
  5. Common uses for Formulas: This collection of samples will help you understand what can be achieved by using excel formulas.
  6. An introduction to Pivot Tables: The Pivot Table is an amazing tool, but people often shy away from it because Pivot Tables seem complicated. The first page of this PDF contains a clear description of Pivot Tables and how they can be used.
  7. Creating a Pivot table: A 7-minute video shows you how to create and work with Pivot Tables.
  8. Pivot Tables in Excel 2007: Excel 2007 Pivot Tables are much easier to use. If you use excel 2007, check out this slightly promotional yet excellent introduction to Pivot Tables.
  9. Practicing Pivot Tables: This step by step tutorial from Microsoft will help you sharpen your Pivot Table skills.
  10. Microsoft Excel help / 2007: When all else fails, Microsoft Excel Help is a good source to try.

Books

In order to harness the full power of Excel, shell out a couple of book bucks. The following books are packed with information and real-world know-how.

General Excel Books

  1. Excel Bible 2003 / 2007 version: The “Excel Bible” was written by the renowned Excel expert, John Walkenbach. It explains everything from basic formulas and functions to data validation, and Excel programming. If you have only $30 to spend on Excel training, buy this book.
  2. Excel Charts: This book is a comprehensive, yet easy to understand, guide to Excel charting. It’s a useful resource for both beginner and experienced excel users.
  3. Excel Formulas: Formulas are the lifeblood of spreadsheets and “Excel Formulas” from John Walkenbach will teach you everything about them. This book covers all things formula, from custom worksheet functions to financials formulas and more.
  4. Pivot Tables and data analysis / 2007 version: One of the most useful yet most feared features in Excel – the Pivot Table, is tackled gracefully by Bill Jelen (aka Mr. Excel) and Michael Alexander. Well worth the read.
  5. Excel Programming: By far, the best guide to Excel programming. The book also outlines a programming methodology for Excel. The only downside to this book is that it assumes a bit of programming knowledge.
  6. Report programming with Excel: If you plan to build a reporting system based on excel, this is the book for you. It shows how to use Excel to build a reporting/data analysis environment and shows how to properly work with SQL databases.

Excel Tips and case studies

  1. Excel case studies: While not for the beginner, this book contains valuable, real-world advice on how to make Fxcel do what you want it to do. Make sure you check out the “Making things look good” chapter.
  2. Excel Tips: A highly recommended Excel tip book from Mr. Spreadsheet himself.
  3. Some more Excel Tips: A compendium of Excel tips. This is not the first book you should own, but I often find that I return to this book when I’m stuck.
  4. This isn’t Excel it’s Magic: Bob Umlas is probably the foremost expert on formulas. The things this guy does with formulas will make your hair stand on end. If you are serious about Excel, than buy this book.

Specialized Excel books

  1. Principals of finance with Excel: This highly recommended book will help you understand the applicability of Excel in financial environments. It is loaded with real world examples and can help both the financial expert and the techie.
  2. Statistical Analysis with Excel: Using plain English and real-life examples, this book provides information that helps with statistical analysis. The book covers samples and normal distributions, probabilities and related distributions, trends and correlations, as well as statistical terms like median vs. mean, margin of error, standard deviation, permutations, and correlations.
  3. Business Analysis with Excel: Running a business is complicated. Understanding issues like cost of goods, inventory, sales forecast, tax statements is crucial to success. Business analysis with Excel explains these issues and shows how to tackle them using Excel.
  4. Sales Forecasting with Excel: This book shows you how to use Microsoft Excel, to predict trends and future sales based on—numbers. Use data about the past to forecast the future. Excel provides all sorts of tools to help you do that, and this book shows you how to use them.
  5. Excel for Chemists: While most of this book is a general introduction to Excel, it is filled with Chemistry oriented examples. The book also contains a complete chapter that shows how Excel can assist chemists in research.

Forums, News Groups and Mailing Lists

No matter how tough or silly your question is, the experts in the following sites/mailing lists will answer it. They will do it for free and usually within a couple of hours. Don’t be shy. Join these communities and ask.

Note: The online Excel community is one of the nicest communities that I have ever had the pleasure of joining.

  1. Mailing Lists: Wow. This is the jackpot. The Excel-G mailing list is monitored by the best Excel experts in the world. They answer every question. If you post an interesting enough problem these Excel gurus will compete among themselves to answer first and give the most elegant solution.
  2. Mr. Excel Message Boards: A very friendly forum whose members will usually provide you with an answer within 3-5 hours. A bunch of Microsoft MVPs (including the Mr. Excel gang) monitor the forums. And, of course, it has a pure html interface which makes it easier to use.
  3. Excel News Groups: If you prefer USENET groups to mailing lists or Message boards, than you’ll love the Microsoft Excel groups. Most questions asked will be answered within 12 hours.
  4. ExcelForum.com: ExcelForum.com provides a web interface to the Excel News groups. If you do not want to be bothered with the USENET interface, this site will is a useful alternative.

Excel Experts

Some Excel projects are too big/difficult to tackle alone. Here is a (short) list of some of the best hired guns in the Excel Field (If you know other top-notch Excel experts, drop a link to their site in the comments).

  1. Jon Peltier: If you have a charting project/problem, I would recommend working with Jon. Jon brings to the table over 20 years of Excel experience A PhD from MIT and is a Microsoft Excel MVP.
  2. Chip Pearson: Mr. Pearson is a renowned Excel expert and while his fees are not low, he is one of the best. If you need an urgent solution or have a critical project, I would consider asking Chip for help.
  3. Mr. Excel Consulting Services: The Mr. Excel team is probably the largest Excel consultancy in the world. Their ranks include numerous excel MVPs and they have an amazing amount of Excel Knowledge.
  4. JMT Consulting: A consulting service from two respected Excel MVPs: Masaru Kaji and Andrew Engwirda.

Excel Blogs and Tip Sites

Tips sites and Excel blogs will usually send you a daily Excel tip. Many Excel professionals register to these sites and read the daily tips to keep their Excel skills sharp. They also serve as repositories for thousands of Excel case studies.

  1. Daily Dose of Excel: A blog managed by Dick Kusleika and authored by many Excel Experts and MVPs. “Daily Dose” is updated several times a week and profiles tips, tricks and news from the excel Industry. Highly recommended!
  2. ExcelTip.com: Over the years ExcelTip amassed hundreds of tips and solutions to real world problems. You can either use the categories or the search function to find the information you want. You can also register to a tips newsletter. The site is managed by Joseph Rubin.
  3. Official Microsoft 2007 Blog: The Official Excel Blog. Written by the Excel product managers/programmers. It contains a lot of information and how-to articles about Excel. The level of articles on this blog varies from “useful to everyone” to “only for hardcore excel services programmers.”
  4. Vital News Excel Tips: Very similar to ExcelTip, this site contains hundreds of tips sorted into categories and offers a weekly newsletter.
  5. Chip Pearson Newsletter: A new service from Chip Pearson. Each issue of this newsletter contains a thorough examination of a technique or of an Excel function. For those of you that wish to gain deep knowledge of Excel, this is an excellent resource.
  6. Excel User: Excel User contains a “Visitor Question” section and many high quality articles. This site was created and maintained by Charles Kyd.
  7. Andrew’s Excel Tips: Andrew Engwirda writes one of the best Excel blogs. What separates Andrew from the flock is his vast amount of Excel and programming experience.
  8. Codswallop: Although we are not a strictly an Excel-centered blog, we plan to bring a lot of Excel goodies in near future. Don’t hesitate – subscribe now!
  9. Smurf On Spreadsheets: Simon Murphy is an Excel programming master. If you are into Excel Programming, this blog is perfect for you.
  10. The Ken Puls Blog: Ken’s blog is neither Excel centered nor frequently updated. However, when Ken does blog about Excel, it’s pure gold. Definitely worth checking out.
  11. XL Dennis: Dennis Wallentin writes about developing Excel centered solutions with the .Net framework.

Excel Templates

Templates can be a huge time saver and odds are that the spreadsheet you are trying to build already exists. We’ve divided Microsoft’s huge template repository into useful categories so you’ll be able to find the right template for you.

Business Related Templates

  1. Budget Templates: Whether you are managing your personal budget, your Wedding budget or your gardening budget, you’ll find a template for it here.
  2. Balance Sheets: You can find almost any kind of balance sheet here.
  3. Expense Reports: Unexpected expenses can have a nasty effect on your bottom line. Use these templates to record and control expenses (including traveling expenses).
  4. Business Forms: Here you can find all types of different forms, from a traveling advance request form to a car mileage log.
  5. Inventory Templates: Manage and track you inventory with these templates.
  6. Invoices, Work Orders, Packing Slips: This is a real time saver. Whether you work in retail or services, you will find the right invoice/work order template here.
  7. Purchase Orders: Not only will these templates help you get the exact the items you need on time and delivered to the right place, they also come in a variety of colors.
  8. Receipts: A variety of receipt templates.
  9. Time Sheets: Use these templates to track employee work time. You can choose a template that will sum the employee and overall working hours on a daily, weekly or even monthly basis.
  10. All kinds of Reports: Different financial and management reports.

Other Templates

  1. All Kinds of Lists: Phone List, Grocery List, Reading List, Gift List and much more.
  2. Planning Templates: Business and personal planning templates.
  3. Schedules: Schedule templates for your employee shifts, business and personal events.

AdditionalTemplate Sites

  1. Vertex42 Excel Templates: Dozens of Excel templates. Some even come with a user manual.
  2. OZGrid Excel Templates Page: Another big and famous collection of templates.

Excel Tools

Excel is the ultimate killer app. But there are cases where even Excel needs a little help. Here are some Excel Add-ins that can double your effectivness.

  1. Asap Utilities: Probably the best known Excel productivity add-in. Asap utilities contains advance selection options, advanced browsing capabilities, better formula handling and much more.
  2. Send Mail: This cool little freebie from Ron de Bruin that allows you to send an email with the contents of a workbook, a single sheet or even a selection area.
  3. Excel Sentry: Use the Excel Sentry to prevent your business data from falling into the competition’s hands. The Excel sentry allows you to encrypt your spreadsheet in such a way that only you or your employees/coworkers can use it.
  4. XL Statistics: A free statistics package that expands the existing Excel functionality.
  5. Palo: A free (open source) OLAP server for excel. On-line Analytical Processing servers usually cost hundreds of thousands and sometimes even millions of dollars. Jedox (the company that made Palo) is giving it away. Definitely worth checking out.
  6. PDF to Excel: One of the most stubborn sources of data for Excel is PDF files. Whether they are scanned or not, PDF2XL will extract the data for you.
  7. FlorenceSoft: This cool little app allows you to easily find the differences between two different sheets.
  8. Excel Password Remover: Do you have a terribly important sheet you encrypted and then forgot the password? The Excel Password remover is your locksmith.
  9. Tree Plan: A set of data analysis tools from Mike Middleton.
  10. DPlot: Create 2D and 3D graphs and plots with DPlot. Especially suited for Engineers and scientist that need expanded charting and plotting functionality. DPlot contains unique chart types such as, the Polar Chart, The triangle plot and more.
  11. DigDB: Another well known Microsoft Excel productivity add-in.

Additional Excel Resources

  1. Excel User Conference: The Excel user Conference, run by Daemon Longworth (MVP), is by far the best venue to advance you Excel skills. You will learn high-end Excel tips and tricks from the best Excel experts (all the instructors are Microsoft MVPs). Plus, everyone is extremely friendly and you’ll get a bunch of laughs and even a couple of beers.
  2. Charts by Jorge Camoes: A site dedicated to Excel charts and charts add-ins. Also runs a chart centered blog.
  3. Excel funny videos: Who said Excel wasn’t fun?
  4. Excel games: And to top the list. I present Excel – the gaming platform.

Now it’s time to Excel.

The Future of Privacy

Many people have been taken aback by the row brewing between Facebook and MoveOn, but it seems to me just one instance of a fundamental clash of ideologies.

Basically the argument in this instance comes down to “opt-in” and “opt-out”, but I believe those are just the visible signs of an underlying philosophy.

On the Facebook side of course what they are doing is going about the business of being in business. What is their main asset? The private details of millions of users. That’s what their product is; a huge database of personal information. To make money they are looking to ways they can use that asset.

From the MoveOn point of view Facebook has taken not just a pro-Facebook stance, but an anti-user position. They allege that initially Facebook provided a global-opt-out from their Beacon ads and yanked it at the last minute. In fact an opt-out does not go far enough to be truly user-centric, anything like this really ought to be opt-in but most businesses would choose the opt-out to ensure a majority of users go through.

Behind the scenes is the idea of “personal information as tradeable commodity”. Facebook is probably the most visible service right now, but if you look at it closely social media is pretty much all about aggregating information, opinions, trends and preferences from as many people as they can attract.

Not so much “wisdom of crowds” as “wealth of crowds”.

As users we need to stand up for our own privacy. The commercial imperatives of the companies that create these tools and services will not necessarily always align with what is best for us. It is up to us to look out for and counteract when these services put our personal information in jeopardy.

Are we Headed for Dotbomb or Dotboom 2.0?

With the most recent mergers, share prices, and acquisitions, lots of people have been talking about a Bubble 2.0. History does tend to repeat itself. Is this what we are seeing?

If you recall the first time around, the technology sector and internet in particular was flooded with cash and confidence. People were even talking about it being a new economy. Funnily enough, the same things were said before the great depression.

This abundance mentality was fueled by sky-high share prices, IPO-based exit strategies and “business plan, what business plan?” confidence tricks. Are we seeing the same things now?

First time around they either had no business plan or at best “sell eyeballs and advertising“. Valuations were therefore based on membership counts and ability to sell banners.

Funny how the ones who sold actual products at a profit are still around. Even though many had doubts about Amazon, if you asked around most people actually bought from them. Yes it took a while to make a profit but while other companies were buying superbowl advertising, they were investing in infrastructure. I’m sure you will agree, that paid off.

Web 1.0 was like the wild west. The rules were not there so there were no rules to be broken. Now we know there needs to be a business plan and sensible spending … right?

The darling of the tech stock pundit right now is probably Google. The Big G has tentacles in all sorts of markets but the valuation is based on their continuing ability to suck advertising dollars from all parts of the marketplace. It almost happened by mistake, Adwords was not a top-down strategic masterstroke but a lower level employees copy of Overture. Implementation made all the difference, and because it worked so well there is more to Google now than some super smart kids with a super smart search engine.

While they Google manage to find otherwise unreachable advertising dollars they will continue to prosper. Sounds good until you realize Adwords is the only place they make real money, and the Adwords empire can not make this sort of growth indefinitely. If the biggest and brightest has an uncertain future, what about the rest?

Facebook is up there with Google in terms of press attention and recruiting power, but not so much with the income. In fact it seems while there are one or two cunning developers making money off Facebook, they are the only ones. Billion dollar valuations aside, it seems to me the emperor has no clothes. Yet again we have “high eyeballs-based valuation first, think about making money later“. Their business plan? Advertising. Again.

So on the one hand we have exuberance, on the other we have VCs shrinking away from playing the gamble and Web2.0 companies using Web1.0 strategies (or lack of). Where are we headed?

Look at the worlds leading economies and you will see there are some troubled times ahead of us. The USA real estate bubble pop, the sub prime problems, tanking value of the dollar, all add up to some painful financial ripples. In a recession consumers pull their belts tighter, causing retailers to do the same. This cascades all through the market. Those Web2.0 properties monetized by “premium brand banners” are going to be chasing a smaller and smaller advertisement fund.

While this seems like a pessimistic view, I am optimistic surprisingly!

There are companies out there now using the internet to market real products to real customers. The web is not going away, it is now part of peoples lives.

My daughter was born into a world where the internet was taken for granted. When she wants to watch the latest pop videos she turns to YouTube, not MTV.

This says to me that whatever happens, there is still a lot more business to be done online, we just have to learn the lessons of the past.

Firefox Hacks: URL Keyword Commands

Most of us will have used the Google toolbar or search box to perform a search from the web browser, but did you know you could type commands right into your URL bar?

When you bookmark a site you can edit the bookmark to give it a keyword. Entering this keyword in the URL bar will take you straight to that website.

That’s pretty cool already for keyboard fans, but there is more! You can use this system to enable searches on your favorite online services right from the URL bar too.

Take Flickr as an example. Go to Flickr and right-click (or CTRL-click for Mac users) on the keyword text box. You will see the following context menu appear.

Click “Add a keyword for this Search” and you will  be asked for a name for the bookmark (eg.  “Flickr”) and a keyword, which will effectively be the command you type.

So if you chose Flickr for the keyword you can now enter “flickr banff” in your URL bar to search Flickr for Banff-related pictures.

Neat eh?

What it does is insert any words you put after the keyword as the phrases to search for, and this will work with most of the online searches you can think of.

Now what if rather than a straight search with a handy form, you want to hack URLs? For example, you might have a favorite online tool that uses tag-based navigation, or the service might not play nice with the quick search.

All you have to do is bookmark the site in the usual way, then go back and edit to enter your keyword. Firefox also supplies a way for you to insert any search phrases you like using “%s” where ever you need them. “%s” is swapped out in the URL with your phrases when the browser navigates to the target site.

As an example, when I discover a new blog I like to see what people are saying about them. Technorati offers a “reactions” view for this purpose but to get there is a little fiddly. To make it easy I can add a bookmark

… then edit the bookmark to apply the keyword and alter the URL to insert the “%s”.

So the URL goes from being “http://www.technorati.com/blogs/www.chrisg.com?reactions” to “http://www.technorati.com/blogs/%s?reactions”.

If we then enter “reactions www.chrisg.org” we will see the blog reactions for my personal blog.

Why don’t you try it on your favorite searches? It works on eBay, Amazon, Thesaurus sites … it could be very useful!

Do you use this feature? Which sites do you use it with? Share your favorite Firefox Hacks in the comments ….

Skitch Review

skitch

I have just been playing with a really cool new tool from plasq called Skitch. For a blogger especially this service is very useful, but I can see it coming in handy for most regular internet users.

What does it do?

At its core the tool is a screen capture utility. You can capture from your workspace or your webcam, then you can add text and draw. OK, this doesn’t sound too revolutionary, but there are enhancements that just make it so much better than it sounds.

Skitch

Unfortunately it is not available for general release as yet but you can sign up for a test account invitation. Find out more and watch the video over at the product page.

Google Android: The Least You Need to Know

Google AndroidWell the GPhone is here … kind of. As with any announcement from the big-G, there is a buzz around the media and the blogosphere but strangely the reaction to this news is quite muted. Is the Google magic fading? Could it be expectations were raised too high?

This is a high profile endeavor for the company, especially as they are going up against the current darling of the telephone market, Apple.

Many people have been disappointed to hear that it is not quite the iPhone-killer they were hoping for, but rather something quite different, and still quite exciting.

What is it? Read on to find out everything you need to know!

See more and watch it working in the Youtube Video.

So there it is, lots of interesting geek-toys but as yet nothing tangible to put money down for. Even if this does not turn out to be the market disrupting product people were wishing for, it should put a fire under the Apple team and create some competition.

More coverage: Engadget Techcrunch Gigaom Scoble

What do you think? Something to give iPhone a run for their money or is it too little too late? Let us know in the comments …

Why First Life Will Always Win

IMG_2557

Watching all the Twitter chatter about the latest blogging conference (Blog World Expo) and feeling jealous over the fun they were all having, I had a realization. Even the biggest geeks in the world still like to meet face to face.

It should strike us as odd. After all, look at all the effort put into virtual tools geeks are creating to replace physical meetings. Everything from social tools to Second Life, we are constantly being told the future is virtual.

If bloggers and techies would rather meet in person, what chance is there for the rest of the world to prefer electronic meetings?

Don’t get me wrong, I love to IM, SMS, Twitter and blog more than most, and in person I am extremely shy at introducing myself, but even for me there is something special about actually seeing someone in the flesh and spending time with human beings. I doubt very much the people attending Blog World are there purely for the content.

When you meet someone in person you feel more connected. Those connections form faster and last long after the event. I “know” lots of people purely online but those relationships are a far more slow burn thing, even if it is easier to stay in contact that way.

I believe as our lives become more and more moderated by technology the need to have real world contact will become even more important.

Agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments …

Why I am Waiting for iPhone 2.0

iPhoneThe iPhone is coming to the UK this weekend and I am shocked myself to tell you this, but I will NOT be in the queue to grab one.

Don’t get me wrong, it looks like a really cool gadget and some aspects of it are worth overlooking any flaws. The problem I have is for the last couple of years my trusty but crusty Pocket PC device has worked ponderously but reliably to keep me productive while away from my desk.

I have gotten used to retrieving emails at the top of mountains, skype chat on frozen lakes, and remote managing servers from the beach. This gadget has allowed me to blog on planes and on motorways, and catch up with documents in several continents Starbucks.

This is by no means a class-leading PDA/smartphone. By most comparisons the iPhone should blow it out of the water. But, alas, it does not.

Yes, I am an Apple-loving geek, and many of the iPhone features do have me lusting over the device, but after careful research I have found not one but ten deal-breakers:

  1. Modem - In a way I can understand the telecoms partners not wanting the iPhone to work as a modem, and perhaps it is true that battery life would be impacted, but you know I really need to be able to connect up my laptop and use the internet properly.
  2. 3G - I upgraded to a 3G capable device for a reason. It’s not a nice-to-have. From what I have read they have done wonders with the EDGE but it rarely reaches its potential. Just put 3G in the next one, OK Mr Jobs?
  3. GPS - My next smartphone is going to have GPS, especially one costing nearly £300 and requiring an 18 month contract. Having said that, it’s probably the least of my worries.
  4. App Support - I need certain 3rd-party apps to do my job, proper apps and not cobbled-together web interfaces (Skype, Remote Desktop, VNC). This machine is a little but powerful computer, it ought to be able to do this.
  5. Edit Word or PDF - Now if I can get a remote desktop connection this is not as much of an issue but I need one or the other. Either I need to be able to edit and create Word/PDF files or I need to be able to remote control a machine that can. You see while I am away I need to send reports or proposals with short notice. Remember this machine does not work as a modem. If it can’t edit documents either then I have lost work. OK, I could go into a cyber cafe … but that is not much of an upgrade when my current device has Word, works as a modem AND has remote desktop capability!
  6. Removable Storage - 8gb sounds like a lot until you work out that is all you ever get. It’s supposed to replace your PDA, phone and iPod, right? 8gb is not going to cut it. I am sure in the next version they could put in a card slot.
  7. Camera - The camera is lousy and you can not even MMS. When I am away I often send and receive pictures (did I mention that the camera is lousy?)
  8. Downloads - Is it really true that you can not download files from browser? Really?
  9. Bluetooth - Apparently Bluetooth is always on and always discoverable. But you can’t sync via Bluetooth. Have we gone back a few years? Most providers now have wised up to decent Bluetooth support. Please somebody tell me this isn’t true!
  10. No Java or Flash - The browser might be really cool for catching up on the news but if you are going to do actual work, such as connect to a corporate extranet or web application, at some point you are going to need Java and/or Flash. From what I read, iPhone does neither. It’s got to come soon, I can’t believe they are not working on it, but until it does I can’t do what I need to.

These might seem like the moans of a disappointed nerd, and they are, but each one is truly important, so if you just took a handful then I would have sufficient reason not to upgrade from my aging pocket PC.

I do really want an iPhone though, so here’s hoping version 2 comes soon!

Am I wrong, or do you agree with any of my points? Let me know in the comments …

Tweaking Twitter - How Would You Improve Twitter?

TwitterI just did my usual catchup on Twitter and had some ideas for how it could be improved. It’s a funny thing, on alternate days I love it and loathe it.

For those who do not use it, Twitter is a social tool based around very short and sharp messages (or Tweets). You have 140 characters to express yourself. Everyone you are following posts their own tweets too which appear in a reverse-chronological list.

While it can be very informative, and some times it is the fastest way to get breaking news, on other days it is just a severe time sink. Some of these ideas could help make it a more useful and productive service …

  1. Show reply buttons - Right now I have to copy and paste a persons Twitter name for it to show as a reply. Why isn’t there a reply link right under every tweet?
  2. Unread tweets - I don’t have Twitter open all day so I need a way to catch up quickly. One option would be to have a “view all unread” option, but I am open to other solutions.
  3. Unwittingly ignoring - People reply but I will never see those replies unless I am following. There ought to be an option to see replies from people not following?
  4. Follow all - Related to the above, how about an option where you can click one button and follow all the people that are following you? I find it far easier to remove the one or two annoying spammers than tick tick tick all the people I want to follow (over a hundred I need to go through right now).
  5. Archives further than 10 pages - I got back to my machine this morning to find I had to go back 10 pages to catch up. Good job as that is as far back as you can go. So if you want to recall a past conversation? Out of luck. Surely they can archive somehow?
  6. Threaded tweets? - Sometimes it is difficult to see who is replying to what, a threaded view would be useful.
  7. Sort contacts alphabetically - If you want to find particular contact you have to mouse over each tiny thumbnail. That is fine if you have 20 or so but now I am reaching 100 it is annoying that they are in seemingly random order.
  8. Group contacts - It would be nice to be able to just quickly catch up with work-related tweeters, then do a “all” to catch up on everyone else
  9. Filter tweets - In a similar way it would be great if when you tweet you could tag the tweet and be able to filter by tag or keyword. I am thinking not everyone needs to know that I am starting a new spreadsheet or changing the critical path, but my project team colleagues would. Being able to categorize would make it useful in a work context as well as social?
  10. One size fits all doesn’t fit - I would like to be able to change view settings, for example how many tweets to show per page, size of thumbnail, etc. Maybe sort by tweeter?

These are just my suggestions, how would you improve Twitter? Have you not tried it? Have you tried it and hated it? Why?

Please share in the comments …