Drop.io - File Sharing, simplified..

I just listened to an interview with the founders of a Web 2.0 application called Drop.io. Sam Lessin and Darshan Somashekar spoke about some of the functions of this application and I just had to check it out.

There are so many ways of moving information around, but none as unique as Drop.io. You can add pretty much any type of file; documents, photos, videos, audio files and make them available to others to download.

They also have integrated voice mail and fax functionality. I could have used this when I was refinancing my new house. I was continually asked to fax stuff to my bank and lawyer. I could have just made the TIFF's available to them via this service. This would also be a great way to share vacation pics and / or have people submit their own to the library creating a family photo archive.

For those of you who are thinking about security, you need not worry. When you sign up, they don't ask for any information so with that, there is no information to share out. All Drop.io knows about you is your email address. No name, phone number etc etc. They also take measures in preventing the site and it's contents from being crawled. That way, contents of your drop won't show up in search engines.

Signing up tool literally 10 seconds as all that is required is a name to identify the location of the content and an administration password. After that, the system configures a URL, email address, even a telephone number and extension where people can leave messages. There is a limit of 100meg for this service unless you pay for the premium package which costs $10 per year and gives you 1GB.

Apple iPhone Event - Opinions

It was very cool to follow the happenings of the event via MacWorld and
CNet. I can imagine the bloggers slamming away at the keyboard while
they are trying to enjoy the event.

Clearly the SDK was the prevalent point. The door is now wide open and
we are going to see some very cool application in the next 6 months.

I think that Exchange Support is huge. Like I have said before, I think
the Blackberry is a great device but the UI leaves much to be desired.
Integrating ActiveSync is fantastic news. I have used this on a Windows
Mobile device before and I think it works great. I have to say though
that if / when the iPhone comes to Canada, they better have better
pricing on data plans because it's going to get expensive!!

The short answer in regards to SIM Unlocking software being available is
interesting. There wasn't much detail in the answer but I am sure
something will surface in the next few days.

I am not sure how I feel about iTunes being the main distributor of the
software. Clearly they have a great mechanism for distributing media
and now software, however, I am left with a feeling of monopolistic
behavior which makes me question. Is Apple the next Microsoft?

I think everyone was expecting a 3G phone to come to the market but that
doesn't seem to be the case. That said, Apple tends to release new
Hardware between announcements like the 16GIG iPhone and the 32GIG
Touch. So stand by as they could have a 3G come out in a couple of
weeks.

Other than that - The iPhone as a gaming platform is cool. I have
played some games that use the accelerometer and they were kind of hard
to play though. You had to hunch over the phone, holding it flat in
your hand and then tilt it to control an object on the screen. That
just doesn't seem very practical. The touch interface and gaming does
seem to go together well. I am looking forward to seeing some of the
new games that are developed with this SDK.

Apple iPhone Event

Live event blog found here:

Exchange Support:

10:11 PT: Schiller's demoing Exchange support. You add a Mail account and choose Exchange, then fill in the data. The account settings in Mail include ActiveSync settings for Calendar and Contacts as well.

10:13 PT: Now we're adding a new contact, typing in a name. And according to Phil, that name has automatically been added to another iPhone that's connected to the same server. And then the iPhone in the audience adds a phone number to the contact, and it automatically appears on Phil's iPhone.

Push e-mail is supported, so as soon as an e-mail is delivered, it appears at the top of Phil's mail list on his iPhone. Meetings, too. You can see a list of attendees in a meeting, drill down to an individual attendee, see their contact info from the server.

And now we're going to destroy the phone. It's remotely wiped - all of a sudden it blacks out, the white Apple logo appears, and it's rebooting with all its precious secret data removed.

10:34 PT: Now a brand new development tool, the iPhone Simulator. Runs on a Mac, and simulates the entire API stack of the iPhone OS. So right here, on your Mac, you can run your application in the simulator, which gives you an incredible turnaround time on development.

10:39 PT: So now a sample application that took only two days to write. It's called Touch FX. He taps to choose a photo, which brings up the standard image picker. He picks a photo, and touches the screen, which distorts the photo where his finger is touching. It's an OpenGL distortion. And when he picks the finger up, the effect remains. Then he pinches the face of the guy in the picture, and his face gets a pinch effect. To undo it, he shakes the phone -- like an Etch-A-Sketch -- and the image goes back where it went, because the program has access to the phone's accelerometer.

"If anything, we underestimated what the hardware was able to do," Sega guy says. He says this is not a scaled-down cell phone game. It's a console game. They had to bring in an artist to up-scale the resolution of the graphics on the iPhone.

11:09 PT: "In just a few months, every iPhone user will have everything you saw today, as a free update. Now there's one other part to this. It's not just the iPhone. It's the iPod Touch. The same software release is going to run on the iPod Touch. Now, we account the iPod touch a little bit different, so there will be a nominal charge for that update, but otherwise it will be exactly the same as the iPhone."

**** Give me a break!! I don't have a Touch but come on. How do they "Account Differently" with that device that they have to charge for the update.

Doerr "Today we're witnessing history, the launching of the SDK, the creation of the third great platform -- the iPhone and iPod Touch. Think about it. In your pocket, you have something that's broadband and connected all the time. It's personal. It knows who you are and where you are. That's a big deal. A really big deal. It's bigger than the personal computer."

11:17 PT: Jobs is back. "Thanks very much for coming," he says, and excuses everyone... except the press. Hmm.

jason snell

What about SIM unlock software? Will it not be allowed?

"Yes."

HelloTxt - Update your Microblogs

There’s a lot of chatter on the Internet and a lot of different ways to get your point across. Facebook, Twitter, Pownce, Plaxo, Jaiku, the list goes on. I have only 3 social network accounts, 4 if you include this blog, and that can make updating time consuming.

Introducing HelloTxt. “HelloTxt is a service that allows you to update your status various services, such as Facebook and Twitter, simultaneously and instantaneously.” It’s a fairly skinny web based application makes updating all your Social Networking sites easy. Of course you have to be mindful to keep your update within the 140 character limit but really, you can say a whole lot in 140 characters.. I was lucky enough to get a coupon code for the Mobile version of the application. As you can see in the screen shot from my iPhone, the app is nice and clean and easy to use. I even use the Mobile version when I am at my PC as the web version can be a little laggy. I have a couple of spare codes so if you would like one, add a comment and ask nice and I will send one to you.

iPhone and Exchange

As an iPhone owner and an IT Contractor, I hear a lot about the Crackberry and the iPhone. It seems that the guys and gals that are perched up on the top of the management pyramid are psyched about the iPhone whereas the IT folks are not. Support issues, security issues, etc, etc...

As a Mac user I cringe ever day that I have to sit in front of my PC here at the office. If only people knew the pleasure and stability of using Apple products, we'd all be better off.

Though I do find the Blackberry to be an elegant device, the UI leaves much to be desired hence the requirement for push email for the iPhone. Well it looks like some are already at it and with the new iPhone SDK on the horizon. We won't have to wait too much longer. Let me just say this - If the Corporate leaders think that the Blackberry is addictive, wait until they are holding a sleek sexy iPhone in their hands...

brb - gotta take a cold shower.

jkOnTheRun talk about Synchronica

Lesser of Two Evils

As I sit here and compose this entry, I await something to do. Trouble tickets are supposed to flow in and as they do I am complete them. Trouble is, it could be hours before anything comes to me. It's not that I have any other projects to do either. So the question is - What's worse? Being too busy or being bored?

I have to say that I think the stress of waiting for work is just as stressful as being in the shit. On one hand, you are balls to the wall busy. People are stressed cause as their shit rolls down hill, you are not scooping it up fast enough. On the other hand, if you have nothing to do, then you are constantly worried about what others are thinking of your work ethic.

I always abide by the rule "Fly low" and I think that's what I am going to do. If they need me, then here I am.. Well, I am either here or drinking coffee somewhere.

Canadian Defined

I pulled this from an email that's circulating.


An Australian Definition of a Canadian -

You probably missed it in the local news, but there was a report that someone in Pakistan had advertised in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed a Canadian - any Canadian.

An Australian dentist wrote the following editorial to help define what a Canadian is, so they would know one when they found one.

A Canadian can be English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. A Canadian can be Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, Arab, Pakistani or Afghan.

A Canadian may also be a Cree, Métis, Mohawk, Blackfoot, Sioux, or one of the many other tribes known as native Canadians. A Canadian's religious beliefs range from Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu or none.
In fact, there are more Muslims in Canada than in Afghanistan. The key difference is that in Canada they are free to worship as each of them chooses.
Whether they have a religion or no religion, each Canadian ultimately answers only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

A Canadian lives in one of the most prosperous lands in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which recognize the right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.

A Canadian is generous and Canadians have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return. Canadians welcome the best of everything, the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best services and the best minds.
But they also welcome the least -

the oppressed, the outcast and the rejected.

These are the people who built Canada.
You can try to kill a Canadian if you must as other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world have tried but in doing so you could just be killing a relative or a neighbour. This is because Canadians are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom.
Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, can be a Canadian.

Please keep this going! Pass this around the World. Then pass it around again.
It says it all, for all of us

'Keep your stick on the ice'