T.J. Walia's posterous

The Joy of a Salesman

Ahh, this video never ceases to amuse me... just a classic. If you're in sales, you must see this!!!

DEMO!!!

Hey!!! Just showing my friend how to use Posterous!!!

Microsoft

Some products to think about this holiday season. I like the Dell - that thing looks amazing!!!

How to use the FM radio on the HTC Surround - HTC Surround User Guides - Know Your Cell

How to use the FM radio on the HTC Surround


We show you how to use the FM radio on the HTC Surround

Published on Oct 25, 2010

The HTC Surround features a slide-out speaker with Dolby Mobile for punchy sound.

We show you how to use the FM radio on the HTC Surround and make the most out of that speaker.

Note: You'll have to plug in the wired earphones before you can use the radio on the HTC Surround, because this holds the FM antenna.

How to find radio stations on the HTC Surround

  1. Once you've plugged the headset in, select Music + Video from the Start screen.
  2. Flick to Zune and select Radio.
  3. Choose a radio station you want to listen to by swiping left and right to go up and down, or flick to jump to the stations with a stronger signal.
  4. Press favorites to show your favorite radio stations.
  5. Press play or pause to stop or resume playback.

How to add a favorite radio station

  1. When you've navigated to a favorite radio station, select the star icon to add it to your favorites.
  2. To remove a favorite radio station, tap the star icon again.

How to switch radio playback to speaker mode

  1. While playing a radio station, press and hold the station number.
  2. You'll now be able to choose between headset or speaker mode.
  3. Switch back by again pressing and holding the radio station number and switch back.

Was trying to figure this out - and found this really cool link. Even shows you how to use the built-in speaker for playback instead of the headphones (since they are required to be plugged in).

Technolog - The first Windows Phone 7 apps you should grab

The most popular Windows Phone 7 downloads of the moment, including both apps and games.

By Wilson Rothman

Today is when the first Windows Phone 7 models go on sale — the Samsung Focus at AT&T and the HTC HD7 at T-Mobile. As we've discussed, they're powerhouse phones with gorgeous screens and Microsoft's surprisingly nice "glance and go" operating system designed in the age of Facebook. But what matters once you get the phone is what apps to download. There are currently about 1,600 apps in the Marketplace, most of them free or dirt cheap.

There's already a lot of cr'apps in there, the standard lineup of flashlights, tip calcs, stopwatches, unit converters, and of course fart emulators. And because you can read what system resources each app needs to access, you can spot some shady ones too. A "simple and fun finger drawing tool" that needs access to "owner identity" and "phone calls"? I'm sure there's a plausible explanation, but I am gonna pass!

There are also a lot of things still missing. There's no Pandora. There's no Kindle, Nook or Kobo e-book readers. (Update: Amazon stated about a week ago that it would be first to WP7, available "later this year.") There's just one instant messaging app, and it's for Windows Live Messenger. The cooking and wine categories are barren — no Epicurious or BigOven, and no wine reference databases. Kid entertainment — that is, edutainment — is totally missing. And I don't see Bank of America or any other leading American banks with apps, nor do I see Mint.com. (USAA and Geico have apps though.)

There are a ton of games, and we've reviewed many here: Windows Phone 7 games: The good, the bad and the weird

What I did was sift through most of the non-game apps, and put together a list of the ones you definitely need, plus a few premium ones that you may want to buy. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal, but that has nothing to do with our surprise enjoyment of Windows Phone 7.)

Yelp - The most popular crowd-sourced restaurant review network is necessary, even if many of its reviewers are just a little too high-strung for this Earth.

Foursquare - Check-in and become mayor, at least until Facebook puts it out of business with its Places (which is not yet available on Windows Phone 7).

Facebook - Microsoft built a client for FB, even though the service is integrated through much of the Windows Phone 7 OS. It's nice but not as full-featured as the iPhone and Android versions. That is, again, no Places or Deals.

Twitter - The homespun app makes up a little for the fact that Twitter isn't part of the People section of Windows Phone 7. But I'd still like to see that. 

YouTube - Unlike Android and iPhone, the YouTube app doesn't come pre-installed. But other than that, there's really no difference — you'll still get your Auto-tune the News.

Shazam - The bot that wins "name that tune" more than you or I ever could is here, with a smooth, simple interface.

Breaking News - It's the fastest source of up-to-the-minute news on the Web. And I'm not just saying that because it's part of msnbc.com.

Slacker Radio - Some prefer this streaming music service over Pandora, and anyone who's buying the T-Mobile HTC HD7 gets it pre-loaded on their phones. Well worth trying.

iheartradio - A social network with 750+ U.S. radio stations, it's one of the best ways to access radio streams online, with decent customization tools.

Where - The same free point-of-interest search app that appeared on the iPhone in the early days is ready on Windows Phone 7 at launch. It's a good supplement to Bing Maps.

Public Transit - A basic app that searches Google's public transportation data, it's not much more than a customized search, but since the gorgeous Bing Maps app doesn't give bus or train info (yet?), it's useful.

Realtor.com - The realty mafia's home base, it's a good resource for house hunters, and it's geographically linked. Now if there was only a Zillow app to pair with it.

Graphic.ly - There may not be a Kindle or Nook app yet, but there's a very nice hub for those more interested in graphic novels than text-heavy prose. Membership is required, and the books cost money, but the app itself is free.

ICanHasCheezburger - This is the "official" app of kittens being ridden by baby chickens ("I is not a horsy"), and it's mercifully free.

gReadie - It's one thing to access Google Reader on a phone, and it's another thing to enjoy it. Here's an attractive way to get at your RSS feeds.

Seesmic - For someone more in need of managing their social networking feeds, this app lets you gaze into both Twitter and Facebook (though irksomely not at the same time).

TED - Get smarter by listening to smart people talk, or just look smarter by keeping the icon prominent on your phone's home screen. Either way, this free collection of TED talks will help you.

Pictures Lab - $1.99 - In these early days, there aren't many really good photo editors to choose from, but this one has enough filters, tools and multi-touch controls to keep most people happy. (See comment below for special pricing.)

History Here - $2.99 - Who needs crusty old park rangers when there are smart phone apps? This one lets you scout out nearby historical landmarks. And it comes from the A&E TV people, so you know it'll be entertaining and informative.

GoVoice - $2.99 - A third-party client for Google Voice, this one looks great with its Windows Phone 7 motif but all of the necessary functionality, from calling to visual voicemail.

Zagat To Go - $9.99 - Yes, it's $10. Which in app terms might as well be a million smackeroos. But really, if you live in a dense enough area and like Zagat, it's still cheaper than buying their books, and it's always on your person. Think of it as an antidote when the Yelpers get too crazy.

WinFart Pro - $0.99 - "The only no-nonsense fart application featuring over 20 high-quality fart sounds." I mean, if you're gonna download a fart app, might as well get the "pro" one, right? This one even has a motion trigger, for startling friends when they touch your phone. Good news is, you can try it first: The demo is fully functional, just "limited to two fart types."

Since app catalogs are constantly growing, some of the stuff that I said isn't there may turn up — if you spot Pandora or Kindle or anything like that, please let it be known in comments, and/or send me a tweet at @wjrothman.

Related must-see stories:

• Windows Phone 7 games: The good, the bad and the weird

• Windows Phone 7 video walkthrough and mini review

#

a simple review of the new Windows Phone 7 powered Samsung...

10 Tools To Speed Windows 7

Time To Get Serious

Data suggests that, finally, enterprises are doing serious work to plan for migration to Windows 7 platforms after 10 years of using mostly Windows XP machines. Key benefits to Windows 7 include better performance and better security compared to XP, but there are always ways to boost the performance, functionality and security even further.

Microsoft provides many of the following tools itself, including some thrown in for free with Windows 7 versions. Others are available for download. There are some good, straightforward pieces of hardware that can also complete the puzzle of a well-honed Windows 7 desktop or laptop -- including new disk drive technology. We've taken a look at all of these in the CRN Test Center lab, and find these tools and products offer simple, straightforward avenues to either boost performance, security or functionality of your Windows 7 PCs.

Next Slide >

An interesting read to get some more juice out of your Win 7 Install...

New Capabilities Help Microsoft's Bing Maps Gain Respectability

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Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) continues to improve the capabilities of its Bing Maps, a part of the Bing search engine site that’s been attracting more attention lately – even applause – in its competition with Google (NSDQ:GOOG).

Microsoft has been rolling out a number of new features for Bing Maps this week, most notably the ability to help users calculate cab fares between two addresses.

Some of the new features, including the taxi fare calculator, were submitted by users as part of Microsoft’s “King of Bing Maps” competition. The winner of that competition will be announced Aug. 20 and will win a $1,000 travel gift card.

The contest appears to be helping Bing gain some ground in respectability against Google. Google does not offer a taxi fare calculator, for example.

Other entrants in the contest can be seen at the Bing community blog. Another entrant overlays a map that displays sales taxes around the country, for example, while another simply generates a random set of map coordinates and takes the user there on Bing Maps – the modern-day equivalent of throwing a dart at a map on the wall.

Outside of the contest, Microsoft this week said that Bing Maps is now tied into the OpenStreetMap (OSM) community, the online map with free geographic data that’s edited by volunteers Wikipedia-style. OSM community members contribute data to the OSM central database – everything from street names to GPS readings – to create maps.

In a posted blog, Chris Pendleton, Microsoft’s “Bing Maps evangelist,” said Microsoft Bing has linked the OSM database to its Windows Azure Content Delivery Network. Through a new application in the Bing Map App gallery, Bing users can load OSM maps as a new map style option.

While Google remains far and away the online search engine leader, it’s share of the overall search market has been slipping in recent months, according to recent numbers compiled by digital marketing intelligence firm comScore. Competitors, meanwhile, have gained some ground, including Bing, which improved its market share to 12.7 percent in June.

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Microsoft Partners Dance On Google Wave's Grave

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Google (NSDQ:GOOG)'s decision to kill off Google Wave is being hailed by Microsoft partners as proof that the communication and collaboration market is tougher to break into than it may seem.

Google Wave, a melange of e-mail, instant messaging and social networking, was seen as a dipping of toes into a space dominated by products like Microsoft Exchange and Sharepoint and IBM Lotus Notes. After launching it last May, Google this week halted development of Google Wave as a standalone product, due to weak adoption.

Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) partners believe the collaboration parallels between Google Wave and Sharepoint were overblown, but they're nonetheless feeling a frisson of schadenfreude at the demise of the product.

"Google Wave was an interesting lesson," said Ken Winell, CEO of ExpertCollab, a Microsoft solution provider in Florham Park, N.J. "I think Google had hoped that a basic platform like Google Wave would attract people at the consumer level, but they basically built a shared inbox."

Ric Opal, vice president of Peters & Associates, an Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based solution provider, says some of his customers are looking at Google Docs and Gmail but none has asked about Google Wave. He cites the ubiquity of Sharepoint as the big reason why. "It would have been hard for Wave to penetrate the collaboration space given the strength of SharePoint," he said.

Winell agrees: "Sharepoint offers much more than Google Wave, including workflow, security and audience management and Web parts to customize."

Google often highlights the cost advantages companies can reap by switching from Microsoft Office to Google Apps. Had Google Wave caught on, we probably would have been hearing similar claims about Sharepoint.

But Office and Sharepoint are very different animals, and Microsoft has the advantage of a user base that's accustomed to the features and functionality it offers. Companies often discover that the time involved in learning a new platform outweighs the cost advantages Google offers, notes Kevin Baylor, managing partner at Suncoast Business Technologies, a solution provider in Bradenton, Fla.

"We know companies that have moved their corporate collaboration and communication to Google and are enjoying the cost savings, but many still miss the Microsoft feature set. It's not always about the bottom line," Baylor said.

Google says it's making inroads in the enterprise, but Microsoft often points out its rival's lack of experience in this market. The demise of Google Wave is, in the opinion of some Microsoft partners, a telling example of Google underestimating the rigorous nature of the challenges companies face in the enterprise.

"Enterprise software means 36 language versions and thousands of people involved in the marketing, sales, and support of these application ecosystems," said Tim Huckaby, CEO at InterKnowlogy, a Microsoft Gold partner in Carlsbad, Calif.

"Right or wrong, throwing a product up on a Website in English only, and assuming that the viral effect will grow the business just isn’t going to cut it when you're going up against the Microsofts of the world," Huckaby added.

Andrew Brust, chief of new technology for twentysix New York, a Microsoft partner in New York City, describe Google's product success ratio as "incredibly low" given how much praise and how little scrutiny the company often gets.

"I don't blame Google for taking risks and losing. In fact, I would praise them for it. But their failures need to be covered fairly so that they can be compared accurately with other tech companies' successes," said Brust.

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1 message - Last message on Aug 9, 2010 at 5:01:39 PM by MIRMatt

When first announced in May, 2009 at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco, many technology analysts saw Wave as a potential competitor to SharePoint and its web-based sibling, SharePoint Online.  But unlike SharePoint (which is the fastest selling product in Microsoft�s history), Wave has had a hard time gaining acceptance from both personal users and the business community. 

 

It will be interesting to see what impact the loss of this offering has on Google's ability to drive their other business productivity tools into the corporate market. 

 

Further insight:  www.contentmanagement.typepad.com

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Can't win 'em all I guess...

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To Posterous, Love Metalab