Sorry for the last post. I know, it was a little disorganized. But it was really an experiment to see how useful mobile blogging really is.
Last month I set up a Jott account to allow me to audibly blog while on the road. This worked very well, allowing me to set a speed dial button on my mobile and to have Jott take may ramblings, convert them to text and pass that to Blogger for posting.
A couple of caveats: first, Jott isn't 100% on the transcription, so you run the risk of having your thoughts translated into some wacky text. Second, the post gets posted automatically, before you have the opportunity to clean it up. Dangerous. Although that may just be a setting that I can change.
So, yesterday, I wanted to put it through the "acid' test. I wanted to try the same thing, but from my car, with the top down and using a wireless bluetooth headset for the phone. I figured that all of these audio variables should lead to some ammusing posts.
However, I have to give Jott a big kudos. Not only did it hear me pretty well, but it did a reallly great job of the transcritption. It wasn't perfect, but hey, I was traveling 50 miles an hour down a highway with the top down on a 1999 Pontiac Sunfire convertible. Not exactly the quietest car in the world. Jott was probably 97% accurate. That's pretty darn good, IMHO.
I really like the overall ability. Being able to post from anywhere at anytime, in near real-time, is awesome. And if that phone has a camera and e-mail access, you become a one-man reporting machine.
Not bad for combining the tools of two services that cost me absolutely nothing.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
This is Robert, I am...
This is Robert, I am currently traveling in my car. I am trying out some new tools today, I've got a Blackberry 8703e with a Jabra bluetooth headset. I am attempting to use Blogger from the car, audibly blogging via the Jott service. And you know, it's a convertible with the top down for that matter, so we will see how it turns out. Thanks.
Powered by Jott
Friday, July 25, 2008
Try a video
Playing with more tools today. I am trying out a couple o screen capture and post tools.
The first one - Jing - I highly recommend. It is very easy to use to capture both desktop video as well as straight-up image shots. I use it regularly to grab images to throw into e-mails or notes. the only downside to thsi free application is the time/size limit of the video capture - set at 5 minutes. This is fine for most things, but is a little short for product demo movies.
The second tool, by the same company(Techsmith), is called Camtasia Video. You can check it out at at the Techsmith website. I downloaded the 30 day demo and I am giving it a spin. It has no time/size limitations and a whole lot more advanced editing capabilities.
Hopefully I will shortly post a quick demo of our CONTEX Summit/Unyte integration.
Here is a link to a test: Click Here
OK here is the sample:
The first one - Jing - I highly recommend. It is very easy to use to capture both desktop video as well as straight-up image shots. I use it regularly to grab images to throw into e-mails or notes. the only downside to thsi free application is the time/size limit of the video capture - set at 5 minutes. This is fine for most things, but is a little short for product demo movies.
The second tool, by the same company(Techsmith), is called Camtasia Video. You can check it out at at the Techsmith website. I downloaded the 30 day demo and I am giving it a spin. It has no time/size limitations and a whole lot more advanced editing capabilities.
Hopefully I will shortly post a quick demo of our CONTEX Summit/Unyte integration.
Here is a link to a test: Click Here
OK here is the sample:
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
New tool test for Polls
I am testing a new tool for polls. Stick with me here.
Try it out and/or leave a comment.
Try it out and/or leave a comment.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
So, it's been a week or so since I've had a chance to write, but it's been a busy few days. Upon returning from the sunny confines of Lost Wages (106 degrees F) I've been catching up on new stuff back at IX headquarters.
I don't know about you folks, but it seems like with the more tools that get rolled out - IM, web conferencing, new Office versions, RSS feeds, web site tools, adobe tools, IP phones, Blackberrys, Facebook, Talkcasts, MP3 players, cell phones, bluetooth earphones, webcams, IR ports, digital cameras, etc... - there are a couple of things that I now have bigs needs for:
1. Something to haul all the cables around in. Whatever happened to the notion of having one USB cable that connects with everything? Yeah, right. Between laptop power bricks, mobile sync cables, picture transfer cables and verything else, I almost need a sepeate carry bag just for the cables.
2. USB 2.0 ports. Just can't get enough it seems. My new laptop (Gateway 17 inch widescreen tablet) has three 2.0 ports on the side and another 2 in the docking station when I'm plugged in. And they're all full. Everything wants those USB ports it seems.
I just got delivered a 4-port USB hub (Belkin). I guess I'll try that tomorrow for all of my permanently connected devices such as mice, external backup hard drives, keyboards, webcams, etc...
The InfoComm show was good. We met a lot of interesting people that will hopefully lead to some additional business. That's the whole idea, right?
Speaking of trade shows/exhibitions, has anyone out there heard from the VON folks at all. We were regular exhibitors at VON Fall and VON Spring, but that company seems to have disappeared. I'd heard rumors before VON Spring that the company was in serious financial difficulties, but I guess I didn't know how bad. Nothing has change on their website since Spring VON, and at this point I have to assume that Fall VON is off the table.
I just heard a rumor the other day that VON neglected to let exhibitors know that VON Amsterdam was cancelled and that exhibitors showed up - in country - only to find out that there was no event. Boy, talk about ticked-off.
In any case, if you know of any concrete news, please let me know.
Compunetix business is brisk. Many of our new developments are taking root. CONTEX Report is finally released. This tool enables CONTEX owners to easily collect all events from the system in a SQL off-board database and thenuse crystal reports to schedule and generate standard and customized reports from the data. Pretty good stuff.
In our extensive work with CSPs, we found that no two provider customers have the same requirements with regard to what they want to report on. CONTEX Report allows them to dig as deep as they want into the raw data and create very sohiticated reports in a variety of formats. The reports can be scheduled to run regularly or just once, and can be automatically delivered to a seperate system for further processing or via e-mail to a collection of recipients.
It's the reliable, scalable reporting solution that we've been looking to develop.
OK, gotta run. I am going to try and blog later from my borrowed Blackberry. I am NOT a berry addict. In fact, I'd not used one before this week. I am using a friend's 8703e until my new Samsung SCH-i760 Windows Mobile smartphone arrives.
I can't say that I hate the Blackberry, but it's not what I would have chosen for a converged device. I DO really like the whole e-mail at your fingertips. I was always a little afraid of having an e-mail mobile client. I figured it would be too addicting. To some extent I was right, but the benefits clearly outweigh any downside. My wife might disagree.
But this specific device has no audio and no photo capability, so it's not the one for me. I also don't really care for the keyboard, although I understand that's a bit heretical. These boards are supposed to be the bees knees. Frankly I'd take my original LG EnV keyboard over this one. Everyone has caustioned me to just wait, that it'll take time to get used to. Well, maybe, but I've been using a keyboard phone for years. I just don't like feel or layout of this one.
But i'll try it out for a couple of weeks and then report back.
Take it easy!
I don't know about you folks, but it seems like with the more tools that get rolled out - IM, web conferencing, new Office versions, RSS feeds, web site tools, adobe tools, IP phones, Blackberrys, Facebook, Talkcasts, MP3 players, cell phones, bluetooth earphones, webcams, IR ports, digital cameras, etc... - there are a couple of things that I now have bigs needs for:
1. Something to haul all the cables around in. Whatever happened to the notion of having one USB cable that connects with everything? Yeah, right. Between laptop power bricks, mobile sync cables, picture transfer cables and verything else, I almost need a sepeate carry bag just for the cables.
2. USB 2.0 ports. Just can't get enough it seems. My new laptop (Gateway 17 inch widescreen tablet) has three 2.0 ports on the side and another 2 in the docking station when I'm plugged in. And they're all full. Everything wants those USB ports it seems.
I just got delivered a 4-port USB hub (Belkin). I guess I'll try that tomorrow for all of my permanently connected devices such as mice, external backup hard drives, keyboards, webcams, etc...
The InfoComm show was good. We met a lot of interesting people that will hopefully lead to some additional business. That's the whole idea, right?
Speaking of trade shows/exhibitions, has anyone out there heard from the VON folks at all. We were regular exhibitors at VON Fall and VON Spring, but that company seems to have disappeared. I'd heard rumors before VON Spring that the company was in serious financial difficulties, but I guess I didn't know how bad. Nothing has change on their website since Spring VON, and at this point I have to assume that Fall VON is off the table.
I just heard a rumor the other day that VON neglected to let exhibitors know that VON Amsterdam was cancelled and that exhibitors showed up - in country - only to find out that there was no event. Boy, talk about ticked-off.
In any case, if you know of any concrete news, please let me know.
Compunetix business is brisk. Many of our new developments are taking root. CONTEX Report is finally released. This tool enables CONTEX owners to easily collect all events from the system in a SQL off-board database and thenuse crystal reports to schedule and generate standard and customized reports from the data. Pretty good stuff.
In our extensive work with CSPs, we found that no two provider customers have the same requirements with regard to what they want to report on. CONTEX Report allows them to dig as deep as they want into the raw data and create very sohiticated reports in a variety of formats. The reports can be scheduled to run regularly or just once, and can be automatically delivered to a seperate system for further processing or via e-mail to a collection of recipients.
It's the reliable, scalable reporting solution that we've been looking to develop.
OK, gotta run. I am going to try and blog later from my borrowed Blackberry. I am NOT a berry addict. In fact, I'd not used one before this week. I am using a friend's 8703e until my new Samsung SCH-i760 Windows Mobile smartphone arrives.
I can't say that I hate the Blackberry, but it's not what I would have chosen for a converged device. I DO really like the whole e-mail at your fingertips. I was always a little afraid of having an e-mail mobile client. I figured it would be too addicting. To some extent I was right, but the benefits clearly outweigh any downside. My wife might disagree.
But this specific device has no audio and no photo capability, so it's not the one for me. I also don't really care for the keyboard, although I understand that's a bit heretical. These boards are supposed to be the bees knees. Frankly I'd take my original LG EnV keyboard over this one. Everyone has caustioned me to just wait, that it'll take time to get used to. Well, maybe, but I've been using a keyboard phone for years. I just don't like feel or layout of this one.
But i'll try it out for a couple of weeks and then report back.
Take it easy!
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