“Tech Companies” collection
Follow the innovations and strategic directions of the giants that define our digital world, including Apple, Microsoft, Google, and more. This section offers an expert look at the product ecosystems and corporate shifts of the world’s leading technology brands.
HTD Tech Briefs
View all →September 13, 2007
Fix-it: Outlook 2007 Emails not showing in Preview Pane, constant crashes, and Windows Desktop Search not returning results
I recently helped a friend work through and some issues he was having with Outlook 2007. They were some strange, yet common problems, namely: Not being able to view emails within the Preview Pane Constant crashing of Outlook A slower than normal refresh of things My understanding is that this is actually a fairly common issue just from viewing a…
Read more →
September 12, 2007
iPhone: Brief Reviews of ApolloIM, MobileChat, Summerboard, MobileTwitterific, Mines, iBlackjack, and MobileToDoList
It's nice that, for now, Apple seems to be "okay" with allowing third-party applications to be installed on the iPhone (although now there seems to be some backtracking by Apple with a new statement that "software updates will most likely break" native apps). Despite this, the movement is growing, especially with the combined forces of Nullriver Software and PXL Package…
Read more →
September 5, 2007
How to Upgrade your Discontinued 4gig iPhone to an 8gig
As many other 4gig iPhone owners are feeling right now, I'm a bit upset at "paying the price" of being an early adopter. I know, I know, I wanted the latest and greatest and wanted it right away. Well, now Apple no longer sells the 4 gig version AND has reduced the price of the 8 gig to $399...geez! So,…
Read more →
August 30, 2007
Netvibes & iPhone Compatible at last!
WOAH! I just reloaded my default home page and there is now a yellow message saying "Netvibes goes mobile! Now, you can check your Netvibes page on your mobile phone or your iPhone at the following address: http://m.netvibes.com" and of course I had to see how they implemented it. Well, the quick answer is, AMAZINGLY WELL! [Updated: they now have…
Read more →
August 30, 2007
iPhone app: ApolloIM version updated to -0.9 with connection persistence
As mentioned previously, ApolloIM has been updated from version -1 to -0.9 and now includes partial "suspend mode." I have installed and tested it and it seems to work ok. However, the author clearly notes on his development site that there are some limitations to how well this works. If, for example, your iPhone enters a low-power mode (e.g., if…
Read more →August 29, 2007
iPhone app: Built-in RSS reader provided by .MAC
Gee, you learn something new every day. I was playing around with an installed RSS reader from the TappInstaller app and I figured I would see how Safari on the iPhone would react to an RSS feed. Boy was I pleasantly surprised! I had read that an RSS reader was being developed, but now I guess it is live. I…
Read more →
August 29, 2007
iPhone App: ApolloIM update on its way
I have reinstalled the Apptapp Installer mentioned in my previous post and it seems to be more stable now (of course I am not monkeying around in the bowels of my directory structure this time). It was updated to version 2.4 as of this writing. There are plenty of new applications now available for install including the first Instant Messaging…
Read more →August 27, 2007
Mac Hardware: New “smaller” form factor power cord for MacBookPro’s now available
Apple seems to have quietly released a new MagSafe Power Adapter for the MacBookPro product line. After having no stock in the Apple stores (I know this for a fact since I was looking for one), they now seem to be in stock. It is more in line with the older power adapters and doesn't have as big of a…
Read more →
August 24, 2007
iPhone: Jailbreaking, Application Installing, Playing, Corrupting, Panicking, Resetting and Restoring
The subject of this post pretty much sums it up in a nutshell. So here are the details. First a little background. I come from a very varied cell-phone history. I was a big Sidekick users but got a bit tired of it because of the closed architecture and the fact that I couldn't make things "the way I wanted…
Read more →
August 15, 2007
iPhone App: Telekinesis – remote access your Mac through mini web apps on iPhone
Now this code creation really wow-ed me! I was searching to find out if LogMeIn worked on the iPhone. (It does, sort of, but impossible to mimic button clicks...yet. But that is another story.) So I found a really interesting application called telekinesis (hosted at Google code) that truly impressed me. It doesn't profess to be a Remote Control application…
Read more →
August 14, 2007
iPhone Tip: How to Fast Forward or Rewind in iTunes
It has, once again, been a long time since my last post...I have now returned from vacation in Lake Tahoe and I can get back to things. I used my iPhone a lot on vacation but there was one critical thing that I could not figure out how to do. I guess that I should have RTFM-ed on this one,…
Read more →
July 31, 2007
iPhone Firmware 1.0.1 released
With little fanfare, lots of anticipation and a bit of a letdown, the first firmware update from Apple for the iPhone was officially released. It looks like it was primarily a security update with no truly outwardly visible modifications. Details on what was included in the release are below...but first a couple of thoughts. It makes sense to me that…
Read more →
