Online Communications

SFR is not respecting it's delay

I ordered a new phone on SFR's online shop as I need a new mobile especially for moblogging... After following the different step of the order, I received several emails, the last one confirming my order was proceed and announcing a delay of 5 business days for delivery.

This was the 18th of august, we are now the 29th and I still didn't get anything, the online tracking tools are saying that the order has been approved, nothing more.

So SFR, are you building it or what ?

Technorati Tags: SFR

Google Talk : new IM service available

I just learned about Google Talk IM service (thanks Loïc), certainly one that I will test soon to compare it with Skype, but I have to say I am so used to it that I am not ready to leave it ...

What about using several accounts and different IM services at the same time, I am not really found of that, knowing that I already had several skype chat at the same time, so let's figure out how to react if Skype + Google + AOL IM start ringing or poping up all at the same time...

Remembering a conference about eCollaboration in Paris in late June 2005, one of the speaker shared some stats showing that IM and email were quite at the same percentage of use in the corporate world... Estonishing, isn't it ?

Technorati Tags: Google Talk, IM, Skype

No Wifi in Frankfurt airport

This was really the bad news of my journey. While I've been able to connect myself in Roissy airport, even if the rate was quite impressive, say 6 EUR for 30 min., it has been dead easy to connect myself on the wifi network.

I have one hour to wait before my flight departure here in Frankfurt, I can see an apparently good reception of the wifi network thanks to my iBook's AirPort, but impossible to log in !!! It 's really a shame for the second biggest european airport ! Please guys, improve that asap...

Technorati Tags: Frankfurt

FeedForAll released for Mac users !

At the time I left my PC for an iBook, I knew I'll have to be more than patient to get Mac releases of all the software I am using...
That's why I am happy to support the launch of FeedForAll Mac, which helps users create, edit, manage and publish RSS feeds and podcasts.

Developed for Mac OS X v10.3.9 or later, FeedForAll Mac costs US$39.95 to register. A 30-day trial version is available for download.
Well done NotePage !

Technorati Tags: RSS

Yahoo! to launch Yahoo!Photomail

Yahoo! recently launched it's beta version of Yahoo!Photomail.
Thanks to this new service, you can insert photos in the head of email, share them with friends and family, and store them in one single place.

So, what is the next step for Yahoo! ? They acquired Flickr few weeks ago, they also already have Yahoo!Photos ...

Via FredCavazza

Technorati Tags: yahoophotomail

Interview of Mike Wing, IBM

Neville Hobson and Shel Holz have interviewed Mike Wing, Vice President Strategic Communications at IBM in a special edition of For Immediate Release Podcast, following the announcement recently made by IBM to encourage employee blogging.

Terrific interview, run there !

Grokker : A new way to look at search

Do you know Grokker ? A completely new way to search for information on the web and to organize the results of your search. Rather than getting a list of hundreds of links, you get a single map presenting the results per topic. Based on Yahoo ! Search engine, this is really a fantastic innovation tool !

See what Sun Microsystems thinks about it and have a look below on my PR Thoughts' Grokker map.

See what R.J. Pittman, CEO and founder of Grokker says about it on his blog:
"The idea behind Grokker is to put the control over search and search results into the hands of the user. Most search engines rely upon algorithms – a repetitive mathematically-based set of processes – to determine which results to return and the order in which they will appear. It’s no secret that savvy site operators manipulate those algorithms to increase the likelihood of their pages being returned more often. Because of this, search results sometimes appear to be only remotely related to the query. The upshot is that there is currently a lot of discussion around the “objectivity” of search engine algorithms. (And many interesting side discussions about the notion of an inanimate, mathematic concept’s ability to be objective.)

With Grokker, the order in which results are presented is moot because results are organized by topic and presented within categories and related subcategories. The algorithm is no longer relevant, and so search results become more honest, more objective if you will."

Thanks Eric for the link !

Google LABS

Do you know Google LABS, Google's technology playground ? You'll find there ideas from the team that are not ready yet for prime time but in beta and available for testing: Web Alerts, Google Desktop Search are some of my favorites...

Ecto for Mac is just unbelievable ...

I was few minutes ago on a Skype chat with Loïc and he just recomend me to use Ecto as I told him I was now the happy owner of an iBook, so I've been downloading it just now and I must say this is just unbelievable... The 2.3.1 release definitely has terrific features, so a full review becomes a must do for me...

So much more about it soon here.

Leaving PC world

That's done, I salt my HP laptop on eBay and I bought myself an iBook... A new world is opening in front of me, which is I must say a little bit frightening as I know nothing about Mac/Apple, but several friends told me I would win so much time if using an Apple that I decided to make the jump.

As Voltaire said "Only the dulls never change their mind..."

Anyway, I am loosing time now rather than wining some as I have to completely change my way of thinking in front of my laptop, there are fundamental differences between both OS and it's easy to get lost... Hopefully I have some fellow and passionate Mac users at my office that are now used to see me coming with some stupid questions for one used to Mac OS... But each time I learn a new trick I am impressed by the simplicity/efficiency of this operating system. The graphics and design of course are really nice also.

Most surprising from now is the change I am facing with my WiFi connection: previously I was using a D-Link USB WiFi to connect on my network, and for some reason I still don't understand, it often happen that I could see my network but couldn't connect my laptop to it, even after rebooting the PC or either the modem... I've been often very angry after 30 minutes lost trying to get in without any success. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't, most of the time it didn't I have to say so I often plugged in the LAN at the end... Now, the situation is amazing: the iBook connects itself alone immediately, without asking anything, he makes his life his own way... I don't dare believing it will be the same each time, but for now, for the fourth time, it happend dead easy as I say. A dream !

So my first thoughts after those several days with my iBook: great design, light and easy to carry, I have to forget some great old friends as Blogjet and Sharpreader (really a shame... will definitely miss both of you...), hope someone will indicate me some Mac equivalent, the keyboard is more comfortable than the HP one, shortcuts are very efficient and well organised, I love the "exposé" functionality which allows you to instantly access any open window with a single keystroke (a killer functionality from my point of view...), and certainly still much more to say after several more days of use... So more to come.