US and Europe

BYU library gets its “New Spice” on

Justin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 05:36:24 +0000

This one courtesy of Cheya W.

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Shout Out Louds video: Show Me Something New

Justin — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 15:46:21 +0000

New video from the Shout Out Louds. This is one my favorite songs of theirs.

Shout Out Louds – Show Me Something New from Ted Malmros on Vimeo.

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Does Apple make ordering iPhone 4 difficult on purpose?

Justin — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:33:52 +0000

Got this error message when trying to order my iPhone 4 this morning.
You’d think they’d prepare for a lot of traffic when they open the floodgates to iPhone 4 pre-orders. Unless this is just part of their plan to show how much demand there is for the iPhone 4.

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@TechCrunch Disrupt today

Justin — Mon, 24 May 2010 14:33:23 +0000

Today and for the next two days, this stage will play host to a bunch of tech leaders. Already this morning, John Doerr from Kleiner Perkins and right now, Yuri Milner. Later we will hear from Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz and Aol CEO Tim Armstrong. It is gonna be an interesting couple of days. My favorite thought so far came from John Doerr that because of iPad and iPhone we will see a mor immersive experience with the [media you consume]. I totally agree and that is one of the things the new i.TV is all about.

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Christi Himmelfahrt – a German holiday

Jeremyw — Thu, 13 May 2010 15:40:53 +0000

One of the benefits of living and working in Germany are the extra holidays one gets in comparison with the U.S. I absolutely love it! This on top of six weeks of vacation instead of two or three is an absolute dream. It almost makes me never want to return to the States during my working life.

There was a time when I used to think all that Germans do is go on vacation. I asked myself, how can they possibly be productive? How can a company function? How can this be one of the strongest economies in the world? Now I see the light and I firmly believe that this is one of the keys to their success.

For example, I have observed how hard my German colleagues work. Yes, there are times when they play hard but when they are at work – they work and in general, they give what they owe to their employer in terms of time and results. Perhaps this is due in part to the fact that they know they can work hard because they have a vacation coming up. I think further to this is the that Germans know what it means to enjoy and savor life. This may come as a surprise and some may strongly disagree but I will stand by it – Germans are all about Genuß (enjoyment)! Whether it be a good book, a fine wine or coffee, a work of art, a play, music or food, Germans approach enjoyment in a way that other cultures do not. I find the difference to come from their logical, intellectual and even philosophical approach to life. It is an enjoyment that starts in the mind and goes down and ruminates in heart. This turns a wonderful dinner, a walk with dog/child (topic for another blog post), or a cup of coffee in the morning into a “vacational” experience. So really – Germans are on vacation literally and figuratively the majority of the time. We just need to learn to enjoy life in the quiet and stoically dignified way that my German friends do. Geniessen Sie es!

Want a good deal on an iPad?

Justin — Tue, 11 May 2010 02:49:43 +0000

Don’t get me wrong. I love my iPad but it’s time to say goodbye to this little unit. I’m turning it in for an iPad + 3G. Any takers? You can find my eBay ID below. The auction ends on Wednesday.

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Feeling Foursquare

Jeremyw — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 08:49:08 +0000

Sometimes I feel like I am in a technological bubble in Europe when it comes to social media, since latest and greatest is most often coming from the U.S. Why am I only now becoming acquainted with Foursquare?! I have observed my brother using it as his Foursquare updates appear on Facebook and only had mild interest as he became mayor of various restaurants and other business venues. Now that I am using it myself, I recognize I have been missing out on the fun of the game and my chance to contribute to the growing Foursquare community in Germany. I am now trying to check in wherever I can, not only because I want to become mayor of as many places as possible but more importantly because I can contribute to the Foursquare experience of others by providing information about the places I visit.

I found an interesting observation in an article by Ari Adler about the difference between Twitter and Facebook on Ragan.com. In the article, article referred to communications consultant, Ike Piggot, who believes “Twitter is about the here and now, whereas Foursquare is more about the here when you need it.” Foursquare obviously has much potential to deliver content to its users that is contextually relevant. There are amazing possibilities here!

American Express cares about customers

Justin — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 17:06:39 +0000

Just to be clear, I’m not getting paid for this but I want to send a shout out to AMEX for their great customer service. Forget the automated voice at sounds like a robot with a malfunctioning voice inflection unit. When you finally get a real Mensch on the line, it’s never been a bad experience for me. In fact, it’s almost always a great experience.

I kind of know my way around customer service. In my work at i.TV I’m responsible for all outward communications and contact with our users. This includes general responsibility for tech support. I know what our support people say, how they communicate with our customers and the general level of satisfaction with the level of service. We are not perfect but based on feedback we get from happy customers, I think we’ve got some good things going.

I think any organization that wants to improve should look to American Express as an example. Somehow, for an often thankless job, they’ve managed to hire people who know their stuff and who care enough about customers to give them thoughtful answers that go above and beyond a script. Today I had a question about my statement due date because my account was hit with an unexpected finance charge. Finance charges stink and I try hard to avoid them. Apparently, my statement due date recently changed. The agent told me what it now is but then she explained that because of recent fair credit legislation the due date would no longer fluctuate but stay fixed. She offered up that info even though it kind of painted AMEX in a bad light (because of the unfair practice of shifting due dates) and even agreed this legislation will be good for ‘the folks’.

Bottom line: Customer support organizations aren’t always the best at helping people solve their problems but American Express hasn’t failed me yet.

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Justin’s iPad is here

Justin — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 19:03:24 +0000

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A month with a Google Nexus One

Justin — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 02:17:22 +0000

For about a month I got to spend pretty much all day, every day with a Nexus One from Google. In fact, the phone is literally courtesy of Google (because working for a company that develops mobile apps has its perks). After using the phone for a month, I wanted to give a birds eye report on what I experienced and specifically focus on two general areas: hardware and apps.

Hardware

Look and Feel: Let’s face it. I am an Apple fanboy. I love Apple’s attention to design and even though the Nexus One is not as sleek and pretty as an iPhone, it definitely comes close. It has a different kind of ergonomic feel to it than the iPhone does. When you take it in hand, the Nexus One just feels solid and is high quality.

Performance: The Nexus One is also fast. REALLY fast. I purposely skipped the release of the 3GS because I did not want to re-up with AT&T, so having a fast phone for a month was great.

Touchscreen: This is where the Nexus One falls short. Whenever one of my friends would ask what I think about the Nexus One, I would always tell them that the touchscreen cannot compare to the iPhone. I think what it comes down to is precision. I felt like it took a lot more care and attention to get the Nexus One to do what you want on the touchscreen where the iPhone does a better job of sensing exactly what you want to do.

Software

Android OS: After a month with the Nexus One, I definitely became converted to the fact that Android is the next platform to develop for after iPhone OS. For me, the jury is still out on Windows Mobile. Android is solid and just works. I also love how updates are downloaded dynamically unlike the painful OS and app update process we have to go through with the iPhone.

Apps: Ok, so the Android Marketplace doesn’t have 150,000 apps in their store but there are still some gems. My personal favorite was Seesmic for Twitter. Just as good, if not better than Tweetie 2 on the iPhone. The worst part about the Android Marketplace is that it becomes readily apparent that developers don’t put as much time and effort into porting full featured apps to Android from the iPhone.

Anyway, those are my cursory thoughts on the subject of the Nexus One. Would I buy it for myself? No. Would I recommended it to friends who are dead set against and iPhone? Absolutely.

In my opinion, the Nexus One is the second best phone out there right now.

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