For some reason, a new year is all about list-making. So I thought I’d follow the trend and take a look at the best and worst things that happened to me, professionally speaking, this decade.

I know: a decade is a long time. Who can remember what happened in April, 2002? Not me! But the point of this exercise is to identify the absolute stand-out moments in my working life from the last ten years. To ensure I don’t deliberate too much over whether an event actually falls into the “best” category or the “second-best” category, I’m going to just list five things, as quickly as I can, without thinking too hard.

Ultimately, I’m expecting that this exercise will give me a little direction for the coming year (or decade) — that taking time to look at the good and bad will clarify what I want, and what I want to avoid. Here are my lists.

The Best

• Transitioning from copywriting to publishing, and then to article writing
• Studying nonfiction
• Winning a communications award
• Reinventing myself after seven years in the same organization
• Letting go of a site I’d started when I realized I wanted to do other things

The Worst

• Not negotiating a pay rise when I thought I’d earned one
• Being quoted out of context by a rogue reporter
• Giving up on freelancing when the going got tough
• Doing work for a client who didn’t pay
• Disappointing three clients

The Decade in Review

Once you’ve listed your bests and worsts, it’s time to think about what they really mean. My “bests” indicate to me that I’m happy with the changes I’ve made in my career, which is good — I feel like I’m on track, and I have some idea of what I want to do at least in the immediate future. Woo!

This will help shape what I do work-wise in the coming months. As a freelancer, I’m always looking at contract jobs and other work, but it appears that the things I’ve gotten the most from in the last decade have been the moves I’ve made toward freelance journalism. So, whatever happens, it looks like I should try to make this aspect of my work a priority for the time being.

The other key message I got from my “bests” is that studying made a big difference to me, and gave me the impetus to try something new. This was news to me — I had the opinion that I basically hated studying. Not only that, but study also helped me make the decision to let go of a site I’d developed from scratch, and which was very dear to me, because it no longer fit with where I wanted to go.

Perhaps in the coming year I’ll look into more study options, since I found the course I did in 2009 so inspiring. Not having to look after the site will mean I’ll have time to focus, too.

Now, let’s don the flameproof suit and look at the “worsts.” My worst events of the decade may seem a bit haphazard, but the underlying theme for all of them is the same: In each case, I felt I’d let myself down. I seem to have difficulty convincing some clients of my worth, in terms of an hourly rate. I was misquoted due to sheer inexperience. Both these issues could suggest further training (for example, negotiating skills) or work experience might be good goals for the coming year.

But the other two items on this list are important, too. Giving up on freelancing when life got in the way of my dreams was a mistake because it left me feeling static in my life and work, as if my career aspirations were beyond me. In a nutshell, it left me asking the question, “Is this all there is?”

The other worst event — disappointing clients — didn’t happen often, but it did happen. In each case, the brief (or my interpretation of it) was a key part of the problem, and these experiences have made me very careful about brief-taking now.

Each job is different, though, and these disappointments were few and far between. So the thing I’ve learned here is to accept that as I try new things, I’m going to experience failure. As long as it doesn’t happen too often — as as long as I recognize failures and understand why they occurred — it’s not worth beating myself up about these events.

Hello, Twenty Tens!

In five minutes, I’ve identified the key thrills and spills from the last ten years. I’ve also worked out what they might mean to my future activities. I have a sense of direction, and a couple of new items on my to do list (further study, some kind of media-related work experience, and so on). And I don’t have to measure my performance on any list item or chastise myself for not achieving a new year’s resolution.

Of course, if I like, I can go on to make real goals — SMART goals — out of these realizations, or build what I’ve learned into a performance review. But the important thing, to me, is that I have a sense that I’m on the right track, and I know where I want to head next.

Have you worked out where you’re heading in the coming year/s? How did you do it?

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But how to go about enlisting that kind of help, especially without spending a sizable amount on professional editing services? I’ll let you in on a little secret: You don’t need a pro to help you improve, and you don’t need to be a pro to help others.

Facebook Notes

I think the least-used Facebook feature is its Notes. The neglect is probably due to the fact that most of what people want to convey to an audience of Facebook associates can be communicated via wall posts, comments and status updates. But the Facebook note is a valuable resource that has a variety of different applications, including as a sounding board for your writing.

A lot of my writer friends use this method for soliciting opinions and responses to their work. They’ll post a short piece, or a section of a longer work, as a note, and then tag people who they know will either enjoy reading it, or who’ll provide honest criticism in the form of comments or privately via a Facebook message. And even if your work doesn’t elicit any kind of feedback, you haven’t lost anything and you’re basically in the same place as if you’d never looked for outside help to begin with.

Google Wave

Facebook is a limited audience, in some respects, but for some people posting notes just isn’t a viable options, since controlling access isn’t all that simple. Google Wave, on the other hand, can provide a way to share work around a much more limited audience, and in an environment that’s ripe for collaboration.

Now I’m not a great fan of Wave, but it isn’t all bad. It has some great potential for doing collaborative work, and now that invites are plentiful and easy to be had (in fact, let me know in the comments if you need one, I have 20 as of this writing), you should have no problem getting other friends who need help with their writing on board.

Start a group of like-minded people who could use a second set of eyes on the work they produce, and devote a Wave or two to sharing each other’s work. Some might prefer an informal arrangement, but I’ve found it works best when people take turns sharing work they want looked at, instead of just posting stuff as they create it, since that can lead to an imbalance in work load if left unchecked.

Pen Pals

Sometimes the best collaborative arrangement is a well-honed and well-matched partnership. The best way to go about finding a useful editorial partnership is contacting someone whose work you enjoy (and ideally, who you have a preexisting relationship with) and hammering out an arrangement by which you both mutually benefit.

This system often works best if you keep reading relatively light to begin with, make generous allowances for each other’s busy schedules, but still follow up if you haven’t heard anything in a while. It’s also probably not a bad idea to establish a regular interval for email exchanges, say a week at the outside.

The Golden Rule of Peer Review

I’ll leave you with the most important rule of all in peer review: Invest yourself personally in the work that you do, but distance yourself entirely from the product you end up with. That is to say, write like your life depends on it, but don’t take any criticism personally. Criticism is food for the writer, and remember, you can always disagree with anything anyone says against your work, although you should never do so outright.

How do you get feedback on your writing?

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Even as a devoted Apple user, no matter how much I want to, I can’t quite make the psychological break from Microsoft Office. I’ve nothing against the software giant’s office suite — even the 2008 Mac edition I use is a great collection of software, although it is perhaps a little over-featured,  lacking the intuitive web collaboration of Google Docs and not quite as elegantly Mac-native as I’d like.

Apple’s iWork ’09 fares no better on web collaboration than Microsoft’s offering, but it’s certainly more Mac-native and tantalizingly low-priced, though it’s not as full-featured and lacks tutorials for new users switching from Office.

As expected, the book steps through the application’s regular features but puts a surprising emphasis on design and aesthetics. The title’s broadly divided into three sections — focusing on Pages, Numbers and Keynote, respectively — with each section roughly breaking down into creating and editing, layout, themes and templates, and sharing. It’s a  well put together tour of the suite, providing an overview of basics, with some hints and tips and coverage of more advanced functionality. There are few other books around that provide an objective (i.e., non-Apple) coverage of iWork, and in that regard, it’s a good overview.

However, even after an afternoon spent with iWork ’09 and Clark’s book, I’m still drawn to Microsoft Office. As elegant and as powerful as iWork is, the near ubiquity of Microsoft’s suite means that I feel my time is better spent understanding the ins and outs of a product where my investment in skilling up is more likely to yield more portable and transferable skills.

“iWork ’09: The Missing Manual” is a great title for acclimatizing yourself with Apple’s lovely working environment, but I can’t help but think iWork will remain a niche application suite in the face of Microsoft’s de facto standard.

Let us know what you think of the iWork office suite in the comments.

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Zoho CRM comes with all the basic CRM functions you’d expect: You can manage campaigns and leads, view reports and dashboards and manage inventory.

Getting Started

It’s best to start at CRM.zoho.com, even if you have an existing Zoho account. At first glance, the application looks overwhelming, especially if it’s the first CRM package you’ve used. Zoho has a useful Getting Started video that gives you a quick overview of the application and makes it feel less threatening.

Everything you need to access appears in the tabs at the top of the screen and the links below them. You can customize most of the reports and dashboards as well as the settings for every tab.

The first thing you’ll want to do is add a second user as an administrator so you can access more features, including adding your company’s logo.

Setup

To start with, you need to import your business contacts. This will give you some content in your CRM to work with the rest of its features. You can import contacts from whatever application you use for business contacts, in comma-separated value (.csv), Excel (.xls) or vCard (.vcf) format. A tip: Before importing the data, open the file in Excel and make sure the first row contains headings, as you’ll need to match up Zoho’s fields with your data.

If, like many web workers, you have a service-based business, it will take a little work to figure out how to set up Zoho CRM. It focuses on products and doesn’t work with hourly rates. For example, if you’re a writer creating a quote for some web content, you’ll need to treat the web content as a package and give it a flat project rate. If you charge by the hour, you can always make a note of it in the description field.

Fields, Forms and Features

Zoho CRM has a useful wiki-based Help section. Helpfully, it includes user questions and answers at the end of each page.

You’ll need to refer to that Help section every now and again, because some of Zoho CRM’s field names take some figuring out. For example, the “Create Potential” form requires filling out the “Potential Name” and “Account Name” fields. Do they both take the company name? Or a contact person’s name? It takes a little digging into the Help section and even there, it’s not clear.

Fortunately, the required fields are few. Zoho has plenty of non-required fields so you can keep track of as many details as you need. Its settings let you remove unneeded fields, but it won’t let you change field names such as “Unit Price.”

Tracking and Managing Leads

The key reason businesses invest in CRM is for tracking and managing sales leads. The Leads tab lists all the active leads for easy reviewing and updating. After creating a new lead, you can return to that lead to update its page with information including attachments, products and activity tracking. You send emails straight from the application, with a record of the sent email added automatically to the lead’s page.

If you need to track many leads, Zoho CRM keeps all the information in one place for easier management. Once a lead converts to a sale, Zoho CRM removes it from the Leads tab and moves it though the pipeline, automatically creating the account details.

Customer Support

Customer support is handled with the Cases feature, which provides tools to manage customer trouble tickets. Another useful feature is Solutions. Here you can keep track of common questions and answers. Then when a customer or a prospect has questions, and you can search Solutions to see if you or another person in your team has solved it before.

As well as being able to search within specific categories, like Solutions, an account-wide search box is always available. The search results are sorted by category.

Activities and Calendar

You can keep track of key dates using the Calendar. You can also enter tasks and activities along with due dates in Activities. However, they don’t show up on the Calendar, and they should.

Price

Zoho CRM is available in three different flavors. While most web workers should be able to get by with the free version, the Professional edition costs $12 per user per month, while the Enterprise edition costs $25 per user per month. Note that Zoho charges for some features on the free account, such as the Outlook plug-in, requests for importing all data and adding storage space.

You can see some screen shots of the application in use and see also check out the online demos. Compared to other CRM solutions, Zoho’s CRM package is affordable and easier to learn. Web workers will more than likely find most of what they need in Zoho CRM for a great price.

How do you track leads and manage client accounts?

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ThinkingRock, the app I used to use on Windows, just doesn’t feel right, and Gmail Tasks, while a neat little to-do manager, isn’t fully-featured enough for GTD. So when Cioaca Virgil of Veetosoft emailed me to tell me about uTodo, a new GTD app, I thought I’d give it a try to see whether it might fit my needs. uTodo is a lightweight version of Veetosoft’s more feature-rich GTD app, uOrganized.

The first thing to notice about uTodo is that it’s a teeny 1.3 MB download. uTodo can easily fit on a USB stick, so even if you’re not taking your laptop with you you can still bring your GTD app. It’s also worth noting that uTodo is at version 0.9, so you probably shouldn’t consider it to be a finished product yet.

Installation

When you first install uTodo, it comes with a bunch of tasks and projects already set up, which is helpful to see how the app works. One of the projects is entitled “uTodo tips.” Each of the items in the list is a tip about using the app, with a note attached giving more detail. It’s a nice way to introduce users to the app.

uTodo as installed

uTodo also comes complete with a GTD template, on which you can base your own GTD setup.

uTodo's GTD template

Getting Things Done

I set uTodo up with a few projects and some actions. One of the first things that I noticed was that while uTodo is very keyboard-friendly, unfortunately it doesn’t have a global hotkey, like Things and ThinkingRock do. I like being able to add tasks to my task inbox whenever a thought strikes with one key press, without having to open up or switch to my GTD app and enter it. Having to switch apps does tend to break up your flow.

uTodo supports most of the functionality you would expect from a GTD app: you can group actions under projects (uTodo calls them “Lists”), set due dates, assign priorities, attach notes to tasks and tag actions at will. However, uTodo does not support hierarchy (task A must be completed before task B, etc), which, depending on how you like to work, might be a show-stopper. uOrganized, uTodo’s “bigger brother” does support hierarchy, so that might be a better option, if a lack of hierarchy is a problem for you.

To use uTodo for GTD, you collect new tasks in the app. Then, when you conduct your review, move them into the appropriate list (“Next action,” “Deferred,” “Delegated”) as required. To move tasks from list to list, it’s a case of simply dragging and dropping, but this is still more manual than the process with some other GTD apps, which can automatically determine next actions, etc.

uTodo in action

uTodo does have some slightly quirky functionality. When dragging and dropping tasks, for example, you can’t drop them onto the title of a list in the main pane; you have to drop it into the list of tasks under the title. When adding a due date, you have to make sure a check box is checked before the due date. You’d probably learn to deal with these quirks pretty quickly, but they mean the app is not as immediately intuitive as I would like.

uTodo has some nice touches. You can assign new icons to the lists in the left-hand “Lists” pane to make each list readily identifiable. You can turn any task into a “sticky note” that you can leave on your desktop (perfect to leave a reminder for those really important tasks).  It also auto-saves the database, so you don’t have to worry about saving the state of your GTD.

Conclusion

Overall, while uTodo is a neat little to-do manager, the lack of a global hotkey, no hierarchy, and some slightly unintuitive behavior are enough to stop me from using it day-to-day, and that’s what I really need from a GTD app. So I’m still looking for my perfect Windows GTD app, and I can’t recommend it wholeheartedly. However, it’s fast and lightweight, available with a 15-day free trial (a full license costs $19.95) and it’s a tiny download, so if you’re looking for a Windows GTD app, you might want to see if it fits your working style, especially if you’d prefer a simple to-do list manager that doesn’t try to do too much automatically.

What app do you use for GTD?

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Email, which underpins everything we do online, hasn’t changed very much over the last decade or so. In fact, the ever-increasing number of messages to follow (estimated to be some 210 billion per day in 2008) means that email takes up way too much time and is nowhere near the productivity tool that many of us would like it to be. Cc:Betty, launching in open beta today at DEMO, hopes to change that by offering a “group email  assistant” that helps you digest email conversations by presenting them in an easy-to-follow way and extracting useful stuff, like dates, contacts, files and links.

To use Cc:Betty, you simply cc: betty@ccbetty.com into any email you’re sending (hence, “Cc:Betty”). She’ll take the email, add it to a private “Mailspace” and parse it for any useful items: dates, links, addresses, contact details, etc. These data then get added to the various tabs in the Mailspace: Messages, Events, Places, Video, Files, People and so on. Any further communication in the conversation thread is automatically added to the Mailspace. As conversations get longer and more involved, it’s much easier to navigate the content in a Mailspace than it is to use a typical email client, so it’s especially useful for emails conversations with many participants.

A Mailspace in Cc:Betty

One thing to note is that when you copy Betty on an email, she automatically emails everyone else in the conversation, inviting them to the Mailspace, which could be considered to be a little spammy. Although there are unsubscribe links at the bottom of each email, it would be wise to consider this before copying Betty on every email that you send. On the other hand, this does mean that it is very easy to get everyone in the conversation using Cc:Betty. There’s no additional software to download, and you don’t even have to create an account to access the Mailspace, although you do need to sign up to gain access to full functionality.

How does Cc:Betty stack up against other email productivity tools?

It certainly does have some similarity to now-shuttered “email personal assistant,” I Want Sandy, (previously covered here on WebWorkerDaily), in that it is an app you interact with though email. But Cc:Betty works in a very different way: I Want Sandy was a reminder service, which you had to remember a certain syntax to use, whereas Cc:Betty is more of an email management tool.

Cc: Betty doesn’t currently have the amazing search, sort and grouping functionality of Xobni, a Microsoft Outlook plug-in that we’ve previously raved about. Xobni is a very useful tool, but it’s only available to people using Outlook on Windows. You’ll probably use Cc:Betty less frequently than a tool like Xobni. While Xobni is always present, helping to filter and organize all of your email, Cc:Betty is more useful for large group emails that generate a lot of discussion and data, like organizing an event or planning a project, for example.

For web workers, I can see Cc:Betty being a very useful way to manage communication across distributed teams: you could use it as a repository to keep track of email conversations relating to a project, for example, and to store project files and keep a track of key dates. And because you don’t need to install anything or sign up, it should be easier to get stubborn remote team members using the service.

Cc:Betty is free to try during the beta. The alpha version I saw last week was a little rough around the edges looks-wise (although some improvements are being made prior to launch today, and I do like Betty’s retro persona), but the functionality worked well.

I really like the concept, and one of the great things about Cc:Betty is that it’s a useful platform to build upon, with all kinds of potential uses. More sophisticated parsing, for example, could automatically build to-do lists and set reminders. Tighter integration with third-party APIs would mean that it could interact with calendering apps and CRM software. Xobni-like sophisticated search and grouping functionality would make it easier to navigate the information. Cc:Betty is useful now, but I am looking forward to seeing what it will do in the future.

What do you think of the Cc:Betty concept? Have you tried it? Share your thoughts in the comments.

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First, let me clarify that I’m looking at the Windows version for the purposes of this post. For more info on the Mac version, check out this post over at TheAppleBlog by Matthew Bookspan.

The first thing I noticed about MindView 3 is the redesigned user interface. Like a lot of software that’s designed to be used alongside Microsoft Office, the new look resembles Office 2007′s UI, right down to the ribbon-style menu, the location of common commands, and the use of the “Start” button to access advanced options. People who don’t like Office 2007, or those still using older versions, might not be comfortable with the new interface, but in my opinion, it’s a great improvement.

Another improvement comes by way of the great collection of built-in templates, which can take a lot of the grunt work out of setting up a mind map. I used a basic web site template for the purposes of this review, since I actually have to set one up anyway for a friend’s new small press publishing venture.

Using MindView is incredibly easy. You can add notes in the bottom frame for any item, and you can switch views in the main pane from Mind Map to Top Down, or select from a number of other choices. Each branch you add to the root can be customized with a picture of your choosing, and you can add a built-in or custom icon to any item in your map. All of these options can be found in the ribbon, pretty much exactly where you’d expect to find it if you’re familiar with Office 2007.

You can also quickly reformat your entire map with pre-set styles, in much the same way that you can in Word and PowerPoint 2007. Files and hyperlinks can be attached to any and all items, and you can even package attachments with your mind map so that they’ll be available to others you may want to share your file with. And if they don’t have MindView, you can export to a variety of formats, including PowerPoint, Word, and HTML.

Any web worker would probably benefit from getting to know mind maps and how to use them, and MindView 3 is a great tool for doing this. It’s easy to learn, especially if you’re already comfortable with using Microsoft Office 2007, and its templates provide great starting points for novice users, while its customizability ensures that experienced mappers won’t feel limited.

However, while it does offer a 20-day free trial to download, the cost of the full version is a fairly hefty $279 for a single user license, so I’d only recommend a purchase if you’re a heavy user of mind maps or if you know you will be able to use this tool for revenue generation.

What tools do you use for mind mapping?

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It may be symptomatic of Mac users in general, but I immediately had a superficial attraction to Involer because of the app’s icon and GUI design. In both cases, the app’s designer opted to keep things simple, and to make sure it integrated well with Leopard’s trademark look and feel. At the same time, the appearance of Involer is just unique enough that you won’t go mistaking it for anything else.

Involer also gets points for simplicity. As I mentioned above, numbers and accounting is a daunting task for me, so an invoicing app that looks intimidating can quickly send me scurrying back to the safety of my archaic Word docs, which are all manual and very time consuming, but reassuringly familiar. With Involer, everything you need is in one convenient window, and after playing with the interface for a couple of minutes, I was up and running.

The process of setting up an invoice is remarkably easy. Simply add a Company in the upper left pane, then add a Client in said company in the lower left, and then add an Invoice in the bottom right section. Involer does not try to be a word processor as well as an invoicing app, so you just add items to the invoice using the little plus/minus icons, and then click “Preview” to see what your client will be receiving.

If you want, you can add information about your company, including Tax/VAT number, and about your client. You can also easily check items off as paid/unpaid, and print and print-to-PDF via buttons at the bottom of the invoice pane. Involer stores all invoices you create automatically, and organizes them by date, so you won’t have to worry about accidentally losing a stray file or making errors in your file naming conventions.

Involer may not be as feature-rich or customizable as some of the other options out there, but if you’re like me, and you just want an app that takes all the detail work and heavy-lifting out of invoicing clients, it might be the right choice for you.

Have you tried Involer? What invoicing tools do you use?

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Did I mention it’s a triple-engine browser? That’s right, Gecko, Trident, and WebKit, all under one hood.

Lunascape’s first English alpha release (Windows only) came out just last week, and I’ve spent the intervening time getting to know it a little better. Let me preface this article by noting that it is alpha software, so there are definitely some rough edges that need smoothing. That said, I was surprised by the number of useful features the browser brings to the table.

Obviously, engine-switching is more than a snazzy parlor trick. It means you can check your output and compatibility in all rendering engines from one convenient location. Web designers and web app developers can check engine compliance without opening multiple browsers. You no longer have to dust off poor, neglected IE just to view content that’s only viewable in Microsoft’s broswer.

But what about that claim to the world browser speed record? In my admittedly non-scientific practical tests, it actually was a little slower than Firefox using WebKit, although it seemed on par, but not noticeably faster using Gecko.

Testing Hiveminder and Campfire worked out fine, both web apps displayed and functioned correctly, even when I switched the engine (which you can do by right clicking on a Tab’s title).

I ran into a huge snag, however, when I tried to login to my WordPress blog. Any login attempt just booted me back to the login form, no matter what engine I was using. I tried at a number of different WordPress sites, self and wordpress.com hosted, to see if the error persisted, and it did. As a freelancer who regularly contributes to a number of blogs, this means Lunascape cannot, as it, become my one and only browser. This takes away a lot of the benefit of engine switching.

Lunascape does have some nice features built in that only come by way of add-ons for other browsers. An RSS reader, for instance, with a customizable notification area and headlines displayed in blank space next to your open tabs. Auto reload is built in for Trident and Gecko, along with a host of selective content (images, sounds, etc.) filters. These options are not currently available when viewing pages rendered with the WebKit engine.

My final impression of Lunascape is a mixed one. On the one hand, it has some nice aggregation and developer tools that can increase efficiency and decrease time wasted on distractions and manual program switching, but on the other, it lacks some very basic functionality that I can’t work without.

For now, it can only supplement, and not replace my browser arsenal.

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Today’s smartphones can become complete messaging systems that keep the worker up to date and in touch with clients and coworkers.  The Blackberry has long been considered one of the most complete messaging tools available and they have recently made great inroads into the marketplace as a result.

The newest Blackberry to come along is the Storm and a unique smartphone it is without even a keyboard to get in the way.  Will the Blackberry Storm fill the needs of the average web worker or is it just fluff?

Let’s take a look at what it offers and kick the tires.

The Storm is a phone with a big screen that is all touchy-feely like the iPhone and foregoes a keyboard.

At the heart of the phone is the core Blackberry feature set which is probably the best messaging platform on the market. It’s important to not overlook that the Storm is a Blackberry at its core even though it is a nice bright shiny gadget like the iPhone.  The messaging system works flawlessly as you would expect from a Blackberry and the web worker will soon fall in love with that system.  The messaging encompasses email and there is a full IM offering on board that makes it a joy to keep in touch with team members.

It doesn’t matter if you use Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, AIM, Blackberry Messenger or Windows Live Messenger, the Storm has you covered.  The notification system is ingrained into the Blackberry platform so if you get a message from a contact on any of these IM platforms the Storm will show an indication just like email.  This makes sure you are never out of touch when you need to be there.

How does messaging work without a keyboard?

RIM has incorporated technology they call SurePress that provides an on-screen keyboard that provides tactile feedback.  It’s not quite the same as typing on a phsyical phone keyboard but it’s pretty darn close and that’s where the magic comes into play.  It feels so natural to type an email out on this tactile keyboard that you quickly forget you’re not pressing real keys because they feel real.  In our evaluation we find that we create far more detailed email messages because the typing experience is so good.

When you use the Storm in horizontal orientation you get a full QWERTY keyboard with all the keys where you expect them.  Type a message while holding the Storm vertically and you are presented with the Blackberry SureType keyboard which puts two letters on each key.  This works surprisingly well as the Blackberry uses a predictive system that is uncanny in producing the correct word.  We found we could quickly use this keyboard one-handed like any other phone.

The Blackberry Storm comes equipped with software from Dataviz which makes it possible to work with Office documents right on the phone. We all know how common an occurrence it is to get an email with a Word document attachment for example and with this software you can not only review Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents but you can edit them right on the phone.  This makes the Storm a full work platform right out of the box.

Many web workers do a fair bit of traveling and the Blackberry Storm being released by Verizon is a full global communications device.  Verizon includes a SIM in the box that provides voice and data capability while traveling abroad.  You will never be out of touch with the Storm in your pocket.

The one area that Storm falls short for some is the lack of WiFi. RIM made a decision to not include the ability to work in WiFi hotspots and that may be a factor for some.  The phone uses the excellent Verizon 3G network to forego the lack of WiFi but for those who work out of the coverage area it might not be enough.  In our evaluation of the Storm in urban areas with 3G coverage the lack of WiFi has not been an issue but it’s something that each of us will have to consider.

We would have to say that the Blackberry Storm will certainly be a good communications solution for most web workers, based on our hands-on evaluation.  It provides a full web browsing experience that almost rivals that of the iPhone and we find that pretty darn good.  When you couple that with the Blackberry messaging capability we find the Storm to be a great solution for the professional.

The phone will run $199 with a two-year contract with Verizon when it’s released in the next day or so.

For a more thorough look at the Storm check out our review complete with video coverage of the phone over on jkOnTheRun.

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I’m a Mac user, but I don’t absolutely despise all other platforms.

Windows, for me, is like that black sheep uncle who can’t seem to do anything right, but who’s also sometimes the most fun member of the family. XP, that is. I’ve tangoed with Vista, but I still prefer XP, and it’s well-suited to use in virtualized machines. A lighter memory footprint, less flair, and more stability make it the perfect companion for either Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion.

If you read my post earlier this week on TheAppleBlog, you know that my initial verdict sided with Fusion 2 over Parallels 4. Reasons for my decision included ease of use, OS X integration, and video performance.

As a web worker, the criteria for what constitutes good software is different, so I’m going to examine Windows-specific tools, and their performance under both virtualization platforms.

Dependability

If you’re going to be using any app in a virtualized environment, a key consideration is the stability of the program running the guest OS.

In my brief time with the two programs, only Parallels has given me reason to question its reliability. When viewing the exact same content in Internet Explorer in both it and Fusion (running the exact same version of Windows installed from the same source), Parallels’ IE crashed twice while Fusion had no problems. In terms of macro issues, Parallels again loses points, since it was the only of the two to experience a system-wide freeze, which only a hard reset would correct.

Office

Fusion on the left, Parallels on the right

Say what you like about Microsoft Office, sometimes it’s all clients want to see, even if you advise against it. And yes, OS X has Office 2008, but it still seems to me like they handicapped the program somewhat to push customers in the general direction of Windows and Office 2007. In a head to head performance test, Word 2007 ran superbly in the Parallels virtual machine, showing only infrequent odd visual effects (skips, slight lag) when windows were resized, fullscreened, and moved around in Coherence mode.

A minor point, but for icon snobs, the Word icon in the dock showed less pixilation than that of Word in Fusion. The Fusion installation also displayed more unusual visual effects when resizing and moving the application window. Parallels also gets major points for syncing your documents folder and desktop, meaning that I didn’t have to drag any files to the virtual machine. On the other hand, if you do have to do a file transfer, Parallels is sluggish and sub-par by comparison. For Office virtualization, Parallels takes top honors.

Chrome and IE

Fusion on the left, Parallels on the right

Being able to run Windows-only browsers is key when making sure that webpages display properly in all setups.

Chrome has loads of useful functions for teleworkers, not the least of which is the ability to save sites as Applications. Having access to Web 2.0 apps without browser clutter is not only convenient, it also saves time and money that might otherwise be lost to procrastination. With decent specs and using Unity for Fusion or Coherence for Parallels, you can pretend you already have a fully functional OS X release of Chrome.

In both programs, Chrome runs smoothly, supports fullscreening, and performs snappily. All of the features are there, including tabs running for separate processes, which has saved me a lot of rework when a single instance has failed. Saving a Campfire room and WordPress dashboard as application shortcuts worked fine as well, but here roles were reversed regarding window lag and movement issues, with Fusion delivering the better performance of the two. Parallels does automatically make a shortcut on your OS X desktop, though, which is handy in a pinch. Internet Explorer also performed admirably in both settings, but it should be noted that in my early tests, IE crashed twice while trying to view Quicktime content.

General Issues

Both Fusion and Parallels demonstrated that they still have their fair share of kinks to work out. Parallels, for instance, wouldn’t let me drag windows to my second monitor in Coherence mode, while Fusion had no trouble making the jump. That’s nearly a dealbreaker, since I can see how quickly it would become tiresome to have to switch to windowed mode to move the application between screens whenever you needed to do so. The mirrored folder feature in Parallels is nice, but you can also set it up in Fusion, it’s just not on by default.

Verdict

Though both have programs have room for improvement, I have to side with Fusion again in this extended test, since most of the features which it lacks when compared to Parallels can actually be turned on. Plus, dependability and multi-monitor support when in OS integration mode are absolutely crucial in a multi-OS workflow, so it’s hard to side with Parallels until a later build delivers more stability and bug fixes.

You can get Fusion 2 and Parallels Desktop 4 now for $79.99 each. Fusion 2 is a free upgrade for users of the original program, while owners of Parallels 3 can upgrade for $39.99.

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We at WWD haven’t said much about it because none of our team has had a chance to play with one yet. Our co-workers on the network have gotten their review units and posted initial impressions. We’ll have more on the phone as it applies to productivity and web working, but in the meantime, check out these early hands-on reviews.

The Google Phone Review: What I Love & Hate About T-Mobile G-1

This isn’t an iPhone competitor. If you look at it, you can very quickly see that G-1 is a Honda to iPhone’s BMW. After a few days of usage I have become increasingly convinced that for people who like the Apple iPhone, will find Google-based G-1 aesthetically lacking.

Despite some misgivings, Om says:

Most people who use Windows XP or Vista for their daily computing will find Google Android user interface remarkably familiar and find comfort using this device. In other words, it will sell a lot of units. And yes it is going to become a thorn in Windows Mobile’s side.

Meanwhile, jkOnTheRun has an indepth picture tour.

T-Mobile G1, a hands-on introduction to the first Android phone

…as good as the base functionality is in the phone, it’s the third party applications that will truly set the device apart. Sure, there’s great integration with Google services, but what consumers see after that will help or hurt the success of Android devices.

What do you think, web workers? Should we focus on the device when it’s more widely available? Will you use it for work/productivity?

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