Mobile Tech Manor #38- Too Busy To Play

Mobile Tech Manor Large 2It has been a super busy week for me at Mobile Tech Manor, and this weekly recap of the goings on here will be shorter than usual. I had my nose to the grindstone most of the time and that’s pretty boring to talk about. Come on in anyway, and share the busy week with me. I’m sure we’ll find something interesting to talk about.

A tragic event took Kevin away for the week, and understandably so. This resulted in my keeping everything going here and that meant I did very little outside of writing for the site. I love doing it, so it was exhilarating, but there’s not a lot to share about it that won’t bore you to tears.

No new gadgets crossed the threshold of Mobile Tech Manor this week, which was a blessing in disguise. I love new gadgets and checking them out, but given the workload it was a good thing nothing showed up. It would have been too distracting had something new shown up as I can’t keep my hands off new toys, no matter the circumstances.

IPEVO SO-10 Skype Phone

IPEVO s10One gadget that has been here for a couple of weeks that I’m trying out is an interesting one. The IPEVO SO-10 Skype phone has been sitting on my desk and I’m trying to decide what I think about it. It’s a real desktop phone for home workers that does Skype and that’s it. It brings the ability to make Skype calls to a “real phone” form, which some will find useful I’m sure. Call quality is very good. What makes the IPEVO interesting is the Wi-Fi adapter that’s included.

Once the IPEVO is configured to access the web via Wi-Fi the phone can be left connected to Skype all the time. The wireless connectivity means that the phone doesn’t need a computer to work, so it’s a “fire it up and forget it” thing. It has a little LCD screen for interaction with Skype and the call quality, via handset or speakerphone, is good. It also has a nice big keypad for dialing numbers. Overall it’s a pretty useful phone for the home worker or small office.

Unlike many Skype phones, however, the handset is a normal wired phone handset, so there’s no walking around while using it; it’s designed to be used at the desk only. Some may find it useful so I recommend that those who use Skype for most of their calls take a look at it. I just noticed on their web site that the price has dropped substantially since I received this evaluation unit.

Tablets and the Field Worker

Yesterday I had the chance to meet with a reader whom I’ve met with several times in the past. Steve lives in Texas and he was in Houston, so we met up in the local coffee house. We first met over four years ago and we’ve gotten together several times since then to geek out. Steve is a Tablet PC enthusiast who’s experienced some changes in his work that made for a very interesting conversation.

Steve is a very tech-savvy field worker, at least he used to be. His work for years had him in the field and he tailored a solid work method using a Tablet PC that worked very well for him. He would spend days in the field taking ink notes on his Tablet PC and found it made him more productive. He even has a mount in his car for using the Tablet PC connected via 3G while traveling to his next stop. He is the perfect example of how a Tablet PC can be leveraged to make someone’s work much easier and very productive. Until his job changed, that is.

He was such a good field rep using his high-tech kit that he was recently promoted to a director position. Now he oversees a lot of field reps doing what he used to do. It was interesting to hear about his big job change because as we talked about it he admitted that he wasn’t using the note-taking on his Tablet much at all anymore. His work change was similar to my own when I hung up my consulting shingle and became a full-time writer. It was reaffirming to me given what I had come to understand about my own situation. Without the need for ink note-taking the Tablet PC was just not being used as such anymore.

Steve was thus looking for how to update his kit to reflect his new needs. He had a good time playing with the Viliv S5 I brought, as he was thinking perhaps that would make more sense in his new work. I think he’s really needing something a bit bigger, but it was good to hear him out and watch as his thought process was verbalized. Our conversation touched on an old topic, the lack of knowledge that folks have about Tablet PCs.

He was the only field rep at his company using one and even though it revolutionized his field work none of his fellow workers used nor even wanted one. He said he asked the IT department why that was the case and they told him that no one ever asked about the Tablet PC. No one but Steve was aware of what a Tablet could do for field workers, so no one else used one. This is typical of the lack of marketing for the technology that has resulted in the current stagnant situation with Tablet PCs. No one wants one because no one is familiar with them.

It was a good conversation with Steve and I enjoyed meeting up with him again. I always find it interesting to hear about other folk’s work methods and their thinking about how technology can add value to them. Congrats on your promotion, Steve.

Cool Stuff

This week was busy but I still had time to have some fun. That’s vital for anyone, because all work and no play… well, you know what they say. One of the most awesome things that happened this week was receiving something unexpected in the mail. I’ve mentioned in past columns that I’ve been corresponding with Allan Cole, one of the authors of the “Sten” series of sci-fi novels I’ve been enjoying lately.

This correspondence has been cool enough, but this week I received something in the mail from Allan that made my week. Allan and his co-author Chris Bunch were television screenwriters in addition to being great novelists and they wrote many episodes for big TV shows back in the day, among them “Quincy,” “Magnum PI” and “Battlestar Galactica,” to name just a few. Allan sent me an autographed script for an episode he wrote for “The Incredible Hulk” TV show. This was the original show starring the late Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk. Talk about the coolest thing that happened all week!  Thanks so much, Allan.

My favorite web video this week is the awesome fan movie, “The Hunt for Gollum.” This epic movie is absolutely incredible and is so well done. Any LOTR fans out there better make sure you don’t miss this.

Another fun thing happening this week is my Houston Rockets making it to the second round of the NBA playoffs. It’s great fun to watch them come together against all odds and fight to keep alive in the playoffs. Go Rockets!

E-book of the Week

The e-book I have been enjoying this week is a fun sci-fi novel by Darrell Bain. “Quanty” tells the story of the world’s first quantum computer and how a couple of programmers make him sentient. Quanty, as the sentient computer prefers to be called, is driven by an overwhelming need to protect the two programmers who brought him to life, and the story is a fun look at how a consistently logical view of the world can create unexpected problems and adventures for the pair.

Wrap-up

That’s my week, I hope you enjoyed sharing it with me. It’s always refreshing to hear how the tech needs of others evolve much as my own and as always I hope you get something to take away from this week’s recap. Peace.

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