Shameless Domain Plug

By Michele Neylon on November 19, 2009 12:48 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
This is a shameless plug.

Massive discount on .be domains

Over at Blacknight we're offering a really big discount on .be domain name registration from now until the end of the year.
Full details here

Other super duper domain discounts available here

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Tweetdeck On iPhone Update Rocks

By Michele Neylon on November 14, 2009 12:24 PM | 2 Comments | No TrackBacks
Image representing TweetDeck as depicted in Cr...

Image via CrunchBase

I've been trying out a number of different Twitter clients on the iPhone over the last few months.

I currently have three or four clients installed, but I keep coming back to Tweetdeck.
In many respects it's because I like uniformity. I like being able to use the same software on my various desktops, laptops and mobile devices. That might seem a bit boring, but it helps me maintain some semblance of sanity!

The latest update to the Tweetdeck iPhone client introduces several new features and improves some existing ones. One of the ones that I really really like is the new "update in background" option. If you're on a flaky mobile internet connection, like I am this weekend, waiting for your device to send an update can take several seconds, during which time your device is unresponsive. Pushing the update into the background means you don't lose access to your device while the update is being sent.

Other features include access to "recent people", "recent hashtags" and a bunch of other handy tweaks that they've somehow managed to squeeze into a handheld UI.

All in all the latest tweaks have made the user experience that little bit better and I honestly doubt if I'll bother using any of the other Twitter apps on the iPhone in the future


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Microsoft Exchange 2010 Plays Nice With Macs

By Michele Neylon on November 14, 2009 11:51 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
We've been using Microsoft Exchange to handle the company mail for the last year or so.

One of the minor annoyances with Outlook Web Access (OWA) was that it only made a very small subset of its features available to non-IE users ie. anyone using a browser other than Internet Explorer got a very small feature set.

This morning I logged on to our new install of Exchange 2010 and was delighted to find that they've finally reworked it so that it works properly on most browsers.

Admittedly you don't get the full "threading" and "conversation" style experience that is available to Internet Explorer users, but it is a huge improvement on the previous version.

Update: Just noticed that the "threading" and "conversation" experience is present, but the way it loads it is slightly less obvious than on IE
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Solving the iPhone's Biggest Problem

By Michele Neylon on November 7, 2009 4:33 PM | 2 Comments | No TrackBacks
Image representing iPhone as depicted in Crunc...

Image via CrunchBase

I've had an iPhone for the last few months.
Since Vodafone don't currently offer it I had to get it at a premium, but it was definitely worth it.
I'm able to manage email, calendaring, phone calls, twitter and a few other things all from a single handheld device.

It has two flaws:
  1. The camera is terrible.
  2. The battery life is pathetic
While the camera's weaknesses are annoying they aren't exactly "showstopping". I've got several cameras that I usually have with me if I want to take decent photos.

The battery life, however, is a serious issue.

On recent trips overseas I've landed at my destination to discover that the phone's battery has been almost drained entirely.

So what is the solution?

Personally I would hope that Apple invested in improving the battery, as it's such a basic component. Since that won't happen overnight the only solution is to use a "battery pack"

There are several iPhone battery packs on the market.

I opted for the Logic 3 Power Case.
It seemed to be a reasonably cost-effective solution to the problem (the battery pack costs about 45 euro).
It's basicaly a stylish black leather iPhone case with a builtin battery (a 1200mAh Li-Polymer Battery).
According the manufacturer the pack will boost the phone's battery life by about 3.5 hours, which should give you more than enough time to find a power source.
The aperture for the camera is nicely positioned and doesn't obstruct the lens.
I haven't had a chance to test it fully yet, but from what I've seen so far it seems to do what I need - or at least comes close enough.
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MacHeist - 6 Apps For Free

By Michele Neylon on November 7, 2009 11:02 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
MacHeist, which I've mentioned a few times in the past, are running another crazy promotion.

This time round they're giving away six OSX applications for free.

Free?
Yes. Buying the software would normally cost $154, but they're giving it away free.

The bundle is only available for a week and so far over 100 thousand people have downloaded it.

Full details here
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Another Hectic Week

By Michele Neylon on November 2, 2009 5:36 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
I got back from Seoul late on Saturday night and am still trying to deal with the jetlag. I'm off to London, however, tomorrow, as I'm speaking at the Nominet registrar conference the following day.

I'll also be meeting up with at least one of our suppliers while in the "big smoke", so it should be fun.

At least I won't have any roaming issues in the UK!

I'm trying to deal with the backlog of emails that accumulated in my absence, but they may need to be put off until after I get back ...


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Weetabix Advert

By Michele Neylon on November 2, 2009 10:22 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
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Vodafone Ireland Roaming Mess

By Michele Neylon on November 1, 2009 1:23 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
I'm just back from Seoul, South Korea where I was at the ICANN meeting (more on that later)

Before I left for Seoul I made a point of contacting Vodafone Ireland to check about roaming and handset support, as I knew Korea was a little bit different.

Vodafone assured me that they had a roaming agreement in Korea.

They also told me that that there would be no issue with my iPhone, as it supported 3G.

When I landed in Seoul I turned on my phone and nothing happened. People I was with that were using O2 turned their phones on and were able to make calls and send and receive SMS and use data. Meanwhile I was left with a useless iPhone.

I wasn't in Seoul for pleasure and had arranged various meetings with suppliers and clients. Since I'd given most of them my mobile number I was now left without any sane way of contacting them apart from email (when I could use wifi).

Talk about annoying!

The guys in our offices in Ireland called Vodafone support who again assured them that there was "no issue" with roaming in Korea. Yet I was in Korea and couldn't roam. Neither could two other Irish friends with Vodafone Ireland SIMs. Pretty much every other operator seemed to work fine, so why on earth was Vodafone different?

I'll be ringing them tomorrow, but no matter what they say to me it won't alter the fact that I was unable to use my phone in Korea.

On the plus side - at least I didn't get any stupid phone calls from people in the middle of the night!
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Bing + Twitter Combined

By Michele Neylon on October 21, 2009 9:22 PM | No Comments | No TrackBacks
Bing is the "new kid" when it comes to search engines. I'll be the first to admit that I haven't used it much, partially because I'm happy enough with Google and partially because Bing keeps getting confused about my location. (Some of the time it think I'm in the UK, other times it knows I'm in Ireland)

In any case Bing (Microsoft) have done some kind of deal with Twitter to offer more of a "realtime" search experience.

The new Twitter service on Bing was launched in the last couple of hours, so it's brand new.

What's cool about it is that gives you tweets + links.

So a search for "ireland" will give you the latest "tweets" (messages posted on Twitter) followed by the most recent links associated with the keyword. So if you post a link to something cool on Twitter it should be picked up almost instantly and "ranked" against the rest of the community.

Danny Sullivan has posted in more detail over on SearchEngineLand. Hopefully Bing / Twitter won't be swamped by the spammy junk that can get sent onto Twitter by automated scripts...
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Vbulletin Change Licensing And Enrage Customers

By Michele Neylon on October 14, 2009 1:56 AM | 3 Comments | No TrackBacks
I've owned Vbulletin licenses for years.
It's a great product.

BUT

I am seriously considering switching to something else.

Why?

Because they obviously don't care about their existing customers.

Vbulletin emailed license holders earlier this evening to announce a "wonderful" presale event (I'm not even sure if the word "presale" even exists!)

If you have active licenses ie. that you've paid for AND renewed you can "avail' of a "discount" on v4 when it's released (no idea when that will be)

If, however, you have valid licenses that haven't been renewed ie. you paid for the software license but haven't paid the annual renewal fee, you are snookered. Plain and simple. There is no way to renew the v3.* license. You are forced to upgrade to a product that doesn't even exist yet.

To be honest, you're snookered both ways.

Even if you have an active valid owned license you still have to pay at least $130 to be able to get v4! (and that's supposedly a "generous" discount!)

Apart from anything else I'd wonder about the legality of their actions. If they'd been a bit clearer in their communications on this it would be one thing, but it seems to me that they've moved the goalposts significantly.

You could try to follow the debate over on the Vbulletin forums, but it looks like they're dealing with the feedback by deleting threads!

And for the curious, here's the full email they sent:

"Dear Michele Neylon,

We hope your community is enjoying the flexibility and power of vBulletin™.  As always, our goal is to offer a great product at a great price, and we are dedicated to helping you build and grow successful online communities.

Over the last 12 months, we have been building vBulletin 4.0 to be the most powerful forum and social publishing software.  Today, we are proud to introduce the new vBulletin 4.0 Publishing Suite product that includes the power of the vBulletin 4.0 Forums with a seamlessly integrated content management system (CMS) and blogging platform.

As a preferred customer with an active license, we are excited to offer the vBulletin Publishing Suite at a pre-sale discount price of only $130 (over 50% off regular price).  This is a truly limited one-time special offer giving you $120 off the upgrade price but will expire on Friday October 30, 2009.

Learn more about vBulletin Publishing Suite features and pricing on our new website: http://www.vbulletin.com/

Beginning today, we are introducing new a license structure. vBulletin is changing to a one-time owned license fee for each major point release. That means no more annual renewal fees. Once you purchase a major point version, you'll receive maintenance, security and minor point releases for the life of 4.x.

You have the option to keep your current active license until it expires (according to the 12 month term and conditions). For the remainder of your active license, you will continue to receive support and have access to forum software updates, including vBulletin 4.0 Forums.  Once your license expires you will only be able to access the 4 Series software updates by switching to the new one-time owned license. For more information, visit the vBulletin FAQ.

Over the last 10 years, our products have offered an exceptional value and we look forward to bringing you the best and keeping you as a loyal customer. Our team is expanding in number and expertise in order to develop more innovative features and to deliver them faster.  We are investing in exciting development areas such as new products and services for 'Big Boards' and mobile applications and look forward to helping you grow your community.

Sincerely,

The vBulletin Team"


Update 14/10/2009 @ 1030: Some interesting posts over on the Vbulletin forums, though a lot of threads are getting locked or deleted



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