Coffee break- GMail not playing nice

Our GigaOM mail is using GMail and normally everything works just fine.  I can either interact with the mail using the standard web interface or with Apple Mail under IMAP.  The iPhone can interact with the mail using IMAP too and everything is hunky-dory.  When it works.  The past two days everything works as advertised when I'm in my home office but as soon as I leave my cocoon of happy WiFi things start going bad.  I can connect to an external hotspot via WiFi and everything works as expected except the IMAP portion of GMail.  I can interact with my mail using the web interface just fine which is good enough but Apple Mail cannot connect to the GMail IMAP server.  That means the iPhone can't connect to it either meaning no email for me without the laptop.

It's not any particular hotspot as I've had the same results in two different ones.  When I figured out that IMAP wasn't connecting I turned WiFi off on the MacBook and plugged in the Verizon EVDO modem.  Guess what?  Same results, which is darn strange.  No IMAP for me since yesterday unless I am in my home WiFi network.  What could that be?  I've seen commentary on TWITTER that indicates others are having GMail problems too.  It's a royal pain, especially not getting GMail on the iPhone away from home.  Did Google change something yesterday?

Coffee break- working outside as it's perfect

What a great day, 65 degrees and brilliant sunshine.  Not one to dawdle indoors when it's so nice I'm out working on the veranda, that's a porch in the south, and it couldn't be better.  There is nothing as stimulating as a change of scenery and a great day is certainly that.  Throw in the fact that Joe Cocker is currently telling me to Leave My Hat On and it is picture perfect.  Sorry, no picture, this is MY perfect day.  :)

Coffee break- no laptop case?

I'm working away in the local coffee bar and see something that I've been seeing more and more of lately and it puzzles me.  A couple of people was working away at the tables and got up to leave to resume their work day.  They each picked up their notebook with the papers they were carrying and headed out the door.  Both of them were carrying their notebook naked, no case, sleeve, nothing.  I am seeing this done more frequently the past couple of weeks than I have ever seen and I'm wondering why anyone would carry a notebook, especially a full-size one, around unprotective?  It's not safe, it's not comfortable and if it happened to start raining while they were in the coffee shop they'd be toast.  Am I missing something?

On the ground in PA

WaWa is very good.  On to Kevin's shortly, we'll both be in the same place at the same time thus refuting the conspiracy theory that claimed we're both one and the same.

Coffee break- customer support the way it should be

I am sitting here in the local coffee barn sipping on a dry cappuccino and thinking back on good customer support.  The story about the Dell support gone bad was fresh in my mind as I headed earlier to the Apple store to return my mini-adapter for the iPhone.  You may recall they issued a recall a few weeks ago for the adapter as it may break in the plug and create a fire hazard.  I have been meaning to take mine into the Apple store to exchange it but never got around to it so today off I went.

I was greeted by a rep and explained the purpose of my visit who took me to the back genius bar.  They asked for my old adapter and my iPhone serial number so I handed both the adapter and my iPhone over.  They accessed the About page on the phone and entered in the serial number.  In thirty seconds they handed me a new adapter and that was that.  Now this is not a complicated process but I've had similar situations with other vendors that went a bit differently.  Kudos to Apple for recalling the defective part and making the swap super simple. 

This went so quickly that I looked at sleeve cases available for the MacBook and really like the incase neoprene sleeve so I got one.  I'll give more details about this sleeve soon but what I liked about it besides how thin it fits the new MacBook is how it has handles (something many sleeves do not) and it also comes with a detachable shoulder strap for those who want one.  Nice construction and only $45.  I don't see it on the incase web site so maybe it's only available in Apple stores.

Coffee break- EEE PC in the wild

Today was an exciting day as I was working in the Panera Bread and spotted someone actually using an EEE PC!  She is a college student who bought the EEE PC for the low price and was tapping away doing a paper for school.  Tapping is the definitive word as it was the little bitty one with a tiny keyboard and touch typing was not an option.  She said it didn't matter though as the cheap price made it possible for her to buy it, otherwise she'd be doing the work with pen and paper.  Now that's a real trooper and why the netbook is so important a product for students.

While I have been here working I have been using the T-Mobile G1 for email and generally playing with it and it's captured some attention.  I have noticed since I've been using it that the folks who approach and ask about it fall in two categories:  geeks and regular people (non-geeks).  I noticed this because the geeks who ask about the phone always ask "is that the G1?" and the non-geeks invariably ask "is that the Google phone?".  This is almost without fail and shows the power of marketing.  I don't know what folks will call the next Android phone since it can't just be the "Google phone".

Coffee break- comfy in Panera Bread

I don't get into Panera Bread enough, I don't know why.  It is far more comfortable and amenable to productive work sessions than that big coffee retailer.  The free WiFi is more than welcome too.  I've been here for over an hour and gotten a lot done with far fewer distractions than that other place.  It's been interesting too as I have been working on the MacBook.  It seems I have totally adapted to the multi-touch capability of the touchpad as I don't even realize I am doing it while I'm working away.  I was working for a good while when one of the professionals working behind me approached and asked me to demonstrate it.  He had been watching me work and was intrigued how I was interacting with the computer using light touches on the touchpad.  We spent a good while with me showing him how many different things I was controlling via the one- to four-finger touch gestures on the pad.  It made me realize how intuitive the touchpad is that I have totally integrated it into my work session without thinking about it.  This guy was visibly impressed too.

Coffee break - EV-DO usage for 1.5 hours

With most wireless broadband plans capped at 5GB per month, we're often asked how much data we use and how quickly we can bump up against that cap. Obviously, the amount of data used varies by each individual's activities, but I wanted to share info from the last hour-and-a-half. I was on my way home from a memorial service but had to stop for a late lunch. Turns out there was a Starbucks right next door so I've been parked here for the last 90 minutes using my Verizon EV-DO plan on the MSI Wind.

I would consider these numbers to be around the low end of the spectrum. Activities included e-mail on the web for my two Gmail accounts, reading RSS feeds, writing a few posts and checking in on FriendFeed. The only "data intensive" activity I did was to download Google Chrome, which isn't big by any means. Had I watched any videos or streamed audio while working, a very different picture would have been painted. Having said that, I used under 45 MB of data in the last 90 minutes in these conditions. Just a guideline for those that were curious or unsure about how much data you can use in a given amount of time.

I grabbed these numbers from my VZ Access software that comes with my modem. If you need a program to track your bandwidth usage or provide alerts as you near a cap, check out the free BitMeter2, a solution we recently highlighted for this purpose.

Coffee break- I have the netbook fever

I am sick, I admit it.  It started a long time ago but I had suppressed it for a good while.  I started getting the fever again when I played with Kevin's MSI Wind in San Francisco.  So small and light yet a real fighter.  Still I held on and fought the netbook fever.  Even yesterday seeing the little Asus EEE PC in Best Buy I fought the sickness although admittedly that was easier with the too tiny keyboard on the Asus.

Then today I get ready to head out to the coffee shop where I know I'll be safe.  No way I'll see any fine netbooks there to get my motor running and bring the fever back to a high boil.  Then I made a big mistake.  I threw the Lenovo IdeaPad U110 into its little sleeve and headed to the coffee shop.  Sure the U110 is not a netbook, it's way too expensive to meet that category requirement.  But it was too late, the small form factor with its 11.1-inch screen is just barely bigger than those 10-inch netbooks.  The nice keyboard is only slightly bigger than those on the bigger netbooks and the 3 pound weight is near netbook weight.

As I sit here typing this the fever is growing nearly out of control.  A full-featured netbook can do this so easily and carrying it around couldn't be easier.  Darn you Lenovo and your U110.  I was so close and now..

Now to decide on the perfect netbook if one exists.  My needs are simple, it must have a 10-inch screen so the keyboard will support touch typing with my big hands.  It must run Windows XP so I can use all the utilities I already have honed to perfection to do this kind of work.  A 6-cell battery is a must and probably a second one to come along for extended trips.  That's about all of my requirements for the moment.  Which one best fits the bill for me?  There's just SO MUCH netbook information out there I can't digest it all.

Coffee break- T-Mobile won't sell me a G1

I am sitting outside the local Starbucks enjoying everything about the sunny day with one exception.  T-Mobile won't sell me a new G1 phone even though I'm ready to roll.  I'm thinking they are maybe overwhelmed with online orders because all I can get is this message:

I'm going to be at the end of the line for sure.  Oh well.