Evernote Celebrates Birthday by Joining the Billion Dollar Club (Really?)
Personal Productivity June 27th, 2011
. (Hey, if Evernote can lie about their age, so can I…). Joke apart, I have no idea why a company would pretend to be half as young as they really are – there are quite a few users, yours truly included who remember the early product, back from 2005-2006.
OK, so back then Evernote was really nothing more than a scrawny little note-taker, with a weird scrolling tape metaphor that was hard to get used to, but it already showed unusual flexibility of mixing typed and handwritten text with imaging. Still, the key benefit was price, compared to Microsoft Onenote. It’s hard to compete with free.
I was truly surprised by the news of their first funding round. Here’s my offending post from 2006 (hm, before they even existed, if you believe the birthday news…):
EverNote – Love You and Hate You
EverNote is the last company I expected to raise venture funding: has a mature product, a mix of freeware and a $35 version, and I pretty much considered them a good candidate for safe, organic growth. GigaOM just reported it EverNote’s funding to the tune of $6M. Wow…
My Love & Hate relationship? The love part is easy to understand; it’s a handy, easy-to-use notetaker, which I prefer to the comparable Microsoft OneNote, and the $0 price is quite unbeatable. The hate part: it really does not fit into strategy of moving off the desktop into the Cloud.
In fact it’s the only application that breaks my sync efforts between two laptops using FolderShare:
Tags: android, bubble, CloudAve, entrepreneurship, evernote, iPhone, microsoft, mobility, onenote, productivity, vc Funding
The Tethering / Hotspot Debate: No, You’re Not a Thief. But Somebody Else is a Highway Robber.
Business April 4th, 2011
Interesting debate at ZDNet over wireless data plans: James Kendrick claims that unpaid tethering makes you a thief. Thankfully his fellow ZDNet-er Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols has the common sense to dispute this tethering thief nonsense.
Yes, technically if your wireless contract includes an anti-hotspot clause and you turn this feature on, you are in violation. Of the contract, that is. Your provider has the right to levy additional charges, or terminate your contract. But does that make you a thief? I’d much rather conclude your provider commits highway robbery.
Remember this device?
Yes, phones used to look like that. And there was a time when phone companies (actually, “the” phone company, Ma Bell) charged extra when you had more then one outlet in your home….
Remember the early days of cable TV? You had to ( well, were supposed to) pay extra for each additional cable outlet.
How about the early days of the Internet, before wireless became pervasive? Yes, ISPs expected you to pay extra for each outlet…
Tags: android, at&t, CloudAve, data plans, hotspot, IPad, iPhone, mobile, mobility, situational device, wireless, zdnet
Shockingly Honest CEO Memos–Microsoft, Nokia
Business February 9th, 2011
Engadget calls freshly minted Nokia CEO Steven Elop’s internal letter to the troops “one of the most exciting and interesting CEO memos we’ve ever seen.” Selected quotes:
We have more than one explosion – we have multiple points of scorching heat that are fuelling a blazing fire around us.
Apple disrupted the market by redefining the smartphone and attracting developers to a closed, but very powerful ecosystem.
They changed the game, and today, Apple owns the high-end range.
The first iPhone shipped in 2007, and we still don’t have a product that is close to their experience.
Android came in at the high-end, they are now winning the mid-range, and quickly they are going downstream to phones under €100. Google has become a gravitational force, drawing much of the industry’s innovation to its core.
But there’s still the low-end of the market … except.. oh, gotta love this choice quote:
At the lower-end price range, Chinese OEMs are cranking out a device much faster than, as one Nokia employee said only partially in jest, “the time that it takes us to polish a PowerPoint presentation.”
Hm, perhaps the Chinese don’t have PowerPoint? 
(Hey, there’s a reason why I suggested the US Should Donate PowerPoint to the Taliban)
So yes, it’s a brutally honest memo from a new CEO – but not sure it holds the “most exciting ever” title.
Here’s another gem from Elop’s former boss: a CEO who is not a hired gun, but Founder, large shareholder, industry icon, Bigger then God. Yet he can’ get his troops aligned, and as a user is frustrated at the crap his Monster of a company is turning out. Yes, I am talking about (then) Microsoft CEO Bill Gates.
Excerpts from his 2003 internal letter:
—- Original Message —-
From: Bill Gates
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 10:05 AM
To: Jim Allchin
Cc: Chris Jones (WINDOWS); Bharat Shah (NT); Joe Peterson; Will Poole; Brian Valentine; Anoop Gupta (RESEARCH)
Subject: Windows Usability Systematic degradation flameI am quite disappointed at how Windows Usability has been going backwards and the program management groups don’t drive usability issues…
Tags: ceo, CloudAve, iPhone, management, microsoft, nokia, Stephen Elop
No More Stinking Data Plans
Business September 17th, 2010
Image credit: ZDNet
Ok, I’ve stolen that title from Jason Perlow on ZDNet. And I’ll steal from myself quite liberally, in just a moment. That’s because I fully agree with Jason, who makes the point that Samsung’s new Galaxy Tab is an attractive device, but he really wants to just outright buy it, without yet another data plan contract. His logic is simple: the Samsung Tab is a supplementary device, it will not cause extra data usage. How many times should we pay for the same thing? And this is where I “steal” from myself:
Remember this?
Yes, phones looked like that. And there was a time when phone companies (Ma Bell) charged extra when you had more then one outlet in your home….
Tags: android, Apple, CloudAve, data plans, iPhone, mobile, mobility, situational device
A Whiter Shade of Pale by Apple (Leaky iPhone and More)
Misc July 28th, 2010
This is the Week of Leaks: first and foremost Wikileaks, and now the iPhone Leak. No, I’m not talking about the disappearing signal (aren’t we bored of the iPhone antenna stories yet?), this is leaking white light as reported by TheStreet.com:
Apparently, the back light from the iPhone display screen is leaking out around the edges of the glass and seeping through the back of the white phone, according to a person familiar with the manufacturing process.
So it appears Apple can’t make a white iPhone – for now. I actually think the black one is more elegant, but of course it’s a matter of choice. HTC can claim to be first, since their white 
EVO is now available – but is it really white?
Not really…this is a black phone with a white back – a rather tasteless combination, if you ask me. If you want white, go for the true white, which is what the iPhone design is – if they can ever manufacture it.
All this white-mania makes my head spin, to the point I can’t pick to most fitting tune. Is it:
Both recorded before many of our readers were born. Enjoy 
Related (?) post:
Tags: Apple, CloudAve, htc evo, iPhone, leaks, music, nights in white satin, oldies, white phone, whiter shade of pale, wikileaks
Skype Blocks Fring – Or Not? Fingerpointing… But Where is Skype for Android?
Technology July 12th, 2010
Just two days ago I reported how mobile video call app Fring enabled making video calls on 3G, even to other platforms, say Skype. That was a huge improvement for iPhone users, since their native Facetime only allows iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 calls, and only over wi-fi. But the new option proved to be too popular, overwhelming Fring’s servers, so hours after the announcement they had to suspend support for Skype.
Today the story changes again, now it’s no longer up to Fring. Skype decided to block Fring calls. Forget openness.. competition is tough, I guess Skype wants to fully “own” video callers. Except they can’t. Get access to Skype, that is.
Like I said in the earlier post, the real losers are in the Android camp, where Skype made an exclusive deal with Verizon to be the only carrier who can offer the Skype app. Yes, that’s correct: Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile..etc are all coming out with high-end Android superphones, but their owners won’t find Skype on the Android App Marketplace. For them, Fring has been the obvious solution – until now.
Update: TechCrunch reports that “Skype also claims the decision to no longer offer Skype
interconnectivity was entirely made by Fring and that they had nothing
to do with it.”
Update: Skype responds on their blog:
there is no truth to Fring’s claims that Skype has blocked it. Fring made the decision to remove Skype functionality on its own.
Update: Now I really want Fring, if it hooks me up with Samantha 
Tags: android, CloudAve, fring, iPhone, skype, verizon, video calling, video phone
IPhone’s Cryptic Bars vs. Real Signal on Android
Technology July 11th, 2010
At one point in the iPhone antenna blunder Apple tried to hide behind smoke-screen, claiming they discovered an error in how they calculated signal strength to be translated to those ever-important bars the iPhone (and all phones) uses. They would issue a software update, that would fix the problem – or not, as we now know, the culprit being the antenna design, not just the graphical representation.
Now there’s an entire article @ the Wall Street Journal lamenting just how meaningless these bars are, since all handset manufacturers have their own arbitrary interpretation of what is 1 bar or two .. three .. four. In fact signal indicators vary between different models of the same manufacturer.
But why are we kept in the dark? Why can’t we get real, standardized, comparable numbers? Turns out we can. Just not on the iPhone. When I recently compared two Android phones the HTC Incredible and EVO, and two carriers, Verizon and Sprint, I did not have to resort to subjective bar settings. That would have been comparing apples (not Apple!) and oranges.
All I had to do was download the free Real Signal app from the Android Apps Market. This app displays the real signal in dBM, and also provides two independent bar displays – similar to the “stock” bars on your phone, except this one can be calibrated. For example given the poor reception in my area by any carrier, I only ever see 1-2 bars on the stock display – might as well re-calibrate the display to between –85dBM to –110dBM, which is all I can get. This way I get to compare any phones and all carriers – no more BS, no more dumb bars.
Related posts:
Tags: android, android apps, antenna, Apple, cellular reception, CloudAve, Google, iPhone, iphone 4, iphone antenna, realsignal, signal strength, smoke screen
Fring’s Popularity BackF(i)ring
Misc July 10th, 2010
Hooray, iPhone users can now make video calls on 3G, even to other platforms, say Skype, but using the popular Fring app. Or not…
The new option proved to be too popular, overwhelming Fring’s servers. This morning Fring announced suspension of support for Skype.
The biggest losers are Android users on all carriers but Verizon, which apparently has an exclusive deal with Skype, preventing all others from offering the Skype app via the Android marketplace. For them, the workaround has been to use Fring to connect to Skype. Until now 
Tags: android, CloudAve, fring, iPhone, skype, verizon, video calling, video phone
Zoli Erdos
