Xobni is out of Beta!

Today, the folks at Xobni announced that version 1.7 of their Outlook add-in, known as xobni, is their first full fledged non-Beta release!  As with the earlier beta versions, xobni is still free!

What is xobni?  Xobni (inbox spelled backwards) is a Microsoft Outlook add-in that indexes your e-mail, maintains your contacts (like nothing else you have ever seen!), maintains a library of attachments and let you manage your e-mails by threaded conversations. 

I wrote about xobni a while back.  I have been using xobni for over a year now.  I cannot imagine Microsoft Outlook without it.  If you are a heavy Microsoft Outlook user, I would highly recommend giving it a try.

In other xobni news released today, the company had this to say;

Cisco & Blackberry Invest $10M In Xobni

Today we are announcing the completion of our Series B with an investment from Blackberry Partners Fund. This completes our previously announced financing led by Cisco. This investment will allow us to strengthen our service and extend Xobni to new platforms. We will launch our first premium service this summer.

Quite impressive!

Dual Monitor Config Gets Reset

A while back I wrote about how to change the placement of your Dual-Monitor configuration in Windows.

Windows defaults to you having a 2nd monitor on the right side of your primary display.  If you use the feature to extend your desktop to the new monitor, this can be a drag if your monitor is on the left side of your primary monitor.

To fix this, simply check your display properties... <Click to Read More>

A friend of mine recently noted that this works, but every time he undocks his laptop, then redocks his laptop, the configuration reverts back to the original setting.  I had also run into this.  The solution for me was to download and install an updated version of my laptop video drivers. 

If you find that your dual monitor config is changing mysteriously on you, try to find an updated version of your video drivers.  At a minimum, it should not make the problem any worse.  At best, your problem is solved!

Do you Woot?

Have you checked out Woot.com?  Woot is an online store that sells items, one per day.  That's right, they only sell one, really cool item per day.  They typically offer an item with a techie twist.  The item descriptions come with consistently unusual and sometimes snarky descriptions, along with actual items spec's if you so desire.

Check out the "what is woot" page for more details.  I have ordered from woot many times without a single problem.  In fact, it was a  pleasure.  Once you clearly understand the woot policies (read the FAQ), you will be delighted with the great prices, inexpensive shipping (typically $5) and fast order-to-door service. 

The experience is one of a kind.  I would highly recommend it.

My Experience with Free Online Storage

This past week I tried two of the more popular free online storage sites. 

1. ADrive, a smaller company, in business since 2007, that offers a generous 50gb of free disk space.
2. Microsoft, whose SkyDrive service offers 25gb of free space to users of its free Live service.

I was disappointed in both of them.

The ADrive service made it easy enough to sign up.  After answering a few questions, I received a confirmation e-mail in my inbox.  One click later, I was able to sign in to ADrive.  The user interface was pretty basic, but that's what I was looking for.  I did not need any fancy bells and whistles.  I simply wanted safe, off-site storage of my picture files.

Using ADrive was not quite as easy as signing up.  Through the "basic" interface, it allowed me to specify and copy only one file at a time.  I have thousands of pictures.  One file at a time won't work.  There is a more advanced interface, written in Java, that is supposed to allow you to drag and drop multiple files.  Using my Google Chrome browser, the Java errored out and the drag and drop interface would not work.  Still optimistic, I try using Internet Explorer to access the drag-and-drop Java functionality.  No luck.

After about a half hour of playing around, trying different combinations, I lost interest.

ADrive does offer something they call the ADrive desktop client which sounds like it has a nice Windows based interface to upload and download files.  Unfortunately, the desktop client is not included with the Basic (free) plan.  At a minimum, the ADrive desktop client will run you $6.95 per month.  Here is a snapshot of what you get with the ADrive free and pay plans.

Next up, Microsoft SkyDrive

The Microsoft SkyDrive offering is part of the Windows Live initiative.  Windows Live is Mircrosofts answer to the myriad of online services that Google and Yahoo offer.  Signing up for SkyDrive requires you to have a Windows Live (or Hotmail) account.  I had one already, so signing up was a snap.  Actually, signing up was not necessary.  I simple signed into live.com and SkyDrive popped up as one of my available options.

Time to upload some files!  I simply select a folder, click upload and...  WTF! ...I am faced with a screen with 5 lines for names of files and 5 upload buttons.  Yes, sports-fans, that's right, only 5 files can be uploaded at a time!  There has to be a better way.

...and there was, sort of.  After a lot of digging through online help, I uncovered a reference to an Active X component that I could download to drag-and-drop files into my SkyDrive.  Cool!

Well, almost cool.  First, I found that the Active X control was not available to me when I was running Google Chrome, so I had to fire up Internet Explorer.  Second, once I installed the Active X control, I could not drag-and-drop a directory (folder).  Only file-by-file.  Bummer.  I have hundreds of directories.  I assumed drag-and-drop meant directories as well as files.  Oh well.

All in all, I was quite disappointed in both services.  For now, I will resort to the old standbys; external disk backup, DVD backup, or at a minimum, saving my most important pictures on Picassa.

I have heard rumors that Google will be offering a service called GDrive sometime in 2009.  As has been the case with search, e-mail (gmail), or RSS Readers (Google Reader), Google will get it right where others have not.  I think I'll wait out the rumors and hope for a GDrive solution.

Berkun on Innovation

Last week, Scott Berkun, author of Making Things Happen: Mastering Project Management (previosly published as The Art of Project Management) and The Myths of Innovation, gave a one hour Webcast called "How progress happens: the down and dirty truths and secrets that make innovation possible".  I thought is was great.  Scott did not delve into the "how" of being being innovative.  Scott's contention is that people, humans, by nature are innovative.  It was not about tools, methodologies or technologies.  Scott's talk focused on the challenges innovative people face and gave tips for  driving innovation in your life, company or organization.

You can watch the recording on the O'Reilly webcast page or view it in higher resolution on the O'Reilly YouTube channel.

The Economic Crisis Explained

Do you want to know what or who or how the recent economic crisis has come about in simple, easy to understand terms?  Then I would recommend you check out a recent episode of This American Life titled Bad Bank.  This is perhaps the best, simple, easy to understand, and scary at the same time, explanation of the global financial crisis that we are experiencing. 

<CLICK HERE>  to listen to this captivating and informative 1 hour radio show.

Synopsis:

The collapse of the banking system explained, in just 59 minutes. Our crack economics team—the guys who explained the mortgage crisis, Alex Blumberg and NPR’s Adam Davidson—are back to help all of us understand the news. For instance, when we talk about an insolvent bank, what does it actually mean, and why are we giving hundreds of billions of dollars to rich bankers who screwed up their own businesses? Also, two guys go to New Jersey to look at a toxic asset.