Robert’s Ramblings

“Fluent News” is a free iPhone application that works with all three versions of the iPhone OS. It is a news aggregator that gathers news from various reputable sources and presents it in an easy-to-use application. It is one of the fastest news applications that I have used for the iPhone. I have read New York Times, BBC and CNN articles on it complete with the full text and pictures and it is a joy to use.

It continually updates from the various news sources and stores news for offline reading. You can also share a good story with your friends by sending a link via email or posting a link to Facebook or Twitter directly from the application. You can download it for free from the Apple App Store. It is developed by Fluent Mobile.

Earlier today I wrote about my problems with the free upgrade to Internet Explorer 8. It is with a bit of caution that I am now writing about the Windows 7 upgrade process. Probably the only reason that I felt compelled to write about it is that beginning June 26, 2009 (today) you can preorder Windows 7 for half price through major on-line retailers. Two editions of the upgrade, Windows 7 Home Premium and Professional, are available. This discounted offer is available through July 11, 2009. Judging from the technical and marketing disaster that Vista has been, this may be a worthwhile upgrade. I doubt that even Microsoft can afford to screw up their cash cow twice.

If you want to order it from Amazon click below:

It is ironic that I wrote yesterday how Apple’s iPhone software upgrade added functionality that I had wanted for a long time. I have experienced the opposite with a Microsoft upgrade. I upgraded two computers that I work on regularly to Internet Explorer 8 and have found out that the new version of the browser does not support opening a web address as a folder. This is handy for people who have a Windows server configured to share files through WebDAV—a technology that Microsoft developed and has promoted for sharing files over the Internet. Even Linux servers now have code to support this and my iPhone allows transfers to and from it using the Air Sharing application which works by mimicking a WebDAV server. I used to connect to the iPhone by opening the address shown in the Air Sharing application screen using Internet Explorer 7. It was as simple as going to the File menu, selecting Open, entering the address and selecting the check box that said, “Open as Web Folder.”

To get this functionality now, in Vista you have to go to Start, Computer, select Map Network Drive and then click on the link that says: “Connect to a Web site that you can use to store your documents and pictures.” You are then taken to a wizard that walks you through a series of steps to connect to the WebDAV folder. This is not what I consider progress. Microsoft, how about a patch that fixes this downgrade to a real upgrade?

One of the features that I always felt was missing from the iPhone was the ability to synchronize notes between Exchange/Outlook and the iPhone. I keep all kinds of small notes on my iPhone and separately on my Exchange Server through my Outlook client software. These notes are important and I find that I need them at times when the phone is handy, but not a computer. One example of this, is needing my frequent flyer number at an airport counter. I have this information in my Outlook notes, but not on the iPhone. That was the case until the new 3.0 release of the iPhone software.

New functionality in the iPhone 3.0 software eliminates this hassle, albeit not perfectly. It now synchronizes the notes application on the phone with notes on your Outlook client, but only when the phone is physically connected to the machine with the Outlook software. It does not synchronize over the air like it does with email and contacts. This is an unfortunate limitation, but one that I will live with. To me, this was one of the most pleasant surprises of the new 3.0 software.

I’ve upgraded my iPhone 3G to the new 3.0 version of the operating system and am very happy with the new improved software. I will write about the various improvements over a couple entries into this blog.

One improvement which is not getting a lot of attention is the built in Stocks application. This application allows you to track a portfolio of stocks. You simply look up the symbols and save it to the interface of the application. Figure 1 shows a sample portfolio with Ford Motors (F) highlighted. The upper part of the interface shows the stocks in your portfolio and their current prices (delayed 20 minutes.) You can press your finger on the colored area that shows the change in price and it will show you the percent change. This has always been the case, but the new software gives you an additional level of information. If you press a second time, you get the market capitalization of the stock.

Fig1. Stocks Base	Fig 2. Stocks News	Fig 3. Stocks Summary

The bottom portion of the screen shows a graph of the selected stock’s progress. You can select various time periods by pressing on “1d,” for today, “1w” for a week and continue increasing the time period as necessary by pressing the appropriate time period button. The new software adds the ability to scroll the entire graph region with your finger to obtain news on the selected stock. Figure 2 shows news for Ford.

Another scroll  to the right will display a summary screen on the stock. The summary screen shows the opening price, high, low,  volume, highs and market capitalization of the company. This is a very handy addition since getting this information in the past  required going to Yahoo! Finance. Figure 3 shows the summary screen.

Perhaps the most interesting improvement is the new landscape mode of the application. If you flip your iPhone (or Touch) on its side, you will see an enhanced graph of the price of the stock over time. You can then press your finger down on the display and move it to the left  or right on the display to get the price at any given point in the graph. The image to the left shows the graph with a vertical line through it showing the price at that point. That vertical line represents where my finger was on the screen when the screen was captured. If you use two fingers and spread them in opposite directions, you can  get the change in price for any period of time. The image below and to the right shows a range with a drop in value of 3.13% for Ford’s stock.

You can see the other stocks in your portfolio and stock indexes, by moving your finger along the top of the graph (where the symbol and date is displayed) to the right or left and the graph will change to the next or previous stock or index in your portfolio.

The functionality that this little application offers is just incredible. Just about the only improvement that you could ask for is real-time quotes. If that happens, then the iPhone will become and indispensible tool for anyone trading stocks seriously. My congratulations go to the developers of this handy tool. Bravo!

It is the end of an era; analog television broadcasts are now a thing of the past. As of this last Friday, the TV networks stopped broadcasting on the analog frequencies and are now only broadcasting in digital high definition on a different frequency. This has rendered millions of television sets useless. The deadline for this switch was delayed from February of this year to June 12th. It is now time to upgrade to a better set, pay for cable services (which will still support your television set through the cable input connector) or purchase a conversion box.

For the many who were probably caught unprepared for this, the FCC has established a hotline staffed by 4,000 operators to help you, You can call: 1-888-CALL-FCC. Alternatively, you can visit this government website: http://www.dtv.gov/

Does anyone remember analog cell phones, Betamax, VHS, LP record players, tape players, or heaven forbid, 8-Track players? If you do, you probably own a Sony Walkman tape player and need to upgrade to an iPod Touch. Get with it.

We live in a technologically advanced era. Everything that we used to do in the analog world is being replaced by a digital version. Now, we can even date digitally. The latest issue of Scientific American Mind magazine has an article on how significant the on-line dating scene has become and how often people lie about their age, weight and appearance on these sites.

According to the article, most sites have millions of profiles, but very few paying customers. They have concluded that sites that offer questionnaires that supposedly match people are no better than others that allow users to post profiles and wait for emails from prospective partners. They also determined that there are certain age groups that lie more often about their age. They used statistical analysis for this conclusion. The most disturbing finding is that many inquiries go unanswered because non‑paying customers cannot answer emails without becoming paying customers. This leads to a lot of frustration and misunderstanding.

Not wanting to be left out of this trend, my company has put up a new and free dating site. It is called, “Faces to Remember.” This site will facilitate human relationships much like personal ads did in newspapers and magazines in the past. The site will make its income through ads and will not charge for any of its current services.

Try it out and let me know what you think. You can reach me at the email address, Robert (at symbol) facestoremember.com or Alonso.com

The third chapter is a history lesson on the rise of the dollar and the establishment of the Federal Reserve System. I found this chapter interesting and informative. In fact, it should be required reading for history and economics majors in college or maybe even in advanced high school history courses. The fourth chapter goes into great details into the economies of South American countries with an emphasis on Ecuador and its adoption of the dollar as its official currency. The dollarization of Ecuador led to economic stability in the country, but with some unforeseen costs. Chapter five gives us great detail about how Asian economies are now tied to the United States economy by way of their massive reserves of dollars. It also includes sobering information on how dangerous this is for both the Asian countries and the U.S.

The last chapter discusses a bank that allows United States citizens to save with the value stored in a foreign currency. The thinking behind these accounts is that the dollar is headed for a fall and having some of your assets in Euros or Yen might be a good idea. In general, the chapter deals with the potential fall of the dollar and the potential for other currencies to surpass the dollars preeminence. The current thinking is that the Yuan from China or even the Euro from the European Union may have a chance at displacing the dollar.

It will take much time for the dollar to lose its omnipotent position in the global economy, but it is not inconceivable that it could happen within a lifetime. If it does, it will have a huge impact on the country’s ability to borrow money, fund deficits and maintain trade imbalances. This is the book you should read if you want to understand economics at the global level—especially now with the global banking crises. It is thorough and informative, but does not require an advanced degree to understand. I give this book my highest recommendation and hope that new, updated versions are released regularly.

Robert Alonso
Alonso Consulting, Inc.

A few days ago, the media reported that Oracle had acquired Sun for $7.4 billion. They also reported that Oracle will add about $1.5 billion in income as a result of the acquisition. The chief reason given for the move was Oracle’s desire to have a complete solution for its customers. This solution would include Sun servers, Sun’s Solaris operating system, Oracle database servers and Java as a development language and platform. This all sounds great and publicly promotes the supposed synergies between the two companies, but it ignores a potentially more sinister reason for the move.

Sun acquired MySQL AB, a company distributing an open-source database server, for $1 billion about a year ago. Why Sun would have purchased a free database server for so much always eluded me. It did not make sense fiscally and did not appear to be a strategic fit–that is, unless the goal was to subvert the popular database and pass it along to Oracle.

The fact that Sun acquired MySQL may be the real reason Oracle acquired the company. If you take it a step further, maybe Sun acquired MySQL as a favor to Oracle or as a precondition for a deal. Oracle acquiring MySQL directly would not have passed the smell test with me or possibly with regulators.

This acquisition should be an indicator to the open source community that it is time to fork the MySQL development and come up with a new database server that Oracle does not control. What do you think?

Microsoft announced a new version of its Windows Mobile smartphone operating system last week in Barcelona, Spain. The new software will be rebranded to be “Windows Phone” and will feature a revamped user interface that is touch driven. The changes to the operating system, the addition of touchscreen support, a new Windows Marketplace for Mobile and a data syncing and backup service called, “My Phone,” should make Microsoft competitive again. If not competitive, at least it will help it catch up with the iPhone features set as of this writing. 

Early reports are that the user interface is superb and resembles the user interface in the Zune. Unfortunately, the user interface will lack the multi-touch features found on the iPhone.  This will have the anti-PC crowd snickering.  Even Microsoft supporters, like myself, think that the omission of multi-touch is a serious deficiency. After owning and using over half a dozen Windows Mobile phones, I am an iPhone convert. It would take an amazing improvement to Microsoft’s software and its partners’ hardware for me to even consider switching back.

Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s MobileMe service is currently being tested. It is a free service that they are calling “My Phone.” The company has an opportunity to beat Apple with this service. It is supposed to offer backups of contacts and photos onto Microsoft servers.

In other related news, Microsoft announced that LG Electronics will be putting the new Windows Phone software on 50 of its smartphones. This should help Microsoft establish this new version (6.5) of Windows Mobile. Microsoft currently trails Symbian and Research in Motion, but is ahead of Apple’s iPhone in terms of smartphone market share.

Although these moves may make Microsoft more competitive and help it maintain or gain market share, it really needs a new game changing user interface and hardware combination. Playing catch-up  is not the way Apple rocketed from no market share to fourth place. Apple’s game changing iPhone is arguably in first place in terms of “cool” factor, ease of use and momentum.

We’ll see soon enough what effect the new software and relationship with LG will have, but I believe that Microsoft needs to stop designing software in number increments. It needs to set up mini-Microsofts with creative designers and programmers to create new, innovative products outside of the myopic vision of the parent behemoth.