I just learned about www.posterous.com and I think it has the potential for changing my blogging habits forever. The idea is that one email to posterous not only populates a named blog on their site (i.e. www.larrywinger.posterous.com) but it also can be configured to send the same info to your blog, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and the list goes on. This email message is actually my first experiment. BTW, it can also handle all sorts of file types including doc, ppt, pdf, jpg, gif, png, mp3, avi and mpg. Pretty amazing stuff…and free.
Tech that makes life easier…or at least that’s the idea.
I’ll make this brief. My hiatus from posting was due to equipment issues of two sorts: my back and my computer. The outcome for both was positive, but clearly took my focus off of blogging.
When I went to Toronto just 13 days after surgery, it was with my surgeon’s blessing. In fairness, however, he did say that four weeks was usually his minimum. I feel that being there was absolutely essential, so I have no regrets for boarding the plane. On the other hand, I now understand why Dr. White usually has his patients wait a full month before airline travel — especially the 5-hour-each-way kind of flights.
The day or two following our return flight, I began to feel pains that were eerily reminiscent of the pains that sent me to surgery in the first place. I was scheduled to lead Stadia through Strategic Planning (Session Two) on Monday through Wednesday, but I knew that would only make matters worse. Tom McGlinchey graciously agreed to lead the effort, giving me a chance to take Naproxen for the inflammation and to rest for three days.
The good news is that the plan worked. On Thursday I returned to work and had my first physical therapy session and since then the pain has virtually disappeared. I credit rest and a return to a healthy, back-supporting regimen.
No sooner was my back on the mend than my computer went on the fritz. No connectivity at all, either wired, wireless or even broadband to Verizon. I was dead in the water. With the great help of our IT team, I was actually put in a new ThinkPad T61 laptop on Friday, which may tell you what I’ve been doing for the last 36 hours. Ah, the joys of reconfiguring a new computer.
So, I’m back online in two important ways. If you are in the habit of checking my posts (or have RSS feed), you may reasonably expect more stirrings of life from me.
Tags: computer, Naproxen, physical therapy, Stadia, surgery, Toronto, Verizon
I’m a raving fan of a free online voicemail management service called YouMail that I discovered in April. Built-in cell phone voice messaging capability is, in my opinion, a real weakness for most providers. YouMail to the rescue.
Before I go into a laundry list of features, let me tell you how it works for me. By disabling Verizon voice messaging and forwarding those calls to YouMail, I now get instant text message notification of voice messages, including caller ID and datestamp plus a new beta voice transcription of the message. Great for getting the gist of your message without having to step out of a meeting.
But the best part for me is that YouMail also launches an email containing that same info and transcription, with a link to their website and my message in MP3 form. It plays automatically and is downloadable. Very cool. That way, when you have a voice message you’d really like to keep, you can.
On the caller end, YouMail is fairly amazing as well. You can record or choose a pre-recorded outgoing message for all generic callers. That’s expected. The unexpected part is what you can do with people you know will be calling. By entering their name (first & last) along with all numbers, it will use a “Smart Greeting” with them.
So if George Smith is one of my contacts and he calls from a phone number I’ve put in the system, the “Smart Greeting” will say “Hi George, Larry’s not available right now. Please leave a message.” Needless to say, your friends will be impressed!
Take that even one more step. At any time you may override the “Smart Greeting” and record a caller specific message. “George, sorry we couldn’t talk before I got on my flight. We were delayed and I’m going to be arriving at 6:30, not 5:15. See you curbside. Thanks.” Can you begin to see the advantages?
And finally, I should mention that you can re-program your cell phone speed dial to go right to YouMail’s excellent voice message retrieval system. That is an acommodation for the Luddites among us — good old fashioned voice mail with a better cell phone interface, if nothing else.
I’m skipping the laundry list of varied greetings, voicemail management, caller identification and blocking. You can read that for yourself. But at the very least, give it a try. With compatible phone systems, you can even set it up to capture your landline messages as well. Happy messaging.
Tags: voice messaging, YouMail
Weeks ago I happily agreed to drive from Heidelberg to the Frankfurt airport to pick up my mother-in-law and two nieces from Arizona today. Their flight through Philadelphia was to have landed at 10:20am. In the middle of the night, AJ’s phone rang but we weren’t able to answer in time. Message retrieval didn’t work because AJ always uses speed dial on her phone, and this is a global loaner. Sooo, we assumed that the message was about a delayed flight.
You know the old saying about what happens when you assume, and that sure happened this time. I dutifully raced to the airport and planted myself outside customs. Sure enough, the Philly flight was 35 minutes delayed. After waiting for 1 full hour after the delayed arrival time, I was the sole greeting party in Terminal 1, Exit 3 from customs. No mother-in-law, no nieces, no joy!
It was then (and only then) that I decided to check my own phone. To my surprise, I had never turned it on this morning. Once power was applied, voila…a voice message dropped in delivering the voice of my travel-weary mother-in-law informing me that they missed their Philly connection and got re-routed through London Heathrow and would not arrive until 4:30pm.
After all my work to keep us globally connected with loaner phones from Verizon, the one step I forgot was to turn my phone to the “On” position. That always helps!
So here I sit in the American Airlines Admirals Club in Frankfurt Airport, eating cream of zucchini soup and a hard roll, typing this update on a public computer. If my accomodations were commensurate with my level of techno-intelligence on this day, I would be sitting on the hard floor mooching packets of free mustard from strangers. Thankfully I am enjoying comforts that help to take the sting out of my stupidity.
Now I’m just hoping they said Frankfurt and not Munich!
Tags: Admirals Club, Frankfurt, Verizon
I never thought I’d be able to write “free global phones,” but the day has finally arrived. In anticipation of our trip to Europe, the best I was hoping for was a disposable phone I’d buy there or a rented phone from the U.S. I’m happy to report that Verizon Wireless was way ahead of me this time.
It turns out that for existing customers they have a Global Travel Program where they will send you a loaner Motorola Z6C World Edition cell phone for up to 30 days of use for just the cost of shipping. Even that is impressive since $9.95 covers both FedEx 2 day shipping to your home as well as your FedEx return label.
Here’s how it works. Sometime before departing, you simply activate the loaner phone. Until you reverse that process after your trip, the loaner phone is now your cell phone whether at home or abroad. Until you leave U.S. soil, your calls are just part of your regular monthly plan. Same minutes, same network, same everything…just a different phone to talk into.
Once you set foot on foreign soil, things get interesting. You’re now able to initiate or receive calls instantly connecting you with Aunt Abigail in Albuquerque or the U.S. Embassy in Ecuador. What changes is the rate plan. Forget unlimited calling or free nights and weekend. You are now on a “pay as you go” plan, so be aware of the cost to converse or text. Rates vary by country, but they range from $1.29 to $2.49 per minute talked, so keep it short and sweet. Text messaging is a different story, and you’ll spend $0.50 for each address sent and $0.05 for each message received. For more details, click here to go to Verizon’s Global Travel Program.
Since we have three personal phones in our family, I was able to get three global phones for the price of shipping. Now when we are running around Heidelberg, coordinating pre- and post-wedding activities, we can connect with each other for as little as $0.55 cents per text message. That’s a real bargain. If some circumstance requires a one-minute phone call between our family members, I’m willing to spend $2.58 ($1.29 x two) to work out some important last-minute arrangement. If I see a call coming in from my Aunt Abigail in Albuquerque, I’ll have to decide how much I like her! I can always let her call go to voice message and pick it up later.
Sorry Aunt Abigail. Nothing personal.
For most of the last century, task management has remained fairly predictable and boring after the radical introduction of the basic “to do” list. Most of the books and programs until fairly recently were all about how to keep and update your lists. Same program, different wrapper.
My Dad managed his personal and professional life with a shirt-pocket holder full of 3×5 cards and plenty of change for pay phone calls. You can’t argue with success in time management, however it is achieved, but I’m so thankful to be living and working in a different environment.
I’m glad to report that things have changed dramatically over the past few years, especially with the emergence of new paradigms — and a handful of technologies that support them.
While I am no expert, I can say that I finally feel comfortable with my task and email management system, thanks to ”Total Workday Control” by Michael Linenberger.
Before I say more about his approach, Read the rest of this entry »
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