PRescience

There’s been a lot of speculation the last few weeks over IM replacing SMS text as the preferred method of communication on the handset. But I ask you… have you ever USED the IM feature on your phone? I use a BlackBerry, and even on a phone that sophisticated the IM service is terrible. The only time my IM feature works? When someone uses it to TEXT me!! Check out this article on the topic if you want to know more…

Ok, I’m just going to come right out and say it. I want a Mac at work. I talk about it, whine about it, suggest it at staff meetings, tried full stop bringing my home one in for awhile (had to stop due to coworker Mac envy, and our server didn’t support Macs…minor detail). Bottom line. I want a Mac at work.

Turns out… I’m not alone! According to a recent Yankee Group report, 87% of a diverse group of businesses reported having at least a few Macs onsite, up from 48% two years ago. With no sales team devoted to pushing Apple in the workforce, how do we account for this massive increase?

The answer, according to a BusinessWeek article, is users like me! I bought an iPod years ago, and when my third Dell died a pathetic death after only two years, I became the (overly) proud owner of a MacBook Pro… which after two years is still running like a brand new machine. I used Macs when I worked for MIT, Syracuse University, and then ended up back in the corporate world, resigned to my fate of Windows Vista.

But I can’t take it anymore! So, here are the top five reasons why my company (and others) should adopt Macs:

5. QUALITY OF LIFE: I know this seems hard to believe (well, not for Mac users) but using a Mac really is such a different experience from PCs you’ll find that you will rarely be faced with frustration with your computer, freeing up time and energy to focus on work!

4. EASE OF USE: Macs are easier to use than Vista, so employees will spend less time perusing the depths of Microsoft Word searching for how to create a PDF. Interfaces are easy to understand, presentations come out with much higher quality, and the ability to intergrate multimedia into your work is streamlined and simple.  

3. PRODUCTIVITY: This is a major point based directly on my experience with a Vista machine every day. Just the fact that you don’t have to restart every couple of hours to fix the latest glitch should be reason enough, but in addition Macs are not prone to as many viruses, do not get bogged down in old code, do not constantly need to be defragmented and last longer than the average PC.

2. COST: Sure you saved money by buying PCs. There is no doubt that Macs are a more costly investment. But if you have to replace your PCs every two years because the systems get bogged down no matter what you do, then the investment in a Mac once could end up actually SAVING you thousands of dollars by giving you 2-3 times the mileage that you get out of a comparable PC.

1. MACS ARE BETTER AND MORE AWESOME. Need I say more? But seriously, there is a reason the last time Steve Ballmer gave a presentation, he was giving it on a Mac! Once Microsoft starts using Macs for important work, it’s pretty much game over.

So what will it take to get Macs in the office? Persistence and increasing frustration with the new Microsoft models. Microsoft has been instrumental in encouraging people to make the switch, with the failed Vista launch and an estimated 90% of users still working with Windows XP, there is little hope that any major enhancements in the (miserable) status quo of the operating system will improve any time in the next 4-5 years. I rest my case. I want a Mac at work!

So I’m sitting in the Baltimore airport waiting for my ride, and I just have to say, the seats on my airtran flight were SO uncomfortable! And I gotta ask. Am I imagining things, or are airlines doing badly these days? Hello! And if the industry is struggling, don’t you think building brand loyalty is key to the success of your business? I swear I was sitting on metal. This coming off a lovely leather seat plenty of legroom jaunt down to FL on JetBlue not one month ago. Come ON guys! Give some thought to your customers!!!

Ok. I’ve been thinking all day about Twitter, what I like about it, what I don’t, and trying to decide whether or not I think this service is useful. So I thought I’d write a post about it.

But then, in my research about Twitter I discovered something even cooler! Check out FaceRoller, which combines the short text updates of Twitter with picture posting and geolocation. It can also integrate with Facebook and Flickr, which makes it a seamless transition from note, to social network, to photo album. All in a one step process! Now that’s what I’m talking about.

Check out Webware’s post on it here…

Day one of the SES show and everyone is abuzz with anticipation… of course I’m in the press room rather than hearing all the exciting news and speculation in the show presentations, but nonetheless surrounded by all the “industry luminaries”. Check out the show Web site for more on what’s going on, and I’ll report more from the show floor later! 

This is what is commonly known as an interview disaster… Sarah Lacy interviews Mark Zuckerberg at SXSW.

Is it possible to be hooked on your search engine? What if you were challenged to give up your regular search engine for a week, and try something new. Could you do it? Even if you felt that you were getting better results with the new engine, what do you suppose the odds are that you would return to your googling ways after the week was up?

In a really interesting series on online habits, “Search Insider” Gord Hotchkiss examines the attachment online searchers have to Google, and how the addiction could (possibly?) be broken.

I think this is a fascinating topic, because the quality is not necessarily the motivating factor behind change. So many other factors (convenience, placement, appeal, ease of use, visual presentation) play into the choice we’ve made for our searching, and we take the choice very seriously, even becoming irritated with those who don’t search the way we do. Check out the article… do you think Google will continue to dominate, or can another kind of search sneak in to steal the show?

Ok, this is UNBELIEVABLE. Sit down before you read this. First of all, let me be the first to admit that I frequently forget to water my plants. For weeks.  And I’ve killed not a few African Violets this way. But these tragic losses have never inspired me to attempt to communicate better with the foliage in my house.

Until now. Apparently my plant woes could end with a few gadgets, two nails and a soldering iron (awesome). Yes, you guessed it, my plants can now Twitter me and tell me they need to be fed. I’m sure that this is the wackiest most ridiculous new media invention I have heard of… ever! Check out the story here and the Web site for the plans at the Botanicalls page (haha, get it?)

Anyway. The best part is that my plant doesn’t just tell me if it needs water. It also messages me to thank me once I do water it, which I always felt was lacking in the traditional plant watering routine.

“You ungrateful spider plant. WTF? I water you every Sunday and what do I get? No thank you, no appreciation, just the same stripey looking leaves you always had.”

Now I can feel appreciated by my leafy home companions. Better still, if I fail to water them enough, or alternatively water them in excess, they can scold me for my bad plant care. Which is perfect, because I’ve always wanted to get advice from my petunias.

All in all, I’m just really looking forward to what will happen next. I’m really hoping that my tomatoes will be able to Twitter me and let me know if they are going bad in the fridge, I really hate when that happens.

Scoble… you sneaky opinionated geek… 

But his take on the Microsoft/Yahoo/Google race is probably true.

I personally and professionally think the most important part of this whole process is where it’s headed… mobile. Mobile is the next big thing. You’ve either got it or you don’t, and if you don’t I hope you are planning to get left behind. More later. But if I were cool enough to do a predictions list for 2008, two things would top the list: 

Social search and mobile apps/functionality/search. 

Let the games begin!