Working Anywhere

D-Link DAP-1350 The Road Warrior's Travel Router of Choice

I travel a lot, and for the past few years the Apple Airport Express has been my favorite travel router, and in some cases it may still be. But for the past few months I've also been totting around a very small and full featured travel router from D-Link. And I love it. The tiny router that fits inside a small case is the D-Link DAP-1350.

Why is it so good? For starters it connects quickly to all kinds of wired networks. It comes with everything you need, all in one case, but most of all is it's range and power. I find that after I've gone out of range of the Apple Airport Express, that the smaller, and lighter, D-Link is still going strong.

As someone who rarely writes a product review, this is one product that makes a road warriors life easier. You can buy it online at Amazon for under $80 USD.

2010 Best Products/Services/Apps of The Year

Om's post about the best gadgets of the year got me thinking about how similar we both are and for the most part we agree, 3 out of 4. I don't use SONUS but I do have Apple TV, and the three other gadgets he mentions.

So here are my top services of the year:

1. A tie-CallVine-the conference calling service that calls you.-Calliflower The most complete conferencing solution--HiDef Conferencing-It just sounds better than all the rest.

2. Boingo-i connect more easily in more places. I actually have begun to wonder why I still have a T-Mobile Hotspot Account but there remains some hotels where they are still only T-Mobile that I stay.

3. Twimbow-It has changed how I view Twitter, use Twitter and actually now appreciate Twitter

4. Facebook-I have reconnected with more friends who I had lost touch with each year. It's the SOCIAL Network that actually has business benefits.

5. Linked In-It is how to find and manage business relationships. Nothing else comes close.

6. Google Voice-I can forward numbers anywhere with it (and even Internationally with some tricks)

7. Skype-sure it's got the risks of being free, but the size of the "community" and how good the video is now...it has become an essential, especially with the FreeTalk Everyman Hands Free head set on my iPod touch or iPad.

8. TripIt-I travel 200+ days a year. I rely on this to know where I am, what I'm traveling on, where I'm staying, when I'm eating, etc. I also share the data with my trusted circle.

9. FlightStats and associated apps/services-with weather delays, flight delays a part of life, this helps know your options.

10.FlipBoard-I love to read on my iPad and Flipboard, along with Pulse and TweetMag give me a very personal view of what I need to read.  Toss in TechMeme and I have all the news summarization I need.

What's amazing here is that most of these are SaaS (software as a service) or CaaS, communications as a service. Sure there's a client for some to access the data but for the most part they are all web apps, and I predict that in 2011 we'll see Skype as a browser app not only a desktop app. That supports the iPad, Mac Book Air and even the Android devices, though my feeling is Android is like VW and Apple is like BMW or Porsche in the way they are made. Both provide reliable transportation, but the latter give you style, performance and turns heads. So do most of these apps and most of all, they make my life easier.

Honorable, but very deserved mention--My entire staff at Comunicano. They are the best (at) service a CEO can have and they're totally virtual all the time.

2010 Best Products/Services/Apps of The Year

Om's post about the best gadgets of the year got me thinking about how similar we both are and for the most part we agree, 3 out of 4. I don't use SONUS but I do have Apple TV, and the three other gadgets he mentions.

So here are my top services of the year:

1. A tie-CallVine-the conference calling service that calls you.-Calliflower The most complete conferencing solution--HiDef Conferencing-It just sounds better than all the rest.

2. Boingo-i connect more easily in more places. I actually have begun to wonder why I still have a T-Mobile Hotspot Account but there remains some hotels where they are still only T-Mobile that I stay.

3. Twimbow-It has changed how I view Twitter, use Twitter and actually now appreciate Twitter

4. Facebook-I have reconnected with more friends who I had lost touch with each year. It's the SOCIAL Network that actually has business benefits.

5. Linked In-It is how to find and manage business relationships. Nothing else comes close.

6. Google Voice-I can forward numbers anywhere with it (and even Internationally with some tricks)

7. Skype-sure it's got the risks of being free, but the size of the "community" and how good the video is now...it has become an essential, especially with the FreeTalk Everyman Hands Free head set on my iPod touch or iPad.

8. TripIt-I travel 200+ days a year. I rely on this to know where I am, what I'm traveling on, where I'm staying, when I'm eating, etc. I also share the data with my trusted circle.

9. FlightStats and associated apps/services-with weather delays, flight delays a part of life, this helps know your options.

10.FlipBoard-I love to read on my iPad and Flipboard, along with Pulse and TweetMag give me a very personal view of what I need to read.  Toss in TechMeme and I have all the news summarization I need.

What's amazing here is that most of these are SaaS (software as a service) or CaaS, communications as a service. Sure there's a client for some to access the data but for the most part they are all web apps, and I predict that in 2011 we'll see Skype as a browser app not only a desktop app. That supports the iPad, Mac Book Air and even the Android devices, though my feeling is Android is like VW and Apple is like BMW or Porsche in the way they are made. Both provide reliable transportation, but the latter give you style, performance and turns heads. So do most of these apps and most of all, they make my life easier.

Why Google Can Enter Video Conferencing

TechCrunch is reporting that Google plans to go into the video conferencing space in a big way. Here's why they can do it.

1. Google purchased Marratech back in 2007. This gave them a platform that enabled multi-party video calling and presentation

2. Google purchased my former client GIPS this year. GIPS gives the incredible understanding of video codec and video conferencing. It also helps makes them independent of Vidyo at some point in the future. Google previously acquired On2, a video compression technology company.

3. Google acquired Gizmo5 this year too. Everyone forgot that Gizmo had SIP based h.264 video built in. But Google got more than a softclient, they also got a network that could handle video call routing.

So, for far less than Skype has ever been bought and sold for, Google has all the makings of a standards based IP video calling business, which can also handle having video (IPTV) run over with some very pristine looking video that can be HD from the get go.

What's All The Ruckus About?

Wired.com' s Ryan Singel in Epicenter has a very detailed account of Silicon Valley Wi-Fi hardware provider Ruckus, and how their equipment is changing the wireless landscape.

In a nutshell, Singel reports on how the new Ruckus technology makes public space Wi-Fi work and also sheds light on why earlier efforts never did. As someone who has used Wi-Fi on three continents in the last 14 months, and who spends a lot of time on airplanes, in airports and public workspaces, I can see how, as the global mobile workforce expands, that Ruckus' better radiating Wi-Fi radio systems will only make for a better end user experience. At the end of the day, the better the experience, the happier the customer is, and the lower level of customer service issues that arise.

While LTE is one of the hot buttons for 2011, especially as we will see come this coming January from Verizon Wireless here in the USA, good old 802.11 is not rolling over and play dead.

As a matter of fact, with technology like what Ruckus is putting out it only bolsters what companies like client Boingo, iPass, Aircell with GoGo Inflight, Row 44 and NomadDigital are all doing to keep us all better connected. In the world of eco-system competency, this is only good news for each of them, as the better the experience, the more likely road warriors and the leisure user will have that better experience, resulting in more users and longer sessions wherever the access may be. For the companies that make the connection, it also means more revenues, and likely, lower costs with these new access points.