I'll write up a couple/few posts about this new mobile phone over the next few days I am sure, but suffice it to say I have swapped out once again and am now using the Blackberry 8800, which was just released to the market by Cingular. You might recall my recent forays into the world of Windows Mobile with the Blackjack and Palm Treo 750.

I just fired up a personal account for the built in GPS navigation system, which is a TeleNav product. It comes preinstalled and all I can say is wow! Very, very nice. I will be using it for spoken turn-by-turn directions this evening to a weekend cabin on Mt. Hood, where I am taking the church youth group for a weekend of pain skiing and snowboarding.

So yes, I have given up the Palm Treo 750 running Windows Mobile. In the end, it was the lesser of the available evils, but was not stable enough and much of the usability was still quite clunky. It's a good device, but for what I do, once again Windows Mobile just doesn't do it. I have spent four or five hours so far with the Blackberry 8800 and I am supremely impressed. Although the trackball is a little different I like it and am getting used to it quickly. The menus are a little different than they used to be on all previous BlackBerries, but I am adjusting and I can see why they made the changes.

I wish I could write more now, but seven kids are counting on me to be ready to go to the mountain on time. Hey, at least we'll find the cabin when we get there!

Dag-Øyvind Paulsen has created a useful service for people who receive Office 2007 Word documents (.docx) and PowerPoint files (.pptx). His service allows you to upload the docx/pptx file to his web server, where the system he has put together will convert the Office 2007 files to classic Office 2003/XP/2000/97/etc. style files (of the .doc and .ppt form).

The services are called, appropriately, DOCX2DOC and PPTX2PPT.

While I suppose one could argue that providing a service that enables you to go backward from a strict technology standpoint is Not A Good Thing^TM, there is a market out there for people who:

1. Don't have Office 2007.
2. Don't want to (or can't) install the respective Office viewers.
3. Don't want to (or can't) ask the original sender to convert the file and resend it.

So, for those people this is an interesting service.

The creator has automated the conversion process and made it possible to do the transformations online in much the same way Office 2007 allows you to do Save-As and then choose the legacy formats. The service is offered on the honor system: If you use it, you're asked to pay $2 on the page where you download your converted file. Running a system like this costs money, and while on the order of 600 people a day have converted files in the week or so the service has been online, only a very, very small handful (less than you can count on one hand) have paid. If you read this and use the service I certainly hope you'll add to the paid-user count.

The process is rather simple from the end-user standpoint. Browse to the service web page for .DOCX or . PPTX files, browse to find the file on your computer that you wish to convert, choose the output format you prefer (you can choose from the legacy office formats, as well as .RTF, .TXT and .HTM), and then click the resulting hyperlink to download your converted file. It's pretty slick.

Being the security wonk I am, my antennae immediately went up as I thought of business users uploading potentially sensitive documents to the system, where they have to be stored in both the original and converted form for at least some period of time in order for a system like this to work. Dag-Øyvind responded by saying that he agrees, and that he warns people on the web site not to upload private, confidential or sensitive files.

His system appears to be well-secured (I did some quick checking and there is no way to browse for files without knowing the actual filenames) and while the file-naming and identification convention is strong (it uses filenames built up with a date-time value plus a randomly generated GUID, so you have to know the unique and random name in order to access any given file), the ultimate risk on a system like this is the guy who runs it. The files are cleaned up (deleted) from the system automatically every day. But, he says one should realize that since he controls the system, he has the ability to view any and all files up until the time they are automatically deleted. In other words, he's the biggest risk. I like the honesty in that statement. I asked him if the original and converted files could be deleted more often than once a day, and he said they could be and that he would consider doing so.

If you have a need to convert and don't have Office 2007 handy, this might be the right service for you.

Some technical details about how it works are available at: http://www.docx2doc.com/Newbies-Guide-To-docx.aspx

Well, I have had the luxury over the past couple months of not having to travel too terribly much, but this week it's back-on-the-road for me. Time to start racking up those frequent flier miles again, heh.

This week I will be in New York City (arriving this evening - I am on a plane in Chicago on a ground hold, just waiting to take off for LaGuardia... Nice to sit on a plan on the ramp for an hour and a half eh?). I'll be back home for a weekend on Mt. Hood with the youth group from church, and then Monday morning it's right back on another plane to head for Atlanta for a few days.

My hope is that I won't have to live the same crazy travel schedule I did last year, but my job calls for it, so a certain amount of it is to be expected (and accepted). If we ever get off the ground in the plane, that is. Maybe I'll spend the rest of 2007 here eating peanuts and working via Verizon broadband and a Cingular wireless phone. I guess it could be worse. I mean, they do have three (bad) movies in the tape library.

If you're in New York or Atlanta, let me know. I won't have a lot of free time but its always fun to try to meet people on the road if I can.

My friend and co-worker, Milind Pandit, is a wicked smart guy who can teach anyone a thing or two about lots of different topics. One of his areas of professional interest and knowledge is product management. The other day Milind presented a webinar focused on product management and dealing with risk, return on investment and real-world options. True to form, he eventually breaks it all down into a nice, clean metaphorical world that anyone can understand. Milind has a way of explaining things and keeping them simple (for which I am eternally grateful, heh).

Check out this webinar by clicking here.

We present a methodology for planning and tracking a product development effort. The primary tool for the methodology is a simple, one-page spreadsheet capturing actual and predicted expenses and revenues, from which IRR or NPV can be derived. Furthermore, the spreadsheet models uncertainty of predictions. By constructing the spreadsheet for a product development effort, real options are exposed. By maintaining the spreadsheet on an ongoing basis, the exercise of real options is tracked and the likelihood of product success or failure is clarified.

The simplicity of the methodology ensures that

• a product manager can independently stay up to date on the progress of a product development effort
• anyone from line workers to corporate board members can easily understand the state of a product development effort
• multiple product development efforts in various stages can be compared or aggregated into a portfolio
• investment and divestment decisions can be made rationally and with complete information

To demonstrate this methodology, we will construct and modify a spreadsheet for a commonly-understood project: the purchase, improvement, and sale of a home.

An a la carte menu style is in the making as the two big sat-radio companies are merging. Interesting.

The companies say this means everything will be even better. Reading the press release you'd think it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Forgive me for being a little less optimistic. Sure, I hope this means higher quality and more selection, but one has to worry at least a little. The competition thus far has bred some quick growth and service expansion. What happens to that now? When was the last time a single provider in a market space was good for consumers?

Anyhow, it will be fun to watch. And it's just satellite radio, so not like it's the end of the world if they screw up the marketplace. If it gets by the SEC and FCC. It probably will.

"The transaction is subject to approval by both companies' shareholders, the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and regulatory review and approvals, including antitrust agencies and the FCC. Pending regulatory approval, the companies expect the transaction to be completed by the end of 2007."

Nothing like having an automated buddy on the other end of the instant messaging conversation to keep ya busy eh? Well, sometimes they can be practical.

If you use Windows Live Messenger (MSN Messenger), and if you're a film freak (or even if you just like movies), go to your IM client program and add moviescout@botmetro.net to your contact list. Then open a conversation window and type "hi" or something similar. You can set your ZIP code and start searching.

Once you've found a movie you want to look at, enter the number next to the title to get showtimes and a link to more information about the film:

It's pretty cool. A lot like using Fandango in your browser, I suppose. But on a mobile device this is cool stuff.