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Technology

Technology

Moving From Gmail/Google Apps for Business to Rackspace Email

In light of recent infamous IMAP email issues between Gmail and Mail App in OSX Mavericks, I finally felt that I needed to make a change for the better. This isn’t the first time Google  has messed with Apple’s iOS and Mac users. They swiftly removed push email sync from Gmail accounts and making them use their subpar IMAP service. This was a surprise to many.

Yes, services like Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo etc. are free and for many “good enough.” However, you get what you pay for. These are free so expect there to be ads, commercials and offers to buy more things so that they can afford their bills too.

Google is also going to be embedding advertisements into their Gmail system. Furthermore, Google broke their promise in 2005, to never show advertisements in their search results. I am sick of this garbage. I just want my content. I just want my email.

Google is known to “kill off” high quality services with little to no good reason. Google Reader was picked off ? and most recently iGoogle, which I used as my homepage. Now I have Reddit set as my home page.

Even the likes of respected entrepreneur and developer Marco Arment ditched Gmail for another good paid service called Fastmail.fm. For me, I required something a little bit more such as push notifications.

Personally, I decided on Rackspace because they offered something unique that I cannot find anywhere else. Instead of purchasing a Microsoft Hosted Exchange account for $10 a month. I am able to purchase their regular Rackspace email IMAP account for $2 per month and add their unique “MobileSync” feature for an additional $1 per month. This MobileSync is based on Exchange’s ActiveSync technology. Essentially, it allows me to get emails pushed instantly to my iPhone without all the extra fancy frill of Hosted Exchange. I think having this feature is a gigantic plus.

Captain DeadBones Chronicles also shares my thoughts on the superb services at Rackspace.

“We live in a ‘Zero Time Communication Age’. Internal and external digital communication has to be fast and reliable in order to succeed.”

The only downside that I can see of using Rackspace is that your order needs to be a minimum of $10 USD a month. I decided to go with 3 business email accounts and 1 personal. And adding Mobile Sync to one business and the personal addresses to reach this minimum amount.

Changing MX Records to point from your domain host to Rackspace email servers is simple too.

Assistance from Rackspace is top-notch. I can get a hold of anyone there within 20 seconds. Rudy and Haley (a few others as well) at Rackspace are amazing customer service representatives and promptly guided and answers by questions. Thank you!

Spam filters are pretty much spot on and just as good as Gmails in my opinion thus far.

Once you’ve fully migrated all of your emails over to your new account at Rackspace, they will let you know. And from there, It’s very easy to setup MobileSync on your iOS device and Mac Mail. Did I mention you get a 14 day free trial to test out their service?

In conclusion, there are a plethora of free services such as Gmail and Yahoo that can offer adequate email functionally. But all of them are cluttered inorganic content and an increasing trend of blasting ads in your face. And it will only continue to get worse. There is peace of mind in knowing Google doesn’t have control over your mission critical email.

This is why I love companies such as Apple and their philosophy of not needing their customers personal data for their business.

Rackspace believes in the same concepts and have a concern and care for their customers personal data. I like and don’t mind paying for high quality services that allow me to get through my business related messages in a secure, streamlined and organized fashion.

There is truly something special and liberating about “owning your email”.

2013/11/12
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Technology

November 11, 2013

Mobile is Eating the World

This is one of the best overviews on the “station of mobile computing” by Benedict Evans. The data and presentation slides are brilliant.
The final, big reason why young people are gravitating towards messaging apps is that many of these apps no longer do just messaging. They are social networks.
The trend for Facebook’s downward usage like every social platform before it begins.

Simplify, simplify. My online life is already cluttered enough, and I never did like Google+, so I deleted it, and perhaps you should, too. Now there’s one less egg in my Google basket, and I never have to pay attention to anything that has the word “Google+” in it again — just like I did with LinkedIn (stop inviting me, everyone in the world), Pinterest, and a number of other things I had no use for.

Agreed. I’m starting to see what platforms I can cut the fat from.

How a Blacksmith Learned to Code 

Everyone everywhere is pushing this whole “Learn To Code” movement, but is it actually possible? This former Blacksmith/Farrier says a resounding: “YES!”

Very inspiring. I have made a goal to learn as much as I can about iOS and/or OSX development throughout the next year or two.

2013/11/11
1351
Technology

Thoughts on the Nikon Df

nikon-df

 

It’s worth noting that the Nikon Df’s “timeless design” has more to recommend it than just aesthetics. In addition to looking like the beautiful F-Series 35mm cameras of old — with dedicated ISO, exposure compensation, shutter speed and mode dials — it is also compatible with Nikkor lenses made as far back as 1959, the year Nikon introduced the first F-Series SLR.

If Nikon was in a super good financial situation, then this would be an awesome thing to do. Unfortunately they are not. This camera caters to neither high end pros or general consumers.

I think they need to focus on making a Coolpix A body with a top notch DX sensor with a compact 24-120 f2.8 lens like the Sony RX100.

However, the Df is interesting as it has the sensor of the D4. So the quality is there. Also, the marketing for it is excellent with Joe McNally. I love that guy and his life story. However, these living legends keep referring to how the Df makes them feel nostalgic and what it was like shooting back in the old days. Well, that only represents a very small number of people. The majority of shooters these days have never even been in a darkroom before.

I don’t think the Df will help the company economically though. They need to put their resources and efforts in the ideal compact camera I mentioned above.

What do you think about it?
2013/11/07
1553
Technology

November 6, 2013

“Our business does not depend on collecting personal data”

Foremost, the document explains Apple’s philosophy on customer privacy. “… Our business does not depend on collecting personal data,”* the report said in an obvious poke at Google, Facebook and others. “We have no interest in amassing personal information about our customers. We protect personal conversations by providing end-to-end encryption over iMessage and FaceTime. We do not store location data, Maps searches, or Siri requests in any identifiable form.”

This is why I love and use Apple’s products and services. It is a huge contrast to other companies such as Google, which rely heavily on user data to sell advertisements.

Charter CEO ‘Surprised’ Users Want Broadband With No TV

Charter losing 27,000 TV subscribers down from 71,000 last year. The company also managed to add 86,000 broadband subscribers, and broadband revenues jumped 23% to $575 million courtesy of price hikes.

“I would say that the one thing that surprised me…is that our broadband-only growth has been greater than I thought it would be,” said Rutledge.

I am not surprised to see the increasing trend of customers getting sick of the traditional TV business model. This is a reason why streaming services such as Netflix are skyrocketing. People would rather just have unlimited bandwidth and faster download/upload speeds and watch what they want, when they want. Hopefully, Apple is able to disrupt the television industry like they did with the music one.

The Movie Deal Netflix Wants to Make

While releasing those titles day-and-date with cinemas would be a tall order, Sarandos wants them 45 days or even 30 days after their theatrical bow.

This would definitely rock the industry. There subscription rate would increase even faster.

Microsoft Is Making An Astonishing $2 Billion Per Year From Android Patent Royalties

This money, says Sherlund, helps Microsoft hide the fact that its mobile and Xbox groups are burning serious cash.

For the past few years, Microsoft reported the revenue and operating losses of Entertainment and Devices, which was the group that housed Xbox, Windows Phone, and those Android royalty payments.

That group always seemed to be profitable, but Sherlund says it’s largely because of the Android money.

Sherlund says that if you back out the Android profits, Microsoft is probably losing $2.5 billion on Skype, Xbox, and Windows Phone. Of that, $2 billion in losses are attributable to the Xbox platform.

That’s some serious royalty dough. And an awesome photo of Ex-CEO Steve Ballmer. Maybe he didn’t do such as horrendous job after all.

Burger King’s Big King: A Big Mac By Any Other Name? 

Eric Hirschhorn, Burger King’s Chief Marketing Officer for North America insists the new burger is different than any other because of “the unique fire-grilling” for which Burger King is known.

If imitation is a form of flattery, then McDonald’s is basking in adoration from its much smaller competitor. Like McDonald’s, Burger King has rolled out salads, fruit smoothies, frappes, chicken nuggets and wraps in recent months.

Burger King is pretty much like the Samsung and Google or the fast food industry.

2013/11/06
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