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Adobe has released a public beta of Adobe AIR for Linux.  What is AIR?  It stands for Adobe Integrated Runtime and allows an HTML/JavaScript environment for developers to make awesome applications that look great and run on Windows, Mac OS X, and now Linux.  The applications developed in AIR also have the same look and feel, adding to their cross-platforminess (yeah I just coined a new term).

I use Adobe AIR applications, including Twitter clients Snitter and Twhirl, Google Analytics, and a few others.

If you’re a linux user, check out AIR - you won’t regret it.

After being a huge fan of the Nokia Nseries, I wanted to change gears and evaluate Nokia’s business line of phones - the E Series.  For my first trial, I received a review unit of the Nokia E61i, their flagship E Series devices that features onboard Wi-Fi, a full QWERTY keyboard, Bluetooth, and a large vibrant screen.

At first glance

When I first picked up the Nokia E61i, I was surprised with how light it was.  Looking at the device which stands 4.6 x 2.7 x .5 inches in dimension, I was expecting it to be pretty bulky.  Not that it’s a feather, but it’s weight at 5.3 ounces feels good in the hand.

The keys are rubberized and are easy to type with.  The menu and control keys are a little small, so if you are someone with big fingers, you might want to look elsewhere for a smartphone.  There is no pointing device, but Nokia designed this phone to be an ace at one-handed operation.

I took off the battery cover and popped in my T-Mobile SIM card.  The E61i fired up and booted.  The screen is quite bright and easy to read.  Text is very distinguishable and the graphical Symbian UI excels on the E61i.

The software experience

Nokia’s E61i has the same Symbian applications as the NSeries devices, with a few extras.  Being a business phone, it has applications to read Office documents, PDF documents, and a few others for easily swapping office files around with your co-workers and colleagues.

Hopping in wireless networks was a painless task.  Also, like the Nseries, the E61i has Internet telephony built right into the phone.  This means with the right application, such as TruPhone, Fring, or other VoIP product you could make and receive phone calls without using your conventional phone minutes.  This would be extremely useful when traveling internationally.

I also loaded what I call the “Google Suite’ of applications.  This includes Google Maps (with My Location - easy GPS-like location service), Gmail, and a new feature called Google Search.  After loading Google Search, a little widget sits on the bottom of the E61i’s home screen and allows you to hit ctrl and quickly enter a Google search term.  A web window pops up with the Google search results.

One software feature that disappointed was the Exchange client.  Nokia has an Exchange client for download that allows you to connect to your corporate Exchange/Outlook email.  I successfully downloaded and installed the application, entered in my Exchange server information and user credentials.  However, the client consistently reported a “System Error” when trying to connect to the Exchange server.  I verified all the settings with our IT department, but despite all my efforts the Nokia couldn’t connect.  One attractive feature I saw the Exchange client support was its ability to configure the client to only check emails every 30 minutes when you were outside of business hours.  This will reduce battery drain by not initiating a data session every 10 minutes or so when it’s unnecessary.

Performance

On the software side, the E61i is like the other Nokia devices I’ve tried: a little sluggish.  There’s a delay when you press a key and when you get multiple applications loaded up, there’s a definite gap between the software needs and hardware resources.

However on call quality side, the E61i excelled.  My callers reported that I sounded very good and to me they sounded incredible.  The speaker is audible and crisp.  I was able to get a strong signal in areas that other phones reported weak signal strength.  Battery life was very good.  Even on days with heavy data usage, I didn’t have that much drain on the battery.  I was able to go about 3-4 days between charges.

Using the phone overall was a very high-quality experience.  Composing emails and SMS messages using the full keyboard drove higher usage of these services for me.  Navigating the call menus and working with applications was a breeze.

Wondering when your stimulus payment is coming up?  Well so was I!  But then my buddy sent me the following link from the IRS that shows when your payment is due.  Having two  best friends that are accounts sure has it’s privileges!

related link

After having a DirecTivo for many years, I grew to love the TiVo.  It’s intuitive, easy to use, and makes finding and recording TV shows a snap.  Then, in early 2007, I acquired an HDTV and switched from DirecTV to Comcast because at the time, Comcast had better HD programming.  Now as you all know, times have changed.  DirecTV has almost 100 channels of HD programming compared to Comcast’s like 10, but that’s another story.

With the switch to Comcast, we got a Comcast DVR.  Going into it, I figured it’d be mostly the same, just a different sequence to do the easy tasks of finding and recording shows.  Whoa was assumption wrong.  I won’t go into it very much, but to sum up: the Comcast DVR is a nightmare.  The user interface is clunky.  The DVR gets all confused and “forgets” that I  press keys, meaning we press a key and it queues them all up and executes them at once.

TiVo has a Series 3 DVR that does HD, but up until late last year, the Series 3 costs around $400-500.  However the released the TiVoHD, a stripped down Series 3 that has all the essential components of the Series 3, just a little less storage space and the fancy OLED display on the front.  These are add-ons I am very willing to sacrifice for the much lower price.  The list price for the TiVo HD is $299, however I see them on Amazon often for as low as $230.

When my review unit came from TiVo, I opened it up and saw the normal looking TiVo box along with a Wi-Fi adaptor.  This was the first time I’ve seen the TiVo use Wi-Fi to get its programming data.  Pretty damn smart, if you ask me.  The Comcast and DirecTV DVRs get their data over the wire through their coax connection.  Using Wi-Fi, TiVo gets its data quicker and populates the programming guide much faster.

I hooked the hardware up and walked through the set up process.  The TiVo first asked me about my wireless network and instantly hopped on.  I often have more trouble with devices on my wireless network because I use WPA encryption, but the TiVo handled it with no issues whatsoever.  There is a fantastic intro video that comes on after you set up the device to show you how to use your new TiVo box.  The set up process was seamless and easy.  You can definitely tell it was engineered for people who are not technical. i.e., my mom could have set up the TiVo easily without having to call me

I then set up the TiVo with all my season passes, which is TiVo speak for telling the TiVo to record all your reoccurring series.  The process was intuitive and care-free.  One new feature that I love is when recording an event that might go long like a sporting event, parade, or like show; the TiVo says “This live event may exceed it scheduled time, would you like me to record an extra half-hour?”  Brilliant!  Simply brilliant.

The TiVo HD has dual tuners, meaning you can record two shows simultaneously.  This is a very welcome feature when you have two shows on the same time.  You can easily record one and watch the other.  Also, the TiVo HD has 250 GB of storage.  I never even approached the TiVo’s limit, even when I was gone for a week without watching TV.  A new firmware upgrade means you can even add on to the TiVo’s storage by supplementing with an external hard drive.

The TiVO HD exceeds any other high definition DVR platform in terms of usability, stability, and the “fun-to-use” factor.  I had the Tivo for 2 months and I never had to restart it.  On the other hand, I have to restart my Comcast DVR once every two weeks because it becomes un-responsive.

After trialing the TiVo out, I would recommend it to anyone who wants DVR functionality in their home.  It may cost $12-14/month for TiVo service, but it is worth every penny.

Om just posted a review on a fabulous product for sharing files between your computers.  DropBox is a service that allows you to easily move documents and files between your different machines.  If you have ever used .Mac, this service feels a lot like iDisk.

Available for Mac and Windows, DropBox integrates with your finder or Windows Explorer.  All the files in your dropbox are saved in online folders.  Even if you save a file from your home machine and try to access it at work with your home computer offline, the files are still available.  Also, files are kept in version control, meaning you can see all changes to a file over time.

DropBox is an excellent alternative to carrying around a USB data key or emailing your files back and forth.  Right now the service is in private beta.

Nerdy note: DropBox feels like your own personal subversion being hosted by a service.  I understand they use Amazon’s S3 and EC2 service on the back-end.

(photo courtesy: getdropbox.com)

For those of you who don’t know, I am not writing for Download Squad any more.  I have moved over to GigaOm and I’m writing for Web Worker Daily and the flagship GigaOm blog.  It has been a great move for me as I really enjoy writing for the new network.

Now for the news.  While at DLS, I was lucky enough to make the front page of digg a few times with some of my posts.  Well Friday, I posted a story on GigaOm about the mobile market and how it will be transformed by touch interfaces this year.

I noticed yesterday it made Techmeme!  Here’s the link to my story on techmeme.

For those of you who don’t know about Techmeme, it’s an aggregator of all the hot topics and influential conversations happening in the blogosphere.  It’s an honor to make it onto Techmeme.

Obligatory screenshot below