MobileViews Blog

Category: podcast

  • MobileViews Podcast 125: Microsoft Windows 10 and Office Mobile launch discussion

    Special guests Frank McPherson and Sven Johannsen join me (Todd Ogasawara) to discuss the launch of Microsoft Windows 10 and Microsoft Office Mobile on July 29.

    You can find Frank’s detailed notes of his initial experiences with Windows 10 on his blog: FrankMcPherson.net

    And, my article about Office Mobile can be found on ExtremeTech.com.

    Jon Westfall will be back for the next podcast.

  • MobileViews Podcast 124: Windows 10 launch, Moto 360 smartwatch, Google Spotlight for iOS

    I’m (Todd Ogasawara) joined by guest panelists Frank McPherson and Sven Johannsen for this podcast. Jon Westfall will rejoin the the podcast in August. In this podcast, we discuss:

    1. Windows 10 production release on July 29. Build 10240 apparently the RTM.
    2. Next “hero” Windows Phone models? Cityman & Talkman phones? Reminiscent of Sony branding – Walkman, Discman, etc. Ref: AllAboutMicrosoft
    3. Moto 360 smart watch experience so far
    4. Microsoft Universal Mobile Keyboard folding & non-folding Bluetooth models
    5. Google Spotlight for iOS released with free 360 movie content. Includes one live-action 360 movie.

  • MobileViews Podcast 123: Tips about free tech solutions

    Jon Westfall and I (Todd Ogasawara) took on the following topics this week:

    1. Amazon Prime 20th anniversary sale a bust for consumers? Ref: TechCrunch
    2. What’s with the giant gap in Microsoft’s new folding Bluetooth keyboard? Ref: The Verge
    3. ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley asked Microsoft CEO Nadella about mobile strategy. Ref: ZDNet

    And, as a bonus, we discussed these free tips:

    1. Instead of Adobe Acrobat to create PDF Forms, Use LibreOffice – it can export PDFs with FIllable Forms natively.
    2. Instead of purchasing books tied to one platform, download free e-books (or strip the DRM off of e-books you own) with Calibre-ebook.com
    3. Instead of using that stats package you were taught in school (Minitab, SPSS), use R
    4. Instead of using iCloud Photos & Paying for storage, use Google Photos
    5. Instead of paying for push gmail with Google Apps, use Jon’s iCloud/GMail solution
    6. Instead of using “new fangled encrypted message service” (There are a few out there that offer “easy” encryption from providers you’ve never heard of), use good ole’ PGP / GPG – the tools are free.
    7. Instead of using Papers or Endnote, use Mendeley (2 GB free sync’ing for your PDFs) https://www.mendeley.com
    8. Instead of using Audio Hijack Pro, use Soundflower + Audacity https://rogueamoeba.com/freebies/soundflower/ (Made by the same company!)
    9. Instead of paying for clip-art / stock photography, use Flickr photos licensed under Creative Commons (if you pick the right license type, you can even use them for commercial purposes!)
    10. Instead of paying for Hulu & Netflix, try YouTube & TED talks

    And, a couple of paid solutions:

    1. Instead of using Twitter’s free clients, on iOS/Mac use Tweetbot (saves your place, keeps Twitter under control)
    2. Instead of using your brain / a list somewhere / the power of prayer – use Lastpass or 1Password to rest easier at night!
    3. Try viki.com or DramaFever.com for streaming video content from non-English speaking countries. About $4/month for either one

  • MobileViews Podcast 122

    Jon Westfall and I (Todd Ogasawara) take a look back on Microsoft’s ultra-mobile strategy since 1996 in light of its recent announcement that it will write down $7.6 billion in assets related to its purchase of Nokia’s smartphone business and lay off an additional 7,800 employees (most of whom came to Microsoft from Nokia). Ref: Microsoft

    You can find more details and my recollections of Microsoft’s mobile strategy since 1996 in this article I wrote for Extreme Tech: Microsoft Windows Phone: A 20-year retrospective of a meandering mobile strategy

    We also briefly discuss Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 10166 released on June 9 and my initial impressions of joining the smartwatch club by buying a Moto 360.

  • MobileViews Podcast 121: Wearables roundup!

    In this podcast Jon Westfall and I (Todd Ogasawara) welcome back mobile devices experts Jack Cook, Sven Johannsen, and Frank McPherson to discuss wearable devices (mostly smart watches).

    We asked each of the panelists:

    1. How frequent do you wear your device? (i.e. is it essential or do you take it off some days?)
    2. How’s battery life?
    3. What is your most useful feature (i.e. you have to pick one!)
    4. What features / apps does your platform have? (i.e. what does it do other than notifications?)
    5. What features / apps do you wish your platform had? (i.e. what do you envy from others?)
    6. What do you think of the appearance / build quality / accessories of your device?
    7. You have to jump ship: What wearable device do you move to?

    We kick things off, though, with a brief discussion of Microsoft’s three Windows 10 Insider Preview build releases in the past week and the upcoming Windows 10 launch at the end of this month.

    If you’d like to know more about what Frank has to say about the Moto 360 smart watch, you can read his article here: Me And My Moto 360 – What do I like?

  • MobileViews Podcast 120

    In this podcast, Jon Westfall and I (Todd Ogasawara) talk about:

    1. Firefox plug-in container taking up 60% of processor time
    2. iOS 9 lower power mode (Ref: MacRumors)
    3. Microsoft Word, Excel, & PowerPoint for Android moves out of preview phase to full release (Ref: Venture Beat)
    4. Google free Wi-Fi in NYC (Ref: Bloomberg Business Week)
    5. Lenovo IdeaCenter Stick 300 – $130 PC on a stick runs Microsoft Windows (Ref: Neowin)
    6. Todd’s Google Photos adventure
    7. Selfie Sticks Banned at Disney Parks
    8. Swarm – Mayorships are back