Hot for Windows Phone 7

If you know me, you know I'm a nerd and an early adopter. I like the pain of issues from adopting early because it helps me learn more about it and lets me get under the hood. I'm happy when new technology "just works," but when it doesn't, it often forces the inner dork in me come out to play.

I was a first-day early Android adopter, and I happily plunked down my money for the HTC G1 from T-Mobile, which I still have. I've been happy with it since that purchase and it was a great investment. I chose Android over the iPhone for several reasons. Being open to any carrier, any maker, and the ability for people to customize their experience is what drove me to the purchase, and it has excited me to see the Android's popularity grow since its release.

I always find it interesting when open standards challenge closed, proprietary platforms. Take Beta Max versus VHS. Sony was the company behind Beta Max and they lost to the VHS open standard, even though at the time everyone believed beta max was better. Another example again features Sony with their AIT proprietary tape format, developed for the then niche market of digital media. Seagate, HP & IBM initiated the LTO Consortium in the late 1990s as an open standards alternative to the proprietary magnetic tape formats available at the time, and LTO has been the best-selling "super tape" format since 2002.

So given the theory above, my money was on Android against the iPhone, which is turning out to have been a good bet, now that Android apps are rushing to the market in droves, and Android phones are selling over 100,000 units per day. A key component with Android was the huge number of professional java developers that could get to work on something they were already familiar with.

What can beat a winning open formula like this you might say? The great combination of Enterprise and openness. Make something for the Enterprise but open it up for competition and you have yourself a winning combination.

Enter Microsoft Windows Phone 7 to the party. Not only do you bring the biggest paying and highest quantity of buyers to the party, but you bring all the vendors looking to get at the money and market share. Take it a step further and sprinkle in the Xbox gaming community that is currently 25 million subscribers per month strong and you have yourself the making of a huge shift in the market.

What will ultimately make or break the platform is developers. some say the new Palm Pre platform was pretty nice but the lack of apps at launch made it fall flat with very little success. Recently HP took a gamble and purchased Palm for 1.2 billion. Now they will be trying their hand into the tablet market but without developers, I don't predict much success. Windows Phone 7 is based on its popular Microsoft Zune device and hundreds of thousands of developers who already know how to program in Microsoft .Net, Silverlight, and XNA are off to the races. They don't have to learn a new language; they don't have to buy a new computer, pay additional fees or anything like Android of iOS development.

Given the technology demos and videos that have made it to light and the huge list of games, the platform doesn't seem lacking. The Xbox gaming integration, Netflix, Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare was enough to have me salivating and ready to go. If I was a betting man, my money would be on Microsoft for the win.

People have beaten on Microsoft for the last 2 years that they were late to the party and missed out. The same was said when the early versions of Windows launched and they had no developer tools or platform. Now they have .Net and are easily the most advanced, organized, and modern tools / platform in existence.

I don't have a date for launch, nor do I know what exact phone I want to get. I know my T-Mobile contract is up for renewal, and I've got a handful of cash ready to throw down for a Windows Phone 7 device. They may have been late to the party, but they are here now, and they brought a keg, shots, and some friends. Let's get it on!

Windows Phone 7 Complete Guide

Great Online Savings Programs

I was talking with someone the other day about how to get started saving for college as they have a new born baby and didn't have any clue on how to start or even how they would afford it. I told them about the programs below that we have been using for a while.

UPromise is an online program that you create a saving program with. Many retailers will give a percentage of your transaction with them back into the college fund. For example, every time I fill up my car at Exxon, I get a rebate of 1 cent per gallon of gas purchased. Some retailers offer up to 10% credits.

The way it works is that you create an account and tie your credit cards to it. Any purchases with those cards automatically trigger the rebate. This isn't limited to a single card or family either. So for example my mom, aunts, uncles, and others in the family can also add in their cards and participate in the donations.

New York 529 is the New York state college savings program that has the best terms, options, and features. My wife did quite a bit of research on this and while we live in Texas, we went with the New York plan. The link on the name is to the FAQ section where your questions may be answered. If you notice once you get there it's part of the UPromise framework so you can really take advantage of that program and grow things even further.

EBates is a program that doesn't help you save directly for college but it gives you cash rebates on your online purchases. Sometimes it's quite a lot and getting cash back for something you were going to do anyways is pretty nice. This isn't a pyramid scheme or multi-level marketing. You just go to the site, login, and then find the retailer you were going to purchase from, and go about your business. My wife and I have been using it with success for a while and it's been nice to get the rebates back in the form of gift cards.

There are so many scams and pyramid systems on the internet and it's hard to tell which is real and which isn't. I'll tell you we have been using these programs for years and have literally saved up thousands of dollars as we are also putting in my directly from our paycheck as well. It's nice to do what you were going to do and earn more for the kids. Getting gift cards of our choice back from EBates is fun too.

The purpose of my email is to just share the information as so many people I've talked to have no idea that these types of programs exist and their first response is an assumption that it's a scam or too hard. I'm a very happy user and have been for years sleeping well at night knowing I'm saving for my girls college.

Summit catches 3D gaming in upswing

I was reading this article about 3D gaming and it could not be any more dead on about the timing and readyness for 3D gaming.

Summit catches 3D gaming in upswing

When I was at CES in January I saw the huge amount of hype and push for 3D TV. I just have no desire to gear up to watch TV. That is when I relax and I don't want to put on battery powered glasses to do it in my own living room. I understand that porn watchers are going to ultimately drive the technology like most innovations.

I did get a chance to experience the Nvidia gaming booth and I was bown away. The games are computer generated so the natural depth perception isn't quite the same as looking at real people in a movie. I already sit down and gear up to play with my gaming mouse, keyboard, headphones, and microphone, so why not throw in some battery powered glasses too? After checking out a game hands on in Vegas, I'm ready for 3D and will be making a purchase soon to get there.

Ignite Dallas #2

I've been following the TED events for a few years and I've always wanted to go but haven't been able to get approved to attend. If you are not familiar with TED it is a gathering of people who give timed presentations on their big ideas. You have to be reviewed and your idea has to be pretty riveting or game changing to present.

To be able to attend an event in person you have to write an essay and be pretty important. I do appreciate being able to watch all the videos on www.TED.com. I find them very inspirational and they continue to give me hope for the future of humanity.

Recently other groups have been working to emulate TED such as SMU with their TEDxSMU event which I also tried to get into and was not accepted. I stumbled on another group which I was able to get into and I'm looking forward to seeing what the event holds. This group is called Ignite Dallas. I registered on EventBright for only $20 here and there is a Facebook page here. I'll attend and report back on how it goes. It's Wednesday June 2nd from 6pm till 10pm at the Granada Theatre.

Brightcove - B2B Marketing with Video

I was sent this video by someone and I have to say that it's a good way to think about video. I've never seen this type of cohesive approach to video before and I wanted to share it with others. This is probably only interesting to you if you are in marketing but I could be wrong.

Brightcove - B2B Marketing with Video

View more presentations from Brightcove.

TetriTherapy?

A friend of mine sent me this link which discusses the output of some research on the positive benefits of playing Tetris to reduce the incidents of traumatic flashbacks. I have to admit that after a hard day at work or when I am particularly stressed out I find myself wanting to play a game. For me it's always been a way to de-stress and unwind where others might turn to more harmful vices such as smoking, drinking, or drugs.

One of the drawbacks I've found is going too far down and playing too much. This has caused me to have the reverse effect where I can't sleep and I toss and turn with thoughts consumed from the game. I can play whole games in my dreams and wake up frustrated with very little deep sleep. On the other hand if I find myself not having played games for a few weeks I'll end up with nightmares where my brain goes into overdrive and so I balance things out with a little gaming every few days keeps me emotionally and mentally on an even playing field.

I'd love to hear others and what their stress outlets are as I suspect this type of conditioning and self treatment isn't segmented to me or gaming. Am I alone and a freak on this or can others ratify my realizations?

Blog Format

I've been talking with my co-worker Chris Ebbeson (@ebbynezer) about his blog and our common situation. We want to blog more but we don't have enough to say to justify sitting down and writing something formal. We agreed that Twitter is far too small and Blogging is often too big. I am going to start writing smaller blogs as a matter of practice and not let size of the article prevent me from sharing my thoughts.

Chris on the other hand is giving Tumblr a try. I have to admit I've not actually gone to Tumblr before so I created me an account (solarcurve.tumblr.com) and will be checking it out. I am impressed with all these sites and their ability to post to one another and seamlessly get your information out there. I am also afraid of overkill and duplicate postings. What are your thoughts?