BostonPocketPC

As someone who spends a great deal of time writing and speaking about technology, I am regularly asked by technology companies to write or speak about their products. Over the years, I have established a number of relationships with companies as a result. While I have generally had good relationships with these companies, I am finding more frequently that the relationship between companies and myself with regards to my role as a “technology communicator” is becoming strained. In some cases, the relationships are strained to the proverbial “breaking point”. This is why I have decided to write what follows.

In the spirit of openness and communication, I think it only fair that I write an Open Letter to all the companies that I currently do work with, as well as though that might wish to work with me. I do this in the hope that we can establish better and more positive interactions that benefit each other as well as (and perhaps more importantly) those in the public who both read and listen to my words about your products.

If you are a current or potential “partner” with me and find yourself taking offense in any way by what follows, please take a sincere moment of pause and honestly ask yourself why you feel this way. I hope that my writing may in some way cause you reflect and react in a positive way for yourselves, your other partners in the community and ultimately those in the general public whose acceptance you hope to gain.

Dear Sirs/Madams,

I write to you today with regards to your desire to have me write and/or speak about your product(s). I thank you for your consideration in this manner. In order to affect a more positive and effective relationship with your company, I ask that you take a moment to review the following information regarding our current and potential future business relationship into account before we proceed any further in the process.

1. Please get to know me before seriously engaging me. I hope that the reason that you have chosen to engage with me is because of my reputation and the belief that I can be an effective partner. If you are considering me as someone to work with you, please perform due diligence in advance of establishing contact. I have always been an “open book” with regards to who I am, what I do and what I can provide to your company. I have always made my life around technology writing and speaking very transparent. Google me. Ask me questions. Ask yourself if I am a “fit” for your goals. Those few minutes of research will prevent yourself from trying to persuade me to look at, work with or review something that simply makes no sense based upon my interests. I expect that you value your time greatly; please respect the fact that I value my time as well.
2. Please honor (in legality and sprit) any agreements we undertake. I am often asked to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements (“NDAs”) as part of your processes. I have yet to encounter an NDA that does not have some stipulations for the company I am working with. I have and always will treat NDAs with the greatest level of respect; it is something that makes up my “professional integrity”. While you may perceive me as something less, please remember that by requiring a contractual agreement such as an NDA, you are treating me as a business partner. Not only are you legally bound to the contract, your own integrity is at stake in this agreement.
3. Please do not expect me to work with you on “blind faith”. I take the greatest pride in being able to communicate with the public based upon real and tangible knowledge based upon first-hand experience. I consider any sentence that includes “trust us” to be an affront to my professionalism. If you cannot explain why something is or provide me with information, do not expect me to accept that and then pass it along as personally-acquired fact. Furthermore – if we are under an NDA and you feel that you still cannot trust me to honor our agreements, I question whether we should have a relationship in the first place. Furthermore, I find such an attitude professionally and personally insulting and fear that it will introduce emotions into my perceptions of your products that would be unfair to you and (more importantly) those who read and listen to my words expecting an unbiased assessment.
4. Please do not ask me to speak to something when you will not provide the information I need to speak properly. In relation to item #3, please do not ask me to speak or write about something about your product based solely on your word. I am more than happy to post press releases at my web site, but to ask me to advocate or endorse any product without first having experience with the product is a waste of time. Also – please do not ask me to appear at a product launch with your product without first having access to your product. I take my role as a speaker and writer very seriously; the word “credible” means everything to me. There is other form of communication where credibility is more at stake than when in a face-to-face scenario. I will not put my reputation on the line as “knowledgeable”, an “expert” or anything else without being personally comfortable in knowing that I am speaking from direct knowledge and experience.
5. Please refrain from double-standards or “levels of confidentiality” with regards to talking about your product. I respect all legalities surrounding NDAs. I also understand and respect the need for such things as “press embargoes” until specific dates and times. However, please do not put me in a position where others considered as peers are allowed to talk about your product, but not myself. This jeopardizes my relationship with the community-at-large and therefore hurts you as much as me with regards to credibility and effective communication regarding your product. I consider this type of activity to be hypocritical with regards to you as a business partner and will question any further relationship when it happens.
6. Please acknowledge my input/feedback regarding your product. I am intelligent enough to understand that I am but one person of many who may be providing input or feedback regarding your product. Please understand that, after years of being a product tester, I only provide such input in the context of making of improving your product (from my perspective). While I do not expect this input or feedback to necessarily be incorporated, I *do* expect that some acknowledgement of your company at least looking at or considering my input. Non-responsiveness to my communication (which involved taking the time and effort to test/research) delivers a message that the effort is not worthwhile and diminishes our relationship.
   Also – please do not ask for input for a specific release of your product under the guise that the input could be incorporated into your product when this is not the case in reality. I am intelligent enough to figure out when this is the case (and I do quite regularly) and consider this to be disingenuous at best. Once again, this diminishes my trust in your company. If you would like input on a product release but know it cannot be incorporated into the product before release, simply state that fact. I will respect your honesty and be glad to oblige you in any way that I can.
7. Please respect my time. My goal is to always speak to any product or technology based upon real experience. This takes time, often at the expense of other items (personal or professional). Please do not ask me to review or speak to your product in an unreasonable amount of time.
8. Please refrain from asking for “editorial review”. I have not and never will sign any legal agreement that allows you to have editorial review of my written or spoken content. I expect that our relationship (both professional and legal) would allow for us to work in an environment where we can work without the need for censorship. I regularly have offered companies the opportunity to read or hear what I will deliver to the community in advance of the delivery itself. I do so with the hope that anything that is truly inaccurate is caught, as well as providing the professional courtesy of a “heads-up”. While I am a partner, I am not an employee. My credibility is based in large part on my ability to speak freely on subjects. As an side – I will never speak negatively of any product issues in public without first communicating with the company responsible for the product. I believe it is my obligation to first address issues like bugs, features or defects with the company to understand if these items have been already identified and, if so, are they being addressed.

In conclusion, please note that I consider all of the items listed above as proper professional courtesy for any successful business relationship of this nature. I have always taken pride in addressing these types of relationships with the greatest amount of professionalism. All I am asking in return is to be treated with that same level of respect. If you feel that our relationship is anything less than a professional one because of the nature of what I do, I kindly ask you to refrain from any future engagement as such a relationship will never be beneficial to either one of us.       

Sincerely,
Don Sorcinelli

It’s time once again for our monthly Boston/New England Windows Mobile User/Developer Group meeting! This month, our meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 18th starting at 6:30PM at the Microsoft offices in Waltham, MA (201 Jones Road, 6th floor).

This month’s topic -

It’s Off To The Market (place)
Coinciding with the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft has also launched the Windows Marketplace for Mobile. This “one-stop shop” for Windows Phones allows you to browse, purchase and download applications for your device – right from your device!

In this presentation, we will look at the Windows Marketplace for Mobile from both the end-user and developer perspective. We will talk about how to get started, what to consider and what the Windows Marketplace brings to the table.

I am currently on my way to NYC and while I am here I will be attending some Windows 7 Launch events. If you are not in NYC you can still watch the Launch Party with Steve Ballmer live here.

I will also be attending the Engadget Show where the folks at Engadget will be interviewing Steve B at the Times Building in NYC. They will also be live blogging the event as well in typical Engadget fashion.

I will also be doing some meet ups with various bloggers and friends that are in the Big Apple and will report back when I can what I see here as well as via Twitter. Tomorrow I will head to some stores with some other bloggers and see how consumers are liking Windows 7 as well as how retailers are selling it. We may even do some demos of our own! If you are in the area and want to stop by I will be tweeting our location.

Brandon LeBlanc has also posted some great news on some great bundles that are available. The best one looks to be the 3 computer bundle from Best Buy for $1199.

• Best Buy Bundle: HP Laptop, Desktop PC with monitor, Netbook, wireless router and set-up by Geek Squad for $1,199. For the price of one average Mac, you can outfit your entire family with 3 great Windows 7 PCs and a home network!
• Dell: Save more than $100 on a Dell Studio XPS13
• Gateway: All-in-one Acer Gateway ZX6800 23" for $899

Also check out this HD video of Brian and Stewie from Family Guy called Windows 7 is Here [HD].

I will be twittering too. You can follow me @fyiguy This looks to be one busy day and I can’t wait to see and share all the new hardware from partner OEMs geared for Windows 7.

For any mobile solution provider, keeping up with change is always a challenge. When you are a provider of not only end-user products but also developer tools, the challenge is even greater. Resco is one developer addressing these changes, and is even going further…

Resco MobileForms Toolkit now optimized for application development for Windows® phones

Bratislava, Slovakia — October 20, 2009 — Resco, a supplier of advanced developer components and tools for mobile devices, announces that its popular suite of Microsoft .NET Compact Framework components called Resco MobileForms Toolkit now supports development of applications for Windows® phones

Resco is pleased to have the opportunity to optimize its widely used suite of components for mobile applications development for the new Windows phones.

“The majority of users, when buying a new cell phone, consider the basic parameters of the device, such as its design, operation system, new functionalities,” said Radomir Vozar, Resco Developer Tools & Enterprise Division Director. “Much more important, especially for development companies, is the development environment and here the dominance of Microsoft and Microsoft Visual Studio is more than evident.”

Thanks to Resco MobileForms Toolkit, all developers familiar with Visual Studio have a great opportunity to develop Windows phone applications that fully compete in attractiveness with platforms like iPhone or Android.

“We’re pleased that Resco is helping developers reach the millions of people using Windows phones by offering the the Resco MobileForms Toolkit,” said Jason Lim, director of ISV and developer experience at Microsoft Corp.

The complete press release can be found at the Resco web site.

If that isn’t enough, Resco is also steeping in to fill the Microsoft Dynamics CRM void. If you are unaware, Microsoft recently announced that they are discontinuing Microsoft Dynamics Mobile. Resco has stepped up to fill that gap, however…

Resco announces support for Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Resco SFA and CRM solutions will be integrated with Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Bratislava — October 20, 2009 — Resco, a supplier of advanced developer components, tools and business solutions for mobile devices, announces that its popular SFA and CRM solution Resco MobileBusiness ESP will be integrated with Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Although there are many mobile CRM solutions available in the mobile market, most of them are either a thin client, or end-user applications with limited customization opportunities. On the other hand, Resco MobileBusiness ESP is a developer platform that can be used by developers from all around the world as a base for their own mobile CRM and SFA applications.

“Since the release of Resco MobileBusiness ESP there’ve been many concerns from the integrators about the option to integrate it with Microsoft Dynamics CRM,” said Ivan Stano, Marketing & Sales, Resco Enterprise Solutions. “That contributed to our decision to create a tool for integrators to help them develop their own Dynamics CRM mobile extensions.”

The Resco MobileBusiness ESP solution is a developer platform for mobile business applications that work in off-line mode and allow, when it is needed, synchronization with server database. Thanks to the support for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, the Resco MobileBusiness ESP will enable synchronization of mobile client data with Microsoft Dynamics CRM database.

“We realize the miscellaneous ways of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM usage in various companies,” said Miroslav Pomsar, Resco MobileBusiness ESP head developer. “Resco MobileBusiness ESP will solve multiple basic scenarios with customization opportunities embedded directly into Microsoft Visual Studio.”

Resco MobileBusiness ESP for Microsoft Dynamics CRM will be supplied with well-commented C# source code. Thus, it will be possible to perform elaborated adjustments that can lead to significant changes of the solution’s nature. Furthermore, the nature of the Resco MobileBusiness ESP solution as a developer platform and its licensing policy allow the developers creating solutions under own brand and with royalty-free distribution.

The first release of MobileBusiness ESP for Microsoft Dynamics CRM is expected to come in December 2009.

The complete press release for this announcement can also be found on the Resco web site.

All in all, Resco has really stepped up in supporting the Windows Pnone enterprise and developer communities.

I have often written and spoken about my personal favorite enhancements for Windows Mobile devices. Always high on this list has been SBSH Mobile Software’s Facade. It is truly one of the great home screen enhancements for Windows Phone non-touch screen devices. While Windows Mobile 6.1 and 6.5 have improved upon the home screen concept with the “sliding panels” approach, Facade continues to provide amazing additional functionality. Even better – a great product now looks even greater with the release of Facade 2.0 -

October 19th, 2009 - SBSH Mobile Software is excited to announce today the Facade for Windows Mobile Standard major update to version 2! SBSH Facade 2 for Smartphone is the ultimate front-end solution for WM Smartphones! Combining vital phone features and agenda, all in one professionally designed display, visible and accessible each time you power on your phone!
SBSH Facade 2 is powerful and optimized for mobile use like never before! Including new Home Panel with date and clock, alarms, profiles, pending counters, weather, appointments and tasks!; Custom home screen plugin integration, with multiple plugins in a single Facade panel; Integration with all major PIMs; Category colors and icons; Easy skin packaging and installation and much more!

 SBSH Facade 2 Highlights

• Home Tab - Date and time, alarms, profiles, pending counters, appointments and tasks - all in one screen display!
• Custom Plugins - Host any custom home screen plugin within Facade panels
• Appointments and Tasks - Powerful combined display including both appointments and tasks in a single section
• PIM Integration - Special integration with all major PIMs: SBSH Calendar, Pocket Outlook, Pocket Informant, AgendaOne and Agendus
• Category Icons and Colors - Use category icons and colors as part of your agenda display! Includes automatic use of SBSH Calendar category icons and configuration
• Monthly Calendar - Monthly calendar tab shows the days of each month within a Facade tab
• More Weather - Integration with SBSH PocketWeather revamped, including new forecast weather buttons and current temperature
• Skin Packages - Designers can now create installable layout packages, simplifying skin installation to a single file
• MRU Buttons - Most recently used button shortcuts now available
• Windows Mobile 6.5 - Fully compatible with Windows Mobile 5 through 6.5 devices

You can find out more about Facade 2.0 at the SBSH web site. Facade is also offering a free upgrade for users who purchased the previous version after July 1, 2009. In addition, all registered Facade owners who purchased prior to this date are entitled to an upgrade discount! You can find out all of the details at the Facade upgrade page.

Congratulation to SBSH! The new version looks even better than the old (and that is no small accomplishment).

It’s meeting time again, all! The next meeting of the Boston/New England Windows Mobile User and Developer Groups will be held this Wednesday (October 21, 2009) starting at 6:30 PM at the Microsoft offices in Waltham, MA (201 Jones Road, 6th Floor).

Our featured presentation - “Back ‘Dat Thang Up!: Windows Mobile Backup Strategies”
While the title may sound humorous, there is nothing funny when it comes to the loss of personal data. With the high percentage of breakage, loss and theft of cellular phones the need to preserve critical information is always a concern. Microsoft has officially released it’s official cloud-based backup solution for Windows Mobile 6.5 devices in the My Phone service, but that may not be the right solution for all your needs.

In this presentation, we will talk about creating your own (or your business’) backup strategy and finding the right tools to meet your needs.

For all those that have written in, Yes we have a meeting tonight. Don is down in Atlanta, but we will carry on with out him. Today’s topic will be cool,fun and new applications for the Windows Mobile platform. The format will be several demonstrations of several applications that take advantage of the hardware found in current Windows Mobile devices –accelerometers, cameras, GPS, data radios, WiFi and Bluetooth.

The next meeting of the Boston/New England Windows Mobile User and Developer Group will be held on Wednesday, September 16th starting at 6:30 PM at the Microsoft offices in Waltham, MA (201 Jones Road, 6th Floor).

Sorry for the late notice.

Well it is better late than never. The Windows Mobile group has been working hard on releasing the latest version of Windows Mobile 6.5 aka Windows phone 6.5 since it was announced at Mobile World Congress back in Feb. 2009, to keep parity with the crowded Smartphone marketplace. Microsoft also announced that on October 6th, 2009 (which we assume to be at CTIA WIRELESS I.T. & Entertainment)to accompany several new phones and the latest version of the mobile operating system it will be opening up its long awaited App Store called Windows Marketplace for Mobile and popular free My Phone service.

In just five weeks, you’ll have a bunch of new Windows phones to choose from. But before we show you some of the cool, new phones that will be coming out, I want to explain how we’re trying to make phones even better with Windows.

When we started work on Windows phones, we met with people all over the world who were likely to buy a Smartphone and talked with them about what’s important to them in their phone. Looking at the U.S. market, for example, we found that about 15 million people in the next year will buy a new smartphone.

Of the people we talked to, 74% listed productivity as the top feature they value in their Smartphone. We took this feedback to heart, making the user interface more touch friendly and improving notifications and updates from e-mail, text and calendar items. We also included the latest Internet Explorer Mobile browser and added free services like My Phone to help protect data in the event of a lost phone and Windows Marketplace for Mobile for access to a wide variety of applications for direct download…

On Oct. 6^th, you’ll see new Windows phones designed for a variety of tastes, needs and price points - with or without keyboards, with or without touch screens, as well as your choice of GPS, accelerometer and high resolution camera. There are a lot of great options and we can’t wait to show them to you. Until then, keep an eye on our partners as they announce details on new Windows phones and where you can find them this fall.

· In North America: Mobile operators AT&T, Bell Mobility, Sprint, TELUS and Verizon Wireless, and phone manufacturers HP, HTC Corp., LG Electronics, Samsung and Toshiba Corp.

· In Europe: Mobile operators Orange, Deutsche Telekom AG and Vodafone Group Plc, and phone manufacturers Acer, HTC, LG Electronics, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba

· In Latin America: Mobile operator TIM Brazil, and phone manufacturers HTC, LG Electronics and Samsung

· In Asia Pacific: Mobile operators NTT DOCOMO Inc., SOFTBANK Mobile Corp., SK Telecom, Telstra and WILLCOM Inc., and phone manufacturers Acer Inc., HTC, LG Electronics, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba

(more on the press release here.)

We can only surmise what devices will be receiving the Windows Mobile (Phone) 6.5 update, but with Sprint announcing that their version of the the HTC Touch Pro 2,which looks very similar to the CDMA version of the Touch Pro 2 by T-Mobile will be getting the Windows phone 6.5 OS since it will be available 2 days after the October 6th announcement by Microsoft. Other versions of the Touch Pro 2 are also expected on other carriers in the same time frame as well from AT&T and Verizon. Many are hoping that existing devices will be getting the Windows Mobile 6.5 update. According to the deal posted on wmdeals it states that both the Dash 3G and Touch Pro 2 from T-Mobile will be getting the Windows phone 6.5 update.

Hopefully to appease current customers as well as attract new customers to T-Mobile's lower 3G data rates it will be made available for download on or about the 6th. No official word yet so lets keep our fingers crossed on that one. Other rumors are that some other devices will be getting the Windows phone 6.5 update. We already know that the Samsung Jack will be getting the Windows phone 6.5 as announced in May on AT&T, hopefully there will be more announcements in October.

Many are already guessing what phones will be coming to which carrier many are hoping for a new version of the popular OLED equipped Samsung Omnia HD,SnapDragon equipped Toshiba’s TG01,  or LG’s new phones which have committed to make 50 different Windows Phone devices by 2012. The first handset probably to take advantage of the deal will be the LG GM730 touch-screen Smartphone. LG will be layering its S-Class user interface on top of the operating system, which is a cube-based layout that provides customizable one-touch access to music, Internet services, videos, and other features. I am really curious what HP will bring to the table, will it be the same devices that had limited exposure in Europe with the Ipaq Data Messenger and Ipaq Voice Messenger or an entirely new phone. I can’t wait to see!

Well, congratulations are in order for our hard working friends over at Ivy Worldwide (formerly Buzz Corps), who were selected by Hewlett Packard for the HP Circle Award by HP Worldwide Marketing Executives in an an extensive competition among several other marketing companies. The had also were the 2008 Wommie Award Winner for the 31 Days of the Dragon Giveaway Promotion.

Ivy Worldwide created the "31 Days of the Dragon" promotion in July 2008 - which ran on 31 separate blogger sites for 31 days. We were extremely fortunate to have participated with 30 other websites and blogs, where BostonPocketPC was honored to be selected to be a part of this promotional program for HP.

There were 411 entries of various promotional campaigns from 36 countries, each of which was seeking recognition for their work in promoting HP products. HP Global Marketing Executives were seeking to reward the highest performers that showed creativity, a high return on investment, and brand building via the HP Circle Award.

HP Circle Award

Created to celebrate MARKETING AND DESIGN EXCELLENCE at the company, HP’s CIRCLE Awards have created some fierce internal competition. In 2009, the global technology leader saw an unprecedented 411 entries pouring in from 36 participating countries for the chance to be recognized with this prestigious award sponsored by HP’s GLOBAL MARKETING EXECUTIVES.

Entries were judged according to the CIRCLE criteria of Collaboration, Innovation, Relevance, Consistency, LEADERSHIP, and Effectiveness. The overall goal: to reward CREATIVITY, ROI and brand building. In the first round of judging, review panels from within HP chose finalists in each of 14 categories. In the second round, executive judges were invited to HP headquarters to select CIRCLE Award winners

Again Congratulations! Not only to Ivy Worldwide, but this is something that should be shared with every blogger who participated in the campaign and their online communities!