Those of you that have read this blog before probably know that I obsessed over the Palm Pre for close to 6 months before its arrival. I stood in line to get it and have now had it for close to a year. So here is my final review of the Palm Pre on the Sprint Network:

"Shell!" Like that? My son watches the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles religiously so I couldn't resist...

I'll be honest, aside from using Blogger for blogging and Google as my search engine, I typically overlooked Google as it grew - writing them off as a bunch of web junkies having fun cloning stuff that already existed in the marketplace.

But each year they grow, and add new SaaS (Software as a Service) offerings for people to use - most of which are free. And in the past six months I've really started paying attention. Here's why:

• Google Apps: My hosting company is directly connected to Google Apps - making it simple to set up corporate email for clients using Gmail as the engine. More on the power of Google Apps here (specifically how churches can leverage Google Apps).
• Google Voice: I recently added Google Voice to my life so I could manage voicemail visually on my Palm Pre.
• Google Chrome: I recently switched over to Google Chrome as my default browser. Screaming fast and very light. It still have some glitches when it comes to functionality and extensions working like they did in Firefox but it can only get better.
• Android / Nexus One: Are you kidding me? A mobile operating system and their own phone? Android came in like a lamb but is already roaring like a lion. I can't believe I'm actually looking forward to the Nexus One coming to Sprint. It could quite possibly replace my Palm Pre - which I AM happy with at the moment.
• Google OS: I guess this was a no-brainer. If you offer a myriad of Saas tools online - why not make an OS that seamlessly integrates those on your computer and mobile devices?

I don't know exactly when the switch went off in my brain, but I'm suddenly a big Google advocate, and I watch my tech blogs closely to see what they'll think up next.

How about you? Anyone moved to Google for everything? Given up MS Exchange for Google Apps? Switched to an Android phone with success?

I'd love to hear stories.

I spent hours researching the Palm Pre and counted the days until it came out. So am I happy with my decision?

Well...sort of.

I mean it is definitely one of the top devices available in the country right now - and with the addition of flash support via Flash Player 10.1 (coming soon) it might even move up in the ranks from there.

But I'm still disappointed with a number of things like no video, no inline word hints or word lists to choose from when you start typing and clunky copy/paste. All things that will reportedly be released in future OTA rollouts. But I'm impatient. I want a device that does it all - right now. I look at it like this:

If you want to run with the big boys, you have to implement the technology that's available. Not some of the technology, ALL of the technology!

So at this point in time it makes sense to use OLED screens for battery life, wifi, a camera that takes pictures and video, flash support, intuitive copy/paste, incredible device/email/online search capabilities, tight integration with social networking solutions like Twitter and Facebook and the ability to connect to media services like iTunes or Zune Marketplace for their music, TV and movie needs, etc.

Again, I think Palm is headed in the right direction, just not sure how fast they are going to get there.

Because of this I am always on the lookout for the next big thing - the phone that has it all.

I recently purchased the Zune HD and love it. Aside from the slow and cheesy browser I think it has the potential to make a great phone someday. Looks like it's on the radar - just no timeline as of yet. Maybe in a year or two when I'm up for a new phone?

Flash support via Flash Player 10.1.

It's one of the reasons I purchased the Palm Pre in the first place. I knew that flash support was to be added by the end of the year.

This is HUGE for me because I don't like mobile websites - I want access to the full version of the website on my phone.

Today I finally saw some articles come through about flash on the Pre. This post on PreCentral even has a video demo showing flash in action on the phone. Another article here on Mashable.

Looks like hte countdown has begun. Can't wait!

This is truly right up my alley. As a psychotherapist for years I was well versed in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. So when I saw that someone had reinterpreted it as the Hierarchy of Digital Distraction I felt right at home.

We definitely live in the digital age, and while there are some pretty sweet advantages, there are also some negatives that are sure to follow.

This graphic displays the fundamental truths about us and our time spent with our digital "vices."

Amazingly accurate and telling.

Just look at it for a while and ponder the reality of it all.

We've been talking about it for over a year now and though it isn't a reality yet, you can definitely hear it coming.

Websites like ipTV News and ipTV Community offer up to date information on where we're at with Internet Protocol Television (ipTV) and how soon it will become available.

But for me, it's all a bunch of noise until I see some actual movement in that direction. Maybe movement like this:

For immediate release: Silicon, OEM, Cable and Content Partners Embrace Adobe Flash Platform for Televisions, Set-Top Boxes and Blu-Ray Players. (full press release)

Now that's the type of news I'm talking about! Flash video has taken the Internet by storm and is easily the standard by which all other streaming media is measured.

But the unfortunate reality is that flash has not expanded quickly beyond the web.

On gccwired.com we offer streaming flash video of our media clips and weekend messages. Right now if you want to watch them you have to use your computer. But as flash support spreads to various devices we will be able to do the following:

1. Watch flash media on your LCD/LED/Plasma HDTV: If your HDTV has a network plug you could stream flash content directly off the Internet. HDTV's that support flash could also stream flash video directly off a network (NAS devices or other computers), off flash drives and even off PMP's like the Zune.
   
2. Watch flash media through a set top box or Gaming System: If your television does not support flash you might still be okay if you have a set top box or gaming system like the Xbox360 or PlayStation3 that supports flash. These devices would decode the flash video and send it to your television.
3. Watch flash media on your phone: Currently flash support is weak on mobile devices. But the Palm Pre is launching soon and claims that they will support flash by the end of the year. I'm assuming most other cellphone manufacturers are scrambling to do the same.
   

Obviously there is work to be done, but believe me the pieces of the puzzle are coming together faster than ever. And I can't wait.

I thought I'd post about browsers since I just downloaded two of them.

One I'm extremely happy about. And the other I'm totally indifferent about.

Let's start with Internet Explorer 8. Yes. I'm indifferent. I downloaded the Release Candidate (RC1) just to start preparing myself for the change. I don't use IE anymore except for a few things where IE is the only browser that will work. I'm just not that interested in what new things IE has to offer anymore since there have been so many letdowns in the past.

At this point I'm more concerned about web standards. Hopefully IE8 will bring the major browsers that much closer to displaying content consistently and correctly. As a designer/developer I've played the game for so long I'm used to it. But what if you could build a website in a standard format and expect that all browsers would render it the same? What would that be like?

I'll play around with it a bit to see what the new "features" are all about but I'm not holding my breath...

The other browser I downloaded is called Fennec which is the alpha release of the mobile browser built by Mozilla (makers of Firefox).

Now Fennec isn't available yet for your mobile phone (unless you own a Nokia N810). But I downloaded it to my desktop just to play with it.

I'm totally stoked about this browser and how it could revolutionize the mobile browsing experience. It displays full websites with ease, has flash integration and can even install some of the extensions popular to the full version of Firefox.

In this walkthrough video you can see how a touch screen coupled with physical keyboard makes for a happy surfing combination :)

If I truly wind up with a Palm Pre (which means I physically picked one up and didn't hate it), I think this would be the perfectly matched browser for everyday use.

We'll see!

First off. Yes. That is the Palm Pre.

Second. No. I don't actually have one. Never even touched one. You can thank Photoshop for the visual...

But don't be distracted by the phone. This post is about mobile websites - or the lack thereof.

This week we launched our mobile site (gccwired.com) after going years without one. In the past it either wasn't necessary due to the small number of mobile browsers hitting the site, or we simply focused on other projects that pushed mobile to the bottom of the list.

In my limited knowledge of the mobile explosion it seems like there are at least three ways to do mobile websites:

• Accessible/Integrated: By creating your html/css pages following strict standards of accessibility your pages should "degrade" gracefully depending on the browser viewing it. Not only older browsers, but mobile browsers too. Adding separate stylesheets for other devices can also help with this. Summary: No new pages. You website is both full and mobile in one.
• Completely Separate: The other extreme is to develop a mobile site just for phones/PDA's. If the device hits the main site you can check the browser type and funnel them to the mobile site. Summary: Truth be told you have two separate sites. The mobile site is often renamed m.yoursite.com :: yoursite.com/m :: yoursite.com/mobile for example.
• Hybrid (our solution): We have a dynamic backend that uses a limited number of templates to present data from a database. Because of this it made sense to try and integrate the mobile site into our weekly processes in our administration console. We created a few static pages that use a mobile template. This rounds out our navigation and static pages. Pages that require daily or weekly changes, are dynamic in that what we create for our main website can be pulled into the "mobile site" but presented on a mobile template. Summary: Best of both worlds...

Another project off the task list - even though there are some sweet enhancements to be made in the future (come on Fellowship Technologies - where's the mobile version of WebLink complete with online giving for mobile?)

But for now I feel we have achieved a much needed sense of mHarmony...

I was just as excited about the new Blackberry Storm as the next guy. My wife currently uses the Blackberry Curve and it was nice to see Blackberry branching out - taking their brand of business communication to the next level with touch screens and a more "comfortable" and sleek user interface.

Unfortunately, the reviews I have read since the debut have been dismal at best (read this Gizmodo review for a fairly balanced look at the cool features and yet the areas where the phone falls short.)

I haven't even touched the phone yet, but here are a few of my assumption based on the stuff I've read and from talking with friends who have actually tried it out for the 30 day trial period:

• RIM realized they had to keep up with the new touch screen trend powered by the iPhone, HTC Touch phones etc.
• They tried to take their existing functionality and make it work on a touch screen.
• RIM still won't play nice with a Microsoft Exchange Server.
  
• RIM still assumes it has something that can compete with iPhone OS and WiMo (which may have been true in the past but is slowly getting away from them).

Again, just my assumptions. But after reading about the high number of people who have returned their Storm after trying it out - I must not be the only one.

Finding the Application
This whole scenario got me thinking about web strategy and the way we launch new stuff on our websites (either new elements or full on site redesigns).

When we mock things up and present ideas for this new stuff we often do so for reasons like:

• Keeping up with others.
• Keeping up with technology.
• Adding functionality that we didn't previously have or couldn't afford.
• And sometimes to be innovative - to ride the cutting edge of technology and lead by example.

Whatever our reason for adding new "stuff" to our websites, it would be to our advantage to use the Blackberry Storm as a case study. Unfortunately it seems like the Storm was designed to keep up with others and keep up with technology. They undoubtedly added some functionality. But what if they had been innovative and went above and beyond? What if they had built it to do everything the iPhone and WiMo phones could do and then some? My bet is people wouldn't be taking the phone back to the store...

Food for thought...

Ever since the first mobile browser there has been a massive chasm between what a full blown browser can do and what your phone browser can do...

...until now.

The typical problem with the mobile browser is that it requires a stripped down version of a web page. Full blown html/css layouts appear broken and are often unusable. Not to mention that flash doesn't work.

Because of this designers/developers have either created "smart" css pages based on device or they have created mobile versions of their sites all together.

Enter skyfire - a beta browser that takes surfing on your mobile phone to incredible heights. Open it up for the first time and you immediately sense its power. Navigate to your favorite website and watch it magically appear before your eyes - not just the copy and a few images, but the entire site in its correct html/css layout.

Now the problem we run into is that most phones have very small screens with inadequate resolution to handle this new power. Not a problem - skyfire has added a smart zoom feature so you can choose a section of the site to zoom into. Once at the correct zoom level you can access buttons, text entry fields and other page elements. This until phones start adding screen real estate and better resolution.

The Biggest Difference
However, the most incredible thing (to me) about this browser is that it supports flash.

This is HUGE friends!!!! I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for this. Flash entered the progressive download and streaming video field with force and yet the mobile world didn't recognize its importance fast enough. Before you knew it sites like YouTube had millions of viewable clips that the mobile world couldn't access. In fact YouTube even had to create a separate set of video clips (in a different format) for the introduction of the original iPhone just so that phone could use the content. Since then YouTube has even added a mobile version of their site so that I can view clips on my phone using Windows Media Player.

But once Flash is available on phones and other mobile devices all this work will be for not. We can go back to watching the original flash version of the clips (Incredible storage savings for YouTube...)

In Summary
One of the first things I did with skyfire was to go to gccwired.com and try viewing a flash video clip from our media player. The next was to try watching our streaming service. Both worked and the phone/browser combo actually kept up with it. Amazing!

Of course there are kinks to work out. My phone has a hard time controlling audio in skyfire due to my phone (Sprint Motorola Q9c) not having external volume buttons. Because of this I have to zoom into the actual volume control on the website and try to drop the volume.

But for a beta browser these are small things that will only get better when viewed on more advanced phones.

HUGE things are possible because of this browser technology. I can't wait to see what happens next...