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:

• Sprint plans: Awesome
• Sprint coverage: Awesome
• Sprint customer service: Used to be the worst but is getting much better
• Palm Pre hardware: Not great at all. Plastic that cracks easily, hard to protect, slider is easily damaged, battery is easily jarred which restarts the phone, screen is highly finger-print sensitive, on/off button sticks on my phone, have to use Palm certified recharging products or recharging won't start immediately.
• Palm WebOS: Great idea. The future is: Cloud Computing and Software as a Service (SaaS). Hopefully HP will squeeze every ounce of usefulness out of this genuinely innovative concept and make it useful on a variety of platforms (like a tablet perhaps?)
• Palm WebOS functionally: My Pre has never felt fast. There has always been a lag in the responsiveness of the tough screen and the ease with which programs will start and run well. Games take relatively long to load and I've had a few that won't start due to their size. I routinely see the "Too many cards open" warning which basically means a restart.
• Palm Follow-through: Very poor. When I bought the phone it came with the promise of any number of things like flash compatibility, video recording, mobile document creation, etc. We just received video recording in the last OS update but the other two are still MIA.
• Palm Touchstone: Awesome idea and works well. I'm assuming this will be a feature accessory for many new phones in the future.
• Connection troubles: I've noticed that the Pre has a problem figuring out whether or not to use the Sprint Network or the Wi-fi at times. If the Wi-fi is available but hasn't been authenticated (like at a hotel or restaurant) certain Apps (like Tweed) stop working. You have to either authenticate or turn off the Wi-fi in order to refresh Twitter. Seems like the phone should know that and force the App to use the Sprint Network.
• Over the Air (OTA) OS Updates: Awesome - works well - can't complain.
• OTA OS Updates (actual content): Nothing to write home about. Palm has the perfect scenario - the ability to fix bugs immediately and push it to every Pre out there. But instead they wait months to roll out updates that on my Pre seem to do nothing. Small tweaks and slightly different functionality, but nothing major. AND! Half the time I have problems after the updates! Decreased battery life, camera takes 3x longer to take the picture and locks up the phone after the shot, Google Maps takes a lot longer to open and rarely works correctly now, etc.

In Summary

Palm was failing big time so they stepped out of the box and went for it all with WebOS and the Palm Pre. On the one hand they hit it big. New technology that made Apple, RIM and Google go, "Oh my word...we better get on that..." But I just don't think Palm had the time and money to completely knock it out of the park - which became even more evident this past month when HP bought them out.

In this day and age, you have to offer a product with the latest technology out of the box. Chances are the consumer will only have your product for 24 months. In my case I feel like upgrading in 10-12 months. So you can't put out a product that is lagging and say, "We'll roll that out in Q2 next year." That business plan just doesn't cut it any more.

So I want to commend Palm for their effort. And I wish them well in the future as they partner with HP and look for new innovative ways to use WebOS.

But for me, I think I'm ready to try something new. I've held off on the whole Android craze because just like everything else Google does, it starts in the roughest of beta and remains there for a while until all the kinks are worked out. But once they get the kinks worked out - they seem to be able to use the latest technology and stay at the top of the game.

Because of this I feel like the most recent Android phones to hit the market have the perfect combination of a stable/consistent Android OS coupled with hardware that takes it to the next level.

The HTC Incredible and HTC Evo 4G have caught my eye and in June I just might pull that trigger.

This in part because I don't think I have the patience to wait until December to see what Microsoft Windows Phone 7 phones will look like and be capable of. So for now I'll leave you with the HTC Evo 4G and it's rich feature set...

Feature Set Here

So apparently Noah's Ark was found in Turkey.

Think about it. Each new gadget does more and more - which means you are connected to more and more. Early phones allowed you to talk on the phone - which happened once or twice a day (unless you were a middle school girl). But today's devices allow you to monitor things like Twitter which update every few seconds.

Technology does NOT suggest connectivity. People are the filter through which connectivity happens or fails to happen.

So what are we doing with our websites and our web strategy to keep from enabling a love-hate relationship with those that visit us?

I have access to an iPod Touch for testing purposes since I own a Zune HD and need to see how development projects look on Apple platforms.

The Terms of Use have changed since your last purchase. Please review and accept them before proceeding.

Or maybe I should say, "What are they thinking?" since this isn't a past problem I had - it will be an ongoing issue until it is fixed...
I received a summons for jury duty. Not a big deal except for the fact that I'm going to be out of town at a conference at the same time.

So I started the process of getting an exemption.

The Problem: Not taking advantage of available technology to ease the pain of interacting with the court.

I called the courthouse and left a message. Next I had to wait for the Bailiff to return the call and let me know what I needed to do. Next she FAXed me an official court document - you know the kind - hard to read, copied 1000 times, written in legaleze so I had to spend the next 30 minutes trying to figure out which parts to fill out. Then I had to print off my supporting documents (conference registration and flight confirmation) and FAX everything back to the courthouse.

Needless to say - I'm not sure if it was right - and won't know if it was until I get picked up by the police for contempt of court. This, because they don't notify you UNLESS the deferral is denied.

The Solution: Catch up with the rest of society. Even the License Branch has started this process and you know that's progress!

We live in a new reality - people are connected and want to be able to take advantage of this option if at all possible. We'd much rather fill out a form online or submit paperwork via email than picking up a phone and using a FAX machine.

This gives me the opportunity to pimp an amazing online tool that we use at Granger. It has saved us hours of work and more than pays for itself.

It's called FormAssembly and allows you to create, implement and manage forms online. It has a sweet form creation tool and allows your submissions to be held in data so you can easily manage, archive or export them as needed.

When stuff like this is available - why wouldn't you take advantage of it?!

Prior to becoming a web geek - I went to school for and worked as a therapist in the mental health field. It was both rewarding and stressful at the same time. But it was definitely a part of my life that helped mold me and make me a better person.

I've come to the sad realization that life is short and opportunities will NOT always be there for you.

There are many things in life that suffice for the original. In other words, I'm not a "brand man" when it comes to every little thing.

Are we simply being the alternate to something people already use - or are we the original - giving people something they just have to have from us?

I'm not a HUGE stat lover, but I definitely understand the power behind numbers.

Leave it to Google to take their incredible search capabilities and put it to good use.

Comcast pokes fun at those who still have dial-up connections and has even created a website dedicated to The Slowskys (those famous turtles that love the slow pace of their lives and Internet speed).

I've been thinking a lot lately about productivity, task lists, project management and organizational competence.

I've been in a number of meetings with my boss Kem Meyer over the past few weeks and for some reason we keep coming back to this concept:

Do we have each others backs?

The team outperforms the individual every time.

• Do we "have the backs" of those on our immediate teams? For me that's the Communications and Tech Ops teams.
• Do we "have the backs" of those on the greater team? For me this would include the staff members from every department at the church.
• Do we "have the backs" of those serving along side us? For me this refers to volunteers on our teams and those serving in every other area of the church.

Social networking on the web is THE big thing right now. Don't believe me? Just look at every corporate site you visit these days. Somewhere you will see the words, "Follow us on Twitter" or "Join us on Facebook."

The truth hurts - static websites are simply NOT going to get it done today. Sure you need static content for those that need it, but it's only a small piece of the puzzle now. People want to interact and contribute to the content that's out there.

Enter Global Web Index - a company that seeks to understand the web and its trends - thereby being able to suggest what a successful web strategy might look like.

Global Web Index recently put out a visual piece that is just downright fun to look at. Ever wonder who does what on the web? If so, look no further: Browse the Map of Social Web to see what social web elements we use compared to those in other countries.

One fun fact: Check out how many people in China blog compared to us in the USA! (12.8% in the USA compared to 46% in China).

The rest you'll have to check out for yourself :)

I had an interesting conversation with John MacMurray after he spoke at the Story09 conference last week.

With him being a nature photographer and theologian I thought I'd ask him his take on the death of nature, and why we still seem to find it beautiful on some level.

My personal belief is that there was no death in the Garden of Eden. It was perfect in every way. Animals didn't eat each other, plants didn't die and there were no seasons with temperatures making it difficult for humans to survive.

Mr. MacMurray doesn't necessarily share this belief, but was kind enough to engage me in the conversation about the death of natural elements like trees, and how we can still find beauty in them since they are inherently beautiful works or art from a loving Creator.

I enjoyed the conversation. Over the next few days I had time to ponder the fact that it's typically nature that remains beautiful in death and not things we make ourselves.

Case-in-point: Websites.

I love looking at photographs of snow, dead trees lying in forests, moss and algae eating away at things and the lines left in rock from the eroding effects of water. But there is NOTHING beautiful about a bad website.

Why? According to John, it wasn't inherently beautiful to begin with.

Don't get me wrong, humans can create beautiful works of art. But everything man creates is not beautiful just for the sake of it's creation.

I guess that's why our website is a constant work in progress...

I've had the unfortunate privilege of developing lower back problems over the past 2-3 years.

I've thrown it out completely two times, had an MRI and I'm on my second round of physical therapy.

Official diagnosis: Protruding disc (which sounds very close to a Herniated Disc).

Symptoms: Basically, my back always feels weak. I have a hard time sitting, standing and walking for long periods of time. One leg goes numb or tingles while the other can have pain going from back to my calf. Then there is the possibility of throwing my back out by simply bending over to pick something up...

Treatment: A Physical Therapy regimen of bending and stretching to keep the protruding part of the disc from being irritated and allow it to move back into place. Supposedly in time the disc will shrink and normal activity will be possible without any pain or discomfort in the back.

When the World Gives You Lemons...
One positive about the whole thing is I'm finally learning just how inappropriate my posture was. Everything from the way I sat, to the way I stood to the way I picked things up. Hopefully in time I'll be able to avoid this behavior without even thinking.

It also made me think about our websites and if there are stupid things we do on a regular basis without thinking about the long term damage. Things like making our visitors jump through hoops, making things difficult to find and throwing too much content at them.

But what if there was someone (like my physical therapist) that could point these things out and get us back on the right track? Someone who may have already made some of those mistakes and learned from them.

Well maybe there is. Join us for the Untangling the WEB Workshop in November. Kem Meyer helps us identify some of those damaging things and correct them on our websites.

If you're serious about doing Web sites right, put your back into it this November.

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.