The Rothman Report

Chumby and Photoframe

2008-02-26T19:33:00Z

I have become quite enamored of the chumby (www.chumby.com to find out more). And in particular I am enjoying the photoframe widget created by my friends over at discarded ideas (www.discarded-ideas.org). As a PC user I could not use the Linux script he offered to create the xml file that his program uses (and anyway my photos are stored in many sub directories so it would not work for me!) in addition my photos are quite large (4-8 mega pixels) and so would have taken a while to download even over my internal network. So I created chumbify (click here to download) this program makes a copy of all of your photos resized to 320x240 (the chumby native resolution) and also generates the images.xml that photoframe requires. Do not forget to add the crossdomain.xml file that flash requires to the ROOT directory of the server as described on the discarded ideas website. Chumbify is offered as freeware and I will happily provide the source code to anyone who is curious.

Mobivox

2008-02-25T19:32:00Z

I frequently need to call outside the United States while traveling and this leads to problems. Until now I either had to wait until I could find a land line and use a pay card, use VOIP (if I could find a functioning hotspot) or pay T-Mobiles extortionate international telephone rates (no better or worse than any other cell carrier). By using mobivox www.mobivox.com you can call anywhere in the world for outrageously low prices from your cell phone or landline, and if you can persuade you friend to join too then the call will be entirely free. Their system recognizes the phone you are calling from greets you by name and asks who you would like to call. Give it a try.

The Rothman Report

2008-02-25T19:28:00Z

I was just telephoned by someone asking if my website was the same as another Rothman Report apparently published up until 2004. Short answer is that it is not although eerily that report was also about small business technology. So if you came here expecting to see Mr. Howard Rothman's deathless prose I am afraid you may be disappointed, but I hope you read and are informed by my ramblings!

LINQ bug

2008-02-15T23:37:00Z

Ok this one is a bit geeky please ignore if you are not oriented that way.
Probably the greatest new feature in Visual Studio 2008 is Linq which allows you to embed SQL directly into your applications (much cooler and even more usefull than it sounds) but there is a bug (more than one I am sure but one I have come across). If you create a stored procedure with an nvarchar(max) as a parameter then LINQ assumes that it does not return a result set just an unitary result

TMobile 3G definitely maybe

2008-02-15T23:28:00Z

Accoring to T-Mobiles CEO we can expect 3G in the summer of '08 (but then again we were also supposed to get it in '07 and there were rumours that '06 would be the year). Here's hoping after all they certainly need to do something about their data offering now that Starbucks has crossed to the dark side with AT&T for WIFI (don't sweat too much T-Mobile subscribers will keep access for at least 5 years (by which time I suspect that WIFI may be a thing of the past!).

Use Google Apps to enhance Microsoft Small Business Server

2008-02-15T16:11:00Z

One of the problems with running a Small Business Server is that you are reliant on your office Internet connection which, while reliable, is does not have 100% uptime. You can however host your email on Google (privately) by registering for Google Apps with your company's domain name N.B. you do not need to change all of the hosting details for your domain over to Google just the mail related ones i.e. your MX records and mail.yourcompany.com. Once you have set this up you will need to set up an account for each user and forward the email to another (semi-private) email address for me this works like this:
1) I have the MX records for rothmancompany.com hosted on google
2) I use DynDNS.org to host a dynamic domain for my Small Business Server in the form mycompany.dnsalias.com
3) Small business server is configured to recognize myemail@mycompany.dnsalias.com as a valid internal address
4) My default email address is still unchanged
This provides you with a 100% uptime mail server that you can also access remotely it also provides you with a great backup of all of your incomming email!

Why Windows Mobile is superior to Blackberry

2008-02-08T16:23:00Z

1) You do not need a separate server or any additional applications or licenses to host a Windows Mobile device on your company's Exchange Server
2) Wireless sync supports not only email but your calendar and address book
3) Windows Mobile Smartphones are smaller and lighter than Blackberries
4) There is more software available for Windows Mobile products
5) The Windows Mobile Professional phones support a wide range of power user tools including remote desktop

Save on your cell phone bill

2008-02-08T16:20:00Z

www.cellplans4u.com will analyze your cellphone bill from range of providers and tell you the cheapest plan for you on your current provider. As a bonus it will also tell you your most frequently called numbers for use with My Circle and My Faves. Best of all it is entirely free!

T-Mobile wll not offer 3G data in the USA

2007-11-13T23:09:00Z

TMobile do not currently plan to offer 3G data in the USA!
Below is the transcript of a conversation I had with a tmobile tech.
The key part is this:
Edward: Ok so to summarise you are not using the spectrum at present, you will be using it but only for voice and you can't tell me when that will be and on what devices. Is that accurate?
DavidD2745643: That is correct. That is all the information we have been provided.

DavidD2745643 has entered the session.
Edward: When can we expect UMTS/HSPDA 3G service in the USA?
DavidD2745643: Thank you for contacting T-Mobile. Now we regrettably do not have any time frame when 3G services would be fully implemented in our system. We would really appreciate if you check our website from time to time for further updates.
Edward: thanks, i guess. Given that you got all that spectrum last year it seems a shame that you are not using it!
DavidD2745643: It is currently being used but only to enhance voices services, at this time.
Edward: Not true your GSM phones cannot access the frequencies that you purchased and you hav no UMTS phones at rpresent
DavidD2745643: Sorry not for our current phones, but for phones that are soon to be released.
Edward: Ok which and when then?
DavidD2745643: I am very sorry I do not have the exact model.
Edward: So what was your source for the information that you gave me about planned phones?
DavidD2745643: My source is my internal news database.
Edward: Ok so to summarise you are not using the spectrum at present, you will be using it but only for voice and you can't tell me when that will be and on what devices. Is that accurate?
DavidD2745643: That is correct. That is all the information we have been provided.
Edward: OK thanks. Not much help but t is not your fault.
DavidD2745643: Thank you for choosing T-Mobile. We appreciate your business. Have a great day!

T-Mobile 3G in Memphis TN?

2007-11-12T15:32:00Z

A UK T-Mobile phone is picking up a 3G signal in Memphis, TN. Yes, I know that the frequencies are different accross the pond but I cannot deny the evidence of my eyes. Maybe T-Mobile have made a configuration error in my local tower or something more interesting is going on... Watch this space

Free Rice

2007-11-10T23:43:00Z

If you are a word geek like me and like to feel charitable while having fun then go to www.freerice.com thissite will chalenge your word power and donate 10 free grains of rice to the UN world food program for each one you get right. So what are your waiting for 'feed the world'

Why is my email being rejected

2007-11-04T18:20:00Z

If you have just set up your own email domain and are using your ISP or another 3rd party to host it is likely that your email will get rejected by several of the larger mail operators notably hotmail and AOL. This is because your domain record lacks an SPF record which allows other email servers to know that your email is coming from a valid server. Your domain record hoster (such as godaddy) may offer an easy to use tool to create the SPF record if not then this tool HTTP://old.openspf.org/wizard.HTML will help you build a syntactically correct record which you can test by sending an email to check-auth@verifier.port25.com who will validate that you have set it up correctly.

Shameless self promotion

2007-11-02T16:30:00Z

If you want to see more of who I am and what I do go to www.rothmancompany.com

Slacker is great but skip the local player

2007-11-02T16:27:00Z

Slacker (www.slacker.com), a music radio site, is great but their downloadable player isn't (frequent crashes and problems with sound cards)

Secret TMobile Discount

2007-11-02T16:19:00Z

T-Mobile has reduced the rate for their total Internet add on to $19.99 but only if you phone in and ask for it specifically... SO phone them now and save $120 per annum