Will an Android “iPad” Win the Game?

While the Apple iPad maybe the Cinderella product this week, recent updates to my Verizon Droid shows that Google’s Android OS is still a prince. Folks are saying that the iPad is a game-changer but it may not necessarily win the game. The idea of a tablet really isn’t anything new. My ThinkPad x61 is both a great tablet and a powerful laptop

The single biggest asset for the iPad is Apple’s Customer Satisfaction and Public relations. The “I gotta have me one” factor for the iPad is off the charts. Nothing bad about having your own cult following but that doesn’t always mean you’ll reach critical mass appeal.

The release of Android devices like the Droid and Nexus have received a lot of positive attention. You can’t beat some of the powerful features and flexibility. “If” we start seeing folks carrying around iPads it won’t be long before they’ll be followed by Android based Pads. It’s rare for me to carry around my ThinkPad especially with the screen facing out so aside from showing off I don’t see it in our future.  Are man-bags doing to be the new style?

I have an iTouch(iPad Nano) that I love, but I went with a Droid phone for the Verizon connectivity. I have really been surprised by some of the Android based features that I’ve come to rely on. The new features released with Android 2.1 update1 will keep me using Google devices.

Android 2.1update1

The first new feature I noticed this week was just fluff but lots of fun. Droid now has animated background that reacts to touch and movement. I now have a water background that ripples when I touch it. This again is not a new concept. I had a program for Windows 95 called Crystal Walls that had the same functionality.  It’s just fun.

 

The next cool application now included is Google Goggles. This has long been talked about but is finally available.  This feature provides visual search results. In the past you could use the Android Bar Code reader to look up and compare products. Now you can just take a photo of a product or other objects and Google will search based on the image. If you’re taking a photo of a location, Google will also pair up your built-in GPS data to give you more information about what ever you’re looking at. Google has done a great job integrating GPS information with applications.

 

The 3rd new feature I was pleased to find was a little microphone button on the virtual keyboard.  I can now bypass the keyboard completely and use voice to text input. For years I’ve tried various voice input, including Dragon Naturally Speaking but nothing has met my requirements.  The Droid is the first device I’ve found that I am comfortable using voice input.  Much to my surprise I’ve been using Voice Search since I first found it on my Droid. This is another feature that ties your search into your GPS location. If you’re looking for a store or restaurant, it will list the closest location first.

I had no clue voice search would be as simple and accurate to use.  Now with voice to text input I actually started to write this article while sitting in a parking lot waiting for my daughter. Google says this is still in beta so I’m looking forward to improvements.

Other new features include easier access to photos and an improved slideshow. There’s also a tweak to the music player but this remains the one application seriously lacking in features.

 

Now that Apple has brought tablet devices to the main stream we’re going to see and hear a lot about other tablets. I’m guessing the final four will include Windows, Windows Phone 7 and Android.  Right now Apple is riding the wave, and attracting the most developers is a real plus. Unfortunately, like the Macintosh, Apple’s tablet OS is a closed system. This could be a plus or minus depending how you look at it. I could do a whole article on why this is good and bad.  It didn’t work so well in the PC market and only time will tell if it succeeds in the tablet marketplace.

 

What do you think? Click on Comments and share your view.

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WinPatrol PLUS 50% Off for Malware Season

For many years April 1st has been popular as a launch date for computer viruses. Last year it was Conficker which the media blew so out of proportion it seemed like a dud. This year however I expect we’ll see a number of new trojans, rogueware and other malware activating on the first week in April. I’ve talked to more than one malware author who has plans to generate “Ransomware” attacks using known vulnerabilities starting April Fools Day.

One U.S. based hacker said they were using a tool kit available from China and has scheduled attacks to help pay taxes due on April 15th. I’m told this tool kit looks for a series of older vulnerabilities which have patches available.

So, there’s no reason to panic as long as you take steps to maintain your standard security.

1. Run the Windows Update link and make sure you have all the current Microsoft security patches.
   
   
2. Make sure your current Anti-Virus software is up-to-date with the most current signature files.
   
   
3. Update the popular 3rd party software that runs on your browser. In particular make sure you have the most current version of Acrobat Reader, Adobe Flash, Sun Java Runtime and Apples QuickTime. They all have a history of vulnerabilities which allow malware authors to easily take control of your computer. I’ve provided links so you can just click on the text above. Take your time to read install instructions and descriptions so you understand what you’re downloading.
   
   
4. If you’re a WinPatrol user upgrade to the newest version which is free to all WinPatrol users. If you don’t have WinPatrol PLUS I thought this would be a good time for a special offer. Effective immediately WinPatrol PLUS is available for 50% off. I’m also discounting WinPatrol PLUS Family Pack by $15. These prices will be good until April 7th.

Upgrade to WinPatrol PLUS $14.95 ( 50% Special )
Single user, multiple machines.

Upgrade to WinPatrol PLUS Family Pack $34.95 ( $15 Off )
Unlimited computers used by immediate family.

Folks often ask me what other products I recommend for protection. The amount of protection you need really depends on many factors. What I recommend can change from month to month. Luckily, WinPatrol works and plays well with others. While there is often some redundancy between WinPatrol and other programs, WinPatrol has some unique features and will run without any conflicts.

These days I’m a fan of two products which are priced right and come from very reliable companies. I like MalwareBytes Anti-Malware from Malwarebytes.org and VIPRE from Sunbelt Software. I’m also intrigued by new free software called Immunet but I’m still evaluating its effectiveness. I can confirm it works well when paired with WinPatrol PLUS.

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Little Kids on Facebook

The first time I saw my 12 year old grand daughter on Facebook I wasn’t really concerned until I saw that her birthday implied that she was 18 years old.  Thankfully, she wasn’t trying to misrepresent herself. She just knew that Facebook users under 18 have a different experience. It turns out correcting her birth year back to 1996 was a safer experience.

I was actually surprised to see that Facebook took any steps to protect the privacy of 13 to 17 year old kids. Do you think it’s enough? You can guess my answer would be NO! My grand daughter is now legitimately a Facebook member at 13 years old but was still encouraged to access the applications like “Lover of the Day”.

I can’t deny kids and many adults think sharing their private information is the closest thing to becoming a reality TV star. It’s like we’re raising the  Share-It-All Generation. Unfortunately, Facebook shares most of this information with companies who have no physical address or stated privacy policy.

Kids need all the help and direction possible. When it comes to your kids I’m all in favor of  “My Mom is on Facebook”

While this fun video will make you LYAO, if you’re a parent and you let you young kids on Facebook there are few things you should know. Yes, I know many of you are giving in and allowing kids even under 13 to be online so listen up.

First, not only should be a friend of your child, you should have complete access to their account so you can see who they’re friends with and what they post.  Trust me compared to what they might give away on Facebook, you’re not invading their privacy. If they see a screen that says “Allow Access” they should click the little “Leave Application” text and not the big YES button.

If you want to know what happens when they allow an application see my previous post “Who gets your personal information on Facebook”.

Like the video, Facebook is fun and appealing.   Full disclosure:  when my kids were pre-teens they were running Trivia games in online chat rooms. Our computer was in a common area and they weren’t giving away personal information or sharing photos with strangers.  So I can’t tell you what choice to make as a parent but I hope you won’t be afraid to keep your eyes open and teach you kids about what choices they have.

Especially teach your kids to “Think Before You Post” and check out the videos like Everyone.

 

Thanks to Abby, whose son is a Facebook developer, for the link to the “My Mom is on Facebook” video. :)

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Get the Most from your Expensive Software

Do you ever find yourself telling people that you know just enough to do what you need with Microsoft Word or Excel and nothing more? It’s very common that most folks learn only what they “need” to use and that’s all they know.

I have a few very powerful and expen$ive programs like Photoshop, and Microsoft Office. I frequently find myself telling friends, “I know this program can do so much more but I probably only use 5% of its capability”. Over the years I may be up to 10% but I’m certainly under utilizing features that could both make me more productive and make me look more professional.

My open question to readers today is “How do you learn to use your software? Do you want to learn more?” Currently we have a number of resources available but they’re so underutilized it’s a shame.

Daily Tips
Many programs have a feature that provides a “Did You Know...” when you first open up a program. I’m sure companies spend a lot of time creating daily tips but it’s one of the first things I turn off. Does anyone out there actually use these daily tips?

Tip of Day from WS-FTP

Clippy
Do you remember the Microsoft Office animated Help Agent?. You could change the clippy character to a dog or other fun character. Once thought to be the ultimate way to teach users how to learn Clippy was a novel approach using a sophisticated algorithm. Users found it insulting and “How to disabled Clippy" soon became a popular tip.

Wizards
This was another approach hailed by User Experience experts as the future way we’d all learn about using our software. Microsoft created a set of window dialog types designed to support wizard sequences. While wizards are great tools commonly used for performing a single task they’re rarely used as an education tool.

Tool Tips
This maybe one of the best improvements in helping users how to learn more about their computer. By holding the mouse over a button or other control a message will appear which explains what this object does and/or can be used for. Users are often afraid of unknown actions and fear making a screwing up. The tool tip takes away this apprehension. Unfortunately, many tool tips are completely useless and repeat the same text already visible on the screen.

Help Files
Guess what? Help files really work. I highly recommend you re-think your use of Help Files. Think about how often do you use Google or Bing to look up something want to know? You should be doing the same in your favorite program. You paid big bucks for a program like Office and you should be getting your money’s worth. Windows Help is a dedicated search engine for your application.

Typically, the quickest way to access Help search is just press F1. In many cases, F1 will be linked directly to a current task. Ironically, the same week I’m recommending you all use F1, Microsoft has published a security advisory on not using F1 when browsing the web. “… a malicious Web site displayed a specially crafted dialog box and a user pressed the F1 key, arbitrary code could be executed in the security context of the currently logged-on user.”

What’s Next?

As software developers what can we do so users learn how to use all the cool, powerful features we’ve included and that they’ve paid for. It’s common to use focus groups and collect user feedback. Ultimately, the best way for folks to learn more about their software is for developers to make it more natural, intuitive and especially consistent.

Perhaps in the future we’re have dynamic interfaces that learn what the user expects. Meanwhile, take a moment and check out the help file in your favorite programs.

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Final Results of the Great 99 cent Experiment

So were you wondering if my crazy 99 cent WinPatrol PLUS Experiment was a success? I promised to provide the numbers so I’ll let you decide for yourself.  I do recommend you read beyond the initial numbers

The goals of the experiment were some what vague so the results cover a wide range of marketing principles. Ultimately, I wanted to find out if traditional software vendors would need to make changes to compete with the concept of 99 cent downloads available to pocket computers like the iPhone and Droid.

Financial
From a financial standpoint the results of this experiment were great. Even at 99 cents the volume of sales over a 50 hour period made the extra work worthwhile.

Sales generated just under $15,000 in raw income while adding about 15,000 new WinPatrol PLUS members. The majority of new members had never tried WinPatrol prior to the experiment but a large number were long time users of the Free version who just couldn’t afford the current $29.95 cost to upgrade.

The most painful part of this newly generated income was the large portion taken away by online payment processing. When you sell a product for 99 cents the credit card companies take a huge chunk. On a normal $29.95 WinPatrol PLUS transaction PayPal gets about 5% of the sale. When its on  $0.99, PayPal gets a full 25%. I don’t have all the final numbers from Visa and MasterCard but it appears their cut was even more.

Apple actually gets 30% of all sales so this part of the experiment makes for a good comparison. Developers have some advantages in the App Store like the built in ownership protection. I already have people posting their 99 cent PLUS codes on keygen sites for pirated software.

A number of companies have tried to create online stores for the traditional software marketplace but they’ve had limited success. We really need a simple easy method for users to download and purchase software. There are companies out there very close to making this happen but just need critical mass of users to make it acceptable.

Public Relations
If my goal was great Public Relations then the experiment was certainly a success.  One of my biggest fears was backlash from current WinPatrol PLUS members who may have recently paid $29.95. The objections to this experiment I can count on one hand.  Most current members helped spread the news to family and friends and some even purchased a 99 cent license just to participate and show their support.

As I said, many of our new PLUS members had never heard of WinPatrol so I easily have over 10,000 new WinPatrol users who are now in a position to tell their friends and family about WinPatrol. Once someone installs and understands what WinPatrol can do we usually have a long time loyal friend. Last year I had a total of four customers actually requested a refund.  Not many products can claim a satisfaction record like that.

Extra Work
While sales exceeded my expectations so did my work load. For over a week life for both my wife Cindi and I has revolved around this experiment.  A lot of the extra work could have been avoided if I created an additional (mirror) download website for the WinPatrol setup program. While I knew I had the bandwidth to handle the influx in purchases I neglected to realize most of our new fans would also need to download the WinPatrol setup program as part of the process. Once someone starts a download that holds up a connection to our server and physical connections do have a limit.

During the peak of our sale the 3rd party store, which doesn’t run on our servers, held up great. When users returned to receive their PLUS code we failed due to lack of connections.  The result was way more Emails than I could handle in a timely fashion. This process has taken up my days and nights but I must say people have been extremely polite and understanding.

Family Support
The work load on my wife Cindi was also overwhelming.   In many cases, when people didn’t receive their PLUS code, they’d go in to try again. Realizing what we had going on Cindi decided to process and review each order manually. While processing orders Cindi could see if the same person ordered more than once.  She would process the first order normally but make sure any subsequent orders were not charged to the customers credit card. It’s possible some of these orders were intentional but our priority was to make sure nobody was over charged so she reviewed each order personally. This may be more than you needed to know but I can’t help but praise my valentine.

E-Mail Overload
While having over 10,000 new WinPatrol PLUS members is great I’m not exactly setup like most businesses.  I have always read each support@WinPatrol.com Email and I respond personally.  My normal day does not end until all Email has been answered. Luckily, WinPatrol is easy to use and most of my daily Email consists of requests for lost PLUS codes. Most of the Email from the new users were questions I’ve answered before but they did add to already “I didn’t get my PLUS code” messages.  At times it was refreshing when I got a spam message which I knew I could just delete.

Meeting Expectations
One thing we did have in common with the 99 cent software sales in the App Store or Droid Market were expectations. When people only pay 99 cents they don’t expect much.  I would have had more Email but many people may not think asking for help is included in the price.  I’ve been tracking activations and found another surprise. Less than half of the new customers have followed the instructions to activate their PLUS features. I’m sure some are still exploring the Free benefits but some have admitted “I don’t know when I’ll get around to it. I just figured for 99 cents what can I lose?” I’m sure there are some out there who really don’t have a clue what they purchased and haven’t even downloaded the Free WinPatrol.

Conclusion
I’ve crunched the numbers and have evaluated hundreds of comments. There’s no doubt that how we purchase software is changing. Most users have accepted downloading as a software delivery method. We all live in an immediate world which has helped people accept online software delivery.

Based on the experiment I would be best off by selling WinPatrol PLUS for $9.99 but without free updates. It has been recommended I make WinPatrol PLUS a yearly subscription. I don’t expect to make any chances in the near future.  What do you think?

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Closing Sale of WinPatrol Merchandise

This week will be the final opportunity to purchase one of our 1 GB WinPatrol Wristbands or sharp looking WinPatrol shorts shirts. If you’ve ever wanted one, this will be your last chance. Both items are $24.95 USD plus shipping.

1 GB Wristband with WinPatrolToGo
Very Limited Quantities
Click to Order

 

 
Available in Small, Large, Extra Large only
Click to Order

This week will be the final week either of these items will be available to the public in our online store. We have limited quantities and I do not expect to order more. Next week I’ll be attending an event in Redmond where I’ll be seeing many long time friends and supporters.  If I have any shirts or wristbands left I will be giving them away at the Microsoft “Most Valuable Professional” Summit. If you’re an MVP don’t count on any being left.  Order now.  ;)

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Brand New Computer? Read Me First!

Did you think I was going to start out by telling you all to install WinPatrol as soon as you opened up your new computer? Guess again.  I always try to write my articles from a different point of view and today may not be what you expect.

For the 2nd time I’ve had to return the Dell All-in-One Multi-Touch computer system that I’ve been dreaming about for months. The first unit had to go back because Dell shipped the wrong configuration. The 2nd system had to go back due to internal hardware failure. I should have known something was wrong when I could hear loose parts when I took the computer out of the box.

My point today is take a little time to insure your brand new computer is everything it should be or you may be sorry. Before you install your favorite software on your brand new system I have a few  recommendations.

1) Create a physical folder for documentation.
This folder should include your invoice, Service Tag number, your customer number, Order or Purchase number and any information required to identify your purchase. Keep your original DVD’s in the folder. At some time in the future you will need them and want them handy.

Write these numbers down before your computer goes under the desk or so you don’t have to keep tipping it upside down to find it again.

If you ordered your computer online you probably created an account. Copy down your log in name and account password.

2) Know and understand your Return Policy.
Go online and print out the return policy for your computer.  If you think you have 30 days think again. 

I recently experienced the Dell return policy so I have some specific tips to pass along.

“You must contact Customer Service within 21 days of the invoice date.”

That’s not the date your computer arrived. If the computer is a gift or not planned to be used immediately you should keep reading this article. 

“Unless the product is defective or the return is a direct result of a Dell error, a restocking fee may apply of up to 15% of the purchase price paid, plus any applicable sales tax.”

My inappropriate tip is on your first call tell them there was an error in the system configuration. Imply that you ordered a more expensive configuration and you want to return quickly so you re-order a new system online. If you tell them the computer is broken you’ll be forced through a time consuming series of phone calls with technical support to document your system is really broken.

Lenovo says “Lenovo will accept the return or exchange of a product in its original, sealed package (except gift cards) for a full refund in cases of Lenovo error. Returns allowed for any other reason will be subject to a restocking fee equal to 15% of the purchase amount. All returns must be initiated within 21 days of the invoice date.“

Apple requests your attention immediately. “For eligible Mac, iPod, and third-party products, you have up to 14 calendar days from the time you receive your item(s) to initiate a return. A 10% restocking fee will be assessed for opened items. Shipping fees are not refundable.”


3) Keep all your packing materials.
Keep all the baggies and even the little twist ties available and pack them in the original box. Keep the original box somewhere safe “just in case”.


4) Run Available System Tests
Before installing any new software, including the final installation of the operating system, verify your hardware is working. It should meet the same test requirements it passed before it left factory no matter how many pot holes it hit along the way. 

I know you’re excited but trust me, you never know what could have happen during shipment. If you know from the start that all your hardware works as expected you’re in a good position. You can probably be confident it will continue to work correctly for many years to come.

One of the improvements computer OEM’s have made over years has been to include diagnostic tests directly in the firmware. These tests are typically available by pressing one of the function keys while the system boots. Memory and hard drive tests may be time consuming but knowing you don’t have a hardware problem will make you feel better if your system dies after installing your favorite software.

5) Run all Windows System Updates
After you complete the installation of the operating system and before you start surfing the net, before you install your favorite programs like WinPatrol, you’ll want to run all available system updates. There are two reasons why this is important.

First, until you’ve run all the security updates your system is wide open for possible security breaches. Running updates will be a multi-step process. Once you run your first set of updates, there will be another set that depend on the previous updates before they can run. You should expect multiple re-boots during this process.

Secondly, running system updates may result in your system becoming unstable. I’ve written about my hatred of system updates before but on brand new machines updates bring an added dilemma.

Prior to shipping, your computer company will usually do a good job at testing the configuration you’ve requested. They want to make sure all the default hardware and software work together. That doesn’t mean they’ve tested your system with all the current updates including any new hardware drivers.  This is specially a danger with new Windows 7 systems. I had one company update their drivers and software three times within an eight day period. You’ll want to know if your brand new computer is still like new and compatible after it’s been updated.

 

6) Have Fun
Isn’t it great to know you have a brand new system and everything works perfectly? Now you can follow everyone else’s advice and install all your favorite software like WinPatrol.

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