HP buys Palm!

Well this one caught me by surprise!  All of this talk about Lenovo and HTC and speculative buyout quotes of $1.3b.  In the end, it was $1.2b and Old Tech buying ...well, Old Tech.  HP makes some innovative products, but no slam dunks.  Their software has left a lot to be desired - albeit coming secondarily from another company, but admittedly one must admit that the company has style.  They also have deep pockets and a sense of deep commitment to completing things once they get started, something that has been lost in the Palm world for a long time.  I actually admire the determination and drive that this company has.  It all stems from their early days in that garage.

Is it a good fit?  Only time will tell.  HP has been innovating as of late.  I was impressed at first by the Slate, although less so now than before, again due to software issues.  But the hardware looked solid.   I think that Palm brings an incredibly agile software solution to the table for HP that will mount a serious challenge to Apple and could supersede Microsoft Windows Mobile.  However this is where things get a little interesting.  Is HP a Microsoft company or a WebOS company?  What happens to the Slate?  Is WebOS going to be ported like Android?  And will we finally see another company get product integration right?  Only Apple appears to make hardware integration (ie. My Macs talk to each other; to the iPhone etc) simple and seamless. 

I think a Slate with WebOS would be fantastic.  Multitasking right out of the box.  With Palm being so meek at the moment it may be easy for HP to impose its will to make WebOS work in the right way, stopping the silly limitations that Palm has always put on their products which has hindered the company from going forward.  Also with HP we may begin to see more Palm innovation and decent mainstream commercials that will help the company instead of the crazy pandering to certain demographics. 

I think that the WebOS is a competitive platform.  It's not really for me due to its limitations, but I am very happy to see that someone found the value in Palm.  Although I can only hope that HP does something good with Palm, in the back of my mind I am hoping that they are not just buying them to get rid of them.  If they do amalgamate into one company to do good, we could see some very innovative products emanating from this merger.


LDD.

Apple sets date for WWDC. It all comes together now....

In one of my posts I wondered about the reason for hosting the WWDC in late june, postulating that Apple was ready to disappoint in the quarter ending in June, due to relying solely on the iPad and Mac sales to drive the quarter.  Seems as though everyone got this one wrong.  If my estimates are correct, with WWDC being held on June 7th, this sets the quarter up nicely for a new release of the iPhone.

One wonders whether the events that took place at Gourmet Haus Staudt (where the prototype was lost) had anything to do with this.  One also wonders what will be offered up in late June since there is an opening there for an Apple meeting also.

With the Palm purchase by HP and Apple appearing to be pulling out all of the stops on the iPhone - with videoconferencing - this summer could end up being one of the best for innovation ever.

LDD.

Update on Apple Engineer. Maybe no conspiracy after all....

Reports are now coming in that the Apple engineer did indeed frantically call the bar on several occasions asking if the phone had been brought back. 

This makes a lot more sense and now I have to take everything back.  Maybe this is a real prototype and maybe this is the phone.  Maybe there is no conspiracy. Click the title for details.

LDD.

Conspiracy Theorists, how about this one?

Bloomberg today published an article, speculative as it may be, that Apple may tighten its noose around people attempting to "test" the iphone, limiting it to executives and a very close inner circle.  Granted!  But the final paragraph made me start to wonder about something:

Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs personally monitors the so-called carry list of staff members allowed to take pre-release devices off the company’s campus, according to the former employee. Approved staff members must sign an additional confidentiality agreement, the person said. 

 Citation:  Bloomberg (Link)


So, reading between the lines, if Steve Jobs personally monitors a carry list, wouldn't Apple have known about the missing device in March?  Wouldn't the most logical thing to do, if you were an employee, be to trace where you went before you lost the phone?  Apple knew the phone was lost because it shut down the phone remotely.  Or at the very least, the engineer shut down the phone immediately.  If you're able to do that, using the mobile software, why couldn't you use the tracking device to at least give an idea of where the phone is located?  Gizmodo and a few other blogs are saying that the tracking software does not presently work on iPhone OS 4.0.  So how does the wipe out work?  Or did the man at the bar, the one who found the phone, attempt to get into the phone more than 10 times producing an instant wipe out?

My point here is this.  Steve Jobs must have known about the lost iPhone and the most logical thing to have done would be to contact the bar where the phone was lost.  This was not done.  WHY?  I think you can see where I am going here. 

Here's my Conspiracy Theory.  Take it for what it's worth:  The end of the quarter is in June.  However, for reasons known only to the Apple Corp, the WWDC will not start until June 28th. A strange date if you want to see revenue, earnings from the iphone in that quarter.  There is a strong possibility that the iPhone being touted on Gizmodo is NOT the iPhone that will be released.  There is an even stronger possibility that the iPhone that we think is going to be released was deliberately left in the bar.  Crazy?  Well, not if you want to get all of the publicity out there before June.  Whip up the frenzy and then over deliver with a product that no one can refuse.  I believe that the final phone will look nothing like the one on Gizmodo and that this was in fact a deliberate play by Apple.  The responses given by the Apple engineer make me suspicious.  Gizmodo posted this and it didn't sound as if he was remorseful, scared or even livid.  Add to that Apple's unusual sublime letter to Gizmodo to send back its device as opposed to a Cease And Desist order that usually comes down like a mighty hammer and I think that you can see that this may have been a ploy by Apple to control the press or even gauge the thought processes of consumers:  Were they angry?  Overjoyed? Excited?  Yawning?  Salivating?  Additionally, what better way to get publicity and gauge the FanBoys and Techies than seeing if Gizmodo or Engadget will bite. 

Okay, so it's just a theory, but here's where it really gets interesting.  This quarter may be a wash!  Why would anyone buy an iPhone before July if you knew a new one was coming out?  A possible reliance on Mac sales and 3G iPads could ensue for this coming quarter, but the latter is a low margin affair.  This will not affect earnings well, possibly leading to a downturn in the stock on the day of the earnings release, but recovering once consideration is given to what is coming next.  No, it is possible that the September and the obvious December Quarter (New iTouches) are where Apple is hoping to shine.  This product "leak" may have been a test to see just how much it will be accepted before the final product is made.   And what, if anything, the tabloid geeks really want.

Yeah, call me a conspiracy theorist, but let's face it, you are thinking about it right?


LDD.

Amazon Kindle to Target....

I have to say that the Kindle is looking like a very attractive device right now.  If it was priced correctly, I would have purchased one a long time ago.  You say "What, are you kidding?"  I say "No."

The fact that the Kindle does only one thing - Read Books, is a plus to me right now.  A few days ago I wanted to read a book by Sun Tsu.  This was on a friends iPad, however, I ended up surfing the web and playing with virtual controls and apps.  I found it difficult to concentrate on reading with all of the apps available.  I have not tried the Amazon Kindle, except with a few patients, who absolutely love the device.  

One reason I am interested is that the Kindle does only one thing - books. With the Kindle coming to Target, I will be able to see if the Kindle is worth having.   Or if I will have to wait for a touchscreen version.  I simply hate buttons.  Target on sunday eh?  I'll be there.

LDD.

I didn't really want to learn about the new iPhone like this...

Gizmodo today posted a sensational story of a fellow, who works as an Engineer at Apple and who one night got drunk and left the prototype iPhone 4.0 on a bar stool.  The story is amazing and I wonder if it is all true or if it is a plant ordered by Steve Jobs to get the crazy masses riled up for the next generation iPhone?  Or even free advertising?

I really hope that "the fix" is on because for many reasons, I have a problem with the news story published by Gizmodo if they actually have the real gadget:

1.  First, they paid $5,000 for the device.  When does journalism become a cross between getting the story out versus overtly paying for stolen property?

2.  Why did Gizmodo publish the name of the Engineer?  Was it necessary?

3.  Although I am riled up for the next iPhone, I really don't mind waiting for Steve Jobs getting on stage and presenting it when all of the kinks are ironed out, so that we are seeing what will run seemlessly as opposed to all of the speculation.

4.  I really wanted to be surprised by the hardware.  There is a wow factor when Steve Jobs presents a device.  Now, we will be deprived of that.

5.  If you are a stock owner, you could get HOSED?  Why?  Well here is my prediction if this is the new iPhone (Note, this is fictitious):

Picture Steve Jobs onstage looking over the audience and introducing the new iPhone at the WWDC.

SJ:  We've sold over ........ and we are still amazed at the sale of the iPad...
Blogger (Translating immediately):  Chatting about past sales. Yawn. 
SJ:  Now I would like to show you what we've been working on.
Blogger:  Steve still looks thin, but he's getting ready to show it. 
(Stock vacillates +0.25 to -0.25 as the speech goes on). 
SJ:  We call this the iPhone 4.0 or the iPhone HD.
Blogger:  Nailed it.  Yup, it's the same one that we showed you 8 weeks ago.  Yup we nailed it.
(Stock trades down 0.25). 
Jim Goldman:  And Apple shows a device that was seen 8 weeks ago.
SJ:  It has a front facing camera and a back facing camera with a flash.
Blogger:  Yup, we told you that too!  Boy we are good.  We nailed it!
SJ:  There is interaction with Facebook on this revolutionary device ... and now for something never before seen on a phone - videoconferencing.
Blogger:  Yup, he's showing Videoconferencing.  ... So 8 weeks ago.  Yawn.
Jim Goldman:  And Apple's stock beginning to experience a little sell on the news as Steve Jobs continues to show the latest iPhone. In addition, we are seeing few surprises today following that Gizmodo article.
(Stock trades down $3.00). 
Blogger:  Yup, we've seen this already.  C'mon!
SJ:  This revolutionary device......

End.


This is the blogosphere where everything has to be new, new, new.  No wonder Palm cannot compete in this environment.  There is no thought given to  the ingenuity or the time taken to come up with a device such as this.  That 1 hour presentation is vital to letting me know what this device can do.  If this bar-device is the real thing, I will be disappointed, but I am still excited about the future that this phone will bring.  (One interesting thought though.  I thought memory classifications were at the power of 2? ie. 2,4,8, 16, 32, 64, 128?  Where does 80gb come from?).  Is it 128 with a 48 gig OS or Protected memory?  Or worse - complete nonsense?

It is exciting though isn't it?  I'm just not sure that I feel better knowing about it now though.

LDD.

iPhones and ipads galore

I am at a medical conference and cannot believe the number of iPhones
in the conference room. Seen 4 ipads and counted over 40 iPhones in
the room. 200 participants over 2 days. Second counted were Palm
treos all running Palm OS and not Windows. However I only saw 4 of
those. Rough epidemiology count shows no age differentials.

Rather amazing finding. Developers, I think you should know your new
niche.

LDD

Palm Firesale? Am I missing something here?

Okay, so we know that Palm is up for sale.  This information is now over 48 hours old.  However Shaw Wu from Kaufman Brothers reckons that Palm will be sold in a fire sale for prices that are either similar to the $5 that we are seeing today or lower.  In a note to investors he wrote:


""We remain concerned that it may be a 'take-under,' meaning a price that is below its current share price," Kaufman Bros. (Citation:  Kaufman Brothers Note). "

Now, I am not an analyst nor do I make any bones to be a stock market guru, but a little bit of research brought this little gem forward about a company named Huawei, thought to be an early suitor for Palm.  Apparently Palm began talking to this company in "mid february" about a possible takeover, according to Thestreet.com and Reuters:

"Huawei was approached through its investment bank sometime in mid-February for "preliminary discussions,"a source told Reuters. The source said discussions hadn't since moved forward.  "

(Citation:  TheStreet.com Link ).


A quick review of Palm's stock price from February to March shows the following (Prices are at the weekly close):

Week of      Weekly close

2/1              10.38
2/8                9.99
2/16              9.25
2/22              6.09
3/1                5.7
3/8                5.46
3/15              3.96
3/22              3.65
3/29              3.71

The question that arises if you are a shareholder in Palm and not on the board or on the inside is when exactly did that meeting take place?  What caused the stock to drop so precipitously, going down 33% in one week?  If the companies met somewhere before 2/16 (literal translation of mid february would mean around 2/14), then one could hope for a buyout at 8 or 10.  If not, then the market drop today is predicting that it was during the week of 2/22 with the weekly close at 6, hence the price drop today to $5.16.  Or could another company pay a premium for the company which floated above the $10 mark for a while?


Sad days, but if you are a shareholder, perhaps high risk and possibly high return days if Shaw Wu is wrong, especially if that meeting took place before 2/16.  




LDD

T H A N K Y O U P A L M

Bloomberg is reporting that PALM has put itself up for sale. What a sad day this is if the rumors are true. I remember the early days of Palm and can reflect back on a time when this company really ruled the handheld market. What a difference a few years make. A misstep here, a faulty product launch there and a lagging Operating system brought this company down. Even with a sensational product like the PRE, the company did it all too late.

I shed a tear for this company. I personally tried, by starting this blog, to contribute to the Palm blogosphere and my requests for updates and additions were more out of love for the company that was and the company that I wanted it to be. Who can forget the day that they set their eyes on the Palm III ? It was a thing of beauty. Or the slider on the Palm V? I actually had two of them. That was innovation ! Palm really showed how to build a platform that was sustainable and profitable. Almost every physician that I knew had a Palm Pilot. It would go off in meetings. We would beam our cards, notes, addresses and files to each other. We would scribble our thoughts with various types of styli.

One day when I started a new job many years ago, I remember my partner suggesting that some salacious activity was going on between myself and an attractive looking drug rep. She had a Handspring (keep the puns to yourself, this is G-Rated :)), and she had all of the latest games and new software available. Not worrying about viruses at the time, I would always welcome the additions. She would beam these to me on her monthly visits. It turned out that her fiance was a developer, so I would get a lot of "free" programs and test them. My partner only heard "beaming" and other terms during the lunch breaks and always made sly comments. Well it wasn't too long before he joined the party. Not only that, but he became an advisor to Epocrates within two years. So much for salacious activity :).

Those were the early days. Along the way I met some wonderful people in the Palm hemisphere. A few developers and of course Sammy McLoughlin from PalmAddicts who remains steadfastly one of the staunchest supporters of Palm. He is also a very good guy. He was single handedly responsible for putting this blog on the charts. Again, it stemmed from my love affair with Palm. Apparently just about everyone on the Palmaddicts blog had the same love affair. This same affliction led to a meeting with Ryan Block and Peter Rojas during one of their whirlwind Engadget meetups. They offered great advice. All of this, because of PALM.

Of course my departure from Palm land happened in spirit in late 2006. I was becoming very much removed from the over promising and under delivering, not to mention the poor hardware that lacked innovation and kept on crashing - THE LIFEDRIVE. But on a day that I worked, but kept hitting F5 while surfing Engadget, I could not believe what happened next! If I was spirtitualy removed from Palm in late 2006, I was mentally divorced on that morning in January. Steve Jobs presented the iPhone and it appeared that this was the answer - a solid state device that was a PIM, small computer and a phone WITHOUT A STYLUS. I welcomed it, not only because it was brilliant, but because I thought it would put some fire into Palm. What happened next made the spiritual and mental break a complete physical one. It appeared that Palm was in panic mode! The rest of course is history.

But I prefer to remember the good times. The CASL Basic days, the NSBasic days along with programs like Smartlistogo and Handbase. Literally these small apps changed the way in which I lived. They served as organizing points and the Palm devices really stressed the things found in "The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People" by Steven Covey. Prioritization and historically recording facts; dumping the Franklin Covey address books and the never ending desk, wall and hand held calendars. Palm was it! I remember being in a small town and people crowding around me to look at my Palm V. I fondly remember in 1998 seeing the first Palm device at a dinner meeting when someone asked for my address. Yes, I needed that. It wasn't a want.

Now they will be no more! I am really going to miss this company. I will miss their once superior innovation skills. But really, despite the misses, I want to go on record to say THANK YOU PALM for all that you have given us. You changed the world. You were one of the true innovators, where many emulated/copied/plagiarized/

stole from you in the name of competition, you remained true to your calling - Innovation and simplicity.

T H A N K Y O U S O M U C H !!!!!

LDD.

iPhone 4.0 My thoughts....

I have a few thoughts about the upgrade. First of all, I do want to upgrade my phone due to the low ram and the ridiculous quantity of apps that I have collected over the past year. Many of them free, but with some apps priced at 0.99 and 1.99, the ecosystem is a "suckers paradise." I figure that Apple is making millions of dollars from this "Crack Garden." And when the software is done right, you cannot complain. You come running back for more. Believe me, no one is exempt from this.

I had planned on handing over my current 3G phone to my wife, but I think that she would want multitasking and video recording and, well, you get the point. She thought about giving it to the kids, but I think that's a big mistake, until she added "to use as an emergency phone. It's only $6.99 per month to add a line." Gosh, even AT&T is in on this "suckers paradise." So it is that if the pricing is favorable (and I mean really favorable, because I am a miser when it comes to these things), we will have two new iPhones (? iPhone HD, iPhone 4.0? iPhone 4G?), whatever they decide to call it.

For me, the high points of this new update are many, but none more so than # 1 and # 2. I have been waiting for #1 forever. So, without further ado, here's my opinion on yesterday's preview:

1. Multiple Exchange Accounts.

You know, I think Steve actually reads his emails, the blogs and reviews. I actually sent him two personal emails on this subject. Not expecting to receive an answer, I saw this voiced on many other boards. The iPhone has replaced all of my email reading tasks. I am no longer tied to a desk to read my messages. When I had a Palm, the actual idea of writing a response back with a stylus nauseated me. Now, I can even dictate the response back without problems.
But really, what was important to me was this. I never ever wanted to share my private family life with the company that I work for. Don't get me wrong. I love the company that I work for. They treat me well, but sharing the fact that I have to go to my kids' basketball game or show up at the PTA or go to my Mother's house for dinner just didn't feel right. Worse! Keeping two separate calendars was a real pain. Although I have not seen the implementation as of yet, I am hoping that we will be able to show both calendars superimposed. Bravo on this one.

2. Local Alerts.

Read my take on this in the previous post. But this should have been available in 2007. I mean calling this a new feature is a bit embarrassing.

3. Multitasking.

A lot has been written about this, but I think that the furor has been overblown a little. I really think that multitasking comes in a few flavors, but most are battery draining and performance lugs as noted on both the new Android devices and ALL Windows Mobile devices. For me, I have rarely ever wanted to use two apps at once. But there has always been the one exception: The Calculator. Although I am happy with Multitasking, so that we can use the calculator, I would have much rather have the OS-X approach to this which was to use DASHBOARD. For those of you who don't use a Mac, Dashboard in my opinion was the single most advanced feature that turned many people - myself and my family included- into Mac lovers. It utilized widgets that were installed into the Dashboard system and upon pressing the middle button on the mouse, overlayed a series of widgets - ie. Weather, calculator, sometimes games, time, and a host of downloadable widgets - which did not interfere with whatever it was that you had on the screen. With another click or hitting escape, the overlay disappeared and you had your original display. It was almost as if you were running two separate entities in one. I always thought that this would be transferred to the iPhone, but it has not been. Personally, I would prefer the widget approach, particularly for the Calculator and the Calendar. Nevertheless, I can't argue with the Multitasking approach detailed yesterday.

I guess the one question that keeps popping up is are we really seeing multitasking? It would appear that whatever is running in the background, actually isn't running, but suspended. I have always thought about the Unix approach, which is a program doing a calculation, say 1+1=2,+1=3,+1..... while in another window you're doing something else, but upon return, you see something like 4096+1=4097,+1...., instead it looks like you'll see: 3+1=4,+1=5...., Pause, return 5+1=6,+1=7,+1. But they did show Skype working in the background. So I am not sure how this works. Is it suspended or is it active in the background? I really didn't understand Scott Forstall's explanation of this. I'm sure that developers will bring this up later.


4. CalDAv invitations.

Another Duh moment! This is another one of those things that, if it is what I think it is, should have been in the OS a long time ago. How many times have you gotten an invitation or an appointment in an email? In windows, you can click on the appointment and it sends it to Outlook and puts it in the calendar. This is one of those things that should have been available from at least the second iteration of the phone. But kudos to Apple for listening again. I really think that they listen attentively.


Can you believe it? These are the top 4 things that I am excited about with the iPhone. Yes, I like the bookstore, but I've got Amazon's Kindle on my iPhone already and it's doing a fine job, not to mention Stanza, which does a great job for books I've had from my Palm days. There is a lot to like about this update and luckily my contract is up in a few months so upgrading - if the price is right - will be a good thing.


LDD.


Addendum:

Did anyone see the SDK4 picture below? It was presented during the presentation. It was really glossed over, but I found a few interesting things in the diagram, mainly in the almost blurred tiny settings. See what you think about these:

1. iPod remote control accessories.

A-hem? What in the world? Are we talking about IR remotes, WiFi remotes? It's just a blurb, but it looks really interesting. Could it compete with Logitech's Harmony or is Logitech a part of this?


2. Embed PDF metadata.

I have no idea what this would be used for. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Is it possible to label all of my journals with metadata for specific storage? Is it a DRM feature (not so nice if it is)?


3. In-App SMS.

Sounds delightful.


4. ?Dock based orientation.

I think that is already in place, but I could be wrong.


5. Date Data Detectors.

Absolutely wonderful and I would presume goes in place with the CalDAV explained above.


6. Address Data Detectors.

What a welcome addition. Less typing. No copy and pasting. Wonderful addition.


7. Tuesday 17.

Okay, this one is a bit of a stretch. But in the box of goodies, there's a date that shows Tuesday 17th. Tuesday is a popular day for Apple. A lot of newly released products come out on that day, but granted I am falling into the Distortion Field again - didn't I tell you, no one is immune? - so, I got to thinking, if it was good enough for the Beatles to play these sorts of games, why not Apple? Tuesday 17th, falls in August. Could we see the new iPhone or iPod Touch or iMac or whatever, on Tuesday, August 17th? I don't really think that this was a random picture. But maybe it is. In medicine we call these zebras, when you hear the clickety clack of a 4 - legged creature wearing horse shoes walking outside your window. Most of the times it's obvious, it's just a horse, but there's always someone who thinks it might be a Zebra. And today that's me :):).


LDD.

Local Alerts....New Feature? Say What?

Okay, so I saw the Apple presentation yesterday. I was totally impressed by the offerings. I could live without the iAds, but the fact that they are for free apps made me know that I could opt out if I wanted to. But what struck me senseless was the Local Alerts feature.

I admit that I have become ensconced in the world of Apple over the past two years. I thought long and hard before jumping ship from the Palm platform to the iPhone. But I have never looked back. But there was always something gnawing at me on many occasions: "My Palm could do that." I found myself saying that a lot when several things were not so readily available on the iPhone. Nothing was more glaring than Local Alerts!

Local Alerts were the mainstay for almost all of the important apps that I had on the Lifedrive. My pregnancy listing made in Smartlistogo would send out signals on dates that were important, along with color changes of names for dates that needed to be addressed. It was truly basic.

What nailed me during the presentation was that this was being presented as a New Feature! Something that we can now use as developers. I was stupified! This should have been a basic feature from day one.

For me this is great news. I constantly use Appigo's TODO program which must send its alerts through Apple before it comes back down to my phone. It's not bad, but fails in time sensitive conditions. Here are a few examples:

A. Write letter for A. Shobedoo. Must be done by April 1st.
Date entered: March 2nd.
Time to remind: March 27th.
Actual: March 27th (0900).

Analysis: Not a problem. I was reminded to finish the letter in a timely fashion.

B. Call for telephone deposition for L&I claim for Ms. T. on April 2nd at 4 pm.
Date entered: April 1st.
Time to remind: April 2nd at 3:30 pm.
Actual: April 2nd at 3:45 pm.

Analysis: Big Problem Here! I have always set my presets 15-20 minutes ahead of time
in case I am running behind. This one was set 30 minutes ahead of time and still it was
received 15 minutes late. Server issues?


If you have ever wondered why you would want a local alert, the above two scenarios should answer that question. I was always baffled by the fact that there was no local alert mechanism with the exception of the Calendar. Server issues are major. Apple has to be delivering thousands, if not millions of alerts each day. There is no chance that it can deliver these things on time, every time. My suspicion is that they have woken up and delivered so-called Local Alerts to reduce liability issues. In a program like TODO, if the alerts were about giving yourself Insulin Shots or having some life-saving medication being delivered at a specific time, down-time server issues could lead to potential law suits from developers and customers alike.

It is really about time that this service was offered. It really should have been done a long time ago. I am very happy about this, because now it means that I can write a program for OB that delivers timely reminders for my pregnant patients, ie. Mrs. J needs her glucola test this week or we need to do an ultrasound this week for Mrs. P. The other beauty of this is that since my iPhone has password protection and since Handbase has encryption, I can now use real names on my device. The idea of sending this alert to a 3rd party was not in concert with HIPAA.

This move now also solidifies my move to the Apple ecosystem as a viable alternative to Palm.


LDD.

...A decision....

Today, my "lease" ran out for LIFEDRIVEDOC.COM, I had to make a conscious decision whether to continue with the blog or just let it die a peaceful death. I have been writing on www.theiphonedoc.com but something has been missing.

So, after renewing my "lease" today I have decided that I want to continue writing on Lifedrivedoc.com, but that the information will not be about the Lifedrive solely, infact most of it won't. I will muse on technology and what is now my favorite operating system in the world OS X.

After purchasing my iPhone 2 years ago, I am entrenched in the Mac World and loving it! I have tried a little Linux and I like that too. I have also tried Windows XP and Windows 7. I haven't fully utilized Windows 7, but I will. So now with that epiphany, I am free to write about whatever I want and not "stay on topic." As for the other site, I may write there, but I want Lifedrivedoc to be my primary abode for now.

I will still leave links, especially for the Lifedrive, but I am going to change almost everything about the site in the next few months. If you still need links, data, information etc. on the Lifedrive itself, I will definitely leave that up too. Feel free to pass along any information in regards to the Lifedrive that you think is important, I'll post it.

Here's to some good posts, mainly medical, but you know me, I just love technology and now I'm free to post. Comments are always welcome.

LDD.