Nokia E71 Navi Scroll Key In Action

By Mike Maddaloni on Friday, October 17, 2008 at 02:54 PM with 0 comments

It’s hard to believe it has been over a month since the Nokia OpenLab in Helsinki. As well, it has been a month since I have had a Nokia E71 device in my possession. Over this time I used it quite a bit in Helsinki, and only for the last couple of weeks here. But alas, it is time to send it back, and I am now working on my review of this amazing, hard-working device – look for it soon.

When I sat down to put some notes together on the E71, I looked at the phone and noticed the navigation button of the phone – or the Navi Scroll Key – glowing. This is a really neat add-on to the phone, going above and beyond as most of the design features of it have. When you press and hold the glowing key, you see the current time – another cool feature, as I don’t carry a watch and like many my mobile device is also my timepiece.

Needless to say, I was inspired and the following video came to mind, which I quickly shot with my Sony DSC-T200 digital camera and my Gorillapod tripod. Note I am not a filmmaker, but as a comedy improviser, I did it all in one take.

Enjoy! If you don’t see the embedded video, you can view it here.


This is from The Hot Iron, a journal on business and technology by Mike Maddaloni.


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Diary of a LinkedIn Group

By Mike Maddaloni on Friday, October 10, 2008 at 06:00 AM with 0 comments

View Mike Maddaloni's profile on LinkedInThere they are, after the job listings, education and accolades. They are like little merit badges, pinned to the scout’s uniform that is your professional profile. Each one identifies you with something, perhaps something greater than you yourself. But why are they there, and how did they come into being?

With no apologies for the drama, I am referring to LinkedIn Groups. If you are on the business social networking site, you probably are a member of a group or 2. Or many, many more. I too am a member of many, and as well am an owner of one and a manager of another. It’s an interesting tale, one that has evolved, and one I would like to share.

One day I got an email from my friend AJ, inviting me to be a member of the ex-CSC Alumni LinkedIn group. He had just created it and wanted me to be a manager and backup resource for it. I said sure, why not? We both worked for CSC and with him Down Under and me in the States, we should be covered. The role of a manager is to approve or deny membership in the group, and now to moderate discussions. People submit to be in the group, and upon review they are accepted. As anyone can create a group, it is up to them to set the rules for inclusion. As thousands if not more have worked for this global firm, we didn’t surely know all of them and that was the only way to verify people – with honesty.

And the fun began. Originally the only way to learn of a group was for the owner or manager to promote by email, or to see the group icon on someone else’s profile and click it to get to the request page. Today there is a search function on groups. When search went live, we found there were other CSC Alumni groups already, but ours was (and is) the largest. Interestingly, many people requested to join the group who never worked or were affiliated with CSC, or never replied to our request to verify their past employment by adding it to their public profile.

Coming off the success of this group, I decided to create one for former employees of IDX Systems Corporation, a healthcare software company acquired by GE Healthcare a few years ago. This allowed me to go through the group setup process myself. I created an icon for the group (or merit badge as I called them before) and where I did not use the IDX logo I did match its Pantone color. After a couple of days, the group was approved and I contacted a few people to be of the first to join. I also asked a trusted, former colleague at IDX to be a manager on the group. With similar experiences to what I found with the CSC group, the IDX group is close to 500 as of this writing.

Now what? LinkedIn is rolling out additional group features, including the ability to message the group and discussions among group members. So far, these features have been slow to take off. But I like LinkedIn Groups and it has been a great way to reconnect with former colleagues and grow my own network.


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My Original Unlocked Phone Argument

By Mike Maddaloni on Thursday, October 09, 2008 at 06:00 AM with 0 comments

photo of a SIM cardAs a reader of The Hot Iron, you may have read a post or 2 about unlocked phones here. However, my opinion on unlocked phones predates this journal, and was first framed on my honeymoon of all places.

For the sake of a simple definition, an unlocked phone is one that will work on any mobile provider’s network. This is facilitated by inserting a SIM card (see accompanying picture) for the provider into the phone. Where unlocked phones are prevalent in Asia Pacific and Europe, they are fewer and far between in the US. T-Mobile, my mobile provider for example, uses SIMs which can be used in unlocked phones. I own an unlocked Palm Treo 680 and my SIM works in it. When WOM World lent me a Nokia E71 for evaluation prior to Nokia OpenLab, I simply moved my SIM to it and I was on the network.

Back to the story. When my lovely new bride and I went to Australia on our honeymoon, we stayed with our friends AJ and FJ for a few days who were great guides to their homeland. When we got to their home, I took my Motorola StarTac phone (which I miss dearly, but I digress) and joked it would be a paperweight while I was there. AJ told me to get an Australian SIM and the StarTac would work. I explained to him it was a locked phone from Verizon Wireless and there was no SIM slot. He did not believe me and challenged me on it. I pressed my case, then, um, gently tossed my phone (as I recall it) to him and asked him to find it.

A couple of days later, AJ told me he was surprised there was no SIM. He showed me his Nokia phone, which at the time was not available in the US. It had a color display and a Web browser and over dim sum I was able to surf to GoPats.com. It would be 4 years later I would get smart and finally get my first unlocked phone. I have sworn going forward I will only purchase unlocked phones.


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From Helsinki With Rakkaus

By Mike Maddaloni on Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 09:00 AM with 1 comments

Nokia OpenLab Thank You messageThe Nokia OpenLab event has just wrapped up in Helsinki, Finland. This is the event I was invited to, and previously referred to as the WOM World Nokia Workshop. For the last couple of days, about 35 people from all over the world gathered at the Klauk K Hotel in the Finnish capital, all guests of the mobile phone giant. This was the first time Nokia has brought together such a group of people, and they have indicated they plan on similar events in the future.

Most everybody in attendance is involved in social media to some extent, as this was how they were found and invited by Nokia. Where that was the case, there was no common profile of any attendee, except for everyone was eager to participate and had a great respect for one another.

It was an amazing couple of days with some thoughtful and exciting people with great conversations all around. I will write more on this upon my return, and will probably start on the flight home.


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Garysguide Comes To Chicago

By Mike Maddaloni on Thursday, September 04, 2008 at 06:00 AM with 0 comments

garysguide logoI got an email recently from Gary Sharma that his Web event guide, garysguide.org, now has a Chicago edition. You can view events and post your own, as well as subscribe to an RSS feed of the events. Companies can submit a profile, and I did so for Dunkirk Systems, LLC. The RSS feed continues to drive me back to the site, where I browse other events and information. There are also editions for other major cities.

Where some may say, “oh no, not another events site,” I welcome it. Many similar sites have come and gone, and worse, others have come and stagnated. Good luck to the Guy With The Red Tie!


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