So, today is the day that we should all be thankful for the various things in our lives: our family, our friends, our loved ones, our pets, etc etc. For all those things I am very thankful. But I think I am going to do something a bit different…

The top 5 technologies I am thankful for:

#5 SMS
Short Message Service – My preferred way of communication. I can keep in contact with a lot of people in a short amount of time. I’m just not a big phone person, I think having a conversation on a phone takes too long when you want to ask a simple question. Phone calls are not obsolete; they just have their place.

#4 Apple iPod
I don’t know where I would be without my iPod. I would be drowning in a sea of CDs and that’s no good. Having my entire music library in my pocket is quite an amazing thing. Also the ability to add the many podcasts I listen to is great.
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Google has rolled out a new service for their GMail e-mail service: IMAP. To enable IMAP you have to login to https://mail.google.com and enabled it via Settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP. I’m guessing by this point just about everyone should have it, since I have it and I’m usually one of the last to get these new features. After you enabled IMAP you can connect to GMail using your favorite mail client; like Thunderbird.

IMAP is a protocol, much like POP, but way cooler.

Gmail IMAP is sweet; I am mightily impressed! Basically, the best feature of IMAP is when I delete a message off of my local mail client (Thunderbird 2.0) that is hooked into GMail it also deletes it on the GMail’s web application. So, I can use Thunderbird while I’m at home. When I’m at work, school, or abroad I can use the the web application and everything stays in-sync. BRILLIANT! Also at work we use IMAP, so this isn’t a new way to do things, but it’s great that Google is expanding their services.

There are many benefits to using IMAP on Google’s GMail here are a few.

1) No longer tied to just the web browser for mail (or POP yuck!). For those who are not familiar with POP, it basically downloads all your mail from the mail server. Thus, it is hard to keep everything in-sync, which is a necessity now-a-days for people on the go. Isn’t that everybody?

2) Security, security, security. To use Google’s IMAP service you have to connect over IMAP secure, which is port 993. This encrypts all your mail traffic so no one can sniff your mail; keeping all of your passwords and mail safe. Depending on the program you may have to select SSL before you can access IMAP secure (IMAPS); I use Thunderbird 2.0, so I selected SSL when I configured Thunderbird.

3) More security for sending mail. Another great aspect of IMAP is the ability is that you can send mail via Google’s SMTP (Send Mail Transport Protocol) server; this is your outgoing mail. I know that this was available for POP, but it should be mentioned because it uses TLS (Transport Layer Security) so all of your outgoing mail is safe and secure.

4) Better for sharing devices. You can hook your GMail into your phone, PDA, laptop, desktop, anything and keep all your e-mail up-to-date. This is a great time saver, you can spend your time on more important things than making sure all your mail is synced.

5) Labels translate into folders. I was worried about how Google was going to handle the transition from their “labels” onto an IMAP client. Don’t be worried all your labels become folders and I think it feels a little more usable in this aspect.

The only problem I have with using the IMAP service with GMail is that all my contacts are on the web application. I don’t think this is specifically a Google problem; they didn’t write the IMAP protocol. Since I have all my e-mails I ever sent or received with my GMail account I can easily rebuild all my contacts.

Google does a nice job of laying out the instructions of various mail clients here.

In Google we trust.

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School has thrown me into a constant state of work and deadlines. I’m glad I have found time to sleep as of late. But I have not forgotten about you all. I have had lots of ideas, but no time to express them. oh yes my lament.

This is not a bad thing I guess. I would much rather spend my time writing and exploring various topics; I think I learn way more this way. And in the future I think we are all going to be in a constant state of education the way things are moving today. New technologies are being implemented daily. The landscape is in constant change. But yes, this is not a bad thing because I am learning a lot of interesting things and can apply them to my life. This is a good a thing.

So what I wanted to talk about was Human Computer Interaction (HCI), more specifically the User Interface (UI). Probably up to this point in my technological education I wasn’t too concerned by what the user thought. My thinking was this is how it is and we must adapt to the technology. I think that was a big mistake. Technology should conform to the user; this is my new mantra. Users are not stupid – the technology makes them feel stupid – and that is a big no-no.
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Welcome to the Internet.

You are now entering a place where only the truth matters. No more bullshit, no more lies, and no more corruption.

Okay, there is still bullshit, lies, and corruption, but the Internet is redefining how we become informed about things. There was a time when the news at 10 was how everyone got their information. Now you can get the information anytime you want or need it. This is a turning point in history. Never before has there been a global information network this robust. There were teletypes, MORRIS code, radio, satellite phones. The Internet is truly remarkable in the way it connects people and ideas.

I really don’t think governments around the world are ready for this fundamental change in how people become informed. It’s hard to believe there are corrupt governments in this day and age. Militaristic governments shooting monks, journalists, etc in “Burma” or Myanmar. Let this not be a smoke screen. There are problems elsewhere in the world. Let’s not forget Darfur.

The time it takes to become aware of problems is instantaneous, thanks to bloggers, news services, and satellite imagery systems. Awareness is key to solving problems. I don’t think the problems of the world will be easily solved, but awareness, I feel, moves things in the right direction. I’m glad that blogging has ushered in the return of the FREE PRESS. People talking about society, life, struggles, achievements, and oh yes TECHNOLOGY.

To really bring this point home I’m adding a link to the Nirvana Musing blog. The blogger, Amit, posted screen shots of a banned commercial, a truly remarkable ad by MTV.

This is why the Free Internet Press is so important. I don’t think you’re going to see this any newspaper, magazine, or TV show.

There’s a shift occurring in the Computing Industry. A recent report out of mac.co.uk states that Apple is driving a “transformational” shift in PC sales. Somewhere up to 30% of people that are going to purchase a laptop in the next 90 days want to buy a MacBook. I think we shouldn’t get caught up in predictions, but it is an interesting statistic.

If I were going to buy a laptop in the next 90 days I would want to purchase a MacBook. I’m not looking to buy a laptop though, I’m sticking with my thinkpad that continues to chug along.

The reason I feel people are being drawn to Apple products is because the platform is independent. Just about everything I do now is via the Web.

• Gmail
• Google Docs
• Google Reader
• Myspace/Facebook/Twitter etc

I’m not stuck to Windows to do any of my daily tasks. Sure there are going to be products that I could not use on a Mac and vice versa there are products I could not use on Windows. I think this is where Apple is making up the most ground.

• Parallels – Virtualization to run Windows or Linux
• Boot Camp – Run Windows on a MAC, no virtualization
• VMware/VirtualBox – These work on all platforms and do the virtualization thing

They are focused on their customers’ needs and wants. You are going to pay a hefty price, but you will be satisfied. Apple gets it, maybe just Steve Jobs.

The other part of Apple’s success lies in the fact that their products are hot right now. I’ll be honest, I think the MacBooks look really nice in white and black. They are simplistic and are easy on the eye. I think Dell is trying to come out with different colored laptops, which looks nice, but it might be a little late in the game.

The “operating system scene” has really turned into a three horse race: Windows, MacOS, and Linux. It is a race that doesn’t really matter, because we are finding out that locking into one OS is bad for business. I love Ubuntu and I’m apart of the doubling of the Linux desktop in the past year. It doesn’t matter, the platform is moot when everything is on the Web.

This is what is driving Web 2.0.