billso.com

I have a few readers who follow billso.com on their iPhones. I know this because i check my server logs on a regular basis. So I have two goodies for my readers who use iPhones.

UPDATE: The first link in the next paragraph won’t resolve properly if viewed on an iPhone. iPhone users can type the following link into their browser:

http://snurl.com/2477v

This link generates an iPhone application that displays the most recent posts to billso.com. Thanks to the fine folks at iPhoneAtlas for the tip!

iPhone users can follow this link to build an iPhone application for any RSS feed. This may also work with the iPod Touch.

The second goodie is a feature I added on 29 January 2008. Use Safari to view billso.com, bookmark the site, then add the new bookmark to the iPhone home screen as a webclip. The billso.com logo appears as the webclip icon!

This page from PixelBox has a quick tutorial for those who want to add this feature to their own web sites, and this article by Cameron Hunt has an extra hack that adds a webclip bookmarklet to iPhones.

All of my iPhone related posts can be viewed through this tag link.

As a reminder, I don’t own an iPod or an iPhone… yet. I’m waiting for the 2nd generation iPhone, which will have 3G features. Both BusinessWeek and the New York Times have run articles this week indicating that a new model is coming this summer. Apple has limited inventories of current iPhones in the US.

Good thing, since Samsung and Nokia are releasing their own high-end smartphones, according to this New York Times article. Consumers are driving these changes, after years of taking whatever phones carriers would get from the handset manufacturers. Now the manufacturers are scurrying to design and deliver mobile phones that rival minicomputers, while the telecom carriers rush to open their networks.

I need to do some maintenance work on billso.com, so I will be taking down the web site for several hours this weekend. I’ll post an event to this article once I decide a specific schedule.

It took about 5 minutes of downtime around noon. All done now!

On 31 March 2008, I mentioned that I’d joined Dan Leuck’s social networking site TechHui. Dan sent me his invitation through LinkedIn, a global professional network that I’ve mentioned in several articles in billso.com:

• 14 March 2008: Social media in action
• 10 August 2007: Forty-somethings flock to Facebook
• 2 July 2007: CXOs face malware email attacks
• 20 June 2007: Facebook vs MySpace

My LinkedIn network has grown quite a bit in the last few months as more users join that service, and I enjoy meeting new people through the site. LinkedIn focuses on working professionals, as well as sole proprietors and entrepreneurs. The user interface is cleaner than Facebook or MySpace, as LinkedIn does not support applications or media players yet.

My LinkedIn profile is available through the button on the right side of my website at billso.com.

I have also set up an HPU MSIS Alumni group in LinkedIn. Graduates of HPU”s Master of Science in Information Systems program who are also LinkedIn users can use this link to join the group. Group members can display an HPU MSIS alumni badge in their LinkedIn profile. Many universities have established similar groups on LinkedIn to promote alumni events and enhance their branding.