Share Microsoft Outlook Calendars without Exchange

Posted on February 15, 2010 | 2 Comments

Outlook and Google for Sharing CalendarsAbout 5 years ago, I finally gave in and switched to Microsoft Outlook as my main email, calendaring, and contact management system.  It was a good decision that has served me well in running my consulting firm and various startups, but I have never wanted the cost of a dedicated exchange server; thus, we haven’t had calendar sharing and the other collaboration features.

Yesterday, after another search to find free or low-cost options for sharing Outlook calendars, I discovered that with the help of Google, we can achieve our basic goal of viewing the calendars of other team members and even make changes that get automatically synced back to our personal Outlook calendars.

The process is reasonably straight-forward and, in the end, you have access to colleagues’ schedules via Google calendars. This certainly is not ideal but it is free, it is easy, and can work for lots of small businesses or anyone else (such as spouses) that want to enable calendar sharing.

To set this up, you need to:

  1. Install Google Sync for Outlook
  2. Setup Google Calendar if you don’t already have it
  3. Configure sharing permissions on your Google Calendar

We use Google Apps for our mail so it was easy configuring the calendars. The only hiccup was that if you want to share with people outside your domain or company, you need to change global sharing settings in the Google Apps admin section and it takes 30-60 minutes for that to have any effect.

There are lots of other options in the marketplace but we didn’t want to run any local server software and we were looking for a free solution that actually worked reasonably well.  In the end, we felt that this was a great approach, offered online access to our calendars whenever we needed them, and provided us with the ability to view and even change shared calendars within our group.  It may not work for everyone, but we’re hoping this will work for us.

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Collaboration, Technology

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Netflix on PS3 Review

Posted on January 4, 2010 | 2 Comments

My family and I have been using the Netflix streaming service on PlayStation 3 for nearly two months now.  This Instant Watch service came at a great time as I had surgery Netflix on PS3 reviewwhich required me to spend many hours on the sofa.  Unfortunately, my rating for the service is only 5 out of 10 stars because of two major problems. The good news is that fixing both would increase my rating to 8.5 or even 9 stars.

The first significant issue is the severe limitation of movies available through the streaming service.  Netflix does not own the rights to stream most movies so the selection (though large) is very limited.  Generally, if it is a new movie out on DVD and it was in the movie theatres, you won’t be able to watch it instantly on Netflix.  There are a few exceptions but the streaming service is best for TV series that you missed and for an opportunity to watch non-standard fare whenever you want.

For us, the real problem with this service is the actual streaming of the movie.  When it works, it works reasonably well (i.e. the picture quality is reasonably good).  However, the service regularly freezes and requires us to return to the PlayStation main screen and restart everything. 

So, we are in the habit of stopping streamed movies every 5 minutes to make sure we don’t lose our spot when the movie freezes. (The fast-forward and rewind are cumbersome to use in this streaming service.) Our Internet and WiFi are pretty good so unless it is a specific issue with the WiFi on this PS3 or some odd problem with our connection, this issue could be a major problem for most users. Even if it is something unique to our setup, the fact that the software basically requires a reboot to resolve the issue is ridiculous.

I’ve read lots of complaints regarding the fact you have to insert and use the disk to watch the movies.  Honestly, the outrage is overblown.  Sure, I’d rather have the streaming capability as part of the PS3 system software but of all the issues, this is by far the most minor one.

If you have the PS3 and Netflix, I’d love to hear what your experience has been. Are the hiccups worth the convenience of instant access? Or have the hurdles of the streaming service sent you straight back to the snail mail movie queue?

Additional links and reviews by others:

Home Entertainment Magazine
High Def Digest
CNET News

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Gadgets, Technology

Tagged , , , , ,

Classmates.com automatic renewal scam

Posted on October 29, 2009 | 5 Comments

classmates is a scamSummary: Stay away from Classmates.com and do not fall for any of their tricks to get you to sign-up as a gold member.

Last year I upgraded my Classmates.com subscription from the free one to the paid one simply to see what the difference was for paid members.  As we were building the VendorCity service and business model, it was useful to see freemium models from other services.

It was immediately apparent that the subscription was a waste of money.  No one was actively using it and the additional features were useless.

Today, without any warning or notice from Classmates.com, I received a $39 bill on my credit card.  Apparently, when you sign-up, there is so small TOS that states they will enable automatic annual billing.  However, did they mention they would do it without any warning or option out?  Of course not, because they are already going out of business and are using nearly illegal tactics to try to keep cash flowing.

I called Classmates.com and they refused to refund the money so I am contacting my credit card company to dispute the charge.  I’ll follow-up when I get a resolution one way or another. 

So, my suggestion to you is simply stay away from Classmates.com. They are dying and dying companies do desperatethings.

→ 5 Comments

Posted in Scams

Tagged , , , ,

How to Use Topify Securely

Posted on May 2, 2009 | 6 Comments

topify-logoTopify is a great new service to make your Twitter life easier and more efficient.  However, it requires you to change your Twitter email to a custom Topify address which, for many people, is a bit too risky. Here are two approaches you can take to use Topify without giving up complete control of your Twitter email address.

How to Safely Use Topify with Gmail Forwarding

The standard method of using Topify requires you to change your Twitter email address to your new custom Topify address.  However, that could put you in a bind if Topify goes down or is unavailable for any reason.  The solution is to keep your Twitter email address as something you control but configure it so that it saves and forwards all Twitter mail to Topify.

There are two basic ways of doing this:

Continue reading →

→ 6 Comments

Posted in networking, twitter

Tagged , ,

Topify Makes Twitter Following Easier

Posted on May 1, 2009 | 8 Comments

topify-logoTopify is a great Twitter tool to help manage your follower requests. It saves you a lot of time and removes a lot of the headaches associated with new Twitter followers.  The three main features are:

  1. Improved twitter email notifications
  2. Follow back users with a simple email reply
  3. Reply to direct messages via email

I’ve been using the service for only a short time, but it has dramatically improved my overall Twitter experience and saves me a ton of time.   The two main Topify isssues are:

  1. It requires your Twitter username and password to do its magic
  2. You need to set your Twitter email to a new custom Topify address

There’s not much to be done for that first issue, but there are some options to make the second one more “secure”.  Despite these issues, Topify is well worth the effort.

Topify Feature: Improved Twitter Email Notifications

The new follower Topify email gives you all the details you need to quickly determine whether or not you will want to follow back.  This makes ignoring SPAM users and others very simple since you have all you the necessary data right in the email.  Let’s visually compare the default Twitter email with the new Topify email:

From Twitter:

twitter-default1

From Topify:

Continue reading →

→ 8 Comments

Posted in networking, twitter

Tagged , ,

Time to Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome

Posted on April 23, 2009 | 2 Comments

 improvise2

Most people in the entrepreneurial world feel that startups succeed or fail based upon the quality of the team running the show and their ability to handle the challenges that come their way.  It’s not the idea, or the industry, or the marketing plan — it’s THE TEAM.

I subscribe to this philosophy and firmly believe that, for the vast majority of startups, it really does come down to execution.  My definition of execution relies upon the unofficial Marine motto: time to improvise, adapt, and overcome. 

All startups must adapt or fail

The reality is that very few startups ever do exactly what they set out to do.  You must be prepared to improvise, adapt, and overcome your obstacles or you won’t find acceptance in the marketplace.

So, to all the current and future entrepreneurs out there, remember this: you are only as good as your ability to handle the unknown. 

Improvise and do whatever it takes to get things done, adapt to the changing landscape and marketplace, and you will be in a position to overcome your fears and your competitors.

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Entrepreneur

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Fellow Entrepreneurs – Don’t Miss the Forest for the Trees

Posted on April 21, 2009 | 2 Comments

stepbackI was reminded last week how critical it is to step back and reassess difficult or challenging situations when a simple technology problem at home took far too long to resolve.  This is true for your personal relationships, family life, and, most certainly, any efforts to build and run a startup. 

What drove home this reminder was the fact that after switching to Comcast phone service at home, I could not get the new voicemail system to work right.  No matter what we did, it picked up after 2 rings, had a default message despite recording many new ones, and our test voice messages weren’t there.  Comcast worked on it, I worked on it, and ultimately, to make a long story short, they asked me to confirm whether or not our home answering machine was picking up before the Comcast voicemail.  The answer was no, it was not…but in truth, it was. 

Our home answering machine was turned off and clearly not picking up.  However, what both the installer and I had not noticed was that when he added the new phone service, he had connected a second phone in the basement that apparently had a digital answering machine and it was the culprit. 

Why share this story? Besides showing how even technology people can be flummoxed by relatively simple gadgets, it highlights how critical it is to step back and look at things from a thirty-thousand foot view.  I was so certain that the problem was on their end, I never bothered to reassess the situation and see if it could have been anything else. 

When someone is absolutely certain about something in their business (their model, their marketing, their product), that “certainty” becomes a blind spot that will most often lead to failure.  I’ve learned a lot over the past 15 years building and running companies and I would have to say that this is one of the most important things I and other entrepreneurs need to remember. 

It is okay to be passionate and steadfast in your beliefs, but you must remember to constantly step back and view the big picture; otherwise, all too often, you are likely to miss the forest for the trees.

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Entrepreneur

Tagged , ,