Alfred's musings

At Google we're using Salesforce for cour CRM stuff. As channel manager responsible for lots of partners all over Europe, I frequently need to search for opportunities and check that they are appropriately assigned to partners, or find all the opportunities for a specific partner. Salesforce can do all this and more, and thus far I've been struggling with custom reports for each partner... which is a pain if you one day decide to change the format. Discovery number one: By creating a salesforce report, you can override the filter values by tweaking the URL. (see note 1) Discovery number two: I can quickly create a way to populate the URL parameters with Chrome's customer search provider feature. (see note 3) The end result is that I can now open a new tab, type "sfo" and hit space (this invokes my special search provider), and then type "police" and hit enter. The search provider translates this into something like https://www.salesforce.com/00

Vint Cerf  needs no introduction . Not every man is called the father of the internet for nothing! And here is Vint and I, when he came to talk to us at Google. He's an incredible man, and have incredible stories to tell! I feel really honoured and humbled after meeting him. The funny lighting was due to slide projector lighting that caught him from the side... but it was him, not a cardboard cut out!  He has interesting stories, but the best bits, where certainly these two stories: 1) He passionately talked about how his wife's hearing was made possible by technology (in the context of his prediction to see more computer/human interfaces and interaction... which reminded me of the encounter with Captain Cyborg ! It's a moving story , and really funny when he told the story of her calling up the library for audio books for someone certified being deaf :) 2) When we prodded enough in the Q&A, we saw a glimpse what really get him excited... Not IP v4 or v6 any more...

I've just been to our Google UK company photo shoot... Our streetview car drove past the offices, and we were pre-warned so that we could get in position and ready for action! Can't wait to see the final result!

I've been slightly subdued in my praise for my Xoom thus far, but I think that was completely unwarranted. I have now grown to be so fond of it, that I'd really complain if I had to loose it! Let me just give you a few snippets of scenarios where it was exceptionally good: I recently had to spend a lot of time supporting someone in hospital, and it served as a brilliant single device that allowed me to work, play, relax and even entertain the patient. The one thing that surprised me, was how well it worked as a "radio" in the hospital room, for a bit of news and background music. (Granted - the hospital had a brilliant guest wifi network, which made all the difference.) Travelling... I don't go anywhere without it. I frequently take a MacBook or Chromebook too, but the Xoom fits nicely in the same sleeve as the laptop, and it much better to use on a flight. I've caught my elderly parents reading up on a topic of interest on wikipedia on the Xoom... despi

I've just had to hand back my CR-48 that I grew very fond of. In exchange, I was handed a shiny white new number... the Samsung. First impression is good. Good looking, shiny, lightweight, fast. But the exceptional thing was that changing took less than 5 minutes. I shut down the CR-48, handed it over, started up the new machine... logged on, and *everything* was just there. Everything... all my email, all my settings and even my bookmarks and Chrome Extensions. Loving the 100% web thing!

I've just figured out how I could get more email on my Xoom. Let me explain... it's not that I'm not getting enough email... it's more that not enough email is cached offline for me to work on while on a flight. The key is to look for "labels" in the settings under the account you are syncing. There you'll find the ability to specify how long to keep sync for. Now, I'll have enough to keep me busy even on a flight to South Africa!

My primary acquiring a Xoom, was to allow me to travel and work more productively while traveling. I already mentioned the VC and second screen bonus , but yesterday was a good opportunity to put it through it's paces and test it on a "field" trip. Yesterday, I traveled from home to Heathrow (taxi) to Munchen (fly) to Salzburg (train), had a long (productive) meeting and came back the same route. All in all, I travelled about 12 hours + 3 hours of meeting, and during the travelling I was working on the Xoom most of the time. So, it was working hard! The key observations were: The Xoom's battery life pretty much matched the Nexus S. At 10am, power was down to 75% on both devices, 60% at noon, 40% at 3pm and dead about 6pm (12 hours into the day). I could replace the battery in the Nexus S with a spare, but that's not an option on the Xoom. The screen and display of the Xoom was beautiful and always usable in all light conditions. The folding case disa