Pajama Entrepreneur

Ever since I’ve been using Microsoft Office, first on a PC and since 2002 on a Mac, I’ve bought every single upgrade from Microsoft. Not this time. Microsoft is selling the upgrade for $239.95.

Here are the reasons why I won’t be upgrading:

• $239.95 is too much money to pay for - what? I use Word, Excel and Powerpoint but only its basic features. I do not use Entourage, the email client.
• I have been using Google Docs and Spreadsheet to share documents with people. Those programs are free and integrate well with Gmail, which I also use. Gmail is also free.
• Recently, I downloaded a trial copy of Apple’s iWork suite and have been using their new spreadsheet program called Numbers. I love it. I am thinking of buying iWork. I have already used Pages, their word processing program, and Keynote, which blows away Powerpoint. I like iWork very much and it’s only $79.
• There are many other free alternatives to Microsoft Office, for example, Zoho which offers free online spreadsheet, word processor, customer relationship management system, chat, database creator, etc.

The city of Paris has begun offering free Wi-Fi access in public parks and gardens, museums, libraries, and other public buildings. To find out which areas have Wi-Fi, go to wifi.paris.fr. Inspired by San Francisco, the mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, issued a public tender last year, seeking a provider to deploy the hotzones. SFR and Alcatel-Lucent won the bid. France Telecom, a sour grapes loser, is suing the city, saying it is unfairly competing with FT’s own paid hotspot access. France Telecom’s subsidiary, Orange, is reportedly Apple’s exclusive partner in France for the iPhone.

Ironically, San Francisco, the original model for this project, has no Wi-Fi. I guess depending too much on a private company to fund everything (in SF’s case, EarthLink) is a fantasy.

To read more about the Paris Wi-Fi project, click here. Another successful project recently launched by the city is Velib, free bicycles available at various points in the city, especially around metro stops. The city partnered with JC Decaux, the outdoor advertising company, to fund this project.

Paris Wi-Fi website: wifi.paris.fr

Blyk has finally launched in the UK, with service coming to other European countries in 2008. I’ve been waiting for Blyk to begin its service because the model is totally different from that of other operators:

• only 16-24 year olds can get the service
• they get 43 minutes and 217 text messages free every month
• they agree to receive up to 6 messages per day from advertisers of their choice

Read more on Muniwireless.

This is a much more acceptable way of advertising that Pudding Media.

(1) UK telecom company Noodle pays you when you use your phone (from the Times UK):

“Some customers are already making up to £100 a week, more than enough to cover a phone’s running costs, according to Noodle, the telecom firm providing the service. Noodle customers make 2p a minute if they make or receive a call during peak hours and 1p at other times. You can also make money by signing up a friend. You earn money each time you receive a call on your Noodle number, which is obtained by texting “Noodle” to 81025. Calls made by dialling the Noodle number first also earn money. There is no contract or monthly fee and you can keep your mobile number and any free bundled minutes you have with your existing provider.”

(2) Share an office, desks, Wi-Fi, coffee, everything: this is a trend I’m seeing in Amsterdam too, where you can rent a large desk in an office with other entrepreneurs for 300 EUR a month. It’s definitely for people who can’t work from home (because of kids, noise) or those who crave company. See this post on GigaOm about co-working spaces.

France: www.bureauxapartager.com

Boston-Cambridge, Massachusetts: www.betahouse.org

Skype has been down for 24 hours. There is an alternative to Skype. It’s called Gizmo Project. It allows the same free calls to other users of Gizmo (and other VOIP networks and devices that use SIP). You can also make very inexpensive calls to landline and mobile phones, and get a phone number in certain countries.

If you call often from a computer to a landline or mobile phone, the quality fo the call is much better than on Skype (at least for a Mac user). So I use Skype for calls to my other Skype contacts, but Gizmo for calls to regular phones.

The quality of calls between Gizmo users isn’t always good.

If there’s anything that ruins a good trip, it’s coming back and dreading the roaming charges on the next mobile phone bill. Since I live in a country the size of a postage stamp (the Netherlands), any trip I make will line the pockets of Orange Netherlands (now a T-Mobile subsidiary), for every phone call and every megabyte I download or upload.

Ever since I started traveling a lot to the US, I decided to get a T-Mobile prepaid there. T-Mobile has the best prepaid rates. When I arrive, I remove the Orange SIM card from my Nokia N80i (a Wi-Fi enabled mobile phone) and pop in the T-Mobile card. Voila! No more roaming charges when I call US numbers (or when my US contacts call me).

Use Skype or Gizmo Project to check email, make Wi-Fi calls

Everyday, I check my Orange voicemail via Skype or Gizmo Project either on my Mac Book Pro or on my Nokia N80i (using the phone’s Wi-Fi capability), again saving on voice minutes. If one of my European contacts left a voice mail, I call them back via Skype or Gizmo.

You can also use Truphone, which you download onto your mobile phone, to call your contacts via Wi-Fi.

It’s been a week since the launch of the iPhone. Walt Mossberg (Wall Street Journal) and David Pogue (New York Times) have posted their very positive reviews. A lot of people in San Francisco rushed out to buy it including my friends. At dinner the other night, I had a chance to play with the iPhone and I’m very impressed by the interface and the quality of the screen. If you own a Mac like I do, a lot of things such as widgets will be familiar. In fact, it feels like a Mac but on a portable device. Web pages are easy to read thanks to the beautiful crisp screen. Video is also extremely impressive. It also has Wi-Fi.

With all that going for it, I am disappointed with the choices Apple has made during this first launch:

- You need to sign a 2-year contract with AT&T. It would have been better if the iPhone were unlocked and you could pop in the SIM card of your choice. More people would have bought it, not just in the US but also in Europe and Asia.

- They crippled the Bluetooth functionality on the phone so you can’t send and receive files from other Bluetooth devices such as laptops. I don’t understand this decision, given that AT&T isn’t even subsidizing the phone. US carriers have a bad habit of castrating mobile devices.

- The first version of the iPhone does not support 3G, only the slower, more ancient EDGE network in the US.

- You cannot put applications on the iPhone. If you like Gizmo Project or Skype, there’s no way you can install it on the iPhone and use it to make calls via Wi-Fi. If Apple had opened it up for any applications, there would be a universe of applications developers making apps designed for mobility. Too bad.

No wonder hackers are already at work trying to open up the iPhone. And there are reports that they are making progress towards unlocking it. DVD Jon claims to have figured out a way to activate the iPhone without AT&T: The point of Johansen’s coding exercise, as he explains it, is that there are many potential iPhone purchasers who do not want to enter into a 2-year contract with AT&T, but do want to use the device for WiFi, web, email, video, music, calendar, contact management, and other features — basically, treat it like a bomb-ass iPod, forget about the phone part. (from BoingBoing)

This weekend, there’s even an iPhone Developer Camp at the Adobe offices in San Francisco! There’s such a demand to open this beautiful, revolutionary device. I don’t understand why Apple has launched it locked, crippled and castrated.

I would have run out and bought the iPhone but I refuse to do that until it becomes a computer in your pocket, as it is designed to be, with freedom of choice for the owner. I want to put MY apps on it, pick my own mobile carrier, and use it as I see fit (3G or Wi-Fi, depending on the circumstances and my budget).

Resources: www.iphonehacks.com