When In Portugal

There are three or four wireless carriers here in Portugal, all with fast, low cost wireless broadband including Vodafone, Optimus and Portugal Telecom's TMN. Each have comparable pricing but after some four trips here in the past two years or so I've come to the conclusion that: TMN is best for smartphone voice and data, while … Read more

Facebook Your Not Mobile Friendly

Dear Facebook, I know security is important but…. When I go from 3G in France to Wi-Fi at the airport on my mobile device and you ask me to log on from my computer to verify who I am, that’s not being mobile friendly. With Wi-Fi offload and multiple services now relying on Facebook as … Read more

Riberach Wine Shop, Restaurant and Hotel

I spent the afternoon meeting up with Guillhem Soulignac, one of the partners in the Riberach Cave, Hotel and Restaurant project in the town of Belesta high in the Roussillion Valley. It's an ambitious project, taking an old cooperative, turning it into a hotel, a working winery and a very neat cave (wine shop) that … Read more

Skype Competitor Adds Social Features in Asia

Over in Asia Skype has lots of competion, and Engadget is reporting that Line, a service that started in Japan and how is growing nicely, already with 45 million users, is adding some very useful, and social components to their service. When I look back at Skype and their developer relations and API efforts all … Read more

Gartner Study Says More Employees to BYOD

eWeek and others are reporting on the results of the recent Gartner study regarding BYOD (bring your own device). BYOD, not to be confused with BYOB (bring your own bottle-something I'm known to do with wine) is a growing trend that further underscores why Symantec purchased former Comunicano client Nukona. The stats in the Gartner … Read more

Vonage Wants Numbers

Vonage wants to have direct access to numbers directly from the pool that makes up the North American Numbering Plan Administration, something that they currently don't have reports Fierce Enterprise Communications yesterday. It's a hotly contested subject, and one that carries with it certain rights and repsonsibilities, but also one that will help separate the … Read more

2011 Domaine Vaquer Esquisse Blanc

I have a special love of this winery, as it has been a hidden gem for years. But now that the good folks at Kermit Lynch are bringing in one of their wines, well perhaps it will achieve the notoriety it deserves. FWIW I have tasted the 2001 red vaquer that KLWM has in stock … Read more

Gartner IT Report Tells IT Managers To Get Their Heads In The Clouds

Consumerization of IT (Photo credit: Ross Mayfield) They BYOD (bring your own device) movement is weakening the IT departments ability to manage and if I go Post Hoc Ergo Proctor Hoc (if this, therefore, thenfore that) consumerization of the enterprise (COtE) would be the death star for IT Managers according to Gartner which makes their … Read more