Inside the world of Rob Mclean, Author

Maybe I'm just the odd duck out, but Windows 8 looks like a horrible OS. Looks like it is nothing more than a facelift on Windows 7. Actually, what came to mind is that it looks like an operating system designed for people under 10 or over 60. I wish MSFT would focus more on making the PC inter-connected with the mobile device and the television instead of focusing on dumbing down the user experience in to 'boxes'.

I'm not big on apps as I find they are generally over hyped. That said, for those of you who do not have cable TV and use your computer to view digital content, Gmote is a good little app for your Android. One of the things about using your TV as a second monitor and playing PC content on it, is that you don't have a 'remote control', but with Gmote you now do. What Gmote does is control your PC through your Android phone. It's like having a remote mouse. For me my main set up is I have a PC with a video card that connects to my PC monitor and to my television (via HDMI). So I'll often have video (from my PC or web) playing on the television, while I'm working on my PC. That said, when I'm just relaxing and watching a video from the couch, I have no control over said video (it's only when I'm at my PC can I use my mouse to manage it). I can mute the tv using the tv converter, but I can't pause the video, or fast forward, or switch ...

So my Google Nexus just got updated to Jelly Bean a few days ago and at first it seemed like there were no problems. Nothing new and great, but no issues either. However, there's a massive problem now, the battery drain is twice what it was on Ice Cream Sandwich. I'm lucky to get a full day out of the phone. What's worse is my mother has the same phone (who is not a techie and goes nuts when tech doesn't work because she doesn't understand it) and it's being drained at four times the rate of Ice Cream Sandwich. Which means she has to go in to the Wind store and get them to fix it if they can.  I'm going to fiddle around with a hard reboot and see if that helps any, but man, what a pain in the butt. Cutting my battery life in half with a new OS is beyond annoying and for the first time, I'm genuinely pissed at Google. But that's nothing compared to what my mother feels. Her exact words "WHAT?! I have to go to the store?" . And when I...

So my thesis on RIM continues to play out, although slower than I thought it would. When I bought the stock at $7.54, rumours of an Amazon acquisition popped up and the stock jumped 12 per cent. That quickly fizzled and the stock gave back those gains, and sunk another seven per cent or so (this was on an unexpected bad news item that popped up, which was that RIM had lost a patent suit for $140M and change). Since then the stock has found its way back to where I bought it, currently trading at $7.41. So should I sell? Not just yet as my thesis that RIM will enjoy a PR speculation period still holds and we are beginning to see that unfold. The recent news cycle is starting to turn speculative. Fairfax boosts stake in RIM RIM channels Apple in BlackBerry comeback bid RIM developing Blackberry 10 photo filtering suite to rival Instagram BlackBerry 10 Slider? BlackBerry 10 Alpha update brings Siri rival: video RIM promises BlackBerry 10 sneak-previews to loyal customers R...

So my phone just updated to Jelly Bean, Android's new OS. The good news... they didn't break anything. The bad news... what's new? Seriously, there's nothing really new over Ice Cream Sandwich. There are two things though that I'll talk quickly about. The first is the voice recognition system. I'll say this, it's definitely better (although still a bit buggy). When dictating an email, the system now is much more accurate and it types out the words as you are speaking them. So you can see if it's got something wrong and you need to stop and correct it. The bad stuff though is that it doesn't always dictate in real time. Sometimes it doesn't show you the words as you speak them and you have to wait for them all to appear at once. In addition, and this is a big negative, you can't give it a simple command like 'new paragraph'. I mean, how hard would it have been to add a voice command like that so you don't have to reve...

So the Obama campaign (well super PAC) ran an ad against Romney a while back that featured 'Donnie' This is a great example in PR of how you have to vet your "customer" endorsements. Why? Well, turns out Donnie Box thinks Obama is just as bad as Romney. In an interview Donnie states: “I could really care less about Obama," says Box. "I think Obama is a jerk, a pantywaist, a lightweight, a blowhard. He hasn't done a goddamn thing that he said he would do. When he had a Democratic Senate and Democratic Congress, he didn't do a damn thing. He doesn't have the guts to say what’s on his mind.” Oh I got a good laugh out of this. It's not a testimonial if someone merely bashes your competitor, you should also make sure that they LIKE you, otherwise in follow up interviews this is the kind of thing that happens.  And before you think this doesn't apply to you, think again. This actually happened to me (although it never ended up in...

In my last 'top 10' post I said it would be my last entry, but I've decided to break my word and do one since things have been so active out there lately. For those that want to read previous 'Top 10 Reasons This Recession Will Never End" entries can view them here: Top 10 Reasons This Recession Will Never End Update 1 Update 2 Update 3 Update 4 Update 5 Update 6 So on with the show... 1.  Crashes hurt for a long time   - unchanged -  Not much has changed on this front. No recovery in sight for as far as the eye can see. The Fed is almost out of bullets and really has no ways left to stimulate the economy. Because society currently runs on a debt-model where it's not about what you can afford but rather what you can finance, we haven't even seen the full effects of the crash. We won't see those until we can no longer finance the debt and the bills must be paid. We've caught a glimpse of what that will look like with the town of ...

The Obama campaign has released a pretty aggressive attack on Romney.  The ad clearly attempts to frame Romney as everything that is wrong with America - a vulture capital guy who ships US jobs overseas to make a buck and then hides his money in off-shore accounts so he doesn't have to pay taxes. The ad will be effective in rallying Obama's base, which he needs to do, but will most likely fall flat with independents (who ultimately choose the president, pushing either the left or the right over the top). There are bigger issues with this kind of negative campaigning though: 1) Romney didn't break any laws.   Say what you will, Romney didn't break any laws. So if you don't like what Romney did, then change the system right? 2) Nothing has changed. One big problem for Obama is that everything he is attacking Romney for are all things that people are still doing under the Obama presidency. If all these things are so bad (and I think they are) then why hasn...

So I had a chance to listen to RIM's AGM meeting today and I've got to say, all in all, it was a let down. Overall investors were mostly upset with the board and applauded when one investor suggested the board who has overseen RIM's fall should be tossed to the curb. I say this was a let down though for a different reason. One of the questions, and unfortunately I can't remember how it was worded precisely, was an inquiry in to BB10's feature set. Basically, what's coming in BB10. Heins responded that, once again I can't remember the exact words (btw, that's always a sign of weak messaging, when people can't remember your response a few hours later),  RIM must remain tight lipped about these things for competitive reasons. With all due respect to RIM.... bullshit. I'll tell you why it was a lame response. The notion that competitors don't know what RIM has cooking in BB10 is ridiculous. The reason is very simple and straight forwa...

Well looks like the city of Scranton is now bankrupt and the mayor has reduced all city worker pay to minimum wage. Pick your jaw up off the floor and read that again. The police, fire fighters and all other city employees are now making a whopping $7.25 a hour. For those who think Greece-like austerity can't happen in the West, take another look because it just did. Full story here .

Bloomberg ran a story today saying that RIM customers are actively engaging contingency plans to switch to other vendors should RIM cease to exist. You can read the article here . The story today sent RIM shares crashing back down five per cent.  I love Bloomberg as a media outlet and they do great reporting (much better than CNBC for instance). But I've got to say, this was a bit of a hit piece.  It's easy to find 5, 10 or probably 200 customers (RIM has thousands after all) who are worried and considering using more Android / iPhone devices as a result.  You could also, if you wanted, probably find 5, 10 or 200 customers who have tried using Android / iPhone in the work environment and had to toss the phones out and go back to RIM.  Similarly, Bloomberg could have easily just called the top Fortune 100 companies and asked 'What phone does your CEO use?". I'd be willing to bet at least 50 per cent of those CEO's are on a Blackberry (and the other 50 ...

So for those of you who follow global economics you are probably aware of the recent Libor scandal . Put simply, Libor (London interbank offered rate) is the rate at which banks lend each other money. It's relevance is that all other loans in society... students loans, housing loans, car loans, derivatives, etc. - are all predicated on the Libor rate. So Barclay's was recently caught manipulating the Libor rate. You can see a portion of their CEO's testimony below: It's too complicated to bother going in to in detail, but basically when you manipulate interest rates you manipulate what people invest in. The obvious issue here is that if you are invested in X, and X goes UP when Libor rates go DOWN, and Barclays manipulates Libor down on a given day, then anyone who was invested in X makes out like a bandit. Now, this is just another example in a string of banking misconduct - from JP Morgan's whale trade to MF Global stealing customer funds. What takes th...

So I've been midly harsh on Heins (RIM's CEO) in his public statements since the company's stock crashed last week. I praised his engagement, but knocked his messaging strategy. I felt he threw a lot of fluff out there which was not credible given how many times RIM has let down its investors and customers. Having said that, major PR kudos to Heins for doing something that many CEO's would not do. He agreed to answer 10 questions from Globe & Mail readers. That's the kind of thing that you only do if you are ready to be fully engaged and fully honest. After all, if the G&M sent him the questions and he didn't respond, it would be a PR disaster. Yet Heins did respond and I've got to say, he did a really good job in his responses. You can read the 10 questions and Heins' answers here . What stood out to me the most in his responses was when he says... "We have considered a range of options that included adopting someone else’s op...

RIM's stock is now up almost 10 per cent off where I bought it (7.54 on the tsx) and we are starting to see the media continue to turn the corner when it comes to coverage. As predicted, with the doom and gloom story out of the way, the media (still slowly mind you) is playing the 'what next?' narrative out. RIM is doing what it must Farhad Manjoo: RIM focusing on hardware may be BlackBerry’s only hope Only Research In Motion can save Research In Motion BlackBerry 10 Is 'Fantastic,' RIM to Emerge 'Stronger,' Says Executive BlackBerry 10 possibly coming earlier than expected While the negative articles still easily out weigh the 'what next' articles probably 10 to 1, the what next trend continues to emerge. What I find quite funny is how three months ago most analysts had RIM as a buy or hold. Now almost all have it as a sell. So if you were listening to the analysts, you bought in high, lost your shirt, then sold and missed the rally. ...

I'll never understand how big companies fail to understand the PR implications of various actions that are obviously going to piss customers off. Cisco sure had its blinders on when it basically made users of its home routers agree to not view pornography on the internet.  You can read the full story here . Essentially because the router(s) connects to Cisco's cloud service, they feel they have the right to set restrictions on Internet activity you can engage in using a Cisco router. As per Cisco's user agreement: You agree not to use or permit the use of the Service: (i) to invade another's privacy; (ii) for obscene, pornographic, or offensive purposes; (iii) to infringe another's rights, including but not limited to any intellectual property rights; (iv) to upload, email or otherwise transmit or make available any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, spam, junk mail or any other form of solicitation; (v) to transmit or other...