MS Exchange Mail on iPhone - the workaround that works

I heard a lot of raves about how iPhone doesn't support corporate emails running on Microsoft Exchange. The main problems here is that Microsoft doesn't open an API to their ActiveSync and Exchange Server (Why would they? Microsoft Windows Mobile is actually big in the corporate email user market). By default, you have a few options down here.

• Use iPhone's Exchange mail protocol (however some mentions it works with only some companies)
• Set the rule to forward or divert mail from Exchange account to other IMAP or POP3 account (A lot of companies, including mine, that are cautious about corporate security and confidentiality disable this rule, even if it's client-based. Also, addresses in To: and Cc: fields may get lost with these rules.)
• Access the email through OWA, Outlook Web Access (It's difficult enough to use OWA on Internet Explorer of Windows Mobile devices. I can't imaging using it on iPhone's Safari).

Another workaround you may want to try is having an always-on Windows box that locally copies all the incoming mails to another iPhone-compatible mail account. Here are the benefits:

• The rule is totally client-based and designed for copying mails from one folder to another. Thus, your company is not likely to block it.
• All the mails will live inside iPhone's proprietary, user-friendly Mail application.
  
• All the addresses on To: and Cc: lists are preserved so you can reply to all without re-populating the addresses from phonebook.
  

Here are what you need:

• A cheap Windows box that you can always leave it on at home, with Microsoft Office and Outlook installed and set up to your corporate account
  
• An alternative email account, preferably IMAP since it gives better integration to iPhone Mail than POP3. Gmail is one of the better options here.

Here are the quick steps that you can fine tune in Outlook rules. Note that I've tried this on Outlook 2003--will give you an update once I've got Office 2007 machine next month.
1. Set up an IMAP account inside Microsoft Outlook client in the same domain as the Exchange corporate account.
2. Add a rule in Outlook client by starting with a blank rule.
3. Set the rule to Check messages when they arrive

4. Filter some emails to be moved as desired (don't tick any box if you want the rule applied to all incoming mesages)


5. Select Move a copy to the specified folder. Then, click the link specified in the text area at the bottom. Choose the folder that belongs to your IMAP account.


6. Set up your iPhone Mail application to retrieve emails from this IMAP account. Use your corporate email address as the From: address on iPhone Mail app.

With this, all incoming emails to your Exchange account will be moved to IMAP account that will appear on the iPhone. You can receive and reply the Exchange emails on iPhone now.

Some caveats of this workaround include the need of leaving the machine on (if your dog hits the power switch when you're not home, your forwarding system is gone) and the Sent items have to be maintained on two accounts (although you may have some creative rule to move the messages on Sent items of IMAP account back to Exchange account).

I don't use iPhone myself but have tried the moving to my Gmail account; it works beautifully. Just give it a try and let me know :)

Key to the Next-Gen Kindle

I wrote a while ago about Amazon Kindle and its technology. Although the current e-ink technology is very energy-efficient, visible in bright sunlight, and sufficient for black & white materials, it still lacks the huge ability to display colors. I found this potential next step that can fulfill the need through MIT Technology Review magazine.

E Ink--the company that invented the current e-ink technology used in Amazon's Kindle and Sony Reader--is working on the next generation of e-paper. The firm claims that it can now "add red, green, and blue filters to the capsules, producing a prototype color display". It also claims that the prototype screen can refresh at the rate of 30 frames per second.

Amazon.com is one of my favorite companies. I can't wait to own a gadget that is big enough to read on (not readable on cellphone) and is small and fast enough to take out to read at breakfast or an airport gate (not laptop, of course). With monthly and paid contents from Amazon (hope the pricing model will change by then), it's excited to think that I can read Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, MIT Tech Review, blogs, and books on the device, in colors.

... And I'm not even talking about Harry Potter-like moving images, and possibly video, that it can show. Imagine how cool that's going to be?

Kindle - Good Idea, Bad Implementation

Amazon just introduced a device that lets you read electronic books, blogs, magazines, and newspaper in paper-like manner. Although it's a visionary idea, people says it's doomed to fail because:
1) The device is expensive. $400, without touchscreen, or backlight.
2) The users will have to pay for blog access. The books, newspapers, and blogs can be downloaded over-the-air via cellphone network without any monthly charge. However, only a limited number of blogs is available and the monthly fee to access blog, though minimal, is not zero.
3) Funky Keyboard and colorless screen. Imaging reading Stephen Colbert's I'm America without color. Also, the keyboard makes the screen unnecessarily smaller and ugly.

Here's how I think it should work:
1) The device should be much much cheaper, say $100 to create externalities. Amazon is going to harness the profits from the magazine/newspaper subscription and high-margin electronic books anyway (currently charged at reasonable $10).
2) It should come with color touchscreen and without a keyboard.
3) Flat-fee monthly subscription can be charged minimally to cover cell network costs incurring to Amazon. With this, it should allow free access to any blog.

This is going to be like other e-book readers that came out and flopped. They can come up with future slicker device but that's not going to take off until they're reducing the price and willing to take some loss on device cost. $10 is the price point that people are happy to pay.

Don't be afraid of pirated ebook distributed on BitTorrent or something. Think about how Apple is making tons of money out of their DRM iTunes songs...

Best of Both Worlds - My Mac Experience

From my step-by-step Twitter update, you guys must already know that I just got an entry-level macbook yesterday. Here's my experience after roughly 24 hours of having it.

• Speed and user experience are unbelievable - It takes about a minute to boot up from total shut down, hard drive is almost silent, and it never requires the Ctrl-Alt-Del to kill the applications that hog CPU/RAM usage.
• Out-of-the-box applications are amazing - Apple Mail is even superior to Thunderbird. iTunes works flawlessly and real fast compared to the Windows version. Firefox (well... not really out-of-the-box but I think it deserves to be listed) has almost identical UI and shortcuts as the Windows version, but renders the page much prettier (esp. images) and faster. Spotlight is just blasting fast!
  
• Windows is fully supported - Parallels Desktop makes it happen that they deserve every single award they received. My company's Outlook runs beautifully on the virtual machine, and speed is incredible. With Office and Trillian installed, I can now do most of my work at home on this Mac.

The only little things are the screen, which is a little too small to do some document work, and Firefox, which seems to act a little slow when Parallels is on. Hmm... I guess it's already time to go Pro.

It's on Its Way...

Life's too short to be frustrated by something you work, play, and live on... everyday.




Ordered it through MacMall.com. Will update with the overall shopping experience from this machine :) To make sure that those of you who'd like to buy it on Amazon don't pick the older releases, I've linked the latest update of the 2.0GHz model ($1,099) to the image above.

Other models are: 2.2G White ($1,299) | 2.2G Black ($1,499)

Go Tartan!

Finally we took the first place from DAPRA Challenge back from Stanford who admittedly performed better last year. Anyway, the VW Touareg is much cooler than the Tahoe, but what can I say, GM is a huge funder for researches at Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute.

So, next time you're in Pittsburgh, esp. on Forbes Ave, be careful of a GM vehicle with a bunch of gadgetry stuff on top. It may be unmanned.

Something you can't stand, but can't live without...

... the Palm Treo 750

JoT on Steve's Apology

This is not the apology for iPhone users so I'm good here :)

Expectant New Baby

As mentioned earlier, I've been working on finding the replacement for my Krups XP4000 espresso machine. After going through research from different sites including CoffeeGeek.com, I found this Gaggia Carezza standing out. 21 and 85 reviewed this products on CoffeeGeek and Amazon respectively and the average rating is roughly 8 out of 10, not bad for an espresso machine in $200 range.

Darnit Palm. What Happened to You?

• You used to be my favorite gadget maker before iPod came to existence.
• You made sleek, slim, and nice handheld PDA which I loved so much and used over the course of two years.
• You were always there for Mac users when they want a PDA that doesn't crap out on the Mac.
• Your Palm OS was probably the best PDA operating system even now compared to that run on the iPhone.
• Your Treo has been a close competitor of Blackberry even though you don't have backend solution like them.
• You made my current mobile device, although I hate Windows OS to the bone and it's kinda thick, I still like look and feel of your hardware, compared to those thick and old HTC models.

Now...

• You announced the partnership with Microsoft to have Windows Mobile, which your OS is far more superior, on your devices.
  
• You came up with "stuck-in-the-middle"-sized mobile concept Foleo, and then killed it even before it was born.
• Your PDA-only devices have features that are far more superior the iPod Touch for a long time but they no longer sell.
  
• Lastly, You came up with Palm 500v, which run Windows Mobile and does not have touchscreen. This is just your own version of Motorola Q which looks like an ugly T-mobile Dash. Only reasons people bought the Treo over Windows Mobile devices or Blackberries are your OS and the touchscreen.
  

Frankly, what are you thinking?

Gadgets I Currently Want

1) After my beloved Krups XP4000 manual espresso machine prematurely died, I was looking for a new machine that is capable of grinding and effectively frothing milk. This Delonghi's Super-automatic ESAM3300 really stands out. It's equipped with removable boiler, nice grinder, milk frother (although not automatic), decalcifing indicator, and programmable brewer. The price is a little steep-$800 shipped excluding tax. Better be prepared to pitch it to K. Kratai to split the cost (hey... I'm home just only 3 mornings a week!)

2) Have I told you that my new cellphone- Palm treo 750 is a piece of crap? Yes, it still is. (Although Palm has designed the phone itself pretty nicely, I can still go on and on how bad Windows Mobile 5, combined with stupid GoodLink, is but... maybe later). Apart from horrible battery life, the alarm feature sucks! Don't people at Redmond know that there's a feature called "Snooze" in most modern alarm clock at the moment. And, how about that stupid little beep that can't even wake up a cat?! Anyway, I've been fastinated with the "Smart Alarm Clock"-- the alarm clock that studies your sleeping pattern throughout the night, and wake you up when you're during the light sleep cycle within the preset period. As the technology is still at the bottom of the S-curve, the prices are still high. I found one (capable of waking two people up individually) from aXbo at about 200 Euros (yikes... it's just an alarm clock!) and one from US Sleeptracker at about $150. The idea and products are quite neat but I'd probably wait till the price goes down to "normal" level.