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I read today that the long-awaited Opera 10 Alpha is arriving soon. According to what you can read from the Opera blog, we should get more interesting news by next week.

I hope Opera fans can put their hands on Opera 10 starting from next week already. I’m loving Opera more and more, it’s the only browser for Mac which is really fast and lightweight, with a very small footprint and highly customizable.

I think it’s important for the Opera team  to release something very soon since I bet Google is very close to release their Chrome for Mac before the end of this year.

We know that you have been waiting to get your hands on Opera 10 (Peregrine), and I am happy to announce that we are planning to release the first alpha of Opera 10 in the near future. The new version is the result of hard work that has been going on since even before 9.5 was released, and we are finally ready to let it spread its wings and fly out into the real world.

What do you think? Are we going to see Opera 10 and Google Chrome for Mac by the end of this year? 

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Technorati Tags: Chrome, Google, luca filigheddu, opera, opera presto, peregrine, Web browser

As soon as I tried Keyboardr today, I was impressed. It’s a crazy fast and minimalist mashup of Google Search, which lets you search over multiple sources and navigate the results by using your arrow keys only.

Results come out as soon as you type and you can get them from Google Search, Google Blogs, Youtube, Wikipedia and Google images.

Then, you can just use your arrow keys to jump from a result to another and hit enter to open it.

Here is what you get if you search for, let’s say, Twitter:

Again, the service is very fast and it’s very useful to get a single view with different sources. Test it out and leave your comments. Check out the author’s home page for further details.

It would be great if it were possible to add it as a search box add-on for the main browsers, really helpful!

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Technorati Tags: Google, Google Search, keyboardr, luca filigheddu, Search, Search Engines, Wikipedia, YouTube

Despite the ability to install almost any kind of application (yes, any!), something which makes the iPhone a powerful portable computer, it’s pretty clear that Apple’s most famous gadget is mainly a communication device, both for telephony and internet.

The main goal is to provide users with a good substitute to their laptop while on the go and I can say the iPhone does this job very well. In this perspective, there are some applications that are not mainstream yet but can offer iPhone owners some very useful services at their fingertips. Here are three (actually five) must-have applications which make your iPhone experience even better.

1) Calliflower

Iotum’s Calliflower is currently one of the most comprehensive and powerful services to manage conference calls straight from the Web. They started with a Facebook app which has now evolved and has been brought out of FB to become a stand alone communication platform for online collaboration.

One of the latest killer-features they added is the ability to manage everything from your iPhone with a clean and effective user interface.

The iPhone application will be free until Jan 1, 2009, then it will cost $9.99 (that it’s like free, to me). They also just launched a premium service which adds new collaboration tools to the standard free service. Check out Calliflower website for more details.

2) Palringo

I already reviewed this service over two months ago and it seems they are growing more and more and adding new cool features.

Palringo is a rich Text & Voice Instant Messaging service which lets you get in touch with your contacts over multiple IM services, share pictures, join chat groups and share voice messages with your friends.

In particular, one of the latest features they introduced is the ability to get the position of your friends in your buddy list, making it easier to create new opportunities to meet / interact.

3) Let’s VoIP!

While Palringo is a great IM (and more), it lacks the ability to make phone calls. Ok, you have a phone, you can make phone calls of course. The point is that there are a few popular VoIP applications which can be easily found at the App Store, all worth noting, and the choice it’s up to you, depending on what are you looking for.

Truphone

Truphone is one of the first mobile VoIP apps, ever, released in 2004. This, alone, should be enough to make you understand that the keyword here is: realiability.

Pros:

• very robust, the first one available for the iPhone since its launch by Apple
• usability (open the app and dial)

Cons:

• no VoIP over 3G, WiFi only (but it’s more an Apple problem… take a look here for a viable solution)

Nimbuzz

Nimbuzz for the iPhone has just been announced and it’s really promising. Unlike Truphone, it offers the ability to get all your IM contacts in a single interface, making it easy to get in touch with them without having to install another application to be used for instant messaging. Definitely one of the most complete and the number of social networks supported is impressive.

Pros:

• all major IM and social networks are available

Cons:

• no VoIP over 3G, WiFi only (but it’s more an Apple problem… take a look here for a viable solution)

Fring

Similar to Nimbuzz, the features made available by this service are very similar to those found in the previous one. The choice is up to you.

Pros:

• all major IM and social networks are available
• twitter integration and SIP calls

Cons:

• no VoIP over 3G, WiFi only (but it’s more an Apple problem… take a look here for a viable solution)

What do you like better? Leave your comments here and tell me what your favorite communication applications are.

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Technorati Tags: App Store, Apple, calliflower, facebook, fring, Instant messaging, iphone, luca filigheddu, nimbuzz, palringo, truphone, Wi-Fi

Image by luc legay via Flickr

MrTweet is a new service aimed at improving your Twitter network and get the most out of it.

In particular, it helps you to find out new contacts, like your followers who are candidates to be followed back as well as new “influencers” not in your contact list yet.

As soon as you start following MrTweet on Twitter, it creates two pages for you with the list of people you should follow, ordered by “relevance”.This is mine: http://mrtweet.net/report/filos

When you choose the new users to follow, you can do that directly from within MrTweet’s pages.

Nothing to say, it’s really a very nice, easy and and helpful service which can help you to make the most out of Twitter and use it way better than what you are doing now. What are you waiting for? Please go and start following MrTweet, it’ really worth it.

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Dear employees,

Due to the current financial situation caused by the slowdown of economy, Management has decided to implement a scheme to put workers of 40 years of age and above on early retirement. This scheme will be known as RAPE (Retire Aged People Early).

Persons selected to be RAPED can apply to management to be eligible for the SHAFT scheme (Special Help After Forced Termination). Persons who have been RAPED and SHAFTED will be reviewed under the SCREW programme (Scheme Covering Retired Early Workers). A person may be RAPED once, SHAFTED twice and SCREWED as many times as Management deems appropriate.

Persons who have been RAPED can only get AIDS (Additional Income for Dependants & Spouse) or HERPES (Half Earnings for Retired Personnel Early Severance).

Obviously persons who have AIDS or HERPES will not be SHAFTED or SCREWED any further by Management.

Persons who are not RAPED and are staying on will receive as much SHIT (Special High Intensity Training) as possible. Management has always prided itself on the amount of SHIT it gives employees. Should you feel that you do not receive enough SHIT, please bring to the attention of your Supervisor. They have been trained to give you all the SHIT you can handle.

Sincerely,

The Management

Technorati Tags: Humor, luca filigheddu

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The word “recession” has suddenly (and unfortunately) become one of the most used words anywhere in the world. Economy is going down and, among the others, there is a very important downside: people slowered down their purchases, whether online or offline, because of a general fear about the future.

This is not certainly good for everyone and, on the contrary, in a period like this people should invest more in order to minimize the impact of this bad behavior to the whole economy. If people don’t buy, economy will suffer even more.

Another downside is that people are not certain about the future of the companies they are dealing with. For example, some people could think that buying something online now could lead to a huge risk because that companies could shut down tomorrow and the risk to loose their money is very high.

A couple of weeks ago my company released a white paper where we analyze how the “human touch” can help people during an online purchasing process. During a recession, people need to feel that there is someone behind any service, any shop they come across while in the process to buy something. A naked, cold website is not enough anymore, but they need someone who can help them to take the right decision and make the right choice, avoiding doubts, fear and making them trust their shop/company even more. That’s where our service Sitofono comes into play.

I’d like to share some paragraph of this white paper with my readers, in order to highlight some important points that maybe are not that evident for some companies selling products/services through the online channel.

The purchasing process (originally elaborated by Kotler)

The purchase is articulated in 5 phases, plus a sixth concerning post sales: 

1. Unawareness 

The potential customer is not aware of his role. He still does not know he has 
a need to satisfy. This behaviour can often be seen in the purchase of clothing 
and hi-tech products. To induce a purchase, someone or something has to suggest to the potential customer that he needs that product/service. The potential customer has to be made aware of his need.  

2. Awareness

The consumer becomes aware of his role. He realises that a specific product/service could be useful and starts to understand its utility, persuading himself that the purchase of that product/service could benefit him.In this phase, it is fundamental that the seller can be found, and that he can provide an image of the need and how it can be satisfied by his product/service.

3. Search 

Now, the “conscious” customer looks actively for the product and starts an information-gathering phase. As always, the first impression matters a lot. That’s why it is important to provide a strong and clear image of your product. The potential customer must be kept as close as possible to the “shop window” and must be put in a position to assess any information you want to transmit. This is where Sitofòno comes into play, offering “reassurance” and support to complete the information gathered about a product. 

4. Assessment 

The potential customer now has all the essential elements to decide what to buy, but you cannot expect him to purchase immediately. Product assessment will probably occur in different steps, because the acquiring of elements on which a choice is based is an on-going process.  A recent article in the New York Times underlined how “human” contribution during the sales process still has a fundamental importance in raising the success rate:   

“Any online selling company has been warned: get ready to invest in traditional “human” customer care, otherwise be prepared to  lose customers”   

5. Purchase 

The customer has decided: he wants to make the purchase. Making the purchase easier is the main objective in the selling process. It is here you risk more, but you can also finally achieve your goal.  In this phase Sitofòno comes into action as a “support element to conclude the transaction”. Placing Sitofòno inside the product data sheet and encouraging its usage when something is not clear or when the customer has problems and/or has to face a mistake (i.e. wrong credit card number), stops the customer from going to another site where the product information is more complete, so he can conclude the purchase.

6. Post-purchase assessment

Now you have a new customer, but it is not the end, on the contrary now it is possible to close the sales phases circle and unleash a chain reaction. Satisfied customers are inclined to speak well of their purchase: they are happy they have found a bargain and they will recommend you to their friends and relatives or they will simply speak about you and your product.

This is just a brief abstract, I definitely encourage you to download the white paper and try to figure out how to make your website’s online store even better by making the purchase process an easy game for your visitors. In times where everyone has doubts and needs reassurance, you can play a fundamental role and make your business grow safely.

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This is the second post of a series where I try to figure out what my readers think to be the best business applications under Mac OSX. Categories are: Browsers, Email Clients, Twitter Clients. I know, not strictly business, but when you use them for business, you look at them differently

What’s your favorite email client? I mean what you use daily that you would recommend in terms of speed, usability and so on.

Vote now!

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Technorati Tags: E-mail client, luca filigheddu, Mac OS X