Month: December 2009

What does a CIO do ?

There is one very interesting discussion in LinkedIn CIO Forum about “If you had one sentence to describe what you did as CIO – what would it be?”

As usual, there are some politically correct answers:

  • “The organization’s technology evangelist and leader who championed the business goals and objectives.”
  • “CIO is business leader who relentlessly delivers technology in support of business objectives, all while continuously seeking to drive overall costs down”
  • “Improve an organization’s IT Alignment, Architecture, Agility and Ability to enhance the organization’s bottom line. “

There are also some practical answers, such as:

  • “High tech solutions, bottom line results.”
  • “Ascertain organization’s footprint from a bottom-line standpoint. Streamline operations with intent to cut cost and focus on reliability. Deliver practical technologies in support of the organization’s goals.”

And there are some answers I like a lot:

  • “Provide what they need before they know they need it.”
  • “Take information technology where no information technology has gone before.”
  • “On time, on spec, on budget, no bloodshed.”
  • “Deliver technology solutions so advanced that they are indistinguishable from magic.”

What’s your take ?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !!

Kindle for iPhone International version and how WhisperSync works

Amazon released the Kindle for iPhone application now to more than 60 countries. In other words, you can now download it to your iPhone even though you don’t have an iTunes US account. In addition, you can now synchronize your reading between the Kindle 2 International and your iPhone (with Kindle for iPhone International application installed). If your country is not covered in that list of 60, you still can install the Kindle for iPhone US version by a proven method.

How WhisperSync works

First of all, we need to understand how all these devices are linked together – in fact, they are not linked directly, but via Amazon:

Kindle 2 <— X —>   Amazon <— Y —>   iPhone

If you’re in US, the connection “X” is the Whispernet via Sprint network; and the connection “Y” is the 3G phone network. And since Sprint network is not available outside US, that’s why the sychronization with your Kindle 2 US version will not work outside US.

However, in the case of Kindle 2 International, the connection “X” is just ordinary 3G / GPRS network. Therefore, the synchronization works … with a twist. That is, how you “trigger” the synchronization.

Two scenarios here, the first one is how to synchronize your furthest reading page to Amazon. To save battery and data transfer, the Kindle (and the Kindle iPhone application) will not send the page information to Amazon, whenever you flip to next page. Instead, it will do it only when you “close the book”. In other words, in Kindle iPhone application’s case, closing the application will not send the information back to Amazon.

  • For Kindle, when it goes to sleep mode or you close the book (i.e. go to Home page by pressing Home button), the latest information will be synchronized to Amazon. Of course, you need to turn on your wireless first.
  • In Kindle for Iphone, you need to press the “Home” button on the top left to “close the book”, then the furthest read page information will be sent back to Amazon…

The second scenario is how your other device pick up the furthest read page from the original device.

  • In Kindle 2, press Menu, select “Sync to Furthest Page Read”, Kindle will connect to Amazon.com and then ask you whether you want to synchronize the page. Press Yes and you’re done. Again, make sure the wireless option has been turned on.
  • In Kindle for iPhone, it is easier, as every time you start up the application, it will connect to Amazon via the phone network to synchronize and you will also be prompted to ask you whether you want to synchronize the page. Press Yes and that is it.

Enjoy !!

Kindle photo

Update 1: Somehow my Kindle 2 always connect to WhisperNet via GPRS, not 3G network in HK.  A great tips from reader John and also Mobileread.com, you can actually select the network you want !! Check out this post.