I have put 5 hours on the device already, customizing and using every new feature. My favorite new feature is the ability to combine email accounts into one view and thread common email based on a 'subject' filter. Second up is speed, the phone is fast. The folder feature is great for organizing your apps and minimizing finger sweeps to access app pages.

All the other features are very cool. Camera is much improved and the FaceTime for video chat has more then a few implications for usage.

Apple has another game changer on their hands, nice job.

The US is in a tizzy over a new Arizona law that seeks to reinforce our Federal Immigration Laws.  For too long our Federal Government has failed to secure our southern border with Mexico.  This has been a failure of both Republican and Democratic Administrations and the US Congress.  The country is being race baited into an argument over civil rights; this is a smoke screen for the real issue - votes.  Most politicians and both political parties would seek to capture the Latino vote by playing to the smoke screen of this debate.  Recently the President of Mexico made a speech on the floor of the US House Chamber, excoriating the Arizona law for his own gain.  In response Tom McClintock (R) a US Representative from California made a rebuke of his speech.

His speech made so much sense it is impossible not to see the fraud that the Obama Administration and its supporters are perpetrating on the American people.  If you want to become an American Citizen there is a process and laws that need to be followed to do so, if not then law enforcement needs to step in.  Just think of how much our Cities, Counties, States, Corporations and US Federal Government spend to support signage, documents, forms and other multi-lingual platforms because immigration has failed to simply support the idea that English is our national language.

I like Mexico, the Spanish language and culture in fact my wife is an American who's grandparents came to America from Mexico.  I would never expect to immigrate to another country and not fully integrate myself into that countries culture, language and customs.  I am not in favor of rounding up Mexican immigrants and shipping them back to Mexico, unless they are criminals.  We need to secure our southern border and make the process of immigration available to those that want to become Americans.  It is a privilege to be an American and to live in America, it is not a right.

Billed To: shad_white@mail.com Shadrach White XXX 5th Ave SW USCity, WA 98xxx Order Number: MGW123456 Receipt Date: 05/09/10 Order Total: $0.00 Billed To: N/A Item Number Description Unit Price   1 ILINX Capture Mobile, v1.0.1, Seller: ImageSource, Inc. (4+) Write a Review Report a Problem Free     Subtotal: $0.00 Tax: $0.00   Order Total: $0.00   Please retain for your records. Please See Below For Terms And Conditions Pertaining To This Order. Apple Inc. You can find the iTunes Store Terms of Sale and Sales Policies by launching your iTunes application and clicking on Terms of Sale or Sales Policies Answers to frequently asked questions regarding the iTunes Store can be found at http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/store/

Special thanks to Martin Waldron and Phong Hoang for getting the ball across the finish line.  Can't wait to see the features in ILINX Capture Mobile Pro - Connectivity to SharePoint, FileNet, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Seibel, Salesforce.com, GoogleDocs etc.

By now some of you have seen and heard me on the news and morning radio.  I love living in Western Washington and I love my company and the people I work with, our employees are amazing.  The 'world is flat' and our company employs many people outside of Washington, and it isn't a stretch to relocate our corporation to another state if the taxation becomes too onerous or discriminatory.  Tax codes should be uniform in the sense that if we vote for an income tax it would apply to everyone not just successful business persons.

Link to King5 Story and Video:
http://www.king5.com/news/local/WA-Senate-leader-suggests-income-tax-referendum-86416972.html

Many public state employees do an amazing job every day. State Agencies provide needed services and necessary programs for the citizens of Washington State. Many of them have worked to implement Technology Solutions that drive down costs and streamline access to these vital services. Raising taxes on only a few people who have worked hard to achieve the American Dream isn't the answer.

Drive common sense cost savings measures.  One idea is to implement Check21 throughout state agencies.  The State writes off $100K+ every year in bad checks received from the public.  Check21 eliminates this. At Target, when you write a check, they scan it and hand it back to you.  They know immediately whether or not it's a valid check and if the funds are available.

Many other success stories in government cities, counties and state agencies that cut costs and improve services are overlooked.  One example can be found by viewing this video case study from The City of Oakland: http://www.youtube.com/user/ImageSourceInc#p/a/u/5/05rUSQZUXEM

I urge state lawmakers to look toward innovation and not at business owners’ wallets.  Together we can make a difference.

I have been hosting some Social Media training for our employees at ImageSource.  The feedback and adoption has been pretty good, but there is the common initial pushback – “I don’t have time for this” or “I can’t read this twitter stuff” and there are privacy concerns about having work bleed into personal.  While I understand the initial pushback, I am working hard to dispel some of the uncertainty about the tools.  We are using Wordpress for blogs, twitter for micro-blogging and we have a couple of Fan sites on Facebook

Curtis Silver posted a great blog September 2009 on the subject of FUD and Social Media

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/09/social-media-fighting-the-fear

I am starting to get through with some of the basic concepts and upside that Web2.0 tools provide.  Especially with the Sales staff who I am working to convince that their personal BRAND as a Professional and our Corporate BRAND is something to be proud of and to share without the limitations of time, geography or traditional marketing costs and boundaries.

›          We will use it to build relationships

›          We are creating brand awareness

›          We are positioning ourselves as experts in the industry

›          We can more easily network with other industry professionals

›          We build trust with our customer partners

›          We can have multiple, quick, conversations and corporate updates

We have been using the following graphic as a way to articulate how the pieces fit together.  Websites and metadata / tagging driving search engine optimization with the help of our blogs and tweets.  Also publishing video using YouTube and Ustream.  We are using URL shorteners / shrinkers to save space in blogs and twitter messages.

If you’re a company that is interested to get a similar movement started but don’t know where to begin please feel free to contact me via http://twitter.com/shadrachwhite and follow the twitter list http://twitter.com/#/list/shadrachwhite/imagesource see how we progress in our efforts.  The more activity you see the more successful we have been in getting people on board.

I asked if I could look at it, I expected to read somthing from a purely technophile perspective. I was actually pleasantly surprised to find out that it was a religous publication. It was published as a guide to using Social Media in a positive and meaningful way. I think this is an important mesage for young people as too often these technologies are perverted and used to hurt or exploit.

I am looking forward to hosting an Executive roundtable in Newport Beach, CA. next week, http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=801360 hope to see you there.

I spent a day in San Jose and met a very interesting and intelligent Chief Information Officer.  In a phrase ‘he gets it’.  I was actually surprised, quite frankly, at his progressiveness and acknowledgement of the change in information technology, workforce and the opportunity for efficiencies.  He knew content management, workflow, social media, and the importance of handhelds.  Hell he even understood the death of email as a platform.  He had ideas, fresh thinking and he was over 30, Awesome I say!

In an institutional role the climb is definitely uphill.  Anyone would have a myriad of naysayers creating roadblocks to change and progress.  This didn’t seem to torpor this leader; he knew how important it was to get solutions to old business paradigms implemented.

My hat is off to any leader that understands the old guard is to be lauded but not institutionalized or accepted as the norm.  I applaud this movement forward, especially in an a recession that demands economy of effort and service.

I participated in the 2010 Rosenquist Vala Memorial Giant Slalom alpine skiing competition over the weekend.

It was held at Crystal Mountain, WA.  http://www.psna.org  I had a really great time, met some great people and I got a really nice hat for competing in my Division (Div. III) on Saturday.  You get 2 runs one run in the morning then everyone breaks for lunch while they reset the course for the second run.  The divisions are broken out into men’s and women’s age brackets, I was the youngest born in 1970, the eldest racer was born in 1937, yeah that’s right I was racing women and senior citizens.

But seriously these guys and gals can ski ‘fast’, really fast, I learned pretty quick that some of these racers are always club favorites for fast times down the course:

·         Willi Schmidt in the Men’s Division 10

·         Kanut Olberg in Men’s Division 9

·         Todd & Grant Haugen in Men’s Division 4

·         Craig Reninger Men’s Division 7

The ladies are fast as well some were fasters than me, including:

·         Tracy Gibbons Women’s Division 4

·         Tamara Lauba Women’s Division 6

·         Robin White in Women’s Division 3 (not faster than me :)

These are just a few of the racers who ripped down the mountain all told 60 racers  showed up on Saturday according to my calculations I finished 19^th overall.  Not too shabby for my first time in a race course in 25 years.  We were up on the mountain as 7am to start setting the course, those of us that showed up early got a lift on a sled driven by Tom one of the many volunteers who make this happen, much thanks to everyone who volunteered.

Sunday was the second day of competition and Darren Postforoosh who didn’t get a full weekend pass from the boss (read wife) showed up and beat me on both GS runs, props to Darren and his buddy Sam who was also very quick in Men’s Division 2.

The USSA Sanctioned Masters program is open to anyone and is newly expanded to include younger skiers, masters from ages 18 to over 80 compete on the same runs used for World Cup events. Slalom, giant slalom, super G and downhill are all included in the 200-plus races in this seasons schedule. Masters series are conducted within each of the eight geographic divisions of USSA including Alaska, Central, Eastern, Far West, Intermountain, Northern, Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain.  In addition to divisional competition, there are opportunities to compete on a regional, national, and international level. The USSA Alpine Masters Program is just one of the participants in the International Ski Federation’s (FIS) International Masters Cup (IMC) in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.  The highlight of the race season in the USA concludes with the USSA Masters National Championships.  This year it is being held at Sun Valley Resort in beautiful Ketchum, ID.

I am not sure how many races I will be able to attend, balancing work and family around skiing weekends isn’t easy.  I do know that it’s well worth the time spent for me it is a great release and it puts me in my favorite place on the mountain going fast.  The camaraderie is excellent and CMAC is a great family organization plus you can’t beat the feeling of speeding through the gates its exhilarating, especially if you haven’t done it in a long, long time.  The competition is good and everyone wants to win, but the feeling of just being at the mountain and going through the process of setting the course, slipping the run and pushing yourself is the best part.  There are clubs peppered all over the US, Canada and Europe, I joined the local club Crystal Mountain Alpine Club ,CMAC for short.  If you have ever raced in your youth or are just interested in pushing your skiing skills I recommend checking into a local club in your area.

Planning and goal setting is a popular activity this time of year.  Personal resolutions and career planning are important activities that most successful people do regularly.  First it is important to define the ‘I’ and the ‘BE’.  Is your ‘I’ just you or does it include those around you who would be affected by your planning and goal setting.  For instance immediate or extended family, coworkers, friends, employees, employers, etc.  Second you must define your ‘BE’.  Is it emotional, physical, psychological, financial, geographical, etc.  Both depend on what your current state of being is.  You could be planning to get in shape, have a more fulfilling job or personal life, generate more business, work less hours, take a vacation, buy a new car, go to school, graduate, etc.

Whatever or wherever your planning and goal setting take you it will start by committing to the tasks and work that it will take to get there.  There is a tremendous amount of opportunity out there, if you really want to take advantage of it.  My planning and goal setting for where I want to be in 2015 revolves around my family, my business, my personal well being both physical and mental and my financial future.  I will turn 45 in 2015, my kids will be 16 and 10 and I know better than to say my wife’s age.  Five years goes by fast, if I want to reach my goals I better get to it.  Good luck to all of you out there planning the days, weeks, months and years to your NYE 2015.  I plan to #CRUSHIT