Q. I need help. First, the background: I have mobile service through Cingular. My phone is a 2125, which runs Windows Mobile 5.
Here's the conundrum: I'd like to get my personal email accounts working. I know that my phone can retrieve messages via POP3. My concern is that I need all the messages to end up in my Outlook .pst file on my laptop. This includes both messages that download to the device and any that I send (whether composed on the device, replies to messages downloaded to the device, or forwards of messages downloaded to the device). I'd like to do this without needing to leave software running on some computer back at home.
As I see it, Microsoft Activesync should save any messages the device dealt with back into Outlook at the same time it syncs my calendar and contact data. I can't find any information as to whether this is the case, however.
Anyone know if this is possible?
Here's the conundrum: I'd like to get my personal email accounts working. I know that my phone can retrieve messages via POP3. My concern is that I need all the messages to end up in my Outlook .pst file on my laptop. This includes both messages that download to the device and any that I send (whether composed on the device, replies to messages downloaded to the device, or forwards of messages downloaded to the device). I'd like to do this without needing to leave software running on some computer back at home.
As I see it, Microsoft Activesync should save any messages the device dealt with back into Outlook at the same time it syncs my calendar and contact data. I can't find any information as to whether this is the case, however.
Anyone know if this is possible?
A. Microsoft Outlook Mobile Manager 2.0 (OMM),
OMM: Mantra for Mobile Devices
by Rob Knies
Related Links
Outlook Mobile Manager 2.0
Eric Horvitz
Adaptive Systems and Interaction Group
Priorities
Eric Horvitz is sitting at his desk in his Redmond, Wash., office, discussing Microsoft Outlook Mobile Manager 2.0 (OMM), a just-released, downloadable add-in for Microsoft Outlook, when something on his computer monitor catches his eye. The new application has flagged as urgent an incoming e-mail from somebody wanting to join the discussion. Moments later, she calls in, gratefully. OMM has made its latest convert.
OMM brings the power of Microsoft Outlook to a userâs portable device. The technology can prioritize messages and make smart decisions about when to forward e-mail to a mobile device, based on the computed urgency of the e-mail and the userâs context. It also can send calendar reminders, task reminders, and an Outlook Today-style daily summary to all of a userâs wireless devices. OMM can also be harnessed to triage e-mail on your desktop.
âPeople in a mobile setting feel disconnected from their e-mail and may grow concerned over time that they are missing something urgent,â says Horvitz, senior researcher and group manager for Microsoft Researchâs Adaptive Systems and Interaction Group. âMany things are demanding their attention, so it can be valuable to limit alerts to urgent communications. Mobile Manager learns from user training how to act like an insightful, dedicated secretary 24x7.â
OMM is a descendant of an e-mail triaging prototype developed at Microsoft Research, named Priorities, which has been used internally at Microsoft since the late 1990s. OMM v. 1.0 shipped in early 2001. OMM v. 2.0 introduces an array of new features and extensions. OMM reads each e-mail, identifies who sent it, considers numerous aspects of the content and structure of the message header and body, and determines if the user can wait until later to see it or would prefer having a time-critical message while away from a computer. Only the most urgent mail is sent to the userâs mobile device.
âMany experiences come to mind. One memorable time, I was pulled away from the office unexpectedly to attend a funeral in New York,â Horvitz recalls. âIt was a hot summer day in a distant place, and I remember feeling very disconnected as I later drove on a bumpy, potholed roadâimmersed in a different universeâwhen I received an urgent message reminding me to call a colleague at DARPA. I thought, âWow, Iâm in a whole other world, and what a nice feeling, that this gentle voice is reminding me of something important I need to do soon.â â
OMM learns about its user via user training. During a training phase, the user provides examples to the system of message urgency, and the add-in analyzes the content of the messages to understand the information contained within, then makes inferences about what the user considers urgent.
The system ships with a generic, universal urgency classifier as an out-of-the-box solution, designed to work satisfactorily for most people. But as the system receives user training, it learns more and more about the userâs preferences. After a few hundred messages, the system transforms in a graceful manner into a personalized, customized service.
âI get a real kick out the cross-device nature of the system as I move between desktop and mobile settings,â Horvitz says. âOne has the sense that âhereâs an intelligent presence that has insights about my context, and that cares about me no matter where I am.â â
OMM provides a rich representation of a workerâs lifestyle. It offers time-sensitive profiles that enable you to specify context-sensitive preferences about messaging during such settings as work, home, and vacation, and it will react according to the settings you have selected. It can be configured to deliver messages at a variety of priority levels, from all items to only those of highest urgency. And if youâre using a computer away from your office, it knows about the messages youâve already seen and wonât send those to your mobile device.
One cool feature in the application is presence forecasting, an ability to estimate when a user might again be online when they leave a desktop computer. OMM examines usage patterns and makes a prediction on when a user will return to the computer. It uses this functionality to decide when to send messages to users.
And OMM can save users money, too. For those whose connectivity-plan cost is based on usage, the service can set message limits, break them into pieces, and limit the number of messages sent per day. Its alerting simulator feature can estimate how many messages would be sent to a device per day with a given set of settings, which can then be adjusted to a preferred level.
All in all, the service provided by OMM can be habit-forming.
âI was down at Stanford a number of years ago when our team was using the Priorities research prototype, OMMâs ancestor,â Horvitz recounts, âand I noticed I wasnât getting any messages on my device. Could it be that nothing was urgent enough to be transmitted? Something must have been up. I called home. It turns out that there had been a windstorm in Redmond, and our server has lost power.
âThat was the first time in my life that I felt like I had lost a utilityâwhere the utility wasnât electricity or water, but automated intelligence. I suffered a loss of a service that I had grown to depend on. It highlighted to me the likely prospect that, just as weâve grown accustomed to electricity, weâll someday grow accustomed to a variety of services that rely on automated learning and reasoningâsome which stream valuable information right into devices in our pockets.â
OMMâs research ancestor, Priorities was developed as part of the Attentional User Interface effort, a thematic area of research taking human attention as the scarcest resource in computing. The early work on the Priorities project explored several key components of OMM, including the core effort on machine learning for triaging, presence forecasting, mobile messaging, and designs for the ambient display of urgent information.
âIn the mid-â90s, we wondered if we could determine how urgent a message is by considering many aspects of messages and related information, including information about relationships among senders and recipients, Horvitz says. âWe found that we could do that. We explored multiple aspects of this challenge and developed such measures as âthe expected cost of delayed reviewâ of messages, capturing in a clear manner the urgency of a communication.â
OMM determines urgency by analyzing many categories of findings or features of messages, including the number of people receiving the message, how long a message is, whether questions are being asked within its body, what sort of verb tenses are employed, and whether it contains dates and times and how close they are to the present. The message senderâs identity and relationship to the recipient are analyzed by accessing the userâs address book and an organizational chart via Microsoftâs Active Directory Service to determine such relationships as whether the sender is a peer, a direct report, a manager, somebody else up or down the org chart, or externalâdefined as somebody who doesnât appear in the personal address book or the organizational chart.
âResearchers have different sets of goals,â Horvitz says, âincluding the pursuit of different mixes of theoretical results and applications that demonstrate the power of new theory or methods. I enjoy exploring theoretical issues, but I also get excited about seeing applications sing in the world, delivering value to peopleâeven in early prototypes that point the way to the future. Mobile Managerâs automated reasoning can provide value in the daily life of people.â
The application works with recent versions of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Outlook and is available to anybody with a device that can receive SMS messages. It is optimized for those using Windows XP and Outlook 11, and it works directly with Outlook, not requiring a back-end server.
Such a development effort is hardly the product of a single individual. Horvitz is quick to single out those who helped bring OMM to fruition. âIt was a team effort,â he says. âMuru Subramani was the key software engineer on OMM v. 2.0. Johnson Apacible was the development-team manager. The final polish was applied by Gavin Janckeâs team; in particular, Piali Choudhury. And early on, for Mobile Manager v. 1.0, Greg Baribault, Sharad Mathur, and others from the product teams did a great deal of work.
âWeâre building software that is starting to learn about and understand human concerns in a deeper way,â Horvitz adds. âAs researchers, that really turns us on. Itâs an example of computers understanding people and their goals.â
Not only has the computerâs understanding increased, but so has its empathy toward its user.
âMobile Manager recognizes that people may be quite stressed,â Horvitz says. âTheir Inbox is exploding, and itâs hard to triage. But here, the same computer that is perhaps the biggest source of your information overload is also helping to decrease it.
âItâs almost like itâs saying, âWait, donât give up yet!â â
OMM: Mantra for Mobile Devices
by Rob Knies
Related Links
Outlook Mobile Manager 2.0
Eric Horvitz
Adaptive Systems and Interaction Group
Priorities
Eric Horvitz is sitting at his desk in his Redmond, Wash., office, discussing Microsoft Outlook Mobile Manager 2.0 (OMM), a just-released, downloadable add-in for Microsoft Outlook, when something on his computer monitor catches his eye. The new application has flagged as urgent an incoming e-mail from somebody wanting to join the discussion. Moments later, she calls in, gratefully. OMM has made its latest convert.
OMM brings the power of Microsoft Outlook to a userâs portable device. The technology can prioritize messages and make smart decisions about when to forward e-mail to a mobile device, based on the computed urgency of the e-mail and the userâs context. It also can send calendar reminders, task reminders, and an Outlook Today-style daily summary to all of a userâs wireless devices. OMM can also be harnessed to triage e-mail on your desktop.
âPeople in a mobile setting feel disconnected from their e-mail and may grow concerned over time that they are missing something urgent,â says Horvitz, senior researcher and group manager for Microsoft Researchâs Adaptive Systems and Interaction Group. âMany things are demanding their attention, so it can be valuable to limit alerts to urgent communications. Mobile Manager learns from user training how to act like an insightful, dedicated secretary 24x7.â
OMM is a descendant of an e-mail triaging prototype developed at Microsoft Research, named Priorities, which has been used internally at Microsoft since the late 1990s. OMM v. 1.0 shipped in early 2001. OMM v. 2.0 introduces an array of new features and extensions. OMM reads each e-mail, identifies who sent it, considers numerous aspects of the content and structure of the message header and body, and determines if the user can wait until later to see it or would prefer having a time-critical message while away from a computer. Only the most urgent mail is sent to the userâs mobile device.
âMany experiences come to mind. One memorable time, I was pulled away from the office unexpectedly to attend a funeral in New York,â Horvitz recalls. âIt was a hot summer day in a distant place, and I remember feeling very disconnected as I later drove on a bumpy, potholed roadâimmersed in a different universeâwhen I received an urgent message reminding me to call a colleague at DARPA. I thought, âWow, Iâm in a whole other world, and what a nice feeling, that this gentle voice is reminding me of something important I need to do soon.â â
OMM learns about its user via user training. During a training phase, the user provides examples to the system of message urgency, and the add-in analyzes the content of the messages to understand the information contained within, then makes inferences about what the user considers urgent.
The system ships with a generic, universal urgency classifier as an out-of-the-box solution, designed to work satisfactorily for most people. But as the system receives user training, it learns more and more about the userâs preferences. After a few hundred messages, the system transforms in a graceful manner into a personalized, customized service.
âI get a real kick out the cross-device nature of the system as I move between desktop and mobile settings,â Horvitz says. âOne has the sense that âhereâs an intelligent presence that has insights about my context, and that cares about me no matter where I am.â â
OMM provides a rich representation of a workerâs lifestyle. It offers time-sensitive profiles that enable you to specify context-sensitive preferences about messaging during such settings as work, home, and vacation, and it will react according to the settings you have selected. It can be configured to deliver messages at a variety of priority levels, from all items to only those of highest urgency. And if youâre using a computer away from your office, it knows about the messages youâve already seen and wonât send those to your mobile device.
One cool feature in the application is presence forecasting, an ability to estimate when a user might again be online when they leave a desktop computer. OMM examines usage patterns and makes a prediction on when a user will return to the computer. It uses this functionality to decide when to send messages to users.
And OMM can save users money, too. For those whose connectivity-plan cost is based on usage, the service can set message limits, break them into pieces, and limit the number of messages sent per day. Its alerting simulator feature can estimate how many messages would be sent to a device per day with a given set of settings, which can then be adjusted to a preferred level.
All in all, the service provided by OMM can be habit-forming.
âI was down at Stanford a number of years ago when our team was using the Priorities research prototype, OMMâs ancestor,â Horvitz recounts, âand I noticed I wasnât getting any messages on my device. Could it be that nothing was urgent enough to be transmitted? Something must have been up. I called home. It turns out that there had been a windstorm in Redmond, and our server has lost power.
âThat was the first time in my life that I felt like I had lost a utilityâwhere the utility wasnât electricity or water, but automated intelligence. I suffered a loss of a service that I had grown to depend on. It highlighted to me the likely prospect that, just as weâve grown accustomed to electricity, weâll someday grow accustomed to a variety of services that rely on automated learning and reasoningâsome which stream valuable information right into devices in our pockets.â
OMMâs research ancestor, Priorities was developed as part of the Attentional User Interface effort, a thematic area of research taking human attention as the scarcest resource in computing. The early work on the Priorities project explored several key components of OMM, including the core effort on machine learning for triaging, presence forecasting, mobile messaging, and designs for the ambient display of urgent information.
âIn the mid-â90s, we wondered if we could determine how urgent a message is by considering many aspects of messages and related information, including information about relationships among senders and recipients, Horvitz says. âWe found that we could do that. We explored multiple aspects of this challenge and developed such measures as âthe expected cost of delayed reviewâ of messages, capturing in a clear manner the urgency of a communication.â
OMM determines urgency by analyzing many categories of findings or features of messages, including the number of people receiving the message, how long a message is, whether questions are being asked within its body, what sort of verb tenses are employed, and whether it contains dates and times and how close they are to the present. The message senderâs identity and relationship to the recipient are analyzed by accessing the userâs address book and an organizational chart via Microsoftâs Active Directory Service to determine such relationships as whether the sender is a peer, a direct report, a manager, somebody else up or down the org chart, or externalâdefined as somebody who doesnât appear in the personal address book or the organizational chart.
âResearchers have different sets of goals,â Horvitz says, âincluding the pursuit of different mixes of theoretical results and applications that demonstrate the power of new theory or methods. I enjoy exploring theoretical issues, but I also get excited about seeing applications sing in the world, delivering value to peopleâeven in early prototypes that point the way to the future. Mobile Managerâs automated reasoning can provide value in the daily life of people.â
The application works with recent versions of Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Outlook and is available to anybody with a device that can receive SMS messages. It is optimized for those using Windows XP and Outlook 11, and it works directly with Outlook, not requiring a back-end server.
Such a development effort is hardly the product of a single individual. Horvitz is quick to single out those who helped bring OMM to fruition. âIt was a team effort,â he says. âMuru Subramani was the key software engineer on OMM v. 2.0. Johnson Apacible was the development-team manager. The final polish was applied by Gavin Janckeâs team; in particular, Piali Choudhury. And early on, for Mobile Manager v. 1.0, Greg Baribault, Sharad Mathur, and others from the product teams did a great deal of work.
âWeâre building software that is starting to learn about and understand human concerns in a deeper way,â Horvitz adds. âAs researchers, that really turns us on. Itâs an example of computers understanding people and their goals.â
Not only has the computerâs understanding increased, but so has its empathy toward its user.
âMobile Manager recognizes that people may be quite stressed,â Horvitz says. âTheir Inbox is exploding, and itâs hard to triage. But here, the same computer that is perhaps the biggest source of your information overload is also helping to decrease it.
âItâs almost like itâs saying, âWait, donât give up yet!â â
What should you put in a "Thank you" to someone in HR after an interview?
Q. My husband has an interview tomorrow with a software company for an entry level programming position. He has his BS in computer science but hasn't worked in the field for over 10 years. What should he write in a thank you card that he'll mail after the interview?
A. Most companies who are looking to hire someone for a potentially long term position are looking for Thank you letters. Through personal experience, call backs are sometimes based on those interviewees that send a thank you notice. My advice would be to email it, since it is a computer based job. I do graphic design, and I always send an email (not postal mail) out to those that I've interviewed with. If there were more than one person in the office interviewing me, I send it out to all of them. I ask for each of their business cards so I have their email and send them something the next morning.
What he might want to say is thank you of course, say how much he was impressed with the company, and how excellently his work ethic would fit into theirs. Be sure he mentions how much he learned about the company and what the job position is through the interview. Hopefully he can actually say that he has learned alot about the interview. Be sure he has questions he can ask, and mention the interesting answers in the Thank you letter (email). Along with a thank you for giving thoughtfull insight to his questions.
It isn't good to mention anything personal about anyone of the interviewers. Don't mention the picture of his daughter on his desk.... not good.
What he might want to say is thank you of course, say how much he was impressed with the company, and how excellently his work ethic would fit into theirs. Be sure he mentions how much he learned about the company and what the job position is through the interview. Hopefully he can actually say that he has learned alot about the interview. Be sure he has questions he can ask, and mention the interesting answers in the Thank you letter (email). Along with a thank you for giving thoughtfull insight to his questions.
It isn't good to mention anything personal about anyone of the interviewers. Don't mention the picture of his daughter on his desk.... not good.
What is the best business phone for restaurant?
Q. im getting a new cell phone, but i want it to be a little more advance in restaurant business. like ill be able to check the cameras over my phone or ill be able to open my pos system in my phone. stuff like that. i just wanted a few suggestions.
A. When starting a small business, choosing the right phone system can either help the company succeed or contribute to its failure. Costs, functionality, ease of set up, and other factors should be considered. Compare business phone systems in order to select the best match for a particular workplace.
Automated Attendant
First impressions are crucial for a small company. Customers want to receive information in a professional, courteous manner when they call. If they have to go through too many automated options or must repeat themselves many times because the system didn't understand their words, they will likely get frustrated and call another service provider. Compare business phone systems to receive the best automated attendant services. Also known as a virtual receptionist, this function allows callers to be transferred to a particular extension without the necessity of an operator or a receptionist. A caller will hear the recorded greeting first, and then be prompted to make the correct selection to talk to the desired person. However, some systems do allow a caller to talk to a live operator by selecting '0' or another number. Many small business phone systems include a simple menu such as, 'For sales, press 1, for service, press 2.' Most providers include the automated attendant in their services at no additional cost.
Simple Set-up
Another important factor remains to be the complexity of set up. Entrepreneurs and executives hold their time as form of commodity and do not want to waste it. Making a profit is not achieved by waiting for hours or even days for a technician to come and install a small business phone system. Looking for providers that offer simple set up without any additional hardware needed will save lots of time and money.
Many small business phone system vendors allow managers to buy online with easy, secure purchasing. Followed by a set up that takes just a few minutes, these types of services can increase productivity very quickly without hassle or complicated steps.
Free Trials
To compare business phone systems, take advantage of many companies' free trials. Some of these offers let a user practice with the system for a limited time, while others maintain the trial for as long as needed. Trying before buying provides a way for potential customers to make sure the system is easy to use and that it offers all the features their company requires.
Included Features Or Extra Add-ons
Office telephone systems can come with virtually hundreds of features for switching calls and directing traffic. However, some companies only need a few of the features, but don't want to have to pay an additional fee for each feature they add to a basic plan. Some of the most common aspects of a small business phone system include voice mail, music while on hold, and conferencing. Shop around and compare business phone systems to locate a vendor that charges a low monthly fee without any extra costs for features. This will enable you to avoid a large surprise bill at the end of the month.
Simple To Use
No one wants to deal with the hassle of a small business phone system that requires hours of training or days of being on hold with a help-desk associate because the software is too complicated. Compare business phone systems to find one that functions similar to a Web 2.0 style browser-based interface. These services tend to be as easy to use as email. Managing these types of systems also allows a manager to add and remove users in seconds. Also, many of these products work seamlessly with multiple types of supported phones, such as a desk, mobile, or softphone on a laptop.
Voicemail To Text
Imagine how much time could be spared, if voicemail could be read instead of listened to again and again. Some small business phone systems offer voicemail-to-text transcription to make this a reality. The system answers the call by forwarding all voicemail to the user's email account as an attached audio file with a written transcription of the message.
Additional Useful Features
Other facets to look for in a small business phone system are intelligent call routing, unlimited long distance service, and web widgets that allow customers to click on the company's web page to automatically call the correct person. These features ensure that office executives will never miss another call while away from the office. They also don't incur additional fees with plans offered by some providers.
Automated Attendant
First impressions are crucial for a small company. Customers want to receive information in a professional, courteous manner when they call. If they have to go through too many automated options or must repeat themselves many times because the system didn't understand their words, they will likely get frustrated and call another service provider. Compare business phone systems to receive the best automated attendant services. Also known as a virtual receptionist, this function allows callers to be transferred to a particular extension without the necessity of an operator or a receptionist. A caller will hear the recorded greeting first, and then be prompted to make the correct selection to talk to the desired person. However, some systems do allow a caller to talk to a live operator by selecting '0' or another number. Many small business phone systems include a simple menu such as, 'For sales, press 1, for service, press 2.' Most providers include the automated attendant in their services at no additional cost.
Simple Set-up
Another important factor remains to be the complexity of set up. Entrepreneurs and executives hold their time as form of commodity and do not want to waste it. Making a profit is not achieved by waiting for hours or even days for a technician to come and install a small business phone system. Looking for providers that offer simple set up without any additional hardware needed will save lots of time and money.
Many small business phone system vendors allow managers to buy online with easy, secure purchasing. Followed by a set up that takes just a few minutes, these types of services can increase productivity very quickly without hassle or complicated steps.
Free Trials
To compare business phone systems, take advantage of many companies' free trials. Some of these offers let a user practice with the system for a limited time, while others maintain the trial for as long as needed. Trying before buying provides a way for potential customers to make sure the system is easy to use and that it offers all the features their company requires.
Included Features Or Extra Add-ons
Office telephone systems can come with virtually hundreds of features for switching calls and directing traffic. However, some companies only need a few of the features, but don't want to have to pay an additional fee for each feature they add to a basic plan. Some of the most common aspects of a small business phone system include voice mail, music while on hold, and conferencing. Shop around and compare business phone systems to locate a vendor that charges a low monthly fee without any extra costs for features. This will enable you to avoid a large surprise bill at the end of the month.
Simple To Use
No one wants to deal with the hassle of a small business phone system that requires hours of training or days of being on hold with a help-desk associate because the software is too complicated. Compare business phone systems to find one that functions similar to a Web 2.0 style browser-based interface. These services tend to be as easy to use as email. Managing these types of systems also allows a manager to add and remove users in seconds. Also, many of these products work seamlessly with multiple types of supported phones, such as a desk, mobile, or softphone on a laptop.
Voicemail To Text
Imagine how much time could be spared, if voicemail could be read instead of listened to again and again. Some small business phone systems offer voicemail-to-text transcription to make this a reality. The system answers the call by forwarding all voicemail to the user's email account as an attached audio file with a written transcription of the message.
Additional Useful Features
Other facets to look for in a small business phone system are intelligent call routing, unlimited long distance service, and web widgets that allow customers to click on the company's web page to automatically call the correct person. These features ensure that office executives will never miss another call while away from the office. They also don't incur additional fees with plans offered by some providers.
Powered by Yahoo! Answers
No comments:
Post a Comment