the scoop: tyPad, from appliance Workshop, around $ 100.
What it is: the tyPad is a combination of protective and Bluetooth keyboard for iPad. After the iPad in the present case, the keyboard folds out and lets you type on the iPad in landscape format (why is Bluetooth, you could use it in portrait mode, but doesn't get the bonus of having protected inside the case). The keyboard is qwerty-style tyPad, with keys, soft-touch tactile response offering decent. Keyboard battery is charged via a USB cable included.
because it is cool: IPad applications that require a lot of text input, using a keyboard as this will make you more productive using the on-screen keyboard. I was able to type notes and use applications like Quickoffice and TweetDeck more easily with tyPad.
The design is very nice, offering a nice case and stand for iPad when the keypad is not used. Extra keys on the top row of the tyPad include volume control (more silent), music keys (play/pause, forward/back), a dedicated search button (brings up the search bar iPad) and a dedicated home button (brings you back to the home page iPad instead of hitting the physical button on the iPad). There is also a button that will bring up the on-screen keyboard, iPad, which I'm assuming is when you might need a button/symbol really obscure.
Another nice touch: When connecting via Bluetooth, I had to type an actual access code instead of the normal "0000," adding a minimum level of Bluetooth security.
Some caveats: because tyPad can be only the width of the iPad, is smaller than a normal keyboard, making it harder to touch typing. Addition to my dismay was the location of the apostrophe key, located on the same line as the SPACEBAR instead of next to the comma. My pinky kept trying to use the apostrophe, and I ended up hitting the Enter key.
I'm also a little disappointed in the price--$ 99.99, is the same price Zaggmate keyboard, which includes a case robust and thin profile, apparently more premium compared to tyPad.
Simply odd: the keyboard includes similar to PC function keys (F1, F2, alt/option and command), which led me to think that perhaps this keyboard could be used with a PC, or perhaps other tablets along the way.
Grade: 3.5 stars (out of 5).
the scoop: Vortex Mini Notebook Laser Mouse, from Smartfish, about $ 50.
what it is: The Mini Vortex is a USB mouse travel-size designed for ergonomic comfort--the mouse is set atop a swivel based instead of a solid base. This allows users to move their wrist, left or right when resting or mouse, creating a feeling more comfortable than with a traditional mouse. The mouse is powered by two AAA batteries and includes a small USB receiver that can be stored inside the battery case when traveling.
because it is cool: Before I met the greatest Vortex Smartfish mouse last year during our holiday gift guide, and wished that they would cover a model that was smaller. The company has done just that, providing a very comfortable mouse and travel-worthy. In fact, the small size is best for my hands to larger mice, making it useful when not on the road as well. The laser mouse and was very responsive, included a very pleasant feeling for the scroll wheel. Laser technology makes more accurate on non-traditional surfaces, optical mouse and there is a choice of six cool colors as well.
Category: 5 stars
Shaw can be reached at kshaw@nww.com. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/shawkeith.
Read more about anti-malware in anti-malware Network worldwide.
For more information on the corporate network, go to NetworkWorld. Story copyright 2010 Network World Inc. All rights reserved.
Illustration: Jack GallagherComcast and Time Warner Cable have joined the multitude of vendors that are participating in the IPv6 world, a 24-hour Internet protocol next-generation next June 8.
BACKGROUND: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, commit to IPv6 Day trial worlds
Participants in the world day of IPv6 are needed to support native IPv6 traffic on their websites in front of the public along with the current standard, known as IPv4.
"IPv6 Day-Worldwide-who is going to be a very important day," says John Brzozowski, Chief Architect for IPv6 and distinguished engineer at Comcast, which has an ongoing process at national level of IPv6. "Anybody participating will test before the world day of IPv6, which will help awareness and availability of unity".
Other notable participants in the world day of IPv6 include Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Akamai, Limelight Networks, Cisco, Juniper Research service and Microsoft Bing. Hosting service providers and Rackspace have SoftLayer technologies signed for testing IPv6, Mozilla browser maker and DNS appliance vendor BlueCat Networks.
Verizon Business and Blue Coat Systems say they will participate in the world officially IPv6 but have not yet signed up yet.
The growing list of participants of the world day of IPv6 is another sign of the market momentum around IPv6, which suddenly became the network update for carriers and enterprises more significant over the years.
Network providers are jumping on the bandwagon world day of IPv6 because they are anxious to demonstrate to their clients--especially the u.s. military--they don't just "talk talk", but are willing to "walk the walk" when it comes to distribute their IPv6 products.
IPv6 is a required update because the Internet is running out of IP addresses using the standard 40-year-old IPv4.
BY THE numbers: The evolution of the Internet
The free pool of IPv4 addresses not assigned was sold out two weeks ago, when the regional Internet registries that receives their final assignment by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). The records shall be kept at dole most of the remaining IPv4 address for the next three to six months.
The Internet is running out of IPv4 addresses as IPv4 uses 32-bit addresses and can support only 4.3 billion devices connected directly to the Internet. However, IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses and supports a virtually unlimited number of devices--2 to power its 128th.
Politicians say network operators must upgrade to IPv6 in order to support the billions of other people in the world who want to connect to the Internet through mobile phones, PCs, game consoles or other devices. Today, the Internet has around 2 billion people, compared to a total world population topping 6 billion.
The goal of the world day of IPv6 is to encourage the creation of IPv6-based content, and to check availability of the new standard for use at high volume. Test participants wish to find out how common it is for network equipment to end-users be misconfigured and unable to support IPv6, an issue of industry calls IPv6 brokenness.
"The most important thing is for companies to allow their public facing IPv6 to the Web Server," says John Curran, President and CEO of the American Registry for Internet numbers. "Once you've done that, you can provide the same connectivity to your customers if they have an IPv4 address or an IPv6 address. Until you've done, your customers will see unknown IPv6 to your site. If you can do so by June 8, you can participate in all the tests on the operation of IPv6. "
Read more on the lan and wan LAN & WAN section of the network in the world.
For more information on the corporate network, go to NetworkWorld. Story copyright 2010 Network World Inc. All rights reserved.
At Mobile World Congress, chip maker IPWireless is demonstrating a new technology called the Integrated Mobile Broadcast (IMB), which will allow operators to offer mobile TV on tablets and smartphones like Apple's iPhone and iPad and Samsung's Galaxy and Galaxy card.
Of these devices, the Galaxy Samsung with IMB integrated. The Samsung Galaxy S is equipped with a fake out, who the receiver IMB built into it, and Apple products have a receiver that is connected to the docking connector on the bottom of the device. The goal with these last two products is to expand the number of products that users can watch transmissions IMB, according to Keith Dewar, vice president marketing of IPWireless in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
The technology is now being in the United Kingdom from O2, Orange and Vodafone with a total of about 200 users.
The adoption of IMB will result in better picture quality than the streaming TV on existing 3 G networks, said IPWireless. The image quality has demonstrated at Mobile World Congress doesn't suffer from the pixelation that makes video on 3 G networks. Also the picture looks surprisingly strong, even if the resolution is only 320 x 240 pixels. A change of channel takes a couple of seconds, and the first image appears distorted briefly before it settles.
In addition to TV, IMB can be used for any service that mostly downloads data to the user, in the process of making efficient use of bandwidth available to operators.
IMB sends usage data of spectrum reserved for services of TDD (Time Division duplexing), which uses a channel for sending and receiving data alternately. The operator can configure your network to use the spectrum available for sending data to the Subscriber, which is a good fit for transmission services. The most current 3 G networks send data to and from the Subscriber using separate channels, which do not allow the same flexibility.
Many European operators TDD spectrum has received some, when they were awarded 3 G licences. In total, more than 150 operators across 60 countries covering more than half a billion Subscribers just requested 5 MHz spectrum-TDD needed to implement IMB, IPWireless.
Send news tips and comments to mikael_ricknas@idg.com
No, really--not just a couple of companies cheerleaders that trying to drum up excitement about the Dell streak ... just to cause a panic and ultimately get arrested.
Bryan Chester dressed in a black dress and biker-face and skull mask obscuring ran around one of the buildings of Dell Round Rock campus Monday morning, bringing two "metal objects" and requiring that all go to the lobby, police said KXWAN Austin.
Many employees of panic, called 911, and the SWAT team arrived. Supervisor of Chester, Daniel Rawson, refused to comply when comparing with law enforcement, who transformed the marketing stunt in a scenario of "extreme risk" Officer Eric Poteet said KXWAN.
Two arrested in Dell marketing stunt: kxan.com
Both Chester and Rawson were arrested and face misdemeanor charges of interfering with public functions and conduct deadly.
Dell spokesman David Frink rejected the request of KXWAN for an interview on camera but called the incident "an unfortunate choice" by an employee of Dell.
The idea behind the internal marketing stunt--which, by the way, was kept secret from the rest of the staff, then the panic--was apparently to promote interactive features of the Dell streak with Harley-Davidson. And although the "metal objects" Chester prisoners were never identified, my guess is that brought the power of the creepy Streak.
Lesson in marketing today is brought to you by Officer Poteet: "think before you act. My goodness. "
Here in the Android world-watching, the air smells of uncertainty for a long time. Ever since Google announced Android honeycomb, Tablet PC Edition is optimized to its mobile operating system, there was no shortage of questions on the future of the platform and the direction in which it is directed.
The great unknown, was, of course, what's next: Will make its way Honeycomb Smartphone? Or Android devices will be assigned to one of two locations: the Froyo and Gingerbread-full phone range and deviation of honeycomb only tablets?
Thanks to some revelations at the Mobile World Congress this week, we're finally getting some answers.
Google Android Road Map: gingerbread, honeycomb and everything else
First, a brief explanation of where things stand now: oriented on Google Android smartphone version is gingerbread, also known as Android 2.3. Google has taken the wraps off of gingerbread at the beginning of December. So far, is officially available only on the Nexus S; for the rest of the pack, the update smartphone Android Gingerbread-flavored is still pending. (The vast majority of Android phones--about 89 percent, according to the most recent estimates of Google--is now on Android 2.2 or 2.1).
Then there's the honeycomb or Android 3.0--the new version for tablets. This sweet software entered our lives last month when Google gave us a sneak peek to the platform. About two weeks ago, Google held a media event in Mountain View that paid more details of honeycomb and provided the first hands-on demo of the Motorola Xoom, the tablet of honeycomb soon-to-inaugural-released.
Honeycomb involves major changes to the Android platform, including a new look and feel, interface renewed multitasking and notifications system improved. It also introduces the ability for applications to split into multiple panes side-by-side on the screen.
Despite its Tablet-centric design, Google has dropped several hints that honeycomb could reach Smartphone. Android at the media event this month, Google reps told me that the specs were still up in the air but that Visual elements of the honeycomb will almost certainly land on every Android device--Tablet PC or a smartphone--at some point in the foreseeable future. The real wild card, I suspect, was probably the panels app mentioned above; those are made to take advantage of screen space expanded tablets and it would be difficult to duplicate on one screen-sized smartphone.
Google Android Road Map: What's Next
Fast-forward to today. During a speech at Mobile World Congress, Google CEO Eric Schmidt was asked about the various versions of Android and where things were headed. His answer was very telling.
"We have an operating system for mobile phones called Gingerbread. We have an OS previewed now for tablets called honeycomb, "said Schmidt. "You can imagine the result will begin with an ' I ', be named after a dessert and combine these two."
So there you have it: paths of Android Tablet PCs and Smartphones, in one form or another, will converge soon. But wait--there's more.
Also at MWC today, HTC announced a series of new Android devices, including a 7-inch tablet that will run a version of gingerbread known as 2.4 Android. Which presumably means that we will see at least one Gingerbread oriented phone more significant issue before the unification "" edition of Android arrives.
For those who keeps with entries, this is not surprising huge; We heard about the possibility of a 2.4 release for some time. Earlier this month, Android blog Phandroid published a rumor that Google was working on a version 2.4 that would bring some of the features of the honeycomb in devices at the gingerbread. A Web site called Pocket-link followed this report with rumors, suggesting that the software 2.4 would be able to run applications designed specifically for honeycomb. The site has also predicted that the issue would arrive in April.
These specifications are, of course, still unconfirmed, but they certainly are starting to gel with everything else that we are listening to. And in case you're wondering, inter alia, that the upcoming Android release "I" is believed to be called Ice Cream Sandwich.
There is another factor in the puzzle of Google operating system: Chrome OS. During his speech MWC reinforced this week, Schmidt what Google said about OS Chrome all along: that software is being targeted at notebook type devices with keyboards. Android is made with phones and tablets in mind. The two are separate entities with different purposes. Schmidt said that the first Chrome OS devices trade should hit the market sometime this spring.
The Xoom, meanwhile, is expected to launch within the next two weeks. Many other tablets of honeycomb are expected to follow.
And this, my friends, is the current state of the road map Google Android. We'll be hearing more details about every twist and turn as time goes on, so stay tuned; World of Android, things never stay quiet for long.
PCWorld JR Raphael is a contributing editor and author of the blog Android. You can find it on Facebook and Twitter.
Since the dawn of computing, there was a cold war between those who manage computer systems and those who attack them.
And never will--at least until now.
Speaking at ShmooCon hacker Conference in Washinton DC, Defense Advanced Research projects Agency (DARPA) project manager Peiter Zatko announced Cyber Fast Track, a new scheme that will build on the skills of "small organisations, shops, spaces for hackers, [and] maker labs" in order to find solutions to computer security.
Zatko is perhaps better known in the circles of hackers from the handle "mudge" and as a lifetime member of the cult of Dead Cow and collective L0pht. created the legendary password cracking tool L0phtCrack and was one of the first to highlight the buffer overflow hack in 1995. In 1998 he said famously a Senate Committee that hackers could break the Internet within 30 minutes.
The nature of government contracting means that cybersecurity projects undertaken by the Department of Defense typically involve millions of dollars and are designed to take years to complete. There is nothing wrong with that, Zatko credits, but thinking more agile you need.
Zatko described what he called "asymmetry" between the ease of malware creation than the solutions used to defend against it; a piece of malware typically involves 125 lines of computer code, he said, and that has remained the same since 1985. However, the latest unified threat management solutions involve approximately 10,000,000 lines of code, having increased by the same type of figures such as malware in 1985.
Associate a value of a dollar for every line of code, it is clear that the creation of defensive solutions is becoming increasingly expensive, complex and time consuming, while the malware is still simple to produce.
Zatko's solution is to harness those within the community of hacking that typically have research to conventions or white hat, but whose work flies under the radar of DARPA. He intends to exploit the teams or individuals employed at the back of short fixed-price contracts for DARPA produce results in months rather than years.
"I went over to the dark side because they need it," Zatko explained in his keynote, referring to its occupation by DARPA and adding later: "I want the Government to amend and change".
So will it work?
To answer the question is necessary to understand what motivates hackers: curiosity, a sense of fun and community. Discover the secrets within software or hardware is a reward in itself, but these secrets to share with other permanent increases among your peers.
Although hackers have had various criticisms leveled at them over the years, few have suggested ever hackers are motivated by money. That kind of thinking is limited to fiction.
Mere pecuniary advantage, however, is not what uses Zatko to motivate his former classmates. He spoke of the creation of "incubators hacker" and clarified that the DoD does not ask any commercial rights of scoperte innovations.
In essence, Zatko wants to sponsor researchers, rather than providing them with rewards if they do well. This is much more in thought with aspirations of typical hacker--always someone to pay the Bills, while you do the things they love. And, in any case, at the end of the process the hacker or group concerned is free to try all the rewards you can get to work.
Zatko simply wants to harness the enormous power of the brain and creativity of the community hacker, and as a former member, he knows exactly what makes him tick. Although his regime will not be in operation for a few months yet, there are signs that could produce results which improve safety for all of us.
You can view the speech of Zatko below on YouTube.
Keir Thomas has made known his opinion on matters of calculation from the last century and more recently has written several best-selling books. You can read more about him at http://keirthomas.com. His Twitter feed is @ keirthomas.
A microblog top in China has blocked searches for Chinese words "Hillary Clinton" and "Hillary", just a day after the United States Secretary of State gave a speech urging Governments to end Internet censorship.
Sina microblog of China, a service similar to Twitter, seemed to be blocking the terms on Thursday morning. "In accordance with the relevant laws, regulations and policies, the results of your search did not show," said the answer on the microblogging site. In China, Government censors strength normally local Web sites to remove the politically sensitive content.
Clinton gave a speech earlier this week, saying that countries like China should address the economic and social costs in the long term that would lead to civil unrest if continued their Internet censorship.
The u.s. Embassy in Beijing has tried to start discussions about Chinese speech using microblogs. But it seems that the seats were taken quickly by Chinese Government censors.
The Embassy of which a declaration made by the United States ' Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, who said, "we are disappointed that some Chinese Web sites have decided to remove the discussion of the speech by Secretary Clinton's Internet freedom from their sites. It is ironic that the Chinese are blocking an online debate on freedom of the Internet ".
The Hillary-censor comes just weeks after Sina and other microblogs in China also began to censor searches for the word "China" Egypt "after anti-Government protests in Middle Eastern country.
China has been restrictive about news and information published on this politically sensitive, in order to prevent the same kind of unrest in the country, said Sir Phelim Kine, a researcher from Asia for New York-based Human Rights Watch.
"We are working diligently to ensure that new types of technology are castrated and controlled," Kine said. "The Chinese Government is keeping a tight lid game on the control and to maintain a facade of harmony, believing that this will be translated and continue that is long-term control".
China currently has the largest Internet population in the world, to 457 million users. But the country has invested in censoring the Web for politically sensitive content and sometimes even blocking entire sites. Facebook and Twitter were either blocked by the Chinese Government in 2009 after ethnic clashes broke out in western Xinjiang region of China. Sites are blocked.
In November, Sina reported that the microblogging service has got more than 50 million users. The user base is expected to reach 100 million users in the first half of 2011.
Sina did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
India has decided to cancel the agreement at issue to lease satellite spectrum of a private company, claiming that needs s-band spectrum for national purposes, including the defence.
A Committee of Cabinet Security decided to cancel the 2005 agreement between Antrix, the commercial arm of space research organization (ISRO) Indian and Devas Multimedia, Minister of India Veerappa Moily, told reporters at a briefing TV in Delhi on Thursday.
The cancellation is done pursuant to the provisions of the agreement, said Moily. He has not explained why ISRO, an agency of the country under the space, which includes the Office of the Prime Minister, had concluded the agreement in the first place.
Deva, Deutsche Telekom as an investor, was not immediately available for comment.
In a statement on Wednesday, the company said that it expects the Government to fulfil all the obligations of the agreement and will take "strong, including legal action," to protect the rights and interests of the company.
Moily has said that if they should go to Court Devas, it would fail.
After media reports and opposition politicians, earlier this month has questioned the proposed leasing spectrum satellite Devas without an auction, the GOI claimed that the agreement with Devas was already under consideration by December 2009. The controller and Auditor General of India (CAG) is reviewing the deal and has asked the Government because the agreement was finalized without competitive bid, according to reports.
Similar issues were raised in November by the GAC on the decision of the Department of telecommunications to allocate spectrum of 2 G mobile operators on a first come first served basis. The Telecommunications Department allegedly favoured some private operators, not following proper procedures, said the GAC. Central Bureau of Investigation of India has arrested a number of people including telecom ex-Minister of the country, r. Raja, in connection with this controversy.
Devas, a startup at Bangalore, was founded in 2004 to establish a national satellite system for delivering applications for rural development, e-Government, emergency communications, remote connectivity and strategic services, according to the website of the company.
The Department of space in 2000 was authorized to enter into commercial agreements with non-governmental users for spare capacity on its satellites, after meeting the requirement of government agencies. Private companies with foreign participation Indian less than 74% were authorized to establish satellite systems, and the Department may contract to build capacity on its satellites that could be used to provide private companies with commercially to spectrum.
Government officials said earlier this month that the space Department had begun a review of the agreement between Antrix and Devas in December 2009 and recommended that it was canceled in July 2010.
The contract had not been resolved yet because it was a complex process, k. Radhakrishnan, Secretary, Department of space, he told reporters at a briefing earlier this month.
Deva said earlier this month that it had proceeded with the project after having obtained the necessary permissions and approvals from government agencies, including the Commission and the Office space of the Union, and the same it has been confirmed by Antrix in February 2006.
Deva also received approvals to foreign direct investment by Foreign Investment Promotion Board of India and is in full compliance with government regulations, the company said.
Having fulfilled all its obligations towards the 2005 agreement, Devas said it now expects delivery of contracted space segment capacity, which was delayed by more than two years.
John Ribeiro covers outsourcing and General technology breaking news from India to the IDG News Service. Follow John on Twitter at @ Johnribeiro. E-mail address of John john_ribeiro@idg.com
Wrapping up a three-day run on jeopardy game show, IBM Watson computer has beaten two former champions in a match against the town of man machine.
Execution has successfully demonstrated not only that a computer can beat humans in a quiz question of curiosity, but, above all, it shows how the computer can answer questions much like people, potentially opening up a new form of human/computer interaction.
In the final episode of game two-and three nights pre-recorded, Watson had saw competition, accumulating US $ 77,147 in winnings over the two Jeopardy champions played, Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings. Rutter scored $ 21,600 and Jennings scored $ 24,000. Watson took the prize sample of 1 million dollars, that IBM will donate to charity.
Managed by Sony Pictures Television, danger is a longtime U.S. television game where three contestants compete to answer questions of curiosity, divided into multiple categories and sorts of difficulties growing. Contestants are given an average of about 5 seconds to answer a question.
Researchers at IBM spent four years building Watson. The machine can process trillions of 80 (teraflops) operations per second. Runs approximately 2800 processor core and has 16 terabytes of memory.
Construction of such a system to play on the danger has proved to be a huge project, a much more challenging to build a supercomputer-play chess, that IBM did in the 1990s.
"It is a very different kind of problem. Chess was very challenging for the time because of mathematics. This was a very different type of program, "said Watson lead manager David Ferrucci, in an IBM viewing party held in New York to show Wednesday. "There's more problem or a space. You are dealing with ambiguity and contextual nature of language. "
On the software side, the machine uses Apache Hadoop distributed file system and the Apache UIMA (unstructured information Management Architecture), a framework for the analysis of unstructured data. Perhaps the most useful software, however, is a program of natural language processing called DeepQA that IBM supports phrase human can understand. This program is Watson what differentiates a typical search engine, which just might return a results list of a set of keywords.
The questions were recruited Watson from the text; It has used speech recognition technology. For these tours, Jeopardy avoided questions involving audio or video snippets. Watson, however, answer questions in a synthesized voice.
To build a body of knowledge for Watson, researchers have accumulated 200 million pages of content, both structured and unstructured, across 4 terabytes of disks. It looks for matches and then uses rules to approximately 6 million euro to determine the best answers. When a query is specified, the software analyzes initially, identifying any names, dates, geographical locations or other entities. In addition, it examines the sentence structure and grammar of the question for hints of what you're asking the question.
The first night of jeopardy game, held on Monday, both man and machine seemed to be on equal footing, with Watson tied with Rutter $ 5,000 and Jennings followed with $ 2000. From Tuesday, however, Watson has started to show muscles: Watson has led the evening with $ 35,734, Rutter followed with $ 10,400 and Jennings towed $ 4800.
On Wednesday, the machine scored well above the man competitors, thanks not only to his immense body of knowledge, but also for algorithms researchers have put in place to make the best bets. To twice daily, one question hidden special where the competitor is allowed to bet any amount of its companies, Watson bet a seemingly arbitrary 2127 $, a number that the public found it funny.
These computerized wages "are seemingly random to us mere mortals," says Ferrucci. "But what is happening in reality is that it is considering its confidence in the category. Also where is considering what is at stake, how far ahead or behind you forward, how much money still can potentially be won or lost. All that adds up to a rather complex calculation. Get the numbers that are optimized for this precision down. "
While Watson performed flawlessly in many cases, it was also capable of flubs also casual Jeopardy watchers could laugh. Show on Tuesday, when asked for the largest airport in the U.S. take a hero of World War II, he responded with Toronto, the name of a Canadian city. Show on Wednesday asking question lost the name of a known reference book, "the elements of style". This question, Watson was inscrutably and confidently replied "Dorothy Parker".
While IBM has no plan for revenge or a version 2 of Watson, Watson mean technology in various fields such as health, where, through a specific body of knowledge, could answer tough questions.
"I think Watson has the potential to transform the way that people interact with computers," said Jennifer Chu-Carroll, an IBM researcher working for the project, told Computerworld. "Watson is a significant step, allowing people to interact with a computer as they would a human being. Watson does not give you a list of documents to go through but offers the user a reply ".
Joab Jackson covers enterprise software and General technology breaking news for the IDG News Service. Follow Joab on Twitter at @ Joab_Jackson. E-mail address of Joab is Joab_Jackson@idg.com
Google CEO Eric Schmidt took the stage at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Tuesday to talk up to Android OS for tablets and phones, in addition to giving nods Chrome, search and YouTube.
Schmidt said that there are 300,000 devices Android enabled daily and 150,000 apps in the Android app store--a number that has tripled in the last nine months. Developers now start with mobile applications because that is where the growth is, he added, saying that sales of smartphones exceeded sales of PC last quarter.
There are a number of trends at work, Schmidt said: cloud computing, that was present for a long period; the fact that the devices are packing in more and more power; and the fact that the networks are increasingly powerful. About 98 percent of mobile phone operators offer speed of megabytes per second, he said. What is important to LTE, the latest technology for mobile broadband, you will create the opportunity for another set of applications that we can only imagine, Schmidt said.
One of these new applications Android demonstrated by a Google employee on stage is Movie Studio, an application built for tablets that allows users to edit videos. The demo showed how a user can drag a title to an image and also reorder items in the timeline of the video by dragging and dropping. You can also add a pan and zoom effect, and by pinching two fingers can zoom video in photo.
Schmidt said that the growing penetration of mobile phones offers hope to communicate with people around the world that are currently not connected online and solve some of the world's biggest problems, including terrorism and global warming.
Refer to competitor Google in the browser war, Schmidt said that there are 120 million active users of chrome.
Meanwhile, the YouTube video site of the company remains a force to be reckoned with: Schmidt said that 35 hours of video is uploaded every minute for the site. Its revenue doubled in 2010, he said, and Google is monetizing the professional content.
Schmidt has refused to be drawn on a question from the audience on Android fragmentation, a concern for some developers.
Intel will be 4,000 workers in the United States, this year, primarily in product development, research and development, the company said Friday.
The company seeks to become "highly qualified employees, permanent", Intel CEO Paul Otellini said during a speech in Hillsboro, Oregon, where the President of the United States Barack Obama toured a factory the microprocessor. Intel currently has about 82,000 employees.
Obama is currently visiting the West Coast as part of an effort to promote innovation for maintaining U.S. competitiveness. Obama met with top leaders that IT companies, including Apple's CEO Steve Jobs and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg, as part of the tour.
"These new employees will focus on areas that extend the exploration of new materials to create even smaller transistors, products that we believe will transform the way that health and education are delivered, ' future technologies ' involving augmented reality and computer that can read minds, or at least to anticipate the needs," said Otellini.
Intel also announced that it would invest approximately $ 5 billion to build a chip factory in Chandler, Arizona. The plant will be dedicated to making chips for PC, consumer electronics and mobile devices, Intel said in a statement. Construction of the factory will begin in the middle of this year and should be completed in 2013, Intel said.
The commitment of $ 5 billion is in addition to Intel's investment of between $ 6 billion and $ 8 billion for the manufacture of new chip for PCs, smart phones, consumer electronics and devices, such as the company announced in October of last year. These funds will go towards the construction of a facility in Oregon and upgrading the factories to make chips using the new process of 22 nanometers. These chips would be faster and more power-efficient PC chips current society without using the 32 nm process.
Intel at the time said the investment of 6 billion to 8 billion dollars would help create about the construction of 6000 to 8000 in the United States during construction and finally would manufacture highly qualified and high wage 1000 jobs.
We already know that the CDMA (Verizon) and iPhones GSM (AT&T and international) are ever-so-slightly different physically and internally-but just how different are the two iPhones in terms of actual use, the real world?
Wednesday, Apple has posted a new document support with the iPhone catchy title: understand the features of the phone. As it turns out, several features rather trivial phone works differently, depending on whether you are using an iPhone GSM or CDMA one.
GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) are two competing cellular network standard. In the United States both Verizon and Sprint largely use CDMA based networks, with AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM. Internationally, the GSM is much more mundane, visible only with CDMA uses a handful of countries.
Because the two different network protocols, some calling features are activated differently on two phones. On an iPhone GSM, to activate call forwarding, call waiting and caller ID or out, open the application settings, tap the phone and then adjust the appropriate control. Change these settings themselves on a CDMA phone, however, requires special dialing codes-* 72 * 70, * 67, respectively. And to disable call waiting or caller ID (outbound), you need to dial these codes are unique for every time you make a call.
New Apple document also highlights the differences between how the two phones handle Conference calls. IPhone GSM can support up to five simultaneous calls, while CDMA iPhones top off two simultaneous calls. The document also directs the CDMA iPhone owners for the iPhone User Guide, which sets out additional limitations in the implementation of CDMA of Conference calls: calls cannot be merged if the second call is coming, and you cannot switch between calls if the second call was outgoing — although, in this case, you can merge the calls. And on CDMA iPhones, if at the end the second call or the call together, both calls are terminated. These limitations of the Conference call are endemic to all mobile phones CDMA Verizon, not just the iPhone.
Another difference highlighted in the document knowledge base of Apple is the way to manage the two phones pause-a feature that might be necessary if, for example, are the composition in an automated phone system. Soft breaks work identically: tap and hold the * (asterisk) while its composition; When you change the number of a contact, you tap the + key # and then pause. But if you want to call a hard pause-one where the remaining digits are not made until you select Dial a second option only long-yours is an iPhone GSM CDMA, because iPhones don't support tough breaks at all. To activate the pause lasts about a CDMA iPhone, hold, or tap dialing submited that + * button and then choose standby when you change the number of the contact.
If you like putting callers on hold-instead of simply muting the end of the call-you need an iPhone GSM. (Tap and hold down the Mute button on the screen while on a call to trigger Hold). CDMA networks do not support this functionality.
Apple also recognizes that CDMA iPhones in the document may have problems in some cases, when you try to dial phone numbers that contain alphabetic characters if they exceed the limit of ten digits, normal. The only solution is to manually edit the numbers as needed.
So why all these differences? As Verizon once advertised, "is the network." While the two network technologies to achieve the same end result — that is, make your phone work-they do it in ways quite different behind the scenes. Networks CDMA packet data calls-your voice and your Internet usage-very different from GSM phones. These differences caller, very similar to the fact that CDMA phones do not support the use of data simultaneously while on the phone, simply are related to differences in the composition of networks themselves fundamental techniques.
If these differences caller should influence your decision about whether to go with AT&T or Verizon for your next iPhone is ultimately a personal decision. Of course, if you're already accustomed to the limitations of a network, you don't need to worry about using iPhone on it; differences in which Apple describes the new document are really true for all phones to Verizon and AT&T, not just the iPhone. If you are considering a network switch, make sure you don't miss a feature that you rely on, like 5-way Conference calls.
Presumably, neither Apple nor its customers-and probably not even Verizon-I'm happy with some of the limitations of CDMA networks. It is difficult to say which of these three entities-Apple, Verizon or consumers-is more eager to Verizon upgrade for next-generation LTE standard, which should eliminate most of these frustrations.
It is no longer eHow appease the gods.So far, Google has been reluctant to directly block or demote from companies such as AOL, Yahoo, Associated Content and Media request of eHow, push out articles produced cheap, intended mainly to appease the Google search algorithms. But now they're giving the banhammer for users with a chrome extension.
My Blocklist lets you lock the entire web domains from Google searches. You aren't even; technically limited to content farms, the option to lock a domain is displayed next to each search result.
Google does not hide the fact that it's researching and crowdsourcing. If you use the extension and block a site, Google collects such information, "will examine the resulting feedback and explore using it as a sign of potential ranking for our search results." In other words, if enough people block Associated Content or eHow, Google can lower the PageRanks of those domains.
Associated Content is like the Associated Press but with more spam.This is a big step for Google, a company that usually is quite secretive about how it treats the individual Web sites. In essence, the company is asking for power users to help you understand which sites should be downgraded in PageRank. Strikes me as oddly democratic, but give the search giant a layer of impartiality when determining how to deal with individual sites.
This is also a move to advertising. While Google insists that search results are generally less spammy than it used to be, the company has taken some heat lately the rise of content farms. Google has been quite vocal in defending its quality research (and questioning the integrity of the rival Bing), and releasing the extension is another way to show that you be proactive. Google certainly does not want the perception among fans of technology that the search is stopped, because only they could bring more competition and disturbances.
But perhaps it is already too late, and that is why we are witnessing a measure such unusual and desperate.
Apple faces antitrust little threat, the new App Store rules that require content sellers to hand over 30% of their revenue, a legal expert said today.
"It would be a steep uphill, uphill," said Hillard Sterling, an antitrust lawyer and partner with the law firm headquartered in Chicago Freeborn & Peters. "The challengers would show that Apple has foreclosed the market competition."But there are a lot of platforms where publishers can offer their products outside the App Store. "
On Tuesday, Apple unveiled its subscription model for App Store developers and confirmed that it will take 30% of revenues from all content sold within applications. The change also requires that current apps delete links to external purchasing options by 30 June.
The new model affects more newspaper and magazine publishers--who are eager to offer subscriptions to the owners of iPhone and iPad--but also mandates changes long overdue apps like Amazon Kindle. It will be necessary to remove access inside-the-app for bookseller e-Store and offer the same prices for purchases made in-app as it does for e-books purchased through its Web site.
Almost immediately, the questions have been raised about possible antitrust actions against Apple. But Sterling is a dead-end.
"Apple's Conduct, while excluding, not anti-competitive," said Sterling. "An axiom consecrated in antitrust is that it has meant to protect competition, not competitors".
To make an antitrust case, plaintiffs would have to demonstrate that the new App Store rules preventing companies to sell their content, said Sterling.
"And that's not an effort. Can offer their products through alternatives, such as the Google Android market, "said Sterling.
Wednesday, Google announced a Pass, your subscription plan for Android applications created by the publishers of newspapers and magazines. A Pass will imitate Apple model in some ways but reported only a withdrawal fee 10% revenue sharing for developers.
A possible defense Apple would add the difficulties for developers thinking of suing Apple, or Government regulators are considering legal action.
"Apple can probably create a plausible technical explanation for its rules," said Sterling. "Perhaps we should say that the products must be properly encoded to operate through the App Store to minimize the technical vulnerability."
Yesterday, Apple does not mention this defence for its new rules, arguing instead that in-app purchases will be more convenient for customers and offer publishers "a brand new opportunity to expand access to their digital content."
For all the obstacles facing antitrust effort against Apple, Sterling believes that the company could be pressed by regulators to change the terms of the App Store. Apple has addressed the U.S. Government's control before, both in 2009, when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) started an inquiry into Apple's rejection of Google Voice app for iPhone and last year, when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asked Apple intends to prohibit all applications created with cross-platform development tools.
Apple caved to pressure in both cases at the end giving Google the green light and the Elimination of the prohibition of tools.
"[The Government regulators] may decide to pass, that as a practical matter, can make a judge [in any antitrust case] be more inclined to moderate the rules App Store and host the competing products," said Sterling. ' But so far, the Government adopted a cautious approach--rattle the Sabre and convince companies to reach an accommodation--rather than start a lawsuit imprudent that wastes time and money.
If the Department of Justice, or another federal agency takes this approach, Sterling provides that "cooler heads will prevail," that means Apple would probably back off its current position if pushed.
Even so, it is likely that these concerns do not disappear.
"We'll see more of this, what with new markets such as mobile phones and tablets and with the lines Blurring between partner and competitor," said Sterling.
Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and General technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @ gkeizer or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed. His e-mail address is gkeizer@computerworld.com.
To learn more about drm and legal issues of Computerworld DRM and legal issues topic Center.
Countries that continue to censor Internet addressing economic and social costs in the long term, with oppression bringing civil unrest and not security, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday.
Although some countries, including China, now are growing economically while censoring the Internet, that growth is not sustainable, Clinton said during a speech on Internet freedom at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Clinton called on Governments in China, Iran, Viet Nam, Burma and elsewhere to end censorship on the Internet while pointing at recent attempts at censorship in Egypt and Tunisia which failed.
Countries will not be able to keep the divisions which separate economic activities on the Internet from social activities, religious or political, Clinton said. Some countries have tried to achieve the economic benefits of the Internet while blocking other tasks, he said.
"The walls that divide the Internet, blocking the policy content, or banning broad categories of expression or allow some forms of peaceful assembly, but not in others, or intimidate people to express their ideas are much easier to erect than to maintain," he said. "There is an economic and social Internet Internet and a politician of the Internet. There is just the Internet ".
Attempts to censor the Internet while reaping the economic benefits will cost "moral, political and economic" that are not sustainable in the long term, he added. "There are opportunity costs to try to be open for business but closed to free expression, the costs of the education system of a nation, its political stability, social mobility and its economic potential," said Clinton. "When countries restrict the freedom of the Internet, have put limits on their economic future."
Speech Clinton Tuesday is his second major address on Internet freedom. In January 2010, announced several new initiatives of the State Department for the fight against Internet censorship.
The Chinese Government has criticized his first speech and denied that it restricted the freedom of the Internet.
Clinton China repeatedly mentioned during the keynote address on Tuesday. Some observers have noted that China's economy is growing while the country's Internet censorship, he said.
But Internet restrictions will have "long-term costs that threaten a day to become a noose that restrains the growth and development," he said.
Countries to censor the Internet should look at recent events in Egypt and Tunisia, Clinton added. In Tunisia, the Internet has provided economic connections in Europe, while censorship was "on a par with China and Iran," he said.
"The effort to divide the Internet economy by Internet all-else it might not be supported," he said. "Young people--especially--found ways to use technology connections to organize and Share grievances, which as we know, have contributed to a movement that led to revolutionary change of fuel".
Businesses should be wary of operating in countries with heavy Internet censorship schemes, said Clinton.
"If you invest in countries with aggressive censorship and surveillance policies, you may close your website without notice, from government servers hacked, your designs are stolen, or your staff threatened with arrest or expelled for failure to comply with an order politically motivated," he said. "Risks to your bottom line and its integrity, at some point, will exceed the potential rewards, especially if there are market opportunities elsewhere."
Grant Gross covers technology and telecommunications policy in the Government of the United States for the IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. E-mail address is grant_gross@idg.com of Grant.
As firms adopt more and more compressed, Intel wants to bring these devices under control by implementing security and remote management of hardware and software, the company said this week.
Intel is hoping to add some features have been found in its VPro platform in remote organizations can protect their data and support for mobile devices such as tablets, said Lisa Watts, Director of ecosystem development for Intel business client platform Division. The VPro platform combines hardware and software to manage and protect your PC via wired and wireless networks and is currently only available for PC and some low-end servers.
As Apple iPad tablets are used in enterprises for activities which include voice communication and visualization of business documents. IT managers want to bring consistency as they manage and secure your mobile devices, said Watts. The company has gotten many requests for feature of VPro companion devices beyond just PCs, said Watts.
Disabling remote mobile devices in most cases involves deleting the data, but Intel wants to offer technology that could remotely disable devices, preserving the data.
"We are trying to make that balance between data security and the device itself and" can I have a fair middle ground there where I don't have to lose all the information. " I think you'll see that when we come down the line, "said Watts.
Intel this week introduced a version of VPro platform for PC, which includes the anti-theft technology which allows managers to remotely disable lost or stolen PC by sending a text message. Laptop won't start after the text is sent, but the data on the storage PC to remain intact. Users can turn on the laptop through a code provided by the IT Department. Data remains secure if the unit of storage is encrypted. In the previous release, vPro, laptops were disabled only via Wi-Fi and wired networks.
Anti-theft feature VPro platform also includes GPS technology, which allows laptops to be tracked. The function also helps set limits so portable can be kept within specific limits.
Anti-theft technology is one of the features that could be seen in the security and remote management platforms for mobile devices, which are still in the early stages of development, said Watts. Intel is considering 12 different usage patterns that could lead the design of this platform.
"We've gotten many requests for feature ... in additional devices," said Watts. "It is definitely take a look at how the companion devices compatible with a machine VPro also as a first step [which] is very interesting for us."
The new VPro platform uses a specific engine chip to help support and provision of software remotely. The VPro platform helps reduce support costs by reducing the number of visits to the PC support.
A feature called Remote KVM (keyboard-Video-Mouse) helps to establish a stable connection to remote PC troubleshooting. Sysadmins preboot access systems, which helps to solve problems including disk and OS failure. The VPro platform leverages the Core i7 chips based on the new Sandy Bridge microarchitecture for encryption faster and better graphics over KVM sessions and recently released Core i5.
Intel has also improved security in the new VPro platform. Intel has integrated a level of security on its VPro chipsets and is working with Symantec to bring identity theft protection for users who log into websites based on multi-factor authentication, such as online banking. Through the browser, a Web site collects information about the token stored inside the chipset on the first level of authentication, leaving users to only enter your user name and password.
Intel is looking to compete in the burgeoning Tablet market, where it trails ARM, where processors are used in most tablets. But some tablets of business, such as Hewlett-Packard's slate 500 and upcoming Cisco CIUS, are based on Intel low power Atom.
The PayPal Developer program and eBay will be merged in order to establish a common platform that will allow external programmers to create applications with features of both e-commerce and payment for a wide range of devices.
"Trade online and offline are converging in a ' new retail experience, powered by innovation, mobile, digital, social and local. In this new environment, people want a seamless shopping and integrated payments solution and that works anytime, anywhere--on any connected device, "Matthew Mengerink, who will lead the combined developer program, wrote in a blog post.
Mengerink did not provide specific details about the process of combining programs and platforms, but said more details will be forthcoming and that eBay will hold a single developer conference this year, innovate, in October.
Developer programs provide a variety of tools and resources for third-party programmers create applications complementary to PayPal and eBay merchants. Over the years, eBay, which owns PayPal, said that these external programmers are the key to the success of your eBay and PayPal online payment system.
Gartner analyst Ray Valdes has said there are two ways to view the decision to merge the developer programs.
"The first is that it is optimizing costs and consolidation, join a community of developers two fashion uncomfortable with different needs," said via e-mail.
The other possibility is that the combination is "synergy" and an opportunity to inexpensively through a wide-ranging, integrated in uppercase.
"I think there's a kernel of truth in both interpretations, and the final result depends on how well the team combined running," says Valdes.
The news comes just weeks after Osama Bedier left his post as head of PayPal Developer team to take a job at Google. Mengerink was appointed as his successor.
Last year, PayPal has taken a bigger profile in the financial framework of eBay, driving a lot of growth of the company, while the revenue from core business marketplace eBay seems stuck on a plateau.
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We've been watching Apple innovate for 35-years. Most recently we've seen it transform the music industry, change the phone industry and reinvent the PC industry with the iPad. This year we're looking at iPhone 5 as wallets, iTunes music streaming, the iPad 2.0 and much, much more. Has Apple moved so far ahead of the pack that innovation isn't necessary anymore? Is it the end of invention?
Think about it, within the next few weeks and months, Apple's much-improved camera-toting iPad 2.0 will be available, as will the four-inch screen iPhone 5 with its payment-making features. In the US, Apple folk will be using cloud-based iTunes services. There will be an iPhone nano and there'll be a whole new world of integration for iOS and OS X users worldwide. Where can Apple innovate next?
Change agents
Think about cellphones. Cast your mind back to the cellphone you used in 2007 and take a look at the one you're using now: Android, iOS, Windows, RIM or webOS, whatever device you carry in your pocket now is probably a quantum leap away from what you used then. Even the most ordinary phones are looking a little smarter -- though the ill-fated Nokia capitulation to Microsoft should put paid to that.
[This story is from Computerworld's Apple Holic blog. Follow on Twitter or subscribe via RSS to make sure you don't miss a beat.]
Compare what we have today to what we had in the 1990's. Then we had the Internet, culminating in the iMac. Today we carry a single device (our phone) which can:
Access all the Internet's knowledgeKeep us connected via SMS, email, Facebook, Twitter and that horribly invasive Instant MessagingHelp us with tasks using any one of thousands of different 'apps for that'Listen to music, watch video and live TVCreate and edit music, video and film (clips below).Talk to friends, check maps, get reminders, and much more
How does Apple follow that?
Above: Damon Albarn/Gorillaz recorded the track above on an iPad
Me dot com
Back in 2006 I wrote, "The idea of a user's Home identity being carried on a future iPod is gaining some currency, but I don't believe that goes far enough. I want [.Mac, now MobileMe] to be an online home for my entire user identity. I want to see all my documents, emails, applications, images, movies - all of it - securely hosted online." (There's still work to do on that service).
This was in the days before the iPhone -- well, technically there had been two Apple phones at this point, one the ill-fated Motorola iTunes ROKR phone, the other a super-secret Apple project that was shelved at the eleventh hour -- in any case, notions of a thin platform connected device are moving from dreamtime to reality.
iPhone 5 is coming. With it we'll begin using our phones to pay for things at shops. we'll be using it as a tickets for live events, as a boarding pass, a travelcard, wallet and, eventually, as proof of identity.
Coming soon
iTunes music streaming will launch in mid-summer (ie. It will help boost interest in the iPhone). Given Apple has only one data center (albeit a huge one in North Carolina) I predict the company will launch iTunes music streaming in the US first, rolling it out to other territories as it secures clearances from copyright holders and invests in infrastructure to support its services.
We imagine the iPhone nano will land as part of the iPod refresh in September. Will there be an iPod left after that launch? Will Apple abandon the iPod classic, which remains the fifth most popular personal media player? The iPhone nano will not be called the iPhone nano, of course, it's an iPod "with the best of iOS added to it, so of course, it's also a phone," the company will trill.
Above: Trailer for acclaimed director Park Chan-Wook's iPhon-filmed 'Night Fishing' short movie.
Underpinning all of this is Mac OS X. This will see elements of iOS added to it this year. These will likely include the obvious, notifications, iTunes streaming support, and the not so obvious, more touch-enhanced gesture controls, voice calls via Mac (FaceTime, anyone) and so on.
MobileMe will see improvement. We learned this weekend that Apple will offer the service for free and offer more storage and a host of useful Mac/MobileMe integration options. It is no major speculative leap to predict that MobileMe/iOS integration will also see significant improvement. The stage is set for that very same thin client Mac on any device experience I asked for in 2006.
The Apple planet
So where next? What's missing? Apple CEO Steve Jobs famously rejects focus group discussions. "It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them," he told BusinessWeek in 1998.
This year Apple will be offering an always-connected, completely integrated personal ecosystem which combines all the best elements of desktop and mobile computing through the aegis of the Cupertino cloud.
From 2011 every being on this planet (at least, each and every one in a position to purchase the requisite Apple-branded products) will be in position to carry all their data, productivity projects and more with them anywhere, access them from anywhere, and edit and make changes to their own data using any chosen Apple device.
In future I can imagine we'll see Back to My Mac improve to the point that an iPhone or iPad user will be able to remotely access their home computer, launch applications and make changes remotely, with a full-screen view (like iChat desktop sharing). It will be a step toward software-as service. None of this is new, of course, but this will be the first fully consumer-friendly implementation.
At the center of that statement is a world of work. It has taken Apple 35 long years to get to the point at which it can offer such stunningly complex solutions with such stunning simplicity.
Artists of digital design
Apple chief designer Jonathan Ive said a long time ago, "Simplicity speaks of the care of how our products are developed. It's not obvious how hard it was.
"We try to solve very complicated problems without letting people know how complicated the problem was."
Innovation is a love that dare not speak its own name. It isn't just about the features you see up-front -- that is 'just' the user interface -- it is also about the insanely complex technologies underlying those features. And their simple expression.
Above: Apple's iPhone 4 ad. It has Jony Ive at the beginning.
Consider the complexity that went into the myriad decisions that drove development of the A4 (and soon A5) processor. Or the equally complex issues of supply chain management, or the frustrating yet challenging complexities of reaching deals to enable cloud-based music services, or the many, many decisions that stand behind even one line of code within iOS, or OS X.
These matters are all dealt with by different teams at Apple, usually working in isolation from the big idea, but each team contributes an element to the grand design. In its way, each team are artists, contributing finesse and style to their own piece of the jigsaw.
Imagining a future
Design is everything -- it isn't just the look of the device, it is the feel of the device, the build quality, the inherent capabilities of the gadget, everything. Apple does this. You can expect it. You can't expect this from the fragmented Android market. You don't expect it from Microsoft, or Nokia.
Take the MacBook Air. We already know this will eventually become Apple's de facto standard notebook offering. We also understand that desktop computers will become ever-more ambient, objects whose inherent beauty gives them an aesthetic as well as a practical function for your office or home.
We know the OS will be ever-simplified and ever more powerful. We know processors will improve and code will be streamlined for the mobile age. Perhaps one day code will go backwards, and we'll see more calls on system and component functions, leading to further trimming of the need for extensive application code.
Under acting CEO Tim Cook's watch, we can expect Apple's focus to change a little. Apple will focus on protecting its existing markets, aggressively using every last iota of its power and supply chain management experience to defeat competitors. Cook will consolidate everything that Apple has gained so far.
What will be the next great idea?
Life after Macintosh
I think the next step will be to remove the Mac.
Hear me out. I'm not saying the Mac is dead. Macs will still be there for those who want them. Macs are selling in bigger numbers than ever before. But just think on this, with all our data held in the cloud for ease of access from a multitude of devices and all our Apps increasingly moving to a model in which they run on all our devices the notion that we'll eventually access Apps on a service model is no big stretch. And the next step after that is to lose the computer completely...
We'll be accessing our data in the cloud and accessing our applications remotely. We're already accustomed to one computer with several user accounts servicing different people in our homes.
We'll find ourselves making ever less use of our Macs. We'll end up asking, "Why do I need a computer at all"?
That's when Apple or some other enterprising firm will offer up a computing on-demand service. You'll pay for the time and processing cycles you need, you'll pay for use of powerful applications. You won't own a computer, you'll own your Apple-hosted Home folder, and your iDevice will run all the Apps you need. (Larry Ellison must be pleased).
What's in the way?
As with NFC-based payment systems, the challenge now will be security. Without huge innovations in security, no one is going to trust Apple with all their data, all their user identification details, all their music, movies and projects, all their digital everything. Security is essential.
This is why security firms are warning Mac users to take steps to be a little more security conscious.
Security has never been sexy. It just isn't. Unless you are fond of men in uniforms. Some people are. Most are not. Security is a shadowy world of white hats and black hats and Anonymous and known. Security is a fact of life that no one likes. Security, like back-up, is a problem everyone has and no one wants to understand.
Security must be sexy
Apple's next step will be to make security sexy. It must. Because the future connected-planet needs security to be over 100 percent before it is born. The company has already begun. Last month it appointed former National Security Agency analyst and author David Rice as its global director of security. Security is the biggest challenge Apple faces as it moves to define the future of technology in modern living. Security is the new frontier.
What do you think? Where can Apple make security sexy? Can the company continue to lead the industry, or will it take time to consolidate what it has gained so far? Let me know your thoughts on this in comments below and if you'd like please follow me on Twitter so I can ping you as I post new articles here first on Computerworld.
While the announcement of Apple subscriptions coming to iOS the App Store was certainly the main news from Cupertino on Tuesday, Apple has also released a small update to its Web publishing software to iWeb.
iWeb 3.0.3 contains bug fixes and improvements "and Apple calls specifically the following changes:
* Fixes a problem when you use the iSight movie widget on some Mac
* Fixes a problem with publish iWeb sites through FTP
Improves compatibility with Mac OS X
Upgrading heavy (185.9 MB on my Mac Pro) is available now via the Apple website or through a mechanism of OS X Software Update (Apple iWeb not selling on the App Store).
Development of iWeb has slowed to a crawl in recent years. You may remember that when iLife ' 11 was published in October 2010, iWeb was one of two applications that Apple doesn't rev suite updated (iDVD hasn't been updated by the iLife ' 08 Back in 2007).
In the early days of CRM, was simple: people were people and companies were companies. Adding a new person to CRM database was quite clear, if they came in by direct input or through integration through the clouds.
Two forces have mucked this. CRM systems has gotten more sophisticated, creating leads to integrate contacts. Just to spice up things, some systems, CRM created the notion of a person for B2C use cases. Then the boys Sell incited the pot by saying which leads were opportunities really early stage or even accounts ... Although these objects must be kept separate in any CRM system. And for fun, they added the template named account, which makes most cables in contacts, even though we would call those same people leads to a standard sales model.
So now the rules of how to incorporate new people in CRM records are about as simple as the rules for a game of Fizzbin (Google it).
Contact leaded vs
Going back to the basics, you might ask "why do we even need port anyway--why not just make everyone a contact?" In fact, there are situations where this is exactly the right (and of course, other) where is exactly wrong. As a generality, port is people who just know (aside from some level of interest), and the contacts are people we've talked about and know a lot. Typically, leads cannot be attached to the accounts, but must be contacts.
Port have some special properties in CRM systems, most notably: (1) the system assigns to representations by using rules and (2) that can be owned by a queue--not just by an individual. Both of these features are really valuable if you have a lead nurturing Group (often called telesales or telemarketing, inside sales).
If you are a pure B2B lead with no nourishment and a pure group named account model (for example, in/aerospace), well you might be able to lose the table leads. Each is essentially a contact because you're only interested in employees of your named accounts (which are precompiled in the system).
In most B2B companies, however, even if you don't have a group of nurturing it cannot blow away the lead. Marketing systems from other clouds (like Google Adwords, email blasters, drip marketing and social networking tools) almost always work on the subject of lead. These integrations with cloud CRM system may not allow you to use a contact object.
Also, if you are a B2C shop and the use of person-conti, really sorry you get rid of the cables.
Person vs. accounts
In B2C world, customers are individuals. Even if they are part of a company, they are not treated in this way. This problem is increasingly common with companies doing e-commerce and by accepting credit cards: each purchase is made by John Doe, the credit card holder, and there is no real account to pin him. In some systems, you handle this by giving the company called "individual" on all those contacts.
The person-account has been developed to facilitate this, using a hybrid object that has the characteristics of a contact and an account. When viewing a person, there is essentially a contact: there is only the account. So when you enter new contacts in CRM system, if you use the account of the person you are inserting actually accounts. If you're not careful, this is going to go over very well with people in accounting.
So for the B2C CRM systems, lLeads are really important as a way of storing information Handbook without creating bogus accounts.
So what is the paradigm?
The exact rules for which object to use when inserting new people into your CRM system "will depend on the specifics of your business process lead management. But the General model will be along these lines:
• Identify first, if the person works for one of your named accounts. (Note that doing a fuzzy match against all the different divisions of a company like The Walt Disney Company that can make it very research). If so, you can put the person as a contact associated with that account.
• Identify later, if the person works for one of your accounts. Depending on your business rules, or add the person as a contact is connected to your account or just a lead.
• Identify later, if the person is an individual. If you need to make an immediate transaction with them, place them as a person-account. Otherwise, enter them as a lead.
• What remains should be treated as a lead, but a hierarchy of routing and scoring rules to be applied. First, apply rules only to geographical level "what country." Then apply rules for Government and industry of the country (e.g., national Governments and departments of defence properly, go to the territory specified industries are directed to the appropriate management team partners). And finally, geographical local rules are used to assign the port to the territory of the relevant partner or sales. If there is insufficient information on a particular lead to use geographic rules, assign the new records to a generic queue.
To avoid damage to the database, any source of leads or contacts--a simple lead flow or an external cloud--must follow these rules before inserting new records of perspective. Fizzbin, indeed.
David Taber is the author of Prentice Hall's new book, "Salesforce.com secrets of success" and the CEO of SalesLogistix, a consulting company from Salesforce.com certified focused on improving business processes through the use of CRM systems. SalesLogistix customers in North America, Europe, Israel and India, and David has over 25 years experience in high tech, including 10 years at VP level or above.
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I had a close up look at the new HTC Flyer HTC tablet at an event here at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
HTC wouldn't let anybody touch the new tablet today, but a rep gave me a close up demo and showed me what I wanted to see. I liked what I saw. You can see a demo that the embedded video.
The tablet device is smaller than the size of a Galaxy Samsung than an iPad. The screen is 7 inches across. It's also lightweight, weighs only 530 grams lighter than all other tablets of new that I saw at the show. For me, the size of the flyer and its seven-inch screen looks right. But this is a matter of taste.
Hands on with the HTC flyer
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The Flyer has a nice body, satin and tapering to the edge, which makes the device seem even smaller. The card, on the contrary, has squared edges.
But as more Android tablets came out, it's getting harder and harder for Tablet PC makers differentiate their products from others in the market. The main point of differentiation so far seems to be the size of the device--this may only last as long as they appear in tablets of all shapes and sizes. But HTC has done some stuff with the UI of Android that I had not seen on other tablets.
As you'll see in the video, HTC has built a special version of the Tablet his sense UI on top of OS Gingerbread (2.4) for Android. Turns the gingerbread interface looks pretty flat in a 3D environment with a lot of movement. For example, the application time shows a beautiful shot of clouds floating by. When scrolling through book titles in the app, it seems that you are running a virtual cube with books on every surface.
HTC reaches back to yesteryear by including a stylus pen with the Flyer. Don't worry, it is not necessary to operate the device. The pen is primarily used in the Application Notes: you can draw out ideas Blackboard style-and talk, while you're doing-and the app keeps track of everything that happens. Or you can just back up the whole thing for Evernote.
You can also use the stylus to make comments on web pages or e-books and share them with your friends. Pretty cool.
The tablet will be available in the second quarter of this year, and wireless carriers in the United States will make their ads the latest pricing and release dates.
The GSMA will recommend that operators to join a program that allows mobile subscribers to report spam using SMS short codes in an attempt to gather more data on a growing nuisance.
The GSMA along with his partner Cloudmark, which makes software for messaging security for operators, has completed a trial in December an SMS spam reporting system which analyzed SMS and aggregated reporting of abuse. AT&T, Bell Mobility, KT (Korea Telecom), SFR, Sprint, Vodafone and the Agency of Internet Security & Korean participated in the pilot.
Users may submit suspected spam using the short code "9,512," which spells spam numerically, said Alan Ranger, vice president for mobile marketing of Cloudmark.
"A lot of people felt really don't have a spam problem, but when we arrived, we found that it was quite serious," said Ranger.
The volume of spam was relatively low, but the attacks have shown a high enough level of sophistication. Most attacks were financially motivated, with other direct users to malicious Web sites, adult content or were simply for legitimate businesses, Ranger, he said.
For example, a scam was a series of messages that a user has informed that someone has had a crush them. If a person has answered, it would sign them for an alleged dating service billed to US $ 60 a month through the vector of person.
SMS spammers often Buy a lot of prepaid SIM cards and send messages until the balance is fully depleted. The problem has gotten so bad in China that most of the SIM cards are only allowed to send 1000 SMS, Ranger, he said.
Some of the worst locale for SMS spam are China and South Korea. A Chinese mobile user can get upwards of 30 spam SMS per day, while those in South Korea report thousands of spam SMS per day.
With the reporting service, spam is forwarded to the operator, who then passes the message to cloud-based system that identifies and Cloudmark blocks suspicious messages. Cloudmark will manage and sell spam reporting service, said Ranger.
"We are hoping to get as many of the networks worldwide, signed it," said Ranger. "At the moment when [users] they see spam, don't know what to do with it. In some countries have phone up the operator, which is the last thing a trader wants. "
Send news tips and comments to jeremy_kirk@idg.com
Mobile operators including China Mobile, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone have launched a new initiative to promote the network technology (fourth generation) 4 G LTE TDD as a global standard.
TDD LTE (Long Term Evolution Time Division duplexing), also known as TD-LTE in China, is one of two variants of LTE, which both offer higher data speeds than to networks 3 G (third generation) today. With TDD, operators can optimize their network to allow more ability to download more for arrivals, for example. The other variant, FDD (frequency division duplexing), networks usually must allocate the same bandwidth for downloads for uploads.
Supporters of TDD kicked out of their own this week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Other funders include Japanese Softbank Mobile, Clearwire and the Germany E-Plus.
China Mobile, the largest mobile carrier in the country to 584 million customers, was the main supporter of TD-LTE. At the same time, China's Government has already started the large-scale testing of technologies and is researching the development of commercial equipment to the networks of TD-LTE.
But TDD LTE interest grew among other mobile operators elsewhere, analysts and vendors of network equipment. Wednesday, China's ZTE said assured 18 contracts to build LTE TDD networks and commercial trial in Europe, former Soviet republics and Asia.
The initiative has just announced it intended to develop the "ecosystem" for LTE TDD and promote it. This could lead to faster development of low cost LTE TDD phones, as well as the promotion of a community of developers to build applications and content for these devices, they say its promoters.
The initiative runs counter to the way China Mobile deployed its 3 G network, said CW Cheung, Director, research firm Ovum consulting. China Mobile uses a standard 3 G called TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access), which is a homegrown technology supported by the Government of China. The standard TD-SCDMA is used only in China and was developed as a way to reduce dependence on foreign technology.
But his promotion was a challenge for China Mobile, because the technology is not used at world level. Many of the most popular smartphones like the iPhone cannot be used on a TD-SCDMA network and instead should have been redesigned to work on it.
This new initiative, however, is "an important milestone," passing by the Chinese Government and China Mobile distribution technology LTE TDD, Cheung said: "They're now not only focusing on technologies and standards, but more about ecosystem development, partnership, public relationship."
The initiative also aims to promote convergence of LTE TDD with LTE FDD. Carriers have expressed interest in using both standards on their 4 G networks as a way to maximize their capabilities.
Rumors that Apple is tinkering with one or more lightweight, low-cost versions of iPhone have been quite persistent in recent days--so persistent that they're becoming harder to dismiss.
At first glance, it is similar to Rolex launches a line of low cost of casual clothing-leather strap watches of JC Penney: just doesn't seem prudent move by a company that has built its reputation on selling high quality products at a high price, rather than good stuff at a good price. But then the reality of increasing competition combined from rival smartphone makers and growing demand for mobile consumers from around the world might just make a cheap iPhone a risk for Apple--and potentially lucrative one.
An iPhone smaller, more flexible? First, to summarize the items: publications such as Bloomberg and, more recently, the Wall Street Journal, citing Apple Insider as saying that the company has worked on a couple of different versions of low-end (for lack of a better word) of iPhone 4.
According to the source of the WSJ, an existing prototype that is half the size of the iPhone 4, weighs much less, has a touchscreen from edge to edge, a virtual keyboard and voice-based operation.
The most remarkable of the voice, however, is that consumers may obtain this version cut to little to no cost, rather than pay $ 199 for an iPhone with a contract for two years.
Bloomberg, meanwhile, offered fuzzy details of a prototype iPhone that was one third smaller than the current model, which lacked a Home button, and that the company has considered for around $ 200 without any kind of obligation of contract of sale. This could be the same smartphone insider told WSJ.
According to Bloomberg, Apple has also worked on a cheaper iPhone can work on one of the two major wireless standards, thus allowing users to move between carriers without having to leave their device coveted. Also gives users more flexibility, as can most readily afford one smartphone out of pocket, rather than relying on grants by a carrier in exchange for long-term contracts or additional expensive services.
Another Nano ... or Performa? It is conceivable that Apple would really shed his status of boutique and sacrificing their premium prices to get more iPhones in the pockets? The company has taken a stab at this first, with mixed success. Low cost line of Macs, the Performa series, proved disastrous. It went better with the iPod Nano, even if the line initially suffered criticism and bad publicity.
Apple seems to take with a low-end version of iPhone a greater risk than it was with the iPod Nano as a smartphone is a beast more complicated than an MP3 player. An MP3 player is not a fundamental communication tool for personal and professional, it is not necessary to provide reliable voice and mobile computing service and do not have to perform reliably applications from various developers. Too many episodes of poor Web performance, spotty reception or uncooperative applications could tarnish the reputation of Apple, although wireless service providers or developers are to blame for some of misadventures.
Still, Apple may be feeling the pressure to fight for a larger piece of the pie mobile--or perhaps to maintain its current portion. The battle for supremacy mobile is separate from your phone and rival creators are rolling out devices that can go head-to-head with iPhone. Apple iPod Nano in response to increasingly rich in functionality and cheaper MP3 players; the roll-out you may feel the need to do the same now.
In addition, Apple probably doesn't want to give up market counties like China and India or developing where Mobil is catching on. A $ 199 iPhone wouldn't fare too well in that market; could be a low cost iPhone able to jump between services.
For now, the rumors of a low-cost iPhone are just rumors, tempting as they might be. Apple needs to venture down that path, its shareholders, hope certainly didn't have another debacle Performa on their hands.
This story, "why Apple would risk its brand identity to hawk iPhones cheaper," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word what is truly important tech news with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.
