Archive | February, 2009
Ten of Microsoft’s Ten Thousand Patents
Microsoft is making hay today over the news that it’s received its ten thousandth patent (which you can see here). I’m kind of addicted to rummaging through Google Patents and finding old filings with drawings that are fun for one reason or another–either because they’re of things we’re all familiar with, or because they depict stuff that never went anywhere. Microsoft is, of course, a software company first and foremost–and most software patent drawings are mundane diagrams, even when they depict something new and significant. So the ten images that follow skew towards Microsoft’s sideline business of hardware. I like ‘em anyway–and I didn’t repeat any pictures from our gallery of patents relating to anthropomorphic “assistants.” You can view the original patents by clicking the filing dates.
Google Syncs to New Heights
10. February 2009
Over the past couple of weeks, Google has been releasing interesting new stuff at such a furious pace that I’m getting short of breath just trying to keep up. It’s now released a new version of its formerly BlackBerry-centric Google Sync service that syncs calendars and contacts between Google’s Web-based services and an iPhone or Windows Mobile-based phone. It’s both a free alternative a large chunk of Apple’s for-pay MobileMe service and an answer to Microsoft’s My Phone, even though that service hasn’t launched yet.
It’s also leaving me with a serious case of deja vu: Google’s new syncing features are practically identical to Nuevasync, a service I’ve been using recently to juggle information between Google and my iPhone. (Both services do their syncing via Microsoft’s Exchange technology.) Nuevasync’s a small outfit with a solid service, so I immediately began to worry on their behalf, thinking that the 800-pound Google gorilla had just rendered it superfluous. The company has an optimistic post up about all this, saying that it plans to offer far more features (including task syncing, a feature I’ve been pining for ever since I discovered Apple hadn’t bothered to implement it in MobileMe).
I’m glad to see Google taking calendar syncing seriously, since its browser-based mobile version of Google Calendar is pretty rudimentary. But I’m sticking with Nuevasync for the moment. I’ve wasted enough hours of my life fiddling with persnickety syncing tools (and sometimes losing data to them) that I don’t wanna mess with a setup that seems to be working just fine.
5Words for February 10th, 2009
10. February 2009
Not that much happening, apparently….
Windows 7 beta getting yanked.
The Dalai Lama wasn’t tweeting.
Another prediction of $99 iPhones.
iTunes gets digital Marvel comics.
Apple nixed Android multi-touch?
Microsoft’s ten thousandth patent granted.
Kaspersky’s customer database gets exposed.
A Consumer’s Guide to Apple Rumors
10. February 2009
There are many unique things about Apple, Inc. And one of the oddest of all is the degree to which straightforward reporting about the company’s activities has been drowned out in recent years by a surging sea of rumor, speculation, prediction, and–increasingly—wishful thinking. Everybody, it seems, wants to spoil the surprise of Apple product launches by revealing the secrets which the company works so very hard to keep. But a remarkable percentage of the these soothsayers are just plain terrible at their chosen profession. They’ve become the Gang That Couldn’t Predict Straight.
As the quality of Apple scuttlebutt has nosedived, I’ve become more interested in the culture of Apple rumors than in most of the rumors themselves. With this article, I’m beginning a series on the Apple Rumor Game. And it makes sense to begin with a no-nonsense guide to judging those rumors as they crop up.
AT&T, Union Agree to ‘Cool Off’
9. February 2009
If anyone thought that the CWA was only interested in crippling AT&T by striking, Monday’s developments should answer those misconceptions. The union appears ready to work with the carrier.
Both sides have agreed to a “cooling off” period. What this means in most basic terms is that union employees will work without a new contract, even though no new talks will occur. Such events are not all that rare: essentially both sides willl walk away from the barganing table for a few days (or even weeks) while both sides mull over their next steps.
This was on top of a gesture by the union to extend the current contract by 30 days while negotiations continued. From what we understand, AT&T did not accept that offer.
Unionized employees will continue to work under the old contract — AT&T is mandated to honor those terms. Obviously, the cooling off period is not inifite: the carrier and the union will need to return to the barganing table.
The union has posted a FAQ on its website detailing the differences between the two sides. At first glance, these differences still look rather significant. Personally, I think that some kind of walkout is still quite likely so be prepared for the worst.
CWA officials are promising updates twice a day, so if theres any breakthrough, of course we’ll let you know here. In any case, if you’re an AT&T customer, I’d recommend dealing with any issues now. If this strike occurs, it could make life difficult.
Judge Breaths Life into Apple Clone Maker Countersuit
9. February 2009
Following months of legal wrangling and a false start, Mac clone maker Psystar may finally get its day in court. A U.S. federal judge has ruled that Psystar will be given the opportunity to amend its counterlawsuit against Apple, filed after that company sued Psystar over its OS X-running PCs, to focus on alleged copyright abuses instead of antitrust law violations.
On Friday, Feb. 8, U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup signed an order that will allow Psystar’s countersuit against Apple to continue. If Psystar provides it allegation that Apple misused its copyrights to block out competition, other PC makers would be free to preinstall the OS onto their machines, Judge Alsup noted.
Apple sued Psystar in July 2008, accusing it of breaking copyright and software licenses laws by preloading Intel-based PCs with Mac OS X 10.5 without its blessing. The company has also accused Apple of modifying Mac OS X to crash on non-Apple systems. Psystar began selling the Mac clones in Apr. 2008.
Psystar’s original complaint accused Apple of violating antitrust law by tying its Mac OS X operating system together with its hardware, exclusively, but the court rejected that argument in November 2008.
Intellectual property law is always tricky and controversial, so lawsuits such as these should be ruled upon to clarify uncertainty (and by the highest court of the land). Until the laws themselves are reformed, this kind of uncertainty will persist.
My take is that when a company, or individual, is granted intellectual property by the government, they are essentially given a monopoly. The question is: Has Apple abused its monopoly? I don’t think that it has.
If Apple sold Mac OS X standalone, and then modified its license or software to intentionally excludes other manufacturers, that would be wrong. Apple creates it own hardware, and software for that hardware, and there is nothing wrong with that.
The Pleasures and Perils of Going Digital
9. February 2009
[An introductory note from Harry: I'm pleased to say that Technologizer's Digital Media Central will be publishing some posts from guest bloggers over the next few weeks. The first to drop in is Ed Bott, whose work I've long admired at Ed Bott's Windows Expertise and Ed Bott's Microsoft Report, the latter of which lives on ZDnet. Ed and I are also almost-colleagues: He was managing editor of PC World a few years before I showed up there. Welcome, Ed--it's good to see your byline on Technologizer.]
If you had just two minutes to outrun a fire or tsunami and could take only what you were able to carry from your house, what would you grab first?
Assuming the family and pets were all safe, my first instinct would probably be to start stuffing hard drives into a sack. Especially the ones that contain precious family photos and videos.
Hey, Let’s Design the Kindle 3!
9. February 2009
Now that we know the official scoop on Amazon.com’s Kindle 2, it’s time to begin gabbing in earnest about what we’d like to see in the Kindle 3 which is surely a year to fifteen months off. And given that the Kindle 2 is evolutionary rather than revolutionary, why not start think about a more dramatically different third-generation device? After the jump, Technologizer’s humble game plan for making the Kindle 3 truly great.
More Thoughts on Kindle 2
9. February 2009
I haven’t laid eyes (or hands) on Amazon’s new Kindle 2 e-book reader in person yet, but all evidence suggests that it’s pretty much the device Amazon should have built in the first place. As useful, innovative, and interesting as the first Kindle was–here’s my review from November 2007–it was kind of chunky, kind of ugly, and kind of maddening in one particular respect: The oversized buttons made it way too easy to flip pages by accident. Oh, and the e-ink screen, while incredibly power-efficient, could render images in only the most crude form–they sort of looked like they were done Etch-a-Sketch.
Much of what’s new in the $359 Kindle 2 involves addressing these issues. It’s certainly less weird looking. The page-turning buttons are now smaller. The oddball (but reasonably usable) split keyboard has been replaced with one that looks more straightforward. The display is still monochrome and unbacklit, but it does sixteen shades of gray and therefore should do at least somewhat better with graphics.
(Side note: Amazon’s page on the Kindle 2 says the new display “now boasts 16 shades of gray for clear text and even crisper images. That “even” would seem to claim that the first Kindle could do decent images, too–but I’d be stunned if even Jeff Bezos himself could make a case that images on the first-generation Kindle were anything other than rudimentary.)
The original Kindle was .7″ thick; the new one is a bit over half that, at .36″. Here’s a composite of Amazon’s original photo comparing the Kindle to a pencil, and its new one:
Other improvements to the new model include 2GB of memory (up from 256MB, which itself was enough to hold 200 books), 25% more battery life (Amazon says you can read for two weeks on a charge), the ability to have books read out loud via a robo-voice, and a feature called WhisperSync that can keep track of where you are in a book across multiple Kindles. And, eventually, other mobile devices as well–Amazon says it’s working on making Kindle content available on gadgets other than Kindles.
Stuff that’s missing? Well, color of course, but that’s no surprise: Unless Amazon decides to dump e-ink for a more traditional display with far inferior battery life, it’ll probably be a long long time until there’s a color Kindle. Amazon also hasn’t given the Kindle 2 the touchscreen or backlight sported by the newest version of its principal rival, the Sony E-Reader.
Even before Kindle content is available on more devices, you could make the case that the most important things about Kindle are the service and the reading matter it delivers, not the hardware. Amazon now offers 230,000 books (including 103 of the 110 New York Times best sellers and new releases), plus 1200 blogs and a bunch of newspapers and magazines. We aren’t yet at the point at which you can cheerfully assume that any book you want will be available in Kindle form–after a year of Kindle ownership, I’m still pleasantly surprised each time I find that something I want is available. But nobody else comes close to what Amazon has accomplished with quantity of content and the ease with which you can get it wirelessly onto the device.
Stay tuned for Technologizer’s review of Kindle 2, as well as more news about e-books in general. If the day comes that Amazon releases a Kindle reader for the iPhone, betcha it’ll be as big news as today’s second-generation device is. Maybe bigger news…
Amazon’s Kindle 2.0 Event
9. February 2009
I’m 3000 miles away from Amazon’s Kindle event this morning at the Morgan Library in New York, so I’ll learn what’s transpiring by reading coverage elsewhere on the Web. More specifically,, I’m checking out live coverage at Gizmodo and Engadget. More thoughts as the official details are revealed (until then, check out these alleged spy photos if you haven’t seen ‘em yet).
[UPDATE #1: The alleged spy photos of a much thinner Kindle are...unalleged! That's the new Kindle. It has seven times more storage than the first one. You can read a book on one Kindle and switch to another, and it'll keep your place. There's a new five-way controller. Page-turning happens twenty percent faster.]
[UPDATE #2: The new Kindle can read to you, via text-to-speech technology. New battery lasts 25% longer.]
[UPDATE #3: Stephen King is at the event. Maybe the rumors that he has a new book that'll debut on the Kindle are true.]
[UPDATE #4: Sounds like it's a story, not a whole book. He's reading part of it to the crowd, from a Kindle. And it's about the Kindle.]
[UPDATE #5: It's a novella, and people who pre-order the Kindle 2 will get it for free when it's released.]
[UPDATE #6: Here's Amazon's press release with more details about what's new. The new Kindle is $359 and ships on February 24th.]
[UPDATE #6: Sounds like Amazon is saying that Kindle content will be available on other devices, but isn't saying which other devices. $1,000,000 question: iPhone?]
5Words for 2/09/09
9. February 2009
Happy Monday morning, Technologizer pals:
Two e-book events happnening today.
Some Apple Stores ban Facebook.
Amazon’s cheapo BlackBerry Storm deal.
Digital TV boxes getting scarce.
Microsoft preps new phone services.
A New Windows (Live) Ad
8. February 2009
It’s possible that the world is no longer interested in spending much time thinking about Microsoft’s Windows ads–I kind of hope so–but just in case, here’s a new one, focusing on Windows Live Photo Gallery, that’s airing during the Grammy Awards tonight:
I’ve spent enough time obsessing over the notion that most Microsoft advertising seems to be addressed at a cheerfully clueless newbie (like the nice folks duped by the Mojave Experiment) that my impulse is to assume that this spot is aimed at people who are terrified by the prospect of sharing photos, and who will be relieved to see that a small child can do it. That might be unfair. And the ad is cute–and blessedly normal (compared, of course, to this).
Okay, one other thought: Isn’t there a logic flaw in the idea of proving that Windows Live Photo Gallery is easy by showing a small child using it? Once they can read the words on the screen (and sometimes even before that), kids are almost never fazed or confused by anything relating to computers, the Web, or gadgets. It’s adults who are sometimes unclear on the concept…
CWA: No Strike at AT&T, Yet
7. February 2009
Barganing continued up until the 11:59pm ET deadline, however no deal has been reached. AT&T and the CWA have agreed to “stop the clock,” which means the current contract will remain in effect while the two sides continue to talk.
Updates throughout the day seem to indicate the two sides are still quite far apart and nowhere near close to a settlement. “The reality is there are more unresolved issues than those resolved,” the union is claiming.
It appears that AT&T is not budging much. The union is also claiming intimidation, which it posted to its front page over the weekend. Among the allegations are threats of forced resignation or firing, and intimidation over showing solidarity with the union.
AT&T has been all but silent on the issue. The company has not made any public statements on the matter, so there’s no word on the carrier’s point of view.
In any case, the WSJ story from Wednesday certainly doesn’t help their cause. If you can spend millions or even billions on old Verizon Wireless assets, you can certainly spend more on paying your employees better.
That’s going to be a hard one to explain.
More as we get it.
Sony vs. Microsoft: A History of Trash Talk
7. February 2009
When Microsoft boasted of 1 million sign-ups for the Xbox 360′s Netflix application — covered briefly Thursday in Harry’s “5Words” news roundup — Sony struck back, saying the Playstation 3′s movies and rentals download faster and don’t require subscription fees. Ouch.
But this was just the latest in an endless back-and-forth between the rival companies. Taken as a whole, this record of petty bickering actually makes for a good overview of each console’s pros and cons. Join us after the jump for more snipes, disses and burns. Continue reading this story…
A Zune Phone? Yes, Apparently. But Not From Microsoft
6. February 2009
Zune phones are likely on their way, but don’t expect them to be produced by Microsoft, Mary-Jo Foley is reporting. Instead, Microsoft will be attempting reproduce the success of its PC business by providing devices makers with reference designs to use to build their own devices
In November, I wrote that rumors that Microsoft was planning to announce a Microsoft-branded, enterainment-centric phone at the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona were plausible. My rationale was that its acquisition of Danger Inc. and positioning of executive talent into its Entertainment and Devices division was an indication that it had something up its sleeve. While I still refuse to rule out that Microsoft could release its own device, that “something” is probably far less ambitious than I originally conceived.
Foley wrote that Microsoft wants to create a ‘best of breed’ Zune device by pitting smartphone makers against one another. She also reports that Microsoft’s upcomoming Zune-branded services, code-named “Pink,” “Skybox,” and “SkyMart,” will be its contribution to the user experience.
That is a better fit with Microsoft’s existing business model. It acquired the underpinning for its Zune services from Danger, and needs to provide strong Zune-branded services to have any hopes of all at competing with Apple’s iPhone juggernaut. I expect to see the fittest of Microsoft partners showcasing their Zune offerings in the near future.
Please, World, Like Subscription Music, Won’t You?
6. February 2009
Over at CNet, Greg Sandoval has a good story up on subscription music services such as the one that Microsoft offers for its Zune devices. They were supposed to be a big deal, but the idea never spawned any breakout hits. Yahoo and others exited the business, Rhapsody and Napster are niche successes at best, and it wouldn’t be the least bit surprising to see Microsoft say bye-bye to it at some point as well. Meanwhile, Apple has sold billions of non-subscription, buy-it-and-own-it song downloads. Yet Greg’s story says that Microsoft and the music industry are still insisting that subscribing to music is a model that makes sense.
Rationally, subscription music seems like it makes sense: It lets you spend $15 to get access to unlimited music, versus spending the same amount or thereabouts to buy one album. But consumers are simply nowhere near as interested as the industry thinks they should be. Greg mentions one factor in his story: The fact that people appear to want to own their music rather than renting it. I think another big factor is copy protection. It’s neatly mandatory for subscription music (eMusic is the only subscription service that doesn’t lock up its tracks). And even if you can live with the notion of DRM, the technologies that have been used to shackle subscription music have proven to be particularly flaky. (Yes, I’m looking at you, Windows Media.)
Another factor: Subscription music is difficult to explain. Especially the part about it going away if you stop subscribing. Buying music is a notion that we all get.
I still know smart people–including some journalists–who think subscription music will catch on eventually. Maybe it will. Right now, though, I think that its ongoing failure is proof that it doesn’t matter how theoretically logical an idea is if it fails to capture the imagination of consumers.
Now on Technologizer...
History Needs Piracy |
7 PC Building Tips |
My Favorite PC, the iPad |
The First Microprocessor |
|
10. February 2009
3 Comments