Bit Stories 2008-07-02: Recording Screwups, Moblin.org, Linux, MIDs, and NetMeeting (Tiny Screenfuls (JoshB)) by Josh Bancroft

Here’s this week’s show! Have a listen, and check out the download/subscribe links and detailed show notes below.

Click to play

This week’s show is only 30 minutes long and weighs about 28MB (it’s a 128kbps MP3). You can download the file directly, listen using the streaming player above, or (BEST OPTION!!1!) subscribe to the Bit Stories podcast feed in your favorite podcast aggregator (like iTunes). If you subscribe to the feed, you’ll get each show delivered automatically as it becomes available - probably once a week or so, with the occasional bonus video or audio segment thrown in for fun. Plus, we’ll love you forever if you subscribe!

Here are some free form notes from today’s show:

• Yet Another Audio Setup

• Embarrassing Confession: We recorded the last two shows using the built-in mic on my MacBook Pro, instead of the elaborate mixer/condenser mic that we have set up. Because I’m an idiot. The saving grace? It sounded pretty darn good!
• Have developers let the Tablet PC community down?

• Brian paved and reinstalled Windows XP on his Samsung Q1 UMPC
• Why XP instead of Vista? Not quite enough horsepower.
• Josh has done the same thing (gone back and forth between XP and Vista) on his Asus R2H UMPC
• Speaking of mobile device operating systems… Moblin.org
• What the heck IS Moblin? Is it an OS?
• Moblin is a stack of tools to help create OSes and applications for Mobile Internet Devices. It’s sponsored by Intel, and hosted by Intel Software Network
• Ubuntu Mobile Edition (UME) sneak peak is out there, if you have a Samsung Q1 Ultra
• Brian feels that he won’t be able to use a Linux-based MID because of the lack of mature ink/handwriting input support
• It’s really hard to do an ink interface well
• Will Atom-based devices ever have the horsepower to do handwriting well? Is this a hardware or a software problem?
• Do open source projects do better when there’s a common, widespread demand and need for the result (like a web browser)? Do enough people in the open source community need and/or want good ink and handwriting support to motivate them to write it? Would enough people use it and care about it to make it worth their time?
• Since Mobile Internet Devices are all about the Internet, having a good browser is going to be essential.
• Windows versus Linux on these small, pocketable internet devices.
• In general, lack of UI “polish” in Linux applications is a deterrent for non-geeks to adopt it.
• Brian’s “essential” applications on his Samsung Q1: Microsoft Office, Firefox, and Microsoft Money
• Is Firefox the exception to the “Linux applications don’t have a good interface/user experience” stereotype?
• How easy is it going to be to “install any app you want” on the upcoming Linux MIDs?
• The challenges of adapting applications to devices on smaller screen.
• UMPCScrollBar - a great little app that lets you scroll windows around the smaller UMPC screen, so you can get to the “Install” and “OK” buttons that get pushed off the bottom of the screen.
• Intel Software Network’s mobility community makes tons of resources, tools, and smart people available for people writing applications for these devices. Take advantage of us!
• Without great software, Intel products are just a bunch of really tiny hot plates.
• Have we discovered the REAL reason Intel has chosen not to deploy Windows Vista? Is it because NetMeeting is no longer there? Microsoft stopped distributing NetMeeting in 1998 - TEN YEARS AGO. But Intel lives and breathes NetMeeting - old habits die hard. (Update after the show: according to Wikipedia, Microsoft released a hotfix that allows you to download and install NetMeeting on Vista. Guess we were wrong! )

• Macs do Screen Sharing, based on VNC, but there’s NO way on a Mac to participate in a NetMeeting call, because it’s a closed, proprietary Microsoft protocol.
• Google Docs is GREAT for live collaboration.
• PowerPoint is a great presentation tool, but it is NOT a collaboration tool! It gets abused WAY too often. PowerPoint abuse starts early - Brian’s 7th grade son is already doing it!
• New recording time - Wednesday morning instead of Friday afternoon. Hope this gets the show out faster, and Josh and Brian perkier.
• Josh’s morning voice - he’s not a morning person. Brian gets up at 5:30 AM.
• Stuff we didn’t get to this week: Brian dips his toes into the world of Twitter and FriendFeed, and next week is iPhone 3G day! Come stand in line with us!

The show is picking up steam - we’re hitting our stride, and cranking them out. Many, many thanks to our listeners - we love you guys! We love connecting with people through the show, and getting to know who’s listening. But the only way we can do that is if you talk to us, so leave a comment, email us, or find some other way to say “hi”, and let us know what you think of the show!

Posted in: bitstories , blog , brianjarvis , developers , intel , joshbancroft , linux , mobile , moblin , netmeeting , podcast , software , umpc

TylorAppleRide.jpg (OsakaNYC (kitzke)) by matt

Sue let Tylor ride the apple ride outside Pathmark today.
In album On the road Posted in: default , mobile , photos

Exclusive: 23 minutes of hands-on with the Lenovo and Aigo Mobile Internet Devices (Tiny Screenfuls (JoshB)) by Josh Bancroft

OK, so I’m a couple days late, and I know I’ve been teasing you with photos and video “appetizers“, but I hope the quality/content of these videos makes up for it. While I was in Shanghai, China last week for the Spring 2008 Intel Developer Forum, I stayed a few extra days to work with the Intel Software Network China team, with the hope that I might be able to score some hands-on time with some of the Mobile Internet Devices that were shown for the first time at IDF.

There are only about 20 MIDs in the world today, all prototypes, and they were pretty much all at IDF. As you can imagine, access to them is jealously guarded, and they were pretty busy being shown off, participating in photo shoots, etc. My access to them got postponed, rescheduled, and moved around a lot, until one afternoon, we got the call. “You can come play with the MIDs if you can be here by 5:30pm.” It was 5:00pm, and Welles and I jumped in a taxi right away, headed for the Intel Software group’s Mobility Enabling Lab. I didn’t have time to go back and get my “big boy” professional video gear, so these videos were shot on my pocket Aiptek Go-HD camera, secured by a GorillaPod. I think they turned out pretty well.

Big disclaimer: the Linux-based software for both the Lenovo and Aigo devices I used is NOT final - there are some features that aren’t implemented, and performance optimizations that haven’t occurred. This is NOT how they’re going to be when they’re released commercially. There are crashes, slowness, and missing features in these videos. Think of this as a preview of the foundations of the software - what it’s capable of in general. Then squint your eyes a little and imagine the final version, a little more polished, sitting happily in your pocket.

First up, here’s a 13 minute video of the Lenovo Ideapad U8 Mobile Internet Device (MID). It’s one of the more unique hardware designs, with it’s flared end, special limited edition Beijing 2008 Olympic color scheme, and hardware number pad, for T9 text entry. In the video, I take a detailed look at the hardware (Intel Atom processor, two cameras - the rear one is 2.0 megapixels, SD slot, GPS, USB ports, etc.), and spend some time poking around with the software/user interface:

You can download the high quality (640×360) MP4 version here - the file is about 153 MB. You can also embed/share the video on your own blog or site by grabbing the Show Player code from the video’s page on blip.tv or by clicking “Embed” in the show player above.

Next up is 10 minutes of video with the MID from Aigo. I cover pretty much the same aspects of this device in the video as I did with the Lenovo Ideapad - hardware (sliding QWERTY keyboard, two cameras - the rear one is 3.0 megapixels, MicroSD slot, USB ports, “Smart Key”, etc.) and software and user interface. The Aigo device looks very similar to the Gigabyte MID, which has been floating around, making appearances. So much so that I suspect they’re manufactured by the same OEM, but I didn’t get any concrete information on this, so I’m just speculating. Here’s the video:

You can download the high quality (640×360) MP4 version of this video (117 MB) here, and get the embed code to share the video on your own site/blog on the video’s page on blip.tv, or by clicking “Embed” in the show player above.

Now that you’ve seen the videos, I hope some of your questions have been answered. And, no doubt, you have new questions. I’ll do my very best to get answers for you, so post your thoughts and questions in the comments below. Thanks for being patient while I got these videos ready. I have a TON more video content that I shot at IDF, and that will be coming out as it gets processed/edited. But this is the juicy stuff, so enjoy!

Posted in: blog , devices , exclusive , handson , hardware , intel , internet , labs , linux , mid , mobile , shanghai , software , video

An Appetizer: Video of the Lenovo and Aigo MIDs at Intel Shanghai (Tiny Screenfuls (JoshB)) by Josh Bancroft

I’m working on the video I shot while I was at the Mobility Software Lab at Intel Shanghai yesterday, getting some face time with the Lenovo and Aigo Mobile Internet Devices. I posted the photos late last night (thank you all for the comments!), and ever since then, you’ve all been chomping at the bit to see the videos. I have good news and bad news…

The good news is, I just posted an “appetizer” video, with a quick look at the MID hardware, comparisons to the Fujitsu and Samsung UMPCs (and my iPhone), and a glimpse of the lab. It’s about 2.5 minutes long, and you can watch it right here:

The bad news? The really detailed videos I shot of the UI and applications on both devices are too long to go up on YouTube (which has a 10 minute limit). I don’t want to cut anything out of the videos - I want you to see everything I saw. And I’d really like to have higher quality for the videos than what YouTube allows. But since my video service of choice, Blip.tv, is blocked in China, I can’t upload the videos until I get home. My flight leaves in about 18 hours. It won’t be long!In the mean time, please accept my apologies, and this “appetizer” video as a token of my love, along with the promise that the real “meat” - the UI video you’ve been waiting for - is coming soon. Over 20 minutes of it. And it will look better than YouTube.

Thanks for being patient!

Posted in: aigo , blog , device , hardware , intel , internet , lab , lenovo , mid , mobile , shanghai , video

World Exclusive: I got to play with the Lenovo and Aigo Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) at Intel Shanghai (Tiny Screenfuls (JoshB)) by Josh Bancroft

There are only about 20 Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) existent in the world. Most of them were in Shanghai last week for the Intel Developer Forum (IDF). 10 of them were in the Mobility Software Enabling Lab at Intel Shanghai, where I got special access today to shoot photos and videos, as well as some hands on time to play, with the Lenovo Ideapad U8 MID and the Aigo MID. They also had some other devices around for comparison - an old prototype UMPC with a pivot screen, a Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium UMPC, and a Fujitsu Lifebook UMPC. And I threw my iPhone in a few of the photos for size/comparison’s sake.

I’ll post a more detailed writeup of my impressions of the devices soon, as well as the video of the time I had with them (summary: the Lenovo Ideapad U8 looks and feels wonderful in my hands - I WANT one!). I spent several minutes on video with each device, examining the hardware and UI/software features. Right now, thought, it’s almost 1 AM, and I need to get up early to do a blogging training with the Intel Shanghai software guys. But I wanted to get these photos up and available as soon as possible.

Please post any comments or questions you have either in this post, or on the photo’s page on Flickr. I want to answer all of your questions, but I’m going to sleep for a few hours, and don’t want to miss any of them. Please be patient, and I promise I’ll answer all questions.

The entire set of 33 photos is available in this photoset on Flickr. Feel free to browse through all of the photos (bonus photos: some shots of the Intel Shanghai sales offices, which occupy floors 22-24 of the ShanghaiMart tower). Click here to view as a slideshow, and you can see full size/resolution versions of every photo on Flickr by clicking “All Sizes” on the photo’s page.

And now, the photos! Here are some that I think turned out best - be sure to check out all 33 photos in the Flickr set!

Posted in: aigo , blog , devices , exclusive , hardware , intel , internet , lenovo , mid , mobile , photos , shanghai

Bonus Video: My First Hands-On with a MID (Mobile Internet Device) (Tiny Screenfuls (JoshB)) by Josh Bancroft

A few days before IDF, I met Holly from Intel via an email thread on who was going to Shanghai to blog, etc. She let me know that there was going to be a MID (Mobile Internet Device) photoshoot at some point, and invited me to come, shoot video, and check it out. Well, it turned out that the photoshoot took place at 8 PM the first night after IDF started, and didn’t finish until 8 AM the next morning. These devices are pretty much the only ones in the world right now, and they were needed for the keynote addresses both days of IDF. So the middle of the night was the only time they were available for a photoshoot. I passed.

But! On Day 2 of IDF, Holly came by the Upload Lounge with one of the MIDs - a unit from Gigabyte. She was supposed to do some “man on the street” video, showing people in Shanghai the MID, and asking them to show what they had in their pockets. But her video crew wasn’t available for some reason. SInce I was there with all my gear, and had time before the next session, I happily accompanied her out onto the streets of Shanghai (with Helen, our translator) to do the man on the street video.

But before we hit the streets, I shot this short clip with my Apitek Go-HD, to commemorate my first ever hands-on experience with a real, live MID. Here’s the video - about a minute and a half, not long enough to go into any depth. But it should be enough to give you a glimpse of what they’re like to actually use.

Holly is hard core - she was up all night long for the photoshoot, and still came around to do this. I would have chickened out and hidden in my soft warm bed for a few hours. Hats off to you, Holly! Hope you got some rest! And thank you for letting me touch the MID!

Posted in: blog , china , developer , device , idf , intel , internet , mid , mobile , shanghai , video

InstaResearch: What the heck IS a MID anyway? (Tiny Screenfuls (JoshB)) by Josh Bancroft

Had an interesting conversation today in a meeting with some of Intel’s web marketing folks - the people who run blogs.intel.com/mobility, to be precise. We were talking about who actually had hands on experience with a “MID”, and that quickly moved on to the question of defining what, exactly, a MID is. And perhaps more importantly, what it is not.

So what did I do? I took advantage of the 1200+ people who follow me on Twitter, and did some “InstaResearch”. In other words, I asked my Twitter network:

What the heck do YOU think a MID is? Not just defining the acronym, but what IS it? What is it NOT?

Within minutes, the answers came pouring in. Here’s what people had to say:

@sunraven01 - It is NOT a device that only provides connectivity inside a provider’s walled garden.

@sharong - as close to omniscience as humans will ever get

@psteinb - Something that fits in my pocket and can give me access to ALL aspects of net platform

@Jerry_Makare - MID, Meat-In-Dumpster: An acronym used to tell dumpster divers that meat products are located within garbage receptacles. Yum.

@clint - Midi file!

@sharong - MID to me is more than just browser-its integrated feeds, its connectedness.M is also more than handheld-could be clothing

Update: a late(r) entry from Tablet PC guru Loren Heiny:

@LorenHeiny - “What’s a MID?” To me: The iPhone & iPod Touch are MIDs, though the iPhone is more a phone and the Touch needs more connectivity

@LorenHeiny - Why r the iPhone & iPod Touch MIDs? Because they provide some of the best browser experiences. Something I think is key to a MID

It’s interesting to note that everyone besides @clint, @sunraven01, and @LorenHeiny are people with whom I work at Intel.

I’m going to withhold my own opinion/definition of “MID” for a little while, but I’ll blog it soon. Instead, I want to gather more opinions, and extend my InstaResearch. So I’m going to ask YOU - What the heck is a “MID” anyway? Is a UMPC a MID? Is a MID a UMPC? Is the iPhone a MID? What about the Nokia internet tablets like the N800 and N810? What about Tablet PCs? Smartphones and PDA phones and BlackBerries?

Post a comment and let me know what you think. I’d offer a prize for the person who gets the “correct” answer, but I’m afraid the whole point of the exercise is to illustrate how broad the definition for MID really is. So no prizes, but bonus points for creativity.

Posted in: blog , devices , gadgets , intel , mid , mobile , mobility , umpc

Windows Mobile 7 Details - It's Not Pretty (Martin Gordon's Blog (cptncelchu)) by Martin

Inside Microsoft has exclusive details on the next major release of Windows Mobile. As expected, Microsoft has taken notes from Apple and Windows Mobile 7 will feature touch controls and motion sensing technology. Reading the notes from the document raises a bunch of issues regarding Microsoft's take on this-gen (for the iPhone) and next-gen (for everyone else) phone OSes:

• It seems to be meshing too many interaction paradigms - in addition to the new touch/motion controls (flicking to scroll, tiliting and shaking, etc), they're also leaving in button controls (the old Windows Mobile menus everyone loves to hate) and finally "[a] stylus will be required on devices meeting certain screen size, orientation, DPI and resolution marks." Three interaction paradigms makes for a steep learning curve and a lot of energy wasted by users when they have to remember to switch input methods because an action can't be performed in the current interaction mode.
• Shaking to wake up your phone? Definitely not as classy as sliding to unlock.
• The phones will use the camera as the motion sensor. I can't see how well this will work in a dark room or when the camera is obscured, such as when you're holding it in your hand.
• It's coming in 2009. This should be out mid-2008 at the latest if Microsoft has any hope of stopping the iPhone juggernaut. By 2009, Apple will have had a two year lead. Competing with the 2007 iPhone in 2009 makes Microsoft look foolish and reactive; similar to how they looked when Vista was released to match features with an Apple OS that came out two years prior.

So while it's nice to see that Microsoft is actually doing things to advance it's mobile offering (unlike Palm), again, my criticism of Microsoft's efforts boil down to too late and too complex. This report makes it seem as though they're making Windows Mobile 6+1 by bolting on iPhone features to a broken UI instead of doing what they should be doing: starting from scratch and developing a consistent and enjoyable user experience.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, mobile, Windows Mobile, user interface, Apple, iPhone, Palm

Posted in: microsoft , mobile , user interface , windows

Thoughts on The Beat Goes On (Martin Gordon's Blog (cptncelchu)) by Martin

Despite being a day late, I still want to comment on the iPod announcements made yesterday.

iPod shuffle
New colors and no storage bump on the shuffles gets a huge yawn from me.

iPod nano
The actual nano looks much better than those leaked shots that were floating around a few weeks ago. There was no storage upgrade for these guys either, only price drops to $149 and $199 for the 4 and 8 GB version, respectively. Video finally comes to the nano, but with such a tiny screen I wonder how useful it will actually be. Still, having the nano hooked up to a TV via video out makes for a very portable DVD player replacement.

iPod classic
80 GB storage for $249 (and 160 GB for $349) makes the 6th Generation iPod (or 1st Generation iPod classic?) quite the monster. The standard iPod form factor has become, as the name suggests, a classic and I'm glad Apple stuck with it instead of forcing everyone to the touch screen.

iPod UI
The new iPod UI is an incremental upgrade, with the most notable feature being Cover Flow (which I don't find much use for personally). The new UI also marks the first time that the nano and classic have reached software feature parity (video on the nano also means complete feature parity), so it'll be interesting to see if Apple considers the nano/classic "complete". Prior to yesterday's announcement, it had been two years since both devices saw a significant upgrade, and I wonder if it'll be just as long before we see the next big change for these two lines.

iPod touch
I couldn't make up my mind over whether I thought Apple would actually release a phoneless iPhone this soon. On the one hand, pricing would have been tricky - either it would be priced too low to cannibalize iPhone sales or priced too high to make it a terrible value. On the other hand, there was only so much further Apple could take the iPod classic before it had to enlarge the screen (thereby necessitating removal of the click wheel). I personally dislike the design of the device. The chrome border is gone in lieu of either a matte metal or plastic (hard to tell from the shots) and the iPhone's scratch-resistant matte back is gone for the iPod's iconic scratch-prone shiny metal back. Further, the upper bezel looks disproportionate without the earpiece and the WiFi antenna's plastic covering makes the back of the device asymmetric. Other minor things I noticed (and am apathetic about) are that the sleep/wake button has switched sides and that the headphone jack is on the bottom of the device.

iTunes WiFi Store
Apple is ever slowly creeping into tablet/UMPC space and the touch was the second step in that direction. Instead of working down from the desktop, as Microsoft has done (with limited success), Apple has worked up from the iPod. It's apparent from the name: this isn't a MacBook nano, it's an iPod touch. Unveiling the iTunes WiFi Store and partnering with Starbucks is a small step into building Apple's mobile eco-system, something other device makers have either not attempted or have been unsuccessful at. This will be the touch/iPhone killer feature, and perhaps the future of mobile advertising - truly contextual advertising and services that supplement a brick and mortar's main operations. It's not the device that will reach out to the world, but the world that will reach in to your device.

That said, I don't see myself using the WiFi Store that much since I don't use the iTunes Store much to begin with. However, if the WiFi store allows for over-the-air podcast downloading, then I'll be all over it.

Ringtones
I'm tech-savvy enough to not need iTunes to walk me through making ringtones, but I would argue against those complaining about the price. The extra $.99 is something I see as AT&T having a hand in. Still, $2 for both the song and ringtone is a good deal compared to the $2-$3 one might pay for a ringtone-only otherwise.

iPhone at $399
Though Apple announced during their last earnings call that margins would be lower this season, no one saw this coming. The market is interpreting it as a sign that iPhones aren't selling as well as Apple would like. The original 5 GB iPod dropped 25% five months after introduction (from $399 to $299), so large cuts aren't completely out of the ordinary for Apple. I see the price drop as something Apple planned all along as a way to aggressively go after market share after milking early adopters for an extra $200 and as a way control demand during launch.

Am I upset that I paid $599? Absolutely not. I was perfectly paying that amount and the price drop doesn't change that. I don't see Apple owing me anything much more than I see BMW paying me for the depreciation of my car when the 2008 models come out (in fact, I'm paying them for the depreciation). Price drops and technology progressing are facts of life. The only thing that I might be upset about is that the cost of entry to the iPhone Club has gone down and iPhone owners who felt a sense of superiority and exclusivity as a result of ownership just dropped a few rungs on the social ladder now that the iPhone is accessible to "regular" people. I am not in that group. I see adoption of the iPhone (or Mobile OS X platform in general) a good thing for users, both in terms of a greater demand for new software features or an increased pressure on other device makers to make better devices.

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPhone, iPod nano, iPod touch, iPod classic, iTunes, iTunes WiFi Store

Posted in: apple , iphone , ipod , itunes , mobile , music , news , thoughts , wireless

iPhone and the mobile web (niload (kennedye)) by erik

A few days ago, I came across a post from a fellow named Mitch Cohen talking about how he’d made some changes to his site’s CSS to make it a little more iPhone-friendly. Essentially, he created a special CSS template that reorders how the site loads when browsing via an iPhone as per Apple’s online documentation. This is all pretty standard stuff, except for the second comment in the posting.

While the implementation is neat, and it’s good to see you trying out new ideas, I personally think what you are doing is HORRIBLE. The best feature of the iphone is to see the web as it is intended. This means full pages, all graphics, just as it appears on a regular computer… not a watered down WAP version. You’ve just taken all the work apple did and then you’re forcing a watered down ‘WAP’ version down the throats of people who spent money on an iPhone ( we could have gotten this watered down version from a windows mobile device.)
I understand this is a personal blog of yours, but trends get set very easily.. Before you know it, more people will be doing this, and then all the features of the iphone are wasted… sigh…
At the very least, put a link at the top to give users a choice on how they’d like to view your page….
just my .02

It’s sort of the same argument that people make against spoofing your browser’s user agent; by conforming to the lowest common denominator, you’re slowing the adoption of better standards. And as an oldschool Mac user, I’m well aware of the dangers of such an approach. But as I noted in the comments myself, if there was a way to auto-detect whether an iPhone user was connecting over EDGE versus WiFi, it would provide the best of both worlds; a lightweight page for EDGE surfing and a full-featured one for WiFi browsing.

If the iPhone really takes off, this will hopefully become something of a non-issue within one to two years, especially if other cell providers come up with browsing solutions as elegant (by comparison) as Safari for iPhone. WAP sites by and large suck, but the principle of minimizing a site’s load time and maximizing its layout efficiency works just as well for a “real” browser as for a mobile one. So even Mitch’s minimal tweaking has already benefited his regular users. There’s a lesson here somewhere.

(And yes, I bought one. More on that part later, of course.)

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Posted in: apple , css , iphone , mobile

iPhone's Total Cost Of Ownership (Martin Gordon's Blog (cptncelchu)) by Martin

The iPhone nay-sayers are making a last-minute knock at the iPhone by bringing in the old Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) argument, which usually centers around uncovering the not-so-readily apparent costs associated with a device/platform/etc.

The iPhone-flavored version of this argument states that the TCO of the iPhone isn't just the $500-$600 entry fee, but that the "hidden" costs of voice and data should be factored in as well. First, let's assume a potential iPhone buyer will have a cell phone anyway. Let's cut out the $40/month that goes to voice, since they would be paying that anyway. Let's also consider the fact that anyone considering the iPhone is probably also considering another smartphone (or probably already has one). If that's the case, then the incremental cost of data is at best negligible and at worst not a hidden and devious fee.

TCO of the iPhone for current/future smartphone users: $500-$600.
TCO for non-smartphone users: ~$1600
TCO for anyone who is not a cell phone user (and most likely not looking at the iPhone as their first phone): ~$2200

On a similar note, why is AT&T's early termination fee such big news now? ETFs have been around for as long as cell phone contracts existed. The fact that it applies the contract you sign when you buy an iPhone shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

I was going to post the above in response to this article on the iPhone's Total Cost of Ownership. I got distracted by this ridiculous video Scoble linked to, and I went to Apple's site to find where Apple is flaunting the iPhone as a replacement for your PowerShot when I saw that Apple had posted the iPhone rate plans (my first story to make the Digg homepage, BTW) and a video on how to activate the iPhone through iTunes.

Thanks to this fresh information, the argument about the exorbitant and misleading TCO becomes even more ridiculous. With the minimum data plan on a Blackberry at $40/month and the minimum data plan on the iPhone at $20/month, it's quite possible for a soon-to-be-former Blackberry user to get an iPhone for under $150 ($20 x 24 - $600 = $120). The iPhone is now cheaper than the consumer-segment Blackberry Curve.

The final piece of the iPhone launch puzzle is now in place (well, until the 80GB iPhone mystery is resolved) and it is killer. Undercutting AT&T's other "pro" data plans by $20/month is going to go a long way to boost iPhone adoption (as if it needed it).

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPhone, mobile, AT&T, data plan

Posted in: apple , iphone , mobile

Google and Yahoo Afraid Of Microsoft? (Martin Gordon's Blog (cptncelchu)) by Martin

I can't believe I missed this: Google Gears is available for WebKit. This was announced three weeks ago, but I just found out about it on this TUAW post regarding future Google/Apple iPhone-related announcements.

News of this makes me feel better about AJAX/HTML based apps on the iPhone, easing my concern over offline access to these apps. I also haven't seen many developers complaining about the lack of a "real" SDK on the iPhone, which makes me believe that offline access and home screen placement was discussed at NDA-covered WWDC sessions.

A big question I have is that amongst all this Google/Apple collaboration, Apple decided to go with Yahoo for the iPhone's bundled email solution and widgets (you'll note that the Stocks and Weather widgets now sport Y! icons). Could Apple be playing both sides? If Google and Yahoo were desperate to get placement on the iPhone, then perhaps they didn't want to (or couldn't get) exclusivity. Google and Yahoo are currently tied on home screen icon placement at two a piece (Yahoo is slightly ahead overall because of the mail tie-in, however).

The biggest loser in all of this is of course is Microsoft. The one-two punch: iPhone is going to take away customers from the Windows Mobile platform (RIM sure isn't helping them out either). Thanks to the Google/Yahoo integration, iPhone users will have an investment in Google and Yahoo's online services, driving usage away from MSN/Windows Live/whatever it's called now. After the iPhone, Microsoft will be facing increased competition from both the mobile space and the internet space.

There is a bright side to all of this for Microsoft. From any way you look at it, Microsoft is seen as the biggest competition to Google and Yahoo: Either Google and Yahoo compromised to "share" the iPhone, in which case they don't think they can handle Microsoft alone, or Apple didn't want only Google or only Yahoo on the iPhone, in which case Apple thinks that Google and/or Yahoo are vulnerable to Microsoft.

Technorati Tags: Google, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, SDK, iPhone, WebKit, Google Gears, widgets

Posted in: apple , google , iphone , microsoft , mobile , offline , windows , yahoo

How Much Bigger Can iPhone Hype Get? (Martin Gordon's Blog (cptncelchu)) by Martin

Signs suggesting that iPhone hype has reached atmospheric levels:

• Apple stock jumps 4% on Monday on news that the iPhone's battery will last longer than originally expected.
• The Onion reports on some previously unannounced iPhone features. Expect AAPL to be trading up tomorrow. Watch for the first time an analyst cites The Onion in a recommendation.
• Engadget is now offering feeds without Apple/iPhone news.
• The news that Flash wasn't included (thereby precluding access to thousands of applications) came and went. Access to ONE Flash application (YouTube, albeit it's not actually Flash on the iPhone) is now being billed as the iPhone's "killer app" and made headlines everywhere (MSM and blogosphere alike).
• Despite all of this (and my better judgment), I'm still thinking about heading out to an AT&T store next Friday and picking one up.

Signs that it still hasn't peaked:

• No one is lining up yet.
• There aren't any on eBay yet.

Technorati Tags: iPhone, hype, Apple, AT&T

Posted in: apple , hype , iphone , mobile

iPhone Camps (Martin Gordon's Blog (cptncelchu)) by Martin

There are a bunch of camps that everyone considering an iPhone fall into:

• Those that will buy it because it's Apple
• Those that will buy it because it's cool
• Those that will buy it because they want to try multi-touch
• Those that will buy it because they want a converged device
• Those that will buy it because they're fed up with Palm OS/Windows Mobile/Blackberry OS
• Those that will buy it because they need every new gadget

• Those that won't buy it because it's Apple
• Those that won't buy it because it's an Apple Rev. 1 product
• Those that won't buy it because it doesn't do 3G
• Those that won't buy it because it doesn't have an SDK
• Those that won't buy it because it requires a 2-year contract
• Those that won't buy it because it doesn't have a removable battery
• Those that won't buy it because they need more than 8GB
• Those that won't buy it because it's $500-$600
• Those that won't buy it because it's out of stock

I'm not quite sure what camp I belong to, but I'm a candidate for the no 3G and no SDK camps. I'm looking to replace my aging Treo 650 with something that doesn't randomly shut off, and the current contenders are the Blackberry Curve and the iPhone.

3G may not be that big a deal-breaker since the BB Curve doesn't have it either, but the slow connection speed on my Treo 650 make it almost unbearable to use. I'll have to decide whether this is enough of a big deal for me to consider the Samsung Blackjack, which does have 3G.

HTML + AJAX do not an SDK make. Though I don't doubt that there will be a real SDK in the future, the lack of one right now makes me wary of jumping into a closed platform. That's one of the main draws for smartphones and the iPhone falls flat in this regard.

That said, am I missing any camps? Which camp do you fall into?

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPhone, SDK, smartphone, Treo 650, Blackberry, Blackberry Curve

Posted in: apple , iphone , mobile , wireless

Two Wows and a Yawn (Martin Gordon's Blog (cptncelchu)) by Martin

I was wow'ed twice this week: First with Google Maps Street View, then with Microsoft Surface.

Street View is a fun little tool. It's got the fun factor that Google Earth did when it was released, where you could get lost for hours discovering little things all around the world. It also has some utility, where you could find the name of that restaurant you drove by today but can't seem to remember the name, and who knows what other things Google will be able to do with it.

I think Surface could have a huge impact on the way we compute. Then again, it could be another Origami. Either way, the videos of it floating around the web are impressive, but we'll have to see how often we'll come across one in our daily lives (especially when they're $5-10k and for businesses only). Once we can get one for the same price as a separate PC and coffee table, that's when it'll make an impact. At the very least, Surface looks cool and could be useful.

In contrast to those two is Palm's Foleo, which was announced today. The Foleo is a thin, 2 pound sub-notebook with a 10 inch screen. It runs a custom OS based on Linux and syncs to your Treo seamlessly. This is supposedly the answer to all those complaints that smartphone keyboards and screens are two small. What complaints? I haven't heard anything from the roughly 50 million smartphones shipped year to date. The reason why the Handheld PCs of the 90s failed and why UMPCs were slow to take off is the same reason why Foleo will fail: If it doesn't fit in your pocket, then "it" might as well be a full-featured notebook.

As Ars Technica put it, the Foleo is a 90s device that took a design note from 90s Apple notebooks (the logo on the lid is upside down when opened). What the hell is wjad?

Technorati Tags: Google, Google Maps, Street View, Microsoft, Surface, surface computing, Palm, Foleo, smartphone

Posted in: google , microsoft , mobile , palm , surface computing , treo

Twittering (Martin Gordon's Blog (cptncelchu)) by Martin

I am on Twitter, but I don't know why. At least for me, Facebook status updates are much more convenient and more readily accessible to anyone that would care to know what I'm doing, if not equally useless.

Technorati Tags: Twitter, SMS, email, phone, IM

Posted in: email , im , me , mobile , sharing , snarky , social networks , web 2.0

iPhone: The Day After (Martin Gordon's Blog (cptncelchu)) by Martin

I was sitting in court yesterday fighting a speeding ticket as I read about the death of the greatest rumor ever thanks to MacRumors' excellent play-by-play coverage. This phone is simply amazing; lucky for me my Cingular contract is up in May, so while I'd rather have an iPhone tomorrow, the timing isn't too bad. Others have picked up on something curious though: How does 2 months of FCC approval equal a June release date?

Steve's made friends
Partnering with Yahoo for email and Google for maps is a great way to not piss anyone off. Only Steve Jobs can bring Eric Schmidt and Jerry Yang on stage within minutes of each other to talk about something they're working on together (at leas indirectly). The iPhone is revolutionary and for Apple, Yahoo and Google this is a win-win-win.

Goodbye Blackberry?
I think it's preemptive to start calling for the death of the Blackberry. We still don't know what kind of Office support iPhone will have, and without Exchange syncing its dead in the water for most corporate environments. Of course, with a full-fledged web browser on board, Google Docs & Spreadsheets is a viable, yet inelegant solution. Not to mention that the excellent 2mp camera might be a no-no for some corporate environments.

What of the iPod?
The iPhone has an "iPod" software app, a name that has been reserved for hardware (with iTunes being used for software), so what's to become of the iPod as we know it? While I'm a proponent of converged devices, 8GB is simply not enough to carry around even half of my music library, forgetting about any videos I'd like to watch on the gorgeous 3.5" screen. I predict we'll be seeing a real widescreen iPod with high-capacity sometime over the next few months. The iPod interface on the iPhone looks perfect, and we'll see that on the software side. The hardware I think will look like the iPhone with the top and bottom bezels cut off.

All in all, the iPhone isn't quite the "atomic bomb" that will wake up the U.S. cellular industry as some have said. For one, it doesn’t do 3G. After dealing with slow-as-molasses internet connectivity on my Treo, this is almost a deal breaker.

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPhone, Cingular, AT&T, Steve Jobs, Macworld, iPod, cellular, mobile, wireless

Posted in: apple , iphone , ipod , mobile