SBS 2008 - SSL CERTIFICATES

Let me give you a quick overview of the kind of issue that makes it fun to be a consultant.

When you go to a web site where any personal information is going to be exchanged, you're likely to see the web site address change from http:// to https://. The data is encrypted (has a "Secure Sockets Layer" or SSL) and is reasonably well protected against eavesdroppers. You'll see it at banking sites or almost anything involving money or payment, as well as on web sites for access to company networks and other places where data should be confidential.

When you go to http://www.wellsfargo.com/, the bank's web server presents its security certificate from a known certificate authority, a big company that has done some checking to ensure that the server actually belongs to the company whose name is on the web site. Your browser examines it and agrees that it looks authentic, then it does some cryptographic things that convince it that the certificate was really issued by the big trusted authority. When it's satisfied, it proceeds automatically to https://www.wellsfargo.com/ and shows you a happy padlock icon in the address bar.

Until recently, SSL certificates were only used by big companies: they were expensive, required annoying paperwork, and the whole process was technically difficult.

Small Business Server 2003 wanted remote users to log into its great Remote Web Workplace over a secure SSL connection but couldn't saddle small businesses with the headache of buying expensive certificates, so it used a workaround. By default an SBS 2003 server presents a "self-signed certificate." Essentially the server vouches for itself and tells your browser that it's safe and trustworthy.

That sounds a bit flaky but it worked well enough for a long time, until security concerns began to trump everything else. Business people began buying Windows Mobile phones to sync their Outlook folders over the air and for a while it was possible to convince them to accept the SBS server's self-signed certificate, but it got harder and harder to accomplish - it required finding the right tool to install the certificate on the phone and the manufacturers were nervous about giving people access to the depths of the phone's operating system to do that. Now it's almost always impossible.

Meanwhile Microsoft began to add new security warnings to Internet Explorer as part of its hardening over the last few years. Now when you go to a site with an SBS 2003 certificate, you get this ominous warning:

If you go past the scary warning to the company's RWW site, you get the unhappy red IE address bar instead of the happy padlock:

Fortunately, a few companies began offering inexpensive SSL certificates with a minimum of fuss. GoDaddy.com offers SSL certificates for only thirty dollars per year that are accepted by most computers, phones and other devices. SBS consultants began to work out elaborate documentation for installing them on SBS servers. Many consultants made it a standard part of setting up a server running SBS 2003.

SBS 2008 still begins with a self-signed certificate but a wizard is included in the initial setup checklist to help purchase a third-party certificate.

The wizard wasn't helpful to me in a migration where I already had a domain name with an existing certificate. I found myself burrowing deeply into IIS and feeling my way through the process. I was successful but it took some interesting tricks to get everything to work correctly.

The experience exposed another interesting feature of Exchange 2007. If a company runs the web site http://www.bigfirm.com/, it can set up http://remote.bigfirm.com/ as a subdomain that leads to their internal company network. Set the company's MX record for incoming mail to http://remote.bigfirm.com/ and give that address to the business people for remote access. SBS 2008 has wizards to help get the domain names registered and set up in Exchange.

Then if a business person goes home and sets up Outlook 2007 for an Exchange Server at http://remote.bigfirm.com/, Outlook will configure itself automatically with the settings to connect over the Internet to Exchange Server at the office. It's not necessary in that case to configure the deep proxy settings that have been required until now to set up Outlook for RPC over HTTP. Microsoft thinks the technology is so cool that it blessed it with a new brand name, "Outlook Anywhere." (SBS 2008 does some of the magic to accomplish that, thank goodness - otherwise it requires deep surgery in ADSIEDIT and the Exchange command line console.)

That works fine, I'm sure, but I used a different naming scheme when I bought domain names for all my SBS clients for their remote access. SBS 2008 does not like that arrangement one little bit. And it's only easy to set up a subdomain and manipulate MX records if you have full DNS control over the ISP for http://www.bigfirm.com/. A small business will frequently have set up their web site with small hosting companies and web site designers that are, shall we say, not always easy to work with.

You see what I mean, I'm sure - it's fun!

Labels: domains, IE, Internet, mail, Microsoft, mobile, Outlook, phone, remote, SBS, security

posted by bruceb at 12/03/2008 12:46:00 AM | permalink

DELL REMOTE ACCESS

Access everywhere! Lots of interesting services are being set up to make it easy for you to have access to files, folders, photos, and computers from anywhere, whether it's working on an office computer from home or bringing up pictures from your home computer on a mobile phone.

The latest entry comes from Dell, strangely enough. Dell just introduced Dell Remote Access, a ten dollar per month service for a number of tasks loosely related to "remote access." It's designed to be extremely easy to use. You'll install some software on the computer to be controlled; the software will run continuously and periodically check in with Dell Server Central Command. Then when you go to my.dellremoteaccess.com and log in, you can control your computer remotely as if you're sitting in front of it. That's not all, though! You can stream music and photos to your remote device or upload files to the computer running the Dell software. Plus one more interesting feature that I haven't seen before - you can send a link to someone by email that gives them an encrypted connection to a folder on your computer, so they can look at pictures, say, with very little fuss.

Here are a couple of places where people say nice things about the new service. The people saying those nice things work for Dell. Haven't seen much feedback from the real world yet.

That's pretty cool stuff, and you might want to try it, but I'd offer two thoughts before you jump in.

This is an increasingly crowded field. You have alternatives to choose from at a range of prices, with simple or difficult interfaces, and with similar or different features. You can jump into whichever one gets your attention first - just be aware that's what you're doing. LogMeIn will let you run its software and connect remotely to a single computer for free; its paid subscription adds very easy file transfers and the ability to email a link to a single file on your computer. GoToMyPC is slightly more expensive and aimed more at business users. Windows Live Mesh is a free service from Microsoft that will let you connect remotely to a number of computers, along with file and folder sharing and syncing and more to come; it's a little complicated to get started but might be worth the learning curve for its extra capabilities. Windows Home Server sets up remote access and photo sharing along with its file storage and backup features. Businesses running Microsoft Small Business Server already have remote access to their office computers using Remote Web Workplace.

Which leads to a point that gets more important all the time. A new program or service requires a commitment! Do not install programs or sign up for services on a whim! Each program will require time to learn its features and its quirks; it will require periodic attention to keep it up to date when security issues inevitably appear; if it's a good choice, it will require time to figure out where it fits in your life or your business. You'll likely have another web page address to memorize and another login name and password to add to the notes you can never find when you need them.

There are exciting new services out there! Choose them wisely and stick with the ones you choose so you can make them work for you. If you flit from one new thing to another, installing programs and abandoning them quickly,  you'll wind up talking to me about why your computer is slow and programs are crashing. You'll be depressed when I click on your Start menu and nod my head sadly and give you an economics lesson in the cost of cleanup versus the cost of a new computer.

With that in mind, get connected remotely! You don't have to leave computers behind any more.

Labels: computers, Internet, Microsoft, mobile, phone, photos, remote, SBS, software, web_services

posted by bruceb at 10/21/2008 01:36:00 AM | permalink

SLIMMING DOWN ITUNES

Apple's software for Windows has been causing problems on more and more of my clients' computers. I've been wrestling with bluescreens caused by iTunes, file extensions hijacked by Quicktime, and now I'm suspicious that an uninvited service has been causing problems in Outlook.

An iTunes installation includes far more than a music library that syncs to your iPod. There are multiple services and kernel mode drivers and program addins, with very little of it included in any disclosure or presented with any options. Apple also installs its "software update" framework, which it has used to install additional unrelated software without adequate disclosure, notably when it used the update service to install its insecure Safari web browser a few months ago.

The last few releases of iTunes install "Bonjour," a service that's only used if you share iTunes libraries across a network or use AppleTV. You don't do that. Why is that running on your computer without your knowledge?

You've also got "Apple Mobile Device Support," which syncs with iPhones and iPod Touch. If you don't have one of those devices, you don't need that software.

And if you're running Outlook and iTunes, you're probably running an Outlook addin named "iTunes Outlook Addin" or "Outlook iTunes Sync Addin." Take a look! In Outlook 2003, click on Tools / Options / Other / Advanced Options / COM Addins. In Outlook 2007, click on Tools / Trust Center / Addins, and click on "Manage COM Addins / Go" at the bottom. Now how did that get there! Make it go away. I suspect it of causing Outlook problems for several clients in the last few months.

There is a way to install iTunes without most of that unnecessary bloatware but be warned - it's not for the faint of heart. If you have to install iTunes, this guide will lead you through the process of locating the installation files for its individual pieces, so you can install only iTunes (and Bonjour if you need it), and leave the rest of it behind.

It doesn't help that the latest version of iTunes breaks the connection between J River Media Center and iPods. You're now forced to install iTunes if you get one of those devices, because Apple creates closed, unfriendly platforms and fiercely locks out potential competitors. Here's more info about that.

I hope my iPod Classic doesn't break - it connects to J River Media Center and I will never install iTunes or Quicktime on my computers. Apple is moving way up on the list of vendors helping send my kids to college.

Labels: Apple, audio, mobile, Outlook, phone, software

posted by bruceb at 10/07/2008 12:13:00 AM | permalink

GOOGLE ANDROID

T-Mobile introduced the first cell phone based on Google's Android operating system to much fanfare a few days ago. Although Android has some interesting features and much promise, I don't expect to see anyone holding the T-Mobile G1 in Sonoma County for a while, since T-Mobile is a fringe player with limited coverage up here (and certainly no connection anywhere nearby to its high speed 3G data network).

Android is a work in progress; comparisons to the iPhone are inevitable and at the moment Android comes up a bit short, but it's early to make any decisions. In this first iteration, Android is tied in very closely to Google's online mail, calendar and contact services, which are fully integrated and reportedly work smoothly. It's not as smooth for everyone else, since the integration is thin or nonexistent for other sources of mail and there is essentially no support for other calendar/contact programs.

In particular, businesses should be aware that there is no support for ActiveSync, the software that connects a mobile device to an Exchange Server. A Google Android phone is not currently a good choice for an office using Small Business Server. It's the same situation that an SBS user faces with a Blackberry - a solution for email can be cobbled together from forwarded messages and BCCs and the like, but it is clearly a kludge compared to the true integration provided by a Windows Mobile phone or an iPhone running ActiveSync. (It bears repeating that using an iPhone with ActiveSync causes it to suck battery power so fast it actually makes slurping noises.)

There's one other design decision for the T-Mobile device that has caused a fuss - instead of a standard headphone connector, they chose an oddball, mostly proprietary "ExtUSB" headphone connector that requires a weird dongle for every kind of headphone or earbud except the terrible earbuds that come with the phone. No one knows why but everybody hates it.

Somebody - Google or a third party - will likely make the financial arrangements with Microsoft and write an ActiveSync connector for Android, and the other carriers will be releasing their own Android devices with different hardware designs. We'll talk more about it then.

Labels: Apple, audio, Google, mail, mobile, phone, SBS

posted by bruceb at 9/29/2008 12:05:00 PM | permalink

APPLE BLUESCREEN FOLLOWUP

Apple reacted quickly to the reports that the latest iTunes update has caused some Windows systems to crash badly. Last night Apple posted another version of iTunes that rolls back the offending hardware driver to an older version. If your system is blue screening, all you have to do is uninstall iTunes, uninstall Apple Mobile Device Support, and then reinstall iTunes from last night's release.

That's absurd, of course. As one person commented:

"A kernel level device driver (like the USB driver that Apple installs rather than using the one built in to the OS) will always have the ability to take down the OS.

"This is true for any OS since a kernel level driver is the interface between the OS and hardware.

"That's why it requires Administrator level permission to install (it did), why it needs to be very well written and tested before it gets sent to users (it wasn't) and why the installer should notifiy users that a device driver is being installed (they weren't) and only be installed if absolutely needed to support new hardware (it wasn't)."

You might want to take my suggestion: uninstall iTunes, uninstall Apple Mobile Device Support, uninstall Apple Software Update, uninstall Quicktime, install J River Media Center for your iPod, and return your iPhone.

Incidentally, are you aware of what a disaster the new iPhone has been? iPhone users are screaming bloody murder about absurdly short battery life, dropped calls, AT&T's terrible coverage with its much-vaunted 3G network, and much more. New software was released for the iPhone last night but there is little confidence that it will actually fix the list of problems it purports to address. Apple promises that this update will deliver all of the following improvements, each one of which has been a source of anguish for iPhone users for the last couple of months:

• Decrease in call set-up failures and dropped calls
• Significantly better battery life for most users
• Dramatically reduced time to backup to iTunes
• Improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts
• Faster installation of 3rd party applications
• Fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes for users with lots of third party applications
• Improved performance in text messaging
• Faster loading and searching of contacts
• Improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display
• Repeat alert up to two additional times for incoming text messages
• Option to wipe data after ten failed passcode attempts
• Genius playlist creation

Labels: Apple, audio, mobile, phone, software, Vista, WinXP

posted by bruceb at 9/12/2008 10:43:00 AM | permalink

GRANDCENTRAL & GOOGLE BLACK HOLE

GrandCentral is a wonderful free service for handling phone calls. When you sign up, you pick a new phone number and do a few minutes of easy setup. Then when someone calls that number, all of your phones ring simultaneously and you can answer any of them.

I've relied on GrandCentral for more than a year. When you call me, my office phone and my cell phone ring. I can answer either one and transfer calls between them with a single push of a button. A web-based utility allows calls to be re-routed on the fly - you can literally make your phone calls ring at your parents' house when you arrive and turn off the forwarding when you leave. Call handling can be chosen based on time of day, or by groups, or by individual decisions for different names in your address book. Here's what I wrote about GrandCentral last year.

It's great - you should try it!

Except you can't sign up for it.

Google acquired GrandCentral in July 2007 and immediately stopped signing up new members. Existing members could invite new users for a few more months but no one has been added since the beginning of this year.

There is dead silence about what to expect. It's been months since there have been any meaningful changes on the web site or blog posts by anyone knowledgeable. Nobody from GrandCentral participates on the support forum. No one knows if a new version will be rolled out with even more wonderful features - or if the plug will be pulled on short notice.

It's not the only time this has happened to a company purchased by Google. This article about the "Google black hole" lists several more companies with promising technology that were acquired by Google only to disappear from sight, with the founders and employees gradually shifted away into other projects.

Google's image is starting to tarnish - its non-search products are always on the verge of greatness but never seem to become great. I hope GrandCentral doesn't die! If my phone number changes, it's a bad sign for some good technology.

Labels: business, Google, phone, web_services

posted by bruceb at 8/28/2008 12:39:00 AM | permalink

ACTIVESYNC FOR BLACKBERRY

ActiveSync is the technology from Microsoft that connects a mobile device to Exchange Server. For businesses running Small Business Server, it is ActiveSync that makes a Windows Mobile-based device so compelling - over the air syncing of Outlook mail, calendar & contacts.

Apple licensed ActiveSync for the new generation of iPhone, making it more appealing for businesses.

Blackberry devices don't run ActiveSync and cannot connect to an Exchange Server directly. That's why I've written frequently about the difficulty of setting up a Blackberry in offices running Small Business Server.

This web site announces a third party plugin for Blackberry devices that uses ActiveSync to sync with Exchange Servers, claiming it will be available this month.

That would be great! It's been overdue for a long time.

Will it work? Is this company for real? Will it suck the battery dry like ActiveSync does on the iPhone? Will it void the warranty on the Blackberry? Stay tuned. No one knows.

Labels: mobile, Outlook, phone, SBS

posted by bruceb at 8/06/2008 12:01:00 AM | permalink

WHAT I USE

On the assumption that my choices are endlessly fascinating to an ever-growing number of people - really, really bored people - I've added a page with details about the hardware and software that I use here at the high-tech headquarters of bruceb consulting. I'll try to keep it up to date. Heck, my computers are happy - you could do worse than follow my example in precise detail.

Click here for all the prurient details!

Labels: audio, backup, broadband, bruceb, computers, file_sharing, hardware, mobile, phone, photos, printers, SBS, security, software, video, web_services

posted by bruceb at 7/30/2008 01:02:00 AM | permalink

iPHONE 2.0

The new iPhone will be available next week, including support for Microsoft Exchange and Windows Mobile/ActiveSync. That means businesspeople in companies run by Small Business Server 2003 should be able to connect to their Outlook email, calendar and contacts over the air, continuously updating both directions. Well, we'll see - time will tell whether there are glitches or unexpected shortcomings. (I've seen one early unconfirmed report that using Exchange over the air sucks the battery dry in short order.)

David Pogue's column in the New York Times today mentions one thing that I had misunderstood. Apparently the iPhone 2.0 software will also be rolled out to current iPhone owners, enabling them to do exactly the same things.

That means all iPhone owners will have access to the new applications being developed on the iPhone 2.0 platform - there will be thousands of them, a rich new area for blogs to write about endlessly. You might see some that look tempting:

"One coming program, called iCall, will give you free phone calls when you're in a Wi-Fi hot spot. Another, called G-Park, exploits G.P.S. to help you find where you parked. Yet another, Urbanspoon, is "a cross between a magic eight ball and a slot machine:" you shake the phone, and it randomly displays the name of a good restaurant nearby, using the iPhone's G.P.S. and motion sensor.

"You can also expect to see a time and expense tracker, home-automation remote control, voice recorder, Etch-a-Sketch, a recipe box, tip calculator, currency converter, e-book reader and so on.

"Above all, the iPhone is about to become a dazzling hand-held game machine. The games revealed so far feature smooth 3-D graphics and tilt control; in one driving simulator, you turn the iPhone itself like a steering wheel, and your 3-D car on the screen banks accordingly. Other games exploit the multitouch screen, so you and a buddy can sit at opposite ends of the screen and fire at each other."

I'm a bit skeptical because I'm dull and unimaginative. There are hundreds of gadgets that can be added to Vista's sidebar, but I kinda turned off the sidebar because they weren't all that interesting. There are thousands and thousands of applications for Windows Mobile devices but once my phone started syncing reliably with Outlook, I was pretty much done with twiddling with it.

Interesting stuff. Just remember, the iPhone is an expensive thing to have in your pocket and there's no way around its Achilles heel.

Oh, and I finally found the map showing the Sonoma County coverage of AT&T's higher speed 3G network.

If you're outside the shaded area, data speeds will continue to be limited by AT&T's slower EDGE network, roughly the same as having web pages delivered to you by a glacier.

Labels: Apple, mail, mobile, phone, SBS

posted by bruceb at 7/10/2008 12:20:00 AM | permalink

APPLE iPHONE UPGRADE

The upgraded iPhone has a tremendous list of features! I'm looking forward to the integration with Exchange Server, which ought to let my clients with Small Business Server have a live, over-the-air connection to their contacts, calendar, and inbox. I'll write more about the new iPhone after I have some experience with it.

There are two things worth noting that may get lost in the excitement next month.

• It's not really any cheaper. The sales price is cut in half - welcome news indeed! But it's not really a discount. Instead, AT&T is subsidizing the sale price and making it back by increasing the monthly fee by $10 for the data plan. Since a two year contract is required, that means the new iPhone will be slightly more expensive than the original iPhone over the life of the contract. Most people only focus on the original sales price; AT&T is focused like a laser on your signature on the two-year contract.
• You still have to sign up with AT&T. Their much-vaunted 3G data speeds won't do any good if you don't live in the major metropolitan areas where AT&T actually provides that service. And in a recent poll, 65% of the people who had called AT&T for customer support said they would rather "have their eyes plucked out by crows" than go through that experience again. Well, something like that - I can't find that survey now, but you get the idea.

Labels: Apple, mobile, phone

posted by bruceb at 6/13/2008 12:18:00 AM | permalink

BLACKBERRY MANIA

Blackberry smartphones are mindbogglingly popular. I'm being asked about them more often than iPhones. That shouldn't be a surprise - almost half the smartphones sold in the first quarter of 2008 were Blackberry devices, a significant increase over the previous quarter, while the market share of iPhones took a nose dive in the same period, according to the Associated Press.

I wrote some cautionary notes a few months ago about the Blackberry. Let me try to be more specific.

• If you work in a company that supports the Blackberry, it is a tremendous device. The company runs big servers to make it so.
• Small businesses can get similar software for their server; licenses are cheap or free. Count on a significant cost to set up the Blackberry server software and get things working - and prepare for the risk not only that it might not work smoothly, but also that it might muck up your server in other ways. Remember, the reason your server runs so smoothly is because we change it as little as possible. I've heard stories, that's all I'm saying.
• If you are an individual with a single POP3 email address, the Blackberry is a good phone and a decent email device. You'll have to fuss with a couple of settings in your mail program to leave messages on your mail provider's server so Blackberry can retrieve them; that can occasionally go sideways, resulting in your mail program or Blackberry receiving twelve duplicate copies of messages or something, but on the whole it will be fine.
• You won't be syncing over the air with your computer's calendar or address book. You can sync in a cradle attached to the computer if you install Blackberry's software. Personally, I find the software to be fairly hideous and unintuitive, but it does its job, if you're lucky. Heck, hideous unintuitive software is easy to come by - I've seen worse.
• If you have a Google GMail or Yahoo mail account, the Blackberry integrates beautifully with them. Google, in particular, is cooking up ways to connect to a Blackberry and has released a program to sync the Blackberry calendar with a Google calendar. You know, if you're using a Google calendar. (If you're using a Google calendar, you're young and devouring new technology at a furious pace and the last thing you need is condescending advice from an old fogey. Go and Twitter in peace.)
• If you work in a company run by Microsoft Small Business Server, the Blackberry is very, very wrong for you.
• If you get a device running Windows Mobile 5 or 6, I can set you up in three minutes with your Outlook calendar, contacts, and email syncing over the air, continuously, both directions.
• If you get a Blackberry, I can create a clumsy, half-baked flow of messages to the Blackberry that is divorced from your Outlook folders. Everything about it will be a compromise. You'll blame me. I'll be defensive.

The smartphone is becoming a platform that is as important for many people as their computer. Shop carefully and look ahead - a lot will be happening in the next year to improve the process of making your information available everywhere!

Labels: Google, mail, mobile, phone, SBS

posted by bruceb at 6/12/2008 12:50:00 AM | permalink

GRANDCENTRAL GOES OOPS

GrandCentral is a phenomenally useful service for some people. The service assigns you a free phone number; you can route calls so when that number is dialed, the phone rings at any number of places you choose. When you call my GrandCentral number - the only number I give out now - both my office phone and my cell phone ring, so you can reach me wherever I am, crucial in an area like Sonoma County where cell phone coverage is spotty. The web interface plays voicemail messages, which are indefinitely archived, and allows calls to be rerouted on the fly - forward your calls to Grandma's house when you arrive for Thanksgiving, then turn the forwarding off when you leave. Brilliant! Here's my notes about GrandCentral when I signed up.

Google bought GrandCentral last year and seems a little uncertain what to do with it. The service immediately stopped accepting new users, instead offering signup on a waiting list with only occasional openings for new people to join. Service has been spotty at times lately. The features haven't changed and there's been little discussion about what to expect. The official blog is almost dead, although a post last month promised that work was proceeding on "the next great version of GrandCentral and a ton of cool new features."

Today's episode is probably just an "Oops!" moment, not an indication of anything. But it was almost a big Oops.

Google almost let the registration lapse on the domain name www.grandcentral.com. Somebody forgot to renew it.

The web site actually went dead for many people today, the last day of its registration, as the registrar began to take it over.

Late in the day, somebody from Google managed to get the site back online by renewing the name for a year.

Here's a blogger summing up the day's events.

Isn't that marvelous? It's some pretty embarrassing stuff. I hope Google is doing a better job on the big picture than it is on the details!

Labels: business, Google, Internet, phone

posted by bruceb at 5/21/2008 01:34:00 AM | permalink

CELL PHONE DREAD

The world of cell phones has some things in common with the computing world, including the sense of dread and helplessness that weakens the knees when we walk into the stores. Here's a few things that came up during too many hours at the Verizon Wireless store this weekend.

• There simply is no answer to the question, "How much is it?" The variations in price are breathtaking. Prices for phones by themselves, without extending your contract for another two years, are absurdly high. If you can swallow the contract extension, you enter a blur of rebates and promotional offers that are never straightforward. Our salesman gamely described the price for a phone, and a mail-in rebate for good citizenship, and another hundred dollar rebate if we signed up for the required monthly data plan - but came back later with, "Oops, that's only a fifty dollar rebate because it's a secondary line, not a primary line, I mean, obviously, right? Oh, and you have to switch to the Nationwide Choice plan, which is the same price and has the same features as the America's Choice plan, we just gave it a different name to screw with you." Whatever. Present the credit card and sign whatever is handed to me, like just about everyone else there.
• Virtually every non-PDA phone is designed for children. There are no cell phones for people who really only want to use their phones to make phone calls.
• More and more phones are designed with slideout QWERTY keyboards. Most of them are ergonomic disasters. You cannot choose a phone with a keyboard unless you stand in the store holding it, trying to type on the keyboard!
• Phones with a two inch display cannot display very much onscreen that's interesting or useful. That doesn't change just because the screen is rotated ninety degrees. Switching from portrait to landscape to gain an extra half inch of width does not improve an unreadable web page.
• Do not underestimate the carriers' willingness to hold you up for a few more dollars! Our new Samsung Glyde comes with a USB cable - but it does not register as a "mass storage device" when it's connected to a computer. In other words, it doesn't show up as a drive - there is no way to copy photos or music to and from the phone. Verizon wants to charge you to upload the photos to its online gallery; Verizon wants you to install its proprietary music software and sell you music from the Verizon store. Ringtones? No way you're gonna use your own music - buy 'em.
• Some phones have slots for "MicroSD cards," where music and pictures can be stored. (At least that way you can get them on and off the phone using a computer.) Did you know there were "MicroSD cards"? Little, tiny fingernail sized things. Are they the same as "MiniSD cards" Good god, I don't know. (But I can look it up. Answer: no.)
• Hey, I've gotta tell you a funny story. I got a new camera, a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX55 - great camera, really small but the image stabilization feature in new cameras is a big deal. I read that the camera takes better quality short movies with an "SD-HC" card, capable of storing video at higher speeds. The SD-HC cards are rated by speed - 2, 4, 6. This was all news to me. What? So I bought a 4Gb SD-HC card and took some pictures and plugged it into the card reader on the computer and it couldn't read it. Hmm. Tried a couple of other SD card readers - nope, can't read it. No, the "SD-HC" cards needs a new generation of card reader - the card reader on the computer is ancient, probably more than a year old. Had to figure out what adapter to buy before I could get the pictures off the camera. Ha ha! Isn't technology fun! I was laughing, you betcha.
• Blackberries look great. They don't work the way you think they do. You've been warned!
• Windows Mobile phones work seamlessly with Small Business Server, for my business clients. I can set them up in two minutes to sync your Outlook email/calendar/contacts over the air. We got another Motorola Q - now a couple of years old but still a sleek, straightforward design. It does not have a touchscreen but I've come to think of that as an advantage after trying many quirky touchscreens. The Q9m on sale now at Verizon has a horrible "multimedia" home screen that might rear its ugly head with a single errant click, but the same click sends it back to the normal Windows Mobile screen. For fifty bucks more, the brand new Q9c adds a GPS function to the phone. Verizon likes the GPS feature. It will charge you a monthly fee to use it. Of course.

VERIZON *228

Does everyone know this but me?

Verizon erects new towers, signs new deals with other carriers to share towers, and changes its roaming areas pretty regularly.

Your phone doesn't know that until you manually update it.

In your home area, dial *228 and choose option 2. If you're lucky, your signal will improve because your phone has learned about a nearby tower that it wasn't previously using.

Verizon recommends doing this every three months. Here's Verizon's FAQ about the "Preferred Roaming List" update.

Maybe it's just me, but this is the weirdest thing I've heard in a long time. So I'm going to drive by Verizon towers but my phone ignores them because it's not smart enough? Get outta here.

The salesman assured me that my signal strength would improve because of all the towers Verizon had added west of Sebastopol.

I pushed *228 and updated my phone and drove home breathless with anticipation, and he was just kidding, of course. If I'm talking to you on my cell phone, the call will still be dropped just when you're about to tell me the punchline.

Happy cell phone shopping!

Labels: mobile, phone

posted by bruceb at 5/13/2008 12:28:00 AM | permalink

iPHONE SECOND THOUGHTS

Within a month or two we'll have a second-generation iPhone, with higher data speeds through AT&T's 3G network and built-in support for connections to Microsoft Exchange Server. As always, Apple is being reticent with the details and the launch date but it's likely to be soon.

Paul Thurrott today spoke an important truth that must not be overlooked.

"Just so we're clear, if Apple ever opened up its iPhone to rival cell phone networks in the United States, AT&T would lose about 99 percent of its iPhone customers overnight, and that number is artificially low because the final one percent would leave eventually. But that's because AT&T Wireless is, perhaps, the worst wireless carrier in existence."

And really, that's about all there is to it. Verizon is no treat to deal with but - I can't sign up with AT&T. Even for an iPhone. I just can't go there.

Labels: Apple, mobile, phone

posted by bruceb at 5/09/2008 01:36:00 PM | permalink

CELL PHONE SPAM

The advertising industry is starting to turn its attention to advertising on cell phones.

Here's an article that forecasts a "perfect storm" of annoying advertising. "It audibly interrupts your life like telemarketing. It?s cheap to mass-produce like e-mail spam. And it holds you hostage like TV ads."

"eMarketer projects that the $421 million spent on cell phone ads in the United States in 2006 will grow to $4.7 billion by 2011 and exceed $6.5 billion in 2012.

"Advertisers speak of an ominous sounding ?paradigm shift? in mobile advertising, where more of the spam will be multimedia, targeted and tracked. . . .

"One use for ads will be subsidized services. We may very soon see major carriers offering free wireless service in exchange for ads. Those ads will pop up in the middle of YouTube videos, or play at the beginning of phone calls."

We deal now with dropped calls and proprietary equipment and incomprehensible calling plans. In hindsight, this may look like the good old days.

Labels: business, mobile, phone

posted by bruceb at 4/25/2008 12:55:00 AM | permalink

IPHONE & EXCHANGE

Apple announced today that it has licensed ActiveSync technology from Microsoft, allowing the iPhone to sync mail, contacts, and calendars with Exchange Server.  Apple also released a development kit which will result in an explosion of third party applications for the iPhone.

The iPhone is poised to be a compelling choice for businesses, including my clients running Small Business Server. Blackberry and Windows Mobile devices suddenly look very drab in comparison.

The update for the iPhone is scheduled to be delivered in June. The iPhone will still be tethered to AT&T for the foreseeable future. There is no official word about whether the iPhone will be upgraded to permit a faster 3G Internet connection but the rumor mills are predicting a 3G iPhone in June to go along with the enterprise features.

Here's an article about today's announcement of ActiveSync support for Exchange, and here's an overview of the entire Apple press conference. Apple unveiled a web site devoted to the iPhone Enterprise program and Microsoft concurrently issued a press release.

This has the potential to make the iPhone a bigger deal than anything Apple is doing with computers, and might even eclipse Apple's success in changing the music industry with the iPod. Pay attention to this story!

Labels: Apple, mail, Outlook, phone, SBS

posted by bruceb at 3/07/2008 12:57:00 AM | permalink

SKYPE ADD-ON

Skype is wonderful free software for making online phone calls. With a headset and a fast Internet connection, you can be talking to another Skype user anywhere in the world for free. Here are some notes about how it works and what's involved to make calls to conventional phones.

By default, Skype loads an add-on for Internet Explorer that ought to be simple and useful. The add-on scans each web page to identify phone numbers and highlight them, so a Skype call can be placed to the number with a single click.

I've now run into several cases where Internet Explorer appeared to freeze or time out - and the Skype add-on was the culprit. Disabling it allowed the computers to resume normal operation. It doesn't always happen but I'm on the alert for it now after two or three experiences.

Remember, Internet Explorer 7 has easy tools to deal with add-ons - look under Tools / Manage Add-Ons. I'm cautious about add-ons now after too many poor experiences.

Labels: IE, phone, software

posted by bruceb at 2/25/2008 01:32:00 AM | permalink

BLACKBERRY - THE ENVY & THE REALITY

Blackberry is making some very appealing phone/mail devices.

They don't work the way you think they do. Some of you won't have any fun with them at all.

Businesspeople have made Blackberries into corporate icons, as omnipresent as iPods on 24-year-olds. Serious users aren't bothered by jokes about "crackberry addicts" - they just keep on moving their thumbs with their heads down through meetings and in airports and on dates and riding ski lifts and during dental surgery.

The mail comes in, the mail goes out, the phones look stylish. Great, right?

How does the mail get to the Blackberry? Aye, there's the rub.

Medium to large companies run lots of servers, with lots of IT staff employed to keep them working. These days, one or more of those servers runs enterprise software from Blackberry. Blackberry Enterprise Server integrates with the company's mail servers to push mail to the company's Blackberry users. This is more than "software" - it is a dead serious, expensive, enterprise-level platform that requires committed onsite IT staff for setup and support.

You - my loyal small business clients, my friends with home computers - you don't have a Blackberry Enterprise Server.

But if you buy a Blackberry, it can get your mail! You can send mail! It says so in all the ads!

You get to run Blackberry Desktop Software on your desktop PC. It hooks into your mail program and pushes incoming messages out to your Blackberry. Perfect! Works like a charm, right?

Maybe. Some people use it happily. But consider this.

It only works if you use Outlook. (Or Lotus Notes or Novell Groupwise. I don't want to leave out Notes and Groupwise users. Why don't you go off to the corner of the room and chat amongst yourselves?) Using another mail program or web mail? There's other ways to set up the Blackberry - maybe - but you'll need help and you have no guarantees.

It only works if Outlook is running on your desktop computer. Your desktop computer has to be turned on, logged in to your desk, with Outlook running, or nothing arrives at your Blackberry, period. The mail to your Blackberry stops if you're using a notebook, or if your desktop computer goes to sleep, or you forget to leave Outlook running, or the computer restarts after installing an update, or the power blinks, or the Internet connection goes down, or anything else at all interferes.

The Blackberry software is like too many other programs. It works reasonably well for many people but when it goes wrong, it is obnoxious to troubleshoot. I've been there. It feels fragile and unfriendly. I had one particularly bitter experience that still makes me shudder, on behalf of a client who has developed a close relationship with Blackberry's tech support department trying to work out the persistent problems.

Small businesses and law firms running Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 have a mail system built on Exchange Server, which can be set up to integrate seamlessly with phone/PDAs running Windows Mobile software. Not everyone loves Windows Mobile - a bit cluttered, a bit slow - but I can set it up in minutes to sync e-mail, address books and calendars over the air, with full two-way communication back to the server. Messages sent from the mobile device show up in Outlook's Sent Items, phone numbers and appointments entered on the fly are immediately displayed back at the office.

Blackberry recently introduced Blackberry Professional, a simplified version of the enterprise platform for small businesses with up to 30 employees. It's reasonably inexpensive ($499/5 users, $849/10 users) and it can theoretically be installed on a server that is also being used for other tasks. There are stories about successful installations on servers running Small Business Server 2003, although I've also seen horror stories about server slowdowns and crashes for the same setup.

I'm discouraging my clients from asking me to take them down that road because I'm old and cynical. If this could be installed and work right away with a minimum of fuss, that would be swell. Except it wouldn't go that way, because nothing does. Instead, there'd be dozens of hours spent learning the tricks and tweaks and details necessary to keep things running smoothly. The payback just isn't there.

At some point I'll set up Blackberry Professional. If the experience is elegant and troublefree, I promise I'll come back and retract all these negative vibes and try to be less cranky. In the meantime, take a look at Windows Mobile devices - I know what to do with those.

Labels: hardware, mail, mobile, phone, SBS, software

posted by bruceb at 1/30/2008 12:32:00 AM | permalink

SPEAKING GEEK

The Wall Street Journal's site All Things Digital has a useful article that translates some geek jargon into English. It's a nicely written collection of common-sense explanations of terms used to describe digital cameras, mobile devices, televisions, and more. Sample:

"DIGITAL CAMERAS - Megapixels: This term describes the highest resolution photo a camera can take. Often mistaken as the most important factor in a digital camera, a high megapixel count - such as 10MP or more - isn't necessary for the average user unless he or she plans on heavily editing or enlarging photos. Most new digicams offer between five and eight megapixels, which is usually more than enough."

Labels: audio, mobile, phone, photos, video, wireless

posted by bruceb at 1/10/2008 01:05:00 AM | permalink

iPHONES & EXCHANGE SERVER

The iPhone is a sleek, sexy device that permanently changes our expectations for handheld devices. After holding an iPhone, it's hard to pick up another cell phone and PDA without feeling a bit of a letdown.

The iPhone has a few shortcomings that are not immediately apparent when you look at one for the first time. Here's a list of the big and small issues that users are discovering about the current iPhone. The most significant problem is Apple's deal tying the iPhone to AT&T. Perhaps that was important to finance the deal or Apple thought it was necessary for marketing, but it's a shame - AT&T is a horrible company to do business with and has a much weaker network than the competitors.

Let's say you can swallow signing up for an account with AT&T. At the moment, the iPhone is not the right choice for Outlook users hoping to sync e-mail, calendar, and contacts to the iPhone. That's especially true for businesses running Exchange Server, the software powering the mail system in Small Business Server 2003. Many reports online say that the iPhone is difficult to set up with Exchange Server - possible, but difficult to configure. Worse, even when it's set up correctly, I've seen too many reports that it just doesn't work very well.

Theoretically mail can be sent to the iPhone if support for IMAP is turned on in Exchange Server. That's a protocol for retrieving mail, similar in concept to POP3 but seldom used until recently. Researching how to do that turns up warnings like this:

As I understand it, the iPhone can be set up to receive e-mail from an Exchange Server - but that's it for over-the-air syncing. No contacts, no calendar sync over the air. Calendar and contact syncing is not done directly with Outlook even when the iPhone is in the cradle, if I understand right - first, Outlook has to sync with iTunes, then iTunes syncs with the iPhone. It's a messy process that's fraught with error.

It's unclear whether mail sent from the iPhone ends up going thru the Exchange Server and showing up in Outlook Sent Items - I think not but I haven't confirmed it yet.

This is likely to change soon, possibly in the next month or two. Two weeks ago Apple posted this job opening for a QA engineer:

The iPhone Quality team is looking for a motivated, highly-technical Exchange test/sync engineer with excellent problem solving and communication skills. You will join a dynamic team responsible for qualifying the latest iPhone products. Your focus will be testing Exchange and Outlook functionality with Apple's innovative new phone. The successful candidate will complete both documented and adhoc testing to ensure high quality releases.

The hope is that an Exchange connector for the iPhone is in its final testing phase.

Watch for an announcement from Apple that a new version of the iPhone has built-in support for Exchange Server. If that's coupled with an upgrade to permit the iPhone to use AT&T's higher-speed data network instead of the godawful slow EDGE network, it will make the iPhone a much more attractive choice.

Labels: Apple, mobile, Outlook, phone, SBS

posted by bruceb at 1/03/2008 01:00:00 AM | permalink

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008!

In 2007, we started to work with Windows Vista, bought lots of handheld devices, and started to move things online - our mail, our photos, our movies.

What will 2008 bring? It will start with lots more of the same. Many of you will get your first Windows Vista computer and discover that it's quite a nice operating system. There's a flood of new handheld devices on the way inspired by the iPhone, although my guess is that Apple will stay a step ahead by releasing the iPhone version 2 with better data speeds and support for corporate e-mail systems - making it look very tempting for almost anyone who can stomach an account with AT&T. And the online sites for photos and videos will continually improve their ease of use and security; this should be on your mind every time you hear a story about someone who didn't have a backup of the family photos when the computer crashed.

2008 will bring an update to Microsoft Small Business Server - too early to know what the impact of that will be. I sense virtualization in my future - software that allows multiple computers to run on the same piece of hardware, each one convinced that it has exclusive control of the machine. That allows changes to be tested without risk and might even allow a business to run multiple servers in a more secure, less expensive way. We'll talk about that just as soon as I understand it even a little tiny bit.

With luck we'll talk less in 2008 about the recording industry and confusing DRM restrictions on music and video files. Slowly but surely the entertainment industry is being forced to consider new business models based on trusting consumers instead of suing them. Warner Music just began offering part of its music catalog in MP3 format through Amazon.com, joining EMI and Universal, and leaving Sony as the lonely holdout. My second favorite news item at the end of 2007 is the latest over-the-top assertion by the recording industry, this time in a brief filed by the RIAA last month in one of its acts of litigation terrorism against consumers. The RIAA now asserts that it is illegal for you to rip a CD to your computer, even if you purchased the CD and the computer files are only for your personal use. This is what it looks like when an entire industry dies a horrible self-inflicted death.

But my favorite end-of-year news story should warm all of our hearts. Wal-Mart announced that it has closed its online service for downloading movies. The service was opened in February with the endorsement of all major movie studios and TV networks, offering movies with intense DRM restrictions.

But that's not the good part.

The good part is that when Wal-Mart posted the announcement that the site was closed, no one noticed. In this world where everything is observed and commented on, it took a week for the closure to be mentioned in any blog or news article. It was such a cruddy, overpriced, difficult, restrictive service that literally no one ever looked at it. I love that!

Let's take it to be a good sign for 2008. My wish for you all is that in 2008, cruddy services and software will be ignored and valuable services and software will rise to the top, making you richer and more productive and happier. We can hope, right?

All my best wishes for a happy new year!

Labels: audio, business, DRM, Internet, mobile, phone, photos, SBS, video, web_services

posted by bruceb at 1/02/2008 12:05:00 AM | permalink

PLAYSFORSAYWHAT?

Microsoft has a name problem.

I used to think that Microsoft had learned a lesson from the years of confusion and frustration caused by the similar names for "Outlook" and "Outlook Express," two programs that were not even remotely related.

The same people must have been on the committee that decided "Windows Mail" (the free program included with Vista) would be on the market at the same time as "Windows Live Mail," the similar but not identical free program for Vista and Windows XP. Not to be confused with "Windows Live Hotmail," the final name for Microsoft's webmail service. Which can sync with Windows Live Mail but not Windows Mail.

"Windows Photo Gallery," the free photo browser included with Vista, can wind up installed side-by-side with the virtually identical "Windows Live Photo Gallery," the free photo browser for Vista and Windows XP.

Now Microsoft has renamed another product in such an aggressively baffling way that the only reasonable explanation is that Microsoft is just screwing around with us for fun. Follow along!

Microsoft introduced an audio format built on DRM restrictions, marketed as "PlaysForSure." Partners were invited to build online stores and hardware devices based on the format. Sony, Creative and Sandisk built handheld devices, MTV partnered with Microsoft to build an online store, and lots of big players committed to the format. The marketing pitch: "PlaysForSure" was a comparatively open format and consumers would have lots of choices compared to Apple's closed world.

After a couple of years, Apple still dominated the market for online music and handhelds and Microsoft had decided that its partners were stupid, so with no notice it ditched the PlaysForSure format and put the Zune on the market - its own handheld device, supported by its own online store, that can't play "PlaysForSure" files. Microsoft stopped putting any energy into its "PlaysForSure" format and started competing with its own partners, essentially abandoning them and trashing the environment that Microsoft itself had created.

That was weird. It just got weirder.

Microsoft should have killed the "PlaysForSure" format but perhaps some of the partners felt they could still find a way to make money despite Microsoft's slap in the face. Last week Microsoft decided instead to change the name of the "PlaysForSure" format. The new name for Microsoft's audio format and DRM scheme is (drumroll):

"CERTIFIED FOR WINDOWS VISTA"

"Certified for Windows Vista" files play on Windows XP, but they do not play on Microsoft's Zune, which sells music from its online marketplace that is also classified as "Certified for Windows Vista" and marketed with the identical logo - but those files won't play on the "Certified for Windows Vista" devices that used to be "PlaysForSure" devices.

Even the kindest articles find this to be bizarrely confusing.

Microsoft's partners in the "PlaysForSure" world might not make public statements about their hatred, but they have to be seething. They counted on being part of a coherent marketing strategy, got shafted when the Zune was introduced, and now Microsoft is removing any possibility that any consumer will give them a second thought.

The story has one more twist.

Microsoft just announced this week that it has developed an audio format built on DRM restrictions specifically designed for mobile phones. Its first partner, Nokia, is going to build online stores and hardware devices based on the format. Chirpy press spokespeople promise that oodles of companies will sign up for the new format next year.

And what name did Microsoft choose for its new format? What name does Nokia believe holds the promise of a bright future as a committed Microsoft partner? What name was announced a week after the tattered remnants of "PlaysForSure" morphed into "Certified for Windows Vista"?

Are all these people nuts?

Labels: audio, DRM, hardware, mobile, phone, software

posted by bruceb at 12/20/2007 12:05:00 AM | permalink

MP3s AND THE FUTURE OF MUSIC

The music industry is in complete disarray; the shift away from CDs is irreversible and most consumers simply expect music to be free. The recording industry's hostility, arrogance, and litigation tactics have alienated everyone, making it harder for the industry to imagine a business plan that works - especially while it's controlled by executives who freely admit they don't understand these new-fangled Internet tubes.

It's no surprise that many different plans for distributing music are under way, and it shouldn't be a surprise that the reporting is frequently confusing or wrong. Let me give you the shortest of refresher courses so you can follow the headlines.

You'll see the term "MP3" used freely and not always accurately. MP3 is a file format, one of the original formats for storing music that's been compressed to make smaller computer files while still preserving much of the original sound quality. It's not completely free - there's a patent and license fees change hands - but it's neutral because an MP3 file does not have any bits devoted to restricting use of the file. In other words, MP3 files are essentially not capable of being locked down by DRM restrictions.

When music first began to be played on computers and Napster was flourishing, almost all music files were in MP3 format.

The recording industry doesn't like MP3 files. If you buy one, you can copy it, you can transfer it, you can use it in multiple ways (on a CD, on a handheld device), all without paying any more money. That interfered with the entertainment industry's plan to reinvent copyrights to deliver unlimited streams of revenue by requiring new payments every time your use of a copyrighted item changes in any way.

The industry demanded files that could be controlled and the explosion of file formats began - Microsoft's WMA, Apple's AAC, and others - all devoted to playing music only if certain conditions were met.

• Pay for the file and it plays for a week, or a month, or a year, then stops unless you pay more money.
• Pay for the file and you can play it on your computer but not burn it on a CD or play it on your friend's computer.
• Pay for the file and you can play it forever on this computer but not on the computer you get to replace it unless you engage in a complicated wrestling match with licenses.
• Pay for the file and you can play it on an iPod but not on any other handheld device.
• And a thousand more variations that have been infuriating consumers for years.

The press typically refers to all of these files as "MP3 files," in the belief that the term is synonymous with "music file." It's not.

There's some momentum now towards delivering files that do not have any DRM restrictions, since consumers have become well-informed enough not to want them. Much attention was given to Apple's announcement that it would begin selling DRM-free music in its iTunes store. Although the files do not have any DRM restrictions, they are still in Apple's proprietary AAC format, which some software will not play and which cannot be used with any handheld device other than an iPod.

EMI and Universal were the first to open their libraries (reluctantly) for sale in MP3 format. Amazon took advantage of that as a marketing wedge for its music store selling genuine MP3 files - universal acceptance in all software and all devices and no DRM (and a clever bit of software that automatically adds purchases to your library if you're using iTunes, making it almost as convenient as purchases from the iTunes store).

During next February's Super Bowl, Pepsi and Amazon will advertise a massive year-long promotion where codes under bottlecaps can be exchanged for music downloads. The twist is that the downloads will be MP3 files from Amazon - and Pepsi will be distributing enough codes for 1 billion free downloads. That's a lot of music, and a lot of consumers being introduced to Amazon's music store!

Some analysts wonder if we are approaching a tipping point that will force the other labels to agree to distribute their music in MP3 format and leave ineffective DRM restrictions behind. WalMart is pressuring the labels to sell their catalogs in MP3 format, and Warner Music Group and Sony are considering MP3 tests, previously unthinkable.

All of this is good for consumers but not the whole story. The labels are getting enthusiastic again about subscription services, where a fixed monthly fee opens up access to all the music you want. Most recently it turned up in a breathless announcement from Universal about "Total Music," a service to be bundled with cell phones and priced so low that carriers won't even bill for it separately, giving the impression that the music is free.

"With the Total Music service, Morris and his allies are trying to hit reset on how digital music is consumed. In essence, Morris & Co. are telling consumers that music is a utility to which they are entitled, like water or gas. Buy one of the Total Music devices, and you've got it all. Ironically, the plan takes Jobs' basic strategy-- getting people to pay a few hundred bucks for a music player but a measly 99 cents for the music that gives it value--and pushes it to its extreme. After all, the Total Music subscriber pays only for the device--and never shells out a penny for the music. "You know that it's there, and it costs something," says one tech company executive who has seen Morris' presentation. "But you never write a check for it.""

Swell! Except for the teensiest bit of ambiguity about DRM restrictions - but there was room for optimism. After all, Universal is already experimenting with MP3s, right? Why not generate some goodwill by giving consumers the format they want in this situation where a flow of income is guaranteed?

The optimism lasted about a month until the details became available. Universal's "free music" will arrive in Microsoft's WMA format, meaning the files can't be played on iPods or Zunes. (That's right - Microsoft's "PlaysForSure" WMA is a format that Microsoft designed and promoted before abandoning it - its own handheld, the Zune, can't play the files.)

Universal's first partner is Nokia, and other labels may get involved. You'd be able to download music to your cell phone, which presumably will have the specs to be a good music player. The music won't turn off when your cell contract runs out, which is good. But there will be DRM restrictions - you won't be able to burn the music to a CD, for example, and it's still unclear whether the tracks are transferable and playable by anyone else.

There may be a "tipping point" ahead but there's still a long way to go before the recording industry stops trying to build its business around crippled products and concedes that informed consumers want unrestricted files in generic formats.

Labels: Apple, audio, business, DRM, Microsoft, mobile, phone, web_services

posted by bruceb at 12/07/2007 01:13:00 AM | permalink

VERIZON'S OPEN NETWORK

Verizon's announcement that it would open up its network next year to devices not sold in Verizon stores made headlines and generated lots of online buzz. It is a welcome development from a notoriously closed company and Verizon deserves kudos for stepping forward. Verizon might just be trying to polish up its image before the important 700Mhz spectrum auction coming soon, which looks like a battle between Verizon and Google after other major players decided not to bid. Or perhaps it genuinely wants to do the right thing in America, which lags badly in innovation, features, and prices compared to the regulated market in Europe. (The European cell phone market is one of several examples of regulated markets that are far more robust than the purportedly "free" market in the US, where the benefits of competition and innovation are all too often sacrificed to corporate greed and excess.)

It's worth keeping in mind that the Verizon announcement may be less significant than it appears. David Pogue details some of the reasons to be skeptical in this column:

• Verizon's network only supports a proprietary protocol, CDMA, and not the GSM protocol that's used by other carriers in the US and almost exclusively in Europe. Most devices designed to Verizon's standards won't be able to be used with any other carrier.
• Verizon will only allow use of phones it has approved, a rather glaring loophole that gives it tremendous control over the process - perhaps by requiring manufacturers to omit features (like VOIP calls) that would permit you to lower your Verizon bill.
• And most importantly, Verizon made no promises about the rates it will charge for network access by non-Verizon phones.

There are, however, a couple of reasons to be optimistic. One is another, less celebrated announcement by Verizon last week - in the long run, it intends to move to the industry-standard next-generation platform known as "LTE" ("Long Term Evolution"), supported by the other GSM carriers. This points to a true global standard that might avoid some of the equipment incompatibility that plagues us now.

The other is the possibility that Verizon's move will inspire other carriers to open up their own networks. Maybe we'd even see a little of that much-vaunted "competition" and the carriers will feel compelled to give us relatively free choices of equipment for our cell phone service.

Labels: business, Google, mobile, phone, wireless

posted by bruceb at 12/04/2007 12:05:00 AM | permalink

SEND TEXT MESSAGES BY E-MAIL
You can send e-mail messages and have them show up as a text message on an SMS-enabled phone, if you know the cell phone carrier used by the recipient. Here's a list that may come in handy, courtesy of a post on the QuarterToThree forums:

T-Mobile
Format: 10-digit cell phone number @ tmomail.net
Example: 3335551111@tmomail.net

Verizon Wireless
Format: 10-digit cell phone number @ vtext.com
Example: 3335551111@vtext.com

Rogers Wireless
Format: 10-digit cell phone number @ pcs.rogers.com
Example: 3335551111@pcs.rogers.com

Sprint PCS
Format: 10-digit cell phone number @ messaging.sprintpcs.com
Example: 3335551111@messaging.sprintpcs.com

Cingular Wireless
Format: 1 + 10-dig