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Daylights Saving Time
by Doug Hamilton 12 Mar '07

12 Mar '07

Here is a good article on making sure your Mac has adjusted to the new start date for Daylights Saving Time ... which started yesterday those of you who hadn't noticed. ;) http://www.macworld.com/2007/03/secrets/dstfix/index.php Regards, Doug

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INTEREST: Mac users, Microsoft's "guinea pigs"; "Double shot" trouble
by billing 10 Mar '07

10 Mar '07

...from: http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,129592/article.html Microsoft Considered Dumping Mac Office to Hurt Apple Jonny Evans, Monday, March 05, 2007 07:00 PM PST Documents in the recent Iowa antitrust trial reveal more of Microsoft's business practices. Yet more criticism of Microsoft's business practices has emerged in the wake of the recent Iowa anti-trust trial. Documentary evidence that Microsoft considered abandoning Office for Mac in order to cause "a great deal of harm" to Apple has emerged. An emailed memo from Microsoft-founder Bill Gates to then Mac Business Unit chief Ben Waldman dated June 1997 talks about morale in the Mac Office development camp. At that time Microsoft's senior management were considering dumping Mac support. The email complains at poor sales of Office, which it attributes to a lack of focus on making such sales among reps at that time. It describes dumping development of the product as: "The strongest bargaining point we have, as doing so will do a great deal of harm to Apple immediately." The document also confirms that Microsoft at the time saw Office for the Mac as a chance to test new features in the product before they appeared in Windows, "because it is so much less critical to our business than Windows." ============================= ...from: http://www.designnews.com/blog/380000238.html Friday, March 2, 2007 Apple Wins Patent for Technology in Zune Mar 2 2007 4:37PM The US Patent office yesterday granted Apple Computer a patent for a process called double back injection molding used to make electronic housings. The process allows the distinctive glowing border effect in Microsoft's Zune player [which began shipping November, 2006]. The process allows creation of two different color effects as well as improved structural characteristics of the border wall. it avoids expensive and complicated action in tools. Apple uses double shot injection molding for both iPods and iMac desktop computers, which have a clear shell over a black or white layer. “The two shot injection process allows for a thinner walled enclosure that uses less materials and allows for added structural features that would not be possible using traditional molding techniques,” according to the patent summary [filed on August 16, 2005]. It was not clear, but seemed apparent, that Microsoft may have to pay a licensing fee to continue use of the process. One blogger [http://www.zuney.net/zune- news/736-good-bad-news.html] stated, without documentation, that Apple was stealing Microsoft’s idea. [Patent item at: http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser? Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch- bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=20070048470.PGNR.&OS=DN/ 20070048470RS=DN/20070048470] ================================ Apple on Microsoft, Microsoft Windows, and Microsoft Office: - "Hi. I'm a Mac" Guy: "PC, you are a wizard with numbers and you dress like a gentleman." Microsoft on Apple and Steve Jobs: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/ 16934083/site/newsweek/ - Bill Gates: "...if you're really cool, that means you get to be a lying person whenever you feel like it?" and - Bill Gates: "If you just want to say, "Steve Jobs invented the world, and then the rest of us came along," that's fine. If you’re interested, [Vista development chief] Jim Allchin will be glad to educate you feature by feature what the truth is." Microsoft on Microsoft: http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/01/22/ HNmicrosoftappletie_1.html - Jim Allchin (head of the Microsoft division in charge of Windows and Vista development chief): "I have to tell you my experience with our software and [the Zune] is really terrible," he wrote in e-mail. "I expect you already knew this but I had not personally experienced it. Now I spent last night really playing with it. My goodness it is terrible. What I don't understand is that I was told that the new Creative Labs device would be comparable to Apple. That is so not the case.....I think I should talk with Jobs. Right now, I think I should open up a dialogue for support of the iPod. Unless something changes, the iPod will drive people away from WMP [Windows Media Player]," he said in a Nov. 13, 2003 internal e-mail that was marked 'highly confidential' and carried the subject line "sucking on media players." - also Jim Allchin: http://www.computerworld.com/action/ article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9005873 ""In my view, [Microsoft has] lost our way.I think our teams lost sight of what bug-free means, what resilience means, what full scenarios mean, what security means, what performance means, how important current applications are, and really understanding what the most important problems our customers face are. I see lots of random features and some great vision, but that does not translate into great products." [.............to be fair, it should be noted that Mr. Allchin has since elaborated on these comments by explaining that he was just trying to rally the troops to do a better job and that his comments were not intended to be taken literally. ] ...from: http://www.forbes.com/2006/12/12/apple-microsoft-mac-tech- cz_dl_1212mac.html "On Monday night, after reporters began making inquiries about the e- mail, Allchin published an item on a Microsoft blog in which he claimed the e-mail statement was being taken out of context. He said that he'd made the comment about buying a Mac "for effect," that the e-mail was nearly 3 years old and that he was trying to shake things up at Microsoft." ......from: http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/operating_systems/ allchins_buy_a_mac_email_exposed.html - the entire email message Mr. Allchin , who is co-president of Microsoft's Platforms & Services Division, sent to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer on January 7, 2004: "This is a rant. I'm sorry. "I am not sure how the company lost sight of what matters to our customers (both business and home) the most, but in my view we lost our way. I think our teams lost sight of what bug-free means, what resilience means, what full scenarios mean, what security means, what performance means, how important current applications are, and really understanding what the most important problems are customers face are. I see lots of random features and some great vision, but that doesn't translate into great products. "I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft. If you run the equivalent of VPC [Virtual PC] on a Mac you get access to basically all Windows application software (although not the hardware). Apple did not lose their way. You must watch this new video below. I know this doesn't show anything for businesses, but my point is about the philosophy that Apple uses. They think scenario. They think simple. They think fast. I know there is nothing hugely deep in this. "http: //www.apple.com/ilife/video/ilifeO432C.html [Note: Link is now dead] "I must tell you everything in my soul tells me that we should do what I called plan (b) yesterday. We need a simple fast storage system. LH [Longhorn] is a pig and I don't see any solution to this problem. If we are to rise to the challenge of Linux and Apple, we need to start taking the lessons of 'scenario, simple, fast' to heart. Jim"

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New AirPort Extreme wireless stations let incoming IPv6 sessions straight through
by Noel Friesen 15 Feb '07

15 Feb '07

Apologies if this was already mentioned. There's at least one feature of the new AirPort Extreme base station that's not secure by default: It lets incoming IPv6 sessions straight through. More details here: http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2007/2/14/7063 Noel

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INTEREST: the state of cellular phones in Canada
by billing 14 Feb '07

14 Feb '07

NOTE: if errors in the following are spotted, please feel invited to correct same. Thanks. Wayne ----------------------------------------- [HeavyTechnologyJargon ON] ...from: http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/generic/ 0,295582,sid40_gci1078079,00.html What is this 3G/4G/etc. thing anyway? -------------------------------------------------------- Let's start with "cellular telephones": First of all, "cellular" generally refers to the wireless telephone family. It is just starting to compete, in terms of data transmission (which is to say, non-voice,) with the wireless Internet family that includes Wi-Fi and the other 802 wireless IEEE standards. But it is a completely distinct set of standards. The only place the two are likely to merge is in devices which incorporate a marriage of both the cellular and Wi-Fi standards [such as Apple's announced iPhone]. [In the following, "G" stands for "Generation" and is not related to "Gigabytes". It should be noted that the as the Generations evolve, higher data transmission speeds are attained .] Briefly: - 0G (the 0th Generation, if you will): Wireless telephone started with what you might call 0G if you can remember back that far. The great ancestor is the mobile telephone service that became available just after World War II. In those pre-cell days, you had a mobile operator to set up the calls and there were only a handful of channels available to the entire population of wireless telephones which is why the operator was needed to "schedule" the call. - 1G (the 1st Generation, although nobody actually called it that): The big boom in mobile phone service really began with the introduction of analog cellular service called AMPS (Analog Mobile Phone Service) starting in 1981. This generation is 1G, the first for using cell technology that let users place their own calls and continue their conversations seamlessly as they moved from cell to cell. AMPS uses what is called FDM or frequency division multiplexing. Each phone call uses separate radio frequencies or channels. - 2G (the 2nd Generation): One 2G standard uses a digital version of AMPS called D-AMPS using TDMA (Time division Multiple Access). A competing system also emerged using CDMA or Code Division Multiple Access. As you might suspect, the two are incompatible but you can have one phone that works with both. Europe embraced yet a third standard called GSM which is based on TDMA. Digital transmissions allow for more phone conversations in the same amount of spectrum compared with analog transmissions. They also lay the groundwork for services beyond simple voice telephone calls. Data services such as Internet access, text messaging, sharing pictures and video easily lend themselves to digital technologies of TDMA and CDMA. (3G) - Now that a cell phone is not merely a cell phone, but also a PDA, a messaging system, a camera, an Internet browser, an email reader and soon to be a television set, true broadband data speeds are needed as is a new generation of cellular phone technology. That new generation of cell phone service has been dubbed 3G for 3rd generation. 3G is a new wireless standard promising increased capacity and high-speed data applications up to two megabits. Third generation wireless employes wideband frequency carriers and a CDMA air interface. Implemented in Europe as UMTS (also marketed under the name 3GSM) and CDMA2000 in North America, its goals are high-quality multimedia and advanced global roaming (in house, cellular, satellite, etc.). You will also encounter the 3G term EVDO (Evolution- Data Optimized ) which is the data transmission standard in the CDMA2000 specification. 4G: The fourth generation being championed in Japan will boost the data rates to 20 Mbps. These speeds enable high quality video transmission and rapid download of large music files. ...from: http://www.nttdocomo.com/pr/2007/001319.html TOKYO, JAPAN, February 9, 2007 --- NTT DoCoMo, Inc. announced today that it achieved a maximum packet transmission rate of approximately 5Gbps in the downlink using 100MHz frequency bandwidth to a mobile station moving at 10km/h. The field experiment of fourth-generation (4G) radio access took place in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture on December 25, 2006. [HeavyTechnologyJargon OFF] [LightTechnologyJargon ON] Where is Canadian cellular communications? -------------------------------------------------------------------- So, no without some of the jargon, the first generation of today's cellular phones have been around since about 1981. Canada's cellular providers seem to currently be working toward 3G: - Rogers Communications (Fido): On February 2006 at the 3GSM Conference in Barcelona, Rogers announced that testing for their 3G/ 3.5G UMTS/HSDPA network would be complete by March 2006. The network was brought online for select markets on November 2, 2006, with further expansion during 2007. UMTS/HSDPA is officially available in the Golden Horseshoe of Ontario, including Brampton, Burlington, Hamilton, Mississauga, Oshawa, Richmond Hill, Pickering, Newmarket, Markham, Niagara Falls, Oakville, St. Catharines, Toronto, and all points between. So far, users are reporting performance in the 2-3 Mbit/s range on the HSDPA network, and 1 Mbit/s using UMTS. Note, however, that Rogers already offers GSM/EDGE (the predecessor to UMTS) all across Canada. EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) is a digital mobile phone technology built on top of GSM that allows for increased data transmission rate and improved data transmission reliability. GSM/EDGE is generally classified as a 2.75G network technology since it does not include true 3G technology but is merely an enhancement to the 2G standard. EDGE has been introduced into GSM networks around the world since 2003, initially in North America. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Wireless http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_Data_Rates_for_GSM_Evolution - Telus: Telus employs the CDMA2000 standard for their cellular network, and its 3G EvDO network has since been deployed and marketed as "broadband on the fly". Telus has also been involved in a controversy similar to that of the American telecom firm Verizon, where it crippled the Bluetooth function of its mobile phones and devices, forcing customers to access its network more often and thus increasing charges and revenue. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TELUS - MTS Wireless: EVDO (which MTS is referring to as "Mobility High Speed") service is available within MTS EVDO coverage areas (currently Winnipeg & Brandon), where technology permits. Data download speeds of 400-700 kbps per second are average technology speeds that users will experience based on manufacturer’s specifications. Data download speeds will vary depending on user’s location and hardware. http://www.mts.ca/portal/site/mts/ menuitem.a275cbc6dbb0d4e50e14081031248a0c/? vgnextoid=56970331b4dca010VgnVCM1000000408120aRCRD&vgnextchannel=0b1ccc8 78fc81010VgnVCM1000000408120aRCRD Interesting side stories: a) Entitled "China skips 3G and goes to 4G cell networks" the January 30, 2007 post describes how 3G cell technology is not available in mainland China but it looks like they'll be going directly to 4G as a successful field trial and launch has been done in Shanghai. http://www.cellphones.ca/tag/4G http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=534007 b) On Monday, February 12, 2007, Microsoft filed an application with the FCC for an enigmatic wireless device that could be used to talk over the Internet. The device is described as being used for “consumer broadband access and networking,” which doesn’t sound like vanilla VoIP. Microsoft goes on to say that the device would use OFDM as its communications protocol, not WiFi or Bluetooth. The standard OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing) is a modulation scheme that is used widely in upcoming 4G standards. http://crunchgear.com/2007/02/09/zne-phone-confirmed-launch- scenario-4g-wimax-action-rumors-off-the-wtf-o-meter/ [LightTechnologyJargon OFF] [NoJargon ON] The first generation of today's cellular phones have been around since about 1981. These phones have been dubbed 1G or 1st Generation cellular phone technology. Many of today's cellular subscribers in Canada are using 2G (2nd Generation) phones. Some Canadian cellular/ wireless phone providers are providing true 3G technology but at the moment this is most likely restricted to high-end devices such as BlackBerry units. In addition, other Canadian providers have enhanced their 2G technology (e.g. GSM/EDGE sometimes referred to as 2.75G) and are using this enhancement as a "stop gap" to provide faster data transmission for their cellular technology while they upgrade their networks country-wide to true 3G technology. The switch to 3G (and then 4G) cellular technology is driven by the need for high-bandwidth data transmission cell phones. As this an Apple oriented mailing list - in Canada - let's look briefly at how this affects the upcoming iPhone release: 1) Apple's iPhone will initially support only the GSM/EDGE standard. This seems to have been a strategic move on Apple's part as GSM is huge in Europe and many Asian countries; it is available in Canada; it is the standard used by the Cingular network in the United States. Cingular is the largest cell phone provider in the USA. It is widely speculated that the iPhone will remain GSM/EDGE for the duration of Apple's contract with Cingular (2 years) after which an iPhone supporting other true 3G (possibly 4G?) standards will also be released. [NOTE: Cingular has recently announced that it is changing it's name to ATT.] 2) Rogers Communication/Wireless is the only network which supports GSM/EDGE in Canada. Rogers purchased this network from ATT Wireless (Canada) when it closed down. 3) Rogers has announced that they are in negotiation with Apple attempting to reach an agreement that will allow Rogers to release the iPhone in Canada "sooner rather than later". [NoJargon OFF]

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INTEREST: one journalist's view of Microsoft "spin" (...and the Blogoshpere)
by billing 05 Feb '07

05 Feb '07

...from: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/25/technology/25pogue-email.html? ex=1185685200&en=5a72e70f46fca51d&ei=5087&mkt=techphoto A Wake-Up Call to Microsoft's PR Team By DAVID POGUE Published: January 25, 2007 From the January 1, 2007, edition of The New York Times: "Several bloggers reported last week that they had received Acer Ferrari laptops, which can sell for more than $2,200, from Microsoft. A spokeswoman for Microsoft confirmed on Friday that the company had sent out about 90 computers to bloggers who write about technology and other subjects" that could be affected by the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft's new operating system. "Being provided an evaluation computer from Acer is not a 'bribe,'" argued blogger Blake Handler, after receiving one of the free laptops. "It simply allows me to accelerate my evaluations, documentation and demonstrations of Windows Vista." OMG! You've got to be kidding me, Blake. I guess just being *lent* a laptop wouldn't have been enough to accelerate your evaluations? I guess only being given a freebie from Microsoft would do the trick. Now, I realize it must be hard to send a shiny new laptop back to the mother ship just because it's the right thing to do. Still, I think very little of the bloggers who are keeping Microsoft's bribe laptops. Clearly, they're exploiting the lawless, Brave New World of the blogsophere, where, since they're Not Quite Journalists, they don't feel constrained by any of those pesky journalistic ethics guidelines. Like the one that says, "You don't keep $2,200 gifts from the subject of your review. You might think you can still write an impartial review, but it's highly unlikely-and either way, nobody will believe it." But Microsoft gets much of the blame, too. It deliberately exploited a weak spot in today's court of public opinion: how bloggers influence consumers, but generally don't have conflict-of-interest policies. Now, I realize that this isn't exactly breaking news; in fact, it's weeks old. I wasn't even going to bring it up, but yesterday I remembered something: this isn't the first time. In fact, Microsoft has tried to buy public opinion in secret over and over again in the last few years. Here are a few examples-mainly, the ones where Microsoft was caught: In 1998, the Los Angeles Times reported that Microsoft, during its antitrust trials, hired PR companies to flood newspapers with fake letters of support, bearing ordinary individuals' names but actually written by Microsoft PR staff. Later, during the antitrust trials, Microsoft attempted to prove the inseparability of Windows and Internet Explorer by playing a video for the judge. But the government's lawyer noticed that as the tape rolled on, the number of icons on the desktop kept changing. Microsoft had spliced together footage from different computers to make its point. Then in 2002, Microsoft's Web site featured a testimonial called "Confessions of a Mac to PC Convert," a first-person account by an attractive brunette "freelance writer" about how she had fallen in love with Windows XP. Unfortunately, a Slashdot member discovered that the identical photo was available for rent from the stock-photo libraries of GettyImages.com. Sure enough: Microsoft had hired a PR firm to write the testimonial. The "switcher" did not actually exist. I am not, and never will be, a knee-jerk Microsoft basher. I'll give its products good reviews whenever they're deserved (as I have with, for example, Media Center, Windows Vista and Office 2007). But for goodness' sake: Why is Microsoft so insecure? Why can't it allow its software to stand on its own? Why does it feel the necessity to spin public opinion using these phony "grass-roots" marketing tactics? Here's a wake-up call to the Machiavellis on Microsoft's PR team: bribing bloggers, fabricating reviews and making up letters to the editor makes the company look worse, not better. If Microsoft really wants to earn high marks from the public, it might want to consider earning them the old-fashioned way: By creating products people love.

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(no subject)
by michael kinnear 22 Jan '07

22 Jan '07

Please leave me off your list until September 2007. Michael Kinnear

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FYI: Apple's 802.11n accounting conundrum
by billing 22 Jan '07

22 Jan '07

<Accounting Guru goggles on> WARNING: accounting contortions ahead ...from: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1040_22-6151790.html?tag=nl.e622 By Tom Krazit, CNET News.com Published on ZDNet News: January 19, 2007, 6:56 PM PT Apple's explanation of a planned Wi-Fi upgrade fee has its roots in obscure accounting rules that tell companies how to book sales of future product upgrades. Apple said Thursday that it plans to charge customers $1.99 for a software download that enables the 802.11n Wi-Fi technology currently present in almost all MacBooks and MacBook Pros with Intel's Core 2 Duo processor. The company says accounting rules known as generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) force it to ask for money for the download. "During the past several months Apple has shipped some Macs with the hardware to support 802.11n, but the draft of the 802.11n specification was not complete enough to create the required software," Apple spokeswoman Lynn Fox said in an e-mail to CNET News.com. "Now that the draft specification is complete, we are ready to distribute the software to make the 802.11n hardware in these Macs come to life." But because the company has already recognized all the revenue from the sales of those computers, it has to now charge customers at least a nominal fee in order to establish the value of its software upgrade and satisfy an obscure accounting regulation known as SOP 97-2, said Fox. Apple didn't have to do it this way, say accounting experts. But the company most likely faced difficult choices in relation to the upgrade: It could have held off on shipping the new Macs until the upgrade software was ready. It could have skipped the 802.11n capabilities altogether. Or it could have deferred revenue from the new Macs until the software was ready--all unlikely and unpalatable options. Hence, the $1.99 fee. [...] Apple began selling MacBook Pro notebooks with Intel's Core 2 Duo processor in September, later adding that chip to MacBooks and iMacs. However, the company also included 802.11n chips in almost all of those systems without telling buyers, Apple CEO Steve Jobs revealed at Macworld last week. Here comes the tricky part: under accounting regulations developed over the last several years, when companies sell a product with multiple pieces that are delivered at different times, they must determine the separate value of each piece of that product, accounting experts say. And the company can only record the revenue associated with a specific piece when it is delivered to the customer. This is a very common practice in many industries, said Ryan LaFond, assistant professor for accounting at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Business. For example, magazines receive all the money for a full year's subscription at the time the subscription is purchased, but they only record that as revenue as each issue is delivered, deferring the remaining balance into a liability account called unearned revenue. [...] That means a company in this situation would have to defer all the revenue associated with the product until it can establish the value of the Wi-Fi upgrade, or until it delivers the complete set of software, said Brett Trueman, a professor of accounting with the Anderson Business School at the University of California at Los Angeles. So, Apple would have had to defer all the revenue for Macs sold with the 802.11n chips from September until it delivers the upgrade in February, and that's not a realistic option. So now, Apple has to establish a value for the Wi-Fi upgrade in order to satisfy the requirement to separately account for the different pieces of software. One easy way to do that is to charge people for it. There's absolutely nothing in the GAAP requirements that says Apple must charge its customers for that software upgrade. The only requirement imposed by GAAP is that Apple must account for the separate value of the 802.11n capability, said MIT's LaFond. It can do this by creating a value at the time of purchase or it can wait until it delivers that capability to record all the revenue associated with the product. Another option, if the company had wanted to keep the 802.11n capabilities secret, is to create a "new arrangement" with the customer. Apple sold the customer a notebook in September, and is now selling the customer 802.11n capabilities for that notebook. These are two separate transactions that satisfy the need to account for the undelivered 802.11n capability as well as Apple's desire to book all the revenue for the notebook up front and keep the use of the 802.11n chip a secret. Any of those options would satisfy Apple's need to account for the separate delivery times for the Macs and the 802.11n capabilities, according to several experts interviewed for this article. But simply blaming the fee on GAAP, or on the Sarbanes-Oxley regulations as some rumors have suggested, does not tell the full story. "If I'm a company, and I want to give my customer something, GAAP isn't going to prevent you from doing that," LaFond said. But at a time when Apple's accounting practices are under significant scrutiny from regulators looking into the company's stock-options backdating practices, the company has to be extra careful about following the proper procedures while keeping financial analysts happy with strong earnings reports. <Accounting Guru goggles off>

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FYI: iPhone in Canada?
by billing 16 Jan '07

16 Jan '07

...from a posting from Rogers Wireless Communications Service/ Customer Care: > On Tuesday, January 9, 2007, Apple announced the unveiling of their > new > iPhone, a combination mobile phone/digital music player/camera > > Availability > " The iPhone will first be introduced in North America (United > States around June, 2007) > " Cingular is the only wireless carrier to launch the iPhone in the > United States > " Rogers is actively working with Apple to launch the iPhone in Canada > as soon as possible and will be the exclusive provider of the > iPhone in > Canada > " Apple is planning to introduce the iPhone in Europe (Q4 2007) and > Asia > (2008) > " Please be advised that Rogers will be offering the iPhone > exclusively > in Canada. Unfortunately, the launch date and pricing for Canada > are not > yet available > " Other Canadian wireless carriers will not launch the iPhone, Rogers > will be the only Canadian wireless carrier to offer the iPhone > It's hard to say exactly how to interpret this but I get the feeling that Rogers is somehow going to be tied up with the release of iPhone in Canada. ::-) ...and from another Canadian source: > .... the iPhone will be available on a two or three year contract, > and a data plan must also be purchased [from Rogers] If you go by lag-times found in other "smart phone" releases (6-9 month delays), the iPhone might be arriving in Canada in late 2007 or early 2008.

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INTEREST: iPhone coming, Cingular going, and how is Rogers Communication related?
by billing 12 Jan '07

12 Jan '07

Apple announced on Tuesday their iPhone - the "iPod/cell phone/web browser" in one device. The "cell phone" service on iPhone is available (currently) only if you are a subscriber to the Cingular service in the United States. Cingular is owned by AT&T and today AT&T released the following announcment: ...from: http://news.com.com/ATT%20to%20phase%20out%20Cingular%20brand/ 2100-1039_3-6149743.html?tag=nefd.top > AT&T to phase out Cingular brand > AT&T will begin to extinguish the cell brand to imprint its more- > than-century-old name firmly across its services. > By Reuters > Published: January 11, 2007, 10:30 PM PST > Tell us what you think about this storyTalkBack E-mail this story > to a friendE-mail View this story formatted for printingPrint Add > to your del.icio.usdel.icio.us Digg this storyDigg this > > AT&T will begin to extinguish next week the brand of cell phone > operator Cingular, built up with billions of dollars over a few > years, to imprint its more-than-century-old name firmly across its > services. > > AT&T, which took full control of No. 1 U.S. mobile carrier Cingular > with its $86 billion purchase of BellSouth last month, will launch > on Monday a campaign to mark the change. > > "We did not enter that decision lightly," Wendy Clark, vice > president of advertising at AT&T, said in an interview. "We came to > understand that consumer customers and business customers alike are > looking for a single provider. We heard it so consistently across > the marketplace." > > In its first stage, Cingular will share its orange logo of a > bouncing jack with the AT&T globe logo on everything from > television ads to sales uniforms and monthly bills. > > AT&T 's name and logo will eventually replace Cingular in a process > expected to take several months, with the exact timing determined > as more customer feedback comes in, Clark said. > > But with its long and complicated history, AT&T may face customer > confusion over its name, marketing experts said. Also, Cingular > built up a reputation among younger customers who may not easily > associate with the AT&T brand. > > [...] > The new AT&T was formed in the merger of SBC Communications and > AT&T in late 2005. Adding to the mix, in late 2004 Cingular bought > AT&T Wireless, eradicating that brand for its poor reputation among > customers. > > "The good news is there is a difference between AT&T and AT&T > Wireless," Clark said. "We have benefited significantly...by having > 12 months under our belt as the new AT&T." ...and in a related bit of information, it turns out that AT&T Wireless(Canada) did exist until it was recently sold to Rogers. The reason this is interesting (in an iPhone kinda way) is that AT&T Wireless installed a GSM/EDGE cellular network across Canada. This network is now owned and operated by Rogers. GSM/EDGE is the type of cellular service supported (currently) by iPhone. So, if/when iPhone comes to Canada, it will be with Rogers - unless there is an unlikely new iPhone design released supporting other cellular networks. Just thought it would be useful information to anyone thinking about the iPhone or wanting to get more information about iPhone availability in Canada. Wayne p.s. It's interesting to note that Apple's web site refers to the iPhone as the iPhone (Apple Symbol-iPhone). Due to the conflict with the also recently announced Cisco branded iPhone, perhaps a name change from iPhone to Phone (AppleSymbolPhone) is in the offing - just as the code named iTV product was changed to TV (AppleSymbolTV). p.p.s. .from: http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/jan2007/ pi20070111_181241.htm Cisco Sues Apple over iPhone Patent Cisco Systems (CSCO) Files a lawsuit in the California district court against Apple (AAPL), seeking to prevent Apple from infringing upon, deliberately copying, and using Cisco's registered iPhone trademark. Cisco says it obtained the iPhone trademark in 2000.

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QUICK PREVIEW: some MacWorld announcements: iPhone, �TV
by billing 09 Jan '07

09 Jan '07

iPhone: - runs OS X 9:47: A giant touchscreen interface. Multi-touch! You can do multi- gestures on the screen itself. Screen auto-rotates picture. 9:52: Controls on the side, volume, silent. The Back: 2-megapixel camera. 9:53: Top: headset jack, SIM, sleep-wake. 9:53: An iPod connector, just like the iPod (on the bottom). 9:54: Proximity sensor on the face, turns off the screen so your face doesn't press the buttons. 9:54: Ambient light switch and accelerometer to switch from portrait to landscape. 9:55: Built-in speaker. 10:16: Rich HTML: Any IMAP or POP. 10:16: Safari on the phone. Browsing gives you the standard (tabbed) browser view but scrolling, zooming, all via the gestures. You view the entire page first (too small to read in normal view, so you need to zoom in). 10:16: Google Maps: Sat directions, traffic, and maps. 10:16: Widgets: Weather and stocks. 10:17: Everything goes over EDGE or WI-Fi, which switches "seamlessly" when the phone detects Wi-Fi. 10:17: Yahoo Mail will provide free push IMAP email for all customers. TV (AppleTV): 9:27: USB2, Ethernet, WiFI, HDMI, Component, Stereo inputs. 9:28: 802.11b/g/n 9:29: You can store 50 hours of videos on its 40GB hard drive. AppleTV can stream up to five computers. 9:31: Streaming theatrical trailers from Apple.com. The quality's actually pretty good at 720p. 9:34: Apple's showing off some Zoolander and Heroes clips from the Apple store. 9:36: Music, photos, slideshows (Ken Burn's effect-type). 9:38: Phil Shiller's brought his MacBook over to stream up an episode of Heroes to the AppleTV. 9:40: Taking orders today, shipping Feb.

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