Wednesday, April 02, 2008 3:31 PM/EST
As promised, here are some screen shots of Yahoo! OneSearch Voice in action on an AT&T Blackberry Pearl 8120.
Install was pretty simple. Went to http://m.yahoo.com/voice, clicked yes to a couple things and the install went ahead.
One troubling note was this disclaimer on the install page that deserves more investigation later on: "For devices that support WiFi, please make sure to turn off the WiFi option before starting the application."
I chose not to change permissions on the device at install time, so I was instead forced to approve the changes the first time I ran OneSearch.
I learned quickly that I had to hold down the Call button while speaking. Once I discovered that little detail, I was able to speak into the phone to find the status of a flight (that I am not going to be on) or look for a Sushi restaurant in town (I actually ate at the first restaurant listed last night - the Unagi was spectacular.)
What is startling about OneSearch Voice was how quickly I was able to get going with the application. Having spent a lot of time with Dragon voice recognition software recently, I was expected there would be some period of training to accustom the software to my voice. But there was none at all. The first two questions I asked it (while holding the button down, of course), I got exactly the results I was looking for.
OneSearch Voice is available now for Blackberry devices, and Yahoo! expects to have the software available via operators on new devices sometime this summer.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008 12:39 PM/EST
Wednesday at the CTIA show in Las Vegas, Yahoo! Mobile's President Marco Boerries will be giving a keynote speech "articulating the company's vision for leading and enabling the global mobile ecosystem." According to the early press notification I received, Boerries will talk about talk about new "game-changing" innovation to Yahoo! OneSearch.
Below is a live-blog account of the keynote:
Tuesday, April 01, 2008 3:30 PM/EST
Today at CTIA, I got to spend a few minutes with the new Samsung Instinct smart phone, which is coming soon to the Sprint Network.
Enabled for Sprint's EvDO Rev A. data network, the Instinct is Samsung's attempt at the iPhone form factor including the full touch-screen capability (for navigation and virtual keyboard). Samsung has added haptic feedback to the functionality, so the device offers some tactile feedback to the user when an action is triggered via the touch-screen.
"What's that grinding?" was my not-too-tactful question when I first felt the device quiver in my hands.
Personally, I've never really thought that forced feedback was going to improve my interactions with a touch-screen. It's not like it will tell me adequately whether I've typed the letter "a" or fat-fingered an "s" instead, which tends to be the kind of problem I have with virtual keyboards. (I never liked forced-feedback on joysticks either, but that is another story.) Instead, I just sit there, device vibrating in my hand, thinking about how much battery power is getting wasted.
On the other hand, I think I will really like the customizability of the Instinct. The Instinct has three physical buttons near the bottom of the device--Home, Phone and Back. The Home button can toggle between a few different menus--Favorites, Main, Web and Fun--and the Favorites menu is user customizable, so I could easily configure it with the applications I use most. Pretty slick.
Some stats and features on the Instinct:
- 2.17 x 4.57 x 0.49 inches
- 4.4 ounces
- 3.1 inch TFT (240 x 432 pixels)
- rated for 5.75 hours of talk time
- GPS (Telenav)
- 2.0 MP camera
- MicroSD slot (up to 8GB supported)
- Advanced Stereo Bluetooth
Sprint expects the Instinct will be available in June, but pricing is not yet available.
Friday, March 07, 2008 6:38 PM/EST
Every morning, it's the same story:
Dock my laptop, connect my iPhone, then sync my calendar from Outlook.
I'm sick of it.
But I need iTunes on my work system to sync that damn calendar. And as I've stated before, iTunes is a pig--consuming copious processor time and memory for what, in this case, is nothing more than a synchronization program.
That's why Apple's announcement of the impending integration of Microsoft's ActiveSync, along with all the other corporate-geared enhancements (like Cisco VPN Client, Remote Wipe), are such a welcome relief. I would absolutely love to get iTunes off of my primary work computer. I synch music, podcasts and video to the iPhone from home--all forms of media that have no business tying up my company's storage or networked resources, and I have no other need for the application at work other than the calendar and contact sync.
But after watching the video of Apple's iPhone SDK and enterprise feature set, I'm wondering if corporations will simply be juggling one ill-considered delivery mechanism for another, as there was a pretty tidy lack of details about many of the features, including application delivery.
Apple's going to tightly control application availability for the iPhone. iPhone application makers are going to have to join the developer program (for $99) to make the apps for distribution to the iPhone or the iPod Touch, then get their application signed, vetted, and qualified against Apple's ratings system before it will be made available.
After that process, the application will be available via Apple in two ways: via iTunes (and a sideload to the iPhone) and by way of their new Web-based App Store. But since Steve Jobs said at one point that "The App Store is going to be the exclusive way to distribute iPhone applications directly to every iPhone user," we have to anticipate this will be the primary delivery mechanism as far as Apple is concerned.
But as a delivery system, the App Store seems to leave a lot of holes for the enterprise admin.
If a business is buying iPhones for their users--and I certainly expect this to now be an appealing option, given the new features and the iPhone's market-leading mobile browser--these businesses may want to control what goes onto the devices. And since the App Store is open and available to all, the problem of iPhone users running as root by default will become an even greater liability.
As root, users can install anything they want-- like AIM client and Spore, for example--whether or not their company approves. The corporate mobile admin may not be able to stop the install, and it is unclear at this point whether they will be able to automate the removal of offending applications. Listed among the new features was also "security policies" but what these consist of is so far unstated.
So I'm trying to imagine how the App Store--with security policies in place--will work. I sincerely doubt Apple will build something akin to Microsoft's Windows Server Update Services, where the admin approves certain packages which are then hosted locally and delivered to clients according to policy. Will Apple instead make some kind of group registration to the App Store available, where a corporate admin approves software packages which can be pushed (or pulled manually) to the devices directly from the App Store? The security policy would then define the group membership, and the App Store has an account page where admins need to define the MAC addresses or device ID of every iPhone that needs to access the "personalized" store.
I'm no Apple expert, but I don't think they have any kind of experience with the latter kind of implementation, and I question whether Apple would really want to get that granular, unless they can generate a new revenue stream off of it.
According to Engadget's live blog of the event, there was some nebulous talk during the Q&A session where Jobs indicated they are "working on a special app for internal enterprise applications," but I am unclear whether that means "apps designed for internal use" or "apps deemed necessary for deployment."
Of course, this point is moot if the root issue has been addressed with Version 2.0 and admin get some tools that help clearly define and articulate an individual user's rights on the device. But we don't know that yet.
We'll just continue to wait.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008 4:38 PM/EST
The news that most caught my attention during Steve Jobs' Apple keynote today was not the MacBook Air, but rather the announcement that the new iPhone firmware—Version 1.1.3—includes location-based tracking for Google Maps that use not only cell phone triangulation, but Wi-Fi-based locationing services as well.
The Wi-Fi location tracking is apparently being provided by Skyhook Wireless, a company that has spent the last few years building and (constantly) updating a massive database of Wi-Fi access point positions in major cities across the United States. Unlike traditional GPS services, Skyhook's technology could and should work indoors—depending on whether a Skyhook-enhanced Wi-Fi client can see access points that are already in their database.
According to Skyhook's Web site:
"To pinpoint location, WPS (Wi-Fi Positioning System) uses a massive reference network comprised of the known locations of over 18 million Wi-Fi access points. To develop this database, Skyhook has deployed specialized vehicles to survey every single street, highway and alley in 2500 U.S. cities, scanning for Wi-Fi access points and plotting their precise geographic locations."
and
"Skyhook's Wi-Fi Positioning System's subsecond time-to-fix, +99% indoor availability and 10-20m accuracy in urban areas is the perfect compliment to GPS' known limitations."
The service is reliable enough that one laptop recovery service, CyberAngel Security Solutions, last year added a Wi-Fi-based tracking service to their portfolio based on Skyhook technology. CyberAngel's product provides an authentication and encryption layer to standard laptops. Users (or administrators) define a secured partition, where confidential data and applications are stored encrypted. When a user authenticates, the store is decrypted automatically for use. Conversely, a bad log-in attempt triggers alert to CyberAngel's servers (via LAN, WAN or modem connection) that the computer could be in a compromised state. Obviously, there needs to be an escalation process to avoid false positives for every failed log-in.
With the WiTrac service layered on, the alerting laptop can also report home any Wi-Fi access points it can see, sending to the service the MAC addresses of the access points detected, as well as the relative signal strengths of each detected device. This information can then be compared with Skyhook's database to return longitude and latitude coordinates of where the laptop is located. CyberAngel claims the service is accurate to around 10 meters.
When we spoke with CyberAngel's CEO Bradley Lide over the summer, the service cost $69.95 per laptop for a 1-year license, $129.90 for 3-year license, with volume discounts available as well. The Skyhook service was included in that price.
What will be interesting is, with the new iPhone SDK on target for delivery in late February, whether we may see CyberAngel (or someone else using Skyhook) provide recovery services for the iPhone as well—and perhaps authentication and encryption capabilities. These capabilities would suddenly make the iPhone—and its industry-leading mobile browser—a much more compelling solution for businesses exploring a Web application-oriented mobile solution.
For end users, it may not make fiscal sense at the prices listed above, but if such a service were offered as part of an extended AppleCare warranty service for the iPhone with a small premium (depending on the levels of functionality available from the service), many of us may actually consider it for a device that has fast become a centerpiece in our lives for both work and play.
Monday, January 14, 2008 8:41 PM/EST
RIM has dominated enterprise-class mobility deployments to date because they have an end-to-end solution, providing an evolving and attractive mix of devices, a development platform for customized applications and a central management component that addresses ongoing provisioning, updating and reporting needs. While Microsoft has for awhile been able to emulate the first two criteria, only with their recently announced System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 (expected to ship in Q2), has the company been able to hint at closing the management gap. In beta right now, System Center MDM 2008, promises to hook Windows Mobile devices into the corporate Active Directory, providing administrators the ability to centrally control security, connectivity and application provisioning of mobile devices through constructs well familiar to Windows administrators.
But don't expect this new set of capabilities will solve the problem of consumers bringing their own devices into the corporate network, particularly in the short term.
In a recent conversation with Enterprise Mobile (a Microsoft partner that's providing MDM 2008 planning, installation and support services), CEO Mort Rosenthal told me that many (more than 50 percent of early adopters) beta adopters have leveraged Enterprise Mobile's services to kick start their System Center MDM 2008 testing programs.
Rosenthal sees MDM 2008 as a very different animal than many software solutions because the server component (available now in beta) is out before the client piece necessary to bring the devices into management is complete. MDM 2008 requires Windows Mobile 6.1 be installed on the client devices (this version includes the MDM client), but 6.1 is not available to the public at this time.
While this could be a sticking point in the beta program, Rosenthal argues this currently incomplete beta program confers benefits nonetheless. "In an enterprise, they [administrators] need to be familiar with the management console and platform, and they need to be comfortable with the level of security and device management that is available before deployment," said Rosenthal.
Of course, this condition is also a benefit for Enterprise Mobile during the beta trials, as the company can help get their customers' devices up to speed as well. According to Rosenthal, Enterprise Mobile has created 6.1-enabled devices from 6.0 versions on behalf of both their customers and OEMs.
Obviously, it is very early in the lifecycle of MDM 2008, but it seems like the client upgrade issue will be a problem ongoing with Windows Mobile devices, particularly for companies considering whether it is feasible to pull their end-users' devices into the management mix.
Devices purchased directly from carriers are generally subject to a drastically different upgrade path from those purchased from the device manufacturer directly. Carriers are notoriously slow at approving system-level updates to consumer devices - for instance, in December Palm announced its upgrade from Windows Mobile 5 to Windows Mobile Professional 6 for the Treo 750 (Update 2.25) on AT&T's network, many months after the first native WM 6 devices started appearing.
We can likely assume that in most cases, the upgrade to version 6.1 will also take a fair amount of time - and may not become available at all to the current generation of Windows Mobile devices, as product lifecycles are similar to that of a fruit fly. A company thinking of letting users bring their own devices will then have to deal with (or wait out) the upgrade cycles of an undetermined number of devices - a practice that few if any administrators will have the time, patience or inclination for.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008 4:19 AM/EST
The first day of CES saw some cool wireless developments (new chip sets, more 802.11n), and a major reawakening of the personal NAS space (everyone under the sun seems to have an appliance coming soon). The day was also marred by bad shoes and some unfortunate static discharge.
Of the non-visual accounts, SanDisk showed me its technology preview of a 12GB MicroSD card. Yes, it works. However, SanDisk isn't going to sell it. The company is just proving it can, and will wait until the next step up (16GB) to release a product.
And now for some pictures:
I've got a review of the Syspine version of Microsoft's Response Point coming online any day now. Here's the D-Link iteration: DVX-2000MS Appliance (top), DPH-124MS (middle) and DVG-3104MS Analog Trunk Gateway (bottom).
Mio was showing its concept design of integrated GPS and Tri-band phone. Big deal, you say? This one is two-faced, hence the name Dual-Sided NAV Phone.
Netgear announced 18 new products at CES this year. I'm going to talk about the wireless stuff in a separate post later, but Netgear also had some new NAS appliances. Lots of protocol support (Samba, NFS, Bonjour), and xRaid technology to autoconfigure the RAID, allowing online volume expansion. At top, the four-bay RND4000 ReadyNAS NV+. At bottom, the two-bay RND2150 ReadyNAS Duo.
The Nokia booth was bustling with activity every time I passed, as the booth had many display units available for hands-on play (very Apple Store). However, all that traffic was really messing with the carpet in Nokia's booth, which was shedding like long-haired cat. After scooting across the carpet to try out a phone, I got a huge static shock as I picked up the device -- causing me to scurry away before I could find out whether I had killed it.
During a chat with folks from the Wi-Fi Alliance, I was shown this sample of a new 802.11n chip set meant for mobile phones. Atheros and Broadcom aren't showing any mobile-N chips (I talked with them), but RedPine is.
Otterbox has some new ruggedized cases for the iPhone. This one, which has a hardened shell under a separate rubber skin, took me almost 10 minutes to crack open. There's also a waterproof one.
Zyxel was showing the new version of its WiMax base station for Sprint (top, middle). The booth people didn't seem wild about the fact that I kept calling it "the coffee maker." Zyxel also has a new version of its SIP phone (bottom).
At Showstoppers, I ran into Yoggie -- whose original device I quite liked last year. Now Yoggie has announced a slimmed-down, firewall-only device called the FireStick Pico.
Before my day really got started, my shoe completely fell apart even though I've only worn that pair four or five times so far. Thankfully, the good folks at Broadcom were handy with the duct tape.
Monday, December 17, 2007 6:21 PM/EST
On Monday, Palm announced the release of the Treo 755p for the Verizon network. There have only been a couple substantively new things to happen with the Treo 755p since I reviewed the Sprint edition last May:
New Color - Azure Green
New Feature - Treo Voice Dialing
That's it for new features. Otherwise, same laundry list of features and complaints that have been around for a seeming age: Palm OS 5.4.9, integrated Google Maps, no Wi-Fi, lousy browser, instant messaging, Microsoft Direct Push.
Treo Voice Dialing at least sounds marginally interesting, particularly for those in California gearing up for the new hands-free driving laws that will be enacted in 2008. Apparently, you can dial contacts or raw phone numbers by speaking the name or number ("Call Andrew at work"), or you can launch applications or initiate a text or e-mail message to a contact by voice as well—without having to preprogram words or perform some device training before getting started.
Thursday, December 13, 2007 2:42 PM/EST
Updating yesterday's post about Raketu's Flash-based Voice over IP application for the iPhone, I've been trying to get an answer from the company about why on earth they would release a Flash-based program for a device that does not, and currently can not, support Flash.
Has anyone over there actually ever used an iPhone or an iTouch? This shortcoming is not news.
In lieu of an answer, I received word from Raketu that they have updated the http://iphone.raketu.com webpage to a non-Flash version by default (which is the same thing as the http://raketu.mobi link I looked at yesterday) to avoid confusion.
Just for kicks, I used my PC to take a look at the Flash version of the site, to see if anything was substantively different than the non-Flash-enabled page.
Short answer? Not really.
I could place the same kind of station to station calls as before, although the Flash version actually tells me how much it costs.
Or I could send an email (for free).
Or an SMS (for 5 cents domestically).
It is worth noting that you must configure your Raketu profile with your correct email address in order to receive replies from messages sent via Raketu. Otherwise, any replies will simply disappear into the ether - or in our case, annoy Raketu's support personnel (my default email address was support@raketu.com for some reason.)
SMS on the other hand, seems to send messages only from "839-60" instead of the mobile phone number I configured in my profile. So at this time, it does not look like anyone can respond to an SMS sent via Raketu.
*Update: According to Raketu support the SMS problem "is a problem with carriers in the USA. If you send the SMS to someone for example in London, it will pick up the correct number. Unfortunately, we cannot adjust this. If you send it to Canadian phone it works also fine...the problem is JUST US carriers."
Wednesday, December 12, 2007 6:28 PM/EST
I was pretty excited to see Raketu's announcement yesterday of a Web-based VOIP (voice over IP) service that works for Apple's iPhone or iTouch handheld devices. Visions of unlimited VOIP calls over Wi-Fi danced through my head with sudden surplusses of rollover minutes in my future. Unfortunately, the service is not quite what I expected.
When I used my iPhone's Safari browser to visit Raketu's website at http://iphone.raketu.com, all I could see was a tiny blue Lego with a couple of question marks on it. Apparently, you need Flash installed to view Raketu's iPhone site, which is pretty funny since the IPHONE DOESN'T SUPPORT FLASH!!!
Here's what the site would look like if the iPhone supported Flash:
Raketu's PR guy told me to try their mobile site, www.raketu.mobi, which provides access to their web-based platform, RakWeb. From there, I could not place a VoIP call using my iPhone (as I had hoped this meant), but rather I could use RakWeb to initiate a VoIP-enabled phone call between two different numbers. For instance, I could have RakWeb my dial my AT&T number (for my iPhone) and then my eWeek desktop phone into a two-party VoIP-enabled conference. RakWeb would dial one number, then the second. Then presto! A phone call.
Still uses my mobile minutes, though.
While I can't say I actually found the service useful at present, but it seems like a good way to connect random people together in a conversation without telling them in advance. Like taking blind dating to stalkerish extreme.
Rakweb does offer some interesting SMS options, but I can't say I've ever been prodigious enough with the texting to go beyond my standard allotment.
(On a side note, I beg you, Raketu, please code your download page to render properly in Firefox. Please?!!?!)
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