June 2009
23 posts
3 tags
Remembering iPhone Two Years Later
Two years ago today, Apple launched the original iPhone. in June 2007, I described using Apple’s smartphone as “life changing.” Despite my grumpiness about iPhone battery life and 3G call quality, I stand by the description.
I covered the launch for eWEEK, writing post “The iPhone Moment” (Two months ago tomorrow, I was laid off from eWEEK, as editor of Apple Watch...
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Microsoft's Shadow Ecosystem
There are many measures of success, and some are less desirable than others. Windows is the standard by which cybercriminals measure their wares—eh, malware. Their devotion to Windows is testament to Microsoft’s success. The company should just accept the feint praise for what it is.
Microsoft claims that Windows is more widely attacked by malware than, say, Mac OS X because of volume;...
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Microsoft Has Lost Its Way, Part 1
Microsoft has reached a surprising, and quite unexpected, fork in the road to its future. Choices the company makes today and over the next 12 months will determine whether computing relevance shifts away from its products.
The company has abandoned the fundamental principles that made it the most successful software company of the last decade and ensured its software would be the most widely...
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Microsoft Has Lost Its Way Part 2
Microsoft has abandoned the fundamental principles that made it the most successful software company of the last decade and ensured its software would be the most widely used everywhere. But in just three years, since 2006, startups and Apple have set a new course for technology and how societies use it.
For Microsoft, this change is scarier than movie “Quarantine.” Without a course...
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Iran and the Internet Democracy
This week’s turmoil on the streets of Tehran is but a metaphor for another turmoil: How the Internet is tearing down monopolies of power and empowering individuals and smaller groups. The Internet is the new democracy, which can be seen from pictures and videos coming from protests in Iran.
The Iranian protests are capturing the world’s attention in part because of fairly new tools...
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Why Is There No iLife-Equivalent for Windows?
Seriously, it’s kind of a “d`uh” question. Apple released iLife for Macintosh in January 2003. Every year or so, the suite gets better, with no Windows developer offering anything comparable. Isn’t it about time?
I fault Microsoft for not developing something equivalent, although, I concede, the company has the makings of a placeholder offering while working on something...
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Quick Quotes: iPhone 3.0 Edition
[Editor’s Note, March 29, 2010: For about six weeks during summer 2009, and following my April 30 layoff from eWEEK, I put out my shingle as an independent analyst. I had worked as an analyst for JupiterResearch from 2003 to 2006. But the role just didn’t feel right, particularly given the economy. This post represents a feature of “quotes” for journalists to use in their...
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My Minimalistic Home Office
For weeks, I’ve been meaning to post something about my minimalistic home office. Today, jkOnTheRun’s James Kendrick posted on his “clean minimalistic office,” which got me off my procrastinating butt.
I’ve worked out of a home office for more than a decade. People don’t ask as much about it as they did in 1999, when many fewer people worked remotely. But when...
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Watch
My daughter offers her first product review for this Weblog—a teen’s perspective on the Nokia E71, with some criticism of the iPhone. Timing is perhaps appropriate, or not. Today, Nokia formally announced the E72, which packs a 5-megapixel camera; the E71 has a 3.2MP digicam. TheiPhone 3GS goes on sale June 19. Yeah, on Friday.
My daughter recorded the vlog more than a week ago—at about...
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Nokia N97 First Impressions
Snail taken using Nokia N97 close-up mode
Smartphone design is a series of compromises. It’s about making disparate functions fit oddly together. Engineers must find the best balance so that extended features don’t compromise those of highest priority. A smartphone is still a phone first, and everything else second. There, the Nokia N97 delivers. The audio call quality is simply...
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Nokia N97 Value vs. iPhone 3GS
Close-up of snail taken with Nokia N97
On June 10, I sold my beloved Nokia N96 and the N79 abandoned by my daughter for the E71; the proceeds paid for the N97, which I purchased from Nokia USA. For the price of one N97, I could have bought two iPhone 3GS smartphones with some money left over. My N97 arrived on June 12, seven days before Apple and AT&T started selling the iPhone 3GS.
Why...
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Microsoft Finally Plays Tough With the EU
For years I’ve suggested that Microsoft should slap European trustbusters aside the head by pulling Windows out of their market. Microsoft’s plan to pull Internet Explorer 8 from Windows 7 on the Continent is nearly as good.
It’s a brilliant solution to a troubling problem. The European Competition Commission is nearly ready to officially rule that Microsoft’s bundling...
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iPhone 3G Whiners Should Just Get a Life
Historically, early technology adopters have paid more to get their goodies. Pick a category: Big-screen TV, color TV, Blu-ray player or recorder, car phone, cell phone, digital camera, DVR, high-speed broadband, MP3 player, VHS player, VHS recorder, Walkman, etc., etc., etc. Early adopters paid a price premium. If they want the newest thing, they pay more.
But with iPhone 3GS, that “pay...
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Quick Quotes: June 9, 2009
[Editor’s Note, March 29, 2010: For about six weeks during summer 2009, and following my April 30 layoff from eWEEK, I put out my shingle as an independent analyst. I had worked as an analyst for JupiterResearch from 2003 to 2006. But the role just didn’t feel right, particularly given the economy. This post represents a feature of “quotes” for journalists to use in their...
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Apple's Day of Wall Street Heart Attacks
Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference 2009 keynote was the strangest ever—and not just for CEO Steve Jobs’ absence. Apple cut prices where unexpected, while keeping them high where Wall Street analysts expected cuts. The $29 Snow Leopard upgrade is simply stunning.
Everyone should ask: Why Apple is asking so little for seemingly so much? That from a company that normally charges...
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Sizing Up WWDC
Today, Apple kicked off its Worldwide Developer Conference with some expected and surprising announcements. I humbly offer my quick take on today’s news, which is really about an enticing collection of Apple stuff that fits oddly together.
iPhone 3GS At $99, iPhone sales volume will go nuclear. The blast could literally incapacitate every other smartphone now sold or coming to market. Think...
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Can My Mac-Loving Wife Say, 'I'm a PC?'
Some people will call me a cruel husband for the story that I’m about to tell. You can call me cruel, just don’t call the police about domestic violence. Friday night, I moved my wife from a Mac laptop to a Sony VAIO running Windows 7 Release Candidate. She didn’t switch willingly, although she is adjusting.
There is a backstory. My father-in-law has an iMac G5 and would like to...
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Steve Jobs' Return is Vaporware
Today’s Wall Street Journal story about Steve Jobs’ return is classic media manipulation. The story’s timing—days before Apple convenes its Worldwide Developer Conference—and seemingly single source, “a person familiar with the matter,” stinks of corporate leak.
I challenge WSJ reporters Yukari Iwatani Kane and Joann Lublin to dispute my assertion that their main...
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Google Spiffs Up Search with Chrome
Now how did I miss this earlier—or is it new? Google is more aggressively hawking Chrome with search (Just go to the search page with any other browser than Google’s). Will Chrome’s shine blind trustbusters?
Does anyone else remember how Microsoft got in trouble with the US Justice Department for bundling Internet Explorer with Windows? The DOJ accused Microsoft of trying to leverage...
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What Has Search Overload Done to Us?
Whoa, the fourth Bing commercial is simply outstanding. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer shouldn’t feel bad about approving that $80 million to $100 million marketing budget. He’s getting good value for the money spent.
Once again, the marketing goes after the keywords, as I said that it should. But it’s a barrage of keywords. The 60-second spot features bunches of people asking...