CIO Today

Openmoko's Neo FreeRunner Smartphone Really Is Open

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:26:12 -0500

Openmoko has taken the wraps off its Neo FreeRunner, a Linux-based smartphone based on the company's open mobile-computing platform. Before you yawn about reading yet another product-introduction story -- especially about a handset that lacks 3G capability -- what sets the Neo FreeRunner apart is that it really is open, literally and figuratively.

The company's black, oval-shaped smartphones are built for users to actually open. For example, buyers will be able to take the unit's casing apart to get at the electronic circuitry. Openmoko says it will even supply the tools to make opening the device a snap.

And the handset's flexible development platform will allow designers to create Linux-based mobile applications for specialized markets, Taiwan-based Openmoko said. The goal is to empower developers and consumers alike to personalize their devices, much like a PC.

Under the Hood

Measuring 4.75 x 2.44 x 0.73 inches and tipping the scales at 6.5 oz, the Neo Freerunner sports a 2.8-inch touchscreen with a display resolution of 640 x 480 pixels. Underneath the hood, the handset integrates chips for connecting tirelessly with functions and services compatible with the Bluetooth 2.0, GPS and Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) standards.

The handset uses a 400-MHz ARM9 processor, 128MB of WSDRAM and 256MB of NAND Flash memory. Though there is no camera, the smartphone has two three-axis motion sensors and a microSD expansion-card slot.

The Neo FreeRunner is a tri-band GSM device that comes in 850/1800/1900-MHz and 900/1800/1900-MHz forms. To find out which Neo to buy, Openmoko suggests that prospective buyers first determine the GSM bands supported in their home markets.

Customization Options

On the software side, the new handset can dial numbers, send and receive SMS text, and record personalized contact information. Openmoko expects to supplement these with downloads, beginning with the release next month of a software suite that will include...

Suit Seeks Information on U.S. Cell-Phone Tracking

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:27:18 -0500

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are suing the Department of Justice to obtain official records concerning the U.S. government's possible use of cell-phone-tracking technology to spy on individuals without first obtaining a court order based on probable cause.

In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the civil-liberties groups said the DOJ failed to provide an adequate and timely response to a records request filed last year under the Freedom of Information Act.

"This is a critical opportunity to shed much-needed light on possibly unconstitutional government surveillance techniques," said Catherine Crump, the ACLU lead attorney. "Signing up for cell-phone services should not be synonymous with signing up to be spied on and tracked by the government."

Complying With Current Law

At least some U.S. attorneys may have violated a DOJ "internal recommendation" that "federal prosecutors seek warrants based on probable cause to obtain precise location data in private areas," according to a Washington Post article published last November. Moreover, the ACLU said other media reports have raised the possibility that law-enforcement officers may have obtained tracking data directly from the nation's mobile carriers without any court involvement.

Due to the limited amount of information currently available about the government's tracking practices, the ACLU said it believes the lack of information on the issue raises serious questions about whether the government is complying with current law and the U.S. Constitution.

"The government's policies and practices for monitoring the locations of mobile phones are unclear," the ACLU noted in its original records request. "It is not even apparent whether the government routinely obtains mobile-phone location information without any court supervision whatsoever."

Information pertaining to the DOJ's procedures for obtaining real-time tracking information is vital to the public's understanding of the privacy risks of carrying a mobile...

Firefox Browser Share Tops 19 Percent as Record Set

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:31:11 -0500

The Mozilla Foundation has set a world record and achieved new heights in its battle for browser market share. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Mozilla's Firefox 3.0 Web browser set a record for the most downloads in a day. It was the first time a browser-maker attempted to set a record.

Mozilla set the record with 8,002,530 downloads in June. The Mozilla Foundation will receive the official certificate in London next week.

"Setting a world record really doesn't matter. It's a marketing stunt," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at JupiterResearch. "At the end of the day you still have to look at who has the overwhelming browser market share. It still belongs to Microsoft."

Breaking Down Browser Shares

Indeed, Microsoft's Internet Explorer is still the dominant browser. But Firefox is gaining ground, according to a new report from Net Applications. The release of Firefox 3.0 on June 17 spurred rapid usage gains, topping four percent worldwide. In the first hour after the product was released, Firefox 3.0 gained one percent of worldwide market share.

Firefox 3 gains came mostly from users upgrading from Firefox 2, while its overall usage share grew about .4 percent, primarily at the expense of Internet Explorer, according to Net Applications.

IE's market share dipped from 73.75 percent in May to 73.01 percent at the end of June, Net Applications' latest data shows. Firefox increased its overall share during the same period from 18.41 percent to 19.03 percent.

Is Firefox Really the Safest Browser?

In a flurry of good news reports for Firefox, Mozilla users are most likely to be using the latest versions of their browsers, with 83 percent of Firefox users patched, according to joint research from Google, IBM and Communications Systems Group in Switzerland.

By contrast, only 63.3 percent of Safari users and 56.1 percent of Opera...

Report: Microsoft Seeks Help for Another Yahoo Bid

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:44:16 -0500

Unable to strike a deal on its own, Microsoft Corp. reportedly is hoping to snap up Yahoo's online search operations with the help of News Corp. and Time Warner Inc.

The latest twist in Microsoft's convoluted courtship caused Yahoo's shares to rise more than 3 percent in Wednesday's sinking stock market, even though the chances of a deal getting done still seemed remote.

If nothing else, the enthusiastic reaction to the unconfirmed report in The Wall Street Journal served as another reminder that investors want Yahoo to pursue a different path than the one mapped out by Chief Executive Jerry Yang.

And that could be bad news for Yang, who started Yahoo as an Internet directory 14 years ago. Unless he can sway shareholder sentiment before Yahoo's annual meeting Aug. 1, Yang could lose his job in a boardroom coup being attempted by investor Carl Icahn.

Recognizing Yahoo's vulnerability, Microsoft is trying to recruit News Corp., Time Warner's AOL or other media partners to put together a joint bid that would slice Yahoo into pieces, according to the Journal. The story cited undisclosed people familiar with the discussions.

Microsoft declined comment Wednesday. A Yahoo spokeswoman didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

Under the reported breakup plan, Microsoft would emerge with Yahoo's online search operations -- the main object of the software maker's desire since it began stalking Yahoo as long as ago as 2006.

After the two sides couldn't agree on a price, Microsoft withdrew a $47.5 billion bid to buy Yahoo in its entirety in early May.

Just two weeks later, Microsoft offered to pay $1 billion for Yahoo's search engine and invest another $8 billion for a 16 percent stake in Yahoo's remaining business.

Yahoo rejected that offer, too, and instead forged an advertising partnership with Google Inc., whose rapid growth prompted Microsoft's bid for Yahoo...

New Laws Drive Wireless Headset Sales

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:43:11 -0500

In a move that could give a welcome, if short-lived, boost to consumer electronics makers and retailers, consumers up and down the West Coast are snapping up headsets that let them talk on cell phones while driving -- and stay in compliance with a law that took effect in California and Washington state on July 1.

Demand for hands-free headsets has been so robust that the Verizon Wireless store in San Mateo, Calif., added a whole new section for the devices, says store manager Aari Jethmal. "The shelves have been cleared and restocked and cleared and restocked." Verizon Wireless, owned by Verizon Communications and Vodafone, is the second-largest U.S. mobile-phone provider, after AT&T.

Sales Boost Expected

The law, which stipulates penalties for driving while talking on a handheld cell phone, is a boon for Plantronics and other makers of headsets that use so-called Bluetooth wireless connectivity. "Historically Bluetooth headsets have been a low-margin product, so they would need to drive significant product to move the bottom-line needle," says Avondale Partners analyst John Bright, who has an "outperform" rating on Plantronics shares. "Luckily California is the largest state and a heavy cell-phone usage state, so it certainly bodes well for heavy volume."

On June 26, Bright raised his estimate for Plantronics' June quarter earnings by a penny, to 35 percent a share, in anticipation of the law taking effect. That's a cent higher than the average of Wall Street estimates. The shares have gotten little apparent lift since the law kicked in, slipping to 21.05 on July 2, from 22.32 on June 30.

Plantronics expects a sales boost in California for the second and third quarters, says spokesman Dan Race, though he didn't provide specifics. "We're seeing good interest in our premium products," Race says.

Other Bluetooth manufacturers poised to benefit include Motorola; GN Netcom, maker of...

Online Storage: A Simple and Secure Solution

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:45:15 -0500

Transferring information between computers is easier now than it ever has been.

I remember back in the days of my Commodore 64 when it was near impossible to exchange information between different machines unless they were of exactly the same manufacturer and model and had compatible peripherals.

Modems were primitive devices that few had access to and as such you ended up saving the information on to an audio cassette, then either posting or exchanging it in person.

Today things are much different; irrespective of your computer configuration you can easily transfer information via a number of removable media types or alternatively instantly to any location in the world over the Internet.

There is no doubting that the Internet has revolutionized how we move data and one resultant technology currently experiencing rapid growth is online personal storage.

Physical media such as a flash pen drive is fantastic but is not without its drawbacks. For example, it is so easy to leave at home when it will be needed or even worse if lost then you not only have to worry about the information being lost but also potentially falling in to the wrong hands.

[With online storage, your data] is secure. All the information stored is encrypted and can only be accessed using a designated password. It's portable -- you can gain access to your files from any machine with an Internet connection.

Most [online storage] services are either completely free or include a free "lite" version. While capacities vary, several gigabytes of free space is the norm.

A good starting point for most would be the Microsoft SkyDrive service.

Direct your browser to http://skydrive.live.com and you should be able to get going immediately if you already have a Windows Live ID.

This would have been set up in the past if you use another Microsoft online service such...

Pricing for iPhone 3G Reflects a New Value Proposition

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:49:22 -0500

Last month, Apple announced that its new iPhone 3G would cost just $199 for the 8GB version and $299 for the 16GB version. AT&T confirmed that pricing Tuesday, but clarified that those prices are only for certain users -- buyers of any iPhone before the iPhone 3G goes on sale July 11, new AT&T customers, or subscribers eligible for an upgrade discount.

For all others, the price is $399 for the 8GB iPhone and $499 for the 16GB iPhone 3G. In a new wrinkle, customers can buy the iPhone 3G without a service plan, but the price is steep at $599 for the 8GB iPhone 3G and $699 for the 16GB iPhone 3G.

AT&T also announced monthly service plans for the 3G iPhone, ranging from $69.99 for 450 anytime minutes to $129.99 for unlimited minutes. The plans include unlimited Web and e-mail access, but not texting. AT&T will charge $20 for unlimited text messages.

Those monthly service fees are higher than for the original iPhone. So will customers blink at those rates, even with a subsidized service plan?

New 'Value Proposition'

Tim Bajarin, principal analyst at Creative Strategies, doesn't think there will be much blinking. "I believe the new iPhone delivers a different value proposition via software, so the pricing plans will be viewed through the lens of its new software applications capabilities," he said in an e-mail.

Apple's iPhone 2.0 software will be preloaded on all 3G iPhones, AT&T said. The software supports a new ecosystem of third-party software and will connect to the Apps Store, Apple's mechanism for users to download software over the air.

Apple's Web site advertises that users will "find applications in every category, from games to business, education to entertainment, finance to health and fitness, productivity to social networking." And it boasts that the apps will exploit iPhone technologies...

Microsoft To Put Office Online as Equipt for Consumers

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:49:49 -0500

Microsoft is ready to put its popular Microsoft Office suite online, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Called Microsoft Equipt, the suite will join the software giant's online offerings of Windows Live Mail, Messenger, OneCare and Photo Gallery.

Previously code-named Albany, the consumer-oriented Equipt will be available for purchase on July 15 through Circuit City's 700 outlets nationwide. Each $69.99 one-year subscription will cover up to three home PCs, Microsoft said.

"Certainly the initial move is to capture more consumer eyeballs," noted AMR Research analyst Jim Murphy. "Though it's unclear at this point what the next version of Office will look like, it's likely that it will include a mechanism for Microsoft or its partners to monetize its widespread use -- whether that's through advertising or selling other value-added services."

Equipt For Enterprises?

Microsoft's move to make Office a consumer-friendly online service has some long-term implications for the small-business market. Gartner Client Services Vice President Michael Silver thinks we'll "see more subscription offerings from Microsoft as time goes on" because it would give the software giant a "more reliable" revenue stream.

The software giant's latest move basically adapts the model of Microsoft Software Assurance for enterprises to the home market, Silver said.

"Larger small businesses already have offerings like this through Microsoft's open-licensing program, but the pricing and licensing is more commensurate with prices businesses pay," Silver said. "Small businesses can probably expect something like this suited to them in the future, but may have difficulty buying this version in particular because it does not contain Outlook."

The terms of the current consumer license will prevent a small business from using Equipt, Silver noted. "Microsoft says that business use of Equipt is prohibited," he said.

Way More Functional

When Microsoft eventually does offer a similar model to small-business users, it could cannibalize the software giant's...

Minimizing Problems in a Virtualized Server Environment

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:43:53 -0500

To some IT departments, virtualization is at the server level, running multiple operating systems on one server. To others, it enters at the network level, consolidating multiple servers, managed from one logical entity. Still others apply it at the application level, keeping applications isolated from each other while operating on the same environment.

Regardless of how virtualization is used, it can impact the way organizations run their business, and will likely grow in the coming years. According to research firm IDC, spending on virtualization software and services is expected to exceed $15 billion worldwide by 2011, up from $6.5 billion in 2006.

A number of key considerations and challenges exist with virtualized server environments that IT managers should understand. Enterprise requirements, for example, in terms of application availability, performance and security, are not addressed by virtualization solutions.

Mission-critical applications should be fully available, regardless of the underlying infrastructure. Though software-based high-availability capabilities are integrated into many server virtualization solutions, they suffer from several deficiencies:

* Typically, availability is monitored at the virtual machine level. Action is taken only when a server or a virtual machine fails, but not when there is a failure of the OS or application software running on top of the virtual machine. Failure in the network connection to the server also may not be detected.

* Since all server virtualization solutions are software-based, they monitor availability by implementing a software agent on each physical server, thus consuming resources of every server in the virtual infrastructure for this purpose only.

* Failure recovery time is typically as long as it takes to start a virtual machine on a different server. This may vary based on the machine load and can, in some cases, take up to several minutes. During this period, service is denied to people who were using applications...

Browser Pioneer Andreessen Joins Facebook Board

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:24:44 -0500

Marc Andreessen, an entrepreneur and software engineer behind the Web's earliest browsers, has joined the board of the online hangout Facebook.

Andreessen's appointment could bring additional clout and insight to a young but growing startup headed by Mark Zuckerberg, 24, who started Facebook as a Harvard undergraduate.

In a statement late Monday, Zuckerberg said Andreessen, 36, "has experience that is relevant to Facebook in so many ways: scaling companies that are experiencing extraordinary growth, creating successful technology platforms and building strong engineering organizations."

Andreessen's appointment also brings him in alliance with a one-time rival. Microsoft Corp., whose Internet Explorer browser trounced Andreessen's Netscape in the 1990s, has invested $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook, giving the privately held company a $15 billion valuation.

Andreessen joins Zuckerberg, Jim Breyer of Accel Partners and Peter Thiel of Clarium Capital and Founders Fund on Facebook's board. David Sze of Greylock Partners and Paul Madera of Meritech Capital Partners are board observers.

Andreessen also is co-founder and chairman of Ning, a service for letting groups create their own social networks -- potentially competing with Facebook, though Facebook described Ning's system as "complementary."

Andreessen's involvement with the Web spans more than a decade.

In 1993, Andreessen and colleagues at the University of Illinois' National Center for Supercomputing Applications released Mosaic, the first Web browser to integrate images and sound with words. Previously, access was largely limited to text, with any graphics displayed in separate windows.

Andreessen and others soon left to commercialize the browser, and in 1994 they released the first version of Netscape. But Netscape's use eroded after Microsoft stepped into the market, and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL ultimately bought Netscape for $10 billion. Andreessen stayed on briefly as AOL's chief technology officer.

Citibank ATM Scam Reveals PIN Security Problems

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:43:06 -0500

Hackers broke into Citibank's network of ATMs inside 7-Eleven stores this year and stole customers' PIN codes, according to recent court filings that revealed a disturbing security hole in the most sensitive part of a banking record.

The scam netted the alleged identity thieves millions of dollars. But more importantly for consumers, it indicates criminals were able to access PINs -- the numeric passwords that theoretically are among the most closely guarded elements of banking transactions -- by attacking the back-end computers responsible for approving the cash withdrawals.

The case against three people in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York highlights a significant problem.

Hackers are targeting the ATM system's infrastructure, which is increasingly built on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system and allows machines to be remotely diagnosed and repaired over the Internet. And despite industry standards that call for protecting PINs with strong encryption -- which means encoding them to cloak them to outsiders -- some ATM operators apparently aren't properly doing that. The PINs seem to be leaking while in transit between the automated teller machines and the computers that process the transactions.

"PINs were supposed be sacrosanct -- what this shows is that PINs aren't always encrypted like they're supposed to be," said Avivah Litan, a security analyst with the Gartner research firm. "The banks need much better fraud-detection systems and much better authentication."

It's unclear how many Citibank customers were affected by the breach, which extended at least from October 2007 to March of this year. The bank has nearly 5,700 Citibank-branded ATMs inside 7-Eleven Inc. stores throughout the United States, but it doesn't own or operate any of them.

That responsibility falls on two companies: Houston-based Cardtronics Inc., which owns all the machines but only operates some, and Fiserv Inc., based in Brookfield, Wis., which...

The Frugal Can Shop Internet for Software Freebies

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:42:29 -0500

Tech junkies looking to pinch pennies in today's economy can scour the Web for a bounty of free software -- for word-processing and photo-editing, online storage and more.

Dozens of downloadable or online-only applications are available at no charge. While many are scaled-down versions of paid programs, you'd be surprised at how feature-rich these freebies can be.

The catch? Some of these applications may be ad-supported and won't offer extensive tech support, if any.

Companies that offer free software are motivated by a range of factors -- from building brand recognition to up-selling users to a paid version, says Michael Gartenberg, research director at JupiterResearch. Some tech companies use free products to experiment with different revenue models, Gartenberg says. Google, for instance, embeds advertising in its Gmail e-mail offering.

"Google, in fact, is a good example of a company that can afford to develop a product today and figure out how to monetize it tomorrow," he says.

Here are a few of our favorite free apps.

Photo-Editing Software

Chances are you already know about Google's Picasa (picasa.google.com), a free downloadable program ideal for novice users that lets you manage, edit and share your digital photo collection, but there are other free photo programs worth noting.

Adobe has launched Photoshop Express (photoshop.com/express), an intuitive online application allowing you to upload up to 2 gigabytes of photos, make edits and share them via e-mail or social-networking sites, such as Facebook. The Web is a great opportunity for Adobe to bring its digital imaging expertise "to very large, new audiences," says Geoff Baum, director of Photoshop Express at Adobe. The free tool is not intended to replace Adobe's beefier photo-editing packages sold at retail, such as Photoshop Elements or Photoshop CS3, Baum says.

Advanced users seeking free software might consider GIMP (gimp.org), available for Windows, Mac, Linux and other systems. With its...

Changes to Internet Naming Policy May Lure Net-Squatters

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:34:54 -0500

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers [ICANN] has voted to allow--in addition to more traditional top-level domains [TLDs], such as .com and .org--theoretically any TLD at all, as long as it is no longer than 64 characters long. The application process for such custom TLDs looks set to be arduous and the criteria reasonably rigorous, but observers say the new system will create confusion.

"This has the potential for utter chaos," said John Mackenzie, of the law firm Pinsent Masons, on Friday. "The attraction for cybersquatters is not going to be setting up a registry that matches someone else's brand; it will be in the generic TLDs. All of a sudden, every brand will be forced to register their name at .shop, .buy and .london to stop anyone else getting it."

Mackenzie added that a similar effect was seen when the .eu TLD was introduced. "Our clients didn't want the .eu domain name but they felt they had no choice," he told ZDNet Asia's sister site ZDNet UK on Friday. "They had to register their brands as .eu names. Before that, it was .info and .biz and all the others. Each time a new TLD is introduced, large brands spend a fortune on defensive registrations to avoid the greater expense of recovering the names from cybersquatters further down the line. ICANN has just multiplied those costs. It's a brand owner's nightmare."

Roy Illsley, a senior research analyst at the Butler Group, echoed Mackenzie's sentiments. "It's going to give brand managers a massive headache," he said. "There will be a huge number of potential extensions. If [the brand owners] don't use them, then, if someone else gets them, it does potential brand damage."

"If you go beyond the brand, it's [slogans like] 'Every little helps' from Tesco," Illsley continued. "Can anyone use that?...