June 2007 - Posts
In my opinion (after about 6 hours of testing an iPhone), there are much better alternatives to mobile phones.
Mobile buyers brought to AT&T's site by iPhone's pre-launch excitement will be greeted with a number of iPhone alternatives, but AT&T has pushed one to the front of the pack. AT&T chopped $300 off the $599 list price of its newest top-end 3G device.
Check out the stats, and you decide which phone gives you more connectivity options (including full 3G world capabilities), and more functionality, with full capabilities to add other applications, at a much better price:
| | AT&T 8525 | Apple iPhone |
| Mobile networks | GSM/GPRS/EDGE, 3G (UMTS/HSDPA) | GSM/GPRS/EDGE |
| Unlocks for non-AT&T networks | Yes, at AT&T's discretion
(ask at end of contract) | Unknown |
| TCP/IP downstream speed | 400-800 Kbps AT&T est. | No Apple est. (EDGE ~128 Kbps) |
| Wi-Fi | 802.11b/g | 802.11b/g |
| Bluetooth | 2.0 | 2.0 + extended data rate (EDR) |
| Camera | 2 megapixel w/LED flash | 2 megapixel |
| Platform | Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC
(upgrade to WM6 in Q3) | OS X |
| Display | 2.8" 320x240 touch (finger/stylus) | 3.5" 320x480 capacitive multi-touch |
| Keyboard | Backlit QWERTY, slide out | On-screen QWERTY |
| Buttons | Power, trackwheel, push to talk, nav pad+select, others | Power |
| CPU | 32-bit Samsung ARM | Intel x86 |
| E-mail | Pocket Outlook (Exchange/IMAP/POP), Good, AT&T Xpress Mail | Proprietary (IMAP/POP) |
| Browser | Pocket Internet Explorer
Opera opt. | Safari |
| Chat/IM | Yahoo, AOL (iChat), Windows Live, SMS, MMS | SMS |
| Media player | Windows Media 10 | Proprietary/QuickTime |
| Java VM | Yes | No |
| Flash Player | No | No |
| Dev platform | .net Compact Framework | JavaScript/Dashboard |
| Dev tools | Visual Studio 2005, $799 | TBD (Leopard Dashcode?) |
| PC Internet gateway/modem | Yes,EDGE/3G | TBD |
| Attachment View/Edit | Word,Excel,PowerPoint | HTML (edit?) |
| Light sensor | Yes | Yes |
| Orientation sensor | Keyboard slide-out switches to landscape | Yes, accelerometer |
| Proximity sensor | No | Yes (answers call) |
| Voice dialing | Yes,in-phone | TBD |
| Voice commands | Yes | TBD |
| Sync | ActiveSync, MS Direct Push OTA
Contacts,calendar,e-mail,tasks | iTunes
Contacts,calendar,e-mail,bookmarks |
| User memory | 64 MB internal + add-in SD card (opt) | 4 or 8 GB, non-expandable |
| Talk time | 5 hours | 8 hours |
| Standby time | 240 hours | 250 hours |
| Size | 4.43 x 2.28 x 0.86" | 4.5 x 2.4 x 0.46" |
| Weight | 6.2 ounces | 4.8 ounces |
| Price | $599 list
$449 w/2 yr contract
$299 AT&T 2 yr contract promo 6/26/07
($100 of promo discount is mail-in rebate) | $499/$599 list
4 GB/8 GB RAM
2 yr contract req'd |
Enterprise Mac | InfoWorld | AT&T positions new 8525 Pocket PC, promo price $299, as key iPhone alternative | June 26, 2007 10:14 PM | By Tom Yager
The Sprint PCS Treo 700p ROM update has been reposted and is now available for download.
As part of our continuous effort to give customers the best possible experience, Palm offers an update that features performance and reliability enhancements.
Product enhancements:
- Performance improvements to phone application
- System improvements to minimize skipping during music playback and eliminate audio delays experienced on some games
- Performance improvement to minimize delays experienced when loading Blazer® browser
- Support for new daylight savings time legislation, plus a simplified Date/Time preference panel
- Increased expansion card support including 4GB SD cards and SDHC cards
- Resolution of certain "wake up" issues that may occur with certain third party push email solutions
- Improved handling of SMS messages to lessen stalling of messages.
- For customers using Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 with SP 2 and above, an update to VersaMail® client now includes an update to Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync® which adds Microsoft’s Direct Push Technology for push email, calendar and contacts. Also adding other EAS functionality such as remote wipe, policy support, and global address lookup
Bluetooth® wireless technology enhancements:
- Increases list of supported/compatible Bluetooth wireless carkits, including BMW and Toyota/Lexus (Denso)
- Improves overall user experience with supported Bluetooth wireless carkits and headsets (e.g. allow user to manually connect / disconnect to a Bluetooth device)
- Additional Bluetooth wireless functionality (e.g. audio routing to Bluetooth headset even when wired headset is plugged in)
Palm - Support - Treo 700p Update
You really have to love the French don't you?
FRENCH counter-espionage chiefs have upset hundreds of ministerial staff by banning BlackBerry mobile devices for fear the Americans may be spying on their emails.
Staff recruited to serve ministers in the Sarkozy administration are especially bothered by the attempt to enforce a two-year-old decree against such devices for state business.
Economic intelligence chief Alain Juillet told them BlackBerry communications were not secure because the system channelled emails through servers in the US and Britain. "The risk of interception is real. It's economic war," said Mr Juillet, according to Le Monde.
Paranoid French say goodbye to le Blackberry | NEWS.com.au
The University of Virginia is notifying about 6,000 current and former faculty members that their names, Social Security numbers, birth dates and other personal information may have been stolen by computer hackers between May 2005 and April of this year.
The Charlottesville-based university announced June 8 that a hacker or hackers had breached a “special- purpose Web application” that mistakenly included a link to a data table containing a variety of information about U.Va. faculty members. Investigators found that the system was broken into 54 times between May 20, 2005, and April 19, 2007, and that the records of 5,735 faculty members were accessed.
IT Error Opens Data Door at University
The system was broken in to 54 times from 2005 to 2007 and had access to personal data and no one noticed?
Microsoft Corp. launched a redesigned MSN portal optimized for mobile phones on Sunday, stepping up its offering at a time when more powerful devices increase the demand for richer content on handsets.
U.S. mobile Internet use still represents only a fraction of computer-based Web usage, but technology heavyweights like Microsoft see increasingly powerful mobile phones and faster networks opening the door for new services and content.
"We firmly believe there is an inflection point here," said Phil Holden, Microsoft's director of mobile Web services. "There's a new battle, a new frontline developing on the mobile phone."
Microsoft's new MSN Mobile portal -- http://mobile.msn.com -- offers news, sports information, entertainment features and access to services like e-mail, search, maps and instant messaging all on one page.
When a user accesses the portal, the MSN platform detects the handset and optimizes the site for that device, adjusting things like font sizes for different screens.
Sprint PCS has announced the HTC Mogul (6800).
Leaving the laptop behind and staying connected and productive just got easier with the introduction of the Mogul™ by HTC, the newest Windows Mobile® device from Sprint (NYSE:S). Operating on the Sprint Mobile Broadband Network, the Mogul™ by HTC is the first CDMA device in the U.S. with Microsoft® Windows Mobile® 6 Professional Edition and will also be the first handset from Sprint that will support EV-DO Rev. A data speeds via a free software upgrade that will be made available at a later date.
“The Mogul™ by HTC gives customers the power to be more productive and manage a busy personal and professional life with the most advanced wireless capabilities and features available on any pocket-sized device,” said Danny Bowman, vice president of customer equipment for Sprint. “With support for Windows Mobile 6, Bluetooth and integrated Wi-Fi for data, customers have more choices for staying productive on the go today and can look forward to enhanced wireless data speeds in the future with the EV-DO Rev. A upgrade.”
Building on the strength of its predecessor, the Sprint PCS Vision Smart Device PPC-6700, the Mogul™ by HTC offers the same innovative design with slide-out QWERTY keyboard, large touch screen and five-way navigation button but also delivers several enhancements:
- Longer battery life – approximately 20 percent more than its predecessor, the PPC-6700.
- More internal memory – increases from 128 MB to 256 MB and can be expanded with a microSD card. A 512 MB card ships with the device with cards up to 2 GB being supported.
- Smaller design –Thinner than the PPC-6700; measuring at 4.33” x 2.32” x 0.73” while featuring an internal antenna.
- Higher resolution camera: resolution boosts to 2 MP with flash, auto-focus and camcorder capabilities, allowing customers to capture and share important business images or personal moments.
- Thumbwheel: enables convenient, one-handed operation.
The Mogul™ by HTC replicates the familiar Windows PC-based experience and utilizes a suite of software unavailable in the U.S. on any other CDMA device to deliver a variety of key benefits including increased security and added support for HTML email and Microsoft Office Mobile. Broad wireless data functionality gives customers more choices for quick and convenient email, attachments and text messages; view documents; browse the Web; listen to news, music and audio clips; and access corporate applications while on the go.
Sprint Customers Will Get More Done with the New Mogul(TM) by HTC
Looks an awful lot like the 8525...
I've been listening to Pandora Radio for several months. Since I minimize the screen anyway, all of those ads don't bother me, and its a great way to listen and find new music for free. You can imagine my excitement when I heard about Pandora Mobile. So, I grabbed my mobile phone, launched my browser, and went to http://pandora.com....
Only to be met with...
Sorry.
Pandora does not support your device.
Currently, Pandora only supports certain Sprint devices. Please visit www.pandora.com/mobile from a computer for more information.
What's up with that? Sprint devices only? Why would they do that? This from a website who has been pushing it's listeners to contact Washington to keep Internet radio FREE. Anyway, if you have a Sprint phone, head on over to check out Pandora Mobile. The rest of us will have to do without.
Network Computing is reporting a Hatfields & McCoys of the 21st Century...
They're the Hatfields and McCoys of the 21st Century--spammers and the organizations that fight them. But now the Internet crooks are getting downright nasty and targeting their opponents directly.
The SANs Institute has discovered that a sizable distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack has affected several well-known antispam groups. Spamhaus, SURBL and several others seem to be the victims of an attack similar to the one that incapacitated--and eventually shut down--antispam software maker Blue Security last year. While some of the groups are back up, others are still trying to recover.
If there's a silver lining in all this, however, it is that the SANS folks believe antispam groups must be doing something right--otherwise the bad guys wouldn't be joining forces to strike back on such a level.
YouTube goes mobile. Go to http://m.youtube.com on your mobile device.
This webcast complements other presentations on Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, and it serves as a step-by-step overview of the Communications Server 2007 installation process. We highlight the most common installation procedures, and we show the installation screens you will encounter. Attend this session to familiarize yourself with the installation of the product and to get a visual reference guide. This webcast is targeted to IT managers who are not yet familiar with Communications Server 2007, in addition to those who have already installed a previous version Microsoft Office Communications Server and are looking to upgrade.
Presenter: Robert Cameron, Real-Time Communications (RTC) Specialist, Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft Webcast: Office Communication Server 2007 Installation Overview (Level 200)
IntoMobile is reporting that Dell is now selling unlocked Nokia handhelds. Is this the beginning of the end for US Wireless Carriers telling us which devices we can use on their networks, and forcing us in to a 2 year contract to boot? Let's hope so...
Dude, would you like a Nokia with that Dell? - IntoMobile
Is it worse than what was originally reported?
Working since Monday, a state data review team has discovered a backup computer storage device stolen contained sensitive information on state workers and others.
Here's a breakdown on what information was stored on the device and who, so far, is potentially affected by a possible data breach:
• Names and Social Security numbers of all 64,000 state employees.
• Names and Social Security numbers of 53,797 participants enrolled in the state's pharmacy benefits management program.
• Names and Social Security numbers of 75,532 dependents of participants enrolled in the pharmacy benefits program.
• 2,685 records of school district and local government names and bank account information.
• 159,708 records of Medicaid providers and their bank account information.
• Names and account numbers of 1,031 state employees who are teachers in the State Teachers Retirement System.
• Banking information on 28,362 state employees and vendors who have received electronic funds transfers from the state.
About 1.5 million various Thomas & Friends wooden railway toys, imported and distributed by the RC2 Corp., were recalled because paint on the toys contains lead that can be toxic if ingested by young children. No injuries have been reported. The recall includes wooden vehicles, buildings and other train set parts sold from January 2005 to the present. For more information, call (866) 725-4407, or go online at http://recalls.rc2.com or http://www.cpsc.gov .
January 2005 to the present? Lead in children's toys PAINT? Check your Thomas the Tank toys...
Information about thousands of teachers, vendors, school districts and local governments that conduct electronic transactions with the state are on a backup computer storage device stolen from the car of a state agency intern, Gov. Ted Strickland said Saturday.
Strickland announced the device was missing on Friday. It also included the names and Social Security numbers of all 64,000 state employees.
Strickland again said that he has no reason to believe the information — which can be used to steal from people by taking their identity — has been compromised because accessing it requires special equipment and expertise. He also has issued an executive order to change the procedures for handling state data.
The latest files discovered to be missing include 2,685 records of school district and local government names and bank account information; 159,708 records of Medicaid providers and their bank account information — the state is assuming it includes all providers; and the names and account numbers of 1,031 state employees who are teachers in the State Teachers Retirement System, the governor’s office said.
Strickland outlined the latest details at a Statehouse news conference on Saturday.
More here.
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