-- Posted Tuesday, July 31, 2007
An iPhone Story: The Announcement. The Wait. The Day. The Phone
The iPhone has been around for a month and got off to a rousing start. Read the story of how one of our contributors fell in love with the iPhone the day Steve Jobs announced it at his keynote address at MacWorld 2007, then waited and waited and waited, stood in line, and then screamed out "Zero!" when the rope at the Apple store line was lifted. Ann Marie describes the iPhone, what it can do and what it can't, and what she'd like to see in software upgrades and next gen versions. [read iPhone: The Announcement. The Wait. The Day. The Phone] -- Posted Monday, July 30, 2007
VDC study: Mobile device downtime nukes productivity
VDC released a comprehensive analysis of total cost of ownership (TCO) of mobile computer and communications devices used in Enterprise Mobility Solutions in vertical and application markets. Nearly 50% of the cost of operating a mobile computing and communications device in enterprise settings are the costs of worker productivity downtime when the device fails. According to the research, upfront hardware adoption accounts for only 16% of mobile computer TCO, however, it frequently represents the single most important selection criterion. VDC also clearly found a lower TCO for rugged mobile computers in comparison to non-rugged or consumer/commercial-grade mobile computers for many applications because of the significantly higher failure rates of non-rugged hardware. [View VDC report on Mobile Computing TCO] -- Posted Friday, July 27, 2007
Trimble introduces GPS Pack for GPS phones
GPS is more and more becoming part of our daily life. Trimble now offers the Trimble GPS Pack-a suite that combines GPS phone applications into one package: AllSport GPS lets you track exercise activity by monitoring time, speed, calories burned, and distance traveled during outdoor workouts. Geocache Navigator brings geocaching capabilities to the mobile phone by seamlessly connecting to the largest geocaching database in the world so geocachers can seek the caches using a uniquely constructed, radar-like interface that guides them toward their destination. Trimble Outdoors is a complete outdoor trip planning and navigation solution that allows consumers to review and plan trips online, send routes, maps and waypoints wirelessly to their GPS phone and then use the phone to guide their adventures. The Trimble GPS Pack is available through Sprint on more than 12 GPS-enabled Sprint and Nextel phones for $6.99 per month. (See Trimble Outdoors. -- Posted Thursday, July 26, 2007
TomTom buying map supplier Tele Atlas
There are really only two major suppliers of mapping data, US-based Navteq and Dutch Tele Atlas. Now it looks like TomTom, the world's largest maker of car navigation devices, will buy Tele Atlas. While Tele Atlas would continue to operate as an independent business, the Tele Atlas sale to a GPS device maker will put others in the navigation device field in the position of having to buy from a competitor -- not an optimal situation, except for Navteq. [see press release on proposed Tele Atlas sale to TomTom] -- Posted Monday, July 23, 2007
Synaptics MobileTouch used in fliphone
The fact that Synaptics' MobileTouch is used in the Huawei U550 flip hone is nice, but the real story is the technology itself. It replaces mechanical buttons and switches with a custom-designed capacitive sensor that translates gestures for scrolling, selection and cursor control for on-screen navigation. [Read about the Synaptics MobileTouch or download a PDF of the MobileTouch Product Brief] -- Posted Monday, July 23, 2007
TealPoint Software to support Foleo
TealPoint Software -- a leader in mobile software solutions -- will offer Foleo customers a full suite of new security, entertainment and productivity applications, including TealSafe, TealPaint, TealDiet, SudokuAddict and ShortCircuit, with more applications to follow. See the Software for Foleo page on TealPoint's website. -- Posted Sunday, July 22, 2007
From Pay-BASIC to $51 billion in 31 years
In early 1976, Bill Gates wrote an open and wildly unpopular letter to hobbyists persisting in his belief that software should not be free. On July 19, 2007, Microsoft announced revenue of $13.37 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2007, a 13% increase over the same period of the prior year. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2007, Microsoft announced revenue of $51.12 billion, a 15% increase over the prior year. -- Posted Friday, July 20, 2007
How to get the "Designed for Windows Mobile 6" logo
QualityLogic has been selected by Microsoft to conduct certification testing for Microsoft's "Designed for Microsoft Windows Mobile 6” logo program. QualityLogic's certification testing ensures that a software application is compatible with Windows Mobile 6. It also aims to help developers take full advantage of new features found in Windows Mobile 6, and bring rich, reliable applications to the market. When an application has successfully completed testing, it will be certified to use the "Designed for Microsoft Windows Mobile 6” logo. -- Posted Friday, July 20, 2007
Spellex Tablet PC Suite 2.0
Spellex announced the Spellex Tablet PC Suite 2.0 for specialty terminology. The new Tablet PC enhancement recognizes hundreds of thousands of comprehensive English terms, including words relating to business, language, current trends, and Internet technology. With the Spellex Tablet PC Suite, you can also enhance your handwriting recognition and spell checking ability by adding specialized terms from the medical, legal, and scientific fields. Pricing for the Spellex Tablet PC Suite starts at $59. -- Posted Friday, July 20, 2007
4GB miniSDHC!
Flash card maker Transcend announced its new 4GB miniSDHC Class 4 card. It supports the FAT32 file formats and with the enclosed adapter, the tiny 4GB card can be used as a standard SDHC card to handle the high capacity demands of all those cool new devices compatible with SD 2.0. If you're into mobile entertainment, a couple of thousand high-res pictures, a thousand digital music files, or eight hours of vid clips now fit into a device much smaller than a postage stamp. 007 never had it that good. -- Posted Friday, July 20, 2007
Transmeta gets investment from AMD
At some point Transmeta was a high flier with its energy-efficient and innovative Crusoe processors that were supposed to make Tablet PCs and all sorts of cool-running, long-lasting lightweight computers possible. But while Transmeta had some design wins, mostly in Japan, the general perception was that the chips were slow and simply not up to snuff, so the buying public stayed away from a promising technology. In time Transmeta stopped making processors and began licensing its technologies instead. AMD, in particular, has viewed Transmeta as a key ally in the development of the AMD64 technology, and has now invested $7.5 million in Transmeta preferred stock. -- Posted Monday, July 9, 2007
iPhone off to a rousing start
The Apple iPhone went on sale 6PM June 29th and sold half a million units over the weekend. Reports of availability were mixed, with some news sources reporting that supplies were running low, but customers could still get an iPhone Monday morning. Pen Computing put that to the test. Our local AT&T store in Folsom, CA was out and quoted two week delivery, same as the Apple website. Are we sorry we didn't stand in line Friday? You bet. -- Posted Monday, July 2, 2007