Another Tech Blog

NICE – Tweetdeck is available for iPhone. I love the desktop version and the iPhone versions looks great so far. I’m still meh on Twitter, but the way tweetdeck organizes tweets is fantastic.

Nothing gets my blood boiling faster than legitimate software that acts like malware.  Anything you install should, before it changes ANY settings, tell you what it wants to change and ask you if that’s what you want to do.   The default browser, for example, is a setting that used to get hijacked all the time by Microsoft until enough people complained about it.  I remember happily running Netscape (stop it, I’m old) then installing the latest IE and low an behold, my default browser changed without my asking for it.  Now most browsers will notify you if someone tries to change the default setting so that you are not surreptitiously redirected without your approval.

Search providers are not so nice.

Ask.com, for example, has decided it is ok to change the default keyword search provider in Firefox without asking or notifying the user.  What makes this especially annoying is that it is not a setting easily found or changed without some digging.  What is the default keyword search provider?  If you type a word into the URL window instead of a web address, most browsers assume you want to search for that word and will use a search engine to look it up.  This is called a keyword search.  The search engine your browser uses for this task is the keyword search provider.  If you don’t specify one, the browser uses the ISP’s default, which is why you can sometimes get an Optimum Online search page, or Roadrunner search page if you don’t tell the browser what you want to use – a entirely different level of annoying ;)  Not all browser’s let you make this setting, so it is very helpful to use one that does, like Firefox.

So, back to the problem – how do you change Firefox’s default keyword search provider back to something that works from Ask.com’s “search” engine?

First, you have to get to the advanced options page for Firefox’s defaults.  These settings are accessible from the about:config page, and are stored in a file called prefs.js.  In the URL entry bar, enter about:config to bring up the settings page.   CAUTION – these are advanced settings and messing with them can make your browser do things you don’t expect.  Be careful changing things!  It’s a good idea to write down what you change, or better yet, make a backup of the underlying settings file (for Vista/Windows 7, the file is here C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\profileID.default\prefs.js).

Second, use the filter to search for “keyword”.  You should see the keyword.URL entry – this is the one you want to change.  It looks like this:

Next, double click on the keyword.URL line to bring up a dialogue box into which you can enter the search engine of your choice.

Lastly, enter the URL you want.  For Google, use "http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&q=". There are a couple of other examples here.

That’s it –

Independence day for iPhone 3GS users is here.  George Hotz has released an application that will unlock the 3GS so that you can install whatever applications you want, not just what Apple wants you to have.  The blog post with instructions is here.  You need Windows (but not windows 7), itunes installed on your machine, and you need the 3.0 OS on your iPhone.  Be careful, once you jailbreak your phone, you void the warranty and Apple won’t help you if the phone gets messed up.  Be sure to back everything up before you start too –

I’ve been working with a client who needs to replace an aging PBX but is (as is everyone) extremely cost averse.  What are their options?

A vendor supported PBX plus desktop phone sets together would probably cost them more than $10k.  Obviously a vendor supported system has losts of advantages from a user support standpoint, but the inistial costs are high, as are the maintenace costs.

In researching solutions I came across and open source software PBX that looks like it will fit the bill.  Asterisk (www.asterisk.org) was originally developed by Digium and is published under a GPL.  The software comes in two flavors, a the full version or a quick start version called AsteriskNow.  The software is meant to run on any open sources Unix server, but is recommended to run on Linux.  It can also be run on a Windows machine, but I would expect that to be problematic.  Interestingly, it also has a MAC OS  X build.  It can handle (obviously) VOIP, but can also interface with standard POTS lines.

Asterisk is loaded with featuresthat you would normally find on big, expensive PBX’s.  Standard stuff like call forwarding, voicemail, conferencing, call waiting, music on hold are there, but the real value is in the features that are standard here, but very expensive in vendor systems.  Things like text to speech, SMS messaging, streaming media, conference bridging, automated attendant and unified messaging among many others are all included.  In addition Asterisk can function as a call center, routing calls to available agents based on anything you want.  While this is not something my client needs, it is there, and is an example of how far the open source model can go. 

Asterisk uses a modular architecture so that new technologies can be integrated easily into the system.  The system is broken into four API’s that are seperate from the core PBX functions.  This abstratction allows new modules to be added or removed without affecting the core switching functionality. 

What strikes me about this is not only the avalability of the software, which all by itself is remarkable, but the quality and depth of the feature set.  Yes, this is largely to drive business to Digium, but that’s ok, the software is out there, and the community is growing to support it.  The great thing about the Digium piece is that you can try the implementation youself, and if the support becomes too much to handle, you can contract with them if you need to.  Its a great safety net.

IDG News is reporting that Apple is planning an update to fix a vulnerability in the SMS message handler that could be used by an attacker to run code with full access to the device.  According to security research Charlie Miller during a presentation the SkyScan conference, the patch will be ready later this month.

“The iPhone is more secure than OS X, but SMS could be a critical vulnerability,” Miller said.  He will present on the topic further at BlackHat later this month, and Apple hopes to have the software released before he presents.

On a related note, Apple is prepping the release for the iPhone 3.1 OS.  Information week is reporting that the new OS was released to developers Tuesday.  Although no public release date was announced, the new features of the updated SDK include additional improvements to video editing, Bluetooth voice control, and some “user interface improvements”.  More details as they emerge….

I’ve been using the iPhone 3.0 software for a couple of days now and other than a minor installation glitch (my fault) the upgrade was painless.  Everything seems to work as advertised, and so far, I like what I see.

• WiFi improvements – One of the things that really bugged me about the 2.0 OS was the way the iPhone reacted to WiFi spots.  If, for example, I go to my local Starbucks, the phone will attempt to connect to the local router.  The phone will connect and get an IP address, but since I haven’t logged in to the hotspot, the phone gets no Internet service, effectively making any Internet reliant service useless.  The only way to “fix” this is to either turn off WiFi, or open Safari and enter login credentials for the hotspot I’m connected too.

  The 3.0 OS fixes this annoyance.  The OS will recognize when you have come across a hot spot that requires credentials and give you the login screen after is connects to the router.  These credentials will be stored on the device so that you can connect automatically when you return to the hot spot.  I have yet to extensively test this, but it seems to be working well.

• Search – Search text entry bars are everywhere, and I couldn’t be happier.  Searching email gives you options to search From, To, Subject and All.  Not only are you able to search mail on the device, but there is an option to “continue search on server”.  This can be a little slow if you have a lot of stored mail, but I’m very pleased that the option is there.
• Landscape – Do I need to say anything here?  It’s there, it works.  Ironically, I’m pretty adept at typing in portrait mode, so I’m not sure how much I’ll use it for typing, but being able to view mail in landscape is great.
• Cut and Paste – WORKS.

Most of my major issues with the OS have been resolved now.  I’m not saying I have no complaints, but things are way better!

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CNET is reporting that ARM, the company responsible for designing the architecture behind most mobile comuting CPU’s said  that mobile phone makers will be delivering devices that run on ARM”s latest dual core CPU’s as early as next year.

They are referring to the ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore application processor.  According to the ARM site, the new chip deisgn will provide faster processing with lower power consumption for all but the most CPU intensive applications.

“The Cortex-A9 MPCore processor is the first ARM processor to combine the Cortex application class architecture with multiprocessing capabilities for scalable performance and provides enhanced multicore technology that includes:

• Accelerator Coherence Port (ACP) for increased system performance and lower system power
• Advanced Bus Interface Unit for low latency in high bandwidth devices
• Multicore TrustZone® technology with interrupt virtualization to enable hardware based security and enhanced paravirtualization solutions
• Generalized Interrupt Controller (GIC) for software portability and optimized multicore communication“

source: AMD product description

White paper on the Cortex-A9.

There are already phones on the market that make use of the ARM A9 single core chip, namely the LG Renoir shown at CES in January (video here).  The phone looks great in the video; the ARM Mali-55 GPU really makes the user interface smooth, with Vista like windows features.  Without the phone in hand I can’t comment direcltly, but I imagine streaming video would look very nice on this phone.  Of course, this phone is not available in the US (why would it be?) but it has some amazing features – 8 Megapixel camera, touch focus, several still shot modes, Dolby Mobile, DivX playback, Slow-Mo video recording, GPS, 3G, WiFi and will play Flash.  It is so irritating the the US mobile companies are just shamefully behind the curve with mobile devices.  I have to believe that most people don’t know what they are missing, so they don’t know to complain.

Since ARM is just the chip designer and not the manufacturer, it’s difficult to tell exactly when these chips will hit US phones, but if CNET is correct, we could see the chips in new phones next year.  If true, then I will NOT buy a iPhone 3GS until I know what Apple is doing with regard to the new ARM design.  Why would you invest in another 2 year contract when you know that the new chip is out there?  If they combine the CPU with the updated GPU chips, then the iPhone’s sluggishness could go away completely.  Now that might be worth $199.

Here are 10 things you may not know how to do on the iPhone.

1. Web Clips:You can create a short cut to a web page as an icon on your iPhone.  To do this, tap the “+”  when on a web page, then tap “Add to Home Screen.”  This will create an icon on your iPhone that you an treat (move or delete) as any other application.  Web Clips are not bookmarks per se, so they are NOT synced by MobileMe or iTunes.
2. Scroll to Top of Page:
   
   In any application you can scroll to the top of the page by tapping on the status bar at the top of the iPhone screen.
   
   
3. Domain Suffix:

   When typing a URL in safari, you can use the .COM key to choose other domain suffixes.  Tap and hold the .COM key to bring up a list of the other choices (.net, .edu, .org, .com).  Slide your finger over the one you want to select.

4. Alternate Characters:

   If you need to type non standard letters (letters with non-english annotations like a tilde) you can tap and hold the letter to bring up a list of available alternatives.

5. Screenshot:

   You can take a screenshot by holding the home key then the sleep button on the top of the phone.  The image will be stored in your camera roll.

6. Save an Image from Safari:

   You can save just about any image from a web page to your camera roll.  Just tap and hold on the image to bring up a menu that will give you the option to save it.

7. Double tap to zoom:

   This is really helpful.  In Safari, or in an email, double tap the text you want to zoom in on and the iPhone will resize the text to fill the screen.  Double tap again to go back to the original size.

8. iPod Playback Controls:

   You can bring up the iPod controls when you are in any application or when the phone is locked by double clicking the  Home button.

9. Setting a Sleep timer:

   You can set the iPhone to stop playing music or videos after a period of time by using the sleep timer function.  From the clock application, choose the timer function.  Set the number of hours/minutes you want, then tap “When Timer Ends” choose “Sleep iPod”.  Finally, tap Start to start the timer.  When the timer ends, the iPhone will stop playing, close open apps and lock.

10. Soft Reset:

    To reset yout iPhone if it freezes, click the home button and the sleep button at the same time and hold them both down until you see the Apple logo.

Apple announced at WWDC 2009 that the iPhone 3.0 software will be available to current iPhone users on June 17th.  At the same event Apple announced that the iPhone 3GS will be available for purchase June 19th, 2009 in 16GB and 32 GB models for $199 and $299 respectively.  They also reduced the price of the 8GB 3G to $99.

While none of this is unexpected, it’s nice to have a real release date.  Apple announced more final features of the 3.0 software, here are some highlights (full description here).

• Copy and Paste text – When you double tap text, you will get a dialog box to cut/copy.  Double tap again to get a paste bubble.  Works with Photos too.
• Spotlight for search – Now you will be able to search across all the information on your device.  What took them so long to add this?  This really should have been a day one feature.
• Landscape Keyboard – Will work in mail, notes, safari, SMS
• MMS – Big swing and a miss here – AT&T isn’t ready for the release, so this feature will not be ready until late summer.
• Improved Calendar – Support for CalDAV is added.  This is BIG.  CalDAV is what Google and Yahoo use, so this is a big win for Gmail users.  In addition to CalDAV, you can now create meetings – another why wasn’t this done before.
• Internet Tethering – Another HUGE swing and a miss by AT&T.  This will not be available in the US.  Please AT&T, get your network in order.  Your clients, who pay you a lot of money, demand this.
• Sync Notes – You can now sync notes from your phone back to your PC via iTunes.  Another about time, Apple.  I’d like to see an OTA sync for this to Exchange though, that would be useful.  Syncing via iTunes is ok, but not all that helpful.
• Automatic Wi-Fi login – This will (may) really help.  Now when I go to Starbucks I won’t have to login to their hotspot every time.  In theory.  I’m skeptical about this one, but I’m hopeful.

There are other features that seem fun like Shake to Shuffle,  improved iTunes store, voice memos etc.  Overall it seems like a LOT of new software, I hope it all works as advertised.

iPhone 3GS features

See more here.  There are a bunch of new features that look cool, but I’m not sure I’ll shell out $199 (or $299) for them.  The main improvements are:

• Speed – Apple claims that “everything you do on iPhone 3G S is up to 2x faster and more responsive than iPhone 3G”.  Call me Skippy Skeptical, but I’ll believe it when I see it, thank you.  If true, this is compelling.
• Video – You can shoot VGA in portrait or landscape mode, edit start and end points, then share it via email, post to MobileMe or YouTube.  Of course, you can also save the video to your PC when you sync.  I like the idea here – I use my iPhone camera way more than I thought I would, so I imagine that the video feature would be just as useful.  That said, in a corporate environment, cameras are problematic on enterprise devices.
• Improved Camera – 3 MegaPixels, Auto-focus and a tap to focus feature.  Very neat improvements.
• Digital compass – I like this a lot, but it doesn’t look like they’ve improved the turn by turn directions at all.  I’d like it to function more like a “real” GPS in that if you deviate from your route it will auto correct to get you back on the right path.

All in all I’m excited about the 3.0 software and intrigued by the new hardware, I’m just not willing to shell out $199 for it yet.  Now if my current device happens to fall in a puddle…