Software

The Wireless Event Recapped
The Wireless Event took place on Wednesday and Thursday at Olympia in London, it’s an industry show that stands out for exhibitors trying to sell to other exhibitors – who probably outnumber visitors (well maybe a slight exaggeration).
The theme of the exhibition is WiFi, WiMAX, 3G and VoIP and it comes with all the hype that surrounds them. There was little of anything new at the show, and wandering around upstairs, showed half the floorspace hadn’t been sold.
Unfortunately for a wireless show, getting a working connection to a WiFi network was almost impossible, mainly due to the number of networks available all interfering with each other. Maybe it should have been called the Wire Event or the Wireless Less Event. If metro WiFi is going to succeed then all the access points better be smart enough to not ‘tread on each others toes’ or it just isn’t going to work.
There were a lot of infrastructure companies trying to sell WiFi or WiMAX systems, some in the consumer space, but mainly for service providers. Of the mobile networks, only T-Mobile had a big stand, Orange had a small “business” services stand and O2 had a section of the Cloud’s stand.
There were some interesting products, but only a few. Here’s the cream of the crop.
Our pick of the show
Ruckus sell a WiFi access point, however the guts of the Ruckus system is what Netgear use for their RangeMAX range, which uses multiple antennae to steer the radio signals. Ruckus’s own version is more advanced and they are supporting things like streaming video. As an example of use, you can connect a media converter to a Sky TV box and then get decent quality through the WiFi connection to a TV several hundred feet away. Here the stream is converted back to a TV signal with another media converter. The access point looks quite pretty too – good for home use.
USR aka (US Robotics) have announced a USB handset that works with Skype. It’s really just a USB sound-device, but looks like a phone and has Skype integration (i.e. you can pull your contacts etc from Skype and they show in the phone’s display). They’ve also got a USB Skype conferencing device so several people sitting around a table can listen and speak on the call. Their ADSL/ADSL2+/Wireless routers are all now very simple to configure with wireless security turned on by default and basic ISP settings pre-configured.
Nokia had their new E series phone, with the E61 standing out from the pack. It runs Symbian and has support for several push Email systems included (Nokia Business Centre, Blackberry, Visto, Seven, and others). It’s about the same size as the Blackberry, but thinner with a metal casing and very bright colour display. It’s also a nice 3G phone.
The Cloud were there with a HUGE O2 Exec (aka i-mate JASJAR), anyone using the Exec can log-in to the Cloud’s homepage through WiFi, hit the O2 logo, enter their mobile number and the user will be phoned back. If they enter the digit 1 they’ll be granted access (and billed to that number).
BT Openzone had just announced their Wireless Cities initiative whereby Birmingham, Edinburgh, Leeds, Liverpool, Cardiff and Westminster are being made into hotzones. BT Openzone have a roaming agreement with the Cloud, but this puts them in direct competition (The Cloud are also offering wireless zones in various cities). Let’s hope the zones don’t overlap or connectivity issues will be as big a mess as the exhibition coverage was.
Zyxel had a their normal range of wired/wireless and security products. The star of their stand was their keyfob wireless hotspot locator. It works with all modes of WiFi (i.e. 802.11a/b/g) and supports unsecured and secure networks (WEP, WPA etc) showing what networks are available (at least 9 were available around the Zyxel stand).
The best bit of the show by far was the massages provided by Urban Chill. After a day wandering around Olympia it was just what was needed (thanks Lucy). To be honest had the massage come first, the rest of the show would have been a write-off.
19 May, 2006
Google Web Toolkit: Analysis Of Its Impact
Back on Tuesday Google released their latest offering, the Google Web Toolkit (GWT). For those who didn’t catch the news at the time, it’s a downloadable application that lets developers write Java code that is translated into Javascript.
At first glance this appears a pretty strange concept, outputting JavaScript from Java, but code is the near-mythical AJAX code, heavily assisting the production of Web 2.0 applications.
You’ll know we think AJAX applications are special, not for the buckets of hype that’s surrounding Web 2.0, but because the taking up of AJAX marked the death Microsoft’s dominance of the interface. It’s the point where using an application through a Web browser became less tiresome because information is updated without the Web page having to be refreshed.
Google slowly remove the gloves
Google’s attacks on Microsoft have been consistently more intense. Early moves like the extended beta of Gmail chipping away at Microsoft’s Hotmail service.
The moves on to the Windows desktop via Google Desktop Search (GDS) stepped it up a gear. When we saw the release of GDS, we advised our friends to buy Google stock. This was the point where users no longer needed to use Windows Explorer to locate the documents that they had created on their machine. A Google application became the route to documents on ‘their’ platform. The vice-like grip in place for so many years was starting to weaken.
The interface – Now they’re ready to box
We see the release of the Web Toolkit as Google’s most direct pop at Microsoft yet.
There is still a mystique around creating AJAX applications, primarily because most of the people who are trying to make them are not programmers, but are enthusiastic amateurs, designers, or people who have never learnt the basics of programming logic.
While GWT still requires programming skills in Java, there are more programmers around that know the inaccuracies that each version of browser requires, to have the interface working consistently.
It’s not just Microsoft that is getting a bloody nose from this, it’s also quite an aggressive move against Java, effectively removing its usefulness as a Web interface language. If this tool gets wide usage – and given the buzz (real or otherwise) around Web 2.0, it’s likely – it’s going to be pushing Java to the server, although many would argue that it doesn’t have much benefit there either.
Summary I’ll leave you with the key point – Google Web Toolkit gives people the tools (literally) to write applications that work in any Web browser, circumvent Microsoft’s crown jewels, the Windows interface.
We know an AJAX toolkit won’t be a surprise to Microsoft, but it will be a big blow.
Google Web Toolkit
19 May, 2006
Review: Metro Public Transport Guide For PDA and Smartphones (95%)
For globe trotters, city slickers, urban commuters and spoddy transport types, the freeware Metro looks to be a very useful application.
Available on a host of mobile platforms from PalmOS to Symbian to Pocket PC, Métro is a predominantly text-based program that computes the shortest route between two subway stations.
The program’s looks may be basic, but you can’t knock its coverage, with guides for over 300 cities around the world – including Dublin, Las Vegas, London, Tokyo and even ‘umble Croydon.
Impressively, the program is available in 39 languages.
The guides come with differing levels of detail, with some offering both bus and subway routes, places of interest and a ‘tourist version’ offering extra info and directions to local sights.
Using Metro
Using the program is simplicity itself: just select the city and time you want to travel, select the ‘start’ and ‘end’ points of your journey.
This can be done by either inputting the names yourself (Metro will offer to auto-complete as you type) or by selecting the stations from a list.
Then it’s a case of bashing the ‘start’ button to get Metro to automatically suggest two different routes (fastest and least connections), with the option to instantly compare alternative routes by clicking on other stations and lines.
Possibly of particular use in France, there’s also a ‘Line deactivation’ option letting you navigate routes around sections of the subway that might be closed for strikes (or maintenance).
Using the program’s simple interface, you can also get Metro to display station details, stops between the stations on your journey and even associate contacts with stations.
The program is certainly comprehensive, offering 721 stops in London, 939 in New-York, 1813 in Tokyo and 838 in Paris, and a handy MétrUp updater makes it easy to keep city files up to date on your handheld.
i-Metro
Describing itself as ‘the ultimate public transport guide on your WAP or iMode phone’, i-Metro comes in Web, iMode and WAP versions for accessing route information on the move.
We couldn’t get any joy out of the WAP version (but we were using our wobbly old Ericsson T610), but the Web version worked just fine and we were able to quickly access London night bus info. Neat!
Conclusion
It may not be the most attractive travel program around, but for a freeware product the attention to detail and scope of coverage is simply astonishing.
Such is the reliability of the program that mobile moguls like Sony Ericsson, Palm and T-Mobile are bundling Metro in with their products, and even SNCF (the French national railway company) have given it their seal of approval.
For commuters, tourists and travellers we thoroughly recommend Metro.
Features: 85%
Ease of use: 85%
Value For Money: 95% (it’s free Godammit!)
Overall: 95%
Metro i-Metro Available cities
19 May, 2006
MTV and Microsoft Take On iTunes With ‘Urge’
Apple’s hugely popular iTunes music download service looks set to face some mighty competition in the coming months.
Although many contenders have tried to take on Apple’s market leading music download business, all of have left with a bloody nose – but the arrival of a new service by a powerful pair of rivals could be Apple’s biggest battle yet.
The new ‘Urge’ service sees industry titans Microsoft and music video monsters MTV Networks teaming up to offer a heavyweight contender to iTunes.
Unlimited downloads
Like Apple’s service, buyers will be charged 99-cents per song download, but there’s an added twist: users subscribing $9.95 a month will be able to download unlimited songs from Urge’s 2-million-song catalogue to their personal PCs.
Users wanting to transfer songs onto portable music players can subscribe to the $14.95 service, with tunes protected by anticopying software from Microsoft.
Hoping to succeed where Napster, Yahoo, RealNetworks’s Rhapsody and even Microsoft’s own MSN service have failed, the partnership of the world’s biggest software company and the marketing might and ‘cool’ of MTV could prove a formidable challenge to iTunes.
“They are probably the strongest contender to come into the market for some time,” commented Phil Leigh, a senior analyst for Inside Digital Media, in Florida.
Geoff Harris, product unit manager for Windows Media Player at Microsoft, pointed out that although that other music subscription services have millions of songs on tap, that didn’t help listeners discover new tunes that they might like.
Noting that consumers have embraced satellite radio because it features dozens of channels with music chosen by experts, Harris reckoned that this could prove a real advantage to the Urge service.”You’ve got the experts in music here from MTV doing programming across a whole bunch of genres,” he commented.
As well as music files, subscribers to Urge will be able to download video streams of MTV Network programs, including shows from MTV, VH1, and CMT, a country music video channel. Yee-hi!
Sod the iPod
But there is a serious fly in the MP3 ointment for the new Urge service: crazily, its music downloads won’t be playable on the Apple iPod, despite the player hogging around 70 percent of the market for portable music players. Instead, users will have to invest in rival players like those from Creative Technology.
Although Harris admitted that the iPod incompatibility issue was “a hurdle that we have to get over” (an understatement, we reckon!), he added that, “there’s a long way to go in this market,” pointing out that the zillions of iPods sold still represent a fraction of the potential audience for music downloads.
Jason Hirschhorn, MTV Networks’ chief digital officer, insisted that Urge wasn’t interested in taking on Apple.’It’s not about beating Apple, it’s not about beating Rhapsody,” he said, pointing out that MTV has already teamed up with Apple elsewhere to flog some of its TV shows as downloads on the iTunes site.
We believe you, Jason.
Windows Media Player 11 beta
Although Urge is wholly owned by MTV Networks, Microsoft has committed ample resources to the service, embedding the software in its new Windows Media Player 11 beta, a spruced up upgrade to its media software offering iTunes-like integration.
The new player adds browsing by album cover and a search box to find media as well as offering improved content management, with less clicks needed to burn a CD, for example.
Urge will only be available initially in the United States, with the beta player linked to US-only music stores until the final version of Windows Media Player 11 is released.
Jonathan Arber, a research analyst with Ovum in London has high hopes for the service, “I think there’s a real chance we will see them become the top of the second tier below Apple.”
Assuming the thing is stable and doesn’t come with a zoo-full of bugs, of course.
Urge
Windows Media Player 11
17 May, 2006
Linux Desktop Pocket Guide Review (40%)
Unfortunately this book tries to be all things to all users – and Linux distros – which makes it extremely hard to follow. However, if there’s a specific thing being looked for, the information is probably there. It’s just a matter of finding it.
The book is divided into eight chapters, covering: –
Distributions Logging In GNOME KDE Applications Add, Remove and Update Programs Configuration Laptops
The main distributions covered are Fedora (Redhat’s cutting edge version, though only up to version 4, Redhat have subsequently released FC5), Gentoo, Mandriva combined Mandrake and Connectiva), SUSE (from Novell) and Umbuntu though other versions do get a mention.
There’s virtually nothing in this book that can’t be found on the Web, although having it all in one place sounds like a very good idea. Unfortunately covering so many distributions is almost too much information which means you getting overloaded, making things hard to find (though there is commonality between some distributions).
This book isn’t going to help making a decision about which version of Linux to install, and once that decision has been made then getting a book dedicated to that particular version will definitely be a better move.
However, if the object is to support multiple versions of Linux, having the information available in one reference seems plausible, but actually finding the relevant information is tedious and takes some time.
In its favour, it’s only a pocket reference, giving enough info to be useful without wading into the depths.
Score: 40%
Summary
Get a book dedicated to a particular Linux variant, it will be organised better and have relevant information.
Publisher: O’Reilly
Author: David Brickner
ISBN: 0-596-10104-X
RRP: (GBP) 6.95
Buy it on Amazon UK £5.56
Buy it on Amazon US $9.95
12 May, 2006
Google Splashes 4 New Tools
Google took the opportunity of their annual press briefing at the Googleplex to inform the assembled hacks of four new applications. The theme they were trying to push was ‘honest we _are_ a search company.”
In no particular order, the new apps are …
Google Notebook
Yet to be launched, but supposed to be making an appearance next week. Used when you skip around Web sites and want to gather bits and pieces from them such as text, URLs and graphics. These will then be stored online and you can choose to make them available to others.
Google Trends
Ever wanted to have access to the information that Google gathers on all of the billions of searches that flow through their simple search box? Yes, you’re not alone, we’d love to as well. This is the closest that Google is going to let you get to it. Type in a search term and you’ll get a plot of how popular the term has been with peaks highlighted on particular news stories.
There’s also a feature to compare two search terms, our favourite so far being good vs evil (glad to see good winning). Breakdowns that can be further explored are cities, regions and languages.
Google Co-op
Adds user knowledge to the power of Google’s search engine. Individuals or companies will add their particular knowledge to sites or searches that they share with people who subscribe to them. Those who you do subscribe to, will appear in your google search results.
This is what we’d long imagined. It’s an expansion of the idea of blogging where people gather knowledge and share. Could become the most significant announcement of the set, marking the next stage in search.
Google Desktop 4 & Google Gadgets
Not surprisingly the fourth release of this app that indexes all of the content on your machine, including what you get up to online. When this first came out, we realised that Google had beaten Microsoft as they’d become the way to locate your document on your PC, side-stepping Windows Explorer.
Everyone and their wife appear to be knocking out different versions of Apple’s Dashboard or Desktop Widgets. For examples Yahoo bought Konfabulator (arguably ‘the original’) and then gave it away to the Yahoo-faithful.
Like Yahoo, Google are making them programmable, so code-fanatics will be able gain global fame.
Either this is a me-too product, which is pretty unlikely, or one step further into Google taking over Microsoft’s dominance of the desktop, by placing apps on the desktop.
Google Trends
Google Co-op
Google Desktop 4
12 May, 2006
Whee! Here Comes Nintendo’s Wii!
Video game kings Nintendo have opened hostilities with arch-rivals Microsoft and Sony with the unveiling of its new “Wii” console.
The Japanese game maker launched their new console at the E3 show in Los Angeles, claiming that it will “revolutionise” gaming just as soon as it’s unleashed on the public, sometime during the last quarter of 2006.
Pricing, details and specifications of the Wii are still a bit thin on the ground, but Nintendo are insisting that “You’ll get more fun for less money” when the product finally launches.
The Wii will certainly be considerably cheaper that its rivals when it goes on sale later this year, with pundits predicting a price around the $250 mark – cheaper than the Xbox 360 and around half the price of the top-of-the-range PS3.
With the Wii console being cheaper to produce (Sony’s new PS3 will be a loss leader with the company clawing back profits from software sales), Nintendo are expected to turn a profit on their console far quicker than their rivals.
Sporting an unusual, one-handed wireless controller, the remote control-shaped Wii handset comes with motion sensors and speakers, letting users interact with games by waving their arms about and looking like a bit of a nutter.
The built-in speakers should add extra realism, with, for example, sound travelling from the controller to the TV when you blast your turbo space gun at an onscreen evil Thatch-monster from Granthaxia.
Nintendo reckon that users will find their one-hand, noise-making controller more fun and intuitive: “Our goal is to expand the total number of people playing games,” said Nintendo president Satoru Iwata
“To do this, we needed to target gamers who played and had lost interest, as well as those who have never played,” he commented, adding that the one-handed design, “breaks down the barrier for non-gamers. The most difficult job is to approach people who have never played before.”
Reggie Fils-Aime, chief marketing officer at Nintendo, was even more enthusiastic, insisting that the Wii was designed so “even your mother could use it.”
If she’s not dribbling over her blanket in an old folk’s home, of course.
Nintendo Wii
10 May, 2006
Sony PS3: Prices And Release Dates
Sony has announced the pricing for its eagerly anticipated next generation PS3 console at a pre-E3 conference in Los Angeles.
With a scheduled US release date of November 17, the PS3 will be available in 20GB and 60GB configurations, priced at $499 and $599 respectively (the same cost in Euros), making the unit at least $100 more costly than its main rival, the Microsoft XBox.
Sony have some catching up to do with their main rival Microsoft, whose Xbox-360 console has already shifted some 3.2 million units since its launch last November.
The higher price and inclusion of the brand new, high-def Blu-Ray disc drive is something of a gamble for Sony, but some analysts believe that the package – and particularly the Bluetooth wireless controller – may prove simply irresistible to gamers.
There’s certainly a lot at stake for Sony, with the company expected to lose several hundred dollars per unit – while hoping to rake in fat profits from software sales over the life of the console.
Kaz Hirai, head of Sony’s US gaming business was confident, “We must take risks to reap the reward. We’re not interested in conventional thinking.”
“The next generation doesn’t start until we say it does. Today the PlayStation 3 is real,” he added.
The company expects two million of the puppies to have shunted off their production line and into the shops during the ‘launch window,’ four million by the end of the year and six million worldwide by March 31, 2007.
Japan is set to get the machines a week earlier – November 11 – while we assume that Europe will get deliveries the same time as America (a slide at the conference proclaimed, “Worldwide Launch, Early November 2006”).
Pricing for Europe will be €499 for the 20GB model and €599 (£410) for the 60GB big boy. Sony haven’t released UK pricing as yet
Playstation
9 May, 2006
Butler For The Palm OS Review (85%)
Butler is a hugely popular selection of nifty utilities for the Palm Treo smartphone that manages to fix many of the minor shortcomings of the phone in one fell swoop.
Billed as “The Essential Tool for the Treo 650 & 600”, Butler offers a suite of tools to help you set up the Treo the way you like it and introduce productivity-boosting extras.
Accessed through a rather basic looking interface, Butler offers repeating alarms with ringtones/MP3 playback, nagging alerts, extra security options, navigation enhancements, LED controls, keyguards and more.
Launching apps
We particularly liked the Keylauncher feature which lets you fire off specified programs from any other application just by holding down a specified key.
Another option lets you specify different modes for the external volume buttons on the Treo; as ‘back’ and ‘forward’ controls for moving through recent opened applications used; a ‘select key,’ or as scroll bars (particularly useful for reading e-books).
Lights out
The Treo is one of those phones with a multicolour LED that is constantly broadcasting its status.
Butler lets you take control over the colours and flash rates, and includes an option to set the hours the LED will do its flashing thang (handy if you don’t fancy an all night disco show).
You can also set a specific colour to remind you of outstanding voicemails.
Onguard!
An improved keyguard lets you override Palm’s functions, offering control over the lock time (from 1-30 seconds) and the ability to disable the touchscreen, space, delete and return keys when incoming calls are received or in progress – so if you’ve got Spock-like pointy ears you won’t be inadvertently ending calls.
Oy! You!
To absolutely, categorically guarantee that you’ll know all about a missed appointment, incoming call, SMS, alert or voicemail notification, the “Attention Grabber” feature can nag you into submission, with options to keep on reminding you once every 10 seconds to every 15 minutes, from 5 to 1000 times.
Reminders can be assigned MP3, vibrating alarms or ring tones, and custom LED notifications set up with an option to set time periods when the program shuts the feck up.
Butler also offers a straight alarm feature that lets you set up to 6 repeating alarms, complete with customised messages and the option to assign a program to open after you’ve cleared the alarm.
Nuke ’em
The trouble with smart phones is that you by carting around all that personal information there could be serious consequences if it gets lost or stolen.
To protect your data, Butlers offers a set of SMS-triggered security functions.
By sending your missing phone a pre-configured text messages, Butler can carry out a variety of security operations from simply turning off and locking your device to the Armageddon option which wipes the SD card and RAM clean.
We would have liked it if it hurled taunting abuse at the thief as the data was being deleted or even blasted out a massive electric shock, but I guess that would be too much to ask. And possibly illegal too
Wrapping up the feature set is a “Hide SMS popup” option which stops you being bothered by SMS screens, an option to beam your business card by holding the phone button down and a useful “Keep Exchange Manager Clean” utility which addresses the annoying ‘preference loss’ bug seen on the Palm OS.
Conclusion
Butler is a fantastic set of utilities for fine-tuning your Treo, richly deserving its place in Palm’s Best Seller list.
The interface isn’t the easiest to get your head immediately around, however, and sometimes things may seem a little confusing when first exploring the options.
It’s worth persevering though because it won’t take long before you begin to wonder how you ever coped without Butler on your Treo – and at just $14.95 (£8.20,€11.90) it’s something of a bargain!
Features: 85%
Ease of use: 70%
Value For Money: 85%
Overall: 85%
Butler by Hobbyist Software
4 May, 2006
Opera Mini 2.0 For Mobiles Released
Nordic browser kings Opera Software have released Opera Mini 2.0, a spanking new version of their tiny Web browser that runs on almost all mobile phones.
Building on the success of the first version – which has already notched up 2.5 million users since its January 2006 release – Opera Mini accelerates mobile surfing by using compression and reformatting techniques.
The latest version of the Java-powered browser adds a selection of tweaks and refinements, including the ability to download multimedia content, like images and MP3s, directly to the phone.
There’s also a selection of new skins available to customise the look of the browser, and a natty new multisearch feature, letting users select extra search engines for the home page.
Also new for version two is a speed dial widget, which lets surfers call up bookmarks by assigning shortcut key combinations.
“Opera Mini has kick-started real mobile Web browsing by enabling non-smartphone owners to surf the full Internet on their phones, just as they do on their PCs,” purred Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software.
With Opera Mini supporting mobile commerce via SMS, users can directly buy ringtones, games and other content for delivery as an SMS.
This system lets the seller set the price with charges appearing in the phone bill as an SMS.
The new browser is compatible with a host of phones, smartphones and PDAs (including Sony Ericsson, Pocket PC and Palm handets) and can be downloaded for free by typing in http://mini.opera.com into your WAP-tastic browser or by delivery via SMS download for a small fee.
4 May, 2006