Archive for May, 2009
Micro-blogging: Is Google Wave a Twitter Killer?
May 31st, 2009 | 
Author: Shown for the first time on Thursday at Google’s I/O developer conference, Wave is described as “equal part conversation and document” for its uses as a collaboration tool. But, the leap from what Google says Wave is today to what it can easily become is a short one.
If Google wants to compete, head-to-head, with Twitter and Facebook, Wave is the perfect start. It may not be a competitor when it first becomes publicly available, perhaps because the merging of documents, feeds, photos, e-mail, instant messaging, event planning, and other features is likely to seem so unfamiliar to users.
It will likely take time before would-be users really understand what Wave does and can be used for. How much time? Months, not years.
Then give Wave a more public face–documents, chats, IMs, etc.–to be shared with everyone on your contact list or the world at-large and Wave does everything Facebook and Twitter do. And more.
It is not a foregone conclusion this will happen. Outside its core search business and related tools, Google has faced an uphill battle for user acceptance. However, Wave, by combining so many otherwise separate Google features, could finally provide the compelling experience users seek.
Europe: Traffic data retention Directive being challenged in Sweden
Sweden would show real European leadership if it were to see to it that the data retention directive is consistent with the European Convention on Human Rights, wrote Camilla Lindberg, a member of the Swedish parliament for the Liberal Party, and Erik Josefsson, a candidate for the European Parliament for the Left Party, in an article for the newspaper Svenska Dagladet.
The two debated whether general data retention is consistent with what is necessary in a democratic society, and say that the current directive is a bad and expensive tool when it comes to protecting citizen freedoms and rights. Lindberg and Josefsson think that the directive goes against the European Convention on Human Rights, and that the European Court of Justice would agree.
The two politicians also underscored the fact that other countries have been slow to implement the data retention law. Austria, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands and Poland are also late, they said.
Swedish Minister of Justice Beatrice Ask told Svenska Dagbladet that the implementation of the data retention directive isn’t her favorite project, but a bill is on the way and will be ready soon.
Anything related to personal integrity on the Internet has in the wake of the Pirate Bay file-sharing trial become a hot-button issue in Sweden. The Pirate Party, which is not affiliate with the Pirate Bay, received about 8 percent of the votes, making it the third largest party, in a recent poll ahead of elections to the European Parliament. The party focuses on Internet-related issues.
Also, on Tuesday Swedish Minister of Culture Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth was criticized for praising the guilty verdict that was handed down against the people behind the Pirate Bay.
LBS: Ericsson is courting major banks with a security service to cut down on credit card fraud by using mobile phone location
Banks are increasingly blocking credit card transactions in certain high-risk countries due to increasingly levels of fraud. A business traveler who lives in the U.K. but goes to Russia can likely have a transaction rejected if the person hasn’t informed the credit card company of their travel plans. It’s embarrassing and inconvenient.
Ericsson’s IPX Country Lookup service uses a person’s mobile phone to provide a confirmation that a person is actually in the country where the transaction is carried out, said Peter Garside, U.K. and Ireland regional manager for Ericsson’s IPX products.
For the service to work, Ericsson’s technology must be installed on a mobile operator’s network. Once installed, Ericsson will pay the operator a “small fee” every time a bank wants to verify a certain transaction by one of their customer’s mobile phones, Garside said. Ericsson will then put a margin on the lookup fee and charge that to banks, he said. The lookup fee hasn’t been set yet.
Posted in Communications | 
Tags: blog, blogs, business, Mobile, mobile phone, mobile phones, Network, Technology | 
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Enterprise mobility: RIM came out on top of a security assessment
In a new report on the importance of robust security within mobile deployments from Lopez Research, President Maribel Lopez, a former Forrester Research analyst, offers an assessment of the security offerings from Apple, RIM and Windows Mobile.
Lopez rates each company’s offering by three criteria—device, network and transmission—on a scale of 0 to 4, and finally offers an overall mobile security rating.
Apple met with a goose egg on the device side, with Lopez noting that the operating system can be compromised, on-device encryption is lacking and the iPhone lacks over-the-air updates.
Networking, Apple’s strongest category, received three out of four points. “Uses the same active directory based on authentication methods as Windows Mobile,” Lopez wrote. Overall, however, Apple received a 1 out of 4 rating.
“The original iPhone had numerous security holes that were improved by the July 2008 release, such as remote wipe, password policy enforcement and VPN,” Lopez wrote in her overall assessment, finally concluding that “Enterprises should proceed with caution and limit the use of iPhones, especially for sensitive data.”
Microsoft Windows Mobile fared better, in Lopez’s assessment, with an overall rating of 3 out of 4.
“Microsoft’s solution leverages the existing infrastructure, such as Active Directory, to manage Windows Mobile capable devices, meaning IT can manage the system with familiar tools and capabilities,” she said.
She continued, “It also recently achieved common criteria certification EAL 2+ for Windows Mobile 6.1 in August of 2008. The combination of MDM and a VPN provides a reasonable security solution for firms that would like to use Windows Mobile devices.”
Devices was Microsoft’s lowest-scoring category, receiving 2 out of 4 points for reasons such as supporting OTA updates (good!) but not having on-device encryption (not so good).
The star of Lopez’s assessment was RIM, which scored 4 out of 4 in each category, for an overall rating of the same.
“RIM offers strong security protection across the device, transmission and the network domains through tight control of the device, its software and its application control policies,” Lopez wrote. “While other vendors have stepped up security efforts in the past year, RIM offers the most robust security solution.”
In conclusion, Lopez stated that, in truth, it’s unlikely that firms will use a single mobile vendor or OS for all their smartphones. More important than standardizing on a single platform, she concluded, is attempting to “provide a consistent level of security across platforms.”
Research In Motion Tops Security Assessment
See also Lopez Research report
Posted in Communications |
Tags: apple, application, blog, blogs, iphone, Mac, microsoft, microsoft windows, Mobile, mobile device, mobile devices, Mobile Security, Network, Networking, pda, research, rim, smartphone, Software, system, transmission, Windows, Windows Mobile, Wireless |
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Mobile apps: China Mobile is seeking 50% of sales on its forthcoming mobile market app
“China Mobile wants at least 50% of the revenues and the rest goes to the developer,” a source from Shanghai Mobile, a China Mobile subsidiary, told TelecomAsia.net.
By contrast, Apple, Android and Microsoft all take just a 30% cut.
The Mobile Market is now being developed by the China Mobile-controlled Aspire Technologies and China Mobile’s Guangdong branch, the source said.
It is likely to go live in September, almost certainly making it the world’s first carrier-operated storefront. UK-based Vodafone has planned to open a store by year-end.
The Mobile Market will allow developers to post apps for all handset OS except the iPhone. It will be accessible from both GSM and TD-SCDMA phones.
Baoding-based Zhu Lianxing, who leads a team named “139.ME” to develop iPhone apps, said the group would submit two Window Mobile apps – one that provides driver’s license practice tests and the Love Forecast, a personal ovulation calendar.
Zhu said the biggest challenge for China Mobile would be to provide a consistent user experience across different phone models and OSes.
“If we develop an app for Apple, it runs on both the iPhone and the iPod touch. Now we have to develop one app for each OS,” he said.
Posted in Communications |
Tags: apple, apps, blog, blogs, developers, iphone, microsoft, Mobile, world |
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