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Apple pushes out iTunes 7.3

As expected, Apple on Friday issued iTunes 7.3, which adds support for that ringy thingy that hits the market today.

The software contains a link in its help section to the iPhone manual, but when I went to check it out it was a dead link. I'm leaving the link here , because I assume at some point Friday it will be live.

There is also an iPhone tab in the preferences page. But if, like me, you don't have the super-gadget, all you get is a painful reminder that you are leading an iPhoneless existence.

"The following iPhones are backed up on this computer," the window reads, followed by a desolate white screen.

16.11.08 07:38, kommentieren

Webware 100: Celebrating the short snout

We closed the voting for the 2008 Webware 100 today, after recording more than 1.9 million votes. Webware 100 Winners will be announced April 21 . But in the meantime, we can already spot the major trends. The biggest shift, from last year, is that fewer sites for geeks are in the winners' circle.

In the hotly-contested Social category, for example, only the very largest sites generated enough votes to place in the Top 10. Even sites considered must-reads by the powerful nerd intelligentsia didn't have the pull to displace the major branded social networks.

Webware.com will continue to report on what's new, and will continue to evaluate the most recent innovations on the Web--the products of greatest interest to those of us who like to experiment with the newest ideas. We use programs such as the Webware 100 as a backstop, to show us which of these products and ideas are getting traction out there in the real world.

16.11.08 05:26, kommentieren

Siggraph 2007 wrap-up

Here are a final few tidbits from my last day at Siggraph:

Microsoft Research gave a great presentation on HD View , a company project based on capturing, assembling, and displaying multi-gigapixel image. These images are stitched together from hundreds of pictures captured through a telephoto lens on a computer-controlled telescope mount. Users can zoom into these images to the limit of the individual pictures.

The Web site for HD View works only for Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers on Windows, but includes a link to xRez , a similar but independent effort that works well in the Safari browser on Macs.

At one point during the Microsoft presentation, the speaker clicked over into a new image and immediately the screen went blue, showing a typical Windows debugger screen. After some audience applause, the presenter returned to the mouse and zoomed back, showing that the error message was actually a virtual easter egg hidden in the sky in a picture of Seattle. Apparently that image contains several of these secret features hidden among its 3.6 billion pixels...

Qualcomm was in the Emerging Technologies showcase showing the first commercial product based on its IMOD display technology. This technology uses deformable reflective membranes within each pixel to switch the pixel between black and a primary color--red, green or blue.

The membranes hold their position when power is removed, making the IMOD technology suitable for use in low-power devices. The first IMOD product is the UBHS-PH2 from Ubixon, a Bluetooth headset controller gizmo that can show simple information such as SMS messages and song titles from a connected smart phone.

Qualcomm's IMOD technology competes with electrophoretic displays from E Ink and others . IMOD offers better color and faster switching, but it isn't as far along in development. I expect we'll be seeing more of it in time.

In that same blog entry, I also mentioned field-emission display technology, but only in passing. Now I think it deserves a little more attention, because there were some really amazing FED displays from Field Emission Technologies in the Siggraph exhibition area.

FET was showing a 19.2-inch display that can be refreshed at 240Hz, four to six times the typical rates of LCDs. Although the display had only 1,280x720 addressable pixels, fewer than today's LCDs of the same size, it looked much sharper when displaying fast-moving images because of the high frame rate.

In the long run, FEDs can achieve much higher resolution than LCDs. The Siggraph prototype display actually has over 10,000 subpixels underneath each pixel, each consisting of a microscopic electron gun like the one in a cathode-ray tube; all of these subpixels are connected together. A FET representative explained that the large number of subpixels overcomes the inherent variability of the manufacturing process, but I'm sure there are other ways to deal with that issue.

As good as these displays looked at Siggraph, FEDs may be closer to production than I thought. Although the flat-panel display market is already crowded, FEDs might fit in with the gaming market, where high frame rates are especially valuable. We'll see...

I also learned that Siggraph is planning some changes for 2008, notably earlier deadlines for research papers and facilities rearranged along theme lines. Apparently not all the details are settled yet, but if you're interested in attending or participating, you should probably check out the Siggraph 2008 Web site.

16.11.08 03:14, kommentieren

Microsoft partner pens plaintive poem

In a show of literary creativity not frequently seen in the business software market, one Microsoft Business Solutions partner has dedicated a nine stanza poem to its frustrations with the software giant.

Mark Rockwell, chief executive of Rockton Software, a Microsoft partner based in Puyallup, Washington, first delivered the elegy to company executives last month at the software maker's partner conference in Minneapolis. Rockton has since posted the tribute to its Web site in the name of spreading its CEO's message.

Some sections of the poem praise Microsoft for doing a better job than in years past working with its business software partners, which support the company's Great Plains, Navision, Axapta and CRM product lines . However, the most enlightening stanzas deal with the changes Rockwell has observed since Microsoft purchased South Dakota-based Great Plains Software in 2000 and assumed control of the company's products and support.

He writes:

"Our support incidents first took their great dive, When we went from 200 way down to five, While we used to call Fargo and get help right away, Now I call Redmond for a 4-hour delay."

"And what product" they ask, "do I need support on?" "Dexterity" I say -- and then I hear a dead calm. "It's a Microsoft product!" I try to explain, and you hear their mouths curl with a little disdain."

"I give up!" I just say -- "Just give me Great Plains," "I'm tired of playing this repetitive game," If you'd let me call Fargo direct for support, I'd get so much more done in a time that's more short."

Moving beyond the support complaints, which one can expect to hear at almost any vendor's partner meetings, Rockwell took direct aim at Microsoft's emerging vertical sales strategy within the MBS group. The plan stresses that Microsoft's technology resellers try to attach themselves to certain business markets in the name of providing specialized support.

Rockwell and some others have complained that they'd rather sell applications using a broader, or "horizontal" approach that isn't quite so industry specific. To that end he wrote:

"The next issue I raise - As ISV's it hacks us, You seem to think there's only a vertical axis, Your systems are designed with pigeon holes, where ISVs can serve in only one role."

"There's a huge number of us who are horizontal, But you want us to specialize it things like "periodontal," My point is just this - Microsoft must resort, To give horizontals their complete support."

Microsoft has not said whether it plans to address Rockwell's plea in the form of a sonnet or haiku. In 2004, the executive first made waves at the partner conference by delivering his complaints to the software giant in the form of a song .

16.11.08 01:02, kommentieren