Friday, August 22, 2008

The Googlephone is out

Forget Android, here you have the real Googlephone. A General Electric device with a button to call 1-800-GOOG-411 directly. Who needs Android?

Ok, ok, it might not be what we were expecting, but it is still better than faking customers in line, like they did in Poland for the iPhone launch ;-)
Posted by Fabrizio at 11:19 | 0 comments | Links to this post  
Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Palm Treo Pro is out!!!

Ok, I really had to stretch my enthusiasm to create the title of this post... Today Palm has announced yet-another Windows Mobile Treo, called Treo Pro. They announced the Treo 800W a few weeks ago with Sprint, generating pretty much the same reaction from the media (none). The specs are what you would expect from a smartphone these days: wi-fi, GPS, keyboard, 3G (the 800W on CDMA, the PRO on GSM networks). All on WM 6.1.

It will be a well engineered device, targeted to the enterprise (at $549 a pop, it is hard to imagine otherwise). It will sell ok, another stop-gap for Palm towards the next big thing. Same as the Centro (which is consumer-focused), buying Palm time to the iPhone/BlackBerry/Android killer everybody knows they are working on (but nobody has seen).

Unfortunately, these days it is hard to generate buzz. Coming up with a new release of the same device does not do it, unless you are Apple (I am still amazed at how much noise the iPhone 3G has made, and I can't get those lines of customers out of my mind...). To make noise in this space, you need to come up with something totally new. And totally cool. Palm was not going for buzz (although they generated some). They just needed a bit more cash and some more time.

I am still a believer in Palm (and a long-time fan). I hope the stop-gap measures will work and give them enough time to launch that killer. I met some Palm executives recently and it is clear they have been recruiting top-notch people, therefore being optimistic is easy.

If the iPhone stays too close and Apple too greedy (quite likely), Android does not get a good dress (very probable, the device from HTC looked horrible) and my Windows Mobile continues to reboot (pretty much guaranteed), then there is room for a white-knight. An open, nice-looking, solid OS with a good brand and lots of developers, full control of OS and hardware from the vendor (what Google is lacking), and maybe some cloud thingy in the backend (like MobileMe but working).

That would do it for Palm. Lots of buzz guaranteed. It might be mobile nirvana.
Posted by Fabrizio at 16:56 | 1 comments | Links to this post  

Android video

Today I went from yawn to actually looking at the Android GUI. Google has released its latest SDK and, if you do not want to spend the time to install it and clog your computer, you can watch videos on the Internet. The one below is from Thoughts Media.



First impressions:
  1. iPhone is still miles away and it will impossible for Android to catch up, from a usability standpoint. Having control of the hardware and the software makes a huge difference. Also, having Apple's designers on board is a nice differentiator...
  2. The home page (or desktop) looks very flexible. Very cool that you can have virtual space to put all the icons where you want them (compared to the iPhone, where you are locked on a grid) and slide right and left. If they could just come up with nicer icons... I know, it does not take that much, but icons make a huge difference visually.
  3. Email is still not working and there is no calendar yet. I have not seen notes and tasks as well, sign of a more consumerish direction (or at least, priority).
  4. The idea of a checkbox to send a contact directly to voicemail, all the time, is novel. Apparently, Andy Rubin receives lots of calls from people he does not like ;-)
  5. The music interface looks not competitive with the one of the iPhone. Years of iPod experience become very visible...
  6. Android will be fully open. THAT is the differentiator from Apple (although it is shared with Windows Mobile, Symbian and others). I am not sure it will be enough. It all depends on how many Android phones will be sold worldwide.
  7. Yes, I do love PI.
Posted by Fabrizio at 10:41 | 1 comments | Links to this post  
Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Funambol Community Showcase #6: Citadel and GroupDAV connectors

August is a great month to catch up on things. I have been behind on Community Showcases and here I am presenting two in one single post ;-) Stefano talked to Mathew McBride and asked him a few question. Let me know if you find the Q&A structure more interesting or less.

Q: Your projects are two Funambol connectors: one for GroupDAV and one for Citadel groupware: what problems are solved by these connectors?

A: The first Funambol project I had was the GroupDAV connector. I initially built it for use with the Citadel groupware package, as it uses a common standard (GroupDAV) it works with other servers such as OpenGroupware and now eGroupware. It bridges these servers and the event, task and address database on SyncML clients.

The next project was the Citadel connector, designed to synchronize email between Citadel and a Funambol client. Funambol already has a email connector, however, in the context of a Citadel environment, my opinion is that its over-engineered. It has a core sync engine designed specifically for Citadel, and leverages the Funambol email connector to perform data formatting etc. I should note that Citadel has had native support for Funambol's push email notification system since January of last year, so this connector doesn't require an intermediary component (inbox-listener) to do polling.

I've rolled these and some auxiliary modules into a special "Groupware sync server" distribution for users of Citadel, eGroupware and OpenGroupware, so administrators can install and use this software quickly and easily.

Q: How did you come up with the idea of creating this software?

A: Years ago I had become an enthusiastic PalmOS PDA user. I had upgraded through several PDA's (second hand Palm III's up to a Treo 600). Then I decided it would be neat if I can have a central mail server at home which could store my PIM data as well - which is where Citadel came in. There wasn't a good way to sync between any sort of PDA and Citadel (or some other open source groupware) at the time. Eventually I became aware of Funambol.

Q: What challenges did you encounter and what achievements are you proud of?

A: Programming is still (mostly) a hobby for me, so my expertise has matured greatly over the course of my connector projects. First was an uphill battle to understand the basics of SyncML, and then the Funambol API's.

Eventually people started to try it out and give feedback, it's quite interesting to find how people use the software. I've had some 'brown paper bag' (as in Linus Trovalds) moments when I get bug reports. Once I had a user send me their PIM databases so I could get all the issues they had resolved in one hit - there was quite a few. When it came to reviewing and rewriting the GroupDAV connector last year, I made a big push for quality control - used all the feedback I got and spent quite a bit of time finding and squashing bugs. It's definitely made it a better experience for users.

Q: How would you summarize your experience developing Funambol?

A: I started out back in 2005 where I had a bit of trouble understanding how Funambol worked, at the same time the community has grown and there's a good knowledge base. My understanding of the Funambol system has improved during time, I've also seen efforts from Funambol to improve developer documentation etc. which has helped.

Q: What are the steps that you would suggest to a newbie interested in developing a Funambol connector? What are the mistakes you made in earlier stages of development that you wouldn't repeat, knowing what you do now?

A: See how other people have attempted to solve similar problems, reading over the source of the included Funambol 'foundation' connector can be daunting for a developer starting off, now we have other connectors, from me and others which all have to use the same interface. You can learn a lot from other people, which is the beauty of open source.

Q: What is the roadmap for future versions of the Funambol connector for Citadel?

A: I believe that the connectors are feature complete - as I see them, future versions are driven by user feedback, there will always be something to improve. I'm definitely excited about new phones which are becoming more ubiquitous (iPhone etc.) and flowing into new environments which brings more users with different requirements. There is still functionality such as notes sync which could still be added as well.

Thanks Mathew for your feedback and contribution to our community!!

If you want to know more, here are the links to the project:
Posted by Fabrizio at 18:34 | 0 comments | Links to this post  
Monday, August 18, 2008

Bye bye iPhone push

One of the features clearly missing from the iPhone SDK (together with calendar and notes access...) is push. There is no push in iPhone, besides MobileMe and ActiveSync. If you are a developer and want to push something to the phone, tough luck. There is no way.

In the last keynote, however, the Apple guys showed us the way. A push mechanism completely managed by Apple, the big brother. You want your application to receive something from the network? You send it to Apple, they send it to your iPhone. It will be called The Apple Push Notification Service.

The idea they explained in the keynote is that you can actually send only the notification, there is no process in background. Your application does not really wake up. You either hear a noise (custom sound), get the icon of your app to change with a number (icon badge) or see a text message (same as when an SMS arrives).

It is not perfect, there is big brother in the middle but I can live with it. In the keynote, they said it will be here by September.

Apparently, they put it in a beta of 2.1 for developers then they pull it from the latest beta... If you were waiting for push in September, too bad. Push is not going to be there, at least until 2.2 is out (they have to give developers some time to play with it).

I suspect the issue is with the MobileMe meltdown. I feel they were planning to use the same channel for it and they decided they were not ready. Or maybe they just decided competition from developers is bad. Better to keep the thing closed for a few more months, while they fix their own product. We are open as long as it does not hurt us... I heard that before...
Posted by Fabrizio at 18:57 | 1 comments | Links to this post  

Is the iPhone 3G ever going to work?

As everyone knows, the iPhone 3G does not work very well as a phone. Not a big deal, unless you realize it is actually a phone ;-) On a phone, nobody wants their calls to be dropped. Is it so old century.

Everyone I talked to says the 3G reception is bad. Some friends are in the US and have no way to test the same SIM card on a different 3G phone. Some are in Italy and have been using 3G for a long time. I can confirm it just does not work well... It is not a network-only issue. There is something in the phone.

First, AT&T was under pressure (I even read the problem was visible only in major cities, just because it is where people are more spoiled ;-), then it was Apple. Apparently, the 3G chip does not work too well.

Some said a firmware update will fix all the issues. However, the 2.0.2 update that came out today does not seem to do it. I bet the solution is a combo of hardware, software and network. But hardware is a major part.

Unfortunately, that means changing the chip of every iPhone 3G and I do not think it is ever going to work for Apple. If you bought an iPhone 3G, you can hope for a slight improvement. Then hope something else breaks to return it and get a newer version that will work better. Too bad you bought the first version. Luckily for me, I have not :-)
Posted by Fabrizio at 18:46 | 2 comments | Links to this post  
Friday, August 15, 2008

Android yawn

An Android phone is not going to be here before the end of the year. No, wait, it is. No, end of the year. No, later. No, earlier! No, never... Wait, is the iPhone running Android? Are Symbian and Google joining forces to make a single operating system?

I have been hearing news about Android pretty much every day. Somehow, I was entertained by the iPhone news (and I still am) but the ones on Android are making me yawn. Strange effect, it might be the Apple's aura...

The last news in the Android saga comes from the New York Times, as reported in this Reuters article (I spent some good years working for Reuters, so I usually trust them ;-) :
T-Mobile USA will be the first carrier to offer a mobile phone based on Google Inc's Android software [..] The phone is expected to go on sale in the U.S. before Christmas and perhaps as early as October
I have to say I reached a point where I won't trust anyone until I really see one device, not even Reuters. It might be because it is summer (hey, I am working and today is Ferragosto in Italy, I should be on a beach somewhere...) but I am starting to get sick about announcements of products years in advance. Where are the good times of Apple showing a device that nobody expected, and having it ready for sale the same day?
Posted by Fabrizio at 10:46 | 0 comments | Links to this post  
Monday, August 11, 2008

Steve is ready to destroy your phone

I have been an advocate for open since I teared apart my first toy, just to see what was inside. I liked that, although I never found out a way to put all the parts together. Seeing inside is important, gives you confidence and, if you know your stuff, you can even improve it and show it to others (for them to improve it further: it is called open source).

Now, giving the keys of my toy to the owner of the toy store and letting him destroy it if he wanted... nah, I do not think I would have liked that. Growing up, I still feel I would not give the builder of my house the key to get in and destroy it, without my permission. Even if he promised me he would give me a new one.

If you have an iPhone, you did just that. Steve Jobs today confirmed he can kill your phone if he wants. He can press the big red button in his office and destroy all you have on your device. Blow it apart (virtually), together with your emails, address books, friends, pictures of your newborn baby and/or mistress. He has the superpower.

Gee, I do not think even Microsoft got to this levels. I do not believe they can destroy a Windows installation, even if they would love it. Where are the regulators when you need them? Time to pick up your phone and call them. We are giving a one guy - although a very cool one - a bit too much power, in my personal and open-biased opinion.
Posted by Fabrizio at 14:29 | 4 comments | Links to this post  
Saturday, August 09, 2008

T-Mobile going for an App Store

The iPhone might be closed, the App Store might prevent open source application to be distributed, Apple might be closing critical APIs like Calendar, but one thing is clear: it is forcing everyone else to open up :-)

The last confirmation comes from an article on the Washington Post about T-Mobile. Apparently, T-Mobile will launch an App Store this fall. They will ditch the on-deck strategy (about time, did they really need the iPhone to see it was not working??) and will go with an 'open' deck. Open might just means you will be able to upload applications without lobbying within the company, looking for someone to listen to you. But it will be a great step forward.

Thanks Apple, I have a hard time liking what you do but - despite doing most of the things wrong - you are doing something very good to this industry.
Posted by Fabrizio at 09:51 | 1 comments | Links to this post