IBM Nixes Standards Shenanigans; Plus: Flying Lipstick-Wearing Pigs!

Tag : white pig iron
Cisco's Switch
Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO) is lumbering into Microsoft's backyard, and it's about to pull a transformer act . Not that it plans to stop selling routers and switches -- on thecontrary, it expects its network gear business to keep growing at a healthy pace.
However, Cisco wants to be more than a big metal giant. It wants tocleverly fold itself inside out and upside down and become -- tada! -- a sleek, nimble software company.
Specifically, Cisco is focusing on corporate communications, online collaboration andvirtualization. The company has made a slew of acquisitions to helpit along that path -- WebEx, TelePresence and PostPath, forexample.
Its most recent buy was just last week, when it picked up Jabber, adeveloper of open source cross-platform instant-messagingtechnology. Basically, it lets people chat with one anotherregardless of the application they're using -- AOL, Yahoo Messengeror whatever. Cisco can probably succeed in the Web app arena moreeasily than Microsoft and Google can remake themselves as hardwarecompanies, though we're not saying that pigs with lipstick can'tfly. What's Wrong With the World?
And we're also not saying that Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) is a pig or wears lipstick. However, we wouldn't be surprised ifCEO Larry Ellison could fly. The super-CEO managed to stun thecrowd at OpenWorld with a truly unexpected announcement : Oracle is plunging into the computer hardware market.
That's right, I said hardware. Cisco in software, Oracle inhardware, the season premiere of "Heroes." The world just doesn'tmake sense anymore. Here's Oracle's story: After it bought up allthe enterprise software it could possibly use -- and perhaps some that it justsquirreled away for a rainy day -- it became obvious it had to takea new tack. So, it's slapping its brand on a couple of HP (NYSE: HPQ) servers and selling them directly to its business customers.
The equipment will make Oracle's software products run better. Thedeal will give HP access to Oracle's customer base. And it mightjust give IBM something to break a sweat about. Android's Awakening
Google and T-Mobile officially kicked off the era of Android with the announcement of the G1, the first phone that will use theLinux-based Android software platform.
T-Mobile will be its exclusive carrier. How long it keeps thatstatus is hard to say, since Android is designed to run on multiplephones from different manufacturers, and those new phones couldvery well be offered by different carriers. But whatever -- fornow, it's T-Mobile's big day. Manufactured by HTC, the G1 will beavailable Oct. 22. It features a touch screen, a slide-out Qwertykeyboard, and a track ball for navigation.
It will sell for $179, and on top of the voice plan you alreadyhave, two T-Mobile data and text-message plans to choose from: alimited plan for $25 a month, or an unlimited plan for $35 a month.The G1 will come preloaded with some applications, including GoogleStreet View and an app from Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) that will let users download music and video directly to the phone-- without DRM.
More applications will be available from the Android Marketplace,an App Store-like market that won't be subject to anything like Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iron-fisted control policies. Great Expectations
Though the G1 is getting a lot of positive buzz, it's not without its problems . For one, when it comes to network infrastructure, T-Mobile islagging way behind AT&T (NYSE: T) , Verizon and Sprint (NYSE: S) .
Specifically, it doesn't have much of a 3G network to speak of, and if Android phones are really going to goup against the iPhone, they'll need high-speed 3G connectivity.T-Mobile has already promised a major buildout of its small 3Gnetwork, covering cities like Boston, San Diego and New York, butthe kind of build-out it needs to rival AT&T could take monthsor years.
Meanwhile, if you can't find a T-Mobile 3G signal in yourneighborhood, you'll have to use the EDGE network or WiFi -- justlike a first-generation iPhone. But at least you won't be paying asmuch for service. T-Mobile's cheapest plan for the G1 is about 5bucks less per month than the iPhone's barest-bones plan -- andtext messages aren't even included on the iPhone starvation diet.You have to pay extra for those. Store Policy
Then there's the matter of the application marketplace . With the iPhone App Store, you get what Apple says you can have.The company inspects each app, meaning you're less likely to getsomething that simply doesn't work.
However, it's Apple's house and Apple's rules, meaning it can snubany app it considers to be competition to its own wares.
The only way to really be sure your app will get the go-ahead is ifyou come up with yet another flashlight program.
With the Android Marketplace, on the other hand, you can getanything that anyone out there can manage to cobble together. Someof it might be great, but a lot of it might be garbage. We'll justhave to wait and see what floats to the top. Oh yeah, and one thingabout the G1: no headphone jack. Even though it has a built-inmusic app, you need an extra adapter to actually listen withheadphones. Brilliant. Beyond Vista
Here's one way to build anticipation for your product: First, ownpractically an entire market -- say, the computer operating systemmarket. Then, put out a product nobody likes very much or is veryinterested in upgrading to.
Yeah, I know, those Mojave people oooed and ahhhed, but theyprobably didn't have to deploy it across a corporate enterprise.Anyway, step 3 is to talk about the next product. Assure everyoneyou're working very hard on it and that you mean to address all themajor issues that your stinker OS screwed up on. Then maybe you'llget them lining up around the block.
Developers at Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference nextmonth will indeed get an alpha version of Windows 7.
Even though it's pretty standard procedure for Microsoft to letdevelopers into a new OS at this stage in the game, there was somedrama recently when rumors circulated that Windows 7 wasn't evenready for an alpha release, and the world would just have to staystuck with Vista for that much longer.
But Microsoft confirmed devs will get their rough cut, whichthey'll use to plan new versions of their software to release onceWindows 7 comes along and makes everything OK again. Try Again
Well, the obvious is now official : $222,000 is way too much money to fine somebody for file-sharinga bunch of songs. Hey, this is a judge talking, not just me.
In the case of the Recording Industry Association of America versus Minnesota single mom Jammie Thomas, the judge issued aruling that threw out the original verdict. He even suggested thatCongress make a new law that would limit the amount a jury canaward in such cases, saying that a penalty that's 4,000 timesactual monetary damages is a little, well, excessive.
His honor also rejected the, "making available" theory ofinfringement, which says you don't have to actually share somethingin order to be a pirate -- all you have to do is make it availablefor download.
So, Jammie and file-sharers everywhere won, right? Wrong. The judgekicked back the case for a whole new trial. The RIAA says it'sconfident it will win. And we're confident the music industry willsucceed in alienating even more of the hard-working, honest peoplewho used to buy its overpriced products. Keeping You Safe
Here's more on the global effort to stop nuclear weaponsproliferation -- sorry, to stop music pirates, I meant to say.
Yes, the United States Trade Representative is reportedly negotiating an agreement with several other nations to combat international piracy, and therumors are flying: The deal could make peer-to-peer file-sharing acrime. (That'll show you, Jammie.) It could allow officials toconfiscate your iPod at the border in order to make sure you don'thave any illegally downloaded content. It could allow your Internetservice provider to more closely monitor what you do online.
Seems no one knows for sure what it could do -- or at least, thosewho do know aren't talking. The deal is being negotiated in secret,and the government won't release any details, despite a Freedom ofInformation Act request by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Public Knowledge . The citizen groups contend the Anti-Counterfeiting TradeAgreement is being fast-tracked to get it signed and sealed by theend of the year.
But you're not important enough to know about it, because it's notabout your rights, dummy. It's all about the rights of the studiobosses to protect what's left of their dying business model. Are You Kidding?
Speaking of business models, here's something new and not completely different : It's the latest in musical convenience, says SanDisk (Nasdaq: SNDK) and the great innovators known as the music studios: Slot Music.
What Slot Music is, is a flash memory card with an album loaded onit, complete with cover art, liner notes and all the songs.
The advantages here are that there's no digital rights managementattached to the files, and they're recorded and play back at abitrate of 320 kilobits per second, which is almost twice as hi-fias Apple's .aaf music format. And sure, I suppose a micro SD cardis smaller than a compact disc -- which was the music industry'slast real stroke of genius.
But clearly, these guys are in download denial, because thisconcept really isn't likely to knock iTunes out of the topmusic-seller spot it now owns.
Hey, guys? What say you just let us download the music at 320 Kbpswith no DRM -- instead of going to the store, buying a card, takingit home, loading the music onto our computers and then losing trackof that tiny little card? Stay tuned for next week's podcast, whenwe surely will be reporting on Slot Music's failure to launch. Not a Recall
Let's get something straight -- Apple does not do product recalls.They do product exchange programs.
A recall is when you take a potentially dangerous defective productoff the market. An exchange program is when you offer to replace acrappy product with a better one that has an insanely great littlegreen dot on it, whereas the previous version was white and plainand ugly and unstylish. OK, that was all pretty sarcastic and alittle unfair.
Truth is, Apple is recalling the wall socket mini-chargers that shipped with the iPhone 3G.Apparently, they can break off in the socket and pose an electricshock hazard, although the company said it's not aware of thatactually happening to anyone.
If you have an old charger, you can turn it in for a safer one,which will have the little green dot on it. For now, Applerecommends that iPhone 3G owners should charge their phones byplugging the USB cable into a computer rather than using the badold wall socket charger.
The new chargers will be available on Oct. 10, so you'd better grabyour tent now and head to your nearest Apple store if you want tosecure a decent spot in line. Get going!