Applications

Mon, December 06, 2010 - Chances are no one has heard Eric Schmidt muttering under his breath, "Dang, I could have worked at Attachmate."

Fri, November 26, 2010 - This week was a busy one in IT news, with the European Parliament giving the OK to the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, SAP being slapped with a US$1.3 billion penalty because employees of its now-defunct TomorrowNow subsidiary stole corporate materials from Oracle, and Attachmate's plan to buy Novell for a whopping $2.2 billion. And those were just the biggest of the headlines -- there was plenty more as well.

Mon, November 22, 2010 - Microsoft's past and future are intersecting this month, setting the company's more complacent present in stark contrast with its its early, hungry days. On Nov. 8, Microsoft launched Windows Phone 7, its latest attempt to make a mark in the mobile world.

Tue, November 16, 2010 - Last week, Google announced that their Google Voice App was finally accepted into the App Store. You may remember the controversy surrounding Google Voice on the iPhone from September of last year, when Apple first rejected the app. After changing some of its App Store approval policies, Apple began accepting third-party GV apps this past September, but it was unclear as to why the official app hadn't made an appearance until now. In any case, it's here, it works, and it's a huge step forward for the App Store.

Tue, November 09, 2010 - The other night, I was using the Netflix app on my iPhone 4 and had a shocking revelation: this is one of the worst designed, "professional" apps I've ever seen. Yes, I can stream video over 3G. I can search for movies and manage my queue. In most areas of functionality, Netflix for iPhone delivers. It is relatively new and I'm sure a work in progress but as of the current version, it is a prime example of what not to do in terms of iOS app design. Here are some reasons why.

Fri, November 05, 2010 - Oracle's lawsuit against SAP, alleging intellectual-property theft by SAP's former subsidiary TomorrowNow, went to trial this week, garnering daily headlines out of the U.S. District Court in Oakland, California. Otherwise, as is so often the case, security-related stories captured interest, and the U.S. midterm elections provoked questions about network neutrality's future, among other issues.

Tue, November 02, 2010 - Bob Muglia, Microsoft's Server and Tool Business chief, seemed to marginalize Silverlight at last week's Professional Developer's Conference, saying, "our strategy has shifted."

Fri, October 29, 2010 - Attempts by Dutch authorities to take down the massive Bredolab botnet captured headlines this week, with infected PCs downloading fake antivirus software at week's end, and news surfacing that the suspected ringleader of the botnet was bringing in up to €100,000 (US$139,000) a month from his alleged illegal enterprise. In other news, Oracle's intellectual property lawsuit against SAP took a turn, but is still headed for trial on Monday.

Thu, October 21, 2010 - The Mac App Store has the potential to breathe new life into the Mac platform. With Mac marketshare rising and there being a growing number of developers with skill in Objective-C from the iOS side of things, the time is definitely right for a centralized, and familiar-looking app delivery model for the Mac. However, since Apple released the Mac App Store guidelines similar to those for iOS, there has been a fair bit of criticism going around. Here are some of the criticisms I've seen and why they're wrong (or at the very least probably shortsighted).

Wed, October 13, 2010 - One of the latest tech buzzwords given wings by the success of the iPhone and iPad is HTML5. Apple has pitched this up-and-coming iteration of the Web’s main building block as everything from an alternative App Store platform to the Flash-less future of multimedia on the Internet. But what exactly is HTML5, and what are its real-world benefits to average users like you and me?