Want your stolen gear back? Don’t call some gung-ho superhero who’s as likely to blow up your small grocery store as he is to catch those perps, call GadgetTrak instead. The little startup company has grown since we last heard of it back in 2007, and is now operating a $25 per year tracking service that has delivered a statistically significant 95 percent success rate on reuniting gadgets with their owners. Available for Mac OS and Windows laptops, as well as mobile phones (BlackBerrys, WinMo, and iPhone) and even removable USB storage, the software’s intelligent enough to remotely activate your webcam and ping the incriminating info back directly to you — no data is sent to GadgetTrak. Check out some recent news coverage of the software and its implementation in local schools after the break.
Developers, developers, developers, developers, developers, developers. Recruiting a ton of them to create a rich app experience for Windows Phone 7 Series is going to be Microsoft’s toughest challenge if it wants to get its groove back in the mobile space.
Demonstrated last week, Microsoft’s new mobile operating system Windows Phone 7 Series looks elegant and immaculate compared to its predecessors. The OS blends together Xbox Live gaming, Zune multimedia, personal media (photos and videos), social media utilities, productivity tools and third-party apps, which are organized into categories called “Hubs.”
Even so, a neatly packed user interface doesn’t fully address the fundamental weakness of the previous Windows Mobile OS: a fragmented platform that made coding and selling apps for Windows Mobile a challenge for smaller developers.
In other words, Microsoft has long lacked the sort of widespread, enthusiastic support from independent developers — not just enterprise coders within large organizations — that made the iPhone and its App Store a blockbuster innovation.
“They’ve been doing such a miserable job for a while now,” said Peter Hoddie, CEO of Kinoma, which creates software that makes Windows Mobile easier for users to navigate. “I would be thrilled if they could turn it all around and tell a story that makes sense, but they have a long way to go.”
To help address fragmentation, Microsoft said on Feb. 15 that it would be more involved in the hardware design process of its partners’ phones running Windows Phone 7 Series. Each Windows Phone 7 Series handset, for example, will include a built-in FM radio tuner and a physical button to access Bing search.
But the question remains whether Microsoft can make Windows Phone 7 Series a compelling platform, giving developers the tools and audience they need.
Microsoft was mum on details about its third-party app development platform at the Mobile World Congress last week in Barcelona, Spain, but developers have already leaked some of the company’s plans regarding its third-party development tools, which include Silverlight, Microsoft’s cross-platform web application framework, as well as a limited set of native application programming interfaces and managed APIs. (For a more detailed explanation translating nerd speak to normal human talk, see Mary Jo Foley’s article on ZDNet.)
Mobile developers polled by Wired.com had mixed reactions (to say the least) about Windows Phone 7 Series’ development tools, based on the leaked documents.
Kai Yu, CEO of BeeJive, was pessimistic. He said his independent company, which makes apps for the iPhone and BlackBerry, wrote off Windows Mobile years ago because of “incomplete, half-assed” developer tools and a lack of support from Microsoft, and he doesn’t see those problems changing with a new operating system.
“I think it’s just royally fucked,” Yu said of Microsoft’s phone platform. “That place is so big: The tools, the people, it’s all so fragmented…. What’s the advantage of having these hubs and cool-looking UI? In the end, I don’t know if that gives you anything.”
On the opposite side, Jim Scheinman, COO of Pageonce, which makes productivity apps for BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile and Android, said his company was excited about Microsoft’s reboot of its phone platform.
“My speculation is that Microsoft has some incredible platforms they can tie all together with the new mobile platform,” Scheinman said. “If one developer can write across all the other platforms, that would be easier for us and all the developers…. If you want to attract hundreds of thousands of developers, it would behoove Microsoft to try to make that happen. That would be a very, very exciting opportunity for all of us.”
But Hoddie wasn’t enthused, either. Regarding the new Windows Phone 7 Series OS, Hoddie said adding Silverlight into the mix wouldn’t help much. He explained that similar to Adobe’s Flash, Silverlight was a technology made for desktops, and it’s bound to cause performance issues when transplanted into mobile devices.
“Silverlight, geez,” he said. “Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water.”
Hoddie echoed some of Yu’s concerns, complaining about how “horribly” Microsoft treated its mobile developers. For example, Hoddie recounted an incident when one of his apps had a problem with text input on a specific phone running Windows Mobile. When he finally got in touch with Microsoft’s support team, Microsoft said it was only responsible if the text-input problem appeared in the Windows Mobile emulator software — and if it didn’t, Hoddie would have to contact the Japanese manufacturer directly to address the problem.
Poor developer support? That’s strange, because Microsoft understands more than any company how important developers are. (Steve Ballmer made that loud and clear in the video above.) The Windows PC operating system, after all, won the desktop OS war early largely with the help of software developers that made programs only for Windows.
But perhaps the problem for Microsoft is that the definition of “developer” has changed in recent years. Apple’s App Store popularized a business platform that made developing software a viable and even sometimes highly lucrative career choice for small, independent coders working in their bedrooms, whose quirky apps have made the iPhone one of the most innovative inventions yet.
By contrast, mobile developers working on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile platform have largely been laboring in the bowels of large corporations, creating mobile front ends for enterprise applications like SAP.
Can Microsoft attract the small developers as well, to create another app boom?
Independent developer Dave Castelnuovo, whose iPhone game Pocket God is one of the App Store’s all-time top sellers, said he and his peers had no plans to develop for Windows Phone 7 Series. He explained that fragmentation — a complex hardware ecosystem that requires developers to code several versions of one app to sell on one platform for different types of phones — will always be a major problem with Windows phones.
“Fragmentation ends up making development more expensive,” Castelnuovo said. “Microsoft is trying to solve some of that by being a little more hands-on…. They all have multitouch and the same three buttons, but the problem is I don’t know what kind of other options there are. Is there a camera option? What is the minimum CPU speed or amount of RAM? If you’re an independent developer, you’ll have to code to the lowest-possible common denominator in order to get to the biggest-possible market.”
There are still plenty of questions in the air surrounding Windows Phone 7 Series and its overall mobile strategy. Microsoft declined to comment on the purported leaks about Windows Phone 7 Series’ development tools. The company plans to preview its development tools at its MIX developers conference next month. Until then, developers will just have to wait and see.
Leave it to Google to make even the FCC‘s ambitions look meager. But hey, for the vast majority of Americans who will never have access to an ISP with 1Gbps, we’ve got nothing but kudos to send to Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski. As the story goes, the FCC has unveiled a plan this week that would “require” internet service providers to offer “minimum home connection speeds by 2020,” with a delectable 100Mbps figure being throw around. Currently, US internet speeds average just under 4Mbps, and the nation as a whole ranks 19th in the world. Naturally, companies that provide internet are balking at the idea, suggesting that consumers would revolt if they were forced to pick up the tab for all the network improvement efforts that would have to take place. Of course, Cisco Systems now appears to be the FCC’s best bud, but we’re guessing we don’t have to explain the logic behind that one. In related news, the same entity is purportedly mulling a plan to “pay broadcasters to vacate airwaves it could use to alleviate network strain caused by the surging use of smartphones,” which ought to make just about everyone happy. Well, most everyone.
Adesso is looking beyond the office with its latest keyboard: it wants to take over your living room and conference rooms, as well. The Adesso WKB-4200UB has a slim shape so you can easily tuck it away, perhaps between the couch and wall, when it’s not in use. It also communicates wirelessly (with 2.4-GHz RF connectivity) at a 30-foot range. That should be more than enough, right? At 30 feet, you couldn’t see the screen anyway.
If that was all it had going for it, the WKB-4200UB would be indistinguishable from dozens of other wireless keyboards, but there’s more. It includes a touchpad on the right side, so you can mouse around the screen without an actual mouse, and an LCD that shows the time and date. The Sleep mode prevents you from draining the battery too quickly, or you could just use the On/Off switch. The keys on this full-size keyboard are pleasantly soft. Sadly, it only works with Windows 7/Vista/XP/2000 systems. It’s available now for the slightly steep price of $119.99.
Capacity crunch, isn’t that a breakfast cereal? RIM’s Mike Lazaridis seems to have been a real grouch at MWC this week as apparently he hasn’t stopped talking about the doom and gloom awaiting mobile carriers over the next few years. Focusing on the bandwidth-hungry North American market, Lazaridis has criticized the apparently irresponsible network saturation growth, which he sees as being primarily driven by app-centricoperating systems. If you’re wondering who he could possibly be referring to, let Mike clarify it — according to him, you could carry five BlackBerry devices for each iPhone on a network. As evidence of his firm’s focus on efficiency, he points us to that freshly demoed WebKit browser, which he claims uses a third of the bandwidth required by the competition from Apple and Google. If only he wasn’t implying that owning a BlackBerry would save the internet, Mike’s sales pitch would be rather compelling — those are mighty impressive numbers he is citing.
Mobile broadband routers certainly aren’t new, but Connect One’s take on the whole thing just might be our favorite (yeah, even more than Cradlepoint‘s offerings). Of course, we’d pick up a MiFi of some sort if we were buying into the space today, but for those still under contract with a USB WWAN stick, the Wi-Reach classic adds a whole new level of utility. Put simply, this minuscule device boasts its own battery and a sole USB socket, which is used to connect with whatever 3G (and after a future firmware update, WiMAX / LTE) USB card that you slap in there. Once in place, you’re now in possession of a mobile WiFi hotspot which can be shared with up to ten WiFi-enabled devices. We’re told that the device can last for up to five hours on a full charge, and it can even be re-energized via USB. Interested? Prove it. It’s up for order right now for $99.
Who woulda thunk it? Giving WiFi to fidgety students on a bus actually makes them more productive. Nearly three years after an Arkansas school launched a trial that delivered laptops, iPods and wireless internet to a bus, an Arizona school district is discovering the merits of such a system — though with this one, there stands a good chance for it to go well beyond the “pilot” phase. Students in Vail, Arizona have been able to handle school assignments, engage in research and even update their Facebook status on the lengthy rides to and from school, and the suits responsible for hooking Bus No. 92 up have stated that mischief has all but subsided and the bus has magically morphed into something of a “rolling study hall.” As you’d expect, Autonet Mobile is responsible for the technology (the same company equipping select GM vehicles with in-car WiFi), and it has already sold similar tech to schools or districts in Florida, Missouri and Washington, DC. We always dreamed of being whisked off to another lousy school day on the GamerBUS, but this ain’t a half bad alternative.
The feds simply aren’t backing down from their incessant warnings of a wireless broadband spectrum crunch the likes of which the world has never seen, and they’ve seemingly found a great vehicle — the iPad — to help spread the message just a little further (and at a higher volume) than before. This time around, it’s the Omnibus Broadband Initiative’s director of scenario planning Phil Bellaria who’s sounding the alarm, saying that the iPad foretells “even greater demand for mobile broadband on the horizon” and asking that the people with the money and the power (the carriers and the FCC, respectively) do what it takes to make sure that the nation’s broadband infrastructure and policy are appropriately managed in light of that. Perhaps most provocative is his statement that “reaching an always-on wireless broadband future means that the spectrum can no longer remain attached solely to uses deemed valuable decades ago,” possibly a veiled reference to the FCC’s ongoing spat with TV broadcasters over the future of over-the-air broadcasts. Free TV or an iPad with a fast, functional browsing experience — if it came down to it, which would you prefer?
Oh yeah, you’re a party waiting to happen when you’ve got the Samson Expedition XP40iw, the company’s first iPod sound system with a wireless mic. Other portable iPod speakers let you fill the room with your music, but this Expedition also lets you talk or sing over the speaker. It might try your friends’ patience, but you’ll be a star. The XP40iw has a 40 watt speaker, a rechargeable battery (so you don’t have to worry about being near a power outlet), and an iPod dock. It also includes two inputs for additional mics or instruments.
For bigger needs, Samson is also debuting the Expedition XP5101i, a 500 watt system with a detachable 10 channel mixer. It includes an iPod dock, but can’t work wirelessly, as the XP40iw can. Its dual two-way speakers each have 10-inch woofers. The entire unit–two speakers, mixer, and cables–folds together for easy transportation and weights just over 50 pounds. Both models are due out in April. The XP40iw will list for under $300 and the XP510i for under $700.
We love our WiFi, but it’s far from perfect. Speed depends greatly on conditions, magnetic waves don’t always play nicely with sensitive equipment, and the ability for someone to drive by and steal your precious infos is always disconcerting. Researchers at Penn State have what they believe is a better solution: light. The team uses laser diodes to convert data signals to light, then photo diodes on the other end to convert it back to data, a system that (unlike others we’ve seen) doesn’t require direct line of sight as the light will bounce off of walls — except those painted black (sorry goths). Data access could easily be constrained within a single room or, if it was needed elsewhere, wired relays could bring it through walls. Speeds at this point are already at the 1Gb/sec range, twice what Siemens was able to manage a few weeks ago, and enough for wireless transmission of high-definition video. Someday your Wiimote and remote might not be the only things beaming back at ya in the living room.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
Oh yeah, you’re a party waiting to happen when you’ve got the 
