Communication Breakdown
Communications from the world of, er, communications. And other stuff.
Monday 28 September 2009, 5:25 PM
Android modders to cut Google Apps out of ROM
The maker of CyanogenMod, a modified version of Google's Android mobile operating system, is to distribute the product without proprietary Google Apps included.
The shift in strategy follows a cease-and-desist letter from Google. Google complained that, while Android itself is open source and therefore entirely compatible with modification by anyone, its own Android applications — such as Google Mail, Google Talk, Google Maps, YouTube and the Android Marketplace app — are not.
News of the letter sparked an angry response from many in the Android developer community. The CyanogenMod ROM has been praised for being faster than the official Android ROM, and many feared the project and others like it might be shut down.
Google posted a blog on Friday, in which it did not mention CyanogenMod by name, but said "unauthorised distribution of [the closed-source apps] harms us just like it would any other business, even if it's done with the best of intentions".
"We always love seeing novel uses of Android, including custom Android builds from developers who see a need," Google's Dan Morrill added in the blog post.
Cyanogen then posted a blog on Sunday, acknowledging that the apps are "not part of the open source project and are only part of 'Google Experience' devices".
"They are Google's intellectual property and I intend to respect that," the post read. "I will no longer be distributing these applications as part of CyanogenMod. But it's OK. None of the go-fast stuff that I do involves any of this stuff anyway. We need these applications though, because we all rely so heavily on their functionality."
"I'd love for Google to hand over the keys to the kingdom and let us all have it for free, but that's not going to happen. And who can blame them?"
Cyanogen said the next version of CyanogenMod would ship as a "bare bones ROM", and the team was working on an application to help users back up the Google Apps that came with their Android handsets, so the apps can be reinstalled on the modified ROM.
"The idea is that you’ll be able to Google-ify your CyanogenMod installation, with the applications and files that shipped on YOUR device already," the blog post read. "Or, you can just use the basic ROM if you want. It will be perfectly functional if you don't use the Google parts. I will include an alternative app store (SlideMe, or AndAppStore, not decided yet) with the basic ROM so that you can get your applications in case you don’t have a Google Experience device."
The shift in strategy follows a cease-and-desist letter from Google. Google complained that, while Android itself is open source and therefore entirely compatible with modification by anyone, its own Android applications — such as Google Mail, Google Talk, Google Maps, YouTube and the Android Marketplace app — are not.
News of the letter sparked an angry response from many in the Android developer community. The CyanogenMod ROM has been praised for being faster than the official Android ROM, and many feared the project and others like it might be shut down.
Google posted a blog on Friday, in which it did not mention CyanogenMod by name, but said "unauthorised distribution of [the closed-source apps] harms us just like it would any other business, even if it's done with the best of intentions".
"We always love seeing novel uses of Android, including custom Android builds from developers who see a need," Google's Dan Morrill added in the blog post.
Cyanogen then posted a blog on Sunday, acknowledging that the apps are "not part of the open source project and are only part of 'Google Experience' devices".
"They are Google's intellectual property and I intend to respect that," the post read. "I will no longer be distributing these applications as part of CyanogenMod. But it's OK. None of the go-fast stuff that I do involves any of this stuff anyway. We need these applications though, because we all rely so heavily on their functionality."
"I'd love for Google to hand over the keys to the kingdom and let us all have it for free, but that's not going to happen. And who can blame them?"
Cyanogen said the next version of CyanogenMod would ship as a "bare bones ROM", and the team was working on an application to help users back up the Google Apps that came with their Android handsets, so the apps can be reinstalled on the modified ROM.
"The idea is that you’ll be able to Google-ify your CyanogenMod installation, with the applications and files that shipped on YOUR device already," the blog post read. "Or, you can just use the basic ROM if you want. It will be perfectly functional if you don't use the Google parts. I will include an alternative app store (SlideMe, or AndAppStore, not decided yet) with the basic ROM so that you can get your applications in case you don’t have a Google Experience device."
Tuesday 22 September 2009, 12:14 PM
AMD responds to details of Intel's antitrust violations
Following the European Commission's publication on Monday of how Intel broke anticompetition laws, rival chipmaker AMD — the wronged party in this particular case — has predicted further revelations stemming from other cases.
"This is the first time Intel has had to confront now publicly available facts of its illegal behavior and it won’t be the last," AMD legal cgief Tom McCoy said in a statement.
"The U.S. FTC and New York Attorney General's continuing investigations and AMD's civil case against Intel will provide other clear demonstrations of Intel breaking the law — the next steps toward bringing consumer choice to the marketplace."
Intel, meanwhile, had its own response to the publication of evidence showing precisely how it used illegal rebates and payments to dissuade PC manufacturers and retailers from stocking AMD products.
In a statement, Intel said it was "convinced that the Commission's conclusions regarding [Intel's] business practices are wrong, both factually and legally".
"Intel has appealed the Commission's decision," the company said. "We are committed to ethical business behavior and compliance with all applicable laws and regulations governing business practices. Intel has adhered to those standards and acted legally at all times in this matter."
"This is the first time Intel has had to confront now publicly available facts of its illegal behavior and it won’t be the last," AMD legal cgief Tom McCoy said in a statement.
"The U.S. FTC and New York Attorney General's continuing investigations and AMD's civil case against Intel will provide other clear demonstrations of Intel breaking the law — the next steps toward bringing consumer choice to the marketplace."
Intel, meanwhile, had its own response to the publication of evidence showing precisely how it used illegal rebates and payments to dissuade PC manufacturers and retailers from stocking AMD products.
In a statement, Intel said it was "convinced that the Commission's conclusions regarding [Intel's] business practices are wrong, both factually and legally".
"Intel has appealed the Commission's decision," the company said. "We are committed to ethical business behavior and compliance with all applicable laws and regulations governing business practices. Intel has adhered to those standards and acted legally at all times in this matter."
Friday 18 September 2009, 5:05 PM
Social networking federation: why not use .tel?
An interesting and potentially useful feature of some recent handsets has been the integration of standard mobile phone contacts lists with the user's social networking contacts lists. The most notable propagators of this functionality have been manufacturers of Android handsets — in particular, HTC with its Sense user interface and Motorola with its Motoblur UI.
The basic idea is to be able to look up a contact and see not only their phone number, but also their latest Facebook status update and Twitter post. This kind of functionality is logical and indeed a Very Clever Idea given the rapidly changing nature of communication media.
However, there is a problem. Let's say you pick up the HTC Hero, which uses the Sense UI, and you want to integrate your friend's various online identities into one easy-to-peruse screen. You can do it, but you have to do it friend-by-friend. Many people have hundreds of phone contacts and hundreds of Facebook friends — it's an almighty schlep to match them all up.
The scenario becomes even less attractive when you consider that your next handset might come from another company, and you might have to go through the whole manufacturer-specific-integration thing again.
What is needed is some kind of federated identity scheme. Yes, I know, there are plenty out there (and none have taken off in any significant way), but there is one in particular that is just begging to be used for the federation of social networking personae: .tel.
The top level domain, which launched last year, is unique among TLDs in that it does not automatically redirect the web surfer anywhere — instead, it uses the DNS itself as a repository for the registrant's basic contact details, including social networking profile links.
Why can't the social networking websites and the handset-makers all plug into this information? It's all very good to have this online business-card stuff, but let's face it, it's hardly going to be anyone's first port of call when looking up a contact. The searcher's mobile phone, however, will be their primary source of information.
Anyway, it's just a thought…
The basic idea is to be able to look up a contact and see not only their phone number, but also their latest Facebook status update and Twitter post. This kind of functionality is logical and indeed a Very Clever Idea given the rapidly changing nature of communication media.
However, there is a problem. Let's say you pick up the HTC Hero, which uses the Sense UI, and you want to integrate your friend's various online identities into one easy-to-peruse screen. You can do it, but you have to do it friend-by-friend. Many people have hundreds of phone contacts and hundreds of Facebook friends — it's an almighty schlep to match them all up.
The scenario becomes even less attractive when you consider that your next handset might come from another company, and you might have to go through the whole manufacturer-specific-integration thing again.
What is needed is some kind of federated identity scheme. Yes, I know, there are plenty out there (and none have taken off in any significant way), but there is one in particular that is just begging to be used for the federation of social networking personae: .tel.
The top level domain, which launched last year, is unique among TLDs in that it does not automatically redirect the web surfer anywhere — instead, it uses the DNS itself as a repository for the registrant's basic contact details, including social networking profile links.
Why can't the social networking websites and the handset-makers all plug into this information? It's all very good to have this online business-card stuff, but let's face it, it's hardly going to be anyone's first port of call when looking up a contact. The searcher's mobile phone, however, will be their primary source of information.
Anyway, it's just a thought…
Friday 18 September 2009, 4:22 PM
Handset maker iMate closes, according to reports
The mobile phone company iMate has, according to reports, shut down.
The firm, based in the United Arab Emirates, made its name rebadging HTC-made Windows Mobile phones. In the early days of touch-screen Windows Mobile phones, iMate-branded versions were the primary alternative to buying such handsets through an operator.
Now, according to ITP.net, market sources have revealed the closure of the firm. Staff were told to take two months' unpaid leave last Wednesday, the story said, although they subsequently found out the next day that the company was permanently shut down.
The last handset to be announced by the company was the ruggedised 810F smartphone, unveiled at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Two years previously, the company also announced it was branching out into the HDTV business.
The firm, based in the United Arab Emirates, made its name rebadging HTC-made Windows Mobile phones. In the early days of touch-screen Windows Mobile phones, iMate-branded versions were the primary alternative to buying such handsets through an operator.
Now, according to ITP.net, market sources have revealed the closure of the firm. Staff were told to take two months' unpaid leave last Wednesday, the story said, although they subsequently found out the next day that the company was permanently shut down.
The last handset to be announced by the company was the ruggedised 810F smartphone, unveiled at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Two years previously, the company also announced it was branching out into the HDTV business.
Wednesday 16 September 2009, 9:23 AM
Voda avoiding Linux netbooks due to user confusion
Vodafone has dismissed the preinstallation of Linux onto its netbooks, citing consumers' perception that netbooks are equivalent to laptops in their functionality.
David Pollington, the operator's head of consumer and internet technical research, said on Wednesday that netbooks — which originally came with Linux rather than Windows as their operating systems — had originally been intended as always-on web-browsing devices, but users had misinterpreted their purpose.
"Unfortunately, when the public got hold of these devices, they thought they were small PCs," Pollington told delegates at the Open Source In Mobile 09 conference in Amsterdam. "They took the Linux variant home and didn't understand why it couldnt connect to the printer, or why they couldn't watch internet video."
"We had a very high return rate on Linux netbooks," he added.
Asked by a delegate whether Vodafone would consider a shift back to Linux on the netbooks they supply in mobile broadband bundles, Pollington said operators needed to work out how to position netbooks as a defined segment, separate from larger and more powerful notebooks, or "users will continue to perceive netbooks as small laptops, in which case it will be very difficult to go back to Linux".
Linux has, however, continued to be popular on many netbooks sold directly from the manufacturer. According to representatives from Canonical, the sponsor company of Ubuntu, that Linux distribution is the preinstalled OS on around a third of the netbooks it sells, with a particularly high proportion of Linux-toting netbook sales in Asian markets.
David Pollington, the operator's head of consumer and internet technical research, said on Wednesday that netbooks — which originally came with Linux rather than Windows as their operating systems — had originally been intended as always-on web-browsing devices, but users had misinterpreted their purpose.
"Unfortunately, when the public got hold of these devices, they thought they were small PCs," Pollington told delegates at the Open Source In Mobile 09 conference in Amsterdam. "They took the Linux variant home and didn't understand why it couldnt connect to the printer, or why they couldn't watch internet video."
"We had a very high return rate on Linux netbooks," he added.
Asked by a delegate whether Vodafone would consider a shift back to Linux on the netbooks they supply in mobile broadband bundles, Pollington said operators needed to work out how to position netbooks as a defined segment, separate from larger and more powerful notebooks, or "users will continue to perceive netbooks as small laptops, in which case it will be very difficult to go back to Linux".
Linux has, however, continued to be popular on many netbooks sold directly from the manufacturer. According to representatives from Canonical, the sponsor company of Ubuntu, that Linux distribution is the preinstalled OS on around a third of the netbooks it sells, with a particularly high proportion of Linux-toting netbook sales in Asian markets.
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