qc110.com

Those last two steps are superfluous in my opinion, but what’s worse is that the procedure failed. Over and over again. Could the publisher have pulled the feature? Not likely as long as the Web site is still boasting native iPhone support for autofill. So what happened?

At any rate, those of you who have already updated your 1Password iPhone application to version 1.3 can still enjoy other fixes, like the newly-instituted capability to delete entries and hide passwords in editing view; a panel that displays your log-on info to manually enter it in the browser window; and a security setting to swallow up the 1Password browser’s cookies.

Today I had one of those what-the-heck software moments that occurs when a program breaks where it’s least expected. A premier feature in the
iPhone application I was tinkering with had vanished after a version update.

Since a smooth move like that requires multiple programs to run concurrently–something presently prohibited for iPhone applications–1Password for iPhone sports a work-around. Rather than leave the application to sign on to a page from
Safari, 1Password launches an in-application Web browser from a log-in detail page. Clicking the icon of a keyhole and then clicking the site name will auto-fill the log-in information, therefore getting by that pesky lack of program multitasking still plaguing the iPhone.

I have to wonder if the iTunes team has considered priority accounts like Google AdWords or emergency-attention surcharges like UPS and FedEx. Probably. As long as iPhones are hot and the applications are hotter, future iPhone application flubs by furrowed-brow publishers could become a lucrative opportunity to sell premium customer service.

The new log-on reminder option is a must until 1Password’s iPhone autofill feature is restored.

It turns out that Dave Teare, co-founder of Agile Web Solutions, 1Password’s publisher, had some trouble with the latest release and discovered the mistake after already submitting buggy version 1.3 to the iTunes App Store for approval. Now 1Password for iPhone is stripped of the gem in its password-protecting crown and will remain so until Apple busts version 1.3.2 free from iTunes purgatory, a process that will take anywhere from three days to a week.

Ahem. That’s what happens when you let someone else rule the release of your software. Apple’s tight control over the contents of the App Store is ordinarily an understandable check against malicious software and bogus software, but in this case, it curbs the publisher’s ability to push emergency fixes. This shift in the power dynamic will either: demand greater quality on the publishers’ end; feed a few tech scandals when buggy software slips by; create some truly naggy and disgruntled developers and marketers; or all of the above.

(Credit:
CNET Networks)

1Password for iPhone, first reviewed by my colleague Josh Lowensohn, is better known by its Mac counterpart, which encrypts log-ons and passwords on the
Mac and automatically fills them in on Web pages. Windows users can think of it as the rough equivalent to RoboForm.

Several times a link has popped up on Microsoft’s site for an early
Mac version of the Live Mesh client, although Microsoft has promptly taken down the public links.

Live Mesh is intended to be a service, over time, that allows cloud-based applications to have desktop components and takes desktop applications into the cloud as well as allowing synchronization among many different devices. For now, though, Live Mesh is primarily a means of synchronizing data across multiple computers.

The Live Mesh team also posted an interesting blog last week on some of the limits in the current service. For example, individual files can be no larger than 2GB, while the size of all contents in a Live Folder can be up to 10GB. (There’s still a 5GB limit for how much data can be stored in the cloud-based Live Desktop.)

In a blog posting, Microsoft announced that folks in Canada, India, and Ireland can now join. Microsoft had already opened things up in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.

Microsoft’s Live Mesh hasn’t officially expanded to include Macs just yet, but the software maker has said that folks in more countries can now take part without having to wait for an invitation.

Although folks in Canada, India, and Ireland don’t need an invite, Microsoft said that there is still a cap for each geography, so those interested might not want to dally too long. The company is expected to broaden testing of Live Mesh ahead of its October Professional Developers Conference, with the service expected to expand to include new features at that point.

Mozilla on Wednesday released Firefox 3 Release Candidate 3. Windows and Linux users won’t likely feel a thing; the new browser is considered stable on those platforms.

The previous test version, Firefox 3 Release Candidate 2, can also be downloaded for Windows, Portable, Mac, and Linux systems.

If you were planning to host a
Firefox 3 launch party this week, keep that bubbly on ice a bit longer.

The extra release candidate addresses some lingering issues on the
Mac OS X operating system. The changes are internal.

Updated at 12:30 p.m. PDT on Wednesday with links to the newly debuted release candidate.

Wi-Fi is “not a technical issue. It’s paperwork,” Brown said. “There were mistakes made while filing and testing our wireless antennas.” The paperwork involves both the FCC and other government organizations like Canada’s IC, she said.

Instead, on July 14, Intel will offer a “PM” version for discrete (stand-alone) graphics chips only, Brown said. The July 14 version of the chipset can be used with discrete graphics chips from Nvidia and AMD-ATI, for example, but will not have Intel integrated graphics.

Intel had recently been saying that the Centrino 2 mobile platform would launch after Computex, toward the end of June. Centrino 2 features upgraded integrated graphics, high-speed WiMax wireless silicon, and native support for High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP), among other features.

“Initially what will be available on July 14 are the (Centrino 2) processors and some of the chipsets,” Intel spokesperson Connie Brown said. These processors include the “T” and “X” (Extreme) series. Other Centrino 2 silicon will come later.

The initial rollout won’t take place until July 14. The next phase will take place in August.

The “GM” version that includes the Intel integrated graphics will not be available until early August. “It will be ramping by August 5,” Brown said. The two initial versions of the chipset with Intel integrated graphics are the GM45 and GM47. Intel will also make available its updated Wi-Fi technology called “Shirley Peak” in August, she said.

The delay of Centrino 2 also gives rise to a broader competitive issue: Advanced Micro Devices is set to announce its new “Puma” mobile platform in the near future that will feature both improved discrete and integrated graphics. For example, AMD’s 780M-based integrated graphics is expected to be very competitive with Intel’s integrated graphics.

Intel will delay the introduction of its highly anticipated “Montevina” Centrino 2 mobile chips due to technical and certification problems, the chipmaker said Tuesday.

The two principal problems concern, one, the certification (on the Centrino 2 platform) of the Wi-Fi wireless standard and, two, technical issues with the Centrino 2 chipset.

Brown said the chipsets must be “re-screened.” This means basically that some chipsets need to be rechecked to see if they have “an issue,” she said. Intel is not specifying, however, what the issue is.

WiMax silicon is also slated to come out later, though Intel is not saying when exactly. The Intel module that combines Wi-Fi and WiMax is called Echo Peak.

Note: Intel Centrino 2 processors expected on July 14 include the T9600, P8600, and P8400, running at 2.8GHz, 2.4GHz, and 2.26GHz respectively. A high-end upgrade to the current Core 2 Extreme X9000, the X9100, is also expected. The X9100 is expected to run at 3.06GHz with a 44W thermal envelope. Pricing will range from $209 for the P8400 to $530 for the T9600 to $851 for the X9100.

The second problem is centered on technical issues with the Centrino 2 “Cantiga” chipset and the Intel graphics that is integrated into the chipset. In short, Intel will not release a chipset initially with Intel integrated graphics.

For example, Digital SLRs: Nikon and Canon are, unsurprisingly, rated best among the 8,000 people polled. But Nikon’s ratings in the 4 categories–picture quality, performance, operation, and appearance–are 3, 5, 5, and 4 dots, respectively. Canon’s are 4, 3, 3, 2. Yet both get 5 dots overall.

Although many of the results of J.D. Power and Associates’ annual poll of digital camera purchasers aren’t surprising, some stuff just doesn’t add up.

The plain, oldPoint-and-Shoot ratings are a bit harder to parse. However, I don’t know whether it’s an editing boo-boo or simply a magic methodology result, but the Kodak Z series (megazooms) ended up in both the Point-and-Shoot and Premium P-and-S categories–rated 2 dots overall as a premium and 4 dots as a standard. There are probably different models in the series underlying each rating (making this an editorial gaffe).

But most people will just read (or reproduce) the press release. So let’s take a look at some of the feature requests mentioned on it. “Weatherproofing is mentioned most frequently by owners in both the point and shoot (67 percent), and premium point and shoot (68 percent) segments, while ultraslim owners desire 4GB internal memory capacity and DSLR owners desire waterproofing (63 percent),” the release states. I have to ask how these surveyed ultraslim owners came up with the 4GB memory figure, unless it was fed to them by J.D. Power, making it a very odd question to ask. I suspect what it really means is that people want to be able to store a lot of photos on their cameras in order to use it as a portable photo album, which is a valid request. We’ll be seeing a lot more of that in forthcoming cameras.

The results, which were released Thursday, sent me searching its site for a description of the survey and rating methodology. But I couldn’t find one.

Based on the ratings, Panasonic beats all for megazooms and Canon’s SD are the favored expensive compacts. But the surveyed indicated that what they liked most about the Canon SD is its appearance; everything I’ve heard from people says the opposite (they love the photo quality and performance but just tolerate its looks).

One of my favorite aspects of the press release, though, is the subhead: “Canon, Fujifilm, Nikon, Panasonic and Sony model series rank highest in their respective segments in digital camera owner satisfaction.” In other words, you love all the major manufacturers! Only poor Olympus and Pentax are still standing on the sidelines, and the irony there is that they’re the only ones making the waterproof cameras that everyone seems to be clamoring for.

Finally, the Ultraslim results. Leaving aside the fact that the page seems to contain some incorrectly categorized products (unless the Nikon P series has gone on a serious diet), just like last year Sony aces all the categories. Though the T series certainly has some nice cameras in it, our user reviews and feedback don’t overwhelmingly agree with J.D. Power’s results.

Poor Olympus, Pentax and Sony’s ratings in all but appearance are 2 dots; 3 dots means “about average,” but 2 dots means “the rest.” So what does 1 dot mean?

So if the overall rating is from a survey, people are perceiving the cameras as more than the sum of their parts (which actually makes sense). But if the overall score is based on a mashup of the subratings, then J.D. Power needs a little more transparency than: “Please note that J.D. Power Consumer Center Ratings may not include all information used to determine J.D. Power and Associates awards.”

Then take the Premium Point-and-Shoot category, which is ruled by the Canon G series and the Panasonic TZ series. However, this category throws in such disparate subcategories as megazooms (Canon S and SX series, Cyber-shot H series, Olympus SP series, Kodak Z series) and regular old expensive compacts (Canon SD series, Panasonic FZ series) with the enthusiast cameras.

However, I’ve sat in innumerable meetings with manufacturers, who’ve shown me innumerable PowerPoint slides of user research, and not one has mentioned weatherproofing. So either they’re out of touch with their users–which is obviously quite possible–or they simply don’t want to develop weatherproof cameras. Either way, in that respect, the weatherproofing seekers probably aren’t going to get what they want in 2008.

Now the company has developed a compactor for recycled goods. It comes in a few configurations, but the recycling units (for paper or bottles and cans) have their own panels and are placed next to solar trash cans.

It was only a question of time. BigBelly Solar has expanded its product line with a solar-powered compactor for recyclables.

The Needham, Mass.-based company first started selling trash cans with a small 30-watt solar panel on the top that powers a compactor a couple of years ago.

The product design is meant to be green all the way through by using recycled plastic and nontoxic paint.

Ultimately, BigBelly plans on equipping its units with communications capabilities so that they can tell garbage collectors when they are full or broken.

(Credit:
BigBelly Solar)

But for now, cities and towns just need to hope consumers know how to sort their trash.

Municipalities have been buying them to cut down on the number of trips that garbage handlers need to make. That cuts down on fuel costs (garbage trucks get about 2.5 mpg) and reduces street congestion and pollution.

There’s also the “green PR” when people see the solar panel on the top of a trash can.

Solar-powered recycling and trash bins from BigBelly Solar.

We’ve seen a groundswell of support for the GNU General Public License (GPL) and its variants among commercial open-source companies, including MySQL, Funambol, Alfresco, SugarCRM, and others. But Appcelerator is bucking the trend and changing from the GPL to the Apache Public License for its Rich Internet Application developer tools.

Why the switch? According to a blog posting from Appcelerator CEO Jeff Haynie, it’s all about adoption and matching one’s code (and its license) with one’s community:

commentary

I’m a big fan of the GPL, but I completely agree that it’s not always the right tool for every job. Adoption is the first order of business for any company, and Apache-licensed code is going to be more broadly adopted than GPL-licensed code in many instances.

I would assume that this will therefore lead Appcelerator to turn to commercial extensions for its Rich Internet Application solutions, similar to how IBM marries Apache-licensed projects with proprietary complements. Given the increased flexibility of Appcelerator’s licensing at the core of its product, this may well be a trade-off worth making to ensure that Appcelerator is able to feed its community…and itself.

Where Apache is weak, however, is in facilitating direct monetization of software, an issue that Haynie highlights in his blog.

We’ve clearly heard a very resounding theme: GPL is not the right license from a community perspective because of the implications that it brings to redistribution, especially as it relates to building Web applications and how they are incorporated and downloaded by a Web server…This was a clear indication that our license didn’t match our business and technical goals.

I will pause now to allow you to perform your best double take.

Now the odd thing is that this isn’t the first time someone has accused Nike of having more than a digit in live sporting decisions.

What can Nike gain from behaving like a granny who’s just had her handbag stolen by a tiny teenager and asked a big, burly policeman to find the man who took it? The company’s actions serve only to highlight the issue more, when letting a sleeping blog lie might have allowed for this little conspiracy theory to waft its way into the annals of obscurity.

Shortly afterward, someone who claimed to be a member of Nike’s inside lane, wrote a post on a Yahoo message board that accused the company of being complicit in Liu Xiang’s sudden exit.

When the rebel becomes king, it doesn’t mean the people will suddenly be smiling.

Community service in a sweatshop, perhaps?

(Credit: CC bbaunach)

And I wonder what the “government departments” will do to the person who posted this tale.

Which suggests that Nike either has a good suspicion as to the person’s identity. Or not.
It might also suggest to some that Nike has temporarily lost the part of its inner brain that judges when to stir things up and when to move right along.

So how do you think Nike reacted to this Yahoo posting? Ignored it, perhaps? Launched a PR campaign featuring Liu Xiang hopping on his good ankle? Not quite.

Yes, Nike, the brand that prides itself on the iconoclastic and fantastic, has asked the not fantastically democratic Chinese government to root out this rogue and, well, shake him by the sleeves of his t-shirt, perhaps.

OK?

“We have immediately asked relevant government departments to investigate those that started the rumor,” said Nike spokesman Charlie Brooks.

It all just feels so very, very unNike. Think about it.
A brand that so many still admire thanks to Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Spike Lee, and remixes of old Elvis tracks, working together with “government departments.” In China.

Unless, of course, it isn’t a conspiracy theory at all, and they fear that this one little rumor might give credence to a quite staggeringly cynical story.

It all looked a little odd. He was apparently seen kicking an iron door in an aggressive manner shortly before the race. He went out onto the track and suddenly declared his ankle wasn’t up to the task. He limped off in apparent agony.

When a curiously subdued, possibly drugged, and entirely sleep-walking Ronaldo played for Brazil in the 1998 World Cup Final, there were more than a few commentators willing to debate whether the only reason he had been on the field at all was because Nike, the team’s sponsor, had insisted.

The story begins with tears and might end in many more.

Many Chinese faces were moist when Liu Xiang, a very pretty 110-meter hurdler, suddenly withdrew from the preliminary heats of the Olympic competition.

The suggestion was that Nike knew Liu Xiang couldn’t win, so they told him not to run, as a disappointing performance would harm their investment in him far more than a heart-tugging withdrawal.

Nike, once the brand that championed all who challenged authority, seems to have suddenly taken on the mantle, as well as the athletic supporter, of a regime not known for its fondness for allowing people to just do it.

I wonder if they called Jerry Yang first to see how this blogger nonsense works over there. (Web debate on this subject in China is already being, how can one put it, edited.)

Mr. Brooks told The Guardian newspaper: “This isn’t about a debate on freedom of speech. It’s simply helping us to identify the person who posted it.”

For one, the cost to subscribe is much more affordable than it is to buy. Look at Zipcar, for instance. It’s far less expensive to subscribe to an entire fleet of
cars vs. purchasing your own. Not to mention, many can’t get the credit they need to buy a car or other goods right now, making subscriptions the only option. Likewise, it’s more cost effective for businesses to use SaaS applications. Companies operating under this model have an advantage to win more business for that reason alone. Salesforce.com, as an example, thrived during the recession from 2001 to 2002.

“All these enterprise software vendors sell you a chunk of stuff, most of which you don’t want,” he said–and it becomes a burden, he added. “Your business is slowed down because you’re dragging along this big anchor.”

This marks the company’s second product in the online subscription segment. In the spring, Zuora introduced Z-Billing.

Also on the subject of cost savings, it’s less expensive for companies to offer their apps as a subscription. Building a Web app can be very inexpensive compared to a desktop app or one that you buy off the shelf. Paying for server space vs. manufacturing and shipping is also a consideration that many businesses are taking into account as they build out their products.

Chalk it up to happenstance, but Zuora founder Tien Tzuo couldn’t have timed it any better.

The company on Tuesday morning announced Z-Payments, an online payment service for subscription-based businesses. Interestingly, the product will also accept payments from PayPal.

What with the stock market in a funk and companies acutely concerned about the impact of a slowing economy on their bottom lines, the pitch Tzuo plans to make is that Z-Payments can handle the job of collecting recurring payments more efficiently and at a lower cost than doing it themselves–especially compared with paper-based payment processes. So the question becomes: If the economy tanks, will subscription services like Zuora’s benefit?

Along with the announcement, PayPal’s president, Scott Thompson, has joined Zuora’s board of directors.

In an interview, Tzuo made the case for the subscription model. In a post he wrote a few days ago, he laid out the same argument:

I kidded Tzuo about the PayPal arrangement, suggesting it may be the prelude to a marriage between the companies. But it’s not so far-fetched. PayPal doesn’t do billing, and in an interview with ZDNet’s Phil Wainewright, Thompson gushed about the extension of Zuora’s pay-as-you-go model.

When the
iPhone App Store was mentioned in Steve Jobs’ WWDC keynote, one of the many applications announced was a TypePad blogging tool, courtesy of Six Apart (The company also makes two other blogging tools; Movable Type and Vox). Now that the App Store has launched, other blogging platforms like WordPress are coming forward with their own iPhone app plans.

Today, WordPress put out a video demonstrating its very own iPhone blogging tool, which supports WordPress.com blogs and self-hosted WordPress.org blogs (as long as it’s version 2.5.1 or later). WordPress promises the iPhone app will let you create and edit posts, will support multiple blogs as well as privacy settings, plus it will let you upload images directly from your camera or library. You can also preview the post in the iPhone’s
Safari browser before hitting Publish. While you can currently post to your WordPress blog via the Safari browser, this native iPhone app will hopefully offer a better and more seamless experience. It isn’t out yet, but seeing as the App Store is live and the iPhone 3G will be in U.S. stores tomorrow, we expect it’ll be out very soon. We expect to see a similar iPhone app from Blogger soon as well.