AOE Net - Anywhere On Earth Network

Back to Mac 2010 Predictions

2010-10-17T01:17:00.000-07:00

Since the hacks are putting out really lame predictions for the Apple's October 2010 'Back to Mac' event, I'll give a few good ones (in no particular order):

Mac

eSATA - atleast Mac Pro's should get this, preferably the entire lineup (perhaps the laptops will not get them for a longtime or ever). But desktops should. 3 Gbps (and 6 Gbps later) is pretty useful for backups and transfer of large files to external harddisks.

Lion / Mac OS X 10.7

FaceTime + iChat (fairly obvious, also FaceTime API for others)
Apple TV / FrontRow update - make FrontRow on Mac's run just like the new Apple TV.

Others:

Less sharp laptop edges! All Mac laptops have really sharp edges where the hands rest on the keyboard and it hurts after a while. Be nice to get them slightly curved.
Black MacBook Pro. The white and aluminium are nice, but the black one was very cool.
7 inch iPad is also very welcome. Beware, I may get a manpurse if this happens, or really baggy jeans atleast.

Product Design

2010-07-20T22:25:00.000-07:00

I'll continue to write about this over time as a way to jot my thoughts on product design as a way to learn and improve myself in this area.

Design Rants (easy to do, I'll try to be constructive also)

Phones Handsets/Cradles

Everybody's got the new fancy VoIP phones with a jillion features. The main complaint is how the handset sits on the cradle. In the old timey phones you can close your eyes and just place it on the cradle, or you can slam it, and the baby will stay in there. Also the old timey cradles were horizontal so you didn't have to turn your wrist in an unnatural way, the new timey ones are 'vertical'. In the new shamncy phones its like a ballet to place the handset back: if you don't delicately place it in the right way... the damn thing will fall off (done it way too many times!). Plus you can't slam it after an annoying person calls you. If you slam, the whole phone goes flying because the cradle is on the right or left edge! And your IT guy's not going to be happy about that either.

Car Keyfobs

Please just make it of a shape that I can hold properly and not drop it. Not round or oblong things, but cylindrical or narrow things that can be easily gripped by fingers and held in the palm.

Software (there's just too much in there... lets wait a while)

Sales Tax on Unbundled Price of iPhone 4

2010-06-21T15:31:00.001-07:00

Most people who tried to check for the iPhone 4 upgrade eligibility must have seen the following message : "In CA, MA, and RI, sales tax is collected on the unbundled price of iPhone."

It means that you have to pay a 9.75% (in CA) sales tax on the unbundled price of iPhone 4 ($599 for 16GB version) even though you'll be paying only the $199 upgrade fee. That is $57.xx instead of $19.xx.

The reason given is that the state of California should not lose sales tax revenue because the actual price is $599 and AT&T is subsidizing $400 of the price that it will make up by having us pay the monthly service charges.

Fair enough. But consumers also pay a sales tax (among other things) on the service taxes! Seems like double taxation.

Any better ideas, explanation...

and why are CA, MA and RI the only ones?).
What if I (as a CA consumer) purchased my iPhone 4 from an Apple store in Arizona? Would they pull up my ATT record (which they will to verify credit & eligibility) and ask me to pay the extra/CA sales taxes? Don't think they can because the sales tax would have to go to AZ. They can't split it and say $19 goes to AZ and the rest to CA!

iPad

2010-02-22T00:00:00.001-08:00

A few thoughts:

The positioning of the device between a mobile/smartphone and PC, and better at music, video, web,... are key to explaining its intended usage. Thinking of it as a bigger version of iPhone/iPod Touch is too simplifying. The experience of a larger touch screen in reading and watching video is enormous. That said, it still feels primarily like a "media consumption" device. The creation parts will depend on well developed custom apps like iWork.
The iPad keynote did not show a more than a few seconds of editing or typing. For a lot of potential users, the iPad is likely to replace their notepad/folio where they take meeting notes, jot down thoughts, make lists etc. So ability type fast and comfortably will be key. And the true test for this will come during the in-store tests. I know a few people who are aching to do so!
Women, large man purse carriers and those with messenger bags will love the ability to whip it out and quickly look up something (what time's my flight, check a map, read a document or book...). Ofcourse, you can do all of this with an iPhone/iPod Touch, its just better now.
Apple should really think a way to physically secure it to the owner. If not a Kensington slot, something else to attach a lanyard (or Velcro strap) that can be wrapped around the wrist or tied somewhere (don't know if you want to hang 1.5 lbs from your neck). I am always paranoid about dropping my iPhone or having it swiped away in crowed places. Same will happen with the iPad. Imagine dropping your sleek $800 iPad on a pavement.

Other thoughts:

If the iPad were a little smaller in XY size you could almost wear it on one hand's palm with a strap and use it with the other hand! The first commercial wearable computer.
Industry specific usage, like healthcare, sales, insurance, and any mobile work environment, is going to be enormous. And, when can I get this integrated into my car's entertainment console?

A Look Under the Hood of Tesla Motors

2010-02-02T13:13:00.000-08:00

Re: A Look Under the Hood of Tesla Motors

I remember when the Tesla was first unveiled in 2006, I ran (drove) to the Petersen Museum to see a prototype in person, and it was gorgeous.

Regarding the NYTimes blogpost, Tesla does not have other income sources it is much more committed to creating and selling electric cars sooner than the big companies which can take their time to do so. It is a matter of survival for Tesla. Ultimately their success will depend on their (and partners') ability to make the technology leaps and their management ability.

As such the giants also have learned to deal with such disruptive innovation by creating launching new vehicles (BMW MiniE, Nissan Leaf...), but not separate groups/divisions/companies that deal with all electrics while being aligned with the market. And the giants target the mainstream/existing usage market right from outset, while Tesla and others will start with specialty markets (like sports cars, golf carts...) that allow the technology to develop while giving themselves cashflow to survive and establish position (standard disruptive innovation theory you can say).

But it has taken a lot of time for Tesla to sell more of their Roadsters and the giants seem to be catching up a little - but they are still going for the mainstream market where the technology is atleast 3 to 5 years away from being mature for regular usage. The mainstream usage technology may not be ready for a while and it will be interesting to see how long the giants continue their "investment". It may give one of the all electric companies an equal or better chance of beating the existing giants or just vanish!

Air Travel Sucks! Trains Rule!

2009-08-13T04:29:00.000-07:00

Why air travel sucks:

Airports are damned far away. Planes are noisy and so usually outside or far from cities. So travel by car, metro/subway, bicycle... takes time, especially during the morning rush hour (I just missed an 8:50am flight even though I started 2 hours earlier from home [which means I woke up at 6am]- so I shall complain!).
You have to arrive atleast 40 minutes in advance or they will not issue you a boarding pass because you may not clear security in time. (once they give you a boarding pass they have to wait a few minutes past departure time if you don't board - I believe).
Severe restrictions in the number and size of luggage. (I sometimes have 2-3 laptops and you will hate me when you're behind me in the line. I know of someone who flys every week and has a metal plate in his knee/jaw/somewhere... he has spent more time flapping his arms in a single year than a normal human does in their lifetime).
The security rules on what you can/cannot bring are always changing or are different in every country/airport so even seasoned travelers can be caught off guard. Take your shoes off, don't take 'em off; no lighters, but matches are ok; remove belts, don't remove belts; only 1 carry on allowed, including purses & laptop bags (come on Luton... you can't be serious), or $25-50 for an extra bag (go to a different queue to pay for that if you didn't in advance - 'thanks Easyjet, you make it real easy')... I am almost in favor of the full body scanners where they can see everything over/under your clothes/skin/bones. There is little privacy anywhere, everybody's beach photo's are online, young people wear skimpy clothes anyway... 'why so serious' about this?
Road warrior, not! Plus a lot of passengers are casual travelers so they don't know the rules and at 7am in the morning everyone is going to be stupid . 'madam, take your jacket off'; Lady: 'huh?'; 'put the toiletries in a clear x ounce bag' (I really pity the guy/gal who has to repeat this a 1000 times everyday and still be vigilant); 'put your laptop in the tray, put the shoes separately'; 'don't put the jacket on top'...
For a 1 hour flight, here's the total time spent: 1 hour of driving to airport + 1 hour in checkin/security + 1 hour flight duration + 30 mins to collect bags + 1 hour driving away from airport = 4.5 hours. Talk about efficiency!
Congested seating... its not that airlines are now like buses, they are worse! If you are a premier/gold member (thank you Austin Powers)... you get 5 extra inches! or pay $50 for that privilege. 3rd class has just been re-introduced!
Germ factories... 100's of people in a confined space: breathing, sneezing, touching, kissing... for hours. Have fun CDC! (and perhaps Joe Biden was right atleast about airplanes... hard to stand those who put on no deodorant and those who put on 2 liters of their favorite eau de toilette - just do the literal translation)
Crappy service. Budget airlines have proliferated and lowered the rates and services. So for business travelers at small to medium companies (which have way more employees than the F500 biggies) there is no choice... since everyone is trying to save, the dept admin will book your travel on the cheapest one. And crews at budget or traditional airlines, with some exceptions, are just tired of unruly/rude passengers, nearing retirement, hate their job, dream of days gone by...
"Please switch off your electronic devices... we are going to take off/on/up/down/sideways...". Has any of this been proven with scientific testing... or we've decided to just bore everyone? Shutting down communications is welcome (during the entire flight), but why can't I listen to my iPod, watch video or read my Kindle ebook or write an email (offline)?
Disgusting food or whatever it is. Almost everyone has no free food (fine, no problem), but the ones that sell you food... what am I paying for? (Air Canada sells 6" Subway sandwiches for $5. When someone opens a 2 hour old sandwich like that... there are going to be sick people).
I've got plenty more... but am preserving my fingers for the next section.

Why trains (like in Europe and parts of east coast US?) are awesome!

Show up 5 minutes before departure! Yeah, it only saves 55 minutes in the morning... but at that time of the day every second counts.
The train station is in the city and connected to the local train/subway station! Sweet! Takes only 30-40 minutes to get there. They have a park-n-ride or bike stand (good luck at the airport) and other options as well.
Full-sized bathroom!
Cafeteria/bistro/dining car! Wow... decent food, real espresso... freedom of movement!
No body searches you! And nobody needs to see what toiletries you you use.
Bring as much luggage as you can lift/push around! Nobody's stopping you.
Walk around... jump around, sleep... play music, video...work whatever you like!
Stretch your legs in a real human sized seat!
If the train is late: just sit around & relax, eat a banana, read a book... (If a plane is late you sit on the floor near the gate with a million people cursing or worse on a cramped airplane).
I could go on... but this is a first draft.

Anyone else with opinions on this?

Someday when I have more time to waste than this post... I'd like to survey which one of the above is the most hated thing about air travel. I can't blame Michael O'Leary for trying to run a profitable business, but no thanks... ('yeah, Mr. Expense Report Checker... that's 50 cents for 1 visit to the loo', 'What? You want a receipt?' BTW: lots of train stations in Europe charge for using the loo) I don't object to flying his particular airline or any particular company mentioned in this post/rant or even charging for toilets (just put it on my tab when I buy the beer). I just object to flying until they fix this mess (and please bag OBL meanwhile, someone).

Anyway, this is more of a rant than a blog post. But it's time someone fixed this mess.

Paris + WiFi = Free

2009-08-12T01:53:00.000-07:00

Here's the Google Map of all the 260+ accesspoints:

(And the above website has loads of information on what else to do in Paris, with some information available in the English version of the website as well).

And here's how to signon :

Ok, if you needed help with that... here's the Google Translate output on the useful part:

1. Identify signage Paris Wi-Fi with Wi-Fi logo Paris

This indicates that you are in the area (of) an oasis Paris Wi-Fi

2. Turn on your Wi-Fi equipment

3. Select the Orange network.

4. Start your regular internet browser and type any website address (eg http://www.paris.fr).

5. Select your pass Paris wi-fi 2h offered by the City of Paris and the Ile de France

6. Now you can surf freely on the Internet, send and receive emails, and all this without needing to be connected in any way!

Text Messaging Is Cheap?

2008-12-27T14:36:00.000-08:00

Not sure if its the job of newspapers to spread or create conspiracy theories, but this article in the New York Times (which I love and read often) by Randall Stross is just half-baked. But it sells newspapers, so let's do it!

Mr. Stross figures out, with the help of experts, that the basic cost of text messaging alone is pretty low. A text message or SMS rides on the control channels that are used for communications between the cellphone and the base station and then go over wires from the base station to the core of the network. So we learn that, once the basic investment in the network is done... its all cream, he implies. Mr. Stross quotes another professor saying that the cost of transmitting 100 million messages is not much more than those for a million.

Yeah, the basics about text messages are right. But are you going to build a network costing billions to send text messages? Ofcourse not, so to run a wireless network there are costs for voice minutes from initial spectrum cost of billions, tens of thousands of cell sites, cell site maintenance, equipment purchases, and many more. And now they are building faster data networks which also costs billions, and while these are growing fast - they don't make enough money. Recall the whining about the iPhone, in 2007, only having an EDGE (2.75G) connection. "Where's my 3G?" the press cried. And the $20 or $30, now, for the iPhone data connection is not enough to fund a nationwide network covering over 200 cities that, at inception, only has less than 10 million (data) customers. If we use his logic then software should only cost 50 cents - the cost of burning a CD with the software.

Its strange to see an article by a business school professor/teacher in the country's most prominent newspaper to not even mention the entire economic picture of running a company. Text messaging is a cash cow, one that helps funds other parts of the business. If you really want to do cost accounting, then let's put the partial cost of towers, spectrum, SMS servers, employee costs, billing systems and lots of other things also on its account. Obviously, the operators are making good money on it, but they may be losing money in other parts of the business. But why should they open it up to scrutiny? Also if casual or non-plan texting (sounds like sex!) is a very low percentage of the revenue and number of total messages sent - then what's so wrong with charging higher for it?

I am not advocating that the senator or FCC or the responsible regulatory body or a journalist should not query or check this; they should certainly probe it - but don't make it another conspiracy theory or another way we are cheated!

It really makes me believe that even the best guys want to use controversy and half-baked ideas to sell their product. This is similar to the way newspapers and magazines use/report numbers to make them sound more interesting but miss the point.

Disclosure: I have never worked for a mobile operator/carrier. I have worked as an engineer for an equipment manufacturer and understand some aspects of a cellphone networks' working and cost structure.

Better mousetraps, I mean Ethernet switches

2008-10-24T16:05:00.001-07:00

Sometimes a better mousetrap is just super useful!

Our technical sales guys do a lot of traveling with demo kits and (obviously) want the lightest, most compact gear possible (ofcourse that doesn't reduce the stares at the airport security line).

One of the things he found is a USB powered 5-port Ethernet switch. Just connect a small cable to the switch and hook the other end to the USB port of a computer, and voila!

I have been using it for a few days and love the little black box. Its 2 in x 3 in x 1/2 in and can fit in my pocket!

Plain old benefits:
- saves an extra power jack on the strip
- no need to go down under the desk to find a power jack (at work)
- quick ability to switch connections between various machines (very essential for testbeds and demo kits)
- small and light enough to carry a few in my backpack or demo kit.

The one I've got is from Bytec BT-555. I haven't seen it at a Fry's or Best Buy, only online.

iPhone 2.0 Software - Push

2008-07-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

Everybody knows that iPhone 2.0 software supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync. But the devil details are as follows (based on my experience):

Exchange email & calendaring works beautifully - just like the preview videos Apple showed and like BlackBerry and ActiveSync users have been enjoying for a while. And setup is a breeze using the iPhone Configuration Utility. It does feel a bit strange to email the config file instead of just dowloading it to an attached iPhone. But it'll work well for enterprise users - "one profile to rule them all".
Cisco VPN setup with Group authentication is a bit awkward.
If you get a lot of emails, like 1 every 5 minutes, because someone put you on a jillion lists then enabling 'Push' will drain your iPhone's battery enough to require daily charging even with minimum use. Plus your phone vibrates every 5 seconds and makes you look like a twitching retard. Use Fetch with settings of 15 min, 30 min or 1 hour - depending on how desperate you are.
Someone tells me that there are specific push-related rules, i.e. set a rule to determine which email messages get pushed. But apparently it is only available, for setting, through Outlook. I use a Mac and checked Outlook Web Access using IE on Windows XP under Fusion, but could not find it. Need more research!

Below are relevant documents & links on the subject.

Apple's docs on implemented/omitted features: http://support.apple.com/manuals/en_US/Enterprise_Deployment_Guide.pdf
MSFT blog comparing the implementations: http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonlan/archive/2008/07/18/iphone-2-0-windows-mobile-for-push-email.aspx
Exchange ActiveSync FAQ: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/bb288524.aspx

iPhone 2.0

2008-07-13T17:38:00.001-07:00

So it seems that lots of existing iPhone (1.x) owners had serious problems in either downloading the new 2.0 OS or installing it ("got bricked") or activating their phone after installation. My experience was different. It did take iTunes a while before it was ready to update the iPhone OS. Around 5pm it allowed me to download and in 15 minutes the new OS was installed, 5 more minutes to restore settings from backup.

First review:
Very good set of usability improvements. Location-finding (even without A-GPS) seems to work a whole lot better (better than 1.1.3 atleast). But the App.Store is amazing. Find an app, select it for download, enter your iTunes Store password and in minutes it flies! Ofcourse this works best in WiFi covered areas. Have to see how long it takes to download a few megs over EDGE.

The range of app's seems pretty impressive for day one. It's hard to believe what will come in the next few months and years. All the promises and potential from the iPhone SDK preview are going to be true. This is the mobile platform of choice. The best developers are or will be flocking to produce iPhone apps.

Multi-Touch is Key
One thing is clear - the bold and courageous choice Apple made in using a touchscreen and forgoing any keys (except 'home', volume, vibrate & 'sleep') is paying off bigtime. Applications are free to define user interaction in a very very customized way. No crazy remapping or multipurposing (using alt/shift...) of the numeric keypad or other buttons; no need to cramp 3 letters of the tinniest font on/around each key. The slight loss of speed is replaced by the elegance of a well-defined, aesthetic and colored interface. App. developers have better freedom than PC's to create a new way for user interaction. Make no mistake, the new way is and will be more impactful to the consumer adoption than anything else.

iPhone meet IT
The addition of MS Exchange support, Cisco VPN and iPhone Configuration Utility to iPhone is as big as the switch to Intel for Mac's. These new features are basic product features to compete against Blackberry and Windows Mobile in the corporate market. The rest will be in continuous courting of corporate IT. Ofcourse employees bugging IT and the attraction of CXO's to the iPhone will push IT to start supporting the iPhone.

PC vs. Mac all over again?
The iPhone and its OS togather unquestionably form the best mobile platform today. Windows Mobile came out years before iPhone OS (unlike Mac OS vs. Windows), but has yet to mature in terms of user experience. WM has all/most of the needed functionality, but is defiicient in other areas. It took Windows almost 10-15 years to mature into a stable and, relatively speaking, usable form (with 2000 and XP). But the story of licensing OS' is worth considering. Will Apple license iPhone OS? No it won't! Not with the success of the Mac, iPhone and iTunes. They are more confident than ever of their beliefs, innovation and capabilities.

More on the following in later posts.

Real Challenger #1: Nokia/Symbian
Nokia/Symbian clearly see the challenge and their recent changes are interesting to say the least.

Real Challenger #2: Google Android

Wake up time: Microsoft Windows Mobile

No Hope #1: Pure Open Source/Linux-styled mobile OS's

No Hope #2: Blackberry OS/devices

Forgot Master Password on Mac

2008-07-04T19:50:00.001-07:00

If you forget the Master Password on your Mac, you are in trouble! But if you have set the Master Password but not turned on FileVault then you are in luck.

Here's how to fix the problem:

Just delete the file /Library/Keychains/FileVaultMaster.keychain
This will reset the master password. Or you could go into terminal and type

"sudo rm /Library/keychains/filevaultmaster.keychain"

and your problem is solved.

Printing on Leopard over a Windows Network

2008-05-30T23:38:00.000-07:00

Anybody at a small company with a Mac has faced this nightmare: all the printers are on a domain controlled Windows Server and its incredibly impossible to print on them!

Seems like 'Kerberos Printing from OS X to Windows Active Directory Printer Share' is the solution.

Use CUPS to add a printer and select

1. CUPS: http://localhost:631

2. Add Printer -> Enter Name / Location / Description

3. Select Device as "Windows Printer via SAMBA with kerberos support"

4. Enter "ksmb://username:passwd@printserver/PrinterName"

5. Finish it up!

Oh, by the way entering your password like that will place it in direct text form in /etc/cups/printers.conf. Normally printers.conf has user read-write permissions only. So you should be safe from other users on the machine or on the network. But if you let someone use your login for a few minutes (while you are away) - then you are in TROUBLE! They can read your login password in plain text in less than 3 seconds. So be careful!

Great Leopard Spots

2008-04-13T12:56:00.000-07:00

Features in Leopard (Apple Mac OS X 10.5.x) that absolutely I love

Yes, a lot of these are part of the 300 that really make Leopard a great OS. I no particular order of priority.

Searching in Activity Monitor for a particular process by its first letter

Yes, its finally here! Just hit the first key of the process' name and you'll find it. This is more easier if you sort by process name.

Active repartitioning in Disk Utility
Time Machine
CoverFlow
Spaces
AirPort connection info (press Alt/Option when clicking on AirPort icon on menu bar)
BootCamp is official!

Stuff still not there!

Good multi-display support

Switchin'

2008-04-09T10:02:00.001-07:00

Recently I acquired a new MacBook Pro (2.4GHz, 2GB RAM, 200 GB HDD, 256 MB Nvidia 8600M GT). And switching from my MacBook (Tiger) to the new machine could not have been easier. Leopard's Migration Assistant asked me to run the MacBook in Firewire mode, hook up a firewire cable between the two and 'boom', in 30 minutes all my data and settings were moved over - INCLUDING APPLICATIONS like Thunderbird, Firefox and others. I clicked on Thunderbird, entered my password and had my corporate email going without ANY EFFORT!

Only glitch was the need to reinstall our Cisco VPN client because it seemed to be binded to the old machine's network adapters (or something like that!).

You can call that a serious saving of time and heartburn! Less than 1 hour to switch to a new machine - from start to finish. The migration of applications was much faster than having to install them one by one and configuring them to my settings. Kudos to the Migration Assistant team of Leopard.

And the best part will be the ability to use Time Machine to backup my data everyday - automatically. I and others in the company who travel a bit have seen laptops suffer catastrophic failures at the worst time. Recently we spent a few thousand dollars to retrieve data from a failed hard disk.

Four Horsemen (Versions) of Apocalypse (Vista)

2008-03-31T11:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, the title is a little dramatic. But you have to imagine the pain that product managers at 1000's of small & medium companies are going through: testing your product on four versions of 'one' operating system - and that is before the service pack. Home Basic, Home Premium, Business and Ultimate!

Sure its one OS, but they do have different capabilities (especially for graphics) and you can't leave this to chance. Plus the drivers issue that's been plaguing lots of users creates an additional complexity - "hmm, our product works on our machines, but will it work on the users machine?" . Users, both consumers & business/enterprise customers, are likely to buy systems with any of these four. That means IT and testing have to have provide access to all four of them (with or without SP?) to all/most of the developers. And testing teams need full & dedicated access too. Fortunately VM's have made this task a lot easier.

Mobile Internet with your Cable bill?

2008-03-26T09:18:00.000-07:00

So the big news/rumor of the day is the possible investment by cable co's (Time Warner & Comcast) in the Sprint + Clearwire WiMAX venture. The said deadline is the CTIA show in Vegas from Apr 1-3.

So what could this mean for consumers?
People who signup for an Internet service from cable companies get the option of a mobile service also that allows them to use their laptops and WiMAX mobiles anywhere. The home network is connected via the standard cable modem for really high-speed service (~ 5 Mbps), with the lowest latency and no battery life concerns. Mobile/portable devices access the WiMAX network (~ 1 to 2 Mbps) seamlessly, at home and outside. WiMAX femtocells could also be a future offering to quickly improve coverage by using a provisioned part of the cable network bandwidth.

What packages+pricing could be offered?
Cable Internet: $45
Mobile Internet: $25
Mobile VoIP: $15 all you can eat
Total: $75 to $85

Mobile VoIP is the operator's own VoIP service for those who want better quality/SLA than Skype which is likely to go under Best Effort (BE) traffic on a WiMAX traffic versus operator VoIP on ertPS (enhanced real-time Polling Service).

What would be interesting to see is how they would 'throttle' or 'shape' the traffic based on demand and match it with WiMAX QoS classes. Cable companies have been aggressively trying to limit bandwidth hogs and they definitely want to do this on an 'open-garden' wireless network. On an open device it will be impractical to forcefully tag each user installed application with a specific QoS class. Carrier apps like VoIP and carrier offered services will have pre-assigned classes. Will this be necessarily at higher classes than user/3rd party apps and how will it interplay with net-neutrality 'rules'?

Option 1: All applications go through a BREW/Nokia/Apple iPhone style signing & certification requirement. All signed applications are allocated a specific QoS class that cannot be changed by users. Unsigned applications are always forced to be Best Effort by the device.

Option 2: Free for all. Let applications and users decide.

Obviously, this is all water under the bridge (eh?), Sprint has probably decided on their model already. I notice inklings of extending/replicating the Sprint Dev./Partnership program (for EVDO & Nextel LBS) for WiMAX. Sprint execs have already talked about 'open' access, but no SLA guarantees at this point.

But the most important thing will be to keep the plans simple and make great devices available. I can't imagine having to deal with the day+night/weekend minutes plan in the data world.

WiMAX does offer some interesting options for dynamic network management & business models:
- allocate more 'streams/sessions' for VoIP at peak times (8 to 10 am, 4 to 7 pm)
- in emergencies, first responders can have higher priority access and normal users get best effort web & text service that does not tax the air interface
- allow signed app. service providers to bid for better QoS or atleast pay more for better QoS
- ESPN and mlb.com pay for a signed app. that delivers better quality (even Skype could), while YouTube is okay with best effort
-

Ofcourse this kind of dynamic network management would require lots of additional standards or one carrier on a large enough network (Sprint + Clearwire with a nationwide footprint).

Accessing Exchange Email via Thunderbird on Mac

2008-03-25T15:19:00.000-07:00

Opening attachments on my MacBook (Tiger) was a huge pain after switching to an Exchange email server. Double-clicking an attachment would launch the concerned application but would not download the entire file from the email server - while Outlook Web Access worked perfectly. The attachment files in the temporary folder would always be 24 KB. Finally a solution somebody suggested in a forum: there is an error in reporting attachment sizes, so make Thunderbird download the message 'entirely' instead of 'chunks'. It works! Back to some real work.

From Mozillazine:
"Thunderbird may truncate the attachments. Exchange and Gmail are know to cause this problem.

Go to the Config Editor, and enter chunks in the filter box. Toggle mail.server.default.fetch_by_chunks to false. That will make Thunderbird ignore the incorrect information."

Best PC Utility - PC Wizard

2008-01-20T23:51:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite Windows PC utilities. It's called PC Wizard. It provides very detailed and accurate information on your computer. I have used it often on Dell's and Apple computers (when running on the Windows-side using BootCamp or even under a VM like Parallels). The details it provides are amazing: CPU and hard disk temperature gauges, current processor speed, memory/RAM details... stuff that most operating systems don't provide. A nice to have feature would be the ability to log time-indexed information like processor speed, temperature and so forth. That way you can see how intensively is the machine being used.

Books

2008-01-05T17:59:00.001-08:00

Books I am reading (to be continuously updated)

Charlie Wilson's War by George Crille
Legacy of Ashes, the History of CIA by Tim Weiner
Inside the Tornado by Geoffrey Moore

TV advertising

2008-01-05T17:44:00.000-08:00

Some thoughts on advertisements on television.

Good Ones (i.e. enjoyable for the viewer, hold their attention and get the message across)

Vytorin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBfWybm0218) - Jan 5, 2008

Vytorin is a heart-condition pill. Unlike competitors who scare the hell out of you by showing clogged arteries and falling down people these guys show nice food and match it in with people dressed 'like' the food. There's too much pharmaceutical advertising on TV, especially during the evening news hour, to pay attention to anything. If TV is to be my doctor atleast make it informative and not over the top emotional. I am here to enjoy the entertainment and relax, not be reminded of all the personal problems. So anything that is pleasant enough and not loud enough to distract me from getting the real message of the ad is a plus. If I am to watch a 3 hour football game on TV I need to keep my senses in check with all the gazillion ads who drive people to hit the Tivo fast forward button.

-> I wish TV makers provided a voice command for mute (so I can yell 'mute' when the ads start) or atleast provide a really large mute button in the most obvious place on the remote (reachable by the thumb). I'll take the visuals, but no audio. That way I can watch a 3 hour game and not wind up as a hyper and tired zombie.

Bad Ones

MacWorld 2008 Wishlist

2008-01-03T17:13:00.000-08:00

Here's my personal wishlist on the computer side. Some of this has already been speculated in the press by analysts and reporters. But here's the wishlist of features that I, as a user, want.

1. Longer battery life
My MacBook has a decent battery life (~ 2.5-3 hours), but not enough to last a cross-country 4-5 hour plane trip. And lugging a large extra battery defeats the purpose of buying a 13" small laptop.

Now if this comes through a NAND-flash based 'permanent' storage or new battery technologies, I don't really care. If NAND-flash also decreases weight, even better! Tiger does start up fairly fast (from cold start or sleep) so I have no complaints/needs on that side.

2. Blu-Ray DVD support for Media Center for Music & Movies:
I plan to use my new Mac (iMac/mini/MacBook whatever it is) as a true media center connected to the LCD HDTV. FrontRow is outright excellent in playing movies, videos and music (and also for pictures) with its simple 6-button remote. In comparison the 50 button DVD remote gives me fits whether its dark or not. Blu-Ray support is key to ensuring the future of this vision.

3. Better multi-monitor support (I don't know the answer but there has to be a way)

At work I have a 20" LCD connected to my MacBook to increase the screen real estate available. Usually my office email or a browser window is always open there. Or sometimes a second spreadsheet or document that I am referring to while writing/editing the main one. This is incredibly useful not having to repeatedly alternate between windows - yes a real productivity booster.

Mac OS X loves Fitt's law, and I love the ability to just blindly hit/push the mouse to the top of the screen and always find the menu. (Also useful are the 4 hot corners, for setting up screensavers, all windows...). But this means that OS X sticks the menu's either to the main display or to the secondary display. Either way the applications in the 'other' window have no menu's. So if you have Excel in the 'secondary' window you have to go to the main window to click on a toolbar or menu item!

I have not seen a good solution to this problem. I am surprised that other users have not complained or solved this problem, given the large number of graphics experts who use Mac's and typically use multiple displays for their work. Also a lot of people at home are starting to use multiple displays, so pretty soon (I hope) the ratio of multi-display users tilts over 20% to get some attention.

May be a solution is to allow users to duplicate the menu & toolbar on every display on which the application has a window. Just one checkbox in the preferences window. Not sure if this is something the OS alone can do, or it requires all applications to support. If its the later, "Dear Mac Business Unit Product Manager at Microsoft, ...."

4. Hardware upgrade for the Mac mini

5. Lower prices for the wireless keyboard and mouse.

Yes, the other speculated things would be nice too...

Rental of movies will truly make the media center vision for Mac's a practically reality. Even though I have a Netflix-enabled computer connected to the LCD HDTV (via VGA/RGB)... you still have to browse via a web interface on the computer to select your movie and without any remote control. And ofcourse Netflix online movies do not work on Mac's (until the Silverlight version comes out - if it does).

VPN setup for Mac OS X Tiger (10.4.x)

2008-01-03T10:55:00.001-08:00

I connect to a Microsoft Windows Server 2000 VPN and these instructions (PPTP) work.

UCLA: http://www.bol.ucla.edu/services/vpn/pptp/docs/macosx.html
UMass: https://people.chem.umass.edu/wiki/index.php?title=VPN_-_Connect_from_Mac_OS_X_Tiger

The UCLA site has instructions for both Tiger and Leopard (10.5.x).

Leopard VPN setup has an additional option that allows you to decide whether Internet traffic (non-VPN, like Google or Yahoo) will go through the VPN (i.e. tunneled through your organization's network) or through your local Internet connection (typically your ISP). But on a colleague's MacBook with Leopard upgrade this feature did not work. Even when the bypass option was enabled the default route was still through the VPN. Seems like a bug.
Most companies typically do not allow such a bypass while connected over the VPN for security reasons. The IT admins fear of a security risk: you are browsing on some Internet site that runs a malicious program on your computer while it is also connected to the company's network, exposing it to danger. They control this by installing the VPN client themselves and lockdown the options. This can be done easily on domain controlled Windows. Not sure if this restriction can be done easily on Mac's.
The UMass site has instructions on how to setup Tiger for doing the bypass. Ofcourse you have to follow these instructions everytime you connect via VPN. You can write a little script to automate this, assuming your default route at every location you connect from (home, coffee shop, friend's home...) are fixed. But this is a very useful feature when you are at home checking baseball scores while downloading company email. You may not want the traffic to the baseball site to go through the company's Internet connection. Hence the bypass!

Review of Brother MFC 465cn (Multi-Page Scanner)

2007-12-28T13:03:00.000-08:00

Brother MFC 465cn (Amazon.com)

I've used Brother products mostly at work and found them to be functional no-nonsense products with the right features for SOHO (small office / home office) users. Although the feeder of our workplace Brother MFC device is busted... but these things never last too long, not more than a few (5K-10K) 1000 pages due to dust and wear/tear.

My main reasons for buying this multi-function center (Brother MFC 465cn) device:

* Multi-page scan and fax (now I can scan in multiple documents, one by one from the feeder instead of being forced to use the flat bed, which is also an option for scanning larger or original/certificate-style documents that should not be put in a feeder). There are few/none low end products with this capability. You either get flat bed or heavy duty feeder machines that cost over $250.

==> The main value of this feature & my primary reason for buying this device is to scan all my important documents in to PDF for long term preservation. This is to reduce the number of copies of original I have to keep and anywhere access of digital documents. Not sure how well their OCR software will read the text in the documents. If it does read most of the stuff and that content is searchable via Spotlight/Google Desktop/Vista - whoohoo!

* Good software (PaperPort LE for Windows (XP & Vista) and PageManager for Mac OS X (10.4.1 and later I believe) for converting docs to PDF

* Network connectivity using Ethernet - connect it to a network hub/router and share it! And ofcourse it also supports USB.

* Decent price for refill cartridges (slightly higher than Epson & Canon but not mind bending, pocket busting prices like Lexmark). I don't care much for the inkjet color/photo printing since I don't need it and have a cheap & efficient Samsung (ML1040) black & white laser printer. For photo printing I'd rather go to retail stores since I don't print too many photos. But it can be useful for emergencies.

* Light-weight driver installation. I agree with the other reviewer that HP needs to take a good look at their software and reduce the bloat. Even Epson has some heavy duty stuff. Running their (HP, Epson & others) software at startup slows down the computer and the tray icons are just too distracting or hard to remove. Can't stress this point enough!

* A minor factor: Silver black finish, the flat top of this product makes it easier to pack and move if you lose the original box.

* And the rest, the usual: multi-function fax/scan/copy/print, multiple-memory card support, USB support.

After use review: 3-4 hours of solid usage

Setup is a breeze on both Mac & Windows: install software, connect device and boom you are ready.
Mac version of the software is not fun at all, gives out poor quality scans even at high resolution, chokes at handling large files and converting to PDF. PageManager looks like a OS 9 version of the software even though Activity Manager reports it to be an Intel version. Will investigate if there is any way to improve this since MacBook is my primary 'pooter.
Windows software supplied (PaperPort LE and Brother's software) is excellent at scanning multiple pages, naming them and managing them at a basic level.
MFC has some problems in handling non-standard paper sizes (like W-2's which are a tad wider than A4, but longer than Letter size and have words from one edge to the other, thank you IRS). Using the feeder or flatbed did not help much.
The feeder works pretty well with original documents too, so far.
The low height of the MFC means that it can easily fit in printer shelves of computer desks which rarely have a lot of room

iPhone 2.0 wishlist

2007-12-27T14:57:00.000-08:00

In descending order of importance:

All features in the current iPhone with following improvements/changes
Faster network connectivity: UMTS + HSDPA
A-GPS with navigation software
Full blown SDK for secure 3rd party software development
Microsoft Exchange support (atleast email and calendar)
Export all iPhone settings and data for backup & restore
Stereo Bluetooth
Louder ringer/speaker/alarm
WiFi support (802.11b atleast)
Larger or auxiliary/augmented battery
Detachable keyboard
Anti-slip side material for those who want to show it off in the nude (i.e no case)

Obviously usability and Apple elegance of the touch interface is paramount. All else can and should be sacrificed in favor of usability.

Other Comments & Features of Interest:

GPS: Throwing in a GPS chip without good navigation software (something Apple excels at) is not a good idea, but may be acceptable if the SDK allows full GPS access. GPS integrated with Google Maps is fine too if they can't get Navteq (after the Nokia buyout) directly or TeleAtlas (TomTom); although Google does use NAVTEQ...
GPS: Additional location based services (LBS) support/software would be nice, but the SDK will bring a whole community of developers that will improve this. Yes, this includes location awareness, 'mobile social' interactiveness: friend alerter/warner (you're walking in the mall, 'friend' alert, hide!).
Keyboard: might be a good idea to allow an attachable physical keyboard for the trigger happy community. Most people don't need to type so much that the touch keyboard is an issue.
Battery: everything sucks juice and an auxillary/augmented battery could look ugly, but if this can be done within design and aesthetics concerns, then more power to me, the user. A slightly thicker iPhone won't be a bad idea and might make it a little more grippable/non-slip.
Camera: A non-camera version for enterprise, government and military-related users who are often restricted in using camera-enabled devices within secure facilities.

Pricing

iPhone 1.0: $399
3G+ + $ 50
GPS + $ 150
Huh? - $ 100 (let's call this amortized initial R & D cost)
---------------------
Total = $499

$499 is very justifiable on a pure value basis:

$150 for a basic smartphone
$200 for a basic GPS (atleast $50 more if free traffic data is included. Navigon sells lifetime traffic update for ~$80-100)
$150 for a 4GB iPod (not just an mp3 player)
$25 in accessories saved from having to buy and lug only one set of cables (USB car charger is the only cable to purchase, the USB to iPhone cable provided by Apple can connect to a car charger or a laptop. Perhaps a wall charger for the non-laptop carrying folks).

Total: $525
And this does not include the excellent usability, Apple cachet and the fact that iPhone 1.0 is much more than a basic smartphone.

I have not put a direct price on software because people directly discount that from consideration. It's strange, I would value MSFT Exchange support (email & calendar) almost as much as GPS + nav. software, but would be uncomfortable paying $100 for enabling Exchange support (out of my pocket, the company's money is another matter). But software, especially from Apple, does translate into usability, brand awareness and ultimately customer lock-in. Same goes for the touch interface and ability to read and surf regular web pages crisply. Its hard to value those features individually, but they are really make or break decisions in buying the gadget. Don't know if there are any (or what are the) specific economic terms for software features like these. Yet standalone software (does not mean non-network connected software) that delivers a specific value can be priced and sold much more easily than add-on software features compared to add-on hardware.

And after that launch let's start with iPhone 3.0 wishlist...

Tough days... getting rid of Windows vermin

2007-10-20T21:47:00.000-07:00

I downloaded a small utility to figure out my Windows XP's license key and lo & behold I had a nasty virus/worm/trojan/adware... which none of the regular anti-virus anti-adware programs could beat. In fact while these things were working/scanning the trojan would pop-up windows - mocking all my efforts.

Well the culprit was some variant of the Downloader trojan. After plenty of research I found out that this beast used rootkit to hide and be stealthy from the products. And here's the endorsement: F-Secure managed to get rid of the Downloader trojan, with some help from the ProcessExplorer utility by the fantastic ol' SysInternals folks, now with Microsoft.

Here's the way to get rid of the Downloader trojan (you'l need admin privileges for this, perhaps):

Download and install ProcessExplorer: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/processexplorer.mspx
Download and install F-Secure Anti-Virus 2008 (30 day trial product) http://www.f-secure.com/home_user/support_and_downloads/evaluations/
Start F-Secure full scan and immediately pause it as soon as it starts
Start ProcessExplorer and then right click on 'explorer.exe' & 'windows logon' and select 'Suspend'. This ensures that the rootkit/trojan cannot launch to re-hide or do its dirty work.
Use alt-tab keys to switch to F-Secure and let it do its work. Takes a while depending on your disk size/utilization and computer's hardware.
Once F-Secure finishes, right-click on the suspended processes in ProcessExplorer and 'Resume' them.
Say 'phew' and never run unknown/untrusted software. My company's IT admin tells me that there is a way to find out your XP license key from the registry. I couldn't find anything on this except a utility at MSFT's site that only shows the last 15 digits. See: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=52012

If you find this useful do let me know or if you removed Downloader using other tools/methods.

Searching Thunderbird emails in Spotlight

2007-08-02T10:22:00.000-07:00

Very useful How-To for those using Thunderbird on Apple computers. As the title below suggests, this How-To explains how to (eh?) enable indexing of emails in your Thunderbird email client so that Spotlight (the Mac OS X desktop search tool) can find them. Spotlight does this for Apple Mail and Microsoft Entourage. But after months of using both Mail and Entourage I find them both very problematic. But Thunderbird 2.x is very good. It combines the look and feel of Mail and offers Firefox-style solid usability and functionality. And the range of plug-ins for Thunderbird just keeps getting better.

Howto: Make Spotlight and Google Desktop Index Thunderbird Messages

http://www.dennis.ca/weblog/2007/04/17/howto-make-spotlight-and-google-desktop-index-thunderbird-messages/

Clearwire at Morgan Stanley 12th Annual Communications Conference

2007-05-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

Notes on Clearwire's discussion at the conference.

Obviously, I am very keen to learn more details about the following. If anybody has more information on these, please let me know.

1. Intel, Motorola & Clearwire have a joint Mobile WiMAX trial in the Portland, Oregon area
2. Clearwire will soon release results of their WiMAX trials
3. Sales Channels: Direct sales reps, Clearwire stores, BestBuy partnership, website.
3-6 months to get the channels going in a new market. Direct at first and then lower cost indirect channels.
4. Competitive Advantage in 5 years: Quality of service, low latency, quality equivalent to wireline broadband, advertised data rates today versus actual rates. Better experience in the local market. Cost structure is fundamentally different, $/bit is better. Spectrum limitations will limit competitors.
5. AOL agreement: previously in 4 early markets, now that ease of use with AOL & Clearwire being expanded to all Clearwire markets (US & International). AOL is now a distribution channel.
6. Chipset in laptops will not be unique to Clearwire, open to all WiMAX carriers => roaming. How will CLWR work with laptop makers (in terms of software) to enable ease of usage.
7. Intel will make WiFi-WiMAX chipset available by middle of 2008. CLWR will have a co-branded service/mktg with Intel. Some (undisclosed) volume agreements/commitments by Intel.
8. Not clear data, yet, on how many are using CLWR as substitute or complement to existing broadband services like DSL & cable.
9. CLWR being used often as a portable service, for some kind of business service.
10. Debt & equity both expected to be needed.
11. Mobile WiMAX developments: 2.5GHz in US (also Canada & Mexico), 3.5GHz in Europe. CLWR has licenses in both of these in the respective markets. Motorola eqiupment is available for both, not in roaming mode yet.
12. CLWR & Sprint both commited to stds based networks, no roaming agreement yet.
13. Must optimize VoIP on their network. Use additional hardware for this, right now in 13 mkts, in all domestic efforts by end of 2007. See 25% of customer base adopting this. ARPU of $30.

HDoA - HD TV over Air

2007-05-02T09:48:00.000-07:00

The mainstream media learns about HDTV over air. There's an article on CNN.com about use of antenna's to get local HD content. In the Los Angeles area I get the following HD (720p/1080i) channels:
- 2 PBS channels
- ABC
- NBC
- FOX
- KTLA
- Tube (Music videos channel)

In addition each of these have 1-2 SD channels that have local/weather information broadcast in digital. And they all have digital program/schedule guides.

The CEA website http://www.antennaweb.org/ and forums on HDTV's were critical for me in deciding to use HDoA. Hopefully, this post helps others decide what to do. The critical thing is ofcourse distance from the antenna station and a good antenna.

Cheap Phones in India?

2007-04-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

There's an interesting article on how the iPhone could provide some pricing power to the vendors on Telephony Magazine's website: The iPhone effect.

I do agree that the iPhone could bring pricing power to the vendors. All the me-too phones will be priced close to the $350-$450 range. Looking at WiMAX I feel like reviving the concept of a killer device! The killer app for personal mobile broadband is certainly checking email/gmail, finding local Google Maps (which hopefully is integrated with the GPS). Mobile TV will be a hit once the power/battery issue is resolved, i.e. either new more powerful batteries come out, or watching mobile tv in a place where the device is powered externally, either in a car, coffeeshop or a friend's home...

But I am not convinced about the observation made in the article, and in numerous other articles & analyst reports, that phones in the developing world are sold at low prices. A lot of the middle-class people I know in India buy their phones outright, with no carrier subsidies. And the phone prices typically range from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 20,000. That is about $220 to $440 @ Rs.45 = USD 1.

And these are not high-end phones, but phones very similar to the 'middle-end' phones that we in the US use.

Obviously this is a large investment for a (economically speaking) middle-class person, but this is the largest cellphone segment in India right now. The lower-class user base (the drivers, peons, small grocers, ), who buy the really cheap and often second-hand phones, is growing pretty fast.

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) - Additional Funding Model

2007-04-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

So I've been reading about OLPC in bits & pieces over time. I am not 100% clear on their distribution model. But they seem to be primarily targeting the technologically undeveloped societies, with primary funding coming from governments in those countries.

Living in the US, I feel left out!

There are some interesting technical & social concepts that are being embedded in these computers. Read about their philosophy, mission... at OLPC

I hope that they do plan to target the US and other such 'developed' countries because there is certainly a digital divide here too - albeit not on the scale of other places.

Here's an additional funding/distribution model:
Sell the laptop in the developed countries at 150% of the price the developing countries pay.

This will:

- provide additional funding for providing the laptops in areas where the governments cannot or will not provide funding for them (using the additional 50%). OLPC org will have additional funds to launch pilot projects and future 'products'.

- enable people like me who don't have loads of money but lots of enthusiasm about such projects to show and tell about such projects. This is more than just promotion/advertising, its proving to people that such concepts can be made into a reality.

- tech savvy people as me to learn about some new interesting concepts. Yes, the jazzy technology described on their website could be valuable in rethinking some parts of mainstream computing.

I am not proposing that OLPC turn into a company that has a for-profit initiative on the side. Perhaps, I am... still have to think through this one.

Surprise! Intel favors WiMAX over 3G for Centrino

2007-04-20T09:07:00.000-07:00

Read the story on news.com

Well, this was going to happen sooner or later. Sooner the better.

One of the big scary/fuzzy things about WiMAX has been about 'killer' apps and devices. 3G struggled through that and with the help of Treo, Blackberry & 3G-PC cards found a niche with business users. Ordinary consumers will have to wait till Apple's iPhone (and its imitators) come out with an HSDPA version.

This is the big push that Intel was expected to deliver. A WiMAX device in almost every new Intel-based laptop to replicate the WiFi-Centrino success.

Ofcourse this hinges on delivering (not necessarily in the short-term) a 'world' WiMAX card/device, like the world-GSM phones out there right now. Also, important will be roaming agreements that the WiMAX Forum is hammering out currently (I believe).

To keep my facts straight (from PCWorld):
The new version of Centrino will be called Santa Rosa.
But Wikipedia says that WiMAX will be part of the next Centrino platform called Montevina.

Update: May 1, 2007
- Clearwire announces the Expedience WiMAX PC card from Motorola. Datasheet for the device.
- Nokia announces its WiMAX devices for 2008

AOENet - Anywhere On Earth Network

2007-04-19T22:05:00.000-07:00

I first heard of the AOE concept from the IEEE 802.16 Working Group's policy on accepting documents by the AOE deadline. Wireless can bring network access anywhere on Earth. This web log will collect my thoughts and readings on this area.

My primary focus will be on new developments in WiMAX, WiFi, mesh networks and cellular networks. I will also highlight modeling of these networks as this relates to my work life.