Merry Christmas!

We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

See you in 2010!

Category: News

Microsoft loses Office patent appeal

Microsoft lost a patent appeal that forces Word (and by inclusion, Office) to be removed from sale by January 11th. The suit involves parts of Word that deal with XML export that i4i charged were infringing upon their patents.

Now, before you get too excited about Microsoft Office being removed for sale, remember that Microsoft has deep pockets. There’s a very high likelyhood that Microsoft will just write a check and be done with it. However, Microsoft has said it’s working quickly to ship versions of Word/Office that remove the infringing code.

The only versions affected are Word/Office 2007 for Windows. The Mac version is exempt.

Category: News

Verizon Removes Search Choices For BlackBerrys

File this under WTF:

From the Register:

Yesterday, all of the search providers that used to be available through the browser disappeared and bing is the only option. I hate bing. I no longer am able to search using Google, Dictionary.com, or Wikipedia from the ‘Go to…’ page on my browser. This is a very poor decision…to take choice away from their users,” the first post says

I know AT&T has its problems, but Verizon has shown they are no better, and in many cases, worse than AT&T.

Category: News

Sequel Pro 0.97 Released

I had been a big user of CocoaMySQL years back, and was excited when I saw that project get new life as Sequel Pro. The team working on this app is nothing short of amazing. They have taken a useful tool and made it nearly indispensible.

New in this release:

• New application icon
• New server processes panel
• Query favourites editor
• Filter editor
• Improved tooltips including image previews
• Pagination interface for the content view
• Much faster (and more stable) import and export
• Early support for document-based connections
• Ability to stop custom query and content loads
• Introduction of threading for some tasks

I’ve been using the nightly builds of Sequel Pro for over a month now, and I amazed at how solid they are. Feature wise, Sequel Pro offers you just about everything you need to create, edit and maintain MySQL databases locally, or remotely via SSH.

Sequel Pro is (astonishgly) free, but if you use it, please consider donating to keep the project moving ahead.

Category: News

Camangi Webstation

Those who are pining for a 7 inch tablet at a low cost need not pine any longer. The Camangi Webstation is real, and nearly upon us. Weighing only 13.75 ounces and featuring a 7″ 800×400 touchscreen display, GPS and Android 1.5 (hopefully this is upgradeable), this looks like a nifty product.

I say nifty and not killer, because of a few nit picks:

• Wi-Fi is only 802.11b/g.
• System memory is only 128MB. This will seriously limit future Android upgrades.
• Looks like Camangi has eschewed the Android Marketplace for it’s own Camangi Marketplace. This brings in to question whether apps from the Android Marketplace will even run on the Webstation.

If you can live with those limitations, the Webstation costs $399, with pre-orders getting you a $10 reduction in price.

Category: News

The CrunchPad saga continues

Engadget has a good analysis of the Michael Arringtont/Fusion Garage conflict surrounding the CrunchPad device.

Money quote:

But for right now, we’re absolutely mystified as to how Michael Arrington — who, again, is an attorney — found himself in this position, and we’re still mildly convinced this is all some kind of stunt.

Indeed.

Category: News

Apple acquires Lala

Apple has acquired the streaming music service Lala, according to reports from the NY Times Brad Stone. Lala lets users stream music, operating on a business model that lets the user listen to anything once in its entirety for free, with subsequent plays costing fractions of what it would cost to purchase the track outright.

Of course, since this is Apple we are talking about, there is no indication of whether the purchase was about getting a head start in the streaming music business, or whether Apple just saw an inexpensive way to eliminate some competition. Perhaps Apple was only interested in the talent behind the organization, and not the product they actually produced.

Time will tell.

Category: News

AT&T Fights Back Against Verizon Ads

AT&T has decided enough is enough, and publicly responded (via a press release) to the claims made by Verizon Wireless in their latest ads.

AT&T cites as fact:

AT&T’s wireless data coverage reaches 303 million people – or 97% of the U.S. population, where they live and work. Our data coverage consists of 3 different types of technology:

3G. 233 million people or 75% of the population are covered by AT&T’s 3G network, the nation’s fastest.

EDGE. 301 million people or more than 96% of the population are covered by EDGE.

With both 3G and EDGE coverage, customers can access the Internet, send e-mail, surf the Web, stream music, download videos, send photos, text, talk and more. The only difference – with some data applications, 3G is faster than EDGE

GPRS. Covers 303 million people, allowing you to talk, text, e-mail and access basic websites optimized for wireless.

AT&T is the #1 network for smartphones, with twice the number of smartphone customers than Verizon, our closest competitor. Some of the reasons include:

Most popular smartphones. Unlike Verizon, AT&T offers the most popular smartphones in the industry.

More wireless apps. Unlike Verizon, AT&T customers have access to more than 100,000 applications, more than with any other wireless company.

Talk and E-mail at the same time. Unlike Verizon, AT&T’s 3G network lets wireless customers simultaneously talk and surf the web or do e-mail.

Fastest 3G in the nation. Unlike Verizon, AT&T has the nation’s fastest 3G network.

Responding to a negative ad is always a gamble, as it sometimes legitimizes the claim being made against you. In this case though, I think AT&T is correct in going after Verizon.

AT&T doesn’t have the coverage that Verizon does, and everyone pretty much knows it. However, I do believe that Verizon isn’t giving AT&T its due with regard to EDGE, which is a pretty fast fallback technology.

I have no love for AT&T, but I’m enough of a realist to understand that each of the cellphone companies have their issues.

Category: News

Magic Mouse – sold out?

It’s nearly two weeks after Apple’s new Magic Mouse debuted, and supplies are extremely constrained. Apple’s own website shows availablity as 5-7 days. Amazon lists their availability at 2-3 weeks. Most other retailers have yet to see any supply of the new wireless mouse.

This of course begs the question – is the Magic Mouse a hit? It seems strange that in a down economy people would be willing to cough up $70 for a wireless pointing device. Of course, this is Apple we are talking about, and most of the reviews for the Magic Mouse have been positive.

We’re still anxiously awaiting our Magic Mouse. Once we have it in hand, we’ll post a review.

Category: News

Snow Leopard now shipping!

Snow Leopard is out, and if you own an Intel Mac, you should upgrade. Save a few bucks by ordering through Amazon.com, who are selling Snow Leopard for the low price of $25. You can help us out by using the link below.

Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard

Mac OS X Snow Leopard Family Pack (5-User)

Category: News