Aug 5th, 2008 - I get the feeling a lot has been written on these blog pages about the iPhone 3G and MobileMe and a lot of people are probably not all that interested. It's worth mentioning, though, that a leaked memo from Steve Jobs basically admits the MobileMe launch was premature. I have to agree. It's... (Read More)

Jul 22nd, 2008 - Since everyone else is speculating like mad about Apple's plans following their warning on profuts due to a product transition, I thought I might as well have a go. I'm doing it with a difference, though; this isn't what I think will happen, it's what I want to happen. 1. A less expensive,... (Read More)

Jul 14th, 2008 - My colleague Ron Miller makes some excellent points about the iPhone shortage in the US in his blog entry. If this were any other company we would indeed be taking them to task. Hang on though, let's think a minute: everyone's talking about a hardware shortage, the iPhones aren't in stock yet so... (Read More)

Jul 2nd, 2008 - If I wanted to sell a domestic computer I'd do what Apple did a while ago and make it look good. It's supposed to go in someone's home. That's the secret of the laptop-on-a-stick, sorry, the iMac. It also sells into the corporate environment to an extent. This surprises me. Someone has now... (Read More)

Jun 10th, 2008 - OK, the iPhone launched yesterday. Apple aims at the corporate market with support for MS Exchange e-mail and at the consumer with a snazzier connection to the Net wherever you are. I have to admit I was a little underwhelmed with the phone - which is ironic when you consider I've ordered one... (Read More)

Jun 9th, 2008 - It's started, then. Today there is likely to be an announcement about the new iPhone and according to rumour it's going to be cheaper, smaller, more functional, with 3G, better storage and all manner of unsubstantiated stuff - believe it when Apple says it later today. Only, last week I saw... (Read More)

May 7th, 2008 - Of course. That's the answer. Easy. Japan has sorted it all out. They're planning to put a tax on MP3 players. This will be an interesting move not because a single country is planning such a tax - let's be honest, I'm in the UK, the chances are most readers are going to be in America and... (Read More)

Aug 1st, 2008 - For once someone has done the right thing. You might remember my last post was a disappointed rant against China for restricting access to the Internet for journalists covering the Olympics. I can't speak for the US but in the UK it got as far as our National news bulletins. Well, the move... (Read More)

Jun 18th, 2008 - It's up there now and according to the BBC its makers want it to be the most downloaded software in its first 24 hours ever. Firefox 3 is now available for public download, although the final release candidate has been so close to commercial standard you wouldn't be able to see much difference. ... (Read More)

Jul 31st, 2008 - I just love stories like this. There's a survey in Australia that demonstrates how few companies bother responding to e-mailed queries. Apparently some 60 per cent of large organisations simply don't bother answering questions sent by mail. I have to declare some amusement here. In 1997 I edited... (Read More)

Jul 28th, 2008 - I was about to launch into a tirade on the new search engine Cuil but I see one of my colleagues has already done it. Instead I'll be the first to warn about choosing names carefully. Cuil is apparently Gaelic for knowledge and, er, hazel. That's fine and good but it's very close to 'Cul', which... (Read More)

May 12th, 2008 - I'm going on the radio (BBC London) in a few days because in the UK we have a 'National Work from Home Day' this coming Thursday (be sure and quote that to anyone who ever tells you Americans are perceived as vulgar and ostentatious over here). One of the things I'm being sent to look at is one of... (Read More)

May 6th, 2008 - Walking around the Digital Summer event in London last week a number of things became obvious. First, everyone wants the sound to come off their iPod and into the world of speakers. Second, people are starting to focus on how to get sounds that aren't prerecorded onto an iPod in the first place.... (Read More)

Jul 24th, 2008 - The fact that the UK's Internet providers are doing something about illegal downloads of music is of course to be welcomed in principle. Whenever the subject comes up there are a handful of objections; civil liberties, the Internet should be free, whatever, the objectors seem to come from... (Read More)

Jul 17th, 2008 - That's what the Wall Street Journal seems to think anyway. I can't help but be a little cynical about this, what with their would-be deal with Yahoo! hardly cold in its grave. The cold-hearted journalist in me tends to see conspiracy theories wherever it looks, so please forgive me if I indulge... (Read More)

Jul 15th, 2008 - So I get this call. Would I like an exclusive briefing on a new technology that's going to turn text into speech - the first one to do this 'native'. Forgive me, but no I don't. This typifies, in my view, the all-too-common view that a technical advance ought to be done for the sake of it. Let's... (Read More)

Jul 11th, 2008 - I have an iPhone on my desk. Don't get excited, though - you'll have read a number of accounts of difficulties getting hold of them in the UK, and they're right. I have one on my desk because mobile phone company 02's media relations department kindly sent it over so I could have a look at it... (Read More)

Jul 7th, 2008 - First, a bit of confirmation - the iPhone does indeed seem to be in short supply over here, many thanks to 'staff writer' for the story here. I had a text from 02's publicity people to say the orders were being taken at 7.30am and the site had stopped offering them by 10. And it appears we're not... (Read More)

Jun 19th, 2008 - Here's a belter of a link from Nicholas Carr at TheAtlantic.com. When I first read it I felt like laughing out loud because it was so improbable. Google and other searches (but mostly Google because so many modern searches are based on it anyway) making us mentally lazy or even stupid? Never, I... (Read More)

Jun 16th, 2008 - I've just had a press release from Salesforce.com about the next iteration of its software. It's all going to be based on cloud computing - you log onto it from a browser more or less anywhere and it's available to you wherever you are. Much as the new version of Apple's .Mac communications will be... (Read More)

Jun 11th, 2008 - Google Gears are now available for the Firefox 3 Browser, or so it says on CNET - understandably there's some reluctance to confirm in advance of the formal release of the browser itself (although the release candidate looks pretty clean). The final version of the browser will be around later... (Read More)

Jul 1st, 2008 - I've left this one a few days as I've been waiting to see whether there's a consensus. Last week ICANN overhauled the rules on Internet domain name, permanently - there's a BBC report on it here. Without seeing any of the new domain names just yet it's difficult to tell just what the impact is... (Read More)

Jun 26th, 2008 - So the ICANN people are discussing a major overhaul of the Internet in Paris today. I can't say I'm all that delighted. The thing about the Internet is that it basically works. If you can read this it's because I'm able, from London, to type in www.daniweb.com and follow the links in to submit... (Read More)

Jun 23rd, 2008 - It's that time of year in the UK once more - the Wimbledon grand slam tennis tournament is upon us. Here in the UK we believe this is the most important tennis tournament in the world. When you talk to a French person they'll tell you the same thing about the French Open, and no doubt the American... (Read More)

Jun 3rd, 2008 - It's unsurprising that a report in the UK says that there are gross variations in the speed picked up by broadband customers in different areas of the UK. I have no doubt this is the same in the US and elsewhere. The major population centres get the faster broadband, if you hadn't guessed as much.... (Read More)

May 28th, 2008 - So the worst-kept secret is finally out of the bag - the next generation of Windows will work with touch screens. It will be faster than current versions of the system and it will take multiple inputs. I can't help being just a little cynical about this one. Yes, I understand the advantage of a... (Read More)

May 22nd, 2008 - American readers will have been delighted by last night's announcement ('last night' is relative, it was last night in the UK) that Microsoft is going to offer cash back on items bought through its partners from its search engine scheme. The idea completes a notion that began over a decade ago with... (Read More)

May 20th, 2008 - I went to the demonstrations of the latest satellite navigation system from TomTom, and guess what - there's very little new to speak of in any of the devices. Yes, some of them have a wider screen than before and indeed I agree the new mounts for the dashboard are more elegant than the crane-like... (Read More)

May 19th, 2008 - An interesting development in the UK is that residents of Solihull Community Housing are about to get connected to the Internet through their power points at low cost, subsidised due to their low incomes. Solihull is a town in the North of England and these are homes provided by Local Government,... (Read More)