Tim Marman's Loosely Coupled

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• The Enterprise, The iPhone, and the Role of Silverlight

  With its recent announcement to support ActiveSync on the iPhone , Apple is clearly going after the enterprise user. The problem, as Colin puts it, is that the decisions that consumers make decisions on a radically different set of criteria than organizations . Lack of Exchange support was surely holding back enterprise adoption, so that move was both obvious and inevitable. The fact that they are also supporting remote wipe is a bigger deal than most might realize too - security is a major concern for large enterprises, and for a long time Blackberry was the de facto device in large part because of this. (Windows Mobiles devices weren't allowed at my last job until the Remote Wipe feature was enabled). Fundamentally, I think we're moving to a model where enterprises are going to demand a certain baseline for devices to play in their garden. Features like over-the-air Exchange connectivity, remote wipe, and support for .NET, Java, and Flash are quickly becoming non-negotiable. It... Posted Mar 27 2008, 09:00 AM by Tim with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Rants, Gadgets, Microsoft, .NET, Enterprise, Apple, Programming

• What exactly is an iPhone application?

  Scoble mentions 3 new iPhone apps today from Newsgator, Bloglines, and Google. It's interesting that companies keep saying they are doing "iPhone development", when really these are nothing more than sites skinned to look more natural on the iPhone. The iPhone is the only mobile phone that gets special versions made for it, which is especially curious to me considering one of its big selling points is the full-featured Safari and a better browsing experience in general. My initial take is that these companies are just trying to ride the coattails of the amazing iPhone marketing. Mashable says "NewsGator hasn’t been so hyped in recent months, and all I ever hear about is Google Reader." Is it just an easy press release when you have nothing else interesting to announce? Or do these special versions really make a difference? (I don't have an iPhone... so isn't an entirely rhetorical question). Posted Jul 24 2007, 10:28 PM by Tim with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Software Development, Rants, Gadgets, Things that amuse me, Marketing, Apple, Programming

• The iPhone is a game-changer

  I recently wrote a piece for the TechDirt Insight Community about the impact of the iPhone and how the other carriers and device manufacturers can respond to the iPhone. I've come to realize that the iPhone has indeed changed the game, but maybe not for the obvious reasons. Yes, the iPhone is "making it okay to experiment with new ideas, and throw out previously taboo notions." It will probably lead to innovation with touch interfaces, and will probably shake up the way we purchase and activate phones. Ultimately, though, those aren't why the iPhone is important. The iPhone is important because it's the first smartphone that appeal to the general public. For example, Tara had heard all the hype but had no interest in the iPhone, nor does she have any interest in a BlackBerry or the Samsung Blackjack. Then she saw this David Pogue video, to which she responded "whoa - that thing is sweet! I had no idea it was that cool". According to Charlie's informal... Posted Jul 05 2007, 05:12 PM by Tim with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Rants, Gadgets, Apple

• iPhone impressions

  Alex has an iPhone (two, actually) and posted his first impressions (but not until he shared his activation woes ). In talking to Alex and reading other reviews, the general consensus is that the iPhone is very good, but underneath it all it's still the same old carrier BS. I did have a chance to play with it briefly this morning and it's undoubtedly a very, very slick device (in both form factor and UI experience). We may have been wrong about condemning the choice of glass . It looks like it's quite durable , and actually didn't smudge too much in the few minutes I used it. It may sound scary, but hey, the only thing that scratches glass is diamonds and other glass right? I am still probably not going to be getting one , the convergence with my Dash to Exchange is simply awesome, and I can still get work e-mail through Good Technologies. Aside from that, the other thing that really stood out for me was the recessed headphone jack. One of my biggest complaints with Windows Mobile devices... Posted Jul 02 2007, 11:27 AM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Technology, Gadgets, Apple

• Windows Home Server

  One of the more exciting announcements that many may have been missed in the iPhone haze last week was Windows Home Server . It's a headless Windows 2003 appliance that 1) backs up data from all computers on a network, 2) streams media, and 3) provides remote access to documents over the Internet. Alex and I had discussed doing something awhile back based on Microsoft Small Business Server 2003. In fact, Alex even have a virtual machine image created, where the OS was on one drive and all data was on another - in our case, on external flash storage. The three features above are great, but there are three other features we felt were core to such a system, and I'd love to see them addressed before this is released. First of all, a local mail server. I know they want people to use Live.com, but the fact is more and more businesses are blocking web mail. They mostly likely won't know, and thus won't be able to block, your home PC. Furthermore, the integration with Outlook with Live.com is not... Posted Jan 14 2007, 07:48 AM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Technology, Gadgets, Microsoft, Apple

• I don't want an iPhone

  No, I'm not entirely crazy. There's no denying that this is a sweet device. The people and markets have spoken and most seem to be in love - or at least in lust - with it. As a device, I think that it's a game changer - but there there are some practical issues I need to get past before I can bring myself to buy one. First of all, I've been spoiled by the the convergence on my Blackberry . It's been an amazing experience carrying one device for my phone, work e-mail, personal e-mail and Internet access. It's going to take a lot for me to give that up, though the iPhone probably comes close. Beyond this, there's the issue of Cingular exclusivity . Even with number portability, switching carriers is not a trivial task. I'm sure Apple decided to announce 6 months before the actual release to allow prospective customers to let their contracts expire - I've already heard people at work planning on doing so. It should be noted that this is a GSM device, so it hurts the CDMA-based Verizon and... Posted Jan 10 2007, 04:37 PM by Tim with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Gadgets, Personal, Innovation, Apple

• Podcast support in Windows Media Player 11

  There is one other issue I need to deal with before I can totally switch to Windows Media Player 11 - podcast support. Microsoft made the head-scratching decision not to include native podcast support - one area where iTunes really excelled. Someone wrote a plugin over the summer , but it doesn't work in WMP 11 and Vista and he's not maintaining it right now . There are countless other third party aggregators (Doppler is an old favorite), but I need to spend some time figuring it all out. My key requirements are: Automatic downloads (no manual intervention) Synchronization to the device (at most 1 click, preferably none) Removal of old podcasts (preferably removed from the device after they've been listened to, but I'll accept support for the last, say, 3 episodes - as long as Steve Gillmor doesn't break CalacanisCast into 17 parts). For those of you not using iTunes, how are you managing your subscriptions? Note: I'll update this post over time as I refine the strategy. Posted Dec 28 2006, 02:56 PM by Tim with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Software Development, Rants, Gadgets, Music, Blogging, Apple, Audio, Podcast

• dopisp adds iPod support in WMP 11

  Like most people, I would prefer to use a single media player to manage my library. I like Windows Media Player 11 more than iTunes 7 , and this is especially true since I've subscribed to the Urge subscription service . (I really wish Apple would provide a subscription-based service for the iPod). The problem, of course, is that Windows Media Player still doesn't support the iPod - something I complained about in 2004 with WMP10 . As it turns out, someone finally wrote a plug-in to support the iPod in WMP ( via LifeHacker ). I downloaded the trial last night and will give it more time, but so far it seems to work very well. Assuming I can figure out a good way to handle podcasts, it is well worth the $15. Posted Dec 28 2006, 11:33 AM by Tim with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Gadgets, Music, Microsoft, Apple, Audio

• iTunes 7 vs. Windows Media Player 11

  One of the main reasons I prefer Windows Media Player to iTunes is that WMP monitors folders and automatically updates your library. In other words, if you add or remove folders on your hard drive, the changes are reflected in your library - automatically. For some inexplicable reason, iTunes doesn't do this. I had been using a wonderful little product called iTunes Library Updater to "fix" the library, but it's a manual process and one that really started to grate on me. While I really liked some of the new interface and features in Windows Media Player 11, the first beta was just too damn slow - but Beta 2 is MUCH, MUCH faster. The instant search works well, and the video interface is very nice and clean. The integrated Windows Media Connect is also a nice touch. People are raving about the changes in iTunes 7, so I decided to give it a go with my new 2nd generation nano. Paul calls it "the best software-based media jukebox [he's] ever used." The first thing I noticed is that they finally... Posted Sep 22 2006, 05:20 PM by Tim with | with 12 comment(s) Filed under: Technology, Gadgets, Microsoft, Video, Apple

• Today's Apple announcements

  While I was busy blogging about SAP TechEd, Apple was busy releasing new stuff. No touchscreen video iPod, but a number of interesting (evolutionary) releases including a new 8GB nano which I expect I will be ordering shortly have ordered. Dave summarizes nicely . but here's my roundup. The iTV , a wireless media extender descibed as a "flattened Mac Mini". The iTV will be available in Q1 2007. The 6G iPod line brings a bump to 80GB, 3.5 hours of video playback, and support for games. The 2G Nano line , including new colors, an 8GB capacity, 24 hour battery life, and reduced pricing. The 8GB model is available only in black at a price of $249. A 2G Shuffle line , which makes the screenless shuffle impressively small. The new model is supposedly the size of the iPod radio remote with a 1GB capacity and will be released in October for $79. The iTunes Movie Store , offering 640x480 movie downloads (with Dolby Surround Sound). The store launches with 70 movies. Most titles will be $9.99, with... Posted Sep 12 2006, 09:31 PM by Tim with | with no comments Filed under: Technology, Gadgets, Apple