Adobe has been hard at work for sometime now, creating a version of their Flash technology which could easily operate on wireless smartphones.

This week during the Adobe Developer Conference, they took the time to showcase their Flash 10 Player operating on Window’s Mobile, Google Android, and Nokia Symbian systems. It’s also expected that flash will be making an appearance on RIM’s BlackBerry sooner rather than later.

Who is missing from that list? You guessed it, Apple’s iPhone is reportedly not interested in having flash integrated into the iPhone.

Why? Well, Apple is known for being a little bit of a control-freak when it comes to their iPhone product, and even bars the downloading and use of any non-preloaded code. However, should the prevalance of flash on smart-phones, and more so their no-nuse of it, eat into their market share, they’ll no doubt be likely to reconsider.

There was never any doubt that the iPhone is popular, but just how popular it is is making headlines.

New reports indicated that the iPhone 3G is currently the most frequently purchased mobile handset bought by US consumers. This is the actually the first time a smart-phone has lead the pack among all handsets.

This news means that the Motorola RAZR, which had been on top for almost three years now, has been displaced. The iPhone also outpaces popular handsets shut as the LG Rumor and the Blackberry Curve

Now, while this is positive news for Apple, as you might suspect, due to the tough economic times mobile sales are down fifteen percent from last quarter. So, times are good for the iPhone, but perhaps not as good as they could be.

It sounds like a lot, and should mean a big increase in profits for manufacturer HTC in the upcoming months and year. However, while 500,000 units is certainly impressive, it won’t rival the first gen iPhone’s launch, which occurred in the summer of 2007.

Regardless, it’s a good number, and will give Android developers a sizable user-base to market new applications toward.

If you haven’t heard, or are perhaps were enjoying sometime living under a rock, T-Mobile is scheduled to launch the G1 Google Android phone on October 22nd. It offers touch screen, (hidden) QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi, 3-megapixel camera, navigation ball and will retail for $179.

The G1 Google Android

wireless phone is certainly a rising star, hitting Sarah Palin levels of interest this week. I’m not sure which one is garnering more interest, but it’s clear in either case, that people want to know more. I’ll leave the political news media to pursue Palin, while I consider the Android Google “Gphone” cell phone.

The G1 device, which is being produced by Taiwan’s HTC and sold in the US by retail wireless carrier T-Mobile, surely appears to be serviceable mobile, but with all the hype surrounding the G1 device, that’s hardly going to be enough to win over many critical tech-fanatics – which are, of course, used to the Apple iPhone’s sleek design and abundance of features.

Gphone features include a good sized touch screen, (hidden) QWERTY keyboard, 3G, Wi-Fi, 3-megapixel camera, navigation ball, dedicated internet button, and built in web apps. To build on this foundation, many more applications are offered through Google’s Android marketplace.

The heart of this endeavour and the hype going a lot with it, is Google’s open-source Android software, which is a Linux-based, open-source operating system for wireless phones that will work with Google applications. Google has promised that it will be free for manufacturers to work with, though there has been some debate throughout the blogosphere on whether that is entirely accurate or not.

As for cost, the price tag is a lot more decent than previously speculated, at $179 with two data plans available for $25 and $35 respectively. Currently, the G1 phone is only available to current T-Mobile customers through their website, however look for the new device to be featured at all T-Mobile locations by the end of October.

For a retro viewpoint, check out our previous Gphone update here.

Google G1 Phone

A revolution is easy to spot when looking backward, but they are much harder to see when they first happen. Microsoft, Apple, eBay, Amazon…all revolutions with ramifications that weren’t seen until much after they first released a product, or came online.

But I predict a revolution in an event that took place just a few days ago at the Worldwide Developers Conference, where Steve Jobs announced the latest version of the iPhone. I know, I know, you’re thinking that I missed the boat. The iPhone revolution already took place; this is old news.

But there is something in this iPhone that in my opinion will change things dramatically in the coming year: GPS.

GPS on the iPhone has the potential to allow users to link content to a specific location. For years, as I’ve talked with colleagues about this topic, the single biggest hurdle we’ve seen is the hardware problem. First there wasn’t a device that provided everything “all in one.” Then, as devices started to have the necessary features, few people actually owned them.

With the new iPhone we now have a device that provides access to the Internet, true GPS navigation, and the ability to record audio and take pictures. What does that give us?

Information is useful, but information given in context is even more so. That is why 100 years ago if you wanted to learn about barrel making, you didn’t go to the library, you became an apprentice. You learned the information at the location where it made the most sense.

Today, we have access to almost limitless amounts of information. Much of this information is about the physical world around us. A user can learn about species of plants and animals, virtually visit far away lands, or read about the history of places around the globe. Unfortunately, as soon as the user steps away from their computer and into the outside world, their access to this information is severed.

My family and I just went to Oceanside, California and enjoyed some time at a lovely beach. While there I wondered what the weather would be like tomorrow. I wondered if there were any tricks to body surfing, or if there was a place nearby that rented boogie boards.

Imagine if I could have turned on my iPhone and found articles and contents left by other users. The information would have been delivered to me not by searching for it, but based on my location. Users might have linked the location of the beach to Wikipedia articles on surfing, local weather, eateries, current tide conditions, news about recent shark attacks, etc. There may have even been information that I found useful that I wouldn’t have thought to search for.

Sure, there are times when I want to turn off technology and just get outside. But there are also times when I want to learn about the great outdoors, and I’d rather be doing it out in the sun, than stuck in front of a screen.

I predict that in the coming months and years, we will see the information age leave the basements and stuffy rooms of our houses, and break out into the great outdoors.

Note: This article cross-posted at Chickens Don’t Have Armpits.

Related Link: Apple iPhone 3G

We took a lot of flack over a post back in January that questioned the security of Apple’s Mac OS X. TechConsumers left various comments ranging from “For some reason unknown to me, no one can ever show me a situation where a user opens a e-mail and their Mac turns into a robot sending out hundreds of e-mails” to “Mac OS X *is* inherently safer. You have to be a major league Windows zombie not to know and accept that.”

Well, CanSecWest’s PWN 2 OWN contest has just shown that Mac OS X isn’t “inherently safer” and that clearly it is possible for a user to open an e-mail on a Mac and have it join a spam botnet.

For those not familiar with CanSecWest or their PWN 2 OWN contest, here is the scoop. CanSecWest is “the world’s most advanced conference focusing on applied digital security.” And for the last few years, they have been running a contest during the conference to see which operating system is the most vulnerable: Windows Vista, Mac OS X, or Ubuntu Linux.

If you can hack (run arbitrary code) the laptop running the OS, you get to keep the laptop and a $10,000 cash prize. It is important to note that the “hacker” does not get physical access to the machine, and the laptops are in their default configuration. If you want more details please check out this link.

For the second year in a row the Mac was the first to fall, and Charlie Miller is now the proud owner of a MacBook Air with Mac OS X 10.5.2. Charlie is best known for being the researcher who first hacked Apple’s iPhone. It may be rude to say, but it is kind of vindicating for us that clearly we weren’t out on a limb when it came to Mac security. Within two minutes of the start, he directed the contest organizers to a certain website that executed his exploit.

Although the winner cannot publicly disclose details of the vulnerability, it is safe to assume the problem is in Safari. This comes after Paypal started recommending to their users that they ditch Safari due to security issues. And for the icing on the cake, Apple has started to use some under-handed methods to trick fool scam swindle con hustle sucker encourage iTunes/Quicktime users to install their underdog browser.

What can the nay-sayers say now?

Note: This article is cross-posted at PseudoSavant.

Paul’s Soapbox is a regular feature of TechConsumer where I sound off on various tech topics/products that I’m interested in (or hate). This is just my $.02, so consider yourself warned. This week’s subjects? Vista, Mario, and Kevin Rose…

For all the Vista users out there, I recently stumbled across an awesome program for the Vista Sidebar. It is called Amnesty Generator, and basically it will take the code for any web widget (think Google Gadgets, ESPN, etc) and turn it into a Vista Sidebar compatible gadget. It is a simple program, but works great; I use it to display the NBA.com live sports scores on my desktop. Check it out. There is also a Mac OS X version, but I have not used it.

Next up on the block is Nintendo’s forthcoming Mario Kart release for the Wii. Forget Zelda or Metroid, Mario Kart may be the most important franchise Nintendo has made in the last decade or two. All three people Everyone who had a N64 or Gamecube had Mario Kart; it is probably the only game I really played on Gamecube. It single handedly kept Nintendo in the console business, IMHO.

The formula is simple, easy and fun racing antics for you and your friends. Really it is about playing with others and yelling at them when they use a power-up on you. “Damn you Carl! That was the luckiest turtle shell ever!” The problem is that Mario Kart for Wii will not have voice support for online play (of course you can still taunt in person ).

Maybe it is just me, but I don’t get it. Why doesn’t Nintendo come out with a headset for the Wii (it uses Bluetooth after all)? They made a steering wheel for Mario Kart, and I would think that another accessory to buy would fit perfect with Nintendo’s current accessory fetish strategy.

Mario Kart online won’t be half of the fun it could be with voice support. I understand that they may be concerned about the unwanted jagged words you often hear on Xbox Live, but limiting voice chat to friends-only by default would take care of that. When I read posts like this of people using Xbox 360s to do voice chat while they play Wii games, you know something is wrong.

Lastly, and certainly not least, why do people care what Kevin Rose says or does? (This is a real question, feel free to comment). I know he runs a website that is almost as popular as TechConsumer (ha!), but really, why do people care? It was the Kevin Rose 3G iPhone rumors post about back-to-back webcams that really pushed me over the edge. It got coverage on AppleInsider, Gizmodo, Techmeme, and of course Digg.

Kevin Rose has had one good idea in his life so far (which appears to be easy to copy and make better), and that’s it. Digg initially thrived under the so-called “wisdom of crowds” but it is now languishing under “mob rule.” Interestingly enough, the mob has a fancy for Paris Hilton, all products from Apple, and stupid ugly cats (and squirrels). More people on Digg read what Kevin Rose says than what Ben Bernanke says (even with this “recession”). Rose’s predictions were way off on the iPhone 1.0, so why would I listen to him now? He doesn’t work with or for Apple (actually his business relationship is closer with Microsoft).

So again I ask, why does anyone listen to Kevin Rose? If you can actually give me a good reason why, I’ll be surprised.

Note: This article is cross-posted at PseudoSavant.

                                                    
ITaP (short for Information Technology at Purdue) is offering advice for potential buyers of the iPhone: Wait. According to Frank Wolf, Mac specialist and systems administrator for ITaP:

“The iPhone is still being considered by many to be a revision-one product when thinking about it in an enterprise. I recommend to the people we support that they hold off on getting an iPhone until the next revision is released.”

Here’s more of his reasoning as to why you should wait:

“Early adopters run a risk of getting left out of more enterprise-friendly features of future releases. The next version of the iPhone is rumored to be 3G-capable, which would bring faster cellular network speeds.”

And he’s not the only one from Purdue’s IT department saying to wait. Julie Kercher-Updike, associate vice president for ITaP, says, “If your primary use for a device is for a phone, Internet access on the go, and reading e-mail, then the iPhone is a pretty slick device. If you want to have up-to-the- minute calendar access, then the iPhone might not replace your Blackberry just yet.”

Apparently, synchronizing the iPhone with enterprise Outlook or Entourage calendars is a hassle and includes some manual processes: “Campus computer users who want to use a handheld device primarily to check and schedule meetings probably will want to continue using a device that synchronizes wirelessly like a Blackberry or other Windows-compatible mobile device.”

Another problem is that the iPhone doesn’t support 802.1x, which makes it so the device doesn’t work with the latest client for accessing Purdue’s wireless network.

This shouldn’t be a big surprise to anyone used to new technology. It’s difficult enough to create a breakthrough product, let alone have it interface properly with existing infrastructures. But that isn’t to say that the trade off of having the latest gadget isn’t worth it to some people. It is. But for the rest of us, here’s to the second generation of tech products.

*Update* Coincidentally released the same day, check out this article called Apple: All signs point to a more business friendly iPhone.

*Update 2* Wow. Not sure what’s causing the next gen iPhone news today, but here’s another take that says the next gen iPhone could be here “mid-year.”

Paul’s Soapbox is a new regular feature of TechConsumer where I sound off on various tech topics/products that I’m interested in (or hate). This is just my $.02, so consider yourself warned. Apple gets another beat down this week…

AppleTV is first up on the chopping block. Personally I love how Steve Jobs said at Macworld 2008 that AppleTV 1.0 was more about sharing music and pictures. If that was really the case then why was it called AppleTV? It is funny that a device with TV in the name has hardly any TV content. Especially since the departure of NBC from iTunes. AppleTV “Take Two” is about movies; it won’t be until AppleTV “Third Time’s the Charm” that you’ll get the TV part. Yet another reason why people should hold off on the AppleTV.

It is apparent that Apple is deliberately trying to avoid any sort DVR functionality too. I think Apple does not want to have to compete head-to-head with Microsoft’s Media Center offering. If you haven’t seen what Vista Media Center is like (which is included with Vista Home Premium and Ultimate) you owe it to yourself to check it out; especially if you have an Xbox 360 and could leverage the extender functionality. I think it is the best DVR UI I have ever used (better than Tivo even).

It would probably be easier for Apple to get more TV content if Steve didn’t develop such a bad rap with what he did to the companies in the music cartel industry. Everyone else saw that you need to be careful when you partner with Apple. Steve seems fairly Machiavellian in is his business relationships. I wouldn’t want my company to partner with Apple. It is like partnering with Walmart; a very one-way relationship.

One more thing that just kills me. What is with Apple and blaming GAAP and SarbOx for charging customers for new features? In case you haven’t heard about this, I’ll give you the gist of it. Apple has started charging users for various updates that would usually be free, but they have officially stated that it is because of accounting regulations. If they add significant new features without charging for them they’d be breaking the law, and/or they would have to restate earnings for previous years.

First it started with nickel-and-diming selling MacBook Pro users an updated driver (a new driver!) to enable the Wireless-N functionality that was already built into the laptop they had purchased. Yeah, they were charging people for software to use hardware they already paid for! Then they started charging $20 to iPod Touch users for software that is included with the iPhone. Now, accounting is the “reason” for why movie rentals won’t come to pre-generation six iPods. It isn’t that they just want you to upgrade to a new iPod, they swear. No seriously. Honestly. They would if they could, but they can’t. No other company could concoct a story like that for their customers and get away with it.

The Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 have both had significant new features added. Microsoft made the Zune 1.0 upgradable to the Zune 2.0 firmware. My Treo cellphone has had a number of updates that added significant features (instant messaging, SDHC memory card support, push-to-talk support, MP3 ringtones). Or how about my Linksys WRT54G that I’ve been running forever, I don’t even know how few features the 1.0 firmware had compared to what comes on it now. Basically anything with firmware can get significant new features. So apparently every other tech company on the planet just figured out how to screw over the U.S. government whereas poor old Apple suspiciously has to appeal to the good nature of its core consumers?

Although even the iPhone and AppleTV have had significant new features added which Apple didn’t charge for. Apple, if you want to gouge charge your customers, get a spine and just say you are going to charge them for new features. Don’t hide behind what looks like an outright lie that you can’t make the features available for free. Between my undergrad and graduate accounting courses I know enough to know that isn’t true.

*I promise I won’t even mention Apple in my next soapbox.

Note: This article is cross-posted at PseudoSavant.

While it’s nothing new for organized crime to focus on phishing and identity theft, Windows-based computers have traditionally taken the brunt of most attacks. So much so, in fact, that plenty of my Apple friends claimed it as yet another reason to switch to the below-the-radar Mac. Too bad, then, that a report out last week shows that the end of 2007 was the beginning of “financially-motivated” organized crime targeting Apple computers.

Is this good news or bad? After all, it could be taken as a sign of Apple’s success. Macs finally appear to be popular enough that cybercriminals care. However you frame it, check out this call to arms of sorts from Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos (the firm responsible for this report):

“Mac users have for years prided themselves on making smarter decisions than their PC cousins – well, now’s the chance to prove it. The Mac malware problem is currently tiny compared to the Windows one, so if enough Apple Mac users resist clicking on unsolicited weblinks or downloading unknown code from the web then there’s a chance they could send a clear message to the hackers that it’s not financially rewarding to target Macs. If they fail to properly defend themselves, however, there’s a chance that more cybercriminals will decide it’s worth their while to develop more malware for Mac during 2008.”

So there you have it, Mac users, unite and be as smart as you feel! The report also noted that Wi-Fi enabled devices and other mobile technologies (even mentioning Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch) are likely to be targeted this year.

Note: This article is cross-posted at BobCaswell.com.

Use your computer to look into an email directory and Wi-Fi directory today.