By JR Raphael
June 3, 2010

By Matt Egan
January 7, 2009

LONDON – Bluetooth specialist manufacturer Parrot has been wowing visitors to the Consumer Electronics Show here in Las Vegas with its AR.Drone: toy helicopter and real-life video game that’s controlled with an Apple iPhone.

The AR.Drone is in fact a ‘quadricopter’, with four 15-watt rotors that spin as fast as 1,500rpm, allowing the device to travel at up to 11 miles per hour. It is controlled by Wi-Fi signals, and includes four wireless cameras. Using these gamers stream video to an Apple iPhone or iPod touch – these will require a simple software update, and Parrot plans to add more phone platforms soon.

Using the images streamed, the device and software creates an “augmented reality” video game, which allows gamers to selet mundane objects in their environment and use them for point-scoring target practice. (Tired of your spouse? Here’s the perfect, safe way of working off some frustration!

The AR.Drone device is made of carbon fibre and PA66 plastic. According to Parrot it is robust enough to be used outdoors, and it comes with a shield to allow it to be used indors without damaging the rotors (or the aforementioned spouse).

The AR.Drone runs Linux, and Parrot is making the platform available to developers here at CES. According to Parrot, the AR.Drone has a three-cell, 1,000 mAh lithium polymer battery, and a 15-frame-per-second (fps) front camera as well as a high-speed (60fps) camera that looks straight down. It will be available ‘later this year’, and pricing is not yet known.

When you buy an Apple device, you’re often locked in to buying other Apple products that are compatible with it. Here are five examples, and some advice on what to do. Oh, wait–there’s nothing you can do.

By Dan Tynan
November 4, 2009

4. Installed Software and Extra, Unwanted Apps
Apple has a history of taking advantage of its iTunes-iPod/iPhone headlock to promote its other products and services. For example, in March 2008 many Windows users were surprised to find Apple’s Safari browser installed on their systems–a little gift left by the latest iTunes update.

At the time, Mozilla CEO John Lilly lit into Apple for the practice. “It undermines the trust relationship great companies have with their customers, and that’s bad–not just for Apple, but for the security of the whole Web,” Lilly wrote.

After enough people complained, Apple made an infinitesimal change, creating a “new software” category in its update app but leaving installation as the default.

In July 2008 Apple’s iTunes update began quietly installing the company’s MobileMe online data-sync service without any notification to the user.

In September of this year, Windows blogger Ed Bott noted that again Apple tried to use updates to an existing software program (Boot Camp) to install an iPhone Configuration Utility, even though he had never used an iPhone. Apple subsequently removed that program from its Windows Update utility. To this day, if you update the QuickTime video player, it will also look to install iTunes, regardless of whether you’ve ever owned an Apple device.

With the exception of MobileMe, none of these software programs generate revenue for Apple. But they do serve to pull users further into Apple’s ecosystem.

4. Shoes and Spies
In March 2007, Apple applied for a patent on technology that allowed it to pair a garment with an electronic sensor, as it had done with the Nike iPod Sport Kit. That kit allowed owners of Nike shoes to track their speed, mileage, and other data on their iPods. Apple’s objective in the patent: to prevent users from removing the sensor from the Nike shoe and putting it into shoes from a different manufacturer–what New Scientist’s Paul Marks called “DRM for your wardrobe.”

Two months later the company filed for a patent on technology that would prevent Apple devices from accepting a charge during certain circumstances. This tech would prevent a thief from recharging your iPhone or iPod, but it could also keep you from charging the device if you tried to sync it with an “unauthorized” PC. And last August the company filed for a patent on sensors that would record “customer abuse events” on Apple products; the data from these sensors would presumably be used to deny warranty repair claims by documenting damage that was the customer’s fault.

Apple is certainly within its rights to patent such technologies; what these applications show, though, is that there is seemingly no limit to what the company wants to control.

Many such lock-in examples exist, to be sure, and we’d like to hear yours, in the comments below.

The question is, do Apple fans care? Widman, for one, says, “Choice is overrated. As a consumer, I’m more interested in something that works.”

It’s a reasonable argument–but also a costly one. Is it really worth it?

When you buy an Apple device, you’re often locked in to buying other Apple products that are compatible with it. Here are five examples, and some advice on what to do. Oh, wait–there’s nothing you can do.

By Dan Tynan
November 4, 2009

2. iPhone and the App Store
It’s sad but inescapable: if you want a sexy iPhone in the US, you also have to make do with AT&T (or Globe Telecom here in the Philippines — ed). Your alternatives? Take your chances with iPhone unlocking software (and hope that Apple doesn’t release an OS update that turns the phone into a brick), or move to Europe, where you have a somewhat broader choice of carriers. Locked (though heavily subsidized) phones are an unfortunate fact of life in this country, a situation not unique to the iPhone.

The iPhone’s software shop, on the other hand, is a dictatorship. Apps for the iPhone are available only from the App Store in iTunes. And North Korea’s Kim Jong-il has nothing on the people who run the App Store, whose decisions about what apps may be sold seem more capricious as time goes on. Apps that duplicate (or improve upon) features available from Apple or AT&T are strictly forbidden–hence the ongoing controversy over Google Voice, an application that would allow VoIP calls over the iPhone, if only Apple would approve it.

iPhone owners have had the option of jailbreaking the handset, which allows them to install apps not approved by Apple while voiding the warranty (see the dangers of unlocking, above). With changes that Apple has made to the iPhone 3GS, however, jailbreaking may no longer be possible.

Apple claims that jailbreaking the iPhone violates its copyrights and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Digital-rights organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation beg to differ.

The EFF’s Fred von Lohman argues that iPhone owners should be free to tinker with their phones, especially when they can add capabilities that App Store programs don’t yet provide. He notes that “the courts have long recognized that copying software while reverse-engineering is a fair use when done for purposes of fostering interoperability with independently created software, a body of law that Apple conveniently fails to mention.”

By comparison, things are slightly different for the open-source mobile OS Google Android, whose owners can buy apps from multiple online stores (including AppVee, Handango, and MobiHand). Android apps also undergo an approval process; Google says about 1 percent of apps are rejected. Still, according to Wired, several iPhone developers booted from the App Store are opting for the friendlier environs of Google’s mobile OS, which some say allow them to be freer with both the OS code and the phone features when they’re creating apps.

With each major mobile platform developing its own app stores, more differences may emerge. As its competitors grow in popularity, the iPhone App Store may have to relax some of its restrictions or risk driving away more developers.

3. Mac Computers and the Mac OS
Ever since the Second Coming (aka the return of Steve Jobs to Apple in 1997), the Mac has been a tightly controlled, closed system. The result? High prices and limits on the options you can get with Mac hardware.

For example, you still can’t buy an Apple machine with support for Blu-ray drives. And although Apple has cut prices–in part due to some aggressive Microsoft marketing–the average Mac still costs more than the average Windows PC, according to the latest figures from The NPD Group‘s retail tracking service.

“The Mac showcases the traditional lock-in method of tying software to hardware,” says Rob Enderle, principal analyst with The Enderle Group. “This is the act of making the OS and certain core software inexpensive or free, and subsidizing it by high-margin hardware. It’s a classic misdirection, and it works as long as there isn’t a third party who can compete with a more reasonably priced package (which is what Psystar is trying to do).”

Psystar’s attempts to market hardware capable of running the Mac OS have resulted in an ongoing legal battle between it and Apple; few observers give Psystar much chance of winning that fight.

The main advantage to the marriage of Apple hardware and software is “a unified source of service,” notes Jake Widman, who has written about Apple for two decades, most recently for bMighty’s blogs. “You made everything in this box; you fix it.”

Reopening the Mac OS to third-party manufacturers, as Apple did in the mid-1990s, might lower prices but increase support pain, Widman adds. “I recently compared the cost of a Psystar with that of a Mini (and the old Mini, before the recent bump), and ended up wondering how much hassle one was willing to put up with in order to save $120.”

Has the closed Apple ecosystem resulted in more-reliable, better-supported systems? Apple has traditionally fared well in consumer hardware-reliability surveys (including PC World’s). This year, however, Apple fell to a distant second behind netbook maker Asus in reliability data collected by Rescuecom, an independent customer-support vendor. Recent glitches with the Snow Leopard OS and performance problems with the newly introduced iMacs also suggest that the Mac platform could be losing its purported quality advantage.

When you buy an Apple device, you’re often locked in to buying other Apple products that are compatible with it. Here are five examples, and some advice on what to do. Oh, wait–there’s nothing you can do.

By Dan Tynan

November 4, 2009

Art by Luis Anthony Oliveros

Once you enter the Big Tent of Apple, it’s exceedingly hard to find the exit.

Over its 33-year history, Apple has consistently elected to limit consumer choice, creating a situation known as “lock in.” As soon as you start buying stuff from Apple, you’ll find it difficult to move to products made by someone else without losing everything you’ve already paid for.

Of course, many people don’t want to leave Apple’s tent. After all, it’s filled with iPhones and MacBooks and other cool stuff. And Apple is hardly the only business that tries to lock in customers–wireless carriers are probably the worst offenders. Nor is Apple the only vendor to use one product as leverage to push others onto consumers (let’s declare Microsoft the champion there).

But no other technology company exercises the same amount of control over what its customers can and can’t do with the things they bought. Part of this approach is due to Apple’s deep belief that a closed digital ecosystem with limited options benefits both Apple and its customers. Part of it is due to an all-consuming desire for control on the part of the ringmaster, otherwise known as Steve Jobs.

The bottom line: Apple makes great products, but its marketing practices limit your choices and cost you more money. Here are five classic examples of how the company has done it.

1. iPod and iTunes

When the iPod arrived in fall 2001, followed by the iTunes Music Store in spring 2003, few early adopters realized the commitment they were making by buying their media player and their media from the same source.

Due to Apple’s digital rights management setup, until April 2007 any music you bought from iTunes could play in only three places: on an iPod, within registered iTunes software on a limited number of computers, or on certain Motorola phones (that nobody bought).

If you wanted to move the songs you bought at a buck apiece to a cheaper player from a competing manufacturer, you had two options: an onerous process in which you burned your songs to a CD and then reripped them as MP3s, or quasilegal software that essentially did the same thing using your hard drive instead of a disc.

The last vestiges of DRM-protected music vanished from iTunes two years later. Apple offered to remove the DRM from the music that iPod owners had already bought, as well as to bump up the sound quality, for an additional 30 cents a track. (Gee, thanks, Apple.) Of course, movies and TV shows sold on iTunes are still copy-protected and cannot be legally converted to a DRM-free format.

Locking content to hardware cost consumers money–especially when first-, second-, and third-generation iPod batteries began failing. Consumers could either shell out the cash for a new iPod or pay Apple as much as $100 (plus shipping) to put a new battery in their existing device. In June 2005 Apple settled a class-action suit filed by iPod battery victims, offering a $50 voucher toward future Apple purchases (excluding downloads) and another year of warranty support.

Over the last three years, consumers have filed multiple antitrust suits against Apple alleging that the tight connection between the iPod and iTunes constitutes a monopoly; these have been consolidated in a federal class-action suit currently under way in Northern California [PDF].

Daring Fireball blogger John Gruber acknowledges Apple’s lock-in advantage with iTunes, but echoes what many Apple supporters often claim: The company’s hands are tied by content providers.

“When you buy a movie through your Apple TV, and the movie is in a DRM-protected format that will not work on home theater systems from other companies, it makes you less likely to switch,” he says. “But what choice does Apple have? They can sell DRM-protected movies, or they can sell no movies at all.”

Actually, Apple has at least two other choices. It could license its Fairplay DRM technology to other hardware manufacturers and allow multiple devices to play media purchased on iTunes, as Amazon does with its video-on-demand service. Or it could use its market power to push for one of the industry-wide DRM schemes proposed by Disney, Sony, and other parties. (Given the close ties between Steve Jobs and Disney, though, Apple might eventually endorse the digital rights scheme that the Mouse House favors.)

October 28, 2009

HDR Camera for the iPhone
By Beau Colburn
Macworld

HDR Camera
$1.99
www.macphun.com

RSA, the security division of EMC announced the availability of the RSA SecurID Software Token for iPhone Devices that enables an iPhone to be used as an RSA SecurID authenticator, providing convenient and cost-effective two-factor authentication to enterprise applications and resources. The RSA SecurID Software Token App is now available on the App Store at no charge. The required RSA SecurID software token seed as well as RSA Authentication Manager – the software that powers the RSA SecurID system – are both available for purchase worldwide.

“We are rolling out the RSA token to those using iPhones at our company and the feedback has been very positive. Our associates always have their iPhones right by their side and prefer not to carry a hardware token,” said Rajeev Ravindran, vice president and chief technology officer, JM Family Enterprises, Inc. “We have been users of software tokens from RSA on other smartphones for years, so the move to support the iPhone was an easy decision. The new token is simple to deploy and easy to use.”

The new RSA SecurID Software Token for iPhone is engineered to generate a one-time password that changes every 60 seconds, enabling secure access to enterprise applications and resources. The solution complements the existing range of authentication methods offered by RSA, giving customers a choice in the way they assure identities to a system, resource or information based on risk, cost and convenience. Through a simple download from the App Store, the software token application can be installed easily on the user’s iPhone. With one tap the user can enable the App with a unique software token seed provided by their IT organization, creating a convenient, secure and cost-effective authenticator.

“iPhones are increasingly penetrating the enterprise and are being used as standard business tools. This aligns with consumerization of IT where companies need to accommodate for these newer devices while maintaining the security of their existing systems,” said Scott Crawford, managing research director, Security and Risk Management, Enterprise Management Associates. “This becomes an opportunity to leverage the iPhone for strong authentication while generating a cost-effective asset.”

The use of RSA SecurID software tokens can help decrease total cost of ownership for organizations as they do not require any physical shipping, can be revoked and automatically redeployed if an iPhone is lost, eliminating the need for replacement tokens. Additionally, having the software authenticator on a business critical device like the iPhone reduces the number of lost or forgotten tokens, decreasing the number of costly technical support calls.

“We are further demonstrating our commitment to innovation and choice in authentication methods with the availability of the RSA SecurID software token for the iPhone for use within the enterprise,” said Tom Corn, vice president of Product Marketing at RSA. “Since there is no ‘one size fits all’ security solution, RSA offers a full range of methods to authenticate and store credentials that balance cost, end-user convenience and security.”

March 16, 2008

Web apps that transcend the Web. PCs that redefine what a PC can do. And oh yeah, a certain cell phone you may have heard of. We pick 25 breakthroughs that you can get your hands on right now.

By the PC World Staff

Published in the March-April 2008 print edition of PC World Philippines

Make no mistake, the Web is taking over. applications are moving to browsers en masse, and technology to take Web apps offline promises to smooth the road ahead. and let’s not forget breakthrough devices advancing the Web-anywhere world: apple has redefined the phone, and One Laptop per Child’s sub-$200 laptop is delivering Internet-style collaboration to kids in developing nations. But innovation isn’t all on the Web; the PC is evolving as well. apple has reenvisioned backup, HP has created the first useful touch-screen PC, hybrid hard drives boost speed and battery life, and ultraportables have become even more useful. Chosen from the hundreds of products we reviewed in 2007, here are 25 that will change the way you work, communicate, and play this year—and beyond.

Google Gears

Innovation: Plug-in lets Web applications work offline.

Benefit: Tackles the single biggest hurdle to making Web apps truly convenient. Imagine firing up only one application—a Web browser—for handling all of your daily computer tasks. It’s a nice dream, but it has one major problem: What do you do when you’re offline? Google Gears, a Windows application now in beta, solves this problem by allowing service designers to create versions that still work when your PC doesn’t have an Internet connection. Google Reader, Zoho Writer (which added offline editing via Gears in late 2007) and online task manager Remember the Milk already use it, and Google is working to add Gears to other applications in its stable. (If you’re thinking of ditching desktop software entirely, read one writer’s take.)

Asus Eee PC

Best-selling ultraportable is light on the budget, heavy on features

A direct descendant of the OLPC XO and Intel’s low-cost Classmate PC, Asus’ Eee PC also runs on a simplified Linux OS for the consumer market. Performance users might get turned off by the lack of significant internal storage (4GB flash), but students and casual users will appreciate the Eee PC’s Ethernet and Wi-Fi connections, built-in webcam, card reader, three USB ports (for expansion), small, 7-inch frame, and a very budget-friendly price ranging from P17,000-19,000.

Apple iPhone

Innovation: Gee-whiz touch-screen interface and spartan case dial up a mobile revolution.

Benefit: Mac OS–simple software offering slide-and-glide access to bright, colorful menus sets this cell phone apart from its rivals.

The iPhone has taken some criticism for its shortcomings, mainly its lack of 3G connectivity, but you can’t deny that the sleek handset is innovative. Apple made navigating via a touch screen— sure to be a staple in future PDa phones and other small devices—intuitive and fun. iPhone’s Safari browser makes the handset a great mobile Web device (at least when you can get a Wi-F connection). And, sure, many phones play music, but Cover Flow cranks the iPhone up to 11 as a music player.

One Laptop Per Child XO

Innovation: $200 laptop does mesh networking, is sand-and waterproof, and works well in direct sunlight.

Benefit: What every child in the developing world needs; makes you ask, “When will my laptop be able to do that?” Innovation isn’t always about being bigger, better, and faster. One Laptop per Child’s Linux-powered XO laptop, with a 7.5-inch display—designed for children in poor countries—is one of the cheapest, most power-conscious, and sturdy notebooks on the planet. It also has features you might wish you had on your mainstream laptop. One clear standout: XO’s Wi-Fi allows it to function as a mesh-network node that can connect with other XOs, even when no Internet connection is available.

Time Machine, in Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)

Innovation: Backs up changes hourly to an external drive behind the scenes, then lets you “go back in time” to restore data.

Benefit: Makes light work of the one task that every computer user should do and most people put off—and gives the function a pretty face, to boot. Time Machine is the killer feature in Leopard. You’ll either love or hate this wild and wacky space-and-time user interface, but performing backups will never be the same. One question: Why doesn’t Windows Vista have anything this simple and useful? (For more information about the new Mac OS, read our Leopard review.)

Airlive WMU-6500FS

Innovation: Storage box that lets you download from FTP and HTTP sites, and acts as an independent BitTorrent client without having to turn on your PC.

Benefit: Saves you energy by letting you keep your PC turned off during long download sessions. This network-attached storagebox is essentially an external hard drive enclosure that comes with network connectivity ports and a simple Linux-based interface for setting network tweaks and download queues. Costing around $100 (3.5-inch hard drive not included), this affordable multifunction external drive enclosure independently downloads from FTP, HTTP and Torrent clients, features a USB host function, and also serves as a wireless access point for 802.11b/g networks.