Apple's iPad: Disruptive product of the year

I'll avoid the dicey proposition of naming what I think is the best product of the year. But I can say with certainty that Apple's iPad was the most disruptive.

My iPad is usually beside me in the car.

(Credit: Brooke Crothers)

Beyond the iPad's well-chronicled popularity, impressive shipment numbers, and reported theft of Netbook market share, the disruption for me was very personal: it played havoc with my own computing habits and with people around me who bought the iPad.

As I've written before, initially, I could do little more than paw at the screen in a vain effort to figure out how I was actually going to use the device. But that changed fairly quickly. Within a few weeks, I found myself taking it everywhere (I have the 3G version) and using it instead of my laptop at airports, on planes, and in the car. Not to mention using it at home when relaxing on the sofa.

So, here's why it's disruptive: I always thought that my MacBook Air was the ultimate portable computer and I would never need anything else. Wrong. It turns out that a laptop--because of its relative weight and keyboard-centric clamshell design--is not always the ultimate machine when traveling or when there is a need to some quick home computing. The iPad showed me that there is a better form factor and interface (touch) for a surprising number of tasks.

And that seemingly trivial feature known as instant-on (and almost-instant 3G connections) combined with its 1.5-pound weight makes all the difference in the world.

In short, when I go from using my laptop most of the time to only about half of the time, that's disruptive. Moreover, I think, it's safe to say that I'm not alone.

Finally, I'm anticipating the next iPad (thinner, lighter, dual-core processor?) like I would previously anticipate a new laptop. And can't wait to see what first-tier companies like Motorola and RIM have to offer.

May 2011 be the year of the tablet.

Apple Allowed Advertisers Access to iPhone, iPad Owners' Data

A seemingly indiscreet Apple is facing a pair of lawsuits that claim the company allowed advertisers to access the personal information of iPhone and iPad owners without their consent, according to a publish report. These legal actions could also pave the way for more complaints against other smartphone and application developers, such as Google.

A Dec. 23 complaint filed in a federal court in San Jose, Calif., by Los Angeles man Jonathan Lalo accuses Apple of allowing applications for the iPhone and iPad to share users personal information with advertisers, according toBusiness Week. The information is supplied by the devices Unique Device Identifier (UDID), which, as the name implies, is unique to each device and intended to supply information to AppStore developers. The lawsuit identifies applications such as Pandora, The Weather Channel and Dictionary.com and names them as defendants along with Apple.

Some apps are also selling additional information to ad networks, including users location, age, gender, income, ethnicity, sexual orientation and political views, states the suit, according to Business Week.

The lawsuit seeks class-action status for Apple customers who downloaded an application to their iPhone or iPad devices between Dec. 1, 2008 and mid-December 2010. The lawsuit has the potential to attract many people. Back in April 2009, Apple celebrated the download of its one-billionth app with a contest won by a 13 year old from Connecticut who was downloading Bump, the contact-swapping application. During its most recent revenue disclosure, Apple shared that during its fiscal 2010 fourth quarter alone, it sold 14.1 million iPhones and 4.2 million iPads.

The second lawsuit, Freeman vs. Apple, also filed in the Northern District of California, similarly focuses on Apples disclosure of users UDIDs.

"[T]he iPhone and iPad come equipped with the tools necessary to determine their geographic location. Thus, being able to identify a unique device, and combining that information with the devices geographic location, gives the advertiser a huge amount of information about the user of a mobile device, states the Freeman complaint," according to Forbes. "From the perspective of advertisers engaged in surreptitious tracking, this is a perfect means of tracking mobile device users interests and likes on the Internet."

Both lawsuits follow from a Dec. 18 report in the Wall Street Journal, in which reporters examined the behavior 101 popular smartphone apps. They found that 56 transmitted the phones UDID to companies without the users consent, 47 transmitted the phones location and five disclosed age, gender and other personal details. Pandora, for example, sent information to eight companies, seven of which received location information, three received the UDID and two received demographic data.

"We have created strong privacy protections for our customers, especially regarding location-based data," Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr told the Journal. "Privacy and trust are vitally important."

It’s believed that Google may eventually be served with similar papers, as, like Apple, it requires users to give applications access to their information. Unlike Apple, however, Google doesn’t review all of the applications that it makes available.

According to the Journal, Google leaves it up to the application makers to bear the responsibility for how they handle user information. If users don’t like what information an app wants access to, a Google spokesperson reportedly told the Journal, they can choose not to install the application.

Apple ordering 65 million iPad screens for 2011

While most market estimates figure Apple will sell 45-48 million iPads next year, the company has reportedly placed orders with suppliers for 65 million 9.7 inch iPad displays.

According to a report by DigiTimes, Apple is believed to have placed orders for an estimated 35 million iPad displays from LG and another 30 million split between Samsung and Chimei Innolux.

The report notes that the volume of orders Apple is said to have placed with its suppliers indicates that the company "is very optimistic about the tablet PC market in 2011, and it may also mean that Apple is overbooking panel capacity."DigiTimes research has delivered a spotty record.

Apple eats up tablet screen supply

By the end of 2010, Apple is expected to have purchased 16.75 million screens for iPads, the report stated, all of which come from Taiwan's component manufacturers. In November alone, LG produced 1.5 million screens for Apple, while Samsung delivered another 1.2 million.

Through the end of the September quarter, Apple has reported selling 7.46 million iPads. That indicates a balance of nearly 9.2 million screens, minus the number Apple has actually sold in the winter quarter of 2010. If the company were actually running into overbooked panel capacity, the problem should already be evident.

Instead, Apple is now said to be bringing on Chimei Innolux as a new supplier of iPad displays in addition to LG and Samsung. Analysts' expectations for iPad sales in 2011 may not take into consideration everything the company is doing to sell its new tablet, including efforts to push iPad into the enterprise.

iPad screen size difficult for competitors to match

Apple's decision to offer iPad exclusively in the 9.7 inch screen size will likely lower component pricing in a way that only benefits Apple, while competitors continue to design and build 5 and 7 inch screens that don't benefit from the massive economy of scale Apple's iPad high volume sales are creating.

In October, Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs said "our potential competitors [in tablets] are having a tough time coming close to iPad's pricing. iPad incorporates everything we've learned about building high value products. We create our own A4 chip, software, battery chemistry, enclosure, everything. This results in an incredible product at a great price. The proof will be in the pricing of our competitors' products, which will offer less for more."

Jobs suggested that iPad competitors were using smaller screens because they couldn't afford to use larger screens, and were therefore ignoring the drawbacks related with trying to shoehorn a tablet interface into a 7 inch screen less than half the size of the iPad's.

"We think the 7 inch tablets will be dead on arrival, and manufacturers will realize they're too small and abandon them next year. They'll then increase the size, abandoning the customers and developers who bought into the smaller format," Jobs predicted.

iPad eats up tablet market, netbooks, PCs

Apple currently faces no credible competitors in the tablet market, particularly in corporate circles. Next year however, Apple is expected to face emerging competition from a new group of tablets running Android 3.0; HP's new PalmPad; RIM's PlayBook and a second run of Microsoft's Windows 7 tablets.

The iPad hasn't just taken over the tablet market; it has also killed growth among netbooks and, according to Morgen Stanley, has already eaten up 25 percent of PC notebook sales this year since it went on sale in April. In September, the firm revised its projected sales from 37 to 60 million tablets next year, saying the Dell Streak and Samsung Tab would also contribute to the trend toward tablets and away from conventional PCs.

Samsung to Show iPod Touch Killer at CES

Samsung went after the iPhone with the Epic 4G, the iPad with the Galaxy Tab, and now Samsung has its sights set on the iPod Touch with the Galaxy Player. Samsung is expected to announce American ship dates for its Android-based entertainment player during the Consumer Electronics Show in January.

The Galaxy Player will be available in 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB storage sizes, according to Samsung Hub.

The Galaxy Player launched earlier this year in Europe with a 3.2-inch display, 2-megapixel camera and Android OS 2.1 (Eclair). The U.S. version will reportedly have bumped up specs including Android OS 2.2(Froyo), 4-inch LCD display with 800 by 480 WVGA resolution, 3.2-megapixel rear-facing camera, front-facing camera for video chat, 1GHz processor, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, GPS, and a microSD card slot.

Samsung's new entertainment device will also have access to the Android Market as well as Samsung's own app storefront. Presumably, the Galaxy Player will also come loaded with Media Hub -- the company's digital retail outlet for TV shows and movies -- as well as an integrated music store. These three pieces will be key for Samsung if it wants to beat out Apple's iPod Touch.

While device features are important, Apple's strength has always been the way iPods, iPhones, and iPads seamlessly load content through iTunes.

Sure, you can complain about the fact that iTunes lacks wireless sync, the software is bloated and Apple is ruthless about cutting undesirable apps from the App Store. But millions of people around the world are still heavily invested in the platform because it's so easy to use.  For the first seven months of 2010, Apple held about 77 percent of the U.S. MP3 player market (which includes the iPod Touch), according to research firm NPD Group. The closest competitor to the iPod was SanDisk with 8 percent of the U.S. market, followed by Mach Speed, Sony, and Coby.

So it may be better to describe the Galaxy Player's challenge, should it choose to accept it, not as an attempt to unseat the iPod Touch but an attempt to unseat iTunes. And that is a much harder proposition.

What if Google's Hack Attack Warnings Grab Your Site?

Google has begun adding warnings to its search result listings indicating if it believes a site has been hacked. In such an instance the words, "This site may be compromised," will appear under the site details. Users are still free to visit the site, but clicking the warning message will lead to a page explaining what can be done to keep safe.

Google also encourages the user to inform the webmaster if possible, although Google will attempt to inform the webmaster too provided he or she is signed up with its Webmaster Tools. Additionally, the search giantwill attempt contact through any e-mail addresses featured on the cached, non-hacked version of the site.

The new feature is similar to the warning that appears alongside results that may contain malware ("This site may harm your computer"), which has been in place for several years. This feature is also built into Google's Chrome browser, whereby users are blocked from visiting the site, although it's not clear whether the hack alert will work in a similar way.

For obvious reasons, Google is keeping quiet about how it detects hacked sites, but we have to hope it's not something as simple as the site contents changing in a sudden and dramatic way. After all, a simple site redesign can lead to this.

Additionally, any site with a forum might want to censor hacker terminology such as "pwned," in case Google is determining the hacked status via such keywords.

Google's also quiet about what a webmaster should do if he or she is the victim of a false positive. Such a mistake could seriously damage the reputation of a organization and even lead to a loss of business, especially if the site concerned is a retailer. I couldn't find any e-mail addresses for users to contact should this arise, and the only method for remedying the situation is to ask Google to review your site--as with malware warnings. There's no indication how long the review will take.

Clearly, Google has 100 percent faith in its technology.

Whether subtle hacks will be picked up is another lingering question. Site hacks beyond and above simple graffiti sometimes involve search engine optimization (SEO) abuse, sometimes called ‘spamdexing.' This creates false pages on the site that link to a malware site in order to boost its ranking in search results.

Additionally, hackers often insert phishing software deep within the directory structure, making them almost invisible to those who don't go through the site daily with a fine-toothed comb, or monitor the server logs in a similar fashion. If something like a content management system is installed, it's often impossible for anybody other than an expert to spot changes.

Keeping an eye on a site to watch for hack attacks or is a difficult issue for smaller businesses, which have to rely on third-party hosting services that enact security policies they can't control. Additionally, smaller businesses may lack dedicated webmaster staff, with Website maintenance either deferred to the office techieor handed off to a freelance worker.

Although this new feature from Google might indicate a potential solution to the problem, it's unclear if Google will inform Website owners in a timely fashion if their site is suspiciously altered. As such, it can't be relied upon.

It would be more useful perhaps if--rather than merely monitoring the front-facing site for attacks--Google offered a more sophisticated service that webmasters could sign up to that could monitor server logs, or something similar. Google would love to get its hands on such data, no doubt, so this could serve everybody well.

However, speaking as somebody who runs several high-traffic Websites, I'm suspicious of Google's new service. I'd prefer either a direct line to the people who control it, in case I end up with a false positive that drives users away, or a method of opting out of the scheme.

The issue of who polices the net is becoming ever more important as time goes on. Without government control, it's falling to organizations like Google to enact the best policies they can. With great power comes great responsibility, however, and there is no oversight and little comeback for many features Google is rolling out. This is undoubtedly going to lead to some sticky situations in future.

Keir Thomas has been writing about computing since the last century, and more recently has written several best-selling books. You can learn more about him at http://keirthomas.com and his Twitter feed is@keirthomas .

Facebook CEO meets with Sina during China holiday

BEIJING (AFP) – Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg -- on holiday in China where his social networking site is officially blocked -- met Wednesday with top executives from the country's popular web portal Sina.com.

Zuckerberg's meeting with Sina.com chief executive Charles Chao and vice president Peng Shaobin comes two days after the 26-year-old had lunch with the head of search engine giant Baidu to discuss the world's biggest web market.

"Mr Zuckerberg came to get a better understanding of Sina and China?s Weibo market," Sina said in a statement sent to AFP.

"It?s more of a casual than a formal visit."

Sina's Weibo is a Twitter-like microblogging service. Foreign social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are blocked by China'sgovernment but many users on the mainland access them via virtual proxy networks.

Beijing has set up a huge online censorship system sometimes dubbed the "Great Firewall of China" that aggressively blocks sites or snuffs out Internet content on topics considered sensitive.

Zuckerberg, clearly keen to see his company crack the Chinese market of at least 420 million Internet users, told an audience at Stanford University recently that he was "spending a lot of time" studying Chinese.

"It's kind of a personal challenge this year, I'm taking an hour a day and I'm learning Chinese. I'm trying to understand the language, the culture, the mindset -- it's just such an important part of the world," he said.

"How can you connect the whole world if you leave out a billion-six people?"

Zuckerberg, who is on holiday with his Chinese-American girlfriend, met with Baidu's chief executive Robin Li on Monday, a spokesman for the Chinese company, Kaiser Kuo, told AFP.

"It makes sense -- he is interested in the Chinese Internet, he's made that very plain. Obviously this is one of the big dark spots for Facebook because it is blocked here in China," Kuo said.

"He has had a long-standing interest in China. I'm sure he wants to get the advice of someone who knows the Internet landscape well here."

Facebook told AFP ahead of the trip that the 26-year-old -- recently named Time's "Person of the Year" -- was "not doing any press or any meetings" during his vacation in China.

Firefox 4 Beta Provides Support for 3-D Graphics

Mozilla launched a new Firefox 4 beta release for PCs and laptops Wednesday featuring expanded support for 3-D graphics, together with a revamped Firefox add-on manager. And on the mobile side, Mozilla introduced several enhancements to the mobile version of Firefox 4 beta for smartphones based on Google's Android and Nokia's Maemo platforms.

The popular browser's new 3-D enhancements are based on WebGL -- an open standard for accelerated 3-D graphics rendering on the web that eliminates the need for users to install special plug-ins. As a result, developers will be able to render amazing visual experiences directly within the browser window, noted Firefox Product Manager Mike Beltzner.

"Firefox 4 beta now supports WebGL for most modern built-in graphics cards, making it easier for developers to create interactive 3-D games, vivid graphics, and new visual experiences for the web without the use of third-party plug-ins," Beltzner wrote in a blog.

Browser-based 3-D

Applications that formerly would have been possible only on the desktop or with plug-ins become possible in any modern browser that supports WebGL, noted Principal Firefox Engineer Vlad Vukicevic. "3-D games, interactive product displays, scientific and medical visualization, shared virtual environments, and 3-D content creation all become possible on the web," he wrote in a blog.

WebGL is based on OpenGL ES 2.0 -- the same 3D API used for Android and iOS development, Vukicevic observed. By including WebGL -- together with Mozilla's work on HTML5 video and audio support -- Firefox 4 beta now supports "a full set of web technologies" for building rich and compelling applications on the web, he wrote.

"WebGL focuses on OpenGL ES 2.0 feature compatibility to ensure content compatibility with mobile devices," Vukicevic explained. "However, ES 2.0 is behind the latest advances on the desktop today, [and] in the future various desktop features may become available in WebGL in the form of extensions."

What's more, Firefox 4 beta updates add-ons automatically to ensure that the user's browser is always up to date. "This should happen without you even noticing, keeping add-ons safe and fast while eliminating the hassle of [manually] updating," wrote Firefox team member Jennifer Boriss in a blog.

Syncing Devices

Firefox 4 beta now includes a streamlined Firefox Sync setup for acquiring the same address-bar history, bookmarks, open tabs, and passwords across PCs and laptops as well as smartphones running Android or Maemo. For example, developers have made some significant UI improvements to make setting up new accounts or devices for Firefox Sync easier and faster, noted Ragavan Srinivasan, project manager for Firefox Sync.

"You are no longer required to come up with a secret phrase or a sync key," Srinivasan wrote in a blog. "It is automatically generated for you."

Like its PC counterpart, the new mobile version of Firefox 4 beta makes the discovery of add-ons easier and simplifies Firefox Sync setup. The latter is important for mobile users because it reduces the amount of typing needed to securely access browsing history, bookmarks, tabs and passwords, noted Firefox team member Stuart Parmenter.

Users of compatible smartphones also are now able to save web sites as PDFs for later reading, Parmenter wrote in a blog. Additionally, the new mobile version of Firefox 4 beta offers "support for 'copy and paste' in theURL bar," he added.