Peter Junger's a hardcore mountaineer well on his way to climbing the highest mountains all 50 states and McKinley's one of the last hard ones on his list.

Redmond-based Siras offers technology that companies use to "fingerprint" merchandise to reduce fraudulent returns and verify warranty eligiblity.

The company's Web site has a link to follow Junger's progress - he's using a GPS device from Spot Adventures that displays his progress on a Google map.

Mostly affected are customers who already have digital cable service.

Starting around Aug. 5, Digital Starter subscribers will start getting high-definition versions of 28 channels such as MTV, Comedy Central, Travel, BET, CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. The full list was printed in the paper's legal notices section.

Digital Preferred customers will get four additional sports channels - NBA TV, NFL Network, NFL Network HD and NHL Network - but lose ESPN Classic to the optional "sports entertainment" tier that costs an extra $5.99 per month.

Also being added is an HD version of CBUT, at channel 619. It will be available to "Limited Basic" customers using an HDTV and a digital tuner.

Comcast spokesman Steve Kipp also provided a little information on the Clearwire 4G/WiMax mobile wireless bundles that Comcast began selling in Portland on Tuesday.

Comcast plans to offer the Clearwire bundles in the Seattle area in 2010, Kipp said.

Portland's promotional price, at least, doesn't sound too bad.

Comcast is offering a $50 per month bundle that includes 12 megabits per second home broadband plus Clearwire mobile service in the metro area, offering up to 4 Mbps. After the first year promo, the plan will cost $73 per month.

Subscribers to Comcast's triple play phone/TV/broadband plan can add Clearwire for $30 per month. It's also offering a Clearwire/Sprint combo that provides local 4G and national 3G via Sprint for an additional $20 per month.

Comcast invested in Clearwire in 2008.

That's according to a Nikkei Electronics Asia report (which I found via Microsoft product planner Alan Cheslow's Twitter feed and blog).

The report said NEC - the leading USB 3.0 manufacturer so far - is going to begin large-scale production of USB 3.0 host controllers in September.

NEC expects USB 3.0 to quickly become mainstream. It's anticipating 140 million PCs with USB 3.0 will ship in 2011, and 340 million in 2012.

We'll have to see if Windows 7 supports the standard when the software's released in October, though. Early word was that it may not be in the initial version; I've asked a Windows spokesman for a status report.

UPDATE: The answer from Microsoft is no, not at launch. A spokesman said via email that the USB 3.0 specification "was approved too late in the Windows 7 development lifecycle so it won't be supported at launch. However they'll consider it down the road."

That's what I wondered after reading the Wall Street Journal story about Dell developing Android-based devices, including a Web tablet slightly bigger than an iPod Touch and phones that could go on sale later this year. An excerpt:

The development effort is one of the first experiments by a big-name PC maker in a nascent category of products known as mobile Internet devices, or MIDs, which are designed to fill a perceived gap between mobile phones and laptop computers.

You could also call them ultra-mobile PCs, or even Origami devices, after a code name Microsoft used for its early stab at the category in 2006, long before the Google-backed Android operating system surfaced.

Given Dell's relationship with Microsoft and its upcoming Windows 7 push, it doesn't seem too farfetched to imagine that Dell also evaluated some version of Windows for its new devices.

Today's disclosure could put pressure on Microsoft to offer a better deal (although it's hard to beat the price of Android).

If nothing else, the story may give Steve and Michael something to chat about as they haggle over Windows 7 pricing for netbooks and other PCs coming out this fall ...

That's for the globe. In the U.S., Forrester expects a 5.1 percent decline, down from the 3.1 percent it predicted at the start of the year.

But don't fret - it's only a "temporary pause," the Cambridge, Mass.-based research giant said.

Spending on technology should pick up in the fourth quarter in the U.S. - which syncs with Wall Street starting to talk about MSFT hitting $30 again - and recover in Europe and Asia in the first half of 2010, the firm said.

The press release quote from Andrew Bartels, Forrester vice president and principal analyst:

"While Q1 2009 saw a scary drop in purchases in the US tech market, ironically that is good news for the long run and we expect to see a stronger rebound sooner. The big drops are not precursors to further declines; rather, we think they are evidence of a temporary pause in US tech purchases, which we expect to start recovering in Q4 as businesses realize that they overreacted in the first quarter."

Breaking down the global decline, Forrester expects computer equipment sales to fall by 13.5 percent this year; communications equipment spending will fall 12.4 percent; software spending will fall 8.2 percent; and IT consulting and outsourcing will fall 8.6 percent.

Ryan has more to say about the Xbox "Project Natal," competition for Halo and Bungie's independence from Microsoft. He also touched on Halo 4 - a new game called "Reach" that's coming next year and already being played within Bungie.

According to a statement from the company:

"We make a point of listening to our customers. We created the OMGIGP video as a tongue-in-cheek look at the InPrivate Browsing feature of Internet Explorer 8, using the same irreverent humor that our customers told us they liked about other components of the Internet Explorer 8 marketing campaign. While much of the feedback to this particular piece of creative was positive, some of our customers found it offensive, so we have removed it."

One of the commenters below, quincompoix, has posted a link to the video elsewhere if you still want to see it.

Earlier: Microsoft continues to launch online videos to promote its Web browser Internet Explorer 8. The latest features actor Dean Cain again and vomit. There is a lot of projectile puke in this video, like Monty Python levels of regurgitation.

A wife gets online after her husband has used the computer, and is so horrified by what she sees, she repeatedly spits up on the floor. He slips, falls on the floor, and she continues to spit up on him. The tag line is O.M.G.I.G.P., as in "Oh my god, I'm gonna puke."

The ad promotes Internet Explorer's privacy browsing feature, which many have dubbed a porn mode. It allows the user to browse without leaving a trail in the browser.

To check out the earlier IE8 ads, click here.

Firefox 3.5, the latest version of the competitor to Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, was released today. Developed by open-source company Mozilla in Mountain View, Calif., Firefox has revitalized competition among Web browsers since the first version came out in 2004.

Firefox first introduced tabbed browsing, which has since become commonplace. Mozilla also paved the way for other companies to develop browsers to compete with Microsoft, such as Apple's Safari, Google's Chrome and Opera.

"Since then the Web has become a more interesting place," said Mike Beltzner, director of Firefox, in an interview earlier this month. "We got a secondary explosion of Web startups, then Apple put its foot in. Now there's intense collaboration and competition. We're happy to see Microsoft is not standing still."

Firefox 3.5's new features include: faster browsing, video capabilities built into the browser, location-aware browsing and a privacy-browsing mode (which many have dubbed a "porn mode"). Developers hope that the new features will spur Web developers to create more innovative applications on the Internet. As Beltzner said, think back to 2004, when most Web sites were little more than static brochures, to today's rich landscape of video and other applications.

Firefox 3.5 ias available here.

Razorfish was founded in Seattle, and Microsoft bought the digital advertising company when it acquired aQuantive, also known as Avenue A, in 2007. Razorfish had a round of layoffs in February this year; here's the story we ran on that.

According to the Financial Times, Microsoft has hired Morgan Stanley to find a buyer, and Publicis, a French marketing company, could be a candidate.

Update 11:08 a.m.: Microsoft is not commenting on the reports that Razorfish is for sale.

Microsoft's travel-search component ofBing comes from Farecast, a Web travel company Microsoftacquired. Wired reported the news Wednesday.

Kayak is in discussions with Microsoft about the similarities, according to an e-mail from Robert Birge, chief marketing officer at Kayak, based in Norwalk, Conn.

Microsoft spokeswoman Whitney Burke said in a statement, "Bing Travel is based on independent development by Microsoft and Farecast.com, which Microsoft acquired in 2008. Any contrary allegations are without merit."

Check out the two screen shots and see what you think.

Legal wars have been waged over the "look and feel" of software, most notably Apple's 1988 lawsuit against Microsoft for allegedly copying the Macintosh in Windows 2.0.

When the new operating system goes on sale in stores on Oct. 22,anyone who has pre-ordered it will be able to download it or get a disc copy then.

Shoppers can pre-order at the Microsoft store, Fry's Electronics, Best Buy, Amazon.com, Costco.com, NewEgg.com, TigerDirect.com, Office Depot, OfficeMax and SamsClub.com.

If you have any technical questions on system requirements, check Microsoft's site on the pre-order offer.

This is how much pre-orders will cost:

This how much Windows 7 will cost at full price on Oct. 22

The Chicago center, which opens July 20, will be housing containers that can be the size of tractor-trailers with 1,800 to 2,500 servers each, reports Computerworld.com. The Dublin facility, which opened July 1, does not use containers, according to the report.

If you ever wondered if Bing will be adequately backed up, rest easy. It will be.

For more on Microsoft's new data centers:
- check out this Computerworld.com article

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While Forrester is predicting that the United States will fare better than the rest of the world, with spending falling about 5 percent this year, Business Week reports that U.S. tech businesses will start recovering in 4Q and Asia and European markets will follow in 2010.

Forrester's latest report says the tech market may be hitting the bottom very soon, that should be a relief for anyone clinging to a life raft and for others waiting anxiously for a rebound.

For more on the state of IT:
- check out this BusinessWeek.com article

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The semi-annual study from Janco Associates Inc., found that CIOs at mid-size companies felt the most pain, reports Computerworld.com. The median pay for a CIO at a mid-level company fell from about $172,000 to $163,000. Comparatively speaking, the salary for the chief security officer at a company, moved from $148,000 to $143,000. IT planning directors took the biggest hit, falling from about $115,000 to $97,000, according to the survey.

"There is now a surplus of seasoned IT professionals available," wrote the Park City, Utah-based IT consulting firm in its report. For example, it noted that more than 200 IT professionals in the New York region, who earned well over six figures, are now looking for work because of today's economic conditions. And you won't be surprised that they are having a hard time finding a job.

For more on declining IT pay:
- check out this Computerworld.com article

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Among eWeek's pointers:

• Make sure all employees know the company evacuation plan and make sure everyone is out of the facility and safe when it is implemented.
• Once everyone is out of the building and at a meeting point, perform a head count to make sure no one is missing.
• Tell local officials of your employee head count and the status of the building.

Some of these steps may seem too simple for anyone to follow. Yet these very procedures have been tried and tried again with great success. Any plan is better than no plan.

At the end of the day, your data is likely to be backed up in a crisis, but you must make sure your people are safe, too.

For all the tips on business continuity:
- check out this eWeek.com article

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It's also important to keep your staff from wasting time on social networking. Every IT manager must make sure that information is tagged and cataloged so employees don't mix work life and personal life. With a little organization, you can get your IT staff ready to roll in the right direction, even as distractions come their way.

According to CIO.com, Google will soon be marrying those streaming bits of information with email when it launches Google Wave. And there are ways to tap into existing streaming technologies, too. But just like the Internet, information overload is here to stay. Get used to it and come up with a plan to keep workers focused.

For more on information overload:
- check out this CIO.com article

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"A few years ago, you could count on getting three interviews during the first three months you were out of work," Goodwin tells CIO. "Out of that, generally speaking and assuming your qualifications are there, you were probably going to get an offer. Based on what I'm seeing in the market today, it's now probably taking 10 to 12 interviews to yield the same results."  

Goodwin adds that if you're averaging one interview a month in this job market, you're doing very well. Job searches are taking longer because fewer companies are hiring and when there is a position open, hundreds of highly qualified candidates apply.

If you're an IT exec who still has a job, consider yourself lucky. If you are unemployed, remember, "This, too, shall pass." Stay patient, stay current and network like crazy.

For more on IT job hunting:
- check out this CIO.com article

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He noticed how they were initially popular, before being swiftly buried into oblivion. With 28.1 percent of traffic to his site coming from such social networking sites, the direct result is that tens (or even hundreds) of thousands of potential readers will never see such articles, even if they are compelling and useful content. The result is that popular news is elevated while less popular stories never see the light of day, regardless of their relevance.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Computerworld

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Indeed, Heiliger had some harsh words for server manufacturers as well. The complaint here centers on them not creating cheap servers that are "super power-efficient." Frankly though, I see no reason why the likes of IBM and HP would want to build and sell such hardware in lieu of maintaining their fat profit margins. Of course, this was probably why Google opted to build its own servers using custom motherboards from Intel in the first place.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at ITworld

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Lucas Maerian at Computerworld took a X25-E SSD for a spin on a Dell Latitude and the comprehensive review caught my attention. The results of the battery test mirrored my experience with a Samsung SSD that I tested recently. Despite the lower power rating, the improvement in battery life is negligible.

On the other hand, the performance gain of using a top-of-the-line SSD is stunning and undeniable, both in terms of computer boot timings and responsiveness in loading applications. And it does look like the X25-E SSD holds the first-place spot for speed. While it can certainly replace RAID arrays of 15,000rpm hard disk drives, the real question is whether you would be willing to part with $800 for a 64GB drive.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Computerworld

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Surveyed participants ranged from companies with just more than 100 users to large enterprises across various industries. One IT manager summed up the pervading sentiment on security: "The idea that I would trust my email, financial transactions, or other day-to-day business operations to cloud computing is just asking for trouble."

In many ways, we are already leveraging cloud computing in the form of Gmail and cloud-based storage, and ant spam services. Yet one doesn't typically see concern being expressed over the security of these services. I suppose it will take some time yet before more people get comfortable with this paradigm, though it is clear that the cloud is here to stay.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Network World

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"Gartner believes Microsoft designs these program limitations to persuade organizations to enter Enterprise Agreements, enroll licenses in Software Assurance or purchase upgrade rights to run Windows 7," Gartner analyst Michael Silver wrote in a report. This obviously does not sit well with detractors who have criticized Microsoft and are charging the company with attempting to charge twice for the same OS.  Finally, it must be pointed out that the program for a free upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7 will cease once Windows 7 SP1 becomes available. 

For more on this story:
- check out this article at PC World
- check out this news analysis at Gartner

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Only 27 percent of CEOs are increasing spending on IT security, down from 40 percent a year earlier. In addition, the survey detected that CEOs are less concerned about the impact on data security when they figure out a way to trim expenses.

At the end of the day, this shortcut to save money may cost you far more if your system is hacked and valuable data is stolen. So think hard and be forewarned that there are other ways to save money.

For more on cutting security to save money:
- see this InformationWeek.com article

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"Our main intent was to really evaluate the social, economic and environmental impacts associated with telecommuting," Rami Mazid, vice president of global client services and operations at Cisco, told NetworkWorld.com. "We sampled employees who have the flexibility and desire to telework to get the most up-to-date information, and the key conclusion is that employee productivity is much higher and collaboration is the same if not better when working remotely."

Cisco surveyed 2,000 employees, and nearly 70 percent cited higher productivity working from home.

For more on Cisco's success with teleworking:
- check out this NetworkWorld.com article

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Only two CEOs from Fortune magazine's list of top 100 companies have Twitter accounts and only 19 have a Facebook page. None of the 100 CEOs have a personal external blog. That probably means that the CEO at your company hasn't bought into the growing social network phenomenon that has quickly become a necessity for every firm and top executive around.

You may be frustrated by this lack of attention to social networking, but as the IT executive in charge, you may be the person to educate the boss and persuade him or her to come around to the revolution.

"In our opinion, the top CEOs appear to be disconnected from the way their own customers are communicating," UberCEO.com editor Sharon Barclay told Computer World. "They're giving the impression that they're disconnected, disengaged and disinterested."

The survey also found that an increasing number of executives at smaller firms are tweeting and staying connected with customers on Facebook. We're not saying that everyone should give in to pressure, but it's smart to be able to communicate with employees, friends and customers in the language everyone is using.

For more on adopting social networking:
- check out this ComputerWorld.com article

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IBM requires executives to sign noncompete agreements to continue receiving equity benefits. According to an article in ComputerWorld.com, Johnson signed the agreement on the wrong line because he disagreed with the agreement. Despite the misplaced signature, IBM argued that Johnson had signed the noncompete agreement. The judge disagreed and also ruled that Johnson did not have access to IBM trade secrets.

For any IT executive currently contemplating a new job at a competing company, this ruling is good news. It makes it harder for a company to block an employee's departure, even one who has been on the job as long as Johnson.

For more on this article:
- check out this ComputerWorld.com article

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"Almost all sectors of the electronic equipment market are still declining, and we will need to see markets hit bottom before we see the waves of recovery and a rebound to positive growth," Gartner analyst Klaus Rinnen said in a statement. "The wider process of rebounding will occur over a period of approximately two years."

For more on this market prediction:
- check out this InformationWeek.com article

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But new domains open a new door to creativity and lots of space for new messages on the Internet. These domain names can be anywhere from three to 63 characters in length and can support Chinese, Arabic and other scripts.

Dozens of groups have announced that they plan to apply for new domains. That includes terms such as dot-wine, dot-paris, dot-nyc, dot-sport and dot-food. Some companies plan to reserve their own names like dot-deloitte. It could actually get very crowded when all these domain names become a reality.

In the meantime, IT executives may start thinking long and hard about whether they want their own domain name and if they want to pay for it.

For more on domain names:
- check out this NetworkWorld.com article

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After examining the code earlier this month, Ben Feinstein, director of research at SecureWorks now says that it uses a variety of safe programming practices such as the use of the "Strcpy" function, which is a potential vector for a buffer overflow attack. Feinstein argues that any vulnerability in Green Dam-Youth Escort could well result in the creation of a botnet of unprecedented size in the country. In addition, Feinstein noted that "This software appears to be of low quality and to have not been developed with a secure methodology. It likely suffers from a whole host of problems."

For more on this story:
- check out this article at CNET News

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Users who had the chance to use the service have been upbeat about its benefits. Kevin Dando, director of digital and education communications for PBS is one such user, saying, "I've only been using Google Voice for a few months, but it's completely changed the way I use voicemail and communicate." You can click on the following link to sign-up for a Google voice invite.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Network World

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In addition, some Google users have also complained that the search giant's Google News area was inaccessible for a time. This was confirmed by a Google representative, who acknowledged that users performing "queries related to Michael Jackson" might experience difficulties for slightly less than half an hour starting from 2:40 p.m. PDT.

Shedding some light on the unique challenges of flash Internet traffic, CNN.com defended sluggish performance at its site, saying that it saw 20 million page views and a fivefold increase in just over an hour. CNET News saw twice the normal amount of hourly traffic after word of Jackson's death spread, while traffic at sister site CBSNews.com saw numbers surge to five times their normal levels.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at CNET News

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Within the span of 24 hours after MSE was launched on Tuesday, it appears that the download cap for the free antivirus product was reached. Users who try to download MSE will now get the following alert: "Thank you for your interest in joining the Microsft Security Essentials Beta. We are not accepting additional participants at this time. Please check back at a later date for possible additional availability."

So far, MSE has been getting the thumbs up. Independent testing done by AV-Test.org found that MSE was able to accurately detect 3,194 common virus, bot and worm samples from a set of WildList malware released a week ago. In addition, attempts to elicit a false positive by running MSE across a large set of benign samples did not result in any false alarms.

At the moment, MSE seems to be working exclusively with locally installed anti-virus and anti-spyware definitions and not cloud-based scanning methods. This is beta software after all, and certainly look to be promising.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Network World
- check out this article at The Channel Wire
- check out this article at The Register

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Where the retail upgrade of Windows 7 is concerned, the Premium Edition is priced at $119.99, Professional at $199.99 and Ultimate at $219.99. This is priced somewhat lower than Windows Vista, when it was first launched. The same goes for the boxed retail versions for Windows 7; this will be sold at at the price of $199.99, $299.99 and $319.99 for the Home Premium, Professional and Ultimate edition, respectively.

For now, selected markets will be able to preorder Windows 7 at a discounted rate. For example, customers in the U.S. will be able to get Windows 7 Home Premium at $49.99 and Windows 7 Professional at $99.99. U.K. prices are slightly higher at £49.99 for Windows 7 Home Premium and £99.99 for Windows 7 Professional. Preorder offers are also available for Canada, Japan, France and Germany.

And as expected, users who buy a Windows Vista PC today will receive the equivalent edition of Windows 7 when it comes out.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Ars Technica

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But there is a growing debate about BlackBerry etiquette in the boardroom and on the street. When should you break away from your BlackBerry? And when should you ignore the static around you and focus on your own special messaging system?

Some companies are banning BlackBerry use at meetings. A recent poll of more than 5,000 workers found that a third of them frequently check their e-mails at meetings. Some 20 percent said they had been scolded for poor manners regarding wireless devices, according to a recent New York Times article.

So what does the future hold for BlackBerry addiction? It looks like its time to leave your PDA alone. It may take some practice to kick the habit, at least for the duration of the meeting. It could be time for some rules, but then again, rules are always made to be broken.

For more on BlackBerry etiquette:
- check out this New York Times article

• The Green Sigma Coalition to monitor and analyze solutions for energy, water, waste and greenhouse gas.
• A water-cooled supercomputer that doubles as building heater.
• Research into next-generation rechargeable batteries.

"Two years ago, we launched Project Big Green to help people be more efficient in their data centers," Lechner told eWeek. "Since then we have been methodically expanding the focus, knowing we need to optimize [all IT systems] for energy use across a broad physical infrastructure.

With a company as big and powerful as IBM behind green, it won't be long before other companies rush in to compete.

For more on IBM and green:
- check out this eWeek.com article

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An article at CSOOnline.com outlines ways to allow your employees to work from home without dismal consequences. Here are a few suggestions:

• Make sure a home office is physically secure.
• Configure security smartly.
• Make sure data is backed up.

Most importantly, make sure your workers separate their home office from their home; and separate their work world from their play world.

For more on making home work a success:
- check out this CSOOnline.com article

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Two job sites that match employers with temporary IT workers are on the rise: Elance and oDesk Corp. These two companies report sharp increases in the number of employers hiring temporary workers. Elance is averaging 25,000 job postings a month from employers, up almost 50 percent from this time last year. oDesk says it has seen job postings increase by 100 percent over the past year to about 17,500 jobs.

This rising interest in tech contract help "is what we would expect to see right now," IDC analyst Stephen Minto told CIO.com. He said that the increased project-by-project hiring does not signal an improving economy.

Regardless of the reason, it's a way into a job for many IT workers with valuable skills who find themselves jobless.

For more on temp IT jobs:
- check out this CIO.com article

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But there is a long way to go. Approximately 130,000 employers participate in the program, a tiny fraction of the 6 million businesses that employ more than 115 million people in the United States, according to the newspaper. Despite this small glimmer of success, the Obama administration postponed--for the fourth time--a requirement that all companies with federal contracts use the program to verify work status of employees.

The requirement is now scheduled for Sept. 8. However, many civil rights organizations say the program is prone to errors and threatens civil liberties. Right now, it's unclear whether or not it will succeed, even with the administration's unwavering support.

For more on E-Verify:
- check out this USA Today article

• Detroit--need we say more about the auto industry capital of the United States?
• Cleveland--which has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the United States.
• Syracuse--miserable winters and exactly 49 IT jobs listed as open.

For more on the list of cities you don't want to be in:
- check out this CIO.com article

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On Thursday, Intel researchers showcased the technology with the latest refinements--which allow it to send data together with power. The equivalent power used by an RFID tag was transmitted over two feet, powering a small wireless speaker and simultaneously playing back music from an Apple iPod. With a wireless transmission efficiency of 90 percent at distances of up to a meter, I can't wait to see how this technology will appear in my house. In the meantime, Intel is working to extend the technology to longer distances.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at ZDNet

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Summing up the issue, Andi Mann, a virtualization analyst with Enterprise Management Associates noted, "With a 1-to-1 relationship in a physical environment, you knew exactly what headroom you had to accommodate peak loads." In the past, a mix of good judgment and existing tools were adequate; now, technology such as VMware's VMotion shifts virtual machines across disparate physical servers.

While the "big four" systems management vendors are putting efforts into boosting the strength of their virtual application management capabilities, efforts so far have fallen short. Among other things, they do not have adequate oversight into the exact components that may cause problems, such as internal software switches or the state of storage I/O. Much must me done, but the crucial need to monitor application performance is clear. 

For more on this story:
- check out this article at InformationWeek

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According to InformationWeek's interpretation of Nayar's comments, American grads entering tech fields are too preoccupied with getting rich. Meanwhile, they are less inclined to spend time with the boring but necessary details relating to various process, methodology and tools--such as ITIL and Six Sigma. The end result is that these graduates become "too expensive" to train, albeit "unemployable."

Do you think that American college grads expect too much and are not willing to work their way up the ladder?

For more on this story:
- check out this article at InformationWeek

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At the same time, it will also not allow partners to sell new licenses beyond the end of this month. Indeed, restrictive conditions are already in effect--and partners can only sell to existing customers within this month only under certain conditions. At the moment, Oracle is telling its partners that Virtual Iron Extended Enterprise Edition version 4.4 will be supported through September 3, and version 4.5 through January 14, 2010.

This swift move makes it appear that it is probably Oracle's strategy all along to simply acquire Virtual Iron's technology and keep it out of the hands of competitors. I know of at least one organization that has bought into Virtual Iron technology in lieu of VMware; good luck to them now that Virtual Iron will be no more.

So far, though, the Oracle and Virtual Iron websites do not mention the discontinuing sales.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at CNET News
- check out this article at Channel Insider

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To bolster its capabilities, Microsoft Security Essentials will share information with the cloud-based Microsoft Dynamic Signature Service. In addition, kernel structure scans and support for direct file-system parsing will aid in the fight against rootkits. Finally, a whitelist of trusted software sources is maintained in order to eliminate any erroneous identification of legitimate applications.  Microsoft says that the software will keep a low profile unless it detects dangerous software

Personally, what I see happening is Microsoft getting impatient with the pace of progress in anti-malware applications. Sure, the other large antivirus companies have been "working on" cloud-based solutions for a while now. Yet current generation security applications are still largely ineffective and seem stuck in the era of virus definition files and beefed-up--but still useless--spam capabilities.

At a first glance, the features in the Microsoft Security Essentials appear to be relatively sophisticated. How well that translates into real-world capabilities remains to be seen.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Tech News World
- check out this article at eWeek

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Experience in the finance sector is currently a liability, experts say, in the wake of last year's economic meltdown. "If you got jettisoned from Lehman or Citi, you're going to have a hard time making those skills transfer," said Charles Polachi Jr., a partner at Polachi Co.

The job market has become far more complicated in the wake of the recession. The days of jumping from $100,000 to $140,000 a year are over, says one expert. It looks like the CIO has to be a very good jack of one trade. But just what that trade is varies depending on the specific CIO opening.

For more on the changing CIO:
- check out this MassHighTech.com article

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A recent Gartner survey found that only nine percent of CIOs are planning to increase IT outsourcing this year. Many surveyed are considering insourcing previously outsourced functions. It's hard to tell if this trend is reversing a practice that has been unfolding for several years, but with President Obama's pledge to keep jobs at home instead of sending them overseas, this reversal may have the White House completely behind it.

Only time will tell if companies are seeing their bottom lines improve without outsourcing or whether they will revert to old practices in order to save costs.

For more on outsourcing coming home:
- check out this SearchCIO.com article

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The unfettered collection of information about consumers came under fire on Capitol Hill last week when lawmakers began questioning how well Internet companies protect information they collect. "I think it's a big deal if someone tracks where you go and what you look at without your personal approval. We wouldn't like that in the non-Internet world and I personally don't like it in the Internet world," said Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas).

The issue of privacy continues to fester at hearings on Capitol Hill. Just how much information should a company retain about you and how is it protected?

Lawmakers are drafting Internet privacy legislation that will, among other things, give consumers information about just what is being collected about them. The legislation would also give them greater control over how the data can be used and prevent the data from being shared with advertisers.

For more on your data and your privacy:
- check out this Wall Street Journal article

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"Steve continues to look forward to returning to Apple at the end of June," Apple spokesman Steve Dowling said, "and there is nothing further to say."

Jobs--who announced in January that he was taking a medical leave of absence until the end of June--survived pancreatic cancer five years ago. He did not disclose why he was taking a medical leave. His gaunt appearance has been the subject of much speculation for months.

For more on Jobs' health:
- check out this WSJ.com article

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Managers must identify and locate all potentially orphaned data on distributed devices. Here are several steps to prevent your data from getting lost in cyberspace:

• Establish a comprehensive backup policy for data.
• Create centralized control over enforcing that policy.
• Use technology that can easily recover data under any circumstance.

Before there is turnover in your office, take an inventory of distributed devices likely to contain critical data. Stay in control of your data by making sure that it is backed up. A layoff may mean more than just losing a worker: It can mean losing gigabytes of information.

For more on keeping track of data:
- Check out this eWeek.com article

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Some 44 percent were considered challenged: They finished late, were over budget or had fewer than the required features and functions, according to the survey. Jim Johnson, chairman of The Standish Group, told CIO.com it's the first increase in IT project failures that he's seen "in a long time."

The last time the group did a similar survey was in 2006. That survey found that 19 percent were failures and 46 percent were challenges.

For more on the recession and IT projects:
- check out this CIO.com article

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This was done by literally packing up the blade servers that the entire University ran on. Indeed, this was possible only because the school had just completed consolidating 30 servers running its Windows network onto a Hyper-V virtualized environment--just month prior. Hardware was in the form of four HP ProLiant BL460c blades with an HP MSA 1500cs SAN for a combined 2.4 terabytes of data storage.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Network World

While I noticed only a few iPhone friends gushing over successful iPhone 3.0 updates on Twitter, Alan Milford over at CBS Interactive in London apparently had a different experience, grousing: "Apple should have their own Twitter server on software release day, so all the fanboys can spam each other without bothering the rest of us."

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Network World

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The idea is that for a pre-determined fee, customers can deploy an unlimited number of the above applications. This can result in potentially large savings for companies that intend to sink deep roots into the Microsoft ecosystem of software. A word of caution though: APA does not cover client access licenses (CALs) on Office SharePoint Server and System Center. The exact fee to be paid will need to be worked out on a case-by-case basis with Microsoft partners.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Channel Register

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One condition for the music download service, it appears, is that Virgin takes steps to guard the interests of Universal Music. This much is apparent from a statement on the agreement, which reads, "In parallel, the two companies will be working together to protect Universal Music's intellectual property and drive a material reduction in the unauthorized distribution of its repertoire across Virgin Media's network."

One suggestion that is being tossed around to bring about the "material reduction" mentioned above seems to be a "temporary suspension of Internet access" for persistent offenders. The suspension could range from as little as five minutes, or up to a full day. The basis for suspension would be based on information furnished by Universal. Virgin was quick to note that the idea might never see the light of day, and would be launched on a trial basis first.

Now, I have some opinions on the viability of such a measure, which you can read in my Editor's Corner. 

For more on this story:
- check out this article at ZDNET News

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Unfortunately, it has now emerged that Google App Sync happens to break Microsoft's Windows Desktop Search, along with a number of other plug-ins in Microsoft Outlook. Affected applications range from Adobe's Acrobat PDF Maker toolbar, Microsoft's Office Outlook Connector and also the Outlook change notifier.

While Google says it is working on an update to its Google App Sync software to address some of the above issues, the more pertinent issue here is related to how the software was actually designed to disable Windows Desktop Search and other third-party search tools in Outlook. According to Google, this had to be done so that these applications will not attempt to endlessly index the sync files created by Google App Sync.

So when can Google cease interfering with these other search applications? Well, when these rival software makers work with Google to ensure their applications don't touch the files created by Google App Sync. And what do you think are the chances of that happening?

For more on this story:
- check out this article at CNET News

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And Finally... Blogger Jake Seliger explains why "You're not going to be a professional Blogger, regardless of what the Wall Street Journal tells you." Article

"I.B.M. knows how to do all of those things," Frank Gens, chief analyst for IDC, a technology research firm, told the New York Times. "Its strategy is all about making cloud computing safe for enterprise customers." The newspaper reported that Big Blue is taking a "tailored approach," promoting the cloud for computing workloads in business.

Its cloud entries include one product which streamlines the technology used by corporate software developers and testers, which can consume 30 percent or more of a company's technology resources. Other offerings coming later include clouds fine-tuned for data storage and clouds for business analytics.

For more on IBM reaching for the clouds:
- check out this New York Times article

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He told the House Committee on Science and Technology's Subcommittee on Research and Science Education that computers with wireless connections are sitting ducks for criminals, hackers and terrorists. Goodman said cell phone use is growing faster than the Internet and presenting a prime opportunity for hacking. To deal with this issue, research and development will have to come up with better ways to protect mobile devices. It will require collaboration by experts before the threat intensifies, he said.

"We have lots of experience and mistakes with the Internet," Goodman told the congressional panel. "This time, will we be able to get ahead of the problem and make the world of mobile cyberspace safer and more secure before the tsunami forms, builds momentum, and hits us?"

For more on growing threats against mobile devices:
- check out this GovInfoSecurity.com article

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So, be forewarned, a hacker could get hold of your name and Social Security number and use that information for fraudulent medical charges. What does this mean for you? It means that your workers must be continually educated about cybersecurity. While your company may not work with electronic records, any employee could become a victim.

If you think the threat of electronic medical record theft is not your problem. Think again.

For more on this growing cyber threat:
- check out this New York Times article

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It's still not time to cheer but there are some indications that the worst may be over. Another good sign is that 28 percent of CIOs are planning to increase spending for software applications--up from 23 percent.

As the saying goes: When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

For more on the economics of the IT world:
- check out this CIO.com article

Not only that, outsourcing firms are looking to reduce costs by cutting staff and increasing standardization. That means you may not be getting the cream-of-the-crop staff to provide the best service. In addition, IT outsourcing pricing is set to shrink by 5 to 20 percent, according to Gartner, so you definitely don't want to be signing a contract when prices are going down, not up.

As Linda Cohen, Gartner vice president and analyst, told the conference: "Don't sign long-term deals, there won't be enduring value for you or for your service provider. The days of the ten year deals are long gone."

For more on the state of outsourcing:
- check out this CIO.com article

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Here are a few of the suggestions:

• Tell the truth. Don't sugarcoat what's going on. Tell workers how the company plans to ride out the recession.
• Listen to your staff. Give them a chance to voice their concerns.
• Protect your staff from a work overload.

Remember, you need the staff as much as they need you and you will have plenty of opportunities to reward those who helped you through this recession.

For more tips on IT weathering the recession:
- check out this CIO.com article

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Of course, what is not known yet is whether customers currently on Windows Vista will have to pay for a full-priced retail box, or if they will be able to get it at a fraction of the price. After all, these are the folks who didn't insist on staying with Windows XP. Still, I won't hold up too much hope for that, considering the amount of money Microsoft stands to lose from those upgrading. But we will have to wait for the next leaked memo, I suppose.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at InformationWeek

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For now, the company is working hard on the new release, which is code-named Weaver. Among other things, Weaver will feature support of the upcoming Windows 7--due out in October 22 of this year--as well as a touch API. In addition, support for native cross-platform compilation for the Mac and Linux platforms appears to be a cornerstone of Delphi's strategy now, though actual implementation details will have to wait.

In an interview with The Register, chief executive Wayne William was not concerned about competing with Visual Studio, Microsoft's deeply entrenched developer product. Williams noted that "We don't compete with Visual Studio, Visual Studio is a .NET IDE."

For more on this story:
- check out this article at The Register

The fact is that the equipment typically used in a data center is often certified to run in temperatures exceeding 100 degrees. And if anyone should know this, it would be search giant Google, who runs some of the largest data centers around the world. To this end, Google published data several years ago showing how even temperatures in excess of 100 degrees showed no apparent harm to them.

If anything, the economic realities of the current recession--as well as a greater environmental consciousness--will fuel the needed thermostat adjustment.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Network World

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Google's CEO Eric Schmidt, understandably, remains tight lipped about the company's position toward Microsoft's Bing. In an interview with Fox Business Network, Schmidt would only say, "It's not the first entry for Microsoft. They do this about once a year."

Microsoft calls Bing a "decision engine" rather than a search engine, and emphasized that it is pushing "beyond how search engines work today." Microsoft appears to be having success, gaining two percentage points to reach about 11 percent of the market share. Another report by StatCounter pegs Bing at 16.28 percent of the market share. Both estimates put it ahead of Yahoo's 10.22 percent.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at New York Post
- check out this article at CNET News

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What make the Freestyle drink dispenser so special is on the inside, where the 30 RFID-tagged cartridges of various flavors are used to mix the staggering combination of drinks. RFID readers inside the machines monitor the status of the cartridges while the dispenser itself actively collects data on what customers are drinking. And all these business intelligence is then transmitted each night via a private Verizon wireless network to Coke's SAP data warehouse system in Atlanta.

In this manner, Coca-Cola is able to test new drink flavors and concepts by sending out new recipes wirelessly. In addition, it is also able to identify the machines by regions and hence isolate drink preference across segments of the country. And it doesn't stop there--fast-food restaurants that lease the Freestyle will have access to an e-portal that will rank drinks sold during specific time periods.

While the initial roll out of the Freestyle will be limited to the United States, there could be global deployment in the near future. So watch out for a Freestyle near you soon.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at InformationWeek

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We find it hard to believe that people are not jumping for joy over the benefits technology brings to the workplace. Maybe they never experienced the days before technology was embedded in the workplace. Maybe they don't have a good help desk to troubleshoot their problems at their work station. Maybe they didn't get the proper training.

The survey also found the responses varied by income level. Of the 625 workers surveyed, those who made more money annually said technology makes their work easier.

For more on technology's impact:
- check out this MaristPoll.Marist.edu article

A growing number of IT employees are logging onto social networks from their work computers--nearly one-third of those surveyed engaged in the practice. And more than half of those surveyed said they downloaded personal software on corporate PCs.

This survey is bad news for every company. So what are you supposed to do? Fire everybody who violates the rules? Hire a team of cyber cops to troll the workplace? Have mandatory training sessions every three months?

These are tough questions for any company. Make sure the employees you hire follow the rules and make sure the rules are clear. That's about all you can do, isn't it?

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According to Gartner analyst Dan Sommer, the reason is simple: "Companies are looking to 'increase transparency' to identify costs and better align strategy with execution," he told InformationWeek.com.

BI business is so good that total revenue for the market checked in at $8.8 billion. That's good news for the six vendors that own 75 percent of the market: SAP, SAS, Oracle, IBM, Microsoft and MicroStrategy. It's also a sure sign that businesses realize that BI is a good thing, and it's definitely here to stay.

For more on the success of BI:
- check out this InformationWeek.com article

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Ouch! Most companies would argue that mobile phones are an essential part of the workplace, especially for the ever-moving workforce. Let's face it: In this world of BlackBerrys, iPhones and other smartphones, having a cell phone is no longer a luxury. Just like your laptop, a cell phone is one of the tools you need to do your job.

The IRS is looking for comments on its proposals up through Sept. 4 and would welcome alternative ideas. You better believe they will get them.

For more on taxing texting:
- check out this Washington Post article

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Instead of the carriers launching an all-out counter-attack they worsened the situation in two big ways. First, they cut down the size of their own staff to recognize the reduced revenue of mobile content. Second, and this is much worse, they started shifting operational costs onto the publishers and re-negotiated their rev shares downward. They also applied pressure to publishers in other ways that ultimately added costs and squeezed margins.

It's gotten bad enough that we are now watching publishers walk away from previous title acceptances. (In other words, publishers have accepted games/apps by the carriers but then choose not to build and deploy because they've lost confidence in harvesting a financial return for their efforts.)

If the carriers want to save the mobile content business, they need to attack both the cost and the revenue side of the ROI equation. Here's how:

1. Dump the multi-handset rule: For years, carriers have required that publishers support a minimum number of handsets to launch a title. That's 20, 30 or even 40 handsets, even though only a handful of them produce 80 percent of the downloads. It's way too risky to spend the money to port to that many devices without a market test. Often, the game/app doesn't work well on the older phones, so a disproportionately high amount of money goes into supporting them.

2. Abolish certification costs: Two of the big four domestic carriers have exclusive agreements with testing houses that charge for product certification (quality assurance). What a rip-off. Carrier 3 is essentially doing the same now but not formally, and rumor has it that Carrier 4 is considering the same. This adds thousands of dollars to the launch of any title on the carrier deck. I understand that QA is important, but why not bring testing in-house to reduce costs or at least provide a multi-vendor strategy to promote price competition?

3. Market the deck: The number of people who purchase mobile content is stunningly low on a percentage basis (9 percent or less). The carriers cannot give up on raising that number. All customers should get their first game, ringtone and wallpaper for free as an incentive to learn how the mobile content storefront works--risk free. Instead, the carriers have handset OEMs pre-load games and free content onto the phone. That's a great way to make games like Snake and BrickBreaker super-successful, but doesn't do much in the way of producing first-time buyers. And now that the majority of users are skipping the carrier storefront button altogether in favor of the Internet browsing button as I explained earlier, the carriers need to begin advertising their storefront on the mobile Internet to bring them back. The cows are out of the barn!

4. Keep subscriptions: There's a move underway amongst some of the carriers to abolish subscriptions, as if somehow they produce a negative customer experience. Wrong. It's not that subscriptions are inherently bad, it's that subscriptions have been promoted as a creative financing technique instead of a pricing strategy for content that has recurring value. In other words, take a platformer game that should sell for $7.99 and offer it for $2.99 per month just because $2.99 sounds cheaper than $7.99. Go back to enforcing subscriptions instead of eliminating them altogether and take a hard look at my next related point.

5. Monitor the deck: The sheer amount of content that is live on the carrier decks today that simply DOES NOT RUN would astound you. Ringtones sound awful, wallpapers don't fit, videos don't play, games don't load and apps crash. You think I'm making this up? Every day, thousands and thousands of returns, because of garbage that either got through the system or, and this is more interesting, games/apps that were somehow changed AFTER they were certified. Servers go down, certificates expire, IP addresses un-whitelisted. The users don't know who to call and don't care enough to chase it so they simply cancel their subscription or get a refund. Incidentally, I don't think anyone is monitoring Apple's deck either, so every time one of those 50,000 apps update themselves, they're no longer what Apple approved a month ago. Who knows what you're gonna get?

6. Fix the damn store: There's no excuse for how awful the carrier mobile storefronts look. I don't think they look any better than when they launched on the black and white phones years ago. The user interface is so first-generation and the number of clicks and wait time to do anything is ridiculous. For the BREW carriers, it's better, but it's not really "awesome" either. Compare any carrier's BlackBerry storefront against the BlackBerry App World storefront, and you can't help but be shocked at the difference. And that's RIM's first try!

Why the OEM app stores are going to fail

Back to the three fundamental requirements: discoverability, billing and ROI. I'm not going to weigh in on each individual initiative here, but here's what's going to go wrong in the collective:

1. Billing. If you think that telephone companies are clueless when it comes to content, what makes you think that handset OEMs would be any better? But that's not the worst of it, handset OEMs are B2B companies. They don't have consumer relationships past their warranty cards and support websites and most importantly, they don't have end-user billing relationships. So these app stores need to use indirect billing methods (credit card, PayPal, etc.) I think adoption will be slow.

2. Discovery. How will the end-users find out about the app store? Well, simple, right? The app store will be a link on the phone's menu. But wait a minute--I just got done explaining how the carriers were losing their discoverability because users are bypassing the store button and going straight to the web. Why wouldn't the users bypass the OEM storefront button too? Further, we're not talking about an installed base of millions of users here, we're talking about connecting storefront buttons to brand new phone releases. And incidentally, the carriers need to be on-board with those since THEY are the ones who buy the phones for resale. Ask Nokia about that. Unless the handset OEMs are going to start selling phones from their own retail stores, they need to rely on the carrier sales force to educate customers. Good luck with that.

3. ROI. Connected directly to the two points above, the ROI for publishers is a little shaky. Storefronts basically soft-launch with a zero user base, an uncertain billing system (that probably doesn't support subscriptions), a new developer portal that just might not be perfected yet and a new SDK needed to exploit all the cool features of the device. Oh, and by the way, 90 percent of the product downloads in the store will be free so that the users get a chance to, you know, have some risk-free fun. I think publishers will adopt a wait-and-see attitude.

Finally, for all of you that are convinced I'm an idiot because I've forgotten about iPhone's success, let me say that the reason Apple is succeeding is because they solved all three problems.

1. Billing. Credit card, yes, but look at how it's done. First of all, the concept of attaching a credit card is already embedded into the iTunes culture. Second, it's literally part of the product registration process. Third, Apple licensed the one-click patent from Amazon (you can see it right there in the registration terms and conditions). It was flawless execution.

2. Discovery. Steve Jobs, done.

3. ROI. Millions of units supported by a single SDK, a single handset purchase for development, no certification costs, no porting costs, global market access. Deployment costs are ridiculously low compared to carrier launches.

Now, I did point out in my last article that Apple is a facing a publisher ROI problem due to the unsustainability of the apps-to-customers ratio, the proliferation of free content, and the sheer number of market players. But even with all that, you can launch 10 iPhone apps for the cost of one carrier-distributed app, so most publishers are going to keep on trying for a hit. In other words, at least for the moment, they still "believe."

The bottom line? I predict that Apple's success is unique to Apple, and not a blueprint for other handset OEMs to copy. I predict that most handset OEM storefronts will fail due primarily to their inability to solve the billing problem. I predict that the carriers will follow only a portion of my advice and eventually realign their place in the content ecosystem as the dominant billing intermediary.

Finally, I predict that the mobile content publishers who survive will take matters into their own hands, and begin to create their own direct customer relationships. They will market and advertise their way out of this uncertainty, which will be the focus of my next article.

Konny Zsigo is a 20-year veteran of the wireless data industry. His company, the WirelessDeveloper Agency, creates and executes mobile Web marketing campaigns to directly increase content sales and drive users to action. WDA also supports mobile publishers with North American distribution, licensing and production of mobile content (video, games, apps, ringtones, wallpapers, themes and more).

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If you're one of these people, I have chilling news for you--80% of these new mobile storefronts will fail, and I can tell you exactly why. In fact, they might all fail, every last one of them. (Except for Apple's of course, the rules don't apply to them. I can explain that, too.)

My prediction of the early demise of the competitive app stores is not enough, however, to save the carrier storefronts. They've got major problems and they need to change their policies immediately or else they really will turn into the dumb pipes that so many people think they should be anyway.

It all starts with your understanding of the three fundamental requirements for a successful mobile content business. If you don't have all three, at the same time, your mobile storefront (AKA, developer program) will fail.

1. Discovery

A storefront, as a collection of mobile content and games/apps, must be discoverable by the end-user. This sounds pretty obvious, but you it's not as easy as it used to be. Somehow, users are just supposed to trip over a storefront, fall in love with it, and then return over and over. It just doesn't happen like that--not in mobile, not in retail. Brand is no substitute for discoverability, either.

The largest retailer in the world is Wal-Mart. Their brand recognition is extremely high. Yet Wal-Mart does not rest on its brand to bring customers to their stores. They have, in fact, the highest marketing and advertising budget of any retailer. They spent $1.6 billion in 2008 in the United States alone.

Discovery for carrier storefronts used to be assured. The store button is located right on the phone, so you're just one click away from digital downloading nirvana. However, over the past year, users are skipping that button and clicking on the Internet browser button instead. Over 60 percent of the mobile browsing traffic is now off the carrier decks.

2. Billing

For as long as I can remember, content providers have dreamed of taking credit cards for mobile content purchases. I've seen many working systems that prompt users to enter their credit card info and now matter how slick the UI is, or how sophisticated the target end-user is supposed to be, the results are abysmal.

To simply say that "billing must be easy" is almost too cliché to be helpful, but it's the truth. Every click, every new input field, every "proceed" button is a reminder to the end-user that the purchase they're about to make is for something they really don't need. It's just not worth the trouble.

3. Positive ROI for publishers

The potential financial returns have to be high enough to offset the financial risks of developing to the platform. Publishers must at least believe they will make money or they'll never risk the time and money to find out. This is why it's so important for app stores to generate pre-launch hype.

How the carriers screwed up and allowed this to even happen

For a while, the cellular carriers were firing on all cylinders. They had discoverability (the storefront button on the phone's menu). They had a solid ROI. (If you could just get your game accepted by the carrier's content committee, you were assured a decent spot on the deck for awhile which made your company profitable and also got you a second round of VC funding.) And third, they had (and still have) billing.

But here's what went terribly wrong about nine months ago. The ROI for publishers started to crash. It's hard to know exactly what to blame it on: the economy, the shift to smartphones or the launch of the iPhone. Regardless of the reason, carrier sales of all content started sliding...Continued

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According to the Android Developers Blog, the NDK provides tools and build files used to generate native code libraries from C and C++ sources as well as methods to embed the corresponding native libraries into application packages files that can be deployed on Android devices. In addition, Google promises that all future releases of the Android platform will support native system headers and libraries, starting from Android 1.5 documentation, samples and tutorials. Android engineer David Turner writes that version 1.5 of the NDK supports the ARMv5TE machine instruction set and provides stable headers for libc (the standard C library),  libm (the standard math library), the JNI interface, libz (the common ZLib compression library) and liblog (used to send logcat messages to the kernel).

"Keep in mind that using the NDK will not be relevant for all Android applications," Turner adds. "As a developer, you will need to balance its benefits against its drawbacks, which are numerous! Your application will be more complicated, have reduced compatibility, have no access to framework APIs, and be harder to debug. That said, some applications that have self-contained, CPU-intensive operations that don't allocate much memory may still benefit from increased performance and the ability to reuse existing code. Some examples are signal processing, intensive physics simulations, and some kinds of data processing."

For more on the Android NDK 1.5:
- read this Android Developers Blog entry

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In related webOS news, the Palm Pre's App Catalog storefront topped the 1 million application download benchmark last week. According to market research firm Medialets, Palm has sold more than 150,000 Pre smartphones so far--despite the availability of only a few dozen applications, Pre users have so far downloaded an average of more than six apps each. Medialets notes that the average Palm Pre user has downloaded 26 times the number of apps as the average iPhone user at the time Apple's App Store surpassed the 1 million download mark in mid-2008--moreover, the average App Catalog application experienced 16 times the number of downloads that apps in the App Store had experienced at comparable points in their growth.

"We think the Palm Pre is by far the best product we've ever shipped and I am very happy with how we are managing the launch," Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein said during the firm's earnings call Thursday, but refused to disclose actual sales numbers. "The most important indicator of our success is that customer response has been simply great, especially to Palm webOS. Just as Palm pioneered PDAs in the '90s, we believe it has now pioneered the mobile operating platform for the next 10 years and beyond... We feel it takes better advantage of the benefits of Web 3.0 than any other mobile platform available today."

Rubenstein also addressed the status of webOS's Mojo SDK in the wake of news it will delay the software kit's official release until late summer. "We are eager to expand access to our SDK but we need to do so in a measured and methodical fashion, so we can be sure we are providing a great development experience," he said. "Over the next few weeks, we expect the program to grow from hundreds to thousands of developers and our goal from there is to make our SDK available to everyone by the end of this summer."

For more on the Palm Pre's progress:
- read this All Things Digital article

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Palm silences Pre Dev Wiki tethering talk
Where are all the Palm Pre apps?

According to Touch Arcade, Manomio received an App Store rejection letter reading in part "Thank you for submitting C64 1.0 to the App Store. We've reviewed C64 1.0 and determined that we cannot post this version of your iPhone application to the App Store because it violates the iPhone SDK Agreement; ‘3.3.2 An Application may not itself install or launch other executable code by any means, including without limitation through the use of a plug-in architecture, calling other frameworks, other APIs or otherwise. No interpreted code may be downloaded and used in an Application except for code that is interpreted and run by Apple's Published APIs and built-in interpreter(s).'"

As Manomio CEO Brian Lyscarz points out to Touch Arcade, the App Store features a number of applications that do roughly the same thing as C64 1.0, among them CHIP-8 emulators, programmable calculators and Z-machine interpreter Frotz. In addition, Sega's Golden Axe and Sonic iPhone games are essentially emulators packaged with the original game ROMs.

Hottest Girls, meanwhile, earned mainstream media attention after it was seemingly anointed the first Apple-authorized iPhone and iPod touch application to feature nudity--however, within a day after the application first surfaced in the App Store, the computing giant reversed course and removed the app. Hottest Girls, which promised consumers topless models alongside a gallery of "2200+ sexy bikini babes and lingerie models," briefly emerged as an Internet cause célèbre, with many pundits speculating that the application heralded a new, less conservative era in the App Store's evolution. However, Apple now contends that the topless images were added to Hottest Girls only after the application ran the submission gauntlet.

"Apple will not distribute applications that contain inappropriate content, such as pornography," said Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr in a statement. "The developer of this application added inappropriate content directly from their server after the application had been approved and distributed, and after the developer had subsequently been asked to remove some offensive content. This was a direct violation of the terms of the iPhone Developer Program. The application is no longer available on the App Store."

According to TechCrunch, Hottest Girls development team Allen the Geek initially claimed it pulled the app on its own accord, citing overwhelming consumer demand. "The Hottest Girls app is temporarily sold out," read a now-deleted message on the Allen the Geek website. "The server usage is extremely high because of the popularity of this app. Thus, by not distributing the app, we can prevent our servers from crashing. Those who already have the app will still be able to use our app. To answer the question on everyone's mind: Yes, the topless images will still be there when it is sold again."

For more on the App Store smackdown:
- read this Touch Arcade article and this CNN.com article

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Apple bans ‘Me So Holy' app for iPhone
Apple rejects South Park app for iPhone

Source: YouTube

Source: YouTube

Source: YouTube

Source: YouTube

Source: YouTube

Source: YouTube

In a statement issued Thursday, nonprofit media reform organization Free Press notes that just last month, AT&T contended the SlingPlayer Mobile iPhone app would pose too much of a bandwidth threat to operate over 3G--in order to earn App Store approval for the application, Sling Media was forced to disable 3G streaming capabilities, reportedly at Apple's request, meaning iPhone users can only view video content over WiFi. But last week, MLB.com told The New York Times that its newly-enhanced At Bat app will offer live streaming video coverage of major league games optimized for both WiFi and 3G networks, adding that its servers will detect the strength of the device's connection and adapt the quality of the video accordingly. "That strikes us as odd and potentially nefarious because it really represents a carrier picking and choosing applications for consumers as opposed to letting consumers decide which videos they want to watch," Free Press policy director Ben Scott tells Wired. "It's exactly the sort of thing you'd expect in an Internet experience that's controlled by the carrier."

Earlier this year, Free Press sent a letter to the FCC asking the agency to confirm that mobile operators must adhere to the Internet Policy Statement, which guarantees consumers' right to access any online content and services on any device of their choosing. According to Free Press, AT&T has previously voiced public support for this position, citing a November 2008 Washington Post article quoting AT&T chief lobbyist Jim Cicconi, who said "The same principles should apply across the board. As people migrate to the use of wireless devices to access the Internet, they... certainly expect that we treat these services the same way." Scott's statement contends that AT&T is effectively playing favorites by denying Sling Media the same rights it is now extending to MLB.com: "We are troubled that carriers like AT&T are playing gatekeeper to the next generation of wireless Internet applications. No Internet service provider should be allowed to pick winners and losers online. AT&T has acknowledged that open Internet principles should apply to wireless and that consumers expect unfettered mobile access. So why is AT&T deciding what online video its iPhone customers can watch and what they can't? This is exactly the kind of arbitrary intervention in the open Internet marketplace that consumers should fear in an industry dominated by powerful network owners."

In response to Free Press' allegations, AT&T tells Wired that the difference between the MLB app and the SlingPlayer app is that the former streams video from MLB's website, while the latter streams content from the TV set-top box Slingbox. AT&T argues it is simply seeking to guarantee that its subscribers enjoy the best possible service: "We're certainly not crippling any apps," an AT&T spokesman said. "This is an issue of fairness... While we would like to support all video services across our network, the reality is that wireless networks simply lack the capacity to support customers streaming hours of cable, satellite or IPTV video programming to individual users." Free Press suggests that Apple and AT&T either ban all iPhone video apps that feature live streaming, or approve them all under the condition that developers include code to temporarily disable live streaming capabilities in the event that network capacity isn't up to the task. Here's another idea: Apple needs to make clear once and for all what is and what is not acceptable for an iPhone application to earn its blessing. It's impossible to determine whether or not an app breaks the rules when no one outside of Apple knows what those rules are. -Jason

According to Narayen, Adobe's Open Screen Project initiative--an effort dedicated to driving rich Internet experiences across mobile handsets, televisions, personal computers and consumer electronics--now boasts 25 participants who've agreed to implement Flash as a consistent run-time across device screens. "We continue to see momentum," the exec added.

For more on Flash Player 10:
- read this MobileCrunch article

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Adobe teams with ARM to optimize Flash for mobile

For more on the Crowd Science survey:
- read this MediaPost article

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Additional Adobe Flash Mobile Developer Contest winners include:

Cubic Republic by IKS Mobile: An interactive multiplayer game that enables players to compete across different devices. Check out the video.
Big Game Huntr by Mobile Radicals: A location-based hunting game populated by user-generated content generated via communities of players. Check out the video.
Little Spender by Ribot: A spending calculation app that promises to show users where their cash goes each month. Check out the video.
Fickleblox by Bluesky North: A block-matching puzzle game that relies on Flash technology to bring chains or groups of colored "blox" to life. Check out the video.
Mr. Postman by Ian Moreira de Andrade: A Twitter-based application based on timeline concepts, promising to simplify the tweets a user follows. Check out the video.
Golfbox by Little Big Ideas: A golfer management app enabling users to book tee-times, invite friends to play, view leaderboards, track handicaps, read golf news and more.

The GetJar competition, announced in mid-February at Mobile World Congress 2009, encouraged developers to submit Adobe Flash-enabled mobile applications in one of five categories: Lifestyle, Games, Infotainment, Social Networking and Sports. Winning apps will be featured in either the "New & Cool," "Featured" or "Recommended" areas on GetJar.com and m.getjar.com--the apps will also be visible across GetJar partner channels including stores on Opera Mini, 3UK, Virgin Mobile France and Vodafone Ireland.

For more on GetJar's Adobe Flash Mobile Developer Contest:
- read this release

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Von Rospach also responded to a recent wave of webOS hacks, writing "We're focused on building a robust and easy-to-use Mojo SDK, and an ecosystem that benefits developers, end users, carriers and Palm alike. As on any popular platform, we recognize that some developers will experiment in ways that cross official boundaries, but we believe that our formal offerings--and community efforts built around those offerings--will provide the best experience for the vast majority of webOS developers and users."

Although Palm's App Catalog storefront currently offers only 30 webOS applications for the new Pre smartphone, Softpedia reports consumers have so far downloaded more than 800,000 apps in all, 150,000 of them on the phone's first day of retail availability earlier this month. App Catalog--which went live nine days prior to the Pre's June 6 launch--topped the 800,000 benchmark on June 20, three days after downloads totaled 660,000. At the current rate of about 46,700 Pre app downloads a day, App Catalog should clear the 1 million download mark by the end of this week.

For more on the Mojo SDK release schedule:
- read this Palm Developer Network Blog entry

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Where are all the Palm Pre apps?

FierceDeveloper asked a range of mobile software executives and thought leaders to offer their best advice for developers looking to enter the business:

Focus on web runtimes and open standards. This business is about a short path--focus on investing in areas where you have a short path to market. Don't build for scenarios where you have a lot of taxation, or no influence over the future development of the platform. And to Apple developers, I would say ‘Be wary.' Don't just consider the short term revenues--focus on the mid- to long-term." --Lee Williams, executive director, Symbian Foundation

All developers recognize that the mobile space is one where growth is exponential--the challenge is that we've always catered to native application developers. We [need] to give Web developers the right tools that they're familiar with and create the kind of professional development environment they're used to. Developers should be able to use what they know to build what they want." --Craig Cumberland, Director of WRT Tools and Technologies, Nokia

If you have an idea, pursue it--but make sure you do the market research to make sure there's a need and consumer demand. We have whiteboards full of ideas--we've thought of 50 ideas for mobile applications, but we have to be careful picking which ones we'll do. A good spur-of-the-moment idea won't necessarily sell." --Joel Comm, CEO, InfoMedia

Always start with a clear story you can tell. People who make movies talk about storyboarding, where you break down the plot and action. In the application development world, it's the same thing. Keep it simple--don't throw the kitchen sink of features into one application. It will confuse users and make the application unnecessarily complicated." --Chee Wong, COO, Shazam

You need to start everything with the user--ask yourself the question of what the user will find really useful or fun, and what you have to do to optimize that experience. Ultimately, that's who you're selling to. You need to build something that someone really, really wants. In addition, you need to understand the platform carefully. It's impossible for a startup to try to be all things to all platforms--that's a very difficult and expensive task." --Mark Ruddock, CEO, Viigo

Be prepared to go at it alone. There's a lack of funding out there, so be prepared to have some revenue coming in. We haven't gone after funding and we're generating revenue. Also, stay current on different codes and devices--you have to be able to move quickly. We're always catching up on new codes and devices. If someone accesses the site from a different device, we have to be ready to offer them a user experience comparable to what you get on other phones." --Mike Davis, co-founder, Meet Now Live

Write for a platform you love. All of our developers carry and use and love the devices they work on. As soon as our Palm team got their hands on the Pre, they couldn't put it down. If you develop for a platform you love, you'll build a better app." --Jordan Christensen, product manager, Shortcovers

"We have been politely cautioned by Palm (in private, and not by any legal team) that any discussion of tethering during the Sprint exclusivity period (and perhaps beyond--we don't know yet) will probably cause Sprint to complain to Palm, and if that happened then Palm would be forced to react against the people running the IRC channel and this wiki," reads an uncredited posting on the Pre Dev Wiki site. "There has been no legal action of any sort...We want to retain a good relationship with Palm, since we believe that will be better for the whole developer ecosystem in the long run. For that reason, we are not allowing discussion of tethering on the IRC channel, or in this wiki. There is no secret agreement with Palm, and the IRC channel and this wiki receive no special access to any information from Palm that is not publicly available already. This development group has simply decided to take a stand and do things the right way instead of violating legal agreements."

In late March, Google agreed to remove all tethering apps from its Android Market application storefront--operator partner T-Mobile USA's terms of service do not allow tethering. "Carriers have a delicate balancing act between the desire for more data and services revenue and the fact that their networks can't handle huge increases in data usage," mobile developer Jason Grigsby tells ReadWriteWeb. "Everything is a compromise in this space."

For more on the Pre tethering controversy:
- read this ReadWriteWeb article

Related articles:
Where are all the Palm Pre apps?
Can webOS reignite the Palm developer community?

All entrants must first sign up for the free Samsung Mobile Innovator program--from there, widgets may be submitted at www.samsungiq.com beginning June 24. There are no restrictions on widget categories; Samsung said it will offer further information on the i8910 HD in the weeks ahead, but existing widgets also may be submitted provided they don't violate the SIQ terms and conditions. In addition to cash prizes, Samsung will offer winning SIQ entrants distribution opportunities, promising their widget could end up on a substantial number of devices.

For more on the 2009 SIQ:
- read this release

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The 451 Group study indicates that the pattern continues to hold true when public tech companies acquire other public firms. Out of 386 such acquisitions since 2002, California companies acquired other California companies 40 percent of the time, with East Coast companies representing just 18 percent of their purchases. And among 385 transactions over the same span, publicly-traded East Coast tech companies bought other public East Coast organizations 29 percent of the time, while California firms represented just 20 percent of their buys. "If you are buying a mobile application company and there are 100 of them, why not buy the one close to your headquarters?" says 451 Group analyst Thomas Rasmussen in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. "It makes sense that corporate development and venture capitalists would target their home crowds."

Although M&A experts have long maintained that deals aren't made or broken because of cultural factors, that seems to be changing--at the recent Nokia Developer Summit, the handset giant's director of strategy and business development Ed Simnett said that prime acquisition possibilities match four criteria: 1.) They must fit into Nokia's committed roadmap; 2.) They must be profitable; 3.) They must come with superior management teams; and 4.) They must fit with the Nokia culture. "Acquisitions are really about people," Simnett said, an assertion later echoed by Nokia Growth Partners partner Bo Ilsoe, who declared "This is a people business. We look at a company's team, their technology, the overall market and our exit strategy." In other words, creating a superior location-based solution or social networking app is just part of the equation--physical location and social skills are increasingly critical factors as well. -Jason

According to Engadget, language in Apple's iPhone SDK documentation suggests that the computing giant intends to begin allowing the App Store to offer a host of new applications that are unavailable to some iPhone users--e.g., apps written for OpenGL ES 2.0 and not 1.1, thus available for download exclusively on the iPhone 3G S. "When designing your OpenGL ES application, the first question you must answer is whether your application will support OpenGL ES 1.1, OpenGL ES 2.0, or both," the SDK documentation reads. "Your application should target OpenGL ES 1.1 if you want to support all iPhones and iPod touches." Engadget adds that a few existing App Store entries are not available for the iPod touch, effectively setting a precedent for the new policy.

In related iPhone 3G S news, U.S. consumers shouldn't anticipate enjoying all promised features of the new smartphone, at least not right away: Operator partner AT&T won't introduce MMS capabilities until late summer, and data tethering is an even bigger question mark. According to Boy Genius Report, AT&T must manually remove all the "Opt Out MMS" codes on each iPhone account before the messaging service can launch--the report adds that AT&T will block data tethering when the device hits retail, but it is at work on a $70 monthly unlimited data and tethering plan that would not include SMS and MMS functionality. AT&T CEO Ralph de la Vega said in November 2008 that an official iPhone tethering option would be announced "soon."

For more on iPhone 3G S compatibility questions:
- read this Engadget article

So getting back to the publishers again, the ones who are actually trying to make money at this, the ones I sell services to and who need to make enough money to actually pay me. Let me explain what's happened to them in iPhone-land. First of all, they all dove in immediately because their investors wanted them to, and for a while, they actually believed they were making money. Development cost is a fraction of supporting any other mobile platform, you don't need to "pitch" your product, there's no porting, everyone gets a direct deal, there are no certification fees, and you make 70% of retail--what's not to like? Dare I say, they started trashing the carriers publicly and heralding the iPhone as the savior from cellular phone tyranny. The walled garden had finally tumbled and they were partying in the streets.

They all knew that unless pricing was in the sweet spot, the big download numbers wouldn't come. So they priced their products at half what they would sell them for on the carrier decks and held their breath. (What sells on Verizon for $2.99 per month with eight month retention is termed a "rip off" when presented on the iPhone at a one-time download price of $1.99.) They slotted into new releases and made money hand-over-fist, for about seven days. They extrapolated those sales onto their Excel spreadsheets and went racing back to their investors with the good news. Just in time to fund the next title.

Because they knew they were gonna get rich (because everyone was getting rich selling iPhone apps, right?) they jumped right in again. Since they didn't make money the first time but everyone else was (right??), they assumed they just had a bit of bad luck or bad timing, so they tried again. After all, it only costs $5,000--OK, maybe $15,000 to build something nice.

But there's a problem. The bar is set too low. Anybody can play in the iPhone space. All it takes is an idea and few thousand dollars to pay someone to build it. The entire process, from idea to launch, takes only six weeks.

In my world--the Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T world--a game costs $50,000 to build and $100,000 to port. And you still haven't made the BlackBerry versions, or the Windows Mobile versions, the touchscreen variants, etc. Nor have you paid for QA or certification. Now you're up to $250,000. Sidekick version? Android version? You want to take it to Vodafone? Latin America? There are only a handful of companies that can actually do all that and none of them are profitable. You can see why publishers don't mind throwing $50,000 to get four or five apps up on the iPhone, even just to test the waters. But frankly, it's not working.

Which brings me back to my point. The iPhone is not going to save mid-tier publishers. I know that the largest game publishers are doing reasonably well with branded titles and excellent placement, but that's only a dozen players, and it's not huge money, especially when you factor in the number of users and reported number of overall downloads. So what about everybody else?

In the short term, the most lucrative play is back with the carriers. With the economy and iPhone distraction, much less product is flowing into the carrier system than a year ago. So there's less competition on deck and a warmer reception from the content buyers.

That's not enough, unfortunately. The carriers do need to change the fundamental business model to make themselves more attractive to the publishers. They need to increase the user penetration rate and decrease costs to launch titles. They desperately need to change some outdated rules and re-approach their management of the content business. I'll lay all of that out in my next article, but for now, I again proclaim that profit-seeking, consumer-oriented mobile publishers need to focus on the broader market of mobile devices and operating systems in order to succeed. Don't dumpster your J2ME handset library just yet.

Konny Zsigo is a 20-year veteran of the wireless data industry. His company, the WirelessDeveloper Agency, creates and executes mobile Web marketing campaigns to directly increase content sales and drive users to action. WDA also supports mobile publishers with North American distribution, licensing and production of mobile content (video, games, apps, ringtones, wallpapers, themes and more).

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I'm going to go out on a limb here and make a contrarian argument. If you're trying to make money selling consumer games and apps, it's time to dump your iPhone strategy and march straight back to the cellular phone carriers and beg them to take you back.

Allow me to introduce myself. I own the WirelessDeveloper Agency, perhaps better known as WDA. My role in the industry is to provide services to mobile publishers: distribution, production, marketing, etc. If my publishers aren't making money, I'm not making money.

I deal with the serious people, the ones who are actually trying to make a living selling mobile content. They're not "developers" who create game knock-offs or user-submitted-wallpaper apps. No, these people actually pay for licenses, build quality product, QA the heck out of it and pay to market it. They need to make a return on their investment because they have families to support.

I had a sinking feeling when the iPhone first launched. I declared that each AT&T customer who bought one was taking a "poison pill." One less active Media Mall customer. I prayed that it would flop, but it didn't.

I instinctively knew what would happen to mobile publishers if the iPhone took off. Pretty much the same thing that happened to the record labels when the iPod launched. Almost instantly, Apple became their most lucrative digital storefront for music, but at the same time homogenized pricing and killed the album business. ITunes is paradox; it's both a blessing and a curse for the music industry.

I'm a Scrabble fan and I've bought the game several times for mobile. Once for my Treo 650, again for my BlackBerry Pearl, and then again for my iPhone. I'm pretty sure I paid $19.95 and $14.95 the first two times (though that may not be exactly right; it's been awhile). But I do know, for sure, that I just bought EA's version of Scrabble for my iPhone for a measly $5.99. That's a beautiful game by EA, polished, error-free, easy-to-use, fun and absolutely gorgeous. I should have paid $24.95 for that game and been happy about it! Instead, EA had to sell it to me for $5.99. What a shame.

Apple has done it again--price homogenization. Intense market-speed pressure, fueled by fierce and open competition to get to the 99-cent hit game. You can't even tell a good one from a bad one. Look for a decent chess game someday and you'll see what I mean. The ratings are useless because the "developers" all simultaneously praise their own products and trash their competition as part of their launch strategy.

It's a giant digital flea market...Continued

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Source: Apple via YouTube

"One of Android's features that appeals to OEMs and MNOs is that its license agreement from the Open Handset Alliance does not require changes made to the code to be contributed back to the open source community. This allows companies to incorporate valuable intellectual property into their Android handset designs, without forcing them to share that IP with other OHA members," said IMS Research analyst Chris Schreck in a prepared statement. "The flip side of that coin is that it also allows for multiple versions of the platform to exist independently of each other. The large number of handset OEMs who have announced Android-based handset designs have an incentive to differentiate their product from the competition, and those efforts at differentiation can result in multiple platform variants."

For more on Android fragmentation:
- read this release

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For more on Sony Ericsson's Java efforts:
- read this release

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Nokia's Director of WRT Tools and Technologies Craig Cumberland said the three new WRT plug-ins support 27 Nokia handset models, including all S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 2 devices and onward along with all S60 5th Edition devices. WRT plug-ins also support select S60 3rd Edition, Feature Pack 1 devices, with a Nokia software updater firmware upgrade necessary to install WRT on some devices. (A complete list of supported Nokia devices is available here.) In addition, the updated WRT plug-in for Aptana Studio 2 immediately supports Nokia platform services 1.0 and provides access to select device functionality for the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and the Nokia N97 touchscreen devices while also supporting the "home screen" publishing functionality on the Nokia N97 and future Nokia devices. Additional information is available here. 

"All developers recognize that the mobile space is one where growth is exponential--the challenge is that we've always catered to native application developers." Cumberland said in an interview with FierceDeveloper. "We want to give web developers the right tools that they're familiar with. These new [plug-in tools] will open up doors for whole new group of developers to come into mobile."

For more on the Nokia plug-in tools:
- read this release

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For more on the WinMo 6.5 DTK:
- read this Windows Mobile Team Blog entry

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According to Apple, iPhone 3G S offers speeds averaging up to twice as fast as iPhone 3G, enabling faster web page rendering and quicker application launches--the device also supports 7.2 Mbps HSDPA for faster networking speeds. In addition, it takes advantage of the OpenGL ES 2.0 standard for 3D graphics, improving mobile gaming and other graphics-heavy applications. Apple will release a 16GB edition of the iPhone 3G S at $199 and a 32GB version priced at $299--in addition, it will slash the price on the current 8GB iPhone 3G to $99. iPhone 3G S will arrive June 19 at Apple and AT&T retail stores in the U.S, as well as Best Buy and Wal-Mart locations--Apple notes that the smartphone will ultimately roll out in more than 80 countries in the weeks ahead. The iPhone OS 3.0 software update will be available June 17 as a free software update via iTunes 8.2 or later for all iPhone customers--iPod touch customers will be required to pay $9.95.

Apple first announced the iPhone OS 3.0 beta in mid-March, promising developers more than 1,000 new APIs, including support for apps to communicate with hardware accessories attached to iPhone or iPod touch devices. The update will also include the long-promised Apple Push Notification service, which offers programmers a channel to alert users of new information, even when your application isn't running--developers may now send text notifications, trigger audible alerts or add a numbered badge to their application icon. Additional features confirmed Monday include expanded parental controls for TV shows, movies and apps from the App Store; a new Find My iPhone feature that works in concert with MobileMe so users can locate a lost iPhone on a map, send a message that will appear on the screen or generate an audible signal even if set to silent mode. (If the iPhone doesn't turn up, the new Remote Wipe feature allows users to erase all data and content.) And as previously