Technology News World

New App Aims to Make Energy Use Top of Mind for Facebook Users

2011-10-17T16:25:00.000-07:00

"We're aiming to encourage a whole new level of dialog about energy efficiency," said Eric Fleming, director of corporate marketing at Opower. "This starts by providing people with better context." To that end, Onpower is teaming up with the Natural Resources Defense Council and Facebook to create an app for the social network that will let users share and compare their household energy use.

A new partnership plans to create a Facebook app that will leverage social networking to improve consumer awareness about energy consumption.

The partnership consists of the social networking giant, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and energy information software creator Opower.
The app will let consumers go on Facebook to compare the energy usage of their homes against the national average, among other things.
Such an app "could be helpful, as many times education is the first step towards action," Frank Maisano, an energy specialist at international law firm Bracewell & Giulani, told TechNewsWorld.
"We're aiming to encourage a whole new level of dialog about energy efficiency," said Eric Fleming, director of corporate marketing at Opower. "This starts by providing people with better context."
Facebook did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

More About the Proposed App

The app's initial set of features will let consumers go on Facebook to compare their energy use against a national database of millions of homes, NRDC stated.
It will also let them compare their energy use against that of their friends; share tips on how to improve; publish information about their energy use, group participation and other things onto their Facebook News Feed; and form teams to compete against or cooperate with each other on energy use.
Customers of participating utilities will be able to import their energy data automatically into the app if they choose to do so. If their utilities aren't participating in this plan, they can manually input their usage data into the app.
The app will be released early next year, Opower's Fleming told TechNewsWorld.
More features will be added later, but Fleming declined to discuss them.

Information Shared Is Information Gained

Opower's home energy reports show that people "tend to take steps to save energy when they know that others are more efficient," Opower's Fleming said.
"As more people look to take action, apps like this may help them decide, or at least remind them of, steps that can save energy," Bracewell & Giulani's Maisano pointed out.
The app will clearly state when information will be shared with others and displayed publicly on users' Facebook walls, Fleming said.
For example, a user must request a friend for permission to share energy use back and forth and the friend must accept.

Who's on First?

Commonwealth Edison and Glendale Water & Power, serving the town of Glendale, Calif., will be among the plan's early participants.
Several other utilities are expected to join the plan in the next few weeks, NRDC stated.

What About Privacy?

Millions of consumers will be able to pull home energy-usage data from their utility providers into the application, NRDC said.
That gives rise to questions about privacy, an area in which Facebook often receives criticism. Who will safeguard users' data privacy and how?
NRDC says benchmarking will be performed on aggregated data, but users' data will be on Facebook at the individual level.
Creating the account requires users to authenticate Facebook Connect to talk to Opower's app, Fleming said. When the user's utility has joined in, the user has to input his or her electricity account information to sync up the data.
"Privacy and security are of the utmost importance to Opower," Fleming stated. "We've proven that we can handle data responsibly, and the Facebook platform offers tremendous opportunity to take energy efficiency to the next level."

RIM's Apology Gift Bag Gets Mixed Reactions

2011-10-17T16:24:00.000-07:00

Research In Motion has put together a peace offering for customers following a days-long service outage last week that affected people around the world. Consumers can get a variety of free apps, while enterprise customers will get free tech support. Though the gifts may put a ding RIM's pocket book, reactions to the offering were mixed.

Battered by customer outrage worldwide over its BlackBerry network failures last week, as well as strong sales of the iPhone 4S from rival Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) on Monday announced a slew of free gifts in an attempt to remedy the situation.

Consumers who own BlackBerries will get premium apps worth more than US$100 for free, while enterprise customers will get one month of free tech support.
Response to the offer was mixed.
"It's too little too late," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told TechNewsWorld.
"RIM should've done something before the iPhone 4S came out, and customers began switching to it," Enderle added.

Who Got Hit, and How Hard?

The real question is how many people were really affected, and how badly, Joshua Lipton, CIO and VP of consulting at Advantix Solutions and a Focus.com mobile device management expert, told TechNewsWorld.
"We had one day last week where we saw increased calls for the help desk from BlackBerry users concerned they might have an issue, not complaining that they had an issue," Lipton stated.
"If I'm a consumer with a BlackBerry who suffered minimal impact, that's not a bad deal," Lipton added.
RIM did not respond to requests for further comment by press time.

RIM's Peace Offering

Consumers who own BlackBerries will be able to download a variety of premium apps free from BlackBerry App World for four weeks beginning Oct. 19, RIM said.
The initial batch of free apps include "SIMS 3," "Bejeweled," "Texas Hold'em Poker 2," and Vlingo Plus:Virtual Assistant, a voice-activated personal assistant that's similar to the Siri personal assistant offered with the iPhone 4S.
More apps will be available soon.
RIM enterprise customers will be offered one month of free technical support, RIM said. Those with a technical support contract will get a one-month extension and those without such a contract will get a one-month free trial.

A Brief History of RIM's Woes

Last week, RIM's networks suffered a cascade of crashes that resulted in downtime worldwide. Service levels were finally restored to normal Thursday morning, RIM said.
The crashes couldn't have come at a worse time for the company. The much-anticipated iPhone 4S was slated to go on sale over the weekend, and RIM's network outage led some BlackBerry owners to state they would switch to the new Apple phone.
How many actually followed through with that is unclear. However, about 4 million units of the iPhone 4S were snapped up over the weekend, Apple said.

'Tis More Blessed to Give ...

Giving consumers free access to premium apps "isn't going to alleviate the frustration, but it's a pretty good deal," Avantix's Lipton said. "RIM's got some pretty cool games out there."
More importantly, this giveaway might cost RIM some real money, Lipton said. RIM makes "more money per app than Apple or Android -- about $9,000 per app -- because most of the apps for Apple and Android are free apps," Lipton explained.
BlackBerry App World will grow more than 69 percent this year, and will have more than 772 million app downloads, IHS iSuppli has predicted.
The free tech support offer is also going to cost RIM plenty.
"We have clients paying six figures for BlackBerry tech support, and one month's free support or free trial is a good deal," Lipton stated.

Obstacles to RIM's Offer

Downloading the free apps may not exactly be easy. For one thing, most BlackBerry owners access corporate email with their devices, Lipton said. Given that the BlackBerry OS has built-in features that let IT manage and control the device, chances are that owners may not be able to install any app they might want, Lipton cautioned.
Further, RIM states that the availability of its free app download offer will depend on the type of device, operating system version, access to BlackBerry App World, and local conditions or restrictions.

Specs on Motorola's Droid 'Razr' Dribble In

2011-10-17T16:23:00.000-07:00

New information is trickling in regarding Motorola's next Android smartphone. It'll reportedly sport some of the same specs as the Droid Bionic, but it'll have the thinnest profile of any 4G phone on the market. It's possible Motorola will resurrect the Razr moniker for its new phone, and it could even be the first phone to usher in Ice Cream Sandwich, the next version of Android.

Motorola and Verizon Wireless are reportedly about to unveil a Droid challenger to the highly touted Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone 4S.

The two have invited the press to an event to be held Oct. 18.
Details about the event are not forthcoming, but Motorola has released a teaser video.

The clip throws out words like "faster," "thinner," "smarter" and "stronger," kicks off with a bullet, and its imagery includes a bullet and a razor. This sparked speculation that Motorola might unveil a new smartphone Oct. 18 that will be called "Droid Razr" -- a possible throwback to the original Motorla Razr.
"It's our policy not to comment on rumors or speculation," Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI) spokesperson Kira Lee Golin told TechNewsWorld.

What's In a Name?

Other names like "Droid Spyder" and "Droid HD" are being bruited about for the expected Motorola handset -- or handsets.
"I've heard some talk, but nothing clear," Michael Morgan, a senior analyst at ABI Research, told TechNewsWorld. "I can guess as much as the next person."
Whether or not the name "Razr" will be used for any device announced Oct. 18 is in doubt "because Droid is a sub-brand of Verizon Wireless, not of Motorola," Morgan pointed out.
"Razr" is the name of its best-selling line, first released in 2004. Devices in that family are clamshell feature phones, and it's difficult to picture smartphones with the larger screens that are now in vogue fitting in with a clamshell design.

Possible Specs for The New Droids

The new Motorola device will be thinner and faster than the iPhone 4S and have 1 GB of RAM -- twice as much as the iPhone 4 and 4S -- as well as a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, a 4.3-inch display and the thinnest profile of any 4G LTE smartphone to date, according to information obtained by Boy Genius Report.
It will reportedly have a Kevlar case, a Gorilla Glass display, and a splash-resistant coating.
Those specs echo what's listed in a report on the This Is My Next blog.
The latter also claims the upcoming Droid is apparently similar internally to the Droid Bionic and will come with an 8MP camera with 1080p HD video recording capability, an HD front-facing camera, Motorola's Webtop user interface and several docks.
Webtop gives Motorola smartphone user a more desktop-like experience when the phone is placed into a special dock, which is connected with a monitor and keyboard. The first Motorola smartphone to use this feature is the Motorola Atrix.
However, none of the features could be confirmed.
"I've got nothing on this one," Ramon Llamas, a senior research analyst at IDC, told TechNewsWorld.
"It's all speculation and none of it seems founded right now," Llamas added.

Being First With Ice Cream Sandwich?

There's also talk that the new Droid devices will run Ice Cream Sandwich, the next version of Android, which will run equally well on smartphones and tablets and other, unspecified devices, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has said.
If that's true, Motorola and Verizon may have pipped Samsung by one day -- the Korean giant is reportedly going to unveil devices running Ice Cream Sandwich in Hong Kong Oct. 19. Google originally planned to debut ICS with Samsung last week, but those plans were delayed.
The Oct. 19 event could usher in the Nexus Prime smartphone running the next version of Android.
However, it's uncertain whether or not the new Motorola Droid or Droids will indeed run the latest version of the Android OS.
"Yes, Google's getting ready to release Ice Cream Sandwich to the world, but it's hard to say whether or not it'll be on the new Motorola Droids," ABI's Morgan remarked.

Google's Miscalculated Obama Gambit

2011-10-17T16:20:00.000-07:00

The International Trade Commission can be overturned by the U.S. president under certain circumstances. While one of them isn't "the need to be reelected," Obama could clearly promote this as necessary to ensure competition instead -- giving Schmidt the Hail Mary pass Schmidt is likely to be working for, while not looking like he sold out the office of president.

Google's earnings knocked one out of the park last week but in other areas, things aren't going as well. Over the last few weeks, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Chairman Eric Schmidt had to testify in front of Congress that Google wasn't like Microsoft, and the rules that applied to that company didn't apply to his.

Evidently unhappy with just cornering the Web advertising market, Google wanted to corner the market on arrogance as well. This was followed by an internal email that once again showcased that Google executives don't use or understand their own products, followed by Eric Schmidt getting a Google+ account. Welcome to your own product Eric!
Then one of its related products, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, was blocked from yet another country with the expectation that products from HTC and Samsung that use the Android platform will soon be blocked in the U.S. This, of course, has driven rumors that both firms are looking to buy webOS from HP (NYSE: HPQ) and run screaming from Android. Even the very famous Vint Cerf is speaking out against the company now. This reminds me a great deal of how Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) let its image degrade in the 1990s, which appears to be the foundation for why its stock price has remained in the mud despite strong performance most of last decade.
But the really interesting thing is that Eric Schmidt and Google appear to be working on a deal to get President Obama to dance to Google's tune. Unfortunately for them, I doubt this will work, and I'll explain why.
Now, ironically, my product of the week is arguably the best Android tablet launched so far: the ThinkPad tablet, which promises to blend the business ideas of ThinkPad with the functionality of the iPad.

The Google Obama Gambit

Eric Schmidt has been Obama's biggest supporter of the jobs bill. In fact, out of tech, he appears to be about the only supporter -- at least, who is vocal. This kind of thing is typically done expecting a return favor -- and given the amount of effort Schmidt is putting into this, that favor must be huge.
With the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 now banned in one more country (Australia this time), the likelihood that it will be banned by the International Trade Commission in the U.S. is significant. This could easily set a precedent, allowing Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) crack legal team to get all or most Android-based products banned in the U.S., which would clearly cripple the offering and likely lead to more bans in Europe and Asia.
The International Trade Commission can be overturned by the U.S. president under certain circumstances. While one of them isn't "the need to be reelected," Obama could clearly promote this as necessary to ensure competition instead -- giving Schmidt the Hail Mary pass Schmidt is likely to be working for, while not looking like he sold out the office of president.
Of course the fact that the jobs bill failed miserably last week in the Democratic Party-controlled Senate suggests Obama may not be feeling all that grateful, but another reason is even more likely for why the president will break this deal.

The Larry Ellison/Steve Jobs Wild Card

Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) -- and likely the scariest CEO still living -- was a close personal friend of Steve Jobs. He has a real issue with companies that allegedly steal from him and worked incredibly hard to nail SAP (NYSE: SAP) when he thought one of SAP's subsidiaries was stealing from him.
Ellison's attack on Google with Java appeared to be timed on top of the realization that Steve Jobs, Larry's closest friend, was ripped off by that company. In other words, Larry has Steve's back, and word is that Larry was very upset by Steve's death. Oracle has one of the most powerful lobbying teams on the planet, next perhaps to Microsoft's, and the idea that his president would take away his friend's victory likely won't sit very well with Larry, who has a writing relationship with publications like The New York times.
It is a given that Microsoft will likely support this move as well, and let's not forget one of the most powerful user groups on the planet: the Mac users. Many, if not most, of these folks took Steve Jobs' death nearly as hard as Larry did and likely can be mobilized to voice their objection to selling out their beloved icon in exchange for a bill that didn't even pass. In elections that can turn on single digit millions, a user base that in the U.S. is high double digit millions could make the difference between Obama getting elected and being a one-term president.
For a guy who has gone from hopes to missed promises due to political expediency, the likelihood he will risk his reelection to keep a promise to overturn a legal decision on a product that clones one from Apple just seems unlikely. While a mass uprising would be uncertain, the chance that these largely connected people could ensure a Republican win is simply too great to take -- and since the jobs bill failed anyway, this makes that result unlikely as well.

Wrapping Up: WTF Google?

I keep coming back to that Senate testimony and recall the 90s, when Microsoft was behaving in the same arrogant way. Google has become what was bad about Microsoft -- only this time, it is with personal information, not software -- and it appears to be trying to manipulate a sitting president to hurt the most successful tech company, Apple, in the country.
Do no evil my ass, their motto should be Google: Evil r'US!

Product of the Week: ThinkPad Android Tablet

This was the product that would showcase whether the Android platform could go beyond the iPad and define a more serious space and, initially, the ThinkPad Tablet appears to do exactly that. It is thicker and heavier than an iPad or Galaxy Tab. It is also easier to hold, and it is built like a tank (folks do drop these things) with a better-protected Gorilla Glass screen. I wouldn't toss this for distance, but it should survive drops that would shatter most tablets, including the iPad. This screen contains a digitizer that you can use with the optional US$30 electric stylus to take notes, sign forms, or doodle (I'm a big doodler).
At eight hours, battery life is good but falls short of the new iPad 2's 10-plus, but it is unique in that it charges from a USB port, which means you can charge it easily from your laptop or desktop computer if you want. Let me be clear: This uses an off-the-shelf micro-USB cable and doesn't require the special cable most other tablets require. For many, this is the best part. Like most Android devices, you do have to fiddle with the product a lot to get the icons where you can find them or want them, and there are a number of nice organizational offerings.

ThinkPad Tablet

I always find myself missing the new Microsoft Metro interface now when I use these things, and I really think Google needs to bring the experience up a bit. Like most Android tablets, it is Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA) Tegra 2-based, which means it has decent graphics. One cool think about Android now is when you sign in, it starts loading apps you have on other tablets. This is one thing I wish Windows would do, and I hope the new Windows app store will support -- so if you have one tablet, subsequent ones are faster to set up.
It comes with a Citrix (Nasdaq: CTXS) client and remote management to keep you IT guys happy (this is a ThinkPad tablet after all), which showcase its business focus. It has an optional dock, but the best option is the keyboard folio. ThinkPads are famous for having the best keyboards, and this one doesn't disappoint. Many of the third-party iPad case/keyboard products are junk. This one is an amazing piece of engineering in that, when you are done, you basically have a touchscreen notebook computer. I can hardly wait to see this thing run Windows 8!
One funny thing is that there are four unique dedicated buttons that folks seem to struggle with. This is because they are designed so you won't push them accidentally, like the initial Kindle buttons were. Once you figure them out, they work like a dream. Price ranges from $499 for the 16 GB version to $669 for the 64 GB version. If you want a tablet that is a ThinkPad, this is your product -- and my product of the week.

Stallman on Steve Jobs: Tasteless or Incisive?

2011-10-17T16:18:00.000-07:00

"I appreciate all RMS has done," said Mobile Raptor blogger Roberto Lim. "I appreciate what Steve Jobs has accomplished. I appreciate what Dennis Ritchie has achieved. In the end, all these great inventors and innovators together with many others one-upping each other is why I can send this [email] to you half a world away." Bottom line? "We are now one man down. It is just unfortunate that RSM cannot seem to appreciate this."

Well it's starting to look like 2011 is just going to be one, long roller-coaster ride. No sooner does the prospect of a quiet day loom on the horizon than something happens to turn the world on its ear once again.

In the past two weeks, of course, we've had to endure the loss of not just one but two leading figures in the technology world: Steve Jobs and Dennis Ritchie. That's been upsetting enough, but -- as if we needed any more turmoil -- we've also had free software guru Richard Stallman expounding his views on Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) former CEO, causing widespread outrage in the process.
"I'm not glad he's dead, but I'm glad he's gone," wrote Stallman, quoting former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington. "We all deserve the end of Jobs' malign influence on people's computing."
One could argue that it might have been a good idea to let a little more time than just a day pass after Jobs' death before expressing such opinions; then again, this is RMS we're talking about.

'What Everyone Is Too Polite to Say'

Not surprisingly, talk about RMS is just what bloggers have been doing ever since, too -- and not always in the most understanding of terms.
Nearly 1,500 comments appeared on Slashdot alone, but not before even more fuel was added to the fire. Namely, none other than Eric Raymond spoke out in defense of Stallman, while "What Everyone Is Too Polite to Say About Steve Jobs" was a headline that appeared over on Gawker.
So, which is it? Did the free software community's key spokesman put his foot in his proverbial mouth in a big way, or was he just telling it like it is? Linux Girl encountered arguments on both sides on the streets of the blogosphere.

'He Has Become a Liability'

"RMS needs to understand RIP better rather than rant about DRM," said Slashdot blogger yagu. "I think he's wrong here. He can rant as much as he wants, but in my opinion his rants after Jobs' passing lack class. Not nice."
Similarly, "RMS needs to just go away," consultant and Slashdot blogger Gerhard Mack told Linux Girl. "It's not that he was wrong about what he said, but you don't just go and say something like that while people are mourning.
"I met him a few years ago, and the impression I got was that he is someone who has spent so much time in his little bubble that he has no idea how normal people do things," Mack added. "At this point he has become a liability to the cause he has been working so hard for. He really needs to stop talking to the press and leave talking to someone more articulate."

'An Open Sore and a Laughing Stock'

Indeed, "there's a time and a place," agreed Barbara Hudson, a blogger on Slashdot who goes by "Tom" on the site. "Urinating on the open grave of someone you did not know personally, with no consideration for their friends, family, or co-workers, is simply not done."
Stallman's "zealotry" has blinded him to reality, Hudson added, causing him to "brand anyone who doesn't agree as evil."
Not only did his approach "put the focus on the messenger instead of the message," but it also "devalued both," Hudson asserted. "And because it was so public, those who disagree have two choices -- condone it by our silence, or speak out against both the message and the perp behind it."
In short, "Stallman is like that old comic with one schtick, which he continues to milk because that's all he's got," she said. "He is a kindred spirit to Fred Phelps and Westboro Baptist, demonizing anyone who disagrees with him or his values."
Ultimately, "he's become both an open sore and a laughing-stock," Hudson concluded. "Either the FSF gets rid of him, or they will suffer the same fate."

'It Shows RMS Has No Taste'

Slashdot blogger hairyfeet took a similar view.
"It shows RMS has no taste," hairyfeet said. "What kind of talk is that? Whether you liked his product or not, the man had just died. Hadn't anyone taught RMS that if you don't have anything nice to say, say nothing at all?"
The episode underlies a bigger problem, however, hairyfeet ventured -- specifically, "RMS and his elitist, arrogant attitude.
"You see, with RMS, it isn't just that he offers free software, it is that he wants you to have NO CHOICE BUT free software," hairyfeet explained. "I'd say that makes him just as bad or worse than anybody you can name."

'Jobs Deserves to Be Respected'

Chris Travers, a Slashdot blogger who works on the LedgerSMB project, is "ambivalent about Apple in general," he told Linux Girl. "Where I think RMS errs is in blaming Jobs specifically" for the opacity and lock-in of the company's products.
More open platforms probably wouldn't be "half of what they are today" without the resulting competition, so "I suppose I end up disagreeing with RMS despite the fact that I totally understand and even to a slight extent sympathize with his points," Travers explained.
"Jobs deserves to be respected for who he was in relation to the Free and Open Source Software worlds: A serious, capable, and generally honorable adversary worthy of the highest respect," Travers concluded.

'Those Crazy Prophets'

Along similar lines, "Richard M. Stallman is entitled to say what he thinks," Roberto Lim, a lawyer and blogger on Mobile Raptor, told Linux Girl. "We are all entitled to our opinions."
At the same time, "as much as I like the open source community, sometimes I think some of them act like those crazy prophets predicting the end of the world," Lim added. "Actually, those guys are less insane -- one day the world will actually come to an end.
"I appreciate all RMS has done," Lim continued. "I appreciate what Steve Jobs has accomplished. I appreciate what Dennis Ritchie has achieved. In the end, all these great inventors and innovators together with many others one-upping each other is why I can send this [email] to you half a world away."
Bottom line? "We are now one man down. It is just unfortunate that RSM cannot seem to appreciate this," Lim concluded.

'A Crime Against Humanity'

As on Slashdot, however, others thought Stallman had a good point.
"RMS has it right," blogger Robert Pogson told Linux Girl, for example.
"Steve Jobs was an enemy of Free Software and freedom to use PCs flexibly," Pogson explained. "He was often a 'partner' of M$. His 'walled garden' approach to software is a blight on the world.
"His exclusion of competitive technology is a horrible abuse if not illegal," Pogson went on. "His concentration on high-margin markets to the exclusion of those on the other side of the Digital Divide is a crime against humanity. His patent-trolling should be a trigger to eliminate software patents."

'Champion of the Rights of the User'

Martin Espinoza, a blogger on Hyperlogos, took a similar view, he told Linux Girl, noting his explanation on Slashdot.
"The time to make the statement is while it is relevant," Espinoza wrote.
"It is critical that we receive this message -- not you and I, maybe, but as many of the wide-eyed legions of Apple as can be reached," he added. "Because what Apple represents is precisely the same thing that Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) or Sony (NYSE: SNE) represents: a dearth of choice.
"Stallman might be an egotistical ass, but he is certainly the foremost champion of the rights of the user," Espinoza went on. "Some programmers don't like that, so they don't like the GPL, and they don't like Free Software. They call it a virus and they would prefer to stamp it out rather than have to deal with something so confusing."
In short, "other people can make the same point in a month, and a year, and reach other audiences, but this point needs to be made now and it needs to be made well," he concluded. "Stallman has done both."

Newsstand Smooths Out iOS Mag-Reading but Could Use Some Curb Appeal

2011-10-17T16:16:00.000-07:00

Apple's new Newsstand promises to help keep magazines and newspapers top-of-mind. Instead of losing a magazine app into the mass of app and folder-laden pages on your iPad, you have a consistent place to go to find them, as well as launch into the magazine app area of iTunes. It'll also automatically update your periodicals. Unfortunately, the visual appeal of a real newsstand is mostly lost in translation.

Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) new Newsstand app, built into iOS 5, is an enigma.

For starters, it's not exactly a "newsstand," which is a rack of magazines and newspapers you can browse through, quite possibly on the side of a street. The bookshelf-like Newsstand app sports a pleasingly angled shelf style, similar to the bookcase shelf of iBooks. And like iBooks, it only holds your magazine subscriptions that work with the Newsstand app. If you're not a subscriber, you won't see a magazine on your Newsstand.
To find a magazine issue to buy (or subscribe to), you have to go to the new Newsstand section of the Apple App Store. To find a magazine or newspaper, you browse as if you're looking to find an app. It's not anything akin to scanning a real newsstand, looking at covers, then diving into an issue when something meets your eye.
I was a bit disappointed.
But hey, I get it: Magazines on iPads and iPhones are not like paper magazines. They're apps. And yet, the cover art, photos and cover lines are all part of what draws us to magazines and newspapers. I sense a missed opportunity here.

Meanwhile, Back in the Pages of National Geographic

Most of the glossy magazines published these days seem to offer a few different ways to consume them via an iPad (best) or an iPhone (bit small in the screen). The first way is to download the free magazine app, then either subscribe to the digital issue for a year, get a monthly subscription that you can cancel at any time, or buy the current issue or past issues. Some publishers, like National Geographic, give you free access to an iPad app if you are a print subscriber. National Geographic started this option with the September 2011 issue. Previous issues are available for separate purchases.
Since I'm a National Geographic print subscriber, I downloaded the free app, then used the app to send my print subscriber data to National Geographic, who then made me create a user ID and password so I could access the current issues. Nice. So I started downloading an issue, and oh boy, did it take a while: 200-plus megabytes. The point? Unless you're on a super-fast WiFi connection, you'll have to plan ahead to enjoy your magazine issues -- there's no instant gratification for graphic-heavy magazines, and if you're waiting somewhere in an airport with limited time and a hokey WiFi connection, you might be better served by finding a new magazine at an airport newsstand.

That's Old School, and Newsstand Is New

Now here's where things get a little fuzzy. Apple says that Newsstand will automatically download whatever's new for each of my magazine or newspaper app subscriptions. The downloads will happen in the background, and they won't even interrupt my regular iPad use. Now that's cool. Except, I'm not sure how well it works yet -- like almost everyone else, I've only just started with Newsstand. Ask me a again in six weeks or so after my subscriptions have chances to automatically update.
So that's the key promise of Newsstand -- something much closer to instant access.
As an organizing application, though, Newsstand also promises to help keep magazines and newspapers top-of-mind. Instead of losing a magazine app into the mass of app and folder-laden pages on your iPad, you have a consistent place to go to find them, as well as launch into the magazine app shopping area of iTunes.
This is handy for consumers, and I believe pretty useful for publishers, too. Of course, Apple takes its 30 percent cut of purchases made through the Apple App Store, so publishers might be in the throes of a love-hate relationship with Apple.
Last of all, it's important to note that each magazine or newspaper publisher creates their own magazine apps for Newsstand. So the in-magazine app experience will vary widely from magazine to magazine, not only in content, but in delivery. Plus, an iPad magazine subscription might only barely resemble a print issue that you would find on a real newsstand.
Two last key points: When I first tried to use Newsstand right after iOS 5 was first available, it seemed as if something was wonky in the App Store because very few magazines were available through it. Now, though, there's a couple hundred.
And the final point? Because of the way Newsstand will help me organize and consume magazine subscriptions, I'm far more likely to buy individual magazine issues and leap into subscriptions.

The BlackBerry Blackout: Research In Commotion

2011-10-17T16:12:00.000-07:00

Research In Motion's great big BlackBerry blackout seems to have subsided, but it couldn't have come at a worse time for the company. Several quarters of lackluster performance have already made investors restless; now many enterprise customers are likely displeased with RIM as well. Meanwhile, HP swerves, Sprint tries a tricky maneuver, and Netflix pulls a Qwik u-turn.

The Great BlackBerry Blackout of '11 is clearing up, and not a moment too soon for users who rely on Research In Motion's (Nasdaq: RIMM) technologies for critical business communications. The problems started early in the week for customers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, then spread to India and South America before making its way into North America, including RIM's home turf in Canada.

The official cause of the conniption was the failure of a dual-redundant high-capacity core switch, according to RIM. So it sounds like something deep in the bowels of the company failed, the backup behind that failed, and problems just mushroomed from there. Service was slow, messages were delivered hours late, and communications broke down at probably thousands of companies and organizations.
RIM acknowledged there was a problem relatively early on, but there was much confusion about which services weren't working and which were. Some users claimed to have no problems whatsoever, while others in the same region said their phones were practically unusable. RIM's still trying to discern the root cause, but it has apologized quite frequently over the past few days, and at the time I'm saying this things seem to be getting back to normal.
There's never a good time for a service outage like this, but it's an especially bad moment for RIM to fall on its face. The company's endured quarter after quarter of disappointing business, its phones struggle to compare with top-shelf Androids and iPhones, investors are growing restless, and its two CEOs are under growing pressure to justify their own existence.
Meanwhile, Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) bragging about selling 1 million iPhone 4Ss on pre-order alone, despite the fact that the phone got kind of a ho-hum reception, by Apple's standards. Android phones have been getting plenty of good attention at the CTIA confab this week, and even though Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) delayed the debut of Ice Cream Sandwich, it's still going to happen soon. And Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) just about ready to jump in with its Nokia (NYSE: NOK) phones. All these are growing into bigger threats to the enterprise business that RIM has relied on for years.
Then a massive outage comes along and irritates people who use their BlackBerries the most -- the core customers RIM can least afford to lose.

Listen to the podcast (12:37 minutes).

Tight Squeeze

As the newest U.S. member of team iPhone, Sprint (NYSE: S) is in a very precarious position. It's in a spot that could mean disaster or a huge payoff, depending on how it plays.
At the moment, Verizon is the biggest carrier in the U.S., but that could change if AT&T (NYSE: T) gets its way and swallows T-Mobile. Ether way, though, they're both way ahead of Sprint in terms of subscriber numbers, which may be the reason it's taken four and a half years for it to convince Apple to let it carry iPhones.
Getting the iPhone meant a huge commitment for Sprint. It's reportedly gone in for an agreement that locks it into buying 30 million iPhones over the next several years. And those nice, new smartphones definitely do not cost a mere $200 when carriers buy them from the manufacturers. So Sprint just signed a very long, very high-rent lease, and it's going to have to sell like mad in order to live in iPhone's building.
To make sure that happens, Sprint is offering something the other two U.S. iPhone carriers do not: unlimited data for new sign-ups. New customers at Verizon and AT&T have to choose a limited plan that penalizes users for going over the monthly allotment. Sprint says its customers will be held to no such limitations.
And that could be a serious draw for some users. Even though the wireless companies that impose limits say overages are relatively rare, the fact that you're living under a limit can put you in kind of a penny-pinching mentality when it comes to wireless data. You feel like checking your usage all the time, you avoid big downloads because you just never know, so on. So Sprint might have a real winner.
But it's going to be a tricky balancing act to pull off. Yeah, Sprint wants to reel in new customers, but we've already seen what a very popular, data-hungry phone like the iPhone can do to a carrier's network. AT&T learned a hard lesson in the way its service degraded in some places when it was the one and only iPhone carrier in the U.S. There was just too much traffic. Its problems have subsided to some degree now that others have the iPhone too, and after it spent a lot of that iPhone revenue to improve its network.
New customers will mean more revenue for Sprint as well, but it's still tied to its deal to buy all those iPhones from Apple, and if too many people flock to Sprint's unlimited offer and pile onto its network, it may have to live through AT&T's nightmare.

Wolf in Red Clothing

The Android mobile OS has been known for being the target of a few malicious applications in the past. Google usually takes that kind of software off its shelves if it's found in the Android Market, or sometimes even pulls a remote kill operation. One thing many of these malicious apps have in common is that they're very often tacky, crude and dumb. They're apps for stuff like photos of women in bikinis, or just generally very shady-looking apps that anyone with a bit of online street smarts should immediately know to avoid.
But one malicious Android app that caught the attention of Symantec (Nasdaq: SYMC) recently apparently dresses itself up in a trusted brand name: Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX). The online movie provider -- the legit Netflix, I mean -- recently came out with an official Android app, and now it seems some malware maker tried to take advantage of its popularity by pushing out a Netflix app of its own.
However, the dirty Netflix app, which Symantec has dubbed "Android.Fakeneflic" after it was found in a user forum, is built only to steal users' Netflix log-in credentials -- usually an email address and a password. Users download it and plunk in their info, but then are told, oops, the app isn't compatible with their phone. Sorry!
Meanwhile, their credentials are sent off to a remote server. And that means some criminal somewhere could log into other peoples' accounts and totally screw around with their DVD queues. Shocking! Really, though, it could be a little more serious than that. Some people use the same logon info with Netflix as they do with their email accounts, or their banking sites.
Also, some odd circumstances suggest maybe there's a little more to this malware. That server that's supposed to receive all the stolen data is currently offline. So maybe the crooks suspected that the gig was up and pulled the plug, or maybe this was a test running up to a much more harmful mobile app -- like one that pretends to be the official app of a bank or credit-card operator.
Google's taken hell from critics in the past who think the company needs to take a step back from its philosophy of openness and do more to make sure harmful goods aren't getting into Android users' hands. There's a certain amount of common sense anyone needs to use before deciding to download apps from strangers, but apps that present themselves as trusted brands can potentially fool a lot more people.

Cold Feet?

Newly installed HP (NYSE: HPQ) CEO Meg Whitman started her job last month on what may have sounded like kind of a strange note. Even though her predecessor, Leo Apotheker, had been so unpopular that he didn't even last a year as the head of the company, Whitman said she was going to follow through with the great big tire-screeching left turn Apotheker had announced a few weeks before he was fired.
Under Apotheker's direction, HP was going to spin off or sell its personal computer division, which happens to be the biggest PC-making operation on the planet. It also immediately axed webOS devices like the TouchPad and its Pre smartphones. In short, the plan had HP turning its back on consumers and embracing enterprise services.
The fact that Apotheker would take HP in that direction shouldn't have been a big shocker -- he's a former SAP (NYSE: SAP) boss, after all. But the news still sent HP's stock into decline, and a month later Apotheker was sent packing. Draw your own conclusions.
Oddly enough, when Whitman took his place, she said she was all for going along with the plans of the guy who just got fired for doing something investors thought was crazy.
Or not. A recent report in The Wall Street Journal states that HP is seriously reconsidering the idea of spinning off the PC business now that analysts think it may actually be more costly to get rid of it than to keep it.
There's also a report out that HP executives met recently to determine the fate of webOS and whether its Palm division should stay or go.
So there's some heavy mulling going on in HP. Very serious mulling. And rumination.
If the spin-off idea really is abandoned, it might be an honest change of mind on the part of Whitman and the board. Depending on who has and has not been interested in taking these divisions off HP's hands, perhaps a month was all it took for it to become clear the transition would be too expensive.
Or maybe Whitman never really intended to go Apotheker's way at all. The CEO change-up came about so abruptly that perhaps she thought that immediately announcing another 180-degree turn would just be too much for everyone to digest.

On Second Thought ...

Maybe Netflix CEO Reed Hastings had the beginnings of a great idea when he thought about eventually splitting Netflix's DVD-by-mail service from its over-the-wire Instant business. The two branches focus on different needs, the accounting is probably nowhere near the same, and one addresses the medium of the future while the other clings to little plastic platters.
So yeah, sounds like he has a vision for where his company's going. The problem, though, is that Netflix got impatient on its way getting there, and the changes it foisted on customers happened too fast. For example, the price reshuffle: It split Netflix billing between DVDs and instant, and the new price of each plan, taken individually, is actually pretty reasonable, if you compare it to a bunch of rentals on iTunes or going to a BlockBuster store, if you can find one.
But for some users, the changes resulted in an overnight 60 percent price hike.
And just as Hastings was apologizing for that unexpected move, he made yet another: He announced plans just a few weeks ago to shove off the Netflix DVD-by-mail service as a completely separate brand. And the split would run deep -- the new website wouldn't share info like recommendations and title availability with the streaming-only Netflix.com. It was put at a further disadvantage by being saddled with the name "Qwikster."
But it's OK now -- you can stop trying to remember how to spell Qwikster. Just forget the word ever existed. Netflix has backed down. It's keeping its businesses tied together after reactions from both customers and investors.
Even though the change to Qwikster didn't mean any additional costs to customers, it was almost as unpopular as the price reshuffle. Demanding more money for the same stuff might make users angry, but money is at least a motivation that people can understand. With Qwikster, it felt like Netflix was making itself more difficult to use just for the sake of screwing with everyone. It may have fit into someone's grand vision for the future of the company, but from a user's perspective, what was once a simple and inexpensive service was about to get more costly and more complicated. Money's one thing -- nothing stays the same price forever. But why make things more difficult to use?
Although Netflix retreated from this gambit, the last six months have taken their toll. The price hike, the DVD spinoff, and the canning of the DVD spinoff have added up to a shrunken and semi-inflamed user base that's getting kind of tired of these late-night emails explaining what the plan is over and over. And of course, Netflix could still go ahead and schlep off the DVD business sometime in the future, but hopefully it'll wait until the Instant library gets stronger.
Don't count on ever hearing that Qwikster name again, though, except maybe in some version of Trivial Pursuit.

New Xoom's Pretty Much the Old Xoom With a Prettier Price

2011-10-17T16:10:00.000-07:00

Can the Xoom ever sit at the iPad's lunch table? Maybe not -- but if tablet prices keep coming down, some consumers might be tempted to pick it up as a spare, suggested tech analyst Laura DiDio. "I would rate the Xoom Family as the toughest competition the iPad has faced yet."

Motorola is trying for another bite at the Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), so to speak. It has launched its Xoom Family Edition tablet -- a product clearly designed with aspirations to take on the iPad.

Going on sale exclusively at Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), Xoom Family is an Android 3.1-powered device with a 10.1-inch widescreen HD display and 16 GB of storage.
Among its preloaded applications are parental control software called "Kid Zone" by Zoodles, and MotoPack by Motorola -- a search function for Motorola tablet apps on the Android Market.
It sports a 5mp rear camera and frontfacing webcam and runs on a 1 GHz dual-core processor. Its battery powers up to 10 hours of video playback and Web browsing, according to the company.
Xoom Family Edition retails for US$379.

Motorola Xoom Family Edition

Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI) declined to comment to TechNewsWorld for this story.

Can It Beat the iPad?

If there were ever a tablet that built to take on the iPad, the Xoom Family comes close, Laura DiDio, principal of ITIC, told TechNewsWorld. "The Xoom Family has a lot to recommend it, and Motorola Mobility is a proven brand. The specs are wonderful -- dual-core processor, Android 3.1, a 10.1-inch HD screen -- and comparable with the iPad."
That said, it is difficult to imagine any tablet now coming close to the iPad, given the near- mythical status it has built for itself, observed DiDio, "even though I would rate the Xoom Family as the toughest competition the iPad has faced yet."

A Backup Tablet

Consumers have proven to have near bottomless pockets when it comes to gadgets, though, and as prices lower in the tablet market -- thanks in no small part to the Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) Kindle Fire -- they may be willing to consider owning more than one model.
The Xoom Family would compete for alternative status at the high end, Didio suggested, while the Amazon Kindle Fire would compete at the lower end.

The Family Model

The concept of a tablet for the family market might appeal to some buyers, Azita Arvani of the Arvani Group told TechNewsWorld.
"It is certainly true that iPads have kept many kids entertained as parents attend to other business," she pointed out. "Just last week, I saw a 5-year-old girl on her mother's lap getting a haircut while mesmerized by a movie on the iPad. Without the tablet, the girl would not be able to sit still for that long. So, Motorola has observed that phenomenon and is trying to capitalize on it."
That, however, is largely marketing and positioning, she added. The major differentiation between this version and the previous Xoom, Arvani said, is the lower price point. "Otherwise, it is the same old Xoom."

AMD Breaks New Ground With FX Bulldozer Processors

2011-10-17T16:07:00.001-07:00

AMD is calling two of its latest FX Bulldozer chips the first desktop CPUs to feature eight cores. Its new FX line covers four new chips in all, ranging in price from $115 to $245. The Bulldozer technology is the first major redesign of AMD's processor architecture since 2003, when the company launched its Athlon 64/Opteron K8 processors.

Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) has unveiled its FX Series family of processors, which includes two it heralds as the first eight-core desktop CPUs.

These are the first processors available in retail that use AMD's new Bulldozer multicore architecture.
The FX processors are priced at between US$115 and $245 and are aimed at "enabling the ultimate multimedia experience for digital enthusiasts," AMD spokesperson Miriam Cox told TechNewsWorld.
In addition to faster gaming, they will enable media encoding and system performance with high clock speeds and overclocking capabilities at "an incredible price/performance value," Cox added. They also feature a modern architecture that will be able to take advantage of evolving multi-threaded applications, she said.
"I think the FX family will have a very good reception from OEMs," Vijay Rakesh, an analyst at Sterne Agee, told TechNewsWorld.
"For the last five years, OEMs didn't have a new product platform from AMD, and as an OEM, you don't want one supplier controlling 95 percent of the market," Rakesh added. He was referring to Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), which dominates the desktop processor market.

About the FX Family

There are four CPUs in AMD's FX line.
The FX-8150 and FX-8120 each have 8 cores.
The 8150 is rated at 3.6 GHz going up to 4.2 GHz with AMD Max Turbo and carries a suggested retail price of $245.
The 8120 is rated at 3.1 GHz going up to 4 GHz with AMD Max Turbo and is listed at $205.
The third CPU in the FX line is the 6100. This has 6 cores. It's rated at 3.3 GHz going up to 3.9 GHz with AMD Max Turbo and is listed at $165.
Finally, there's the four-core FX-4100. This is rated at 3.6 GHz going up to 3.8 GHz with Max Turbo and is listed at $115.
AMD Turbo CORE technology lets processors increase their speed but automatically cuts back if the processors shave the power limit too closely. It continually monitors the power consumption of processors to determine how much it can move up their clock speed.

Taking FX to the Next Level

Users can combine an AMD FX CPU with an AMD 9-series chipset motherboard and AMD Radeon HD 6000 series graphics cards to create the AMD Scorpius platform for gaming and HD entertainment, the company said.
As part of the "Scorpius" platform, AMD FX CPUs also support AMD CrossFire technology, which allows the combination of multiple graphics cards in a PC, and AMD Eyefinity technology support for super resolution on up to six monitors, company spokesperson Cox said.

Pushing Ahead With Bulldozer

The Bulldozer technology is the first major redesign of AMD's processor architecture since 2003, when the company launched its Athlon 64/Opteron K8 processors.
Bulldozer was developed from the ground up and is claimed to offer dramatically improved energy use in high-performance computing applications.
AMD plans to offer two series of Bulldozer-based processors for servers -- the Opteron 4200 series, code named "Valencia," with up to 8 cores each; and the Opteron 6200 series, code named "Interlagos," with up to 16 cores each.
"Interlagos" processors will be used to update the Oak Ridge National Laboratories' Jaguar supercomputer. This project is scheduled for completion by 2013.
Bulldozer-based CPUs are being produced by GlobalFoundries, AMD's spun-off manufacturing arm.

The Impact of Bulldozer

AMD's "betting the farm" on Bulldozer and Llanos, the latter being its processor platform for notebooks, Sterne Agee's Rakesh said.
However, GlobalFoundries is reportedly having supply problems, and production of the "Interlagos" family has been delayed to the point where Cray (Nasdaq: CRAY), which won the contract to upgrade the ORNL's Jaguar supercomputer, has expressed its concerns.
"GlobalFoundries 32nm yields are not improving in line with expectations, and the time required for GlobalFoundries to deliver finished wafers is also longer than anticipated," AMD's Cox said.
Some reviewers have panned the performance of the FX CPU, but AMD's Cox pointed out that Bulldozer "was not designed for older, single-threaded applications and benchmarks.
However, "performance will continue to improve as software applications and benchmarks continue to evolve and utilize these new instructions and our Bulldozer architecture," Cox stated.

iPhone 4S Release Draws Crowds, Lines, Agony, Ecstasy

2011-10-17T16:06:00.000-07:00

A time-honored ritual for Apple devotees played out yet again on Friday as early buyers formed lines outside of Apple stores and other phone retailers in order to get their hands on the latest, greatest iPhone. Despite an external design nearly identical to that of last year's phone, the iPhone 4S managed to draw crowds on launch day as well as rack up over 1 million pre-orders.

Pre-orders for Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPhone 4S hit the 1 million mark quickly after they became available earlier this month, and the deluge swamped the websites of Apple and its retail partners. This week, hordes of people began queuing up outside stores, some camping out overnight, to get their hands on the device, which hit the shelves Friday.

Eager crowds have been reported lining up at stores from New Jersey to Japan, in Canada, Australia, the UK, France and Germany.
"People feel very passionate about these products," Andrew Eisner, director of community and content at Retrevo, told MacNewsWorld. "It's almost like a cult."

You've Got, I've Got, Everyone's Got a 4S

A recent Retrevo survey led to some interesting findings regarding early iPhone 4S buyers.
"We found most of the people planning to buy an iPhone 4S already owned an iPhone," Eisner said.
"There were as many iPhone 4 owners as 3G and 3GS owners," Eisner continued.
There are at least 50 reasons why people make purchases, according to the website Guerilla Marketing.
Attracting praise, increasing enjoyment, possessing beautiful things, avoiding criticism, keeping up with the Joneses and making work easier are among the 50.
Those last two reasons are among those Apple Cofounder Steve Wozniak cited for waiting in line to buy the iPhone 4S in an interview with Cult of Mac.
Being able to interact with the phone by voice using the new Siri feature is another reason "the Woz," as he's also known among Apple fans, wanted to get the iPhone 4S. Woz couldn't sing the praises of Siri, the intelligent voice-enabled assistant on the iPhone 4S, loud enough.

Any Swagger?

One potential sales pitfall for the iPhone 4S is its external design. On the outside, it's nearly identical to the iPhone 4, dampening the "show-off" factor for owners.
"Apple didn't redesign the case, so there's no way people can tell if you have the iPhone 4S," Eisner pointed out.
"So, if consumers are looking to impress their friends, they'll have to find another way," Eisner added.
Perhaps they could show off by leveraging Siri.

Some iPhone 4S Tech Specs

IFixIt did a teardown of the iPhone 4S recently.
Tech specs include a 1GHz dual-core processor, an 8MP rear-facing camera with 1080p video capture capability, a VGA front-facing camera, an LED backlit IPS TFT LCD retina display, and world phone capabilities with support for multiple networks.

iOS 5: Excellent, Awesome and Somewhat Confusing

2011-10-17T16:05:00.000-07:00

Apple claims there are something like 200 new feature in iOS 5, so it'll probably be a long time before most users happen to find all or even most of them. The biggest standouts, though, include improvements to the Camera app, a new Notifications Center, and of course, iCloud. That last one is one of the biggest things to hit iOS for a while, and for now it's still a little tricky to figure out.

After learning that it would cost me US$449 to upgrade from my iPhone 4 to an iPhone 4S, I pushed the pause button on those plans and decided to see how iOS 5 on my iPhone 4 shakes out first. After all, it's not as if I don't appreciate my iPhone 4. It's a great phone, quite serviceable, and now, with iOS 5, it's better than it was just a few days ago.

Where do I start? Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) boasts 200 new features in iOS 5, and for sure, I haven't found or noticed more than a fraction of them. Sure, some of them, like Siri, the new intelligent assistant app that listens to voice commands and then implements them, belong only to the iPhone 4S and the wicked-fast hardware packed inside. Other features have to do with iCloud integration, which in fact seems to be mostly what iOS 5 is all about -- providing users with easy access to files and communications services from the sky.

First, the New Camera App

Just because iPhone 4 owners can't get the sweet new 8 megapixel, 1080p-HD-video-shooting camera like the one in the iPhone 4S doesn't mean Apple doesn't know how to spread the love: Now, finally, I can use the up or "+" volume button to snap a photo or start a video. Better yet, when my iPhone 4 is asleep, I can double-tap the home button, which will bring up a lock screen that offers a camera icon button that will launch the camera app. The big deal? I can go from iPhone-in-my-pants-pocket to snapping-a-photo faster than ever before. (That's right, Bigfoot should be afraid, very afraid.)
Before iOS 5, after you snapped a photo, cropping it to make it ready to send to another phone or email it meant that you had to move it into a separate image-editing app. For most of my cropping needs, this little hoop-jump meant that I didn't bother cropping at all. In addition, Apple offered up a magic editing wand to help automatically clean up some photos, along with a red eye correction feature. Since I rarely blind my portrait victims with the iPhone's harsh LED flash, this is a rare need for me.

Next, Reminders

The one app I was really looking forward to was Reminders, a handy and clean little task manager app. It's pretty lightweight compared to some of the robust and feature-rich task managing applications on the market, but where it compensates is the notifications features: You can quickly and easily set the iPhone to remind you about something -- whatever you jotted down -- on a particular day at a particular time, or when you leave or arrive at a particular place, or both: on a day at a time and if you leave or arrive at an address.
I set a real reminder with a fake notification, and as I was driving out of my neighborhood early in the morning, I heard a weird notification noise come from my iPhone. Sure enough, I had left the area, so it was reminding me to do what I wanted to do. What makes this cool? Say, for example, you want to buy a special item from a store at the mall, but you're not going to make a special trip to your local mall just to get this item. You can create a reminder and set it to holler next time you drive by or arrive at the mall. Boom. No more forgetting esoteric little tasks -- as long as you use Reminders, of course.

No More Android Envy, We Get a Notification Center Too

Some of the features that I most appreciate on other smartphones are the notification centers and the ability to consolidate the latest action on your phone into your home screen. Now, with Apple's Notification Center feature, we get that sort of option, though it's all based on alerts.
As new email, text messages, voicemail, stock tickers, weather reports, or notifications from your favorite compatible apps come in, you can see them at a glance on your iPhone lock screen. Swipe them and you can jump right into the application -- for instance, right into a text message. If you're working in an app and get some notifications, a bar will appear at the top. Swipe from it down, and boom, you'll see all your notifications in a well-designed, swipeable layout. It's gorgeous, actually. Get some notifications and you can enjoy it too.
Figuring out all the apps and the notifications can be a bit daunting, though, but at least Apple lets you decide how you want to let the apps (and which apps) notify you via notifications.
Another big new feature (of the 200) is iMessage, which is Apple's new messaging service that lets you avoid your cellular service provider's text messaging service in favor of using WiFi or iPhone Internet data access. If someone has an iPhone, iPad or iPod with iOS 5, you can send instant messages through Apple's iMessage, which is built into the messages app.
This is a little confusing because it requires registering users with iMessage, and so far, I haven't been able to put it to work much because no one I know and want to message with has their iGadgets on iOS 5 yet! When they do, I can "text" them with photos, videos, locations, contacts and funny sentences from my WiFi-only iPad 2 -- or vice versa. I can see parents texting their young children on their iPod touches -- or letting kids who aren't yet old enough for cellphones to "text" each other through their Apple iGadgets.
Sure, it feels like cellular service companies are ripping us off by charging freakish prices for texts, but then again, I still think it's magic when I'm driving across the country with desolate tumbleweeds blowing around ... and I can still call my mom. So thank you cellular service providers. Meanwhile, I really like the ability to text any device no matter how it's "connected" and not have to have everyone shell out for traditional texting plans.

Safari and iCloud

Another handy feature of iOS 5 is a much-improved Safari. On my iPad 2, I can now use tabbed browsing (but not on the iPhone), and on both I can save URLs to my Reading List (like on Mac OS X) for easy access later. I can also use the Reader feature to zoom into just the relevant text of an article online for easier, clutter-free reading. This last bit is awesome when you're holding a small screen in your hand.
Last of all, the big new feature that I'm still learning is iCloud and the ability for me to avoid syncing through iTunes on my MacBook. There's a lot here, and iCloud warrants plenty of special looks by writers and users alike.
For starters, it's a synchronization service that keeps all your data synced up on each of your iOS devices -- documents, photos, your @me.com email. Apple's individual apps can use it, and third-party app developers will be able to also. It's also an online storage locker, and apparently I'll be able to access anything I've purchased through my iTunes account via iCloud. Nice. Haven't really tried it yet, but I'm sure I will.
I'll like this especially because it means I won't have to plan out my media before I leave for a big trip. There's also Photo Stream, which I'm not sure I'll like or not. I take plenty of photos on my iPhone that I don't really want to appear anywhere else. So I'll have to see how that shakes out.
In the meantime, iOS 5 appears stable, looks cooler in subtle ways like green bubbles in Messages or new rocker switches, and offers up a lot of promise for more fun and better productivity.