10/05, 9:35am
Samsung Behold II coming to T-Mobile
T-Mobile started off the week with word of its first Samsung phone with Android. The Behold II has graduated from a feature phone to a full smartphone and carries the full Google suite of apps as well as Android Market for third-party apps. Unlike the Galaxy it's based on, though, the Behold II is Samsung's first phone to bring its TouchWiz interface and not only has the widget sidebar but a 3D cube menu that provides shortcuts to common tasks like media, the web and the Amazon MP3 online store. Microsoft Exchange sync also adds to what Google would bring itself.
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10/03, 11:25am
Palm webOS 1.2.1 fixes iTunes, Exchange
Palm today quietly circumvented Apple's protective measures again with webOS 1.2.1. Its second update in a week is the first to restore iTunes syncing for the Pre since iTunes 8.2 and will let the Pre take media from iTunes 9.0.1 as though it were a native device in the jukebox software. It even adds deeper integration and will now sync photo albums as well as lower-resolution versions that save space on the phone.
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09/11, 10:30am
Problems with Exchange, power, more
Downloaders of the iPhone 3.1 firmware are experiencing a variety of problems, according to talk on Apple's support forums. Perhaps the most serious involves occasional total shutdowns, which occur without warning. Affected iPhones can be revived, but only after a manual reboot.
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08/24, 8:55am
Snow Leopard on Aug. 28
Validating rumors, Apple has formally announced that Mac OS X Snow Leopard will ship on August 28th, just ahead of its predicted September launch date. The software is a $29 upgrade for individual Leopard owners, or a $49 upgrade for people needing a five-license family pack. It can also be had with a new Mac computer, or as a part of the Mac Box Set, which bundles the latest versions of iLife and iWork. Single-user and family pack versions of the Box Set cost $169 and $229, respectively.
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08/11, 5:30pm
MS Nokia Office Tomorrow
Microsoft this evening said it and Nokia together would hold a conference call late tomorrow morning to unveil an "alliance" between the two firms. The two aren't specific about details. As the call will be led by Microsoft Business president Stephen Elop as well as Nokia's executive devices VP Kai Öistämö, however, it's the news may involve the addition of Office apps to Nokia's smartphones, especially its Eseries business models.
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08/04, 11:20am
SyncEm supports Google
Derman Enterprises released an update to its sync software, Sync'Em 1.33. The latest version adds support for basic Google calendar events and contact fields, while handling of FileAs/FileAsMapping fields in Exchange has been improved. The company also revamped the user interface and fixed several syncing bugs.
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07/23, 8:05pm
Palm webOS Restores iTunes
Palm tonight countered Apple's move to break iTunes syncing by releasing webOS 1.1. The previously promised update restores full syncing with iTunes 8.2.1 and lets both the Pre and future webOS phones once more transfer music, photos and videos directly from the jukebox software. It's not clear what was changed to restore access, though Apple explicitly mentioned that its iTunes patch checked the authenticity of devices, hinting that Palm has found a way to bypass or fool the check.
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07/10, 12:20pm
Palm webOS 1 1 Leak
A tip regarding Palm's future webOS 1.1 update hints that the smartphone OS is about to receive a significant upgrade, particularly for business users. The new firmware described by PreCentral should give the Pre and future Palm phones much requested Microsoft Exchange features such as support for company-initiated remote wipes, requiring a PIN to unlock the phone, forcing a certain complexity of PIN, and automatically locking the phone when it goes unused for a certain amount of time. All of the additions are considered essential for the phone, which has seen unusually high interest from corporate buyers and to compete against the iPhone in the workplace.
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06/26, 3:45pm
Palm on Licensing webOS
Palm chief Jon Rubinstein during the company's fiscal results call yesterday evening detailed the company's stance on licensing webOS as well as some of the early reaction to the Pre. Addressing a question on whether Palm would ever let other companies make webOS phones, the executive was emphatic that there were no current plans for this but explained that it was "not a religious issue" for the company. Although not directly stated, the implication was that Palm didn't share Apple's opinion that software exclusivity was essential to integrating with its hardware.
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06/12, 12:20pm
Sunflower, ImageFlow FX
DMG Master 2.1 ($20) is a utility that allows users to create standard Disk Image Archives from their own files. Users can select any file or group of files and covert them into an archive that can be recognized by any Mac. New to this release is the option to encrypt archives using either AES-128 or AES-256 encryption. The interface has also received small improvements and several new preference options have been added. [Download - 0.78MB]
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05/25, 11:25am
Palm Pre Leaked Guide
A leak of Sprint's guide to the Palm Pre for business late yesterday has revealed key details about the launch of the smartphone, including Sprint's attitude towards both the iPhone and T-Mobile G1. In its comparison unearthed by Engadget, the carrier touts less direct features as an advantage, including the built-in camera flash, a hardware keyboard and the Synergy feature that merges multiple contacts and calendars. Sprint also boasts the least expensive unlimited service with a $100 plan compared to the $150 for an iPhone on AT&T and $125 for T-Mobile.
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02/23, 10:05am
Sync'Em 1.24 update
Derman has published an update to Sync'Em, its synchronization utility for Macs. The software links contact and calendar information from iCal, Mail and Address Book with Google and Exchange accounts. Users can also omit local systems from the equation, and sync solely between Google and/or Exchange accounts. Some features remain incomplete, such as the the ability to share notes and tasks across platforms.
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02/09, 2:10pm
Google Sync for iPhone
Google this afternoon revamped Google Sync to include beta two-way support for iPhone, iPod touch and Windows Mobile devices. These and any SyncML devices can make updates to calendars and contacts that get sent to Google's cloud with changes elsewhere sent back to the devices. The feature works through a new license Google has obtained that uses Microsoft's Exchange to push the information in near real-time.
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01/16, 12:40pm
Helio Ocean 2 in Feb.?
MVNO carrier Helio may ship its second Ocean smartphone as early as February, according to a company representative. The phone is at least due this quarter, which would put a release date no further than the end of March. The current Ocean is Helio's signature phone, a messaging device with many iPhone-like features such as a YouTube client and a built-in GPS receiver. The Ocean 2 is expected to have similar features, such as a microSD slot and a two-megapixel camera with flash.
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01/12, 3:45pm
Web Dumper, MediaLink
Sync'Em 1.2 ($50) is an application for syncing Exchange, Google and Apple contact and calendar information. The update has added extra options to the applications uninstaller which can be helpful with a later reinstall. Users will also find a few interface enhancements, a fix for a syncing issue that could cause the application to hang and a a work around for a problem with unhandled exceptions in OS X's Sync Services. [Download - 16.1MB]
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12/02, 10:15am
Nokia E71 at Rogers
Rogers today became the first North American carrier to pick up the E71, Nokia's top fixed-QWERTY smartphone. The S60 candybar is virtually identical to the reference model and supports 3G on the Canadian provider's HSPA network as well as GPS, Wi-Fi and push data that includes Microsoft Exchange support. A 3.2-megapixel camera with flash also translates directly to the Rogers E71.
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11/26, 3:25pm
Sync 'Em 1.15 patch
Derman Enterprises has posted an update to its Sync 'Em, its Mac-based synchronization application. The program attempts to keep contact and calendar data consistent between multiple apps and user accounts; it does this by linking information from Exchange and Google with Mail, iCal and Address Book. The exact data shared varies however, as Sync 'Em does not yet, for example, support Google Calendar.
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10/30, 3:35pm
Office 2008 12.1.4 update
Having only recently released major patches for both Office 2004 and 2008, Microsoft has posted a new, minor patch for the latter edition of its work suite. Though installed for the whole of Office, the v12.1.4 update specifically addresses a problem within the Entourage mail client. Under copies of v12.1.3, Exchange accounts operating from within Entourage were rendered unable to send meeting invitations or responses.
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10/21, 9:05am
Kerio MailServer 6.6 patch
Kerio Technologies has updated its MailServer groupware, taking direct aim at Microsoft Exchange. The company says MailServer 6.6 has two key improvements designed to convince Exchange users to switch. The first is support for managing resources -- the ability to book conference rooms, audio/visual equipment and other assets using online tools. The second addition is a migration tool designed to make it less painful for companies to move their data from Exchange to MailServer. The new release also provides improved e-mail support for the iPhone and other mobile devices.
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10/20, 12:00pm
More Snow Leopard changes
Several major changes in Apple's next operating system have been revealed, sources claim. Mac OS X Snow Leopard is, according to AppleInsider, expected to completely jettison the Carbon-based version of Finder, in favor of a one written entirely in Cocoa. Apple has said that 64-bit support for Carbon will not be provided, and it may thus make sense to migrate as much code over as possible for maximum performance. Finder is currently one of oldest Carbon components in Mac OS X.
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10/10, 7:55am
MS May Buy RIM
The recent plunge in Research in Motion's shares may help trigger a takeover by Microsoft, Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek says. The financial expert believes that Microsoft has a "standing offer" to buy out the BlackBerry maker at a value of $50 per share and may do so if RIM's recent share decline leaves it significantly below that mark. The company is said by researchers to be independent but potentially open to a deal if made under friendly terms.
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10/08, 11:10am
Sync'Em v1.0 released
New software for syncing Exchange, Google and Apple contact and calendar information is said to have reached the end of beta testing. The completed release of Sync'Em has received support for syncing Google contacts, beyond those found in Exchange and/or Address Book. Support for syncing Google and iCal calendar events is still in development, but the developers say they hope to have this added by mid-November.
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10/02, 8:40am
Nokia Chief on iPhone
Apple's entry into the mobile phone space was a "big favor" to the cellphone business by shaking it up, Nokia chief Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said Thursday. The executive notes that Apple's roughly 14-month presence in the market has produced a "credible competitor" that has led phone buyers to expect more from devices, pushing Nokia and others to improve their hardware and software. The Finnish company now sees the iPhone as a threat but also says it has yet to formally take on Apple's touchscreen model.
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09/22, 2:50pm
Sync'Em final beta
New software for syncing Exchange, Google and Apple contact and calendar information has moved into its final beta stages. In its current state, Sync'Em can sync Exchange contacts with Apple's Address Book, or across several Exchange accounts. A recent update added support for Mac OS X 10.4, as well as unidirectional syncing and extended status reporting. The update also added an on-demand "check for new version" feature.
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09/10, 10:30am
Nokia most popular email
Finnish cell phone giant Nokia on Tuesday announced it now offers the world’s most popular business-grade email solution by making it available for free on about 80 million cellphones. Exactly 43 of the company’s cellphone models with the Symbian S60 3rd Edition operating system will either have the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync corporate e-mail software pre-installed or else let users download the upgrade free of charge. This, Nokia believes, makes it the most popular corporate email solution.
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09/04, 10:20pm
Sync'Em public beta
A new solution for syncing Microsoft Exchange, Google and Apple contact and calendar information has surfaced, titled Sync'Em. Now available as a public beta Sync'Em, in its current state, can synchronize Exchange contacts with Apple's Address book or synchronize Exchange contacts across several Exchange accounts. The developer hopes to soon add functionality to allow users to sync Exchange calender events with iCal or across several Exchange accounts.
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08/29, 1:05pm
IceWarp 10 in October
IceWarp has announced that it will be debuting Exchange ActiveSync support for its self-titled server software this October, using its Advanced Messaging and Information Technology Conference as a venue. The most recent release of IceWarp Server introduced a new secure iPhone webmail skin, but with version 10, IceWarp says it is planning to add more functionality for the iPhone and other mobile devices.
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08/15, 11:40am
Entourage Email Arch. 4.1
Softhing says it has released a new version of Entourage Email Archive X, bringing the app up to v4.1. The program is used to archive e-mails and their attachments, including both sent and received items. Messages are indexed for Spotlight search, and can be restored individually or in bulk to Entourage as necessary.
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07/23, 12:55pm
Dow Jones OKs iPhone
Dow Jones -- owned by News Corp., and responsible for financial publications like the Wall Street Journal -- has given its seal of approval to the iPhone, according to another one of its publications, Barron's. The company's Global Technology Services division is now supporting the phone through use of Microsoft ActiveSync technology, which enables the iPhone to access corporate e-mail via Exchange. Like most such services, users require a password and will have data locked or deleted in case a phone goes missing.
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07/22, 3:05pm
iAnywhere on iPhone 3G
Sybase has announced that its iAnywhere Mobile Office system now has extended support for the iPhone 3G. iAnywhere interfaces with corporate e-mail systems which might otherwise block the phone, due to security concerns; it instead provides an intermediate layer, which lets companies perform functions like attachment limiting, e-mail deletion, or even blocking a user entirely. iPhone owners can meanwhile use their native e-mail client.
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07/16, 10:00pm
Apple clarifies MobileMe
Apple's retail employees are already being retrained regarding sales of MobileMe – Apple's Web 2.0-based service suite – with the company urging staff to rephrase how they mention or describe the service. A notice to the retail sales team indicates that they should refer to MobileMe as an "automatic sync" service, rather than Push, to clear up any misconceptions the customer may have. Apple also clarified that MobileMe should not be billed as "Exchange for the rest of us."
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07/07, 2:05pm
Goldman on iPhone in Biz
Approximately one in six businesses is likely to be supporting iPhones within a year, according to a report by Goldman Sachs analyst Jason Armstrong. A check with technology executives shows about 17 percent of them planning to support the device within one year, allowing workers to use the Apple device for company e-mail and other business roles. The welcome for the device is a "very strong number" for a device which hasn't yet been released and is only likely to increase once companies can test the phone, Armstrong says.
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06/30, 12:55pm
MS Office, Exchange guides
Microsoft has laid bare the internal workings of several key formats, according to an announcement. As a part of its Interoperability Principles program, the company has released v1.0 technical documentation for the protocols in several of its programs, primarily the Office 2007 suite. Some 5,000 pages are said to be available on the binary file formats for Word, Excel and PowerPoint, including DOC, XLS, XLSB and PPT files.
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06/19, 11:20am
Sprint Mobile E-mail Work
Sprint today hoped to close one more perceived gap between the Samsung Instinct and the iPhone 3G with the launch of Mobile Email Work. The service gives users access to messages from Microsoft Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes servers without requiring a smartphone that already has built-in support. Like the more specialized clients, mail is pushed in real time to the phone while messsage deletes or replies are synchronized with other computers accessing the same mailbox.
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04/11, 9:45pm
EEAO 1.1 update for email
Softhing this week unveiled the Entourage Exchange Accounts Optimizer 1.1, an update to its application designed to optimize Exchange servers by defining a maximum amount of time a user wishes for mail to remain on the server. The update is free for existing users, adding several internal improvements, Exchange account definitions, a 10 minute timeout, and compatibility with Entourage 12.0.1 and Mac OS X 10.5.2 Leopard. EEAO v1.1 is available for $15.
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03/21, 8:05pm
CommuniGate Pro for iPhone
CommuniGate Systems recently announced that it is ready to supply iPhone users with push mail, calendar, and contact syncing using over-the-air Airsync, without requiring a Microsoft Exchange server. The software, called CommuniGate Pro also works with both Linux and Windows systems, as well as the Mac. While pricing and availability for the service was not available, CommuniGate showed Communigate Pro at its booth at the VON.x Expo.
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03/07, 10:05am
Piper: iPhone confidence
Apple's press event yesterday inspires greater confidence in the company's sales targets for 2008, say analysts with Piper Jaffray. The research group notes that it is particularly excited by the prospect of the SDK and the App Store, which, come June, should liberate iPhone users from the restrictions and speeds of current web-based applications. Piper describes the new iPhone as a "full-fledged mobile computing platform," and expects Apple to follow up with a "full family" of Internet-capable devices going into the future.
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03/07, 10:05am
Investors like SDK, AAPL
Yesterday's "iPhone Software Roadmap" event raised analysts' faith in AAPL stock, with Shaw Wu of American Technology Research reiterating a "buy" rating and a price target of $175. According to Wu, Apple had met and exceeded expectations with its "superior" implementation of ActiveSync. Apple's method eliminates separate server software, while also providing a direct connection to the server, rather than through a third-party network operations center.
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03/06, 1:20pm
iPhone 'push' mail support
Apple today announced that it is implementing ActiveSync for Exchange mail support on its iPhone. The word came today during a planned meeting at the company's Cupertino campus, where Apple promised to discuss the future of software on the iPhone. ActiveSync for Exchange mail support, or 'push' mail, comes alongside promises of improved security for the mobile handset, according to phonemag. Stanford University has already purchased hundreds of iPhones for faculty and students, according to Apple, and the Cupertino-based company promised built-in Cisco IPsec VPN capability with certificates and identities with WPA2/802.11x. [updated]
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02/29, 10:15am
Tight iPhone SDK control
Apple will announce tight regulation of iPhone applications at its March 6th SDK event, say several anonymous sources. Although the SDK has been hotly anticipated as a means of turning iPhones into handheld computers, Apple will for various reasons restrict how iPhone software operates and is distributed. Users will for instance have to acquire applications through the iTunes Store, instead of through independent websites, where it may sometimes be more convenient.
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02/28, 10:10am
AmTech on Mar. 6th plans
The special event Apple has planned for March 6th will likely introduce better corporate e-mail support, argues Shaw Wu of American Technology Research. The analyst cites "industry and developer sources," who say that Apple has been conducting months of beta testing in order to make the iPhone function properly with Microsoft ubiquitous Exchange Server technology. The same sources suggest that support is imminent for Lotus Notes, for which IBM has confirmed that a web client is in development.
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