Palin E-mail Hacker Sentenced To A Year And A Day

Remember that college student who hacked Sarah Palin’s Yahoo e-mail account and leaked the contents to the universe? He was also found to be the son of a Democrat which caused some embarrassment. He’s been found guilty and sentenced to 366 days in custody. Oh, there’s more than just the sentence than being in custody:

Federal Judge Thomas W. Phillips also said David Kernell, who was a 20-year-old economics major at the University of Tennessee when he deduced the answers to security questions and read emails in Palin’s private account, should get mental-health treatment.

Kernell apologized in court Friday to the former Republican vice-presidential candidate and her family.

I’m not sure how getting mental health treatment works into this, but this puts an end to this saga. Now we will have to get our fix of Palin on Fox News.

Motorola And Microsoft Trade More Lawsuits

This fight between Microsoft and Motorola has escalated. Earlier this week, Microsoft sued Motorola for patent infringement… Again. I say again because that happened in October:

The suit, filed in the a Seattle federal court, accuses Motorola of breaching a so-called RAND agreement for patents covering the H.264 video codec and various extensions of the 802.11 Wi-Fi technology. Both are used in the Microsoft Xbox video-game console, among other products, Microsoft said.

Motorola doesn’t seem to want to take this lying down. So they filed a couple of lawsuits of their own:

Motorola filed separate suits in both the Southern District of Florida as well as the Western District of Wisconsin, alleging that Microsoft’s products infringed at least six of Motorola’s patents.

So, I think it’s safe to assume that a quick settlement is out of question. I think it’s also safe to assume that some lawyers will be driving some new cars very shortly thanks to the money they’ll be making.

Mark Papermaster Lands At Cisco

He was recruited by Apple and was the subject of a lawsuit between Apple and IBM. Then he left Apple around a year later with questions swirling about why and how he left. Now Mark Papermaster has been hired by networking giant Cisco Systems. Now Cisco should be a better fit for Papermaster as he doesn’t have to deal with the reality distortion field with the rather unique Apple culture. Rather, Cisco is your typical Fortune 500 company. So this looks like the end of the Papermaster saga. Unless Apple decides to pull an IBM and sue Cisco. I can’t see why they would. But these days in the tech world, everybody is suing everybody so who knows.

Are Blackberries Being Dumped By Corporate Customers?

I must admit that I’ve started to see more Android and iPhones pop up in companies. Plus I’ve gotten some work lately to set up MS Exchange servers to support those phones as well. So I’ve wondered if RIM’s dominance in the corporate market was slipping. Then I read this story in the Globe And Mail this week that suggests that my observations were perhaps accurate to a degree:

Bank of America and Citigroup have joined a growing throng of financial institutions eyeing alternatives to the BlackBerry for corporate e-mail.

The banks are testing software designed to make Apple’s iPhone secure enough for company messages, Bloomberg said, citing three people familiar with the plan.

A source at Bank of America confirmed the details of the report. A Citi spokeswoman declined to comment.

Well that has to suck if you’re RIM. But I’m really not surprised. If you’re a company who wants to use Blackberry product and you have an MS Exchange or Lotus Domino e-mail server, you need to get a copy of Blackberry Enterprise Server. Now small business can score a copy for free, but larger companies can spend as much as $100 a device to provide e-mail to workers outside the office. If you want to use a iPhone or an Android phone (or those new Windows Phone 7 devices for that matter) in your company and you have MS Exchange, then you have ActiveSync built in already. So those phones will take very little effort to get access to your e-mail server. Just make sure you have all the latest service packs and roll ups installed. Cost to you: Other the cost of the devices, nothing. Plus I don’t hear about governments wanting to ban those devices. That’s another plus that companies have to take into account. Finally, ActiveSync is very secure as it supports remote wipe as well as SSL encryption. That’s good enough for most companies, but third party products exist for the truly paranoid.

Sorry RIM. It looks like your days might be numbered.

FCC Investigates Google Over Street View

Google really must really wish that it never came up Street View seeing how many investigations have been initiated over this product. The latest to investigate Google is the FCC:

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is looking into Google Inc.’s “Street View” maps service, to see if the company’s collection of e-mails and other private information violated federal laws.

The FCC probe underscores the multiple investigations still faced by Google for data collected by its cars photographing streets around the world, despite a decision by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to drop its probe last month.

Google has some real problems here with privacy much like Facebook. Both companies can’t seem to stay out of trouble when it comes to privacy. But Google seems to attract more attention. I’m guessing that it has something to do with the fact that they’re the biggest guy on the block right now. That requires them to put more effort to stay out of trouble. Hopefully they learn that fact and do something to make themselves less of a target.

Playbook To Cost $500: Report

RIM’s “iPad killer” isn’t out yet, but one key detail has slipped out. Apparently, the Playbook is going to cost $500 according to RIM Co-CEO Jim Balsillie:

“The iPad’s Wi-Fi-only version, sells at $499 and runs up to $699 for a 64-GB model. A 3G iPad starts at $629. Mr. Balsillie refused to set the specific price for the Playbook, but when pushed by reporters said it would sell for under $500.”

That puts it within the same range of the iPad. I guess you’d have to try out both an see which one is for you. But one thing to consider is that the Playbook has the same capabilities of the iPad, but has a 7″ screen which El-Jobso has said would be DOA. We shall soon see.

 

Rogers Releases Two New Phones… More To Come [UPDATED]

My “best friends at Rogers” e-mailed me about two phones that they made available to the public this week. The first is a Windows 7 phone called the Samsung Focus. I saw this phone first hand and I was impressed with it. It’s $199 on the obligatory three year plan. Get all the details on Rogers website.

The second phone is the Nokia N8. It’s a Symbian based phone that has a 12-megapixel camera and 720p video with Dolby surround sound among other cutting edge features. Oh yeah, unlike the phones from that Steve guy this one does Flash. On paper it’s a very interesting phone and it’s a Rogers exclusive. You can score one for $79 on the usual three year plan. Check it out on RedBoard.

Oh yeah, a tipster told me that this is only the beginning. You can expect more phones from them shortly. Remember, you heard it here first.

UPDATE: I have proof that my tipster was correct about more phones coming from Rogers. I got another e-mail from Rogers saying that the Dell Streak was now available for $149.99 on a three year plan. You can expect more phones from Rogers shortly.

Where In The World Is HP’s CEO?

Is it just me, or has HP become a soap opera of epic proportions? I say that because Reuters is reporting that Oracle is trying to serve HP’s CEO de jour Leo Apotheker with a subpoena in regards to a software theft case that involves software giant SAP (who by the way used to employ Apotheker as their CEO) and could cost SAP as much as $4 billion if Oracle gets their way:

Executives with SAP, which has admitted to software theft by a subsidiary, TomorrowNow, but argues it owes Oracle only tens of millions of dollars, have said Apotheker was put in charge of the unit, but shut down the operation as soon as he discovered wrongdoing.

Oracle however has a problem: They’re having problems serving the subpoena. HP for one won’t take it and…:

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the search was not yet made public, told Reuters that Apotheker’s lawyers at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher also refused to accept the subpoena. If he is overseas, Oracle will be unable to serve him and have to await his arrival in California, the source added.

So, the word on the street is that Oracle has hired a P.I. to find him. Bizarre. What’s up with HP? Can’t they do anything without it becoming a circus? Suddenly Mark Hurd doesn’t seem so bad.

 

The Queen Will Be On Facebook… WTF? [UPDATED]

Guess who’s on Facebook? How about the Queen of England? Seriously:

In a sign of the Queen’s determination to master new technology, Buckingham Palace will unveil an official Facebook page called The British Monarchy on Monday.

The Facebook page will feature news, photographs, videos and speeches, together with daily updates about the activities of the Queen and other members of the Royal Family.

Seeing as she has a YouTube Channel, I guess it’s the next logical step. You can’t poke her, but you can be a fan. And that would be just lovely.

UPDATE: If you must see The Queen on Facebook, check out her page here.

Dell Dumps Blackberries For Their Own Phones…. Why Is This A Surprise?

Dell let the news drop that they’ve decided to replace 25,000 Blackberry smartphones with Dell Venture Pro, which runs Microsoft Windows Phone 7:

“Clearly in this decision we are competing with RIM, because we’re kicking them out,” Brian Gladden, Dell’s chief financial officer, told the Wall Street Journal. He went on to say the company will offer its staff the ability to use phones running Google Inc.’s Android software eventually as well.

I’m going to guess that those Android phones are going to have Dell logos on them too. But I’m getting ahead of myself here. One of the reasons for the switch is cost:

Dell should save about 25% in mobile communication costs by avoiding having to pay for BlackBerry’s Enterprise servers, Mr. Gladden said.

For RIM, that’s 25,000 less customers. How do they feel about this? Here’s a brief statement from RIM:

“We find it highly unlikely that [Dell] will actually save any money with this move and far more likely they were looking for a little free publicity,” said Mr. Guibert in a statement emailed to the Financial Post. “Consider all the hard and soft costs of purchasing, deploying and supporting new devices with new software inside a company. Plus consider the fact that BlackBerry smartphones are far more efficient with respect to data usage, which means that their monthly service charges will also likely increase.”

 

RIM does have a point. Dell wants to sell phones. So what better way to get attention then to kick your main opposition in the nether regions by replacing them and telling the world about it. Conversely, Windows Phone 7 and Android phones don’t require something like Blackberry Enterprise Server as long as you’re running MS Exchange, so Dell may have a point as well. This is a fight that is worth watching. We’ll see what happens in the only arena that matters: Sales.