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I am forever amazed at the creativity of human beings. Look at all the companies we have produced. The trillions of dollars of wealth we have created. It is amazing that our combined genius has dramatically raised the standard of living worldwide over the last 100 years. We should be proud.

But any tool can be used for good as well as bad and the human brain has also been incredible in its ability to perpetrate crimes. In my early computer classes I was amazed to learn of a computer crime which involved bank programmers who were skimming non-rounded interest into a separate account. In other words taking the fraction of a cent of interest that didn't get added to bank accounts and diverting them to another account which the programmers owned.

In the above case the programmers were foiled when the computer system went down and manual systems had to be used. An account with millions of dollars was found as a result.

It seems other early computer crimes like hacking a password files on a UNIX systems to insert a malicious program made famous by the book Cookoo's Egg are now quaint in comparison to the varied computer crimes of today.

Let's explore some recent areas where the human mind has been used to either bend or break the law.

There are also millions of spam sites which fool users into clicking on ads disguised as content. Then there is the problem of competitors clicking on the ads of one another to drive up the marketing cost of the respective competitor.

Social Network Click Fraud

Now the latest trend in the world of click fraud is targeted at Facebook where malicious users create thousands of Facebook accounts (you can hire companies to get these for you at 10 cents per account). The example in this article cites India as a place where such companies exist and coincidentally this is the same country where the Craigslist scam discussed above originated from.

With the global economy being in the toughest shape it has been in for many years and the proliferation of internet connectivity there has never been more opportunity for the human brain to come up with money-making schemes which either bend the rules or break the law.

This of course drives up the cost for everyone else and sadly in many cases means people who aren't aware of the pitfalls on the web are duped out of their money.

In order to help reduce these problems we need much tougher international laws policing malicious users. It is so easy to perpetrate a crime against a person in a different country while remaining anonymous. We need to really have stricter laws in every country and serious enforcement must take place when people are caught. Let's set better examples of the malicious users who are caught so the next scammer or spammer thinks twice before going out and committing that computer crime.

While I do admire the ingenuity of the human brain, it is time for law enforcement to step it up so these users can be locked away forever. Where do we put them all? Well, from what I hear, there should be some space opening up in Guantanamo Bay very soon.

In a time when many CLECs have been wiped out, how has one competitive local exchange carrier survived and found a way to grow in one of the toughest business environments of our lifetimes? To find out more I interviewed Chris Barton, CEO & President - Wholesale Carrier Services (WCS) in order to learn what his company is doing. More importantly, Barton gives tremendous insight on where he thinks the economy is headed and how channel partners, VARs and agents need to adapt to survive in what is a turbulent market for resellers everywhere.  

The advent of the internet, SIP trunking, intense competition and the economic downturn has contributed to changing the channel partner market forever and if you are doing the same things you always did as a channel partner you may get wiped off the earth in the next few years. You need to change. How? Well I would spoil it if I told you and didn't allow you to listen to the podcast which is complete and dare I say elaborate. It is worth a listen if you are in any segment of the telecom or technology spaces and the lessons you can learn here are applicable to other segments of the market.

I just got my iPhone 3G S up and running and am blown away because as a power user - even using the new OS 3.0 on an iPhone 3G I had to wait 5 or more seconds for an email address to resolve. Multiply this by 100 times a day and you can imagine the frustration. I also was not satisfied with the browsing speed of the 3G with the 3.0 upgrade. The new S model is blazing fast compared to its predecessor. It is highly recommended.

Here is a quick video clip of traffic on I95

But if you want to know what the most important feature of the 3G S is, it could very well be video. You see this phone is not the first to shoot video but it does shoot great quality video and possesses a screen allowing an enjoyable playback experience.

If you track the rise of social networking the natural evolution of sharing everything via photos, video snippets and text is to share all aspects of your life via video in real-time. Also this will be done from multiple points of view. So I will be able to watch what happens to the left and right of people I track at all times. I realize how ludicrous this sounds but I don't care - I know it will happen. Oh, and the archives will be available forever as well. Data center owners must be salivating.

The iPhone 3G S which has video quality which rivals standalone video recorders could be one of the catalysts which moves us into this new world of always-on mobile social video. For more on the ramifications of video on the iPhone 3G S check out this article from Todd Krieger.

There is so much fanfare about the Apple iPhone 3G S so I went to the Orange store here in Nice, France to check the lines. It was slow and steady with people coming in and asking about the phone during the 30 minutes or so I surveyed the store. The phone itself is certainly faster than the standard 3G model with an upgraded graphics chip, processor and as a bonus, the procesore runs about 50% faster than the old one and there is more system RAM.

Having used the new iPhone OS 3.0 for about a week I can tell you it is much better than the old version allowing email push as well as landscape typing in email. I have noticed that the browser does not seem as fast as the previous OS and it takes longer to resolve email addresses when sending messages.

Other issues that need resolving include multitasking -- you still can't listen to music from the new Sirius XM app and respond to email for example. I also wonder why there is no spell check in email, why you can't set email priority, return receipt, etc. And what about storing files locally from email attachments?

I could go on but it seems that the device has such a cult following it doesn't need all the bells and whistels at once. Over time it will will improve and keep the competition on its toes. From where I stand the app store is still the biggest differentiator and RIM, Nokia, Microsoft, Palm and the rest need successful app stores to compete effectively with Apple. After all, you just can't compete with Apple if they are raking in money hand over fist from the devices and the apps. Just as the PC market showed us in decades past, its the Apps stupid.

I just learned that Microsoft will stop reimbursing employees for use of non-Windows Mobile devices. I had heard at a dinner with Microsoft employees at ITEXPO last winter in Miami that use of an iPhone at the company is an RGE or resume generating event. So I was surprised that there are iPhone and Blackberry users at the company.

What I find most interesting about the news is the fact that Microsoft has had such a head start in the mobile OS game... If Microsoft employees are not loyal to Windows Mobile, there must be a reason. As a user who carries two devices - one Windows Mobile and one iPhone, I can tell you that I use the Windows Mobile device less and less - I originally thought I would use it more because of the superior keyboard.

One other interesting point is that the well-written article I just read on the matter from Don Reisinger implies Microsoft is doing something smart with this move. I initially thought the opposite as eliminating the use of preferred devices decreases corporate productivity and increases resentment.

Here is an excerpt:

There's another element at work that isn't getting enough attention: company loyalty. Although there may not be anything sinister behind Microsoft's decision to stop reimbursing employees who don't use Windows Mobile devices, I do think it can be used to the company's advantage. There's something to be said for supporting the company you work for. In the enterprise, it's a common issue with companies that have poor morale. They're always trying to find ways to make employees happier, so they will spend more time investing in the company, instead of waiting for the company to invest in them. It's business 101.

So, now that Microsoft won't be paying for BlackBerry devices and iPhones, an imaginary line has seemingly been drawn: will you support Microsoft and use a Windows Mobile device or will you thumb your nose at your employer and buy an iPhone? If you want to support other companies, your employer won't pay. But if you do support your employer, your employer will return the favor.

It's an interesting move -- and one that the company probably won't admit to. But it makes sense on many levels. Microsoft needs all the supporters it can get in the mobile space. If its employees are invested in the technology, they will be more willing to do what they can to either improve it (if they work on that team) or promote it. It gives Microsoft a built-in marketing and product development arm that it might not have had before.

At the end of the artier Reisinger seems to agree that this is really not a smart move as he says:

And now all Microsoft needs to do is totally revamp Windows Mobile and make it relevant. That shouldn't be too hard, right? Ehem.

But I suppose he has a point and that is use your own employees as a sounding board to see what is missing from Windows Mobile and fix it. But in my opinion, the best way to accomplish this is to let the free market work. Let employees pick the best device for the way they work and learn from their comments on how to make a more competitive mobile OS. This after all is the best way to get real-world competitive research.

I have to admit I was impatient and when I learned I could follow some easy steps to upgrade to the shipping version of the iPhone 3.0 software before the June 17 general availability date -- I just had to try it. Of course it helped to have fellow TMC blogger Tom Keating there to step me through the process. You see Tom wrote a piece yesterday detailing exactly what you need to do to get ahead of the pack and be the first in your neighborhood to type emails on your iPhone in landscape mode.

The instructions are here but I should warn you that although the process is dead easy it can take many hours to go through the upgrade. It took me about six hours for the new OS to be downloaded, the software to be restored, the apps to be loaded, the podcasts to be downloaded and the photos to be synced. Then again I have thousands of contacts and photos and over 50 applications.

Apple has done a wonderful job of backing up and restoring the iPhone devices so OS upgrades are smooth. However, one past pain point of iPhone OS upgrades was having to reenter the WEP keys needed for secure WiFi. To my happy surprise I didn't have to reenter a single WEP key as a result of this upgrade.

So is the upgrade worth it? I have to say yes. The push email works great and the landscape keyboard in email makes typing on this device infinitely better. It is also less clunky when sending a URL to someone as in the past you had to switch from landscape to portrait when opening the email application for a send. In addition, when looking at a list of emails you can now tell which is a Cc, Bcc or direct send which is signified by a "To" symbol. Ironically there is no Bcc symbol meaning if there is no symbol you have been Bcced. This is an important addition to the OS as quite often mobile devices make it more difficult to know if you have been Bcced meaning users can accidentally reply to all without realizing they probably shouldn't.

There is also MMS support but this won't work on AT&T Wireless for now. Copy and paste is a much-needed function and works as advertised - the fact that one of the most advanced smartphones on the market "forgot" to add cut and paste sooner still baffles me and I am sure I will be telling my grandkids about it someday.

Spotlight search is another much-needed function - especially when you realize there is no way to organize applications, and is activated when you scroll all the way to the left from the home page. Searches will sift through contacts, programs, calendar, email, songs and other data on the phone but unlike the Palm Pre will not check the web if the device search comes back empty.

Voice Memos are a great addition allowing you to record your voice and send the recordings via email if desired. Third-party apps did this in the past but like many other operating systems, upgrades entail taking popular software packages and replicating their functionality.

The calendar has been improved as well with the ability to add repeating reminders but these are limited to fixed time periods like every week, 2 weeks, month or year. Ideally you would be allowed to enter recurring reminders for selected days - like every Monday or the first Wednesday of the month. In addition - what if someone wants a three-week reminder? You may think at first that they just don't have three-week recurring meetings in Cupertino... The reality of course is this was a design decision which gives most of the functionality you need in a clear and uncluttered interface.

Then there are calendar reminders... I would have preferred to have the ability to set a reminder more than two-days before an appointment and a version 3.0 upgrade would have been a great opportunity to add this option. Microsoft Windows Mobile has had this ability for years so there seems to be no technical reason to exclude such a feature.

Safari is supposed to be faster and it may be I haven't been able to verify this- likely because with push email turned on the device is constantly getting new emails so I am getting less processor for my foreground applications. I did check out the browser's ability to remember passwords - this worked out fine and is a welcome addition.

Internet tethering could not be tested because AT&T doesn't allow this functionality. I will be in Europe tomorrow and if the carrier allows it I will give this a try. I gave Bluetooth stereo a shot and found it paired with both the Plantronics Pulsar 590 stereo headphones and Sharper Image Bluetooth Speakers. For some reason the sound would not come out of the Sharper Image speakers but the Plantronics headset worked fine.

Other functions such as accessing multiple iTunes accounts, shake to shuffle, notes syncing, syncing multiple email folders and YouTube login were not tried. Remote wiping wasn't tried either for obvious reasons.

Apple took a very good phone and made it much better with this upgrade. Typing emails in landscape mode is a veritable pleasure compared to portrait and when you combine this function with cut and paste and push email the iPhone becomes a more credible corporate smartphone meaning Palm, Nokia, Microsoft and RIM have more to worry about.

So now heavy iPhone users probably don't need to be concerned about the keyboard as much as before but they will need to start thinking about spare external batteries. The reason is simple. The iPhone 3.0 is more usable and with push email and bluetooth stereo enabled, you can expect even less battery life.

It is worth explaining that Windows Mobile also drains battery life quickly for heavy email users in push mode. The alternative is RIM devices which do much better in push mode and are optimized in many ways to maximize battery life regardless of mode.

Should you upgrade? Yes. Should you do it early? That is up to you but you should be really happy with the new iPhone 3.0 software, it is a winner.

We are in a time of unprecedented financial turmoil and it is apparent to me that productivity needs to increase to help us stabilize the job losses and hopefully get our economy back into growth mode. It is devices like the Pre which will in fact help corporations boost productivity tremendously. Improved communications flow is the lubrication economies need to operate at peak efficiency.

Palm Pre

It's been an event-filled couple of weeks with the rollout of the Palm Pre and new iPhone 3G S and the new 3.0 iPhone OS/software version. I did get a chance to use the Pre and am impressed with how much it reminds me of the iPhone but with more functionality - multitasking and a menu system which makes it much easier to switch between apps. I would venture to say the Pre design allows you to be more productive than the iPhone. Of course the iPhone has more apps (50,000 and counting) but you can run old Palm apps on the new Pre webOS meaning there are more apps available for the new gadget than you may have thought. In addition, the Pre webOS allows traditional web apps to run on the device meaning we can see many new Palm apps that won't take a great deal of time for developers to roll out.

The keyboard is another big differentiator of the Pre and most people have no problems using it based on my informal questioning at the event last week. Personally the keyboard was too small for my fingers and I had to use the fingernails on my thumbs to type. I do remember having to do this on an old Blackberry as well and I am sure over time I would get pretty good at typing on the Pre. Also it is a bit awkward to hold at first but Sprint employees assure me over time it becomes very comfortable to handle.

My informal tests show the Pre is not quite as fast as Safari on the iPhone at rendering web pages. But the flipside is the Pre is pretty snappy when you rotate it - the screen rotates more quickly than the iPhone. I also sense the Sprint EVDO network is currently faster than AT&T 3G.

iPhone 3G S (Yes -- looks just like the iPhone 3G)

 

So now that the new iPhone is out which device would I choose? First I should say Nokia, RIM and others have solid devices as well but for now let's focus on iPhone versus the Pre. Apple has now fixed a number of problems with the iPhone such as cut and paste, better search, MMS, landscape keyboard and there is now a video camera as well. So the choice is difficult. I would say the iPhone is still the winner for now. I despise the keyboard on the iPhone so you can imagine how good the rest of the device is for me to say the iPhone wins.

However it is worth pointing out that part of the reason the iPhone wins is because of the slew of apps on the market which run on the device. If the Pre can gain traction and wee armies of developers rolling out software which runs on it then it is possible I could be neutral on this race.

There is also the issue of the screen size. I believe every square inch of real estate is crucial on a mobile device. The iPhone is marginally larger at 3.4 inches vs. the Pre's 3.1 inches. The resolution is identical but the added real estate does help when playing games, reading and displaying menus.

One last thought is I am thrilled with the new Apple Find My iPhone feature which will prevent others from going through he lost iPhone ordeal my wife recently dealt with.

Although no one would go on record, my informal Q&A with people familiar with the matter leads me to believe the Pre will soon have a version with a larger keyboard which comes out of the device in landscape mode which will make it competitive with devices like those from HTC - the XV6800, G1, etc.

I should this comparison end by saying the Pre is very impressive based on my quick use of the device. I expect to explore it in more detail as time goes on and give you my feedback.

 

In one of the more memorable product launches of recent times Sprint CEO Dan Hesse took the stage to speak to a packed room about the launch of the new Palm Pre and how he expects it to help Sprint grow its sales. Hesse appeared after a brief introduction from Paget Alves President Business Markets Group and once onstage he proceeded to tell the audience he has used the Pre for six weeks after using Blackberrys and Windows Mobile devices in the past. He said it is a far superior device and is great with music, multitasking, has a great touch screen and an innovate way to charge without requiring a cord called Touchstone.

It was apparent there were many comparisons being made the iPhone which wasn't specifically mentioned as some of the benefits Hesse touted of the Pre are missing only from that smartphone.  

Hesse talked about the strength of Sprint in the business space and spent a great deal of time discussing how the company's 4G network and hotspot enabling devices are extremely useful and the company's 4G network ensures you won't need a second connection like WiFi.

Hesse spent some time discussing how his company is a major player in unified communications and further pledged to have ten 4G markets up by year-end before circling back to refocus on the Palm Pre benefits while emphasizing the savings of $1,200 a year in network costs when compared to AT&T Wireless and Verizon Wireless.

This event didn't have the flashiness of some of the other media/customer events I have attended but this didn't lessen the quality of information shared  or the take away from what seemed to be an upbeat and positive mood in the room. Later today I expect to spend some time using the Pre and will give you my feedback.

Some weeks back I received an invitation to an event in New York City from Sprint that started like this:

This summer, the blockbusters are not just opening at the multiplex. From this week's headlines, you've inevitably heard some "big talk" about the Palm Pre from Sprint, the device's exclusive carrier, before its June 6th debut. I'd like to offer you an opportunity for an intimate look at the Palm Pre and hear from Sprint directly.

Many believe in fact the future of Palm rests on the success of this device. The early reviewers seem happy but the question many are wondering about is will this device make a dent in the sales of RIM, Apple and/or other players.

As I sit here at the pre-launch breakfast one decision-maker from a major conglomerate which owns a makeup company among others is sitting to my right and he is here to decide whether his company with switch from RIM devices to the Pre.

So many people have been asking for the functionality of an iPhone with an integrated keyboard that you have to imagine there is pent up demand for the Pre and if people believe they are roughly getting the best of an iPhone and a Blackberry they may be tempted to switch devices.

The challenge of course has moved beyond making the best device into app stores. Everyone it seems has one of these or is working on one.

But the question is who can catch up with Apple? Sure Palm was the first company to successfully roll out handheld computers and sure there are legions of developers who have programmed for Palm devices over the years... But many of the developers I have met who don't even like the iPhone are developing for it. They acknowledge you have to have your app there.

So this gets us to the Pre with a few dozen apps to begin with -- they are behind by tens of thousands. But if the early buzz, clever design and social networking integration can push sales through the roof, we can expect developer interest to grow.

Then again, Apple is expected to roll out a new OS and device this month and there will be a new Blackberry Storm as well. And as the competition heats up and consumers and businesses become accustomed to smartphones, we can only expect the market for applications to grow and productivity to increase.

In the mean time,the event should kick off in about ten minutes.

Benjamin Franklin is credited with saying the only two sure things in life are death and taxes and I would hazard a guess that if you manage corporate email you could modify this phrase slightly to read the only two sure things in life are spam and outages. Just as corporations hire armies of tax experts to help them prepare returns and armies of doctors are hired to keep us healthy, corporate email decision-makers should consider calling email experts to help them deal with email, one of the more important tools in a corporate technology arsenal.

At Interop a few weeks back I sat down with Michael Hamstra, Director of marketing for AppRiver and we got into a discussion about his company which has been providing SaaS solutions since 2002 - initially helping companies with their spam and virus protection. In 2007 the company launched a hosted Microsoft Exchange offering and now has just shy of 70,000 hosted exchange boxes, 35,000 customers and filters more than five million mailboxes.

An interesting statistic is that the company processes 5 billion messages per month meaning the average corporate email user gets 1,000 messages per month or about 33 per day. In order to keep the mailboxes junk free AppRiver updates virus and spam signatures 2-4 times continually each day.

An interesting point Hamstra mentioned is that his company offers unlimited storage for email users and can do so with relative ease because they don't need to store the spam and viruses.

Moreover he told me his business has evolved due to the increasing use of malicious senders adding infected web links in email. Subsequently the company now offers customers the ability to surf securely by reducing malware and additionally can set up different groups and policies which block certain groups from categories of websites such as sports gambling, gaming, porn, ecommerce, etc.

Moreover to make email even more useful the company has partnered with Voltage Security (news) to ensure that emails can be easily kept secure through encryption. In addition there is a partnership with Global Relay in place which helps customers handle compliance requirements for HIPAA, etc.

In short Hamstra explains that AppRiver is a hosted Exchange company which is now covering all aspects of security. This of course includes disaster recovery.

But security is only part of the story as the company has also decided to use the Akamai network - one which is designed for high-bandwidth applications such as streaming. Why? Well because in my opinion the speed of email response is becoming more and more important as a business differentiator. They use the Akamai network and packet triplication, which is a method of sending information through three diverse routes via the Internet. Whichever packet reaches the destination first wins this three-way race. Once determined, that route is chosen.

Hamstra explains this has worked well for the company as they have been profitable from their inception and add 100-150 customers per week and a 97% retention rate.

Andy why not? The intersection of spam/malware elimination and SaaS is a logical growth area. Why? To take off on another Ben Franklin statement - a spam/malware message not saved is productivity earned. In the end, its all about the Franklins you save.