Tech Industry

 Good morning. In brief, today’s key stories include a Safari update to fix the well-publicised PWN 2 OWN hack; Apple takes 6.6 per cent of the US computer market – even while US consumer spending slows; IBM’s plotting a move to Mac and everybody’s war-chalking nowadays. Read on…

Safari updated

Apple’s Safari 3.1.1 update is available now. It’s a security and stability patch that among other things fixes the vulnerability that was used to hack into a MacBook Pro at the CanSecWest security conference in late February. It’s worth noting it took Apple just three weeks to fix this widely-reported vulnerability (which researchers now admit can be used to undermine most platforms running WebKit).

Apple market grows

Two reports, one from IDC, the other from Gartner, indicate Apple continues to gain marketshare with its rate of growth vastly exceeding the industry average. The computer maker now holds 6.6 per cent of the US market, with shipments up 32.5 per cent (Gartner) or 25.1 per cent (IDC). It shipped 1.01 million Macs in Q1, the analysts explained.

US consumer electronic sales snap

Most US consumers say they’ll spend less on consumer electronics in the next three months as they grapple with fear of recession and debt. As the US economy heads into melt-down, most players seem set to be affected by what the latest ChangeWave Consumer US Spending report claims to be the weakest 90-day spending outlook for the sector since their analysis began.

Apple finally takes it to IBM

Remember the 1984 ad? We do. Know who the big face on the screen was? IBM, some say. Now Apple’s former chip supplier seems set to make the switch, with revelations that an internal survey has found most employees prefer Mac above PC when they’re giving the choice. So now IBM is testing Macs for use within its business with an eventual plan to offer new employees (most of whom already prefer the Mac) the choice of platform.

You’re entering a war-chalk zone

Be ready, people, that slow internet connection on your wireless network may mean someone’s piggy-backing your bandwidth without permission: new research from Accenture shows 12 per cent of surfers in the US and UK have logged onto someone else’s unsecured WiFi connection. 

Got a story? Drop it into the comments below.

Apple may plan to introduce not one, not two, but three different iPhone offerings, perhaps even as soon as June, implementing 3G support and offering an iPhone mini to widen the reach of its technology, at least that’s todays rumor.

Apple’s apparently considering a premium model iPhone that’s equipped with support for 3G. Larger than the existing model its extra size conceals a battery offering triple the duration of the current generation, with more models too… 

The company also plans to retain its current EDGE-network iPhone, though capacity could climb to match that of the iPod touch, which itself could see a capacity bump (though with next stop being 64GB it’s possible the high-cap touch would demand a premium price, which may limit its success in the curently shrinking CE market).

There’s even a plan for a new entry-level model (image is just here) of the iPhone. This is slimmer and smaller, has a large screen, offers just 4GB capacity and no video playback. This model’s set to cost around $169.

Be warned, however, all we’re reporting here is the latest speculation which comes direct from here, though the publication disparages its own rumour with the warning: "We are not known as a rumor site of any accuracy, and we present this rumor and all rumors merely as topics of discussion for our readers."

We think a move to diversify the iPhone range makes some sense, though we suspect any move to force customers to purchase a premium model of the device just to gain 3G support would meet a frosty reception.

The Apple news web’s still reeling at the lack of any big deal announcements from the mothership Tuesday, this blackout likely reflects the company’s customary radio silence in the days before it makes its quarterly financial results public (on 23 April). 

This morning’s highlights include wide reporting of the O2 iPhone price cut we revealed earlier this month; new graphics upgrade kits for the Mac Pro; much more information on WWDC 2008 and news of the Apple Design Awards (now with added iPhone categories); iTunes user loyalty seems high; Intel’s Q1 results and AOL’s move to introduce Mobile Search for the iPhone. Read on…

O2 £100 iPhone discount

As we predicted in February, O2 and Carphone Warehouse have lopped £100 off the cost of the 8GB iPhone. The 16GB model remains the same price, and the deal’s only available while stocks last…does this mean new iPhones in June?

GeForce 8800GT for older Mac Pros

Remember the olden days when the graphics power you had in a pro Mac was all the graphics power you could ever expect, bar buying a new Mac? Yet another benefit of the new intel architecture is easier support for better graphics cards. Now Apple’s introduced the NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT upgrade kit for older Mac Pros, available now on the US store the kit costs $280.

WWDC 2008

Apple has announced an additional batch of 90 sessions for its forthcoming WWDC event, these reveal a host of interesting areas developers will be able to explore on the iPhone and the Mac; the company has also announced this year’s Apple Design Awards, with two new sections for the iPhone. More here.

Amazon up the creek

Amazon’s new music download store has been doing its best to compete with iTunes, snag is, most iTunes users are happy with what they already have. New research from the NPD Group confirms that only around one in ten people using Amazon’s store have previously shopped with iTunes. While this means the digital market’s set for growth, it also means those plotting to overthrow Apple’s music retail domination have to stop cackling and get back to the drawing board. 

Intel results

Sure, Intel’s Q1 results may have taken a hit, mainly due to weakness in the flash memory market generated as a result of economic malaise and continued weakness in consumer electronic sales, but it’s 12 per cent year-on-year income decline hides a couple of high points: demand for processors, particularly mobile processors, remains strong.

"We’re seeing PC penetration growing more rapidly," Mac user and Intel boss Paul Otellini said. Intel also confirmed new Atom processors will appear in PCs from mid-year, confirmed plans to ships a SIX-CORE Xeon chip later this year, and hinted Nehalem processors will appear in 2H2008.

AOL Mobile Search

AOL yesterday officially launched the beta version of AOL Mobile Search, a new development created for the iPhone and iPod touch. This combines results from multiple destinations. (Meanwhile, the financial world’s considering if mooted plans to merge AOL with Yahoo in an attempt to spurn that unfriendly Microsoft attempt to take Yahoo over will succeed).

We’ll be back with more as and when it happens.

 Apple may be preparing to engage in a significant strategic acquisition, at least that’s what’s suggested by the company’s move to hire HP’s leading legal corporate buyout specialist, Charles Charnas.

Bear with us. We understand that recruitment isn’t necessarily the most engaging story, but let’s take a quick look at this. 

Firstly, Apple has hired Charnas to lead its corporate department, filling a role that hasn’t been occupied for seven years. In his new post, Charnas will oversee Apple’s intellectual property and strategic acquisitions. 

We accept that Apple’s IP effort may need an extra hand as the company files patent after patent in order to secure and develop its iPhone.

Consider the experience the newly-appointed lawyer and 18-year HP veteran has: principally, he led the $25 billion merger between Compaq and HP. That he was involved in such a significant business deal lends him valuable experience, and makes it a viable speculation that his role at Apple will be to lead the company in another key strategic bid.

"He’s been known as one of the high-profile heavy hitter corporate lawyers in Silicon Valley for many years," Anna Marie Armstrong, a legal recruiter for Mlegal told Law.com. "It seems like Apple’s at a point where they want to hire really senior experienced lawyers for their in-house department."

Apple is widely known to be sitting on a huge heap of cash – around $18 billion. The company has used its cash hoard to engage in strategic investments in the past: purchasing huge quantities of flash memory to secure iPod shipments or acquiring audio company Emagic in order to bring market-leading audio application Logic into the Apple fold.

It’s no surprise that Apple is preparing to flex a little of its financial muscle in some strategic investments. Apple’s Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer alluded to this when asked what the company planned to do with its cash reserves. Rather than a stock buyback, he explained: "Our preference continues to be to maintain a strong balance sheet in order to preserve our flexibility to make strategic investments and/or acquisitions.”

And it’s not just the cash Apple has to hand: the pathways to investment aren’t so direct. Should the company want to retain some of its cash, it could ask executive board member Al Gore to put in a word for the company at venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, where he has a seat. (So it’s no surprise that particular VC firm is handling the $100 million iPhone development fund). Given Apple’s track record across the years, the company would have no problem finding venture capital firms and other investment partners should it want to punch above its weight in an acquisition. 

Certainly that Apple has recruited a buyout specialist of the calibre of  Charles Charnas suggests plans are afoot. But who is in the company’s sights? 

Speculation here has been historically fruitless. Apple is unlikely to merge with Disney, for example, while both brands can work successfully together, a merger between the two would occlude both company identities, potentially harming the business of both.

Apple’s music business efforts could generate some interest among board members in the purchase of a music label, such as EMI. In a sense to bring the company behind Apple Corps. into the Apple Inc. fold offers poetic symmetry, but Apple’s involvement in music distribution means such a deal could raise anti-trust concerns. (Though Charnas probably has the experience to handle such regulatory probes).

A purchase of Nintendo has often been discussed, but with the Wii console at the zenith of its success the price tag on that company may be too high. 

Looking to the computer market, Dell’s continued decline could make that company a perfect target for acquisition: on lyrical basis it would be a perfect response to Michael Dell’s famed comment in the ’90’s in which he urged returning CEO Steve Jobs to sell then-failing Apple and return the money to shareholders. In a business sense, such an acquisition could potentially help Apple introduce low cost Macs, massively inflating its market share and disrupting the industry landscape. 

Other potential targets could include Sun, Yahoo, or even a move to bridge the gap between Apple and Sony.

Naturally, all of this is speculation, and speculation on Apple’s business plans is often frustrating, frequently fruitless, and occasionally no more than smoke that’s absent of fire. But it’s speculation based on one key and highly salient fact: Apple has hired one of the most experienced buyout specialists in Silicon Valley to lead a part of its legal team that’s focused on acquisitions.

This makes it insanely easy to believe Apple has something in the works, and suggests initial conversations with regard to a (or multiple) buyouts has led to the need to put together a legal team to make such moves more concrete.

Given the regulatory need to warn investors of any major investment or acquisition plans before they take place, Apple’s recruitment of Charnas means the analyst community will be looking to Apple’s financial results announcement of April 23 for some intimations as to the company’s plan, though with the lawyer only recently hired, it could be too early for full disclosure at this time.

All the same, the hire leaves the field open for a new wave of speculation: Who do you think Apple plans to buy, and what effect could it have on the industry landscape? 

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Blockbuster is shopping around for hardware to help it bring its customers media in yet another format.  Blockbuster already has stores and mail and is now working on kiosks and downloading, through portable content-enabled devices.  This would obviously be direct competition for Apple.

Blockbuster rival, Netflix is bringing to market a product made by LG that hopes to compete in the download rent market as well.  However, both of these companies are months behind Apple in development and don’t have anywhere near the competency in making easy-to-use, powerful consumer software.

According to HR:

The product would be an offshoot of Movielink, the online film service Blockbuster acquired last year that allows consumers to watch films licensed from the major studios on their PCs.

Delivering movies to TV might be the most audacious attempt yet that Blockbuster is making to reinvent its brand as digital delivery weakens the viability of its retail footprint. But by offering a home-based alternative to its stores, Blockbuster risks cannibalizing its core brick-and-mortar business in the hope that its brand will be a force online.

The device is believed to be a stand-alone product akin to Apple TV as opposed to embedding a Blockbuster-branded service in such existing devices as Microsoft’s Xbox 360 or TiVo. While going it alone could give it a distinctive positioning in the crowded "over-the-top TV" marketplace, that won’t come without significant investment in marketing and manufacturing, though the latter cost might be shared with a consumer electronics company that has yet to disclose its participation.

Blockbuster knows all too well the importance of online film rentals. When Apple said in January that iTunes would adopt a rental model, it sent Blockbuster’s stock plummeting 17% to an all-time closing low (HR 1/16).

Movielink was created in 2002 by MGM, Paramount, Sony, Universal and Warners. Five years later, the underperforming venture was sold to Blockbuster for $6.6 million. The deals give Blockbuster online rights to about 6,000 movies, though there are restrictions on moving content beyond PCs and TV.

 IBM is working on a new form of memory that promises future iPods could hold half a million songs the company has confirmed.

In two papers published in the April 11 issue of Science, IBM Fellow Stuart Parkin and colleagues at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose describe the fundamentals of a technology dubbed "racetrack" memory

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJf3z9AfiVM&rel=0&hl=en]

The memory is being described as faster and more reliable than a hard drive or flash memory. It combines elements of both memory types in its conception, but is capable of storing far larger quantities of data and reading that information an astonishing 100,000 times faster than flash memory is able to achieve. The solution uses spintronics, a technology that exploits the spin and charge properties of electrons to deliver large capacity memory on very small devices.

There’s other advantages: like flash, there’s no moving parts, but unlike flash it never wears out (flash drives can handle 10,000 read/write cycles before failing). Even better, the new storage technology is cheap to manufacture.

"It has been an exciting adventure to have been involved with research into metal spintronics since its inception almost 20 years ago with our work on spin-valve structures," said Dr. Parkin. "The combination of extraordinarily interesting physics and spintronic materials engineering, one atomic layer at a time, continues to be highly challenging and very rewarding. The promise of racetrack memory – for example, the ability to carry massive amounts of information in your pocket – could unleash creativity leading to devices and applications that nobody has imagined yet."

There’s no chance of the new technology seeing immediate deployment, though the company hopes to provide storage solutions based on it in six to eight years. And the company hasn’t yet built a functioning racetrack memory unit – but it’s boffins are confident they have the theory pretty much nailed.

So in 2014, will Apple introduce the world to the iPod nano nano? Can we look forward to an even smaller, lighter MacBook Air?

 The latest series of digital music reports are in, and they suggest Apple could account for 28 per cent or more of global music sales by 2012; that’s fairly impressive for the iTunes Store service which only launched on April 28, 2003.

The understanding that Tunes may one day account for a quarter of global music sales comes through the extrapolation of data from a series of recent reports. These reports suggest digital sales will soon stem the continued meltdown in music retail.

In-Stat research claims digital music sales will account for 40 per cent of music sales by 2012. With iTunes accounting for in the region of 70 per cent of digital music sales in most of the 22 markets Apple offers the service in, it’s clear that (should iTunes retain such marketshare) it will account for around a quarter of the world’s music retail market by 2012. (70 per cent of 40 per cent is 28 per cent).

The iTunes Store became the largest music retailer in the US based on the amount of music sold during January and February 2008.

Apple faces ever increasing competition in the sector, not least the desire of major labels to encourage more persity in distribution. 

JupiterResearch believes labels need to encourage ad-supported downloads, subscription services and DRM-free downloads in order to drive digital music revenues.

The iPhone and iPod touch are regarded as the vanguard of an Apple attempt to transform the iPod into a more sophisticated wireless device. Apple already offers the iTunes WiFi Store for these devices, but with a 3G iPhone waiting in the wings, might Apple plan a mobile iTunes service?

To retain iTunes marketshare, Apple continues in its effort to encourage DRM-free music sales through iTunes Plus, while recent market chatter has speculated the company is in discussion to launch a music subscription service.

In the absence of compelling competition, the music retail market is Apple’s to lose. Services such as those from Amazon and eMusic threaten to break the iTunes hegemony, but whatever the outcome of the battle between incumbents in the space, Apple seems set to maintain a commanding presence in music retail for some time to come.

 Needham & Co. this morning initiated coverage on Palm and BlackBerry manufacturer, Research In Motion, noting both companies seem likely to take a bounce on strength of the iPhone effect.

Palm seems most exposed to risk, the analysts said, saying the company had "lost its way". Pointing out that Palm hasn’t introduced a major upgrade of its smartphones and the Palm operating system for almost five years, the analysts observe the company to be, "counting on a new operating system and a totally redesigned smartphone to restore its leadership role.

"Neither is likely to be introduced until late in the year. Even then, it’s an open question whether they’ll be successful. We’re initiating coverage with an under perform rating," Needham & Co. said. And the market for personal organisers is shrinking in favour of the smartphone.

The analysts also note the enterprise market could become more competitive with the entry of Apple, while in the consumer market, Palm will have to compete with the likes of Research in 

Motion and Apple, which have the vision and resources to make continued headway in this market.  

"It’s unlikely that Palm can match RIM or Apple on either dimension. In its favor, Palm’s other competitors are currently much weaker, in our opinion, because many, such as Motorola, Samsung and HTC, are saddled with the Windows Mobile operating system, a non-starter in the consumer world," the analysts explain.

Research In Motion (RIM) appears slightly less exposed to Apple’s entry to the smartphone market, the analysts explain.

"Research in Motion, the leader in wireless email services in the business market, has actually experienced far faster growth in the consumer market in recent quarters. However, we believe BlackBerry’s supercharged growth in this market could slow materially when far more versatile applications developed for the iPhone begin to appear in the second half of the year. We’re initiating co

verage with a hold rating," Needham & Co. said, while predicting the company will see healthy growth.

But the risk to all incumbents in the smartphone sector remains iPhone, with Google’s Android platform promising a new level of complexity and challenge.

"The competitive landscape in the consumer smartphone market was totally disrupted with Apple’s introduction of the iPhone in the summer of 2007.  The iPhone is a game changer, weaving together a wide array of computer-like functions.  It runs on the industrial strength and user friendly Mac OS X.  It totally changes the concept and versatility of a smartphone."

"Given the choice between a BlackBerry and iPhone, we believe a material percentage of consumers will opt for the iPhone once exciting applications for the phone begin to proliferate in the second half of the year.  BlackBerry sales should continue to grow but at a materially slower rate than they would have in the absence of the iPhone."

FireWire data transfer speeds seem set to double, thanks to a new chipset that has been announced this week by developing company, Symwave.

While there’s no immediate plans to implement it in the Mac the company behind the invention is now actively seeking device and computer manufacturers prepared to employ it.

Devices implementing support for the new technology will see speeds of 1.6 gigabits per second. Even better, it will power external hard drives without demanding they be plugged in.

This high performance FireWire chipset – FirePHY-1600 – is already compatible with all existing FireWire drivers for Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5, Windows XP and Vista and Unibrain.

The new solution is backwards-compatible with previous FireWire versions and is already being designed into a number of consumer devices for FireWire 800 (1394b) such as external storage devices/enclosures, hubs, repeaters and flash readers. 

Jim Kappes, Director of Marketing at Symwave explained: “The significant advantages of Symwave’s PHY technology will enable manufacturers to develop innovative, new products with higher functionality and lower cost than what exists in the market today.” 

Compared to USB 2.0 High Speed, the FirePHY-800 interface is typically 2-3 times faster, doesn’t require CPU overhead, and supports peer-to-peer networking (also called  daisy-chaining) of devices.

FirePHY-1600 enables up to 45 Watts of power to be carried over the 1394 cable  so external hard drives can be powered without an extra power supply.

Symwave is providing chipset samples to interested manufacturers and will also sponsor the 1394 Trade Association’s Q2 quarterly meeting in China this month.

Apple invented FireWire in the mid-90s and guided it to become a cross-platform industry standard, which is now cared for by the 1394 Trade Association. FireWire won an Academy Award for its material impact on the television industry in August 2001.

 Apple has confirmed the latest batch of reports claiming it to be the number one music retailer in the US.

Many news sources had questioned the NPD MusicWatch figures, pointing out that Apple had claimed to be the number two US retailer after the period covered by the latest research, which was January.

AT&T has confirmed a 3G iPhone will be made available within months. (Yes, Steve Jobs and AT&T’s CEO have already mentioned this a few times but one more can’t hurt..)

AT&T Mobility president and CEO Ralph de la Vega let slip the plan in talks this week at the CTIO Wireless conference.

De la Vega said that the much-anticipated 3G iPhone will become available in the next few months. "AT&T’s entire line of smartphones will be available in 3G models within that time frame," he said, as summarised by IDG News Service.

That a 3G iPhone is on the cards is moving rapidly away from rumour into a speculation of when the product will be announced, with analysts speculating a May/June release for the product, which chimes in well with the AT&T executives suggestion.

The AT&T chief also confirmed Apple’s US network partner will offer mobiles based on Google’s Android platform, the report explains.

In a move that puts Apple’s original iTunes Plus partner at the forefront of the convergence between digital and conventional entertainment technologies, EMI Music has hired Google’s chief information officer Douglas Merrill, to lead its growing digital music business. 

As President, Digital Business, EMI Music, Merrill will head an all new international project with responsibility for all of the company’s digital strategy, innovation, business development, supply chain and global technology activities.

Guy Hands, CEO of Terra Firma and chairman of EMI Group, said: "Douglas is a proven agent of change who combines broad business intellect with a deep engineering background. He has been a key member of the management team at Google which has created more value than any other consumer internet company by focusing relentlessly on tools that enable consumers to do things more effectively.  His experience, talents and his ability to drive innovation will be enormously valuable to EMI and to its artists.“

Merrill said: "I have two passions. One is creating platforms and tools that make it easier for consumers to achieve their goals.  The other is music.  This exciting new role at EMI is a unique opportunity for me to be able to put those two passions to work together and help deliver EMI’s objective of providing the best services in the world to consumers and musicians.”

Merrill starts work at EMI on 28 April and will be based at EMI Music’s LA HQ in the Capitol Tower.  He will report to Guy Hands. 

iPhone is plat du jour in the Mac world lately, and the second beta of the iPhone 2.0 SDK continues to generate news nuggets for industry watchers.
Latest news in shows that the second build of the SDK includes built-in support for managed Exchange Server settings, while that could be predicted on the basis of Apple’s deal with Microsoft to license Exchange support, that the company has also chosen to build administrator support into the software is bound to generate excitement among infrastructure boffins.  There are lots of other clues in the ManagedConfiguration.bundle and ManagedConfigurationUI.bundle files.
The support consists of a couple of lines of code in the software that support Exchange Policies natively on the device, and also support Exchange Active Sync account handling.
These nuggets confirm the strength of Apple’s push at the enterprise market in its iPhone, as loud speculation continues to predict a new 3G-capable model of the device seems set to ship in May/June.(Image courtesy GadgetVenue).

(Screencaptures of the SDK files below)

 The smartphone sector is gripped by a struggle for dominance that’s emerging as between Apple’s iPhone and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry, according to the latest consumer survey from ChangeWave.

The survey asked 3,597 consumers to share their views on smartphones, and while the research confirms RIM continues to dominate the existing consumer smartphone market, Apple’s iPhone has "huge momentum" for future growth.

In terms of current market share, BlackBerry deployment has slipped one percentage point to 42 per cent. Apple has quickly shot to third place in the market occupying 9 per cent share, just a few percentage points behind second place manufacturer, Palm, with 16 per cent.

Palm’s 16 per cent is significant because it reflects a continuous two-year decline in Palm’s marketshare, ChangeWave claims.

Despite its continued struggle to turn itself around with a raft of recent high profile hirings of former senior Apple managers, Palm appears a victim in what is becoming a two horse race, researchers said.

Customer satisfaction is key to Apple’s iPhone success. The product received what ChangeWave called an "astonishing" 79 per cent Very Satisfied rating from consumers in the survey. 

That’s far ahead of RIM’s 54 per cent and Palm’s 22 per cent, meaning both competing companies will need to make a major move to deliver more compelling customer experience.

iPhone’s future growth opportunity also appears secure, with one-in-three (35 per cent) of respondents who already plan to buy a smartphone within the next 90 days saying they intend purchasing an iPhone. And that figure is up from the 23 per cent preference revealed in the last ChangeWave smartphone industry survey held in January 2008.

“The biggest reasons for the surge are the recent Apple announcements on the iPhone Software Development Kit and the new 2.0 OS,” said Tobin Smith, founder of ChangeWave Research and editor of ChangeWave Investing.  “One-in-ten respondents now say they’re more likely to purchase an iPhone in the future because of the new smart phone software.”

The ChangeWave survey also asked respondents which mobile operating system they’d like to have on the smart phone they plan on buying.  Once again, the consumer market is dominated by the RIM and Apple operating systems.

The number of respondents saying they’re Very Likely to use Google’s Android OS was just 2 per cent, though another 15 per cent did say they’re Somewhat Likely to use the new OS. 

“These numbers do show some consumer interest in the Android Operating System,” said Smith, “but based on the ultra-competitive battle between RIM and Apple, there’s little likelihood of the Android gaining traction on either one’s OS. They’re sucking up all the oxygen in this market.”

OK, now it is just getting old...

Google Adsense for Conversations

Google Wake Up KitNew!

See into the future

Or send emails in the past

Did we miss any?

Update: lots more found in the commments!

We know Rogers in Canada is a bit of a slacker on the iPhone front from our reader comments.  However, they are the only GSM/EDGE provider in Canada and if you have a hacked iPhone they are your only choice.  If Apple, for whatever reason, doesn’t want to deal with Rogers, they may have one of two already-established partners in Canada soon.  AT&T and Tmobile are both rumored to be partners with Niagara Networks Inc. who are currently bidding on Canadian spectrum.

Either firm may be backing an auction application lodged earlier this month by unknown entity Niagara Networks Inc., which has no current operations in Canada. The company surprised industry observers two weeks ago when it appeared on an Industry Canada list of applicants for the spectrum auction beginning on May 27. Niagara Networks has applied to bid on all the spectrum being auctioned, requiring a letter of credit for $881 million.

Douglas Evashkow, president of Niagara Networks, told CBCNews.ca at the time that he was unable to disclose who was funding his company because of confidentiality agreements.

Obviously with a name like "Niagra" (as in "Falls" – which have both US and Canadian varieties), AT&T would be the easy guess of wireless partner.

No strangers to Canada

San Antonio, Texas-based AT&T, the largest multinational telecommunications service provider in the world, is no stranger to the Canadian cellphone market. AT&T owned 34 per cent of Rogers Wireless before selling it back to the company in 2004 for $1.35 billion US in order to "monetize its stake" and concentrate on its U.S. operations.

In recent years AT&T has reversed course and expanded its international operations. In one of its latest big moves, AT&T in October applied to enter India’s upcoming spectrum auction in partnership with a local company, Mahindra Telecommunications Pvt. Ltd.

AT&T also announced earlier this month that it will invest $1 billion US in 2008 in its international businesses, 33 per cent more than it spent last year and double its expenditure in 2006.

In a recent interview with CBCNews.ca, AT&T Canada executives declined to say how much of the investment would go to Canada but said the country was a key priority. The company provides telecommunications services — minus cellphones — to multinational corporations operating here.

Maura Lendon, chief counsel for AT&T Canada, praised recent moves by the government to boost telecommunications competition, including the favouring of new entrants in the spectrum auction.

The government in November ruled that 40 per cent of the airwaves up for auction would be reserved for new entrants, meaning that existing players Rogers, Bell Canada Inc. and Telus Corp. are restricted to bid on the other 60 per cent.

"We do see more positive trends in the Canada market, which I think are opening opportunities. It trends towards more open competition," Lendon said.

How long will it take before the partner sets up shop and can start slanging iPhones?  We have no clue…all we know is Canadians want iPhones and are pretty upset that they don’t have an Apple-blessed way of getting them.

Thanks Noob

Oh dear, it had to happen: security experts and hackers at the CanSecWest security conference are talking about just one event – that a MacBook Air was the first of three platforms successfully hacked in the PWN 2 OWN hacking contest.

The contest saw former National Security Agency employee and researcher Charlie Miller saunter across to the Mac to run his exploit, which possibly took advantage of a security flaw in Safari.  Show organizers offered a Sony Vaio, Fujitsu U810 and the MacBook as prizes, each running a different operating system (Mac OS X, Windows Vista and Linux). Was it fair?

The deal is that the first researcher to successfully hack each computer walks home with the laptop and some prize money. While the Mac was the first system to fall to the hacker attacks, it’s expected the other two systems will be PWNed later today. The company behind the competition, Tipping Point, quickly moved to notify Apple of the vulnerability, with Apple’s Mac OS X team now scrambling to close the gap, reports claim. 

Also, note that CanSecWest’s sponsors include Microsoft but no Linux Companies or Apple.

Apple is in great shape and wants its consumers to be too.  AppleInsider today is reporting on patent applications filed by Apple employees in regard to adding a regiment application to the iPod.  That news is excellent.  However a few other things may make this more interesting…

• What if Apple used its iPod touch and iPhone as heart monitors?  Pehaps a device that plugs into the iPod that sells with the software system?  You could map your heart rate as part of the fitness regimine.
• The GPS system could be used to gage your running and speed.  IF Apple adds GPS in June like Kevin Rose thinks, this would be cool both for running and biking
• Bike users could also use the iPod/iPhone as a bike computer.  An adapter could come with the system that connects and calibrates to bike wheels
• For gyms, Apple could sell a connector to gym equipment and marry exercise with gaming.  The Wii has started this off but imagine biking against your friends or against people you don’t know – like playing scrabble online.  Apple could then find the healthiest people in the world and have gaming contests.

All of this seems really plausible for us, how about you?

OK, perhaps that is a bit of an overstatement.  But it is really cool.  I briefly reviewed Photoshop Express for Computerworld and came away reeling at the possibilities.  While we all knew this application was coming down the pipe, Adobe made great use of Flash and delivered a very polished product. 

Facebook(!!), Picasa and Photobucket direct access shows the amazing possibilities this web application has.  No doubt, more services will be coming soon.   If you can give Photoshop Express access to your blog images directory, you could do all of your image editing inline – without having to upload or download between edits.  How about Google documents or presentations?  Editing photos inside the web browser would make those services all the more valuable.  Oh, and move to another computer and your 2 GB library goes with you.

The downside?  Adobe and Apple aren’t getting along too well these days.  Normally, Apple and Adobe products play very well together.  However, since this is a Flash-based Web application it won’t work on the iPod Touch or iPhone.  Also, your iPhoto library isn’t browsable since Apple, for whatever reason, decided to put all of the original photos in a Package which isn’t accessible by the browser (needed for Photoshop Express).  If you want to access your iPhotos, you need to export them from iPhoto.  :( Lame

Hopefully someone is working on an iPhoto plugin at this very moment that allows uploading of photos to the Photoshop Express storage.  The other work round would be to upload your photos to Facebook, Picasa, or Photobucket using the current plugins and editing in Photoshop Express from there.

Have fun!