Digital Samurai

Catch the Wave: Google is at it Again

Google has just announced a new online tool for real-time collaboration. It is called Wave and can be a document and conversation. If you have an hour and twenty minutes to waste, you can view the announcement in a YouTube video. It is an open source project where any participant can edit the content at any point and play it all back (think rewind mode) if you missed something or are late to the party.

The rewind ability may sound cool from a technology perspective, but it gives us pause. Google has to be saving a lot of data to play back the “session” complete with the various versions. We’re sure the privacy fanatics will make a stink about Wave.

About 100,000 beta testers will get access to the application today. It is being released by invitation only, similar to the early days of Gmail. You can fill out a form to let Google know you were disappointed that your invitation didn’t show up.

- John and Mike

(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

Push Support for Gmail? Google now Supports EAS

Google has finally entered the ring. Until now, Gmail users couldn’t get their e-mail delivered or pushed to their phone. Users actually had to log into their Gmail account to check their e-mail. How archaic is that?

Well, now everything has changed. Gmail now supports the Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) protocol, allowing users to set up their Gmail e-mail to be automatically “pushed” to any user’s device with Exchange support, such as Windows Mobile devices and the iPhone. Previously, users could only synchronize their Calendars and Contacts over the air using Google Sync, and not e-mail. The inability for users to get their e-mail in real-time has always been one of the downsides of using Gmail.

So for those users who want to get their Gmail in real-time, now you can.

- John and Mike

(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

IS YOUR BATTERY DEAD OR IS IT JUST MINE?

It is sometimes said that even bad news is good publicity. We doubt that Apple thinks so recently, with all the hubbub over Apple’s iPhone 3GS.

Apparently, Apple’s user forums have been littered with user complaints regarding the poor battery life they’re experiencing with the new iPhone 3GS, which was released this past June. Apple is currently looking into the reported problems with the battery completely draining when the phone is in Standby mode, or in another case, the battery died after sending only a few text messages after charging all night long.

It’s gotten to the point where Apple is asking users who are experiencing issues with poor battery performance to turn on battery-life logging and to send those log files to AppleCare for review. Apple hopes to get to the bottom of this as soon as they can.

What good is a phone that won’t stay charged? Of course, it can always double as a paperweight.

- John and Mike

(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

TIMESLIPS 2010 SR2 RELEASED

Here we go again. This is another one of those times we are happy that we procrastinated. We still haven’t updated our Timeslips installation to the 2010 version. Perhaps we’re just waiting until it really is 2010.

Sage, the creator of Timeslip, has just released a second update to its popular time and billing package. You can read all about the included fixes from the release notes. You’ll need to enter an e-mail address in order to get the PDF file. There are minor and major fixes included. Apparently, Timeslips 2010 may not properly convert bill layouts that use metafile images. SR2 corrects this. Our bill layouts are more complicated than most with graphics and a very professional layout. We’re glad that our conversion success rate just went up.

Download the SR2 update to keep your Timeslips 2010 installation up-to-date.

- John and Mike

(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

APPLE: LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE

Why is it that Apple keeps shooting itself in the foot? The latest self-inflicted wound is described in a recent InfoWorld article. Apple has been lying about the iPhone’s ability to participate (being secure when connecting, communicating and at rest) in a secure business fashion. You may recall that the iPhone was elevated beyond a mere consumer toy when Apple announced licensing for Active Sync, which allows over-the-air synchronization with an Exchange server.

The dirty truth is that since July of 2008 the iPhone has been falsely reporting to Exchange servers that it supports on-device encryption. How do we know this? Because last week’s iPhone OS 3.1 update, that fixes a major but unacknowledged bug, has rendered most iPhones and all iPod Touches incompatible with Exchange 2007 servers, which require that on-device data be encrypted. Just imagine the thousands and thousands of users that have been pumping their corporate data through their iPhones and iPod Touches not knowing that they were compromising corporate security.

Couple this latest screw-up with the worthless PIN locking mechanism and ineffective encryption of the iPhone 3GS and it may be a very, very long time before iPhones are allowed in the enterprise environment.

- John and Mike

(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

ANOTHER FIREFOX UPDATE

There is another update for the Firefox browser that includes four fixes, three of which were rated as critical. Mozilla has released the update that corrects the vulnerabilities where an attacker can execute arbitrary code, mislead users by spoofing a URL or cause a denial-of-service attack.

The update to Firefox 3.5.3 will be distributed automatically or you can get it here.

- John and Mike

(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

HOW GOOD LAWYERS SURVIVE BAD TIMES

Worried about the economy? Are you a lawyer out of work? Are you afraid you will be laid off? Are you struggling to manage your firm through a down economy? Published by the American Bar Association, How Good Lawyers Survive Bad Times will provide you with a wealth of tips, resources, and tools to help you survive in bad times, as well as teach you management, finance, marketing and technology essentials necessary to succeed. How do we know this? Because our President, Sharon Nelson, is one of the authors, along with noted legal technologists Jim Calloway and Ross Kodner.

The book is broken out into three parts:

• Part I -- Afraid of Losing Your Job? Lost it Already?
• Part II -- Managing and Marketing Your Firm In a Down Economy
• Part III -- Do It Better, Cheaper, Faster with Technology: Using Technology to Boost the Bottom Line

The publication is available directly from the ABA.

- John and Mike

(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com

ATTENTION TO DETAIL – SOMETHING MISSING AT APPLE?

We really are sticklers for attention to detail. Apparently, Apple isn’t. We just don’t understand why Apple continues to shoot themselves in the foot, especially after all of the publicity over the iPhone insecurity. Well, they did it again. The recent Snow Leopard upgrade of the operating system is shipping with a little something extra.

According to ZDNet, the current Snow Leopard distribution brings along an older version of Adobe Flash, which contains a security vulnerability. Go figure. You’re up-to-date with all of the latest security patches and the OS upgrade makes you move backwards? What’s with that?

- John and Mike

(703) 359-0700
digitalsamurai@senseient.com
www.senseient.com