CNET: Samsung unveils rugged Galaxy phone for the outdoor type

CNET: Samsung unveils rugged Galaxy phone for the outdoor type. http://goo.gl/mag/ixUuQnF

Researchers build a working tractor beam, on a very small scale

Researchers build a working tractor beam, on a very small scale

Why You Should Work From A Coffee Shop, Even When You Have An Office | Fast Company

Why You Should Work From A Coffee Shop, Even When You Have An Office | Fast Company:

'via Blog this'

Will Apple, Google and Samsung lose the smartphone market?

Will Apple, Google and Samsung lose the smartphone market?

BlackBerry vs iPhone App Usage: BlackBerry Higher During Workday

The latest report from Localytics suggests that BlackBerry usage is concentrated and higher during the workday, while iPhone app usage peaks around 9PM on weeknights. Localytics took this information from millions of phones in the US and Canada over 2 months.

The stats reveal much of what you would expect, including that iPhone owners use mobile apps more frequently on the weekend where usage is 40% higher than BlackBerry during the same time Monday through Friday. Mobile app usage for iPhone users peaks at 9PM EST during the week.

Blackberry mobile app usage is clearly higher throughout the workday and starts to peak at 7 pm EST, two hours earlier than the iPhone. There is also no statistically significant difference in the usage of BlackBerry apps on the weekend compared to Monday through Friday, unlike the iPhone.

Analytic Confusion – Google Analytics vs. AWStats

I delivered the KeyNote speech at the Canadian Society of Association Executives event yesterday, and one of the members of the audience asked a great question about what the differences are between log based & script based (or "page tagging") tracking, and what the benefits are of using one versus the other, so I thought I would provide some more information on this -

AWstats

AWstats (Advanced Web Statistics) is an open source log analyzer written in Perl that can use a variety of log formats and runs on a variety of operating systems. AWstats was designed with the main purpose to inform system administrators rather than website business owners, web marketers and web analysts, which basically means that making sense of AWstats data for marketing/business purposes is not very straightforward. Moreover, the reports are extremely basic and just spit out raw data which doesn’t tell you an awful lot about the website dynamics and stats that matter to improve your efforts.

AWstats processes the log files that most web servers churn out by default and organizes the data in a bunch of basic reports. This tool was designed for the needs of “Way back when…” so it’ll be of limited use. One major difference between data collection methods of AWstats and GA, is that the first logs data on the physical webserver, whereas GA logs data on the site itself and stores the information in a remote location (on Google’s servers).

Should you compare figures of AWstats and GA like with like, you’ll notice that AWstats figures will be much larger. An important reason for this is the fact that AWstats detects search engine bots that access (“crawl”) your website to learn more about its content, link structure etc., whereas GA can’t detect this type of traffic. These days, crawl stats are far less important than back in the day, and information on how search engine bots see your website is readily available from the major search engines, once you sign up to look into these services. Examples are Google Webmaster tools and Yahoo! Site Explorer.

Google Analytics

Whereas AWstats is purely a log analysis tool, Google Analytics is intended to be a measure of business (website) performance and provides you with statistics that you , as a business person, will want to see. With current web analytics tools (of which Google Analytics is a big player today) we’re moving into a grey area between website statistics on one hand and business intelligence on the other. As web analytics as a study develops the needs for business intelligence rather than raw webstat data, the major web analytics tools will follow.

Google Analytics depends on cookies and is a little less accurate in data volume than AWstats. Cookies are small files that are automatically stored by websites visited on the user’s computer, which usually logs basic stuff like user preferences, country of origin etc. (to be able to provide users with a better experience – i.e. the next time they use the site, a particular language can be loaded straight away without having the user select their preferences from scratch). Such cookies depend on javascript (as part of your website’s page code) and roughly 5% of internet users worldwide have opted to disable the use of javascript (mostly out of fear for malicious javascript that unfortunately exists online and can be the cause of virus infection for unprotected computers). Also you will not be able to track traffic coming from pre-OS V5.0 Blackberries as Javascript is disabled by default on these smartphones.

Those visitors to your site that have disabled javascript will not be tracked by GA. Considering this is a small amount of visitors, and data accuracy is not the holy grail of web analytics, this flaw has been generally accepted and is no longer a serious consideration for business owners choosing a web analytics tool. By far most web analytics tools use so-called “page tagging”, similar to Google Analytics.

The main differences between AWstats log file analysis and Google Analytics

The data is inevitably different, caused by the different tracking methods used. Because AWstats tracks website stats from the web server, it picks up server calls from search engine crawlers and that in itself makes a huge difference in your stats (depending on the size and popularity of your site). In this day and age, crawl statistics are of very limited value – this should not be a reason not to go for Google Analytics as to most, 9/10 times this info is insignificant

AWstats is meant for network administrators and engineers, whilst Google Analytics is made for business owners, marketers and analysts – business focused. A lot of the stats that AWstats provides are purely meant to inform about website functionality and finding out more about the technologies used by the site’s visitors. Google Analytics is a platform that allows you to discover the why’s (or usually why not’s) and how’s of the interaction of website visitors with your site.

Best practices

• Set up Google Analytics if you’re serious about finding out more about what’s happening on your website and how you can improve in order to increase profitability.
• Until GA gathers enough data to start analyzing (you’re looking at months, before any data analysis will make any sense), have your systems administrator set up AWstats if it’s not already being used and request at least 4-6 months of the most recent data to get an idea of the stats that it provides. Even though AWstats data is very basic and raw, it’s recommended to get familiar with the 1997 way of things to better understand what Google Analytics provides you with in terms of data and reports. Your web server is likely to have been collecting data for years, so it shouldn’t be a problem to get a chunk of this data to get you set up with some introductory info on website stats
• Keep AWstats running. Even though this tool works differently and data volumes WILL be different, changes in traffic and website behaviour will show in similar ways in both tools. In case of significant changes, you’ll be able to call upon AWstats to confirm what radical shifts you see in Google Analytics

Hope this helps...

BlackBerry has the Lowest Click-Through Rates in Mobile Advertising

Smaato are a mobile advertising and ad optimization company and they’ve recently announced their March figures on mobile ad click-through rates (CTR). According to Smaato, Symbian leads in their global OS CTR index, followed by feature phones, Windows Mobile, Apple, Android, Palm and lastly BlackBerry.

BlackBerry App World Vendor Portal Updated to 2.0

Today BlackBerry App World vendors/developers are getting notified that the vendor portal (site where developers login to manage all of their apps) has been updated to version 2.0. The update brings some slight changes on the backend of things, but nothing "visible" on the consumer end just yet. Updates for vendors include a new vendor credit system, change request management and enhanced application language management. This is a good sign overall for consumers as well however. With the new upgrade we can assume hope that "BlackBerry App World 2.0" may be popping up on devices soon. WES is just a short week away (give or take a few days) and would be the opportune time to announce or even launch an updated version. So while there is nothing new on the front at this point, fingers crossed for a bigger, badder App World in the coming weeks. Vendors can access the new portal from appworld.blackberry.com/isvportal

Google Maps for Blackberry updated to v4.0.1

Google Maps for BlackBerry has been updated to v4.0.1 and now includes the ability to search by voice and use synchronized starring. Google Buzz layer is also included in this version. You can turn the layer on or off from the standard map. I tested the 'search by voice' feature & the speech recognition software works quite well.  To download the update head to m.google.com/maps from your device.

Skyfire Releases Statement About Their BlackBerry Web Browser Development

We've been following Skyfire ever since they had announced their browser was being rebuilt for the BlackBerry platform. We've seen some beta releases that well, honestly didn't live up to the hype of Skyfire on other platforms yet, they did show promise. That is, until Skyfire news went silent when it came to their BlackBerry development. So after many months of silence, Skyfire has now spoken out about what exactly is going on for them in the BlackBerry space. In a statement posted on the Skyfire blog, they let loose the reasoning as to why they chose Android development over BlackBerry. In my opinion, an admission of what we already knew anyways.

• We see Android as a fast-rising ecosystem, with a rich, totally open developer environment, a healthy app market and a healthy advertising and search ecosystem.  The Android OS has a tremendous amount of interest from handset makers and carriers, and also has a strong need for making the explosion of video more network optimized (Skyfire’s wheelhouse).
• The Blackberry developer environment is not as favorable for cutting-edge application development.  The APIs are fragmented and inconsistent, and the Java virtual machine Blackberry requires is not efficient. While Blackberry users are desperate for a better browser - we know, and we hear them - we only want to bring out something that meets our high standards and is truly great.
• The timing makes sense to return to Blackberry in the future.  Blackberry has pledged to improve their developer environment in their 6.0 OS coming at the end of this year, and we can’t wait to see it.  Blackberry has said at that time they will introduce a webkit browser with server-side assist on html and text, developed based on their acquisition of Torch Mobile.  We understand it will be a long way from able to handle native Flash 10.1 and similar rich media plug-ins, and we think we can build on that webkit engine and add cloud-based new features around it.

That's quite a low blow to the BlackBerry platform if you ask me. BlackBerry has for a long time had the reputation of being a system that is not easy to develop on. Research In Motion has recognized this and as of late have made big steps to open things up to make it easier for developers out there. So, while Skyfire mentions they see this as well, I can't imagine that we'll see Skyfire releasing their browser on the BlackBerry platform anytime soon. Thoughts folks?

• Read The Full Statement From Skyfire Via Their Website >>

RIM Releases Enhanced Java and Web Development Tools for BlackBerry

I was thinking we'd hear no news from RIM for the next little bit as we lead up to WES 2010 at the end of the month (attendwes.com for more details), but today they fired off a press release letting everyone know that they have updated some of their Plug-ins and SDKs making it easier for developers to build BlackBerry apps. Check out the press release below for full details and links.

Press Release

RIM Releases Enhanced Java and Web Development Tools

Updated Plug-ins and SDKs Make It Even Easier to Create Feature-Rich Applications on the BlackBerry Platform

WATERLOO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - April 6, 2010) - Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM) today released updated Java and Web-based development tools for the BlackBerry(R) platform. The BlackBerry(R) Java Plug-In for Eclipse v1.1 and the BlackBerry(R) Web Plug-in v2.0 offer new capabilities that make it even easier to create feature-rich applications. The BlackBerry(R) Widget SDK (Software Development Kit) v1.0 and the BlackBerry(R) Java SDK v5.0, which includes more than 20,000 APIs, provide unparalleled access to BlackBerry(R) smartphone hardware features, native BlackBerry software applications and other unique system capabilities of the BlackBerry Application Platform.

Using the new tools developers can quickly and easily build web-based BlackBerry Widgets or Java applications that leverage the unique benefits of the BlackBerry Application Platform to seamlessly share information across and interact with core BlackBerry applications or other third party applications. These are personalized and contextualized applications that can integrate with a BlackBerry smartphone's inbox, calendar, address book and other native BlackBerry applications to deliver a highly engaging user experience.

"The BlackBerry Application Platform continues to evolve tremendously and the new tool enhancements make developing applications for BlackBerry smartphones easier and faster than ever," said Alan Brenner, Senior Vice President, BlackBerry Platform at Research In Motion. "We believe these enhanced tools will spur a new level of creativity and innovation as developers find new ways to leverage the unique power and integrated nature of the BlackBerry platform in order to bring useful, intelligent applications to the millions of BlackBerry smartphone users around the world."

BlackBerry Java Plug-In for Eclipse v1.1

• Enables Java developers to leverage a familiar open source development environment (Eclipse 3.5) to create, debug, profile and simulate their applications using a wide selection of BlackBerry smartphone simulators, actual devices and multiple versions of the BlackBerry(R) OS 
• Improved productivity features include the ability to instantly load and immediately run a modified application being debugged without having to reset the simulator or device, providing tremendous time savings

For more information on the Java Plug-in v1.1, visit www.blackberry.com/developers/java11

BlackBerry Web Plug-In v2.0

• BlackBerry Web Plug-ins are now available for both Eclipse and Microsoft Visual Studio 
• Enables developers to easily create web applications (includes BlackBerry Widgets) and web content using standard web technology and programming languages (e.g., HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and AJAX) 
• Enables JavaScript access to core BlackBerry Java API's. 
• New features in the latest 2.0 release include BlackBerry Widget debugging and profiling, support for Eclipse 3.5, and simulator "hot swap" to greatly reduce the time required to test and debug between iterations

For more information on the BlackBerry Web Plug-In v 2.0, visit www.blackberry.com/developers/web20

BlackBerry Java SDK v5.0

• OpenGL ES support for 3D graphics, touch-screen, and accelerometer enables visually stunning interactive 3D games(i) 
• Rich multimedia audio and video support, Media Play features, camera zoom and focus, and embedded video capture and audio/video streaming support 
• New pre-built UI components (e.g., spin-box fields, file pickers, and screen transitions) enable advanced graphics and built-in animation and increased developer productivity. 
• SQLite support for data sharing across different applications, as well as Gears JavaScript(R) API for persistent database storage. 
• Location Based Services APIs enable cell-site geolocation, GPS, geocoding and reverse geocoding to obtain address and location information

For more information on the Java SDK v5.0, visit www.blackberry.com/developers/java50

BlackBerry Widget SDK v1.0

• Allows third-party applications to access the calendar, contacts, camera, maps, messaging, browser, files, location via cell-tower or GPS, and receive BlackBerry push content via BlackBerry Widget APIs
• Includes navigation support for touch-screen handsets and screen transition and image transition support for BlackBerry Widgets startup and shutdown 
• Location-Based Services and SQLite / Google Gears enabled persistent data storage is also available for BlackBerry Widgets. 
• The widget architecture allows for extensibility by letting a third party developer develop their own JavaScript extensions, for use and distribution within a BlackBerry Widget.

For more information about the BlackBerry Widget SDK, visit www.blackberry.com/developers/widgets

To learn more about the range of products and services available to the BlackBerry developer community, please visit www.blackberry.com/developers.

Twitter "Share" Button Most Common Among Top Blogs

Many blogs depend on the practice of sharing for survival, or at least profitability; they can't count on millions of people to find their own way to every article.  And it turns out that, when it comes to "share" buttons, popular blogs depend more on Twitter's than any other option out there.

We're going to skip the causation/correlation debate (do popular blogs turn to Twitter because it's great, or is Twitter popular because great blogs promote it?) and move straight to the facts: Pingdom employees looked at which share buttons are used by the Technorati Top 100 blogs, and Twitter's button made 66 appearances.

That's rather impressive, considering that the second- and third-place options - Facebook and "general share" - tied, showing up only 58 times each.  Then there's even more of a drop-off as you move down to Digg, which made just 49 appearances.

Interestingly, six of the top blogs offered no sharing options whatsoever.  Also, although Pingdom didn't track email-related buttons, a blog post admitted, "Had we included them, they would have been among the top sharing options."

So there's some info about the current state of social media as it's being utilized by the Technorati Top 100.  Feel free to address the chicken-and-the-egg matter in the comments section.

LinkedIn For BlackBerry Now Available For Download

The LinkedIn for BlackBerry app has finally been released. We've been hearing the word "soon" all to often when speaking of the application but the wait is finally over now. The interface has a familiar look to it, much like that we've seen in the Facebook and Twitter apps. While the app lacks some of the features of the iPhone version it does meet all the requirements needed to get things done via LinkedIn. All the basics are included, such as: Network Updates, Search, Connections, Invitations, Messages. Give it a run through folks and be sure to leave some comments on how it works for you all. Support shows for Tour, Bold, Curve with OS 4.3 and higher.

Download The linkedIn Client For BlackBerry Today>> 

Phone Halo Helps You Keep Track of Your Stuff - Very Cool!

Phone Halo is a nifty accessory that helps you keep track of your BlackBerry (among other things). If you've ever had one of those keychains that helps you find your keys by whistling, you already have an idea of what Phone Halo does - only better. A handy "keyfob" (the Halo) attaches to your keyring, purse, laptop bag etc. and a small app is installed on your device. Once setup, the Phone Halo unit will alert you when you part ways with your items. If you leave your keys behind and run out the door, your device will alert you immediately. Have your keys but not your BlackBerry? The Halo unit will alert you for that as well. If you're in the habit of leaving things behind, you can attach the unit to pretty much anything you want to keep track of (even your kids!). Phone Halo sells for $59.99, and includes the Phone Halo application as well as one Halo unit.

What is a Blackberry Enterprise Server? Do I need one?

Before we answer the second question, do I need one; let's look at what is a BES and how it works. First the BES is software; Research in Motion does not sell server boxes. In fact many businesses are installing the BES in a virtual server in order to reduce the number of physical server boxes. I've always thought that calling it a "server" was not a good idea; to me it brings up metal images of a new blade for the rack.

So why do companies buy a BES? The quick answer is security and control. The BES offers mind blowing control through 450+ IT policies that can be applied to all or selected handhelds in the corporate environment. Some of the policies control SMS, passwords, PIN to PIN, 3rd party apps & remote wipe.

• That's great but how does it work? Without going to crazy here's the "message flow":
  New message arrives in the user's Exchange mailbox; which the BES is monitoring using MAPI (Messaging Application Programing Interface)
• The message is compressed to 2kb chunks and encrypted using 256-bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard)
• BES makes a secure connection to RIM NOC (Network Operations Center) over port 3101; the connection is an Outbound Initiated & Authenticated Bi-directional Connection. That means you always initiate the secure connection to RIM and an inbound connection is never accepted
• At the front end of you encrypted message is your PIN in plain text so RIM knows where to direct the message. Essentially the NOC is a traffic cop
• The message is sent to your handheld over the internet via either your wireless carrier or the Wi-Fi network
• Once the message reaches the handheld only than is the encryption decrypted, as the only key to decrypt your messages is on the BES and your handheld

In a nutshell that is how the message flow works. Here's the RIM diagram of the full message flow. They love trotting this cartoon out at every opportunity during enterprise presentations. Pay attention there will be a test!

OK so now that we have that out of the way, what does it actually do?

As I touched on earlier here are some of the high points:

IT Policy management; allows corporate big brother decide what functions you can and can't use
Remote Wipe

• Remote lock and password change
• Push down software configurations
• Wireless handheld firmware upgrades
• PIM Sync (calendar, address book, tasks & memo pad
• Full email sync (sent/received, filed, deleted, follow-ups)

Some more advanced enterprise applications:

• Corporate communications tools - MS Office Communications Server, Lotus Sametime
• Mobile Data Services - that will be the subject of a future post, this can't be summed up in a bullet point

For me personally, the two coolest functions of a BES are the PIM sync and wireless backups. The BES does an entire consistent backup of your device; including fonts, messages, phone call logs, password keeper, and icon locations. So if you lose your device or need to wipe it, fear not! The SQL database on the BES will push all this data back to your handheld. This alone is worth the price of admission.

Speaking of price of admission; how much does a BES cost?

There are two flavors of BES.

1. Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES)
2. Blackberry Enterprise Server Express (BESx)

Pricing for BESx is the easy one. FREE - totally and completely. You just need the hardware to put it on. More details on what is BESx and all its coolness to come in another post.

BES on the other hand costs. Standard BES pricing (Cdn $)

• BES Software with 20 client access licenses (CALs) $4,799.00
• 1 additional CAL $119.00
• 5 additional CAL $539.00
• 10 additional CAL $839.00

RIM & their carrier partners used to offer free BES promos but that has been cancelled to make way for BES express. These costs BTW are one-time costs. There is no fixed cost to maintain a BES. You can subscribe to RIM tech support which offers 24 x 7 support and free software upgrades. Service packs and maintenance release are free for all BES customers regardless whether they have T-Sup or not. If you don't subscribe to T-Sup than point releases (4.0 to 4.1 or 4.x to 5.0) will cost you approx. $1200.

Do you need a BES?

If you have an enterprise grade mail server like Exchange, Domino or GroupWise and use a Blackberry the answer is an unequivocal YES! If you don't have a mail server than the answer could still be YES provided you get Exchange - although I wouldn't run quickly into that decision. An alternative new solution hit the market late last year from Google when they launch the Blackberry Connector for Google Apps. I am a huge fan of Google Apps, my whole personal life has been migrated there. Calendar, mail, address book, docs & my website are all part of my Google Apps ecosystem. The only wrench in the whole Google Apps-BES marriage is that the Blackberry Connector doesn't support BES 5.x at this time. I've got an inquiry into the Google group looking for an update on when the will be supported. At the time I'm writing this article I have not received a reply from Google.

OK so that's the nickel tour of what a BES is. Upcoming will be more detailed info on the exiting world of Mobile Data Services (MDS), IT policies, as well as the differences between BES and BESx.

BlackBerry Presenter Now Available at ShopCrackBerry.com

Announced by Research in Motion earlier this year at CES 2010, the BlackBerry Presenter is now available for purchase! The BlackBerry Presenter allows you to wirelessly present Microsoft Powerpoint presentations from your BlackBerry Smartphone. Be sure to watch the video demonstration above to see it in action and click through to the product page at the link below for full details and to purchase. The BlackBerry Presenter has an MSRP of $199.99 but is available from ShopCrackBerry.com for $189.95 (you save $10).


Learn More / Purchase the BlackBerry Presenter >>