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Google: we're cool with Exchange on Google-branded Android phones
Okay, this gets a bit confusing, so bear with us. Back when HTC first unveiled the Magic, the company said that any Android device with a customized build -- and that includes adding support for Microsoft Exchange -- has to drop the "with Google" logo as per Google's rules. Indeed, that notion seemed to be validated by the all the international Android phones that have Exchange but no branding. Cut to present day and the T-Mobile's myTouch 3G, which looks to have both the "with Google" backing and Exchange support, contrary to previous assertions. Did the search engine giant soften its policy? We spoke with a company representative who told us, surprisingly, that it has "never been Google's policy" to deprive its branded devices of Exchange support, and that if another phone maker wants to add it and keep that logo plastered on the phone, that's A-OK. In all honesty, we never really put too much stock into the Google logo on the phone, but if it's really just been one huge misunderstanding that's prevented our G1 from having Exchange, well, we're gonna be quite nonplussed for many weeks to come.
Inside iPhone 3.0: Fix too-strict passcode lock settings for Exchange users
If your iPhone was connected to an Exchange server for email, contact or calendar synchronization prior to your upgrade to the 3.0 software, you may have run into the same problem that was bugging me for a day or so: the timeout on the passcode lock gets set to "Immediate," forcing you to enter the code almost every time you pick up the phone. Secure, sure, but very annoying. Going to the usual settings location to adjust the timeout shows no choices other than the insta-lock; what to do? A thread on the Apple discussions boards points to the answer. Since the ActiveSync link to the Exchange server controls some security policies on the phone, you need to refresh those controls; the easiest way to do that, short of deleting and recreating the Exchange account, is to turn off all three sync modes and the Push setting. Once that's done, you can go back to the passcode lock screen and disable the lock or adjust the timeout. Put your sync settings back the way they were and your changes to the passcode config should remain in place. While this is an annoying quirk, it's not all gripes and grimaces in the Exchange support department. At long last, users of Exchange calendars can send meeting invitations (hallelujah!); Exchange 2007 users can even view the reply status of attendees. Users can specify additional mail folders for sync, and Exchange 2007 users can search server-side mail from their devices. For a full rundown on the enterprise-friendly features of iPhone OS 3.0, check out the Enterprise Integration guide via Apple's enterprise features page. Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
DataViz brings Documents To Go to the App Store
Editing documents? On a phone? We're sure most iPhone users are a little taken aback by this prospect, but we assure you it's completely safe and devoid of artificial preservatives. DataViz just launched its Documents To Go suite for the iPhone, which lets you edit and create Word documents, sync work files with a desktop over WiFi, and view other Office documents with the iPhone's existing viewer -- it's not the first app to offer some of these functions for the device, but it's the first with this level of street cred. An optional version of the app also includes a Exchange mail client with ActiveSync for accessing and editing Word documents from email, which seemingly flies in the face of Apple's vague "don't mess with Mail or any of our other built-in apps" policy. The basic Documents To Go app retails for a limited time at $4.99, while the Exchange version goes for $9.99 -- and anyone who picks up the 1.0 version will get a free update to include Excel editing once it becomes available.
Government / Military Mac users get PIV single sign-on from Thursby
Thursby Software is a longtime Mac development firm (since 1986) that has always had a mission: integrating Macs as full players in mixed-OS environments. While Mac OS X has gone a long way toward improving the situation of Mac users in predominantly Microsoft environments, there are still situations where third-party software may be required. Thursby's ADmitMac line of software is specifically designed to ease Mac integration into Microsoft Active Directory (AD) environments.Thursby's ADmitMac for PIV integrates US Government FIPS 201 Personal Identity Verification (PIV) with Macs. ADPIV, as the product is known, allows single sign-on with a PIV card. It verifies the PIV card against a centralized authority, obtains Kerberos tickets using PIV certificates and then makes those tickets available to Kerberized applications, and securely locks the Mac upon removal of the PIV card.ADPIV also allows password-free access to Exchange servers by providing authentication to those servers. ADPIV is currently available at the introductory price of US$149, with discounts available for larger quantities.
Rogers' HTC Dream and Magic aren't "Google phones," have Exchange support
Remember how we found out that there's a difference between the Google-branded Android firmware and its HTC-modified equivalent, and the latter isn't allowed to feature the silkscreened Google logo? The HTC version is way cooler on account of its Exchange ActiveSync support and the much-improved camera app; the only downside is that you can't flaunt that logo on the case, which -- let's be honest -- is totally meaningless to an end user (unless you're some raving Google fanboy / fangirl, and in that case, no amount of awesome customization is going to sway you). Anyhow, it's up to individual carriers to decide which versions of the devices they wish to launch, and Rogers customers will be excited to know that they're getting the logo-free HTC builds. That makes Canadian Dreams and Magics a whole hell of a lot more useful to business users than the G1s down in the States, and going forward, this is an issue T-Mobile probably wants to think about -- as long as the base Android code doesn't license ActiveSync, anyway.
Exchange-enabled HTC Magic explained: it's not a "with Google" phone
We've gotten the lowdown on that HTC Magic seen sporting Exchange support over in CNET Asia's capable hands, and as many readers opined, it's indeed a custom solution rolled by HTC without any Google involvement. Of course, HTC is no stranger to customizing OS builds loaded onto its devices; it already does this with every single Windows Mobile phone it sells, so we shouldn't be surprised to see some tweaks on its Android wares, either. Here's where it gets juicy, though: it turns out that Google forbids user of the "with Google" branding (as seen on the back of the G1, for example) when the build is customized, so the particular Magic that was being tested here lacked the Google name. Not all Magics are sold this way -- it's a carrier decision. Vodafone's version is Google-branded, for example, but in order to score the Google name they've got to comply to Google's standards for the software load.Some unlocked Magics (like CNET Asia's) are being sold in this sans-Google configuration, but if you like your Google apps, don't sweat it -- these devices still have GMail, Maps, and the like installed -- it's strictly a marketing and branding issue we're talking about here. In addition to Exchange support, the HTC-customized Magics include a reworked Smart Dialer with better contacts integration, a "much more responsive and full featured" camera app, and additional home screen widgets not found on the Google-ified Magics. We know which version we'd choose.
HTC Magic supports Exchange, Google says Android doesn't
A lack of Exchange ActiveSync support has largely relegated Android to the enterprise sidelines since its commercial launch last year in the G1, and while third-party apps have attempted to come to the rescue, there's nothing quite like a little first-party love to instill confidence in the world's IT managers. Strangely, CNET Asia noticed that its Magic seems to support Exchange -- indeed, it's listed right there in the mail setup and the reviewer reports that it works like a champ -- but a check with Google would have you believing otherwise. CNET's US bureau dropped Google a line to get the straight dope on the current Exchange situation and was greeted with an unhelpful response of "Android does not currently include support for Microsoft Exchange," going on to say that third-party devs are filling in the gap. Yo, Google, Magics in the field would have us believing otherwise, so do you want to clarify what's up here? [Via CNET]
The Queue: Ziebart vs Sacco
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today.Sometimes late at night when the sun is down and the moon is up, the writers at WoW Insider sit around the campfire and talk about things. Weird things. Like owning a pet snake and cat at the same time (Sacco), or how putting together a desk can be a pain (Alex). More and more often these days there has been a little friendly feud going on between Alex and Sacco. You can read their little quips at each other over a few posts. So today in the Queue I want to ask you: who would win in a writer cage match? Alex Ziebart or Mike Sacco? %Poll-27017% Also, I'd like to thank all of you who left questions not about the crazy delicious Hawaiian Pizza yesterday. You gave me something to work with!Blinger asked..."Will the emblems of Heroism be really useless now? If there is no more badge gear I need, have plenty of Frozen Orbs I can throw a stick at, is there going to be any point in me ever doing the current Wrath heroics again other than just to help out mates all of which are in the same boat anyway? Or will it be likely that there will be some form of Heroism to Valor exchange?"
Ask TUAW: Preventing automounting, Exchange support, printing selections, and more
For this edition of Ask TUAW we've got questions about preventing an external partition from automounting, printing text selections, getting email from an Exchange server, syncing the Address Book with Google contacts, and more. As always, your suggestions are welcome. Questions for next week should be left in the comments. When asking a question please include which machine you're running and which version of Mac OS X (we'll assume you're running Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify). And now, on to the questions!
Sprint's Samsung Instinct offers corporate calendar access, likely mocked by BlackBerry-toting coworkers
As part of an upgrade to Sprint's Mobile Email Work package -- which already offers corporate email access for those who refuse to capitulate and buy a stuffy BlackBerry or Windows Mobile device -- the Instinct is now capable of synchronizing work calendars with Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino servers. It's pretty comprehensive, too; users can accept or decline invitations, shuffle appointments around, change details, and delete stuff when that 7AM "status meeting" just feels totally unnecessary. The support is included at no charge for Instinct users, though a software upgrade is required -- which, because you're not at the mercy of Tommy the power-tripping BES admin, you can download and install at will. Imagine that! Oh, and if you don't own an Instinct, Sprint plans on filtering the support down to some of its "non-PDA" phones down the road, so hang tight.
AI: 'Snow Leopard' to include rewritten Finder
AppleInsider claims that Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard will feature (among other things) a Finder re-written entirely in Cocoa. The Finder has remained Carbon-based for the entire history of Mac OS X so far, but the long journey from those frameworks towards Cocoa seems to be reaching its end for Apple's homegrown apps. Test versions of the new Finder are being seeded to select developers in revisions of Snow Leopard with build numbers beginning with 10A. AppleInsider notes that seeds could be more broadly available to the developer community as early as tomorrow. As Ars Technica noted in June, Apple apps will also apparently come "wrapped" in Cocoa. Further deprecation of some Carbon APIs seems likely as well, but it's unclear yet as to how Snow Leopard's support for Carbon apps will differ from plain-ol' Leopard's. In addition to the Finder, improvements to support for Microsoft Exchange are expected for Mail, iCal, and Address Book. Also included is a new option for booting a Mac called ImageBoot. ImageBoot takes NetBoot a step further, allowing administrators to boot a workstation into Mac OS X directly from an image on a local disk.
Nokia shutters mobile enterprise development, looks to partners for help
Nokia has announced that it'll no longer be working on its own "business mobility solutions," reallocating some of the knowledge and manpower in that division over to its consumer-focused push email client that recently launched in beta form. For what it's worth, the announcement comes across not as a message that Nokia's abandoning its enterprise customers -- far from it, in fact, with the Eseries looking better than ever -- but as a genuine admission that other companies with established solutions are better cut out to manage that functionality, even on Nokia's own S60. Interestingly, Microsoft, IBM, and Cisco are all mentioned as partners with commitments to develop for Nokia's wares, but noticeably missing is RIM, whose BlackBerry Connect went missing on the E66 and E71. These days, it's hard to mention "enterprise" without also mentioning "BES" in the same sentence, so we're not too sure how far Nokia's going to get here without roping RIM back into the equation.
Nokia takes S60 3rd edition corporate with Exchange ActiveSync support
43 devices representing some 80 million mobile phone users -- that's the largess of Nokia announcing Microsoft's Exchange ActiveSync support on all its S60 3rd edition devices. Mail for Exchange will also be available out-of-the-box in future E-series and N-series devices. That means future phones like the Nokia Tube and existing, high-end, media-centric devices like the venerable N95 and new N96 will now feel just as comfortable in the beige cubicle as you do.
iPhone 2.0 firmware goes golden master
Gizmodo and GearLive are reporting that the iPhone 2.0 firmware will go golden master (locked for shipping) this week. Golden master does not necessarily mean that Apple will ship the firmware this week (after all, Steve said that it would ship in "early July") but it does mean that the firmware and all the features are complete and ready to head out the door. Both sites seem to agree with the build number on the new firmware: 345. Gizmodo is reporting that 2.0 will boast code signing and a new encryption feature. The iPhone firmware 2.0 is definitely something on every iPhone owner's wishlist, and here's mine (you have one of these, right?): Super Monkey Ball (AppStore) New Mail features iWork support in Mail Exchange support MobileMe support Super Monkey Ball (did I mention this one already?) Scientific Calculator (would it be too hard to add a graphing calculator? c'mon, Apple!) While we wait around the virtual campfire for the next version of the iPhone software, what are you most looking forward to in the new firmware? I think everyone can guess what my favorite feature will be; although I am still waiting for Final Cut Studio 2 for iPhone (we've been hearing rumors that it will be in the 10th generation device).
New screenshots of Snow Leopard appear, show desktop web apps
A German site, Apfeltalk.de has posted screenshots of the forthcoming version of Mac OS X, 10.6 (a.k.a "Snow Leopard"). Most of the screenshots show off the Safari 4 developer preview that will include the "Save as Web Application" option in the File menu. The website also shows off the next version of Address Book.app that will bring Microsoft Exchange support to the Mac platform. We do however have to speculate about the System Preferences.app screenshot that shows two Time Machine icons with one labled "Dock" and another labeled "Time Machine" -- this seems out of place and unlike Apple. You can see all of the screenshots (before Apple's legal team gets a hold of them) on the Apfeltalk.de site. [via Engadget]
Verizon's RemoSync brings Direct Push email to select handsets
Hankerin' for some bona fide push email on your VZW handset, are you? If this is indeed the case, look no further than RemoSync, the latest Get It Now application that enables a handful of the carrier's handsets to get their Exchange-hosted email pushed directly to them. More specifically, those who purchase the app will be able to read, compose, reply, delete, forward, etc. emails, download Outlook contacts and view those immensely annoying calendar events. The pricing structure is quite curious, though. First off, it'll cost you $9.99 per month, and while a data plan isn't required per se, those without one will be charged $1.99 per megabyte (or "airtime") when using RemoSync. For a list of compatible mobiles, tap the read link and give that scroll wheel a few turns.[Via PhoneScoop]
Apple previews OS X Snow Leopard: scheduled to ship "in about a year"
The next iteration of OS X was mentioned early on during today's WWDC 2008 keynote, but little was said afterwards. Thankfully, Apple hasn't left us completely out to dry, as a recent release gives a few clues as to what Snow Leopard has in store. First and foremost, the OS isn't expected to ship until about this time next year, and just as predicted, it will be more evolutionary than revolutionary. Specifically, it will "enhance the performance of OS X and set a new standard for quality... rather than focusing primarily on new features." Still, we do know that it'll play nice with Microsoft Exchange 2007 from the get-go, provide "unrivaled support for multi-core processors" with a new technology dubbed Grand Central, extend support "for modern hardware with Open Computing Language (OpenCL)," and raise the software limit on system memory up to a theoretical 16TB of RAM. Heck, you'll even find QuickTime X in there. Yeah, we love those new features, but we can honestly say we're looking forward to a nice round of polishing.Update: Looks like some more solid info has been posted to Apple's page. Head here for more on Snow Leopard desktop and Snow Leopard server (which will include iCal Server 2, 128-bit ZFS support, Podcast Producer 2, the first version of their Address Book server based on CardDAV, and more).
JetBlue expands in-flight connectivity options on BetaBlue aircraft
During our time on JetBlue's BetaBlue aircraft, we came away mildly impressed with what was available. Thankfully, the airline isn't resting on its laurels, and has today announced expanded services for those lucky enough to secure a seat on the connected Airbus A320. By utilizing LiveTV's Kiteline platform, patrons can now check their Gmail, AOL Mail, Hotmail and Windows Live Mail from the comfort of their seat, and just in case you get bored with that, a "customized in-flight version of Amazon.com" will also be accessible. Yeah, we're talking really minor updates here, but at least the whole gamut of what's available is still totally free. Gratis and airlines just don't go together these days, so it's certainly a welcome change.[Via Jaunted]
Gartner acknowledges iPhone enterprise mojo in new report
CIOs and IT pros pay money -- a lot of money -- for the opinions of the Gartner Group. Since I'm not shelling out $95 to buy "Gartner Changes It's iPhone Enterprise Recommendations," even though I'm sure it would be worth a giggle or two, I'll just point you to some folks who have read the new report. Short summary: author Ken Dulaney acknowledges that the circumstances leading to Gartner's original "burn it, it's a witch!" stance on the iPhone for enterprise use have changed, and with the additional support for Exchange and ActiveSync coming in June there are far fewer reasons to take a strict stand against iPhones in corporate settings.Since Dulaney was the principal author of Gartner's first report, we commend him for sticking with the issue and setting the record straight. Now, about all those C-suite folks who already have iPhones... well, as Gartner describes the support levels required to handle idiosyncratic devices, there's "concierge," "appliance" and "platform" levels of support, with "concierge" being the most hands-on and resource-intensive (the iPhone is moving from "concierge" to "appliance" status with the June 2.0 update). How much do you want to bet that CEOs, CFOs and CIOs who go off the reservation and buy themselves iPhones and MacBook Airs are already getting, and will continue to get, "concierge"-level support from their IT departments? Yeah, that's what I thought too.
Circuit City triples return time window for HD DVD player purchases
Hot on the heels of news that Circuit City may in fact be offering up a hush-hush trade-in program for HD DVD purchasers comes official word that said retailer is tripling its standard return window in order to appease early adopters. According to company spokesman Jim Babb, it's looking to "take care of [its] customers" by lengthening the return window from 30 to 90 days for all HD DVD player purchases. When returning the unit, users are given store credit, and while we are told that HD DVD movies are omitted from the policy, we've no idea if combo players are included. We're guessing no, but then again, it's not like those purchasers have nearly as much to worry about.[Thanks, Killer]
