Tech Trekker

There was some buzz about how the original iPhone exclusivity agreement with AT&T kept the phone on one carrier in the US through 2012 a couple days ago.  The original thought was that the exclusive agreement only lasted 2-3 years or that the agreement just kept being extended, but now it seems to be confirmed that the agreement was originally for 5 years.  There are now plenty of disappointed people hoping to get a Verizon iPhone.  Now this is not to say that there’s no chance for Verizon to get an iPhone before then, but its likely not going to be the latest and greatest.  The more likely option I see would be for Verizon to maybe get a version of the 3G or the 3GS and let AT&T keep getting the latest version.  This would of course all depend on what Apple’s lawyers can do if they really want to branch out to Verizon.  The one thing I’m not sure about though is will Apple be willing to redesign the 3G or 3GS for Verizon’s CDMA network (AT&T and the iPhone operate on a GSM network) with the 4G right around the corner.

The main point of this post is trying to figure out what the whole deal with the complaints about exclusivity and apparently lawsuits over it.  Yes, AT&T has had iPhone exclusivity since its launch in 2007 and looks to keep that til 2012 so for all Verizon subscribers who don’t want to jump over to AT&T, they’re stuck.  Cell Phone exclusivity though is nothing new though, sure the iPhone is, well the iPhone, but plenty of other phones are exclusive to one carrier.

• HTC Hero
• G1
• MyTouch
• DROID
• HTC Droid Incredible
• HTC HD2

You get the point…all these phones are exclusive to a carrier be it Sprint, Verizon, or T-Mobile yet I have not heard a single complaint about their exclusivity.  And I would make a bet that Verizon isn’t horribly hoping for the exclusivity lawsuits to go through as it would hurt their position with their Droid handsets.  What applies to AT&T and the iPhone would trickle down to the other carriers.

This could get particularly tricky since in America, the big four are split between CDMA and GSM.  Verizon and Sprint use a CDMA network and T-Mobile and AT&T use a GSM network, so phones aren’t even completely cross-compatible.  So because of that, its not like you can just make a phone, unlock it, and let whomever buy it for whichever carrier.  Most phones for T-Mobile and AT&T can be used on each other’s network (minus 3G functionality) so there’s some help, but not that much.  So how can you push companies to essentially make 4 separate models to support all carriers?  It should be their choice, not ours.  I’m not saying I like that, its just the way it is unfortunately unless all 4 carriers are willing to get together and all get their network frequency and structure identical…so in other words…fat chance.

There are plenty of reasons to go with multiple carriers as I’m sure Apple and Verizon would make a large chunk of cash with a Verizon iPhone but in the end it needs to be worth it for both parties.

So yes, for Verizon customers, it kinda sucks that the iPhone is exclusive with AT&T, but I fail to see how a lawsuit is going to succeed or do anything.

A lot has been going around lately on various tech sites about a school in Lower Merion Township, PA that is being accused of using webcams on school-issued laptops to spy on students while at home.  I guess this story in itself hits kind of close to home since I live in Pennsylvania and am only about a half hour away from the area.

To preface and get some background on this story, a high school student was reprimanded for “inappropriate behavior” while at home with photos taken from the webcam as the evidence.  This is scary, and definitely disturbing since we don’t know what else was done with these webcams.  High School students in the Lower Merion School District are given laptops to use to help with their education.  They can then pay for insurance to allow them to take the laptop home to use at home.  This in itself I think is a great idea.  Access to computers can provide so much information to help students grow and learn.  And since not every family can afford a computer for every member of the family and some not at all, this will provide a computer for the student to use without having to fight for time on the family computer.  So the basis for the policy is definitely a sound one.

Unfortunately, there’s more to it than just that. These computers are standard MacBooks meaning they come with a built-in webcam. To think that school administrators can remotely turn the cameras on at any time is where the problem lies.  Since the accusations and lawsuit have arisen, the school district has claimed that they only do this to use it to try to recover lost, missing or stolen laptops.  While this in itself is not completely an unusual process as people have done this to try to recover theirs, it raises more questions than it does answers.  If the school district is being truthful in that they only turn the camera on when a laptop goes missing, why did they have a picture of one of the students at home committing some “inappropriate action”.  Did he report the laptop stolen or missing? I have to doubt it judging by the reaction, but that should be the only reason the camera would’ve been turned on, and even that is iffy at best.  And there have also been reports from students saying they’ve noticed the green light by the camera turning on every once in a while.  For Macs, when the webcam is on, there is a little green light by the camera that turns on.  Students claimed that when they approached the techs at the school with this, the techs said it was just a glitch.  If it was just one student, I MIGHT buy that, being that multiple students have mentioned this, I kind of doubt that was any kind of glitch. This also brings up the issue of what all was watched from the webcams by the school, and by whom. And was any of it recorded?  It should be mentioned that this is High School meaning the students are generally under the age of 18 making them minors. If these laptops were in their bedrooms while they were getting changed, well now you have to look into child pornography which only escalates matters.

There’s also the argument that these are school owned laptops so the same amount of privacy shouldn’t be expected.  I can buy that to an extend. Key word there, extent.  I have a work laptop I take home with me.  That means I can connect it at home and use it to work from home or just to use it.  That said, my job still owns it and by all means have the right to monitor what I install on it and what sites I visit.  It’s their laptop and since it can connect to their network, anything I download or pick up at home (viruses, malware, etc) can be transferred to the corporate network, servers, and other computers.  This is the same case for Lower Merion School District.  I don’t think anyone would be up in arms over the school monitoring what sites and what the students download onto the school’s laptops while in school or at home.  If you want to browse the internet outside the school’s prying eyes…use your own personal computer.  But that’s where I draw the line.  I see no reason why the school district needs to monitor what the student is doing off the computer by using the webcam.

I really like to think that in general, school districts do their best to do what’s best for the student body, and I want to believe that if there were indeed improper uses of the cameras while the students were home, that only a select few faculty and tech staff members were aware of what was really going on.  And I think more than just the technical staff was involved as well since it was an administrator who reprimanded the student with the photo proof.  If he wasn’t aware, he should’ve been able to immediately realize that the photos weren’t obtained through the proper means, and should have gone back against the tech staff rather than the student.  Only time will tell once more of the investigation is completed as to who was involved and to what extent.

The sad part I realized while reading comments on the story, is that in the end, there is only one winner.  I’ll give you a hint, it’s not the school, the school district, or the students.  The lawyers on the case for the students are going to be the only ones who will win.  If the case goes against the school district, and even if it doesn’t, the lawyers will get their significant fee leaving the school in relatively bad shape, and in turn, its students.  If the school district loses, they will be paying out money to students and their families.  As much as I wish it were the case, money doesn’t grow on trees.  Public school districts get their funding through tax dollars.  If the school has to pay out large sums of money over the suit, they’re going to need to recoup costs somehow.  They can’t just close the school, the kids need to learn.  So that means they’re going have to go to Harrisburg (PA’s state capital) or to the tax payers directly (in both cases it really does come back to the tax payers).  Taxes will go up to make up for the lost money, school programs could be cut, school resources could go the way of the dinosaurs, and the students are left with what could almost feel like half a school.  And even if the school wins the case, their reputation is already tarnished and the trust will have to be regained.

Microsoft this week unveiled their new mobile operating system and from the screenshots I’ve seen and videos, I have to say I’m somewhat impressed.  The problem though is that it comes almost 3 years after the iPhone and almost a year and a half after Android.  The iPhone was a game changer and the Android quickly followed suit.  The iPhone is on its 3rd iteration (with a 4th likely due out this summer) and there are countless phones with Android across all major networks (save for AT&T which does have several Android handsets announced for 2010) and seemingly new Android phones being announced weekly.

So with that said, where does the new Windows Mobile 7 operating system fit into things?  The current Windows Mobile 6.x operating system has been dying a slow death, maybe not in the literal term, but people looking to get a new smartphone are targeting primarily Android, the iPhone and Blackberry.  It almost seems as if there is no Microsoft based mobile operating system to a lot of people.  They see what the iPhone can do, they see the MyTouch and Droid ads and see what Android brings, heck the Blackberry name still comes up for the consumer market as well (even though I personally believe the BlackBerry OS needs an overhaul to really be able to make a dent in the consumer market albeit RIM is already well off with the enterprise).

In my opinion, Microsoft is going to have to really push the Windows Mobile 7 OS in order for Windows Mobile to become relevant again.  It does have a lot going for it, the Zune integration, integration with Xbox Live, and a pretty slick UI.  The problem it faces though is similar to what Microsoft faced with Windows Vista.  The big difference though is that a lot more people use Windows on their desktops and laptops with not always a real alternative.  And because of that, Windows 7 had a lot more focus from the public on it so Microsoft really had to put a lot of emphasis on it to clean up the Windows reputation after the Vista debacle.  But will the same thing happen with Windows Mobile without the greater public interest?  Microsoft seems to be putting a lot into it including being somewhat strict on phone specs so that should help make sure that any phones released can run it properly as I’ve seen plenty of phones running various operating systems that really seemed like they were just underpowered. Two other things to note on the operating system.  First, Copy & Paste functionality is missing and might remain missing.  While I can understand why copy and paste isn’t quite as important on mobile devices as full computers, Microsoft really should have seen the reaction towards the iPhone’s lack of Copy+Paste until the 3.0 firmware before they jump on the “no need for copy paste” bandwagon. Second, the new Windows Mobile 7 looks to also remove multitasking.  This will put it on the same level as the iPhone where it will be unable to run 2 applications at the same time.  Now while I do understand running too many applications will kill performance and affect battery life, I would really like to have an IM app running in the background on my iPhone while I do other tasks.  Pandora would be another app I would like to see run in the background, but having seen the performance drop on both Android and Blackberry, it’s one I could live without.  It should also be noted that multitasking, despite its downsides, is probably one of the most highly demanded features for the iPhone so putting multitasking in WinMo 7 could help give it an upper hand against the iPhone.

In all honesty, I don’t really know where Windows Mobile 7 is going to fit into the rapidly changing ecosystem of smartphones, but one thing is certain, there’s a lot more stiff competition in the market than there was when Windows Mobile first jumped into the smartphone market.  So Microsoft really needs to bring its A-Game to catch up to the current market.

Well it kind of sucks, but all my previous entries seem to have gotten lost during the move to my new hosting, so for the time being it looks like I’ll have to start from scratch…sorry :-/