Windows Phone 7 platform unproven, says Nokia
Windows Phone 7: Nokia assesses the risks of adopting Microsoft's smartphone OSImage: Microsoft
Nokia has detailed the risks inherent in throwing its fortunes in with Microsoft by adopting the Windows Phone 7 (WP7) smartphone platform as its primary OS.
According to an annual report filed by Nokia with the US Securities and Exchanges Commission on Friday, the potential risks include an inability to differentiate and customise a Nokia WP7 offering to distinguish it from other WP7 adopters, and missing out on the chance to adopt a more successful rival smartphone OS - such as Google's Android.
"The Windows Phone platform is a very recent, largely unproven addition to the market focused solely on high-end smartphones with currently very low adoption and consumer awareness relative to the Android and Apple platforms, and the proposed Microsoft partnership may not succeed in developing it into a sufficiently broad competitive smartphone platform," the report notes. Read more...
Microsoft adds customization to Visual Studio LightSwitch
Microsoft plans to issue on Tuesday a second beta release of its Visual Studio LightSwitch development tool that is intended to enable nonprogrammers to build Windows business applications via a drag-and-drop design interface.
This second beta release will also feature integration with the Windows Azure cloud platform and the capability to customize via extensions, which will provide such functionality as pivot table controls or a better application appearance. Extensions can be built via the Visual Studio Professional IDE. In this vein, Infragistics is offering UI and data visualization controls for LightSwitch with the second beta. Read more...
What you can do to shut down tsunami
My house sits on a hill overlooking Patong Bay, Phuket, Thailand. I was at home on the morning of Dec. 26, 2004, when the tsunami hit. Most mornings I go jogging on the beach. That morning, Sunday morning, the day after Christmas, I decided to sleep in -- don't know why.
You've seen videos of the water engulfing Japanese seaside towns. Patong was like that, although we weren't hit as hard as areas farther north. I lost several friends that day. I don't talk about it very often.
I guess that's why I go ballistic when I hear about scammers trying to make a buck off the disaster in Japan. Read more...
Google Apps slammed by advocacy group for the blind
The National Federation of the Blind claims that Google Apps lacks required features for blind people and wants the U.S. government to investigate whether schools that adopt the email and collaboration suite run afoul of civil rights laws.
The NFB is asking the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division to probe whether New York University and Northwestern University are discriminating against blind employees and students through their use of Google Apps' Education edition. Read more...
Google to let Apps admins put the brakes on upgrades
Google will start letting Apps administrators delay the delivery of upgrades to their domains to give them a chance to prepare themselves and their users for interface or functionality changes.
Until now, Google has transparently pushed out enhancements to its Google Apps suite on a rolling basis as soon as they're tested and deemed ready for prime time, just like it does for its consumer applications and sites. Read more...