News for Monday, 11 August 2008

If someone was still doubting about the current push of the iPhone towards the Corporate market, IBM has launched a website providing details about the future IBM Lotus iNote "Ultralite", the application built on IBM Lotus Domino Web Access infrastructure.

Thanks to this application, users will be able to quickly access email, calendars, and contacts through the rich Apple iPhone interface from any Lotus Server. This will most likely represent a perfect tool to further increase iPhone penetration as a perfect device for Corporate, aiming to compete with Blackberry devices. It would serve both IBM's and apple's interest, while putting pressure on RIM and Microsoft. It would also turn the iPhone into a mobile device compatible with both IBM Lotus and MS Exchange servers.
More information from: http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/products/domino-web-access/ultralite/

Last month, Sandisk made quite a stir when they announced that Windows Vista is not optimised for SSD, thus it does not provide the best performance.
We learned today that Samsung will be in the process of working with Microsoft so as to improve the performance of these disks in Vista.
The goal will be to provide drivers adapted to the different functioning of these disks. The main difference lies with the sector size: 4 KB for SSD versus 512 for hard drives. But this is not a simple flx as the instructions for writing to disks is in a very low level of the system.
Apple could escape from these problems thanks to the forthcoming adoption of ZFS which we've been waiting for quite a while.
Indeed, the writing system for ZFS already contains specific optimisations for SSD, as well as the size of blocks it writes that, in the management of memory cells, reduce fragmentation to further accelerate disk access.
If the rumour is not wrong this time, ZFS should be one of the new features of Snow Leopard.

Today is the official launch date of the Nehalem, and Intel should bring numerous details about this new processor which should replace the current Core 2 architecture during Q3 2008. With the Nehalem, Intel introduces a new branding name for its CPU, officially entitled Core i7.
Most expectations are linked to higher performance/watt ratio as well as better power management for the mobile versions of this CPU. We will publish updates as soon as Intel releases the official information.
Hereafter are the official Nehalem logo, aka Core i7. The extreme edition of this CPU will feature a black background logo:

Hereafter is a report from our friend Martin from Japan:

Since yesterday, Softbank revised prices of its iPhone-linked subscription plans. The default charge of 6000 Yens (34 € or 51 USD) for data was reduced to 1600 Yens (9 € or 14 USD). So, the entry level subscription plan including unlimited talk time between Softbank users and the minimal data plan is now available for 3000 Yens (17 € or 26 USD)!
The reason behind this change: bring the iPhone and its linked services to a larger number of users.

The lack of iPhone on France and other countries will most likely prevent such price cuts in subscription plans, as Apple and carriers are not able to face the demand and provide enough iPhone.
Hereafter is a more complete information provided by "scarwithhide" another hardmac reader:

The subscription plan of iPhone in Japan has been updated and now it is starting from 2990 Yen per month.
The only part which has changed is the Packet plan. It used to be mandatory 5985 Yen per month whether you use it or not. Now it changes from 1695 Yen ~ 5985 Yen per month.
The detail is here: http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/iphone/price_plan/packet/
It costs 1695 Yen per month from 0~20175 packet. Then 0.084 Yen per packet. When it goes more than 71250 packet, the price will be steady 5985 Yen per month.
For those who would surf web on Wifi, it is more affordable.

While it is the title of a 10 years old Pixar's movie, it also summarizes today's experience of MobileMe users. We initially published on the main website as well as on our blog several news reporting numerous bugs of MobileMe. If at that time Apple quickly reacted by offering one month of MobileMe service, 30 days later the situation remains chaotic. If Steve Jobs acknowledges that Apple still has to learn how to deliver the top notch mobile internet service, Eddy Cue, freshly nominated to manage a new reorganized service, has a clear goal: bring MobileMe to the same quality level than the usual Apple's standards.
While this can happen, the daily misery for MobileMe users continues. While Webmail records numerous useless drafts, synchronizing your agenda between the iPhone and your hardware can quickly become a nightmare, and the expected cloud computing often leads to three different versions of your agenda: one from your iPhone, the one from iCal on your Mac, and the last one located on MobileMe server... Why do not we have the option to save a local agenda on the iPhone without relying necessarily on the bugged over the air synchronization? Similar bugs occur with the address book too, and here the risk is to simply lose precious contacts due to the same buggy synchronization service!
So, in summary, be very careful, and do not hesitate to save your important files or create archive of your address book and agenda, before MobileMe synchronization bugs mess them up. While waiting for the MobileMe to become the expected Apple's standard service, be cautious, and do not exclusively rely on it.