• Thoughts on NoSQL - Good read for those that are anti-SQL or more correctly (IMHO) just open to using the right tool for the job at hand.
• Windows 7 first look: More than just “Vista, fixed” - More than I ever thought I wanted to know about Windows 7.  I might now have to consider being open to using it at home (I completely ignored Vista).

• Microsoft adjusts "Laptop Hunter" ad after complaints from Apple Legal - How can you have "completely unscripted commercials" where you go back and have to change the script?  But perhaps more interesting is the reference to "research data which pegs Apple as owning 90% of the computer market for machines that cost more than $1000."  Does that surprise anyone else other than me
• Intuit launches open source community - Open source comes to personal finance software. Interesting.
• Google Voice app GV Mobile ported to jailbroken iPhones, web app version in the works - Giving it a try right now.
• iPhone Jailbreaking Could Crash Cellphone Towers, Apple Claims - You've got to be kidding me.  "This also explains why Apple rejected the official Google Voice App for the iPhone this week. We thought it was because Google Voice posed a threat to AT&T’s exclusivity deal with Apple. Now we know it threatened national security."

I previously wrote some initial and additional thoughts on Google Latitude highlighting some of the pitfalls of it being browser based.  There have been others that have written but this one points out that the story of not confusing the user with the Maps app has a bunch of holes in it.  In the end, this stifles innovation.

Then I come across a story on Apple blocking Google Voice from the App Store that reinforces the notion that they are stifling innovation.  Now, in this case it is likely due in part to pressure from AT&T, but there are official Google Voice apps for other mobile devices so it is still Apple that is caving in this case.  And if true that Phil Schiller had personally approved it and had to call to apologize, it is more embarrassing but also probably proof that it came from AT&T or (gasp) Steve.

I can understand, but don't agree with, why Apple would restrict apps may adversely affect battery life or confuse the average user, but outright not allowing interesting and creative apps that are ground breaking and available on other mobile devices is just wrong.  I love my iPhone and am happy I made the purchase as Android wasn't mature enough yet and I can jailbreak to get around some of Apple's restrictions, but I'm growing increasingly open to my next phone being something else as the other platforms mature and don't impose the restrictions Apple does.

• For Mozilla and Google, Group Hugs Get Tricky - "In short, Mozilla showed the world that browsers matter. Now the challenge is to keep proving that Mozilla matters."  I think Mozilla and Firefox absolutely do matter.  Some interest notes on how Google rationalized building Chrome given their relationship with Mozilla and Firefox.
• Apple's tablet in time for Christmas? - I wouldn't call it a Newton, but I don't think it would fail like the Newton either.
• Hacker Says iPhone 3GS Encryption Is ‘Useless’ for Businesses - Yet another "feature" of the 3G S that doesn't compel me to want to fork out the cash to upgrade.  “Apple may be technically correct that [the iPhone 3GS] has an encryption piece in it, but it’s entirely useless toward security.”

I wrote up some initial thoughts on Google Latitude for the iPhone a few days ago and this morning I come across this ZDNet blog entry on the struggle between Apple and Google on native vs browser based apps.  While a part of me admires Apple for going to extreme lengths to ensure their devices have a good user experience, in this case their desire to control the device is, IMHO, not providing the best experience.  As noted in my blog there are a few quirks and serious limitations that I think wouldn't be there if it was a native app or otherwise restricted by Apple's review process.

That said, Apple does control the device and Latitude not being available for the iPhone was a glaring gap so Google no doubt had to accept the limitations.  And clearly Apple is being successful with the iPhone, but at what point will Apple have to relinquish some control or risk losing market share to other devices running Android?  The iPhone has a head start but you can be sure that Android will improve and the openness of the platform will be an advantage that will benefit it.

And related, but in the Apple vs Palm front, as you are probably aware, one of the Palm Pre's touted features was being able to sync with iTunes.  Apple used their control of the platform to break that sync'ing with an iTunes update, but Palm has countered with an OS update that makes the sync'ing work again.  When will this cycle end?  Probably not any time soon.

I had heard about Google Latitude awhile back and wanted to try it out, but alas it didn't support the iPhone.  That is until today!  The Google Mobile Blog today announced support for the iPhone so of course I had to try it out.

As they highlight in the blog, this is not an app but rather a web-app you access in Safari.  Apparently Apple didn't want to confuse users with a new Google Maps type of app when there is already the native Maps app.  Since keeps things simple, but the downside is it apparently only can update your location when you are actually running Safari on the google.com/latitude site as it can't run in the background.  That is awfully limiting and I'd think its fatal flaw, but we'll see.

When I first pointed Safari at the app, it came up with a login form to log in to my Google account and, whoa, what just happened?  Suddenly Safari disappears and I'm back at the iPhone home screen.  This is the first outright crash of Safari on the iPhone I recall.

So, I try it again and this time there is no crash and I'm able to login.  Along the way though I'm asked to allow using my location no fewer than three times which seems a little much.  Oddly, getting all the way out of Safari, and running it again it only asked me once.

In any case, it tells me I have a friend request (I'd gotten that far when I tried to look at it awhile back) so I accept it and then go to try to add more friends myself.  It lets me scroll through my address book, but oddly the app has a floating menu bar at the bottom that it has to try to reposition while scrolling and the scrolling is much jumpier and frankly annoying than the scrolling in any other app I've seen on the iPhone.

Another first, and potential flaw, is that while I am inside and thus GPS assist isn't working, the location it has for me using its triangulation method isn't accurate, and in fact my actual location is about 400 meters outside the displayed accuracy circle.  I'm sure it probably has something to do with my specific location and isn't a widespread problem, but I swear before the OS 3.0 upgrade in the same situation Maps was more accurate.  And Maps is consistent so it isn't unique to Latitude.

In summary, great idea, but a few rough edges, particularly having to have Safari on the app in the foreground for it to work, probably make it more toy than genuinely useful app.  Have you tried it?  What do you think?  Your comments are welcome. 

• Microsoft, the GPL and Linux: The Q&A - O'Grady's Q&A are always a good read, this one no exception.
• To the Moon - with extreme engineering - A great read for anyone interested in the space program.  It is sad that the conclusion is that the Apollo program could never happen today due to politics and bureaucracy though.
• Survey: 71% of IT departments block users from social networking - Am I the only one surprised it is this high?  Now, if the blocking of anything construed as social networking results in a yes, I can see how it might be skewing the results.

• Microsoft contributes to Linux kernel: a CAOS Theory Q&A - Times are a changin' in Redmond.  They are going on the offensive more and now are contributing to existing open-source projects with the "cancerous" GPL even!
• Report: Americans dumber than a box of rocks about spam - "The spam problem isn’t going away - but we can make a difference if we just use some common sense."
• Does social media really correlate with the bottom line? Color me skeptical - As with most things, doing the "new thing" alone is not a cure all.  Social media, used well, can enhance an organization and its interactions with its customers, but won't fix a flawed business model or other root issues.

It's been several weeks since I wrote about track and field, and with this weekends action in Europe, things are heating up with some good competition, outstanding times by some stars, and standard chasing by some Americans.

The big meet of the weekend was the Paris Golden League event Friday night.  The highlight of the night was Usain Bolt running 9.79 in the 100m for a meet record, made all the more impressive by the conditions he had to run it in (cooling and heavy rain).  It's unfortunate that Bolt and Gay (world leading 9.77 this year) won't meet before the World Championships in Berlin.  The mens 3000m also had an outstanding showing by Bekele running 7:28.64 by taking it out strong behind the pacemaker and slowly building a gap over Lagat.  Lagat still finished well in a PB of 7:33.15 for second and Chris Solinsky ran a solid 7:37.72 for fourth.

In the 400m, Jeremy Wariner won the mens in an ok 45.28 due in part to the wind and rain, but Sanya Richards threw down an impressive 49.34 so the weather cannot have been that bad.  In other women's action standard chasing Maggie Vessey was a DNS in the 800m (tightness in leg during warmup or something, perhaps another shot Tuesday in Gent) but Anna Willard made the USA proud winning and setting a PB in 1:58.80 and this isn't even her event for Berlin!  And in the women's 100m Kerron Stewart continued her impressive year winning handily in 10.99.

The standard chasing continued he Heusden in Belgium on Saturday with a number of good showings.  These were headlined by Matt Tegenkamp running 13:07.97 to get second in the 5000m to meet the A standard making it so his teammate Evan Jager can make the team (has the B standard) joining their other teammate Chris Solinsky and defending champ Bernard Lagat in Berlin.  Jager, dropping down for a little speedwork also set a PB in the 1500 B heat in 3:38.33 so he is running well.  Nate Brannen won the 1500 A heat in 3:36.53 which did not quite meet the A standard.

Heusden was also the site of Pamela Jelimo trying to come back to form after a couple very disappointing times well over 2 minutes, and succeeded winning in 1:59.59.  Leonel Manzano also dropped down in distance to run the 800m and did so successfully finishing in 1:46.20 which I believe is a PB.

Today in Rethymyno Greece there was some good sprint action including LoLo Jones running a world leading 12.47 100m hurdles and Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie running a 22.32 world leader. 

This weekend's big meet is the London Super GP where Bolt and Powell will run the 100m, Gay the 200m, and a host of others in other events at the 2 day event, but during this week Gent on Tuesday should see a number of Americans looking to run fast times including Maggie Vessey trying to get sub-2:00 in the 800m.

• The decade's 25 biggest tech flops slideshow
• Is the Tour now the best BlackBerry on the market? [video] - The best BlackBerry yet?
• Microsoft is switching from defense back to offense - Some interesting sports analogies, but also what Microsoft needs to do to compete in the long run.

• Twitter’s @Ev Confirms Hacker Targeted Personal Accounts; Attack Was “Highly Distressing.” - A lesson to us all to make sure our passwords are strong and secure.  Gaining access to as little as one "throw away" e-mail account can cascade to access to financial or other confidential information through standard password recovery mechanisms.
• Dell, HP even in second quarter U.S. PC shipment race; Apple market share slips as Acer surges - Apple surprisingly down 12.4% from last year but Acer up an astounding 51%.  The poor economy seems to be causing folks to balk at the "Apple Tax" benefiting Acer which typically has amongst the least expensive machines.
• Palm launches webOS SDK, aims to bolster app lineup - I'm actually surprised the SDK wasn't available when the device was launched.  Story also notes that the latest iTunes breaks syncing with the Pre which was expected.

• Microsoft's Azure cloud price pipped by Amazon's Linux - Why would you go with Azure when Amazon is the same price or cheaper and offers platform choice?  I do find it interesting but not surprising that Amazon charges a 25% premium for Windows over Linux/UNIX.  The "Microsoft tax" has to be passed along to the customers.
• Google Calendar gets some labs features - Since their apps are no longer beta, they'll just use Labs at where they provide beta features.
• Dumb wireless pipe wars: Google Voice coming to BlackBerry, Android - Will Google be your phone company too?  I'm still waiting for my Google Voice invite.
• VendorRate Report Q2 2009 - VendorRate's customer satisfaction survey has some surprises and what you might expect.  Sun amongst the top vendors and all the major mobile providers (Verizon, Sprint, AT&T) along with Microsoft (twice) all lowest rated.

• Apple market share tops 10%, Windows share lowest since tracking began - Interesting read after my thoughts on browser market share.  Perhaps there is an opportunity for Chrome OS if they can get it out quick enough.
• Jobs: Catch the App Store if you can - "Simply put, carriers have no desire to be a dumb pipe to deliver access. Apple’s march could easily relegate carriers to dumb pipe status. It’s an interesting development that will take years to play out."
• Microsoft Office Web Apps: No test build until August - If Google is coming after Microsoft in the OS arena, Microsoft will go after Google in the web-based apps arena.
• Two ActiveX vulnerabilities make IE a toxic choice - ActiveX continues to be an issue.  "Is Internet Explorer too toxic to trust?"  I wonder if Office Web Apps uses ActiveX?!
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• Is Free the Future of Enterprise Software?  Yes and No. - Good read on "Freemium" business models.  A great quote: "Not everyone will find the same value in your product or service. For those that don’t, why not keep them as users and turn them into evangelists?"
• Leadership Matters: Google, Microsoft Duel Good Drama - "So, forgive me if I'm not quite ready to attend the Microsoft memorial service, nor am I ready to sell my house and load up on Google stock because of the Chrome OS."  It may not be the "Microsoft killer" right out of the gate, but I think he's discounting Google a little too quickly.  And more importantly it isn't trying to beat Windows straight up, but adapting to the changing technologies and the internet to provide a better and more efficient experience for the user.
• Google's Chrome OS: Maybe Not a "PC" OS After All - Following on that theme, a good article on how Chrome can/will be different.
• Chrome OS: 3 reasons it matters, 4 reasons it's irrelevant - The most compelling point is that Chrome OS is too late.  "By the time Chrome OS is released, Windows 7 will be everywhere (at least in the consumer market) and Mac OS X will be faster and simpler with the release of Snow Leopard."  I have to say that the timing of when it will be available was the biggest surprise to me and what ultimately could be its greatest risk.

• iPhone 3G S limited to 384K upstream - Story seems specific to the 3G S, but I'm guessing the 3G has the same limitation?  This story doesn't say either but hypothesizes it is more about battery life than appeasing AT&T by not congesting the network and I tend to agree.  In any case, more reason to not spring for the 3G S and to wait as I'm happy with my 3G upgraded to OS 3.0 and jailbroken.