At the risk of being branded an Apple fanboy, I have to say Apple’s plans for the forthcoming iPhone OS 4.0 will vault the iPhone past all mobile competitors as the best mobile business device — period. Until now, the iPhone’s capabilities for security, app management and distribution, device management, and so forth have been middling at best, creating a real difference versus the BlackBerry for large businesses. In turn, this has let IT dismiss the iPhone as a toy and caused many IT shops to break out in hives when someone wants to use an iPhone on their network, though it’s the device that people want.

That’s about to change.

Important to most Corporate Security Officers –> Encryption < --, well Apple has a way of dealing with this now.
Data encryption and VPN security
iPhone OS 4.0 adds two encryption capabilities that will help calm some IT fears about iPhone adoption: It will encrypt email and any attachments with your PIN, and Apple is offering an API that lets apps encrypt all the data they store. SSL VPN support for both Cisco and Juniper networks is also being added.

Although more and more CIOs I speak with are finding ways to adopt the iPhone in its current state, this set of changes will go a long way to accelerating that adoption.

Apple Stages Corporate Takeover Summer 2010

* Ruling could affect FCC’s broadband plan

* FCC says remains committed to unfettered Internet access (Adds FCC, Comcast, analyst comments)

This ruling could open up the door for many others and deal a huge blow to US internet access as we know it today. The FCC ruled that Comcast could block bittorrent and the FCC was wrong for forcing them to unblock this access in 2008. This could start back up the talks of cable tv isp broadband providers charging for access to certain websites like Google. Senior leaders of broadband cable companies have been quoted in the past of statements “Why should Google get a free ride, we should be able to charge for access to Google”. Meaning these providers could now turn the internet into cable tv and charge additional for popular internet websites like they due for premium cable channels. What most non IT savvy americans do not realize is that Google is not getting a free ride. They pay for their internet access just like anyone else wanting to get on the internet.

This is something we all should watch very closely.

Rueters FCC Ruling Full Story

More than 600 communities have applied for a chance to be among those Google selects for its experimental 1-Gigabit-per-second, fiber-to-the-home networks.

The Internet search giant said it will announce its target “community or communities” by the end of the year. Google’s plan, announced last month, is to reach a total of at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people with the FTTH project. It had set Friday, March 26, as the deadline for proposals.

As of Friday morning, Google had received more than 600 community proposals and more than 190,000 responses from individuals, product manager James Kelly wrote in a blog post.

Local officials across the U.S. have engaged in zany publicity stunts in the last few weeks to try to win Google’s affections.

The mayor of Topeka, Kan., issued a proclamation renaming his city “Google” for the month of March, while the mayor of Duluth, Minn., “threw himself into the ice-ringed waters of Lake Superior” and the mayor of Sarasota, Fla., “immersed himself in a tank filled with bonnethead sharks, simply to one-up him,” The New York Times reported.

“We’re thrilled to see this kind of excitement, and we want to humbly thank each and every community and individual for taking the time to participate,” Kelly wrote. “This enthusiasm is much bigger than Google and our experimental network. If one message has come through loud and clear, it’s this: people across the country are hungry for better and faster Internet access.”

Google will review the responses over the next few months to determine where the 1-Gbps FTTH networks will be built. Kelly said the company will meet with local officials after narrowing the field.

All while Verizon is saying it is to expensive to continue FTTH, Google is steeping up to triple what Verizon had plans for, which one of these companies are right?

‘Tis fun while it lasted, yeah? Verizon’s FiOS has provided a much-wanted (or much-needed, some would argue) sliver of competition in markets that were previously offered just one or two ISP options, and the wicked fast speeds available through the fiber-based service were just one big stream of cherries-on-top. We’ve personally noticed that the company has slowed down the rate at which it blasts out releases trumpeting new FiOS and FiOS TV markets, and now we know why: an Associated Press report notes that the operator has canned all public plans about expanding its FTTH home network, though it will continue to build-out where it had previously announced service (Washington, D.C., New York City and Philadelphia, namely). Of course, Verizon never stated that it would be making FiOS a nationwide service, but after hitting at least some sections of 18 states, we had high hopes that it would keep on keepin’ on. Unfortunately, it looks like you’ll be forced to move to FiOS-heavy Massachusetts, or simply gaze endlessly from your apartment window knowing that you’ll never feel the warm glow of a FiOS wire.

WHY IT’S HAPPENING: Verizon never committed to taking FiOS to its entire local-phone service area. It’s expensive to install, and the economics don’t seem to favor further expansion.

The Conspiracy Theorist in me says due to the economy and Verizon loosing some of it’s wireless customer base they are going to keep cash in reserve and develop a plan to fight off Google. Google has announced it will rollout Fiber to the home to 600 communities providing GigE service. Or it could be a really strategic move on Verizon’s part. Verizon’s announcement comes as the US Government/Federal Communications Commission announces it’s national broadband plan — which aims to bring high speed internet to the entire US including rural areas. Not having seen this bill my guess is the US Government will be looking to contract these services out, and maybe Verizon is positioning itself to be one of it’s main providers?

So it looks like the two recent BlackBerry Messenger updates are the culprit behind yesterday’s BlackBerry service outage. If you’re running either of the problem-versions, you should update your software immediately via BlackBerry App World or at BlackBerry.com/Messenger using your BlackBerry Browser.

The outage is the second major North American BlackBerry service disruption for RIM and its customers in a week’s time. The occurrence of two major BlackBerry outages so close together is uncommon, and RIM typically prides itself on near-perfect uptime statistics. I can’t help but wonder if the first outage earlier this week is somehow connected to yesterday’s fiasco, but RIM isn’t providing any additional information at this point.

MoreHere

Today Apple introduced the new wireless Magic Mouse, the first mouse to use Apple’s revolutionary Multi-Touch technology. Pioneered on iPhone, iPod touch and Mac notebook trackpads, Multi-Touch allows customers to navigate using intuitive finger gestures. Instead of mechanical buttons, scroll wheels or scroll balls, the entire top of the Magic Mouse is a seamless Multi-Touch surface. Magic Mouse comes standard with the new iMac and will be available as a Mac accessory at just $69.

The scroll button on the Mighty Mouse was a big issue for Mac users, it would stick all the time. It frustrated me so much I replaced it with a Microsoft Trackman which is a great mouse but an abomination to be attached to a Mac.

Read More Here

Back in 1999 Yahoo purchased GeoCities for $3.65 billion, but today it has sent out a “final notice” warning GeoCities users that they are pulling the plug on the 26th October.

Yahoo currently is shutting down a lot of services which it seems as though previous CEO’s purchased for no real reason. Current Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz seems to have her head switch on and is focusing on Yahoo’s key business areas:

* Homepage
* Mail
* Messenger
* Everything “mobile”
* Search
* Media experiences across sports, news, finance, entertainment

“Yahoo’s goal is to be at the center of people’s online lives, and these efforts all support that,” says a source.

What is Yahoo wanting to sell:

* Yahoo Games!
* Yahoo Hot Jobs
* Yahoo Small Business
* Zimbra
* Yahoo Shopping
* Delicious

This was originally posted at ZDNet’s Between the Lines.

Sprint Nextel will outsource its network to Ericsson in a seven-year deal valued at $4.5 billion to $5 billion.

The deal, announced Thursday, allows Sprint to offload the costs associated with running its network. Sprint will transfer 6,000 employees to Ericsson.

Ericsson will now handle all the day-to-day operations and maintenance. The transfer of the network and the employees that go with them is set to happen by the end of the third quarter.

Steve Elfman, Sprint’s president of network operations and wholesale, said on a conference call that Sprint still owns its network and is responsible for strategic plans and investments. Elfman added that the goal is to improve the quality of the network and deploy next-generation technologies. Sprint will keep its customer service operations.
Sprint News

Using a 1961 federal law designed to stop illegal gambling, the state has directed 11 telephone and Internet service providers to block nearly 200 gambling Web sites.

I have managed to come across the actual letter that was sent to the ISP’s from Minnesota.
Letter Sent To the ISP’s4

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — On October 30 at 4:30 pm
Sprint-Nextel severed its Internet connection to Cogent thereby partitioning
the Internet. It is no longer possible for many Sprint customers and Cogent
customers to directly communicate across the Internet. Sprint did so in
violation of a contractual obligation to exchange Internet traffic with Cogent
on a settlement free peering basis. Sprint and Cogent are engaged in
litigation over this matter. Cogent regrets that Sprint chose to take this
unilateral action rather than await a determination by the court as to the
rights of the parties. Cogent remains ready to reestablish, on the same
settlement free basis as previously existed, the connections that Sprint has
severed.