The Dodge Retort

I wish I could tell you this is my first post composed on my new iPad, but its on-screen keyboard doesn’t come when I use WordPress 3.0 in the Safari browser.

That’s just one example of things I can’t do on the iPad that I can on my netbooks, notebooks and tower PCs. Actually, I just found WordPress in the iPad App Store and with a couple tweaks, adapted my blog editor to the iPad. But going into WordPress straight through Safari was a bust.

Apple's WordPress app for iPad

So this post was half-composed with the iPad and I am still figuring out details like embedding links and that sort of thing.

Don’t get me wrong: there’s plenty to like about the iPad:  it’s a great reader, photo and video viewer with a fantastic display, but to three decade PC vet like me, it feels quirky. And the tablet metaphor has some drawbacks.

For instance, I recline using my netbook and notebook. With the display flipped up, I plunk the notebook down on my belly or chest and type with two hands. The tablet requires one hand to hold it up (it feels heavy at one pound, six ounces), leaving only one hand with which to peck away. For me, this is a downside of the tablet.

I have this idea for a sling like device attached to the iPad and fastened to my forehead. That would free up my left hand for typing. Or I could really grow mountainous beer belly and lean it against that.

No Adobe Flash on the iPad also means I can’t play my favorite Facebook game, Word Twist. And funneling everything through iTunes onto the iPad (save a the Camera Connection Kit, which my Apple store seems always out of) is a pain. iPad like Macs are closed systems.

I  like the iPad the more I understand its trove of features, but I won’t be giving up my PCs any time soon.

Follow me on Twitter.

Like two million others before me, I am getting my iPad – today. Yes, t minus 90 minutes before I head to the Apple store in Salem, N.H. to pick up my  64 GB 3G iPad.

It seems so appropriate for Father’s Day. Just plunk down the $829 cost on plastic (add $30 for the cover and god knows what else I’ll get while I am in the spending mood) and worry about paying later. Truly the American way…

As many of you know, the iPad is seriously back-ordered. I put my iPad reservation in 4-5 weeks ago and checked on it Friday. The store salesman told me it had no reservation for me on record, but that he’d re-enter it and I should expect to wait two months for delivery.

The next day as in yesterday June 19th, I got an e-mail from Apple telling me my unit was in and that it would be held in my name for 24 hours. I’ll take that as a good sign.

I better print out that e-mail and take it with me.

Follow me on  Twitter.

PC Pitstop has published the results of a pretty interesting PC security survey and found the two least effective anti-virus programs are the ones many of us use – McAfee and Symantec Norton. I use McAfee and as far as I know, there’s nothing sinister on my PCs.

That’s not to say McAfee and Symantec Norton don’t have their strengths:  Symantec was tops in Spyware protection and McAfee was second. The most prevalent threat is spyware. But the pair didn’t distinguish themselves like Kaspersky, which ranked first in protection against viruses and rogue security software.

In other words, no one program does it all. Here’s Pitstop’s conclusion:

“No one security provider is good at protecting against all aspects of security. As the analysis suggests, each vendor has some strengths and some weaknesses.”

A whopping 23 percent of the 50,258 PCs that Pitstop analyzed had no security protection at all and 14 percent had some sort of  ”high level security threat.”

I’ve always found it annoying that I have to pay close attention to viruses and spyware that are so prevalent in the Microsoft Windows world when Macintosh users get off scot free. But the delta between Macs and PCs remains so great that I’ve stuck with the later (I am typing this post on a very good HP Pavilion dv4 that I bought for $290).

Before you rush out and start loading up on Kaspersky, Symantec or any other security programs, check out another study that I blogged about at SmartPlanet.com. It says that many of the security measures we take and pay for are often a waste of time.

The eye-opening study was done by Microsoft researcher Cormac Herley. Maybe Microsoft wants us to think the threats its software seems to attract are not so threatening, after all. While there may be some self-interest here, the study is work a look.

Here’s an excerpt:

“Users are never offered security, either on its own or as an alternative to anything else. They are offered long, complex and growing sets of advice, mandates, policy updates and tips. These sometimes carry vague and tentative suggestions of reduced risk, never security. We have shown that much of this advice does nothing to make users more secure, and some of it is harmful in its own right.”

Still feel insecure, confused and scared into buying these security programs? I wished the Pitstop study told us how the `unprotected’ 23 percent are doing.

Follow me on Twitter.

Microsoft is taking off the gloves when it comes to showing how badly it think Linux is doing on netbooks and notebooks. On its Windows Team blog today, it trumpets the fact that PC World, the large UK electronics retailer, is going all Windows and ditching Linux. Check it out. The post even has a quote dinging Linux from a PC World executive.

For my money (and yours), I’d like to see Windows get some competition.

Many exciting things are on tap for The Dodge Retort and yours truly, John Dodge. From the top:

– Tomorrow, I will post my First Look at the Windows 7 Release Candidate running on a netbook. The review will also be promoted in the PC Pitstop newsletter (circ. 900k!) that goes out Tuesday so it should get great exposure.

– Dell has promised to send me an evaluation unit of its education netbook, the Latitude 2100. I will do a no-holds barred review. Trying to nab a Mini 10v, too.

– The buzz today is that Apple will do a tablet of some sort as opposed to a traditional netbook. Check out the coverage.

– I’m supposed to getting the Storm and LG Versa phones from Verizon for review. The Storm has been out a while, but I want to see why folks are opting for the Curve like I did instead of the Storm.

– On June 1, I will be blogging for ZDNet’s on smart technologies. Stayed tuned for more details in next week or two.

Have great long weekend everyone!

Verizon pitched me recently on doing a post on its Friends & Family calling program launched in February. That’s where qualifying customers can exclude five or ten numbers from counting against their plan minutes.

So I asked Verizon how many have taken advantage of the “free” program and what does Verizon get out of it. Verizon New England spokesman Mike Murphy didn’t answer either question, but did extol the benefits of F&F. So I am left to speculate.

My guess F&F sweetens the pot for customers to upgrade their basic plans to the $60 a month Nationwide Single Line plan which is required for the five F&F package or the $90 Nationwide Family SharePlan for the ten. Or to switch to Verizon from another carrier (a quick check of AT&T plans shows it still only has unlimited inter-network mobile to mobile by comparison). While Verizon says F&F is “free,” the company isn’t giving away anything because you have to sign up for the qualifying plans.

Still, F&F for minute gobblers is a good deal and should not be overlooked especially if you already qualify (Shame on me – I qualify for the ten, but have yet to take advantage of it).

Murphy did have a few interesting things to say about what Verizon has invested in its 3G network in New England -$240 million last year and $2.4 billion since 2000. The motive here is spread the word about the huge capital investment it takes to build these networks to assuage the sting of $40 or $60 a month for 3G wireless broadband, for example. Hey, these networks don’t grow on trees so we all have to pay.

Indeed, Verizon is on a roll with its 86.6 million wireless customers which makes one other of Murphy’s comment all the more intriguing. Besides things like its network and F&F, Verizon, he says, has curried customer favor with the company’s aggressive lawsuits against spammers.

“Maybe some of that loyalty is due in part to these lawsuits against spammers!?!” Murphy says. In early May, the company filed suit against a mortgage company for allegedly sending 800,000 spam text messages to Verizon customers.

Dell today introduced the Mini 10v netbook line this morning on its Direct2Dell blog as an entry level netbook to its Mini 10.

I watched the eight minute video on the 10v and jotted down some notes. The star of the video was Brian Pitstick, who leads Dell’s Mini product development (stay tuned for a Q&A with him when I get back from Europe around May 21). Nothing jumped out at me as extraordinary, but the machine emphasizes the notion of a companion computer that you use in bed or in front of the TV (which is exactly how I use my netbooks, one at bedside, one in the family room). The only difference is I see my netbook as my primary laptop. Sorry notebook makers, but you keep adding features, models and improving performance, keyboards and battery life.

The 10v also comes with some unique entertainment features. Dell positions this as entry level netbook with the standard Mini 10 and $430-$480 Mini 12 holding up the higher end. The 10v, which is highly customizeable, starts at $299.

The most disappointing omission in my opinion is the lack of a built-in mobile broadband option, which is about to be the ground zero  hotspot of the netbook market. The always-connected netbook will be as transforming as the always-on wired cable broadband options that appeared in the mid-nineties and largely did away with dial-up modems. All netbooks should come with the built-in mobile broadband option, IMO…at least in the parts of the world where broadband is dominant. Lordy, Wifi is about to invade airplane cabins.

“Expect more mobile broadband news soon,” says Dell spokesman John Pope.

Here’s the features:

– 92% full keyboard with more traditional layout than other Minis. As he flashed it on the screen, it looked similar to the 92% keyboard HP has had in its Mini line all along. Same keyboard is in the Mini 10 already and is slightly larger than the Mini 12′s, says spokesman Pope.

– Novel touchpad design with buttons below the pad to create more touch real estate.

– 10″ WSVGA display with 1024 x 576 maximum display (the standard Mini 10 goes up to 1366 x 768) hence the 10v’s lower price point.

– Ubuntu 8.04 and Windows XP operating system (sorry, no Android…yet!)

– three or six -cell batteries

– N270 or N280 Intel Atom processors

– 120 or 160GB hard drive and 8 and 16 Flash memory storage options.

– More entertainment features found than in most netbooks including an HD mode, TV tuner, HDMI port

– Last but certainly not least in this fashion conscious world,  Seven colors and five designer lids options (sorry no photo of the latter, but you can see it on the video.

The color purple is included

The 10v's 92% keyboard

The Boy Genius Report claims it has received “firm confirmation” that the HP Mini 1151NR netbook has started arriving in stores and will sell for the discounted price of  $199 if the customer signs up for two years of Verizon Wireless Broadband. I couldn’t find the 115NR on HP’s site so it may a model unique to Verizon although Boy Genius didn’t say which stores where the mobile broadband unit is showing up. Launch of the unit with mobile broadband is slated for May 17 or next Sunday. Boy Genius did not identify its sources.

My Verizon PR contact would not confirm the report. “We don’t respond to rumors and as soon as we have news share, we certainly will pass it along to you,” she said.

Such rumors often prove to be in error. A report last week said an Acer Aspire One discounted with two year’s activation of AT&T mobile broadband would start showing up in Costco stores today. As of now, such a deal had not shown up on the web site except its $350 Acer Aspire One without mobile broadband. An administrative person at my store in Danvers, Mass. (which has a manned Verizon kiosk, by the way)  said no netbook-mobile broadband bundle had appeared in her store today. “I have not seen anything like at all.” Nor was there any such announcement at Costco Corporate press release web site.

If true, the Verizon-HP bundle is more a story about a bigger discount for netbooks with mobile broadband than HP’s and Verizon’s first joint netbook offering. HP is already selling the Mini 1000 Mobile Broadband WWAN Series for $429.99 with built-in wireless broadband radio modem with a $100 debit card for agreeing to two year’s activation of the Verizon service. The new bundle would seem to increase the netbook discount to $230 (or $350 if the customer goes with HP-s recommended WAN Series configuration at $550).

It’s still unclear what’s in the 115NR model, exactly, but the differences in the WWAN Series are slight – 8.9 or 10.1 inch display, 512KB or 1GB memory and three tiers of storage – one 80GB hard disk and 16 and 32 BG flash options. I did locate a 1110NR and 1120NR both with mobile broadband so possibly the 1i51NR is some approximation of those two models.

HP Mini 1000

Marketer Lynn Kettelson sent me an insightful article arguing that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has the Kindle DX business model back asswards. The article claims Bezos wants a whopping 70% of newspaper subscription revenue generated by the Kindle DX. With that, he could the miss the huge opportunity that the Kindle DX has put within his grasp.

The author,  Dave Morgan, who sits on the board of newspaper concern A.H. Belo,  says Bezos has a wonderful opportunity to define  the market for portable readers and like many others think he’s on the road to success with technology piece of the equation. He could be on the verge of an iPhone-like franchise and in that vein, he should be investing in promoting the DX to several constituencies, not trying to grab the lion’s share of the revenue, Morgan writes.

I generally agree with Morgan’s assessment and have a call into Amazon to determine if the 70 per cent formula is the foundation of the business strategy. The New York Times, Washington Post and Boston Globe with is teetering on the brink have agreed to do DX trials.

Morgan’s criticism of the purported terms seems justified if for no other reason that most newspapers are flirting with extinction. What’s more, many if not most under forty somethings readers are unlikely to shell out the $489 for the DX given their disinterest in newspapers and in many cases, news.

Bezos’ message seems to be that it’s up to newspapers to figure out a more effective and efficient way to put the news and ads before reader eyeballs. The DX is simply another option beyond web sites. If newspapers can claim readers, but doesn’t have to print and deliver a newspaper to them, there is immense cost savings. Bezos clearly wants a piece of that savings. After all, this is a guy with legendary mechanical aptitude, according to his Wikipedia  profile which says as a toddler, he tried to dismantle his crib with a screwdriver. Now he wants to dismantle the presses albeit with a much more sophisticated tool.

But if he truly wants to save newspapers, he should buy or maybe start one that only distributes content on the Kindle DX. He wouldn’t even need the bother of a web site. He’s worth $8.2 billion and his ranking on Forbes World Billionaire List is number 110. What’s a bil or two for newspaper that could sorely use the investment (my favorite newspaper, the Boston Globe is for sale, I’m sure…). Of course, he’s hardly encouraged when billionaire Warren Buffet says he wouldn’t buy a newspaper at any price.

Morgan talks much more depth about what will persuade consumers to embrace the DX such as attracting developers to write applications for it, making nice nice with newspapers which can promote the DX and perhaps most important of all, devising an Internet ad model and taking on Google in the process. Forget subscription revenues which have never covered any more than a fraction of the cost of putting out a newspaper.

“Make the enemy of your enemy your friend,” Morgan writes. By that, he means now is an opportune time to on Google which is mistrusted by publishers and being scrutinized by regulators.

I’d like to offer one more word of advice: buy, er, rescue  a newspaper and deliver content exclusively by the DX (of course, you would have a web site…I was just kidding about that).  Don’t leave it just to newspapers to prove the DX’s worth. You do it, too.

FierceWireless blurbed earlier today that a Seattle company issued a news release saying it was porting Adobe Flash Lite 3.17 technology (Flash for mobile phones and consumer gadgets) on Dell netbooks running the Android OS. Android netbooks from Dell? That’s news. Dell, a longtime Windows loyalist,  hasn’t said anything about Android which was developed by Google.

After I contacted Dell PR, it would seem Bsquare, a software and engineering firm specializing on embedded Windows applications, jumped the gun although I am waiting for confirmation such a news release was issued. I can’t find anything like that now on the news section of Bsquare’s web site, but it got wide coverage.

Below is the response to my query from Dell spokesman John Pope:

“Thanks for checking with us. Dell constantly assesses new technologies. On the Bsquare release, it was issued in error and Dell has made no announcements on plans to issue an Android-based netbook.”

Hmmm…where there’s smoke, there’s fire….and possibly Dell Android-based netbooks. too?)