HDTVs, Blu-Ray Players Push Web Connections

Connected TVs, set-top boxes, and Blu-ray Disc players aren't new, but they continue to make new connections with Web sites and services, from YouTube and Netflix to Amazon and Internet radio sites. Some offer a lot more than others, but all are building up their portfolios of Web video and interactive services. The definition of "connected" varies widely between consumer electronics vendors.

Some of the newest entries were on display last week at the CEDIA (Custom Electronic Design and Installation Association) event in Atlanta. Available on networkable Bravia sets, the video service will also appear on a new networkable Sony Blu-ray Disc player, the BDP-N460, which will ship later this fall priced under $250. (Sony Bravia TVs also offer Web content such as stocks, weather, and Twitter, via their Bravia Widgets.) LG Electronics, meanwhile, announced the addition (via a firmware upgrade later this month) of the Vudu on-demand service to the Netcast Entertainment Access service on its $399 BD390 Blu-ray Disc player. Sony, which already offers movies, TV shows, and music from some two dozen partners, including Amazon movies on demand, Slacker radio, and YouTube, announced that it will add Netflix to its Bravia Internet Video lineup later this fall. The service already offers access to CinemaNow, Netflix, and YouTube content. And Samsung's networkable Blu-ray Disc players, including the BD-P1600, BD-P3600, and BD-P4600, will add YouTube access to the existing Pandora and NetFlix services.

Samsung's Internet@TV service, which already had a dozen Yahoo widgets, now offers on-screen access to Rallycast fantasy sports applications, including Facebook messaging and access to team stats. Pioneer, meanwhile, demo'd a new platform for connected electronics. The prototypes at CEDIA featured everything from video-on-demand services to backup. Code-named Project ET, it is designed to allow device designers and/or consumers to choose the content and services they want by clicking on menu buttons in the service's Web portal. Pioneer officials said the platform could exist on a set-top box of its own or on a Blu-ray Disc player or other networkable device (one demo setup featured a Blu-ray player with 1 terabyte of built-in storage.

The company hopes to show a product based on the platform within the next few months.

The other iPhone lie: VPN policy support

It turns out that Apple's iPhone 3.1 OS fix of a serious security issue - falsely reporting to Exchange servers that pre-3G S iPhones and iPod Touches had on-device encryption - wasn't the first such policy falsehood that Apple has quietly fixed in an OS upgrade. Before that update, the iPhone falsely reported its adherence to VPN policies, specifically those that confirm the device is not saving the VPN password (so users are forced to enter it manually). Until the iPhone 3.0 OS update, users could save VPN passwords on their Apple devices, yet the iPhone OS would report to the VPN server that the passwords were not being saved. It fixed a similar lie in its June iPhone OS 3.0 update. The fact of the iPhones' false reporting of their adherence to Exchange and VPN policies has caused some organizations to revoke or suspend plans for iPhone support, several readers who did not want their names or agencies identified told InfoWorld.

Worse, it revealed that Apple's iconic devices have been unknowingly violating such policies for more than a year. "My guess is the original decision to emulate hardware encryption was made at a level where there wasn't much awareness of enterprise IT standards. One reader at a large government agency describes the IT leader there as "being bitten by the change," after taking a risk to support the popular devices. "I guess we will all have to start distrusting Apple," said another reader at a different agency. [ Apple's snafu on the iPhone OS's policy adherence could kill the iPhone's chances of ever being trusted again by IT, argues InfoWorld's Galen Gruman. ] Last week's iPhone OS 3.1 update began correctly reporting the on-device encryption and VPN password-saving status when queried by Exchange and VPN policy servers, which made thousands of iPhones noncompliant with those policies and thus blocked from their networks. (Only the new iPhone 3G S has on-device encryption.) Apple's document on the iPhone OS 3.1 update's security changes neglected to mention this fix, catching users and IT administrators off-guard. After all, this is a foreign language for Apple," says Ezra Gottheil, an analyst at Technology Business Research. "However, once the company realized the problem, it made a spectacularly dumb choice. Instead, it allowed itself to be seen in the worst possible light. The change was necessary and inevitable, but Apple could have earned some points by coming clean at the earliest opportunity. This is the result of a colossal clash of cultures.

Even when it is trying, Apple cannot force itself to think like an enterprise vendor." Apple's advice to users on addressing the Exchange encryption policy issue is to either remove that policy requirement for iPhone users or replace users' devices with the iPhone 3G S. IT organizations can also consider using third-party mobile management tools that enforce security and compliance policies; several now support the iPhone to varying degrees, including those from Good Technology, MobileIron, and Zenprise.

Lotus goes after Microsoft's 'ridiculous and fabricated' figures

Lotus Software GM Bob Picciano has grown tired of the "hot wind" blowing out of Redmond carrying claims that Exchange is displacing Notes and is singling out CEO Steve Ballmer and COO Kevin Turner as the main culprits spreading "ridiculous and fabricated" information. They are still utilizing capabilities from other aspects of the Lotus portfolio," said Picciano. Exchange alternatives: Front ends and back endsA look at Exchange 2010 "Microsoft is making claims in the marketplace around 4.7 million people have exchanged e-mail from Notes to Exchange and that is just a ridiculous fabricated figure," said Picciano, who took the reins at Lotus in 2008. "Every time they sell a [client access license] they count that as a competitive migration." "People need to recognize that Kevin Turner and Steve Ballmer have blown a lot of hot wind from Washington and there is not much substance or truth to what they are espousing in the marketplace," Picciano said. "They were so bold as to say there are entire countries that have migrated off of Notes and that is utterly ridiculous." Picciano says all the talk has "got me pretty worked up that they would be so bold to make such erroneous statements and not be challenged." The Lotus Software GM says many of the reference companies cited by Microsoft when it made its "4.7 million people" comment in July "are still licensing Lotus Notes technology and still utilizing e-mail and applications from Lotus.

At Microsoft's annual meeting this summer for financial analysts, Turner heaped on more numbers during his presentation at the event. "We've taken out almost 13 million Lotus Notes [seats] the past three years. … Now, the thing that I would tell you is there's still 15 — we count — there's still 15 million out there." He cited SharePoint Server as the "fastest-growing, hottest product in the history of Microsoft," and pegged it as a catalyst in the fight against IBM. Picciano said the counter was last week's news that U.S. Bank was replacing Microsoft's SharePoint platform by standardizing on the Notes 8.5 client and would roll out Lotus Connections social networking tools, the Sametime real-time platform and Lotus Quickr, which is IBM's alternative to SharePoint. He said PNC Bank and Continental Tire are joining U.S. Bank in getting rid of Microsoft's Exchange, Office and SharePoint. On Tuesday, Picciano threw out his own numbers saying a total to 15,421 companies have picked IBM over Microsoft since 2008 in the worldwide integrated collaborative environment market as defined by IDC. In addition, Picciano says customers are expanding their investment in Lotus software and he cited as examples Accenture, BASF, Chrysler, Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, Continental AG, Finishline, General Motors, GlaxoSmithKline, Gruppo Amadori, KBC Bank, Nationwide, Novartis, Phillips Electronics and PNC Bank. In January, Picciano said more than 12,000 new companies in 2008 bought their first Notes/Domino licenses. People understand what Kevin's motivation is and the prancing around in front of partners and talking about this.

And he said half of the Fortune global 100 are Notes/Domino users. "It's important to put [Microsoft's claims] into perspective and call it what it is, a bunch of fabrication," Picciano said. "Kevin is feeling that he is under a bit of pressure. It's duplicitous and overshadows the real truth." Follow John on Twitter.

NASA ready for Mars rocket test flight Tuesday

NASA is set to launch a test flight of its new Ares I-X rocket that is designed to replace the aging space shuttle fleet and eventually spirit humans to Mars . NASA announced today that the test vehicle is slated to take off some time between 8 a.m. and noon tomorrow from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39B. The space agency noted that Ares I-X rocket is the first non-space shuttle craft to be launched from the Pad 39B since the Apollo program's Saturn rockets were retired more than 25 years ago. "For those of us who've lived with the shuttle and grew up looking at Saturn Vs, it's obviously a little different than what we're used to seeing," said Jon Cowart, one NASA's two Ares I-X deputy mission managers, in a statement. If the 1.8-million-pound, 327-foot-tall rocket doesn't launch on Tuesday, the take-off will be rescheduled for Wednesday, according to NASA. The space agency noted on its Web site that it's looking for tomorrow's flight to gauge the dependability and characteristics of the rocket's hardware, facilities and ground operations. Bad weather could stand in the way of the big test launch, though, as meterologists say that there's only a 40% change of good weather in the four-hour window.

With more than 700 sensors on board, Ares I-X is wired to relay ascent data back to engineers on the ground. NASA reported that the rocket's four first-stage, solid-fuel booster segments come from the space shuttle program. The Ares I-X combines technology from several different operations. A booster segment contains Atlas-V-based avionics, and the rocket's roll control system comes from the Peacekeeper missile. NASA's Ares rockets are expected to return humans to the moon and later take them to Mars. However, the launch abort system, simulated crew and service modules, upper stage, and various connecting structures are original.

NASA has been planning on a move to the moon and then on to Mars for several years now. With budgetary concerns in the forefront, the review is looking at possible alternatives to programs already in the pipeline. The space agency has been working toward setting up a lunar outpost by 2020. However, the schedule, if not the mission itself, has come into some question as President Barack Obama's administration oversees an independent review of NASA 's human space flight activities.

1Password 3 beta now open to all

Encumbered by passwords? Want to help out some classy Mac developers in their quest to kill bugs dead? Eager to try unreleased software?

If you missed out when Agile Web Solutions was offering a private beta of 1Password 3 to customers on Snow Leopard, there's good news! 1Password 3 is now available as a public beta for one and all. Feel special? Yes, that means you. You should! 1Password 3's new features include 1PasswordAnywhere, which allows you to open a 1Password Agile Keychain as a folder with a password-protected Web interface on any operating system. Software Licenses now have their own category, complete with icons and a new vault-like appearance.

You can even add and edit existing items in your Agile Keychain from the browser, but only on Mac OS X computers that have 1Password 3 installed and the Agile Keychain selected. There's also a separate dashboard for iPhone and iPod Touch syncing that will allow you to sync just the passwords you want to 1Password Touch. 1Password 3 also features touch gestures inspired by those in Apple Mail; a brand new UI; metadata tags to better organize items; the ability to create, edit and remove fields for Login and Wallet items; and 64-bit support for Snow Leopard. First, it requires that you're running at least Mac OS X Leopard 10.5. Second, since it's a beta, you really should backup your 1Password Keychain just in case this beta spawns the dread lord Cthulhu and your passwords are dragged into an inky black abyss. (We are assured that this is a very remote possibility, but you can never be too careful.) Finally, it'd be nice if you had an account at Agile Web Solutions' support forums to tell the developers about bugs you've found or learn about bugs that have been discovered by fellow beta testers. Before you give this software a try, you need to be aware of a few things. It's all part of being a good beta tester.

If you've purchased 1Password 2 before then, fear not! The beta of 1Password 3 is free for everyone, but the full version will cost $40 with the same 100% money back guarantee as 1Password 2. If you've bought 1Password 2 after February 1, you'll get an upgrade for free. You can upgrade a single user today for the limited time price of $20 or upgrade a family license for $30.