All posts by Craig Murphy

Has Apple shot itself in the foot? What do you think?

I’ve been thinking about my earlier post a little more. You know, I’m no marketing guru or press relations expert, but I can’t help but think that Apple might have opened up a whole can of worms: a possible marketing disaster? I do appreciate that there is a breach of contract in play (by those folks who unlocked their iPhones), but if every contract was enforced in this way, where would we be? Surely customer alienation isn’t the right option?

I guess that Apple are simply covering themselves if AT&T decided to seek compensation for the lost revenue. Working out how much that compensation might be is anybody’s guess – are Apple able to identify and quantify all the unlocked iPhones that are in use? Probably not. Instead, they rely on the fact that folks always want the latest and greatest, so they release a firmware update that is capable of identifying unlocked iPhones at source, then it disables them. I would imagine that makes for one rather upset customer (“upset” probably doesn’t really do the customer’s feelings that much justice, but it’ll do for this blog, thanks!)

Apple shoots itself in the foot?

Has Apple shot itself in the foot?

Do you think Apple were right to release firmware that essentially disables the iPhone if it’s not on an AT&T network?

How else could Apple have dealt with this sitution?

Tell me what you think please!

On another note, I couldn’t help but notice my Google Ads on the iPhone post…the irony of the ads still offering iPhone unlocks!

unlock you iPhone ads

Related Information
BBC – Apple iPhone warning proves true
Gizmodo’s recommendation
Customers are not ‘brand accessories’
http://nanocr.eu/ (specifcally this and also this)

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Do Apple iPhone users who have unlocked their phones deserve to be locked out?

Recent press has confirmed that Apple’s threat to disable iPhones that have been unlocked appears to have come true.

The Guardian’s article title is rather amusing: Apple bricks some hacked iPhones.

Gizmodo has a good piece about it here.

Twitter has gone wild with folks reporting problems, not just with hacked ‘Phones but with regular unhacked devices too. And even Robert Scoble’s son is having problems.

Do you think iPhone users who unlocked their devices deserve to be locked out? I suppose it *is* breach of contract and Apple are simply enforcing that contract…after all, I guess AT&T have a legal position on this too. I’d appreciate your comments.

Related Posts
Has Apple shot itself in the foot? What do you think?

Apple shoots itself in the foot?

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Reminder: Free Edinburgh Event 3rd October – Astoria and XBAPS

Further information can be found over at Scottish Developers

Microsoft Codename “Astoria”
The emergence of Web 2.0 technologies has brought new opportunities and caused us to solve old problems in new ways. AJAX and Silverlight applications need read/write access to data and business objects without performing full page refreshes and without dumbing down the data so much we are just left with primitives. Microsoft’s answer to this problem is Microsoft Codename “Astoria”. In short “Astoria” is a data access layer for client-size technologies such as AJAX and Silverlight. This session shows how it works, how you can write “Astoria” data servers and how you can customize “Astoria” to your applications requirements.

Using ClickOnce and XBAPs To Deploy Windows Forms and WPF Applications
ClickOnce provides the ease of web form deployment for Windows Forms applications. The same technology is used in XAML Browser Applications (XBAPs) which are Windows Presentation Foundation applications that are hosted in a browser. This session introduces the ClickOnce technology and demonstrates its use in many scenarios including: zero touch deployment, one touch deployment, reversion to previous versions, uninstallation. We also cover deploying WPF applications through the browser (known as XBAPs) and illustrate the similarities and differences between XBAPs, MSI-deployed WPF applications and Windows Forms applications deployed using ClickOnce. This session represents an opportunity to understand how to get the ease of web deployment together with richness of Windows Forms or WPF.

When and Where?
We’ll be meeting at the SKM offices in the 160 Dundee Street building, Edinburgh, EH11 1DQ at 19:00 on Wednesday 3rd October. The offices are between Fountainbridge Leisure complex and the Victor Paris Bathroom Shop.

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NxtGenUG chaps on Mix07, including mentions of Scott Guthrie, Robby Ingebretan, Simon Peyton Jones

Following on from podcast 39, the NxtGenUG chaps have released podcast 40 – both of which focus on the MIX07 event held in London 11-12 September 2007.

After their long climb up the stairwell (listen to podcast #39), Rich and Dave reach the top of the lighthouse, so to the sound of waves, seagulls and foghorns, they look back at Day 2 of MIXUK. Amongst interviews with Robby Ingebretan and the ubiquitous Scott Guthrie, and between highlights of ‘Swagily Fortunes’, Dave apparently has lost his flute but marvels at Simon Peyton Jones’ presentation technique while Rich reminisces about the scouts and wonders what we all need to do to live, thrive and survive …

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WordPress 2.3 upgrade complete

Well, I bit the bullet very soon after the 2.3 announcement went out. Here I am running 2.3 on this blog.

I had hoped that the new built-in tag support would emulate the functionality that I get from Simple Tags. However a brief test using information found here, revealed that the tagging mechanism appears to be limited to within this blog and doesn’t insert Technorati tags as I expected. Once I’ve got some sleep I’ll have another look.

Anyway, I need a really nice, simple, clean 2 or 3 column fluid theme – does anybody have any suggestions? I am very close to writing my own theme as I’m really struggling to find one that I can settle down with.

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Scott Lovegrove interviews Danny Thorpe and Angus Logan


Angus and Danny

Whilst at MIX07 UK a few of us were running around grabbing podcasts with speakers and attendees.

I podcasted with Scott, he then podcasted with Danny Thorpe and Angus Logan. Scott’s podcast is here, over at LiveSide.net.

One thing that caught my attention about this podcast was the fact that it available via Silverlight streaming [here too], complete with chapter points. This is a great feature, especially where a single podcast contains two or more short podcasts back-to-back – making navigation that bit easier. It’s certainly something that I’ll be looking into for my next series of podcasts later this year.

Related Posts
Scott Lovegrove interviews Danny Thorpe and Angus Logan
NxtGenUG chaps on Mix07, including mentions of Scott Guthrie, Robby Ingebretan, Simon Peyton Jones
027 – MIX07 – Jim McNiven and Chris Hardy – Viral Marketing
026 – MIX07 – Men Of Iron – Michael Foord, Dave Verwer – IronPython, IronRuby, the DLR
019 – MIX07 – Danny Thorpe – on Borland, Google, Windows Live and .NET
018 – MIX07 – Scott Lovegrove on Windows Live Services
017 – MIX07 – Hugh MacLeod – the inspiration behind the Blue Monster

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025 – NRW07 – Thomas Freudenberg on Community Server 2007, Facebook & Twitter

Welcome to podcast #025. I’m talking with Thomas Freudenberg about Community Server 2007, social networking and micro-blogging. Recorded live, in a bar, after many small beers had been consumed, there is some background noise. Please remember that Thomas is graciously speaking English, his second language – I’m obviously very grateful to Thomas for podcasting in English.

Podcast feed – subscribe here!

This podcast:

Resources & Related Posts
Thomas Freudenberg’s web site
Follow Thomas on Twitter

016 – NRW07 – Daniel Fisher on Community In Germany
020 – NRW07 – Vinzenz Feenstra – Grisoft – AVG
021 – NRW07 – Stephan Oetzel – On Community In Germany
022 – NRW07 – Frank Solinske – Windows Home Server
023 – NRW07 – Michael Willers – On security and rootkits
024 – NRW07 – Mischa Huschen – Dynamic loading of code, plug-ins/add-ins

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024 – NRW07 – Mischa Huschen – Dynamic loading of code, plug-ins/add-ins

Welcome to podcast #024. I’m talking with Mischa Huschen about the dynamic loading of code using plug-ins and add-ins. Recorded live, just outside the conference venue (Die Börse in Wuppertal), there is some passing traffic. Please remember that Mischa is graciously speaking English, his second language – I’m obviously very grateful to Mischa for podcasting in English.

Podcast feed – subscribe here!

This podcast:

Resources & Related Posts
Prodot

016 – NRW07 – Daniel Fisher on Community In Germany
020 – NRW07 – Vinzenz Feenstra – Grisoft – AVG
021 – NRW07 – Stephan Oetzel – On Community In Germany
022 – NRW07 – Frank Solinske – Windows Home Server
023 – NRW07 – Michael Willers – On security and rootkits

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023 – NRW07 – Michael Willers – On security and rootkits

Welcome to podcast #023. I’m talking with Michael Willers about security, rootkits and the NRW07 Community Conference held in Germany on the 24th of August 2007. Recorded live, just outside the conference venue (Die Börse in Wuppertal), there is some passing traffic. Please remember that Michael is graciously speaking English, his second language – I’m obviously very grateful to Michael for podcasting in English.

Oh, and Michael has a super MSDN watch!

Podcast feed – subscribe here!

This podcast:

Resources & Related Posts
DevCoach
MSDN Security Week

016 – NRW07 – Daniel Fisher on Community In Germany
020 – NRW07 – Vinzenz Feenstra – Grisoft – AVG
021 – NRW07 – Stephan Oetzel – On Community In Germany
022 – NRW07 – Frank Solinske – Windows Home Server
024 – NRW07 – Mischa Huschen – Dynamic loading of code, plug-ins/add-ins

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Oh oh – I’m on a Wanted List…

A few of the UK regulars are on a Wanted List for the Irish IT Community circuit.

What can I do? I’ll oblige of course, I’ll get myself over to Ireland with a laptop loaded full of slides and demos and “go do”! And I’m sure that the other members of the Wanted List will probably do the same:

Guy Smith-Ferrier
Dan Moth
Mike Ormond
Dave McMahon
Doug Mahugh
Jean-Luc David
Richard Campbell
Richard Costall
Jerry Mead (how you doing? we micro-presented at MIX07!)

Now, if we could all appear at the same time, we’d have a two-track conference!

Anybody on the list want to form a team to “make it so”?

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022 – NRW07 – Frank Solinske – Windows Home Server

Welcome to podcast #020. I’m talking with Frank Solinske, Microsoft MVP. We talk about the Windows Home Server and the NRW07 Community Conference. Vinzenz is also present and offers his thoughts on some of the points Frank makes. Recorded live, inside the conference venue (Die Börse in Wuppertal), there is some background noise. Please remember that Frank and Vinzenz are graciously speaking English, his second language – I’m obviously very grateful to Frank and Vinzenz for podcasting in English.

Frank’s a great speaker, so much so, he will be speaking and the Windows Server 2008 , SQL Server 2008 and Sharepoint 2008 launch events!

Podcast feed – subscribe here!

This podcast:

Resources & Related Posts
http://blog.solinske.de/2007/08/27/NRW07ItacutesOverNow.aspx

016 – NRW07 – Daniel Fisher on Community In Germany
020 – NRW07 – Vinzenz Feenstra – Grisoft – AVG
021 – NRW07 – Stephan Oetzel – On Community In Germany
023 – NRW07 – Michael Willers – On security and rootkits
024 – NRW07 – Mischa Huschen – Dynamic loading of code, plug-ins/add-ins

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021 – NRW07 – Stephan Oetzel – On Community In Germany

Welcome to podcast #021. I’m talking with Stephan Oetzel about the NRW07 Community Conference held in Germany on the 24th of August 2007. Recorded live, inside the conference venue (Die Börse in Wuppertal). Please remember that Stephan is graciously speaking English, his second language – I’m obviously very grateful to Stephan for podcasting in English.

Podcast feed – subscribe here!

This podcast:

Resources & Related Posts
http://www.stephanon.net/
016 – NRW07 – Daniel Fisher on Community In Germany
020 – NRW07 – Vinzenz Feenstra – Grisoft – AVG
022 – NRW07 – Frank Solinske – Windows Home Server
023 – NRW07 – Michael Willers – On security and rootkits
024 – NRW07 – Mischa Huschen – Dynamic loading of code, plug-ins/add-ins

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