Patent Office “Heads Up” on Decision re. RIM/NTP Patents December 21, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : Blackberry, Technology , add a commentU.S. Patent Office Likely to Back BlackBerry Maker – New York Times
The technology patents at the heart of an infringement lawsuit by NTP against Research In Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry wireless e-mail device, are likely to be struck down by the United States patent office, both companies said on Monday, a move that would be a setback for NTP.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office took the unusual step of notifying the companies that it expected to reject the five patents held by NTP in its final rulings.
The office has issued preliminary rejections of all five wireless e-mail patents in the past. The final rulings may come by mid-February, earlier than expected.
“The patent owner’s arguments are deemed nonpersuasive,” said the patent office document, which was received last week but dated Nov. 30. “The next office action is expected to be a final rejection of all current claims.”
Good news for Blackberry users. Of course, we need to keep an eye on what happens in the lawsuit separately, but it’s pretty hard to say “they infringed our patents”, if those patents are ruled invalid by the USPTO…
technorati tags: blackberry, RIM, NTP
Another Patent Rejected in the RIM/NTP Battle December 16, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : Blackberry, Technology , 1 comment so farFrom Blackberry Cool:
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected a second NTP Inc. patent in what it described as a non-final action. The patent, 5,625,670, is one of five at the center of the long-running patent dispute between NTP and Research In Motion Ltd., maker of the BlackBerry wireless handheld device. It’s the second time in a matter of weeks that the PTO has issued a “non-final” rejection of an NTP patent.
Another step in the right direction.
technorati tags: blackberry, RIM, NTP
RIM-NTP Lawsuit – The Timeline December 15, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : Blackberry, Technology , 1 comment so far(You can find an updated version of this timeline here)
I was consolidating some notes on the various things that have happened in this lawsuit, starting out with a post I linked to earlier, the Mobile Enteprise Weblog, and adding in some other events.
I ended up with this timeline:
Click on it to see it somewhat more readable.
Rest of my posts on RIM, Blackberry’s and the NTP lawsuit elsewhere on this site.
technorati tags: blackberry, RIM, NTP
RIM/NTP Lawsuit – Blackberry Shutdown? December 2, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : Blackberry, Technology , add a commentThe folks at Blackberry Cool have this most succinctly in their post titled “Calm Down Folks, No Possibility of Blackberry Shutdown”.
I don’t know if I’d go so far as “no possibility”, because there’s always an outside chance, and strange things have happened in the world of litigation before, but generally speaking, I agree with them – that’s why we haven’t gone any further at my company with our contingency plans, which involved the Windows Mobile 5.0 devices. In the post above, they say:
Our prediction is that RIM and NTP will settle for a huge amount, possibly in the 1 billion range so that both parties can move on from the case that has latest for 5 years.
I think they’re right – the only variable is going to be the number. Will this affect RIM long-term – yes, how can it not? Right out of the gate, that’s a lot of cash to pay out. But in the longer-term, will it make them want to innovate, compete, and maintain their market share? Again – how can it not? I have to admit that I’m looking forward to the end of this dispute, and everyone getting back to the business of technology, instead of the business of law.
Related Links Around The Web:
Michael Sampson – Thoughts on RIM vs NTP
Mobile Enterprise Weblog – The biggest story for enterprise mobility in 2005
Mobile Enterprise Weblog – RIM: The Buzzards Are Watching (timeline of events)
Patently-O: Patent Law Blog – Blackberry Patent Settlement Found Unenforceable (includes links to the court documents)
technorati tags: blackberry, RIM, NTP
New Category – Blackberry December 2, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : Blackberry, Technology, Uncategorized , add a commentI’ve added “Blackberry” as a sub-category to “Technology”, as I seem to be writing about it regularly. I’m going to go back and update previous posts to reflect this category, in addition to “Technology”. Hopefully, that won’t push those back out to the RSS feed – sorry if it means you get dupes; it’s just a one-off correction.
RIM, NTP and Lawsuits – More News November 30, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : Blackberry, Technology , add a commentThe “Blackberry Cool” folks have a piece here about the continuing legal troubles the Blackberry folks are facing.
Research In Motion Ltd., facing litigation that may halt its BlackBerry e-mail service in the U.S., is this week fighting a case to protect the technology in Britain. Luxembourg-based Inpro Licensing Sarl is suing Research In Motion at a London court for allegedly infringing a U.K. patent it holds relating to the relay of data between BlackBerry phones and pagers and the Internet.
If Research In Motion loses the case, it may force the Waterloo, Canada-based company and partners such as T-Mobile International AG to stop selling or supporting the devices in Britain, according to lawyers acting on the case. Research in Motion has around 375,000 BlackBerry subscribers in the U.K., around 10 percent of its global total.
But the hits just keep on coming…
U.S. District Judge James Spencer has rejected RIM’s request to delay the case and refused to enforce a previously negotiated, and then disputed, $450 million settlement with patent holder NTP Inc. He’s going to set a date to hear NTP’s request for damages, and more importantly (from a Blackberry user’s perspective) to work through the injunction request that would halt Blackberry services in the USA.
NTP’s lawyers have said that they hope these developments will bring both parties back to the negotiation/settlement table. We can but hope.
RIM has issued a press release on the matter.
technorati tags: blackberry, RIM, NTP
Reviewing Meebo November 27, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : Technology , 2commentsMeebo – a web based instant messaging application, supporting the major IM platforms – MS Instant Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger or ICQ, Jabber or GTalk, or Yahoo! Messenger.
Instant Messaging – it’s not just for kids anymore, and hasn’t been for a long-time. It’s in daily use by millions of folks, using it professionally and personally. One of the everlasting issues, however, is that unlike email, where it doesn’t matter what client you use, it very much matters what IM client you use – the major networks don’t talk to each other. There’s an “open” network out there (Jabber), but it doesn’t talk to the “Big 3” commercial systems. So, you can see there’s an issue.
As a solution, you could, for instance, use GAIM. Multi-platform, open-source, and all that good stuff. Or, you could use Trillian – there’s a free version and a pay-for pro-version, which is my personal choice of IM client and has been for some years. Both of these solutions, however, rely on you being able to download and/or install software on your PC. That’s not always an option – think internet café, work computer, or computer somewhere you just happen to be grabbing internet access, such as a friends computer (who may well already be logged into the IM networks, thus preventing you logging in under your own credentials).
Enter Meebo. Officially launched beyond “friends and family” as they put it on their site only a few days ago, and already revised more than once as a result of the public feedback and commentary, Meebo is an AJAX web-application, offering substantial IM communications, through a regular web-interface.
Find it at http://www.meebo.com
Read their blog at http://blog.meebo.com
Download it from – you don’t. That’s part of the point 
Go to the website (www.meebo.com), and you’ll be redirected to one of their host servers. The sign-on screen is shown below:
At the bottom of the sign-on screen, you’ll see “Passwords encrypted with 1024-bit RSA keys. Copyright 2005 Meebo, Inc. All rights reserved.”. There’s a page at http://blog.meebo.com/?page_id=25 that talks about their security. For the sake of clarity and the paranoid – be aware that using this service, yes, the folks at Meebo are getting your password(s), and could record it if they wanted, and that in turn could be exposed if the database was cracked, released or sold. Security is one of those areas where there’s a lot of “if’s, but’s and maybe’s”. You pay’s your money and you takes your chances. Decide for yourself whether the risk is worth the potential reward.
After you’ve signed in to one of more of the services shown above, we get to the meat of the matter:
This is showing the latest entry from the Meebo blog, an AOL system message (because I was already logged in to AIM on my other PC, and Meebo/AIM correctly identified this, and allowed me to log my other session off), and an obscured message window where I was testing a message through to an MSIM contact.
When a message window is open, you get the “[contact name] is online” or “[contact name] is typing” notifications that we’ve come to know and expect; when I had a different window selected, and a message came in from a contact, the Start-Bar button flashed, and alternated text of the contact name, and the first few words of the message they had typed. That was a nice feature. Tab back to the Meebo window, and the interior window with the message itself has its title bar flashing.
You can logon to a message service once you’ve started the Meebo page – the buttons are at the bottom of the buddy list, bottom right of the screen in the example shot above. Or you could log out of a specific service if you so desired.
The service is openly “Alpha”, and a work in progress. There are a substantial number of “missing features” – and I quote that because, depending on your point of view, they’re not necessarily missing. But, to be clear, at the moment there’s no file transfer, no video or voice communications. This is Instant Messaging, old-school style – you can type, and that’s it. But sometimes – that’s all you want. If you’re somewhere you can’t download and/or install a client, for whatever reason, this is an application that may work for you. Back at home, perhaps the native application, GAIM, or Trillian is more appropriate. Borrowing a computer somewhere – this is definitely an application to be aware of.
My personal want list? Skype integration, for the text instant messaging at least.
Now… the “other side”. The Corporate Security side. I can see this being blocked, deliberately, a lot of places. I don’t know if Meebo has found its way yet into the databases of Websense and the like, but I’m sure it will do in due course. If you manage to get an IM client installed on your desktop, it can “disguise” its traffic and communicate over port 80 (HTTP) or 443 (SSL), which puts you in a position of having to use port-filtering appliances to block the traffic. An application like Meebo relies on a specific website, which is nominally easier to block, although there are “ways around” that, too. At a minimum, *.meebo.com is a target for blocking, as the web servers are www2., www3., etc. I wonder how long it’ll be before someone finds an easy workaround to this…
My advice on the above? If you’re somewhere where Meebo is blocked, be it school or work, accept that, and/or make a written case for the communication benefits of IM to the appropriate “authorities”. There are plenty of studies on the various aspects of communication out there on the internet. Pitch, for instance, that you want the text IM, rather than the file-transfer option (which causes security concerns) or the voice/video functions (which causes bandwidth concerns). See where that gets you.
But for the internet café, somewhere you’re just popping into to check mail and such – here’s a nice, new option for checking IM as well, and I wish Meebo every success.
technorati tags: IM, Technology, Web 2.0, AJAX
Mind-Mapping November 22, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : MindMapping, Process, Technology , 1 comment so farMy friend and colleague Ant posts about Mindmapping, with the observation “I was introduced to the concept by a colleague a few months ago and now I’m hooked.”. What he neglects to mention is his original assessment of the technique – “oh no, Gary’s on another management fad!”. Just thought I’d call him out on it
Glad you’ve come around to this stuff Ant – I don’t think a day goes by at the moment that I don’t do some form of mindmap. Not always as formal as a MindManager produced version, maybe just a back-of-the-envelope one, but it definately helps with the thought process.
And if you haven’t already seen it, you might want to look at the browser plugin for MindManager.
technorati tags: Process, MindManager,
OneNote Mobile November 22, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : Technology, Uncategorized , add a commentOK, so, if the RIM/NTP lawsuit goes in favor of NTP, and RIM actually does have to close down US operations (getting more unlikely, given the recent brief filed in interest by the US DOJ), this might be enough to make me happier about moving to a Windows Mobile device again.
Enter OneNote Mobile. OneNote Mobile is your portable extension to OneNote that you get when you purchase OneNote. You install it on your Windows Mobile SmartPhone (this is semi-automatic so it is low hassle) and you’re good to go. A few weeks ago, David Siedzik, the program manager for OneNote Mobile showed it to the mobile devices MVPs who were on campus and actually got a standing ovation! Read on to find out why.
When we shipped the syncing feature for mobile devices in OneNote 2003SP1, we had a few constraints that limited us to simply one-way sync (device to PC). A big one was that the built-in note applet was not designed with OneNote in mind, so it couldn’t handle our data unless it were “dumbed down” to plain text more or less. We didn’t have dev resources then to build our own SmartPhone client so that limitation wasn’t going away. We also found that most people were interested in the “upload” scenario, although plenty were also interested in bringing their data with them. So we did the relatively cheap thing which let you take notes on your device and see them in OneNote.
OneNote Mobile goes way beyond that. It is a real note taking app for your mobile device. You can take text notes, voice record, or snap them with a camera. It has a cool picture viewer for navigating the image in detail.
Goodies:
- Two-way sync
- Note flags
- Most formatting is transparent between OneNote and OneNote Mobile
- Image pan and zoom
- Photo note taking. Merging the analog and digital worlds in Chris Pratley’s words, and expounded on some here.
No PocketPC version at the moment – there’s several “votes” for that functionality in the comments of the source post, so that may change – you never know.
I’m a satisfied Blackberry user, but I also make a lot of use of OneNote as part of my personal GTD methodology, using OneNote as a primary capture device during meetings, brainstorm sessions, and so forth. Being able to use it in a mobile fashion… That’d be useful.
Microsoft – Simple Sharing Extensions (SSE) November 22, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : Technology, To Watch, Uncategorized , add a commentAn extension to RSS intended to facilitate the sharing of data between disparate applications, such as calendar data between private, corporate and public calendar objects. Sounds like a better method than iCal at first blush. Be interesting to see what comes of this. The draft spec (0.9) for the extension is here. From the FAQ, this isn’t limited to calendar data though:
Just as RSS enables the aggregation of information from a variety of data sources, SSE enables the replication of information across a variety of data sources. Data sources that implement SSE will be able to exchange data with any other data source that also implements SSE.
From the user’s perspective, this means that you will be able to share your data (such as calendar appointments, contact lists, and favorites) across all of your devices and with anyone else that you choose, regardless of infrastructure or organization.
SSE is particularly useful for scenarios in which there are multiple masters and/or asynchronous updates. For example, SSE could be used to share your work calendar with your spouse—either of you could enter new appointments, even if not currently connected. Similarly, SSE could be used to replicate a set of calendar entries among a group of people, each working in a different company and using different infrastructure.
technorati tags: RSS, Technology
RIM/NTP Lawsuit – RIM “Workaround” November 20, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : Blackberry, Technology , add a commenthttp://www.blackberrycool.com/2005/11/17/001090/
Users of the popular BlackBerry wireless device will not lose their service if maker Research In Motion Ltd. is hit with an injunction in a U.S. court case, a top RIM executive said on Wednesday. RIM Co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie said the company recently completed a software upgrade that it may deploy in a bid to work around the patents involved in its legal dispute with NTP Inc.
“We’re endeavoring to plan for every scenario,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of the UBS Global Communications conference inNew York. “Our customers can be calm that there won’t be an interruption of service.”
technorati tags: blackberry, RIM, NTP
TVTAD – Bittorrent and RSS for Television November 16, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : RSS, Technology , add a comment“TVTAD is an RSS feed reader with support for unlimited feeds. It will automatically download newly released TV episodes that have been added to your favorites.”
Gary’s thoughts on bittorrent and TV, and the views the cable companies might have: guys, I’ve already paid for this stuff. I could have watched “House“ last night; or I could have set my DVR to record it. Let’s say I forgot. And I get a torrent of it. What’s the big deal? Make this stuff available on line for me to download directly from you, pretty please?
Movie torrents, music torrents – OK, that’s a whole different kettle of fish.
There’s a news article “The day the broadcast died” that might be of interest.
technorati tags: Bittorrent, Torrent, RSS, Television
Microsoft Windows Desktop Search – Enterprise November 16, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : Technology, Uncategorized , add a commentAnnounced at the IT Forum, from the press release:
The availability of Windows Desktop Search enabled for enterprise deployment. Windows Desktop Search enables information workers to save time by providing a single search starting point from which people can quickly find relevant information on their PC desktops, in e-mail, on network file shares, or across intranets and the Web.
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technorati tags: Search, Desktop Search, Enterprise Search, Microsoft
Exchange 12 – 64-bit Only November 16, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : Technology, Uncategorized , add a commentFrom the IT Forum Press Release:
As part of its commitment to 64-bit computing, Microsoft has been delivering products that are optimized for 64-bit, including the newly released SQL Server™ 2005, Visual Studio® 2005 and Virtual Server 2005 R2. To help customers take full advantage of the power of 64-bit computing, products including Microsoft® Exchange Server “12,” Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003, Windows Server™ “Longhorn” Small Business Server, and Microsoft’s infrastructure solution for midsize businesses, code-named “Centro,” will be exclusively 64-bit and optimized for x64 hardware. In a future update release to Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Server “Longhorn” operating system, code-named Windows Server “Longhorn” R2, customers will see the complete transition to 64-bit-only hardware, while still benefiting from 32-bit and 64-bit application compatibility. For the highest-scale application and database workloads, Windows Server on 64-bit Itanium-based systems will continue to be the premier choice for customers for years to come.
Heads up on the Virtual Server pricing stuff, same source:
As part of its broad strategy to help customers realize the benefits of virtualization and progress toward self-managing dynamic systems, Microsoft has released to manufacturing (RTM) Virtual Server 2005 R2, which will be available in volume licensing and retail the first week of December. Virtual Server 2005 R2 delivers improved performance, availability and scalability for server consolidation, legacy application migration, disaster recovery, and software testing and development. Microsoft will be offering Virtual Server R2 Standard Edition for $99 (U.S.) estimated retail price and Virtual Server R2 Enterprise Edition for $199 (U.S.) estimated retail price. This new pricing represents Microsoft’s commitment to making server virtualization more accessible to customers at the lowest price point.
technorati tags: Exchange, Technology, Virtual Server
Monitoring The NTP/RIM Lawsuit November 11, 2005
Posted by Gary Slinger in : Blackberry, Technology , add a comment(Update: My latest post on the NTP/RIM lawsuit, and see the “Blackberry” tag under “Categories” over on the right for other posts). My timeline of the NTP/RIM lawsuit is online as well.
From Canada’s “National Post”:
The U.S. government waded into the high-stakes legal battle between Research In Motion Ltd. and patent collector NTP Inc. yesterday, saying a possible U.S. ban of the popular BlackBerry wireless e-mail device could put essential government services in jeopardy.
“The injunction would literally prevent RIM from providing the services that would be essential for the federal government, as well as state and local governments, to continue their use of the BlackBerry devices,” the U.S. Department of Justice stated in a court filing.
The government department wants 90 days notice before a U.S. trial court enforces the potentially crippling injunction on BlackBerry devices in the United States to ensure public workers can keep using the devices
With a couple hundred Blackberry users at the company I’m at – including myself – I’m obviously “somewhat interested” in this lawsuit. I live by my Blackberry – it’s my phone, my PDA, where I make notes to myself when I think of things, what I use to browse news websites when I’m killing time but not at a computer. It’s a core component of my personal implementation of David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodology. If NTP prevails in this, it ain’t going to be pretty. Corporately, yes, we could move to Windows Mobile – we have all the infrastructure in place. Personally though, having been a PDA user for a while, starting with Windows CE Pocket, then CE Handheld, jumping ship to a Psion and then a Palm Vx, before succumbing to a HP iPaq, and then abandoning THAT and moving back to paper, before finally getting a Blackberry – the Blackberry to me is everything I need in a communications package, and it “just works”.
Back to the article:
The U.S. government also said the extra time is necessary so the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office can reconsider the validity of wireless e-mail patents held by NTP. The Patent Office has already overturned the five disputed patents filed by since-deceased inventor Thomas Campana Jr., although NTP has asked the patent office to reconsider its decision.
Good. I’m not going to get into a political debate on patents here; I’m just glad that the PTO seems to be siding with RIM so far.
Incidentally, NTP had previously agreed to a $450 million settlement fee. That deal fell apart with disagreement on the settlement terms. Guys? That’s a hell of a lot of money. Take it, and let us get back to working with our Crackberry’s, eh?
technorati tags: Blackberry
