In 1992 Nintendo won a lawsuit against Atari and was able to lock-out third-party software vendors from providing games for its gaming systems unless they purchased a key (license). Since then the Holy Grail of gaming, smartphone and now computer system companies was to bring to market systems where they had control of every third-party device and program for that systems. By control, I mean, they get paid an upfront licensing fee, a per-unit sold payment or both.

The market has shifted to the point where all of the available gaming consoles operate that way. Today, if you buy an Xbox 360, Sony PS3, Sony PSP, Nintendo Wii, etc. you’re only going to be able to purchase software and hardware from licensed developers.

Compelling customers to purchase all products and services related to the base product from the original manufacturer is not unique to the computing industry. Through various means everyone from razor manufacturers to auto makers utilize the practice to varying degrees. As companies have discovered they can lock out competition for those add-on sales through technology and the courts it has grown more and more prevalent.

At times the consumer may benefit, at least initially, from this practice. Many manufacturers will price the base item lower than they normally would. Of course, they expect to make more money once the purchaser begins making additional purchases.

In addition, there are some that will argue that the original manufacturer is also the best possible entity for checking add-on products for stability and compatibility. That’s potentially true if that’s really being done. Unfortunately, there’s more than enough evidence to indicate that there really isn’t a lot of stability testing going on before items are released.

So, let’s talk about the downsides; Recently, Sony’s ineptitude at standard network security highlighted a huge issue. If the only place you can purchase software or receive necessary services goes down for any reason the device you have may become little more than a paper weight. What happens to iOS customers if Apple’s App Store or iTunes is brought down for any extended period?

Many of Sony’s PlayStation Network customers recently went without online play for weeks after Sony was unable or unwilling to secure its network. Many of Sony’s customers were angry about the outage and Sony’s lack of care with their personal information; some even brought a class-action lawsuit.

Well, if you can’t hire quality systems security professionals the next best thing is to hire good lawyers. Sony has decided to change their PlayStation Network License to disallow any further class action lawsuits. That type of clause isn’t all that unusual, many companies would rather have all complaints brought against them be heard by arbitrators. Let’s just say that companies don’t lose very often when the Judge owes his income to that company. But, when a company changes their terms and demands all existing customers either accept the new terms or stop using the service it becomes what we lawyer types call a contract of adhesion. That’s a contract where one side has all the bargaining power and the only choice the other side has is to agree or leave.

If you’re purchasing a piece of software and you don’t like the license terms you generally have the right to return the software. While you may be unhappy you really haven’t been hurt financially. But, can that be said for someone who has invested hundreds of dollars in a PlayStation system? If you don’t agree to Sony’s new rules you’re now unable to participate in the service that very well may have been the reason you purchased the system and because the system is closed there’s no other place to procure those types of services.

Okay, so that doesn’t bother you. There are too many class action lawsuits and the network outage wasn’t Sony’s fault anyway…how should they have known there were hackers out there? Let’s walk down the path of closed systems a bit further. As I wrote earlier the primary reason for these types of systems is to increase profits to the company. One of the ways a company makes money is by extending the sales life of products.

During the 1990s Microsoft was found to have acted in an anti-competitive way towards several of its competitors most notably a web browser company called Netscape. Microsoft allegedly engaged in unfair technical hurdles, bundling and sales tactics to slow and block Netscape (and others) from selling their products meant to run on Windows. With a closed system it becomes much easier. If a company comes up with the next big thing to run on your system you either delay approval of the technology until your competing product is improved or don’t approve it at all. They can also force companies to remove features from their product to make them less desirable (Apple recently forced all eBook apps to remove the built-in links to their book stores).

Finally, the tin-hat crowd out there claims an even bigger risk. Corporations can use their control over the system to censor apps and content they find objectionable or promote content they believe to be in their best interest. Few would complain if the capability is used to block child pornography, but what if it is utilized to promote a political agenda that’s favorable to the corporation? Or censor something they find to be unfavorable (Apple recently removed an App that highlighted serious problems with one of their manufacturing partners, Foxconn Technology Group).

The market leader in smartphone OS is currently Google’s Android which is an open system. Google does provide its own market, but competitive stores are also available, including one by Amazon. It’s also relatively easy to install apps from other sources (side loading). Unfortunately, Google really doesn’t have a competitive answer to MacOS or Windows. Chrome OS is available, but the early versions leave much to be desired. Google will have to find a way to provide a platform that works well throughout the computing spectrum or find itself forced out of the operating system market.

I like choice. I like being able to buy my software from a wide variety of vendors. I like that a couple of people working in their garage can still come up with a revolutionary piece of software and be able to distribute it without the current market leader having the right of review and refusal. I believe things are headed in the wrong direction for the consumer and I hope others begin to see the problems we’re facing and make smart choices going forward.

Filed in categories: Android related, Articles, iPhone, iPad, iPod related, Windows Mobile related

Tagged: Android, Desktop, ecosystem, iOS, Mobile, operating system, Windows

Technology Ecosystems – Good for Profits, Bad for Consumers originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on September 22, 2011 at 11:00 am.

The ScanSnap Color Scanner from Fujitsu is one of those products that surprised me when I first used it. It surprised me because it works so well. The scanning was surprisingly fast and the scanned images were a perfect copy.  I had to stop myself from scanning any picture and document I could get my hands on. Well, almost…

The ScanSnap from Fujitsu is their portable scanner in a line of  their larger models the S1300 and the s1500.

This model is the mobile version of the three. Without the need of a power adapter, the included USB cable is the only cable needed to power up the S1100 which makes this convenient to have in your bag, luggage or briefcase. As slim as the ScanSnap is it can probably fit into a large purse with no problem. This is perfect for the business person or traveler waiting in the airport that is sitting in one of those small round table tops in a cafe with only enough room for the sugar packets and ketchup but needs to scan a document or picture and send to a colleague, family member or whomever. It’s perfect for those tight small areas.

This feature alone makes it worthwhile to construct your mobile office anywhere.

The ScanSnap scans images to a PDF file, a searchable PDF (through ScanSnap Manager), and JPEG files.  It also has a few special features.  One of the features that ScanSnap has is the CardMinder. It can scan business cards and extract and export contact information from the scanned business card. There is also the ability to convert a document into an editable Word or Excel file. And for those cloud users, the ScanSnap allows direct scanning to Google Docs and Evernote. The CardMinder was a big plus for me since I have accumulated tons of business cards that I started filing them in a business card book. I will take the time to scan those business cards and digitize them so I can archive them and free up some room on my desk. The ScanSnap can also scan plastic cards and embossed cards up to 0.76 mm thick.

The ScanSnap has an included software that allows for different choices after scanning such as scanning to email, scan to print or scan to Word and more.

With a touch of the Scan button an average scan time takes around 7 seconds from start of page to end of page. This was pretty accurate when I tested it. The S1100 can accommodate documents as long as 34 inches and allows for Continuous Document Feeding so you can scan documents one right after the other. Documents and images are scanned at 300 dpi and can go up to 600 dpi.

The ScanSnap weighs in at around 12 ounces and its dimensions are 10.74 x 1.87 x 1.33.

The ScanSnap has two doors or trays that flip open. The front/bottom tray is where the user initially feeds the document and then exits out the back of the unit. The back/top tray is more of a convenience if you have little or no room behind the ScanSnap for the document to feed out. This tray directs the document to exit out the top of the unit. It’s very handy if you have objects or a wall directly behind the ScanSnap  that will impede the document to exit. However, if you are scanning something that is hard stock  such as a postcard, or a business card or plastic card then this is not ideal to do so. The cards will simply not accommodate the bend in the tray to exit. So you’ll have to keep the top door closed so the card can exit smoothly.

I scanned a couple of 35mm pictures and noticed that the resulting scan was a tiny bit soft but not by much. It could have been the pictures to start with anyways but it was still an impressive scan. I then scanned a colored flyer and noticed it was sharper. But that could have been the difference between a photograph picture and a flyer with blocky letters.  Naturally, it seems that a document with hard edges will appear sharper in contrast to a picture with more organic and softer lines. Either way, both provided a substantial clear and proper scan.

One thing I found helpful was the fact that you can open the ScanSnap in case of a paper jam or to clean the camera and rollers since it can accumulate dust and debris over time.

So if you are looking for  an ultra portable scanner that can fit in tight spaces, save images to a searchable PDF file, and can scan at high speeds and can than look to the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1100. You’ll find that using this scanner is a pleasant delight that takes little room and scans documents with a speedy quickness.

The ScanSnap comes with a DVD (driver and softwares),  USB cable, manual, and EZ set-up guide.  It is both Mac and PC compatible.

Filed in categories: Desktop Computer Gear, Laptops and Gear, Reviews

Tagged: Cloud, Copier, Evernote, Fujitsu, Mobile, PDF, portable, Scanner, USB

Fujitsu ScanSnap S1100 Portable Color Scanner Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 23, 2011 at 10:30 am.

Despite my extra geekiness and my affinity for electronic gadgets and toys, I only very recently acquired a cell phone with bluetooth. I’d been using a Motorola V325 with Verizon for three years (try this – they’ll start begging you to upgrade to a new phone a few months after your “New every two” date), and it was bluetooth-free. Then I upgraded to an iPhone, which got me a little more interested in the world of bluetooth devices.

iVoice is a small company that specializes in bluetooth voice devices for phones. I was sent both the R1 car kit and the Baby-Ai headset. We’ll cover the headset in another review.

The R1 is an interesting concept – rather than rely solely on a headset while driving, this is a speakerphone that clips onto your car’s sun visor. It has buttons for making and receiving calls, and it’s designed to be easier to use while driving than a traditional headset. It also employs iVoice’s technology to cancel out background noise and provide “face-to-face quality conversation”.

The iVoice R1 comes with a sun visor clip, USB cable, and two chargers – one for home and one for your car. This is a nice feature; I like when a product comes with a car charger – it’s one less thing I have to buy.

The R1 itself is a small black box with four buttons – end call, answer call, and volume up/down.

The visor clip is removable and is very secure and tight. It easily slides on and off your car’s sun visor without feeling loose or cheap.

Syncing it up to my iPhone was easy – I just followed the included directions, and I was ready to go. One nice thing about the R1 is that it can be synced up to two phones simultaneously. My boyfriend also has an iPhone, so we can both use it whenever we need to.

The R1 also has dual microphones. When used in the car, the second mic acts as noise cancellation. You can also enable “conference mode”, where both mics receive normal speech, so that the R1 can be used as a makeshift  speaker for on-the-go conference calls.

In testing with the R1, I found that as the caller (using the R1), voice calls were very, very clear. The speaker is plenty loud and works great in the car. The end call and answer call buttons are easy to hit while I’m driving.

The R1 also supports voice dialing and announcing who is calling, if your cell phone supports these features. Unfortunately, the iPhone doesn’t support voice dialing, so this feature doesn’t work. It does, however, announce the phone number of the person calling. I’m not sure if it would announce the name of the person calling, if your phone had such a feature.

On the receiving end (someone else calling me with the R1), I could tell that the person was on a speakerphone, but the quality was good, and the audio wasn’t too muffled or distant. I called a few people with the R1, and got a few complaints that I sounded too quiet. Overall, however, the opinions I got from others were pretty positive.

At $99.99 MSRP, the R1 is a little pricey. However, if you travel and frequently use your phone in the car, it’s one handy device to have around. I will definitely be adding it to my collection of travel gadgets.

Filed in categories: Car Gear, Wireless

Tagged: Bluetooth Gear, Hands Free, Mobile

iVoice R1 Bluetooth Car Kit Review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on February 17, 2009 at 1:00 am.