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A PBWiki, as viewed from the iPhone.

PBwiki’s Mobile Edition lets visitors to PBwiki’s Web site participate most of ways from the field as they can from the desktop, with the exception of editing an existing page. It’s a shame that PBwiki doesn’t yet enable what-you-see-is-what-you-get editing to pre-existing pages, but the company says that pretty big hurdle could disappear in the future.

PBwiki, which hosts, among other wiki services, Twitter’s API docs, FedEx’s marketing extranet, and the BarCamp wiki, has now made its wiki interface more readable, when surfed to from the browser of an
Apple iPhone or Research In Motion BlackBerry.

PBwiki on Tuesday announced the mobile optimization of its hosted wiki service for its Professional and Professional Plus Edition subscription clients.

Road warriors can, however, view and search pages, leave comments, and create new pages. The latter isn’t any more elegant than note jotting, but for mobile workers, getting the idea down first, and formatting it later from a desktop or laptop computer, will be better than nothing. In addition to viewing files, BlackBerry users will also be able to download files to the phone’s local or external storage card.

commentary

This was a valid response, but as I said then, those same arguments apply to any company interested in getting involved with open source, and they are the same arguments used by enterprise IT not to contribute to open-source projects.

For folks outside of Google, there’s really no compelling argument to drop Apache Tomcat/Jetty, etc., in favor of OpenGSE’s reference servlet engine, but anyone interested in servlet engine and servlet spec compliance would have a fantastic learning resource available to them.

The “toy” servlet engine supplied with the test suites would have the same core HTTP processing code (as far as possible) as the servlet engine which powers Gmail, etc.

Google is a leader in this area, and I suspect that it will become a real differentiator in encouraging outside developers to write code for Google’s platforms, including the enterprise developers that it is now targeting with its Google I/O conference.

In 2006, I took Google and Yahoo to task for not open-sourcing more of the code that makes them tick, given that much of it derives from open-source software that these Web companies modify.

Jeremy Zawodny, then at Yahoo and now at Craigslist, riposted that there are all sorts of legitimate reasons for not contributing back code, but the arguments largely centered on two primary themes: it would be hard, and it might not actually help anyone outside Yahoo to contribute code back.

With OpenGSE, in other words, Google is not giving me the ability to be Google, per se. But it is giving me the opportunity to learn how Google manages HTTP processing, and thereby to improve how my own product manages this.

It’s not that Zawodny was wrong. It’s just that over time, the big (and small) Web companies have discovered that there are significant strategic benefits to participating more fully in open-source projects.

OpenGSE fits Zawodny’s description: it was hard for Google to open-source for legal and other reasons, and it normally would be considered code that is both strategic to Google and potentially not very useful to companies outside of Google. Google, however, describes how it might be useful to outsiders:

As with Microsoft, developers are the key to Google’s future: not the developers it employs, but rather the developers that congregate around Google’s code. Open source is critical to making that happen.

But there’s hope for enterprise IT because, guess what? Two years after Zawodny described why open source may not be the obvious route for Google and its ilk, Google is open-sourcing things like its Open Google Servlet Engine (OpenGSE), announced this week.

The CEO’s of Nintendo and DoCoMo (and Vodafone, Apple, Research in Motion, Palm and Nokia) all tell us they want to make their device central to everyone’s lives–with built in cameras, payments, app stores, navigation, etc. And rightly so as the devices become more powerful and the software more advanced.

According to Fasol, games of all kinds used to be played in game parlors, and some of Japan’s game giants were originally (and still are) game parlor machine makers (a round of Dance-Dance-Revolution anyone?)

Nintendo eventually broke the generation pattern and took games sideways into the “blue oceans of motion sensors and to the silver generation, women and other previously non-gaming majorities, while
Xbox and SONY kept slugging out the generation game.”

But really what vendors are feeling is their shrinking control–game vendors and carriers have pushed their own walled gardens, which works fine as long as they can provide what people want–and sooner or later then can’t. Think AOL versus the Internet if you need more explanation.

The vast majority of new services we see in the U.S. have some basis in the DoCoMo i-Mode service from NTT Japan. If you’re looking for mobile opportunities, take a gander at Japan and Korea to see how mobile devices shape lives and society.

Nintendo may have broken the pattern, but the company remains vulnerable to both mobile devices like the iPhone and app stores that can deliver more than just one product to an end-user device.

Mobile services continue to mature, and the things you can do on a phone keep getting better even when we are forced to suffer with inconsistent and occasionally terrible quality from mobile carriers.

These game vendors then moved on to consoles, cassettes and handhelds, taking the momentum out of game parlors, and establishing a pattern of growth by
generations (today we are in the 7th generation).

(Credit: Eurotechnology Japan)

But few mobile devices offer the wide array of features and functions that create a great experience. There is a very compelling argument for Nintendo to create a gaming phone even if only for the Japanese market.

Japan game segments

I spoke with Gerhard Fasol, head of Eurotechnology Japan about a recent report discussing Nintendo and Japan’s gaming industry are effected by new devices like the
iPhone and services like the App Store, as well as how Japanese electronics manufacturers are trying to make their console/device the center of user’s lives.

The big question for game vendors like Nintendo is whether they can figure out how to converge their games with mobile devices and cellphones. The time will come when people won’t shell out for both a DSi and a mobile phone. The same goes for a PC,
Wii and XBox. Users will eventually pick their weapon of choice and not be bothered with such a vast assortment of electronics.

Since DoCoMo’s i-Mode started mobile phone games in 1999, “online and mobile phone games combined have outgrown the video game software sector and are certain to grow much more in coming years. The iPhone, for example, is not slowing mobile phone based gaming down…those who only count video game cassettes and consoles, certainly don’t see the rapid mobile and online growth–and complain about shrinking markets.”

Follow me on Twitter @daveofdoom.

Lithium batteries, which are also used in consumer electronics, are relatively light and allow for higher energy density. But researchers have been looking at novel approaches to improve performance and cost, including different electrolytes.

Seeking out a better auto battery, Nissan Motor and EnerDel said Thursday that they will team up in support of research into a better conductive material for batteries.

EnerDel, which makes lithium ion batteries, has agreements to supply Think Global’s city
car and Fisker Automotive’s luxury plug-in electric vehicle, both of which are expected to be available in the next year. Nissan, meanwhile, plans to unveil an all-electric sedan next week, which it plans to make available next year.

The pact calls for the two companies to co-fund research at the Argonne National Laboratory to develop a new electrolyte made of a slurry liquid. The work is being done specifically for electric and hybrid vehicle batteries.

(Credit:
EnerDel)

EnerDel lithium ion car battery.

Updated at 7:00 a.m. PT with added information on MIT battery research. Updated at 11:45 PT on October 26 with correct first name of professor Sadoway.

Lithium ion batteries will power a generation of electric cars slated to come to market in the next two years, replacing the nickel metal hydride batteries used in today’s hybrids.

The advantage of this method is that the liquids allow for fast charging and discharging. Batteries built this way promise to be cheaper and last longer as well.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Donald Sadoway and his student David Bradwell earlier this year built a prototype of “liquid battery” that uses three layers of molten metals–two for the battery’s electrodes and an electrolyte liquid in the middle.

WARREN, Mich.–Got an opinion about how General Motors designs its cars and trucks? Let them know.

Work for you? A digital model of a bare-bones car shown on GM's new site for communicating design ideas with customers.

(Credit:
GM)

“The way we used to do research through (customer) clinics is cumbersome and expensive,” he said.

“We’re going to be walking the line, quite frankly. We’re trying to be more transparent, but at the same time we’re somewhat protective because it’s intellectual property,” Rand said.

Instead of giving away secrets of planned products, the idea is to get feedback on concepts, such as whether a new type of car will fly with customers, using images and videos to illustrate the company’s ideas.

The emphasis of the discussions was intentionally on product and designs that company executives hope will drive revenue now that GM has slashed costs and restructured through bankruptcy.

GM’s Rand said that The Lab site will allow GM to share designs that it doesn’t now. But, it clearly needs to temper some of that openness so as not to give away trade secrets. During media tours of GM’s design studios on Tuesday, journalists were barred from carrying cameras.

GM on Tuesday unveiled a blog Web site called The Lab that it hopes will give the struggling auto giant a bead on customer preferences. It’s part social-marketing campaign and part product research, company executives said here on Tuesday.

Rand said that providing an inside look of GM designers’ work is not meant to replace auto shows or building models of concept cars. But getting feedback from fans and foes will allow designers to cycle through concepts more quickly.

In another sign of GM trying to better understand American consumers, GM’s top executives, including CEO Fritz Henderson and his staff, met for a full day with consumers on Monday, many of whom do not own GM vehicles.

The Lab is set up to be like a social-networking site where people have a profile and log in. People can rate designs and provide comments. There will also be a way to opt in and provide demographic information in exchange for access to new designs, company executives said.

The first three projects hosted on The Lab are for a bare necessities compact car, a bare necessity truck, and an Eco Initiative to better understand the interests of “green” buyers.

Currying favor with customers

GM discussed The Lab with a handful of journalists at a media and analyst day hosted by the company’s top management where the company gave a glimpse of its lineup over the next two years.

“We want to use this to show where the company is headed, but there are limitations–we’re not going to show concepts of
cars that will come out next year,” said Dave Rand, the director of design at GM’s Tech Center, one of its main research centers. “The ideas we’ll show will tend to be further out and not be as rigid.”

GM is also seeking to spiff up its corporate image with consumers, using social media of all sorts to get out its message. The media event, for example, was Webcast and open to questions from the public, while communications specialists used Twitter to answer questions online during the day.

Yahoo has the right to terminate the deal signed last week, “if the trailing 12-month average of the (revenue per search) in the United States (the “U.S. RPS”) of Yahoo and Microsoft’s combined queries falls below a specified percentage of Google Inc.’s (”Google”) estimated RPS measured on a comparable basis or if the combined Yahoo! and Microsoft query market share in the United States falls below a specified percentage,” according to a document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

A few other details came out in the SEC filing:

That should calm worries among a few of those who felt that with the deal, Yahoo’s fortunes in the lucrative search-ad market were tied to the performance of Microsoft’s search technology for a decade, which is more like a century in Internet years.

If Microsoft falters as the exclusive provider for search on Yahoo’s network of Web sites–when benchmarked against Google–Yahoo can back out of the deal.

• All details must be hashed out by October 27, or the disputes will be taken to an arbitration panel.

• Microsoft is required to hire at least 400 Yahoo engineers and pay them “market-competitive compensation packages.”

As might be expected, Yahoo declined to comment on the exact number for revenue per search or market share that would trigger the escape clause. Microsoft is planning to guarantee Yahoo’s revenue per search for 18 months following the completion of the deal, so this clause would likely come into play following that period and prior to the five-year anniversary, when Yahoo can also re-evaluate whether it still likes the deal, based on its revenue per share viewed against Google’s.

• The two companies have agreed to a “limited, nonexclusive” patent cross-licensing deal.

Yahoo and Microsoft had a combined U.S. query market share of 28 percent in June, compared to Google’s 65 percent, according to ComScore. When it comes to revenue per search, according to Microsoft estimates spotted by the Associated Press, Yahoo was earning 4.3 cents in revenue per search, and Microsoft was earning 3.9 cents, while Google was earning 7 cents in revenue per search.

In filing its formal appeal last week, Microsoft made a number of arguments for overturning the infringement finding, saying that the judge made several procedural errors and failed to live up to his role as “gatekeeper.”

“We are happy with the result and look forward to presenting our arguments on the main issues on September 23,” Microsoft spokesman Kevin Kutz said in a statement.

Updated at 8:30 p.m. PDT with comment from i4i.

“Microsoft’s scare tactics about the consequences of the injunction cannot shield it from the imminent review of the case by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeal on the September 23 appeal,” i4i Chairman Loudon Owen said in a statement. “i4i is confident that the final judgment in favor of i4i, which included a finding of willful patent infringement by Microsoft and an injunction against Microsoft Word, was the correct decision and that i4i will prevail on the appeal.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Thursday granted Microsoft’s motion for a stay, pending appeal, of an injunction issued in August by a federal judge that bars sales of Word that include a custom XML code found to infringe on patents held by i4i–the plaintiff.

In response to the court’s decision, i4i expressed confidence in its position and accused Microsoft of employing “scare tactics.”

In addition to pursuing its appeal, Microsoft has other options, including creating a technical workaround, removing the XML function, or reaching a settlement with I4i.

Microsoft has been granted a stay of a landmark injunction in a patent infringement case that would have required the software giant to stop selling its popular Word in its current form by next month.

I4i said earlier that it is not seeking to torpedo Word, but does want the infringing custom XML code removed.

Toronto-based i4i sued Microsoft in March 2007 alleging that the Redmond,Wash.-based software giant violated its 1998 patent (No. 5,787,449) for a document system that eliminated the need for manually embedded formatting codes. In May, a jury ordered Microsoft to pay $200 million for infringing on a patent held by i4i.

Although Ballmer wouldn’t comment on Courier specifically, he did say that the tablet market, which Microsoft pioneered, continues to grow and evolve.

The video of our interview is embedded here. For the full interview in text form, check out the transcript on the CNET Conversations Web page.

Such was the case with the top-secret Courier dual-screen tablet that Microsoft is said to be working on.

And while Apple’s advertising may be portraying the company as hipper than Microsoft, Ballmer said Apple’s ads largely appeal to the company’s existing fans. Microsoft’s Windows campaign, he said, is aimed at the rest of the market.

As for the economy, Ballmer said that things aren’t getting worse, but didn’t want to go as far as Google CEO Eric Schmidt who recently declared the economy is improving.

On the mobile front, Ballmer acknowledged that the situation isn’t quite the same, but said he is pleased with the progress Microsoft is making, though he didn’t offer any new details on what the company is doing beyond the Windows Mobile 6.5 devices that go on sale this week.

He said he still has his fingers crossed. “I don’t think things are getting worse, but I don’t think they’re getting a lot better yet either,” Ballmer said. He is due to talk more on this subject in a speech in London on Monday.

One needs to have a different approach to appeal to the masses, Ballmer said. “They advertise basically to that small niche of people who want their machines. And I don’t take it away from them; they make a very good business doing it,” he said. “So, we need to have messages that are appropriate to the vast majority of people, and it’s fine. There may be 3 percent of people who sort of appreciate their approach.”

“I think that’s going to be a big step forward,” he said of the new phones, which Microsoft is pitching as “Windows phones.”

“Well, I think any sort of forecast at this stage is probably a little bit premature,” Ballmer said. “Thank goodness we haven’t fallen off a second cliff, which certainly in some economic times we have, but unemployment rates are still high and growing, so it’s a little hard for me to say the worst of the recession is behind us when there’s still a lot of families both out of work and more families out of work every day.”

“This one is not any better than the ones that have preceded them,” Ballmer said. “I mean, I’ve not seen anything from Google that makes them look better than the other guys we’ve competed with…They’re better funded. You know, they’re making money hand over fist in the search business, so they can afford to (compete). Even if they’re not successful, they’re well-funded.”

“Oh, there’s definitely a market for computers that you can mark on,” he said, adding that there would be a number of new designs this fall from PC makers, plus whatever Apple eventually does. “So, I don’t see that market going away, and certainly Apple — I’m sure Apple will bring a unique point of view. They tend to bring unique points of view to things. And yet we’ve got great people doing great stuff, and let’s see what the competition has.”

REDMOND, Wash.–Steve Ballmer is never at a loss for words, but that doesn’t mean he always spills the beans.

As part of an interview for our new CNET Conversations program, Microsoft’s chief executive said he had nothing to say about the product. “I really don’t,” he told me and CNET TV colleague Molly Wood. (My sources tell me the project is real and that Courier is one of many prototypes, though that’s about all I’ve managed to learn so far.)

Ballmer was not similarly tongue-tied when it came to talking about his optimism for technology, his thoughts on the economy, or his company’s competition with Apple and Google.

As for Google, he acknowledged them as a “genuine competitor” in Microsoft’s core businesses of Windows and Office, but said that Google Apps isn’t necessarily a stronger product than others such as OpenOffice or StarOffice.

“They’ve done a very good job of marketing to their 3.5 percent of the market,” Ballmer said. “I’m glad we’re doing a great job with the other 96.5 percent.”

“We’re just going to keep (coming out with) new releases, new releases, new releases,” Ballmer said. “At the end of the day, I think the model of a software company partnering with a lot of handset vendors is powerful. It’s powerful relative to what you see from folks like Palm and Blackberry and Apple.”

Although I still don’t personally enjoy Facebook, I do think that it has potential as a marketing tool. There is clear value in targeting and defining a target audience segment in this way, provided that the application is attractive and well-designed (Flavorcreator is both), presumably leading to higher levels of interest and user interaction.

Follow me on Twitter @daveofdoom.

(Credit: Vitaminwater)

In addition to voting on new flavors, Flavorcreator lets users play games and win prizes while providing the company with valuable market research and building brand awareness.

Does Flavorcreator make you thirsty?

One important consideration about such an application is what the end goal is. Coca-Cola, the parent company of Vitaminwater, can obviously afford to spend money on advertising and brand building, but most companies need to figure out ways to monetize applications.

Beverage brand Vitaminwater, known for both tasty thirst quenchers and creative marketing, on Tuesday launched “Flavorcreator” a Facebook application designed to crowdsource ideas for new beverage flavors. The company plans to announce the new flavor in December, with the product slated to hit shelves next March.

It would be interesting to see if people would buy virtual Vitaminwater to send to their Facebook friends or to see what would happen if they offered a coupon to every visitor.

“It’s not just Microsoft,” Brown said. “It’s a problem generally for society that we should accept proprietary software when there is an alternative.”

Although the demonstration and letter center around Microsoft’s imminent release of
Windows 7, Free Software Foundation Executive Director Peter Brown says the protest has to do with Microsoft’s approach in general and not with the specifics of Windows 7.

(Credit:
Free Software Foundation)

But, he said, the stakes are high–and it’s about more than just which operating system gains market share. Brown points to Amazon.com’s recent deletion of e-books from the Kindle as an example of the kinds of action that could become commonplace if the world becomes more filled with digital rights management technologies.

“That’s the kind of power that proprietary software gives to these corporations,” he said. “When we give that power, sooner or later somebody comes knocking, whether it is the government or the corporations themselves. Free software is kind of the answer to that.”

“Any time Microsoft tries to push them to a new version, it’s a good time to make that case,” Brown said in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

There’s nothing like trashing the competition.

In addition to the public display, the foundation is sending letters to the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, warning that Windows is a threat to their businesses’ privacy, security, and freedom.

“There’s kind of this attitude of ‘Well, it’s better than Vista,’” Brown said, “so we are kind of working against the grain.”

The Free Software Foundation is using the launch of Windows 7 to try to convince businesses to dump Windows in favor of an open-source operating system.

Although the letter focuses on Microsoft, he said the group is also concerned with other products, including the new
Snow Leopard operating system from Apple, which goes on sale on Friday.

With Windows 7 getting fairly positive reviews, Brown said he knows it could be tougher to garner public support than was the case with the oft-criticized Vista.

And that’s exactly what the Free Software Foundation plans to do on Wednesday, staging a demonstration in Boston where it will encourage businesses to throw away Microsoft Windows in favor of free alternatives.