Well someone did and guess what, he won. But he did not get his laptop.  Why?  ‘Just because’.  Yes that was the reason. The short story is you are suppose to  “bring up the weather of two different cities.”  Ok.  So Sahas Katta has his phone set, OUT-OF-THE-BOX feature BTW, such that it had instant on.  No swiping required.  And that is how he wins. He already has 2 widgets on his phone with weather from 2 different cities. Course I have to ask, who puts weather on two different cities on his phone desktop?  But that is another question.

So Sahas easily wins.  But did he get his laptop?  No.  Why?  Because they said he lost “just because”.  What?  Then the manager comes over and says, oh well you needed to show the weather in 2 different states!  Are you kidding?

Here is the core of the post.

The Microsoft Store employee I was up against then explained the selected challenge. Her exact words were the following: “bring up the weather of two different cities.” The one who could do that first would win. I felt like I struck gold since I knew I already had two weather widgets on my home screen:

After a three-second count down, I hit the power button on my phone and said “DONE!” out loud. I had disabled the lock screen entirely… I didn’t even need to touch the screen, since the two weather widgets were already there.

My opponent finished a split-second later. She had two live tiles on her home screen displaying the weather of two different cities as well. Why does it take longer on Windows Phone? She had to perform two actions. First, she hit the power button to turn on the screen. Second, she had to swipe away the lock screen….

I excitedly thought I won out of pure luck. However, I was quickly told that I lost. I asked for a reason and was told Windows Phone won because “it displays the weather right there.” That was rather unclear. I showed her my device which also was showing off the same information with two side-by-side weather widgets on the center home screen. After pressing for a better reason, I was told that Windows Phone won “just because.”

Read the full post, and the comments.  Fun.

Here is the stock price for no reason

Microsoft Corporation Stock Chart by YCharts

So a number of iOS development shoppes have been graced with the reception of 100 page documents basically threatening to sue if they do not work out some sort of license agreement with this company in 21 days!  And here I thought blackmail was illegal.  But wait!  It gets better…

Seems that as a developer, you cannot agree to such a contract because  the Apple agreement (which as we all know is pretty restricive) because ‘to do so, according to the iOS developer agreement, could in some way “[affect] Apple’s rights or [bind] Apple in any way.” ‘    Wow..

Basically there is nothing the iOS dev’s can do but simply forward the complaints to Apple.  Now, keep in mind, this Patent will apply to ALL platforms.  That means Android, Windows, WebOS etc…  So I have a feeling this little trolling firm is going to feel some real heat really soon from the major palyers.  But that is just the symptom.  The fact these stupid ‘obvious’ patents are still out there is the disease.  I’m not foolish enough to think anything in our patent system is going to change after this, but if ONE thing comes out of this, there HAS to be a way to deal with outdated patents that protect ‘obvious’ use as society’s use of technology and adoption continue to evolve and mature at an ever expanding rate.

No word from Apple or anyone else yet, but you know those of use in the development world are going to be watching this.

Mobile Active Defense (M.A.D.
Partners, LLC) announces the release of its patent-pending
mobile firewall and contents filtering mechanisms that
enforce controls based upon the physical location of the
mobile device. The award-winning Mobile Enterprise
Compliance and Security Server (MECS) provides stringent and
comprehensive access, security and compliance enforcement
mechanisms to echo fixed enterprise policies.

With the addition of GeoLocation controls, Mobile Active
Defense (M.A.D.) offers organizations around the world a new
range of previously unavailable flexibility over the content
filtering and access rights of iPhones, iPads, smartphones
and tablet devices.

http://www.MobileActiveDefense.com

I wrote about using GPS on your ipad a few months back.  To use GPS you need to connect to a bluetooth GPS unit and at the time of the writing, I recommended that you preload your trip ahead of time because the only wifi based tethering app for the iPhone was not working.  Last month, PDANet, one of my top 10 jailbreak applications; finally has non per to per WIFI tethering.  Win!  This worked so well, that was actually able to have a skype video call with my brothers while bring driven down the I5.  Well for as long as I had 3G.

PDANet also works for Androids too, AND blackberry, AND windows.

PDANet is $10 but well worth it.

Based on his post, they approached him and said they were willing to work with him on side loading apps onto phone 7.  Now will that really happen?  Actually, it might. And it would make sense for MS to let it happen.

The phone is going to be jailbroken regardless of what Redmond whats to do.  The iPhone jailbreaks and unlocks are proof of that.  So it makes sense to try and manage the black market and keep critical security in place instead of fighting it and driving the market underground. One of the big concerns with jailbreaking the iphone is it gets around all the, well what security, they have built in.  But its an all or nothing proposition.  By working with the hackers, both parties can get what they want; the jailbreakers get an open plateform to play with, and MS can be assured that core security will stay in place.

For once.. I think MS is ahead of the game.. If they are playing fairly.

The Shack® is introducing three new phones featuring Windows Phone 7:

• Samsung Focus from AT&T, available now in stores or via Direct2U, boasts a brilliant 4-inch Super-AMOLED touch screen, a 5-megapixel camera and 8GB of storage for $199.99 (qualifying new or upgrading customers, with two-year contract).
• HTC HD7 from T-Mobile, now available in stores or via Direct2U, is available for $199.99 for qualifying new customers with two-year contract or $249.99 for qualifying upgrade customers with contract. The HD7 offers blockbuster entertainment possibilities with a 4.3-inch high-resolution screen and kickstand. HD7 is built for streaming video, mobile gaming and its integrated 720p camcorder means you’re also equipped to produce home-made HD videos.
• LG Quantum, coming soon from AT&T for $179.99 for qualifying new or upgrading customers with two-year contract. LG Quantum features a sliding screen with a horizontal QWERTY keyboard, 3.5-inch screen, 1-GHz Snapdragon processor and 16GB internal memory. LG Quantum also enables wireless multimedia sharing with other devices. See radioshack.com for updates on in-store arrival.