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Jon Rubinstein Joins Board of Qualcomm, as Mobile Chipmaker Ups Its Silicon Valley Cred

Kara Swisher — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:05:12 +0000

According to sources close to the situation, well-known tech exec Jon Rubinstein will be joining the board of Qualcomm, the San Diego-based chipmaker that has gotten a big boost of late for its role in the explosion of mobile devices.

Rubinstein is an interesting and logical choice for Qualcomm, having been a high-profile player for a long time in the mobile space, beginning with his work on the iPod while at Apple. After he left his last job at Hewlett-Packard last year, though, he has been very low-key.

(Update: Qualcomm confirmed the appointment in a press release.)

For Qualcomm, the selection of Rubinstein to join the board is something to watch, as he is the second exec from Silicon Valley to be tapped by the company recently. In March, Qualcomm hired tech investor Laurie Yoler as SVP of business development, making her “responsible for augmenting existing business relationships in Silicon Valley, as well as developing new strategic business opportunities for Qualcomm in the region.”

Rubinstein has even more experience here and is also familiar with a range of mobile efforts over the years, some of which were successful and others not so much, from his work at Apple, Palm and then HP. He is also a board member of Amazon.

Aside from CEO and Chairman Paul Jacobs, Rubinstein — who has degrees in electrical engineering and computer science — will be the most technically experienced director on the 11-person board.

Qualcomm declined to comment.

Here’s a nice primer on Rubinstein by Arik Hesseldahl, in a report on his leaving HP early last year:

Best known for his work on Apple’s iconic iPod music player, Rubinstein left Apple in 2006 and joined Roger McNamee as a partner in the private equity firm Elevation Partners, following its 2007 investments in Palm.

In 2009 he replaced longtime Palm executive Ed Colligan as its CEO, and oversaw a dramatic restructuring of the company’s products, including a significant rebuild of its smartphone operating system. Gone was the legacy PalmOS that had been used in so many popular devices like the Treo that for a time competed seriously against Research In Motion’s BlackBerry.

PalmOS was replaced by WebOS, which first appeared on the Pre smartphone, then later on the Pixi and Veer devices. After HP acquired Palm, WebOS was also used on the abandoned TouchPad tablet, and is now an open-source operating system overseen by HP.

Rubinstein’s departure is no big surprise. Sources said he hadn’t been seen at HP’s offices following the decision by former CEO Léo Apotheker to get out of the business of making WebOS-based hardware. His future plans have been the subject of speculation for some time.

After HP decided to exit the WebOS hardware business, Rubinstein was assigned to a vaguely described “product innovation role” within HP’s Personal Systems Group during a management shakeup last July. It was an unusual move and one made with little explanation at the time. But sources say it was a preface to Rubinstein’s departure, one intended to lessen its PR impact when he finally left. “That ‘innovation’ gig he was given in July was his first step toward the exit,” said one source, a former Palm exec with close ties to Rubinstein.

Dialing Up 20 Years of Gadget Reviews

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 01:05:52 +0000

I began writing these Personal Technology columns 20 years ago, in October 1991, with the aim of reviewing computers and other digital products for average, mainstream users. The first line of my first column was: “Personal computers are just too hard to use, and it’s not your fault.”

[ See post to watch video ]

Consumer technology has come a long way since that day. Digital gadgets—then too often designed by techies for techies—have become essential to our lives, and much easier to use, even if we still need the Geek Squad and the Genius Bar more than we should. And the pace of change has been mind-boggling.

In 1991, most consumer computers didn’t have built-in audio beyond just the ability to beep. Most lacked any way to communicate with the outside world—even via a slow, dial-up modem. The Internet wasn’t available to most people. Search engines and social networks didn’t exist.

Mobile phones were huge bricks. Digital cameras for consumers cost a fortune and took monochrome pictures. Digital music players and video recorders, e-readers and tablets were nowhere to be found.

So, this week, I decided to take a look back at some of the game-changing products that appeared in this column over the past two decades and propelled us from that primitive landscape to today’s interconnected digital world. This list of milestones is just a sampling; yours might differ. Also, since I write for average consumers, the list is weighted toward consumer products, not gadgets for geeks or corporate use.

I’ll also write about what is yet to come—areas that could use big gains.

The pocket-size phone: In January of 1992, I declared Motorola’s MicroTac Lite to be the first mobile phone you could carry easily in a pocket. It was the first to weigh under half a pound and was “only” an inch thick—about triple the thickness of a slim smartphone today. It cost between $1,500 and $2,500.

Getting America Online: In May of 1992, I rated an obscure online service, America Online, as the best. It was much smaller than its chief rivals at the time, CompuServe and Prodigy, but its use of a standard-looking graphical interface made it more attractive.

Faster modems: Though it would be hardly recognized today, the external dial-up modem was a crucial device in connecting computers around the world. In June 1993, I recommended a popular $200 model, the Sportster, from a company called U.S. Robotics, that had gotten to the amazing speed of 14,400 bits per second. Comparing it with a broadband connection now is like comparing a bicycle to a locomotive.

Color digital camera: In 1994, the Apple QuickTake 100 could store up to 32 shots for a mere $700.

Mossberg on ‘What’s Next?’

So where do the opportunities lie for the biggest technology gains? Here are possibilities:

Better batteries. The entire digital universe would be revolutionized by batteries that could last more than a day in heavy use.

The ‘natural user interface.’ The graphical user interface is being replaced by the multitouch interface. Microsoft’s Kinect device for controlling its Xbox game console shows there is a future in controlling all devices via smart cameras that recognize faces and gestures.

Easier, integrated TVs. Many people watch videos from the Internet on their TVs, but the process is clumsy. Somebody needs to make the process unified and simple.

Flexible displays. These have been promised for years, but never made practical. Imagine being able to unfold, or roll out a large display screen.

Whatever is in store for consumer digital technology, I look forward to covering it.

Polished Windows: Apple’s Macintosh had popularized the graphical user interface starting in 1984. A year later came a crude version of Microsoft’s Windows operating system. But, in 1995, Microsoft caught up via Windows 95, cementing the victory of the graphical interface.

The Web browser: The Internet had been around a long time, but in 1993 I noted it was still hard for average consumers to access. That changed with the spread of the World Wide Web and Web browser. In January 1996, I hailed Netscape as the champion browser over Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

Power in your hand: In March of 1996, I called the new Palm Pilot the first hand-held computer “I can imagine incorporating into my daily life.” Where the Apple Newton and others had failed, little Palm created the device that would make Personal Digital Assistants popular and pave the way for the smartphone.

The slim laptop: In 1998, Sony set the standard for usable, thin and light laptops with its Vaio 505, a $2,000 wonder that came with a decent keyboard. It inspired many others over the years.

The simple computer: Also in 1998, beleaguered Apple shook up the PC market with the iMac, a colorful, speedy, one-piece desktop computer that set up in a matter of minutes and was ready to surf the Internet. I called it “the coolest looking desktop personal computer I’ve ever used.”

DVR: The next year, I reviewed two digital video recorders, including TiVo, which went on to become a verb, and to revolutionize TV viewing.

Google: In 2001, I recommended Google as not only the best search engine on the Web, but “the most useful site.”

The iPod: Later that same year, Apple changed the music industry, and its own fortunes, with the $400 iPod, which held 1,000 songs in a device the size of a deck of cards. It blew away all competitors.

The prototype smartphone: Also in 2001, Handspring, a company run by the founders of Palm, rolled out the Treo 180, which I declared the first decent hybrid of a PDA and phone. Later Treos sold by Palm, competed against the BlackBerry, which got its own phone functionality, but was mainly a corporate tool.

Legal music: In 2003, Apple introduced the iTunes music store, which gave consumers an easy, reasonably priced path to buying music, and again changed the industry.

The iPhone: In June of 2007, Apple upended the cellphone business with the iPhone, which put a powerful hand-held computer in your palm, and used innovative “multitouch” finger gestures as its interface.

The e-book: There had been many failed attempts at an e-reader, but in late 2007, Amazon offered the Kindle, which finally made books digital.

Android: In October 2008, T-Mobile and Google released the G1, the first smartphone to use the Android operating system—the principal competitor to the iPhone.

The iPad: Many companies had tried and failed to create a popular tablet computer, but in April 2010, Apple succeeded with the iPad, which has spawned a host of apps, a gaggle of competitors and a new category of digital device.

View the slideshow

Key Columns

The first column: “How to Stop Worrying And Get the Most From Your Computer” (Oct. 17, 1991)

The case for the Mac: “PC Shoppers May Find It’s Wise to Develop A Taste for Apples” (Aug. 6, 1992)

Explaining the Internet: “Internet, a Vast Link That Isn’t Missing, Can Be Hard to Find” (May 13, 1993)

The case for an “information appliance”: “The Info Appliance Is a Good Idea Waiting to Happen” (June 13, 1996)

Six years in: “Computers Remain Complex, But Good Changes Are Coming” (Oct. 23, 1997)

The 10th anniversary: “Consumer Technologies Make Startling Advances in Decade” (Oct. 25, 2001)

Exposing “smart tags”: “Microsoft Will Abandon Controversial Smart Tags” (June 28, 2001)

Condemning tracking cookies: “Despite Others’ Claims, Tracking Cookies Fit My Spyware Definition” (July 14, 2005)

How the multitouch interface is taking over: “Multitouch Interface Is Starting to Spread Among New Devices” (Jan. 31, 2008)

Apple fumbles MobileMe: “Apple’s MobileMe Is Far Too Flawed To Be Reliable” (July 24, 2008)

History Repeats Itself at Hewlett-Packard webOS Unit

Arik Hesseldahl — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:00:42 +0000

History, it is often said, has a funny way of repeating itself. So it appears to be at Hewlett-Packard with regard to its webOS business.

HP has announced to the world that it plans to stop selling its TouchPad tablets and other hardware running the webOS software it got after spending $1.2 billion to acquire Palm last year. Yet it wants to keep the webOS software, guessing, perhaps correctly, that there’s some revenue-generating business to be made of it yet, maybe in patents. Meanwhile, the hardware side of webOS is, after disappointing sales, being shut down, just maybe to be reanimated under the umbrella of the soon-to-be spun out PC business. And it’s building one last run of the heavily discounted TouchPad, to rid itself of parts it has already paid for. It’s complicated!

As it happens, a pair of internal HP memos — which were leaked to PreCentral.net, a site devoted to the Pre, the first smartphone to run webOS — appear to outline how the webOS split is going to go down.

According to the memos, the webOS software business — that is, the bit that HP still wants — is being moved inside HP’s Office of Strategy and Technology, or OS&T, which is headed up by Shane Robison, HP’s executive vice president and chief strategy and technology officer. One of the two memos was written by him.

And what of the webOS hardware group? It will remain within the Personal Systems Group, which is HP’s formal name for the personal computer business it says it wants to spin off as a separate company.

It’s not the first time that the hardware and software halves of what used to be Palm have been split into separate entities. Students of the history of Palm well remember the strange odyssey that began in 2002, when Palm — less than two years after spinning out of its prior parent, 3Com — split into two companies: A hardware company called PalmOne, and a software company called PalmSource.

The idea was that the two halves of the business had different agendas. The software business saw opportunities in licensing the PalmOS to numerous hardware manufacturers. In time, several companies took out licenses: Handspring, launched by Palm’s original founders Jeff Hawkins and Donna Dubinsky, was the original licensee, and others followed. Sony made a bunch of handhelds sold under the Clie brand; IBM sold something called the WorkPad; Garmin made a GPS-enabled PDA that could also help keep you from getting lost. Eventually a company called Access bought it and still operates it to this day.

Meanwhile, the hardware business soldiered on under the name PalmOne. In 2003, it acquired Handspring, bringing back its original founders, and in 2005 it bought back the rights to use the Palm name. Then, in 2007, came the big investment from Elevation Partners, the creation of webOS and, well, you know how that turned out.

Palm Chief: By Birthright, Palm Should Have Owned the Smartphone Market

John Paczkowski — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 21:40:51 +0000

What Palm chief Jon Rubinstein’s appearance at Web 2.0 Summit today lacked in news, it made up for somewhat in perspective–on the mobile space, Palm’s smartphone birthright, its acquisition by Hewlett-Packard and its future under HP.

“Palm created the PDA (personal digital assistant) space with the Pilot and the smartphone space after it with the Treo,” Rubinstein said this morning, reflecting on the company’s state when he first came to it. “So by birthright, Palm should have owned the smartphone market, but it just lost its way. It’s a very similar story to what happened with Apple.”

Except, of course, Apple never forfeited its independence to another company in the hopes of reclaiming its birthright, or to execute the broader vision of connected devices that arose from it. But in Palm’s case, its acquisition by HP made perfect sense. “We needed more resources,” Rubinstein said. “We could not compete in a fashion that would allow us to be one of the premier companies in the marketplace. And HP needed a strong mobile strategy around which they could innovate–one that would allow them to control their own furture and not rely on the kindness of strangers.”

In other words, to differentiate and succeed in the mobile device space, you need to own a veritically integrated stack strategy–software, hardware and services–like the one Palm is now building out with the help of HP’s not inconsiderable resources. “We’ve actually pulled a couple hundred people out of HP and made them part of Palm,” Rubinstein explained. “We’re using them to broaden our scope and we’re just cranking away. Our view is we’re going to see people with more and more devices in the future and HP is in the middle of all this. So our focus is to deliver a unified experience for that around webOS.”

So what’s Palm got in the pipeline for next year?

“We’ve got some great products in the works,” Rubinstein said. “Some smartphones, a great tablet coming. I think we have several products that will be hits when they come out….Everyone forgets, we just closed this acquisition in July….This time next year, you’ll see us in a very different position.”

Windows Mobile: "Unloved, Unappreciated, and Unlikely to Encourage Any Devotion"

John Paczkowski — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:01:40 +0000

No wonder Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is so dismayed by the company’s Windows Mobile division: Most Windows Mobile users aren’t even aware their phones run it. In fact, according to the CFI Group, WinMo has such poor brand recognition that it was forced to group it in the “Other” category in its Smartphone Satisfaction Survey.

“Throughout this report we have focused on the main ‘branded’ smartphones like iPhone, Android, Pre, BlackBerry, and Treo,” the market researcher explained. “And yet there are many more smartphones in use today, manufactured by the likes of LG, Samsung, Motorola, and Nokia, running either the Windows Mobile or Symbian operating system. What’s going on with these smartphones? For one thing, many users can’t identify their operating system. While Android users know they have a phone on the Android platform, most Windows Mobile or Symbian users have no idea what operating system is running their phone.”

That’s bad news for Microsoft (MSFT) and Nokia (NOK) because not only do these “other” smart phones tend to perform the most poorly in customer satisfaction, most of their owners would like to abandon them for Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone, Research in Motion’s (RIMM) BlackBerry or the Palm (PALM) Pre.

“The ‘generic’ smartphone is unloved, unappreciated, and unlikely to encourage any devotion among its users,” CFI concludes. “Its main role appears to be as a stepping stone to a ‘branded’ smartphone….Our data indicates there is little future for the ‘generic’ smartphone. Or, to be exact, the first generation of ‘generic’ smartphones. The iPhone has clearly raised the bar, but given the performance of the initial versions of the Pre and Android, the gap is narrowing. It’s clear from our data that the Android and Pre are worthy competitors to the iPhone, and more recent versions of the BlackBerry pose a bigger threat.”

PREVIOUSLY:

Windows Mobile: "Unloved, Unappreciated, and Unlikely to Encourage Any Devotion"

John Paczkowski — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 07:01:40 +0000

PREVIOUSLY:

Pre Sales May Be Slowing. Yes? Nooooooooo!

John Paczkowski — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 22:23:15 +0000

Now this is just getting silly.

Pali Research says sales of the Palm Pre are slowing. RBC’s Mike Abramsky says they aren’t and claims 325,000 to 375,000 have been sold to date, ahead of his expectations.

Citing some decidedly unscientific poll data, Jesup and Lamont analyst Kevin Dede suggests the device is plagued by build-quality issues and a high exchange/return rate, potentially 40 percent. Abramsky says it’s between two and three percent and calls BS on the build-quality issue.

“Most buyers appear delighted with their new Pre user experience,” Abramsky said in a research note Friday. “Pre satisfaction appears higher than legacy Palm devices (e.g., Treo), affirming improved execution from the ‘New’ Palm, including engineering, manufacturing, quality and process improvements.”

So, Pre sales are slowing. Or, they’re not.

And exchange/return rates are high.

Unless they’re not.

And these analysts are on point.

Unless, of course, they’re not. Too bad it’s impossible to tell without official numbers from Palm (PALM) or Sprint (S).

Gadget Gods Peter Rojas and Ryan Block Finally Unveil their Newest Gadget Site: Gdgt. Get it?

Peter Kafka — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:00:42 +0000

Does the world need another gadget site? Yes, say two of the gadget world’s biggest stars, who are launching gdgt.com today.

The site is the work of Peter Rojas, who helped build Gizmodo and Engadget, and Ryan Block, who took the torch from Rojas after he moved on. Gizmodo and Engadget are the best known and most powerful of the new generation of gadget sites, which makes Rojas and Block revered by the gadget gang. That’s why we’ve been hearing about gdgt, in dribs and drabs, for many many months.

But as well known as Rojas and Block are, they’re still going to have to work hard to make a dent in the crowded field. In addition to the two blogs they created, the gadget spectrum includes everyone from staid players like CBS’s (CBS) CNET to rumor sites for Apple (APPL) obsessives, like MacRumors, to sites for real obsessives, like the handful of people who still own Palm (PALM) Treos. (And, of course, there’s All Things Digital’s Walt Mossberg, who bestrides all of this like the colossus he is, and is also my boss. Hi, Walt!)

Rojas and Block argue that their site is different because it’s not going to be driven by editors but by the site’s users, who will gather there to swap info, stories, rumors, opinions, etc. In other words, Facebook for gadgets, though I gather they’d recoil if they heard that. The other pitch, though they won’t spell this out, either: Their site takes a bunch of features and content that you can find other places and presents them in a better way.

There’s a bunch of nifty features, like a gadget-finder that lets you find products via specs instead of brands, and the site seems to be pretty slick. But it’s better if you have a look yourself instead of having me describe it. And gdgt.com won’t really hit its stride until actual users start using it. I look forward to hearing what they have to say about my upcoming phone dilemma: iPhone 3GS, Palm Pre or Blackberry Tour?

But as much as Rojas and Block argue that this is a community site, it’s their names and reps that have people interested in the project. And that’s what has convinced investors to plow money into an ad-supported Web site in an era when the economy sucks and there are way too many ad-supported Web sites.

The duo won’t discuss funding, but I’m told that last fall they were discussing investments of up to $1 million, but ended up taking less than that via a group of VCs and angel investors. I don’t have a complete list of investors, but people familiar with the company tell me that early-stage investor True Ventures led the round, which also included New York-based incubator Betaworks and Mahalo’s Jason Calacanis.

Calacanis’s name will resonate with longtime followers of the tech blog world: He was one of the founders of Weblogs Inc., which created Engadget as a rival to Gawker Media’s Gizmodo, and hired Rojas away from Gizmodo. Calacanis eventually sold Weblogs Inc. to Time Warner’s (TWX) AOL for a decent pile of cash, some of which I believe ended up in Rojas’s lap.

Click the image below to see a screenshot of what gdgt’s homepage ought to look like.

Running the Treo's OS on the Pre

Walter S. Mossberg — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 23:14:03 +0000

There’s no other major item most of us own that is as confusing, unpredictable and unreliable as our personal computers. Everybody has questions about them, and we aim to help.

Here are a few questions about computers I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability.

I am a longtime Palm user and am wondering if the new Palm Pre smart phone can run all the Palm OS programs I have become used to on my Treo.

The Pre is a clean break with Palm’s former operating system and previous hardware, and was designed as a platform for a new generation of software programs, or apps. It uses a new operating system called webOS, which wasn’t built to run old Palm OS programs.

However, there is a $30 program called “Classic” by a company called MotionApps (motionapps.com) that emulates the old platform and makes your sleek new Pre look and work like an old Palm device. It is intended to allow older programs to run on the Pre inside this virtual environment created by Classic. I haven’t tested it with older third-party programs and so I can’t say how well they work in this emulation mode.

But there are some caveats to this method. First, not all old Palm programs will run inside the Classic environment, or at least run well. The company lists those certified to work well on its Web site. Second, the old apps can’t activate certain features of the Pre, such as the camera. Third, Classic’s maker says it hasn’t yet figured out how to sync the old apps with a computer using Palm’s old, familiar HotSync process.

Can the Palm Pre be used as a modem for my laptop?

Sprint, the carrier that is launching the Pre, says the answer to this question is no. The company says its data plans for the Pre don’t permit that scenario.

I use Time Machine for my Mac, but I would also like the belt & suspenders security of manually backing up my invaluable iCal data on an external hard drive. How would I do that?

It’s easy. Just go into iCal’s File menu, select “Back up iCal…” and you can save a copy of your calendar to any drive connected to your computer, or even to any computer or external drive on a network, or over the Internet, that your Mac can access. To restore your calendar, just go to the same menu, but this time select “Restore iCal…” and then select your backup file.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online free of charge at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

Palm's New Pilot: Jon Rubinstein [UPDATED]

John Paczkowski — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:33:58 +0000

“The key thing was our CEO, Ed Colligan, had the insight that once the [BlackBerry] Pearl came out, the smart-phone business was going to be a consumer business, and Palm was not positioned for that and needed a major transformation, and that’s what we got involved in doing. The whole notion was you wanted to take that cultural legacy of innovation that created the Pilot and the Treo and then apply it to the next customer.”

–Roger McNamee lauds Palm CEO Ed Colligan at our recent D: All Things Digital conference

Now we know why it was Palm executive chairman Jon Rubinstein and investor Roger McNamee on stage at D last month talking up the Pre, and not CEO Ed Colligan: Colligan was on his way out.

On Wednesday, Palm (PALM) named Rubinstein as its new chairman and CEO. Come Friday he’ll succeed Colligan, who is leaving the company after 16 years to join McNamee at Elevation Partners. Apparently Palm, who recruited Rubinstein, a former Apple (AAPL) engineer, to turn the company around has decided it would much rather have him in its highest office than Colligan under whose leadership it was foundering.

In a statement, Rubinstein–who has spent the past two years quarterbacking the development of the Pre and its webOS–welcomed his new role. “I am very excited about taking on this expanded role at Palm,” he said. “Ed and I have worked very hard together the past two years, and I’m grateful to him for everything he’s done to help set the company up for success. With Palm webOS we have ten-plus years of innovation ahead of us, and the Palm Pre is already one of the year’s hottest new products. Due in no small part to Ed’s courageous leadership, we’re in great shape to get Palm back to continuous growth, and we plan to keep the trajectory going upward.”

Reached for comment late Wednesday afternoon, Roger McNamee offered up this rather canned statement on Palm’s leadership transition: “With Ed’s decision to step down, Jon Rubinstein is the natural choice to lead Palm into its next phase of growth. Jon has proven to have exactly the right mix of product vision, organizational leadership and operational capabilities to help Palm regain a leadership position. We are grateful for the leadership role Ed has played in initiating this transformation and getting through the successful launch of webOS and the Pre.”

Palm shares are up 3.75 percent at $12.44 on the news.

Palm's New Pilot: Jon Rubinstein [UPDATED]

John Paczkowski — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 21:33:58 +0000

“The key thing was our CEO, Ed Colligan, had the insight that once the [BlackBerry] Pearl came out, the smart-phone business was going to be a consumer business, and Palm was not positioned for that and needed a major transformation, and that’s what we got involved in doing. The whole notion was you wanted to take that cultural legacy of innovation that created the Pilot and the Treo and then apply it to the next customer.”

–Roger McNamee lauds Palm CEO Ed Colligan at our recent D: All Things Digital conference

Now we know why it was Palm executive chairman Jon Rubinstein and investor Roger McNamee on stage at D last month talking up the Pre, and not CEO Ed Colligan: Colligan was on his way out.

Palm shares are up 3.75 percent at $12.44 on the news.

Quickoffice Brings Editing to iPhones, But Put It on Hold

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 07 May 2009 01:04:03 +0000

I am typing these words in a full-fledged word processor on an Apple iPhone. It’s a third-party app that allows you to edit, format or create Microsoft Word and Excel documents, and then send them back to a PC or Mac where they can be opened in Word or Excel. Oh, and it has cut, copy and paste in its word processor — a capability long missing from the iPhone that isn’t due from Apple (AAPL) itself until this summer.

[ See post to watch video ]

Devotees of older smart phones, tired of iPhone hype, will be quick to note this is no innovation. Devices like Windows Mobile phones, Palm (PALM) Treos and BlackBerrys have made these abilities available for years. But, for the 37 million iPhone and iPod Touch owners, it’s potentially a major step forward, closing a hole in a hand-held computing platform that is otherwise more elegant and versatile than any other.

This new app, called Quickoffice, has some nice features. Its cut, copy and paste function is very well designed. It can save files locally on the phone. It has a built-in email function for sending files to others, and it can upload or download files to and from a PC or Mac, or to and from online storage.

But there’s a catch. While Quickoffice, which is also available on other platforms, did work OK in my tests, it has some major drawbacks that keep me from recommending it right now. The product’s maker, Quickoffice Inc., acknowledges these and is working to fix them by summer. But, especially because Quickoffice costs $19.99, a Rolls-Royce price in the iPhone’s app store, you might want to hold off on buying it until the fixes are in place.

In particular, Quickoffice can’t simply load and edit any Word or Excel file you receive as an email attachment. The company claims this is a built-in iPhone limitation, but it’s still a big problem for users. Instead, to get files into Quickoffice for editing, you have to transfer them using a Wi-Fi network from your PC or Mac, or from the iDisk online storage feature of Apple’s MobileMe Web service, which costs $99 a year.

Also, amazingly, Quickoffice shipped without any automatic typo-correcting function or spell checker. For various technical reasons, it couldn’t even use the one built into the iPhone. So, you have to do a lot of correcting of typos once the file gets onto a computer. For instance, the first words of this column, as originally created in Quickoffice, read: “I am typing these words in a full-feledged word pricessor … ” I had to clean them up in Word on my laptop.

The Quickword app on iPhone

And, while you can view a text or spreadsheet file in landscape mode, you can do only limited editing of text documents in this mode, and no editing at all of spreadsheet documents viewed in landscape.

Quickoffice for the iPhone consists of three modules. One is Quickword, the word processor. The second is Quicksheet, the spreadsheet program. These two, also separately available from the app store at $12.99 each, can handle standard Microsoft (MSFT) .doc and . xls files, but not Microsoft’s newer .docx and .xlsx formats. The third module, called Quickoffice Files, merely transfers and displays files, but doesn’t allow editing or creating them. It handles a much wider variety of file types, and is sold separately for $1.99.

Cut, copy and paste is implemented nicely. You simply double-tap to select a word or triple-tap to select a paragraph. Small dots appear at either end of the selection, allowing you to expand or contract the selected section of text. Once your selection is done, you can then cut it or copy it, or change its formatting. To cut or copy your selection, you just choose cut or copy from a popup menu. To paste, you tap once elsewhere in the document, and then select Paste from a popup menu. You can paste text copied or cut from one Quickword document into another, but not into any other app on the iPhone. (Apple will add that ability this summer.)

Quickword is the better of the two main modules. It has an impressive suite of features, including the ability to bold or italicize characters, change fonts and colors, create bullet points, and undo or redo changes. All of this formatting was retained correctly when I transferred the files to a computer, and vice versa. Quickword doesn’t have every feature of Word on a computer, but its feature set is strong.

Quicksheet has 125 functions. It also does formatting of cells well, and has undo and redo. Again, it isn’t as powerful as Excel, but its capabilities are decent. Unfortunately, unlike in the word processor, I found some problems in Quicksheet. In one simple spreadsheet I imported, it failed to properly display text that stretched across multiple cells, and failed to do a simple recalculation that worked perfectly in Excel. Also, it lacks cut, copy and paste.

Getting documents into the app is a pain. Unless you have a MobileMe account, on either Windows or Mac, you have to type a geeky numerical address into a Web browser and then choose a file from your computer using the browser page that comes up.

Quickoffice is an OK start, but it needs a lot of work.

Find all of Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos online, free, at the All Things Digital Web site, walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com.

Syncing to an iPhone on MobileMe

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:52:02 +0000

Here are a few questions I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability.

I saw your column last week saying Apple’s MobileMe now does a better job of syncing contacts, calendar items and email. But will it allow me to sync to my iPhone directly from my company’s corporate calendar, address books and email?

MobileMe is meant for consumer data, not corporate data. Essentially, Apple’s own servers act like a company’s servers in order to bring corporate-style push syncing to consumer data that isn’t kept on corporate servers. To sync your corporate contacts, calendar items and email to an iPhone, you would use a different built-in option in the iPhone: Microsoft Exchange. Assuming your company’s IT department certifies the iPhone as an acceptable device, and your company uses Exchange, as many or most do, you can use an iPhone to perform instant two-way syncing of corporate contacts, calendar and email. It works just like a BlackBerry or Windows Mobile phone in this scenario. I have tested this, and found it worked well.

Is it possible to sync a Treo or BlackBerry using MobileMe? If not, how can I transfer my Treo contacts and calendar items to the iPhone?

While MobileMe is agnostic when it comes to computer platforms, working on both Windows and Macintosh computers, it is single-minded when it comes to handheld devices. It synchronizes data only to Apple’s own iPhones and iPod Touch devices. It doesn’t work with the Treo, the BlackBerry, or any other smart phone or handheld device beyond those made by Apple. One simple way to move contacts and appointments from Treo to iPhone is to use Outlook as an intermediary. First, sync your Treo to Outlook. Then, just plug your iPhone into your PC, launch iTunes, and sync the iPhone with Outlook. The data from your Treo should then be on the iPhone. MobileMe isn’t required.

I can’t find the location of the files contained in my Personal folders in Outlook that contain my contacts and saved emails. Can you help?

To find the location of the single combined Outlook data file that contains your email, contacts and calendar, follow these steps. First, select “Data File Management” from the File menu. A window will open showing the name of your data file, which includes its location on your hard disk. Click the button to the right that says “Open Folder,” and you will be in the folder that contains this file, with the file’s name or icon highlighted. Outlook data files use the extension “pst” at the ends of their names.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online free of charge at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

A Stylus for the iPhone

Walter S. Mossberg — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 22:04:02 +0000

Here are a few questions I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability.

I am a Palm Treo user and would like to get an iPhone for the apps. But I have tried the virtual keyboard on the iPhone in the store and hate it. Is there a stylus you can use for better accuracy, or some software trick?

I don’t know if they improve accuracy, but there are several stylus brands made for the iPhone and iPod Touch. They are aimed at making typing easier, especially if you have long nails or are wearing gloves. One example is the Pogo, a $15 iPhone stylus from a company called Ten One Design, at tenonedesign.com.

In addition, there are several iPhone apps that attempt to help typing accuracy by allowing you to compose emails, text messages and Twitter posts using a wide, landscape keyboard rather than the narrower standard keyboard. You type your message in these apps, and then the app sends them to the iPhone’s email program for transmission. One that I have used is called TouchType. It works with email and Twitter, and costs 99 cents.

Another interesting solution is a free app called ShapeWriter, which lets you type by sliding your finger along a keyboard to connect the letters in words. You never have to lift your finger until you are done with a whole word. Messages you compose in ShapeWriter can be saved as notes or shipped to the email program for sending.

Finally, I should note two things about typing on an iPhone. First, it’s difficult to know if you’ll be comfortable with it from just a few minutes in a store, because it usually takes a few days to master. Second, some people won’t ever find it acceptable, and these folks should choose a phone that has a physical keyboard.

In your review of the new version of the Safari Web browser, you said some Web sites were publishing methods for undoing some of the changes in it that you criticized. Can you explain how I can do that?

There are two methods for changing Safari 4 so it looks and works more like the previous versions, while retaining its faster speed. One method involves typing techie commands into the computer. But, for mainstream users, I recommend another: downloading a new free utility called Safari 4 Buddy. It’s available at swoon.net/site/software.html.

Safari 4 Buddy allows you to just check off buttons that can change the placement of tabs in Safari 4 so they’re under the toolbars, rather than at the top of the screen, and restore the blue page-loading progress bar that Apple killed. It also permits users to change other settings Apple omitted from the browser’s Preferences menus. I have tested it and it works.

However, this utility works only on the Mac version of Safari 4. I don’t know of any way to make these changes in the Windows version. Also, there’s no guarantee that Apple won’t make future modifications to the browser that might reverse any customizations Safari 4 Buddy makes.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online free of charge at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

Oh, Donna

John Paczkowski — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:44:34 +0000

With Jeff Hawkins, Donna Dubinsky founded Palm in 1992 and went on to become its CEO. She was part of the brains behind the Palm Pilot–the standard-setting personal digital assistant–upon which Palm (PALM) built its business. And she was integral to the development of Treo, the smartphone smash that Palm acquired from Handspring–the second company she founded with Hawkins.

Dubinksy has a long and storied history at Palm and one that will soon end. According to a recent SEC filing, she will soon resign from the company’s board of directors. Seems the $100 million Elevation Partners invested in Palm last year gives it the right to designate an additional director for election to the company’s board. But the board prefers to maintain its current size, so rather than add a new director it will replace one. And Dubinsky volunteered her spot. Queued up to replace her: Rajiv Dutta, former President of eBay Marketplaces and Executive VP of eBay (EBAY).

Burn Rate: MediaMaster Goes Under

Marisa Taylor — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:45:15 +0000

MediaMaster, a free Web-based application that allowed users to upload music from their hard drives and listen to it online or on their mobile devices, made the decision to shutter its doors, and explained on its Web site that “it is not possible to keep a service like this up for free without some sort of large scale userbase (>500,000) to get ads to pay for it.”

“I would like to thank our 95,000 users over time and especially our thousands of regular users,” the company wrote on its blog.

MediaMaster launched in 2006 to glowing reviews–PC World called it one of the ten best non-Google (GOOG) Web applications, and CNET lauded the site’s simplicity and the ease of creating playlists. Soon after, MediaMaster went on to create a Facebook app allowing users to share their playlists, and then adapted its Web-based platform to streaming playlists to Palm (PALM) Treos or Windows Mobile handsets.

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Using a Stylus With the iPhone

Walter S. Mossberg — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:14:02 +0000

Here are a few questions I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability.

I bought an iPhone and was frustrated that my fingers appear to be too large to type properly on its virtual keyboard. Is there a stylus that works with the iPhone?

I hadn’t realized this until recently, when a friend who bought one showed it to me, but, yes, there is. The iPhone wasn’t designed to operate with a stylus, and the small, thin, hard kind that one uses with, say, a Treo, doesn’t work right with the iPhone. But there are some companies that sell a wider type of stylus with a soft tip that approximates a small fingertip, and is designed for the iPhone.

If you type “iPhone stylus” into a search engine, or an online store like Amazon.com, you will see a number of inexpensive choices. One downside: the iPhone doesn’t have a built-in slot for a stylus. My friend carries his, which has a clip on the end, like a pen, in his pocket.

I just purchased an external hard drive for my PC that connects through a USB port to back up photos and important files in the event of a computer crash. Would this hard drive be affected if my main hard drive crashed? Should I disconnect the external drive when it’s not in use?

The two hard disks are separate devices, and if one has a mechanical failure, it doesn’t affect the other. There might be some scenarios in which a problem with the computer itself, as opposed to a breakdown of its internal hard disk, could affect the external drive. And malicious software could corrupt or erase files on the external drive. An electrical surge could also affect both drives, or fry the computer itself.

Many people can’t disconnect their external drives, because they use automated backup programs, or frequently save files to the drives. If you are doing only occasional manual backups, you could disconnect the extra drive when not in use, so you’d feel more comfortable. But, for maximum peace of mind in case of an electrical surge, you should disconnect it not only from the PC, but from the electrical outlet as well, even if you are using a surge protector.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox and my other columns online free at the All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

Write to Walter S. Mossberg at mossberg@wsj.com

Palm: Cowen Launches Coverage With Outperform Rating

Eric Savitz — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:47:44 +0000

Palm (PALM) shares received a boost this morning from Cowen analyst Matthew Hoffman, who launched coverage of the company with an Outperform rating. Hoffman asserts that the stock can appreciate more than 30 percent over the next 12 months.

Hoffman sees two catalysts for the stock ahead: a refresh of the “once-aging” Treo lineup, with new models based on Windows Mobile 6.1, and the much-anticipated new Palm OS, which he says “should provide increased product differentiation” by the end of the May 2009 fiscal year.

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We're All Out of Smart Phones. Still Got a Bunch of These Dumb Ones, Though.

John Paczkowski — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:08:08 +0000

Turns out Apple (AAPL) isn’t the only company whose smart phones are in short supply this spring. According to Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt, Research in Motion (RIMM) and Palm (PALM) are suffering shortages as well.

In a research note, McCourt says RIM’s BlackBerry Pearl is pretty tough to find these days–online and off. And Palm’s Treo 755p has disappeared from Sprint’s shelves entirely. Customers looking for one must either settle for the Palm Centro or wait until the company releases the next iteration of the Treo 755p or the Treo 800w.

As McCourt notes, shortages like these are bad news for RIM and awful news for the downtrodden Palm. “The abrupt disappearance of the Treo 755p at Sprint is somewhat concerning,” observes McCourt. “This product was selling reasonably well and, although we expect its contribution to be marginal following the 800w’s launch this summer, the 755p’s absence at Sprint clearly means Palm is foregoing some near-term sales opportunities.”

It’s worth noting here as well that Apple is still dealing with a pretty lean inventory of iPhones. McCourt says about half of the Apple stores he contacted had the device in stock. Said McCourt, “While we believe this is related to a product transition, current iPhone shortages are almost certainly causing some degree of missed sales opportunities.”

We're All Out of Smart Phones. Still Got a Bunch of These Dumb Ones, Though.

John Paczkowski — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:08:08 +0000

Google: The "G" Stands for "Global Domination"

John Paczkowski — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:00:59 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

Google: The "G" Stands for "Global Domination"

John Paczkowski — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:00:59 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

SugarSync Offers the Best Method Yet for Replicating Files

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:01:00 +0000

It’s a real problem keeping all the files you need available and up-to-date on multiple computers in multiple locations, whether they are key business documents or just favorite photos or songs. Adding to the problem is the increasingly common use of smart phones as little laptops, and the growing mixed use of Windows machines and Apple Macintoshes, which use different programs.

Now, there’s a new service called SugarSync that keeps your files replicated and synchronized across all your computers, whether they are Windows PCs or Macs. It even offers limited file synchronization on certain smart phones. The service is from a Silicon Valley company called Sharpcast and is available at sugarsync.com.

[ See post to watch video ]

Not only does SugarSync place the latest version of every file you designate for syncing on all your chosen computers, but it also creates an archive of these files on a special, password-protected Web page. That way, you can access the latest version of any file even when you are at a public or borrowed computer that lacks the SugarSync software.

I have been testing SugarSync on five different computers — three Windows PCs and two Macs — as well as on a Treo smart phone. I tried syncing everything from Excel spreadsheets to Word documents, from photos to songs to PDF documents.

My verdict: While SugarSync isn’t free and has a few rough edges, it is by far the best solution I have tested to replicating and synchronizing your files across multiple computers. It really works.

Every time you change a file — say, by editing a Microsoft Word document or rotating a photo — the changes are replicated within seconds on every computer to which it has been synced and in the Web archive as well, as long as the computers are connected to the Internet.

For example, I set up SugarSync to synchronize a folder containing some Word documents. Then, I opened one of the documents on a Dell and added a sentence to it. A minute later, I opened the same file on a Mac, which was also connected to my SugarSync network. The file already had been updated on the Mac to include the change I had made on the Dell.

While SugarSync is primarily about file replication across computers, it also helps solve another nagging problem: backups. Because the files you care about most are now replicated on multiple machines in multiple places, and are stored as well in a Web archive, they are also backed up. So if one of your machines dies, you don’t lose your files. And, if you find yourself in need of a file that doesn’t exist on the computer in front of you, it can be downloaded.

SugarSync works by uploading your synchronized files to its servers, in encrypted form, and then sending them down to your computers when they change. There is a 45-day free trial that gives you 10 gigabytes of file storage. After that, you can keep the 10 gigabytes for $25 a year. There are five other storage plans, ranging from $50 a year for 30 gigabytes to $250 a year for 250 gigabytes.

The software that makes it all possible, called SugarSync Manager, is free and comes in Windows and Mac versions, as well as versions for Windows Mobile phones and certain BlackBerry models. An iPhone version is in the works, but for now, you can scan your online archive using a special SugarSync page available through the iPhone’s Web browser.

You install the manager software on any computer you wish to be part of the synchronized network. You can select different folders on different computers for syncing. All get uploaded to the Web archive, where they can be accessed at will.

You can choose which folders you wish to replicate fully on each machine. For instance, you might want your main documents folder to be replicated on every hard disk, available even when you’re offline. But, with a folder of lesser importance, you might be content to just fetch a file when you need it from the Web archive.

SugarSync creates two special folders. One, called Magic Briefcase, is always replicated on every machine’s hard disk, so you can quickly add a file to it even if you didn’t select the file’s original folder for synchronization. The other, called Web Archive, retains files in their original versions, never updating or changing them.

So, what are the rough edges I spoke about?

Well, the Mac version of SugarSync manager is still in beta, crashes occasionally and has various bugs. A final Mac version is promised later this spring. The cellphone versions can only view photos and whatever documents the phones allow, but changes you make on the phones in documents other than photos aren’t synced back to the computers or to the Web site.

In addition, SugarSync can’t synchronize Microsoft Outlook files and it can’t, say, replicate a new calendar entry or contact change across your computers. The company has shown off this capacity in public demonstrations and says it is working on adding it.

Still, SugarSync solves a real problem and does so well.

Email me at mossberg@wsj.com. Find all my columns and videos online, free, at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

Fixing a Frozen MacBook Air

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:01:00 +0000

Here are a few questions I’ve received recently from people like you, and my answers. I have edited and restated the questions a bit, for readability.

I am considering the purchase of the MacBook Air (AAPL). If this computer freezes up, as my current Dell Inspiron does on occasion, how would I correct for that? I usually remove and then replace the battery on the Dell (DELL). But what would I do if this happens with the Air, since it has no removable battery?

You can force a frozen MacBook Air — or any current Mac laptop — to shut down and restart without removing its battery. You just hold down the power button for a few seconds until the machine shuts off, then wait a few seconds, then turn it on again.

I am a Verizon (VZ) customer and have a Palm (PALM) Treo 700W for personal use. I would like to replace the Treo but, in light of Verizon’s announced “open network” policy, I am wondering if this is the right time.

It’s far too early to know what new phones will be available under the new Verizon program, since that depends on which phone makers decide to make devices to run on the “open” network, and what kinds of devices they might produce. There is the potential for phones that are more creative or interesting than what is available today, but it’s only a potential. Verizon has just laid out the first details of the plan, and no product announcements are likely for quite a while. If your Treo needs replacing soon, and you want to remain a Verizon customer, you will have to choose from the company’s current smart-phone offerings.

Are there any cellphones that allow for two separate phone numbers? Right now I carry two devices, both with the same carrier.

At least in the U.S., each cellphone, or each SIM card that goes in a phone, is normally tied to a single number. To use two numbers on a single phone, you could purchase an unlocked phone running on a GSM network and then purchase two SIM cards, each with a separate number, and swap them in and out. But that would be an inconvenient process, since inserting and removing SIM cards typically requires opening the phone and even removing the battery.

You can find Mossberg’s Mailbox, and my other columns, online free of charge at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.

Multitouch Interface Is Starting to Spread Among New Devices

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:01:00 +0000

We are now witnessing the emergence of a new user interface for digital devices, including laptop computers, advanced cellphones, wireless portable data gadgets and other types of computing products.

This interface is generally called “multitouch,” and it involves using one or more fingers on a screen or touchpad to perform special gestures that manipulate lists or objects on a screen — without moving a mouse, pressing buttons, turning scroll wheels or striking keys.

[ See post to watch video ]

The best-known example of the interface is on Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch devices. It allows you, for example, to rapidly flip through photos, lists of emails or song titles by merely “flicking” a fingertip on its screen, or to resize a photo by “pinching” the image with two fingers. And, this month, Apple moved some of these multitouch features onto a laptop, its new MacBook Air, where fingertip actions are performed on an oversized touchpad rather than on a screen.

Apple didn’t invent the multitouch concept. Academic and commercial researchers, and small, obscure companies, have been working on it for years. Apple is adapting the concept, adding its own ideas and popularizing it — just as it did in the 1980s with the mouse and the graphical user interface, which had also been invented elsewhere.

Rival companies are scrambling to add multitouch features to laptops and other digital gadgets. Synaptics, a leading supplier of touchpads for laptop makers who compete with Apple, has announced that shortly it will incorporate several multitouch features into its touchpads. Microsoft is producing a coffee-table-size computer called the Surface, meant for hotels, casinos and retail stores, that uses multitouch finger gestures to move around digital objects such as photos, play games and browse through product options. Hewlett-Packard developed a prototype of a similar multitouch coffee-table computer for home use.

Rotating a photo on Apple’s MacBook Air

And, in the back rooms of this month’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, various cellphone makers, seeking to emulate the iPhone, were showing off their own unannounced efforts at multitouch. One prominent cellphone maker, Taiwan-based HTC, has already built a phone, called the Touch, which slaps a rudimentary multitouch interface on Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system.

The basic touch screen, of course, is an old and familiar thing. People use them every day to get money from ATMs or to check into flights at airport kiosks. Microsoft’s Tablet computers and Palm’s Treo cellphones, among others, use touch screens that employ styluses or fingers to move cursors, select icons and other items, and even to write on the screen.

But multitouch interfaces are potentially much more versatile. They allow you to use your fingers to manipulate virtual objects on a screen as if they were real, sort of the way Tom Cruise’s character did in the 2002 Steven Spielberg science-fiction film, “Minority Report.” For example, Microsoft’s Surface allows users to rearrange groups of digital photos by just dragging them around on the table top as if they were actual paper prints.

Unlike the touch screens on, say, ATMs, multitouch devices are able to distinguish between the press of a single finger and the press of multiple fingers, and to interpret the motions or gestures you make. They take different actions depending on how many fingers they detect and which gestures a user performs.

On Apple’s MacBook Air, the touchpad still allows you to use one finger to move the cursor and click like a mouse can. But, optionally, it can do much more using multitouch gestures.

You can rotate photos by just touching two fingers to the touchpad and moving the images on the screen as you wish. You can quickly move back and forth through a series of Web pages or photos by “swiping,” or placing three fingers on the touchpad and moving them rapidly sideways. And you can shrink or expand a photo, or zoom in and out on a Web page, by pinching the image.

All recent Mac laptops, not just the new Air, have the optional ability to scroll through a screen without using any button or special zone on the touchpad. You just place two fingers, instead of one, anywhere on the touchpad and drag them across its surface.

In addition to pinching, the new Synaptics touchpads have a feature called “ChiralMotion,” which achieves rapid scrolling by moving two fingers in a circle anywhere on the touchpad. Another Synaptics feature, called Momentum, lets you emulate a trackball by flicking a single finger across the touchpad. This gesture can move an object on screen, like a virtual bowling ball in a game, with the illusion of inertia.

It’s too early to know if the new multitouch approach will ever be as big as the mouse-driven graphical user interface. But it’s already evident that it offers real advantages on devices where a mouse isn’t possible or convenient to use, or the decades-old interface of menus and folders is too cumbersome.

Email me at mossberg@wsj.com. Find all my columns and videos online, free, at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com.