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Google Docs, the company’s online office suite, now lets people create and use templates. There are many examples already posted in Google’s template gallery, including invoices, resumes, invitations, mileage caluclators and calendars.

Avery Dennison has already posted a number of templates for their self-adhesive labels. Now I have one less reason to use Microsoft Word, and the folks at TastyPopsicle seem to agree with me: see their article called Oh hell no, Google’s got templates!

I’m sure there are security concerns. How hard would it be for someone to post a template that lets users record their web passwords or credit card information, and then sends back that valuable data to the developer? Google’s videos don’t mention any of these issues - instead, users are told that they can email template-based documents to friends, who can fill them out and return the data in their email client. 

Before trying these templates, I suggest changing your Google password to something stronger, like a passphrase, or using a Google account that doesn’t have much or any email or data in it. It’s much easier to set up a fresh Google account than to figure out who’s looking at your data.

There’s more information and a couple of videos in this Google blog article called Templates bring Docs to life.

Related posts and pages on billso.com

• 12 May 2008: Software and services - free or paid?
• 24 April 2008: Change that password into a passphrase
• 19 April 2008: Salesforce for Google Apps
• 28 February 2008: The Google cable
• 18 September 2007: Google, Yahoo and IBM in the Office
• 17 April 2008: Virtual keyboards and monitoring software foil keystroke loggers
• 12 April 2008: Finding business contacts and passwords on the Internet
• 19 April 2007: Living la vida Google
• 2 July 2007: CXOs face malware email attacks
• 23 February 2007: Google Apps vs Microsoft Office

Apple has sued Psystar, the marketers of the Open Computer, according to Jorge Espinoza’s article, Apple Goes After Clone Maker Psystar, and ZDnet. Apple seems to have a solid case, as Psystar modified Apple’s software as part of the Florida company’s product offerings. The original name of the Psystar product was the OpenMac, which didn’t please Apple, either.

Related posts and pages on billso.com

• Copyright and fair use
• 15 April 2008: Can Apple stop the Open Computer?

The retirement of Bill Gates from daily duty at Microsoft prompted bloggers and journalists to write long articles about Microsoft technology. It’s summer, and we have to fill the pages somehow. 

This Engadget article called Bill Gates: top ten greatest hits (and misses) has some details and product photos. Two of the “misses” are interesting.

The AutoPC was a voice controlled system that connected the driver to music, GPS and Outlook services. It went on sale in 2000 and died a quick death, but many auto manufacturers are offering systems with similar features in 2008. The same Microsoft business unit that developed the AutoPC also developed the SYNC system for Ford. 

The second “miss” is another example of pervasive or ubiquitous computing. It’s interesting that both of these products were championed by Bill Gates himself. 

I have worn my Suunto N6 HR SPOT watch almost every day for the last 2.5 years. Yes, the watch is a little large, and I have to clip it to a USB charger every 2 or 3 days to freshen up the battery. I never got the heart rate monitor feature to work properly, though. 

Microsoft partnered with Clear Channel to distribute news, sports, stock market and other data to users via Clear Channel FM radio stations.The silvery rim of the watch face is the FM antenna. It’s a one-way device that receives broadcasts, so it’s impossible to send information from the watch.

I don’t use Outlook, so I never use the appointment and messaging features. But the baseball scores are usually up to date, as long as I’m in a Clear Channel city, and I never need to set the time. It’s synced by an atomic clock somewhere in the cloud. 

Sadly, Microsoft discontinued the SPOT watch line in April 2008 - see this Engadget article called SPOT watches R.I.P. - 2004-2008. The cloud service still works on MSN Direct. I just go to the web site, log in, and select the information and faces for my watch. 

I see fewer wristwatches on wrists these days. Many of my friends rely on their mobile phone’s clock instead, as they carry their phones with them everywhere. Most modern mobile phones sync their clock to their carrier’s system. 

Image courtesy of billso through a Creative Commons license. 

It’s possible to build a “kill switch” into electronics, so that the device can be stopped or destroyed by remote control. I mentioned this in my 3 July article called The kill switch is a bad idea.

But what happens when the device itself can harm or kill a person? Nathan Adams, a master’s student at the University of Canterbury, has written a good post called When bugs really do matter: 22 years after the Therac 25. He also addresses problems with Alaris SE infusion pumps back in 2006. This FDA page called Safety Information about the Alaris Signature Edition Gold Infusion Pump Seizure has more information.

Nokia is buying the 52% of Symbian that it didn’t own, and spinning off the mobile software company into a new entity called the Symbian Foundation. Sony Ericcson, Motorola and NTT DoCoMo are the other partners in a long-needed effort to reunite the various forks of the world’s most popular mobile phone operating system. AT&T, LG, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments. and Vodafone have commited themselves to the new effort. Samsung is also expected to join the foundation. See this article from the Associated Press for more information.

Related articles and pages on billso.com

• iPhone
• 20 April 2008: Mobile phones - the cure for global poverty?
• 21 February 2008: Nokia brings back N-GAGE
• 20 February 2008: Mobile phone platform wars
• 25 January 2008: Nokia claims 40 percent market share
• 20 January 2008: Nokia, Sprint announce layoffs