Recently by Sam Gowthaman

Some of the initial criticisms of the iPhone revolved around the device's lack of corporate-integration features and standards. Initially the phone was more suitable as an executive toy, a device that people managing their own schedules would be able to use, but was unsuitable for general standard issue within an infrastructure.

Apple has demonstrated its willingness to adapt and evolve its existing products by working with corporate customers on needed improvements to make the device more suitable for larger scale implementation on the employee level.

At the iPhone software development roadmap event, Apple unveiled its changes that stand to make all the difference, and likely propel past Blackberry as the ultimate business communications tool.

Push email has been integrated- previously, the device was only capable of receiving new emails from a periodically updating server, that would scan and retrieve emails over periods of 15 minutes or so. While this is perfectly functional for most everyday people, it fails to take into account the extremely time-sensitive nature of corporate communications.
With the new firmware update, the device will use a form of push email that immediately delivers messages straight from the email servers- and they have added support for Microsoft exchange, which is widely used for office email.

Push technology has also been expanded to the contacts and calendar, enabling organizations to instantly configure the data which it needs on its employee's devices. Employees will benefit from having everything they need to know automatically sent to their phones, no matter where they are.

There is also a critical security feature that allows the adminstrative utility to remotely wipe and disable a specific iPhone if it is lost or stolen. This is critical for corporations that have extremely sensitive internal information stored on the device.

Personally, I could see these improvements propelling the iPhone to its intended place as the quintessential smartphone and integrated communications device.

Look for Karl Rovian political attack squads wielding them when election season hits full swing.

A 19 year old Iranian student studying abroad in London received a disturbing phone call from his parents last year. His former lover, under persecution for sodomy in Iran, named him as a partner, leading to a warrant for his arrest. Mehdi Kazemi's parents also informed him that they were disowning him and did not disapprove of the fate that awaits him in Iran.

Personally, I find the most outrageous thing about this ugly situation to bethe position of the UK Government. Iran's position on this and other abuses of human rights is nothing new. A country that hosts Holocaust denial forums and claims that homosexuality doesn't exist within their borders (as though it is magically extinguishable) is going to have to do a lot to actually shock me at this point. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a caricature of himself, evoking Bond villains every time he spews his rhetoric through his interpreters.

However, the United Kingdom, widely considered a first world liberated society, and asylum to many persecuted refugees has inexplicably decided to consider sending this young man (barely old enough to be described as such) to the gallows of Iran.

Kazemi has sunk his case into a sea of red tape by attempting to apply for asylum in Holland after being refused asylum by the UK Home Office. Applicants are forbidden from applying for asylum in more than one European country.

I was initially frustrated and confused about the entire situation- is this not a textbook case of an individual facing violation of human rights and execution due to his being part of a persecuted segment of society?

Then I realized the implications of possible precedents that would follow if Kazemi is granted asylum. Gay Iranian men and women will all have a similar case, since they are all equally at risk. While one could argue that only those actually marked by the government should receive asylum, it is highly likely that Iranian homosexuals will take the risk of coming out in order to find rescue from the hell they live in. Furthermore, non homosexuals could claim to be gay, which will automatically put them on the government's lynch list, thereby making them equally eligible. Such a situation seems eerily and depressingly plausible.

It is a sad situation, and a wake up call to the fact that barbarism and savageness still run rampant in our world- and that the liberated, progressive first world may not have an effective solution to handle the situation, and perhaps will not before many innocent people are tortured and killed.