3D Printers: Almost Mainstream

Richard Smith needed to build a wall-climbing robot for a customer -- so he printed one.

Smith, director of Smith Engineering Gb Ltd., used a CAD program to design a 3D model of the WallRover, a dual-track roving robot with a spinning rotor in the chassis that creates enough suction to hold the device to a wall. He then sent the design file for each component to a 3D printer, which sliced the objects into sections less than 1/100th of an inch thick by printing it, one layer at a time, using molten ABS plastic as the "ink."

As a 3D printer begins fabricating an object, each layer gets fused or glued to the previous one and the product gradually gets built up. Under the hood, 3D printers use a variety of different fabrication techniques, several of which are based on ink-jet technology, and can use many different types of "build" materials to print three-dimensional objects. (To learn more about the different types of 3D printers, check out our comparison chart.)

Before buying a 3D printer, Smith would send its designs to a service bureau for fabrication, and parts took three or four days to turn around. Had Smith used a service bureau for the WallRover project -- which went through 22 design iterations -- it would have taken six months to complete, Smith says.

Smith Engineering used an inexpensive 3D printer to build the ABS plastic parts for its wall-climbing robot prototype for client WallRover

Instead, Smith was able to get a final design and fully functional prototype to the client within two weeks.

And he did it using a consumer-grade 3D "plastic jet printer" that he built from a kit. The RapMan, from 3D Systems' Bits From Bytes division, cost just $1,500. Smith spent another $180 for plastic filament -- the "ink" consumed by the printer. "It saved five months of development time and somewhere in the neighborhood of $15,000 to $20,000 in models" that were created in-house instead of being sent to a service bureau, he says.

Smaller and cheaper

3D printing isn't new. The manufacturing technique known today as 3D printing, also called additive manufacturing or direct digital manufacturing, has been used for rapid prototyping for decades. But over the last 24 months, prices have dropped to a level that makes it appealing to a wider audience.

The technology is more compact, particularly in the plastic jet-printing category. Cathy Lewis, vice president of global marketing at printer manufacturer 3D Systems Inc., says today's models are "ideal" for personal use.

3D design gets easier

It's relatively easy to use a free tool such as Google SketchUp to create simple objects for 3D printing. But for complex shapes and geometries, designers still reach for professional modeling tools like SolidWorks.

"Visualization software such as Google's SketchUp provides a fast entry route" to 3D computer-aided design (CAD), says Nick Grace, manager of RapidformRCA, which acts as a 3D printing service bureau for students at the Royal College of Art in London and uses many different software design tools and 3D printer technologies.

But, he adds, "the shortcuts made by these tools are not allowed for in the 3D printer's slicing routine." For example, some software may not fully render elements of an object that aren't needed from a particular viewpoint. That causes problems when the file is sent to the 3D printer. "We still regularly get unbuildable surface files or haphazardly constructed and translated data from files that render a perfectly coherent image," he says. In other words, they look fine on screen but won't print correctly.

Professional solid modeling tools do better job, but usually require specialized training and expertise. "The products today are pretty difficult to use," admits Gonzalo Martinez, director of strategic research at Autodesk.

CAD software makers are addressing the 3D content creation challenge in three ways: By introducing easier-to-use solid modeling tools for 3D content creation, by offering libraries of 3D objects that give users a head start on a design and by using specialized software such as Autodesk's 123D Photofly. This tool can combine a series of photographs of an object, taken from all sides, into a usable 3D model -- a process known as photogrammetry.

Professional tool developers are working "to make complex operations more simple," says Martinez. "Things that require training today you will be able to do with little training to create complex geometries."

For example, Autodesk 123D, a free tool for CAD novices, is a much-simplified version of the vendor's professional tools.

Other products, such as Rhino, a $995 program from McNeel, are edging closer to that middle ground between complexity and capability. "It is a high-end surface/mesh modeler, but has accessible controls and an excellent context-sensitive help with video clips," says Grace.

"We are still some way off the point when a novice can draw, model and print without help from a specialist," Grace says, "But that day will come."

But creating a printable 3D object can be tricky. Designs created in a CAD program need to be "water tight," or complete. "All surfaces have to be closed and lie on top of each other or you get holes in your part," says Jon Cobb, vice president of marketing at 3D printer vendor Stratasys.

The design then needs to be exported to a standard file format 3D printers can use, most often the stereolithography (STL) format, originally developed by 3D Systems, that has become a de-facto industry standard.

Until recently, the quality of STL files produced by CAD programs wasn't sufficient for 3D printing and required additional cleanup. But, Cobb says, that problem has largely gone away in professional solid modeling tools such as AutoCAD or SolidWorks. (Consumer-oriented design tools are a different story; see sidebar at left.)

Even so, Pete Basiliere, an analyst at Gartner who covers 3D printing, doesn't see consumers using the technology for personal printing of unique, one-off household items. "What's inhibiting consumer use is cost. It's too expensive for most people." Instead, he says, service bureaus may step in to fill those needs.

Another issue is that some objects need to have supports added so they don't collapse or sag before the materials fully harden. If an object needs to be supported during the printing process, the pre-processing driver software that comes with the 3D printer makes that determination and automatically adds any needed structural supports to the design.

Before printing this figure, an artist cleaned up the image, and extended the weapon and cape to the base on which the figure stands to provide additional support. When a figure first comes out of the printer, it is quite fragile, so support material must be removed carefully to avoid breaking off fine details such as fingertips.

The support material is usually different from the build material, and must be removed during a post-processing step that typically involves blowing off, breaking off, dissolving, melting or cutting away the unwanted material.

Price is right

Declining prices, improved quality and easier to use software are opening up demand for 3D printers. Commercial models -- capable of cranking out industrial manufacturing prototypes -- that once cost $100,000 now start at about $15,000, while personal 3D printers for the hobbyist and education market sell for less than $1,500.

"It used to be a six- or seven-figure cost," says Gartner's Basiliere.

Among industrial offerings, higher-end models add features such as the ability to print colors (although most can only print one color at a time), to run jobs faster, to print thinner layers for finer detail and to offer a larger printable area for creating larger objects.

For industrial designers doing prototyping, even an entry-level 3D printer is faster than going to a service bureau, and operating costs can come in as low as one-tenth of service bureau rates. The prices of 3D printers are now low enough to justify in departmental budgets, says Gartner's Basiliere.

Manufacturers, such as automakers, have traditionally used 3D printers in a lab or as part of a separate internal "service bureau," says Terry Wohlers, principal consultant and president of Wohlers Associates Inc., which tracks the 3D printing market. Now they are showing up in corporate offices, where they sit on the network like any other networked printer. "Because they're more affordable, now they're spread all across General Motors and Chrysler," he says.

Other industries use the technology, too. Ben White uses a 3D printer from Z Corp. to produce prototypes of window curtain poles, tracks, blinds and other hardware for Integra Products Ltd. "It's more economical to lease a printer than it is to keep sending products out for fabrication," says White, senior product design engineer. "We're at 10 to 15% of the cost of the service bureau," he says, the turnaround is faster and the models are more accurately rendered to the original design specifications. After six months the company is using the printer to produce 95% of its prototypes.

Hewlett-Packard's DesignJet 3D printer is available only in Europe.

Others report similar savings. By using an HP DesignJet for rapid prototyping, Tintometer Ltd. sped up its product development times by 40% to 60%, says industrial designer Amy Penn. And the company, which manufactures industrial instruments that measure color, also uses the 3D printer to build finished products.

The DesignJet builds testing jigs that calibrate components before they're inserted into the final instrument during the manufacturing process. The parts more precisely meet the original specifications compared to what Tintometer was able to get from a service bureau, and are just as sturdy and a lot cheaper, says Penn. The 3D printer also made it cost effective to print concept parts that sales people can show to customers. "The ROI was about six months," she says.

Penn did not disclose what she paid, but she has the DesignJet 3D color unit, which sells for 16,200 Euros, or about $21,000 U.S. The monochrome version of the DesignJet 3D printer sells for 12,500 Euros.

In terms of shipments, the market for 3D printers remains relatively small. Unit shipments for professional use grew at a compound annual rate of 37% in 2010, according to Wohlers. This includes usage by industrial engineers, architects, engineers in traditional markets such as aerospace, consumer products, electronics, tool makers and other manufacturing concerns. But that 2010 growth amounted to just 6,164 units -- a tiny fraction of the 2D printer market. In 2010 there were over 44 million traditional printers shipped worldwide, according to IDC.

With only 51,000 3D printers sold worldwide since 1988 and 2.7 million solid modeling CAD seats worldwide, Wohlers estimates that there's plenty of room for growth. By 2015, Wohlers expects, shipments of industrial 3D printers will more than double to 15,000 units.

The potential for growth is one reason why Hewlett Packard dipped a toe in the water with the introduction of the DesignJet 3D, which HP sells only in Europe. The printer is a re-branded version of market leader Stratasys' uPrint 3D printer.

Objects made easy

Although they lack the capabilities of professional solid-modeling tools, all of the tools below can generate printable 3D objects -- and they're free.

Google SketchUp

Autodesk 123D

TinkerCAD

3DTin

Hobbyist Market

A growing hobbyist market has also developed for 3D printers; people use the technology to make everything from toys to drawer pulls. Free 3D modeling tools for hobbyists (see sidebar at right) make the creation process easier, while companies such as MakerBot Industries, LLC provide low-cost plastic extrusion, or plastic jet printers.

Manufacturers also offer libraries of preconfigured objects that users can work with. For example, MakerBot offers Thingiverse, a website where users can share objects they've created. Autodesk 123D offers a similar community.

Many personal 3D printers go to educational institutions, rather than homes. "We want to get these into the hands of kids," says MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis. "It gives them access to the raw power of innovation."

Unfortunately, simple 3D design software for home hobbyists isn't suitable for professional use, and professional tools are still quite complicated to use. That leaves a big gap between consumers and industrial designers. "Today you need to be an expert CAD user to create digital content, or you need a fancy scanner to capture 3D geometry of an object you want to print," says Lewis at 3D Systems.

The MakerBot 3D printer, which sells for $1,500, makes 3D objects by applying successive layers of molten ABS plastic. While designed for the home/hobby market, professional designers are finding the devices usable for some commercial applications. For example, Smith Engineering used a similar product to build and assemble the parts for a commercial robot prototype.

In 2010, 3D printer vendors shipped 5,978 personal 3D printers -- almost as many as sold into the professional market. But Wohlers doubts that a broad do-it-yourself at-home market will develop for personal 3D printers.

The bigger market, he says, will be the emergence of on-demand manufacturers that use industrial 3D printers or personal 3D printers that cost from $500 to $5,000. They will produce unique one-off or small-quantity items tailored to consumers or businesses that don't want bother with designing and printing items for themselves, Wohlers says.

Gartner predicts that the price for professional 3D printers that now sell for $15,000 will decline to about $2,500 by 2020 and will deliver better performance and more features. But ultimately, says Basiliere, "From the manufacturer's perspective it's not the sale price of the printer but the sale of the supplies that matters most." Average consumables costs for 3D printers range from $2.50 to $10 per cubic inch, according to Basiliere.

Small-business manufacturing

The emergence of low-cost 3D printing lowers the bar for some types of manufacturing. "Companies and individuals with design talent and business savvy can start a business and start manufacturing products," Wohlers says.

After seeing what a 3D printer could do, Ed Fries, the former vice president of Microsoft Game Studios, started up FigurePrints, which uses Z Corp.'s ZPrinter machines to create one-of-a kind models of personal avatars for World of Warcraft and Xbox Live game enthusiasts.

FigurePrints downloads the characters directly from each game site, and lets users pose them before placing an order. An artist then cleans up the object, smoothing away the series of polygons that describe the figure and adding a third dimension to some 2D elements of the image, such as a cape and hair.

Fries chose Z Corp.'s ZPrinter because it is the only 3D printer on the market that supports full-color printing. That is, it can print an object using multiple colors.

He considered more traditional manufacturing techniques, such as a resin-cast process designed for low-volume production. "But you can't hand paint to the resolution we get, which is 600 dpi," he says, and it cost more.

That's a key advantage of the full-color ink-jet printing approach, says Z Corp. CEO John Kawola. "Because we use ink jet heads you can print a bottle with all of the label graphics and text on it."

By using full-color printing, Z Corp.'s ZPrinter can fabricate a product bottle prototype complete with the label and text.While plastic jet printers heat and extrude ABS plastic through an "extrusion head" that looks like a syringe or glue gun, Z Corp.'s ZPrinter builds a 3D object by spreading a thin layer of a powder and then using an ink-jet print head to selectively deposit a liquid that hardens it.

As the layers build up, the unused powder that surrounds the object serves as a support. Once the item is finished, it goes to a cleaning station where a technician uses compressed air to remove the powder residue. The composite material, which has a polymer component, isn't as strong as ABS plastic, so FigurePrints dips each in a glue solution that hardens the material.

Even using the hardener solution, the final product isn't nearly as strong as injection-molded ABS plastic. Initially some characters, which tended to have overdeveloped upper torsos but thin ankles, snapped off the base during shipment. So artists take some license with images, in some cases thickening ankles or extending a cape or weapon to the base to add support.

"The texture and appearance of the finished product is OK, but isn't to the standard of a plastic injection-molded action figure you would buy at the store," Fries admits.

The colors aren't as bright, and the finished product has a texture that Fries describes as somewhat "chalky." But it works fine for models that ship in a glass display case, and the price is right: It costs about $5 per cubic inch to print a figure, not including pre- and post-processing time.

3D printers compared

For the full chart, go here.

FigurePrints sells the characters for about $15 per cubic inch -- and users seem willing to pay. "A common request is for wedding cake toppers," Fries says. "Couples meet in the games and want their characters on top of the wedding cake."

Smith also likes the idea of using 3D printers for one-off or limited run manufacturing. "We can do small-scale production -- tens of units -- without spending the money on expensive injection-molding tools," he says. But the printer works slowly, producing up to about four runs a day. FigurePrints gets about two products per day from each of its printers.

"If you're trying to manufacture with these machines, throughput is everything," Wohlers says. Using 3D printers successfully in a manufacturing setting will require better automation of both pre-processing and post-processing steps.

This ABS plastic hand vacuum was printed on a Stratasys uPrint 3D printer using fuse deposition modeling, a process that involves heating a plastic filament until it liquefies and sending it through a special syringe-like print head that extrudes it.

Cobb says Stratasys expects to cut total pre- and post-processing time for a typical print job in half, from 5 hours today to about 2.5 hours within the next three years, and for prices to drop from today's $15,000 for its entry-level professional printer to between $7,000 and $10,000 in that same timeframe. "In three to five years you will have the same capabilities for under $5,000," he says.

In the personal printer space, says Lewis at 3D Systems, prices will drop even further. "In the next year or two you will see us go past the $1,000 mark. In two years we'll be close to $500," she says.

How much the market will grow as prices continue to drop, and whether a mass market will ever emerge, is an open question. But as easy-to-use 3D design tools get better, and as shared 3D object libraries gain in size and sophistication, businesses and consumers may come up with new applications for the technology that haven't yet been envisioned. "3D printing is where the semiconductor business was in the 1960s," Wohlers says. "We know it is going to be big but we don't know how big."

IT's Winning (and Losing) Job Titles

Sure, there are still some Cobol systems on their last legs in the deep recesses of just about every large IT organization. But they are most assuredly on their way out -- as are the programmers who coded them.

Also due to disappear, CIOs say, are virtually all other single-purpose IT job titles. Unix administrators? Forget them. Today's trend toward services-based software, mobile apps, cloud and consumer technologies means it is the breadth, not the depth, of knowledge and experience that wins -- or keeps -- the IT job.

And the job itself most likely won't be based in an IT department, but embedded in another business function such as sales, marketing, manufacturing, or supply chain, with the employee working alongside tech-savvy business colleagues.

"It's very unusual for us to have folks who only have one skill," says Norm Fjeldheim, CIO at Qualcomm in San Diego. "There are folks who I was forced to let go because they only wanted to retain one skill set. It's very career-limiting for people to be so specialized that they can't work in multiple environments and multiple technologies."

Unlike the traditional IT environment, which consisted of a portfolio or inventory of discrete applications and technologies tended by in-house technical specialists, the emerging environment is a tightly-woven fabric of on-premises and off-premises services offered to an increasingly mobile workforce and customer base on an ever-widening range of consumer devices, like smartphones and iPads.

These services are designed, assembled and continually enhanced by professionals with a broad knowledge of what the technologies can do and how they fit together, plus a deeper, more specialized knowledge of how they can be applied to a particular set of steps or tasks in an overall business process, such as order to cash or procure to pay. The ultimate goal is to build and assemble a combination of technical capabilities and business services that enables a company to distinguish itself from its competitors in terms of price, customer service, operational efficiency and other key business metrics.

At General Mills, a regular on Computerworld's Best Places to Work in IT list, CIO Mike Martiny says he has organized these various capabilities into centers of excellence where the mission is to "stitch a number of technologies together to create a solution or capability that didn't exist before."

New job titles to emerge in the centers of excellence range from solutions developer to enterprise architect.

"Expertise in a technical area is an entry in the door," Martiny says. After that, General Mills will focus on building skills in four key domains: security, mobility, integrated digital marketing, and enterprise data and governance. "These are four areas that have a broad reach," he notes.

Winner: Jeff Stachowski

• Information architect, user experience lead (consultant)

• Current assignment: American Airlines, Dallas

As an information architect, Jeff Stachowski describes himself as both a translator and an ambassador.

"It's up to the information architect to work with the business or project manager and understand all of their requirements, then communicate to developers how to build what they want," he says.

In his current assignment as a user experience lead on a Web development project at American Airlines, Stachowski says, "Communication is my No. 1 strongest point."

Stachowski built his first Web page on a lark back in 1996. He and a graphic designer friend bought a modem, started checking out early Web pages built in straight HTML and were hooked. "It was the most amazing thing I ever saw in my life," he says.

Over the past 15 years, Stachowski, who is largely self-taught, has worked as a Web developer, information architect and user experience expert, on both a permanent and contract basis. He keeps his knowledge current by attending seminars, reading blogs and gaining on-the-job experience.

In the course of a day, Stachowski says, he works with programmers, business managers, art directors, designers and clients. "The information architect is like a real-life architect who figures out where to put the restrooms in a building or how much parking is needed and where it will go," he says. "You have to understand everything that is going on and organize the information in a logical manner," he explains. That includes figuring out where to place various buttons, tabs and the logical progression of links to other information.

"In my job, I don't need to know every trick in Photoshop, but I need to be able to communicate visually an idea. You also need an understanding of a browser's capabilities and how to store information in a database. I don't know how to do all of those things, but I must know if it's possible and what the requirements are," he says.

Because technology is changing constantly, Stachowski says anyone considering a job like his "has to be fluid and willing and able to change."

"With HTML3, everything is in tables, then HTML4 has Cascading Style Sheets, and now there is HTML5. It's not like it was with mainframe programmers who had a specialty. We don't have that luxury anymore. Systems change every four to five years and you either learn or you're always going to have that college kid coming out of school who knows all the new stuff," he says.

The payoff is steady work, even in a stumbling economy.

"There is absolutely a demand for my skills," he says, noting that he typically receives three to four calls and three to four emails a day from recruiters with jobs paying between $80,000 and $90,000 per year.

"I turned off my resume on Dice and Monster," he says, referring to the popular job sites. But he also cautions that demand for his skills is cyclical.

"When the Internet bubble burst, guys like me were the first to go," he says, again adding, "You have to be fluid and willing and able to change."

- Julia King

Martiny says the company hires people to pursue careers, not to do a job or assume a specific title. "We always have specific technology roles open," he says, "but we're looking for very specific skill sets for a period of time" -- not forever. "That's why we look for people with continuous curiosity and a demonstrated history of continuous learning."

At Qualcomm, Fjeldheim considers the role of the enterprise architect to be among the most difficult to fill, especially by newcomers. That's why he is "cherry-picking" the best and brightest from his existing IT staff to transition into the role of enterprise architect. "IT still has architecture responsibility, but we're also charged with creating and deploying some of the new and innovative technologies coming in. That's not an easy role to fill from outside, partly because the role needs to understand the business and what the business is trying to accomplish," he says.

Next page: What about business intelligence and mobile apps?

Simplify Web Page Viewing on Firefox with Evernote's Clearly Add-On

A browser add-on that strips the junk from web pages so they're easier to read has been brought to Firefox by the popular stash site Evernote.

Previously available only for Google's Chrome browser, the add-on, Clearly, was released Wednesday for Mozilla's Firefox browser.

After installing the applet, you can take a web page blighted with advertisements, menus, and other distractions and--with a click--turn it into something very readable. After you finish reading the page, you can click again on the Clearly icon on the Firefox toolbar to return the page to its original form.

A very nice feature about Clearly is that it will automatically take a multi-page article and turn it into a single page. Websites that chunk up their copy to get additional page views will hate that feature, but most readers will love it.

A web page (before, left) and after using Clearly with Firefox.If you can't finish an article and you have Evernote installed in your browser, you can save the clean version of the web page to your Evernote account and read it later on any device with a browser and web access. The add-on also can be set up to automatically place a tag on pages you save to Evernote so they'll be easy to find when you log into your account there.

You can modify the fonts on your Web page with Clearly.You can also customize how Clearly redesigns a page for reading. The add-on has a number of pre-set layouts, but you can create your own custom layouts by modifying the applet's fonts, colors, and alignments.

Clearly makes reading articles and blogs on the Web a much more enjoyable experience by removing the noise from web pages. It's a worthwhile addition to the toolbar of any Firefox user.

Follow freelance technology writer John P. Mello Jr. and Today@PCWorld on Twitter.

The PlayStation Vita Brings Gaming Into Your Reality

[Photo: Screenshot from GameTrailers.com's video on the PS Vita. See the source link at bottom for the actual video.]Game developers and publishers have thrown about the term “augmented reality” for many years, but with usually disappointing results. Sony thinks it may be able to deliver on the promise, however, as the freshly-released (in Japan) Playstation Vita offers an integration between gaming and reality… all in mobile form.

Using the Vita’s rear camera and accelerometer, it gathers visual information from wherever you are and figures out your surroundings. At that point, it can intelligently insert virtual elements--street-fighting goons, spaceships, race cars, whatever--and displays the integrated action on the screen, even intelligently figuring out how to make them interact with the real-world surroundings.

The end result is a compelling augmented reality experience (though the term “virtual reality” might be more fitting). For example: Two tanks doing battle could use stacks of real-world books for cover, or giant flowers could burst through the earth. And yes, there’s already an augmented reality title ready to pop into the Vita (when you get one): Reality Fighter pits two brawny combatants against each other to engage in fisticuffs on your breakfast table, office desk or car dashboard.

Though it's already released in Japan, the Playstation Vita won’t be available to Europe or North America until February, 2012. You can check out some awesome video of the Vita in action, however (including the augmented reality features) at Gametrailers.com.

Mobile Security Fails the History Lesson

Mobile users from all walks of life, from the average citizen to business bigwigs to movie stars and politicians, are getting their phones and voicemail hacked these days. Most of the perpetrators aren't even skilled hackers; they're regular Joes, spurned suitors, or even -- hold your nose -- reporters.

End-users certainly deserve part of the blame here, but phone vendors and mobile carriers alike could be doing more. It's not as if attacks targeting phones are especially new. It's a strange paradox: We know what we need to do to stop hacking. We have two decades of experience in putting down malware and hackers in the PC-based, network world. But we seem to be ignoring all those lessons as we move our CPUs and storage to new form factors. Am I the only one who thinks we're destined to live out every PC-based malware symptom in our smartphone world?

First off, every phone today offers users the ability to require a password, a PIN, or a finger swipe to gain access. Most users forgo these features unless forced. But it's not as though those security mechanisms provide much protection anyway -- they don't require any complexity. PINs tend to be four numbers long. Swipes can be as uninteresting as possible: Most people I know who use the swipe method just go in a straight line from top to bottom, as if no uber-hacker will try that swipe combination.

I understand the need for providing easy access. Asking someone to type in a nine-digit PIN to pick up a random phone call is a bit much. Many, if not most, end-users will do anything to get rid of every "annoying" security feature. I get that.

But cellphone makers, networks, and carriers can do more to deter malicious hacking. For starters, how about enabling phones to track failed logon attempts, leading to a temporary lockout -- or at least slower responses to each additional bad logon attempt? I can't wait for accurate facial recognition or fingerprint swipes to become a standard option.

Phone makers need to step up. I personally believe that cellphone code has more exploit vectors per line than today's normal computer code and fewer built-in default protections. It seems as if every popular cell model has a sneaky way around the PIN logon page. Usually it involves hitting the emergency dial button, choosing Contacts, and punching a few other keys. When was the last time your PC allowed you to bypass the password logon screen? There are plenty of other holes. In general, cellphone code isn't as secure as other code.

I haven't discussed the gorilla in the room: the ease of creating malware for mobile platforms. It's exceedingly simple. Most phones allow an installed program to access the user's contact list and to initiate messages. It's been a problem for over a decade. The first major cellphone SMS attack, the DoCoMo worm that impacted Japan in a big way, struck 10 years ago. The world has had plenty of warning, and strangely, most cellphone vendors still don't stop these types of attacks. Cellphone platform vendors should threat model their environments, perform secure code reviews, and implement defenses.

But carriers can do more, such as by requiring voicemail passwords to be stronger than four characters. How much of the recent tabloid hacking could have been stopped by slightly longer passwords and account lockouts? I'm thinking most of it.

I don't want to say that all vendors are getting it wrong, but in general, most vendors have at least a few weak areas that could stand improvement. It would be nice if we could expend the effort to try to minimize how many duplicate lessons we all have to live through.

This story, "Mobile security fails the history lesson," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Keep up on the latest developments in network security and read more of Roger Grimes's Security Adviser blog at InfoWorld.com. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.

Google: Android Activations Top 700,000 a Day

Every day more than 700,000 people sign up for a new Android device, Google's Android chief, Andy Rubin, said late Tuesday via Twitter and Google+. That works out to nearly 5 million new Android users every week, which is about the equivalent of an iPhone 4S opening weekend every seven days. Rubin also clarified that Google's 700,000 activations per day includes new devices only and not resold ones. "We count each device only once," Rubin said in a follow-up post on Google+. "Activations means you go into a store, buy a device, [and] put it on the network by subscribing to a wireless service."

Rubin's clarification may have been in response to past criticisms lobbed against Android by Apple's late cofounder Steve Jobs. "We think some of our friends are counting upgrades in their numbers," Jobs said, referring to Android in September 2010. Rubin on Tuesday did not specifically address the issue of counting upgrades, but did say that Google counts each device only once.

Earlier in December, Google’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, said there were about 550,000 Android phones being activated every day, according to CNET. But it appears Schmidt was specifically taking about phones, while Rubin only mentioned "devices" suggesting he may be counting phones as well as 3G-enabled tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab or the recently launched Droid Xyboard devices.

Rubin in June said there were 500,000 Android activations every day.

Google is the most popular smartphone platform in the United States, with nearly 42 percent market share, followed by Apple's iPhone at 27.1 percent, according to metrics firm comScore.

 

IT Workers' Top 4 Dream Employers

Companies often talk about their "dream" IT job candidate -- the type of worker they'd most like to have on their staffs. But what about the IT workers themselves -- what type of company are they most interested in?

Computerworld asked 431 IT workers where they dream of working someday. Here are the four companies that came out on top, along with snapshots of what type of environment IT workers will find themselves in if one of their wishes does come true and they do end up working at one of these "dream" employers:

Don't let the lava lamps, free gourmet lunches, massage chairs and foosball tables fool you -- the fast-paced, unstructured work environment at Google is anything but casual. Google expects you to come to work with energy, passion, creativity and the willingness to put ideas into practice at what it calls "dizzying speed."

"Googlers" need to enjoy stretching themselves beyond their comfort zones -- not even "great" is good enough, according to the company. No wonder software engineers are offered "20% time" within their regular work schedules to explore their passions. Employees work on small, focused teams, with a diversity of cube mates, including former neurosurgeons, alligator wrestlers and Marines.

Search is just one of Google's focuses; it also needs people with backgrounds in information retrieval, artificial intelligence, natural language processing, distributed computing, large-scale system design, networking, security, data compression and user interface design.

The company is hiring software engineers and "diverse, upbeat, creative, team-oriented" engineering operations staffers to work in areas such as data center operations, engineering management, hardware operations, intranet systems, operations/IT, partner solutions, technical writing and Web systems.

Despite its size and legacy, IBM doesn't want to be seen as a "gray, faceless corporation" but as an "ideas company" that nurtures a culture of support, inclusion and collaboration. An ideal employee, according to the company, is a "problem-solver, decision-maker, innovator, analytics ace, agent of change [who is] ready to make our planet work smarter."

To its credit, the company has worked to become less hierarchical. For instance, it has introduced online "jams," where all employees are invited to brainstorm on issues and initiatives.

Still, taking a job at IBM means accepting a certain amount of bureaucracy and "administrivia," according to members of Glassdoor, an online community that claims to offer a "free inside look at jobs and companies." However, people who visit Glassdoor also laud IBM's benefits package, work-from-home options and training programs (employees average 60 hours of training per year).

Opportunities extend across IBM's consulting, research and technology units. Through 2015, major areas of focus will include analytics, cloud computing and emerging markets, as well as the company's "smarter planet" initiative, which tackles pressing social issues such as energy production, climate change, traffic congestion and healthcare. Technology-focused applicants are also expected to have teamwork, social, communication, number-crunching and analytic skills.

Admit it -- you just want to play on the Microsoft campus, which offers retail shops, sports fields, 11 restaurants, 33 cafes and 37 espresso stations. Or is it the 100% healthcare coverage, gym membership or famed employee discounts you're after?

Be warned: You'll work hard to earn all of those perks. From the moment you begin Microsoft's famously rigorous interview process, you'll realize that the company expects a lot of its employees. And once you're hired, you'll be rubbing shoulders with people who are as ambitious, competitive and highly intelligent as you are, if not more so.

Opportunities at Microsoft go way beyond software, spanning games, phones, developer tools, business systems, online services and operating systems.

There is some grumbling on Glassdoor.com that things at Microsoft move more slowly than the creative workforce would like. However, the company claims that it hasn't lost its individualistic, entrepreneurial ethos.

And Microsoft employees do enjoy lots of freedom in terms of work hours and dress code. As the company's website says: "You have your own style; we expect you to bring it." That extends to how you think -- during the interview, be ready to explain how you came up with a technical issue or design question.

Photo Credit: (Flickr - markhillary)Perfectionist, idealist, inventor: If this describes you, then Apple might be your dream employer -- but only if you don't mind the pressure to deliver original thinking every day. The culture encourages employees to question everything, continually raise the bar and deliver something "astounding."

Employees tout Apple's generous health benefits, the social and collaborative nature of the workplace and the energy that goes into building products and creating experiences that many around the world are excited about. A downside is Apple's famed culture of secrecy, which isn't for everyone.

In IT, Apple needs collaborative problem-solvers who can manage business issues like online ordering, the retail experience and global network capacity. Key areas include software development, network architecture, information security and systems engineering.

On the product side, the company seeks innovative, creative, boundary-pushing hardware engineers, as well as self-motivated, ambitious, team-playing software engineers and project managers.

Expertise is needed in protocol stack development, wireless systems architecture, location technologies, telephony software engineering, mobile applications and frameworks engineering. As a software engineer, be prepared to work with a diverse group of people that could include musicians, filmmakers and digital artists.

Microsoft Bails From CES Tech Trade Show After 2012

Microsoft today announced that next month's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will its last as an exhibitor.

"We have decided that this coming January will be our last keynote presentation and booth at CES," said Frank Shaw, the head of Microsoft's corporate communications, in a blog post Wednesday.

As Shaw noted, January's CES will also be the last time that a Microsoft executive gives the gigantic trade show's opening keynote. Former CEO and current chairman Bill Gates delivered his first keynote in 1994 and ended with the 2008 CES. Current chief executive Steve Ballmer, who has taken the stage the last two years, will do so for the final time Monday night, Jan. 9.

"We won't have a keynote or booth after this year because our product news milestones generally don't align with the show's January timing," said Shaw.

Microsoft decided to downsize its role at CES, Shaw also said, because the company was "look[ing] at all of the new ways we tell our consumer stories," Among those new avenues, Shaw cited Microsoft's home-grown events, website, and the retail stores it's launched in more than a dozen locations, as well as social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter.

"It feels like the right time to make this transition," Shaw said.

The show sponsor, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), echoed Shaw in its own statement today.

"Both CEA and Microsoft have agreed that the time has some to end this great run [of 14 keynotes]," a spokeswoman said.

CEA also confirmed that Microsoft will not seek booth space for 2013 in the Central Hall, where it's had a massive presence for years.

Microsoft's move is reminiscent of Apple's decision in late 2008 to end its active participation -- which also included booth space and the delivery of the keynote address -- after the January 2009 Macworld Conference & Expo.

Shaw's list of alternative ways to communicate Microsoft's product messaging was similar to the ones given by Apple's head of marketing Philip Schiller three years ago. At the time, Schiller said Apple was "reaching more people in more ways than ever before" and that "trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers."

Like Shaw, Schiller also pointed to Apple's retail stores and its own website as alternatives to trade shows.

"This is all part of the very long decline of the various technology trade shows," said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research. "A trade show like CES is a very difficult and expensive selling environment, and although they may be a good way to connect with small retailers, the very largest technology companies don't have to sell that way."

Gottheil saw parallels between Apple's and Microsoft's decision to pull out of major trade shows like Macworld and CES.

"Microsoft isn't simply copying Apple, but like Apple, they have the kinds of products and the kinds of messaging where you want to get across something deep and complex, and you want to get this across without distractions of other products," said Gottheil.

Microsoft has stepped up the number of self-made events it has hosted this year, and like Apple, has shifted to invitation-only product launches or meetings with media and developers.

Last month, for example, Microsoft used a such a meeting to unveil more details about its upcoming online Windows Store -- its version of Apple's Mac App Store -- and to announce the late-February availability of Windows 8's beta .

The latter was a departure for Microsoft.

In early 2009, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced the availability of Windows 7's beta during his CES keynote.

The CEA declined to answer questions about how Microsoft's future absence will affect the trade show.

The association's spokeswoman, however, did note that it had already heard from companies on its waiting list which wanted to discuss taking up the exhibit space slack.

Microsoft has used CES to introduce major products -- such as the Xbox in 2001 -- the show has been the scene of some infamous gaffes, including the "Blue Screen of Death" that popped up on a Windows PC during Gates' 2005 keynote.

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer , or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His e-mail address is gkeizer@ix.netcom.com .

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