WinInfo Short Takes: PDC 2008 Special Edition

See the full post for more PDC perspectives

PDC 2008: For Windows, the Swagger is Back
The past several years haven't been great for Windows. Part of the problem, of course, is Windows Vista. Despite having sold well north of 250 million copies of the OS, Microsoft is coping with irrational feelings that Vista is a failure, and the company has completely revamped its Windows Division in an attempt to turn things around. Well, if PDC 2008 proved anything, the makeover is working. Not only do the Windows guys exhibit not a little bit of well deserved swagger, but the product they're now touting--Windows 7--is so universally recognized as being excellent that it's quite clear they've already got a hit on their hands, a year before the thing ships to customers. That's quite a feat, and if they're smart, Microsoft will rush Windows 7 to market. No one is going to actively seek out Vista now knowing that such a superior follow-up is waiting in the wings.

WinInfo Short Takes: PDC 2008 Special Edition

Ray Ozzie opines on the future of Microsoft - Massachusetts Biotech and Technology News and New England Local Business News

Read the full interview for additional Microsoft strategy insights

Q: You’re not nearly as blunt as Bill Gates can be, so ...
Ozzie: That’s a stupid comment.
[Stunned silence, then laughter.]
Q: Oh, you totally got me. ... Do you see the company’s culture changing under your technological leadership?
Ozzie: The culture of every company is really rooted in its founders. It really is. I don’t know if any company really shakes it, but certainly for a generation or so, this is Bill and Steve’s company (Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO). I am trying to bring a certain style and certain sensibilities that I have because I’m a different person. I’ve been closer to the code than Bill was for a longer period of time. I have certain strengths. I am not Bill Gates, but I have other things. I think I have already had some kind of an impact in that realm, particularly in the realm of getting groups to work together and align around shared objectives. All I can say is I enjoy the opportunity to keep trying to do more.

Ray Ozzie opines on the future of Microsoft - Massachusetts Biotech and Technology News and New England Local Business News

Access Team Blog : Announcement: Storing Access apps and data in the cloud

This didn’t get a lot of press coverage, but it’s a powerful combination; see the full post for screen shots etc.

Today [Tuesday 2008/10/28] at PDC we are announcing Codename “Huron”, a set of synchronization experiences built on top of the sync functionality in SQL Data Services’ cloud database and the Microsoft Sync Framework to provide business database sharing. Business database sharing offers a simple way to scale data to large numbers of users while not parting from the investment made in current technologies. It also enables users to subscribe and then edit the data locally in the format of their choice whether that is Office Access, SQL Server Express or SQL Server Compact and then push changes into SQL Data Services. The first end-to-end experience we will provide is for Office Access and will allow users to:

• Publish databases to the cloud along with reports, forms and objects
• Subscribe to published data and automatically configure the local database for sync
• Make online changes through SQL Data Services and propagate those changes to subscribed users once they connect
• Enable scheduled and background synchronization of data changes through SQL Data Services and then on to other subscribed users
• Backup and restore of database applications to the cloud

Access Team Blog : Announcement: Storing Access apps and data in the cloud

Study: Google runs more than 10 million Web sites | Latest Business Tech News - CNET News

Hmm…

The figure comes from monitoring what Web server software is in use to deliver Web pages to people's browsers. The top two packages are Apache and Microsoft's Internet Information Services, but Google has been catching up since.

Netcraft found 182 million Web sites total, of which 10.5 million used Google's software. Apache ran 91.5 million of htem, and Microsoft's IIS ran 62.8 million.

Study: Google runs more than 10 million Web sites | Latest Business Tech News - CNET News

Google brings text-messaging to online chat | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone - CNET

Another catch-up example; Windows Live Messenger has done this for a while

Google on Thursday will begin expanding the instant-messaging feature built into Gmail so people can use it to send text messages to their contacts' phones.

To use the feature, people can click on a chat window's settings to send a text message with SMS or type a contact's phone number in the chat contact search box, Gmail Product Manager Keith Coleman said in an interview. The feature is experimental, available only to those who opt to use it through the Gmail Labs settings, and Google will begin offering it Thursday.

Google brings text-messaging to online chat | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone - CNET

Sun Microsystems Reports $1.7 Billion Loss and Falling Sales - NYTimes.com

Apparently Sun’s CEO was off a bit in his assertion a couple weeks ago that Sun had $3.5B cash on hand

Sun’s results were announced after the market close. Shares closed at $5.29 in regular trading Thursday, up nearly 10 percent, giving the company a market value of about $4 billion despite annual sales of about $14 billion. The low market capitalization, combined with Sun’s vast intellectual property portfolio and $2 billion in cash, suggest to some observers that Sun needs to do something drastic to bring out its shareholder value. Options include going private with the help of supportive investors or selling its old-line server business to its partner, Fujitsu.

Sun Microsystems Reports $1.7 Billion Loss and Falling Sales - NYTimes.com

Odds Dim for Alliance of Google And Yahoo - WSJ.com

Another unhappy turn of events for Yahoo! shareholders and employees

The prospects for a Web-advertising partnership between Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. have dimmed, with both sides considering walking away from the deal as early as next week, say people familiar with the matter.

The two companies met Thursday with the Justice Department, part of a series of meetings to address the concerns of regulators. While the parties may agree to continue the talks -- or they could reach a resolution -- there are signs they are unwilling to make compromises to address the Justice Department's objections.

Odds Dim for Alliance of Google And Yahoo - WSJ.com

Semi-random: Windows NT is 20 years old tomorrow

Check this Wikipedia article for more details, but, IIRC, Microsoft hired Dave Cutler and his team on 1988/10/31, so the NT project could in some respects be considered 20 years old tomorrow.

It took Microsoft ~13 years to deliver a mainstream user-relevant client version of NT (Windows XP was officially released on 2001/10/25), no doubt a lot longer than Bill Gates probably expected, twenty years ago, but what started as Windows NT is now the world’s most widely-used client and server operating system family.

An excerpt from the Wikipedia entry:

The main architect of the system was Dave Cutler, one of the chief architects of VMS at Digital Equipment Corporation (later purchased by Compaq, now part of Hewlett-Packard). Microsoft hired him in 1988 to create a portable version of OS/2, but Cutler created a completely new system instead. Cutler had been developing a follow-on to VMS at DEC called Mica, and when DEC dropped the project he brought the expertise and some engineers with him to Microsoft. DEC also believed he brought Mica's code to Microsoft and sued. Microsoft eventually paid $150 million U.S. and agreed to support DEC's Alpha CPU chip in NT.

(So, maybe the NT project is actually a bit more than 20 years old…)

Circa 2008, as explained at PDC 2008 this week, Cutler is working on the Windows Azure team.

History of Microsoft Windows - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Streaming/downloading PDC 2008 Sessions

FYI you can view and/or download PDC 2008 sessions from this page.   The user interface is not entirely intuitive, so here’s an example:

I’ve selected an IE session from the session calendar/list:

Next, click on the tiny > icon next to the session name under the “Your selected session”; that will launch another browser instance, with the session streaming via Silverlight.  Underneath the player window, you’ll see:

Click on the “Powerpoint Deck” link to launch the pptx file.  Note that the sessions are generally posted within 24 hours of the related live presentation.

PDC 2008 / Agenda / Sessions

Microsoft | Microsoft researchers work toward three-dimension computing | Seattle Times Newspaper

This was a very compelling demo during the Wednesday keynote

The next version of Windows, unveiled here this week, will have new capabilities to work without a mouse and a keyboard, letting people manipulate some computers more naturally by simply touching the screen.

Microsoft researchers Wednesday showed a prototype technology called SecondLight that some day could push man-machine interaction a step further, off the screen and into three dimensions.

Microsoft | Microsoft researchers work toward three-dimension computing | Seattle Times Newspaper

Microsoft Study Reveals Small Business IT Sophistication: Global study of small businesses reveals growing demand for software as a service.

Check the full press release for more details/stats

The research also highlighted that some emerging markets are outpacing western countries in terms of new technology adoption. About 87 percent of Russian small businesses surveyed have branded company e-mail, while 63 percent have a customer database and an above-average 24 percent use mobile e-mail. Similarly, Russian small businesses are the most likely to have IT (97 percent), while fewer (91 percent) U.S. small businesses used IT.

Meanwhile, 67 percent of Chinese small businesses use social networking applications to talk to existing customers and 57 percent use them to promote their business. That compares with just 26 percent and 24 percent, respectively, of small businesses in the U.K. — typically seen as a mature market — that use social networking to talk to existing customers or promote their business. The research also found that 65 percent of the small businesses surveyed would consider buying IT services on a subscription basis, such as hosted e-mail, shared calendaring and other applications.

Microsoft Study Reveals Small Business IT Sophistication: Global study of small businesses reveals growing demand for software as a service.

Netflix and TiVo to Partner on Movies - NYTimes.com

Netflix has also launched a Silverlight-based player client

Two of the scrappiest bantamweights in Silicon Valley, Netflix and TiVo, are expected to announce a long-awaited partnership on Thursday.

Netflix will place its Watch Instantly streaming-movie service on TiVo’s HD-compatible set-top boxes, furthering the technology industry’s goal of sending television shows and movies over the Internet — instead of over traditional cable and satellite networks — to ordinary TVs.

Netflix and TiVo to Partner on Movies - NYTimes.com

Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows: Microsoft Office 14 Web Applications Preview

See the full article for screen shots of the Office Web application versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote

Among other things, the Office 14 wave of products will include the oft-rumored Web versions of certain Office applications, giving customers a way to both view and edit rich Office documents in the Web. For this first version of Office Web Applications--which may or may not be the final name--Microsoft is providing Web-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.

"These are lightweight versions of the applications from the desktop product," Microsoft Office general manager Takeshi Numoto told me in a recent briefing. "They allow you to view, edit, and collaborate on Office docs in the browser."

Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows: Microsoft Office 14 Web Applications Preview

Technology Review: Betting on Green

This is a scary snapshot

Falling oil prices helped kill the alternative-energy business in the late 1970s. So plummeting prices combined with nearly frozen credit markets and a grim economic outlook paint a bleak picture for today's alternative-energy market. Still, concerns over global warming and energy security could mean that alternative energy remains a good prospect for future investment.

Read the full article for more context-setting, and seriously consider reading Hot, Flat, and Crowded for detailed analysis

Technology Review: Betting on Green

Azure manages to avoid a Hailstorm of criticism | Beyond Binary - A blog by Ina Fried - CNET News

A timely reality check; see the full article 

Microsoft's Hailstorm prompted an avalanche of criticism when it was proposed seven years ago, but developers seem to have few qualms with Windows Azure, which embraces many of the same notions.

With Windows Azure, Microsoft not only controls the operating system but also the data centers where the applications run and the servers where the information is stored. If anything, Microsoft's control has grown, not shrunk from the vision that the company outlined in 2001.

So why the lack of uproar this time?

p.s. a clarification on the first quote attributed to me in the article: I said Microsoft was perceived by many to be an evil empire, circa PDC 2000

Azure manages to avoid a Hailstorm of criticism | Beyond Binary - A blog by Ina Fried - CNET News

Microsoft taps Dell to build Azure cloud • The Register

Makes sense, in part because HP is now a very close-orbit partner with Oracle

One of the companies that cares about cloud computing, of course, is Dell, which is thrilled to have been picked to be the sole provider of the hardware infrastructure and related data center design services for Microsoft's Azure Services Platform, an alternative to the EC2 cloud computing effort created by Amazon that Microsoft announced this week at its Professional Developer Conference. Azure is a compute and storage cloud for running Windows applications created using Visual Basic and C# and using a modified version of SQL Server for data storage.

Microsoft taps Dell to build Azure cloud • The Register

Microsoft Watch - Web Services & Browser - Office Goes to the Web

Some Office Web applications impressions from Joe Wilcox (see the full article for more details)

I'm simply shocked by today's announcement. Microsoft has long resisted making available Web-based versions of Office. And I'm on record saying that Microsoft would likely never offer anything such as Web Office. That said, Microsoft isn't giving up much here. The productivity suite market has changed much since I first made this pronouncement about four years ago.

What's different now:

• Google has gained some prominent, new converts from Office
• Microsoft has chosen subscription and volume-licensing payment models
• With Azure, Microsoft is blurring the differences between software and services
• Office's role has dramatically changed as Microsoft increases emphasis on functional roles such as business intelligence
• Mail isn't included in Office Web, so among enterprises Microsoft can still pull Office sales through Exchange Server and also SharePoint Server.
• Productivity application functions are rapidly commoditizing, so Microsoft gives up little yet offers more—for people willing to pay the subscription fees

The question now: How will Google competitively respond, particularly since Microsoft has disclosed its plans? For Google, which runs so much in perpetual beta, the response should be both slow and swift.

I’ll post my take on Office Web applications over the next day or two, but in the meantime, some comments on Joe’s perspectives:

• Google has gained some prominent, new converts from Office
• POK: actually … not so much, especially in the enterprise
• Microsoft has chosen subscription and volume-licensing payment models
• POK: but these complement rather than replace the traditional Microsoft licensing model
• With Azure, Microsoft is blurring the differences between software and services
• POK: it’s more about the synergy in software + services than a shift from one to the other
• Office's role has dramatically changed as Microsoft increases emphasis on functional roles such as business intelligence
• POK: I’d say it has dramatically expanded, but the core value proposition is largely the same
• Mail isn't included in Office Web, so among enterprises Microsoft can still pull Office sales through Exchange Server and also SharePoint Server.
• POK: Office Web applications complement rather than compete with the traditional Office productivity application model, and Microsoft is also a leader in web-centric email, for individuals and organizations that prefer that option
• Productivity application functions are rapidly commoditizing, so Microsoft gives up little yet offers more—for people willing to pay the subscription fees
• POK: commoditization does not always mean devoid of value; e.g., check Microsoft’s most recently quarterly earnings – Office was more profitable than the Windows client, in the last quarter

Microsoft Watch - Web Services & Browser - Office Goes to the Web

Google Settles Suit Over Book-Scanning - NYTimes.com

More on the Google settlement

“This huge body of books that were effectively lost to the marketplace are being rescued,” said James Gleick, the author of five books and a member of the board of the Authors Guild, one of the plaintiffs in the suit.

Google plans to take 37 percent of the revenue, leaving 63 percent for publishers and authors. If Google sells ads on pages where previews of scanned books appear, it will split the revenue on the same basis.

The settlement being paid by Google will go in part to establish a digital book registry that will administer the new system. At least $45 million is being designated to compensate authors and publishers whose books were scanned by Google before the settlement.

Google Settles Suit Over Book-Scanning - NYTimes.com

The Media Equation - Mourning Old Media’s Decline - NYTimes.com

A timely reality check

It’s been an especially rotten few days for people who type on deadline. On Tuesday, The Christian Science Monitor announced that, after a century, it would cease publishing a weekday paper. Time Inc., the Olympian home of Time magazine, Fortune, People and Sports Illustrated, announced that it was cutting 600 jobs and reorganizing its staff. And Gannett, the largest newspaper publisher in the country, compounded the grimness by announcing it was laying off 10 percent of its work force — up to 3,000 people.

Clearly, the sky is falling. The question now is how many people will be left to cover it.

The Media Equation - Mourning Old Media’s Decline - NYTimes.com

Google search starts new chapter with $125m deal - The Boston Globe

See the full article for more details

Internet search giant Google Inc. has reached a $125 million deal with major book publishing companies and authors, clearing the way for the company to provide easier online access to millions of copyrighted books.

[…]

Google will now permit users to search the full texts of the copyrighted books, and for the first time, allow us ers to buy complete digital copies of the books. The books won't be downloaded to a home or office computer, but will be stored in the user's personal library at the Google site, and accessible through any Internet-connected device.

Looks like Amazon.com and Google are on a collision course…

Google search starts new chapter with $125m deal - The Boston Globe

Too many concurrent formula evaluations; please retry

This has always been my favorite Notes error message, and it has become an apt metaphor, for me, for brain-cramp days such as the one I had today at PDC 2008.

It’s going to take me a while to synthesize and articulate the totality and significance of the stuff I saw today at various PDC sessions, but I’ll give it a shot, over the next couple days; please stay tuned…

Notes/Domino 4 and 5 Forum : Error 4005: Notes error: Too many concurrent formula evaluations; please retry

Microsoft's Azure Could Usher in The Cloud as Commodity

I appreciate the link to my blog in this article, but my comment from yesterday afternoon still stands – it will be interesting to see how the press articles tomorrow describe the PDC keynotes earlier today.

When Microsoft unveiled Azure, its long-awaited cloud computing strategy, at its Professional Developer Conference in Los Angeles Oct. 27, the news largely unfazed show attendees.

Microsoft's Azure Could Usher in The Cloud as Commodity

Windows 7 a Big Improvement over Vista

This is a good snapshot of the M3 pre-beta build,  but M3 is not the build by which to assess Windows 7 – the full beta build, with the new user experience/conceptual model changes -- will be available early next year.

The unveiling of Windows 7 at the Professional Developers Conference here Oct. 28 calls to mind the early debut of "Longhorn," the OS that would become Vista, at the 2003 iteration of Microsoft’s developer gathering. However, the similarities between the two product introductions don’t extend much beyond venue.

Where Longhorn was arguably overambitious (a contention borne out by Vista’s scheduling setbacks, feature scalebacks and eventual market push-back), the feature additions and enhancements in Windows 7 are modest and achievable.

Windows 7 a Big Improvement over Vista

Microsoft to Extend Office to the Browser: Q&A

This only got a few minutes during the morning keynote at PDC today, but it’s a big part of the software + services story; see the full interview for more details; I’ll post some impressions later…

PressPass: What are you announcing today?

Capossela: As part of the next release of Office, we’re announcing that Microsoft will deliver Office Web applications - lightweight versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote - through a browser. With these new applications, people can use a browser to create, edit, and collaborate on Office documents. What’s great is that this provides a consistent Office experience when and where our customers want it, regardless of whether they are accessing their Office documents through the PC, phone, or browser.

Microsoft to Extend Office to the Browser: Q&A: Microsoft Senior Vice President Chris Capossela discusses how extending Office applications to the browser will increase choice and flexibility for customers.

Quick Bits: A Windows Comeback and Merging Telcos - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Or, Microsoft could do both…

Apple’s cheerfully nasty commercials get it right: Microsoft can either buy ads to tell us Vista is not so bad or it can actually make an operating system people like. Tuesday will be a key milestone on Plan B, when Microsoft discusses some features of its next operating system, Windows 7, at its professional developer conference.

Quick Bits: A Windows Comeback and Merging Telcos - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Microsoft Windows Live Supports OpenID - NYTimes.com

Interesting times

OpenID - the "free and easy way to use a single digital identity across the Internet" - has rapidly gained traction as a login credential for Web 2.0 apps and sites. Its adoption by more mainstream technology properties, however, has occurred at a slower rate.

But all of that could be changing with today's announcement from Microsoft. Anointing OpenID "the de facto standard Web protocol for user authentication," Microsoft has moved to give millions of Windows Live users access to any OpenID-enabled site on the Web by ensuring every Windows Live ID will become an OpenID.

Microsoft Windows Live Supports OpenID - NYTimes.com

Microsoft Plans ‘Cloud’ Operating System - NYTimes.com

Interesting perspectives from Mark Benioff, who should be quite familiar with Microsoft’s endeavors in this context since, e.g., Microsoft Dynamics CRM is reportedly ahead of Salesforce.com in many market segments

“Today’s announcement of Azure is the same Microsoft, keeping developers locked into their proprietary solutions, and failing to grasp the true power of cloud computing,“ said Mark Benioff, the chief executive of Salesforce.com, a San Francisco company that helped pioneer the commercial Web services market. “Microsoft continues to struggle with what to do about cloud computing because the cloud’s new technology and business models cuts into the heart of their software monopoly.”

Microsoft Plans ‘Cloud’ Operating System - NYTimes.com

Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Set Common Voice Abroad - WSJ.com

Interesting times…

Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. will announce Tuesday that they have agreed to a common set of principles for how to do business in nations that restrict free speech and expression, as the companies seek to combat criticism that they have helped enable censorship in those countries.

Under the new principles, which were crafted over two years, the technology titans promise to protect the personal information of their users wherever they do business and to "narrowly interpret and implement government demands that compromise privacy," according to the code. They also commit to scrutinizing a country's track record of jeopardizing personal information and freedom of expression before launching new businesses in a country and to discussing the risks widely with their executives and board members.

Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Set Common Voice Abroad - WSJ.com

Microsoft's online platform could transform company - The Boston Globe

See the full article for more context-setting

"We welcome Microsoft's movement to the cloud," said Google spokesman Mike Nelson. "Choice is good for users, and their direction further validates that the future of computing is in the cloud."

An Amazon Web services spokeswoman, Kay Kinton, said her company doesn't discuss competitors. "We always thought that there would be multiple companies pursuing this space," she said.

Rebecca Wettemann, vice president at Nucleus Research in Boston, warned that Microsoft may be late to the game.

"Microsoft, welcome to the 21st century," Wettemann said. "Microsoft is playing catch-up again.

It’ll be interesting to see how these perspectives evolve over the next couple years.

Microsoft's online platform could transform company - The Boston Globe

Microsoft launches Windows Azure | Latest Microsoft News - CNET News - CNET News

A quick update from the press/analyst room at PDC 2008, after Ray Ozzie’s keynote this morning – my $.02 follows below

Dubbed Windows Azure, it's less a replacement for the operating system that runs on one's own PC than it is an alternative for developers, intended to let them write programs that live inside Microsoft's data centers as opposed to on the servers of a given business.

"It's a transformation of our software and a transformation of our strategy," said Ray Ozzie, a computing industry pioneer who now serves as Microsoft's chief software architect. (For a play-by-play account of Ozzie's speech, see "PDC 2008: Windows Azure live blog.")

My $.02:

1.  This morning’s keynote was focused on explaining how Windows Azure constitutes a new platform – many parts are familiar, some going back many years, but ultimately it should indeed be considered a new and complementary (and also in many ways complimentary, for the immediate future – i.e., free for developers to explore)  platform.

2.  A lot of people in the audience, and many in the press/analyst room here, seemed to be looking for something more dramatic/disruptive/etc. 

3.  The keynote sessions tomorrow morning and later in the week (I’ve been pre-briefed on some of the topics, but am under a nondisclosure agreement until tomorrow…) will be useful, in terms of helping people understand what can be done on the Azure platform – and with the broader “software + services” strategy.

More impressions to follow over the next couple days…

Microsoft launches Windows Azure | Latest Microsoft News - CNET News - CNET News

Business & Technology | Details about Microsoft's cloud computing expected at conference | Seattle Times Newspaper

One PDC observation so far: there’s an unusual shortage of mainstream press coverage, for day 1 – e.g., I didn’t see any PDC overview articles this morning on the WSJ or NYT sites.

Microsoft is expected to sort out its strategy for cloud computing, a broad change in how computer users retrieve and process information and applications, at the company's Professional Developers Conference this week.

Business & Technology | Details about Microsoft's cloud computing expected at conference | Seattle Times Newspaper

Windows and the cloud - CNET News

I’m at PDC this week, and will have some impressions to share here throughout the week…

As Microsoft gears up for its Professional Developers Conference later this month, CNET News gives a preview of what developers should expect at the confab.

Windows and the cloud - CNET News

Oprah gives Kindle sales a holiday goose | Good Morning Silicon Valley

Makes sense for increasingly multi-channel Oprah…

Today it was the tech world getting a little bit of that Oprah lovin’ as she declared Amazon’s Kindle as “absolutely my new favorite thing in the world.” Seems somebody gave her one of the wireless electronic readers this summer and it has been nothing short of “life-changing.” So, just in time for holiday shopping, she brought Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos onto Friday’s show to savor her testimonial. And, as if Oprah Seal of Approval weren’t enough, her loyal followers can use the code OPRAHWINFREY at the Amazon site to get $50 off the $359 selling price.

Oprah gives Kindle sales a holiday goose | Good Morning Silicon Valley

A survey of corporate IT: IT's global “cloud” | Let it rise | The Economist

A timely report series from The Economist

This special report will chronicle the rise of the cloud and try to predict where it is heading. It will start by looking at the technology. Computing clouds are immensely complex, but can be roughly divided into three layers: infrastructure, applications and the periphery where they meet the real world. These will be discussed in turn. The report will go on to consider the impact the cloud will have on the IT industry and the economy as a whole. The conclusion will look at what might stop the cloud from growing ever thicker: regulation and worries about the safety of both personal and corporate data.

A survey of corporate IT: IT's global “cloud” Let it rise The Economist

Microsoft | With Windows 7, Microsoft faces a future full of challenges | Seattle Times Newspaper

A timely snapshot, heading into PDC week; see the full article for more details

Today, Microsoft's operating-system software is thriving. It runs at least nine out of every 10 computers. Vista, for all the criticism, has sold more than 180 million copies since hitting the market Jan. 30, 2007. In the past quarter alone, Windows generated sales of $4.2 billion, 28 percent of Microsoft's revenue. As it has for years, Windows is fueling the company's expansion into newer businesses, including entertainment and Internet search.

Past the numbers, however, the Windows franchise, particularly Vista, has taken more than its share of hits. Vista was repeatedly delayed and stripped of features during a five-year development process that Microsoft has vowed not to repeat. When it finally arrived, the "ecosystem" of companies that make hardware and software for Windows wasn't ready, leading to months of compatibility problems that angered users.

Even though Microsoft and its partners have addressed these issues, and new computers handle Vista smoothly, the bad reputation has been tough to shake.

Microsoft | With Windows 7, Microsoft faces a future full of challenges | Seattle Times Newspaper

Jobs: The iPhone is Apple's netbook

A timely reality check

Later in the question-and-answer session, Jobs said that although Apple would continue to add features to its notebooks as it dropped prices, he was unwilling to play in the netbook category as it's currently defined. "We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that," Jobs said. "But we can continue to deliver greater and greater value to those customers that we choose to serve, and there's a lot of them. And we've seen great success by focusing on certain segments of the market and not trying to be everything to everybody."

At the same time, it was clear that Jobs considers Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch as courting netbook dollars. "One of our entrants into that category, if you will, is the iPhone for browsing the Internet and doing e-mail and all the other things that a netbook lets you do," he said. "Being connected via the cellular net wherever you are, an iPhone is a pretty good solution for that, and it fits in your pocket."

Jobs: The iPhone is Apple's netbook

Novelties - You May Soon Know if You’re Hogging the Discussion - NYTimes.com

Interesting times…

PEOPLE who want to improve their communication skills may one day have an unusual helper: software programs that analyze the tone, turn-taking behavior and other qualities of a conversation. The programs would then tell the speakers whether they tend to interrupt others, for example, or whether they dominate meetings with monologues, or appear inattentive when others are talking.

Novelties - You May Soon Know if You’re Hogging the Discussion - NYTimes.com

In a New Age of Impatience, Cutting PC Start Time - NYTimes.com

Hopefully Windows 7 will have a more elegant way to achieve reduced start-up time, compared with the approaches outlined later in the article; I suspect we’ll find out at PDC 2008 tomorrow

Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Lenovo are rolling out machines that give people access to basic functions like e-mail and a Web browser in 30 seconds or less. Asus, a Taiwanese company that is the world’s largest maker of the circuit boards at the center of every PC, has begun building faster-booting software into its entire product line.

Even Microsoft, whose bloated Windows software is often blamed for sluggish start times, has pledged to do its part in the next version of the operating system, saying on a company blog that “a very good system is one that boots in under 15 seconds.” Today only 35 percent of machines running the latest version of Windows, called Vista, boot in 30 seconds or less, the blog notes. (Apple Macintoshes tend to boot more quickly than comparable Windows machines but still feel glacially slow to most users.)

In a New Age of Impatience, Cutting PC Start Time - NYTimes.com

Microsoft’s Online Unit Shows Encouraging Signs of Growth - WSJ.com

Interesting times

Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) advertising-supported online unit showed encouraging signs of life in the third quarter, a performance that suggests the business is starting to attract advertisers concerned about the strength of giant Google Inc. (GOOG)

Thursday, Microsoft said growing interest among users and advertisers enabled it to post a quick 15% rise in third-quarter online ad revenues to $557 million. The surprising development, largely overshadowed by the company's lowered guidance and weakness in its core software unit, came despite challenges for the online advertising market, which is being squeezed by a weakening economy.

Article - WSJ.com

Microsoft’s Vista Problem, by the Numbers - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

See the full article for more Vista analysis

The netbook challenge to Microsoft is two-fold. First, if they run Windows, the machines run a slimmed-down version of Windows XP. Charles Di Bona of Sanford Bernstein estimates that Microsoft pockets $30 to $35 on a netbook. By contrast, he figures that the operating system license fee on a standard consumer PC, running Vista, is about $70. The second netbook issue for Microsoft is that many of those machines run the Linux operating system. (Mr. Di Bona’s Bernstein colleague, A.M. Sacconaghi, estimates netbooks accounted for that 4.5 to 5 percent of the 10 to 12 percent unit growth of PC sales in the September quarter.)

Microsoft’s Vista Problem, by the Numbers - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Shortcuts - Multitasking Can Make You Lose ... Um ... Focus - NYTimes.com

A timely reality check on time and attention management

“We need to recreate boundaries,” he said. That means training yourself not to look at your BlackBerry every 20 seconds, or turning off your cellphone. It means trying to change your work culture so such devices are banned at meetings. Sleeping less to do more is a bad strategy, he says. We are efficient only when we sleep enough, eat right and exercise.

So the next time the phone rings and a good friend is on the line, try this trick: Sit on the couch. Focus on the conversation. Don’t jump up, no matter how much you feel the need to clean the kitchen. It seems weird, but stick with it. You, too, can learn the art of single-tasking.

Shortcuts - Multitasking Can Make You Lose ... Um ... Focus - NYTimes.com

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Woman in jail over virtual murder

Sign of the times; see the full article for more details…

A woman has been arrested in Japan after she allegedly killed her virtual husband in a popular video game.

The 43-year-old was reportedly furious at finding herself suddenly divorced in the online game Maplestory.

Police say she illegally accessed log-in details of the man playing her husband, and killed off his character.

The woman, a piano teacher, is in jail in Sapporo waiting to learn if she faces charges of illegally accessing a computer and manipulating data.

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Woman in jail over virtual murder

Microsoft | Microsoft profit up, but forecast is cut | Seattle Times Newspaper

Another MSFT snapshot

Microsoft reduced its forecast for sales, operating income and earnings per share, even as it reported strong sales and profit in its fiscal first quarter, ended Sept. 30.

"We continue to forecast outgrowing the market regardless of the economic conditions," Liddell said.

The Seattle Times article included the following:

Which looks kind of stark, from a year-to-year stock price perspective, but could be worse, e.g.,

Microsoft | Microsoft profit up, but forecast is cut | Seattle Times Newspaper

JetBlue Twitters its New Terminal - The Lede - Breaking News - New York Times Blog

More evidence that microblogging has jumped the shark…

How else would an airline inaugurate a new terminal these days, except by Twittering it?

JetBlue Airways, which began flying to and from its new home at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York this morning, has been sending out updates about its first day via Twitter.com, and on its own blog.

Yesterday, JetBlue used Twitter to count down its departure from Terminal 6, a facility built in the first years of the jet age. “In less than nine hours our last flight out of Terminal 6 at J.F.K. will push back from the gate. T5 is open tomorrow!” the airline wrote yesterday afternoon to its followers on Twitter.

JetBlue Twitters its New Terminal - The Lede - Breaking News - New York Times Blog

A New (Fighter) Jet for Google’s Founders? - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Strange days indeed – Google is apparently leasing a fighter jet and loaning it to NASA, its Moffett Field landlord…

After The New York Times filed a Freedom of Information Act request with NASA, the agency released documents related to the lease agreement between NASA and H211 LLC. In an e-mail Thursday, Dolores Beasley, a NASA spokeswoman said: “The agreement was amended to support a recent science mission–observation of the re-entry of the European Space Agency’s “Jules Verne” Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV). Additional amendments are in progress in regards to the Alpha jet.”

It is not clear who exactly owns or flies the fighter jet. Mr. Schmidt is an avid pilot.

[…]

Presumably no attacks on Microsoft are planned at this time.

A New (Fighter) Jet for Google’s Founders? - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Microsoft’s Profit Rises, but Outlook Is Cautious - NYTimes.com

See the full article for more details

Microsoft’s overall performance held up well, a bit better than expected, said Charles Di Bona, an analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein. Microsoft’s revenue in its first quarter, ended Sept. 30, rose 9 percent to nearly $15.1 billion from $13.8 billion a year ago. Net income increased 2 percent to $4.37 billion, or 48 cents a share, from $4.29 billion, or 45 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. The consensus among Wall Street analysts was revenue of $14.8 billion and net income per share of 47 cents.

Microsoft delivered healthy growth of 20 percent in sales of business software, which includes its Office desktop productivity, collaboration and online meeting programs. Indeed, the business software group surpassed the Windows desktop operating systems unit in both sales and operating profits.

Microsoft’s Profit Rises, but Outlook Is Cautious - NYTimes.com

I, Cringely . The Pulpit . Collateral Damage | PBS

An interesting snapshot

If I had to bet right this moment on the mobile 85-10-5 of 2011 I'd say iPhone, Android, then RIM, Symbian, or something completely new from behind Door Number Three.

[…]

And where will Windows Mobile be in 2011? There way things are headed now, given that Microsoft can't really afford to be anything but first or second on the platform that supplants Windows, I'd say Windows Mobile will be dead.

I, Cringely . The Pulpit . Collateral Damage | PBS

Steve Jobs’s Home Run With the iPhone - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

More fun iFacts

Apple said it sold 6.9 million iPhones in the first quarter in which it sold the new iPhone 3G model, more than it sold of the first model in a year. That represents average revenue of $652 per handset. Since the price of the phone in the United States is $199 to $299, it appears that carriers are kicking in well over $300 in subsidy per phone, a bit more than is typical with other handsets.

[…]

Here’s another stunner: Apple’s $4.6 billion in revenue from phones is more than its sales of computers. Analysts expected Apple to sell about $4 billion in Macintosh computers and $1.6 billion in iPods in the quarter. (By unit, Apple was a little light of estimates for computers and right on target for iPods. The analysts are still crunching their numbers to turn the unit count, which Apple discloses, into revenue estimates.)

Read the full article for some other timely insights

Steve Jobs’s Home Run With the iPhone - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

BBC NEWS | Technology | Broadband users reach their limit

Apparently Comcast’s 250 gig limit is rather generous, compared to UK ISPs

One million UK consumers have exceeded or come close to exceeding their broadband usage limit, research from consumer group uSwitch has found.

So-called usage caps, where internet service providers limit the amount of bandwidth users can have in any given month, are standard practice.

[…]

WHAT THE ISPS OFFER

• Tiscali - advertised as unlimited, has fair usage policy but with unspecified excess, will cut off those deemed heavy users
• Be - advertised as unlimited, unspecified excess, will not cut off users
• Sky - unlimited with no usage barrier or cut off policy
• Virgin Media - 2.7Gb limit per week
• Toucan - advertised as unlimited, with unspecified fair usage, will cut customers off
• BT, advertised as unlimited, unspecified fair usage, will not cut users off
• AOL, 40Gb limit, will remove users who exceed it
• Plusnet, 30Gb limit. will remove those who exceed it
• Orange, advertised as unlimited, unspecified excess, will remove heavy users

BBC NEWS | Technology | Broadband users reach their limit

The spreadsheet of sunshine: Who's hiring | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone - CNET

Interesting times – in part because it’s the first mainstream tech press article I recall seeing with an embedded Google Docs spreadsheet

The story I kicked off a few days ago, Tech layoffs: The scorecard, is a real bummer. On it, we're tracking the current layoffs in the tech economy. I hate the story, since each line on the sheet stands for real people who have lost jobs.

So earlier today I sent a query out to my Twitter followers: Send me good news. That led to this anti-layoff spreadsheet, the one tracking companies that are hiring. I present it here. Most recent entries are at the top. Happy hunting, everyone.

The spreadsheet of sunshine: Who's hiring | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone - CNET

LinkedIn raises another $22.7 million | News - Digital Media - CNET News

Apparently the social networking bubble hasn’t burst yet

LinkedIn announced Wednesday that it has raised an additional $22.7 million in funding, giving the business-networking site a little cushion in difficult economic times.

The strategic investment, from Goldman Sachs, SAP, and McGraw-Hill, as well as longtime investor Bessemer Venture Partners, comes on the heels of a $53 million Series D funding round in June that gave LinkedIn a valuation of $1 billion. The latest funding round brings the total funds raised to just more than $100 million.

LinkedIn raises another $22.7 million | News - Digital Media - CNET News

Technology Review: Wikipedia and the Meaning of Truth

Information literacy is your friend…

Unlike the laws of mathematics or science, wikitruth isn't based on principles such as consistency or observa­bility. It's not even based on common sense or firsthand experience. Wikipedia has evolved a radically different set of epistemological standards--standards that aren't especially surprising given that the site is rooted in a Web-based community, but that should concern those of us who are interested in traditional notions of truth and accuracy. On Wikipedia, objective truth isn't all that important, actually. What makes a fact or statement fit for inclusion is that it appeared in some other publication--ideally, one that is in English and is available free online. "The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth," states Wikipedia's official policy on the subject.

Later in the article:

So what is Truth? According to Wikipedia's entry on the subject, "the term has no single definition about which the majority of professional philosophers and scholars agree." But in practice, Wikipedia's standard for inclusion has become its de facto standard for truth, and since Wikipedia is the most widely read online reference on the planet, it's the standard of truth that most people are implicitly using when they type a search term into Google or Yahoo. On Wikipedia, truth is received truth: the consensus view of a subject.

Technology Review: Wikipedia and the Meaning of Truth

Even AT&T Is Startled by Cost of iPhone Partnership - NYTimes.com

Never play poker with Steve Jobs…

AT&T’s successful relationship with Apple comes at a price: $900 million.

That is the amount of money AT&T paid to Apple for the 2.4 million iPhones the phone company sold in the third quarter. It is a number that surprised even AT&T, which did not anticipate such huge demand for the smartphone.

Even AT&T Is Startled by Cost of iPhone Partnership - NYTimes.com

Sun Loses Co-Founder to Start-Up - NYTimes.com

More bad news for Sun -- and Cisco, potentially; check the full article for details

Andreas von Bechtolsheim, a brilliant billionaire who has created some of the best-selling computer systems in the industry, is resigning as chief architect of Sun Microsystems to focus on a start-up that is challenging another industry giant, Cisco Systems.

[…]

Mr. Bechtolsheim’s departure will certainly be a big blow to Sun, which is wrestling with declining sales and profits and a plunging stock price. But he said he would retain a part-time advisory role at the company.

“It’s my baby,” Mr. Bechtolsheim said. “I will always be associated with Sun.”

Sun Loses Co-Founder to Start-Up - NYTimes.com

Apple Polishes Popular MacBook for a Higher Price | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD

See the full review for details (no WSJ subscription required). 

Apple’s MacBook laptop, the company’s low-end portable computer aimed at average consumers, isn’t just any old product. It’s the best-selling Macintosh in history, at a time when Mac sales are growing much faster than sales of PCs in the U.S. overall. And, according to the sales-research organization NPD Group, the midrange model of the MacBook has been the single best-selling laptop of any brand in U.S. retail stores for the past five months.

So, when Apple completely revamped the design of the MacBook last week, it was a big deal, not only for Mac die-hards, but for anyone shopping for an everyday laptop.

Apple Polishes Popular MacBook for a Higher Price | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD

Comcast doubles speed of Net service - The Boston Globe

See the full article for more details; e.g., you’ll still get disconnected if you go > 250 gigabytes in a single month

Most users of Comcast's broadband service get download speeds of either 6 or 8 megabits per second, compared to Verizon's basic FIOS service, which delivers 10 megabits per second. But thanks to Comcast's new technology, called Docsis 3.0, customers will see their top speeds doubled to 12 or 16 megabits, respectively, at no additional cost.

In addition, Comcast will offer two premium broadband services: 22 megabits for $62.95 a month and 50 megabits for $139.95 a month. Verizon already offers similar FIOS services at about the same prices.

Comcast doubles speed of Net service - The Boston Globe

JAVA: 4.62 -0.15 (-3.14%) - Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Behold: Sun, if it still has $3.5B cash, is now a negative-net-worth company (at $4.62/share, mkt cap = $3.43B).  Low price for today so far was $4.51.

JAVA: 4.62 -0.15 (-3.14%) - Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Read My Lips: Apple Is a Netbook Maker - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

I would be keen to have a larger form factor iPhone/iPod Touch-class device…

At the same time, he noted that the company already had a powerful entry in the category: the iPhone. (By that standard, Apple is already the dominant netbook manufacturer by orders of magnitude.)

Mr. Jobs also said the company “had some pretty interesting” ideas if the category continues to evolve.

That would seem to confirm findings by a search engine company that spotted Web visits from an unannounced Apple product with a display somewhere between an iPhone and a MacBook. Is it the iPhone 3.0 or the NetMac 1.0?

Read My Lips: Apple Is a Netbook Maker - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Inventor Kamen pitches tech for world's poor | Green Tech - CNET News

Read the full article 

Segway inventor Dean Kamen on Monday detailed two of his design firm's latest projects aimed at the developing world--a water filtration machine and electricity generator that runs on cow dung.

Kamen gave a talk at the Lux Executive Summit here about science and innovation. But he had a clear ulterior motive: convince a room full of technologists to address the "chilling" need for more scientists and engineers to solve the world's worsening problems.

Inventor Kamen pitches tech for world's poor | Green Tech - CNET News

Why the iPhone is now Apple's most important product | Apple - CNET News

See the full article for more of the accounting details

The iPhone now accounts for 39 percent of Apple's business, having generated $4.6 billion in revenue on sales of 6.9 million units during the quarter. (Apple TV revenue is lumped in with that number, but let's be real: iPhone sales account for the vast, vast majority of that figure.) Those numbers, however, are not included as part of Apple's official quarterly results because of the way the company chooses to account for the sale of each iPhone; Apple reported just $806 million in iPhone and Apple TV revenue for its fourth quarter in accordance with GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles).

Why the iPhone is now Apple's most important product Apple - CNET News

Apple Tops Expectations as iPhone Use Spreads - NYTimes.com

Another impressive quarter for Apple

However, he [Jobs] did not mince words about the company’s progress in quickly becoming a dominant force in the cellphone industry, even against cellphone makers, like Research in Motion, that cater to corporations. “Apple outsold R.I.M. last quarter,” he said. “R.I.M. is a good company that makes good products and so it is surprising.”

[…]

Apple said it shipped 2.6 million Mac computers, representing 21 percent growth over the year-ago quarter when it shipped 2.2 million.

It sold 11 million iPods during the quarter, representing 8 percent growth over the year-ago quarter.

Apple said it ended the year with $25 billion in cash and no debt.

For its 2008 fiscal year, net income was $4.83 billion, or $5.36 a share, on revenue of $32.48 billion.

Apple Tops Expectations as iPhone Use Spreads - NYTimes.com

Arianna Huffington: The Internet and the Death of Rovian Politics

Interesting times; read the full post for more details.

Age has finally become an issue for John McCain. But the problem isn't the candidate's 72 years; it's the antediluvian approach of his campaign.

McCain is running a textbook Rovian race: fear-based, smear-based, anything goes. But it isn't working. The glitch in the well-oiled machine? The Internet.

"We are witnessing the end of Rovian politics," Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google told me. And YouTube, which Google bought in 2006 for $1.65 billion, is one of the causes of its demise.

Arianna Huffington: The Internet and the Death of Rovian Politics

JAVA: 4.70 -1.08 (-18.69%) - Sun Microsystems, Inc.

At this moment, if Jonathan Schwartz’s comment last week about cash-on-hand is still accurate, Sun Microsystems is worthless (i.e., mkt cap = cash on hand).

 

JAVA: 4.70 -1.08 (-18.69%) - Sun Microsystems, Inc.

A Robot Network Seeks to Enlist Your Computer - NYTimes.com

A stark reality check

In a windowless room on Microsoft’s campus here, T. J. Campana, a cybercrime investigator, connects an unprotected computer running an early version of Windows XP to the Internet. In about 30 seconds the computer is “owned.”

An automated program lurking on the Internet has remotely taken over the PC and turned it into a “zombie.” That computer and other zombie machines are then assembled into systems called “botnets” — home and business PCs that are hooked together into a vast chain of cyber-robots that do the bidding of automated programs to send the majority of e-mail spam, to illegally seek financial information and to install malicious software on still more PCs.

[…]

Botnet attacks now come with their own antivirus software, permitting the programs to take over a computer and then effectively remove other malware competitors. Mr. Campana said the Microsoft investigators were amazed recently to find a botnet that turned on the Microsoft Windows Update feature after taking over a computer, to defend its host from an invasion of competing infections.

A Robot Network Seeks to Enlist Your Computer - NYTimes.com

Alternative Energy Suddenly Faces Headwinds - NYTimes.com

Let’s hope the next president constructively addresses this challenge

Shares of alternative energy companies have fallen even more sharply than the rest of the stock market in recent months. The struggles of financial institutions are raising fears that investment capital for big renewable energy projects is likely to get tighter.

Advocates are concerned that if the prices for oil and gas keep falling, the incentive for utilities and consumers to buy expensive renewable energy will shrink. That is what happened in the 1980s when a decade of advances for alternative energy collapsed amid falling prices for conventional fuels.

Alternative Energy Suddenly Faces Headwinds - NYTimes.com

Sun Microsystems Expects Quarterly Loss - NYTimes.com

More Sun snapshots

“Sun may be the harbinger of bad times in the hardware business, but their results haven’t been what could be called strong for a few years now,” said Dan Olds, an analyst with the Gabriel Consulting Group. “Their products are good and innovative, but there are no game changers.”

Sun competes against companies like I.B.M., Hewlett-Packard and Dell in the server business.

Last November, Sun performed a one-for-four reverse stock split that pushed shares above $20. Since that time, Sun’s stock has been battered, closing Monday at $5.78 a share in regular trading.

Sun Microsystems Expects Quarterly Loss - NYTimes.com

Sun Warns of Deep Loss, Charge for Big Mergers - WSJ.com

It’ll be interesting to see if Sun’s direct competitors make similar adjustments

Sun Microsystems Inc. warned of a deep quarterly loss and a possible charge for the diminished value of acquisitions, the latest sign of the economic slowdown's toll on the computer industry.

The Silicon Valley company sells server systems against rivals that include International Business Machines Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. Amid the competition and an anemic economy, Sun has struggled to increase sales this year and announced plans to slash jobs.

Sun Warns of Deep Loss, Charge for Big Mergers - WSJ.com

Heard on the Street - WSJ.com: Google’s Cash Conundrum: Too Much

Hmm…

Google CEO Eric Schmidt revealed Monday to The Wall Street Journal that the company is "thinking" about returning cash to shareholders. It's only a concept at this point, mind you: Mr. Schmidt ruled out a dividend and said no cash return was likely anytime soon.

Even so, it was a telling comment, indicating that despite Google's continued investment in a range of new business initiatives and infrastructure, the company's cash is piling up faster than it can be spent. On Sept. 30, Google had $14.4 billion in cash and marketable securities.

Heard on the Street - WSJ.com

US nuclear family also technology family (AFP) by AFP: Yahoo! Tech

See the full article for more details; also see “The Internet is No 21st-century Boob Tube” for another take on the results of the same survey

"Some analysts have worried that new technologies hurt family togetherness, but we see that technology allows for new kinds of connectedness built around cell phones and the Internet," said Tracy Kennedy of the University of Toronto, one of the authors of the [Pew] "Networked Families" report.

"Family members touch base with each other frequently with their cell phones, and they use those phones to coordinate family life on the fly during their busy lives," she said.

US nuclear family also technology family (AFP) by AFP: Yahoo! Tech

BBC NEWS | UK | Web content 'disturbing children'

See the full article for details

Three out of four children have seen images on the internet that disturbed them, an NSPCC poll suggests.

The charity is renewing its call for computer manufacturers and retailers to install security to stop children finding violent or sexual content.

BBC NEWS | UK | Web content 'disturbing children'

Google Learns Lessons in the Ways of Washington - NYTimes.com

See the full article for details on yet another Microsoft/Google competitive front

Google is now extending its reach in Washington in ways big and small. Over the last few months, it has hired new outside counsel, former members of both the Clinton and current Bush administrations. It has also created Google policy fellowships, placing students in organizations like the Cato Institute that frequently research policies important to Google. And it sent executives, including Mr. Schmidt, to the Democratic and Republican national conventions to network with bureaucrats and politicians.

All this indicates that Google, despite some setbacks, is learning fast.

Google Learns Lessons in the Ways of Washington - NYTimes.com

Google CEO Backs Obama - WSJ.com

Interesting times…

Google Inc. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt will hit the campaign trail this week on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, signaling Mr. Schmidt's push for a greater voice in politics while giving the Obama campaign a boost from a highly desirable constituency.

Although the Internet-search company has numerous issues pending on Capitol Hill, Mr. Schmidt said in an interview that "I'm doing this personally," adding that "Google is officially neutral" in the campaign.

Google CEO Backs Obama - WSJ.com

Daniel Lyons: Why Is Jerry Yang Still In Charge? | Newsweek Daniel Lyons | Techtonic Shifts | Newsweek.com

The final paragraph of a stark reality check:

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recently made an off-the-cuff, public comment that seemed to indicate to some he might still be interested in Yahoo. Yahoo shares jumped, but Microsoft quickly refuted Ballmer's statement. The blogosphere teems with speculation about grimmer possible outcomes for Yahoo, including Yahoo getting snapped up by a private-equity fund and sold off in pieces. Jerry Yang would have no one to blame but himself.

Daniel Lyons: Why Is Jerry Yang Still In Charge? | Newsweek Daniel Lyons | Techtonic Shifts | Newsweek.com

Enter Google's Android Software, on a Flawed Phone - BusinessWeek

Check the full review for details

In the software world, a "developers' release" is a preliminary, unfinished version of a program that lets engineers kick the tires and gauge its potential. Think of T-Mobile's new G1 phone as a kind of developers' release, a chance for ordinary customers to test Google's (GOOG) much trumpeted Android software for smartphones.

This iPhone (AAPL) wannabe is an intriguing but flawed effort—worth a look for early adopters but probably not what you want to carry as your everyday phone.

Enter Google's Android Software, on a Flawed Phone - BusinessWeek

Digital Domain - Why This Storm May Stay Away From Apple - NYTimes.com

See the full article for an assessment of the likelihood that people will still pay premium prices for premium products, in the near-term future

Mr. Jobs’s excitement about those new unibody aluminum cases may seem puzzling, but his interest in computer cases is a longstanding quirk. His Next Computer, introduced in 1988, was housed in a 12-inch cube of die-cast magnesium. Metallurgists were impressed; prospective buyers were not.

Digital Domain - Why This Storm May Stay Away From Apple - NYTimes.com

Al-Qaeda Web Forums Abruptly Taken Offline - washingtonpost.com

Hmm…

Four of the five main online forums that al-Qaeda's media wing uses to distribute statements by Osama bin Laden and other extremists have been disabled since mid-September, monitors of the Web sites say.

The disappearance of the forums on Sept. 10 -- and al-Qaeda's apparent inability to restore them or create alternate online venues, as it has before -- has curbed the organization's dissemination of the words and images of its fugitive leaders.

Al-Qaeda Web Forums Abruptly Taken Offline - washingtonpost.com

Obama’s Ad Effort Swamps McCain and Nears Record - NYTimes.com

Whatever it takes…

Senator Barack Obama is days away from breaking the advertising spending record set by President Bush in the general election four years ago, having unleashed an advertising campaign of a scale and complexity unrivaled in the television era.

Later in the article:

The most recent analysis of the presidential advertisements by the University of Wisconsin, based on the period from Sept. 28 through Oct. 4, found that nearly 100 percent of Mr. McCain’s commercials included an attack on Mr. Obama and that 34 percent of Mr. Obama’s advertisements, which were more focused that week on promoting his agenda, included an attack on Mr. McCain.

Obama’s Ad Effort Swamps McCain and Nears Record - NYTimes.com

IRS computer systems faulted - The Boston Globe

Your tax dollars at work…

Two new IRS computer systems that will eventually cost taxpayers almost $2 billion are being put into service despite known security and privacy vulnerabilities, a Treasury watchdog said in a report yesterday.

The office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said Internal Revenue Service officials failed to ensure that identified weaknesses had been addressed before putting the new systems into use.

IRS computer systems faulted - The Boston Globe

Surfing the Internet Boosts Aging Brains - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

Hmm…

Many people search the Internet for health information. Now new research suggests that the simple act of Googling may be good for your brain health.

Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, have shown that searching the Internet triggers key centers in the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning. The findings, to be published in the upcoming issue of The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, suggest that searching the Web helps to stimulate and may even improve brain function.

Surfing the Internet Boosts Aging Brains - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

Reviewers greet new T-Mobile G1 with a rousing “Not bad” | Good Morning Silicon Valley

A timely snapshot; see the full article for a press round-up

The main thing to remember in all this is that the G1 has not made any hideous gaffes that would turn off customers and developers en masse and derail the Android bandwagon before it gets rolling. By all accounts, it’s a worthy first entrant in what will be a stream of Android-based devices, and you can bet other handset makers and carriers are tuned in to the flood of feedback.

Reviewers greet new T-Mobile G1 with a rousing “Not bad” Good Morning Silicon Valley

Microsoft Statement on Yahoo!: Statement from company on Yahoo!

I guess Yahoo’s stock will lose ~15% today…

Microsoft Corp. issued the following statement regarding Yahoo!:

“Our position hasn’t changed. Microsoft has no interest in acquiring Yahoo!; there are no discussions between the companies.”

Microsoft Statement on Yahoo!: Statement from company on Yahoo!

Extended Gmail outage hits Apps admins [Computerworld]

Not good for the SaaS wave…  See the full article for more details.

A prolonged, ongoing Gmail outage has some Google Apps administrators pulling their hair out as their end users, including high-ranking executives, complain loudly while they wait for service to be restored.

At around 5 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Google Inc. announced in the official Google Apps discussion forum that the company was aware of a problem preventing Gmail users from logging into their accounts and that it expected a solution by 9 p.m. on Thursday.

Extended Gmail outage hits Apps admins

Business & Technology | Google-powered G1 more solid than sexy, still a heartthrob | Seattle Times Newspaper

This analogy probably won’t please the Android team; on a related note, I don’t recall seeing a single Windows Mobile reference in the many G1 reviews I’ve seen this morning.

It's not really fair to constantly compare the first Google-powered phone, the T-Mobile G1, with the Apple iPhone.

That's like comparing a PC to a Mac.

But that PC-Mac comparison became more obvious during the week or so I tested the G1 in and around Seattle.

Business & Technology | Google-powered G1 more solid than sexy, still a heartthrob | Seattle Times Newspaper

Microsoft to ditch MSN Groups? | The Social - CNET News

Hmm…

MSN Groups will be closing on February 21, 2009. It'll be replaced with a new service, Windows Live Groups, which debuts on November 17.

Here's the catch: The LiveSide post indicates MSN Groups will not be migrating to Windows Live Groups; the new Windows Live service will be different enough so that the transition wouldn't be a clean one. Instead, the LiveSide post says that existing MSN Groups will transition to community site Multiply--in other words, Multiply is effectively acquiring MSN Groups from Microsoft.

Microsoft to ditch MSN Groups? | The Social - CNET News

HTC Dream T-Mobile G1 (black) Smartphone reviews - CNET Reviews

Yet another Android review 

The bottom line: While we're not in love with the design and would have liked some additional features, the real beauty of the T-Mobile G1 is the Google Android platform, as it has the potential to make smartphones more personal and powerful. That said, it's not quite there yet, so for now, the G1 is best suited for early adopters and gadget hounds, rather than consumers and business users.

HTC Dream T-Mobile G1 (black) Smartphone reviews - CNET Reviews

Obama makes play for crucial swing-state gamer vote | Good Morning Silicon Valley

See the full article for more details on this and McCain’s YouTube issues

Based on the games chosen (among them a couple of “Need for Speed” titles, “Madden 09,” “NBA Live 08,” and the presumed Palin stronghold of “NHL 09″), the ad blitz is apparently aimed at prying reckless drivers and sports fans age 18-34 off the couch long enough to get down to the polls. What’s more, the technology allows the ads to be targeted specifically to the 10 states that allow early voting, including battlegrounds like Ohio and Florida. “These ads will help us expand the reach of VoteforChange.com, so that more people can use this easy tool to find their early vote location and make sure their voice is heard,” said Obama spokesman Nick Shapiro. The cost of the buy was not disclosed.

Obama makes play for crucial swing-state gamer vote | Good Morning Silicon Valley

State of the Art - A Look at Google’s First Phone - NYTimes.com

Looks like the Android press NDA ended. See the full article for another perplexing assessment – lots of issues, but still somehow a net-positive take

So there’s your G1 report card: software, A-. Phone, B-. Network, C.

But get psyched. Although the ungainly T-Mobile G1 is the first Android phone, it won’t be the last; Android phones will soon come in all shapes and sizes, and on all kinds of networks.

With so many cooks, it’s unlikely that any of them will achieve the beauty, simplicity and design purity of the iPhone. And it’s certain that none of them will inspire the universe of accessories — car adapters, cases, speaker systems and so on — that makes the iPhone fun to own.

State of the Art - A Look at Google’s First Phone - NYTimes.com

Google Answers the iPhone | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD

See the full article for details (no WSJ subscription required)

In the exciting new category of modern hand-held computers — devices that fit in your pocket but are used more like a laptop than a traditional phone — there has so far been only one serious option. But that will all change on Oct. 22, when T-Mobile and Google bring out the G1, the first hand-held computer that’s in the same class as Apple’s iPhone.

Google Answers the iPhone | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD

Android unleashed - The Boston Globe

See the full review for more details

Locale works nicely, when you can get it to work. It's riddled with bugs, as are several Android programs. Apple would never have allowed such programs to crawl aboard its iPhones, but Android, like the Internet, takes pride in an amateur-hour approach to software development. That's not always a bad thing. I expect plenty of innovative programs in the years ahead for the G1, as well as upcoming Android phones from other manufacturers. But I also expect many programs won't work properly.

No surprise, really. Like every other real-life android, this one is an experiment. And it'll probably be a year or more until we know how it turns out.

Android unleashed - The Boston Globe

Boston to get own social networking website - The Boston Globe

Sign of the times

Mayor Thomas M. Menino is launching a Facebook-like social networking website where people with roots in the city's corporate and academic communities can share ideas and information about promoting Boston's business climate.

The site, www.bostonworldpartnerships.com, will be unveiled today at City Hall and is scheduled to go live in November. It will include blogs, profiles of entrepreneurs and business leaders, chat networks, information about local events, and pages focused on everything from finance and investment to green living and clean energy. There is no cost to join the site.

Boston to get own social networking website - The Boston Globe

Michael Sampson: Currents: "Hello, I'm a PC"

A timely reality check from Michael Sampson; see the full post, and skim the comments

I switched from Windows to Mac. I had used Windows as my main computing platform for 12 years, and was frankly fed up with its instability. Well, after 5 years on the Mac platform, today I switched back to Windows, and demoted my MacBook Pro to a lab machine. And I switched back for a very simple reason: Windows is better for business.

Microsoft Office is better. Support for scanning documents is better. Compatibility with mobile devices is better, eg, Windows Mobile and BlackBerry. Business card scanning is better (make that "possible"). Yadda, yadda, yadda. No more compromises and missed opportunities.

So ends the Apple love.

Michael Sampson: Currents: "Hello, I'm a PC"

Obama opens up new campaign front: videogames (AFP) by AFP: Yahoo! Tech

Sign of the times…

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has opened up a new front in his battle with Republican John McCain for the White House: videogames.

The Obama campaign has placed advertisements for the candidate inside the online versions of some of the hottest-selling videogames in the United States.

Holly Rockwood, a spokeswoman for videogame giant Electronic Arts, told AFP the Obama campaign had purchased ads inside nine of EA's top titles.

Obama opens up new campaign front: videogames (AFP) by AFP: Yahoo! Tech

Business Technology : SAP's Big Freeze

Hmm…

SAP announced last week that its revenue for the quarter would fall short of its guidance due to a sudden drop in orders at the end of September. That sent the company into cost-cutting mode, as outlined in an email co-CEOs Henning Kagermann and Leo Apotheker sent to staff last week. A copy of the email was obtained by the Business Technology Blog.

The party line in the tech industry is that businesses will keep spending on tech because it makes them more efficient. This, in turn will help them survive the downturn. We’re not sure whether to file this under irony or hypocrisy, but SAP is – you guessed it – halting new spending on information technology. “We will review all planned investments in IT equipment, hardware, software, facilities, and company cars, as well as internal IT projects,” the co-CEOs wrote in the email. “Do not order any new equipment at this time.”

Business Technology : SAP's Big Freeze

Apple cuts laptop price to $999 - The Boston Globe

This will be an interesting price elasticity test

Chief executive Steve Jobs cut the price on the current MacBook models to $999 yesterday at an event at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. He also introduced an aluminum-clad version with a glass display that will sell for $1,299 and updated the MacBook Pro line with slimmer models.

The stock fell 5.6 percent. Investors may be concerned the price reduction won't be big enough to persuade consumers to buy amid the economic slump, said Piper Jaffray & Co. analyst Gene Munster.

BTW try to find the $999 model on this page (there's a Macbook White link that takes you to this page)

Apple cuts laptop price to $999 - The Boston Globe

McCain Fights for Right to Remix on YouTube - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Sign of the times…

Trevor Potter, the general counsel for the McCain-Palin campaign, sent a letter on Monday to Chad Hurley, the chief executive of YouTube, complaining that the video service, now owned by Google, has inappropriately removed McCain commercials from its site.

The commercials incorporated snippets of television news broadcasts. Using provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the news organizations demanded that the commercials be removed from YouTube because they violated the organizations’ copyrights.

McCain Fights for Right to Remix on YouTube - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Cisco CEO sees videoconferencing on planes within 18 months

Yeah, but why do you need to be on a plane, if you’re doing videoconferencing all of the time?…

"I want to be on a plane and have TelePresence in front of me," quipped Thomas Bittman, one of the Gartner analysts who interviewed Chambers onstage here.

"Well, the answer is, you are probably going to," said Chambers, who predicted that the arrival of Wi-Fi services and other types of Internet connections on planes will enable travelers to hook up devices to the Web — potentially moving in-flight Internet access well beyond mere entertainment options. Chambers said he sees such capabilities becoming available within 18 months or so.

Cisco CEO sees videoconferencing on planes within 18 months

Microsoft sticks with 'Windows 7' for next OS

For anyone else trying to figure out where the 7 came from – check out the Wikipedia article referenced in this Computerworld article

Some Windows watchers, however, questioned Nash's claim that Windows 7 would be the seventh iteration of the OS. The AeroXperience blog counted seven as of Windows Vista, and eight if the consumer-oriented Windows Millennium was included. However, only if kernel revisions are tallied, XP wasn't counted -- and Windows kernel was incremented to 7.0 for Windows 7 -- would that work, the blog argued.

According to the Windows timeline on Wikipedia, XP's kernel is tagged as 5.1, and Vista's as 6.0.

Microsoft sticks with 'Windows 7' for next OS

Business & Technology | Microsoft's failed Yahoo bid now looks like lucky miss | Seattle Times Newspaper

Interesting times…

Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said he was disappointed Yahoo refused a takeover offer that went as high as $47.5 billion back in May. Now he looks lucky.

Yahoo closed Monday with a market value of $18.7 billion, so Ballmer's failure to seal the purchase saved the biggest software maker from a writedown that could have rivaled the industry's most vilified deals. Yahoo ended Monday at $13.49 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Ballmer "might be the luckiest guy in the software industry," said analyst Charles Di Bona at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York. "One of the guys here just looked at Yahoo's share price and said to me, 'Nice miss by Microsoft."'

Business & Technology | Microsoft's failed Yahoo bid now looks like lucky miss | Seattle Times Newspaper

An Elephant Backs Up Google’s Library - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Hmm – see the full article for more details

Google often says that it likes to take the long-term view of things. But Google’s idea of long term does not appear to be long enough for some librarians, who tend to equate long term with forever, at least when it comes to preserving books.

On Monday, a group of major libraries that are participating in Google’s Library Project, said they are working together to create what amounts to a publicly-accessible backup of the digital library that Google is creating. The project, which is called HathiTrust, includes libraries at 12 Midwestern universities like the University of Michigan, the University of Iowa and the University of Illinois, and the 11 libraries of the University of California system. (Hathi is Hindi for “elephant,” an animal that is said to never forget.)

An Elephant Backs Up Google’s Library - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Quicken Online is finally free | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone - CNET

Sign of the times

Intuit has finally dropped the subscription fee on Quicken Online, its Web-based financial software that competes with Mint, Geezeo, Buxfer, and Wesabe. The company is still selling, as completely separate products, software versions of Quicken.

When I last covered Quicken Online in December 2007, my biggest complaint was its price. In a market with free (and very good) competitors, there was just no reason to pay for Quicken Online. This is a smart move on Intuit's part. But while Intuit Online is a solid service, the online competitors keep getting better, too. It's unclear to me that Intuit's history will translate into market share in this competitive market.

Quicken Online is finally free | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone - CNET

Microsoft makes Windows 7 name final | Beyond Binary - A blog by Ina Fried - CNET News

Good strategy to stay away from the year suffix in the product name

For the first time in recent memory, Microsoft has chosen to stick with its code name for a final Windows release.

In a blog posting, general manager Mike Nash said that the next version of Windows will retain its Windows 7 code-name when it is released to the market--a date currently pegged as late 2009 or early 2010.

"Simply put, this is the seventh release of Windows, so therefore "Windows 7" just makes sense," Nash wrote.

Microsoft makes Windows 7 name final | Beyond Binary - A blog by Ina Fried - CNET News

Start-up developing new Web interaction paradigm | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone - CNET

A timely snapshot

In the midst of the financial meltdown and a contentious upcoming election, you might think the U.S. government and taxpayers are just funding wars, bank bailouts, and bridges to nowhere or somewhere. But this is the same government that funded the Internet way back when and is also funding the next generation of technologies that will make the current Internet seem like a Model-T.

Over the last several years, the U.S. government--via DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) grants--has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in PAL, an acronym for "Personalized Assistant that Learns." Smarter software and networks and augmenting human intelligence are useful in times of war and peace.

As part of the PAL project, more than $200 million of DARPA money has been poured into CALO (Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes) over the last five years. CALO has been run out of SRI International with the assistance of 25 research organizations and 400 researchers.

Start-up developing new Web interaction paradigm | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone - CNET

Microsoft Releases Silverlight 2, Already Reaching One in Four Consumers Worldwide

Impressive numbers; see the full press release for more details

Silverlight adoption continues to grow rapidly, with penetration in some countries approaching 50 percent and a growing ecosystem that includes more than 150 partners and tens of thousands of applications. During the 17 days of the 2008 Olympics Games in Beijing, NBCOlympics.com, powered by Silverlight, had more than 50 million unique visitors, resulting in 1.3 billion page views, 70 million video streams and 600 million minutes of video watched, increasing the average time on the site (from 3 minutes to 27 minutes) and Silverlight market penetration in the U.S. by more than 30 percent. Broadcasters in France (France Televisions SA), the Netherlands (NOS), Russia (Sportbox.ru) and Italy (RAI) also chose Silverlight to deliver Olympics coverage online. In addition, leading companies such as CBS College Sports, Blockbuster Inc., Hard Rock Cafe International Inc., Yahoo! Japan, AOL LLC, Toyota Motor Corp., HSN Inc. and Tencent Inc. are building their next-generation experiences using Silverlight.

Microsoft Releases Silverlight 2, Already Reaching One in Four Consumers Worldwide: Microsoft announces new rich Internet applications development and streaming media features; company outlines plans for supporting Windows, Mac and Linux tools for developing Silverlight applications.

Mainstream News Outlets Start Linking to Other Sites - NYTimes.com

Times are changing…  See the full article for more details

For years, newspapers, television station Web sites and magazines have hesitated about linking to outside Web sites because, the logic goes, they want to keep the users on their own site. More internal page views and longer time-spent-viewing can equate to larger advertising revenue for Web sites.

Mr. Karp argues that Google, the leading search engine, is a direct rebuttal to that logic. “It’s all about sending people away, and it does such a good job of it that people keep coming back for more,” he said.

Mainstream News Outlets Start Linking to Other Sites - NYTimes.com

Advertising - Newspapers’ Web Revenue Is Stalling - NYTimes.com

A stark reality check

Newspapers, already facing a grim economic forecast, are digesting another piece of bad news: the growth in online advertising they saw as their salvation has slowed to a crawl.

In the last few years, newspaper companies have been rapidly expanding their Web presence — adding blogs, photo slide shows and podcasts — in the belief that more features would bring more advertisers. But now, after 17 quarters of ballooning growth, online revenue at newspaper sites is falling. In the second quarter, it was down 2.4 percent compared with last year, to $777 million, according to the Newspaper Association of America. It was the only year-over-year drop since the group began measuring online revenue in 2003.

Advertising - Newspapers’ Web Revenue Is Stalling - NYTimes.com

Beyond WiFi: Connecting by light - The Boston Globe

Hmm…

"The technique used is to flash the light on and off, or modulate the light, to transmit data," Little said. The pulses are so rapid that they can be picked up by an electronic sensor, but not by the human eye. That allows the lamp to light a room and transmit information at the same time.

Nobody expects light-based networking to replace today's wireless radio systems, like the popular WiFi networking technology. But the BU system could use a fraction of the power of radio systems like WiFi networking. It would also offer greater privacy, because signals from a light-based network won't penetrate walls or doors, as WiFi signals do.

Beyond WiFi: Connecting by light - The Boston Globe

RIM's Impressive BlackBerry Storm - BusinessWeek

Check the full review 

The Storm is not an iPhone killer, nor is it intended to be. RIM's emphasis is on e-mail and business applications, and its products are designed to be managed by corporate technology departments. Like its predecessors, the new BlackBerry is aimed squarely at mobile executives. But the Storm incorporates much of the fresh thinking that characterizes the consumer-oriented iPhone. The key test will be whether business users who spend a lot of time on their keyboards will be willing to migrate to a touchscreen. Based on my brief experience, I think the Storm is an excellent alternative to traditional BlackBerrys.

RIM's Impressive BlackBerry Storm - BusinessWeek

Tech guru Tim O'Reilly challenges next generation to get serious - Los Angeles Times

A timely snapshot -- via  Dave Farber

Silicon Valley insiders call it the O'Reilly Radar: Tim O'Reilly's uncanny ability to spot a technology revolution before it happens. But lately the entrepreneur, investor and book publisher has been busier trying to incite the next one.
He is urging young entrepreneurs and engineers to stop making some of the sillier software that lets Facebook users throw virtual sheep at their friends or download virtual beer on iPhones, and instead start making a real difference in the world.

Tech guru Tim O'Reilly challenges next generation to get serious - Los Angeles Times

Amid the Gloom, an E-Commerce War - NYTimes.com

A timely reality check

EBay’s recent problems have made Mr. Bezos and his team look like shrewd and patient stewards of the Amazon franchise. And Amazon’s second wind is making eBay lA ook as if it has missed one of the greatest opportunities in the Internet’s short history.

“EBay could have closed the door to Amazon back when Amazon was mostly just a platform to sell books and music,” said Scott Devitt, an analyst at Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, the investment bank. “But what eBay did in those days was to take a very hands-off approach and let the marketplace control itself. And that ended up being the downfall of the business relative to others that have succeeded.”

Amid the Gloom, an E-Commerce War - NYTimes.com

YouTube to Offer TV Shows With Ads Strewn Through - NYTimes.com

Back to the future – see the full article for some of the included shows

After months of experimenting with long-form video, YouTube said on Friday it would start offering full-length episodes of some television shows on its sprawling Web site.

The staggering growth of YouTube — five billion videos were viewed there in July — has come primarily from short videos that last only a few minutes. But Internet users are gradually becoming more comfortable watching longer videos online, prompting YouTube’s commitment to the format.

YouTube to Offer TV Shows With Ads Strewn Through - NYTimes.com

Update: Sun Microsystems: A Lesson in Failed Cosmetic Surgery - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

What a difference a day makes -- now the difference between Sun's cash on hand and market cap looks more like $0.08B...

Sun’s shares dropped close to 8 percent Thursday, closing at $5.21. The company now has a stock-market value of $3.9 billion and has close to $3.5 billion in cash, said chief executive Jonathan Schwartz in an interview Thursday after the market closed.

Update: Sun Microsystems: A Lesson in Failed Cosmetic Surgery - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Is SAP Data Warehouse Hunting? - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Hmm...

The German software maker SAP looks poised to follow major rivals Microsoft and Oracle by making a big splash in the tumultuous market for data warehouse technology, according to one analyst.

Patrick Walravens, an analyst at JMP Securities, has issued a series of research notes arguing that SAP will make an offer for Teradata, one of the leaders in the data warehouse market. Mr. Walravens’s latest evidence pointing to such a move stems from the expected departure of an SAP executive who had been running the company’s NetWeaver software line, which includes a data warehouse package.

Is SAP Data Warehouse Hunting? - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Sun Microsystems: A Lesson in Failed Cosmetic Surgery - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Imagine if you will a very big "For Sale" sign...

Sun Microsystems, one of the world’s largest server and software makers, finds itself in an awkward position: It might soon have enough cash to buy all of its stock and go private.

Sun’s shares dropped close to 8 percent Thursday, closing at $5.21. The company now has a stock-market value of $3.9 billion and has close to $3.5 billion in cash, said chief executive Jonathan Schwartz in an interview Thursday after the market closed.

Sun Microsystems: A Lesson in Failed Cosmetic Surgery - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Apple Likely to Unveil New Laptops - WSJ.com

Some interesting Apple stats

If Apple unveils more affordable laptops as expected, it could give investors much needed confidence in the stock, which has recently fallen to levels few would have expected it to reach just a few months ago. The stock has shed about 25% since Sept. 26 on worries that slowdowns in the North American and European economies are finally beginning to affect even Apple.

Though Apple took the word computer out of its name, Macintosh computers are still crucial to the company's business. In the quarter ended in June, computer revenue grew 43% from the previous year to $3.6 billion. Notebook sales accounted for 61% of that, growing 42% from a year earlier.

Apple Likely to Unveil New Laptops - WSJ.com

MySQL co-founder David Axmark leaving Sun

Check the full article for more potentially bad MySQL news for Sun

David Axmark, a co-founder and former lead engineer at MySQL AB, has resigned from Sun Microsystems Inc. a few weeks after another co-founder said he may also leave the company.

"I have thought about my role at Sun and decided that I am better off in smaller organizations," Axmark wrote in his resignation letter, according to a blog post on Tuesday from Kaj Arno, head of MySQL community relations.

MySQL co-founder David Axmark leaving Sun

Perfect Storm? RIM Unveils Touch-Based Blackberry

See the full post for more details

To date, all of RIM's Blackberry devices have been notable for two reasons: Seamless integration with corporate email servers and their surprisingly useful but tiny hardware keyboards. The Storm continues Blackberry's tradition of email excellence, but it dispenses with the keyboard, opting instead for a large, iPhone-like touch screen. But it goes Apple one better by fixing some of the deficiencies of the iPhone screen. For starters, the Storm screen is backed by a grid of springs, so every screen press can respond with tactile feedback.

[...]

From a usability perspective, the Storm offers a better Web browser, which can sense lighter and firmer presses on the screen, allowing it to differentiate between clicks and cursor movements. This isn't possible on the iPhone.

Perfect Storm? RIM Unveils Touch-Based Blackberry

Yahoo Investors Seeking a Savior - WSJ.com

A stark reality check -- but I doubt another Microsoft offer would be anything close to that price level

In January, Microsoft offered a cash-and-stock deal initially valued at $44.6 billion, or $31 a share, for Yahoo and later whispered it would be willing to up that to $33 a share when Yahoo was asking for $37 a share. The initial offer was a 62% premium to where Yahoo shares were before the bid was announced.

At Tuesday's close of $13.76, the same premium would yield a bid of just $22.29 a share, or roughly $31 billion.

Yahoo Investors Seeking a Savior - WSJ.com

IBM Shows Solid Profit, Signaling a Bright Spot - WSJ.com

Positive business news -- very unusual lately...

International Business Machines Corp. reported better-than-expected earnings for its third quarter, although revenue growth slowed from previous quarters.

The earnings, released unexpectedly after the close of the New York Stock Exchange, gave the company's shares a boost in after-hours trading Wednesday evening after a dismal day of activity on Wall Street, and could provide support for a market that has been buffeted by the financial crisis and ebbing economic confidence.

IBM Shows Solid Profit, Signaling a Bright Spot - WSJ.com

Five Reasons To Start a Business Now | Big Think | BNET

Michael Fitzgerald accentuates the positive:

In response to my post Bad Times Are Good Times for Entrepreneurs,  James Kwak has posted Crisis and Entrepreneurship, a comment on why he co-founded Guidewire Software right after the 9/11 attacks.

He gave five excellent reasons:

1. Talented people were available;
2. Rent, etc. was cheap;
3. Private companies don’t suffer quarterly scrutiny;
4. Dislocation in the economy creates opportunity;
5. New companies aren’t expected to sell anything.

See the full post for more

Five Reasons To Start a Business Now | Big Think | BNET

Nation & World | Market losses take $2 trillion out of retirement savings | Seattle Times Newspaper

A stark snapshot...

The stock market's prolonged tumble has wiped out about $2 trillion in retirement savings over 15 months, a blow that could force workers to stay on the job longer than planned, tighten their wallets and possibly further stall an economy reliant on consumer spending, Congress' top budget analyst said Tuesday.

The Dow Jones industrial average has lost one-third of its value in a year, 1,400 points in the past five trading days alone.

Nation & World | Market losses take $2 trillion out of retirement savings | Seattle Times Newspaper

Verizon officially debuts RIM BlackBerry Storm | Crave, the gadget blog - CNET

It took a while, but it looks like RIM finally has a credible iPhone competitor -- see the full review for more details

We all knew it was approaching, but brace yourself, the storm has made landfall. Tuesday night, Research In Motion and Verizon Wireless officially introduced the first touch-screen BlackBerry to the world: the RIM BlackBerry Storm.

Also known by its code name, BlackBerry Thunder, the Storm features a touch-sensitive display that's unlike that on any other touch-screen smartphone available today, thanks to RIM's own twist (more on this below). There are plenty of other highlights as well, including dual-mode functionality, support for Verizon's EV-DO Rev. A, integrated GPS, BlackBerry OS 4.7, and more.

Verizon officially debuts RIM BlackBerry Storm | Crave, the gadget blog - CNET

Technology Review: 'Mail Goggles' might prevent e-mail regrets

Not a joke -- see the full article

If you're the kind of person who types tipsy and regrets it in the morning, Google's "Mail Goggles," a new test-phase feature in the free Gmail service, might save you some angst.
The Goggles can kick in late at night on weekends. The feature requires you to solve a few easy math problems in short order before hitting "send." If your logical thinking skills are intact, Google is betting you're sober enough to work out the repercussions of sending that screed you just drafted.
And if you can't multiply two times five, you'll probably thank Google in the morning.

Technology Review: 'Mail Goggles' might prevent e-mail regrets

Airline to Filter Internet Service - NYTimes.com

Sign of the times...

American Airlines said on Tuesday that it would filter an in-flight Internet service to block pornography sites after complaints from flight attendants and passengers.

American said it was working with a technology provider, Aircell, to allow filtering of its nascent Internet service.

Airline to Filter Internet Service - NYTimes.com

Google Puts Tunes From YouTube a Click Away - NYTimes.com

Interesting times...

In its continuing effort to find a way to make money from its YouTube unit, Google introduced on Tuesday a type of e-commerce ad that YouTube users can click to buy digital goods from Apple’s iTunes or Amazon.com.

Under the new program, viewers of a video with a music track, for example, would be able to click on an icon to download that song from one of the two music stores.

Google Puts Tunes From YouTube a Click Away - NYTimes.com

New Readers, Software Heat Up E-Book Market (NewsFactor) by NewsFactor: Yahoo! Tech

I'd like to have a larger form factor iPod touch for this usage scenario...

The battle over e-readers is heating up rapidly, thanks to new hardware entries from the world's two leading e-book manufacturers and the surprising popularity of e-book software on Apple's iPhone and iPod touch. Although the total number of e-books is still well short of a single Steven King press run, the next-generation devices point to a steadily maturing market for digital literature.

[...]

When it released the iPhone and the iPod touch, Apple did not set out to create an e-reader. But with the opening of its Apps Store, the devices have developed a growing number of e-reader fans. By most estimates, downloads of e-reader software vastly exceed the number of e-book readers sold by Amazon and Sony combined.

New Readers, Software Heat Up E-Book Market (NewsFactor) by NewsFactor: Yahoo! Tech

Portuguese bank offers "McCain/Obama" rate deal - Yahoo! News

Strange days indeed...

A Portuguese online bank unveiled a novel interest rate deal Monday by letting clients bet on the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.

Banco Best's customers will be awarded interest on their 60-day deposits on the basis of whether they bet correctly on the winner of the November 4 U.S. election between Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain, the bank said in a statement.

Portuguese bank offers "McCain/Obama" rate deal - Yahoo! News

Official Google Blog: The VP debate: Candidates, questions, and queries

An interesting snapshot -- check the full post for more details

If information is the currency of democracy, as Thomas Jefferson allegedly said, then during last Thursday's vice-presidential debate between Senator Biden and Governor Palin a lot of people used Google Search to get a bit wealthier, metaphorically speaking. Using Google Hot Trends, we can see some of the more interesting things that people were researching, and you can do the same to follow along yourself during tomorrow night's second presidential debate (9 PM ET). But first, here's what people were curious about during the VP match.

Official Google Blog: The VP debate: Candidates, questions, and queries

EBay Trims Its Work Force and Makes Acquisitions - NYTimes.com

Mighty morphing eBay; read the full article for more details

On Monday, eBay announced it would lay off 10 percent of its 16,000 workers, including 1,000 permanent employees, and pay $1.35 billion to acquire the Web payment firm Bill Me Later and the Danish classified advertising companies Den Bla Avis and BilBasen.

EBay, based in San Jose, Calif., said most of the layoffs would be in its core marketplace division, which has suffered from declining single-digit growth rates while online commerce has been growing at a double-digit clip.

EBay Trims Its Work Force and Makes Acquisitions - NYTimes.com

A.M.D. to Split Into Two Operations - NYTimes.com

Interesting times...

Advanced Micro Devices plans to announce Tuesday that it will split into two companies — one focused on designing microprocessors and the other on the costly business of manufacturing them — in a drastic effort to maintain its position as the only real rival to Intel.

In addition, the company said two Abu Dhabi investment firms would inject at least $6 billion into the two firms, mostly to finance a new chip factory that A.M.D. planned to build near Albany, N.Y., and to upgrade one of the company’s existing plants in Dresden, Germany.

A.M.D. to Split Into Two Operations - NYTimes.com

Laptop stolen from McCain campaign in Missouri [Computerworld]

Hmm...

Republican campaigners in Missouri are beefing up security after a laptop containing "strategic information" was stolen from a campaign field office of presidential contender John McCain.

The theft occurred at a campaign office in Independence, Missouri, sometime between 10 p.m. Tuesday and 6 a.m. Wednesday, according to Tina Hervey, a spokeswoman with the Missouri Republican Party. When staffers showed up for work Wednesday, they found that someone had thrown a brick through the glass windows fronting the office, rifled through a bag and stolen a Dell laptop belonging to a regional campaigner.

Laptop stolen from McCain campaign in Missouri

IBM launches Bluehouse, a Facebook for business

SaaS communication/collaboration from IBM Lotus

IBM will today open the online door to a service that merges some of the best features of social networking with business collaboration tools.

A SaaS (software-as-a-service) product, Bluehouse is, for now, free during this public beta release. Once the testing ends sometime in the next few months, subscription pricing, which has not yet been detailed, will kick in.

Bluehouse combines a familiar pallet of collaboration tools, including IM (instant messaging), Web conferencing, document sharing, profiles, directory and tools to build business networking communities -- all delivered via a cloud platform.

IBM launches Bluehouse, a Facebook for business

As Tech Slips, Sun Could Stumble - BusinessWeek

Check the full article for more details

Sun may be particularly vulnerable. Consolidation on Wall Street means fewer customers to go around, and the company is at a disadvantage if it has to compete in a price war against rivals like Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) and IBM (IBM). Although Sun has laid off 6,500 workers since Jonathan I. Schwartz became CEO two years ago, the computer maker still spends far more on research, development, and administrative costs as a percentage of sales than does HP or IBM. Schwartz has made bold moves, including giving away the company's software to spur server sales, but growth is sluggish. Sales fell last quarter and are expected to rise less than 2% through mid-2010. "Sun has excellent technology, but do they last as a stand-alone company?" asks analyst Sushil Wagle at J. & W. Seligman. "My gut tells me that at some point, they'll be part of something else."

The final paragraph:

Roger McNamee, a partner with the Silicon Valley private equity firm Elevation Partners, says the current market turmoil calls for unconventional thinking. Among other things, he says tech executives should ignore the wild swings of their company's stock prices and focus on their businesses: "Placating your shareholders for the next 90 days is a losers' game."

As Tech Slips, Sun Could Stumble - BusinessWeek

Nokia Aims to Be No. 1 on the Mobile Web - BusinessWeek

A timely snapshot; also see the related contender summary

Now, Nokia is striking back. The company is launching its first mass-market touchscreen phone this month. The 5800 will have a shape and screen similar to the iPhone, but its price will be about a third less than the Apple device. In addition, the Nokia phone will come with a year-long music service subscription that will let customers download and keep all the music they want from the four major record labels. Nokia plans a steady stream of touchscreen phones in the coming months, an effort aimed at overwhelming Apple and others with devices for different customer segments and price ranges in local markets around the world. "We're able to do this faster than anyone else," says Vanjoki. "We have a localizing machine that spans all countries."

Nokia Aims to Be No. 1 on the Mobile Web - BusinessWeek

HP Pavilion dv7-1130us 17" Widescreen Entertainment Laptop (circuitcity.com)

A semi-random snapshot/sign of the times:

The HP Pavilion dv7-1130us is a large laptop, with high-performance processing power and entertainment features to rival most desktops. This laptop is equipped to handle demanding applications as well as high-end graphics. This model has premium features including powerful dual-core processing, a DVD SuperMulti drive, built-in webcam and 64-bit Windows Vista Home Premium.

Dual-core 64-bit, 4 gig RAM, 64-bit Windows Vista, built-in webcam, 17" display...  All for $679.99 (after rebates).  Yow...

HP Pavilion dv7-1130us 17" Widescreen Entertainment Laptop

I, Cringely . The Pulpit . Data Debasement | PBS

The final paragraphs of another thought-provoking Cringely essay:

To scale the Google search service, then, they figured that many large problems did not intrinsically require doing actions one at a time. But Google first had to free itself of the false dependencies. So they coined the term MapReduce and created both a set of operations and a way to store the data for those operations natively, all while preserving the natural independence that is inherent in each problem, building the whole mess atop the remarkable Google File System, which I'll cover some other day.

Google led the way but many other companies have followed suit, opening doors to a wide range of new ways of thinking about large-scale data manipulation. Suddenly there are different ways to store the data, new ways to write applications, and new places (thousands of cheap boxes) to run such applications.

What this does for Larry Ellison and his libido is a great question, because it looks like he's bought up most of the traditional database-centric software industry just in time for it to be declared obsolete.

I fundamentally disagree with the thesis of the full essay, primarily because it implicitly assumes DBMSs can't evolve (e.g., go hybrid traditional/massive memory), but it's still a timely snapshot.

I, Cringely . The Pulpit . Data Debasement | PBS

Microsoft Promises New, Fluffier Version of Windows - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Hmm -- that would be Mr. Cutler of VMS and NT fame...

So what exactly is Windows Cloud? Well, Microsoft won’t budge on exact details just yet.

But Dave Cutler, one of the company’s top software engineers, has spent years working on a project code-named Red Dog that some suspect will serve as the underpinning for the new operating system. Mr. Cutler has a knack for developing sophisticated code, and he may have come up with an operating system tailored to this notion of distributing software across thousands of servers and letting customers tap into all that horsepower from their home or office computers.

Microsoft Promises New, Fluffier Version of Windows - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

SEC launches probe into phony Jobs heart attack report | News - Digital Media - CNET News

iAccountable?...

Some observers have speculated that someone may have posted the story to manipulate the stock market. A source close to the investigation said that CNN has attempted to contact the anonymous poster but hasn't received a reply. Martin declined to say what kind of information the SEC has requested.

In order to submit a story on iReport, a person need only submit an e-mail address. Martin said that it clearly says on the site that most stories are not edited, filtered, or vetted. Those stories that have been checked out are labeled "On CNN." This means that the cable network has verified the report and is using it on a CNN-branded TV show or Web site, she said. The Jobs heart attack story never got that label.

SEC launches probe into phony Jobs heart attack report | News - Digital Media - CNET News

Steve’s fine, but some of the investors needed CPR, redux | Good Morning Silicon Valley

A timely reality check; read the full post 

We need, however, to get one thing clear: No matter how their sponsors spin it, iReport and its ilk are not citizen journalism. They are not journalism of any sort. They are unfiltered bulletin boards of rumor, gossip, speculation and unverified accounts, and they have a base-level credibility rating of zero. The practice of journalism has well established principles involving accuracy, thoroughness, fairness and accountability, and well established practices involving vetting stories through layers of trained skeptics. When journalists fail to meet these standards, the price is paid in credibility. A site like iReport, with its open invitation to “tell the stories we’re not used to seeing,” is an outlet for citizen participation, not a venue for citizen journalism, despite the CNN logo. All it takes to be a “reporter” is an anonymous log-in. We may never know if “johntw” was simply a misinformed naif with a hair-trigger for rumor, a greedy trader making a crude attempt to move the market, or a bored griefer getting his jollies by watching everyone scuttle about like startled cockroaches. Unless there’s something the SEC decides to look into, he pays no price because, unlike a journalist, he has no concerns about credibility.

Steve’s fine, but some of the investors needed CPR, redux | Good Morning Silicon Valley

Book Review - 'Hot, Flat, and Crowded,' by Thomas L. Friedman - Review - NYTimes.com

Required reading, imho; read the full review and then buy the book 

The environmental movement reserves a hallowed place for those books or films that have stirred people from their slumber and awoken them to the fragility of the planet: Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” Bill McKibben’s “End of Nature” and, most recently, Al Gore’s Oscar-winning documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.” Thomas L. Friedman’s new book, “Hot, Flat, and Crowded” may lack the soaring, elegiac qualities of those others. But it conceivably just might goad America’s wealthiest to face the threat of climate change and do something about it.

Book Review - 'Hot, Flat, and Crowded,' by Thomas L. Friedman - Review - NYTimes.com

Google Boasts of Its Energy-Efficient Data Centers - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Yet another front in the Google/Microsoft war -- trying to out-green each other

Google has always considered these data centers among its most prized crown jewels and has gone to great lengths to protect information about them — their design, operation, energy use and even their location — as a corporate secret.

So it came a bit as a surprise to industry watchers when on Wednesday Google boasted that its data centers were perhaps the most efficient in the industry. The company also unveiled a Web site where it reveals some of the secrets behind its efficiency.

Google Boasts of Its Energy-Efficient Data Centers - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Microsoft Xbox 360 outsells PS3 in Japan in Sept (Reuters) by Reuters: Yahoo! Tech

Hmm...

Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 outsold Sony's PlayStation 3 in Japan in September, beating the rival machine in monthly unit sales for the first time in Sony's home market, a game magazine publisher said.

Strong sales growth came after Microsoft cut prices for its game console last month.

Microsoft sold 53,547 units of the Xbox 360 in the four weeks to September 28, compared with 33,071 units of the PS3, data from Enterbrain showed on Friday.

Nintendo Co Ltd safely maintained its leading position in the Japanese console market, having sold 109,548 units of the Wii during the month.

Microsoft Xbox 360 outsells PS3 in Japan in Sept (Reuters) by Reuters: Yahoo! Tech

New Sony Reader has light, note-taking stylus - Boston.com

If at first you don't succeed, ...

Sony Corp. unveiled a new e-book reader Thursday with a built-in light and a touch-sensitive display, features that set it apart from Amazon.com Inc.'s competing Kindle reader.

The PRS-700 is Sony's third model of the Reader, and will go on sale at the end of the month for about $400. It represents further experimentation on the part of manufacturers trying to find the right formula to make e-book readers more than a niche product. Neither Sony nor Amazon have revealed sales figures for their readers.

New Sony Reader has light, note-taking stylus - Boston.com

BBC NEWS | Technology | Obama uses iPhone to win support

I've been very impressed with the Obama campaign's PC browser-based apps as well.

US Democratic candidate Barack Obama is set to turn the iPhone into a political recruiting tool with an application aimed at getting the vote out.

The software has a "Call Friends" option to help organise contacts in swing states.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Obama uses iPhone to win support

Skype President Addresses Chinese Privacy Breach - Skype Blogs

See the full post for details from Skype's president

We also learned yesterday about the existence of a security breach that made it possible for people to gain access to those stored messages on TOM's servers. We were very concerned to learn about both issues and after we urgently addressed this situation with TOM, they fixed the security breach. In addition, we are currently addressing the wider issue of the uploading and storage of certain messages with TOM.

It's important to remind everybody that the issues highlighted in yesterday's Information Warfare Monitor / ONI Asia report refer only to communications in which one or more parties are using TOM software to conduct instant messaging. It does not affect communications where all parties are using standard Skype software. Skype-to-Skype communications are, and always have been, completely secure and private.

Skype President Addresses Chinese Privacy Breach - Skype Blogs

Real Dan Lyons Web Site » Blog Archive World’s biggest energy hog wants taxpayers to spend trillions so it can have cheaper electricity «

Classic post-FSJ post -- see the full post for more

Google, outed last year by Harpers as “an energy glutton that is only growing hungrier,” wants the U.S. to invest $4.5 trillion to get off fossil fuels and onto new fuels which would ultimately lower the cost of electricity so that Google could make more money. Squirrel Boy doesn’t come right out and say that, however, because, um, I guess the idea of a wildly profitable $20 billion energy hog demanding that taxpayers solve its energy cost problems might come off as, well, evil.

Real Dan Lyons Web Site » Blog Archive World’s biggest energy hog wants taxpayers to spend trillions so it can have cheaper electricity «

Nokia to take on Apple in music, touch-screen phones | Reuters

Hmm...

The world's top mobile phone maker Nokia will launch its free music package on Thursday, which analysts see posing a serious threat to Apple's dominance in the digital music business.

Nokia is expected to unveil more details on its "Comes with Music" package later on Thursday at an analyst and media event in London. The Finnish company will also launch its first touch-screen phone, to rival Apple's popular iPhone, sources have told Reuters.

Nokia to take on Apple in music, touch-screen phones | Reuters

Zune Raises the Crimson Omen; Declare Your Loyalty to Delta Squad With a 120GB Zune “Gears of War 2” Special Edition

Sign of the times...

In celebration of the sequel to one of the best-selling Xbox franchises of all time, Xbox and Epic Games Inc. have collaborated with Zune to create this unique portable media player. The Zune “Gears of War 2” Special Edition is based on the new Zune 120GB device and features a laser-etched Crimson Omen on the new gloss black enclosure, collectible “Gears of War” packaging, and 244 pieces of “Gears of War” media including the original game soundtrack, behind-the-scenes videos, game trailers and concept art galleries.

“This special edition Zune is a great way for ‘Gears of War’ fans to carry around all their music and videos while sharing their enthusiasm for the game,” said Michael Capps, president of Epic Games.

 

Zune Raises the Crimson Omen; Declare Your Loyalty to Delta Squad With a 120GB Zune “Gears of War 2” Special Edition: Pre-orders are available today for special edition Zune digital media player.

Huge System for Web Surveillance Discovered in China - NYTimes.com

More on the latest Skype controversy

The Citizen Lab researchers issued a report on Wednesday, which details an analysis of data on the servers. “We were able to download millions of messages that identify users,” said Ronald J. Deibert, an associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto. “This is the worst nightmares of the conspiracy theorists around surveillance coming true. It’s ‘X-Files’ without the aliens.”

Jennifer Caukin, an eBay spokeswoman, said, “The security and privacy of our users is very important to Skype.” But the company spoke to the accessibility of the messages, not their monitoring. “The security breach does not affect Skype’s core technology or functionality,” she said. “It exists within an administrative layer on Tom Online servers. We have expressed our concern to Tom Online about the security issue and they have informed us that a fix to the problem will be completed within 24 hours.” EBay had no comment on the monitoring.

Huge System for Web Surveillance Discovered in China - NYTimes.com

Google Unveils Plan to Reduce Dependence on Fossil Fuels - WSJ.com

Interesting times

The proposal is based on the U.S. halting the generation of electricity from coal and oil by 2030 and relying on power from wind, nuclear and geothermal sources instead. It also entails cutting oil use for cars by 40%.

While requiring $4.4 trillion in expenditures, Google estimates that the plan would return a net savings of $1.0 trillion over its 22-year duration and create many new jobs. Work on the report was led by Jeffery Greenblatt, climate and energy technology manager for Google.org, the company's nonprofit arm.

"With a new Administration and Congress -- and multiple energy-related imperatives -- this is an opportune, perhaps unprecedented, moment to move from plan to action," states the report, which the company made available via a link off the company's corporate blog.

Google Unveils Plan to Reduce Dependence on Fossil Fuels - WSJ.com

Evidence Suggests China's Skype Is Monitoring Internet Messages - WSJ.com

Hmm...

A group of Canadian researchers said they found evidence suggesting that a Skype joint venture in China is monitoring its users' Internet text chats and storing messages that contain politically sensitive content on publicly-accessible servers.

In a report published Wednesday, the researchers allege that the monitoring-and-storage program led to the disclosure of millions of records containing personal information of users of the Chinese service, as well as who participated in voice calls using the service. It said the data was stored on eight servers operated by the service, which is a joint venture between Skype, a unit of eBay Inc., and TOM Online, a unit of Hong Kong-based TOM Group Ltd.

Evidence Suggests China's Skype Is Monitoring Internet Messages - WSJ.com

One Way to Turn a Mac Into a PC Just Got Better | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD

I'm a Mac; I'm a PC; no wait, I'm both... (no wsj.com subscription required for the full review)

But Fusion has some other features Parallels lacks. For example, it allows you to automatically take those protective snapshots at timed intervals. It also permits you to completely customize keyboard commands so that the same common key combinations work in both Windows and Mac programs. It allows the faux Windows machine to take full advantage of multiple monitors, if you have them.

Fusion also uses a more modern and capable version of the proprietary 3-D graphics system in Windows, called DirectX. That means some Windows-only games and other programs that won’t work in Parallels will work in Fusion. I successfully tested two such programs, both from Microsoft: Worldwide Telescope and Photosynth.

One Way to Turn a Mac Into a PC Just Got Better | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD

IPOs slow to lowest in decade - The Boston Globe

A chill for Bubble 2.0

As the financial crisis deepens, venture capital firms that bankroll high-tech and life sciences start-ups are experiencing the slowest market in a decade for recouping their investments.

Just one venture-backed company went public in the third quarter nationally, and none in New England, long a US venture capital hub, according to figures released yesterday by the Thomson Reuters research firm and the National Venture Capital Association.

IPOs slow to lowest in decade - The Boston Globe

Microsoft forced to go on the offensive (Seattle PI)

Having worked for P&G a couple decades ago, and understanding the culture there, I would have been shocked to see it go with a broad deployment of Google Apps

Microsoft Corp.'s operations chief took it personally when one of the company's biggest accounts was threatened by Google Inc.

Hundreds of workers at Procter & Gamble Co. were testing Google's e-mail, word processing and spreadsheet programs as potential replacements for Microsoft products. It would have been an unprecedented loss. So Kevin Turner flew to Cincinnati in July, spent a day wooing P&G Chief Information Officer Filippo Passerini and left with a bigger three-year contract.

Microsoft forced to go on the offensive

Redmond Developer News | Can Chrome Lure Developers?

A timely reality check -- read the full article for more Chrome developer-oriented details

Silverberg says if anything is going to hold back Google's platform ambitions, it's Google itself. "I know a bunch of ex-Microsoft folks who went to Google with the idea of building a platform, but most have left by now, saying Google just doesn't have platform DNA," he explains.

"They left [Microsoft] because they believed in the Internet and they didn't think Microsoft would ever really get the Internet," he adds. "They saw Google got the Internet but didn't get the platform. These were all super-star kinds of people-the exact people I would hire if I wanted to build a platform, and especially if I were running Google. But many of them have left Google, frustrated with the lack of platform DNA, commitment and an overly consensus-oriented decision-making process."

Redmond Developer News | Can Chrome Lure Developers?

Google + Rise to Power + Audacious - BusinessWeek

Another review of the new Randall Stross Google book -- an excerpt from the full review:

The challenge facing anyone who writes about Google (GOOG) is that readers may assume they already know all that can be said about the Internet search giant. After all, the 10-year-old juggernaut has been the subject of many thousands of press reports and at least two mainstream books. But to his credit, in Planet Google: One Company's Audacious Plan to Organize Everything We Know, author Randall Stross digs beneath the usual Googley tales of lava lamps and free gourmet food for employees to offer new insight into the company's pointedly unorthodox business practices. At a slim 200 pages, not counting notes and index, Planet Google isn't comprehensive. Yet Stross, a New York Times columnist and San Jose State University business professor, dives in far enough to illuminate the method and singleminded madness behind Google's mission to "organize the world's information."

Google + Rise to Power + Audacious - BusinessWeek

Google's Android Nips at iPhone's Heels [BusinessWeek]

See the full review for more details

I spent only about an hour with the G1 ($180 with two-year contract; unlimited data plans start at $25), which is co-branded by Google and handset maker HTC. Disappointingly, the phone is a bit thick and heavy. The screen slides up to reveal a keyboard, but the way the keys are recessed between raised areas on either side makes for slightly uncomfortable typing. And while the big touchscreen is nice, you can't resize objects simply by pinching or stretching them with your fingers. Once you get used to this trick on the iPhone, you expect it on every handset.

Google's Android Nips at iPhone's Heels