Friday, April 30, 2010

WinInfo Short Takes: Week of May 3, 2010

A timely reality check from Paul Thurrott; see the full post for his take on Apple/Adobe and other memes-of-the-week

Rumors Abound About HP Canceling the Windows 7-Based Slate. Head's Up: They're Only Rumors

Speaking of Tablet PCs, in the wake of HP's blockbuster $1.2 billion purchase of Palm this week, the rumor mill is tripping all over itself to "report" that HP has now canceled its previously announced HP Slate Tablet PC. There's just one problem: The company has said no such thing. A more likely scenario is that HP goes ahead with the Slate and then works concurrently on a version of the device, or a similar device, that runs Palm's webOS. In any event, despite a day or so of "RIP, Slate" stories, this much is clear: HP has yet to say anything about changing its plans for that device. When and if it does, I'll be sure to report on that.

WinInfo Short Takes: Week of May 3, 2010

3 ways Microsoft Hohm trumps Google PowerMeter in vision, clarity | VentureBeat

Check the full article for a timely snapshot of a Google-versus Microsoft competitive scenario, one with attributes applicable to multiple domains (e.g., “business model vs. no business model”).  

Microsoft and Google went head to head in the energy-monitoring arena today at GigaOm’s Green:Net conference in San Francisco — with Microsoft clearly coming out on top. Troy Batterberry, representing the company’s Hohm platform, talked circles around Google PowerMeter program manager Ed Lu, who offered up “no comment” more than anything else.

3 ways Microsoft Hohm trumps Google PowerMeter in vision, clarity | VentureBeat

Apple v. Adobe: Something Just Doesn't Add Up - Yahoo! News

The final paragraphs of a timely Apple/Adobe reality check 

I'll give Jobs points for the Full Web, Security, and Touch points. The Battery Life argument, in my opinion is a draw--I could go either way. But, when it comes to the Open, and Platform Dependence arguments, I have to cry foul.

It boils down to Apple wanting to maintain tight, proprietary control over app development for the iPhone and iPad, and not wanting to share the pie. It also seems suspicious given Apple's foray into mobile advertising with the iAd platform--competing directly with the fairly ubiquitous Flash-based ads.

Apple v. Adobe: Something Just Doesn't Add Up - Yahoo! News

Hewlett-Packard To Kill Windows 7 Tablet Project [TechCrunch]

More HP-related speculation

Hewlett-Packard has killed off its much ballyhooed Windows 7 tablet computer, says a source who’s been briefed on the matter.

The device was first unveiled by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at CES 2010 in January and was supposed to hit the market in mid 2010. But our source tells us that HP is not satisfied with Windows 7 as a tablet operating system and has terminated the project (something CrunchGear mentioned months ago).

Hewlett-Packard To Kill Windows 7 Tablet Project

Moving Forward (Adobe Featured Blogs)

Some comments from Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch.  Perhaps Google should acquire both Adobe and Motorola, since both companies seem to be betting their futures primarily on Android…  

We look forward to delivering Flash Player 10.1 for Android smartphones as a public preview at Google I/O in May, and then a general release in June. From that point on, an ever increasing number and variety of powerful, Flash-enabled devices will be arriving which we hope will provide a great landscape of choice.

Moving Forward (Adobe Featured Blogs)

Will Other Bidders Emerge for Palm? - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

I suspect this is the crux of HP’s strategy for the acquisition, and that it won’t keep the Palm webOS platform or Palm devices in the market long, if they don’t rapidly gain momentum.  I also wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Palm, during its turbulent final decade as an autonomous company, signed extensive intellectual property cross-licensing agreements.

“The real value of Palm is that their intellectual property protects areas that are very high growth right now,” said Pete Conley, a managing partner at MDB Capital, a research firm that analyzes the value of intellectual property.

Mr. Conley said his firm valued Palm’s portfolio of patents at approximately $1.4 billion. In particular, he said, Palm has patents around one of the most-desirable areas for mobile operating systems — multitasking.

Will Other Bidders Emerge for Palm? - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Is Motorola next in line to be acquired? | Signal Strength - CNET News

Another take on Motorola’s future

For Motorola, the decision to focus on building smartphones powered by Google's Android operating system could spell trouble for finding a similar suitor.

"I don't think anyone would be interested in buying Motorola now," said Frank Marsala, a research analyst at market research firm Gartner. "There's very little intellectual property there. If they had a differentiated operating system like Palm has or their business was growing like some of its competitors that would make it much more attractive."

Is Motorola next in line to be acquired? | Signal Strength - CNET News

The Fates of Motorola and Palm Diverged Over Android - NYTimes.com

This would have been a very different story for Motorola, if the Nexus One hadn’t been a market failure

Analysts and industry experts say the company’s efforts now appear to be paying off. Mr. Jha said Motorola’s early adoption of Android helped the company streamline its efforts, which contributed to its comeback. “When we started this turnaround, we had six mobile operating systems and 23 platforms,” said Mr. Jha. “We were able to reduce that to one and it allowed all of our creative energies on one platform.”

The Fates of Motorola and Palm Diverged Over Android - NYTimes.com

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Richard Clarke's new book says we're completely unprepared to fight a cyberwar. - By Fred Kaplan - Slate Magazine

A timely reality check/review 

Richard Clarke's Cyber War may be the most important book about national-security policy in the last several years. It's about a threat that almost everyone has heard of, that almost no one understands, and that the U.S. government hasn't begun to address very seriously.

The book was also recently reviewed in the NYT; excerpt:

In these pages Mr. Clarke uses his insider’s knowledge of national security policy to create a harrowing — and persuasive — picture of the cyberthreat the United States faces today. Mr. Clarke is hardly a lone wolf on the subject: Mike McConnell, the former director of national intelligence, told a Senate committee in February that “if we were in a cyberwar today, the United States would lose.”

Richard Clarke's new book says we're completely unprepared to fight a cyberwar. - By Fred Kaplan - Slate Magazine

Senior military leaders announce support for climate bill « Climate Progress

Check the full post for the full text and a predictable but nonetheless disappointing political response

Today an unprecedented 33 retired US military generals and admirals announced that they support comprehensive climate and energy legislation in a letter to Senators Reid and McConnell as well as a full page ad (click to enlarge).  The news release points out:

It was the largest such announcement of support ever, reflecting the consensus of the national security community that climate change and oil dependence pose a threat American security.

Senior military leaders announce support for climate bill « Climate Progress

Steve Jobs' letter explaining Apple's Flash distaste | Deep Tech - CNET News

The final paragraphs of Jobs’ “open letter” are excerpted below.  Classic Steve Jobs – check Bruce Tognazzini’s post on how, before Steve Jobs discovered touch UX, it was arrow keys that were to be left behind, in favor of the apparently now obsolete mouse.

Flash was created during the PC era--for PCs and mice. Flash is a successful business for Adobe, and we can understand why they want to push it beyond PCs. But the mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open web standards--all areas where Flash falls short.

The avalanche of media outlets offering their content for Apple's mobile devices demonstrates that Flash is no longer necessary to watch video or consume any kind of web content. And the 200,000 apps on Apple's App Store proves that Flash isn't necessary for tens of thousands of developers to create graphically rich applications, including games.

New open standards created in the mobile era, such as HTML5, will win on mobile devices (and PCs too). Perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind.

Steve Jobs

April, 2010

Steve Jobs' letter explaining Apple's Flash distaste | Deep Tech - CNET News

Long Before The WELL, There Was PLATO - PLATO History Blog

An important correction to some of the assertions in today’s WSJ article on The Well

The biggest howler was a quote from Larry Brilliant: "It was clearly the first social network." Larry, let me say that as a WELL user myself since 1986 and a PLATO user since 1979, I must tell you that you're dead wrong. On multiple levels, if we want to get really technical about it. And it's a shame Don didn't catch the error(s) and set the proper context for readers. Instead readers are left with a continuation of the myths about all things Internet post- and pre-.

Have no fear, I've contacted Mr. Clark. Gave him some background, invited him to the PLATO @ 50 Conference. Hope to hear from him soon.

Long Before The WELL, There Was PLATO - PLATO History Blog

Messenger across the web - Inside Windows Live - The Windows Blog

More Windows Messenger update details:

Messenger Connect brings the individual APIs we’ve had for a long time (Windows Live ID, Contacts API, Messenger Web Toolkit, etc.) together in a single API that's based on industry standards and specifications (OAuth WRAP, ActivityStrea.ms, PortableContacts) and adds a number of new scenarios.

The new Messenger Connect provides our developer partners with three big things:

  • Instantly create a user profile and social graph: Messenger user profile and social graph information allows our shared customers to easily sign-in and access their friends list and profile information. This allows our partners to more rapidly personalize their experiences, provides a ready-made social graph for customers to interact with, and provides a channel to easily invite additional friends to join in.
  • Drive engagement directly through chat indirectly through social distribution: By enabling both real-time instant messaging conversations (chat) and feed-based sharing options for customers on their site, developers can drive additional engagement and usage of their experiences by connecting to the over 320 million Messenger customers worldwide.
  • Designing for easy integration in your technical environment: We are delivering an API service that will expose a RESTful interface, and we’ll wrap those in a range of libraries (including JavaScript, .NET, and others). Websites and apps will be able to choose the right integration type for their specific scenario. Some websites prefer to keep everything at the presentation tier, and use JavaScript libraries when the user is present. Others may prefer to do server-side integration, so they can call the RESTful endpoints from back-end processes. We're aiming to provide the same set of capabilities across the API service and the libraries that we offer.

Messenger across the web - Inside Windows Live - The Windows Blog

Authorities put Gizmodo-iPhone investigation on hold, study ramifications

No doubt this investigation will be resumed right after authorities reach conclusions on the Apple stock option backdating episode

The examination of the computers and devices seized on Friday by local law enforcers from a technology blogger that got his hands on an unreleased iPhone prototype has been put on hold while authorities discuss if the operation conflicted with California's shield law.

San Mateo County chief deputy district attorney Stephen Wagstaffe said attorneys with tech blog Gizmodo recently asked San Mateo prosecutors to consider how the raid on Gizmodo editor Jason Chen's home and the seizure of several items - including laptops, digital cameras, flash drives, a credit card and credit card bills - might conflict with the state's shield law, which protects journalists from sharing unpublished, work-related material.

Authorities put Gizmodo-iPhone investigation on hold, study ramifications

Viral Video: Ouch!–Apple Gets Smacked Hard by Jon Stewart | Kara Swisher | BoomTown | AllThingsD

A timely Apple reality check; see the full post for the video

Here’s a video that is sure to go rocketing around the Web today: A smackdown by Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show” of Apple for its behavior related to the stolen iPhone 4G prototype.

It’s titled: “Appholes.”

Viral Video: Ouch!–Apple Gets Smacked Hard by Jon Stewart | Kara Swisher | BoomTown | AllThingsD

Apple Acquires Personal Mobile Assistant Siri - NYTimes.com

Apple is in acquisitive mode this week…

For Apple, this acquisition makes perfect sense. Siri was spun out of SRI International, and its core technology is based on the ambitious DARPA-funded CALO artificial intelligence project. With VoiceOver, Apple already features some voice recognition in its projects. This acquisition, however, will allow the company to take it to a completely new level. You can, for example, ask Siri - by voice - to check for a dinner reservation through OpenTable at a local Italian restaurant nearby or check on local movie listings.

When we first looked at Siri in February, we described it as one of the "most ambitious mobile services we have seen in the last few years." Siri's ability to understand natural language will give Apple a major advantages over other players in this market.

[…]

After this acquisition, it is probably safe to say that we won't see Siri for Android anytime soon.

Apple Acquires Personal Mobile Assistant Siri - NYTimes.com

On the Twitter Patrol - NYTimes.com

Good luck with that…

A small but vocal subculture has emerged on Twitter of grammar and taste vigilantes who spend their time policing other people’s tweets — celebrities and nobodies alike. These are people who build their own algorithms to sniff out Twitter messages that are distasteful to them — tweets with typos or flawed grammar, or written in ALLCAPS — and then send scolding notes to the offenders. They see themselves as the guardians of an emerging behavior code: Twetiquette.

On the Twitter Patrol - NYTimes.com

IPhone Dead Zones Got You Down? Improvise - NYTimes.com

See the full article for several tips.  Somehow I suspect this situation is not going to improve when the next iPhone, expected to include dual cameras, helps to mainstream video-calling…

But the iPhone’s worst enemy is the iPhone itself. So many Americans use them in the same places and at the same time that they are competing with one another for use of the network. “A hundred cellphones demanding bandwidth per cell site may not be out of the question in congested downtown areas,” said Tim Pozar, a wireless engineer who installs custom repeater systems to improve cellphone coverage at offices in the San Francisco area. IPhone owners have proved to be heavy consumers of network capacity.

What to do? There is no single magic bullet to improve iPhone service. You can spend hours trying to persuade AT&T to let you out of your contract. The time you spend doing that will cost more than the contract termination fee.

IPhone Dead Zones Got You Down? Improvise - NYTimes.com

Long Before Facebook, There Was the Well - WSJ.com

A timely shapshot 

"It was clearly the first social network," says Larry Brilliant, who co-founded the online community.

Dr. Brilliant, a physician and entrepreneur who more recently headed Google Inc.'s philanthropic arm, teamed up in April 1985 with his friend Stewart Brand, a counter-culture impresario known for ventures that include the Whole Earth Catalog. At that time, personal computers were a novelty, communications through dial-up modem were even rarer and most software required typing in arcane text commands.

[…]

The Well provided some of the first evidence that online communities could become as powerful as real-world varieties, says Mr. Kelly, who went on to co-found Wired magazine and was its first executive editor. But Dr. Brilliant, now president of the Skoll Global Threats Fund, a social-entrepreneurship organization, laments that Well-style conversations about societal problems remain hard to find on the wider Web.

"We need the Well, or something like it, much more than we ever did before," he says.

Long Before Facebook, There Was the Well - WSJ.com

H-P Agrees to Buy Palm for $1 Billion - WSJ.com

A couple more HP/Palm details and perspectives

H-P said Palm will be integrated into its personal-computers business unit and the handset maker's chief executive and former Apple executive, Jon Rubinstein, is "expected to remain with the company." The acquisition reunites H-P's PC-division chief Todd Bradley with Palm, where he was CEO from 2003 to 2005.

[…]

"Palm had a lot of brand equity and a lot of insiders and even with that they weren't able to make it happen," said Ed Snyder, managing director of Charter Equity Research. "The H-P name is good but it doesn't mean anything for phones and it doesn't mean anything for operators."

H-P Agrees to Buy Palm for $1 Billion - WSJ.com

Office update worthy of the networked world - The Boston Globe

Excerpt:

Microsoft’s boldest gambit is its new Office Web Apps service, with simplified versions of PowerPoint, Word, the data management program OneNote, and spreadsheet program Excel, made available for free through Microsoft’s Windows Live website. Office Web Apps will launch when Office 2010 goes on sale to businesses on May 12. There will also be a version specially tailored for Facebook.

Of course, giving away this service might also undermine the popularity of standard Office software. But Microsoft is betting that free apps will sharpen our appetite for the full-featured versions, and the company hopes to recoup by selling advertising on the Windows Live site. Besides, there’s the threat of Google Docs, the free online office software from Microsoft’s archrival. Microsoft stood idle while Google conquered online search. It won’t want to make that mistake again.

Office update worthy of the networked world - The Boston Globe

Area police trying out social media alert system - The Boston Globe

Interesting times

Police departments in several communities south of Boston have gone digital, or are considering doing so, with Nixle, a community information service that sends out alerts to residents via text messages and e-mails about everything from street closings to Amber Alert notifications.

Free to anyone who subscribes, Nixle is similar to a social networking tool like Twitter. Its servers work through the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, so only carefully screened and authorized members of law enforcement agencies can add content, which ensures that the information posted is authentic.

Area police trying out social media alert system - The Boston Globe

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Amazon.com Help: Kindle Software Updates

Looking forward to exploring this upgrade 

The 2.5 software update for Kindle and Kindle DX is coming soon. We are rolling out the new software update to a limited group of Kindle users and plan a broad release in late May 2010. Check back here for updates on the release schedule.

Some aspects I’m especially interested in:

    • Collections: Organize your books and documents into one or more collections.
      […]
    • Facebook & Twitter Posts: Share book passages with friends on Facebook and Twitter directly from your Kindle.
      […]
    • Popular Highlights: See what the Kindle community thinks are the most interesting passages in the books you're reading.

Amazon.com Help: Kindle Software Updates

Hewlett-Packard to Buy Palm for $1.2 Billion - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com

More details

Under the terms of the deal, H-P will pay $5.70 per Palm share. Including warrants and convertible and preferred shares, H-P will pay a total of $1.4 billion. Palm had about $592 million in cash on hand at the end of its third quarter, and about $390 million in debt that will be retired by the deal’s closing.

Hewlett-Packard to Buy Palm for $1.2 Billion - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com

HP makes its mobile move; Saves Palm from collapse; Will developers stick? | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

I can’t see how this will be good for HP, although it saves the Palm products from (at least immediate-term) oblivion. In any case, see the full article for some insightful analysis.

Updated: Hewlett-Packard has stepped in as a surprise buyer for Palm. HP will buy Palm and its webOS operating system for $1.2 billion, or $5.70 a share.

With the deal HP becomes a smartphone player because it will acquire an operating system, intellectual property and handset designs. It’s likely that HP CEO Mark Hurd will give Palm some manufacturing discipline and scale.

The deal has been approved by both boards of directors (statement).

HP makes its mobile move; Saves Palm from collapse; Will developers stick? | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

Google Apps sync for Outlook gets poor reviews | Applications - InfoWorld

Perhaps Google will punt on this, as they apparently have with the Nexus One phone, off-line access for Google Apps customers (“temporarily”; to be addressed with an HTML5-based alternative to the dead Google Gears approach real soon now…), and several other offerings.  Track Brandon Hoff on Twitter for an info-stream of Google-related reality checks.

Nine months after Google daringly launched a sync tool to link its hosted Apps collaboration and communication suite with arch-rival Microsoft's Outlook PC software, results have been poor.

Google states that most organizations using the Outlook sync tool are very satisfied. However, IDG News Service, over the course of several weeks and even after enlisting the help of Google's public relations department, couldn't find one Google Apps administrator whose employer isn't a Google Apps reseller or integrator willing to speak favorably about the Outlook sync tool.

Google Apps sync for Outlook gets poor reviews | Applications - InfoWorld

Facebook's Virtual Currency Ambitions - Science and Tech - The Atlantic

Facebook takes 30% on all transactions, just like Apple

Facebook's expansion plans have moved into the realm once reserved for central banks and kings: creating its own currency.
Details on Facebook Credits emerged at last week's f8 Facebook developer conference, although the news was obscured by the network's plans to extend its reach and an ensuing privacy debate. Credits can be used to purchase virtual goods, such as items in games, and at least one company seems to have already benefited. Facebook's mobile payment processor of choice, Palo Alto-based Zong, today announced $15 million in new venture funding.

Facebook's Virtual Currency Ambitions - Science and Tech - The Atlantic

One Third of iPhone 2Gs Sold Still In Use, Will Be Unsupported [ReadWriteWeb]

That’s around 2 million customers, if the analysis is accurate (also check the reader comments)

A couple weeks ago, we reported that Steve Jobs had quietly stepped out from behind the shadows to send one of his brief, seemingly random email responses to a customer inquiry about whether or not the company would continue "supporting/updating the iPhone 2G in the Future".

Jobs' answer, in case you hadn't heard, was a quick "Sorry, no", and we were left wondering how many people this might affect. According to an article today in Apple Insider, it could be more than you might have first thought.

One Third of iPhone 2Gs Sold Still In Use, Will Be Unsupported

AOL Sells ICQ to Digital Sky Technologies [Mashable]

More AOL disintegration (and dismal ROI) – see the full post for the AOL press release

It was no secret that AOL was looking for a buyer for ICQ for quite a while now, and it found one in Russian investment company Digital Sky Technologies, the same one that already owns a portion of Facebook and Zynga.

ICQ is a bit of a fallen legend; Israeli-based company Mirabilis created it in 1996, setting the standards for desktop-based instant messaging, but it became quite bloated over the years, prompting many users to switch to lightweight alternatives such as Miranda, Digsby and Gtalk.

AOL acquired Mirabilis on June 8, 1998, for $407 million; now they sold it for less than half the amount: $187.5 million

AOL Sells ICQ to Digital Sky Technologies

Google’s Andy Rubin on Everything Android - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Think different

I also asked him about the Apple chief executive Steve Jobs’s recent comment that “folks who want porn can buy an Android phone.”

“I don’t really have a rationale for that,” he said. “It’s a different style of interacting with the public and the media.”

Mr. Rubin also addressed many other topics — like whether consumers actually care if their mobile phone software is “open” or not. He insisted that they would, comparing closed computing platforms to totalitarian governments that deprived their citizens of choice. “When they can’t have something, people do care. Look at the way politics work. I just don’t want to live in North Korea,” he said.

Google’s Andy Rubin on Everything Android - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

E.P.A. Makes Its Case on Climate Change - Green Blog - NYTimes.com

The first paragraph is a stark reality check; the rest of the article is more encouraging

Polls show that tackling climate change is a low priority for the American public. Indeed, a Yale poll found that only 12 percent of Americans were “very worried” about global warming.

In the last few days, the Environmental Protection Agency seems to have initiated a public campaign to make clear where it, and the science, stand, stating that the rise in greenhouse gases is a serious problem to be confronted.

On Monday night, the E.P.A. administrator, Lisa Jackson, made the point as a guest on “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.” And on Tuesday, the agency released an 80-page glossy report called “Climate Change Indicators in the United States” to help Americans make sense of climate change data.

E.P.A. Makes Its Case on Climate Change - Green Blog - NYTimes.com

Medium isn’t the message - The Boston Globe

A timely reality check 

Twitter is a great vehicle for letting people know where the rally will be held on Thursday, but it can’t tell dissidents how to replace a corrupt dictatorship with stable democratic institutions. When those “chain-smoking intellectuals’’ got together in their cramped apartments in Moscow or Prague, Gedmin says, it was to do some serious thinking about why communist rule was wrong, how it could be overthrown, and how it could be replaced with something decent and durable. “That was intellectual and conceptual heavy lifting — not Internet chatter or quick blogging.’’

Democratic revolutions require such deliberation and philosophical nourishment — more than can be delivered in 140-character bites. The Internet is a medium like none the world has ever known. But the medium isn’t the message. And in the struggle for liberty, the message matters most.

Medium isn’t the message - The Boston Globe

Kerry to move ‘full speed ahead’ on climate bill - The Boston Globe

I’m very glad to see this

Three days after climate change legislation lost its top Republican supporter, Senator John F. Kerry declared yesterday that he was nonetheless moving “full speed ahead’’ on the bill. His efforts got a potential boost as Senate majority leader Harry Reid said that he would accommodate a Republican demand by putting Kerry’s bill ahead of immigration legislation on the agenda.

Kerry to move ‘full speed ahead’ on climate bill - The Boston Globe

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Reining In Facebook - Science and Tech - The Atlantic

See the full post for more details

Online privacy advocates are getting some high-profile support.
This weekend, Senator Chuck Schumer asked the Federal Trade Commission to create  guidelines for how user information is shared by online social networks. A bill with similar privacy-protecting goals was introduced in the House on Thursday.
The moves follow an ambitious attempt by Facebook to extend its reach over the Web, which has raised a new round of privacy concerns. But Facebook isn't alone. Blippy, a startup which allows users to share their purchasing histories online, apologized today for inadvertently making available users' credit card numbers and, last month, Google received flak from an FTC commissioner over how it handled privacy when unveiling its Buzz social network.

Reining In Facebook - Science and Tech - The Atlantic

Technology Review: What's in a Tweet?

Check the full article for more details

Ed Chi, area manager and principal scientist for the Augmented Social Cognition Research Group at PARC, says that the information coming through Twitter resembles a stream--users will dip into it from time to time, but they don't want to consume it all at once. His group's work is called the "Eddi Project" in reference to the idea of eddies in a stream.

The researchers developed two main ways of filtering Twitter content. The first, presented recently at the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Atlanta, is a recommendation system that ranks which posts in a Twitter stream a user is likely to find most interesting, based on factors such as the contents of posts as well as his interactions with other Twitter users. The second tool, the Twitter topic browser, summarizes the contents of a user's timeline so that the user can quickly survey what information has come through Twitter without having to read through every post.

Technology Review: What's in a Tweet?

Google acquires entertainment company LabPixies | Deep Tech - CNET News

Maybe this will turn out better than the Nexus One disaster… or maybe it too will have a steep ecosystem opportunity cost.  BTW I definitely expect Google to proclaim the Nexus One was a huge success – a bold means of accelerating market evolution around Android etc., but that simply isn’t going to fit with the facts at the time of the Nexus One launch, nor is it going to undo the damage Google has done with customer and partner relationships.

Google loves to build platforms on which programs run--Android, App Engine, iGoogle, and in the biggest picture, the Web itself. But platforms are of no use or fun without applications on top, so Google often also kick-starts development with applications of its own.

Now it appears Google is interested in boosting development in a variety of casual gaming and entertainment areas with the acquisition of LabPixies, announced late Monday. The company offers a collection of games and lightweight utilities that run on iGoogle, Google's customizable home page, and on the iPhone and Android phones.

Google acquires entertainment company LabPixies | Deep Tech - CNET News

On the Road - Setbacks in Air Travel Add to Lure of Virtual Meetings - NYTimes.com

See the full article for a snapshot of P&G’s experience in this context

The shutdown of air travel affected as many as eight million travelers, leaving a good number still struggling to get back on schedule. It may also result in “permanent structural shifts” in travel behavior, said the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation, an aviation research group. “This event,” it added, “will undoubtedly have the teleconferencing lines running hot, and much of it will persist.”

On the Road - Setbacks in Air Travel Add to Lure of Virtual Meetings - NYTimes.com

Heard on the Street: Google's Nexus Stumble - WSJ.com

Another take on the Nexus failure

Selling directly to consumers, without the heavy traditional media advertising or in-person customer support typically used by carriers or other cellphone makers, always was going to be tough. Google should be credited with being willing to try and fail, as it has done with its efforts to experiment with new ways to sell radio advertising.

But with its stock down 14% this year, another stumble is the last thing Google needs. Next time Google wants to try something new, perhaps it could tone down the rhetoric.

Heard on the Street: Google's Nexus Stumble - WSJ.com

Verizon passes on Google phone - The Boston Globe

In fewer words: the Google Nexus One is a market failure, and carried a considerable opportunity cost for Google.  

Without a Verizon partnership, Google loses access to the carrier’s more than 90 million customers, potentially blocking the phone from gaining more widespread popularity and hurting its competition with Apple Inc.’s iPhone.

The breakdown of the deal signals Verizon may view Google as a competitor rather than a partner when it comes to Nexus One sales, said analyst Colin Gillis at BGC Partners LP in New York.

“It’s really a flop for Google,’’ said Gillis. “They paid a price to roll out their own branded phone — it’s a price of trust and relationship with some of the other players in the space.’’

Verizon passes on Google phone - The Boston Globe

Editor’s gear seized in iPhone probe - The Boston Globe

Hmm…

A computer-crime task force made up of multiple law enforcement agencies searched Gizmodo editor and blogger Jason Chen’s house and car in Fremont, Calif., on Friday, according to a statement and search warrant documents that were provided by Gizmodo.

The warrant, issued by a judge in San Mateo County, said the computers and other devices may have been used to commit a felony. Steve Wagstaffe, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, confirmed the warrant’s authenticity.

Editor’s gear seized in iPhone probe - The Boston Globe

Technology hiring resumes, nationally and in Boston - The Boston Globe

A very encouraging market dynamic

Technology companies are hiring again, nationally and in the Boston area, according to recruiters and some of the companies themselves. After a precipitous dip following the economic meltdown in late 2008, area technology companies are aggressively working to fill positions for technical support jobs, computer programmers, and Web designers.

Technology hiring resumes, nationally and in Boston - The Boston Globe

Monday, April 26, 2010

Ask a Flowchart: Where Should I Chat Online? | Wired Magazine

Check the source for the full flowchart

image

Ask a Flowchart: Where Should I Chat Online? | Magazine

The Arizona Law: Taking Civil Liberties Lessons from China - Politics - The Atlantic

An excerpt from James Fallows on the recent Arizona news: 

Here's the point of comparison between the impending Arizona situation and China: it's no fun knowing -- as citizen and foreigner alike know in China, and as Hispanic-looking people in Arizona soon will -- that you can be asked to show proof of your legality at an official's whim. But if it's sobering to think that the closest analogy to a new U.S. legal situation is daily life in Communist China, we should also look on the bright side. With some notable and serious exceptions, I typically did not see Chinese police asking for papers on a whim. Usually something had to happen first. Maybe soon the Chinese State Security apparatus can travel to Arizona and give lectures to local police and sheriffs. They can explain how to avoid going crazy with a new power that so invites abuse. "Civil Liberties: Learning from China" can be the name of the course.

The Arizona Law: Taking Civil Liberties Lessons from China - Politics - The Atlantic

In Facebook I Don’t Trust | Kellblog

A timely Facebook reality check from Dave Kellogg; read the full post 

Until recently, I thought I was done.  But Facebook keeps messing around with privacy, most recently trying to setup auto-sharing (“instant personalization“) across a bunch of socially-related sites that I don’t want.  Before that they re-defaulted all my privacy settings to a state where they basically assumed the whole Internet was my “friend.”  Before that, they had the Beacon fiasco.  I get the Twitter jealously.  But what Facebook doesn’t get is one word:  friend.

If I wanted my personal profile public, I’d put it on my blog.  If I wanted my Facebook status updates public, I’d Tweet them.  If I wanted my photos public, I’d put them on Flickr.  If I wanted my Facebook friends to see my Yelp reviews, I’d setup FriendFeed.  Facebook:  I don’t need you re-setting my privacy all the time because you’re (1) jealous of Twitter and (2) quick to forget the point of Facebook, which is friends.

In Facebook I Don’t Trust | Kellblog

Advertising - Modernizing the ‘Kodak Moment’ as Social Sharing - NYTimes.com

See the full article for a Kodak, er, snapshot…

The goal of the new meaning is to suggest that Kodak moments generate warm and fuzzy feelings only when photos, images and video clips are made available through social media, e-mail messages and other forms of sharing technology to parents, grandparents, friends, co-workers and even, these days, strangers.

Another way of putting the new theme is to declare that, “It’s not a Kodak moment unless you share,” said Jeffrey W. Hayzlett, chief marketing officer at the Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester.

Advertising - Modernizing the ‘Kodak Moment’ as Social Sharing - NYTimes.com

Spammers Paying Others to Solve Captchas - NYTimes.com

Sign of the times

Faced with stricter Internet security measures, some spammers have begun borrowing a page from corporate America’s playbook: they are outsourcing.

Sophisticated spammers are paying people in India, Bangladesh, China and other developing countries to tackle the simple tests known as captchas, which ask Web users to type in a string of semiobscured characters to prove they are human beings and not spam-generating robots.

Spammers Paying Others to Solve Captchas - NYTimes.com

eReaders | Gadgets, eReaders & Games | Video Games & Gadgets : nook_201004 - BestBuy

As the Kindle goes on sale at some Target stores, Best Buy starts selling the Nook and related accessories

eReaders | Gadgets, eReaders & Games | Video Games & Gadgets : nook_201004 - BestBuy

Sunday, April 25, 2010

More colleges, professors shutting down laptops and other digital distractions [Washington Post]

I’ve seen this debate in many corporate contexts over the last 15 years as well, e.g., meeting contexts wherein only the designated scribe is allowed to use his or her laptop, in order to take notes (ideally to be subsequently summarized and shared with all participants). imho it’s symptomatic of several bigger problem, e.g., people who can’t resist multitasking (and/or feel out-of-touch if they don’t track updates from their “social networks” every minute), collaborative domains (meetings, classrooms, etc.) in which there is an insufficient signal-to-noise ratio, etc. In any case, especially with beyond-the-basics collaborative hypertext tools such as OneNote 2010, I believe it’s counterproductive to disallow laptops in classrooms or other collaborative meeting contexts.

The trend of laptop-banning seems strongest at law schools, where discussions and understanding the material are vital to getting past the dreaded first year. Georgetown University Law Center professor David Cole bans laptops, as does University of Memphis law school professor June Entman. George Mason University law professor Michael Krauss has banned laptops for five or six years now.

The way his first-year law-school classes are taught, Krauss said, is by asking questions for students to answer in discussion. Distractions and the Internet aren't Krauss's concern in banning laptops; the reason for the ban is that laptops have "become a substitute for thinking." The material in a law class requires a lot of thought to help understand concepts, and students who type verbatim what is said in class into their notes aren't giving themselves any time to absorb and analyze.

More colleges, professors shutting down laptops and other digital distractions

Steve Wozniak On Apple Security, Employee Termination, and Gray Powell | Epicenter | Wired.com

More on the Apple co-founders who have very little in common these days

It’s Steve Jobs’ honor code. Like Michael Corleone’s: A mistake can be forgiven, but he would kill his own brother for betraying the family. It doesn’t seem to matter that the act was harmless. More than leniency and humanity, respect for secrecy is sewn deeply into Apple’s culture.

You want to be able to trust your employees, especially at a company for which surprise is a sales tool. But without Steve Wozniak, there would be no iPad. There would be no Apple as we know it today. A culture where you can’t show someone like that a new product, hours before it was to be unveiled, isn’t a culture of innovation—it’s a culture of fear

Steve Wozniak On Apple Security, Employee Termination, and Gray Powell | Epicenter | Wired.com

iPad Bans: Misinformation from Media Old and New « Steve Wildstrom on Tech

A timely reality check – and a reminder that information literacy is a critical skill regardless of input channel

We need traditional media, we are told from time to time, because all blogs do is regurgitate each other’s ramblings while newspapers report real news. I’m a fan of newspapers–I actually get three dead-tree editions delivered daily–but it ain’t necessarily so. The old media can recirculate bad info every bit as badly as the blogs.

[…]

In both the Princeton and GW cases, correct information was readily available on the universities’ web site. In the case of Cornell, there was no statement because there actually was no issue. The fact that there has been massive misinformation on the subject reflects the sorry fact that traditional media reporters and bloggers alike are far too ready to repeat each other without doing some basic reporting.

iPad Bans: Misinformation from Media Old and New « Steve Wildstrom on Tech

BREAKING: Sen. Graham walks away from climate and energy bill over immigration plans « Climate Progress

Check the full post and the Washington Post article (and the reader comments therein) for a stark snapshot of a polarized debate.

This WashPost story is a huge deal.  If the White House loses Graham that would certainly kill any chances of a climate bill this year.

And Obama cannot possibly be a successful president from a historical perspective if he doesn’t have a domestic climate bill, since that would essentially doom the chance for an international climate deal.  Who really is going to care about accomplishments in banking regulations and immigration when they are suffering through Hell and High Water?  At least tens of millions of more Americans will have health care — because they are certainly going to need it (see “Global Warming Is A Medical Emergency”: Hellish heatwaves to harm health of millions).

BREAKING: Sen. Graham walks away from climate and energy bill over immigration plans « Climate Progress

Netflix shares soar on good earnings news - The Boston Globe

I continue to believe Netflix would be a very timely Amazon acquisition.  In the meantime, Netflix mkt cap is ~$5.3B and Blockbuster mkt cap is ~$100M.

Netflix Inc. surged after posting a 44 percent increase in quarterly profit and Citigroup Inc. recommended buying the stock. Also, at least six analysts boosted their forecasts for the shares. Net income advanced to $32.3 million, or 59 cents a share, from $22.4 million, or 37 cents, a year ago. Analysts forecast 54 cents a share. Sales rose 25 percent to $493.7 million. Netflix added 1.7 million subscribers. Shares have risen 82 percent this year.

Netflix shares soar on good earnings news - The Boston Globe

Climate consensus collapses in Senate - The Boston Globe

Republicans opt to provide an additional compelling reason to vote against them in November and beyond…

Kerry, in a statement, cast Graham’s withdrawal as deeply regrettable but a temporary setback. He said he was determined to press forward.

“I remain deeply committed to this effort which I have worked on for more than 20 years. We have no choice but to act this year. The American people deserve better than for the Senate to defer this debate or settle for an energy-only bill that won’t get the job done.’’

Climate consensus collapses in Senate - The Boston Globe

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Bill Gates and Chad Holliday - Energy sector poised for innovation -- with the right spark (Washington Post)

Excerpt from a very timely energy reality check:

Why can't the private sector do this? What makes energy different from, say, electronics? Three things.

First, there are profound public interests in having more energy options. Our national security, economic health and environment are at issue. These are not primary motivations for private-sector investments, but they merit a public commitment.

Second, the nature of the energy business requires a public commitment. A new generation of television technology might cost $10 million to develop. Because those TVs can be built on existing assembly lines, that risk-reward calculus makes business sense. But a new electric power source can cost several billion dollars to develop and still carry the risk of failure. That investment does not compute for most companies.

Third, the turnover in our power system is very slow. Power plants last 50 years or more, and they are very cheap to run once built, meaning there is little market for new models.

Bill Gates and Chad Holliday - Energy sector poised for innovation -- with the right spark

Google engineering gaggle flees Facebook • The Register

A timely snapshot – see the full article for more details (and some entertaining irony).

A gaggle of Google engineers have expressed their displeasure with Facebook's latest effort to share your data with third-party sites, and many have gone so far as to deactivate their accounts.

This includes the Delphic Oracle of the SEO world, Matt Cutts, who announced his Facebook deactivation with a post to Twitter. Cutts didn't say why he deactivated, but the move came just hours after Facebook introduced an "instant personalization" thingy that automatically feeds your Facebook profile data to certain third-party sites when you - or your Facebook "friends" - pay a visit.

Google engineering gaggle flees Facebook • The Register

FT.com / Technology - Leaks fuel the gadget feeding frenzy

No doubt we’ll soon see something like “Deliberate Viral Marketing Leaks for Dummies”…  See the full article for some examples of recent deliberate leaks.

With a range of smartphones and tablet computers due to launch this year, many of them based on Microsoft’s latest versions of Windows or Google’s Android operating system, they hope to launch the first big counter-offensive since Apple sparked the touch-screen revolution with its first iPhone nearly three years ago.

“Everyone wants to get something akin to the buzz Apple can get from dropping an iPhone in a bar,” says Richard Doherty, an analyst at Envisioneering. “I don’t know if it will work – but it is certainly very different to Apple.” The deliberate leaks are in marked contrast to the fierce secrecy insisted on by Apple chief Steve Jobs – a tactic which has the effect of stoking up even greater media frenzy around his set-piece product announcements.

FT.com / Technology - Leaks fuel the gadget feeding frenzy

Business & Technology | Barnes & Noble e-reader to offer web browser | Seattle Times Newspaper

It’ll be interesting to see how things work out for the Nook, competing with the Kindle, the iPad, and the expected Google tablet. I think Amazon’s strategy, focused on providing the best dedicated e-reader device, compelling client e-reader apps for leading general-purpose platforms, and seamless sync services, is going to be very difficult for B&N to beat.

Barnes & Noble plans to roll out a software update to its electronic reader the Nook that will let users surf the Web and play games.

[…]

Better Wi-Fi connectivity, faster page turns and better touch-screen navigation are also part of the upgrade.

Barnes & Noble's Nook uses Google's Android operating system. When it was launched, executives said Android applications could be developed for the Nook. The games, which includes chess and Sudoku, are the first Android applications.

Dedicated e-readers have been threatened by the launch of Apple's iPad earlier this month. Amazon.com's Kindle also offers a basic Web browser.

Business & Technology Barnes & Noble e-reader to offer web browser Seattle Times Newspaper

Business & Technology | JooJoo isn't in the same league as iPad | Seattle Times Newspaper

Wrong product, wrong time?…

However, the JooJoo's focus on the Web has its downsides. Unlike with the iPad, the JooJoo doesn't allow you to store data locally. So without an Internet connection, you can't listen to music, read a book or watch a video.

But the bigger problem with the JooJoo is that, unlike the iPad, it feels like an unpolished, first-generation device. The power button, for example, is a thin sliver on the side that can be difficult to press. Worse, often the only immediate indication you get that you've pressed the button is a faint JooJoo logo that can be easy to overlook. I found myself pressing the button repeatedly, not knowing whether the device was on or not.

The JooJoo is thicker and heavier than the iPad, making it less comfortable to hold. And its Intel-based chip gives the device a shorter battery life than the iPad and makes the JooJoo feel sluggish by comparison.

Business & Technology | JooJoo isn't in the same league as iPad | Seattle Times Newspaper

Twitter Buys a Text Messaging Company - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

More Twitter expansion

Cloudhopper has already been working with Twitter to connect its service directly with mobile carriers around the world, in part so that users do not have to pay extra to send or receive text message Tweets. Twitter has long had problems with this, and in the past has had to disable text messaging in certain countries because of high fees.

Twitter now processes more than a billion SMS Tweets a month, according to Kevin Thau, who manages mobile products and partnerships at Twitter.

Twitter Buys a Text Messaging Company - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Woz has fun with leaked iPhone T-shirt (photo) | Apple - CNET News

Think different…

Steve Wozniak, the patron saint of Apple computer engineers, is smiling down on Gray Powell.

Wozniak, who along with Ronald Wayne and Steve Jobs founded Apple in 1976, recently had himself photographed drinking a beer, staring into an iPhone and wearing a T-shirt that reads: "I went drinking with Gray Powell and all I got was a lousy iPhone prototype."

Woz has fun with leaked iPhone T-shirt (photo) | Apple - CNET News

Friday, April 23, 2010

I, Cringely » Blog Archive » So a Guy Walks into a Bar….. - Cringely on technology

Plausible, imho; see the full post for more insights

What are the odds that this week’s story about the next-gen iPhone “found” in a Bay Area bar came about by accident? A quick survey of former and current Apple employees (okay, it was only four of them) came out 100 percent on the side of this being no accident but a deliberate plant on Apple’s part.

Look how the story grabbed headlines and created free buzz for Apple at a time when Apple doesn’t have a new iPhone to flog in the face of new phones from Microsoft and a bunch of new Android devices.

I, Cringely » Blog Archive » So a Guy Walks into a Bar….. - Cringely on technology

Facebook’s ambition (Scobleizer)

See the full post for more and ponder the implications

These moves are ambitious for a few reasons:

1. It gets Facebook plastered all over the web. Already Facebook likes are on many many sites and I’d expect to see Facebook’s new social features to show up on at least 30% of the web’s most popular sites within a month.
2. It lets us apply our social graph “fingerprint” to sites we visit. You do this by adding social plugins to your site, which is pretty easy to do.
3. It lets us apply our behavior “fingerprint” to sites we visit. Again, by adding social plugins onto your sites.
4. Facebook gets to study everything we touch now and will bring a much more complete stream back to the mother ship. This lets them build new analytics features for publishers, too, as All Facebook’s Nick O’Neill writes, but now Facebook will have the best data on the web for advertisers to study.

Facebook’s ambition

How Facebook's Newest Feature Could Change the Internet - Business - The Atlantic

See the full post for more analysis (via Slate)

Facebook will allow website developers to collect and use our information when we connect to a site. When I press the "like" button, that goes into social clearinghouse of information. Other sites can see the articles I like on CNN, the music I like on Pandora, the food I like on Yelp ... and that's in addition to any information I make public on my Facebook profile. The Facebook team calls this application "Open Graph." You can call it the future of marketing.

What does this mean for privacy? Open Graph initially sounds pretty invasive. But remember that everything that flows into this reservoir of content is already public. Facebook's new policy doesn't make your private information public. It makes your public information a lot more public. Content that was once between you and your pal's news feed is now playing all your friends' CNN Facebook plug-ins and sloshing around in a matrix of information. "Public no longer means public on Facebook," says Mashable's Christina Warren. "It means public in the Facebook ecosystem. My advice to you: Be aware of your privacy settings."

How Facebook's Newest Feature Could Change the Internet - Business - The Atlantic

Lufthansa to Gray Powell: Drinks are on us - Tech Talk - CBS News

Go figure…

In a message put up on Twitter, Lufthansa's marketing director for the Americas, Nicola Lange, invited Powell to fly for free to Munich.

"At Lufthansa we also noted with great interest your passion for German beer and culture. We thought you could use a break soon--and therefore would like to offer you complimentary business class transportation to Munich, where you can literally pick up where you last left off."

Lufthansa to Gray Powell: Drinks are on us - Tech Talk - CBS News

T.M.I? Not for Sites Focused on Sharing - NYTimes.com

Strange days indeed

Too much information, you say? On the Internet, there seems to be no such thing. A wave of Web start-ups aims to help people indulge their urge to divulge — from sites like Blippy, which Mr. Brooks used to broadcast news of what he bought, to Foursquare, a mobile social network that allows people to announce their precise location to the world, to Skimble, an iPhone application that people use to reveal, say, how many push-ups they are doing and how long they spend in yoga class.

T.M.I? Not for Sites Focused on Sharing - NYTimes.com

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Is Microsoft Docs really a 'Google Docs killer' and four other questions (and answers) | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com

See the full article for more Microsoft Docs insights

Q: I see folks calling this a ‘Google Docs killer.’ To me, this is not that at all. Microsoft’s position?

A: The name expresses the value of the service – the ability for individuals to discover, create and share Microsoft Office “documents” (e.g. “docs”) that they’re already familiar with on Facebook. It’s Docs…for Facebook. Using Office, a Facebook user can easily create, view and share documents with friends and family regardless of whether they have the Office desktop software loaded on their machine.  Those documents will always have the polish and finish of Office as they move easily from the cloud to the desktop to a mobile device and back. No one else provides this type of seamless experience across the PC, mobile phone and browser.

Is Microsoft Docs really a 'Google Docs killer' and four other questions (and answers) | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com

Adobe to Apple: Hey, we can take a hint | Good Morning Silicon Valley

Good spin attempt by Adobe, but I seriously doubt Google is going to be a long-term Flash partner

“To be clear, during the entire development cycle of Flash CS5, the feature complied with Apple’s licensing terms,” he went on. “However, as developers for the iPhone have learned, if you want to develop for the iPhone you have to be prepared for Apple to reject or restrict your development at anytime, and for seemingly any reason. … The primary goal of Flash has always been to enable cross browser, platform and device development. … However, this is the exact opposite of what Apple wants. They want to tie developers down to their platform, and restrict their options to make it difficult for developers to target other platforms.”

In times like this, it helps to have a good friend to turn to, and Chambers said Adobe is so blessed. “Fortunately, the iPhone isn’t the only game in town,” he said. “Android based phones have been doing well behind the success of the Motorola Droid and Nexus One, and there are a number of Android based tablets slated to be released this year. We are working closely with Google to bring both Flash Player 10.1 and Adobe AIR 2.0 to these devices, and thus far, the results have been very promising.”

Adobe to Apple: Hey, we can take a hint | Good Morning Silicon Valley

Target to begin selling the Kindle | Crave - CNET

A pragmatic move for Amazon, despite the cognitive dissonance dimension

Target, a longtime Amazon partner, is going to give the Kindle a distribution hand in a small number of stores with a larger roll-out later in the year.

The retailer said Wednesday that it will carry Amazon's Kindle beginning on Sunday in select stores. Specifically, Target will carry the Kindle at its flagship Minneapolis store where the retailer is based. In addition, Target will put the Kindle in 102 south Florida store. After those pilots, Target will bring the Kindle to more stores

Target to begin selling the Kindle | Crave - CNET

Microsoft and ePals to Bring Next-Generation Digital Learning Technologies to the Global K-12 Education Market

A big week for technology + education

Microsoft Corp. and ePals Inc., a privately held education technology company, today announced they have signed a strategic technical collaboration agreement to develop and deliver communications, collaboration and digital learning technologies to the global education market. Under the agreement, ePals will offer Microsoft Live@edu e-mail and calendaring platform and other capabilities to millions of its users, expanding ePals’ services with enterprise-grade collaboration tools. In the future, ePals and Microsoft will work together to incorporate Microsoft Office Web Apps, a Web-based version of the Microsoft Office productivity suite, and features of Microsoft Office SharePoint Online, Microsoft’s cloud-based collaboration solution.

Microsoft and ePals to Bring Next-Generation Digital Learning Technologies to the Global K-12 Education Market: Strategic relationship to offer Microsoft Live@edu to millions of ePals’ users.

Salesforce.com Joins In Tech Buying Binge - Digits - WSJ

Interesting times

Salesforce.com said Wednesday that it would pay at least $142 million to acquire lead-generation startup Jigsaw, the biggest acquisition to date for the online software company.

[…]

Salesforce has had its eye on Jigsaw for several years, but only got serious about a possible deal a few months ago, says Kendall Collins, Salesforce’s chief marketing officer. Jigsaw is basically a big database filled with contact information for potential customers. It’s “crowd sourced,” meaning users submit, update and fact check the information themselves. There’s already a version of Jigsaw that’s built on Salesforce’s systems and allows for contacts from Jigsaw to be easily copied into Salesforce’s sales-automation software.

Salesforce.com Joins In Tech Buying Binge - Digits - WSJ

At MIT, Bill Gates urges students, academics to tackle social problems - The Boston Globe

It’ll be fascinating to see how this plays out over the next few months, as more Windows 7-based tablets/slates come to market

“Tablet computing is an innovation where Microsoft’s been ahead every step of the way,’’ Gates told the Globe yesterday. “You want to look at tablets and touchscreens and how students use both — that’s a Windows phenomenon.’’

But Gates won’t discuss his personal opinion of the hot-selling iPad. “Yeah, no comment,’’ he said.

At MIT, Bill Gates urges students, academics to tackle social problems - The Boston Globe

Google rumor puts focus on ITA - The Boston Globe

See the full article for more details

A low-profile software company in Cambridge may be worth $1 billion to Internet search giant Google Inc.

ITA Software Inc. makes sophisticated software for major online travel services such as Orbitz.com and Kayak.com and airlines such as Continental Airlines Inc. and Air Canada. They depend on ITA software, which allows them to organize complex airfare information for online shoppers.

[…]

Neither company would comment yesterday on reports by Bloomberg News that they are discussing an acquisition by Google. The report said that ITA was seeking “around $1 billion.’’

Google rumor puts focus on ITA - The Boston Globe

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

INTRODUCING DOCS… for FACEBOOK « Docs.com Blog

Check the full post for more on a new Microsoft/Facebook collaboration for … collaboration

This exploration exposes yet another facet of Ray Ozzie’s broad and long-held vision of social productivity.  Although quite simple (and fun!), docs.com integrated with the Facebook experience bring together the best of ‘software’ with the best of ‘services’.  Documents can be created directly within the app, or can be uploaded from your PC.  After starting work on a document alone, you might then choose a few others with whom to share it.  Or you might instead share it with all your friends, or you might share it with the world.  Documents can be viewed and edited directly within a web browser – or, with a single click, you can edit them more richly and powerfully through the Microsoft Office software on your PC or Mac.

INTRODUCING DOCS… for FACEBOOK « Docs.com Blog

Just put the iPhone on the ground and back away slowly | Good Morning Silicon Valley

See the full article for a summary of some of the laws that are likely to part of the next chapter in this saga

Gizmodo’s cheery tone is understandable, for the moment anyway. The scoop on the next-gen iPhone and the follow-up with more backstory and the identity of the Apple employee who lost the device have garnered the site millions of page views. And Nick Denton, head of Gizmodo parent Gawker Media, acknowledging he paid $5,000 to the finder of the phone, was reveling in reinforcing his reputation as a renegade, saying, “A story is a story. We’re not squeamish about the means. And the paroxysms of the j-school ethicists add to the satisfaction.”

But as a general rule, you don’t cross the mob, the IRS or Apple without suffering some consequences, and it’s likely that Apple’s legal team and perhaps other authorities are looking at the potential criminal and civil ramifications of all this.

Just put the iPhone on the ground and back away slowly | Good Morning Silicon Valley

How To Set Social Networking Policies for Employees - www.esecurityplanet.com

A timely security reality check from Diana Kelley

But what about the policies related to grey areas, like employees that are required to blog or socially network as part of their job? Or independent bloggers and Tweeters that have been given products to review?  And how far should corporate policies extend to cover personal blogging and social networking? These are fairly complicated questions, but companies that consider the issues in advance and create clear policies for their employees can save themselves and their employees a lot of headaches.

How To Set Social Networking Policies for Employees - www.esecurityplanet.com

FT.com / Europe - Ash boost for video conferencing

Interesting times

Cisco Systems could hardly have picked a better moment to complete its acquisition of Norwegian video conferencing company Tandberg as some of the world’s biggest companies sought ways to keep in touch with their stranded board members.

As the US technology group completed the deal on Monday, its executives trumpeted a surge in demand for Tandberg’s services. “Watching one volcano disrupt flights around the world provides an incredible example of how powerful this technology can be,” said Marthin De Beer, head of emerging technologies at Cisco.

Considering the following graphic, let’s hope the shift to Web conferencing is habit-forming for many people…

Planes vs Volcano? What's emitting the most CO2

FT.com / Europe - Ash boost for video conferencing

Business & Technology | Netflix founder sees hit in DreamBox | Seattle Times Newspaper

One to watch

Hastings, a Microsoft board member, said his goal is "to fuel the movement of e-learning and help millions of students."

"I have evaluated many companies in the K-12 e-learning marketplace and DreamBox Learning clearly stood out," he said. "They have already shown strong results in a short period of time, and the DreamBox Learning Platform has the best underlying adaptive technology, giving every student the opportunity to thrive through innovative online learning," Hastings said in a news release.

Business & Technology | Netflix founder sees hit in DreamBox | Seattle Times Newspaper

A Switch for the Google Age - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

More strategic competitive challenges for Cisco.  Given Andy Bechtolsheim’s track record, it’s probably just a matter of time before Arista is acquired – perhaps by Cisco.

And so, Arista, Mr. Bechtolsheim’s latest venture, has built a networking switch (the Arista 7500, 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch) that is five times faster than Cisco’s competing product while taking up half the space of rival equipment, consuming only a fraction of the power and costing only a fraction of the price, as Mr. Bectolsheim sees it.

[…]

“The other switches just weren’t designed right,” Mr. Bechtolsheim said.

A Switch for the Google Age - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Google buys chip start-up from ex-Apple designers | Relevant Results - CNET News

Hmm…

Google and Apple continue to find themselves on opposite sides of the world, as Google has apparently agreed to buy a chip-design start-up populated by former Apple employees.

[…]

Little is known about Agnilux other than the fact that it was founded by former employees of P.A. Semi, the chip start-up Apple bought in 2008. The New York Times attempted to track down details about the company in February and didn't get very far, but was able to confirm that several former P.A. Semi and Apple employees were among the co-founders, as well as Scott Redman, a former software architect at TiVo.

Google buys chip start-up from ex-Apple designers | Relevant Results - CNET News

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Apple should sue Gizmodo over stolen iPhone prototype | Betanews

A timely Joe Wilcox reality check 

Gizmodo was wrong to acquire a lost iPhone prototype -- quite likely a nearly finished version 4 design -- let alone pay to obtain it. Perhaps this marks the distinction between bloggers and journalists. I would have contacted Apple about returning a device so obviously stolen. There is grave difference between obtaining secret information for the public good and what Gizmodo did: Obtain property containing trade secrets belonging to a public company. Gizmodo has violated the public trust and broken the law. Free speech isn't a right to pay freely for something clearly stolen.

Apple should sue Gizmodo over stolen iPhone prototype | Betanews

IBM profits out-climb sales in Q1 • The Register

A couple interesting IBM perspectives

IBM is mostly a services company with hardware and software pretensions - or a systems company that makes a fortune selling services that ought to be part of the system but are not, depending on how you want to look at it - and the Global Services behemoth accounted for $13.7bn in sales, up 4 per cent as reported in US dollars but down 2 per cent at constant currency.

[…]

Software Group, which sells operating systems, middleware, and other system and application software that is used by companies and ISVs to support their own applications software, grew by 10.6 per cent year-on-year, to a hair over $5bn, and with gross profit margins of 84.6 per cent, this business has IBM feeling downright ecstatic. Nearly all of that extra money does right to the bottom line, which it can use to buy back shares to prop up EPS numbers, which in turn pump up the stock and make IBMers who have lots of stock richer.

IBM profits out-climb sales in Q1 • The Register

Microsoft TownHall: Building Public Online Communities - Microsoft On The Issues

See the full press release and the TownHall link below for more details

As social media tools have matured, the Web has enabled more and more two-way conversations between leaders and the people they serve, as well as between candidates and voters. The result is a more participatory process that gives citizens new ways to be heard.

To facilitate an even greater level of engagement, Microsoft has built a tool called TownHall, which is designed to maximize the benefit of online discussions. TownHall is part of Campaign Ready, a broader set of technologies for campaigns announced today at the Politics Online Conference in Washington, D.C. These resources will enable candidates and their staffs to use a rich set of familiar and emerging Microsoft technologies to identify and engage citizens on the Web as part of their campaign efforts.

[…]

TownHall is a cloud-based solution hosted on Microsoft’s Windows Azure platform, and can be accessed in real-time through any mobile device. It’s easy to get started, and the code can be downloaded here for free - http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/TownHall.

Microsoft TownHall: Building Public Online Communities - Microsoft On The Issues

Global Strategy Stabilized I.B.M. During Downturn - NYTimes.com

A timely IBM snapshot 

The American postmultinational’s center of gravity has shifted outside the United States, not only in terms of sales, but also its strategy and major operations.

I.B.M., for example, now makes two-thirds of its revenue abroad. Its revenue in new growth markets like China and India, but also smaller ones like Vietnam, the Czech Republic and the Philippines, jumped 20 percent in the first quarter, the company reported on Monday.

More earnings details, from an IBM press release (emphasis mine):

Revenues from the Software segment were $5.0 billion, an increase of 11 percent (5 percent, adjusting for currency) compared with the first quarter of 2009. Revenues from IBM’s key middleware products, which include WebSphere, Information Management, Tivoli, Lotus and Rational products, were $2.8 billion, an increase of 13 percent (8 percent, adjusting for currency) versus the first quarter of 2009. Operating systems revenues of $499 million increased 1 percent (down 3 percent, adjusting for currency) compared with the prior-year quarter.

Revenues from the WebSphere family of software products, which delivers capabilities that enable clients to integrate and manage business processes across the organization, increased 13 percent year over year. Revenues from Information Management software, which enables clients to integrate, manage and use information to gain business value, increased 11 percent. Revenues from Tivoli software, which helps clients manage technology and business assets by providing visibility, control and automation across the organization, increased 23 percent, and revenues from Lotus software, which connects people and processes for more effective communication and increased productivity through collaboration, messaging and social networking software, increased 1 percent. Revenues from Rational software, which supports software development for both IT and embedded system solutions, increased 7 percent.

Global Strategy Stabilized I.B.M. During Downturn - NYTimes.com

Cyberattack on Google Said to Hit Password System - NYTimes.com

See the full article for more on the sequence of events in the Google security system infiltration

The intruders do not appear to have stolen passwords of Gmail users, and the company quickly started making significant changes to the security of its networks after the intrusions. But the theft leaves open the possibility, however faint, that the intruders may find weaknesses that Google might not even be aware of, independent computer experts said.

The new details seem likely to increase the debate about the security and privacy of vast computing systems such as Google’s that now centralize the personal information of millions of individuals and businesses. Because vast amounts of digital information are stored in a cluster of computers, popularly referred to as “cloud” computing, a single breach can lead to disastrous losses.

Cyberattack on Google Said to Hit Password System - NYTimes.com

For Apple, Lost iPhone Is a Big Deal - NYTimes.com

More on the lost iPhone saga

Some wondered whether the phone was planted by Apple’s formidable publicity machine.

“For the sake of the person who dropped it, I hope this is a devious marketing scheme,” said Paul Saffo, a veteran Silicon Valley forecaster. “But I think it is unlikely. There is no one else on the planet whose shoes I would less like to be in it at the moment.”

[…]

Late Monday night, Gizmodo said that it received a letter from Bruce Sewell, Apple’s senior vice president and general counsel, requesting the phone back. "It has come to our attention that Gizmodo is currently in possession of a device that belongs to Apple," Mr. Sewell wrote in a letter that Gizmodo published.

"This letter constitutes a formal request that your [sic] return the device to Apple," the letter said.

For Apple, Lost iPhone Is a Big Deal - NYTimes.com

How Apple Lost the Next iPhone - Leak - Gizmodo

Oops… 

The Gourmet Haus Staudt. A nice place to enjoy good German ales. And if you are an Apple Software Engineer named Gray Powell, it's also a nice place to make the honest mistake of losing the next-generation iPhone.

The 27-year-old Powell—a North Carolina State University 2006 graduate and talented amateur photographer—is an Apple Software Engineer working on the iPhone Baseband Software, the little program that enables the iPhone to make calls. A dream job for a talented engineer like Powell, an Apple fan who always wanted to meet Steve Jobs.

How Apple Lost the Next iPhone - Leak - Gizmodo

Google Attackers Gained Access to Computer Code - WSJ.com

Hmm…

Attackers who breached Google Inc.'s systems last year gained access to computer code for the software that authenticates users of Google's email, calendar and other online programs, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The code was contained in a repository that contained code for Google's online applications and was also breached, this person said.

The disclosure comes as much about the nature of the attacks and the perpetrators behind it remain unclear. Google, which disclosed the attacks in January, opted following the incident to shut down its censored search service in China.

Google Attackers Gained Access to Computer Code - WSJ.com