Monday, February 28, 2011

BBC News - Thousands of Gmail accounts accidentally wiped

Oops…

Thousands of Gmail users have been left with empty inboxes after their accounts were accidentally wiped clean.

As well as missing e-mails, many reported that their contacts had also disappeared.

[…]

In a statement, Google said: "This is affecting less than .08% of our Gmail user base, and we've already fixed the problem for some individuals."

The company said that engineers were working to restore service.

Google does not release official figures for the number of Gmail accounts, however it is believed to be between 150 million and 200 million.

That would mean that around 150,000 users were affected by the problem.

BBC News - Thousands of Gmail accounts accidentally wiped

The Market for Online Privacy Heats Up - WSJ.com

Strange days indeed

Companies including Microsoft Corp., McAfee Inc.—and even some online-tracking companies themselves—are rolling out new ways to protect users from having their movements monitored online. Some are going further and starting to pay people a commission every time their personal details are used by marketing companies.

"Data is a new form of currency," says Shane Green, chief executive of a Washington start-up, Personal Inc., which has raised $7.6 million for a business that aims to help people profit from providing their personal information to advertisers.

The Market for Online Privacy Heats Up - WSJ.com

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Cash For Clunkers | Trade-In Offer | Oracle

Saw this ad on the back cover of the latest issue of The Economist

image

Cash For Clunkers | Trade-In Offer | Oracle

Fact-Free Science - NYTimes.com

Check the full article for a stark climate-related information quality/literacy reality check

Whoever emerges as the Republican presidential candidate in 2012 will very likely have to embrace climate-change denial. Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Mike Huckabee, all of whom once expressed some support for action on global warming, have notably distanced themselves from these views. Saying no to mainstream climate science, notes Daniel J. Weiss, a senior fellow and director of climate strategy for the Center for American Progress, is now a required practice for Republicans eager to play to an emboldened conservative base. “Opposing the belief that global warming is human-caused has become systematic, like opposition to abortion,” he says. “It’s seen as another way for government to control people’s lives. It’s become a cultural issue.”

[…]

For those who have staked out extreme positions, backtracking may not be easy: “It is very difficult to get a man to understand something when his tribal identity depends on his not understanding it,” Bérubé notes. Maybe it’s time for some new identity politics.

Fact-Free Science - NYTimes.com

Doonesbury Strip

See the full strip at the link below

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Doonesbury Strip

Facebook, Groupon, Zynga: Off-The-Chart Revenue - Venture Capital Dispatch - WSJ

Check the article link below for more details

Why are venture investors placing colossal valuations on consumer Internet companies like Facebook, Groupon and Zynga? Their revenue growth is simply off the charts.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Groupon’s revenue in 2010 rose more than 22 times to $760 million in its second full year since its daily deals site launched, up from $33 million in 2009. Zynga, the maker of online social games like FarmVille, scored revenue of $850 million in its third full year in 2010, more than triple the year before, and Facebook’s revenue rocketed to as high as $2 billion in 2010, its sixth full year.

Facebook, Groupon, Zynga: Off-The-Chart Revenue - Venture Capital Dispatch - WSJ

Smartphone race heats up - The Boston Globe

Check the link below for more details.  Samsung appears in every smartphone and “conventional phone” Consumer Reports short-list; Apple appears in one of eight

The iPhones did well in Consumer Reports’ tests, but the ratings also list other high-scoring phones from carriers with higher satisfaction scores than AT&T. Some of them, including the HTC Evo 4G and Samsung Galaxy S models (the Fascinate, Epic, Vibrant, and Captivate, all recommended) even beat the iPhones in some respects and have larger screens.

Recommended choices for smartphones

Best Choices for Verizon: Motorola Droid X, $150 Samsung Fascinate, $200

Best Choices for Sprint: Samsung Epic 4G, $200 HTC Evo 4G, $200

Best Choices for T-Mobile: Samsung Vibrant, $100 T-Mobile G2, $249

Best Choices for AT&T: Samsung Captivate, $150 Apple iPhone 3GS (8GB), $49

Smartphone race heats up - The Boston Globe

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Fumbling the Future | March 2011 | Communications of the ACM

Check the article link for some insights and IBM examples.  The best book on the Xerox failure to capitalize on innovation, imho, is Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age

Fumbling the Future: How Xerox Invented, Then Ignored, the First Personal Computer is the title of a classic 1998 book by D.K. Smith and R.C. Alexander that tells the gripping story of how Xerox invented the personal-computing technology in the 1970s, and then "miscalculated and mishandled" the opportunity to fully exploit it. To "fumble the future" has since become a standard phrase in discussions of advanced technology and its commercialization.

Another example definitely worth watching is a recently discovered copy of a 1993 AT&T commercial (http://www.geekosystem.com/1993-att-video/ External Link), with a rather clear vision of the future, predicting what was then revolutionary technology, such as paying tolls without stopping and reading books on computers. As we know today, the future did not work out too well for AT&T; following the telecom crash of the early 2000s, the telecom giant had to sell itself in 2005 to its former spin-off, SBC Communications, which then took the name AT&T.

Fumbling the Future | March 2011 | Communications of the ACM

FT.com / Lex - Groupon: too easily imitated

Excerpt from a timely Groupon reality check

But Groupon’s growth may rely more on constant expansion to new cities and countries than repeat custom. A Rice University survey found Groupon deals were unprofitable for 32 per cent of the businesses surveyed; more than 40 per cent said they would not repeat the experience. And expanding, which requires people to liaise with local businesses and write advertising copy, is expensive. Groupon has one employee for every 12,000 or so subscribers; Facebook has one for every 250,000 or so.

As competition increases, meanwhile, Groupon’s first-mover advantage could wane. It does not have the key advantage of Facebook and Twitter, the virtuous circle of the “network effect”: the more people use a service the more valuable it becomes and the more its leadership is entrenched. Competitors can undercut Groupon and commoditise the burgeoning market in the process.

Groupon should have taken Google’s reported $6bn offer last year; by the time it reaches the public markets, its sweet spot may have soured.

FT.com / Lex - Groupon: too easily imitated

An App That Reminds You to Unplug - NYTimes.com

Sign of the times

It’s called the Sabbath Manifesto app, and it is meant to be a way to make a pledge to disconnect from technology.

The brainchild of a Jewish organization called Reboot, the Sabbath Manifesto app encourages people (of all faiths or none at all) to participate in a one-day movement away from technology. This National Day of Unplugging is scheduled for March 4 to 5, as a way for people “to return to the values inherent in a modern day of rest: reconnecting with family, friends and the world around them,” according to Reboot.

Sabbath Manifesto app

An App That Reminds You to Unplug - NYTimes.com

Is Salesforce.com a Good Investment? - WSJ.com

Check the article link below for a Salesforce.com reality check

Maybe Salesforce will keep soaring. And let's assume the company's products really are as good as they say. But when you look closer, there are plenty of reasons for investors to be nervous.

First, the costs. This is so often a problem for fast-growing companies, and Wall Street too often turns a blind eye until it is too late. Is it happening again?

Salesforce's sales grew 29% last quarter, but its total operating expenses soared 40% to $365 million. As a result it actually booked a loss – of $391,000 – from operations. Even for the full year, sales rose 28% but costs rose faster, with the result that operating income actually fell by 15%. The company made a mere $97 million at the operating level out of $1.55 billion in sales.

Is Salesforce.com a Good Investment? - WSJ.com

Microsoft, Facebook Move to Address Online Privacy Concerns - WSJ.com

Another dynamic with major implications for Google

On Thursday, Microsoft endorsed the concept of adding a do-not-track tool to its Web browsing software, signaling a shift in support for a system that could let people avoid having their movements monitored online. Microsoft slipped its mention of the tool—specifically, adding a reference to a do-not-track feature in its Internet Explorer browser—into a technical paper it submitted to the World Wide Web Consortium.

On Friday, meanwhile, Facebook unveiled a new draft of its highly watched privacy policy. While the new policy doesn't change the social network's data-handling practices, it contains chunks of information organized around more practical headings such as "your information and how it is used" and "how advertising works."

Microsoft, Facebook Move to Address Online Privacy Concerns - WSJ.com

New Google Search System Seeks to Weed Out Useless Results - NYTimes.com

Robust competition is your friend…

Google still dominates the Web search market, with a 66 percent share in the United States and a larger one in many other countries, according to comScore, a Web analytics company. But it faces ambitious competitors, most notably Microsoft’s Bing.

Hitwise, an analytics firm, measures how happy users are with their searches by looking at how many are successful, meaning the user stays at the first site they click on. At Bing, 82 percent of searches are deemed successful. At Google, the figure is 66 percent.

“This change is about more than just cleaning up content farms,” said Chris Copeland, chief executive of GroupM Search, a search marketing firm that is part of the advertising company WPP Group. “Google has a relevancy problem, and they are trying to do something about it.”

New Google Search System Seeks to Weed Out Useless Results - NYTimes.com

Museums needn’t fear Google, a tool to spread the love of art - The Boston Globe

What is not part of “the world’s information”?

Google, already a major presence among users of maps, video, and other forms of information, may raise suspicions with its effort to enmesh itself in yet another area of human endeavor. But as computing power multiplies and Internet entrepreneurs grow more adept at annotating and using Google Art Project, the benefits of this new tool will be more and more evident. And museums will view it as a friend.

Museums needn’t fear Google, a tool to spread the love of art - The Boston Globe

Friday, February 25, 2011

McNealy: Sun could have won out over Linux - Computerworld

Oh well…

Sun had its Solaris x86 product, which the company kept reviving and cancelling. "If we had just grabbed the Intel Pentium chip and done a one-way and two-way pizza box with Solaris on it, Linux never would have happened," McNealy said. "Google today would be running on Solaris." Oracle is still offering and developing Solaris.

McNealy and Zander also recalled how close Sun came to acquiring Apple Computer in late 1995 and early 1996. "We were literally hours away from buying Apple for about $5, $6 a share at that time," Zander said. But an investment banker on the Apple side put in so many terms that Sun could not afford to make the deal. "He basically blocked it," McNealy said.

McNealy: Sun could have won out over Linux - Computerworld

The Microsoft Office Blog - Office Web Apps: Why they're the clearer connection

Microsoft highlights some major differences between Office Web Apps and Google Cloud Connect – check the link below for details

Product manager and guest blogger Jennifer Kensok takes a look at the differences between Office Web Apps and Google's new offering, Cloud Connect.

Google released Cloud Connect yesterday (here's a summary from The Wall Street Journal), and we figured lots of Office Web Apps fans would be curious. The Why Microsoft blog put together a video on what breaks down when you try to co-author using Cloud Connect. (People considering using Cloud Connect at work will definitely want to check that out.)

We want to give our Office Web Apps + SkyDrive customers a look at using Cloud Connect to get anywhere access to their documents. We've noticed a few important differences between the Microsoft approach and the Google approach. (Can you guess which one we think is better?)

Here's a quick comparison, showing an Excel file with a few basic features like a bar chart and Sparklines.

The Microsoft Office Blog - Office Web Apps: Why they're the clearer connection

Handheld digital games: Hand to hand combat | The Economist

I’m surprised the chart doesn’t include the iPod touch, which is now probably as big a threat as the iPhone, in this context

ALIEN intruders are attacking. Can Sony and Nintendo survive? Since Apple’s iPhone and iPad were introduced, smartphones and tablets have begun to undermine the cosy duopoly that dominates handheld digital games.

The gaming industry is undergoing three shifts. First, the new devices are good enough for sophisticated games, so they have caught the attention even of hardcore gamers. Second, online app stores have created a new sales channel, opening the market to new game developers. Third, because Android (Google’s mobile operating system) can run on devices from different manufacturers, it has emerged as an alternative platform. This unbundles games from the dedicated hardware they run on.

Handheld digital games: Hand to hand combat | The Economist

REPORT: Facebook Blows Away Twitter [All Facebook]

Check the link below for the data source, and note that these trends are before Facebook live commenting becomes pervasive

Facebook will have an average of 132.5 million monthly users in the U.S., more than half the number of Internet surfers in the country. And that’s almost five times what Twitter will have on a monthly basis in 2011.

This data comes from eMarketer, which calculates that 2011 will see a 13.4 percent rise in monthly users of Facebook compared to last year. And almost nine out of every 10 social networkers will be Facebookers.

REPORT: Facebook Blows Away Twitter

BBC News - Enigma genius Alan Turing papers saved for the nation

It’s a big week for marginalia

Mr Halfacree told the BBC: "These papers are extremely significant."

During Turing's short life he only published 18 papers and offprints of 15 of them, which were given by Turing to his friend Professor Max Newman, are included in the collection.

Mr Halfacree said: "There are handwritten notes by Turing on them and one of them has the signature of his mother on it."

BBC News - Enigma genius Alan Turing papers saved for the nation

FaceTime for Mac Arrives in Mac App Store...and It's Not Free - NYTimes.com

Think different

Apple has released FaceTime for Mac in its Mac App Store today, allowing any Mac OS X user to chat with friends and family on their iPhone 4 or iPod Touch. The app, which has been in beta testing since October, is now available as a $0.99 download. The price, although affordable, is somewhat surprising considering that FaceTime's mobile counterpart - a built-in feature in Apple's mobile handhelds (iPhone 4, and yes, even the iPod Touch) is free.

Is it greedy or is it genius for Apple to sell FaceTime for Mac instead of give it away as a free download? And what does this mean for Apple's iChat?

FaceTime for Mac Arrives in Mac App Store...and It's Not Free - NYTimes.com

louisgray.com: Windows Phone 7 is the Best Windows I've Ever Tried

Louis Gray’s first impressions of Windows Phone 7

While I am typically skeptical when it comes to products from Microsoft, I am remarkably surprised by the great quality of Windows Phone 7. Over the last few days, I have been using an HTC HD7 device running Windows Phone 7 alongside my Android devices and occasional iPod Touch use, and without reservation, I believe the Windows Phone 7 experience to be a serious challenger to both platforms in terms of quality, intuitive use and simplicity - things you usually won't catch me saying about Microsoft, or Windows specifically.

louisgray.com: Windows Phone 7 is the Best Windows I've Ever Tried

Google’s Wizard Of Oz Search Algorithm And The Threat Of Facebook Search [TechCrunch]

Excerpt from a Google/Facebook reality check

Imagine what Google could do with all that data and you start to understand why social is so darned important for them right now. Not to kill Facebook, but to try to neutralize the threat that the next great leap in search engine evolution doesn’t happen completely without them. A lot of the searches that Google is really bad at – commerce and travel, for example – can get really good really fast if you can look at deep data from friends about those very things. I don’t need pages and pages of results. Just a nice hotel in Paris that a friend vouches for. Or a movie I’ll enjoy. Or the right set of pots and pans. All that data is right there on Facebook.

It may take Facebook a few years to really start to get interested in search. But there is so much advertising revenue in that business that they can’t ignore it forever. And that must scare Google more than just about anything else.

Google’s Wizard Of Oz Search Algorithm And The Threat Of Facebook Search

Thursday, February 24, 2011

LRB · Jim Holt · Smarter, Happier, More Productive

Excerpt from an insightful review of “The Shallows”

This raises a prospect that has exhilarated many of the digerati. Perhaps the internet can serve not merely as a supplement to memory, but as a replacement for it. ‘I’ve almost given up making an effort to remember anything,’ says Clive Thompson, a writer for Wired, ‘because I can instantly retrieve the information online.’ David Brooks, a New York Times columnist, writes: ‘I had thought that the magic of the information age was that it allowed us to know more, but then I realised the magic of the information age is that it allows us to know less. It provides us with external cognitive servants – silicon memory systems, collaborative online filters, consumer preference algorithms and networked knowledge. We can burden these servants and liberate ourselves.’

Books also serve as external memory-storage devices; that is why Socrates, in the Phaedrus, warned that the innovation of writing would lead to the atrophy of human memory. But books have expanded the reservoir of information and ideas, and, through the practice of attentive reading, have enriched the memory, not superseded it. The internet is different. Thanks to algorithmic search engines like Google, the whole universe of online information can be scanned in an instant. Not only do you not have to remember a fact, you don’t even have to remember where to look it up. In time, even the intermediary of a computer screen might prove unnecessary – why not implant a wireless Google connection right in the head? ‘Certainly,’ says Sergey Brin, one of the founders of Google, ‘if you had all the world’s information directly attached to your brain, or an artificial brain that was smarter than your brain, you’d be better off.’

LRB · Jim Holt · Smarter, Happier, More Productive

I, Cringely » Blog Archive » Why Leo Apotheker will be fired from Hewlett Packard - Cringely on technology

Excerpt from an intriguing Cringely HP snapshot

There is only one chance Apotheker has to save his job and that’s by buying his old company, SAP. A merger would transform HP, instantly making it a power in enterprise software, much more competitive with both Oracle and IBM, and strongly emphasize Apotheker’s strengths.  Enterprise software right now is less than five percent of HP’s total business and that has to change if Apotheker is to survive.

[…]

It might have worked had Apotheker bought SAP on his first day of work at HP but he didn’t know then what trouble he was in. Now it is probably too late. And while his end, I think, is inevitable, it should also be very entertaining because Meg Whitman will take out Leo Apotheker with some real boardroom flash and style.

I, Cringely » Blog Archive » Why Leo Apotheker will be fired from Hewlett Packard - Cringely on technology

Cisco Sends A Recall On Its Cloud Email Strategy | Forrester Blogs

An excerpt from a Forrester review of Cisco’s retreat from enterprise messaging

So what happened and what does it mean for I&O professionals? Here’s our take:

  • Cisco underestimated the barriers to entering this market. Cisco ran into the ring where there was a Battle Royale being fought between IBM, Google, and the heavyweight Microsoft. My colleague, Ted Schadler, and I have spent a lot of time over the last few years focusing on the impact of the cloud on email and collaboration means for C&C pros charged with creating the information workplace vision, and the I&O pros responsible for running it– and we knew they were in for a tough fight. Cisco’s initial focus was on the SME market where Microsoft has enjoyed significant success and Google was another popular choice. Many customers have existing vendor relationships where there were technical dependencies among collaboration products and pricing incentives to bundle products together – and this made it an extraordinarily steep hill to climb for a newer player in the market. Even having the capability to integrate with Microsoft Outlook to deliver an “Exchange-like” experience couldn’t help overcome that challenge.

Cisco Sends A Recall On Its Cloud Email Strategy | Forrester Blogs

Before the Onslaught, One Tablet Stands Out - NYTimes.com

Another Xoom review/anticipatory eulogy (with an overall message similar to the Boston Globe and WSJ Xoom reviews: it’s kinda cool, but the new iPad will be unveiled next week…)

It’s not crystal-clear at this point why the world needs all of these competing tablets, each with different operating systems and app stores. There’s not enough differentiation to justify the coming onslaught of models; most of these companies seem to cranking out tablets just so they can say, “We have an iPad thingie, too!”

In the meantime, Motorola should be congratulated for the Xoom. For xealous tablet fans, it’s an excellent, xesty tablet with a xany price tag — but a lot of xip.

Before the Onslaught, One Tablet Stands Out - NYTimes.com

Google Tool to Move Microsoft Files to Web - WSJ.com

Sort of like a subset of the already and freely available Office Web Apps and Docs for Facebook?…

Google plans to formally introduce the new Google tool, called Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office, later this week after releasing it to early testers in November. The company says it takes Office files, uploads them to Google's servers and gives them a unique Web address so they and can be accessed through Google Docs from any Internet-connected device. The files can also be accessed from within Office.

Once the files are on the Web--also called the "cloud," in industry parlance—documents can be shared and simultaneously edited by multiple people, Google says. The tool allows people to comment on documents online and display those comments so they are visible to others, Google says. Cloud Connect is free to individual users and paying customers for Google Apps.

Google Tool to Move Microsoft Files to Web - WSJ.com

@chuckdude » Why Amazon Isn’t Worried About Apple’s In-App Purchasing Rules

Some interesting speculation, via AllThingsD

If the new rules mean that all in-app purchasing must be vended through Apple and the App Store, my guess is that Amazon’s solution will be to drop the Kindle app [for iOS] altogether.

I know what you’re thinking: That’s just crazy!

Well, no, it isn’t.

Amazon has been working on Kindle for the Web, which has been in beta testing since last September. At the moment, you can only preview the first chapter from select titles on Amazon, but according to the Kindle for the Web page, full text is coming soon.

@chuckdude » Why Amazon Isn’t Worried About Apple’s In-App Purchasing Rules

Motorola Xoom Android Tablet Review | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD

It’s Xoom week – at least until 3/2, when Apple is expected to unveil the next iPad

After months of speculation, the tablet wars begin in earnest this week. Motorola is releasing its Xoom tablet on Feb. 24, and I consider it the first truly comparable competitor to Apple’s hit iPad. That is partly because it is the first iPad challenger to run Honeycomb, an elegant new version of Google’s Android operating system designed especially for tablets.

Motorola Xoom Android Tablet Review | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD

Xoom: the iPad’s first real rival - The Boston Globe

The full story includes a video demo and more details

But now comes the Xoom, the new tablet from Motorola Mobility Inc., and suddenly, Apple has an opponent with live ammo. With a bigger screen, beefier electronics, and a sleek, new version of Google Inc.’s Android operating system, the 10.1-inch Xoom measures up to the iPad in most every category, and flat out whips it in more than a few. Motorola has stumbled by bringing the Xoom to market with some of its features not yet functional. Even so, it has delivered the iPad’s first legitimate rival.

Xoom: the iPad’s first real rival - The Boston Globe

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

iPad, Apple: Why the company's products aren't just for rich people anymore. - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine

Excerpt from a timely Apple profile

There are several reasons why Apple's tablet prices are so hard to beat. It can cut out the middle-man by selling directly to customers through its retail stores, it has mastered the logistics of global manufacturing and shipping, and it controls all aspects of its device's design (including the OS and processor), a feat no other manufacturer can claim. But perhaps the most important reason is the unparalleled size of its operation. During a conference call with investors in January, Apple's chief operating officer Tim Cook reported that the company had spent nearly $4 billion on several "strategic" long-term contracts for specific electronic parts. He didn't say which components those were, but last week DigiTimes, a Taiwanese publication that covers Asian manufacturing companies, reported that Apple had purchased 60 percent of the world's supply of touchscreen glass panels—the major component for iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touches.

iPad, Apple: Why the company's products aren't just for rich people anymore. - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine

Swype's Keyboard Alternative - Technology Review

I am a big Swype fan – indeed, I consider it to be a key differentiator between iOS and Android device options (Swype was included with my Verizon Samsung Fascinate).  Check this January Swype co-founder interview for more details.

"It's amazing to me that we still use QWERTY keyboards," says Juan Pons, General Manager of the eastern branch of Swype, a company that makes an alternative input system for text. "At Swype, we are hoping to address and change this."
Though the keyboard is a familiar device, Pons is quick to point out that it was designed for an entirely different scenario than most people find themselves in today. The QWERTY keyboard worked well for typewriters--the layout of its keys optimized to keep the machine from getting tangled when a user typed quickly.
These days, however, people often use touchscreens, type with one hand or even one finger, and hold their devices at odd angles while they enter data. Swype hopes to create a system that fits those devices better, while still offering users enough familiarity to make them comfortable trying it out.

The general idea, from the Swype site:

image

Swype's Keyboard Alternative - Technology Review

Microsoft's Kinect: The New Mouse? - NYTimes.com

Check the article link below and this page for more details

During the day, Microsoft scientists showed off research projects that exploited the technology used in Kinect — to recognize physical objects of all kinds, human faces, expressions, gestures and speech.

The potential uses include inexpensive 3-D design and modeling, photo-realistic human avatars and “smart” displays that, for example, might be able to direct two different visual and audio streams to two people sitting in the same room. A couple, for example, might be able to watch and hear two different television shows, streamed from the same set, and without headphones.

The demonstrations were animated by speech or gestures, waving a hand or stroking a screen. “There’s not a button or a switch,” said Peter Lee, managing director of Microsoft’s research lab in Redmond. “It’s just you. The success of Kinect shows a pathway to go forward.”

Microsoft's Kinect: The New Mouse? - NYTimes.com

App Watch: Taking Note on the iPad - Digits - WSJ

Sort of like OneNote has done since 2003?…

Jotting down a few notes using the iPad isn’t difficult using the Notes app that comes preinstalled with the device, but extensive typing on the tablet’s virtual keyboard can be challenging, as several reviewers have noted.

This is especially troubling for students (or reporters), or anyone trying to take accurate notes for more than just a few minutes. There’s an app, however, that takes some of the pressure of. It’s called SoundNote, and it records audio while the user types notes. The kicker is that the notes and the recording are linked together so that, after the recording is done, users can click on a word in the typed notes and automatically go to that spot in the actual recording.

App Watch: Taking Note on the iPad - Digits - WSJ

Book chain halts dividend, shifts focus - The Boston Globe

Stark times at Barnes & Noble

The largest US bookstore chain suspended its dividend to conserve cash and invest in digital reading. Barnes & Noble Inc.’s third-quarter revenue rose, but its net income fell 25 percent as it continued to invest in its online operations and Nook e-readers.

Book chain halts dividend, shifts focus - The Boston Globe

Amazon Starts Web Video Service | Peter Kafka | MediaMemo | AllThingsD

More analysis of the expanding Amazon/Netflix rivalry

In essence, Amazon is more or less doing what Netflix did when it started out on the Web, too: Grabbing the streaming rights to whatever it could buy/afford, and throwing it in as a freebie (note that “Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Man on Wire”–but not the Louis C.K. stuff–are available via Netflix Instant, too).

But now check out Netflix, which has a catalog of some 20,000 titles, and is selling an all-digital service for $8 month–one that is apparently attracting a third of its new customers.

Amazon certainly has the dollars and clout to compete with Netflix – and Apple, and Microsoft, and Hulu, and whoever else wants to bid on these rights, which generally aren’t exclusive, anyway. So if it wants to push aggressively into Web video, it can.

But for now, consider this a starting point, and not much more.

Amazon Starts Web Video Service | Peter Kafka | MediaMemo | AllThingsD

Cisco Blog » Blog Archive » Listening to Our Customers

Cisco retreats from the enterprise messaging market, which means writing off its $215M 2008/08 PostPath acquisition and more

In the thirteen months since, we’ve been market testing Cisco Mail via a controlled release. The product has been well received, but we’ve since learned that customers have come to view their email as a mature and commoditized tool versus a long-term differentiated element of their collaboration strategy. We’ve also heard that customers are eager to embrace emerging collaboration tools such as social software and video.

That was the key factor in the decision, which we shared with customers today, to discontinue investment in Cisco Mail. As you would expect, we will assist our current trial customers with their transition to other email alternatives and support them for the length of their contract. Cisco will also continue to integrate to other email systems to protect our customers’ legacy communications investments.

Cisco Blog » Blog Archive » Listening to Our Customers

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Amazon Media Room: Amazon Prime Members Now Get Unlimited, Commercial-free, Instant Streaming of More Than 5,000 Movies and TV Shows at No Additional Cost

See this TechFlash post for some analysis

Amazon Prime is a membership program that offers customers unlimited free Two-Day Shipping with no minimum purchase requirement for only $79 a year. Millions of items are eligible, including books, home and garden products, electronics, video games, clothing, accessories and beauty products. With the introduction of Prime instant videos, free trial and paid Amazon Prime members in the U.S. now also have unlimited instant access to more than 5,000 videos.

Amazon Instant Video is a digital video service that offers customers more than 90,000 commercial-free movies and television shows to buy or rent on an a la carte basis. New-release movies are often available as soon as they are released on DVD, and many TV shows are available the day after their first broadcast. Amazon Instant Video also offers thousands of movies and TV shows in high definition. With Amazon Instant Video, customers can watch instantly on Macs, PCs, and nearly 200 Internet connected TVs, Blu-ray players, and set-top boxes. To learn more about Amazon Instant Video on your TV, visit www.amazon.com/watchontv.

Amazon Media Room: News Release

Amazon.com Help: Kindle Software Update Latest Generation [but only for latest-generation Kindle devices]

There are some very compelling capabilities in the new Kindle software; bummer I won’t be able to use the upgraded system software on my second-generation Kindle.  I asked Amazon support if/when the features may appear for the other-than-latest Kindle devices; the reply included “I'd like to inform you that the 2nd generation Kindle will not be compatible for the latest software update (3.1).”   In the grand scheme of things, I can’t say I’m surprised; the latest Kindle has a higher-resolution screen, more memory, a WebKit-based browser client, and more, and Amazon should focus on new features that exploit those capabilities.  Furthermore, it’s not like my second-generation Kindle is getting orphaned; it still does what I bought it for, and continues to work very well for my needs.  Apparently I’ll have to move to a newer Kindle model, however, if I want the features listed below.  For now, I’m still hopeful the next wave of Kindle devices will bring some interesting new options, so I’ll continue to wait and watch…

Some of the features included in this update are:

  • Public Notes -- This feature lets Kindle users choose to make their book notes and highlights available for others to see. Any Kindle user -- including authors, their fans, book reviewers, professors and passionate readers everywhere -- can opt-in to share their thoughts on book passages and ideas with friends, family members, colleagues, and the greater Kindle community of people who love to read. This is a new way for readers to share their excitement and knowledge about books and get more from the books they read. To review and turn on Public Notes in your own books, view the Public Notes of people you follow, track your reading activities, see Popular Highlights and your annotations, and view your full library of books, go to https://kindle.amazon.com. Learn more.
  • Real Page Numbers -- Our customers have told us they want real page numbers that match the page numbers in print books so they can easily reference and cite passages, and read alongside others in a book club or class. We've already added real page numbers to tens of thousands of Kindle books, including the top 100 bestselling books in the Kindle Store that have matching print editions and thousands more of the most popular books. Page numbers will also be available on our free "Buy Once, Read Everywhere" Kindle apps in the coming months. As with all of Kindle's features, we want you to lose yourself in the author's words, so page numbers are only displayed when you press the Menu button. Learn more.
  • Before You Go ... -- When you reach the end of the book, you can immediately rate the book, share a message about the book with your social network, get personalized recommendations for what to read next, and see more books by the same author. Learn more.
  • New Newspaper and Magazine Layout -- We're introducing a new and improved layout for newspapers and magazines. This new layout gives you a quick snapshot of the news and helps you decide what you want to read first. Learn more.

Amazon.com Help: Kindle Software Update Latest Generation

Mediactive » Will Publishers Show some Spine with Apple? The Jury is Out

See the link below for a timely Apple reality check from Dan Gillmor; also check the comment thread (and his Mediactive book for a broader media literacy reality check)

Is it finally dawning on the news business that Apple is not a friend, nor an ally, nor even a partner in any true sense of the world?There are some signs of sanity emerging in the week since Apple announced its terms of engagement for offering subscriptions via mobile apps, rules that were arrogant even by that company’s standard.

Mediactive » Will Publishers Show some Spine with Apple? The Jury is Out

The Potential of 'Augmented Reality' - WSJ.com

Check the link below for an augmented reality reality check

It's not only in real estate and classified ads that this new virtual technology has money-making potential, says Theo Forbath, vice president of innovation strategy at software company Aricent Inc.

"The real money lies in turning augmented reality into the consumer space with games, entertainment and education," he says. "In the next 12 to 24 months you will see it everywhere, changing how people shop, by bringing the advantages of the Web to the in-store experience. It will transform business, allowing for better virtual meetings and it will play a big part on both children's educational toys and adult education. Think of those headsets you currently get given at museums: These will soon all be apps on mobiles."

The Potential of 'Augmented Reality' - WSJ.com

Google, Apple to Spar in Mobile Augmented Reality - Mobile and Wireless - News & Reviews - eWeek.com

Since much of augmented reality is going to be commerce-driven, I expect the domain will be primarily competitive between Google and Amazon, not Apple (at least not directly, although of course Apple will try to take 30% for anything purchased via its platforms…)

Google and Apple meet on several battlefields in the mobile computing war, but there is one big front where the rivals have yet to show their weapons: mobile augmented reality.

Mobile augmented reality (AR), which comprises the overlay of information on real-world views seen through a mobile phone's camera viewfinder, is the window to the Internet of Things, where real-world objects have data associated with them.

Google, Apple to Spar in Mobile Augmented Reality - Mobile and Wireless - News & Reviews - eWeek.com

Searching for Details Online, Lawyers Facebook the Jury - WSJ.com

An interesting radical transparency domain

Facebook is increasingly being used in courts to decide who is—and who isn't—suitable to serve on a jury, the latest way in which the social-networking site is altering the U.S. court system.

Prosecution and defense lawyers are scouring the site for personal details about members of the jury pool that could signal which side they might sympathize with during a trial. They consider what potential jurors watch on television, their interests and hobbies, and how religious they are.

Searching for Details Online, Lawyers Facebook the Jury - WSJ.com

Monday, February 21, 2011

BBC News - Who made the biggest social media splash?

Check the article link below for more details, e.g., on Apple’s decision to not participate in the Mobile World Congress event

Who was the winner at the Mobile World Congress this year?

Normally, the mobile operators and manufacturers who flaunt their latest wares have to wait months for the the sales data to tell them, once the shiny new devices hit the market.

However, a lot depends on buzz, especially buzz on social media.

Fisheye Analytics had a look at how the various brands "performed" on social media.

[…]

Share of voice rankings for phone brands

Share of voice rankings for operating systems

BBC News - Who made the biggest social media splash?

Small iPad? Big iPod Touch? Neither. It’s Apple’s dedicated reader [The Next Web]

Maybe it will be called iHedge – and ship around the same time as a multi-tasking, Android-based Kindle++

If Apple introduces a 3rd form factor to its iOS devices, it won’t be called an iPad Mini, and iPod XL or anything similar. Jobs ranted against a smaller iPad, so he’d never introduce one. What he would do, however, is introduce a device that ignores the other two.

The name? Call it an iReader (except that might be trademarked, so Apple will likely go a different route).

Our speculation is that Apple is going to introduce a mid-sized device that is specifically targeted at reading. Sure, it would still run iOS and you could use all of the iPod Touch apps on it (they’d likely even look better than they do on the iPad, due to lowered upscaling) but the main purpose of the device would be as a reader.

Small iPad? Big iPod Touch? Neither. It’s Apple’s dedicated reader.

Google 'Arctic Sea' – Chrome native code, ahoy! • The Register

Check the article link below for more speculation, including the possibility that a future version of Google Apps may be built on the technology.  Also see a related CNet article.

Google has released the first official version of the software development kit for Native Client, its controversial plug-in for running native code inside the browser.

In a blog post, Google product manager Christian Stefansen called the release an "important milestone" in Google's efforts to make native code as portable and secure as JavaScript. "A big goal of this release is to enable developers to start building Native Client modules for Chrome applications," he said.

Google 'Arctic Sea' – Chrome native code, ahoy! • The Register

IPad and Other Tablets Make Push Into Corporate World - NYTimes.com

Excerpt from an iPad-in-the-workplace reality check

To a large extent the iPad’s entry into the business world was paved by the iPhone. When Apple first released the iPhone, it lacked capabilities to link up securely with corporate e-mail systems. But as executives tried the device, they often preferred it to their BlackBerrys and other smartphones, and soon began demanding support for them.

Apple gradually added capabilities, and the iPhone became standard issue in scores of large businesses.

Companies that waited two or three years to support the iPhone began adopting the iPad just weeks after its release.

IPad and Other Tablets Make Push Into Corporate World - NYTimes.com

Blogs Wane as the Young Drift to Sites Like Twitter - NYTimes.com

Blurring blogging boundaries

The Internet and American Life Project at the Pew Research Center found that from 2006 to 2009, blogging among children ages 12 to 17 fell by half; now 14 percent of children those ages who use the Internet have blogs. Among 18-to-33-year-olds, the project said in a report last year, blogging dropped two percentage points in 2010 from two years earlier.

Former bloggers said they were too busy to write lengthy posts and were uninspired by a lack of readers. Others said they had no interest in creating a blog because social networking did a good enough job keeping them in touch with friends and family.

[…]

While the younger generation is losing interest in blogging, people approaching middle age and older are sticking with it. Among 34-to-45-year-olds who use the Internet, the percentage who blog increased six points, to 16 percent, in 2010 from two years earlier, the Pew survey found. Blogging by 46-to-55-year-olds increased five percentage points, to 11 percent, while blogging among 65-to-73-year-olds rose two percentage points, to 8 percent.

Blogs Wane as the Young Drift to Sites Like Twitter - NYTimes.com

TV Industry Taps Twitter and Facebook for Viewers - NYTimes.com

Social accessories for the opiate of the masses

Trying to exploit viewers’ two-screen behavior, the television network has built a companion Web site with behind-the-scenes video streams, so Oscar winners will be seen accepting an award on the TV set, then seen celebrating backstage on the stream.

Experiments like this one are a sudden priority in television land. As more and more people chat in real time about their favorite shows — on Facebook, Twitter and a phalanx of smaller sites — television networks are trying to figure out how to capitalize.

TV Industry Taps Twitter and Facebook for Viewers - NYTimes.com

Magazine Publishers in Tough Choice on e-Subscriptions - NYTimes.com

Excerpt from a perspective on the Apple/Google dilemma for publishers

But in trying to discern just how much leverage Apple has over their future, publishers may be looking at the wrong monopoly. Of all Apple’s creations, the iTunes and App Stores may be the most amazing. That shimmering retail environment, home to more than 100 million credit cards freely given, is the only place on the planet that has shown an ability to separate consumers from their money for digital media. Yes, Google is offering content transactions with a single identity, but building an open commercial ecosystem for content is a pretty tall older.

Magazine Publishers in Tough Choice on e-Subscriptions - NYTimes.com

Kno Student Tablet Start-Up Considering Shedding the Tablet Part | Kara Swisher | BoomTown | AllThingsD

Kno hardware future

Sources said Kno execs have recently decided that the quicker-than-expected uptake in tablet production by a multitude of powerful device makers had made its efforts to package a seamless offering less critical.

Instead, the company will focus on its robust software and services to offer students on the Apple iPad, as well as upcoming tablets based on Google’s Android mobile operating system and others.

Kno Student Tablet Start-Up Considering Shedding the Tablet Part | Kara Swisher | BoomTown | AllThingsD

Sunday, February 20, 2011

The Top For Apple | Forrester Blogs

Check the link below for more Apple perspectives from Forrester CEO George Colony

Dominant market positions can do strange things to a CEO and his or her leadership team. In the case of Apple, the company's massive iPhone and iPad successes are leading it to miscalculate pricing of content on those devices. You can read the official Apple statement of its position here, or check out the Forrester analysis here arguing that ultimate fees from content providers to app platform players should be in the 5% range -- a long way from Apple's 30%.

The Top For Apple | Forrester Blogs

Interview: Bill Gross Talks About Twitter’s Clampdown: Tech News and Analysis « [GigaOM]

Bill Gross in the Twitterverse; check the link below for an interview transcript

Bill Gross is like a ghost from the Internet’s past. In the first Internet gold rush, he started Idealab, a dot-com factory of sorts — and he also came up with the idea for paid-search advertising, which eventually turned Google into a cash gusher. Now he wants to do the same on Twitter, and has some ideas about monetizing Twitter streams through his clients. For past few months he has been on a shopping spree through his company UberMedia, and has been buying some of the more popular twitter clients such as UberTwitter and TweetDeck, which now gives him control over about twenty percent of Twitter’s traffic.

Interview: Bill Gross Talks About Twitter’s Clampdown: Tech News and Analysis «

IBM's Watson Becomes Big Man on Campus With Jeopardy Win - Finance and Accounting Jobs News and Advice

College recruiting for a smarter planet

Watson's TV debut was coordinated with visits by IBM to 58 college campuses across the country for demonstrations of the technology and screenings of the show -- as well as free pizza. More than 10,000 students and faculty attended the "Watson Watches" parties.

"I'm expecting an enormous spike in interest in the next eight-to-ten months," said Jim Corgel, general manager of academic initiatives at IBM who leads the company's on-campus recruitment efforts. He got a surge of phone calls and emails from IBM campus liaisons following each event. "The number one question [they got] was, 'How do I get to work on Watson?'," said Corgel.

IBM's Watson Becomes Big Man on Campus With Jeopardy Win - Finance and Accounting Jobs News and Advice

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Cloud computing: A market for computing power | The Economist

Truly commoditized cloud computing

LIKE oil or pork bellies, computing capacity is now a tradable commodity. February 14th saw the launch of SpotCloud, the world’s first spot market for cloud computing. It works much like other spot markets. Firms with excess computing capacity, such as data centres, put it up for sale. Others, which have a short-term need for some number-crunching, can bid for it. Enomaly, the software firm behind SpotCloud, takes a cut of between 10% and 30%, depending on the size of the deal.

SpotCloud differs from other spot markets in that it is “opaque”: the firms offering capacity do not have to reveal their identity. The idea is to attract firms that also sell premium computing services, which might want to offload unused capacity cheaply but do not want to cannibalise their main business.

Cloud computing: A market for computing power | The Economist

FT.com / Books / Essays - Secret society

Concluding paragraphs of a review of three Wikileaks-focused books

Assange will be back in court later this month to learn if he is to be deported to Sweden to stand trial for minor rape. It’s been not the least of his unattractive features – and of some of his supporters – that he has painted the charges, and the women bringing them, as inspired by the CIA, or some such agency. Assange has needed to see himself as a solitary iconoclast, grasping the essential nature of the tyrannies that oppress us, possessing the key to our liberation. Instead, very much tamed and contained by his publishing partners, he’s given a substantial heft to our better understanding of the way the world is managed, and maybe, in time, a more sympathetic comprehension of the contradictions, compromises and contrasting goals with which governments must juggle.

It must make him sick.

FT.com / Books / Essays - Secret society

Art School Runs Afoul of Facebook's Nudity Police - NYTimes.com

Facebook policies, written and unwritten

The New York Academy of Art, a graduate university that has been teaching figurative art since 1982, is not the kind of institution you would expect to get into trouble for mischief on Facebook. Yet the school recently received a stern warning from the site: “You uploaded a photo that violates our Terms of Use, and this photo has been removed.” The message went on to explain the kinds of things that Facebook does not allow: photos that attack a person or group, that depict drug use or contain violence or nudity.

[…]

So what happened? Facebook now says it made a mistake. While the company bans nude photographs, its representatives say the company has an unwritten policy that allows drawings or sculptures of nudes. It explained that it only reviews images that are flagged by users, and that its staff reviews many thousands of images a day.

Art School Runs Afoul of Facebook's Nudity Police - NYTimes.com

Apple could be working on television | Circuit Breaker - CNET News

Interesting speculation, and Apple certainly has the Web and retail channels for selling TV monitors

We know Apple already sells Apple TV. But it might be working on an another kind of Apple TV--as in an Apple-branded television, not a set-top box that hooks up to your TV.

Eagle-eyed bloggers at 9to5 Mac noticed a job listing today that Apple posted that leaves little doubt it's something the company is at least exploring.

The listing asks, rather benignly, for someone who wants to work on "new power management designs and technologies." But in what will Apple use this new power-management technology? The listing goes on to say that it will be used for "Apple's next-generation Macintosh platforms spanning from notebook computers, desktop computers, servers, standalone displays, and TV."

Apple could be working on television | Circuit Breaker - CNET News

Will 'TiVos for Reading' Save Old Media? - BusinessWeek

A timely snapshot, but the article isn’t reassuring in terms of describing trends that might help to save “old media” (except in the sense of personally saving content to read it later)

Instapaper, which has more than a million users and is growing rapidly, has competition. The biggest is Read It Later, with more than 3 million users. Longreads, a site that shares recommendations for in-depth articles, has a lively Twitter feed with more than 15,000 followers. Magazines such as Wired, The Atlantic, and The New Yorker have started to specify their stories as Longreads when they promote them on Twitter. "We are trying to help filter out the noise and junk content on the Web," says Mark Armstrong, who started Longreads a little over a year ago.

Will 'TiVos for Reading' Save Old Media? - BusinessWeek

A former WikiLeaks aide blows the whistle on Assange - The Boston Globe

Evidently Daniel Domscheit-Berg, a Wikileaks alumnus and OpenLeaks co-founder, is consistently responsible

Here, Assange is portrayed as a driven, technologically gifted former hacker and idealist, but a dictatorial paranoid with anarchic tendencies. According to Domscheit-Berg, Assange’s flawed leadership has impaired the viability of WikiLeaks as a secure outlet for whistleblowers. If Domscheit-Berg knows about holes in WikiLeaks safeguards, it’s no wonder. Disaffected with Assange, he and a computer ace on the staff, identified only as the “architect,’’ spirited away a key security element from the WikiLeaks submission platform. Why? Revenge was not the motive, he insists, but safety. “We’re still waiting for Julian to restore security so that we can give him back the material that was on the submission platform. At present it is being stored safely. . . . [W]e will only give it back to Julian when he can show us that he is able to store it securely and deal with it carefully and responsibly.’’

A former WikiLeaks aide blows the whistle on Assange - The Boston Globe

Friday, February 18, 2011

How We Know by Freeman Dyson | The New York Review of Books

Excerpt from a review of The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood by James Gleick (to be published 20110301)

According to Gleick, the impact of information on human affairs came in three installments: first the history, the thousands of years during which people created and exchanged information without the concept of measuring it; second the theory, first formulated by Shannon; third the flood, in which we now live. The flood began quietly. The event that made the flood plainly visible occurred in 1965, when Gordon Moore stated Moore’s Law. Moore was an electrical engineer, founder of the Intel Corporation, a company that manufactured components for computers and other electronic gadgets. His law said that the price of electronic components would decrease and their numbers would increase by a factor of two every eighteen months. This implied that the price would decrease and the numbers would increase by a factor of a hundred every decade. Moore’s prediction of continued growth has turned out to be astonishingly accurate during the forty-five years since he announced it. In these four and a half decades, the price has decreased and the numbers have increased by a factor of a billion, nine powers of ten. Nine powers of ten are enough to turn a trickle into a flood.

How We Know by Freeman Dyson | The New York Review of Books

Official Google Blog: An update to Google Social Search

Check the link below for more details and an overview video

Today we’re doing a little bit more to bring you all the goodness of Google, plus the opinions of the people you care about. As always, we want to help you find the most relevant answers among the billions of interconnected pages on the web. But relevance isn’t just about pages—it’s also about relationships. That’s why we introduced Google Social Search in 2009, and why we’ve made a number of improvements since then. Today we’re taking another step forward—enabling you to get even more information from the people that matter to you, whether they’re publishing on YouTube, Flickr or their own blog or website.

Official Google Blog: An update to Google Social Search

A Windows 8 tablet in Q1 2012? Hmmm... | ZDNet

Check the link below for a timely Mary-Jo Foley reality check

What if Microsoft is planning to deliver the system-on-a-chip version of Windows 8 first? The company is believed to have been working on a port of Windows to ARM for several years now, starting with the rumored “LongARM” project. So what if the SoC version of “Windows Next” that Microsoft showed off at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this past January was a lot further along than many think? Microsoft has said it plans to deliver Windows “Next” — which is widely assumed to be the same as Windows 8 by most sane and rational people — on Soc chips from Intel, AMD and ARM.

A Windows 8 tablet in Q1 2012? Hmmm... | ZDNet

Google Search Results Get More Social - NYTimes.com

Still searching for social salience

Now, links to posts from friends across the Web, including on Twitter, YouTube and Flickr, will be incorporated into search results, not hidden at the bottom of the page, with a note and a picture telling you the post is from your friend. So if you are thinking about traveling to a beach in Mexico that a friend has visited, a link to her blog could be a top result.

[…]

Finally, Google users will be able to privately link their social networking accounts to their Google profiles. Before, those connections were made public, which might have discouraged some users. People will see social results only if they are logged in to their Google accounts and have connected their social networking accounts.

Google Search Results Get More Social - NYTimes.com

Zynga Nears Deal Valuing It at Close to $10 Billion - NYTimes.com

Up from an estimated $7 – $9B a few days ago?…

Zynga, the company behind many of the Web’s most viral games, is in advanced discussions on an investment that would value the company at nearly $10 billion and could pave the way for an initial public offering next year.

Zynga Nears Deal Valuing It at Close to $10 Billion - NYTimes.com

Apple Weighs a Cheaper iPhone to Broaden Its Appeal - NYTimes.com

Apparently there is no smaller iPhone model in the works (the cheaper phones would essentially be discounted n – 1 models, where n is the current release; e.g., the iPhone 3GS is already on sale from AT&T for $49), but perhaps a more robustly useful MobileMe

Another person with knowledge of Apple’s plans said that the company was actively building a more versatile version of its MobileMe service, which allows users to store music, photos and files online and have them accessible on all their devices.

The current version of MobileMe, which costs $100 a year, has failed to catch on with consumers. Rivals like Google and others offer similar services free.

The new version of MobileMe is expected to be free and would allow users to synch their files without using a cable.

“The goal is that your photos and other media content will eventually just sync across all your Apple devices without people having to do anything,” the person said. If more iPhone users stored files online, Apple could make cheaper devices with less storage. Flash storage is one of the iPhone’s most expensive components.

Apple Weighs a Cheaper iPhone to Broaden Its Appeal - NYTimes.com

Amazon Appstore to Allow Buyers to Purchase Apps Before Device Ships | Tricia Duryee | eMoney | AllThingsD

I’m eager to see what kinds of Kindle++ Android devices Amazon will also be selling

As Amazon nears the launch of its Android Appstore, it has provided an update to developers that focuses on a seamless buying experience for the customer.

For developers interested in participating, their mobile applications will now show all over the e-commerce site, appearing in everything from search results to bestseller lists, the company said in a blog post.

Amazon Appstore to Allow Buyers to Purchase Apps Before Device Ships | Tricia Duryee | eMoney | AllThingsD

Ascent of the social-media climbers - The Boston Globe

In case you feel compelled to check your social software status

Klout score? Learn it or, as Monte would say, be judged. Klout.com is one of a number of new status-measuring tools aimed at making social networking more like high school than it already is. Sites such as Klout and PeerIndex.net take public information from Twitter, and sometimes Facebook and LinkedIn, to determine a person’s influence on social media. Anyone can check her score or a rival’s by going to one of the sites and putting in her Twitter handle.

The companies use secret algorithms that go beyond simple numbers of followers — which can be bought in bulk — or friends or fans, and count retweets, the number of links clicked, and even how influential one’s followers are, among other indicators.

Ascent of the social-media climbers - The Boston Globe

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Schmidt promises to get 'permission' before taking over our world • The Register

More Eric Schmidt insights

Google's CEO mentioned our permission nine times during his keynote presentation at the congress yesterday, almost every point made was bracketed with the assertion that Google would do nothing to interfere with our privacy, though the search giant would like to know when our pants are wearing out, among other things.

In the world of Eric Schmidt, and by extension Google, sharing information is always a good thing – when it comes to toppling dictatorial regimes or being told we should be buying new trousers; if we share all our personal information with Google then Google will look after our lives.

Schmidt promises to get 'permission' before taking over our world • The Register

Mobile Wars! Apple vs. Google vs. Those Other Guys - BusinessWeek

Excerpt from a mobile platform market profile

Barring big surprises, the other contenders—RIM, HP, and Microsoft—are in for a slog: too dependent on mobile devices to give up, yet lacking the tools to make much progress. All lost share in 2010 and have orders of magnitude fewer apps available for their devices. RIM still has legions of loyal BlackBerry fans, though developers routinely complain it's more difficult to create apps that run on those devices; that would help explain why RIM may be working on a technology so its devices can also run Android apps, as Bloomberg News recently reported. HP has the opposite problem: sweet technology and little foundation to build on. The company wowed the standing-room-only crowd that came to its Feb. 9 smartphone and tablet unveiling; attendees oohed when former Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein showed how to move a song or contact between phone and tablet just by tapping on the glass. Still, HP has spent years being a member of ecosystems—in particular, Microsoft's—rather than building its own.

Then there's Microsoft, a company that knows from platform wars. Millions of Nokia handsets will someday come with Windows Phone 7, the first model perhaps by the end of this year. Windows Phone 7 wins nods of approval from techies around Silicon Valley. Yet in a poll of developers by brokerage Sanford C. Bernstein (AB), not one named it as their first or even second priority. Nor are the carriers quivering with excitement. "I do want a third strong OS out there," Verizon Communications (VZ) Chief Technology Officer Anthony Melone recently told CNET. "But I still have doubts whether Microsoft will get the traction they are hoping for with Windows Phone 7."

Mobile Wars! Apple vs. Google vs. Those Other Guys - BusinessWeek

With One Pass, Google Elbows Apple and Woos Publishers - WSJ.com

Apple should get some kind of award for making Google look like a relatively attractive partner to digital content publishers

"The publisher is the merchant of record," said Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt in Berlin on Wednesday. "We don't prevent you from knowing, if you're a publisher, who your customers are, like some other people" do, he said, a tacit reference to Apple.

Mr. Schmidt added that Google's "intention is for publishers to make all the money." The 10% fee "roughly covers our costs," he said.

With One Pass, Google Elbows Apple and Woos Publishers - WSJ.com

Google Announces One Pass System for Digital Content - NYTimes.com

More Apple/Google co-opetition

“This is purely a shot across Apple’s bow at a critical point in time,” said James L. McQuivey, a digital media analyst at Forrester Research. “That’s what the industry wants right now, to know there is an alternative to Apple and someone willing to talk about a more reasonable rate.”

Under Apple’s plan, the company will keep 30 percent of any sale of digital content, like books, music and magazines, within its App Store and will own the subscriber information, like names and e-mail addresses. Users can choose to share that information with publishers if they want.

When publishers use One Pass, which for now is limited to online newspapers and magazines, Google will keep 10 percent of the sale price and share the customer’s name, ZIP code and e-mail address unless the customer specifically asks Google not to.

Google Announces One Pass System for Digital Content - NYTimes.com

Atrix 4G From Motorola, Uniting Phone and Laptop - David Pogue - NYTimes.com

Concluding paragraphs from another Aptix review

The Atrix, then, is three things. It’s an extremely fast, powerful, superbly designed phone. It’s a gorgeous, lightweight, long-lasting laptop that’s tragically clumsy to use.

Above all, it’s a really, really brilliant idea. Here’s hoping that Motorola sticks with its team of fresh-thinking engineers long enough to produce an Atrix II.

Atrix 4G From Motorola, Uniting Phone and Laptop - David Pogue - NYTimes.com

Motorola Executive Defends Tablet Price Tag - Tech Europe - WSJ

This will get a lot more challenging (especially with the Xoom price points) if Google, as anticipated, unveils its own Nexus-styled slate

In a wide-ranging, and at times admirably frank, interview, Mr. Jha also spoke of his concerns about how the Microsoft-Nokia deal would make it harder for existing players in that area. He hinted at his frustration at having to tie his company so closely to someone else’s product, Google’s Android operating system, and admitted that Motorola needed to do a lot more work in Europe to win back customers.

Mr. Jha suggested that the Nokia deal might drive some of his competitors, who had previously been considering developing for Windows Phone, into the Android camp. “Android then becomes a place where there are more players and a much more competitive environment,” he said. Almost ruefully he said he wished Motorola was able to control its own operating system, but he lacked the scale to build his own ecosystem.

Motorola Executive Defends Tablet Price Tag - Tech Europe - WSJ

Motorola Atrix 4G Android Phone Laptop Review | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD

Check the link below for the full review

Despite the drawbacks, some folks will surely be attracted to this innovative combination.

If you mostly do your computing tasks on a phone or a PC Web browser, storing files in the cloud and using phone or Web-based apps, Motorola has you covered. And the fact that the dock can charge the phone is a big plus.

PTECH-JUMP

Motorola Atrix 4G Android Phone Laptop Review | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD

Watson computing going diagnostic soon - The Boston Globe

Apparently Nuance was a big winner in this week’s Watson accomplishment

Nuance provides its technology to a variety of industries and platforms, including automated call centers, mobile phones, and auto dashboards. But the medical industry is by far its biggest sector, driven by the number of doctors who use its voice-recognition technology to dictate medical records.

Watson technology will enable Nuance to add artificial intelligence to its offerings.

Richard Mack, vice president at Nuance, said the company plans to use Watson technology to help doctors quickly consider reference materials, prior cases, and the latest medical literature.

In the future, Nuance intends to apply Watson technology to other sectors it serves.

Watson computing going diagnostic soon - The Boston Globe

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

A $300 Million Valuation Isn't Enough For Quora [SFGate]

Business model tbd, valuation reportedly > $300M

Quora, the Q&A site from Facebook veterans Adam D'Angelo and Charlie Cheever, is talking to venture capital firms about taking another round of funding, several sources tell us.

One source close to Quora tells us the startup has has rejected offers that would value the company at more than $300 million.

Quora raised $11 million at an $86 million valuation in March 2010 from Benchmark Capital and individual investors.

A $300 Million Valuation Isn't Enough For Quora

Google's Schmidt: Android is saving the world - Feb. 15, 2011 [CNN Money]

Check the link below for more details

Google chairman and outgoing CEO Eric Schmidt said Tuesday that Android-based smartphones can save the world -- as long as you're willing to share information with Google.

"We now have all of the world's information at our fingertips," Schmidt said in a keynote address at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. "I'm not sure it will prevent war, but it will produce a lot of talking before war starts."

Google's Schmidt: Android is saving the world - Feb. 15, 2011

Mediactive » Traditional Publishers that Agree to Apple’s iOS Subscription Demands are Insane, or Desperate

Dan Gillmor’s take on Apple’s new rules

Apple has finally clarified what it will demand of publishers that want to sell subscriptions through its iPhone and iPad app ecosystem. The demands are extortionate, and traditional publishers agreeing to them are crazy if not suicidal.

[…]

None of this should surprise anyone who’s been watching Apple take firmer and firmer control of the iOS ecosystem, or who’s watched media companies compete for the right to be Apple’s pets. But it’s discouraging nonetheless.

The Apple deal will make more sense to startup publishers that want to avoid billing issues by leaving the back-end finances to Apple. Even they, however, should realize that they’re turning over their futures to a company that is not working in their interest in the long run.

Mediactive » Traditional Publishers that Agree to Apple’s iOS Subscription Demands are Insane, or Desperate

Apple Offers Subscriptions for All iPad Publications - NYTimes.com

Somehow I suspect Apple will not be disappointed to see Rhapsody exit the Apple App Store

Amazon and Netflix declined to comment. In a sharply worded statement, Rhapsody called Apple’s conditions “economically untenable.”

In an interview, Jon Irwin, president of Rhapsody, said, “I would have no choice but to pull the app out of the App Store.” In the statement, Rhapsody said it would work with its “market peers in determining an appropriate legal and business response to this latest development.” Mr. Irwin declined to clarify what the company meant.

Apple Offers Subscriptions for All iPad Publications - NYTimes.com

IBM "Jeopardy" Challenge Day 2: Very Different From Day One | Arik Hesseldahl | NewEnterprise | AllThingsD

Check the article link below for day 2 details

When we last left our human heroes, one of them had drawn even while another was far behind the supercomputer Watson in a match of the uniquely human game of “Jeopardy.” The computer was winning raves for holding its own against the game’s best human players.

IBM "Jeopardy" Challenge Day 2: Very Different From Day One | Arik Hesseldahl | NewEnterprise | AllThingsD

Apple unveils apps subscription policy for iPhone, iPad - The Boston Globe

This just in from the Reality Distortion Field

Apple is insisting the financial terms of the digital subscriptions sold outside the app be no better than those offered in the iTunes store. And people must have the option to buy subscriptions within iTunes, if they want.

“We believe that this innovative subscription service will provide publishers with a brand new opportunity to expand digital access to their content onto the iPad, iPod touch, and iPhone, delighting both new and existing subscribers,’’ Steve Jobs, Apple chief executive, said in a statement.

Apple unveils apps subscription policy for iPhone, iPad - The Boston Globe

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

State Department to Announce Internet Freedom Policy - NYTimes.com

Signs of the times

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who will lay out the policy in a speech on Tuesday, acknowledged the Internet’s dual role in an address a year ago, and administration officials said she would touch on that theme again, noting how social networks were used by both protesters and governments in the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and other Arab countries.

The State Department plans to finance programs like circumvention services, which enable users to evade Internet firewalls, and training for human rights workers on how to secure their e-mail from surveillance or wipe incriminating data from cellphones if they are detained by the police.

State Department to Announce Internet Freedom Policy - NYTimes.com

H-P Acquires Analytics Startup in New CEO’s First Deal - Digits - WSJ

HP makes a database company acquisition

The deal for Vertica Systems Inc., a closely held company in Billerica, Mass., is the first for H-P since Leo Apotheker assumed the chief executive post in November. While Apotheker is yet to reveal an overall strategy for H-P, he has said that he plans to invest more in software, which tends to have a higher profit margin than PCs and servers.

[…]

Vertica was co-founded in 2005 by Michael Stonebraker, an industry pioneer known for work on relational databases during the 1970s at the University of California at Berkeley. Businesses use its software to gain other insight into fast-unfolding trends, such as sales slows downs or runs on a particular product. For instance, the software could sift through real-time sales data, compare them to the year earlier, and send an alert if a particular store wasn’t moving enough televisions.

H-P Acquires Analytics Startup in New CEO’s First Deal - Digits - WSJ

Facebook's Growing Web of Frenemies - WSJ.com

A Facebook co-opetition snapshot; also see “Yahoo Decides to Friend Facebook

As the seven-year-old company ramps up its hiring and adds new features to its social network, it is disrupting the businesses of established companies like Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. and putting even more Internet firms on notice.

Facebook, which has more than 600 million users and was valued at $50 billion in a recent funding round, is grabbing online-advertising from Yahoo, Myspace and others. The social network is a potential rival in electronic payments to eBay Inc.'s PayPal, while partnerships Facebook is cementing with smartphone makers set the stage for competition with Apple Inc. and Google in mobile services.

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Facebook's Growing Web of Frenemies - WSJ.com

Facebook Officials Keep Quiet on Its Role in Revolts - NYTimes.com

A shifting role for Facebook

Debbie Frost, a spokeswoman for Facebook, said the company was not considering changing its policy requiring users to use their real identities, which she says leads to greater accountability and a safer environment.

“The trust people place in us is the most important part of what makes Facebook work,” she said, adding that the company welcomed a discussion with Mr. Durbin and others who have an interest in this matter. “As demonstrated by our response to threats in Tunisia, we take this trust seriously and work aggressively every single day to protect people.”

Facebook Officials Keep Quiet on Its Role in Revolts - NYTimes.com

I.B.M.’s Watson - Computers Close In on the ‘Paris Hilton’ Problem - NYTimes.com

Concluding paragraphs of a John Markoff AI reality check

Similar design decisions about how machines are used and whether they will enhance or replace human qualities are now being played out in a multitude of ways, and the real value of Watson may ultimately be in forcing society to consider where the line between human and machine should be drawn.

Indeed, for the computer scientist John Seely Brown, machines that are facile at answering questions only serve to obscure what remains fundamentally human.

“The essence of being human involves asking questions, not answering them,” he said.

I.B.M.’s Watson - Computers Close In on the ‘Paris Hilton’ Problem - NYTimes.com