The Slatest - Slate Magazine: Is Twitter Worth $10 Billion?

Another timely Slatest summary.  My take: a Pointcast-like trajectory is more likely than a $10B Twitter.

"In every city it seems like every business is drinking the Twitter koolaide," says blogger and technical evangelist Robert Scoble. Unlike Facebook, Twitter provides a way for businesses to engage directly with their customers, making it one of the best marketing tools online. Additionally, it keeps archives, meaning that companies can track conversations about themselves online. Once the market figures out how to value this, Scoble says, the service may be worth anywhere from $5 billion to $10 billion.  But how exactly will Twitter make this kind of money? By charging for business and marketing analysis: "Many businesses would pay a hundred a month, maybe even more." Twitter users, however, aren't so sure. Trends don't last forever, one reader commented. In five years, "Twitter is going to be the same wasteland as Myspace."

Read original story in Scobleizer | Monday, 31 Aug 2009

The most important news and commentary to read right now. - The Slatest - Slate Magazine

As Internet turns 40, barriers threaten its growth - Yahoo! News

See the full article for more details on the Internet’s 40th anniversary (on Sept 2nd)

There's still plenty of room for innovation today, yet the openness fostering it may be eroding. While the Internet is more widely available and faster than ever, artificial barriers threaten to constrict its growth.

Call it a mid-life crisis.

A variety of factors are to blame. Spam and hacking attacks force network operators to erect security firewalls. Authoritarian regimes block access to many sites and services within their borders. And commercial considerations spur policies that can thwart rivals, particularly on mobile devices like the iPhone.

As Internet turns 40, barriers threaten its growth - Yahoo! News

VMware May Be Microsoft’s Top Rival After Google - NYTimes.com

A VMWorld snapshot – excerpt:

Microsoft has a long way to go. At the end of last year, more than 80 percent of virtualized computing workloads ran on VMware, analysts estimate, with the remainder shared by Microsoft, Citrix Systems’ Xen, Virtual Iron and others. But only 15 percent of servers have been virtualized, and with that percentage likely to at least double over the next five years, there is still plenty of opportunity in the market.

There is considerable interest in Microsoft’s offering, analysts say. A recent report by Gartner projected that Microsoft’s share of installed virtual machine software would increase to 29 percent by the end of 2012, from 8 percent at the end of last year.

VMware May Be Microsoft’s Top Rival After Google - NYTimes.com

A Hired Gun for Microsoft in Dogged Pursuit of Google - NYTimes.com

A timely search competitive landscape snapshot 

For nearly a decade, Mr. Lu played a leading role in building Yahoo’s Internet search and advertising technologies. The effort was so important that Yahoo backed it with billions of dollars to acquire companies, hire armies of engineers and develop and run its own systems. Yet Yahoo fell further and further behind and many analysts said the company was simply outgunned by Google.

Mr. Lu, who is 47, left Yahoo 14 months ago, but now finds himself once again leading the charge against Google. This time, he is backed by a patron that vows to spend even more than Yahoo did on the mission: Microsoft.

A Hired Gun for Microsoft in Dogged Pursuit of Google - NYTimes.com

Dilbert SaaS reality check

Apple iPod Line to Be Discontinued? | John Paczkowski | Digital Daily | AllThingsD

It’s that time of year again; see the full post for more context-setting

Seems stocks are running low, there’s no sign of resupply shipments and current SKUs are being scrapped. That all this is occurring in advance of Apple’s as-of-yet unannounced Sept. 9 event suggests that a fall iPod refresh is a near inevitability. Though just what it will entail isn’t clear–presumably, increases in clock speed and memory, and perhaps even a camera.

Apple iPod Line to Be Discontinued? | John Paczkowski | Digital Daily | AllThingsD

Life lessons: From one Gates to another - USATODAY.com

A Bill Gates snapshot – via SeattlePI

Gates' passion for technology remains. About 10% of his time is dedicated to guiding Microsoft.

He's "particularly involved with (Internet) search," he says, noting that Microsoft's new Bing search engine "is doing pretty well. But Google's dominant, and we're a distant No. 2. That said, it's an area where the room for innovation is incredible, and the desire by advertisers and others to have more than one company pushing the state of the art is strong."

Like other tech visionaries, he's convinced that a new mobile gadget unifying "PC, phone and (a) reading device" is imminent and likely revolutionary, particularly for the publishing world.

"We've already got what we call Magic White Boards in Microsoft offices (sort of like CNN's anchor-manipulated, video-capable maps). Once that stuff is in every office, things will get exciting," Gates says. "We're working on software for it now. I think it's three or four years out."

Life lessons: From one Gates to another - USATODAY.com

Ping - Evernote, a Free Storage App, Seeks More Paying Users - NYTimes.com

A timely snapshot of a “freemium” business model

About 75 percent of the customers walk away within the first four months. That’s not worrisome, because the revenue from Evernote’s 500,000 active users is growing faster than the growth in the customer base. How? Customers discover that they need more than the basic storage space or want some extra features, like the ability to scan PDF documents for a particular word. Evernote charges them $5 a month or $45 a year for these and other benefits.

Mr. Libin studied the behavior of the earliest adopters and found that the longer customers used the service, the more likely they were to start paying for it. About 0.5 percent convert to paying customers in the first month. But after about a year, 4 percent have converted. (He says he thinks the figure will top out at about 22 percent.)

Ping - Evernote, a Free Storage App, Seeks More Paying Users - NYTimes.com

The Mediocre Multitasker - NYTimes.com

A timely reality check

“Multitaskers were just lousy at everything,” said Clifford I. Nass, a professor of communication at Stanford and one of the study’s investigators. “It was a complete and total shock to me.”

Initially suspecting that multitaskers possessed some rare and enviable qualities that helped them process simultaneous channels of information, Professor Nass had been “in awe of them,” he said, acknowledging that he himself is “dreadful” at multitasking. “I was sure they had some secret ability. But it turns out that high multitaskers are suckers for irrelevancy.”

The Mediocre Multitasker - NYTimes.com

The Count - An Online Outlet for Creating and Socializing - NYTimes.com

Excerpt from/summary of a recent Forrester report

Most growth in social networking is occurring among adults 35 and older, Forrester says. Four of five adults of all ages now use social media, including blogs, social networks and review sites, in some form at least monthly; half visit social networking sites. Time waster or not, social media are a phenomenon that is now nearly impossible to ignore.

The Count - An Online Outlet for Creating and Socializing - NYTimes.com

In Apple’s Ad War, Microsoft Has Started to Fight Back - NYTimes.com

Read the full article for more context-setting.  

As a result, some analysts have argued that the Microsoft campaign has failed. But they, too, may be too hasty. We are only weeks away from the Oct. 22 release of Windows 7, which may undo much of the company’s self-inflicted damage from Vista. PC users, many of whom skipped buying Vista machines, could be holding off until then to buy. And the introduction of Windows 7 will be accompanied by yet another Crispin Porter ad blitz.

“You are not so embarrassed to take your PC out of the bag on a plane anymore,” said Mr. Reilly at the ad agency. “It’s actually kind of cool that you do. I know this is working.”

In Apple’s Ad War, Microsoft Has Started to Fight Back - NYTimes.com

Oracle could deal Sun hardware to HP - Big Tech - Fortune Brainstorm Tech

I continue to believe this is a sensible scenario (via Dave Kellogg)

It’s no secret that Larry Ellison wanted Sun Microsystems (JAVA) for its software, not its servers. Regulatory filings show that before the hard-charging Oracle (ORCL) CEO put together his successful $5.6 billion offer and outbid IBM (IBM) for Sun in April, another party was kicking the tires as well.

One of the worst kept secrets in Silicon Valley is, that someone was Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) CEO Mark Hurd.

Since then, though, Ellison has said that he intends to keep all of Sun for himself.

But maybe he doesn’t. A person with knowledge of the communication between Oracle and HP suggested to me recently that Oracle still might deal those hardware assets to HP. And you know what? It could be a fine idea for both of them.

Oracle could deal Sun hardware to HP - Big Tech - Fortune Brainstorm Tech

Blogger Buzz: Share from Nav Bar

In case you’re wondering about the nav bar changes

Starting yesterday, the Blogger Navbar includes a new button: "Share."

When your readers are on your blog's home page, they can click "Share" to post the blog's URL to Twitter, Facebook, or Google Reader. If they navigate directly to an individual blog post, clicking "Share" in the navbar also lets them share the post by email.

Blogger Buzz: Share from Nav Bar

Tennis officials a-Twitter: US Open players warned - Yahoo! News

Sign of the times

Watch what you tweet.

That's the message tennis authorities are delivering as the U.S. Open gets set to start Monday, telling players and their entourages to be careful about what they post on the social networking site Twitter.

Signs are being posted in the players' lounge, locker rooms and referee's office at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center with the header: "Important. Player Notice. Twitter Warning."

The signs, written by the Tennis Integrity Unit, point out that Twitter messages could violate the sport's anti-corruption rules.

Tennis officials a-Twitter: US Open players warned - Yahoo! News

Tablet Computers Are Coming Soon, Nvidia Says - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

I’m looking forward to seeing the new tablet devices this fall

The beauty of Tegra is that while it works well in small hand-held devices like the Zune, it can really strut its stuff in larger devices like a tablet, according to Michael Rayfield, general manager of Nvidia’s mobile business.

“Zune HD is a great showcase of what’s possible,” Mr. Rayfield said. “Tegra does great graphics on large displays. We have partners that are building these tablets that range from about 7 inches to 13 inches,” he said, referring to the diagonal screen size of the devices.

Tablet Computers Are Coming Soon, Nvidia Says - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Parallels Starts Its Own Apple Switch Campaign - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

The latest in virtualization: user videos and reference cards.  See the full article for background on Parallels and its founder.

But the heart of the switching software revolves around some more basic things. For one, Parallels has video tutorials on how to use a Mac and how to find Windows-type functions on a Mac. I’ve seen the videos in action, and they’re pretty slick as far as these types of tutorials go. The videos try to keep up with your learning curve by presenting fairly detailed menus that let you skip around to various parts of lessons.

To complement the videos, there’s also a reference card that provides common Windows and Mac commands. And, as you might expect, Parallels ships a cable with the software for shuffling files over from a PC to a Mac.

Parallels Starts Its Own Apple Switch Campaign - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Coupons You Don’t Clip, Sent to Your Cellphone - NYTimes.com

See the full article for more details. 

Mobile coupons — usually text messages with discount codes sent to a cellphone — are becoming the blue-light specials for the digital age, promoting last-minute clothing sales, two-for-one entrees and cheap tickets to the theater.

While some mobile coupons are sent directly from a retailer to a customer who has signed up for mobile updates, the other way for bargain-seekers to get up-to-the-minute deals is to subscribe to a mobile-coupon aggregator.

Coupons You Don’t Clip, Sent to Your Cellphone - NYTimes.com

Is the Google Books Settlement Evil?: Jennifer Massoni | Vanity Fair

Via Slate, which posted the following summary (Slate’s new weirdly-named Slatest is definitely worth exploring):

Google's project to scan millions of books hit a $125 million bump in 2005, when unions representing authors and publishers sued the company for copyright violation. Last October, Google and the plaintiffs agreed to a $125 million settlement, in which authors and publishers would get royalties from Google Books' profit in return for allowing the scanning to continue. Individual authors can opt out, forfeiting the royalties but also preventing their works from appearing on Google Books. Only about 2,000 authors have opted out ahead of the Sept. 4 deadline, but that's because the rest don't know how hard they'll be screwed, Jennifer Massoni finds in Vanity Fair. The inscrutable language of the settlement obscures the fact that the proposed system would be a bureaucratic mess that will wrest away control of authors' books and that lawyers' fees are already draining the fund of cash. In the end, the average author who doesn't opt out will get about $60 to $300 in return for the massive headache.

Is the Google Books Settlement Evil?: Jennifer Massoni | Vanity Fair

Reshaping Cisco: The world according to Chambers | The Economist

Excellent Cisco snapshot from The Economist; read the full article 

The company has not been immune from the world’s latest bout of economic troubles. In the quarter that ended in July its profit, $1.1 billion, was 45% lower than a year before. But Cisco, which had revenues of $36 billion in its latest financial year and employs more than 66,000 people, has been making headlines again for different reasons as well. “Cisco plans big push into server market,” read one in January. Another, in March, declared: “Cisco pushes further into consumer territory.” More recently a third said: “Cisco: smart grid will eclipse the size of internet.”

In other words, the plumber is branching out. As well as making these unexpected forays away from selling network gear, Cisco is exploring other sidelines. From “virtual health care” to “cloud computing” and “safety and security” to “routers in space”, the company is tackling more than 30 “market adjacencies”, as new areas of growth are called in the corporate argot. Mr Chambers expects to keep adding more. He hopes that at least half will be successful and generate 25% of Cisco’s revenues within five to ten years.

[…]

Reshaping Cisco: The world according to Chambers | The Economist

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: Snow Leopard reviews: Buggy, glitchy, and David Pogue loves it!

A timely Fake Steve reality check; read the full post 

Pogue and Goatberg are back in full hypnosis mode. Both finds loads of bugs and suffer countless problems, like drivers and apps that don't work -- basically, the kind of stuff that you should expect with beta software. Except, um, this is going out on all Macs, starting tomorrow. Goatberg needed an Apple employee to help get his "seamless" integrated Exchange connection working, and concedes, "you likely won't have that aid." Both hacks concede there are not a lot of compelling new features.
Conclusion: A smash hit!

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs: Snow Leopard reviews: Buggy, glitchy, and David Pogue loves it!

Facebook Moves to Improve Privacy and Transparency - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Glad to see this

The changes are in response to an investigation by Canada’s privacy commission, which found that Facebook gave “confusing or incomplete” privacy information to subscribers and gave developers “virtually unrestricted access to Facebook users’ personal information.”

Over the next 12 months, Facebook will make several changes to its privacy policy and to messages on the site that inform users about their control over their personal information when they join, deactivate or delete an account or sign up to use an application.

Facebook Moves to Improve Privacy and Transparency - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

FT.com / Technology - Apple approves Spotify’s rival music service

A major Apple milestone

Apple on Thursday approved a fast-growing rival’s request to sell access to music on the iPhone, a surprising embrace of competition that could have resulted from increased scrutiny of its clout.

Apple confirmed that Spotify, a digital music subscription company that was founded in Sweden, could soon offer phone owners a program through Apple’s online App Store. Spotify offers a free version with commercials and a premium service without them, and the iPhone version will be of the second variety, people familiar with it said.

FT.com / Technology - Apple approves Spotify’s rival music service

Business & Technology | Sony backs Google Book in settlement | Seattle Times Newspaper

A big gamble for Sony, in many respects

Sony's position puts it at odds with Amazon, which with a coalition that includes Microsoft and Yahoo, argues that Google is trying to control the access and distribution of the largest database of books in the world. The settlement also has generated complaints from authors and independent publishers, and prompted investigations by the European Commission and U.S. Justice Department.

With Sony taking the side of Google, the debate over the lawsuit in New York could become a proxy war over electronic book readers. In March, Sony gained access to more than 500,000 e-book titles for its readers through an agreement with Google.

Business & Technology | Sony backs Google Book in settlement | Seattle Times Newspaper

Ex-Forrester Analysts Resurface at Consulting Firm - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

It’ll be interesting to see how this alters Forrester’s modus operandi

Forrester Research, the big technology research company, has recently lost three of its star analysts. They have now resurfaced at Altimeter Group, a consulting firm that helps big companies figure out how to use new technologies.

Jeremiah Owyang, Charlene Li and Ray Wang made names for themselves at Forrester as savvy thinkers about technology. It turns out they got tired of researching the ways in which businesses can better use technology and became eager to help businesses actually do so.

Ex-Forrester Analysts Resurface at Consulting Firm - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Google Book Search? Try Google Library | Relevant Results - CNET News

The basic issue: is Google a natural monopoly for indexing digital content?

At issue are concerns over privacy, quality, and Google's intent with the project, the only one of its kind in the U.S. to receive the legal authority to scan books that are out of print but under copyright protection--estimated by the Internet Archive to comprise 50 percent to 70 percent of all books published since 1923.

Almost from the day it was announced, the settlement has drawn scorn and scrutiny from authors, library groups, industry associations like the newly formed Open Book Alliance, and even the Department of Justice. Many are concerned that the settlement gives a private organization the sole right to essentially create and control a public good--a digital library--without explicit responsibilities to maintain that public good outlined in the settlement.

Google Book Search? Try Google Library | Relevant Results - CNET News

Data Deluge Swamps Science Historians - WSJ.com

Interesting times

Usually, historians are hard-pressed to find any original source material about those who have shaped our civilization. In the Internet era, scholars of science might have too much. Never have so many people generated so much digital data or been able to lose so much of it so quickly, experts at the San Diego Supercomputer Center say. Computer users world-wide generate enough digital data every 15 minutes to fill the U.S. Library of Congress.

In fact, more technical data have been collected in the past year alone than in all previous years since science began, says Johns Hopkins astrophysicist Alexander Szalay, an authority on large data sets and their impact on science. "The data is doubling every year," Dr. Szalay says.

Data Deluge Swamps Science Historians - WSJ.com

Italy antitrust probes Google on coercion claim by Reuters: Yahoo! Tech

See a pattern or two emerging yet?…

Italy's anti-trust watchdog said on Thursday it was opening an investigation into Google's Italian news website after local papers complained that they were forced to appear on the site. (http://news.google.it)

The competition authority said the Italian Federation of Newspaper Editors had complained that any publication that did not agree to appear on the website "would automatically be excluded from Google's search engine."

Italy antitrust probes Google on coercion claim by Reuters: Yahoo! Tech

Inside Google Books: Download Over a Million Public Domain Books from Google Books in the Open EPUB Format

Google Books adds a format option

I'm excited to announce that starting today, Google Books will offer free downloads of these and more than one million more public domain books in an additional format, EPUB. By adding support for EPUB downloads, we're hoping to make these books more accessible by helping people around the world to find and read them in more places. More people are turning to new reading devices to access digital books, and many such phones, netbooks, and e-ink readers have smaller screens that don't readily render image-based PDF versions of the books we've scanned. EPUB is a lightweight text-based digital book format that allows the text to automatically conform (or "reflow") to these smaller screens. And because EPUB is a free, open standard supported by a growing ecosystem of digital reading devices, works you download from Google Books as EPUBs won't be tied to or locked into a particular device. We'll also continue to make available these books in the popular PDF format so you can see images of the pages just as they appear in the printed book.

Inside Google Books: Download Over a Million Public Domain Books from Google Books in the Open EPUB Format

FIRST LOOK: New Mac software not a dramatic change - Boston.com

More on Apple’s latest upgrade; see the full article for a detailed list of updates

What's the catch? Well, part of the reason Snow Leopard can promise faster, better applications is that it's designed for Macs with Intel chips, which Apple started using in early 2006. It won't run on older Macs with the previous PowerPC family of chips. The launch of the new operating system is a hint to get a new computer.

FIRST LOOK: New Mac software not a dramatic change - Boston.com

Witty tweets captured in 'Twitter Wit' book by AFP: Yahoo! Tech

Sign of the times…

A freshly released book "Twitter Wit" is a hit at the hip micro-blogging service, which so loved the compendium of clever tweets that it bought copies for everyone in its San Francisco headquarters.

"The tweets are irreverent, inappropriate, geeky, and pretty much hilarious," Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said in a message at the firm's website. "If you don't like one, you'll like the next."

Author Nick Douglas got permission to publish a collection of tweets that the book touts as "Brilliance in 140 Characters Or Less."

Tweets in the book include: "The baggage carousel sounds a lot more fun than it really is."

Witty tweets captured in 'Twitter Wit' book by AFP: Yahoo! Tech

Is Google Entering the Mortgage Quote Business? - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

More details on what appears to be Google’s latest co-opetition dilemma

Google plans to begin offering loan quotes online as early as this month, a lawsuit filed in federal court this week claims. The suit was filed by LendingTree, which offers consumers mortgage quotes and conditional loan offers online, against Mortech, a company that provides some of the technology that powers the LendingTree service. Google is not a party to the case.

But according to the complaint, filed in United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, Mortech plans to make its technology available to Google, which, in turn, plans to release a service that competes with LendingTree. The complaint alleges that would be a violation of a contract between LendingTree and Mortech.

Is Google Entering the Mortgage Quote Business? - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Bing Travel Holiday Forecast: Thanksgiving and Christmas Fares Down More Than 17 Percent: Holiday travelers receive the gift of lower fares and lower hotel rates.

See the full press release for some interesting data analysis

Today the Fareologists at Bing Travel (http://www.bing.com/travel) issued a preliminary outlook for the 2009 holiday travel season, uncovering a holiday season that is distinctly more traveler-friendly than the 2008 season. This year, airfare for Thanksgiving travel to domestic destinations averages $327, down 22 percent from 2008 and virtually on par with 2007 fares. Christmas and New Year’s holiday airfare to domestic destinations averages $353, down 17 percent from this point in 2008, but still about 8 percent above 2007 fares.

Bing Travel Holiday Forecast: Thanksgiving and Christmas Fares Down More Than 17 Percent: Holiday travelers receive the gift of lower fares and lower hotel rates.

State of the Art - A Leap Forward With Snow Leopard - NYTimes.com

Interesting times in the desktop OS business; read the full article 

Apple’s release strategy is highly unorthodox: “Leopard, a k a Mac OS X 10.5, was already a great OS-virus-free, nag-free and not copy-protected. So instead of adding features for their own sake, let’s just make what we’ve got smaller, faster and more refined.”

What? No new features? That’s not how the industry works! Doesn’t Apple know anything?

And then there’s the price of Snow Leopard: $30.

State of the Art - A Leap Forward With Snow Leopard - NYTimes.com

LendingTree Suit Claims Google Is Getting Into Mortgages - Digits - WSJ

Interesting times…

A suit filed on Tuesday by online mortgage company LendingTree relies on a provocative premise: Google is getting into the loan aggregation business.

The suit, filed in a Charlotte federal court, is against a company called Mortech, which provides a technology that LendingTree uses to automate lender offer pricing. LendingTree says it has an exclusive contract with Mortech, but it recently discovered that the company was also working with Google — which LendingTree claims plans to launch a loan aggregation service in late August or early September.

Google declined to comment on the suit. As for its plans in the mortgage business, a spokesman said, “we are currently working on a small ad unit test that will run against a limited number of mortgage-related search queries in the U.S.”

LendingTree Suit Claims Google Is Getting Into Mortgages - Digits - WSJ

Airlines Install Wi-Fi on Planes, but Customers Are Reluctant to Sign On - WSJ.com

See the full article for more details.  I’ve used Gogo on a few American Airlines flights – definitely habit-forming, but also not a great option without in-seat power.

"There's a very substantial decline in passenger usage the minute you start charging for the service,'' said Michael Planey, a consultant specializing in in-flight passenger technologies. "It really begins to invalidate the model on which this service is being built for the next 10 years."

Another potential obstacle: lack of power ports on planes. Many road warriors already carry extra batteries for their computers and battery life has been getting longer. But connecting wirelessly can drain power, and airlines have been slow to retrofit power outlets into aircraft.

Airlines Install Wi-Fi on Planes, but Customers Are Reluctant to Sign On - WSJ.com

Microsoft Cuts Price of Xbox 360 - WSJ.com

Playing for keeps

Microsoft Corp. is slashing the price of the high-end Xbox 360 console by $100, matching Sony's $100 price cut for the PlayStation 3 last week.

Now, both the Xbox 360 Elite and the PS3 will cost $299. The price cuts in both cases are world-wide, though the exact amounts vary by region depending on currencies.

Microsoft Cuts Price of Xbox 360 - WSJ.com

VG: 2.25 +0.66 (41.39%) - Vonage Holdings Corp.

This looks like it’s going to become an interesting case study in insider trading and/or the latest penny stock pump-and-dump techniques; the stock is up from ~$.50/share Monday, with no major news reports over the last few days.

 

VG: 2.25 +0.66 (41.39%) - Vonage Holdings Corp.

50 Fantastic Bing Tricks for Students & Librarians | Online Colleges

Some useful tips

Bing has made quite an entrance in the Internet search world. This new way of searching provides quick and easy shortcuts that don’t always require reading through lists of websites and clicking on each one to find what you want. Check out the following tricks to see how Bing can help students and librarians find the information they need in a snap.

50 Fantastic Bing Tricks for Students & Librarians | Online Colleges

Wired takes on Craigslist founder, who promptly walks into a door | VentureBeat

See the full post for more details and the link below for the Wired cover story

Wired writer Gary Wolf has done the best job ever of capturing the enigmatic, inspiring, yet clumsy personality of Craigslist founder Craig Newmark. If you’ve ever met Craig at a party and found it hard to hold a conversation with him, don’t feel bad. Charlie Rose had the same problem on national TV.

Wolf’s assessment of Newmark’s business is that Craigslist has refused to evolve, in part because Newmark is happier replying to customer support email than managing product development. “Aside from his communication problems and an aversion to exerting authority,” Wolf writes, “he care[s] nothing for entrepreneurship.” As a result, Craigslist blooms with a thousand kinds of flowers, but also a lot of weeds

Wired takes on Craigslist founder, who promptly walks into a door | VentureBeat

I, Cringely » Blog Archive » Neutron Bomb - Cringely on technology

Another timely IBM reality check – read the full post 

The new reality at IBM is that if you’re brilliant, work really hard, and earn a world-class degree from a U.S. university, IBM may well have a job for you at one of its U.S. research sites working as a “complementary worker.” But don’t expect that job to last for long. Be prepared to ship out to India or China as a “long-term supplemental worker” after you’ve soaked up knowledge for 13 months.

Newsweek recently reported that IBM, HP, Accenture, and others are finding it profitable to detach from the United States (even patenting the process).

“IBM is one of the multinationals that propelled America to the apex of its power, and it is now emblematic of the process of creative destruction pushing America to a new, less dominant, and less comfortable position,” Newsweek said.

This is the HR equivalent of a neutron bomb, which kills people but leaves structures unscathed. So all these companies will be leaner and meaner — mean enough that there may be nobody left to buy their products.

I, Cringely » Blog Archive » Neutron Bomb - Cringely on technology

vowe dot net :: Lotus knows that yellow is the new aircover

A timely IBM Lotus reality check from Volker Weber (see the full post for more context-setting and comments)

But it's only a means to an end. Lotus said, they wanted ideas. And for those who have been hanging around for a while, many, many of those ideas were somewhat familiar. Actually, Lotus has been told these ideas for years on end. Don't do fluffy brand marketing, show the product, involve students and universities, make Lotus technology available for home users, etc. etc.

I have asked last week why there was so little attendance by the German community. I gave a few reasons, but the biggest ones came back in emails. "Why do I have to tell Lotus again?" - "NATO - No Action Talk Only", etc. etc.

So now it is time for action. There has been plenty of talk. Remember "yellow is the new black" from a past Lotusphere closing session? Ended up as mail footer. Or "air cover" from a more recent? Nothing happened. But, boy, is it going to happen. The ball is in IBM's court.

vowe dot net :: Lotus knows that yellow is the new aircover

Official Google Blog: Finding great stuff to read with Google Reader

Social syndication

Since then, Reader has launched several sharing features that make it easier to find and subscribe to feeds that your friends like, and we thought that recommendations could make finding good stuff to read even easier. This time, instead of asking our friends, we approached leaders across a variety of fields and asked them what they read online. We received lots of great responses, which we've collected into our second edition of Power Readers. In this edition, we've expanded from Power Readers in Politics to include journalists, techies, fashion critics, foodies and more. We hope this will be a good place to find great things to read, whether you already have an extensive reading list or are totally new to Google Reader.

Official Google Blog: Finding great stuff to read with Google Reader

Why Adults Have Fueled Twitter’s Growth - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Seems reasonable to me; see the full post and related story for more details

There are many reasons that teenagers use Twitter less than adults do, including fundamental differences between what teenagers and adults want online and between Twitter and other sites like Facebook. (I take a deeper look at these reasons in a story in Wednesday’s paper).

But one big reason for the disparity is simple: When Twitter became popular, teenagers already had their favorite Web sites for communicating, so they were not interested in a new one. The people who discovered Twitter were adults who were new to social networking.

Why Adults Have Fueled Twitter’s Growth - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

How Social Media Help People Find Stolen Bikes - WSJ.com

Sign of the times

When Heather McKibbon's bike was stolen in May, she didn't just get angry. She decided to get it back.

The 29-year-old project manager at a Toronto consulting firm alerted people to the theft through the social-networking site Facebook. Just hours later, a friend replied with a link to a bike for sale that looked like her own $1,300 Cannondale touring bike on eBay's Kijiji, an online classified-ads site. Ms. McKibbon recognized her bike and, posing as an interested buyer, arranged to meet the seller at a local subway station. She brought the police along as well, resulting in a small-scale sting operation.

How Social Media Help People Find Stolen Bikes - WSJ.com

Novell’s claim to Linux copyright in jeopardy - The Boston Globe

Not just Novell’s – an excerpt:

IBM had bought SCO’s Unix software, but in 2003 SCO sued IBM saying it misappropriated SCO’s software by adding key portions of it to the free Linux operating system. SCO said IBM’s actions gave Linux many of the same advanced capabilities as SCO Unix, thus reducing SCO’s software sales.

But after the ruling in the Novell case, SCO lost its claim to ownership of Unix, and no longer had grounds to sue IBM. Shortly after the ruling, SCO filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.

Now, the Appeals Court ruling has revived the IBM lawsuit, according to SCO chief executive Darl McBride. “It was two grueling, grinding years,’’ said McBride. “A lot of people predicted we would never make it to this point.’’

Novell’s claim to Linux copyright in jeopardy - The Boston Globe

Novell, SCO welcome return to court over Unix copyright | NetworkWorld.com Community

John Fontana’s take on the latest UNIX lawyer full-employment-act development

Both SCO and Novell are anticipating their next day in court to settle who owns Unix copyrights after a judge Monday overturned a 2007 decision that favored Novell.

In a 54-page decision, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals said it was reversing the 2007 summary judgment decision by U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball of the District Court for the District of Utah that Novell was the owner of Unix and UnixWare copyrights.

The case was sent back to trial.

Novell, SCO welcome return to court over Unix copyright | NetworkWorld.com Community

CenterStage - How EMC is Taking on Microsoft SharePoint

EMC tries to evolve eRoom-related concepts, with a new collaboration offering predicated on Documentum.  In the meantime, EMC is also a Microsoft award-winning SharePoint service provider.

The face of enterprise content management is taking many forms today. The need for knowledge workers to leverage an ECM's capabilities while at the same time leverage Web 2.0 tools for better collaboration, has led to a number of new Enterprise 2.0 solutions from ECM vendors.

EMC's Lance Shaw, Group Product Marketing Manager, Knowledge Worker Applications, says that CenterStage, an enterprise collaboration tool, is not meant to be a direct competitor to SharePoint. But looking at what it is and what it does, one can easily draw the comparison and see why a organization would implement it instead of SharePoint.

CenterStage - How EMC is Taking on Microsoft SharePoint

Microsoft OneApp Connects Emerging Markets to Popular Mobile Phone Apps

An intriguing software + services scenario; see the full press release for more details and an overview video

Microsoft today is launching OneApp, a new software application that allows “feature phones” to run popular mobile phone applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Windows Live Messenger and Mobile Wallet.

Feature phones are mobile phones that are capable of running some apps but that lack the capabilities of smartphones.

Microsoft OneApp Connects Emerging Markets to Popular Mobile Phone Apps

Jobs, Back at Apple, Focuses on New Tablet - WSJ.com

This article is a disturbing example of recent WSJ trends, imho; it’s mostly a recap of Apple Tablet-related rumors, with little information value-add, and the author felt compelled to include the following:

Mr. Jobs, in an email, said "much of your information is incorrect," but didn't provide specifics. A spokesman for Apple, Cupertino, Calif., declined to comment.

… but ran with the article anyway.

Jobs, Back at Apple, Focuses on New Tablet - WSJ.com

Wikipedia Will Limit Changes on Articles About Living People - NYTimes.com

Check the full article for more details on this Wikipedia milestone

The new feature, called “flagged revisions,” will require that an experienced volunteer editor for Wikipedia sign off on any change made by the public before it can go live. Until the change is approved — or in Wikispeak, flagged — it will sit invisibly on Wikipedia’s servers, and visitors will be directed to the earlier version.

The change is part of a growing realization on the part of Wikipedia’s leaders that as the site grows more influential, they must transform its embrace-the-chaos culture into something more mature and dependable.

Wikipedia Will Limit Changes on Articles About Living People - NYTimes.com

Unix ruling overturned - The Boston Globe

SCO lives another day – see the full article for details

A federal Appeals Court yesterday reversed a judge’s decision that granted the copyright of the Unix computer operating system to Novell Inc.

A three-judge panel of the 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a judge erred in August 2007 by granting the copyright to Novell. The panel ordered a trial to determine ownership.

Unix ruling overturned - The Boston Globe

WinInfo: Did Apple Just Lie to the FCC?

Check the full post for what appears to be the latest reality distortion field example

Apple and AT&T have officially responded to a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) query about Apple's rejection of a Google Voice application on the iPhone. And contrary to weeks of widespread insinuations and accusations from the Apple-friendly press, AT&T has declared for a second time that it had absolutely nothing to do with the rejection. Apple, meanwhile, has issued a contradictory and damning statement to the FCC while explaining away the incident. Even considering Apple's hubris, this is a surprising move. Apple, you see, has apparently just lied to the FCC.

Did Apple Just Lie to the FCC?

Nokia gets into the Netbook game | Crave - CNET

See the full article for more details, pictures, and a Nokia video.  It will be interesting to see if RIM makes a similar play.

A week doesn't go by without another electronics giant deciding to hop on the overcrowded Netbook bandwagon. Still, it's unusual when a phone manufacturer decides to cross over. Nokia, long rumored to be getting into 3G mini-laptops or "smartbooks," has finally announced a very real 10-inch Netbook.

Called the Booklet 3G, it has a clear design relationship with its phone line, while still being an honest-to-goodness laptop (as opposed to some sort of smartphone hybrid). Running an Atom Z530 processor instead of the more common N270, it also has:

Nokia gets into the Netbook game | Crave - CNET

FT.com / Companies - AT&T can block cheap net calls on iPhone

I suspect this will ultimately become another chapter in the “Dawn of the Stupid Network” story

The terms in AT&T’s exclusive US contract to provide connections for Apple’s iPhone give the telecommunications giant the power to veto online store applications that use AT&T to launch cheap calls through the Internet, the companies disclosed late Friday.

So far, the alliance has limited the use of approved Voice over Internet Protocol applications, including Skype’s, to WiFi hotspots, so as not to undercut AT&T’s model of charging for calls. But AT&T said “We plan to take a fresh look at possibly authorizing VoIP capabilities on the iPhone for use on AT&T’s 3G networks.”

FT.com / Companies - AT&T can block cheap net calls on iPhone

Business & Technology | Cisco move extends empire | Seattle Times Newspaper

An interesting foray for Cisco

Cisco is extending its empire into pop culture with its new Eos social-entertainment platform of software tools for media companies to host their own networking sites for artists, actors and movies.

Cisco and entertainment executives say it has the potential to change the relationship between entertainers and fans. They also say it will help media companies capitalize on the digital era and restore revenue declines from piracy and changing consumer behavior, such as ditching higher-margin music CDs for single songs bought online.

Business & Technology | Cisco move extends empire | Seattle Times Newspaper

Opposition Grows in Europe to Google Book Deal - NYTimes.com

Hmm…

While some big European publishers, like the Oxford University Press and Bertelsmann (which owns Random House) and Georg von Holtzbrinck (the owner of Macmillan), support the agreement, there is widespread opposition among French publishers. The German government, supported by national collection societies in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Spain, plans to argue against it and encourage writers to pull out of the agreement.

A United States District Court has set a Sept. 4 deadline for submissions on the settlement and plans to hold a hearing Oct. 7.

Opposition Grows in Europe to Google Book Deal - NYTimes.com

Sentiment Analysis Takes the Pulse of the Internet - NYTimes.com

A timely snapshot

The rise of blogs and social networks has fueled a bull market in personal opinion: reviews, ratings, recommendations and other forms of online expression. For computer scientists, this fast-growing mountain of data is opening a tantalizing window onto the collective consciousness of Internet users.

An emerging field known as sentiment analysis is taking shape around one of the computer world’s unexplored frontiers: translating the vagaries of human emotion into hard data.

Sentiment Analysis Takes the Pulse of the Internet - NYTimes.com

Digital Domain - In Its Finance Site, Yahoo Leaves Google in the Dust - NYTimes.com

See the full article for a timely reality check.  p.s. I was on vacation last week but should get back to my normal post frequency starting tomorrow.

GOOGLE has an outsize image as the deft master of information. Its superior technology seems to pitilessly grind up its rivals. But Google’s domination in search has proved hard for it to match in some information domains. When serving financial news and information, for example, Yahoo draws 17.5 times the traffic of Google, according to comScore Media Metrix.

Digital Domain - In Its Finance Site, Yahoo Leaves Google in the Dust - NYTimes.com

More Employers Use Social Networks to Check Out Applicants - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

A timely reality check; see the full post for more details

According to a new study conducted by Harris Interactive for CareerBuilder.com, 45 percent of employers questioned are using social networks to screen job candidates — more than double from a year earlier, when a similar survey found that just 22 percent of supervisors were researching potential hires on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and LinkedIn.

More Employers Use Social Networks to Check Out Applicants - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Google Wave (Developer Preview) - Full Review - Reviews by PC Magazine

Another Wave perspective

If ever there was a solution looking for a problem, Google Wave is it. At first blush, I love the motivating concept behind it: What would e-mail look like if snail mail had never existed? But, in fact, regular e-mail already radically differs from the traditional kind: You can send to multiple recipients at once, use blind carbon copies, read and answer from anywhere, attach any kind of files, and instantly edit and format. What Google Wave really does is combine e-mail with instant messaging and real-time collaboration. It's really more a rich, recordable group chat. That's intriguing in itself, but Google Wave's real value may come when developers build on top of it using its open API.

Google Wave (Developer Preview) - Full Review - Reviews by PC Magazine

Tech's Bigs Put Google's Books Deal In Crosshairs - WSJ.com

Stimulus/response…

Three technology heavyweights and some library associations are joining a coalition led by a prominent Silicon Valley lawyer to challenge Google Inc.'s settlement with authors and publishers.

Peter Brantley, a director at coalition co-founder Internet Archive said the group, whose members will be formally disclosed in the next couple of weeks, is being co-led by Gary Reback, a Silicon Valley lawyer involved in the Department of Justice's antitrust investigation against Microsoft Corp. last decade. Microsoft, Amazon.com Inc. and Yahoo Inc. have agreed to join the group. Mr. Reback did not reply to requests for comment.

Microsoft and Yahoo confirmed their participation. Amazon declined to comment.

Tech's Bigs Put Google's Books Deal In Crosshairs - WSJ.com

Twitter will add location to Tweets - The Boston Globe

A new opportunity to easily over-share…

Twitter, the social-networking service that delivers 140-character messages, will soon let users share their location when they post Tweets.

The feature, which relies on the global positioning system, will require users’ permission to show locations, said Biz Stone, cofounder of Twitter Inc. “It records location along with every Tweet,’’ he said. “It allows for some really interesting context.’’

Twitter will add location to Tweets - The Boston Globe

Mint Moves Into Retirement Savings, Adds Richer Analytics - NYTimes.com

An impressive free service expands

Personal finance site Mint.com is moving into retirement savings and adding richer analytics to track your net worth as part of a push into higher-ticket items and long-term financial goals.

Launched two years ago, the Mountain View-based company started as a place to sync your bank accounts and watch credit card spending. Since then, it’s attracted 1.4 million users, added mortgage and investment tracking and raised $31 million in funding in three rounds. That includes a $14 million Series C-round last week.

Mint Moves Into Retirement Savings, Adds Richer Analytics - NYTimes.com

Three Indicted in Largest Card Theft Ring to Be Prosecuted - NYTimes.com

See the full article for more details

In an indictment, the Justice Department said that Albert Gonzalez, 28, of Miami and two unnamed Russian conspirators made off with more than 130 million credit and debit card numbers from late 2006 to early 2008.

Prosecutors called it the largest case of computer crime and identity theft ever prosecuted. According to the government, the culprits infiltrated the computer networks of Heartland Payment Systems, a payment processor in Princeton, N.J.; 7-Eleven Inc.; Hannaford Brothers, a regional supermarket chain; and two unnamed national retailers.

Three Indicted in Largest Card Theft Ring to Be Prosecuted - NYTimes.com

The Paper That Doesn’t Want to Be Free - NYTimes.com

Sign of the times…  It looks like I’ll be getting most of my news from The Economist…

“It was pretty lonely out there for a while in paid land,” he said last week. “But it has become pretty clear that advertising alone is not going to sustain online business models. Quality journalism has to be paid for.”

Now The Financial Times is adding to its paid-content strategy with a plan to accept micropayments for individual articles, as an alternative to a subscription.

And one by one, other publishers are starting to see wisdom in the paper’s ways. Rupert Murdoch, chief executive of the News Corporation, said this month that the company intended to charge for all its news Web sites. That plan would have the company’s major newspapers in the United States, Britain and Australia joining their sister newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, which already charges for access to most of its site.

The Paper That Doesn’t Want to Be Free - NYTimes.com

Google and Microsoft Battle for College E-Mail - TIME

See the full article for a timely snapshot

Students have been howling that school e-mail accounts are too small to handle their daily deluge of mail and attachments. To address that problem, a growing number of colleges and universities are outsourcing their e-mail. The companies swooping in to manage student accounts for free? Google and Microsoft. Like search, software and operating systems, campuses are a burgeoning battleground for the tech titans.

Google and Microsoft Battle for College E-Mail - TIME

Facebook's Purchase Is Bid to Own Social Media - washingtonpost.com

See the full article for more details

Facebook's purchase of FriendFeed, an obscure social-media platform, is potentially momentous. To understand why, we must understand FriendFeed, a start-up that is ubiquitous among techies and unknown to everybody else. It's a sleek application that acts as a clearinghouse for all of your social-media activities. Post something to Flickr? That will show up on your FriendFeed page. Digg something? FriendFeed will know. Post to Twitter from your phone? FriendFeed will syndicate your tweets. Once you initially tell it where to look, it will collect everything and tell it to the world.

The goal is to make automatic that which is all too annoying to do manually.

Facebook's Purchase Is Bid to Own Social Media - washingtonpost.com

Case against blogger may test limits of free speech - The Boston Globe

I suppose regulations for information quality are out of the question…

Turner’s case will probably test the limits of political speech at a time when incendiary talk is proliferating on broadcast outlets and the Internet, from the microphones of well-known commentators to the keyboards of anonymous webizens. President Obama has been depicted as a Nazi and slain Kansas abortion doctor George Tiller as “Tiller the killer.’’ On guns and abortion, war and torture, taxes and now health care, the commentary feeds off pools of anger that ebb and flow with the zeitgeist.

Case against blogger may test limits of free speech - The Boston Globe

Lenovo bets on China: Where the heart is | The Economist

Another chapter in the disastrous history of IBM’s former (non-server) PC business

IT WAS once seen as a model for Chinese firms eager to take on the world, but is now considered more of a cautionary tale. When Lenovo bought IBM’s ailing personal-computer (PC) division for $1.75 billion in 2005, it transformed itself from the biggest maker of PCs in China into the third-biggest PC-maker in the world and one of the most ubiquitous Chinese brands. But earlier this month the firm reported its third quarterly loss in a row, of $16m. It had lost a total of $361m in the previous two quarters. It is also losing market share: Taiwan’s Acer has surpassed it to become the world’s third-biggest computer-maker. Success in China, it seems, is no guarantee of success abroad.

Lenovo bets on China: Where the heart is | The Economist

The Cultural Revolution: Which Side Are You On? - Innovation Economy - Boston.com

A timely snapshot, via Sim Simeonov

There's a cultural revolution afoot in the Boston innovation economy.

One culture is dying out, and another kind of culture is emerging.

The old culture was clubby and insular. To get funding, you had to know someone who knew someone at one of the venture capital firms perched high atop Mount Money in Waltham. To get anywhere, it helped if you'd already had one or two successes on your résumé.

[…]

The new culture is open, fast-paced, and encouraging of first-time entrepreneurs. It's about blogging and tweeting and digitized networks of people sharing information about what they're interested in, and where they're investing. It's about informal "unconferences" popping up to discuss the latest tech trend. It's populated by people who see the value in having broad networks of friends and acquaintances across lots of companies.

See Sim’s post and the full article for more

The Cultural Revolution: Which Side Are You On? - Innovation Economy - Boston.com

Google Watch - Privacy - Onion News Network: Google Opt-Out Village

Check out the full post for a video link

The Onion News Network has posted a video that should go down as a classic for all Google Watchers: the 22-acre Google Opt-Out Village is for users concerned about Google collecting too much data from their searches and other Web services.

The video pokes fun at how reliant we as a society have gotten on Google.

Once you opt-out of Google, you get picked up and whisked away to a remote mountain village. You house is burned down to eliminate any record of your residence on Google Maps and Street View.

There are no hospitals or banks (because they are also monitored by Google) so people have to be entirely self-reliant, growing food, suturing wounds and burying their dead.

The opt-out village also includes 30-foot walls and is completely enclosed by metal to avoid satellite snooping.

Google Watch - Privacy - Onion News Network: Google Opt-Out Village

Flush With Cash and Fearing Tighter Rules, Major Carriers Shun Broadband Stimulus - washingtonpost.com

Check the full article for details

As the Aug. 20 deadline nears to apply for $4.7 billion in broadband grants, AT&T, Verizon and Comcast are unlikely to go for the stimulus money, sources close to the companies said.

Their reasons are varied. All three say they are flush with cash, enough to upgrade and expand their broadband networks on their own. Some say taking money could draw unwanted scrutiny of business practices and compensation, as seen with automakers and banks that have taken government bailouts. And privately, some companies are griping about conditions attached to the money, including a net-neutrality rule that they say would prevent them from managing traffic on their networks in the way they want.

Flush With Cash and Fearing Tighter Rules, Major Carriers Shun Broadband Stimulus - washingtonpost.com

Netscape Founder Backs New Browser - NYTimes.com

I wonder if this qualifies as the start of Bubble 3.0.  See the full article for more deeply nested details.

Mr. Andreessen appears to want a rematch. Now a prominent Silicon Valley financier, Mr. Andreessen is backing a start-up called RockMelt, staffed with some of his close associates, that is building a new Internet browser, according to people with knowledge of his investment.

“We have backed a really good team,” Mr. Andreessen said in an interview earlier this summer. A moment later, Mr. Andreessen appeared to regret his comment, saying he was not ready to talk about any aspect of the company.

Netscape Founder Backs New Browser - NYTimes.com

Microsoft Sets Zune HD Pricing - WSJ.com

More Zune HD details

Expected to hit stores Sept. 15, the new Zune HD model features an iPhone-like touch screen, Internet browser and high-definition video.

The 16-gigabyte model is making its debut at $219.99, compared with $299 for the 16-gigabyte iPod touch. The Zune's 32-gigabyte model is set at $289.99, while the comparable iPod touch is priced at $399.

And while the earliest iterations of the Zune were mocked in some quarters for their relatively bulky design, the newest Zune will boast a sleeker, edgier aspect, according to images posted on a company Web site.

Microsoft Sets Zune HD Pricing - WSJ.com

Poor Google Knol Has Gone From A Wikipedia Killer To A Craigslist Wannabe

Check the full post for more details

We’ve known for a while that Google’s Knol is no Wikipedia killer, but now the knowledge-sharing site is being reduced to a sad Craigslist wannabe. The original idea behind Knol was that people could collaboratively write definitive articles about any topic they like and get rewarded by earning a share of the AdSense revenues for each page they author. Well, that model doesn’t work so well if nobody bothers to read the articles on Knol no matter how much search karma Google gives them. Quantcast estimates that only 174,000 people visited the site in the past month.

[…]

Sadly, Knol just never panned out. Google should just end its misery, just like it did when it killed other under-performing projects such as Lively and Google Notebooks. Knol will never come close to Wikipedia. It can’t even cut it as a classifieds listing site.

Poor Google Knol Has Gone From A Wikipedia Killer To A Craigslist Wannabe

Microsoft Loses Patent Dispute Over XML Use in Word -- Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine Online

IANAL, but I can’t believe this patent is going to hold up

"XML is clearly in the public domain," said i4i's Chairman Loudon Owen. "What we have developed at i4i is what's customarily referred to as 'customer-centric' or 'custom XML,' which is allowing people to create customer-driven schema -- we'll call it templates or forms. So, while XML is used to tag and to mark the data that's created, our technology is used to create the whole schema and the management of the data."

The invention goes beyond XML, according to Owen.

"XML in and of itself -- just like the letters in the alphabet -- is not terribly useful," he said. "This implementation leverages XML."

The dispute concerned Microsoft Word, but Owen suggested that other applications using the technology might be next.

Microsoft Loses Patent Dispute Over XML Use in Word -- Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine Online

Media Alert: Zune HD Available for Pre-Order Today: Microsoft’s New Portable Digital Media Player Available for Online Pre-Order at Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart and Microsoft Store.

See the full press release for more details

Zune HD, the next generation of Microsoft Corp.’s portable digital media player, is available now for pre-order and is set to hit store shelves on Sept. 15. The player, available in 16GB and 32GB capacities, is the first touch-screen Zune and includes powerful playback technology to give you a different way to experience media on the go. Combined with unparalleled PC software and online services such as Zune Pass, Zune provides a rich and meaningful connection to music, videos, podcasts and more.

Media Alert: Zune HD Available for Pre-Order Today: Microsoft’s New Portable Digital Media Player Available for Online Pre-Order at Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart and Microsoft Store.

Sony Plans to Adopt Common Format for E-Books - NYTimes.com

I suspect this won’t shift the competitive dynamics between Sony and Amazon -- or Sony and Apple

On Thursday, Sony Electronics, which sells e-book devices under the Reader brand, plans to announce that by the end of the year it will sell digital books only in the ePub format, an open standard created by a group including publishers like Random House and HarperCollins.

Sony will also scrap its proprietary anticopying software in favor of technology from the software maker Adobe that restricts how often e-books can be shared or copied.

Sony Plans to Adopt Common Format for E-Books - NYTimes.com

In test of 4G network, Hub to get early look at next-level Web link - The Boston Globe

It’ll be interesting to see the price elasticity curve on this capability

Verizon Wireless has selected Boston and Seattle as the first two US cities to test its new wireless data service, with speeds five to 10 times faster than the service used today by such popular handsets as Apple Inc.’s iPhone.

The new network could mean big changes in the ways people use their smartphones or laptop computers, at home and on the road. Today’s networks, known as 3G, are good enough for checking e-mail or visiting websites, but they’re too slow for high-quality video or real-time video gaming. They can’t match the speed of the hard-wired Internet services offered by telephone and cable TV companies.

In test of 4G network, Hub to get early look at next-level Web link - The Boston Globe

XML Aficionado: Injunction to prevent Microsoft from selling Word due to XML

Check the full post for more insights from Altova CEO Alex Falk

It is interesting to note that the patent appears to deal primarily with representing any document in XML, which appears to be slightly ludicrous given the long history of SGML prior to 1998. Also interesting is that the injunction doesn't just talk about XML, but rather specifically mentions .DOCX (i.e. Open Office XML), which is used by Word 2007 as its default storage format.

XML Aficionado: Injunction to prevent Microsoft from selling Word due to XML

Health Care Fact Check.com -- Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)

This site is a timely case study of using information technology to combat special interest disinformation campaigns.

Action Center
1. Get the facts and share them with your friends.

2. Declare your support for Health Insurance Reform and take action at the Health Care: ER Action Center >>

Have you heard a health care myth you'd like us to check out? Send it to our Health Care Rapid Response Team >>

Health Care Fact Check.com -- Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)

It's a boy! Twitter CEO's wife tweets during labor

Sign of the times…

There have been tweets from the Tour de France, Twittering from the White House and even tweets from outer space.

And today, the wife of the CEO of Twitter Inc. was Twittering from the hospital where she was in labor. That's right ... tweeting during the childbirth process.

It's a boy! Twitter CEO's wife tweets during labor

Palin’s Poison - Timothy Egan Blog - NYTimes.com

A scary snapshot

The United States, like most countries, has long had a lunatic fringe who channel in the flotsam of delusion, half-facts and conspiracy theories. But now, with the light-speed and reach of the Web, “entire virtual crank communities,” as the conservative writer David Frum called them, have sprung up. They are fed, in the case of Sarah Palin, by people who should know better.

For a democracy, which depends on an informed citizenry to balance a permanent lobbying class, this is poison. And it’s one reason why town hall forums on health care, which should be sharp debates about something that affects all of us, have turned into town mauls.

Palin’s Poison - Timothy Egan Blog - NYTimes.com

Documents Point to Bush Aides’ Involvement in Prosecutor Firings - NYTimes.com

Another helpful case study in email policy management

Thousands of pages of internal e-mail and once-secret Congressional testimony showed Tuesday that Karl Rove and other senior aides in the Bush White House played an earlier and more active role than was previously known in the 2006 firings of a number of United States attorneys.

Documents Point to Bush Aides’ Involvement in Prosecutor Firings - NYTimes.com

Real time, real competition | Good Morning Silicon Valley

Interesting times at the Googleplex

Google’s rule as search sovereign is in no immediate danger, but uneasy lies the head that wears a crown. The pending Microsoft-Yahoo deal promises a stronger, if still distant, second-place competitor in Google’s core search and ad business. And now, with its acquisition of FriendFeed, Facebook looks to be arming for a fight over the untapped riches that real-time social search is believed to hold.

Google knows well what weight to give to this challenge. The four principles of FriendFeed are all Google vets who played key roles in products like Gmail and Maps, and while FriendFeed never gained much mainstream traction, it drew a passionate following of savvy early adopters for its versatile and powerful approach to social media aggregation and particularly its real-time search.

Real time, real competition | Good Morning Silicon Valley

Microsoft and Nokia Reach a Mobile Agreement - WSJ.com

Another interesting co-opetition development

Microsoft Corp. has reached an agreement with Nokia Corp. to make a mobile version of Microsoft's Office suite of software that works on Nokia cellphones, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The deal with Nokia, the world's biggest maker of mobile phones, could help Microsoft play a broader role in mobile devices while fortifying its Office business in the face of competition from free Web-based word processors, spreadsheets and other applications from Google Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc. and others. Microsoft, too, is testing a Web-based version of Office.

Microsoft and Nokia Reach a Mobile Agreement - WSJ.com

Obama Web-Tracking Proposal Raises Privacy Concerns - washingtonpost.com

Hmm…

The Obama administration is proposing to scale back a long-standing ban on tracking how people use government Internet sites with "cookies" and other technologies, raising alarms among privacy groups.

A two-week public comment period ended Monday on a proposal by the White House Office of Management and Budget to end a ban on federal Internet sites using such technologies and replace it with other privacy safeguards. The current prohibition, in place since 2000, can be waived if an agency head cites a "compelling need."

Obama Web-Tracking Proposal Raises Privacy Concerns - washingtonpost.com

Twitter / John Rymer: VMWare bought SpringSource ...

A great example of terse information value-add from Forrester’s John Rymer – getting the point across in a tweet with 40 characters to spare (assuming spaces count as characters in Twitter)…

VMWare bought SpringSource. No doubt now about VMWare's intentions to provide application platforms.

Twitter / John Rymer: VMWare bought SpringSource ...

Google and Twitter: An Inevitable Match? | Kara Swisher | BoomTown | AllThingsD

Or would it be more like Twitscape (Twitter + Google as Netscape 2.0)?…  See the full post for more analysis.

MicroHoo. Check! FaceFeed. Check!

And Twoogle? Let’s check!

Yahoo (YHOO) and Microsoft (MSFT) have finally partnered. Microsoft is already a big investor in Facebook. And today, the huge social networking site just picked up online content-sharing site FriendFeed, which is chock-a-block full of ex-Google execs.

Now, one has to wonder if it wouldn’t be easier if Google (GOOG), the cash machine of a search giant, finally ponied up and bought the most recent star of Web 2.0?

Google and Twitter: An Inevitable Match? | Kara Swisher | BoomTown | AllThingsD

VMware to Acquire SpringSource -- Redmond Developer News

More market consolidation and shifting “co-opetition” dynamics

"VMware has stated its intention to move up the stack and provide a platform," Rymer added. "And here they are. These technologies are disconnected right now, but there’s no doubt that this acquisition provides the missing piece of a complete platform. The trick is bringing those two things together without diluting the value that they have separately."

The acquisition also strengthens the open source alternatives for Java developers, Rymer said. "It has been just JBoss and Sun," he said. "Sun has probably gone away with the Oracle acquisition. This raises the profile of SpringSource significantly in the Java world."

VMware to Acquire SpringSource -- Redmond Developer News

Facebook buys FriendFeed: Is this a big deal? | The Social - CNET News

Another take on the FriendFeed deal

I'm going to go out on a limb and say it: This is not as ridiculously huge of a deal as the Silicon Valley hype machine is going to have you believe.

Basically, FriendFeed has been coasting on a lot of hype and not a lot of mainstream recognition, and it's not a bit surprising that it would be seeking an exit at this point. Facebook acquired it for its talent; prior to FriendFeed, Taylor was part of the team that helped launch Google Maps. So the real story here is that Facebook made the rather expensive hire (and we don't know the terms of the deal) of some very talented former Googlers. FriendFeed's co-founders "will hold senior roles on Facebook's engineering and product teams," according to the release, and the rest of the company's 12 employees will also join Facebook.

Facebook buys FriendFeed: Is this a big deal? | The Social - CNET News

Advertising - Notice Those Ads on Blogs? Regulators Do, Too - NYTimes.com

See the full article for more details

BLOGGERS, be warned. Advertisers, you too.

Two of the National Advertising Review Council’s investigative units plan to announce Tuesday their first decisions involving blogs. Their recommendations call for clear disclosure when a company is sponsoring a site or paying for product reviews.

Advertising - Notice Those Ads on Blogs? Regulators Do, Too - NYTimes.com

Facebook Acquires Start-Up FriendFeed - WSJ.com

Social software market consolidation

Facebook paid nearly $50 million for the company, in a combination cash and stock offer, according to people familiar with the matter. The company paid roughly $15 million in cash, with the rest in Facebook stock that vests over several years and would be worth roughly $32.5 million based on the $6.5 billion common valuation an investor recently placed on the company. A Facebook spokesman declined to comment.

FriendFeed was founded in 2007 by four former Google Inc. software engineers as a way for users to keep track of their friends' activities across social-media services -- like Facebook and Twitter -- at the same time. But it never expanded far beyond a core group of Internet professionals, particularly as other services like Facebook made it easier for users to share their articles, photos and notes across multiple social-media services.

Facebook Acquires Start-Up FriendFeed - WSJ.com

Google Voice to be retooled as Web app for iPhone | Apple - CNET News

It’ll be interesting to see if Apple tries to find a way to block this pattern as well

Even though Apple prevented it from listing Google Voice on the iPhone App Store, Google is planning on retooling the application as a Web-based app, according to The New York Times.

In David Pogue's Friday column regarding the ongoing saga of Apple and Google Voice, he reveals that Google has already found a loophole:

Already, Google says it is readying a replacement for the Google Voice app that will offer exactly the same features as the rejected app--except that it will take the form of a specialized, iPhone-shaped Web page. For all intents and purposes, it will behave exactly the same as the app would have; you can even install it as an icon on your Home screen.

Google Voice to be retooled as Web app for iPhone | Apple - CNET News

Business & Technology | Tricycles comb streets for Google images | Seattle Times Newspaper

Sign of the times

The three-wheeler is quite a sight with its long pole holding nine cameras, a GPS, a computer and a generator. But the contraption tooling around the French capital needs all that gear to do its job — adding three-dimensional images to Google's Street View Maps.

The U.S. company has hired two young cyclists to ride through gardens, historical sites and other pedestrian-only areas to take thousands of digital photos.

"The idea is to be able to offer 360-degree images of places that were inaccessible before," Google spokeswoman Anne-Gabrielle Dauba-Pantanacce said.

Business & Technology | Tricycles comb streets for Google images | Seattle Times Newspaper

What Works: The Web Way vs. The Wave Way - Anil Dash

A timely Google Wave reality check; read the full post 

Google Wave is an impressive set of technologies, the kind of stunningly slick application that literally makes developers stand up and cheer. I've played with the Google Wave test sandbox a bit, and while it's definitely too complex to live up to the "this will replace email!" hype that greeted its launch, it certainly has some cool features. So the big question is whether Wave will succeed as overall in becoming a popular standard for communications on the web, because Google has made an admirable investment in documenting the underlying platform and making it open enough for others to build on and extend. I think the answer is no, and the reason is because the Wave way is not compatible with the Web way.

What Works: The Web Way vs. The Wave Way - Anil Dash