Thursday, September 30, 2010

LRB · Thomas Jones · Short Cuts

Excerpt from a review of  The Breakup 2.0: Disconnecting over New Media (alas, no Kindle sample available)

Gershon’s book made me feel old, or at least on the older side of a generation gap: mine (1995-98) must have been one of the last cohorts of students among whom users of mobile phones and email were in a minority – we had pigeonholes for leaving each other handwritten messages and a payphone in the laundry. Gershon’s interviewees are permanently plugged in to any number of virtual communication networks. They also seem comfortable with astonishingly low levels of privacy. Or rather, like a group of teenagers on a bus, they behave in public as if they were in private. One of the insidious things about Facebook is that it encourages a false sense of privacy, the idea that you’re among friends, when in fact it’s a very public place. If one of my friends, for example, makes a comment on a photo of one of their friends that’s been posted by one of their friends’ friends, it gives me access to all of that person’s photographs. Pictures you think you’re sharing only with your friends are, potentially, viewable by half a million strangers. So privacy on Facebook, such as it is, largely depends on the assumption that your personal information isn’t of any interest to people who don’t know you. Most of the time this is true; but then lack of privacy only becomes a problem when it isn’t.

LRB · Thomas Jones · Short Cuts

Twitter / Mitch Kapor: First exoplanet possibly a ...

Smile

First exoplanet possibly able to support life discovered. Singularitarians already packing http://t.co/HcENkBk

Twitter / Mitch Kapor: First exoplanet possibly a ...

FT.com / US / Politics & Foreign policy - Congressional ‘net neutrality’ deal falls apart

Be sure to get out and vote in November, if you’re in the United States

In an unusual statement, Henry Waxman, the Democratic chairman of the House energy and commerce committee, said a deal that had support from cable and phone companies, as well as consumer advocates, were scuppered after his Republican counterpart said he could not support the proposal.

Mr Waxman said the proposal was designed to protect net neutrality, the principle that internet service providers may not intentionally hinder or favour the delivery of content, over the short term. It would have prohibited wireless carriers from blocking websites and prevented phone and cable groups from “unjustly or unreasonably” discriminating against any lawful internet traffic.

FT.com / US / Politics & Foreign policy - Congressional ‘net neutrality’ deal falls apart

Brier Dudley's Blog | AppleTV arrives, sort of | Seattle Times Newspaper

Not a slam-dunk

Engadget pounced on one for a review that concluded AppleTV isn't yet a solution for replacing cable TV service. It said content available on the device is still limited. An excerpt:

If you just want a dead simple movie rental box and you're not that picky about content, the Apple TV is a no-brainer. If, like us, you're looking for options good enough to make you can the cable, Apple's new box still feels a lot like a hobby.

It may not be a no-brainer to pay $99 for an AppleTV if you already have more content available through video playback devices connected to your TV, such as a current-generation game console or networked Blu-ray player.

Brier Dudley's Blog | AppleTV arrives, sort of | Seattle Times Newspaper

In a Computer Worm, a Possible Biblical Clue - NYTimes.com

Strange days indeed

That use of the word “Myrtus” — which can be read as an allusion to Esther — to name a file inside the code is one of several murky clues that have emerged as computer experts try to trace the origin and purpose of the rogue Stuxnet program, which seeks out a specific kind of command module for industrial equipment.

Not surprisingly, the Israelis are not saying whether Stuxnet has any connection to the secretive cyberwar unit it has built inside Israel’s intelligence service.

In a Computer Worm, a Possible Biblical Clue - NYTimes.com

Skype Wants to Connect to the Office - NYTimes.com

More details at the link below

Hoping to make inroads into big businesses, Skype joined on Wednesday with Avaya, a major seller of corporate phone systems. As part of the deal, Avaya will integrate Skype into its bundle of products for customers in the United States.

In the first phase, starting in October, businesses with Internet protocol-based phone systems — which most companies have — will be able to make and receive Skype calls, known as Skype Connect. In the second phase, starting in the second half of next year, companies will also be able to use Skype instant messaging, video and a tool that shows whether users are online.

Skype Wants to Connect to the Office - NYTimes.com

State of the Art - A Simple Swipe on the iPhone, and You’re Paid - NYTimes.com

An overview of the latest company from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey

To become a credit card merchant, you have to buy the card-reading equipment, which costs several hundred dollars. You generally pay a setup fee, and you commit to a one- or two-year contract with the processing company. You pay $15 to $25 a month, and minimum transaction fees of $25 a month, even if you had no sales at all.

The Square Up system, on the other hand, eliminates that stuff. All of it. It makes the barrier to entry into the credit card world so low, there’s virtually nothing to stop you, the little guy, from taking the leap.

First, the equipment: you need an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch or an Android phone. Why buy a fancy authorizing machine, when you already have a computer in your pocket?

State of the Art - A Simple Swipe on the iPhone, and You’re Paid - NYTimes.com

New apps, gadgets give chronic texters a way to work around ban - The Boston Globe

See the link below for some work-around descriptions

The new Massachusetts ban on texting while driving may save lives, although I have my doubts. But it certainly provides an economic stimulus for makers of cellphone software and accessories that are designed to keep our eyes on the road and hands on the wheel.

Some applications block the use of your phone while driving. Others let you keep right on texting, by reading the messages out loud and even letting you reply by talking, rather than by clicking.

New apps, gadgets give chronic texters a way to work around ban - The Boston Globe

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

LinkedIn users targeted for spam attacks - ZDNet

I saw several of these messages – nasty stuff

"The combination of extremely high volume and the focus on business users suggests the attackers are interested in employees with access to online bank accounts," said Stern. "We've provided LinkedIn with the information they need to take action against the spammers."

At one point on Monday, over a quarter of the spam hitting Cisco nodes was due to this particular attack, Stern said, with billions of emails being sent. The emails were not targeted, but were designed for LinkedIn users to self-select, he added.

LinkedIn users targeted for spam attacks - ZDNet

Google CEO Outlines His Plans for SkyNet [Windows IT Pro]

More fun with Dr. Schmidt; see the link below for additional quotes etc.

Speaking at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco Tuesday, Schmidt said that Google is driving toward a "symbiotic relationship" between humans and computers, where computing devices and services would intelligently gauge the user's location and needs and search accordingly, without typing, and without first being asked. This work would lead to improvements in both humans and computer systems, he said, because it would help each become good at things they're not currently good at.

[…]

All of which leads me to believe that Eric Schmidt is, in fact, a robot tasked with constructing the SkyNet network that destroyed humanity in the Terminator movies. The evidence is almost overwhelming.

Google CEO Outlines His Plans for SkyNet

If Google Is The Inverse of Apple, Then is Eric Schmidt The Inverse of Steve Jobs? | John Paczkowski | Digital Daily | AllThingsD

A timely Google reality check

“With Apple’s model — which works extremely well, as I know as a former Apple board member — you have to use their development tools, their platform, their software, their hardware,” Schmidt explained. “When you submit an application, they have to approve it. You have to use their distribution. That’s not open. … The inverse would be open.”

And that would be the model touted by Google. Of course, Google is really only open when it comes to products it doesn’t make much money on. So in that sense its strategy is also the inverse of Apple’s which generates quite a bit of revenue.

If Google Is The Inverse of Apple, Then is Eric Schmidt The Inverse of Steve Jobs? | John Paczkowski | Digital Daily | AllThingsD

Facebook | A New Chapter in Reading with Friends

Interesting to see what my Facebook friends are “readcasting”

Starting today, when you visit Scribd while logged into Facebook, you will see personalized reading recommendations based on what your friends are sharing and on your Facebook likes and interests. And when you find something that you enjoy, with a simple click of the Like button, you can quickly and easily share it with your friends. Through instant personalization, Scribd will use the public information you share with your friends on Facebook to personalize your reading experience. You can learn more about the instant personalization program here.

People share more than 55,000 items on Scribd every day, including teachers disseminating class materials, authors publishing books, friends exchanging recipes and hobbyists discovering antique manuals. Now you and your friends can take your Facebook experience to Scribd to read and share documents together.

Facebook | A New Chapter in Reading with Friends

AOL Tries to Restore Clout With Three Acquisitions in One Day - BusinessWeek

Maybe AOL now stands for “Abandon Our Legacy”

Armstrong, who took over AOL last year and spun it off from Time Warner Inc., is trying to revive growth after paring down the business. He sold off the social network Bebo and the instant-messaging service ICQ because they failed to attract enough users. Even during yesterday’s acquisition spree, AOL announced plans to close another of its sites, the news aggregator Propeller.com.

“Tim Armstrong and his new team are making decisions to shape the next generation of AOL in content and social media, and it bodes well for the company,” Ron Conway, a Silicon Valley investor who founded SV Angel, said in an e-mail.

AOL Tries to Restore Clout With Three Acquisitions in One Day - BusinessWeek

What Google learned from its Buzz 'stumble' - Sep. 28, 2010 [CNN Money]

Coincidentally, Google Buzz has gone almost completely quiet for me over the last several days

Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) launched its Buzz messaging tool in February, and suffered an immediate backlash from users upset about the feature's slipshod privacy tools. Google quickly tweaked some of the settings, but Buzz hasn't caught on in the crowded social-media field; it's a "me too" effort with few distinguishing features.

The article concludes with another Eric Schmidt moment of Zen:

The Google CEO managed to turn a few heads when he sketched a utopian vision of all the ways technology can improve lives by handling the tasks machines are better at than humans. Scoot over, auto fans -- Schmidt thinks computers would do a better job behind the wheel than distractible, accident-prone humans.

"Your car should drive itself. It just makes sense," Schmidt said. "It's a bug that cars were invented before computers."

What Google learned from its Buzz 'stumble' - Sep. 28, 2010

AOL Buys TechCrunch, 5Min and Thing Labs - WSJ.com

More AOL details

AOL paid roughly $65 million for 5min and around $30 million for TechCrunch, according to people familiar with the matter. The third deal was said to be even smaller. Thing Labs makes Brizzly, an online application that allows users to post and read updates to Twitter and Facebook from one website.

But, for AOL, a lot is at stake.

In the second quarter of the year, AOL's revenue plunged 26%, and subscription and advertising revenue each fell 27%. Unique monthly U.S. visitors to AOL sites declined 3% from February to August, according to comScore.

[…]

[AOL]

AOL Buys TechCrunch, 5Min and Thing Labs - WSJ.com

Tim Armstrong: We Got TechCrunch!

Excerpts from the AOL press release

AOL Inc. [NYSE: AOL] today announced that it has agreed to acquire TechCrunch, Inc., the company that owns and operates TechCrunch and its network of websites dedicated to technology news, information and analysis. TechCrunch and its associated properties and conferences will join the AOL Technology Network while retaining their editorial independence, further bolstering AOL’s position as one of the world’s leading providers of high-quality, tech-oriented content. The announcement will be made on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, CA.

Founded by Michael Arrington, TechCrunch operates a global network of dedicated properties from Europe to Japan, as well as vertically-oriented websites, including MobileCrunch, CrunchGear, TechCrunchIT, GreenTech, TechCrunchTV and CrunchBase. The TechMeme Leaderboard ranks TechCrunch as the No. 1 source of breaking tech news online, followed by AOL’s Engadget.*

Tim Armstrong: We Got TechCrunch!

Exclusive: Facebook and Skype Readying Deep Integration Partnership | Kara Swisher | BoomTown | AllThingsD

Some substantive social synergy

Actually, according to sources close to the situation, Facebook and Skype are poised to announce a significant and wide-ranging partnership that will include integration of SMS, voice chat and Facebook Connect.

The move by the pair–which have tested small contact importer integrations before–is a natural one for the social networking giant, which is aiming to be the central communications and messaging platform for its users, across a range of media.

[…]

Skype had 124 million people using it at least once a month and 560 million registered users, which will be bolstered by the 500 million Facebook users who will now be able to use it more seamlessly within Skype.

Exclusive: Facebook and Skype Readying Deep Integration Partnership | Kara Swisher | BoomTown | AllThingsD

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Update: OpenOffice.org developers move to break ties with Oracle - Computerworld

This must be a deeply disconcerting development to organizations that are committed to assorted instances of OpenOffice.org (which I’m guessing won’t be easily confused with the vaporous Oracle Cloud Office)

Some developers of the OpenOffice.org desktop productivity suite announced a break from Oracle on Tuesday, introducing a new name for the project and establishing a new foundation to guide its future.

They will distribute a version of the open-source office productivity suite under the name "LibreOffice," under the purview of an independent organization called The Document Foundation.

The move underscores the tensions between the open-source community and Oracle over open-source projects such as OpenOffice.org and the free database application MySQL that were managed by Sun Microsystems before its acquisition by Oracle.

Update: OpenOffice.org developers move to break ties with Oracle - Computerworld

BlackBerry Maker Announces Tablet for 2011 [Windows IT Pro]

An excerpt from Paul Thurrott’s take on the RIM tablet:

While the need for a simplistic tablet device in business is unclear, RIM's understanding of the security and management needs of business could win some converts. RIM sees the PlayBook as negating the need for a laptop, especially for business travelers who need constant access to their email and scheduling data. By tying the tablet to its popular smartphones, it hopes to open up a new market for businesses just as Apple did with the iPad for consumers.

Actually, “simplistic” tablet devices (i.e., iPads) are proving to be rather popular in business, and, if you’re primarily interested in enterprise IT-friendly tablets, there will be a wide variety of Windows 7-based tablets and slates available next year, along with the RIM Playbook. 

I’m filing the Playbook under “Future Collectors’ Item”…

BlackBerry Maker Announces Tablet for 2011

Amazon tests 'Kindle for the Web' for sampling e-books in browser

Another very smart innovation from Amazon

Amazon.com this morning announced a beta of a new online feature called Kindle for the Web -- a browser-based experience that previews e-books as they would appear in one of the company's Kindle reading devices. The Seattle company says the feature works directly through web browsers, without plugins, letting people read the first chapter of selected Kindle books, and embed e-book samples in blogs and other websites.

To see an example for Macrowikinomics, which I started reading today and am finding useful, visit the book page on Amazon and click:

image

Of course, this is mostly useful if you’re curious about the Kindle reading experience and don’t already have a Kindle (or one of the many Kindle clients for other device types), or if you want to embed a book sample in a Web page.

Amazon tests 'Kindle for the Web' for sampling e-books in browser

Breaking: AOL Close to Buying TechCrunch: Tech News [GigaOm]

More on AOL’s rumored TechCrunch acquisition

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong is likely to make an appearance at the conference, and perhaps that’s when the announcement is likely to be made. Michael Arrington was unreachable for comment, and AOL has not returned my calls. I still don’t know the terms of the deal, and will update the post accordingly.

AOL in the past had acquired Weblogs Inc., the blogging company behind popular sites such as Engadget. Those blogs have helped AOL compensate for steep loss of traffic. The service has been in the market to buy a technology blog, and is rumored to have been linked with other technology blogs.

Breaking: AOL Close to Buying TechCrunch: Tech News «

Microsoft to Close Its Blogging Platform-Migrates Users to WordPress.com - NYTimes.com

The end of the road for Windows Live Spaces

It's interesting that Microsoft has basically given up on hosting its own blogging platform, but this move fits into the bigger picture of the company's plans for the Live.com platform. We hinted at this last week when Microsoft announced its partnership with LinkedIn. As Microsoft's director of product management for Windows Live Dharmesh Mehta told us last week, the company aims to integrate the best products instead of reinventing them. As Mehta notes in a blog post today, rather than invest in a competing blogging platform, Microsoft decided "the best thing we could do for our customers was to give them a great blogging solution through WordPress.com."

Microsoft to Close Its Blogging Platform-Migrates Users to WordPress.com - NYTimes.com

Arrington Avoids Allegations of Collusion - NYTimes.com

I’m guessing the unusual controversy aversion is related to speculation that AOL is in talks to acquire TechCrunch

TechCrunch’s readers have taken Mr. Arrington to task for what they believe is his softening stance on his original reporting. Initially, he called the meeting “collusion and price fixing,” adding: “This isn’t minor league stuff. We’re talking about federal crimes and civil prosecutions if in fact that’s what they’re doing.”

But as the conference approached, and after basking in the firestorm he had created (and perhaps complaints from the angel investors who he has described as his friends), Mr. Arrington seemed to switch gears in a post Friday, praising angel investors as “the grease that let so many young startups go from being an idea to something more.

“The fact that some of them may or may not have had discussions that may or may not have been inappropriate is, in the end, a side note,” he wrote.

Arrington Avoids Allegations of Collusion - NYTimes.com

With BlackBerry PlayBook, R.I.M. Returns to Corporate User Base - NYTimes.com

Perhaps the PlayBook is destined to become the world’s most expensive quasi-dedicated Kindle client

While R.I.M.’s phones and tablet will have incompatible operating systems, Mr. Golvin expects that outside software application developers will work around that issue by using Flash, as well as standard Web page protocols.

R.I.M. has lagged well behind Apple in terms of the number of applications available for its hand-held devices. But immediately after the PlayBook announcement, Amazon said that it would introduce a Kindle e-book application for the PlayBook.

With BlackBerry PlayBook, R.I.M. Returns to Corporate User Base - NYTimes.com

Dealbook Column - The Value of a Donation of Facebook Shares to Newark - NYTimes.com

Check the link below for more valuation analysis

While Mr. Ackman and Mr. Doerr are probably making their charitable gifts in cold hard cash, Mr. Zuckerberg is doing something different. He’s giving away $100 million worth of Facebook shares to Startup: Education, a new foundation he has started and on whose board he will sit. The foundation, in turn, will sell the shares for cash in what’s known as the “secondary market,” a nebulous world where big-time investors buy into companies before they go public — through the back door.

It turns out that there is a robust market for Facebook shares, even though most people can’t buy them. The going price has been about $76 a share, The Financial Times reported last month, implying a market value of $33 billion. Dozens of employees have sold their shares in the secondary market.

Dealbook Column - The Value of a Donation of Facebook Shares to Newark - NYTimes.com

Authors Feel Pinch in Age of E-Books - WSJ.com

Rapidly changing book market dynamics

Sales of consumer books peaked in 2008 at 1.63 billion units and are expected to decline to 1.47 billion this year and to 1.43 billion by 2012, says Albert Greco, a book-industry market researcher.

E-books sales are exploding. Currently, e-books account for an estimated 8% of total book revenue, up from 3% to 5% a year ago. Mike Shatzkin, a publishing consultant, estimates e-books could be 20% to 25% of total unit sales by the end of 2012. "Eventually, digital books will overtake physical books," Mr. Greco predicts.

[…]

image

Authors Feel Pinch in Age of E-Books - WSJ.com

BlackBerry maker’s tablet targets iPad - The Boston Globe

I’m not seeing anything compelling in this device description

The PlayBook will be able to act as a second, larger screen for a BlackBerry phone, through a secure short-range wireless link. When the connection is severed — perhaps because the user walks away with the phone — no sensitive data like company e-mails are left on the tablet. Outside of Wi-Fi range, it will be able to pick up cellular service to access the Web by linking to a BlackBerry.

But the tablet will also work as a standalone device. RIM’s co-chief executive, Jim Balsillie, said its goal is to present the full Web experience of a computer, including the ability to display Flash, Adobe Systems Inc.’s format for video and interactive material on the Web. That means the tablet will be less dependent on third-party applications, Balsillie said.

BlackBerry maker’s tablet targets iPad - The Boston Globe

Monday, September 27, 2010

“The Social Network,” David Fincher on Facebook : The New Yorker

An excerpt from an extensive review – check the link below, and seriously consider subscribing to The New Yorker (conveniently now also available in an iPad app)

Accuracy is now a secondary issue. In this extraordinary collaboration, the portrait of Zuckerberg, I would guess, was produced by a happy tension, even an opposition, between the two men—a tug-of-war between Fincher’s gleeful appreciation of an outsider who overturns the social order and Sorkin’s old-fashioned, humanist distaste for electronic friend-making and a world of virtual emotions. The result is a movie that is absolutely emblematic of its time and place. “The Social Network” is shrewdly perceptive about such things as class, manners, ethics, and the emptying out of self that accompanies a genius’s absorption in his work. It has the hard-charging excitement of a very recent revolution, the surge and sweep of big money moving fast and chewing people up in its wake.

“The Social Network,” David Fincher on Facebook : The New Yorker

News: 'The iConnected Parent' - Inside Higher Ed

Check out a co-author interview at the link below (and/or the full book) if you have recently sent (or will soon send) a child to college – it’s a very timely reality check.  A Kindle sample is also available.

With the start of a new academic year -- and a new crop of freshmen leaving home for the first time -- comes the now-inevitable round of articles about the parents who have a little too much trouble letting go (nor does Inside Higher Ed claim to be excepted from the trend). Are the ties that bind really growing tighter each year? And if they are, what does it mean, and should we be worried?

In their new book, The iConnected Parent: Staying Close to Your Kids in College (and Beyond) While Letting Them Grow Up (Free Press), Barbara K. Hofer and Abigail Sullivan Moore argue that, thanks to the exponential proliferation of communicative technologies such as cell phones, e-mail, Skype, Facebook, and more, college students really are more in touch with their parents than ever before -- and that what constitutes a "normal" amount of contact is recalibrated (upward) with each passing year.

News: 'The iConnected Parent' - Inside Higher Ed

The Hole in Android and Google’s Double Pony Problem | Platformonomics

Excerpt from a timely Charles Fitzgerald Google reality check

Google is stuck between two Pony problems.  The One Trick Pony problem and their need to find another material revenue stream beyond search looks more pressing as both their search share and their revenue growth flatten out.  Their heyday window to make hay by building additional businesses while on top of the world seems to be coming to a close (life at the top is getting shorter and shorter – we’ll see how long Facebook lasts in that position.  They could peak even before they become a $10 billion revenue company.  Deferring the IPO for as long as possible makes a lot of sense for them to maximize their window).  Android is one of Google’s better candidates for a revenue stream with lots of zeroes after it, but we are already seeing multiple examples where Google’s revenue link to Android is being severed.  This could be described as the My Little Pony problem (a Sun Microsystems reference for those too lazy to click through and parse the obscure video), wherein your free software doesn’t drive significant revenue directly or indirectly, even as others go to the bank on top of your efforts.  As Google’s core business matures, they’ll have less and less ability to make grand philanthropic efforts.  I suspect we’ll see free become less free and Google dare phone manufacturers to shift platforms once they have started down the Android path.

The Hole in Android and Google’s Double Pony Problem | Platformonomics

Oracle finally outlines roadmap for mobile Java • The Register

Oracle attempts to resurrect Java’s fabled “write once, run anywhere” value proposition

By belatedly setting out Java‘s roadmap for the next generation of mass mobile apps, Oracle is staking a claim to considerable influence over the mobile experience. It also aims to achieve a more prominent role for Java FX, a hugely promising technology that was sadly underpromoted by Sun, rather like Java in general. Oracle will now open source FX and the Java user interface controls, under the GPL process used by the main Java platform, to get it the same visibility among programmers as Flash or Silverlight.

"We want the nine million Java developers in the world to never have to chose a different environment to build a great looking UI ever again," SVP Thomas Kurian told the conference. The next release of FX, in Q311, will introduce generics, annotations and multithreading, and continue work started by Sun to open the VM to non-Java languages including JRuby, Groovy and JavaScript, says The Register.

Oracle finally outlines roadmap for mobile Java • The Register

Study Finds That Apple Dominates Tech News - NYTimes.com

Check the link below for more context-setting.  FWIW I’ve also noticed that Apple-related posts are by far the most widely read on this blog.

A new study confirms what some in the technology industry have long sensed: that Apple commands an inordinate amount of the media’s attention.

A yearlong look at technology news coverage by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism found that 15.1 percent of tech articles were primarily about Apple; 11.4 percent were about Google; and a meager 3 percent were about Microsoft.

Study Finds That Apple Dominates Tech News - NYTimes.com

News Analysis - Stuxnet Worm Is Remarkable for Its Lack of Subtlety - NYTimes.com

Apparently more QA required for government malware producers

The malware was so skillfully designed that computer security specialists who have examined it were almost certain it had been created by a government and is a prime example of clandestine digital warfare. While there have been suspicions of other government uses of computer worms and viruses, Stuxnet is the first to go after industrial systems. But unlike those other attacks, this bit of malware did not stay invisible.

If Stuxnet is the latest example of what a government organization can do, it contains some glaring shortcomings. The program was splattered on thousands of computer systems around the world, and much of its impact has been on those systems, rather than on what appears to have been its intended target, Iranian equipment. Computer security specialists are also puzzled by why it was created to spread so widely.

News Analysis - Stuxnet Worm Is Remarkable for Its Lack of Subtlety - NYTimes.com

Netflix Faces New Competition in Streaming - NYTimes.com

A new competitive landscape for Netflix

Netflix’s competition with Blockbuster is an artifact of another age — the DVD era. The main battlefront has shifted online, where consumers are streaming movies and television. Netflix faces a number of well-financed and innovative companies like Apple, Amazon and Google, as well as the cable TV providers. This time the war will not be won by the company that perfects the logistics of moving DVDs, but by whoever can best negotiate with Hollywood studios.

Netflix Faces New Competition in Streaming - NYTimes.com

Nokia’s New Chief Faces a Culture of Complacency - NYTimes.com

A Nokia reality check

As Nokia’s new chief executive, Stephen Elop, takes over this month, he faces a formidable task: to regain the company’s lost ground in the smartphone segment of the global phone market, especially in the United States, while maintaining its worldwide dominance as the largest maker of mobile phones.

His biggest obstacle, according to Mr. Hakkarainen, as well as two other former employees and industry analysts, may well be Nokia’s stifling bureaucratic culture. In interviews, Mr. Hakkarainen and the other former employees depicted an organization so swollen by its early success that it grew complacent, slow and removed from consumer desires. As a result, they said, Nokia lost the lead in several crucial areas by failing to fast-track its designs for touch screens, software applications and 3-D interfaces.

Nokia’s New Chief Faces a Culture of Complacency - NYTimes.com

IBM likely to continue snapping up Mass. tech firms - The Boston Globe

Speculation on some possible IBM next steps

More Massachusetts acquisitions are likely, said Peter Falvey, the Boston-based managing director of investment bank Morgan Keegan Technology Group. IBM is now so big, he said, it has to continue buying aggressively to maintain its growth rate, “and we know that they like tapping into our intellectual capital.’’

Falvey said that when he discussed possible Massachusetts IBM acquisition targets with his colleagues, one of the names that came up was Endeca Technologies Inc. in Cambridge, a provider of search and business intelligence software, “which is in the same general area as Netezza.’’

Progress Software Corp. in Bedford, which makes products that optimize enterprise software, and Marathon Technologies Corp. in Littleton, which makes software that improves application availability, are also possibilities, Falvey said, because they fit with the kind of software that IBM has been selling to its corporate customers.

IBM likely to continue snapping up Mass. tech firms - The Boston Globe

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Windows & .NET Watch: Big business behaving badly - SD Times: Software Development News

Excerpt from a timely Larry O’Brien reality check; see the link below for more background/context-setting and insights

Sun sued Microsoft, claiming that Microsoft’s extensions would confuse developers (locking them in so that their applications could only run on Windows), and having altogether nefarious motives. Sun ultimately prevailed and received a boxcar full of hundred-dollar bills, and Microsoft walked away from Java, creating C# and the .NET framework.
In recent years, recognizing the success of Java but knowing that it had to compete with the iPhone, Google created the Dalvik VM, which among other potentially infringing things uses a different bytecode language than Java’s. Dalvik’s also a register-based machine as opposed to stack-based, but as with almost all software patent lawsuits, the technical details of potential infringement have nothing to do with the choice to sue. Will anyone be shocked if Google suddenly discovers that some piece in Oracle’s software portfolio infringes upon one of Google’s many patents and decides to countersue?

Windows & .NET Watch: Big business behaving badly - SD Times: Software Development News

Learning to Share, Thanks to the Web - NYTimes.com

A hopeful trend

But some scholars say that the Internet — by fostering collaboration on a communal, open platform — has changed the way Americans think about sharing and ownership. Collaborative habits online are beginning to find expression in the real world.

“I thought that online was an exception,” said Yochai Benkler, co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard, whose coming book, “The Penguin and the Leviathan,” focuses on the explosion of cooperative endeavors, both online and off. “I now am more confident that the phenomenon is not limited to online but is a general phenomenon of human behavior.”

[…]

Publishers have taken note, with books like Lisa Gansky’s “The Mesh: Why the Future of Business Is Sharing” and Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers’s “What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption,” published this month.

Learning to Share, Thanks to the Web - NYTimes.com

Google CEO Downplays Facebook Threat, Highlights Bing Challenge - WSJ.com

Apparently non-joke observations from the Googleplex

In an interview with Charlie Rose to be aired Friday night on the PBS network, Schmidt said Bing is "doing well" and is owned by a company that has more cash and engineers than Google and has a "storied reputation of technology innovation."

Google's share of U.S. search queries has for the past several months held steady at about 65%, with Bing coming in around 11% in August, according to comScore. Combining queries from Bing and Yahoo (YHOO)--which are just launching their search pact--gives the duo a 28% share in U.S. search, still far behind Google.

While many in Silicon Valley consider Facebook to be Google's key rival, Schmidt said the two Web giants "coexist quite well" in the marketplace right now. "We studied very carefully the impact with Facebook and Facebook users use Google more, so we love Facebook for that reason," said Schmidt, according to a transcript of the interview released Friday.

Google CEO Downplays Facebook Threat, Highlights Bing Challenge - WSJ.com

Aaron Sorkin reaches out to Web surfers and sources to fill in the blanks of ‘The Social Network’ - The Boston Globe

Excerpt from a review

“What I see out there,’’ Sorkin says, “are a lot of people who are just angry. And instead of doing what Paddy Chayefsky told them to do, which is throw open their window and shout, ‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore,’ they’re doing it from the anonymity . . . of a dark room. They’re either being angry or they’re reinventing themselves as someone else.’’

Facebook, he said, facilitates that reinvention. When he first dabbled on the site, he was stunned at the posts his friends put on their walls, snappy status updates that were artifice, not truth. “They would write, ‘Had a girls’ night last night, four different desserts, better hit the gym this morning!’ ’’ Sorkin says. “I’d think, ‘You’re writing yourself as Ally McBeal. Really. You’re writing yourself as a sitcom character.’ ’’

That’s what Facebook is, he says: A cynical illusion, a version of reality that’s more pointed, more scripted, more calculated than the real thing.

Aaron Sorkin reaches out to Web surfers and sources to fill in the blanks of ‘The Social Network’ - The Boston Globe

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Movie Review - 'The Social Network' - A Facebook Creation Story With Mark Zuckerberg - NYTimes.com

Final review paragraph:

“The Social Network” takes place in the recognizable here and now, though there are moments when it has the flavor of science fiction (it would make a nice double bill with “The Matrix”) even as it evokes 19th-century narratives of ambition. (“To be young, to have a thirst for society, to be hungry for a woman,” Balzac writes in “Le Père Goriot.”) The movie opens with a couple in a crowded college bar and ends with a man alone in a room repeatedly hitting refresh on his laptop. In between, Mr. Fincher and Mr. Sorkin offer up a creation story for the digital age and something of a morality tale, one driven by desire, marked by triumph, tainted by betrayal and inspired by the new gospel: the geek shall inherit the earth.

Movie Review - 'The Social Network' - A Facebook Creation Story With Mark Zuckerberg - NYTimes.com

Where Good Ideas Come From, 4 minute version - Boing Boing

Check the link below for a very creative video summary of Steven Johnson’s new book

Here's a short video promo for Steven Johnson's upcoming Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation, a lecture on the way that transformative ideas incubate for long times, come out of left field, and thrive best when there's no one foreclosing on them because they're too weird or disruptive. It's inspiring stuff, and a real indictment of proprietary and closed systems that put blocks and hurdles in the way of creators in the name of "good user experience" or legal compliance.

Where Good Ideas Come From, 4 minute version - Boing Boing

Mark Zuckerberg: Guilt is good - The Boston Globe

“So it doesn’t matter…” but the article (including the title) presumes the donation was guilt-driven

So it doesn’t matter whether Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg is giving $100 million to Newark’s public schools out of the goodness of his heart or to counter an unflattering portrait of him in “The Social Network.’’ The film opened in New York Friday night, scant hours after the social-media mogul appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,’’ along with Newark Mayor Cory Booker and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, to announce his act of charity.

What does matter is that the 39,000 students in Newark’s woeful schools need all the help they can get. About a quarter of Newark’s population is below the poverty line, and with the city confronting a deficit of $83 million, Booker may have to lay off 950 city employees.

Mark Zuckerberg: Guilt is good - The Boston Globe

Letting our fingers do the talking - The Boston Globe

Lost in transition

But if telephone conversation does fade away, should anyone care?

Patrice Oppliger thinks so.

“You can’t help but think there are social skills being lost,’’ said Oppliger, who teaches mass communication at Boston University, including classes in interview skills where she does a unit on small talk. Many of her students are small talk-challenged, she said, and she thinks the rise of texting and decline of phone conversations have something to do with it.

“They have nothing to say; they can’t carry on a conversation,’’ she said. “I can’t remember the last time a student called me.’’

Grossman suggests the chatty, rambling conversation that she remembers from childhood may be going the way of other fading phenomena, such as wristwatches, traveler’s checks, and correction fluid.

Letting our fingers do the talking - The Boston Globe

Friday, September 24, 2010

Oracle readies Google Doc and Microsoft Office challenger | IBTimes

Think different…  If the below speculation is accurate, I expect Oracle Cloud Office will be at least as successful as, say, Oracle Collaboration Suite (for which nobody has even bothered to update the related Wikipedia page, to note its demise…)

The Cloud Office Suite was first announced in January 2010. However, Oracle has highlighted the platform of the product more than the product itself. The Cloud Office Suite will use Java FX - Sun's Rich Internet Application (RIA) platform - a closed Java scripting language for developing web based applications and user interface.

Google Docs uses AJAX platform and also Microsoft's Office Web apps - its browser-based Microsoft Office. In a way Oracle is championing its new JavaFX platform rather than the end product itself.

Oracle readies Google Doc and Microsoft Office challenger | IBTimes

How to make OneNote 2010 speak to you - OneNote Testing - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

Check the link below for instructions

Did you know OneNote can talk? Here's how:

Click File | Options to open the option dialog, then click Customize Ribbon.

[…]

Now go to any page in OneNote and select some text. Click the Home tab and then the Speak button in the group you just created.

OneNote will read the text to you!

This is not unique to OneNote, by the way - all the Office 2010 apps have this.

This is very handy – in part because now I know how to add other actions I’ve been missing, e.g., strikethrough, to the ribbon and Quick Access Toolbar

How to make OneNote 2010 speak to you - OneNote Testing - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

The Seven Best “Why Facebook Is Down” Cracks: Tech News [GigaOm]

More Facebook commiseration on Twitter

Unless you spent today vacationing with a Stone Age tribe in a remote country somewhere, you probably heard about an outage that Facebook experienced, one that lasted for several hours and took out not just the website but also — as it did in April after the F8 conference — all of the Facebook-powered “like” and “recommend” buttons on hundreds of thousands of webpages all across the web, replacing them with helpful messages saying “Service Unavailable — DNS Error.” This was the cause of much hilarity on Twitter, which has had its own share of downtime issues, so we collected some of the tweets we liked the best here.

[…]

5. from someecards: “It seems Facebook is down and Zuckerberg won’t bring it back up unless we promise not to see the movie.”

The Seven Best “Why Facebook Is Down” Cracks: Tech News «

Facebook Goes Down, Gallows Humor Ensues on Twitter – Updated | Epicenter | Wired.com

Sign of the times – see the link below for some related tweet samples

Facebook went down Thursday, impeding access to the web site from browsers as well as third-party apps.

“We’re currently experiencing some site issues causing Facebook to be slow or unavailable for some users,” a spokeswoman told Wired.com in an e-mail. “We are working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.”

The outage was met with considerable amusement on Twitter, with many saying this was a great time to catch up on other things, or that the world was coming to an end, or that the world would finally get back on track with all the extra time we now have. “With Facebook down, you’d think productivity would increase. Nope. Everyone’s on Twitter bitching about it,” said @brandonzeman.

My favorite:

thecajunboy I’m guessing that Russians can hear Sarah Palin’s anguished screams from their houses.

Facebook Goes Down, Gallows Humor Ensues on Twitter – Updated | Epicenter | Wired.com

Leaving Tumblr for Instapaper - NYTimes.com

Instapaper goes from part-time hobby to full-time focus

Mr. Arment explained that he originally built the product for himself, as he found it difficult to save interesting articles he wanted to read on his iPhone. He said he was the only Instapaper user for the first three months, but after friends began asking if they could gain access to the service, he decided to offer it publicly.

“The goal with Instapaper was always the space-shifting and time-shifting of content,” he said. “I wrote a blog post about it, and that kind of launched it.” He said he was “blown away at the response,” as the service grew by 40,000 users in first few months.

Mr. Arment said that he now has 800,000 registered users and that 200,000 people use it on a regular basis.

Leaving Tumblr for Instapaper - NYTimes.com

Hotmail getting Facebook chat, subfolders, LinkedIn [seattlepi]

More Windows Live advances

Microsoft keeps tweaking with Hotmail after its big redesign in May and push-notification support in August. In the next "few weeks," Microsoft said, the Windows Live e-mail service will get Facebook chat support, inbox subfolders, LinkedIn integration, and more package-tracking and video-playing.

Hotmail getting Facebook chat, subfolders, LinkedIn

The Microsoft Office Blog - Office Web Apps reach 20 million: New features today + 7 more countries

Check the link below for live examples of embedded content

In just over 100 days since we launched, more than 20 million people have used Office Web Apps to view, edit, and share Office documents from anywhere with a browser and an internet connection. Today we're releasing more new features—based on your feedback (more than 25,000 comments so far)—and we're making Office Web Apps available in 7 more countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Russia, and Switzerland (in addition to countries we're already live in: US, UK, Canada, and Ireland). 

Starting today, you can embed a PowerPoint presentation or Excel spreadsheet in a blog or website. With PowerPoint presentations, viewers can page through a mini version of the slides or view in full screen. For example, you might embed a PowerPoint presentation of photos from your last vacation, share slides from a lecture or talk that you enjoyed, or broadcast your knowledge of a special subject.

The Microsoft Office Blog - Office Web Apps reach 20 million: New features today + 7 more countries

Smart Grid's $200 Billion Investment Lures Cisco, ABB - BusinessWeek

Going for the green

With $200 billion in global smart-grid investment expected in 2008 to 2015 by the Pike Research group, with almost $53 billion just in the U.S., technology companies have joined established power-systems suppliers as contestants in the power-management market.

Rather than employing a single technology, the smart grid comprises a network of networks that makes possible real-time two-way communication between power providers and users, omnipresent sensing control, and distributed automation throughout the electrical generation network.

Smart Grid's $200 Billion Investment Lures Cisco, ABB - BusinessWeek

FCC authorizes a ‘super Wi-Fi’ plan - The Boston Globe

A possible game-changer in wide-area wireless

Leading technology companies, including Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., and Dell Inc., are eager to develop the market. They say white spaces are ideal for broadband because the signals penetrate walls and can travel several miles.

Just like the spectrum used by Wi-Fi, white spaces will be available to all users for free, with no license required. The FCC hopes they will help ease the strain on the nation’s increasingly crowded airwaves.

FCC authorizes a ‘super Wi-Fi’ plan - The Boston Globe

Facebook working on smartphone - The Boston Globe

More on one of this week’s candidates for meme-of-the-week

“People are increasingly updating their status when they’re on the go,’’ said Augie Ray, an analyst at Forrester Research in San Francisco. “Facebook is a very popular application on every single smartphone in the country.’’

The new phones are slated to run Google’s Android operating system and would probably carry the AT&T brand in the United States, the people said. Facebook has not decided whether its name will be used on the devices, one person said.

Facebook working on smartphone - The Boston Globe

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Google's Eric Schmidt Talks to Charlie Rose - BusinessWeek

Check the full interview for some Google/Apple competitive posturing

How does Google see the future?
There's such an overwhelming amount of information now, we can search where you are, see what you're looking at if you take a picture with your camera. One way to think about this is, we're trying to make people better people, literally give them better ideas—augmenting their experience. Think of it as augmented humanity.

Google's Eric Schmidt Talks to Charlie Rose - BusinessWeek

Once Upon A Time In America … Blockbuster Files For Bankruptcy [TechCrunch]

Another sign of the times

The company filed a voluntary Chapter 11 petition today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, listing assets of $1.02 billion and debt of $1.46 billion. The company’s largest trade creditor is Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment with a $21.6 million claim, according to today’s filing.

The news, first reported by Bloomberg, comes almost 25 years after Blockbuster opened its first store (Dallas, Texas on October 26, 1985).

Once Upon A Time In America … Blockbuster Files For Bankruptcy

Poll: 1 In 5 Americans Believe Obama Is A Cactus | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Another timely Onion reality check

WASHINGTON—According to a poll released Tuesday, nearly 20 percent of U.S. citizens now believe Barack Obama is a cactus, the most Americans to identify the president as a water- retaining desert plant since he took office.

The poll, conducted by the Pew Research Center, found a sharp rise in the number of Americans who say they firmly believe Obama was either born a cactus, became a cactus during his youth, or has questionable links to the Cactaceae family.

Poll: 1 In 5 Americans Believe Obama Is A Cactus | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Gates still richest in U.S., but Zuckerberg tops Jobs | Business Tech - CNET News

Signs of the times

The intrigue comes much lower on the list, where Zuckerberg, who didn't even qualify as a billionaire last year, ranked higher than Jobs, who founded Apple some eight years before Zuckerberg was even born. No. 35 Zuckerberg ($6.9 billion) got a boost last year from a $200 million infusion of cash in his social-networking titan. Despite Apple recently passing Microsoft in valuation, the majority of No. 42 Jobs' ($6.1 billion) net worth comes from his shares in Disney, which bought his Pixar animation studio in 2006 for $7.4 billion.

Following in tech's tradition of philanthropy, Zuckerberg is expected to announce a $100 million donation to the Newark, N.J., school district during an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey show Friday.

Gates still richest in U.S., but Zuckerberg tops Jobs | Business Tech - CNET News

Facebook Sells Your Friends - BusinessWeek

Excerpt from an extensive Facebook advertising profile

Marketers have long hoped to turn the Web into the perfect advertising medium. Pop-ups on AOL (AOL), banners on Yahoo! (YHOO), and search ads on Google (GOOG) were steps along that journey. But it's Facebook, the Palo Alto (Calif.)-based social network whose life as a moneymaking business is only now beginning, that may be best positioned to deliver on the Web's promise.

The company has developed a potentially powerful kind of advertising that's more personal—more "social," in Facebook's parlance—than anything that's come before. Ads on the site sit on the far right of the page and are such a visual afterthought that most users never click them. These ads can evolve, though, from useless little billboards into content, migrating into casual conversations between friends, colleagues, and family members—exactly where advertisers have always sought to be.

Facebook Sells Your Friends - BusinessWeek

Facebook Promotes Its Credits as Path to Dollars - NYTimes.com

The Facebook monetary system

For now, Facebook says it simply wants Credits to help foster the growth of virtual goods transactions. But Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive, said recently that the company may choose to do “a lot more” with Credits in the future. Over time, the company plans to turn Credits into a system for micropayments that could be open to any application on Facebook, be it a game or perhaps a media company, people with direct knowledge of Facebook’s plans said. They spoke anonymously because the plans have not been announced publicly.

In addition to games, which account for the vast majority of money spent on Facebook, more than a million other applications run on the site. In the future, many of those may choose to charge for access to certain features or to things like music, videos or news articles.

Facebook Promotes Its Credits as Path to Dollars - NYTimes.com

Ellison and Benioff Spar Over Cloud Credentials - Digits - WSJ

More Oracle OpenWorld head-in-the-cloud entertainment

The sparring marks the latest episode in a long history of cooperation and competition between the technology chiefs. Benioff worked for Ellison at Oracle for 13 years before leaving in 1999 to found Salesforce. Ellison was an early investor in Salesforce and briefly sat on its board of directors until Oracle launched a competing sales-force automation service in 2000.

The bickering is not likely to add clarity to the public’s understanding of cloud computing, a phrase for a variety of Web-inspired approaches to deploying software and services that has tended to defy precise definitions.

Benioff tried to be diplomatic, at times calling Ellison a “mentor” and “friend” to Salesforce, which was a sponsor of Oracle’s conference this year. Yet he could not resist questioning Oracle’s nascent hardware strategy. He said Mr. Ellison once advised him: “When weak, feign strength,” quoting “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu. “I think that was Sunday’s presentation,” Benioff said.

Ellison and Benioff Spar Over Cloud Credentials - Digits - WSJ

Privacy, Profit & The Emergence Of Google’s “Evil Twin” [Search Engine Land]

Excerpt from an extensive Google reality check – about data mining and other Google multiple-personality dimensions…

No final decisions have been made, according to the piece, but Google appears to be moving in the direction of greater data mining for ad targeting.

Another item in the “evil twin” category is Google’s recent “net-neutrality” deal with Verizon. A partial response to FCC foot dragging, the move is highly self interested, though justified in the broader interest, and a fundamental betrayal of Google’s previous positions on net neutrality. There’s more than a whiff of hypocrisy there.

Privacy, Profit & The Emergence Of Google’s “Evil Twin”

An American in Paris Says Au Revoir to His Laptop | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD

Walt Mossberg hits the road sans laptop

The idea wasn’t to test the iPad per se as a laptop replacement, but to try it as a proxy for the whole wave of touch-controlled slates beginning to roll out, or planned in coming months, from companies such as Dell, Samsung, and others. All of these products will be vying to replace the laptop, at least some of the time, and in some scenarios.

So, what happened? Well, for me, the experiment was a pleasant success. With a few exceptions, I got everything done that I would have done with a laptop. Yet I toted a lot less weight, enjoyed much better battery life, and had a computer that started up instantly whenever I reached for it. I also was able to combine the functions of a comfortable e-reader with those of a laptop.

An American in Paris Says Au Revoir to His Laptop | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD

$100 netbook lacking on performance - The Boston Globe

Strange days indeed; see the link below for details

I expected the first $100 laptop to emerge from a lab at MIT. Instead, it turned up at the drugstore.

[…]

Now a little New York firm called Digital Gadgets has cobbled together a super-cheap netbook, labeled with the familiar Sylvania brand name and available for $99 at CVS pharmacies. It’s a remarkable achievement that would be even more impressive if it were a better computer.

$100 netbook lacking on performance - The Boston Globe

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Schmidt Tells Colbert: “We Don’t Do Data Mining”: Tech News [GigaOm]

Check the link below for the video (and ponder Eric Schmidt’s definition of data mining, if it’s not something Google does)

Google CEO Eric Schmidt went on “The Colbert Report” last night, where host Stephen Colbert asked him about search history, computers taking over from humans, China and privacy. Perhaps Schmidt is on tour to combat the Consumer Watchdog videos that portray him as a creepy ice cream man who harvests kids’ data.

Schmidt Tells Colbert: “We Don’t Do Data Mining”: Tech News «

Come for the Hardware, Stay for the Apps: Tech News [GigaOm]

An excerpt from a timely mobile Internet device snapshot

Deloitte found that 58 percent of the almost 2,000 respondents reported that their main criteria for buying a smartphone were quality, camera, size, keyboard and price. Just 18 percent said apps and their functionality influenced their buying decision. This would seem to echo a recent Pew Internet study that found only 35 percent of people have apps on their phones, and only 25 percent actually use them. For all their growth in the last couple of years, apps aren’t quite mainstream yet.

But here’s the thing: Once people start using the apps, many are finding it’s changing their habits and relationships with other devices. Among app users, 42 percent have diminished or lessened their use of MP3 players, and 38 percent have done the same with AM/FM radios. Another 30 percent favor their phone over handheld gaming devices, and 28 percent are avoiding their GPS personal navigation devices.

Come for the Hardware, Stay for the Apps: Tech News «

Blogging Pioneer Bought by Video Ad Firm - NYTimes.com

A major transition for an early blogging leader

SixApart, the pioneering company behind MoveableType and TypePad blogging services, is being acquired by online advertising firm VideoEgg.

The deal, to be formally announced Wednesday, is intended to expand VideoEgg’s online advertising business beyond social networking, gaming and video sites, along with boosting its audience.
But the merger is also an acknowledgment that SixApart, once a dot-com darling, has been eclipsed – to a degree. Rival blogging service, WordPress, has blossomed in recent years while many consumers have shifted to Facebook and Twitter to keep in touch with friends.

Blogging Pioneer Bought by Video Ad Firm - NYTimes.com

Twitter: The new stage for hacker hijinks | InSecurity Complex - CNET News

Twitter: all the news that’s fit to pwn

Generating a news frenzy usually reserved for Apple product launches, pranksters turned Twitter into wormville this morning. The fast-spreading exploits proved two things: Twitter is undoubtedly now a mainstream service, and it's joined the ranks of big-time tech companies as a target for hackers.

Security experts interviewed by CNET say the messaging service has done a fair job of protecting itself so far, but will have to be more careful with its coding if it wants to be trusted for news aggregation, integration on corporate sites, and as a useful international communication tool.

Twitter: The new stage for hacker hijinks | InSecurity Complex - CNET News

Oracle Growth Plans Worry Rivals and Customers - NYTimes.com

See the link below for an OpenWorld 2010 snapshot

Like it or not, many of the largest technology companies — H.P., I.B.M., Cisco Systems and Oracle — have made their data center conquest plans clear. Oracle now competes directly with its partners H.P. and Dell, as does Cisco, the networking specialist, through its move into computer servers. Meanwhile, H.P., once one of Cisco’s closest allies, has begun a major assault in the networking arena.

“We will see more concentration because that’s where the marketing is going,” Mr. Hernandez said.

At least Oracle has the courtesy to assuage customer’s nerves for one week through its Open World largess.

Oracle Growth Plans Worry Rivals and Customers - NYTimes.com

Adobe's Profit Jumps 69%, but Forecast Disappoints - WSJ.com

Another unsubtle wsj.com photo choice [my subscription expires 20101015, BTW]

Adobe Systems Inc.'s fiscal third-quarter profit jumped 69% amid strong sales of its popular design-software products, but the company's shares tumbled in after-hours trading as investors responded to a disappointing forecast.

image

Adobe's Profit Jumps 69%, but Forecast Disappoints - WSJ.com

The new Oracle: Bigger and badder than ever - Dan Gillmor - Salon.com

A timely Dan Gillmor reality check – Oracle wants to be the Apple of the data center (but without the cool retail stores, I suspect…)

The more I heard him emphasize his company's new focus on merging hardware and software, however, the more I heard an echo of a company run by one of Ellison's longtime best friends, Steve Jobs. This is precisely the approach Apple takes with its products, hardly any of which are aimed at the enterprise: a tight integration of the machines and the code. If Ellison wants to be the Apple of the enterprise, he's set out an ambitious goal. This will remain interesting to watch.

The new Oracle: Bigger and badder than ever - Dan Gillmor - Salon.com

RIM Readies Tablet to Rival iPad - WSJ.com

Unconfirmed details about RIM’s tablet, which appears to be a bit like a keyboard-less Palm Foleo

It will have Bluetooth and broadband connections but will only be able to connect to cellular networks through a BlackBerry smartphone, these people said. Since the tablet won't be sold with a cellular service, it's not clear which carriers or retailers will sell the device.

In a significant development, RIM's tablet will eschew the recently revamped BlackBerry 6 operating system in favor of a completely new platform built by QNX Software Systems, these people said.

RIM Readies Tablet to Rival iPad - WSJ.com

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Twitter / Dave Kellogg: The Day HP Got Killed, Publicly, By HP ...

A timely case study in near-real-time social software scrutiny (of HP’s keynote at Oracle OpenWorld).  An example: “For two years now, having HP keynote at #oow10 is like having your ex-wife offer an awkward toast at your 2nd wedding.”  Check the bit.ly link below for more.

The Day HP Got Killed, Publicly, By HP. Rough Tweetstream at #OOW10 for HP keynote. http://bit.ly/96QtBt

Twitter / Dave Kellogg: The Day HP Got Killed, Pub ...

BBC News - Girl's horror as 21,000 RSVP Facebook party invite

Yikes

A 14-year-old girl from Hertfordshire who included her address on a Facebook invitation to her party was alarmed when 21,000 said they would be coming.

The party was cancelled when the school pupil was swamped by RSVPs from unwanted would-be guests on the social networking site.

The girl, from Harpenden, had reportedly only intended to invite 15 friends to her 15th birthday party.

BBC News - Girl's horror as 21,000 RSVP Facebook party invite

Brier Dudley's Blog | HP's two-fer: Printer plus Web tablet/e-book, $399 | Seattle Times Newspaper

More on HP’s new tablet + printer

The Android-powered tablet apparently doesn't let you load applications. It sounds like a new version of HP's Dreamscreen lightweight tablet/photo frame that appeared in 2008, more than the full-fledged slate computers that HP's expected to release later this year. But this one comes in a printer bundle for under $400, and it may be good enough for some people.

HPprinttablet.jpg

Brier Dudley's Blog | HP's two-fer: Printer plus Web tablet/e-book, $399 | Seattle Times Newspaper

T-Mobile Sued Over Blockade of Text Messages - NYTimes.com

Sign of the times

Ez Texting said in its lawsuit that T-Mobile set up a blockade Sept. 10 to keep its phone subscribers from signing up for messages from an Ez Texting client, legalmarijuanadispensary.com, which lists marijuana dispensaries and reviews.

The Web site, also known as WeedMaps, offers information about dispensaries only in states where they are legal, according to the suit. Furthermore, Ez Texting said that it had ended the ad partnership after hearing that T-Mobile objected, and then notified T-Mobile, but that its service was blocked anyway the next day.

T-Mobile Sued Over Blockade of Text Messages - NYTimes.com

I.B.M.'s Hybrid Strategy in Business Intelligence - NYTimes.com

A BI market dynamics snapshot

In the last few years, the major companies have all made sizable purchases of business-intelligence software companies. A few: Oracle grabbed Hyperion, $3.3 billion; SAP took Business Objects, $6.8 billion; IBM scooped up Cognos, $4.9 billion; Microsoft pulled in Fast Search and Transfer, $1.2 billion. And they have made a series of smaller purchases to add to their business-intelligence arsenal. I.B.M., for example, says it has spent $12 billion on 23 purchases in the analytics market in the last four years.

The real-time model of business intelligence, though, requires not just software, but a tight integration with hardware. I.B.M. has been working on this for years with tools tailored for high-speed processing of real-time data, like its System S technology for what is called “stream processing” — parsing data in streams in rather than after it is stored in data bases.

I.B.M.'s Hybrid Strategy in Business Intelligence - NYTimes.com

Code Known as Flash Cookies Raises Privacy Concerns - NYTimes.com

A different kind of rich Internet application

Ms. Person Burns is one of a growing number of consumers who are taking legal action against companies that track computer users’ activity on the Internet. At issue is a little-known piece of computer code placed on hard drives by the Flash program from Adobe when users watch videos on popular Web sites like YouTube and Hulu.

The technology, so-called Flash cookies, is bringing an increasing number of federal lawsuits against media and technology companies and growing criticism from some privacy advocates who say the software may also allow the companies to create detailed profiles of consumers without their knowledge.

Code Known as Flash Cookies Raises Privacy Concerns - NYTimes.com

Hewlett-Packard Unveils New Printer With Integrated Tablet - WSJ.com

A new Android printer from HP

Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) announced a new printer with a detachable tablet on Monday, part of the company's strategy to integrate the Internet into its core printing business.

Vyomesh Joshi, who runs the printer division, said the new integrated tablet device is part of the company's wider strategy of shifting its products to the Internet. Another example is the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company's expansion of a service that provides each of its printers with a individual e-mail address so that documents can be sent to them for printing.

Hewlett-Packard Unveils New Printer With Integrated Tablet - WSJ.com

Ousted chief, HP settle suit over job - The Boston Globe

No Hurd feelings…

Under the terms of a settlement disclosed yesterday after the stock markets closed, Hurd agreed to relinquish stock he was given in his severance package. The shares are worth nearly $14 million, based on yesterday’s closing price of $39.39.

HP and Oracle said in a joint statement that Hurd will be able to perform his duties as an Oracle copresident without spilling HP’s trade secrets.

Ousted chief, HP settle suit over job - The Boston Globe

Monday, September 20, 2010

IBM to buy Netezza for $1.7B - Mass High Tech Business News

So Netezza was in play, and it looks like the acquisition premium was, for the most part, already reflected in its stock price.  It’ll be interesting to see if Teradata is the next to leave the dance floor.  Of course, considering recent adventures such as the Dell/HP bidding war over 3PAR, it’s also possible IBM’s won’t be the final offer for Netezza.

Netezza Corp., a Marlborough maker of data warehouse appliances for complex analytics, has agreed to be bought by IBM Corp. in a cash deal worth approximately $1.7 billion. According to IBM, this will give the New York-based giant an “easy to use” appliance for its growing analytics business.

IBM to buy Netezza for $1.7B - Mass High Tech Business News

Oracle And H.P. Put Feud On Hold For A Night - NYTimes.com

More on the OpenWorld opening keynote

“If you want to go faster, and you want a system that is more reliable, you have to be willing to spend less,” Mr. Ellison said. He claimed Oracle’s new $1 million products run faster than I.B.M.’s while costing one-fourth as much.

Mr. Ellison also unveiled Oracle’s own version of Linux that it will run on these specialized systems. The company took key advances from Sun’s Solaris operating system and added them to Linux to create the – prepare yourself – Unbreakable Enterprise Kernel for Oracle Linux.

This may not do much for some readers, but it will inspire either hatred or joy among the geeks.

Oracle And H.P. Put Feud On Hold For A Night - NYTimes.com

Ellison, HP keep lid on drama to open Oracle conference | Circuit Breaker - CNET News

Some interesting “co-opetition” posturing at Oracle OpenWorld

Neither side directly addressed the tensions. HP Executive Vice President of Enterprise Business Ann Livermore was the first keynote this evening, and before launching into her sales pitch to the thousands of IT professionals gathered in Moscone Center on what kinds of services HP offers, she tackled the issue without directly mentioning Hurd.

"First, I want to make some comments on the HP-Oracle partnership," she said, while ticking off some numbers like that the two share 140,000 customers, and that 40 percent of Oracle licenses run on HP equipment. Lest any customers be concerned that drama would disrupt the partnership, she noted, "HP has made a big investment" in supporting Oracle software and customers.

She, along with HP colleague Dave Donatelli, then launched into an hour-long sales pitch explaining how the recent acquisitions HP has made means that the company is more of a services company than most might know.

Ellison, HP keep lid on drama to open Oracle conference | Circuit Breaker - CNET News

Oracle CEO Touts Cloud Computing; Announces "Cloud In A Box" - WSJ.com

Larry Ellison’s reality distortion field: whatever “cloud computing” is, Oracle is already selling it…

Oracle Corp. (ORCL) Chief Executive Larry Ellison kicked off his keynote address at Oracle's annual customer conference on Sunday with comments on cloud computing and Salesforce.com Inc. (CRM), rather than focusing on Oracle's strained partnership with partner Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ).

"Cloud stands in stark contrast to Salesforce.com," Ellison said, calling out several ways in which he thinks Saleforce is not an example of cloud computing. Cloud computing, he added, "is a platform upon which you build applications. It includes hardware and software."

The comments were a build-up to his announcement of a new product called Exalogic Elastic Cloud, which he referred to as a cloud in a box. "It is a hardware and software combination" that allows company to set up a private cloud.

Oracle CEO Touts Cloud Computing; Announces "Cloud In A Box" - WSJ.com

Facebook Should Absolutely Build a Mobile Phone: Tech News [GigaOm]

More analysis of the potential for a Facebook mobile device

The meme of the weekend was a TechCrunch report that Facebook is working on its own phone. Facebook quickly distributed a detailed denial of any phone-building activity, trying to cut the story at the knees by stating it is not building a phone but it is working on adding support for Facebook Connect into mobile operating systems and building a broadly accessible HTML5 version of its site. But the idea clearly has staying power, and why not — it’s a good one. Facebook should very soon start working outside its core competency to do things like make phones.

Facebook Should Absolutely Build a Mobile Phone: Tech News «

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Print on the iPad: A smashing success | The Economist

An interesting Apple snapshot in The Economist

Apple’s device is proving both transformative and deeply frustrating. Media firms are praying that another device, perhaps using Google’s Android operating system, becomes popular and gives them leverage over Apple. Much as they love the iPad, they would gladly smash a few if the thing could be replaced by another, equally compelling, tablet computer.

Print on the iPad: A smashing success | The Economist

Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check [AdSense redux]

I’ve added an AdSense control back to my blog – I’m mostly curious to see what kind of ads appear, and if many get clicked.  A somewhat dubious snapshot of what I saw when I first viewed the blog with the updated template:

image

Peter O'Kelly's Reality Check

Facebook Is Secretly Building A Phone [TechCrunch]

Some interesting speculation (via Louis Gray on Buzz).  Of course, since the Google Nexus One was a dismal failure (as anything other than a reference platform for Android developers), perhaps Facebook is simply working on ways to compel Android and iOS users to invest their time and attention in Facebook mobile apps/services, rather than seeking to directly offer a Facebook device.  An outlier scenario: if Facebook wants to disrupt business-as-usual in mobile Internet devices, and to play a primary user experience role (e.g., using Facebook’s directory for initiating communication sessions), it could create an engaging mobile user experience, partner for wireless service (e.g., as Amazon has done with the Kindle), and give away the devices, all based on an advertising-support business model, and/or a nominal monthly service fee.  In any case, check the link below for more details on the Facebook team leaders in this domain.

It was a little less than a year ago that we broke the news that Google was working on a phone of its own – which was eventually revealed as the Nexus One. It was about that time, says out source, that Facebook first became concerned about the increasing power of the iPhone and Android platforms. And that awesome Facebook apps for those phones may not be enough to counter a long term competitive threat.

Specifically, Facebook wants to integrate deeply into the contacts list and other core functions of the phone. It can only do that if it controls the operating system.

Facebook Is Secretly Building A Phone

Internet Explorer 9, Chrome, and Firefox are great, but outdated software is still holding back the Web. - By Chris Wilson - Slate Magazine

Check the link below for some possible solutions

Why don't people care to upgrade to a better, equally free program? Many people simply don't know what a browser is. They have a computer, they click a certain button to get on the Internet, and then they go about their business. They don't think of the Web as a series of files that the browser accepts and renders into this virtual world. Rather, they believe that it's merely a window into this communal universe that looks the same for everyone. "It's really tough to get people to realize that they have a choice [in browsers]," says Brian Rakowski, the product manager for Google Chrome. "And installing software itself is a scary thing for a lot of people."

Internet Explorer 9, Chrome, and Firefox are great, but outdated software is still holding back the Web. - By Chris Wilson - Slate Magazine

Digital Domain - Netflix Is Beating Blockbuster With Clicks, Not Bricks - NYTimes.com

Excerpt from a timely Randall Stross reality check

It took Blockbuster almost three years after introducing its online store to get around to integrating its bricks with its clicks, with its “Total Access” program started in 2006. The plan initially delighted Blockbuster’s most profitable customers — its high-volume renters, who now could rent and return to the store as many movies as they wanted for one low, flat rate. But it would be a financial disaster for the company. Subscription prices for unlimited-exchange plans had to be raised sharply, alienating many of those same high-volume users.

Today, with broadband widely available, Netflix offers a streaming option to its members for many titles and now has that second distribution channel it was lacking. Or hundredth channel, depending on how you count the various devices, like the iPad, that can stream Netflix movies.

Digital Domain - Netflix Is Beating Blockbuster With Clicks, Not Bricks - NYTimes.com