Google’s Search Goes Out to Sea - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Read the full post for more details

Call it Google’s data navy.

The search and advertising company has filed for a patent that describes a “water-based data center.” The idea is that Google would create mobile data center platforms out at sea by stacking containers filled with servers, storage systems and networking gear on barges or other platforms.

This would let Google push computing centers closer to people in some regions where it’s not feasible, cost-effective or as efficient to build a data center on land. In short, Google brings the data closer to you, and then the data arrives at a quicker clip.

Google’s Search Goes Out to Sea - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Microsoft | Microsoft lost EU case by 1 vote | Seattle Times Newspaper

So close, and yet so far...

Microsoft may have made a mistake by settling antitrust charges with the European Union last year after losing an EU court ruling. The software maker didn't know it was one vote away from winning.

Judges voted 7-6 against Microsoft last Sept. 17, according to two people with direct knowledge of the outcome.

They declined to be identified because EU court votes are confidential.

Microsoft should have appealed to try to end the European Commission's case for once and for all, said Toan Tran, an analyst at Morningstar in Chicago.

Microsoft | Microsoft lost EU case by 1 vote | Seattle Times Newspaper

Esquire magazine unveils cover with electronic ink - Boston.com

A big week for E Ink; also see  "New Electronic-Newspaper Reader Echoes Look of the Paper Version" (from which I copied the image below)

A 10-square-inch display on the cover of Esquire's October 2008 anniversary issue flashes the theme "The 21st Century Begins Now" with a collage of illuminated images. On the inside cover, a two-page spread advertising the new Ford Flex Crossover features a second 10-square-inch display with shifting colors to illustrate the car in motion at night.

The displays, which Granger said have boosted advertising in the issue, were developed by E Ink Corp., a Cambridge, Mass., company that also supplied the electronic paper technology for the screen of Amazon's Kindle e-book reader.

Plastic Logo reader:

Esquire magazine unveils cover with electronic ink - Boston.com

Ad trade group opposes Yahoo-Google search deal | News - Digital Media - CNET News

Hmm...

The Association of National Advertisers announced Sunday it sent a letter to the head of the antitrust division of the U.S. Department of Justice, citing its opposition to the controversial Yahoo-Google search advertising deal.

[,,,]

In its announcement, the ANA stated:

The letter, authorized by the ANA board, notes that a Google-Yahoo partnership will control 90 percent of search advertising inventory and states ANA's concerns that the partnership will likely diminish competition, increase concentration of market power, limit choices currently

Ad trade group opposes Yahoo-Google search deal | News - Digital Media - CNET News

Technology Review: Opening Search to Semantic Upstarts

An indexing innovation incubator?...

[...] Yahoo recently released a resource that may offer hope to search innovators and entrepreneurs. Called Build Your Own Search Service (BOSS), it allows programmers to make use of Yahoo's index of the Web--billions of pages that are continually updated--thereby removing perhaps the biggest barrier to search innovation. By opening its index to thousands of independent programmers and entrepreneurs, Yahoo hopes that BOSS will kick-start projects that it lacks the time, money, and resources to invent itself. Prabhakar Raghavan, head of Yahoo Research and a consulting professor at Stanford University, says this might include better ways of searching videos or images, tools that use social networks to rank search results, or a semantic search engine that tries to understand the contents of Web pages, rather than just a collection of keywords and links.

Technology Review: Opening Search to Semantic Upstarts

At Tech Show, Even News Is Target for Improvement - WSJ.com

Interesting

Participants at the Demo show include SpinSpotter, a start-up that plans to show an early version of software that is designed to identify bias and inaccuracy in online news stories. The Seattle-based company's Spinoculars program, which is designed to appear as a toolbar on most Web browsers, relies on software and input from its users to find opinionated language, sources with conflicts of interest and an over-reliance on text from corporate and political press releases.

Users with the software can flag and comment on questionable content using a guide to potential inaccuracies and biases created by a panel of journalists compensated by the company. Only people with the Spinoculars program installed on their PCs will see other users' comments.

At Tech Show, Even News Is Target for Improvement - WSJ.com

JetBlue's new ticket counter: eBay - The Boston Globe

Bidding  to apparently start at a nickel or dime...

Previously, some carriers sold seats on eBay to raise money for charity, but JetBlue is using the world's largest Internet marketplace to seek higher revenue during a typically sluggish period.

"Fall is typically a slower travel period for customers. As summer comes to an end, they reign in travel plans," said spokeswoman Alison Eshelman. "By auctioning flights, we're giving customers a flexible and affordable way to get weekend deals."

JetBlue's new ticket counter: eBay - The Boston Globe

Daniel Lyons: Apple Is What Microsoft Was--Bigfoot | Newsweek The Technologist | Newsweek.com

Former Fake Steve/Real Dan Lyons has published his first Newsweek article -- an excerpt: 

The really scary thing about Apple is that it doesn't just make hit products—it controls entire ecosystems. Just as Microsoft controls both the operating system and the applications that run on top of it, Apple owns popular hardware platforms (iPod, iPhone) and operates the only store that can sell music, movies and software programs for those platforms. Apple sets prices and takes 30 percent of the money.

Daniel Lyons: Apple Is What Microsoft Was--Bigfoot | Newsweek The Technologist | Newsweek.com

Face value | Deflating IT | Economist.com

An intriguing profile of Zoho's CEO

SRIDHAR VEMBU is a dangerous man. If he succeeds, a lot of people will lose a lot of money: software developers, consultants, shareholders and others. The chief executive of AdventNet does not have fraud in mind. Instead, he wants to remove what he calls the “value-pad” from corporate IT in general and business software in particular: all those millions of dollars he thinks are wasted on inefficient production structures, marketing and, not least, proprietary standards. “In the world of corporate IT”, he says, “the low-cost revolution is very much unfinished business.”

See the full article for more details and background/history.

On a related note, a recent Computerworld article, "ZoooS takes OpenOffice.org to the Web", highlights another approach to web-centric productivity applications

Face value | Deflating IT | Economist.com

High-resolution satellite launched in California - Boston.com

A ~$500M investment

A super-sharp Earth-imaging satellite that can detail an area the size of a baseball diamond's home plate from space has been launched into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the Central California coast.

And guess who has exclusive rights, among mapping sites, to the GeoEye-1 images. (Hint: CNet's "Google-focused Satellite Enters Orbit" article)

High-resolution satellite launched in California - Boston.com

Digital Domain - How Many Reviewers Should Be in the Kitchen? - NYTimes.com

A timely snapshot (of Yelp and Zagat)

Fortunately, the sites that welcome customer reviews have evolved significantly. One of the best, Yelp, has replaced the cult of the anonymous amateur with a design that highlights the judgments of the exceptional few. These dedicated reviewers produce work that, in quantity and quality, increasingly approaches that of their professional forebears, and they are willing to divulge personal information about themselves.

Digital Domain - How Many Reviewers Should Be in the Kitchen? - NYTimes.com

ID protection can be do-it-yourself - The Boston Globe

The full article goes on to review some of the leading credit-monitoring services

Looking at a chronology of data breaches compiled by the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, it seems you can't even go a week without significant numbers of people having their identifying information stolen.

In fact, nearly 28 million people were victims of identity theft between 2005 and 2007, according to a nationwide survey by Javelin Strategy and Research, a consultancy firm for the financial services and payment industries. The constant news of data losses and the heightened awareness of victimization have fueled a growing industry built around monitoring individuals' credit.

ID protection can be do-it-yourself - The Boston Globe

I’m So Totally, Digitally Close to You - Clive Thompson - NYTimes.com

An extensive and timely NYT reality check; read the full article 

Social scientists have a name for this sort of incessant online contact. They call it “ambient awareness.” It is, they say, very much like being physically near someone and picking up on his mood through the little things he does — body language, sighs, stray comments — out of the corner of your eye. Facebook is no longer alone in offering this sort of interaction online. In the last year, there has been a boom in tools for “microblogging”: posting frequent tiny updates on what you’re doing. The phenomenon is quite different from what we normally think of as blogging, because a blog post is usually a written piece, sometimes quite long: a statement of opinion, a story, an analysis. But these new updates are something different.

[...]

This is the ultimate effect of the new awareness: It brings back the dynamics of small-town life, where everybody knows your business. Young people at college are the ones to experience this most viscerally, because, with more than 90 percent of their peers using Facebook, it is especially difficult for them to opt out.

I’m So Totally, Digitally Close to You - Clive Thompson - NYTimes.com

Microsoft Kicks Off Seinfeld Campaign - WSJ.com

Beyond the humor and multi-part marketing campaign:

Microsoft also says it's working closely with hardware partners in the PC business to improve the performance of Windows PCs and their compatibility with other devices. The company said it's working on speeding up the amount of time it takes to start up and shut down PCs running its software, an area where Windows Vista has received a lot of criticism.

Microsoft has also partnered with major retailers, including Best Buy Co. and Circuit City Stores Inc., to create stores-within-a-store that will showcase Windows-powered PCs, Internet services and mobile devices. The company has piloted the concept with retail partners in the past and set up a mock up of Windows stores inside a warehouse on its corporate campus to experiment with different designs. Mr. Veghte said the company is also evaluating whether to do its own stores in addition to partnerships with other retailers.

Microsoft Kicks Off Seinfeld Campaign - WSJ.com

Video Game Review - Playing God, the Home Game, in Spore - Review - NYTimes.com

Worth the wait, apparently; read the full review 

As an intelligent romp through the sometimes contradictory realms of science, mythology, religion and hope about the universe around us, Spore both provokes and amuses. And as an agent of creativity it is a landmark. Never before have everyday people been given such extensive tools to create their digital alter ego.

Video Game Review - Playing God, the Home Game, in Spore - Review - NYTimes.com

Google’s Photo Face Recognition is Wow Marketing - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

More new tricks from Google, and a representative snapshot of the overall market conventional wisdom these days -- Google can do nothing wrong, and Microsoft can do little right

Every now and then a bit of technology wanders onto my computer screen that makes me want to pull someone over and say, “Isn’t it amazing that you can do this?” Flying around on Google Earth was like that. And so is the new face recognition system on Google’s photo sharing site, Picasa Web Albums. (Microsoft’s PhotoSynth system, which creates 3D spaces from a stack of digital snapshots, also had a jaw-dropping demo, but its first release is too hard to use.)

Google’s Photo Face Recognition is Wow Marketing - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Red Hat Buys a Seat at the Virtualization Table - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

The virtualization-as-platform-feature market may be getting more crowded, but the pure-play virtualization market segment dance floor is emptying

The virtualization software market just got even more crowded, thanks to Red Hat’s $107 million acquisition Thursday of Qumranet. Red Hat will now compete head-to-head against the likes of VMware, Microsoft, Citrix Systems and Sun Microsystems.

Red Hat Buys a Seat at the Virtualization Table - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Google At Age 10 - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Some interesting stat bites -- all comparing Google and Microsoft; see the full post for details

Google applied for incorporation as a business 10 years ago Thursday, according to a timeline supplied by the company. The application was accepted on Sept. 7, which is Sunday.

In that decade, the search engine company has quickly emerged as the most successful business on the Web, and many expect it to dominate the next era of computing as thoroughly as Microsoft dominated the era of personal computers.

Here’s a quick snapshot of Google by the numbers along with some comparisons to Microsoft.

Google At Age 10 - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Microsoft PressPass: Microsoft Kicks off new Windows Campaign with Star Power

Kinda deeply nested... but my kids thought the first commercial in the series was very funny

After seeing the new ad from Microsoft, which debuted today, some may wonder what Jerry Seinfeld helping Bill Gates pick out a new pair of shoes has to do with software. The answer, in the classic Seinfeld sense of the word, is nothing. Nevertheless, the spot is the first and most visible sign of an ambitious effort by Microsoft’s Windows business to reconnect with consumers around the globe.

Microsoft PressPass - Windows

Dell Plans to Sell Factories In Effort to Cut Costs - WSJ.com

A somewhat surprising sign of the times

Dell Inc. is trying to sell its computer factories around the world, a move to sharply overhaul a production model that was long a hallmark of the PC giant's strategy but is no longer competitive.

In recent months, according to people familiar with the matter, Dell has approached contract computer manufacturers with offers to sell the plants. One person briefed on the plan said he expects the company to sell most -- and possibly all -- of its factories "within the next 18 months." Other factories could close, this person said. Dell would enter into agreements with the contract manufacturers to produce its PCs.

Dell Plans to Sell Factories In Effort to Cut Costs - WSJ.com

Amazon to sell laptops from foundation - The Boston Globe

Tempting -- as a potential future collectors' item...

Low-cost laptops from the One Laptop Per Child Foundation of Cambridge will go on sale at Amazon.com this holiday season, making the $200 computers available for the first time through a retail store.

The foundation's founder, Nicholas Negroponte, said the deal with the online retailer should eliminate delivery problems that arose last year during the first effort to sell XO laptops to the public.

Amazon to sell laptops from foundation - The Boston Globe

Chrome grabs 1% of browser market in under 24 hours

Impressive...

Google Inc.'s new Chrome browser grabbed 1% of the browser market in its first day out in public, Web metrics providers said today.

Both U.S.-based tracking company Net Applications Inc. and Irish vendor StatCounter put Chrome's total market share at around 1%, less than 24 hours after the browser's launch, passing rivals such as Opera and Netscape in the process.

Chrome grabs 1% of browser market in under 24 hours

Google Apps tops 1 million businesses | Outside the Lines - CNET News

Check the full story for details; I suspect there's more than a little creative counting in this context

For some companies, Google Apps is "good enough," and its cloud-based, collaborative core is an advantage--no Microsoft SharePoint server required. Even with a few enterprise wins, Google Apps is a puny business. According to a Fortune article, Google brought in about $4 million with its Google Apps business in 2007, compared with $12.2 billion for Microsoft Office. Google Apps is a profitable business, according to Matthew Glotzbach, enterprise product management director at Google.

Since early this year Google has been touting 500,000 active business customers, primarily small businesses, using at least one of the Google Apps, and more than 10 million active users. In addition, thousands of universities, with more than one million active users, are using Google Apps, the company said. So far, Google's biggest wins are Valeo, a leading automotive suppliers, with 32,000 users, and the District of Columbia, with 38,000 employees.

Google Apps tops 1 million businesses | Outside the Lines - CNET News

Google's Omnibox could be Pandora's box | Beyond Binary - A blog by Ina Fried - CNET News

Hmm...

The auto-suggest feature of Google's new Chrome browser does more than just help users get where they are going. It will also give Google a wealth of information on what people are doing on the Internet besides searching.

Provided that users leave Chrome's auto-suggest feature on and have Google as their default search provider, Google will have access to any keystrokes that are typed into the browser's Omnibox, even before a user hits enter.

Google's Omnibox could be Pandora's box | Beyond Binary - A blog by Ina Fried - CNET News

One Million Strong Collaborating Online With Microsoft Office Live Workspace Beta

See the full press release for more details

Microsoft Corp. today announced that only six months after public availability, the beta release of Microsoft Office Live Workspace has reached the 1-million-customer sign-up milestone.

Office Live Workspace beta (http://workspace.officelive.com) is the free, Web-based extension of Microsoft Office that lets people access their documents online and share their work with others. The Workspace beta was among the first entries in the new wave of online services that embody Microsoft’s software-plus-services vision previewed last fall. In just six months, it has achieved significant interest from consumers, schools and universities globally, and has added 11 languages and 20 new features such as multi-file upload, activity panels and improved Firefox support.

One Million Strong Collaborating Online With Microsoft Office Live Workspace Beta: Customers worldwide use Microsoft Office Live Workspace beta in 11 languages as an on-ramp to Web-based storage and sharing.

The world wide web | The second browser war | Economist.com

Hah...  see this page for the full article, and this CNet page for an overview of the first Chrome security flaw.

Ingeniously, Chrome itself need not take a lot of market share to fulfil Google’s objectives. Google does not expect to sell or otherwise “monetise” Chrome directly. Like Firefox’s, Chrome’s source code is free for anybody to change and improve, and even for rival browser-makers to incorporate. That could even include Microsoft. As Mr Brin says, “we would consider it a success” if the next version of IE were “built on Chrome, or even if it were just a lot better as a result of Chrome.” Google wants ever more people doing ever more things on the web, and peace of mind that nobody, not even Microsoft, can interrupt that.

The world wide web | The second browser war | Economist.com

VMware's research head defects to Oracle [Computerworld]

Hmm...

VMware Inc.'s executive vice president of research and development has quit the company and taken a job at Oracle Corp., VMware said Tuesday.

Richard Sarwal, a longtime Oracle veteran, did not stay at VMware long, having joined the company in December 2007. Stephen Herrod, chief technology officer at VMware, will begin overseeing research efforts effective immediately, according to the company.

VMware's research head defects to Oracle

Review: Google Chrome lacks polish under the hood - Yahoo! News

More Chrome perspectives

Yet my initial tests reveal that this "beta," or preliminary release, falls short of Google's goals, and is outdone in an important measure by the latest version of Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer.

Chrome is a challenge to Microsoft's browser, used by about three-quarters of Web surfers. But it could equally be called a challenge to Microsoft's Office software suite, because what Google really wants to do is to make the browser a stable and flexible platform that can do practically everything we want to do with a computer, from word processing and e-mail to photo editing.

The full article goes on to blame Adobe Flash for browser client performance issues, in yet another intriguing browser-big-picture point of view.  Building on the second paragraph excerpted above, in any case, there's no reason to stop with Office -- if Chrome becomes the platform for making Google Apps a more credible and compelling option, and if Chrome helps to pull other Google services, then it will help Google in attacking Microsoft Windows, not just IE and Office. 

Of course, none of this is a foregone conclusion at this point; e.g., things didn't work out so well for Netscape, the last company that brazenly sought to obviate Microsoft's primary product franchises...

Review: Google Chrome lacks polish under the hood - Yahoo! News

The Forrester Blog: Chrome: Google’s Shiny New Browser Doesn’t Dull IE’s Dominance

Some Forrester perspectives; see the full post for more analysis

The surprising part of the announcement of Chrome is the question it raises around Google’s investment in Mozilla and the open source browser Firefox. According to a recent Forrester survey, Firefox now has nearly 20 percent of the browser market and is the closest competitor to Microsoft.  While many are scratching their heads at why Google would look to compete with itself, the likely scenario is that Firefox and Chrome can work together to erode Microsoft’s browser market share. Firefox, with 200 million users, has already been appealing to the tech set as the open source alternative for the anti-Microsoft crowd. The Chrome browser can take advantage of Google’s greater brand recognition, can leverage Google’s presence as a search tool to increase awareness of Chrome, and it can evolve to suit Google’s vision of the desktop experience and differentiate itself from the current browser paradigm. It’s not just anti-Microsoft and open source, it’s what Google is calling the “modern” browser, built from scratch without the baggage of past.

I suspect this is a bit generous, overall; I expect there will be extensive debate in the open source community about whether the world needs another open source multi-platform browser client, and that many people will believe Google Chrome will deeply damage Firefox market momentum

The Forrester Blog For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

State of the Art - Serious Potential in Google’s Browser - NYTimes.com

David Pogue's take -- excerpts from the full review:

Google argues that current Web browsers were designed eons ago, before so many of the developments that characterize today’s Web: video everywhere, scams and spyware, viruses that lurk even on legitimate sites, Web-based games and ambitious Web-based programs like Google’s own Docs word processor. As Google’s blog puts it, “We realized that the Web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser.”

[...]

For now, it’s best to think of Chrome as exactly what it purports to be: a promising, modern, streamlined, nonbloated, very secure alternative to today’s browsers. You should do exactly what Microsoft, Apple and the Firefox folks will all be doing: try it out and keep your eye on it.

Because every now and then, Google’s fresh approach ends up dominating its once much bigger competitors (See also: AltaVista, Lycos, Ask ...)

State of the Art - Serious Potential in Google’s Browser - NYTimes.com

Speed test: Google Chrome beats Firefox, IE, Safari | Business Tech - CNET News

No doubt we'll see lots of comparisons on assorted metrics over the next few months, as IE8 and Chrome are finalized, but FWIW my experience so far, using Chrome and IE8 beta 2 on a mix of XP and Vista machines, is that both offer impressive performance.  This is, of course, not good news for Apple Safari or Mozilla.org Firefox...

Lars Bak, the Google engineer who was the technical leader for Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine, said at the launch event Tuesday he's confident Chrome is "many times faster" than the rivals at running JavaScript, the programming language that powers Google Docs, Gmail, and many other Web applications.

But when pressed for specifics, he told me to try them out. So I did.

Speed test: Google Chrome beats Firefox, IE, Safari | Business Tech - CNET News

Apple Hints at iPod News - NYTimes.com

Looks like Steve Jobs et al have decided it's time for you to replace your iPods (again); see the full article for additional speculation

Apple is expected to show off its new iPod music players, and possibly announce price cuts, on Tuesday but may not release a long-awaited update to its MacBook laptop computers until a later date.

Apple Hints at iPod News - NYTimes.com

Dell to Offer 'Netbook' - WSJ.com

Interesting times -- with the shift to cloud-based computing and products such as Windows Home Server, this type of net-centric device is increasingly practical

Dell Inc. will soon introduce a mininotebook computer, people familiar with the matter said, entering into a fast-growing market for inexpensive, no-frills portables that offer Internet capabilities at low prices.

One person familiar with the matter said the new device will likely sell for less than $400. That price range would put the Dell device into competition with products such as the Eee PC from Asustek Computer Inc., which helped define a breed of systems that are sometimes called netbooks.

Dell to Offer 'Netbook' - WSJ.com

Browser is good for Google, perhaps for Googlers, too - The Boston Globe

Useful perspectives from Hiawatha Bray; read the full article 

With so many Internet browsers to choose from, who needs another one?

Search engine giant Google Inc., that's who. The company's Chrome browser, released yesterday in a beta test version, is designed to make the world a better place for Google's suite of Internet-based software applications. Yet consumers could stand to gain, as well, thanks to Chrome's new features

Browser is good for Google, perhaps for Googlers, too - The Boston Globe

First Test of Google’s New Browser | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD

Walt Mossberg's first impressions (no subscription required for access to the full review). His summary, from a wsj.com email alert:

Google's new Chrome Web browser will make using the Internet faster and less frustrating, but this first version is rough around the edges and lacks some features, says Walt Mossberg in the first hands-on review.

Check out the full review and ponder the implications -- Chrome and IE8 are about to put web app and user experience evolution into a much faster cycle.

First Test of Google’s New Browser Walt Mossberg Personal Technology AllThingsD

Slate Magazine [on McCain/Palin vetting process]

Hmm -- so this may turn into a fascinating case study on the effectiveness of (rushed...) Internet content-based information analysis

The LAT talks to one Republican who says McCain's staff "vetted her through Google and clipping services." That sounds like an exaggeration but the NYT talks to state leaders and local officials in Alaska who say none of them were called by McCain's campaign during the vetting process. This was at least partly because of a desire to keep the selection secret until the last minute, but some now think McCain could come to regret this focus on secrecy, which may have come at the expense of more thorough vetting.

Gustav spares New Orleans; Palin's teenage daughter is pregnant. - By Daniel Politi - Slate Magazine

vowe dot net :: Google Chrome Privacy Notice

An interesting catch by Volker Weber (he's quoting from the related Google page)

Your copy of Google Chrome includes one or more unique application numbers. These numbers and information about your installation of the browser (e.g., version number, language) will be sent to Google when you first install and use it and when Google Chrome automatically checks for updates. If you choose to send usage statistics and crash reports to Google, the browser will send us this information along with a unique application number as well. Crash reports can contain information from files, applications and services that were running at the time of a malfunction.

More >

vowe dot net :: Google Chrome Privacy Notice

Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: The cloud's Chrome lining

A clear example of giving Google ~infinite benefit of the doubt, and little to Apple, Microsoft, or Mozilla.org.  I also sense that many people who have nice things to say about the contents of the comic book that leaked Google's Chrome plans haven't closely studied the IE8 feature list.

To Google, the browser has become a weak link in the cloud system - the needle's eye through which the outputs of the company's massive data centers usually have to pass to reach the user - and as a result the browser has to be rethought, revamped, retooled, modernized. Google can't wait for Microsoft or Apple or the Mozilla Foundation to make the changes (the first has mixed feelings about promoting cloud apps, the second is more interested in hardware than in clouds, and the third, despite regular infusions of Google bucks, lacks resources), so Google is jump-starting the process with Chrome.

Although I'm sure Google would be thrilled if Chrome grabbed a sizable chunk of market share, winning a "browser war" is not its real goal. Its real goal, embedded in Chrome's open-source code, is to upgrade the capabilities of all browsers so that they can better support (and eventually disappear behind) the applications. The browser may be the medium, but the applications are the message.

Rough Type: Nicholas Carr's Blog: The cloud's Chrome lining

iPhone doubles Web browser share | Apple - CNET News

See the full article for some additional stat snapshots

The figures, collected by Web analytics company Net Applications, show that in June 2008, before the launch of the iPhone 3G, the iPhone had 0.16 percent share of the operating system market, as measured by OS detection during Web browsing; and in July, it had 0.19 percent.

However, as of September 1, the iPhone had 0.3 percent of global market share, an increase of 58 percent in one month. According to Net Applications, this was due to the July launch of the iPhone 3G.

iPhone doubles Web browser share | Apple - CNET News

Video added to Google Apps | News - Digital Media - CNET News

Interesting times...

Google is introducing video into Google Apps with the hope that companies will be attracted to a service that helps with training and internal communication but also removes the hassles of hosting video.

According to Google executives who spoke to CNET News last week, the search giant has tailored some of the technology developed by YouTube specifically for corporate clients. The offering is part of Google's continuing efforts to replace traditional office software with so-called cloud-computing services.

Video added to Google Apps | News - Digital Media - CNET News

Microsoft Faces New Browser Foe in Google - NYTimes.com

Diplomatic but direct...

[John Lilly, chief executive of Mozilla] also noted that Mozilla, while a private company, is entirely owned by the Mozilla Foundation. The browser project was begun to provide an alternative to Microsoft’s browser. “The mission of Mozilla is to keep the Web open, a pure public benefit,” he said. “Others have other motivations and Google’s move also serves to highlight our position in the marketplace.”

Microsoft Faces New Browser Foe in Google - NYTimes.com

Google Tackles Microsoft In Launch of Browser - WSJ.com

An audacious move to privatize the web -- and one that, if successful, will probably have more negative implications for Firefox and Safari than IE

Google executives have expressed concern that existing browsers might fail to support the sort of new Web-based applications they want to develop as they seek to expand the company's influence beyond search. By building its own Web-browsing software, Google is ensuring that it will have a platform for its Internet services that needn't conform to other companies' standards.

[...]

"We realized that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser," wrote Sundar Pichai, a Google vice president of product management, on the company site. "What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that's what we set out to build."

Google Tackles Microsoft In Launch of Browser - WSJ.com

Technology Review: FAA outage reveals odd computing practices

Not comforting...

When a computer glitch at a Federal Aviation Administration center caused widespread airline delays this week, it served as a reminder that the U.S. flight system is waiting for a modernizing overhaul. But it also appears the FAA's management of its existing technologies falls short of standards in other vital sectors.

[...]

Basil Barimo, vice president of operations and safety for the Air Transport Association of America, a trade association that represents the nation's largest carriers, says the fundamental problem is that the FAA still relies on outdated technology, including a radar-based control system designed in the 1940s and '50s. Barimo is optimistic that the FAA's NextGen modernization program -- a $15 billion-plus upgrade to satellite-based technology that will take nearly 20 years to complete -- will help make more efficient use of the nation's airspace and safely allow more planes in the sky.

Technology Review: FAA outage reveals odd computing practices

Google to Launch Its Own Web Browser - WSJ.com

Hmm -- if accurate, this would suggest 1) Google is taking IE8 very seriously, and 2)  Google, despite providing major funding for Mozilla.org (and recently renewing its agreement with Mozilla.org for another three years), apparently can't meet its objectives exclusively through Firefox.

Google Inc. plans to launch its own Web browser, people familiar with the matter said, in the latest twist in a battle with Microsoft Corp. over key Internet technologies.

The browser, called Google Chrome, is likely to be announced soon, according to these people. They say software is designed to make it easier and faster to browse the Web, by offering enhanced address-bar features and other elements that are very different from those on other browsers. The product will be open-sourced, meaning others can modify the code.

More details (and no wsj.com subscription required) on CNet

Google to Launch Its Own Web Browser - WSJ.com

Link by Link - Don’t Like Palin’s Wikipedia Story? Change It - NYTimes.com

Check the full article for a timely reality check

The coincidence of the user’s name, and the sudden spurt of activity just before news broke of Mr. McCain’s choice, has raised suspicions that YoungTrigg was a campaign operative tasked to make sure that her Wikipedia article was ready for prime time, much as handlers have been assigned to do the same for the candidate.

While ethically suspect, the idea that a politician would try to shape her Wikipedia article shouldn’t come as a surprise. In modern politics, where the struggle is to “define” yourself before your opponent “defines” you, Wikipedia has become an important part of political strategy. When news breaks, and people plug a name into a search engine to find out more, invariably Wikipedia is the first result they click through to; it is where first impressions are made.

Link by Link - Don’t Like Palin’s Wikipedia Story? Change It - NYTimes.com

Googling in Person to Make Friends - NYTimes.com

Interesting times

Advertisers are grappling with the idea of Google, which spent many of its early years avoiding — and infuriating — advertising agencies, now shifting to embrace them.

During the last year, Google has built a 40-person group that is charged with courting agencies, trying to persuade them that their clients should buy ads on Google sites and use the search engine’s tools. The Google team — like any ad team — is visiting agencies to show off the company’s products, like video ads on YouTube and display ads from DoubleClick. Its representatives are even making regular visits to ad agencies, soliciting suggestions and fielding questions.

Googling in Person to Make Friends - NYTimes.com

Billionaires’ Yacht Rivalry Spills Into Courtroom - NYTimes.com

More hobby fun for Larry Ellison

Poised to skate across the waves off Anacortes, Wash., is a 90-foot, three-hulled wonder-yacht designed to crush its competitors in the next America’s Cup. With a price tag of more than $10 million, it was built for the racing team of Lawrence J. Ellison, the billionaire who runs the software company Oracle.

But Mr. Ellison’s yacht, which launched last week with the swing of a bottle of Moët & Chandon Champagne, may not get a shot at the prestigious trophy this time around.

Billionaires’ Yacht Rivalry Spills Into Courtroom - NYTimes.com

GO-Tags May Replace Cash and Credit Cards [BusinessWeek]

A project at First Data, where Michael Capellas (formerly Compaq and MCI CEO) is CEO.  See the full story for more details, e.g., on how GO-Tags were used to program journalists and delegates at last week's DNC (for free snacks and drinks...)

With GO-Tag, First Data is placing a major bet on the fast-emerging world of mobile e-commerce. These pea-sized chips, each with a radio transmitter inside, can be stuck on a cell phone or ID badge to make paying for purchases fast and easy. The transactions are handled on the networks that First Data uses for traditional debit and credit cards. In recent weeks it has landed several major customers, including Blockbuster (BBI). GO-Tag takes about a second to complete a sale—much faster than using a traditional credit card or cash. "The ultimate goal is to eliminate the need for cash in our stores," says Blockbuster Chief Executive James W. Keys.

GO-Tags May Replace Cash and Credit Cards

Book Excerpt: The Numerati by Stephen Baker [BusinessWeek]

Cover story book excerpt on IBM's application of predictive models

BusinessWeek's 2006 Cover Story, "Math Will Rock Your World," announced a new age of numbers. With the rise of new networks, the story argued, all of us were channeling the details of our lives into vast databases. Every credit-card purchase, every cell-phone call, every click on the computer mouse fed these digital troves. Those with the tools and skills to make sense of them could begin to decipher our movements, desires, diseases, and shopping habits—and predict our behavior. This promised to transform business and society. In a book expanding upon this Cover Story, The Numerati, Senior Writer Stephen Baker introduces us to the mathematical wizards who are digging through our data to decode us as patients, shoppers, voters, potential terrorists—even lovers.

Book Excerpt: The Numerati by Stephen Baker

Technology, business and the law | The big data dump | Economist.com

See the full article for a stark e-discovery reality check

DAWN BEYE’S teenage daughter suffers from anorexia nervosa and had to be treated in hospital at a cost of about $1,000 a day. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, the Beyes’ insurance company, covered one month of the bills but then balked, demanding evidence that the affliction was “biologically based” rather than psychological. So Ms Beye got together with parents of other anorexic and bulimic teenagers and sued. Horizon immediately asked to see practically everything the teenagers had said on their Facebook and MySpace profiles, in instant-messaging threads, text messages, e-mails, blog posts and whatever else the girls might have done online.

The Beyes’ lawyer, David Mazie at Mazie, Slater, Katz & Freeman, objected on the grounds that Horizon’s demands violated the girls’ privacy. He lost. So hard disks and web pages are being scoured in order for the case to proceed. Gathering and then sifting through all the electronic information that a few teenage girls have generated is excessive and daunting, says Mr Mazie.

Technology, business and the law | The big data dump | Economist.com

I, Cringely . The Pulpit . What Did You Say? | PBS

Excerpt from a snapshot from another unhappy iPhone customer...

Our experience with the iPhone 3G is not good, though not terrible. It is a fantastic device, if flawed. The main flaw is the phone, rather than the iPod Touch bits that comprise the rest of the unit. Voice service is not good, calls are dropped, and the iPhone won't work places where my old Nokia N80 easily did. But my iPhone, oddly enough, works better than does my wife's. This variation is how I know at least part of the problem is with the phone, not just the network.

But the network sucks, too.

I, Cringely . The Pulpit . What Did You Say? | PBS

The Final Days of the Presidency of George W. Bush - NYTimes.com

Another timely political reality check 

No matter how careful the orchestration, though, a rivalry seared in the brutal lowlands of South Carolina circles around to this moment. Eight years after their epic Republican primary battle of 2000, the first-place finisher desperately needs the second-place finisher to win in order to validate his own legacy. And the runner-up now finds himself saddled with the baggage of a man he never much liked to begin with, forced to live with a record he personally considers deeply lacking and portrayed as if he were a clone of his longtime adversary. As John Weaver, McCain’s former chief strategist told me, “I’m sure McCain is thinking, Is Bush going to beat me twice?”

The Final Days of the Presidency of George W. Bush - NYTimes.com

Internet Traffic Begins to Bypass the U.S. - NYTimes.com

A timely reality check

Some Internet technologists and privacy advocates say those actions and other government policies may be hastening the shift in Canadian and European traffic away from the United States.

“Since passage of the Patriot Act, many companies based outside of the United States have been reluctant to store client information in the U.S.,” said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington. “There is an ongoing concern that U.S. intelligence agencies will gather this information without legal process. There is particular sensitivity about access to financial information as well as communications and Internet traffic that goes through U.S. switches.”

Internet Traffic Begins to Bypass the U.S. - NYTimes.com

An Astonishingly Arrogant V.P. Selection - The Plank [The New Republic]

One of a zillion or so interesting articles on McCain/Palin this morning; read the full essay and check out an index of other TNR articles (titled "Palin in Comparison")

It may be John McCain's birthday, but it seems like he's the one giving out gifts today. The selection of Palin doesn't simply, as others have pointed out, undermine the notion that Obama is too inexperienced to be president; it gives Obama the chance to actually take the edge on national security while making John McCain's age a central issue of the campaign.

On a related note, an except from an email message I received yesterday:

Not enough experience & unprepared =
A 47 year old Harvard trained attorney, president of the law review, years teaching constitutional law, working as a civil rights attorney, serving on the senate foreign relations committee, ivy league undergrad, etc ...

Enough experience & prepared =
A 44 year old mother of a 4 month old downs syndrome baby, undergraduate degree in journalism from idaho, worked as a television sports reporter, runner-up to Miss Alaska, no national or international political experience, etc ....

Since when does being mayor of a town of 8,000 people in a remote suburb qualify someone to be a heartbeat away from the presidency of the free world? Since when does a lack of formal education in political science, law, and business, and no graduate level education at all, signify the preparedness to be commander in chief?

Does McCain just not get it? Or does he really believe independent female voters are stupid? This selection for VP is an insult to women and to the presidency. There are plenty of well-trained and qualified women, but they are all pro-choice so he couldn't pick them. If you ever doubted McCain is a flip-flopper who will do anything for a vote ... think again.

Pass it on.

An Astonishingly Arrogant V.P. Selection - The Plank

The Forrester Blog For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

Interesting perspectives from Forrester, although I'm surprised they didn't include Yahoo/Zimbra in their assessment

Taking on the enterprise email market is gutsy for Cisco. Many have tried. The role call of companies that have shown sustained, significant success is short: IBM, Microsoft, Novell. Tough crowd. Then again, Cisco is a very tough competitor, too. And they bring some assets. WebEx is a very strong, well-respected brand that has great relevance to knowledge workers. They have mind share. Certainly Cisco has the resources to make this happen. They can build the data centers, write the code, make additional acquisitions as needed. And if email is moving to the cloud, it could be just the disruption that could drive a new competitor like Cisco into the thick of the race.

The Forrester Blog For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

Extinguish the Rumors: No New Amazon Kindle This Year - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

Looks like Amazon opted to not Osborne the 1.0 Kindle

I asked Craig Berman, Amazon’s chief spokesman, for comment on a possible Kindle 2.0, and today he responded.

“Don’t believe everything you read,” Mr. Berman said. “There’s a lot of rumor and speculation about the Kindle. One thing I can tell you for sure is that there will be no new version of the Kindle this year. A new version is possible sometime next year at the earliest.”

Extinguish the Rumors: No New Amazon Kindle This Year - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

Comcast to cap monthly consumer broadband | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone - CNET

Read the full article for examples of how to get to 250 gigabytes a month

Starting October 1 customers of Comcast's residential data services will have an invisible barrier on their monthly data usage. Under the new guidelines of Comcast's Acceptable Use Policy announced Thursday, that cap will be set at 250 gigabytes per month, per account.

Users who go over the limit will get a courtesy call from Comcast's customer service for the first instance. However, under the new policy a second-time offense means the service is immediately suspended for an entire calendar year.

Surprisingly the company is not providing any tools to help users monitor their current usage.

Comcast to cap monthly consumer broadband | Webware : Cool Web apps for everyone - CNET

Technology Review: Even critics give Apple a pass on iPhone 3G woes

Check the full article for more details -- and behold a dent in the Apple reality distortion field

First an iPhone price cut left early buyers feeling foolish, and then came reports that some iPods were spitting sparks. Now the new iPhone 3G has been marred by bugs, spotty service, disappearing programs for the device and a veil of secrecy over software developers trying to broaden its appeal.
Such a string of mishaps and missteps might throw another electronics company into crisis. But of course, Apple Inc. isn't just another electronics company. Even as iPhone griping rages online, it looks like Apple's sterling reputation will emerge untarnished.
"The objective reality is that Apple does plenty of wrong," said Peter Fader, a marketing professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. However, Fader said, the company's loyal fans, and even casual users, have come to identify so strongly with Apple's high-end, individualistic vibe that they're willing to look the other way.

Technology Review: Even critics give Apple a pass on iPhone 3G woes

Microsoft to Buy Greenfield Online - WSJ.com

Hmm...

Microsoft Corp. said Friday it agreed to buy research firm Greenfield Online Inc., in a $486 million deal that will expand the software maker's access to consumer data to aid future online services.

The deal follows Microsoft's failed attempt to buy Yahoo Inc. this year for more than $45 billion. Without Yahoo, the software company is now trying to complement its own online services with smaller acquisitions.

Greenfield, based in Wilton, Conn., uses the Internet to survey panels of travelers, shoppers, pet owners, doctors and other consumers and professionals around the world. Its clients include consumer products makers such as gas and charcoal grill maker Weber-Stephens Products Co. Microsoft will pay $17.50 a share for Greenfield, which is traded on the Nasdaq stock market.

Microsoft to Buy Greenfield Online - WSJ.com

AT&T’s Rivals Are Happy to Attack Over iPhone’s Network Woes - NYTimes.com

An interesting competitive swarm

Apple sold more than a million iPhone 3G cellphones its first weekend — with some stores running out — and two million more since then, analysts say. But its July debut has been nothing less than a public relations headache for AT&T, with eager buyers complaining about dropped calls and poor network connections.

Some fingers point to Apple, which has tried to deflect the complaints. But many others point to AT&T’s cellular network. Whatever the source of the problems, AT&T’s rivals, long irritated by all the attention the iPhone has received, are on the attack and happy to exploit the discontent.

AT&T’s Rivals Are Happy to Attack Over iPhone’s Network Woes - NYTimes.com

Business Technology : The Secret Behind Obama's Nomination: Social Networking

An timely snapshot

When Barack Obama accepts the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday it will be thanks to votes from millions of people around the country – and the Web site used to organize them. The Obama campaign’s use of the site provides a model for businesses that are struggling with their own social-networking efforts.

Throughout the campaign, Obama and his staff relied on a social-networking site, www.my.barackobama.com, to help supporters find one another and to disperse the campaign’s messages to a broad audience. Most campaigns had access to the same technology and didn’t have anywhere near the online-success of Obama, an article in Technology Review argues.

Business Technology : The Secret Behind Obama's Nomination: Social Networking

Nations Respond To Google Earth Threat -- Google Earth -- InformationWeek

Strange days indeed -- check the full article for more details

To deal with the "Google threat," as Google's geospatial mapping application Google Earth is characterized in the July 30, 2008 report from the Director of National Intelligence's Open Source Center, foreign governments have offered five main responses: negotiating with Google, banning Google products, developing similar products, taking evasive measures, and nonchalance.

The report, obtained by the Federation of American Scientists' Secrecy News site, recounts how nations have dealt with perceived privacy violations arising from the images Google makes available through its software.

Nations Respond To Google Earth Threat -- Google Earth -- InformationWeek

Mozilla extension taps into typed commands (Computerworld)

Evidently some timely innovation-by-acquisition (at least hiring key people; it's unclear if Google paid for the Enso technology) on Google's part

An experimental extension to Mozilla Firefox lets people substitute simple text commands for complex Web tasks such as putting links to maps in e-mail messages.

On Tuesday, Mozilla Labs released its first version of Ubiquity, which is related to software called Enso that was developed at a small Chicago company called Humanized Inc. Mozilla hired three executives of Humanized in January, and Aza Raskin, the former president of that company, introduced Ubiquity 0.1 in a Mozilla Labs blog entry on Tuesday. Raskin is now head of user experience at Mozilla Labs.

I went to the apparently stale Humanized site to explore, and, in IE8 beta 2, saw the following under a "Humanized Lab" link section:

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in /nfs/c01/h02/mnt/34814/domains/humanized.com/html/action_footer.pho on line 42

(The error also appears in Firefox 3.01, FWIW...)

Mozilla extension taps into typed commands

Is something rotten at Apple? - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine

An excerpt from a Slate article earlier this week

What's troubling, though, is Apple's tendency to milk this advantage—when it does screw up, it prefers secrecy over full disclosure, and it expects customers to quickly forgive any slight. Its response to the MobileMe meltdown was a classic example. For several days after the site's rocky launch, Apple refused to disclose what had gone wrong. It wouldn't say why MobileMe was down, and it wouldn't say when MobileMe would be fixed. Only after the New York Times' David Pogue and the Wall Street Journal's Walter Mossberg published critical columns did Apple change its tune. Two weeks after MobileMe's launch, the company put up a blog documenting the service's status. Last week, it gave all users a credit for two months of MobileMe service.

Apple is dealing with iPhone problems in much the same way—grudgingly. Apple-focused blogs recently reported that Jobs fired off one-line e-mail replies to two different customers upset about iPhone difficulties; in each case, he said Apple was working on the problems. And an Apple spokeswoman told USA Today that Apple would issue a software patch to improve "communication with 3G networks." But that's it: The company won't say why the phone's failing to load apps or connect to 3G, it won't say how serious the problems are, and it won't say what, if anything, customers can do to resolve the problems until it issues a fix.

Is something rotten at Apple? - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine#page_start#page_start

Windows Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 Fact Sheet: An overview of the features and benefits of Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer 8.

See the full page for a detailed IE8 beta 2 feature list

Windows Internet Explorer 8 is the next version of the world’s most popular browser that optimizes developer and end-user experiences to provide a window to the Web of online services. Moreover, Internet Explorer 8 offers new features and functionality that enable customers to reach beyond the page in more secure, easier and faster ways than ever. Following are brief descriptions of the key new and enhanced features in Internet Explorer 8.

Windows Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 Fact Sheet: An overview of the features and benefits of Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer 8.

More Artists Steer Clear of iTunes - WSJ.com

Hmm...

ITunes has been the runaway hit of the music business, selling more than five billion song downloads since it started five years ago. But a growing number of record companies are trying to steer clear of Apple Inc.'s behemoth music store, because they say selling single songs on iTunes in some cases is crimping overall music sales.

More Artists Steer Clear of iTunes - WSJ.com

Industry Rethinks Moneymaking Software Practice - NYTimes.com

An ironic reality check; see the full article for details

Before they ship PCs to retailers like Best Buy, computer makers load them up with lots of free software. For $30, Best Buy will get rid of it for you.

That simple cleanup service is threatening the precarious economics of the personal computer industry.

Industry Rethinks Moneymaking Software Practice - NYTimes.com

Technology Review: Microsoft's newest browser may block ads

I've already seen some press and blogosphere speculation that this is an anti-Google feature of some type; keep in mind 1) like many features in IE8, InPrivate mode is about improving user control and visibility (e.g., optionally blocking what might otherwise be happening without their permission/expectation/agreement), and 2) Google isn't the only company investing $B in Internet advertising -- so is Microsoft...

Companies that sell advertisements online -- including Microsoft -- can electronically gather tidbits about Web surfers' habits, and then use that information to help decide what kinds of ads to show. However, in the newest "beta" test version of Microsoft's forthcoming Internet Explorer 8, which was made available Wednesday, a mode called InPrivateBrowsing lets users surf without having a list of sites they visit get stored on their computers.
The program also covers other footprints, including temporary Internet files and cookies, the small data files that Web sites put on visitors' computers to track their activities.

Technology Review: Microsoft's newest browser may block ads

Cisco buys into e-mail with $215M PostPath acquisition

See the full article (no subscription required for this one) for more details

Privately held PostPath was founded in 2003.

Cisco said it expects to close the deal by the end of October and add PostPath's 67 employees to its Collaboration Software Group. The group is part of Cisco's recently established Software Group, which oversees the Internetworking Operating System, network and service management, unified communications, policy management and SaaS offerings.

Cisco buys into e-mail with $215M PostPath acquisition

Cisco Buys PostPath for $215 Million - WSJ.com

Wow -- that's a bold and big investment

Cisco Systems Inc. agreed to buy closely held PostPath Inc. in a $215 million deal, highlighting the networking giant's bid to expand its business-applications portfolio. PostPath, Mountain View, Calif., makes Linux-based email and calendaring software that it markets as an alternative to Microsoft Corp.'s Exchange software. The firm's software will be added to Cisco's WebEx Connect service, which lets companies hold meetings, manage documents and conduct other activities via the Web.

Cisco Buys PostPath for $215 Million - WSJ.com

BBC NEWS | Technology | Computer viruses make it to orbit

Sign of the times...

Nasa has confirmed that laptops carried to the ISS in July were infected with a virus known as Gammima.AG.

The worm was first detected on earth in August 2007 and lurks on infected machines waiting to steal login names for popular online games.

Nasa said it was not the first time computer viruses had travelled into space and it was investigating how the machines were infected.

BBC NEWS | Technology | Computer viruses make it to orbit

Google Rolls Out Tool That Suggests Search Queries - NYTimes.com

I suspect the timing has something to do with the impending beta 2 of IE8, which is going to surprise a lot of people, in terms of innovative and useful new features

After more than four years in development, a new feature that suggests queries as letters and words are typed into Google Inc.'s search engine, is being rolled out over the next week.

Google Suggest, which the company began developing in 2004, aims to help users better formulate queries, reduce spelling errors and save keystrokes, Google noted in a blog post Monday.

More than four years in development -- so much for "Internet time"...

Google Rolls Out Tool That Suggests Search Queries - NYTimes.com

Amazon.com to Buy Social Network for Book Lovers - NYTimes.com

Hmm...

Amazon.com Monday agreed to acquire Shelfari, a social network for book lovers, for an undisclosed sum.

Amazon's acquisition of Shelfari means the site will likely make it a much stronger competitor to other social networks that focus on bibliophiles, according to some observers. In addition, Amazon earlier this month acquired online rare book seller AbeBooks, and gained its 40% stake in one of Shelfari's main competitors, LibraryThing. Thus, observers note, Amazon will have a stake in two competing social networks for readers.

Amazon.com to Buy Social Network for Book Lovers - NYTimes.com

How RFID Tags Could Be Used to Track Unsuspecting People: Scientific American

Key concepts from the article:

Radio-frequency identi­fication (RFID) tags are embedded in a growing number of personal items and identity documents.

Because the tags were designed to be powerful tracking devices and they typically incorporate little security, people wearing or carrying them are vulnerable to surreptitious surveillance and profiling.

Worldwide, legislators have done little to address those risks to citizens.

How RFID Tags Could Be Used to Track Unsuspecting People: Scientific American

Technology Review: Web App Writers: Rejoice, Beware

An excerpt from a Google App Engine snapshot (see this page for the beginning of the article)

However, no matter how quick and easy building Web applications is with App Engine, and no matter how good Google's infrastructure is, the service's lack of openness remains a serious drawback. While Google's representatives say that they want to avoid locking companies into their system, the reality is that as long as important components such as the database remain proprietary, developers will have limited flexibility. In my case, I don't currently want to manage my blog so much as just write it: I just want software that works. Yet it was important to me to reserve the right to move it wherever I want, to add or remove tools, and possibly to learn enough at some point to begin participating in the design of the platform. In its current incarnation, App Engine doesn't give developers analogous options.

Technology Review: Web App Writers: Rejoice, Beware

Data Breaches Have Surpassed Level for All of '07, Report Finds - washingtonpost.com

A stark reality check

More data breaches have been reported so far this year than in all of 2007, according to a report released yesterday by a nonprofit group that works to prevent fraud.

Identity Theft Resource Center of San Diego found that 449 U.S. businesses, government agencies and universities have reported a loss or theft of consumer data this year. Last year, the center tallied 446 breaches involving 127 million consumer records. About 90 million of those records were attributed to a single retail chain, TJX, which operates T.J. Maxx stores.

Officials said they do not know whether there have been more breaches this year or if there is better reporting of the incidents.

Data Breaches Have Surpassed Level for All of '07, Report Finds - washingtonpost.com

IEBlog : IE8 and Privacy

Some significant IE updates -- check the full post for more details; also see a related video interview 

With respect to privacy, IE8 gives users more choice about controlling what information they keep and exchange. In the first part of this post I’ll describe two Internet Explorer 8 features that help you control your history, cookies, and other information that Internet Explorer stores on your behalf. In the latter part, I’ll describe two more features that can help you control how your browsing history is shared by websites. By default, IE8 browses the web the same way IE7 does.

• InPrivate™ Browsing lets you control whether or not IE saves your browsing history, cookies, and other data
• Delete Browsing History helps you control your browsing history after you’ve visited websites.
• InPrivate™ Blocking informs you about content that is in a position to observe your browsing history, and allows you to block it
• InPrivate Subscriptions allow you to augment the capability of InPrivate Blocking by subscribing to lists of websites to block or allow.

IEBlog : IE8 and Privacy

Business & Technology | iPhone gag order hampers developers | Seattle Times Newspaper

"Think different", continued...

By creating games and other programs for the iPhone, software developers hoped to find millions of new customers. But they didn't expect to feel muzzled.

The software-development kit that Apple distributed to programmers bound them to not discuss the process of creating iPhone programs. Companies typically waive such legal restrictions once products launch, but Apple didn't. And it won't say why.

As a result, iPhone developers — and businesses that cater to them — say they are prohibited from asking technical questions or sharing tips. On Apple's official support Web site, moderators remind visitors that they are bound by the nondisclosure agreement and should mind what they say or ask.

Business & Technology | iPhone gag order hampers developers | Seattle Times Newspaper

Drilling Down - Preferring the Web Over Watching TV - NYTimes.com

An interesting snapshot; see the full article for a couple more stats

For children ages 10 to 14 who use the Internet, the computer is a bigger draw than the TV set, according to a study recently released by DoubleClick Performics, a search marketing company. The study found that 83 percent of Internet users in that age bracket spent an hour or more online a day, but only 68 percent devoted that much time to television.

Drilling Down - Preferring the Web Over Watching TV - NYTimes.com

The Count - In a Downturn, but Still Spending on Technology - NYTimes.com

A timely reality check

It can be hard for a business to stay ahead if its technology is falling behind. That is one reason that despite an uncertain economy, worldwide information technology spending is on track to reach $3.4 trillion in 2008 — an 8 percent increase over 2007, according to the research firm Gartner.

Of all spending categories, software and services are set to show the healthiest growth — with projected increases of around 10 percent each. This is partly because companies are in the middle of an upgrade cycle that will continue beyond the end of the decade, Gartner explains.

The Count - In a Downturn, but Still Spending on Technology - NYTimes.com

Media Talk - What George Orwell Wrote, 70 Years Later to the Day - NYTimes.com

Cool...

The observations were made by George Orwell, whose copious diaries are now being published every day in blog form, exactly 70 years after they were made. The scholars behind the project say they are trying to get more attention for Orwell online and to make him more relevant to a younger generation he would have wanted to speak to.

“I think he would have been a blogger,” said Jean Seaton, a professor at the University of Westminster in London who administers the Orwell writing prize and thought up the idea of the blog.

Media Talk - What George Orwell Wrote, 70 Years Later to the Day - NYTimes.com

Report: A Kindle for college kids? | Crave, the gadget blog - CNET

It's only a matter of time before a device of this type is pervasive for all full-time students, imho

Amid reports that Amazon is working on new models of its e-book reader, the Kindle, one analyst says the online titan has an academic spin in mind.

Amazon's Kindle e-book reader

(Credit: Amazon.com)

Amazon sees a chance to cash in by marketing the Kindle to college students, according to McAdams Wright Ragen analyst Tim Bueneman, by way of Seattlepi.com reporter Andrea James.

A collegiate version could be just one of a number of potential Kindles-to-be, apparently. "There are already several new, improved versions of the Kindle in the works," Bueneman wrote in a note Friday, per James.

Report: A Kindle for college kids? | Crave, the gadget blog - CNET

Web Audience for Games Soars for NBC and Yahoo - NYTimes.com

That's a lot of Silverlight downloads...

Benefiting from the growth in broadband Internet access, NBCOlympics.com served up more than 1.2 billion pages and 72 million video streams through Saturday, more than doubling the combined traffic to its site during the 2004 Games in Athens and the 2006 Games in Turin. The popularity of the site will very likely make digital rights more significant in next year’s bidding for the 2014 and 2016 Games.

Web Audience for Games Soars for NBC and Yahoo - NYTimes.com

Marketing Moves to the Blogosphere - washingtonpost.com

The full article includes a snapshot of blog marketing

Of the approximately 112.5 million blogs on the Web, almost 5,000 are corporate, according to blog indexer Technorati. Calacanis blogged to start conversations and be a part of a virtual community, but corporate bloggers are in it for other reasons: talking directly to customers or giving a personal touch to a big business.

Marketing Moves to the Blogosphere - washingtonpost.com

Who Will Digitize the World's Books? - The New York Review of Books

See the full essay for some additional details about fine print in Google's plan

From the user's perspective, the possibility of using the Internet to access a book, particularly a hard-to-find book, from one of the large libraries of the world is obviously wonderful. However, it is important to clarify what Google is offering: it is not a digital text that the library will be able to share unconditionally with others. In its contracts with the nineteen libraries now in its consortium, Google has stipulated that the "Universal Digital Copy" of digitized books it provides must be protected from non-Google Web software; and that the number of downloads from texts digitized by Google will be limited. Only Google can aggregate collections of different libraries in order to create the larger digital database that is the most valuable part of the consortium project.

Who Will Digitize the World's Books? - The New York Review of Books

Everybody’s Business - Connected, Yes, but Hermetically Sealed - NYTimes.com

A stark reality check essay

Consider another example: Walk down the Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan, between Central Park South and 45th Street. Almost every man and woman is on the phone or scanning the screen of a BlackBerry. No one looks at anyone else (except me; I stare openly and voraciously). It is as if each person were in a cocoon of electrons and self-obsession and obligation. Each of these people might as well be wearing a yoke around his neck.

There is no community here — or on the streets of any other city. Beverly Hills, my home, is far worse. There, people are hermetically sealed off from one another, not taking in the air or the stupendous buildings or the sky or just the miracle of confronting the earth as it is.

Everybody’s Business - Connected, Yes, but Hermetically Sealed - NYTimes.com

Digital Domain - Caution - Driver May Be Surfing the Web - NYTimes.com

Read the full article for some scary statistics

ANYTHING that keeps tykes pacified on long car trips, like video systems in rear seats, is a boon to automotive safety. Today, Chrysler is poised to offer in its 2009 models a new entertainment option for the children: Wi-Fi and Internet connectivity. The problem is that the entire car becomes a hotspot. The signals won’t be confined to the Nintendos in the rear seat; front-seat occupants will be able to stay online, too.

Digital Domain - Caution - Driver May Be Surfing the Web - NYTimes.com

A third of new PCs being downgraded to XP, says metrics researcher [Computerworld]

This remains a mystery to me -- I'm using Vista on my primary PCs at this point, and I consider it a major upgrade to XP.

More than one in every three new PCs is downgraded from Windows Vista to the older Windows XP, either at the factory or by the buyer, a performance and metrics researcher said today.

According to Devil Mountain Software Inc., which operates a community-based testing network, nearly 35% of the 3,000-plus PCs it examined had been downgraded from Vista to XP.

"Either these machines were downgraded by [sellers like] Dell or HP, or they were downgraded by the user after they got the machine," said Craig Barth, chief technology officer at Devil Mountain. "In any case, these machines are no longer running Vista."

A third of new PCs being downgraded to XP, says metrics researcher

WinInfo Short Takes: Apple Paid Actors to Wait in Line During iPhone Launch in Poland

 See the full post for other interesting tidbits from last week

In a bid to make its new iPhone 3G look more popular than it really is, Apple paid actors to wait in line in front of retail locations around the country. But here's the messed up part of this story, in case the central theme doesn't seem to messed up to you: The company is admitting to the practice. "We have these fake queues at front of 20 stores around the country to drum up interest in the iPhone," an Apple spokesperson admits.

Source: WinInfo Short Takes: Week of August 25, 2008

Platformonomics - President Blowhard?

Excellent and timely reality check from Charles Fitzgerald -- read and ponder the full post

The Atlantic’s trove of internal memos from Hilary Clinton’s campaign is fascinating reading if you are interested in strategy, positioning and messaging.  The accompanying analysis puts the documents into the context of events as they unfolded.  It highlights the zero-sum nature of politics that magnifies errors due to the binary outcomes.

Platformonomics - President Blowhard?

Yahoo Shares Trading Below Pre-Microsoft Offer Price - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

Read the full post for some accentuate-the-positive potential Yahoo! developments

It may be because Microsoft appears to have shifted its attention from Jerry Yang to Jerry Seinfeld. Or it may be that investors are feeling pessimistic as Yahoo’s search business continues to weaken. But Yahoo shares on Thursday closed at their lowest point since Microsoft made public its $44.6 billion, or $33 a share, for the Internet portal on February 1. (After months of negotiations, Microsoft withdrew its offer to buy Yahoo.)

Yahoo shares ended Thursday at $19.11, down 6 cents. It was the second day in a row that the company’s stock ended below its $19.18 close on January 31, just before the Microsoft bid.

Yahoo Shares Trading Below Pre-Microsoft Offer Price - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

Windows IT Pro: Palm Goes Pro with New Treo Smartphone

Somehow I don't think what Palm needs now is a major rev to its proprietary operating system 

In many ways, the Treo Pro is a stop-gap measure, like the company's previous release, the consumer-oriented Centro. Both the Centro and Treo Pro share certain design elements, but both are designed to keep customers engaged with Palm while it finishes its long-delayed and still eagerly anticipated next-generation Palm OS. That OS is now due in 2009.

It can't happen quickly enough: Palm owned over 30 percent of the US smart phone market as recently as 2006, but its share today is less than 17 percent, compared to 31 percent for RIM Blackberry and 21 percent for HTC. Apple, in fourth place with the iPhone, owns about 12 percent of the market.

Source: Palm Goes Pro with New Treo Smartphone

Article - WSJ.com: Mounting Concerns Take the Shine Off Salesforce.com

 A timely reality check for the sassiest of SaaS players

Shares of Salesforce.com Inc. (CRM) dived more than 17% Thursday after second-quarter earnings highlighted growing headwinds for the company and analysts raised questions about its pricey valuation.

In a raft of research notes, analysts fretted over signs that revenue growth was slowing and volatile currency markets were affecting the company's performance. They also pointed to growing pressure from rivals and an acquisition whose immediate value is difficult to measure as reasons for caution.

[...]

Salesforce's stock has skyrocketed since the company went public in 2004. After initially pricing at $11, the company's shares peaked at more than $75 in June 2008. Investors liked - and continue to like - its business model. Salesforce allows customers to use software tools that are delivered online and stored on Salesforce's own servers. This approach allows customers to save money because they don't have to maintain the same level of computer infrastructure, and also speeds up the time it takes to get software up and running.

Source: Article - WSJ.com

Ellison takes top spot on pay list - The Boston Globe

 Not a bad year for Larry Ellison...

Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison, a longtime fixture on the list of the world's richest people, is now ensconced atop The Associated Press's rankings of the top-paid chief executives in the United States.

Never shy about flaunting his estimated $25 billion fortune, Ellison established himself as the best-paid chief executive among major US companies by persuading Oracle to award him a fiscal 2008 pay package valued at $84.6 million under the AP's calculations.

Source: Ellison takes top spot on pay list - The Boston Globe