Briton Paul Chambers Loses Twitter Case, but Wins Following - NYTimes.com

The saga continues

The actor and Twitter enthusiast Stephen Fry offered to pay his court bills. Other users began raising money for a new appeal. And on a new and wildly popular trending topic, #IAmSpartacus, people began defiantly expressing their solidarity with Mr. Chambers by reposting his offending Twitter message or by threatening to blow up other, random, things. These included Downing Street, the courtroom, the town of Doncaster, Gatwick Airport, Robin Hood the person, the White House, the Basingstoke Hockey Club, “everyone,” “my garage,” some balloons, and NBC (if it canceled “The Event”).

“I think I’ll blow up Parliament,” one person wrote. “Oh, wait, that was a JOKE.”

That none of these people appear yet to have been arrested for doing the exact same thing that Mr. Chambers did shows how hard it has become for law enforcement officials to know how to respond to the anarchic culture of social media sites, especially Twitter, with its rapid-fire, off-the-cuff, often satirical exchanges.

Briton Paul Chambers Loses Twitter Case, but Wins Following - NYTimes.com

Breakingviews | New and old media [Reuters]

Printing and Windows Live Writer clipping were blocked on this page, so I clipped the excerpt with OneNote

Breakingviews | New and old media

In Newsweek-Daily Beast Talks, Printing Press Was a Draw - NYTimes.com

A sad and speculative salvage operation

Mr. Diller had more than a few good reasons to think twice about not being too territorial when it came to sharing control with Mr. Harman. Starting his own print version of The Daily Beast would be costly. Newsweek had a brand and all the infrastructure in place needed to go to print on Day 1.

Plus, by rolling Newsweek.com into The Daily Beast, they could hope to absorb some of the nearly five million unique visitors Newsweek clocks each month. The Daily Beast’s traffic growth has slowed lately, though it is up tenfold to more than two million a month since the site made its debut in October 2008, according to comScore.

Newsweek.com will cease to exist after the merger, and anyone who types the URL into their browser will be redirected to TheDailyBeast.com, Mr. Colvin said.

In Newsweek-Daily Beast Talks, Printing Press Was a Draw - NYTimes.com

George Bush Book 'Decision Points' Lifted Passages From Advisers' Books (Huffington Post)

Can anyone be seriously surprised by this?

In most instances of Bush's literary swiping, he was at least present for the scene. But the point of a memoir is that it is the author's version of events. Bush's book is a collection of other people's versions of events. But that's not what Bush promises readers. "Decision Points is based primarily on my recollections. With help from researchers, I have confirmed my account with government documents, personal interviews, news reports, and other sources, some of which remain classified," he offers. Bush, in his memoir, confesses to authorizing waterboarding, which is a war crime, so the lifting of a few passages might seem like a minor infraction. But Bush's laziness undermines the historical value of the memoir. Bush "recollects" - in a more literal sense of the term - quotes by pulling his and others verbatim from other books, calling into question what he genuinely remembers from the time and casting doubt on any conclusions he draws about what his mindset was at the time.

George Bush Book 'Decision Points' Lifted Passages From Advisers' Books#s180908#s180908

Microsoft's Kin Phones Are Coming Back! [Business Insider]

Might not be a bad deal, if they return at the last price I saw listed (zero price or a penny, IIRC); the dwindling choices for other “feature phones” (phones not requiring a data service subscription plan) are pretty awful these days, from what I’ve seen lately

But this time, they have a better chance of success because they won't be saddled with expensive data plans. Instead, the phones will have normal rates. If you want to hop on the Internet with the phones you can use wifi.

If you're looking for a compromise phone for a teen, this makes more sense than the last time Microsoft tried to sell the Kin.

Microsoft's Kin Phones Are Coming Back!

What’s Mine Isn’t Yours: The Facebook-Google Spat Over Who Controls Your Data (Slate)

Excerpt from an insightful snapshot

I don't think Google did everything right here, but it does clearly have the moral high ground. The search company has long been a champion of users' rights to transfer their data elsewhere. It even has an internal group, the Data Liberation Front, whose mission is to help all of Google's product teams build easy-to-use export features. As a result, it's now easy to get your data out of nearly every Google service—Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Maps, Google Health, Google Reader, Orkut, and Blogger, among others. Google's change to its terms of service to prevent people from taking their data to Facebook was out of step with this history—if Google believes users should have the right to take their data anywhere, that has to include places that won't let the data back out. (There's also the question of Google's timing—why change the terms now, after years of not seeming to care about its users' taking their data to Facebook? Nobody knows for sure, but many in the tech world speculate that the move was a precursor to a new Google social network, whose path to success would be smoother if it was easy to export data from Facebook.)

What’s Mine Isn’t Yours (Slate)

Obama Administration Seeks Internet Privacy Protections, New Policy Office - WSJ.com

Hopefully the Obama administration will constructively lead in this context; then we could all change our identities one last time and move on…

The Obama administration is preparing a stepped-up approach to policing Internet privacy that calls for new laws and the creation of a new position to oversee the effort, according to people familiar with the situation.

[…]

The central issue in writing federal privacy legislation is whether the Internet industry's efforts to police its own behavior has been effective enough. Proponents of legislation argue the industry is a Wild West where consumer data are gathered and sold without restrictions. Opponents of legislation say the industry is committed to providing tools to give consumers better insight into and control over data about themselves.

Commerce's draft report doesn't recommend specific legislation, but does indicate that self-regulation isn't robust enough, these people said. The administration would seek to guide the legislative debate through its new privacy office.

Obama Administration Seeks Internet Privacy Protections, New Policy Office - WSJ.com

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs : Betting pool: How soon until David Kirkpatrick defends Facebook for not exporting contact data?

Another Fake Steve classic; read the full post for more on “onerous terms” etc.

Michael Arrington says, flat out, “Facebook is lying.” Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Land says Facebook are a bunch of hypocrites.

My problem is that I hate Google as much as I hate Facebook. So I’m not sure which side to take. Frankly I’d like to see them just open fire on each other like guys at the end of some Quentin Tarantino movie.

Let me tell you what Zuckerberg put us through when we wanted to make Ping work with Facebook. I tried doing the thing where I invite some dork to my house for dinner and take him for a long walk. This never fails. Except on Zuckerberg, that quasi-autistic little sociopath. You know what he said to me?

The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs : Betting pool: How soon until David Kirkpatrick defends Facebook for not exporting contact data?

BBC News - Kinect hacked days after release

A timely open* reality check

The attempt to hack the control system for the Kinect gadget was kick-started by electronics kit maker Adafruit. On 4 November it announced it would pay $1,000 (£624) to the first person to produce control software, known as drivers, for the Kinect.

It upped the bounty to $3,000 (£1,871) following comment from Microsoft saying it did not condone the reverse-engineering of its motion controller.

BBC News - Kinect hacked days after release

BBC News - Tweeters are being sued for defamatory comments

Check the article link below for an interview video.  In addition to dubious discretion challenges, I believe a key problem with Twitter is that there simply isn’t much hope for clear context-setting in staccato <= 140-character tweets.  I predict we’ll see a growing number of “I know it when I see it” context- and intent-related judgments in this domain…

More and more people are being taken to court due to offensive and defamatory twittering. Media lawyer, Paul Gilbert, joined BBC Breakfast to make clear that tweeters can be sued for defamatory comments whilst comedian David Schneider believes it is all about the context of the comment.

BBC News - Tweeters are being sued for defamatory comments

Apple-Twitter Partnership a Win-Win: Why Didn't Facebook Take the Deal? | Fast Company

I suspect “onerous terms,” in this context, means Facebook declined to forever sign away the option of directly tapping into market potential at the intersection of social networking and music-related commerce.  And/or perhaps Mark Zuckerberg read The Master Switch, which includes a stark assessment of Apple’s past, present, and likely future…

But after a reported 18 months of negotiations between Apple and Facebook, the deal crumbled. Why? Because of Facebook's demands for "onerous terms," according to Steve Jobs.

Critics might argue Facebook made the right move. After all, giving Apple access to its half-billion users is a lot to stomach. On the other hand, Mark Zuckerberg and Co. may have lost out on something more valuable: user behavior. Apple, through iTunes, has created a community of very willing customers: Users let Apple store their credit card information, and are eager to buy apps and songs and movies and books. No social network has reached that point, and Apple could be the key.

Apple-Twitter Partnership a Win-Win: Why Didn't Facebook Take the Deal? | Fast Company

(Not so) Crazy Microsoft Rumors: Facebook's new e-mail to feature Office Web Apps integration | ZDNet

Check the full article for context-setting

Today’s “rumor” has to do with the upcoming Facebook announcement on Monday, November 15. Some are guessing the invite-only event will have to do with the launch of a new Facebook’s e-mail offering (known as Project Titan). Titan, according to the buzz, isn’t a mere revamp of the current Facebook direct messaging capability; it will be a new full-featured Web mail product like Gmail, Hotmail, etc.

I have a source close to Microsoft who said the Facebook November 15 event will, indeed, be focused on Facebook’s new e-mail product. So what makes the event potentially interesting for Microsoft, its customers and partners? Supposedly, according to my source, the new Facebook e-mail will include Office Web Apps integration.

(Not so) Crazy Microsoft Rumors: Facebook's new e-mail to feature Office Web Apps integration | ZDNet

Best Buy's 'Nexus S' a new shift for Google? | Relevant Results - CNET News

Perhaps Google management read The Master Switch and concluded the company still needs a hedge bet against the information empire oligopoly

A slip-up at Best Buy could indicate that Google, despite all statements to the contrary, has plans for another Nexus-branded phone.

Phandroid noticed a briefly available link on Best Buy's mobile site this morning offering a teaser for the Nexus S, said to be "pure Google" and available on T-Mobile's network. The image and link didn't last very long, but the magic of Google's own caching technology preserved the error long enough for screenshots to be grabbed left and right

So what exactly is Google planning here? Unsurprisingly, they aren't saying, declining to comment "on the Nexus rumors and speculation." But it's getting a little difficult to understand exactly what Google would like to do with the Nexus concept.

Best Buy's 'Nexus S' a new shift for Google? | Relevant Results - CNET News

For Sale: A $160,000 Apple Computer - NYTimes.com

Another solid Apple-related ROI scenario

screenshot via Christie’s The Apple-1 is expected to sell for between $159,800 and $239,700.

The Apple-1 computer was built and sold by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, Apple’s co-founders,  in 1976 for $666.66 — the strange price was put into effect because Mr. Wozniak liked repetitive numbers.  (An inflation calculator determines that price is equivalent to $2560 in today’s dollars.)  It’s estimated that only 200 of these computers were produced and sold before Apple moved onto the next model, the Apple II.

[…]

The computer is part of a Nov. 23 auction in London of rare books and manuscripts that will quicken the heart of any rich geek. It includes a book by Charles Babbage, a collection of Alan Turing’s published papers, an Enigma cypher machine and the patent specifications for an ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer.

For Sale: A $160,000 Apple Computer - NYTimes.com

Pedophilia Book Removed From Amazon, but Others Remain - Digits - WSJ

Amazon continues its search for the appropriate shade of gray

Amazon on Wednesday defended the sale of the $4.79 book, telling technology blog TechCrunch that it “believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable.” But by early Thursday morning, the book was removed from the site. Amazon did not immediately return requests for further comment about the book or its disappearance from the site.

Pedophilia Book Removed From Amazon, but Others Remain - Digits - WSJ

Apple Adds Twitter but Not Facebook to Ping | Peter Kafka | MediaMemo | AllThingsD

Apparently Ping hasn’t quietly died yet

What took you so long? Apple has linked up Twitter with Ping, a move Steve Jobs should have made before he ever launched his social music service. So now Ping users can tell their Twitter pals about music they like, and use Twitter to find other folks who might be using Ping. Ping still has a long way to go–most important, it needs to integrate directly with Facebook–but if it has any chance of working, this is an essential step.

Apple Adds Twitter but Not Facebook to Ping | Peter Kafka | MediaMemo | AllThingsD

Newsweek, Daily Beast to Merge | Russell Adams | Voices | AllThingsD

Sign of the Fourth Estate times

Newsweek magazine and news Web site The Daily Beast have agreed to a deal that will make Daily Beast co-founder Tina Brown the editor-in-chief of the combined operation, according to people familiar with the situation, three weeks after they abandoned talks of a merger over a disagreement about control.

Under the proposed agreement, expected to be disclosed on Friday, the two news organizations will be combined in a 50-50 joint venture called the Newsweek Daily Beast Company, the people said.

Newsweek, Daily Beast to Merge | Russell Adams | Voices | AllThingsD

Google's Inevitable Ruin Begins | John C. Dvorak | PCMag.com

A Google snapshot from high tech hyperbole pioneer John Dvorak

Does Google think it needs to add these dreadful features because Bing is breathing down its neck? It must, since the changes to the image page are right out of Bing. Curiously, the old MSN Live Search did it better than Bing. Meanwhile Yahoo, which licenses the Bing engine, has maintained more practical image results and is now superior to both Google and Bing. Go figure!

It doesn't take a genius to see that Google is beginning to make huge judgment errors. And I can assure you, this image fiasco isn't a mere or minor diversion. It's a sign of bad things to come. An omen.

Google's Inevitable Ruin Begins | John C. Dvorak | PCMag.com

louisgray.com: Leak Corporate Data, Get Caught, Get Fired.

A timely reality check; not all of the world’s information wants to be universally accessible

After an "anonymous loyal reader" tipped Business Insider on Tuesday to an internal memo from Google saying the company was rewarding employees with both a cash bonus and a raise, news broke Wednesday that the leaker, a Google employee, had been tracked down within hours, and fired. With all proper sympathies to somebody who just lost their job, there can be little flexibility in this regard - for if the person cannot be trusted with information deemed confidential and secret, they shouldn't have a home in a place where strategy and secrets are required. This becomes especially true at a public company like Google, a company that works on many future projects at once in a competitive market.

louisgray.com: Leak Corporate Data, Get Caught, Get Fired.

Rockmelt - How big is the threat to Google? | ZDNet

Is the Rockmelt meme already history?…

I wrote about Rockmelt earlier this week, asking if “Rockmelt’s social media mojo can take on the browser giants?” Since the new browser jumped into beta Monday, the blogosphere has been buzzing with mixed reviews of the new so-called “Facebook Browser.” Given that Google’s biggest competitive threat is arguably Facebook and that Rockmelt is built on Chromium, the real question is what sort of threat Rockmelt represents for Google?

Rockmelt - How big is the threat to Google? | ZDNet

BBC News - Fox TV joins US networks to block Google TV

Check the story link below for an Internet TV update, and Tim Wu’s excellent The Master Switch for more on cyclical information empire competitive dynamics

US TV network Fox has joined its rivals in blocking Google TV from airing its programmes to viewers.

Fox held out after CBC, ABC and NBC refused to let full shows air on Google's new platform - where users can view the web and video on home TV's.

The networks are concerned they will suffer because online advertising is less lucrative than TV commercials.

BBC News - Fox TV joins US networks to block Google TV

5 Million Users: We’re gonna need a bigger boat « Evernote Blogcast

Check the link below for more Evernote market momentum stats. 

Twenty two thousand one hundred and thirty new people joined Evernote yesterday. Seriously. 22,130. That’s a record and it pushed us over the 5,000,000 user mark!

5 Million Users: We’re gonna need a bigger boat « Evernote Blogcast

Samsung's Galaxy Tab Is iPad's First Real Rival - WSJ.com

An excerpt from Walt Mossberg’s Tab take

I've been testing the Tab for a couple of weeks and I like it. It's a serious alternative to the iPad and one that will be preferred by some folks. It includes the three most-requested features missing in the iPad: a camera (two in fact); the ability to run Web videos and applications written in Adobe's Flash software; and multitasking, though, to be fair, the latter feature is coming to the iPad imminently via a software update. Another strong point is that like Apple, Samsung has rewritten some of the standard apps, such as the email and calendar programs, to make them look more like PC programs and less like smartphone apps.

On balance, however, I still prefer the iPad.

Samsung's Galaxy Tab Is iPad's First Real Rival - WSJ.com

Samsung’s New Android Tablet Is Gorgeous and Expensive - NYTimes.com

Check the full article for some pros and cons

But the Galaxy doesn’t feel like a cramped iPad. It feels like an extra-spacious Android phone. And the payoff is huge. The Galaxy is much lighter than the iPad (13 ounces vs. 1.5 pounds), which makes a huge difference when you have to hold it to watch a movie on the plane. And it’s so small you can carry it in a blazer pocket.

You can even slip it into a jeans pocket, although you might walk around looking as if you have a pulled muscle or something. The Galaxy is almost exactly the size of the latest Amazon Kindle — and it makes a great e-book reader, thanks to the Kindle or the Barnes & Noble apps that let you read those companies’ e-books.

Samsung’s New Android Tablet Is Gorgeous and Expensive - NYTimes.com

NYT to Give E-Books Their Own Best-Seller Lists | Voices | AllThingsD

An e-book milestone

In another sign of the integration of digital books into the mainstream, the New York Times announced it would begin publishing e-book best-seller lists in fiction and nonfiction beginning early next year. The sales data will be collected weekly from a variety of sources, including publishers, chain bookstores, independent booksellers and online retailers.

NYT to Give E-Books Their Own Best-Seller Lists | Voices | AllThingsD

Ask Jeeves no more – IAC shuttering Ask.com search

Also see Ask.com To Focus On Q&A Search, End Web Crawling

According to Bloomberg, IAC chairman Barry Diller, who bought the search engine in 2005 for $1.85 billion to try to take on Google, has “dismissed” the company’s search engineers in New Jersey and China, saying that, “We’ve realized in the last few years you can’t compete head on with Google.”

Ask Jeeves no more – IAC shuttering Ask.com search

Online Privacy Is Poised for Regulatory Showdown - NYTimes.com

Major changes ahead for Internet advertising

After “do not call” lists became popular, more than 90 percent of people who signed up reported fewer annoying telemarketing calls. Now, privacy advocates are pushing for a similar “do not track” feature that would let Internet users tell Web sites to stop surreptitiously tracking their online habits and collecting clues about age, salary, health, location and leisure activities.

Online Privacy Is Poised for Regulatory Showdown - NYTimes.com

RIM to Sell Tablet for Less Than $500 to Take on IPad - BusinessWeek

Meanwhile, in a development that should be salient to both Cisco and RIM,  see Polycom to Put UC App onto Samsung Galaxy Tab

Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of the BlackBerry smartphone, said it will begin selling a tablet computer in North America in the first quarter for “under” $500 as it takes on Apple Inc.’s iPad.

“The product will be very competitively priced,” Co-Chief Executive Officer Jim Balsillie said in an interview in Seoul today, declining to be more specific. Sales of the BlackBerry Playbook, unveiled in September, will expand globally from the second quarter, he said. The iPad starts at $499.

RIM to Sell Tablet for Less Than $500 to Take on IPad - BusinessWeek

Google And Facebook Escalate War Of Words On “Openness” - Digits - WSJ

See the link below for context-setting

Hours later, Facebook responded back, via a comment left on tech blog TechCrunch by Facebook engineer Mike Vernal. He said that Google had been inconsistent on the issue of whether exporting information about a user’s friends from a social networking site was a standard — or good — practice. Wrote Vernal: “Our policy has been consistent. The most important principle for Facebook is that every person owns and controls her information. Each person owns her friends list, but not her friends’ information. A person has no more right to mass export all of her friends’ private email addresses than she does to mass export all of her friends’ private photo albums.”

He contiuned [sic]: “We strongly hope that Google turns back on their API and doesn’t come up with yet another excuse to prevent their users from leaving Google products to use ones they like better instead.” You can read the whole comment (plus reaction) here.

Google And Facebook Escalate War Of Words On “Openness” - Digits - WSJ

Google to Give Staff 10% Raise - WSJ.com

A Googleplex sign of the times

The pay hike comes as Google ramps up its battle with competitors, especially neighboring Facebook Inc., in a fight to secure talented staff. Roughly 10% of Facebook's employees are Google veterans and other Silicon Valley companies have aggressively poached employees from the Internet giant.

Google to Give Staff 10% Raise - WSJ.com

All Things Digital Readers Agree iPad Is a Mobile Device | Kara Swisher | BoomTown | AllThingsD

The wisdom of crowds

The All Things Digital readership has spoken: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was wrong in declaring that the Apple iPad was not mobile.

In fact, 1,671 takers of a survey BoomTown ginned up on the subject using SurveyMonkey disagreed with him 85.1 percent to 14.9 percent.

All Things Digital Readers Agree iPad Is a Mobile Device | Kara Swisher | BoomTown | AllThingsD

Steve Ross, Time Warner, and growth for growth's sake. (3) - By Tim Wu - Slate Magazine

The Master Switch is high on my current recommended-reading list

Tim Wu's The Master Switch tells the story of how America's information empires—from the AT&T monopoly to today's Internet giants—have been shaped by disruptive inventions, federal intervention, and, above all, a will to power. This week, based in part on excerpts from The Master Switch, Wu will present the stories of five men who disproportionately influenced the shape of the American information industries in the 20^th and 21^st centuries.

Steve Ross, Time Warner, and growth for growth's sake. (3) - By Tim Wu - Slate Magazine

Amazon patents bad gift defense system: "gift conversions" [TechFlash]

See the link below for details

Do you dread getting fruitcake or socks from a certain relative every Christmas? Amazon.com may be working on a solution. The online retailer just received a patent for a bad gift defense system that intercepts gifts you don't want and instead sends you something that you actually do want.

[…]

The system could even auto-generate thank you cards on your behalf — a generic one or a personal note.

Amazon patents bad gift defense system: "gift conversions"

Facebook serves '23% of all US display ads' • The Register

More Googleplex Facebook anxiety ahead

Facebook now serves up more display ads than any other outfit on the US web, according to the latest numbers from market-research outfit comScore.

In the third quarter, comScore says, the social network topped all other publishers with over 297 billion display-ad impressions, which translates to 23.1 per cent of the market. Its closest competitor was Yahoo!, with 11 per cent. Google — with 2.7 per cent — sat below not only Facebook and Yahoo!, but also Microsoft and Fox.

Facebook serves '23% of all US display ads' • The Register

Steve Jobs chucks Apple server biz from pram • The Register

If the iPad is the new client, the traditional Mac desktop (running Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server) may as well be the new server…

Like any other billionaire — or three-year-old — Steve Jobs does exactly what he wants to do, and stops doing it when he's no longer interested. Last week, Jobs pulled the plug on Xserve machines, and though companies that depend on Apple's servers and related Xsan2 clustered file systems may have been a bit shocked when it happened, they should remember the on-again, off-again history of Apple in the server racket.

[…]

The server business for Apple has always been a bit of a drag, although there certainly was some enthusiasm in the years after the launch in May 2002 of the Initial PowerPC-based Xserves. At the time, Apple CEO Jobs tried to reassure customers that the prior years of short-lived server products were behind the company. "I look at that as a dream while [Apple] was in a coma," Jobs explained, almost in apology.

Maybe this is one of those dreams within a dream moments and Apple never truly woke up?

Steve Jobs chucks Apple server biz from pram • The Register

FT.com / Technology - Stakes raised in Oracle and SAP download battle

Meanwhile, while HP’s new CEO (and SAP’s former co-CEO) is in hiding…

“The acquisition of TomorrowNow was a brilliant idea and we were at grave risk, depending on what they did with it,” he said. The Oracle chief executive added that he had personally believed at the time that SAP stood “to get at least 20 per cent, as much as 30 per cent of our [PeopleSoft] customers”.

Oracle’s lawyers have argued that the scale of the threat to the US group should be used as a yardstick for the size of the damages award. Because it paid $11bn for PeopleSoft, the loss of customers could have cost it $3.3bn, with another $600m in damages caused by similar customer losses from another acquisition, that of Siebel Systems.

FT.com / Technology - Stakes raised in Oracle and SAP download battle

Apple: Their Tablet Computer History – liquidpubs' blog

A very extensive historical review, via David Pogue.  I especially liked this one (if Steve Jobs had been with Apple then, perhaps he would have said “You’re wearing it wrong…”):

Apple: Their Tablet Computer History – liquidpubs' blog

Websites Rein In Tracking Tools in Pursuit of Profit - WSJ.com

Big stakes in advertising and privacy

Many Web publishers are finding that tracking software is operating on their sites without their knowledge. Some worry they are missing out on an opportunity, since others are profiting by selling data about the sites' users for ad-targeting purposes.

Sites are also worried outsiders may gain access to sensitive information about their visitors, raising privacy alarms.

Websites Rein In Tracking Tools in Pursuit of Profit - WSJ.com

Bill Campbell on Coaching RockMelt and Google v. Apple - NYTimes.com

Check the link below for more on Bill Campbell’s background

Mr. Campbell doesn’t charge to help entrepreneurs like Mr. Vishria and Mr. Howes. “My fees are well known,” he said. “Zero. Nobody has to negotiate with me.” But he says he typically doesn’t invest in companies he advises. “I don’t want to have anyone ever think that I am making a decision based on a personal financial outcome,” he said. He broke that rule for RockMelt, he said, to help Mr. Vishria and Mr. Howes. “They wanted to say that Bill felt strongly enough about it that he became an investor,” he said.

Bill Campbell on Coaching RockMelt and Google v. Apple - NYTimes.com

Worker Rights Extend to Facebook, Labor Board Says - NYTimes.com

A sign of the times

In what labor officials and lawyers view as a ground-breaking case involving workers and social media, the National Labor Relations Board has accused a company of illegally firing an employee after she criticized her supervisor on her Facebook page.

This is the first case in which the labor board has stepped in to argue that workers’ criticisms of their bosses or companies on a social networking site are generally a protected activity and that employers would be violating the law by punishing workers for such statements.

Worker Rights Extend to Facebook, Labor Board Says - NYTimes.com

Oracle Enlists Process Servers, Not PIs, to Find HP CEO | John Paczkowski | Digital Daily | AllThingsD

The TV mini-series in this context can’t be far behind

Sources in a position to know tell me that the PIs rumored to be searching for Apotheker are actually PSs — process servers, agents charged with delivering subpoenas to their intended recipient. And, as federal law dictates, their search extends no further than 100 miles from the location of the trial, because if Apotheker is outside that 100-mile radius, they can’t serve him. And Oracle can’t compel him to testify. Which means it’s not really worth the company’s time or effort to hire Dog the Bounty Hunter to track him down in some Schwarzwald hideout.

Oracle Enlists Process Servers, Not PIs, to Find HP CEO | John Paczkowski | Digital Daily | AllThingsD

Hasbro device offers 3-D for iPhone - The Boston Globe

Post-90s View-Master

The nation’s second-largest toy maker is today set to unveil a hand-held device called My3D that attaches to the two Apple Inc. devices. It promises three-dimensional content that offers a 360-degree experience in gaming, virtual travel experiences, and entertainment content. It’s aimed at children and adults.

Hasbro device offers 3-D for iPhone - The Boston Globe

Facebook sues Phoenix Media over patent rights - The Boston Globe

Interesting IP protection times for Facebook

In a complaint filed yesterday in US District Court in Boston, Facebook alleged that the Boston media company, its Tele-Publishing Inc./People2People Group, and WFNX are using features such as guides for bands and eateries on the newspaper’s website and an online music player at the radio station that infringe on patents.

The complaint comes a year after Phoenix Media filed a suit against the California-based social networking company and complained that Facebook violated a patent related to setting up online personal profile pages.

Facebook sues Phoenix Media over patent rights - The Boston Globe

WikiLeaks Plans to Post Russian Documents; Moscow Not Pleased - TIME

The plot thickens

So far Russia has had no official response. But on Wednesday, an official at the Center for Information Security of the FSB, Russia's secret police, gave a warning to WikiLeaks that showed none of the tact of the U.S. reply to the Iraq revelations. "It's essential to remember that given the will and the relevant orders, [WikiLeaks] can be made inaccessible forever," the anonymous official told the independent Russian news website LifeNews.

WikiLeaks Plans to Post Russian Documents; Moscow Not Pleased - TIME

RockMelt: Dumb or Stupid? You Decide | ZDNet

The first ~12 hours of press/blogosphere/punditry response must have been fun while they lasted…

So why I, or anyone else, think that RockMelt will do better? Yes, it has Marc Andreessen, the co-creator of Mosaic, the first popular graphical Web browser, and founder of Netscape behind it, but it’s been a long, long time since Andreessen hit a home-run. As a technical innovator these days, Andreessen is a fine venture-capitalist.

Since Andreessen is also on Facebook’s board of directors and was an early investor in Twitter we can also safely presume that RockMelt will work well with both social networks. But, is having a Web browser that integrates well with Facebook and Twitter really that big a deal?

RockMelt: Dumb or Stupid? You Decide | ZDNet

RockMelt: A Browser Built For Sharing (First Hands On And 500 Exclusive Invites) [TechCrunch]

A couple more RockMelt threads

Overall, RockMelt seems really fast. It is built on Chromium, the same open source browser that forms the foundation of Google’s Chrome browser. Given the fact that it is backed by Andreessen (and Ron Conway, Bill Campbell, Josh Kopelman, and Diane Green to the tune of $10 million) and its principle architect was also the principle architect of the Netscape browser, this is a pretty significant vote of confidence in Chromium as the future of browsing. “Chromium is a newer codebase,” explains Andreessen. “It is state of the art. The performance increase is unbelievable.” He’s not one for nostalgia.

[…]

But here’s the thing about RockMelt. You log into it, and it knows everywhere you go on the Web, who all your friends are, and what your search habits. It also knows what you share with your friends. Combine those three: social sharing, search, and actual browsing behavior, and you’ve got one hell of a way to target ads at people. RockMelt doesn’t do this now, and its founders tell me they will never do so because it would destroy whatever trust people place in them. (Damn straight). “We are not going to run an ad network. We actually don’t know where you go,” says co-founder Tim Howes, “that information does not leave your browser.” Hopefully, it never will.

RockMelt: A Browser Built For Sharing (First Hands On And 500 Exclusive Invites)

RockMelt: Secret New Internet Browser Launches - The Daily Beast

Impressive alumni and investor networks involved, perhaps, but RockMelt looks like an attempt at an acquisition fodder play to me

RockMelt is a strong indication of how deeply integrated social information is becoming online. A tight connection with Facebook and Twitter gives RockMelt a number of useful characteristics. To use it, the user has to log in on Facebook, which offers entry to the entire RockMelt app and cloud service. The browser toolbar contains a little “share” button so you can easily create a tweet or a Facebook update based on the page you are visiting. In addition, anything that’s a link—an article, video, song, or whatever—can be dragged from anywhere right into a Facebook or Twitter feed or sent as a private message to a friend. And in a useful innovation, RockMelt enables the user to see more information right in a feed. On Facebook, you can click on a single photo in a feed and right there browse through an entire album. And tweets in Twitter show up as complete content—you can watch a video right in your feed. Not coincidentally, Andreessen is a board member of Facebook and participated in the very first financing round for Twitter.

RockMelt: Secret New Internet Browser Launches - The Daily Beast

Behold RockMelt, Browser For The Social Set: Tech News [GigaOm]

The only non-suicidal scenario I can imagine in this context is a business strategy optimized to be acquired by Google

“Most people communicate with a few friends and check only a few sites and we have made it easy for them to stay connected and get their information,” said Vishria. The browser integrates Facebook, Twitter and other social services right into the browser itself. At the same time, it makes it easy to add news feeds and other information sources. The browser, which is based on Chromium (the open source project behind Google’s Chrome browser), requires you to sign-in with your Facebook credentials. Once logged in, you can add your favorite friends and favorite news feeds on the left and right side of the browser. The browser makes it easy to update, tweet and share content via Facebook and Twitter.

Behold RockMelt, Browser For The Social Set: Tech News «

Color E Ink to Be Sold in Hanvon E-Reader - NYTimes.com

Unlikely to be a near-term best-seller

E Ink screens have two advantages over LCD — they use far less battery power and they are readable in the glare of direct sunlight.

However, the new color E Ink display, while an important technological breakthrough, is not as sharp and colorful as LCD. Unlike an LCD screen, the colors are muted, as if one were looking at a faded color photograph. In addition, E Ink cannot handle full-motion video. At best, it can show simple animations.

These are reasons Amazon, Sony and the other major e-reader makers are not yet embracing it. Amazon says it will offer color E Ink when it is ready; the company sees color as useful in cookbooks and children’s books, and it offers these books in color through its Kindle application for LCD devices. Sony is also taking a wait-and-see approach.

Color E Ink to Be Sold in Hanvon E-Reader - NYTimes.com

RockMelt Unveils Web Browser for Facebook Era - NYTimes.com

Think different…

On Monday, RockMelt, a company founded and financed by a group of Netscape alumni, will release a new Web browser, 16 years after Netscape introduced the first commercial Internet browser, and 12 years after the company was sold to AOL after its defeat by Microsoft in the so-called browser wars.

“We think it is a fantastic time to build a company around a browser,” said Marc Andreessen, who co-founded Netscape, and whose venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, is the principal financial backer of RockMelt.

RockMelt Unveils Web Browser for Facebook Era - NYTimes.com

BBC News - Facebook page for Queen Elizabeth

Check the link below for a video overview; you can’t “friend” the Queen on Facebook, but you are encouraged to “like” her and to follow her activities on Facebook and Twitter

The Queen will be on Facebook from Sunday, with a page on the social networking site providing photographs, videos and her speeches.

Buckingham Palace says it is not a personal profile page, but users can "like" the service and receive updates on their news feed.

BBC News - Facebook page for Queen Elizabeth

How to Use Blekko to Rock at Your Job [ReadWriteWeb]

Check the link below for Blekko tips and analysis

The author of the web's first worm-virus, teamed with a man who dresses as a medieval warrior and goes to battle on the weekends and a woman who follows World of Warcraft, acupuncture and ballet, have raised $24 million dollars to storm the gates of the Google Castle. They got incredible press coverage when their new search engine, called Blekko, launched this week - but they are probably going to get slaughtered.

In the meantime, they have provided an opportunity for countless other freaks and geeks to use the magical tool they've built to grow our stature wherever we work; to cut through information overload, to shine a bright light on opportunities and to augment our minds with the snap of a finger. Read on for my advice about how to use Blekko and we'll use it well - for as long as it lasts.

How to Use Blekko to Rock at Your Job

Politicians Caught in the Web in Past Images - NYTimes.com

Check the full article (titled “The Facebook Skeletons Come Out;” unclear why the page title differs) for some timely social software discretion case studies

With the ubiquity of technology and social networking Web sites like Facebook that allow — and compel — young people to document themselves drinking, wearing little clothing or putting themselves in otherwise compromised positions, it was a given that a generation of politicians would someday find themselves confronted with digital evidence of their more immodest and imprudent moments.

But who knew it would happen this quickly?

Politicians Caught in the Web in Past Images - NYTimes.com

Apple and I.B.M. Aren’t All That Different - NYTimes.com

A timely Apple and IBM reality check; see the link below for more context-setting and details

A striking difference between the companies, experts say, is in their approach to research. I.B.M. has laboratories around the world, spends $6 billion a year on research and development, and generates more patents a year than any other company. Five I.B.M. scientists have won Nobel prizes; the company’s researchers attend scientific conferences, publish papers and have made fundamental advances in computing, materials science and mathematics.

Apple, by contrast, focuses only on product innovation, not scientific invention. “Apple does research insofar as it advances their laser-focused product aspirations,” observes Michael Hawley, a computer scientist who worked for Mr. Jobs at NeXT, a pioneering but commercially unsuccessful computer company.

Apple and I.B.M. Aren’t All That Different - NYTimes.com

Microsoft vs. Software Piracy - Inside the War Room - NYTimes.com

Excerpt from an extensive Microsoft anti-piracy snapshot

“It’s part of the geopolitical process,” he said, “and Microsoft has a level of clout that a lot of other folks don’t in Washington and in other countries.”

Mr. Finn argues that Microsoft’s anti-piracy efforts and training of law enforcement are a benefit to countries that want to build out their tech sectors and show they value intellectual property.

“Intellectual property is a critical engine of economic growth,” Mr. Finn says. “That’s not just for large companies, but also for small businesses and entire countries. We work with governments that are realizing this is in their best interests.”

Microsoft vs. Software Piracy - Inside the War Room - NYTimes.com

FilmOn.com, ivi.TV Offer Free Broadcast TV on iPad | Peter Kafka | MediaMemo | AllThingsD

See the full post for more details – some interesting legal wrangling ahead in this context

The broadcast networks only put their stuff on the Web under very specific conditions. So this is exactly what they don’t want: Free, live streams of their stuff delivered to your iPad, via the browser.

You can get it right now, by heading to FilmOn.com, where you can get streams of several local L.A. TV stations, which means you can get whatever NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox are broadcasting. You can also get a few cable channels, like Time Warner’s CNN International, as well as a couple of porn feeds.

FilmOn.com, ivi.TV Offer Free Broadcast TV on iPad | Peter Kafka | MediaMemo | AllThingsD

A special report on smart systems: It's a smart world | The Economist

Part of the intro to an extensive “smart world” special report in The Economist

This was the vision that David Gelernter, a professor of computer science at Yale University, put forward in his book “Mirror Worlds” in the early 1990s. “You will look into a computer screen and see reality,” he predicted. “Some part of your world—the town you live in, the company you work for, your school system, the city hospital—will hang there in a sharp colour image, abstract but recognisable, moving subtly in a thousand places.”

Even two decades later that sounds like science fiction. But this special report will argue that Mr Gelernter was surprisingly prescient: mankind is indeed building more and more “mirror worlds”, or “smart systems”, as they are often called. The real and the digital worlds are converging, thanks to a proliferation of connected sensors and cameras, ubiquitous wireless networks, communications standards and the activities of humans themselves.

A special report on smart systems: It's a smart world | The Economist

Que: The Least You Need to Know About Facebook Privacy for your Family > 1. Find and Use the Facebook Privacy Settings

A handy list – see the link below for 8 tips

Privacy is a nagging concern for most Facebook users. With ongoing site changes, it’s more important than ever before to make sure you take the necessary steps to keep your information safe. Sherry Kinkoph Gunter, author of Sams Teach Yourself Facebook in 10 Minutes App, shows you how to control personal information, avoid hackers, and dodge unsafe third-party apps.

Que: The Least You Need to Know About Facebook Privacy for your Family > 1. Find and Use the Facebook Privacy Settings

One on One: Vivek Kundra, U.S. Chief Information officer - NYTimes.com

Excerpt

What are you doing with data.gov?
Well, when we started the site in May of 2009, we had 47 data sets available to the public. Today we have 274,000 data sets available. We’re promoting transparency across all facets of government, and making data available is the first step. We’re adding hundreds of interesting data points from agencies and on every aspect of government — from health care to education to product safety and defense.

And what are people doing with these data sets?
We’ve seen some amazing apps from these data sets. One person, for example, created an iPhone app, CPSC Recalls, which stands for the Consumer Product Safety Commission. This app compiles all the product recalls in the United States, and then a citizen can use the camera on their mobile phone to scan a product in a store and see if it’s had any recalls or alerts.

One on One: Vivek Kundra, U.S. Chief Information officer - NYTimes.com

How Facebook and Twitter Are Replacing Blogging - Jeff Bercovici - Mixed Media - Forbes

A timely blogging reality check

It’s hard to recall these days, now that most bloggers are corporate drones (*cough*), but blogging was originally the pursuit of hobbyists. And now a lot of those hobbyists appear to be giving it up, or at least cutting back, in favor of less demanding hobbies that offer some of the same satisfactions: microblogging and social networking.

[…]

How Facebook and Twitter Are Replacing Blogging - Jeff Bercovici - Mixed Media - Forbes

Google To Facebook: You Can’t Import Our User Data Without Reciprocity

Check the link below for some aggressive posturing on Google’s part

The war between Google and Facebook is heating up: Google just made one small tweak to its Terms of Service that will have a big impact on the world’s biggest social network. From now on, any service that accesses Google’s Contacts API — which makes it easy to import your list of friends’ and coworkers’ email addresses into another service — will need to offer reciprocity. Facebook doesn’t, so it’s going to lose access to this key piece of the social graph.

Google To Facebook: You Can’t Import Our User Data Without Reciprocity

Online Learning Is Growing on Campus - NYTimes.com

I expect class tuition price competition will follow, accelerating changes and challenges in higher ed

Online education is best known for serving older, nontraditional students who can not travel to colleges because of jobs and family. But the same technologies of “distance learning” are now finding their way onto brick-and-mortar campuses, especially public institutions hit hard by declining state funds. At the University of Florida, for example, resident students are earning 12 percent of their credit hours online this semester, a figure expected to grow to 25 percent in five years.

This may delight undergraduates who do not have to change out of pajamas to “attend” class. But it also raises questions that go to the core of a college’s mission: Is it possible to learn as much when your professor is a mass of pixels whom you never meet? How much of a student’s education and growth — academic and personal — depends on face-to-face contact with instructors and fellow students?

Online Learning Is Growing on Campus - NYTimes.com

Using Video Surveillance to Catch the Neighbors - NYTimes.com

Sign of the times

So Mr. Miller went to a local electronics store and bought a $400 do-it-yourself video surveillance kit. In so doing, he joined the ranks of outraged homeowners who are recording their neighbors’ misdeeds. Attracted by the declining prices and technological advances of such devices, these homeowners are posting the videos online to shame their neighbors or using them as evidence to press charges.

Using Video Surveillance to Catch the Neighbors - NYTimes.com

Get (Almost) Any Book For Free: 100+ Sites Offering Great Literature for Download... - StumbleUpon

A handy index

Reading a book is fun, but when you forgot it at home, are bored at work or are just curious to get a sneak peek at whatever you ordered from Amazon, online book sites can be handy too. Below is a list of over 100 free (and legal) sites to find great literature for download.

Get (Almost) Any Book For Free: 100+ Sites Offering Great Literat... - StumbleUpon

Magic Quadrant for Social Software in the Workplace [Gartner]

Another Gartner magic quadrant report freely available through a Microsoft license (Microsoft did not sponsor the research; it purchased “reprint” rights).   Jive is looking like a strong acquisition candidate in this context.

Magic Quadrant for Social Software in the Workplace

Microsoft: Moving business applications to the cloud can save 30 percent or more in carbon emissions per user.

Check the link below for research details

Businesses that choose to run business applications in the cloud can help reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions by a net 30 percent or more versus running those same applications on their own infrastructure. These findings, from a study commissioned by Microsoft Corp. and conducted by Accenture and WSP Environment & Energy, demonstrate cloud computing’s potential to operate business applications more efficiently.

Large datacenters, like those run by Microsoft, benefit from economies of scale and operational efficiencies beyond what corporate IT departments can achieve. Benefits become even more significant for a small business moving to the cloud, where the net energy and carbon savings can be more than 90 percent.

Microsoft, Accenture and WSP Environment & Energy Study Shows Significant Energy and Carbon Emissions Reduction Potential From Cloud Computing: Moving business applications to the cloud can save 30 percent or more in carbon emissions per user.

WikiLeaks Faces New Competition - WSJ.com

Getting deeply nested…

"There is some indication that Daniel and some others are setting up a similar venue, and we wish them luck," said Kristinn Hrafnsson, a WikiLeaks spokesman, in a recent interview in London. "It would be good to have more organizations like WikiLeaks."

Another site that publishes leaked documents and top-secret information is cryptome.org, which among other things has published leaks about WikiLeaks. Secrecy News, a blog written by the scientist Steven Aftergood, publishes government documents about the military, diplomacy and other matters.

WikiLeaks Faces New Competition - WSJ.com

Dell to Ditch 25,000 BlackBerrys in Bid to Promote Own Service - WSJ.com

Check the link below for more ominous leading indicators for RIM

Dell employees will be offered the upcoming Dell Venue Pro—which runs Microsoft Corp.'s new Windows Phone 7 software—in exchange for their BlackBerrys. Eventually, the company also will offer phones powered by Google Inc.'s Android software.

The switch begins next week and will save the company about 25% in mobile communication costs, primarily by eliminating the need for BlackBerry servers, Mr. Gladden said.

Dell will begin marketing a service to its business clients within two weeks aimed at helping them make a similar switch.

Dell to Ditch 25,000 BlackBerrys in Bid to Promote Own Service - WSJ.com

Samsung Estimates 1 Million Galaxy Tab Sales in 2010 | John Paczkowski | Digital Daily | AllThingsD

That’s a lot of sandpaper

According to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, the “handful of credible tablets” currently headed to market will be “dead on arrival.” So the claim with which Samsung launched its Galaxy Tab slate in its home market today was somewhat brazen.

“We have received a very good market response in countries in Southeast Asia and Europe,” J.K. Shin, president of the company’s mobile business, told reporters at an event in Seoul. “I estimate we will be able to sell more than a million units worldwide by the end of this year.”

Samsung Estimates 1 Million Galaxy Tab Sales in 2010 | John Paczkowski | Digital Daily | AllThingsD

Scott McNealy talks Java, Oracle and Larry Ellison - Computerworld

Why was Scott McNealy keynoting a PostgreSQL conference?…

"The purchase price of software is kind of like the first hit of heroin: It's free," he quipped.

But he no longer sounds sure the open-source route is better, at least from a business point of view.

"That's why I'm here speaking to you with no salary," he said.

McNealy is not completely unemployed these days. He does consulting for startups and is involved with a nonprofit called Curriki -- an amalgam of "curriculum" and "Wikipedia" -- that provides free books and other materials for schools.

Scott McNealy talks Java, Oracle and Larry Ellison - Computerworld

BBC News - Burma hit by massive net attack ahead of election

Radically against transparency, apparently

An ongoing computer attack has knocked Burma off the internet, just days ahead of its first election in 20 years.

The attack started in late October but has grown in the last few days to overwhelm the nation's link to the net, said security firm Arbor Networks.

BBC News - Burma hit by massive net attack ahead of election

How Facebook is Pulling an Android… and Why | Android Phone Fans [Phandroid]

Excerpts from an insightful assessment of Facebook’s mobile platform play (via Louis Gray).  The identity/authentication/access control part of the story is probably causing serious Android anxiety inside the Googleplex.

Mark Zuckerberg addressed this in his opening statement today by saying [paraphrased], “Facebook is not going to build a phone. We want to empower social applications across all platforms. We don’t want to build applications, but instead platform components for people to build on top of moving forward.”

[…]

Facebook doesn’t want to become the next MySpace. Building a phone does nothing to create a barrier to entry and it does nothing to further the social landscape which fruits they would then be able to enjoy. Let’s take a look at exactly what Facebook announced:

[The “phandroid” part was inserted by the blog post publisher]

How Facebook is Pulling an Android… and Why | Android Phone Fans

Zuckerberg: the iPad 'is not mobile' • The Register

Check the story link below for more context-setting

Today, at Facebook HQ, as the company unveiled a handful of new mobile tools for developers and other partners, Zuckerberg was asked when the company would finally produce an iPad app. "So, the iPad has been out for a while. And this is a mobile event. Are you building an iPad app, and if so, when is it going to be in our hands?" his questioner said.

"The iPad is not mobile," Zuckerberg answered. "Next question. "

His audience responded with the sort of loud noise an audience responds with when someone suddenly insults someone else.

"It's not mobile," he said, with more than a little incredulity. "It's a computer."

"I think Apple would disagree with you," his questioner said.

"Oh, sorry," Zuckerberg, with more than a little sarcasm.

Zuckerberg: the iPad 'is not mobile' • The Register

FT.com / Technology - AOL revenues down 26%

Not likely to be a sustainable business model…

Revenues at AOL fell by 26 per cent in the third quarter, hit by sharp declines in advertising and subscription sales.

[…]

In spite of the revenue slump, net income jumped 132 per cent to $171.6m, or $1.60 a share, from $74m or 70 cents per share a year ago, thanks to asset sales.

AOL sold instant messaging service ICQ in April for $187.5m, less than half of the $400m it paid for it in 1998. In June it sold Bebo, the social networking site it bought for $850m in 2008, reportedly for less than $10m.

FT.com / Technology - AOL revenues down 26%

Facebook Offers Local Deals for Mobile Users - NYTimes.com

One step closer to the Minority Report shopping vision; also see Location Services Have Not Caught On, Report Says

People who use Places, Facebook’s location feature, will see a yellow icon indicating that a redeemable deal or coupon is available nearby. They can then use the application to “check in” at the store or restaurant and show their phone’s screen to an employee to claim their deal.

Facebook Offers Local Deals for Mobile Users - NYTimes.com

Facebook Users Help Predict Republican Election-Night Victories - BusinessWeek

Sign of the times

Facebook members picked 74 percent of the winning candidates among 98 hotly contested House races, Facebook said today. In the Senate, more than 80 percent of candidates with more Facebook fans than opponents won their elections.

“The ability for social-media participation and activity to predict election results has been widely discussed over the past several months as political campaigns across the country turned to Facebook to communicate authentically with voters as well as organize supporters,” the company said on its site.

Facebook Users Help Predict Republican Election-Night Victories - BusinessWeek

A Simple Guide to Shopping for a Computer - WSJ.com

Walt Mossberg’s annual “Which Apple products should you buy this year?” round-up

So, here is my annual fall computer buyers' guide, a simplified road map to the key decisions shoppers must make. I've focused on laptops—the most common purchase—but much of this advice also applies to desktops. As always, these tips are for average users doing the most common tasks. This advice doesn't apply to businesses, to hard-core gamers, or to serious media producers.

A Simple Guide to Shopping for a Computer - WSJ.com

Kinect for Xbox Helps Users Feel the Rush, and Maybe Sweat - NYTimes.com

Excerpt from another Kinect (released today) review

The Wii, by tracking the position of its remote control, was amazing for its time (2006). It’s a natural for games in which you swing one hand — bowling, tennis, golf. But the Kinect blows open a whole universe of new, whole-body simulations — volleyball, obstacle courses, dancing, flying.

It doesn’t merely recognize that someone is there; it recognizes your face and body. In some games, you can jump in to take a buddy’s place; the game instantly notices the change and signs you in under your own name. If you leave the room, it pauses the game automatically.

There’s a crazy, magical, omigosh rush the first time you try the Kinect. It’s an experience you’ve never had before.

Kinect for Xbox Helps Users Feel the Rush, and Maybe Sweat - NYTimes.com

With wave of a hand, Microsoft’s Kinect is the controller to beat - The Boston Globe

Check the link below for more review details

Kinect, the new hands-off controller for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 video game console, goes on sale today, and it’s the company’s most innovative product in years. It’s far in front of rival technologies like the motion-sensitive controller of the Nintendo Wii game machine, or the Move controller for Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 3. For Kinect isn’t just for video games. It lets you access all kinds of entertainment with a spoken command or a wave of the hand. And just as Apple Inc.’s iPhone 4 has put videoconferencing into millions of hip pockets, the Kinect will make it a standard feature in millions of living rooms.

With wave of a hand, Microsoft’s Kinect is the controller to beat - The Boston Globe

A Google AdSense sign of the times

Two of the ads I’m seeing on my blog home page this morning:

Clearly the only thing preventing full employment in the United States is the inability of law schools to keep up with market demand for lawyers

BBC News - Amazon's Kindle offers access to banned sites in China

Interesting times

Amazon's Kindle devices are selling in China because the e-reader allows users to log on to banned sites such as Twitter and Facebook, reports say.

The device bypasses the infamous Great Firewall, making it popular on the so-called grey market according to the South China Morning Post.

Officially the Kindle is not available in mainland China.

BBC News - Amazon's Kindle offers access to banned sites in China

Google TV Chief: The Web Is Now a Channel - Technology Review

Perhaps the Googleplex gang should check out The Master Switch to study a few case studies on earlier information empires – including the one that’s not welcoming them to TV-land

Google hasn't radically changed its pitch for Google TV since May, but the sting of getting blocked from showing sites of major broadcasters such as ABC, CBS, and NBC appears to have prompted a renewed emphasis on making nice with content owners and distributors. Indeed, the title of his talk was "The Web Is Now a Channel," the implication being that TV is still the central experience, and the Web is just part of that. But clearly it's going to be a big part eventually, and how big and in what way is what TV people in LA and New York are worried about.

Google TV Chief: The Web Is Now a Channel - Technology Review

FT.com / Technology - Microsoft takes technological leap with Kinect

Excerpt from a Kinect snapshot

Adding to its arsenal of technologies to support a more natural human interface, Microsoft last week bought Canesta, a private company based in Silicon Valley which has developed a chip that senses objects in 3D. The 44 patents claimed by Canesta will add to what Mr Kipman described as “several hundred” Microsoft patents already supporting Kinect.

FT.com / Technology - Microsoft takes technological leap with Kinect

Facebook Alumni Begin to Scatter to Start-Ups - NYTimes.com

Check the link below for some Facebook alumni club details

These ex-Facebookers are leaving before any I.P.O. of the company’s shares. They can do that because Facebook shares are surprisingly liquid. The rise of exchanges like Second Market and SharesPost over the last couple of years have allowed shareholders in private companies to sell their stakes more easily than before. These markets function much like a stock exchanges for publicly traded companies, although the pool of buyers and sellers is much smaller. Facebook’s overall value is around $30 billion on the exchanges.

Facebook Alumni Begin to Scatter to Start-Ups - NYTimes.com

Inside the Google Books Algorithm - Alexis Madrigal - Technology - The Atlantic

Google Books goes far beyond page ranking

Rich Results is the latest in a series of smaller front-end tweaks that have been matched by backend improvements. Now, the book search algorithm takes into account more than 100 "signals," individual data categories that Google statistically integrates to rank your results. When you search for a book, Google Books doesn't just look at word frequency or how closely your query matches the title of a book. They now take into account web search frequency, recent book sales, the number of libraries that hold the title, and how often an older book has been reprinted.

Inside the Google Books Algorithm - Alexis Madrigal - Technology - The Atlantic

Will Netflix destroy the Internet? - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine

A new killer app?…

Well, maybe there is one dark cloud: Will there be enough available bandwidth for Netflix to keep growing? Wired.com's Ryan Singel points out that in the hours when Netflix hits 20 percent of broadband use, it's being used by just under 2 percent of Netflix subscribers. That stat has huge implications for how ISPs manage their lines. If 2 percent of Netflix customers are using up one-fifth of the download capacity of North American broadband lines, what will happen when more and more Netflixers begin to watch movies during peak times?

Will Netflix destroy the Internet? - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine

Oracle to pay $1B for e-commerce pioneer ATG - Mass High Tech Business News

I’m guessing there may be some strategic intellectual property involved with this deal, given ATG’s pioneering role in the early Java Web app server market phase.  Congrats to the ATG team, in any case; I hope your Oracle assimilation goes smoothly.

Cambridge-based Art Technology Group Inc. (Nasdaq: ARTG) announced this morning it has agreed to be acquired by Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) for about $1 billion. The pending deal amounts to $6 a share - a 46 percent premium over yesterday’s close. The two companies expect to finalize the merger in early 2011.

A snapshot of ATG’s stock history:

Oracle to pay $1B for e-commerce pioneer ATG - Mass High Tech Business News

Technology News: Tech Buzz: Oracle's Masterful Political Obfuscation Strategy Against HP

An excerpt from an entertaining Rob Enderle Oracle snapshot (via Dave Kellogg; also see “Oracle Seeks $2.3 Billion in SAP Download `Humiliation' Trial”) follows below.  My bet is on Cisco acquiring EMC.

Secret Mega-Merger

There are some who think Larry is using this to screen his effort to buy EMC (NYSE: EMC) and keep the speculation from driving up EMC's stock price before he can make an offer. The offer would drive up the price regardless, and this strategy would likely fail. Same with an attempt to buy HP, unless he is hoping the press coverage will drive out HP's board, which also seems doubtful.

With the analysts pointing out how Mark Hurd aggressively cuts the salaries and benefits at the companies he leads -- justifying the need to do so with questionable studies and then taking a huge bonus for the result -- I doubt many firms are going to want to be acquired by Oracle anyway. After working so many years to build something, you hate to see a buyer kill it.

Technology News: Tech Buzz: Oracle's Masterful Political Obfuscation Strategy Against HP

The FASTForward Blog » Looking at Semantic Software Technologies: Enterprise 2.0 Blog: News, Coverage, and Commentary

An example of extensive and free research available from Gilbane Group.  Tangent: I’ll be on a panel addressing “The State of Enterprise Collaboration” at the Gilbane Conference in December (Boston).

I have been reading a very interesting report, Semantic Software Technologies:  Landscape of High Value Applications for the Enterprise by Lynda Moulton of the Gilbane group. This is a topic I am both curious about and, at times, find puzzling so I was eager to see what Lynda wrote as I have great respect for her work.  I am not the only one as I often see conference sessions with such labels as “Is semantic technology real?”

[…]

This is a comprehensive work that runs over 80 pages. It covers an important area that is one of the next frontiers for enterprise IT. In some ways the semantic web has run parallel to Web 2.0 and enterprise 2.0. I have even heard it described as enterprise 3.0 or Web 3.0. This is ironic since it emerged beyond the 2.0s. However, it has taken longer to become concrete. This report helps with that effort. It is available for a free download at the Gilbane site.

The FASTForward Blog » Looking at Semantic Software Technologies: Enterprise 2.0 Blog: News, Coverage, and Commentary

VideoKinect - Xbox.com

Another handy feature of Kinect, which was released this week

See More Of Your Friends and Family. Literally.

Video Kinect on Xbox LIVE is a new way to connect with friends and family. Forget the controllers and headsets. With Video Kinect you chat just like you always have, using only your voice and gestures. And because you chat through your TV, the experience is as big as life –and twice as fun.

VideoKinect - Xbox.com

The Silverlight Blog–PDC and Silverlight

A succinct Silverlight summary from Brian Goldfarb, in the comments thread for a Bob Muglia post clarifying his PDC comments about Silverlight’s role; see the link below for more context-setting and details

Silverlight is definitely alive and well and goes far beyond just WP7. I think that is pretty clear from Bob's post, but I'll reiterate it again. Silverlight will continue to be invested in across the board. It is the way to build Apps for Windows Phone 7, but it is also and will continue to be the best solution for premium media experiences and business applications both inside and outside the browser on Windows and the Mac. The key thing that has been clarified, is that we see HTML as the technolgy that gets you *everywhere*. In fact, for the broadest reach today the solution you should use is HTML4. But if want a richer, more tailored experience, on the devices and areas we support (and we are investing in this with Windows Embedded, Automotive, Desktop, Phone, and more in the future) both in and out of the browser than Silverlight was and continues to be your best solution.

The Silverlight Blog - Home

Facebook and Twitter Will Try to Mobilize Millions of Voters Tomorrow - NYTimes.com

Check the link below for more on Facebook and Twitter election day plans

Facebook told press today that the company will provide an official app on the site that locates the nearest polling place, badges that users can push out to their friends' newsfeeds to show that they have voted and live streaming video coverage of early results starting at 4 p.m. Pacific. As one of the fastest-growing communication channels in history, Facebook could shake things up tomorrow on election day.

Facebook and Twitter Will Try to Mobilize Millions of Voters Tomorrow - NYTimes.com

Kevin Kelly's WHAT TECHNOLOGY WANTS: how technology changes us and vice-versa - Boing Boing

Excerpt from a Cory Doctorow review; see the link below for more details

Kelly's central thesis is this: technology has its own internal logics and rhythms that are distinct from (and sometimes adverse to) the desires of the humans that create it. Technology creates itself, using humans to do its bidding, and our normal view of inventors creating technology is a kind of romantic fairy tale that ignores the fact that nearly every great invention is invented nearly simultaneously by many people at the same time, all over the world.

Kevin Kelly's WHAT TECHNOLOGY WANTS: how technology changes us and vice-versa - Boing Boing

LinkedIn to Add Recommendation Service | Geoffrey A. Fowler | Voices | AllThingsD

LinkedIn expansion

Participating companies will be able to review the recommendations, respond to them, and possibly delete frivolous ones, LinkedIn said.

The closely held company has in recent months been adding new functionality to its website to become a hub for the information that professionals need to do their jobs. “A big part of what we’re working to do is becoming the essential source of information for our membership,” said LinkedIn Chief Executive Officer Jeff Weiner.

LinkedIn to Add Recommendation Service | Geoffrey A. Fowler | Voices | AllThingsD

Smartphone shipments soar 95% - The Boston Globe

“Feature phones” still lead by a wide margin, but won’t for long, at this rate

Third-quarter smartphone shipments rose 95 percent from the same period last year to 80.9 million units, according to analyst firm Canalys.

Nokia Oyj accounted 33 percent of shipments, followed by Apple Inc. at 17 percent and Research In Motion Ltd. at 15 percent, Canalys said in a report yesterday.

[…]

The overall mobile phone market grew 14.6 percent in the third quarter to 340.5 million units, Framingham, Mass.-based analysts IDC said in a report last week

Smartphone shipments soar 95% - The Boston Globe

Personal update: I’m returning to industry analyst/consultant mode

Today was my last day as a Microsoft employee.  The last couple years have been fascinating, working with large organizations focused on Microsoft’s collaboration platform, but I decided to resume working as an independent industry analyst/consultant, and will be launching a new company over the next several weeks (details to follow here and at the URL below). 

I will continue to focus on topics at the intersection of collaboration and information modeling/management, and will also be starting a new blog or two on those topics.  This blog will continue with its traditional industry news-filter focus (i.e., I don’t plan to subject you to conceptual model diagrams here…).

Stay tuned…

http://www.okellyassociates.com/

Apple’s Next Macintosh OS | Monday Note

Concluding paragraphs from a PC OS reality check by Jean-Louis Gassée (via Richard Eckel)

The question: Would you bet the longer term future of your $20B Mac business on an endless series of painfully debugged x86-based OS X incremental releases? Or would you rather find a way to move that franchise to a fresh hardware/software platform fully under your control?

The observation: Last week, the other Steve, Ballmer, was on stage at the Gartner Symposium. There, he was asked about Microsoft’s “biggest gamble”. Without missing a beat, as this forceful public speaker never does, he answered: “The next revision of Windows.” Not Windows Phone 7, not the Kinect game device, all near and dear to his heart, but Windows 8. (See here and here.)

He, too, is thinking about the future of the PC business.

Apple’s Next Macintosh OS | Monday Note

FT.com / Technology - IBM revamps cloud strategy

IBM has looked at clouds from both sides now…

In its latest revamp, IBM said it would sell cloud computing through its services division, which generates nearly 60 per cent of its revenues.

Rather than try to encourage companies to hand all their data to IBM to be stored and processed, the company said it planned to sell individual services from its data centres that could be integrated into a company’s existing IT systems.

[…]

As the largest tech company selling mainly to large business and government customers, IBM has made several earlier attempts to build a business around cloud computing, but executives concede these have yet to gain much of a foothold.

FT.com / Technology - IBM revamps cloud strategy

Blekko Tries to Filter Out Web Search - NYTimes.com

A new search player (with a weird name)

Blekko’s search engine scours three billion Web pages that it considers worthwhile, but it shows only the top results on any given topic. It calls its edited lists of Web sites slashtags. The engine also tries to weed out Web pages created by so-called content farms like Demand Media that determine popular Web search topics and then hire people at low pay to write articles on those topics for sites like eHow.com.

It is also drawing on a fruitful category of Web search — vertical search engines that offer results on specific topics. Many companies assume that Google won the contest to search the entire Web, so they have focused on topical search. Bing from Microsoft has search pages dedicated to travel and entertainment, and Yelp is a popular choice for searching local businesses.

Blekko Tries to Filter Out Web Search - NYTimes.com