IBM's collaboration tools evolve | InfoWorld | Review | 2006-05-11 | By Mike Heck

IBM's collaboration tools evolve InfoWorld Review 2006-05-11 By Mike Heck: "Introduced in 1989, IBM Lotus Notes 7 stays true to the original's ideals of efficient collaboration. In this release, Notes e-mail and calendar entries are even easier to manage, and the Domino 7 server embraces more standards, including Web services, so developers can expose Notes databases to external systems. The already outstanding platform support is broadened with desktop Linux for e-mail and calendaring -- as well as systems management. "

Google Desktop 4 (beta) review by PC Magazine

Google Desktop 4 (beta) review by PC Magazine: "You'll find a marvelously eclectic cornucopia of both whimsical programs that have no practical value and little apps you could end up finding truly useful in your day-to-day life--SyncPad, for instance, which lets you place a sticky note on one computer and view it on all computers you've set up with Google's Search Across Computers feature."

Robin Williams yucks it up for 'Spore' | CNET News.com

Robin Williams yucks it up for 'Spore' CNET News.com "Actor uses game's creature editor to make a critter that would make Darwin say, 'I'm not taking acid ever again.'"

I'm sure there's a clear statement about evolution somewhere in this article...

TechCrunch - Rumor: Yahoo Acquired Jotspot

TechCrunch - Rumor: Yahoo Acquired Jotspot: "From recent buzz and confirmation from two trusted sources, it sounds like Yahoo closed its rumored acquisition of Joe Kraus' Jotspot, and will be entering the wiki market. No official announcement of this, or any indication of price (buy Yahoo is famously stingy)."

Interesting permutation...

Google holds seminar for press on accurate story telling | The Register

Google holds seminar for press on accurate story telling The Register: "One question that kept creeping up was how Google would improve its non-search services. A couple of reporters noted that search is Google's only stable service and that other services are often flakey and not well-baked.
'Well, I guess we think a lot of (the products) are great but not perfect,' Brin said. 'You know, we probably abused the word beta.'
Brin noted that Google Labs was originally meant to be a testing zone but has since received too much attention for it to serve as a true beta ground for fledgling products.
'We don't have an appropriate venue,' he said. 'I think we need to communicate better the things that we actually expect to do well and the things that are really just where you guys are guinea pigs.'"

Phoning Home with Microsoft MSN Messenger

Phoning Home with Microsoft MSN Messenger: "Two new cordless home phones from major electronics makers that went on sale May 8 are helping Microsoft's MSN Messenger leap from the PC and into more office cubicles and living rooms.
Each phone comes preloaded with the latest test version of the instant messenger, MSN Messenger, Microsoft said.
As a result, the Win 1200 home phone from manufacturer Uniden and the VOIP433 phone from Royal Philips Electronics are both capable of making Internet phone calls via MSN Messenger. "

Google's Desktop Offensive

Google's Desktop Offensive: "On May 10 Google announced several new services aimed at moving it further into the heart of Microsoft territory: the computer desktop. For starters, it unveiled a new version of Google Desktop, which in addition to letting users search their own hard drives will now give them 'Gadgets' -- small applications that sit on the desktop to provide everything from news and weather to entertaining animations.
Also in the lineup: Google Notebook, a Web-based note-taking program; Google Co-Op, an enhancement to the search engine that lets users annotate search results; and Google Trends, which lets users chart the frequency of specific searches over time. Google touted the new wares at a series of presentations for the media at its headquarters in Mountain View, Calif."

PlayStation3 consoles to sell for $499 -- will it be game over? - The Boston Globe

PlayStation3 consoles to sell for $499 -- will it be game over? - The Boston Globe: "Only 11 percent of the 1,046 gamers in a national AP-AOL Games telephone poll last month reported spending more than $500 last year on gaming, including consoles, game software, online charges, and accessories"

The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Google wants to act more grown-up

The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Google wants to act more grown-up: "Executives declined to discuss how they're increasingly in head-on competition with Microsoft in the search-, advertising- and online-services businesses.
But Brin acknowledged Google is concerned it could suffer the fate of Netscape, which saw its commanding lead in Web browsers dissipate after Microsoft moved in.
'We certainly see the history with that particular company -- being a convicted monopoly and not necessarily playing fair in other situations -- Netscape and whatnot -- so we want to focus early on and make sure we at least are looking at the situations where power can be abused,' he said."

Let's see -- global market share 60% and rising; when does Google qualify as a monopoly?...

Google Shows New Services in Battle of Search Engines - New York Times

Google Shows New Services in Battle of Search Engines - New York Times: "Google's new efforts are an answer to Yahoo, its main search rival, which has tried to differentiate its products by adding social features. MyWeb from Yahoo, for example, allows users to identify and label interesting Web pages and share them with their friends.
On Wednesday, Google introduced a beta, or test service, called Google Co-op. Eventually it will allow Google users to mark Web pages they like and associate each page with certain topics. For now the service is mainly of use to large organizations, which can mark their own sites with labels and submit them to Google to make relevant information easier to find in search results. "

Microsoft Offers Preview of Next Windows CE

Microsoft Offers Preview of Next Windows CE: "Windows CE 6 has been completely rearchitected with a new kernel and support for up 32,000 simultaneous processes, a huge jump over the previous limitation of 32. Each of these software processes can take advantage of its own 2 GB address space, Microsoft says. These changes, along with the ability for developers to target Windows CE 6 applications using a plug-in for Visual Studio 2005, will make Windows CE 6 more viable for next generation devices, such as set-top boxes, GPS-based mobile phones, PDAs, and various vertical devices targeting markets such as industrial automation."

NTT DoCoMo Collaborates With Microsoft to Add Windows Media Technologies to 3G FOMA Handsets

NTT DoCoMo Collaborates With Microsoft to Add Windows Media Technologies to 3G FOMA Handsets: "“Microsoft’s Windows Media platform and the company’s commitment toward enabling new digital rights management solutions for the wireless environment are helping to push the industry forward,” said Takeshi Natsuno, senior vice president, managing director, Multimedia Services of NTT DoCoMo. “With support for Windows Media, users of our FOMA handsets will enjoy a broader range of services and more choices for entertainment.”
...
With support on hundreds of devices and services, Windows Media Audio and Windows Media DRM are the most widely deployed technologies in the world for the delivery of digital music."

Google CEO sees "limitless growth" - Yahoo! News

Google CEO sees "limitless growth" - Yahoo! News: "Asked whether the Google Desktop platform represents a new level of competition with Microsoft, Schmidt reiterated that the company was not seeking to replace the Windows desktop.
'The cornerstone of our strategy is to solve new problems,' he said, adding that advertising and its resulting cash flows give Google the luxury to innovate over time.
However, co-founder and president Sergey Brin underscored the enmity between Google and Microsoft.
'We just certainly see the history of Microsoft behaving anti-competitively, not playing fair (and being) a convicted monopolist,' Brin said. "

Looks like somebody memorized his script...

Why the World Doesn't Need Hi-Def DVD's - New York Times

Why the World Doesn't Need Hi-Def DVD's - New York Times: "Just contemplating the rise of a new DVD format is enough to make you feel played. What's wrong with the original DVD format, anyway? It offers brilliant picture, thundering surround sound and bonus material. The catalog of DVD movies is immense and reasonably priced. And DVD players are so cheap, they practically fall out of magazines; 82 percent of American homes have at least one DVD player.
To electronics executives, all of this can mean only one thing: It's time to junk that format and start over."

Timely reality check

Putting the Wire Back Into Networking - New York Times

Putting the Wire Back Into Networking - New York Times: "At first blush, these products may seem to be nonstarters. After all, who would want to pay two or three times the price of a wireless network?
The answer lies in the simplicity.
Robert Stephens, founder and 'chief inspector' of the Geek Squad installation and troubleshooting division at Best Buy, said installing wireless networks was the leading reason for house calls.
...
But the real selling point for the technology is that it can transmit high-definition video without pixelating or skipping. It can claim that advantage over wireless networks — at least for now — because it has a higher data transmission rate."

WSJ.com - Personal Technology: In Our Post-PC Era, Apple's Device Model Beats the PC Way

WSJ.com - In Our Post-PC Era, Apple's Device Model Beats the PC Way: "Microsoft is hedging its bets. It has, in effect, created a little Apple inside Microsoft with the Xbox group. The Xbox team shunned Windows and wrote its own operating system and user interface, and built its own hardware. (The new Xbox was even developed using Macintosh computers.)
Some Microsoft officials dismiss this anomaly by claiming that the game-console business is a special case. But now, Microsoft has assigned the Xbox team to create a portable music player it hopes can knock off the iPod. Why? Because the company is frustrated that the component model, which separates hardware and software, has failed in the music market. It's looking for more integration.
Still, the end-to-end model isn't a lock. If Apple can't keep churning out cool products at reasonable prices, it could crash and burn. Unlike Microsoft, it doesn't have much help from other companies to succeed. But the iPod experience has shown that the PC model may not be best for all digital devices."

I'm pretty sure the Xbox team is using an OS based on Windows XP; that was definitely the case for the original Xbox, in any case.

Check Walt Mossberg's Personal Technology page for a no-subscription-required version of the article (the latest column wasn't yet posted when I created this post, however).

At a Gamers' Show, Gates Makes His Pitch as a Player - New York Times

At a Gamers' Show, Gates Makes His Pitch as a Player - New York Times: "With Microsoft's Live Anywhere system, game developers will be able to incorporate features that allow users to send instant messages between devices, and see if their friends are listening to music on their mobile phone or working on a PC. On certain games, players will be able to begin play on the Xbox 360, then switch to a mobile phone; they could also challenge others remotely regardless of whether they were using a PC or an Xbox 360. "

Bill Gates pitches "anywhere" gaming at expo - Yahoo! News

Bill Gates pitches "anywhere" gaming at expo - Yahoo! News: "Gates introduced a plan called 'Live Anywhere' that aims to capitalize on the success of Xbox Live online play to tap into a network of over 150 million users already playing games on computers that run the Windows operating system and more than one billion cell phones ready to play video games."

I'd find this a lot more disconcerting if I hadn't read
Everything Bad is Good For You...

Microsoft and Google Grapple for Supremacy as Stakes Escalate - New York Times

Microsoft and Google Grapple for Supremacy as Stakes Escalate - New York Times: "Microsoft, of course, is the reigning powerhouse of computing and Google is the muscular Internet challenger. On each side, the battalions are arrayed: executives, engineers, marketers, lawyers and lobbyists. The spending and competition are escalating daily. For each, it seems, the other passes what Andrew S. Grove, a founder and former chairman of Intel, calls the 'silver bullet test' of strategic competition. 'If you had one bullet, who would you shoot with it?'"

Timely reality check from Steve Lohr (who I wish would write another book; his Go to: The Story of the Math Majors, Bridge Players, Engineers, Chess Wizards, Scientists and Iconoclasts who were the Hero Programmers of the Software Revolution was excellent)

WSJ.com - TiVo to Offer Video From the Internet In Brightcove Deal

WSJ.com - TiVo to Offer Video From the Internet In Brightcove Deal: "TiVo Inc., in a push to add features that could help its digital video recorder stand out from rivals, reached an agreement with Brightcove Inc. that will let TiVo users download and watch video from the Internet on television sets.
Closely held Brightcove of Cambridge, Mass., will allow companies that use its system for distributing video over the Internet to make their shows available to TiVo users. Brightcove plans to start offering video from six to 12 programmers to TiVo users in June, though it didn't identify the programmers. The companies using Brightcove to publish video over the Internet include New York Times Co., Oxygen Network and SmartMoney, a finance magazine published by Hearst Corp. and Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal."