Nokia to take on Apple in music, touch-screen phones | Reuters

Hmm...

The world's top mobile phone maker Nokia will launch its free music package on Thursday, which analysts see posing a serious threat to Apple's dominance in the digital music business.

Nokia is expected to unveil more details on its "Comes with Music" package later on Thursday at an analyst and media event in London. The Finnish company will also launch its first touch-screen phone, to rival Apple's popular iPhone, sources have told Reuters.

Nokia to take on Apple in music, touch-screen phones | Reuters

Zune Raises the Crimson Omen; Declare Your Loyalty to Delta Squad With a 120GB Zune “Gears of War 2” Special Edition

Sign of the times...

In celebration of the sequel to one of the best-selling Xbox franchises of all time, Xbox and Epic Games Inc. have collaborated with Zune to create this unique portable media player. The Zune “Gears of War 2” Special Edition is based on the new Zune 120GB device and features a laser-etched Crimson Omen on the new gloss black enclosure, collectible “Gears of War” packaging, and 244 pieces of “Gears of War” media including the original game soundtrack, behind-the-scenes videos, game trailers and concept art galleries.

“This special edition Zune is a great way for ‘Gears of War’ fans to carry around all their music and videos while sharing their enthusiasm for the game,” said Michael Capps, president of Epic Games.

 

Zune Raises the Crimson Omen; Declare Your Loyalty to Delta Squad With a 120GB Zune “Gears of War 2” Special Edition: Pre-orders are available today for special edition Zune digital media player.

Huge System for Web Surveillance Discovered in China - NYTimes.com

More on the latest Skype controversy

The Citizen Lab researchers issued a report on Wednesday, which details an analysis of data on the servers. “We were able to download millions of messages that identify users,” said Ronald J. Deibert, an associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto. “This is the worst nightmares of the conspiracy theorists around surveillance coming true. It’s ‘X-Files’ without the aliens.”

Jennifer Caukin, an eBay spokeswoman, said, “The security and privacy of our users is very important to Skype.” But the company spoke to the accessibility of the messages, not their monitoring. “The security breach does not affect Skype’s core technology or functionality,” she said. “It exists within an administrative layer on Tom Online servers. We have expressed our concern to Tom Online about the security issue and they have informed us that a fix to the problem will be completed within 24 hours.” EBay had no comment on the monitoring.

Huge System for Web Surveillance Discovered in China - NYTimes.com

Google Unveils Plan to Reduce Dependence on Fossil Fuels - WSJ.com

Interesting times

The proposal is based on the U.S. halting the generation of electricity from coal and oil by 2030 and relying on power from wind, nuclear and geothermal sources instead. It also entails cutting oil use for cars by 40%.

While requiring $4.4 trillion in expenditures, Google estimates that the plan would return a net savings of $1.0 trillion over its 22-year duration and create many new jobs. Work on the report was led by Jeffery Greenblatt, climate and energy technology manager for Google.org, the company's nonprofit arm.

"With a new Administration and Congress -- and multiple energy-related imperatives -- this is an opportune, perhaps unprecedented, moment to move from plan to action," states the report, which the company made available via a link off the company's corporate blog.

Google Unveils Plan to Reduce Dependence on Fossil Fuels - WSJ.com

Evidence Suggests China's Skype Is Monitoring Internet Messages - WSJ.com

Hmm...

A group of Canadian researchers said they found evidence suggesting that a Skype joint venture in China is monitoring its users' Internet text chats and storing messages that contain politically sensitive content on publicly-accessible servers.

In a report published Wednesday, the researchers allege that the monitoring-and-storage program led to the disclosure of millions of records containing personal information of users of the Chinese service, as well as who participated in voice calls using the service. It said the data was stored on eight servers operated by the service, which is a joint venture between Skype, a unit of eBay Inc., and TOM Online, a unit of Hong Kong-based TOM Group Ltd.

Evidence Suggests China's Skype Is Monitoring Internet Messages - WSJ.com

One Way to Turn a Mac Into a PC Just Got Better | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD

I'm a Mac; I'm a PC; no wait, I'm both... (no wsj.com subscription required for the full review)

But Fusion has some other features Parallels lacks. For example, it allows you to automatically take those protective snapshots at timed intervals. It also permits you to completely customize keyboard commands so that the same common key combinations work in both Windows and Mac programs. It allows the faux Windows machine to take full advantage of multiple monitors, if you have them.

Fusion also uses a more modern and capable version of the proprietary 3-D graphics system in Windows, called DirectX. That means some Windows-only games and other programs that won’t work in Parallels will work in Fusion. I successfully tested two such programs, both from Microsoft: Worldwide Telescope and Photosynth.

One Way to Turn a Mac Into a PC Just Got Better | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD

IPOs slow to lowest in decade - The Boston Globe

A chill for Bubble 2.0

As the financial crisis deepens, venture capital firms that bankroll high-tech and life sciences start-ups are experiencing the slowest market in a decade for recouping their investments.

Just one venture-backed company went public in the third quarter nationally, and none in New England, long a US venture capital hub, according to figures released yesterday by the Thomson Reuters research firm and the National Venture Capital Association.

IPOs slow to lowest in decade - The Boston Globe

Microsoft forced to go on the offensive (Seattle PI)

Having worked for P&G a couple decades ago, and understanding the culture there, I would have been shocked to see it go with a broad deployment of Google Apps

Microsoft Corp.'s operations chief took it personally when one of the company's biggest accounts was threatened by Google Inc.

Hundreds of workers at Procter & Gamble Co. were testing Google's e-mail, word processing and spreadsheet programs as potential replacements for Microsoft products. It would have been an unprecedented loss. So Kevin Turner flew to Cincinnati in July, spent a day wooing P&G Chief Information Officer Filippo Passerini and left with a bigger three-year contract.

Microsoft forced to go on the offensive

Redmond Developer News | Can Chrome Lure Developers?

A timely reality check -- read the full article for more Chrome developer-oriented details

Silverberg says if anything is going to hold back Google's platform ambitions, it's Google itself. "I know a bunch of ex-Microsoft folks who went to Google with the idea of building a platform, but most have left by now, saying Google just doesn't have platform DNA," he explains.

"They left [Microsoft] because they believed in the Internet and they didn't think Microsoft would ever really get the Internet," he adds. "They saw Google got the Internet but didn't get the platform. These were all super-star kinds of people-the exact people I would hire if I wanted to build a platform, and especially if I were running Google. But many of them have left Google, frustrated with the lack of platform DNA, commitment and an overly consensus-oriented decision-making process."

Redmond Developer News | Can Chrome Lure Developers?

Google + Rise to Power + Audacious - BusinessWeek

Another review of the new Randall Stross Google book -- an excerpt from the full review:

The challenge facing anyone who writes about Google (GOOG) is that readers may assume they already know all that can be said about the Internet search giant. After all, the 10-year-old juggernaut has been the subject of many thousands of press reports and at least two mainstream books. But to his credit, in Planet Google: One Company's Audacious Plan to Organize Everything We Know, author Randall Stross digs beneath the usual Googley tales of lava lamps and free gourmet food for employees to offer new insight into the company's pointedly unorthodox business practices. At a slim 200 pages, not counting notes and index, Planet Google isn't comprehensive. Yet Stross, a New York Times columnist and San Jose State University business professor, dives in far enough to illuminate the method and singleminded madness behind Google's mission to "organize the world's information."

Google + Rise to Power + Audacious - BusinessWeek

Google's Android Nips at iPhone's Heels [BusinessWeek]

See the full review for more details

I spent only about an hour with the G1 ($180 with two-year contract; unlimited data plans start at $25), which is co-branded by Google and handset maker HTC. Disappointingly, the phone is a bit thick and heavy. The screen slides up to reveal a keyboard, but the way the keys are recessed between raised areas on either side makes for slightly uncomfortable typing. And while the big touchscreen is nice, you can't resize objects simply by pinching or stretching them with your fingers. Once you get used to this trick on the iPhone, you expect it on every handset.

Google's Android Nips at iPhone's Heels

Real Dan Lyons Web Site » Blog Archive What the hell is happening to me? «

A bad PR week for cloud computing, with Larry Ellison, Richard Stallman, and Dan Lyons expressing doubts...

For the first time ever, I agree with something Richard Stallman says. See here. In a nutshell, he says the cloud is all about taking away your freedom and locking you into long-term contracts that you can’t get out of and which will exploit you terribly, which is why Google and others are salivating over it. He’s hit the nail on the head.

Real Dan Lyons Web Site » Blog Archive What the hell is happening to me? «

I.B.M. Puts iPhone in the Lotus Position - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

An important milestone for IBM Lotus

At long last, I.B.M. has issued software which will bring the e-mail, calendar and contacts functions handled by its Lotus Notes software over to the iPhone. Called iNotes Ultralite, the package will be free for anyone with a Lotus Notes license, and, as of last check, I.B.M. had moved about 140 million Lotus licenses. Lotus Notes remains popular among corporations.

I.B.M. Puts iPhone in the Lotus Position - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

The Long-Term Questions for Apple - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

More Apple analysis -- no wsj.com subscription required for this one 

How Apple handles the substantial turbulence among consumers is, in fact, a major test of its strategy and momentum. When Apple publishes its third quarter results and–even more–its sales for the holiday season, we’ll see how its premium-priced product line holds up in tougher times. Will people still pay more for the style and ease of use of a Mac when they are worried about paying the mortgage and filling the tank in the minivan?

The Long-Term Questions for Apple - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Microsoft Unveils Next Version of Visual Studio and .NET Framework

A major release; see the full press release for details

Microsoft Corp. today provided the first look at the next version of its developer tools and platform, which will be named Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0. Microsoft described the next release through the following five focus areas: riding the next-generation platform wave, inspiring developer delight, powering breakthrough departmental applications, enabling emerging trends such as cloud computing, and democratizing application life-cycle management (ALM).

Microsoft Unveils Next Version of Visual Studio and .NET Framework: Reveals extensive enhancements for simplified application life-cycle management, provides sneak peek at all key focus areas for Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0.

Apple Swoons as Worries Over Demand Hit Highflier - WSJ.com

Behold a dent in the reality distortion field...

Apple Inc. shares fell 18% to their lowest point in more than 16 months, hit by growing concerns that the weakening economy might be finally catching up to the Silicon Valley icon.

The company has been on a multiyear hot streak with hits such as the iPhone and its Macintosh computers. But two analysts downgraded their recommendations on Apple's shares Monday, questioning whether the company can continue to escape major fallout from slowing consumer spending.

Apple Swoons as Worries Over Demand Hit Highflier - WSJ.com

Nintendo to launch camera, music-capable DS: report - Yahoo! News

Hmm...

Japanese video game maker Nintendo Co Ltd plans to launch a new model of its DS handheld machine that can take pictures and play music by the end of the year, the Nikkei business daily said on Sunday.

The move would pit the top-selling portable game gear with Apple Inc iPod and camera-embedded cellphones in general.

Nintendo to launch camera, music-capable DS: report - Yahoo! News

Business & Technology | Cisco works hard to get beyond its hardware role | Seattle Times Newspaper

Interesting times...

Forget the switches and routers that built Cisco Systems into a giant, albeit somewhat boring, company at the core of the Internet.

These days, the company is peddling e-mail software, videoconferencing systems, cable-TV boxes — even furniture — as it tries to break out of the data center and get its products in front of ordinary office workers.

"Cisco is kind of like the Madonna of networking," said Mark Sue, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets. "It is continuously trying to reinvent itself."

The effort directly challenges a main area of growth for some of Cisco's big customers, including IBM, Oracle and most pointedly, Microsoft.

Business & Technology | Cisco works hard to get beyond its hardware role | Seattle Times Newspaper

Drilling Down - Letting Our Fingers Do the Talking - NYTimes.com

See the full article for more on the texting tipping point

In the fourth quarter of 2007, American cellphone subscribers for the first time sent text messages more than they phoned, according to Nielsen Mobile. Since then, the average subscriber’s volume of text messages has shot upward by 64 percent, while the average number of calls has dropped slightly.

Drilling Down - Letting Our Fingers Do the Talking - NYTimes.com

The 400 Richest Americans: #3 Lawrence Ellison - Forbes.com

Look who's #3 (behind Warren Buffett and Bill Gates), with a net worth of $27B, on the 2008 Forbes 400 (list of richest Americans).

Database titan continues to buy up would-be competition; more than 40 acquisitions in the past 4 years. Bought BEA Systems for $8.5 billion in January. Revenues up 25% to $22.4 billion this year; profits up 29% to $5.5 billion. Stock down 12% in past 12 months. Invested $125 million in Web software outfit Netsuite; took public in December, stock promptly dropped 30%. His shares still worth $500 million. Chicago native studied physics at U. of Chicago, didn't graduate. Started Oracle in 1977. Public 1986, a day before Microsoft. Owns 453-foot Rising Sun; built a smaller leisure boat because superyacht is hard to park. Squabbling in court with Swiss boating billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli over terms of next America's Cup. Recently unveiled hulking 90-foot trimaran he intends to use to win it.

The 400 Richest Americans: #3 Lawrence Ellison - Forbes.com