I’m dropping my wsj.com subscription

I have been a wsj.com subscriber since 1996, when, IIRC, the site was introduced in conjunction with an Internet Explorer promotion.  The annual subscription price has gone up over the years, and the main subscription service has been implicitly downgraded with the introduction of a “Pro” subscription (for a mere $25/month more), but the main reason I’m dropping my subscription is the publication’s increasingly blatant political polarization.  A couple examples from this morning’s wsj.com main page:

Front and center, on the main page this morning:

Hey, that’s a subtle juxtaposition mind trick…

And here’s a snapshot of the currently most-popular stories:

Perhaps it would be timely to rename the publication, e.g., to “The Tea Party Times,” or “Karl Rove’s Daily Diatribe”.

In any case, in part because I can still keep up with the often-excellent wsj.com tech news at no cost, I’ll save my $197 annual wsj.com subscription fee – and maybe donate it to an organization focused on constructively addressing and exposing the sort of politically polarizing propaganda wsj.com has become.

Business News, Finance News, World, Political & Sports News from The Wall Street Journal - WSJ.com

Apple planning digital newsstand for devices - The Boston Globe

Apple is apparently seeking to expand the scope of its mega-mall cyber-store quasi-monopoly.  Given the end-of-year holiday shopping cycle potential and emerging competitive slate market dynamics, in any case, I suspect we’ll see new iPads in November, not early next year.

Apple’s effort is aimed at luring more consumers to the iPad and helping publishers sell subscriptions, rather than single issues. The main hang-ups between Apple and publishers including Time Warner Inc., Conde Nast, Hearst Corp., and News Corp. are who controls data about users and how to split subscription revenue, the people said. Pricing for subscriptions also hasn’t been worked out.

The new storefront could be up and running within a couple of months, although the talks are ongoing and could fall apart. Apple may wait to unveil the initiative until they are ready to announce the next iPad, possibly in early 2011, one person said.

Apple planning digital newsstand for devices - The Boston Globe

Book Review–Proofiness [The Dark Arts of Mathematical Deception] - By Charles Seife - NYTimes.com

Excerpt from a review of a forthcoming and exceptionally timely book

Charles Seife is steaming mad about all the ways that numbers are being twisted to erode our democracy. We’re used to being lied to with words (“I am not a crook”; “I did not have sexual relations with that woman”). But numbers? They’re supposed to be cold, hard and objective. Numbers don’t lie, and they brook no argument. They’re the best kind of facts we have.

And that’s precisely why they can be so powerfully, persuasively misleading, as Seife argues in his passionate new book, “Proofiness.” Seife, a veteran science writer who teaches journalism at New York University, examines the many ways that people fudge with numbers, sometimes just to sell more moisturizer but also to ruin our economy, rig our elections, convict the innocent and undercount the needy. Many of his stories would be darkly funny if they weren’t so infuriating.

Book Review - Proofiness - By Charles Seife - NYTimes.com

Skyhook Sues Google: Location, Location, Location | The Economist

Final paragraph from a timely Android reality check

However the suits are resolved, Google's apparent insistence on having it its own way is chipping away at the notion of an "open" Android in contrast to a "closed" iPhone. John Gruber, who operates the Daring Fireball commentary site, and is a frequent critic of both Apple detractors and Apple, calls Android "only open in that Google has repeatedly used the word open to describe it." It's free, he notes, as in free beer, not as in freedom.

Skyhook Sues Google: Location, Location, Location | The Economist

Oracle, IBM detente forged by dollars, distribution, HP | ZDNet

Interesting analysis, and some classic Larry Ellison quotes (see the link below), but there’s a rather obvious complication with the “lovefest” scenario: IBM’s software group, which IBM is not about to write off in order to partner more closely, as a professional services provider, with Oracle.  On the other hand, I’d be willing to bet that, on Lintel and Wintel (i.e., outside IBM’s mainframe and other legacy platforms), IBM Services is already doing more business on both Oracle Database and Microsoft SQL Server than it is on DB2.

Why the Oracle-IBM relative lovefest? HP could be vulnerable and both IBM and Oracle smell blood. Hurd leaves HP, goes to Oracle and then confesses how he was always jealous of Ellison’s crew and their execution. HP, with its scale and services, is the biggest threat to IBM here and now. Oracle is probably the biggest threat later, but not today. Why not co-operate and split the spoils? Both Ellison and Palmisano see HP as a wounded duck that’s overpaying for acquisitions like 3Par and searching for a leader. The enemy of your enemy is your friend and Oracle and IBM both want to kick HP around. What’s truly comical is that HP wasn’t even mentioned on Oracle’s conference call Thursday, but if you read between the lines the entire call was about HP (with the prerequisite jabs at SAP and Teradata excluded of course).

Oracle, IBM detente forged by dollars, distribution, HP | ZDNet

Details Of The Google Social Layer Emerge [TechCrunch]

Check the link below for more details and a video

We’ve also heard more from sources who’ve worked with Google on the product. “Google Me is not a product, it’s a social layer across all products” (not so helpful). But there’s more – “Google Me will produce an activity stream generated by all Google products. Google Buzz has been rewritten to be the host of it all. And the reason Google Buzz isn’t currently working in Google Apps is because they’ll use the latest Buzz to support the activity stream in Apps…All Google products have been refactored to be part of the activity stream, including Google Docs, etc. They’ll build their social graph around the stream.”

Details Of The Google Social Layer Emerge

Samsung takes on Apple iPad with Galaxy Tab | Signal Strength - CNET News

One of many reasons I expect Apple will unveil a 7” iPad (with dual cameras) in November

The Galaxy Tab could be among the most competitive in the near term, according to RBC Capital equities analyst Mark Sue.

"It's still very early days in this market," he said. "There are fifty-some companies building tablets, but the early leaders seem to be the handset makers. Companies, such as Samsung, Motorola, and HTC will have an edge over the Netbook computing companies."

There are clear differences between Samsung's Galaxy Tab and Apple's iPad. For example, the Galaxy Tab is smaller and lighter than the iPad. It offers twice the RAM as the iPad. It also offers an expandable microSD storage slot. Apple's device is limited to the internal storage space only.

Samsung takes on Apple iPad with Galaxy Tab | Signal Strength - CNET News

Twitter Needs to Become More Open or Die - BusinessWeek

An interesting perspective from the Twitter alumni club

Twitter needs to become more decentralized and open, says the company's former chief engineer, or it will eventually wither and die like other "walled garden" approaches to the Web. In a blog post, Alex Payne says he quit the company at the height of its success earlier this year because he wanted the service to become an open, distributed communications platform, but the startup's senior executives were more focused on building a business instead. It's a critical question that many technology companies have faced: open or closed? Open can fuel more growth, but closed can generate more revenue.

Twitter Needs to Become More Open or Die - BusinessWeek

Goodbye, OpenOffice. Nice Knowing You. — Datamation.com

Check the link below for more details

Sure, OO was and is free. But I'm more than willing to pay money for software that I know is useful. A free version of a not-very-useful program is still a not-very-useful program.

Bringing its pricetag down to zero does not change its native behavior. It simply makes it that much easier to find out whether or not you're going to be happy with it. In an age when you can get a free 15-day trial of everything from MS Office to Photoshop, it's that much less significant.

As for the philosophical value of open source: The fact you can modify the source means nothing to people who barely have enough time in their day to read their email, let alone learn how to program.

Goodbye, OpenOffice. Nice Knowing You. — Datamation.com

VMware in Talks to Buy Novell Unit - WSJ.com

Looks like the end of the road is in sight for NOVL, with (86% EMC-owned) VMware potentially becoming an enterprise Linux platform provider

Novell Inc. is in advanced talks with at least two buyers, including VMware Inc., to sell the software company in separate pieces, people familiar with the matter said.

VMware is pursuing Novell's SUSE Linux operating system business, these people said. Attachmate Corp., a private-equity backed software company, could end up buying some or all of the remaining assets, including NetWare, Novell's network operating system. Attachmate, which is owned by buyout investors including Golden Gate Capital and Francisco Partners, sells software to companies running older IT applications

VMware in Talks to Buy Novell Unit - WSJ.com

How Nokia Fell from Grace - BusinessWeek

A stark assessment of Nokia challenges – see the link below

What was the most successful European company of the 1990s? Easy: Nokia (NOK). The Finnish mobile-phone manufacturer captured the emerging market for mobile phones and built the industry's most powerful brand. Its handsets virtually defined the industry from the time it launched its first GSM phone, the 1011, in 1992. From 1996 to 2001 its revenues increased almost fivefold, and by 1998 it was the world's biggest mobile manufacturer. In 2005 it sold its billionth handset, an 1100 to a customer in Nigeria.

How Nokia Fell from Grace – BusinessWeek

Skyhook Sues Google Over Location Software - NYTimes.com

The plot thickens – perhaps Google should have taken a break from buying social gaming/software companies and acquired Skyhook before the lawsuits started

In a separate suit, also filed Wednesday, Skyhook accused Google of infringing on Skyhook’s patented methods of determining location.

The two companies are fighting for the lead in the nascent but promising business of location-based data that uses GPS or Wi-Fi signals to locate phone users. These services not only direct people to businesses, but collect information about where people are. That is valuable information that lets marketers direct advertising to people where and when they are most likely to buy.

Skyhook Sues Google Over Location Software - NYTimes.com

Google Is Now Officially Evil [Business Insider]

If these allegations are accurate, Google’s legal and PR departments are going to be very busy for a while…

In short, Skyhook says that Google effectively forced Motorola to cancel a deal with Skyhook in which Skyhook would have provided location-based services in Motorola phones -- because Google wanted Motorola to use Google's own location services instead.

Google's leverage was threatening to withhold certification of Motorola's Google Android-based phone, according to Skyhook CEO Ted Morgan, which would have prevented Motorola from selling it.

Check the link below for more details, including some good questions about how meaningful “open” and “free” are, in conjunction with Google Android.  Bummer for Motorola’s smartphone business, which appears to have essentially bet its future on Android.

Google Is Now Officially Evil

XML Aficionado: Privacy, geo-location, and over-sharing

Check the link below for a timely reality check

There has been plenty of discussion already on privacy settings on Facebook and how our approach to sharing personal information on social networking sites has changed over the years – and I’m not going to repeat any of that. However, the recent growth and considerable hype around geo-location, location-based services, and location-sharing on social networks has taken over-sharing to a whole new level.

XML Aficionado: Privacy, geo-location, and over-sharing

How Do People Use Their Smartphones? - NYTimes.com

A timely market snapshot

In a blog post on the company’s Web site, Nielsen said, “One of the main challenges facing apps publishers is making sure consumers discover their apps.” And so Nielsen asked the phone owners how they discover and find new apps.

According to the researchers, 40 percent of those surveyed said they found new programs directly on their phones, while 36 percent said they heard about new apps from friends and family.

How Do People Use Their Smartphones? - NYTimes.com

Twitter unveils 'faster, richer' Twitter.com | Geek Gestalt - CNET News

More on the titillating Twitter tweaks

The basic idea behind the redesign, Williams told a packed house of technology journalists at its headquarters here, is to make the service easier and faster to use. Today, he explained, fully 78 percent of active users turn to Twitter.com to access the service rather than using one of the many third-party applications available on mobile and desktop environments.

Asked if the expectation is that the redesign will drive even more users to Twitter.com, Twitter Director of Products Jason Goldman said, "I think people will come back more often to the Web site because of the experience it represents."

Clearly, Twitter has been listening to feedback about its home page, even as it grows at astronomical rates. The service is adding about 370,000 new accounts per day, of which about 16 percent are done via mobile devices, Williams said.

Twitter unveils 'faster, richer' Twitter.com | Geek Gestalt - CNET News

At Twitter, a Web Site Is Revamped and Simplified - NYTimes.com

Definitely a tumultuous Twitterverse transition time

But as Twitter has matured, it has angered many of those developers by building similar tools itself or acquiring the start-ups that built the tools, limiting opportunities for competing app developers. Last spring, for example, it bought Atebits, which made a Twitter iPhone app called Tweetie, and turned it into the official Twitter for iPhone app.

Other start-ups worry that if Twitter builds its own tools, they will go out of business. Indeed, mobile Twitter users now reach Twitter through the company’s own iPhone and BlackBerry apps more than through any others, according to the company.

“We’ve made it pretty clear that we are going to create the best experiences we can with all our clients,” Mr. Williams said. “We made it clear to developers that it’s great for everyone if we make it as good as possible, because that will create more successful Twitter users.”

At Twitter, a Web Site Is Revamped and Simplified - NYTimes.com

Twitter COO Dick Costolo On Ad Sales and the New Twitter.com | Peter Kafka | MediaMemo | AllThingsD

A major shift for Twitter – check the link below for a video interview/overview

In Williams’ words: “We’re trying to get people to understand that they don’t have to Tweet if they want to get value out of Twitter”.

Which is another way of saying that Twitter is a media company: It gives you cool stuff to look at, you pay attention to what it shows you, and it rents out some of your attention to advertisers.

And that’s the real parallel with Facebook here. Not that both have inline video in the timeline or other design similarities, but that both companies started out trying to avoid the advertising business, and that both of them have ended up embracing them.

Twitter COO Dick Costolo On Ad Sales and the New Twitter.com | Peter Kafka | MediaMemo | AllThingsD

Dell Unveils a Convertible Tablet - WSJ.com

Think different – Inspiron Duo available later this year

Dell over the summer released a gadget called the Streak with a five-inch display—compared with 10 inches for the iPad—based on Google's Android operating system and a microprocessor from ARM Holdings. The forthcoming device shown at Intel's developer forum matched the iPad's screen size and approximate shape, but runs Microsoft Windows and a dual-processor version of Intel's Atom chip.

Dave Zavelson, a senior manager of product marketing ultra mobile products team, described it as "the world's most powerful 10-inch Windows tablet."

But the real surprise came at the end of the demonstration when Mr. Zavelson picked up the device, did an unusual spinning motion and revealed a full keyboard—essentially turning the device into a standard laptop.

Photo from a related Engadget article:

Dell Unveils a Convertible Tablet - WSJ.com

Browsers Get a Face-Lift - WSJ.com

IE9 beta expected today

In an interview, Dean Hachamovitch, the Microsoft corporate vice president in charge of Internet Explorer, says the company's new browser, also known as IE9, is the first program to use "the whole PC to browse" the Web and will lead to sites reimagining how they're designed. Microsoft has worked with Amazon.com Inc. on a demonstration site that lets consumers search for books on a given topic, quickly populating a virtual bookshelf with images of book covers.

"It's very different than getting a bunch of links back," Mr. Hachamovitch said.

Browsers Get a Face-Lift - WSJ.com