Pew Study Says Internet Users More Social, Civically Engaged - NYTimes.com

Challenging conventional wisdom – of course, some of the voluntary groups and organizations are probably scary case studies in extremism and cyber-polarization…

That old stereotype that Internet users are isolated and anti-social is getting harder and harder to justify. In fact, the latest study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, aptly titled "The Social Side of the Internet," challenges this notion even further, finding that Internet users are actually more active in voluntary groups and organizations than non-Internet users.

Pew Study Says Internet Users More Social, Civically Engaged - NYTimes.com

IBM Rises as Profit Tops Estimates on Mainframe, Software Sales - Businessweek

Apparently IBM’s mainframe monopoly is still healthy – or at least healthier than financial analysts expected.  On the software side, Lotus was down 3% relative to the year-ago quarter, according to this IBM page, while all of IBM’s other software groups showed gains. 

Additional details from the BW article:

Chief Executive Officer Sam Palmisano is investing in analytics software and cloud computing, which the company forecasts will become $16 billion and $3 billion businesses respectively by 2015. Smarter Planet, Palmisano’s initiative to digitally monitor anything from roads to hospitals to make them more efficient, should grow to a $10 billion business.

Palmisano also plans to spend about $20 billion on acquisitions through 2015. He announced 15 deals last year, including storage-computer maker Netezza Corp. for $1.7 billion.

IBM Rises as Profit Tops Estimates on Mainframe, Software Sales - Businessweek

Can Apple Find More Hits Without its Tastemaker? - NYTimes.com

Check the link below for an Apple modus operandi perspective

Shortly before the iPad tablet went on sale last year, Steven P. Jobs showed off Apple’s latest creation to a small group of journalists. One asked what consumer and market research Apple had done to guide the development of the new product.

“None,” Mr. Jobs replied. “It isn’t the consumers’ job to know what they want.”

Can Apple Find More Hits Without its Tastemaker? - NYTimes.com

Now at Starbucks: Buy a Latte By Waving Your Phone - NYTimes.com

Not waiting for NFC, apparently

Owners of BlackBerrys, iPhones or iPod Touches can use them to pay by downloading the free Starbucks Card app and holding their phones in front of a scanner at Starbucks cash registers. The money is subtracted from their Starbucks account, which they can load with credit cards or, on iPhones, with PayPal funds.

Previous mobile payment efforts have been stymied largely because it is expensive for retailers to install scanners that read shiny cellphone screens and because Americans have been just as content to reach into their pockets and purses for a credit card as for a phone.

Now at Starbucks: Buy a Latte By Waving Your Phone - NYTimes.com

Quora Question and Answer Web Site Review | Katherine Boehret | The Digital Solution | AllThingsD

Closing paragraph of an extensive WSJ review of Quora

For now, Quora feels like a website designed for techie insiders without instructions for mainstream users. But its smart community, intriguing questions and way of showing users just the content they want to follow will keep people coming back to the site. With a lot of polishing, Quora could be a social network people use every day.

Quora Question and Answer Web Site Review | Katherine Boehret | The Digital Solution | AllThingsD

Comparing Apple and IBM quarterly results

Both announced today – quarter ending 20101231 (with percent changes relative to the same quarter last year); Microsoft will announce its latest quarterly results on 20110127

	Apple	IBM
Revenue	$26.74B	$29.02B
Revenue change	70%	6%
Net income	$6B	$5.26B
Net income change	78%	9%

Steve Jobs' medical leave: Apple's CEO will leave the company—even if he's healthy. - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine

An intriguing perspective; check the link below for more details

Here's my theory: Since returning to Apple in 1996, Jobs has pushed the company to achieve one of his long-held goals—to turn computers into mainstream appliances as ubiquitous and easy-to-use as televisions, toasters, and food processors. He has been stunningly successful in achieving that vision. And now he's probably done. The tech world, today, looks more or less exactly like what Steve Jobs has always said the tech world should look like, and Apple is one of the most valuable companies in that universe. What more is there left for Jobs to do?

Steve Jobs' medical leave: Apple's CEO will leave the company—even if he's healthy. - By Farhad Manjoo - Slate Magazine

Apple’s Revenue Rises 70% on Strong Holiday Sales - NYTimes.com

Lots of people thinking differently…

Apple said it sold 4.13 million Macintosh computers, 23 percent more than a year earlier, 16.24 million iPhones, 86 percent more than a year earlier, and 7.33 million iPads, 75 percent more than in the previous quarter. The iPhone and iPad sales were far higher than forecasts.

Additional details from wsj.com

It also sold 19.5 million iPod media players, falling 7%. Sales have slowed for the iPod, although the unit has likely benefited from higher average selling prices, as more customers gravitate toward the iPod touch.

Apple’s Revenue Rises 70% on Strong Holiday Sales - NYTimes.com

Microsoft OneNote - A first look at Microsoft OneNote on the iPhone

More details on the new iOS OneNote client (see the main link below for installation instructions and additional info)

Since I began looking at Microsoft Office 2010 Beta feedback last year, the one question so many of you asked perhaps more than any other was "When will you release a OneNote app for the iPhone?" I'm happy to say that the time has come. First, check out the official announcement by Takeshi Numoto, corporate vice president of the Microsoft Office Product Management Group. Then head over to the iTunes App Store to download OneNote Mobile for iPhone. It works on any iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 4.2 or later, and it's free for a limited time.

With OneNote Mobile, you can create and view notes and lists right on your iPhone. Your notes can be synced with your Windows Live SkyDrive account so you can access, edit, and share them from virtually anywhere. (Don't have a SkyDrive account yet? Sign up here — it's free!) You can also use OneNote Mobile for iPhone to view and edit any of the notes that you've created on your computer and synced to your SkyDrive account.

Microsoft OneNote - A first look at Microsoft OneNote on the iPhone

OneNote for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store

Big news for people who want to use OneNote on their iOS devices

Microsoft OneNote Mobile is the easy-to-use, powerful note-taking application for all of your ideas, brought to you by Microsoft Office. OneNote Mobile lets you create and view notes and lists whenever you need them. Sync your notes with free Windows Live online storage and access them from virtually anywhere using your phone, PC, or almost any web browser.
With OneNote Mobile, you can:
▪ Create flexible notes that can include text, pictures, bullets, and checkboxes
▪ Check To Do items off on the go
▪ Save time with quick access to your most recent notes
▪ Work with confidence—OneNote Mobile automatically syncs your notes with Windows Live in the background
▪ Organize your notes into sections or create new notebooks using OneNote 2010 or OneNote Web App and access them from your iPhone

OneNote for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store

Report: First two years of college show small gains - USATODAY.com

Check the story link below for a scary snapshot (via Slate)

Report: First two years of college show small gains - USATODAY.com

BBC News - Facebook U-turns on phone and address data sharing

More privacy-related trial-and-error at Facebook

Facebook appears to have U-turned on plans to allow external websites to see users' addresses and mobile phone numbers.

Security experts pointed out that such a system would be ripe for exploitation from rogue app developers.

The feature has been put on "temporary hold", the social networking firm said in its developers blog.

BBC News - Facebook U-turns on phone and address data sharing

Non-Americans happy to take up Facebook slack | FT tech hub | FTtechhub - Industry analysis – FT.com

Interesting times

But questions remain about Goldman’s own role. It should surely not have been caught unawares when news of the sale leaked. After all, the fact that it had gone out to private investors to raise that much money, and for such a prominent company, was bound to get out eventually – even if the first leak came early.

Facebook will get its money and Goldman, presumably, its fees, but the messy handling of the offer will hurt the bank’s s relationship with the company, as well as Goldman’s standing with clients, who had thought they were on to a sure thing.

If anything, blocking US investors will only add to the demand in other private secondary markets and drive Facebook’s notional valuation even higher.

Non-Americans happy to take up Facebook slack | FT tech hub | FTtechhub - Industry analysis – FT.com

Rudolf Elmer, Ex-Swiss Banker, Gives Data to WikiLeaks - NYTimes.com

Another case study in information integrity

Mr. Elmer, who previously provided documents from his former employer to national tax authorities including the Internal Revenue Service in the United States, said he had turned to WikiLeaks to “educate society” about what he considers an unfair system that serves the rich and aids those who seek to launder money.

His recent offers to provide further data to universities and governments were spurned, he said, and he thought that the Swiss media had failed to cover the substance of his accusations.

Rudolf Elmer, Ex-Swiss Banker, Gives Data to WikiLeaks - NYTimes.com

Goldman Limits Facebook Investment to Foreign Clients - NYTimes.com

Likely to lose some friends in the US

Just more than a week after Goldman Sachs offered its most prized clients a chance to invest in Facebook, the firm on Monday withdrew the opportunity from clients in the United States because of worries that the deal could run afoul of securities regulations.

The decision is a considered a serious embarrassment for Goldman, which had marketed the investment to its wealthiest clients, including corporate magnates and directors of the nation’s largest companies.

Goldman Limits Facebook Investment to Foreign Clients - NYTimes.com

Bubble Ball, iPhone Game by 14-Year-Old, Tops Among Free iPhone Apps | Ina Fried | Mobilized | AllThingsD

Sign of the times

While Angry Birds is still the top paid iPhone game, a game written by an eighth-grader has spent the last few days atop Apple’s free charts.

Bubble Ball, a physics simulator, was coded by Robert Nay, a 14-year-old from Spanish Fork, Utah. The game challenges players to use objects and gravity to guide a ball to its destination.

Bubble Ball, iPhone Game by 14-Year-Old, Tops Among Free iPhone Apps | Ina Fried | Mobilized | AllThingsD

Breakthrough device of CES: Motorola Atrix = Phone + PC | Tech Sanity Check | TechRepublic.com

An intriguing mobile device market reality check

I had no idea how that we were so close to this idea becoming a reality.

I certainly didn’t expect to see it at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. So, you can imagine my surprise when at Motorola’s press conference on Wednesday, the company trotted out the Atrix 4G (above), a new dual core smartphone that contains an extra surprise: a piece of “Webtop” software that allows it to function like a full PC when connected in one of three docking modes:

1. Desktop PC mode with keyboard, mouse, and display
2. TV mode with a remote
3. Laptop mode, with a special laptop-like dock

[…]

The two photos below provide a look at the Atrix in its two PC docking modes as well as a peek at the Webtop UI. In the second photo, notice the phone window on the left that has the Atrix home screen.

Here is the Motorola Atrix in its desktop/multimedia dock. Photo credit: Jason Hiner | TechRepublic

Check the story link below for a photo of the phone in a laptop case and other details

Breakthrough device of CES: Motorola Atrix = Phone + PC | Tech Sanity Check | TechRepublic.com

Tomorrow’s news next month | FT tech hub | FTtechhub - Industry analysis – FT.com

More on possible publishers’ iPad dilemmas

Despite months of work and early expectations of a December launch, the two sides decided on Thursday that The Daily – an anagram for “delay hit” – wouldn’t be ready by Wednesday. Apple wasn’t commenting on Friday, of course, and News Corp was saying nothing beyond confirming that the launch had been delayed, but the issue seems to be how The Daily’s app would mesh with a planned new Apple “push” subscription feature.

[…]

Confusion about Apple’s plans for publishers still reigns, with  reports from Europe that some publishers have effectively been told they may not bundle print and app subscriptions.

Apple’s motivation, supposedly, is that if there is no charge for the app, it’s usual 30 per cent cut is 30 per cent of nothing. This issue would not affect digital-only Daily, of course, but the idea of forcing consumers to pay twice would make many other publishers deeply unhappy.

Tomorrow’s news next month | FT tech hub | FTtechhub - Industry analysis – FT.com

Edge Perspectives with John Hagel: Alone Together - An Important New Book by Sherry Turkle

Excerpt from a review of Sherry Turkle’s new book

[…] I was most deeply engaged by the second part of the narrative: the role of technology in diluting our personal relationships while seeming to enrich and expand them. Her message is simple:  the very technologies that seem to offer more flexibility and scale in connecting with others – texting, online social networks and discussion forums – actually undermine the richness required for true intimacy to develop. While enhancing the appearance of intimacy, we are actually becoming more isolated and alone. There appears to be a Gresham’s Law of communication: weak forms of communication, left unchecked, can drive out strong forms over time.

Edge Perspectives with John Hagel: Alone Together - An Important New Book by Sherry Turkle

Michael Arrington of TechCrunch Criticizes Engadget - NYTimes.com

New entertainment-oriented publishing by AOL

Last week, Mr. Arrington started a five-day online sparring session with Engadget, a sister blog at AOL, accusing it in multiple online posts of being “immensely unethical” and a “plasticized caricature of a real blog.”

Joshua Topolsky, Engadget’s editor in chief, eventually had enough and returned fire.

“Explain what we’ve done to you,” he wrote in response. “Explain anything that you’ve said beyond a personal vendetta. I haven’t heard a shred of substance behind your attacks — only the vitriol of a man-child who can’t control himself.”

Michael Arrington of TechCrunch Criticizes Engadget - NYTimes.com