The deals content is not ready yet, will have it up soon
but today's news...
Zune exec on phone future, new iPods
There are a number of businesses where Microsoft is playing catch-up these days. But arguably one where the company starts furthest behind is in the music business, where it decided two years ago to scrap its partner approach and go it alone with the Zune in its effort to catch the iPod.
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Saturday, September 13, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
First DJ Hero Details: Turntable Controller, Mash-Ups, Guitar Co-Op
Recent Activision acquisition FreeStyleGames is hard at work on DJ Hero, a music rhythm game that will let gamers scratch to the beat of popular mash-ups with a laptop turntable peripheral, informed sources tell us today.
The game, which has been in development for nearly two years, is expected to hit shelves next summer and will likely include the ability to use Guitar Hero guitars for versus mode face-offs.
The controller, key to the game's success, has been through nearly a half-dozen iterations.
In the latest form, the device looks a lot like a simplified DJ Deck. There is a platter for scratching which will act like the strum toggle on a Guitar Hero guitar. Above the platter are three buttons for sampling. The controller also includes a cross fader and a sound effects dial which will act like the whammy bar in Guitar Hero.
Instead of flowing the musical notes down a guitar neck, DJ Hero will flow the music down and around a virtual record in a half arc. Either left top to middle bottom if you are left handed, or right top to middle bottom if you are right handed.
To play you will have to either hold a sample button and scratch, just hold a button or just scratch as the neon icons flow around the virtual vinyl.
Currently the wireless controller has grooves molded into the bottom so it will sit comfortably in a player's lap, though the team is also looking into legs for the deck so gamers can play while standing up.
The game in its current form features all mash-ups, think Beyonce Vs Jimi Hendrix, 50 cent Vs Beastie Boys. If they can nail the interface and get licensing for the music this could be a mammoth hit. Then again I love mash-ups.
*That's not a picture of the controller.
Link
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Blackberry Flip Phone?
Research In Motion Readies BlackBerry 'Assault'
SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) -- With new models of the ultra-popular BlackBerry reportedly waiting in the wings, Research In Motion is nearing a crucial period as it faces immense competition in the smart-phone market from the iPhone and other devices.
Later this month, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company (RIMM) is expected to launch the BlackBerry Bold -- the latest update to its well-known family of devices -- in the U.S.
That will be followed by a fold-up, or clamshell, version of the BlackBerry Pearl that is expected to hit the market later this fall and target the large base of customers currently using devices like the Motorola RAZR.
Another much-rumored device is a touch-screen BlackBerry, though RIM has never publicly confirmed its existence. However, images and other information have been widely disseminated across gadget blogs and other Web sites.
"Do I think they are going to come out with more models this year? Absolutely, " said Ken Dulaney, a wireless device analyst with Gartner Inc. "If all the pictures moving across the Web are true, then this is a very good time for RIM."
Research In Motion has kept largely quiet about its plans for new devices. The company's co-CEO Jim Balsillie is slated to deliver a keynote address Thursday at the CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment Expo in San Francisco.
Several Wall Street analysts have already baked sales estimates for the new devices into their forecasts for the company's next fiscal year.
"RIM is expected to launch a broad consumer assault in [the second half of 2008], with multiple handsets, including the Bold, a touch-screen, flip, slider, 3G Pearl and others," Mike Abramsky of RBC Capital Markets wrote in a note to clients last month.
The new products will come at a crucial time for the company. RIM is facing more competition than ever in the smart-phone category. In addition, the slowing economy has put pressure on sales growth in the sector. A Sept. 8 report from Gartner Inc. found that global sales of smart phones grew just 16% in the second quarter compared to the same period last year, which saw a year-over-year growth rate of 55%.
In addition, RIM is facing concerns about the timing of its own product launches - and the ability of those new devices to compete with the iPhone.
Those concerns have pressured the company's once high-flying stock, which peaked at $148.13 in mid-June and has plunged by more than 30% since, sinking below the $100 mark Tuesday to its lowest closing price in nearly six months.
"There are numerous variables at any one time that make it very difficult to project RIM's financials on both a near- and long-term basis," Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt wrote in a report Monday.
While McCourt said he did not know details of upcoming launches, he said the recent sell-off in the shares makes for an "intriguing opportunity." He upgraded the stock to an outperform, or buy, rating from neutral.
A 'Bold' move?
While Palm Inc.'s Treo is widely considered to be the pioneer of the smart- phone category, the BlackBerry has quickly overtaken its rival as a leader in the sector. The BlackBerry's focus on mobile e-mail, with an emphasis on security and reliability, has made it a strong favorite among corporate users, while models such as the Pearl and the Curve have been popular with the consumer crowd.
But the lucrative smart-phone market has attracted several new players. Devices running on the ubiquitous Windows Mobile platform are proliferating from manufacturers such as Samsung, Motorola (MOT) and HTC. Palm (PALM) recently launched a new version of its Treo, with additional devices expected later this year.
In addition, the market has practically been turned on its ear by the iPhone from Apple Inc. (AAPL). A 3G version of the device went on sale in July and is already believed to have sold nearly 3 million units, according to analysts.
The first phase of RIM's response to the competitive onslaught is the BlackBerry Bold. Announced in May, the Bold is a 3G smart phone that updates the basic BlackBerry design with a sharper screen and improved Web browser. The device has launched in several markets across the globe, and made its North American debut last month in Canada.
More
SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) -- With new models of the ultra-popular BlackBerry reportedly waiting in the wings, Research In Motion is nearing a crucial period as it faces immense competition in the smart-phone market from the iPhone and other devices.
Later this month, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company (RIMM) is expected to launch the BlackBerry Bold -- the latest update to its well-known family of devices -- in the U.S.
That will be followed by a fold-up, or clamshell, version of the BlackBerry Pearl that is expected to hit the market later this fall and target the large base of customers currently using devices like the Motorola RAZR.
Another much-rumored device is a touch-screen BlackBerry, though RIM has never publicly confirmed its existence. However, images and other information have been widely disseminated across gadget blogs and other Web sites.
"Do I think they are going to come out with more models this year? Absolutely, " said Ken Dulaney, a wireless device analyst with Gartner Inc. "If all the pictures moving across the Web are true, then this is a very good time for RIM."
Research In Motion has kept largely quiet about its plans for new devices. The company's co-CEO Jim Balsillie is slated to deliver a keynote address Thursday at the CTIA Wireless I.T. & Entertainment Expo in San Francisco.
Several Wall Street analysts have already baked sales estimates for the new devices into their forecasts for the company's next fiscal year.
"RIM is expected to launch a broad consumer assault in [the second half of 2008], with multiple handsets, including the Bold, a touch-screen, flip, slider, 3G Pearl and others," Mike Abramsky of RBC Capital Markets wrote in a note to clients last month.
The new products will come at a crucial time for the company. RIM is facing more competition than ever in the smart-phone category. In addition, the slowing economy has put pressure on sales growth in the sector. A Sept. 8 report from Gartner Inc. found that global sales of smart phones grew just 16% in the second quarter compared to the same period last year, which saw a year-over-year growth rate of 55%.
In addition, RIM is facing concerns about the timing of its own product launches - and the ability of those new devices to compete with the iPhone.
Those concerns have pressured the company's once high-flying stock, which peaked at $148.13 in mid-June and has plunged by more than 30% since, sinking below the $100 mark Tuesday to its lowest closing price in nearly six months.
"There are numerous variables at any one time that make it very difficult to project RIM's financials on both a near- and long-term basis," Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt wrote in a report Monday.
While McCourt said he did not know details of upcoming launches, he said the recent sell-off in the shares makes for an "intriguing opportunity." He upgraded the stock to an outperform, or buy, rating from neutral.
A 'Bold' move?
While Palm Inc.'s Treo is widely considered to be the pioneer of the smart- phone category, the BlackBerry has quickly overtaken its rival as a leader in the sector. The BlackBerry's focus on mobile e-mail, with an emphasis on security and reliability, has made it a strong favorite among corporate users, while models such as the Pearl and the Curve have been popular with the consumer crowd.
But the lucrative smart-phone market has attracted several new players. Devices running on the ubiquitous Windows Mobile platform are proliferating from manufacturers such as Samsung, Motorola (MOT) and HTC. Palm (PALM) recently launched a new version of its Treo, with additional devices expected later this year.
In addition, the market has practically been turned on its ear by the iPhone from Apple Inc. (AAPL). A 3G version of the device went on sale in July and is already believed to have sold nearly 3 million units, according to analysts.
The first phase of RIM's response to the competitive onslaught is the BlackBerry Bold. Announced in May, the Bold is a 3G smart phone that updates the basic BlackBerry design with a sharper screen and improved Web browser. The device has launched in several markets across the globe, and made its North American debut last month in Canada.
More
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
First Look: Apple iPod Nano 4G
Posted by Donald Bell
When I first glimpsed the leaked photos of Apple's skinny, rounded-screen redesign of the iPod Nano, I have to admit I was a bit skeptical. It seemed so unlike Apple to revisit the older designs of its first- and second-generation Nano, and the wing-shaped form seemed a bit odd. Holding the Nano 4G in my hand, however, I'm starting to think that last year's squarish design was just an awkward, forgettable phase in the Nano's development. This year, Apple has set the Nano back on track with the thinnest, lightest design yet, and features that are hard to ignore.
Offered in a wide range of colors (nine total) for both the 8GB ($149) and 16GB ($199) capacities, the latest iPod Nano strikes a great balance of price and features. The iPod Nano 4G uses the same high-resolution 2-inch screen found on last year's model, only now the included screen uses a portrait orientation covered with rounded glass. Video playback requires you to turn the iPod Nano 4G on its side, much like the Flash-based Microsoft Zune MP3 players. Unlike the Zune, however, Apple has included an accelerometer within the 4G Nano that reorients the display based on how the player is held, making it easier to view photos or switch the player into Apple's Cover Flow music mode. The accelerometer also enables a new "shake-to-shuffle" feature that will automatically shuffle music playback when the player is deliberately shaken (a casual shake won't trigger the feature). The shake-to-shuffle feature can be switched off under settings and the button-hold switch at the top of the player will disengage it, as well.
Full Story
When I first glimpsed the leaked photos of Apple's skinny, rounded-screen redesign of the iPod Nano, I have to admit I was a bit skeptical. It seemed so unlike Apple to revisit the older designs of its first- and second-generation Nano, and the wing-shaped form seemed a bit odd. Holding the Nano 4G in my hand, however, I'm starting to think that last year's squarish design was just an awkward, forgettable phase in the Nano's development. This year, Apple has set the Nano back on track with the thinnest, lightest design yet, and features that are hard to ignore.
Offered in a wide range of colors (nine total) for both the 8GB ($149) and 16GB ($199) capacities, the latest iPod Nano strikes a great balance of price and features. The iPod Nano 4G uses the same high-resolution 2-inch screen found on last year's model, only now the included screen uses a portrait orientation covered with rounded glass. Video playback requires you to turn the iPod Nano 4G on its side, much like the Flash-based Microsoft Zune MP3 players. Unlike the Zune, however, Apple has included an accelerometer within the 4G Nano that reorients the display based on how the player is held, making it easier to view photos or switch the player into Apple's Cover Flow music mode. The accelerometer also enables a new "shake-to-shuffle" feature that will automatically shuffle music playback when the player is deliberately shaken (a casual shake won't trigger the feature). The shake-to-shuffle feature can be switched off under settings and the button-hold switch at the top of the player will disengage it, as well.
Full Story
Monday, September 8, 2008
GOOGLE MAY BE CHALLENGED BY DEPT OF JUSTICE OVER ADVERTISING...Developing
Top Lawyer Is Selected
As U.S. Mulls Google Suit
By JOHN R. WILKE
September 9, 2008
Washington -- The Justice Department has quietly hired one of the nation's best-known litigators, former Walt Disney Co. vice chairman Sanford Litvack, for a possible antitrust challenge to Google Inc.'s growing power in advertising.
Mr. Litvack's hiring is the strongest signal yet that the U.S. is preparing to take court action against Google and its search-advertising deal with Yahoo Inc. The two companies combined would account for more than 80% of U.S. online-search ads.
Google shares tumbled 5.5%, or $24.30, to $419.95 in 4 p.m. trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, while Yahoo shares were up 18 cents to $18.26.
For weeks, U.S. lawyers have been deposing witnesses and issuing subpoenas for documents to support a challenge to the deal, lawyers close to the review said. Such efforts don't always mean a case will be brought, however.
Mr. Litvack, who was the Justice Department antitrust chief under President Jimmy Carter, has been asked to examine the evidence gathered so far and to build a case if the decision is made to proceed, the lawyers close to the review said.
It isn't clear whether a U.S. challenge would target the Google-Yahoo deal alone or take on broader aspects of Google's conduct in the growing online-advertising business. The agreement with Yahoo, announced in June, gives Google, of Mountain View, Calif., the right to sell search and text ads on Yahoo sites, sharing revenue with Yahoo, which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Display and search-based Web advertising, which are dominated by Google, have transformed the media industry. As a result, a federal antitrust case against Google could set new boundaries for Internet competition, much as the Justice Department suit against Microsoft Corp. a decade ago broke ground applying antitrust law to new technologies.
Google has said the Yahoo deal doesn't violate antitrust law. It has forcefully argued -- in public testimony before Congress and in private meetings with Justice Department lawyers -- that the deal is pro-competition. The companies say they voluntarily delayed closing the deal until early October, to allow the U.S. to complete its review.
"We voluntarily delayed implementation of this arrangement to give the Department of Justice time to understand it, and we continue to work cooperatively with them," Google said. "While there has been a lot of speculation about this agreement's potential impact on advertisers or ad prices, we think it would be premature for regulators to halt the agreement before we implement it and everyone can judge the actual impact."
In a statement late Monday, Yahoo said: "We have been informed that the Justice Department, as they sometimes do, is seeking advice from an outside consultant, but that we should read nothing into that fact. We remain confident that the deal is lawful."
It is relatively rare for the Justice Department to hire a special counsel from outside the department. David Boies was brought in as a special counsel to build the landmark antitrust case against Microsoft in 1998. Stephen Axinn, another well-known New York litigator, was hired to challenge WorldCom Inc.'s proposed buyout of Sprint Corp. The companies abandoned that transaction in 2000 after the department and Mr. Axinn challenged the deal.
Mr. Litvack, who couldn't be reached for comment, resigned last week from Hogan & Hartson LLP, where he was a partner in the Los Angeles and New York offices. A Justice Department spokeswoman also declined to comment.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that a group of major advertisers complained to the department about the deal. The Association of National Advertisers, which represents major advertisers such as Procter & Gamble Co. and General Motors Corp., warned that the deal could lead to higher prices and limited opportunities for Web advertisers.
Microsoft also has objected to the deal, saying it would unfairly foreclose competition on the Web. In Senate hearings in July, Microsoft's general counsel, Brad Smith, testified that "if search is the gateway to the Internet, and most people believe that it is, this deal will put Google in position to own that gateway and the information that flows through it."
Source: Wall Street Journal
As U.S. Mulls Google Suit
By JOHN R. WILKE
September 9, 2008
Washington -- The Justice Department has quietly hired one of the nation's best-known litigators, former Walt Disney Co. vice chairman Sanford Litvack, for a possible antitrust challenge to Google Inc.'s growing power in advertising.
Mr. Litvack's hiring is the strongest signal yet that the U.S. is preparing to take court action against Google and its search-advertising deal with Yahoo Inc. The two companies combined would account for more than 80% of U.S. online-search ads.
Google shares tumbled 5.5%, or $24.30, to $419.95 in 4 p.m. trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, while Yahoo shares were up 18 cents to $18.26.
For weeks, U.S. lawyers have been deposing witnesses and issuing subpoenas for documents to support a challenge to the deal, lawyers close to the review said. Such efforts don't always mean a case will be brought, however.
Mr. Litvack, who was the Justice Department antitrust chief under President Jimmy Carter, has been asked to examine the evidence gathered so far and to build a case if the decision is made to proceed, the lawyers close to the review said.
It isn't clear whether a U.S. challenge would target the Google-Yahoo deal alone or take on broader aspects of Google's conduct in the growing online-advertising business. The agreement with Yahoo, announced in June, gives Google, of Mountain View, Calif., the right to sell search and text ads on Yahoo sites, sharing revenue with Yahoo, which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Display and search-based Web advertising, which are dominated by Google, have transformed the media industry. As a result, a federal antitrust case against Google could set new boundaries for Internet competition, much as the Justice Department suit against Microsoft Corp. a decade ago broke ground applying antitrust law to new technologies.
Google has said the Yahoo deal doesn't violate antitrust law. It has forcefully argued -- in public testimony before Congress and in private meetings with Justice Department lawyers -- that the deal is pro-competition. The companies say they voluntarily delayed closing the deal until early October, to allow the U.S. to complete its review.
"We voluntarily delayed implementation of this arrangement to give the Department of Justice time to understand it, and we continue to work cooperatively with them," Google said. "While there has been a lot of speculation about this agreement's potential impact on advertisers or ad prices, we think it would be premature for regulators to halt the agreement before we implement it and everyone can judge the actual impact."
In a statement late Monday, Yahoo said: "We have been informed that the Justice Department, as they sometimes do, is seeking advice from an outside consultant, but that we should read nothing into that fact. We remain confident that the deal is lawful."
It is relatively rare for the Justice Department to hire a special counsel from outside the department. David Boies was brought in as a special counsel to build the landmark antitrust case against Microsoft in 1998. Stephen Axinn, another well-known New York litigator, was hired to challenge WorldCom Inc.'s proposed buyout of Sprint Corp. The companies abandoned that transaction in 2000 after the department and Mr. Axinn challenged the deal.
Mr. Litvack, who couldn't be reached for comment, resigned last week from Hogan & Hartson LLP, where he was a partner in the Los Angeles and New York offices. A Justice Department spokeswoman also declined to comment.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that a group of major advertisers complained to the department about the deal. The Association of National Advertisers, which represents major advertisers such as Procter & Gamble Co. and General Motors Corp., warned that the deal could lead to higher prices and limited opportunities for Web advertisers.
Microsoft also has objected to the deal, saying it would unfairly foreclose competition on the Web. In Senate hearings in July, Microsoft's general counsel, Brad Smith, testified that "if search is the gateway to the Internet, and most people believe that it is, this deal will put Google in position to own that gateway and the information that flows through it."
Source: Wall Street Journal
Hi Viewers
Hi guys, some reason, this blog is growing but slowly and there are several returning visitors. I would love to hear your opinions about the articles I posted. Thanks guys!
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Is Google’s Chrome All about Advertising?
Now that we’ve been talking about Google’s new web browser Chrome for the entire past week, I think it’s time to take a look at its core and finally realize that Google is actually an advertising company and advertising is exactly where Google’s main field of business is. Advertising is how Google makes the money to finance acquisitions of other companies and its own large-scale developments resulting in much-hyped product releases like Chrome.
And since Google is an advertising company, everything it does will sooner or later be integrated into its advertising business. I think Chrome is not supposed to be any exception here and so I wanted to highlight a few facts about Chrome and how it relates to ads so that we could better understand what we should expect the browser to do to influence the advertising industry as it is today.
First of all, it has become absolutely obvious that people got too accustomed to browsing the internet with various plug-ins to block out ads from web pages you browse (and sorry, I’m not linking to any of them - I’m a web publisher myself, after all). And when mentioning why they would not want to migrate to Chrome, the most popular reason I’ve seen people citing is inability to block ads. The reason is simple: many internet users have simply forgotten how many ads they can be exposed to online now and they are not ready to consume any of that sine they are perfectly fine with a plug-in to block each and every page from the sites they browse. So no matter how fast and powerful any new browser can be they won’t even consider migrating until they can turn the ads off the pages.
I myself don’t get this type of mentality at all as a publisher since my own revenue is heavily damaged by availability of these plugins. In fact, I think it could be a good idea to create a group of bloggers to fight with ad blockers to have them completely forbidden by each and every web browser - even if I know it is a goal impossible to achieve. I don’t understand how people want to enjoy all the content others work long hours to create and fail to see that these publishers also have bills to pay and need food to eat. But that’s a topic for another post - here I just wanted to mention that people enjoy the ad-free web world too much to migrate to any new browser that does not provide this experience.
But here comes the problem: as an advertising company Google will never make life easy for people that want to browse internet without bumping into Google’s ads everywhere. Such an approach is just plain obvious and that’s actually something I myself will support 100%. So when Google has an official repository for all the Chrome add-ons or extensions, if there is one plug-in that will hardly ever make it there - it is any ad blocker developed by any third party.
I am quite sure we will very soon see this need addressed somehow but I know equally well that no such plug-in will ever be distributed with Google’s help - after all, why would Google want to make a browser where people could avoid seeing ads same as they now do on Firefox?
Second thing about Chrome and advertising may sound like a conspiracy theory a little (or a lot) but I think it is obvious that owning a tool that allows you to track a user’s behavior to the highest degree possible and failing to use this information for your full advantage could be just unreasonable. And I am pretty sure that this is exactly where Chrome is supposed to do its job - to help Google serve better-targeted ads to web users and, thus, charge advertisers higher.
One of the related discussions is about Chrome’s Omnibox and the privacy invasion it can potentially be for any user keeping browser settings at defaults. The thing is that when a user has Google as a default search engine (and I think many of our readers do) and keep auto-suggestion for URLs and search terms enabled, Chrome will start talking to Google servers by sending every single character you type even before you hit ‘Enter’. But while this may not sound particularly dangerous, Google actually intends to keep 2% of this collected information along with the IP of the computer used to type those characters. And this is where the big game begins because the opportunities for advertisers to reach you better and make you buy their products once they know you need them are immense.
Imagine, for example, you are planning a Christmas vacation on some tropical island. Say, the first idea you have in mind is Bali Island in Indonesia so you start typing “Christmas Vacation Bali” but then you change your mind and decide to see what the most popular options are first before making your decision. So you delete Bali and instead type “Christmas Vacation tropical island”. This is where you hit the ‘Enter’ key on your keyboard but this is not when Google first receives any information from you - it already knows you had Bali in mind so probably the easiest thing to sell to you would be some nice vacation package on Bali. And right there along the results of your second search phrase you get a few paid links from Google Adwords publishers pushing vacations on Bali at you. Will you resist clicking them? Honestly, I would have clicked immediately myself and I don’t think I am the only one like that. It is obvious that this simple new addition can add a lot of power to advertising targeting and the way advertisers will face less difficulties in reaching us, the potential customers, with what we are willing to pay for anyway.
More
And since Google is an advertising company, everything it does will sooner or later be integrated into its advertising business. I think Chrome is not supposed to be any exception here and so I wanted to highlight a few facts about Chrome and how it relates to ads so that we could better understand what we should expect the browser to do to influence the advertising industry as it is today.
First of all, it has become absolutely obvious that people got too accustomed to browsing the internet with various plug-ins to block out ads from web pages you browse (and sorry, I’m not linking to any of them - I’m a web publisher myself, after all). And when mentioning why they would not want to migrate to Chrome, the most popular reason I’ve seen people citing is inability to block ads. The reason is simple: many internet users have simply forgotten how many ads they can be exposed to online now and they are not ready to consume any of that sine they are perfectly fine with a plug-in to block each and every page from the sites they browse. So no matter how fast and powerful any new browser can be they won’t even consider migrating until they can turn the ads off the pages.
I myself don’t get this type of mentality at all as a publisher since my own revenue is heavily damaged by availability of these plugins. In fact, I think it could be a good idea to create a group of bloggers to fight with ad blockers to have them completely forbidden by each and every web browser - even if I know it is a goal impossible to achieve. I don’t understand how people want to enjoy all the content others work long hours to create and fail to see that these publishers also have bills to pay and need food to eat. But that’s a topic for another post - here I just wanted to mention that people enjoy the ad-free web world too much to migrate to any new browser that does not provide this experience.
But here comes the problem: as an advertising company Google will never make life easy for people that want to browse internet without bumping into Google’s ads everywhere. Such an approach is just plain obvious and that’s actually something I myself will support 100%. So when Google has an official repository for all the Chrome add-ons or extensions, if there is one plug-in that will hardly ever make it there - it is any ad blocker developed by any third party.
I am quite sure we will very soon see this need addressed somehow but I know equally well that no such plug-in will ever be distributed with Google’s help - after all, why would Google want to make a browser where people could avoid seeing ads same as they now do on Firefox?
Second thing about Chrome and advertising may sound like a conspiracy theory a little (or a lot) but I think it is obvious that owning a tool that allows you to track a user’s behavior to the highest degree possible and failing to use this information for your full advantage could be just unreasonable. And I am pretty sure that this is exactly where Chrome is supposed to do its job - to help Google serve better-targeted ads to web users and, thus, charge advertisers higher.
One of the related discussions is about Chrome’s Omnibox and the privacy invasion it can potentially be for any user keeping browser settings at defaults. The thing is that when a user has Google as a default search engine (and I think many of our readers do) and keep auto-suggestion for URLs and search terms enabled, Chrome will start talking to Google servers by sending every single character you type even before you hit ‘Enter’. But while this may not sound particularly dangerous, Google actually intends to keep 2% of this collected information along with the IP of the computer used to type those characters. And this is where the big game begins because the opportunities for advertisers to reach you better and make you buy their products once they know you need them are immense.
Imagine, for example, you are planning a Christmas vacation on some tropical island. Say, the first idea you have in mind is Bali Island in Indonesia so you start typing “Christmas Vacation Bali” but then you change your mind and decide to see what the most popular options are first before making your decision. So you delete Bali and instead type “Christmas Vacation tropical island”. This is where you hit the ‘Enter’ key on your keyboard but this is not when Google first receives any information from you - it already knows you had Bali in mind so probably the easiest thing to sell to you would be some nice vacation package on Bali. And right there along the results of your second search phrase you get a few paid links from Google Adwords publishers pushing vacations on Bali at you. Will you resist clicking them? Honestly, I would have clicked immediately myself and I don’t think I am the only one like that. It is obvious that this simple new addition can add a lot of power to advertising targeting and the way advertisers will face less difficulties in reaching us, the potential customers, with what we are willing to pay for anyway.
More
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Claims renew iTunes 8 expectations, slate iPhone 2.1 for event
Claims renew iTunes 8 expectations, slate iPhone 2.1 for event
By Aidan Malley
Published: 02:35 PM EST
Despite some expectations to the contrary, iTunes 8 is now allegedly a lock for Apple's "Let's Rock" special event and may come with new iPhone firmware that packs surprises of its own.
Ars Technica recants its previous doubts and now says its beliefs that iTunes 8 would miss the September 9th Apple gathering were "unwarranted."
Moreover, it also says that much of Kevin Rose's predicted feature set is also true. The earlier leak pointed to a Genius auto-playlist feature as well as support for a second-generation iPod classic and the expected iPod nano and touch upgrades.
The revised outlook also has the surprise news that Apple may not only announce its known iPhone 2.1 firmware update but release it at the event itself. At a minimum, the software is known to sport the background push notification feature for third-party apps as well as directional GPS that could lead to more advanced navigation.
As a further surprise, Apple could additionally include more features than what it has revealed ahead of time, Ars says. Similar to Apple's frequent practice of keeping larger feature updates out of Mac OS X beta builds to avoid spoiling major introductions, the alleged sources say the company has deliberately stripped out important features from iPhone 2.1 betas seeded to developers to save them for a higher-profile debut.
What these new features may be is still very much unknown, although Apple in an unusual move had removed push notification in one of its last developer betas. The company is said to sometimes remove features or to halt build seeds outright to focus on internal development.
Ars has been historically reliable regarding iTunes-related leaks.
More
By Aidan Malley
Published: 02:35 PM EST
Despite some expectations to the contrary, iTunes 8 is now allegedly a lock for Apple's "Let's Rock" special event and may come with new iPhone firmware that packs surprises of its own.
Ars Technica recants its previous doubts and now says its beliefs that iTunes 8 would miss the September 9th Apple gathering were "unwarranted."
Moreover, it also says that much of Kevin Rose's predicted feature set is also true. The earlier leak pointed to a Genius auto-playlist feature as well as support for a second-generation iPod classic and the expected iPod nano and touch upgrades.
The revised outlook also has the surprise news that Apple may not only announce its known iPhone 2.1 firmware update but release it at the event itself. At a minimum, the software is known to sport the background push notification feature for third-party apps as well as directional GPS that could lead to more advanced navigation.
As a further surprise, Apple could additionally include more features than what it has revealed ahead of time, Ars says. Similar to Apple's frequent practice of keeping larger feature updates out of Mac OS X beta builds to avoid spoiling major introductions, the alleged sources say the company has deliberately stripped out important features from iPhone 2.1 betas seeded to developers to save them for a higher-profile debut.
What these new features may be is still very much unknown, although Apple in an unusual move had removed push notification in one of its last developer betas. The company is said to sometimes remove features or to halt build seeds outright to focus on internal development.
Ars has been historically reliable regarding iTunes-related leaks.
More
Friday, September 5, 2008
Spore: Create a Universe to Play In
The long-awaited, all-in-one action, strategy, and role-playing game from Sims designer Will Wright delivers on its promise of a "universe in a box"
An asteroid hurtles toward a distant planet. Smacking the surface, the rock sends a blush of glowing red ash into the air. In the steaming gloop left behind, a soup of new life, countless amoebas begin vying for evolutionary supremacy. It's the beginning of the world as they know it—and I feel fine.
The game I am playing is the long-awaited Spore, to be released Sept. 7 by Electronic Arts (ERTS). Spore, of course, is the brain child of Will Wright, the creator of the best-selling Sims series and the closest thing the gaming industry has to its own Einstein—a super-genius with the chutzpah to attempt to devise a unifying theory of everything. Or, in this case, a game that simulates everything from life's first steps to the clash of advanced, space-faring civilizations. Spore is billed as a "universe in a box," and after three years of delays and mounting anticipation, that's exactly what the game makers have delivered.
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An asteroid hurtles toward a distant planet. Smacking the surface, the rock sends a blush of glowing red ash into the air. In the steaming gloop left behind, a soup of new life, countless amoebas begin vying for evolutionary supremacy. It's the beginning of the world as they know it—and I feel fine.
The game I am playing is the long-awaited Spore, to be released Sept. 7 by Electronic Arts (ERTS). Spore, of course, is the brain child of Will Wright, the creator of the best-selling Sims series and the closest thing the gaming industry has to its own Einstein—a super-genius with the chutzpah to attempt to devise a unifying theory of everything. Or, in this case, a game that simulates everything from life's first steps to the clash of advanced, space-faring civilizations. Spore is billed as a "universe in a box," and after three years of delays and mounting anticipation, that's exactly what the game makers have delivered.
More
Week in review: Google's Chrome shines
Google made its long-rumored foray into Web browsers with the introduction of its open-source Chrome, but in the process, it ruffled some privacy feathers.
Word of the browser first accidentally leaked on the Web in the form of a detailed 38-page comic book that appeared on Google Blogoscoped, an unofficial Google blog.
The browser was written with WebKit, the open-source engine at the core of Apple's Safari and Google's Android. The browser is also getting a new JavaScript virtual machine, V8. It's said to be a better solution for complex and rich Web applications, yielding better performance and "smoother drag and drops" in interactive applications.
The project should dispel any lingering thoughts that the browser wars are over. To be sure, it's less cutthroat now than in the 1990s, but one of technology's most powerful companies just entered the battlefield.
Even before Google's browser became available for download, its repercussions were traversing the industry. There are plenty of implications from a company as large as Google that builds a browser tuned to advance the company's agenda of Web-based applications.
Chrome, Google said during its launch event, is much faster at showing Web pages than the most widely used browser, Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Google's hope is that performance will open up the bottleneck that chokes the speed and abilities of today's Web-based applications.
In short, Chrome is more of a long-term competitive threat to Microsoft Office and Windows than it is to Internet Explorer. That may sound a little grand, but the evidence is on display in Google's own lobby, where the search company's computer kiosks present a browser only--no start menu, no desktop shortcuts, no operating system.
So how does Chrome actually stack up? Google was eager to toot its horn about Chrome's performance running JavaScript, a programming language used to power many sophisticated Web applications such as Google Docs, Yahoo's Zimbra e-mail site, and Zoho's online application suite. On each one of these tests, Chrome clearly trounced the competition.
However, Mozilla fought back with some performance results to show a forthcoming version of Firefox outpacing Chrome in a different test called SunSpider.
Firefox 3.1, which Mozilla hopes to release by the end of the year, comes with JavaScript acceleration technology called TraceMonkey. In Mozilla's test that pitted TraceMonkey-enhanced Firefox against the Chrome beta, Google's browser was 28 percent slower on Windows XP and 16 percent slower on Windows Vista.
Privacy advocates objected to Chrome's End User License agreement, which appeared to give Google a perpetual right to use anything one entered into the browser. Section 11 stated that although users retain copyright to their works, "by submitting, posting, or displaying the content, you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and nonexclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display, and distribute any content which you submit, post, or display on or through the services."
However, Google backtracked, saying it plans to alter those contract terms. Google said the change, once made, will apply retroactively to anyone who has downloaded the browser.
Privacy concerns were also raised over the issues of what information Google plans to store on its servers. Provided that users leave on the auto-suggest feature in Chrome and have Google as their default search provider, Google has the right to store any information typed into Chrome's Ominibox, which serves as both search bar and address bar. Google told CNET News that it plans to store about 2 percent of all such data, along with the IP address of the computer that entered the information.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Available Now: Windows XP $399, Ubuntu $349
MEET YOUR NEW BEST FRIEND: DELL’S INSPIRON MINI 9
Ideal Internet Buddy For Surfing, Shopping and Chatting
·Light, Highly Mobile Device Built For Easy Online Browsing And Entertainment
·Box.net Web Storage Keeps Your Personal Files Safe And Enables Anytime Access and SharingROUND ROCK, Texas, Sept. 4, 2008 –Dell today officially unveiled the Inspiron Mini 9. This small, easy-to-carry device stands ready to connect teens, tweens, travelers and “Tweeters” to their online world be it surfing the Web, chatting with friends, blogging, streaming content, uploading photos or enjoying favorite online videos, music and games.
The Inspiron Mini is an affordable Internet companion that can be fine-tuned to fit users’ specific needs and deeds. It is available now on www.dell.com/mini in the U.S., Japan and select countries in Europe. Availability elsewhere will be handled on a country -by-country basis.
Solid Construction & Connections
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
What Google's browser suggests about the way the search giant views the Web
Chrome is the original bling. Chrome caps, wheels and accessories have been essential elements of the pimped-out ride for decades. Now chrome, or rather Chrome, is preparing to pimp out your desktop. Google's new Web browser puts a high polish of user-friendly style onto the evolving trend toward cloud computing. (And you thought the lining was silver.)
Tuesday, Google launched the beta version of Chrome, formally entering the long-simmering war for browser supremacy. Odds are fairly high that you're reading this story using some iteration of Microsoft Internet Explorer, which dominates the landscape with a 72 percent share, according to Net Applications. (Despite years of taking aim at Microsoft, Mozilla's free, open-source Firefox is a distant second at 19.7 percent; Apple's Safari browser accounts for a mere 6.37 percent.)
More...
Tuesday, Google launched the beta version of Chrome, formally entering the long-simmering war for browser supremacy. Odds are fairly high that you're reading this story using some iteration of Microsoft Internet Explorer, which dominates the landscape with a 72 percent share, according to Net Applications. (Despite years of taking aim at Microsoft, Mozilla's free, open-source Firefox is a distant second at 19.7 percent; Apple's Safari browser accounts for a mere 6.37 percent.)
More...
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Google browser challenges Microsoft
Google browser challenges Microsoft
By Steve Lohr
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
The browser war is back on.
This time, Microsoft's opponent is Google, a familiar foe.
On Tuesday, Google will release a free Web browser called Chrome that the company said would challenge Microsoft's Internet Explorer, as well as the Firefox browser.
In a curious twist, Google made its online announcement after its plans appeared as a digital "comic book" that was posted by Google Blogoscoped.com, a Web site that tracks the Internet search giant. Google said it had accidentally sent the comic book to the blog.
The browser is a universal doorway to the Internet, and the use of Internet software and services is rapidly growing. Increasingly, the browser is the gateway to the Web on cellphones and other mobile devices, widening the utility of the Web and Web advertising. Google, analysts say, cannot let Microsoft's dominant share of the browser market go without a direct challenge.
Google already competes with Microsoft in online search and Internet advertising. They both make operating software for cellphones. Google is increasingly competing with Microsoft head-on in software that handles basic productivity like word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and e-mail programs. Google has Web-based software in these markets that are low-cost or free alternatives to Microsoft's lucrative desktop software.
Despite the frequent clashes with Microsoft — including the role Google played in thwarting an attempted acquisition of Yahoo — Google has only come out on top in search and search advertising. But Google does not have to win the browser war. Strategically, opening yet another front against Microsoft forces it to divert resources to defend franchises.
Now, Chrome heightens the rivalry and marks a shift of course for Google, which has strongly backed Firefox, the open-source browser that has gained about a fifth of the market against the dominant Internet Explorer.
Google's browser project has been under way for more than a year, a person close to the company said.
In a brief statement, Microsoft welcomed the new entry and expressed confidence that people would prefer Explorer, which is on every Windows PC sold.
"The browser landscape is highly competitive," said Dean Hachamovitch, general manager of the Internet Explorer group. "But people will choose Internet Explorer 8 for the way it puts the services they want right at their fingertips, respects their personal choices about how they want to browse and, more than any other browsing technology, puts them in control of their personal data online."
Google has clashed with Microsoft before, saying it had designed IE to gain ground in search, a market where Google is the runaway leader.
After Microsoft introduced IE 7 in 2006, Google complained that the browser's search box favored Microsoft's search service. Microsoft responded and made modifications, and a U.S. judge overseeing the antitrust consent decree against Microsoft determined the browser design was not anticompetitive.
The first round of the browser wars in the 1990s led to a sweeping U.S. antitrust suit against Microsoft for the tactics it used to stifle competition from the commercial pioneer in browsing software, Netscape Communications. A U.S. appeals court ruled in 2001 that Microsoft had repeatedly violated the nation's antitrust laws. Microsoft later reached a settlement with the Bush administration, which included some sanctions but left the company free to bundle browsing software with Windows, which runs more than 90 percent of all personal computers.
Microsoft recently stepped up its own browser development efforts, given the increasing importance of the browser and signs that Firefox is nibbling at its lead. Microsoft released a new version, IE8, last week to generally favorable reviews.
Microsoft still holds 73 percent of the browser market, according to Net Applications, a research firm. The market share for Firefox has climbed to 19 percent, while Apple's Safari has 6 percent.
Chrome also puts Google in competition with an ally, Mozilla Corp., which manages the Firefox project. Just last week, Google renewed its deal with Mozilla. Under the arrangement, Google Search is the home page for Firefox and Google is its default search bar, and Google makes substantial payments to Mozilla. The agreement runs through November 2011.
Google's cooperation with Mozilla, however friendly, meant that it was ceding control of the Internet's vital gateway technology — and the dominant supplier of that technology is its rival, Microsoft.
Given the increasing importance of the browser and its widening competition with Microsoft, Google's entry into the market is not surprising, said John Lilly, chief executive of Mozilla.
"It would be more surprising to me if Google didn't do something in the browser space," Lilly said. "After all, Google is 100 percent on the Web."
Google's move, he said, would put "more competitive pressure on us to keep coming up with great browser technology. But having more smart people competing to improve browser technology and the user experience is a good thing."
Lilly also noted that Mozilla, while a private company, is entirely owned by the Mozilla Foundation. The browser project was begun to provide an alternative to Microsoft's browser. "The mission of Mozilla is to keep the Web open, a pure public benefit," he said. "Others have other motivations and Google's move also serves to highlight our position in the marketplace."
Chrome will be available to download in a test, or beta, version on Tuesday, Google announced on its Web site Monday. The browser will run on Windows. Google is also working on Chrome versions for Apple's Macintosh, as well as Linux, an open source operating system.
According to Google's Web site post, by Sundar Pichai, an engineering director and vice president for product management, Chrome is designed for speed and ease of use.
But the other design goal, it seems, was to make sure Google could control how well the growing range of Web-based software it is developing will perform, instead of having to run on a Microsoft browser.
"Under the hood," Pichai wrote, "we were able to build the foundation of a browser that runs today's complex Web applications much better."
Later, he wrote, "We improved speed and responsiveness across the board. We also built a more powerful JavaScript engine, V8, to power the next generation of Web applications that aren't even possible in today's browsers."
Chrome is based on an open-source rendering engine, WebKit, and an open-source version of Google's Gears technology. Chrome will also be able to run in a privacy mode, InCognito, so that no information about a person's browsing is collected. With IE8 last week, Microsoft added a privacy mode of browsing, called InPrivate.
The privacy features, analysts note, could undercut the Internet advertising business of Google, but also Microsoft, Yahoo and others that depend on ads aimed at users based on their browsing behavior. But it is unclear, analysts say, how large a share of users will opt for the privacy browsing mode and give up the convenience of having a browser store sites recently visited in tabbed settings for easy navigation.
Monday, September 1, 2008
China Sets Sights On Rail Record
Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Monday September 01, @02:48PM
from the amazing-they-aren't-broke-after-the-olympics dept.
from the amazing-they-aren't-broke-after-the-olympics dept.
An anonymous reader writes "China is aiming to produce the world's fastest operating conventional train for its new high speed rail link between Shanghai and Beijing, achieving speeds up to 380 km/h and cutting the travel time between the two cities from the current ten hours to under five. The new rail link is scheduled to be completed within four years. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Railways' Deputy Chief Engineer has announced that China will be able to manufacture the new trains within two years."
Source: Slashdot
Source: Slashdot
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Adobe gets an e-earful, and listens
A lot of people use Adobe Systems software, and apparently a lot of them feel the need to vent.
Web designer Erik Frick created the Dear Adobe site where users can enter gripes and vote for or against others' gripes. "It started from a conversation between Adam (Meisel) and myself complaining about Photoshop. Both of us being Web design nerds, we figured, 'Why not create a forum for people to vent? Who knows, maybe Adobe will listen,'" he said Tuesday on the site's inaugural blog posting.
Sure enough. Photoshop Principal Product Manager John Nack said the site generated more than 30 e-mails within Adobe in the first two days, and Nack himself responded to a few gripes at the site.
"Just because it would be unprofessional of me or others to rant about this or that aspect of the company in public, don't for a second think it's not happening behind closed doors," Nack said, acknowledging complaints about Creative Suite 3's installation and update software.
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Friday, August 29, 2008
Sony to launch world's thinnest LCD TVs
Sony to launch world's thinnest LCD TVs
The 40-inch model is estimated to sell for around $4,478
By Kiyoshi Takenaka
Reuters
Fri., Aug. 29, 2008
TOKYO - Sony Corp said on Thursday it would launch the world's thinnest liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs this year, broadening its product line-up ahead of the critical year-end shopping season.
The new 40-inch model, which is 9.9 mm thick, is estimated to sell for 490,000 yen ($4,478) in Japan, Sony said.
The Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate will also offer the world's first LCD TVs that display 240 frames per second, compared with 120 frames for Sony's existing models.
More frames in a given time make fast-moving images in sports programs and action movies look seamless.
Sony, the world's second-largest LCD TV maker behind Samsung Electronics Co Ltd expects a 46-inch model with the 240 frame function to sell for around 400,000 yen.
Both models will go on sale in Japan on November 10, closely followed by overseas launches.
Sony said a slowing economy has had little effect on its LCD TV sales, and that the maker of Bravia brand flat TVs is on track to hit its target to sell 17 million LCD TVs in the year to March 2009.
Copyright 2008 Reuters.
The 40-inch model is estimated to sell for around $4,478
By Kiyoshi Takenaka
Reuters
Fri., Aug. 29, 2008
TOKYO - Sony Corp said on Thursday it would launch the world's thinnest liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs this year, broadening its product line-up ahead of the critical year-end shopping season.
The new 40-inch model, which is 9.9 mm thick, is estimated to sell for 490,000 yen ($4,478) in Japan, Sony said.
The Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate will also offer the world's first LCD TVs that display 240 frames per second, compared with 120 frames for Sony's existing models.
More frames in a given time make fast-moving images in sports programs and action movies look seamless.
Sony, the world's second-largest LCD TV maker behind Samsung Electronics Co Ltd expects a 46-inch model with the 240 frame function to sell for around 400,000 yen.
Both models will go on sale in Japan on November 10, closely followed by overseas launches.
Sony said a slowing economy has had little effect on its LCD TV sales, and that the maker of Bravia brand flat TVs is on track to hit its target to sell 17 million LCD TVs in the year to March 2009.
Copyright 2008 Reuters.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
WiTricity (Wireless Electricity)
I've heard of rumors about this. It reminds me of the Pylons that the Protoss builds in Starcraft. I guess we're going to be a Protoss integrated Terran race...awesome!
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. --- Imagine a future in which wireless power transfer is feasible: cell phones, household robots, mp3 players, laptop computers, and other portable electronics capable of charging themselves without ever being plugged in, freeing us from that final, ubiquitous power wire. Some of these devices might not even need their bulky batteries to operate.
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