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Belarussian president Alexander Lukashenko is the latest dictator to try and quash unrest by banning social networking sites. But whether or not his fears are accurate, the truth is simple: many countries now think the success of the Internet is indistinguishable from America’s political ambitions.
Continue reading about Why the Internet is America’s greatest weapon
Belarussian president Alexander Lukashenko is the latest dictator to try and quash unrest by banning social networking sites. But whether or not his fears are accurate, the truth is simple: many countries now think the success of the Internet is indistinguishable from America’s political ambitions.
Continue reading about Why the Internet is America’s greatest weapon
There has been an explosion of content over the past five years — a trend that shows no signs of abating. In the land of a million channels, the filter will be king. Value will accrue to those that aggregate and filter programming.
Continue reading about Predictions: Gazing into the online video crystal ball
This week’s news from Google was the most exciting thing I’ve heard from the company in years. After languishing with social and its utter failures with both Google Wave and Google Buzz, the company is putting an intriguing product to market: a social network.
Continue reading about Google+: A targeted response to Facebook’s shotgun approach
Apple’s iPhone debuted four years ago today. The phone has altered the smartphone landscape and ushered in the modern era of intelligent, connected devices. And it’s forced the industry to react. Here’s a look at the effect the iPhone has had.
Continue reading about The iPhone Effect: how Apple’s phone changed everything
Cloud-based video creation startup Animoto is ready to invest heavily in its growing business with a new round of funding it’s announcing Wednesday. The company has raised $25 million, led by Spectrum Equity Investors with participation from existing investors Madrona Venture Group and Amazon.com.
Continue reading about Animoto raises $25M to invest in mobile video creation
The death of a battery: we’ve all seen it happen. In phones, laptops, cameras, and now electric cars, the process is painful and — if you’re lucky — slow. But why does this happen?
Continue reading about Why lithium-ion batteries die so young
One thing is clear investors are in love with Square, the payments company co-founded by Jack Dorsey, the co-creator of Twitter. The company today announced that it has received yet another big slug of funding. The veteran venture capital firm of Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers is [...]
Continue reading about Square gets $100 Million, Mary Meeker joins the board
RockMelt has raised $30 million in a series B funding round led by Accel Partners, Khosla Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. Although Rockmelt has already seen interest from potential acquirers, the social browser company has opted to “double down” on the opportunity to grow independently.
Continue reading about Rockmelt gets $30M to double down on social browser
Skype opened up its development platform to all comers Tuesday, but it still has a disconnect between revenue generation and its platform efforts. Like many companies trying to build a dominant position in the technology ecosystem, Skype is navigating the path between dollars and devs.
Continue reading about With SkypeKit, Skype wants to be everywhere
Analysts at Wall Street’s major financial firms initiated wholesale coverage of LinkedIn on Tuesday, putting forth their opinions of the company’s future growth prospects and estimates for how the stock should perform. Wall Street’s predictions for LinkedIn, in a word? Bullish.
Continue reading about Wall Street’s LinkedIn forecast: Sunny. Very sunny.
Skype quietly added some XMPP support to its most recentbeta last week. Adopting the open protocol helps Sype to integrate with Facebook, but it could also be used for interoperability with other IM platforms. Just don’t expect to call your Gtalk friends any time soon.
Continue reading about Skype adds XMPP support, interoperability coming next?
Google launched its much awaited and highly anticipated social networking platform today. Dubbed Google Plus, the service may take its cue from social networking giant Facebook, but in reality it is about the harsh reality of Google saving and enhancing its core franchise — Google Search.
Continue reading about Why Google Plus won’t hurt Facebook, but Skype will hate it
Microsoft has now launched Office 365, its suite of collaboration and office tools that aims to take on Google Apps for Business. But with a product that costs more than Google’s offering and is coming much later to market, will Office 365 be a success?
Continue reading about Microsoft takes on Google Apps, finally launches Office 365
Tumblr, the combination blogging platform and social network, continues to grow at a phenomenal rate — racking up more than 8.4 billion pageviews a month, which puts it in the top 25 sites in the world. But will it ever figure out how to make money?
Continue reading about Is Tumblr the new Facebook or the new MySpace?
Ravel now offers an open-source graph database that looks to bring the benefit’s of Google’s Pregel project to the masses. Graph databases don’t get the attention of other big-data technologies such as Hadoop or NoSQL, but every Twitter user is familiar with what they can do.
Continue reading about Ravel open-sources tool for analyzing graph data like Google
Google is activating half a million Android devices a day, a major surge in just the last couple months, a sign of growing momentum for the platform. Google’s VP of mobile Andy Rubin says activations are growing 4.4 percent week over week.
Continue reading about Google sees 500,000 Android devices activated everyday
Skype’s investors maybe downright stingy when it comes to options for their employees, but at least they didn’t skimp on the office space. Here are some pictures of Skype’s offices in Stockholm, Sweden, courtesy of PS Arkitektur. This office is simply stunning and beautiful.
Continue reading about Check out Skype’s cool Stockholm offices
Using Twitter as a tool for journalism has become more and more mainstream over the past year, and the company’s launch of a media resource center and toolbox for reporters is clearly designed to stake Twitter’s claim as a journalist and media company’s best friend.
Continue reading about Twitter wants to be a journalist’s best friend
Yahoo will be spinning off a separate company focused on the development and commercialization of Apache Hadoop, called HortonWorks. The official announcement likely will come tomorrow or Wednesday to coincide with Yahoo’s annual Hadoop Summit, but rumors have been circulating for months.
Continue reading about Exclusive: Yahoo launching Hadoop spinoff this week
Business Week, in keeping with the grand tradition of long-form business publications, took a few thousands words that can be summed up in three words Facebook killed Myspace. No kidding! I didn’t know that. And while that might be true, it isn’t stopping the social networking giant [...]
Continue reading about Facebook’s music dashboard: Astonishingly similar to Myspace music
Google officially shuttered its web energy tool PowerMeter on Friday after the application failed to bring in enough users. Here are five reasons why I think PowerMeter didn’t take off.
Continue reading about 5 reasons Google PowerMeter didn’t take off
There’s been a lot of talk about “branding” and media lately, sparked in part by Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten’s recent anti-branding rant, in which he said it was “ruining journalism.” But like it or not, branding is now an inescapable part of new media.
Continue reading about Note to media: We are all brands now, so get used to it
It’s not the type of thing you would watch for mindless entertainment, but with nearly 1,000 videos from various events posted to the site, TEDTalks has attracted a large — and growing — audience. In just five years, it’s racked up more than 500 million views and counting.
Continue reading about 500m views in 5 years: How TEDTalks did it
Apple won a significant victory last week when it was awarded a key patent related to basic multi-touch functionality. It was called too broad by many, and raised the spectre of pitched legal drama. It’s definitely a key victory for Apple, but why?
Continue reading about Apple multi-touch patent is all about UX lock-in
New MacBook Airs could be right around the corner, according to stock shortages at retail partners like Best Buy and Amazon. OS X Lion is also arriving in July, which begins in only a few short days, and the Air could arrive at the same time.
Continue reading about New MacBook Airs are coming. Here is why.
With the ability to work whenever we wish, web workers face ever-increasing work hours for “just one email” after dinner or fail to resist the pull of our smartphone before our morning workouts. But one blogger is arguing that longer hours actually usually mean less productivity.
Continue reading about 7 tips for getting more done in fewer hours
Twitter is using a service provided by a telco spin out to access telco APIs for its new photo service. As part of this move it–and other developers– may have found a crucial key to making money for themselves and even for telecommunications providers.
Continue reading about Telcos could be the key to Twitter’s revenue model
Hulu Plus brings movies and television shows the small screen of Android smartphones, but only six models are compatible for now. Sony Ericsson is leveraging HDTV technology for it’s new Android phones while the iPhone appears to be chipping away at Android’s popularity in the U.S.
Continue reading about Android This Week: Hulu Plus lands; Falling market share; TV tech on phones
Let’s just face it anytime some new start-up comes along and tries to innovate around the idea of music, it is hit by some roadblocks. Latest one to realize that Turntable.fm. The social music discovery service is now unavailable to International visitors and is now [...]
Continue reading about Turntable.fm if off-limits to non-US music fans
Mobile virtualization is hot topic today for businesses and consumers alike as enterprise employers keep their eye on security while employees just want a device that works for them, rather than one device for business and another for personal use.
Continue reading about Mobile virtualization finds its home in the enterprise
Networking is about to change. It is inevitable that an open-source hardware architecture for the large chassis switch gets released, likely driven by a consortium of large customers. When combined with the external software control enabled by OpenFlow, this will really shake things up.
Continue reading about Forget cool, OpenFlow and networking is now hot!
Skype is in the process of being sold to Microsoft is fast becoming a poster child of investor greed and corporate mistreatment of it employees. An ex-employee is blaming investor Silver Lake Partners. Our sources say that investors were interfering with the company too much.
Foursquare has raised $50 million in a new funding round led by venture capital firm Andreessen-Horowitz, bringing Foursquare’s total venture capital investment to just over $70 million. The new backing will certainly come in handy as Foursquare works to keep its own edge in a growing space.
Continue reading about Foursquare checks in to $50M in fresh funding
After a leaked video accidentally spoiled the surprise, Skype has confirmed that it is preparing an iPad app for release. No firm date is yet known for when it will arrive; it is expected to be approved soon by Apple for the App Store.
Google has officially pulled the plug on its web energy management tool PowerMeter. The project, which Google launched two years ago, just “didn’t catch on the way we would have hoped,” said Google.
Continue reading about Google pulls the plug on PowerMeter energy tool
Cloud computing depends on the idea that we will have ample and cheap bandwidth that will allow us to access various types of information and services on any kind of device, anywhere. This need only goes up as we start living in an on-demand world.
Twitter’s data center plans are reportedly in disarray according to sources. A few people shared that the microblogging service, which announced plans to build a Utah data center back in April 2010, had plans to abandon the site and move to a data center in Sacramento.
Continue reading about Twitter’s data center mystery deepens
The buzz around European music streaming service Spotify’s United States launch just keeps getting louder. A new anonymously sourced report places Spotify’s US launch date between July 5 and July 15 for a subscription rate of $10/month. Spotify US may initially be invite-only, the report said.
Continue reading about As summer heats up, Spotify’s US launch gains steam
The web is enabling an explosion of “remix culture,” but as Kickstarter co-founder and blogger Andy Baio recently discovered, “fair use” only applies if you can afford to fight for your idea in court. What does that mean for the future of the remixable web?
Continue reading about Fair use isn’t much good if you can’t afford it
In Silicon Valley, happy days are indeed here again: Investors are feeling generous, the IPO market is percolating, and the tech industry’s biggest players have worked up a very healthy appetite for mergers and acquisitions.
Continue reading about Tech giants are hungry for M&A — really hungry
Turns out cell phones and electric cars have more in common than you might think and technology developed for phones could help pave the way for more powerful electric cars.
Continue reading about Cell phones: the mother of invention for electric vehicles
The cloud may have driven down the cost of bandwidth and computing instances dramatically, but engineers shouldn’t take this as carte blanche to be wasteful with resources, said Intel’s GM of high density computing, Jason Waxman, at GigaOM’s Structure conference in San Francisco on Thursday.
Continue reading about How to keep the cloud from killing the planet
The move to the cloud requires a lot of discussion on the boundaries and expectations for data privacy in a cloud environment. The government’s approach to data privacy, in particular, is of great concern, from the legislation it enacts to the way law enforcement uses it.
Continue reading about Cloud computing requires new thinking on privacy
Facebook announced Thursday it has added Reed Hastings, the chairman and CEO of Netflix, to its board of directors. The addition of Hastings to Facebook’s boardroom is the latest signal of the Palo Alto, California-based social networking giant’s growing focus on the entertainment industry.
Continue reading about Lights, camera… Facebook? Netflix CEO joins board
Hulu has been a great service for viewers, offering the ability to catch up on shows the day after they’ve aired online. But based on reports of deals it’s negotiating with broadcasters, Hulu might make users prove they’re cable subscribers to do so in the future.
Continue reading about Want to watch TV on Hulu? Get ready to pay up or wait.
With the launch of e-book versions of her Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling has cut both publishers and booksellers such as Amazon out of the picture. Not everyone has that kind of power, but Rowling’s move shows how the world of publishing continues to be disrupted.
Continue reading about Harry Potter and the amazing exploding book industry
Hulu’s board of directors has hired investment banks to begin exploring a sale of the online video startup. But will any buyer get what it’s bargained for? Questions about future content deals and the ability to hold the attention of viewers could spoil Hulu’s future.
The old days of securing information with virtual barbed-wire fences are over. Today, security aspects have to be incorporated into software applications from the ground floor to ensure safety. And whether an application is hosted in the cloud or on a native server is almost moot.
Continue reading about Today, security must be built from the inside out
One of the themes running through many of the projects that won this year’s $5-million Knight News Challenge for media startups is the idea that data — and the ability to filter and make sense of it — can be a powerful tool for digital journalism.
Continue reading about Future of media: When big data meets journalism
PARC is working on a new networking technology that would make it possible for end users to connect with each other through “a Facebook without Facebook.com.” With Content-Centric Networking, data would self-organize, benefiting both end users and enterprises. First commercial applications could emerge within 18 months.
Continue reading about How PARC wants to reinvent the Internet
Google has emerged as one of the most aggressive clean power investors in 2011, and has now invested over $780 million into clean power projects and technologies. The latest funding is another $102 million into a wind farm being built in Southern California’s Mojave Desert.
Continue reading about Google has now invested over $780M in clean energy
VMware, the company that helped jumpstart the cloud with the creation of the hypervisor, is now focused on enabling the automation and scale that are the most essential elements of building out a platform for the post-PC era.
Continue reading about VMware’s preparing for the post-document era
Cloud services have a rosy future, but a long build-out industry cycle is expected as businesses are slow to adopt and accept virtual datacenters. Instead of determining to use a public or a private cloud, enterprises should consider a hybrid, best-of-both-worlds approach.
Continue reading about Forget public; private clouds: The future is hybrids!
The future of the cloud is a programmable network with applications that are smarter about using resources, said Lew Tucker, VP and CTO of Cloud Computing for Cisco at Structure 2011 in San Francisco on Wednesday.
Continue reading about The future of the cloud, as seen by Cisco
The Knight Foundation says it wants to help reinvent local and community-level media through the Center for Civic Media at MIT — the non-profit entity just announced new funding for the center, and a new director in online media pioneer and long-time Harvard University fellow Ethan Zuckerman.
Continue reading about Can MIT’s Media Lab help to reinvent local media?
Citrix CTO, Simon Crosby, today explained how enterprise workers will use the public cloud even if it breaks the rules. And the “cloud in your pocket” on a smartphone is changing the I.T. segment faster than anything else. He has a solution for the security though.
Continue reading about Memo to I.T.: Don’t fight the public cloud; embrace it
After years of debating what cloud computing really is, we’re finally starting to get a clearer picture. Today and tomorrow at Structure 2011, we’ll look at how the cloud landscape is shaping up. Click here to watch the live stream.
More than 80 percent of venture capitalists surveyed for the 2011 Global Venture Capital Survey said current IPO activity levels in their home countries are still too low to support the health of the market.
HTML 5 and the mobile web are supposed to be the great unifier across platforms, but we might not need such a solution. For the first time ever, Flurry Analytics says people are using apps more than they’re using the mobile web on smartphones and tablets.
Continue reading about Sorry HTML 5, mobile apps are used more than the web
Hulu has reportedly been approach by a company that wants to buy the video site, and is now evaluating its options. Little is known about the potential buyer, other than some people saying it ain’t Google. Which is why we are asking: Who wants Hulu?
Continue reading about Hulu considers sale, but who’s the bidder?
Mobile devices, led by the iPad and Android phones and tablets, have overtaken computers on Wi-Fi networks, according to a new report. It’s another sign that when it comes to getting connected, people are leaving the laptop closed and reaching for their pockets.
Continue reading about Mobile devices overtake computers on Wi-Fi networks
Many still view TWiT as a podcast network, but Leo Laporte and his CEO Lisa Kentzell have big ambitions for live video streaming. The duo gave us a tour of their new studio and talked about the virtues of bootstrapping and their plans for TWiT.
Continue reading about Bootstrapping the CNN of tech: The story of TWiT
The Android smartphone onslaught may have hit its peak, at least in the U.S., according to an analyst who thinks that the expanded rollout of the iPhone to other carriers will check the rise of Google’s OS. Cheaper iPhones will also help eat into Android’s lead.
Continue reading about IPhone gains eat into Android dominance. Can it last?
Apple is joining the board of the Bluetooth standards organization as the group focuses the latest iteration of Bluetooth on the market for fitness and health sensor data from mobile devices. But can Bluetooth beat out a variety of other standards hoping win in bioinformatics?
Continue reading about Aided by Apple, Bluetooth ready for health monitoring
OnSwipe is launching the full version of its web-publishing service today, which allows media companies to create tablet-friendly views of their content that look and act like apps. But will that be enough to drag publishers out of the arms of Apple and its walled garden?
Continue reading about Can OnSwipe convince media to go web instead of app?
OS X Lion will only be available in the Mac App Store, but a 4 GB download-only OS upgrade is going to be trying for some consumers, because of connection quality and bandwidth caps. Apple has one possible solution: come use our retail store Wi-Fi.
Continue reading about Lion download too fat? There’s Apple store (WiFi) for that.
It looks like rumors of display advertising’s death were greatly exaggerated. Nearly all the tech industry’s largest players are expected to report growth in their display ad businesses for 2011, with Facebook leading the pack. Why are display and banner ads on the upswing?
Continue reading about Big data leads to a big revival for display ads
Online anonymity has been taking a beating recently, with the Gay Girl in Damascus affair and a recent piece by the former ombudsman at NPR criticizing anonymous comments. But allowing people to be anonymous has real value for society that shouldn’t be dismissed so quickly.
Continue reading about Anonymity has real value, both in comments and elsewhere
Although dedicated e-readers arrived and became popular before the current tablet trend, multi-purpose connected slates are set to outsell single-purpose devices as early as next year. While some will always prefer an eInk reader over a tablet, software and connectivity are powering tablet sales past e-readers.
Continue reading about The page turns: Tablets to outsell e-readers by 2012
Seesmic, a popular third-party Twitter client for desktop and mobile devices, today announced it would end support for BlackBerry handsets at the end of June. One developer doesn’t make a trend, but this could be the start of one, given RIM’s struggles as it slowly transitions.
Continue reading about Seesmic dumps BlackBerry: Start of a stampede?
IDC today released the results of a report finding that the cloud services market by $72.9 billion by 2015, drive almost entirely by Software as a Service. This suggests — likely accurately — that SaaS is the key to cloud computing ubiquity.
Author John Locke has become the new poster boy for self-publishing via Amazon’s Kindle platform by selling more than a million copies of his e-books. Along with fellow author Amanda Hocking, he is leading a wave of self-publishers who are looking to bypass the traditional industry.
Continue reading about Future of media: The rise of the million-selling Kindle author
Skype added deeper Facebook integration to its latest software for Windows, bringing instant messaging, the ability to “like” a Facebook status from Skype and improved contact integration. This is just the start for a stronger partnership between the two and it doesn’t end on the desktop.
Continue reading about Why Skype just added deeper Facebook integration
Big data tools are an incredibly important way to help better manage the world’s resources, like energy consumption, food production and fuel use. Here are 5 companies that are leveraging big data to help the planet:
Continue reading about 5 companies using big data to help the planet
Facebook has been talking to various music services with a focus on social sharing and discovery of music. In this exclusive report, we share some of Facebook’s plans and features. Expect these announcements at its annual developer conference, likely to be held in August.
Continue reading about Revealed: Facebook’s music plans involve Spotify, others
Facebook has been talking to various music services with a focus on social sharing and discovery of music. In this exclusive report, we share some of Facebook’s plans and features. Expect these announcements at its annual developer conference, likely to be held in August.
Continue reading about Revealed: Facebook’s music plans involve Spotify, others
Netflix, the popular online video service seems to be having an outage of some sorts. For past hour or so, I have been trying to access the service but I have been unable to watch it on my iPad or on my Apple TV.
Continue reading about Updated: Netflix goes offline. What’s up?
Last week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) gave the green light to Microsoft’s $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype, the Internet telephony company. Now there are reports that many key senior executives have left or have been asked to leave the company.
You might have seen me post about San Francisco-based Instagram way more than any of the newer mobile apps and services.The question is why Instagram works? And how did it get to over 5 million users so quickly. This comment just might answer that question.
Just because it works in the United States, doesn’t mean it will work in China. It’s a lesson some of our biggest tech brands have learned the hard way. And as Groupon attempts expands east, critics say its already making the same mistakes.
Continue reading about Groupon in China: Ebay all over again?
At Google’s I/O event last month, the company announced new features and a new pricing model for its App Engine PaaS offering, and now the web giant thinks it’s prepared to compete with companies like Red Hat and Salesforce.com in bringing enterprise users to its platform.
Continue reading about Can Google App Engine compete in the enterprise?
There’s a tension at the heart of web working. Technology allows us to do our jobs anywhere, and there’s plenty of appetite for the flexibility of location-independence. But while workers want autonomy, they also want social connection. How will this tension be resolved in the future?
Continue reading about Virtual offices vs. virtual selves: overcoming isolation in a wired future
There are a lot of new features coming in iOS 5, and they should enable App Store developers to do a lot more with their software. There are a few apps in particular that would benefit from some of the things iOS 5 has to offer.
Continue reading about 5 great apps that should get even better in iOS 5
Nimbuzz, a Rotterdam, Netherlands-based Internet telephony company says it has signed up 50 million registered users across the globe. That’s minuscule when compared to Skype, but it’s still significant milestone for the upstart company which signs up 100,000 new users a day.
Sony content disappeared from Netflix Friday, after distributor Starz had reached an IP distribution cap in its contract. Starz had reached a maximum number of users that can access the service from online video services — with the vast majority of those subscribers coming from Netflix.
Continue reading about The real reason Sony movies disappeared from Netflix
As Turntable.fm has shown, a new era of social music may be upon us, one that is less about scaling wide, but more about going deep. The third era of social music is about immersion as sites add more immediacy and intimacy to the experience.
Continue reading about Turntable.fm and SoundCloud ushering in new era of social music
Zynga has been releasing details about its innovative hybrid cloud deployment, called Z Cloud, over the past year, and it has finally revealed the final piece of the puzzle. Namely, that the private cloud component of its infrastructure was built using Cloud.com’s CloudStack software.
Continue reading about The final piece of Zynga’s Z Cloud revealed
Transparency is something we want from our collaborators, know has value, but often lag about providing ourselves. While studies show that transparency nearly always results in better outcomes, people often withhold information because they feel it would take too much time or are uncomfortable sharing it.
Continue reading about The importance of transparency in collaboration
Twitter and Facebook are great tools for reporting on world events — but what happens when we turn those tools on one another? We got a glimpse of that in Vancouver, and it was a glimpse of a future that some would rather not see.
Continue reading about Social media brings out the snitch in all of us
Hulu topped all other ad networks for online video ads served, with 1.3 billion ad impressions during the month of May, according to comScore. That’s more than a quarter of the 4.6 billion ads that were served up by online video properties during the month.
Continue reading about Hulu served up a quarter of all online video ads last month
Hulu topped all other ad networks for online video ads served, with 1.3 billion ad impressions during the month of May, according to comScore. That’s more than a quarter of the 4.6 billion ads that were served up by online video properties during the month.
Continue reading about Hulu served up a quarter of all online video ads last month
Spotify, the European on-demand music service, has reportedly closed on about $100 million in a new funding round from DST, Kleiner Perkins and Accel Partners that values the company at $1 billion. The fresh funding could be put toward Spotify’s highly anticipated US launch.
Continue reading about Spotify poised for US debut, with fresh funds and Facebook ties
Five years ago today, the first ever video of lonelygirl15 was published on YouTube. Back then, many YouTube users thought lonelygirl15 was just an average teenager — but the character was part of a scripted show, which eventually became the first major web series success story.
Continue reading about Happy birthday, Bree! lonelygirl15 turns 5
Many recent headlines have been devoted to Facebook’s focus on HTML5, and specifically on an internal HTML5-based project at the company dubbed “Project Spartan.” But Facebook’s investment in HTML5 is nothing new — and it’s certainly nothing that the company has been secretive about.
Continue reading about Project Spartan isn’t anti-Apple — it’s just pro-Facebook
Web work has many benefits, but less discussed are the downsides. Several experts feel that there is at least one serious one: increased workaholism. Does being on the cutting edge of connectivity and evolving workstyles make web workers more vulnerable to becoming workaholics?
Continue reading about Workaholism: an occupational hazard for web workers?
Qualcomm’s FLO TV may have flopped, but that doesn’t mean that consumers will ignore mobile TV forever: PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts that mobile TV subscription revenue will double over the next four years. And that money could be an indicator for a much bigger trend.
Qualcomm’s FLO TV may have flopped, but that doesn’t mean that consumers will ignore mobile TV forever: PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts that mobile TV subscription revenue will double over the next four years. And that money could be an indicator for a much bigger trend.
E-book lending is on the rise, thanks to the continued growth of the e-book market and programs from online retail giants like Amazon and Barnes Noble. Two distinct business models have emerged to serve the ever-expanding number of users and address challenges that arise.
Continue reading about The state of the e-book lending market
The Guardian newspaper in Britain has made its clearest declaration yet that the future of the organization is online by saying it is going “digital first.” Now all it has to do is prove that this strategy can be a success financially as well as philosophically.
Continue reading about The Guardian draws a line in the sand: Digital comes first
It looks like web hosting giant GoDaddy is getting ready to launch a new cloud computing service called Data Center On Demand that could potentially make a dent in the market share of providers such as Amazon Web Services
Continue reading about GoDaddy unveils its take on cloud computing
Last year, Sony Ericsson dropped Symbian, boldly claiming it would take the top spot in the world for Android device sales. Now that a wireless payment infrastructure exists with Google Wallet, the company is ready to add NFC chips and software from NXP in future handsets.
Continue reading about Sony Ericsson readying NFC in Android phones
Last year, Sony Ericsson dropped Symbian, boldly claiming it would take the top spot in the world for Android device sales. Now that a wireless payment infrastructure exists with Google Wallet, the company is ready to add NFC chips and software from NXP in future handsets.
Continue reading about Sony Ericsson readying NFC in Android phones
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts showed off the company’s new user interface today. But more important than the improved search, personalization and social features are how they’re delivered: using a cloud-based model, Comcast will be able to accelerate innovation and add features more quickly and easily.
Continue reading about Did the cloud just kill the set-top box?
Nearly eleven years after Tim Westergen and his colleagues started Pandora, it began trading on the public markets. Westergen has been through hell and back and his story is no different from any entrepreneur who dares to try to capture lightning in a bottle.
Continue reading about Pandora: A journey undertaken for love, not money
A new report from the Pew Center shows that not only are users of social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter more socially and politically engaged both online and offline, but there are few signs of any “echo chamber” effects from online social activity.
Continue reading about Line between online and offline life continues to blur
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts showed off the next-generation cable broadband technology, which could deliver data at over 1 gigabit per second to our homes. Roberts showed a live 11-mile cable network, touting it as the future of wireline broadband.
Facebook is reportedly planning on launching an HTML5-based web app platform codenamed Project Spartan in order to take on Apple in the mobile app market. It’s the obvious play for a company that lives on the web, but here’s why it won’t work for mobile users.
Continue reading about Apple might not get social, but Facebook doesn’t get mobile apps
WayIn is a new startup being developed by Sun Microsystems’ co-founder Scott McNealy. But so far, the tech industry veteran is going about WayIn’s launch in a slightly unexpected way: entirely over Twitter. On Wednesday, McNealy took to Twitter to answer questions about his new company.
Continue reading about Sun co-founder launches new startup — on Twitter
After being celebrated as the future of money, the “peer-to-peer crypto currency” known as Bitcoin has taken some serious hits recently, including being derided as a scam and targeted by senators. Now a user says he has lost $500,000 in Bitcoins in a massive theft.
Continue reading about Bitcoin virtual currency may be the worst of both worlds
Google has held back iOS users from the full Gmail experience that Android owners have enjoyed since 2008. Three changes to Google Sync bring Apple’s Mail and Calendar apps closer to parity. Between these and new iOS 5 features, might some switch from Android to iOS?
Continue reading about Could Google Sync updates push Android users to iOS?
Google has held back iOS users from the full Gmail experience that Android owners have enjoyed since 2008. Three changes to Google Sync bring Apple’s Mail and Calendar apps closer to parity. Between these and new iOS 5 features, might some switch from Android to iOS?
Continue reading about Could Google Sync updates push Android users to iOS?
I have to admit, I’m still not convinced that the iPad will be my laptop replacement. However, with the help of the Apple wireless keyboard and some other peripherals and apps, it can come close. Here are some tips to make your iPad work-worthy:
Continue reading about 4 tips (and a hack) to make your iPad work-worthy
I have to admit, I’m still not convinced that the iPad will be my laptop replacement. However, with the help of the Apple wireless keyboard and some other peripherals and apps, it can come close. Here are some tips to make your iPad work-worthy:
Continue reading about 4 tips (and a hack) to make your iPad work-worthy
Amid all the flailing around that media companies are doing to try and solve their revenue problems, with paywalls and iPad apps, too few are looking at how connecting with their community (or communities) of readers can help increase engagement and lead to new revenue models.
Continue reading about Future of media: Community is your new business model
Amid all the flailing around that media companies are doing to try and solve their revenue problems, with paywalls and iPad apps, too few are looking at how connecting with their community (or communities) of readers can help increase engagement and lead to new revenue models.
Continue reading about Future of media: Community is your new business model
We now have seamless connectivity via mobile devices; people can always be connected. This connectivity offers an opportunity to create a different kind of Internet experience that’s more immersive and interactive. That persistent connection is what allows us to create and experience the Alive Web.
LexisNexis is releasing a set of open source data-processing tools that it says outperforms Hadoop and even handles workloads that Hadoop presently cannot. There have been calls for a legitimate alternative to Hadoop, and this certainly looks like one.
Continue reading about LexisNexis open sources its Hadoop killer
Facebook is about to lunch a doozy of a photo sharing app for iOS, according to a new report. It describes an app that takes Facebook’s formidable photo sharing abilities and packages them as an easy-to-use mobile app. If Facebook starts playing, will everyone else fold?
Continue reading about Is Facebook about to have the last word in iPhone photo sharing?
The power balance between desktop computers and mobile devices has finally shifted. Google debuted improvements to its web search that show an increased prioritization of the mobile experience. Two of the three features make desktop search like mobile and the other is made for mobile.
More capable smartphones and tablets, combined with a growing number of online video services are heavily increasing mobile media consumption: Limelight’s data shows a 600 percent jump from the past year and that’s a bad sign for those hoping unlimited data plans will stick around.
Continue reading about Mobile media use up 600% as unlimited plans tune out
Netflix execs may insist publicly that they’re no threat to cable, but there’s plenty of evidence that the company’s subscription service and pay TV offerings are squarely competing for the eye balls and subscription dollars of the very same audience. In other words: It’s on!
Continue reading about Who are we kidding? Of course it’s Netflix vs. cable.
Rovio wants to take Angry Birds local by enhancing game play for users when they visit real-world locations. The feature builds off an NFC feature for certain Nokia phones, and unlocks new levels when users tap their phones together or tap in at a location.
Continue reading about Angry Birds looks to conjure some location-based Magic [Video]
Google is emerging as the ultimate clean power sugar daddy. On Tuesday, Google announced it has made its largest investment in clean power to date, creating a $280 million fund for rooftop solar panel projects that will be installed by solar company SolarCity.
Continue reading about Google invests $280M in SolarCity solar roof fund
Ericsson, the Swedish networking equipment maker is buying Piscataway, NJ-based telecom software provider Telcordia for $1.15 billion, the company announced this morning. Telcordia, which can trace it roots back to the old ATT makes software for billing and operation support.
Continue reading about Ericsson buys Telcordia for $1.15 Billion
After nearly two years of accusations over patent infringement, Nokia and Apple have signed a peace accord. But rather than end the rash of patent lawsuits across the mobile industry, the deal could send the Finnish company on the warpath.
Continue reading about Why Nokia deal with Apple may spark mobile patent war
RIM, the company behind the iconic Blackberry line of smartphones is said to be teaming up with YOU i Labs, an Ontario-based company that is known for having developed HTC’s Sense user experience layer. What does that mean? An enhanced Blackberry UI for starters.
Facebook’s S-1 could come as early as October of this year, CNBC reported Monday. Facebook is said to be targeting the first quarter of 2012 for its IPO, which could value the social network at more than $100 billion, according to the report.
Continue reading about Facebook may give in to the inevitable & file for an IPO
Online dating service eHarmony is using SeaMicro’s specialized Intel Atom-powered servers as the foundation of its Hadoop infrastructure, demonstrating that big data applications such as Hadoop might be a killer app for low-powered micro servers.
Comcast has partnered with Skype to bring its video chat service to subscriber living rooms. With an adapter box and HD video camera, Comcast subscribers will soon be able to video chat with any other Skype users from the comfort of their living rooms.
Continue reading about Comcast bringing Skype video chat into the living room
We’ve spent so long consuming the news in fairly predictable formats that the new forms of journalism we are seeing all around us can be confusing. But these new forms have the potential to broaden the field immensely, and that is a good thing.
Continue reading about What does the journalism of the future look like?
Nokia is about to lose its crown as the smartphone king, but not to Apple. Instead, Samsung will take up the mantle of top smartphone seller according to analysts at Nomura. These five reasons explain how it’s Samsung’s smartphone Galaxy and we just live in it.
Continue reading about Why Samsung is about to become the smartphone king
Apple seems to have a significant impact on the future of work without directly intending to. The company’s next generation mobile operating system brings big improvements for consumers, but they’ll be no less beneficial to mobile workers.
Continue reading about Apple will shake up web work once again with iOS 5
As expected, at an event at the White House on Monday, Obama administration officials unveiled a slew of programs and initiatives that will aim to help add information technology to the power grid to make the grid more efficient and more secure.
Continue reading about Obama administration unveils programs to build the smart grid
Coworking centers — independent collaboration spaces that appeal to web workers who would otherwise be based out of their homes or coffee shops — have been springing up all over the world. But how much does it cost to rent a desk at one of these places?
Continue reading about Coworking costs less than working from a coffee shop
The cable business isn’t going to cede its share of the broadband market by waiting around for coaxial cable to become obsolete, and now cable providers won’t have to make an expensive transition to a fiber-to-the-home infrastructure to achieve gigabit networks.
Continue reading about Forget fiber; cable shows off 4.5 Gbps speeds
It took months for the world to pick up on the plight of Amina Arraf, a lesbian blogger from Damascus who challenged the authorities — and her readers — to understand the troubles of Syria’s population. Her end, however, was decidedly swift. After a series questions [...]
Continue reading about Syrian lesbian blog is a hoax: So who’s to blame?
It took months for the world to pick up on the plight of Amina Arraf, a lesbian blogger from Damascus who challenged the authorities — and her readers — to understand the troubles of Syria’s population. Her end, however, was decidedly swift. After a series questions [...]
Continue reading about Syrian lesbian blog is a hoax: So who’s to blame?
As the recent report from the FCC on the future of media makes clear, describing the industry’s problems is a lot easier than coming up with solutions. Washington Post managing editor Raju Narisetti doesn’t have any answers either, but says now isn’t the time for incrementalism.
Continue reading about Future of media: This is no time for incrementalism
At the IEEE Technology Time Machine Symposium last week I heard the world’s leading academics, engineers, executives, and government officials project what the world will look like in 2020. The future brings technology together for everything from enhancing the human experience to improving environmental sustainability.
Continue reading about 2020 via time machine: networks and systems
Is Hadoop our only hope for solving big data challenges? From scalability to fault tolerance, Hadoop does myriad things very well. Yet, Hadoop is not the solution to all big data problems and use cases. Several key issues remain, including investment, complexity and batch-only processing.
Continue reading about Democratizing big data — is Hadoop our only hope?
At the IEEE Technology Time Machine Symposium last week I listened to the world’s leading academics, engineers, executives, and government officials project what the world will look like in 2020. The future brings technology together for everything from enhancing the human experience to improving environmental sustainability.
Continue reading about 2020 via time machine: components, devices, and technologies
Android-like features are coming to iOS 5 this fall, helping to address some shortcomings of Apple’s platform. Consumers who would still prefer an Android device have two nice choices in the new HTC Evo 3D and Motorola Photon 4G, plus the Market gains a nice feature.
Continue reading about Android This Week: iOS 5 vs Android; Sprint adds Droids; Market improves
While there’s no single way to kick off a group in a collaborative process, the available research says you should start small with a specific, achievable goal, rather than trying to implement a full technology platform at the same time as you’re organizing the project.
Continue reading about Small wins beat stretch goals in collaborative projects
TV ads will increasingly become performance-based, moving the industry beyond just trying to amass huge audiences, according to execs from media agency Initiative. That could change the way that brands and agencies think about media buying, and could be disruptive to Nielsen’s ratings system.
Continue reading about Bad news for Nielsen: TV ads to be bought more like online ads
Apple appears to be getting a little help from its frenemies in getting iCloud off the ground. A series of screenshots posted at InfiniteApple indicates that iCloud may be utilizing Amazon’s cloud storage system AWS and Microsoft’s Azure cloud service to help run iMessage.
Continue reading about Is Apple tapping Amazon and Microsoft to boost iCloud?
When the FCC said it was putting together a report on the future of media, many feared that it would recommend subsidies and other breaks for traditional media entities, but the report actually provides very little help for media companies, other than some helpful advice.
Continue reading about FCC to media: Don’t look to us, we can’t help you
EcoFactor, a startup that uses big data tools to act as a new brain for connected thermostats, says on average its services can reduce a person’s home energy use by 17 percent compared to a programmable but non-optimized thermostat.
Continue reading about EcoFactor: Using big data to reduce home energy by 17%
Interactive fashion website Polyvore has officially entered into inflection point territory. The Mountain View, Calif.-based startup, which is backed with $8.2 million in venture capital, has achieved profitable operations and is currently seeing record web traffic, co-founder Jess Lee told me in an interview this week.
Continue reading about Now profitable, Polyvore strikes a pose as top fashion site
Google continues to battle its platform fragmentation challenges by adding a software compatibility check on the web-based Android Market. Supporting both smartphones and tablets, this change is good for consumers and developers, even as more devices are brought up to current Android versions.
Continue reading about Android Market tells you which apps work on your device
Though they’re still emerging, location-based services are expected to bring in $10 billion in revenue from consumers and advertisers by 2016, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. The biggest chunk, just over 50 percent, will come from location-based search advertising.
Continue reading about Location-based services worth $10B by 2016
The majority of data center operators are relying on server virtualization, hot and cold aisle containment and power monitoring software to make their operations more energy-efficient, according to data released today by an industry research group. And many data center operators are eying the cloud.
Continue reading about Power is a problem. Cloud is the answer
Apple teased the next installment of OS X, 10.7 Lion, again at WWDC on Monday, and set its release for July. But this upgrade might leave a lot of users cold, even as it paves the way for wider adoption of OS X down the road.
Continue reading about The future of Mac is not for the faint of heart nor the spinning drive
Groupon’s prospectus for an IPO started arguments over the company’s huge losses. Silicon Valley wants Groupon to look like a technology company, but right now it’s more or less in the Yellow Pages business. But by better applying big data analysis, Groupon could start seeing profits.
Continue reading about Big data could be Groupon’s ticket to profitability
Nokia’s CTO has left with no timetable for a return. The wheels continue to fall off for the company, which is skidding down the road solely due to momentum, which is slowing. Like a modern retro car, however, Microsoft gives Nokia a chance to survive.
Continue reading about Nokia’s wheels continue to fall off along the road
Mobile operators are freaking out about the growth of mobile devices, mobile video and their shrinking ARPU. But a respected research group with plenty of carrier clients issued a report this week that essentially tells carriers to stop whining. They can afford to invest.
Continue reading about Analyst tells operators to quit whining about the mobile tsunami
Former AOL CEO Steve Case and former Time Warner CEO Jerry Levin are reuniting to help spur on innovation in health and wellness. Levin, with the help of Case’s Startup America Partnership, is launching a new strategic initiative called StartUp Health designed to help health entrepreneurs.
Continue reading about Steve Case and Jerry Levin reunite to accelerate health technology
Another week, another Facebook privacy firestorm. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based social networking giant has come under fire for potentially violating user privacy by turning on facial recognition technology worldwide. Here’s a look at some of the things people around the web are saying about the issue.
Continue reading about Facebook facial recognition: What the web is saying
Like oil and vinegar, marketing and IT just don’t mix well. But as social media flourishes and marketers try to use it to their advantage, its time to bridge the gap. Big data, cheap processing, and social media, are changing the advertising and marketing landscape.
Continue reading about In a data driven world, marketing and IT must come together
When Steve Jobs flashed inside images of Apple’s new cloud data center during his WWDC keynote on Monday, he ignited a mini firestorm of speculation about just kind hardware is filling its immense surface area. Everyone seems to agree that HP and Teradata were big winners.
Continue reading about The web’s watchful eye fixes on Apple’s cloud gear
While Android Market is growing fast, it has an attrition rate that is twice as high as Apple’s App Store. That explains why, contrary to previous reports, Android Market is not on pace to overtake Apple’s App Store in overall apps.
Continue reading about App attrition on Android Market twice as high vs. App Store
Apple officially abandoned DRM for its iTunes music store more than two years ago. However, users who re-download any of their past copy-protected purchases as part of Apple’s new iCloud offering once again get files with DRM. Is the company punishing its most loyal customers?
Continue reading about Apple’s iCloud punishes honest iTunes users with DRM
Apple this week unveiled iMessage, a feature that enables iOS users to exchange text messages and images without incurring carrier messaging charges. Despite headlines to the contrary, though, iMessage is not going to kill the cash cow that is SMS for at least three reasons.
Continue reading about 3 reasons why iMessage won’t kill SMS
IT analytics company Splunk has received a patent for its method of organizing and presenting big data to mirror the experience of browsing links on the web. Splunk wants users to think about big data like a web problem and not like an analytics problem.
A company called Liquid Robotics, which makes a wave-powered marine robot, took one step closer to world domination and announced it’s raised $22 million from Silicon Valley venture firm VantagePoint Capital Partners and oil and gas vendor Schlumberger.
Continue reading about Wave-powered robots to monitor the oceans
Altough I’ve used Android phones nearly exclusively for 18 months, Apple’s iOS 5 impresses so far. It address issues I had with Apple’s mobile platform and I could switch, regardless of who invented what functionality, because I use the right tool for the task at hand.
Continue reading about iOS 5 from an Android owner’s perspective
World IPv6 Day, a 24-hour test of the new version of the Internet address protocol IPv6, is slated to begin on Wednesday June 8th at midnight UTC. With Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and many others participating, how will the Internet handle the big test?
Continue reading about World IPv6 Day is almost here — are you prepared?
RunKeeper is now poised to become a full-fledged fitness network with the release of a Health Graph API, which opens up the RunKeeper experience enabling a host of apps and devices to publish to RunKeeper’s FitnessFeed and contribute to its Health Graph.
Continue reading about RunKeeper builds a fitness network with Health Graph API
Nintendo unveiled its next-generation console today, with the Wii U, which features a tablet-like controller. We couldn’t help but think that Nintendo, far from innovating in this instance, borrowed liberally from the iPad and the way people use it for gaming and watching TV.
Continue reading about Nintendo’s Wii U takes its cues from the iPad
In another example of the power of instantaneous publishing, a woman in Florida who was raped posted messages about the incident to Twitter — raising questions about how the media should handle such events, and reinforcing how the way we get our news and information is changing.
Continue reading about Twitter as media: What happens when anyone can publish?
On May 30, 2006, we incorporated GigaOM, the company. Just 24 hours later, our investors, True Ventures, wired me the seed money to get going. They also presented me with a check in an envelope that had three simple words: Live the dream.
Continue reading about Five years of GigaOM: The story of us [Video]
Apple’s head of design Jonny Ive has been public about the influence uber designer Dieter Rams on his work. Now the man behind many of German company Braun’s iconic design speaks about Ive, Steve Jobs, Apple and the importance of design in today’s world.
Continue reading about Top designer Dieter Rams on what makes Apple special
The Financial Times has struck out on its own against Apple, urging subscribers to switch away from iTunes in favor of a dedicated HTML5 app. It helps the venerable newspaper break free of Steve Jobs’s iron grip — but will others follow suit?
Continue reading about Can the FT help publishers quit their Apple addiction?
Apple showed its hand today during the WWDC keynote, and the company is clearly all-in on a cloud-based mobile future. In fact, in many ways it looks a lot like the approach Android has taken, but in fact, Apple’s strategy couldn’t be more different.
Continue reading about Google’s browser-based cloud to be challenged by Apple’s apps
Frederic Filloux at The Monday Note argues that the metered paywall approach can have substantial benefits for papers that implement one, as the New York Times has. But those positives are more than outweighed by the negatives, including the opportunity that paywalls create for free competitors.
Continue reading about Why newspaper paywalls are still a bad idea
iOS 5 introduces a lot of changes for Apple’s mobile operating system, but iMessages is one of the most significant. It lets iPad, iPhone and iPod touch owners send rich and group messages free of charge. It’s borrows from RIM’s playbook, but also challenges network operators.
Continue reading about iMessage: Biting RIM’s style and sticking it to network operators
Apple officially launched its much-hyped iCloud suite of services at its Worldwide Developer Conference today, and although the capabilities are sure to be the talk of the town, it’s Apple’s cloud infrastructure that makes it all work. Steve Jobs said as much during his WWDC keynote.
Continue reading about Apple launches iCloud; here’s what powers it
Apple, which at one time was hot and heavy with Facebook, is embracing Twitter and has integrated the San Francisco-based Twitter’s service into its iOS 5 mobile operating system. It has also built Twitter into some of its key applications such as Camera.
Continue reading about Apple gives Twitter a big boost with iOS integration
Apple’s WWDC keynote address, to be presented by Steve Jobs and other Apple executives, kicks off at 10 AM PDT. We’ll be liveblogging the presentation for you right here, so you can stay on top of Apple’s exciting new software announcements as they unfold.
EBay said it’s buying up the rest of ecommerce platform Magento in a bid to build a broader commerce operating system that spans online, mobile, social and local. EBay is looking to be the go-to resource for online and offline retailers, helping connect them to consumers.
Continue reading about EBay acquires Magento, builds a commerce OS
Stealthy startup SuVolta has pioneered an improvement in the chip manufacturing process that will help cut the power usage of semiconductors by half, while maintaining their performance. The process, which it plans to license, changes a few of the ingredients used to make chips.
Continue reading about Stealthy chip startup’s technology is a big power play
Kickstarter, the crowd funding platform, is changing how we create and consume things became famous thanks to Lunatik and TikTok (that made kits to turn the iPod Nano into a wrist watch). Here is a new project has a potential of being equally big.
Continue reading about Is This The Next Red Hot iPhone AddOn?
IMAP4 is a little discussed but widely used protocol for accessing and managing email. As it turns out, IMAP is also a great way to deliver information to mobile applications, by repurposing mobile IMAP clients for use in a wide range of mobile applications.
Continue reading about IMAP4 : The mobile application protocol we didn’t know we had
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer or tax attorney. Please consult with one before making any financial decisions as to what to do or not do with your options. Stock options are complicated; the paperwork that accompanies them can sometimes be a full inch thick of [...]
Continue reading about 5 Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make with Stock Options
Is Twitter like a spoken conversation, the kind you would have with friends in a bar? Or is it like a written discussion? One of the things that can make Twitter hard to define is that it can be both of those at the same time.
Continue reading about Is Twitter Like Speech or Like Writing? The Answer Is Yes
Since the concept of “private cloud” was introduced, there have been efforts by certain people to prove it “wrong” or show that it doesn’t make sense when compared with the public cloud. This seems like a silly crusade — both provide tremendous value.
Continue reading about Clouds Are Like Buses: Public Isn’t Always Better
There are signs that Apple’s Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme are poised for an updated, based on diminishing stock of the current models. Buzz is that the refresh will provide caching for software updates. But what if it provides media streaming caching, too?
Continue reading about How Apple’s Next AirPort Routers Could Make a Great CDN
Solar rooftops only work in specific environments — an area with enough sun, or a roof with the right tilt — and a company called Geostellar is using big data tools to help its solar installer customers deliver more solar in places where it actually makes economic sense.
How exactly did the recession affect remote work – were employers spoiled for choice and reluctant to allow flexibility? Did lean economic times increase the number of workers looking for remote gigs? WebWorkerDaily spoke to Sara Sutton Fell, the founder and CEO of FlexJobs, to find out:
Continue reading about A Silver Lining to the Recession: Increased Telecommuting
If I said one of the leading smartphone companies faces a decline in market share as it works to transition to a new mobile operating system, would you say I was talking about Nokia? That would be right, but Research In Motion is just as correct.
Continue reading about RIM’s Woes Worsen: Reported Delays and Slowing Sales
Microsoft is trying to position its six year-old Xbox 360 less as a video game console and more as an “all-in-one entertainment device.” But it might have difficult getting content providers on board, unless it makes its platform easier to develop for.
Continue reading about Xbox 360: The Living Room’s 800-Pound Gorilla?
Many mainstream media companies are busy releasing me-too iPad apps and launching paywalls, but few are doing anything really innovative or different. Anil Dash of Activate Media says media entities need to find ways of disrupting themselves and their businesses by hacking their own organizations.
Continue reading about What Media Companies Need to Learn From Startups
The Android handset makers HTC and Motorola are extending their user interface skins in new directions that are meant to help differentiate their hardware though in some cases, it could exacerbate Android’s fragmentation problem. The moves show how competitive it is for Android hardware makers.
Continue reading about Android Phone Makers Push the Edge in Drive to Differentiate
I make extensive use of smart folders and tags to sort my email into logical groups that I can easily process all at once. The key is to use rules and filters that automatically sort my email without any additional intervention from me.
Continue reading about Take Control of Your Inbox: 9 Ways to Sort Email
In the U.S. if you want a 50 Mbps-to-a-100 Mbps connection, it is going to cost you plenty – about $105 with a triple play plan. On the other side of the planet, however, you can buy 1 Gbps broadband for $20 a month.
Continue reading about 1 Gbps for $20 a Month? That’s Cheap Broadband!
Among those debating the value of Groupon as it filed for its hotly-awaited initial public offering were two startup entrepreneurs — 37signals partner David Heinemeier Hansson, who argued it is doomed to fail, and SimpleGeo founder Joe Stump, who looked on the bright side.
Continue reading about Groupon: Doomed to Fail or Worth a Leap? A Twitter Debate
Google launched the +1 button, a social signaling effort that at first blush seems to be all about publishers and page views. In reality it is about the future of web commerce, where Facebook is becoming even more influential, thanks to it’s near ubiquitous Like button.
Continue reading about Google +1, Facebook Likes & the Battle for Web Commerce
Groupon’s hotly-awaited initial stock offering will either stand as a beacon of hope to technology and Internet stocks of all kinds, or as a giant warning sign indicating a huge bubble of irrational exuberance. The company’s prospectus contains plenty of evidence for both sides.
Continue reading about Is Groupon Selling Tickets to the Bubble Parade?
Even under the best of circumstances– standing desks, ergonomic keyboards, customized chairs– typing can be a major pain. Voice recognition technology startup SoundHound hopes to eventually be a part of the solution by allowing people to simply talk to our computers rather than type.
Continue reading about Voice Recognition Is the Future, and SoundHound Wants to Power It
As countries like Iran and Syria step up their attempts to filter and even shut down access to the Internet, a new UNESCO report looks at the attempts by repressive governments around the world to censor and corral free speech on the Internet.
Continue reading about Governments Are Still Trying to Kill, Replace or Undo the Internet
Apple has to do more than just upgrade MobileMe or match its competitors to provide a cloud offering that really catches fire with consumers on Monday. I talked with the CTO of a cloud management company to see just how far iCloud needs to go.
Continue reading about Can Apple Make the Cloud Work for Consumers?
Mashup artists, your life just got easier. YouTube is now making it possible remix existing videos right within its online video editor. The site is also adopting Creative Commons licensing, immediately making more than 10,000 Creative Commons-licensed videos available for reuse. Both steps have wide-ranging implications.
Continue reading about Why YouTube Adopting Creative Commons Is a Big Deal
Apple is now the confirmed owner of iCloud.com, as originally reported by GigaOM. Trademark applications are also underway, and reports of what’s in store for Apple’s cloud service are gearing up ahead of Monday’s announcement. Here’s what might be in store for consumers.
Continue reading about What We Know About iCloud, and What We Don’t
Ford is working on a technology that enables cars to talk to each other, and could help cars avoid crashes and reduce fuel consumption. The technology won’t be available at least for another 5 years or so and is based on WiFi and GPS.
Continue reading about Ford’s “Talking Cars” Could Reduce Crashes, Fuel Use
Blogger Anil Dash mused Wednesday in a post that Apple could make Twitter, or at least a similar service that provides real-time cross-platform messaging. He points out hurdles, but a bigger one comes to mind: Apple likely isn’t interested in making something even remotely like Twitter.
Continue reading about Apple Could Copy Twitter But it Won’t, and Here’s Why
Earlier today Nokia stock hit a 13-year-low. Despite what CEO Stephen Elop says, it is hard to reconcile the falling share price with what is arguably the hottest mobile market. The funny thing is that as a company they shouldn’t have been in this position.
Voice recognition has long failed to gain much traction in mobile thanks to technology that was overhyped and underwhelming. But Apple could once again change the way we interact with our phones by integrating the technology with its upcoming iOS 5.
Continue reading about What Voice Recognition Technology Could Mean for Apple — and All of Us
Shaquille O’Neal’s retirement announcement may have caused waves on Twitter, but it was actually six-week old social video startup Tout that hosted the video in which Shaq told the world he wouldn’t be returning to basketball. And Shaq has big plans for the startup.
Continue reading about Shaq’s Retirement Drives 500k Viewers to Tout in 3 Hours
Twitter is rolling out some new features for its search, including the ability to see tweets ranked by relevance, but the bad news is that there is still much more the company needs to offer if it is really going to do search properly.
Continue reading about New Twitter Search Is Nice, But Still Needs Work
NYSE Technologies is rolling out a cloud platform for financial services firms that lets them provision infrastructure and access the suite NYSE Technologies trading services and market data. The cloud is built using a variety of VMware tools, as well as EMC storage products.
Continue reading about NYSE Builds a Specialty Cloud for Financial Markets
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said this morning that one of the things he’s most proud of is beating BitTorrent, at least in the U.S. Now, he says, the challenge is to beat copyright infringement in places like Korea, where it runs rampant.
Continue reading about Netflix CEO: ‘We’re Finally Beating BitTorrent’
LinkedIn is preparing to launch a plug-in for employers’ websites called “Apply With LinkedIn” that will allow job candidates to apply for available positions with their LinkedIn profiles. “Apply With LinkedIn” is slated to launch later this month, according to a source briefed on the feature.
Continue reading about Exclusive: LinkedIn to Launch Job Application Tool
Wi-Fi will reign supreme by 2015, for the first time causing more worldwide IP traffic than wired devices, according to new data from Cisco. However, mobile network operators aren’t off the hook just yet: Their networks will see data consumption grow 26-fold from 2010 to 2015.
Continue reading about Wi-Fi to Overtake Wired Network Traffic by 2015
The biggest difference between the simply good VCs and the absolutely fabulous ones lies in how each group assesses startups. According to the research in the Startup Genome Project, those tried-and-true metrics may be sending VCs down a less-profitable path.
Continue reading about What VCs Can Learn from Startup Genome Project
It’s been a while since I wrote one of my Om Says newsletters. The fact is that I got hit by a massive writer’s block — the first one in a long time, brought on by various things I have been juggling on the non-writing front. [...]
Continue reading about What Works: The Economics of Good Enough
Media guru Clay Shirky once famously said that the problem of the modern age isn’t information overload at all, it’s “filter failure” — and many new services have been built to help with that. But Eli Pariser says the cure could be worse than the disease.
Continue reading about Do We Have Too Many Filters, Or Not Enough?
Android smartphones are the most data hungry, according to new statistics from Nielsen Co., blowing past the iPhone and other smartphones. But does this indicate more usage on the part of Android users or something inherent in the platform that lends itself to more data use?
Continue reading about Android Smartphones Consume More Data. Here’s Why.
Twitter is expected to offer a photo-sharing feature soon, something that seems so obvious it should have been added a long time ago. While this will spark renewed concerns about Twitter bulldozing its ecosystem, the big question is whether it will help Twitter monetize its network.
Continue reading about Photos Are Great, But Will They Help Twitter Make Money?
Apple made it official early Tuesday morning: We’ll see details about three exciting new software products at WWDC 2011 next week. OS X Lion, iOS 5 and iCloud will all be included in the Monday keynote. But what, specifically, can we expect to see announced?
Continue reading about What to Expect From Apple’s OS X Lion, iOS 5 and iCloud
While using the web to share “stuff” is still a relatively new concept, the business model is being adopted by a growing number of companies and I think has started to reach a tipping point and become more mainstream.
Continue reading about 10 Signs Web-Based Sharing Is Reaching A Tipping Point
The use of the iPad by mobile workers is on the rise, and that brings with it both boons and challenges for productivity. Here’s how you and your remote staff can stay on top of iPad usage, lest iPad usage controls you and your organization instead.
Continue reading about 7 iPad Habits of Highly Effective Remote Workers
The use of the iPad by mobile workers is on the rise, and that brings with it both boons and challenges for productivity. Here’s how you and your remote staff can stay on top of iPad usage, lest iPad usage controls you and your organization instead.
Continue reading about 7 iPad Habits of Highly Effective Remote Workers
100 Cameras in 1, a photo app created by Stuck in Customs, can now export photos directly to Instagram, the first app to do so. If more apps export to Instagram, the upstart photo network could become the center of the iPhone mobile photo experience.
Continue reading about Why Instagram Can Become The Mobile Social Hub
100 Cameras in 1, a photo app created by Stuck in Customs, can now export photos directly to Instagram, the first app to do so. If more apps export to Instagram, the upstart photo network could become the center of the iPhone mobile photo experience.
Continue reading about Why Instagram Can Become The Mobile Social Hub
The first dual-core Android tablets only arrived in February, but Nvidia is already showing off an improved quad-core chip it expects in tablets by August. A video demo of the chip, codenamed “Kal-El,” shows impressive performance: enough that some consumers may wait to buy a tablet.
Continue reading about Don’t Buy a Dual-Core Tablet Until You See This Video
With so much real-time reporting of news events via Twitter, some argue that we no longer need the traditional news article. But while reporting on social networks can be very powerful, we still need someone to make sense of those streams and put them in context.
Continue reading about No, Twitter Is Not a Replacement For Journalism
After years of hype, the IT industry finally had a rude awakening this spring that reminded us that cloud computing infrastructures are vulnerable to the same genetic IT flaw that plagues traditional data center operations: Everything fails sooner or later. Here’s how to build around that.
Continue reading about How to Ensure Business Continuity in the Cloud
Social video sharing and discovery site VHX.tv is preparing to open up for public beta this Tuesday, after launching for private beta in early April. And with an eye-catching design and plenty of fun features, it might be the ultimate “what should I watch?” solution.
Continue reading about Social Video Site VHX.tv Could Win the Discovery War
Last September Chattanooga, Tenn.’s public utility (EPB) announced the first gigabit broadband service in the U.S. To fully grasp the economic power of true broadband, community leaders and broadband champions need look under the hood to get the inside scoop.Here’s what gigabit networks can do.
Continue reading about Take the Chattanooga Choo Choo to the Internet’s Future
Why do bad startups happen to good people? Released today by seed accelerator Blackbox, the Startup Genome Report is a comprehensive map of the factor’s beyond luck, talent and money that make Silicon Valley startups successful/
Continue reading about New Startup? Dude, There’s a (Genome) Map for That
Here’s a phrase PayPal might want to keep in mind as it wages a civil battle against two former executives who defected to Google. Location, location, location. When it comes to employment breach of contract and trade-secret cases, California is a hard state to win in.
Continue reading about In Legal Battle With Google, PayPal Faces Uphill Battle in California
Google announced this week plans to shut down its Translate API “due to the substantial economic burden caused by extensive abuse.” The news raises a question: When dealing with the costly threats of hackers and spam abuse, when should a web company cut its losses?
Continue reading about The Price of Hackers, Spammers and Abuse: When Is It Too Much?
Those who see Twitter as a powerful tool for real-time journalism have another example of how it can be done: New York Times reporter Brian Stelter has posted a thoughtful account of how he used Twitter to report on the aftermath of a tornado in Missouri.
Continue reading about NYT Reporter Shows the Power of Twitter as Journalism
I’ve long recommended SwiftKey as a third-party keyboard for Android smartphones. The keyboard shows intelligence by predicting the next word before tapping a single letter. But the new SwiftKey X, a private beta version now open to the public, is even smarter thanks to the cloud.
Continue reading about How the Smartest Android Keyboard Got Even Smarter
Earlier this week, when networking goliath Cisco all but confirmed it had shut down an ambitiously named Entertainment Operating System (EOS), I suspect some folks at Facebook may have chuckled quietly to themselves. After all, the big social network, which is reportedly in negotiations with all sorts [...]
Continue reading about Meet Facebook, the Web’s Social Entertainment Operating System
Social activity around books used to be limited to Oprah-style book clubs, but Jeff Howe — the author and journalism professor who coined the term “crowdsourcing” — wants to take that concept into the future by using Twitter to create the world’s largest virtual book-reading club.
Continue reading about What If Everyone on Twitter Read the Same Book?
Apple’s hard work winning over record labels may well be rewarded. A new report says that Apple’s upcoming cloud music service will offer the ability to scan your hard drive, and then mirror your music collection on its own servers with better versions of some tracks.
Continue reading about Report: Apple’s Cloud Music Service Will Mirror and Augment Your Library
While the Android Market is on pace to overtake Apple’s App Store in overall apps later this year in terms of sheer volume, it is trailing far behind as a money-making platform for developers, according to new analysis from app research firm Distimo.
Continue reading about Android Still Trails iOS As A Money Maker for Devs
iPad users aren’t stingy with their devices, according to a new usability report by the Nielsen Norman Group focusing on Apple’s tablet. iPad owners tend to share with their household, and they also have very particular tastes about what they do and don’t like in apps.
Continue reading about iPad Usability Study Reveals What We Do and Don’t Like In Apps
The Louisiana-based animation studio Moonbot Studios published its first iPad app this week that turns an animated short film into an interactive storytelling experience. The producers shared some insights into iPad storytelling as well as exclusive behind the scenes footage of the animation process with us.
Continue reading about Film Makers Turn to iPad for Interactive Storytelling
Mature mobile markets like the U.S., Western Europe, Japan and South Korea continue to generate the big dollars for the mobile industry, but the future revenue growth is coming from new telecom economies. That’s resulting in changes in telecom hierarchies across the world.
Continue reading about Meet the Top 20 Mobile Networks in the World
It’s being rumored that Windows 8 could make its debut next week, even though release isn’t actually slated to occur until 2012. Here’s a list of the features that are likely to be included in Windows 8 that I’m most looking forward to seeing:
Continue reading about 8 Reasons Web Workers Should Look Forward to Windows 8
Raptr, a social network for gamers, is showing some interesting ways in which it’s using what it knows about its members to create tailored experiences that cut through a lot of noise. And it’s showing how social networking can evolve to be even more personal.
Continue reading about Raptr Shows How Social Networks Can Get More Personal
