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20 Apr 2011 09:40

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Biz, Tech: AT&T proves analysts wrong, does OK post-Verizon iPhone

  • -83k the number of subscribers analysts expected AT&T to lose this quarter, after losing their exclusive iPhone contract
  • +62k the number of subscribers AT&T actually ADDED this quarter, which was totally unexpected; eat your crow, analysts
  • +400k the number of subscribers AT&T added in the previous quarter, which shows how steep the iPhone drop-off still was for AT&T source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Apr 2011 11:23

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Tech: Microsoft’s patent case hits an unsympathetic Supreme Court

  • It’s a bad thing not to give protection to an invention that deserves it; and it is just as bad a thing to give protection to an invention that doesn’t deserve it. Both can seriously harm the economy. What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to get a better tool, if possible, to separate the sheep from the goats.
  • Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer • Offering a very smart insight during yesterday’s arguments in the Microsoft/i4i patent case which has been floating around the ether for a couple of years. Microsoft’s pushing to make obvious patents a little less patentable, and they have a lot riding on the case. See, i4i owns a key patent involving custom XML in a document — something Microsoft used heavily in Word until the patent case came up. They could end up owing hundreds of millions otherwise. Other justices, particularly Antonin Scalia and Elena Kagan, weren’t so kind to Microsoft’s case. Fun fact: Chief Justice John Roberts recused himself from this case because he owns Microsoft stock. If the vote goes 4-4, the lower court ruling stands and Microsoft loses. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Apr 2011 21:17

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Tech: Summary: The life, quick demise and slow death of Google Video

  • 2005 Google started their own video-sharing service called Google Video, back when the market was wide open.
  • 2006 The service, an also-ran in the wake of YouTube, became straight-up irrelevant after Google bought the rival service.
  • 2009 Google finally closed off the service to new uploads, but allowed users to keep their old uploads online.
  • 2011 Now, years after everyone stopped using the service, Google’s removing old uploads. Well, at least there’s YouTube. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Apr 2011 16:12

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Tech: Three reasons why the RIM BlackBerry Playbook isn’t ready yet

  • one Despite the fact that the one thing the BlackBerry does better than any other mobile device is e-mail, the Playbook doesn’t allow you to use e-mail unless you’re tethered to a BlackBerry phone. Wait, what?
  • two The device reportedly has very few native apps — not even obvious ones like Facebook or Twitter. Or calendar apps. RIM says it’ll get Android apps at some point, but why didn’t they have it ready for launch?
  • three And that “not ready for launch” thing gets at the heart of the problem — the product seems rushed because updates keep coming. It makes it seem like they almost missed a major opportunity. source
  • » Getting a tad too defensive: One of Research in Motion’s main men, co-CEO Jim Balsillie, used this sentence of utter nonsense in defending his company’s inexplicable decision to avoid allowing e-mail over wi-fi on the Playbook: “I don’t think people realize the threat matrix to your own personal information and your PCs and a lot of different smartphone architectures is a lot greater than people realize.” What? “Threat matrix”? Really? That’s BS.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Apr 2011 10:04

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Tech: The rise and fall of the Flip Video recorder: That was quick

  • 2006 The first version of the “Pure Digital Point & Shoot” video camera came out, inspired by the success of a disposable video recorder sold at CVS. A year later, it’s renamed Flip.
  • 2009 A couple years after Flip caused a mini-revolution in the way digital video was created (It’s like it was designed for YouTube!), Cisco bought the company in question for nearly $600 million.
  • 2011 For some reason, the company decided to stop focusing on home users. Among its victims? Flip, which was nicked by the rise of the smartphone. Why don’t you sell the technology, Cisco? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Apr 2011 22:23

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Tech: Amazon drops its Kindle price again … well, kinda

  • deal Amazon just dropped the price of its low-end Kindle by $25, from roughly $139 to $114 … making it an even easier impulse buy.
  • catch The cheaper Kindle will have ads — which will show up in menus and screen savers, but not while you’re actually reading a book. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Apr 2011 11:14

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Tech: Dear Steve Jobs: Please reconsider your biography writer choice

  • So what Steve, are we chopped liver? We don’t know of any bigger Apple fanbois than us and … and … you didn’t even bother to call us to see if we were interested in doing an authorized biography? Who is this Walter Isaacson dude, anyway? Just some assclown with a name designed to be on the cover of a book? Just because he was the CEO of some two-bit operation named CNN doesn’t mean that he’s worth your time. We’re really upset about this. You should have called us, Steve. Now we’re going to write an unauthorized biography about you. It’s going to be called “iPusher: Steve Jobs and Apple’s legion of designer drug addicts.” Don’t like that title, Steve? Well, maybe you should’ve thought about that before working with Wal-TER. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

10 Apr 2011 11:31

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Tech, World: Fukushima now has its own unmanned remote-controlled mascot

  • This little guy right here? He’s a T-Hawk drone, a little unmanned remote-controlled flying thingamajig, built by Honeywell, that engineers used to get an up-close view of the situation inside the damaged Fukushima reactors. It can shoot both normal pictures as well as infrared shots. Plus, if you own one of these, you’ll be the coolest kid on your block. Engineers say that they’ll have some photos to share with the world on Monday. But we want them now! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Mar 2011 10:18

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Biz, Tech: New York Times’ paywall: Favoring the mobile Web over apps?

  • The fine print in the NYT’s paywall: Have you been wondering to yourself, “Who the heck would pay $260 extra to subscribe to the iPad version of the New York Times?” So have a lot of people. From a distance, the price plan makes little sense and makes the paper nearly as expensive as the dead-tree version (which costs $770 a year for the seven-days-a-week edition outside of NYC). But Poynter’s Damon Kiesow has a really interesting take on the matter which a lot of people haven’t considered: What if the Times wants to discourage mobile app use by pricing them at a premium, specifically with the iPad version? (above pic taken by Robert Scoble — yes, that’s the man’s hand)
  • $385 yearly cost of a weekday subscription to the Times
  • $195 yearly cost of a Web-only Times subscription
  • $260 yearly cost to add mobile to the Web
  • $455 yearly cost to add tablet use to the bunch source
  • » What this all means to you: Now, if you’ve ever used an iPad, it’s pretty clear that the New York Times Web site is as good, if not better than, the NYT iPad app, at least for now. And if they want to further emphasize the tablet-y nature of the iPad, they already have that in the form of Times Skimmer. Furthermore, Apple doesn’t take a 30 percent cut out of Web-based subscriptions. Damon Kiesow’s perfectly apt reasoning, then, is that the NYT is trying to de-emphasize the App Store by pricing people out of that direction. And you know what? He’s right. The NYT Web site will work fine on the iPad. There is an advantage to using NYT’s app on your cell phone, so that’s kept at a more reasonable cost, but the NYT’s plan to focus on the Web over the app? Sneaky.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Mar 2011 10:58

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Tech: Think Quarterly: Google has a spiffy magazine for UK advertisers

  • Google has a spiffy new magazine. They say it’s for advertisers and partners in the UK, but we bet people would actually buy this thing in an app store. “Think Quarterly” has a better set of table of contents pages than many mags have feature spreads. We don’t even care what it’s about. It’s Google. It involves graphic design and thinking. And it’s awesome.  source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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