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13 Feb 2011 11:50

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Tech: Three reasons why Microsoft’s Nokia deal really sucks for Nokia

  • one Their long-popular Symbian OS was created mostly as a reaction to Microsoft’s plans to enter the mobile market over a decade ago. This move tastes like crow.
  • two The profit margins on Nokia phones right now are roughly 30 percent. With a Windows-licensed phone, it’s much closer to 5-10 percent – a huge drop in revenues.
  • three This is the worst one by far – 20,000 Finnish Nokia employees will likely lose their jobs due to redundancy – a HUGE chunk of people by any stretch. source

12 Feb 2011 12:49

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Tech: Pandora used to spend more on buying music than it made

  • 119% the size of Pandora’s revenues that used to go towards acquiring content back in the second quarter of 2009
  • 48% the size of Pandora’s revenues that go towards content acquisition now – they’re profitable now source

12 Feb 2011 12:21

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Tech: Apple’s big plan to combat Android? A smaller, no-contract iPhone

  • problem Apple’s current iPhone is a one-size-fits-all model which has allowed Android to get a foothold in the market with models of varying shapes and sizes.
  • solution? In response, Apple is reportedly planning a smaller iPhone model which – and this is important – wouldn’t require a plan, and would cost less than $200. source

11 Feb 2011 21:59

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Tech: Nokia, Microsoft forced to fight for smartphone scraps together

  • This photo, showing Microsoft and Nokia’s CEOs, basically explains the entire story on its own. Nokia’s Stephen Elop: Down with whatever random OS we were trying to make that won’t succeed on the market because we waited too long! Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer: Up with our in-just-before-the-wire Windows Phone 7! By the way, how sad is it that Nokia, which basically wrote the script on the modern cell phone, now has to hop in bed with Microsoft to even keep up? source

09 Feb 2011 21:56

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Biz, Tech: Could Google or Facebook buy Twitter? It’s a definite possibility.

  • valuation A December financing round put Twitter’s valuation around $3.75 billion – not peanuts in any sense but not anywhere near Facebook’s valuation. Back in February 2009, they were worth just $250 million.
  • offers? The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Google and Facebook have both eyed taking over Twitter – with offers ranging in the $8 billion to $10 billion range – but talks have gone nowhere so far. source

09 Feb 2011 20:10

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Tech: Give it up for Palm and HP: Their new WebOS lineup looks awesome

  • Today’s big winner? HP. Specifically its Palm unit. Today, they revealed a bunch of awesome WebOS products that could potentially get the also-ran back in the game. Above is a feature that the iPad can’t do with the iPhone, to the point that it created a whole cottage industry of apps (Instapaper, Read it Later) to make it happen. But the TouchPad can do this with a Pre, the Pixi, or the new baby brother, the Veer. If the iPhone or the Android were able to do this, it’d be a real game-changer. And reportedly HP is working on WebOS PCs, which would effectively be a more robust version of Google’s Chrome OS. So, yeah, this is a pretty stacked lineup, kids. The only real question we have: How much does this stuff all cost? source

08 Feb 2011 21:47

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Tech: Yo, Facebook, hope you enjoy your massive new office space

 

08 Feb 2011 11:01

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Tech: Did Verizon pull bait-and-switch on iPhone buyers with data plan?

  • cool After many years of waiting, Verizon started selling the iPhone on its service. It’s reportedly selling at extremely fast rates – faster than the Droid, even, Verizon’s previous best-selling phone. Apple could break its own sales record, too.
  • lame But, in a sneak attack only made public after a blogger happened to trip upon it, Verizon changed its data-management policy so that “unlimited” data users will see their speeds slow to a crawl if they use too much of it. WTF? source

07 Feb 2011 15:49

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Tech: AOL staking their livelihood on HuffPost accquisition

  • 40% of AOL’s money used to buy The Huffington Post source

07 Feb 2011 11:22

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Tech: Gawker finally moves over to that bold redesign they have

  • Oh, hey new Gawker: In case anyone needed a reason to go to Gawker today, here you go. Compared to previous iterations of the redesign, the kickers in front of the topics help a lot. They weren’t there before, making everything sort of blend into one another. Still, though, we think this is a huge mistake on Gawker’s part. By downplaying what made Gawker worthwhile (the snarky blurbs over to the right), they endanger their base. Good luck, though. source