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12 Oct 2011 20:34

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Tech: iPhone owners minorly annoyed; BlackBerry owners pissed off

  • bad iPhone and iPad owners had some issues installing iOS version 5, released today, on their new devices, probably due to mass-install glut. (We had an issue with the install briefly — we threw it on our non-jailbroken iPad — but we got it to work on the second try.)
  • worse However, compared to the issues that BlackBerry owners have had over the past couple of days, that was cake. RIM says that the rolling blackouts were caused by a “core switch failure,” whatever that means. Oh no, what are all the policy wonks going to do!? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Oct 2011 11:26

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Tech: The Winklevi’s cost of suing Facebook? Possibly not worth it

  • $65 million the amount Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss earned from their original settlement with Facebook
  • $13 million the amount the Winklevi have spent on lawyer fees in that case and a couple of others source
  • » Twenty percent of their settlement, down the toilet: Sure, the prize that the Winklevi could win from Mark Zuckerberg and company could possibly be massive — in the billions, even — but the thing is, they’re already rich and they’ve wasted much of their “I’m rich” money on courtrooms and lawsuits. Perhaps not the most efficient way of spending the money? Maybe.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Oct 2011 09:56

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Tech: Tuesday’s Apple keynote, in retrospect, post-Steve Jobs

  • The fact that you, and your team, went on stage, knowing that Steve Jobs was close to death, is a testament to your professionalism. I felt that you had called it in a bit, but now I know the truth. You weren’t calling it in at all. You were doing an amazing job while knowing what was coming.
  • Robert Scoble • In a Google+ post late last night, getting the point across that Apple released a new iPhone the day before Steve Jobs died. Tim Cook went on DESPITE the fact that he knew the guy who invented the device was about to die. But … in a way, it makes the modestness of the event seem all the more obvious. “Today I feel guilty because I gave you a tough time about your first press conference,” Scoble said. “Now that I know what was going on behind the scenes I owe you an apology. I’m sorry, I owe you and your team one.” We think the internet does, honestly, because that keynote was much-derided. Now it all makes sense. Ultimately, what Apple sells — they’re just phones. In a week, the weak keynote will be forgotten. Jobs, however, won’t. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Oct 2011 01:01

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Biz, Tech: Could Bank of America’s debit card charge push us to digital wallets?

  • It may be too early now to talk about the Law of Unintended Consequences, but years from now, we may owe a debt to reforms like Dodd-Frank for finally weaning us off the physical wallet and encouraging us to experiment with the new technologies helping to create the Digital Wallet.
  • The Washington Post’s Dominic Basulto • Arguing that Dodd-Frank’s side effects — such as Bank of America‘s decision to start charging people for the right to use a debit card — will be great in the long run, because it will push consumers and businesses to stop relying on banks for these sorts of services, instead going for phone-based options, provided by companies such as Google or Square, instead. Basuito compares Bank of America’s controversial move to Netflix‘s price-raising scheme, and suggests it will hurt them long-term. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

04 Oct 2011 11:20

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Tech: What to expect at today’s post-Steve-Jobs Apple event

  • Apple’s big speech is a real turning point for the company. It’s the first major one since Steve Jobs gave up his role as CEO earlier this year amidst significant health problems, passing the role off to Tim Cook. Since then, new competition has started to heat up — most notably from Amazon, whose CEO Jeff Bezos has shown some of that old Jobsian sparkle of late. But without getting too far ahead of ourselves, let’s do a check of what to expect today:
  • one Don’t expect Steve Jobs, unless there’s a late-in-the-game surprise. Instead, Tim Cook will be the man of the hour, and it’ll be interesting to see how he pulls this off.
  • two There will be at least one new iPhone, most likely, possibly two. The long-gestating iOS 5 will also likely launch soon, complete with a better notifications system.
  • three The original iPod, which is officially a decade old, could disappear once and for all today. We could use that spinny thing for hours and not get bored! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Oct 2011 15:35

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Politics, Tech: Eric Schmidt on Google’s antitrust case: We’re not that bad, really

  • So we get hauled in front of the Congress for developing a product that’s free, that serves a billion people. Okay? I mean, I don’t know how to say it any clearer. I mean, it’s fine. It’s their job. But it’s not like we raised prices. We could lower prices from free to…lower than free? You see what I’m saying?
  • Google Chairman Eric Schmidt • Proving to be a bit cagey in an interview after taking questions at a Senate hearing a week ago. Google is facing antitrust questions that they’re abusing their power in the search market, and Schmidt claims that there’s a disconnect at play between Washington and the tech culture of Silicon Valley. “The press is so young, they don’t understand the history here,” he said. “We’re still a small component of what a whole bunch of other companies have done, and certainly most other industries. So I reject all such charges.” Think he’s right about all this? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Sep 2011 14:58

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Tech: Report: Amazon’s Kindle Fire losing money with every single device

  • $199 the amount the Amazon Kindle Fire, launched earlier this week, costs
  • $209.63 the amount the Amazon Kindle Fire’s parts are estimated to cost source
  • » Loss leader vs. straight-up leader: Amazon knows that the thing that was going to get the Kindle Fire to sell was the price, and it appears that even though the device is going to sell at a $10 loss per unit, they’ll make that back quickly through the sale of music and other stuff. This is a situation unlike that of Apple, which sells its devices at a profit and makes money through the sale of content. But that said, Jeff Bezos is looking particularly Jobsian these days.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

29 Sep 2011 18:12

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Tech: Amazon Silk getting privacy complaints: Why this is pretty bunk

  • This makes Amazon like your ISP. Every site, everything you do online [through Silk] will go through Amazon. That’s a new role for someone like them, and I don’t think it’s at all clear that Amazon can step into that, or that it will be apparent to consumers.
  • Center for Democracy & Technology spokesperson Aaron Brauer-Rieke • Offering up this claim that Amazon will use Silk, which Amazon claims will help speed up Web sites on the Amazon Kindle Fire, as a tracking tool. To that, we say this: Are you guys familiar with this Web browser called Opera Mini? It’s not as common as it once was, but for people using old-school phones, it was a bit of a lifesaver. It made the Motorola Razr, for example, a far more usable phone for surfing the Web, due to the way it handles content — through the company’s own servers, which cleared out all the extra stuff and sped up the sites you were downloading. Sound familiar? It’s exactly what Amazon Silk claims to do. Not buying this whole privacy argument. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Sep 2011 23:56

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Tech: Voltaire? Really, Kindle? That’s how you’re gonna play this?

  • “Fire” still looks cool, though: We kind of hate the pretentiousness of this entire ad. Amazon just released this ad to promote the new Kindle Fire … which appears to imply that a Voltaire quote inspired the name. Steve Jobs is probably cursing the hipster marketers at Amazon for just being so dang indie. How can the iPad compete with that?! source
Posted by samimain • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Sep 2011 09:58

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Tech: Amazon’s Kindle Fire: What it has and doesn’t have

  • included Amazon’s foray into the whole tablet thing (photo here) will be a totally affordable $199 and based on a slick Android-based interface that’s been face-lifted specifically for this freakin’ tablet.
  • missing It’s only 7 inches — a bit small for you iPad fans — and lacks such amenities as a microphone or camera. On top of this, the device is wifi-only — no 3G. Is no 3G a deal-breaker, guys? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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